PVP Combat Guide: T1 Tiers

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Drakel

Your greedy little Jewgon!
The Tier Guide

Disclaimer:
This Guide is mainly for general PVP battle combat though it's current primary use will most likely be used for the Battle Arena Forums since that is the main place for PVP and other forms of Arena like combat on the site. This guide can be used to help you better understand other tier levels on some other sites but please remember that the T1 tiers system is vastly different from site to site and can be broken down further or less than the guide that I am presenting here.
Also, I am no expert and I am anything but a professor of the English language. Please keep in mind that while this is a guide to introduce others about how the tier system normally works and will probably work on this site, that it is not a written law but rather advice from someone who primarily focused on Combat focused RP.

Purpose: Is to teach and help newer members or inexperienced members about the tier system when it comes to T1 combat. This is to also help teach members exactly what you should expect with each tier with a full explanation on what each combat tier might include or be like. After this it is expected that readers would understand and be better prepared for PVP RPing under the T1 system whenever they please.

How this will work: Unlike many of my other guides in which I plan on writing, this one will be used for the Battle Arena Forums as a guide about the Tiers. I will first be posting this here in the Roleplayers' Codex in order to get peer reviews and suggestions on what should be worked on further, if anything at all or any suggestions that the community would prefer to have for the battle arena section when it comes to Tiers.

On the 15th of December this thread will likely be closed and remade with the proper edits as the complete and official guide for the Tier system in the Battle Arena, which would be used for PVP combat between players within the Arena.

About the Tiers: For StoryTellerCircle, there are 5 main that are based off of RJ Gentry's T1 Rules & Guidelines's 4 main tiers. The main difference is that one extra tier was added to flesh the system up slightly more due to there being a major grey area between two tiers that adding an extra tier between them would cover. There are also a few sub-tiers for each of these that can also be used for PVP combat but those sub-tiers are often added in addition to the main tiers due to being unable to stand well alone.


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The Tier Levels

Tier 1: Realistic Melee (RM) ~ Realistic melee is the strictest when it comes to rules mainly because the combat is done to represent very realistic combat with real-life limitations. There are few to no limitations on how weak you could be on this setting because everyone it playing something that is realistic and vulnerable in their own right. There are, however limitations on how strong you can be. Everyone is playing something realistic with their major flaws and defects, so the strongest a combatant may play would most likely be an athlete or a professional boxer or martial artist. Realistic Melee fights tend to be very short, taking up no more than one to two scenes, or around 3 turns to 10 turns worth of combat. This is because realistic fights tend to be very, very short, often being finished within a single minute to five minutes at most, never more.
Weapons here matter considerably as well since they tend to do severe damage when they get a hit. As such the fights with weapons tend to take no more than a single scene since a single hit is all that's truly needed for a fight to be won. Very, very rarely does a realistic fight with melee gets dragged on to where it takes more than 6 turns, in which then both combatants are at the pinnacle of martial skill and athleticism.
Finally, when it comes to Realistic Melee, you should always remember that where you hit or strike and what you use when you hit or strike an opponent matters. Organs are a major thing and so are blood veins. Almost everywhere you hit it is a 'critical hit'. (I'll definitely make another guide solely on this topic later on, but for now just know that humans are frail and weak, even athletes.)


