![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On Drivers and Blades
Sep. 11th, 2019 04:15 pmSo what the heck is a Driver and Blade and how do they translate to DWRP? The first thing to note is: it's really whatever, y'know? There are a couple of basics: weapons focus elemental energies, having a Blade buffs you, you can pass the weapon back to the Blade so they can unleash special attacks. Simple enough and that's really all we care about from the highest perspective.
This explanation is to get more into the gritty details of how the system works. Namely, that the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 combat system focuses on one central conceit: the bond between Blades and Drivers.
Blades are weaponized lifeforms who have no independent existence. When not bound to a Driver, they exist as Core Crystals: crystalline, obviously-artificial objects about the size of a large grapefruit or small melon. When a Driver resonates with that crystal, the Blade takes form from it, now bound to the Driver for the duration of their life. Blades are immortal, healing from any wound -- but when their Driver dies, they return to their Core Crystal, and forget everything but their name.
From its Core Crystal, every Blade may create a weapon (or pair of weapons). The Blade knows how to use their own weapon instinctively, but the true power of a Blade only awakens when a Driver wields their weapon. An energy called 'ether' pervades everything, and Blades take in this energy and transmit it to their Driver through their bond. This power serves two purposes. It increases the Driver's strength, speed, agility, and endurance -- basically taking them from "normal human" to "anime protagonist" levels, with all the flips and leaps and surviving long falls and getting knocked across the battlefield only to get up and charge back in that implies. Secondly, each Blade is attuned to a particular element, and the Driver gains access to that element in whatever form.
What makes a Driver a Driver? Self-referentially, the ability to resonate with a Blade. Not all people possess this ability, and most never try, because those who make the attempt without that ability can be seriously injured or even killed. Once you bond with one Blade, however, you will never fail to resonate with another one; the ability is completely binary. In addition, almost anything can be a Driver. The world of XC2 has beasts and monsters who have awakened Blades and become that much deadlier for it. The criteria seems to be simply to possess some level of biological material and intelligence for the Blade's core to interface with.
To fight with a Blade, simply take their weapon(s) in hand and go to town! The Blade transmits power through the bond, and tosses out other buffs they possess as they can. The level of trust and partnership between the Driver and the Blade is key to extracting the most power from this bond, as a Blade's true power only awakens with trust. Brighid, for example, gives her Driver great ability to avoid ranged attacks, but this can range from 50% to 90% depending on their bond. Every Blade possesses such passive abilities, honed by how well they get along with their partner.
In game, basically weapons techniques are all covered under the blanket of auto-attacks. Normal weaponfighting all falls under this umbrella, and from the perspective of a Driver aren't really anything special. This sort of thing translates pretty easily to a freeform clash. Fence with a foe? Swing an axe? Kick? Those aren't anything special.
Special weapon techniques or abilities all fall under the term "Driver Arts". 'Arts', in XC2, actually refers to any sort of special weapon techniques or abilities; one person comments, after briefly dueling Rex before he becomes a Driver, that he knows some Arts. Arts not only differ from person to person, but from weapon to weapon, so for DWRP purposes, any special trick a character knows will basically be their Art. Using these techniques empowers a Blade, which is why they're considered a little more specially than basic dueling or axe-whacking.
Blades have Arts too. A Blade who has built up power through the use of Driver Arts can unleash that power as a Blade Art -- some sort of attack that calls on their elemental energy to blast the enemy. The Driver simply tosses the weapon back to them and they can use it to fire off that attack. Once they've used it, they toss the weapon back to their Driver, and on they go with the battle.
Fight long enough and in sync enough with your Blade, and empower them with enough ether, and the two of you can unleash a Level IV Special -- a super attack, in which both Driver and Blade use the weapon one after the other or together to really unleash hell on their enemy.
And Blades have one more nifty power in all this: the ability to create shields to protect themselves and their Drivers. This, incidentally, is why it's okay to toss your weapon to your Blade in the middle of battle; during a Blade Art, the Blade will protect you with a shield. Handy, right?
Okay, but what's Nia's deal? Nia is something special again: a Blade who has integrated human cells into her being, a Flesh Eater. She straddles the line between Blade and human. The human cells enable her to be a Driver herself, and survive after the death of the Driver who resonated with this current incarnation of her. By all right she appears to be one of the most functional Flesh Eaters, though this may be due to her young age; other Flesh Eaters in the series appear to weaken significantly as they reach their five hundredth year, though it is also implied that others become much weaker much sooner depending on how well the integration went.
Consequently, as a Blade Nia can choose her own Driver, and (for the purposes of RP, at least) revoke that choice as needed. (The latter is never seen in the game, but there's no reason it WOULD be.) She has also gained an incredible ability to heal, to the point of restoring the recent dead (usually nerfed in games, of course!).
