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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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BoneyM said:
[Kragg] sighs in annoyance. "The only thing manlings are better at than finding stupid new ways to die is somehow surviving them. As long as she doesn't jump into the middle of any other godly squabbles, she'll be fine. So I fully expect her to do it again by the end of the week."
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/sees that Avatar is in second place with a hundred votes.
What do you know, Kragg was right.

Less tongue-in-cheek:
Picking something because 'we might never have another chance' seems really silly. Given how rare it is to get traits we are never going to have most of the options presented. We simply don't have the time, in or out of universe, to do everything. All these options should be treated as a one-time offer because we cannot guarantee ever having another 'pick a trait' opportunity.
 
SuperSonicSound said:
Well if that's your worry we've word of god that avatar isn't chaos bait.
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That just leaves our buddy Stromfels, who has personal reason to complain. Never go near water? (And also everyone else. Dwarven gods are mostly all right, but Sigmar will probably trigger...issues, various Elven and Dark Elven gods alike could end up messy, etc.) Ranald smiles on gamblers until he doesn't. It's still a step too far.
 
Angelform said:
/sees that Avatar is in second place with a hundred votes.
What do you know, Kragg was right.

Less tongue-in-cheek:
Picking something because 'we might never have another chance' seems really silly. Given how rare it is to get traits we are never going to have most of the options presented. We simply don't have the time, in or out of universe, to do everything. All these options should be treated as a one-time offer because we cannot guarantee ever having another 'pick a trait' opportunity.
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Most of us are not picking it for pure rarity from what I see.
 
[x] Plan Researchers
-[x] Recruit Esbern and Seija
-[x] Recruit Johann
These are ones whose current activities most fall under learning advisor studying spiders and skaven respectively and if the ambers stay on it will be to look at more gribblies. Panoramia already has a contract with the halflings and max has his smithing studies.
editing to add:
[X] Plan One step after another
as above
[X] Plan Fields of Gold
[X] Plan all but the ambers.
both the same
[X] Plan recruit everyone!
[X]Plan Everyone
[X] Plan Wizard Hoard
[X] Recruit Johann
Basically, I really want authority over Johann


[x] Take an active hand in the EIC
If it's going to be part of our information network we need to connect to it and shape that way.

[x] Infiltrator: Nobody seems to guard anything well enough to keep you out. +2 Intrigue, +10 bonus to infiltration.
[x] Scout: Sometimes the best weapon is knowing where everything is. +2 Intrigue, +20 to infiltrating all but the highest-security areas.
We're going to be doing a dangerous scout
[x] Magical Duellist: Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.
Ah ha ha ha!
[x] Practical > Collaborator: Though you still prefer fieldwork to paperwork, you've found that as long as someone else is doing the actual writing, you're capable of producing some amazing papers. +2 Learning, +20 bonus to dictating papers.
Better papers, more favour
[x] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
This is our job

[x] Donate it to whoever ends up leading the Undumgi.
This is where it will see the most use
 
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Why is everybody's first go-to argument after that WoG that Boney totally only meant Chaos Gods, and literally nothing else? What part of a trait about knowing what we're doing gives people the idea that it's an anti-chaos ability, rather than simply having more influence over the process no matter who's mucking around?

We've never even so much as touched a daemon (of the ruinous powers). Why do people think that this trait would be so highly specialized?
 
chocolote12 said:
Why is everybody's first go-to argument after that WoG that Boney totally only meant Chaos Gods, and literally nothing else? What part of a trait about knowing what we're doing gives people the idea that it's an anti-chaos ability, rather than simply having more influence over the process no matter who's mucking around?

We've never even so much as touched a daemon (of the ruinous powers). Why do people think that this trait would be so highly specialized?
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I agree. Per Word of God we can only invent spells for things that we have a trait for or crit like mad. So on that basis alone i'm going to vote for this but the name of the trait is pretty important as well and Avatar usually suggests more than a temporary mantling of power. Valten could have been described as an Avatar of Sigmar. I want that potential thematic connection to Ranald.
 