Tier 2: Unrealistic Melee (UM) ~ Unrealistic Melee is where characters are slightly above the average human's potential skill and ability in combat. It is still primarily melee combat though a lot looser in the rules, often times allowing you to get away with a lot more wounds than average, with exception for the more known of crucial internal organs and bleeding is not often a major thing to worry about. Even so, do not get too excessive on it. There are times some form of powers acceptable for this setting, though unlike the other powered settings powers here only compliment the character's melee abilities, not overshadow them.
When it comes to cast powers, there are often two ways to go around it. By the first way, a character can take actions and cast their abilities, though the given abilities are very weak or mild at most, in where their effects would only give enough of an advantage to be used over an opponent, though the primary focus would still be the use of the character's skill in melee combat. The second way that one can go around with powers is by taking primary focus on solely casting the ability, thus being unable to truly attack or defend without the concentration of the ability being ruined. When it succeeds though the powers are far more powerful, similar to being fireballs or the like.
Passive abilities are also acceptable (inhuman strength, regeneration, mild resistances) but again, unlike the other powered settings, powers and even passive abilities can only compliment the melee experience in Unrealistic Combat, they do not and should never overshadow them. The Melee experience here is the most important part of Unrealistic melee, not the flashy powers a character might have.
Of course weapon choice, armor type and martial skills still matter most in these fights however the suspension of disbelief is at play as well, allowing some unexplained, improbable or unrealistic things to happen as well to some mild degree. Because of this, the Unrealistic Melee fights tend to be a similar amount of combat turns as Realistic Melee combat, maybe a tad longer at most. An estimated guess would state that a fight under Unrealistic Melee might end anywhere from 5 to 20 turns depending on the circumstances. The fight in real time would most likely appear to last anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes and might be dragged on to be more than 10 turns but never longer than 20. At least, not unless the combatants are forcing the fight to be drawn out longer than it should naturally be.
Finally, when it comes to Unrealistic Melee, it should always be remembered that you are not a god and that while there are some rules you can bend, the primary focus is still the melee combat and not the powers that you have. Where and how you strike your opponent still matter but in a considerably different way. Where the intense tactical focus in the melee combat is lessened substantially in the sense that you don't have to focus purely on the realism of the battle, you still must put primary focus in your Melee combat tactics over the ability tactics of your powers. Organs might not be as big of a worry here as they'd be in Realistic Melee, though if it looks like it'd naturally kill the opponent (Ex. Beheading the opponent in an executioner swing.), chances are it'd likely kill them in this setting too. You can also still die in this setting by taking in too many injuries than your character's body could handle. In the Unrealistic Melee setting everyone and everything can and may still die.


Tier 3: Fair Combat (FC) ~ Fair Combat is the first actual tier that takes some actual focus in the use of powers. Don't let the name trick you, all of these Tiers are fair in their own ways and rules. What Fair means in this concept is that the combatants can rely on both or either their skill in melee combat and/or their powers equally, able to cast powers whilst in a fight. Fair Combat is often accepting of characters to get away with quite a few critical injuries and still be fighting without too great of a restriction, or they might cast fire balls at will in the midst of a battle once gaining enough turns. The powers still do not overwhelm the more physical aspect of the fight, though they are rather evened, allowing powered characters and more physically reliant ones to fight on a more equal footing without too great of a power gap between them.
When it comes to powers and abilities, characters can cast decent powers that're still much lower in power rank though unlike Unrealistic Melee, characters are more inclined to cast their powers and even cast them more often within the battle and rather than the majority of the powers doing neat tricks that complement their melee ability to give them a slight advantage, Powers in Fair combat allows for combatants to hold off on their own with solely their own cast abilities. At the same time, purely melee or combative opponents are able to still defeat their opponents fairly due to not being overwhelmed by powerful abilities.
Passive abilities tend to be fairly fair as well and are more accepting of things like vimpirism and lycathropy. Resistances can vary as could strengths. Again, all abilities can be used to be in place for the physical requirements as the use of powers and naturally physical traits are around about equal in usefulness, and thus giving a larger array of tactical choice for the characters that you make.
In Fair Combat, and other powered combat formats, in every turn your character may gain energy which can be used for them to cast their abilities or powers. In Fair Combat though the powers that one uses are often equal to the strength that above human physical strength would hold. Fire balls, Ice bolts, Force lightning shock would all be a few turns worth of prep whilst more major things would take a lot more time to cast. For example, Fire storm would take about 6 or 7 turns worth of prep. Concentration is more difficult to break as you can fight and still gain your energy and preps for your spells, making it easier for them to be made.
Fights under Fair Combat tend to value both the tactics of a character's powers and their usage and the tactics of their more physical and martial skill evenly. Because of this, Fair Combat also tends to be more likely to last longer than the previous settings due to the fact that now powers are in play, thus allowing higher amounts of adaptation in the characters while in the midst of combat. Fights may last anywhere from 5 to 35 (if dragged on) turns worth of pure, unadulterated, combat depending on the situation. Or anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes of Real Time combat. Most of the time Fights would likely end before the 20th turn, though when dragged on they could very well last for 35 turns, and more if forced to be dragged on.
Of Course, with Fair combat there is still the fear of death to motivate both characters should the battle be to the death. Again no one in this Tier are gods but rather they're more like humanoids or animals with extraordinary abilities that allow them to cast or take advantage of that the average human wouldn't have. When it comes to damaging opponents, the same rules of 'if it looks like it'll kill an opponent, chances are it would most likely kill them" from Unrealistic Combat would also apply here.


