Amateurs Academy Tournament OOC and Submission

Amateurs Academy Tournament

Introduction

Welcome to the Amateur’s Academy Tournament, a tournament run on the simple premise of helping people get into text fighting and improving their skills if they need it. If you’ve ever thought ‘I’m not good enough to be text fighting’ or ‘I wish I knew how to text fight better’ than this is a tournament, and a chance, for you.
Lobos and I are the judges and we will be giving tips and advice to each competitor before and after their fights if they want them. Each competitor will participate in at least two fights and losing in the first round does not mean it’s over.

Story

Lord Millicent Bale and Rayvian Del'Kaiath are hosting a tournament for the Battlemaster’s Academy with an open invite to talented individuals across the globe to show they have what it takes to be a part of the academy. Their hope is to discover hidden and unharnessed skills and talents to help grow and develop into great fighters.

The battles will take place in the grounds around the Battlemaster’s Academy, a fight to defeat, surrender or death. Participants suffering injuries or death will be healed or brought back at the end of each round, regardless of the fights outcome.

Rules

The tournament will be single round elimination, meaning two people will enter the chosen arena and fight until there is a victor or the time runs out. The judges will determine a winner based off points. Defeating your opponent does not mean instant victory if they wrote, roleplayed and fought better than you. All fights are to be in third person paste-tense and follow T1 guidelines (available here).

There is a time limit of four weeks per round from when the topic is posted. When a person posts their opponent has 72 hours to post a reply before they suffer a penalty to points. If you cannot post, message either Patcharoo or Lobos and the loss of points will be avoided. We're aiming for 8-16 competitors.

The winners of the first round will go onto a ‘Winners Bracket’ while the losers will go to the ‘Losers Bracket’. In the final match the winner of the ‘Losers Bracket’ will face off against the winner of the ‘Winners Bracket’. The winner of the ‘Losers Bracket’ must win two consecutive matches against the winner of the ‘Winners Bracket’ to fully win the tournament.

General Rules
T1 combat
No forcing actions of other peoples characters
Fights go for 4 weeks or until defeat
Must post within 72 hours of your opponents last post
You will be judged on the following categories, each worth 5 points.

Offence
The demonstration of offensive fighting skills. A competitor performing well in this field will; perform attacks, keep on the offensive, land blows or force the opponent to defend. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; rarely attack, rarely commit to any offence, frequently be countered by opponent, expect to hit in unreasonable ways.

Defence
The demonstration of defensive fighting skills. A competitor performing well in this field will; maintain defence, keep from being struck by opponents attacks, counter opponents attacks with results. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; rarely defend, always be attacking, be hit a lot, expect to block in unreasonable ways.

Strategy/Tactics
The demonstration of foresight and planning. A competitor performing well in this field will; show preparedness for opponents tactics, attacks and defences, the ability to adapt as combat develops, use of positioning and counters to gain an upper hand. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; rely primarily on overpowering their opponent regardless of character, often use techniques/actions which do not further the fight (actions which ‘reset’ the fight, movements only for the purpose of dodging rather than trying to improve positioning).

Creativity
Making the fight interesting. A competitor performing well in this field will; show use of the environment, creative use of their powers or weapons, make the fight seem engaging and interesting. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; fail to engage the reader/judges, fail to show off the full extent of what their character is capable of.

Roleplaying
The ability to write and maintain a character involved within the fight. A competitor performing well in this field will; demonstrate and stay in character, write as if they are said character. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; often focus too much on the technical aspect.

Writing
The writing ability of the competitor. A competitor performing well in this field will; maintain grammar and spelling consistently, write clearly and concisely so readers/judges know what is going on, write in the selected tense. A competitor performing poorly in this field will; use ‘I’, ‘Me’ etc, confuse the reader/judges with what is supposed to be going on.

To participate in the tournament you will need to fill out the following relevant details to do with your character and post it here or PM it to Patcharoo.
Remember, the more descriptive you are the better, and don't feel disheartened if you have to review or modify your character slightly for this tournament.
No closing date for submission at this point.

Name:
Age:
Race: (Provide a description of the race. Just because you say ‘dwarf’ doesn’t mean we’ll assume they’re resistant to poison)
Physical Description:
Equipment:
Abilities:
Skills:

Power Limits
Characters should only be as strong as a fighter in Street Fighter. At their absolute limits they should be able to defeat a Dungeons and Dragons style dragon with great difficulty. The following powers are outright limited or banned.
Spatial warping (Black holes, gravity manipulation, teleporting, portals)
No unlimited strength, energy or powers. By extension, no rejuvenation or healing
Mimicry or copying attacks/techniques
Duplication, cloning and illusions
You may have one summonable pet, but it can be no bigger or stronger than a wolf/wild cat, and can only have very basic and limited magic if it is not a fighting creature
No ‘Super’ forms or ‘power ups’
Projectile weapons that do not use a persons own strength or power are banned (guns, bows for example)
Anything deemed ‘overkill’ such as instant death spells, summoning dragons etc will be rejected.

