OOC: Power and Purpose (RWBY/Dragon Ball Z SI RP)

Well firstly you need to consider what is meant by DBZ level attacks? For the sake of this story we're working on the leveling system of Freeza being the acknowledged most powerful Aura user currently alive. High end Aura users with potent semblances (ala Qrow, WInter) is the kind of power that the Ginyu force has. A serious fight between notable but not exception Aura users with Dust to spend on KI Blasts is far closer to Goku and Vegeta's first match in the Saiyan Saga in which Vegeta throws a total of five KI attack's (Kill Nappa, Shot at Goku, Shot at Goku, Galick Gun and Great Ape Mouth Blast).

Guns are competitive in setting for the simple reason that KI blasts are more costly and don't produce that much more of a result pound for pound. An aura users ability to hurl KI blasts is dependent on how much Dust they have because each blast consumes an equivalent amount of Dust. Experienced users of the blasting series techniques have a higher efficiency of Dust to explosion but in a fight where you throw around KI blasts exclusively your going to run out in short order.

Blowing up planets isn't in the range of KI Attacks that can be thrown around by just anyone here, Freeza is about the only confirmed person who can pull that trick off and even he needs to be in his final form along with using a specialized technique to manage it. Vegeta, a relatively wealthy, powerful and well supplied/equipped frontier PTO agent could by using up say 90% of all the Dust at his disposal manage a nuke level blast.

The absolute upper crust of the PTO (Dodoria, Zarbon, The Ginyu's, Freeza) the guys with the accumulated wealth of hundreds of worlds at their back have enough Dust worked into their Armour to have fighting styles that freely use KI blasts and even they tend to go in for hand to hand combat or Semblance based tactics with KI blasts as supplements/finishing moves. The more regular forces uses guns and blades like the rest of the galaxy.

Incidentally this is why the PTO used the Saiyans as shock troops, the Saiyans natural abilities (abnormal strength, recovery, Ape transformation), fondness for unarmed combat and warrior culture meant the PTO could just throw them at a problem with minimal armour/weapons and have the problem be solved. If the Saiyans took appalling casualties with every assault and the survivors came out badly wounded and or scarred for life .... well the Saiyan's saw battle as a justification in of itself along with a cultural viewpoint of "if your weak enough to die you deserve to" so they didn't object.

Freeza can fight the way he fights through a combination of being absurdly wealthy and having a semblance that lets him cheat. Most everyone else gets by through some combination of weaponry, semblance and unarmed skill. So Coco's mingun is a perfectly viable weapon IC.

Hope that clears things up

As for the naming style, short answer it amused me, longer answer I have politics relating to that topic plotted out.

Short answer, KI has been replaced with http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Aura , Aura users can learn to do all the stuff KI users could do: Flight, blasts, etc. http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Dust is required for using KI Blasts as I explain above.

 

Well not replaced right?

Just using ki blast requires both?

I'm wondering because not every KI technique was a blast.

 

Aura replaces KI but everything that could be done with KI can be done with Aura.

 

Saiyan Saga Vegeta could still planet bust. It's why Goku had to block his downward attack at the end instead of dodging it. The Ginyu force is much, much more powerful than Vegeta was at the time.

But considering the power level, wouldn't you run out of bullets before you could seriously hurt your opponent? Remember, as a ten year old child, Goku could take a bullet to the face without injury, and that's without adding an aura force-field.

So we're nerfing the DBZ side of things here? Because that's the only way this makes sense. Master Roshi blew up the moon when his power level was only around two or three hundred, and, IIRC, Vegeta's was at about 18,000 in the Saiyan Saga.

No, not really. It still doesn't say how guns can be useful at all, a bullet shouldn't be able to do any real damage at this power level.

If aura allows the user to fly, doesn't that make all the acrobatics from RWBY completely pointless?

So teleportation, mind reading, generating light, flight, and generating clothes out of thin air can all be done with aura?

 

I'm very leery of taking one-off powers like that seriously given the fact that they're completely inexplicable when compared with the other abilities of the show...

...at least, except for magic... which is a thing in DBZ. Now that I think about it, it would make sense for Piccolo to know some magical parlor tricks to throw around given his origins.

