Difference between revisions of "Star ratings"

Revision as of 01:06, 6 December 2010

Let's first make clear that this RP is not really "stat-based." This system is just here for greater ease in comparing characters' abilities against each other. Have fun with the system, but remember that it won't perfectly list the end-all extent of a character's abilities.

Another thing that should be understood before reading on is that 2.5 out of 5 stars doesn't mean "average!" Some Sonic characters are really extreme, so the scale has to go pretty high in some areas. Consider anywhere between a half-star and one whole star to be what you'd expect from an entirely "average" person.

With that, said, continue onward to see the specifics, and the details on the higher-end stuff for each individual category.

One more note: I'm typically talking about the non-human members of the cast in these ratings, not average Joe Human. I'm doubting we'll get many human characters, so don't do a double-take when I talk about running 40MPH as being "average" for a citizen of this world. Okay?

Starting Out

All new members get up to 12 stars to spread across the following categories. Generally speaking, no "Max" star ratings are allowed for anyone's very first character. Characters may improve their ratings through believable development in the story, as approved by admins.

The Standards

Speed

List your character's fastest possible speed (under normal conditions, of course, not running downhill or anything silly like that). If your character is fastest in flight, mention it under the rating.

Note: Sonic's running speed is treated as something special here, and it will be extremely rare for any fancharacters to be allowed to get close to it.

0-10 MPH: Frail, out of shape, or flat out immobile.
10-20 MPH: Normal human-like speed.
20-40 MPH: Good track-running humans to average non-humans.
40-60 MPH: Too fast to be a normal human, but not unusual for a non-human.
60-90 MPH: Respectably fast.
90-120 MPH: Maximum for anyone wearing full/baggy clothing (pants and shirt, and so on).
120-150MPH: Truly gifted runner. Partial or light clothing/accessories only. Steering, stopping, and control suffer.
150-200 MPH: Maximum for normally-shaped characters; no unaerodynamic clothing. Supernaturally fast.
200-300 MPH: Ridiculous, unheard-of fast. No normally-shaped characters.^[1] <--- (Click the reference for more info.)
300-500 MPH: Same restrictions as above. Extremely uncommon.
500-750 MPH: Superhero-like. Impossible to make any kind of turn other than a gentle veer at this kind of speed without either slowing down or just plain wiping out. And collisions? Very bad.
750MPH+: This rating is presently only applied to Sonic, Shadow, and Metal Sonic.

Strength

Overall arm and body strength (such as is needed for heavy lifting) is the focal point. Leg strength is pretty well implied by the top speed and agility ratings, so please don't consider or mention it in your rating here!

: Weak or frail.
: Entirely average.
: Athletic and relatively strong; might be able to almost carry a couple hundred pounds with effort.
: Great strength, probably nearing the epitome of human strength or greater.
: Inhuman strength; can probably bench press small cars. Pecs of steel. (Okay, pecs of steel are optional.)
: True super-strength. Boulder-heaving brutes like Knuckles and Vector are ranked here.
:
The world is this character's playground. You knock walls down by accident, pull trees out of the ground like weeds, and find it easier to pick cars up and move them than actually parallel park. Strength of this sort is restricted to huge characters. Big the Cat champions this rating.

Stamina

How much energy does your character have? How much running and fighting does it take before your character starts to slow down? This rating will give us some idea.

: The character breaks a sweat going to the mailbox, and hates stairs.
: Average. Can't run too far, but isn't pathetic.
: Youthful or decently in shape. Vigorous fighting or sprinting can still wear him/her out.
: In great shape, or just extremely energetic by nature. Can sprint or fight for a good stretch.
: Sprint at top speed from one side of town to the other a couple times? This is your rating.
: If it's even possible to make a character in this class tired, he or she will recover from it with a few panted breaths.
:
Characters with this rating do not need food, oxygen, or rest. It doesn't mean they absolutely can't get tired—It may be easily possible, but ultimately, they need nothing but rest. In most cases, characters with this rating will be some sort of robot powered by Chaos Drives, or a Chaos Energy-based life form.

Agility

This next part is fun. Consider it a super-ability shopping list! (I'd recommend whipping out a piece of paper or an instance of notepad to help keep a tally as you go.) Basically, your character will be given stars for certain strengths, and will lose stars for certain weaknesses. There are a lot of different ways a character can be agile, so the description text you write under your rating will really important. Don't skip it!

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• "Normal" jumper (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • High jumper (over five times his/her own height)
    • Extremely high jumper who can jump over ten times his/her own height (without resorting to actual flight).
      

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• No flight capabilities (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Can glide (or hover in some limited capacity)
    • Can truly fly (not just glide)
      

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Not acrobatic (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Is somewhat acrobatic (flipping, cartwheeling, somersaulting, etc., but nothing advanced)
    • Very acrobatic (capable of complicated gymnastics, advanced somersaults, etc.)
      

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Climbs normally, or not at all (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Is a fast climber (or capable of wall tricks, like kicking off walls to jump higher)
    • Can run up or along walls for considerable distances^[2] or climb completely flat surfaces^[3]
      

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Swims normally (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Can swim fast
    • Swims like a fish (After all, some characters may BE fish!)
      

