Natural Abilities

**This page was formerly known as the Ars Arcanum, and has been renamed for clarity about what it contains. This article is about an advanced system, and does not need to be read before participating in Model Hogwarts unless you plan to apply for a natural ability immediately.**

Most magic in the wizarding world is available for anyone to learn, provided that they have the magical strength and experience. However, there are certain abilities that are far rarer, passed down through bloodlines or acquired by chance. On Model Hogwarts, these are called **natural abilities**.

Like any other token purchase, natural abilities are acquired by submitting an application using the Token Purchase Application Form. However, because natural abilities are so rare and unusually powerful, they are treated differently to other token purchases in a number of ways. Applications for these abilities tend to require more detail than other applications, and there are restrictions on when and how often they can be applied for. Additionally, each ability has very strictly defined power development, limits and drawbacks.

This wiki page contains all the rules specific to natural abilities and details about each one. A careful reading of this page is **essential** prior to applying for any of these abilities.

## Natural Ability Information

Natural abilities are special powers or abilities passed on in bloodlines or otherwise gained through circumstances outside of a character's control. Each natural ability has an associated token cost, whether that be Apprentice Tokens, Journeyman Tokens or Master Tokens. If you are interested in the tokens system or purchasing something other than a natural ability with a token, please refer to the Tokens System.

You can apply for a natural ability **twice within your first nine months** on Model Hogwarts, and must wait **two weeks** between applications. After this, unlimited applications are permitted, although the two-week period between applications still applies. (This waiting period may be waived by the applications team if it is a resubmission of the previous application and they are satisfied that all errors or concerns have been addressed.) You may only have one natural ability across all your characters, and you must have been actively roleplaying for two weeks before an application can be made (except for Metamorphmagi, Half-Giants, Half-Trolls and Half-Goblins whose powers are visually distinct). **All of these limitations apply across all natural abilities.** For example, if you are in your first nine months and have unsuccessfully applied twice for Metamorphmagus, you cannot then apply for Seer.

If you wish to apply for a natural ability, your application should demonstrate that you understand the power as it is outlined in this page regarding its benefits, powers and drawbacks, as well as how its development is paced and the limitations that the power has at each stage of its progression. You should also consider how the ability will affect your character's personality and potential development; it is generally considered good form for a character to be more than their power, to not just be 'the Half-Giant' or such.

If your application is rejected, understand that it does not mean we think the story or development you had in mind is bad or not good enough: rather, it is usually a side effect of trying to keep the powers somewhat rare. Due to the nature of these abilities, we will not be able to accept every application.

**Natural abilities are an exception to the rule that says you can only apply for a token purchase when you have the required token available.** You can (and, in some cases, must) apply for Journeyman and even Master natural abilities immediately when making a character, long before you receive those tokens.

Natural Legilimency, Natural Occlumency, Parseltongue and Sight only start manifesting after a successful app. This means that if your character gains a natural ability in fourth year, the **Initial** stages of the ability will start happening in their fourth year, **Intermediate** will start in seventh year and **Fully Developed** in GradC. If you apply for Parseltongue on an older character, it is contingent on your character having never before met a snake.

For Half-Breeds, Lycanthropy and Metamorphmagi, the stages of the ability depend directly on physical age. Because of this, if these powers are applied for on older characters, earlier stages of the power's development may be skipped. If you want to do this for a Half-Breed or Metamorphmagus, this always requires a very high-standard application, and if the power is visually distinct (Metamorphmagi, Half-Giants, Half-Trolls and Half-Goblins), it must be applied for prior to the character's acceptance.

Ghost characters are an exception to all these rules. They do not require an application or a token expenditure.

## Natural Abilities List

Below is a list of all current natural abilities.

### ~~Beast Empathy~~ (CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE)

**Please be aware that this power is currently under revision owing to player feedback and thus cannot currently be applied for!**

A rare magical ability that allows the holder to befriend and interact with animals by knowing instinctively what the animal is trying to communicate through its actions and feelings, this connection works both ways with them understanding your intent and feelings.

