Can we have a thread about this game? I am going to be playing it for the first time and I don't really know anything about it and would like to discuss it. I haven't even made my character yet!
I'd appreciate any stories with the system, impressions about the system, artwork, resources, or advice on how to make a fun and/or optimized character and enjoy the game in maximum capacity so it leaves a good impression.
The rulebook claims that there are going to be people who find Anima's rules too simple.
I am left to wonder what kind of people those would be.
I find them quite simple, other than breakage because I never used it.
t. Programmer
It looks more complex than d20 but doesn't seem that bad to me so far. Summoning looks convoluted and my GM insists that ki is more convoluted than summoning, and wants me to consider playing a summoner, but I am interested in a wizard with the book of light as his specialty. Not really sure how either works yet, been reading up on wizardry.
Ki is easy if you're into bean counting and use unified.
because fuck having each pool by itself, that gimps ki-users fucking hardcore
How about summoners and wizards? What am I getting into with them?
Granted, I've never really thought about the rules proper, since character creation already leaves me stumped.
Just use invoker. you go from having to put everything into 3 abilities to having to put everything into just 1 ability.
>invoker
Well I did roll kind of badly compared to the party on stats so a single dependency would benefit me.
>1
You mean
Bind-Summon-Dominate (and hope you never summon something that beats your dominate and assfucks you in the puss-puss) and regen and zeon
vs
Regen - Zeon - MA - ML
In order of math:
Ki=>Martial (Asumming you do more than DnD your way to the top)>Magic=Invocation (invocation has more stats but clear breaks)>Martial if you just move-attack>Mentalism
Anima -is- the post child of front heavy games, like gurps it's actually very easy.
I want to play this game so badly it hurts. I've had the book for years and tried to pitch it to my group a dozen times, and every single time they say it looks to complex.
It is a sad pain...
Invoker wants huge POW and OK int, mentalist wants HUGE will and the rest is irrelevant.
Denote anima favors ganging up, so be easy on spamming shit.
Play online or pitch it around your IT/Developer/Accounting departments.
You are speaking a language I am not read in the system enough to decipher!
>Denote anima favors ganging up, so be easy on spamming shit.
What do you mean by this?
So how are you supposed to get into it without an experienced GM to tutor you?
Dwarf Fortress also has a learning cliff followed by smooth sailing, but at least it has the invaluable advantage of having comprehensive external tutorials.
Well, if you understand it, run it and break it down so far that it becomes easily understandable for your players.
I can also start putting random spanish words, for flavor!
Wizards need:
Magic Accumulation (to cast spells)
Zeon (AKA mana, to y'know pay for the spell)
Magic Level (To learn the spells)
These key off Pow (MA and zeon) and int (ML)
Summoners need:
Summon -> to bring shit into this world (going into the tall grass)
Bind -> to bind shit into objects (pokeballs)
Dominate -> to make it obey you
Zeon -> Summoning stuff and making familiars is zeon-intensive
Both want:
Regen, huge amounts of-> You regen not a lot by day, and summoned and bound things (such as stuff in your pokeballs and familiars) eat off zeon plus they need your zeon (they don't have zeon of their own), summoners want as much of this as possible.
Wizards also want a huge amount as magic is VERY expensive but VERY powerful, anima assumes anime downtime, IE months.
I have tried. I don't know if I just didn't do it well enough, but dammit I tried.
Nope, lets just play pathfinder, we all know pathfinder!
I like them, but goddamn it's infuriating.
Summoners can bring a large amount of people into a fight, since they have summoned stuff, anima favors ganging up on people very, very hard.
Mostly try not to have 601832 things bound and use them to beat up everything.
There are some guides out there, but believe me, it's also heavy on spanish. It needs an easier introduction module that isn't the fucking lady's flight.
It looks complicated because of the combat tables; but the tables are in fact a really simple equation. I don't know why the designers added them.
Power scales are similar to D&D, one Anima level is about 2 D&D levels; except martials in Anima are actually powerful.
That is because martials are allowed to be special.
IE 16 str means you can just create quakes at will, 20 dex means you're omni-present, you can cut spells, wizards are very squishy.
