[Wolfe]

Combat abilities are any ability that you intend to give your character that helps them in combat in any way. You get five of these slots to start out with.

This includes things like skills like hacking to infiltrate IT systems and a healing ability to patch up wounds that are useful in specific situations. It also includes enhancements that are physical improvements to the character like increased strength or speed. It also includes items which provide some sort of benefit to your character whether that is rocket boots to let you hover above the ground or a set of armor that makes you tougher.

It is important to note that each ability only provides one mechanical benefit. There are no additional mechanical benefits to be found upon rank-up, just the one that you started with gets stronger.

In order to aid in this endeavor, words like 'endurance' which have different meanings in different countries/regions of the world are discouraged and will be changed into something that more specifically describes the bonus desired. If you want increased durability, you are able to take reduced damage from attacks until your aura runs out and there must be a very clear indication in the text of the ability that it is a durability boost. If you want increased stamina, then you will take an ability that lets your character fight for longer without becoming tired. Any other wordings where people attempt to get through multiple mechanical bonuses by 'wording it stronger' will similarly be noted and declined as they come along.

Non-Combat Abilities are abilities that do not affect combat in any way. I don't know how to make this any more clear. Singing, dancing, calligraphy, carpentry, etc. are all examples of Non-Combat abilities and abilities in this category cannot be used to aid in combat in any way. If you take Cooking, for example, and put it in Non-Combat you cannot use cooking to justify any combat action you couldn't otherwise do. This is meant as a category for characters to pick up skills to aid in characterization and thread opportunities related to that skill. You get fiv of these slots to start out with.


The current full load out for a character with all their slots filled up consists of 7 combat related ability slots in total for characters that are just starting out. These slots consist of Semblance, Weapon, and 5 Combat Ability slots. You also have five Non-Combat ability slots.


Frequently Asked Questions for Abilities

What if I want my character to come from a rich family?

This is an answer that is very qualified and is very case by case. Your character can absolutely come from a wealthy family, but without a 'Wealth' Non-Combat cannot access that money for plot purposes. Any scion of a wealthy family who gets sent off to a Huntsman Academy logically speaking is either not going to be the actual heir or is in a situation where they are heir can be changed very quickly with very little legal ramifications. Some people's plots will be motivated by poverty and their family being in poverty, and having a character just run around with money-no-jutsu all the time to change all their plots feels empty and soulless.

Coming from a rich family and using it in your backstory is fine. Using that for plots is fine. Using money that isn't your character's (and it isn't) at will to affect plot is not fine. If you want to roleplay your character having nicer/more clothes or fancier looking tech or weapons as a result of wealth, that is perfectly fine. But the limit stops when it starts affecting the plot. Buying your friends lunch is fine. Hiring a band of mercenaries to beat up your bully isn't.

This does not include wealth that is gained IC through events or missions or other ways to legitimately earn money, this is mostly for wealth that your character just kind of has that they didn't have to work for or do anything to get.

Logically, my enhanced speed would make it so my attacks hit harder but I'm told I can't do that. What gives?

Click here for detailed explanation of why realism is very low on the totem pole of things we want to keep.

Can I use my Non-Combat Ability in combat if it makes sense?

No. Non-Combat Abilities are just that.

I feel like someone else's ability is worded stronger, should I change mine?

Two strength abilities, for example, of the same rank are exactly as powerful as each other regardless of the description. Nobody is allowed any advantages for 'writing their ability stronger' and if anyone does this please report it to staff.

Can I try to do other stuff I don't have any skills for? Like if I'm trying to fortify a house, can I try to use carpentry even if I don't have skill for it?

Sure! All skills you don't have are G-ranked, or untrained. If you were trying to build something, you'd be really bad at it and it would look like complete shit but it would offer some benefit. Think badly nailing planks to windows or something. They wouldn't be really secure or done very well, but they would provide some benefit if someone tried breaking in through that window!

Will I ever get more slots for abilities?

Yes. Once you get your first B ranked ability, you will unlock a sixth combat slot for your character. There is currently no way to increase slots for Non-Combat abilities, but we will re-evaluate in the future if there is significant demand.

Faunus have night vision in canon, do I need to spend an ability slot for that?

No, you don't. It would so rarely be relevant that I do not want to force Faunus players to spend an ability slot for this ability. Consider it a free perk to counterbalance all the emotional trauma and racism, as it were. Humans get no similar compensation except being the subject of much less racism, which is unfortunately not a mechanical bonus.

