A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Basically what it comes down to is that some of us don't really want to waste our profits on things which may and/or may not even be of use/relevant for the sake of worldbuilding (because let's be honest, the "narrative" we're talking about is adding more living magical things to SD).

I wonder where these arguments were when we'd decided to go out of our way to acquire this or that of dubious value, yet now we're content to ignore it even if it falls right into our laps? Still, is it not clear that it is indeed a crit? Is DP's word itself not enough?

Actually, I've a rather simple way to figure all this out. @DragonParadox, when you see this, is there a hidden caveat or some sort of benefit to the Ceru? As it stands, many have argued that it is not even remotely worth the crit.

Paradosi said:

I wonder where these arguments were when we'd decided to go out of our way to acquire this or that of dubious value, yet now we're content to ignore it even if it falls right into our laps? Still, is it not clear that it is indeed a crit? Is DP's word itself not enough?

Actually, I've a rather simple way to figure all this out. @DragonParadox, when you see this, is there a hidden caveat or some sort of benefit to the Ceru? As it stands, many have argued that it is not even remotely worth the crit.

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Not really sure what things you're referring to right there, the last time we brought random magical items was I think back when we lived in Bravos (we were pretty starved for magic back then) and the shadow tower which we used the limited wish on. Pretty sure we haven't brought other magic stuff in MS, most of our magic items come in the form of loot these days.

Paradosi said:

I wonder where these arguments were when we'd decided to go out of our way to acquire this or that of dubious value, yet now we're content to ignore it even if it falls right into our laps? Still, is it not clear that it is indeed a crit? Is DP's word itself not enough?

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I constantly argue against blind shiny grabs. Shinies simply for the sake of having shinies is pointless. Even greedy dragons have some discernment when it comes to what they keep in their hoards.

I'm pleasantly surprised I haven't become a thread meme by this point.

Paradosi said:

I wonder where these arguments were when we'd decided to go out of our way to acquire this or that of dubious value, yet now we're content to ignore it even if it falls right into our laps? Still, is it not clear that it is indeed a crit? Is DP's word itself not enough?

Actually, I've a rather simple way to figure all this out. @DragonParadox, when you see this, is there a hidden caveat or some sort of benefit to the Ceru? As it stands, many have argued that it is not even remotely worth the crit.

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Frankly, even with a hidden caveat I still wouldn't want to buy it. We're in one of the best extraplanar markets in existence, I don't want to blow any of our cash on these things when we get no tangible benefit out of them.

Trickster314 said:

Not really sure what things you're referring to right there, the last time we brought random magical items was I think back when we lived in Bravos (we were pretty starved for magic back then) and the shadow tower which we used the limited wish on. Pretty sure we haven't brought other magic stuff in MS, most of our magic items come in the form of loot these days.

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We used Wish for the Shadow Tower, and Limited Wish to put out the wildfire.

As for the random magical items, a prime example there is any dealings with the fey, and even then the thread at least makes a token effort to go after stuff we're going to use.

To be honest, I really want some more cool snakes for Yss to chill with.

Temple Guardians when?

Raichu1972 said:

To be honest, I really want some more cool snakes for Yss to chill with.

Temple Guardians when?

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I was planning on sending Vee off to Braavos next turn to get some baby hydras. The intention was to give at least one of them to Yss to see what he could do with them.

And we also need to send someone after the baby pegasus that's flying around by the Wall.

I really like that Lord's Banner.

[X] Goldfish

Yeah nothing is really grabbing me here for the prices they're offered at

you know what, logic and pragmatism are all fine and good, but dammit, we have a menageria, and Yss as my witness, i will not see it go to waste.

[X] Gotta catch em' all
-[X] Purchase 2 Ankhegs (Breeding pair, 360 SC)
-[X] Purchase 2 Ceru (Breeding pair, 1180 SC)
-[X] Purchase 1 Istaheq (male, 900 SC)

Total: 2440 SC
reasoning:
-Ankhegs: not very expensive, will look great in the menagerie, the pech might have use for them, if not, acid farms are still likely to be profitable or provide some sort of alchemy bonus. also, a more personal reason, we will either buy them now or we are unlikely to ever find a reason to come for them again.
-Ceru: reading on their lore, Breeding pairs are exceedingly expensive, likely a one time find, most ceru are sterile and most vender would rather destroy their herd than lose their exclusivity, this here is a very rare find indeed. about their intelligence, they are smart, sure, but they were created with the express purpose of serving mages, they are likely like the servitors in that regards, anything that doesnt help their masters was likely bred out of the line long long time ago, i doubt they will show much desire to leave once in our posession. I want these little guys for our towers, with some luck we can breed a few dozens of them in a few years. @DragonParadox will our mages be able to take them as familiars without the improved familiar feat?
- The horse: Waymar wants him, if all he wants is something to show to his parents when he is knighted, then he can use it for that and then upgrade to a Griffin. Meanwhile, we can breed it and see if any useful traits are carried over to the foals. we can give it to our dothraki to give them some kind of mount bonus in a few years once waymar doesnt need it anymore.

