Rules:Techniques
General Details
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What's a Technique?
A technique, or "tech", is any ability, creature, or item, not included automatically with the power levels of the character or with the character's race, that does more than give your character flavor. This includes, but is by far not limited to attacks, weapons, defenses, armor, deceptions, knowledge of weaknesses, manufacturing items, plot influencing abilities, and more. Techs have to be applied for using the technique application page, approved by a designated staffer, and then found, learned, or invented before it can be used.
Techniques provide the flexibility that makes individual characters unique, in combat. You are given a great deal of freedom in making your own techniques, depending on the race you use. Thus, in many cases, techniques are just as important, if not more so, than power level.
Unfortunately, this excessive flexibility has the tendency to lure players into powergaming tendencies, always trying to think of what powers would make them better than the latest and greatest. Sometimes, this means that techniques are created that are later found to be unfair. Because of the enormity of the human imagination, the staff can do little but constantly make adjustments to the way particular things are handled. So, it is not uncommon that somebody who applies for a concept is charged more or given stronger limitations than someone else was a long time ago. Occasionally, however, in extreme situations, where a technique or series of techniques is disrupting the balance of the room, the staff must ask players to reduce the effectiveness or change the workings of their techs, and sometimes even delete techs entirely. Many times, in these situations, sacrificed functionality is refunded with free tech days. However, the player must comply with all staff requests of this nature, whether or not any compensation is offered. This is covered by the Volatility Clause in the General Rules section.
Types of Techniques
Miniskills
Minitechs or Miniskills are abilities and items that have no other purpose or potential than giving flavor and depth to a character. They may not fit under any of the other categories. They are not considered "real" techs, and are not subject to any application or development process. Thus, you may add them or subtract them as you see fit. You do not have to list them anywhere. Techs cannot be officially based upon miniskills or minitechs.
Gimmes
Gimmes are abilities that come automatically and without charge with the power level(s) of a character. For instance, a ki blast is a gimme of the ki power type. Except for custom power levels, gimmes do not have to be applied for or developed, nor do you have to list them. For custom power levels, you must apply for them and list them along with the power level. (see the Physical Power Level section). They, too, are not considered "real" techs, however, techs can be based off of them.
Racial Abilities
Racial Abilities are just like normal techs, but they are an integral and unchangeable part of a race that a character belongs to. Except when explicitly described as such, you can't develop racial abilities, and you don't have to apply for them unless the race is a custom race. Techs can be made based upon racial abilities but they themselves are not considered racial abilities. Racial abilities cannot be taught, and techs based upon them can only be taught to characters of the same (or sufficiently similar) race. The Super Saiyan transformation, for instance, is considered a racial ability of the Saiyan race.
Racial abilities 'trump' regular techs in certain areas. For instance, usually only very specifically designed techniques can interfere with racial abilities. As well, sometimes racial abilities are better than techniques would be allowed to be -- Super Saiyan, for instance, can be more powerful and used more often than any other transformation.
Typically, racial abilities may not be duplicated by techniques, though there are exceptions.
Common Techniques
Common Techs ("CTs") are techniques that the staff of Alt DBZ RP have published on this website for public use. They work just like normal techs, except you don't have to apply for them ... only develop them. Some common techs have prerequisites that a character must meet before developing them.
Please confirm with a staffer that your character has all required prerequisites before beginning to develop a Common Tech.
Item Techniques
Item Techs are physical items such as weapons, armor, jewelry, or non-independent vessels of transportation (like spaceships, cars, boats, and so on) that are too powerful to be considered miniskills or minitechs. They are notable in one critical difference from most other techniques -- they can often be given away, or stolen.
Upgrade Techniques
Upgrade Techs are techniques that rely entirely upon one normal tech, usually involving enhancing that technique's statistics or giving it additional functionality. They cannot be taught without learning the original technique first.
Combination Techniques
Combination Techs are techniques that are the result of two or more characters working together. Depending on how the combo works, combos must be developed by all characters who are necessary to the combo's function at the same time. The tech days are split between those characters. Additional characters will have to learn the technique separately. If the characters' contributions and development times are not already defined in the combo technique, the entire technique must be upgraded, and all relevant characters must work on the upgrade together.
Pet Techniques
Pet Techs are any kind of techniques, usually creatures, robots, or items, which could be considered persistent and alive, belong to another character, act independently of their owner, and can not be considered minitechs. They are almost always considered a completely separate character from the owner, and must even be applied for as a character, but they can receive extra abilities from a tech day donation by the owner character (to a reasonable extent). They may not be role played if they don't have an owner, and most role plays with them must include the owner.
The Pet Tech system is currently under review.
Society Techniques
Society Techs derive from membership in an organization. Tech days devoted to them symbolize the time and effort required to gain an organization's trust, advance in rank and esteem to gain new benefits, learn to use said benefits effectively, and so forth and so on. They may be disabled in the course of play if the character does not overtly act in accord with the organization's wishes. Sometimes this is permanent, other times the character can redeem themselves in the eyes of the organization and regain the benefits of the technique.
Gaining a benefit via a society tech may be done at a lesser cost, at the handling staffer's discretion, based on their perception of the possible likelihood of the tech being lost through the course of play, and what the organization requires from the character in return for its assistance.
Canon Techniques
Canon Techs come from our source material. This genre includes things like the Spirit Bomb and Kamehameha attacks, and the Kaio-ken transformation. These things cannot be learnt through normal tech processes. They can only be taught or learnt through special methods, typically a special staff-approved Official Teacher.
Plot Techniques
Plot Techs are very rarely learned by player characters. Plot characters often have special techniques that allow them to break the rules in certain controlled ways that regular characters aren't normally allowed to. These are carefully monitored by staff (in fact, they often require explicit staff input to operate successfully). The Neo-Kame Universal Insight technique is considered a Plot Technique.
Typically, plot techniques will trump normal techniques, regardless of relative PLs. (For instance, a PL-masking Plot tech will defeat all regular masking penetration techs, typically.)
Normal Techniques
Normal Techs are the most common kinds of techniques. To put it simply, a normal technique is any technique that does not fall into any of the above categories.
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