Abilities Guide

Base Power & Total Acting Power:

• Base Power is the foundational strength of an Ability, representing its raw, unmodified potency.
  
• Base Power is determined by the Ability’s Rating, with each Rating tier (Novice, Apprentice, Initiate, Journeyman, Expert, Master) providing a specific Base Power value.
  
• Total Acting Power or TAP is the combined strength of an Ability after all scaling modifiers have been applied, with, said scaling, being calculated differently based on whether it's a Skill-Based or Non-Skill Based Ability.
  
• For Skill-Based Abilities, TAP is calculated by adding, Base Power, Proficiency Bonus of the Requisite Skill, half of your Attribute Score in the Ability's Primary Attribute, and any additional, relevant modifiers.
  
• For Non-Skill-Based Abilities, TAP is calculated by adding Base Power, and all, of your Attribute Score in the Ability's Primary Attribute, plus any relevant modifiers.
  
• You cannot use a Skill-Based Ability without having the requisite Skill trained, at most, one Rating below that of the Ability's Rating; i.e. you need at least an Expert Rating Spellcasting to cast Master Rating Spells
  
• TAP of an Ability can never exceed 500 after all scaling is finished.
  

Scaling Formula for Skill Based Abilities:

Scaling Formula for Non-Skill Based Abilities:

Resource Costs & Channeling Duration:

• Resource Costs are the expenditure(s) of a character's specific Resource Pool, required to activate an Ability
  
• The cost of an Ability should be balanced with its effectiveness; higher-rated Abilities have higher Resource Costs.
  
• Martial Maneuvers cost Energy, Magical Spells cost Mana, and Hybrid Spell-Likes cost both Energy and Mana.
  
• Channel Time represents the posts required before an Ability activates, most of the time, requiring that you do nothing but "channel" the Ability during this time.
  
• Overchanneling, is Channeling an Ability longer than its minimum required Channel Duration, being permissable by the Ability listing a maximum Channel Duration alongside the minimum or with the Overchannel Specialty Skill.
  

Cooldowns & Durations:

• Cooldowns are time-based restrictions that limit how often an Ability can be used after it ends.
  
• Cooldown periods vary based on the Ability’s Rating and the impact it has in gameplay.
  
• High-impact Abilities have longer Cooldowns to balance their powerful effects.
  
• Duration indicates how long an Ability’s effects last after activation, ranging from Instantaneously going off and ending that same post, to sustained more effects
  
• Abilities with a duration longer than a single post will have an associated upkeep cost and may require other maintenance to stay active.
  
• Durations longer than 5 posts will have extreme hindrances attached to them.
  

Ranges, Components, & Effects:

• Range defines the distance at which an Ability can be effectively used, measured in yards and meters (rounded up).
  
• Each Ability has a base Range determined by its Rating, with AoEs having their total Range split accordingly.
  
• For example, a Novice Rank AoE can be a 2x3 yd cone or a dome with a total diameter, of 5 yds/meters
  
• Components refer to the in-character actions or 'pieces' required to activate an Ability.
  
• Components can include Verbal, Tactile, and Resource components, such as chanting an incantation, physically swinging a weapon, or requiring a gemstone to store a captured magic in
  
• Effects describe what Abilities do based on their Tags, possibly allowing for more powerful Effects as Abilities are upgraded.
  
• An Ability cannot have Effects that are not listed by its specific Tags.
  

Status Effect Tags:

• Status Effect Tags indicate conditions, buffs, or hindrances an Ability possibly applies to targets.
  
• Status Effect Tags are almost always utilized with a Stat Check (a 'Skill Check' where the DC you're looking to beat is a set Statistic of target(s) using the Ability's TAP), but some exceptions do apply such as Regen
  
• Included in the Status Effect Tags is the Damage Tag for flat damage; this is to streamline damage being a technical effect of Abilities, not something inherently given to Abilities.
  
• The higher an Ability’s Rating, the more and stronger Status Effects it can apply.
  

Maximum Amount of Status Effect Tags for All Abilities by Rating:

Restricted Status Effect Tags for All Abilities by Rating:

General Tags:

These tags provide broad descriptions of an Ability’s overall nature, giving a cursory glance of possible effects and how the Ability could be categorized when looked at as a whole. Making your 'kit' or build based on singular General Tags is recommended against, it would be wiser to focus on a cluster if you wanted to focus in this regards at all. Examples of General Tags include:

• Schools/Domains/Circles of Magic (Evocation, Hemomancy, Graviturgy, etc)
  
• It's 'range' type (Melee, Ranged, Aura, Environmental)
  
• Others include Limited Use, Skill Based, Non-Skill Based, Character Specific, Faction Specific
  

Effect Parameters Tags:

These tags define the parameters of an Ability’s effects, including the 'energy' of the Ability which affects its clashing mechanics, how the ability is applied, duration, amount of targets, and area of impact/dimension of the Ability if it's an Aoe. Regardless, these Tags are crucial for understanding the logistics of using an Ability, helping to plan where and when it can be most effectively deployed.

• Whether its energy is physical, metaphysical, or a mix (Martial, Magical, Supernatural, or Hybrid)
  
• The 'classification' of an Ability, typically based upon its Energy (Maneuver, Spell, Spell-Like)
  
• How you hit using the Ability to apply its effects (Touch, Weapons Reach, Range, AoE)
  
• Both how long it takes to activate the Ability and how long it can be active for (Instantaneous, Channeled, Sustained, Reactive, Passive)
  
• How many people, monsters, or other entities can the Ability hit (Self, Single Target, Two Targets, Multi-Targets)
  
• What is the overall shape or dimension of the Ability, if even applicable (Cube, Sphere, Dome, Cone, Cylinder, Arc, Line)
  

Damage Type Tags:

These tags specify the type of damage an Ability deals, such as, but not limited to, Fire, Force, or Slashing damage. While not necessarily always known, there are occasions when you might know a particular Beast or Fiend's weakness and be able to exploit it by having a variety of both mundane, elemental, and mystical kinds of damage.

