Zak Otto

[Zak Otto]

Character name: Zak Otto

Character source: Original {From a graphic novel i'm working on.}

Character history: Zak grew up in a small farming village with his sister, Melody, and their parents. Life was great in the idyllic Emlin village, they were close with all their neighbours, their mother was bringing in enough money to support all of them selling her cakes at the bakery, and their father would return from his adventures with books, maps and interesting artifacts that Zak found fascinating, although he did wish his father was home more often. Their father taught them to read, write and about the world and they spent their free time playing in the woods or by the river. One day in winter when their dad had just gotten back from a long, hard trekk, he had been gone for weeks and after the happy renunion, gifts and hugs had been exchanged and the initial excitement of their fathers return had worn off, Amanda and Chris asked for some alone time together, and set up arrangements for Zak and Melody to stay with a friend for the night.

Little did they know, this would be the last time they saw either of their parents. The two of them had settled down for the night and left the fireplace lit to keep the small, two room house warm overnight, but it sparked and their was a tragic fire resulting in the death of both Amanda and Christopher Otto.

Adjusting to having nobody but eachother was hard, and the two kids, at the moment aged only 10 and 8, were stuck as to what to do. They hitchiked to the nearest city where they had no luck finding anybody to help them, but did manage to beg for a little food. They lived like this, on the streets, for a good few weeks, with a proper campsite set up hidden well away in the overgrown forgotten field of the extensive park. One day a grumpy (but also kind) man who ran a local bakery saw them begging on the street and offered them a place to stay and a meal every evening in return for help running his shop. When it was discovered that they had inherited their mothers artistic talent for decorating and baking, business was going great and the man had enough profit to pay them wages and expand his business.
He eventually passed management of the business onto his son who had recently moved to the area, the young entrepreneur let them go in favour of people who were willing to work for less and had their own places to stay. After a bitter and heated argument between Jake and his son over Zak and Melodys employment, they left of their own accord to avoid being the cause of a broken father-son relationship.

Using the money they had saved up, now aged 12 and 10, they went back to Emlin and decided to try and rebuild the life they left behind. The burnt out ruins of their old house were left untouched on the outskirts of the village and they salvaged what little they could- one or two books were simply charred and a few small pieces of jewellery. Melody found a job at the place her mother used to work and Zak found work looking after horses, and they made an agreement with their old family friend, Maria Finch and her 5 year old son, Tom, that they would pay half the rent and live with her. Over time, they began to see Mrs. Finch as a motherly figure, and the painful memories of their parents death were replaced by fonder memories of their childhood and their newfound family.

When Zak was 16, (Mel was 14.) a strange monster attacked the village, wreaking havoc. This was the first time Zak saw a dragon, who single-handedly defeated the monster before dissapearing. Just a few days later a strange woman appeared on their doorstep, saying that Zak was a dragon and she needed his help. At first he would hear nothing of it, thinking the woman was crazy. Despite this, he offered her to stay for dinner and her story became more and more convincing. Before she left, she gave Zak a shimmering dragon scale, one that matched the dragon who had saved them. "Next time you or your family are in danger, youll believe me." She said, with a gentle smile before leaving. Sure enough, just weeks later another, similar serpent-like monster attacked the village, and, through gritted teeth it was asking for the dragon to come out and fight him. Of course, still not believing the ladys story, Zak and Melody did their best to fight off the creature with their knife and bow, but it wasnt enough.

The first time Zak used his dragon form was when the creature knocked down a wall and it almost fell on Melody. With a strange rush of adrenaline, they found that large, leathery wings had shielded them both from the debris. The creature was easily subdued and ran off with severe wounds after Zak had taken a few seconds to realise he was 10 ft tall and scaly.
After the fight was over, Zak unintentionally reverted back to his human form, and because of sheer exhaustion collapsed, waking up the next day at home, wondering if it had been a dream.
Melodys reaction proved it had really happened. "We need to find that weird old lady again. I think she was telling the truth." She said, looking closely at the scale that had been in Zaks pocket.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and there stood the woman again.
"I WAS around, in case you didnt figure it out, I would have helped." She said with a smirk.
"Names Tia, ill teach you how to controll that power if you want. I need your help with something to do with going back in time and the rift and whatnot." She added casually.
"Youre that dragon... The one that saved us the first time, arent you...?" Melody asked, getting a little defensive. "My brothers not doing anything dangerous." Just as she was about to shut the door, Zak stopped her. "Why dont we listen to her this time?" He said. Melody reluctantly agreed, on the terms that she could be his rider, and she could be there to protect him as best she could.

After several weeks of Tia telling him how to use his power, but never actually letting him try it out, he felt unprepared for what was about to happen. Since Tia and the other 'guardian' dragons had fought, and lost, a battle to the largest dragon called Arakvik in the north, he had been slowly taking over towns and cities, getting further and further south, near Emlin. He was terrorising the people, forcing them to pay him inordinate taxes and to fight to the death simply for his amusement. Civilasation was slowly falling apart as Arakvik gained more and more power, and with the size of his army now it would be nearly impossible with only two dragons.
After the guardian dragons had lost the battle of the north several years earlier, 4 of them were dead and only 2 left alive- Tia and Sebastien. Sebastien had joined Arakviks army, mostly in fear, and Tia had fled and layed low as a villager for several years until she found another dragon- Zak.

