Workshop: BATTLE!

R

Rubix

Guest
Original poster
Aren't roleplay fights the worst? It essentially gets to the stage where it goes a little something like this:

Player 1: My character dodges and counterattacks!

Player 2: My character dodges and counterattacks!

Player 1: My character blocks and counterattacks!

etc...

They will never end until there is some sort of intervention that results in the fight being a draw or until one person just gets bored enough to let their character die. THIS IS NOT WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN. Roleplay fights should be the most entertaining and most challenging aspect of roleplaying. It pushes your creativity to its limits and help you with imagining scenarios more than any other thing in roleplaying. In this workshop, I will show you how to properly fight in roleplays with a few rules that I came up with as well as challenge you myself with a few scenarios that you can react to.

Now, for today, I will start you out with just rule #1 and I will do a new rule every couple of days or so

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Rule #1 ----> first post

Rule #2-----> Post 11




RULE #1

Be descriptive with your posts.

Keep in mind that
what you imagine and what the person reading your post imagines might not always be the same. So you have to try and be as descriptive as possible to try and convey the scenario that you are imagining. This is more important with battle posts than anywhere else, because positioning is literally the most important part of battling. Here is an example of why you should be descriptive.

If you type something like this:

"My character dodges the fireball"

then that leaves the reader to assume HOW you dodged the fireball. You could mean that your character dove to the right, doing a somersault only to spring to his feet again, prepared for the next attack. However, because you didn't SAY that, your reader could assume that you did a double back handspring, putting you in a very awkward position if he follows up with multiple attacks WHILE you are doing that double back handspring. You could argue that that isn't what you meant for your character to do and correct him after he posts, but that is just annoying. He had EVERY right to assume that you were doing a double back handspring and that your character is now in a position where its next to impossible to not get hit by the next attack. Now, you might say that this is godmodding, but it really isn't. YOU said that your character dodged. How a person interprets that is completely up to them.

Note: this works for BOTH parties. If the first person needs to state the size and speed of the fireball. (not exact, of course, but give a general idea so that defending party knows what they are dealing with)


MY CHALLENGE TO YOU

I want you to respond to my attack. Include a descriptive way to dodge/block the attack and provide a proper counterattack. It SHOULD be around 100 words. It could easily be more or less, though, but 100 words is a safe bet if you are curious about length. This will be a medieval fantasy type of battle, so respond accordingly. I will try to do other types of battles as well with my other rules so we can get a good variety.

Respond to this:

He stared down his mysterious opponent, unaware of their abilities. He decided he was going to make the first move and began to dash towards his foe. A heavy push from his left foot causes him to suddenly steer to the right. He hoped this would throw his opponent off, if only for a split second. He took the opportunity to pull out a throwing knife and propelled it at his enemy. He didn't think that would be enough, though. So he aimed his hands at the ground and shot a blast of wind at it, launching himself in the air away from his opponent. He did this so that his next attack would be able to cover a much wider area. Once he was about twenty feet in the air, he let out his strongest attack, several powerful gusts of wind that covered a length of thirty feet each, all moving fast enough to cut through flesh.

Things to think about while responding:

1. the position of your character. The throwing knife should be fairly easy to dodge/block, but make sure you don't put yourself in a bad position to take care of his next attack. Now, the gusts of wind are going to be hard to simply dodge. He is in the air shooting them and they cover a pretty wide area. So you might want to consider blocking/doing things to reduce the amount of damage your character takes.

2. What is the positioning of my character when you counterattack? I am in the air, leaving me rather vulnerable. However, I am also pretty far away from your character because I blasted myself in the air away from you. So if you try to dash at me for a close ranged attack, then I will probably be back on the ground and ready to deal with you before you get to me. So you might want to consider using an attack with longer range.


Be as creative as you want with your character, give him any power you'd like, although it be better if you didn't use a power like "teleportation" or something because that would make it too easy.
 
Lucian watched his foe warily, hands hovering over the hilts of his curved blades strapped to his back. It was always these moments he disliked with his line of work. Those moments just before the battle, filled charged potential energy, each combatant waiting for the other to make the first move. He was glad for his mask, hiding the unease that was surely showing in the corners of his scowl. His opponent was the first to move, quick steps bringing him in fast from the left. Lucian unsheathed his blades, readying his stance to protect against a left bound attack. It took him by surprise when the angle of the attack suddenly changed, a throwing knife coming from the right. Lucian span left, taking the knife to his outside right shoulder, rather than to a more vulnerable area. A soft hiss of pain left his lips, reaching up and pulling the knife out of his flesh, letting it clatter noisily to the ground. That had been a rookie mistake on his part, and he was going to bear a scar to remind him of it for the rest of his life. But it would not happen again.

Focusing on the wind blades raining down on him, Lucian began to make his move. He'd spin out of the direct path of the attacks, the wind leaving large cuts in the earth where he had been moments before. He sent a spiral of kinetic force through his legs, propelling himself up into the air to meet his attacker head on as they fell back down to the earth. They collided mid air, the force shooting them both higher. Higher than he had anticipated. Lucian's legs wrapped around his opponents waist, inhibiting their ability to dodge as he brought his swords down, alternating in quick succession, aimed at the other's face and chest. As the two began to fall from the air, Lucian let go of his opponent, rolling so he landed on his feet, forcing the kinetic energy from his body out into the ground to cushion his fall, though there was still likely to be some damage to his legs that he'd feel in the following weeks. Growling, the male brought himself into a defensive stance, waiting to see if his opponent would get up from the fall.

