Solutions to "no affinity"

I'm currently looking for a solution for if you want to have a character that doesn't have an affinity picked. Currently, while picking no affinity leaves you out of the counter system, it also means you can't use any of the spells due to the affinity requirements on them. We haven't run into this issue yet, but I figure, down the road, someone is going to make a character that's not supposed to have an affinity.


Not gonna make a poll, because I have nothing concrete. Instead, I'm going to post some ideas here, and I just want some comments and ideas thrown around.

1. Dice bonuses when attacking or defending
   
2. Arcane affinity
   • Arcane means you're not part of the affinity system, it's just generic magic usage. However, arcane spells can be used by people that don't have arcane affinity, so long as they have a high enough level for the affinity.
     • An Arcane: Level 2 spell can be used by someone with Fire (Level: 2), Nature (Level: 2), etc.
   • The reason for this is that it's technically not an affinity, but rather, an alternate means of using spells for non-affinity users. It is generic magic, usable by all. As such, all of the spells are fairly straightforward.
3. Stat bonuses

That's all I got for ideas. So yeah, comments and suggestions, fire away.

I prodded around a bit, and Darte was saying someone can use Arcane without having Arcane, but they need twice the level to use it. Arcane in of itself is just the manipulation of raw Magic, so naturally, its specialty in spells would deal with Magic in some way. Not saying every spell would deal with it, but some would.

Here's a few offensive spells I wrote for Arcane.

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Split Shot

• Requires Arcane (Level: 1)
  
• Costs 3 Magic
  
• Fire a blast of arcane that splits in half, hitting two targets.
  • Roll your Wisdom +2 dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice / Damage decreased by 2

Barrier Blast

• Requires Arcane (Level: 1)
  
• Costs 2 Magic
  
• A barrier-like blast is fired, hitting one target.
  • Roll your Wisdom dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice / Damage is halved
    
  • If the attack is successful, you get a barrier on yourself, mitigating damage on the next attack.
    • The barrier's Hearts are equal to the damage dealt.
      
    • The barrier automatically falls after one attack.
  • The barrier lasts until the end of your turn one round later.

Arc Beam

• Level 10 and Arcane (Level: 2)
  
• Costs 5 Magic
  
• Fire a beam of Magic at a target, channeling that target's Magic into the beam.
  • Roll your Wisdom +4 dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice / Deals no damage
    
  • If the attack is successful, transfer Magic from the target equal to the difference in successes to the beam.
    
  • The beam then bounces to another target, amplified by the extra Magic.
    • Roll your Wisdom +2 dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice
      
    • The attack's damage is increased by an amount equal to the Magic drained from the first target.

Ion Shockwave

• Level 20 and Arcane (Level: 3)
  
• Costs 9 Magic
  
• A bomb of pure Magic is summoned and destabilizes, causing a devastating shockwave that hits everyone.
  • Roll your Wisdom +3 dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice / Deals no damage
    
  • If the attack is successful, target(s) lose Magic equal to the difference in successes.
    • After the initial hit, the remaining energies from the shockwave linger around on the field.
      • This Ion Destabilization counts as a Field Effect.
    • At the end of the next round, the Ion Destabilization explodes and hits everyone again.
      • Roll your Wisdom -3 dice vs. targets' Wisdom dice / Deals no damage
        
      • If the attack is successful, target(s) hit take damage equal to the difference between their Maximum and Current Magic.

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If we decide not to roll with the existence of Arcane, well I'm sure I could alter these spells to the existing affinities. To clarify, having Arcane technically doesn't count as an affinity, because it's not part of the counter system. It's not weak or strong against anything. It's simply to give something to those who's characters don't want to have Fire, Nature, Water, Shadow or Light without sticking them at the disadvantage of not having any spells to cast. So to an extent, these spells are available to them as well, but it requires twice the level.

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Sephiroth, regarding the coloring for Arcane (Level: 5) or whatever, it already exists - we would just change Storm (Level: 4) to Arcane (Level: 4). I figure it's a simple conversion, no need to create a whole new one.

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For enemies that currently don't have an affinity, I'm going to stick Arcane affinities on them. This shouldn't make much difference at all if any.

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Comments, suggestions, thoughts? Again, nothing concrete, just throwing ideas out there. Personally, I do kinda like this idea.

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EDIT: Did some rethinking, Arcane spells can only be acquirable by having Arcane affinity. It would just remain a neutral affinity that has no effect on Fire, Nature, Water, Light, Shadow or vice versa. A Level 3 Arcane spell would require Arcane (Level: 3) and no other affinity.