Balancing Erie's RPCS configuration:
Part 1 of 3

1. Races

Current Race Ability Scores: ST/IN/WS/DX/CN

Human 10/10/10/10/10
Ghost 6/14/10/10/10
Super 9/9/10/12/10
Vampire 12/12/7/9/10
Were 14/8/8/8/12
Angel 9/9/14/9/9
Neko 8/8/9/16/9
Demon 14/10/7/7/12
Cyborg 12/12/8/8/10
Mutant 13/10/8/8/11

*Proposed Changes:
-Mutant 9/9/10/9/13
*reason: No class has CN as highest score, too many have ST. This change makes Mutants' primary attribute superior constitution, making them hard to kill/survivor types, rather than another brute strength race. (more Wolverine/Sabertooth than Superman/Colossus). This change will not adversely affect older char's, who will keep their original stats and class choice, but only impacts new selections.

-Supernaturals 8/12/12/8/8
*reason: This change makes Supers more convincing magic users by having decent IN and WS. They will have a head start in pursuing any magical class and the flexibility to be either IN or WS based ones. The previous modestly high DX score wasn't much of a benefit because DX is the weakest ability stat, and is really only effective at very high levels. It makes more sense to give magic beings higher stats that affect magic use and magic defense.

*Current Race Regen Rates for health/stam/special total/special regen (*Balance Assessment)

Vampire 5/12 Blood 5, F2 (*27)
Mutant 2/11 Mutations 5, T30 (*20)
Supernatural 1/11 Occult 6, F2 (*19)
Angel 1/11 Blessings 5, T30 (*18)
Were 1/10 Rage 5, R? (*17)
Demon 2/7 Cursed 6, T30 (*17)
Cyborg 1/10 Watts 5, T30 (*17)
Human 1/10 Courage 5, T30 (*17)
Ghost 3/5 Terror: 5, F2? (*17)
Neko 1/10 Frisk 5, T30 (*17)

(*) this number is a rough calculation I use to assess balance, it is 2 times Health regen, plus stamina regen, plus base Special number (2HLrg+SMrg+SP). To balance it you can change these scores, but also change things like special regen rate, ability scores, etc. Notice how overpowered Vamps are. If you factor in ability scores Nekos get the shaft, and Ghosts are pretty useless unless they are an Intelligence based class. It seems unclear why some races have higher total Special stat than others.)

*Proposed Changes in regen rates:
Vampire 0/13 Blood 6, F2 (*20)
Angel 1/13 Blessings 5, T30 (*20)
Neko 1/12 Frisk 5, T25 (*19)
Supernatural 1/11 Occult 6, F2 (*19)
Human 1/10 Courage 5, T20 (*17)
Ghost 2/9 Terror: 6, F2? (*19)
Were 3/8 Rage 6, R? (*20)
Cyborg 3/8 Watts 5, T30 (*19)
Demon 3/7 Cursed 6, T30 (*19)
Mutant 4/6 Mutations 5, T30 (*19)

*reasons: In the new configuration, the races are balanced, but dynamically, with a lot of variety between them. This adds a great deal of strategic variety to combat, enriching the experience and adding a more realistic feel. There is a steady transition from races with high stam/low health rates, to high health/low stam rates.

Each is thought through in terms of character type: Neko's are scrappy and reckless, weaker, but relying on dodging and the ability to heal more frequently with their very high stamina regeneration. Mutants have the best defenses of any races with high CN , and they will regenerate health faster, making it unecessary to gain stamina as rapidly. Vamps have otherworldly stamina regen and therefore self-healing capacity, but don't gain health because they would need to hunt to do so. In other words, there is some correlation between the character type and the ratio of regen rates.

There are also compensations built in. Races with weak ability score dependency (Neko's/DX for example), get compensated with faster Special stat regen rate. Humans lack the supernatural Health regen rates of some other races, but they regain Special stat at a faster rate than any other species. This means, with a decent stam rate, and the best special rate, they should be able to use powers more frequently than the other races. Races that depend on feeding or rage are given 6 Special because it is harder to aquire these pools, and in the case of rage, easier to loose them. The feed races also have higher stam regen on average, because they spend more stam just trying to acquire Special.

Curmudgeonly reflections:
The following are things I am not proposing changing, but am willing to. The reason is that they are features which bother me, but may simply be a question of different vision or opinion rather than functionality or balance. Nevertheless I feel they are worth at least contemplating.

