Kinda with Cherry here, Harry's a badass powerhouse (Even compared to Rin), but Servants are, well, Servants. Rider, properly supplied, is absurdly fast and tough and can summon THE Pegasus to whoop your ass. And as Cherry Lover said, B-Rank Magic Resistance = Yeah, you're boned.
Also, they use the same terms a lot, but the Dresdenverse masquerade is far thinner and in more danger. They're practically still in the Age of the Gods what with the amount of monsters running around. Sure you have VAMPIRES, things that resemble Dead Apostles (the Red Court) and the White Court, but you also have more easily accessed demons as well as relatively common Fae, something that doesn't really happen in current Nasuverse. So it'll be hard to mesh those two things.
Name: Sasaki (Demon) Race: Human (Servant?) Class: Caster (Okay, that makes more sense) Master: Age: 29 Height: 5' 6'' Weight: 150 lbs. Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Appearance: A lean, relatively fit young man, he has an unassuming and average appearance. His eyes are deep-set, his left eye a vibrant purple beneath the scars that cover the upper left of his face Alignment: Lawful Good
Stats Strength: E Agility: E Endurance: E Mana: E Luck: C Noble Phantasm: B
Skills:[/b] Incarnate: A Servants possessing this skill are not truly spirits or wraiths. Higher ranks representing a Servant closer to life and possessing a living body. This skill reduces the strain of maintaining the Servant, and higher ranks also allow the Servant to respire Prana on their own. However even a minimal rank in this Skill forbids a Servant from entering Astral Form. At this rank, Gaia acknowledges Caster as a human out of place and puts very little pressure to remove him from the world. This means that Caster only respires a small amount of prana per day.
Divinity: D Having stolen the Divinity of a powerful Demigod of Murder, Caster has the spark of divinity within him.
Encyclopedic Knowledge: D Caster has a surprising breadth of knowledge on many subjects.
Item Creation: D+ Caster has moderate skill in the creation of items, enhanced by his class. In particular, he is adept at creating technological items or those dealing with Sith Alchemy, in which case his skill is Rank Up.
Exposure to the Kaleidoscope: B A unique skill, this represents Caster’s exposure to the depths of the Kaleidoscope and the many things therein. He possesses outside knowledge about universes which are fictional in his home universe. He is aware of things he could not otherwise know. In particular, he is aware of much information relating to the ‘Fate’ and ‘Unlimited Blade Works’ routes of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Additionally, due to his exposure to the overwhelming nature of 「 」 Caster is resistant to any sensory or mental overload effects.
The Force: A- Caster has been trained to use his Od directly without converting it to prana, to affect the world around him.
Caster has considerable mastery of his own Od as well as how to manipulate the Od of others using his own. He is able to quadruple his own healing rate as well as internally enhance himself. If he can gain contact with another being he can drain their own Od. Due to the nature of this universe in comparison to the one in which he learned this technique, the effectiveness of this Skill when used externally is ranked down.
Using the Force externally invokes reduces the power of the effects by two ranks.
This skill allows Caster to enhance himself by drawing on the external life force of the world and grants him the following Skills: A+ Rank Instinct, C Rank Telekinesis, B Rank Sith Alchemy, and D Rank Presence Detection.
Divine Words: D Caster has training in the Arcane, a school of magic using a combination of the Divine Language, Formalcraft, and Runes to enact their will on the world.
Noble Phantasms: Lightsaber: A-rank Anti-Personnel A weapon from either a far flung future or a distant past, when inactive it appears as a simple metal tube. But when it activated, a beam of intense energy extends from it, acting as an omnidirectional blade of plasma. It is a sword which cuts anything physical, even Noble Phantasms. More powerful Phantasms taking longer and longer amounts of continuous 'cutting time' to wear its way through. Up to D-rank weapon phantasms or C-rank defensive phantasms may be cut instantly with little effort. A rank defensive phantasms or B rank weapon phantasms take a minute of continuous effort to cut through. Weapons of A+ rank cannot be cut through as their mystery is too great.
As the weapon has no mass, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to block with the weapon, though it possesses the unique property of being able to be turned on and off.
Armor of the Traveler: E+ Rank Defense, Support The item that Caster considers his greatest creation. Heavy body armor infused with the Force at every step of its creation, it is made from technology from either the far flung future or the distant past. The armor increases its wearer’s attunement to the Force, contributing to Caster’s A-rank Force skill.
The armor may project a barrier of crystalized plasma that reduces the power of any attack by one rank.
F/SN[/b] Summoned as Caster (due to his tendency towards Item Creation and his most visible feats being magical)
His master is a massive dickbag who tries to make Sasaki use his magic for his own gain and ignore the war until the last.
Yeah. No.
Sasaki lops his arm off with his lightsaber before stealing all of his grimoires and heading off. He makes use of the Dark Side of the Force to drain energy from people and life around him as he moves, weakening them but sustaining himself until he can get to the Temple, where he uses the grimoires and his own knowledge to create a more permanent solution of boundary fields and magical defenses.
Since it's so long before the HGW, Sasaki has plenty of time to set up his defenses which are layered and many. He simply plays himself off as a prospective monk... which is easier than he'd thought due to his Jedi training.
Creating a Crystal Ball, he scries the master of assassin before they summon, a very average mangus with only a few circuits but a massive determination to reach the Root… Sasaki offers him a chance, give up his arm and command seals or die. Between Force persuasion (which the mangus doesn’t recognize as magic and resist) and Sasaki’s status as a Servant, he convinces the prospective master to give up his arm, which is a lot less painful for him with his cooperation.
He studies the command seal bruise on the arm for a bit before figuring out how to use Sith Alchemy to transfer it to Kuzuki and have the teacher summong. Some tense negotiations ensue between Hassan and Sasaki, but Sasaki is able to convince Hassan that he’s telling the truth about how fubar the situation is and how badly he needs help.
He keeps an eye on things as best he can from the Temple... and senses Lancer appear in the city. He goes to meet them to discuss terms and keep her from at least trusting Kirei... but he's too late. Kirei has already taken Bazett's arm and Lancer, leaving her to die. Quickly, 'Caster' uses his Healing Potions to save her before whisking her off to his Temple. With a combination of Sith Alchemy, the Force, and another healing potion he grafts the arm from his previous master on her before she wakes up.
She’s really leery about working with him, not that he can blame her, but with a proper Master as well as his knowledge (which he plays off as due to his Scrying of things) they’re a terrifying pair, especially with Kuzuki and Assassin. He can’t enhance people as powerfully as Medea could have, but with Bazette’s runes and his own combination of Force enhancement as well as Reinforcement-style Arcane magic, it’s still a decisive boost for all involved.
Sasaki places the magical equivalent of landmines along the entire stretch of the path to the temple, not breaking the flow of the leyline but rather tapping into it to kill any Servant silly enough to attack
Cue Berserker attacking the Temple, without False Assassin, they have trouble, but Sasaki can rain magic down at them with impunity, the runes of paralysis, devastation, destruction, and more all slowing down the Magic-Resistance-less Berserker. Berserker simply can’t get too far from Illya or the spells raining down on him will kill her, and Illya isn’t immune to the traps that Berserker triggers and the two have to fall back. Berserker himself was never in any danger, but Illya was. Cue sighs of relief from both Bazette and Sasaki.
Sasaki takes tons of (electronic) notes on the runes that Bazette uses as well as everything she mentions about them. While he uses Sith Alchemy to enhance her outfit, she uses runes to enhance his armor in return.
Sasaki meets with Rin as she comes out of school, Blood Fort Andromeda has been set up. Rin automatically assumes that ‘Caster’ is the source of the effect, but he denies it as he tries to crack the magic put into it. Doubting she’ll listen to him now, he only points out that her sister has been suffering, thinking that she doesn’t care about her, ‘idly’ noting the horrors she has to withstand. Rin almost has Archer attack him for this (wounded by Saber or not), but thinks better of attacking a Servant at full strength with a partial strength one and heads off to investigate his claim.
Not two days later, the Matou mansion is reduced to rubble.
Sasaki feels like a complete badass considering that he’s been successfully manipulating the war so far aside from the whole ‘summoning Saber properly’ bit. He didn’t have time, but still, this has been working really well so far (at least in his mind).
Shirou gets kidnapped by Illya and Sasaki finds this out when he notices the prana surging in the Eizenbern lands. Excalibur had been used. Well fuck. He rushes over to find an exhausted Saber, wounded Rider, Shirou, Rin and Sakura all together. Damnit.
He’s not really able to convince them of his good intentions, but they don’t attack him. Still, he ensures they’re all healed up and safe before getting them home.
Gilgamesh takes exception to ‘Caster’s interference with things and attacks the temple. Sasaki is rather obviously unable to hold him off, but teleports Bazett to the Emiya household with instructions to get Saber recharged (With a tantric ritual if necessary) and that Shirou holds Saber’s Sheath. Between himself, Assassin, and Kuzuki, they try to hold Gilgamesh (or even beat him if at all possible) as long as they can. Between the three of them, they don’t last long, but Sasaki is actually able to remove one of Gilgamesh’s arms with a cheap trick and his lightsaber before getting exploded
Baldur’s Gate[/b] Summoned once more by the same master, there’s no plot to really resolve right now, she was more checking that he was okay… then smacks the crap out of him for worrying her like that. He’s given the Sword of Chaos, Saerevok’s powerful blade, which works for him just fine since as far as the Sword is concerned, Sasaki is Saerevok.
Only a small portion of the group that helped take down the demigod Saerevok stays together, bound by bonds of mutual friendship! (and safety)
Sasaki creates a new ability using Alteration, Reinforcement, and the Force creatively to create gemstones and gold from the particulates in the air or water, which makes the group surprisingly rich. Rich enough to massively expand their spellbooks, equipment, and get proper instruction on how to craft magical items as well as blacksmithing. He heavily improves his equipment by enchanting all the things with the help of his Master. They get Sasaki an extensive ‘spellbook’ in his electronics. In particular, Sasaki re-works his armor and enchants it heavily, adding magical equipment and mystic codes everywhere.
Then they get kidnapped.
Sasaki is experimented on heavily as he’s obviously stolen the divine essence and soul of someone else, and as such, of great interest to their captor, who cuts him open and studies him extensively, but deliberately avoids killing him.
They eventually break out, and once they’re out of a life or death situation, Sasaki has a breakdown. He was barely able to keep them from casting spells once they got out and thus getting locked up with their captor.
After enough time to calm down, he’s insistent upon them going after the ass-wad before he does some serious harm (which he knows he will) and the most of the group agrees. The ones that don’t are either swayed by the simple thing called revenge or because they’re friends are all going along with it.
They ally with the Thieves Guild to get to the prison where he’s held and gather up a sum of money to make it happen. They perform increasingly epic feats and quests to do so, gathering more allies as they go. Sasaki creates several extradimensional holding bags to carry more equipment, particularly a belt for his blades
Sasaki starts to have a romance with one of the party members that’s been with them for a long time
One of their companions is killed… and Sasaki goes outright berserk on the enemies that did so, pulling deeply on the Dark Side of the Force and the stolen Divinity to utterly dominate them.
They fight an ancient Dragon as part of one quest and Sasaki nearly gets eaten, but fuck if they don’t take it down. However, the confrontation drains his Master to the point where she can’t sustain his existence, and he fades out.
Rosario + Vampire[/b] Sasaki wakes up on a bus, confused as hell. He gets run into by a girl on a bike who introduces herself, sucks his blood, and then basically runs off.
He finds out he’s at Youkai Academy, a school for monsters that teaches said monsters how to integrate with human society. Apparently, his mind has replaced the original main characters, which really worries Sasaki as he’s afraid he killed someone that definitely didn’t deserve it. He also has his eyes, which is very weird as the rest of him is Tsukune.
Sasaki remembers the story well enough to know that if he doesn’t act, several girls are going to be molested at least, likely raped, others killed. He can’t, just… can’t let that happen. It goes against everything he is. He quickly becomes friends with Moka, the vampire that hit him, and searches for another of the girls that would be part of the harem to become friends with her and try and keep her from falling for the guy that would molest her. He also tries to find the young witch before she gets herself killed.