**Initial (Years 1-3 after manifesting)**: Non-magical creatures have a natural affinity to your presence, seeking you out when you are in locations that they may be found and will not harm you. Minor magical creatures (XX or lower) will also naturally see you in a positive light without prior interaction, but could still pose a threat if they are so inclined.

**Intermediate (Years 4-6 after manifesting)**: You may now request minor favours from non-magical creatures that would be outside of their usual behaviour e.g. a bear carrying you safely across a river. Minor magical creatures will now no longer pose a threat to you unless in a situation that forces requires it e.g. adventures or plots. Moderately powerful magical creatures (XXX) will naturally see you in a positive light without prior interaction, however could still pose a threat if they are so inclined.

**Fully Developed (Years 7+ after manifesting)**: You may now request almost any favour from a non-magical creature and it would be happy to help you, though they may be reluctant to help if it goes against their base nature they may be convinced, e.g. leopards protecting a mouse from another large predator.

At this stage all but the most dangerous of magical creatures would be willing to interact without prior interaction and respond to requests for aid, while magical creatures may not always accept your requests they will always consider it e.g. Newt requesting the aid of a swooping evil.

**Drawbacks**: The empathy you establish with creatures is two-way. It is difficult to consciously harm an animal for you, and you may find yourself picking up habits and mannerisms from the animals you interact with, the more you interact with an animal the larger number of behaviours you emulate.

### Half-Breed: Giant/Troll (Journeyman Token)

Those descended from giants or trolls often stand out from the crowd in more ways than one. Their unnatural stature and strength is noteworthy, although some might consider it poor compensation for the isolation and stigma often suffered by these rare individuals. This Half-Breed also receives a +2 to their vitality stat.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: You have advantage on physical attacks, and checks requiring physical strength are less difficult when attempted by you.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: You are now large enough that giant communities might be willing to acknowledge you, although you will still be treated with scorn unless you are truly able to prove yourself.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: Your strength further increases. With permission from a teacher before the event, you may occasionally attempt feats of superhuman strength.

**Drawbacks**: Half-giants are treated with great scorn and prejudice by wizards and giants alike, and are naturally less dextrous than humans. Tasks requiring fine motor control are always more difficult for them, sometimes impossible. Half-trolls are also invariably very ugly.

### Half-Breed: Goblinoid (Apprentice Token)

Humans descended from goblins or pukwudgies can have obvious physical distinctions from ordinary men and women, being considerably more diminutive and sometimes displaying characteristics such as pointed or slightly exaggerated facial features. They are neither more or less inherently capable than other wizards. This Half-Breed also receives a +1 to their finesse and +1 to their wisdom stats.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: You’re shorter than ordinary and may look goblinlike. Some goblins may look more favourably upon you, but others will consider you an abomination.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: No obvious changes.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: If you are clever and magically talented, Goblins will be more likely to respect you in dealings than other wizards, although unless you are willing to abandon wizarding society and join them you will never truly be considered one of them.

**Drawbacks**: Many humans discriminate against half-breeds, and half-goblins are no exception to this rule.

### Half-Breed: Vampire (Journeyman Token)

Vampire-born magicians are rare, but not unheard of in the Wizarding World. Though their gifts are subtle and they must treat the light of the sun with caution, they boast an unusual vitality.

Vampires as a whole are intensely feared for their night-time hunting, so much so that illegal vampire hunters still ply their trade with minimal consequence, or no repercussions at all. Those born from unions with vampires draw a great deal of concern and discrimination, often lumped into the same categories as their full blooded parent.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: You’re naturally healthy - you seldom get sick, and find it easy to stay in good physical condition. You're likely to live longer than the average wix; the life expectancy for a half-vampire is approximately 200 years.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: Your strength and speed are exceptional for a human, particularly where you need not fear the light of day. **At night, you may substitute any spell with the "dodgeable", "targetable" and "healable" attributes for a physical strike, replacing any effects and aesthetics, as well as nullifying other attributes from those spells.** This is to reflect your extreme speed and strength, as well as your claws and bite. If your spell roll fails, then your opponent is considered to have avoided your physical strike.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: Having reached full maturity, your unusual vitality intensifies further. Your vision in low-light is exceptional, like that of a nocturnal predator (though you still cannot see in true darkness) and you only need to sleep two to three hours a night to find yourself well-rested.

