Joanna's Influences

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Joanna Larken Shosmyth
Posts in topic: 2
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:09 am
Money: $500
Abilities: http://seinvocc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=605
Inventory: http://seinvocc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=608
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Joanna's Influences

Post by Joanna Larken Shosmyth » Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:08 am

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Socialites, as one may expect, deal entirely in social status. As such, this particular job class has almost no bearing on battle whatsoever, even after a great deal of training. To begin, they can, for no cost, freshen themselves up magically. This just makes wrinkles and blemishes harder to see, frizzy hairs and bags under eyes less visible, one's scent less noticeable, and is generally just about trying to hide the fact that one is due for a shower and a nap, and it's not even very good at it. They can also change their hairstyles, hair colors, and eye colors at will without any notice, so one may blink and be looking at what appears to be a totally different person. They can also change colors of clothing/armor that they're wearing, once they're pretty good, though within limits; plenty of special things are immune, and even a lot of not-so-special things are just randomly immune. This is also cost-free, but only an aesthetic change, its most practical usage being that it makes for easy disguises. They're called "cost-free" for convenience, but to be totally accurate, they have very tiny, insignificant MS costs.
Now, on to the meat of the job class . . . Socialites inherently know what appeals are most viable to others. They tend to know that so-and-so would be most readily influenced by intimidation, while that guy would go gaga over cuteness, and those people are most susceptible to sex appeal. These notions are dependent on how good a socialite one is; how long has the unit been a socialite, how much can the unit implement the ability that will be explained shortly, how much practice has the unit had at being a socialite, et cetera are the determinants. In Joanna's case, it's a rather unreliable hunch in comparison to other socialites, but still more accurate than not. Now, that's somewhat cool, but almost totally worthless without the main ability of socialites: They can alter the impressions that they give off. This is hard to explain, so let's break it up into smaller sections:
  1. This doesn't make any actual changes directly. There are no stat changes, no reduction of MS, and so on by the sheer nature of this ability. This is all about changing the way that the socialite seems to others.
  2. What it affects is one's factors of intimidation, sex appeal, cuteness, richness, snobbishness, arrogance, shyness, lovingness, sweetness, solicitude, appearance of power, appearance of a mystic quality, and all other such matters of others' perception. It does not actually force these factors to change; it only makes others' opinions of the specified factors change.
  3. One can affect any/all of these factors positively and/or negatively in accordance to one's will (such as a reduction in cuteness and an increase in intimidation at the same time).
  4. This is measured in a percentage format, with examples including the following:
    -100% intimidation = “Oh, she wouldn't hurt a fly!”
    +100% intimidation = “Get her away from me! She's gonna snap me like a twig if I get in her way!”
    -100% sex appeal = “What happened to her . . . it . . . whatever?
    +100% sex appeal = “Get outta' my way! I'm taking her!”
  5. Based on how good of a socialite one is, one earns levels of influence in these percentages. Here's something to keep in mind: One earns a blanket percentage for all influences. If she has a 5% influence level, she can move her lovingness appeal up or down to a maximum difference of 5%, her snobbishness up or down to those limits, et cetera. Each one can be changed independently of the others, and each to a difference limit up to 5%. She can have one go up 3%, another go down 2%, another go up 5%, another stay the same, or whatever; she can allocate my influence however she wants, even if it seems to be conflicting (e.g. 100% seriousness and 100% silliness at the same time).
  6. Since I just mentioned it, influences can be apparently conflicting, though it's not generally a good idea. The result is basically just mixed feelings, which is good for confusing or giving an air of mystery, which can come in handy, and also good for alerting others that it's just socialite influence, unless you do it just right, such as applying 10% “suspicious,” 70% “sexy,” and 90% “mysterious” for a very James Bond-y appeal. I mean, think about it: if you see someone and think that (s)he is 100% ugly and 100% sexy, you know that you're either going crazy or experiencing some sort of external influence on your mind.
  7. This percentage format is not actually proportional to how much “appeal” she already has in a given area. It is actually just a percentage of the maximum influence that a socialite can have, which is a lot. We're talking about social perceptions, here, so there's no way to really solidly quantify that, but it's a big influence.
  8. These influences stack cumulatively with natural appeals (to the 100% or -100% maximum influence); if one's natural sexiness could be interpreted by another as an appeal that is equal to 5% of the maximum socialite appeal, and one can influence that by 5%, one can either negate one's natural sex appeal (5% - 5% = 0), add it up (5% + 5% = 10), or do anything in between (5% + [0...5]% = [5...10]% or 5% - [0...5]% = [0...5]%). If one could manage to have a negative sex appeal of -5%, one could either make it better (up to neutrality), leave it as-is, or make it even worse (down to -10%). With 100% influence, one could go as high as 95% total sex appeal or as low as -105%.
