I think taking her armor off makes the story better, and as such is the decision we should make both in and out of character.

That's probably fair. We need something, but we can pull a shield, which works well enough. Lemme whip something up...with first blood being the goal I think maybe we open up with Threadcutter and a very big number of dice (but only a few Stoked Dice) on that final attack? That seems viable and interesting...
 
Okay, so here's a basic plan doing the above. It's intentionally limiting the things we use to avoid him knowing all our tricks as well.

[X] Plan Speed And Counters
-[X] Remove our armor and pull out a shield.
-[X] Before the fight, reassign +4 damage damage bonus on Ignition to +8 extra dice (leaving +9 dice, +2 damage), during the fight all Firebomb Strikes will be used to propel the weapon, making sure not to heat up the weapon in a way that would cauterize anything.
-[X] Assign our 8 shapeshifting slots to Supported Grip, Increased Lung Capacity x1, Dense Muscles x2, and Adrenaline Rush x4 this turn.
-[X] Use Sundersight to analyze our opponents weaknesses as we fight
-[X] Invest 4 Orthstirr in Hugr, 2 in Fylgja, 2 in Composure, 4 in Tactics, 4 in Scouting (-16 Orthstirr)

-[X] 111d6 Attack (111d6 tricks)
-[X] 30d6 Defense (30d6 tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Put 3 Orthstirr into 6 layers of Reinforce Shield (actually on our shield for once) before the combat begins (-3 Orthstirr) and add an instance of Explosive Reactive Armor (-9 Orthstirr, +4 Stoked Dice, 5 damage)
-[X] Activate Stoker State 4 (-12 Orthstirr), Slipstream (-8 Orthstirr),and Ember-Wing Cloak (No cost, +4 Stoked Dice) as combat begins. All subsequent actions receive +2d6 from Sunshine and Skyfire.
-[X] Put up a 120d6+7 (w/Hugareida) Atgeir Bodyguard adding 1 Odr (-126 Orthstirr, -1 Odr), and an Atgeir Counter Stab adding 1 Odr set up to do up to eleven 10d6+7 Sharpenedx4 Firebomb Strikes (-52 Orthstirr, -1 Odr, 7-9 damage each), along with two 30d6+7 Sword Guards (-34 Orthstirr each).
-[X] If we are hit in any way past our shield use Slowing Slog (-81 Orthstirr)
-[X] Stop whatever attack sequence we are making as soon as first blood is drawn

-[X] Start by using Threadcutter for nine 11d6+7 Sharpenedx4 Lightning-Charged Basic Attacks (-55 Orthstirr, -9 Stoked Dice, then +18 Stoked Dice total, 7 damage each) followed by a Sharpenedx81 Lightning-Charged Stoking Strike w/Puncture for 235d6+7 adding 15 Stoked Dice including the 9 from Threadcutter itself (-94 Orthstirr, -6 Stoked Dice, 12 damage). Follow that up with ten 20d6+7 Sharpenedx4 Lightning-Charged Firebomb-Strikes (-5 Orthstirr and +4 Stoked Dice each, 10-12 damage each).
-[X] If he puts up any Guards or visible buffs, including before the Threadcutter, use up to two 20d6+7 Devouring Blaze attacks (-8 Orthstirr, -3 Stoked Dice each, 1-2 damage each) to remove them before continuing on with the rest of our attack routine. If we seem about to go over our Dice Cap on Stoked Pool also use one then as a safety valve burning more Stoked Dice if needed to ensure that doesn't happen (though no more than, like, 21 at most, and that only if we're already over 60).

