I HATE MYSELF, a battle system

On a site dedicated to the eradication of the entire dragon population on Earth, it should come as no surprise to find that combat is a major focus of the site. Not only will you be slaying some of the universe's most powerful man-eating and world-destroying dragons, however – the influence of the dragons have mutated even common flora and fauna into hideous monsters bent on the destruction of all the planet's life. In order to stand up to these threats, you'll need to keep on your toes and pay close attention to battle rules stated below. Play safe, try not to die, and long live Unit 13!



SO WHAT'S UP WITH STATS?

We'd like to keep things as simple as humanly possible (while still being functional and true to source material), so we've boiled down the numbers that will make your character tick into cute little heart shapes stacked next to five very important names.

HEART POINTS ( HP ) determine the life of your character. You lose heart points equal to the difference of an enemy's attack points and your defense points – assuming their attack is higher than your defense, of course! - when in combat, and you run the risk of falling unconcious or even dying should your heart points drop to zero. Heart points can be regained by using heart restoring items or casting heart restoring skills.

MAGIC POINTS ( MP ) determine whether or not you can cast skills in the thick of battle. As you level up your character, you gain access to powerful physical attacks, mighty magical spells, or restorative incantations, most all of which will consume a finite number of magic points in order to prevent overuse. The number of magic points consumed by each skill will differ depending on its effects and might. There are no negative repercussions for using up your stock of magic points aside from being unable to preform any skills.

ATTACK determines how much damage you can deal out to enemies using basic attacks, which consume no magic points, and physical-based skills. If you have, say, five points (represented by circles) of attack, you can deal a maximum of five points of heart damage to an enemy. The amount of damage you do, however, will be determined by your attack stat minus the defense of the enemy, so unless your enemy has a defense of a whopping zero, don't expect to deal the full value of this stat.

MAGIC determines how much damage you can deal out to enemies using magical-based skills only, all of which consume magic points. Magic skills tend to be stronger, but only certain classes of characters can utilize them, and even fewer are very proficient in them. Because the magic stat is exclusive to magical-based skills, though, this stat is the very minimum amount of damage that you'll deal; most magical skills will add onto your magic stat when dealing damage. Similar to attack, the amount of damage you deal is your magic stat minus the defense of the enemy.

DEFENSE determines how much damage you will take from basic attacks, physical-based skills, and magical-based skills. Every type of attack you take will have its maximum damage subtracted with this stat, so the higher it is, the better off you'll be. If the enemy's attack is equal to or less than your defense, you lose no heart points at all.



SO WHAT'S UP WITH CLASSES?

As early as your character application, you'll have to start thinking about what sort of proficiencies you'd like your characters to have. Are they a tank, able to take a lot of hits? Do they prefer to rush in head first with guns blazing? Maybe they're the sort to hang back and provide support from the sidelines? Your character's class will determine their base stats, as well as chart out a very simple path of growth you can expect them to follow. LINK TO THE CLASSES HERE. The stats you see below your class' name are what you'll start with as that class at level one. If a specific stat has a plus symbol next to it, this means that you will automatically gain an extra point in this stat upon leveling up. Classes also use specific weapons, and while the type of weapon does not effect any stat in most cases, one/two classes in particular – the Samurai/and the Trickster – can choose between one of two options that will affect their skill pool. You're able to choose either weapon at the start, but you will be locked into your choice for the remainder of your character's time on the site. (If you are a beta participant, however, you have the option of switching between the two at will and having access to the entirety of your class' skill pool. However, this might limit the number and/or strength of the skills you'll learn, so think before making your decision.)

All beta classes originate in present-day Tokyo.

The Samurai (dual-wield and single-wielding), Agent, God Hand, and Duelist classes originate from present-day Tokyo. Rune Knights and Fortuners find their roots in Atlantis, and Banishers and Mages began their studies in Eden. This does not mean, however, that your Tokyan born character cannot be a Banisher or a Rune Knight – simply that it should be noted that they must study their craft from those time periods.



SO WHAT'S UP WITH LEVELLING?

While battling is clearly an important part of the site, we also encourage characters to participate in non-battle oriented threads for better shots at character development. Each post you make will earn you points, and these points can go to items that can be used in battle, class changes and extra skills, or – most importantly – levels. For a sum of MONEY AMOUNT HERE, your character will raise by one level.

For every level your character gains, the stat that your class has an automatic gain in ( the stat with the plus next to its name, namely ) will... well, automatically gain one point! You are then allowed to add one point to any stat of choice, whether that be a different stat entirely or stacking onto your automatic gain. (For example: With an automatic gain in attack, you can gain one point of attack and one point or defense or two points of attack for one level.) You also earn one skill point, which can be used to learn or upgrade any skill from your class' skill pool. Each skill and subsequent upgrade only costs one point, but be careful not to put all your points toward skills with high Magic Point costs from the get go, lest you run the risk of draining your Magic Point pool too fast. When you purchase a level, be sure to tell the staff exactly what stats and skills will change, including your automatic gains. This is especially true for when you are buying levels in bulk (two or more at a time).



SO WHAT'S UP WITH SKILLS?

Well, you know already how to determine what skills you can learn and how you can learn them. The question now is how do you implement them in battle? The first thing to note are the different types: the two attacking skill types, physical-based and magical-based, restorative skills, auto skills, EX skills, and miscellaneous skills.

Attacking skills deal damage by stacking on extra hearts of damage onto your base attack and magic stats at the cost of Magic Points. If the skill you are using is labeled as physical, it will add damage to your base attack stat, and if it is labeled as magical, it will add damage to your base magic stat. Some of these attacking skills will also be able to inflict status ailments to further damage or impair enemies; whether or not certain skills do will be listed in their description. Not all classes will learn both types of attack skills – for example, the Samurai learns exclusively physical-based attacking skills while classes like the Psychic or Mage learn exclusively magical-based attacking skills – but most have at least one of the two.

