Topics

Improved Battle Graphics for Blizz-ABS

This is a simple idea first coined by LegacyBlade that I have decided to make into a full blown tutorial.  What we're going to do is use the features of Blizz-ABS in a way that isn't typical to create eye candy for the soul.  A lot of people like XAS simply because of the green chunk inducing Snickers Bar for the cornea, and what this tutorial is about is creating awesome graphical illusions using the mechanics of every RMXP program out there.

How are we going to accomplish this, pray tell?  Well, simply put it's going to be a combination of clever uses of the built in animation system, as well as the good common events tab, and the blizz configuration.

Getting started

Step One: setting up the methods for our animations

• First you're going to have to make a small character sheet.  What's great is you can make it 96x96 pixels, and slap in one color, any color, and just import it into your game.  Make sure that you select the color as a transparent. 
  Why do this?  We need to have the attacking character's graphic go clear whenever we attack, for that to happen we will need a blank .png file to make the character disappear.  This is needed in order to get around the Blizz-ABS battle animations (it's also a venue to add in other effects, if you're inclined).


• Second prepare your animation.  It's best to get an animation template to do this, since you'll need to know where the center of each image is.

Here is an animation template via Blizzard

You can add more rows on the vertical of this to add more frames, however the width cannot be changed.

Step Two:  How to transfer over to your battle animations

• If you want an easy route for the standard RTP, simply copy the attack templates available from LegacyBlade or other resource makers and copy them to the animation template.  Keep in mind however, that Blizz-ABS reduces the size (if you choose it) of all animations by 50%.  There's two methods to get around it.  Simply turn it off, or increase the size of your character's attack sprite to 200%.  Your character must be centered on each frame of the animation so that you avoid visual aberrations.


• Create your animation like you would any other animation.  Add in neat effects as extra frames for the animations tab to add a little extra flare.  Also, if you want, you can add in extra frames to your character animation themselves to make it appear more smothly animated.


• You will need to have seperate frames for the up facing, down facing, and side to side facing animations.  Each character or each weapon will have to 4 different animations because of this.  Keep this in mind.


• If you're inclined, because of this 50% decrease in the size of animations, you can actually add more detail into the character models during their attack animations.  It's an extra layer to the visual style, but is totally unnecessary.

The in game programming

For this to work you need to have basic knowledge of the RMXP programming language.  I'm not talking ruby here, don't worry.  But you will need to know how to use the eventing languages.

Currently this setup is for Blizz 1.99 and only a one character party.  The use of a call scripts can be made to determine which character is taking action, however I'm unsure of how to do this.

Step One: Creating the shell

• Create a common event and call it "attack" or something like that and set it to a Parallel Process.


• Inside the common event create a Conditional Branch which in this case is "A"
  
  Make sure to have "Set Handling when Conditions do not apply" unchecked.


• Underneath the conditional Branch, put a Wait 1 frames timer.


• Every time you hit "A" will now cause everything in the Conditional Branch to run.

Step Two: Determining the Character's Direction and set the Animation

• Create 4 consecutive Conditional Branches, one for each direction of the character.  It should look like this.


• Next add in a Show animation into each of the Conditional Branches.  It helps to name you animations based on what you need.  I chose to name them "sword up, sword down, etc."
  

Step Three: Set the refresh counter

• The refresh counter is to keep your animations from playing too quickly.  It's important that you match the cooldown time from the Blizz-ABS configuration and the number of frames used in the animation.  In this example it's 20 frames for the animation, which takes one second on the screen to complete.


• Create new Wait timers under the Show Animation timers and set them to one frame LESS than your animation takes to complete.  The reason is the Wait 1 Frame(s) at the end of the code.  In this example set each Wait timer to 19 frames.
  


• Now that the refresh counter is set, you can hit the "A" key as many times as you want and it will show the animation properly.

Extra Candy

This is for those of you who want extra animations for each attack.  Like a spin attack, or a jumping attack.  We'll use the code we currently have built, however it'll be modified extensively and requires a considerable effort on your part.

Step One:  Create the variable

• Create a Variable to use to determine which animation will be played.


• Just under the Conditional Branch: button A is being pressed, place a Control Variable and set it to random 1 through ...


• Keep in mind that for each different attack animation, you need to make 4 new animations.  So random 1-2 will mean you need 8 animations, random 1-3 will mean you need 12, and so on.


