[X] Of Fishermen, A King
[X] A Curse, Deferred
[X] The Rod of Ages


We can either take the bait or accept the rod. Dare we enter this magical accursed realm?
 
Brand of the Forsaken - If given the opportunity, your companions and servants will always betray you for the sake of immediate personal gain. All friendship, trust, loyalty, principle and long term value will mean nothing in the face of crown and kingdom.

Affliction of Mortality - You have been allotted exactly one hundred years of existence. At the end of those years, you will be struck dead through all possible defense and technicality. No resurrection will bring you back, no state will let your consciousness continue, no immortality will avail you.

Doom of the Solipsist - You are fundamentally unable to grasp the behavior of other sentient beings. You will automatically interpret the their actions through the lens of your own world view and no amount of experience, study, education or enlightenment will ameliorate this.
 
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Affliction of Mortality - You have been allotted exactly one hundred years. At the end of those years, you will cease to exist through all possible defense and technicality. No resurrection will bring you back, no state will let your consciousness continue, no immortality will avail you.
Probably one of the few curses The Accursed doesn't have by my take.
 
Felling Strike is the same strike that was used to end the Tyrant. It is the strike that fells, it knocks down something greater, as man fells the mighty oak.

Empower it with Thousand Cuts. Relive the perfection of killing the Tyrant with every strike. Fell those greater than yourself, again and again. Master the perfection of that blow that you grasp in a second of happenstance.

There is always something greater, a sky above the sky. Cut it all down until all that is left is you. No one stands taller than the last man standing.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by DkArthas on May 27, 2020 at 5:47 AM, finished with 225 posts and 51 votes.
 
Waking up to find El Stats dead and buried is no bueno. Guess I'll lay the build to rest along with my hopes of financial frugality, because this is a 7 Arete race now, boys. Perhaps we can make it to eight, and escape without exhaustion?

[X] Of Fishermen, A King
[X] Substantially (+Letrizia, Tired, +Improved Nutrition)
[X] Star-Cloaked Shroud
[X] The Rod of Ages


So, Gisena thinks to besmirch the noble angler's art with contrivances like explosives. To do away with patience, the skill needed to read ripples on the water's surface like an open book, the brined wisdom of countless generations. Our passion is 'primitive'? She will learn that, in fishing as in Cultivation, there is always a sky above the sky. Or a lake beneath the lake.

We can't discount Ductility, a fish in the creel's worth two in the water. It doesn't matter what you can hook, but what you can reel in. The Mondo Bait's an ironic exercise in overextension; trying to snag social upgrades while fishing demonstrates a lackluster commitment to the craft. Sure, Bait Transcendence might counteract Mondo having a -3 Depth modifier relative to Rod, luring a leviathan up from its repose on the lake-bed, but that's just asking for the rod to break. This is how the 'the big one' becomes 'the one that got away'.
 
So, Gisena thinks to besmirch the noble angler's art with contrivances like explosives. To do away with patience, the skill needed to read ripples on the water's surface like an open book, the brined wisdom of countless generations. Our passion is 'primitive'? She will learn that, in fishing as in Cultivation, there is always a sky above the sky. Or a lake beneath the lake.
Hey, it's not her fault that she doesn't have materials to make a nuke!
 
It only just occurred to me that the way to "mitigate" Doom of the Tyrant is to get high enough charisma people just go "Oh, yeah, you can do that" without an argument.
 
We can't discount Ductility, a fish in the creel's worth two in the water. It doesn't matter what you can hook, but what you can reel in. The Mondo Bait's an ironic exercise in overextension; trying to snag social upgrades while fishing demonstrates a lackluster commitment to the craft. Sure, Bait Transcendence might counteract Mondo having a -3 Depth modifier relative to Rod, luring a leviathan up from its repose on the lake-bed, but that's just asking for the rod to break. This is how the 'the big one' becomes 'the one that got away'.
Mondo bait is about attracting superior fish! All the skill at catching fish in the world ceases to matter if you can't attract the fish in the first place! A 5 + difference in bait quality is nothing to sneeze at not to mention bait transcendence.

The manipulation is for enticing the fish into accepting being caught once you've reeled them in with your tasty bait.
 