Arenas
For all arenas a magical barrier will be set up along the walls blocking anything inside from getting out and anything outside getting in. Each competitor is teleported inside.

The Wood Clearing
Normally meant as a campsite, this clearing is perfectly circular and surrounded by trees, varying in age and size. The clearing in the middle is 30ft in diameter. Competitors start on either side of the clearing amidst the trees. The full arena size is 50sq feet, with the clearing in the centre. The ground is grass and dirt with a layer of solid earth beneath.

The Burning Pit
This arena is a 30sq feet, with a 10ft diameter pit in the middle. Anyone who falls into the pit will be deemed as losing, due to the pits normal use for fire. But for sensible reasons, there is no fire in the pit. Competitors start directly on opposite sides of the pit.

The Pier
A straight 40x10ft wooden dock, with a second path matching in length in the middle to form a ‘T’ shape. Competitors start at either end of the ‘T’, with even distance to the middle. Water is on all sides of the dock. Barriers are set up 10ft away from the docks.

The Chamber of Heroes
A round chamber 40ft wide, with statues of four heroes on the wall evenly spaced apart. Four marble pillars stand 20ft in, each 5ft round and positioned in the shape of a square.

When you say things that aren't fired from your body, that brings into question my character Sean Seam. He'd already be seriously powered down for the tourney, but one of his main forms of attack is him firing a bunch of threads out of his sleeves in the way Orochimaru sent snakes out of his sleeves. How would that be classified?

That would be fine since he is firing it himself with his own body. I'll clarify it now.
Its to stop people from using weapons that would be deemed too strong, such as guns and bows.

"Defeating your opponent does not mean instant victory if they wrote, roleplayed and fought better than you."

This has me rather concerned. I am seeing a "Murderbrawl"-esq failure here. I think if someone wins...they win. Why a judging/grading system needs to be used in a clear-cut 'winner/loser' situation is beyond me... In the case of a draw or something, then sure. Bring in the judge.

Plus, if the fought better...how would the 'winner' have won?

Also, am I allowed to fight in this even though I have been T1ing for about 15 years? =D

Brute force can be an effective, boring, uninteresting way to win that lacks strategy and lacks any real depth.

Casting a fireball every round against an opponent who spends the entire time evading your attacks, using the environment as a shield and returning with a variety of spells to overcome the fireballs would likely be well-received.

Additionally, people who push the limits of the constraints (which can happen especially when people are losing) tend to walk this same line.

Winning your fight is good. But showing off your ability as a fighter is better.

On whether you can join, go ahead. Not many submissions so this will probably fall through.

Name: Thaddeus Ja'gean

Age: 46

Race: Hu'ran- The Hu'ran look like humans, but have a few large differences. Firstly they have evolved, over the years, to not need eyes. They "see" using the other senses: they feel the movements in the air around them, they hear the slightest of all sounds, and their sense of smell is incredibly adept. They evolved in such a manor because there is almost no light on their home world. Furthermore their main source of food is hunting, and since they are a mostly undeveloped people they need to be wonderful hunters. This need for the hunt has also given them some other cool side effects. Mainly: from a very small age, they learn how to be silent when they move and they developed long curving claws that can be extended from the nails of his pointer and pinky fingers (which are normally the same length as any other nail) and are almost as strong as bronze.

Physical Description: Thaddeus is taller than an average human, about 6'11", with very tan skin. He weighs only 150, which makes him a very lean Hu'ran, almost all of it being muscle. He almost always wears a brown linen garb that hugs him very closely, along with brown boots and a black vest that holds all that he needs to survive for weeks. Where his eyes should be he wears the customary eye cover of the Hu'ran (his is a purple band of leather with a blazing sun where his eyes should be) and his ears, hands, nose, and mouth seem abnormally big. His limbs too are longer than a human's. When his claws extend they are yellow and are about half a foot long.

Equipment: Thaddeus, like all Hu'ran males, wields a short sword which has etchings of a setting sun (it matches his eye cover). He also keeps an assortment of all kinds in his vest. Small blast balls (homemade with easily obtainable roots), knives, poison vials, roots and herbs for healing, rope, and an extendable staff made from the wood of an Arkanian tree, the strongest tree on his home world. A Hu'ran male is expected to be prepared for anything, at all times. If one is unprepared it can ruin his reputation for months.

