A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- California
Ah, oops; guess Raex will not be accompanying us. Also I forgot Nathor's second sword perk!
Alas, I can't afford any Longevity or Output ranks beyond 1; I'm considering taking Tempestuous Tides to convert into those though. Besides, I'll have to figure out a way to increase people's longevity anyway, and I doubt Longevity Ranks lend themselves well to replication.
[] Student (3 ranks, 2 sparks)
[] Go Easy
[] A Dalliance (+1 Rank): To aid every sentient being in every world, a quest almost certain to never end.
[] Embrace of Winters (+2 Ranks)
[] The Gift Of Men (+1 Rank)
[] Timepiece - Initiate (-1 Rank)
[] Truck - Adept (-2 Ranks)
[] Companion - Adept (-2 Ranks)
-[] The Sword (Adept, Honorblade, Saber)
-[] Restoration (Adept)
-[] The Bread (Initiate)
-[] Template: Nathor Foeval
[] Normal Mode
[] Heroism (-1 Spark)
[] Towering Arcane (-1 Spark)
[] Output Rank 3 (-2 Ranks)
-Edit: More Output for faster Powers, at the expense of a tragic love story worthy of knights-errant.
-Another Edit: Normal Mode is free, so I get a free Rank. Tripling my study time while on the road.
Alas, I can't afford any Longevity or Output ranks beyond 1; I'm considering taking Tempestuous Tides to convert into those though. Besides, I'll have to figure out a way to increase people's longevity anyway, and I doubt Longevity Ranks lend themselves well to replication.
[] Student (3 ranks, 2 sparks)
[] Go Easy
[] A Dalliance (+1 Rank): To aid every sentient being in every world, a quest almost certain to never end.
[] Embrace of Winters (+2 Ranks)
[] The Gift Of Men (+1 Rank)
[] Timepiece - Initiate (-1 Rank)
[] Truck - Adept (-2 Ranks)
[] Companion - Adept (-2 Ranks)
-[] The Sword (Adept, Honorblade, Saber)
-[] Restoration (Adept)
-[] The Bread (Initiate)
-[] Template: Nathor Foeval
[] Normal Mode
[] Heroism (-1 Spark)
[] Towering Arcane (-1 Spark)
[] Output Rank 3 (-2 Ranks)
-Edit: More Output for faster Powers, at the expense of a tragic love story worthy of knights-errant.
-Another Edit: Normal Mode is free, so I get a free Rank. Tripling my study time while on the road.
Last edited:
RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
Student [3R2S]; Try Me
-2R , skip the First Travail and weaken the Second Travail.
A Season for War [+2R], Embrace of Winters [+2R], The Gift of Men [+1R], A Dalliance [+1R]
Challenge Mode [+1R]
Budget: [8R2S]
Powers:
Awe [Adept] [-2R]
Rune of Restoration [Initiate] [-1R]
Storm Sapphire [Adept] [-2R]
- Water, Wind, [Magic]
Output:
Longevity 4 [-2R]
Output 3 [-1R]
Spark:
Heroism [-1S]
Broken Limiter [-1S]
The Nexus blocking all buffs from powers I don't have is kinda crippling, need to take Restoration immediately so healing is viable and can't benefit from any form of dimension travel or time manipulation except by developing the needed powers.
[Asking Gisena if I can take my leave year early and training up to Adept would be nice, but no employer would
actually agree and it's a Drawback too so I'll err on worst interpretation]
Since Students need time to scale, it is worth spending the Rank now to mitigate the first and second travails. Awe is really important, both
because I'm being conscripted as an officer (so need to interact with the military hierarchy and manage our subordinates etc) and also because in the absence of the First travail, we should be able to have a functional society with multiple socially inclined superhumans.
There will be multiple Masters and at least some will take Exalted Awe or abilities that can shape the world, so I need both the abilities to be useful to someone like that + the social skills to make them like me and potentially convince them to be more altruistic.
Storm Sapphire is a nice balance for skills that will be useful for the new society (generating energy or calming storms, or extracting pure gases), and also being fairly strong in combat (notably comes with combat experience which sword doesn't, though sword should still be stronger). The antimagic is transformation only because I'll probably transform for anything important combat wise, and water/ wind are more useful without the transformation active.
Restoration can also offer value, since I'm one of potentially 10k really good healers, so even with the mediocre Restoration Initiate compared to Adept I should still be able to offer value because of their limited time and effort.
There are more synergistic Spark combos, like the Broken Limit + Arcane but with the drawbacks taken (an emotionally demanding and potentially toxic friendship with lots of plot, 70% of the time needs to work as a mercenary for the Blood Halo, has a quest that they're very driven to achieve), probably won't be able to train a lot or spend extended amount of time working for a Master. Heroism is great for converting the danger needed while serving Hunger (who is probably on a morally good course) into advancements, at least.
Later on, in the course of service Heroism can probably develop Initiate Sword or other combat relevant abilities if I take risks, and then can rely on physical exertion due to working as a soldier + self training to study them. Most of Broken Limiter's progress will be committed to getting Exalted Awe ASAP since it's important to have it so I can be an active agent in allying society vs the alien invasion (can probably achieve this since Broken Limiter takes 3-5 years to train to Exalted), unless I need further combat relevant skills beyond what Heroism will develop to thrive as an officer.
The aliens are friendly now, so allying with them makes opposing the final travail much better. Even if I can't get Exalted Awe by the time of alien invasion, should have gotten it much before the final travail so convincing others to reach an accord should be manageable, I don't think most people will prioritise training Bread to Exalted when consuming it at the Adept level is so tempting.
If Heroism can develop relevant powers, developing time-related power, or the truck, or the pen would be great so I can benefit from the effects of allies using it. Truck is probably the most value because I think the 70% of my time spent serving Hunger still applies post time manipulation, and it might let people escape this dimension. I don't think Heroism can bake but some way to get +all Mental stats would be great too, probably something I would prioritise if I can choose getting effects.
The chosen lifespan is long enough that if I manage to survive that long I'd probably choose to die anyway, I think. If I don't there should be some opportunity to polymorph into an immortal race and set up some way of getting temporal power before the nexus fades, and hopefully
I'm relieved of serving Hunger by then.