1. Special names.
One can be cursed by a witch or by the fates, and perhaps cursed WITH a demon, but it is new to me that demons curse others, or are cursed. Like the Tox power Summon, the attribute seems reversed, demons are summoned, but little is mentioned about them summoning. Other than the symmetry with Blessed, I find little reason for this title. Other ideas that might be better include: Hellfire, Suffering, Ruination, Misery, Despair, Hatred, Depravity, Corruption, Damned, Torment, Evil, etc.

2. Mutant reason-for-being.
The idea of 'toxicity' being the source of Mutant powers seems to be a hangover from Tox (which I would prefer a much stronger break from personally). It seems like this is a nuissance for creating backstories, as players will likely have much wider variety and more interesting ideas. I would prefer eliminating the references to toxicity and refer to mutation, genetics, and other more neutral descriptions to free players up to have their own explaination of how they came to be.

3. Special stat options.
Its not clear to me why no race uses meditate. What exactly a Supernatural is doing to me when I am 'Bedazzled' and how they are gaining energy from it is fuzzy. Angels and Supers could be given other advantages to compensate for a challenging Special regen (higher stam regen, higher max special, etc.). Also, a higher level power allowing much faster regen of Special could be made, adding intrigue by making it perhaps worth taking a risk to attempt a meditate mid combat.

Oh god. I remember number crunching on this ages ago with OR and driving myself slowly and quietly insane. Fortunately we had Google Docs to spread the madness equally. :)

I think one of the things that sort of sticks out here is that Humans are not so much the Mean as the bottom. Stats wise they're dead middle. Nice even 10's across the board. But they are sort of pushed down on the Regen rate thing. Humans are resilient. My vote would be to give em a Bump on their Special Regen. But that's just me.

I too would like to see a change in special stat name for Demons, though granted for different reasons. I think that tacking on an attribute like hated, despair, etc, though sort of.. in it's own way pigeonholes the player. Sophista and I once had a long discussion about Demons, and the roots of the word. That Demon, once spelled Daemon, wasn't "Evil Fallen Angel", but a catchall term for those spirits that weren't quite gods, weren't quite human. Who guided and taught humanity (though often using rather harsh and overly dramatic means) in a way that still holds true today in many cultures of the world. Of those listed.. the LEAST damning (pun intended) term to me seems to be "Corruption."

Mutants & Toxicity: My lack of exposure to Toxian, I suppose sort of lost that on me. I can't recall of those players that are mutants whose backstories I know (About three or four), I don't think I recall Radioactive Man/Girl (Winterbourne jokes aside) in any of them. So.. Definitely I can see where that change just.. makes sense.

That special stat is always a tweaker poker, something we muck with. I wouldn't have a problem with trying out some new things and seeing how they work. Putting some folks in against each other and letting them stretch their metery combatty legs a bit to watch how they rub up against each other.

Might also suggest at some point some classes on a more advanced level for how to use Osiris. Like figuring out combinations of powers, what's good to use in the heat of combat, what's probably not. You know.. all this stuff I KNOW Hawk spends like hours playing with.

Mush Love,
Syn

Well, certainly the titles for specials in all races have "conflicts" some Angels in the race play as fallens. blessings really makes less sense if you are a fallen "angel" in the angel race as well. Problem is you have to call it something. You could always make it indistinct across races thus removing tag reading aka call it "Power" or "Special". Otherwise maybe something like "Reckoning" for demons and "Favor" for angels. Maybe "Deviation" for a mutant something to indicate how far off "norm" they are att he time. *shrugs*

If I may (been looking at coming to Erie for a while since talking to Colleen as an Osiris Dev, *waves): As a student of both angelology and demonology... technically anyone playing a fallen angel should be playing a demon/abyssal/devil.

they are two sides of the same coin.

Anyone playing more of a Grigori/Watcher would still have blessings though, even as they are more angel then demon, but would be cut off from their source of all good natured power.

Well what I really would like to see is the special Stat be made inditinguishible across the board. A large part of my roleplay is dependant on the idea that people cannot tell my true race (Imma human who lives like a demon) and it gets really annoying to have people sniff at me, or read my aura, or other wise try to say that I am human when there is no way that they can Know ICly. Meters are OCC Damn it.

I happen to really miss the days when you could only tell a person's race from thier roleplay and where no one was exactly what they seemed to be.

In my sim the only thing I still have turned on with the meter is the Health. Nothing else. Anything else leads to meta-gaming and god modding in my experience.