Crake said:

I really like that Lord's Banner.

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Me too! I'm trying to figure out a way to combine it with the Slayer's Standard we've already got to get a truly legendary standard for our legions. Well, given the cost and crafting time I'd probably only want it for the very best legion of them all, but damn would it be worth it.

[X] Gotta catch em' all
-[X] Purchase 2 Ankhegs (Breeding pair, 360 SC)
-[X] Purchase 2 Ceru (Breeding pair, 1180 SC)
-[X] Purchase 1 Istaheq (male, 900 SC)

I must say, I have a weakness for magical animals

[X] Buy nothing.

@BeepSmile If you see this, please consolidate your vote with the rest of us who are trying to save our money for a better purchase.

I'm going to bed and won't be able to argue for reason and restraint,so it's up to you, @Duesal.

I can't wait to endlessly tease Tyene and arrange their schedule so that they have some alone time this month.

That's revenge for Volantis! :lol

[X] 3x Istaheq (3x Male) - 2700 SC

[X] Shut up and take my money!
-[X] Purchase 2 Ankhegs (Breeding pair, 360 SC)
-[X] Purchase 4 Ceru (2 Breeding pairs, 2360 SC)
-[X] Purchase 3 Istaheq (3 males, 2700 SC)

You know what screw it. Buy all the things! Beside when we finally get to the full empire having a couple dozen mini luck elephants and would go well with out forty thousand strong genie touched horse cavalry. (Seriously though what do you guys say to looting every female Dothraki horse left in the world to breed with all four kinds of genie touched horses?)

[X] Gotta catch em' all
-[X] Purchase 2 Ankhegs (Breeding pair, 360 SC)
-[X] Purchase 2 Ceru (Breeding pair, 1180 SC)
-[X] Purchase 1 Istaheq (male, 900 SC)

Trickster314 said:

Not really sure what things you're referring to right there, the last time we brought random magical items was I think back when we lived in Bravos (we were pretty starved for magic back then) and the shadow tower which we used the limited wish on. Pretty sure we haven't brought other magic stuff in MS, most of our magic items come in the form of loot these days.

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I didn't mean magic(al) items alone, I meant in general.

Anywho, might as well consolidate with my previous iteration, for whatever it's worth.

[X] das_slash

Trickster314 said:

[X] Goldfish

There's a much better way to invest that money right in front of us, we can spend that glass-steel on buying trade goods to bring back to PM and sell that off for more funds. Funds that lets us accomplish things such as equipping our adventurers, building our construction projects, running our realm and meeting our obligations. At this point, our wealth is a driver of the "narrative" in this quest (was even used to develop our mothers character), without it we couldn't run our kingdom, aid the nightswatch, and do half of what makes this quest interesting (at least to me and probably some others).

Also, I find your insistence on the animals somehow being a huge part of a "narrative" to be somewhat ignoring the fact that some of our other exotic animals (fear lizards, dinosaur, other stuff) have been mentioned what twice after being introduced? The only things that have had "narrative" impacts have been the dragon pens. Not to mention the lack of importance familiars have had in this quest, we're effectively going to be paying 1/6 of our liquid cash for something that will probably get forgotten about once we leave.

At the end of the day, a narrative is created by what we as players choose to do, not just selecting all the options that DP gives us for fear we miss out on something. Choosing to not do anything or in this case buy anything is just as narratively valid as what you are suggesting.

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Paradosi said:

The Ceru are intelligent, hardly to be dismissed as just "exotic animals"(unless you go with a definition that includes just about everyone).

Also, as to the point about narrative, did you honestly just miss all those posts by Deliste? Is the narrative argument truly so difficult to understand?

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Duesal said:

There's also the fact that trying to argue for the narrative value simple has no effect on some of us when those resources could be better spent elsewhere on things we'll regularly use instead of a couple animals that get maybe a few mentions every hundred or so updates.

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At this point it's almost funny, will have to find a dice roller when I get home to run the odds on so many Comprehension Crit Fails.

[X] das_slash

Gotta catch'em all. We have Dratinis. I won't let go of a Parasect, a Phanpy and a Mudsdale when I see one.

[X] Buy nothing.

I actually don't really want Ceru but I'll have to switch soon to avoid the worst case scenario of Nothing.

There's 12 for Nothing and 14 for various other things so if you want not-Nothing more than your optimised selection you need to consolidate.

Tbh, I've sort of had it with the delayed gratification stint. We're planning on taking Tyrosh next month we should be turning the majority of our resources to that. I mean we already have various money-making schemes on the hob as it were e.g. the braziers, inter-planar trading etc. Spending our newly acquired wealth on yet another time sink with nebulous rewards is unappealing, to say the least.

well, most people want at least 1 male istaqeh, so i guess if nothing else wins, we buy 1 of those.