Would something like a Card Mage be allowed? Like a Mage who's power is derived from a special deck of cards who's spells are almost pretty much the luck of the draw in a sense, yet at the same time, having limited control over what kind of effect they can have?

that sounds more like use of magical tools than use of inherent magic.

In a sense, it would be the use of magical tools, but it kind of would require a little bit of personal magical ability to bring the magic trapped inside the card out...

Just basically my character would draw a card out of a seemingly blank deck, imbue it with magic to reveal what the spell is, and quickly try to use the spell chosen to his advantage... mostly it would be something like the card turning into a weapon... sometimes it would be something worthless, sometimes it would be something that could help a person out physically, and sometimes it could even basically become almost a game of russian roulette.

*blank stare*

Uh.

Jack?

Three ways it could go:

One, it's a normal deck that he, as a mage, enchanted. Class: mage.

Two, it's a magical card deck on its own, but responds to power in and draws power from its holder. Class: innately gifted or, if you prefer, mage.

Three, it's just a magical card deck. Class: none.

I think I'll go with the cards responding to and drawing from Kuari's power.

If it's on purpose, call him a mage. If they do it on their own, say something like innate gift.

One last thing... would this be a suitable description of his power and a suitable deck for him to have?


Other Info: Kuari has very limited use over magic. The only use he knows comes from a magical deck of cards that responds to his magical power. He rarely uses these card, but has used them against the occaisonal vampire attack. Sometimes the cards can cause completely uselss effects or harm him though. The biggest issue with this is that he can only use the power of one card every thirty minutes or so. When he uses the power of a card it teleports back into his deck and casts the spell that comes up.

Deck:
Good Effects

4 Summon Swords
8 Summon Throwing Dagger
2 Summon Smoke Bomb
2 Summon Silver Sword
4 Fireball
4 Iceball
10 Ten Second Invisibility

Useless Effects

4 Summon Wooden Sword
4 Confetti Bombs
4 Summon Tadpole

Bad Effects

4 Living Blades
4 Summon Boiling Water
1 Heart Attack
1 Broken Bone

56 cards

it's a rather anime concept... though i must say, i like the element of chance and i like Summon Tadpole.
what does he do with them afterwards?

that aside, if Jack okays the whole thing, there could be some interesting interactions with Fortuna.

Um... a little anime... I'm worried you'l be too anime about it...

What's done with the cards?

Well, they disappear and are shuffled into the deck...

As for the anime concept, yeah, I could be really animish about it... I was here before once though as Drathor if anyone remembers me.. I remember using some anime concepts when I was around there, but I made sure not to use too many anime RP things such as sweat drops, big eyes, that kind of thing.

I promise I won't do anything like anime falls and running around like crazy. I've been to multiple message board RPs... I know which ones to do that kind of thing in and which ones not to.

Another thing is, I plan on actually doing every card randomly... like I'll get a dice roll program and do 1d56 or something... so anything that could inflict anime humor, would happen completely at random. But since the situations where he would use his power in would be some very serious fights and such... times where my style of RP has zero humor.

Anime tends to get right into a style-- not just into stuff like big eyes and sweatdrops. I'd like to see you approach this concept with realism in mind.

I will... if the boiling water card comes up, he definately sure as hell not going to come out of it just fine... the burns are going to hurt like hell.. and going to last quite some time.

living blades... he'll need to run like hell... because what I mean by that card is two living, floating swords appearing in the air and chopping at everything in their reach...

broken bone and heart attacks... not going to be hard to be realistic about either.

That's not what I mean by realism.

OK, then what do you mean, because I'm not seeing it.

a magical deck of cards which a person can mysteriously and magically make use of is an anime concept. i can't even really think of a way to make that more realistic because it's so unbelievably overused.

Honestly... yes, I have seen the gambling mage concept used in anime and anime-style games quite a bit...

As for a card mage... not really... unless you count things like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Duel Masters... but those card concepts are much different from this kind... honestly, if you can name one anime that uses card magic in the kind of style my character is, I'd be surprised...

I'm a big anime fan... so I've seen quite a few animes... and I have yet to see this kind of concept... done in this style

Cardcaptor Sakura. 'Nuf said. (Which, incidentally, wasn't a half-bad show.)

But this isn't an anime site. If you're too anime, then you can't do it.

Ahh... forgot about CCS... but those were still along the lines of monster summoning and weren't randomized... anyways, enough of all of this. Just tell me some of the things you expect me to do and not do and I'll make sure to follow what you say

try reading all of the rules and all of the information and FAQs and all of the mod notes and pinned topics you can find on this rp.
which you ought to have already done. but do it anyway.

Read already, and read again after I saw that post... I plan on following the rules, but what I want to know is what is meant by me doing this with realism in mind? I just want a little detail on what is meant and expected of me on that matter. I won't have a problem with it, I know every RP site has to have its rules to keep to the style of story the RP was originally meant to be.

So quite simply, just tell me what the limitations and such you expect and it's as good as done.

Well. How did he get the cards? Who created them, and why? Why does he use them if the effects are so unpredictable and dangerous? Who's he battling anyway, and why?

Heh, good timing, I'd just finished up his history... very long history, but a story that probably should be told involving the whole reason he has the cards.


History: Kuari's history is mostly normal. He has mostly kept to himself, not really showing a whole lot of interest in being socialable unless a person showed interest in him. Due to this fact he became a bit lonely and decided to find ways to impress people. That's when he got into card tricks. He learned many different tricks with cards over his life and even felt a bond with cards. This bond led to him becoming a gambler. He has great luck and skill in many card games. As a dealer, he can sometimes feel out what the card he is about to draw is. Due to this fact, he especially earns a fairly good profit when he deals cards.