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Activation Conditions:

• Activation conditions are specific requirements that must be met before an Ability can be used.
  
• Examples include needing a clear path, having enough mana to cast it, or wielding a specific weapon.
  
• Failing to meet these conditions prevents the Ability from activating.
  
• Some Abilities may 'damage' more than just your standard Mana and Energy Resource Pools; as mentioned in the Statistics Guide, a character's Stats (Honor, Luck, Piety, and Sanity), can also be utilized as a required resource pool, even HP can be required (these will all be noted in the Resource Cost on the Ability's app)
  
• Environmental factors can affect activation, such as needing a water source for water-based Abilities.
  
• Activation conditions should be listed first in an Ability’s "What It Does" section when applicable.
  

Interactions with Other Mechanics:

• Abilities can be influenced or restricted by other game mechanics, such as environmental zones like anti-magic fields.
  
• Clashing mechanics can negate or overpower Abilities based on opposing forces described later in the next section of the Ability's Guide
  
• Channeling Abilities often, requires continuous effort and leave the character vulnerable to interruptions; if you don't finish a channel without starting it, and it's too far out to timeline your char simply not having started it in the first place, you lose any of the Mana/Energy required to channel it
  
• Timelining may alter if you activate an Ability because sometimes you may find yourself getting to react before it actually would have activated, on your next post
  

On the Subject of Timelining...:

Consequences of Activation:

• Upon activation, an Ability's resource cost(s), are automatically spent, a person cannot make their resource pool be reduced below 1 in this manner
  
• Activating an Ability can have consequences beyond resource depletion, such as leaving the character vulnerable if they have to channel it.
  
• Powerful Abilities might seriously drain a character's mana or energy, reducing their ability to further utilize other Abilities to defend themselves.
  
• Some Abilities might attract unwanted attention or trigger environmental changes, like major structural damage.
  
• Once an Ability is activated and if it fully takes effect, it cannot be canceled (i.e. if you launch two Abilities, and the first hits but the second doesn't, you can only timeline from the second Ability and anything that came after that in the natural progression of the thread); Abilities with longer than a one post duration can be canceled at anytime, but you aren't refunded the resource cost of it's activation/upkeep.
  

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Using Them Effectively

Timelining:

Status Effects:

Environmental Positioning:

Coordinating Attacks:

Risks and Rewards:

As with simply activating an ability, successfully using one comes with a plethora of different risks and rewards. There's the givens; a positive note is you have the possibility to deal a massive amount of damage to someone, but conversely the risk that you will most likely anger said person is just as present. Both should be taken into consideration, regardless of whether you're in a combat or non-combat thread. It's always good to remember, any kind of Ability that somehow makes things in someone's favor can be seen as a threat by another person, even if it isn't dealing any damage or legitimate detrimental status effect.

Risks:

Rewards:

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Ability vs. Ability:

When two abilities come across each other's paths, they can clash under a certain set of circumstances, and will oftentimes happen throughout a threads with combat in it when the opposing characters use their abilities simultaneously or in response to each other. In some cases, one ability might overpower the other, while in others, both abilities cancel each other out.

• Abilities, while able to clash with other Abilities, are limited to which ones they can clash with based on whether they are Martial, Magical, Supernatural, or Hybrid; this is called the 'energy type' of Ability to represent whether it is physical and tangible, metaphysical and intangible, or anything in between
  
• Abilities (Martial, Magical, Supernatural, and Hybrid) can always clash with their own type and may clash with other types based on individual Ability rules. Martial and Magical Abilities are more likely to never clash with each other, while Hybrid and Supernatural Abilities can almost always clash with all types but have specific exceptions listed at creation.
  
• If two Abilities can clash, the 'winner' is determined by the TAP of the two Abilities colliding; whichever has more, wins the clash and continues moving along uninterrupted. In the event of tie, both Abilities cancel each other
  
• So long as the losing Ability is not an AoE, it is fully 'destroyed', negated, and otherwise canceled out; AoEs are unique where it can be specifically mentioned in the app, that only the portion of the AoE which clashes is destroyed
  
• Abilities don't always clash on equal terms with one another either; certain damage types gain superiority against others, allowing the TAP of a 'Superior' Ability to be doubled.
  
• Note, this is only used for when the two Abilities clash and doesn't affect the TAP of the Ability after that point
  
• Below in the spoiler lists Damage Type that gets Superiority Bonus -> Damage Type(s) that it effects
  

Damage Type Superiority:

Ability vs Environment:

Abilities that come into contact with the environment can trigger changes to the terrain or objects within the surroundings. Depending on the ability’s nature, this can include causing elemental reactions (such as setting a forest on fire with a fire-based ability). Here are some key things to keep in mind when an Ability clashes with the Environment:

• As with Ability vs Ability, the Energy Type can play a factor when clashing with a piece of the Environment, but, these are much looser and freeform; each Energy Type can still theoretically clash with anything in the environment
  
• Abilities that don't clash with the environment, such as an aura, need to have that specifically noted in the What It Does section on the Ability's app; NOTE- this does take up a Status Effect Tag due to its tendencies of being relatively powerful