A Game of Gods Season 3: Terminus

Changing things around, so consider this a replacement for Dorothy.

Unless it gets rejected, in which case the Dorothy train has no brakes. No dignity.

• Name: Dio Brando

• Age: Around 130. Born in either late 1867 or early 1868.

• Appearance: It's◊ ya◊ boy.◊

• Universe: Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure

• Personality: Dio is a heartless student of the Romantic era, at times mercurial and slightly eccentric, characterised by a particular paranoid narcissism twinned with an infinite capacity for ruthlessness. Intelligent, cunning, wilful, and dispassionately self-absorbed, the relationship between Dio and the world is with very few exceptions a one-way affair; by his nature, he takes and gives nothing in return, secure in an esoteric philosophy of providence and will. His own autonomy and independence are and will always be at the top of his list of priorities.
  • Importantly, he's not a sociopath, in fact almost the opposite despite a behavioural similarity. Trust comes to him with extreme difficulty - while usually an advantage on a purely pragmatic level, like all human beings he has no choice in matters of love or fondness, an arena in which it becomes a definite problem. He is aware of this fault, having been bitten in the arse severely in the past, and consequentially approaches matters of the heart with a businesslike pragmatism which makes clear his inexperience, forcing himself to trust where it will not arise naturally. Generally speaking, Dio by habit maintains an emotional distance from the majority of people he crosses paths with, considering most acquaintances in strictly intellectual terms as a safeguard against the possibility of empathy or dependence - loyalty (as opposed to subservience) is rewarded in kind and genuine kindness can sway his judgement or even earn his fondness, but there are limits to the emotional proximity he can allow. Rather than cold reasoning, Dio is a creature of emotion tempered and regulated by a fierce intellectual streak.
  • Finally, for all his self-awareness and lyrical waxing, he's not above moments of wounded pride, pettiness, or simple bloodlust. Additionally, his unnatural nature and powerful personality are evident in his aura, should anyone be capable of sensing it, generally described as the feeling of sensing a semi rolling past your window by its vibrations, the changes in the atmosphere before a thunderstorm, or an icicle being shoved up your arse. He's a scary motherfucker if you're spiritually inclined, basically.
  • A prodigious bummer of men.
  • Also some women.
  • But mostly men.

