The Ever-Vigil Flame

Lance Trystane wrote:

Lineage Name: The Ever-Vigil Flame

Wielder: Lance Trystane

Purchase Proof: Here

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Description

Do not be misled. For this flame is naught but a curse. Aptly named so because it forces its victims to always be alert, this cursed flame shows a certain degree of sentience. This curse randomly appears in one out of a thousand people. It provides them with a multitude of magical or supernatural powers, different for each host. But this power comes at a price. As if whispering in their ear, the curse will slowly drive its bearer mad: pointing out their fears, mistakes and insecurities constantly, as if feeding off of them. Every recorded victim ends up with a ton of mental health issues. Many even take their own lives. Scholars have tried, but failed, to figure out a pattern for who the flame infects. As such, it is unknown if it, in its demi-sentient state, willingly targets people with a predisposition to mental illnesses or if the curse corrupts healthy minds.

Alas, it is not only negative and intrusive thoughts that the flame consumes. It thrives on power. The stronger the victims become, the stronger the flame does as well. As the curse rises in power its effect on the bearers' psyche become more severe. At the same time, it produces a deep-rooted desire of acquiring power in the victims' minds. A deep, gnawing feeling. Making them feel as if being eaten alive from the inside out if they do not progress. If the strength of a host is not enough to satiate the flame, it lashes outwards. Any such recorded case has always led to chaos and rampaging destruction. For these two reasons, people also refer to it as the All-Consuming Flame. The only way to, for lack-of-better-word, minimize the flame's effects: a vicious circle of cursed co-existence.

As said, the, so-called, boons of the flame differ from person to person. For Lance they manifest as a boost in his physique and strength, as well as the ability to utilize the cursed fire inside him to fuel his magic-like abilities.

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Abilities:

Corrupted Core:
The curse doesn't affect only Lance's mind. It has corrupted his magical core as well. Thus, most of the ethernano he absorbs are mutated and twisted into a cursed form of energy incompatible with conventional magic. To represent this pool of corrupted ethernano, instead of SP, the resource Lance uses is named Cursed Energy, or CE for short. Buffs to CE affect his CE maximum and, when his CE drops to 0, he suffers the same negative effects anyone would when running out of MP/SP. (Plot Ability)

Cursed Constitution:
Lance's constitution is altered by the curse he carries. A two-edged sword, however, as each upside is followed by a downside and these alterations have shaped Lance's fighting style. The curse has affected his as such: (3 Effects)

• His base Strength is increased by 200%. As a trade-off, his base Spell Healing and Spell Durability are reduced by 100%. He cannot utilize spells that posses a set durability, nor spells of defensive or supportive category. He also cannot benefit from any kind of increase to Spell Healing and Spell Durability. (This increase is a little high, especially considering you are "only" sacrificing your spell potential in this ability, not techniques. If this applied to techniques as well I will allow this, but otherwise, a base increase this high for an ability that, in effect, constitutes no actual drawback when applied in practice as you would simply focus on technique stats over spell stats, is simply too unbalanced)
  
  
• His base Speed is increase by 200%. In return, his Spell Speed and Spell Range are both reduced by 100% and cannot be increased by any means. As such, his spells cannot possess neither range nor speed and have to be limited to ranges and speeds such as "self" or "melee". (Same thing as above. If this applied to both base spell stats and base technique stats I could see the trade-off in this, but in effect, this simply allows you to disregard spell stats and focus on technique stats instead entirely. I must ask you to balance this further or rework this ability)
  
  
• His Melee Damage Reduction and Spell Damage Reduction are both increased by 50% (Melee and Spell damage reduction are not stats that can be increased, as they have both been reworked into a shared stat simply called "Damage Reduction"). Correspondingly his base Spell Damage is reduced by 100%, meaning that he has no access to offensive category spells.  
  

Innate Magic:
The curse of the Ever-Vigil Flame comes with an innate form of spellcasting. Lance gains access to 5 additional spell slots to be assigned to one magic (I'm assuming these are advanced spell slots, as the sentence following this speaks of advanced spell slot limits. If this is the case, please clarify that the additional slots gained are advanced spell slots, which are separate from regular spell slots). Whilst seperate from advanced spell slots gained via normal means, these advanced spell slots must still adhere to advanced spell rank limits, meaning: 0-2 D+, 0-2 C+, 0-2 B+, 0-2 A+ and 0-1 S+. Lance also gains 2 signature spell slots for one magic, ranking with him up to S rank. Finaly, Lance gains access to 2 additional advanced spell slots to be used in one magic, both ranking up with him with one capping at S+ and the other at H+.