• Create a new Conditional Branch and have it's paramaters set it checks for the variable's number.  Make a new one for each animation.  Make sure that it's inside the Conditional Branches that check for which direction your character is facing.


• Copy the code that is in the direction facing Conditional Branch and paste it into the new Conditional Branches you have set up to determine which animation to show for that direction.  Change the animations as necessary.


• by the time you're done your common event should look something like this:
  

All in all that's it, this will give you animations for your character that will look much better than the standard Blizz-ABS animation methods can allow.

Special Thanks to:
LegacyBlade for the idea
Blizzard for the wonderful ABS he's created so far.



Additional comments:
There is a way to set this up with the upcomming party AI so that each character will have it's own unique set of animations.  However I need help to know what the call script command is to determine which character is attacking and how to play the animation on them instead of player controlled character.  Any help on how to do this would be appreciated and cited as a co-writed of this tutorial.

OK.  I know I've had extended leap of absences, and I think I at least owe you guys some explanation of why.  Simply put I got a new girlfriend and we've been spending a lot of time together.   

I'm of course happy, but I know I've slacked on a lot of requests because of it, and so I wanted to let you guys have a heads up on what's going on.  I'm going to try and finish off my current requests, especially for Blizzard because he's been more than patient with me on this.  But I'm not going to take any new requests for a while.  I want to apologize to everyone I've let down lately 

And so you know, I miss some of the convo's we've gotten going here at Chaos, and I appreciate all the help and support from everyone here.  And your understanding, which has been more than I could ever expect.

Ok, I'm trying to make a common event that will switch the backround music depending if I'm in the Blizz-ABS ABSEAL range.

"Disable ABS controls: when no  enemies are within ABSEAL range"

Basically I'm trying to set up battle music for use with Blizz-ABS.  Blizzard already mentioned that "$game_temp.in_battle" should set up the condition if the ABSEAL range is on.  So I've made the following eventing script.

@>Conditional Branch: script: $game_temp.in_battle
  @>Conditional Branch: Variable [0009]battle music == 0
      @>Memorize BGM/BGS
      @>Change Variable: [0009]battle music = 1
      @>
    :  branch end
  @>Fade out BGM: 4 sec
  @>wait 20 frames
  @>Play BGM: '005-boss01', 85, 100
  @>Label: battle
  @>Conditional Branch: script $game_temp.in_battle
      @>Wait 20 frames
      @>Jump to Label: battle
      @>
    :  Else
      @>Jump to Label: BGM
      @>
    :  Branch End
  @>
:  Else
  @>Label: BGM
  @>Fade out BGM: 4 sec
  @>wait 20 frames
  @>Restore BGM/BGS
  @>Control Variable: [0009]battle music = 0
  @>Label: BGM2
  @>Conditional Branch: script: $game_temp.in_battle
     @>
    :  Else
     @>Wait: 20 Frames
     @>Jump to Label: BGM2
    :  Branch End
  @>
 :  Branch End
@>

It works in changing the battle music however it wont reset to the memorized BGM, meaning it's probably looping somewhere I don't want it to.  I've double checked the event pathing and I just can't quite figure out what's wrong.  Also it starts playing the battle music whenever I activate an event such as teleports.

Also, in case you're wondering why I have conditionals with Jump to Labels, it's so that the music will keep playing unless the condition (in this case being in battle) are met, and then it should change.  Or vice versa.

I'm looking for anyone who can help me make attack animations for my main character's in The Last. 

The battle system is Blizz-ABS, with weapon models active.  So I'm looking for animations to fit that.  A general idea of an attack, spell cast, and defense on each character would be greatly appreciated and credited.

So far I have only 2 concepts available.


Uses Spears, Halberds, and Greatswords.  The same animation can be used to each, I'll edit them with the particular weapon models.


Uses Guns, Rifles, and Cannons.  The same animation can be used to each weapon, I'll edit those as well with the particular weapon models.


Anyway, if anyone can do this for me I'd be greatful.  I just don't have the time to work on so many models myself and I want to get the demo ready before the end of August.

Thanks, peace out.

[By Phasedscar]

By Phasedscar

The Basics

OK, many of you want to make your own sprites and icons for RPG Maker XP, and I want to show you the steps in how to accomplish this.  Since there aren't any terribly great guides out there, I'm attempting to make my own.  This will give you the basics you need in order to make you own sprite artwork.

I'm going to show you how to color, template, and image your sprites to make your very own creations!

Anyway, lets get started...

