So much for starting this particular discussion on GT. That went down like a lead balloon.

Am I the only one who feels a little bit disappointed in how Harmonics turned out? Maybe it's been overshadowed by Transmology, but honestly, I find the skillset itself to be horribly dull. Granted, it has plenty of potential to be powerful once it's all ironed out, but that's really not the basis for my criticism. It just feels like Harmonics is tacked on. This isn't really helped by the fact that the Institute as a whole mainly focuses on and is themed-around Aeonics and time-manipulation, something already beaten to death by the Sentinels to the point where most people will agree: it's a nice idea and pretty solid in terms of a foundation, but by itself, fairly bankrupt. Either way, I do think the whole 'activate floating jewelrybox, forget' aspect makes Harmonics dull and meaningless. We've got no fallback RP, either, so Continuum is basically still as pointless as it was before Researchers came out (except now, we actually have to go there once in a while to get gems). It feels like some things just didn't materialize. Everyone expected Harmonics to at least have a little bit of variety, skills relating to geometry, maths, logic, so on. But, lo and behold, it's just 'spin a crystal for a passive effect'. Coming down to the brass tacks, Transmology, even though it's all flesh related and also (arguably) lacks the kind of variety we might have expected, at least it 100% makes sense, ties the Illuminati together and manages to be strikingly original, imaginative and fun. Harmonics looks like someone copypasted Crystalism from Achaea and the code for Bard passives and spliced it together. Really, really disappointing. I guess I should have seen this coming when everyone initially remarked upon how much funner Paradigmatics was as opposed to Aeonics. I know Hallifax is supposed to be orderly and serious, but that doesn't mean we should be bored while playing.

Anyway, this post isn't all bitching and moaning. I actually want some legitimate feedback and suggestions regarding Harmonics and the Institute, since I *am* the envoy, and I do really, really want us to find a niche and flourish. In that vein: RP flavour suggestions please! Things that tie Harmonics, the Institute and Continuum together are sorely needed!

I mean, it was kind of obvious which city was going to have the more "fun" flair. You guys are stuck doing partial differential equations and filling out paperwork while we're drinking and shoving our things into fleshpots.

Wait, what?


I bet that was Eventru's idea.

Crystal fusion/fission to get more interesting effects!

I like the idea of buffing some of the passive effects and making them mutually exclusive. You could explain it with destructive interferences/lack of resonance. Maybe even more passive offense crystal effects.

Only downside I see here is that it's somewhat similar to Transmology in terms of choosing between effects, but lots of skillets have that (Psionics, for example.)

I know it's like, a cardinal sin to cross the streams, but I actually sort of like the idea of Transmology and Harmonics having certain similarities, except with a different focus to emphasize the contrast. I'd actually considered asking if we could have crystalspin changed to crystalgraft so, eventually, a Harmonics user operating at trans would resemble this:

Functionally, it would be identical to what it is now, it's just that the messages would change, and the various crystal bits would show up on a person's desc instead of the room desc.

Idea:

Crystal Swap
Cost: 2p

EMBED CRYSTAL
CRYSTAL SWAP

A utility skill that is somewhat similar to Majorsixth in Music in a sense that it will allow you to travel to a room of your choice by swapping places with you. However, the crystal has a 33% chance of breaking each time you swap places with it, so you'll have to re-embed the crystal again. The skill has a long equilibrium recovery time so it wouldn't affect combat that much.

Also another idea:

A skill that allows you to summon a person who is surrounded by X( 3 if the target is surrounded by a resonance field and 4 if not) gems back to your room.

And yet another idea:

A skill that changes the size of your enemies every tic, making them hungry in the long run.
(The change is either -1 or +1 per tic)
(The rp behind could be something related to Symmetry)

As you know, I would like to see more in harmonics but I really don't think we should be working towards being another Illuminati.

Primarily, I would like to see an experimentation theme to the skill. If we take inkys book as valid then the crystals could represent the stages of creation from flux to being. In line with this if Harmonicists could create an array of the crystals with adjustable properties they might be able to create tools through an extended sequence of actions (I was actually anticipating the researchers as tool users maybe similar to artificers in some way?)

To really play up the experimentation, the actual process could have some variation based on the player (the exact process should be the same for the player, but maybe with tiny variations that are still leave everything equal) which means that you could get the basic formula but you still need to work at it a little.

So, I might set up a crystal array and embed various vibrations within the gemstones to elicit specific responses. Siphoning off energies, transmuting essences into physical forms, defining their properties and so on until the tool is completed.

We might only have a very minor selection of tools, but this would create an interesting side to the skill that fits in with the overall theme of the guild. Plus who wouldn't want to be locking themselves away to perform experiments trying to create a flying platform out of flux.

n-hedron sentries, please!

(mechanical flying crow eyes)

I would've preferred something with more Math-related abilities. The sight of a mad scientist scrawling equations on the ground during battle to attack seems funny to me. I don't think it would fit well, though.



Sounds similar to the Bloodborn's rituals, which would be nice. They were a lot of fun, since you had to take whatever clues you could find and truly experiment with the ritual procedure - and suffer the hilarious consequences of a failed ritual. This was back before all of the rituals were on wikis, though.

