(no subject)

[off_the_edge]

PHYSICAL

Superhuman physical strength caused by the Jenova cells parasitising his tissue. Can swing around a ~70kg sword like it's a stick.

Increased resilience - can survive extremely long drops.

Strongly boosted agility. Backflips, rolls, and tumbles as easy as breathing. He can jump really high.

A comprehensive knowledge of sword-fighting techniques (and even some actual experience!)

MENTAL

In complete psychological crisis, when provided with enough Mako energy, the Jenova cells in his mind cause his personality to change based on absorbing the memories held by other people around him (influenced as well by his own complexes and the way he feels he ought to be). This can (and does) cause him to develop artificial second personalities and delusions; it's also instrumental in getting him out of them later.

Severely reduced mental stability. Cloud's mental health was always a bit patchy, with lots of neuroses, fears and eccentricities; having chameleonic alien cells colonising his brain and moulding themselves to his feelings and expectations hasn't helped. He's prone to hallucinations, getting overwhelmed and disordered thinking. If a psychic wanted to tamper with his mind, he'd have no ability to put up any resistance at all.

Due to his capacity for delusion, the placebo effect is unusually strong for him. Naturally, he's prone to terrible motion sickness (as bad as Yuffie's), but he doesn't currently suffer from it because he believes he doesn't.

MAGICAL

Boosted magical abilities!... when supplied with Materia that know the magic spell he's trying to cast, which he will never come across here. Oh well.

When pushed past his limits, he's able to use magic. Most of his powers are based around infusing his sword with elemental magic or curses and attacking (a remnant of his original "Mystic Knight" Job class in the planning stages of the game, for those Doyleans at home). These abilities are based on his emotional state and takes a long time to recharge, making them pretty unreliable, but hugely destructive when they do work. It goes without saying that he can't perform them without a sword, or some other form of cutting device (or a baseball bat with nails in it). For reference, here are his abilities:

L1:
Braver: Focusing magic energy into the blade, he leaps high into the air and slashes downwards at the enemy.
Cross-slash: He carves the symbol kyo into the opponent with his blade, 'cursing' them to be paralysed (as well as cut into).

L2:
Blade Beam: Fires a jet of magic from the edge of the blade, focused on one opponent. Less intense shockwaves then travel out from them and hit others in the area.
Climhazzard: Cloud impales an enemy through the middle and then jumps upwards, ripping their top half in two. Ow.

L3:
Meteorain: Tapping into the magic of the cosmos and the movement of the spheres, Cloud spins his sword around and summons a bunch of horrible space rocks to hit people.
Finishing Touch: Cloud uses his sword movements to summon a tornado that sucks enemies somewhere where no-one has to put up with them. Stronger-willed enemies get dropped, but from a height.

L4:
Omnislash: Cloud gathers energy into the tip of his sword, then rapidly teleports around, attacking opponents from all sides with slashes, chops, and stabs. He finishes by leaping up into the air for a final, apocalyptic cleaving.