 
Lucian watched his foe warily, hands hovering over the hilts of his curved blades strapped to his back. It was always these moments he disliked with his line of work. Those moments just before the battle, filled charged potential energy, each combatant waiting for the other to make the first move. He was glad for his mask, hiding the unease that was surely showing in the corners of his scowl. His opponent was the first to move, quick steps bringing him in fast from the left. Lucian unsheathed his blades, readying his stance to protect against a left bound attack. It took him by surprise when the angle of the attack suddenly changed, a throwing knife coming from the right. Lucian span left, taking the knife to his outside right shoulder, rather than to a more vulnerable area. A soft hiss of pain left his lips, reaching up and pulling the knife out of his flesh, letting it clatter noisily to the ground. That had been a rookie mistake on his part, and he was going to bear a scar to remind him of it for the rest of his life. But it would not happen again.

Focusing on the wind blades raining down on him, Lucian began to make his move. He'd spin out of the direct path of the attacks, the wind leaving large cuts in the earth where he had been moments before. He sent a spiral of kinetic force through his legs, propelling himself up into the air to meet his attacker head on as they fell back down to the earth. They collided mid air, the force shooting them both higher. Higher than he had anticipated. Lucian's legs wrapped around his opponents waist, inhibiting their ability to dodge as he brought his swords down, alternating in quick succession, aimed at the other's face and chest. As the two began to fall from the air, Lucian let go of his opponent, rolling so he landed on his feet, forcing the kinetic energy from his body out into the ground to cushion his fall, though there was still likely to be some damage to his legs that he'd feel in the following weeks. Growling, the male brought himself into a defensive stance, waiting to see if his opponent would get up from the fall.


Great and creative response! I only have a couple of things to say. First off that you should keep in mind that when the two are facing each other, my left is your right and your right is my left. So when I steered to my right and threw the throwing knife, it would be approaching your left. Second off, be careful when you say things like "he'd spin out of the direct path of the attacks," because it leaves some confusion for the reader. I'm sure you've got an image in your head that makes sense. Now, I purposely made the wind attack a bit ambiguous so that you guys could come up with creative ways to counter it, but when you say you "spin out" of the direct path, then I don't completely understand what you mean. Remember, I said that the gusts were about 30 feet in length, so are you going to stretch 15 feet in either direction that quickly? I'm just a bit confused on what you meant by that.
 
I'll go fix left and rights in a moment. Always had a bit of an issue with that.

And with the "spinning away" from the wind attacks, its all in how the wind is hitting the ground. I didn't think they'ed be perfectly vertical or horizontal cuts, so moving slightly in an opposite diagonal direction would be enough to avoid the wind blades. As for the spinning part, he's not spinning in the sense of a spinning top. In actuality, he's maybe turning once, taking three steps.

Iwakuexplination.png


Ok, say that "A" Represents your character using the wind attack. And "C" represents the actual wind blades. I know they'd be a bit bigger, but I'm just trying to generalize what's happening.

"B" would be the path that my character is taking. The "spinning" is where the break in the forward dash is happening. The squiggle lines. That is what I meant by spinning out of the the direct line of attack.
 
See, that it MUCH better :P I can understand doing that to dodge the attack. However, by simply saying "spin out" leaves me going "Huh?" and trying to think of a way that would work.
 
I wasn't entirely sure how to put that into words to go along with a role-play. What I just posted seems very..technical, and I don't like putting things like that into a rp.
 
Fredrick analysed the situation, his tactically-inclined mind attempting to conjure a solution to his current predicament. What it settled upon was maintaining his ground – more or less – and stepping a sufficient amount to the side. He reasoned that too much movement would allow the wind manipulator to cause his footing to slip, thereby leaving his being wide open to attack, forcing him into defeat. The knife shot past his ear, the wind almost deafening him, while a stance was maintained. However, the wind would tear him apart if he did not take action swiftly, and there was little he could do to counter his foe’s movements and offense. Therefore, he brought the scutum from his back, and used its massive size to block a majority of the attacks he would otherwise be cut to shreds by. Though comprised of a highly durable alloy, the metal crumpled slightly as he advanced, though with his head down, Fredrick had to rely on his ears to tell him this. And, upon reaching his opponent – or where he judged them to be – he thrust the shield forward with what might he could muster, silently praying the boss in the shield’s centre would temporarily disable his foe, leaving him open to a more potent attack.
 
Fredrick analysed the situation, his tactically-inclined mind attempting to conjure a solution to his current predicament. What it settled upon was maintaining his ground – more or less – and stepping a sufficient amount to the side. He reasoned that too much movement would allow the wind manipulator to cause his footing to slip, thereby leaving his being wide open to attack, forcing him into defeat. The knife shot past his ear, the wind almost deafening him, while a stance was maintained. However, the wind would tear him apart if he did not take action swiftly, and there was little he could do to counter his foe’s movements and offense. Therefore, he brought the scutum from his back, and used its massive size to block a majority of the attacks he would otherwise be cut to shreds by. Though comprised of a highly durable alloy, the metal crumpled slightly as he advanced, though with his head down, Fredrick had to rely on his ears to tell him this. And, upon reaching his opponent – or where he judged them to be – he thrust the shield forward with what might he could muster, silently praying the boss in the shield’s centre would temporarily disable his foe, leaving him open to a more potent attack.

Very cool! I always love the whole offense through defense approach. You use an intelligent character which is good because you are behind that shield a lot, I am guessing, so you have to judge things based on intuition. I really like how everything in your post just works well together. All and all, its a very good, solid response. However, I'd like to see one from you that has a bit more offense to it as well :D maybe when I post a different rule?
 
Ah, yes, an attack. It may have just been me, but there was little opportunity for the character I created to attack - he couldn't get out from behind his shield, and even if he timed it right, discarding it or putting it back would leave him vulnerable. However, a new rule might work.
 