Abilities: -He can pick up on noises for miles around, choosing which ones to focus on.
-He can feel through he air for about three feet in all directions around him.
-He can smell the slightest scent for miles.
-The nails of his pointer and pinky finger extend to, essentially, 6 inch long copper blades.

Skills: -His reflexes are lightning quick.
-He can move silently through the densest forest.
-An understanding of where the major organs are (at least on a Hu'ran).
-Speed and strength that his elongated limbs grant him.
-Making medicines from common herbs and plants
-Making poisons from common herbs and plants
-Trained in the battle form Ge'an-Ti, which is a fighting style that focuses on an open palm, and using his nails to hit the enemy's pressure points.
-A master swordsman, he is the best on his home world.

I suppose this is still going on, no? An amateur is here.

Name: Ezall

Age: 23

Race: Human from the land of Be'Akytos in the world of Airl

Physical Description: Ezall, like most people of Be'Akytos, are tanned due to the constant bathing light of Helo's sphere. Unlike the rest of Airl, Be'Akytos was not part of the floating archipelago of continents. It's land was dry and barren as a desert, and it lacked much of the technological marvels of the civilizations of Airl. The people lived like nomads and hunter-gatherers upon the steepes, gathering sustenance from whatever roamed the lands. A pale, jagged ring encircles his right eye. Hidden runes run along his arms that usually glow whenever he is wielding the power of Azreal. His hair is a mixture of ruffled dirty blonde, and brownish blonde. His eyes are grey, a trait that neither of his parents had. His uncle told him his father had brown eyes, while his mother had blue eyes. The grey eyes were a result of the a recessive trait found in humans of Be'Akytos, who believed that those with grey eyes were essentially cursed and destined to become the host of a demon.

Life in the desert revolved around constant survival, Ezall honed and refined his body into a sinewy form in the desert lands of Be'Akytos. He mostly wears a ripped, white, short sleeved tunic that is opened around the midriff, with a brown, padded, sleeveless, outer vest. There is a leather strap which wraps across his chest and back diagonally, and holds many small items, from his cantina of water, to his wooden staff. His head is covered in several ragged red and blue-violet wraps and brown scarves that also adorn his neck, most of which are scavenged or re-sewed from other scraps of cloth. The length of these scarves tend to reach his waist, and thus they are usually sent billowing in the wind.

Brown bands run from the middle of his arm to the back of his palm and are wrapped around his knuckles and fist, covering his palms. He wears boots, a rugged pair, not mass produced, but hand made principally by he himself. A golden threaded sash with designs of swirls belonging to his mother is wrapped around his stomach.

Equipment: For a period of time Ezall was weaponless, until he ventured further into civilized realms. He could not afford the finely crafted weapons and thus he relied on what he could make from what nature provided. He managed to carve for himself a rough wooden stick with sharp pointed ends used for stabbing and piercing, it was mainly used as a method of catching fish in river streams outside of his native land. That has long since changed as he smoothed out the wooden staff into a viable weapon, though, due to its wood properties, the weapon began to break against harder substances such as metal through prolonged use. As a result, Ezall often has to carve a new stick out of wood. Recently he managed to craft a bow staff around 71 inches long composed of strong and flexible fibers that add to his battle techniques.

Abilities: His only magic abilities involve wielding the power of Azreal, the God of Time, Wind, and Sands. Though, because he only became the Eye of Azreal recently, he hasn't unlocked much of the power that the God has reserved for him. The ability over Time for example, is one that the God keeps guarded closely, and at present moment Ezall has no control over its flow.
The other two elemental abilities, Ezall has some beginning control over. He can summon the force of wind against his enemies or upon himself, either pushing them back or enhancing his agility for a short time. His power over sand involves the ability to manipulate the grains into various minor constructs and tangibles to either use upon enemies or himself. He can also combine both elements together in a synchronized fashion.

Skills:
- Striking techniques with his bow staff
- Simple melee combat techniques
- Fairly heightened reflexes compared to the average human

Well, that puts us at two entries. I'd like to leave the submission period open no later than the end of January. If we don't have at least about 8 fighters I don't think we'll go ahead with it.

At present moment the chances of that coming to fruition seem...slim to say the least. So in the event that happens, could we convert this to a training session? Because I was actually interested in improving...my somewhat non-existent text based combat skills.

Of course. I'd be happy to help in combat skills in a more friendly environment than a competitive one.