**Drawbacks**: When exposed to direct sunlight, whether natural or magically induced, you must cast using a **-2 spellcasting modifier, and must** **use the 'b' modifier when making vitality, finesse, or dodge checks**. These burdens persist for a minimum of 5 minutes after contact with sunlight has been stopped. The sunlight causes great pain where it contacts the skin.

For **twenty-four hours after consuming garlic**, you must cast using a **-2 spellcasting modifier**. As well, if you receive a **purposeful wound** from another humanoid by means of a wooden stake, branch, or other wooden implement, this same -2 burden is applied. In addition, if you are **in contact** with goblin silver for longer than 1 minute, then a -2 burden is applied for the same length of time. You cannot receive several burdens from multiple simultaneous instances of being in touch with goblin silver, or multiple wounds from wooden implements.

If you have **not consumed blood** within the last two IC weeks, then this will also incur a -2 burden. The quality and amount of blood required per given time period is up to you, however we ask that you keep it reasonable. Blood from a single mouse will not sustain you for that long!

If you are subject to multiple conditions, then these modifiers are combined, up to a **maximum burden of -4**. In addition, if you are defeated by a spell with the "disarms" attribute, you are unable to physically strike with your vampire abilities. All other spells function as per usual.

### Half-Breed: Veela (Apprentice Token)

The beauty of a Veela is partially hereditary, such that even their human descendants possess some degree of their unearthly allure. Half-Veela commonly find their Animagus forms to be avian, although they find learning the rare talent no easier than any other. This Half-Breed also receives a +2 to their social stat.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: People who are of a similar age to you may find you more attractive than most of your peers.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: You move with an unusual grace, and find it easy to avoid embarrassing pratfalls or situations that might dirty you otherwise.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: Your beauty is almost supernatural, and although your appearance technically does not change people tend to find their most preferred features reflected in you somehow.

**Drawbacks**: No actual powers. Being incredibly beautiful might draw attention. Half-veela have something of a reputation for temperamentality, which is to some degree true.

### Lycanthropy: The Werewolf Curse (Journeyman Token)

Despite the strengths that Lycanthropy confers, it is infinitely more a curse than a boon. Even so, some of the characteristics conferred upon werewolves can prove of occasional use.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: On the night of the full moon, a lycanthrope becomes a terrifying wolf immune to most magics and capable of defeating most young wizards. However, this creature attacks humans indiscriminately, driven to spread its curse.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: By fourth year, the lycanthrope is a match for even a fully grown adult when transformed, although it has no control over its power still. Even in human form, a werewolf this old is a little tougher and more pain-tolerant than most wizards their age, even if they often look a little frail.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: The wolf reaches its prime as a wizard becomes an adult, now more than a match for even an extremely skilled wizard - although it remains utterly uncontrollable. In human form, the werewolf is tougher than ever. If they indulge in their feral curse, their physical abilities increase further. They might gain near superhuman speed, and their bite spreads disease even when not transformed.

**Drawbacks**: Werewolves have absolutely no self-control when transformed unless Wolfsbane Potion is taken - even then the wolf is simply docile, not tamed. To gain any tangible physical improvements you must feed on human beings. Werewolves are blocked from any public-facing top-tier authority role where the public would have any say. (Examples include Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster, Minister of Magic, heads of all Ministry departments, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.)

