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Hello everybody! Got a rules question/proposal/situation that I'm seeing coming up in a bit. I greatly appreciate how much everyone here is chill about discussions of rules and the general positivity of this community, so I'm really hoping people come to this discussion with that sort of open-mindedness. Rule discussions can frequently lead to arguing, which is not my intent here.
I've been relatively confident after the fun I had with Armstrong in DG that the next of the FMA military squad I wanted to give a chance to spotlight was Hawkeye. She's been a lot of fun in Mustang's threads, but I've been writing too slowly to give her a chance to do as much solo as I'd like to flesh out her character and perspective when she's not in "Roy stop being stupid." mode. Add into that Mustang being QUITE done with Karl Jak and quite against the idea of a third DA run, Having Hawkeye be personally requested to go instead felt like the perfect way to sweep the rug out from under him for being the stubborn stick in the mud he is at times.
Altogether, I was/am quite excited to use Hawkeye for this year's DA. However, I do have a problem. Since Mustang frequently operates alongside his team of subordinates, Hawkeye in particular, I have had her as a Summon since shortly before the Siege of Markov.
Per the rules page:
"Summons cannot be killed or destroyed by an opponent without your consent. Additionally, Summons cannot be entered in competitive site events solo. That is, your account character must be accompanying them and be a primary actor in the event."
Ah. Well, that pretty decisively puts the nail in that idea.
I don't remember if this was always part of the summoning description, but I do think there's a lot of validity to wanting to make sure that summons are your back-up, not your main character. If you're playing Cloud, it seems kinda weird to enter an event as Bahumaut instead of the character you're ostensibly writing. Similarly, I don't think anyone wants to someone playing the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver in a DA. (wow, was that really the best example of a mount I could come up with on the spot?)
That being said, as it stands the Summoning ability is being used for a far broader spectrum of things. As it states in the ability, they're a "Friend, Ally, Minion, Summon or other autonomous companion that can act on their own." I don't believe I'm the only one doing so either as it fits quite naturally for characters that behave and act almost exclusively as part of a team.
To summarize my particular situation, I find myself in the weird place where I can enter a competitive event as Armstrong, a character who is more independent an actor from my Account character, and who I've not paid any essence for. But I am unable to enter a competitive event as Hawkeye, a character that is quite tied to my Account character to the point that operating either of them wholly independently would feel off, and that I've been allotting a portion of Mustang's essence to outfitting. In fact, I would have been able to utilize Hawkeye for more if I did not spend the essence to outfit and define her, but had left her as a named but undefined NPC that Mustang worked with.
(It's possible I should also point out that technically, if I hadn't purchased Hawkeye as a summon I wouldn't have been "allowed" to use her as part of other events, like Markov or Nausicaa, as a counterargument for why It was still the 'right' move to purchase her as a summon? But I believe we didn't enforce a "no npcs" rule for either of those events, nor do I think that we should have.)
If the desire is to keep Summoning as a "Autonomous but not actually independent" descriptor, (which I would agree there is validity to do so.) Is it possible there could be an alternative option for Characters who have an integral supporting cast of characters? A different Effect called "Trusted Ally" or some other similar name, presumably with less protected status to accompany this greater level of autonomy. Honestly, I see it as a way to codify the NPCs that all characters have a tendency to accumulate over the course of a story, if you want those NPCs to be able to act in more "significant" situations.
I'm happy to discuss and workshop with anyone, and I'm curious whether this is something I'm kinda out in the weeds by myself on or not. I know a lot of people prefer their NPCs to just be wholly disconnected from their account character, but I'm not entirely sure how to navigate my upcoming situation if I want to play Hawkeye in the upcoming DA.
Thoughts? Confusion? Outrage? (hopefully not that last one)
I've been relatively confident after the fun I had with Armstrong in DG that the next of the FMA military squad I wanted to give a chance to spotlight was Hawkeye. She's been a lot of fun in Mustang's threads, but I've been writing too slowly to give her a chance to do as much solo as I'd like to flesh out her character and perspective when she's not in "Roy stop being stupid." mode. Add into that Mustang being QUITE done with Karl Jak and quite against the idea of a third DA run, Having Hawkeye be personally requested to go instead felt like the perfect way to sweep the rug out from under him for being the stubborn stick in the mud he is at times.
Altogether, I was/am quite excited to use Hawkeye for this year's DA. However, I do have a problem. Since Mustang frequently operates alongside his team of subordinates, Hawkeye in particular, I have had her as a Summon since shortly before the Siege of Markov.
Per the rules page:
"Summons cannot be killed or destroyed by an opponent without your consent. Additionally, Summons cannot be entered in competitive site events solo. That is, your account character must be accompanying them and be a primary actor in the event."
Ah. Well, that pretty decisively puts the nail in that idea.
I don't remember if this was always part of the summoning description, but I do think there's a lot of validity to wanting to make sure that summons are your back-up, not your main character. If you're playing Cloud, it seems kinda weird to enter an event as Bahumaut instead of the character you're ostensibly writing. Similarly, I don't think anyone wants to someone playing the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver in a DA. (wow, was that really the best example of a mount I could come up with on the spot?)
That being said, as it stands the Summoning ability is being used for a far broader spectrum of things. As it states in the ability, they're a "Friend, Ally, Minion, Summon or other autonomous companion that can act on their own." I don't believe I'm the only one doing so either as it fits quite naturally for characters that behave and act almost exclusively as part of a team.
To summarize my particular situation, I find myself in the weird place where I can enter a competitive event as Armstrong, a character who is more independent an actor from my Account character, and who I've not paid any essence for. But I am unable to enter a competitive event as Hawkeye, a character that is quite tied to my Account character to the point that operating either of them wholly independently would feel off, and that I've been allotting a portion of Mustang's essence to outfitting. In fact, I would have been able to utilize Hawkeye for more if I did not spend the essence to outfit and define her, but had left her as a named but undefined NPC that Mustang worked with.
(It's possible I should also point out that technically, if I hadn't purchased Hawkeye as a summon I wouldn't have been "allowed" to use her as part of other events, like Markov or Nausicaa, as a counterargument for why It was still the 'right' move to purchase her as a summon? But I believe we didn't enforce a "no npcs" rule for either of those events, nor do I think that we should have.)
If the desire is to keep Summoning as a "Autonomous but not actually independent" descriptor, (which I would agree there is validity to do so.) Is it possible there could be an alternative option for Characters who have an integral supporting cast of characters? A different Effect called "Trusted Ally" or some other similar name, presumably with less protected status to accompany this greater level of autonomy. Honestly, I see it as a way to codify the NPCs that all characters have a tendency to accumulate over the course of a story, if you want those NPCs to be able to act in more "significant" situations.
I'm happy to discuss and workshop with anyone, and I'm curious whether this is something I'm kinda out in the weeds by myself on or not. I know a lot of people prefer their NPCs to just be wholly disconnected from their account character, but I'm not entirely sure how to navigate my upcoming situation if I want to play Hawkeye in the upcoming DA.
Thoughts? Confusion? Outrage? (hopefully not that last one)