-2R , skip the First Travail and weaken the Second Travail.
A Season for War [+2R], Embrace of Winters [+2R], The Gift of Men [+1R], A Dalliance [+1R]
Challenge Mode [+1R]
Budget: [8R2S]
Powers:
Awe [Adept] [-2R]
Rune of Restoration [Initiate] [-1R]
Storm Sapphire [Adept] [-2R]
- Water, Wind, [Magic]
Output:
Longevity 4 [-2R]
Output 3 [-1R]
Spark:
Heroism [-1S]
Broken Limiter [-1S]
The Nexus blocking all buffs from powers I don't have is kinda crippling, need to take Restoration immediately so healing is viable and can't benefit from any form of dimension travel or time manipulation except by developing the needed powers.
[Asking Gisena if I can take my leave year early and training up to Adept would be nice, but no employer would
actually agree and it's a Drawback too so I'll err on worst interpretation]
Since Students need time to scale, it is worth spending the Rank now to mitigate the first and second travails. Awe is really important, both
because I'm being conscripted as an officer (so need to interact with the military hierarchy and manage our subordinates etc) and also because in the absence of the First travail, we should be able to have a functional society with multiple socially inclined superhumans.
There will be multiple Masters and at least some will take Exalted Awe or abilities that can shape the world, so I need both the abilities to be useful to someone like that + the social skills to make them like me and potentially convince them to be more altruistic.
Storm Sapphire is a nice balance for skills that will be useful for the new society (generating energy or calming storms, or extracting pure gases), and also being fairly strong in combat (notably comes with combat experience which sword doesn't, though sword should still be stronger). The antimagic is transformation only because I'll probably transform for anything important combat wise, and water/ wind are more useful without the transformation active.
Restoration can also offer value, since I'm one of potentially 10k really good healers, so even with the mediocre Restoration Initiate compared to Adept I should still be able to offer value because of their limited time and effort.
There are more synergistic Spark combos, like the Broken Limit + Arcane but with the drawbacks taken (an emotionally demanding and potentially toxic friendship with lots of plot, 70% of the time needs to work as a mercenary for the Blood Halo, has a quest that they're very driven to achieve), probably won't be able to train a lot or spend extended amount of time working for a Master. Heroism is great for converting the danger needed while serving Hunger (who is probably on a morally good course) into advancements, at least.
Later on, in the course of service Heroism can probably develop Initiate Sword or other combat relevant abilities if I take risks, and then can rely on physical exertion due to working as a soldier + self training to study them. Most of Broken Limiter's progress will be committed to getting Exalted Awe ASAP since it's important to have it so I can be an active agent in allying society vs the alien invasion (can probably achieve this since Broken Limiter takes 3-5 years to train to Exalted), unless I need further combat relevant skills beyond what Heroism will develop to thrive as an officer.
The aliens are friendly now, so allying with them makes opposing the final travail much better. Even if I can't get Exalted Awe by the time of alien invasion, should have gotten it much before the final travail so convincing others to reach an accord should be manageable, I don't think most people will prioritise training Bread to Exalted when consuming it at the Adept level is so tempting.
If Heroism can develop relevant powers, developing time-related power, or the truck, or the pen would be great so I can benefit from the effects of allies using it. Truck is probably the most value because I think the 70% of my time spent serving Hunger still applies post time manipulation, and it might let people escape this dimension. I don't think Heroism can bake but some way to get +all Mental stats would be great too, probably something I would prioritise if I can choose getting effects.
The chosen lifespan is long enough that if I manage to survive that long I'd probably choose to die anyway, I think. If I don't there should be some opportunity to polymorph into an immortal race and set up some way of getting temporal power before the nexus fades, and hopefully
I'm relieved of serving Hunger by then.
Last edited:
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
[ ] Student (3 Ranks, 2 Powers)
[ ] Try Me
-[] Skip First Travail (-1 Rank)
Placement: Challenge Mode (+1 Rank)
Longevity: Immortal (3 Ranks)
Towering Arcane
1 Spark reserved.
Really hoping everyone here is nice, given I select skipping the First Trevail.
[ ] Try Me
-[] Skip First Travail (-1 Rank)
Placement: Challenge Mode (+1 Rank)
Longevity: Immortal (3 Ranks)
Towering Arcane
1 Spark reserved.
Really hoping everyone here is nice, given I select skipping the First Trevail.
Last edited:
Alright, first lets do build I would pick for real. I call it "my life just gets better lol".
Student - +3 Ranks, +2 Sparks
Go Easy
Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters, The Gift of Men - +4 Ranks
Long 4, Output 2, Placement 3 - -5 Ranks
Sapphire Adept(Metal/Earth) - -2 Ranks
Life Worth Living - -2 Sparks
You get ten billion years of lifespan and Sapphire. You don't actually plan on using Sapphire on anything(although Metal/Air should be decent combo to survive stuff in needs be, especially without Output 2), you grind Ranks for five months and then get Exalted Sapphire and Rune King. You insert the gem and now you have Truck, Timepiece, Rune, Awe and Tincture(or Bread/Sword). The world is your oyster.
And now for something different, a Master build that doesn't rely on Rivalry! Crazy I know:
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance - +7 Ranks
Long 4, Output 3, Placement 2 - -5 Ranks
Exalted Timepiece - -5 Ranks
Exalted Sword - -5 Ranks
The point of this build is completing the first two tasks to get to third, and then to use combination of Exalted Sword and Timepiece in conjunction with FREE spark granted by third task to grind Fatal Threnody via infinite uncontested loops.
Student - +3 Ranks, +2 Sparks
Go Easy
Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters, The Gift of Men - +4 Ranks
Long 4, Output 2, Placement 3 - -5 Ranks
Sapphire Adept(Metal/Earth) - -2 Ranks
Life Worth Living - -2 Sparks
You get ten billion years of lifespan and Sapphire. You don't actually plan on using Sapphire on anything(although Metal/Air should be decent combo to survive stuff in needs be, especially without Output 2), you grind Ranks for five months and then get Exalted Sapphire and Rune King. You insert the gem and now you have Truck, Timepiece, Rune, Awe and Tincture(or Bread/Sword). The world is your oyster.
