Cosmographia Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wearethecrystalmods) wrote2015-12-08 03:37 pm
wearethecrystalmods) wrote2015-12-08 03:37 pm
Entry tags:
Power FAQ
☆ Character Powers - The Basics
All characters, upon entering Cosmographia, have their canon powers removed. They are turned into Gems, their bodies become projections around their gems, and whatever mechanics their existing abilities worked on are canceled out.
For the duration of their stay in Cosmographia, they will possess Gem magic. Gem magic, like everything else about a Gem, comes from...their gem. Each Gem has specific abilities through which their magic manifests, such as hydrokinesis, levitation, generating heat or fire, creating barriers, and more. These abilities are generally limited by two things; the Gem's raw power output, and their conscious control over drawing out and directing the magic.
Player characters' raw power output - their total potential - will increase as they remain in the game and submit power requests. Their conscious control over those powers - both in accessing them to begin with, and then controlling when and how their powers activate - is up to the player to play as they wish. Control of powers can reflect emotional state and/or be used to drive character development. Characters are not required to discover that they have a power or gain full control over it as soon as they OOCly receive it.
☆ Default Powers - Weapon Summon
As described in the general information, every character possesses one basic weapon type that can be "drawn" from their gem. These weapons, like a Gems' body, are a sort of projection; they have mass, but can be "dismissed" out of existence, or will vanish if dropped and left alone for a while. They have no extra powers of their own (for example, being on fire) besides being a physical object with whatever innate qualities that physical object has.
These weapons can be absolutely anything, from a sword to a shield to something not conventionally used as a weapon. By default, there is a single "form" of a character's chosen weapon that can be manifested - characters can modify their weapon summoning ability (for example, to summon larger versions, or give their weapon a fire/electrical/etc effect) via a standard power upgrade request.
Characters' default weapon does not have to match up to a weapon affinity they possess in canon; this extends to SU canon characters, who aren't required to have their original weapon, or, for that matter, stick to their original power set.
☆ Default Powers - Shapeshifting
As described in the general information, characters can temporarily change their physical form. Shapeshifting can be a difficult power to use, and of all Gem abilities, it's the one that Gems are most likely to just have a natural affinity for/aversion to.
Shapeshifting is shown to be limited by the effort different forms take to maintain. It's a lot like standing on one leg - you can do it for a while, but at some point you have to put your leg down, and at that point it might hurt and you'll have trouble keeping your balance if you try it again. Shapeshifting that drastically changes a Gem's form (for example, becoming much bigger or smaller) or adds a lot of complexity to their form requires much more effort and skill and is much more tiring than small, cosmetic changes. If a Gem's ability to shapeshift is exhausted, they'll "snap back" to their default form. And if a Gem attempts to force their shapeshifting too far beyond their limits, they may lose control of it, cause damage to their default form, or even poof themselves.
Note that shapeshifting is not a good substitute for natively possessing a power - for example, being able to fly/float vs. shapeshifting a pair of wings. This is mainly because shapeshifting can be very difficult to maintain, especially while focused on other tasks. Shapeshifting is not a permanent transformation, the way changing one's default form after being poofed is - it takes focus and energy to hold, and major physical changes can become even more draining even faster if a Gem's attention is divided.
☆ Default Powers - Containment Bubbles
...There honestly isn't much more to say than was said on the general info page. To be thorough: Gems can create small barrier bubbles in the color of their gem, to enclose an object they want to preserve. These bubbles pop if handled roughly, but can keep their contents in suspended animation, preventing organic material from decaying. They can also be teleported to a "home" location, making them the method of choice for containing and gathering up corrupted Gems.
☆ Unique Powers
Okay, now we're getting into the fun stuff.
Powers can be just about anything. Browse characters' permission pages from the Players & Characters list for an idea of what Gems can do! We just have a couple of power types that are blanket-banned, mostly for playability reasons:
Characters receive one unique power when they enter the game, chosen from the three listed on their app. After that, they can receive new unique powers by submitting one piece of event participation per new power.
"Unique" powers are specified because event participation can also be used to upgrade powers. Players are encouraged to give their characters' powerset a theme by starting with a simple base power and upgrading it into multiple similar, improved powers. (For example; a character could start with the simple ability to produce flame from their hand, then upgrade it to pyrokinesis, manipulation of fireball "minions", and setting objects on fire from a distance.)
Unique powers, both in the app and requested via event participation, should be simple, basic beginner powers. It's hard to quantify what a "basic" power is, but you can look at what other players have done for ideas.
