Credit for these rules and guidelines belong to member Roundier Haia for his work on developing them alongside the staff in the past.

Magic Guidelines

In the world of Suikoden, magic and runes are a very large and important factor. They offer attack, defense and healing spells to spice up combat, as well as other story events.

Previously in this RP setting, there were no set MP guidelines. Members were free to use magic as they saw fit, more or less at will. While this offers the RPer a chance to fling magic about the way they might like to, it really doesn’t fit the world of Suikoden in a realistic sense. Yes, it’s a world based on video games. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t give it a realistic feel.

It is for this reason that we’ve laid out this set of guidelines to the use of magic. They are here for the consideration of balance and fairness to our fellow RPers.

Numerical Limits:

We’ve devised a system of MP usage where each character is placed into a tier based on their magical abilities in-game. For those characters that do not have the ability to participate in battle in the games, they’ve been placed into a tier the staff deem most appropriate. This list can be found here. The reason for placing a numerical limit on RPers is not to limit creativity, as some would believe. We want people to be able to be as creative as possible, but at the same time we also want them to stay within a semi-realistic boundary. This way people will have to try to limit themselves spell-wise, and hopefully be able to get some more creativity out of their fights without having to rely on spells or having to spam them limitlessly.

Logical Limits:

Not too much to say about this that hasn’t been said above. As has been said, we want things to be realistic, and fitting with the games. So we don’t want to see people like Viktor or Cathari pulling off a Level Four spell. On the same token, however, we don’t want to see anybody casting back-to-back Level Fours, even if they have enough MP to do so. While they may be able to do so in-game, we must realize that battle situations and storyline situations are far different (For example: FFVII’s Aeris controversy) More on these types of limitations will be covered in the next section.

Physical Stress and Fatigue:

If one thinks logically, there would be no such thing in real life as “Magic Points”. If magic really existed, it would be something done through a person’s willpower. When applied to a video game setting, one could just consider MP as a measurement of a person’s “Magical Willpower,” if you will. It makes sense then, that people that are not magically inclined would be both unable to cast high-end magic effectively (or even at all – Ie Viktor, Cathari). This also indicates that magic would have some sort of a physically draining effect on the caster. Again, less magically-inclined characters would be drained faster by using magic, while more magically-inclined ones would be able to last through more spells.

In the interest of creating some sort of benchmark for what would be considered appropriate and inappropriate, we’ll lay out some minor guidelines:

- First off, Heavy Fighters will NEVER be able to cast Level Four magic. Period.
- For other-tiered groups, consider your level four magic to be somewhere around 70% of your magical willpower. For Combat Casters, this would mean that a Level Four spell would severely drain your character. For Runic Warriors, it would take 2 Level Fours, and for Mages it would take 3 Level Fours.
- Other levels of magic will obviously have to be considered as well, though. Simply try to use common sense when you’re using your magic to figure out where your character stands on the “Stress meter”. Using higher-end spells is going to drain a character more than lower-end ones.
- ALL characters must wait one full In Character post between higher-level (Level Three and Four) spells. This means that you MAY NOT cast a Level Three spell followed in the next post by a Level Four (or any combination of the two). The in-between post should include some sort of description about the drain, stress, or other effect that the spellcasting is having on the character.

In the end, you really need to just use your best judgment when determining how and how often to cast spells and show their effects. Please use your common sense when posting, and if you are in doubt at all, ask a Moderator or an Admin before you make the post.

Good ideas to display fatigue and stress are: Dizziness, nausea, light-headedness, headache, other general symptoms of real-world sickness, bloody nose or coughing up blood (for extreme fatigue), light internal bleeding (for extreme fatigue), general soreness, general weakness, weakening of body’s immune system and ability to heal (after excessive healing spell usage)

Damage Caused:

Please make sure that whenever you use a spell against an NPC character, you follow the damage guidelines set up in the Runes and Magic list here. When fighting against a PC (a fellow RPer), please follow the rules of RPing etiquette when you cast (basically, you can say that you cast the spell, but you can’t say that it hit or how much damage it caused the person).