Of course, all of the 'experiments' would eventually be uploaded to the various Lusternia wikis, but, at least for a while, having that sense of mystery would be nice for the RP.



I dislike that idea. I don't mind crossing streams, but it sound ugly and unfitting for a city focused on symmetry and beauty. I'd rather Harmonics be different from Transmology, but more fun.

Here's my other idea, closer to what Saran's suggesting, partly ripped from the envoy wiki:
Proposed change: instead of crystalspin giving us a 'gem aura' as it currently works, we use an arbitrary number of crystals of a particular type to fashion a small device. Shield modulator, attack drones/hedrons, what have you. Each item would just be activated, and you'd get the same 'aura' effect with a countdown, except the item is useable 10 (or however many gems are consumed) times (and is maybe wearable etcetera). So, basically, the change is more or less completely thematic. We don't need to worry about mechanical changes, because there's really none. Also: keep in mind that some crystals are DEFINITELY going to have their effect changed. So instead of just juggling jewels everywhere, we craft small trinkets and devices and use them, making us 'the inventors'.

You're never going to get the admin to change the entire theme of the skillset. Estarra has had it planned for aaaages. Long enough to put it in the image of the Trill. You'd have a better chance of convincing her to give you a 1 power, instant insta-kill.

Yes, this is actually the reason I mentioned random.

You could do some tricks with player id's or birthdays that randomise the mixture slightly though so that for Saran it might be overall the same as Incabulos but if I repeat his exact actions it may not work.

If the array had a variable power level (1,2,3 could do) on each crystal and static values distributing them based on an algorithm using a static character value. This would mean that each character would always perform the "experiment" the same way for the same result, but that they would need to spend time working out their particular method. It can also be explained away through something like... "Every one is different, you put part of yourself into your working and so different balances are required to modulate this effect"

Though that's more the cherry on top of what would be a cool addition, even if it was on Xiels site once it was all figured out you still have that process where you are working through the crystals, setting up and executing the array. It's all about improving the theme, this would hopefully buff the sciencey and work in a bit more about continuum.

Seriously, I'm trying but I can't think of anything in harmonics that really relates to the spheres on continuum beyond using the gemstones.

I don't know, I personally love the idea of Harmonics right now but we'll see how it pans out. It wouldn't be the first time a guilds direction has switched.

I actually quite like the way Harmonics is, I think it just needs a couple more skills added (hopefully more active skills, like the way Ruby works).

Just off the top of my head, what if you could "darken" one of the normal crystals and spin it around an opponent, causing basically the inverse of the defensive effect (so Turquoise would reduce DMP instead of increasing it, Diamond would strip shields or something instead of making them, etc).

Maybe if the orbit of the crystal is 'adjusted' then it would modify the effect of that crystal - e.g. spin faster, spin in a wider orbit, spin diagonally, etc. Then it could do something like what Shamarah suggested (have an inverse effect) or have a different effect e.g. spinning an amethyst vertically will offer you resistance against fire damage.

Also maybe if we could summon the polyhedrons and embed them with crystals... they can be like mobile crystalplexes.

I thought that Harmonics would be a deeper and more complicated skill, though I don't think it'd be possible to make radical changes so we just have to play around with what there is!

The issue I am starting to have is that there just does not feel like there is a connection to continuum. We have the sphere of Axiomatic Supremacy and its gems shield people... why?

Pretty much all other skills related to org entities really tend to play this up but i actually find the spheres on continuum more confusing now than I did over a week ago



No use really, the only thing this would add is... passive raze and negative dmp? You would need to change like... all of the gems anyway effectively because otherwise we get what we have... twice

The effects seem more to do with the gemstone used than the actual Sphere. Diamond shields you because it's a hard substance; its shielding property has nothing to do with the Sphere. And that does seem rather meh. It's even in the AB of some abilities, like Bloodstone - it causes bleeding cause there's blood in the name!

myeah, just kinda annoying.

The titles of the spheres really should relate to their meaning, right now... it feels kinda like someone titled Raziela, the Taskmistress of Endelasia

Regarding RP, it's certainly true that Aeonics is the more sexy skill, and I really don't see why that wouldn't remain a primary emphasis with the Institute, regardless that the Sentinels share the skill. Remember that the Continuum is a dead plane (read the histories!) so there's really no sentient direction like with the Nil and Celestia. In any event, I don't really see the difference between Transmology and Harmonics in terms of RP direction. Paradigmatics is the primary RP of the Illuminati whereas Transmology, if there is an RP philosophy behind it, revolves around transforming the flesh as a reflection of transforming the soul (the Vortex also has no sentient direction). For the Institute, Harmonics reflects the structure of crystals with their harmonic vibration. Sorry if it disappoints, but I felt it was a pretty good fit with the Institute.

If you're talking about the mechanics/skills rather than the RP, that's another story. We'll see how it evolves, though I think it's a stronger skillset than some people may realize at first blush. One thing I'd stay away from is giving it any complicated and/or math twists as that would make it a truly niche skill (see astrology). I also don't think there should be any (or little) randomness in Harmonics (from an RP perspective).