Chargen Examples

Sailor Moon

For our first example, we'll use Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon/Princess Serenity. She's a great choice because she has three forms that span the gamut of possibilities: her Base Mode, Usagi Tsukino, has a Henshin Rank of E, while Sailor Moon's Henshin Rank matches her Master Rank of C. Princess Serenity is Henshin Rank A, providing an example of a supercharged Henshin Mode above her Master Rank, which Usagi can only maintain for a round or two before the surcharge to her mana knocks her unconscious! (On Battle Fantasia, Usagi won't start with access to this mode, since unlocking/discovering it is a huge plot point.)

As a Master Rank C, Usagi starts the game at 180 Character Points; these points will be distributed between stats, abilities, and extra Special and Finisher attack slots within each of her Henshin Modes. If she had a Sailor Moon mode and a Sailor Moon #2 mode, both Rank C, she could spend those 180 points two different ways within each mode. (She doesn't, of course, but that example is relevant to characters with multiple combatant modes of normal, non-supercharged rank, such as Amu Hinamori's Amulet Heart, Amulet Clover and Amulet Spade; all are built on 180 Character Points at the start of the game.)

As a Master Rank C character, Usagi also receives 16 Master Trait points, to be spent on 16 points worth of Abilities that will always apply to her, no matter what Henshin Mode she's in (though they may not be super relevant to her Base, civilian, Mode). Improvisationalist, a 10 point Ability that allows her to build Free-tiered, improvised attacks mid-combat, on extra points, seems appropriate for someone who's always flailing around. We'll spend her other 6 points on Fade and Flash, two 3-point abilities that give her a little extra Mana and Morale respectively, each time she successfully Dodges. And Sailor Moon definitely dodges more than she braces, though slavish dedication to that animation sensibility of the early 1990s isn't required for every senshi out there. (It suits Sailor Moon, though, who is constantly, panickingly, iconically getting out of the way of her enemies!)

Let's have a look at the Battle Fantasia character sheet, accessed through the +sheet command (all of these pastes directly from the MU* have lost some formatting and highlighting that makes them prettier and easier to read, but them's the breaks):

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Battle Fantasia Character Sheet ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Name: Usagi Tsukino Master Rank: C ^

^ Henshin: Sailor Moon Henshin Rank: C Points: 180 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Statistics ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Might: /100 Fatigue: 100/100 ^

^ Reflex: /100 Mana: 100/100 ^

^ Vitality: /100 Morale: 0 ^

^ Spirit: /100 ^

^ Composure: /10 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Abilities ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Master Traits: Improvisationalist, Fade, and Flash ^

^ Henshin Abilities: ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Status Effects (Duration) ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ --==None==-- ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Her stats and abilities are all blank, because we haven't spent her Character Points on them yet! The sharp-eyed reader may notice that we have condensed Power and Magic, formerly the physical offensive stat and the magical offensive stat, into a single stat, Might. This is because it's very rare in the genre to sacrifice magical offense for physical; Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Thunder is no less of a bombshell despite her often effectively body-blocking people onto the concrete.

We could opt to invest more points in Abilities than Stats or vice versa; there's really no mechanical benefit or penalty to any given way to customize one's character, it is purely a choice of how to build around one's character concept. One common interpretation of a Stat-heavy character is that it is representing a great deal of raw power or potential, while Abilities represent a specialized investment in precision and skill, but that need not be the only one.

Sailor Moon is kind of a glass cannon (and this bears emphasizing in this chargen example, because she's built towards the extreme of this, in ways we cannot fully recommend for people who don't like having to rely on luck and/or getting by with a little help from their friends); she gets in over her head and needs to be saved a lot, but boy does she pack a punch when she finally gets serious. So, Might, the stat that determines the base damage of her attacks, is obviously her highest stat. After that is definitely Reflex, the stat that powers the Dodge reaction, followed, arguably, by Spirit and Vitality in that order. (Sailor Moon takes blasts from youma now and then, but a punch to the gut from a cheesed off Jadeite is brutal.) Spirit is the stat that determines the effectiveness of one's Brace against Magical attacks, while Vitality determines the effectiveness of the Brace reaction versus Physical attacks; these stats also resist debuff effects attached to either kind of attack respectively, no matter what sort of reaction a character uses.