Tier 4: Powered Combat (PC) ~ Powered Combat is the level in which primary focus is power gain and the use of a character's abilities. Powers are able to be cast more often and more efficiently as, unlike all previous versions, Powered Combat puts primary focus on how powerful a character might be and their superior abilities, in which their melee combat skills can only compliment. Characters tend to be far more complex and may have all sorts of different special powers, so long as they're not godly in their power. These characters may not be capable in destroying entire planets, but they're still capable in doing serious damage when given the time needed. Characters may walk from devastating blows and still continue fighting, albeit they may be injured from such a blow.
The sheer amount of use in powers and abilities tends to be far greater than the average human's and even their melee skills are more for stalling until they have enough preps tactically to cast the abilities that they plan for. With just a single turn's worth of prep a fireball or a charged super punch could be cast. With a few more large exploding fireballs could be made or a charged punch strong enough to send out a sonic wave Even more and a storm of elements might be made or a punch strong enough to tear the very ground around you.
Passive abilities are a common and at times useful thing depending on the character you have vs their opponent. Resistances can be full immunity to certain things and the durability of a character could be such to where they wouldn't die from what would be lethal strikes. As such abilities thus become the primary focus and thus where one's tactical focus should be, since timing when and where you'll use your preps to cast certain abilities will determine both its strength and effectiveness in the battle.
In Powered Combat your character's powers and abilities are far stronger than the strength than even the fastest, strongest and most powerful humans currently alive do to how power focused Powered combat is. You can do the most impossible feats with relative ease in comparison to the other previous tiers and, better yet, Little true concentration is needed to prepare and cast your abilities at opponents, and energy is much easier to gather than the other forms as well since, unless an opponent's ability states otherwise, your preps can be continuously gained without much effort in focusing solely on gaining them.
By nature, Powered Combat is likely to last quite a bit of time, and is one that has the widest array of when it may end due to the many, many different types of characters that may come. These battles tend to act like epics and thus the characters may fight anywhere from 5 to 50 turns, 5 if a combatant is lucky enough to face an opponent whose weaknesses are exactly aligned with the other character's strengths. 40 if the fight if to be dragged on and more if it's being forced to be dragged on without either opponent ever giving up. In truth, these fights should take no longer than 30 turns at most since, even that is a little much for a fight, and for many good reasons. To put that into in-game real time, it would be something similar to anywhere between 5 minutes to almost a half-hour's worth of time when dragged on.
Just like almost all other previous settings, Death is still very much possible in Powered characters, though do to their greater inhuman abilities, death may seem to be rather low on their fear list just because the sheer power some of these characters might have would allow them to survive quite a lot of damage and lethal effects. Still no one are gods in Powered combat, and no one is anywhere close to such massive power as it is not allowed because of the rules. Even so, is a character takes enough damage, thus making them severely weak, and/or a strike is powerful enough to be a clear kill against that character


Tier 5: Overwhelming Powers (OP) ~ Unlike all the other previous Tiers, Overwhelming Power is the easiest to understand as it is one of the most common tiers and the least limiting for new combatants. In here the characters are literally demi-gods, able to cast literal firestorms with but a wave of their hand once they have at least one prep. They're literally is so little focus on a character's melee combat skill rather than their overwhelming powers and abilities that far exceed the human's, meta-human's and the like's own abilities and powers. A Single punch without prep is strong enough to send the earth below the combatants to crack from the sheer shock-waves they bring. Character abilities can be far more complex than the average character's and they have all sorts of godly abilities that allow them to do so many different things. These characters are so powerful that devastating blows can be shrugged off as near nothing and they may even walk from such strong attacks with little to no injury.
The sheer amount of focus in powers and abilities tend to be so great that little tactical focus is even on a character's melee skill, rather it is more on how hard a character may hit the other and how many preps they have for their utmost powerful of abilities. While T1 Rules still require a character to prep at least once before using any powers, a single turn's worth of prep is strong enough to cast literal firestorms next to instantly and after that it only gets more and more devastating.
Characters under Overwhelming Power are near gods and thus their passive abilities hold them up far more than their actual melee skill in combat. Resistances are full immunity, their durability is able to take shots from many tanks and their strength is powerful enough to cause craters in the earth without even trying. These characters are literally demi-gods and while omnipotence is not acceptable, ever, these characters tend to be almost unable to die from anything other than other godly characters.
There is a reason why this Tier is called 'OP' and the reasoning is more than obvious. Here Power Playing, God Modding and Marry Sueing tend to be the most common things, and while it's against the rules to play other people's characters, you can make your own almost indestructible in their own right. The only rule is that all characters must at least have one weakness that allows them to be fairly defeated by other godly characters.
Overwhelming Powered fights tends to literally be 'The Battle of the Gods' as such, there is literally no physical limit as to when these fights might end. Gods don't get tired and can take a lot of damage before finally getting defeated so there really in no way to properly judge when a fight between them would end, if ever. As such, if you're really blood thirsty and want to fight for an eternity Overwhelming Powers might also be the place for you. Of course, this does have its own draw back since, because Characters can fight for near eternity, the people playing those characters might get bored long before the fight may end or may accept defeat not because their character would lose, but because they themselves lost interest in the fight and wish it to end.
Even in this setting, gods may die, and what cannot be killed must be bound. Though in this setting it is more unlikely to see characters be killed until after quite a few turns passed. Death isn't even too great of a worry since some godly characters might just come back or have enough preps to allow then to reincarnate or resurrect themselves to fullest health and strength.