Color

Without a doubt the single most important aspect of making a sprite.  Why?  Well because without the right colors you're sprites will end up looking flat, and unimpressive, and hey, we all want a bout of "WOW!"

So lets get started.

For any sprite you want to have no more than 4 shades of a single color.  This is mainly due to crowding of shades, which dulls out detail in many sprites you will be making with RMXP.  More on that later.



Wait a minute, why are there 6 colors?  Didn't I just say 4?  Numbers 1 and 6 are what are called super highlights.  They add depth to each image, and are extremely important, but generally make up less than 10% of the image.  Super highlights are used to augment the colors you're seeing to add more detail in cramped areas.

As you can see, super highlights are used to help seperate colors and shades in order to add more detail.

Now to pick your colors.  Understanding how to pick colors is extremely important. So here's the color wheel.

This is a little more complex then I'd like, but it best illustrates what I need you to know.

Complementary Colors, these are what is extremely important, and you need to know first.  Colors opposite of eachother on the color wheel are called Complementaries, they make eachother "pop out" more.

My choice of using blonde hair was because of the heavy blue pants she is wearing.  The red further augments and brightens the blues.  I also have a slight bit of green in the image because some of tones are more violate than blue.  These are all opposite of eachother on the color wheel, and so they complement.

Anyway, so sum this all up...

• Get 4 shades of one color, then have a super dark and super light version of it for the Super Highlights


• Pick colors that tend to complement eachother.  You don't need to be terribly choosy in the process, but be in the ballbark

Making the Template

Ok, enough of that boring "picking the colors" junk, I know you want to get to the actual spriting.

Well, here's where you start.

First, and formost, know what size image you need.  For icons in RMXP you are limited to 24x24 pixels, not a lot of choice there.  However, for actor sprites you can have the ranges vary anywhere from 98x98 to 1024x1024.  All you need to remember is that spriting actors requires a format that can be divided by 4, and that whatever number you choose, it will have a 4x4 grid of tiles.  This means that even if you choose a 1024x1024, each tile of the sprite will only be 256x256 pixels.

For this I'm going to use the 24x24 pixel limit that's reserved for icons, this is mainly just to making illustrating the point easier.

To make a template use basic colors you wont be using in your image.  This is to keep from getting confused, and easily seperate the image out into what you want.


Now to apply the basic colors.  I often find it's very helpful to lay out my colors and shades on the image.  Eventually you'll want to delete them out, but at this stage it's more of a help then anything.

Anyway, now that I have colors chosen, and their shades, I applied the darkest shade to where I want it.  This helps me keep track of where and what colors to use, plus it's almost always easier to see against a bright backround.

Now that we have a template ready, lets move on to shading!

To recap:

• Know your format.  It's extremely important you're sure you have the right size for the job.  Too large and it wont appear right in your game!


• Create a false image template just to get the basic shape you want.  It's usually best to pick colors you wont be reusing anywhere in the image, however that's not really necessary.  This is the stage where you form your image.


• Choose the colors you want to use, and apply at least one shade of it to each part of your template.  This helps keep track of where you want your colors.

Shading

This is where the image will come to life, and all the details will show through.  But there's a couple of things to consider before you start.

Lighting, always have a light source.  Know which direction you want light to shine on your sprite.  Sometimes it helps to place a pixel in your image, or even use a piece of scotch tape on your monitor.  Anything to help you keep track of where your light source is.  This will help you keep a consistent feel over your image.

In general for icons you either want the light source coming from the upper left corner, or from the front.


Now for some lighting!

The best idea is to use your high shade (not the super highlight) closest to your light source, and the dark shade (your super shadow, in this case) on the farthest side.  This will make the basis for your shading, and will greatly increase the texture of your object.

Almost starting to look done, isn't it?

That's because we almost are!
Next step is called stipling, or rendering, the image.  All that means is you make the shades fade into eachother a little more.  Take your time on this phase, since it usually requires the most patience and will often make you use the ctrl+z a few times.  That's OK, this is where time matters most!



Clean up the image, removing all the extras you don't need anymore, and that's it.  Try that out in your game and see if you like it.  If not just keep editing it and you see a result you like.

And the finished product will look like this.

(I however altered the image to fit in more with my icon workshop's 1 handed sword subsection)

Recap:

• Pick a light source.


• Start rendering your image, and if needed, change your template somewhat to get the effect you want.


• Double check your work, if you like what you see and feel satisfied, then you're done!

I hope that this guide helps everyone to making their own art.  I plan to eventually release another tutorial in how to use Photoshop to further enchance your sprites.