[X] Take an active hand in the EIC

Honestly, I'd like to put in work for the EIC to help out Karak Eight Peaks economically, develop our intelligence network south of Barak Vaar through our EIC traders, and I also think that the longer we don't keep an eye on the EIC, the higher the risk that eventually the Grey College would intervene. The EIC is going to be an active concern that Mathilde would have to handle one way or another for decades more, so I think establishing the foundations for participating within the EIC is an investment for the future. From what I've been reading from the thread, turning the EIC into an intelligence asset seems to be one of the big motivating factors, and concern of Grey College intervention if we don't demonstrate to the College we are keeping an eye on the EIC being another.

[X] Plan Fields of Gold
-[x] Recruit Maximilian
-[X] Recruit Johann

I'd have rather voted a plan to recruit Johann, Maximillian and Panoramia, but that doesn't seem to be a winnable option. If I have to choose, however, the Grey College has already strongly suggested to us that we ought to play a more active role in keeping an eye on Johann, and I'd rather not let it develop into an order. Also Johann is a potential collaborator with many useful skills. On the other hand, I'd rather not pull Panoramia from her job with the Halflings to promote food security in Karak Eight Peaks.


[X] Avatar: You're growing worryingly familiar with being used as a conduit by deities. ???

I like the mystery box.... and this is likely a one time opportunity. Also, I don't see the case for taking the next leading option Magical Duellist now, over this, since we no doubt would get plenty of opportunities for getting Magical Duelist just by fighting other spell casters. To be honest, I think comparisons of Avatar to Snake Juice is disingenuous: researching Snake Juice consumes an action, while I suspect Avatar will proc in the course of an action, as one of multiple traits influencing the results of said actions. And I think most of the fearmongering over Avatar is just speculation. Plus, the one effect we know, increased resistance against the Chaos gods is always a good thing as a Sorceror, and I think that assuming Kragg's belt gives someone 100% immunity to direct mindjacking by the chaos gods is an over-extrapolation built on the assumption that Kragg's belt does not have limits.

I can see the case for getting Magical Duelist in the long run, especially within the context of the College, but I don't see why we need to do so now when this is likely one of the traits that would keep cropping up. If we were to plunge right back into a War Turn, I might have voted differently, but if we are heading to regular turns, that's another issue altogether.

Furthermore, Avatar is a crystallization of the unique experiences that Mathilde has gone through, which defines Mathilde the person. Magical Duelist is a product of a significantly less unique set of experiences, one that many Wizards who survive and go through campaigns and battles with other magical casters would likely eventually obtain.

[X] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.

It fits our role as a Court Wizard to hone our magical senses even further and I suspect it will see many interesting uses both in research, in combat, in scouting, and in counter-spelling and disrupting rituals.

[X] Donate it to whoever ends up leading the Undumgi.

Karak Umgi must stand. The Torc would likely keep it standing.
 
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BoneyM said:
"Ermanrich!" The man turns and peers into the room. Part of nobility is never having privacy, but good guards would pretend to be deaf until they were called upon. "If Anton told you to throw me out, would you?"

He looks at you doubtfully. "I would try."

"There you go. If these petty noble girls try to badger you, have them ejected. Doubt they'd put up more of a fight than I could. Might cause a political fuss, but less so than the headache they'd be if they succeeded."
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Your peasant upbringing is showing, Mathile :V
 
Rright.
So, as I don't see Scout/Assassin/Infiltrator having a chance in hell of winning, change of vote.

[X] Plan Fields of Gold
[x] Magical Duellist: Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.
[x] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.


Gotta go bully some virgin Shamans.
No firm opinion on EIC one way or another.
 
I'm not that interested in the mystery box when the labelled boxes are so good. Plus I see avatar events like casting battle magic - amazing effects but, even if we're good at it, horribly risky.
 
Annoyed yet not overly surprised that Court Wizard won. More annoyed that the arguments in support of it were full of shit frequently based on fantasy.
I would have been enraged if the Marry Me foolishness won, especially after I curtailed my vote to help Marry For Love gain a bigger lead.