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The F.A.Q.

"What is a Tier?" ~ When it comes to PVP combat, a tier is a power level that represents the level of prowess that is being used by the characters within the fight in effort to keep the battle fair. Many sites have a different number of tiers, going anywhere from 4 to 22+ and each tier represents a minimum and a maximum potential that can be used for the combat within each level. This is in order to prevent characters of lower tiers - like Realistic Melee (RM) from fighting characters of a higher tier that they naturally could never stand against fairly in a fight - like Overwhelming Powers (OP).

"How are Tiers used?" ~ When it comes to PVP combat, it should be noted that unlike most other RP types, PVP RPs do not have their characters made for any particular setting or tier level that they 'Must' focus on or be subjected towards. Rather, the PVP RPs do the exact opposite, in which the characters themselves set the tier level, in which the PVP RP is based around. Characters are made first and then the RP is made second rather than the more conventional way in which the RP is made first and the characters are made second. This in turn allows players to make characters however they may please with almost little to no limitations.

"What it a 'Turn'?"
~ A turn in PVP combat is very important because it is how the fight is organized. In every turn, every player gets to post their character's action(s) once and only once before they must wait for the other combatant(s) to post their own character's actions. A singular turn completely ends when the last combatant required to post, posts their character's action(s) in the battle. A turn begins for you by your post, not the first combatant's post. In turn it acts like a loop of posts in which each combatant posts their turn, and once all combatants posted the turn if thus completely over and then the next one begins.

"Why is it so important to prevent RMs from fighting OPs?" ~ Simple. It's not fun for either party if the one side is far too powerful or weak than the other. This is because when one side is able to end the other combatant in just 1 combat post due to how powerful they are, it is not a fight but rather a slaughter.

"But I want my super realistic Samurai to fight a godlike character!" ~ And you still can. Tiers naturally keep things relatively balanced by forcing the stronger character to play at the maximum potential that the opponent's given tier allows for or, in more rare occasions, making the weaker combatant able to play in the minimum potential that their opponent's given tier allows. Both of these are temporary solutions however and do come with some risk in their own right since the characters were not made to be within the same tier level of fighting, and thus weren't made to be naturally fighting on the same playing field to begin with.
This solution is mainly done for more extreme cases in which two characters whom are not naturally made for the same tier level as their combatant, and thus need one to be lowered to be the weaker character's tier level, or the other needs to be raised to be the more powerful character's tier level. Most often though both combatants were already of the same tier level, so this is not too great of a thing to worry about unless the circumstances are two players playing characters made for different tiers.

"Do I really have to follow this Tier level system whenever I do T1 PVP?" ~ No. As I said this guide is to help introduce people in the most common tier levels that I know of and are a guide in which is used to help you better understand how they work in general. Some sites have more than 6 and others have less if any at all. The only place these 6 tiers matter would be in StoryTellersCircle. Even here the tiers are more along the lines of guidelines on what to expect with each level of combat, and how to properly RP in those levels. You CAN mix some levels too but so long as it's fair in general you should be okay.
 
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I am putting a small bump onto this so those who have not seen it may see it and to remind others who may like to input advice or corrections onto this but forgotten may do so. As I said this is a rather scheduled thing and will be put up onto the Battle Arena by the 15th so I'd rather receive well needed criticism or suggestions now than after it is adjusted and sent into the Battle Arena.
 
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