phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote2018-01-17 12:51 pm

POINTS PAGE

Want to learn a cool new power, get a neat cyberkinetic implant, or just pick up a new change of clothes?

This is the place! Here you can spend points for items, powers, and... pretty much anything else you can think of.

But wait, you say, how do I get points?

Points are assigned at the end of every activity check, based on character activity. You get one point for every comment, and ten points for an open network post or log. Activity check is roughly monthly - more specifically, it's one week after the intro log, to give new characters some spending cash immediately!

(Note that, as points as calculated with AC Saviour, comments on character inboxes and comments on posts that are locked to the community do not count for AC or points.)

Worried about keeping track of your points? There's a public spreadsheet over at the Taken List that you can check against at any time! Please note that if you drop and re-app, your points reset to zero.

What can I spend my points on?

There's three major categories of things you can spend points for: items and abilities.

Items are physical items that characters wouldn't normally have access to in the setting. Therefore, they have to be found in Fissures. The more complex, specific, or powerful an item, the more it costs. For example, a generic teddybear costs less than "the bear I grew up with as a child" or "a teddy bear the size of my head, purple, with pink eyes." A robotic teddy that shoots lazers from its eyes would cost more than any of the first three.

Abilities are any upgrades to what your character is capable of. As with items, abilities that are more powerful or complex cost more - and abilities that can be learned or gained from PCs in the setting cost significantly less, if you can provide a thread link of tutoring or something similar. Abilities typically fall into three categories - magical, technological (including magitek), and mundane - but with some overlap and redundancy. A character seeking the ability to fly might gain it through magical means, such as by manipulating air currents, or through technological means like getting little engines attached to their shoes.

Single-Time Effects are bits of odd magic left over from Fissure exposure that cause... well, any number of odd little effects to your characters. The effect does wear itself out after a certain period of time as the magic is naturally expended, but in the meantime, characters have to deal with these magical equivalents of burrs making their lives interesting for a bit.

Ultimately the mods have final say in point costs, and spending must be approved before you get the item/ability ICly. If you're looking to request something that isn't an item or ability, drop us a line and we'll see what we can work out!

What do points represent ICly?

They represent the time your character expends on something. For abilities, this might be the time you spend practicing a magic spell to use it safely, or it might represent hours spent fiddling with that stupid anti-gravity engine. It might even represent time spent in the surgical ward, if your character is inclined to get modified that way!

For items, points represent time spent looking. While Up has a number of exploratory drones searching Fissures that can potentially bring back requested items, there's also the chance to go exploring the Fissure yourself, or to take manual control of the drone. The more specific a request, the longer it takes to find something suitable.

Hey, that's not what I ordered!

And speaking of finding something suitable - sometimes, item requests don't turn up the exact thing you were looking for. It might be from the universe a bit to the left, where you had a white teddy bear instead of a brown one. It might be the shirt you want, but a couple sizes too big. Or it might be even further off what you're looking for.

The more specific or unusual a request is, the more likely it is that it's not... quite right, but it'll do. You're looting the rifts between worlds, after all, not ordering from Dimensional Amazon.

Do we have to make requests ICly?

Nope! Requesting OOCly for an IC surprise for your character is fine for many requests. (Not all; notably, Strange won't surprise you with any kind of surgery, among other things.) Finding an unexpected item on either a major or minor expedition isn't at all rare (it'll simply be added to your loot list at the conclusion of the mission or dungeon). Manifesting unexpected powers is a bit more unusual, but especially for characters who spend a lot of time exploring Fissures, it's not wholly unheard of. They're highly magical places, after all.

My character's powers were nerfed/otherwise modified at my previous game or by circumstances in their canon! Can I get their old powers back?

Sure thing! Depending on the exact means of the nerfing, it may not cost you anything at all; that said, we'd appreciate a response to this post anyway, just for the sake of keeping track of things on our end.

What's that going to cost me?