Ah, yes, an attack. It may have just been me, but there was little opportunity for the character I created to attack - he couldn't get out from behind his shield, and even if he timed it right, discarding it or putting it back would leave him vulnerable. However, a new rule might work.

That's perfectly fine, you did a good post :P I just meant that I was curious to see how well you would do for an attack. which I will probably release a challenge for whenever I do rule #2 (which should be tomorrow)
 
RULE #2

Know your characters limitations.

Now, you might ask “why can’t I just say that my character keeps dodging every attack. It’s the perfect strategy! I will never lose!” Well, you might never lose but it is very annoying for the person you are battling and honestly just not fun at all. Face it, you’ve got to take some hits every now and then. If you can’t think of a practical way for your character to dodge, then don’t say that your character dodges. Further, don’t pull deus ex machina crap every two seconds. What I mean by that is don’t give your character a new ability that just happens to save you from being hit. You can maybe do this once in a fight without it being too bad, but don’t do it to get away from every single attack. Go into the fight knowing your character and knowing what he can do.

If you get attacked while doing a double back handspring, is there really a practical way to dodge? Not that I can think of. So if the person decides to follow up his fireball with a wall of fire, you are going to get hit. Accept it. Of course there are going to be ways you dodge it, such as if your character has teleportation or super jumps/super speed. However, abilities like that tend to get a bit ridiculous, but I'll get more into that later. Now, when you take a hit, that doesn't mean your character is dead. It just means that you get hit. You could adjust your character so you only get hit on your arm or something, but just try to do it in a way that possible. Following up with my previous example, you could say that during one of the jumps for the double back handspring, your character balled up, covering his head and thus taking less damage from the wall of fire. Yeah, your character is going to be pretty burnt up and its going to suck, but you can at least make him able to live. If your character has a water power, maybe you shoot some water to get rid of some of the fire wall, but not all and only get hit on your arm or something. I don't know. If you can make it work, go for it.

Also, knowing your characters limitations isn't limited to defensive either. If you control water then you have to decide whether or not your character can create water. If so, how much? How much can he do with water before getting tired out? What is his ultimate attack? Does he have any defensive abilities? Try your best to understand your character's powers before getting into a battle. I hate it when a character who controls an element like wind in an RP who isn't doing much more than slicing things up with wind can suddenly summon ten tornadoes that destroy everything during a battle because he is pushed to the point where he thinks that is what he has to do to win. This isn't to say your character can't be strong, just don't make him overly powerful

My exercise for you today is to come up with a character. You don't have to bother with back story/appearance/blah blah blah. Just list his powers and create a post of him using his "best" attack. Make sure it is powerful enough to be effective, but not so powerful that it is basically an instant kill.
 
I almost never do battle scenes with anything other than NPC's soooo . . . here goes XD

Rule One:
Lorraine's dark eyes tracked the swift wind warrior's movements as he veered right. A sudden release of a dagger from his hand jerked her from observation. A moment passed before she ducked just under the dagger, the blade of it dragging a few strands of her platinum hair with it. Yikes! Her eyes looked up. Wind, slicing and destructive, was heading right for her from above. Her eyes closed as she clasped her hands together. Servā mē, Regīna Noctis . . . the chant in her thoughts soon manifested itself in purple and black vines that quickly coiled themselves around and over her body while she remained in the ducked position. The wind's barrage battered them away after awhile, but Lorraine was released from the magical branches with only some shallow scrapes and cuts along the exposed parts of her skin and face, her hair in tatters, but now . . .

"Eum vinc
īte!" Lorraine hissed, her eyes flashing purple as purple and black vines burst from the ground below her enemy, attempting to bind him while he to escape from the ground on which he had just landed.

*Servā mē, Regīna Noctis = Save me, Queen of the Night

*Eum vincīte! = Tie'im up!

​Rule Two: Can you tell I was listening to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu when I wrote this one? XD


Name: Elle Lucia
Powers:
-Inducing hallucinations (spontaneous flashes of light, creepy noises, animation of inanimate objects, loved ones betraying or attacking the opponent). So realistic that when tired she loses control of them, making the hallucinations appear to her, too. Victims and Elle have to be able to see each other for her illusions to work. (Basically, she can't counter an archer/sniper she can't see by suddenly flashing light in front of them nor can she affect a blind person/someone who has their eyes closed.)
-Amplifying her hallucinations via singing.
-Can shrink down to the size of a mouse for up to twenty minutes at a time. Guaranteed to pass out when she goes back to normal human size if she spends more than 10 minutes shrunken, though. It cannot be performed more than twice a day, so it cannot be utilized as an evasion measure.
to be continued . . .


Her Strongest Move:

So the Dark Queen's brother Rik had come for her. He slammed the key into her cell door's lock, entering with lurching steps. His lecherous lips curled up into a crooked grin, a knife in hand.

"Today is a special day, Princess . . . when you become one with your new Mommy, kekeke!" he leaped at her, grabbing her with a vice grip.

Then he made the largest mistake he'd ever made. He took a triumphant stare into the girl's eyes. At point blank he was launched by her stare into a terrifying wonderland, her fearful gaze replaced by a blank world of color and electronic sound. Unable to comprehend what had just occurred, he backed away from the light filling his gaze, releasing Elle who continued staring at him outside of the illusion.


Pink. Yellow. A bright, childish palette blared forth into the opponent's eyes. His dead wife stood laughing a few meters in front of him, somehow a young girl once more.

"Daddy, will you eat this cookie with me, huhuhu?"