-[X] Against the first melee Trick attack against us interpose our shield, which should break Reinforce Shield and activating Explosive-Reactive Armor against the person attacking.
-[X] After that first attack use Atgeir Bodyguard to defend against all attacks first.
-[X] Against basic melee attacks or melee Trick Attacks after the first (or simultaneous with it) that get through or past Atgeir Bodyguard, default to using Contested Movement with all remaining Stoked Pool (-1 Orthstirr, 20d6+7 Hamr Roll, lose all Stoked Pool then +4 Stoked Dice) and counterattack with Sharpened Lightning Charged Firebomb Strikes w/Puncture (-11 Orthstirr, +4 Stoked Dice, 10-12 damage)
-[X] In response to ranged attacks that get through Atgeir Bodyguard or if things get by that and Contested Movement is not working or available for some reason, use as many quick-drawn Shield Sacrifices (-3 Endurance on one Shield) as needed and/or up to two 122d6+7 Fortified and Reinforcedx107 Sway defenses (-110 Orthstirr each) as seems appropriate.
-[X] If we are without a shield at any point and would otherwise use a shield or Sway instead use a 136d6+7 Orthstirr Enhanced x119 Inertia-Arresting Throw with 1 Odr added (-125 Orthstirr, -1 Odr) to both defend against and trap our opponent's sword in place.
-[X] If, and only if, we are targeted with more than three simultaneous attacks use our Sword Guards to defend against attacks 4 and 5.
-[X] If he uses any Contested Movement/Momentum-Reversal style counterattacks that force a specific stat roll, we will respond to them with Contested Movement by default, if he uses one in response to Contested Movement we will use one use of Fight of Your Life on it (+7d6), and if Hamr is included Adrenaline Rush should still apply as well.

-[X] Tactics – The idea here is to charge in with Threadcutter and hopefully hit him with something there, especially with the final Stoking Strike, and then, if that doesn't work just whittle him down (or, more likely, run his resources down) with fairly basic attacks. The key thing is that, if he attempts to attack us back, we either interpose our shield and set off an explosion at him, or counterattack with Atgeir Counter Stab and/or Contested Movement (we should get an Atgeir Counter Stab on each of his first 11 attacks, and a Contested Movement on any after the first that don't get stopped by Atgeir Bodyguard).

EDIT: Added Atgeir Bodyguard and Counter Stab.
EDIt2: Added two Sword Guards as a contingency, that's expensive given the low odds of them being needed, but I do agree that efficiency is not our primary concern here.
EDIT3: Added an Inertia-Arresting Throw if we're ever without a shield (replacing an existing rolled defense). Fiddled with a few numbers slightly.
EDIT4: Added a contingency for 'opposed roll' style counterattacks like Momentum Reversal.
 
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Lets see... this is a spar, to first blood... lets start easy then.
his textbook stance is kinda weird, but i guess its part of the set up to make Hungary join the christian church/Carolingian cultivation system... thought that will only happen around 1000 but laying groundwork for it seems believable.

Lets just run him out? sunshine on the skin, but restrained, waiting for action.... yeah, for some reason a drawn bow is what i get...

lets see.... usual buffing, then open with a reverse firestrike bomb perhaps? Rack up some dice then throw a devouring blaze on him and pepper him with some bigger attacks...though a barrage or two wouldn't hurt....

For defense, slice aside, side step, sway and focused guard mixed up. leave contested movement for surprises like counters or sudden big attacks that break through our defense.

throw in some kindle spinner too, they are free.
 
For defense, slice aside, side step, sway and focused guard mixed up. leave contested movement for surprises like counters or sudden big attacks that break through our defense.

Contested Movement cannot be used on something that already got through our defenses. That's just...not how that works.

throw in some kindle spinner too, they are free.

Kindle Spinners don't draw blood, and he left his bow behind, so using ranged attacks seems like it shouldn't be our first resort.
 
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Might be better yeah

We can't afford to feel his offense out by using iffier defensive stuff since we're sans armor and going to first blood, IMO. We can start slow on offense, a little, but not defense.

...i thought its frowned upon to open with a finisher?

That's a Finale. Finisher is just the name for big conventional attacks...it's just like using a Sparkbomb right off the bat. That's a finisher as well.
 
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We can't afford to feel his offense out by using iffier defensive stuff since we're sans armor and going to first blood, IMO. We can start slow on offense, a little, but not defense.
Then, deploy sword guard and use perfects instead of going for a counter attack?
Kindle Spinners don't draw blood, and he left his bow behind, so using ranged attacks seems like it shouldn't be our first resort.
And we are Norse, not knights. If he didn't bring a ranged option into a fight that's his fault.

