Hallifax Guardian equivalents

by Shiri

Back to Ideas.

Shiri2005-01-03 11:20:15
Well, actually, since I'm rather poor at this, I decided to go with Blastron's idea and expand on it rather than do the whole thing on my own.

However, rather than having this on a monk class, I'm proposing this sort of theme for a Hallifax Cosmic Guardian skillset. As opposed to rituals, which despite weird cool complex-shape things I really can't see being Hallifax-type, the whole "physics" thing appealed to me greatly, so here goes. Physics is specialisable into Time or Space.

Various ideas lifted from Iggy, Akraasiel and Blastron, credit given where credit's due and all that.

Physics:
Softstep - Tread carefully to avoid traps.

The scientist quickly learns to avoid landbound physical restrictions by manipulating the resistance of the ground beneath him, immunising him from briars, caltrops and the like, albeit at a constant drain in endurance.

Sensing - Scan a location for hidden presence.

While not visible to the naked eye, the presence of living beings in a location disrupts the omnipresent aether slightly - the scientist can now discern the exact number of lifeforms in a location.

Lightshock - Blind targets with a flare.

Light can be manipulated to flare in a target's eyes, causing blindness.

Soundshock - Deafen targets with a localised supersonic explosion.

A deafening explosion audible only to the target will cause deafness.

Weavepierce - Dicern fact from fiction.

A sudden burst of clarity grants the scientist a temporary resistance to local illusions, though it will not protect against such subtle effects as an illusionary phantom.

Nullsound - Cease sound itself.

Silencing sound immediately around the scientists limbs will quieten his movements, allowing him stealthy passage wherever he goes.

Shockwaves - Knock a subject to the ground.

Vibrating the surroundings suddenly can knock a target prone, causing minor damage in addition.

Wavetread - Avoid elemental currents.

Attuning himself to a particular element, the scientist can avoid forced movement from water currents, air gusts or minor earthquakes, though this is a complicated technique to enact and thus only one element can be attuned to at a time.

Redistribution - Hop quickly through a hole in space.

In an emergency, a scientist can briefly will himself into existence into a random adjacent location, possibly escaping a dire fate.

Inspire - Restore a subject's confidence.

A scientist can inspire another with a minor revelation, boosting their confidence and ego.

Unearth - Find hidden treasures deep underground.
*0-8 power*
A hasty reshuffling of the earth beneath a scientist's feet can bring previously burrowed objects or beings to the surface. This can be amplified with intense concentration, but the cost is such that for every additional level of soil beneath the surface that requires unearthing, one power is needed.

Distilling - Seal in elemental magics.
*1 power*
By concentrating on the infused magics in an area caused by a mages demesne, a scientist can distill the energies, causing them to resist corruption and require an extra attempt to alter with foresting, flooding, sanding, tainting, or breezing.

Windwall - Channel out deadly gases.

Funneling air away from the scientist while keeping a supply pocketed allows free breathing while the spell lasts, in addition to diluting the effects of harmful gases.

Chemistry - Increase the potency of elixirs.
*1 power*
With intense concentration, it is possible to focus a vial of health, mana or bromide elixir, so that the next sip from it has an increased effectiveness.

Master
At this point in your training of Physics, you have progressed where you must specialise in an aspect of this skill to continue learning. If you have not yet selected a specialisation, see SKILLCHOICE LIST to see what is available. There may be a choice between two specialisations.

Time (credit mostly to Iggy) and Space (credit to Blastron and I) coming soon to a post near you.

EDIT: As a sort of theme explanation: Physics is mostly personal abilities, time is a mainly offensive skill, and space is a defensive/redirection art. I wanted it to be sort of like totems in that regard, but with the focus being on personal power, offense and defense as opposed to personal power, short and long range as Stag and Moon were respectively.
EDITEDIT: Forgot to give the poor physicists an attack. Damn I'm stupid. Now they have aetherblast, though, so they can conduct their experiments safe in the knowledge they can protect themselves. (EDITEDIT.2:Okay, so I'm even MORE stupid than I thought, since they have cosmic they don't need this at all. Baleeted.)
EDITEDITEDIT: As Iridine so kindly points out, there is no pipe balance, therefore my notion that Magnetism would be useful is completely and utterly wrong. Windwall made to replace it.
EDITEDITEDITEDIT: Okay, so I couldn't think of a good "Laetitia" thing. So Inspire sucks. Mrh.
Shiri2005-01-03 12:05:16
Time

Hourglass - The mark of a true chronologist.