He’s successful, though he gets embroiled in some minor combat and wounded without his normal equipment or the conditioning he’d been working on. Even with functioning magic and the Force, without his equipment or conditioning he’s not as much of a match for superhuman monsters as he’d like.
He gets along with the girls rather well, though there’s no real romantic interest on his side or even most of the girls. The young witch and the succubus are exceptions, though for varying reasons. While he’s flattered and finds the succubus attractive, it’s really awkward for him considering he’s nearly a decade older than them mentally.
And then he gets his neck broke by a monster that gets a lucky shot in and as he fades mentally, Sasaki curses internally that it had happened. He’d gotten cocky.
Dragon Age Origins[/b] ‘Summoned’ by the Lyrium Well into the deep roads, he has to fight his way out and has to be turned into a Gray Warden to save his life. He ensconces Tsukune deep in his soul to keep him safe from the taint. His magic just outright doesn't work here. Prana based abilities simply don't function outside of his body and even his Magic Circuits don't respire power at any reasonable rate.
With his magic on the fritz, he has difficulty in combat. He learns how to be a Templar from one of his companions to counter the magic of others while developing a style of combat to fight beings stronger, faster, and more skilled than he is as he's not all that strong without his magical enhancements.
Due to his relative experience, he starts to take the lead of the growing team.
They complete the Mages Guild (he absorbs the souls of several of the Abominations, which messes with his head), the Gray Warden Keep, and start to get things done in Dennerim… before Sasaki is assassinated for being the most ‘obvious’ leader of the Gray Wardens and having let his guard down.
What Frostyvale is replying to was posted on BL yes, the revisions are due to some feedback I got from there, I just wanted to clean it up more before I posted it here. This is the revised version:
Basic Premise: Self Insert is thrown into the Holy Grail War and killed for obvious reasons, but his ‘wish’ of not dying is granted by the corrupt grail the same way it granted Avengers.
It shunts him into the kaleidoscope, keeping him from dying, but dooming him to endlessly go to other realms, being summoned or replacing the damaged minds of characters. Each time he dies, his soul is damaged by the backlash, causing him to lose memories and thoughts over time. His soul begins to consume other souls to patch itself up, which causes more memory and mental problems due to the new memories and feelings not his own, causing him to slowly spiral into insanity even as he grows in power.
The story follows his growth in power to that of a true Heroic Spirit, but also his gradual loss of identity and growing insanity as he tries to do the right thing.
First Swing[/b][/i]
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Statline:
Name: Jacob ***** Race: Human (Servant?) Class: Assassin (False) Master: Caster Age: 23 Height: 5' 6'' Weight: 140 lbs. Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Appearance: A lean, relatively fit young man, he has an unassuming and average appearance. His deep-set eyes and underbite being his only real distinguishing traits he possesses Alignment: Lawful Good
Stats Strength: X Agility: X Endurance: X Mana: N/A Luck: C Noble Phantasm: X
Skills:[/b] Incarnate: A+ Servants possessing this skill are not truly spirits or wraiths. Higher ranks representing a Servant closer to life and possessing a living body. This skill reduces the strain of maintaining the Servant, and higher ranks also allow the Servant to respire Prana on their own. However even a minimal rank in this Skill forbids a Servant from entering Astral Form. At this rank, Gaia acknowledges Assassin as a human and does not put pressure to remove him from the world; only death can remove the Servant from the world.
Encyclopedic Knowledge: D Assassin has a surprising breadth of knowledge on many subjects.
Exposure to the Kaleidoscope: B A unique skill, this represents Assassin’s exposure to the depths of the Kaleidoscope and the many things therein. He possesses outside knowledge about universes which are fictional in his home universe. He is aware of things he could not otherwise know. In particular, he is aware of much information relating to the ‘Fate’ and ‘Unlimited Blade Works’ routes of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Additionally, due to his exposure to the overwhelming nature of 「 」 Assassin is resistant to any sensory or mental overload effects.
Noble Phantasms: N/A
F/SN[/b] Because of a broken and twisted Grail and Caster’s overwhelming power, a living being from the depths of the Kaleidoscope is pulled as a Servant, using the Second Magic rather than the Third, summoning OCdoriol as (False) Assassin. As he is still truly alive, he doesn't need prana from Caster, nor is he bound to the arch, so he hauls ass once he can and tries to get into contact with Rin or Shirou.
It's on the UBW route and he's able to get into contact with Shirou. It takes some convincing, but the group is at least willing to give him consideration. He tries to convince Archer that his plan won't work and that the group (and Sakura) needs him (Archer), but it's not much later that Caster kills him horribly for his betrayal, using her pseudo-command-seal to make him quite literally suffer to death... and OCdoriol doesn't want to die, he wants to get away… it's all he can think about at those last moments-... and the Grail, twisted as it is, grants his wish. It renders him unable to truly die, but sends him cascading through the kaleidoscope.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic[/b] Replaces Revan’s artificial personality. He dies on Talos from a blaster bolt to the face that he didn’t dodge. His blaster sticks with him as a ‘phantasm’, though that’s using the term very loosely.
Baldur’s Gate[/b] Summoned by a Tsundere Elf Wizard protagonist as a Familiar.
He can’t communicate with anyone except his master empathically.
She’s irritated with him, though confused as well, but she does her best to take care of him since he’s just as confused as she is and obviously scared. She’s simply too much of a good guy to do otherwise. She gets him equipped with basic armor and a sword and taught basic not-dying skills, especially since he takes a portion of her power to maintain. He takes up using a shortbow as he’s a natural with it and it’s a way to help out without getting up close and personal with stabby things.
Ocdoriol and his master try to teach each other some basic language skills to make it easier to communicate. In doing this, Ocdoriol realizes he doesn’t have a name anymore, the only thing coming to mind being Kojirou Sasaki which he knows isn’t right… still, he has to give her something to call him other than Familiar, and goes with Sasaki.
A targeted Dispel Magic hits him and his master in the back of the fight and he dissipates.
Familiar of Zero[/b] Summoned as part of the ritual, but as a wraith bound to Saito. ‘Sasaki’ struggles to convince Saito that A). Saito isn’t insane B). Sasaki’s trying to help and that C). Sasaki isn’t a stupid mirage damnit! Look at me! Listen! Don’t provoke her! She’s your connection to the world and being a perv won’t- god damnit Saito! Eyes on her face!
From the point of view of a wraith who can’t feel anything except tangentially through Saito, it’s rather weird. While Sasaki can’t really affect the storyline much, his coaching and more mature stance subtly influences Saito’s relationships.
Saito doesn’t truly think Sasaki is real, but he’s willing to admit that he’s at least helpful and more like his conscience rather than a voice in his head telling him to kill things.
A priest that Saito runs across offers to exorcise him of the ‘evil spirit’ following him along and Saito goes along with it, Sasaki realizes that this means he’s going to be kicked out and has a brief panic attack trying to convince Saito not to! But he’s still kicked out.
Second Swing[/b][/i]
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Statline:
N/A – Not meaningfully different from the previous one
F/SN[/b] Summoned as (False) Assassin again, though this time with his leather armor, sword, shield, spear and bow. He avoids pissing off Caster as much as he initially did due to his shitty status since he at least has weapons of his own this time.
Still runs though, having an easier time of finding Shirou and Rin, though this time it seems like the Fate route instead. Shirou believes him easily, it’s Rin that’s hard to convince, not that ‘Sasaki’ is surprised by this. He begs for her to A). help hide him from Caster and B). Teach him magic as well. Anything he can learn to help him survive.
His magic circuits are activated (all 8 of the shit-tier circuits), though this quite literally lights him on fire which scars him. Staying in the Boundary field that Rin erects, he’s hidden enough from Caster that she doesn’t bother looking for him, acting as an info-dump for her to try and manipulate the war. ‘Sasaki’ has a fair amount of knowledge about the Fate and UBW routes, but only the most basic info on the HF route. But it’s enough that Rin ends up saving Sakura though Rider is killed in the process.
Caster arrives at the home while the team is away, intending to hold Taiga hostage to get Saber… and finding (False) Assassin… and once again ordering him to suffer to death for his betrayal.
SW: KotOR[/b] Replaces Revan once more, this time he’s a lot more careful than he was last time and is able to clear the ‘Talos level’, escaping with Bastilla and the others, using his previous limited training in the sword combined with more advanced technology as well. That and he’s a natural with a blaster as he is with most ranged weapons.
He starts to show his talent for creating items with the ease of modifying and upgrading his equipment. Entirely with upgrade kits at this early point, but he learns quickly.
They escape to Dantooine and, as per canon, they train Sasaki in the ways of the Jedi over several months, which he picks up at an astounding speed. He realizes that he’s tapping into the residual knowledge of his host body. Something he is fascinated with is how to use the Force to create items. He surprises the Jedi Masters in building his own lightsaber.
Moving on in the quest to find the Star Maps and thus the source of the enemies power.
He lacks the innate charisma that Revan truly possessed, but Sasaki is easy to like. He’s nice, honest, and concerned about people. Only Bastilla really doesn’t get along with him, which weirds him out since he normally gets along with hard-asses.
Sasaki leads his small team to the Wookie homeworld, helping free them from the corporation that’s taken control… but during the process his team has to fight what amounts to a force resistant land bound dragon. OCdoriol loses his left eye to the mauling he receives, but survives. He replaces it with a purple one quite literally just because he wants a purple one. He actually can’t see using it initially, though he got a version with infrared vision.
On Korriban, the Sith Academy, he sneaks his way in and learns from them over the course of a month or two. Mostly they’re teaching Dark Side techniques, but Sasaki is fascinated with Sith Alchemy. He learns very little in the time constraints and between playing the Academy against itself. He’s surprisingly good at this because despite seeming and being brutally honest, he’s capable of lying quite well.
After getting the headmaster and his assistant, the two most powerful Sith there to kill one another, he accesses the star map and is exhilarated by the power and skill he just showed, feeling the strength from the environment surging in him… and he suddenly feels himself slipping away as something dark and powerful rises up from within him.
The remnants of Revan’s personality surge up, empowered by the Dark Side to shunt Sasaki out of existence.
His blaster is swapped out for the long-handled lightsaber that Sasaki built for himself.
Baldur’s Gate[/b] He’s re-summoned by the same mage. It’s not long before she’s able to cast a translation spell on him, at which point they have a long talk. He explains all of his limited knowledge of the first game and it’s plot/developments/quests. He shocks her with the truth of her heritage and is all for her choosing what she wants to do with it rather than telling anyone else. She ends up deciding to tell her friends the truth.
It doesn’t really click, but he keeps his cybernetic left eye.
At his request, she helps him learn arcane magic.
He can’t really use the Force here worth a damn, though the instinct works slightly, at least when facing sentient opponents. He’s able to figure out how to perform basic Reinforcement and Structural Analysis.
Quote from: Scene Concept
One of the party members is a manipulative dark elf and Sasaki admittedly likes her quite a bit. After his master, she’s the one he listens to the most for relatively little reward. Two of the more mature party members pull him aside at one point and try to convince him that she’s manipulating him…
“… duh?”
“I know it’s hard to bel-… wait, what?”
“Of course she’s manipulating me? She asks me to take her watch at night so she can go flirt with, I’m assuming, Dorn due to her given preferences. Her words are calculated to make it seem like she is attracted to me while encouraging me to do just that little bit more to please her as if it would be enough to get her to truly love me. And this is ignoring the calculated touches, glances, and general attitude she has. It’s obvious that she’s manipulating me.”
“If you know that, they why do you go along with it?”
“Why not? I don’t expect her to love me, I just enjoy her presence.”
The half elf blinked in a cross between surprise and confusion.
I rolled my eyes and gave her a small smile, “Jaheira, I don’t dance because I am a puppet on her strings, but because I enjoy the tune. Nothing more, nothing less.”
They get further in the series but he’s killed in battle by a wyvern when it swoops down and snatches him up, biting off his face before he can orient himself enough to fight back.
Familiar of Zero[/b] He’s summoned on top of Saito once again, but it’s the same Saito who had Louise re-summon to bring him back. Saito realized a bit too late that Sasaki was truly afraid. And if he was a spirit rather than just something in his head… well Saito couldn’t just hurt him like that. Saito didn’t know if this would work or not, but it was worth a shot to make it up to Sasaki.
Sasaki is flattered and appreciative, rolling with it, the two settling into a brotherly/mentor-student relationship.