And while the shield sacrifice thing is handy, we ARE overusing them. Like, our defense in the last few fights was just that and contested movement.

They are effective, yeah... but its again just relying on the same trick.
 
Then, deploy sword guard and use perfects instead of going for a counter attack?

Sword Guard (or, IMO, Atgeir Bodyguard just in case he has conceptual Sword powers) is arguable, and I may include it...my thought was that we really wanted the counterattacks, but we could include an Atgeir Bodyguard and an Atgeir Counter-Stab...

Perfects are, perhaps counterintuitively, insanely risky since he likely has a way to ignore them and we can't fall back on anything if we use a Perfect and he ignores it. We can't afford them here.

And we are Norse, not knights. If he didn't bring a ranged option into a fight that's his fault.

This is a pro-forma thing to first blood. I'm inclined to be a little overly fair at least to start with...but also, as I said, Kindle Spinner doesn't draw blood. So it's basically worthless for this.

We might yet use our Bolt Thrower because, as you say, we're Norse, but that's better used from surprise, IMO.

And while the shield sacrifice thing is handy, we ARE overusing them. Like, our defense in the last few fights was just that and contested movement.

They are effective, yeah... but its again just relying on the same trick.

Notably, we've barely actually used them at all (we have expended one shield on such sacrifices...ever). They're in the plan, but it's a couple of contingencies down so they seldom get actually used.
 
Added Atgeir Bodyguard and Counter Stab to the plan. I'm not 100% sold on the Bodyguard as it likely decreases our number of counter attacks, but it's a reasonable conservative play, and the Counter-Stab should have always been there, I just spaced it.
 
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Yeah, with the bodyguard, it looks better...
We sure he can take the extra damage from dense muscles?

And first blood in spar/duels means first wound usually, not "only when blood is drawn" the two usually just walks hand in hand.

The math with dice and orsthirr always throws me off sadly, and would still prefer more basic attacks (buffed, of course) but this is good.

[X] DeadmanwalkingXI
 
We sure he can take the extra damage from dense muscles?

We should be able to, I think. This fellow is apparently tough, and our damage is a fair bit lower than usual, and I'm concerned he does indeed have DR of some sort. I could be convinced to swap it out for something, though...or swap even more damage on Ignition for dice.

And first blood in spar/duels means first wound usually, not "only when blood is drawn" the two usually just walks hand in hand.

Fair. I don't want to lose on a technicality, though.

The math with dice and orsthirr always throws me off sadly, and would still prefer more basic attacks (buffed, of course) but this is good.

So, with all our Hugareida stuff on dice and Perfected Tricks, there's not a lot of reason to use them rather than Firebomb Strikes aside from things that necessitate them like Threadcutter.
 
Yeah, OneArmedYeti already convinced me. We need something, but a shield will do. The current plan involves ditching all armor.

Apologies, hadn't refreshed the thread and seen the plan.

Honestly I feel like if this is to the first blood, then Time Stands Still is sort of perfect, but that's maybe a bit unfair to use in Round One.
 
[X] Plan Speed And Counters
-[X] Remove our armor and pull out a shield.
-[X] Before the fight, reassign +4 damage damage bonus on Ignition to +8 extra dice (leaving +9 dice, +2 damage), during the fight all Firebomb Strikes will be used to propel the weapon, making sure not to heat up the weapon in a way that would cauterize anything.
-[X] Assign our 8 shapeshifting slots to Supported Grip, Increased Lung Capacity x1, Dense Muscles x2, and Adrenaline Rush x4 this turn.
-[X] Use Sundersight to analyze our opponents weaknesses as we fight
-[X] Invest 4 Orthstirr in Hugr, 1 in Composure, 4 in Tactics, 4 in Scouting (-13 Orthstirr)

