User blog:Faenor of the Silver Laurel/Holy Grail War RP - Setup

Rapid and not nearly thorough enough breakdown:
Every sixty years, there is a Holy Grail War among mages for the right to control a massive source of mana called the "Holy Grail" (not the real thing). The war is always fought between seven mages, called Masters, and their familiars, seven heroic spirits of legend (not necessarily actual people, but they can also be manifestations of their legends), called Servants, divided into seven classes, each with their own set of "class abilities", in addition to their own unique skills. The spirits are summoned with a catalyst and from every point in history, past, present, and future: You could have Gilgamesh, Arthur Pendragon, Alexander the Great, and even an unborn hero (like in the case with Archer from said series). Each master has one Servant and three Command Seals to forcibly order them with: Once you use all your command seals, the Servant is uncontrollable.

Masters:
Master is a designation given to an individual, usually a magus, who has become one of the formal participants of the Holy Grail War by obtaining Command Spells and forming a contract with a Servant. Contracts are sustained by the Master supplying energy to the Servant, in order for that Servant to remain in the world. A Master that is providing magical energy to a Servant will "leak" magical energy in a volume that is easily detectable to most spellcasters. The leakage is distinctive, allowing a Magus to determine that the Master has a contract with a Servant. An active Master will also possess a Command Spell as a visible proof of their contract. A Master is always a Master, whether he currently has a Servant or not, as long as he still has the Command Spell. A Master without a Servant can make a pact with an unclaimed Servant at will, though having too many Servants is hazardous to the health of a Master due to magical energy consumption. This also means that a Master can claim a new Servant regardless of the length of time since his last Servant.

Command Spells
Command Spells ( "Command Seals") are three claims of absolute obedience, the crystallization of a great magic, that a Master has over a Servant in the Holy Grail War system. Unable to normally be controlled by humans, they are burdened by the "absolute condition for materialization", the authority of the Command Spell carved into them at the moment of summoning. They are holy marks signifying a magi's status as a Master.

Masters obtain three Command Spells, and Servants have no choice but to cooperate with their Masters due to their hold over them. Depending on the nature of the Servant, such binding is not necessary, while others may slay their Master instantly should all three be lost. They disappear as they are used up, and it can be said that a Master who uses up all three loses authority over their Servant. Even if a Master contracts with multiple Servants at once, they will only be given a total of three Command Spells that can be used on any contracted Servant. It is possible to steal more from other Masters or receive more from the overseer depending on circumstances. Command Spells appear on those selected by the Holy Grail, some of which have been shown to manifest as many as three years before the event. It is normal that the Grail decides on those it deems worthy and have a reason to seek it.The shape of the seals is different for each Master; they reflect the magical characteristic of the magus.

The seals typically appear somewhere on the arm, looking like tattoos at first sight. Corresponding with the three uses, each has three parts to it, strokes, that fade upon usage. Once they are no longer a Master, they disappear completely, but traces can be seen. Upon receiving or losing Command Spells, there is often a slight pain. If the Master or Servant are in critical danger, it may throb to warn them.

Servants:
Servants are Heroic Spirits and Divine Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail for the purpose of competing under Masters in the Holy Grail War.

Servants are Heroic Spirits made into special familiars of the highest rank that are bound to the Master. Differing from the normal definition of familiars (that can be likened to minor mascots unable to be stronger than their masters), Heroic Spirits are the most powerful of beings with which even the greatest of magicians would never be able forge a contact. Rather than it being a hard process to summon them or the fact that they far surpass magi, it is their intrinsic nature in that they are beings beyond magecraft. Magi can perform rituals to borrow their power to mimic them, but cannot summon actual Heroic Spirits themselves.

Similarly as to how demons require a form invented by humans in order to take shape, Heroic Spirits need a form to exist in the world. The vessels, classes, act as their temporary name and method of existing. Acting like a "passport to the present", the vessel prepares them for their role as a familiar in advance, allows them to take on that role to help them take form, and brings them forth into the world. Each class identifies only the core skills of the Heroic Spirit because replication of all their ability is impossible. Their main traits align with the class and are given form, matching the principal nature of the class. Only heroes matching the attributes of the classes are brought forth, allowing them to be summoned into any reflecting their abilities.