And now for something different, a Master build that doesn't rely on Rivalry! Crazy I know:
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance - +7 Ranks
Long 4, Output 3, Placement 2 - -5 Ranks
Exalted Timepiece - -5 Ranks
Exalted Sword - -5 Ranks
The point of this build is completing the first two tasks to get to third, and then to use combination of Exalted Sword and Timepiece in conjunction with FREE spark granted by third task to grind Fatal Threnody via infinite uncontested loops.
Last edited:
[P] Master [+9 Ranks]
[P] Try Me
[P] A Season For War [+2 Ranks]
[P] Embrace of Winters [+2 Ranks]
[P] The Gift of Men [+1 Rank]
[P] Rivalry [+2 Ranks] [+1 from required Placement]
[P] Rune of Restoration (Domain: Healing) Exalted [-5 Ranks]
[P] The Bread (Domains: Enhancement, Misc) Exalted [-5 Ranks]
[P] Companion Exalted [-5 Ranks]
Exalted - Your Companion is as above, but instead possesses two Exalted and three Adept-level Powers
Tincture Exalted
The Truck Exalted
Timepiece Adept
Sword Adept
Pen Adept
Core
Longevity Rank 3 [-1 Ranks]
Output Rank 3 [-1 Ranks]
Placement Rank 0 [+1 Rank]: Challenge Mode
My Companion is modeled on an Exalted character sans-exaltation with excellent martial, navigation, and mecha-piloting skills, Captain Shas Puretide. I'll spend most of my time fused with Shas and his Truck via his Tincture, and I'll rely on our combined Truck+Tincture+Rune soak monster combination to outlast pretty much any amount of gross damage output.
Our versatility is immense, and our strategy to win Rivalry is to drive around our FREE BREAD van and lure impressionable young Powers inside.
We're quite well equipped for fighting off most of the invasion, and only modestly prepared to influence global trends. I dearly hope I have a Storm Queen and an Awe monster on my team.
We rely on our disgusting degree of resilience with a modest but effective offense for most contests. With Adept Sword and Timepiece The Truck will be hitting pretty damn hard. Offering Bread freely will win many social contests, and we have great resistances through my friend Shas's bread-boosted Pen skills.
My Winter will keep life interesting if searing and torturous, but it does provide a happy ending at the end of my trials. The goal is to preserve my team and as much of humanity as I can through the Rivalry contest and the Travails, and then focus hard on boosting our students to escape our Ontology.
Serving in Hunger's army should see our duo as a very effective set of ambulance drivers, or perhaps a light garrison force in a pinch.
Last edited:
A funny synergy between Rune King and Companion is that your companion now knows six Adept and three Initiate level powers - which is basically all they can take here. With my LWL build you could actually upgrade this to Exalted Companion who is now a literal god who knows six Exalted and nine Adept powers, so more powers that we are offered here. In LWL build I posted you would need three and a half years(or about ten months with reasonable timepiece usage) to get to this uber god who can then tincture combine with you to grand you godhood.
An Even More Comfortable Ascension
[] Student (+3 ranks, +2 sparks)
[] Go easy
[] Blossoming Spring +1 rank
[] The Gift of Men +1 rank
[] A Dalliance +1 rank
[] 143 vigintillion years (-4 ranks)
[] Pathetic Mode (-2 ranks)
[] Life Worth Living (-2 sparks)
143 vigintillion years is a very long time, and whose to say I won't develop a way to extend it or another source of power in all that time?
This way I don't have to deal with any wintery sadness.
[] Student (+3 ranks, +2 sparks)
[] Go easy
[] Blossoming Spring +1 rank
[] The Gift of Men +1 rank
[] A Dalliance +1 rank
[] 143 vigintillion years (-4 ranks)
[] Pathetic Mode (-2 ranks)
[] Life Worth Living (-2 sparks)
143 vigintillion years is a very long time, and whose to say I won't develop a way to extend it or another source of power in all that time?
This way I don't have to deal with any wintery sadness.
The best combo of three Exalted Powers seems to be Pen, Sword and Companion(Tincture and Time). Companion is a no brainer in every build since it is basically free Tincture plus adept Rune, Awe and Bread of course(add Truck if you want universe travel, although you can just enslave other people and have them give you a ride), and Sword and Time are just top tier powers that do a lot of stuff but internally, and in general context of Rivalry(Time to counter enemy Time or to give people training time, Sword for oaths, which among other things allow you to enslave Students). Then there is Tincture's super tech with Time.
What really brings this together is the Pen. With massive acceleration offered by your Companion you can create basically any number of seals, as well as ten wards nigh instantly, all of which can be inscribed on your self using Tincture. You can even use Time to retroactively increase your writing ability. More importantly, Pen specifically can unseal Sword Art, which you can then grind with Timepiece, getting all the benefits of powerful Master build while also being (a somewhat gimped) Student with Exalted Timepiece.
So you move at insane speeds, you have combined defenses of Tincture buff plus fully maxed out Pen, you have combined offense of Time, Transmutation and whatever stuff Sword can offer at higher levels. Also Pen Seals and Sword Arts seem like they would have great synergy.
What really brings this together is the Pen. With massive acceleration offered by your Companion you can create basically any number of seals, as well as ten wards nigh instantly, all of which can be inscribed on your self using Tincture. You can even use Time to retroactively increase your writing ability. More importantly, Pen specifically can unseal Sword Art, which you can then grind with Timepiece, getting all the benefits of powerful Master build while also being (a somewhat gimped) Student with Exalted Timepiece.
So you move at insane speeds, you have combined defenses of Tincture buff plus fully maxed out Pen, you have combined offense of Time, Transmutation and whatever stuff Sword can offer at higher levels. Also Pen Seals and Sword Arts seem like they would have great synergy.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Man, Gisena really doesn't offer a lot in exchange for severely reducing the probability of a decent preexisting afterlife and destroying one's ability to benefit from outside assistance! What a horrible cheat!