Calling to the chronologist their personal hourglass is the scientist's mark as a student of time and timelessness. Immunising them from the slowing of their own time, the hourglass is also used for many of the Chronologist's more advanced warpings of existence. It fills with time compressed into a solid, sandy form, once a Lusternian day, never decays, and cannot be removed from the Chronologist's person except of their own will.

Erode - Here today, gone tomorrow.

Though this technique is too complicated to enact on a living soul, the body is less fragile, and a corpse can be worn down to dust in an instant.

Timewaste - Flesh and bone are the first to fall to the ravages of time.
>
The onus of decay on a subject's limbs will wither them and render them useless in a split second.

Hourstance - Numb impact by slowing time locally.
>
Nullifying time near-completely around a body part briefly but drastically lowers damage to it while the hours remain stilled.

Lunar - The tides of time affect the Moon as the moon affects the sea.
*3 power*
The sands of time can channel lunar light in a single location, altering the type of Moonlight available to followers of the Moon totem for a brief period.

Solar - Day to night, dark to light.

While no chronology is strong enough to affect the sun, it is possible to weave the sands of time over a single location temporarily, restoring night or day for a brief period.

Timenet - That which cannot move cannot harm you.

Wrapping a net of time around a target slows their movements through the timestream.

Strip - Undo even the arcane arts.

Invoking the winds of time by spinning the hourglass will return an unnatural protection from a target to the sands of time where it belongs.

Flow - Swift or slow, alter blood's flow.

The chronologist can alter a target's bloodflow, either unnaturally speeding it up to the point where it ruptures arteries and breaks through the skin, or slowing it down to inflict them with lethargy and weakness.

Timefocus - Less haste, more speed.

Speeding up time for a subject temporarily decreases the amount of time they require to recover balance and equilibrium, as well as speeding up the time it takes to writhe from restrictions, but also causes minor health drain as the muscles burn energy at an incredible rate.

Discordancy - When time rubs against itself, neither body nor mind can comprehend it.

By irregularly warping time around the target, a chronologist can distort the muscular and nervous coordination of the target, afflicting them with both epilepsy and clumsiness as neural and physical reactions are struck with discordancy.

Redsands - Red sands of time erode resistance.

> *1 power (Matrix)*
Draining the red sands out of the chronologist's hourglass will cover the white and black, rendering the hourglass useless until refilled, but conjuring a layer of red sand over the target's skin, increasing their vulnerability to the damage type while the sands last.

Skip - Things weren't always this way.
*8 power*
By restoring your body to a previously recorded state by tipping the hourglass on its end, all maladies afflicted on you, as well as unnatural defences, will be completely nullified.

Timeloop - Return them from whence they came.

*8 power*

Recording an opponent's position in time will aid in the prevention of their escape. Stealing someone's time in a loop will allow a chronologist to memorise an opponent, and recalling them will return their physical body to him as a result. STATES will list the names of memorised opponents.

Whitesands - White sands of time wear away life.

*3 power (Matrix)*
Draining the white sands from the hourglass will dissolve the red and black, rendering the hourglass useless until refilled, but forming a chilling layer over the target's skin, gradually draining health and mana while the sands last.

Preservation - Some things last forever.
> *2 power*
The expenditure of mystic power can halt time for a specific object in the chronologist's inventory, completely nullifying their decay for a month.

Heartstop - Cease even the clock of life itself.

Slowing down an opponent's heart until it ceases to beat, this potent technique requires great concentration for a period of time to function.

Blacksands - Time can't be held off forever.

*5 power (Matrix)*
Draining the black sands from the hourglass will overwhelm the red and white, rendering the hourglass useless until refilled, but creating a numbing layer over the target's skin, further increasing the potency of the chronologist's discordancy, withering, and bloodflow maladies and forcing them to be remedied twice before returning to normal while the sands last.

Shatter - Unleash concentrated eons on the world.
*10 power (Matrix)*
Causing an incredibly intense field of time by breaking the chronologist's hourglass is a dangerous but effective tactic, as it will cause large amounts of damage to everyone caught in its effect in addition to potential withering of limbs, bloodflow or discordancy as the sands of time scatter and erode everything they touch.