He didn't want to believe it, but here we was, this young girl approaching him, now jumping up and waving the cookie in his face. With some reluctance he proceeded to take the cookie and bite into it, only to feel a rush of white light and the ring of an electronic beat rock the core of his body. From the ground where his dead wife had appeared without much warning came a legion of teddy bear soldiers, all armed with muskets. They proceeded to fire at him, assailing his body with gumball bullets green and pink.

In spite of the gumball barrage, he felt no pain as he continued walking forth, phasing through the teddy bears. He eventually came upon Princess Elle, her smile wide as she went singing away.

"Stop this nonsense!" he yelled

"I refuse! I'm the princess and only bad guys hurt the princess!" she retorted as she spun around, waving her baton at him. "To the dungeon with you!"

A gumdrop the size of two men emerged from a void in the sky above the tired man, proceeding to collapse upon him.

While the man stood dazed from the hallucination of being trapped in a giant gumdrop, Elle took the moment to whack him square in the head with her baton. In his dazed state he collapsed onto the floor. With the few moments she had bought herself, she hurried away in the direction of the castle gates, seeking an exit.

to be continued . . .
 
Powers
Not powers, per se, but items that still make him more competent in battle. essentially, he has thrusters in parts of his body, allowing for minor flight, or increasing the potency of attacks.

Post
This was indeed a powerful foe that he faced - so far, the duel had consisted of blows being traded many a time, yet both had fought each other to a stalemate - a deadlock that seemed to extend longer than one could think humanly possible. Of course, neither combatant was truly human - but they were becoming rapidly exhausted nonetheless. Decisive action had to be taken, lest there be no winner, and instead the clutches of fatigue claim them in victory's stead. Small flames began to spew from one fighter’s heels and wrists, the thrusters at his feet forcing him approximately an inch from the ground, the ones on his wrists used to steady and steer himself intricately. Without warning, he pushed off from the ground, launching himself at a phenomenal speed towards his foe, fist pulled back in readiness. Said fist was then thrown forwards with a gargantuan level of force, the thrusters being the cause. The punch was a strong-handed right straight, an attack that managed to embed itself in its target’s belly, causing an odd noise to escape his lungs – something that sounded vaguely similar to a cross between a wheeze and a pained grunt. The fighter with the advantage now decided his signature move was needed, to make sure of his foe’s defeat. Fist pulled downwards, it was thrust up with a titanic amount of speed and force, even lifting the attacker a few inches. Forearm cloaked in flame, an uppercut had been the punch thrown, almost like a cannon – almost, in the sense that a cannon was slightly less painful.
“Skyrocket Smash!” he shouted, his fist now colliding solidly with the jaw of his adversary, leaving after the punch had been thrown. Now, its target was tossed like a ragdoll, helpless to stop the momentum of the strike. And though he could still stand and fight after it, there was no denying pain and fractured bones would be a hindrance. Sapped of a large portion of strength, the thruster-wielding duellist erected a shaky guard, and assumed a flawed stance. They were on even ground – again.
 
I almost never do battle scenes with anything other than NPC's soooo . . . here goes XD

Rule One:
Lorraine's dark eyes tracked the swift wind warrior's movements as he veered right. A sudden release of a dagger from his hand jerked her from observation. A moment passed before she ducked just under the dagger, the blade of it dragging a few strands of her platinum hair with it. Yikes! Her eyes looked up. Wind, slicing and destructive, was heading right for her from above. Her eyes closed as she clasped her hands together. Servā mē, Regīna Noctis . . . the chant in her thoughts soon manifested itself in purple and black vines that quickly coiled themselves around and over her body while she remained in the ducked position. The wind's barrage battered them away after awhile, but Lorraine was released from the magical branches with only some shallow scrapes and cuts along the exposed parts of her skin and face, her hair in tatters, but now . . .

"Eum vinc
īte!" Lorraine hissed, her eyes flashing purple as purple and black vines burst from the ground below her enemy, attempting to bind him while he to escape from the ground on which he had just landed.

*Servā mē, Regīna Noctis = Save me, Queen of the Night

*Eum vincīte! = Tie'im up!

​Rule Two: Can you tell I was listening to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu when I wrote this one? XD


Name: Elle Lucia
Powers:
-Inducing hallucinations (spontaneous flashes of light, creepy noises, animation of inanimate objects, loved ones betraying or attacking the opponent). So realistic that when tired she loses control of them, making the hallucinations appear to her, too. Victims and Elle have to be able to see each other for her illusions to work. (Basically, she can't counter an archer/sniper she can't see by suddenly flashing light in front of them nor can she affect a blind person/someone who has their eyes closed.)
-Amplifying her hallucinations via singing.
-Can shrink down to the size of a mouse for up to twenty minutes at a time. Guaranteed to pass out when she goes back to normal human size if she spends more than 10 minutes shrunken, though. It cannot be performed more than twice a day, so it cannot be utilized as an evasion measure.
to be continued . . .


Her Strongest Move:
Pink. Yellow. A bright, childish palette blared forth into the opponent's eyes. His dead wife stood laughing a few meters in front of him, somehow a young girl once more.

"Daddy, will you eat this cookie with me, huhuhu?"

He didn't want to believe it, but here we was, this young girl approaching him, now jumping up and waving the cookie in his face. With some reluctance he proceeded to take the cookie and bite into it, only to feel a rush of white light and the ring of an electronic beat rock the core of his body. From the ground where his dead wife had appeared without much warning came a legion of teddy bear soldiers, all armed with muskets. They proceeded to fire at him, assailing his body with gumball bullets green and pink.

In spite of the gumball barrage, he felt no pain as he continued walking forth, phasing through the teddy bears. He eventually came upon Princess Elle, her smile wide as she went singing away.

