Post by pepsi on Aug 16, 2022 18:36:08 GMT
[attr="class","rules_container"]
Buried Light is a role-play about Devil Hunters and their day to day life in a world full of mystery, magic and demons. It's also very close to the source material of Devil May Cry. Because of this, most characters will be able to fight in some way or another; many will also be capable of using different weapons - even belonging to completely different classes, such as ranged weaponry and melee weaponry - or know martial arts. Many will possess a Devil Arm and use its incredible abilities when it awakens.
The idea of Combat Focus encapsulates all this. The way the character fights (Offensively? Defensively?), the weapons they use (Melee? Ranged?), the general approach to combat (Tactical? Throw everything at the opponent?) as well as some typical moves and the style they are performed with (Precise strikes? Glancing blows? Attacks disguised as dance steps?) all contribute to the body and description of a Combat Focus.
Characters can have multiple Foci, and they may switch between them as often as needed. Some prefer to stick to a few Foci and develop them deeply as they go along, while others like to have a pretty varied selection for the sake of versatility.
In the series, Vergil uses the Yamato with two different Foci: in one, he uses the Yamato alone, with swift and elegant strikes; in the other, he uses it in conjunction with Force Edge for more brutish and powerful attacks. Moreover, he can use Beowulf for close quarters combat.
All three of these are perfect examples of Combat Foci, which also showcase how the same weapon may be used in different ways just by swapping Focus.
When applying for a Focus or for any upgrade to an existing Focus, you must use the template found in this section. The Divinity Statue is the place where to post your application; if you have never created a thread there, you are allowed to create one. This thread will be valid for all your Characters.
If you're buying a Focus or an upgrade to a Focus at the Divinity Statue, you must copy, paste and fill in this template:
Then, you can use the following template to describe the new Focus:
In this section we report the cost of a Combat Focus ordered by Rank, together with the number of Aspects it can house and the cashback of Blue Orbs.
Combat Foci can be bought with Red Orbs only.
When Ranking Up a Combat Focus, you only pay the difference of the costs and gain the difference of the cashback.
Dante's Trickster and Royal Guard Styles are perfect examples of Combat Foci. Even better, they can give a clear idea of what an Aspect is.
While a Combat Focus describes how a character fights or uses weapons, Aspects are there to provide additional effects that can go well beyond the scope of swordsmanship or martial arts.
With Trickster, Dante can teleport towards his enemies as well as summon solid platforms to step on. With Royal Guard, Dante can parry and riposte as well as construct a solid suit of armour made of demonic power.
All these are examples of Aspects. If we could imagine reading Dante's character app, Trickster's description as a Combat Focus would be all about how Dante dodges incoming attacks, and "teleportation" would be one of the Aspects of this Focus. In other words, Aspects allow additional extraordinary effects that go beyond what the character would be able to do off of their Traits alone.
Aspects themselves can be created starting from several points: a character's Traits can provide perfect jump off points to justify special fighting skills; alternatively, magic in general can be used to create interesting Aspects (if you're interested in doing magic in a lore-accurate way, take a look at the magic system of Buried Light).
As a Combat Focus gets upgraded and a character grows, more Aspects can be tacked onto it. Aspects can play off of one another, allowing you to create deadly combinations. Techniques are what allows your character to bring out an Aspect's full potential in combat. Click here to find out more about Techniques.
Here we go over a small rundown of some common Aspects seen in the series. These are just examples: they're here to give you a rough idea of what an individual Aspect can achieve. You can always make your own custom Aspects.
There isn't any strict definition of what makes an aspect "good", but there are general ideas as to what will and will not fly on Buried Light.
First of all, any ability that would allow your character to meta-game their way to victory is of course banned. This includes justifying being able to dodge everything, be invulnerable, or predict any move the opponent is going to make. In other words, exploiting the fact that Buried Light is an exercise in creative writing against the next person is a big no no.
The same goes for all abilities that would allow one to know information that is supposed to be only learned through roleplay, or that is exclusive for the eyes of players but not characters.
A good Aspect, then, just has to be fair for everybody involved.
Besides these obvious remarks, "good" Aspects come in many shapes. You won't have any issues with coming up with viable Aspects if you stick to the source material, drawing inspiration from Devil May Cry.
However, it's hard to gauge exactly what the extent of an Aspect can be. We can give you a little help:
Let's take the three example Aspects detailed in the above section. "Delocalisation" doesn't have very defined limits: there's no description of how far the delocalisation can go, nor what kind of damage can be delocalised. However, its purpose is very clear: it displaces the damage somewhere else. There aren't many surprises that can come from how this Aspect has been worded. "Summoned Swords" also has very clear purpose but very little limits.
