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Hogwarts Sect of Witchcraft and Wizardry

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WhoTheHeckity said:
So are we out of the running for Quidditch?
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You start with 960 health, and can still win the cup if you win with more than 892 remaining. I actually made a mistake in saying that Slytherin was still in the running. They have 731 total, so they can't win against Gryffindor, but they can come second if you lose or win with less than 689 health remaining.

Epic Bygones said:
@Karf , could you expand on aspects as they relate to dice and pools, generally speaking?
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I suppose I've held out long enough. The plan is to assign every die a secondary roll for what aspect it has, sort of like a suit or color, or element, if you will, then attach effects to those aspects. There are five aspects, as is another staple, and those have been introduced in-story already.

For example an action might look like this.
Aspects (Wood/Fire/Earth/Metal/Water): [1, 2, 5, 1] > Pool: [10, 11, 12, 13] > Roll: [3]/[50]
The pool has a wood aspect 10 and 13, a fire aspect 11 and a water 12. For the sake of the example, the 13 succeeds as normal and generates a roll, which then has an earth aspect 50.

Still not 100% sure how/if pool aspects affect roll aspects (same/not at all/a combination?).

Epic Bygones said:
And a more specific question based on our options: from these charms' effects, it's implied that pools can be made up of different aspects' dice. Like, say, our current 7d22 pool in a specific round (based on the action we take?) could be divided in 3 fire dice, 3 water dice and 1 earth die. Is that correct? And if yes, would the first charm's effect apply to that example (and basically to any configuration that includes at least 1 earth die)?
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Basing the aspects on actions/interactions is something I fully intend to experiment with, but at first, Rei won't really have control over them. Other than that, yes, that is exactly like I envision it. To extend the example, if the 1 earth die was a 4, then the first charm would turn it into a 5. If it was 3 earth dice and 1 water die instead, and the three were [1, 2, 3], they'd become [2, 3, 4].
 
[X][Lightbringer] Chroma-caller technique
[X][Charm] The self-filling bottle
[X][Transfiguration] Which technique? (see library)
--[X]Water Sprout Technique

None of the lightbringer evolution really appealed to me.

Choosing Water charm and tech because of synergy, the water one could become powerful later on I think.
 
[X][Lightbringer] Fog-form technique
[X][Charm] The little towel that could
[X][Transfiguration]
--[X] Whip Shear Technique

Near-invisibility + Cutting spell could be a very useful combo if we end up getting involved in the war plot.
 
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WhoTheHeckity said:
Near-invisibility + Cutting spell could be a very useful combo if we end up getting involved in the war plot.
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I'm very into that idea.

[X][Lightbringer] Fog-form technique
[X][Charm] The page-turner
[X][Transfiguration]
--[X] Whip Shear Technique

Edit: This one's good.
[X][Quidditch] Outplay and Outsmart

This feels too artist-y to not go for.
[X][Lightbringer] Chroma-caller technique

Was convinced by Epic Bygones' argument.
[X][Charm] The little towel that could
 
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[X][Lightbringer] Chroma-caller technique

[X][Charm] The page-turner

[X][Transfiguration]
--[X] Wing Floating Technique

[X][Quidditch] Status quo
 
Gahhh I really wanna do a write-in for Quidditch but I have no idea where to even start with this
 
Ideas for Quidditch coming soon, but I'm focusing on the charms for now.
Karf said:
[][Charm] The little towel that could
Engraving runes for wood, metal and earth on a hand-towel should get you a rag that cleans for you. Whether it's your own person after a vigorous work-out session or spills from a potions experiment or just the occasional ink blot, you figure it'll serve well enough for practice and a proof of concept for something that would attend to your needs.
Earth aspect pool dice rolls count as one higher.
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Effect: +1 to all Earth dice' results in our pools.
When: whenever we roll Earth dice, the more the better.
Odds of success: +4.5% to each Earth die rolled (will lower to 4 and then below as Charms is raised to Apprentice and beyond).

