CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES Here you will find the general guidelines on creating a character. The term 'guidelines' is used because we don't want to make character concepts too restrictive, and there are cases where there can be exceptions to the 'rules', but please keep in mind the following:
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VERY IMPORTANT~
-If you are going to make a character that uses magic, your magic MUST COST SOMETHING TO CAST. It can be a limited number of uses during a certain period of time, a percentage from your mana poll, whatever. IT MUST HAVE A COST. Magic without cost does not get approved!
-We aren't looking for another god, or demi-god, or near god-like characters. If there is an opening for a new local deity, we will announce to the group. So be mindful of what powers you choose to have. For example, there is no use to the power of conjuring a tsunami wave, or causing volcanoes to erupt.
-DO NOT SEND US INCOMPLETE/DRAFT CHARACTER CARDS. If you send a GM a card for approval and later you realize you forgot something, tough! The GMs spend A LOT of their time reviewing cards and hate to have their time wasted on an incomplete card!
-Wait at least a full month before re-submitting a character card for an update. If your character suffered dramatic changes while in RP, that is an exception to the rule and you can talk about it with a GM. Also updates are minor changes or additions to a card, not a complete re-write. Please mark in the update card what has been added/changed, that helps make our GMs lives a wee bit easier.
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Banned/Restricted Powers/Abilities: You can't have the powers/abilities listed below unless under very special circumstances, so only bother to write them in your character sheet if they are absolutely essential to the character to begin with:
Invisibility - Nope. Don't even ask.
Mind Control - Under extremely special circumstances with OOC approval of the target of the power.
Teleportation - Under extremely special circumstances. Unlikely to get approved.
Weather Manipulation - Under extremely special circumstances (we don't like people messing with the weather, it affects too many things).
Telekinesis - If it's no more than what Luke Skywalker could do with the Force, then maybe.
Elemental Control - Closely related to controling the weather, it can be no greater than on a personal scale.
Resurrection - Nope. You can only do this if a GM says you can do it because we decided you could do it.
Desolidification (non-physical, incorporeal) - If you want this, you better not want to be able to affect the physical world either.
Invulnerability - No. Something must be able to hurt you.
Materialization - Conjuring objects out of thin air requires a very good reason for it and special GM approval.
Transmutation - Transforming something (or someone) into something else also requires OOC consent and special GM approval (this is not Shapeshifting).
Time Travel - You're joking, right?
Phenomenal Cosmic Powers - ...what??
Summoning - Summoning creatures touches the NPC control area, which is by default restricted to the Admins. Since everybody who's been given the priviledge of summoning something has only made a fool of themselves, this power is now banned.
Telepathy - All forms of telepathy and empathy require OOC consent.
-Be mindful of what species/race you choose, specially if you are going for something supernatural. The general alignment at Lismore is neutral to neutral-good (although there can be 'bad guys'). A Balrog or any other creature commonly know to be 'evil' will not be received well if he pops up in the middle of the city.
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Note on CHARACTER SIZE:
Having a large size can give a great deal of power to a character in sheer strength. Huge creatures also cause issues with RP in the limited confines of many parts of the sim. As such we limit the size that creatures can be. Typically we aim for bipeds no taller than 12 feet tall, and quadrupeds (non-anthro) no larger than a Grendel's dragon (we have no bias to a particular brand of dragons, that just happens to be the size we settled on). If you do have a large creature, they are expected to be limited in other ways. Ask a GM first if your character is considerably larger than an average avatar in SL.
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Note on DEMONS:
The term "demon" can be vague these days with all the romanticized fallen angels and vampires and what-not, but the dictionary definitiojn of it says "In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit". That is what they are. There is no 'good demon', as hard as they might try to be good. They all have at least something of malice to them. So if you choose to play a demon, be aware that not every other character might like yours. Demons are also known to be susceptible to holy or blessed things.
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Note on SPIRITS and ELEMENTALS:
Even more vague than the term 'demon' is the term 'spirits'. The English word "spirit" has many differing meanings and connotations, but commonly refers to a supernatural being or essence - transcendent and therefore metaphysical in its nature. It can be the ghost of someone who died, it can be the essence of a gust of air with sentience, that takes corporeal form and calls itself an air elemental, or countless other examples.
