Abilities

The Ability and Proficiency System
	This page involves the Abilities and Proficiency system, which is a core part of how Combat Roleplay and "Competitive" Roleplay works on Massivecraft. To see an explanation of general Rules, Terminology, and Mechanics used on this page, read the Abilities page. To see a broader explanation of the Abilities and Rules used on this page, read the Proficiency Page. To see an indexed list of all Abilities, read the Ability List Page.

The Abilities page is a useful resource page that standardizes all abilities, counters and mechanics, for ease of reference. Terms from this page are frequently used for pieces of Lore that grant Abilities. Keep in mind that the information on this page is only a base-level categorization and structure. This means that while we have set forward some basic rules that most if not all Abilities obey by, in some cases, minor differences may occur. As such, please be sure to always read the Lore page thoroughly and not just go off the information on this page. Conversely, this page should always be referenced back to as a base set of rules for Abilities, and not ignored wholesale. An indexed list of all abilities can be found on the Ability List page.

“Abilities” on Massivecraft

Massivecraft uses a unique blend of free-form roleplay combat and magic, and structured mechanics, which is a broad umbrella term for what we call “Abilities.” This page is important to read, and refer back to, in conjunction with the Proficiency Page. Abilities emulate unique actions and effects similar to many Class Features found in traditional tabletop roleplaying games (such as D&D). While it is possible to roleplay on Massivecraft without engaging with the Ability system, we encourage people to try it out to get the whole experience, and a large percent of the current player base utilizes it in some shape or form.

Proficiency System

Massivecraft has a few types of specific terms when it comes to the Ability & Proficiency System: Traits, Abilities, Limitations, and Mechanics. These are categorized by what we consider “Aesthetic,” which is a function that exists purely to look or be cool, and have no significant unwanted effect on another character, and “Competitive” which involves gaining an advantage or edge over another character. They are explained below:

Traits & Limitations

Traits are the unique features of something, whether it be Races & Cultures, Magic, or Afflictions & Affinities (ex. Vampires & Werewolves). They are not always magical in nature, oftentimes just reflections of cultural traditions and skills passed down. Traits include things like Abilities, Limitations, and Mechanics, and are unique per-source. Limitations are an aspect of Traits that prevents a character from having things that would conflict with each other. Sometimes, these conflicts are based in Lore and Roleplay, such as a certain kind of Magic preventing you from using another kind of Magic, but more often than not they are strictly OOC balance considerations. A character can have any number of Traits from any source, but some of their Limitations will inherently conflict, so this should be taken note of.

Mechanics

Mechanics are a sub-set of the Proficiency system, usually granted by Traits, or individually by an Affliction or Affinity. Mechanics are unique in that they usually alter the rules of something, or grant some unique thing that is not explicitly an Ability. Common Mechanics involve changing how Proficiency Pack Rules work, minor Stat boosts, free Proficiency Packs, or what we call consent-based effects. Consent based effects require a player to OOCly agree for something to happen to their character, which can be revoked at any time at will.

Abilities

Abilities are further categorized into “Techniques” and “Powers.” These are both Abilities, but are distinct from each other so that if something mentions “Powers” it will only interact with Powers, but if something mentions “Abilities,” it interacts with both. Techniques are strictly non-magical feats of martial prowess and skill. Powers are always magical in nature, and can be granted by Gods, Spirits, other supernatural figures, or just by deciding to learn magic in a traditional wizard fashion. Powers have a number of extra rules attached to them, which are explained below in the “Ability Powers” section. Abilities are always “Competitive” in nature, and involve attacking someone, moving someone around, cursing someone with negative effects, or anything that one would expect to be used in combat. A character can have any number of Abilities, but there is generally a soft-cap of about 18-20, as characters are limited to 14 Proficiency Points max, which are used to purchase Abilities, and can only gain about 4-5 extra from their Race or Affliction. Abilities are always listed in special wiki-boxes, which are easy to identify on a page at a first glance. Abilities can also be further altered by a “Modifier,” which is something not all Abilities have, but exist to change their function. Modifiers are not optional, and always apply when they exist. Abilities can always be quickly referenced on the Ability List, which can be found on the Wiki, and in-game in a pinch.

Terminology

This is a set of unique terms Massivecraft uses that have unique rules and meaning, outlined here.

