This thread deals with all rules on how to conduct fights, what stats mean, and how to treat and compare them. Please note that although this is a stat-based system, it actually has more free-form elements than a stat based system. Really, the stats only serve to know how much your character can dish out and how much it can take before having to quit. In effect, it only serves to be a powerful anti-godmoding tool as well as something we can use to reward talented role-players. Also, note that while stats do have role-playing applications, they are vague enough as not to interfere with your plans.

What Stats Represent

Before you understand combat, it is imperative you at least know what stats are.

The following is a list of each stat. Under the name, there will be a short description of the stat. Below that will be the "mechanical application" which is how the stat will effect your character mechanically; below that is "role-playing application." Note that the description and role-playing application categories are really flavor text and are merely guidelines. That final category is an extremely vague one and is only meant to be a "guideline." If anything, the stats should not define your character; your character should define your stats.

Speed (SPD):
Description: Speed relates to your character's over all movement patterns, their take
off and accelerations, character's ability to dodge and the overall speed of an attack.
Mechanical Application: Speed is a generalization of the quickness of an character. For RP purposes, this trait allows the players to make an assumption of who is generally the more athletic of the two individuals.
Role-Playing Application: A character with high speed would be able to do the 40 meter dash very quick. They would be able to take off from a start and get moving very quickly. Characters with higher speed tend to dodge slightly more than characters with low speed. However, based on the set up of the RPG, speed scores are only useful when being compared to another score and even then they should be taken with a grain of salt.

Strength (STR):
Description: Strength measures your character’s muscle and physical power. This character trait is especially important for the hand to hand, and blunt weapon type. Strength also determines how much physical force characters can exert and how good they are at physical activities.
Mechanical Application: Strength mostly applies to your damage output. Your melee strikes are directly related to strength. In the case of weapons, your strength score determines what you can wield effectively. Strength even helps ranged specialists by letting them throw heavier (and more damaging) weapons.
Role-Playing Application: You're strong, and possibly athletic. Honestly, this stat only has role-playing applications when you directly compare strength scores, and even then, it should only be taken lightly.

Endurance (END):
Description: This trait determines character's endurance, his will to push forward despite his physical condition and exertion while performing strenuous activity for extended periods of time.
While strength measures how well you can perform a physical task, endurance measures your ability to do that task more reliably, and for longer periods of time.
Mechanical Application: Endurance is a representation of the effort put fourth in mundane combat. (hand to hand or any involvement with weapons. Each point in Endurance increases your HP by 15.
Role-playing Application: This stat helps a character to make an efficient thread. Instead of the over active character that seems never to loose energy or the edge, it adds a more realistic edge to the Role-play.

Spirit (SPR):
Description: This character trait governs a whole field of perception, involving your character. Again CA mechanics can’t support such things as the person (you) behind the characters logic. More importantly this character trait refers to (Chaos Energy control). CE comes from two places. One, the body energy inherited in your trillions of cells and second, the mental and spiritual energy gained from the world around you and experience, thus bringing about Magic. Intellect also determines a character’s intuitive sense and how it stacks up when in a combat situation, navigational situation, and finally illusions, and special techniques.
Mechanical Application: Each point in Spirit increases your CE by 15.This factor represents how well you maintain a technique and the amount of that energy you exert while using it. This factor will differ between individuals due to experience. Spirit lays a foreground that determines if an opponent can so easily “get the drop” on a character or not. This would correspond with agility in most cases assuming a character can swiftly and safely evade the clutches of doom. Note: that being aware in some cases doesn't grant you the ability or opportunity to move successfully in all conditions. This skill might also prove handy on a field mission. Being lost in an unknown territory with a moderately high score in this skill might allow you to role-play by some means and use your directional sense to figure out the right direction (Low score, might send you hopeless into the woods never to be seen again.). And for Illusion purposes a person with a fair score would realize they have been duped into a trap and by some means perhaps be able to release themselves from it.
Role-playing Application: Spirit is harder to determine when applying it to past the means of a gauge in the sense of spirit, as for Intellect in combat or pre-combat situations a higher intellect tend to be more alert in different scenarios.

