QUEST_BM2AVATAR

Bloodmoon2 Avatar Rules
=======================

So you want to be an Avatar, huh? You want to be the head honcho, the big
cheese, the Man In Charge? Well, it's not as hard as you might think.

In addition to reading the rules for your own role, you need to read
everyone else's rules too. You can hardly expect to lead the team if you
don't know why your teammates are doing things! As the guy at the top, you
pretty much have to know everything.

The Trumps:

Aside from leading the team, your main duty is to hold and play the
trumps. The trumps are cards, about the size of your hand, that symbolize
some kind of power. There are two kinds of trumps: Order trumps and Chaos
trumps. In general, Order trumps have subtle, "friendly" effects. Chaos
trumps tend to have direct and nasty ones. They are usually more powerful
than the equivalent Order trumps, at the price of higher charge times and
less predictable effects.

These two ethoi are simply different approaches to a common end: the
annihilation of all opposition. It would be wrong to call Order "good" and
Chaos "evil" "  " though they often appear that way to the nsophisticated
observer.

Each of the two alignments has found a grudging respect for the approach
taken by the other side, and can learn and use their enemies' magic. In
terms of gameplay, the team you pick at the beginning of the game makes NO
DIFFERENCE AT ALL Chaos can be just as skilled with Order magic as Order
can be, and vice versa.

When the game begins, you have no trumps. Your Totem Bearer must find a
blank trump and turn it in to the QG. Once he does, you can declare it to
be a particular trump by telling the QG "declare <trump name>".

You can't just declare the blank trump to be ANY trump, though. Most
trumps have prerequisites. For example, to declare your blank trump to be
the Renewal Trump, you must first possess the Heal Trump and the Release
Trump. The trump prerequisite maps, found in HELP BM2_PREREQUISITES, show
which trumps are required for which other trumps.

Once you possess a particular trump, your Bearer can charge it up for you
(charged trumps are shown in uppercase on the status report.) After it has
been fully charged, you can play it. What happens then depends upon
another important factor: your proficiency.

Proficiency:

Your "proficiency" is a percentage from 0% to 100%, representing how good
you are with a particular kind of magic. You have two proficiency scores:
one for Order trumps, and the other for Chaos trumps. These scores will
change (usually improving) as the game progresses.

Two things affect your proficiency score. First, your basic knowledge
about the kind of magic. For every card you have of a particular ethos,
your proficiency in that ethos will go up. Accumulating Order trumps will
raise your Order proficiency score, and Chaos trumps will do the same for
your Chaos proficiency.

Second, your specialization bonus. If you have more cards of one ethos
than you do of the other, your proficiency in that ethos will go up. The
more specialized your hand is, the more the proficiency bonus will be.

Here is a practical example. Say that you have the Heal Trump, and nothing
else. If you use the trump, it will restore 36 points of damage to the
recipient. If you now go off and get all the Chaos trumps, but no more
Order trumps, the Heal Trump will now restore 26 points "  " less, because
you lost the Order specialization bonus you had when you only had one
card. If you go out and grab up all the Order trumps "  " thus giving you
all the trumps in the game "  " the Heal Trump will now restore 375 points.
If, in the next game, you get all the Order trumps but none of the Chaos
trumps, the Heal Trump will restore 500 points "  " the maximum possible.

Playing the Trumps:

How your proficiency affects the trump you play depends upon the type,
your proficiency determines whether the trump will work or not; if it
works, the effect will always be the same. For the second type, your
proficiency determines the strength of the trump's effect; the trump
always works. For the third type, your proficiency determines the duration
of the trump's effect; again, the trump always works. The Release Trump is
one of the first type, the Heal Trump is one of the second type, and the
Fortitude Trump is one of the third type.

To play a trump, tell the QG "play <trump name>". Many trumps require that
you name something (like a person) to play the trump on. To use them, tell
the QG "play <trump name> <recipient>". A few trumps have two recipients,
and for those you tell the QG "play <trump name> <recipient 1> <recipient
2>".-

There is one important fact about the totems of which you should be aware:
the possessor of a totem is immune from all trump magic! Beneficial or
baneful, none of it affects him. If you try to target someone who is
carrying a totem with one of your trumps, it will fail. Trumps which
affect a group of players, such as an entire team, will affect everyone
except the totem possessor. If you want to change the lives of those who
carry the totems, you must use more indirect means.

By the way, you can't play trumps if you're in Limbo. Try not to end up in
there!

Moons:

Each team has a moon that they worship and sacrifice to. Order's moon is
named Harmonia. Chaos's moon is named Discordia. If you are able to kill
three enemies in hand-to-hand combat without dying, your moon will come
into phase. It will remain in phase for 60 seconds. Each kill that you or
your Champion makes during the phase will reset the phase timer to 60
seconds.

Bringing the moon into phase has two advantages. First, none of your
enemies can be released from Limbo (except by trumps) while your moon is
in phase. Second, when the moon goes out of phase the Dark Goddess will
consider your Champion's exploits during the phase time. The more enemy
levels your Champion killed, the more likely it is that the Goddess will
be suitably impressed and grant her favor. This favor will take the form
of charging up ALL your side's trumps.

If you are killed while the moon is in phase, it is immediately thrown out
of phase, and no favor is granted.

Another way to impress the Goddess is for you or your Totem Bearer to kill
the enemy Champion in hand-to-hand combat. If you succeed in doing this,
all your trumps will be charged up as above.

Commands:
tell QuestGod declare <Trump Name>          - Declares a blank trump to be
                                              <Trump Name> trump
tell QuestGod play <Trump Name>             - Will attempt to play the
                                              <Trump Name> charged trump
tell QuestGod play <Trump Name> <recipient> - Will attempt to play the
                                              <Trump Name> charged trump,
                                              affecting <recipient>
tell QuestGod play <Trump Name> <r1> <r2>   - Will attempt to play the
                                              <Trump Name> charged trump,
                                              affecting <r1> and <r2>

See Also: BM2_NOTES, BM2_AVATAR, BM2_TOTEM, BM2_CHAMPION, BM2_ACOLYTE,
          BM2_CHAOSTRUMPS, BM2_ORDERTRUMPS, BM2_PREREQUISITES,
          BM2_COMMANDS, QUEST