Steiner's Skill Upgrades, Tulpa Reveal, and Tai Chi Revelation

» Name Of Character: Steiner Franz

» Link To Character: https://www.platinumhearts.net/t17791-the-broken-hero-steiner-franz-finished?highlight=Steiner+Franz

» Upgrading:

Durability: Beginner to Adept
General Speed: Beginner to Adept
Strength: Beginner to Adept
Weapon Skill: Beginner to Adept

Willpower/Determination: Advanced to Master
Mental Deduction: Adept
Pain Endurance: Beginner to Adept
Focus: Adept to Advanced

Adding:

Earth-Defying Array: An advanced and powerful Kata - special training exercise - that was created by Mirja, built off the skeleton of works left by a talented but unknown martial artist, Ashigoi Kazuri. The lack of anything more than theory and concepts lead him to be shunned in favor of more solid styles, but this, as Mirja found out, was not the smartest of decisions by the Martial Art World. He left behind the theory to be built upon, not as anything in any way of solidity. And so Mirja took it and created her own Kata for herself, and whoever she felt like teaching it too. The eponymous named technique focuses releasing your earthly tethers, and actualizing your willpower in a physical aspect. The rest are focused on the concept of Tulpa, creations powered by one's sheer tenacity and willpower, literally forcing a thought into the physical world. However, there are limits, the user is only ever able to create two things, a Personal Tulpa, which generally attaches to their body, and a Full Tulpa, which is a creation of it's own but still bound to the creator and unable to stray far, sometimes not able to stray at all, but able to act independently.

As constructs, both the Personal and Full Tulpa's general skills are equal to one rank below Willpower skill. The Creator can focus on one aspect to the detriment of the others, allowing it to be the same rank as Willpower as the expense of the rest being one rank lower. Their tier is also based off of Willpower, being 3 tiers below for adept willpower, 2 for advanced, 1 for master, and equal for Grand master.

The base of the entire style, this Array focuses on the mind more than the body. Lightening the strain of existence, and bringing a state of extended peace to the user. Once this level headed nature has been achieved, the user can focus on the manifestation of their mentality, bringing the mind into play in the physical world. The first manifestation, and the denial of Earth, allows the body to feel light and unrestrained, as the manifested mentality takes a part of the physical side of life. This can either allow the user to enjoy strenuous activity with less taxation on their endurance. [All energy-draining techniques have an increased post limit of 1 for Adept Willpower, 2 for Advanced Willpower, 3 for Master Willpower, and 5 for Grand master Willpower. Beginner Willpower is to weak to have any noticeable change. Tulpa have a limit of the same number of posts. Beginner Willpower can not manifest enough tenacity and discipline to construct a Tulpa]

Personal Tulpa (Armor of the Divine Champion): Unlike Mirja's version of Personal Tulpa that is an aspect of power and driven by the need for power. Steiner's Tulpa is a manifestation of his Heroic aspirations and his desire to protect those in need of being protected, as such his Tulpa takes the form of the armor of a white knight complete with a massive shield with the emblem of the Vanguard plastered on it. The body of the armor is comprised of an almost metallic substance that is actually raw force of will personified in physical form. This metallic substance is extremely durable and capable of taking hits equivalent to 1 tier less of strength or energy based techniques in comparison to his willpower (Master Willpower can take up to Advanced Tier punishment as example) The armor is also impressively flexible, allowing for full body movement, and as such enabling Steiner to move freely in combat without having to worry about being slowed down by what appears to be a heavy suit of armor. Admittedly the strongest point that the Tulpa provides its shield which can block attacks with equal valued stats to Willpower (Willpower Master can block a Cero of Master skill level for example).

The shield can only do this twice and afterwards the shield shatters indefinitely and if used to block something higher than the value of will Steiner has at his disposal the shield will only lessen the damage by roughly 50% before shattering after one use instead.


Territorial Tulpa - One's Own Body: Steiner's Territorial Tulpa, which he learned from Mirja, shuns the control of the surroundings and instead hugs the dome tight to his own body, having himself become the Territory. Eschewing control of anything but himself, Steiner can use this technique to control his own body, most commonly using it to purge himself of any foreign pathogens, and to fix damage that has been inflicted. It is not a passive regeneration, as such he needs a moment to focus on it, and repair the damage done to himself. He also requires the knowledge of what is damaged to repair it, and if he is in sufficient pain to be unable to pinpoint the source, then this technique is rendered moot. Pain without a source is also unable to be repaired. Furthermore he is limited to three bones per usage of this Tulpa. The mental strain prevents him from using it twice in a row, and limits him to a maximum of three uses per thread. Despite the limitations, Steiner values the teachings that Mirja gave him on the subject matter, and has trained hard to be able to use the territorial Tulpa in much the same way she does.

