Powering Up Your Character

[Husky Dragon]

Hey everyone, I thought I would address the issue of character power because I noticed it has become an issue lately.

The first thing we'll address is the most common complaint I see. (And the fact that it's a commonnnn complaint should say something about it's validity)

 "My character is weak, everyone beats them up, I want them to be stronger!"

   First of all let's address this - Roleplay is not about winning in fights. In fact, losing them can be just as fun and as good for development as winning.

   Second of all - When I have asked to see the cards of some of these people who have claimed to be weak, I find them to be on the borderline of approvability.
 
So what's the issue? It is actually not your character's strength, but the fact that a lot of you guys do not make an attempt to plan out the fights you want your character to be in with the player of the opposing character. Planning IS important in roleplay if you want anything to go right for you. The other issue is while these characters are powerful, they do not fight smart. Being able to lift boulders and breathe fire doesn't guarantee you'll win any fights at all, but being able to use those two abilities intelligently will go a long way.

There is another reason this attitude is a problem.. Because a lot of the people I see with this complaint make regular attempts to make their character more powerful, often at the expense of other people's roleplay and patience.


So to sum things up..

1. Your character is not losing battles because they are weak. They are losing because a lack of OOC planning and/or not using their abilities in an intelligent manner.
2. You should not be submitting a character update just so your character can be stronger and win fights. That is against the spirit of good roleplay.
3. You should not be looking at other people's events and immediately asking the question "how can I make my character stronger off of this?", especially if the answer involves ruining the event for those it was made for.
4. You CAN have fun in roleplay on a character who is completely unable to fight. I'm sure I speak for more than just myself when I say this.

Guys, please enjoy RP. That's what it's here for.. The real fun is not in the battle, but the events that lead up to it and after.


And just as an added note, since I was reminded.. Do not compare your character in power to event NPCs. They are DESIGNED to be able to be able to provide a challenge to large groups of character, and are therefore far more powerful.

[fawn]

It might be nice to have some guidelines for how your character might be improved and what you can expect. You know, Radem roleplayed a LOT about learning to fight, I'm assuming in the end his skills improved.

One thing I've thought about and will do at some point is resubmitting Gaia's cart to have her skills upgraded. She's grown up a lot since it was first submitted, and her original very basic card never mentioned some of the ways I've played her. It talks about prophetic dreams, but she's never been approved for things like sleep walking and "waking trances" both of which she's done.

So there's kind of two thoughts on powering up: There might be a guideline for improvement through roleplay, and sometimes it's good to look at your card and see if your talents have matured. Even without getting any more powerful, sometimes abilities can become "better fleshed out."