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[Xantalos]

Good luck, Ross.

[Xanmyral]

Best of luck Ross, I know you can do it.

If you ever Soulbreak, Rolep, you should do it by playing the greatest song ever to exist.

Heartily concur.

On that note, I've been kicking around an idea for a backup character: a mage hunter kind of guy. His major ability (most likely critical and then some) is 'Apotheosis Denied', denying casters the ability to soulbreak. 'Course, this now conflicts with my idea for also wanting my backup character to be a giant, and my other one for a firefly kin. Bah.

[Remuthra]

If I ever need a backup character, I've been tossing around an idea for a Wraith adventurer. Ability to fly and immunity to corporeal obstacles, but inability to interact with the physical world. Kills foes with spells and by leeching their mana.

[Xanmyral]

You'd have to be careful with mages though, if you leech their mana too much then you just soulbreak them and they will most likely kill everyone around them. Works on warriors or those who don't do magic though.

[Remuthra]

True. Although I might be able to try to "steal" their soulbreak.

"Suck out your soul, then use it to immolate your friend."

[Xanmyral]

Ooh, an interesting idea. I think our backup characters would be good friends, heh.

[Remuthra]

Actually, I feel like making that character now, just for fun. Here goes:

Spoiler: Kael-Thana-Zuul (click to show/hide)

Name: Zuul, for short.
Race: Undead (Wraith)
Height: Varies
Weight: None
Appearance: An indistinct, vaguely humanoid shadow. It flickers and vanishes when you look at it head on.
Strength 0, Stamina 10, Agility 15, Speed 8, Endurance 8, Willpower 28, Intelligence 20, Perception 15
HP: 11
Level: Adventurer 1, Soul Thief 2 (Arcane Mage Class)
Virtues: At least 5, no more than 7.
(Critical - 3pts)
Soul Drain- By touching a creature, the character can drain its mana, adding it to a special mana reserve. If the creature would soulbreak while subjected to this drain, its soul is instead drained and added to the character's possession. The character may then use the soulbreak at its will, consuming the soul. The creature still dies from having its soul removed, though. A creature having its soul drained must beat a grapple check against the character's willpower to move away from its embrace.
(Critical- 3 pt)
Mystic Dynamo- If the character is hit by a spell affect, it can make a Willpower save. If it makes the save, it drains the effect rather than being hit by it, and drains the cost of the spell from the caster.
(Minor - 1 pt)
Spiritual Link- 15% Increased Spell Potency
Flaws: At least 5, no more than 7.
(Critical - 3pts)
Incorporeal- The character treats physical objects as if they did not exist. It cannot be harmed by normal forces, unless specially constructed to resist this trait, and cannot interact with his environment. It can float through the air, and objects it touches pass through it without ever contacting it. Magical effects still harm it, but only the damage caused by the magical portion of the attack hit. The character also has a strength score of 0, for obvious reasons.
(Major - 2 pts)
Severed Life- The character has neither a soul nor a mana pool of its own. It cannot regain mana, cannot be affected by the effects of mana drain, and cannot soulbreak.
(Major - 2 pts)
Silver Bane- Objects constructed of silver are toxic to the character. It is affected by them just as if it were solid, and loses mana from its contact. Once its mana is gone, it loses health. Once it loses both, it's banished.
Hobbies:
Major- Collecting the life force of living creatures
Minor- Persuading others not to attack on sight
Feats:
Arcanist- Increased Spell Potency
Shadow Walk- The character is always considered concealed, unless a creature beats a check to see it.

Wow, that's rather amazingly powerful, with the right caveats covered.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

IIRC we got into a debate over the OP-ness of said critter specifically when dealing with warrior-types. Hardened vs free-flowing mana ya?

Spoiler: Also, SO MUCH MIN-MAXING. (click to show/hide)

Perks
-That first critical should be worth many, MANY times more than one crit- it effectively gives unlimited non-suicide soul breaks and is an effective kill-move against all forms of soul-bearing entities, (aka EVERYTHING)
-Second critical is the very definition of min-max
-Strong minor perk; would expect closer to 5%
Flaws
-First critical 'flaw' grants immunity to all normal physical damage, no-clipping, flight, and splits 'magic damage' and 'magical-physical damage'
-Second major 'flaw' gives immunity to mana-drain & soul death/control
-Third major flaw is actually a flaw. :| Unless it's supposed to be 'loses mana instead of health from its contact.'

A feat includes psuedo-invisibility.


All this character would have to worry about: being blind-sided by a silvered weapon while also low on mana/free soul-breaks, having already been detected and also within reach.
Enemy creatures that don't have souls and are immune to any magic/soul-break effects that can be imagined.
This character would be able to solo everything.

So. Much. NO. 

