Section 1: Character Creation, Class, and Consideration

[Zou ۞]

Section 1: What Is Involved When Building a Character

Welcome to Bleach: Online World! If you're reading this, you've taken the first step towards the creation of your character and the start of your roleplay adventures here! Section 1 teaches you how to go through the process of learning about and creating your character. Every section in this guide will help you choose what to make, starting with the basics of race and the information about each one. They will also help you learn more about how battles work, the organizations you can join, your Release abilities, the types of threads you can enter, and many other things. You are not stuck with only one character, either. Everyone is allowed to make multiple characters, but each must have an individual account on the forum. While there is a way to link accounts through use of the same email, each individual character must have their own separate account. You cannot use one account and make multiple characters from it.

Before we get into what races are available, it's best to understand the process by which you create your character. The list below will show you how to come about doing this as smoothly as possible. Click on each item to see the information it contains. These steps will provide suggestions for building a character, but they do not contain the template needed. Character templates can be found in the Templates board. The links can also be found in "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up" within the race leveling paths that they belong to. These templates are very basic outlines and act as guides to get new members started. They do not cover every single thing that may arise in character creation.

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{Step 1: Choose a Race}

Though choosing a race sounds like the simplest of steps, it is one of the most fundamental. It will determine many things, such as the type of power you have, the organizations you can join, your relationship with other characters, and even the world you live in. Think carefully on what you want to do and who you want to be. Do you want to be a bloodthirsty Hollow, preying on the victims you come across? Or perhaps you want to be a righteous Vandenreich Quincy, serving and bringing the light of your Emperor to the uninformed races. Even if you want to simply play a Shinigami, we have many different ways for you to make your experience unique and enjoyable.

Please remember that, while each race has its advantages and disadvantages and some powers or builds may be stronger than others, this site is a creative writing site. Stats and numbers do determine a lot, but this site is about creativity, fun, and imagination. It is not who is the best via Stat and Skill builds. How you play this game is up to you, but make it fun and enjoyable. Make the most of your experience here so that when you pick your race, you're doing so because you want to create something entertaining for yourself, not because it is the “most powerful.” If that's your cup of tea, then by all means, do it. Just never forget that, first and foremost, you are here to have fun.

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{Step 2: Design a Person}

Once you've determined what your character will be and which path he or she is on, they can become a physical being rather than a concept. Think about their appearance. What makes others notice them? What makes them unique? Do they have long or short hair and light or dark skin? Do they have any particular accessories or unusual clothing styles? Do they possess any scars (don't be too liberal with these without explanation since you still want everything to be original) or any unusual things like birthmarks? Be as free as you want with this part and make your character your own!

After the appearance is all done, you need to think about their personality. Start to talk about their likes, dislikes, fears, goals, flaws, and overall personality as shown in the template for each individual race. These details flesh out your character and make them more personal. What are their ideals and goals? What inspires them? What foods do they like or hate? Do they enjoy being with people or are they loners? Why? In fact, asking yourself "Why?" is the most important question. When you do, you'll learn more and more about the person you're creating. This makes it easier when writing small descriptions for the reasons behind these preferences. Your character may be a loner because he has a phobia of large groups. He has this phobia because he was lost in a crowd as a child. This fear could make him do irrational things like lose his cool in big groups. See how one thing could lead to another in a big chain of personality? Think like that, and your application will just fly by!

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{Step 3: Create a Power Set}

Now that you've created an actual person, it's time to consider giving them powers! Powers can be one of the most difficult sections to write, and probably the one that people get stuck on the most. Despite the concepts being relatively simple to come up with, it's the execution and balance of each that tends to be difficult. Don't feel bad if you find yourself in a situation where you're having trouble toning down the powers to fit within the structure of our system. The site's staff and the many helpful members are more than happy to assist you in developing your abilities to make something great!

In order to create a power, many people start off with a key word. It can be direct, such as “fire” or “healing,” or as vague as “suppression” or “red.” Almost anything can be used as a key word, and you'd be surprised to see where your power can go! From there, you need to look at your individual race's section as seen in "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up.". From this section, you will learn about the types of abilities your race can possess, how many techniques you may need to create, and any other details you need to know. Don't worry if it seems complicated! As stated earlier, we have a very helpful member group that is more than happy to do what they can to support you!