"Stop this nonsense!" he yelled

"I refuse! I'm the princess and only bad guys hurt the princess!" she retorted as she spun around, waving her baton at him. "To the dungeon with you!"

A gumdrop the size of two men emerged from a void in the sky above the tired man, proceeding to collapse upon him.

While the man stood dazed from the hallucination of being trapped in a giant gumdrop, Elle took the moment to whack him square in the head with her baton. In his dazed state he collapsed onto the floor. With the few moments she had bought herself, she hurried away in the direction of the castle gates, seeking an exit.

to be continued . . .

My response to your rule #1:

Very good! The only thing I'm worried about is that you have to be careful about autohitting. Whenever you do a counterattack, you can't make the vines instantly bind him. Now, it was a good response and the vines WOULD bind him because the character I created wouldn't have a practical way out, but you can't be the one who says so because at that point you are controlling my character. What you would say is that you "attempt" to bind him.

My response to your rule #2:

I can't really say much about this. It might be fine depending on HOW the person gets caught in the illusion. If you can catch just anyone really easily, then it might be a bit too powerful. I think you should go ahead and edit the post (if you can) and include HOW the guy got caught in the illusion.
 
Aira entry - have fun xD

Aira:
The glassy-eyed figure that stood bold before Vera finally began to move, but slowly; too slowly. With intense curiosity, Vera observed her opponent intently. It was almost as if he was trying to be slower, what fool. To think that he underestimated her that much! He will die.

A fire or dark flame emanated from her black sword, evil and fiendish like the underworld itself, Vera cast the sword upon the face of the earth and the dark flame slowly began to engulf the surface of the greenery, decaying it into nothing but piles of ashes and burning flames. Hell began to rise and those that lay dead in the field, their bones lifted from the earth. The blackened fire of death followed in her step and the light embraced it. As the dark flame spread it quickly ran closer and closer toward the man she once loved, the man who betrayed her, and the man who left her in the pit of hell with one of the most despicable beings ever born, to be tortured, to be whipped, to be enslaved and to be raped. Here she stood before him; her will absolute, he who she trusted, he who betrayed her trust will die upon her very sword.

“I will fight you, Phoenix. I will fight you! Until we both end!”

Pheonix:
As the dark flames moved towards him, Pheonix brought his white blade down and dragged the tip of it through the ground in front of him. As he did, a white light began to shine through the cut he made. He drew an X in the ground in front of him, and then stabbed the white blade through the middle of it, creating a similar eruption of power as Vera, only with an opposite effect. Light began to erupt from the ground, moving and snaking it's way through the field. It was designed to dirctly counter Vera's corruption.

After that was done, he pulled the blade from the ground. The light around him would shield him from her dark flames, and so he stood still there. Then suddenly, the shards that formed the massive blade on is back began to move and shimmer, creating the sound of rain as the shards began to swarm around Pheonix's body. Once the moved in front of him, they spread out into a large swarm, and then all 10k of them launched at Vera, each one razor sharp. Small and numerous, enough to cut through any flaws in her armor, and shred her to bits in seconds with a direct hit.

Aira:

The bane of Vera’s sword was countered by a large x that phoenix thrust into the ground, light emanating from it. As the light began to bright, the man’s sword shattered into thousands of pieces; as it did so Vera prepared her defence as she use the sword in her other hand to create a brilliant aura of light around her being, reflecting the light of the crystals and controlling the light that surrounded them. Keeping the objects confined her starlight space.

Surrounding her was now a large shield of crystal and light like dome. With a mighty force, Vera roared back, using the light to retaliate in the form of ten thousand fragments of stars, in different orders ready to burn at her opponents armour and the power of the man’s crystals would only help her cut through her opponents armour, what foolery.

Pheonix:

As the shards began to shoot back at Pheonix, he stood his ground and focused his mind and energy. The shards began to glow with their own energy. Each shard came from a power crystal, each with their own elemental energy. Using that energy, the shards broke free of the light energy that Vera used to control them, and returned to Pheonix's mental control only moments before reaching him.

The shards stopped in the air, and then began to flood back at Vera, sweeping around to the sides in order to converge on her from all directions, including above and behind her. It was like a powerful wave coming to crash down on her. There might be nothing left but bloody shreds if she failed to avoid it.

Aira:

A blue light emanated from Vera as her form began to shift and compress, her swords changing with her body. As she began to morph, her bones shifted, senses heightened as she slowly began to shrink out of sight, in to nothing more put a flea. The sacrifice would be great, as soon as she transformed again her body would be stressed from the rapid transformation; but death would not fall upon her this day.

The thousands shards continued to pursue her, however they would not find their target as she hid amongst a thicket of grass, jumping across the ground to avoid staying in her previous location and being squashed, charging toward her enemy; she would find a new opening.
 
Powers
Not powers, per se, but items that still make him more competent in battle. essentially, he has thrusters in parts of his body, allowing for minor flight, or increasing the potency of attacks.

