Typecast.exe

Each time I take an extended leave from the board I always end up doing something or another that makes me want a new character. This time was no exception.

NetNavi

Name: Typecast.exe, though Nik has taken to calling her Tyci for short.

Gender: Female

Element: Normal

Type: Sword

Appearance: Tyci shares much of her predecessor's earlier physique, aside from the obvious differences. Extremely thin and only standing about 5'7", she has a strength that belies her size, as made evident by the weight of the scythe she carries. Her helmet, which has two spiky formations coming from the top and right side of her head, as well as one of Ergo's "side spikes", only allows for one of her eyes to be visible, though the other one can still somehow see what's going on around her. Her jumpsuit (during her normal state) is an off white while her armor is a mixture of varying shades of silver. Picture.

Personality: Tyci's persona is a mixture of what Nik was able to recover of Ergo's, as well as her own individual personality traits. She is usually friendly and outgoing towards others, sometimes to the point of annoyance. Since she is still trying to get used to her own sense of self, she is very curious and often times will find herself in a sticky situation because of it. There are times when she experiences what Nik calls "mood swings", during which some bit or another of Ergo's personality bubbles to the surface. Though she has most of Ergo's past memories, she tries to not let them define the type of Navi she's going to be.

Custom Weapon: E.R.G.O. Scythe - A huge scythe with a smaller blade on the butt end. It has the ability to retract its blades, enabling Tyci to use it as a normal staff when not in use. While it's in this state, the head of the staff bears a slight resemblance to the top of Ergo's helmet. The blade on the end of the scythe is able to be repositioned as Tyci sees fit, whether to act as another scythe or a spear.

Signature Attack: Typecast: This self titled Sig Attack is what makes Tyci live up to her name. By sacrificing a battle chip, she is able to integrate the element of the chip into her own data for a short period of time. While she is channeling the elemental data, her jumpsuit and armor change color to suit her new element and her attacks will flare, freeze, shock or splinter based on which element she has absorbed.

History: After receiving a letter in the mail, Nik and Ergo journeyed to Sci Labs to participate in the product testing of a third party PET. There was nothing wrong with his current PET, but Nik's was rather dated and he figured that a new place for Ergo to live for a while would be a nice change, almost like a vacation for the Navi. So they went to the building, sat through the introduction meeting with a spattering of other civilian Net Ops and Navis, and eventually ended up in the testing room. That's when things began to go wrong. After having the PET activated and configured to Ergo's specifications, Nik began the process of uploading Ergo to the "new" PET.
The problem is that it wasn't "new". Earlier in the testing phase, another Navi had been loaded onto this particular PET to test the interface. When they were done and the Navi was removed, however, there was a fatal error in the early software and she perished before managing to be fully extracted. Even though the newest version of the software was bug-proof and had been uploaded onto the PET, the data of the previous Navi had not been removed.
The moment that Ergo leapt into the new PET, something in the system kicked in and realized that multiple Navis were inhabiting a single Navi space. So the system did what it thought was the only reasonable action: it made it so only one Navi was there. To Nik's horror his friend and partner was wiped away in a blur of spinning data. When the storm subsided, all that was left was a single female Navi, unconscious and lying on the "floor." Despite attempts to recover Ergo's data, the company was only able to gather bits and pieces, so completely were the two Navis data signatures merged. As compensation for his loss, Nik as allowed to keep the new PET and the Navi. He attempted to recover Ergo on his own computer, but due to his remedial programming skills he was only able to recover his memories and a small bit of his former personality. After uploading these little fragments of Ergo into the new Navi, Nik had no choice but to give up. Ergo was gone, and nothing could change that.
Nik has since dropped out of the bounty hunting circuit and is currently a freelance virus buster.


Well, there's that out of the way. Please give what criticisms you need to. I was kinda hoping to keep all of my old stuff, seeing as my Net Op's the same, but if you want me to start fresh, that's fine as well.

Looks good, save for one thing.

Your signature attack is chip assisted. This is a no-no, and will need to be changed.

I don't know. I think it's okay, because it doesn't try to slip extra power by by saying something like "must sacrifice type of chip x"

Honestly, I think it's refreshing and overall nice.

Gotta give stats to what it actually does, though.

I never said I didn't like the idea. But honestly, for anything to be considered useful, I doubt it would cut it for a level 1 signature attack, but hey, I could always be wrong.

@ SpaceMonkeySteve: Well, it's not really an "attack" as much as a "status inducer", only it's targeting my character. I plan on having other sig attacks that do different things based off of her current sig attack, but if that's pushing it, feel free to tell me so that I can rethink my future sigs.

@ Kazu: As far as stats go, at the moment it's just change the element and gain the bonuses that element would recieve, like the +5 damage to fire chips when she's a fire type navi, etc. She, of course, would also inherit the weaknesses that go along with it. For CD, I was thinking 3 turns. The duration of the effect would be the same. I was kinda hoping for my normal and charged attacks to have the element, but again, if I'm pushing for too much just tell me.

But yeah, given the odd nature of this thing I am willing give quite a bit on this attack. Just let me know what, if anything, I'm missing and what I'll need to change.

Oh, and I've modified the PET from the initial post.

Iduno, man. Even with sacking a chip to use, being able to essentailly pick whatever element you want to be is pretty powerful for a level 1 sig. Essentailly, this is an attack that gives you all of the bonuses for all elemental chips. The gaining their weakness thing is sort of moot, because you wouldn't change into a fire type in a room full of aqua virii, for instance.

I'm not saying that this sig isn't do-able, but for a starting level 1 sig, it seems a bit much.

Well, what about increasing the chip penalty, like making it so that if I sack a chip, I can't use any of the copies of that chip I have for the rest of the battle? Or maybe something like a number of turns I need to wait before being able to activate it?

Sorry if I seem to be kinda desperate, but as a theme character I would kinda like her fist sig attack to help define her as something other than a girl with a huge scythe.

Nono, I understand completely where you're coming from.

I have one more quick question: How long the element change last? You have the 3 turn cooldown, but I didn't see anything on how long the element lasts.

I guess I worded it kinda weirdly.... The element change lasts for 3 turns as well. Sort of a "stuck until her system can work it out" kinda thing.

So... what's the damage? What all do I need to change about the sig attack before I can start using her?

Okay, I can think of two ways to go about this.

The first, Tyci sacks a chip, and can't use any chip of the same name for the rest of the battle. This includes sacking the same named chip for a second use in the same battle. The change lasts 3 turns, and then theres a 3 turn cooldown after she changes back.

The second, Tyci sacks a chip for one round of different element-ness. if she wants to stay that element, then she has to sack another chip of the same element. Either way, she can't have more than three rounds this way. 3 turn cooldown, starting from when she reverts to normal.

See if you can take any of those and use/tweak them.

Well, I was thinking of the CD ending at the same time as the element change, but I'm just as happy with the first choice. This makes it so that she can't just drop out of an element if I'm in a Navi fight. Otherwise it seems somewhat unfair, me being able to lose the element in response to an attack (I almost always end up posting last in those things for some reason...)

But yeah, choice 1 is fine by me.

Okay then, tentatively approved. If there's a problem, we'll have to work it out, okay?

You know the drill.