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{Step 3.5: Creation of Characters and Techniques}

To create anything on this site, you have to use our templates in order to keep it organized and maintain the requirements of our system. Fortunately, finding the templates is easy. You can choose to look at the second board on the site with the label "Index: Guides and Templates." Once you click, find the second sub-board, labeled "Templates." You will be taken to a page that has numerous templates. Make note of the fact that not all of them are for characters. The templates are varied in what they relate to, but every template used on this site is there with their own respective labels. Another way to access the templates is through the link that says 'Templates' on the Helpful Links sidebar that you can find on every single page of this forum. It is the fifth link down from the top of that sidebar.


Creating a Character

Once you have found the appropriate template for your character's race, copy the template and go to "Create a Character." There are explanations for each section beneath the actual templates, themselves. Click on each of those to learn more about the respective sections.

Once you're in that board, you must click whichever sub-board corresponds to the template that you copied. Go to that sub-board, start a new thread, title it with your character's name (first and then last), and paste the template into the message box. The "Password 1" and "Password 2" slots are there to verify that you've read the rules of roleplay. If you read all of the rules, you will eventually find both passwords. If you can't find them, however, it is unlikely that you have read the rules and you will be redirected to the rules again to find them properly.

When your character meets all of the requirements for each slot, the character application (also known as an 'app') will be moved by a staff member to a sub-board in "Create a Character" titled "Pre-Approved Characters." When a character is pre-approved, this means that he or she has gotten to the stage of the application process where all of the requirements are met, and all that is left to do is assign Stat Points (SP). Stat Points are what keep your character functioning. The points are assigned to nine different Stats that will determine your character's efficiency or strength in each aspect of his or her being. The "Stat Template" will help you figure out what the Stats are. The amount of Stat Points available for distribution will be determined by your application quality, but it will never be any less than 280. It will also never be higher than the Stat Point cap for your race. Visit "Section 3: Stats and Skills" for more information on Stat Point caps.

If you ever want to make a purely social character (one with no powers), just remove the 'Powers' and 'Fighting Style' sections from the app. When it's finished, ask that it be graded as a purely social app. Just list in Rank that it's a social character.


Creating a Technique

Creating a technique is also very simple. Go to the "Templates" section and look for the template that says “Create a Technique." This template is used in the “Create Customs” section of the board. You will post your template there and fill it in, preferably using as many details as possible. Please do not forget to add drawbacks. Drawbacks must be equal to the strength of the technique. For instance, a technique that controls time would have a heavy drawback like organ dysfunction, while a technique that guides projectiles would have little to no drawback other than minor Reiatsu loss. Once your technique is approved, it cannot be edited later, so be sure it is what you want it to be!

Techniques may be reserved in such a way that only your character can learn them. A character can have a maximum of ten reserved techniques. These are included in the total limit of twenty techniques, meaning if ten are reserved, the other ten cannot be. Training Tier has twenty-three available slots, as mentioned in "Step 5: Pick a Starting Point." Technique Masters are exempt from this rule and may have as many reserved techniques as they want. Even if you've reserved a technique, it is possible for other people to learn it if you teach it to them in a Joint-Training Thread. Teaching can only be applied to those you are allied with and they will never gain the ability to Master the technique. The same amount of paragraphs as regular training for a technique are required. You're also not allowed to teach someone the technique if you, yourself, have not Mastered it.

Additionally, in the event that you would like to create a reserved technique, forum staff will only grade them so long as you have enough TTP to learn them. Once the reserved technique has been passed, the person who created it must learn it to a "Learned" proficiency. You may not make more reserved techniques until all of the other reserved ones have at least been learned.


Creating an Organization

Creating organizations are not as complicated as creating other things since they do not have many standards to follow. When you go to the “Create Customs” section, go to “Create an Organization.” When you create a new thread within this sub-board, it has a pre-programmed template that allows you to simply fill in the sections necessary to have your organization created. From there, just do as directed and you'll be good to have it looked over by staff.

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{Step 4: Elaborate on your Character}

After you've gotten most of your character done, just continue to explain the story even more! In order to elaborate, one of the easiest (and required) ways to do so is write their history. This has a section all on its own within every character template. As time goes on, it is also possible to keep adding more and more details to their history. You may find yourself going through a dramatic character change, and that's completely normal! Just add it in to their overall character as they progress throughout their time on the site.

Additionally, you can make "Change It Up" (CIU) updates to your character every now and then once they've been completed and accepted. These CIUs will be graded and added to your character application once they have been approved. If you wish to change your personality, appearance, or history, you may make a CIU for them up to five times a month. If you are making changes to your racial powers or anything major like that, it can only be done once a month. You must provide a good In-Character reason and at least three threads backing yourself up for this change to work. If you wish to make a CIU, please use the following template and post your changes in the "Upgrade Your Character" board. Once that is done, report the thread for grading. If you need help reporting it, please refer to the last post in "Section 6: Types of Threads."