Area and background damage: When using an upper-level spell, it’s possible that such a spell would cause damage to the surroundings your character is in. Please discuss background damage with one of the staff members before going ahead and putting it in your post. In most cases, background damage won’t be a problem (since we can just say that important areas were fixed immediately after). We just don’t want anybody running around tossing Thor Shots into the towers of CNW saying that they’re destroying the entire castle, or anything so outlandish.

Most of the time, damage and effects of a spell will be contained to the thread in which the spell is cast. In some special cases, however, characters may want to make note in separate threads about seeing something from another thread to reference a major event. Once again, please discuss this with the staff beforehand. Also, if you want to cast a spell that can have such far-reaching effects, you MUST discuss it with the staff ahead of time.

Spell Effects and Manipulation:

Healing Spells:
- The only way to fully recooperate a character physically is to actually rest, preferably overnight. Usage of healing spells will bind wounds to a degree, but it will not completely eliminate them. High-level healing spells may be considered to have this capability, however.
- Clothing: Some people like to make it so that healing spells also have the ability to repair damaged clothing. This is perfectly fine, as it adds something to our world that is Suikoden-specific, and at the same time it keeps people from having to worry about things like repairing or replacing clothing periodically (:P)
- Resurrection Spells: You CAN NOT bring a person back from the dead just by using a rune. Resurrection spells simply contain the ability to bring a person back to a fighting state after either A.) Being knocked unconscious; or B.) Massive exhaustion.

Attack-Based Spells:
- Feel free to manipulate spells in ways appropriate to the power level of the spell. This is a chance for you to be creative with your spells instead of having to constantly use the bland old spells we’re all used to. You want to make a torch out of your Level One spell so you can see in the dark? Be our guest. Chain of lightning to whip somebody? Sure thing. Wanna pump a little extra power into that Breath of Ice spell by using a second casting at the same time? Have at it! Just please don’t go too far overboard with the idea. If you’re unsure of what may be appropriate, feel free to ask a staff member.



Story-Based Powers:

If it is okayed by a mod or admin, it is possible to grant your characters unusual or heightened powers for a limited time. These events will usually be in accordance with a character specific boss or some sort of 'awakening' of powers. These events should be thoroughly explained to the mod or admin so as to cut down on the potential impact of future storylines. REPEAT: If you want to do something like this, it MUST be thoroughly discussed with a staff member!

Ability-Based Runes:

There are four basic categories

Command, Single Use. (ie Clone) Offers a high strength, creative or multi hit move, but results in the character becoming unbalanced. Can be used once every 4 In Character posts.

Command, Unlimited. (i.e. Kite) Often an alternative attack, leading to some sort of negative payback. Can be used once every 2 In Character posts.

Effect, battle (i.e. Gale, Fury) Offers battle status effects. Each effect rune has different usage limitations, refer to the Runes and Magic list for more details.

Effect, Reward (i.e. Fortune) Of no current use to this RP, I would avoid them.

True Runes:

True Runes will require slightly more restrictions than other runes, seeing as they are very few, and have the ability to wield far greater power than any other type.

- Anyone wishing to RP a character that has a True Rune by canon information must be deemed up to the task of such a responsibility by the staff.
- True Runes will start out in a locked state, with none of the spells available to the character at the beginning. Each spell will be unlocked through an In Character event of significant importance to the character. These events MUST be coordinated with a staff member in advance.
- Since True Runes are capable of releasing more power than other runes, True Rune users must show a little more fatigue than other characters. Again, this will be determined on a case-by-case basis. For the most part, True Rune users are people who have earned the trust of the staff, so it will be up to them to make sure they adhere to this rule. The staff will take action, however, if a character is deemed to be not in adhering to this rule.

In the end, we simply request that everybody makes sure to use common sense with their spellcasting, and to show that the spells are having an effect on the character after being used.

Remember: Nobody likes a powerplayer or a God-Moder.