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On the Road to Elspar [Book 1] (Dryad Mercenary Schoolgirl Quest)

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I certainly get why some take staff here, but I'm not sure I would have taken it as secondary. Maybe more tertiary.

And frankly, unarmed combat? At our size? I know dryads can get buffed strength but come on! We have no reach being small! Power means crap if we cannot hit to start with.
 
Ugh. Well now that having Neianne being the tank/leader AND the support caster might be a problem, I'm not sure again. REALLY wished we knew what the others were picking.

I do still like the idea of her buffing herself to lift the BS one-handed and swing it like a normal sword, to make the enemy's jaw drop even further.
 
[X] Plan Leadership
-[X] Strategy and Logistics
-[X] Tactics and Command
-[X] Tactics and Command
-[X] Buster Sword
-[X] Social Time
-[X] Social Time

The way I see Buster Sword, Social Time, Strategy and Logistics and Tactics and Command are non-negotiable given we picked us as leader and, off course, our main weapon. From there I decided to double down on leading the squad since we can pick up other things later but this needs to be done well from the start.
 
We've got a spear user who can tank, a katana DPS, artillery mage, and heavy weapon user. I think if we don't have Neianne play tank then this should work pretty well to have her deal with big opponents and heal.
 
In my case? I'm mostly voting for a staff plan at the time there wasn't one with daggers that I had liked. Now though...
[X] Plan Little Commander
I'm still slightly feeling like Staff might be the better call because HEALER! But on the flipside, Azelea showed the problem with Dryad healers- they're better 'War Medics' since they can do big heal bursts to deal with heavy wounds at a price to overall 'save one more life' type work-the tendancy makes it hard for them to measure their output and apply triage as they go.
 
Tnoz said:
Ugh. Well now that having Neianne being the tank/leader AND the support caster might be a problem, I'm not sure again. REALLY wished we knew what the others were picking.

I do still like the idea of her buffing herself to lift the BS one-handed and swing it like a normal sword, to make the enemy's jaw drop even further.
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We shouldn't be tailoring our build to meet the squad needs too much. Remember that many squads only stick together through graduation, and once we become a fully-fledged mercenary we may be partnering with a variety of people. Focusing on what makes the squad good might help us win the tournament, but if Siegelinde gets called back to her home and Elizabeth goes off wandering post graduation, we'll have needlessly restricted ourselves. Vote for what is best for Neianne as an individual, not as a member of this squad.
 
*SAILOR MOON POSE*

Everyone prepare yourselves! Open your hearts and minds! This here is a once and a lifetime moment! It's a ultra super mega Minx effort post!

[ ] Plan The Littlest Leader
-[ ] Strategy and Logistics
-[ ] Tactics and Command
-[ ] Buster Swordx2
-[ ] Advanced Unarmed Combat
-[ ] Social Time

This is the plan!

And this, is Neianne!
​

Today, here in this post, I will be presenting my argument that narratively, this plan makes the most sense!

We'll start with the first two choices of the plan: -[ ] Strategy and Logistics -[ ] Tactics and Command.

So, what type of person is Neianne, what type of person does she wish to be? She cares about changing herself for the better. She cares about being more confident. She is resigned and philosophical. She is angry and vengeful.
She is the type to wish to be the best leader that she could possibly be for her friends but she also would wish to learn the best ways possible to prevent the Tenereians last attack. She doesn't care about stealth and her first knee jerk decision would not be to take Bestiary Studies either. She just got this new position and throwing herself headfirst into it so she does not let Sieglinde or *gasp* Elizabeth down would be the most important things on her mind. This also touches on the discussions we were having before about how so nobles would feel with Neianne as the leader of the team. While some don't care about this, others like me do, and seeing her take this super serious can only say good things about us, our character, the future of our team, and our future as well.

Next, the second two parts of the plan. -[ ] Buster Swordx2 -[ ] Advanced Unarmed Combat.

So, Neianne, as I stated before, does not need a staff. It has just about the same draws and drawbacks that the Buster Sword has and while it's weight makes it better for close quarters combat this is killed by the fact that she would have to carry and maneuver around with both of these large weapons on her person as opposed to just... not. She already has the Buster Sword, and doubling down on it can make her an absolute monster with it, so she does not need another close to mid range weapon. Unarmed Combat, hell even daggers, makes a world of more sense. What I mean to say is that she's already a melee monster. But, currently, this is only true if she has a weapon in her hand. I propose to choose Unarmed Combat for the cases where we simply just can not get to our sword. Something that has happened before (coughthestagecoachscenecough). Imgine how shocked those bandits would have been for this smol girl to hop out and proceed to rip a boulder out of the ground like so.
​

​
I honestly do not need to explain why -[ ] Social Time was picked, it's one of the main reasons we all love this quest!

