Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)

I'm going to argue for the Ice wraith art. Whilst it's melee only its usable with any slashing weapon, so we can use it with our knives (our current best weapon), a Gauando, almost any sword type. This makes it highly versitile and applicable to most ways we could build up our character. It provides a way to deal with negative physical effects when argent mirror art deals with the mental and spiritual negatives.

It's also wind/water and spine so we can train it stupidly fast. Given the stated intention of getting the art right now was to quickly get us a combat burst damage art this is an important factor. We can pick up the other arts in the future but Ice wraith we can get to high level and power much quicker.

The problem with falling stars art is it's pure archery. We currently only have access to a crummy training bow and would need to invest heavily in getting a good one immedietly. It's heaven, which we don't currently have access to a site for, so will train slower than other arts.

[X] Ice Wraith Art
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Hangwind on Jun 19, 2017 at 9:02 AM, finished with 17376 posts and 20 votes.
 
One great thing to find out is that Spine arts are where the damage soak is. This isn't currently an issue because we have a great dodge, but I bet at some point we are going to want some sort of passive defense art and this makes sure we know exactly where to go for it.
 
One great thing to find out is that Spine arts are where the damage soak is. This isn't currently an issue because we have a great dodge, but I bet at some point we are going to want some sort of passive defense art and this makes sure we know exactly where to go for it.
Spine and heart, except Heart is weaker trading off for being an aura instead of self-only.

Also, Lung probably is the one that does 'armours' like Sun Liling's or Bai Meizhen's mantles.
 
[X] Ashen Shadow Art

We can get the rest later.
One great thing to find out is that Spine arts are where the damage soak is. This isn't currently an issue because we have a great dodge, but I bet at some point we are going to want some sort of passive defense art and this makes sure we know exactly where to go for it.
Double Spine Wood? It should also give us passive healing.
 
Honestly tho I'd go with ashen as our second before ice , for the sake of our Lil turtle but then again we can probably get more arts that are better suited for us with different meridians , we don't really need that many attack arts currently , but we could use some more exotic or buffs/debuffs since it's our specialty and we only really have a few
 
... Damn, I am torn between Falling Stars and Ashen Shadow, but Ice Wraith looks really good too for the strengthening and damage absorption.

That said, Falling Stars is the pure damage art. No question. I really like the sheer piercing power of it, but I'm not so keen on how we don't have a good cultivation site or a good weapon for it.

Ashen Shadows though... Ashen Shadows is fantastic. Synergizes with us so good. We hit with shadow ash instead of needing to put down our flute. We can do extra blinding. We can put extra ash constructs in our mist. It is six levels compared to five levels for everything else.

I propose we take Ashen Shadows now, since we know it'll take longer to learn, then come back and grab Falling Stars later, when we have appropriate gear and a cultivation site for it.

[x] Ashen Shadow Art

EDIT: Also, think of our baby Adortoise! He needs a nice warm meridian to snuggle in!
 
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I'm interested in the answer to this question.

Probably a lot of avoidance and indirect personality traits, leaning toward flightiness and distance from others

High utility when fighting from afar and kiting enemies, very high power, has a powerful site available. The standard "I want to hit and hit hard" art that is also conveniently filling a hole in our fighting style.

Basically the best I could have thought for as a direct damage art, as it not only give very significant ability to kill enemies before FVM drops when we stop playing, it not only is a good art for when the enemies can counter FVM somehow, but it also plays to our strength when it comes to kiting and striking from afar. Also, very useful element combination.

Main problem is it's site is not currently taken, so I would prefer to wait a bit.


It trades off the range of Falling Stars Art as well as its sheer power by having longer duration and being more defense-based. An excellent choice when we want to kill a ton of enemies in cramped quarters (like a tunnel) and don't have room to kite around enemies, covering multiples of our defensive and offensive holes. Less "fuck damage", more "Fuck assassin in the shadow creeping in and killing everyone slowly". Solid choice.


My favourite. It doesn't need a weapon so can be used while FVM is active. Learning wise, it's Lung so might very well be considered exotic, and Wind also means that we get a lot of bonus to learn it, and we have a fire site.

