I've been mulling over the Mystic class for some time now, mainly the rules about delayed seals and the single active seal. I've found them to be a bit unfair since the class was made, but agreed that allowing mystics to stack seals could be seen as unfair. I move that we either drop the single active seal rule or at the very least change it to the following.




The reason I push for this change is that it was made to uphold a single special per turn rule, however the battle system works in a different way. Players are able to apply buff specials with a duration one post and then use a different special in the very next post. I feel that the rules were not so clear when this class was added, or the rules have been muddied since its creation.


As for the Delayed Seals, I don't feel they should require double cost when being created. I feel as if count the application of the seal as an offensive action and its later activation as another, then it makes up for the versatility of its behavior.

I agree with these sentiments.

Speaking as a mystic, I agree. . It does kind of make delayed action barely worth it the way they are now. And yeah. Agreed.

When I made Vius, I did almost make a mystic but I hated how their rules worked so I also agree with this change, for whatever that's worth.

As long as you're only activating one of those seals in a given post, I'm OK with that. I'd really hate for someone to be able to drop seals all over the place and then hit them all at the same time. It would make delayed action too powerful otherwise. If we're dropping the increased cost clause then that idea must be added. However, if delayed action could be "chained" and activated all at once (which may be interesting...), then the extra cost stays (whether you intend to chain them or not) and we'd have to make the mystic declare which ones are being chained together when they are applied.

Another question: Does the "only one negative or positive seal" rule apply to both friendly and hostile usage, or only hostile? (I had one more, but it just slipped my mind.)

I'd say activating a delayed seal counts as the '1 special used per post rule.' Though I'm not exactly sure what you mean by chaining.

And I was thinking yes to limiting them to 1 beneficial seal as well.


Hold that thought - I have an idea that will make this more interesting and give the mystic a class skill-type thing. -- tDb

OK, I know that this is very early stage, but I was wondering what we could do with the mystic class (which currently doesn't have a class skill) that could make it more awesome.

I give you - chaining!



Very convoluted and very in the idea phase...but I think it sounds cool, while justifying the cost of delayed action seals and allows an interesting level of strategy to the class.

Dibs on breakdancing to activate my chain.

DIBSED.

It's an interesting idea but I have a questions on the "Placed in Consecutive Posts," Which I've underlined. Does that line mean that in order to make a chain A mystic would have to place a seal every post, or just can't use another seal until he ends the post? I am 100% against the first option I listed, as an opponent can then break the whole thing by dodging.

I also feel that if we do this, maybe we should put in a part that enables non delayed action seals to become delayed action seals when being put in a chain. (Provided that the chain is started with a real delayed reaction seal) If not, you're asking Mystics to spend a WHOLE lot on double cost seals just so they can use their class skill.

For your first concern...that's true...but then again, an opponent can pretty much break anything by dodging...but that's just the way it is. I'm loathe to let a mystic build chains at will though, if an opponent is going to dodge something that they don't like, then that's what will happen. The consecutive post thing could be rescinded, but some sort of limit should be put into place.

I also share the concern with the delayed action costs. However, I'm not going to let you just make non-delayed action seals delayed when put into a chain, because that would totally eliminate the need for this mechanic.




On the other hand, we could make it so that delayed action seals don't exist unless they're in a chain (the chain being what makes them delayed action). However, if that were to go forward, there's a couple things I'd like to add.
- You will never be allowed to make more than one active chain as a result of a skill...outside of a medal. (That means that if you want to make one seal a delayed action, then use it as your only chain...but you'll have to wait until you set it off to make a new one.)
- We still need to figure out how long a chain can be. I'd like to see it based on something like the mage's stress system, where it grows as you grow. Or, maybe you can use a given seal only once in a chain.
- If this wasn't clear, you won't be able to place the final seal and activate the chain in the same post as these are considered two unique uses of a special.

I'll comment on this when I'm sober, but I have a few thoughts that I can't put into proper words right now.

I'm going to say no to the idea of removing delayed action seals altogether. Those seals were originally intended to be the sort of 'class skill' for mystics, though I will say that the ridiculously increased cost makes it seem like it's not a class skill. Also, this would require the reworking of Wolf's Kitty Teleport seal that we all know and love.

I'm also going to say no to allowing non-delayed seals into chains for the following reason: It would be silly - that would allow mystics to chain several offensive spells into one post in a manner that would otherwise be disallowed. Imagine the sort of ridiculousness that could happen from that. I don't want to, personally - it's just frightening

When I brought up the idea of turning non Delayed Action into Delayed Action, I was thinking of limiting the Chaining ability to either once per page or twice a battle. Forgot to add that though.

Okay... question. Are we talking about taking away the double cost on delayed action or not? As it is, for the double cost... I don't think I'll ever get another delayed action, whether it can be chained or not. It's just not worth getting mediums for strongs even if I can have 3-4 things happen in one post instead of just spread out in those same 3-4 posts but at double strength? (Because I can have a seal go off every post, so if they are all double the strength of the ones in the chain, I fail to see this chain being worth it.)

So... I was just thinking. Why not apply the milestone system to mystics to allow them to acquire delayed action seals and remove their extra cost. Also, we could allow them to have one out and still use other seals, but no delayed action seals until the previous delayed action seal was taken. What do you guys think?

Also, only have the distinction that the delayed action seal uses an attack action if it's actually an attack seal.

What do you guys think of that?