Regardless...
[ ] Student - Receive 3 Ranks worth of Powers and 2 Sparks of Possibility.
[ ] Go Easy - You're no fun! Fine, I'll exert some of my charming and lovely Nullity to neutralize any upcoming threats. Your only real opposition will come from your peers. Be careful what you wish for!
[ ] A Dalliance - You are set on a great quest. If you've an ambition to be realized you may select it as your quest, but it must be epically difficult even with your acquired Powers. If you choose to have one assigned to you, it will be merely difficult with said Powers, but it is not guaranteed whatsoever to align to your moral and aesthetic preferences, and may transport you to a different location in the multiverse. Henceforth you will feel powerfully motivated to complete your quest, willing to brave life-threatening dangers if needed, and failure to make progress over substantial periods of time will cause you deep anguish. [+1 Rank]
-[ ] Aid the Accursed no less than Nameless would have by becoming a Combat-type cursebearer.
Longevity Rank 5: Immortal. Your Fundamental Nexus is inexhaustible, a true mote of imperishable might.
Rank 1: Normal Mode. You may choose to exclude the induction of Students or Masters on your world, save for yourself; either way, only the minimum number will be created, and with very small overlap of your build. Your greater ontology contains potent entities that are mostly apathetic or slightly aligned with human interests; the uncontested effects of Powers might occasionally succeed if you make adequate preparations and don't abuse Power mechanics.
-[ ] Ban Awe. If this requires banning every other inductee, do so.
[ ] Towering Arcane: True understanding.
[ ] Broken Limiter: The reward of discipline.
At Output 1, the focus will be ritual casting, and my aim for the 80-year custom Power is probably to develop something that restores compatibility with external sources. Truck is the first power to claim via Exercise, though, because it can probably take me somewhere I can advance Tower quickly, even if it takes a few tries.
Quest goal is either to qualify for a proper Cursebearer offer, or be very helpful in some other way, like by setting up the sort of spy network that won't be nuked by Cursebearer protections and sheltering at least one Progression-type through the early stage of growth. Something like that.
Regardless...
Huh. Who's her junior? Adorie? Aeira? Letrizia? Augustine?
Huh. Not what I expected for the final Crowning Curse. What does this actually mean in practice?
[ ] Student - Receive 3 Ranks worth of Powers and 2 Sparks of Possibility.
[ ] Go Easy - You're no fun! Fine, I'll exert some of my charming and lovely Nullity to neutralize any upcoming threats. Your only real opposition will come from your peers. Be careful what you wish for!
[ ] A Dalliance - You are set on a great quest. If you've an ambition to be realized you may select it as your quest, but it must be epically difficult even with your acquired Powers. If you choose to have one assigned to you, it will be merely difficult with said Powers, but it is not guaranteed whatsoever to align to your moral and aesthetic preferences, and may transport you to a different location in the multiverse. Henceforth you will feel powerfully motivated to complete your quest, willing to brave life-threatening dangers if needed, and failure to make progress over substantial periods of time will cause you deep anguish. [+1 Rank]
-[ ] Aid the Accursed no less than Nameless would have by becoming a Combat-type cursebearer.
Longevity Rank 5: Immortal. Your Fundamental Nexus is inexhaustible, a true mote of imperishable might.
Rank 1: Normal Mode. You may choose to exclude the induction of Students or Masters on your world, save for yourself; either way, only the minimum number will be created, and with very small overlap of your build. Your greater ontology contains potent entities that are mostly apathetic or slightly aligned with human interests; the uncontested effects of Powers might occasionally succeed if you make adequate preparations and don't abuse Power mechanics.
-[ ] Ban Awe. If this requires banning every other inductee, do so.
[ ] Towering Arcane: True understanding.
[ ] Broken Limiter: The reward of discipline.
At Output 1, the focus will be ritual casting, and my aim for the 80-year custom Power is probably to develop something that restores compatibility with external sources. Truck is the first power to claim via Exercise, though, because it can probably take me somewhere I can advance Tower quickly, even if it takes a few tries.
Quest goal is either to qualify for a proper Cursebearer offer, or be very helpful in some other way, like by setting up the sort of spy network that won't be nuked by Cursebearer protections and sheltering at least one Progression-type through the early stage of growth. Something like that.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Imagine when Hunger went to the Temple, Stenallon was immediately alerted.
RIP Hunger.
Imagine when Seram ventured into the Orkwaste, the Ork Warlord, and later the Hero out of Legend were informed.
RIP Seram.
Imagine when Ulyssian was hiding his identity as Odyssial, he came to the attention of someone greater..
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
I'm buying Hero-Defeating stance and sending Solitary Moon's 'TheForbidden!Hunger' up against the Dreadbeastie.
Relative to Canon, this Hunger has: -AGI, -CON, ++Prot (Iridescence), ++++STR, Ruin scaled to Strength, Ruin x7 on Fell-handed stroke + Blade projections, +WIS, Rank disparities halved, and the same Rank (4.3)
Dreadbeast attributes: 0.35-effective Rank differential (instead of 0.7), conceptual Strength / Invisibility, Very High Speed, cursed claws, Scream attack (cold) destroying mundane equipment, Breath attack (fire) in melee with maw, AOE bind where bleeding, durability of large mountain, superhuman cunning & deceit, monofocus preventing retreat
At Middle Rank (3.1-8), a 1-point Rank difference is "overwhelming".
The canon injury chart was:
I'm claiming the following:
- The Dreadbeast's canon Rank 0.7 disparity was a major component generating probability mass for the Death outcome
- Iridescence lets Hunger tank or ignore AOE effects at the beginning of the fight
- Ruin-scaling ++++STRx7 is enough to do meaningful damage when a Fell-Handed Stroke or blade-wind lands
- HDS +WIS is meaningful when faced with an enemy that refuses to retreat
Thus, I estimate the following:
1. A shift of probability mass away from death for Hunger and Gisena, and towards grievous injury for both (10% each -> 5% each), primarily due to halved Rank Penalty and Iridescence no-selling initial ambushes
2. A shift of probability mass away from grievous injury for both, and towards grievous injury for Hunger (10% grievous for both -> 10% grievous for Hunger only), primarily due to +WIS improving Hunger's manipulation of the Dreadbeast's animal intellect
3. A small shift of probability mass away from all categories, and towards 'merely' major injury for Hunger due to overall effectiveness of redundant magic-protections against this enemy.
