Post by Ichibey on Mar 11, 2022 13:47:51 GMT
ORIGINS
It's not as simple as choosing between beams of despair and beams of friendship!
It's not as simple as choosing between beams of despair and beams of friendship!
Origins explain how your magic works, and which faction you are more likely to start out with.
Would you prefer to build up your Guage as the battle goes on to eventually unleash a glorious pink deathray of friendship? Enjoy the visual satisfaction of your Device's mechanical parts sliding into place as you transform like a Gundam disguised as a magical girl/boy? Then you'll probably want to be a Techmage. Most of them will be arriving on Earth with the Hex Hammer Expeditionary Force. But that doesn't mean you can't be a local recruit with magical potential, or even an outsider from Administered Space.
Would you rather live dangerously, fighting to take your enemy down before your Grief reaches its apex and increasing your risk of becoming a Hex? Maybe you yearn to have your heart's desire granted, and you would be willing to sell your soul for it? In that case, you'd probably want to be an Earthling who has made a contract with the Companions in return for a Wish, thus becoming a Wishmaker. You might even start out as a fresh recruit of the Kamihama Magia Union.
Maybe you would rather be independent instead of working with these groups? Either way is good. You don't need to start out in a faction, not necessarily.
In order to emphasise the contrast between Techmages and Wishmakers, we have placed each of them into a unique Origin, or playstyle. While they have similar mechanical elements such as Character Classes, Spells, Items, Skills, and others, how these elements operate is not identical. Each side also has its share of unique mechanical elements, which you will learn more about as you study our guides.
The following sets of bullet points will summarise each Origin in a nutshell, allowing you to have a basic idea of how your Character would play out in a fight. Of course if you already had an idea for a Wishmaker or Techmage because you're partial to either show, then by all means, go make that Character!
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Consider the child labour laws of a civilisation that lets 9-year-olds serve as multiversal space police
For the Techmage, Magic isn't some inexplicable force requiring the invocation of unknown forces. It is simply the next great field of science, and is present in everyday life. Magic is accomplished through mathematical calculations, usually backed up by a personal supercomputer known as a Device. Once the calculations are complete, your spell is cast. Magic is thus a discipline that is learned and honed over the years.
Techmages harness the power of an ambient energy called Mana to achieve various useful effects. These effects are spells, and can be learned, modified, and improved through programming. This is how it differs from the Wishmaker:
- The Techmage playstyle is, relative to the Wishmaker, slower and more about building up your Gauge Meter over time, thus favouring more drawn-out battles.
- Techmages use Mana as their Energy Meter. As they cast spells, this meter is drained, just like your usual RPG MP mechanic.
- As you expend Mana, this adds up to your Gauge Meter.
- Once your Gauge meter reaches certain thresholds, you will be able to use certain Gauge Spells and Gauge Abilities, which are determined by your Class.
- Gauge Spells and Abilities used at higher thresholds will generally be more powerful than those used at lower.
- Each time you use a Gauge Spell and Ability, your Gauge resets to 0%, so it's a matter of choosing smaller short term gains, or holding out for a big finish.
- Mana spent as a Gauge Spell's cost is not added to the Gauge Meter upon reset.
- With a few exceptions, Techmage Items have specific individual functions. Many provide passive or At-Will boosts with unlimited uses.
- All spent Techmage Items can be used again in the next combat thread.
- Techmages start off with a common pool of various Basic Spells, which do not use up Spell slots, mostly have generous use limits, and do not need to be learned.
- Many of these Basic spells can be upgraded, either temporarily based on your equipped Items or Spells used, or more permanently based on your chosen Skills.
- Techmage Utility and Defensive spells have limited numbers of uses, but can be used on consecutive turns unless otherwise specified.
- Techmage Utility and Defensive spells are relatively diversified in their effects. Some spells have narrower applications than others.
- Some Techmage Spells, if they are similar enough, can overlap slots. That is, they occupy the same Spell Slot on your Character Sheet, but only one version can be used in each combat thread.