On the flip side, "Devil Buster" is limited. It's only the right arm, it always originates from the user's right shoulder area, it can't pass through walls. However, its purpose isn't defined: it's not just there to grab objects, it can do all sorts of things such as cast magic, punch people or wield weapons.
Not all Aspects have the same level of versatility, nor do they have the same level of power; those with clear purpose will generally only be good for one or two things. It's up to your creativity to make the most out of every Aspect you created.
If you've already read about Devil Arms, then you know by now that Devil Arms have an associated Focus. This brings several advantages.
If your character has a Focus about swordsmanship, it may or may not be applicable to any sort of "gun" Devil Arm. However, the Devil Arm in question provides its own Focus; this allows your character to use a Devil Arm with a fighting style that is unique to it regardless of their expertise in other areas or fighting styles, as well as use exclusive Aspects tied to that Devil Arm.
Moreover, if your character does have a Focus about swordsmanship and the Devil Arm is a sword, then you get to decide which Focus to use. You may want to use a mix of both, as well. Most importantly, however, all Aspects that apply to the swordsmanship Focus will carry over to the Devil Arm, and they will be perfectly usable as normal when using that Devil Arm: if you possess a "delocalised cuts" Aspect (like the one sketched above), you will definitely be able to use it on any Devil Arm that features a blade - less likely will you be able to use it somewhere else, but every Aspect is different and there are many grey areas.
[attr="class","rules_title"]Combat Foci
[attr="class","rules_focus"]The content of this section applies to nearly every character you'll ever make. Combat Foci are the core of Buried Light's combat system, so please read this section carefully!
Buried Light is a role-play about Devil Hunters and their day to day life in a world full of mystery, magic and demons. It's also very close to the source material of Devil May Cry. Because of this, most characters will be able to fight in some way or another; many will also be capable of using different weapons - even belonging to completely different classes, such as ranged weaponry and melee weaponry - or know martial arts. Many will possess a Devil Arm and use its incredible abilities when it awakens.
The idea of Combat Focus encapsulates all this. The way the character fights (Offensively? Defensively?), the weapons they use (Melee? Ranged?), the general approach to combat (Tactical? Throw everything at the opponent?) as well as some typical moves and the style they are performed with (Precise strikes? Glancing blows? Attacks disguised as dance steps?) all contribute to the body and description of a Combat Focus.
Characters can have multiple Foci, and they may switch between them as often as needed. Some prefer to stick to a few Foci and develop them deeply as they go along, while others like to have a pretty varied selection for the sake of versatility.
In the series, Vergil uses the Yamato with two different Foci: in one, he uses the Yamato alone, with swift and elegant strikes; in the other, he uses it in conjunction with Force Edge for more brutish and powerful attacks. Moreover, he can use Beowulf for close quarters combat.
All three of these are perfect examples of Combat Foci, which also showcase how the same weapon may be used in different ways just by swapping Focus.
[attr="class","rules_focus"]There's no limit to the number of Foci of a Character. However, the Rank of a Focus can never exceed the Rank of a Character.
[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Foci: the Pinnacle of Combat
When applying for a Focus or for any upgrade to an existing Focus, you must use the template found in this section. The Divinity Statue is the place where to post your application; if you have never created a thread there, you are allowed to create one. This thread will be valid for all your Characters.
[attr="class","rules_focus"]If you are applying for a new character, you can apply for as many Foci as you wish (if they make sense for your character) directly in the Character App. They will always be Rank D and have no Aspects.
If you're buying a Focus or an upgrade to a Focus at the Divinity Statue, you must copy, paste and fill in this template:
[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Character:[/b]
[b]App Link:[/b]
- Username: Your username on ProBoards.
- Character: The name of the character this upgrade is for.
- App Link: The link to the character's UPDATED Character App.
Then, you can use the following template to describe the new Focus:
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Description:[/b]
[b]Rank:[/b]
[b]Aspects:[/b]
- Of course, a Focus needs a name. This can be as descriptive or as creative as you wish, in whatever language you wish.
- Foci have Ranks, just like characters. Leveling a Focus up means increasing its Rank; a character must not have a Focus whose Rank exceeds their own Rank. At the start, all of your Foci are Rank D.
