When you say naturally talented, what do you mean? Do you mean that she simply has sharp reflexes or do you mean that she instinctively knows how to use the weapons? I'm sort of okay with allowing the first option, but for the second, the weapons you've listed are still way too different for her to be "naturally talented" at all of them, or even most of them. Furthermore, her being a mage, regardless of powerlevels, still inhibits her abilities with conventional weapons, and especially melee weapons, which all require a certain physical capability. And even with natural talent, training is still necessary, it's simply the speed with which you improve that is boosted somewhat by instinctive ability. If your character hasn't done any training, then she can't use the weapons, or shields, for that matter, regardless of her potential.
I was originally intending for Ayane to be able to occasionally use small amounts magic to enhance physical combat (be it making arrow tips having freezing qualities, or even just putting a little more force behind sword strikes).
If the magic is really as draining as you say, then I think I'll be fine dumping use of natural magic abilities in favor of using magical and mechanical devices found later on during the adventure.
This won't stop her natural affinity for ice, though, because the magic does still flow through her.
also, unless the forest Ayane was raised in has any bodies of water that get frozen during the winter, her ice-skating will be talent alone, though given a couple of hours to practice, she shouldn't have any trouble at speed.
With the matter of talent and training, Ayane
has had some practice using a short sword and a slingshot as I thought I mentioned something about this here:
*slingshot and some very small items to pelt at things (shooting soft berries at people has proven to be mildly entertaining... sometimes...)
*play sword made of a softer but sturdier wood (being of an adventurous spirit, she kind of plays around with this a lot)
Though perhaps my wording was a little too characterized (for sake of possible immersion) for the meaning to be understood properly.
As for the natural talent part of the equation, Ayane could simply be familiar with the basics of how to us each (except perhaps the shield, since I haven't mentioned that or anything like it as being a starting item), meaning that she will be ok with using each, but is by no means a master at any of them.
You can be talented at a few things, but with the way your character is set up, it looks like she's meant to be talented at most things, if not almost everything. I'm not only talking about combat abilities either, Ayane's personality traits (charming and almost without any fear at the age of ten to eleven) coupled with her various skills and her mysterious background make me especially wary of her as a character, as she is leaning a bit too close to Mary Sue territory for my liking. I will not stop you from trying to play all those different things out, but keep in mind that you're not going to be able to succeed at everything that you do, especially since during combat I'm going to be making decisions about how well Ayane can hold her own, and in the interest of fair and interesting play, I am probably going to nerf her combat abilities on the fly, if this is how you intend to keep her.
The charming bit is literally just that Ayane may look a little cute.
The fear resistance admittedly doesn't make sense for a small child, so let it start off as something hardly significant that grows with Ayane as she matures.
Moving on to background, there are still some important questions that haven't been answered. It's good that we now know where she came from, but this still does not answer the questions of how and why she ended up where she is now, or what journey she is supposed to go on and why. It's entirely okay if you don't want to share it with the other players just yet or which to keep things a mystery for everyone involved, but I as the GM have to know, otherwise I might make decisions that you don't like and you might make decisions that I don't like. In the interest of avoiding that, please give me some more information, or I will be forced to make something up myself, and I have a feeling you wouldn't be too keen on that.
Ayane's background is simply as follows: born in subarctic region of a more oriental styled culture, found and taken in to be raised in a forest village. I don't mind leaving the finer details to you, since I'm not very familiar with the lore of the world, if there is any yet.
And finally, regarding the magic bag, I still don't want an item as powerful as this to be in your starting equipment, especially considering the fact that she has no backstory to explain it.
Another thing I thought I mentioned here:
*small (and least) belt-bag of holding (an item she was found with) (this bag is only strong enough to hold a couple of small bags, or else, can manifest as some other magical storage device (such as a portable hole) [BCOLOR=#00ccff]far later[/BCOLOR] in the adventure)
I'm pretty ok with not having this from the start as long as I get something like it later down the road.
TL;DR
I'm a lot less adamant on the finer details than 2 years ago, but I am trying to put priority on what my character can do and is good at (like if active-use magic means that sword can't work, I'll have to go with sword).
And also, I've noticed that my previous messages haven't be successful in fully conveying their meanings, as is indicated by questions being asked after I have answered them to my greatest present ability.
If the questions still remain on my character's backstory and journey, I wish to not make up lore that could potentially conflict with what may have already been intended/put in place, and if I have not already made it clear (I may not have, to be fair), I wish for my character to play out a role in the main plot, and thus, the journey is up to the GM and not myself, since the main plot is not of my own design.
Apologies if any of my responses do not make sense, as the house I was in while typing tends to be a rather disruptive environment.