CE:
Description: CE is the magical energy in all things. It's actually a mixture of physical energy and spiritual energy. This is the energy characters use to perform their special techniques.
Mechanical Application: CE is paid to perform techniques. If your CE is reduced to 0 or lower, your character is immediately knocked out.
Role-Playing Application: Really, CE is only useful for determining if you can or cannot perform a technique.


HP:
Description: HP stands for Health Points and measures your character's current physical condition.
Mechanical Application: When HP reaches 0 you have reached your limit. You are to remove yourself from any combat or risk death. The battle is over, you lost. Also, like all implied stat, you cannot raise HP directly. Instead, you raise a core stat (in this case endurance) which effects this stat. Also note, HP is never an excuse to keep fighting. If you've been beheaded, you're dead, even if you have HP left.

Comparing Stats

Now that you know what these stats mean, here comes the inevitable question, "If I have 1 strength and my opponent has 2 strength, is he or she twice as strong as me?" The answer to that question is no. The stats are only to be used as guidelines in most cases. A decent way to compare is as follows:

If the stats are the same, then the contenders are evenly matched.

If the stats differ only by 1-3 points, then the actual difference between them is marginal.

If the stats differ only by 4-8 points, then the actual difference between them is noticeable. The other person who has more stats has a discernible advantage.

If the stats differ by more then 9 points, then the difference is blatantly apparent. The person with the lower stat has no way of keeping up.

Damage

The general point of gaining stat points is to either increase the amount of damage or to resist damage. The following are suggestions for damage. Keep in mind this damage is not set in stone. If your head is split open you won’t be getting up any time soon, for instance.

Note: Toughness will negate some of an opponent’s hand to hand combat attack damage if the difference is beyond marginal compared to his opponents Strength this would in turn negate some of the damage by a small percentage of one-fourth.

Punches and kicks do damage equal to your strength.

Weapons do damage based on what is listed on the weapon.

Techniques do damage as listed in each individual technique.

A general rule of the thumb for falling damage is 5 points for every 10 feet fallen, or 10 for every 10 feet fallen if you fall on something particularly dangerous, such as jagged rocks. If you land on a weapon, then you also take the appropriate amount of weapon damage.

Battle System:

System -20:

What is System -20 (System Negative Ten)? System -20 is system that exceeds death just a fraction, what do I mean? Well normally on CA if you reach 0 (poof) your dead. Well system -20 gives all members a fighting chance. We wouldn’t want see any of you loose your character in a fight. By reaching -20 you are official out of the thread or pronounced dead. When a player reaches 0 hit points he is not dead, but considered unconscious. When a character reaches beyond 0 hit points he is considered dying.

-Rules of a dying player-

If a player is struck by a blow that takes his or her hit points below 0 he or she is considered dying, from 0 to -20 or whatever you where reduced to by the final blow your hit point will precede by 1 per post till you reach a -20. Notice, “Death does not mean make a new character!”

A battle is played out fairly simply. Someone posts what their character does, and then someone else posts what their character does. This goes back and forth until they come to some conclusion. The actual battles in this regard are free-form. People who are used to free-form role-playing should have no trouble here.

There are generally three ways you can "win" or at least stop a fight. The most obvious way is to reduce your opponent's health points (HP’s) to 0 unconscious or -20 which is death. There are many ways to accomplish that, from merely hitting your opponent to using technique to using natural hazards, the sheer number of ways is endless. Another way to end the battle is to somehow incapacitate your opponent. The final way is to simply reach a status quo were you no longer have or want to fight. There may be ways to end a fight other then what's been detailed here, but these are the most common.

While fighting, there is some common courtesy you show your opponent. The first, and most important of these is that you don't God-Mod. God-Moding is detailed in the general rules thread.

Another courtesy is posting everything your character does. You cannot have it "turn out" that the person your opponent has been fighting is an illusion, for instance. This includes the plans and thoughts of your character. Having your character charge at someone, and then when they use a defensive move you'll "turn out" to be expecting it and acting perfectly is not allowed unless you say you’re expecting it in your post, even if only vaguely or briefly.