Using the rift blade {Tias dragon summoned weapon} she showed him and Melody back in time, to before the battle happened, and they told the guardian dragons what would happen, and that they needed a new strategy. Sure enough, with an extra dragon and his rider they were able to defeat Arakvik, by luring him into the rift and them closing that entrance, esentially trapping him as a harmless ghost-like being, since the rift can only be opened from the outside. They decided they would stay in the past with the guardian dragons now that the future and their family was safe, but Tia gave them the rift blade, so they could travel freely between the past and present to visit Mrs. Finch and Tom.
Just when they thought things had settled down and they could continue their adventures in a peaceful world, Zak was summoned by Omni.
Confused, and alone in a strange world, Zak found that his dragon powers did not seem to work in the way they used to, so he decides to hold off using his dragon form until he is stronger and knows more about the world hes now in and settles for fighting in his human form with his obsidian bow (his own dragon summoned weapon) and the rift blade, of which the time travel powers no longer work, but still allow him to enter the rift, almost like a dimension within a dimension, or like being a ghost. Near the fountain where he first found himself in this strange omniverse, he opened a small rift and hid the dragon scale, for safekeeping until he feels he can use his dragon form again.


Physical Description: Just from looking at Zak, you can tell he spends most of his days outdoors. Standing at 5'9, he is slim, yet muscular and he sports a deep tan, often with a little sunburn on his nose and long, pointed elvish ears. He has jet black hair in a messy, roughly cut style and startling green eyes, just like his sister, Melody. He will usually be seen hiding behind the faded black hooded cape he always wears, along with dark teeshirt and cargo trousers, with both a shoulder and waist belt for his weapons and other belongings. His cape also has large pockets sewn inside for extra storage. In his left ear he keeps one of his mothers gold earrings, his sister Melody has the other.

In his dragon form, he stands at around 10ft, with leathery wings and a ridged back, and looks like a fairly classic dragon. He is a dark black that shimmers a purplish blue in the sun, with the same bright green eyes. What remains of his clothes acts as a makeshift saddle for Melody and anyone else riding himto protect them from the sharp spikes on his back. This does, of course, mean that his clothes are mostly torn and tattered when he reverts to his human form, however he loosenes his cape enough so that it can withstand the rapid transformation.

Stats:
ATK: 2
DEF: 3
SPD: 2
TEC: 3

Starting Proficiencies:

Ranged proficiency {-1000 OM}

Physical strengh {-1000 OM}

Starting Powers:

Phasing {-1200 OM} While in the rift he can be seen as semi-transparent, he will be unable to attack or be attacked. However, energy-like and non physical attacks seem to be able to go through the rift here, and it gets tiring to keep larger rifts open, especially one large enough for a human.

Basic super jumping {-300 OM} up to 10 meters.

Master acrobat {-400 OM} he is quite agile and able to do some acrobatic moves, even in combat. This is due to hard training.

Starting Moves:

Rift blade {-600 OM physical strengh} he can use the rift blade as an ordinary sword, or use it to open the rift during combat. {uses phasing power} Alternativly, he can open a very small rift away from himself for storage, but this isn't useful in combat.
The blade is a short, straight sword with a basic handguard. Its incredibly light, being made of a magic opal-like crystal, but not particularly powerful.

Obsidian bow {-300 OM ranged proficiency} The obsidian bow is heavy, and slow, but is very strong and near unbreakable. This is Zaks preffered combat style.

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Art: {will be updated later for scanned in/improved versions.}

If your computer can load it with such a high dpi, heres the graphic novel cover art: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Zak: {Only human form for now, dragon will be uploaded later}
{art by my friend, Sharky}[spoiler][/spoiler]
{Back from when I was a crappy artist, but the first sketch ever of this character.}[spoiler][/spoiler]
Melody: {art by a friend, Skylar.}[spoiler][/spoiler]
Tia: {Only dragon form for now, human form uploaded later.}
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Misc:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler][/spoiler]

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I confirm that I have read and agreed to the Rules of Conduct. Yup. Gotta read em all. I don't think I missed much of the information stuff either, please tell me if I got something wrong though.

Notes and questions:
[spoiler]OM: Current earned OM: 5000
=5000 Current spent OM: 4800
-1000
-1000 Shopping list: Stealth, to strenghen the powers of the rift to mean he
-900 can't be seen in the rift. {To combine with phasing}
=2100 Alternate form: dragon, with moves like claws and stuff.
-1200
=900
-400
-300
=200

Question: I know I dont have enough OM now, but when I do, how would I do the powerful alternate form/transformation thing? It was unclear wether I needed shapeshifting, and then buy the alternate form seperatly, or just the alternate form. And do I need to pay that amount of OM every time he transforms or just once? Also can he have seperate moves and powers for his dragon form?