• Backstory: Alright, so I tried writing a detailed version and it was about five long-ass paragraphs long. You get the short(er) version.
  • Born in a London slum in the 1860s. Father beats mother, mother works herself to death after instilling queer notions about heaven. Father beats Dio. Dio poisons father, but father snatches away satisfaction by sending him to live with a nobleman named George Joestar who owes him a favour and essentially redeems himself on his deathbed. Dio spits on his grave before leaving.
  • Dio arrives and kills a dog. He wants the Joestar fortune. "Please don't", says eldest son Jonathan Joestar. "Okay," says Dio, and does anyway. George Joestar is fallen ill, but plot twist: Dio poisoned him. Dio plans to kill Jonathan with an ancient aztec mask before he can squeal, but gets distracted when he finds out it actually makes you a vampire. Jonathan exposes Dio. Dio cries a little before laughing his arse off and jamming the mask on to become a sick vampire. Dio kills George. There's a big fight and the house burns down with Dio inside.
  • Jonathan finds out Dio's still alive, but luckily an Italian man who fucking loves pepper stops by to train him in vampire-killing kung fu. They find Dio again and fight. Dio is reduced to a really angry little head, but luckily made a thrall of a racist Chinese stereotype who carries him around. They gatecrash Jonathan's honeymoon. Dio tries to kill Jonathan, but gets vaguely rekt at the last second. Jonathan dies with Dio's head in his arms, and they both feel a bizarre friendship. Aaaw.
  • Dio steals Jonathan's body out of respect. A major plot hole occurs, and a hundred years later he comes back. Dio then does nothing for five years, because it turns out it takes fucking ages to completely gain control a body that isn't your own. He sleeps around and has a bunch of kids, one of them Giorno. He also gets a Stand, which is like a ghost that punches people you don't like. His can stop time. It's cash.
  • Jonathan's descendants get Stands too, because blood of their ancestor creepy whoooo, and decide they are going to kill Dio for being a jerk. He's in Egypt, so they go to Egypt. Dio drinks fine wine and develops a comprehensive Romantic philosophy concerning the human relationship to god and emotional nature of heaven and ambition. Lots of deism happens. He refuses to wear a shirt.
  • Eclipse happens before Jonathan's descendants can close the noose. You are not getting a summary, but Dio wound up with Black Adam's powers and Jonathan's body entirely under his control. He then went home, killed the remaining Joestars, and attained the heaven he deserved. Kirei Kotomine is now his good buddy and Amon is one of his two incredibly needy boyfriends. Dio is effectively at this point a god, has broken free of the yoke of causality, and did nothing wrong. He's grown his hair out down to his waist and ascended beyond the concept of shirts.
  • That was still six paragraphs fuck Jojo.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment: For reasons of balance, by which I mean for reasons of the only way he's even potentially getting into the game, Dio here has been ripped away from his Stand and spat out oiled and posing. Since his Stand was the thing that got Black Adam's powers, they're gone too.
  • Good-But-Not-Expert Fightan Skills: Dio is proficient but by no means an expert in hand-to-hand combat, enjoying informal training by way of street boxing and enough of a surplus of strength and agility to generally make up the difference against lower-level opponents. What makes up for this shortcoming is his approach, quick and deadly with an absolute minimum of fucking around, and his ability to rapidly strategise in the face of new developments. Generally speaking, if Dio wants you gone he kills or disables you with a dirty trick as soon as he can and moves on to the next opponent, an absolute necessity of street fighting. He is also an expert knife thrower.
  • Joestar Sense: Due to sharing the blood of the Joestar family by virtue of Jonathan's stolen body, Dio is able to sense the presence of his descendants. This is a measure of proximity rather than precise location, and seems to have a hard limit of around a hundred yards or so. Included only because of the presence of Giorno and Josuke.
  • Vampire Fuckery: The real meat of it. Vampires in Jojo work differently to vampires pretty much anywhere else, either via Japanese osmosis or just Araki being a magical wish-granting fairy and as such not beholden to human patterns of thought. In this version, willpower is directly substituted for some kind of wishy-washy undefined life energy, with the power of the resulting vampire being directly proportional to the willpower of the human who made them - Dio possessing exceptional will, he became an exceptionally powerful vampire. Blood is absorbed as the currency of life and, rather than an outright necessity for survival, is a tool by which a vampire's body is more easily sustained and their powers more readily available. Essentially, they burn the lives of others to fuel their bodies. Assuming he's fully fueled and not in a weakened, hungry state, the specifics of vampire fuckery are;
  • Heightened Physicality: Speed, agility, strength, senses, whathave you. In order, Dio is fast enough to handily catch a thrown knife but not enough to catch a bullet unless he was moving into its path before they fired, but possesses a general movement and running speed not particularly greater than a human being. However, this is augmented somewhat by his agility, sufficient to allow him to perform backflips from a stationary position, perform sick spin kicks like they ain't no thang, and leap around twenty to thirty feet vertically. He possesses enough strength to beat an ordinary human being around like a sack of meat, break bones like twigs, and drive his fingers through a human ribcage. His senses are enhanced but not notable powerful, displaying a degree of implied enhanced vision, hearing acute enough to hear a human heartbeat and car engine more than ten metres away by putting his ear to the ground, and presumably something similar with his sense of smell. His appears to possess no upper limit in terms of tolerance to pain.
    • Easy benchmark: I'm basing all of this from the height of his physical power in part 3, where he attained more or less equal footing with Jotaro's Stand Star Platinum. In RP terms, you could pretty safely make him physically identical to Crazy Diamond, only way squishier. And not a ghost.
    • Also, regarding hard targets, I'm planning on adhering to the candle-through-a-door scenario, where you can punch a candle through a solid oak front door so long as it's going fast enough, but that candle is going to reduced to a fine mist by the impact. Dio could theoretically smash his fist clean through a brick wall or not-too-thick steel door, but there wouldn't be much of a fist left afterwards.
• Immortality and Healing: Dio is immortal, able only to be 'killed' only by the complete destruction of his brain - while this technically leaves his body alive, the head seems unable to regrow itself without direction, so he's pretty much done for good. On the flipside, destroying everything but his head gives you a living but very offended Dio-bonce. He can survive damage to his brain from piercing attacks with little trouble due to the comparatively small amount of tissue damaged, but bludgeoning attacks are a lot more troublesome and he remains vulnerable to concussion. His healing factor is very fast-acting when doped up on blood, but limited in its effectiveness - he can close holes, set broken bones, and regrow small structures such as fingers or ears, but the regrowth of limbs is either impossible or too impractical in terms of timespan (months at the very least) to be a real option. In practice, he instead reattaches any significant detached extremities or steals somebody else's, although Dio is excessively picky with his body and as such the latter option is severely constrained by characterisation. As established in Eclipse and implied in the source material, the interpretation I'm working with here is that Dio's healing ability burns through the life he's stolen at a reasonably fast rate, leaving him dependent on feedings in the field in any protracted or particularly brutal engagement. When this runs out and he's weakened, it moves too slowly to complete any healing more complicated and scrapes and bruises in less them at least two posts.

  • Importantly, he's no more durable than a human being, which coupled with the grand old RP tradition of only characters who can afford to get hit ever getting hit means he tends to eat shit really fucking often.
  • Finally, although detached body parts remain alive in a strictly biological sense, they are dependent on a direct nervous connection to his brain for any kind of control. If he loses a hand, it's gonna stay on the floor doing nothing until he puts it back. If he loses his head, his body's going to lie there like an idiot.

