Overpowered Characters

[Frith-Rae]

If you tried to talk out a death scene for one of my characters with me I would frankly be annoyed at you. You would be giving me all sorts of OOC knowledge that I would prefer stay out of my head so it would not leak into my IC actions. I like a good surprise and a surprise ending is far superior to some prescripted event which has no chance of going in any other direction. If you simply said OOCLY you intended to try to Permakill the character in particular I would simply say "Then do it ICLY and let us see what happens.".

Oh no, I didn't mean I'd have like an ongoing play by play discussion. I just meant that yes at the very least that is what I would be doing. Though reallky I would never even have the thought of trying to perma-kill anyone unless they usually come ot me and go "hey I'm planning on killing off this guy would you like a try?" or something like that lol.

If I did think "hey this baddie needs to die" I'd still basically ask if you were cool with it and absolutley we'd "see what would happen". I'm not into planning anything out really, but I do want to get permission/same page going before starting somthing like that. I woulnd't just play a fight out or something and then go "NO YOU MUST BE DEADED NOW!"

That's more what I meant. Not some long drawn out conversation about how/where/why/whatfor unless there was a particular plot point you wanted to get done with or something.

I agree with the Bold Underlined part 100%. Even more so when Villains are involved. Unkillable super villains are not only unfun but flat out grating because an unstoppable Evil begs the question "Why bother?" you cannot do anything about it so why fight it at all? Just ignore them entirely. However, by the same token the Heroes need to be killable or there is no spice or drama. Evil should have a chance to WIN as much as a chance to be Defeated.

requoted for troof!

I totally agree. I would only add that one doesn't have to be killable to be taken out of the fight, even permanently. You should be defeatable, but that doesn't have to mean perma-killed - to still enjoy and see a "point" to fighting. But yes, no character should be so boring as to "always win" or "always lose."

And doubly so for the "villian" - if he isn't made to at least at some point be "beaten" one way or another (again doesn't have to be a perma-death), then aboslutely people give up trying. Same with if you have a 'hero' character who is never defeated, people just stop engaging with you.

[Fix]

BZZT!

It's that time again, kiddies! I have YET ANOTHER subject within the subject!

What do you all think of this - I have been noticing this on a LOT of characters and personally it is becoming teeth-grindingly annoying.

I am talking about characters that are either underplayed, or overplayed. What do I mean?

Let me make this clear - fitting into the subject of overpowered characters, are characters that do not flinch to any sort of physical pain. Now this? These are characters that literally do not flinch at anything verbal or emotional. They speak to a dying man? They just shrug and use random inflections. They are being threatened or insulted, even attacked - they usually giggle, frolic or partially ignore the situation .(by partially I mean usually going 'loldodge' and avoiding it.) and otherwise both in combat situations and common arguments, seem to literally be emotional TANKS as they never flinch, nor react in any negative way.

Now this does not stretch to everyone , let us admit. Some characters can HIDE their emotions. After all, the last thing you want to do infront of someone trying to intimidate you, is look like it's working. They'll want to do it more!

But let us also admit, everyone has their limits. Which I think is clear. I have seen players literally having their families threatened without as-much as batting an eyelid. I've even seen others take iron hammers to the face without turning and facing their attackers.

No. Personally I love watching characters get angry or sad. Why? Because it shows emotion! And emotion is GOOD. Nothing shows that you know how to RP better then a little emotion in your roleplay.

So what do you all think?

[Akrion]

Entirely depends on the character.

Akrion, for example, has lived as a bloodmage for most his life. Pain is an otherwise daily routine for someone who uses their own life force in their heals or attacks.

He's also been through the death of his adoptive mother Amethyr, for one, among with plenty of other situations regarding his other close friends. Such as the enslavement of Vaega's mind, or the complete destruction of Selarth's soul. They've affected him a great deal, to the point that to simply witness someone he doesn't know die, it would not garner much of a reaction from him. Aside from the fact that the gifted would likely be somewhat used to death after a while anyway because not everybody in the world of Istaria is gifted.

