Statement by Characters?

[Aparajita]

In a verse, how reliable is a statement of character? Would it be considered for an upgrade if it

1: Is apparent in the primary source of canon.

2: Does not contridict any stated feats or calculations.

3: Isn't an Outlier, PIS, etc.

4: Or isn't boasting?


I'm trying to get an understanding of if character statements can be calculated and in turn used for upgrades?

 

[Angry_Dummy]

From what I've seen so far, the answer depends on the person saying it.

Let's make a hypothetical example.

"The Green Knight is stated in-universe to be invincible. So far, he has taken every single attack thrown at him on the chin and either picked himself off the ground or absolutely tanked it, coming out completely unharmed either way. However, he lives in a low fantasy setting. Is he truly invincible?"

Option 1: The person who made the claim was, say, a squire who was telling the heroes about how he slew his master. We would consider this source hyperbole and an example of the Hasty Generalization fallacy (which, for the record, is the father of the No-Limits fallacy). He saw him break a lance on his forehead and deemed him indestructible.

Option 2: The person is an educated wizard who has been researching this character and experimenting on him with his most destructive magic. In this case, the source is more reliable, but still not completely believable. He is stated to be invincible. In truth, he is only invincible in comparison to whatever this wizard could dish out. A low fantasy "indestructible" is our city-block level.

Option 3: A 2-C or higher deity says the Green Knight is indestructible. If someone with infinite power and the ability to tear this person's reality apart says they can't kill this character, there's an indestructible. At least against all conventional forms of damage. He might be defeated by a polymorph spell or something else that ruins durability.


A character CAN be upgraded by word of mouth alone. You just have to double check to see how much and if the source is reliable.

Still, "Show, Don't Tell."

 

[Antvasima]

Angry Dummy made a pretty good summary of how this tends to work.

 

[CrossverseCrisis]

Yeah, i agree. What Dummy said is how this works.

 

[Squid_peanut]

should we make angry dummy's statement an official page on the matter? (with his concent of course)

 

[Yamatohime]

Well, if person claiming something can't tell lies... Even then it's possible that the said person is wrong.

 

[Angry_Dummy]

should we make angry dummy's statement an official page on the matter? (with his concent of course)

My Sunday morning.


"I wonder if anything fun is going on at VS Wiki. I want to spend my Sunday in a fun, carefree manner before I have to go back to school tomorrow. Let's see... wait, OFFICIAL!?!?"

Yeah! Sure!

All I really did was explain the No-Limits fallacy (or, rather, the Hasty Generalization fallacy, which covers NL as a Wiki-made sub-fallacy) as I learned it from other forums and whatnot, but yes, if you think that my half-hour's worth of careful writing is useful, go ight ahead and put it up on the wall!

Shucks, and I thought I was just some hanger-on who tried to play with the "Big Kids" because he didn't even know Geometry... You folks are making me blush...

 

[Squid_peanut]

My Sunday morning.


"I wonder if anything fun is going on at VS Wiki. I want to spend my Sunday in a fun, carefree manner before I have to go back to school tomorrow. Let's see... wait, OFFICIAL!?!?"

Yeah! Sure!

All I really did was explain the No-Limits fallacy (or, rather, the Hasty Generalization fallacy, which covers NL as a Wiki-made sub-fallacy) as I learned it from other forums and whatnot, but yes, if you think that my half-hour's worth of careful writing is useful, go ight ahead and put it up on the wall!

Shucks, and I thought I was just some hanger-on who tried to play with the "Big Kids" because he didn't even know Geometry... You folks are making me blush...

well, I'm just a wiki peasent but the stuff you're saying effectively explains an issue that is hard to explain usually, if we just had this knowledge as accessable info, it would help new and old users get a grip of this idea.

 

[Angry_Dummy]

Aww, thanks man! I'm so happy my odd quirks were useful here.

All that time I've spent learning things in broad, creative strokes and rehearsing my thoughts aloud when I'm alone to sound better finally paid off!

 

[Angry_Dummy]

...Now I'm wondering if this was actually written down officially and where.

Someone's claiming I'm making an NL fallacy on another subject, and I need to show them how it works.

And then maybe be an insufferable braggart about how I wrote it.

 

[Antvasima]

I don't think that we ever did that. Sorry. There are lots of different matters to constantly take care of.

 

[Antvasima]

I have asked Lord Kavpeny about it however.

 

[Antvasima]

I have now created an initial version of a Character Statements page, based on the above post. It will likely be modified and expanded later though.