Sasaki’s intelligence, teaching, and relative emotional maturity helps ease some of the drama as he coaches Saito along while helping the young man stay calm and not provoke the girls. Saito amusingly plays off any sage advice or things as “a voice in my head”, doing so jokingly.
Sasaki discovers that he can actually use the Force through Saito, it’s more effective than in Baldur’s Gate, but still considerably weaker than in Star Wars. Since Sasaki himself doesn’t need much in the way sleep, he spends the time practicing with the Force, experimenting with it. He trains with Saito some trying to link up and allow Saito to use his precognitive edge.
There’s only a certain amount of non-interaction Sasaki can stand before he starts to prank people. It’s usually subtle stuff like things moving when people aren’t looking, but sometimes he deliberately trips Saito into the breasts of women or other such blatant things.
Through Saito, Sasaki helps keep Louise from being over-burdened in the war as well as arguing different tactics. He’s not an amazing ‘general’, but his lack of pride and ability to just shut the fuck up and think for hours on end helps make up for it some. It’s mostly that he (through Saito) offers a differing viewpoint compared to the traditional generals.
Sasaki helps Saito hold off the army, not seeing any way to avoid this. Sasaki works with Derflinger to get Saito as far away from the battlefield as possible after holding the army. Sasaki remembers that the half-elf can and will find him and heal him up… but Sasaki doubts he’ll be there. So he does his best to comfort the younger man, telling him he’s proud of what Saito’s accomplished, which brings a small smile to Saito’s face…
Sasaki even actually believes it some.
Third Swing[/b][/i]
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Stats:
Name: Sasaki? Race: Human (Servant?) Class: Saber (Wtf?) Master: Emiya Shirou Age: 23 Height: 5' 6'' Weight: 145 lbs. Eyes: Green Hair: Brown Appearance: A lean, relatively fit young man, he has an unassuming and average appearance. His deep-set eyes and underbite being his only real distinguishing traits he possesses Alignment: Lawful Good
Stats Strength: E Agility: E Endurance: E Mana: E Luck: C Noble Phantasm: B
Skills:[/b] Incarnate: A Servants possessing this skill are not truly spirits or wraiths. Higher ranks representing a Servant closer to life and possessing a living body. This skill reduces the strain of maintaining the Servant, and higher ranks also allow the Servant to respire Prana on their own. However even a minimal rank in this Skill forbids a Servant from entering Astral Form. At this rank, Gaia acknowledges Saber as a human out of place and puts very little pressure to remove him from the world. This means that Saber only respires a small amount of prana per day.
Encyclopedic Knowledge: D Saber has a surprising breadth of knowledge on many subjects.
Exposure to the Kaleidoscope: B A unique skill, this represents Saber’s exposure to the depths of the Kaleidoscope and the many things therein. He possesses outside knowledge about universes which are fictional in his home universe. He is aware of things he could not otherwise know. In particular, he is aware of much information relating to the ‘Fate’ and ‘Unlimited Blade Works’ routes of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Additionally, due to his exposure to the overwhelming nature of 「 」 Saber is resistant to any sensory or mental overload effects.
The Force: C- Saber has been trained to use his Od directly without converting it to prana, to affect the world around him.
Saber has a moderate amount of talent with this Skill, but he learned it in a far stronger form and in a universe far better suited to it, so this Skill is significantly less useful. It may only be used internally.
Using the Force externally invokes reduces the power of the effects by two ranks.
This skill allows Saber to enhance himself by drawing on the external life force of the world and grants him the following Skills at D rank: Instinct, Telekinesis, Presence Detection
Divine Words: X Saber has basic training in the Arcane, a school of magic using a combination of the Divine Language, Formalcraft, and Runes to enact their will on the world.
Noble Phantasms: Lightsaber: A-rank Anti-Personnel A weapon from either a far flung future or a distant past, when unactivated it is merely a simple metal tube. But when it activated, a beam of intense energy extends from it, acting as an omnidirectional blade of plasma. It is a sword which cuts anything physical, even Noble Phantasms. More powerful Phantasms taking longer and longer amounts of continuous 'cutting time' to wear its way through. Up to D-rank weapon phantasms or C-rank defensive phantasms may be cut instantly with little effort. A rank defensive phantasms or B rank weapon phantasms take a minute of continuous effort to cut through. Weapons of A+ rank cannot be cut through as their mystery is too great.
As the weapon has no mass, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to block with the weapon, though it possesses the unique property of being able to be turned on and off.
F/SN[/b] He gets summoned as-… Saber…? What the fu- … Oh fuck.
His Force-granted Instinct is at least partially functional, but he only helps Shirou avoid getting stabbed by Lancer by-… relying on the rules of hospitality? It was a complete guess on Sasaki’s part, but it works! Well, at the very least long enough for Archer/Rin to arrive.
He has absolutely piddly magic resistance and stats for a Saber, though he has his lightsaber which cuts damn near anything, even Berserker. He’s able to assist Archer enough to force a retreat from Berserker when encountered after getting Sasaki registered. He insists on going by Saber.
‘Saber’ takes the time to use his magics to ‘discover’ a lot about the situation. Information that Rin accepts with only a bit of trepidation as Saber has been only helpful so far, and while he admits to having a wish, her Archer doesn’t have one, so this might work out…
It takes pretty much no time at all for Rin to decide to head to the Matou mansion and break Sakura free. Saber has the idea to use his Force Drain Field on the worms and it works horrendously well. Each one has only the least bit of life force to it, and the field is weak and hard to maintain, but it kills all of the worms within almost ten meters of him while also recharging his Od.
It takes some effort, but Sasaki can exclude Shirou from the effect. Rin and Archer are willing to have the mild drain on their reserves in return for the protection.
Sakura is utterly stunned that her sempai and sister have come to save her and still care for her even after learning how ‘filthy’ she is. Rin tries to play off her concerns, but Sasaki confides (not so quietly) to Sakura that Rin is just putting up a front and is really worried and happy that Sakura is safe. Cue very unhappy Rin.
Rin moves to talk to Caster with ‘Saber’ and Archer as her support, leaving Rider with Shirou/Sakura at the Emiya place. Archer considers turning on them to get the command seals removed, but decides against it, acknowledging that ‘Saber’ is useless. Sasaki takes offense to that! Archer shouldn’t have even considered turning on them with how super useless he is as a Saber. It’s like a damn comedy skit. Until Sasaki’s magically hidden (and hidden magically) lightsaber hilt gets close enough to Caster for him to activate it and cut her in two when negotiations fail.
Later, they end up fighting Berserker, and while Rider and Sasaki try to buy enough time for Archer to put up his Reality Marble, Sasaki taps deeply into the Dark Side of the Force to even stay alive since Berserker’s already been killed by his lightsaber and is thus immune to being killed by it again. By leaping onto Berserkers back and putting him into a draining headlock, Sasaki is actually able to reduce Berserker’s stats by a full rank before Berserker grabs him and slams him down into the ground and cleaves Sasaki in half. That wound sticks with Sasaki as a massive scar through him.
SW: KotOR[/b] Once more replaces Revan, though this time it’s hard to keep everything under wraps. He still has his artificial left eye, which is rather… weird all considered.
Over time, he creates a surprisingly powerful and advanced suit of armor that combines low-tier Sith Alchemy with what little magic he can manage as well as using the Force to improve upon it much as one does a lightsaber. The armor (and outfit in general that he wears) becomes associated with him due to how distinctive it is. It’s heavy as hell with servo motors to ease its weight, but even then, without his Reinforced or Force enhanced strength it’s still a bit silly. The energy shields and various additional pieces of equipment are amazing additions, compensating for his (comparative) lack of skill with the lightsaber and the Force when pitted against the outright better combatants.
On Tattoine he gets HK-47 and is able to negotiate peacefully with the sand people, though there’s much exasperation here at people just being obstinate, the first time it was okay, but the second time is just hard. He knows it’s the first time for them but still it feels like he’s telling them stuff all over again.
On the Wookie homeworld he’s actually ready for it this time. He convinces the corporate headquarters to turn over the planet back to the Wookies for an increased profit… and legitimately means it. Money is something he is very good at and after having time to think about how to convince them of it between tries he’s able to pull it off.
On Korriban, Sasaki actually tries to learn as much Sith Alchemy and Sorcery as he can to supplement his magic, but once again he plays most of them for fools. It’s something he’s surprisingly good at, his apparent honesty and earnest nature make it easy to convince his superiors and ‘classmates’ that he really just wants to do the best he can for them… until he pulls the rug out from under them or stops supporting them and lets them fall on their own. He gains a few markers of the Dark Side here, veins along the right side of his face, even paler skin, his right eye slowly yellowing, but he’s been in control of his own darkness for a long time, it’s Revan’s and the surroundings that he has to learn how to control. It just feels so good to give in. Still he manages it and turns the Sith Academy inside out before he leaves, stealing most of their records and a fair amount of expensive equipment with none the wiser.
His companions call him out on his appearance, but that appearance fades over time amongst them and away from the ambient dark side energy. Just as he said it would. Still, Bastilla is very wary of him and the other Jedi are concerned.
On the water planet they have to deal with the trial and obstinate bureaucracy, things that Sasaki is actually good at. It’s when he’s got to go on his own into combat that he struggles.
The group sticks with him after learning his ‘secret’ (Oh noes! You’re really Revan?!). But when he has to fight the Dark Side Bastilla, he really has to work his ass off to talk her down as she obviously doesn’t love him as she would have the canon Revan.
When he finally fights Malak, Sasaki is willing to drain the mindless stored Jedi and attempts to puppeteer one of the bodies against Malak though this doesn’t work. He finally beats Malak by using magic to literally make Malak slip and then take Malak’s arm. Despite having armor that essentially renders him immune to lightsabers and conventional attacks, despite this body’s strength in the Force, Sasaki simply lacks the skill to use it to its full potential, especially against someone like Malak… in a location so saturated with the Darkside that Sasaki has to struggle with going berserk, which would be an instant ticket to death.
Once defeating Malak, Sasaki stops the assault, taking control of the massive facility.
The Republic that he saved demands the Star Forge, and ‘Revan’ denies them, pointing out how dangerous it is. They almost threaten to attack, but he points out that the losses would be horrendous. Sasaki just wants to study the place some and tells the republic as such, but the Republic makes demands. He has no interest in war, but he also fully believes that this station is too dangerous to be used. He attempts to negotiate peacefully, and this is the only reason that things don't disolve into another war within a few days.
It’s over the course of a few weeks before he decides he’s pushed the Republics temper enough and decides to blow the place and run. Between using Structural Analysis as well as his own computers, Sasaki learns a number of principles and takes massive numbers of notes on the operation of the station and how it uses the Force to do things. How it draws on so much power in of itself boggles his mind, but he picks up bits and pieces and takes 3D pictures of everything.
While most of his companions go their separate ways, a few stick with him.
Quote from: Scene Idea
”Mission, you shouldn’t stay with me…”
“You can’t tell me otherwise Sasaki! You’re not leaving without me.”
“Mission… I’m probably going to die under a hail of blaster fire or someone’s lightsaber… there’ll be no happiness at the end of my story. Just sorrow and death, and if I’m lucky, the satisfaction that I’d done the best I could …”
“I-… No. I’m not abandoning you! Not just because it’s convenient. You didn’t do that to us and I’m not going to do it to you.”
After blowing up the Star Forge he runs into the galaxy with his few companions and hides. Slowly, years pass with them constantly on the run. If he could just settle in and hide he could do so, but he's unable to just stand by whenever he sees cruelty or things he can fix, so he occasionally pops up on the radar and the Republic follows.
Over nearly four years, Sasaki develops his armor as well as his lightsaber. His lightsaber is unusual in that he normally uses it as a single, but it’s truly a double that can split into two. One blade is longer and green while the other is short and a constant cascade of different colors. The short blade is mostly meant as a surprise weapon, and it’s color (rainbow) was something he did in memory of his girlfriend in his home reality who wanted one… it’s a reminder to himself that he’s not of this world and that he also has a home elsewhere.
One relatively normal day of hiding from the Republic, something different happens.
Cue assassins.