Akrion's faced the complete destruction of his own soul in a few situations, this coupled with all of the above would really leave him relatively emotionless or uncaring for random threats of harm towards him. To him, and honestly I'd figure to most experienced Gifted, to simply be attacked or hurt, or to simply die eventually becomes just a part of life.

I might add that, other than the Bloodmage bit, all of the above is in no way backstory and all happened through actual RP with other players. So it's not as if Akrion was -always- like this.

[Frith-Rae]

Honestly I would first wonder if that person (being so unreactive/ignoring of what's going on) is really wanting to be engaged in that RP. I would wonder if this was a public RP setting where the player is basically trying to get around/ignore/avoid things that don't fit its character regardless of what others are forcing on them - vs. a private RP where people tend to feel more in charge of what is going on.

The whole "oh you fight me I dodge and dodge and don't even turn around to look at you" strikes me more as a passive way of just saying "I don't want to RP with you right now" or something. Without actually having to have the conflict of "look I don't want ot RP this" or somethign like that.

Now if you're talking about a stoic character, (ala what Akrion was describing) who may or may not have had a full life of pain/hardness/uncaring family members etc. - then you may be more looking at a character who has been made that way. That no longer cares what happens to themselves, or others, or does not desire to make real relatioships/friends etc. That's a bit different than dodging/avoiding/not interacting. Or maybe you're around a person who is trying to convey how disconnected their character has become - so its actually an RP "riddle", or plot mechanic, they want you to solve - "Why is this character so utterly uncaring/depressed/disconnected from everything?"

For example, Frith-Rae has never had any hatchlings of her own on purpose and refuses to adopt any hatchling either. She's not just unconnected or uncaring, but there are IC reasons for her adn OOC reasons for me. She also no longer pursues finding a mate and neither would she allow a male to pursue her - there are IC reasons for this as well as OOC reasons for me . It wouldn't mean I would ignore it if some male come up and gave me flowers RP wise, but Frith would gently try to convey to them that she's not interested. If that didnt' work, she would have to take stronger and stronger measures to get across tos omeone that "NO I"M NOT GOING TO DO THIS!" .

But I do know that if I'm in a public RP and creatures that I don't feel need to be existing are RPing things, I tend to keep my distance and only scratch the surface of reacting to what may be going on. But this is entirely an OOC preference trying to stay "out" of what is ICily going on that I dont want to be involved in. Which made me wonder if perhaps that is what you are seeing?

Or it could be a craptastic RPer..lol.

[Sereamha]

Hehe, I agree, Frith and Akrion and Fix.

If a character doesn't change emotion or respond to anything in different ways, they aren't very enjoyable to rp with. HOWEVER, when I see a character like that I make an effort to rp with them and perhaps learn a possible backstory/previous rps that may have made them that way. Once you learn the stories, it makes things really neat! Like a puzzle, as Frith said.

It was really neat the other night when Akrion and Niveus were talking and Akrion actually was starting to show more emotion than normal. Sitting down and rping with people can be a very fun and rewarding puzzle to figure out.

[Akrion]

It was really neat the other night when Akrion and Niveus were talking and Akrion actually was starting to show more emotion than normal. Sitting down and rping with people can be a very fun and rewarding puzzle to figure out.

<3 Was definitely fun. ^^

[Shinkuu]

BZZT!

It's that time again, kiddies! I have YET ANOTHER subject within the subject!

What do you all think of this - I have been noticing this on a LOT of characters and personally it is becoming teeth-grindingly annoying.

I am talking about characters that are either underplayed, or overplayed. What do I mean?

Let me make this clear - fitting into the subject of overpowered characters, are characters that do not flinch to any sort of physical pain. Now this? These are characters that literally do not flinch at anything verbal or emotional. They speak to a dying man? They just shrug and use random inflections. They are being threatened or insulted, even attacked - they usually giggle, frolic or partially ignore the situation .(by partially I mean usually going 'loldodge' and avoiding it.) and otherwise both in combat situations and common arguments, seem to literally be emotional TANKS as they never flinch, nor react in any negative way.