[u][b]Character Name:[/b][/u] [Insert Here]

[u][b]Previous Real Age[/b]:[/u] [Insert Here]

[u][b]Current/New Real Age:[/b][/u] [Insert Here]

[u][b]Previous Age of Appearance:[/u][/b] [Insert Here]

[u][b]Current/New Age of Appearance:[/b][/u] [Insert Here]

[u][b]Old Ideals/Personality:[/u][/b]

[u][b]New Ideals/Personality:[/u][/b]

[u][b]Old Appearance:[/b][/u]

[u][b]New Appearance:[/b][/u]

[u][b]New History:[/b][/u] (Please designate whether this replaces or adds to the previous history)

[u][b]Old Powers:[/b][/u]

[u][b]New Powers:[/b][/u]

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{Step 5: Pick a Starting Point}

Now that the bare bones are all done, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, we still need to decide where we want to start. There are two methods of doing so on this site. The first is what is referred to as our “Power Tier” (PT). This pathway is for those who do not wish to start from the bottom and work their way up since that process is longer. There are those who want to get into the thick of things immediately and we respect that. If you have a high quality application, you have the option of starting at a higher Class than normal. One of the biggest benefits includes starting out powerful rather than at the bottom at Class 8, which means that you can apply into a Captain's position or other high Rank within organizations. Be warned, though. If you apply towards a taken position, expect to fight for it! Bonuses gained from specific Ranks will be explained further in "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up" as well as "Section 4: Types."

However, for those of you who want to go through the whole development process from the bottom, we have a path just for you! Referred to as our “Training Tier” (TT) path, it forces characters, no matter how good the application was, to start at the very bottom as Class 8. Despite this, there are benefits from starting from the bottom aside from basic plot development. A character who starts at Class 8 and works their way up to Class 1 gains an additional 200 Stat Points (SP) that can be gained from training that others who took the Power Tier option will not get. Furthermore, characters starting from Class 8 get an additional three non-Release technique slots. Training Tier is not available to Arrancar, Akki, and Vandenreich Quincy. It is up to you to decide which path you want to go along and benefit from! If you don't know which path to take or have trouble deciding, check out the "Grading Guide!"

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{Step 6: Start Writing Your Story}

This is the final step in the character creation process. It can also be the longest since the story continues as your character lives on. After your application is finished and approved, you will be ready to begin your journey and start roleplaying here at Bleach: Online World! Please refer to " "Who's Who?" Template and Guide for Registering A Character" when registering your character(s) so that we know who you play, as well! Welcome to the site, and enjoy your time here. Please remember to insert links to your Character Profile and your Character Point Bank in your signature! If you have questions on how to do this, you're more than welcome to ask any member. Please join us on our Discord server and, most importantly, have fun!

[Zou ۞]

Systems for Classes, Points, and Finances

It is important to mention how the points obtained via threads are incorporated into your character. In every section of the rules, references will be made to the following: Character Training Points (CTP), Technique Training Points (TTP), Stat Points (SP), and Skill Points (SkP). CTP and TTP are both branches of Training Points (TP). A player receives TP as a reward from a thread. Keep in mind that you cannot bank TP. It must be converted to either CTP, TTP, or SP upon acquisition and be registered in your Point Bank along with all of your other character updates. There are also no templates for basic Point Banks because each one is unique. If you need help building one once your character has been accepted, feel free to ask the staff or any other member. We can always provide you with examples of other Point Banks to get you up to speed. This section specifically discusses what all of these points mean and provide valuable information on how they work on the site.

Classes and Leveling

To start, "Class" is our equivalent to "Levels." This is common in many roleplaying games. A character's Class determines their current level of development and what abilities or opportunities are given to you depending on experience. The range of Classes begins at the bottom tier as Class 8 and eventually works its way up to Class 0 at its strongest. Class can be used to determine factors such as Gravitational Pressure and Technique Clash. For more information on how these relate, please visit "Section 7: Battle Mechanics." Additionally, it will unlock new levels of your character's unique Release ability, such as Bankai, Segunda Etapa, or Fullbring Level 2. These abilities are discussed in "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up." Class also governs when a character is permitted to learn new non-Release techniques, which are found in the "Technique Database." For example, characters are unable to learn any techniques that are more than a single class above them. A Class 3 character could learn, at most, a Class 2 technique. Some Types have exceptions.