Post
This was indeed a powerful foe that he faced - so far, the duel had consisted of blows being traded many a time, yet both had fought each other to a stalemate - a deadlock that seemed to extend longer than one could think humanly possible. Of course, neither combatant was truly human - but they were becoming rapidly exhausted nonetheless. Decisive action had to be taken, lest there be no winner, and instead the clutches of fatigue claim them in victory's stead. Small flames began to spew from one fighter’s heels and wrists, the thrusters at his feet forcing him approximately an inch from the ground, the ones on his wrists used to steady and steer himself intricately. Without warning, he pushed off from the ground, launching himself at a phenomenal speed towards his foe, fist pulled back in readiness. Said fist was then thrown forwards with a gargantuan level of force, the thrusters being the cause. The punch was a strong-handed right straight, an attack that managed to embed itself in its target’s belly, causing an odd noise to escape his lungs – something that sounded vaguely similar to a cross between a wheeze and a pained grunt. The fighter with the advantage now decided his signature move was needed, to make sure of his foe’s defeat. Fist pulled downwards, it was thrust up with a titanic amount of speed and force, even lifting the attacker a few inches. Forearm cloaked in flame, an uppercut had been the punch thrown, almost like a cannon – almost, in the sense that a cannon was slightly less painful.
“Skyrocket Smash!” he shouted, his fist now colliding solidly with the jaw of his adversary, leaving after the punch had been thrown. Now, its target was tossed like a ragdoll, helpless to stop the momentum of the strike. And though he could still stand and fight after it, there was no denying pain and fractured bones would be a hindrance. Sapped of a large portion of strength, the thruster-wielding duellist erected a shaky guard, and assumed a flawed stance. They were on even ground – again.

See, this is one of those attacks that is BASICALLY an instant win for your character. However, that's perfectly fine in this case because its an attack that you can't do very easily. I like it because it you are making his ultimate an attack just one heavy blow, which is different than what people normally do. The difficulty of this, though, is that you have to find the ideal moment to do it. Which, against a good opponent, would be pretty hard to do. However, I'm sure you can do it :D I really like your character, and overall you did a great job with this post!
 
Aira entry - have fun xD

Aira:
The glassy-eyed figure that stood bold before Vera finally began to move, but slowly; too slowly. With intense curiosity, Vera observed her opponent intently. It was almost as if he was trying to be slower, what fool. To think that he underestimated her that much! He will die.

A fire or dark flame emanated from her black sword, evil and fiendish like the underworld itself, Vera cast the sword upon the face of the earth and the dark flame slowly began to engulf the surface of the greenery, decaying it into nothing but piles of ashes and burning flames. Hell began to rise and those that lay dead in the field, their bones lifted from the earth. The blackened fire of death followed in her step and the light embraced it. As the dark flame spread it quickly ran closer and closer toward the man she once loved, the man who betrayed her, and the man who left her in the pit of hell with one of the most despicable beings ever born, to be tortured, to be whipped, to be enslaved and to be raped. Here she stood before him; her will absolute, he who she trusted, he who betrayed her trust will die upon her very sword.

“I will fight you, Phoenix. I will fight you! Until we both end!”

Pheonix:
As the dark flames moved towards him, Pheonix brought his white blade down and dragged the tip of it through the ground in front of him. As he did, a white light began to shine through the cut he made. He drew an X in the ground in front of him, and then stabbed the white blade through the middle of it, creating a similar eruption of power as Vera, only with an opposite effect. Light began to erupt from the ground, moving and snaking it's way through the field. It was designed to dirctly counter Vera's corruption.

After that was done, he pulled the blade from the ground. The light around him would shield him from her dark flames, and so he stood still there. Then suddenly, the shards that formed the massive blade on is back began to move and shimmer, creating the sound of rain as the shards began to swarm around Pheonix's body. Once the moved in front of him, they spread out into a large swarm, and then all 10k of them launched at Vera, each one razor sharp. Small and numerous, enough to cut through any flaws in her armor, and shred her to bits in seconds with a direct hit.

Aira:

The bane of Vera’s sword was countered by a large x that phoenix thrust into the ground, light emanating from it. As the light began to bright, the man’s sword shattered into thousands of pieces; as it did so Vera prepared her defence as she use the sword in her other hand to create a brilliant aura of light around her being, reflecting the light of the crystals and controlling the light that surrounded them. Keeping the objects confined her starlight space.

Surrounding her was now a large shield of crystal and light like dome. With a mighty force, Vera roared back, using the light to retaliate in the form of ten thousand fragments of stars, in different orders ready to burn at her opponents armour and the power of the man’s crystals would only help her cut through her opponents armour, what foolery.

Pheonix:

As the shards began to shoot back at Pheonix, he stood his ground and focused his mind and energy. The shards began to glow with their own energy. Each shard came from a power crystal, each with their own elemental energy. Using that energy, the shards broke free of the light energy that Vera used to control them, and returned to Pheonix's mental control only moments before reaching him.

The shards stopped in the air, and then began to flood back at Vera, sweeping around to the sides in order to converge on her from all directions, including above and behind her. It was like a powerful wave coming to crash down on her. There might be nothing left but bloody shreds if she failed to avoid it.

Aira:

A blue light emanated from Vera as her form began to shift and compress, her swords changing with her body. As she began to morph, her bones shifted, senses heightened as she slowly began to shrink out of sight, in to nothing more put a flea. The sacrifice would be great, as soon as she transformed again her body would be stressed from the rapid transformation; but death would not fall upon her this day.

The thousands shards continued to pursue her, however they would not find their target as she hid amongst a thicket of grass, jumping across the ground to avoid staying in her previous location and being squashed, charging toward her enemy; she would find a new opening.

Alright, your problem here was trying to control his ability without knowing enough about it. You told me that you have super strength and speed, so you should take full advantage of that. Now, if he is going to attack you with ten thousand shards, then you do the only sensible thing and run like hell. Use your speed to your advantage try to maneuver yourself to where you can flank him and attack him while avoiding the shards. Now, if you find out that he has good control over them, and is able to keep you from getting close to him by having them spread out and block your paths, then you have you to make a bit of a sacrifice. Force the shards to spread out and block your path and simply dash through them. The advantage of this is that you will be getting hit by far less shards and your character shouldn't be completely shredded to pieces and you will be able to attack him directly.