[X] Plan Fields of Gold
-[x] Recruit Maximilian
-[X] Recruit Johann
[X] Avatar: You're growing worryingly familiar with being used as a conduit by deities. ???
[X] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
[X] Donate it to whoever ends up leading the Undumgi
[X] Take an active hand in the EIC


@BoneyM I understand that no-one else seems bothered by this, so unless that situation greatly changes it'll be my last time requesting it, but;
Please, will you consider ranked voting for options we can only ever take once (marriage, adviser position, favour spending, etc)?
24 hours in which to vote, with vital clarifications coming at any point through that period, with many people voting straight after reading the update and never again, or not having time to catch up on the runaway thread and which way the required strategic position is swinging...
It's a lot of work, and there's a lot of possibility for unpleasant surprises that I think could be somewhat reduced if people were able to convey in their vote "I don't care between options 1 and 3, but 4 is awesome and I would not take 2 for love or money" and not have to spend more energy having their results reflect that.

So, if you don't hate the idea, and think it has merit, would you consider... I don't know, not immediately enacting it but mentioning it in a post so that most readers would see it and give their opinion?
Anyway, I get that the chances for this are about nil, so I'll leave it. Sorry for bothering you about this again, and thanks for your time.
 
Andmeuths said:
Also, I don't see the case for taking the next leading option Magical Duellist now, over this, since we no doubt would get plenty of opportunities for getting Magical Duelist just by fighting other spell casters.

I can see the case for getting Magical Duelist in the long run, especially within the context of the College, but I don't see why we need to do so now when this is likely one of the traits that would keep cropping up.
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Because fighting other spellcasters isn't like grinding mobs in an RPG, and probably isn't supposed to be as easy as Mathilde makes it look. A lot of Come to think of it, ALL our counter-casting domination so far has been at the whim of the dice (that basically gave us hilariously incompetent or terribly unlucky opponents); that one time we would've eaten an 'Eadbutt was after we got that rune belt.

There's always a bigger fish, and there's no guarantee she'll get another stab at Magical Duellist before meeting her match. In the meantime, I'd much rather have another layer of extra insurance.
 
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Abhorsen said:
I'm wondering what the reason is people are choosing the Windsage option?
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It - namely, greater ability to sense the Winds, to the point they are better than normal human senses - works well with pretty much any future career path.
It sounds cool.
It probably can work as ersatz-dark vision, or low light vision.
Unlike, say, Avatar or Collegiat, it is liable to come up and be useful regardless of what we want to do.
 
Abhorsen said:
I'm wondering what the reason is people are choosing the Windsage option?
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Windsage is our equivalent to a mixture of Athyric attunement and magical senses. It's almost foundational to our usage of magic and understanding of what magic is doing. Imagine being a painter with bad eye sight, Windsage would be like having that eye sight improved. It doesn't strictly make you a better mage but ho boy would it make it easier.
 
Abhorsen said:
I'm wondering what the reason is people are choosing the Windsage option?
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There's a couple of reasons. It gives a +2 to learning, which means that learning will be at 22, a very respectable number for our position as a Court Wizard. Furthermore, it should give us increased insights into the nature of magic and the winds, as well as human emotions which resonate with those winds.

Given our task to investigate and neutralize magical effects, having an even better understanding of winds will be incredibly valuable. On top of that, a better understanding of winds and emotions will be amazing for our research into enchantments and our exotic research materials.
 
[X] Plan recruit everyone!
-[X] Recruit Esbern and Seija
-[x] Recruit Panoramia
-[x] Recruit Maximilian
-[X] Recruit Johann
[X] Take an active hand in the EIC
[X] Collegiate: They say managing Wizards is like herding cats. Herding cats isn't actually that difficult. Can manage three other wizards per action spent.
[X] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
[X] Donate it to whoever ends up leading the Undumgi.
 
