Calyx

*THUMP*. Calyx landed a clean hit on the boar's torso with his dull sword, and the beast seemed to be on its last leg (so to speak). Unfortunately, the boar hadn't taken kindly to Calyx charging back at it in a rage, and the boar had decided to attack as well; only this time, it was aiming with its tusk instead of its snout, and gored its right tusk clean through Calyx's right arm as he had swung his sword down onto the boar with his left. Calyx rolled off to the side, instinctively clutching his bloodied arm and in shock from the boar's sudden rage. He tumbled across the ground, gradually slowing and ending up on his back as the dust settled. The boar stood some distance away after the charge, waiting to see if its victim had been defeated.

Boar critically hits

Boar does 2 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 2/5

Boar health: 1/3

What an idiot. He barely lands one hit and then gets so wrapped up in his accomplishment he makes a total noob mistake. Calyx really needed to step up his game. Ignoring his bruised ego and thankful for that fact that players can't feel pain in SAO, Calyx stood up, brushed himself off, and readied his stance for another attack. That boar wasn't going to get the best of him like that again. Not content to let the boar come to him again this time, Calyx made a controlled but powerful charge toward the boar, with his sword raised above his head.

Dice roll: 7

Calyx does 1 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 4/5

Boar health: 1/3

Much to Calyx's surprise, his sword sliced the boar's underbelly, despite the boar veering away when it saw something being thrust at it. The boar squealed in surprise, and rounded back to face Calyx. Absorbed in his delight at landing a hit on his first try, Calyx was oblivious to the boar immediately charging in behind him, until the moment before he boar planted a tusk on either side of Calyx's left leg and hoisted him into the air, causing him to tumble backwards and land with his neck on the hard ground.

Boar hits

Boar does 1 damage, blocks no damage

Calyx health: 4/5

Boar health: 2/3

Sword in hand, Calyx cautiously advanced toward the boar until he was within a few meters away. By now the boar had noticed him, and taken a curious interest in the new creature. Calyx and the boar eyed each other, both trying to size the other up, until the boar began to trot over to Calyx at a brisk pace. It was now or never, and Calyx wasn't going to pass up a free first shot on an unsuspecting target. If he was going to kill this thing, he would have to commit. As the boar stepped within range of sword strike, Calyx took his first virtual stab at its torso.

*Battle initiated*

Battle dice: 6

Calyx does 1 damage, blocks no damage

Calyx health: 5/5

Boar health: 2/3

It didn't take long wandering through the low grass for Calyx to come upon his intended target. The boar wandered nonchalantly around his patch of field, stopping occasionally to bite off some grass or sniff at a particularly interesting-looking clump of dirt. Calyx couldn't help but marvel for a moment at the way the creature moved. It seemed entirely lifelike, and had Calyx not known he was in a video game (and had he not been carrying around a sword), he might not have even known the boar wasn't real. Calyx had been somewhat of an aspiring game designer back in the real world, and he had toyed around with AI enough to know how difficult it was to make a program like this seem truly lifelike. He took in the beast and its surroundings for a moment in silent reverence, and then slowly drew his sword and advanced for the attack.

As Calyx crossed under the grand archway that served as the main gates to the city, he surveyed the field out before him. The vast expanses of grasslands dotted with lazily grazing animals reminded him of his aunt's house back in the real world. He and his parents used to visit her from time to time, and she lived in a much more rural area than the suburbs they came from. She didn't live on a farm per se, but she did live in the kind of area where you couldn't go much of anywhere without driving past at least a barn or a small herd of cows. The twilight backdrop on the plains in front of Calyx now was definitely beautiful, but something about it was... different, than the ones he remembered seeing at his aunt's house. Lesser, somehow, for being virtual. It seems strange that that would be the case, given that the NerveGear was supposed to be sending the same impulses to a player's brain that experiencing it in the real world would, but Calyx just couldn't shake the feeling anyway. That was something he would have to ponder another time, though. Right now, he had boars to kill.

Inspired by his newfound sense of purpose, Calyx set off through Starting City with his chin up once again. The preorder manual came with a rough map of Floor 1 and descriptions of some of the low level monsters, so Calyx knew there were some low level boars roaming the plains just outside the city. His sword was pretty bad, true, but it was almost certainly functional, and should be able to put out enough damage to kill a level 1 boar...

Then a thought struck Calyx: this was an MMO, and he was good at MMOs. He had been playing them his entire life. Sure grinding was a pain, but it's not like he didn't know how to do it.

Step 1: Find level-appropriate monsters you can farm.

Step 2: Kill monsters.

Step 3: Acquire currency.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat.

SAO was more realistic than any other video game that had ever seen the light of day, but surely Kayaba Akihiko, in all his genius, wouldn't have made it any more time consuming to advance in than a regular MMO? After all, these people still had other lives in the real world to attend to.

"200 Col!", Calyx exclaimed out loud, accidentally.

Calyx looked down at the dull, rusty starter sword that hung at his hip and lamented his newly discovered lack of power. Mildly less enamored with the virtual city around him, Calyx hung his head and started back down the street, away from the shopkeeper. This was going to be a tougher grind than he thought. It was an MMO, so some grinding was a given, but... 100 times the Col he had now, just for a sword? That seemed a little steep.

As he walked by one of the town's many weapon stalls, a particularly ornate and shiny sword caught Calyx's eye.

"Ooooh... how much is that one?", Calyx asked the NPC shopkeeper as he pointed to the sword.

"20,000 Col", replied the shopkeeper.

Given that this looked like a pretty ornate sword, it probably wasn't something Calyx would be able to buy with what little funds the game gave him to start off with. However, the actual prices of items and the relative value of Col wasn't something that was explicitly talked about much in the manual that came with the game's preorder (which of course Calyx had read over and over until he had it practically memorized), so Calyx pulled up his inventory to see what he had been given to start with, more out of curiosity than anything else.

Calyx wandered the streets of Starting City wide-eyed and enraptured, taking in the magnificent world he had just plugged into. The world of Aincrad was nothing like the beige, cookie-cutter suburb he had just been sitting in a moment ago; these streets were filled with color, life, and a world of new sensory experiences. Even the people here seemed different: better, somehow. Maybe it was the unspoken bond of SAO that everyone here shared; after all, each of these people had to be as dedicated to video games as Calyx was to have bought a NerveGear and preordered SAO, just to play it on opening day. Yes, these were Calyx's people. He was going to like it here.

So the most damage I can potentially ever do is (2 on crit roll) + (5 for max level weapon skill) + (+3 for perfect quality weapon) = 10 damage? and similarly the most damage I can block without parrying is 10? I guess that works if the enemy damage is scaling the same way. It'll just take longer to kill things as we get more and more health?

Also, I was looking at which weapon to use, and I was wondering if there's any difference between the weapon types as far as damage. Like it seems to me that two handed swords should do more damage than one handed swords, especially since you can also carry a shield with a one-handed and gain a defensive bonus. But the skill guide doesn't really say anything about it.

And again, I know i'm being nitpicky, and I apologize; I really am just curious. All your comments and feedback have been really helpful :D

Hi Miaki, nice to meet you! I actually do have a question about damage calculation before I get started; maybe you can help me figure it out, or tell me how it's usually done. Basically I'm wondering how a player knows how much damage to add because of a weapon or take off because of armor when there aren't any stats explicitly listed. I go into more detail about it here. Any help or thoughts are appreciated

thank you ruri!! that's exactly what I was looking for

The two familiar skills appear to be attainable at level 1, and i've read about the constraints on what familiars can look like and what they're allowed to do; but I haven't been able to find a rule about how/where to get them. Someone (one of the admins i think) said you get them through an event, but is that a quest, or a GM-run event, or just an RP story I can make up myself about how I met and befriended my familiar?

right, i've heard that said, but how do we know how much a weapon or piece of armor will affect the rolls? for instance if I have a "good quality silver armor", how do I know how much damage that blocks? or how much extra damage a similar silver sword would add?

So maybe i'm overthinking this, and I am admittedly new here, but i'm trying to pick my skills and which direction I want to build my character, and I've had a bit of difficulty collecting all the info on explicitly how combat damage is calculated. Here's the steps as I understand them so far:

1. Either you or the monster goes first (i'm assuming an non GM monster for simplicity); say the monster goes first

2. Monster attacks you, and hits based on whether you want it to or not; let's say it hits

3. A standard attack (which i'm assuming applies to monsters as well) does one damage if you roll 6-8, 2 if you roll 9-10

3. This damage is then mitigated by armor automatically based on...? I dunno. Does the armor have to explicitly state in your inventory what percentage or amount of damage it blocks? What about bad and good quality items that have no explicit bonus?

4. Now it's the players turn, and if the enemy hits, they can first try to parry/block/evade based on the battle dice for that post. Parrying and evading are pretty explicitly explained here, but the description for blocking just says it "comes down to your equipment and equipment skills", which my best guess says should be something like -1 or -5% damage per point in skills like leather, light, or heavy metal

5. Now you can try to attack (if you didn't parry), based on the same dice roll as your defensive move, and use either a skill or a basic attack (let's say basic for simplicity, and assume that you hit as well)

6. Your attack also does 1 damage for 6-8, 2 for 9-10; but is this constant for the entire game? is my max level character still going to always have a 50% chance of missing every hit? And how does weapon or monster attack damage scale with level? will I still only be doing 1 or 2 damage per turn against late game monsters with 3000 health?

I realize this is nitpicky, and if there aren't explicit rules and we're just supposed to make stuff up, I can do that; I'm just curious as to how everyone else has been going about calculating damage. Any thoughts or input are appreciated

uhhh... i guess so? haha

Hey all, i'm Bob (aka Calyx), i'm new here. Kinda new to RPing in general, actually (only done it once or twice before), so you'll have to forgive me stumbling around for a bit. But i'm glad to be here; I was looking around on the interwebz for a game that resembled SAO, and i'm glad somebody apparently thought: "screw it, let's just make one with our brains!"

«Calyx»

Profile
Username: Calyx
Real name: Jeff Hawke
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 1"
Max HP: 22  (Level x 2 +3 (+5 Athletics))

About: History/personality
Jeff Hawke was born into a nice, quiet, middle class family, and proceeded to live an unextraordinary life of little note. He quickly discovered that he wasn't very social and the other kids didn't like him very much, so he spurned them and their bullying and turned to something he always got along with: video games. Games allowed Jeff to be the person he never felt like: the Hero of the Story, someone unique and exciting who everybody liked, someone who faced the world on his own and still saved the day, earning the respect and admiration of everyone. Video games were Jeff's escape from his boring and unaccepting life, and when the new FullDive helmets were released, he jumped at the chance to be one step closer to the video game world and one further away from his real world life. When SAO was announced, he was among the first to preorder a copy, and eagerly awaited the day of its arrival. When launch day finally came, Jeff strapped on his helmet, giddy with anticipation, and absently wished he could stay in a game forever, never having to wake up to his "real" life again...

Virtues:
Honesty.
Jeff was raised with honesty in all things being at the forefront of this moral upbringing. Because of his unwavering honesty, even to his detriment, his close friends know they can always count on him for honest advice, and they know that when he says he'll keep something in confidence, he means it. While Jeff considers this a virtue, it does, however, mean he's terrible at lying and bluffing, and that he sometimes says things he shouldn't or doesn't want to simply because they're the truth.

Independence.
Jeff gets along okay with most people; he'd just rather be on his own. Years of time spent in isolation, solving problems without help, and quiet contemplation have made Jeff a very capable and independent person who is comfortable handling things solo. He knows who he is at a deep level, and is confident in the person he has chosen to be.

Intelligence.
Learning most things has always come easy for Jeff; he never had to try very hard in school, he's always had a knack for solving problems, and most decisions seemed to have an obvious and achievable, even if difficult, solution. Most people consider Jeff pretty smart, although he tries not to lord it over people or use it to take advantage of others.

Flaws:
Introversion.
Jeff was always more comfortable in his own company than anyone else's. He could get along alright with most people when he had to, but given the choice, his room at home was much more comfortable. Unfortunately, this led to an underdeveloped set of social skills, and general awkwardness around others (especially girls. Ugh.). He's never really fit into any particular social group, and tends to have trouble making friends. Because of this, he often gets singled out and made the butt of jokes, which further reinforces his theory that people generally aren't worth his time, and that he's be better off alone.

Reservedness.
Given that Jeff tends to be such a loner, he's had to learn how to make sure he can fend for himself. He hates the idea of relying on anyone, and always likes to feel like he can take on his current situation alone, whatever it may be. However, being safe often means not taking chances, and not taking chances tends to mean missing out on a lot. Jeff has missed many an opportunity and suffered many an unhappiness because the risk of potential danger or failure was too great.

Obliviousness.
Jeff's a very "surface" kinda guy. Given his honest and introverted nature, he's never really understood implications or social cues very well. In fact, most everything has to be said plainly, right to him, or he'll miss it entirely. Girl flirting with him? Jeff just thinks she's being nice. Ominous death markings covering the walls ahead? "Huh. Wonder how old these are... Oh well, moving on."

Profession: Alchemy

Skills:
Skill points spent: 12/14
Skills invested in: 4/9

Utility:

» Athletics - Skilled [1/1] (+1 DMG + 5 HP)
? » Search & Detect - Unskilled [0/5] (Cost: 2) (+0 loot roll)

? Â» Night Vision - Unskilled [0/1] (Cost: 6) (-1 to night dice rolls)

? Â» Extended Weight Limit - Unskilled [0/5] (Cost: 2) (+0 to equipped item space)

Combat:
? » Parry - Unskilled [0/1] (Cost: 6)
? » Battle Healing - Unskilled [0/5] (Cost: 2) (+0 HP on natural 10)

» Block - Novice [1/5] (Cost: 4) (-1 BD)

Weapon:
» One-handed straight sword - Novice [1/5] (Cost: 4) (+1 DMG)

Armor:

» Light Armor - Novice [1/5] (Cost: 4) (-1 DMG)

Extra:
? » Concentration - Unskilled [0/1] (+0 BD)

Equipped items: [6/6]
Weapons/Tools:

» Basic Light Shield (Good Quality)

Gear
» Azure Dragon Armor (Light Armor, Uncommon Quality) (-1 DMG): This dark blue armor had details reminiscent of a dragon's scales and flames. The emblem in the center depicts the head of a dragon from the side.
» Idhrenohtar (Pendant, Uncommon Quality) (+1 BD): This pendant depicts the elvish symbol for "warrior", and is said to augment the wearer with a portion of the strength of will of all its previous owners.

Consumables

» Basic Health Potion (restores 5 HP over 5 turns)
» Teleportation Crystal

Vanity (free)

» Shoulder pauldron (Good quality)

Unequipped Inventory

» Kaeseras (Greatsword, Uncommon Quality) (+1 to crit range [now invalid]): A broad, spiky, black and blue greatsword (pictured below)
» Basic Light Armor (Good Quality)

Other:
None

Shop: Toil for Trouble (Alchemy)

Familiar: Lockheed (+1 BD)
Lockheed is a cat-sized, deep orange dragon that Calyx saved from near starvation while on a related quest. The dragon is very proud, and is unimpressed by Calyx's attempts to prove himself worthy to the creature. This spurs Calyx on, inspiring him to constantly do better in combat.

Relationships
» Friends: None
» Enemies: None
» Significant other: None

Story Thus Far
Calyx hit the ground running on his first day in SAO, equipped with the knowledge he had gleaned from reading over the game's basic information manual that had come with his preorder. Quickly discovering that he was in need of more Col than he had been given, he set off to farm some low-level monsters outside Starting City, and had a near-fatal run-in with a boar. Humbled, and armed with a more cautious nature, Calyx tried a different avenue of income and experience: crafting. After trying to buy crystals to help him survive in the wild proved to also be too expensive, he tracked down an alchemist in town to learn how to make them for himself. A few errands later and he had mixed himself a nice little potion, and acquired the knowledge he would need to begin learning the trade of alchemy.

A few days into his SAO experience, Calyx ran into a doctor who was on his way to attend to a nearby family's sick little girl. Calyx took compassion on the NPC girl, and accepted the quest to retrieve the item necessary to create her cure. Despite being offered a large sum of money by the doctor to hand over the ingredient and look the other way, Calyx had the doctor craft the potion anyway, and returned it to the girl and her family.

