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Sigilic Pyromancy Mutations

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:03 pm
by Nuraku

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Sigilic Pyromancy - Black Dragonling

Description

Fiercely and bravely honing her mind and body, Alphonse has pursued a rigid life dedicated to the philosophy of hard-won success and self-betterment towards one's goals, and these principles which have guided her help to shape the magic. Engaging with her Animus, Alphonse has found her abilities favoring a more bestial form.

Apprentice - Shrivenbreath

Never able to channel a Flame Lance properly, Alphonse could not figure out why until it dawned on her. Rather than channeling her Flame Lance like a javelin, Alphonse can instead draw the flames from the back of her throat and shoot them from her mouth. This ball of flame jettisoned from her mouth has the exact same functionality, speed, and power as her Flame Lance.


Journeyman - Draconic Enkindling

Hindering more than helping her Animus, Alphonse has foregone the use of separate Enkindled weapons entirely. Instead, she has learned to permanently Enkindle the natural weapons of her body. This works with claws, horns, teeth, and spikes located upon her limbs and appendages such as the tail or any manifested additional limbs and tentacles. One set of claws counts as one Enkindled weapon, left or right. A maw of teeth also counts as an Enkindled weapon, and should her claws be severed, teeth knocked out, et cetera, she must retrieve them and have each on her person to de-enkindle the set or else it will count towards her limit of Enkindled weapons. Enkindled natural weapons are specific to the Template they are enchanted upon, meaning she can use her Animus abilities to draw upon the Enkindled teeth of one form, while another may not have such teeth.

This mutation does not change the fact that the weapons are still made of their natural material, meaning they are not usually made of metal except in extreme cases. Claws and teeth may be made sturdier, but they will still be vulnerable to stronger materials.

Expert - Ash Eater

Alphonse must subsist upon the burned remains of most creatures and plants, including ash or charcoal made from these, and the essence of ghostly entities and spirits. She may never enjoy regular food again as it all tastes like dirt and makes her vomit, and the disappointing, often overpowering or bitter taste of ash and charcoal still remains as a bitter reminder, an acquired taste she must learn to live with or else remain disappointed by her food choices. Liquids are not spared this fate, but by mixing ash with water or wine alike, she may consume it and reap the rewards of hydration, potion, or alcohol alike.

Master - Coronal Mass

Alphonse's Glare undergoes a significant change as she develops the ability, fundamentally changing how it operates and losing its long range in the process. Rather than a long range laser, her focus on up close and personal melee combat has converted it into a fine layer of venting, explosive flames that can emanate from her claws or teeth for the similar cost of a full Glare. This binds the Glare into a circular torrent of energy that explodes violently on contact with an opponent, ripping through them effortlessly to continue circulating along the outer edges of the point of origin until something truly impressive can take the brunt of its force. Exchanging the range for something up close and personal, this is a steady, circulating force that can last through a conflict as opposed to a momentary burst. Coronal Mass can be broken should something be able to resist it, as it will dispense all of its power to try and rip through what can somehow withstand it.

Master - Sigil of Annihilation

The apex of Alphonse's melee-focused abilities, Alphonse finds that the beam created from drawing in enormous sums of Shrivenflame with her Sigilfall instead stays affixed to a place a few inches beyond the edge of her skyward-drawn maw, a blackened orb of condensed Shrivenflame with a corona burning around its edges that burns with such an intensity as to melt most things that come near it. By touching the orb to a foe or surface, it will briefly expand before collapsing with the unimaginable intensity of an entire battlefield worth of Shrivenflame condensed to a fine point, creating a powerful boom that vaporizes everything within a few feet of it save for the Pyromancer and their gear. The thunderous sound of the resulting pressure wave can be heard for miles, and expands with a force that's strong enough to push the clouds away and knock down nearby buildings. A vacuum slows the trudging advance of the blast zone to limit the damage to a charred city block, with the exception of some blown out windows. Like Sigilfall, utilizing this ability nearly always causes Threshold Sickness in the mage for the same reasons. It is theoretically possible to resist Sigil of Annihilation, but it would take a similarly draining barrier to withstand. Unlike Sigilfall, this ability does not leave any residual Shrivenflame behind, meaning the battlefield will be far more tame in its wake, and other Pyromancers can no longer utilize the flame.


Re: Sigilic Pyromancy Mutations

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:14 pm
by Tyranny
Hello, Alphonse!

I hate to say this, because I really like the aesthetic and style of these mutations; I think they're really cool. But... as they are now, I'm going to have to deny them. I'll give an overarching reason before I get into my specific nitpicks.

Reason: So, sacrificing abilities is something that can be done within mutations. However, you may have noticed that any such sacrifice has generally been to acquire a variant of the same ability, or at least something fairly similar. Basically; another ability like it, but more honed and specialized. In these cases, you've basically taken the weakest abilities of Sigilic Pyromancy - inconsequential sacrifices - and have used them to massively buff Enkindling, to a pretty wild degree. Now, onto specific criticisms.

Compression and Forge Raiment, together, yield a pretty absurd result - particularly for a virtually free Journeyman benefit. If all that is sacrificed is abilities, this is essentially making aspects of the magic extremely OP in exchange for optional things that weren't essential or necessary; it's min-maxy to a very, very high degree.

Beacon Flare is probably the most overpowered mutation I've seen on the website, BY FAR. This is literally half of the benefit of the entire magic of Eminence for virtually no drawback. Super, super denied.

Glare is already an extremely powerful ability, and this makes it pretty wicked. Not to mention, there isn't any real drawback. Sigilic Pyromancy is a melee magic -- it's not like having to be in melee is a real drawback, and in exchange the beam becomes much wider, more difficult to dodge, much more dangerous, etc.

I actually think I might be okay with Sigil of Annihilation, but a super powerful magical or divine barrier should allow someone to survive it. Also, I think it should still take about as much time to prepare as regular Sigilfall, since the preparation period doesn't really seem to change, it's just compressed.

For now, that's all - I do think you'll need to majorly rethink the first three, though. I would be okay with 1 and 2 if they expended significant ether and did not sacrifice abilities. 3, I think is a hot denial, I would scrap it. I'm not going to approve anything for any magic other than Eminence that boosts your physical attributes like that.

4 is honestly super cool and Glare is my favorite ability on the site, and this makes it even cooler. I would just make it a bit weaker. I think the benefit of its shape change is more than enough in exchange for the range; I don't think it should also be the ultimate barrier-killer/etc.

Re: Sigilic Pyromancy Mutations

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2020 3:56 am
by Nuraku
I took all your feedback into account and made a lot of things temporary, toned down, or emphasized how they could be countered. Sigil of Annihilation, I made it more clear that it behaves initially exactly as Sigilfall--needing flame from the battlefield.

Edit: Revised much of this with a focus on Animus in mind.

Re: Sigilic Pyromancy Mutations

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2021 2:56 am
by Ruin
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Hi Alphonse,

Thanks for making the changes/explanations we spoke about in DMs. I'm marking this quirk set as approved, and you're free to begin writing it IC! In addition, I'm sorry this process took so long and I'm thankful for your patience in the matter.

Build to last,
Ruin.