Although too powerful to be controlled by humans, they are bound by three Command Spells, representing the Master's' "right to rule" over them, with obedience towards the Command Spells being the "absolute condition required for materialization." Due to the prospect of having a wish granted by the Holy Grail, it also serves as incentive to cooperate with the Master, as well as requiring them for energy upkeep and acting as their anchor to the world. Killing them will normally go against their purpose, but the Command Spells protect the Master from those who would kill them to seek out one who would be more suitable.

Servants are beings able to switch between a Spiritual Body and Material Body at will. While in spiritual form, they cannot be easily detected by enemies, due to being invisible to the naked eye and most forms of scrying, or affected by physical interference. They can travel where they please without being impeded by walls, but they also cannot carry anything in that state. Their senses are limited to spiritual sensations, so they must materialize in order to fully experience normal senses when sharing a visual link with their Master. Their upkeep cost is low when not materialized, so many Masters prefer them to stay in spirit form to lower the toll on themselves. It is hard for them to affect Material Bodies in such a state, so they must materialize to properly engage in combat.

While they may bleed and take damage to their organs, their true being resides in a Spiritual Core they obtain upon first materializing. Their Material Body envelops it, and damage must be inflicted to it in order for them to be defeated. It gradually diminishes under magical energy expenditure and while sustaining bodily damage, and their expenditure will escalate under such conditions. If it is damaged through powerful magical energy, curses, or Noble Phantasms, it will be destroyed, meaning that the Servant can no longer stay materialized. The heart and head are directly connected to it, so they are a Servant's greatest weaknesses. Sustaining damage will significantly weaken it, with some Servants having it instantly destroyed and some with skills like Battle Continuation being able to at least temporarily sustain themselves.

Those summoned as Servants are given the minimum information required to allow them to fit into any era. No matter how ancient the Heroic Spirit, they should understand a number of concepts that were not known in their time. The knowledge is not all-encompassing, so concepts may have to still be explained to them. They are not granted knowledge on other Heroes through the Grail, but rather from knowledge gained within the Throne of Heroes. Witnessing traits of other Servants can allow them to deduce their true names with the knowledge even if they are from incompatible eras. A Servant is never named, only referred to by their class name, if it can be helped: Once a Servant is named, it's possible to develop strategies to counter them (Since they died heroically, they obviously have a weakness).

Servant Skills:
Each class is granted certain skills upon summoning. They generally reflect the abilities that they had in life, but they will not always have had the corresponding skills. Even if the Heroic Spirit did not have the abilities in life, they will still get a lower ranked version of the skill automatically if they fit the class. Conversely, it is possible for a Servant of a different class to gain any of these skills as Personal Skills, as long as they reflect the abilities that they had in life.

Inherent Class Skills:
All Classes -

True Name Discernment - Information such as one's identity, skills and powers are automatically revealed when directly encountering a Servant. This ability can only work when an enemy Noble Phantasm is released.

Archer -

Independent Action - The ability to remain independent even when rejecting the energy supply from the Master. It is both useful and troublesome, depending on the disposition of the Servant. Acting in autonomy from the Master's Magical Energy supply, the Master can concentrate their own Magical Energy on large spells, or the Servant will be fine even in the case they can not supply Magical Energy due to injury. The downside is that they can be harder to control and keep by their side, making the only true way to command them by utilizing Command Spells.

Magic Resistance - Grants protection against magical effects. This ability cancels spells altogether, making it very useful against the Caster class.

Enhanced Sight - Archer-class Servants have far better sight and reactions than other Servants.

Saber -

Magic Resistance - Grants protection against magical effects. This ability cancels spells altogether, making it very useful against the Caster class.

Enhanced Intuition - Saber-class Servants are far more intuitive than other Servants, allowing them to enter meleé combat with high probabilities of success.

Enhanced Physiology - Sabers are stronger, faster, and more agile than other Servants, but by less than that particular class’s own enhancement. This means that a Saber is less agile than a Lancer, but they make up for that by slight raises in all areas.

Riding - The ability to ride mounts. Rider-class Servants will typically possess a high rank, allowing for Phantasmal Beasts and Divine Beasts to be mounted. It is said that dragons are an exception, requiring a different ability other than Riding.

Caster -

Territory Creation - This is the skill to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus. Within this area, Caster-class Servants become far more powerful, as well as gaining specific advantages over other Servants: The main one being that another Servant cannot enter a Territory without going through the gateway, thus making it difficult, if not impossible, to gain entry without the Caster’s knowledge.

Item Construction - The skill to manufacture magical items, some not normally obtainable in the current age. Such items include the Philosopher’s Stone.