I sorta-kinda need to improve my rusty (read: Almost completely gone) T1 text-combat skills.



Name: Seoda Bec
Age: 20
Race: Nidive- Nedivie look like humans, they blend well too. The only difference is seen if you look really close- a orange-red tint to the skin and a yellow one to the eyes. All are taught to be cunning and swift from the time they come of age- which, on their planet, is around ten earth-years. They are taught to fight first, ask questions later- it protected them. However, the planet was destroyed, by a much faster race, and many of them simply fled to earth, knowing they could hide. For the most part, they have. Only a few times have they been exposed- a short news story about a man who survived in a crashed plane without water for a week- they had no water on the planet (that they could drink, at least. The animals could), so they got all the sustenance from the small, orange-red pores in the skin- they took in oxygen and moisture from the air. They don't need to breath in a normal way, and even if the entire body is sealed off from oxygen, there are storage cells that are underneath the skin that hold a few hours of unfiltered air- meaning it contains moisture and all. They separate it into moisture and air and ship some off into the body or into separate veins that run through the body- one for water and one for air- to be used later- Or a girl lost from her mother that walked through very dark woods without a flashlight to find her parents- the winter lasts for more than half the year on Kaicu, and they must see in the dark. A lady who landed on her feet from a four-story drop- they evolved from a feline-like race, and the bones in their body are mostly marrow and can actually bend and twist to some extent.

Physical Description: Seoda is pale, from the little sun on the planet, and scars run up and down her arms from the attackers- killers- of her planet a year ago. Most people think she cut herself, and she lets them. On earth, her solitary, 'depressed' mood would be signs of a 'cutter'. However, it was a healthy sign in Kaicu, where large beasts could turn into humanoids and trick you into the forest, then kill you there. Her hair is a bight red, with green streaks running through the bottom of it. She dyed in the former. It is long and goes almost to her waist. She is small and petite by most averages, even Nedivie ones. She stands at 4'5 and is normally very weak-acting, leading to most people underestimating her greatly. Her eyes are bright blue, apart from the yellow-tint. They are smaller than a humans and more cat-like, and her pupils are slitted a little- not enough to tell, though, like with the rest of her more cat-like features.

When she started training at ten, it was her mother who did it. Her father did some of the training, but only very little. She showed her how to use her flexible bones to her advantage- twisting her body to gain momentum after pushing off a tree or wall when using a sword or twisting her many vertebrae in the spine- they have many more then human, so it is easier to bend- to avoid a strike to somewhere vital. That got rid of really all her body fat, leaving her with just enough to look healthy.

After she finished her training, she got her new clothing- every Nedivie got a months worth of 'upbringing' clothing they had to wash- no going to stores, you had to wash every month. It was to teach responsibility. Honestly, Seoda just tricked her younger brother into doing her's. The new clothing, however, was a loose, but form-fitting dress made up of the materials found on the plant- a cotton-like fabric a thousand times harder than it called Tekkla. An armor in disguise. The brown dress and black pants she were given are made out of that. She was given a years worth of those- in varying colors- when she had to leave for earth. She had been one of the last to get out.


Equipment: She carries around a long katana-like sword on her back as well as a few daggers hidden in her tan-leather boots. In a pocket in her dress she has a few other things. A small vial of potion- the only potion she knows how to make- that amplifies her powers. All of the weaponry came form her home planet, and was made out of a very strong metal- stronger than steel, but at a cost. Every bang, knock, hit, leaves a mark on it- a small dent not seen by the naked eye. Enough hits, bangs, bumps, and it begins to weaken to the strength of steel. It stays almost new-looking for around five years, then begin to act more like steel-then, in 10 years, they deteriorate completely. . Her's were knew when she left, and have accumulated many bruises along the way- one of the daggers- the only one older than a year (her mothers) is beginning to weaken.

Abilities: Due to the pores in her skin and the veins that store water and/or air, she can generate small hurricanes using them. If she is stuck without air, it would be small and wouldn't last long- but in an arid environment, the veins- some of them are connected directly to pores in the back of the hand for just this purpose, so it doesn't have to go though cleaning, can generate stronger, more powerful gusts of air. Same for water- she can only use the reserves, unless she is in water, in which case she can use all of the supply she wants. Her senses are all heightened like that of a feline, and besides being as bendy as one, she is also faster than one, and a whole lot stronger- not the strongest, but very strong for her race.

Skills:

• She is skilled in swordsmanship
• She is very good at hiding out undetected.
• An excellent adapter by birth, she can sustain herself in almost any environment
• She has the reflexes and flexible nature of a feline

Well, that puts us up at three fighters, and we're near the end of the month...hmm, let's see if we can't make this eight.