The highest stat for a Rank C Henshin Mode is usually about 55; that's already very extreme minmaxing, any more would be to the point of near-ineffectiveness, and a 55 is still going to demand some kind of sacrifice (which, for Usagi, will wind up being a lot of her defenses). On the 0-100 stat range (which, it's helpful to remember, is a range normalized around magical girls, not ordinary people), a 55 is World Class; it's very impressive, especially for a Rank C, even though it seems low in the grand scheme. Don't be fooled by the 0-100 stat range -- 55 is huge, and Sailor Moon's Might is a force to be reckoned with.

We'll set her Reflex at 34, her Spirit at 32 and her Vitality at 30. 30-39 is the low-to-average stat range for a Rank C (and the typical maximum for a Rank D), and is on par with supernatural training; there might be a couple hundred 'regular' people in all of greater Tokyo (millions and millions of people!) with a stat in this range, such as champion boxers or kendo masters, and even then they almost certainly have some mystical techniques incorporated into their regimen.

Composure, the stat that determines the extent one keeps one's cool in battle, isn't bought with Character Points; we can set it to whatever is appropriate to a character's personality, on the 0-10 range. (The overall effect of the various mechanical benefits and drawbacks to Composure balance out at all parts of its spectrum.) Usagi is Battle Fantasia's definition of Composure 0 -- she freaks out constantly at the slightest thing, and is very susceptible to head games and so forth -- so that one's easy.

In Abilities, much like stats, Sailor Moon is an offensive specialist; specifically, she's a specialist in Magical Ranged attacks -- her moondusting lovebeams. So, we'll give her Beam Battler, a 12-point ability which gives her a damage bonus to her Ranged attacks, and Massive Blasts, a 12-point ability which gives her a damage bonus to her Magical attacks.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Battle Fantasia Character Sheet ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Name: Usagi Tsukino Master Rank: C ^

^ Henshin: Sailor Moon Henshin Rank: C Points: 180 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Statistics ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Might: 55/100 Fatigue: 100/100 ^

^ Reflex: 34/100 Mana: 100/100 ^

^ Vitality: 30/100 Morale: 0 ^

^ Spirit: 32/100 ^

^ Composure: 0/10 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Abilities ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Master Traits: Improvisationalist, Fade, and Flash ^

^ Henshin Abilities: Beam Battler and Massive Blasts ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Status Effects (Duration) ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ --==None==-- ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So far we've spent 55+34+32+30+12+12 Character Points -- 151 points in stats and 24 points in abilities for 175 in total. We have 5 points left, so we'll spend it on an extra Special or Finishing attack slot (either costs 5 points apiece). Every Henshin Mode starts with 2 Finisher slots and 3 Specials; we'll give Sailor Moon a 4th Special. (Our recommended Character Point distribution for a starting Rank C Henshin Mode is 150 points in stats, 20 points in abilities, and 10 points in two extra attack slots; Sailor Moon's minmaxing Might is simultaneously making her Dodge and Brace relatively weak (though Dodge is her best), and costing her attack versatility.) No character is required to spend Character Points on extra attack slots (those with a large canonical list of named attacks can opt to represent as many as they like with on-the-fly Free attacks), but the first several are generally an excellent investment; versatility is powerful, and Free attacks are somewhat limited in that versatility (see below). Now, let's build Sailor Moon's attacks!

As the first order of business we'll review the attributes that compose an attack. They have a name (obviously), but also:

Attack Tier - There are three tiers of attacks: Free, Special, and Finisher attacks. Free attacks, which can be set during or between combats to represent improvisation or attacks a player didn't feel like investing permanent Character Points on an attack slot for, are limited in their maximum Power Level of 3, can only have one Flag, and the available Flags are very limited; Special attacks, which can have any (legal) combination of Flags and a maximum Power Level of 5; and Finisher attacks, which are very powerful, but unlike Frees and Specials that are usable at any time, require one of a few situations to be usable at all -- one of which is, hopefully, having an opponent weakened enough to be finished off by the Finisher, since otherwise they get to try to Finish you right back!

Attack Power Level - Ranges from 0 (no damage, cannot be used as a Counterattack) to 10 (world-shakingly apocalyptic, and generally only set on end-series antagonists); a PL 3 attack is equivalent to dropping a building on someone's head. Damage, and mana cost, scale with Power Level. Finisher attacks get a major mana discount. PL used to range from 0-15, but there was insufficient variation between Power Levels to make the distinctions feel fun and exciting.

Attack Type - Magical or Physical. This matters for various Abilities, and determines the stat used by the Brace reaction.

Attack Range - Melee or Ranged. This matters for various Abilities, and the Counter reaction; normally, a character can only Counter a Ranged attack with a Ranged attack, and a Melee with a Melee.

