Ability Slots

[CJ]

WHAT ARE SLOTS?

Serving as a representation of how much a person can learn at his or her current stage of development, the Ability Slot isn't literally a little slot that you slide abilities into. It's just a metaphysical unit of your character's ability to retain knowledge, technique, and in some cases, mutations and other permenant physical traits. Most Abilities, though, are based on technique and knowledge.

There are two types of ability slot. Automatic, and Training.


AUTOMATIC SLOTS

So how many Ability Slots do you get? You start with 5, and gain one every time you hit a level that is divisible by 3. The slot is filled as soon as you get it. If you're absolutely stumped on what to put in it, I will give you a little time, but please try to fill them as soon as possible. This is for the sake of fairness as well as stability.

So you're asking, what if I get completely lost and want to make sure I have the right number of slots? Well aren't you a silly little person. Luckily, there's a simple formula you can use, if you don't feel like counting on your fingers while counting up to your level and saying every third level really loud.

It depends slightly on if you're a Hero, Villain, or Original, but the standard method is to take your level, divide it by three, then add three and round down.
Hero's will add TWO, not three, and round down.
Villains will add ONE, not three, and round down.



TRAINING SLOTS

In addition to these main slots, characters also have a certain number of Training Slots. They're a little trickier to figure out how many you have, so make sure you notate them when you get them. You start out with one freebie. Then, every time you get to a level that is divisible by 9, you gain (Level/9) + 1 more.
Notice that Heroes and Villains start out past level 9. They don't get stiffed though. The 2 they should have gained at level 9 retrofit.
For sake of simplicity, I'll list a comprehensive list of how many Training Slots you have if you're at such and such a level. Keep in mind this is the TOTAL, not how many you gain at those levels.
1-8 = 1 Training Slots.
9-17 = 3 Training Slots.
18-26 = 6 Training Slots.
27-35 = 10 Training Slots.
36-44 = 15 Training Slots.
45-53 = 21 Training Slots.
54-62 = 28 Training Slots.
63-71 = 36 Training Slots.
72-80 = 45 Training Slots.
81-89 = 55 Training Slots.
90-98 = 66 Training Slots.
99-107 = 78 Training Slots.

Once a training slot is full it's full forever. Aside from the fact that you must expend Hours and effort to fill these slots rather than having them filled automatically, and the fact that they are by no means mandatory or on a timer to fill, they are otherwise identical to normal ones. For information on the costs of filling these, check out the Out of Battle Training thread.

[CJ]

So what can you PUT in a Slot? It's simple really.

An Active Ability will fill an entire slot. Active Ability's are actions that you can take during battle or otherwise. If you don't have any of these, you can only make standard actions (normal attack, Item use, Move, ect)

A Passive Ability will fill HALF of a slot. Passive Abilities are abilities that are either constantly in effect, or come into effect automatically when certain conditions are met. The only exception is Movement Skills, which cost Act to use but are still considered Passive abilities because they refer not to the action of moving but the skill in doing so.

If you're having trouble distinguishing between a Passive and Active ability, a good rule of thumb is; If it costs Act, it's Active. If it doesn't, it's Passive. In the case of Movement Skills and Weapon Proficiencies or other Passives that bolster standard actions



An Upgrade, whether to a Passive or an Active ability, will fill HALF of a slot as well. It must, however, be a STRAIGHT upgrade for this to count.
A Straight Upgrade amplifies a currently existing factor or adds a new one, but does not greatly change the execution of the move. A good rule of thumb is, it can add, but it can't subtract.




YEAHBUT-

Like any good rule, there are certain exceptions. These are...

-- You cannot upgrade an Ability twice in the same Slot.

-- Nor can you use the same slot to take AND upgrade a passive.

-- You also cannot take two passives, upgrades, or passive/upgrade combinations that are obviously meant to compliment eachother. This is an iffy grey area, so just use your best logic. I'll point it out if I notice it, so don't worry too much about it.
Examples are;


-- This one is tricky so pay close attention. The FIRST weapon proficiency you EVER take, costs a full slot. ALL others, and all upgrades of weapon proficiencies afterward, cost a half slot.
This is because someone with NO weapon proficiencies has no concept at all of proper technique, and it takes a little extra umph to get the purist basics into it. Once you get that though, any other weapon prof is just a modification of your current knowledge on striking.
Example:
Bob has no weapon proficiencies, and takes Level 1 Sword Prof. It takes a full slot. On his next level up, he decides to expand his horizons and takes Level 1 Club Proficiency. It only takes half a slot, so he still has the other half to fill with whatever he wants. The same would be true if he had decided to take Level 2 Sword Prof instead.

I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence by overclarifying that last one, but you'd be surprised how many people got confused by the previous explanation.