Karf said:
[][Charm] The self-filling bottle
You have kept an empty plastic bottle from the mortal world in the bottom of your trunk. Now, it's time to put it to use as a water bottle again, but one which can - fingers crossed - float over to the nearest sink and refill itself. An exercise in autonomous intelligence, albeit a rudimentary one.
If a water aspect pool die is at least tied for the highest result in a pool, gain one extra die to that pool.
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Effect: +1 die to our pool
When: whenever we roll a Water aspected die + whenever that die is at least tied for the highest result. (@Karf , is the additional die Water aspected as well? If yes, what happens if it then becomes the new highest result in a pool or tied to it?)
Odds of a new die being rolled: # of Water dice divided by # of dice.
Odds of the new die being a success: whatever they normally are.

Karf said:
[][Charm] The page-turner
A simple bookmark that can, with a prod of Qi, turn the page of a book, and hold a tome up for you, unless it's one of the truly monstrous ones from the leather-bound section of the library. Mostly, the goal is to make a charm that can affect other objects by reacting to your own stimuli... that, and it'd look cool to have a book follow after you as you walk.
The lowest metal aspect pool die becomes equal to the second-lowest metal aspect pool die in that pool.
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Effect: lowest result on Metal die becomes equal to the second lowest result on another Metal die.
When: whenever we roll 2+ Metal dice + whenever we get different results on our 2+ Metal dice (@Karf , what happens if for example we roll 3 Metal dice and we get 1, 1 and 20 as results on them?).
Odds of the low die being a failure and the high die being a success: whatever they normally are.

I feel like The page turner is the worst from a mechanics standpoint. Depending on the QM answers (as in, if the bottle's additional die is Water aspected and can itself trigger the effect again), an argument could be made in favor of either of the others, I think.

Generally speaking, though, all the options call for specialization, as having more dice of the same aspect in each pool is beneficial in all cases. It remains to be seen if that's something that goes beyond these examples, but I expect there to be at least exceptions to this rule (if it even turns out to be a rule).
 
Epic Bygones said:
@Karf , is the additional die Water aspected as well? If yes, what happens if it then becomes the new highest result in a pool or tied to it?
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New die aspect is rolled as per usual. The effect is once per pool, if the new die is not water but higher (i.e. invalidates the condition) there's no loss, if the new die is water and higher, then the condition has already been fulfilled and your pool is bigger by one already (nothing extra happens).

Epic Bygones said:
@Karf , what happens if for example we roll 3 Metal dice and we get 1, 1 and 20 as results on them?
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Good question. "Lowest [...] die" implies a singular, so only one of the ones is affected. However, the remaining one is not the "second lowest", it is still the lowest, therefore the result will be [20, 1, 20].
 
I think we should pick the techniques with the idea of forming them all into a cohesive whole.

Like going for Chiaroscuro for the split, Water bottle for the AI, and tickle charm to aim towards giving our shadow matching physical sensations.

Or going for color for our Light, and then Water - Water to aim towards making our own moving painting.
 
Can we ask our team mates if they're also using potions? And if not, we could offer to share some to boost the whole team?
 
[X][Lightbringer] Chiaroscuro technique
[X][Charm] The little towel that could
[X][Transfiguration]
--[X] Whip Shear Technique
[X][Quidditch] Outplay and Outsmart
 
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@Karf Not sure if this has been asked before, sorry if it has, but will we keep our points next year? Or will we have to spend them by June if we don't win the House Cup and don't want to waste them?
 
Karf said:
Transfiguration Potions Charms

  • Dollmaker's Petrification Diagram Law

    -Earth/???+ aspected technique​
    -??? up to 3 meridians​
    ​
    --[] Total Petrification Technique​
    The Total Petrification Technique forces a living target to become stiff and still as a stone statue. While you're fully healed by now, the memory of a troll club slamming into your ribs remains an unpleasant one. If you had the option of freezing the troll, perhaps things would have turned out differently.​

    Earthly Cloud Sharpening Law

    -Metal/???+ aspected technique​
    -??? up to 3 meridians​
    ​
    --[] First Poke Technique​
    The First Poke Technique makes whatever it's applied to more readily able to pierce. Considering the ice covering just about every surface during the winter months, you could do with shoes that slice into the slippery stuff and provide you with perfect traction.​

    Humble Light Bringer Law

    -Fire/Fire/??? aspected technique​
    -??? up to 3 meridians​
    ​
    The Light Summoning Technique - [Learned]​
    The Light Summoning Technique might not be as fancy, but it's definitely no less useful. The depths of Castle Hogwarts don't have convenient windows or well maintained torches. Several times you've turned away from a dark corridor. Who knows how useful a light you could call on command would be.​
    ​
    The Light-eater Technique - [Learned]​
    Everything has two sides, and light is nothing but the absence of darkness; shadows grow and outlines turn indistinct, things you used to see unraveling to nothingness.​
    ​
    3rd technique TBD soon(tm)​

