Welcome to something new.

As a few of you may already know, we have been working on remaking the old Atas`Cosita classes into something new, that is hopefully both elegant and simple to understand while still providing a fun and solid experience for our veteran players. The current roster of classes is now available to view at:

About the Redesign
While the old classes are certainly well-designed and playable, there are still some notable errors. Mainly, the power level between classes is vastly skewed, and several classes are rather rules ambiguous. Furthermore, most classes lack a central theme in what role they should perform.
...With the reform, we hope to a) give classes an equal amount and strength of abilities; b) remove confusing abilities and clarify wording; c) remove outdated classes and to clarify each class's theme; and d) introduce new player choices during character creation.
...If you take a look at the roster of the base classes, you will notice that each is composed of six tiers of three abilities each. Previously, classes were composed of three tiers, with varying amounts of abilities but typically around six to seven in each. This means, overall, that each class has fewer available abilities, but these abilities are more evenly distributed throughout the class's progression.
...Furthermore, starting statistics have been removed from classes and are now a secondary option to choose during character creation, for more customization options. This separation allows us to introduce a new concept of 'class splicing' so that players can customize their character's abilities.
...As you may notice, the abilities right now have very bland names and descriptions. In future editions, splash text will be added and new names given to abilities (instead of Heal II or Barkskin IV), though these will remain hopefully vague and tasteless; the idea is that the player will have the option to flavor their abilities however they may choose to do so.


HOW TO CREATE YOUR NEW CHARACTERS
This is probably what you were waiting for, the new ability to customize your character's... abilities! The process is quick and simple, but will add for more complexity in a player's options.
...When you first create a character, you will need to choose two things about that character: its base model and its class. There are three prototype models available for characters (balanced, hearty, and erudite) which will determine the character's starting health, stamina, and magic. You begin play at Level 1 and with one class tier. Choose one of the nine available base classes (Champion, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Thief, Warlock, Warrior) and your character has access to all Tier I abilities available to that class.
...As your character levels up, they will have the option to unlock new, more powerful abilities with extra tiers. At Level 6, you unlock your second tier and become a Tier II character. Like before, you may choose any class available from the roster. If you choose the same class as before, you unlock access to all Tier II abilities from that class. If you chose a second, new class, you unlock that class's Tier I abilities.
...Every five levels you gain a Tier. This means at Level 1 you are a Tier I character, and at Level 6 you are a Tier II character. Continuing, at Level 11 you are Tier II. Level 16 is Tier IV. Level 21 is Tier V. And Level 26 is Tier VI. You cannot gain any more tiers after Tier VI, though you may continue to gain Levels.
...Each time you gain a Tier, you choose one of the available classes and gain access to its lowest available Tier. If you choose the same class multiple times, then you gain its next highest Tier of abilities, but if you choose a new class, you have to start with the lowest available. You may only have six Tiers total, so choose wisely.

EX. 1) Pavel is a level one character and chooses to take the Hearty base model. He has 50 health and 50 stamina, but 0 magic. Since he is level one, he also gets to choose his first tier, which in this case, is warrior. Pavel would add the following to his description, to let people know his level and class: [Atas`Cosita Warrior I; Level 1]. He can use any Tier I abilities listed under the Warrior class.
...After obtaining some experience, Pavel grows to Level 6, where he decides to stick with the Warrior class. His tag should now read: [Atas`Cosita Warrior II; Level 6]. He can now use any Tier I or Tier II abilities listed under the Warrior class.

EX. 2) Pavel has reached Level 11, and while playing as a Warrior has been fun, he would like to add a new range of abilities to his play style. For his third tier, Pavel decides to take the Champion class. The tag in his description should read something similar to: [Atas`Cosita Warrior II, Champion I; Level 11]. He can now use any Tier I or Tier II abilities from the Warrior Class, in addition to the Tier I abilities listed under the Champion class.