​
Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this, and I hope that all of this has reached your hearts!
*Sailor Moon Pose*
Because, I only wish the best for Neianne and us voters, and that means you!​
 
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[x] Plan The Littlest Leader

Like the reasoning I've seen for it. Still want to pick up magic at some point but it doesn't need to be this year. Definitely not sure on this plan though and could definitely be swayed.
 
[X] Plan Reinforcing Strengths

I'll vote reinforcing strength before even going littlest leader. Lifting boulders doesn't belong to unarmed combat, it's just natural strength. And my objection over the fact that we have no reach remains.

Anyone read Hajime no Ippo here? This will be pretty much the same. Neianne unarmed has -0- range and is at the mercy of ANYTHING taller than her or with a weapon. If she close in for super clsoe range? Yes, they're dead. If we can hurt them over armor anyway. Outside of it? Neianne risk eating hits just trying to rush in and get them into her range.

You can be sure I'll vote daggers of unarmed next year plan.
 
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[X] Plan Reinforcing Strengths
Adhoc vote count started by Jrin on Jan 29, 2019 at 10:58 PM, finished with 1805 posts and 39 votes.
  • [X] Plan The Littlest Leader
    -[x] Strategy and Logistics
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[X] Buster Swordx2
    -[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
    [x] Social Time
    [X] Plan Reinforcing Strengths
    -[x] Buster Sword
    -[x] Staff
    [x] Social Time
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[x] Bestiary Studies
    -[x] Stealth
    [X] Plan Leader
    -[x] Strategy and Logistics
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[x] Trade and Commerce
    -[x] Buster Sword
    [x] Tome
    [x] Social Time
    [X] Plan Walking WMD
    -[x] Buster Sword
    [x] Tactics and Command
    [x] Strategy and Logistics
    [x] Social Time
    [x] Buster Swordx2
    [x] Advanced Unarmed Combatx2
    [X] Plan Fist Based Leadership and Networking
    -[x] Strategy and Logistics
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[x] Buster Sword
    -[x] Advanced Unarmed Combatx2
    [x] Social Time
    [X] Smol Magic Murderblender
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[x] Bestiary Studies
    -[x] Buster Sword
    [x] Tome
    -[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
    [x] Social Time
    [X] Smol Magic Murderblender
    [x] Plan Horror Movie Monster
    - [x] Stealth
    - [x] Buster Sword
    - [x] Tactics and Command
    - [x] Strategy and Logistics
    - [x] Social Time
    [X] Plan Leadership
    -[x] Strategy and Logistics
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[x] Buster Sword
    [x] Social Time
    [X] Plan The Littlest Leader
    -[x] Strategy and Logistics
    -[x] Tactics and Command
    -[X] Buster Swordx2
    -[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
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I mean, this is all kinda anime-based, so I'm not sure how much into the technicalities of, like, relative-reach between two combatants who are unarmed.

I'm pretty sure all that'd do is make it so that @Kei writes up a different, like, aesthetics of unarmed combat focusing on mobility and speed and being hard to hit.

******

After all, Buster Swords themselves are IRL unrealistic, so we're clearly going for a certain type of abstraction here.
 
Megaolix said:
I'll vote reinforcing strength before even going littlest leader. Lifting boulders doesn't belong to unarmed combat, it's just natural strength. And my objection over the fact that we have no reach remains.

Anyone read Hajime no Ippo here? This will be pretty much the same. Neianne unarmed has -0- range and is at the mercy of ANYTHING taller than her or with a weapon. If she close in for super clsoe range? Yes, they're dead. If we can hurt them over armor anyway. Outside of it? Neianne risk eating hits just trying to rush in and get them into her range.
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Do... do you know what martial arts are? That's what this is. It's teaching her martial arts. Neianne has a lot of strength already.

Formal training will not only give her more strength but the speed and the flexibility to use it.

All that stuff you are taking about, range? Does not matter. It literally will not matter because Neianne will be trained to negate all that.

Your own argument works against you. Neianne is a small opponent which makes her harder to hit if she is fast enough. Which... taking a class on Unarmed Combat will cultivate.

Edit: Also, we have no reach? What the fuck is our sword? It has the same reach as the staff, I assume since people keep comparing it to a door.
 
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The problem I have with Littlest Leader (besides disagreeing with Unarmed) is that it's too martial. Besides Social, everything on it is directly related to combat. Neianne is not a muscle head in my book, and she should have at least one class that's not directly about fighting and warfare.
 
Lazy Minx said:
Do... do you know what martial arts are? That's what this is. It's teaching her martial arts. Neianne has a lot of strength already.

Formal training will not only give her more strength but the speed and the flexibility to use it.

All that stuff you are taking about, range? Does not matter. It literally will not matter because Neianne will be trained to negate all that.