However, this innate spellcasting stems directly from the cursed flame inhabiting Lance. Thus, it is highly malicious and more akin to the one demons, devils and such beings use. The former affects only these spells, as the spells gained through this lineage ability cannot be defensive or supportive in nature. The latter affects Lance as a whole, mutating any and all magics of his to be more demonic in origin. As a result he receives 50% damage from demon slayer magic, or any magic designed to be more effective against such beings. (7 Effects - 3 Drawbacks = 4 Effects) (This is actually only 6 effects total, 2 for the advanced slots, 1 for the signatures, and 3 for the S+ and H+ spell respectively. That said, I think the drawbacks you picked out for this ability aren't all that big for downsides, considering you are focussing on techniques and cannot use healing spells or defensive spells anyway given a stipulation on a previous ability, which means that this actually only constitutes 1 downside in practive, meaning that this ability would come out to 5 lineage effects)

Perserverance:
Lance's life has been quite literally cursed. Growing up so has led to much trauma, both from the curse itself and for being ostracized for it. The latter also led to a lot of instances of bullying during his younger years. As such, Lance had to take care of himself from an early age. This led him to hone both his physique and mental fortitude. He benefits from a 2x user rank passive buff to Strength (90% at C, 100% at B, 110% at A, 120% at S). In addition, debuffs he receives from others are 50% less effective. (3 Effects)

Superstition:
People have always been superstitious. Even though such fears are entirely baseless and not supported by any evidence at all. To "avoid the curse spreading to them", as they so put it, people have always provided Lance with a twisted form of preferential treatment. Thinking that if they don't antagonize him or get in his good graces then they will be safe from the curse. Lance receives 100% additional jewels from jobs he completes, as well as a custom piece of equipment equal to the rank of the job that was completed. Equipment earned this way cannot be sold or refunded to any shop or any other player. 100% additional jewels from jobs she completes as well as a custom piece of equipment equal to the rank of the job that was completed. Equipment earned this way cannot be sold or refunded to any shop or any other player. However they can be freely traded amongst the player's own characters or upgraded. (Repeat sentence? LOL) (2 Effects)

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Notes & Additional Drawbacks for Balancing and More Effects:
As a general drawback, Lance's base Technique Speed and Technique range are reduced by 50%.

The value for Lance's Spell Damage, Spell Healing, Spell Durability, Spell Speed and Spell Range is 0. Which means that he can only utilize self-targeted, axuliary spells. However, to ensure that these are meaningful limitations the following also apply:

• Lance cannot, via using magic of the Combat Arts type, turn 100% of his base MP to CE (the resource, which according to his lineage replaces SP).
  
  
• He is required to allocate at least 2 spell slots to active spells (not techniques) in each of his magics. At least 1 of those has to be the same rank as him.
  
  
• He cannot passively regenerate CE (the resource, which according to his lineage repaces SP) if his MP is full.
  

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OOC:

Lance Trystane wrote:

Lineage Name: The Ever-Vigil Flame

Wielder: Lance Trystane

Purchase Proof: Here

---

Description

Do not be misled. For this flame is naught but a curse. Aptly named so because it forces its victims to always be alert, this cursed flame shows a certain degree of sentience. This curse randomly appears in one out of a thousand people. It provides them with a multitude of magical or supernatural powers, different for each host. But this power comes at a price. As if whispering in their ear, the curse will slowly drive its bearer mad: pointing out their fears, mistakes and insecurities constantly, as if feeding off of them. Every recorded victim ends up with a ton of mental health issues. Many even take their own lives. Scholars have tried, but failed, to figure out a pattern for who the flame infects. As such, it is unknown if it, in its demi-sentient state, willingly targets people with a predisposition to mental illnesses or if the curse corrupts healthy minds.

Alas, it is not only negative and intrusive thoughts that the flame consumes. It thrives on power. The stronger the victims become, the stronger the flame does as well. As the curse rises in power its effect on the bearers' psyche become more severe. At the same time, it produces a deep-rooted desire of acquiring power in the victims' minds. A deep, gnawing feeling. Making them feel as if being eaten alive from the inside out if they do not progress. If the strength of a host is not enough to satiate the flame, it lashes outwards. Any such recorded case has always led to chaos and rampaging destruction. For these two reasons, people also refer to it as the All-Consuming Flame. The only way to, for lack-of-better-word, minimize the flame's effects: a vicious circle of cursed co-existence.