Ancient Magic - Caster-class Servants have the capacity to use magic that is not in the world today, approaching true Magic (a miracle of sorts) rather than simple modern magecraft (decidedly less than a miracle).

Lancer -

Magic Resistance - Grants protection against magical effects. This ability cancels spells altogether, making it very useful against the Caster class.

Enhanced Agility - Lancer-class Servants are automatically far more agile than other Servants.

Berserker -

Mad Enhancement - This ability raises basic parameters to have a “super” Servant, in exchange for hindering mental capacities. This ability can also decrease any personal skills the Servant may have had in life.

Enhanced Strength - Berserkers are automatically far stronger than other Servants.

Rider -

Magic Resistance - Grants protection against magical effects. This ability cancels spells altogether, making it very useful against the Caster class. The Magic Resistance of the Rider class is somewhat less than the Archer, Saber, and Lancer classes, thus making them a great deal more vulnerable to magical assault.

Riding - The ability to ride mounts. Rider-class Servants will typically possess a high rank, allowing for Phantasmal Beasts and Divine Beasts to be mounted. It is said that dragons are an exception, requiring a different ability other than Riding.

Assassin -

Presence Concealment - The capacity to hide one's presence as a Servant. It is possible with this ability to disappear completely and become almost impossible to be detected.

Enhanced Speed - Assassins are automatically faster than other Servant classes.

Personal Skills:
Personal Skills reflect the abilities the Heroic Spirits had in life and their personal legends. These skills are derived from their legends and the stories of their deeds.

Example: Lancelot: Knight of Honor - An ability that is the embodiment of the incident where Lancelot was forced to fight Phelot unarmed and proved his fighting prowess by claiming victory with an elm branch. Rather than an overt weapon, it manifests as a "unique ability" retained by his body. Once Lancelot grabs hold of anything that can be even remotely conceptualized as a weapon by his own recognition with his gauntlets and he recognizes that he wishes to wield it, it instantly gains the property of "becoming his Noble Phantasm." Even control of other Servants' Noble Phantasms will instantly go to him should he grab hold of them. It can only be activated for objects recognized as "this is a weapon"

Noble Phantasms:
"Crystallized mysteries", powerful armaments made using the imagination of humans as their core, and weapons or abilities owned by Heroic Spirits. They are the embodiment of the ultimate mysteries of a hero that symbolizes their existence through historical facts and anecdotes. They can be physical weapons, such as swords, lances, and bows, or support items, such as rings and crowns. They can also be abstract concepts, like unique abilities, unique means of attack, curses, and changes to the environment and its physical properties. When summoned with Servants, they are the trump cards of the heroes that allow them to overcome others in battle. To activate a Noble Phantasm's ability, one must call the weapon's name: This means that the Servant's identity will almost certainly be revealed, if they do not kill their target.

Classifications of Noble Phantasms:

Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm - Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms are those specialized against defeating other people in single combat. Compared to stronger weapons, they will not go beyond defeating other beings no matter how strong the magical energy or curse they wield. The advantage over stronger weapons is that they can be compared to guns with unlimited ammo while Anti-Army Noble Phantasms are one-time missiles.

Anti-Unit (Self) Noble Phantasm - Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm used upon the wielder instead of another target. This is almost always a suicidal ability.

Anti-Army Noble Phantasm - Anti-Army Noble Phantasms are those with a wide enough range to be specialized against armies They are more powerful weapons than Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms, capable of easily blowing them away, but they must be used more wisely because of their larger cost. Using such an attack drains the Servant of energy, so they must wait before using it again.

Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm - This rank has powerful Noble Phantasms that can even blow away solid fortified structures. While the difference between Anti-Unit and Anti-Army is the variation in area of effect, Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasms are distinguished from other categories by the great difference in power.

Noble Phantasm ranks beyond this point are forbidden in this RP.

Anti-Populace Noble Phantasm - This rank's Noble Phantasms affect whole countrysides and cities with their power.

Anti-Country Noble Phantasm - This rank's Noble Phantasms affect entire nations with their destructive capabilities.

Anti-World Noble Phantasm - Noble Phantasms that affect the World itself are of this rank. While the actual output is around the level of a divine weapon like Excalibur, its effect that is unquestionably that of the legend of "ripping the world" puts the sword in a special category.

