With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
But, what's this? You're not ready to fight just yet! You need to know the rules. Yes, the rules. As this is a community, you are not the only person there. And neither is the person you're fighting against. So the question is, how can you fight without breaking the rules?
But Staff, what ARE the rules?
To make a very quick, simple guide, and for ease of access, the following is a series of links, so click on them to jump to the sections you want to refer to.
We strongly recommend you pre-plan your fight before it gets too far from what either player wants it to be. Whether you make it as simple as, "I want my character to lose a fight" or so complicated it takes a wall of messages in the Xat, talk to the person you're fighting with.
That said, if a person does something you don't like, try talking to them about it. Sometimes what looks like deliberate godmoding is actually a slip of the brain; and aside from that, I like to think that most of the players here don't want to godmode--after all, most of them have seen us eat those who do.
What Not to Do
Saying what to do sounds a little pretentious. So I'll tell you what to avoid doing instead.
Saying your attacks have hit - AKA auto-hitting
Not sure what I mean by this? Here's an example of how to do it wrong.
Yachiru flew through the air and planted her teeth firmly into Ikkaku's head.
This is also known as auto-hitting. Notice how the player of Yachiru dictates that Ikkaku, whatever he did, did not dodge, block, or otherwise stop the bite from going through. Even if this is meant for laughs, it's still rude to dictate another character's actions. For all you know, Ikkaku was going to lift up his arm to block...and get his arm eaten.
Here's an example of doing it right.
Yachiru flew through through the air, teeth bared with every intention to sink her teeth into Ikkaku's head.
This especially goes for more deadly blows, such as a sword-strike to the chest or a punch to the throat. If a player auto-hits, send them a message and ask them what they're doing. If you want to throw out a series of attacks, such as flipping and then body-slamming a character, that you might want to talk to the other player with.
Ego-dmoding
This would be what happens when a character brushes off an attack with more ease than their power allows. For example.
Shinigami A - Mid average, shikai released [current tier; MLA] Shinigami B - Mid weak, unreleased [current tier; LLW]
Notice how Shinigami A is over a full tier above Shinigami B. So, at this point, Shinigami B doesn't stand much of a chance if he doesn't release. But observe.
Shinigami A waved his zanpakuto, summoning a small arc of flames which shot at Shinigami B. Shinigami A muttered the name of the attack under his breath. Shinigami B grinned as the small arc of flames shot at him, let it hit him. Only his clothes were damaged by such a weak attack.
Maybe most cases of Ego-dmodding won't be this obvious, but if you suspect a player is intentionally walking all over your characters, that would be a good time to ask the Staff. If you don't want your weaker character to be obliterated by a stronger character, dodging or reducing the damage is a better bet than blocking or dispersing the damage. "He ducked, his hair singed," works a lot better than, "He waved his sword and swatted the blast away."
Metagaming
This would be what happens when a character knows something they have no way of knowing. For example...
While passing on a crowded street, separated from her captain, Yachiru came across a blond, snaggle-toothed vizard who she had never seen before. Yachiru looked at Hiyori, smiled. "So you were Hat-chan's lieutenant?"
Yachiru wouldn't really have any way of knowing that Hiyori was, well, Hiyori, since they hadn't seen before or met. So how could this be used in a fight setting? I'll illustrate using Xuan, one of my OCs and one of Las Noches's resident assholes.
Marveling at Ichigo's freshly-released bankai, Xuan started to smile. He calculated that his bankai, Tensa Zangetsu, was small so that Ichigo could increase his speed, move faster. And its attack, its main attack, at least, was Getsuga Tensho, which was like a Cero Oscuras. Xuan wouldn't be able to do much to disable it, but he might be able to dodge.
Again, maybe this is a tad obvious. But a character shouldn't be able to figure out what another character's abilities are unless they have some way of knowing. Certain characters, like Mayuri and Szayel, have more right to this than others, seeing as they like to infect people with bugs or bacteria that stalk you. If there's a reasonable excuse for a character to know of your ability, then it would make more sense and is not actually metagaming (an IC conversation with another character detailing the character's abilities, witnessing it first hand, etc...).
However, in most cases this doesn't equate to first-hand experience. If you've heard of Mugetsu, it doesn't mean that you know how to stop it.
And as a note, making a character like Mayuri or Szayel won't fly...they're already godmode as fuck.
Forgetting that your characters have limits
Similar to Ego-dmoding, when a player forgets that their character only has so much energy, be it spiritual energy or physical energy, this is typically the result:
Kyra, Raven, Wicked, and even Sam laughed at the noobs thinking their mid-level average characters could fire off 40 sokatsui in a single post.
Be it with kido or just with fighting for ten pages, your characters have limits which should be realized; your character probably won't hit as hard or as frequently towards the end of the fight as they did towards the beginning. Characters with high stamina can't go forever either, though they can most likely go further than characters with low stamina.
Killing
No killing another character without either staff or player permission. Seriously guys. NOTE - If you've brought your own NPCs into a thread, or the victim of said killings are YOUR characters, it is acceptable to slaughter them. If you bring NPCs into another person's thread just to slaughter them, please ask the original poster first.
When to Contact the Staff
If you've spoken to the player and they haven't relented, or if you've seen this occurring multiple times after said player has been spoken to, it may be time to message a staff member so we can stage an intervention. Some people need to be bitch-slapped, some need to be redirected to the rules, be it by links or by quotes. We're not just here to eat your apps even though they are delicious. We're here to make sure everything's running smoothly.
Now these two got into an argument, and now they're fighting. Full throttle, shikai-released and everything. Since they're different tiers, how do they compare? Bob, being one tier higher than Tim, would actually be two skill levels higher than Tim. Now notice how Tim has advanced hoho, but Bob only has intermediate hoho. Tim and Bob are equals at hoho. Bob is generally, in comparison to someone a tier below him, a skill level higher than what his skill levels actually are. The same can be applied to attributes.
How Do Tiers Compare?
You're fighting someone two tiers lower than you, and you're wondering. "Hey, Staff, I'm two tiers higher than this guy. But I don't want to overdo it. But I don't want to underdo it either. How much of this guy can I just brush off and how much of this guy should I take damage from?"
As a general rule, a single tier is a pretty wide gap. Maybe it's not going to mean you'll get punted across a football field if you fight someone stronger than you, but your characters are gonna have a really rough time. The question is, how rough?
Remember Ichigo versus Kenpachi? I would say at the beginning of that fight, when Ichigo couldn't even scratch Kenpachi, Ken-chan was a good full tier (MLA versus HLA) higher*. So if Ichigo had been able to cut Kenpachi, but not to keep up with him (being quite outmatched), he probably would have been considered about two tiers below. Now if Ichigo had been able to follow Kenpachi somewhat, then it would have been more like a single tier behind. At that point, most characters will still be taking damage, but not as much as the lower tier.
*Kenpachi constantly releases a shitton of reiatsu, so three tiers higher is not enough to brush off a sword's strike with your bare flesh and take no damage (unless you have hierro).
If you need a few examples, here are a few quick ones.
Kaki - MLS - Vizard Hotaru - MLA - Shinigami Both fully released for this example.
Kaki charged at Hotaru, punching at her face. Hotaru brought up her arms to guard her face from the punch, and was knocked over by the force. As she fell to the ground, Hotaru held out a hand and shouted, "Hado 31, Shakaho."
Kaki brought up her umbrella to shield herself from the brunt of the damage, though any part of her exposed flesh singed. "What the Hell, Hotaru!"
Hotaru brought her own umbrella up, swinging it at Kaki's legs. Kaki stepped back, narrowly avoiding being stabbed by one of the sharp needles.
In this example, Hotaru is struggling to keep up with Kaki, who is a tier higher than her. Kaki still takes damage from Hotaru's attack, but is able to weaken them significantly or dodge most of them.
Sanmaru - HLW - Shinigami with Bankai Masaru - HLW - Shinigami Both in shikai for this example.
Masaru swung his yoyo in a full circle around himself, effectively dispersing Sanmaru's spray of acid. Sanmaru shot at Masaru with shunpo, but Masaru jumped back, leaving Sanmaru right in the path of his bladed yoyo of doom. Sanmaru turned as quickly as he could, brought up his sword to try and block it, but the yoyo pushed his sword aside and threatened to smack him in the face - Sanmaru fell back and his glasses were knocked clean off of his face.
Masaru spun his yoyo in another circle, just missing Sanmaru - except for the sharpened stream of water it left behind, which tore a hole in Sanmaru's clothes and nicked his skin.
In this example, Sanmaru is clearly outmatched and is struggling to even dodge or block Masaru's attacks. His own attacks are easily blocked or dodged, and Masaru's do more damage [the sharpened stream of water is much weaker than the actual yoyo].
Hinata - MLS - Vizard Celia - HLS - Arrancar Both unreleased completely for this example.
Hinata backed away from Celia, who stepped forward with anger in her eyes. Celia punched Hinata in the stomach, causing her to double over and cough. Pulling her punch back, Celia brought an elbow to Hinata's back, knocking her over completely. Hinata slammed down onto the cement, both unwilling and unable to get back up right away.
In THIS example, Hinata is easily overpowered by Celia. Hinata doesn't really have time to hit Celia between attacks, and if she could they wouldn't really do anything.