While it might be easy to think that your Samurai and their exclusively physical-based skill pool don't have any need for upgrading your magic stat when leveling up, magical-based attacking skills aren't the only skills that rely on your character's magic stat. Restorative skills restore either Heart Points or Magic Points to one or multiple characters on the field. Your magic stat will determine how many Heart or Magic Points you can restore using these skills. The only restorative skills that do not rely on this stat are regen skills, which restore either one Heart or Magic Point at the start of a character's turn, or skills that cure characters of their status ailments.

Auto skills are unique in that they activate immediately at the start of a character's turn once certain criteria have been met and consume no Magic Points whatsoever. Some examples are auto skills that activate at the start of your turn after an ally has fallen, or auto skills that activate at the start of your very first turn in battle. These must be very powerful, you might think, especially considering most classes have at least one of these automatic skills in their skill pool – and you'd be correct! However, auto skills are also unique in that each character may only have one. At the start of your character creation, you will be able to choose one auto skill from the few that your character's class may learn, and from that point on, you are limited to that single auto skill. Extra auto skills may be purchased from the store, but this comes at a high price and should only be purchased after careful deliberation.

The most powerful skills of them all have the highest price, and while these may prove very helpful in the toughest battles you'll face, only those who have Heart and Magic Points to spare should even dare to use them. Each weapon, not class, has its own unique EX skill, most of which, but not all are high damaging attacks that can spell a single hit doom for even the strongest of opponents. EX skills can be unlocked right out of the gate, but can't be used by your average rookie dragon hunter. The drawback for these powerful attacks is their unrivaled Magic Point cost – higher than any other skill – and their Heart Point cost, which may be smaller, but still opens the door to a high risk, high reward situation. Think carefully before resorting to these skills, or else you might just find yourself out of the battle.

Every class has its own pool of skills unique to them that do not necessarily fall under any of the above categories and do not follow any of their rules. When it comes to these miscellaneous skills, simply follow the instructions given in the skill's description to best utilize them.



SO WHAT'S UP WITH STATUS AILMENTS?

Characters and enemy NPCs can both be afflicted with status ailments, affects that serve to either impede action or damage the one afflicted with them. Certain skills can inflict status affects on enemies from the get go, or be upgraded to add afflictions onto a pre-existing attack. While there may seem like a lot across the board, however, many function identically, and all have very simple repercussions. Status ailments are as follows:

Burn, Frozen, and Poison: afflicted takes one Heart Point of damage after attacking
Paralyzed and Null: afflicted cannot attack for three turns
Bleed: afflicted takes two Heart Points of damage at the end of every turn (attacking or otherwise)
Blind: afflicted cannot land physical attacks for three turns
Sleep: afflicted takes a naps that lasts two turns
Downer: Magic Point cost is doubled
Curse: afflicted will die if not cured within five turns

Enemies can be afflicted with two specific ailments that do not affect member-manned characters. These ailments allow the classes who inflict them – God Hands and Agents/Hackers – to preform a wider arrangement of skills. These skills by themselves do not impede action or damage the one afflicted with them, but they are necessary for the aforementioned classes to shine their brightest.

God Depth: stacks, up to God Depth 4 (or: G4); God Hands can preform stronger skills on afflicted with more G
Hacked: afflicted are susceptible to skills that require a hacked target





SO WHAT'S UP WITH THE BATTLES THEMSELVES?

One post counts as one turn for your character. In most instances, you will be fighting in groups of up to five other dragon hunters to slay corrupted monsters or the highly feared dragons that brought them about, similarly fighting in groups of one to five. Enemy NPCs will be controlled by a moderator, who will determine how much damage the enemies receive and deal out, as well as who they attack on their turn. [ STAFF: refer to monster sheets for enemy stats. ]

In a single turn, you may preform between one and four actions. Before your turn has even fully began, you must preform your chosen auto skill if criteria has been met; otherwise, proceed with your turn as normal. For your first action, you must choose to preform a basic attack (one that consumes no Magic Points), use a skill, or guard, which will halve any damage taken that turn by half (rounded down). If you choose to attack or use a skill in this action, take necessary Burn, Freeze, or Poison damage if afflicted. For your second action, you have the option to use an item, although you are not obligated to by any means. If you are targeted by an enemy on the moderator's turn, you may also choose to dodge the coming attack. However, the dodge may only protect you from one attack, and you may not dodge again until three of your turns have passed. At the end of your turn, regenerate one Magic Point automatically. If Heart or Magic Point regens apply, regenerate the appropriate number of Points first. If you are afflicted with Bleed, take necessary damage afterward.

It's up to you to keep track of your Heart Points and Magic Points, as well as summarize your actions (and the affects of any skills you might have used in that turn) and any extra damage/recovery you might have experienced. The moderators will be checking for accuracy, though, so don't go trying to cheat the system!

If your character runs out of Heart Points at any time during combat, they are knocked unconscious and rendered useless until they are revived by a party member. However, this isn't your average “scurry off with your tail between your legs”; monsters and dragons feast on human flesh, and if your partners don't get to you first, they will! If an ally revives your character via item or restorative skill, or the battle concludes before two moderator turns pass, your character is safe to continue the battle or is carried off to the recovery room by their fellow party members. However, if the battle doesn't conclude that quickly and two moderator turns do pass before a fallen character is revived, they are presumed to have been consumed by the enemy and will no longer be playable. Take care to watch your health, and always be prepared to help a fellow dragon hunter in need. You'll never know when they'll need to return the favor.