How might Nerima change?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Thanks for the comments on physical changes- I don't suppose you have any suggestions what colour her scales are in draconic form? So, what model do you two think we should go for when we give her "advanced" spells? A, B or C? Anyway, here's my ideas for basic spells- I went with two per element, but the total number can be pared down if you two desire.

Acid Spells
Corrosive Fumes: creates a cone-shaped gust of acidic vapours that kills off plantlife and blinds & blisters animals. Prolonged exposure can eat through flesh and even heavily rust/corrode metals, but generally that would require a victim be unable to escape the vapours and that Lifen be actually murderous. The injuries continue stinging/burning for several minutes, or until the victim manages to douse themselves with water and dilute the acid, but in general aren't lethal.

Black Spittle: a spell Lifen prefers to avoid using if at all possible; she literally spits a globule of black sludge at a target within, oh, 10 feet or less. This sludge spatters across the target and clings/hardens into a thick crusty substance. It has some extremely mild corrosive effects, but generally its usage is to hinder or even nullify movement (it's kind of hard to punch someone if you can't move your hand from your waist). Unlike Corrosive Fumes, you should NOT touch this goop with water; a chemical reaction converts it from a hard crust to a free-flowing and far more corrosive fluid.


Fire Spells
Ember Dart: creates a number of small, vaguely dart-shaped projectiles of low-intensity flame, which are mentally directed at the target. Think Magic Missile, but dealing Fire damage.

Flametongue: despite the name, not related at all to the Western tradition of dragons breathing fire. Lifen projects a continuous streamer of flames from her hands at the target; as long as she sustains the energy, the target keeps getting burned, which makes it more dangerous but also harder to use than Ember Dart.


Frost Spells
Ice Arrow: a literally arrow-shaped ray of artic energy lances from Lifen's finger at a target. Unlike the Ember Dart spell, this spell isn't a directed spell, which means that while it can cause more damage, it can also miss, something that the weaker Ember Dart rarely if ever does.

Arctic Razor: generates a crescent moon-shaped projectile of flashfrozen air. As the name suggests, this move simultanously cuts the flesh and freezes it. It's fairly slow-moving however, which makes it less effective than you might think.


Lightning Spells
Shockwave: creates a burst of electrical energy centered on Lifen. Useful, if timed right, for disparaging melee opponents.

Lightning Bolt: simple, direct and effective. Lifen's most powerful spell literally launches a bolt of lightning at a target, with a good chance of it 'rebounding' to strike someone nearby. Unfortunately, this drains a massive amount of her power, which makes it very tiring to use.


Poison Spells
Toxin Bolt: similarly to Ember Dart and Ice Arrow, this creates an arrow-shaped 'ray' of mystical energy. This spell's energy however is a fast-acting and debilitating, but not lethal, poison. Victims struck by this spell feel consumed by a sudden, debilitating fever and find their vision blurring and their stomach churning. Fortunately, being created by magic, the poison vanishes after about 2 minutes and with it goes all the side-effects. Not much condolence if they've already been beaten while thye were off balance. This spell has the same aiming difficulties as Ice Arrow.

Venom Cloud: Lifen can exhale a cone-shaped blast of poisonous fumes by using this spell. Unlike the Toxin Bolt spell, the poisons created by Venom Cloud inflict actual pain, though like them they vanish after a few minutes and leave the victim feeling sore but unharmed. Theoretically, this spell could be lethal, but would require them inhaling the fumes continously for probably around half an hour.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

You two are sure quiet these days... anyway, some thoughts on Lifen's fighting style. Given how her cursed form has more or less shaped up to be quite fragile, and thus reliant upon ranged attacks, I was thinking it'd be a nice contrast to have it that in human form she relies primarily upon melee attacks (perhaps solely barehands? She might be able to use weapons if need be, but she prefers to fight with her own fists and feet, kind of like Ranma himself) and durability- an Ironclad type Tank, I think I once described it as. Her strength isn't exceptional (compared to Michiko's anyway), but she's so hard to hurt that she can shrug off an enemy's blows and keep whaling on them until she's pounded them into the ground. This means she relies a lot on "armour" techniques, like the Bakusak Tenketsu... hmm... maybe have her also use techniques that allow her to concentrate damage, either by hitting extremely focused blows or even simply hitting the opponent a lot (ala the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken)?

[Heaven's Deamon]

That sounds good. So her fighting style switches completely when she changes. This could also be used to give her a "vulnerability" If she changes suddenly when she's not prepared for it, she might be "stuck" in the other forms combat mindset and need time to switch over, which is time her opponent can use to gain an advantage.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Good point, wish I'd thought of that myself. It's good to have others helping with work like this. I'm guessing Gideon's still hooked up with MGS4... ah well, he'll come back when he's beaten it. So what do you think of the specific spell ideas I suggested? Any comments? Also, any thoughts on specific techniques for her human form?

[Gideon020]

Okay, finally beaten the monster so I'm good to resume somewhat regular contact again. The spells look good for dragon-form attacks though I personally lean for B in terms of new attacks.

Agility and speed to counter fragility in cursed form while her human form is essentially a tank in terms of a fight is a good idea, it allows for fights to have a tactical element to them as Lifen can pick when she needs the firepower or the damage soaking abilities of one form or another. It also means that she has to be quick on her feet if she is changed without warning, which is good for any fighter to have.

As for specific techniques, I'm thinking that initially Lifen starts with a sort of 'Iron Skin' technique which can absorb a huge amount of damage but at the start of the story requires a lot of concentration but as she gain more experience is able to keep it up permanently while learning perhaps focus strikes; attacks that target specific areas that can be enhanced with some strength training and Ki mastery, allowing for her to deal siginificant damage in human form as the story progresses.

[Heaven's Deamon]

So maybe something like a Ki "spot shield", she has to see the attack coming, but if she does she can focus her ki at the place it will land to reduce the damage. As she improves she can cover a larger area and keep it up longer, allowing her to keep it up around, say, her forarms and legs (for blocking and making harder attacks without worring about recoil damage) for most or all of a battle, and eventually her entire body?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Some good possibilities so far. Either of you have any more? Oh, and just a by-the-way... I finally got my new computer! I'll need to do a few things before it's finally ready to go (like install WORD), but otherwise I'm ready to resume writing and not just discussing.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Okay, my computer is here, the 'prequel' to this story will be made soon(er or later), so let's recap what we need to get done before this story can go into production, shall we?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

So, we have to get together some special techniques for Lifen, then do up Sakuya Gosunkugi, then we have a choice of either figuring out the minor characters (at least, the recurring ones, ala Soun/Kasumi/Nabiki Tendo in the original series) or doing up a rough outline of the prehistory of this story. Which shall it be?