Glossary

This is a list of much of the jargon, names, terminology, etc. of Epic.

A

Actions

These are what you can do during your turn in battle. On a standard turn, you have three actions with which to do things such as attack, heal, or use items.

Affection

See article: Affection
A character's feelings towards or opinion of other characters or NPCs. It is the basis to Speechcraft and Charisma and grants bonuses depending on its level of 1 to 7.

Affinity

See article: Affinity
A character's natural element to which they are most attuned. This is partly determined by personality traits and behavior, and it partially affects their chemistry with other characters in battle, dependent upon affinity.

Alignment

See article: Alignment
Where a character falls on the scale of good & evil. Their behavior depends largely upon this, and it can also sometimes affect how much damage they take or deal against a given character.

AP

Action Points (AP) governed how many things you could do per round. At base, you were granted 100 per round for techniques and reactions. AP was removed in Epic v5.

Arc

See Story Arc.

Ascension

See article: Awakening
The higher form of an Awakening, an Ascension is often only activated in more desperate circumstances. It costs a Keystone to use, but increases the bonuses from an Awakening greatly.

Awakening

See article: Awakening
A transformation that temporarily increases a character's power. These vary in effect and can have any of a number of bonuses and penalties.

B

Battle Stats

The six stats that are used in battle. They consist of HP, SP, ATK, ACC, DEF and SPD.

HP: Hit Points, or HP, are essentially your life. If they're lowered to 0, you're knocked out of the battle. If they're lowered to a certain percentage below 0, the base being 15%, you are killed. Fortunately, Hit Points increase by a fairly large sum per level.
SP: Stamina Points, or SP, are your character's ability to use special techniques. If they're lowered to 0, you're not knocked out of the battle, but you can no longer use techniques that require the use of SP. In this case, you're limited to the use of Universal Techniques and some types of reaction techniques.
ATK: Attack (ATK) governs the strength of your attacks. The higher your Attack, the better the damage you'll be able to deal. When attacking, Attack and Defense are compared and, if your Attack is higher, you gain an Attack Bonus.
ACC: Accuracy (ACC) is your ability to effectively aim your attacks. When attacking, your Accuracy is compared with your opponent's Speed. If your Accuracy is higher, than their Speed, not only can they not dodge your attacks, you you also have a chance of Vital Hit.
DEF: Defense (DEF) is how well your character can resist damage. With low Defense, you'll have a harder time taking damage, and the reverse holds true for high Defense. When attacked, Defense and Attack are compared and, if your Defense is higher, you gain a Defense Bonus.
SPD: Speed (SPD) is how quickly you can move or react. Speed not only governs your ability to dodge, but also when your turn takes place in battle. If you have the highest Speed, your turn takes place first, and the next highest Speed gets their turn next, in descending order to the lowest Speed. When attacked, your Speed is compared with your opponent's Accuracy and, if your Speed is higher, you'll have a chance of dodging their attacks.

Build

Builds are the style your stats are set up as. The basic version are Mono-Stat Builds, focusing on one particular stat, while keeping the other three generally low-but-decent. The opposite are Tri-Builds, which have three moderately high stats, and one very low stat. The main type tends to be Dual-Stat Builds, with a focus on two stats, keeping the other two low.

Types of Builds:

Assassin (ATK/ACC): This build focuses on Attack and Accuracy. Their attacks are very powerful as well as accurate, but they are often slow and weak to direct attacks. Assassins excel in combat against Speedsters and Berserkers, but high-Attack builds often give them trouble. Their ability to deal high damage as quickly as possible, especially with ATK boosted Vital Hits, but lack of ability to take damage makes them one of the more complicated builds.
Berserker (ATK/SPD): This build focuses on Attack and Speed. They deal heavy damage and are proficient in evading attacks, but when they are hit, they usually don't take it very well, and the accuracy of their attacks is generally sacrificed. They excel against Tanks, but Assassins and Speedsters tend to be a problem.
Joker: This build focuses evenly on the four Combat Scores, having equal amounts of Attack, Accuracy, Defense, and Speed and putting the same into each per level. Their name comes from a general weakness at low levels, called a "joke" by those they fight. At higher levels, though, they truly shine, showing no overall strengths in statistics but capitalizing upon the weaknesses of their foes and using a wide variety of techniques. Jokers are by far the most difficult stat build to play and are recommended only for advanced players.
Juggernaut (DEF/SPD): This build focuses on Defense and Speed. They evade attacks and, even when they are hit, they can take damage to a large extent. Their greatest weakness generally lies in low power and an inability to land attacks, and they usually try to outlast their opponents with high endurance.
Sage: Sages are basically for pansies. They focus on HP and SP, usually having some degree of Speed or Defense as well. Sages typically have a host of regeneration effects, functioning solely on the basis of outlasting their opponents until they essentially have to give up.
Speedster (ACC/SPD): This build focuses on Accuracy and Speed. While they can dodge attacks and connect with attacks, their own attacks aren't very powerful and they don't exactly take damage effectively either. Speedsters are particularly annoying for Tanks and Berserkers, but against an Assassin a Speedster is usually at a disadvantage.
Support (DEF/ACC): This build focuses on Defense and Accuracy. They can take damage well and their attacks are difficult to dodge, but they often sacrifice Attack power for strength in other areas. Usually, Support characters focus on healing and augmenting, which is where they get their name. This doesn't mean they're useless in solo battles, though.
Tank (ATK/DEF): This build focuses on Attack and Defense. Tanks excel in both dealing heavy damage and soaking up damage when attacked. They usually have high HP as well, making them extremely annoying to take down. The major drawback with most Tanks is that they have pitiful Accuracy and Speed. Generally Speedsters are a major problem for Tanks, as they have a difficult time landing blows.

C

Class

Classes are similar to guilds, though they are far less organized and often more varied, usually divided into three trees from which any number of abilities can be taken, raised to varying levels of efficiency, and combined for a variety of effects. Classes also gain techniques not unlike Guilds and their techniques are equally powerful.

Consumables

Items such as Potions, which a character ingests (or rather, consumes) for an effect.

Credits

See article: Credits
Credits are Epic's form of currency. They can be gained through a variety of means, such as questing, Free RPs, selling items, and sparring.

Critical HP

A character is considered to be at critical HP when they're below 20% of their maximum HP. When in this state, various elements or traits will come into effect, such as the Desperation Boost technique element.

D

Death

See article: Death
"People die when they are killed."

Death occurs, obviously, when your character is killed. If you take enough damage in battle, the base for this being 15% of your character's max HP below 0, you'll die. You can also be killed in certain instances regardless of stats, though this generally happens only in Quests and there is usually a percentage of it happening. There are cases in which you can be killed instantly in a Quest or RP, however, at the GM's discretion.

Deathmatch

See article: Deathmatches
A stat battle generally involving two player characters. This can be over an extreme difference in opinions, revenge, or what have you, as long as there's some just cause. The loser of a deathmatch is killed invariably, regardless of stat effects that might exist to the contrary.

Dice Rape

See article: Dice Rape
This occurs when you receive the worst possible rolls at the worst possible time. Dice rape will happen to you early, and it will happen to you often. Its most common time of occurrence is in important boss or tournament battles, or when attempting a Skill roll. It is even possible for this to happen to the GM. No one is immune to the fury of the dice.

Difficulty Level (DL)

See article: Difficulty Level
In some actions with Skills, your roll will have a Difficulty Level (DL) attached to it, usually determined by a GM or Ref. Basically, on a scale of 0-10, it's a measure of how hard it is to perform that skill in that instance. For every DL on the attempt, you take a -10 penalty to your roll.

Disparatus

See article: Disparatus
One of two major planets Epic takes place in. Contains Dragonoa, Alibaas, Handora, Ostfold, the Arenan Alliance, Svaldon, and the United Provinces.

Double KO

A rare occurance in battle, usually a one-on-one fight, where the last two combatants KO each other at essentially the same time. In this case, it's considered to be a loss for both sides.