Tai Chi Link from Mirja as he learned it from her:https://www.platinumhearts.net/t17959-tai-chi
Rank: Bronze III, Five Fire Pillars

32 Swords Tai Chi Form: Unlike Mirja who specializes in utilizing her hands and feet to perform her Tai Chi techniques, Steiner's techniques with Tai Chi involve wielding the power of weapons as an extension of his body to increase the effective range of his strikes and moves. This however, does not mean that he can't perform the basic maneuvers of Tai Chi without a weapon, it just means that Steiner's techniques with Tai Chi are vastly superior with a weapon of some kind in his hand. Furthermore when channeling Reiki through his weapons to increase the power of his blows, the damage caused by the weapon is increased by 50% more than when he would do it to channel it through to his fists and feet. This is due to the style prioritizing the power of weapons over the power of simply using one's fists or feet to do the battling for you.

The style itself is extremely fluid, focusing on quick blows, and impressive counter attacks to consistently keep the opponent off guard while also lessening the physical strain on the body that normal Tai Chi can produce from having Reiki course through them to increase their damage. The effects of Five Fire Pillars also apply to a Reiki enhanced weapon and provide a burning damage additional effect on top of the impressive increase to overall damage.

» Why:

Alright, I will make this as quick as I possibly can as I know this is going to take a long time to evaluate, but I have an event thread that I need to get running to so that I can have some fun with. The jump from beginner to Adept for mostly all of these abilities can be quantified very easily by taking a moment and stepping back to take a look at some of the threads he has been in:

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t17901-a-heroes-purpose-shiosteiner?highlight=Steiner+Franz

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t18265-something-going-on-under-ground#117589

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t18209p20-in-the-wolf-s-den#117579

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t18233-it-s-good-to-be-back-or-bad-snopy-steiner-private-ask-before-joining#117588

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t17883-the-lost-boy-the-hollow-and-the-courier-request

All of these threads demonstrate Steiner's fighting capabilities, his ability to read situations, his determination to be a hero regardless of his powerless state, and his ability to survive pain. Instead of focusing on the basic jumps from beginner to adept for the majority of his skills, all of which make sense since he has been in combat situations while being at beginner level and survived on multiple occasions over the course of these threads. (I could even argue a jump from Beginner Weapon Use to Advanced as I feel Steiner's consistent use of weaponry, dedication to learning multiple styles, and basic honing of his craft could warrant that level of jump, but I won't). The jump from a lowly beginner to a simple Adept is fundamentally easy, just as long as they utilized the specific skill in the thread, and fought hard by using that skill the jump is easy to recognize and accept.

Instead I am going to focus on the two big jumps in skill: Focus from Adept to Advanced and Willpower from Advanced to Master.

I will start with the Willpower/Determination because it is the easiest to explain. When you look at all of these threads there is a very clear image of what Steiner wants to do and what he is determined to do regardless of him being powerless or being in a weakened state, Steiner Franz continuously pursues being a hero, and doesn't look back. In some threads he talks about how he lost his powers and said he would do it again if it meant that the kids he saved would keep on living. That is heroism, that is determination, and that is willpower. Steiner has displayed that regardless of what stands in his ways he will always try to climb, claw, and crawl above any obstacle to reach the top of the mountain where his heroic ideals are located. It doesn't matter if he is fighting a 0 tier or that there is a bunch of Hollows looking to eat him, Steiner's first thought, and driving motive has always been to be a protector and be a hero. This has not changed since the day he came back and it will not change until his goal has been reached and even then he will keep on fighting the good fight because that is who Steiner Franz is. That is why I made this jump and that is why I believe he has more than fairly earned his Master Willpower.

As for Focus if you look at the threads with Mirja, where he is training his abilities, he has had to hone his focus to better utilize his Tulpa, and his Tai Chi abilities. Without Focus he would never be able to actually utilize his abilities in a manner that would be absolutely effective in any way. Furthermore it takes a lot of mental focus to put yourself through so much suffering just so you can learn, grow, and become stronger.

» Extra: I have no idea if this will mean a tier up...I think it does, but since he hasn't Soul Evolved or attained Enlightenment to become a Chi Human, it is really hard to say if he is truly out of the powerless bracket even with the introduction of these new abilities and his increased skills. I suppose I will leave it up to the staff to decide.