Also ki/martials scale infinitely.
Kai users are fucking monsters in that game. Especially if you couple them with a tao. A level 2 in our campaign has a Kai punch that drops like 260 damage.
Denote most people read how most ki-stuff works incorrectly, but 260 damage isn't hard, it's hard to do consistently early on.
>tfw two handed +1 size battle axe with 11 str
One of the only combat systems I've dealt with that operate well and do counters in a way that sort of makes sense.
El español no me molesta. I'm learning it after all.
Something that just tells me how to actually create a character would be a nice start.
Well, your efforts are naturally wasted on a group suffering imminent brain death due to advanced 3.5itis.
The game we're doing appears to be large in scale, I think we're playing leaders of a large military company, possibly a private army type of deal. So I'm trying to make a character who is effective at either supporting a large force, or defeating a large force to minimize the need for risking my own assets.
Sadly anima's biggest problem is the fact secondary skills are kinda useless.
That said, go war subpath and light for blessing and shit.
Or brew making tactics and command not shit.
That is true, also if you haven't looked at the dominus exxet it goes into detail how fucking long it takes your character to learn new martial arts and new Kai techniques. Which did hamstring him a bit from the retardedly strong char he would have had.
I'm rocking a warrior mentalist with the entire psychokenisis tree and natural teleport at a +3 advantage. I also have him insufferable and charming so he's a blast to play outside of combat too.
>Insufferable and charming
How.
Why
Reminder mentalism needs a fucking learning table and tuning so it isn't so shit at zen levels and so busted early on.
GM said I could do it if I can play him as a loveable asshole. Which I do fairly well. He kind of comes off deadpoolish in personality but a bit heavier on the dick side of things.
The why is because I like storytelling more than power gaming. So I make my characters usually intentionally not as powerful or broken as I can do that I can have some fun personality quirks . That and I'm the only guy in our group who isn't autismo so I'm always forced to face for the group.
Yeah I've been thinking of a way you could do that. Any suggestions?
It's partially my fault. I kinda like PF, when I want something easy to run that doesn't demand a lot of work, but getting them to play other stuff is like pulling teeth. And I've gotten them to play all the 40k games, GURPS, Numenera, and even Exalted. But for some reason Anima is just too hard.
None other than heavy math-crunching
Hah, was unfortunately thinking that would be the case, as that's what I'm currently doing.
Alternative:
High mentalism unlocked after level 3.
>Anima too hard
>GURPS not
I think my brain just broke
Which is ironic, since Anima is very similar to d20 based games: just multiply everything by 5!
>go war subpath and light for blessing and shit.
Isn't war exclusive from Light?
I was just gonna ask if they were just intimidated by a d100 system.
youtu.be
some guy made this it teaches you how the game works
Not really, no.
It shows how to apply the rules, but not how to use them.
My problem is not that the creation rules are too complicated for me.
My problem is that I can't make out a clear image in the murky waters of this ocean of moving parts.
I fail to grasp how to transform a concept into its mechanical representation within the boundaries and expectations of the system.
Part of it might be that I'm used to class-based systems where I can start from a vague image as a kernel, which then grows as I bounce the predefined elements off it for inspiration.
With this fine-grained point buy, I can't find any of that inspiration in the system.
Then exercise some self-control and stop enabling their brain-damaging laziness.
If you just Google anima beyond fantasy, one of the first results is a Dropbox with PDFs of all the books and a couple of startup helpers the guy made himself. There's also a char gen spread sheet thing.
Do any veterans have any tips for my Summoner character before I begin spending DP?
Then, because Archetypes and Categories are pretty "void", why don't you take inspiration off mechanics and Advantages?
The system honestly, works the opposite of class-based, the system shapes into what you want, you don't have to fit a concept into a pre-defined slot. So you end up having a freedom that feels either empty or too vast to find meaning. But, it's great for simply having an idea and see how it can play around with the world.
You want a Martial with something special for combat? Check Dominus Exxet and the Ars Magnus and Impossible weapons, they tend to be pretty good at 'forcing' you through a determinated path of build up, but they are worth it. Unique Mages? The schools of Magic clearly define your magic style and add a lot of uniqueness and charm, or even an Innate Magic specialist (I created one long ago, and it honestly plays really well with a dip into multiple magic schools). On Psychic, you can either play around Innate slots or investing into very few powers and make them even more powerful early on.