  • Complete Bodily Control: The good shit. As a being of willpower, a vampire's control over their body extends to their very cells, although they appear to be incapable of shape-shifting. Dio can store objects inside his body, expel bones from his fingers as keepsakes, use the veins of his neck to walk around as a decapitated head, or (if he wanted to look stupid) expel his nose from his face and embed it in the wall. Think of it in terms of the Thing, but toned down from an eleven to a solid five, and burning through his accumulated stolen life energy depending on the severity of the action taken. Also a good deal more elegant, as a general rule of thumb - for example, absorbing blood seems to be achieved by jamming his finger into a vein and creating a pressure differential. Concrete offensive examples are:
    • Flash Freezing: By expelling the moisture from a section of his body, Dio can rapidly cool himself via evaporation, which in Jojo-land means he can also freeze you. I personally don't like this one and I'm never going to use it, but similar less-retarded control over body temperature is part of the flavour of it.
    • Flesh Buds: Apparently mutated from the cells of his hair, these are simple organisms designed to be placed on the forehead of a human being, at which point they burrow their tentacles into the brain and secrete various neurotransmitters which amplify Dio's natural charisma. However, their side-effect of severely weakening the target discourages their use, and the phase of Dio's life in which he was dependent on behind-the-scenes manipulation is long over. In game, standard mind-fuckery nerfs of no applicability to fellow PCs and the ability to be resisted entirely given sufficient willpower, which in this case is approximately as much as Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Will evaporate if exposed to sunlight, but has a bad habit of spazzing out and killing the host if threatened.
    • Space Ripper Stingy Eyes: The best one. By bringing the fluid inside his eyeballs under immense pressure and then letting it out through a pinprick in his iris, Dio can expel a hydraulic cutter with the power to sheer through a stone pillar at least a metre thick. There is significant charge up and recoil on this, and if he's already injured the mechanical stress of it will easily exacerbate them.
  • Making Moar Vampires: Dio can create more vampires by introducing his own blood to a foreign life-form. They gain every power listed here proportional to their own willpower. This is unlikely to come up with regards to humanoids or people, as Dio firmly believe that too many cars make the road too crowded. If it does, the nature of its effects and limits to its use are up to GM discretion and he cannot make other PCs into vampires without my attaining express permission from their players.
    • Vampires created through this method owe no loyalty to Dio except that born from charisma or fear, but tend to have their personalities shifted towards narcissism by newfound power and a hunger for blood.
    • He can also use this to give life to chimeras composed of irregular body parts, not necessarily even from the same animal, the most obvious example being a dog with the head of a man. Unlikely to come up in the RP as a major thing as he associates it with a very childish time of his life.
  • Vampire Weakness: When exposed either to sunlight or any form of radiated life energy (some flavours of healing spell, a chi attack, etc), Dio will turn to dust. This is a result of sufficient life energy overpowering his will and reverting his body to the natural order of things, at which point it loses cohesion. In the case of the sun this is an instant phenomenon due to its power outclasses any possible will by a factor of several billion, but chi attacks usually result in a slow burn spreading from the point of contact and difficulty in healing the affected area.

• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: Leaving the whole morality question aside, Dio fits like a glove into the 'potential worthy successor' aspect of the premise on account of being either the ubermensch or the messiah depending on which part you're reading. This also gives a reasonably solid excuse for removing his Stand, worthiness being born of adversity and all that jazz. He also has abs you could use to do laundry and not a speck of hair anywhere except his head, which has gotta count for something, right?

I'm so sorry.

edited 5th Dec '16 5:30:42 PM by OG-Sama

Thank you for your sign-ups, but I am afraid I must repeat that Sign-Ups are closed and are not expected to reopen until towards the end of the Challenge. I will consider the Sign-Ups as reservations until that time.

I was looking up information on the spirits from Bastion again for the latest post, and I noticed that The Kid was able to carry 10 spirits with him in-game. If that seems a bit excessive for the RP, but would I be able to bump the current number of spirits he has up by a few instead, maybe to 5 or 6?

There isn't anything that could unbalance him available, and here is the link if you want to have a look. If not, it's fine, just thought I'd ask.

Yeah, that's okay. The spirits you've signed up with him aren't so strong that a couple extra will be a problem.

Awesome, thanks. I've added the new spirits to Kid's sheet.

• Name: Trusty and Unbreakable Patches the Hyena
• Age: Appearance wise, somewhere in his 30s.
• Appearance: A man with a heart of gold.◊
• Universe: Dark Souls
• Personality: Possibly the least trustworthy individual in existence. He generally makes his living by trapping and backstabbing people at any opportunity, but he's very genial and can brush off the most obvious attempts on others' lives with the straightest of faces. He's very flattering and kind to most people he meets. However, Patches doesn't bother holding his contempt with one kind of person: Clerics. He absolutely hates men and women of the cloth, and while he'll certainly pretend to like them for a brief while he'll probably stab them in the back as soon as they turn around. Though many universes lack a class of priests who cast magic, it generally extends to hatred of religious workers in general, though ones who lord over others with their god-derived magic are given extra attention compared to mundane ones. While he's not a nice person in the least, at least he drives a hard bargain with his prices.
• Backstory: Most individuals who live in undeath go insane after mere decades, but not the truly Unbreakable Patches! He's lived for quite a long time, traveling from land to land and setting up shop in many desolate places. Since most of these places lack any sort of economy and, therefore, no means of acquiring goods with cash, he generally gets his wares by deceiving and killing random travelers. Despite his precarious lifestyle, he's managed to get away with it scot-free.
• Powers/Equipment:
  • He's Undead: He's undead. This means he's entirely immortal, and he can freely resurrect after death at any number of bonfires...which, since they only exist in his own world, means he's just ageless. Also, he is able to consume the liquid fire of the Estus Flask, a green glass bottle of old. As a game abstraction, let's say that he's limited to 5 uses in between worlds, and it refills upon completion of the challenge.
  • He's Got a Spear: He's got a spear and a shield. The spear is quite long, and is able to easily poke out from behind the wooden tower shield he carries around, being his main form of fighting. Some may see it as cowardly, he sees it as practical. Anyway, he's quite strong, being able to carry and use both of those proficiently while also carrying...
  • An Assortment of Goods: An assortment of goods and trinkets. He's quite the charming salesman, and aside from his shady method of acquiring said assortment he's entirely fair. Since a certain champion of ash recently cleaned him out of everything major he had, he's got a few sets of leather armor, a few shiny baubles and a shortsword to sell on him right now.
  • He Knows Survival Skills: Given his extremely long lifespan in a wide variety of hostile environments, he knows his way around a dungeon quite well. Knot-making, camping, hunting, cooking, lockpicking, medieval first aid, and a number of other things means he can keep himself together in the worst situations. I mean, once he was sitting in the middle of a cave with 10 foot tall skeletons running around with nary a scratch, so he's got to know something.
  • He Knows How To Make Traps: He knows how to make traps and shit. While traditionally he's used to exploiting the dangerous architecture of the world around him, he's got enough sense to know how to make traps from whatever's on hand. Mostly simplistic things like snares and whatnot, but given preparation and a proper reason he could probably come up with something much more complex.
• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: He's a man adored by his friends and foes, loved by all and respected by the greatest. Patches is the quintessential lovable rogue, and any team without him is a team missing a great asset.