Once he had made his way to the medieval-themed floor 2, Calyx happened upon a quest which led him to a cave near the top of a mountain, wherein he encountered a large orange dragon. Rather than slaying the dragon as it seemed he was supposed to, Calyx completed the quest and solved the village's dragon problem by befriending the creature. Suddenly, the dragon transformed into a smaller, cat-sized version of its former self and Calyx found that he and the dragon, named Lockheed, could now talk to each other via a mental link. Calyx had unknowingly become a Beast Tamer, and become bonded to the unwitting and proud dragon for the foreseeable future.

[TODO Elf story unfinished]

Some time later, Calyx was out in a field farming mobs and testing out a new optimized weapon loadout when he was attacked by a large Wasp Queen. Calyx fought off the queen, but in his frustration, insulted Lockheed's new diminutive size. Feeling immediately remorseful, Calyx moved some inventory items and points around to be able to wear a new shoulder pauldron for Lockheed to sit on, rather than having to cling to his shield. 

Roleplays
» [sP-F1]Baby steps [Calyx] (COMPLETE) +400 Col, 1 skill point, Basic Light Armor
» [sP-F1]Earning a living [Calyx] (COMPLETE) +400 Col, 2 skill points, Alchemist profession (+recipe book), 1 Basic Health Potion (restores 5 HP over 5 turns)
» [sP-F1]Secret Medicine of the Forest [Calyx] (COMPLETE) +800 Col, 2 skill points, Basic Light Shield, Anneal Blade (+1 damage), Kaeseras (Greatsword) (+1 to crit range)
» [sP-F2]Quest: Feeding the enemy [Calyx] (COMPLETE) +800 Col, 2 skill points, Familiar: Lockheed (+1 to battle dice), Azure dragon armor (-1 to damage)
» [PP-F1] Catch of The Day |Calyx, Mayonaka, Echo (COMPLETE) +435 Col, 1 skill point
» [OP-F3] Rob from the rich, and give to the elves (In progress)

» [sP-F2] Long Live the Queen (COMPLETE) +4 skill points, 2 mats, <<Matriarch's Stinger>>, shoulder pauldron

Transactions

Total: 3035 Col

+435 Col - 1/3 of Col from Catch of the Day (7/27/2014)
+800 Col - 2 pages completed on [sP-F2]Quest: Feeding the Enemy [Calyx] (7/27/2014)
+800 Col - 2 pages completed on [sP-F1]Secret Medicine of the Forest [Calyx] (7/24/2014)
+400 Col - 1 page completed on [sP-F1]Earning a living [Calyx] (7/23/2014)
+400 Col - 1 page completed on [sP-F1]Baby steps [Calyx] (7/22/2014)
+200 Col - starting (7/20/2014)


Personal reference information (Ignore)
Combat calculations

Base damage output:

        1 (natural) = crit fail

        2-5 = No damage

        6-8 = Normal damage

        9 (natural) = +1 DMG

        10 (natural) = +2 DMG

Calyx buffs

        +2 BD (Lockheed and Idhrenohtar) (hit on 4+, all Crits +2)

        +3 DMG (Athletics, 1H, and Anneal blade)

Loot
Mob drop:

        1-10 = No loot

        11-18 = (Good item) or (Mob HP*5 Col)

        19-21 = (Uncommon item) or  (Mob HP*5 Col + bonus mat)

        22-24 = (Rare item) or (Mob HP*10 Col + bonus mat)

        25+ = Specialty item (based on CD, no mods)

Treasure chest discovery (NOT WORTH IT): 1-14 = No chest, 15+ = chest

Treasure chest opening:

        1(natural) = -Floor/2 HP

        2-6 = Mimic

        7-14 = -Floor/2 HP + 20*Floor Col, +1 mat

        15-20 = (50*Floor Col + 2 common mats) or (1 Uncommon item)

        21+ = (100*Floor Col + 3 common mats) or (1 Rare item)

Material gathering: 1-14 = Nothing, 15+ = 1 mat

Kaeseras (image: http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2014/022/9/3/kaeseras_final_by_wayanoru-d739xac.jpg (used with permission from Wayanoru))