    Separating Void Paradigm Law

    -Metal/???+ aspected technique​
    -??? up to 5 meridians​
    ​
    --[] Whip Shear Technique​
    The Whip Shear Technique separates objects as if they were cut by a knife, except you can do so from afar, and with considerably less effort, transforming one to two. It's surprising how often a little cut is all you need, and sliced bread is the etalon of useful inventions for a reason.​

    White Feather's Flight Law

    -Wood/???+ aspected technique​
    -??? up to 4 meridians​
    ​
    --[] Wing Floating Technique​
    Most physical things hold within them an aspect of Weight, a kind of love for the Earthly realm that pulls them to the ground. The Wing Floating Technique alters that relationship, letting you move heavy objects with naught but your wand and concentration.​
    ​

    Adroit Crimson Exciter Law

    -Fire/???+ aspecteded technique​
    -??? up to 4 meridians​
    ​
    --[]Overwhelming Tickler technique​
    A common technique for schoolkids to learn, the tickler does just what it says: it tickles. More accurately, it excites the target's sense of touch with random brushes of Qi, leading to spasm and - in humans - uncontrollable laughter. You're pretty sure you've even seen an example of it in action, whether or not it would work on a baby dragon notwithstanding​

    Cerulean Fountain Architect Law

    -Water/???+ aspected technique​
    -??? up to 3 meridians​
    ​
    --[]Water Sprout Technique​
    The Water Sprout Technique takes a stream of your Qi and transforms it into perfectly clear water. While you have no intention of getting lost in a desert, you are a firm believer of being prepared for just about every eventuality, and it's not like you can't find uses for the liquid otherwise.​
  • --[] Potion of the Brave Snowflake
    The inside of the glass is covered in frost flowers, and lone drops at the end of your pipette quickly form into tiny liquid snowflakes, weirdly wobbly yet still crystalline. A dose of the mixture grants you greater resistance against cold, and rain and sleet fall off you like water off a duck. Your skin feels clammy and cold to touch, and your breath no longer fogs up the bathroom mirror, no matter how hard you try. Similarly, working up a sweat proves to be impossible, your body kept cool by magic instead.​
    ​
    Every combat pool die 18 or greater immediately deals 5 damage to the opponent, regardless of who has more successes overall.​
    ​
    -???​

    --[] Potion of the Astronomer Hawk
    Like clear quicksilver, the potion flows down the funnel supernaturally fast as you pour it into the bottle. Drinking it grants you vastly enhanced eyesight, not only letting you see far away details as if they were right in front of you and under a magnifying glass, but also making motion stand out in a wholly new way. It took you a moment to realize that the hazy mist in front of your face is the air moving because of your breath.​
    ​
    You start with initiative, and the first time you would lose initiative, you don't instead.​
    ​
    -???​

    Potion of the Careful Sommelier - [Brewed]
    Even you've heard of the schoolyard horror stories of people going blind from drinking wiper fluid, so it's with some trepidation that you down the dose, knowing full well that one of the ingredients used was methanol. Whether or not it works, you're also not keen to find out. The potion confers resistance to all manner of poisons and is supposed to settle adverse reactions from consuming other potions. It also suppresses the rejection reaction of too much alkahest, so it's commonly used in hospitals to switch out whatever cocktail the unfortunate cultivator was on for treatment potions.​
    ​
    You recover 10 health per round.​
    ​
    -???​

    Potion of the Pebble Elemental - [Brewed]
    When you finish brewing the draught, it looks like your cauldron is filled with sand. Placing a ladle on top breaks the illusion, the metal slipping beneath the grains in moments. The effect of the potion is simple: it makes your muscles tougher, your bones stronger, your skin more dense. Carefully at first, you test it by hitting a stone wall; the first punch you instinctively pull, barely tapping the masonry, but all you feel is the pressure, no pain. Ramping up, you practically need to throw your whole weight behind your punch - not that that means much, you're not exactly a trained martial artist - before the sensation becomes mildly unpleasant.​
    ​
    When active, damage taken is reduced by 10 or 10%, whichever is greater.​
    ​
    -???​