Increasing your Class is very simple. In order to do this, you must earn Training Points (TP) by completing a thread where TP is a reward, then convert those points into Character Training Points (CTP). This is done on a 1:1 ratio, and it's the CTP that actually leads to the increase. Think of CTP as our version of Experience Points. The more CTP your character gains throughout your time here, the higher in Class they'll grow. The CTP required in order to advance to the next Class varies by race. If you're wondering how much it takes for the race you want, go to "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up" and click on the specific race's leveling path at the bottom of each race description.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to earn CTP. Some methods yield significantly higher amounts of CTP due to the duration and difficulty of the threads. Adventures and Quests are examples of such threads because both the participants and the Dungeon Master (DM) get rewards. Player versus Player (PvP) threads also provide high amounts of CTP, along with Solo Training and Joint-Training threads. If you're curious about what types of threads are available, please see "Section 6: Types of Threads" for more information.

Technique Training Points (TTP)

Technique Training Points (TTP) are used when you want your character to learn a new non-Release technique. There are a plethora of techniques available to characters, but some are restricted to only certain people or races. For more information on techniques and their abilities and limitations, explore the "Technique Database." For a character to learn a technique, they must spend the required amount of TTP based on the Class of the technique, itself. They must also meet the other requirements that certain techniques have such as race limitations and Skill requirements. For example, only Fullbringers can learn Bringer Light. All of this information is listed along with each individual technique, so don't worry about feeling overwhelmed. It will all be there for you. To learn a technique, record the TTP being spent and what technique it is being spent on in the character's Point Bank, along with if it is Learned, Proficient, or Mastered.

Earning TTP involves the same process that earning CTP does. Once a thread is completed, you may collect the rewards and convert the TP into TTP using that 1:1 ratio. It is possible to split up the TP reward into various combinations of both CTP and TTP so long as these numbers still add up to the original TP total. As an example, if you complete a thread and earn 1,000 TP, you can split it into 600 CTP and 400 TTP. Just remember to log these in your Point Bank.

The following information describes the costs related to the proficiency in techniques for when you want your character to learn a technique of equal or greater Class to their own. For example's sake, we'll be pretending a character is Class 5. The following list will base example costs on a Class 5 character who wants to learn a Class 4 technique, which would be the maximum technique Class they could learn.

• Learned - Pay the initial cost for the technique based on its Class. A Class 4 technique costs 40 TTP. Once 40 TTP is spent on that technique, it is considered 'Learned.' This means the character knows how to use it in its most basic form and is simply grasping its concept. You must use incantations.
• Proficient - Pay the initial cost of 40 TTP for a Class 4 technique a second time, totaling 80 TTP spent on this single technique. Once the 80 TTP has been accumulated, it is considered 'Proficient.' This means you can use the technique well enough to perform it on-the-fly without much need to focus and can ignore incantations.
• Mastered - Pay the initial cost of 40 TTP for a Class 4 technique a third time, totaling 120 TTP spent on this single technique. Once the 120 TTP has been accumulated, it is considered 'Mastered.' This means that you know the technique inside and out. You have no problems performing it, and may even develop new and creative ways to use it.

If you want to learn a technique that is lower than your character's current Class (if our example Class 5 character wishes to learn a Class 6 or lower technique), the first TTP payment would start the character at Proficient, and the second TTP payment would allow them to Master it. For example, our Class 5 character spends 15 TTP on a Class 6 technique in order to be Proficient at it. If they spent another 15 TTP with a grand total of 30 TTP on this single technique, it would be Mastered. You are allowed to spend the total amount of TTP needed to Master a technique at one time unless the technique descriptions say otherwise. So if you wanted your Class 5 character to immediately Master a Class 4 technique, you can spend 120 TTP at once right off the bat. If you want them to learn a Class 6 technique, you can spend 30 TTP at once right off the bat. The same rules apply for Proficient.

Additionally, Cinematic Techniques cost half the usual amount of TTP, rounded to the nearest 5 points, to learn. They are not Classed by power, but instead how complex the technique is. These do not count against a character's limit of 20 total techniques. Rank 1 characters may have five Cinematic Techniques, Rank 2 characters may have six, Rank 3 may have eight, and Rank 4 may have ten.

Class 0 characters are the only ones that can use a Class 0 technique. Class 1 characters cannot use Class 0 techniques.