EDIT: Just to clarify, the way the sands work is that the sands are drawn from the hourglass over the target, and cannot be cured until they fade - the chronologist can then control whether they run red, black, or white by shifting the sands, producing the desired effect. Sands can be shifted when the hourglass is drained, but no other powers that require the hourglass - drawing sand over a different target, shattering the glass, stripping a target, or skipping back through time, can't be used while the sands are out of the glass, which can be summoned one day after.
EDITEDIT: Timefocus added for another bonus w/drawbacks, solar added to interact with the realists who can use darkmatter and sunflares. Credit to Iridine for ideas.
EDITEDITEDIT: Erode added.
EDITEDITEDITEDIT: Globes and hourglasses changed so that they refill, not get resummoned.
Shiri2005-01-03 13:27:20
Space

Globe - The mark of a true realist.

Calling to the realist a reality globe is the scientist's mark as a student of space and matter. Immunising them from unwanted summons, the globe, filled with a strange metallic substance, is also used for many of the more complex spacial techniques. Once called, it fills over the period of a day with a strange, amorphous matter, never decays, and cannot be removed from the realist's person except of their own will.

Spacestop - Stop foes in their tracks with spatial bindings.

Stopping an opponent's movement with invisible spacial warpings forces the target to writhe to escape - however, it is slightly more difficult and thus time-consuming to escape from spacial binds than a cosmic web.

Distortscreen - Reverse and bend space as you wish.
>
Forcing a realist's globe to warp space in a direction can confuse the senses, causing those who attempt to walk through it to instead have a chance leave in a different direction.

Gravityspike Out - Gravity forces foes out in a straight line.

Causing an outwards gravity spike can blast a target out of a room as far as the eye can see in the selected direction.

Gravityspike Down - Heighten gravity acting on a target.


Causing a downwards gravity spike bestows upon the target a huge resistance to summons, though it has the added effect of preventing flight and levitation.
Forcing the gravity spike has the added effect of dragging the target to the ground from the sky or trees.

Redmatter - The red matter shields an ally.

> *1 power (Matrix)*
Allowing red matter to flow from the realist's globe will burn through the white and black, rendering the globe useless until refilled, but conjuring a protective barrier of red metal, partially protecting from damage of the specified type.

Sunflares - Light can affect more senses than sight.

Only usable during the day, a sunflare is one of the stronger distraction techniques in the world, causing as it does a strange light to fill the room for a short duration, effectively blinding even those bearing the sixth sense.

Aetherfog - Thicken and cloud matter and space.

Like no natural fog, the realist's power to clog a room with semisolid aethermists is a tactic often used to confuse and disrupt large battles, as it slows the reactions of everyone trapped within it by a fraction of a second due to the difficulty in moving through the thick air.

Planeseal - Seal away that which does not belong in a reality.
>
While this technique will not work on the native plane of a creature, on any other plane, with uninterrupted concentration, a realist can remove an extraplanar being such as those summoned by elemental mages and cosmic guardians back to their own plane of existence.

Matterbubble - Impenetrable armour covers an ally.

A bubble of matter surrounds the target, acting as an impenetrable shield, although it is easily disrupted and will vanish at the slightest internal movement.

Gravityspike Up - Reverse gravity altogether.


Causing an upwards gravity spike bestows upon the target complete freedom of motion, allowing them flight and levitation for the duration of the spike, though the removal of limitations has the side effect of making them easier to summon.
Forcing the gravity spike has the added effect of blasting the target into the air.

Gravityspike In - Alter the centre of attraction.

Gravitational attraction can pull in a target forcibly from an adjacent room.

Whitematter - Soothing white matter knits together what exists.

*3 power (Matrix)*
Allowing white matter to flow from the realist's globe covers the red and black, rendering the globe useless until refilled, but forming a soothing screen of white fabric, aiding in the rapid recovery of the target's endurance, willpower, health, and mana.

Darkmatter - Darkmatter is unformed and can be channeled into any reality.

>
On the other side of the spectrum of existence to red, white and black matter is darkmatter. Only summonable and usable during the night, and only once per day per hourglass or globe, applying darkmatter to a Scientist's focus will allow it to channel an additional charge of red, white or black matter.

Gravitywave - Manipulate the true strength of gravity.

