So, as a preface, I would like to acknowledge straight-away that Galadriel is staggeringly over-powered. Her laundry list of infuriatingly vague and expansive powers, combined with the general invulnerability of Tolkien Elves, is probably fairly worrisome in a game/rp context.
Nearly all of her powers will require permissions to use them (the mind/heart reading, in particular) but the items she has, or what she can make should probably be limited. (I would very much like her to keep Nenya, for reasons I will explain below, but the Elessar, etc I will gladly have her part with so that others can find/use them.)
By Thedas' standards, Galadriel's magic is excessive. She's basically a pronunciation mark and a devoted congregation away from being one of the Enuvaris.
Fortunately, after playing Trespasser and re-reading several bits of Tolkien, I've got what I think is a pretty decent idea for nerfing her, one that will make her the most easily playable (motivation-wise, for me) while keeping her from unbalancing the game in any way. (Frankly, I don't intend to have her use most of her abilities and I definitely don't want to unbalance or complicate the game, but deciding on IC reasons and making OOC agreements are always the best course, I've found.)
The reason Tolkien Elves are so steadfast and have all the particular natural gifts that they do is all down to Fëa and Hröa. The Spirit and the Body, respectively. Essentially, when compared to mortal races and immortal spirits their souls are way, way more entwined with their bodies than anyone else. Because of this close bond, the strength of their spirit can and does sustain their physical form. Conversely, elves who have had their spirits broken by grief or trauma, who may otherwise be completely healthy, can and probably will perish. Elves are their Fëa, it's their soul and their will, and seems to be the greatest measure of their power. Because their Fëa is tied to their body so closely, expending it in excess will both weaken and damage their forms considerably.
Elves in Arda do not consider a great deal of what they do to be magical and, basically, they just use the term magic as a time-saving measure when dealing with other races. Since they have no tangible concept of magic (at least not in the same sense that Dragon Age characters do), it's easy to imagine that there is no tangible separation between them and the source of power in Arda. Elves in Arda are either so inundated with ambient magic that they exert very little willpower when calling on it, or the power they inherently possess is so ubiquitous/easily utilized that exerting it is simply what it is to be an Elf.
Whether Galadriel's strength is entirely based in how much ambient magic she can tap into or entirely dependent on her manipulation of her own Fëa/will/soul, it really doesn't change much from here out.
In early conversations with Solas, he suggests how the world would be if there was no Veil separating the waking world from the Fade. He basically tells you that the elves of Thedas once did magic so easily it was like breathing. The Veil separated spirits/the Fade from the physical world and created a partition that severely diminished the elves, and decimated the power of the Enuvaris. However the Enuvaris worked or whatever they actually were, magic was a pretty integral part of them and cutting it off had a dramatic and immediate effect.
TL;DR: In Thedas, unlike Arda, there is a distinct divide between the Fade and the waking world. As a way to nerf Galadriel's frankly ridiculous skill-set, rather than cut out individual skills or powers, I suggest that this divide would affect her immediately upon arrival and would remain a constant hurdle for her.
We haven’t seen anything in Thedas that works quite like the rings of power or the magic in Arda, so the effect the Veil would have on items of that nature is sort of up in the air. Assuming she’s allowed to keep Nenya (Which would be delightful, really. The idea of a frantic and insistent search for a ring with super-secret-powers that she refuses to explain just seems...super tedious, if I’m being honest about it. I mean, I won’t object if she really can’t keep it, but the appeal of that sort of thread is not particularly significant.) the Fëa/power stored in her ring would be sufficient to sustain her while her own powers and ability to cope takes a nosedive.
At her best, so long as the Veil remains in place, I imagine that Galadriel will be at only a fraction of her power and, since she’ll already be exhausted by the Veil wedging itself between her spirit and body (and probably reducing the effectiveness of her natural super elfy-elf abilities and/or requiring her to, say, sleep occasionally), she will not be eager to use her particular brand of magic unless it is absolutely necessary and generally unavoidable.
As a double bonus, since she has absolutely no sense of how to use Thedas style magic, nor what they actually mean when they say the word magic, she will have to (and be eager to) find someone to give her basic instruction. I’m sure this would be delightful for CR, positive or negative, and it puts Galadriel on the same playing field as everyone else while leaving her fancier powers as extreme options for later story missions or specific CR.
Of course, I’m totally willing to discuss this, figure something out, and/or modify/append my app accordingly, but I really think this will work nicely.
(Additionally, I apologize for submitting this on the very last day of apps. It's very long and, well, that just feels like a rude thing to shove at somebody like this. Sadly, between being sick and how difficult summarizing Galadriel turned out to be, this was the fastest I could complete it.)