- A description of the Focus. This is actually the most important narrative detail of the Focus, where you can really describe the fighting style of your character. Try to describe it enough to set it apart from other styles, especially if this style involves attacking in some capacity. It's really important to provide a clear idea of what the Focus is about, how the character intends to use it, and what are the limits and applications of this fighting style.
- The list of Aspects for this Focus. Aspects are a very important facet of Foci; see below for a full explanation.
[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Combat Focus Pricing
In this section we report the cost of a Combat Focus ordered by Rank, together with the number of Aspects it can house and the cashback of Blue Orbs.
Combat Foci can be bought with Red Orbs only.
[attr="class","rules_focus"]Reminder: buying Foci or upgrades with Red Orbs 
guarantees a cashback of Blue Orbs 
. However, Foci can't be bought with Blue Orbs.
guarantees a cashback of Blue Orbs 
. However, Foci can't be bought with Blue Orbs.| Rank | Aspects | Red Orbs Cost | Blue Orbs Cashback |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | 0 Aspects | 0 | 0 |
| C | 1 Aspect | 800 | 400 |
| B | 2 Aspects | 1600 | 800 |
| A | 3 Aspects | 3200 | 1600 |
| S | 4 Aspects | 6000 | 3000 |
When Ranking Up a Combat Focus, you only pay the difference of the costs and gain the difference of the cashback.
[attr="class","rules_title"]Aspects
[attr="class","rules_focus"]If you're just starting out and filling your first Character App, you may skip the Aspects section for now. It may only interest you in case you want to start with an Aspect-like Upgrade on a Crafted Arm. To learn more about those, click here.
Dante's Trickster and Royal Guard Styles are perfect examples of Combat Foci. Even better, they can give a clear idea of what an Aspect is.
While a Combat Focus describes how a character fights or uses weapons, Aspects are there to provide additional effects that can go well beyond the scope of swordsmanship or martial arts.
With Trickster, Dante can teleport towards his enemies as well as summon solid platforms to step on. With Royal Guard, Dante can parry and riposte as well as construct a solid suit of armour made of demonic power.
All these are examples of Aspects. If we could imagine reading Dante's character app, Trickster's description as a Combat Focus would be all about how Dante dodges incoming attacks, and "teleportation" would be one of the Aspects of this Focus. In other words, Aspects allow additional extraordinary effects that go beyond what the character would be able to do off of their Traits alone.
Aspects themselves can be created starting from several points: a character's Traits can provide perfect jump off points to justify special fighting skills; alternatively, magic in general can be used to create interesting Aspects (if you're interested in doing magic in a lore-accurate way, take a look at the magic system of Buried Light).
As a Combat Focus gets upgraded and a character grows, more Aspects can be tacked onto it. Aspects can play off of one another, allowing you to create deadly combinations. Techniques are what allows your character to bring out an Aspect's full potential in combat. Click here to find out more about Techniques.
Here we go over a small rundown of some common Aspects seen in the series. These are just examples: they're here to give you a rough idea of what an individual Aspect can achieve. You can always make your own custom Aspects.
[attr="class","bar_left"]Delocalisation
Space is more than merely a concept. It is fabric, it is a basic component of reality. But precisely because it is so fundamental, one can reach far into the depths of the Universe and reshape it.
Delocalisation is an advanced space-warping magic that allows the user to slash objects at a distance. The user may perform a slashing attack, but the damage is applied in a location that is not the edge of the blade.
The cuts delocalised in this way appear as luminous rifts in space.
Space is more than merely a concept. It is fabric, it is a basic component of reality. But precisely because it is so fundamental, one can reach far into the depths of the Universe and reshape it.
Delocalisation is an advanced space-warping magic that allows the user to slash objects at a distance. The user may perform a slashing attack, but the damage is applied in a location that is not the edge of the blade.
The cuts delocalised in this way appear as luminous rifts in space.
[attr="class","bar_left"]Summoned Swords
One thing is to use one sword in one hand. Another is to use two swords in two hands. But what if I wanted more?
"Summoned Swords" allows the user to Conjure ethereal copies of their own weapon and control their distribution in space. The weapons float in place when unattended. There's no limit to the number of copies that can be summoned, but manipulating them still requires dividing the user's attention for each individual sword.
After a handful of seconds, or after they have hit a target, the swords vanish.
One thing is to use one sword in one hand. Another is to use two swords in two hands. But what if I wanted more?