Now, if you are attacking him directly, then I ASSUME he would have to either stop controlling the shards or take a hit. Then you will just have to see what he does next. If he is able to control the shards perfectly while dodging attacks and casting other spells, that is probably a bit too powerful on his part.

Also, he didn't mention how fast the shards were moving. This is a critical error on his part and can be exploited initially.
 
Rule 1

His fists clenched and unclenched methodically as he stood before this mysterious man. Command had warned him that there might be opposition, but they didn't specify the level of resistance expected. No matter, he thought to himself. This one doesn't look too gruesome.

The man took it on himself to launch the first attack. As his enemy strode forward, so did he. He felt the heat radiating from his arms, ready to melt the man before him if the fool was dumb enough to engage in close-quarters combat. The first attack was a knife projectile, to which he simply raised his left forearm. Along his forearm rested a hickory plank, an extremely durable wooden guard which was easily replaceable and resilient against most ranged attacks (forgoing anything shot from a crossbow). The knife hit his arm with an alarming force, actually pushing his arm backwards and shifting his right shoulder forward in response. Before he could reach the man, his opponent propelled himself backwards and skywards. As he reached the spot his enemy had just occupied, he felt a strange force pushing him in slightly in the opposite direction. Interesting. He manipulates the air, and when he does, the surrounding particles rush in to fill the vacuum with a surreal speed.

The rushing of the air threw him off balance and he staggered backwards on his right foot. His eyes followed the man skyward, where he could see the same distortion of air that had appeared around his hands when he first thrust away from the ground. This time, however, the distortion was not local. It grew large, billowing out from the man's hands and almost encompassing his own field of vision. Fight fire with fire is what he was always told, and that was the plan. Reacting quickly, he scooped one of the five remaining explosive balls that had been saddled around his waist and tossed it in the air towards the man. At only a half second delay he followed up with a jet of fire, heat arcing towards the ball in midair. He quickly counted the distortion fields coming off the man's hands - one, two, three waves. The fire he had shot reached the first ball with no time to spare, igniting the powder inside and creating an explosion. The force of the explosion was just enough to counteract a small field of the attack, providing him just enough of a window as to not be torn asunder by the gale-on-crack winds. He followed this up with two more similar attacks, tossing out two bombs and two flame arcs, to counter each incoming attack. After the third arc of flame left his hand he paused for a second and removed the knife which was stuck in his wooden guard. With a wish and a prayer he whipped the knife through the center of each explosion. The idea would be that after it cleared all three explosions it would be rocketed forward by the air that was rushing in following the man's attacks. Focusing heat in his arms he released a blast of flame behind it, a large ball that would hopefully shield the tiny, fast moving projectile in its brilliance.

Rule 2 (a continuation of the same battle)

For what seemed like nearly an hour he had been on the run, avoiding destructive blasts that tore the scenery around him to pieces. The site of their battle had moved from the large, open path in to a loosely forested area. At first he had taken to using the trees as defense, but his opponent took to blasting the trees apart. This augmented the destructive force of each attack, causing every splinter to become a deadly projectile as they ricocheted away from the blast zone. He had already taken several cuts from the exploding trees, while managing to dodge any direct hits from the man himself, but this was not a sustainable battle plan. One shard had slashed from his nose to his temple, just narrowly missing an impact with his eye. As he ran from the man, he noticed a rock ahead. Aha, he thought, there's no way he can blast this apart. Driving himself towards the rock, he momentarily broke from hiding behind trees and was nearly blasted away for it. The blast caught the ground just below his back foot, blasting him forward and sending him tumbling to the other side of the boulder. As he rolled and came to, he noticed that the ground that had been hit had become a small crater. Clearly, his assailant he moved from the sweeping, slicing winds of before to more concentrated balls of force. He had, after all, been trying to flush him out and away from his cover. Bam! The boulder was hit with a blast of air, but it barely moved. Taking this moment to rest, he felt around his waist. Two bombs left. He needed to get close to this man to try and finish him in one flashy move, but how fast could he actually fire those blasts off? Until now, he had been trying to hit a target that was moving away from him, but how hard would it be to hit something that was coming right towards you? If he fired at the same rated as before, only one bomb would be required to cover the distance between his recharges. If not, well...he gave himself about three seconds to get to his opponent, who was likely to be too tried to put any more ground between them. He curled both sets of fingers around a bomb, holding one in either hand. Gathering his strength, he leaped out from behind the boulder and started his assault.

Immediately the man fired off a shot, which he cancelled out with the first bomb. No more than a second later, he fired off another shot. Shit, this is twice as fast as he was firing before! The second bomb was released and exploded to counter this attack. The third attack would not be avoidable. Reacting in a few milisecond's time, he threw his weight in to his left foot. The mans third attack went off almost point blank, but the focal point for the attack remained the same. Having shifted his weight, the attack would only hit his right leg. He could feel the crushing pain as the blow hit his leg, the force crumpling the muscles in his leg and disconnecting his entire right leg from his hip socket.

It did not matter. This attack was do or die. For the length of his sprint towards this man he had been concentrating heat in his upper and fore arm. As he neared the man his arms erupted in a burst of violent flame, turning his arms into veritable swords of plasma. As the third blast hit his right leg he was spun forward with great force, arms outstretched towards his enemy. The vacuum of the blast caused air to once again rush in, fueling the flames on his arms with delicious oxygen and causing them to erupt in a volcanic fashion. The man had two options; stay and be incinerated or avoid the attack. Either way, he was sure to feel the heat.
 
