Scarring

[chaoticVoyager]

No, not mental scars. Those are unavoidable.

I am so far the only person I know of that has scars gained after Sburb entry. You'd think with all the stabs we'd be walking around looking like we got pulled apart and stitched up but anyone I've met over these three sessions didn't gain a single scar after entry. Is non scarring completely normal?

It just seems weird that so many people walk around all baby skin like.

[mnemonicNecessity]

I have a theory on this based off of my own experiences in my first session.

For the most part, wounds sustained in battle fade without leaving a permanent mark. I'm sure most of us have noticed this phenomenon, but it's hardly worth noting in everyday situations. Fights occur often as far as SBURB is concerned. It's one of the foundations of the game. How many of us have been ambushed by imps while traveling or seen the rougher side of an Atomyk Ebonpyre? I'd like to meet the person who hasn't been injured.

I have one scar from an incident involving SBURB. It stemmed from a confrontation with a corrupted player, in which he and I had something of a standoff and a showdown. He injured me badly. We didn't have a Life or Blood Player, so it had to heal over a course of time with none of those nice shiny lights healing abilities. Every time I saw the bandages or felt the pain, I was reminded of the incident.

Dwelling on what caused an injury may be the reason it scars. Getting nicked by an imp is commonplace and hardly warrants the second's notice you give it. Being stabbed by a person who you thought had your back, however, is far more likely to cause mental and emotional distress. This has a physical manifestation, much like many other metaphysical aspects of SBURB.

[chaoticVoyager]

i must say that theory sounds plausible, at least in my case. Wouldn't be surprised if it was actually a game mechanic.

[mnemonicNecessity]

Though what purpose would leaving scars give? Perhaps it has something to do with Maturity. Perhaps it's even a case of something that SBURB never intended to have happen but does anyway. Does anyone more veteran than myself have two cents that they want to throw in on the matter?

[tungstenTinkerer]

I think it's easier than that, really. Most wounds people get are cured with Sprites or Life abilities or Crystals. If you have to heal normally often you get scars, if you would. "Magical" healing doesn't leave any.

[chaoticVoyager]

Quite frankly, that would also be valid I suppose.

I got this scar right at the end of my first session, right before I went against BK and I didn't get a chance to heal it magically. It was pretty much healed by the time I'd regained access to magical healing in my second session.

[timelyTurnabout]

I sutured a lot of wounds in the past, and they never scarred. I used "Cool Mint Meningomyelocele Spewthpaste" (Toothpaste || Sprite Slime) as a healing item each time, though.

[ExtropianDreamer]

I think I recall sporting a scar or two for a couple of sessions.

Can't recall if they faded because they became less important over time, or because someone healed them.

Unless they were caused by something bearing corruption, I wouldn't worry about them too much.

[genesisArtificer]

i still have that big burn scar on my back from the Red Miles, after 24 sessions. I have no idea how did I survived that day. I can confirm that wounds dealt with that attack, even after healing done by a competent Life Player, leave scars for life.

[tenaciousTheseus]

I too have a scar on my face. I healed it afterwards, but the scar is still there. I guess corruption had a part in it.

[iDea]

I've got one, it just doesn't show.

I don't exactly go around topless very often, after all.

But I have one in the middle of my chest, just above my diaphragm. One of the players in my first session decided to show me his stabs. I actually suffered a death because of him, the ass.

HINT TO NEW PLAYERS: If you have a plan that involves stabbing, no matter how well it turns out, INFORM PEOPLE. They will be less pissed after the fact.

[ventricularPipefitter]

In keeping with the way they're connected to subconscious or idealized self-image, my dreaming self has a few, scars and marks that had since faded on my waking body as I grew up and got older, got reconstructed by a Ward of Life, etc.

Sometimes I'll have other scars mirrored from injuries and events in previous sessions that stick around on my Dreamself for a few runs afterwards. Sometimes, they stick around when I Ascend. Sometimes, they follow me out the door and into the new session.

Right now, the rows of thin white lines down my forearms are pretty prominent. And the the little crater/notch where the back of my head meets my neck on the right side, where I got shot through the head and then spent most of the rest of the session giving no fucks and finishing the game with a head-wound that occasionally still seeped. I imagined I could poke brain matter. I'm not actually sure.

A Maid of Breath slapping a long-term turbocharged [Eye of the Storm] on a Smith of Doom that may or may not be stumbling around in Zombie Mode is pretty prime 'horrific injuries and no fucks given' territory.

[agonyembraced]

May 18, 2012 14:50:10 GMT -5 tungstenTinkerer said:

I think it's easier than that, really. Most wounds people get are cured with Sprites or Life abilities or Crystals. If you have to heal normally often you get scars, if you would. "Magical" healing doesn't leave any.

Most of the time this appears to be right, I would like to note an annoying exception: for Flesh, the amount of time you take to mend a wound seems to be inversely related to how much it scars. Slowly mending a cut, carefully directing te flesh into its proper place? You wouldn't be able to tell it was cut. Have to quickly close a six-inch deep wound in order to stop yourself from bleeding out in the next 10 seconds? You can definitely see the giant, jagged scar. I consider it a common courtesy to use Flesh abilities later to smooth over any such marks, once lives aren't in immediate danger.