One day though, a strange card player constantly visited the table he worked at. She always red sweatshirt with her hood up and made sure her face was never visible. Strangely, Kuari's lucky streak went downhill with her arrival. He found it incredibly hard to win with her around. It was just strange how the appearance of a single person could change so much. His luck would always return when she left though. Kuari finally decided to take a day off and play all day as a customer at the casino. Like usual, that woman showed up, but this time, Kuari's luck was completely shattered by her appearance. He lost every penny to her that day, sighed, and was about to leave when that woman gave him a strange deck of cards and whispered, "We will meet again some day in Bayfield... you will discover your power there in a time of need." Kuari wasn't sure what to say as she left and looked through the cards, every once in a while noticing a symbol flash on them, even though everyone else saw them as blank.

He reluctantly traveled to Bayfield, hoping to find this woman, but was greeted by a werewolf. He tried as hard as he could to escape but kept on being trapped. Finally he remembered what that woman said and quickly pulled out one of the cards, and in a manner of seconds a silver blade appeared and he used it to pierce the werewolf's heart. Fearful of what just happened, he ran to the nearest motel and got a room. There he thought of what he should do now, incredibly shaken up. Over time he took a very close look at the cards and interpreted the symbols that would only appear for short moments as he looked at them, realizing just how dangerous these cards could be. His dicision was that he would stay to find out what the secret to his power is and to find the woman who gave him such a dangerous gift. Also maybe play a few games at the Fortuna Casino.

Hm.

Who's the woman?

Another character I plan on making temporarily after I get the feel for RPing again... don't want to give out too much information... a plot is rather uninteresting if people that get involved end up knowing everything that is going to happen.

Mmm, not necessarily. You can still have plenty of fun with plots when you plan them out far in advance.

See Alex for an example. ^^;;

*shrug* I'm not fond of the idea. It feels too.. inorganic. I'm not, however, passing any final judgment. Mostly because that's, uh, not what I do.

I agree with Caltha on this one. In my opinion it could be more interesting as instead of writing out the history, playing it. There's a casino and plenty of werewolves running around (though I'm not sure any would be willing to be killed). If you play out the history with another RPer, that gives a chance of chaos, which could lead to some very interesting plots and histories, instead of something so set in stone.

Don't take offense, but it does rather lack originality. There are a lot of movies/comics/characters that fit into the character you're making. Then again, cliché could be interesting, which is why I think you should play out the history instead of create it, because it gives you more chances for creativity with other players and could lead to a molding of your character not even you expected. It'd let your character write himself.

Maybe the way he gets his cards is kind of cliche, but his personality isn't really... unless I'm a very cliche person in real life... the personality I have written out for him is basically me, except for two key differences... one, he loves to gamble (I don't usually)... second, likes to show off... I tend to not usually.

As for playing out his history... I could try it if requested of me, however, I'm not sure how I'd get other characters involved in it... like how would I get him to get his cards? How would that be played out in any way with other characters... and the whole thing about he found out what the cards did... wouldn't be too fun where the way he found out what power they held ended up getting him dead before I could even do anything with him.

Slim chance, but I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to take that chance.

the problem in question is not his personality, it is his cards. his cards are cliche. i dislike cliches.
at the moment we know basically nothing about your character's personality. what you need to do is if you have to put his history at all, fill it out with actual information, reasons why he is what he is today, childhood, etcetera, and then if you really feel the need to you can explain how he got his cards.
frankly, i don't like his cards, but it's not our job to build a character for you- and if you really want to use them you may, but if you'd like to reconfigure the idea that's your job. the information is all on this site- for instance, to find out what sort of characters are played here, look at other people's character sheets.

to request help in a story plot, post on the Plot Propositions board and say, Hey, I need a mysterious female to give this guy a pack of cards. since you've already told us how it basically happens it's not difficult at all to do- we've actually got some very obliging players on this site, and many of them are quite willing to make a disposable or non-player character.
part of roleplaying is the interaction, you see. interaction means occasionally taking chances. on the other hand, it is just a roleplay, and it's not a particularly life-changing chance to take.

if you've still got questions, pm a mod and ask.

I'm kind of set on the card thing.. sure cards in general are cliche... but random spell casting like I have it? I can't think of anywhere cards were used like that anywhere...

That's like saying "Well, sure, she's a vampire slayer, but come on - she uses sunlight spells, not stakes. That's totally creative."

Not really... as a vampire slayer with sunlight spells is a very uninteresting one... the way I have it is at least interesting... the randomness of it... how it can easily go wrong, etc...

She could get a sunburn, not to mention the heat/fire damage potential and the amount of radiation sunlight has.

Just because there's a potential for danger doesn't make the concept interesting. You may be able to play it with interest, but as of now, like I'd said, to me? It sounds stale and inorganic.

The problem isn't so much the cards, as I'd have a problem with it, just the instantaneous use of such and ability. If you want to use cards, why not have the person play a game of solitaire, or maybe build a house of cards, as he binds the opponent in his spell in more of an enchantment or bewitchment, rather then anything else. Instantaneous application of magic tends to be frowned upon, at least in my experience.

Also, a fortune-teller character could use Taro cards...

Also, I think I can see the main psychological problem with what your proposing. The instantaneous use of magic, while not frowned upon when used in the proper way, just doesn't suit a deck of cards. A deck or cards is more a hierarchal system, and no game of any cards is won by a single winning hand, and theres always a hand that can beat another hand.

It's just my opinion that a deck of cards should be used with patience and the chance for error, but not in an instantaneous fashion.

I probably wandered in a circle. Don't mind me, though. If you like the idea, try it out, then see what people think.