  9. This brings up the question of “side effects.” If one were to, say, have a 100% “powerful” impression, some would find that to be sexy. That boost to sex appeal would not be considered as a part of one's socialite influence and thereby would not deduct from the percentage of sexiness influence; that boost is considered to be a “natural” appeal factor. Similarly, if one raised one's intimidation factor, some may assume that one is arrogant. This perception of arrogance is a natural phenomenon, so it doesn't change one's capabilities. Let's say that my natural arrogance and intimidation factors, by another's opinion, were both equal to 10% of the maximum socialite influence. Let's say that I have power up to 70% over each. I raise my intimidation to 80%, and my natural arrogance level rises to 25%. I can now raise my arrogance factor by 70%, bringing the total to 95%. My 70% influence didn't cave in just because my natural influence as a result of another influence changed.
  10. There is no natural resistance or immunity to a socialite's influence. Resistances or immunities are very scarce, unless you want to count people who are totally oblivious as resistant. Even then, they're generally affected, just not as visibly so. This does not depend on MS. It doesn't matter how smart you are; if I have the influence of X% intimidation, you feel that I am that intimidating, even if you don't personally fear me. You just intrinsically feel that I am intimidating by nature. Similarly, even if we're of the same sex, you'll just innately feel that I'm some sexy person who is tough competition for you or something; you may not be compelled to at all be attracted to me, but you get the impression that the appeal is there, anyway. Although immunities and resistances are scarce, they do exist, moreso among fellow socialites.
  11. Even though you can't just directly resist the effects of a socialite, you can out-think them. Yes, that means that those with higher MS do indeed have an advantage, just not in the same “your influence is nothing to me” way that you were expecting. Think of it like this: If you see someone and think, “Man, I really get the impression that this guy is even shyer than me,” but you watch him and see that he isn't acting shy at all, you can easily figure, “Hrm, maybe that impression is wrong . . . Why does it feel like that impression is insisting on itself, though? Oh, he's a socialite. Duh. Well, now, I know to just ignore that impression.” It's easier with sex appeal; if you feel like someone's really sexy, but look that person over for a while and soon start to wonder why you think that this person is so sexy, it's easy to say, “Oh, it's an artificial sex appeal. Duh.” Of course, it's also harder to identify when the influence isn't far from the natural appeal; if I only change my cuteness level by 5%, you probably won't figure it out very easily. Well, you will if you're Noah, but he's just too smart and familiar with cute things. A really good socialite can make a huge influence and pull it off well enough to convince people, though, so even some smarter people will have trouble spotting influences.
  12. Many clothes also alter influence levels. Some of them will work this way on anyone, while almost all looks have an effect on influence levels of socialites. Some will affect most people one way and socialites in another (typically just a heightened version of the same, but not always). Most of the time, the influences of major outfit items, which often includes accessories, are somewhat significant (like, 10% at least in a given area), but are accompanied with opposites to them that may be of greater value (for example, -20% in another area). This can be a good thing, and it can be bad; it's all situational. That's what socialites are all about: they adjust their appeals to the situation. As a side note, these effects can actually take place whether one sees the clothes or not, so a piece of underwear will still hold its influence over those around the socialite, even of those others are blind. The appeal changes are usually logical; a distinctly foolish-looking hat will probably raise one's level of absurdity, though it may also raise one's magical-looking factor. However, there are exceptions. That utterly ridiculous hat may actually raise one's appearance of power and even make one appear to be more serious. There's no real rule to how certain enchanted clothes and armors will act; the only reliable way to find out is to try them on, duck, and see who's taking shots at you . . . and what kind of shots . . .
Everyone get it? I didn't think so. Well, just watch it play out and see, okay? Let's move on to a pressing matter: I keep mentioning “how good of a socialite one is,” but that also seems like a very opinionated matter. It's not. Like being a good mage or a good warrior, it can be defined. Let's start with the fact that the influence of socialites has been studied vigorously and is presently being studied, and still, no one can come to an agreement as to whether it can be called magical, metaphysical, or what. Its properties imply a lot of conflicting things (Ironic, no?), so no one really knows how it can be taught or worked upon. As a result, there are very few who can tell a socialite a single thing about being a socialite that the person doesn't know, and there's pretty much no other way to train. In stead, socialites have to tough it out the hard way. They have to practice, practice, and keep practicing until they just build up more status to influence with. What's odd is that it doesn't necessarily vary with actual social status so much as it just varies with itself: 'I am influencing these people a lot, so I steadily get better, but I am influencing these people poorly, so I'm not getting better very quickly,' and so on. If I hadn't made it clear how hard it is to become a better socialite, let me put it this way:
As of her starting point, Joanna's maximum influence level is a mere 5%. Yes, even though she's been a socialite for so long. Yeap.
Just as a point of clarification, when someone identifies a socialite influence, it generally doesn't cause problems, in Houcm. Typically speaking, no one really thinks of it as deception because it's not actual lies, but just impressions. People give off wrong impressions naturally, by intention or not, so it's not abnormal to realize that someone is imposing another element in the equation because that person wants to control his/her impressions a more than the norm. It's something that the person has his/her own reasons for controlling, and others aren't in a place to judge. Of course, there are exceptions in which a socialite is clearly using its influence for deceitful purposes, and there are plenty of rowdy individuals, but the whole of society generally doesn't mind socialites.
Current maximum influence level: 5%