☆ Power Upgrades
Power upgrades, like establishing a new unique power, cost one piece of event participation. Upgrades can be:
☆ Power Retcons
If you want to trade an existing power for a new unique power, you can use participation from two different events to do so. Think carefully before requesting a power! Like with other power requests, each event can only be redeemed once, so retconning a power "uses up" twice as much participation as adding or upgrading powers does.
☆ Item Regains
Participation from one event can be used to regain a small (as in, portable) item from home. The item will be stripped of any magical powers it possesses. Characters do not deliberately ask or wish for these items; they will appear spontaneously, in a manner mods will describe when granting the request. The item can be anything from the character's source world.
Characters can also regain pets in the same manner by turning in two events' worth of participation. Like an item, the pet will arrive in Waverly Bay stripped of any powers it possessed, and it can't be any larger than a horse. (Larger pets may be regainable if you're really, really dedicated; talk to mods to see how many events a specific pet will require.) There are a couple of extra conditions on pets, too; first, rather than just being from the character's world, the pet must have specifically belonged to the character. Second, the pet must not be appable as its own character. An average Pokemon character's Pokemon is about the upper bound of eligibility for a pet regain. If you're unsure about a possible pet regain, hit us up on this post to ask for a mod opinion.
☆ Answers to Other Assorted Questions
Event participation doesn't need to be redeemed immediately; it can be held onto until you have an idea of what you want.
Powers not just not manifesting correctly, but going wildly out of control, is definitely a thing that can happen and you may play that out or pitch player plots along those lines if you think it's appropriate for your character. Any spikes in raw power output that happen during something like this must normalize when the character gains conscious control of the power.
The page where you can request powers, upgrades, and regains is right here!
Got any questions related to powers? You can ask them here on this post.
All characters, upon entering Cosmographia, have their canon powers removed. They are turned into Gems, their bodies become projections around their gems, and whatever mechanics their existing abilities worked on are canceled out.
For the duration of their stay in Cosmographia, they will possess Gem magic. Gem magic, like everything else about a Gem, comes from...their gem. Each Gem has specific abilities through which their magic manifests, such as hydrokinesis, levitation, generating heat or fire, creating barriers, and more. These abilities are generally limited by two things; the Gem's raw power output, and their conscious control over drawing out and directing the magic.
Player characters' raw power output - their total potential - will increase as they remain in the game and submit power requests. Their conscious control over those powers - both in accessing them to begin with, and then controlling when and how their powers activate - is up to the player to play as they wish. Control of powers can reflect emotional state and/or be used to drive character development. Characters are not required to discover that they have a power or gain full control over it as soon as they OOCly receive it.
☆ Default Powers - Weapon Summon
As described in the general information, every character possesses one basic weapon type that can be "drawn" from their gem. These weapons, like a Gems' body, are a sort of projection; they have mass, but can be "dismissed" out of existence, or will vanish if dropped and left alone for a while. They have no extra powers of their own (for example, being on fire) besides being a physical object with whatever innate qualities that physical object has.
These weapons can be absolutely anything, from a sword to a shield to something not conventionally used as a weapon. By default, there is a single "form" of a character's chosen weapon that can be manifested - characters can modify their weapon summoning ability (for example, to summon larger versions, or give their weapon a fire/electrical/etc effect) via a standard power upgrade request.
Characters' default weapon does not have to match up to a weapon affinity they possess in canon; this extends to SU canon characters, who aren't required to have their original weapon, or, for that matter, stick to their original power set.
☆ Default Powers - Shapeshifting
As described in the general information, characters can temporarily change their physical form. Shapeshifting can be a difficult power to use, and of all Gem abilities, it's the one that Gems are most likely to just have a natural affinity for/aversion to.
Shapeshifting is shown to be limited by the effort different forms take to maintain. It's a lot like standing on one leg - you can do it for a while, but at some point you have to put your leg down, and at that point it might hurt and you'll have trouble keeping your balance if you try it again. Shapeshifting that drastically changes a Gem's form (for example, becoming much bigger or smaller) or adds a lot of complexity to their form requires much more effort and skill and is much more tiring than small, cosmetic changes. If a Gem's ability to shapeshift is exhausted, they'll "snap back" to their default form. And if a Gem attempts to force their shapeshifting too far beyond their limits, they may lose control of it, cause damage to their default form, or even poof themselves.
