Did I say Monday? I meant Wednesday.
Wait, it's past midnight...
Thursday?I blame hurricane season.
Due to a few things outside of my control (namely, the aforementioned rain and thunder and nasty storm junk that's been going on for nearly a week straight) I now aim to start the game on either Friday or Saturday. Which is basically two days. Wow. Great. Unbelievable.
In the meantime, I said I'd explain character sheets and core concepts, so here we go. Double wow. I can hardly contain myself.
So... because characters here have more... well,
complexity to them than, say, characters in Cutstuff Adventure 2... each character will have their very own
character sheet detailing their full status and abilities. On the first page of the game's thread, certain vitals such as current HP/CE and the currently equipped Loadout will be displayed, giving quick access to key information; however, things like passive abilities and level-up requirements are only contained within the character sheet, so it's a good idea to keep your own copy on-hand for convenience.
To simplify my explanation and cut down on clutter, I'll be covering concepts and terms in the order which they are handled within a character sheet. Also, for that reason, I won't be pasting the entire sheet in the thread; please refer to the sheet in a separate tab or window to follow along.
For this example, I'll be using Crazy Gunstar, though the concepts apply to any of the eight Mechanized Masters.
You can grab the example sheet right here.Spoilers? Triple wow. Praise the gods. I can't believe it's not butter.
[ PARAMETERS ]Self-explanatory... at least the first half. The character's core vitals are listed here. Character name,
element and
subtype, their
Level,
Max HP and
Max CE, how much FC they're holding, and how much FC is needed to level up.
Force Crystal (FC) doubles both as the currency of PoRK and as the means of gaining levels, much like experience points in other games. Characters should try to maintain a good balance of FC between spending money and level energy; while it might look appealing to level up as quickly as possible, this leaves the character unable to buy new items or equipment. Likewise, constantly adding new tools to your Loadout instead of working with the tools you already have will leave the character with weaker parameters than their allies.
Next come the six core
Parameters. Generally speaking, when I bring up Parameters or use PAR as an abbreviation somewhere, I'm referring to one of these six stats. These Parameters are
Might (MIT),
Guard (GRD),
Precision (PRC),
Reflex (REF),
Speed (SPD), and
Essence (ESS). MIT and PRC are the two main offensive Parameters, used primarily for damage calculations. Similarly, GRD and REF are the two main defensive Parameters, reducing damage taken from physical and technical damage. Don't be fooled by this relationship, however; not all attacks based on MIT will deal physical damage and be reduced by GRD, and the same is true for PRC and REF.
SPD determines turn order... somewhat. Everyone's
initiative (basically a tabletop RPG term meaning "turn order") is rolled at the start of each battle, and is equal to
SPD +d8 (an eight-sided die; in general, dX means "X-sided die", with d6 being a traditional cubic die). In addition to turn order, SPD also influences Max Chain; 10 points of SPD grants a character one extra slot in their Chain. Pretty darn useful.
Finally, ESS serves as a sort of "heal stat". ESS is similar to MIT and PRC in that it affects the strength of certain moves, though ESS isn't really offensive and is mainly used by support moves. ESS also increases CE Regen in a similar way to how SPD boosts Max Chain; every 5 points of ESS a character has will raise their CE Regen by 1 point. In general, ESS is a Parameter that every character should at least keep tabs on.
After the Parameters are four more stats.
Loadout Size is pretty much what it says on the tin: the higher the number, the more Cards that a character can stuff in their active Loadout. Note that a character's base Weapon, as well as their Defense Action, do not count towards this limit. In this example, Gunstar can equip two more Cards in his Loadout without exceeding his limit; he currently has a base Weapon, a Defense Action, and two other Cards (which are taking up two of his four Loadout Slots).
CE Regen is another self-explanatory term, describing how much
Combat Energy (CE) the character reclaims at the start of every turn.
Max Chain is the number of actions a character can play within a single turn. Gunstar's Max Chain of 2 means that he can use two moves per turn; he could play Swift Blaster followed by Gunstar Bomber, or he could play Gunstar Bomber twice in a row. I'll go into a bit more detail about chaining Cards in the Loadout section.
Last but not least,
AI Style handles who the character will target in scenarios where they cannot select an adequate target on their own. Most commonly, this is how the character behaves when forced to act from autobattle, though AI Style is also important when healing allies.
In PoRK, all characters must designate a target for their turn before using any commands; this includes selecting allies to heal with moves or consumables. Unless otherwise specified, when targeting an enemy, beneficial effects automatically target the user; when targeting an ally, damaging effects automatically target enemy units. This is where AI Style comes into play; if you choose to play an HP-restoring item and use an attack in the same turn, your target for that turn determines how those actions are processed. Selecting an enemy with low health will guarantee that you attack that enemy, and could finish them off; however, the HP-restoring item will be used on your character. Likewise, using the item on a weakened ally means that you attack an enemy determined by your AI Style, which may not necessarily be the enemy unit with the least health.
[ LEVEL DICE ]This is listed in the Parameters section of the character sheet, but I feel it deserves its own section.
When a character levels up, their HP, CE, and Parameters are randomly increased according to that character's
Level Die. Upon levelling up, four dice are rolled, three of which are Level Dice; the fourth only contains faces labeled with HP and CE. The face of each die determined what stats gain points for that level up. The first four faces are determined by the character itself, primarily to fit their class or playstyle; the other four faces are chosen by the player, and can be changed every five Levels (5, 10, 15, etc.) at the player's discretion.
For this example, let's say Gunstar set their Level Die faces to PRC, SPD, PRC, and Max CP. This would give the Level Die three PRC faces, two SPD faces, and one face each for CP, REF, and ESS. Every time the character leveled up, they would have a high chance of raising their PRC, but other stats like SPD and ESS have a chance to increase as well. Note the lack of MIT or GRD faces; under this setup, Gunstar's MIT and GRD would never increase as he leveled up. His player would have to adjust the Level Die at Level 5 (at the earliest) if they wanted to raise those two Parameters.
