Character Creation

## Overall Balance

A variety of unique ideas and characters are allowed on the Dark Souls Heir to the Throne RP server, but for the sake of some semblance of balance, a limit to how powerful a character can be had to be added. To this end, characters are for the most part divided into one of three architypes when balance is being considered: Martials, Half Casters, and Full Casters.

### Martials

Martials are spell light, often completely casting characters. They are allowed to have a large amount of weapons of near any power, great shields, heavy armor, ect. They tradeoff to this that martials are heavily limited in magic, at very best having two attunement slots, depending on how strong the rest of their gear is. a ds1 martial can have a max casting stat of 15, while ds3 martials can have a casting stat no higher then 10.

### Half Casters

Half casters can have up to medium armor, as well as either somewhat strong weapon or a middling/weak weapon and a shield. Spell wise, they can have up to four attunement slots, with the maximum casting stat of 30 in DS1. DS3 half casters have a lower max casting stat, that being 20.

### Full Casters

Full casters can only wear light armor or clothing and can carry only a middling/weak weapon. They have eight to ten attunement slots depending on their armor/weapon choice, and between 50-60 as their casting stat in ds1, depending, again, on their armor/weapons chosen. In ds3, their casting stat is equal to 40.

## Basic Information

### Name/Nickname

These refer to what your character is named, and what they are often called. I should be remembered that most nicknames are based on in-jokes, embarrassing stories, abbreviations of one's actual name or or physical attributes, rather then accomplishments or feats of strength.

## Appearance/Armor

### Appearance

Much like in the Darksouls games, one's physical appearance does not affect how a character plays, unless they have some sort of physical impairment like a lost limb. Still, it is asked that one maintain a height and hair color that is realistic for your chosen species (EG, humans not having purple hair, thralls not being 6'1", ect). On the topic of height, then while tall characters aren't necessarily discouraged, making a character *far* taller then the average of its race will earn the ire of the staff, and likely will not be allowed unless their supreme height is important to the backstory of the character.

### Armor

Apart from boss armor, one can wear pretty much whatever armor from the darksouls franchise one desires, as long as said armor is either easily accessible, or your character has a lore reason to be wearing it. Additionally, one wear create homebrew armor, as long as said homebrew is not character specific. Likewise, one can wear previously approved homebrew armor, or simply an armor set with the exact same stats as one from the darksouls franchise, but with a different appearance. For how armor works mechanically in this server, Please check armor Mechanics.

## Abilities/Skills

### Unique Abilities

Abilities are what distinguishes a character from their compatriots, something special about them that usually only they can do. as such, attempting to explain what sort of abilities are normal is difficult, though they can often be broken down into categories of a sort:

#### Special Techniques

Some abilities are pure combat skill rather then some innate quality, especially on pure martials. examples of these might be the capacity to throw throwing knives mid roll, being able to parry attacks coming from being one's self, or being able to knock physical projectiles out of the air with one's weapon.

#### Blessings/Curses

These are alterations given to a person by usually a god or the abyss; while blessings are almost always fully positive, those touched by the abyss might be deformed or have additional weaknesses as well. examples of blessings/curses would be growing a large abyssal arm, being blessed with the ability to cast miracles without a catalyst, or even having been gifted/cursed with wings.

#### Biological Quirks

As the saying goes, some people are just born different. Biological quirks often apply to non human creatures, acting as an extension or addendum to their racial abilities. examples of this might be an M unit/crossbreed having crystal-kinesis, an treant having extra strong arm whip attacks, or a Gru having some sort of massive leap ability.

#### Tools of the Trade

Some characters have an ability linked to their profession, them having gained so much skill in their field that they have gained some sort of ability due to it. Examples: A doctor being able to target weak points or diagnose any disease/ailment, A smith being able to forge golems or tech, a Librarian knowing where any given sorcery can be found and how to counteract them, ect.

### Standard Abilities

While unique abilities are encouraged, then abilities often fall into some basic trends. as such, shown here are some of those trends, and the precedented balancing for said abilities.

#### Minion/Summon

A singular minion usually has 500 hp, a melee attack that deals around 300 dmg, and is either fast and thus able to dodge attacks (EG a wolf) or has a relatively basic shield. these base stats can be altered, heightened via giving the summon/minion preeminent weaknesses, or lowered for the benefit of the minion having some sort of ability.

#### Rage Boost

Some characters have an alternate form, or can simply deal more damage via getting really angry. These forms usually fall into one of two categories: Limited, and unlimited. Limited Rage boosts only buff a character for a certain period of time, and have limited uses per battle or bonfire rest. These usually have around \_\_\_\_ uses, and buff damage by around \_\_%. Unlimited boosts can usually be turned on and off, but otherwise have unlimited uses/durations. These usually only buff damage by around 10%, unless some sort of drawback is introduced (EG, taking more damage in said form), in which case the damage increase can be blustered further, the exact amount depending on how severe the drawback is.

#### AOE Buff

This is similar to rage boost, but affecting all allies nearby. consequently, the buffs given are usually lesser, and always limited in duration and amount of uses. The buffs could heal, increase damage, increase absorption, or any other affect, though usually by only a factor of 10%, assuming a duration of five rounds and only three uses per bonfire rest.

#### Extra Spells/Armor/equipment

Some characters have abilities that simply allow them to bend the rules stated in Overall Balance. Examples of this would be half/full casters being allowed to wear armor one category better then what they are usually allowed to wear, half/full casters getting more or better weapons then they would usually be allowed to have (two additional weapons, or a weapon one tier better then what they're usually allowed to have), or half casters/Martials getting more or higher quality spells then they would normally be allowed to have (two additional attunement slots, or +6 to their casting stat.)

#### Copied Ability

Some characters have abilities similar to those of a singular racial ability not of their own race. Keep in mind that if a character is to have such an ability, there must be a lore reason why they have it.