    --[] Potion of the Sleepy Sandman
    The liquid in the clear beaker looks like a lava lamp, golden bubbles slowly drifting in a purple oil. Despite what the name would suggest, the mixture is actually supposed to help with concentration and maintaining focus in the face of exhaustion or distraction. While you don't have a good way to quantify the effect, waking up in the morning is certainly less of a chore and getting lost in a book has never been easier.​
    ​
    When your opponent has initiative for more than 1 round, every consecutive round decreases their pool size by 1, reset when they lose initiative.​
    ​
    -???​
    ​
    Potion of the Rapid Steward - [Brewed]
    The potion itself looks suspiciously like coffee, but you only see it for a brief moment before the instructions demand you clean up the mess and pour it into a bottle you had to fashion yourself as the draught simmered. The concoction itself is another mental booster, supposed to help you catch mistakes and things you'd later regret. The casual implication of a simple potion knowing what you would regret in the future gets neatly smothered in the recesses of your brain before it drives you mad.​
    ​
    Each round, reroll the lowest die in your pool, keeping the higher number.​
    ​
    -???​

    --[] Potion of the Deafening Tooth
    Little crescent shapes float in the clear gel-like liquid, occasionally coming close enough to each other for something to trigger, causing them to slam together like jaws before drifting apart once more. One of the more 'out there' potions you found, originally meant to teach children to chew with their mouth shut. Every time you slam your teeth together while your lips are parted, your mouth becomes a weapon, emitting a blast of noise loud enough to stun or daze any opponent.​
    ​
    When dealing damage, reroll the lowest damage die as a d125 instead, keeping the new result.​
    ​
    -???​
  • --[] The little towel that could
    Engraving runes for wood, metal and earth on a hand-towel should get you a rag that cleans for you. Whether it's your own person after a vigorous work-out session or spills from a potions experiment or just the occasional ink blot, you figure it'll serve well enough for practice and a proof of concept for something that would attend to your needs.​
    ​
    Earth aspect pool dice rolls count as one higher.​

    --[] The self-filling bottle
    You have kept an empty plastic bottle from the mortal world in the bottom of your trunk. Now, it's time to put it to use as a water bottle again, but one which can - fingers crossed - float over to the nearest sink and refill itself. An exercise in autonomous intelligence, albeit a rudimentary one.​
    ​
    If a water aspect pool die is at least tied for the highest result in a pool, gain one extra die to that pool.​

    --[] The page-turner
    A simple bookmark that can, with a prod of Qi, turn the page of a book, and hold a tome up for you, unless it's one of the truly monstrous ones from the leather-bound section of the library. Mostly, the goal is to make a charm that can affect other objects by reacting to your own stimuli... that, and it'd look cool to have a book follow after you as you walk.​
    ​
    The lowest metal aspect pool die becomes equal to the second-lowest metal aspect pool die in that pool.​
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As a reminder here are the Transfiguration options, now with their first aspect revealed (with Light ringer having the first two).
[X][Lightbringer] Chroma-caller technique

[X][Charm] The self-filling bottle

[X][Transfiguration]
--[X] Wing Floating Technique
@TimEd has a good point about choosing whatever will have synergy or whichever charm we want to explore more of, rather than focusing on the mechanical benefits.
In that respect, the bottle for the autonomous AI (rudimentary as it is) has my vote.

I want Chroma-cast because it feels the most useful in art, and wing feather because:
1) It could theoretically lead to flight in the far future (?)
2) With the bottle we could have a floating brush that paints by itself (I assume the floating from these Charms and the floating from this Transfiguration could stack, at least as far as our knowledge on how to make it work goes), or floating rocks that reach out and smack people who come close.
3) It has 4 meridians, so there's plenty of room for growth.
4) It's Wingardium Leviosa. I can't not pick an option like this! It is the ur-example of a Harry Potter spell.
 
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So... Quidditch. I wanted to make long post with a Tl;dr at the end, but I think most would skim it at best, so, in the interest of discussion and as points of inspiration, maybe it's better to have multiple posts instead. Let's start with...

Obviously, the results of matches are decided by the dice, but for our plans, our focus can only be on the story (which then affects the dice a bit, of course).