Attack Flags - These flags do any number of things to permanently modify the behavior of an attack, from causing it to be harder to Dodge to giving the attacker extra Morale if it succeeds. Most flags make an attack cost extra mana.

Like character sheets themselves, attacks are built on points; specifically, on Attack Points. The number of Attack Points a character can build their attacks on, in all forms, increases with their Master Rank; at Master Rank C, Usagi's Free attacks are built on 4.5 points, her Specials are built on 8 and her Finisher are built on 11.5. With the Improvisationalist Ability (one of her Master Traits), she gets to build her Free attacks on 5.5 points instead. Attack Points are divided between Power Level (on a 1:1 basis; Power Level is nonlinear in both damage done and mana cost, but in a proportional way) and buying Flags. It isn’t required to build an attack on its maximum Attack Points, but it’s generally easy to do for Specials and Finishers. Frees routinely run under cost.

Sailor Moon has four Special slots available (because we spent 5 Character Points on an extra slot). We'll spend them on Sailor Moon Kick, Supersonic Screaming, In The Name Of The Moon, I Will Punish You!, and Moon Twilight Flash.

Sailor Moon Kick is obviously a Physical Melee attack; not exactly her specialty, but good against opponents with a high Spirit, or as a counterattack against meleeists. We'll make it Power Level 1, typical for basic punches and blasts for magical girls (which is to say, vastly powerful, as compared to an ordinary person's punch or even a blast from the setting's average, non-magical-girl-empowered mage; PL 1 attacks are far from weak, and are indeed the meat and drink of the combat system). That leaves us 7 points to spend on Flags, and since this is a Special, we can have as many Flags as we want. We'll give Sailor Moon Kick the Overpower flag for 2 Attack Points, which makes it especially effective both as a Counter and when it's Counterattacked against; the Stun debuff for another 2 Attack Points, which has a chance of being resisted with an opponent's Vitality stat (because this is a Physical-type attack) but, if it sticks, will greatly punish their Brace reaction for the next two rounds; the Psych flag costs another 2 Attack Points, and gives her extra Morale if she succeeds in her attack; and, finally, we'll put the last point into two applications of the Rush flag (represented inside the system as Rush2), which gives the attack a Speed of +2, essentially sacrificing a bit of its base damage for a higher critical chance. Considering that the attack has Stun on it, we know where on the body her crits must be going...

By viewing her attacks with +attacks, Sailor Moon now sees:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Attacks ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Sailor Moon Kick | Special | PL: 1 | Physical Melee | Speed +2 ^

^ Flags: Overpower, Stun, Psych, and Rush2 | Mana 12 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Freeattack Attack Points: 7.5 ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Supersonic Screaming is a bit embarrassing, but when Sailor Moon gets really frightened or upset, the little red balls in her meatball buns resonate with her cries, creating an excruciatingly painful noise. It's Magical Ranged, and we'll make it Power Level 2, roughly equivalent to being clobbered with a dumpster (by a super-strong magical girl). That's right, listening to Sailor Moon cry is like getting beaten with a giant metal object, in terms of its effects on your Fatigue (and, possibly, your patience).

That leaves us 6 points for Flags; the Area flag, which allows it to affect up to three enemies at once, takes up 4 of those points immediately. We'll put 1.5 of the remaining points into the Exhausted debuff (now resisted by Spirit, since this is a Magical attack), which moderately lowers a character's base damage for three rounds, and the last 0.5 points in one application of Efficient (like Rush, this flag scales from Efficient1 to Efficient5 at 0.5 points a pop), which slightly lowers the total mana cost of the attack. It's not like she's really investing energy in doing damage, here! It's just so overwhelming, she needs to cry... T_T

Sailor Moon's next Special Attack is probably one she opens with a lot: In The Name Of The Moon, I Will Punish You! Her righteous speechifying takes her opponents off guard, and might depress or enrage them, depending on their moral proclivities. We'll call it Magical Ranged; the very words of an inflamed magical girl can have power.