- Techmages have larger pools of Skills to choose from, due to their extensive documentation and the app-like nature of Magitek.
- Because of the above reasons, Techmages have access to a Generic Skill list, from which they can choose Skills for their build, regardless of their Class.
- To use their Faction Assets, Techmages earn and spend a second currency called Requisition Points (RP). Which Assets they can use depends on the total number of RP they have earned during their whole playthrough. RP can be earned by completing Hex Hammer missions.
- Probably obvious, but Techmages don't have to worry about falling into despair and becoming Hexes. They just have to worry about being killed.
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A friendly reminder that territorial disputes are common among Wishmakers
Your heart's desire is the root of your magic. Literally. A Wishmaker gains magical powers through a contract with the alien Companions, who they must serve as warriors against Hexes in return for a single Wish. What powers you have at your disposal depends on what wish you made. And as you consume magic or experience negative emotions, your Soul Gem will progressively darken. They don't tell you what happens after that, but common sense says it's clearly a bad thing.
Wishmakers use magic powered by their own feelings, and determined by their Wish, rather than a catalogue of spells they must study. This is how it differs from the Techmage:
- The Wishmaker playstyle is, compared to Techmages, much faster paced, as it is about finishing your battle preferably before your Grief meter fills up. And so they favour shorter battles.
- Wishmakers use Emotion Points for their Energy Meter. As they cast spells, this meter increases.
- As you gain EP, this adds up to your Grief Meter.
- Once your Grief Meter reaches 100%, you automatically activate a special ability called a Doppel.
- What your Doppel does depends on some factors we'll go through in Doppel Creation, but there are a number of standard effects you can choose from.
- Once your Doppel activates, your Grief resets to 0%. If it reaches 100% again in the same thread, you will gain 1 Permanent Grief. See more details in the Grief and Doppel thread.
- Most Wishmaker Items have limited numbers of uses, but often times have multiple effects to choose from.
- Wishmaker Items categorised as "Seeds" have extremely limited uses. Anything with "Seed" in the name is removed from the character's Inventory and Storage upon use. Rumoured Lore can be used once (1x) in three (3) separate combat threads before becoming unusable. It must be traded to another player and then fully spent before its previous player can use it again.
- Wishmakers start off with one free Basic Spell, Direct Single Attack, which doesn't take up a Spell slot, and allows them to use three (3) attacks with a single Action. They are also allowed to learn one other Basic Spell at the start.
- Most Wishmaker Spells can be used an unlimited amount of times, but some have cooldowns preventing them from being used on consecutive turns.
- Many Wishmaker Spells have multiple functions, or have effects that can be customised to fit your specific build.
- Wishmaker Spells have the option to be Enhanced in the middle of combat, which gives them improved performance at a cost of additional EP/Grief, and likely a penalty to balance out the boost.
- Most Wishmaker Spells come in three (3) tiers, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. While they perform the same function, their performance on higher tiers is improved at the cost of additional EP/Grief. All tiers can be Enhanced in battle.
- Different tiers of the same Wishmaker Spell occupy the same Spell slot on a Character's Sheet. They may however count as separate spells during a combat thread, in which case they will occupy separate spell slots on their Combat Tracker.
- In that sense, Wishmakers have less niche variety and have more generic spells compared to Techmages, but can technically have bigger Spell Libraries than them, because of tiering and spell flexibility.
- Wishmakers may learn special spells called "CONNECT"s, which use an ally's Stats and Class to affect their effects and performance.
- While Wishmakers have a smaller pool of Skills to choose from, they each have a unique Perk based on their chosen Aesthetic, that is, the thematic style they choose for their costume, based on their Wish.
- To use their Faction Assets, Wishmakers earn Bond Points (BP) from Kamihama Magia Union missions. However, they spend their primary currency, Griefbucks, to use them. Which Assets they can use depends on how much BP they have with their Companion. BP can be lost depending on certain choices, and must be earned again to restore access to higher-end Assets.
- Wishmakers have to worry about falling to despair and becoming Hexes. Well most don't know about becoming a Hex, but we speak for the players here.
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