-[X] 111d6 Attack (111d6 tricks)
-[X] 30d6 Defense (30d6 tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Put 3 Orthstirr into 6 layers of Reinforce Shield (actually on our shield for once) before the combat begins (-3 Orthstirr) and add an instance of Explosive Reactive Armor (-9 Orthstirr, +4 Stoked Dice)
-[X] Activate Stoker State 4 (-12 Orthstirr), Slipstream (-8 Orthstirr),and Ember-Wing Cloak (No cost, +4 Stoked Dice) as combat begins. All subsequent actions receive +2d6 from Sunshine and Skyfire.
-[X] Put up a 120d6+7 (w/Hugareida) Atgeir Bodyguard adding 1 Odr (-124 Orthstirr), and an Atgeir Counter Stab adding 1 Odr set up to do up to ten 20d6+7 Sharpenedx4 Firebomb Strikes (-48 Orthstirr)
-[X] If we are hit in any way past our shield use Slowing Slog (-81 Orthstirr)
-[X] Stop whatever attack sequence we are making as soon as first blood is drawn

-[X] Start by using Threadcutter for nine 9d6+7 Sharpenedx3 Lightning-Charged Basic Attacks (-46 Orthstirr, -9 Stoked Dice, then +18 Stoked Dice total) followed by a Sharpenedx71 Lightning-Charged Stoking Strike w/Puncture for 210d6+7 adding only the 9 Stoked Dice from Threadcutter itself (-84 Orthstirr). Follow that up with ten 20d6+7 Sharpenedx4 Lightning-Charged Firebomb-Strikes (-5 Orthstirr and +4 Stoked Dice each).
-[X] If he puts up any Guards or visible buffs, including before the Threadcutter, use up to two 20d6+7 Devouring Blaze attacks (-8 Orthstirr, -3 Stoked Dice each) to remove them before continuing on with the rest of our attack routine.

-[X] Against the first melee Trick attack against us interpose our shield, which should break Reinforce Shield and activating Explosive-Reactive Armor against the person attacking.
-[X] After that first attack use Atgeir Bodygaurd to defend against all attacks first.
-[X] Against basic melee attacks or melee Trick Attacks after the first (or simultaneous with it) that get through or past Atgeir Bodyguard, default to using Contested Movement with all remaining Stoked Pool (-1 Orthstirr, 20d6+7 Hamr Roll, lose all Stoked Pool then +4 Stoked Dice) and counterattack with Sharpened Lightning Charged Firebomb Stikes (-2 Orthstirr, +4 Stoked Dice)
-[X] In response to ranged attacks that get through Atgeir Bodyguard or if things get by that and Contested Movement is not working or available for some reason, use as many quick-drawn Shield Sacrifices (-3 Endurance on one Shield) as needed and/or up to three 122d6+16 Fortified and Reinforcedx107 Sway defenses (-110 Orthstirr each) as seems appropriate.

-[X] Tactics – The idea here is to charge in with Threadcutter and hopefully hit him with something there, especially with the final Stoking Strike, and then, if that doesn't work just whittle him down (or, more likely, run his resources down) with fairly basic attacks. The key thing is that, if he attempts to attack us back, we either interpose our shield and set off an explosion at him, or counterattack with Atgeir Counter stab and/or Contested Movement.

EDIT: Added Atgeir Bodyguard and Counter Stab.

Okay so now I've read the plan, general thoughts:
- We could add in some Sword Guards here, it does not hurt to have a bit of redundancy and this fight is not going to go on long enough for us to mind the Orthstirr expenditure. As a sabre-focussed sword fighter it seems like he might have some move based around unleashing lots of cuts simultaneously, which more defences could help against.
- If we only need to draw blood, do we need Dense Muscles here? Feels like more Adrenaline Burst or Fast-Twitch is the way to go, this guy is clearly focussed around speed I think.
- A Stoking Engage seems like it would functionally have most of what we're going for with Threadcutter here (lots of basic attacks where we're trying to land one) but with the added benefits of generating Stoked Dice and upping our speed while we do it. Even just a nine-attack Stoking Engage seems kind of better if we're worried about him hitting us with a combo-breaker.
 
We could add in some Sword Guards here, it does not hurt to have a bit of redundancy and this fight is not going to go on long enough for us to mind the Orthstirr expenditure. As a sabre-focussed sword fighter it seems like he might have some move based around unleashing lots of cuts simultaneously, which more defences could help against.
This guy feels like a textbook sword cultivator so I'd suggest not using swords for this since his sword Hugareida equivalent is probably much higher than ours.
 
