"Hello, my lovely Starfallen and prospective Starfallen! I, your lovely liaison from the Concord Astronomical Society, along with our beloved Ke-Mo cartographer here--"
"Hello."
"--are here to help clear up a few things on the subject of regaining your characters' abilities as permanent unlocks! We know that this might get a little confusing."
"Especially since different characters from different worlds-of-origin are likely to have very different levels of power and proficiency between them."
"But don't worry. We'll help you get an idea of what it is we're looking for in ability regain requests!
To start things off, let's take a look at some abilities the classes have as permanent ability unlocks:"
Mount Mastery (The Cavalier's mastery of mounted combat stays with the user when they search for other ways to charge into battle. While mounted, the user gains the benefits of greater movement and mobility.)
Cleanse (The Mystic's spiritual journey may lead them to other classes, but they can carry a little of their chakra mastery with them. Once per battle, the user can apply a small self-heal and remove all negative effects from themselves.)
Healing Word (Should the user decide to use other classes to help others, they may carry a portion of the Chaplain's divinity with them. This healing spell, though minor, can be used in battle and can be used regardless of their class.)
Sacred Weapon (The user will always carry a piece of divinity from their oaths to other classes. Their weapon can inflict light damage instead of its usual damage with this attack, dealing extra damage to creatures of darkness.)
Leadership (Even if the user sets aside their title of Lord to wear other mantles, they keep a basic idea of tactics with them. The next person to attack a target you're attacking deals extra damage.)
"Thematically, they're carrying a small touch of their Mastered class's identity with them wherever they go.
So, when regaining an ability, it should ideally be similarly emblematic of who the character was and what they were able to do before they arrived." "But while the Starfallen's native powers and histories may be all over the place, the overall balance of their abilities here should be another story! And if one such Starfallen could, say, fire energy beams capable of destroying entire planets in five minutes, that simply won't do here." "You might also notice that the permanent unlocks of these classes can be passive or... uh... active, and generally look like the sort of abilities you'd see listed in an intermediate class.
When they do draw inspiration from their own pool of higher-level abilities, they tend to be powered-down a bit, such as the Cavalier's Mount Mastery." "In other words, they serve more to increase a character's options and augment their current class rather than overshadow it! So that's your second rule of thumb: Their ability regain shouldn't overshadow the strategies and abilities of whatever class they'll actually be using!" "...but since these abilities will be more closely tied to the character's identity, it's acceptable for them to ratchet up the awe factor a little bit." "It's okay. You've earned it!" "Of course, that still leaves a lot of design space to try and feel your way through. So the mods encourage you to workshop your ideas with them on the game's Discord server. Don't be shy, they're there to help." "But a few examples would probably help even more. Good thing I brought some here with me! Let's take a look."
Character: Cid Highwind
Ability: Highwind (Summon an airship to fire off a weapons barrage, dealing 18 hits to enemies at reduced damage.)
"Wh-whoa now, that's a bit much." "Correct, Larus! This is more like some sort of ultimate ability, and even then this is a bit... um... much. Like you said.
We all know it's tempting to want to regain your character's biggest, flashiest techniques, but you'll have to rein it in a bit. That's not the point of these sort of regains!" "But in that game, all the characters' most unique abilities were all big 'limit break' attacks to turn the tide of battle, weren't they?" "Right again! But that doesn't mean that there aren't better options here that could be adapted.
Instead, let's try..."
Character: Cid Highwind
Ability: Dynamite (Ignite an improvised explosive device to deal fire damage to a small area of effect. This ability deals double damage to inanimate objects.)
"That's an... interesting effect." "It is. And that helps make it a much more interesting ability! I could see lots of interesting ways to make use of it. But even if it didn't have that last part, this would still be more the sort of thing we'd be looking for. "You call throwing dynamite around an 'ability'?" "Hey, as long as it works!
Let's try another! Let's see..."
Character: Johnny Bravo
Ability: Cool Shades (The character gains immunity to all "Blind", "Charmed", and "Fear" effects.)
"'Cool Shades'... that sounds more like an item than an ability, doesn't it?" "It does, but there are a number of reasons why this could instead be treated as an ability! Maybe the 'item' just works differently for the character in question.
The bigger problem is that this combines the fundamental ability of Soldiers with hints of the permanent unlock of Mesmers, and then adds an additional immunity as a cherry on top!" "Still, I think there's a good foundation to this idea. What if we just... focus it up a little bit?"
Character: Johnny Bravo
Ability: Cool Shades (The character gains immunity to all "Blind" effects, and takes moderately reduced holy damage.)
"Ah, because it protects him from the light! That's not only more balanced and more unique, it's flavorful to boot. Great job, Larus!
Here, let's keep going."
Character: Popeye the Sailor Man
Ability: Can-o'-Spinach (Once used, the character gets a massive boost to their strength and regains a quarter of their maximum health. This ability can only be used once per battle, and only if the character is badly injured.)
"...I don't know, Aurora. I'm pretty sure this is pretty good." "It is! After all, it's important to show good examples just as much as ones that need work. There's a little bit of a grey area in terms of how 'badly injured' is defined, but it doesn't need to be exact; this just means it can be used whenever it's narratively appropriate.
Let's just do one or two more to round this out."
Character: M. Bison (Live-action Movie Canon)
Ability: Superconductor Electromagnetism (The character can choose to inflict lightning-element damage instead of physical when they perform weapon or bare-handed attacks.)
"This is very similar to a Paladin's 'Sacred Weapon' ability, but shifts the focus to a different element suited to the character's native abilities. Since the lightning-damage niche is distinct from what holy damage can do, this ability's just fine. " "Just don't cut it too close to an existing class' territory! If this read 'Holy-element damage' instead, we'd tell the player to just go Paladin. Sorry, no shortcuts!
One more."
Character: Luigi Mario
Ability: Other Brother (The character is less likely than others to be singled out of crowds, receive fame for their own deeds, or be specifically targeted by monsters.)
"There's a lot of focus on narrative over combat here, and that's not a bad thing, either. Not every ability needs to be focused on the act of fighting or the like." "The important thing is to ensure that mods- or whoever may be running an event with the character in it- have enough leeway to apply it as they see fit.
Wording is important, and sometimes ambiguity is actually the right way to go!" "Just remember that you'll be putting your faith in whoever's running the events, and be ready to accept their interpretation of the results." "Hopefully now you know a little more about ability regains, and- more importantly- how to design the abilities you'll be submitting!" "And remember: There's no shame in asking the mods for advice." 
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