Well, I've been working on this single image most of the night trying to come up with the sprite concept for my main character Allynia.  So far I have...

it's incomplete but that's mainly due to to the fact that I'm unsure what to do with her main weapon (which will be either a spear or polearm).  No matter what I can't seem to make it look natural with her holding a weapon in both hands.

What I kind of have so far is...


but it just doesn't feel right to me.  :-\

I want to be able to use this image as a whole for part of my weapon animation (using Blizz-ABS). As well as a neutral pose with the weapon out as a kind of "attack ready" walking animation.  Anyway, suggestions on that would be so very appreciated.

I would be greatful if anyone wouldn't mind drawing up portraitures for my characters.  I just want them for the character selection screen for my introduction so I can start moving forward with my demo. 

Between the 19th and 30th of April.  I'm just going to be out of town helping my folks build their house, so I wont be on here for a while.

I do plan, however, to come up with a slew of new icons by tomorrow night! ;D

Anyway, take care, have fun, and pleasent RPG making!

Since my scripting experience in Ruby is a little less than limited, I was hoping you could give me a few tips for:

• Removing the sub menu from Blizz-ABS


• Adding the commands to Stormtronic's CMS-Hybrid ed. from the Blizz-ABS menu


• Changing the position of either the "Character Name" or the the actor sprite so that I can use a slightly larger sprite without layering problems

I'm sure none of these are particularly difficult, but I don't want to go playing around with a working system when I'm unsure what everything will do.

I'm curious if anyone is using these games as inspiration for your own work of art?

I'm taking a lot from Secret of Mana in how I eventually want the battles to play out, as well as the overall visual style (with a lot of my own twists).

From Earthbound I want to have the goofy sense of humor, interesting NPC characters, and intersting gameplay elements.

Suikoden has by far one of the best stories for an RPG ever.  It's the first one where it had NOTHING to do with the end of the world and instead was about war, rebellion, and freedom.  I was going to use those basic elements in my own game for the main story, but I'm not going to reveal more then that for now

Wild Arms had one of most interesting premises for a game.  Set in an old west type world dealing with the invasion of demons (in this case a half man, half machine species that was far superior to the local inhabitants of Felagia) this game had one of the best character stories ever.  Dealing with what individuality is, it sets the characters in a long quest to save the slowly decaying planet.  Though the best thing about this game was it's unique character tools and puzzles.  Some were true mind twisters and I plan to incorperate something just as in depth and cerebral as the Wild Arms series has been able to bring.

BTW, 2 of these were for the old PS1 and 2 were for the SNES, in case you want to reference them.

well, here's some of them 

Spoiler: ShowHide

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Hey wait a second, I didn't draw this one!

[PHASED SCAR'S DOODADS AND ICON WORKSHOP IS NOW OPEN!]

PHASED SCAR'S DOODADS AND ICON WORKSHOP IS NOW OPEN!

My workshop is being redone in an effort to keep placing resources out there.  The rules are simple and will be explained in a minute.  So you know I wont be taking any further request simply because I don't have the time to fill them out.  I'M SORRY FOR THIS!  But I have too many other things going on in my life  

Anyway, here's how it's going to work:

Basics

Everything is going to be organized just as it was before, with links for individual saves.  I'll update the zip file now and again, and I'll hopefully have two of them, one for fantasy icons, another for sci-fi icons.  That way there's a nice broad spectrum of things to get.

I'll do my best to keep the level of detail as high as I possibly can.

What you need to know

I'm doing this in my spare time.  I'm rarely alone or not working, so time is sparing with these.  I do it for fun and so everyone can enjoy the icons I'm making.  So please, be patient.  I'll try my damndest to get things out there!

All icons are 24x24 format, which means they're for RMXP.  I'm unsure as to the icon sizes for VX since I haven't used it.

These are rather large icons, some getting as much as 128 Kbs+.  That's because of the transparencies and multitude of color used.  However they are proven to work perfectly in RMXP, just be aware that massive uses of these icons can increase the size of your game considerably.  And can cause lag in older (I'm talking 10 year old computers with 512Mbs of ram) comps.

AND FINALLY

All icons are free for your use.  PROVIDING THAT YOU GIVE CREDIT IN YOUR CREATION FOR ME.  These are all unique creations made by me, this is my intellectual property! So please be respectful and give me credit.

Have fun creating your games!