Note that shapeshifting is not a good substitute for natively possessing a power - for example, being able to fly/float vs. shapeshifting a pair of wings. This is mainly because shapeshifting can be very difficult to maintain, especially while focused on other tasks. Shapeshifting is not a permanent transformation, the way changing one's default form after being poofed is - it takes focus and energy to hold, and major physical changes can become even more draining even faster if a Gem's attention is divided.
☆ Default Powers - Containment Bubbles
...There honestly isn't much more to say than was said on the general info page. To be thorough: Gems can create small barrier bubbles in the color of their gem, to enclose an object they want to preserve. These bubbles pop if handled roughly, but can keep their contents in suspended animation, preventing organic material from decaying. They can also be teleported to a "home" location, making them the method of choice for containing and gathering up corrupted Gems.
☆ Unique Powers
Okay, now we're getting into the fun stuff.
Powers can be just about anything. Browse characters' permission pages from the Players & Characters list for an idea of what Gems can do! We just have a couple of power types that are blanket-banned, mostly for playability reasons:
- direct mind reading on Gems/player characters (Difficult to do in RP and infomoddy.)Powers similar to but less game-breaking than these, like empathy/emotion-reading, may be accepted, but if players are found abusing such powers to infomod other players, the power will be revoked and the player will be given a strike.
- mind control on Gems/player characters (VERY infomoddy.)
- future sight (VERY difficult to do in RP.)
- time travel, duration beyond "flash-step" style (VERY VERY DIFFICULT to do in RP.)
- powers directly influencing life or death/which feature "death" as an element, ie necromancy/"instant death" (Conflicts with game tone/theme/mechanics.)
Characters receive one unique power when they enter the game, chosen from the three listed on their app. After that, they can receive new unique powers by submitting one piece of event participation per new power.
"Unique" powers are specified because event participation can also be used to upgrade powers. Players are encouraged to give their characters' powerset a theme by starting with a simple base power and upgrading it into multiple similar, improved powers. (For example; a character could start with the simple ability to produce flame from their hand, then upgrade it to pyrokinesis, manipulation of fireball "minions", and setting objects on fire from a distance.)
Unique powers, both in the app and requested via event participation, should be simple, basic beginner powers. It's hard to quantify what a "basic" power is, but you can look at what other players have done for ideas.
☆ Power Upgrades
Power upgrades, like establishing a new unique power, cost one piece of event participation. Upgrades can be:
- Improvements to a power's range, magnitude, or quantity. (Examples: extending effective range of hydrokinesis or total amount of water that can be manipulated, increasing number of manipulable objects/familiars that can be summoned at once.)Power upgrades will sometimes be awarded through methods other than the Power Request page; for example, the reward for participating in the July 2016 event was an upgrade that improved the precision of any power, in addition to the standard power request characters could claim by turning in event threads.
- Improvements to a power's precision. (Examples: pyrokinesis capable of being used simply to generate heat and not actual flames.)
- Extensions of a power's applications or execution. (Examples: modifying a basic electrical shock power into an ability to create electric force fields.)
- Expansions on a theme. (Examples: character with rain-related powers gaining snow-related versions of those powers.)
- Basically, anything that can be justified as an "upgrade" of an existing power.
☆ Power Retcons
If you want to trade an existing power for a new unique power, you can use participation from two different events to do so. Think carefully before requesting a power! Like with other power requests, each event can only be redeemed once, so retconning a power "uses up" twice as much participation as adding or upgrading powers does.
☆ Item Regains
Participation from one event can be used to regain a small (as in, portable) item from home. The item will be stripped of any magical powers it possesses. Characters do not deliberately ask or wish for these items; they will appear spontaneously, in a manner mods will describe when granting the request. The item can be anything from the character's source world.
Characters can also regain pets in the same manner by turning in two events' worth of participation. Like an item, the pet will arrive in Waverly Bay stripped of any powers it possessed, and it can't be any larger than a horse. (Larger pets may be regainable if you're really, really dedicated; talk to mods to see how many events a specific pet will require.) There are a couple of extra conditions on pets, too; first, rather than just being from the character's world, the pet must have specifically belonged to the character. Second, the pet must not be appable as its own character. An average Pokemon character's Pokemon is about the upper bound of eligibility for a pet regain. If you're unsure about a possible pet regain, hit us up on this post to ask for a mod opinion.
☆ Answers to Other Assorted Questions
Event participation doesn't need to be redeemed immediately; it can be held onto until you have an idea of what you want.
Powers not just not manifesting correctly, but going wildly out of control, is definitely a thing that can happen and you may play that out or pitch player plots along those lines if you think it's appropriate for your character. Any spikes in raw power output that happen during something like this must normalize when the character gains conscious control of the power.