We need to win the game, obviously, but if we want to win the Quidditch cup, we need to win it by such a large margin of points that, in order to do that, we need the game to go long. Which brings me to:

Priority #1: do not let Harry catch the snitch, at all or at least not until we're up a lot.
Priority #2: score a lot of points.
Priority #3: don't let them score too many points.

At least in my opinion. What are the best ways to address these?
 
The Status Quo plan can be surmised into:
-We are similar teams, so this is a mirror match in which we need to outplay our counterparts.
-Our chaser Roger Davies counters their chaser Angelina Johnson. (Roger is confident on this front.)
-Our remaining chaser pair scores more on their keeper Wood than their remaining chaser pair scores on us/Rei. (Our Captain is confident on this front.)
-Our beater duo counters theirs. (Our Captain is confident on this front as long as we split the twins, but he forgot to come back to this point and specify how).
-Our seeker counters theirs, with occasional help from our beaters, and keeps an eye on the score to better dictate a favorable end of the game.

Once again, our Captain's strategy looks very solid to me but how does it address the priorities mentioned earlier?
 
I see 3 main reasons why things didn't go our way in the match we lost against Slytherin:

1) We got hurt and the subpar keeper Cho had to replace us.
2) The player that for all intents and purposes looks to be our Ace, Roger Davies, was pressured (when we/Rei weren't) and mostly neutralized.
3) Cho was the first one to see the snitch but she couldn't call it out to our seeker because the Slytherin's seeker was closer. (Even in the game we won against Hufflepuff, we were the first to see the snitch, but in that case, our seeker was closer so we called it out to him.)

#1 is much less of a problem, as Gryffindor has a completely different style that doesn't revolve around physical play.

A possible solution to #2 is tied to the previous point. Both because of our new opponent and because we've been tempered through the crucible that was the Slytherin team and their enforcer-like captain Flint, we don't need a dedicated bodyguard anymore. We practiced hard before last match to be able to withstand the pressure, we got potions that make us tougher, we achieved the peak physical realm of our stage, and we even had a close encounter with a baby dragon. We can handle ourselves without being babysat by a beater, and our captain apparently agrees. This will free the yin&yang duo to play more freely and counter the Weasley twins, not only to disrupt and slow down the fast Gryffindor team with both flight and bludgers, but also to better set up our Ace Roger. Our seeker, Morgan, could also lend a hand for this, when he's not actively chasing/seeking the snitch and/or countering their seeker.

A nice solution to #3 could be comms. We can easily develop a simple and flexible system of callouts (with voice) and/or signals (with techniques) that can include codes and deception. As the clever house, this would be right up our alley. And they don't need to be limited to snitch appearances, either, as we could easily extend these ideas to other parts of the game. I could go into details for this, but the general idea is probably enough, so that the QM can handle the specifics however he prefers (let me know otherwise, @Karf ).
 
On a personal note:
-our role of added chaser (receiving back-passes and dishing out assists) has been working well, and I see no reason to give it up.
-our Lumos tricks have been useful and entertaining, and we can now expand upon them with effects from Light Eater and whatever new techniques end up winning the vote.
-we have inside knowledge on some of Harry's techniques, as we've seen him use a shield and a tickling effect during the dragon encounter. We should disclose them to the team in case they turn up in game, so that he's less of a "wildcard", in our Captain's words.
 
Given his strong protagonist energy, I'm not sure our seeker has a chance against Harry even on a straight win or lose match, much less one where we need to stretch it out. I wonder if it'd be more effective to have him harassing the other players to try to get our goals up, instead of doggedly denying Harry

Maybe we could try to game out a strategy for him to be bait, to get their beaters out of position?
 
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To be fair, canon Harry still lost the game and the snitch plenty of times while still being the protagonist. Sure, in some cases, Dementors were involved, but not always! XD
 
Coming back to the charms, aspects in general, and the idea of synergy, we should consider the Elemental Cycle, as well, as I can see it affecting the die in our pools.

Light Bringer Law is Fire/Fire/???. Fire generates Earth and is destroyed by Water (and generated by Wood, but we don't have options for that aspect). It's possible that using our Fire technique in a round, would change to Earth some of the other dice of that round and/or of a later one, creating a synergy with the Earth based charm. On the other hand, using a Water charm in a round could dampen (pun intended) our Light Bringer technique in the next, making it less effective.
 
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