Now this does not stretch to everyone , let us admit. Some characters can HIDE their emotions. After all, the last thing you want to do infront of someone trying to intimidate you, is look like it's working. They'll want to do it more!

But let us also admit, everyone has their limits. Which I think is clear. I have seen players literally having their families threatened without as-much as batting an eyelid. I've even seen others take iron hammers to the face without turning and facing their attackers.

No. Personally I love watching characters get angry or sad. Why? Because it shows emotion! And emotion is GOOD. Nothing shows that you know how to RP better then a little emotion in your roleplay.

So what do you all think?

The "I can dodge anything in my sleep" part is indeed a Power Play.

Other things depend HEAVILY on the character. Some may be emotionally damaged and not be able to feel or feel correctly about situations. Shinkuu had that problem and pretty much never showed fear or sadness and only very rarely showed joy in any fashion. She mostly showed anger if anything at all and could be wildly indifferent at times. However, she was emotionally damaged. She did not like physical pain though.

Zarla on the other hand was the opposite being rather emotional but feeling no physical pain. (Though she used to.) She suffered so much damage to her body that she got desensitized to the sensation and it just did not bother her anymore. Considering her MASSIVE list of injuries and death experiences it is easy to see why she could just shrug off any sort of physical damage. Pain is a manifestation of the Mind we find out in science. You can literally choose not to feel it if you have enough control. Ever get hurt and not feel the pain until you realized you were injured? I have.

So I would say it really depends very heavily on the character and why they do not react to such things and to an extent how they fail to respond.

[Fix]

Nice to see some discussion! Now to update what I think - I want to dispell any illusions that I am under the impression that "OMG U GOT HIT, U DIDN'T REACT/CRY, DIE" is my rule. As stated earlier by you all, if a character (for any reason personal, magical or genetical) does not FEEL physical pain (but can be damaged), and is generally used to it, that is fine.

But what peeves me is when one is both immune to pain, and LAUGHS at it. No one likes to get hurt! Even if you do regenerate it upon death, you are still suffering the loss of limb, seeing your own body being desecrated. NOw as someone else stated - some characters are usually always dull and dreary, but have their moments of joy, while others are constantly cheerful. I like that! But lately I have run into three characters that are CONSTANTLY cheerful, unless they are either RPing in private, or they feel like being sad. Or in one case, a character that is constantly in an attitude that I can only describe is pure ANNOYING while attempting to appear serious, but can spontainiously turn into that guy you visit a pub with.

SHOULD character moods change on the fly? It is possible, but doing so too often is a bad sign. This is akin to my character, being a hatchling and slaughtering a thousand of his kin before just turning to everyone else and going 'LETS GO GET SOME KAEK'. I doubt many people will change their moods that quickly. Not to say it is impossible! Good news and situations can cause rapid mood changes, and some mental defects can cause a character to switch from passive to aggressive (such as bipolarity) in an instant, seemingly at random or in most cases the moment something goes right or wrong.

But if your character has this...thing. Do try to warn others. So that they can tell it simply a character trait rather then bad character production.

Many players also seem to be under the impression that because they have been working on their character for (x) years, they are instantly entitled to be unchangable as an immortal shrine to their own fail. Look. I am sure one or two of such people are reading this thread right now. I HIGHLY suggest you open yourself to critisism! It's never too late to change a few things.

I personally just have a quarrel with the characters that are (1) immune to all pain for a horrible reason and simply continue entire conversations or fully ignore the fact their own body is being mangled, (2) characters that are emotionally unstable simply because 'LOL DER LIEK DAT' and with no proper explanation, keep some consistancy. Your character cannot always be a sarcastic douchemonkey then suddendly become ultrasad without a proper reason, or overly joyful for the slightest reason. (3) Characters that constantly, CONSTANTLY dodge. Or should I say their PLAYERS? Power-emoting is NOT fun, no matter WHAT the reason is. Follow my HAPPY RULE OF FAIR ATTEMPTING! and simply make a maximum of 3 dodges/nulls/attempted spellcasts before you stop and let the other have a hit/allow them to cast something on you/drop a bucket of water on you.

And one final thing I must complain about, this you will all laugh at!

