What are your Character's fighting styles?

[moonshineTheleocat]

Seeing that adventure threads have became more popular, a lot of characters have found themselves scraping by in hoof to hoof combat. Or crossing swords and magic against powerful foes! Obviously, your character has some means to get by when the threats arise!

So the question is. What is your characters fighting style? Does the fighting style she have has it's own name? Or perhaps she's the unorthodox fighter? So tell us!

Voronoi "JavaSun" Fractal :
Boxer - The art of busy hooves. With lightning fast jabs, and well placed but controlled slugs. He's light on his feet, and weaving the blows.

Brawler - All Power, little flash. Brawler mixes erratic weaving, and just sheer brute power. This is no flashy show. The sheer point of this fighting style is an all out rampage to take your opponent down fast.

Pragma - The Pragmatist makes heavy use of gadgets, tools, and the enviorment when he's at a disadvantage. Or when he's just feeling cruel.

 

Uncharted Treasure:
SOC - A fighting style that focuses on blunt force, grapples and the use of tools.
Brawler

Dumb Luck - Try something stupid, and succeede.

Arcane Prancer - A lot of running. A lot of Casting. Enchant your hooves while you're at it, and deliver a flurry of punches.

[stormchaser1991]

well for a weapon type com styles i normally go for a duel wildeing swords if a none weapon one most likely boxing

[Zealot]

Combat for me is always the worst part of a roleplay. Especially PvP stuff. I find there's usually hurt feelings and you have to talk about it a lot and it's counter productive to the roleplay. That's why I steer clear of adventure RPs. It's just dull, and granted it can come up but I usually go out of my way to make it not come up. As such I only have two characters that are combat ready.

 

Still, having studied a bit of military history it is fun to come up with battle tactics for characters. 

 

Clandestine uses a combination of a lot of different fighting techniques. Since I wrote a short with her I had to think a lot about how she would fight and I even developed some moves for her to use. Nonetheless, she uses a combination of old slavic cavalry style and western lancer style for her engagements. There's some mixed martial arts in there as well, as well as a few handy spells. I quite like cavalry tactics, so it was nice to come up with a fighting style for her.

 

Stiletto is another kettle of fish. She's more of a dog-fighter than anything, though she can use other tactics like the cantabrian circle, or the caracole. 

[stormchaser1991]

and that would be for my pony stormchaser

[Dunder]

I hate that Zealot is right, but it is true. PVP I've only seen handled well in the arena. And that's because a third party decides.

For the most part, you have to settle PvP with a draw though. Also in PVE you see some pretty ridiculous or inspecific stuff.

I still like adventure RPs though. :3 Slice of life can be fun, but can also get boring quickly~

I dunno about my other characters, but Dunder can use a variety of swords, daggers, and polearms but of course with a variety of effectiveness.

For the most part his go to weapon is his custom cup hilted rapier, or as he says "espada ropera" and parrying dagger. Most ponies are unarmed and unarmored, and both weapons are specialized for dealing with unarmored opponents. And anything unarmed is no match for a skilled swordpony like Dunder. At least if he is able to get his weapons out. In turn he usually is lightly armored  unarmored, so he is able to protect himself for the most part. Anyway, thrusting weapons are effective at keeping opponents away, nothing wards off an attacker like a sword pointed at them.

And if he had a firearm it'd have to be a matchlock rifle XD Become a musketeer. Most of Dunder's martial arts are based off of Renaissance martial arts anyway. Specifically Capo Ferro.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Zealot has a good point. I had seen guys that kind of god mode or alway win in various rps and that is a bit annoying sometimes. For me, as long as the battle looks fair, it is alright by me, even if my OC wins or lose. In the other forum I was, there was a special type of rp similar to a D&D game, since battles and all that stuff was decided by dice rolls to make it more fair for everybody.

Anyways, back on topic. My main OC fighting style is focused in defense. He uses sword and shield, and excels with shield, but still lacks offensive abilities, kind of a tank that doesn't deal that much damage. He is also a bit fast, but rathers block than dodge. He can use any type of sword, but likes more long swords or katanas.

[AlextheAngel]

As much as I like adventure roleplays, I agree with Zealot and Prince. Not only that, but many action/adventure roleplays have a bad habit of getting too dragged out.

 

Nevertheless, my fighters usually rely on speed and agility when in combat, mostly using mixed martial arts. A few of them rely more on stealth and surprise attacks, or some guerrilla warfare if in a unit.

[RedCedar]

My character hasn't had to do it much, but Red's combat style is shank them in the back when they aren't expecting it and then run.

[Zealot]

Yay, everyone agreed with me for a change!

 

Hehe, seriously though, I hate that I'm right too. Combat in a roleplay format only works when everyone talks it out in an out of character thread and handles the matter like adults. It can be handled well, but it's always an immersion breaker. Everyone has to be clear on what is going to happen, and everyone has to be happy with that, or the story breaks down because people become dissatisfied. Just like with antagonists, people don't like bad things happening to their characters, and that's perfectly understandable. As long as nothing is forced on anyone and everyone is happy after the discussion then combat can be an interesting experience for developing characters. Certain things can happen that can only happen in a combat scenario, and it should be seen as a tool for that rather than an obligatory 'I want my character to be awesome for a bit' which can be done in other activities like playing a video game. PvE is a little different, however it still needs to be talked through. 

