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A Simple Transaction I

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Hunt vs Temple looks very close! Arguments and omake power will be the decider if this keeps up. On the other hand, no one wants +Letrizia.

Isn't it sad?
 
I wonder if Gisena could act as a beater if we go hunting. Flash an AoE nullification to flush the magic beasts out of cover with Hunger lying in wait out of its range.
 
Rihaku said:
You have ++INT, ++++CHA, +Might, ++++AGI, Might's Repose, Fell-Handed Stroke and Rank 4. You acquired the Evening Sky.
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Looking at our build now, We're pretty suited to a dungeon crawl. 4 AGI means that evading traps should be relatively easy, and if we die, we can just respawn as a wraith,and wait out the health respawn. Spamming Fell Handed should be helpful in dungeon bypass of several areas, and our ++ INT could help us maneuver our way through the dungeon.

If we combine it with some 2 Arete Picks while we are inside, we should be well set.

[X] Temple of the False Moon
[X] +1 pick during next Experience spend
 
Cariyaga said:
Apologies for the obvious question, but where's our character sheet?
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Rihaku said:
Hero's Panopoly
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It's this post. Well as close to one as we've got anyway.

BrainInAJar said:
We have reapeatedly fought dangerous things and would have died if not for the defensive options. Hunt is not without risk, it's just less than Temple.
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After every fight we've doubled down and taken another defensive option, we've got protection against most attacks with evening sky, then we took increased agility and insurance against exhaustion and most recently we bought an extra life system that heals us to full once a day.
 
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It's interesting to see Experience with such a dominant lead this vote. While it's true that Experience is more efficient than Arete in baseline stat improvement at low quantities, its benefits are mostly temporal and incremental, rather than the game-changers that 25 and even 7 Arete options offer. How many picks would you need to become as well-protected as the Evening Sky has made you? Would such comprehensive defense even have been possible with picks alone?

Something to think about.

Anyway, I think you guys are undervaluing the potential benefits of Civilization here. If you play things well it's certainly possible for Civilization to yield better rewards than hunting by your lonesome. Mercenaries to help you, hunters and information brokers with tales of legendary beasts, access to whatever native magics are available... As Liefang said, people are power! And your build is rather suited for it comparatively.

After all, it only makes sense that a man that pretty would be a little crazy!
 
Rihaku said:
It's interesting to see Experience with such a dominant lead this vote. While it's true that Experience is more efficient than Arete in baseline stat improvement at low quantities, its benefits are mostly temporal and incremental, rather than the game-changers that 25 and even 7 Arete options offer. How many picks would you need to become as well-protected as the Evening Sky has made you? Would such comprehensive defense even have been possible with picks alone?
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Sure, Unshattered alone would do it with 3 picks. At 0.5 Arete/pick, that leaves us 11 picks in the positive. Leaving aside Unshattered, 14 copies of.. idk, Might, would leave us able to slaughter enemies with obscene stats. Furthermore, our build has been Arete heavy, and if we want to conserve Arete, getting more picks to stack up on low cost options amd render a 2 Arete option unneeded is the way to go.
 
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Have you guys successfully taken the +Arete bonus even a single time? I don't recall.

Shard said:
Sure, Unshattered alone would do it with 3 picks. At 0.5 Arete/pick, that leaves us 11 picks in the positive. Leaving aside Unshattered, 14 copies of.. idk, Might, would leave us able to slaughter enemies with obscene stats. Furthermore, our build has been Arete heavy, and if we want to conserve Arete, getting more picks to stack up on low cost options amd render a 2 Arete option unneeded is the way to go.
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Unshattered would protect you in a different way than Evening Sky, and at substantial additional cost. Should a power granted by the Accursed himself be discarded so cheaply?
 
Man, if we're going to throw ourselves into maximum danger anyway, we should have taken What Rains May Come. That would've put Letrizia on her feet immediately, given us immediate safety and time to heal while also saving 4 Arete.

As is rapidly becoming the usual, the correct option likely was and probably still is "be more like the Forebear". So upon being faced with a rapidly scaling enemy that will come after you in the immediately future, let's ask ourselves WWFD: What Would the Forebear Do?
 
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runeblue360 said:
Man, if we're going to throw ourselves into maximum danger anyway, we should have taken What Rains May Come. That would've put Letrizia on her feet immediately, given us immediate safety and time to heal while also saving 4 Arete.

As is rapidly becoming the usual, the correct option was and probably still is "be more like the Forebear". So upon being faced with a rapidly scaling enemy that will come after you in the immediately future, let's ask ourselves WWFD: What Would the Forebear Do?
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Taken what Rains, killed the Gamer dude, and already be looking to hit an Arete 25 option with something like 11 banked already.

Well, okay, in this situation, going tomb hunting is pretty IC for our hero, its how he got Forebear's blade to begin with. Apart from that.. I think probably powerlevel. Civilization, and conquer it?
 