Mundane: A Mundane Character is a character with absolutely no magical powers from Gods, Magic, Afflictions, Affinities, etc. They strictly use traditional weapons, forms of combat, and actions that we consider semi-reasonable for a real life person to do.
Non-Occult: A Non-Occult Character is a character with magical powers, but these magical powers come from Aloria itself, and not trans dimensional sources. This means it does not come from the Exist, Void, or Ordial realms (and their gods).
Occult: An Occult Character is a character with magical powers, that come from trans dimensional sources, such as the Exist, Void, Ordial realms (and their gods).
Hidden: * Hidden means that any Abilities or Mechanics a Character uses cannot be recognized, and are totally unnoticeable, or "hidden." Event NPCs, especially the Imperial Palace, Arken, and Gods, ignore this status.
Main Combat Stat: A character’s highest Proficiency that they use for Combat, such as Strength, Magic, or Dexterity. Main Combat Stat is typically dependent on the weapon being used, and changes depending on how the character is fighting.
Main Defense Stat: A character's Proficiency that they use to defend themselves in Combat, such as Constitution, Wisdom, or Magic. Main Defense Stat is dependent on Point Buy Packs and Abilities the user has, but by default is Constitution.
Block Token: A Block Token is a specific resource a Character can gain from Abilities. A character can have up to 3 Block Tokens, and when they would take damage from Abilities or Attacks, the Block Tokens automatically triggers at a rate of 1 Hit to 1 Block Token. This does not prevent any extra effects from occurring, but only protects them from harm. A Player is expected to keep track of their Character’s Block Tokens, and designate it in their /nick with Character Name (Number) BT.
Armor: A character who has Armor, whether from an Ability that lets them summon it, or by wearing Armor on their Minecraft Skin gains 1 Block Token for as long as they are wearing the armor. If used, the Block Token is re-gained at the end of Combat.
Disguised: If a character does not have an Ability or Special that designates them as “Disguised,” they can be identified by others by their voice, mannerisms, etc. A character must have one of these Mechanics to be considered appropriately disguised, but these mechanics cannot be used at the same time. Some shapeshifting mechanics count as being Disguised, but allow for overlap.
Exorcism: Exorcism is a prolonged ritual that removes certain effects, which will usually say “cleansed by an Exorcism.” It requires the target to be either willing, or fully restrained, and takes 10 OOC minutes to complete without interruption. Exorcisms do not target one specific effect, they will cleanse any and all applicable Debuffs or effects on the target (even positive ones).
Stagger / Staggered: If a character is Staggered, all of their active Ability usage and attacks are interrupted, and no effects or damage take place. Staggers do not put any Abilities on Cooldown.
Displacement / Displaced: When a character is forcibly moved from where they are currently standing, or if they are physically displaced against their will, such as knock backs, knock downs, knock overs, pushes, etc.
- Knock Down/Over: A specific type of Displacement effect. A player that is Knocked Down/Over cannot move or use movement power abilities whilst on the ground. It takes an emote to stand up again.
Mundane Cover: An Ability that creates a non-magical cover or protection for the user, which protects them from different things depending on the Ability they gained it from.
Cleanse: An Ability that removes one or more Debuffs from a character, immediately ending any negative effects they impart. An Ability that Cleanses does not work when used on Self if the Debuff would prevent the Ability from being used in the first place. (Ex. If a character is Silenced, and it prevents them from using Powers, they cannot use one of their own Powers to Cleanse it. Someone else must Cleanse it for them.)
Countered: If a characters’ Ability is Countered, the Ability is interrupted, and no damage or effects from the Ability take place. Additionally, the Countered Ability is forced on half its normal Cooldown.
Stacking/Stack: An Ability that does not "Stack" cannot affect the same person at the same time. For example, if an Ability does not stack, the same person cannot have two or more of it target them at the same time, even by different people.
Internal Cooldown: An Ability with an “Internal Cooldown” has a specific period of time where the same person cannot have it used on them more than once in that time. For example, if an Ability has an Internal Cooldown of 10 minutes, someone can only be targeted by it once every 10 minutes, even by different people.
OOC Consent: If an Ability or Mechanic mentions OOC Consent, this is strictly something that can only be used if the player it is being used on consents whole-heartedly to its usage. They are not obligated to say yes, and attempting to coerce or convince someone to say yes after the fact can be considered harassment. OOC Consent can be revoked at any time, and is not a permanent agreement.
Stance Ability Swapping: Stance Techniques are a specific kind of Abilities with a unique rule for using them. While normally players can only use one ability per emote as a general rule of thumb, if a character is not in a Stance Technique, they can (in one emote) activate the Stance Technique and use an Ability from that Stance Technique at the same time. If a character wants to go from one Stance to another Stance, they cannot use other Abilities in the same emote, they must spend an entire Emote leaving their original stance and entering their new one.
Debuffs & Curses: Negative Effects have two distinct classifications, specified in the ability that applies them. Debuffs are the most common negative effect, imparting some detriment until they are removed, or expire. Curses are a rarer type of Debuff, as they cannot be cleansed or removed by any means, except their own. Curses will always describe how to remove them, and when they naturally expire on their own.
- Rooted/Trapped: A character who is rooted or trapped cannot move. They can still fight, use Abilities, and defend themselves.
- Silenced: A character who is silenced cannot use Powers for the duration of the Silence. Counter Powers and Passive powers are not affected by Silence.
- Weakened: A character who is Weakened cannot use Active Techniques or Mount Techniques for the duration of the weaken.
- Confused: A character who is Confused specifically cannot target the person who Confused them with Powers for the duration of the Confusion.
- Blinded: A character who is Blinded cannot target anyone else with Abilities or Attacks, but can still defend and target themselves. A character is always Blinded for a maximum of 10 minutes, but can end this Debuff early by spending an emote to freely cleanse it.
- Marked: A character who is Marked will be automatically hit by the next basic attack that targets them, after which this Debuff is removed. These hits can still be negated or blocked by other effects.
- Bloody: A character who is Bloodied is unable to benefit from healing (from any source) until the Debuff is removed.
- Threatened: A character who is Threatened must take a specific action, or suffer a specific consequence or other Debuff determined by the Ability that threatened them. Threatened is a Debuff that does stack, but only from different sources.
- Brittle: A character affected by Brittle undergoes unique effects from various actions taken against them. This Debuff does not stack and is removed when the character takes damage from a Basic Attack, which causes an extra 1HP of damage. Certain Abilities can trigger extra effects on Brittled targets, also removing the Debuff. After being removed, Brittle can be reapplied, but Basic Attacks can't trigger it for 10 minutes (Abilities still can).

