Author Topic: Cole Ashton  (Read 2011 times)

Krazeek

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Cole Ashton
« on: August 05, 2018, 10:22:30 PM »
Hey guys, huge RWBY fan here. I've been wanting to play in a RPG of RWBY for some time, but never got the opportunity where I live. I figured I'd join up here and see how it goes. Below is my huntsman, Cole.

CHARACTER

Name: Cole Ashton

Age: 18

Species and Gender: Human Male

Symbol:  A light-gray compass rose with the needle facing West.

Occupation: Sophomore at Atlas

Appearance:
Cole Ashton is a teenager raised from humble beginnings on the streets. He has a lithe and athletic physique, standing 5’11” while weighing in at only 134 lbs. His tanned skin and brown eyes give him a very woodsy appearance, while his close-cropped gray hair is both practical and functional.

Many aspects of Cole’s outfit reflect his frugal nature. He always wears gray denim jeans that are fraying at the edges and a plain white t-shirt, completed with a black belt. His tonfa named Silver Screen are always held by a clip on the back of his belt, always in easy access. He also wears a gray bandanna tied around his right wrist, a gift from his mother to always remind him to do what’s right.

Cole’s demeanor reflects his life on the streets. Although he’d love to remove it to become more empathetic, he shows a scar down his left cheek from a knife attack he got as a kid. His low-pitch voice and forward walk display his determination. While he smiles and jokes when relaxed, his face shows his dedication in combat, and his catch phrase is: ‘I didn’t fight to make it this far to be taken out by a punk like you.’

History: Cole was born 18 years ago on the rough streets of Mantle in Atlas. A child of the slums, he was raised solely by his mother, who tried to teach him respect and dignity. His mother never told him about his father, a soldier of the Atlas army who raped her during one of his drunken shore leaves. Also, he had a younger sister who died in childbirth, but haunts his sleep occasionally and he claims she talks to him.

Life was hard for Cole and his mother living in a small shack in the shanties of Mantle. He never had much of anything to go on, and would sometimes be forced to steal food to survive. However, he never stole more than he needed, and would always remember his debts for potential future compensation.

Cole had to form a gang with some of the other boys who lived in the area, and formed two good friends in the group. Forrest was an older boy who had gone to school for a short time before his father lost his job and they had to move to the slums. Scarlet was a girl who he adopted as protector to her.

When Cole was walking through the shopping district of Mantle, he saw a report on the TVs of a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses who fended off a Grimm incursion into Mantle, and immediately knew he wanted to become a Huntsman just like them. He told his friends about it, and they thought it would be fun to form a group to train themselves.

Cole found two small lengths of pipe, with T-intersections, and made a rudimentary pair of tonfa from them. Forrest found a plank of wood and rubbed it against the bricks until he whittled it down into a crude sword. Scarlet found a wooden dowel and used it as a quarterstaff. The group would train constantly with these weapons, and they each got quite proficient in using them.

When a gang from a different part of the slums attacked them, they managed to fend them off quite well, but their fake weaponry proved no match for the knives of the other gangers. To make sure he would never forget that fact, the other gang held Cole down while the leader cut a deep slash in his cheek.

As Cole laid on the street in immense pain, his focus awakened his aura, and his wound closed up. While the scar is still there, his friends were amazed at how quickly he had recovered. Forrest helped him as time went by in teaching all he had been taught.

When they got old enough, they took a trip to Atlas Academy’s Mantle satellite campus to try out for the academy. He and his friends all made it into the academy thanks to their vigilant practice as well as Forrest’s teachings. However, their class schedules were different, and they found themselves distanced in this unknown area.

Cole maintains contact with his mother by writing her from school, and occasionally passes by his friends on campus and in the dorms where they live. His weaponry teacher, Professor Rosado, took pity on him and helped him build his trademark weapons, the Silver Screen.

Professor Rosado also helped him with his studies, since Cole had no formal education. Through sheer determination and focus, Cole was able to graduate the year by acing many of his tests. Now in his second year, he is focused on becoming a Huntsman moreso than anything else.

Personality: Cole is quick to react, both in intellect and in responding to attack. Like Yang and Ty, he gives off a lot of puns, often more than they do. He is likewise very quick when reacting to an incoming attack as well.

Aura and Semblance: Cole’s aura is a shadowy-gray color, which sometimes hides him in the darkness.

Resonance - Cole's voice is naturally resonant and carries well through the area without being loud. However, he can raise his voice to the level of a sonic attack. This attack is useful in the fact that it is only weakened by the aura of others due to the vibrations.

Limitations: Because of the projection, he has to be in front of his team to use it without affecting them that much, as he can't focus it yet. Also, using it more than four times in a day gives him a sore throat, and trying times means he could go hoarse by using it too much.

Combat Behavior: Cole uses his tonfa to parry attacks very rapidly. Due to this and the short range of his semblance and weapon attacks, he's usually up close and personal defending his friends.

In terms of style, Cole usually uses more of an Aikido style, focusing on defense and redirecting the opponent’s attacks. A small amount of Jiu-Jitsu is also evident in the throws and trips. While he doesn’t  put out a lot of damage, his defensive skills give him the advantage when teamed with a high damage partner.

Cole’s weapons don’t store as much dust as other weapons might, so the shield is often a last-ditch effort. He usually uses this to surprise opponents, as his favorite dust is lightning.

WEAPON

Name: Silver Screen

Form: Tonfa (reference Ellie's weapon from the anime 'Rave Master' for visuals). The rods are about 18 inches long, and the grips look similar to a cross between a hilt and a pistol grip.

The full length of the rod forms the barrel of the guns, and the grips hold a clip in them that can be used for normal rounds. They also hold a smaller compartment for dust when the shield is needed.