We'll make this attack a damageless Power Level 0, but a verbal attack could, hypothetically, be higher and damage Fatigue directly (exhausting to listen to, much like her cries). That gives us all 8 points to spend on Flags, and 4 of them go, immediately, to the Taunt flag (which is resisted, not by Vitality or Spirit, but by Composure; if it succeeds, it will greatly decrease an opponent's morale over three rounds, but can be removed -- and replaced -- by an application of Cheer). Another 1.5 are spent on Diversion, a debuff (resisted by Spirit, since this is a Magical attack) that moderately lowers an opponent's critical chance for three rounds; still another 2 points for Cripple, the more-Attack-Point-expensive, two round version of the Exhausted debuff to base damage that we put on Supersonic Screaming (and, yes, they can stack); and finally the last 0.5 points go to Efficient1 again. PL 0 attacks actually start their mana cost at -15, and the Efficient flag cannot reduce mana cost below 0, but with all of these status effects, it can, at least, bring the cost back down to zero.

Moon Twilight Flash has appeared in both the Sailor Moon manga and the live-action show; in both media, it is a strong blast of holy moonlight energy that is especially damaging to powers of darkness. Sailor Moon could pose it as emanating from her tiara (as in the manga) or from her Moon Rod, once she gets one (as in the live-action show); we're hardly going to police how she wants to pose it.

It's obviously Magical Ranged; we'll clock it in at Power Level 4, a powerful Special (and also the lowest Power Level that a Finisher-tier attack can be set to, though that isn't relevant here). That leaves us four Attack Points to spend on Flags, and we'll invest two of them in Purify (which causes the attack to do extra damage against Powers of Darkness, but no extra damage against everyone else), and 2 of them in Defense Breaking (which moderately punishes both the Brace and Counter reactions, while making Moon Twilight Flash moderately more effective as a (very expensive) Counterattack).

So now Sailor Moon's +attacks displays:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Attacks ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ In The Name Of The Moon, I | Special | PL: 0 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Taunt, Cripple, Diversion, and Efficient1 | Mana 0 ^

^ Moon Twilight Flash | Special | PL: 4 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Defense Breaking and Purify | Mana 32 ^

^ Sailor Moon Kick | Special | PL: 1 | Physical Melee | Speed +2 ^

^ Flags: Overpower, Stun, Psych, and Rush2 | Mana 12 ^

^ Supersonic Screaming | Special | PL: 2 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Area, Exhausted, and Efficient1 | Mana 16 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Freeattack Attack Points: 7.5 ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Although Special-tier attacks can range between PL 0 and 5, this is not an atypical setup, though its average PL is only 1.75; most pre-Finisher attacks will usually range between PL 0 and 3. Using a PL 4 or 5 Special is a major investment of mana, for a very significant, high-damage attack (such as, say, Nanoha Takamachi's basic Divine Buster, which is a PL 5 Special). Sailor Moon will often supplement her damage with PL 0-3 Free attacks rather than taking the gamble that she can spend a third of her mana bar on Moon Twilight Flash, and still have enough mana later for her Finisher.

Sailor Moon also has two Finisher attack slots available. We'll use them for Moon Tiara Action and Sailor Planet Attack.

Moon Tiara Action, in which Sailor Moon takes off her tiara and chucks it at a baddie -- it converts into a disc of holy energy mid-flight -- is a pretty basic Finisher, and will actually get downgraded to a Special in reasonably short order, should Sailor Moon so choose to 'retire' it. Still, for now, it's her only individual Finisher (as we'll shortly see), so we'll make it more powerful than the strongest Special: a PL 6 attack. This is reasonably powerful for a Finisher, but nothing special, and changing it to a PL 5 when it becomes a Special won't make an enormous difference to anything but its mana cost (which will skyrocket; Finishers get a significant discount) and when it can be used. As a reminder, Finisher attacks can only be used either:

1) Once a character's Morale is equal to or greater/less than their Morale Threshold in either direction from 0; the extremity of a Finisher's Morale Threshold increases with Power Level. Moon Tiara Action, as a PL 6, has a Morale Threshold of 70; Sailor Moon needs either 70+ Morale, or equal to or less than -70 Morale, to use it.

UNLESS

2) She survives someone else's Finisher, after which she still has more than 0 Fatigue and Mana and greater than -100 Morale, in which case as long as she's got the mana to spend, she can make her next attack a Finisher irrespective of her current Morale. Such a Finisher is occasionally called a Survival Finisher. This is only a one-round deal, and one cannot fire Finishers in two consecutive rounds, thus preventing infinite Survival Finisher attack loops. (For duels that fail to end after a Finisher has been used on either side (or in scenes where people are tired and ready to stop), we recommend the optional +check command (which requires consent from all combatants), which compares Fatigue and Mana across both fighters (or teams, weighted appropriately by size), and declares a winner -- not unlike determining, after two samurai have flashed past each other in a katana duel, and are just standing there, which one suddenly topples over.)