Dueling

Dueling is a state where a character is wielding only a single one-handed weapon. Normally this does nothing on its own. However, there are four Dueling Universal Passives (one for each tier) which grant new, powerful abilities when Dueling as a tradeoff for the lower number of overall weapon points than would be earned from dual-wielding or using a two-handed weapon.

E

Earth

See article: Earth
One of two major planets Epic takes place in, Earth is little like the Earth we know. In fact, Disparatus is closer to the real Earth than this is. Contains Banivia, Alfheim, Teratonia, Alba, Chanvierre, Ellenikos, Ibadia, Druzhiyova, Eisenstaat, Eluvina, and Jostingaard. Significantly less technologically advanced than Disparatus.

Element

Elements are special items that are added to Techniques and Ascensions to give them a variety of unique effects. Every element has a certain point cost, labeled as either a cost or a kickback; costs are positive effects that give your character bonuses and enhance their abilities while kickbacks are penalties added to transformation that have negative point costs and allow you to exceed the normal limit for a Technique or Ascension's points.

Experience

Also abbreviated EXP or XP, Experience are points your character uses to increase their level. EXP is gained through Free RPs, AIM Quests, and Board Quests.

G

GM

A GM (please, don't say Game Master) is anyone holding an RP or Quest. Basically, as long as this Quest or RP goes on, they're in charge. They decide what happens, for good or ill, and if they say it'd be wise to avoid doing something or recommend a course of action, it's generally for the best. Most often, the GM is more of an overseer than a controlling force and let the payers make their own decisions over the course of the RP.

GNSP

GNSP, or Good night, sweet prince, is a term used for deletion or removal of something that garners almost unanimous disapproval from either the staff or the entire player base. This has been most often used to refer to the removal of the Orichalcum item from the game, though it has also been used with regards to the removal of the Synthesis technique element and the banning of Justin.

Guild

Guilds are special groups you can join that allow you to gain special techniques and passives that are more powerful than those you can otherwise gain. There is virtually no limit to what can be done with guild techniques and passives, as long as they're kept within reason and balanced out. Guilds occasionally have plot relevance to Epic and their NPC members sometimes make canon appearances in sagas.

H

HP

Health Points (HP) govern your character's endurance in battle. In most cases, if your character's HP hits 0, you're knocked out, though the number can be reduced to a value below 0 with certain items or passives. If your HP falls to a certain point below 0, you're automatically killed.

I

Items

Items are, well, items. They consist of things like Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Consumables, even things like Traps. On certain things like Weapons, Armor, and Accessories, there are limits as to how many can be carried or equipped at one time.

J

Jared's Law

Sometimes, a door is there that cannot be opened, regardless of your Security and Strength Skills. As the amount of doors in a given quest increases, the likelihood of finding an unopenable door or safe increases directly proportionally. Should one of these unopenable locks be encountered, the best thing to do is move on and pretend you saw nothing.

K

Knock Out

Often referred to as KO, Knock Out occurs when your HP reaches 0 in a battle, although this can be lowered to below 0 with certain armor or passive effects. You can also be knocked out whenever the GM feels like it, provided the circumstances actually make sense.

L

Laaik's Rule

Laaik's Rule states that, whenever something is most likely to happen in a dice roll, it will not happen, and vice versa.

Laaik's Corollary

The likelihood of something happening is directly proportional to how likely it is to kill Laaik. Not to be confused with Laaik's Rule.

M

Minor Action

A minor action costs no standard actions or stamina. You can perform one minor action per turn. Typically, this is restricted to movement. However, some passives grant additional types of Minor Actions.

Modifier Crusade

The systematic removal of undesirable modifiers applicable to Martial Arts techniques that were of exactly the kind the staff was originally working to be rid of.

