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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:30 am
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I originally meant to merely ask a question of my own, but felt that changing this into a broader topic might help others as well (more about that at the end of the post). I am having difficulties thinking of ways to fight a mind-reader (let's call him "S"). My character--let's name him "D"--isn't especially smart, though he has occasional moments of intuitive perception. "D" wields a short sword and a revolver, while "S" is weaponless. "S" is, overall, better than "D" in every physical aspect, but is more susceptible to iron than "D". "D"'s companions are a mind-reader, who might help "D" if her mind isn't taken over; a woman of strength relatively equal to "D"'s capabilities (also my character); the mind-reader's brother, who hates "D"; a shapeshifter; a winged cat; and a water demon with multiple personalities. However, there's a possiblity that "D" may have to fight "S" alone; I'm fairly certain that "D" has to deliver the killing blow, at least. Advice for fighting a (mostly, if not completely) solo battle against a stronger opponent would be greatly appreciated. ((I don't know if this matters, but "D" is a dhampir, while "S" is a full-blooded vampire. The mind-reader and her brother are also full-blooded vampires; my other character is a vampire weakened to a dhampir's equivalent.))
Anyone is more than welcome to post their own battle concerns from their roleplays; hopefully we can all get some answers.
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Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:51 am
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Well, from a writer's perspective the style of the story is very important. For example if this was an anime-style story, D is the likely hero (as he's the underdog with friends) but would most assuredly lose his first battle with S! All the better to have a story arc elsewhere, licking his wounds, discovering something about S's past and eventually finding a -good- reason (and some mentorly advice) to eventually have a grand finale and a chance to win. (Preferably with S close to completing a nefarious scheme - for the greater good of man/vampirekind)
The underdog usually wins when he has a good reason to, ne?
Mechanically for the grand finale, this 'several friends vs fiend' strikes me as the sort of fight where some of the friends being defeated one by one (any chance S could have a few lieutenants there?) and a bloodied S with an evil-and-unstoppable-grin facing D near the end, with one little subtle something (overlooked by S as pointless) done by a friend turning the tide near end of fight... The multiple-personality demon strikes me as a key helper, multiple personalities are a telepath's bane since half their thoughts are effectively clouded at any time. And it makes sense they'd be resistant to mental powers (two minds in one, and not normal ones either) Though from a storyline perspective, I'd keep the angry bro along for the finale; There's no finale like a family reunion.
Soo let's picture an assault on S's mansion: mindreader friend faces off a jester illusionist vampire; strong gal faces off some muscular black bald seems-nice-guy vampire (bet they end up dating post-story); flying cat gets chased by Bones the undead dog; water demon faces some oddball blood demon... Then the shapeshifter-hero-angry bro trio faces S... at some point S causes D to shoot the angry bro (mind control) big moment of angst for D "I shot my frieeend!" while S cackles manically, then controls shapeshifter to attack S... Coup de Theatre! The water demon and shapeshifter had switched places and breaks out of control!
...To be continued...
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Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 7:14 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:13 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:22 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:32 am
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Hm, I've seen this happen in anime where the main character just goes "I know! I'll just stop thinking about what I'm doing and attack madly!", firstly I think that's cliche, and surely any mind-reader would have seen that trick before and have some kind of counter-measure for it. If they didn't I'd be surprised anyway. The same happens with invisibility in anime, probably roleplay too since roleplay is often based off anime, the character just goes "I'll just attack everywhere!", often ignoring the fact that the invisibility user can just back off or something like that, or that their attacks aren't really focused enough to do much damage when they do hit, although that's only generally speaking.
I'm also not clear on what you mean by mind-reading, you mentioned "D"'s mind being taken over, I'm not sure if that's related or not, but I'm just going on the assumption that mind-reading only means that "S" will be able to predict what "D" is thinking.
Under that assumption, there's just a couple of points, but it does depend on the roleplay style in play here and the details. Firstly, you mentioned a water demon with multiple personalities, can those personalities interact with one another or are they practically unconcious of one another? Is only one active at any given time? And can the mind-reader read all of their minds, or just one, and if so, is it the active one or another one? Better than providing no information at all by not thinking, one of the personalities could think false thoughts and feed the mind-reader false information, which could make for a pretty easy win if you can end it quickly. Either that, or each personality could scheme differently, and change around at crucial moments, essentially changing the demons mind without prior planning of the active conscious, meaning again that the mind-reader acts on false information until it could be too late.
Secondly, the use of a revolver could be quite straightforward, but it's so straightforward I think I'm probably missing something. The thing about guns and aimed projectiles is that they are hard to dodge, theoretically. At an ideal range, any large distance the victim moves, the attacker only needs to make a slight change in their aim. There's of course a balance between being close enough to hit, and far enough that the opponent can't dodge. Under that theory, even if "S" can read "D"'s mind, if caught in an open space, mind-reading is practically useless, since no matter how quickly "S" dives for cover, from "D"'s point of view "S" is basically stationary. In mathematical terms, "S" is nearly guaranteed to have a low radial velocity in any direction about "D". Of course, I don't know what your rules on bullet dodging are, or deflecting with swords like I've seen done before, but I've heard that you can get around that by firing more than one bullet at once.
Anyway, I hope that was clear enough, but it's likely it wont be. If not, tell me what you understand and what you don't if you want me to try and clear that up.
P.S. This is my first post in this forum. Hi everyone.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:01 am
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 7:17 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 7:31 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:37 am
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