Life Effects and New Card Backs (09/2017)

This event, we are beginning to roll out a new style of card back that will be the standard once the updated rules are released. You will only see this on your card right now if you attended the August event, or the next time your card is printed. An explanation of how to use this card back, as well as some example images, are attached at the end of this post.

Additionally, you will notice that the Life Effects (Heal Life, Gift of Life, etc) have been replaced with generic tags. Starting this event, you will be able to be healed from the Critical condition a total of four times by ANY ability. This means you can benefit from four total uses of Heal Life, Paladin Life, Gift of Life, etc., or any combination of the three. Please note that the only abilities that heal from Critical without consuming Life Effect slots in this new system are as follows: Empathy Rank III, Resuscitate, Greater Heal Life. Any other unique or NPC ability that heals from Critical WILL consume a Life Effect slot.



How to Use the New Character Card Back

This section describes each area of the new card! There is an example at the end showing how it will look in use.

In the top left corner of the card are four Life Effect tags. Whenever you are healed from the Critical condition, one Life Effect tag is consumed. You should then tear off the spent tag, starting from the leftmost box. Because the card front has not yet been updated, please ensure you are not tearing off important information from your character card. If you believe you will do so, please mark the box with a large X or signature instead. Because of this change, Life Effects need not be signed off by the user of the ability. Instead, they must simply be torn or marked off before they are considered to take effect on the target - this should considerably speed up the casting of Life Effects in combat. If there is absolutely no way you can take out your card to mark it off on the spot, it may instead be marked as soon as possible after the scene has concluded - any Rules marshal reserves the right to card check players in this instance.

If you receive the benefit of the spell Restoring Light, it should be signed off in the next section: Temporary Notes. If you use that Life Effect, either mark it off or cross it out with a single line so it is still readable. Do not tear it off. Additionally, you can use the Temporary Notes section for anything you want that is not going to be updated on to your card. Good examples are allegiance system or plot buffs or anything else that will expire at the end of the event. Feel free to get creative - other than Restoring Light, this section is for you to use however you'd like!

In the top right corner of the card is a section called Bonus Build Earned. Please do not write in this section unless you are authorized to do so! If you are a marshal signing off Lifestyle Build, an ST or Staff granting Build for large donations, or you are James signing off bought Build, this is where it should be written. The only time you should write in this section on your own card is if you are a marshal that earns a Build reward every event; write it here rather than on the card front so that the Card Marshals only have to look in one place for bonus Build. We anticipate it will take a few months to fully transition, but please, for the sake of the Card Marshals' sanity, if a card has the new back, use it!

Underneath the Bonus Build is a Mana Point tracker. It may feel a little cramped if you have more than one point pool right now, but after an encounter in which you spend Career Points, mark down how many you have left here. Once the casting points are consolidated, it should feel a little neater. This section is also for your personal use, so if you have a creative way to keep track of your points, feel free to - but just like marking periodic skills as used on the front of your card, if you use mana points, you should be keeping track of them here. Despite the name, this section can (and should!) also be used for Crafting points.

Next is the meat and potatoes of the card back: the buffs section. This is a pretty dramatic overhaul intended as a positive quality of life change for characters that are primarily casters, but also benefits any frequent recipients of latent buffs. Here's how it works: every time you receive a buff, whether it's a latent spell, scroll, alchemy, smithing buff, item, etc., write its name and the caster's character number in one of the rows (or "item" if it came from an item). Then, in the space designated by a horizontal line, write the Period in which it was given to you (1 for Friday, 2 for Saturday morning, 3 for Saturday night, 4 for Sunday). Mark off the inner circle of the first bubble to indicate that you have the ability, and when you invoke it, mark off the outer circle. Now, every time the ability is placed upon you during that period, mark off the inner circle of the next bubble, and mark the outer circle once it is used. You can move on to the next set of five bubbles once the first five are used, or on the next period, just make sure to note the period when it is written down. (If you have Lay Over and the ability is affected by it, no need to mark the periods - you can even turn the line into another bubble if you need to.) If a different character gives you a buff that you already have written on your card, you can either move to a new line, or just fit the character's card number somewhere in the line you are already using if you are low on space.

If you are having trouble clearly marking the inner circle versus the outer circle (like if the light is bad, or your pen is too fat) you can use another method of marking the bubbles, as long as the difference between "available" and "used" is clearly visible if a marshal needs to check your card. An easy way to do this is a single slash for "available" and an X for "used."

The next section is Abilities Learned/Unlearned. This section has not changed much, but you will notice there is no longer a column for Build cost. You may still write the Build cost for your own reference, but since the card system stores the costs, the Card team will know what to do! Also, a faint line divides the table in case you are learning a lot of skills at once. If they are on the same row and not from the same teacher, the left side teacher can sign wherever there is space.

To the right of that section, Changes to Character Card is just the same as it was before. Write any miscellaneous things that need to be updated on to your card here.

The final character card section is the signatures box. You must still get your NPC, Cabin cleanup, and Camp cleanup signed here. The boxes have been widened so your NPC shift and cleanup assignments can be written in the boxes! Please make sure that your NPC shift and cabin are noted here at the beginning of the event - this makes it easier to return your card to you if it is lost.