I'm rolling a D100:
55% chance of major Hunger injury (46-100)
4% chance of major Gisena injury (42-45)
9% chance of grievous injury to Hunger only (33-41)
24% chance of grievous injury to both (Pristine Star grants high chance to stabilize) (9-32)
4% chance of Gisena's death (5-8)
4% chance of death of Hunger's Spirit Form (1-4)
And I'm going to roll this using the dice roller in front of god and everybody.
(im scared)
Edit: If necessary I have the re-roll from thread participation "Veterancy".
Relative to Canon, this Hunger has: -AGI, -CON, ++Prot (Iridescence), ++++STR, Ruin scaled to Strength, Ruin x7 on Fell-handed stroke + Blade projections, +WIS, Rank disparities halved, and the same Rank (4.3)
Dreadbeast attributes: 0.35-effective Rank differential (instead of 0.7), conceptual Strength / Invisibility, Very High Speed, cursed claws, Scream attack (cold) destroying mundane equipment, Breath attack (fire) in melee with maw, AOE bind where bleeding, durability of large mountain, superhuman cunning & deceit, monofocus preventing retreat
At Middle Rank (3.1-8), a 1-point Rank difference is "overwhelming".
The canon injury chart was:
Hunger did not take the Form of Rage
I'm claiming the following:
- The Dreadbeast's canon Rank 0.7 disparity was a major component generating probability mass for the Death outcome
- Iridescence lets Hunger tank or ignore AOE effects at the beginning of the fight
- Ruin-scaling ++++STRx7 is enough to do meaningful damage when a Fell-Handed Stroke or blade-wind lands
- HDS +WIS is meaningful when faced with an enemy that refuses to retreat
Thus, I estimate the following:
1. A shift of probability mass away from death for Hunger and Gisena, and towards grievous injury for both (10% each -> 5% each), primarily due to halved Rank Penalty and Iridescence no-selling initial ambushes
2. A shift of probability mass away from grievous injury for both, and towards grievous injury for Hunger (10% grievous for both -> 10% grievous for Hunger only), primarily due to +WIS improving Hunger's manipulation of the Dreadbeast's animal intellect
3. A small shift of probability mass away from all categories, and towards 'merely' major injury for Hunger due to overall effectiveness of redundant magic-protections against this enemy.
I'm rolling a D100:
55% chance of major Hunger injury (46-100)
4% chance of major Gisena injury (42-45)
9% chance of grievous injury to Hunger only (33-41)
24% chance of grievous injury to both (Pristine Star grants high chance to stabilize) (9-32)
4% chance of Gisena's death (5-8)
4% chance of death of Hunger's Spirit Form (1-4)
And I'm going to roll this using the dice roller in front of god and everybody.
(im scared)
Edit: If necessary I have the re-roll from thread participation "Veterancy".
Last edited:
Rihaku
The Internet
How would you get guaranteed time loops without Placement 3?
Remember, Companions can't wield the Pen! It's also important to note that Tincture meld is not Closing the Fist - the person being melded into gains 'comprehensive shapeshifting and damage resistance' and 'you retain separate consciousnesses,' but the target doesn't gain any of other abilities of the Tincture user.
Rune King's runes can't be upgraded, they are merely sub-components of the Rune King Power which is already Exalted level!
You can't ban a single Power outright, nor can you ban every other inductee - only those of one type - though you could practically ban Awe in Normal Mode by taking Exalted Awe yourself as a Master, since your build will be as unique as possible among the set.
It is actually Placement 3, I just didn't edit. In fact I even have a Rank leftover I think. Let me go over the build again -
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance - +5 Ranks
Long 4[2], Output 3[1], Placement 3[1] - -4 Ranks
Exalted Timepiece - -5 Ranks
Exalted Sword - -5 Ranks
That makes sense now. I would take Bastard Sword and Honorblade.
Exalted Rune King Companion dream is dead sadge.
In that case we go to just taking Rune Adept into becoming Cars in five months and Sapphire goes back to being a joke.
Hmm... quick build, I guess.
0% Burst Damage
[S] Student - Receive 3 Ranks worth of Powers and 2 Sparks of Possibility.
[O] Try Me - Your Longevity and Output Core Functions begin at Rank 2 instead of 1. Your world will undergo the travails, below.
[_] Second Travail: -1 Rank
[L] Embrace of Winters
[O] The Gift of Men
[N] A Dalliance
[G] Rivalry
[_] Rune of Restoration (Domain: Healing) - Initiate
[S[ Storm Sapphire (Domain: Evocation) - Initiate (Water)
[U[ Longevity - Rank 3
[C] Output - Rank 2
[K] Rank 0: Challenge Mode.
[E] Broken Limiter
[R] Towering Arcane
[S] Celestial Chorus
World Randomization: Type-Moon
...Huh. I've got, like, 800 random settings in the pipe and it goes and picks this? Okay then.
Whether I get dropped in Chaldea, a Lostbelt, the inside of a programmed simulation or... I dunno, an alternate reality afterlife on Mars made by the actual Roman goddess Mars from the irradiated husks of Spirit and Opportunity - I'm pretty screwed. Not least of which because I picked Water, and am quite possibly in a dimension where there are giant sea monsters.
On the other hand! Healing is a good thing, and even Rivalry is going to take a short while before we all start murdering each other for gacha power ups or because no one told these guys the Grail War doesn't work that way. There is time to make friends, to break a limit or two, and to possibly even develop some magic. Study here will have insane payoffs. Where do I even start, command seals alone are absurd!
I'm going to need that Limit Breaking nonsense, too. Because whatever job I just got given is going to suck. Like seducing a Beast, or making a second Excalibur, or tricking ALAYA into letting the timeline hybridize with a Singularity. It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be well-translated, but damn it if I haven't been given tools enough to do it.