When Praetor was chosen people bemoaned the fact that we couldn't take the intelligence upgrade with Felling Strike. "Imagine how with planning we could use it to assassinate targets."

The chance has come again, we have made the choices leading up to making the dream come alive. We have the intelligence to scheme how to do it, the knowledge and connections with Letty to find targets. All we need is the offensive power to end fights quickly and let our power grow.

Join me, and pick the last piece. Our Power will grow quickly as we munch down on the xp of the Voyaging Realm.

How much do we need Charisma, in a group of three? Choose Power, and we gain the power to accelerate our gains and have Charisma when we need it.
 
Also Lord Reaper is just so boring. If we're going to commit to the dark lord aesthetic to the point of naming ourselves Lord Hunger, we might as well go all the way. As a build it basically pays out the nose for a super-special attack and prays we don't get mobbed in our next fight, or that we have in an opportunity to ambush a dude. With Shroud, we still have a normal special attack for stronger foes and all the incredible defensive benefits of the Evening Sky. It simply has less points of failure.
I wouldn't call instagibbing someone at minimum three times as strong as us with sword beams boring. It pays out the nose to hit considerably out of our threat range which is incredibly valuable for our build. Every cut becomes cursed and we can strike with 7 times the power, it's even still relevant against mobs because we can strike 7 times as fast so we can kill 7 people in the time it previously took to kill 1.

If someone three times as strong and fast as us attacks us with Evening Sky we'll just die. We might die more slowly but we'll still die. With Lord Reaper we can kill them easily and reap the rewards.
 
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Mondo bait is about attracting superior fish! All the skill at catching fish in the world ceases to matter if you can't attract the fish in the first place! A 5 + difference in bait quality is nothing to sneeze at not to mention bait transcendence.

The manipulation is for enticing the fish into accepting being caught once you've reeled them in with your tasty bait.
A valid point, but consider the vulnerabilities if we bear both the Mondo Bait and the Apocryphal Curse. Can a simple tin conceal its transcendent allure? Or will we have to deal with sharks and sea monsters and krakens, turning every voyage into a showing of Jaws? An angler catches fish, he is not caught by them. That is... the Dao of a Fisherman.
 
A valid point, but consider the vulnerabilities if we bear both the Mondo Bait and the Apocryphal Curse. Can a simple tin conceal its transcendent allure? Or will we have to deal with sharks and sea monsters and krakens, turning every voyage into a showing of Jaws? An angler catches fish, he is not caught by them. That is... the Dao of a Fisherman.
That's even better! We'll never stop fishing! Our whole life will have been Unlimited Bait Works!
 
That's even better! We'll never stop fishing! Our whole life will have been Unlimited Bait Works!
If only we had Feast of Lives, with the Mondo Bait we'd never go hungry! But the die line is cast, we can't change course now. Just imagine what prizes the Rod of Ages will reel in in time if we go Beyond as a fisherman. Space is a sea, metaphorically speaking, and these Astral Rifts are just begging for us to cast a line through.
 
Having adroitly avoided the trap in Thief King you guys don't see the trap before you in Evening's Sky? It dual classes us just the same, but in an even more despicable class than Thief, the most deplorable of all classes: Politician.

It's time to choose. Are we a Warrior True come to strike down powerful foes in the Voyaging Realm, or a Politician come to glad hand and make backroom deals back at civilization? Are we one who makes things happen or just another in the room where it happens?

The Waifu bait is strong with them both with us traveling, but if feelings develop let them happen naturally through two like souls connecting, not by forcing such feelings along with supernatural Charisma! Why else would you want such high charisma in a group of 3 (4 counting Versh)?

Don't expect Charisma alone to help you with the Tyrant's Curse, it needs to be paired with overwhelming power to force governments that control planets to heed your commands.

You guys do realize the implications of the Strength of the rank 10 mechas right? Assuming the govt has more than just Versh, to reach a power that they can't contest we will probably need to be able to combat multiple rank 10s. Is such a thing possible if we don't pursue Power and the means of acquiring more now?

Come join me on the path of the Reaper King, the path towards victory!
 
