McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
The Stoicist - Building a Magic / Ability System
kingaling:
Wow. what great questions! Really has me thinking. Some of these answers I created off the top of my head, thanks guys. Keep 'em coming!
Is it the pain or the actual damage that is converted to magical energy? It's the pain.
Does it have to be received in combat? Not solely, everyday nicks and scrapes can be channeled into energy, but the real juice lies in combat and extensive training. In training, by the way, they don't pull punches, but there are levels.
What about self inflicted wounds? Self infliction doesn't work, as the person knows beforehand to maintain stoicism. It's the non-reaction to unknowable pain that gives them the power.
What about those inflicted by friends ( a little S & M)? I had never considered that before.. I'd say that wouldn't work, because there's actually a factor of enjoyment to it and kind of dissolves the Stoic power.
When the injuries are converted to magical energies are they healed or is the person still physically injured? They're healed.
What prevents the enemy from simply not targeting these superpeople? The enemies, who are more or less Stoicists themselves, always target with intent to kill as quickly as possible. This has forced the Stoicists to become experts at evasion, but always keep a part of themselves in harms way as to build up energy.
If they know that the more you hurt this person, the stronger they get, why not just order everyone to not hurt them? As stated previously, their intent is to kill quickly, any pain or injuries caused are strictly accidental. The stoicists enemies play it through cats paws, they try to maintain quietness and only fight The Stoicists if necessary or if an order to kill them has been botched.
What happens if you have a one on one fight between two superpeople, does it just go on forever as they steadily get stronger? It isn't their strength that evolves, it's their power. Completely different. For example, someone may be able to lift 200 lbs. But if you've been lifting 130 lbs all day long, it's going to be difficult to lift more. The stoicists battling each other can become a stalemate if both are cavalier with their evasion and pain issuing tactics, both can continue gaining energy but it doesn't mean they're on even ground, there's still experience vs. strength and it's something I still need to develop.
How long can they store the energy, and how much can they store? The energy can be stored for however long they want to, some have even trained themselves in picking and choosing which scars will be used and such.
Could someone essentially do nothing but beat the crap out of themselves for years and eventually take on entire armies alone? As stated earlier, self inflicted pain doesn't work. Just hurts you. I'm actually thinking about it taking away some of the power. A price to pay for the pursuit of power, I guess.
Nickeris86:
you might consider changing the abilities they gain based on the type of injury inflicts the pain. if burned you can use fire power, if stabbed you can grow blades out of your flesh or something, if shot fire projectiles of your own. emotional pain could be more metaphysical such as creating illusions or summoning monsters, or even shape shifting.
Puckvalan:
Hi,
This idea certainly sounds cool, but is there a reason why they are called Stoicists and not just Stoics? It sounds cooler i.m.o. and you could still use the Capital S to distinguish between Stoics and regular stoics :P.
kingaling:
--- Quote from: Puckvalan on April 12, 2011, 10:23:20 AM ---Hi,
This idea certainly sounds cool, but is there a reason why they are called Stoicists and not just Stoics? It sounds cooler i.m.o. and you could still use the Capital S to distinguish between Stoics and regular stoics :P.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for thinking of it as cool, though you don't like the term.
The main reason they are called Stoicists is to differentiate my story from the Hellenistic order of Greek philosophers known as the Stoics. Plus I learned the word "stoicism" before I learned "stoic" so (to me) someone who exhibits a massive amount of stoicism is a Stoicist.
That's starting to get convoluted, but you get the idea.
--- Quote from: Nickeris86 on April 11, 2011, 10:14:12 PM ---you might consider changing the abilities they gain based on the type of injury inflicts the pain. if burned you can use fire power, if stabbed you can grow blades out of your flesh or something, if shot fire projectiles of your own. emotional pain could be more metaphysical such as creating illusions or summoning monsters, or even shape shifting.
--- End quote ---
I was actually thinking along those lines, definitely got the right idea.
Vryce:
I really like the idea,
To me, it seems like an awesome twist on a blood mage. It kind of like the difference between white court and Red Court vamps. Stoicist us the pain or emotion brought forward from the pain VS the Blood mage using the soul energy reserved in the body.
Other things that came to my mind when thinking about your project
1 – once they heal does it just heal the damage or does it also fight age?
2 – Do they talk about fight club?
3 – Do the longer lived of the group build up tolerance for pain, and need to absorb more damage to be able the get the same amount of power?
4 – what kind of magic or powers do they develop. If was creating my own character I would think primarily body type magic. Strength, bursts of speed or endurance, etc…
5 – Does any kind of pain give them energy? Would you consider a blinding light a physical pain that they could absorb?
6 – what happens when they go dry, use all there energy up?
Again great idea
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version