I have a hatred of animesque characters, which most of these characters fall into (That and Mary Sues). By that I mean the stereotypical ULTRA-SEXY VIOLENT DARK TYPE that is usually a well built male character in their early years or very late years (yet still acting like a young jack) that are either the pinnicle of sweetness, constantly shifting between brooding and sad to unbelivable happy, and female characters (usually humanm but I have encountered a DRAGON that for some reason favors a human/elf form) that is in either their early adulthood and after that are somehow wearing the most revealing outfits possible, wielding huge impractical items (Such as giant swords the size of dragon's neck, scythes, and in one case I caught someone using ninja-esque weaponary), constantly prancing about and striking idle poses while being EXTREMELY dull and annoying by constantly being cheerful, zesty and untouchable, usually dodging 90% of attacks as to not bruise themselvse, come out unharmed or instantly turn an attack on them into an insta-kill on YOU. And they usually have impractical wtf powers.

Oh and of course,
(5) NON-CANON DRAGONS. BY which I mean draconic characters that for some reason are possible ICly. Now I'm not saying you can't play them, by all means! Go ahead! Already a thousand vampire/demon/werewolf/elemental dragons flying about. But keep in mind, if you are imposing custom lore or your own creations ,be open to critique and keep your powers to a limit. I personally hate it when I see super demon dragons that can fire darkness out of their behinds and lazor beemz out of their eyes (Yes I came across someone doing this).

Discuss.

DISCUSS.

DISCUSS!

[Raptress]

But if your character has this...thing. Do try to warn others. So that they can tell it simply a character trait rather then bad character production.

Ehhh. I'm all for OOC communication as a means to avoid conflict, but coming out and announcing that your character is, e.g., bipolar is taking it a liiittle bit too far, imo.

A lot of the fun in roleplay is figuring things out about characters. That can't happen if a player just announces to the world everything that affects their character.

Oh and of course,
(5) NON-CANON DRAGONS. BY which I mean draconic characters that for some reason are possible ICly.

There are very, very, very, very few dragon characters that I would call completely in lore. Off of the top of my head, I can think of maybe three. Fixsorxz is not of them. :P Please don't take this an attack; it's totally not. I'm just saying, don't throw stones if you live in a glass house.

[Frith-Rae]

Well Fix I'm not going to discuss all that because honestly much of that is things you hate - and you have every right to hate - cuz we all "hate" certain types of players or characters or people. But nor eason to really DISCUSS that back and forth lol.

I will say it may annoy you that someone switches moods, but to say its unrealistic isn't fair. I can wake up IRL being pissy mood and a few hours later be totally happy , and then a few hours after that be pissy again. For no apparent reason. I'm not bipolar (cuz bipolar does not work like that), that's just being a normal person goign about their day. Different people, differetn situations, home vs. work., wether you're hungry, wether you're hormonal, whatever - can all cause changes in mood from slight to drastic. So saying that a charactger goes from giddy to sad "without reason" I'm saying could be very realistic, but again its all how you play it off and how well YOU know the charcter. If this isn't someoen you have experience RPing with then what right does it give YOU to say what they should or should not be acting like? You don't even know them! Perhaps what you see is "without reason" is actually has plenty of long standing reasons - but someone isn't going to debrief you on every aspect of their characte in chat with you ;P

And I'm also going to throw this possbility out there - perhaps the people you are finding who do this are..younger.. I'm not saying "GRR YOUNG RPERS SUCK" or anyhting, but there is something to be said for someoen who is a teenager IRL - someone who is natrually hormonal and moody (perfectly normal and expected!) to play that out in their characters. Someoen who is New to RP or whatever might also do that. Unles you've been RPingwith these people for years then you have no idea how old they might be and what their RL maturity level is.

I've seen vastly mature and deep RP from someone who is 17 and I've seen immature and stupidly unlogical RP from people who are 50. Everyone has different skills - if someoen you are RPing with gets on your nerve constantly I go back to what I've been saying for 9 pages now DO NOT RP WITH THEM! (zomg).