Rules

This is a set of rules that applies to Traits, Abilities, and Mechanics.

If a Pack is listed as "Free," meaning it can be taken without any Point Buy Investment at all, or if it comes "Free" attached to the purchase of another Point Buy Pack, these "Free" Packs can always be removed or re-added without restrictions.
If a Pack or Ability is granted for free, from any source, it does not grant Stats like it would if the player purchased the pack, unless otherwise stated.
If an Ability has exactly the same name, a Character can only ever have one instance of that ability, even if they buy it from completely separate packs or gain it from different sources. They do not have unique cooldowns or usage.
If an Ability or Mechanic offers numerical bonus (+1, +2, etc) to a specific Proficiency Stat, this never confers an additional Point-Buy Pack. This Stat Boost is relevant for other Abilities that might require a stat threshold, or in the case of fair-use Stat comparison between players.
If an Ability or Mechanic offers a numerical bonus to a specific Proficiency Stat, this never exceeds the maximum cap of that Proficiency, unless it specifically says that it breaks or exceeds the cap, or if the Character has another Ability or Mechanic that increases their cap.
By default, a Character's Main Combat Stat is determined by the Proficiency and Weapon Type they are using, but it can be altered by specific Abilities or Mechanics.
If an Ability and a Mechanic do the same thing, Abilities almost always take precedence over the mechanics.
You cannot combine Abilities and Mechanics that alter the stat used for Main Combat Stat and Main Defense stat, unless otherwise specifically mentioned that they can be combined. If these Abilities and Mechanics are used at the same time, you can only choose one, and the other has no effect. (Ex. You cannot combine Cutthroat Stance, which changes Main Combat from STR to DEX, and Tech Defense, which changes Main Defense from CON to WIS.)
A character can only use one Ability per emote when engaging in Combat Roleplay, unless that Ability specifically mentions it can be used in conjunction with another. This exists to encourage fairness and streamline combat, treating each emote as a “turn.”
If an Ability involves some sort of leap, jump, or movement, this movement is always strictly horizontal and can never be used vertically. This has some leniency if there is a minor elevation change, but otherwise leaps cannot be used to travel up or down, unless it specifically mentions otherwise, in which case limitations will be given within the description.
A character is allowed to walk on high ledges, rooves, and buildings without any specific Ability or Point Buy Pack, however, this only applies for if they can reasonably walk up a set of stairs, or a ladder, to get there. Using things such as Ender Pearls or Elytras is not allowed except with specific Ability or Mechanic functions. Players can use the Plugin Trait Jump 1, but not Jump 2 without an Ability or Mechanic function that mentions it. Characters cannot stand or walk on Leaf Blocks, Wool Blocks, or Fences.
If a character falls from a high place, more than 6 blocks, they always take damage (one minor wound in logic combat, or 1 HP in optional combat) no matter the height. Characters can only be knocked off from high places by Abilities that specifically mention knocking someone off from a high place, and if a character has some Ability that grants them "fall immune" or "immunity to falling damage," they do not take any damage from falling.
It is considered Metagaming by our rules to use Abilities to detect or determine someone is something based on purely mechanical functions. For example, if an Ability only works on Vampires, you can't just use it on people to see who it "works on" and call them out as a Vampire.
If a character is affected by Knockback and would fall off of a ledge, they fall as normal. The only exception to this is if the ledge below them would lead to water, in which case the target may choose to remain at the ledge.
If swapping weapons, a character must spend one emote dedicated to exchanging them before being able to attack and use Abilities once again.

