Yes, and while you have six exploration actions, supersonicsound has only four. Too little in the later case for me.

I also have two hogsmeade actions so it's not like I'm going whole hog on personal training. That's 7x personal actions and 6 normals. I think you're overstating how stressed my plan would be quite dramatically considering Jacob considers duelling fun thanks to our prior vote and a lot of my plan is built around the idea of focusing on that.
 
Right now I'm with Fable's plan. There is really no pressing need to keep trading normal actions when exploring lvl up our skills too. "The Dark Arts Book" gave us 2 lvl in Dark Arts, 1 in Runes, and a new piece of knowledge(Pacts). All with one action.

Exploring actions won't give us the most viable path to power, or the most linear plan, but it will keep upgrading our skills and I think I'm not lying if I say that we haven't wasted actions in exploring. We get some kind of reward every time.

I'm fine trading 2 normal actions into 1 personal. More than that and I think it starts to be an overkill.
 
[ ] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.

This is a must have since our old man made it rather obvious what we should do.

Expecto Patronum - What stops an unstoppable force? - DADA. The Patronus Charm, is a ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. The Patronus Charm is difficult, and many witches and wizards are unable to produce a full, corporeal Patronus, a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity. You may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring (Requires Charm and DADA skill of at least P), DC 500, DC 300 + New trait if learned while Lupin is Professor.

This is also a must have. We just had this massive part of the (fantastic) chapter about introspection, it just makes sense for us to let Jacob do something that basically expands on that by showing him what makes him truly happy.
It also has a massive DC so we better start as soon as possible.

"There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames."

This charm (incantation unknown) was used to conjure flames that could be held in one's hand without burning them. ...
or
... It may also simply be the Fire-Making Spell with a Flame-Freezing Charm put on it, used wandlessly.

We learn/research whatever it is, because it keeps our wand free and frankly the picture already looks like Jacob in the cave.
 
I would like to remind people that we have a fail forward when it comes to spells. When we fail at something we learn enough to lower the DC. So putting actions into Patronum is not a waste.
 
I assumed we were ment to chip away at it over a couple of turns, it took Harry in the books at least a couple of months to learn it even with a teacher.
 
Yes, and while you have six exploration actions, supersonicsound has only four. Too little in the later case for me.
Looking up the plan for the turn before last we did 8 Personal Actions that turn. I think the only reason we didn't crack then is because we also did the Mountain Exploration action that turn as well. So basically, 8 Personal Actions is something we should definitely avoid unless it is an emergency. But again, looking at the update again I think you may have a point.
Still, you knew that you were pushing your limits already. You were spending much more time on learning magic, spells and potions than was comfortable for you for several months now. It had been catching up to you and you were feeling a pressure on your mind that hadn't been there before.
It may be best to alternate the amount of Personal Actions we do. Maybe do 6 one month and 7 another month and keep alternating between those two amounts if we absolutely need to. Because it seems like we have been averaging about 7 a month and Jacob still thinks that that has been too much for him. In light of rereading the update again and looking over that specific section I'm gonna alter my plan a bit so we only do 6 Personal Actions as Jacob seems to think that 7 is a bit too stressful.

[] Plan Get Patronus Then Tidy Up But Avoid Burnout
-[ ] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)- Digging through the archives for so long has given you a good grasp as to who walked these floors in the last two hundred years. There were mentions of someone, you still remembered. There had been some records history of one of the greatest minds that walked this castle, maybe not as special as Sally-Anne or even Dumbledore, but still … Who was he?
-[] Runes Club Research (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – Spend time with the Members of the Runes Club looking for hidden runes and glyphs in the castle walls (Will also count as a training roll towards Ancient Runes).
-[ ] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I – The fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building has always been your most favorite part of Hogwarts' surrounding lands. It was breathtaking how beautiful it was on a sunny day and frightening how dark it could get at night, almost looking like a hole in the fabric of the world. At the beginning of your year you glimpsed at something that had broken through the surface, making you realize how shallow your world view had been. Find a way to get below the water and discover what is below. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Break through your Horizon and What hides behind trees.)
-[] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.
-[]x6 personal actions.
-[] DADA
-[] Legilimency & Occlumency
-[] Spell learning x 4 (Expecto Patronum, Protego (Deep Understanding), Lumos (Deep Understanding), Tempus, Point Me)

Same reasoning as before for most of it. I just added some more exploration to our normal actions and took away one personal action making the total 6 which seems reasonable. I had to take away one of the Rune's Club research actions but I think if we only do one a month we are still on track to complete it by the end of the year anyways so we are good there. The Patronus might not complete this turn but if it doesn't we can complete it easily next turn.