Okay so now I've read the plan, general thoughts:
- We could add in some Sword Guards here, it does not hurt to have a bit of redundancy and this fight is not going to go on long enough for us to mind the Orthstirr expenditure. As a sabre-focussed sword fighter it seems like he might have some move based around unleashing lots of cuts simultaneously, which more defences could help against.

I worry about using Sword stuff against sword specialists, and multiple rolled defenses will probably all just get beat if one of them does. We can currently defend against, like, 3 simultaneous attacks if needed...that seems probably sufficient.

- If we only need to draw blood, do we need Dense Muscles here? Feels like more Adrenaline Burst or Fast-Twitch is the way to go, this guy is clearly focussed around speed I think.

I worry about DR. It's not necessarily the most likely, but it exists. Even without it, his Frenzy equivalent will still act as prosthetic health...I'd rather have a bit more damage to get through that.

- A Stoking Engage seems like it would functionally have most of what we're going for with Threadcutter here (lots of basic attacks where we're trying to land one) but with the added benefits of generating Stoked Dice and upping our speed while we do it. Even just a nine-attack Stoking Engage seems kind of better if we're worried about him hitting us with a combo-breaker.

Threadcutter all takes place in the time of one attack. It's ten attacks before he can even go if our speed is above his...that's a big advantage.

Like, if we do Stoking Engage, and hit Speed 20 to his Speed 10 we're doing two attacks per one of his...getting 10 before his first one then going one for one is better than that, and we aren't getting +10 Speed from Stoking Engage. And Stoking Engage is the one that gets broken up if we get hit in the middle, not Threadcutter.

We also don't really need the Stoked Dice, IMO...if we're using them only on Contested Movement gaining too many could cause us heart attacks to no real benefit.

Also, I'm not betting on the Basic Attacks actually working...the high die Stoking Strike has a much better shot, IMO, and would not be doable as part of Stoking Engage.

This guy feels like a textbook sword cultivator so I'd suggest not using swords for this since his sword Hugareida equivalent is probably much higher than ours.

In fairness, we don't know how that interacts between cultivation styles, but I don't want to bet on Sword Guards against a sword specialist, it's true.
 
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This guy feels like a textbook sword cultivator so I'd suggest not using swords for this since his sword Hugareida equivalent is probably much higher than ours.

I don't think Non-Norse cultivators have the rule where a higher Hugareida level can cancel out your Hugareida, since they don't have Hugareida per se. If they can, then honestly I think it would be valuable to find that out from this spar? It's not like spending the Orthstirr really costs us anything, this fight will be over one way or another well before we run out of it.

I worry about using Sword stuff against sword specialists, and multiple rolled defenses will probably all just get beat if one of them does. We can currently defend against, like, 3 simultaneous attacks if needed...that seems probably sufficient.

I feel like in terms of the actual way IF writes these in fight scenes, multiple Guards can make a difference - often one gets destroyed to show that there was a really strong attack rather than us getting hit ourselves.

I worry about DR. It's not necessarily the most likely, but it exists.

Would that stop us making a scratch? Even our basic attacks are doing a non-negligible amount of damage with sharpening and lightning-charging them.

I think the difficult part is going to be hitting him, honestly, and the first hit of any kind by either side will be likely to draw a drop of blood and end the fight. But we'll see.

Threadcutter all takes place in the time of one attack. It's ten attacks before he can even go if our speed is above his...that's a big advantage.

Like, if we do Stoking Engage, and hit Speed 20 to his Speed 10 we're doing two attacks per one of his...getting 10 before his first one then going one for one is better than that, and we aren't getting +10 Speed from Stoking Engage. And Stoking Engage is the one that gets broken up if we get hit in the middle, not Threadcutter.

We also don't really need the Stoked Dice, IMO...if we're using them only on Contested Movement gaining too many could cause us heart attacks to no real benefit.

Also, I'm not betting on the Basic Attacks actually working...the high die Stoking Strike has a much better shot, IMO, and would not be doable as part of Stoking Engage.

Hmmm, fair point, doing them all in the span of one attack is a strong plus for Threadcutter.
 
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