It reallky is a solution to almost all problems in life - if you are around someoen you don't enjoy being around - THEN DON"T DO THAT! =D

Its amazing! LOL

[Frith-Rae]

I'd also just like to add (this is not an attack on anyone just soemthing to always consider wether IRL or in game..) =)

If everyone arounm you seems to be doing everything wrong - then perhaps it isn't them, maybe its just you.

Seriously, there have been times I've foudn myself in situations where I seem to be the only person being angry or annoyed at someone else. I have to stop and ask myself, "Is what is making me upset valid - or is it just me?" Sometimes it IS just me, doesn't mean I can't seperate myself or choose not to be in that situation again. But neither do I have a rigth to demand everyone else be as I want them. They have a right to be them and what they are having fun with (baring you know, hurting me). I have a right to not like it - and to WALK AWAY .

Thoughts for self-growth... Sometimes its not everyone else, sometimes its you.

[Fix]

Right, to both the posters above -

First off. to quote you. 'This is not an attack', but your posts where utterly pointless in some ways.

First off I think I made it clear (maybe not) that this is, once again, my own opinion.

Thus. yes. It IS me.

I think I stated a thousand times over that this is just MY opinion, and that you may expand upon it.

Also HATE - I admit, is a bit too far. I disagree on them in MOST cases. But I do not go on witchhunts, 'burning' the players for making them! Infact the most I've ever done is when someone has gone WAY out of line, I ask them why.

Yes, I admit, as one of you said, that Fixszorx fits into one or more of the criteria above. But I have recently been thinking of renovating the character a bit. But then again - someone will always have something against another character. No matter how small.

I personally do not HAVE alot of people to go off of |: No one speaks to me. I hardly have any 'friends' ingame save for three people, two of which I hardly see on.

I am not givng any flak to you two, you are two of my favorate posters

After all :/ I'm always wrong, aren't I?

[Frith-Rae]

LOL utterly pointless? aww no need to get all mean now ;P

And no you are not always wrong, I never thought that - I can't speak for anyone else lol.

But come'on I mean you said "Discuss" so..you're going to get alternating opinions directly related to either agreeing or challenging what you told us to talk about. Don't then bang on us because we discussed - you told us to! LOL

(and I add in the laughs because its a true comment but still in a teasing way, not wanting anyoen to get all pissy and offended because I expressed myself back lol - if you don't want a discussion then don't ask just say "i'm ranting and tha'ts the end of it"! =D)

[Akrion]

Right, to both the posters above -

First off. to quote you. 'This is not an attack', but your posts where utterly pointless in some ways.

First off I think I made it clear (maybe not) that this is, once again, my own opinion.

Thus. yes. It IS me.

I think I stated a thousand times over that this is just MY opinion, and that you may expand upon it.

Also HATE - I admit, is a bit too far. I disagree on them in MOST cases. But I do not go on witchhunts, 'burning' the players for making them! Infact the most I've ever done is when someone has gone WAY out of line, I ask them why.

Yes, I admit, as one of you said, that Fixszorx fits into one or more of the criteria above. But I have recently been thinking of renovating the character a bit. But then again - someone will always have something against another character. No matter how small.

I personally do not HAVE alot of people to go off of |: No one speaks to me. I hardly have any 'friends' ingame save for three people, two of which I hardly see on.

I am not givng any flak to you two, you are two of my favorate posters

After all :/ I'm always wrong, aren't I?

I'm sorry, but I find this all a bit "pointless". Let me quote a previous post of yours:

Discuss.

DISCUSS.

DISCUSS!

...? If you're looking only for people that agree with your opinion and to "Discuss" only in terms of agreement with what you originally posted, then that ultimately goes against the entire meaning of the word, which is "to consider or examine by argument, comment, etc.; talk over or write about, especially to explore solutions; debate".

If you're going to find the opinions of others pointless, than discussion is all together pointless.

