Combat Master's Report, July 7th, 2013

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Combat Master's Report, July 7th, 2013

Greetings all,

Welcome to another Combat Master report! In today's issue, we've got the results of my Aspects competition and an introduction to Disciplines!

Aspects Competition

First of all, I wanted to say thank you to everyone that submitted! A dozen members submitted from all the units in the Brotherhood, and I am appreciative of everyone's effort! I decided I would take this time to highlight the top Aspects, and also add a little commentary on why I liked them, and what future Aspect-writers can learn from these particular examples. If you'd like to get feedback on your specific Aspects, please email me - I received a total of over 120 different Aspects, and in order not to exclude anyone, I did not type up commentary for each one. I received quite a few high-quality Aspects, and I ended up with a tie for third place!

First place: JH Rathus Marr Rathus Marr's first place entry is: (General) Dirty Rotten Scoundrel: CHARACTER is a master of the 'tricks of the trade' - the cheating and stealing trade, that is. With a certain propensity and natural talent for stealth and thievery, CHARACTER is a professional when it comes to crimes, from minor to major. Sometimes it is as simple as a few more favorable cards in a hand to a set of sticky fingers to something as big as a heist. Either way, CHARACTER knows HIS/HER way around a job. However, everyone is bound to get caught eventually, and reputations have a way of finding a way to bite you in the rear. . . not to mention those looking to extract a little vengeance.

Rathus' entry was one of many good entries he submitted, but this was my favorite. Not only does this entry touch on a bit of history and background of a character, it suggests possible fictional angles that a member can use to customize the Aspect through developing a more robust, unique character history in the future. It is "double edged" in that it is not universally positive, and it refers to potential skills without discussing ability in them (which is for the Skills part of the CS).

Second Place: DP Halcyon Rokir Taldrya (Combat) Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster by your side, kid. CHARACTER may wear a lightsaber at HIS/HER waist, but HE/SHE always goes for HIS/HER trusty blaster instead, preferring to shoot it out from range rather than trying to get in close and personal. Only as a last resort will HE/SHE go for HIS/HER lightsaber.

I absolutely love witty or Star Wars themed Aspect names, as they tend to be instantly recognizable, even without reading the Aspect itself. Note that not all combat Aspects need to have a huge downside - yet one could imagine where reluctance to engage in melee combat could come at a cost quite easily.

Third Place: TIE: JH Saronyx (General/Personality) Shiny! CHARACTER is mesmerized by anything shiny and can easily spot shiny objects from a distance. This makes HIM/HER good at finding things of importance, but HE/SHE may also be distracted by shiny things.

TIE: DJM Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor (Combat) Tonight, we dine in hell! CHARACTER possesses a single minded drive for victory, and a deep seeded martyr complex. When presented with a chance to wade into battle versus overwhelming odds, CHARACTER NAME does not hesistate, and instead rushes in, hoping on skill, fate or chance to let HIM/HER survive.

For both of these, there's a clear downside to each. I personally liked Shiny because uh, it kind of applies to me IRL, and believe me, it can be a downside. :P Tonight, we dine in hell! does a good job of showing a combat Aspect that doesn't need to deal directly with type of weapon used or the like, but more how the character would behave in combat situations. I think that's an important part of a really good combat Aspect, so I thought I'd highlight it!

Now, I'd also like to give an honorable mention to Wally, who narrowly came in fourth here, and to Chaos, who submitted 60 some aspects himself, most of which will be making it into the new CS tool shortly!

Disciplines

Disciplines are another key aspect of the Character Sheet. In past iterations of disciplines, they were tightly tied to Orders. That's not the case for this character sheet. Orders, instead, are more philosophical concepts in how one relates to the Force, and this is reflected in what they bring to the character sheet in terms of Force and Skill bonuses. Disciplines, on the other hand, are more like character archetypes (or classes from other games). Disciplines provide specific bonuses to a particular Skill or Force Power, while also providing a unique ability. Disciplines are meant to be specific enough that picking one gives you a good idea of what you might spend your points on, but open enough that you can experiment with different character concepts even within the same Discipline.

So today, we'll feature my favorite Discipline so far, and one that Wally has put a ton of work into, and that's the Assassin.

Assassins are more than mindless killers; they take their work seriously and view the act of taking a life as an art. Whether stalking from the shadows or blending into a crowd, an assassin’s mark never sees their death coming.

Assassins received the Granted Feats "Ghosting" and "Faceless." Ghosting augments Force Cloak, a Force Power on the character sheet. Faceless is a whole new ability that allows the Assassin to change his or her appearance. For each "Rank Tier" (Journeyman, Equite, Elder), Disciplines receive more advanced versions of these two Granted Feats. Let's take a look at the Journeyman levels of Ghosting and Faceless:

Journeyman Ghosting - *Blend *- One of the most important things for an assassin is to move unnoticed. As a Journeyman, the assassin knows how to blend into a crowd, using the basics of light, shadow, and color to augment Force Cloak, the assassin can move through a crowd and follow a target largely unnoticed by his or her target. The assassin is still visible on sensors and to the naked-eye if attention is drawn to him or her, and anyone with enough precognition through the Force could still sense his or her movements and approach.

Journeyman Faceless - Alter Feature - Staying incognito is key for any assassin. Even a Journeyman Assassin has the ability to alter one or two of their features with the Force. Even a change of eye color and the crook of a nose can help the Assassin avoid being recognized by an untrained eye. The effects can last over the course of half a day, but then would need to be re-applied before the power fizzles out.

Force Cloak normally prohibits movement, so Blend allows the Journeyman Assassin a bit of a perk compared to others - but of course, it has it's limitations, and the power of this ability is based on the level of Force Cloak on the Assassin's character sheet. Alter Feature itself draws upon the rank of the user, and difficulty at detecting such Altered Features is based upon the rank of the Assassin.