I'd file 'Clothes Beam' under 'M' for magic bullshit.

 

Piccolo did that at least twice, so it isn't one-off. Also, how would he have learned magic? Kami might have learned it after taking his post, but I don't see how Piccolo would have done so. And he had his clothes beam before refusing with Kami. And we know that there can't be a mental connection, because Kami didn't know about him creating a counter for the Mafuba, another ki attack with strange properties.

 

Hmm... you're right, he does something similar in the Cell arc, again with Gohan.

Still, there's some evidence that he inherited a fair number of memories from Demon King Piccolo, which opens up the possibility his 'father' could have learned about it.

As far as the Mafuba goes, I'll agree that its an odd ability, but nowhere near as weird and nonsensical as popping clothing out of nowhere. The line is kind of blurry on a lot of the older DB/DBZ stuff sometimes as to whether it's ki-based bullshit or magic-based bullshit.

 

Personally, I tend to assume that a character knows one or the other, but not both. That being said, I guess that it is possible that Piccolo would know a bit of magic, although I still don't know where he or his father would have learned it.

 

Well, canonically we don't know where Baba learned it either, but...

Puar and Oolong both mention a school where they learned how to Shapeshift, so presumably there are a number of institutions which teach magical or ki-based skills.

...and now I'm remembering how bizarre the DB/Z world is sometimes...

 

So does all usage of aura cost dust?

Because a game where money is the only way to power sounds.....bad.

Also thats a big hit for me. I LIKED the way KI worked (Courage, spiritual energy and stamina)
In other words, physical, emotional and mental strength. Cool tri to me.

 

That one's already been answered.

Blasts (offensive ranged attacks using Aura) are what take Dust, not regular use for flight/shielding/etc...

 

Also flying is very aura intensive and not good for sustained flight like in Dbz think of it as basically a controlled fall or gliding shit it could help with the acrobatic feats.

Edit: Is magic a thing in this setting I mean Dbz level magic other than the Maidens and the Silver eyes magic wasn't really elaborated on.

 

Okay firstly, thank you for your comprehensive questions, it's always nice to know someone interested enough in a project to ask these kinda of questions.

The short answer is that I am trying to make the Dragon Ball Z power scale make sense. Yes pre series Roshi and Saiyan Saga Piccolo could blow up the moon and yes Vegeta's Galick Gun was hyped as a planet destroyer but (probably because the author wasn't using a scientific scaling of power) we have several instances where later in the series blowing up a planet is classified as a major expenditure of power by beings that far outstrip the earlier examples.

Freeza in his final form has to exert conscious effort and use a specialised technique to make a planet killing attack but based on those first benchmarks he should have been able to do it in a heartbeat. Vegeta's Final Flash against Cell is commented to be a level of attack that it could destroy the entire planet as evidence of how powerful it is yet he could apparently fire a world killer at the series start. Kid Buu firing an attack with just enough energy to blow up the planet requires visible effort on Super Saiyan Vegeta's part to block etc.

So I suppose you could say that yes I'm reducing the level of Dragon Ball combat somewhat, by having Planet killing attacks being the absolute top bar. Personally I like to think of it in terms of making a more coherent setting and justifying Freeza's placement as a terrifying OP monster.

Another way to look at it is that this is more a RWBY story told on the Dragon Ball stage and using styles and characters from both sources. While the combat abilities of high tier elites is above what we have seen in RWBY the gap isn't so great. In this verse Aura can be deplete and overcome with enough bullets and blades same as in pure RWBY.

So your weapon is a quite capable of winning fights here.

Being able to fly doesn't make acrobatics redundant it just gives them an extra dimension, now you can dodge into the air.

The mainstream abilities displayed by KI: flight, enhanced strength, unique energy attacks are replicatable via Aura. Hell even the more exotic stuff can be aichieved via specialised skill or magic, which is a distinct thing in both universes.

I am working on your response now hopefully getting some Inuniverse exposure to the mechanics will help convey by point.

Hi Slayer, also working on your response. Good news you made it off the ship without being detected and have avoided drawing the wrong kind of attention as you move through Vale's capital.

Ozpin has contacted you, relayed that a representative of his is active in the city and that they have already picked up another potential. You are given a gps style indication of their location and asked to meet up.