It is advised that in your first post, or at least somewhere in the thread, you post the stats of your character. This allows for easy reference, and generally makes things go smoother and quicker. Posting your stats once per page is optimal.

Under your post, you should include how much damage you intend to do, and from what sources. For instance, you could have something like this:

Sword damage: 5
Technique Damage: 15
Kick Damage: 4

Doing this will put everything in perspective for you opponent, and will actually let him or her better micro-manage what is and is not dodged or so easily evadable, so complete avoidances can be reduced.

At the very bottom of any post in which you use a technique, you should include a copy of that technique. This is simply for easy reference.

Finally, try and stick to only one technique per post. This is more of a generalization, but really you can't perform too many actions without dictating how your opponent will act. Some obvious instances were this rule wouldn't apply is in techniques that are obviously meant to be used together or in instances were a post covers a drastically longer time span then usual. Another instance where it’s generally OK to use more then one techniques per post, but even then you should stick to one or two per post.

Communicating with the Staff and other Members

First off, at the end of every post that requires battle it is advised that you place your current HP and MP as well as the description of any techniques you used during that battle.

If you feel that a member is abusing any rights given to him or her, or is God-Modding feel free to talk to the staff. We will review the thread and will give an unbiased opinion. If you feel a staff member is abusing his or her power, or that you or someone else has been incorrectly judged feel free to “appeal” the case to another staff member, preferably one of a higher rank. Feel free to PM every other staff member if you see fit, this will not be counted as spam or harassment unless you PM every staff member repeatedly.

Using Techniques in Battle

The following is a short tutorial for using Techniques in battle. It is not required reading, especially for those who are familiar to RPGs, but it may help newer members.

Using a technique in battle is just like performing any other action. You merely describe your character using the technique. However, there are several guidelines to using them. First, there is a one technique per post rule. Second, you should not copy and paste the description of the technique into your post and try to pawn it off as being your work. Finally, at the bottom of your post, in addition to posting your current HP and MP, you must post the technique as it is listed in your application. Note that the person(s) you are RPing with shouldn't have to look at that technique and should be able to get everything they need from your actual post. The only reason we force people to post the technique at the bottom of their post is so that the person you are RPing with can get details such as the amount of damage the technique inflicts.

Gaining Experience points

One gains Experience points by participating in topics the experience points are given once a topic is completed. The amount is determined by the mod/admin who is grading the topic as such they will be taking everything into account. From the what your character did in the topic, how well you rped, every detail the better they feel you did the more Exp you will get to spend.

Chaos Emeralds

Anyone who has ever played the Sonic games or even watched the show knows what the Chaos emeralds are but just incase you don't I will give a brief over view. The Chaos Emeralds have mystical properties and abilities, and the holder of them all can use them for a variety of purposes, including transforming into a powerful "super form". Each emerald is an everlasting source of energy and is capable of floating in the air on its own power.

Effects of the chaos emeralds in the RPG:

For each emerald a person possesses their CE increases by 20, and their strength, and speed increases by 1.

Example: (1 Chaos emerald)

HP: 80/80
CE: 80/80 ( 100/100 )

Strength: 2 (3)
Speed: 3 (4)
Endurance: 2
Spirit: 2

If one possesses all Seven chaos emeralds they make execute a super transformation that will basically double their base stats ontop of increases each indvidual increase from the chaos emeralds.

Example: (Super mode + seven chaos emeralds)

HP: 80/80 (190/190)
CE: 80/80 (330/330)

Strength: 2 (11)
Speed: 3 (13)
Endurance: 2 (4)
Spirit: 2 (4)

Technique Creation

The technique creation is fairly simple just follow this template.

|Technique name|
Technique Description | CE: | Effect/Damage/HP Healed | Experience cost

Rule of thumb the more powerful the technique the most Experience points it will cost, and try to keep them with a 1/1 Ratio and no more than 1.5/1 Ratio that is all.