@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail

Does Sakura think she's good enough at it to lead enemies into traps with genjutsu from stealth? How good is she at stealth?

In general, what do we know about the capabilities of the people we are camping with, from talking to them/receiving secret infodumps from Jiraya/seeing them in action while we collected them all?

In particular, what are the capabilities of Sakura's mindraping as far as we currently know?
 
Huh, our teammates didn't veto the tunnel. Tunnel-voters, I tip my hat to you; you were right, and I was wrong.

I would certainly prefer to accept leadership if we come up with a plan we're confident in, though I'd ask for unanimous approval from all the Genin first. It would be disastrous if everything went belly-up because someone didn't trust us enough and made a mistake.

Plan itself should be as straightforward as possible and focus on utilizing our teammates well and covering failure modes. As the update states, these teams as not used to working together, and are liable to screw up any complicated schemes. So, create a good setup, and put people in positions where they can be most effective.
 
Regarding leadership, I think that it's best if Hazou defers on sight command to Nara, while providing strategic guidance.

Reasons (in no particular order):
1) Less likely for Neji to disobey
2) Nara is more aware of the capabilities of the Leaf teams than Hazou is
3) The Thread does a bad job of micromanaging -- we are defacto acting on old information
4) We can get almost the same impact by proposing a strategy, then letting Keiko and Nara optimize it. It'll still demonstrate to everyone that we're smart and have a coherent strategy, but also that we use people to their full potential.

There's a lot more to leadership than just electing yourself leader. I think Hazou is both more likely to achieve his immediate and long-term goals if he defers leadership at this point, while still offering strategic options. Basically, defer to Nara because he knows the Leaf teams better, then suggest ways to use all the Leaf teams. Nara should go along because it requires less work for him, and yet we can still have his level of tactics determining how we act mid-combat.
 
Off-topic, I'm thinking of making a Kagome expy for the D&D 5th Edition campaign I'm in. Ideas and suggestions for mechanically accurate representation would be most welcome.
 
Off-topic, I'm thinking of making a Kagome expy for the D&D 5th Edition campaign I'm in. Ideas and suggestions for mechanically accurate representation would be most welcome.
I made a wizard who pretty exclusively used Glyph of Warding as a Kagome expy (that they players in my campaign could hire). The players decided to just leave him alone after the first explosion though.
 
Nara sighed. "Allow me to clarify. The rules of the event are that we are in the swamp for forty-eight hours and that we can obtain glowing Night Light seals from the proctors—by 'proctor' I am, of course, referring to the Mist ninja who are referees and judges for the event. At the end—"

"I know what a proctor is!" Neji growled.

"Of course you do. As I was saying, when the event ends we will each receive one point quote 'for every glowing seal' endquote that we turn in to the judges at the rally point outside the swamp. Gōketsu Hazō has created or contributed a final total of four hundred and five seals to our group as well as disseminating fifty-one to contestants from five other villages. Therefore—"

"I was there for all of this," Neji growled. "You don't need to repeat every detail of the last two days."

Hah. Shikamaru's doing the same thing his dad does.
 
Aspect: [Likes to Hear Himself Talk]

I was thinking "Aspect: [Explains Things in Excruciating Detail When He Thinks You're an Idiot]"

"Okay," Hazō said reluctantly. "So, first trick is going to be finding people to loot. Yesterday Nara said that there's a 'Ring of Death' around us, with other teams waiting to loot us or anyone who comes to trade with us. We could go stomp some of them." His stomach felt like he'd swallowed curdled milk; he had been so sure that he'd found a different path through the exam, that he would be able to win without having to hurt anyone. But no, the world of ninja was never so kind. It would always find a way to make everything horrible...was he going to have to literally beat the idea of peace and cooperation into everyone's heads?! Some days it seemed like it.

Any way we can turn this around and make cooperation work? If we can find one then that would be a preferable way of winning this, and very in character for Hazou.
 
Any way we can turn this around and make cooperation work? If we can find one then that would be a preferable way of winning this, and very in character for Hazou.
I can't remember the phrasing: Did the proctor refer to teams turning in the seals, or individuals? If teams, then we could make a "team" with anyone who engages in diplomacy with us.
 
Hmn... Can Ino cast group telepathy chatroom no jutsu? That would make coordination so much easier. We could get byakkugan gps, Hazou strats, and Shika/Kei analysis to everyone super fast.
 
I'd vote deferring leadership unless we come up with a truly kickass plan.

Nara is nearly by definition in-game smarter than us, and we need solid tactical leadership, not zany off-the-wall strategizing. There's also the information-deficit to contend with.

All in all recall that combat is dangerous and we'd prefer not to die. This is likely the single most unpredictable and dangerous scenario (chaotic battle, oops didn't mean to throw that explosive there...) we'll run into both in the Exams and in our lives for the foreseeable future. I'll eat some forgone reputation-boost for the sake of maximizing our safety.
 
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@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail If a Wakahisa provided chakra to someone after they were drained to chakra exhaustion, would they be able to get up and about as if nothing had happened?
"Take a second," Noburi said, helping Akane to her feet. "Recovering from chakra exhaustion isn't like coming back from low reserves."

...

Inoue-sensei studied her for a moment longer, then nodded. "Good." She turned to the medic. "Noburi, how long before she's fully capable?"

"Uh...not long," he said. "Probably just a few minutes?"

"Can she run?"