Dust Functions: The tonfa can form a web of dust between the two that allow them to shield the user. This shield only exists for five seconds, but enough time to block a few attacks. The material of the dust is reflected in the shield (so a fire shield would burn skin, lightning would shock people holding metallic objects, ice would chill and sometimes cause weapons to freeze to it, etc).

History: Silver Screen was built by Cole during his freshman year at Atlas.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2018, 08:05:00 PM by Krazeek »

Moth

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Re: Cole Ashton
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2018, 11:18:48 PM »
Hello, and welcome to the site! Glad to see you're jumping right into character creation, it's great initiative - there's just a couple of steps you can take to really flesh out your profile before starting.
  • You'll definitely want to expand a bit on his history, but you've got a good starting place. Tell us more about his lifetime in the slums, steeling what he needed to survive - that type of thing is bound to have a big effect on his personality down the road. Tell us a bit more about his training, and building his own weapons - where'd he learn to fight? What resources did he have access to in order to learn proper form, or his entire style built together from street brawling? Finally, a bit of backstory about Professor Rosado is probably a good idea - he doesn't need his own profile, but a explanation of who he is would be good, considering he seems important to Cole
  • Atlas isn't the most populaous school on the sight, so getting him a team as a second-year Atlas student might be difficult. If you want him to get a team, I'd suggest Beacon
  • it might be worth mentioning where he unlocked his aura and how he discovered his semblance in history. You've got a good basis for his semblance and the time limit is a good idea, but including things like what happens if he tries to keep it up for two long might be good too.
  • Remember that personality generally fits semblance. So far Cole seems like a pretty outgoing guy, so why does he have the ability to become a wraith? Is he naturally shy, or anxious, or...? Regardless, it's worth expanding on his personality a bit - both good and bad attributes.
  • Weapons detail would be good - give us a length of the tonfa, and how long the shield it creates lasts - or how he manages to make a shield out of something like lightning dust, since ice dust would be preferential for that.
Those are just a couple issues you may want to address before popping Cole here into character creation. Most of my advice comes from the fact I've put 5 characters through the ringer, so I like to think it's fairly on-point, though if anybody else wants to interject. Also, come say hi to us on the Discord, since that's the best place to chat and receive direct character feedback!
« Last Edit: August 05, 2018, 11:25:46 PM by Moth »
Prism Skylark - Beacon First Year, Winged Sharpshooter and Leader of Team CASA (Casanova) #ffffff

Chantou Rou - Beacon First Year, Insect-Eyed Rebel of Team LGGR (Lager) #ff82a4

Albrecht Clodwal - Beacon First Year, White Knight Nice-Guy of Team CNRS (Cinerous) #00a4a4

Azre and Erza Sundown- Shade First Years, Fallen Stars of Team RASB (Raspberry) #fe2d00, #feab00

Jima Purpora - Beacon Third Year, Grimm-Obsessed Scholar of Team PLSM (Plasma) #6e3aa8

MonsterManic

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Re: Cole Ashton
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2018, 12:30:07 AM »
Moth pretty much has the bases covered, but unfortunately there's a little more than that. You'll be required to give more detail about the semblance, for example describing certain scenarios. You'll also need to expand the combat behaviour section and include both strengths and weaknesses. For the rest, generally more detail is highly recommended, but isn't 100% crucial to being approved.

TL;DR: Needs more detail on everything. Not trying to dissuade you or anything. I'd suggest taking a look at some approved characters to get a general idea of what's expected of a character profile. Good luck!
Beacon: ShowHide

Setsuna Antiqua - First Year Leader, Team ASTC - Chivalrous Shield

Tina Allan - First Year Member, Team ATLA - Twin Sharpshooter

Tieren Augus - First Year Student - Emotional Berserker

Kei Tsz Fung - Fourth Year Member, Team SARK - Silent Duelist

Lunae Terenas - Second Year Student - Unlimited Explosion Works

Graham Dylandy - First Year Member, Team LLGD - Technological Samurai

Jocelyn Antiqua - First Year Member, Team CASA - Combat Medic

Yu Nanhai - First Year Student - Lone Survivor

Haven: ShowHide

Rachel Jonquil - First Year Student - Spirit Summoner

Others: ShowHide

Prof. Ferus Talandar - Grimm Specialist Teacher at Beacon - One Man Army

Emile Antiqua - Former Professional Huntsman - Gentle Giant

Krazeek

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Re: Cole Ashton
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2018, 12:43:58 AM »
Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry it's been a few days - life's been, well, life. I've updated the character with the suggestions you guys gave. Also, I always welcome any constructive criticism :)
« Last Edit: August 08, 2018, 12:50:50 AM by Krazeek »

Kingnoname1

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Re: Cole Ashton
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2018, 04:25:44 AM »
Adding on to what Monster and Moth have said is the biggest thing this profile needs is detail. Your character sheet is you selling your character to join in threads and having a barebones profile will make it harder to judge if Cole is appropriate for that adventure. This is most pressing with the appearance, personality and combat behaviour. Specifically with combat behaviour we expect between two to three impactful weaknesses to round out the character. If you are struggling thinking of what to put in trying having a look at the other approved characters or simply ask around.
No criticism is too harsh so hit me with your best shot.

Calen Shrike - ASTC - First Year Beacon.

Saffron de Cortez - SALT - Third Year Atlas.

Amarant Lovis - (formerly of)ACCE - Headmaster of Atlas Academy

Ramalia - RASB - First Year Shade

Krazeek

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Re: Cole Ashton
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2018, 08:07:34 PM »
Sheet is updated. I've expanded the history and appearance sections greatly, and added the weaknesses for his character. If everything looks good, I think I'm ready for approval, but I'd like the community's input first.