NOTICE: This thread is deaaad. You should be checking out the new one, over here.

Welcome, Tropers, to the Avatar Arena(3.0)!

In this thread, the object of the game is to use your forum avatar as an Author Avatar, but instead of (or in addition to) roleplaying, you're battling everyone else's avatar to the death, hopefully in a suitably epic fashion. When defeated, you can either respawn or change your avatar and come back as someone else. The three most important rules are: Play Fair, Be Sportsmanlike, and... Have Fun.

Official rules below (Please read these before entering the game).
(WARNING: Footnotes ahoy!)

Note: I've gotten into the habit of asking new players who they're playing as and whether they've read these rules. Preemptive answers to these questions are appreciated.

Avatars: Offically, entrants should not be higher than Super Weight (Super Scale level 3) on the scale of the same name. Basically, anything that A: is not overpowered ¹ (Firearms and/or explosives are allowed; flagrant abuse of this rule is not) ² (A character will be retroactively considered overpowered, and thusly removed, if they are proven capable of causing significant damage to the setting), and B: is not immune to damage. An avatar will be considered immune to damage, and therefore not allowed, if there is nothing a rule-abiding avatar can do to hurt it ³ (Intangibility is allowed, but only if it is a temporary power, and the character is solid most of the time). Avatars need not be human, living, or even animate ⁴ (A weapon or helpful item can be used as an avatar, as long as it is physically tangible and does not violate any other rules). However, no enclosed (or nearly enclosed) vehicle, manned or unmanned, may be used as an avatar, as part of an avatar, or be summoned by an avatar ⁵ (The one exception is during an avatar's introductory post; the avatar must exit the vehicle by the end of said post; also, said vehicle must be unarmed); wholly open and unarmed vehicles, like flying broomsticks or skateboards (or flying skateboards), are allowed. Players are limited to one avatar in play at a time ⁶ (Doppelganger-like abilities are allowed as long as they are temporary and don't result in a big frickin' army) ⁷ (Pets/minions/mons are allowed, but only if they are in the same picture as their master and, more importantly, do not violate any other rules) ⁸ (Two to four characters can be used if they are in the same picture and are an established team in their work of origin. The sum of all of a player's characters' respective Super Weight Scale numbers may not be greater than three). No time-altering abilities or equipment are allowed. Medics and merchants and such kinds of character are allowed, with the understanding that some folk are liable to attack them anyway. Any contestant playing as a videogame character whose equipment and skills are customizable is advised to use the "default," or most familiar and recognizable, loadout so as to not overcomplicate things. Don't enter the game with your character maxed out and with the best gear in the game. Bossmonsters are not allowed, and won't be no matter how much you try to Nerf them ⁹ (There is, however, a distinction between boss and bossmonster: A given boss will only probably not be allowed.).

Combat: Pretty much the usual for Play-by-Post Games. No auto-hitting, no ghosting (dodging everything without a really good excuse), and use your own judgment ¹ (A player is allowed a nonlethal and non-debilitating auto-hit against any character whose player has been AFK for longer than one page (and/or two days), and whose avatar was in melee combat with the first player's avatar when they left; if they were in ranged combat, assume they disappeared). How realistically one's character takes hits is up to oneself. Note: The Arena is not an RP, and coming back from the dead is an official feature of it; Plot Armor does not apply. Anyone Can Die here, and thus can be expected to when they are killed. Temporary team-ups or more stalwart alliances are allowed, but restricted to only two or three players per alliance ² (If a player is being attacked by two or more other players at once, that player is advised to wait for each attacker to make a post before responding, as opposed to trying to react to attacks as they come and letting the fight devolve into one big pile of confusion and ninjas.). If one avatar should attempt to possess or Mind Control another, the player of the attacking character should describe what he is attempting to make the other do; the defending player decides whether or not his avatar complies and to what extent he fights back ³ (Battle in the Center of the Mind optional), based on the character's strength of will.

Looting/Equipment: Looting a downed avatar's corpse is allowed, provided the character's body is judged to still be there when looting is attempted. When a player respawns his character after death, it is assumed his body has inexplicably disappeared; if a character's body is looted and he respawns afterwards, he will be missing whatever equipment was taken. Weapons, equipment, mounts and/or vehicles can also be acquired from the surroundings themselves, provided they can plausibly be found in the setting. When an avatar is killed, anything they're carrying that they obtained in the Arena is dropped on the ground where they were killed, even if they respawn ¹ (On the other hand, if an avatar leaves the Arena on purpose and returns later, they will still have any Arena-obtained equipment they had when they left, even if their player switched them for someone else in between) ² (If, however, an avatar looted by the aforementioned returns or respawns again while the looter is absent from the thread, they will regain their lost equipment and the looter will be missing it upon their return).

