Seven Years of Hope powers

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by Ai chan, Dec 9, 2018.

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Which of the powers you want to see as canon? Description in first post.

  1. Legacy of King Frost

    2 vote(s)
    33.3%
  2. Sha'adi's Tears

    1 vote(s)
    16.7%
  3. Wisdom of Marras

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Voice of Anra'e

    1 vote(s)
    16.7%
  5. Arel's Anvil

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  6. Black Dragon's Hoard

    2 vote(s)
    33.3%
  7. Whispers of the Dead

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. The Last Refuge

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Some of you may have read Seven Years of Hope, or if you don't, you can read the first 3 chapters in NUF or read it over here. It's a novelization of my visual novel meant to create hype for the game. Anyhow, for the next chapter, the player will be given a choice of which power (only 1) they want to inherit from their past life.

    Please take note that the power was received in her past life. She didn't receive more than one. When it's said she received it in the 6th year or 7th year or whatever, that's just for back story. In the new timeline, she hasn't done any of those yet, but she does get it because she had acquired that power in her past timeline.

    1) Legacy of King Frost - ice magic.
    Granted by watching her adopted brother's death. Her adopted brother is the descendant of King Frost and has Bloodline of King Frost. She received the lesser version of her adopted brother's power.
    2) Shaadi's Tears - healing magic.
    Granted for losing her entire army in battle or watching an entire town die from plague.
    3) Wisdom of Marras - appraisal magic (identification magic in Diablo game series).
    Granted through meeting Lysus, the Tome Master of Time and Lost Wisdom.
    4) Voice of Anra'e - enchant magic (adds temporary additional quality to an item such as fire magic).
    Granted through giving her tongue as sacrifice to Anra'e, the Goddess of Skyfury.
    5) Arel's Anvil - inscription magic (adds permanent additional quality to an item but requires time to inscribe even one).
    Granted through sacrificing her left arm to Arel, God of Forging and Inferno.
    6) Black Dragon's Hoard - not magic really, but knowledge about a hoard of gold she acquired from a party member that she'd meet on the 6th year.
    This is a shortcut to allow her to start preparing early instead of waiting for the 6th year to start extensive preparations. This one opens the way for the development of cannons and battle golems

    There's a 7th power that I feel to be breaking character, which is Whispers Of The Dead, which allows Selenia to speak with the dead and even command undead beings in some events. I thought of removing it as it doesn't go in line with her character, who hates Halleb, the Goddess of the Dead for creating the Doom March. She got this power on the 7th year after her entire party was massacred when they tried to assassinate Halleb. Halleb allowed her to speak with her dead party one last time.

    There is an 8th power that I feel to be too powerful, which is The Last Refuge. It is a form of limited immortality that allows the player to reject death once a year and can be stacked. So if the player doesn't use Last Refuge even once, she can live again 5 times during the final battle, since the Head Priestess of Starsilver will kill her once. Granted by Fana the Immortal, Defiler of the Circle of Life.

    Anyway, what do you guys think about these powers? Do you have anything to add such as additional powers or whatnots? For the novelization, which of these powers do you want to be written as canon?
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2018
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  2. DiabolicGod

    DiabolicGod Well-known lazy Member

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    I'd definitely scratch the third one - appraisal magic. I really dislike it in novels. There are also plenty of questions about it to be answered, like "who gives you the info? what relevance does it have to the plot? Will the MC appraise everything and thus be untouchable? Isn't this just an excuse for the author to tell us that the MC knows things and can plan for them, faking a smart MC?" etc. I know the questions may not be the best, but you get what I'm saying.
    The seventh is also a bad idea imo, but the eigth could be doable.

    I'm for either the 6th or the 1st. Both give you a lot of freedom and are not that extraordinary. I like extraordinary MCs with ordinary powers much more than normal MCs with extraordinary powers. It kinda makes the MC lose part of his character for me if he is only extraordinary because he has an extraordinary power, and I straight up dislike ordinary MCs with an extraordinary power, no matter how relateable they are.

    PS: I haven't read anything related to this other than this thread, so I don't know much about the story.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2018
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  3. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    The appraisal magic is defined as 'sorting through all the tomes on everything that has ever existed, currently exist and will exist in the Library of Time and Lost Wisdom. It's a multi-universe database managed by Tome Master Lysus, with Marras, The Goddess of Dawn and Wisdom having access to the section of the library that pertains to this universe. The protagonist (you) will have the same access that Marras has which means you can't know things that Marras don't know.

    But you do have a point. How would you nerf this power?

    Oh I forgot to mention. In this game/story, time matters. When you use the appraisal magic, you do not immediately get the answer. You have to open the books related to the item and find out what it really is like a puzzle. It's a minigame in its own right and may take time. If you spend too much time appraising some ordinary-looking item, you may be too late for the next, more important event, which happen the next day.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2018
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  4. Keleru

    Keleru Well-Known Member

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    If I had to name a suggestion for the appraisal magic, do not have every aspect of the magic described once appraised, but just a general idea of how it works through the user's understanding. If a user has limited knowledge about the magic at hand being worked, their understanding would be much more shallow than say someone on Marras's level, and therefore viable and not completely broken. A user might only fully understand the uses and implications of identified magic after tinkering with it for a while. Something like a required mastery of each magic identified, so to speak.
    I also no previous knowledge about the visual novel, and only a glimpse at the written novel.
     
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  5. DiabolicGod

    DiabolicGod Well-known lazy Member

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    The combination sounds good to me. Like this it wouldn't be overpowered anymore, nor could the MC just spam it at everything and uncover every plot. It should also only be a bit faster for the MC to learn something through appraisal than through normal learning, in case he appraises a magic he doesn't know. Like 20% faster or so.
     
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  6. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    I see. Then how about instead of getting all the tomes at start, she can only get access to the tomes if she encounters events where she acquire the tomes gradually. Thus making her unable to appraise any item that she doesn't have complete collection of tomes yet.
     
  7. Keleru

    Keleru Well-Known Member

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    sounds like a sort of leveling system... which is fine I guess. Not much different from a mastery system I proposed. Too early in the morning to be thinking so much. Going back to bed.