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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Mopman43 said:
2e Roleplay says his homeland is 'in the Black Gulf' (most people assume Border Princes, my preference is Sartosa) and that he learned Alchemy throughout the southern Old World and in Araby before arriving in Marienburg to join the Colleges.

4e gives more specific backstory, saying he's the son of a Border Princes apothecary, but also says his backstory is entirely fabricated and nobody has any idea what his past is.
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Ngl pirate gelt is my favorite new idea
 
Rafin said:
Would be weird otherwise. If the dark arts, that either require immoral and unsavory sacrifices or cause corruption and harm innocents, or both, weren't either easier to learn and use or more powerful, or both, then they would be the domain of insane people only. Of people for whom evil is a goal in itself.
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I mean, the bit being highlighted here is that it's specifically the first but not the second, which is a bit less structurally necessary.
 
Derpmind said:
"Look again. That's my decoy sword."

There was a silence of befuddlement, as the other assassin tilted the sword to examine the one rune upon it. And then Branithune, your training sword, clattered to the ground.

"So-so it is." Came a faint voice from outside sword-point reach. "Next time, I will take your real sword. But perhaps next time you will spot-find me before I do so, yes?"
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The moment you are so paranoid/over-prepared that even an Eshin assassin is baffled.
 
So, question: If she could get it, do you guys think Mathilde's combat style would benefit from her training with wood elf war-dancers? Because not only are their leaders IIRC sometimes wielders of Ulgu, war dancers worship a god of trickery like Mathilde, fight without heavy armor, and they have an extremely mobile, hard to hit combat style that uses two-handed weapons. If the Armor of Von Taurnus ends up not winning the vote, developing her personal combat style to to compensate might still improve her survivability.

Similarly, since the Elfcation is coming up, she might have an opportunity to get some pointers from a loremaster or swordmaster. They are known for their ability to parry projectiles, after all, and loremasters are familiar with incorporating magic into martial combat.
And unlike the magical techniques of their order, I suspect that their sword techniques are probably not as closely guarded secrets as their magic techniques would be.
 
Tiresia said:
So, question: If she could get it, do you guys think Mathilde's combat style would benefit from her training with wood elf war-dancers? Because not only are their leaders IIRC sometimes wielders of Ulgu, war dancers worship a god of trickery like Mathilde, fight without heavy armor, and they have an extremely mobile, hard to hit combat style that uses two-handed weapons. If the Armor of Von Taurnus ends up not winning the vote, developing her personal combat style to to compensate might still improve her survivability.

Similarly, since the Elfcation is coming up, she might have an opportunity to get some pointers from a loremaster or swordmaster. They are known for their ability to parry projectiles, after all, and loremasters are familiar with incorporating magic into martial combat.
And unlike the magical techniques of their order, I suspect that their sword techniques are probably not as closely guarded secrets as their magic techniques would be.
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I suspect at least when it comes to parrying projectiles part of the answer is ''have an elf's reflexes'. Elves have some of the best base Initiative in the base game and that is not something humans can easily get without magic, anymore than they can match say a troll's strength.
 
DragonParadox said:
I suspect at least when it comes to parrying projectiles part of the answer is ''have an elf's reflexes'. Elves have some of the best base Initiative in the base game and that is not something humans can easily get without magic, anymore than they can match say a troll's strength.
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I mean, I get the impression that the best trained humans are still capable of reaching somewhere close to the reflexes of basic elven soldiers, at least. And there are possibly magical solutions to lacking their reflexes, I'd think. Maybe some sort of Ulgu spell inspired by shadow-boxing (a sort of "no matter how fast you are, your shadow (and now the Ulgu wizard who cast this spell) will always be right behind you" type effect).
Failing that, there are a number of tabletop items which can boost initiative, which could conceivably craftable by the colleges.
And in any case, the fact that she lacks elven reflexes doesn't necessarily mean she won't benefit from their tutelage. At the very least, it would be good practice fighting enemies who are faster than she is.
 
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People kind of forget that it's not just that the Armor of Von Tarnus synergizes incredibly well with Mathilde's powerful Aethyric Armor mastery, it also synergizes incredibly well with the rest of her kit. Her sword makes her a wrecking ball in melee, her belt makes her hit back even against those she doesn't strike and can counter a spell thrown at her, her mantle of shadows combined with her terror aura lets her very shadow make a flurry of attacks against multiple enemies simultaneously, and the Seed of Regrowth means that even when she does get injured, she can heal it right up repeatedly.

She'd be the Doom Slayer against all but the scariest opponents. The point where she could fearlessly provoke groups of greenskins and beastmen into fighting each other without worrying about overstepping because she could actually take on a group that comes her way singlehandedly.
 