An elemental is a creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water.
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Note on CHILD CHARACTERS:
According to SecondLife, it is permitted that a child avatar be present in a Mature/Adult region. However, ageplay is strictly forbidden! The conditions of presence of a child avatar in a Mature/Adult region are explained in this article
https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417 If you are going to play a character under the age of 18, you must accept that the character must avoid Adult situaions at all times. You must avoid areas where Adult situations are taking place, by staying out of chat range (at least 20 meters from it), and you must leave an area where an adult situation starts, even if you were there first. Also you must state the character's age clearly in a titler (there's one available at the entry point for the sim). Failure to do so will result in banning from the sim and an Abuse Report filed against the player of the underage character.
Also, NOBODY IN THE SIM, under any circumstance, should approach a character clearly identifiable as under the age of 18 with sexual or Adult propositions. Anyone caught trying to lure an underage character into an Adult situation will be banned from the sim and an Abuse Report will be filed against them.
We are not child-AV haters, these rules are to keep us compliant with Linden Labs' policies on ageplay.
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Note on FLYING:
Flight on the land will be turned off. Characters that can fly will be asigned to a role in the group that has 'always allow fly' enabled. Those who wish to have permission must justify why they can fly or hover whether it's by race or magic.
Hovering/floating: If you are approved for this you are to keep your hovering/floating below treeline. If caught higher than this you are subject to having your hover/float taken away.
Flying: All approved for flying are to keep below the cloudline, meaning do not go above it. No flight feathers are to be used.
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Note on SHAPESHIFTING:
Shapeshifting can be a nearly unlimited power with a sufficiently imaginative mind behind it, so we must put limitations on it. While it's not a banned power, it's restricted. You must have a very good reason either inherent to your species or a damn good background story explanation to have shapeshifting to begin with. We can not allow an amorphous blob that can sprout as many tentacles as it pleases, it just allows characters to do anything.
Shapeshifters must define a set of limited Forms, or Classes of forms. A Form is a single form they can take. Classes are explained below.
For each Form (or Class) you would list the ways that you are better and worse than a basic human, just like you would for a full character. This includes any advantages and disavantages they have. For example, if you were to become a four-legger, advantages may include speed, or a stronger racial bite attack, and disavantages would be things like the lack of hands. Also for things that are shared over all Forms (or classes of forms) it needs to be noted that these are cross-form. Magical abilities often fall into this area.
Classes are simply groups of similar forms where the abilities of the form do not deviate very much. This is used for 'cosmetic' changes, and some people may only have one Class. An example might be "anthro cat" where you can take the form of a two-legged panther or house cat or change your fur color. For these classes, define it by the most powerful shape you can take within the class.
Cosmetic shapeshifting, where all you do is change your looks, is usually the easiest to be justified, because the character does not gain new attributes.
Remember you will also need to describe how often you can shift, how quickly, and what it costs you in magic or endurance to do so. Like a magic user, you will be expected to have disadvantages that compensate for the power here. Both with the power and outside it.
There are two approaches you can take with cards to try and get them approved with this power:
A) Unlimited forms, but physical attributes may not vary more than 10% of those from your normal form. For example, you may be able to take the shape of a large dragon, but your strength won't increase more than a little bit more than what you normally had.
B) Limited forms: The other option is to have a list of pre-determined forms that your character may take. Just like you would for a normal character, you would list the ways that you are better and worse than your normal form while using each of the others. But you must do so for each form. This aproach is more likely to be approved in many situations since you can list the disadvantages the form has as well as the advantages.
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Note on WEAPONRY and TECHNOLOGY:
We are a Medieval/primitive sim. Flintlock guns are allowed, along with some steampunk gadgets, though this will need to be approved by a GM.
Guns Extra note: Flintlocks are considerably inaccurate compared to modern guns! Remember if you have a gun, doesn't mean it will hit! Also, flintlocks have a chance to blow up in your face! Flintlocks only have one shot per round so you MUST RP reloading them. So think carefully before choosing a flintlock pistol as your weapon of choice!