The seven Servant classes:
Archer - Knight of the Bow and Heroic Spirit of the Bow. Servants placed within this class excel in possessing powerful Noble Phantasms, are able to act as highly effective scouts, and are frequently Heroic Spirits from the Age of Gods when magecraft was still commonplace. The qualifying condition for the Heroic Spirits is not attributes, but instead the possession of powerful projectile weapons or special abilities related to projectile weapons. They possess high Magic Resistance as a Class Skill, so most modern magi are unable to inflict damage to them. They also possess Independent Action, allowing them the ability to act independently for a length of time without an active supply of magical energy from their Master.

Saber - Knight of the Sword and Heroic Spirit of the Sword. Servants placed within this class are agile and powerful melee warriors adept at swordsmanship, boasting high ratings in all categories, and they are often heroes from the Age of Gods when magecraft was still commonplace. The qualifying conditions require the Heroic Spirits to have legends as knights of the sword, and it is the class that requires the highest levels of attributes in all but the Magic attribute. Compatible Heroic Spirits usually excel in delivering powerful burst attacks, and the Class Skills are Magic Resistance and Riding.

Caster - Magus and Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery. Servants placed within this class are usually adept in magecraft, and the only qualifying condition is the mastery of sorceries of the highest caliber compared to the specific parameter requirements of the other classes. Due to not requiring any strong statistics, they generally have low combat abilities, and due to the majority of Servants having some form of Magic Resistance, this class is thought to be the weakest of all seven. They make up for this with other means, using magecraft that no longer exists in the current age and, no matter which Heroic Spirit is of the class, possessing many possible ploys to be used against enemies. Those of the Saber class can likely challenge any Caster who uses magecraft as their main offensive ability without needing to plan due to their high Magic Resistance, while those of lesser resistance like the Rider class may require more strategy. Their class abilities are Territory Creation, altering the surrounding lands in favor of their sorcery, and Item Construction, which allows the magus to create magical items and tools.

Lancer - Knight of the Lance and Heroic Spirit of the Lance. Servants placed within this class, many of which are Heroic Spirits who were knights, are very agile, display excellent close combat skills, show proficiency in hit-and-run tactics that capitalize on range and speed, and are skilled with long-range melee weapons such as spears and lances. The qualifying conditions to be placed within the class are second only to the Saber class, requiring overall excellent attributes and a high agility attribute. Their only particular class ability is Magic Resistance, and although they "tend to be less flashy than the other classes", they display great reliability.

Berserker - Mad Warrior and Heroic Spirit of Berserker Rage. Servants placed within this class are always Heroic Spirits who have gone berserk during battle at least once in their lifetime. This trait allows them to use the special ability Mad Enhancement, which trades their consciousness and sanity for a large power boost. This class is usually for magi who have summoned Heroic Spirits with insufficient abilities and attributes, allowing them to strengthen their Servants to make up for their lower attributes and compete against stronger opponents. While it is ideal for Servants to reach the level of the Heroic Spirit, the class allows for their attributes to surpass even the original. If used on an already strong Heroic Spirit, such as Heracles, they will become empowered to truly extraordinary levels. The abuse of this to create powerful Servants has made the class referred to as the strongest of all seven classes.

Rider - Mounted Knight and Heroic Spirit of the Mount. Servants placed within this class are those known for riding mounts, living beasts or human constructs, during their lives. They generally have lower attributes compared to the Three Knight Classes (Saber, Archer, and Lancer), but the abilities of the mounts described in their legends compensate by granting them powerful Noble Phantasms or abilities. They have the class abilities of Magic Resistance and a high rank in Riding, allowing them to fully utilize the abilities of their mounts. Depending on the rank, they can take full control of everything from simple horses, modern machinery like motorcycles and planes, and even Divine Beasts. Dragons are the only exception, as the ability to ride them falls under a different skill.

Assassin - Silent Killer and Heroic Spirit of Assassinations. Servants of this class are skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently. This class is one of the weaker classes at fighting; as its members possess low attributes due to not having glorious legends as heroes; so it instead specializes in killing Masters rather than Servants. It is an oddity compared to the more formal knight classes who believe in fair duels and chivalry in combat; they will attack using the most unfair and favorable conditions; and with these conditions, it is possible for an Assassin to match and defeat other Servants. The Assassins' special class ability is ‘‘Presence Concealment”, which allows them to remain undetected when spying or preparing to ambush their targets. Note that exceptional and little-renowned swordsmen who specialized in concealing their minds and emotions (Sasaki Kojiro, etc.) are able to be summoned as Assassin-class Servants, rather than Saber-class Servants.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask on my wall or in the comment section.