edited 30th Nov '16 1:50:17 AM by wikkit

seems like the place to ask this; are original characters accepted in these games or would you all prefer something from an existing work?

OCs aren't accepted, no.
(Insert standard not-a-GM disclaimer here.)

Fair enough. i see that i'll be placed on the waiting list for the next challenge (which is just fine. i'm a patient person) but just a few questions, if you don't mind:

are evil characters accepted (do you want those character dynamics in the game)?

is there an upper limit for vehicle size (i see that d.va is being played, but would you accept something like a mechwarrior and mech, for instance)?

there are obviously a whole hell of a lot of impossibly strong, superior-to-human characters out there, but they often have flaws or something else holding them back from just wrecking anything. i assume (dangerously, but whatever) that as long as it was handled appropriately, it would be a case by case basis for acceptance when it came to those sorts of characters? (the example that comes off the top of my head would be vash the stampede, from trigun; his power is very much limited by his morals [no killing] and the fact that even though he is superhuman, he's still mortal and is limited in range to one body- it's not like he can spam out attacks and just dish out pain like that other dude in a red coat in the same way.)

in any case, thanks for your time.

Heya Faust. Sign-Ups will be opening soon (the characters are currently engaging in a boss fight, and SUs will open as soon as that is done), so looking forward to see your character.

We're not working with a fixed vehicle in mind ATM, and aside from D.Va we've also accepted the Transformer Ultra Magnus. This is a case-by-case judgement, and I'd kinda need to know the size of the mech before confirming one way or another. Sorry I can't be more clear.

For your other question, we are operating with the philosophy that "he wouldn't really do it" is not a good enough reason to accept it, sorry. There will be hard limits imposed on overpowered skillsets no matter how the character feels about using their power.

I hope that answers your questions. Feel free to ask if there's anything else you'd like to know.

i think you missed my first question there by accident: whether or not evil characters are acceptable, but i thought of a couple more in the interem as well:

are "stock" characters allowed? when i say stock i mean someone from a setting where the character is part of a mass-produced or otherwise well-defined unit (e.g, a warhammer 40k space marine: it's not exactly a particular character but the character type is well-defined and comes with expectations)

alternatively, along the lines of "character that has a well-defined set of powers and abilities", would a legal role-playing character from a system (pathfinder, shadowrun, etc.) be acceptable? i understand that toes the line but it's very easy to construct a fairly-powered character.

no worries if this stuff won't fly. i'm just trying to get a feel for what my parameters are.

Oh, right, sorry. Yes, evil characters are accepted. But keep in mind the question of why the character has been chosen to climb the character. A character who might have it as his driving force to betray his teammates or otherwise disrupt the climb might be harder to justify, but other traditionally evil leanings such as being manipulative, deceptive, bloodthirsty etc. should be a-okay.

Stock and blank slate characters are not accepted, no. Because of the heavy element of player-created personality and backstory, they are regarded as OCs and thus not accepted. However, blank-slate protagonists from various settings who have for example established canon personalities or motivations can be okay. Borderline cases will have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

As for your last question, it depends. Some powers transfer well between settings and some don't. All of a character's powers and abilities will be subject to review, no matter how balanced they might seem in its initial setting. The changes we might ask you to make stem from trying to create a power balance between characters so that the Challenges will be, well, appropriately challenging. It's more a question of potential for abuse than whether it's appropriate for the character to have them. Related to this, the reason why we stress the powers being well-defined is because that certain abilities or powers may be framed vaguely, which opens up for potential abuse in the future.

edited 1st Nov '16 12:51:05 AM by Lemurian

excellent! all of that helps me out a lot. if it's permitted, please consider this a placeholder for my sign-up. i'm a very busy individual but should have one up within a day, two at the most.

apologies for the double post, just wanted to ask how long it is predicted to take until you're ready for your next round of sign-ups. i have a character in mind but need to finish up the series first before i feel confidant in playing her.

i probably need a week and a couple days to finish things as i'm working a lot lately, just want to make sure that it's communicated that i'm still very much interested but have a few real life hold-ups.

This is for when the sign-ups are open. For now, I'll leave this here for the wait list.