The identity of the Representative and the other potential is up to you. Who would you like to get a chance to chat with before you are taken to the Beacon Estate?

Rep.
[] Glyda Goodwitch
[] Qrow Branwen
[] Bartholew Oobleck
[] Peter Port
[] James Ironwood

Pot.
[] Blake Belladonna
[] Pyrrha Nikos
[] Octavia Ember
[] Scarlet David
[] Arslan Altan

The choice of rep also influences where you are meeting them, for example picking Qrow means the signal leads you to a bar in the rougher part of town.

 

Interesting, I think I'll pick:

[X] James Ironwood
[X] Pyrrha Nikos

 

Ah Quick question before I write my reply, Is there any remaint of Emerald from the combination or am I just in control of her Memories and Skills?

 

Your soul is the only occupant of Emerald's body, her memories and skills have become yours.

 

I don't remember everything perfectly, but IIRC, Namek was, canonically, much, much larger than Earth. And an attack that is slow enough to give Frieza time to taunt Goku and is probably more difficult than a full speed attack. Also, I attribute Frieza not doing so until he was in his final form as because he believed he could win in his final form, not because he didn't think he was capable of it. And, in addition to being exhausted by the time he did that, he also wasn't used to channeling the amount of power he needed. Remember, Frieza basically never trained. Also, I know that Cell could wipe out a solar system. Kid Buu could destroy entire galaxies, so do we know that it was only just enough? Either way, Vegeta was exhausted by the time they got to Kid Buu. As for Vegeta's Final Flash, since he's using it against a solar system buster, it's probably more powerful than just planet busting.

So how powerful are the top tier members, than? Saying Ginyu Force levels doesn't really work when the Ginyu force is nerfed.

I know that bullets can deplete aura, I'm worried about a bullet not depleting enough aura to make a difference. I could fire my gun for three hours straight in Frieza's face, and it wouldn't do any meaningful damage to him. If I fired off an entire belt of ammo, with every single bullet hitting, how much damage would that really do to a top tier fighter like Qrow?

But, if you can fly, what's the use of acrobatics?

So the more exotic stuff like teleportation, trapping living beings in rice pots, and materializing clothes requires magic? Makes sense.

I'm sorry if I'm being a bit of a pain with my questions. I don't want to be a pain here.

Wait, if he doesn't have Emerald's soul, how does he have her semblance?

 

I think due to cosmic shenanigans that or it might not actually be the light of their souls but rather a genetic perk. I think it's like being born with the ability to grow awesome facial hair. Some people can grow a sub par mustache some people can grow massive bushy beards but no two beards like no two sembelences are the same it's a combination of hundreds of factors fitting in just right it would also help explain how some sembelences run in families. So Since we jacked the body we also jacked the genetics hence we have the same semblance.

 

The problem is that a semblance is directly referred to as part of someone's soul. To make it just biological would contradict RWBY canon.

 

Honestly DBZ power scaling was/is bad.

Flatly, the author even said power levels were supposed to be literally meaningless. They were supposed to represent raw strength which LOST to being a better trained martial artist, but then training started to increase power level and everything got weird.

Also with the number of enemies who wanted to destroy earth and how "Cheap" planet breaking attacks where it was only by mccguffins and plot armor that earth was protected. (People literally coming from the future to solve problems before they happen for instance)

So trying to make things fit by the letter of DBZ power levels will never work, the author couldn't even do it. He explicitly said as much.


This is Aura power level with a slight boost and DBZ people. Maybe a few DBZ techniques.

Cost efficiency if a back flip will dodge an attack with 5 units of aura and flight will dodge it with 1000 and your aura capacity is 2K why would you ever fly?

Hell that is a real thing in marital arts to expend the minimum effort needed to stop an attack from hurting you.

Don't quote me, but I'm getting the feeling bullets are tied to our aura and their strength is based on our own "Power level".

 

So rick1497 your response is now up, if you have any points you wish clarified please ask, I would like to apologise for the delay in posting and relatively short response, I have been ill and this has affected my work capability somewhat.