While he's dealt with bounty hunters plenty of times, these are force sensitive assassins. What a mess. And then the Lord of Pain, Darth Scion, appears to try and kill him. Sasaki holds the near-corpse off long enough for his companions to escape before he himself runs. Scion isn't as powerful as Malak, nor as skilled, but he's effectively immortal and still strictly better than Sasaki. Still, after seeing his skill it in action, Sasaki thinks he might be able to emulate it given some time, to use the Dark Side and the power of his pain to hold himself together...
Scion hounds them for a while, Sasaki killing more and more of Scion's assassins.
Then Darth Nihilus tries its hand at killing Sasaki, and damn near succeeds, trying to consume Sasaki in his entirety... but something* prevents it. Sasaki runs away.
The Traveler realizes that he’s been cut off from the Force to prevent Nihilus from consuming him whole.
Fuck.
However, remembering the second game in the series, he tries to develop Force Bonds with his companions once more, finding himself successful and re-connecting himself to the Force through them. He’s not entirely sure how that works, but it does. Still, he has to relearn much of the skill with the Force that he had gained, though his Sith Alchemy works just fine.
Still, he finds that his Od is only tenuously maintained without drawing power from around him.
By consuming the power of others he can increase his own and draining techniques come far easier to him now… even when he doesn’t intend to, he drains a fragment of the residual energy from those he kills to increase his own power.
Hearing that the Jedi are slowly being exterminated, Sasaki tries to get in contact with them, trying to convey to them wtf is happening, but they generally don't listen. Assholes.
Concerned about what might happen if he doesn’t, Sasaki tries to track down Darth Nihilus to make a hit and run attack as a ‘testing’ assault to see how well he can hold off the abomination without being at the risk of being consumed utterly.
He struggles to track him down… until Nihilus slaughters an entire planet and the Jedi Council upon it. Sasaki is there within the day and in a fit of fury, assaults Nihilus. His team with him struggles to keep up with the Dark-Side empowered traveler, but the fight between the two holes in the Force is much more even this time. Without the trump card of Nihilus’ “I Win” Force Drain, they’re more evenly matched. Sasaki is not as competent with a lightsaber, but his armor/shields compensate for this. Nihilus has much greater strength in the Force, but is matched by Sasaki’s Sith Alchemy, much greater variety of abilities, and insistence on forcing things closer than comfortable lightsaber range into straight hand to hand, where he is patently superior. That said, it’s not enough. A punch that would normally take off his head, merely knocks Nihilus’ mask off… revealing nothing inside except raging Dark Side power.
Yup. Time to leave.
While Sasaki can (if barely) match Nihilus, his companions can’t, and aren’t immune to Nihilus’ power. The Traveler has to cover their retreat before falling back himself.
Frustrated, Sasaki trains, trying to find other Jedi Masters to train with them to increase his power and re-learn as many Force Powers and skills as he can and pick up as many new ones as he can. He also properly learns several Lightsaber forms. The basic Shi-Cho, defensive Soresu, and specialized Trákata which makes use of the ability to turn the lightsaber on and off are his personal favorites, though he makes sure to learn some Makashi and Ataru as well, the specialized ligthsaber dueling form and the mobility form for varieties sake. Once again, he’s a determined generalist rather than a specialist.
But as he trains with a Jedi Master in hiding… the planet and his friends, who have stayed with him for several years now… all die around him.
Nihilus has come. And this time, with an ally. Both Scion and Nihilus are coming… and Nihilus had consumed the life and force energy of the entire planet, absorbing their souls (all but those that Sasaki had a Force Bond with, who Sasaki himself absorbed/consumed unknown to him at the time, this will come back to haunt him when he remembers things only they would know).
Horrified and stricken, Sasaki sends the only survivors, his droids, off to find the Jedi Exile and help them; if the multi-dimensional warrior can’t take down either of them, then they’re the only one that can threaten them. He doesn’t expect to survive, but he’s going to try to take out at least one damnit.
So he waits.
In the middle of a pavilion on a dead planet, deliberately setting up dozens of camera’s and recordings so that people will know about these damn bastards, Sasaki waits for the two Sith Lords to arrive. They appear, pre-empted by dozens of assassins… which do nothing to Sasaki as he just turns the very same power Nihilus has against them, consuming them whole.
And so he stands to meet his death.
He can’t beat both of them, hell, he can’t even beat Scion on his own. But damnit, he’ll take at least one of them down. Sasaki does surprisingly well, mostly by whipping out a completely different style every other move and his armor allowing him to use a completely unconventional style, letting him just tank several consecutive blows from their lightsabers before he needed to block.
He removes one of Scions arms… but the Lord of Pain re-attaches it mid combat. Sasaki cleaves Nihilus in two… which doesn’t kill the force of nature. Damnit, this is ridiculous. He taps further into the Dark Side of the Force, he loses an arm but reattaches it mid-combat and cleaves them both in half using the moment of surprise. This doesn’t stop either of them, but it slows them down long enough that he can try to drain Scion.
Sasaki is cut apart piece by piece, slowly broken down in the duel until he collapses and falls apart, unable to maintain the Dark Side sustaining effect, fading from this existence.
He gains both his lightsaber and his armor as ‘phantasms’ from this travel.
Baldur’s Gate[/b] He’s summoned… by the same master as before. This surprises him a bit since he expected to reset upon death but he’s not complaining! And this time he even has his powerful armor! It’s been a little bit since he was last here since his master couldn’t bring herself to summon again due to mourning for him. She smacks the crap out of him for making her worry and cry like that, but he just hugs her, happy to be back and be amongst friends he hasn’t seen in almost five years of relative time.
Since he has no way of refueling its generator (which can also recharge his other equipment like his lightsaber), he has to figure out a way to ghetto-rig the generator to run off of atmosphere rather than the purer fuel cells. Functional? Yes. Efficient? Fuck no.
Annoyingly, while he still has all of his skill that he developed, all of the conditioning he put his body through is gone as it wasn’t his body, not to mention that his Force Abilities are considerably weaker outside of his body.
The cost of maintaining him has gone up noticeably, even though she is more powerful. Sasaki tries Force Bonding to her, which actually makes it a bit easier since they can share power, and by Force Bonding with other Party Members he reduces the strain on his master. He also works on his draining field, practicing maintaining it in combat without affecting those he’s Force Bonded to.
The group pushes on until they fight the final boss of the first game, the demigod of murder. The fight is intense and difficult, pushing the party to their limits against the powerful demigod and his cronies, but in the end they’re victorious. But when Saerevok dissolves into golden motes of light, instead of dispersing and fading, they surge into Sasaki as his own soul desperately tries to patch itself up by consuming it. Sasaki absorbs both the soul and divine spark on complete accident.
However, this also includes a sudden spike in his maintenance cost, which his master can’t provide for in her exhausted state, and what little power Sasaki had left failing him rather quickly. And so he fades from existence.
Familiar of Zero[/b] He’s summoned physically by Tiffania.
While they generally get along fine, Sasaki and his Master have serious conflict over the killing of enemies
Sasaki has to adjust to actually being here and physically interacting with the nobility. Sasaki doesn’t take Sheffield lightly at all and nearly kills her the first time they fight. After that point she goes out of her way to try and take him out as he’s a threat to her master. They have a freaking field day every time they fight, Sasaki eventually beats her and takes all of her magic items, no he doesn’t know how to use them all or have her Class ability to use them but damnit, magic items! (This isn’t intended as a large power boost as he doesn’t know how to use them worth a damn, but meant to demonstrate his tendency to hoard and the looting habits he’s developed from being in RPGs).
Introducing Sasaki to the rest of the group is awkward as he knows them, and Saito knows him, but they don’t know him. He tends to try and settle any drama that occurs but is, for the most part, quiet and stays out of things. He can’t resist teasing sometimes though, it’s just way too easy. He gets along fantastically with Tabitha at very least.
He creates a magical, Sith-alchemy enhanced vibroblade, it screams when it cuts and ‘moans’ when it’s swung because of the vibrations. He bases its magic off of Derflinger’s, making it a lesser anti-magic blade that can cut through nearly anything.
SUPER-SPEEEEEED (meets precognition and insta-kill weapon)
Unlike Saito, Sasaki is very obviously a spellcaster, which weirds most of the mages out horrendously.
The Pope does not like Sasaki because he questions. He’ll stand up in front of everyone and ask a damn question, he won’t just accept assumptions. He’s also determined to at least try some diplomacy with the elves.
Once he finds out what the real problem is (the Windstones), he questions why they don’t use magic to extract them. They don’t have the ability quite simply. So Sasaki figures out a way to do so. They’re deeper in the earth than he would have thought, but with Henrietta’s blessing and support of researchers he’s able to figure a way to siphon the power off from them without being in contact with the stones, funneling it into other gems.
The actual diplomacy with the elves nearly breaks down, there are skirmishes because of it, but some elves are convinced to help them figure out a way to avert the crisis.
Eventually, the political enemies that he and the other protagonists have made make a massive attempt to slaughter them with elven assassins… and Sasaki pushes himself to his limits protecting them, but he fails. While he can take the elves on his own, he can’t do so while protecting his master… he hesitates at throwing himself in front of a blow, he does it but just a moment too slow and his master dies. In a fit of fury, he cuts loose in the little time he has left and slaughters multiple elves before he fades out of existence.
No weirder than for Saber, who is literally still alive.
Touche'.
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I would assume it would in the same way as it did with Saber, yes. Her armour is not specifically magical, after all....
Wasn't her armor made from her prana though?
Yes, but I'm pretty sure that's an artifact of her being a servant and not part of her legend. I certainly don't recall anything in King Arthur's legend about magical armour, and if it were literally magical it would be a Noble Phantasm since it is seriously unusual.
The thing is, if that's the case, then why didn't his spear cut through invisible air? Or hell, Excalibur?
Oh. Duh. Phantasm vs Phantasm.
Still. very wtf-ery if his shields have to be made out of prana.
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There's no mass to block things with, parry? Sure. But not block. The only mass is the hilt. Sure you can cut an attacking weapon (of the appropriate 'shit'-tier), but depending on the angle the piece is still coming at you.
Isn't parrying just a weaker form of a block anyway?
And, well, a lack of mass doesn't mean it cannot block something, because massless items can still exert a force. In particular, what causes two objects to block each other in general is electromagnetic repulsion between atoms (without that things would just pass through each other without any problems), so there is no reason I can see why the same could not apply in principle to a lightsaber.
Parrying in this usage is deflecting a blow by changing its trajectory. Blocking in this context is canceling the force of a blow with the force of your own.
A lightsaber doesn't have any mass or inertia to cancel the inertia of the incoming weapon. While the lightsaber interacts with the matter of the weapon, it doesn't have enough force behind it to actually stop the opposing weapon. Sure, you can apply as much pressure as you can put on the fulcrum of the hilt, but it'll snap after a comparatively small amount of force.
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Well, it figures that a lightsaber should be difficult to block, yes, because it is a property usually associated with one. I'm not sure it's true that a lightsaber is blocked more easily by weapons than other defences, though (I recall one of the Star Wars games having enemies with Cortosis armour, for example), it's just easier to depict that.
Fair 'nuff.
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Anyway, how is the story going? Got any further yet?
Yes, someone suggested a few new things that I liked and I'm reworking the story some. Not gonna be a lot of updates though for a bit since I work all day every day for the next week and a half at least.
More seriously, that's really strange for him, as he's a combination of magic and technology. Also, a living person being summoned somewhat strangely.
Well, sure, but if he's able to count as a servant I don't see how he can really be non-magical.
True. Just seems really weird is all.
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... wait, would that mean that effects like Lancer Zero's spear would go straight through his armor and shields?
I would assume it would in the same way as it did with Saber, yes. Her armour is not specifically magical, after all....
Wasn't her armor made from her prana though?
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Hm, alright then.
How about something like this? "The lightsaber, a sword which cuts anything physical, even Noble Phantasms. More powerful Phantasms taking longer and longer amounts of continuous 'cutting time' to wear its way through. Up to D-rank weapon phantasms or C-rank defensive phantasms may be cut instantly with little effort. A rank defensive phantasms or B rank weapon phantasms take a minutes worth of continuous effort to cut through. As the weapon has no mass, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to block with the weapon, though it possesses the unique property of being able to be turned on and off."
That seems really quite strong, actually. Also, what do you mean "difficult if not impossible to block with the weapon"?