Items
  • 20 points - minor item or set of items, such as: a commonplace, nonmagical outfit; a couple packages of junk food; a new coffee mug; refill of bullets, arrows, or other ammo.
  • 30 points - difficult to get or expensive item, such as: a laptop or smart phone; a piece of actual gold or silver jewelry; raw materials for a magic item; generic good from your character's specific canon.
  • 50 points - magical, unique, or otherwise very valuable item, such as: photo album full of your baby pictures; crown of a specific kingdom; enchanted sword that lights itself on fire when swung.
  • 100 points - genuine artifact item, such as: the sword you do five sidequests to get at the very end of the game; the mcguffin magical ring that belonged to your father all along.

For items large enough to qualify as furniture (that is, things that you can't carry around with you), increase the cost by one category. A generic folding chair costs 30 points; a wardrobe that holds all of your clothes no matter how much you stuff in there costs 100 points. For things above the 100 point value, mods will work with players to determine a fair price.

Additional pulls from the loot gacha are 50 points per pull, and you can request a maximum of four at one time.

Pets
  • 100 points - non-magical animal, such as a cat or bird.
  • 150 points - magical or otherwise special animal, such as a Pokemon, a color-changing cat, or a bird with magical calming powers when it sings.
  • 200 points - VERY LARGE animal, such as a chocobo or horse, that can't be kept inside the station.
  • 250 points - Large magical animal, including flying creatures large enough to ride.
If an animal is intelligent enough to count as a minor NPC, add 100 points.

Abilities

Moreso than items, abilities tend to be handled on a case by case basis. Please give us details! As a rough guide -
  • 50 points - Extremely minor abilities, such as being able to summon a candle flame or lift less than ten pounds with telekinesis.
  • 100 points - minor abilities, such as being able to summon fireballs or moving chairs with telekinesis.
  • 200 points - major abilities, like being able to breathe fire at will or enough telekinesis to move a car.
  • 300 points - REALLY POWERFUL abilities, such as controlling all the fire within sight or being able to knock down walls or move semi-trucks with telekinesis.

Characters can choose to upgrade existing abilities at a reduced cost. For example, if a character can already summon candle flames, they can upgrade to throwing fireballs for only 50 points instead of the full 100 points.

Single-time Effects

Single-time effects are exactly what it says on the tin - magical effects (similar to the effects of Fissures) that briefly affect characters in various ways. The cost of an effect increases based on both severity and the length of time the effect lasts.

Length 3 days 1 week 10 days 2 weeks
Minor Effect 30 50 75 100
Moderate Effect 50 75 100 120
Major Effect 75 100 120 150

A minor effect would be something on the order of loss of a minor sense (colorblindness, balance), a moderate one something more on the order of full blindness or uncontrolled projection of strong emotions, and a major one something on the order of being able to walk up walls. These effects are temporary, but can be used to gain point discounts on permanent versions of abilities granted by them, if you so choose. They can be either helpful or inconvenient, but not actively harmful.

Additionally, single-time effects can be used to affect a pair of characters together, in which case both characters pay a cost one step down from the normal cost. For example, two characters affected by a switch of their normal abilities would both pay the moderate cost (as powerswap would be a major effect on its own).

Please also include the OOC dates of the effect in the description section or your request! You can have a maximum of one effect going at once, and they must be requested at least a week in advance.

Got a form for me to fill out?

Sure do.

dubiouslychthonic: (Smile)

[personal profile] dubiouslychthonic 2018-03-27 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
Character name and journal: Sawbones Jetshard [personal profile] dubiouslychthonic
Type of request: Item
Details: Additional captchalogue cards to expand her sylladex's carrying capacity. I'll leave it up to mod team to determine how many are one request's worth?
Cost: 30

Type of request: Item
Details: Pillows for the pillow pile! Cushions for the cushion god! Or, you know. Basically more of what I asked for last time.
Cost: 20