Either way, after she uses a Finisher, Sailor Moon’s Morale will always be reset to 0.

As a Rank C Finisher, Moon Tiara Action is built on 11.5 Attack Points; we've spent 6 on Power Level, leaving us 5.5 for Flags. This Finisher is demonstrably a Banish-flagged attack (3 points), which does much more damage against Powers of Darkness but /no/ damage against combatants who aren't fundamentally composed of, or infected by, dark powers. For Sailor Moon, this allows her to banish monsters out of ordinary people without having to worry about hurting the latter. We'll spend 2 more points on Homing (which heavily punishes the Dodge reaction; Sailor Moon can fairly tightly control her flung tiara-energy-frisbee, and even stop it in mid-air and cause it to return to her) and the last 0.5 on one application of Charge (the inverse of Rush, giving the attack a Speed of -1 and moderately higher base damage at the expense of critical chance).

Sailor Moon's other Finisher, Sailor Planet Attack, is something special: it has the TEAM:3 flag, which costs 0 Attack Points but can only be used in combination (using the +combo commands) with at least two other characters who have the Sailor Planet Attack Finisher on their own +sheet. In the anime, it's more typically performed by all four Inner Senshi, or five with Sailor Moon, or ten with the whole set of two teams later on, but we'll take pity on the senshi here due to the vagaries of MUSH scenes and player attendance; if they really wanted a TEAM:4, TEAM:5 or even TEAM:10 version, they could buy it instead (though they'd have to choose, collectively, which version they want). The TEAM flag allows an attack to be built on progressively more Attack Points, based on the minimum number of characters required to activate it. A TEAM:3 Rank C Finisher is built on a whopping 16 points; it's already hugely powerful! (Note that if a TEAM attack is built across characters of varying Master Rank, each version can be built on more or less points, accordingly, though they’re all required to be the same Tier. They can still all be used together.)

It's a ridiculously giant blast of energy, so it's also Magical Ranged, though ridiculously giant blasts of energy that are only ever fired at point blank can be statted as Magical Melee, if necessary.

8 of those 16 points go into Power Level; a PL 8 Finisher is considered extremely powerful by magical girl standards, and comes with a Morale Threshold of 80 (which means that in order to activate Sailor Planet Attack, at least three senshi will have to simultaneously have 80+ (or -80 minus) Morale, or all have survived a Finisher inside the same combat round, or any combination of this). Obviously, this attack isn't going to come out to play very often, but when it does, the results will be spectacular.

The other 8 points go into Flags; senshi attacks tend to be holy so, like Moon Twilight Flash, we'll give it Purify (2 points) but not a full-on Banish, making it usable against anyone but especially effective against the majority of their most contentious foes. Of course, they'll want to be careful about using it when there are civilians around, or if someone is merely possessed! Another 4 points go into Area. An Area Finisher is potentially very dangerous in a bad way for the senshi, since it has more chances to fail to finish someone off and thus trigger a Survival Finisher from an enemy, but they don't /have/ to use it against multiple targets, and once in a while, it's just the ticket against a pile of sufficiently weakened foes. We'll put 2 more points into the Penetrating flag, which heavily punishes the Brace reaction; you can get out of Sailor Planet Attack's way (or try to Counter it, although Countering Combo attacks is extremely ill-advised), but trying to just roll with it is unlikely to succeed.

Sailor Moon's attack list now looks like:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Attacks ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^ Moon Tiara Action | Finisher | PL: 6 | Magical Ranged | Speed -1 ^

^ Flags: Banish, Charge1, and Homing | Mana 39 ^

^ Sailor Planet Attack | Finisher | PL: 8 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: TEAM:3, Purify, Area, and Penetrating | Mana 55 ^

^ In The Name Of The Moon, I | Special | PL: 0 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Taunt, Cripple, Diversion, and Efficient1 | Mana 0 ^

^ Moon Twilight Flash | Special | PL: 4 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Defense Breaking and Purify | Mana 32 ^

^ Sailor Moon Kick | Special | PL: 1 | Physical Melee | Speed +2 ^

^ Flags: Overpower, Stun, Psych, and Rush2 | Mana 12 ^

^ Supersonic Screaming | Special | PL: 2 | Magical Ranged | Speed 0 ^

^ Flags: Area, Exhausted, and Efficient1 | Mana 16 ^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(( Freeattack Attack Points: 7.5 ))^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Right now, the +attacks display is sorted alphabetically, within a sort by attack Tier; one could also opt to sort by Power Level, Type, Range, or Mana Cost with the +attacks/sort command.