Wally, Atyiru, and Gryffon have all contributed heavily to our current lineup of Disciplines. The Assassin is just the tip of the iceberg; we've also got several more coming along that will be available once the new Character Sheets go live soon!

TL;DR

-Tons of Aspects were submitted -Congrats to Rathus, Halc, Saronyx, and Yacks! -Disciplines are cool and help to define a character archetype. -Assassins are one discipline, and they gain the ability to move under some circumstances while Force Cloaked, as well as modify physical features. Pretty cool stuff!

Good job to all who submitted those Aspects. It's good to see the new CSs getting a lot of attention :)

I see there are currently five Disciplines on the staging site, down the track will there me more to choose from, or the possibility to create custom ones (like Aspects?)

The site hasn't been updated yet with what we've been working on, as far as I know. The Disciplines will be set and because of their nature (of creating and balancing the unique perks) will probably not be available for open customization. Through your aspects and skill-placement, you build your character uniquely regardless.

I'm sure Mav will be open to ideas, but we did add a 6th discipline that is being tweaked as we speak and balanced.

Thank you to everyone who submitted for the Aspects :)

-w

Loving the Assassin stuff!

Is the mando stuff gonna read "Arcona by the force" forever or will it change to the members unit? Not all Mandalorians are Arconan :P

Roxas: Much of that stuff will change by unit. The staging site allows us to specify tags that will be replaced by membership things like rank, unit, sex, etc.

Solari: I am open to new disciplines, and if you have your heart set on something, you can send me an email about it, but we will not allow custom Discipline design at any point in the foreseeable future.

Great to see the regular updates, and awesome report all around; Mav.

Along the same lines as Solari, will there be disciplines added specific to the light side (making use of both the Pathway selection I understand the new site has included as well as the Light Side Orders revamp that Drodik had been proposing) as well as disciplines for members wishing to no be force sensitive (an option I see mentioned in the current form of the Path selection tool)?

Strictly speaking, non of the current disciplines are "dark" or "light", more just a description of how a character prefers to fit (though the descriptions and names could be seen as dark, yes I know some of them specifically mention the dark side and force lightning, but this is all just display text.)

Perhaps it'd be possible to tweak the names and descriptions depending on path (while the underlying discipline is the same)

Using ToR equivalents may get tricky as they could overlap with Jedi ranks/orders which would cause confusion.

All options and possibilities, feedback always good. What's in a name? :P

I don't like having Dark or Light differences with Discipline. if we do that, we'd need to make a third option for "Greydi".

An assassin is an assassin, weather they believe in the Jedi Code, or the Sith Code (or neither, for that matter). A sorcerer can be a just and righteous being who lives to serve others, but when provoked can invoke Force Lightning. A Dark Jedi can use healing the same way that a Jedi can.

The paths are there, and have different names. Same thing with ranks. I understand all of that. I will say I think trying to rename each of the disciplines with light sided options is counter-intuitive to our overall goal with the CSs.

The concept is that YOU build your character the way you want. We provide all the tools for a layout, but you ultimately get to create and shape your character.

Just my .02.

-w

"The concept is that YOU build your character the way you want. We provide all the tools for a layout, but you ultimately get to create and shape your character. " <

That's great, and what I think most would want out of the new ACC. However, how can individuals do this if the tools are particularly one sided in tone?

My understanding, these disciplines are tools/resources for us to cater a perception of who our characters are. However, how can it be accepting of the entire audience of this club then without either a neutral tone in the definitions or at least a two-side description that is dependent on the path selected?

I would disagree that there are Jedi assassins,

oops, comment fail right there :P

I would disagree that there are Jedi assassins, though I do get that there would be more from the CS offered to define and describe the character; simply because Jedi aren't killers. Certainly they would have blood on their hands, but to what propose would they need to be silent killers or even comfortable with taking life as this discipline would suggest?

Frankly, I am not opposed to a neutral stance for the disciplines that both Jedi/Sith use; but I do wonder if separate disciplines would better save the complex needs of both sides and lessen arguments like this in the future ;P

I disagree with Raiju. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Shadow mostly because Jedi can be seen as killers in certain circumstances. Killers, not KILL EVERYTHING-psychos like most people view every Sith to be.

I agreed with that last sentence, Kazmir, hence the reference to Jedi certainly have their own share of blood on their hands. And that's the thing, perspective is key.

Its not that I think Jedi don't kill, they certainly do; what I argue is the nature is different than an assassin who is a cold murderer. Looking at the staging site, I agree with what Solari said that they definitions are pretty neutral and that's what I was hoping for. I guess I am just stuck on the title and its association.

So...I see you presenting the idea, but it would be a bit more helpful to the staff, just from my POV as someone who hasn't really been paying much attention to the bickering really, instead of just saying "Do this because this." Why not, instead of just saying you want it to be like how you want it, offer names for the Light Side to help persuade them onto your side, and help them with their job.

hah if you come to the DB and think this^ has been "bickering"; you're gonna have a bad time <3 conversations and debates are how the DB evolves. As Solari points out, feedback is always good.

To clarify, I am not attacking the people involved or the work they have done, I wish I had said sooner that I am thankful for the progression the ACC is having and I really appreciate the work those involved have done. If anything you should see my comments as a passion for what is coming and an excitement to use it.

Nonetheless, you give a good point about giving more constructive feedback and if the ACC staff would like those suggestions I am open to seeing what I can do.

Raiju, I happen to know for a fact that the CM is usually willing to listen to more ideas about this sorta thing, and is keen on bringing more people in to help on the CS project. While debates are good, on Comment Posts they're next to pointless.

I'd suggest putting the concerns/ideas you have into an email and firing em off to Mav

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