This art seems to have perfect synergy with FVM and fill the direct damage hole of our build when in semi close quarters. It's also Physical/Spiritual, which is nifty when one of our two cultivation is above the others.

This is really fucking good... But it's not the art we are looking for direct damage. It's one that helps the art that gives direct damage. I want it, I really want it... But it should be one to get once we have an actual direct damage art, as it's what we are looking for right now.


No, but we can open another arm meridian. Falling Stars is kind of the art that will take the longer to train though, as it's the only one we don't have a site for yet. I'd honest prefer to go and grab it later when we have opened the site, as it seems a waste to not use that site for the whole of it, andconsidering every ones of those arts are great....

@yrsillar, they all begin in late red/gold?

[X] Ashen Shadow Art

Yeah, they're all late red/gold minimum
 
[X] Ashen Shadow Art

Main reason being it's the only one we can use with FVM active, making it add to our damage dealing ability without the extra burden of a time limit. Second reason being it's Fire, which might give bonuses with our burgeoning adoratortoise who is currently on fire in its birthing oven. Third reason? It has 6 levels, which may mean it progresses more and has more potential than the other arts. Ash constructs also sound sufficiently exotic to have a chance of proccing our talent for exotic effects.
 
Here is evaluation of the options.

Falling Stars Art
+Arm x2 art provides maximum burst damage
+Archery art synergizes with our abilities at ranged combat and takes advantage of the bonus dice from Zephyr's Breath
+Armor Piercing, applies debilitating debuffs
-Can't play flute and use bow at the same time
-Not trainable this week, losing the +10 dice from our drugs
-Lightning strikes aren't exactly stealthy; not going to be good for keeping our position hidden

Ice Wraith Art
+Arm/Spine Water/Wind art takes advantage of ALL the bonuses for hilariously fast training
+Cuts through armor
+Grants us damage soak and disrupts physical effects
-Can't play flute and use slashing melee weapon at the same time
-Spine abilities have some overlap with Argent Mirror

Ashen Shadow Art
+Fire may get bonuses from Spirit Turtle, and Ash has interesting thematic synergies with Mist
+Art has 6 levels, as opposed to only 5 for our other choices
+Lung portion of this art can be used hands-free
+Blinding gusts are great for augmenting our current fighting style
-No Armor Piercing

Rippling Lake Art
+Doesn't require hands
+Good overall support art, and good for setting up bonuses for attacks
-Not an attack art
-Still not an attack art
-Kinda replicates what we do already
 
For the people that are concerned that we won't get a good bow for Falling Stars any time soon because it would be expensive, keep in mind that our current set of knives was pretty cheap, and buying a bow equivalent should give something quite a bit more powerful than DV 4 with no other bonuses. This is not some hurdle that will take us long to cross.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here, and argue for

[X] Ashen Shadow Art

Falling Stars Art is great, and probably best fills our current problem that we have no way to deal direct damage. Still, it has a number of problems - firstly that we would need to invest in a good bow to really use it, secondly that we can't easily use it whilst playing our flute for FVM, and thirdly that it won't really help if we find ourselves in melee combat (which is probably when we'd most need a damage art).

Additionally, Ashen Shadow Art has a number of points in its favour. It has the most stages (6 instead of 5) - this might mean it will top out to be more powerful than the other arts, meaning it will be more useful long term. It doesn't require a weapon - potentially our kicks can use it, leaving our hands free for the flute. It also seems to synergise well with FVM, both thematically, and with additional perception penalties. It promises more complex constructs - we might be able to buff these with Zephyr's Breath, Mist of the Vale, or any other buffing arts we pick up. It's Fire, which might provide a bonus for our tortoise (potentially they can incubate in fire meridians, if I remember correctly). We can begin to learn it this turn, which is important because we've just used a bunch of pills that help with art learning. Lastly, it's really fucking cool.

In any case, I think it would be worth coming back at a later point to get either Ashen Shadow Art or Falling Stars Art after we've learnt the one we choose now. I'd suggest getting Ashen Shadow Art first because it has the most stages, meaning it will likely take longer to master.
 