Thoughts?
 
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This update made me so happy. I love reading Jacob thinking he is just astoundingly wise. I empathize with the adults in his life, he is just the coolest kid ever.
 
Story-wise, where do we get the next two grades in Dark Arts to qualify for the next underground adventure? Do we study the book more or do we sneak into the forbidden section in the library?
 
I am sad to see that we do not have more dark arts to learn. While it is nice to have it rise we are going to have to procure more dark arts in our bid for power and curse breaking. I think the dreaming will give us more opportunities for dark magic. We have a idea the next segment will be about a war and frankly fighting a war will involve dark magic. I still wonder what happen to the Basque family for Papa Basque to say he is proud of Jacob for making a pact with a imp and learning the dark arts.
 
That instead of DADA and legimency I would rather train Alchemy twice this turn so that we can get the map going ASAP, and taking into account the insane Alchemy trait that we have we can pull it off with 4-5 actions.

We would only need to wait just a turn for the Protego Deep undertanding.
 
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"I don't think I asked you to be my support," she said. There was no smile on her face. Her words were energetic, but without anger behind them.

"Good," you said.

"Good," she answered, eyes not wavering.

"So, what were you saying before?"

Megan looked at you, the picture that was waiting to be painted disappeared the moment she talked again. A thousand roads ahead of her had disappeared, only one remained suddenly. The rock had turned into dust behind her, as Megan walked her first steps forward. You didn't know what road she had chosen, because she had taken your consideration out of that equation and thrown you out of that picture.

"Forget what I told you," she said. "I want you to tell me something." Megan leaned back into the cushioned bench. "We have a few minutes before you need to go and play, tell me about your home, please."

There was a smile on her face. This one was different than the others she usually gifted you, but you couldn't place the reason for that. The picture you had been imagining of her disappeared completely. Both of you started anew, forgetting old biases and halting the projection of own ideals and ideas onto the other person.

"Hmm … where would I start? Imagine being old … very old … no even older than that!"
...So did this go well?

on the character page, it still says we have the acromantula vial, need to change it to having a blue wide potion vial, or was it just successfully researched?

→ Dark Arts +2 → New Grade, D-

→ Ancient Runes +1 → New grade, D+

→ 'Abilities' unlocked → Pact Making I developed.



Class Progress: 1/5 progress to next skill level

Runes Club Findings: 6/10 progress to find Castle Runes

→ Ancient Runes +2 → New Grade, P-
for this, did we fail a training roll for ancient runes?
 
[X] Plan: Decompress and Explore.
-[X] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions)
-[X] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)
-[X] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I (3 Actions)
-[X] Runes Club Research x1
-[X] Business School of Hogsmeade x2
-[X] Personal x5:
-[X] Train Constitution
-[X] Spell Learning x3 (Expecto Patronum)
-[X] Potion Research (Shrinking Solution)
 
My plan in basically the same as @ShyGuy but it changes Legimency and DADA for Alchemy, since that map would be extremely useful and thanks to the insane trait that we have in alchemy we can get it done in 4-5 actions...

[] Plan Patronus and Alchemy
-[] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)- Digging through the archives for so long has given you a good grasp as to who walked these floors in the last two hundred years. There were mentions of someone, you still remembered. There had been some records history of one of the greatest minds that walked this castle, maybe not as special as Sally-Anne or even Dumbledore, but still … Who was he?
-[] Runes Club Research (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – Spend time with the Members of the Runes Club looking for hidden runes and glyphs in the castle walls (Will also count as a training roll towards Ancient Runes).
-[ ] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I – The fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building has always been your most favorite part of Hogwarts' surrounding lands. It was breathtaking how beautiful it was on a sunny day and frightening how dark it could get at night, almost looking like a hole in the fabric of the world. At the beginning of your year you glimpsed at something that had broken through the surface, making you realize how shallow your world view had been. Find a way to get below the water and discover what is below. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Break through your Horizon and What hides behind trees.)
-[] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.
-[]x6 personal actions.
-[] Alchemy X 2
-[] Spell learning x 4 (Expecto Patronum, Lumos (Deep Understanding), Tempus, Point Me)
 
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My plan in basically the same as @ShyGuy but it changes Legimency and DADA for Alchemy, since that map would be extremely useful and thanks to the insane trait that we have in alchemy we can get it done in 4-5 actions...