...Hopefully my Winter doesn't turn out to be some ass clown's servant. If I end up having to sit the throne of heroes just to get my girlfriend to stop NTRing me with every Pay-2-Win magus with a summoning scroll, I'm going to be so pissed.
0% Burst Damage
[S] Student - Receive 3 Ranks worth of Powers and 2 Sparks of Possibility.
[O] Try Me - Your Longevity and Output Core Functions begin at Rank 2 instead of 1. Your world will undergo the travails, below.
[_] Second Travail: -1 Rank
[L] Embrace of Winters
[O] The Gift of Men
[N] A Dalliance
[G] Rivalry
[_] Rune of Restoration (Domain: Healing) - Initiate
[S[ Storm Sapphire (Domain: Evocation) - Initiate (Water)
[U[ Longevity - Rank 3
[C] Output - Rank 2
[K] Rank 0: Challenge Mode.
[E] Broken Limiter
[R] Towering Arcane
[S] Celestial Chorus
World Randomization: Type-Moon
...Huh. I've got, like, 800 random settings in the pipe and it goes and picks this? Okay then.
Whether I get dropped in Chaldea, a Lostbelt, the inside of a programmed simulation or... I dunno, an alternate reality afterlife on Mars made by the actual Roman goddess Mars from the irradiated husks of Spirit and Opportunity - I'm pretty screwed. Not least of which because I picked Water, and am quite possibly in a dimension where there are giant sea monsters.
On the other hand! Healing is a good thing, and even Rivalry is going to take a short while before we all start murdering each other for gacha power ups or because no one told these guys the Grail War doesn't work that way. There is time to make friends, to break a limit or two, and to possibly even develop some magic. Study here will have insane payoffs. Where do I even start, command seals alone are absurd!
I'm going to need that Limit Breaking nonsense, too. Because whatever job I just got given is going to suck. Like seducing a Beast, or making a second Excalibur, or tricking ALAYA into letting the timeline hybridize with a Singularity. It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be well-translated, but damn it if I haven't been given tools enough to do it.
...Hopefully my Winter doesn't turn out to be some ass clown's servant. If I end up having to sit the throne of heroes just to get my girlfriend to stop NTRing me with every Pay-2-Win magus with a summoning scroll, I'm going to be so pissed.
Last edited:
Rihaku
The Internet
I've changed Rivalry to prevent everyone else in a given universe from getting roflstomped by a optimized Rivalry Teams that want to blow up the world just to be safe:
[ ] Rivalry - You are placed in a multiverse-spanning contest with other participants: transported across a variety of fantasy realms to compete with other teams for various unusual objectives and to ultimately destroy the others. Your opponents will have access to abilities from sources roughly equivalent in value to this choice game - including, potentially, teams from other Prototype universes! There is no guarantee that said opponents will be a truly equal match in either direction, but they will be of the demographic that participates in these choice-selection games. The duration of the contest will be less than five years; each team will have an equal number of participants. Victors receive the adulation of worlds, alongside an additional Spark of Possibility. [+2 Ranks]
[ ] Rivalry - You are placed in a multiverse-spanning contest with other participants: transported across a variety of fantasy realms to compete with other teams for various unusual objectives and to ultimately destroy the others. Your opponents will have access to abilities from sources roughly equivalent in value to this choice game - including, potentially, teams from other Prototype universes! There is no guarantee that said opponents will be a truly equal match in either direction, but they will be of the demographic that participates in these choice-selection games. The duration of the contest will be less than five years; each team will have an equal number of participants. Victors receive the adulation of worlds, alongside an additional Spark of Possibility. [+2 Ranks]
Last edited:
Here is a really fun build we talked about on discord, the Rune King "all powers" build:
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance, Rivalry, Winter's Embrace - +9 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -1 Ranks
Rune King(Bread, Pen, Truck, Timepiece) - -7 Ranks
Exalted Companion(Exalted Rune, Exalted Sapphire, Adept Tincture, Adept Sapphire, Adept Sword(Bastard Blade, Piercing Blade)) - 5 Ranks
Exalted Sword(Saber, Honor Blade, Sword Art: Philosopher King) - 5 Ranks
Well that's a lot of stuff! Main point of this build is to stack boosted Bread with Companions rune to gain hyper competency(or as close to it as we can get), and then to act as extremely utility orientated wizard(boosted truck + time piece + pen) with Exalted Sword giving us some bite. In Rivalry competition we are supposed to be the leader kind of guy who manages other companions and shores up their weakness with our strengths; while in pure one on one we would struggle to beat most builds, in four on four we can allow our team to propser. .
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance, Rivalry, Winter's Embrace - +9 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -1 Ranks
Rune King(Bread, Pen, Truck, Timepiece) - -7 Ranks
Exalted Companion(Exalted Rune, Exalted Sapphire, Adept Tincture, Adept Sapphire, Adept Sword(Bastard Blade, Piercing Blade)) - 5 Ranks
Exalted Sword(Saber, Honor Blade, Sword Art: Philosopher King) - 5 Ranks
Well that's a lot of stuff! Main point of this build is to stack boosted Bread with Companions rune to gain hyper competency(or as close to it as we can get), and then to act as extremely utility orientated wizard(boosted truck + time piece + pen) with Exalted Sword giving us some bite. In Rivalry competition we are supposed to be the leader kind of guy who manages other companions and shores up their weakness with our strengths; while in pure one on one we would struggle to beat most builds, in four on four we can allow our team to propser. .
Last edited:
And for my newest trick, Awe build that actually works! Impossible, you might say, your enemies are sure to have resistance to Awe. That's true, but here is a thing - statistically, someone will make build that sucks against Awe, and this build capitalizes on that:
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance, Rivalry - +7 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -1 Ranks
Exalted Time - -5 Ranks
Exalted Companion(Exalted Awe, Exalted Truck, Adept Rune, Adept Bread, Adept Sword(Honor and Bastard)) - -5 Ranks
Exalted Pen - -5 Ranks
This is a hit and run build; moment your Time precog detects a target, your Companion with Awe and Truck will teleport to it try to Awe the enemy. You goal is to find weak builds and Students, capture them with Awe and Sword oath and then build an army you will coordinate with Truck and Time; then you will use those in order to overwhelm more prepared opponents in order to capture them too. This build is also the best with Session, as when you are out your army of thralls is still there holding the fort.