Aptitude in a Field, Acute Senses, Artifact, Unlimited Familiars, Touched by Destiny, or Versatile, just by themselves can give you a really unique insight into what can a character be.
And, worst comes to worst, just cut apart two media characters and fuse them, throw it against the system and see what it sticks. Honestly, that's what I do to create unique-powered NPCs on most of my games.
Google "Blakrana's guide to Summoners and Summoning", which is a very comprehensive guide on how to play them, but remember that Summoners tend to be really dependant on Storytellers and downtime.
Other than that:
>Unless you are a mage, never invest in ACT, all to Zeon/Zeon regen. Advantages for Zeon and Zeon Regen are recommended
>Occultism high, Memory (depends on the GM, but some of them if you ask for details that your character should know force you to roll for it) is recommended
>Choose 2 or 3 Summoning skills at most. If you have a Paladin in the group, they are your best friend since you can forgo Banish, otherwise decide on your own
>Devah Nephilim are strongly recommended
I'm actually reading that right now, coincidentally.
...
No idea how legit this is, but cool either way.
Last bump for me tonight.
MEGA trove of English books:
mega.nz
MEGA Spanish trove with fan-content, Circulo de Bardos (Q&A with Anima Studio), image dumps and some initiative tracking programs:
mega.nz
Azur and the dominion/argos are wrong
Because there are so many mechanics and Advantages that none of them feel in the least bit meaningful. I can't tell what purpose they serve mechanically and thematically.
And there's the next problem: Even if I have a concept, I can't put it into a form that makes sense.
Reading through the chargen rules, I know what I can do, but not what I should do. The book does not tell me what the system expects of a "first level" character nor what makes for a sensible character.
I can easily cram all 600 PD into Style on a Dark Paladin and call it a day, but that doesn't result in a functional character.
What is your concept?
What advantages don't feel mechanically meaningful?
A first level character examples are on the DM's booklet, aim for that or better in general works.
>What is your concept?
I don't have one. I'm talking any concept I have had or may yet have.
>What advantages don't feel mechanically meaningful?
All of them.
It's like the difference between differently shaped Lego bricks in my usual systems, where I can tell what makes sense in the figure I'm constructing, and globs of slightly differently colored sand in Anima that all seem to be able to serve the same purpose in the sandcastle, unless there is a clear color contrast.
>aim for that or better
That is exactly the crux of my problem.
What is "better"?
It's like you're handing me an abstract painting of a cat and telling me to make a "better" one.
Do you want it more purple? More triangles? More teeth? Straighter lines? Curvier lines? Should it have an extra leg? More stripes? Less stripes? Circles instead of stripes? Do you want a bigger canvas? With the edges rounded off?
>Advantages
Come in 3 flavors:
Unlock (IE: The gift, access to one mentalism discipline, etc...)/Build Upon
They unlock a way to play your character (such as mentalism or magic), artifact, skill cost reductions, social-related (nobility, wealth)
Buffs:
IE Full accumulation, see supernatural, etc...
Filler:
Ki regen, magic armor, +stats, zeon regen, more zeon per level, etc...
You can build upon any, however it's easier to build on the first two than the last others.
>What is better?
You have a "main" skills (for example: Attack/Defense on a fighter, psy potential on a mentalist) the bigger they're, the better. What you focus has some stats related to it, the bigger they're the better you're at it, simple as that.
I'm writing a detailed level 1 technician (since it's mathy) guide and how to advance him, since it explain this concept of "better" in more detail.
That leads me right to an earlier problem: I can min-max a character, of course, but that just means that it won't be able to function outside its chosen niche.
As I said, I can pump 600 PD into Style, but that doesn't give me a useable character.
Practice self restrain.
IE: Instead of pumping 600dps into style put 100 150 on attack 150 on parry and the rest wherever you think would be good. You want to be bulkier? Get more HP and armor. You also want to be an OK tactician? get ssome tactics, you want to tell the supernatural entities to dick a suck, get banish
>wherever you think would be good
We're beginning to run in circles now.