Also can stealth be used with phasing to make him invisible in the rift? Would that be possible at all?

Also, do the moves need to be approved since theyre fairly basic ones? I just used the rift blade as a way of explaining how he used the phasing power, so I assumed that would mean the rift blade had 2 uses and would be 600 OM, correct?

Sorry, a lot of questions. Im completely new to all this. Most rps ive been in havent had all the stats and stuff.[/spoiler]

[Tearen Wover]

Not a mod, but I can answer some of your questions.

In order to have a stronger dragon form, you would want to purchase a Powered-Up Form. You do not need to purchase shapeshifting to change your body in a powered-up or alternate form, but you would need to purchase all attacks seperately to use them in that form, i.e., saying you become a dragon doesn't automatically give you a bite or claw attack. You only need to purchase the Powered-Up form once, but you will need to spend SP in a fight to use it.

You can choose to have seperate moves for your dragon form, yes, but there is no technical rule for having access to only certain moves in certain forms. As such, you could still access your human moves as a dragon, or vice versa, if you really wanted to, but it would probably be considered a faux pas.

You can combine powers and proficiencies to create moves in any way that makes sense to you, so you would indeed be able to become invisible while phased if you made a move for it. Keep in mind, though, that there need to be drawbacks and limitations.

All moves need to be approved, no matter how basic they seem. Since your Rift Blade has two uses, it would indeed be 600 OM. Since you're submitting a new character, all of your starting moves will be approved here. Any subsequent moves must be submitted to the Move Approval thread in the Help Desk forum.

[Zak Otto]

Thankyou :pac: thats very helpful

[Omni]

Can I have more details on the rift compartment part of your rift blade move? What's the biggest thing he can fit in there?

[Zak Otto]

Can I have more details on the rift compartment part of your rift blade move? What's the biggest thing he can fit in there?

The rift as a concept hasnt been completely ironed out yet, but it can only be opened from the outside, so if Zak goes in (to use the phasing power, this is how I explained it IC) he has to keep it open which takes energy/sp/whatever if he ever wants to get out. Id day the largest opening he can make is just big enough for himself. Which means any item his own size or smaller could fit.

In case it wasnt clear, say you leave something in the rift by the fountain, youd only be able to get it back out if you go back to the fountain and could remember exactly where it was, and were strong enough to open a rift big enough to get it out.

The dragon scale is very small so its no problem. I just didnt want Zak being too OP, at least until I get a feel for the site and how to make the dragon thing work in this universe.

Does that sound fair? Do I need to make the concept a bit clearer in the CS?

[Reece]

The dragon scale is very small so its no problem. I just didnt want Zak being too OP, at least until I get a feel for the site and how to make the dragon thing work in this universe.

The size of something makes very little difference. Whether you're one foot tall or one hundred feet tall, your stats are the same. Being large won't make you OP.

In case you missed it, here's what the rules have to say regarding giant forms:[spoiler]

Giant body
Any character over twelve feet tall or wide is classified as a 'giant'. Whether it's turning into a giant monkey or climbing into your giant robot, being huge has its advantages, gigantic reach being one of them. However! You must have a minimum of 3 attack and the power 'physical strength'. Bear in mind that your speed and defense do not 'size' up automatically, so relatively speaking you will be moving much slower (since you're bigger) and if you have 0 defense you're still going to get blown up, especially since you're a much bigger target. To feel properly epic, Omni recommends at LEAST 3 in attack, defense and speed to use such a form! (so use it with Power-Ups if you can).

[/spoiler]

[Zak Otto]

@Toori, Thanks, I was talking about an item being small, but now ive read that I might make his dragon form giant.

Im not sure about him having the same stats though, wouldnt it make sense for him to be weaker as a human? Because if he was as strong as a human as when he was a dragon, hed have no reason to use his dragon form.

Also I was going to sort out the dragon form later, partly because of OM and partly so I can get the hang of thr whole stats thing before trying anything complicated, thanks though. I had missed the part about the giants.

@Omni, should I edit what I wrote in my earlier post into my CS?

[Reece]

Im not sure about him having the same stats though, wouldnt it make sense for him to be weaker as a human? Because if he was as strong as a human as when he was a dragon, hed have no reason to use his dragon form.

His stats wouldn't necessarily be the same between forms. All I meant was that if you made a Power-Up called "Dragon Form", the dragon would still be just as powerful, regardless of how huge it was.

For example, a Tier 1 Power-Up gives you 5 stat points to add to those you've already spent. If you chose to get one of those, then it wouldn't matter what height the dragon form was; it would still have only 5 more points.

The only cases where he would have the exact same stats as either a dragon or human would be a) if you bought an Alternate Form and for some reason decided to put all your stats into the same places you had done on your human form, or b) if you bought Shapeshifting and just used that.

Sorry if my previous explanation wasn't clear enough. ^^;