You will notice that Pen is tacked on; this build doesn't require third Exalted so if you want you can remove some curses and get yourself Immortal, or you can get Exalted Rune instead of Pen if you want to feed your army of thralls bread. But you can just capture your bread winner, as it were. You could just get Sword for standard Sword/Time synergy.
This build can also blitz. Moment the contest starts you can use time acceleration x10000000, find targets via precog and Awe them before they can use their abilities. In this way you can even Awe Exalted Bread users if you get a drop on them before they consume their slice of bread! Beyond that it is entirely cowardly build that picks on weak and dodges the strong, however it can fight pretty well if situation calls for it.
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
Blossoming Spring, The Gift of Men, A Session For War, A Dalliance, Rivalry - +7 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -1 Ranks
Exalted Time - -5 Ranks
Exalted Companion(Exalted Awe, Exalted Truck, Adept Rune, Adept Bread, Adept Sword(Honor and Bastard)) - -5 Ranks
Exalted Pen - -5 Ranks
This is a hit and run build; moment your Time precog detects a target, your Companion with Awe and Truck will teleport to it try to Awe the enemy. You goal is to find weak builds and Students, capture them with Awe and Sword oath and then build an army you will coordinate with Truck and Time; then you will use those in order to overwhelm more prepared opponents in order to capture them too. This build is also the best with Session, as when you are out your army of thralls is still there holding the fort.
You will notice that Pen is tacked on; this build doesn't require third Exalted so if you want you can remove some curses and get yourself Immortal, or you can get Exalted Rune instead of Pen if you want to feed your army of thralls bread. But you can just capture your bread winner, as it were. You could just get Sword for standard Sword/Time synergy.
This build can also blitz. Moment the contest starts you can use time acceleration x10000000, find targets via precog and Awe them before they can use their abilities. In this way you can even Awe Exalted Bread users if you get a drop on them before they consume their slice of bread! Beyond that it is entirely cowardly build that picks on weak and dodges the strong, however it can fight pretty well if situation calls for it.
[P] Master - Receive 9 Ranks worth of Powers.
[P] Try Me
Drawbacks:
[P] Tempestuous Tides [+3 Ranks]
[P] A Season For War [+2 Ranks]
[P] Embrace of Winters [+2 Ranks]
[P] The Gift of Men [+1 Rank]
[P] Rivalry [+2 Ranks]
Powers
[P] Timepiece (Domain: Time) Exalted [-5 Ranks]
[P] Storm Sapphire (Domain: Evocation) Exalted [-9 Ranks]
*Endless Hope: Your raw elemental power is massively amplified by your emotion intensity at the time. A fit of pique could increase your command over flame by two orders of magnitude, while true passion could allow you to raise continent-leveling tsunamis or defend against the same. This never causes loss of control beyond comedic inconvenience.
*Storm Queen [-4 Ranks]: Requires the Magic Element. Removes your other Elements and reverts you to electrokinesis, but your power over Magic and Lightning is nigh-deific in scope. Dispel active Exalted-level effects completely, precisely control an entire nation's electrical grid. With Endless Hope, hurl thunderbolts that can shatter planets and lay pantheons low, control the magnetic envelope surmounting the Sun, and manipulate the asteroid belt with ease.
[P] The Sword (Domain: Destruction) [-5 Ranks]
Greatsword
Bastard Sword
The Inverse - A SMA focused on enhancing vast, indiscriminate destructive force. Designed to synergise with Storm Queen.
Core
Longevity Rank 2
Output Rank 3 [-1 Rank]
Placement Rank 0 [+1 Rank]: Challenge Mode
This is the 'just kill everyone' build. In the first instant after power activation this build casts an antimagic spell which covers the globe. It then depopulates most of earth that I can't identify as part of my team, and wins Rivlary.
Edit: gotta take a curse to make it fit actually, and it'll be the Apocryphal.
Last edited:
I don't know why people want to go on insane rampages or try to survive insane rampages when you can all just copy my build and party for many, many trillions of years and end up more powerful anyway.
Thanks for enabling the endless hedonism with your nulity Gisena!
Thanks for enabling the endless hedonism with your nulity Gisena!
It's about how I approach CYOAs. I see them as a puzzle where you try to achieve challenging objectives while managing constraints.
Realistically, I'd absolutely take an easy road and avoid all these terrible threats to the world and my life.
But, for the purpose of the game, I'll look at trying to overcome these challenges.
Also the Storm Queen build is meant as an example you may have to deal with in Rivalry, rather than something I would actually take.
Realistically, I'd absolutely take an easy road and avoid all these terrible threats to the world and my life.
But, for the purpose of the game, I'll look at trying to overcome these challenges.
Also the Storm Queen build is meant as an example you may have to deal with in Rivalry, rather than something I would actually take.
Alright, here is the optimized five man part for Rivalry. Note that every build will have
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
The Gift of Men, Rivalry - +3 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -2 Ranks
10 Ranks left
Unless noted otherwise.
Storm Queen
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Storm Queen, Exalted Blade
Just a Storm Queen. Completely unexciting, this Storm Queen does the usual Storm Queen things of contesting other Storm Queens and soloing teams that don't have Storm Queens to context her. What is interesting about this specimen of Space Queen genre is in fact her utter lack of anything interesting about her. You see, unlike your usual Storm Queen which would take something like Pen or whatever to boost itself even further, this one instead opted not to take anything like that and has tried to not take Season of War instead.
You will see that a lot in this build but the best ability is availability. The moment enemy team loses its Storm Queen to Blood Halo, your team can just slam into them with your own Queen being impossible to overcome obstacle. Her lack of third Exalted power is a weakness, but one your team is more than ready to cover for.