[] Plan Patronus and Alchemy
-[ ] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)- Digging through the archives for so long has given you a good grasp as to who walked these floors in the last two hundred years. There were mentions of someone, you still remembered. There had been some records history of one of the greatest minds that walked this castle, maybe not as special as Sally-Anne or even Dumbledore, but still … Who was he?
-[] Runes Club Research (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – Spend time with the Members of the Runes Club looking for hidden runes and glyphs in the castle walls (Will also count as a training roll towards Ancient Runes).
-[ ] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I – The fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building has always been your most favorite part of Hogwarts' surrounding lands. It was breathtaking how beautiful it was on a sunny day and frightening how dark it could get at night, almost looking like a hole in the fabric of the world. At the beginning of your year you glimpsed at something that had broken through the surface, making you realize how shallow your world view had been. Find a way to get below the water and discover what is below. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Break through your Horizon and What hides behind trees.)
-[] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.
-[]x6 personal actions.
-[] Alchemy X 2
-[] Spell learning x 4 (Expecto Patronum, Lumos (Deep Understanding), Tempus, Point Me)
Alchemy and the map are important but not as important as shielding our mind from Dumbledore especially right now as we have just started to delve into the dark arts, we can't have Dumbledore believing we are the next Tom Riddle in the making.
 
Alchemy and the map are important but not as important as shielding our mind from Dumbledore especially right now as we have just started to delve into the dark arts, we can't have Dumbledore believing we are the next Tom Riddle in the making.
An extra level in occlumancy would only give us a +1 to the roll, I would rather have the Alchemy thing going ASAP since those extra levels are actually extemely relevant.
 
That instead of DADA and legimency I would rather train Alchemy twice this turn so that we can get the map going ASAP, and taking into account the insane Alchemy trait that we have we can pull it off with 4-5 actions.
Yeah, Alchemy has been on my mind as well. I've writing some stuff down though on possible ways to tackle though. My thoughts were to do them next turn as I personally view getting the prerequisite for the Protego Deep Understanding to be a bit higher on the to do list, mainly because it can be used for both Dueling and life-or-death situations of which we seem to find ourselves in a lot of. Mind Arts also has been something we have been ignoring for a while and is a thing that has been used against us repeatedly.

But yeah, Alchemy has been on my to do list. If we do 2 actions next turn we are likely to still finish the map before the end of the school year. My thoughts were:
  • April: Alchemyx2 as well as 2-3 Normal actions towards the map (unless the QM says we can't do this on the same turn, even then though we can still complete it before the year ends).
  • May: 2-4 Normal actions towards the map
  • March: If it isn't finished by now, then we clean up here

An extra level in occlumancy would only give us a +1 to the roll, I would rather have the Alchemy thing going ASAP since those extra levels are actually extemely relevant.
It might also lower the DC though for us detecting it being used against us. I remember that the last time it was used against us we had a DC of 70 or 80 which was pretty high.

Edit: Might as well ask the QM about Alchemy research.

@Tabula Rasa Question in regards to Alchemy training and the map. If for the next turn, or the turn after next, we take two Alchemy training actions putting us at Alchemy D+, can we also take actions in regards to starting on the map in that same month?

[ ] Stage III, A Hogwarts Map (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – You are already ahead of what most people know of Hogwarts. The deeper you dig, the more you know that you're still scratching at the surfaces. What is down there? Start making a map of what you already know and see if you can somehow track the people inside the Castle. It should be possible, right? (Alchemy D+). DC 400.

So, I'm basically asking if we can do something like this:
  • Hypothetical Alchemy Plan sometime in the next month or so
    • Normal Actions
      • [ ] Stage III, A Hogwarts Map x2
    • Personal Actions
      • Train Alchemy x 2 (putting us at Alchemy D+, the prerequisite for the map)
Is that legal, or do we need to get Alchemy to D+ a month before we can actually start working on the map? I thought it might be doable because we have been doing the same thing for spells (training to get to the prerequisite for the spell and attempting to learn the spell on the same turn) but I wasn't sure if the rules were different in regards to Alchemy.
 
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So what plans do people have to get the patronous before the end of the year because I want that extra bonus we would get from learning it.
 
Moratorium's up (and I need to sleep soon so putting this out here now).

