They never had a chance...

[WarriorCleric]

I know I can't be the only person who this happens to, and I'd imagine everyone has been bitten by this at least once. I regularly create characters, I get an idea that appeals to me, be it just a race/class combo that's not been seen in a while or an interesting rp angle to play, or just something that seems fun. I spend a few hours thinking of the perfect name for them, I roll them up, I spend hours fleshing out the idea as I rank and write a decent description, spend a week training for a few hours a day, then I drop them. Sometimes I get a different idea, or I see a character that is similar to me, or I get rolled a few times and I lose steam, but then the character is gone.

We can read about the Hall of Famers, or the posts about the bad asses or prolific Heralds, but I'd like to read a little about the nobodies, the uncabaled, unpinnacled people who you loved to play for a short while and never got anywhere, the characters who never had a chance.

WC

[WarriorCleric]

I'll start. Just say a little about the character and anything you were proud of for the short while they were active.

I started as an Adventurer, played around with him a bit, developed a simple conversation type, nothing fancy. No accents or hooks to his speech, just a simple ideology. Rolled bard. I really liked the feel of the character, but eventually I ran into some heavy pk combat and couldn't compete with the character, It just wasn't my style to play a bard.

WC

[Evangelion]

Tiernan. One failure after the next with that guy.

Never made it into Knight. Never did anything with my custom title (Commander of the Elven Army). Never did anything more special than leading a few trips through Desolation.

My crusader app got rejected (by my own fault), and I dropped it like it was hot.

I also have certain character concepts that I've tried to do multiple times, never with any success - such as a Storm Elemental Crusader. Closest I've gotten was Prastor, who made it to 50 as a berserker, and then I dropped him before I ever got a response on the application.

But yeah, I definitely know what it's like to come up with this awesome idea for a character in class or at work, rush home to roll them up (ignoring everything else you should be doing), and then a couple days later, flopping out and going back to the drawing board.

Granted, these aren't really failures of the character, just failures to meet the goals that I set for them.

[Twinblades713]

Shuu, feral ninja that I loved playing but got discouraged by my noobishness and inability to deal with a vuln that isn't even that difficult to manage, in order to roll a power combo. A drow ninja right after. Loved to rp half the time, being incoherent to commonfolk. There were a few even trying to learn my language and it was a blast. He deserved more.

Gor, stonie warrior that I got decked with and still sucked. If I had given him more time I would have gotten used to it. I even got an invite to wm and declined because I was already losing touch with the character and thought I was going to have less playtime anyway. Had GREAT rp interactions. I remember arm wrestling magridir.

Kuroc, pretty much the same thing. Big doofy stonie ranger that got into Watcher and just lost it. I am not really a melee person...

Lyzeciel, your stereotypical "Guy playing a girl" character. Nuff said. Wanted to be a syndi cleric. Didn't work out.

I abuse my chars. D:

[WarriorCleric]

Shuu, feral ninja that I loved playing but got discouraged by my noobishness and inability to deal with a vuln that isn't even that difficult to manage, in order to roll a power combo. A drow ninja right after. Loved to rp half the time, being incoherent to commonfolk. There were a few even trying to learn my language and it was a blast. He deserved more.

Gor, stonie warrior that I got decked with and still sucked. If I had given him more time I would have gotten used to it. I even got an invite to wm and declined because I was already losing touch with the character and thought I was going to have less playtime anyway. Had GREAT rp interactions. I remember arm wrestling magridir.

I knew them. I saw Shuu around a bit, but I remember grouping with and dueling Gor with one of my WMs.

You guys have any notes or apps that can flesh out your characters? Outlines you wrote up, etc?

WC

[Twinblades713]

I only just started saving my restring apps and notes I've sent. Though I still have -most- of my descriptions since my first pinnacle.

[HBwillie]

Higsby was one of my more disappointing characters. After my Knight dwarf bard, Helmsley, and before my Tribunal dwarf bard, Gromli, there was my Syndicate dwarf bard.

Higs was an all-around failure. His RP was stale, as Helmsley's nephew gone bad, and once I was inducted, my cabalmates looked to coup me rather than collecting available bounties.

I should've known better. People were gunning for him even before his entrance to the family, but it only got worse after the application was accepted. There's nothing worse than having absolutely NO allies in game. I had some major successes with the other two, but this guy really fell flat.

[Djriacen]

re: twinblades

Dang, Shuu was one of my favorite characters to interact with on Aniensis. Probably his only friend other than Iraekiira.

edit: Queeble Talontoes - a halfer thief who had short term memory loss. Fun at first, but got annoying to even me.

[Evangelion]

Another one - Vesarius.