The TTP Costs for Techniques is as follows:

Class 8 – 5 TTP

Class 7 – 10 TTP

Class 6 – 15 TTP

Class 5 – 20 TTP

Class 4 – 40 TTP

Class 3 – 80 TTP

Class 2 – 180 TTP

Class 1 – 250 TTP

Class 0 – 600 TTP

Stat Points (SP)

One of the most important kinds of points on this site are Stat Points (SP) because they determine your character's Statistical Abilities (Stats). Things like physical, spiritual, and sensory capabilities are determined by SP allocations. The total SP made available to a character depends on factors such as race, Class, and if they chose Power Tier (PT) over Training Tier (TT). They can be spent on any Stat once the character has been accepted and SP has been awarded. A player cannot spend more than 400 SP in any single Stat, meaning their maximum SP value must be 400 before Type boosts. There are a few exceptions to this rule: first is the Kenpachi Type, which adds a set amount of SP that goes beyond the 400 cap. The second is the Beast-Clansman race, which can put up to 500 in its physical and sensory stats at a cost to their other stats (see Section 2 for more information). The last is anyone who has achieved a high enough rank to gain extra SP from it, which allows them to invest up to 500 SP in a single stat. This stat choice is locked in and cannot be changed.

There are two ways to get SP. The first of these is simply from "leveling up" your character through increasing their Class. Don't forget that Class increases as more CTP accumulates. The amount of SP you get with each Class increase varies between all of the races, so be sure to look at "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up." to check these amounts. The second way is through a TP conversion. Once TP is gained from threads, you can convert this it into SP by a 2:1 ratio. This rule is the case for ALL races. For example, you would need to spend 100 TP in order to get 50 SP. If you wish to do some math and split your TP up between CTP, TTP and SP all at once, this is entirely possible! Just make sure the math is correct and ultimately adds back up to the total TP awarded that is being converted.

The second method has a limit, so please keep that in mind. Characters can only gain an additional 700 SP from training and conversion in total. This means that if you convert to 450 SP, you can only train for 250 more (which is 500 TP) until you reach your cap and cannot gain anymore SP using these methods. You must increase your Class in order to get more SP. Some races have minor exceptions to this rule which are listed within their specific race leveling path in "Section 2: Races, Releases, and Leveling Up."

Skill Points (SkP)

Skill Points (SkP) determine your level of proficiency in certain Skills, which are typically combat abilities or traits rather than Stats or techniques. Skills range in proficiency from 1 to 4. At the beginning, every character starts off with only 15 SkP to spend amongst your various Skills. You must spend one additional SkP if you want your character to have a 4 in any Skill. So in order to have a 4 in Stealth, for example, you must spend 5 SkP for that single Skill. In order to gain more SkP, you must complete threads. One SkP is gained per every eight completed threads, regardless of thread type. If a single thread is DP or DE, then that completed thread will count as two threads. Only a total of 25 SkP can be earned per character. The exception to this rule is if your character is a Skilled Type. For more information on Skills, please visit "Section 3: Stats and Skills."

Finances

Finance relates to a character's financial wealth. This grants them access to NPC, Custom Item, and Nobility Systems. Every character, once accepted, starts with various amounts of Ryo depending on their starting Rank. The higher the Rank, the greater the funds. Characters starting out at Rank 1 will be awarded 5,000 Ryo. At Rank 2, they will start with 15,000 Ryo. At Rank 3, it increases to 30,000 Ryo. At Rank 4, characters will start out with a total of 50,000 Ryo.

There are many ways you can accrue Ryo over time. One form is through Job Threads, which are very similar to Training Threads. In Job Threads, the character will be awarded with Ryo instead of TP based on the number of paragraphs they have written for that thread. Adventure and Quest Threads also reward large amounts of Ryo upon thread completion. Lastly, Social threads can provide a source of Ryo, as well. It does not happen as quickly as other types of threads, but they also allow for better character development in exchange for a slow rate of payment. Please visit "Section 6: Types of Threads" for more information.

No matter what Rank, Class, or status someone might have, every character has the ability to hold up to a max of 200,000 Ryo at any given time. The only exception to this is the Entrepreneur Type or shop owners. While this 200,000 Ryo limit might be in place, those that own a shop are given the ability to temporarily hold an amount of Ryo beyond this cap. Whenever a Shop owner earns Ryo through a purchase, they have one month from the date of the transaction to spend the gained Ryo if it exceeds this 200,000 limit. Any Ryo left unspent will be lost upon the completion of that month.



Alright! Now that you've been exposed to our different point systems and the basics of character creation, you're welcome to go through the rest of the rules and begin the actual process of building your roleplay experience!

Password 1: This password is to be put in the "Password 1" slot on the character template when you create a character. It's just to make sure that you read the rules. You must read the rules to create a character and will be redirected to them if you have not. The current password for Password 1 is Pimp my Xcution.