As said, the, so-called, boons of the flame differ from person to person. For Lance they manifest as a boost in his physique and strength, as well as the ability to utilize the cursed fire inside him to fuel his magic-like abilities.

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Abilities:

Corrupted Core:
The curse doesn't affect only Lance's mind. It has corrupted his magical core as well. Thus, most of the ethernano he absorbs are mutated and twisted into a cursed form of energy incompatible with conventional magic. To represent this pool of corrupted ethernano, instead of SP, the resource Lance uses is named Cursed Energy, or CE for short. Buffs to CE affect his CE maximum and, when his CE drops to 0, he suffers the same negative effects anyone would when running out of MP/SP. (Plot Ability)

Cursed Constitution:
Lance's constitution is altered by the curse he carries. A two-edged sword, however, as each upside is followed by a downside and these alterations have shaped Lance's fighting style. The curse has affected his as such: (3 Effects)

• His base Strength is increased by 200%. As a trade-off, his base Spell Healing, Spell Durability, Technique Durability and Technique Healing are reduced by 100%. He cannot utilize spells/techniques that posses a set durability, nor spells/techniques of defensive or supportive category. He also cannot benefit from any kind of increase to these four stats.
  
  
• His base Speed is increase by 100%. In return, his Spell Speed, Spell Range, Technique Speed and Technique Range are all reduced by 50% and cannot be increased by any means.
  
  
• His Damage Reduction is increased by 50%. Additionally, Lance suffers from a permanent 5% HP drain per post.
  

Innate Magic:
The curse of the Ever-Vigil Flame comes with an innate form of spellcasting. Lance gains access to 5 additional spell slots to be assigned to one magic, as well as 5 additional advanced spell slots to also be assigned to one magic. Whilst seperate from advanced spell slots gained via normal means, these advanced spell slots must still adhere to advanced spell rank limits, meaning: 0-2 D+, 0-2 C+, 0-2 B+, 0-2 A+ and 0-1 S+. Lance also gains 2 signature spell slots for one magic, ranking with him up to S rank. Finaly, Lance gains access to 2 additional advanced spell slots to be used in one magic, both ranking up with him with one capping at S+ and the other at H+.

However, this innate spellcasting stems directly from the cursed flame inhabiting Lance. Thus, it is highly malicious and more akin to the one demons, devils and such beings use. As a result he receives 50% damage from demon slayer magic, or any magic designed to be more effective against such beings. Moreover, this foreign form of magic is more taxing to use, his Spell Cost and Technique Cost are both increased by 50%.(7 Effects - 5 Drawbacks = 2 Effects)

Perserverance:
Having grown up with an ever-present curse makes for a rough childhood. Lance had to toughen up and learn to be independant form an early age. Books and exercise were always viable coping mechanisms that, in time, turned to a lifestyle. Lance benefits from a 3x user rank passive buff to Strength and HP: +135% at C, +150% at B, +165% at A, +180% at S and +195% at H rank for each stat respectively. Additioanlly, debuffs that target him are 50% less effective. (7 Effects)

Superstition:
People have always been superstitious. Even though such fears are entirely baseless and not supported by any evidence at all. To "avoid the curse spreading to them", as they so put it, people have always provided Lance with a twisted form of preferential treatment. Thinking that if they don't antagonize him or get in his good graces then they will be safe from the curse. Lance receives 100% additional jewels from jobs he completes, as well as a custom piece of equipment equal to the rank of the job that was completed. Equipment earned this way cannot be sold or refunded to any shop or any other player. 100% additional jewels from jobs she completes as well as a custom piece of equipment equal to the rank of the job that was completed. Equipment earned this way cannot be sold or refunded to any shop or any other player. However they can be freely traded amongst the player's own characters or upgraded. (2 Effects)

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Notes & Additional Drawbacks for Balancing and More Effects:
As a general drawback, Lance cannot benefit from any kind of supportive or defensive category spells or techniques coming from a third party. Meaning that the magic of others' can neither shield him, nor heal him. (4 Drawbacks, which in turn grants 4 Effects)

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OOC & Changelog: