Powers

[Bean Bandit]

Hmmm...

Plants, plants...

Two real avenues open, here.

First...What I mentioned earlier. The ability to mend and repair plant life, and encourage it's growth. This, I'm not so sure would be useful in game, but would be an awesome RP thing to play with.

Though, boosting it to higher levels would be fun if Makoto fights in a garden, or a forest. Prehensile vines, sinister trees, poisonous plants...

ANYWAY. I'll be honest. I'm not entirely sure where to go with the Plant EC. I can live with low levels, if I can boost area effects with EC if I need to. It's more an RP tool to play with than something I can actively exploit, I think.

As for Animals?

Talking to animals, even on a simply empathetic level would be awesome. Being able to convey intent and feelings and get agreement or sympathy or what have you on a sliding scale? That would rock.

At the lower levels, basic empathy. It would take some work, but the first two levels would be amount of accuracy in getting them to calm down, Understand me...persuade them to help, etc.  
Starting at level two-three? A bit of shamanism, being able borrow/duplicate strengths for brief moments, like the speed of a cat, Strength of a gorilla...(NO CRACKS, BASTARD. >_>)

And the final three levels would be gradual boosting of that.

As for preference?

Mostly electrical, as this seems to be the most versatile tool.

Animal next, in a smaller role. Very handy, but not necessarily as useful as a direct weapon.

The plant thing in a minor way. It's a useful talent, but unrelated to combat. If I can take a it as a small freebie to use later, and just generally RP with, I'd do that. >_>

[Anastasia]

Hmmm...

Plants, plants...

Two real avenues open, here.

First...What I mentioned earlier. The ability to mend and repair plant life, and encourage it's growth. This, I'm not so sure would be useful in game, but would be an awesome RP thing to play with.

Though, boosting it to higher levels would be fun if Makoto fights in a garden, or a forest. Prehensile vines, sinister trees, poisonous plants...

ANYWAY. I'll be honest. I'm not entirely sure where to go with the Plant EC. I can live with low levels, if I can boost area effects with EC if I need to. It's more an RP tool to play with than something I can actively exploit, I think.

Mmm. I do consider that as well, but...mm. Lemem mull that one over as well.

As for Animals?

Talking to animals, even on a simply empathetic level would be awesome. Being able to convey intent and feelings and get agreement or sympathy or what have you on a sliding scale? That would rock.

At the lower levels, basic empathy. It would take some work, but the first two levels would be amount of accuracy in getting them to calm down, Understand me...persuade them to help, etc.  
Starting at level two-three? A bit of shamanism, being able borrow/duplicate strengths for brief moments, like the speed of a cat, Strength of a gorilla...(NO CRACKS, BASTARD. >_>)

And the final three levels would be gradual boosting of that.

What, Makoto will turn into a shark like creature once per month? <_<

Reading these, if you do get them, I'd be inclined just to keep them at a low level, yeah. Past that...mm.

As for preference?

Mostly electrical, as this seems to be the most versatile tool.

Animal next, in a smaller role. Very handy, but not necessarily as useful as a direct weapon.

The plant thing in a minor way. It's a useful talent, but unrelated to combat. If I can take a it as a small freebie to use later, and just generally RP with, I'd do that. >_>

Electrical does seem to be the most likely and most useful, yeah. The others are nifty, but lesser abilities and spheres.

[Ebiris]

Oooh, lots to comment on.

In my defense, it was in a situation where the loss was comforted by gaining more EP than was used for it, and helping obtain the first part of the Silver Crystal. Finding and getting that hopefully isn't a temporary effect. Just sayin'.

I don't want to keep whining about this, but getting the crystal isn't something I needed to lose EP for. I could've whacked Miss Kannako over the head and looted it with no cost except to my conscience. It's like I got punished for doing a good deed, though.

Mmm. Something to consider, though I'd like to try to keep DCVs at least a little lower on the Senshi side this game. I'm inclined to give the baddies higher DCVs if anything as needed, since it's basically often 4/5 on 1. So...mm. I'm not so hot on a straight DCV boost, though I'm probably more receptive to other ideas.

Well, a straight barrier works, too. I kinda like Hotaru's idea, a lot, though. For mechanics, how about something that reduces the damage of all Dark/Evil energy attacks, while making Dark/Evil type beings suffer slightly increased damage from any source? If we want to get wacky, how about making any evil attacks suffer a critical failure if they fail by more than +2, rather than just on a 12, with guaranteed catastrophic results for the attacker?