 

Ultimately it boils down to the fact that you have to be prepared to collaborate to make sure everyone is having a good time. I've seen other systems where people use pseudo D&D rules to resolve combat, dice rolling, even flipping coins. That's an ok way of doing it, but that turns it more into a game than a roleplay. It's always better to talk it out in my experience.

 

I also agree with the point that they can get dragged out. I've been in plenty of roleplay that died after the first two pages simply because it was taking forever to get anywhere. Best to keep plotlines short and simple, then see where they go. Then know when to stop them.

 

But yeah, it's an interesting discussion.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Yeah, I actually don't mind that my character lose a battle (at least if he doesn't die or ends un badly injured...), but I want it to be fair. What I do is that my character TRYIES to do a specific attack, but I leave the fact that it hits or not to the other one, like when they do it with me. Perhaps talking about the battle and how it will be carried shohld be carried before it starts on the OOC to make sure it goes well and keep it as imersive as posible.

The pseudo D&D thing is ki.d of fair, but can get a bit repetitive and well.... it get boring at some point for me.

But yeah, this had became quite interesting.

[Solaria]

I'm going to have to disagree. Personally, well-executed combat between two posters skilled in it is one of my favorite parts of rp. It's more a question of implementation than the validity of the combat itself. When done right, it's like the smallest of rps within a rp. Blaming an idea simply because of its misuse is like saying all apples are bad just because the orchard you happen to be standing in is rotten.

While I'll agree that such a thing is rare, most writers skilled in combat will write it believably and with a mind for their character's limitations. Is a recruit going to beat a seasoned guardspony? Most likely not, but he can give it a shot. Maybe manage a few parries, try for a riposte and miss before being tossed on his hindquarters. It's injecting the realism and maturity that makes it so great to read. It adds another layer to the immersion, should something like an adventure be in progress. Again I won't disagree that this is rare, but it's also what I believe t be true rp combat.

As for my characters:

Solace: She's strong, tall, and fast. And she knows it. Using her larger stature to her advantage, she'll use her wings for both offensive gusts of unbalancing wind and bursts of speed to land a single decisive strike with her blade. No nonsense.

Destiny: As a fragile mage, she fights at range. Hers is a quite varied style, from commanding elemental forces to making the very battlefield turn against her opponent.

Faore: Uses her enchanted masks for a variety of effects. An Ursa Major mask might bolster her resolve and tenacity in direct combat, while a panther mask could make her more adept at sneaking and surprise attacks.

Mjölna: Direct and confident, she'll engage any number of opponents with hammer strikes of overwhelming power. Prone to boasting.

Nyx: Though she can fly, this pegasus relies on her technology for combat. Her most reliable method is her aetheric pistol and the effects of its unicorn magic-fueled shells. She has several other gizmos like outer prosthetic attachments that she can employ.

Milly: She's hopeless at fighting, but will rewind herself to move away from attacks.

[moonshineTheleocat]

The thing with combat in adventure and PvP RPs, is that everyone either wants to win, someone is trying to do some really unnecessary and unrealistic maneuver, god modding, or what have you. That's really where all the hurt feelings generally comes from.

 

Unfortunately, the nature of MLP combat, or fleeing is typically highly involved. Combat has been the most common thing I have seen. Even when the odds are just aweful. Normally it's forced because there aren't any other plausable options.

 

I don't mind when my characters loose. The story progresses. He learns, and he lives another day. He might be able to give the person a run for their money next time. And I know I'm not the only once with this concept.

 

But please. Don't turn this thread into a "These are the reasons why I don't like combat" That's utterly defeating the purpose here.

[Dunder]

Yeah, that's true. I still love combat RP. That's why I want the Arena to NOT be dead, but I think it might be dying DX

[DerpRavener]

I'm hopeful that we can keep the arena going, it's just a little slow at the moment.  I've got a couple more characters I'm working on, that I'm planning to add to it in the not-too-distant future.

 

Adding my two cents to the discussion: I think combat RP is one of my favorite things when it works, it's just that it's a little conditional.  You either need a) for everyone involved to understand their characters' limitations and be at least accepting of setbacks, or b) some sort of arbitrator whose judgement everyone agrees to accept.  I actually have so far not had a combat oriented thread I haven't enjoyed here, although that might partly be a question of needing more data.

One thing I've thought about a fair amount for combat RP is the idea of non-death defeats, which is basically a way for someone to lose the engagement without suffering permanent personal harm.  Among other things, it would act as a way for a character to lose an encounter without changing the character too much (as major injuries might do), and maybe without the personal sting of simply being beaten down.

 

 

Anyways, onto the main topic:

 

As a changeling soldier, Naj's combat style is largely based around surprise, taking advantage of opportunities provided by opponents, or creating said opportunities.  She's something of a thinking person's combatant, tending to be less powerful but having more inherent options than who or what she goes up against.  She's not incompetent with weapons, but most of her training is unarmed strikes and grapples.

 

Slim Chance is not combat trained, but she's clever and has something of an affinity for mayhem.  She can't cast particularly large fireballs, but with a little observation she can find just where to put them to cause the most damage.  As an adventurous sort, she's also ended up more physically fit than some unicorns, and will throw physical blows into the mix as well.

 

Rex is basically a lightning bruiser, by making certain trade-offs.  Now wearing armor lets him move surprisingly fast for his size, and while it's impossible to swing his sword/club that quickly it can hit very hard and has a decent reach.  He's also just as capable with his claws as with his sword, if not more, being able to drop the weapon to strike much faster even if he'll hit with less weight.  He's not an idiot, but he favors brute force, and generally use it until it stops working.