• Name: Mikhail "Heavy Weapons Guy" Last name unknown (He prefers to be called Heavy)
• Age: Somewhere in his 40s
• Appearance: CRY SOME MORE!
• Universe: Team Fortress 2
• Personality: On the surface, he may seem like a loud, gun-happy, sandwich-eating, giant who calls his foes babies and boasts a lot, and yeah it's pretty much true, but he's smarter than he lets on. Hell, this guy has a PHD on Russian Literature, for a mercenary, that's a bit of a surprise. Plus, despite being in the age when the Soviet Union was still relevant, he prefers Peach Bellini over Vodka, takes large amount of cash for any contracts, and has more-or-less opposed the Soviet government.
• Backstory:
  • If asked, he'll just simply say that he uses his gun and likes to fire this weapon, but he just prefers not to talk about it. Not much is known about Mikhail before he and his family were imprisoned in a Siberian gulag. Like any good old Siberian gulag in the Stalin days, the wardens treated prisoners like dirt and it was freezing cold. But a rebellion was staged and every guard was killed, leaving him and his family moving to a more remote location.
  • At a later point he was hired by the Administrator, an enigmatic woman of enigmatic origins to fight for a rich, yet foolish man against an equally rich, yet foolish brother with eight other mercenaries to fight alongside him. Things were standard: capture points, steal intelligence, make a loudmouth Bostonian eat fist, those sorts of things, until one day a third, rich, yet not foolish, brother killed his employer and the enemy team's and sent robots to take over the company that sells them guns and hats. That led his team to band with their copies (what else would you describe the other team if they looked just like you, but with different hats?) to fend off the robot army.
  • They were locked into a stalemate until the third brother evicted their new employer out of his company to steal the Australium to live longer, but the Administrator had other plans, plans involving getting the group back together to fight them off. He was against the idea, with his family to protect, but when his family said that they took care of themselves while he was gone, he decided to bring them along. Now he's working to get the team back together, but suddenly, he was whisked away to a different world.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment:
  • Sasha: His prized minigun, ignoring the fact that it costs $400,000 dollars for 12 seconds, can deal heavy damage from up close and can be a threat in medium range. When revving it up, he can fire without delaying his attack, but slows him down to a crawl.
  • Shotgun: In cases where Sasha runs out of ammo, he can resort to his shotgun to defend himself.
  • Sandvich: Believe it or not, this sandwich can actually heal wounds! But he has to be still while eating it and is limited to minor wounds, so no, a Sandvich would not help you grow an arm back, but it certainly tastes better than an arm.
  • Fists: Well, what else do I say about it? He can put up his dukes when all of his ammo is drained and finding one is ill-advised or not available. He can deliver some mean hooks.
  • Built Like a Tank, Slow Like One: He can take a large amount of damage but due to his bulk, he's not exactly going to be winning any races anytime soon.
• Why have he been picked to climb the Tower?: He can serve as the heavy weapons, carry large loads, and provide assistance with his Sandviches and minigun fire. Plus, he's a pretty good defender when the job calls for it.

1am. Probably bad idea. Wanna Qrow again. Please re-evaluate/re-review.

• Name:Zasalamel
• Age:Unknown
• Appearance:here
• Universe: Soul Calibur
• Personality:Zasalamel is a man with a death wish. Having achieved effective immortality, he now seeks an end to what he sees as his "curse", and is prepared to do whatever must be done to achieve this end. Loyal only to himself, he views others as tools at best, to be used until no longer useful. He is never one to act rashly and rarely angers.
• Backstory:
  • Many over the course of history have seeked the secrets of immortality. Zasalamel was no different. Born to a ancient tribe that was sworn with the protection of Soul Calibur, one of the most powerful blades in the world, he disagreed with their oath never to use the blade and general isolation. After attempting to steal the blade and being caught, he was banished from the tribe. Using his own natural talent for magic, he commenced his research and eventually gained immortality. His body would still age, wounds would still harm and kill. But on death, he would be reborn in another body, his memories intact. Over the eons, he continued in this fashion.
  • However, two things caused this to change. First, he became dissatisfied with humanity in general. Thousands of years of immortality had caused him to drift apart from his fellow man, and he began to see society as stagnant, never changing or evolving, always repeating the mistakes of the past, no matter what he did. Second, the side effects of his immortality began to become apparent, as each death slowly grew more painful for him then the last.
  • In the late 16th century, this came to a head, as 300 years of research and constant attempts to end his own life for good lead him to try to gather the spirit swords, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge, together to use their combined powers to put an end to his curse. But, before he could implement this plan. he would find himself in a tower...
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment:
  • Death Scythe-Zasalamel's preferred weapon, a giant scythe, which he has considerable amounts of experience with using over the eons
  • Construct summoning-Using his magic, Zasalamel can call up constructs of his own making to fight for him. These constructs are limited in their fighting skill, being mere illusions, but he can make them look like anyone he has seen, be it in person or a picture. Said illusions, however, cannot talk, and he is limited to one at a time.
  • Revenant-He also seems to favor the use of a particular undead servant, an assassin who managed to kill him during one of his many incarnations and who's soul he later claimed for his own use. Said servant appears when summoned in the form of a skeleton, and is able to fight at a somewhat higher skill level then the base constructs, although it is no match for any true master of the blade. He cannot be summoned when Zasalamel is using a construct, and vise versa.
  • Ritual magic-Zasalamel's magic is not generally active magic, he won't be slinging fireballs off the bat or anything. Rather, he makes use of rituals and other, more subtle magic to do his work, such as a fatigue spell that gradually tires a given person over a matter of weeks or months until they can barely stand. However, due to the undefined nature of his magic, a hard list of what he can do is hard to come by. Thus, I'll be sure to send any ritual magic by the Term GM before doing anything, and the basic rule of "The more powerful the spell, the longer it takes to cast/more magic it uses" will of course be in effect.
  • Master of Magic-As one of the most skilled magic users in his universe, Zasalmel has been stated to be able to learn any given spell from seeing it once. Now, that might be a bit much, so I'll say due to the multiversal nature of any magic he's gonna encounter, it won't be quite that easy, but given enough time he is more or less able to learn any given spell that does not rely on a specific power source (He won't be learning how to replicate anything a Stand from Jo-Jos can do, for instance). As an additional nerf, anything he learns will not be as powerful as the original user(s) could use, again handwaved as an effect of the multiversal nature of the magic.
• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: Because this might be an interesting departure from my usual character type.

