The following is a rant, and as such, the tone will be blunt.
I am not really a fond of fan-creations that are ranked S (even if it is limited to AA with Limiters) as it begins to reek of the Mary-Sue syndrome. There are various reasons to show restraint and maintain a cap on the Mage rank.
Note that Rank-S is higher than Signum, Vita, Shota-Chrono(!) who was the most talented in the TSAB at that time, and even Loli-Fate and Loli-Nanoha. It is not some "commonplace" rank. Lindy is an Admiral, and she is still "only" Rank-S.
There is no shame in having a character who is Rank-A and below. I mean heck, Caro is Rank-C, and she is still pretty much ownage. Just because the main cast are all "overpowered Demi-Gods", it is does not mean your characters have to be. After all, Rank-A is already considered Officer/Enforcer material. Rank-AAA is rare, and Rank-S is suppose to be exceedingly rare.
Another problem with highly ranked fan-creations is that you are limiting yourself in terms of what enemies you can conjure to fight against without belittling the original cast.
With Rank-B/A or below, you can come up with much more varied spectrum of enemies without resorting to Deus ex Machina or flaming plotholes. It will be easier to generate tension, without making the enemies beings of Cthulu or whatnot.
Given the canon material of MSLN, Rank-A is a pretty reasonable baseline limit to work with, as that is the most common Rank for Officers and Enforcers.
Rank-Bs are people like Subaru and Teana, who are basically your Marines. A level above the "common soldier".
Rank-Cs are your average scrubs, and perhaps a common one for non-combat support mages.
I tend to find that overpowering their fan-characters is a very common pitfall that many fans fall into when they make their fanfics. Remember, if your Rank-S character encounters a problem that he/she can't resolve, it would have to be a problem that Fate/Nanoha cannot resolve as well, and that is a pretty damn high bar to set. The DBZ-problem, so to speak.
My $0.02 worth.
Cheers.
|