He nodded jerkily. "Yes. Uh...yes, she should be able to. I think. I haven't actually seen—"
 
So then we have Noburi break their fingers and set them in addition to draining them, just in case.
 
@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail
  • What are Keiko's 4 unspecified Pangolins, that she got from the second Skytower trade; and what are their abilities?
  • What is the 5th Pangolin jutsu we got, and what are its specs?
  • What are specs for Water Release: Syrup Trap and Pantokrator's Hammer?
  • What does Hazou know of his allies (Team Asuma, Team Guy, Team Akane) in terms of their abilities?
 
You know what, I'll just put this out here now and potentially switch off later. Give us a "default" to fall back on.

[X] Action Plan: No no, I insist (aka Refuse)
-Refuse the leadership
—Bring any relevant Goketsu aptitudes to Nara's attention as appropriate, but otherwise let him steer.
 
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I'd suggest that we compile a list of expected enemy tactics and how to counter them using what we have at our disposal (or can reliably get in one degree of seperation). I'd start, but I need to go afk right now.

E: SHIT THAT'S WHAT CLONE IS FOR! Countering long range attack by making people waste their turns attacking targets that they can't closely inspect.
 
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Right, let me throw together a few barebones plans just in case we do go for [ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL].

[] Swamp Rising:

Ambush at the edge of the swamp.

1. Seek and destroy any teams in our proposed ambush location. Fights should be waged with numerical superiority as much as possible.
2. Create dry hiding spots in the swamp with MEW and/or 5SB.
3. Teams form a triangle with a center; Team Neji in the forest, teams Sakura and Shikamaru in the Swamp, with team Goketsu out in the open as bait, feigning wounds.
4. Attacking teams should be allowed to approach Goketsu until two of the teams in the triangle are behind them. When that happens, the three teams attack.
5. Reset positions if possible. If other teams have spotted the charade, either ignore them or let them come closer if they dare.
6. If another Ring forms, fight straight through the Ring and any forces remaining in our way to the proctors.

[] Leaves On The Trees

Ambush in the forest.

1. Seek and destroy any teams in our proposed ambush location. Fights should be waged with numerical superiority when possible.
2. Teams spread out in a diamond formation on both sides of the river. Team Neji takes one, Team Goketsu takes the other, etc. Stealth is appreciated but not required.
3. When an approaching enemy mark is found, the team should reveal themselves but holding back on the initial volley; the goal is to grab their attention, not scare them away.
a) Unless the team thinks they can take them out in their initial volley (cough cough Team Neji)
4. The team should then retreat past the river, while the other three teams encircle the opposing team and support the retreating team.
5. Crush the opposing team, rinse and repeat.
6. If multiple teams happen upon the ambush site, break the formation and allow a running fight; always make sure that there's a two-to-one disparity in team strength, no matter how strong the individual team is; the goal is to win every fight convincingly.
7: Roll all opposition between us and the proctors once time is up.

[] Firing Range

Ambush on the plains.

1. Seek and destroy any teams in our proposed ambush location. Use explosives where possible; we want to create craters for us to hide in.
2. If there aren't enough craters to hide our teams, make some more.
3. People knowing Fire ninjutsu should light the grass behind us on fire, along with fires in other random spots. Avoid wildfires if at all possible.
4. Teams hide in the craters, waiting for potential ambushes.
5. Bait other teams to attack the group's general area.
6. Fight with numerical superiority once the other team has been baited.

Also, general note: Genjutsu rolls against Alertness, I'm pretty sure, and Sakura's is 26 + 3, I'm guessing.
 
Regarding leadership, I think that it's best if Hazou defers on sight command to Nara, while providing strategic guidance.

Reasons (in no particular order):
1) Less likely for Neji to disobey
2) Nara is more aware of the capabilities of the Leaf teams than Hazou is
3) The Thread does a bad job of micromanaging -- we are defacto acting on old information
4) We can get almost the same impact by proposing a strategy, then letting Keiko and Nara optimize it. It'll still demonstrate to everyone that we're smart and have a coherent strategy, but also that we use people to their full potential.

There's a lot more to leadership than just electing yourself leader. I think Hazou is both more likely to achieve his immediate and long-term goals if he defers leadership at this point, while still offering strategic options. Basically, defer to Nara because he knows the Leaf teams better, then suggest ways to use all the Leaf teams. Nara should go along because it requires less work for him, and yet we can still have his level of tactics determining how we act mid-combat.

Just quoting this for visibility.

Guys, the choice is not as binary as you make it out to be; the middle road works just as well, if not even better in terms of rewards but also risk minimization.

A key point is that we lack a lot of information OOC about what each genin can do so micro managing is out of the question as it is. The most we can salvage is by working together with Shikamaru since he knows what everyone is capable of, by giving him useful strategic input but letting him be the one that ultimately decides how to do things.
 
For the ambush plans, the main difficulty for most of the encounters isn't going to be actually winning. We'll have a large numerical advantage and the element of surprise for that.

The bare minimum a good ambush plan should have in my view is:
  • How to draw enemies into the trap without having low stealth dice of a single member screw everything up. @huhYeahGoodPoint's proposed plans are good starting points because they provide bait and distractions.
  • How to stop them from running away once the ambush is revealed. I personally think just having Tenten or Keiko throw a Goo Bomb at them is a simple if crude solution, but there are many ways of achieving this.
Point is, an ambush isn't just about having a good combat plan. There might be one or two encounters where we'll actually need to try, but most of them are going to be about encouraging people to walk into the net.
 
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