That turn went excellently.
With the assistance of Qi, you curl yourself up, performing a one-handed pullup
Before I get into my, now customary, effortpost i just want to call out this line in the text. One handed pull-ups are
hard I know people who climb all the time who can't do one handed pull-ups. Seems like we're already at peak-regular human after just a year in the sect. And we're only going in one direction from here…
[][Social] Although you estimate that the odds are slim, this could be your last chance to confront Daphne Greengrass about your family connection
I think this social action is a must take personally. This is our last opportunity before the summer to get some closure on what's going on with our mother.
[][Social] Rather than facing exams at the end of the schoolyear, the fourth year disciples compete against each other in a year-long tourney. The finals are a public spectacle, and you have no intention of missing out on the show
On the other hand this is an auto-lock for me because it sounds cool as hell.
Should you win the house cup, that reduction does not apply to a total of 6 training actions
Ok, so given that normally we get 10 actions across two months, this would suggest a 4x breakthrough 1x training in July followed by 5x training in August.
Alternatively, if we don't want to run the risk of having to breakthrough again in August we can go 5x breakthrough in July and then 5x training in August. It's a bit of an opportunity cost, but the downside of losing out on the August training would be way higher. By itself, IMO, this makes winning the House Cup worth it.
Also, should you desire to do so, you may have Rei contact the elders in charge of the elective skills for extra training in those subjects. With the caveat that progress in those is capped at the second milestone of beginner due to lacking cultivation level.
Arithmancy feels like an autopick for some of the training we do because of the bonuses to Charms and Transfig. Lowering the DC by 3 for each of them will make our lives far easier in second year. Care also would be helpful because we'll probably want more Astronomy at some point, but I don't think it's quite as urgent. A case can probably be made for Divination, but without knowing how much it improves social actions by it's hard to tell. I don't think Runes is worth it unless we run out of things to study. And then of course there's Herbology which decreases DC for Potions and we know makes Potions (and possibly other crafting subjects like Charms) flat out better.
Of course, this is ignoring the extra bonuses like Potions brewed, Charms crafted and Techniques learned, which we have no way of judging yet.
Assuming we get both Charms and Astronomy to Apprentice by August I think my personal preference for training order would be Arithmancy -> Herbology -> Care -> Divination -> Runes.
Lastly, there is the Jade Chit Vault. Twice (once per month) you can gain permanent access to a technique/potion/charm/etc. without needing to spend a milestone reward for it. How would a chit give you access to a potion that normally might take months to brew? Magic, that's how.
This is potentially a big deal. I don't think I'd want to use it to Master Humble Light Bringer, as IMO Masteries should be personal, but we could use it to get Whip Shear to the third Meridian which could really boost our combat potential.
And on the topic of Whip Shear:
[][SVP] Horizon Slicing Technique
Why contend yourself with a few yards of range, when you can see so much further, and what you want to cut just so happens to be far away? Truly, why should distance be a limiting factor at all? The Horizon Slicing Technique gives you that extra bit of separation you need when taking clippings from a Kingwillow.-Wood aspect
- Diffindo but at distance
- Learning how to apply techniques at a distance is potentially a qualitative improvement to all similar techniques
- Wood element which is suppressed by Metal, so kinda a weird element combo.
- OTOH, Wood does support Fire from Humble Light Bringer
- Only option which expands our breadth of elemental Qi use
[][SVP] Thunderous Cut Technique
Not everything needs to be finely sliced. Sometimes, what you need isn't a scalpel, but an industrial blender, take the transfiguration of one into two and bring it to its logical conclusion of one to many. Why would you want something diced to a pulp? Because some obstacles you just have to go through - with extreme prejudice.-Metal aspect
- This is 1000% a gateway to Lightning techniques
- It's labelled the
Thunderous Cut Technique people.
- My guess is the next step of this is going from loads of cuts on something, to directing loads of bits Cutting Qi against each other creating electricity.
- Mass use technique and learning how to do that is potentially a similarly qualitative upgrade to all our techniques
- Elementally it's just more Metal (which makes sense if it's the gateway to Lightning)
- No, I don't understand why Lightning is Metal Qi in Xianxia either
[][SVP] Searing Blade Technique
Your cutting capabilities are not, you hate to admit, limitless. When targeting stone or metal, the Qi of their solidity quickly overcomes the separation you're trying to force on the material. However, you think that with a dash of heat thrown into the mix, you'd get much better results. Surely, the adage about hot knives and butter translates into the real world in more ways than the literal version.-Fire aspect
- Basically a straight upgrade to Whip Shear
- Lets us Cut Better
- Looks focussed on cutting inorganic materials vs organic for the original technique
- Elementally it's just more Fire
- Could let us eventually mock up a lightsaber
On a different note, the new Charms are a lot more interesting than the last set:
The rainbow brush
Your first foray into conjuration will appropriately be in the realm of painting. A set of gouache bottles you took with you after the winter break has largely remained untapped, and brushes are part of the stationary available to all disciples, so you have all the materials you need to work with. Coaxing the paint to appear in the hairs should be within your capabilities.
Every set of four different aspects in a row grants one extra die to that pool. The sets do not overlap
If this isn't basically an auto-pick for the thread I'll be very surprised. I don't understand anything about how elemental aspects are generated so I've no idea how good this is but it fits perfectly into the thread's long term dreams of being an artist.
The recorder plushie
Although Halloween is still lightyears away, you won't let that stop you from making a patchwork dollie to scare people with. You'll sew together a plushie, give it buttons for eyes and try to make it able to save a simple sound to be played back at a later date. You suppose it could be cute too, but knowing your skills with a needle, or lack thereof, it'll definitely be the stuff of nightmares. On the more practical side, it's a message delivery system or an alarm clock.
If wood is the most frequent aspect, reroll all lowest valued dice in the pool, keeping the higher result
Being able to send messages is potentially really useful, and the alarm clock function means it'll never become totally worthless in our day to day life.
Again, no idea how elemental aspects are chosen so this is either something potentially really good or unusable (given our lack of Wood techniques).
