Ruby and Angela’s Traits

[Blitzfrieg]

Character’s Name:– Angela Kaiser
Profile:–strawhatforum.proboards.com/thread/25584/angela-kaiser-update?page=1&scrollTo=106608
Devil Fruit:–strawhatforum.proboards.com/thread/24937/hou-mi
Current X-Poinz:– 625

Applying for new trait due to ranking up.

New Trait - Inhuman Toughness:Angela has developed a considerable tolerance to pain, allowing her to continue fighting even when critically injured or in significant pain.




Character’s Name:– Ruby Bright
Profile:–strawhatforum.proboards.com/thread/25238/ruby-bright-update
Devil Fruit:–. strawhatforum.proboards.com/thread/25236/kane-mi-precious-fruit?page=1&scrollTo=104624
Current X-Poinz:– 447


Claiming Ruby’s starting traits.

New Trait - Inhuman Recovery: Ruby seems to recover from injury at an unnatural speed, even short rests being able to fully restore her stamina.

New Trait - Chemical Resistance Due to spending her life in the presence of Chemistry sets and numerous explosive accidents, Ruby has developed a natural resistance to Chemical Burns and Toxins.

[Jade]

Hey there, Blitzfrieg! So, before I really get into things, I'd like to mention that when you put things up for approval, you really shouldn't go adding them to your characters' profiles before they're approved.

Now, moving on... Angela Kaiser's new "Cannon Body" Trait is all well and good, really. It just seems like a mixture of a "Heat Resistance" and a "Concussion Resistance" Traits, which feels like a pretty natural extension of their status as a Cannon Human. However, I'd also like to take a moment to point out that Angela (and Ruby, as long as I'm mentioning this) lacks her Devil Fruit Trait. This is a Trait that does not take up a Trait slot; you essentially pay for it at the same time as the user's Fruit, because the Fruit permanently changes something about them.

Also on that note, I see that the Hou Hou no Mi innately gives Angela some resistance to the heat and concussive force that her cannons generate. You don't need to apply for a Trait for these beyond the "Cannon Human" Trait that Angela should have; "Cannon Body", as you've written it up, would instead be representative of her body naturally having heat & concussive force resistance, likely as a result of her building up a tolerance to those things from generating them within her own body or something.

As for Ruby Bright's Traits, we've got some... Similar issues. She'll need a "Precious Metal Human" Trait to signify her status as the current user of the Kane Kane no Mi, for a start. However, as you've written them up, neither "Gilded Bones" nor "Auric Strength" really make sense as Traits.

• Gilded Bones: So, the problem here is that Logia abilities don't actually permanently alter anything about the user's body - they are, strictly speaking, activated abilities.
• Auric Strength: The problem here is that Traits are a permanent, passive characteristic of a character - they aren't really something that can be turned on and off like this. I'd also like to point out that there's not really a strong connection between "turning into a precious metal" and "massively boosted physical strength".

You're going to need to go back to the drawing board on these, I'm afraid. Angela's "Cannon Body" Trait is alright, of course, unless you were trying to have it be her Devil Fruit Trait, in which case it'll need tweaked to properly account for her Fruit-given ability.

[Blitzfrieg]

For starters I only put those traits in the update because until a couple days ago, I didn’t know we had to apply for Traits. It doesn’t say anywhere that we have to, and I assumed it wasn’t necessary. Apologies for that.

Beyond this I guess I am confused as to the limitations of traits. I just got done asking admins on Dischord about traits. And even though I’m told we aren’t limited to the ones listed by you guys, it seems like the limitations are still there.

I wasn’t trying to imply any direct connection between being gold and having increased strength. I was literally just trying to implement a more creative form of enhanced strength than just.....being super strong all the time. I don’t want my characters to be a generic Mary Sue or having all of them eventually just being super strong, fast, agile, and durable. That is incredibly boring and I barely see the point of traits if everyone ends up the same. It’s a self imposed limitation that makes for interesting writing. She can’t use her inhuman strength if she gets knocked out of her golden form by a Haki attack or cuffed by Sea Prism Stone.

Edit: Sorry I guess I’m confused as to why it’s fine to have a generic “Super Strength” trait with no more explanation than “has done lots of pushups” sufficing to justify it, but I can’t have a more balanced, but equally arbitrary version of the exact same trait.

[Jade]

Ah, okay. Well, when I checked their updated profiles and saw that they had last been edited after you put these up for approval, I assumed that the edits had been to include these new Traits. I apologize for that.

I understand a lot of what you're saying - however, this is how Traits function. The first two sentences in the About - Traits thread read as such:

Traits are passive abilities that all characters possess. Each Trait offers unique strengths – and in some cases weaknesses – which influence a character’s passive capability in combat and other intense situations.

At their core, Traits are passive - they are "always on", because they are physical capabilities that a character develops over time. If you want something that is "activated", then you would need to look to Techniques, or perhaps even Overdrives.

While I understand that you think your solutions are better balanced - and I am not actually addressing this fact, because Traits are not really a system that has or needs much in the way of balancing - the simple fact of the matter is that they are not functional as Traits.

[Blitzfrieg]

Ok take two.  How does it look now?

[Jade]

Well, I'm not seeing any real issues with these, so I'd say we're looking good! I'll happily approve these, so make sure you add them to your characters' respective profiles!