I'm split here. On one hand, for Joe X. Youma, I don't have a huge problem with it. On the other hand, I don't want it used to fudge about serious NPCs or villians with just a roll, either. Suggestions?

It's kinda like making Purity an Emotional rather than an Elemental control, for that. It's not meant to cause life altering changes - that can only come through serious RPing. More to cause a moment of hesitation. But considering, I can just do that with Art of Distraction as written, with the added bonus that I don't even have to be sincere about it.

Lets just drop this one. Although I think Emotional effects are appropriate for Usagi's sphere. Something else to consider, I guess.

s you can tell, that's some pretty crazy fuckin' shit. The sort of stuff that breaks loose abilities and gives GMs those pressure headaches right where they count. Superpowered things, like stopping the electricity in a man's brain to kill him, or freezing his blood to ice. While I fully admit they're stylistically cool as hell, it's just a huge mess to deal with for a GM, and really rather broken. For the sake of balanced gaming and sanity for all concerned, I'll impose some common sense limits to keep sanity.

There's no reason at all we can't allow this, using the stat as written. Here's a little example I dreamed up...

Ami is fighting a youma with 60 HP, and really wants to kill it. Ami has EC at level 2.

<Ami> I'm gonna freeze its blood to ice!
<Anastasia> Okay, roll 2d6.
*Ami rolls and passes. Ana makes the youma roll DCV and it fails.*
<Anastasia> The youma suffers 10 damage, and now has a -1 penalty to init. Next round.
<Ami> I'm going to keep freezing it! Die, youma!
*Ami passes her roll, youma once more fails*
<Anastasia> A further 10 points of damage to the youma. Oh, and it just stabbed you with its razor sharp (and fairly cold) claws.
<Ami> Damn youma needs to learn some respect! Freeze, sucka!
*Ami fails her roll*
<Anastasia> Oooh, bad luck. Since the youma's a mammal, it recovers 5 HP as its body temperature stabilises, and loses the init penalty.
<Ami> This sucks! Now I'm going all out!
*Ami passes her roll and the youma fails*
<Anastasia> And it loses 10 HP all over again. And the same init penalty returns.
<Ami> Not letting up on the freezing!
*Ami passes her roll and the youma fails*
<Anastasia> The youma's really starting to feel the cold now. 10 more damage, and -1 to its CV.
*Ami repeats her success the next round*
<Anastasia> Another 10 damage. Poor youma's looking really stiff and frozen.
<Makoto> I come outta nowhere and smack it with a hammer!
*Makoto hits for 17 damage*
<Anastasia> (youma is now at 8 HP) The freezing youma is now very brittle and takes extra damage from the blunt trauma. It dies.

Of course, had Ami been lucky enough to get a 2-6 at any point, the youma would've gotten the instant death we so cherish. But that's kind of the point about freakishly lucky rolls.

Oh, I'm not arguing that at all. I am saying that based on everything that happened to that point, I didn't think she'd have used it. Granted, that was something of a worse case scenario, or nearly. I had expected her to stall a bit or even consider trying to run instead, as her position seemed pretty firm.

But hey, even the GM gets surprised. Quite often, as a fact.

EDIT - Running with Ami. I'm not saying she'd leave Ami-chan behind! We all love Ami-chan, right? RIGHT?!

I'm fast, but not strong. Carrying Ami would slow me to a brisk walk and allow Balder the chance to kill us both with one attack. Like Usagi said to Luna, she wouldn't consider using the crystal unless she had her back to the wall and was staring death in the face. That's pretty much where she was. And Hotaru makes an excellent point about Beck shrugging off regular Moon Restorations like water off a duck's back. It really was a dire situation with no readily apparent solution from my end.

[Anastasia]

Oooh, lots to comment on.

In my defense, it was in a situation where the loss was comforted by gaining more EP than was used for it, and helping obtain the first part of the Silver Crystal. Finding and getting that hopefully isn't a temporary effect. Just sayin'.

I don't want to keep whining about this, but getting the crystal isn't something I needed to lose EP for. I could've whacked Miss Kannako over the head and looted it with no cost except to my conscience. It's like I got punished for doing a good deed, though.