HOW TO READ THE NEW ABILITIES
Ability Name. [target bonus] / [damage bonus] (Cost [in stamina or magic])
/rules description/

Ability Name: This is simply what the spell or feat is called. Whenever you use an ability, you MUST clearly state the name of the ability where you are using it. The action or ability is not valid otherwise.
[Target bonus]: Whenever you roll to activate an ability or to hit the target, this is the bonus you will add to your 1d100 roll.
[Damage bonus]: If your ability is an attack or deals damage, this is the bonus you will add to the 1d20 roll to determine damage. Since the attacked individual rolls their own damage, you must clearly state which abilities deal damage and which do not, as well as how much damage it deals, whenever you use an ability. The action or ability is not valid otherwise, unless you have come into a previous agreement the participant and each individual understands how the ability works.
**Pay attention: Not all abilities will have the same target and damage bonus!!**
About certain modifiers:
[+#]: This is a base, flat number that gets added to your roll, called a bonus. There are several ways to get a bonus, such as by using an ability or as a result of another ability. Weapons also give you a bonus to your attack and damage roll, and armor gives you a bonus to your defense roll. Most of the time, these numbers do not add together, but may say otherwise in certain abilities. If they are stackable, then you must manually add the bonuses together before applying it to the roll.
[-#]: Certain abilities give you penalties to your rolls. Unlike bonuses, penalties are always cumulative. If you use a bonus and a penalty together, you must manually subtract the penalty from the bonus before adding it to your roll. It is possible to end up rolling with a negative modifier in this way.
[-]: If just a dash is listed in an entry, then it means that a roll is either unnecessary or impossible in the situation. It is usually applied to the damage bonus slot for abilities that do not damage their targets.
[+0]: Unlike the blank dash, +0 means that a roll is required, but that you do no receive a bonus when making that roll. It is not needed to actually add '+0' on the roll, as it is not changing the roll.
[+L]: This symbol is shorthand for 'add your character level as a bonus to this roll'.
[+W]: This symbol is shorthand for 'weapon bonus', or the modifier your weapon has.
[*]: This symbol means that the modifier is conditioned in some manner or another. Some abilities have higher or lower bonuses when used in certain situations, or may require a roll when one was not needed before. Read the rules description for more details.
(Cost): Whenever you use the ability, you must deduct its cost in stamina or magic from your respective pool. If you cannot pay the cost, then you cannot use that ability. There is no way to mitigate a cost.
/rules description/: This area describes how the ability works. The target is always the designated recipient of an ability. The user is always the one who activated the ability. Sometimes the target and the user are the same person. If an ability says 'Self-Only' then that ability may only be used on the user.
'Attack' means that the ability is an attack and will deal damage just like a basic attack or a weapon attack, unless noted otherwise. Attacks cannot target their own user.
'Used on defense' means that the ability is used to defend against attacks, rather than on the user's active turn.
'Used on escape attempts' means that the user may use this ability to escape combat. To successfully escape, the user must roll 50 or higher. Anyone may attempt to defend against the roll to prevent the first person from escaping. They may use 'Used versus escape attempts' abilities to block the first person.


ABOUT THE PLAYTEST
So, now that you know how to make your new prototype characters, what should you do? Currently, the redesign is in Alpha stage, which means that everything you see is only a rough draft. For official Atas RP, everyone is still to use the Standard Atas`Cosita classes. However, in order to make sure that the redesign works properly, we are encouraging players to make their own prototype rough drafts.
...If you would like to participate, we are looking for Level 6 (Tier II) and Level 16 (Tier IV) characters to begin play testing. There will also be Draft matches available for play as well.
...To begin, simply make up a new character; we would like to keep the distinction between our regular players and these play test character separate. While the characters do not need to be elaborate or complex, some modicum of personality and description will be greatly appreciated, as some of our favorites may eventually be incorporated into the dream as NPCs (or, should you desire, you may simply continue to play your character).
...These characters will be put into scenarios where they will be expected to combat one another, so it is required that you have competent knowledge of how the Atas`Cosita dice system works. These scenarios will be monitored in order to evaluate how well the redesign is working.
...If you would like to play a character, please post a response in this thread with the following information: character's name, character's level (either 6 or 16; later options will be allowed at a later time), the character's class(es), and any equipment the character has. For level 6 characters, they may have up to +10 equipment in either weapon or armor form or a combination of the two. Level 16 characters may have up to +20.
...For each scenario you complete under moderator supervision, we are awarding you 25 experience to the character of your choice. For any character's that get later turned into NPC's for the dream, we will award you an additional 50 experience.


If there are any questions about any of this information, please do not hesitate to contact me (Pavel) in Furcadia or by posting your reply here in this thread. I will attempt to explain anything that may not be entirely clear at this point in time.

On a last note, I would like to thank everyone that has made this process possible thus far, which is everyone.