I don't know what would be good because I don't know what the system expects.
The bigger the better, but too big is bad. What is big enough, then?
What about secondary abilities?
There is no overarching image I'm getting here.
>other than breakage because I never used it
Breakage is fairly simple, so I'm not sure why people keep forgetting how it works. A game once grinded to a screeching halt because the GM couldn't remember what to do when I used a breakage Ki Tech to destroy an opponent's weapons.
>I don't know what would be good because I don't know what the system expects.
The system doesn't expect much in the first place. Default anima encounters are all easy as pie and assume that the players have absolutely no idea how to optimize.
I found that just grabbing whatever you like is good enough in most cases. You may not be great, but it's pretty hard to be useless and if you try to specialize in anything you can probably find an interesting niche to fill in the party.
As someone who generally GMs two to three anima games at any given time, I can safely say that that is a statement only said by people familiar with the game.
Look for games online. One day you will be able to play.
Is or is not Phaion the most fedora tipping principality?
Actually, now that I properly think about it, classes have nothing to do with it.
Games like Double Cross and Tokyo Nova are no more class-based than Anima is. Classes just determine the pool of special abilities you have access to and have no level progression of their own.
Although most of the SRS-based games just plain do not work because SRS is Japan’s d20, they do something quite ingenious, yet completely basic with character creation: They have three different modes of character generation.
Mode 1: Quickstart
You just pick one of the pre-made characters, which were created according to Mode 2, usually for use in the sample scenario, add on a few personal details and you’re good to go.
Mode 2: Construction
You pick your class(es) and then proceed to put together your character with a set number and general distribution of abilities and skill/attribute ranks. For finishing touches, you get a couple free points to spend, along with the same personal details from Mode 1.
Mode 3: Full Scratch
You pick your class(es) and get a pool of points to spend as you see fit. This is what Anima does.
The catch here is that Full Scratch tends to be explicitly cautioned against for beginners, since you need to have played a few sessions to understand the rules enough to actually get a satisfying result out of that method.
With Mode 2, the system sets a competence baseline for all beginning characters with enough leeway to make something pretty personal nonetheless. Barring a few edge cases and assuming the system itself works, you’re guaranteed to get a working character within the expectations of the system.
What’s more, you can look at the characters from Mode 1 if you’re still not sure what a character made in Mode 2 should look like or use the rules from Mode 3 to further personalize your Mode 2 character without diving into Mode 3 outright.
S-sorry.
Game restart soon.
Azur and gabriel
Why Gabriel?
Merchant And french
But that's not fedorii
Also aren't they more Italian than French?
Dominion is italian iirc
What do you think happens post GoM?
Summoning is mainly convoluted in that you need to manage your critters - especially if you take Multiple Familiars. It's helped by the creature book - the Salamander is a great starting point for a Familiar.
It's potentially very powerful just on its own, but you can also add in the task of making a mildly effective second-string mage (because you will normally want The Gift).
If you try to take all four skills, they'll suffer. I'd drop Banish (because while it's very useful for instantly defeating critters, you can just fight them as a party).
Taking an item creation skill adds even more complexity, but lets you make Zeon recovery boosters (your recovery determines how many summons you can support) and skill boosters.
>Sadly anima's biggest problem is the fact secondary skills are kinda useless.
Yeah - though Occult does everything.
It identifies monsters and lore, lets you make items and Sanctums (which are fucking great for Summoners who can remote control their minions).
The crafting skills are good as well, because it doesn't punish characters for wanting to make neat equipment.
>What do you think happens post GoM?
Nothing. Nothing happens.
Romeo is still a stupid asshole.
Sealing Ergo doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things because Bearer is hinted to have acquired is power.
Whatever happens in Remo can completely be signed off as a singular incident.
Baal is in the same position it was at the beginning of the game. Same with every other Messenger.
The events of the game are presented like no one in the world has realized what happened.
...and if the sales aren't as good as Anima Studio wants, it's over. No more books, no more lore.
>mfw
Lucrecio for sure. There are actual atheists there.
Iirc lucrecio doesn't.