**"Burdened" Modifiers**: Due to ill effects caused by the full moon, all casts and stat rolls in roleplays on three days either side of the full moon must be done with burdens as follows:

* Three days prior to the full moon: -1 modifier
* Two days prior: -1 modifier
* One day prior: -3 modifier
* Full moon: -3 modifier
* One day after: -3 modifier
* Two days after: -1 modifier
* Three days after: -1 modifier

**These are IC days, not OOC days.** For example, if the full moon is on the in-model day of June 2, then roleplays set on June 1, June 2 and June 3 must use a -3 modifier, while those on May 30, May 31, June 4 and June 5 use a -1 modifier.

**Wolfsbane Potion**: Your application for Lycanthropy must state where your character will ICly get their Wolfsbane Potion from. This may be another character on Model Hogwarts, in which case you do not have to pay any additional cost. Examples include a student at Hogwarts receiving Wolfsbane Potion from one of the Potions Professors, or an adult receiving the potion from a friend who is an expert potioneer. The only requirements are you must have IC and OOC permission from the person brewing the potion, and that the brewer must be **proficient** at brewing the Wolfsbane Potion (that is, they must have enough learns in its containing recipe book to guarantee they will brew it successfully every time). The brewer does not need to use `!brew` or `p!use`. (Your character may also brew the potion themself, if they have sufficient learns to do so.) If you are in need of a character to brew potions, you can post a request in #character-requests, and interested parties can respond to you.

~~If you need to use a NPC to brew Wolfsbane Potion for your character, the ongoing supply costs a second **Journeyman Token**. This does not require an additional app. If your app is accepted, you will be charged both Journeyman Tokens at once (one for Lycanthropy, one for the Wolfsbane Potion supply).~~

~~You may switch from receiving Wolfsbane potion from another character to a NPC, or vice versa, at any time, by informing the Apps Team or Admin Team of the situation and reasons for the switch. Again, no app is needed. If you switch to a NPC, a Journeyman Token will be charged. If you switch back to a character on the model, you will be **refunded an Apprentice Token**.~~

Wolfsbane Potion is now **FREE upon a successful werewolf application.** Though everything else still applies.

### Metamorphmagi (Master Token)

An extremely rare genetic trait that manifests at birth, those known as Metamorphmagi are capable of altering their physical appearance as they please, although they cannot use this ability to alter their physiological capabilities. This talent does not require a wand.

**Initial (Age 11-13)**: Young metamorphmagi are capable of minor cosmetic alterations to their appearance. Changes to their hair, eyes, nails, and perhaps minor alterations to their facial features are all possible for a fledgling metamorph, and often their features transform according to their emotions even without their input.

**Intermediate (Age 14-16)**: A more experienced Metamorphmagus can disguise themselves better, able to appear almost unrecognisable from their original self, although they still struggle to impersonate others with any degree of accuracy and their emotions can still have a sway on their appearance.

**Fully Developed (Age 17+)**: By this point, a Metamorphmagus with any dedication to their craft can change their features as easily as breathe, able to take on the faces of others and even replicate animal anatomy to some degree, although without gaining any abilities of said animal. Their powers are completely under their control by this point, except during times of intense emotion.

**Drawbacks**: Their emotional links to their power means that a Metamorphmagus Occlumens would be unheard of. No Metamorphmagus transformation can persist whilst the Metamorphmagus lacks consciousness, and a cast of *Specialis Revelio* and the *Homorphus Charm* can be used to force them into their non-magical state unless they beat the spellcast with a Willpower check.

### Natural Legilimency (Master Token)

Unlike its learned counterpart, natural Legilimency is a far more fickle and superficial power, focused on surface thoughts rather than clear images of memories forgotten or many-layered thoughts. However, the nature of the natural power is such that you don’t need to cast the spell to peruse another human being’s thoughts, making natural Legilimency equally powerful and just as alarming, if not more.

**Initial (Years 1-3 after manifesting)**: Very occasionally, surface thoughts in the form of feelings or a vague memory will enter your character’s mind, especially when the feeling or memory in question is emotionally volatile or being repressed, but they will be indistinguishable from your character’s own thoughts. The surface thought does not appear as fully-fledged sentence, but rather as a state of mind, making a character faced with an angry counterpart angry, or a character faced with someone remembering something sad be infused with a feeling of nostalgic melancholy. These surface thoughts can also appear as a feeling of déjà vu; a feeling suddenly entering their minds without a clear memory attached to it. During this stage, your character will also be more easily influenced because of the nature of their power being so that they adopt the thoughts and feelings as their own.