*3 power*
*5 power*
The realist's mastery of gravity has progressed so far that given enough mystic power, gravity spikes can be weaved over all people in a room.
Though it is more complex, forcing a gravity spike inwards or outwards will force all of a room's inhabitants outwards in a random direction, or force all inhabitants of adjacent rooms inwards.

Ripples - Recompose the earth's natural form.

A realist can cause the very land to rebel against a pervasive magical aura, attempting to clear each ongoing demesne effect in the room - however, this has no effect in land naturally inclined towards a demesne, such as Aquamancy in the ocean.

Blackmatter - A substitute reality absorbs damage.

*5 power (Matrix)*
Allowing black matter to flow from the realist's globe absorbs the red and white, rendering the globe useless until refilled, but forming a distorting layer of clinging black ooze, redirecting many attacks into itself and protecting its target from harm.

Sealscreen - Only that which you choose to let exist has to.
> *8 power*
Forcing a realist's globe to seal off a direction can prevent all passage via that exit, whether by flight, tunneling, or walking, with only small flaws in the screen to allow potential access.

Implosion - Contract existence into a single point.
*10 power (Matrix)*
Causing an incredible spacial implosion by crushing the realist's globe is a dangerous but effective tactic, as though it will greatly damage the user and potentially end their life, the resulting effect draws in everyone in adjacent rooms, crushing them intensely, and afterwards increasing local mass so much that for a brief period no actions can be performed by those trapped in the implosion.

EDIT: Added Aetherfog, 'cause I saw the Chronologists had one more power and am obsessive like that.
EDITEDIT: Contradictions gone.
EDITEDITEDIT: Credit to Iridine for suggestions of abilities: Sunflare and Darkmatter to combine well with Chronologists.
EDITEDITEDITEDIT: Pithy little description things added.
EDITEDITEDITEDITEDIT: Just to clarify, planeseal is basically judgement for entities. It is WORSE than judgement. It takes uninterrupted concentration, and they can't move, like judgement, but only hits ents. In fact I'll shunt it up the skillset so it's not completely unjustified.
Shiri2005-01-03 17:37:05
Alright, first set of updates managed, thanks to everyone helping me over MSN and Lusternia. Keep me posted if you think there's any improvements needing to be made.
While I'm at it, whitematter updated to give endurance and will regen too, since according to people it's too easy to get health and mana regen.
Shiri2005-01-03 20:06:02
EDIT: I have no idea how that happened. I'm 99% sure I did NOT press the quote button. dry.gif
EDITEDIT: Okay, that explains it, I was editting to do all the pithy phrase things by the name that would show up on AB TIME, and I pressed the quote button instead of the edit button. Now I lost them all. Damn.
Unknown2005-01-03 20:42:27
Wow.

You're smart.

Go away and stop making me look bad!
Shiri2005-01-03 20:44:13
I'm not smart, like I said, I lifted half of this off Iggy, Blastron, Iridine and Akraasiel.

I was quite proud of the sands thing though. whistling.gif
Ingrid2005-01-04 00:03:29
Gorgeous, as I told you over IM...I'm not quite sure what a Hallifax Guardian equivalent is *g* but I really love the way the skills are written and laid out. smile.gif
Shiri2005-01-04 00:13:55
By Guardian equivalent, I mean that where Celest and Magnagora has Celestines and Magnagorans, rather than having Guardians in Hallifax and Gaudiguch they'd have Scientists and Dervishes (which I'm working on now.) These are intended to be the equivalent of their rituals skills. It'll become more clear once I write up skills equivalent to Celestialism/Nihilism, and also the Gaudiguch equivalents, which are in the works right now.

Constructive criticism still welcome from the rest of you! I can't have gotten this all right!
Maedhros2005-01-04 01:19:00
Simply Pooka their hourglass away, and laugh as they suck and can't do crap biggrin.gif.
Shiri2005-01-04 01:21:46
Yeah, thought of that one, so I made the free-will thing, if you look closely. wink.gif
Shamarah2005-01-04 01:24:26
QUOTE(Shiri @ Jan 3 2005, 08:27 AM)
Planeseal - Seal away that which does not belong in a reality.
>
While this technique will not work on the native plane of a creature, on any other plane, with uninterrupted concentration, a realist can remove an extraplanar being such as those summoned by elemental mages and cosmic guardians back to their own plane of existence.
24534



I like most of it, but, that one's ridiculous. Making guardian entities just go poof? Definite no-no.
Maedhros2005-01-04 01:30:14
Oh, my bad.