Nerfing, The Veil, and Fëa/Hröa - Trespasser Spoilers
Nearly all of her powers will require permissions to use them (the mind/heart reading, in particular) but the items she has, or what she can make should probably be limited. (I would very much like her to keep Nenya, for reasons I will explain below, but the Elessar, etc I will gladly have her part with so that others can find/use them.)
By Thedas' standards, Galadriel's magic is excessive. She's basically a pronunciation mark and a devoted congregation away from being one of the Enuvaris.
Fortunately, after playing Trespasser and re-reading several bits of Tolkien, I've got what I think is a pretty decent idea for nerfing her, one that will make her the most easily playable (motivation-wise, for me) while keeping her from unbalancing the game in any way. (Frankly, I don't intend to have her use most of her abilities and I definitely don't want to unbalance or complicate the game, but deciding on IC reasons and making OOC agreements are always the best course, I've found.)
The reason Tolkien Elves are so steadfast and have all the particular natural gifts that they do is all down to Fëa and Hröa. The Spirit and the Body, respectively. Essentially, when compared to mortal races and immortal spirits their souls are way, way more entwined with their bodies than anyone else. Because of this close bond, the strength of their spirit can and does sustain their physical form. Conversely, elves who have had their spirits broken by grief or trauma, who may otherwise be completely healthy, can and probably will perish. Elves are their Fëa, it's their soul and their will, and seems to be the greatest measure of their power. Because their Fëa is tied to their body so closely, expending it in excess will both weaken and damage their forms considerably.
Elves in Arda do not consider a great deal of what they do to be magical and, basically, they just use the term magic as a time-saving measure when dealing with other races. Since they have no tangible concept of magic (at least not in the same sense that Dragon Age characters do), it's easy to imagine that there is no tangible separation between them and the source of power in Arda. Elves in Arda are either so inundated with ambient magic that they exert very little willpower when calling on it, or the power they inherently possess is so ubiquitous/easily utilized that exerting it is simply what it is to be an Elf.
Whether Galadriel's strength is entirely based in how much ambient magic she can tap into or entirely dependent on her manipulation of her own Fëa/will/soul, it really doesn't change much from here out.
In early conversations with Solas, he suggests how the world would be if there was no Veil separating the waking world from the Fade. He basically tells you that the elves of Thedas once did magic so easily it was like breathing. The Veil separated spirits/the Fade from the physical world and created a partition that severely diminished the elves, and decimated the power of the Enuvaris. However the Enuvaris worked or whatever they actually were, magic was a pretty integral part of them and cutting it off had a dramatic and immediate effect.
TL;DR: In Thedas, unlike Arda, there is a distinct divide between the Fade and the waking world. As a way to nerf Galadriel's frankly ridiculous skill-set, rather than cut out individual skills or powers, I suggest that this divide would affect her immediately upon arrival and would remain a constant hurdle for her.
We haven’t seen anything in Thedas that works quite like the rings of power or the magic in Arda, so the effect the Veil would have on items of that nature is sort of up in the air. Assuming she’s allowed to keep Nenya (Which would be delightful, really. The idea of a frantic and insistent search for a ring with super-secret-powers that she refuses to explain just seems...super tedious, if I’m being honest about it. I mean, I won’t object if she really can’t keep it, but the appeal of that sort of thread is not particularly significant.) the Fëa/power stored in her ring would be sufficient to sustain her while her own powers and ability to cope takes a nosedive.
At her best, so long as the Veil remains in place, I imagine that Galadriel will be at only a fraction of her power and, since she’ll already be exhausted by the Veil wedging itself between her spirit and body (and probably reducing the effectiveness of her natural super elfy-elf abilities and/or requiring her to, say, sleep occasionally), she will not be eager to use her particular brand of magic unless it is absolutely necessary and generally unavoidable.
As a double bonus, since she has absolutely no sense of how to use Thedas style magic, nor what they actually mean when they say the word magic, she will have to (and be eager to) find someone to give her basic instruction. I’m sure this would be delightful for CR, positive or negative, and it puts Galadriel on the same playing field as everyone else while leaving her fancier powers as extreme options for later story missions or specific CR.
Of course, I’m totally willing to discuss this, figure something out, and/or modify/append my app accordingly, but I really think this will work nicely.
(Additionally, I apologize for submitting this on the very last day of apps. It's very long and, well, that just feels like a rude thing to shove at somebody like this. Sadly, between being sick and how difficult summarizing Galadriel turned out to be, this was the fastest I could complete it.)