The only place which AAAAAok'd! atheism is fucking empire
Not necessarily A-OK'ed, but the Children of Judas is said to be practiced there, even if it's the minority. Says so in Beyond the Dreams.
Oh yeah that can be
Why is the Consortium the best faction?
Exalted and Hero System players.
Providing books for you and everyone.
>mega.nz
>Summoner
>Magic Level
>Ever
If you're looking to cast spells, get yourself a damned familiar to do it(Sheele are handy) or go Wizard/Warlock/WizMen instead.
Though Warlock and WizMen have problems with Secondary abilities, unless you just go into one non magic stat(Wear Armor on 'locks, single Discipline/Power for WizMen).
Mega link has a fanbook that breaks it down fairly well, IIRC.
To build on his statement, Invoker summoners want Zeon, Magic Recovery, and Summon. That's literally all, because they're like Final Fantasy VII Summon Materia: Make pact with angry demigod/Aeon/high elemental/Tarot Arcana, use Summon to call it, it does something(a player of mine has the Big Daddy Storm Aeon himself, he thunder nukes EVERYTHING), then it fucks off back to wherever it came from.
I know that feel. I have literally two people in my Anima group, meanwhile the D&D group I'm a part of is happy with having gotten out of PF and into 5e, and therefore thinks just like yours concerning Anima's complexity.
Case in point, user?
Only real threat to martials are wizards that have somehow cracked the Divine Magic code.
And Nemesis Martials shit on literally everyone's day with the Cancellation powers.
They also do crits right, IMO. And rolling for location is fun.
>Secondary skills are kinda useless.
"Hey roll a notice real quick." should have EVERYONE shitting bricks instantly. Seriously, Surprise, Blinded, and/or Back strikes are no joke.
Also Withstand pain should be moderately high on most, if not all, Wizards because losing lodsaZeon sucks balls.
Knowledge skills can be important, unless there's a Creation/Knowledge mage around to break them over his knee.
Some people can be.
Misspelled Wissenschaft.
>Mega link has a fanbook that breaks it down fairly well, IIRC.
And which one would that be? It's all official material, afaict.
Also, one of my players is looking to try running again, after he let me take over the reins on our current campaign(which has been running for nearly two years now).
However, he's set a condition that we MUST play characters from media: anime, games, books, etc. I think because of our minmax-happy player and his railgun mentalist in the current campaign.
That being said, I've narrowed it down to a few choices based on the fact that I won't crossplay(don't have the vocal range for it, that's a big deal breaker for me), and that these guys would be fairly easy-ish to mesh with a build/the setting.
Other problem is I'm kinda sick of magic users, as I've been having a caster sidekick for my party while I've been running.
Which would you guys, as GM's want to see?
>Captain Hans Gunsche from Hellsing
Blood of the Great Beasts Human Tao with eventual Transformation Ars Magnus and Gunhell Ki Techs. Most likely a Dwanholf Guard captain. Mute but commanding presence, maybe play up his "secret Otaku" personality from inside the book covers.
Ninja Master Gara from Bastard!!
>Human Techie or Shadow, stealthy, athletic, bit of a musclehead. Has one or two Ki Techs for sword use, and an Artifact Sword that increases damage against Evil/Undead things via Vital Sacrifice.
Legato Bluesummers from Trigun
>Nephilim Devah Telepathy Mentalist. Follows Jigoku no Kami in his plan to eradicate everything, maybe? Big problem is RPing that much EDGE for too long might make me sick.
Walter C Dolneaz of Hellsing
>Human Technician, Cancer Magister Magnus. Calm, collected, good etiquette for out of combat. Also stylish as fuck.
Train Heartnet from Black Cat
>Acrowarrior, Assassin, or Techie, Daimah Nephilim. Because min-maxer kinda wants to play Sven. Only problem is I'm hesitant to go full Daimah on the GM.
Gannondorf
>Neph Jayan Dark 'lock or Techie. Problem is rping that arrogance and self-entitlement.
DIO
>Neph Vetala, same problems as Gannondorf.
My bad, here you go.
Addendum
Mister Torgue Flexington or Brick, both from Borderlands/BL2.