Name: William
Powers:
- Can augment own strength and speed though this dose cause damage to his own body if used too rigorously. If he goes to more than three times his body's current limits, (Those of your top tier Olympic athlete.) his body will have some serious side effects like broken bones and torn tendons.
- Master of unarmed combat due to his special power.



Rule - 1
William smiled as he stood before his unnamed opponent, cracking his knuckles together, his suit perfectly poised, his hair loose but styled around his shoulders. Lifting his right arm he made a 'bring it on' gesture. The unnamed assailant rushed him, will smiled. Amateur. Rising his left hand he slid back, watching the man for the tell tail signs of his move. His right hip dipped as his left leg was about to leave he ground. Lashing his left arm across towards his assailants left foot he smacked it clean away from his path. With the same motion he snapped his left hand back up and across using his augmented speed, taking the back of his left hand he slapped the throwing knife out if his path along the flat of the blade. Causing it to veer off and stab into the far left wall. Now the man flipped himself back with a cushion of air? Interesting. Will smiled a lingering smile of both sarcasm and intrigue. Though what followed Will hadn't expected, cutting waves of air. Damn!. Sliding his footing from left to right and back again. He slipped past the waves of air. Pushing himself off of the ground into a spinning horizontal leap, sliding between two parallel blades of air and landing on his feet. Looking down he saw that several of his buttons were missing and now his jacket hung open. Then one of the blades almost caught him slicing through his jacket and most of his sleeve as well as tearing a large cut in his left arm, not deep but long from his shoulder down to his elbow. Now he was annoyed.


Rule - 2
William snapped his neck. This unnamed assailant was not exactly playing fair with him. Knives? Air-blasts? William slid off his jacket now thoroughly ruined. Looking down at it he threw it at his opponent to mask his incoming attack. Using the jacket as cover he closed the distance within seconds, crouching low on his left leg, his right arm poised to extend into an uppercut of vicious force. Snapping his right leg around he would cut out his opponent's legs if the blow connected. Then using the falling man's own weight he would drive his fist up into his assailant's chest. Spinning still from the force of the right leg sweep he would extend his left leg into the punch making both extensions into a single snapping force, strong enough to break the sternum and then drill his fist into the broken bone, fragmenting it and causing it to fracture as well as break. If all this attack connected it would leave his opponent broken and battered but not dead. In serious pain but still breathing. If the kick missed and his opponent dodged by jumping Will would follow through the attack but extend his arm out enough to punch his opponent in the ribs and drag him around with the spiralling force. Finishing off that avenue would be a single strong punch to the stomach.
 
Err, okay. I don't really know what I'm doing, but here goes nothing.

Name: Silver
Abilities: Her power is that of illusionary manipulation. Basically, she can take control of your senses for a short period of time to make you feel, see, hear, smell, taste whatever she wants you to. Her powers are not that strong, meaning one could see through it easily if they knew about her abilities beforehand, and they won't last longer than about 10 minutes. The amount of people she chooses to affect also limits that time, though the most she could affect would be about 5 people for 2 minutes each. The time she has control also varies on how easily manipulated a person is. One with mind powers would probably require much more effort to control than one who was purely brute strength. The older someone is, the less likely they are to be affected, too. She's also very skilled with two, small, twin swords she has, but she is not yet a master.

Rule #1.
Silver kept her eyes on her new enemy, curious of his motives, but not letting her mind wander too far in case he finally made his move. Soon after she recognized her own curiosity and made the conscious decision to not worry about it too much, he began to move. As her enemy threw a knife towards her, she took a quick sidestep, the knife barely missing her due to her own inability to focus while she was nervous. Luckily, she was not hit. The mysterious foe then flew into the air, surprising Silver more than it should have. Him being in the air put Silver at a disadvantage, and she had no choice to dodge and block as best she could at this point. As her foe launched wind at her, she easily dodged the first gust with a carefully timed jump, but to her dismay, ended up rushing right into the next burst, leaving her with no chance to properly block. She put her hands up in front of her face, at least trying to not get killed as the gusts hit her, one after the other, sending her skidding back a good ways away. Slowly and shakily, she stood up, holding her arm. She had quite a few cuts on her body, some of them being rather deep, but she couldn't give up now. Not yet, at least.

Rule #2.
Silver looked down to her swords, sheathed at her sides, then back to the man who had just attacked her. In her current condition, there was no way she would be able to run and physically attack the man with her swords. She had no other choice, she figured, so she decided to finally use her magic. Silver closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it in for a moment. After a couple seconds, she slowly let it out while her eyes opened, glaring at the man not too far away from her. She focused on her enemy as best she could, ignoring the pain and standing up straight, preparing herself for what she was about to do. She had to make this count. The whole area around them got dark, so dark one could hardly see anything around them. Several undead beings rose up around her foe, armed with rusty old swords and armor, and looked to be fallen soldiers of some sort. They moved in closer to the man, some grabbing him as others prepared to strike. One, however, was not so patient with the ritual, and instead charged in, thrusting his sword right through the man's gut. After the beings began making what sounded like laughing noises, they all backed up, and eventually dissolved into a fine mist, and blew away. The area went back to it's normal lighting, and Silver was down on her knees, staring at the man and trembling slightly. She had just used up a lot of her strength in trying to make such an illusion as real as possible. In reality, the man was unharmed, but he should have at least felt most of what he just went through, assuming he didn't see through it right away. Silver could only hope for a few moments of shock in order to regain some of her strength, so she could fight with her swords instead.

Actually, if I may ask, I've been trying to think of a way to make her abilities seem less.. overpowered? Sometimes I try to drop hints before she performs the illusion, indicating that it is indeed an illusion, but that doesn't always work. I figured this might be a good place to ask about it.