**Intermediate (Years 4-6 after manifesting)**: You character has developed an understanding that the surface thoughts entering their minds are not their own, whether from a slow development or a sudden realisation. Fully-fledged sentences still don’t appear, as this is not the nature of the mind, but the emotions and images that appear to your character can now be much more clearly defined and give a much more nuanced sense of context, allowing the thought to have a complex enough structure that it is understood almost verbally. This also means that your character is more often able to distinguish others’ thoughts from their own, although the power is still not entirely stable. This means your character still has no conscious control over when they pick up thoughts and that the thoughts will still affect their subconscious, much like debating with a friend and being convinced by something they say.

**Fully Developed (Years 7+ after manifesting)**: Your character is now able to freely use their power and be able to separate others’ thoughts entirely from their own, although they are still limited to the current thoughts of whatever target they choose.

**Drawbacks**:

* Throughout the first three years of the development of the power, your character can be completely rewritten, due to the nature of adopting foreign thoughts. These thoughts won’t be perceived as ‘other’, even after the power develops more, and will always be considered as part of your character
* Can only perceive surface thoughts.
* Reading another character’s mind requires OOC consent every time, without exception.

#### Natural Legilimency FAQ

**Can thoughts in other languages be perceived?**
Yes, but the ordinary drawbacks and nature of the thought is the same. Your character does not understand another language but rather translates it to their own, due to the nature of the thought being emotion/image rather than fully-fledged sentence.

**Do Metamorphmagi influence Legilimens more than others?**
Due to the nature of Metamorphmagi being such that their feelings are much harder to repress, yes and no. Though Metamorphmagi’s feelings are much more visible and might be more influential to someone who’s prone to wanting others to feel good in the first place, their feelings are less repressed and as such enter Legilimens’ minds much less subtly and powerfully through their power. As such, this is up for you to decide.

**Can Legilimens pick up on more than one person’s thoughts?**
By year seven of their development, Legilimens can graze the thoughts of people in their immediate vicinity, using it to map out the location instinctually. If there are too many people, however, this surface map becomes distorted with details, no matter how small the room.

**Are Legilimens able to perceive the thoughts of animals?**
Assuming that animals’ minds work differently than humans’, the answer is no. The tools present to understand and map a human’s mind does not apply to animals.

### Natural Occlumency (Journeyman Token)

Just as some rare mages bear a natural talent for Legilimency, others possess a talent for manipulating their own consciousness rather than observing those of others. Though Natural Occlumency offers no tangible protection from a legilimens, who would still be able to peruse their mind freely, it does allow one with the ability to be able to edit and manipulate their own memories, falsifying events, or erasing them entirely. The ability is absolute, and erased memories cannot be recovered in any way without precautions made ahead of time in the form of a written record of what the prior memory was. New or altered memories are also absolute, and the natural occlumens will have no recollection of the un-edited memories unless a written record was made.

**Initial (Years 1-3 after manifesting)**: You have unusually impressive powers of recollection and possess the self-control to keep your thoughts clear and calm in all but the most harrowing of crises. Like accidental magic which manifests during stressful or emotional moments, at this stage it is possible for a young magic user to inadvertently end up erasing some of their own memories, often ones that are traumatic or extreme, and they will no longer be able to recall those events.

**Intermediate (Years 4-6 after manifesting)**: Your self-control develops to unnatural lengths - you have an instinctive awareness of if your memories have been tampered with by outside sources, but you will not have any ability to fix that tampering. At this point, you will begin understanding that they are capable of manipulating your own memories, but it will take time before you can edit them freely.

