[02] Custom Characters

[Ander]

CUSTOM CHARACTERS

For years people have been asking to be able to create their own characters with protests of controversy and special treatment. Now it is possible for everyone to have a custom of their very own. However, we no longer allow new joiners to have a canon character. They are only permitted to have a custom. Since creating a custom is a bit trickier than simply having a canon cutout, there are specific guidelines to custom character creation, ranging all aspects of being.


Naming

This is pretty simple. You cannot name a custom character after a canon character. For example, no custom can run around with the name “Vegeta” or “Goku” or anything like that. Not even a derivative like “Trunks Jr.” or “Vegeta the IV.” Secondly, lay off the names of famous characters from anime, video games, and the like. A character cannot run around with the name “Sephiroth” or something like that. Thirdly, no duplicate names. For instance, if there is already a character named “Kane,” you can’t join as a character named “Kane” even if you use an alternate spelling. Fourthly and lastly, keep it appropriate.


History

Since there’s no canon blueprint for customs, joiners should feel a little bit more sense of freedom and creativity when it comes to making backgrounds. You can essentially be anyone you want, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the following rules.

• No blood or marital relations to any canons, customs, or past and current NPCs. In essence, you cannot be an ancestor, descendant, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin, husband, or wife (or any of those in combination with half-, step-, grand-, great-, ex-, twin, or “long lost”), to any canon character in the DB/Z/GT universe, any customs including the two preceding the turnover, or any already-created NPC in the Chubbs universe. This includes clones and replicates (mechanical or otherwise), or alternate time/universe versions.

• No history involving another character or past and current NPC. Nobody knows anybody when they start out. So you can’t be good friends with Vegeta or swear vengeance on Goku for something he did to you.

• No Akira Toriyama history, or pretty much no DB/Z/GT history. We have our own history. Planet Vegeta was never blown up or ruled over by Frieza. There was no Ginyu Force. There was no alternate time line where the Earth was terrorized by androids.

• No history conflicting with Chubbs history. Basically, you can’t make yourself king of Planet Vegeta or saying your character did something that somebody else did or things like that.

• No duplicate characters or references from outside the DB/Z/GT universe. You cannot have a character made similar or identical to somebody from a video game, anime, comic book, or the like. So no Ex-SOLDIER Clouds or Zanpakuto-toting Ichigos.

Appearance

When you create your character, you need to give a general description of your character, listing all the basic physical traits: hair color, body type, and etcetera. This is what you must adhere to when picking the pictures you use for avatars and signatures. If you say you have blonde hair and blue eyes, your images better be someone with blonde hair and blue eyes.

• If you want to change the person in your graphics, there must be a strong similarity to the preceding image. For instance, you can’t start off looking like Cloud and then jump to looking like Sephiroth. Something more along the lines of jumping from Cloud to Tidus would be more acceptable. We know that simple things like a haircut or a dye job or what have you can explain changes, but you must stay in the general area of the character description you started out with. Keep any deviations simple and reasonable.

• No canon look-a-likes. For example, you can’t have a picture of Vegeta, change his hair color to red, and say it’s a different person. You cannot use an image of a canon character for a custom, no matter what rationale you may use. The reason for this is that those characters are still active (whether as NPCs or not) in the Chubbs universe, and as such their likeness belongs to them. The only exception to this are the nameks, who can use any picture of any namek, so long as they aren’t using the exact same pictures or poses.

• No duplicate images. If somebody is already using a picture of Terry Bogard from SNK, you can’t use any Terry Bogard pictures. In instance of our original custom character, no one else is allowed to use pictures of Sasuke or Itachi from Naruto. This includes modified pictures, ala the change of hair color example used above. It’s basically first-come, first-serve. This is to prevent confusion of characters. As previously, nameks may use pictures of any nameks, so long as they aren’t using the exact same pictures or poses.

• Nameks must be asexual male. We once had a Nail who used the dragon balls to wish for a penis, but that’s about it.

• Full-blooded saiyans must have black hair and black eyes. Their Super Saiyan transformation must have blond hair and turquoise eyes. Anything else, and you have to classify them as “half-saiyan.”

[Ander]

SWITCHING

Fact of life: everybody thinks about it sooner or later. Now, we finally have a firm “one-size-fits-all” policy about switching characters. If for whatever reason you are unhappy with your current character and would like to switch, you are free to do so, no questions asked. Keep in mind, there is a procedure, and there is a penalty.

First of all, make sure it’s completely and 100% what you want. Get a character you can see yourself going the distance with. Switches will be dealt with in the Updates forum, and here are a couple things we’re going to need:

• Fill out the basic character form. We need a name, race, general description, and write out a brief biography. As you are a resident member, a role-play sample will not be necessary.

• You need to “re-spec” your stats. In other words, you need to revert your stat points back into training points by using the conversion formula in reverse. Based on your rank, each stat point is worth a certain amount of training points. Please present the total you arrived at, as well as your new set of stats, in your update post. A re-spec must be done for every new character.

• The penalty: each switch will cost you 25 TP, which will be taken from the total amount of training points you arrived at during your re-spec. This penalty is incurred each and every time you switch, regardless. Keep in mind, your rank may be lowered if excessive TP loss is garnered.

• You may elect to replace all or any single of your first five best moves. You must choose to do so at the time of switch, or pay the regular slot price any time afterward.

It’s that simple. You don’t need to include a reason, there are no time limits, and no caps on how many times you can switch, so long as you are willing to pay each time you do so. This freedom should be exercised with thought and consideration. There will be no leniency if you “change your mind.” Once a switch request is put through, it will not be reversed, and a new switch must occur after the fact for any alteration.

Here are some things to remember about switching:

• When you switch, you stay in the same location you are currently at.

• Switching does not revive you. If your previous character was dead, you stay dead.

• Canons are still and forever locked. If you were in possession of a canon character at the time that customs were introduced, that canon is yours and only yours. You may switch freely to and from that character, but only following the aforementioned circumstances.

• OOC accounts returning to activity may pick up their previous character with no penalty. If they are, however, choosing a completely new character, it counts as a switch.