[Xanmyral]

I agree that mana should be harder to mess with with those who don't use it, but that draws a bit back into my honest dislike for the power qualms between magic and melee. Thus I still quest for a melee-oriented soulbreak sort of thing.

I do kinda agree with Grizzly about the Critical Flaw, take Jewel for instance. He takes half damage from slashing, piercing, and ballistics, and that is a critical and a major rolled into one. The flaw really sounds more like a virtue. Its too bonus, not enough minus. I think the silver flaw is great though.

My idea for a character is similar in some ways, but I would go about it differently personally. It's probably not the greatest, but hey, isn't too bad. Probably.

Spoiler: Insert Name Here (click to show/hide)

Virtues:
Apotheosis Denied (Critical): Enemies indicated or within a certain distance to [Insert Name Here] cannot soulbreak, nor even attempt. Any attempts at magic when mana is zero or below would fail in his presence, and mana gain (from any source) is halved while affected by this. [Insert Name Here] is considered as permanently effected by this ability.
Mana Thief (Major): [Insert Name Here] is able to pilfer mana from a target at a short range, stealing mana from their opponent depending on how much control they have over their mana. Thus opponents that would specialize in mana manipulation, magic, or usage of mana would suffer much more to this ability than would someone who hasn't been trained to tap into their mana channeling abilities. Mana stolen this way is affected by Apotheosis Denied.
Spell Canceler (Major): Having trained under witch hunters, warlock burners, and mage killers, [Insert Name Here] has learned their ways of disrupting magical manipulation in his foes. He knows specific places to target on his foe, along with proper methods of binding to prevent casters from working their voodoo.

Flaws:
Stunted Soul (Critical): [Insert Name Here] cannot generate mana on his own, and instead will actually lose mana over time at the same rate someone would gain theirs. This loss of mana stops at zero and will not go lower. Enchanted items that hold a charge also start to slowly lose charges as [Insert Name Here] holds them, making charge based enchantments short lasted.
Magical Addiction (Major): [Insert Name Here] constantly craves magic despite his propensity towards magic users. When not having magic in his system, I.E., his mana isn't above zero, he will be sluggish and tired, sleep won't be fulfilling and natural healing is stunted to half rate.
Increased Appetite (Minor): [Insert Name Here] tends to eat more than it seems like he should, running through rations faster and quaffing entire potions instead of just portions.
Insomniac (Minor): [Insert Name Here] has less fulfilling sleep than most, and its harder for him to fall asleep in the first place. While its given him extra time to himself to do things, its frazzled his nerves and reactions.

[Ross Vernal]

First one is a bit much.

Second set is cool, but nothing can stop a soulbreak aside from VERY specific situations. You'll note the Gods failed to stop it before.

Hmm... maybe a LP pool instead of an HP/MP pool.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

Myral, I'd say the flaws are a bit heavy. The major can count as a critical and the critical could go for a super- you'd be morose, weakened and very vulnerable to soul-damage at any time you haven't just absorbed a mage.



LP pool?

[Xanmyral]

What are those situations?

Hm... It just seems like one would be hard pressed to be a mage hunter unless they have a way to deal with soulbreaking. I mean, in a magic heavy and magic permeated society, there's no way there isn't an organization somewhere that deals specifically with magic users. How would one exist without a way to deal with soulbreaking though... Hm...

Best I got of an idea makes them functionally no different than an assassins guild, overuse of poisons, ambushes, etc. Although I wonder if one lacks the means to cast normally, if they could cast while soulbroken. Silence or paralysis might work I guess.

@Grizzly: Technically, if Apotheosis Denied worked, he's effectively immune to mana damage because he can't soulbreak. 'Course, that comes with its own set of drawbacks due to the whole 'can't cast while at zero or below,' and 'mana gains is halved.' The idea was a sort of 'mana vampire' mage hunter kind of dude. I'm surprised one didn't already exist, so I figured I'd make one up to cover that. In a way.

He could go negative -infinity mana and still be fine if Apotheosis Denied worked. Never figured him to use magic anyhow, but I thought of how he craves magic might be a fun touch. I don't believe all enchanted items worked on charges (I may probably be wrong there) so I figured adding that in the first wouldn't be too bad.

@Life Pool: Considering mana is fluffed as soul, and soul is kinda short hand for life, having one go hand in hand wouldn't be too bad. Although it draws into question health issues, as you could wind up with mages as beefy as warriors even though they got a CON of ten or less.

[Ross Vernal]

I meant for those ghost types.

[Xanmyral]

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Apparitions don't exactly have a body after all. Makes using spells a bit scary, since you'd be literally using yourself then.

[Ross Vernal]

Instant kills, poison, sleep murders, etc.

Stopping it? I'll just say that certain rituals are involved. If you can convince am enemy to go stand in the middle of your circle of power, though, you might add well just dominate them.