Techniques

Techniques are expressions of mundane skill and prowess. They can be easily explained as your character just being able to perform a certain task or skill, and aren’t seen as Occult. If a character is Occult in some way however, they can apply magical aesthetics of their choice to Mundane Techniques, but this does not change how they work mechanically. Techniques have the following categories:

Type	Description	Counterable?
Passive Technique	A Technique that is always granting some benefit or effect.	Yes
Active Technique	A Technique that must be actively turned on or used to take effect. Sometimes has a condition that must be met before it can be used.	Conditional
Counter Technique	A technique that must be actively used to counter a specific triggering condition.	No
Stance Technique	A technique that activates a stance, which changes how one fights. Some techniques require a Stance Technique to be active before they can be used. Stance Techniques from Point Buy cannot be used at the same time.	No

Ability Powers

Ability Powers are varied and magical in nature, and thus have extra rules attached to them. Below is a list of those rules, and an explanation of the unique aspects of each type of Power. Powers have two aspects to them, their type, and Dimension. Power types distinguish how they work, and also how they interact with other Powers and Abilities. Dimension is a specific classification that determines what magical plane the Power is drawing from. When a Power is gained or used, it always has one of the following Dimensions attached to it: Primal, Ordial, Void, or Exist. This is determined by where a character gained that power from. For example, if a character gained an “Instant Power” from being a Vampire, because Vampires are always Void, that Power would be a “Void Instant Power.” This aspect is only relevant when Abilities mention that they only interact with certain Dimensions.

Type	Description	Counterable?
Passive Power	A Power that is permanently active and cannot be turned off, or permanently imparts some effect or ability on the user.	Conditional
Toggle Power	A Power that can be toggled on and off at will, but is otherwise permanently active when on.	Conditional
Control Power	A Power that forces some manner of control over the actions or intentions or thoughts of its target.	Yes
Summon Power	A Power that summons or creates something out of nothing, such as weapons or armor.	Conditional
Buff Power	A Power that enhances the user or target with some benefit, such as bonus Proficiency Stats, Healing, or Block Tokens.	Yes
Instant Power	A Power that immediately imparts some effect.	Yes
Skill Power	A Power that confers bonus Proficiency Packs, or enhances, alters, or changes currently owned Packs.	Yes
Morph Power	A Power that temporarily or permanently alters a certain part (or all) of the User's body, granting them extra capabilities with it.	Conditional
Vehicle Power	A Power that only activates when the user is inside of something. Multiple different Vehicle Powers cannot be 'stacked' or used at the same time.	Yes
Movement Power	A Power that alters the user's movement in some way, or acts as a specific form of movement itself.	Yes
Counter Power	A Power that explicitly counters another Ability or effect.	Conditional
Link Power	A two way connection between a user and a target. A single character can be a part of many different link powers. If targeted with an Ability that breaks Link Powers, all links on a target (including ones they are casting) are broken for that specific character. If the user is knocked out a Link Power also breaks. If the target exits the range of a Link Power, the Link Power remains, but they do not suffer the effects while they are outside of its range.	Yes

Persuasion Rolls

This is an optional system to simulate Persuasion Dialogue. Persuasion is mostly used on Event Characters, but can also be used on Players. OOC Consent is always required for a Persuasion Roll when used on Players.

Every Person can use Persuasion Rolls, and by default, Persuasion rolls are 3 + Wisdom (or Faith) Proficiency up to a max of 10. This cannot be boosted with Abilities.
When doing a Persuasion Roll, the defender also does /Dice 3 + Wisdom (or Faith) Proficiency, and if they roll higher, the Persuasion fails, otherwise it succeeds.
Some Characters like Vampires and Archon have Expanded Persuasion Rolls written on their pages, with an increased maximum and more/other ways to stack Dice odds.
The Maximum a Persuasion Dice can ever reach, is 14. Staff will assign a hidden Persuasion Stat to each Event Character, that will not be revealed even on Rolls.
NPC Characters do not perform a /Dice, instead to succeed in a Persuasion Roll, the player must simply roll equal or higher to their hidden Persuasion Stat.
Even if OOC consent is given, Persuasion Rolls cannot convince Characters to self-harm, and persuasion only applies to singular ideas or actions, never open-ended.
Generally speaking if Consent is given, a player should not in bad faith crawl back on their decision, and allow their Character to be persuaded, and stick with it.
Characters that have been persuaded, either Player or Event, should not suddenly change their mind unless new information or actions are presented that changes things.