[Shinkuu]

(1) immune to all pain for a horrible reason and simply continue entire conversations or fully ignore the fact their own body is being mangled, (2) characters that are emotionally unstable simply because 'LOL DER LIEK DAT' and with no proper explanation, keep some consistancy. Your character cannot always be a sarcastic douchemonkey then suddendly become ultrasad without a proper reason, or overly joyful for the slightest reason. (3) Characters that constantly, CONSTANTLY dodge. Or should I say their PLAYERS? Power-emoting is NOT fun, no matter WHAT the reason is. Follow my HAPPY RULE OF FAIR ATTEMPTING! and simply make a maximum of 3 dodges/nulls/attempted spellcasts before you stop and let the other have a hit/allow them to cast something on you/drop a bucket of water on you.

I can handle and understand (1) without much problem... You can get very desensitized. However, if they are bleeding to death or the like it should eventually have the proper ill effects.

I would add (4) characters who Believe/Play that casting a spell takes no time whatsoever when in-game it takes much more time to cast than to swing (aside from ability spells mind you).

The rest I am in decent agreement with.

[Shinkuu]

Right, to both the posters above -

First off. to quote you. 'This is not an attack', but your posts where utterly pointless in some ways.

First off I think I made it clear (maybe not) that this is, once again, my own opinion.

Thus. yes. It IS me.

I think I stated a thousand times over that this is just MY opinion, and that you may expand upon it.

Also HATE - I admit, is a bit too far. I disagree on them in MOST cases. But I do not go on witchhunts, 'burning' the players for making them! Infact the most I've ever done is when someone has gone WAY out of line, I ask them why.

Yes, I admit, as one of you said, that Fixszorx fits into one or more of the criteria above. But I have recently been thinking of renovating the character a bit. But then again - someone will always have something against another character. No matter how small.

I personally do not HAVE alot of people to go off of |: No one speaks to me. I hardly have any 'friends' ingame save for three people, two of which I hardly see on.

I am not givng any flak to you two, you are two of my favorate posters

After all :/ I'm always wrong, aren't I?

I am gathering that the first part of this is trying to indicated that the disclaimer about it not being an attack is pointless because you feel it ends up being an attack on your views? Not sure what you are trying to say there but I feel it did not translate too well sadly.

I am curious as to who you consider to be those who talk to you. It seems a number of us on the boards here talk to you. I do not see you much in-game but I think that is because of time zone issues. (Though I used to see you a bit... What changed?)

Not to be mean but I think you have trouble with getting more folks involved with you in general is that you come off as thinking in too many directions at once (a bit scattered in your thoughts) and tend to be quick to criticize people for how they do things which generally does not make them eager to deal with you. Not saying you need to change anything just shedding some light on the subject considering I would guess you do not generally see it for yourself.

Also on a general note about "Dislike" that you have for others or what others do: There is a bit of ancient philosophy that tells us that we often pick up on negative aspects of others the most when we share those aspects. So if you constantly see things in others you do not like and it is the same sort of things you may be wise to take a close look at yourself and be certain that you do not also either A) Do the same things/have the same traits or B) Have a strong desire to do the same things that you are holding back to your own frustration. Others are often a Mirror of the Self. Dunno if that helps any but there it is...

Even more helpful though is something my Communications Professor taught me which has been a relationship saver and generally extremely important: "You are never mad for the reason you THINK you are." This goes super doubly so for Online things. You or others who are ticked off are probably mad because of a whole lot of other reasons, possibly all ganging up, and are just using the most recent annoyance as the trigger or excuse to go off. If you/they take time to sit back and really think about all the things causing them stress and making them upset then you/they will realize that the root of the anger is usually anything but what you initially thought it was and maybe you can actually deal with it or at least get it off your chest so you do not need to blow up on others.

I know I got waaay off topic to an extent but we were talking about Hating things and Opinions... Just hoping that could be helpful.

[LOVWYRM]

*nods to Shin* all so true

I only want to add that communication will always fail
if the people think other than:
"You are ok- I am ok"

you can discuss a subject most controversialy-
if you follow that rule- noone will feel he/she has lost in the end.

But if you discuss or dispute in
"I am not ok- you are ok" or "I am ok- you are not ok"- mod
its always a loose/loose result.

"I am ok-you are ok" is always win/win.