Also, wouldn't it be easier to cut through a weapon than a defense? [/quote]There's no mass to block things with, parry? Sure. But not block. The only mass is the hilt. Sure you can cut an attacking weapon (of the appropriate 'shit'-tier), but depending on the angle the piece is still coming at you.
Also, 'stylistically' or 'traditionally, the only thing that blocks a lightsaber are other weapons like lightsabers, lightfoils, vibroblades or other weapons laced with cortosis, etc., the only 'defense' that stops it is Energy Shields, which are almost impossible to find on man-sized opponents.
That and Mandalorian Iron as well as a select few "OMFGBBQTHISSTOPSLIGHTSABERS"-kinda-sorta stuff, but that's a weird nebulous canon space there for the majority of them, or insanely unique things.
But generally, it's only weapons that stop it. First thought of what a lightsaber does to most items? Cuts right through! But first thought of lightsaber vs weapon and your brain gives a little leeway of "oh, he's blocking".
That's the logic behind it at least. I'm sort of iffy on it though.
And MAGIC. No, literally, otherwise a lightsaber would be excessively broken if it didn't. Magic items being at least resistant to them is an absolute must. But we're talking about crystalized legends weilded by people dozens of times as strong as a normal person, so I think it's fair to say it would smash right through a thin line of protons, which in of itself would disrupt the beam and thus deactivate the lightsaber.
Well, it makes sense that they should be able to block it, but not outright destroy it. Also, the lightsaber itself is magic, since it is a Noble Phantasm that the Grail recreated for the purpose of allowing him to fight.
That's a good point, though that would mean that everything about him is magic, including his technological stuff which is... weird.
That's how Servants work, though.
Booooooooooo.
More seriously, that's really strange for him, as he's a combination of magic and technology. Also, a living person being summoned somewhat strangely.
... wait, would that mean that effects like Lancer Zero's spear would go straight through his armor and shields?
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Depends on the continuity and what you mean by 'hitting it really hard'. A lightsaber is a (nearly) monomolecular stream of protons going out to a certain distance before going back into the hilt, essentially a monomolecular plasma chainsaw. This would have to be done with a magnetic bottle of sorts (and is).
I'm not entirely sure you can apply real-life physics to lightsaber design. Certainly the Star Wars universe fails real physics hard in general (particularly in terms of energy consumption).
All of that stuff is canon surprisingly, at least last I knew.
But yeah, they fail at physics plenty of times.
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The thing is, most things when they meet the lightsaber, are eaten away, they don't just hold up to it. Other lightsabers are meeting electromagnetic field to electromagnetic field rather than actually trying to cut one another. Something that disrupts that magnetic bottle (such as the charged cortosis metal) causes the lightsaber to short out. Not permanently, just for a moment.
It seems to me like, if it were so easy to disrupt a lightsaber, there would be more ways of doing it than just cortosis.
There are! But cortosis is the cheapest/most common, because apparently no one can think of electrically charging a weapon. The only way to resist a lightsaber is an equivalent electrical charge or absurdly high density. The latter doesn't disrupt it, but the former does as it breaks the electromagnetic bottle that makes the damn thing work.
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Operating under the assumption that Noble Phantasms are crystalized legends far beyond a single, nameless lightsaber's, they would be undamaged by it and could disrupt its magnetic bottle, thus deactivating it for just a moment.
Well, for one thing, you've made it a rank A Noble Phantasm, which implies it is as strong as one of those weapons, if not stronger. But, also, in general you wouldn't expect one Noble Phantasm to just cut another one, even if it is a "stronger" weapon. Otherwise weaker Noble Phantasms would be essentially unusable.
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That was the assumption at least, but hey, clashing lightsaber against Gae' Bolg would be pretty awesome.
Yeah, definitely.
I can't see how it can be an A-rank Noble Phantasm if it is literally useless and far weaker than any other Noble Phantasm, though.
Hm, alright then.
How about something like this? "The lightsaber, a sword which cuts anything physical, even Noble Phantasms. More powerful Phantasms taking longer and longer amounts of continuous 'cutting time' to wear its way through. Up to D-rank weapon phantasms or C-rank defensive phantasms may be cut instantly with little effort. A rank defensive phantasms or B rank weapon phantasms take a minutes worth of continuous effort to cut through. As the weapon has no mass, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to block with the weapon, though it possesses the unique property of being able to be turned on and off."
I'm pretty sure his ability to see into infrared and ultraviolet falls under the Clairvoyance skill, especially if Archer's ability to see things moving really fast does.
Hmm, possibly.
I went with Clairvoyance rather than making something up.
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And MAGIC. No, literally, otherwise a lightsaber would be excessively broken if it didn't. Magic items being at least resistant to them is an absolute must. But we're talking about crystalized legends weilded by people dozens of times as strong as a normal person, so I think it's fair to say it would smash right through a thin line of protons, which in of itself would disrupt the beam and thus deactivate the lightsaber.
Well, it makes sense that they should be able to block it, but not outright destroy it. Also, the lightsaber itself is magic, since it is a Noble Phantasm that the Grail recreated for the purpose of allowing him to fight.
That's a good point, though that would mean that everything about him is magic, including his technological stuff which is... weird.
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And, I don't think lightsabers work like that, anyway. Hitting them really, really hard doesn't make them stop working....
Depends on the continuity and what you mean by 'hitting it really hard'. A lightsaber is a (nearly) monomolecular stream of protons going out to a certain distance before going back into the hilt, essentially a monomolecular plasma chainsaw. This would have to be done with a magnetic bottle of sorts (and is). The thing is, most things when they meet the lightsaber, are eaten away, they don't just hold up to it. Other lightsabers are meeting electromagnetic field to electromagnetic field rather than actually trying to cut one another. Something that disrupts that magnetic bottle (such as the charged cortosis metal) causes the lightsaber to short out. Not permanently, just for a moment. Operating under the assumption that Noble Phantasms are crystalized legends far beyond a single, nameless lightsaber's, they would be undamaged by it and could disrupt its magnetic bottle, thus deactivating it for just a moment.
That was the assumption at least, but hey, clashing lightsaber against Gae' Bolg would be pretty awesome.
Hmm, OK, this looks generally reasonable. With the third swing, I'm assuming that Sakura doesn't get taken over by Zouken because Rin dies first....
Yay! And yes.
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One thing, though, in your sheet for the third swing I'm pretty sure the skill that he has isn't clairvoyance. Also, why would a servant's weapon break through a lightsaber?
I'm pretty sure his ability to see into infrared and ultraviolet falls under the Clairvoyance skill, especially if Archer's ability to see things moving really fast does.
And MAGIC. No, literally, otherwise a lightsaber would be excessively broken if it didn't. Magic items being at least resistant to them is an absolute must. But we're talking about crystalized legends weilded by people dozens of times as strong as a normal person, so I think it's fair to say it would smash right through a thin line of protons, which in of itself would disrupt the beam and thus deactivate the lightsaber.
Okay, hrm, another go then, with further down the line sketched out.
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Through a completely unknown method, ‘Archer’ / OCdoriol is sent hurtling through the kaleidoscope. A relatively normal person who for no discernable reason, is thrown into the space between realities. He’s trapped somewhere similar to the Throne of Heroes in ‘location’ (as much as the word can mean something in this sense) but distinctly not. Then he feels… pulled. Like his heart and core have been roped and tugged along… and then poured, as if painlessly melted down and dribbling into a container.
And then there’s pressure against his skin that something inside of him rises to match it- and suddenly face meets couch and floor and there’s the snapping of bones and pain.
First Swing
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Stats:
Class: Archer Alignment: Lawful Good True Name: ***** Sex: Male
Parameters: Strength: X Endurance: X Agility: X Mana: N/A Luck: C Noble Phantasm: N/A
Class Abilities:[/u] Independent Action: E Materialization for 30 turns.
Personal Skills:[/u] Impossible Knowledge: C+ Archer has knowledge from the depths of the Kaleidoscope and alternate realities. He is aware of things which he would otherwise unable to know. Due to his nature, Archer is also resistant to any effect which would expose him to the overwhelming amounts of information.
Noble Phantasms:[/u] N/A
F/SN – Summoned by Tohsaka Rin as ‘Archer’, he crashes into the floor hard, breaking an arm. Rin rushes up to see wtf is going on. ‘Archer’ has a small panic attack. Rin has to use Hypnosis to calm him down and get the full story from him, what little there is.
Rin gives him a bit as she mulls over the information, as rambling as it is, that he can give her. She decides to lock him up in a Bounded Field for a bit while she confirms some things as best she can. Particularly, she figures out that Shirou is essentially exactly as described.
Rin uses ‘Archer’ as an info-well, the poor sod starting to relax and snark some at her but genuinely concerned and out of his depth. He has relatively complete knowledge of Fate and UBW, but only general knowledge of Heavens Feel. He warns her about this.
First Concept – Rin ropes Shirou and a properly summoned Saber into an alliance because ‘Archer’, no matter how you look at it, is an absolute shit Servant at best. Shirou doesn’t have a wish, and while Saber doesn’t believe that the grail is tainted, she’s willing to work with the more experienced Rin, ‘Archer’ has to be convinced to give up his wish that he’d use to go home.
Rin tests ‘Archer’ repeatedly to be sure that A). He’s not screwing with her and B). He really doesn’t have anything else useful other than information. But at the same time, she’s not harsh, she’s too good natured and he’s too damn vulnerable and pathetic.
Rin convinces Saber to help her roast the Matau mansion to the ground to save Sakura (she is unaware that Zouken that can control her since ‘Archer’ isn’t able to recall this info).
Rin convinces Lancer to help her and Saber take on Caster (letting him operate under the assumption that Rin is Saber’s master?)
This works and Saber brings down Caster (avoiding Rule Breaker as Rin had been warned and thus, warned Saber).
Berserker attacks them and Rin / Saber are forced to retreat.
Blood Fort Andromeda becomes a problem. Rin tries to have Saber kill Shinji but Shirou will have none of it. They resolve the problem as per Fate.
Not much later, Lancer breaks into the Tohsaka residence using his runes to try and track down the seventh Servant, and finds ‘Archer’. “… well shit.”
Lancer used Stab! It’s Super Effective!
Result: ‘Archer’ dies horribly
---
Baldur's Gate (D&D) Archer is summoned by a wizard main character of the series into the middle of the battle. He is wounded, but helps, barely, against pathetic enemies.
The series is a classic Dungeons and Dragons fantasy universe, with gods and dragons and monsters, with adventurers and kings. The protagonist of this story is (unknowingly) a demigod of the dead god of murder, who’s foster father was just killed. She is now on a quest to figure out wtf happened with her companions. Archer has been summoned into nearly the very beginning of the series, with the protagonist and most of the party being Level 1 – 3.
He doesn’t speak the language, but with some effort, they get him magic to do so. He explains his situation to them, and while some members of the party are unsympathetic, most are. The protagonist vows to help Archer as best she can. They help him get equipped with leather, a spear, a shield, and start teaching him magic.
Archer doesn’t remember his own name, which horrifies him. For the most part he’s able to deal with it, but he has a breakdown and needs to calm down occasionally. It’s all just too overwhelming and terrifying.
Much of the time is spent either training (glossed over in the story as it’s not interesting to read about, just snippets to show his difficulties) as well as having to deal with a medieval level of technology and adventuring on top of that.
He’s wounded several times while sticking close to them. A wolf bite to the leg, arrows to the shoulders and body, and countless bruises. But he survives several quests and learns the basics of magic.
After ~two months his summoning runs out at an inconvenient point(?)
Result: A bit more character development, some time to breathe, trials, tribulations, and showing that hey, he doesn’t have to die to go on.
---
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic[/b] His soul replaces the artificial personality of Revan. Surprised, he rolls with it as best he can, having adjusted at least a bit in the previous world.
He barely gets any distance in the game before taking a blaster bolt to the face through sheer, dumb lack of luck.
Result: Death. Quick thankfully, but Death. Loses = Memories of his Grandparents ; Reset to what he was like at the end of Baldur’s Gate. Demonstrates a complete lack of plot-armor.