Heh, you're not whining, so don't worry about it. I was trying to illustrate many things -  Usagi helped cause a miracle, using her powers to both help Miss Kannako and draw for the Mystical Silver Crystal. It wasn't really meant as punishment, instead as something special Usagi did.

Mmm. Something to consider, though I'd like to try to keep DCVs at least a little lower on the Senshi side this game. I'm inclined to give the baddies higher DCVs if anything as needed, since it's basically often 4/5 on 1. So...mm. I'm not so hot on a straight DCV boost, though I'm probably more receptive to other ideas.

Well, a straight barrier works, too. I kinda like Hotaru's idea, a lot, though. For mechanics, how about something that reduces the damage of all Dark/Evil energy attacks, while making Dark/Evil type beings suffer slightly increased damage from any source? If we want to get wacky, how about making any evil attacks suffer a critical failure if they fail by more than +2, rather than just on a 12, with guaranteed catastrophic results for the attacker?

>_> That's more interesting to consider, yeah! <_< That gives me some ideas, perhaps a light dampening field?

I'm split here. On one hand, for Joe X. Youma, I don't have a huge problem with it. On the other hand, I don't want it used to fudge about serious NPCs or villians with just a roll, either. Suggestions?

It's kinda like making Purity an Emotional rather than an Elemental control, for that. It's not meant to cause life altering changes - that can only come through serious RPing. More to cause a moment of hesitation. But considering, I can just do that with Art of Distraction as written, with the added bonus that I don't even have to be sincere about it.

Lets just drop this one. Although I think Emotional effects are appropriate for Usagi's sphere. Something else to consider, I guess.[/quote]

That's fine for the moment. It's worth playing with a little down the line, anyway.

s you can tell, that's some pretty crazy fuckin' shit. The sort of stuff that breaks loose abilities and gives GMs those pressure headaches right where they count. Superpowered things, like stopping the electricity in a man's brain to kill him, or freezing his blood to ice. While I fully admit they're stylistically cool as hell, it's just a huge mess to deal with for a GM, and really rather broken. For the sake of balanced gaming and sanity for all concerned, I'll impose some common sense limits to keep sanity.[

There's no reason at all we can't allow this, using the stat as written. Here's a little example I dreamed up...<Snip>

Mmm. That's worth considering, but some of these effects feel more extreme - the brain electricity one, for example. I'm wary of going too far down a path like that, for various reasons.

Oh, I'm not arguing that at all. I am saying that based on everything that happened to that point, I didn't think she'd have used it. Granted, that was something of a worse case scenario, or nearly. I had expected her to stall a bit or even consider trying to run instead, as her position seemed pretty firm.

But hey, even the GM gets surprised. Quite often, as a fact.

EDIT - Running with Ami. I'm not saying she'd leave Ami-chan behind! We all love Ami-chan, right? RIGHT?!

I'm fast, but not strong. Carrying Ami would slow me to a brisk walk and allow Balder the chance to kill us both with one attack. Like Usagi said to Luna, she wouldn't consider using the crystal unless she had her back to the wall and was staring death in the face. That's pretty much where she was. And Hotaru makes an excellent point about Beck shrugging off regular Moon Restorations like water off a duck's back. It really was a dire situation with no readily apparent solution from my end.[/quote]

Fair enough. I just honestly thought you wouldn't have used it there, that's all, at least not for a little longer.

[Bean Bandit]

Fair enough. I just honestly thought you wouldn't have used it there, that's all, at least not for a little longer.

If you don't mind me askin', what was it you think she could have done? Even to me it looked like her options were spent, and she could either use it, or abandon Ami to Beck and Hightail it outta there.

[Ebiris]

Got another idea for purity EC for GM approval!

Pacifying Aura (or Aura of Serenity)
Usagi's such a nice girl. So charming and delightfully earnest, who could want to commit violence upon her?

Surprisingly, quite a lot of people, actually. But she can at least make it difficult for them. When in such a state as to radiate palpable niceness, even the coldest of hearts finds it difficult to avoid holding back just a little, no matter how determined to inflict pain.

When this is in effect, everyone around Usagi suffers a penalty to their ACV equal to her Elemental Control stat. Furthermore, any lethal blow will have its damage automatically reduced to non fatal levels unless the attacker passes a soul check.

This effect is constant so long as Usagi is herself inoffensive. Should she be an active participant in combat, it is negated completely - nobody likes a hypocrite.