[hider=A little black, a little white][img]https://i.imgur.com/h8Ofhqb.png[/img] [b]Name (Former):[/b] Minoru Tachibana [b]Name (Character):[/b] Ewan Berrybranch [b]Age:[/b] Late 20s [b]Appearance:[/b] Diminutive and androgynous, Ewan perfectly fits the phrase ‘fair youth’, his snowy complexion and silky hair bringing him to that fantastical boundary of physical attractiveness that only a complex character creation system could create. A Halfling by race, his feet are bigger and tougher than what one would expect out of a 4’3 humanoid, and his muscles far more developed as well, but overall, one could still call Ewan a child. That’s fine though. With oversized clothing and princely features, it’s clear that Ewan was designed with one goal in mind: MAXIMUM CUTE. [b]Personality:[/b] Minoru was tired, beaten down, and lost, an individual that oozed through life who latched onto anything that sparked her interest for an intense period of time, only to burnout way too soon and fall apart once more. She’s riddled with self-doubt and anxieties, depression and nihilism, but the circumstances of her family and her social life has taught her how to fake carefree ambivalence all too easily. If nothing else, she’s a hardworking individual capable of chugging on through life even on fumes. But she’s short-sighted as well, someone with no clear goals and no real hope for the future, a person that would suffer long-term consequences in order to avoid short-term embarrassment. Reflexively, she lies, and most of the time, she doesn’t even know why. As Ewan, nothing really changed, but at least she can go around playing or whatever. It’s not like the world would miss her, and it’s not like she’d miss the world either. It’ll be good enough if the status quo of ‘do quests, get paid, eat food, sleep’ could be maintained. Ah, if only shapeshifting really did turn her into another person. [b]Character Level:[/b] 43 [b]Character Class:[/b] Shapeshifter [b]Abilities:[/b] Someone out there said that Halflings were supposed to be intelligent, dexterous, and lucky, but outside of being able to walk anywhere on bare feet, Ewan’s just lucky, with lower than average physical stats and the only standout being his relatively high MP regen. Shapeshifters, after all, rarely apply only their ‘normal’ form in combat, and are largely enabled by the variety of monstrous forms they can shift into. The core of the class is the <> passive, which enables them to transform into monsters that they have slain in the past, with the caveat being that the higher the ‘rarity’ of the monster, the more of those monsters they have to kill in order to gain access to such monstrous metamorphosis. While common creatures like goblins or wolves can be obtained with relative ease, higher rarity mobs like greater demons or pure dragons require more kills, and to transform into a boss monster would require a hilarious amount of grinding, especially the higher-level boss monsters. Once the Shapeshifter has transformed, their MP is drained at a consistent rate regardless of what actions they perform, while their stats are scaled based off their level and the monster they’ve transformed into. Wolves would be AGI-focused, for example, while Golems would be END-focused, and the rarity of the monster affects stat-scaling and MP consumption as well, with the general rule being that the higher one’s rarity, the high the stats and MP consumption. Alongside the <> passive, however, Shapeshifters do have a few other transformation-related abilities. [i]<>[/i] - Enables communication with monsters that you can transform into. [i]<>[/i] - Partially shift into a monster, gaining extra stats and monstrous passives, but with no monstrous abilities. [i]<>[/i] - Instantly manifest a part of a monster from your body to perform a monstrous ability. [i]<>[/i] - Cloak yourself in the skin of a monster, increasing resistances and gaining a temporary HP shield. After the HP shield is destroyed, monster cannot be shifted into for a long period of time. [i]<> [/i]- Transform into a fusion of [Level/20] monsters, gaining both their stat bonuses, passives, and abilities, while also doubling mana consumption. [hider=Current Common Transformations] [i]Goblin Shaman[/i] – INT-focused mage with a variety of non-elemental single target spells. Also has the ability to summon a maximum of three Goblin Warriors. [i]Orc Axewielder[/i] – STR-focused berserker, with a variety of passives that grant buffs when damage is taken. Has a combination of armor-shredding and defense-piercing abilities. [i]Ironjaw Wolf[/i] – AGI-focused grappler with heightened senses and acrobatic skill. Special abilities enable DoTs and debuffs when bite attacks land. [i]Frenzied Bear[/i] – END-focused disrupter. Very big body with a variety of crowd control abilities, most of them being knockback effects. Physical damage taken is reduced by a percentage. [i]Blackflame Knight[/i] – END-focused tank. Immune to non-magical debuffs and instant-kill magic. When receiving or dealing damage, can choose to affect either MP or HP. Can inflict Silence effects on successful attacks. [i]Windchant Harpy[/i] – INT-focused debuffer, specializing in AOE debuffs, especially charm effects against male enemies. Capable of flight, scaling off of AGI. [i]Achromatic Wyvern[/i] – AGI-focused ambusher, with armor-shredding claws and a venomous, barbed tail. Capable of flight, and large enough to carry three passengers. Can change the color of their scales at will. [url= https://i.imgur.com/DXtLA8P.png][i]Velnir Fallenheart, the Dark Queen’s Blade[/i][/url] – INT-focused magic duelist specializing in shadow magic and dual daggers. A High Elf mini-boss with superior stats and abilities to the rest of Ewan’s transformations. [/hider] [b]Backstory:[/b] Back when Minoru was still in university, she got into a game called Emerald Odyssey, playing the game when it was just released. It provided her an opportunity to have fun and play out some fantasies, and when they released a super hot, super tragic quest line, perhaps that opportunity to have fun turned into a bit of an obsession that ended up with her nabbing the super sexy, super dark mini-boss as a viable transformation for her over-leveled Shapeshifter. Then everything about the game became tedious, and she stopped playing. Five years later, and life became tedious as well. Minoru didn’t manage to get the job she really wanted right out of university, got swatted by a glass ceiling, had to deal with perverted managers and shitty customers, realized that the world would be fine even if she wasn’t part of it, and repressed her anger every day when her parents innocuously asked if she found herself a boyfriend yet. She did her unpaid overtime, her afterwork drinking parties, her 6AM commutes, her daily diet of fast food, and it was all weighing down on her too much. Escape was needed. A lot of escaping. Maybe she could even just give up on full-time work altogether. Minoru didn’t expect to want to live past her 50s, after all, not when she already had headaches and back pain and a crippling sense of isolation. Maybe it was enough if she could just buy ready-to-eat dinners from the local Lawsons and pay for her basic utilities with wages earned in a part-time job. Maybe being a shut-in wasn’t so bad. But before those steps could be taken, before she could fall fully, Minoru disappeared. And found herself in the world she left five years ago. [b]Other:[/b] Minoru likes little boys, but it’s definitely really weird, being one. Most of Ewan's gear is outdated, relics of a younger game. Thankfully, Shapeshifters don't really have to worry about equipment. [/hider]