Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25857155-20150111054847/@comment-24198837-20150127224421

Yeah, I tend to run into similar problems. Characters can get really OP, really fast. Make a character excellent with their weapon? Well, they can't really be a good fighter without it, or can't have a strong semblance, without being OP.

Ruby, for example, is balanced - her semblance is middle-of-the-road (I mean, it's powerful, but we've seen far better), She's an excellent fighter with CR, and is useless without it.

Let's use a grading system of 1-10, with 5 being perfectly average. I'd give Ruby a 0 in unarmed, a 9 in weapon (At least, for her age) and a 6 in Semblance. That totaled, she's at 15/30, or a perfectly average kid for her year (I know she's not, but stick with me).

Now take me Greatsword character. He's a big guy, so he's going to be good at unarmed by nature. Throw in the fact that he augments his sword swings with occasional punches, and that places his unarmed at 7 - above average, "good" at unarmed, but certianly not the best. I also want him to be highly proficient with his weapon, say, an 8 or 9. Well, if I want my character to stay "average", A.K.A balanced, I'd have to give him a semblance with a power level of... 0, assuming I go with 8 weapon strength. If I want to have a Ruby-level, year one character, he'd have to be semblanceless - which I don't even think is possible. You can not know it, sure, but a Hunter-in-training should. And if you simply choose not to use it, you still have it, thus you're still more powerful.

Problem is, as I've stated, the unarmed aspect would be crucial to this characters fighting style - he has to have it. But he can't. I guess I could knock down weapon and unarmed skill to make room for a semblance, but in that case said character could compete with no one in the show.

Character creation is hard...