Second Swing
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Stats:
Class: Archer Alignment: Lawful Good True Name: ‘Archer’ Sex: Male
Parameters: Strength: X Endurance: X Agility: X Mana: E Luck: C Noble Phantasm: N/A
Class Abilities:[/u] Independent Action: E Materialization for 30 turns.
Personal Skills:[/u] Impossible Knowledge: C+ Archer has knowledge from the depths of the Kaleidoscope and alternate realities. He is aware of things which he would otherwise unable to know. Due to his nature, Archer is also resistant to any effect which would expose him to the overwhelming amounts of information.
Divine Words: X Archer possesses a form of the same kind of language that casters from the Age of the Gods used. This skill is similar to High Speed Divine Words, but is lesser, requiring more language to achieve the same effect. At this rank it is an absolute basic understanding of the language, likened to a toddler first learning how to speak.
Noble Phantasms:[/u] N/A
F/SN Summoned again, and once more he’s injured by the summoning, though this time he has a few healing potions. More calmly, he explains the situation to Rin and what had happened last time. She’s initially suspicious, but when he insists that they check it out with Shirou to be sure, if he’s got Avalon within him, she’ll know for sure.
As Shirou does have Avalon within him, Rin gives her pathetic pseudo-Servant a break.
Cue summoning of Saber properly.
This time, Archer is able to use the loaned spellbook to actually lay down boundaries that are the equivalent of High Thaumaturgy. The spells themselves are out of his easy casting, but with the spellbook and some time he can manage it.
Rin tests ‘Archer’ repeatedly to be sure that A). He’s not screwing with her and B). He really doesn’t have anything else useful other than information. But at the same time, she’s not harsh, she’s too good natured.
Rin talks Saber and Shirou into going and saving Sakura. Roasting the Mataou mansion and Shinji (she is unaware that Zouken that can control her since ‘Archer’ isn’t able to recall this info).
Rin (once again) convinces Lancer to help her and Saber take on Caster (letting him operate under the assumption that Rin is Saber’s master?)
This works and Saber brings down Caster (avoiding Rule Breaker as Rin had been warned and thus, warned Saber).
Berserker attacks them after taking down Caster and Rin / Saber are forced to retreat.
Time passes, and Archer tries to get taught Thaumaturgy with Shirou, he has his small number of shit circuits activated… and literally catches on fire because of the inefficiencies. This permanently burns him and whenever he uses the circuits it feels like a line of fire pouring through the circuits he activates. On the timescale of the war he can’t learn shit other than theory.
Since Rin has been keeping Archer relatively close in case of Lancer attack, he’s at the Emiya household… when Lancer attacks while Saber and Shirou are out. Between his magic and basically running like a bitch, Archer avoids death, but still gets clocked hard by Lancer, his left arm being shattered and breaking several of his ribs despite his enchanted reinforced armor. Thankfully for him, Rider is able to drive Lancer off.
Still, he’s laid out for a while. Rin heads out with Sakura at one point, trying to make up to her little sister in her own way while Archer stays at the household, healing.
Cue Zouken making Sakura go crazy, killing Rin, and Archer not knowing what happened in the least until he’s dissipated. Archer doesn’t die, but Rin does and Archer’s absolute shit Independent Action only gives him long enough to realize what happened and feel Gaia crush him utterly, feeling like being a balloon that got squeezed so hard it popped.
Result: Archer’s Circuits are activated but effectively useless, Archer showing a surprising amount of creativity with his loaned spellbook, Rin being a badass, Archer describing the feeling of getting crushed by Gaia
---
Baldur's Gate (Faueron) Archer is summoned once more, this time outside of combat and by the same protagonist as before.
While it’s still awkward, he’s much calmer this time around and helps the group get even farther. He lacks extensive knowledge of the first game. But since it’s the same people, he’s able to actually start making friends rather than having to start all over with people that he sort of knows but they suddenly don’t know him.
He actually starts to become competent between training with the more martially oriented members of the group as well as the more magically inclined. Between his own skills and the intelligence of the other wizards int eh group, he discovers that he can use his Circuits to increase the amount of power he can use in a spell, essentially increasing his Caster level, a pure cheat. He also develops absolutely rudimentary Reinforcement.
Archer has to adjust to the fact that their group is attacked… a lot. And they have to kill… a lot. While members of the party are sociopathic, the leader(s) aren’t and are actually Lawful Good in a true sense. But they still have to kill sentients far, far more than Archer is comfortable with.
Archer realizes he’s adjusting to being called Archer as if it were his name and it freaks him out a bit. One of the other party members ‘gives’ him their last name to make him feel better. It’s stupid, but he doesn’t care, he appreciates it.
Cultural differences / World-building?
The protagonist of the series discovers that he/she is a child of bhaal, the progeny of the (very evil) dead God of Murder… Archer catches some serious flak for not telling them about this and is (magically) banished in a fit of rage.
Results: Further skill increases, Archer gains a last name, the world seems golden… and then shit happens and Archer doesn’t know if he can return which horrifies him
---
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Once again he’s in the place of Revan, this time though he’s far, far more careful. He’s picking up on the fact that there’s a definite pattern. He quickly gets armor and shielding to not die. He goes along, basically following the plot line, freeing Bastilla and gathering allies on Taris.
It’s weird having the Force, but absurdly helpful. He can only use it when tapping into… something that he feels in him that he’s certain isn’t the Force.
While he gets along with most of the growing party rather well, sort of settling into a pseudo-leadership position out of necessity, he doesn’t get along with Bastilla, their resident Jedi. The two of them just grate on each others nerves. Which surprises Archer as he normally gets along rather well with anally retentive folks. (This is because Bastilla actively doesn’t like him because he’s ‘Revan’, and it builds from there, though Archer doesn’t pick up on this)
Archer gets far enough along that he’s trained as a Jedi, it works absurdly well as it’s re-teaching the body something it already knows and Archer only has to learn it mentally. Archer makes sure to learn how to build a lightsaber as well as shield-generators. He discovers that his Circuits function alright, but he can’t restore his Od at any appreciable speed and that the Force is something separate.
Unlike the other Jedi, Archer is insistent upon wearing armor under his robes and carrying an arsenal of grenades, temporary energy shields, and blasters. Screw what they think.
Though he shows aspects of Revan, he’s so determinedly light-side and lacks the same charisma Revan had that the Jedi Masters are willing to let it slide in their desperation. There are times where Archer feels like he knows people, where the Jedi Masters are suddenly very familiar to him that he’s never known… but Archer brushes this off as the body retaining memories.
They move along, heading to Kashyek, the home planet of the Wookies looking for maps to the Star Forge. Archer gets mauled by a highly Force-resistant dragon-thing, but doesn’t die due to his Circuits, but he loses his left eye. Archer gets along with Jolee Bindo amazingly well, the crotchety old guy makes him laugh and reminds him of someone… someone he can’t put a finger on… Someone later mentions that Jolee reminds them of a grandpa and it clicks… and Archer realizes that’s what he lost. He has a small panic attack that he shoves down. But still, it was unpleasant to realize that.
He gets a replacement cybernetic eye, in a bit of vanity, he chooses a purple one entirely because he thinks it looks neat. He also shells out enough cash to ensure that he has an advanced one that lets him see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums, though his brain can’t interpret the signals from the artificial eye yet.
Archer goes to Korriban, the Sith Academy, to find another Star Map. He actually works well with the whole ‘Student of the Sith’ thing, but he occasionally feels cruel and vicious, and it’s harder to contain the stronger the Dark Side is in an area… but he can control it.
Until he successfully pulls off a coup and kills both of the teachers at the Academy, draining them completely… and then he feels something surge up inside him, a massive dark presence overwhelming him and-… kicking him out. The fragmented mind of Revan surged back and took back over.
Result: Archer learns a lot about the Force, how to build some futuristic technology, gains some of said futuristic technology, but he’s also terrified by what he was turning into, not knowing if it was Revan or himself losing to the Dark Side, he also lost his left eye and had it replaced though it is still useless
---
Rosario + Vampire Archer wakes up on a bus, confused as hell. He gets run into by a girl on a bike who introduces herself, sucks his blood, and then basically runs off.
He finds out he’s at Youkai Academy, a school for monsters that teaches said monsters how to integrate with human society. Apparently, his mind has replaced the original main characters, which really worries Archer as he’s afraid he killed someone that definitely didn’t deserve it. He also has his eyes, which is very weird as the rest of him is Tsukune.
Archer remembers the story well enough to know that if he doesn’t act, several girls are going to be molested at least, likely raped, others killed. He can’t, just… can’t let that happen. It goes against everything he is. He quickly becomes friends with Moka, the vampire that hit him, and searches for another of the girls that would be part of the harem to become friends with her and try and keep her from falling for the guy that would molest her. He also tries to find the young witch before she gets herself killed.
He’s successful, though he gets embroiled in some minor combat and wounded without his normal equipment or the conditioning he’d been working on. Even with functioning magic and the Force, without his equipment or conditioning he’s not as much of a match for superhuman monsters as he’d like.
He gets along with the girls rather well, though there’s no real romantic interest on his side or even most of the girls. The young witch and the succubus are exceptions, though for varying reasons. While he’s flattered and finds the succubus attractive, it’s really awkward for him considering he’s nearly a decade older than them mentally.
And then he gets his neck broke by a monster that gets a lucky shot in and as he fades mentally, Archer curses internally that it had happened. He’d gotten cocky.
Results: Loses = Nothing in particular is gained here, but any arrogance Archer had built up beforehand at being competent is destroyed here, he’s wounded repeatedly, and it shows a more protective side of him
Third Swing
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for Servant Stats:
Class: Archer Alignment: Lawful Good True Name: ‘Archer’ Sex: Male
Parameters: Strength: E Endurance: E Agility: E Mana: D Luck: C Noble Phantasm: C
Class Abilities:[/u] Independent Action: E Materialization for 30 turns.
Personal Skills:[/u] Impossible Knowledge: C+ Archer has knowledge from the depths of the Kaleidoscope and alternate realities. He is aware of things which he would otherwise unable to know. Due to his nature, Archer is also resistant to any effect which would expose him to the overwhelming amounts of information.
Divine Words: E Archer possesses a form of the same kind of language that casters from the Age of the Gods used. This skill is similar to High Speed Divine Words, but is lesser, requiring more language to achieve the same effect. At this rank it is a basic understanding of the language, much like someone in elementary school. Even so, it allows the user to cast spells beyond their prana capacity.
Clairvoyance: D The user can see into infrared and ultraviolet with his left eye.
Thaumaturgy: E Archer has a basic understanding of modern magecraft, and is able to perform Reinforcement and Structural Analysis.
The Force: C- Archer may tap into the web of the life force around him without converting it into mana or prana. As there is not as much of a connection between all life as the reality in which he gained this skill, it is ranked down and provides the Instinct and Telekinesis skills at only E rank.
Noble Phantasms:[/u] Lightsaber: A-Rank Anti-Personnel Whether from a far flung past or a far off potential future, this weapon is one for a more refined age. When inactive, it is merely an 8-inch long metal cylinder, but when activated a beam of intense light extends one meter from it. This beam is a monomolecular, superheated plasma chainsaw capable of cutting through nearly anything. A weapon built by Archer, for Archer, it is greatest in his hands. While he wields the weapon, he increases the Instinct granted by his Force skill by one rank.
Energy Shields: E+++-Rank Defense Archer possesses temporary energy shields which he may activate, creating a barrier of solidified plasma in the air between him and an attack. Attacks below a certain threshold do nothing, but any attack above that threshold pierces the shield, causing it to dissipate, though the attack’s damage is reduced by one rank. These shields may only be used five times each before their internal battery runs out, though they may be layered. This potential layering is the cause of the +’s on the ranks. Archer possesses three of these shields.
F/SN Archer is summoned with his armor and equipment from Star Wars, but also his spellbook. Still breaks a leg upon summoning though.
He still sucks mounds of ass as a Servant, and comes across miles more as a Caster than an Archer, but Rin has a hard time believing he’s not a Servant. Just a shit one.
Cue her dragging him into fights because of the argument and her temper getting the better of her?
He has a run-in with Lancer at the school, with a combination of his Force-granted instinct, the variable length of his Lightsaber, his blasters, and magically pushing himself to his limits, he barely avoids getting killed in the first exchange (and has an unpleasant surprise that Noble Phantasms can break through his lightsaber, de-activating it). However, the appearance of Shirou distracts the Hound and sends him off. Cue the classic introduction to the War for Shirou. Archer is damn insistent though that they take Shirou home and protect him after repairing his heart.