Civilization is also the only option that lets Letrizia participate fully, since her Armament likely won't fit inside a temple and is a bit slow to accompany you on proactive hunts.You didn't give her Undying Vanguard, so how will the logistics of that work out? If she parks Verschlengorge outside and goes in with you, you'll have to cover her the whole and Verschlengorge will still be exposed. If she stays outside in Verschlengorge, they could still be attacked by Astral Rifts while you're inside. Do you keep Gisena with her and deprive yourself of the Sorceress' aid?

None of these problems are things you'll have to think about if you choose Civilization and go to town!
 
[X] Make For Civilization

Well, okay, if we are going to civilization to try and exploit a synergistic magic system (Battle Magic or 7 Seals sounds good), we probably want the Arete.

[X] +0.5 Arete
 
Pristine Star works best when we have a little downtime between fights, so not immediately throwing our still recovering buddy into danger again before they're 100% would be nice.

Also we could probably bargain even Tyrannical terms in civilization if we leverage the fact that if you stay around us you'd recover from any non bed binding injury in less than two weeks. Mr. Healer has a take it or leave it attitude, but if you're willing to put up with it you'd get something no matter of riches would have bought you.
 
Pristine star doesn't really speed healing much from my read, it just means that even the most serious wounds heal unless applied with a cursed magic effect of some kind, like the Tyrant's blade.
 
Current vote count?

Byzantine said:
Pristine star doesn't really speed healing much from my read, it just means that even the most serious wounds heal unless applied with a cursed magic effect of some kind, like the Tyrant's blade.
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It speeds healing somewhat. You'd go from 1% Health to 100% Health in 14 days, so that's ~7% health a day. Going from an amputated arm and leg to fully healed in less than two weeks is certainly rapid growth!
 
Rihaku said:
Thread participation has yielded a reward. Choose carefully, a consistent strategy here can pay dividends:
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[X] Hunt
[X] +Letrizia

Hmm. I think there might be value in consistently deciding to choose a specific type of participation reward. Combined that with how neither of the other options necessarily provide immediately useful power and I think taking a +Letrizia might be useful here, assuming that + comes in the form of her feeling like we saved her life.
 
Rihaku said:
Civilization is also the only option that lets Letrizia participate fully, since her Armament likely won't fit inside a temple and is a bit slow to accompany you on proactive hunts.You didn't give her Undying Vanguard, so how will the logistics of that work out? If she parks Verschlengorge outside and goes in with you, you'll have to cover her the whole and Verschlengorge will still be exposed. If she stays outside in Verschlengorge, they could still be attacked by Astral Rifts while you're inside. Do you keep Gisena with her and deprive yourself of the Sorceress' aid?

None of these problems are things you'll have to think about if you choose Civilization and go to town!
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There's only room for one best girl in this quest and it isn't Zea!
 
Rihaku said:
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Second Stage - 2 Arete. Those who believed the Forebear felled were in for an unpleasant surprise. Upon reaching 0% health, instead of dying manifest as your Second Stage, a being of wraithflesh and shadow that pierces the curtain of the real. If your Second Stage is not slain, revert to your ordinary human form, fully healed, after a night has passed. Second Stage has [-Strength, +Agility], weakness to certain uncommon types of damage, and minor phasing abilities. Your Artifacts phase with you.
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The Forebear and Tyrant are similar to Melkor and Sauron, so it's not surprising that when killed we gain the power to become a wraith. Turning into a wraith, and turning other people into wraiths, was something Sauron and company did quite a bit. So if we're going to guess what the form of rage is, let's start by seeing what Sauron's second and third forms were. Below is a passage from when his normal human body was destroyed by the Valar giving Númenor the Atlantis treatment.

(And yes, I know the Forebear and associated alt-form powers are more Melkor than Sauron, but they're both the same class of spiritual being so they're similar enough for our purposes.)

But Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair to the eyes of Men, yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-dûr, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.
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So we got the wraith form that can pass like wind over the water, as seen in the previous chapter, exactly like when Sauron fled Numenor. And "Form of Rage" and "an image of malice and hatred" are not so dissimilar, so it seems we're on the right track here.

From what we've seen so far, the Forebear is all about sword magics, while the Tyrant is basically a cat what with all his magics being about eating and napping. Given that Sauron's third form was a giant burning eye I think it's likely that our third form won't be human, but I'm not sure what sorts of themes are possible. Being a giant burning eye our self is possible but perhaps overly traditional. Given his sword magic and the Iron Curtain ability something metallic seems like it would fit the Forebear's themes better. My best guess is something like the Shrike; just a mass of blades vaguely shaped like a man.

The final form is more of a mystery, so much so that I'm skeptical that answers can be found in LotR. Either unearthly beauty or eldritch horror, I would guess.
 
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