**Fully Developed (Years 7+ after manifesting)**: You are resistant to memory modification charms, to the point of being able to repair memories altered or damaged by outside sources; **how this resistance works is** **currently up to change on a scene by scene basis, with Willpower rolls being a potential way to show it.** At this point you will be able to alter your memories freely, and it will come easily in times of great need, but requires time to focus when you are not in a position of possible danger. Unless a Natural Occlumens takes the time to learn traditional Occlumency, their minds will still be freely perused by a Legilimens.

**Drawbacks**: Because memories are irrevocably tied to emotions and emotional development, the editing of memories will almost always lead to side effects in the Natural Occlumens emotional range and development, frequently in the vein of stunting emotional growth, or crippling the ability to experience certain emotions entirely. This heavily depends on the nature of the edits made by the Natural Occlumens, and can manifest in a variety of ways.

When “recovering” old memories by use of a written record, the memories will be no deeper than that of recalling something you once read, and works similar to placing a post it note over a hole in an attempt to repair it.
Finally, while a Natural Occlumens can freely edit their own memories, they cannot edit the memories of others. Even if their knowledge of an event has been erased or changed, those around them will still recall the original happenings, which can lead to consequences in social situations.

***(The name for this ability is subject to change)***

### Parseltongue (Master Token)

One of the rarest of all natural magical abilities, at least in wizarding Britain, Parselmouths enjoy the ability to speak the language or serpents. Those more practised in the tongue might even find themselves capable of exercising a measure of control over these serpents.

**Initial (Years 1-3 after manifesting)**: You are capable of understanding and communicating with serpents. They are predisposed to think well of you, but are not compelled to obey you and may prove dangerous if mistreated.

**Intermediate (Years 4-6 after manifesting)**: Your control over the serpent’s tongue now allows you to control non-magical serpents as well as understand them. They will do your bidding provided that it does not directly endanger their own lives.

**Fully Developed (Years 7+ after manifesting)**: Your command over serpents is now absolute, and you might even be able to exercise your will over magical serpents such as Runespoors and the dreaded Basilisk.

**Drawbacks**: Parselmouth is an exceptionally stigmatised ability, only moreso since the defeat of the Dark Lord. The social pressure you suffer if discovered to have the ability will extend beyond ostracisation and likely bar you from most influential forms of employment. The ability to speak parseltongue is something that runs in bloodlines, and thus any character who possesses the ability may find themselves harrowed by old stigmas, dangers and enemies who gravitate towards such ancient powers.

### Sight: The Inner Eye (Journeyman Token)

Whilst Divination is a school of magic practised by many, it is those who possess the Inner Eye who are most capable of unravelling the mysteries of the future. The gift manifests itself in many different ways, but never reliably - the art of analysing prophecy is notoriously inexact and oftentimes even self-defeating. It is said that the visions of even the most talented Seers are as likely to mislead as to inform.

**Initial (Years 1-3 after manifesting)**: You occasionally experience portents of the future. These portents are infrequent, occasionally false, and always difficult to interpret, but may provide information that could never otherwise have been attained.

**Intermediate (Years 4-6 after manifesting)**: Your ability to perceive the future is refined. Your portents are almost never false, and may be more detailed. However, they remain exceptionally vague, rather infrequent, and difficult to exploit.

**Fully Developed (Years 7+ after manifesting)**: Your Inner Eye has truly opened. Your portents are never false even if recognising what is a portent and what is not may occasionally lead you astray, and you may once or twice in your life produce a true Prophecy, dictating the terms of the future with a clarity and significance that even your usual portents cannot match.

**Drawbacks**: Your portents may lead you down dangerous paths, sometimes misleadingly and without hope of reward. The mind arts are anathema to seers - practising Occlumency can forever close the Inner Eye, and Seer attempts to practise Legilimency becomes erratic and dangerous for both parties.

## FAQ

### Are quotas gone now?

Yes! While there were once quotas that stated there can only be a specified number of characters with each natural ability, those quotas no longer exist. However this doesn't mean that Model Hogwarts is suddenly going to be filled with 50 Metamorphmagi and 30 Legilimens and 25 werewolves! If we feel like a power wouldn't fit a character, or there are other problems, then apps will still be denied. Natural abilities still aren't a free-for-all.