Boss Fights: Bossfights are chosen, started, and controlled by me. During these, avatars are expected to work together against the boss. The first bossfight was against Mewtwo, the second was against Soul Edge, the third was against Tzekel Kan, and the fourth and latest was against Crona.

Rule Zero: My word goes. Also, I reserve the right to drop insta-kill space rocks on characters I deem overpowered.

Setting: Subject to change when and if the players get bored enough of it, and after every official bossfight ¹ (At least four players (and the GM) must agree to change the setting in order for the change to happen; the same number must agree on a given place for it to become the new setting). Feel free to use it to your advantage whenever possible. There are no NPCs; the only occupants of the Arena are its participants ² (Wildlife native to the setting can appear). The current setting is, uh, in flux. The finale's on, so it changes with the boss; in any case, there won't be a setting pretty soon, since the thread's ending. V4's first setting will be a set place, though, don't worry.

Take heed: This post has been edited many times and will doubtlessly be edited many times more; the rules are subject to change. Players may be advised to check it occasionally.

edited 16th Nov '13 9:21:15 PM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

-A Terran firebat lands on a tomb after a failed teleportation-

edited 9th Oct '10 10:06:44 AM by Strigon

Shameless Self-promotion ho!

^Well, now I know what it is, anyway. Doesn't say anything about teleporting, though.

^He survived falling on it, right?

_VI just thought he'd exploded on it for some reason.

_VVAh, here we go!

edited 9th Oct '10 11:11:47 AM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

(Of course)

Shameless Self-promotion ho!

A crocodile wakes up from the noise and thinks "food?".

Never be without a Hat! Hot means heat. I don't care if your usage dates to 1300, it's my word, not yours. My Pm box is open.

Firebat: *gets up and scans the area* This certainly don't look like a Dominion installation...

Shameless Self-promotion ho!

Commander John Shepard is running down a collapsing mineshaft, something to do with a mining laser, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and Garrus Vakarian in tow.

As the final part of the mineshaft collapses, the Turian and Quarian are stuck behind a wall of fallen rock

Tali: We're stuck! Shepard: You could have been crushed. Be thankful. Garrus: It looks like you have bigger issues, Commander. We can work our own way out.

Shepard applies Tech Armor (doubles shield strength).

Shepard is a level 30 Sentinel w/Sniper training. He carries:

• X-3b Predator Heavy Pistol
• M-12d Locust SMG
• M-92e Mantis Sniper Rifle Dropped for now.
• Collector Particle Beam Heavy Weapon.

This is as close as you'll get to my actual Shepard (I normally carry the M-920 Cain, but that's innappropriate for this game).

also, please don't kill my captive teammates. They are there in case I can use them. If it turns out no, they're fair game. And a decent distraction. Especially Tali, canon (in my game) Love Interest of Shepard.

edited 9th Oct '10 5:39:48 PM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

^Okay... although you do realize that if not for words like pistol, SMG, and sniper rifle, we'd have no idea exactly what kind of weapons he's packing, right? Heck, the way this level is put together, the Sniper Rifle alone is a near-Game-Breaker. I wonder what kind of Jedi-like powers you still haven't mentioned...

He's good, though. PS: well-done Broken Bridge. I'm gettin' deja vu...

Another tip: Just in case some people don't know jack about the work your avatar's from, but want to, I'd put a link to it so they can do some light reading and get an idea of what they're up against.

_VNothing but a bunch of dead dwarves, maybe a couple rusty axes... Oh, and a crocodile with a hat, a Firebat, and Commander Shepard.

edited 9th Oct '10 5:07:07 PM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

Hmm, I appear to have grown boobs, lost a lot of muscle mass and clothing and gained darker hair. On the plus side I think I've suddenly got better with knives and I'm moving a lot faster...I wonder if there's anything around I can sell for booze money, I could do with a drink.

*Charme begins searching the area for loot*

For the record her abilities are;

• Daggers as her Weapon Of Choice
• High movement speed, lowish defence and HP.
• Poor reach and medium damage, very high attack and recovery speed.
• The ability to create up to 5 mirror copies which surround her and copy her actions.
• The ability to charge forward (slashing anyone in the way).
• The ablity to drop a spider web trap which lasts about 10 seconds and holds anyone trapped in it in place.
• May also be carrying a few healing items, wearing a healing ring and carrying a spare or two (which will heal her to full health if she's injured badly but might break on doing so).

edited 9th Oct '10 6:06:23 PM by Bisected8

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

If you want a Competitive Balance analysis of (Sentinel) Shepard, he's a Stone Wall, doesn't have much damage-dealing ability, except if you're unarmoured (since I doubt anyone's going to be packing deflector sheilds or biotic barriers), within kissing distance, and I have my SMG out. Oh yeah, Sentinel shepard is also a biotic, but being a Sentinel, his powers aren't too strong, limited to a straight-up damage (Warp, doesn't work on actually injuring people as well as it does on armor) or less damage, and send the victim flying a short distance (Throw, doesn't work through armor or shields).

