Today, we will be going over one of my favorite things to do when I’m creating a character for OXG, Ability Creation! I’ll be explaining what an ability is, as well as walking you through a couple of examples.
Before we can start creating abilities, we have to ask, What is an ability? Simply put, abilities are superpowers, so to speak. They are specific moves or things a character does that are unique to them. These abilities are intrinsically tied to the character, whether it be their backstory or their mutations. I have compared them to Pokémon moves before.
There are four different types of abilities, I will explain each one, as well as provide an example of what one would look like.
Passive- An ability type that does not have to be activated, is always active. (Ex: An ability that provides a permanent +5 speed buff)
Situational Passive- An ability that does NOT have to be activated, but only works under certain circumstances (Ex: An ability that gives a +5 agility when a character is swimming)
Active- An ability that a character must choose to use and activate. (Ex: An ability that has a character strike out and their attack is doubled)
Situational Active- An active ability that a character must choose to activate, but is only available under certain circumstances. (Ex: A character who can cry out to double their allies' attack, but only works if all allies are under half health.)
Now, an ability can buff any stat, most often these stats are only buffed by +5. Special Attacks are most often a d40 roll as well. However, please be as creative as you’d like! Staff are happy to work with you to keep unique abilities balanced.
An ability can also debuff an enemy, most often using Status effects. Some of the statuses that can affect enemies are:
Enrage - An adversary is triggered by one of the ally's moves, this causes the beast attacks to be buffed by 10 but their accuracy goes down along with their defense going down slightly, Enrage lasts 3 Rounds.
Unnerve - Everyone under the effect of Unnerve defense stat falls by 20. (last the whole battle unless interrupted)
Anxiety - Everyone under the effect of Anxiety, their attack stat falls by 10. (Those with an attack stat under 10 miss 1 round)
Calm - Everyone under this effect is lulled into a false sense of security, attack stats drop by 30 for the whole battle, this effect also negates Anxiety and Unnerve, if an ally uses this to negate one of the two attacks and defense buff by 10.
Stagger - The Enemy loses its balance, its attack stat falls from 1-30 (dice roll), and its defense fails for one round.
Pin - The Enemy is pinned down this triggers enrage and trap, roll 1d2 to see if you can stay pinning down the enemy, 1 means your bucked off, 2 is a pin, this last 2 rounds or for 30 dmg before the enemy automatically bucks the ally off and rages. The defense will be off until the ally is bucked off.
Confusion - Everyone under the effect of confusion has stamina and recovery drop by 3 every round that confusion is in effect. along with attacks doing 5 less damage.
Snag/Tangle - Those under the effect of snag or tangle become stuck to their enemy and are unable to pull away. Those stuck can either find a different way to deal damage (buffing their damage by 10) or will simply be trapped and trigger bleed while their own defense is shut off.
Bleed - Unless under the effect of Snag/Tangle, bleed -5 HP for 5 rounds. -10HP for each round that the snag/tangle is in effect.
Burn - Those under the effect of Burn lose 1 HP for the rest of the battle.
Drain - Those under the effect of drain lose 10 HP for 3 rounds while the user gains 10 HP for three rounds.
Dizzy - Those under the effect of Dizzy have to roll in reverse, high rolls are bad, low rolls are good! This also triggers confusion. (Does not affect the user only the enemy).
Cozen - Those under the effect of Cozen are tricked into thinking they're taking more damage than they actually are. Players will add Deceit to their roll.
All effects must be rolled with a 1d2 to see if the ability triggers it unless the ability itself explicitly states that it's a no miss. 1 is a failure, 2 is a success!
For everyone's sake, I’ve also decided to include an example of an ability here. It is a very simple ability, but it shows just how easy these can be to make!
Based on the fact that Monarch butterflies have a magnetic biological compass within them, which helps them locate southwest when migrating all across the world. This character also has an internal compass within them, and they can never get lost when exploring.
Want to see some more abilities? Go ahead and join our server here!