 

Understandable, we all have times when life interferes with stuff. So my semblance make my bullets armor piercing, and even aura piercing? Can the go through any aura, or do they just do a lot of damage to it? Also, does this only effect bullets, or can I use it with any type of projectile? How aura intensive is it? How good am I in melee combat? How much collateral damage does my gun cause, both with and without my semblance?

As a side note, I'm not complaining, but this wasn't quite how I expected to get my memories back. Partially because I was using a couple ideas I though of before your first response. In my mind, my method would start with remembering how I designed and built my weapon. From there, I would remember learning the mechanics involved. I would remember matching it to my wardrobe. I would remember training with it, which would lead to me remembering how I decided I wanted a gun and what my semblance was. Remembering my semblance would lead to remembering important bits of self discovery, and why I wanted to be a hero in the first place. Remembering matching it to my outfit would lead to remembering my love of fashion. Remembering building it would lead to how I got the parts. Remembering the mechanics would lead to remembering my schooling in general, which would lead to remembering my name and important information. From there, it would lead to memories leading me to more memories, and so on until I got to what you posted. That's just how I imagined it would happen in my mind, at least.

As a side note, I remember in the discussion on the RWBY idea thread that I suggested making unarmed combat a largely Earth based fighting style, justified with them not having dust based technology. Did you decide to do that, or is unarmed combat something that's not that rare for people to know some of?

 

Your semblance empowered bullets can go through any Aura. You can give this effect to any projectile you are in contact with. It saps your Aura quite heavily to use right now, you can only manage about 4 semblance shots at your current level. You know what your doing in melee combat but prefer range.

I hear and agree with you in regards to the means of getting memories, I will be updating your response later today to better reflect your intentions. I just wanted to post a rough response so you have an idea as to your location, situation a and the people you know.

as for Earth spoilers but unarmed martial art styles exist throughout the Galaxy.

 

The end result would have probably given me the same information, I was just trying to come up with an in character way of gaining it. Specifically, focusing on an area where my mind and Coco's may be closer, mechanical knowledge.

Honestly, I was just thinking of having advanced martial arts be an Earth thing in the original discussion because I wanted to not really have the saiyans' fighting styles change, and didn't want to weapons to basically just be a fashion accessory in combat.

So I can fire up to four bullets that could, theoretically, harm Frieza, if they hit him. Of course, there's still the problem of hitting people, so I'll have to use them sparingly. Ironically, those bullets would be more useful in close range where I'm less likely to miss.

I'll have to train my aura reserves a lot. Still, if I can use up large chunks of aura at once, it should make my exercises go by pretty quickly. Just fire four semblance bullets, than use what aura I have left. Although that would cut into the melee training I was planning on doing. Maybe fire three semblance bullets and than practice with an axe, and I am still planning on adding that to my weapon.

Considering the size of my gun, my bullets are probably as large of a caliber as I can get. I can't really use buckshot shells or explosives with shrapnel, because those would really tie up my reserves, assuming that I have to charge each bit of shrapnel separately. If I ever get a high enough reserve, it might make a good assassination ability, but even than I would have to use it sparingly. And my reserves would have to be pretty monstrous for that to work.

I wonder if I can get a concealed wrist mounted gun or something. Punch someone and than fire a semblance bullet, ripping straight through their body. Or, if that wouldn't quite be enough power, poison the bullet. Of course, this is ways off, for now I have to go and save Ruby.

 

Man I really wanna continue this thread. We still have yet to read our final players first post.

 

Busy week working on it right now.

 

Take your time dude, Life gets the best of all of us sometimes. I'm notoriously Impatient when i'm excited about something.

 

Personally, I've been too busy to write my second post because of the Nero Festival event in Fate Grand Order.

 

Albus Leo - dude, that was some heavy shit... you okay?

 

I will take your reaction as a compliment that the writing conveyed some emotion.

Okay? No.

Going to blow my brains out? Nah haven't been able to for a long while and I'm far better then I have been at my lowest.

My demons, are familiar if worse in ways since my injury and I'm not saving lives anymore. However I'm learning to be okay. It's a fucking journey ( one day I will probably write a very sad book about my life).

Still, I think it's a fair reaction to suddenly losing everything and everyone I ever cared about with no idea how or why. To suddenly have 0 support network and lose all those reasons I never killed myself.

Edit: You unliked it, LMAO.