Cue summoning of Saber.
When they go to register Saber, Berserker appears. Archer is actually able to take two lives, one with an overcharged grenade and the other with his lightsaber, causing Illya to pull back when Archer starts to pull out another weapon.
Cue Rin yelling at him about saying he couldn’t fight and Archer snapping back that he’s out of tricks! He doesn’t have anything else that can kill Berserker and has used up all of his shields against Lancer, his lightsaber is broken, he’s badly hurt from his fight with Lancer, and he’s out of magic. So no, no he can’t fight.
The group holes up at Shirou’s place for a while as Archer heals up. He practices his magic some, though Rin convinces Shirou and Saber to help her rescue Sakura.
They return with Sakura and Rider, which is pretty cool! Though Archer is worried. His arm is finally healed, but he has to hold it against his side or it aches. With Rin’s help, Archer figures out how to use his Circuits and Reinforcement to recharge his equipment, though he can, and does, repair his lightsaber on his own. Archer makes sure to get a hold of notes on magic in the Nasuverse as well as greater knowledge of the theory behind Thaumaturgy. He tries to reconcile that with the magical theory he’s learned from his Baldur’s Gate party.
Shirou gets kidnapped by Illya, between Sakura-powered Rider, a properly supplied Saber, and Archer supporting them, they break Shirou out. They have a confrontation with Berserker and Archer can’t get back fast enough, he nearly gets cut in two by Berserker, though his shields save him from being bisected. , though by overcharging his Blaster Rifle he takes another of Berserkers lives. Bellephron takes two. And cue Excalibur.
Archer dies from his wounds?
?? (Jesus christ, thought: If Saber could be talked into it, letting Archer enchant her armor, equipment, and her, what happens to the war then when she’s summoned properly in the first place?)
Results: Death, definitely death.
---
Baldur's Gate (Faueron) Archer is summoned in the middle of a forest away from everyone else by the protagonist… who asks him more calmly why he hadn’t told him/her. And he tells her him/her that it wouldn’t have helped and it would have hurt him/her… but also because he was scared and didn’t know what to do.
“I am not happy with you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
The young demigod sighed, “Are there any other major revelations I need to know about?”
“Well… Imoen’s a Bhaalspawn as well.”
“… what.”
“Yeah, that one you wouldn’t have found out for probably a year and at a bad time at that.”
A groan, “Any other wonderful surprises from the future?”
“… if this goes the way the games did, you’ll have a chance to ascend to godhood after beating up the strongest of your siblings? Also, your divine power has the potential to take you over in certain circumstances which may or may not come to pass. That’s… really about it.”
It was only after a slow, calming breath that they spoke again, “Alright, you’re not forgiven yet, but I’m willing to let you travel with us again.”
I smiled, “That’s all I can ask for. How long has it been anyways?”
“A month.”
“… well fuck.”
Cue assassins.
No, seriously, that’s a legit plot point, the main villain sends assassins after the protagonist occasionally.
Viconia, the Drow (dark elf) party member flirts with Archer as she does with any competent man… and Archer rolls with it, embarrassed and flattered as hell but no way he’s going to not at least give it a shot. Nothing comes of it at the time, but it’s a delightful change of pace for Archer.
It takes a while longer before Archer is forgiven by the protagonist, though the others do a bit more easily. They progress further through the game, pausing to gather resources. Archer shows a trick when he figures out how to use Reinforcement to create gemstones from raw materials… and suddenly money problems are non-existent.
With a much expanded spellbook and equipment, the group heads until they reach the final boss… a demigod that if it weren’t for the limitations of the game mechanics would probably be Servant-tier. So… yeah. That’s not a fun fight. Especially since said demigod has backup.
They win, barely, and the demigod Saerevok begins to dissolve into golden motes of light as all Bhaalspawn do upon death and Archer expected…. But instead of floating off into the universe and off to hell, the motes rush Archer and force themselves inside him in excruciating pain.
Well fuck.
Result: Archer has no clue! He’s gotten stronger and more competent, there’s trouble in the only group of friends he truly has, and while they solve it, at the end as the reach the final conflict of the game… he suddenly has what happen to him? (In truth, his fragmented soul desperately grabbed on to the strong one nearby before it guttered out and used it to patch itself up)
---
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic[/i] Archer replaces Revan once again, but no one knows him. He still has his artificial left eye though… He occasionally lets this slip, but he’s able to pass it off as a concussion of sorts, and later, the Force. Without the equipment he’d started to get used to, Archer goes out of his way to get it again, this time making sure to pick up a Vibroblade as well to allow him to actually block when fighting Servants or other things.
Readers might note that he’s losing his southern accent.
Archer focuses hard on not letting himself fall to the Dark Side, using logic and his own good nature. It’s far more difficult than he’d like, especially with the nightmares and the… joy he feels at killing. Before it was a disgusting and revolting thing that he cringed from, something he hated doing even when necessary, but now a part of him sings when he takes a life, when one ends.
This time, Archer can feel the planet die as it is bombarded, it makes him cringe as they fly off, but a part of him rejoices and actually is empowered… which horrifies him.
Archer has nightmares of an ocean of blood, of a demon of spikes and teeth and claws rising from it and trying to drag him down into it. Archer begins to suspect that he somehow absorbed Saerevok’s Bhaalspawn spark… which simultaneously amazes, horrifies, and confuses him. He doesn’t know how that happened.
The group gets to Dantoine and trains with the Jedi masters. Thankfully, the Jedi Masters expect Archer to learn the Force quickly, and Archer is able to bluff himself through to more advanced classes as well as find time to study the technology, creating a new set of armor with a built in fusion generator and energy shields. He ghetto-rigs the thing to be able to run off of a normal, breathable atmosphere, but rather inefficiently.
The team/party he has gathered heads out, first to Kashyk, the home of the Wookies. This time when Archer meets the ‘dragon’, he tears it a new one, focusing his use of the Force inwards and relying on his experience (both in straight combat as well as fighting with marginal Force Instinct) to beat its ass. Archer makes sure to clean the kill and take a lot of materials from it for magical purposes, using magic subtly to preserve them.
At one point, he nearly kills a fool for a trivial reason, stopping himself at the last minute.
Next they head to Tatooine and Archer picks up HK-47, an amusing Assassin droid. Archer also builds himself two more lightsabers to hide in his sleeves, he adds blasters to the back of his gauntlets and various other tricks to his armor… and generally just overcompensates. Pretty much every other party member thinks this is excessive, though HK-47 approves. Archer just says he prefers to be prepared, but admits to himself that he’s just freaking terrified of having to fight Servants and doesn’t like putting himself at risk in the first place.
Problem is, he can’t just sit aside while other people are hurt. He has no shame or fear when standing up for others or trying to make them smile. It was never a big deal before, but he realizes that he’s the one in charge, and he’s the one who has to make the decisions.
He starts to grow closer to his party members, thinking he might be here long enough to really get to know them.
Taking a chance, he leads the group to Korriban, he takes the more lightside members with him to help keep himself centered. It’s still a struggle to keep himself… well… him and not Revan, but he manages despite the added difficulty of the surging blood of the god of murder. Archer is surprisingly capable in the Academy and picks up what it teaches very easily as well as the backstabbing politics. It kind of surprises him how good he is at that.
Archer takes out the headmasters through betrayal… and manages to keep control of himself! Though the surging power of the Dark Side makes it hard.
He starts to head out of the Sith Academy… only to find that one of his crew, one of his friends, had been killed in an attempt to ‘get back at the high and mighty new guy’, a young T’weilek named Mission.
…
Archer can’t help himself. He tears the offenders limbs off entirely before electrocuting him to death with Force Lightning… and then the rest of the Academy picks up on the fact that he killed the headmasters and gangs up on him and his team… and Archer is already too far gone. Revan surges up and tries to absorb Archer, but is once again shunted out.
Result: Archer has greatly improved his equipment and has gotten further training, but he’s struggling with a literal Dark Side that is suddenly shoved onto him. He starts to appreciate and befriend his companions, only for them to die horribly. Despite his comparatively immense power, Archer has been unable to do anything of note. This is more of a breaking of his spirit than of his body.
---
Rosario + Vampire Archer wakes up… in a hospital bed…?
… wait, what?
His waking and looking around wakes the girls that were nearby to keep watch over him. They’re all happy he’s alright, which flatters him, but he’s confused. He was certain he was dead and admits as such to them, though he doesn’t say why he’s sure… that he’s died before and he knows the feeling.
It turns out that Moka had given him an injection of her blood which had literally saved him from the brink of death.
Well what the fuck.
Archer’s not complaining mind you, but still, very confused.
Still, he returns to school with the others. More battles ensue, two more getting (but not really requiring) injections of vampire blood to keep him going. At one point, one of the girls that he had become friends with specifically to try and keep her from falling for a teacher… falls for that teacher. Archer nearly panics and rushes off upon finding this out… and arrives in time to find the teacher attempting to molest her as he feared.
To say that Archer is furious would be an understatement.
Through a combination of burgeoning vampiric strength, the power of a demigod, and the Dark Side of the Force he quite literally rips the kraken limb from limb. There’s no strategy, no coherence, just snarls and rage at the one who dared hurt one of his own. He crushes the teacher’s torso at the last, ignoring his screams as he ends its life… and then turns to Mizore, the threatened girl and checks if she’s alright.
In his mind, there’s no switch, it’s natural. From nearly mindless fury to concern and soft words in an instant and it doesn’t even register.
This is not normal. If he’d been called on it, he might have realized it and addressed it, analyzed his thought processes and tried to fix himself… but these are not humans, these are monsters, and it is almost as natural a reaction to them as it is to him.
This also gets him a stalker in the girl he saved. Very awkward.
He comes into very direct conflict with the Disciplinary squad, which is one of the most powerful groups on campus, which brings Archer into direct conflict with a Four Tailed Kitsune. That fight does not go well for Archer, he injures his opponent, but then gets completely roasted.
Result: Archer giving in to his darker sides and gaining vampiric blood, it shows a contrast between monster society and human society, but also shows that Archer is picking up some of monster society as well. Loses =
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Familiar of Zero Another summoning… by another Tsundere… though this one is even shorter. Joys.
Archer is massively more competent than Saito, and between his armor, sword, guns, and unusual eyes, he’s rather interesting to the other students, though they still deride Louise for summoning him. He becomes the Gandálfr, and casts a spell on himself to allow him to speak the language, though subtly. He doesn’t know this series worth a damn, but he tries to teach his silly little master and help her grow as a person. He’s infinitely patient with her, though he has to hold in the snark.
He makes sure to warn her that she may need to summon him again.
He goes along, being himself, becoming friends with the staff as they’re far easier to get used to than the nobility.
When Guiche tries to push off his problems on a maid, Archer takes exemption to that. As he expected, when he wields a weapon, his power increases by a degree of magnitude. The noble doesn’t stand a chance and Archer can’t help but berate him on his lack of true honor. Archer doesn’t consider himself to have honor, but damnit, if you say you have it you should at least treat it properly. This is a guy who just cut brass golems in half. With a knife. Telling a noble off about honor and arrogance. He makes a little bit of an impression.
Louise takes him a bit more seriously after that; and Archer takes the chance to just talk with her, he talks a lot of philosophy, but also about what their ‘relationship’ is going to be. She is the Master and he the Servant, but she needs to give him appropriate respect due his station just as he must her.
Louise grumbles that he has a limp, visible scars, always holds his left arm close, and is relatively short… but he doesn’t look like a commoner at least. His outfit and armor are obviously the work of a master craftsman.
Archer settles in to his role as Louise’ Servant. He doesn’t mind being her manservant and rather enjoys working with the other staff… when he gets dragged off by Kirche’s familiar he mostly ignores her. She’s attractive, sure, but Archer’s seen better and he’s a fair bit older than she is. Also, he’s used to an equally developed succubus throwing herself at him (quite literally), so… whoop-dee-doo.
Louise insists on getting Archer a sword, and Archer picks up Derflinger, the anti-magic sentient blade. Kirche and Tabitha both get Archer something as well, a giant (ornamental) blade and a folding polearm.