This was a drow cleric, who was looking to join Tribunal. He had made an alliance with several members of Syndicate, and was intending to act as a double agent after earning the trust of the Empire. However, his plans were cut short by discovery by Prax, after I stupidly tried to make a Dischord run with a then-Syndicate.

[WagesofSin]

Aqueioricus:

A storm cleric that was restrung as a water elemental. I had a history for him an everything, plenty of emotes, a way of speech that showed he was from a different plane and had trouble talking. With him I tried to convey emotions through emotes, since he was a water elemental and made of water it was fun thinking of ways he would show his emotions. Eventually, I accidentally died in the Forsaken lands. Since I had no way of getting to my corpse I thought i'd wait it out. As it turned out, some Syndi Avian looted it and took everything for apperantly no reason. That pissed me so off so much that I deleted.

[Iusedtobesomebody]

Had an Elf Warrior in way back that was restrung to a Wood Elf. Had a nice backstory, got into KNIGHT at 34 then lost complete intrest.

[WarriorCleric]

You guys don't have any descriptions, notes, or stories you wrote that are now useless that you can share? Maybe some logs?

Here is another one from me;

Gnome BMG, just rolled him because I was bored one day and thought up a way to refine my trigger training. (I am always at the board and always able to respond now, no life support.) Mastered a ton, thought about making a serious character and joined Hourglass. At the time the Savants required clan members to write a thesis on a spell, the uses and tactics and such. This is what I wrote;

Like Sharpmetal through an Illithid; The Belly of the Blades. A Thesis

on the use of Blades. Part I

by Manis Meddlepuff

Greetings, Chaps, I must say it is my great pleasure to write this thesis

on what is perhaps most considered a defining ability of the guild of

Battlemages! Of course the spell I speak of is the most glorious spell of

Blades! Before we begin, we must set the foundation for what we stand to

learn, and of this I hope it is plenty. The spell of Blades is available

for training to those of the title 'The adept of Earth. ' The spell itself

appears quite simple, the Battlemage summons and controls two large blades,

and sends them whirling about his body in a stunning display of cutlery!

And to the untrained eye, this is where the spell both begins and ends, but

to those of a lofty mind and keen eye there is so much more.

We will begin by speaking of the summoning of the blades under ones

control, the costs and the upkeep required. We will continue by speaking

upon the various uses of the blades, from the offensive to the defensive,

and, like any good thesis we will speak on the failings of the spell. It is

my hope that at the end of this document that it will be clear that the

spell of Blades is worthy of its adoration within the guildhall of the

Battle Magi, that it's failings and criticisms are necessary for proper use,

and that it truly is a spell to be fearful to meet on the outside end of!

On the summoning of blades; the initial costs are not much, were we to

quantify the summoning cost of the blades we would first need to find a

common unit of measurement. It is widely accepted that humans, in their

neither impressive nor gaspingly awful forms, are the average and it is with

they that we will find a base for our measurements. Assuming the average,

inexperienced, human adventurer, and through extensive clinical trials I

have determined that the initial costs of summoning the blades would

extinguish a mere twenty percent of his available concentration. It is

important to note that to maintain activity, the blades require continual

concentration and using the same basis as for the initial costs I have

determined that the upkeep would be slightly more than half the cost of

summoning the blades, and this will remain taxing of the mind for the

duration of the spell.

Now, it would be quite noticeable, and difficult to get even the most

innocent tasks done if all Battlemages were to travel the lands,

particularly Gnome Magi who are forced to ride low on their mounts, with

blades spinning. Thus once summoned the battlemage forces the blades out of sight, seemingly out of reality. I say seemingly because we, of course,

know the blades remain very real, but I will discuss this later. Beyond the

convenience of allowing everyday tasks, phasing out the blades allows a

tactical advantage of prospective enemies not knowing if it would be safe to

attack without being minced!

If you will allow me to use terminology found in the Dwarven villas, too

the meat and potatoes the spell! As previously stated, two blades are

called; each blade behaves in slightly a different manner; one slicing, one

slashing. A subtle difference, but a difference of note. Where slicing is

a deliberate act with intention to leave slices of the target, and slashes

are much more violent, with its sole intention to damage, but either scythe

will have the same reduction due to same piece of armor.

Continued in Part II

Like Sharpmetal through an Illithid; The Belly of the Blades. A Thesis

on the use of Blades. Part II

by Manis Meddlepuff

Making them particularly deadly, the blades attack all who engage the

Magi controlling them, this is an intentional effect created through their

orbital revolution about the magi. Many compare this to the brainless

assault created by the raging berserkers, but this is pure poppycock! Where

they sacrifice self-control to an uncontrolled end, and while we may

sacrifice a small portion of our concentration while the blades are active,

we maintain full control over our hypothalamus functions allowing us to flee

at our leisure. Additionally the blades control being in a repetitive

orbital path, trained to place the blades in the most usual spots of

engaging enemy, sight is not required for them to be effective. Not only do

they increase in power as the Magi trains, but as he gains experience.