Right now, they're kinda sounding like Time Mages...

Scientists would have to use maybe some beakers and vials to conjure some of the skills? Just to make it more realistic.

INVENT MACHINEGUN
Invents the machinegun
SHOOT MACHINEGUN &TAR
Instantly rip your opponent to shreds as you laugh at their primitive swords. Takes no balance.
dribble.gif
Shiri2005-01-04 01:30:43
I figured that since it had a delay on it you'd have time to move the bugger out of the way (unless of course it was a taint wyrm/dragon turtle.

If you still don't like it though, any suggestions?

EDIT: Also, this could actually be compared to a worse judgement. Because it works on the ents, not the dudes. The only reason it's there is because it works within the flavour/symbolism, and MIGHT work in team combat.

Also, no, Maedhros, I know I sort of went a bit out of fantasy, but it's still magic and stuff. tongue.gif

EDITEDIT: Updated. Now Planeseal is actually lower down the skill list, just to justify its existence, because as I will repeat it is EXACTLY like judgement for ents.
Maedhros2005-01-04 01:46:03
CHEMICAL PROTECTION SHIELD
Coating your shield in hardening chemicals, you can prevent lasting damage upon it.

Kinda useless, but meh.

ENDOW TARGET
Changes property of an ally/enemy's weapon using a bottle of CONCENTRATED ELEMENTS.

Might be a bit easy to abuse...maybe make it have only a chance of changing? Dunno if something like this skill already exists.

HOCUS POCUS
Requires some power
Requires bottle of OMGWTFHAPPENED
Randomly does one skill (no insta-kills)

It'd be maaaaaaaaad fun. Requires a bottle of something which is a substance that distorts chance or something. I dunno how it'd tie in with Scientists, but it'd still be maaaaaaaaad fun.

Maybe they should have some works with electricity? Maybe there could be like, stormy weather, where they have a chance to go capture lightning in a jar or something (don't ask me how), and do stuff with it.
Maedhros2005-01-04 01:49:38
QUOTE(Maedhros @ Jan 3 2005, 08:46 PM)

Maybe they should have some works with electricity?  Maybe there could be like, stormy weather, where they have a chance to go capture lightning in a jar or something (don't ask me how), and do stuff with it.
24731



Oh, oh, Frankenstein!
Shiri2005-01-04 01:49:55
I rather thought the electricity would be the Aeromancer's domain.

Do shields even take damage? If so, I will stick something in for that chemical protection thing (although it'll be difficult, you'll see why when I do the Gaudiguch one.)

Would you guys be opposed to a chronology skill that cost 2-3 power or so called Rust, lowered the decay times on an opponent's armour by a fair bit? Not too much, just a few months. Might be interesting.

Anyway, I'm going to go doze, I'll probably be back at school tomorrow, so y'all tell me what you think. Thanks for all the feedback! biggrin.gif
Maedhros2005-01-04 01:51:17
QUOTE(Shiri @ Jan 3 2005, 08:49 PM)


Do shields even take damage? If so, I will stick something in for that chemical protection thing (although it'll be difficult, you'll see why when I do the Gaudiguch one.)


24735




Bonecrushers can reduce that armour status thingy, if it gets to 0, bye bye shield.

Applies to armour too.
Unknown2005-01-04 02:53:21
QUOTE(Maedhros @ Jan 3 2005, 09:30 PM)
INVENT MACHINEGUN
Invents the machinegun
SHOOT MACHINEGUN &TAR
Instantly rip your opponent to shreds as you laugh at their primitive swords.  Takes no balance.
dribble.gif
24718



Love it. biggrin.gif

On topic: I like the ideas, though I have no idea of how balanced it would be.
Drago2005-01-04 05:10:29
Some of it looks good, one problem
QUOTE
Skip - Things weren't always this way.
*3 power*
By restoring your body to a previously recorded state by tipping the hourglass on its end, all maladies afflicted on you, as well as unnatural defences, will be completely nullified.


Syntax: FLING PRINCESS AT GROUND
Power: 8 (Any)
The vibration of Princess Marilynth, who sacrificed herself so others could start anew, will give you this same gift, curing you of nearly every affliction you have. But it will also negate nearly every defence you have.