Movement

A proposed addition to EPIC's battle system that allows just that--movement on a grid to add another layer of depth and strategy to combat. Though the system hasn't been instated yet, it's gone through extensive testing and has been developed a bit further with each successive test. OH GOD WHY

N

NPC

See article: NPCs
A non-playable character. They're generally controlled by players, and they're sometimes (but very rarely) outside the rules of EPIC—their level is usually marked as Undefined in these cases. Boss characters are almost always NPCs.

O

Orichalcum (2006-2008)

See article: Orichalcum
Good night, sweet prince.

P

Paragraph

In Epic, a paragraph consists of 65 words. It doesn't matter how you have them spaced out; Every 65 words counts as a seperate paragraph for the sake of gains.

Paragraph Tickets

Imaginary tickets spent on gains from board quests. Paragraph tickets do not carry over between seperate board quests.

Passive

Any of a number of effects that are gained at certain levels. You can customize your own unique passives, gain passives from the equipment you carry, and receive a passive from your chosen affinity.

PC

See article: Characters
A player character, controlled by another person/living human being.

Per Level of Mastery (PLM)

At every certain number of levels, Techniques grow in level of mastery, increasing their strength. There are five levels of mastery, from weakest to strongest: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Mastered, and Perfected. Though anyone can have a Basic technique, the other levels of mastery require you to have reached a minimum level requirement: Intermediate at 6, Advanced at 12, Mastered at 18, and Perfected at 24. Once you attain the prerequisite level, all techniques will automatically rise to the corresponding level of mastery. Techniques level up as they increase in their level of mastery, and the growth is applied to them. Whenever PLM is seen listed, it means per level of mastery.

Players and Staff

These are the kinds of people and jobs in EPIC.

Owner / Staff: The people who are in charge of Epic. They're kind of a big deal. They're in charge of making changes to the game and deciding the outcome of certain instances, disagreements, and so forth.
GM: A GM (please, don't say Game Master) is anyone holding an RP or Quest. Basically, as long as this Quest or RP goes on, they're in charge. They decide what happens, for good or ill, and if they say it'd be wise to avoid doing something or recommend a course of action, it's generally for the best. Most often, the GM is more of an overseer than a controlling force and let the payers make their own decisions over the course of the RP.
Keeper of Fate: A Keeper of Fate, also known as a BM, can be just about anybody. They either give gains and archive your Board Quest or continue it for you when you don't really know where to go or you're doing a Lore Quest for an item they control.
Referee: A Referee is the overseer of a spar or deathmatch between two characters or more. Being a Referee requires no more than a competency in stats and the mechanics of a battle (refer to Useful Formulas) and an unbiased approach to overseeing the battle. Patience is a virtue, though...
Player: Why is this even here? A Player is anyone with a player character, and even that isn't typically required.

Power Struggles

Power struggles occur when a technique is countered with a similar type of technique; determined through tags. If this occurs, a variety of things can affect which technique wins the struggle: higher technique tier, higher ATK, or, in the most extreme of cases, "roll a freaking two-sided die." Was removed a while ago because it never, ever happened.

Progress

Despite what Tyler says, this does happen in Epic. Sometimes.

Q

Quests, RPs and Spars

This is pretty much the whole game.

AIM Quest: Quests that anyone can usually participate in, though sign-ups are often required beforehand. These are, needless to say, held in AIM chat sessions and have their own set of gains.
Board Quest: The majority of characters' personal stories generally takes place on the boards in the form of a Board Quest. Upon completion, you specify at the end of the last post that it has been completed and request it to be given gains.
Free RP: A free Role Playing session. Anything can happen in these, and they can take place anywhere within reason. Characters interact in these and their stories can move along a bit in them as well.
Guided RP: A sort of a Quest-Free RP hybrid. These occur when someone either takes control of an RP and turns it in a different direction or holds an RP in the interest of a story event happening.
Spar/Deathmatch: A stat battle between two or more characters. Spars are usually friendly matches held between characters, while deathmatches are more serious and are almost always life-and-death situations.

Quick Action

A quick action generally costs 1 action and 15 stamina to perform. Examples of quick actions include using items and activating Awakening.