edited 10th Nov '16 4:15:37 PM by Meanken

• Name: Iria

• Age: None stated. 19-22 by my guess.

• Appearance: Hunter ID #9799-5◊ (sans cloak, which is an asymmetric, maroon, shin-length garment)

• Universe: Zeiram (specifically at the time of Iria: Zeiram the Animation, a prequel OVA)

• Personality: Headstrong, bold, quick in a fight and good under pressure, Iria aspires to be as good a bounty hunter as her older brother figure Glen (they’re not actually related but she considers him as close as family). She is often bold and unorthodox but has a plan for any and all cases. Completely willing to throw herself into the line of fire to get the job done. While rather tomboyish (as the men’s hair beads she wears hint at), she refuses to take flak for her inexperience and is more than willing to go up against all odds to achieve her end goals.

• Backstory: For an apprentice hunter, Iria has had experiences unlike any other; She faced down the nigh-invulnerable monster Zeiram multiple times, faced off against a corporation out to kill her, and the conspiracy at the heart of it all. While she is an officially-sanctioned hunter, she’s still inexperienced in the field but has plenty of training to make up for it.

• Powers/Abilities/Equipment: Despite being a normal, unaltered human, Iria is a quick thinker, having an unusually high perception and reaction which she uses to her advantage in combat. She is excellent at using the terrain present to her advantage and can hold her own against multiple opponents with little issue (and a lot of spur-of-the-moment action). Regardless of her lack of augmentation, Iria has a veritable plethora of equipment at her disposal for use as a hunter.

-Bolt Cutters: Portable tool for cutting through small (forearm sized) pipes and wires.

-Caltrops: Spiked balls stored in a cylinder and scattered upon release.

-Gyrojets: small, hand-thrown jets that activate upon contact with target. strong enough to push a large humanoid back without issue. More jets used, better thrust achieved, naturally.

-Grappling Hook: wire and bolt combo housed in a handheld disk. Can support Iria's weight and reaches multiple stories in length. Shoots quickly, but retracts slowly if pulling her up.

-Rifle: Breech-loading, multi-shot rifle. Semi-automatic. Able to use a single-shot rocket attachment in lieu of regular ammunition. (can be seen in the appearance picture)

-Personal Communicator: It’s a radio. Useful over long distances.

-Ceramic Armour: Extremely durable, Iria’s armour is designed to offer maximum protection while still retaining essential mobility in the field. Has digital interfacing systems built into the forearm to link up and use localized external systems. Multiple link points throughout armour to store weapons and equipment (notably, the grappling device in case Iria needs her hands free) and an integrated wing for gliding (escape gear). It also houses magnetic attach points for smaller weapons and tools

-Revolver: six-shot weapon, fires standard bullets.

-Fuse-Delay Detonators: A grenade by any other name; sticky detonators that adhere to surfaces and operate on a short timer.

-Sword; Standard single-edged cutlass-style short sword. Retractable for efficient storage

-Derringer: Two-shot breech-loading pistol. Can be outfitted to fire rounds that create a hard stasis field around the target. Houses two small missiles in the handle in cases of a sneak attack.

-Goggles and Dust Mask: light equipment used to filter out particles in the air. Not heavy or specialized enough to function as a gask mask.

-Chains; lengths of chain with weights on either end used to ensnare targets, restricting leg or arm movement.

-Incendiary Grenade; Fuse-based device. Holds liquid in the body acting as a reservoir until activated.

-Glider: Single-seat glider used to approach from an overhead position. Lightweight and not very durable. Mainly intended to get Iria where she needs to go rather than provide consistent transportation anywhere.

-Hair Bead Knife; Iria’s longest hair bead hides a short knife for sneak attacks in the case that she’s cornered.

-Spinner Detonator; a small whirlygig-shaped device that glides and explodes on contact. Can be thrown in an arc or in a straight line.

-Tracer Goggle: Monopiece goggles used to scan for energy signatures.

-Laser Weaponry experience: Iria is trained and familiar with laser based tools and weaponry. She's not likely to mishandle or misuse such devices.

-In addition to any equipment, Iria has training in martial arts and skill in acrobatics, using any and all terrain to her advantage.