Brick's clearly a Jayan Tao, but what the F*CK is Torgue? A fire Warlock?
>Contacting Black Sun Agents
>Thread Necromancy Initiated
Thanks for bringing back my thread. :^)
My summoner is underway. We're not playing in the traditional Anima setting apparently but rather in some D&D inspired thingadoodle homebrewed by the GM, but I have faith in his work. He redid the races to fit his setting and since I expressed interest in Tiefling, he rather graciously made the Tiefling very good as a summoner. I had talked about wanting to play up my demonic heritage and he went fully into that with their design, including giving them bonuses related to summoning.
At any rate, I'm thinking I may shirk Banish, focusing mostly on my other three summoning skills, as I can't imagine needing it much.
Yeah, Banish is probably the most situational of the four.
It also has the nastiest "Colossal Fuckup" result, in that it SUMMONS more of what you were trying to banish, and they're STRONGER than it, too.
>We're not playing in the traditional Anima setting but rather in some D&D inspired thingadoodle homebrewed by the GM.
Ouch. good luck.
>BLOW THE UP OCEAN
every time
Yeah I would like to play in the Anima setting but the guy who is GMing is pretty creative and has been a part of our gaming group for a long time so I have faith in him. I'm leery of homebrew settings but this group is very talented and well-rounded.
Right? That entire DLC was fucking gold.
Actually thinking on it, he may be a Jayan Nephilim Fire Illusionist, because EXPLOSIONS and his way with words.
Yeah I can't see be Banish being hugely necessary if I can control or just have my party take down any nasties. I may put some into it later since keeping it up doesn't seem pricy but for now I'm leaving it behind.
You're right.
Why is Wissenschaft the best faction?
Probably because it's the only in-setting faction that even gives a damn about psychics period. It and the machine.
Because they get shit done in non-retarded ways, and aren't complete jerks to people they don't agree with. Unless Lucanor says "Fuck those guys", of course. Then shit hits the fan bigtime.
Case in point.
>Lucanor: Hey Sammael Fallen Angels, I don't appreciate you guys just up and killing/eating humans in my province, knock it off.
>Fallen Angels: Psssh. Human thinks he's hot shit. Thinks we're scared of him and his "Crows," Ooooooooooh, spoopy, not the birds. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
>Lucanor: I am moderately annoyed now.
>Next day
>Fallen Angels: How are half of our council members dead and their bodyguards unharmed?!
>Lucanor surfs Daaku through their SUPER SECRET SANCTUM, a pennant fluttering behind him written in several forgotten languages, all saying the same thing "Talk shit, get hit"
Fallen Angels: 0.o
Meanwhile, Consortium is burning down the house of a guy who dared sell his goods at 10% lower than THEIR "Suggested" price, Yehudah is going full "MAGE WAR NOW, PURGE ZEONLESS FILTH", Selene and Brotherhood of Raksasha are feuding over who's going to kill that one fat fuck, Black Sun is accidentally a mansion, the surrounding town, and an entire city with zombies, and Inquisition is going full retard and fighting demons with demons in Moth, which is a shit-hole anyway, so that kinda isn't that much of a problem.
Am I the only one who wants to see Carlos release info on mechanics for the Black Blood?
Psychics will always be ignored by both fluff, and by Carlos. The most they will ever likely get are some info on Black Blood in the factions book down the line.
>hopeful for psionic exxet
>tfw friend reminds you it's been years since the exxets released, and that they likely consider the piss puddle in arcana adequate.
I think part of it is leaving it up to the individual imagination of the GM. Like I see it as almost like the Blood of the Great Beasts advantage in that it provided some DP to invest in monster powers, but maybe higher concentrations grant higher Gnosis or more points.
Same goes for figuring out ways to incorporate different lore characters into the sessions.
Like players unknowingly getting along swimmingly with the Shadow of Omega, and destroying the seals keeping him from cutting loose on Gaia.
>tfw we barely get any lore on them
Why is bella such a slut?
Where the fuck mr. Voodoo gets his sword
Why the fuck does clover have a fetish with multi-charge
It's known that next book will probably have a summoning fix and a focus on solomon.
So it might get some psy since lucanor