What happens if my character uses the weapon of another character? How does that work, mechanically?

It scales to the Martial Arts/Marksmanship rank of the wielder, provided they can justify why their martial arts skill applies. This has the implication that it is the wielder themselves doing most of the damage and that someone given a high lethality weapon would, even if they hit, not hit correctly and do much less damage with it. Let's the situation where this actually came up as an example. Colton, who normally uses a sabre and a shield takes the weapon of Jack which is a falchion. The ruling was and will remain consistent that Jack's F rank falchion raises to the martial arts level of the new user -- in this case D rank for Colton while in his hands if they can justify why they their martial arts skill applies to that weapon. In this case, Colton used a single edged bladed weapon of similar length and weight as his main weapon anyway and had a high martial arts skill so it was an easy decision. Skill can only take you so far if the quality of the weapon is subpar, though, so under no circumstances can the damage of the weapon exceed its actual rank by more than two ranks. (IE someone with C rank Marksmanship using an F rank gun can only boost its effectiveness to D rank.)

If the reverse happened in the Rochdale event and Jack with his G rank martial arts were to take Colton's D rank sabre, he would not be able to use it very well and the weapon would drop to G rank damage in his hands -- even worse than his falchion despite the rank of the weapon. While the weapon is similar, it is not the same and Jack would only be able to do more damage with his falchion because it is the weapon that he trains with and has practice on. For an example of what would not be justifiable, lots of characters have exotic weapons that are unique to them. Carmim's drum, for example, is absolutely nothing like a sword or any weapon that Colton would be trained in -- even with a high martial arts skill. Colton would use Carmim's drum as a G rank weapon in any circumstance unless for some reason undertook in-character drum fighting lessons.

[Wolfe]

Weapons, like semblances, are going to follow different their own specific set of rules that are separate from combat abilities because like semblances weapons allow your character to do more than any one combat ability would give you. The natural question to ask then is what do weapons give you?

Well, they give you damage. All weapons can have a ranged and a melee form to them, and typically in RWBY-verse it's one weapon that transforms into both melee and ranged forms. Take Ruby Rose's scythe that turns into a sniper rifle and back, for example.

Your weapon rank makes it deal damage, and your description gives it flavor. What type of weapon, mechanically, doesn't matter at all in TRP. Scythes, swords, gauntlets, knives, etc. all do the same mechanical thing in giving you damage. People are free to get more nuanced and play with the effective range of weapons and stuff like that in their roleplay, but it's not going to be enforced.

Below is a really cool writeup that gives a very good idea to the types of things you might want to think about when creating your character's weapons. Weapons are not like semblances, insofar as they are not static and can change over time if you find that you want a different set of them on rank-up.

RWBY Weapon Theory:

Weapons in RWBY are an extension of the user, and any character that you create should have a weapon that matches that. Even if it's a major change of a canon character.

You should always be able to say "This weapon represents X core aspect of Y character."

Nora's hammer is loud and proud and in your face and fits the inspiration of Thor. Ren's guns are subtle and quiet and easily concealed, fitting the inspiration of Mulan. Weiss's rapier is rigid and seemingly unchanging, but subtle changes can indicate big effects, not to mention it is elegant and refined and precise, things that Weiss both is and strives to be.

Things that should to be taken into account:

1. Myth / Inspiration: Does the character have an inspiration? Did that inspiration use a weapon or was there a weapon in that tale? You should probably use that as your base.

2. Attitude: The weapon should fit the person's general attitude in some way. Ren wouldn't use Nora's hammer any more than vice versa. If someone's subtle and quiet their weapon should reflect it, try and boil your character down to something basic and then figure out how the weapon reflects that.

3. Semblance: Does the character have a Semblance that leans towards one fighting style or another?

4. Money: Does the character have a lot of money? Very little money? Only people with a lot of money or some sort of 'in' should use a Dust reliant weapon. People who have little resources like Blake likely use low caliber and thus, cheaper, rounds.

5. Mechanical Prowess: Is the character particularly mechanically inclined? This should influence the aesthetic of the weapon's design and probably should act as a limiter on the weapon's actual complexity and number of forms.

6. Aesthetic: Does the weapon otherwise fit the character's aesthetic? If they're a knight, using a scythe doesn't really fit. If they're a samurai, using a warhammer doesn't fit. You can stretch this, like with Ren or Nora, but if your character has a clear aesthetic then be sure to match it.