Your own argument works against you. Neianne is a small opponent which makes her harder to hit if she is fast enough. Which... taking a class on Unarmed Combat will cultivate.
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Unarmed combat is usually a last resort option for a goddamn reason. The issue is that opponents we'll face won't use martial arts, they'll usually use weapons!

Neianne is small. Cute, but it's like a negative modifier for close range. The time she need to get in? Anyone with the speed to react can swing a sword at her. Anyone that know what they're doing won't leave a window for Neianne to get inside. This isn't anime world here and slashing a body that do try to get closer to you is not actually that hard.
 
Megaolix said:
Unarmed combat is usually a last resort option for a goddamn reason. The issue is that opponents we'll face won't use martial arts, they'll usually use weapons!

Neianne is small. Cute, but it's like a negative modifier for close range. The time she need to get in? Anyone with the speed to react can swing a sword at her. Anyone that know what they're doing won't leave a window for Neianne to get inside. This isn't anime world here and slashing a body that do try to get closer to you is not actually that hard.
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Um, it literally is anime world here.
 
Megaolix said:
[X] Plan Reinforcing Strengths

I'll vote reinforcing strength before even going littlest leader. Lifting boulders doesn't belong to unarmed combat, it's just natural strength. And my objection over the fact that we have no reach remains.

Anyone read Hajime no Ippo here? This will be pretty much the same. Neianne unarmed has -0- range and is at the mercy of ANYTHING taller than her or with a weapon. If she close in for super clsoe range? Yes, they're dead. If we can hurt them over armor anyway. Outside of it? Neianne risk eating hits just trying to rush in and get them into her range.

You can be sure I'll vote daggers of unarmed next year plan.
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I like unarmed mostly to catch people that manage to get past our buster sword, gives them a nasty surprise. It's much quicker to switch to over daggers, and fully utilizes our extra strength. If they're in armor, grappling is super handy and we could snap limbs or strike at the head.
 
Tnoz said:
The problem I have with Littlest Leader (besides disagreeing with Unarmed) is that it's too martial. Besides Social, everything on it is directly related to combat. Neianne is not a muscle head in my book, and she should have at least one class that's not directly about fighting and warfare.
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Except these are not muscle head classes, she would totally take these classes because she is serious enough to know she should, and she is literally at war school. It's as martial as it needs to be.

I am trying to make the most in character vote while addressing all the things that need to be addressed. This is the plan that does that. She needs the information in these classes more than she needs anything out of them. She has never been the type to care for Stealth and that is still a war class and etc.
 
Hmm, so let's see:
Social Time is essential, Tactics and Command seems necessary if we're going to be squad leader, and our buster sword is our primary weapon so getting more training there makes sense. That's half our slots there.

For remaining, I'd like to see:
[ ] Secondary Weapon
[ ] Something "Academic"
[ ] Free Pick

I think it's important to not 100% focus on directly combat applicable subjects (see the speech about not just being soldiers) and we should have at least one "learn some stuff from books" class. I'm not opposed to the idea of a magic secondary weapon, though I'm somewhat of two minds about it, and then of a second two minds on Tome vs. Staff. If not magic, daggers or a ranged weapon seems best to me. If magic... my main problem with Staff is just the visual of "buster sword plus staff" makes no sense to me. And I like Tome to some extent just for the likely Elizabeth interaction.

UberJJK said:
Finally I was a bit conflicted over the last choice but I ended up going with Stealth. The Buster Sword does interfere with stealth yes but we've already seen just how amazingly effective Neianne can be in forested environments at stealth. This will help us greatly with monster slaying since odds are they are going to be living in the more wild areas where Neianne's stealth will be effective. It also synergizes well with the use of the Staff since we can sneak in, apply debuffs via Staff, and then close in for the kill with our Buster Sword. Plus it does fit with one of Neianne's defining character moments last year; sneaking past the Wyvern.
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I'd maybe do Scouting and Tracking over Stealth with your plan? Otherwise your plan seems the closest to my thinking that I've seen get traction.

Lazy Minx said:
[ ] Plan The Littlest Leader
-[ ] Strategy and Logistics
-[ ] Tactics and Command
-[ ] Buster Swordx2
-[ ] Advanced Unarmed Combat
-[ ] Social Time
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My biggest problem with this plan is that Buster Sword x2 seems unnecessary and uninteresting to me. From a non-existent mechanical perspective, I feel like our "build" should be 3 slots Buster Sword / 2 slots Secondary Weapon, and we already have one slot Buster Sword from this year. From a narrative point of view, for variety's sake I'd rather see 1xBuster Sword this year and again third year, rather than 2 this year. Plus we've already had "giant sword training" scenes, so I'm not sure how much meat is left there.

And also from a narrative point of view Littlest Leader is also 100% soldiering and combat training, which seems a bit of a waste.

Tentatively I guess
[X] Plan Reinforcing Strengths
as I think that will be more interesting to read about of the two leading plans.
 
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