Worth further attention is that all though their initial intention, and

almost unanimously perceived intention, is offensive, they do have a

defensive element! Just as its orbital path allows for the damage to occur

to your foe, it protects you from the physical attacks released by them by

deflecting would be assaults away!

It being such a wondrous spell, and I am sure by now you agree, one would

be quick to ask 'Why just two? Why not three, or four? ' And to that I

have two simple words, Angular Velocity. As stated before, the blades use

requires continual concentration, but it is not the concentration that

creates the issue. The concentration bears mention because it implies a

need for the Magi to be ever vigilant of the blades and their location.

This attention is often surmised by the more foolish of the Battle halls,

the Avians and Humans, to be required to prevent the blades from cutting the

Magi's own being... This is gross stupidity! Even whilst the blades are

phased from reality, where they can not harm, we are still disallowed from

calling more, why is this? Simply put, w = r x v over |r| to the nth power.

The nth power is the important factor in discussion, being that phased away

or not, the velocity of the blades in three directions isn't the worry, but

the directions traveling in a fourth or higher direction once phased away is

the dangerous aspect! Consider that the blades must be rotating and

revolving at such high velocities to not only damage our foes, but to do so

and continue on its orbital path unhindered, these are truly god like

speeds! Now consider the Blademaster's guild and their training at

disrupting spells as they are being cast.

Apply these thoughts to the angular path about the Magi's body with their

velocity combined with the angle the blade is traveling at any given moment

around the body of the Magi and it's vector, and it's plain to see we risk

cutting the very elements of our spells as we draw them from the dimensions

and directions about us, through the path of our blades. An incomplete

spell is an uncontrolled spelled, an uncontrolled spell is a dangerous spell

and control is a key facet of the Battle Magi's training. This we have

learned; Blades are obtained late in the Battle Magi's career, that they

require constant awareness, that they are indiscriminate against the

primary, secondary and tertiary foes in both offensive and defensive aspects

in their set orbital path. We have learned the limitations placed on the

blades are necessary for our protection, but most importantly... We have

learned.

I hope you have had the same pleasure reading this simple article as I

have had in writing it. Until next time, I am Manis Meddlepuff reminding

you to keep reading your mind!

I gave up write after a few days after writing that, so I have no idea how it went over, but I had a lot of fun writing it and it helped me develop the character a lot, but all for nothing.

WC

[Guest emp_newb]

Wtf, you did not post single old forum link?

[Deykari]

Rihler, Frost Giant Crusader.

Basically roleplayed a confidence-lacking Frost Giant brought up in the harsh tribal wastelands of Discord. Bullied and lived life as a beating stick until a Crusader's mission rescued him as a refugee. He then decided he wanted to 'give back' by signing up himself as a Crusader.

Got tore to pieces on a regular basis in 'unfair' circumstances and it left a sour taste in my mouth so I eventually gave up the character, which I'm disappointed in myself for.

Samaet, Faerie Berserker

A faerie with a huge ego and a massive superiority complex. Anything anyone else did, he's done 100x better. Typical quotations:

"That's nothing. This one time, I was in a bar, and thirteen trillion Ogres assaulted me. Seven seconds later, I was drinking Tamara's finest mead atop a pile of dead Ogres."

"That's nothing. This one time, this one time I just looked at this Illithid so hard that he just died."

"That's nothing. You ever heard of the Cataclysm? Yeah, that was me."

Managed to get into battle clan. Eventually stopped playing after I declared personal war on every single clan and cabal in Aabahran (excepting Knight, obviously, as a good) and I spent every play session logging in just to run about.

No notes or anything, formatted hard-drive since. There's a log of Samaet in the RP logs forum, treasure hunting in Rheydin graveyard. All my other characters have either been around for a decent amount of time, or not even past level 5.

EDIT:

Oh, and Rylafein Zauund, Drow Thief Syndicate. Accidently deleted when I tried to set a delpass.

I researched Drow language for the character, the name Rylafein Zauund actually has a genuine meaning which was part of the character, and I had a common-Drow translator application on my desktop so I could speak in Drow IG. Basically one of the few male Drow selected to serve the Matron Mother directly, but he wasn't happy with being ruled by women. There's a solo-RP log in the logs section which is Rylafein assassinating his Matron Mother, escaping from the bonds of Xymerrian Society, and from then I joined Syndicate to make my own living in the world. First character that actually did really well in PK too, before, well, accidently deleting.

Dey

[HBwillie]

I remember the drow and faerie. The faerie, in my opinion, was in no way a failure, in that his RP was totally imaginative and original. I guess it's really not up to me, though, whether characters were successes or not.