[Warg]

The world of Indavin has been slowly corrupting as a new religion has started up.  Over the last 16 years they have been slowly gaining followers, and becoming stronger.  And soon, they will wage a war the will leave the world changed forever...

Characters:

Allynia Landarus:


Allynia was born in the mountain town of Elinrue.  She was the last born of her race, and that was 48 years ago.  They have been slowly dying as time has gone on while the rest of the world remains ignorant of their existence.  To try and maintain a safe place for them, they errected a barrier to the outer world, where time cannot ravage them anymore, but the barrier is starting to weaken...

Continued Introduction Story: Allynia: ShowHide

The Council at Elinrue asks Allynia to recharge the barrier pylons.  When she ventures out, she meets a malicious man named Alburne, who destroys the last pylon, the Heart of the Stone, and the barrier collapses.  In the struggle against Alburne, Allynia is knocked unconcious, where she has a dream about the Oracle of Stones.  When she returns to Elinrue and reports, she is told by her elders that she must seek out the Oracle.

Class:
Valkyrie

Allynia specializes in spears and javelins, as well as Frost, Soul, and Shadow magic.  The Valkyrie's abilities are combat oriented though do contain some defensive abilities as well.

Allynia's spells and abilities include:

• Frostbolt:
  Deals frost damage to any target in front of the player.



• Shatter:
  Instantly deals frost damage to everything in an area.



• Soulfrost:
  Afflicts the target with the Frostbit condition, causing damage over time based on Concentration.

Screen Shot of Elinrue: ShowHide

Duran Edison:


Duran grew up in the desert wastes to the west of World Scar.  Many consider it a forsaken place, and lately so does Duran.  As a former Lawman, he has gained respect, and just in time.  His wife and daughter have grown very will, and he grows desperate to try and find a way to save them.  In search of medicines, he finds the town of Dustwind...

Continued Introduction Story: Duran: ShowHide

The physician at Dustwind cannot help Duran, but mentioned that gypsies have been through the area lately and have medicines that are usually not available.  In search of the gypsies, Duran crosses a dried canyon only to find that they also lack what he seeks.  But the gypsies tell Duran a tale about a magical woman who lives in the Arlain mountains, far to the east.  In his desperate search Duran sets out to find the Oracle of Stones.

Class:
Gunslinger

Duran knows how to use firearms.  It indeed is nearly a requirement out in the wastes, and so he's become exceedingly proficient at it.  But he has abilities that are hard for him to comprehend, and the show in the use of Fire and Earth magic.  Because he is afraid of these powers he tends to refrain from using them, but he's experienced in their deadly consiquences.

Duran's abilities include:

• Firebolt:
  Deals direct damage to a target, causing fire damage and a inflicts Burns.



• Flamewave:
  Deals fire damage to all nearby targets



• Flameheart:
  Causes Duran's FP to increase at a much faster rate for a short time, but inflicts Burns.



• Flamelash:
  Deals fire damage to any nearby and ajacent targets and inflicts Burns.



• Stone:
  Summons a small stone that inflicts minor earth damage and stuns the target for a short time.

Hammad Ab'har:

Born in the swamped areas on the South Coast, Hammad has always been used to the water and storms.  About 17 years ago when he and his father were transporting valuble cargo to the nearby town of Bellflower Hovel, they were ambushed, and the artifact was stolen.  In the event his father was wounded.  In his rage he decides to traverse into the untamed swamp in search of his of the thief...

Continued Introduction Story: Hammad: ShowHide

17 years had passed since the swamp and Hammad was still chasing the thief.  Now he has a name, Alburne.  The last known whereabouts of Alburne was heading into the Arlaine mountains, close to the World's Scar.  There he meets up with Allynia, Duran, and Ellie, and heads with them to find the Oracle, where appearently Alburne was last seen heading to.

Class:
Templar Knight

Hammad has always had a strict and religious life.  Though many outsiders do not like Templar Knights, it's mainly through misunderstanding.  They fight for truth and justice, and are considered the upkeepers of peace in the swamps.  The pray directly the Indaleace, and draw their power apon them.  Hammad was different however, and his power was more literal instead of metaphorical, and so he controls the powers of Light.

Hammad's Abilities Include:

• Healing Light:
  Heals a person at a prodigious rate.


• Frostward:
  Increases a person's resistance to Frost Magic.


• Fireward:
  Increases a person's resistance to Fire Magic.


• Strength of Mind:
  Increases FP regeneration on one person.