### How do I know if I'm eligible for an application? How long can I apply for things?

Before you can apply for a natural ability, you must have been an active player for at least two weeks, with the exceptions of visually distinct powers, which are realistically impossible to retrospectively include in a character's story after beginning to roleplay them. This includes Metamorphmagus, Half-Giant, Half-Troll and Half-Goblin, All of these **must** be applied for before roleplaying.

The limitations on learned powers and general non-natural ability applications are much less strict. You may begin to apply for such things when you have the appropriate tokens and, in the case of learned powers, when you have reached the required year stated on the token page.

### What are you looking for in an app?

At its core, we’re looking for the following things in a natural ability app:

* We want to see that you’re passionate about the specific power you’re applying for and will use it in a distinct and creative way. The power should feel like a part of the character and not be wasted, while not being the **whole** character. If it seems as if you've created a character just so you can make them a werewolf or Metamorphmagus, etc., your app probably won't be accepted.
* We want to know that you understand very clearly how the power works and what its limitations are, as outlined on this page. We want to be sure you know exactly what you're applying for, and aren't going to end up RPing something completely different to the power's description.
* We want evidence that you've thought about how the power will impact other characters, and all of Model Hogwarts. Natural abilities are usually very high-impact, and that should be reflected in your app with thoughtful consideration on how your character having this power will change things for other people.

### Does my app need to be long?

There is no minimum word limit; however, due to how significant natural abilities are on the model (refer to the previous answer), the amount of detail you need to include often leads to these apps being fairly long. The **maximum word limit** for any app is 5,000, although in most cases you won't need nearly this many.

Don't include extra words just for length's sake! Repeating yourself or rambling on to get extra words can just make the app more confusing and hinder it from being passed. If your app seems too short, focus on expanding it with more detail by giving examples and explaining the different impacts you could foresee or expect will occur. Length should not be a focus, but rather a side-effect.

### What if I'm not a good writer?

The app does not need to be well written to get the point across. We are more concerned with your understanding of the power and the impact it can have on the Model than how beautifully you can tie it together. We will never, ever judge on quality of the writing alone. Even beautifully written apps can and have been declined because they lacked understanding of the power, were unable to fully cover the impact of the powers on the different facets of the model or were unable to set up an adequate justification for the power.

### What if you guys don't like my idea, but a lot of other people do?

Each application has to be judged not just by how compelling it is as a story, or how much other currently active players or friends might enjoy it, but also by what impact that application's success might have on the model's future stories and player base, as well as the perception of those in the model who might be less inclined to approve of an idea but feel uncomfortable saying it for whatever reason. Part of the job of the apps team is to try to look at each application as objectively and with as broad a view as possible.

Ultimately, we accept that the applications process is inherently subjective to some degree, regardless of the lengths that we go to to define an app's quality by objective criteria rather than our own personal biases or desires.

However we go to great lengths to try and mitigate bias as we can; if we feel the current makeup of the app team is too biased for or against a specific power, we will bring in people from the outside with as neutral a viewpoint as possible and ask for their input, or we will take a break from a particularly troublesome app so we have more time to consider it. We regularly have members of the app team sit out if they feel they have too much inherit bias for or against a specific app, along with members who will actively play devil's advocate in or out of an app's favour. The idea of bias is something we take into consideration frequently, and are looking for new ways to circumvent all the time.

### Who else has gotten powers?

Sharing knowledge on a character’s successful applications, purchases and indeed powers is entirely up to the discretion of the applicants themselves. The admins and apps team won’t share knowledge on who has what power, which is also why the wiki lacks such information. If you know someone has a power, or indeed anything that has been purchased through tokens, please ask them for consent before sharing the knowledge with anyone else.

The reason for all of this, is that many players find it more fun to surprise people by slowly developing their power, leaving tiny hints behind, before they finally reveal it all IC. Others might not want the attention before their power comes into play.