Nia's weapon is the Catalyst Scimitar, which is not a scimitar, just a sword. Her element is Water, and her role is Healer; though her attacks are by no means weak, fighting with her in battle heals the Driver both passively and with every attack they make. Her Level IV Blade Art, however, is almost monstrous: it alters the reproduction rate of cells, infecting an enemy with countless fast-growing, out of control tumors. Fun!
Questions?
This explanation is to get more into the gritty details of how the system works. Namely, that the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 combat system focuses on one central conceit: the bond between Blades and Drivers.
Blades are weaponized lifeforms who have no independent existence. When not bound to a Driver, they exist as Core Crystals: crystalline, obviously-artificial objects about the size of a large grapefruit or small melon. When a Driver resonates with that crystal, the Blade takes form from it, now bound to the Driver for the duration of their life. Blades are immortal, healing from any wound -- but when their Driver dies, they return to their Core Crystal, and forget everything but their name. From its Core Crystal, every Blade may create a weapon (or pair of weapons). The Blade knows how to use their own weapon instinctively, but the true power of a Blade only awakens when a Driver wields their weapon. An energy called 'ether' pervades everything, and Blades take in this energy and transmit it to their Driver through their bond. This power serves two purposes. It increases the Driver's strength, speed, agility, and endurance -- basically taking them from "normal human" to "anime protagonist" levels, with all the flips and leaps and surviving long falls and getting knocked across the battlefield only to get up and charge back in that implies. Secondly, each Blade is attuned to a particular element, and the Driver gains access to that element in whatever form. What makes a Driver a Driver? Self-referentially, the ability to resonate with a Blade. Not all people possess this ability, and most never try, because those who make the attempt without that ability can be seriously injured or even killed. Once you bond with one Blade, however, you will never fail to resonate with another one; the ability is completely binary. In addition, almost anything can be a Driver. The world of XC2 has beasts and monsters who have awakened Blades and become that much deadlier for it. The criteria seems to be simply to possess some level of biological material and intelligence for the Blade's core to interface with.
To fight with a Blade, simply take their weapon(s) in hand and go to town! The Blade transmits power through the bond, and tosses out other buffs they possess as they can. The level of trust and partnership between the Driver and the Blade is key to extracting the most power from this bond, as a Blade's true power only awakens with trust. Brighid, for example, gives her Driver great ability to avoid ranged attacks, but this can range from 50% to 90% depending on their bond. Every Blade possesses such passive abilities, honed by how well they get along with their partner.
In game, basically weapons techniques are all covered under the blanket of auto-attacks. Normal weaponfighting all falls under this umbrella, and from the perspective of a Driver aren't really anything special. This sort of thing translates pretty easily to a freeform clash. Fence with a foe? Swing an axe? Kick? Those aren't anything special. Special weapon techniques or abilities all fall under the term "Driver Arts". 'Arts', in XC2, actually refers to any sort of special weapon techniques or abilities; one person comments, after briefly dueling Rex before he becomes a Driver, that he knows some Arts. Arts not only differ from person to person, but from weapon to weapon, so for DWRP purposes, any special trick a character knows will basically be their Art. Using these techniques empowers a Blade, which is why they're considered a little more specially than basic dueling or axe-whacking. Blades have Arts too. A Blade who has built up power through the use of Driver Arts can unleash that power as a Blade Art -- some sort of attack that calls on their elemental energy to blast the enemy. The Driver simply tosses the weapon back to them and they can use it to fire off that attack. Once they've used it, they toss the weapon back to their Driver, and on they go with the battle. Fight long enough and in sync enough with your Blade, and empower them with enough ether, and the two of you can unleash a Level IV Special -- a super attack, in which both Driver and Blade use the weapon one after the other or together to really unleash hell on their enemy. And Blades have one more nifty power in all this: the ability to create shields to protect themselves and their Drivers. This, incidentally, is why it's okay to toss your weapon to your Blade in the middle of battle; during a Blade Art, the Blade will protect you with a shield. Handy, right?Okay, but what's Nia's deal? Nia is something special again: a Blade who has integrated human cells into her being, a Flesh Eater. She straddles the line between Blade and human. The human cells enable her to be a Driver herself, and survive after the death of the Driver who resonated with this current incarnation of her. By all right she appears to be one of the most functional Flesh Eaters, though this may be due to her young age; other Flesh Eaters in the series appear to weaken significantly as they reach their five hundredth year, though it is also implied that others become much weaker much sooner depending on how well the integration went.
Consequently, as a Blade Nia can choose her own Driver, and (for the purposes of RP, at least) revoke that choice as needed. (The latter is never seen in the game, but there's no reason it WOULD be.) She has also gained an incredible ability to heal, to the point of restoring the recent dead (usually nerfed in games, of course!).
Nia's weapon is the Catalyst Scimitar, which is not a scimitar, just a sword. Her element is Water, and her role is Healer; though her attacks are by no means weak, fighting with her in battle heals the Driver both passively and with every attack they make. Her Level IV Blade Art, however, is almost monstrous: it alters the reproduction rate of cells, infecting an enemy with countless fast-growing, out of control tumors. Fun!
Questions?