As for defense, though, Shepard is packing deflector shields and they're doubled in strength by Tech Armor. So Yeah.

(If you think Sentinel is too powerful, I can change class. Probably to Soldier, which can be summed up as carrying around way too many guns.)

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

as in my runs, I am Paragon (compassionate, as opposed to jerk)

Shepard walks over to Charme.

"As if I didn't have enough trouble with looters on Omega."

"You know, the people you're stealing that stuff from might not be dead. I saved quite a few miners back there"

for reference, I didn't watch the youtube video (mobile internet limits et al), so I'm just going 'generic mine'

edited 9th Oct '10 5:59:47 PM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

^Would you be able to see it if I embedded it? Also, what are you using, an iPhone? As far as miners and whatnot, the unofficial rule for NPCs is: there aren't any. The arena is meant to be a ghost town except for the players.

Also, it's a bit big for a mine. It's basically one big Bottomless Pit, with stone stairways (no railings, of course), and a bunch of rooms with not a great deal of actual walls.

edited 9th Oct '10 6:22:19 PM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

-a bottle of water leans on a wall; inside it is a rolled-up scroll of paper with the "sea" kanji; soft snoring can be heard from it-

Going to be playing as Umi, the #1 avatar

• Sentient piece of paper
• Can transform at will into an origami-version of any water creature within reason (i.e. no origami Cthulu)
• Can also control exposed water (so she can't suck the moisture out of one's body). She can absorb water to become more dense, allowing her to hit harder.

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped

"Well if they need to escape they have one less thing to worry about. I'm saving them from themselves."

How does paper have a gender?

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

^^I prefer people to play as their actual avatar, although I realize it doesn't make a great deal of difference in your case. Also, how useful are origami of sea creatures going to be in a place practically made of steep stone stairs and bottomless pits?

edited 9th Oct '10 6:21:16 PM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

^^ Erm...erm...she has a female voice? Besides, the sea's usually associated with females anyways.

^ Oh, right. Well, she can also use water to create an orb of water around herself. But, I think I'll just go back to Hikaru for this one. I need to hammer out Umi some more before I use her

-the bottle now has no water, and the paper has the "light" kanji instead of the "sea" kanji-

edited 9th Oct '10 6:23:35 PM by yarrunmace

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped

I'm using a Nokia N97 mini. I'd kill you if you embedded it, because I'd have to download the video every single time I came back to the page. Which would snap my usage limit like a twig. Also, the NP Cs were only mentioned. I'm trying to create a plausible reason for a fight, e.g, Paragon Shepard's strong morals.

Trying to save people from materialism I take it? A strange way of going about it.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

"That and stay ahead of my bar tab. You wanna get a drink later?"

*spots "light" kanji bottle*

"Speaking of which...oh, it's just an empty bottle..."

edited 9th Oct '10 6:25:11 PM by Bisected8

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

I can't just let people go looting, it's part and parcel of being a Spectre that I'm above the law, and I've killed for less. So are you done looting?

Tali: I wish he could just walk past somebody doing wrong.

OK, I'll use my squadmates for commentary and lampshading. Sue me. :p

edited 9th Oct '10 6:33:13 PM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

"Yes. For now. Can I at least keep this bottle? I dropped my canteen on the way here."

edited 9th Oct '10 6:33:06 PM by Bisected8

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

[[Mythology Gag- A small red logo appears in the bottom-right of the screen]]

Shepard pulls his sniper rifle off of his back.

"Just to prove a point, no."

-Points it point-blank at the bottle, it clicks uselessly.-

Shepard registers a brief moment of surprise, and runs.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

...

"Was that guy for real?"

*carries on into the mine*

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

Oh, right, I forgot to explain Hikaru's powers. He can transform into an origami version of anything, but he needs someone to do the origami for him

-the paper starts to wiggle inside the jar-

Hey, someone let me outta here!

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped

Shepard is obviously accustomed to sniper rifles, as the long-distance shot from his pistol goes wild.

Garrus, let me borrow your rifle.

Garrus: Does the word 'stuck' ring a bell, Commander?

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

I've got a good pic of a character I've never used before (and his movie of origin is obscure enough that it took me all day), but it's pretty late, so I might upload him and enter the fight tomorrow (and yes, I know how often I say things to that effect).

^BTW, apart from anything else, Shepard's the only entrant thus far (except maybe rallyfan's (whoops) Strigon's Firebat) that has anything remotely resembling a gun, so I'm gonna say his teammates are officially not allowed. Sorry.

edited 10th Oct '10 12:42:44 PM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.