But what do we use as bait then? It's all well and good to have the ultimate Rod, but the Fisherman Dao is one of Duality, of opposites attracting and repelling each other. The fisherman and the fish, the boat and the sea, the rod and the bait. One cannot exist without another, and bringing an imbalance into this matter benefits no one!

This is why I propose we use Gisena as bait. It also neatly circumvents the matter of competition.
 
If only we had Feast of Lives, with the Mondo Bait we'd never go hungry! But die line is cast, we can't change course now. Just imagine what prizes the Rod of Ages will reel in in time if we go Beyond as a fisherman. Space is a sea, metaphorically speaking, and these Astral Rifts are just begging for us to cast a line through.
Hmm, Mondo Bait likely has a powerful synergy with Nightmare Praetor though. It's a scheming artifact, so would we be well versed and equipped to scheme our way through the perils of fishing!?
 
Hmm, Mondo Bait likely has a powerful synergy with Nightmare Praetor though. It's a scheming artifact, so would we be well versed and equipped to scheme our way through the perils of fishing!?
Ah, but the Rod of Ages has a +2 Prowess boost, which sounds like it'd synergize with the Praetor's intellect and well-rested buffs. The adroit fisherman plans every expedition carefully. If we overextend with the Mondo Bait and get caught in a high octane combat fishing marathon, we might face a thousand cuts coming from the other direction, whittling away at our stamina.

...really, I wanted to be fiscally responsible and not bait Apocryphal Curse with exhaustion, but then I saw Microwave's picture and then it was all downhill from there. Kyubass... truly, the Incubator assumes a shape that suits its targets. Pitching Gisena in hopes of rapid energy returns is clever. With her personality, how long could she stave off despair?

Also, if anyone's in the market for good PMMM fics, Fargo (and its recent sequel) are the Hammered Down of that fandom. Post-Rebellion, solid worldbuilding, lots of fleshed-out original characters, and hands down the best Kyubey I've ever read.
 
I don't know what visual configuration of facial traits would accurately map to an APP 7 character besides generic stuff like "big eyes and high cheekbones," so your guess is as good as mine! If you showed me pictures I could probably tell you which one is "more like Gisena" than the others.
Humans are 'naturally' close to the peak of 'Appearance' scores, because they're really more an indicator of fitness and cultural pressures. Seeing as 5 is maximum natural cap (in the storyteller system anyway), 6 and 7 probably involve 'natural' glamour/sparkle effects that cause her appearance to shift closer to the subjective viewer's standards of beauty.

Ah, but the Rod of Ages has a +2 Prowess boost, which sounds like it'd synergize with the Praetor's intellect and well-rested buffs. The adroit fisherman plans every expedition carefully. If we overextend with the Mondo Bait and get caught in a high octane combat fishing marathon, we might face a thousand cuts coming from the other direction, whittling away at our stamina.

...really, I wanted to be fiscally responsible and not bait Apocryphal Curse with exhaustion, but then I saw Microwave's picture and then it was all downhill from there. Kyubass... truly, the Incubator assumes a shape that suits its targets. Pitching Gisena in hopes of rapid energy returns is clever. With her personality, how long could she stave off despair?

Also, if anyone's in the market for good PMMM fics, Fargo (and its recent sequel) are the Hammered Down of that fandom. Post-Rebellion, solid worldbuilding, lots of fleshed-out original characters, and hands down the best Kyubey I've ever read.
Probably depends on whether she can use her Nullity to suppress grief. What's this about witch seed? I just purge them. Her Sorcerous Graces might even naturally purge away grief. As for Letrizia, she might actually a longer expected lifespan as a magical girl, due to Curse of Decimation.
 
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[X] Substantially
[X] Lord Reaper


Despite having said that Evening Sky is cool and A Thousand Cuts is lame, I now declare the reverse. The balance of argument power has shifted. No further questions, thank you.

El Stats was my one true love, so maybe my mind has fractured. ;_;

Not only am I ignoring the mondo bait, I am ignoring the entire post (except in that I am acknowledging it here). The true bait is Kingfisher! Don't get drawn into fishing shenanigans; fishing is supposed to be relaxing, not send you into a depression. (Actually the opposite has been my experience, but I am very much not a fisherman so there).
 
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