Support abilities from Socialite job class:
Fallen- Joanna's maximum socialite influence for pitiability is doubled (10% from the start).
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Joanna's other job class is “Push Burner.” This is because she has some abilities to push things around and push her way through space with fire. Oh, and she has a cool look to go with the job, too. She can generate large hands of metaphysical fire to push things at her will. This costs some mana and requires much concentration. She summons two hands, each about her size, in any orientation within 1 meter of herself (no, really, that's it), then moves her hands in order to tell the fire hands to push things. There are two versions:
The hostile version is generally executed as a quick shove. The damage magnitude is (STR + MAG – [negligible]) / 10, totaling to significantly less power than the cost; dependent on average of target's DEF and RES, counting as phy and mag damage, and the KB is (STR + MAG + ATKSPD – [some]) / 1.2, so it's mainly good for just getting rid of enemies, not so much hurting them. In fact, Joanna can hardly hurt other normal people with this.
The docile version is used much more, and it's performed as more of a steady push. There is no damage (yes, fire that does not burn), but the pushing strength is a matter of (STR + MAG) * 1.5, so it's not bad for moving blocks around and such. The one-meter range allows the hands to be summoned on the other side of an object so that they can “push” toward Joanna for more of a pulling action, or the hands could even be summoned under a target and push it up.
Joanna can similarly spend some MA and concentrate to generate little jet flares from her feet and jump off them as they push her upward. This is basically just a double jump with a cost.
Joanna can charge up for about 2.5 seconds (can move while charging, can't take other actions, must spend MA and concentrate, mana half-replenished upon interruption) to shoot forward for about 10 meters with good speed while coated in fire. This can be used as an air dash with limited attack power. Take the damage calculations for the hostile version of the burn pushers, change the divisor to 2, and you have the power for this attack. Yes, it's five times as strong, but it's much more expensive, has the charge time, and still isn't strong at all, especially given Joanna's stats.
That last attack is shown here just after 2:00: As you can see, despite being a fire-based job class, Push Burner is much more suitable to utility purposes than battle. It does have a couple support abilities that help to push through tough times, though.
Last Stand- When in critical health, Joanna's DEF and RES are doubled . . . like it'll matter at that point.
Adrenaline- When in critical health, Joanna's STR and MAG are doubled, which may help very slightly more than Last Stand.
Tension Burn- When in danger of being killed by an attack of an average power factor (such as a standard, phy attack) from an enemy within 50 meters, Joanna's ATKSPD is multiplied by 1.5.
Tension Haste- When in danger of being killed by an attack of an average power factor from an enemy within 50 meters, Joanna's MOVSPD is multiplied by 1.5.
Overburn- When in critical health or in danger of being killed by an attack of an average power factor from an enemy within 50 meters, Joanna's PS very slowly regenerates, and she can choose to spend HE in place of PS for a chosen amount of time, in which case the HE pays at a 1.5:1 ratio. If both of those conditions are met, which doesn't happen often because she's generally able to be one-shot and thereby just doesn't get hit, that PS regeneration rate is doubled to make it slightly less pathetic.