I actually like the armor more than the scatter shot plan. So I'll add it to my vote when I get home.
 
Rafin said:
Would be weird otherwise. If the dark arts, that either require immoral and unsavory sacrifices or cause corruption and harm innocents, or both, weren't either easier to learn and use or more powerful, or both, then they would be the domain of insane people only. Of people for whom evil is a goal in itself.
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There's also various flavors of idiots (of the "I can totally handle wielding the dread secrets of The Great Deceiver, chaos god of fucking over idiots who think they're cleverer than they actually are. This will absolutely go fine for me, I wont get corrupted like all the other guys who tried this." type, mostly. There isn't a shortage of people who think they can resist the corruption of Dhar and only use it for good ends, we're so many have failed before.) as well as the sort of people who are technically entirely sane, they're just edgy social darwinists. Like, the Dhar magic that dark elves in WHFB use could arguably be considered more powerful than the normal magic they have access to. But that's only part of the reason they use it. One of the other reasons is because Dhar is a lot less stable and a lot more dangerous to its wielder, and they like that it 'culls the weak-willed'.
 
@Boney : I completely understand if you don't, but would it be reasonable to ask for a minor Trait from this? Like, Collegiate or something? At this point, Mathilde has had dealings with all of the Colleges at fairly high levels, conducted inter-College projects and efforts numerous times, has been a fairly prolific publisher of papers and books, donated an entire set of runed anti-magic towers to the Colleges, donated a number of magical and adjacent items to the Colleges, and now is presenting the answers and means to reproducing some of the foundational mysteries of the Colleges to their entire leadership.
 
SaltyWaffles said:
@Boney : I completely understand if you don't, but would it be reasonable to ask for a minor Trait from this? Like, Collegiate or something? At this point, Mathilde has had dealings with all of the Colleges at fairly high levels, conducted inter-College projects and efforts numerous times, has been a fairly prolific publisher of papers and books, donated an entire set of runed anti-magic towers to the Colleges, donated a number of magical and adjacent items to the Colleges, and now is presenting the answers and means to reproducing some of the foundational mysteries of the Colleges to their entire leadership.
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That feels more fitting for when Mathilde's part in the Waystone Project comes to an end.
 
You know what, I'm convinced. I'll add an approval vote.

[X] Plan Pickle Requests mk IV
[X] Armor of von Tarnus

As much as I prefer the amount of stuff Pickle Requests mk IV gets done, I do prefer Armor of von Tarnus to the airship. It feels like something we would actually use without a significant divergence in play style.
Mathilde's multi-layer protections have been a reoccurring theme for her continued survival.

I do prefer the aesthetic of the enchanted spider silk robes however and feel compelled to mention that they would provide no small boost in our defense as well. Given what we are spending on it, I expect we will get the best the Gold collage can give us. So if I were voting for just the armor, I might consider the Requests plan as well.
 
[X] Plan Pickle Requests mk IV
[X] Armor of von Tarnus
[X] Break College Favor/ Tenure
[X] Dispensation to study methods of destroying or beneficially transforming Dhar
[X] Save the boon until we choose our next project
 
Chopak said:
I don't know. You all make good omake points for Armor, but cashing our Boon for a single item seems like missed opportunities.
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What if we flipped things? What if Mathilde already had top-tier armor, and an option for the Boon was to gain Branulhune? Mathilde might already have a good enchanted greatsword, she might have plans to windherd an even better greatsword, but nothing she could ever make herself (or buy elsewhere) would ever compare to how powerful and useful Branulhune would be.

If the option was for a single item comparable to Branulhune, which it is, would that be worth the Boon?
 
I think flipping the deal is kind of misleading, because Mathilde uses offence more than she uses defence. Braunhilde has been vital because Mathilde really really wants to kill shit in as few hits as possible, while armor only comes into play when her plan's gone sideways and she needs to get out of dodge. It comes with the territory of being an assassin, Mathilde doesn't rely on her armor, and she still won't with Von Tarnus' Armor, because her ability to use stealth and surprise is so vastly superior to frontline brawls for her. Buffing her ability to need to be in pitched combat as little as possible has composed most of her murder-relevant traits.
 
Execute/Dumbo said:
I think flipping the deal is kind of misleading, because Mathilde uses offence more than she uses defence. Braunhilde has been vital because Mathilde really really wants to kill shit in as few hits as possible, while armor only comes into play when her plan's gone sideways and she needs to get out of dodge. It comes with the territory of being an assassin, Mathilde doesn't rely on her armor, and she still won't with Von Tarnus' Armor, because her ability to use stealth and surprise is so vastly superior to frontline brawls for her. Buffing her ability to need to be in pitched combat as little as possible has composed most of her murder-relevant traits.
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Well, unless you count swordsman.
 
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