Usagi has two more forms to build, but we'll only go over the broad strokes, to make a few points about the rules of chargen.

If Usagi had a Rank D Henshin Mode, which she does not, it could be built on the maximum of 179 points (rather than Rank D's starting point value, 130 Character Points), since Usagi normally has 180 Character Points to spend. There's generally no reason to have a Rank D or greater mode lower than one's Master Rank, but it can happen for thematic reasons.

Base Modes are built on special rules. Her Base Mode, Usagi Tsukino, is Henshin Rank E, and is built on 80 points (though it can rise from 80 to the Rank E max of 129 points, over the course of a character's growth through the Master Ranks); her attacks in this Mode are still built on 7.5 points for Free (with the Improvisationalist Ability) attacks. Rank E forms don't normally get access to Specials or Finishers, though a character can spend 10 Master Trait Points on Signature Attack, which gives her an extra Special slot (built on 8 points, while she's Master Rank C) in any form, including her civilian one. A classy example of a Signature Attack is Rei Hino's 'Evil, Begone!' banishment with ofuda scrolls; she can use it even when she isn't Sailor Mars, just an 'ordinary' shrine maiden, though it’s backed by less impressive stats and abilities when she does.

Usagi's supercharged Rank S Princess Serenity form is built on an incredible 370 Character Points, the beginning of Rank A -- but, as Usagi gains more Character Points through regular advancement, any of her forms ranked above her Master Rank (which is currently Rank C) do not advance. The Princess Serenity form won't become more powerful until Usagi is herself Rank A... which won't happen for many years indeed. On the other hand, Princess Serenity's attacks, currently also built on a Master Rank C's 7.5/8/11.5 points, will improve along with Usagi's Master Rank. Still, once she's amassed 371+ Character Points, she can also start buying up those already crazy stats and Abilities (or add more attack slots). And as she increases in Master Rank, her once-a-round mana surcharge for maintaining a Henshin Mode higher than her Master Rank will decrease as the gap narrows. At Rank C, Usagi pays a massive 30 Mana every single round that she's in her Princess Serenity mode; she'll generally be unconscious in one or two rounds, depending on how much Mana she spends on her attacks. (Attacks that target or drain Mana directly, using the Mana Attack or Energy Drain Flags respectively, are a great tactic against someone in a supercharged Henshin Mode.)

As Sailor Moon gradually gains more Character Points through advancement, her 180-point Sailor Moon form will gradually improve as well. When she hits Master Rank B, her Sailor Moon form will become Henshin Rank B. At some point, she’ll be supercharging the Super Sailor Moon Rank A form, until she herself is Master Rank A and it becomes her normal form; Eternal Sailor Moon is Rank S. It's possible that her Princess Serenity/Neo-Queen Serenity form will get a boost to Rank S as well along the way over the course of the growth of her heart!

Pointbuy System Rank Templates

Typical Statline, beginning of Rank D:

• 30 Might, 30 Reflex, 35 Vitality, 25 Spirit
• 10 points in henshin abilities
• (16 free points in Master Traits)

Total = 130 character points + 16 master trait points

Typical Statline, beginning of Rank C:

• 45 Might, 35 Reflex, 30 Vitality, 40 Spirit = 150 points in stats
• 20 points in henshin abilities
• (16 free points in Master Traits)
• 2 extra attack slots at 5 points apiece

Total = 180 character points + 16 master trait points

Typical Statline, beginning of Rank B:

• 65 Might, 55 Reflex, 40 Vit, 50 Spirit = 210 points in stats
• 40 points in abilities
• (20 free points in Master Traits)
• 3 extra attack slots at 5 points apiece

Total = 265 character points + 20 master trait points

Typical Statline, beginning of Rank A:

• 85 Might, 75 Reflex, 55 Vit, 70 Spirit = 285 points in stats
• 60 points in abilities
• (25 free points in Master Traits)
• 5 extra attack slots at 5 points apiece

Total = 370 character points + 25 master trait points

Typical Statline, beginning of Rank S:

• 95 Might, 85 Reflex, 65 Vit, 80 Spirit = 325 points in stats
• 100 points in abilities
• (30 free points in Master Traits)
• 7 extra attack slots at 5 points apiece

Total = 460 character points + 30 master trait points

For more examples, please see: Examples

For more information, please see: Chargen