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Mmmh. Efficiency wise, Ashen Shadow Arts and Ice Wraith Arts are much stronger early on. We'll not only learn them faster, but we can begin to learn them right now... and we can't for Falling Star Art. Given we are using a lot of pill for combat art this turn, I'll prefer learning the art this turn.

It's not a real issue, as opening a meridian isn't bad and it will give us spiritual overflow, but given all the three main choices are more or less equally good for different set of direct damage art, I think there is a real argument for "We have it learned now".

For example, Here are our dice, this week, for Ice Wraith and Ashen Shadow:
Ice Wraith: Talent 6 + Element 1 + Pill 22 + Stone 18 + Spine 4+ 5 site= 56, so 30 success average. Even if the first level is 20, we are sure to get it, and might go up to halfway to second level given we get -10 for it. If the first level is 15, we can probably get level 2 in one go.

Ashen Shadow: Talent 6+ Element 1+ Pill 19 + Stone 18+ site 3= 47, so 25 success on average... however we might get -5 on the first DC. If it's 20, this means getting to 10/15 for the second level (assuming the second level is 30 then -15 from lung and wind). If it's 15, it also means probably getting the second level.

Given we can come back after opening more meridian, and I think Falling Start art fills a niche people will want anyway, and it's an art that will go much better once we are closer to getting that site... I sort of think it's inefficient to not learn the arm art this turn but begin it learning it next turn. Especially as we'll have much worse dice then, and might not be able to get it in one turn.

Falling Stars Art: Talent 6 + Pill 6 + Element 1 + stone 18= 41... yeah, we should get it in one turn, that's not an issue. Especially with omakes.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here, and argue for

[X] Ashen Shadow Art

Falling Stars Art is great, and probably best fills our current problem that we have no way to deal direct damage. Still, it has a number of problems - firstly that we would need to invest in a good bow to really use it, secondly that we can't easily use it whilst playing our flute for FVM, and thirdly that it won't really help if we find ourselves in melee combat (which is probably when we'd most need a damage art).

Additionally, Ashen Shadow Art has a number of points in its favour. It has the most stages (6 instead of 5) - this might mean it will top out to be more powerful than the other arts, meaning it will be more useful long term. It doesn't require a weapon - potentially our kicks can use it, leaving our hands free for the flute. It also seems to synergise well with FVM, both thematically, and with additional perception penalties. It promises more complex constructs - we might be able to buff these with Zephyr's Breath, Mist of the Vale, or any other buffing arts we pick up. Lastly, it's really fucking cool.

In any case, I think it would be worth coming back at a later point to get either Ashen Shadow Art or Falling Stars Art after we've learnt the one we choose now.
You missed that it also synergises with the Adoratortoise. :p
 
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Hmm synergy... we know that Meizhen could use the mist to power her water arts so environment can effect arts in some ways.

Isn't ash+water one of those horrible combos you really do not want to run into?
 
If we engage anywhere close to max range with our bow we'd have several rounds to bully them before they're even in our FVM range. Snipe. Snipe. Snipe. FVM combo start.
 
So we wanted an attack focussed art to fill a gap in our repertoire as well as eventually getting a spine art and we'll probably want more support arts eventually.

Falling Stars Art
So attack focussed and pretty useful but with our low archery skill and lack of a site with a wind or heaven bonus it may be slightly slower going. If we got access to that sun/moon/heaven site this would be more attractive. Wind bonus and likely highest damage by far.

Ice Wraith Art
Pretty good general boost as well as the armor penetration we want. Will have the most bonuses with wind/spine as well as using water site and lowered qi cost. Slashing so can use with knives or guando but do we want a melee focus for our one attack art?

Ashen Shadow Art
Surprisingly good. Probably the most exciting one, most levels and the potential for complex constructs when we advance far enough. Also likely synergy with Ling Ko and while I didn't really want fire, ash clouds are pretty appropriate thematically. Melee but seem to be able to use it without dropping the flute which is cool. Wind bonus and fire site use, exotic bonus?

Rippling Lake Art
I doubt this will win and while I like it I don't want it to. Hoping we'll eventually get something like it though. Once we've invested a bit more into personal power we ought to go back to our support specialisation and an offensive focussed support art seems interesting.
 
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