Miscellaneous Actions:
Cam- By spending a laughable amount of MA and blinking, whatever Joanna is viewing is recorded magically into her mind as a sort of “magical image file.” It operates through her eyelids, as though taking a picture of her view if she was not blinking at the moment. This allows her to have pseudo-photographic memory, but is otherwise pretty useless.
Vid- By spending a laughable amount of MA over time and widening her eyes, allowing her to easily keep from blinking as a side effect, Joanna can magically record videos in a magical section of her memory, just like with Cam.
Publish- By concentrating, closing her eyes, and spending a good deal of MA (Actually, the cost is just over her current maximum!), Joanna can transfer Cam pictures and Vid occurrences onto a paper or a screen, which thereby allows them to be re-recorded and shared.

Miscellaneous Supports:
Gem Scrounger- Enemies that manage to be defeated by Joanna have a slightly heightened gem drop rate.
Gillionaire- When an enemy drops money after being defeated by Joanna's party, it drops a slightly increased amount. This stacks with other abilities as long as they aren't multiple copies of Gillionaire; only one such ability works at a time.
Will to Share- When Joanna's party defeats a foe, it drops more money. The change is a tiny factor that's based on how many people there are aside from Joanna. The difference is negligible even with three allies. This does stack with other effects, though.
Lady Luck- An enemy that is felled by Joanna has a slightly increased drop rate and rare drop rate for whatever they would normally drop. This stacks with other such effects.
Lucky Lucky- An enemy that is felled by anyone in Joanna's party has a slightly increased drop rate and rare drop rate. This stacks with other such effects.
Appreciation- Food gives extra nutrition to Joanna and fills her up more, so her PS rises more easily. Additionally, she can mentally adjust her palette to make foods just a tad more tasty, though not enough to get her to eat her least favorites, if she can avoid it.
Caution- Joanna is granted heightened instincts in matters of incoming danger.

PS: below average
MS: high
HE: way below average
MA: pathetic
STR: way below average
DEF: pathetic
MAG: way below average
RES: way below average
SPD: way below average
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Joanna Larken Shosmyth
Posts in topic: 2
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:09 am
Money: $500
Abilities: http://seinvocc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=605
Inventory: http://seinvocc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=608
Guild:

Post by Joanna Larken Shosmyth » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:55 pm

This has been read by several users and appears to be fair. Especially since this is to be the precedent for tycoon civvies, approval for this does not seem out of line. Approved.
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