Moves Guide/FAQ

[Omni]

Starting this topic as a general guide for various examples and explanations that are too specific for the moves rules. This is intended to be eventually as complete a compendium as possible of different move examples and how they might be balanced. It's going to be worked on over time as I go through the quick questions thread and previous approved moves.

If a mod asks you a question about a move, that means you need to put that answer in the description somewhere.

Things that aren't really drawbacks
Cooldowns (simply not being able to use the move for another minute), locking other moves of your own, etc, are considered pretty minor drawbacks and aren't going to be enough to justify a move with massive power. You still need it to cause fatigue or be a large chargeup or whatever.

From the FAQ:
Q: Once initially summoned using omnilium, can a weapon such as a large hammer be summoned 'on the fly'?
A: Yes, as long as this is specified in the move description. You may even wish to add a certain amount of time it takes in order to summon the weapon, thus gaining a minor power boost in exchange for this downside.

Q: Can I boost my own stats with a buff move?
The intention of the buff proficiency is to allow you to buff OTHER players. Certain self-buffs are possible without even purchasing the buff proficiency. For example, you can power up a punch by giving it a greater windup or cooldown. However, simply powering up all of your attacks generally requires a Transformation. We will continually refer you back to transformations because that is what they were created for. We know they're more expensive than moves. That's the point.

Q: How do I create a move that dispels buffs?
We do things in realistic terms, not game terms, so 'dispelling a debuff' might simply be untangling someone from vines or melting ice. In some cases you'd need healing.

Q: If a sword blocks as well as attacks, does it cost 600 OM?
A: No, because it only has one 'form'. Such kinds of 'object' type moves can generally be purchased for 300 OM unless they transform.

Q: If I wish to dual wield an identical weapon such as dual daggers, do I need to purchase two moves?
A: No, 300 is fine for this.

[Omni]

I feel like lately a lot of people (or perhaps just a few people, a lot) are trying to really push the limit as far as it goes in trying to get moves and assists without actually paying the price, either in terms of SP or OM. Let's make a few rulings absolutely clear:

1: remote control is your character remotely controlling something with their mind. They need to focus on doing this. It's not a way to have free assists.

2: 300 per use. Remote control does not allow you to get around this by saying everything the clone is doing is simply under the umbrella of "remote control". I'll classify punches, kicks and general melee attacks as one thing for the purpose of clarity. I'll classify attacking with the sword as another thing. I'll classify shooting with a bow as another thing.

3. Moves cannot have effects on the way other moves work. Such as "this move reduces the cooldown/charge time of my other moves". For example, making several attack moves. Then making another move which allows you to add a cooldown to all those other moves that make them stronger. If your move can operate in two different ways, it will cost 600 OM and it needs to be part of the move itself, not a vague attempt to bypass costs. The only exception is transformations, which work to make all your moves stronger at the cost of SP.

All moves must have downsides equivalent to the strength of the move. In most cases, the strength is directly correlated to the time it takes to perform the move and the energy cost.

[Omni]

A note on cooldowns.

I see a lot of people adding "cooldowns" to their moves (" this move cannot be used for thirty seconds after it has been used") and I wanted to give a note about this. We don't tend to consider cooldowns as big downsides. Why?

In a video game, a cooldown is effective downside for a move because the character usually has only a limited number of moves. Sometimes 2-3, sometimes 12-20. Regardless, it is limited. However, there is no such limit here on the Omniverse. There's nothing stopping you from buying a bunch of 300-OM moves and rotating between them infinitely. So we don't consider a cooldown to be a big deal. It's definitely a valid downside, but the main effective downsides remain "how long does it take to perform" and "how much energy does it take?". Cooldowns won't allow you to ignore these, just mitigate them somewhat.

Alternatives:

"Global cooldowns" are cooldowns that stop you from using ANY move during the cooldown. Obviously this is a much bigger downside and would be more effective in granting your move some OOMPH, if you wanted to give a real downside.

"Grouped cooldowns" are inbetween individual cooldowns and global cooldowns. Samus might have a cooldown on a beam attack that stops her using any other beam attack while on cooldown. The effectiveness of this is somewhat up to judge discretion, but if your character relies on a certain kind of attack a lot, it might be a clever and unique way of disabling them and powering up a move.

[Omni]

More notes.

BUFFS

You do not need the buff proficiency to buff yourself. It's only for buffing others.

However, you can't make moves that buff all your other moves, unless it's part of the move itself or a Super Utility. These things get judged on a case-by-case basis, as do all Super Utilities - we might start to better delineate things down the line.

Some GENERAL RULES

We're tamping down on 'removing someone from a fight', as a rule. Mainly because, as a player, this is not a fun mechanic. Delaying someone from chasing you by freezing them? Fine! But things like possessing a character, forcing them to fuse with you, etcetera - those aren't fun mechanics as the fused character, and completely remove their agency as a writer. This is TOTALLY FINE if agreed with OOC, as a personal story, for fodder purposes etcetera.

If possession or mind control takes place for less than the duration of a single post, it's possible, but still should be downsided appropriately (with SP or otherwise). Make someone slap their friend? Cool. Take over their entire mind? Ehh .... it's probably not gonna fly, for many reasons related to RPing itself, but you can try - and it better be approved by the owner of the character themselves.