• Strength of Body:
  Increases a person's Strength and Physical Defense.

Ellie Làsule:

Ellie was always the top of her class in the capital city of Car'daine.  And often looked up to by her piers.  But as graduation neared and it was time to leave, something was troubling her.  More and more often she has visions of a man with a scarred hand holding a spear.  Though normally a fun and enthusiastic person, these visions disturbed her.  Little did she know that her final test at the Car'daine Abby would lead to...

Continued Introduction Story:  Ellie: ShowHide

During her trial for graduation at the Car'daine Abby, she is struck by her vision again.  Only this time it's stronger than ever.  She invisions an army of hundreds of thousands on the march.  They were misshapen and grotesque, but still vaguely human.  She sees a mountain far to the west being destroyed as the man with the scarred hand raises a spear.

Ellie knows what needs to be done, and these were no longer mere flights of fancy and an oddity in her character.  She must travel to the Arlaine mountains and speak with the Oracle.  Her vision may hold the key to saving an entire race's survival.

Class:
Seer

The Seer specializes in a combination of support and offensive magic.  The source of their power is the draw from the Indaleace themselves, and so the magic of a Seer is stronger than the average.  Though many people in the world of Indavin cannot use magic, the people of Car'daine have not lost all of their power.  Strangely enough, Seers are common there, and so they have the Car'daine Abby to teach young people in the use of these powers.

Ellie's Abilities Include:

• Empowered Staff:
  Increases FP regeneration for the entire party for a short time.


• Seed of Life:
  Heals the entire party and cleanses Venom.


• Tornado:
  Deals wind damage to everything in front of the caster.


• Lightning:
  Instantly damages one target and has a change to induce Zap.

Taldan Borus Alburne:

Little is known about Alburne, other than his rise to power 16 years ago.  The leader of the New Faith, he is often seen wielding a spear.  On occasion he has gone into seclusion and his Vice Chaplin takes charge of the Faith.  Little is known about what he does in these moments of absence...

His rise to power was swift, some believe he brainwashed his follows.  Others think it's his power of persuasion.  Either way his following has quickly grown powerful.  As the New Faith grows, the stability of the surrounding reagons is weakening.  As countries try and push the new Order from their lands, an undoubtable war will insue...

Features:

• Fast action paced combat brought to you by Blizz-ABS.


• Unique and totally custom 2D graphics.


• Completely unique story that doesn't involve the end of the world!


• Expansive world full of many side quests that can greatly increase the strength of your party.


• Custom spells and abilities that give each character a unique feeling.


• Large inventory full of many unique weapons and armors all with their own icons.

Monsters:

Warg

All about the Warg: ShowHide

Type: Beast
Location:  Arlain Mountains, Gaul Desert, Transcendence, and The Dead Wastes.
Strengths:  Massive amounts of health make them tough to kill, often outlasting their pray in combat instead of overpowering them.  Some carry viruses and diseases that make them particularly dangerous.
Weakness: It has been refuted that Wargs are weak to fire, though stories of Desert Wargs contradict the notion.  In the end not much is known about their weaknesses.
Information: 
  Wargs are corrupted wolves and foxes that live off death.  They don't bother with active hunting for food, but instead do it for sport, often leaving the carcases of their recent pray to rot.  More often then not they're caught eating carrion.

  Some Wargs are reputed to have nearly unnatural stamina.  Though not physically strong, their very endurance makes them extremely dangerous.  Some stories mention that the more ancient of the Wargs often have poisonous bites from the years of feeding on the dead.

Elk

All about the Elk: ShowHide

Type: Beast
Location: Arlain Mountains, Arlain Forest, Keeper's Grove, Assendence Glacier, and The Highlands.
Strengths: Elks are docile creatures, however when intimidated or caught in the Running Season, they become very hostile.  Often utilizing the massive antlers that crown their head.  Some even say that the Elks are linked with the Indaleace of life, O'lisha, though the impact of said link are truly unknown.
Weaknesses: Elks are a tad ungainly, and often are slow to recover from their most powerful abilities.  This means if you can weather the onslaught, the fight is already won.  Caution and smart planning tends to lead a critical element against Elks.  Also their docile nature often lets their enemies gain the advantage.
Information:
  The Elks are an ancient race of deer from the creation of the world.  And are considered the favored animal of the Goddess O'lisha.  This leads some to believe that O'lisha herself takes the form of a massive gilded Elk, though no real evidence has come to suggest this.  People often leave them alone, due to their massive size.