7. Dual Function: The basic purpose of the shifting for the weapons is to enable both melee and ranged functions. However, as has been stated, weapons in Remnant tend to be Melee First, Ranged Second. This isn't a hard-fast rule, but more of a rule of thumb. Things like Coco's minigun and Ironwood's revolver speak for themselves, but note that both can be and are used in melee.

Things to note about weapons in Remnant:

• Blades don't seem to fold or twist or change shape. Yes, Crescent Rose unfolds, but that's the thing, it unfolds. All of the segments of the blade are all there and don't change shape so much as they unfold and lock into place. Each unfolding segment doesn't change shape.

• Gun barrels don't twist. They can extend just fine, but they don't curl up or change shape.

• The majority of weapons are actually extremely simple conceptually, only the likes of Qrow and Ruby have truly "mechanically complicated" weapons. Neptune's is also surprisingly complex, but he's a nerd (or as he says it, intellectual) though not necessarily a gun-nut the way Ruby is. Milo comes sort of close, but even then it's mostly because of how it transforms into its rifle mode.

Credit to Andoriol of SpaceBattles for the writeup

[Wolfe]

This is a list of some example combat abilities and what they do mechanically. Keep in mind that is what they do mechanically, and I could not care less how you flavor them for the most part. Semblances are covered here. This list is not exhaustive, and as a rule combat abilities only do one thing. If the question is "Can I cheat this by wording my combat ability so that it does more than one thing and being really clever about it?" the answer is always no. Wording abilities to be stronger doesn't matter and will be outright rejected if it implies/states extra benefits.



Martial Arts: Accuracy in melee combat, checked against enemy agility.

Marksmanship: Accuracy in ranged combat, checked against enemy agility.

Strength: Picking things up and putting them down really hard. Damage in melee combat if you’re physically moving the weapon with your strong body, checked against enemy durability.

Weapon: Damage in melee/ranged combat, checked against enemy durability.

Agility: Dodge, checked against enemy accuracy.

Durability: Damage resistance, checked against enemy damage.

Speed: Makes you go fast. Doesn’t help you dodge. Usually checked against enemy speed because it’s used to get to a place more quickly than the enemy can move away most frequently in a fight.

Acrobatics: Flippy shit. Wall running. This skill enables you to move in different planes, by choosing to run on the walls or even up the walls instead of on the floor.

Stamina: Increases your ability to attack/defend in the same post by one post while avoiding exhaustion. Usually the limit is four, but with each rank of stamina this limit increases by one.

First Aid: Ability to heal damage to health (not aura!) while in combat. Generally only relevant in events/huntsman missions that are death and/or injury enabled.

[Wolfe]

On Multiple Attacks

Your character can have multiple attacks that can be used in the same post. The most common of these are semblance attacks which can be used independently of weapon attacks. Each of those attacks comes from one slot, with the weapon attack dealing damage based on weapon rank if ranged or the higher of weapon rank and strength rank if melee. Semblance attacks naturally use the semblance rank to determine damage. Each ability can only do damage on any specific enemy once per post with no exceptions.

Slightly more uncommon means of additional damage sources are basically everything else. Strength can fit this category if lower rank than Weapon. Weapon can also fit into this slot if lower rank than Strength. Dust Enhancement is also popular. It can really be anything, frankly, but the thing they have in common is that they do damage over time and have their uses per thread limited by rank. These additional sources of damage count as their own attacks using the accuracy of the skill they are most associated with. Strength/Weapon uses Martial Arts, Dust Enhancement uses whatever weapon it is attached to or its own rank if attached to no weapon, and semblance related damage enhancements use whatever accuracy the semblance has.

Any skill that is not in your semblance slot or weapon slot that you argue has the sole benefit of giving you more damage falls into the Damage Enhancement category and thus falls under the purview of this chart. G ranked abilities are not usable for extra attacks. You must actually buy a combat ability to use an extra attack.

Mechanically, this chart is structured the way it is so that for you to have access to this many attacks you actually have to invest a significant amount of experience into making it reliable, or simply be forced to deal with the early levels of unreliability. It is also damage over time to lower nuking potential on low investment, providing windows of counterattack unless you both roll extremely well and specialize heavily into a bunch of attacks by sacrificing a lot of other skills along the way.

Dust, as in the limited resource only present in site events and certain high difficulty missions detailed here follow their own rules and can always be used as an extra attack with accuracy and damage corresponding to the rank of the dust in the limited events that allow them.