Post by Vio on Sept 14, 2022 13:00:54 GMT -5
Hey, everybody! Once again, we’re here to deliver good news in regards to the site’s systems for character development! We’re still in the process of redesigning ships, but here’s what’s finally been ironed out for your enjoyment! This one’s a chunky one, but focuses on our Fighting Style Advancement system so bear with me:
Advancements: Revised
We’re softly reworking the manner in which Fighting Style Advancements work. While their costs and progression will remain the same, we’re filling out their stages for everyone—and we do mean everyone. Advancements, like most things, remain entirely optional, but to lay the groundwork for the rest of this big reveal, no matter what your first Advancement is, you’ll still only need to pay for the First Advancement step. Make sense? Well, here’s the meaty bit!
Additional Aspects
We’ve already offered the possibility for characters to pour their Second, Fourth, and Fifth Advancements into Aspects for their FiSts, but we’re going to expand that to include the First and Third Advancements as well. That means, if you choose to fill every Advancement slot with an Aspect, a FiSt can have a total of 10 Aspects!
But these aren’t the only options for characters, so here’s what we’ve added.
Passive Qualities
For those who don’t rely on a Devil Fruit’s nuances or care to learn a whole host of different Aspects, we’re including a more passive option that still compliments each FiSt. These aren’t quite the same as Traits, instead borrowing from Equipment, but they instead represent a passively improving mastery over the key features of your FiSt. When you grab this Advancement, you can choose a ‘Quality’ at its basic ‘Trait-like’ level, and a second Advancement can be used to improve this to its ‘Aspect-like’ level. Here’s some examples:
A swordsman treats every blade he wields with due care and respect, having mastered techniques to care for each and every blade wielded, sharpening them to such an extent that even his most basic blades are superior in cutting power to the average warrior’s own. A boxer’s fists have become progressively toughened through her extreme training regimen, rendering them effective defences. Even further, a Devil Fruit user’s produced substance has been mastered to further expand upon their innate properties, such as how Galdino’s wax is as hard as steel! That’s right, this even gives Devil Fruits more possibilities!
Speaking of Devil Fruits, here’s…
Awakening!
It’s taken us a long time since its first mention by Crocodile back in Impel Down, but we finally know enough to be able to implement it! However, just as an aside, we’re currently holding off on introducing Awakened Logia due to the fact we really haven’t learned enough about them. There’s things we can infer, but we’ve erred on the side of caution and decided to play it safe! So! Here’s how Awakening is going down—some ‘bad news’ included.
For Zoan Devil Fruits, we’ll be removing “Monster Form” as an Overdrive, because we’re very much certain it is the same thing. It also means we’ll be postponing access to this to Class “B” Fighting Styles, but I should remind you that it would only cost 150 X-Poinz to attain this if you held off on taking Advancements! So, what does it do?
Zoan Awakening allows access to an altered hybrid form that significantly bolsters a character’s strength, speed, toughness, and recovery abilities while active. It is, however, more animalistic than the typical hybrid state. In addition, you can choose 1 of your Traits to become Legendary while using this form—once chosen you can’t change it. Alternatively, if you’re a Mythical Zoan, you can choose this or one of the options we’ll outline in regards Paramecia. You can claim a second tier of this Advancement once your character has raised their Devil Fruit’s FiSt to “S”, at which point you gain an additional Trait to turn to a Legendary one (Mythical Zoans again have a choice in this matter).
So, what about going animalistic? What about being induced through medical practise like Chopper? Well, these are now completely narrative options. Of course, when using an Awakened form, a Zoan user’s mentality is partially overtaken by the will of their respective animal, so chances are you might become more aggressive if you are a predatory animal, etc.
As for Paramecia, they have two options at their disposal, following the same “B” and “S” Class thresholds. Firstly, as demonstrated by Doflamingo and Katakuri, the user can infuse their ability into their surroundings in order to change them into their substance and thus manipulate them indirectly. This option can only be taken once and is most suited to production-based Paramecia, with some exceptions.
The second option allows the user to create an additional power that is directly related to—but fundamentally different from—their original powers. This is demonstrated mainly by Kid, whose Awakening includes an effect that is related to his Jiki Jiki no Mi’s magnetism, but implements an additional layer to how it functions. No spoilers here.
Mythical Zoans, as mentioned, can choose these options as part of their Awakening!
And, well, that’s about it! We’ll be introducing these features soon once we have proper write-ups for them, but look forward to these changes and additions! We’ll be getting Logia sorted once we’ve seen more of their late game potential and feel more comfortable about what they’re all about. Enjoy!