DragonParadox said:
That goes against the basic premise of the setting. Order Gods make magic safer not more risky.
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But not necessarily safer than using less magic. Finding a way to avoid eating the energy field bigger than our head is more conducive to a long career than chomping down with base chance of exploding/getting our own god killed halved or whatever.
 
[X] Take an active hand in the EIC

[X] Infiltrator: Nobody seems to guard anything well enough to keep you out. +2 Intrigue, +10 bonus to infiltration.
[X] Scout: Sometimes the best weapon is knowing where everything is. +2 Intrigue, +20 to infiltrating all but the highest-security areas.
[X] Assassin: Combat is easiest when the other person doesn't realize they're in it. +2 Intrigue, +40 bonus against unaware targets.
[X] Magical Duellist: Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.

[X] Blooded > Campaigner: You've seen more than your share of battles. +2 Martial, +10 bonus to fighting alongside others.
[X] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.

[X] Return it with your thanks to the Bright College. +2 College Favour.
[X] Donate it to whoever ends up leading the Undumgi.
 
Blorp said:
Because fighting other spellcasters isn't like grinding mobs in an RPG, and probably isn't supposed to be as easy as Mathilde makes it look. A lot of Come to think of it, ALL our counter-casting domination so far has been at the whim of the dice (that basically gave us hilariously incompetent or terribly unlucky opponents); that one time we would've eaten an 'Eadbutt was after we got that rune belt.
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We already have Waaaghbane, and I suspect we'd be fighting Orc Shamans before having to face off against a Skaven Grey Seer. So yes, I don't see the urgency of taking Magical Duelists, when we already have Waaaghbane and would likely get the next shot at Magical Duelist through Waaaghbane. Now, if the Head Ranger vote won, or the Assassin trait was in the lead, my position might change. But I think Waaaghbane +20 is likely going to suffice for the next few turns.
 
Still thinking about the traits myself.
Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts: I don't think I want to be The Chosen One. I think Mathilde might be remembered by some academics and historians if she were to die back in transit to her new home, but really the world will forget her in time. I think I'm fine with that, moreover I think I like that. I feel I don't want Dame Weber to be famous the world over or remembered forever due to destroying Chaos forever or something like that.

Mathilde is (for a Magister of the Grey Order) fairly average I think. I would like for us to become exceptional (making Lord Magister would be an easy way of measuring this), but aiming for godhood or something similar is not something I'm interested in. Lets just do the wizard-quasi-soldier thing and live life, maybe invent some magic or stop some rebellion. I think that would be fun.

Anyone here feel/think something similar?
 
noliar said:
But not necessarily safer than using less magic. Finding a way to avoid eating the energy field bigger than our head is more conducive to a long career than chomping down with base chance of exploding/getting our own god killed halved or whatever.
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Actually yes safer than using less magic, being a warrior priest of Sigmar for instance is a lot safer on a battlefield than being just a knight with no ability to smite your enemies.
 
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[x] Magical Duellist: Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.
[x] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
 
JaceAoT said:
Still thinking about the traits myself.
Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts: I don't think I want to be The Chosen One. I think Mathilde might be remembered by some academics and historians if she were to die back in transit to her new home, but really the world will forget her in time. I think I'm fine with that, moreover I think I like that. I feel I don't want Dame Weber to be famous the world over or remembered forever due to destroying Chaos forever or something like that.

Mathilde is (for a Magister of the Grey Order) fairly average I think. I would like for us to become exceptional (making Lord Magister would be an easy way of measuring this), but aiming for godhood or something similar is not something I'm interested in. Lets just do the wizard-quasi-soldier thing and live life, maybe invent some magic or stop some rebellion. I think that would be fun.

Anyone here feel/think something similar?
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I would not say her faith in Ranald is average, when she had a choice between trusting her arcane training and trusting her god she chose 'god'. That is rather extraordinary, also she trusted the dwarfs with full disclosure of the event but not the Grey College. So the good ship 'lets just be a normal wizard only competent' has sailed I'd say. That said I don't want to be 'the Chosen One' I want to help enact real lasting change beyond Mathilde's life
 
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