Using Your Powers
As we require people to post tier limitations on their apps before they can be approved, this shouldn't be much of a problem in terms of knowing your limits.
But it's nice to keep links to your characters application somewhere handy, or to quote your powers in the post so that the person fighting your character knows how to react should they take a hit or try to dodge or whatever. If not, then write in what it should do to the other person if it hits.
Oh no! Someone is deliberately godmoding in your thread! Someone is deliberately godmoding in their thread! Who you gonna call?!
GHOST BUSTERS!
Ok, maybe not. But when we staff catch people godmoding, be it through ego-dmoding or auto-hitting or generally being a rule-breaking moron, we will warn you.
How will we warn you?
Well first we'll tell you, "No! Bad! Edits!"
And if that doesn't work, you can expect our characters to visit your open threads. Not all of them, mind you, but any threads we catch you godmoding in.
And if you still don't get the message?
Expect a ban from fight threads for a given amount of time. It could be a week, it could be a month, it could be indefinitely.
So as a suggestion, if you don't want to be reprimmanded, we suggest taking a listen. Don't godmode.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
This is less of a rule, and more of a plea for decency. If a character attacks in what looks like a blow for laughs, such as Hiyori throwing her sandal at Shinji or Yachiru biting Ikkaku's head, it's better to let it go and laugh it off. After all, RPing is supposed to be fun. If someone wants to be slapstick, it's polite to let them.
However, this doesn't mean you're allowed to autohit for these either. Hiyori can throw her sandal AT Shinji's face, but if he's moving maybe it won't hit him there. Maybe it'll hit him in the butt instead. Maybe Yachiru's biting AT Ikkaku's head, but maybe he turns around and gets bit in the nose instead.
So, if you wanna have a not-so-serious fight? Play along, add your own twist to it by making your character react. Create clouds of dust and flailing limbs and random colorful backgrounds. Chances are, you won't be in trouble for going along with it. ;D
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
So someone's really pissed off your character. You're stronger, you're bigger, why can't you just rip the little shit's head off?!
Because the other player might not want that, ya dork! This is a community. Just like you can't autohit, you can't make someone die. Not unless you have a few permissions.
One - If a player has been known for godmoding with a certain character, and they've done it one time to many, a character may be subjected to some skull-bashing, bone-crunching death scenes. This would be offered by the staff members, and possibly accepted by a non-staff member.
Two - If a player agrees that their character should die, then by all means, go ahead. Just make sure you let us know so that we don't accidentally go punching the killer. Also, this way we know to archive the app.
Three - You don't need permission to create NPCs to kill in your own thread. Go nuts.
And then there's another thing. Doing it well. Sure, you could just chop off their head and be done with it. But that may not be fair to the player, if the player has something else in mind. For example, if the player wants the thread to play out before killing a character, say, for plot purposes. They want the character to say something before they die. If a player wants to kill off their own character, let them tell you how they want it done.
If a player wants their character to fight til their last breath, it's probably better not to let someone step in and bodyguard them. If a player wants their character to run away and be killed as they try to escape, it's better not to push them out of the way. Same as before, you don't get to autohit them to death or ego-dmode them. It's their character, so they decide when the character dies.
As for canon characters, it's better to just drop them if you don't want to play them. Most canon characters won't be dying any time soon, or unless it's for story purposes, because they're too godmode to trust the players with, and so on.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
So, you want that final showdown between the noble Bob and the ruffian Tim. You want those two to duke it out until someone wins. You want those two to fight. And to fight awesomely. But there's just one problem.
Who's going to win?
Typically, the higher tier will win--but there are exceptions to every rule, and the players of characters Tim and Bob may need to figure this out. Maybe the player of Tim wants him to triumph after a difficult and grueling battle. Maybe they want a stalemate. But there's just one problem.
Bob is a higher tier.
So what to do in this situation? Spam, spam, spam forever! Strategize. Can brain really beat brawn? It certainly can. After all, remember that Kisuke ultimately finished Aizen with his little kido trick. Remember that? It was awesome.
But let's be honest, not everyone wants to go like that. So how to compromise?
Flip a coin. Say, "I want my character to beat someone stronger than him." Say, "I want my character to lose a fight." After all, losing builds character. Winning? Less so. So why shouldn't you be willing to lose now and again? Your characters won't be killed unless you consent, you're more likely to be eligible for an upgrade, and you're given brownie points by every character's worst nightmare: ME!
Jokes aside, realize that not everyone can win the fight, so make sure you discuss with the other player about this. If, however, you're improvising the entire fight, you're advised to check up on everything above this one more time. After all, we reward character building, not godmoding.
So now you know how to fight without us needing to set fire to your keyboard. You are ready I hope.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