The page where you can request powers, upgrades, and regains is right here!
Got any questions related to powers? You can ask them here on this post.
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Would their intangibility that they have in canon count as a power since they're a ghost, or could I instead make it so that they don't have control over their incorporeal...ness and I need to eventually get them a power to be able to control whether or not they're tangible?
Also, would their acid tears count as a weapon along the lines of Lapis' hydrokinesis?
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The acid tears would not count as a weapon, however, and would have to be regained as their own power.
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eeeee sasasul
As far as biological "abilities" go, the line is kind of perforated, especially since there are plenty of canons that pass off exceptional abilities as having an innate, biological basis. The litmus test boils down to three questions:
1) Is this "biological ability" possible in reality, or does it rely on biological mechanics that don't fit the logic of Cosmographia's world?
2) Is this "biological ability" fair to other players?
3) Does having this "biological ability" interfere with the character adapting and coming to rely on their Gem powers?
Here's an example: if you're not familiar with Tokyo Ghoul, "ghouls" in that universe are humanoids who have a lot of special cells in them that allow them to, among other things, sprout a kind of tentacle weapon thing. Even though it's part of their fundamental biology, it fails all three questions; it relies on mechanics of "biology" that aren't realistic, it effectively gives characters an extra starting power, and it's something characters could fall back on instead of learning how to handle their default Gem weapon.
The second and third ones are mostly what we're concerned about. Cosmographia is a game about characters becoming Gems; characters aren't required to follow any specific development arc, but there should be a sense of them identifying more and more with their magic and less and less with their physical form, generally speaking, as the game goes on. As long as powers are played with in ways that fit the game's premise and respect other players (ie no powergaming), we're not going to nitpick too hard.
aww you recognize her! :D
In this case I think my bird would keep all his bird abilities, but that's pretty useful information.
Are characters physically stronger as Gems or is that a power? Do characters come in with any of the items that were on their person? If they come in with clothes are those now part of the projection and their form? Is shapeshifting new clothes simpler than changing form, like the show implied that time? Are shapeshifters restricted to the color palettes they came in with?
...I love the show and am pretty thrilled there's an RP.
i (mod holo) made an account for her years ago and proceeded to never touch it
1) Stronger? Moderately. This is one of those things that players aren't required to do*, but Gems can be at "pretty dang strong" levels by default. Leaving "pretty dang strong" and moving into "super-humanly strong" is where you'd spend a power on it, in the interest of fairness.
* Like a lot of Gem powers where bodies are concerned, there's a lot of ways to play it. Characters can realize their powers immediately and have to adapt to them, or they can be limited by what they expect of themselves and have to work for their Gem abilities.
2) Items? No. They come in only with...
3) Clothes? ...whatever on their body can be considered part of their appearance, and thus would be part of the projection. Refer to canon for how Gems interact with projected clothing.
4) Shifting clothes? It can be. If a character is decent at shapeshifting, chances are they'll find non-structural details like clothes easiest to do, but characters that have trouble with shapeshifting as a whole might still struggle with it. This is another one you can play as is appropriate for your character.
5) Color palettes? Nah - part of the setting gimmick is that PC gems do not look like the standard of their gem type - but if you want to do it to be cute, go ahead.
Some of these questions were things that were on the old info pages but were forgotten in the rewrite, thanks for catching them.
You're the reason I had to make a punny account name? I don't actually mind, I love those.
|D Every time I've been interested in a game I've had a zillion questions about it, most of them not applicable to whichever characters I pick. Would projected clothes be removable but poof? Would they heal if damaged?
...There is a small extra power the bird character has, and that's prehensile feathers that can work like fingers. They don't really make sense, but they don't actually function quite as well as real human hands and fingers except for fine light items like needles and paper. They're just there to make some dexterity possible with wings. Would that get to stay?
COULD BE...
1) Yeah. Think Garnet's visor - she can take it off, but if it were to get knocked far away it'd poof and she'd just make a new one.
2) I assume you're still talking about clothes? Yeah, they'll repair themselves over time like other superficial injuries.
3) Graspy wings are a-okay. They're a common enough cartoon conceit to not be considered a "power".
no subject
Julien was given a magic ring with various properties, including that it changed size to fit whoever considered putting it on, One Ring-style. He kept it on a necklace at someone else's finger size instead of ever putting it on.
As a Gem it's now a hologram and has no magic, but would it still adjust size as if to fit him?
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The ring will not unfortunately not adjust size to fit him unless he chose to upgrade it during an event.
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