Without getting into the patriarchal subjugation diatribe, let me point out that the nature of demons and angels is simply a matter of human perspective. Lilith was called a demon by Judeo-Christian patriarchs because she had the unmitigated gall to refuse to be Adam's mate (a fate that befell Eve, who apparently started out dumber than good old Lil). And Lucifer didn't become something other than an angel just because he had some personal issues with God, he just relocated. (Notice that God either couldn't or wouldn't kill him, he just kicked him out of the nest. Sound familiar, parents?) The bottom line is that these are myths and subject to any spin an individual (or organized religion), chooses to place on them.
And as for RPing, I prefer that people react only to what they're presented with, like in RL, BUT there will be exceptions to that rule, like it or not. Example; you're a human living like a... neko. (Maybe you have prosthetic ears, tail, etc. lol) Okay, let's forget that a neko can probably smell the difference (maybe you also use "smell like a neko" cologne), along comes a soothsayer, medium, tarot reader, psychic and they suss out you're not what you appear to be. "But nobody's supposed to be able to tell!" cries the faux-neko. "That's not fair!" Neither is it fair to say that a psychic becomes stupid, inept, and blind when they get in your vicinity. If you want to avoid detection by such a person, either avoid that person or (in advance) make it clear there's some spell by which you're blocking these kinds of abilities. Of course, such blocking will raise other questions because when a psychic hits a brick wall they go, huh? but at least your secret remains intact.
Hope these observations help those new to roleplaying and creating charas. :-)
* Last updated by: Teddi Beres on 11/14/2009 @ 4:33 AM *

My point was that it is meta gaming and god modding pure and simple. It might not seam fair to the pychic/demon/neko in question, but I am the some who gets to say what I smell like, not the other player. Whenever someone sniffs at me.. I emote /me smells like brimestone. But otherwise, you can't tell ICLY, that I am other than what I appear to me. This is actually a very common rp in Erie, and it has to be otherwise, people will get shoot for wandering into the wrong zone. (refers to pitchfoks)

There is a correct way to play a psychic. First you IM the person and ASK to see if it is ok to see through thier disguise, then go from there. If I am not concenting for people to see through my appearance then they can't pure and simple.

By the same token, it is also god-moding to determine the extent of another person's psychic abilities, unless this is pre-stated in your profile/bio. If my chara was a skilled tarot reader, I don't have to ask someone being read if I have retained my skills. I'll check their profile and if they state "due to cosmic flux, their personal history is clouded and psychics can't see their future" then I know to be all confused by my lack of ability to read their fortune. If there's nothing noted in their bio/profile then I know I'm free to give them a reading. (I'd ask what kind of reading they wanted, of course, because I can't give them a death or tower if there's no disaster pending, but if they know they're going to be involved in a theft later and want that hinted at, yay.)
I've found that people who insist that they must be asked about every single detail seem to be the people who want to Mary Sue every outcome. Example: A approaches B. A reads B's profile and sees it's an elf w/a spike in it's head. A remarks, "dude, where'd you get the big ears and the spike in your head?" B screeches "I didn't say you could see my big ears or that I have a spike in my head! You need to ask me first!" A replies "I can see that your avatar is an elf w/a spike in its head and your profile says you're an elf w/a spike in your head." B raves "I know! But I have uber special mind zapping powers so I can hide my true self from anyone who looks at me!" A dryly retorts "Don't you think that's the kind of thing you might mention in your profile/bio?" B insists (waving around the spike) "NO! You should just assume I have an incomplete profile and that I plan to make up whatever I need to get me out of any situation I don't like at any time! That's why you always need to ask!" A sighs "Fine, whatever. When I see you what should I be seeing?" B huffily "A six foot, blonde supermodel who's sexually irresistable!" A pauses "Uh, huh. Okay... So... hi there, ma'am. Could you direct me to the nearest bar? I need a drink." B screams "NO! That's still not right! I told you I'm irresistable! You should be swooning over my hotness and making out w/me right now!" A seriously needing a drink remarks "But in my profile it says I'm a gay male witch who can't be seduced by females or sexual auras or spells." B fairly frothing at the mouth "But you didn't ASK me first, if you could resist me, so you can't!" A nods at this "My mistake. Hey, over there! Elvis!" And when B turns to look, A quickly vanishes down a sewer drain and runs like hell for the nearest pirate bar.
By the "always ask" mentality A's approach should have been this... A approaches B and, in private im asks, "I was thinking of RPing with you... Are you even visible to me?"

Lmao! Teddi, you're a total b-word! I heart you to pieces! I'm gonna track you down and tickle you to death! Try to ignore her, people, she's just a feisty trollop who needs me to spank her. I'm gonna find you, my lil' Tedmeister! lol