Because this is a Fantasy RP, not sci-fi, we give preference to MAGIC over TECHNOLOGY. Your character is not allowed to have a high-tech background. That means no spaceships that crash on our world, no non-Fantasy dimensional travel. Whatever plane of existance you come from, you need to be a Fantasy (or mundane) character.
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Note on RANGED ATTACKS:
Attacks from afar don't add to character interaction and are not practical in a text-based RolePlay system. That said, we limit the maximum effective range for any attack to 20 meters, which is the same as the Local Chat range. In other words, if someone can hear you, you can fire at them. If they can't hear you, you need to get closer to attack them.
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Note on ENHANCED SENSES:
We know that in RL certain animals can catch scents from over a mile away, and others can see incredibly far, and others can hear the faintest sounds, but keep two things in mind before saying your character has such enhanced senses: Scale, and 'background noise'.
Scale is to put things in perspective: A single SL region is 256x256 meters. In RL, that's not really that big of a place.
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Note on METALS, WOODS, ROCKS and GEMSTONES:
There is a specific list of what materials are supposed to be available locally at Lismore. Anything not on the list is assumed to be imported from somewhere else, therefore increasing its rarity and difficulty to obtain. Marble, for example, is not on the list. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it's just more expensive/difficult to get it.
To have a weapon, magical or not, all metals must be told to the GMs of what it is made of in your character notecard. Materials are listed in the post below:
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=23.0~ If you are submitting a character of any of the above mentioned types, keep in mind the first guideline. Keep your powers to a human scale, not global scale, not cosmic scale, not universal scale. ~
*** VERY IMPORTANT ***
When writing a character with special abilities such as magic, you MUST include details such as the intensity of it, how long it lasts, how often the character can do it, and how much energy/resources it consumes each time it's done. Just saying the character has the power to heal is not good enough. It is a hassle for everybody and a waste of precious time when a GM has to hunt down a player to ask these things about their powers. CHARACTER CARDS WITHOUT THESE DETAILS ON THEIR POWERS WILL BE DISREGARDED
Also, one thing that often happens is that people say they have a "spellbook", but don't say what spells are in this book. That falls into the same problem described above and cards that say simply "spellbook" and don't list the spells will be disregarded.
~ Also please keep in mind that as much as it's fun to have powers and weapons and awesome abilities, your character should have weak spots. It should have disadvantages. We advise against making a complete walking heap of problems, but stick to the saying "nobody is perfect". ~CHARACTER SHEET SUBMISSION Please fill out and drop your character card in the character card dropbox at the entry point of the sim (it's a big shiny red British mailbox-looking thing that says "drop character cards here!") or alternatively give them to Ashtyn Ninetails. Your character will be checked as fast as we can process them. Hopefully it shouldn't take more than 48 hours, but there are times unpredicted events can delay the processing of a character, so if you haven't heard back from us in a few days, please contact someone in the staff, to see what is taking so long. We will either approve your character, contact you and interview you if we believe some aspects of the character need to be discussed before approval, or, if the character doesn't fit the overall aspects of the sim, it won't be approved at all, in which case you are encouraged to re-write it.
In your character sheet, please describe the character's species/race, and any special abilities the character might have, such as magical powers. Also, include a brief background story for the character. This is an RP sim, we want to know you can come up with creative stuff. It doesn't have to be the most original or imaginative work of literature ever, but please put some effort into it.
Below is attached a sample character sheet just to give you an idea of how to organize yours. It doesn't have to be exactly like the sample, but keep it easy to understand.
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=18.0 <-- Common Feline
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=19.0 <-- Wolf Warrior
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=20.0 <-- Otter Mage
BLANK CHARACTER CARD FOR YOU TO FILL OUT >>>
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=21.0 <<< BLANK CHARACTER CARD FOR YOU TO FILL OUT
When approved, you will receive back your character sheet in a Notecard created by one of the GMs, set to no-modify / copy / transfer permissions. That is done so that if there ever is a dispute in your abilities, you can show whomever doubts you your character sheet. The GM-created no-modify status of it will prove you did not alter your sheet from the one that was officially approved by the GMs.
~ By default, all new characters are newcomers in the land of Lismore. If you want to tie your character's story to the sim's story, contact one of the GMs to discuss that. ~