R

Races

See article: Races
The various types of people in the worlds, from Fallen Angels to Dragons. Every race has its own passive effect that comes along with it.

Reagents

Any of the various materials required for crafting.

Recovery

Recovery is a character's ability to regain Stamina in battle. You normally have 30 recovery, recovering 30 stamina at the start of a round. When in Awakening this becomes 50, and in Ascension it becomes 70.

Round

A round in battle consists of one turn from each combatant. When a round ends, unless dictated otherwise, everyone's AP and actions are restored.

Rule of Drago

The Rule of Drago states that an NPC can be used in a Free RP as long as the player does not abuse their higher Skill points to their advantage.

S

Saga

A saga is a series of quests in an enclosed or larger plot that can either pertain to the main storyline or be considered its own subplot.

Sailerius's Rule

Sailerius's Rule states that every time a character is declared to be permanently dead or retired from Epic, the more likely it is that they will actually be brought back.

Skills

See article: Skills
Skills are a character's abilities outside of combat, ranging from forging and working with machines to just being knowledgeable about the world and current events.

Soulbound

An item that is bound to a character's soul and gains levels along with them. These items cannot be forged or enchanted, but also cannot be disarmed or shattered. ...Is this even in the game anymore?

SP

Stamina Points (SP) formerly governed your character's ability to use special, more powerful techniques. If you ran out of SP, you had to fall back on using Universal Techniques, and if your SP goes below 0, you die automatically. (This means -1 SP or lower, not 0 SP itself.)

SP was replaced by Stamina in Epic v5

Square/Space

A square or space are the areas which characters can move on in a mapped battle. Each square is 5 feet long in all directions.

Stamina

Stamina governs your character's ability to use techniques. A technique cannot be used without the required stamina cost. You regain Stamina through Recovery. Characters start with 100 Stamina at the beginning of a battle in most circumstances.

Stat Sheet

See article: Blank Stat Sheet
A document containing all the statistics of a character. Battle stats, techniques, passives, level, and items are all here, and it is important that they be kept up-to-date.

Status Effect

See article: Status Effects
Any of a variety of effects, both positive and negative, that can be received from a technique, item effect, or passive.

Story Arc

See article: Story Arcs
The largest division of storyline, a story arc consists of multiple sagas in a given storyline. For example, the Another Black Arc consisted of the Judges Saga, the Dark Jesters Saga, and the Janus Saga.

T

Techniques

See article: Techniques
The actions you may take in battles. Separated into various types, such as Universal, Reaction, Energy, Physical, Ranged, etc. Most techniques have both an SP and AP cost, and some even have other costs added to them as part of other systems.

U

Unchanging Stats

A former part of the game that used to determine various things about a character's stats and abilities. It's gone.

Unique Passive

Special passives that you can add any effects to that you want. These are a pain in the ass, and they require approval from the staff to be put into use. Each character recieves one at level 30. Centurions recieve an extra one to start with at level 1.

Universal Passive

See article: Universal Passives
Special abilities that cover just about any extra abilities you can think of. They augment skills, stats, and some even let you fly and stuff. Every odd numbered level except for level 1, you gain a Universal Passive. Some Universal Passives work well with others, and some restrict you from using others.

Universal Technique

Universal techniques were special techniques to be used when your character runs out of SP. They cost no SP or AP, but they do the same amount of damage as any normal technique of their level. Universal techniques cannot, however, have any amount of points added to them like normal techniques, and are much less versatile as a result. Attack was the only universal technique. If anyone says otherwise, they're lying. Universal techniques were removed in Epic v5 due to the removal of SP from the game and the addition of the Quick Action "Quick Attack", which serves a similiar function.

V

Vital Hit

When your Accuracy (ACC) is higher than the enemy's Speed (SPD), you have a chance at a Vital Hit. The percentage of this chance is shown in the Battle Tables. If the chance of Vital Hit succeeds, the attack's final damage is doubled.

Void

See article: The Void
The Void is the place neutral characters go when they die. It is unique to every character, as it is essentially limbo within one's own consciousness.