[x] Plan Get Patronus Then Tidy Up But Avoid Burnout
-[x] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)- Digging through the archives for so long has given you a good grasp as to who walked these floors in the last two hundred years. There were mentions of someone, you still remembered. There had been some records history of one of the greatest minds that walked this castle, maybe not as special as Sally-Anne or even Dumbledore, but still … Who was he?
-[x] Runes Club Research (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – Spend time with the Members of the Runes Club looking for hidden runes and glyphs in the castle walls (Will also count as a training roll towards Ancient Runes).
-[x] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I – The fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building has always been your most favorite part of Hogwarts' surrounding lands. It was breathtaking how beautiful it was on a sunny day and frightening how dark it could get at night, almost looking like a hole in the fabric of the world. At the beginning of your year you glimpsed at something that had broken through the surface, making you realize how shallow your world view had been. Find a way to get below the water and discover what is below. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Break through your Horizon and What hides behind trees.)
-[x] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.
-[x] Write a Letter (Free Action) – To Nicolas Flamel. Thank him once again for the gift and let him know that the boots have already come in handy with some exploration we have done. Also let Nicolas know that he is in our thoughts and that we look forward to seeing him when we get back from school. Tell him about Hogwart's surprising lack of Alchemy books available for use, but that we have managed to press on nonetheless using what he has taught us and found our own method of moving forward with the subject. Hopefully, by the time we return for the summer we will have completed a project of our own and he can see for himself how we have advanced in the subject.
-[x]x6 personal actions.
-[x] DADA
-[x] Legilimency & Occlumency
-[x] Spell learning x 4 (Expecto Patronum, Protego (Deep Understanding), Lumos (Deep Understanding), Tempus, Point Me)

Alright, here is my plan. Less Personal Actions than usual because it seems like Jacob has been having a hard time with doing 7 every month (about the average of what we were doing). Cases, exploration, journal which our father recommended we do before exploring more, as well as Runes Club which gives us some social time as well as some Runes training (which we need a bit more of in order to do the Goggles). For Personal Actions, DADA to get the prerequisite for Protego, Mind Arts because of their utility and because they have been used against us repeatedly, followed by spell learning focused mainly on getting the Patronus down.

This plan is made with the idea in mind that we clean up on any necessary spells we need in the following month or two (things needed for the exams, exploration, etc.). It also gets most stuff out of the way so we can spend 2 Personal Actions on Alchemy next month in order to work on the Map and finish that before the end of the year.

So what plans do people have to get the patronous before the end of the year because I want that extra bonus we would get from learning it.
My plan has learning the Patronus as a priority ;)
 
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@ShyGuy

Your plan has a 41% chance of getting the Patronus in that turn. Requiring 216 from four dice. That said I'm probably mostly okay with it as it still makes progress towards getting the requirement for protego.
 
[X] Seek out the Grey Lady. The way things ended leaves a sour taste in your mouth. With some time having passed, you hope she will be more open to an apology.
 
[X] Plan Patronus and Alchemy
-[X] Case III: The Riddle of Riddle (2 Actions)- Digging through the archives for so long has given you a good grasp as to who walked these floors in the last two hundred years. There were mentions of someone, you still remembered. There had been some records history of one of the greatest minds that walked this castle, maybe not as special as Sally-Anne or even Dumbledore, but still … Who was he?
-[X] Runes Club Research (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – Spend time with the Members of the Runes Club looking for hidden runes and glyphs in the castle walls (Will also count as a training roll towards Ancient Runes).
-[X] Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea I – The fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building has always been your most favorite part of Hogwarts' surrounding lands. It was breathtaking how beautiful it was on a sunny day and frightening how dark it could get at night, almost looking like a hole in the fabric of the world. At the beginning of your year you glimpsed at something that had broken through the surface, making you realize how shallow your world view had been. Find a way to get below the water and discover what is below. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Break through your Horizon and What hides behind trees.)
-[X] Stage III, Dreams of old (Takes 2 Actions) – Coming back into the years of unrelenting war. Following years of uncontended victories for you and yours, an enemy has arrived that is more powerful than anything you could have ever imagined. Marching through the midst of winter they attack numbering the tens of thousands.
-[X]x6 personal actions.
-[X] Alchemy X 2
-[X] Spell learning x 4 (Expecto Patronum, Lumos (Deep Understanding), Tempus, Point Me)
 
@ShyGuy

Your plan has a 41% chance of getting the Patronus in that turn. Requiring 216 from four dice. That said I'm probably mostly okay with it as it still makes progress towards getting the requirement for protego.
Yeah, I'm aware that that might happen. But progress is progress and if we don't finish it this turn we can always do so for the next one along with Protego. We do have 4 turns left until school ends (including next month) so there is plenty of time left.

Also, does that account for new Hidden Mechanic we discovered where if we roll high we get a free roll? I'm still not entirely sure how that works tbh, but I think it likely to increase our probability a bit. It seems like the kind of mechanic that benefits from working on spells/potions/projects with high DC's rather than easier spells.
 
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[x] Plan Get Patronus Then Tidy Up But Avoid Burnout

Even if we don't get Patronus this turn we can lower the DC. I hope that we can get the last required potions soon so that we don't get caught by bad rolls in the last month.
 
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