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Let's go: soul resonance!

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 4:15 pm
by Dregntael
I am rewatching Soul Eater, one of my favourite animes, and I was wondering how I would build the main characters in OVA. Most of their abilities and weaknesses match very well with the ones in the book, but I'm not sure how to model the weapon transformations. Basically, one person (the weapon) transforms into a weapon, which is then used by another person (the meister) to fight. If the weapon's and meister's wavelengths are compatible, they can also enter a state of soul resonance, enabling them to use powerful attacks such as Witch Hunter.

I first wanted to give the weapons Transformation, but that doesn't really work since most weapons are almost completely useless in their weapon form without a meister. Another idea I had is to give the meister's attacks the Weapon (-5) and Assisted (-15) flaws, but this negates any special properties of the weapon.

For the soul resonance, my idea is to give both weapon and meister a unique ability called Soul Resonance, and give the powerful attacks a Requirement for a minimum level in this ability (similar to Yuu's Trust ability). This ability would be linked to a specific partner, unless you take it with Weapon Arsenal (some characters on the show like Stein and Lord Death would have this). Maybe this could be combined with Transformation somehow, but I'm not sure how a transformation involving two characters would work.

Any thoughts on how to best approach this? If I have a good solution, I promise I'll post the finished builds here.

Image

Re: Let's go: soul resonance!

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:32 pm
by Clay
There’s a lot of ways to go about this, and I think I’d have to be more intimately familiar with the show to give a definitive answer. But here’s my first inclination:

Have the character who becomes the weapon buy Transformation. However instead of the Transformation bonuses adding to that character, they instead add to wielder’s attributes instead. Basically, the weapon character’s stats disappear except for those grouped under Transformation, and the wielder gets the benefit of those attributes.

You can handle Soul Resonance as you described, and have Attacks require levels of it in the same manner Fenrir’s attacks do.

That’s of course not the only way, but it seems the easiest.

Re: Let's go: soul resonance!

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 9:20 am
by Dregntael
Clay wrote:There’s a lot of ways to go about this, and I think I’d have to be more intimately familiar with the show to give a definitive answer.
Well, what are you waiting for? You should definitely watch it sometime, it's a great show.
Clay wrote:But here’s my first inclination:

Have the character who becomes the weapon buy Transformation. However instead of the Transformation bonuses adding to that character, they instead add to wielder’s attributes instead. Basically, the weapon character’s stats disappear except for those grouped under Transformation, and the wielder gets the benefit of those attributes.

You can handle Soul Resonance as you described, and have Attacks require levels of it in the same manner Fenrir’s attacks do.

That’s of course not the only way, but it seems the easiest.
Using transformation in this way seems like it would be a good fit for the anime. The only possible problem is that going into weapon form is a quite regular thing in the show, while transformation seems to be more limited.

For Soul Resonance, I would maybe also allow the Weapon to pay a part of the endurance cost of any abilities that require it.

Anyway, here is my try at building Maka and Soul:

Maka Albarn
Abilities
  • Quick (+2)
  • Smart (+3)
  • Agile (+2)
  • Iron-willed (+2)
  • Unique ability: soul resonance (+2)
  • Sixth sense (soul perception) (+2)
Weaknesses
  • Stubborn (-2)
  • Secret (fan of Pon-Pon dance) (-1)
  • Kind-hearted (-2)
  • Loner (-1)
  • Sensitivity (flat chest) (-1)
  • Hatred (cheating men) (-2)
Soul 'Eater' Evans
Abilities
  • Transformation: Death Scythe (+2): Attack (+4)
  • Knowledge (piano) (+4)
  • Intuitive (+3)
  • Strong (+1)
  • Unique ability: soul resonance (+2)
Weaknesses
  • Nosebleeder (-2)
  • Impulsive (-2)
  • Arrogant (-2)
  • Code of conduct (acting cool) (-1)
  • Soft spot (eating souls) (-1)
  • Stubborn (-1)
  • Room for two (little demon) (-3)
Attacks
  • Maka Chop: Accurate x2 (+10), Stunning (+10), No damage (-20)
    Roll 6, DX 1
  • Scythe attack
    Roll 4, DX 5
  • Witch-hunt slash: Accurate x1 (+5), Armor Piercing x2 (+10), Effective x1 (+5), Reach x1 (+5), Requirement: Soul Resonance +1 (-5)
    Roll 5, DX 6, Endurance 20
  • Kamaitachi: Area effect (+10), Effective x4 (+20), Recoil (-10), Requirement: Soul Resonance +2 (-10)
    Roll 4, DX 9, Endurance 20
  • Devil-hunt slash: Accurate x4 (+20), Armor Piercing x2 (+10), Effective x3 (+15), Reach x2 (+10), Cancel: non-evil (-10), Requirement: Soul Resonance +3 (-15)
    Roll 8, DX 8, Endurance 30
  • Kishin-hunt slash: Accurate x6 (+30), Armor Piercing x3 (+15), Effective x5 (+25), Reach x3 (+15), Activation (-10), Cancel: non-evil (-10), Requirement: Soul Resonance +5 (-25)
    Roll 10, DX 10, Endurance 40

Re: Let's go: soul resonance!

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:07 am
by Clay
Since this particular transformation has a lot of disadvantages (You’re essentially losing an entire person and their Health/Endurance pools), I think you can hand wave away the “limited number of times” flaw written into Transformation. If it makes you more comfortable, make it a new Ability (that happens to work the same way) and call it Weapon Transformation or whatever term feels appropriate to Soul Eater.

The main issue I can see coming up (one that’s obviously not a problem in the show) is if the weapon is another Player Character, they have to sit out the fight while another Player has fun with their shiny new weapon. It might be better if the weapons were NPCs, or at least figure out a way for the weapons to contribute meaningfully to battle decisions, too.

Re: Let's go: soul resonance!

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:36 pm
by Dregntael
Well, in the series the weapons can still see and talk while transformed, so they can warn their meister of incoming attacks and come up with strategies. Some of them are also able to influence the direction in which they swing, so I would allow them to pay a part of the endurance cost of special attacks as well. There are also some instances of special attacks that target the weapon instead of its wielder, for example Crona/Ragnarok's screech attack. So the weapon's hit points are not entirely irrelevant either.

Of course, letting one player control both weapon and meister is also an option, but I feel this would diminish the interaction between the two, which makes for some of the best parts of the show. But I'd definitely have to try it out in a game to know what works best.