[ LOADOUT ]A character's
Loadout is essentially their being. Their attacks, their defense, their items, everything. Loadouts always contain one
Weapon Slot, one
Defense Slot, and any number of
Blank Slots determined by their Loadout Size. Each slot can be equipped with a single
Ability Card; these come in several different types, such as passive Addons or character-exclusive Techs. Unsurprisingly, the Weapon Slot only holds Weapon Cards, and the Defense Slot only holds Defense Cards.
Here are the different types of Cards:
W Weapon Card (- CE, frequency, damagetype Elem/Sbtyp, power, Hit/Crit/Proc Rate)
Cards that can be used as base attacks, allowing their use in the Weapon Slot.
Critical: describes effects on a critical hit.
Process: describes secondary effects, such as status ailments.
Special: additional rules this attack follows; always active (passive effects).
D Defense Card (passive Parameter boosts while loaded in the Defense Slot)
Cards that boost Parameters, like armor. They can be equipped in the Defense Slot.
While Active: describes the character's Defense Action (dodge, counter, block, etc.)
A Addon Card (- CE, trigger, effect type; may share weapon card's details)
Cards that cannot be played manually, instead activating under certain conditions.
Alternatively, Addon Cards may never trigger at all, instead granting passive bonuses.
T Tech Card (- CE, frequency, damagetype Elem/Sbtyp, power, Hit/Crit/Proc Rate)
Cards for specific techniques. Usable by few characters (usually only one).
- Blank Card (- CE, frequency, damagetype Elem/Sbtyp, power, Hit/Crit/Proc Rate)
Cards that aren't base attacks, but are still usable by multiple characters.
I Consumable Item (no. of uses, effects/damage/etc.)
Cards that don't cost CE, but disappear after being used. Often very useful.Frequency describes when a Card can be played within a single turn, as well as how often.
Dualcast and
Multicast tags indicate the number of uses. Cards with Dualcast can be played twice in the same turn; Multicast Cards can be played as often as you can afford. If Gunstar had 3 Max Chain, he could play Swift Blaster twice, followed by Gunstar Bomber; he could play Swift Blaster, then Gunstar Bomber, then a second Swift Blaster; or he could play three Gunstar Bombers in a row. However, he cannot play three Swift Blasters, since it is Dualcast. Cards that lack either tag may only be played once within any given turn. The only exception to these rules is if a character carries multiple copies of the same Card in their Loadout; in this case, the Card's frequency only takes effect for each copy of that Card. (If a character had two copies of a single-use Card, they could play that Card twice in one turn; two copies of a Dualcast card would allow up to four uses.)
Hit Rate is the accuracy of a Card's attack. Unlike most tabletop RPG systems, there is no real evasion or dodge mechanic; instead, the majority of accuracy is placed directly on the Cards themselves, something a bit like Pokémon. (Certain Cards may mention a stat called
Evade, though this is never a natural thing a character has, nor is it something a character can directly influence; Evade is only granted through certain buffs or items, and simply reduces the Hit Rate of attacks targeting that character.) This way, players can immediately weigh the safety and risk of each Card before choosing to use one.
Crit Rate is, plainly, the rate at which an attack can trigger a critical hit.
Proc Rate is the rate at which Cards trigger a
Process, secondary effects such as status debuffs or negative ailments.
When resolving a Card's attack, a single d20 is first rolled. The result of this accuracy roll is compared to both Hit Rate and Crit Rate. If this number is equal to or lower than Hit Rate, the attack connects; if the number is equal to or lower than Crit Rate, the attack is also a critical hit. For example, a player uses a Card with "Hit 18, Crit 4" thrice in the same turn. Their accuracy rolls are 15, 19, and 4. The first attack is a hit, because the roll was within Hit Rate but higher than Crit Rate; the second attack misses, because the roll was higher than Hit Rate; the third attack lands, and is a critical hit.
Because of the method used for accuracy rolls, Hit Rate equal to or above 20 will guarantee that the move always hits, unless reduced by a target's Evade bonus.If a Card has a Proc Rate, the status check is rolled independently of the accuracy roll; two dice would be rolled for each use of that Card. For example, if a Card had "Hit 19, Proc 7", the player would have to roll anything other than 20 to land the move, and would have to roll a 7 or lower on a second d20 in order to trigger the move's Process.
[ ABILITIES ]This section mainly details passive abilities that sort of hang in the background and do their thing whenever it's relevant. A character's
Perks (positive effects) are listed first, followed by their
Drawbacks (negative effects). Over the course of the game, a character may gain additional Perks through certain means; those Perks will be listed here as well, next to their old ones.
... That's it, really. Perks and Drawbacks are self-explanatory, for the most part.
[ LEVEL ADVANCEMENT ]The last section, and another short one. Wow.
Essentially, this just details what Parameters were raised at what Level, and by how much. It's mainly a failsafe to make sure every character has the same base stat total (totally not more Pokémon) and I didn't screw up somewhere. It's also to show the players what they got from each level up in case they forgot, due to Parameter increases being randomized by the Level Dice and all. ... That's it.
Cool, we've gone over the entire character sheet. Congratulations.
Holy fuck that took a long time to write up. I think I spent three or four hours getting it all down, going back and formatting things, making them look pretty and easier to read. Fixing the wording of certain things, improving clarity.
Someone's
still going to ask an obvious question. I can feel it.
Well whatever, it's done now. Hopefully I never have to look at this post again. Full game on the weekend. Probably. No refunds.
As always, thanks for playing.
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