Rules:Power Levels

From AltWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

General Details

[ Back to Rules ]

What's a Power Level?

Power Levels (or PLs, by which they are more commonly referred) are the way we measure a character's general potency in AltDBZ. Everything that a character does in combat must be based off of their power level(s) somehow, though Techniques can make two characters with the same power level quite different. There are limits to what a single power level can do, however, and at points in a character's fighting life, it will become necessary for them to grow in power. The idea of a power level is loosely based on the "scouters" used in the Dragonball Z show, which gauged how powerful a fighter was.

In the show, scouters only read the power of Ki, which is the power that advanced martial artists use (In the Japanese show, they didn't call it Power Level at all, but instead just "Ki."). There are more kinds of power besides Ki, though. Psionic, Magical, or Physical, are examples of other kinds of power. Each means something different for a character, and follows its own specific set of rules. It's even possible for a character to have more than one kind of power level.

It is difficult to explain what one PL stands for. Instead, there is a general understanding that as PL grows, the character is capable of progressively greater feats of strength and speed. Most normal people have a PL between 1 and 10. Experienced martial artists who have not made the jump to the supernatural are generally at 150 PL or lower. Competitive characters generally have PL at or greater than 150 PL. Further, between 150 and 10,000 is considered to be relatively new and small, 10,000 to 100,000 is considered experienced, and above 100,000 are the elite. Those who reach over 1,000,000 PL are considered demigods amongst demigods, and frequently are very influential within their communities.

Starting PLs

New characters begin play in Alt with an amount of PL determined by staff. This number is figured by starting at the character's PL allowance -- usually 1,500, but other races such as Saiyans start at 2,250 instead -- and then analyzing the tech day cost of all techniques the player asked for, before reducing the starting power by 3 for each tech day. See the Techniques section to find out more about techniques and tech days.

Characters may not ever have negative power levels. Thus, if you request too many techniques, or techniques that are too powerful for a starting character, the staffer will need you to pare down your choices such that the character can start with positive power levels. Additionally, the less power a character begins with, the longer it will take for the character to grow into a respectable position of power in the room, and the fewer adversaries and peers they will have to grow with. Generally speaking, starting a character at or above 500 PL gives the character significant abilities, while at the same time setting the character up for success in power.

Power Types

Power is more than just power. It takes different forms, and comes from different places. For combat in Alt, there are four power types which determine not only from where a character draws power, but also how that character fights. Techniques are also heavily dependent on what kind of power type(s) a character chooses.

The four types of power are Ki, Magic, Psi, and Physical. Each has its pros and cons, and each is balanced with the others.

Ki

Ki is the power of the spirit and life, used by martial artists. Ki is the easiest to understand of the four power types. Combat with ki involves having a certain amount of strength to act from during every post, while not having to worry about micro-managing things like defenses and movement. Ki wielders suffer from generally mediocre and unspecialized tactics, and reliance on hand-to-hand combat, which frequently leaves them vulnerable to attack.

Psi

Psi is the power of the mind and willpower, often (but not always) found in the intellectually advanced. Psions specialize in perception; they can constantly see in every direction around them, including through walls, and permitting them to see microscopic things and detect almost any kind of energy source. They also practice excellent multitasking and good defense, but are held back by the need to spend part of their actions to defend themselves and move. A failure to defend oneself against an attack can mean instant mutilation or death.

Magic

Magic is the power of the arcane and divine, employed by studious mages or by creatures and people who are aligned strongly with deities. Mages are unique in that, without preparation, they are merely mortals with fighting-grade eyesight; the least effort by a power wielder can completely destroy a mage without his protections. Thus, they can take considerably longer than other power types to arrive at a state where they are ready to fight. Once they are prepared, however, mages strongly specialize in techniques, or as they are most commonly made, spells. Their spells are somewhat cheaper in general (particularly, techniques that do damage), and spells that are designed to take a while to cast (or rituals, as they're called) are learned at twice the speed they would normally be learned. This makes magic both one of the most potentially powerful power types, as well as the easiest to completely screw up. An improperly configured mage might never get off the metaphorical ground, despite all efforts otherwise.

Physical

Physical power represents all those powers that do not specifically fit into one of the other three. It is a customizable power type, based off of any of the others and then changed to fit a particular design. Physical power characters are frequently either the very muscular or are mechanically inclined (robots and androids). Because physical power generally involves understanding the underlying mechanics and value behind the pros and cons of different power types, we do not advise that new players try to make a character with physical power.

Multiple PLs

Players can choose to create characters with more than one power type. For instance, a character might have both Ki and Psi powers at the same time. This allows a character to effectively have multiple actions during every post, with the drawback that each action acts with less power than it would had it been the only power type the character had.

When a character is approved and the player wants to give them multipler power types, the power level given by the staff is simply split amongst them. For instance, a character that was approved to begin play with 900 PL might split it with 600 Ki PL and 300 Psi PL. All power types must start with at least 100 PL. Gaining a new power type after approval is not so easy; generally, the character will need to get lessons or other treatment from specialists in the power type of their choice. A character who wishes to gain Ki power must not only be eligible to have Ki (they have to be a living being) but also receive lessons on how to use and develop that ki from an Ki trainer. A character who wishes to gain Psi power might require that a high-tech operation on their brain be conducted to activate the dormant part of their brain that is responsible for psionic power. Characters are generally not allowed to train themselves into a new power type.

Characters that seek to have multiple power levels involving a Physical power may not also have the power type that the Physical power was based on. So, if a character has a Physical power type that was based on Ki, that character would not be able to have both that Physical power type and a Ki power type.

Occasionally, you may see reference to "TotalPL". This represents the sum of all of a character's power levels. If a character has only one power level, that is also his TotalPL.

Temporary Power Reduction

Characters have the option of temporarily reducing the effectiveness of any of their power types. This is usually done to make themselves lower profile, so as not to attract attention, or to level the playing field for a weaker opponent. A character can immediately reduce as much PL in as many of their power types in a post as desired, down to 1 PL in each of their power types (if they have multiple types). This takes an entire post to do, and the character may not even move while doing so.

Once lowered, in order to raise power again, the character must recharge, or "power up". Unlike powering down, power wielders may only recharge up to 25% of each of their normal maximum power levels per post, and doing so consumes their action for the turn -- recharging a full 25% uses the entire post, to the exclusion of all other actions. Recharging power can be interrupted if the character takes more damage than their concentration statistic. Recharging and lowering power does not cost stamina.

It should be noted that temporary power reduction is not the same thing as concealing power. Concealing power only reduces the energy signature that a character gives off because of their power, and requires a technique or specialized power type to be used.

[ Back to Rules ]