Some more time passes, with Archer striving to keep himself in shape (or even improve his conditioning) as well as working with his magic as well as helping Louise improve hers as best he can. It’s difficult since he doesn’t really understand their system of magic, but he works on it. But one night, when he falls asleep, he fades from existence.
Results: Archer gains both a new ‘class’ as well as an Anti-magic blade, but also showcases another side of him, the ‘adult’ in contrast to children, acting something more like a second father or a big brother to Louise than a lover.
Hrm. How long do you think it would be before Zouken made a move on Sakura after the place gets vaporized but most of the Servants are still up and about?
Urgh, true. That's a problem. I have a feeling she'd be more pragmatic about it though, especially considering that her Servant has no combat capabilities whatsoever. How else can she approach the war aside from making Shirou (and thus, Saber) her subordinates?
Hmm, yeah, perhaps. I guess she has little real alternative.
I'm not sure how she'd handle Saber, though. Saber is Shirou's servant, not Rin's, and she actually does want the Grail, so she will not accept just handing it to Rin and Archer.
Yeah, that's problematic, as 'Archer' would want the grail as well to just go fucking home... but I think he could be convinced to let Saber have it since A). His soul wouldn't help fill the grail and he really wouldn't need to die B). HIs prana cost would be piddly even without the Greater Grail System and C). Rin might be able to help get him home afterwards even without the Grail.
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Well, Zouken would be a big problem due to the control he has over Sakura, but Rin wouldn't know that until after she'd dragged Sakura out of the house. As for Sakura herself, I get the impression that she would probably feel happy that her sister had come to rescue her, although she may well be somewhat distrustful of her motives.
And, honestly, not playing HF is going to be a problem for you writing this fic in general. It's almost impossible to characterise Rider, Sakura etc. properly without it, and even Rin is difficult.
I'm aware, I'm trying to fix that by working my way through it, but I don't have as much time off as I'd like to do so.
It's not really about the wish, though. Rin admits that she has no real idea what she would use the Grail for, and Tokiomi never really taught her enough for her to be aware of the real purpose behind the wars so she doesn't know she's meant to be aiming to reach Akasha. Rin wants to win, because Tokiomi told her that winning the Grail was her "duty". If Shirou just does everything for her and then hands her the Grail at the end I'm not sure if that would really count.
Urgh, true. That's a problem. I have a feeling she'd be more pragmatic about it though, especially considering that her Servant has no combat capabilities whatsoever. How else can she approach the war aside from making Shirou (and thus, Saber) her subordinates?
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But the only information he has is that Sakura's situation is horrendous, there's the penis-worms, the repeated rape, and that she's actually an alternate Lesser Grail that can channel ALL THE EVILS OF THE WORLD, which is really bad. But that about sums it up. He's not even actively aware of the Shadow, True Assassin, or really any of the plot points. He'd be aware of them if mentioned, but not able to call up the info on his own.
Honestly, that's worse, because Rin's response to that would probably be to get Sakura out of the house ASAP and then flatten it. Which would probably not end well....
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And yeah, Rin would do something, but I have no clue what. At all. I don't have enough of a bead on her personality and she's definitely smarter than I am.
She is, but she's also working on incomplete information, which would probably cause her to act a bit rashly. She knows Sakura is being constantly tortured but not that Zouken has worms inside her he can use to control her, so the obvious move is to free Sakura as soon as she possibly can to prevent her suffering any further. And to kill Shinji slowly....
I guess the question is how much her "honour" as a magus would prevent her just taking Zouken out immediately. I'm going to guess that it wouldn't have much effect, though, not if she knew Sakura could be being raped by penis worms at that very moment....
True, but I really have no clue here one way or the other, nor how she would accomplish that, and again, I haven't gotten through HF myself so I don't know how Zouken would affect things or how Sakura would.
Who said she'd hand over her wish to Shirou? She convinced Shirou to hand his over to her~ (More seriously, given the insight OCdoriol has on Shirou's personality, I feel it's likely she'd try to swing that and that it would actually go down that way).
But the only information he has is that Sakura's situation is horrendous, there's the penis-worms, the repeated rape, and that she's actually an alternate Lesser Grail that can channel ALL THE EVILS OF THE WORLD, which is really bad. But that about sums it up. He's not even actively aware of the Shadow, True Assassin, or really any of the plot points. He'd be aware of them if mentioned, but not able to call up the info on his own.
And yeah, Rin would do something, but I have no clue what. At all. I don't have enough of a bead on her personality and she's definitely smarter than I am.
Okay, here's an attempt at summaries of the first few universes and chapters, very rough draft but up for criticism:
Through a completely unknown method, ‘Archer’ / OCdoriol is sent hurtling through the kaleidoscope. A relatively normal person who for no discernable reason, is thrown into the space between realities. He’s trapped somewhere similar to the Throne of Heroes in ‘location’ (as much as the word can mean something in this sense) but distinctly not. Then he feels… pulled. Like his heart and core have been roped and tugged along… and then poured, as if painlessly melted down and dribbling into a container.
And then there’s pressure against his skin that something inside of him rises to match it- and suddenly face meets couch and floor and there’s the snapping of bones and pain.
First Swing
Spoiler for Hiden:
Spoiler for "Servant" Stats (Pffffffffffffffffffft):
Class: Archer Alignment: Lawful Good True Name: ***** Sex: Male
Parameters: Strength: F Endurance: F Agility: F Mana: N/A Luck: C Noble Phantasm: N/A
Class Abilities:[/u] Independent Action: E Materialization for 30 turns.
Personal Skills:[/u] Impossible Knowledge: C+ Archer has knowledge from the depths of the Kaleidoscope and alternate realities. He is aware of things which he would otherwise unable to know. Due to his nature, Archer is also resistant to any effect which would expose him to the overwhelming amounts of information.
Noble Phantasms:[/u] N/A
F/SN – Summoned by Tohsaka Rin as ‘Archer’, he crashes into the floor hard, breaking an arm. Rin rushes up to see wtf is going on. ‘Archer’ has a small panic attack. Rin has to use Hypnosis to calm him down and get the full story from him, what little there is.
Rin gives him a bit as she mulls over the information, as rambling as it is, that he can give her. She decides to lock him up in a Bounded Field for a bit while she confirms some things as best she can. Particularly, she figures out that Shirou is essentially exactly as described.
?? Rin uses ‘Archer’ as an info-well, the poor sod starting to relax and snark some at her but genuinely concerned and out of his depth. He has relatively complete knowledge of Fate and UBW, but only general knowledge of Heavens Feel. He warns her about this.
?? Wtf does Rin do with this info???
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First Concept – Rin ropes Shirou and a properly summoned Saber into an alliance because ‘Archer’, no matter how you look at it, is an absolute shit Servant at best.
Rin tests ‘Archer’ repeatedly to be sure that A). He’s not screwing with her and B). He really doesn’t have anything else useful other than information. But at the same time, she’s not harsh, she’s too good natured and he’s too damn vulnerable and pathetic.
Rin convinces Lancer to help her and Saber take on Caster (letting him operate under the assumption that Rin is Saber’s master?)
This works and Saber brings down Caster (avoiding Rule Breaker as Rin had been warned and thus, warned Saber).
Berserker attacks them and Rin / Saber are forced to retreat.
Blood Fort Andromeda becomes a problem. Rin tries to have Saber kill Shinji but Shirou will have none of it. They resolve the problem as per Fate.
Not much later, Lancer breaks into the Tohsaka residence using his runes to try and track down the seventh Servant, and finds ‘Archer’. “… well shit.”
Lancer used Stab! It’s Super Effective!
Result: ‘Archer’ dies horribly, the curse of Gae Bolg imprints itself on his soul and he always has a scar on his chest on both sides of him, on top of an already existent scar.
Baldur's Gate (D&D) Archer is summoned by a wizard main character of the series into the middle of the battle. He is wounded, but helps, barely, against pathetic enemies.
The series is a classic Dungeons and Dragons fantasy universe, with gods and dragons and monsters, with adventurers and kings. The protagonist of this story is (unknowingly) a demigod of the dead god of murder, who’s foster father was just killed. She is now on a quest to figure out wtf happened with her companions. Archer has been summoned into nearly the very beginning of the series, with the protagonist and most of the party being Level 1 – 3.
He doesn’t speak the language, but with some effort, they get him magic to do so. He explains his situation to them, and while some members of the party are unsympathetic, most are. The protagonist vows to help Archer as best she can. They help him get equipped with leather, a spear, a shield, and start teaching him magic.
Archer doesn’t remember his own name, which horrifies him. For the most part he’s able to deal with it, but he has a breakdown and needs to calm down occasionally. It’s all just too overwhelming and terrifying.
Much of the time is spent either training (glossed over in the story as it’s not interesting to read about, just snippets to show his difficulties) as well as having to deal with a medieval level of technology and adventuring on top of that.
He’s wounded several times while sticking close to them. A wolf bite to the leg, arrows to the shoulders and body, and countless bruises. But he survives several quests and learns the basics of magic.
After ~two months his summoning runs out at an inconvenient point(?)
Result: A bit more character development, some time to breathe, trials, tribulations, and showing that hey, he doesn’t have to die to go on.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic[/b] His soul replaces the artificial personality of Revan. Surprised, he rolls with it as best he can, having adjusted at least a bit in the previous world.
He barely gets any distance in the game before taking a blaster bolt to the face through sheer, dumb lack of luck.
Result: Death. Quick thankfully, but Death. Loses = Memories of his Grandparents ; Reset to what he was like at the end of Baldur’s Gate. Demonstrates a complete lack of plot-armor.
Well, yes, that is exactly my point. Caster would be an epic-level spellcaster in D&D terms, well above what is even possible (she is literally part-god, IIRC), I don't see how you can possibly use her as a point of comparison. Her spells are simply well out of the league of either a D&D mage or a Nasuverse one.
And, honestly, I'm not particularly convinced magic in the D&D universe is stronger, although it's hard to really say. Probably the absolute highest mages in the D&D universe are above the top mages in the Nasuverse, but I don't think the average would be higher.
I used the word 'better' rather than stronger for a reason. Nasuverse mages appear more like Sorcerers or Psions in D&D with a limited number of spells known, but intrinsically known. There's also the fact that you can train yourself better rather than just hope for luck. There seems to be a difference in power, but mostly at the upper levels.
But if I can find a conversion rate (of any kind) between Caster and modern Thaumaturgy, I can ballpark a conversion between Thaumaturgy and Arcane Magic. Again, Caster appears to be around level 40, looking something like a Mystic Theurge of sorts. I can scale down from there to figure things out. Again, very ball-park / degrees of magnitude sort of estimations here. It's more so I don't drive myself crazy than anything else.
Actually Medea would be more powerful in that setting. High Speed Divine Words is basically commanding the World to create an effect. It should be more powerful if the gods still exist and the world is still saturated with mana. And I understand that you are good at balancing stuff, which I should have expected considering your concentration on mechanics.
Actually, that concept either matches the Arcane Language spot on, or something similar in Pathfinder alternate rules called Word Magic (which I think fits better), where it's primal words of whoopass to speak to the world. Both in Lore and effect, they seem similar enough that I'm willing to call it even just to avoid headaches. They either use the same language or very similar ones to speak to the world to make things happen.
The Arcane Language just seems to require several pages of it per equivalent spell (Stored in the casters head) rather than Caster's single word of whoopass (which matches Word magic alternate rules in Pathfinder).
And I'm used to working with RPG systems, so making a System whole cloth isn't that bad for me, it's actually rather comfortable. Most of it aside from the rolling system is in place and seems functional, it's the freaking mana/spellcasting that I'm having trouble with.
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About Shirou, he's a specialist. He can never be surpassed in his projection magecraft as long as he is using UBW, but that is the ONLY thing he can do. This is the foremost reason he is considered a failure as a magus. Rin calls him a failure because he can't do anything except minor reinforcement at the start of Fate, has no magus lineage or crest, and hasn't even activated his circuits. When she realizes he is doing magecraft of such a high level that she cannot dream of at her current level, she becomes tsun.
The problem is how to represent that. Which I have a few very nebulous ideas on how to deal, but before I throw anything out here I want to get a very basic set of numbers to work with.
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