(Please note that this is a comprehensive list of the gear she is seen using and carrying throughout all six episodes of the OVA and even if I need to pick and choose [which I'm more than happy to do if need be] that it also serves as a baseline for the sorts of equipment and tactics she is familiar with otherwise)

• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: Iria may not be the strongest woman in existence, but what she lacks in specialization, she makes up for in action. Her skills and training make her a valuable asset in any situation, and while her mouth may get her in trouble with those more concerned with the rules, her quick judgement skills and drive often get her out of it just as well.

edited 3rd Dec '16 6:09:29 PM by ImmortalFaust

• Name:Kled and Skaarl
• Age: You seriously think I know?
• Appearance: "Yes, a sane man ..◊ would run...◊ BUT I AINT THE RUNNING KIND!" (Kled is the furry psycho, Skaarl is the scaly coward)
• Universe: Leagueof Legends
• Personality:
  • Kled:Psychotic, insane, out of his mind, bloodthirsty, brave, reckless and tiny. Kled is a very patriotic and crazy Yordle who for some reason like to make up weird military titles such as "High Centurion Commodore Master Commander Sergeant" for no reason whatsoever. He also has a deep utter contempt for retreating, and that will make him wish you died in a fire if you ever dared do that, or suggest that to him. His relationship with Skaarl is...very strange, almost bipolar even. One moment he's cursing at the lizard to shut up even though it can't even talk, the next he'll silently contemplate to himself how it's the best friend a bastard like him could ever have...until it runs away.
  • Skaarl:Cowardly, idiotic and weird as hell. Skaarl follows Kled to combat without any complaint, but as soon as it seems like things will end in it's death or going too badly, it will ditch Kled and perform the Joestar Family Secret Technique. Though it will come back straight to Kled if it sees him tanking through the odds. It's quite docile and friendly...though it only shows when Kled isn't near it.
• Backstory: A warrior as fearless as he is ornery, Kled is a popular folk hero in Noxus. Embodying the furious bravado of his nation, he is an icon beloved by the empire’s soldiers, distrusted by its officers, and loathed by the nobility. Tall tales such as “The Great Hussar,” “The High General Marshal Sergeant,” and “The Mountain Admiral” trace back to the founding of the empire. Many soldiers claim Kled has fought in every campaign the legions have waged, has “acquired” every military title, and has never once backed down from a fight. Though the veracity of the details is often questionable, one part of his legend is undeniable: Charging into battle on his un-trusty steed, Skaarl, Kled fights to protect what’s his… and to take whatever he can get.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment:
  • Axe: An axe Kled carries. It does what you expect it to do.
  • Beartrap on a Rope: Kled hurls a beartrap tied to a piece of rope forward in a line, attaching itself to the first target it hits, damaging them. If Kled remains within a slowly decreasing radius of his target for a few seconds, it deals damage to the target and yanks them towards Kled. If the targets gets away from the radius, or Kled is too far away from them, the beartrap breaks and the target is free.
  • Pocket Shotgun: Kled carries with a Pocket Shotgun that he can fire in front of him.
  • Violent Tendencies: Kled periodically enters a frenzy, his next four attacks speed is increased and they deal more damage, the last attack dealing tons of damage
  • Chaaaaaaaarge!!! (Yes, it's really named as that): I don't know either. Anyways, Kled and Skaarl charge toward a target location in a very large distance at a fast pace. The duo trails a directional draft on their wake for 6 seconds that grants the same movement speed to all allies who follow their lead. They both gain a barrier shield that absorbs medium amounts of damage that lasts for the duration of the charge, and it lasts for 4 seconds after the charge ends. Skaarl homes in on the first enemy target encountered, knocking them back and damaging them.
• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: The group might need a frontliner that rushes headfirst into combat...that, and the crazyness of the two might be nice.

edited 22nd Nov '16 12:09:41 AM by Darkomega245

Name: Francesca Lucchini

Age: 13

Appearance: Stealing pants and sleeping in trees since 1931! On duty (Those things on her legs are the Striker Unit)◊ Napping like a pro◊

Universe: Strike Witches

Personality:

Francesca is a little girl with a sunny disposition and seemingly endless reserves of energy. Whenever she isn't asleep, she is almost certainly in the middle of either collecting insects from high up on trees, playing pranks on her fellow sisters-in-arms, or eating frankly ludicrous amounts of food (usually with Charlotte, her bestest friend ever. Who knows how she'll handle being separated from her in the midst of climbing the Tower?)

She is also a rather impulsive, short-sighted and irresponsible girl, frequently skimping on duties to fool around, as well as preferring a quick fix over a better, more permanent solution to problems. In the heat of combat, though, she is always dedicated to protecting her friends, however much she teases them when nothing much is happening.

She is also a rather perverted girl for her age, always out for cooping the feel of both friends and strangers alike, and having a probably unhealthy knowledge of and pre-occupation with the female mammary. Despite that, she is hard to dislike, with an altruistric streak that would cause her to do things like beating up muggers caught in the act if she just so happens to pass by.

Despite the aformentioned energetic-ness, she also has quite a lazy streak as well, having the tendency of taking naps from high places (e.g. the top branches of a tree, building rafters)

Backstory: Joining the Air Force of the Duchy of Romagna (Strike Witches version of southern Italy) at a tender age as an Aerial Witch, her sheer magic power was recognised when she was a mere 10-years old, which might've been the only thing keeping her from being discharged due to her many disciplinary problems.

After an increase in requests for witches from Britannia to defend against the Neuroi Hive over Gallia, she was sent to join the 501st Joint Fighter Wing Squadron in hopes of improving her behavior.

Powers/Abilities/Equipment:

Standard Witch Abilities: Like all Witches in her world, Lucchini has the ability to fly by channeling magic through her Striker Unit, mild super-strength (just enough to be able to fire normally tripod-mounted weapons from the shoulder/hip with reasonable accuracy. She cannot bench-press cars), and conjure a magical shield. This magical shield can reliably block almost all energy projectiles and gunfire, but bigger energy blasts (e.g. the Kamehameha) or explosives will severely weaken, if not break through the shield. The shield can also only be deployed in a single direction (most often the one the Witch is facing). Hence, she is vulnerable to a sneak attack from the sides or behind.