[Djriacen]

Yeah, I thought of Samaet as a definite success. Very creative.

[Nightmare_from_hell]

Only Dey would pk himself and then brag how his pk skills were superior.

[Deykari]

All of my characters with very few exception either go all the way to pinn and stay around a little while, or don't make it past desc check. By that, I consider those three my 'least successful' simply in the sense that they were not around very long at all and didn't branch out from the basic roleplay idea I started the character with. If I remember correctly, Samaet didn't even have hours played into the triple figures when I stopped playing - which isn't a lot of time at all considering how much spare time I had to play back then.

Dey

[mya]

Like Sharpmetal through an Illithid; The Belly of the Blades. A Thesis

on the use of Blades. Part I

by Manis Meddlepuff

Greetings, Chaps, I must say it is my great pleasure to write this thesis

on what is perhaps most considered a defining ability of the guild of

Battlemages! Of course the spell I speak of is the most glorious spell of

Blades!

Just for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRb3oMrgJ9o&feature=related

A battlemages fight with blades. The end of this fight is even better. But i didn't want to post the whole movies.

[Pali]

The ones I miss all made it to 50 or just shy of it (high 40s) and then I just stopped playing (usually the whole game for a couple months). Leyto, Vorran, Vhalen, even to an extent Xxtyx, Vryxtyx and Ilendriel... could've done so much more with those chars, but either real life or just tiredness of the game caused me to drop them due to lack of playing.

[Celerity]

Ikiko - human dk - started off on the wrong foot with my desc poem - getting pked by my warlock was also pretty unmotivating...never couldn't get started in the random aggressive pk needed for malforms...

Zugor - dwarf zerk warmaster - really fun char that I loved a lot...just couldn't compete in PK. Ironarm + dragon stance chars shows two obvious banes of powergripping fury rage focus. I can't recommend anyone to choose fury. Also showed that a mithril giant zerk can pk a godsuit dwarf zerk with simple bodyslams...back to giants for my zerks...

Myoti - h-elf war - shield lore test char...the only achievement that this char did was never get pked (Kanal came close) and inspired me to push for a shield expert lore boost (which was implemented)

Saruk - undead necro tribunal - I spent a huge amount of time building up the rp base for the char...and I chose a terrible time to do it. A million (37?) avg dam wrath weapons from Nexus and the huge amount of DKs at the time...nothing like being assassinated from a cleave or one/two rounded (THROUGH PROTECTIONS) by other players...I love necros and I would like to do this again someday...but I already used my RP opprotunity..

Justafa - feral ranger - this char was a ranger test char and the pk was so easy that I never want to play another ranger...a strong pk char...but essentially worthless for the MUD

Hua - human pal - loved this char very much but I am just not aggressive enough to use paladins well in PK...an almost exclusively RP char that kinda just disappeared...lots of solo RP with this one

Jyoti - human pal - this char happened in a low time for the pbase in my timezone...I think I had almost zero interactions with other players...a hugely solo rp char that got really boring because I could just play in my head if I ever wanted to

Kirel - elf thief - a really fun character, had a few good times, but the terribly weak PK potential reduced me to almost exclusive RP with this one too...which I enjoyed for a time and moved on to other things...I did get pked by one char, a herald vamp...which was disheartening because of having had no chance to RP with that char before or after it happened

Wuraja - fire war - wrote a neat poem for dischord...killed some people, talked big, really boosted my tough talking man skills---never really got into PK much with this one though in the end

Rikako - human monk - monk experiment, trained, got to 50, trained, afked, trained, afked, stopped logging in...

Luxaem - gnome savant bmg - bmg experiment...pk was strong on this one but was never really motivated by the RP...was really fun before getting cabaled...got assassinated by some random ninja

Lugrek - fire war tribunal - tough talking, really interesting and fun expansion of Wuraja---almost all the RP was on the spur of the moment and it worked out very well---this char was killed by the hugely prolonged age of suffering (the torments--a very bad time for tribunal) and my losing access to a computer for a few months---I ended up being pked by deykari's blm right when I hit 50 and then later by some random feral ranger (one handed non-fire weapon only (no shield) and no sanc to make it fair, was being shot at by ice but couldn't engage due to the challenge timer---I made it a little TOO fair and didn't try to survive seriously due to that it was agreed to be a friendly challenge...but in the end he decided to take the kill and loot--I am a bit TOO trusting sometimes...)

[Grim_Reefer]

You can trust me, Celerity. I can make you happy.

[HouselessRogue]

I wouldn't even know where to begin here. I have had tons of characters that I was super pumped about and the excitement faded one way or another. I am sure that everyone has at some point. I have characters at 50 that I cabaled then realized the fun was gone after that. I can think of one in particular. I am sure this kind of thing happens to everyone.