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Generally slow on his or her feet (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Has "normal" quickness (such as for taking off in a run or dodging, either on foot or in air)
    • Can lunge quickly from a standstill to high speed (Comparable to a good track runner)
      • Can burst straight to extreme speeds (possibly nearly 100MPH)
        • Can accelerate as fast as traction with the ground will allow (Only useful if coupled with a really high top speed, obviously)
          

Select any of the following that apply:

• Can perform a spindash (See note)^[4]
• Can change direction in mid-jump (Needs a reason why; can't be slapped on just ANY character. Not applicable to characters who already have stars for being able to fly)
• Can effectively tunnel or dig through many types of terrain or obstacles, ala Knuckles or Rouge

However, if your character...

• Is particularly heavy, subtract
• Has a hard time stopping/braking, subtract
• Isn't very flexible, subtract
• Can't jump very well, subtract
• Can't swim, subtract
• Is naturally clumsy or uncoordinated, subtract
• Has a missing or bad limb (besides its tail), remove

For example, here's the logic we'd use looking at Knuckles and scoring him:
He can glide (+1 star), he's somewhat acrobatic (+0.5 stars), he's an excellent climber who can climb completely flat surfaces (+1 star), he can reach high speeds extremely quickly (+1.5 star), he can dig/burrow quickly (+0.5 stars), and he doesn't have any stars removed for being heavy, inflexible, etc.

Thus, his section would look something like this:

Extremely agile, unhindered by obstacles; is acrobatic, can climb sheer walls, glide, burrow through the ground, and accelerate quickly.

Toughness

This relates to the character's ability to take hits. I can't think of a Sonic character that isn't inhumanly resilient in some way, so the general assumption we're going to make here is that a completely "average" non-human individual is tough enough to not easily get broken bones, even from fairly high falls or hard hits. Doesn't mean they can't be KO'ed with a good wallop, though.

This section works like the Agility stat breakdown. Pick and choose the qualities that apply, and add'em up to find your character's rating! And remember, like agility, these stars are meaningless if you don't include why your character has the rating it does in the description!

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Frail, fragile build (Like an out-of-shape elderly person)
  • Normal, healthy build (Built like a normal, reasonably athletic Sonic character)
    • Especially strong, fit, and muscular build (but still normally shaped/sized)
      • Large, bulky, and muscular (Like Vector, for instance)
        • Tank-like, musclebound hulk (For characters sized similarly to Big the Cat)
          

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• No shell, quills or spines (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Shell, quills, spines, or other partial (but substantial) protection from impact damage
    • Can roll into a protected ball or pull into its shell (Like Sonic, or a turtle of some sort)
      • All-encompassing, full-body exoskeleton (Would be appropriate for a crustacean, for example)
        

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• No ballistic protection (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Ballistic protection (Such as a bullet-resistant vest or shell so tough it's bulletproof)
    • Bullet-resistant armor, artificial exoskeleton, or energy shield that covers most of the body
      
      • Same as the above, but also protecting against blunt impact damage
        

Select ONLY ONE (1) of the following:

• Normal recovery (No increase—don't bother mentioning in profile)
  • Quick recovery (Seems to suffer improbably little downtime from wounds and heal more effectively than a normal person)
    • Heals so fast that it's nearly visible (if you watch long enough)
      • Regenerates flesh at an observably fast speed
        • Regenerates from damage almost as quickly as it takes it (Only allowable in very special circumstances, i.e. Artificial Chaos-like characters, and so on)
          

Select AS MANY of the following as apply to your character:

• Leathery skin or super-thick fur (To protect against cuts and the like)
  
• Really thick fat (For all those sumo-like guys, like Big)
  
• Toughened by frequent injury (As in the case of a trained fighter, daredevil, active soldier, etc.)
  
• Unaffected by climate (Hot and cold weather and high altitude don't bother him/her)
  
• Unusual flexibility (Like a gymnast)
• Fire resistant (Such as because of an exoskeleton or clothing)
  
• Electricity resistant (Such as because of an exoskeleton, clothing, or built-up resistance)
  

However, if your character...

• Is sensitive to climate, subtract (Most reptilian characters will fall under this, since cold weather so easily shuts them down)
• Has a particular weakness / weakspot in his or her defense, subtract or depending on severity (Probably most applicable to armored characters with some sort of glaring flaw or opening, but use your imagination and better judgment)
  
• Overreacts to getting hurt, subtract (Such as if your character is squeamish or wimpy about getting injured)
• Is inflexible, subtract (Good flexibility can be helpful for avoiding injury)
  
• Is robotic, subtract (Click the note for more info)^[5]
  
• Gets only temporary protection from its primary means of defense, subtract (Such as a temporary shield or barrier that doesn't stay up all the time)

Reminder

Remember that it's not all about ratings!

A character isn't made powerful or weak exclusively by its ratings. Often, skills are far more important than strength or speed, and can make it so that a significantly weaker character can often defeat seemingly much more powerful foes. You can often make a much more interesting and impressive character by taking this approach, so long as you have the knowledge necessary to play those skills effectively.

That being said, there are some skills that will be restricted to keep things interesting as they become excessively prevalent. Check the powers and skills page for info on what is and isn't allowed.

Notes

The following are notes linked to from the above sections. You may also reverse-track the note to the entry it belongs to by clicking the small arrow symbol next to the note.