NOTES ABOUT THE STRIKER UNIT: In the series itself there is inconsistency in whether or not Witches need a runway or not or take off and land, and whether they can vertically hover or they need to keep moving in the air. For this I'll just say that Lucchini can VTOL when carrying normal loads, but carrying heavier loads (e.g. people) will require her to take off and land at a sufficiently flat and straight area like a normal aircraft, lest her Strikers be damaged. As for hovering, she can only do that for a few minutes or so. Any longer than that and her Strikers will begin to overheat due to a lack of airflow to cool the engines.

Sunlight Strike: Aside from the standard pool of abilities that each Witch has access to in her world, some Witches also have a unique ability specific to her and shared by few or no other. Lucchini is one of those Witches, and her unique ability allows her to concentrate magic into a point such that large amounts of light and heat is given off. She almost always uses this while charging the enemy at high speeds, using the point as an impromptu drill that can pierce enemy defenses. Anything less than very thick, highly reinforced armour or powerful magic barriers will be broken through.

Firearms: She's been trained on how to use a gun since an early age, and can shoot and maintain firearms with about as much proficency as an experienced modern-day soldier (at least, with the models she is familiar with). The particular model of gun she carries with her is the M1919 Browning medium machine gun.

Fitness/Agility: Disregarding her more magical abilities, Lucchini also very fit and agile compared to most other children her age, which is really not that much of a surprise seeing as she is a military prodigy. Activities such as climbing trees, scaling walls or running several kilometres without rest come easily to her.

Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: In a group full of adults and teenagers fighting for their lives and a way home, Lucchini would serve as a beacon of innocence and friendliness in these dark times, as well as provide some much-needed, no-malicious comic relief. Also, she would make a nice foil to the older, more serious members, while still being relatively sane (compared to characters like Gaige and D.Va).

Misc.: BTW, channeling magic causes her to grow animal ears and a tail. This will likely be just a irrelevant detail, but I'm adding this in just in case the it does become relevant to a visited world or certain other Climbers (and also for completeness sake).

I have an announcement to make! Sign-ups are now re-opened!

Chaika, Heavy Weapons Guy, Iria and Kled & Skarl are accepted!

DIO is also accepted, though as we agreed he will be unable to use the Flesh Buds.

Similarly, Zasalamel is accepted, and as agreed he's limited to one Construct at a time.

Akatsuki's abilities need some more reworking, sorry. Especially Assassinate and Stealth Blade need to be adapted from the original in-game explanation into something that makes more sense in a roleplay. Furthermore, I can't allow her Tracker sub-class making her capable of entirely erasing her presence. And finally, she'll need a hard limit on her Overskill. How many clones can she make, how long can they be active and will they be limited to fighting or will she be able to use them for other things?

Patches looks good. Though, just to clarify, are you saying that for Terminus Patches will not respawn upon death?

As for Lucchini, the other GMs and I are having some trouble balancing her Striker Unit. Giving her a variation of VTOL makes her dangerously powerful unless whatever she is fighting has dedicated anti-air, and this problem persists even if we restrict her to having to use a runway or equivalent. But even though the Striker Unit is central to her abilities, we really can't accept it at all in its current form. Personally I'd love to see it reworked to something that can still be used within the context of Terminus, so if you have suggestions I'd love to hear them.

edited 7th Dec '16 12:15:50 AM by Lemurian

glad i got accepted but there was one other thing i should have mentioned that i somehow overlooked; iria is also familiar with laser weaponry, as demonstrated here (skip to about 5:05) with the same weapon used here by zeiram himself (at around the 1:30 mark. for context, zeiram stole the laser from iria earlier in the series)

as fujikuro's statement in the first video ('you'll fry us all!') stands within the context of iria's response ('not if i use it like this') paired with zeiram's devastating use of the same laser weapon in the second video shows that she is competent with its use and application. i will add in her experience with weapons like it on the character sheet, but will opt not to include the actual weapon as it is not one she owns herself (it is lost along with zeiram in the final battle and regardless, it doesn't belong to her.

edited 3rd Dec '16 4:28:27 PM by ImmortalFaust

Okay.

Several other Climbers (e.g. Reimu, D.Va, Loader Bot) can fly too. And unless my Touhou knowledge is faulty, I'm pretty sure Reimu can hover. I don't see why Lucchini is so special in this regard.

But if it satisfies the G Ms, I could make it so that she can't hover in the air, instead having to continually make passes over an area she wants to keep attacking like an aircraft.

ADDED EDITS: In addition, I'll make it so that no runway would be required for take-off and landing (though she will still need the space to build up speed on the ground) ONLY when carrying standard loads (e.g. medium machine gun + ammo). I'd fluff this as the Striker Unit making use of the ground effect to lift her slightly of the ground before building enough speed for take-off. Carrying heavier loads would require a proper runway or the closest equivalent to take-off or land. What's your opinion, GM?

edited 3rd Dec '16 11:53:30 PM by Inter-VersaLoli

I'd sure like it if he did respawn upon death, but I was worried that it would be some kind of flavor of overpowered. If you would consider it (perhaps him respawning at the Tower in-between missions) I would appreciate it.