"Summoned Swords" allows the user to Conjure ethereal copies of their own weapon and control their distribution in space. The weapons float in place when unattended. There's no limit to the number of copies that can be summoned, but manipulating them still requires dividing the user's attention for each individual sword.
After a handful of seconds, or after they have hit a target, the swords vanish.
[attr="class","bar_left"]Devil Buster
After the incident, he was never the same person. His right arm was disfigured, reptilian in appearance, and lined with otherworldly light. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was the voices he could hear in his head. They drove him crazy.
The Devil Buster is a spectral projection of the user's own right arm. It can manipulate objects independently of the user's actual right arm, and it possesses the same amount of strength. Moreover, the size of the spectral projection is variable and left to the user's whim.
The arm can extend very far away from the original body, but it always originates from the shoulder area and can't pass through solid objects.
After the incident, he was never the same person. His right arm was disfigured, reptilian in appearance, and lined with otherworldly light. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was the voices he could hear in his head. They drove him crazy.
The Devil Buster is a spectral projection of the user's own right arm. It can manipulate objects independently of the user's actual right arm, and it possesses the same amount of strength. Moreover, the size of the spectral projection is variable and left to the user's whim.
The arm can extend very far away from the original body, but it always originates from the shoulder area and can't pass through solid objects.
[attr="class","rules_title"]What makes a Good Aspect?
There isn't any strict definition of what makes an aspect "good", but there are general ideas as to what will and will not fly on Buried Light.
First of all, any ability that would allow your character to meta-game their way to victory is of course banned. This includes justifying being able to dodge everything, be invulnerable, or predict any move the opponent is going to make. In other words, exploiting the fact that Buried Light is an exercise in creative writing against the next person is a big no no.
The same goes for all abilities that would allow one to know information that is supposed to be only learned through roleplay, or that is exclusive for the eyes of players but not characters.
A good Aspect, then, just has to be fair for everybody involved.
Besides these obvious remarks, "good" Aspects come in many shapes. You won't have any issues with coming up with viable Aspects if you stick to the source material, drawing inspiration from Devil May Cry.
However, it's hard to gauge exactly what the extent of an Aspect can be. We can give you a little help:
[attr="class","rules_focus"]A "good" Aspect needs to have either a clear purpose or clear limits.
Let's take the three example Aspects detailed in the above section. "Delocalisation" doesn't have very defined limits: there's no description of how far the delocalisation can go, nor what kind of damage can be delocalised. However, its purpose is very clear: it displaces the damage somewhere else. There aren't many surprises that can come from how this Aspect has been worded. "Summoned Swords" also has very clear purpose but very little limits.
On the flip side, "Devil Buster" is limited. It's only the right arm, it always originates from the user's right shoulder area, it can't pass through walls. However, its purpose isn't defined: it's not just there to grab objects, it can do all sorts of things such as cast magic, punch people or wield weapons.
Not all Aspects have the same level of versatility, nor do they have the same level of power; those with clear purpose will generally only be good for one or two things. It's up to your creativity to make the most out of every Aspect you created.
[attr="class","rules_focus"]Aspects whose purpose can't be clearly defined and whose limits are fuzzy or unclear will most likely not be approved by Staff.
We hope the analysis of these examples gives you a rough idea of what a "good" Aspect looks like. As always, if you still have doubts, you can open a thread in the Help section or post a message on our Discord.
We hope the analysis of these examples gives you a rough idea of what a "good" Aspect looks like. As always, if you still have doubts, you can open a thread in the Help section or post a message on our Discord.
[attr="class","rules_subtitle"]Devil Arm Combat Foci
If you've already read about Devil Arms, then you know by now that Devil Arms have an associated Focus. This brings several advantages.
If your character has a Focus about swordsmanship, it may or may not be applicable to any sort of "gun" Devil Arm. However, the Devil Arm in question provides its own Focus; this allows your character to use a Devil Arm with a fighting style that is unique to it regardless of their expertise in other areas or fighting styles, as well as use exclusive Aspects tied to that Devil Arm.
Moreover, if your character does have a Focus about swordsmanship and the Devil Arm is a sword, then you get to decide which Focus to use. You may want to use a mix of both, as well. Most importantly, however, all Aspects that apply to the swordsmanship Focus will carry over to the Devil Arm, and they will be perfectly usable as normal when using that Devil Arm: if you possess a "delocalised cuts" Aspect (like the one sketched above), you will definitely be able to use it on any Devil Arm that features a blade - less likely will you be able to use it somewhere else, but every Aspect is different and there are many grey areas.