To all those seeking to improve. While this tournament may have failed you, I'm still open to offer what information I can to help you improve your fighting. I'll drop you a PM in a couple of days and we can hopefully start practice there.s

Any way we could start this back up again? I'd love to be a part.

Name: Sean Seam
Age: 1538(I look 20, it's the age I'm stuck at.)
Race: Human/Djinni, I have mostly human traits, but thanks to one of my wishes, I ended up infused with the essence of a magical being. Due to my mixed energies, any form of magic directed at affecting a singular form of being(like, say, a Charm Monster spell, which would fall under Magical Creatures, or a Charm Person spell, which would affect sentient beings) will be useless against me, but spells that don't care about what you are, such as a good old Fireball, deal more damage than normal against me. Poisons tend to energize me more than damage me, something about magic breaking the venins down into amino acids. Other than that, all I can do is sense magic around me.
Physical Description: Since I was raised a Romani, or as some of you improperly call us, a gypsy, I tend to focus my clothing of being loose enough to move around in, but not so loose that I'm swimming in it. I wear a white dress shirt, which is more than capable of concealing extra threads in the sleeves, and harem pants, which stay warm in the cold, and keep me cool in the heat. I have dark brown hair, which I keep in bangs and a ponytail. My face is relatively attractive, thin enough to show my cheekbones, but not so thin that my hairstyle looks creepy, and my eyes, as proof of my wishes, are prismatic, and change colors at random. I stand at an even 6', and weigh 200 pounds, more due to my muscle than anything else.

Equipment: I wasn't the only person who got magic from a djinni, so I'm always prepared for an assassin who wants my powers(They all think that magic is some Highlander crap where killing your enemy grants you their powers. Had they talked to the djinni for more info, they'd know magic doesn't work like that.). I wear bracers of silver around my wrists, which I can pull foot-long blades out of with my magic for defensive maneuvers. For a more offensive approach, I can take the threads in my clothes and harden the tips to fire them off like darts towards my assailant. Since they are still connected to my clothes, I can redirect them like whips, although this is more for nonmoving targets like trees, so I can use the threads like grappling hooks. I'm a good shot, but not so good I can hit a moving target with projectiles. I utilize aerial mobility and traps in order to get close enough to my opponent for melee, so my equipment is designed around that.

Abilities: Thanks to my first wish, I became capable of manipulating objects used in the art of creation by touching them. After some experimentation, I learned that this means things like wood, metal, textiles, and plastic can have their hardness, current speed and direction, and mass altered on an atomic level. Something like sand, however, is near useless for me, because I need physical contact with the item in order to manipulate it, and sand is a bunch of very small things. Likewise, a cobblestone street's only gonna help me if all the rocks are being held in place with cement, so I can use that instead. With further study, I realized that sinew and bone were capable of being altered, but sadly, I can only manipulate my own. However, this means I can make myself fast enough to do things like ascend falling rocks by jumping off of them or strong enough to stop a cannonball, but neither at the same time, and I can't balance them out, I have to switch between speed and strength, which takes half of a second.

Skills: Of course, that blinding speed would cause most people to crash before they could do anything. Thanks to my second wish, which gave me one thousand, five hundred, and thirty-three years of training and years to come afterwards, I gave myself enhanced reflexes to counter that problem. With these reaction times, I did a study with one of those reaction-time games. Your average human who practices their reaction times can get down to about 100 milliseconds, or 1/10th of a second. I've honed my senses to be able to react in a third of the time, or 30 milliseconds. Those years also left me with a perfect body muscle-wise even without my strength boost, so while I'm not the world's strongest man, I AM capable of swinging around a 150-pound warhammer. I don't USE the hammer, but I can swing it around with the same effort someone else would swing a 50-pound hammer.

Other: My third wish got me a lemonade. I was thirsty at the time. Don't judge me. The fact that I was technically the first person to come up with the idea of the stuff, and thus market it in Egypt around 750 AD once I had a steady way to obtain lemons, DID make me pretty damn rich, though.

History: Let me just sum up the important parts, as a millennium and a half is a bit much. I was born to gypsies, got backstabbed by my best friend on my 20th birthday, and made a deal with a djinni as I was losing most of my blood and didn't have much choice, three wishes in exchange for my skills should another djinni think to try and kill him. I made my wishes for magic, eternal youth, and a refreshing drink that hadn't been made yet with instructions on how to make it. He gave me those, and so started my very profitable life as a lemonade vendor.