Position: Mid
Philosopher King
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring
Rune King(Pen, Bread, Truck, Timepiece), Exalted Sword(Saber, Honorblade, SMA: Philosopher King)
Philosopher King is royal martial art focusing on wisdom of rule, laws and understanding of many disciplines and magics. While loss of Companion makes this build lose its claim on possessing literally every ability, it is not that big of a deal as other allies stepped in to provide required timepiece and rune powers. The main power of this build is its awesome intellect provided by boosted bread and its special martial art, which specifically allow it to coordinate its allies with great deal of ingenuity. It is the main leader of your team, one calling all the shots, where to fight and where to retreat.
While its own power is somewhat lacking in question, although you can't never count out Exalted Sword backed with all that utility, this build truly shines once you get some wins in. You start to get Awed thralls, which Philosopher King will leverage to great effect with his strategic acumen. While strategy is his strong suit, boosted Pen, Truck and Time allow him to serve as a desent combat support to his damage dealers if the need arises.
As a sidenote, something more tactic focused than Philosopher King would be more optimal, but this sounds cooler so eh.
Position: Soft Support
Warmain
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Output 2
Exalted Tincture, Exalted Sword(Piercing Blade, Saber, SMA: Melody of Violence), Exalted Pen
It is hard to overstate the absolute absolute amount of lethality Warmain brings to the table. This is the evolution of the standard Sword/Pen build which doesn't take Time since you have allies, and instead takes Tincture for its combat form. Needless to say, Protean form with boosted Bread from Rune King and with added resurrection Runes, amped by Sword and shielded by Pen Wards is absolutely terrifying foe capable of destroying virtually any other Master. Its unreal grit is the only thing that can even begin to claim to withstand the onslaught of a Storm Queen. A unstoppable force and immovable object in one, Warmain will often hunt down enemy Sword Exalts to shred them with its powerful combination of absurd stats, unreal dexterity offered by Piercing Blade and ever shifting body of Protean form.
You will notice that he took Output 2; since most of abilities here are prep based, it is a necessary sacrifice to allow his build to exist without resorting to war. His SMA is Melody of Violence, a savage martial art that increases ones durability, taunts enemy and grows stronger as more damage is received. This absolute blender of a build is your lynch point, taking on multiple masters or even being launched by your own Storm Queen into enemy to take her attention and buy time. And if that wasn't enough, this build still has Pen/Blade scaling which means that it will only get scarier and scarier as the war goes, even with all the distractions on his mind...
Position: Carry
Comedia
Blossoming Spring, Long 4
Exalted Timepiece, Exalted Companion(Exalted Truck, Exalted Awe, Adept Sword(Honorblade))
Our hit and run master makes yet another appearance. This two man combo rocks Greek comedy and drama masks, and is responsible of much what your team is capable of doing. Comedia provides both Timepiece and Truck for your team, doing a lot of heavy support on logistic side. He also provides his powerful Awe focused Companion, which allows you to grow your team by Aweing vulnerable targets, capturing them and then giving them to Philosopher King. Their two main game allows Comedia to locate targets for Companion via precog, and which point Companion teleports on their victim, forcing them into servitude via the Honorblade.
Comedia is the glue that binds this team together, and his death would undo a lot of what they are trying to accomplish. However, with him, they can afford very systematic gameplay of focusing targets of opportunity, especially teams weakened by Season of War, and growing stronger by enthralling their Masters for Philosopher King. They might not beat every team 1v1 every time, but that is not what they are trying to do.
Position: Offlane
Bob
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Output 2
Exalted Truck, Exalted Companion(Exalted Rune, Exalted Timespace), Exalted Pen
Bob doesn't get cool color or name because Bob doesn't care. Bob is here to fucking win. And he does that by picking most generically useful abilities which would fit in every time there is. Bob provides great redundancy for Comedia with Truck and Timepiece usage, removing your single point of failure and greatly increasing consistency of your team. He also provides invaluable Exalted Rune, allowing your entire team to benefit from Bread and allowing you repair artifacts.
Bob's usual place in battle is right next to Warmain, supporting him with temporal acceleration, teleportation and regeneration outside of relative safety of his endlessly resurrecting mecha. You shouldn't underestimate Bob just because he is a support; he is supremely sturdy and his timeshifting pen seals can take many opponents off guard!
Position: Hard Support
And remember kids - best ability is availability!
Master - +9 Ranks
Try Me - Long 2, Output 2
The Gift of Men, Rivalry - +3 Ranks
Long 3[1], Output 3[1], Placement 1[+1] - -2 Ranks
10 Ranks left
Unless noted otherwise.
Storm Queen
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Storm Queen, Exalted Blade
Just a Storm Queen. Completely unexciting, this Storm Queen does the usual Storm Queen things of contesting other Storm Queens and soloing teams that don't have Storm Queens to context her. What is interesting about this specimen of Space Queen genre is in fact her utter lack of anything interesting about her. You see, unlike your usual Storm Queen which would take something like Pen or whatever to boost itself even further, this one instead opted not to take anything like that and has tried to not take Season of War instead.
You will see that a lot in this build but the best ability is availability. The moment enemy team loses its Storm Queen to Blood Halo, your team can just slam into them with your own Queen being impossible to overcome obstacle. Her lack of third Exalted power is a weakness, but one your team is more than ready to cover for.
Position: Mid
Philosopher King
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring
Rune King(Pen, Bread, Truck, Timepiece), Exalted Sword(Saber, Honorblade, SMA: Philosopher King)
Philosopher King is royal martial art focusing on wisdom of rule, laws and understanding of many disciplines and magics. While loss of Companion makes this build lose its claim on possessing literally every ability, it is not that big of a deal as other allies stepped in to provide required timepiece and rune powers. The main power of this build is its awesome intellect provided by boosted bread and its special martial art, which specifically allow it to coordinate its allies with great deal of ingenuity. It is the main leader of your team, one calling all the shots, where to fight and where to retreat.
While its own power is somewhat lacking in question, although you can't never count out Exalted Sword backed with all that utility, this build truly shines once you get some wins in. You start to get Awed thralls, which Philosopher King will leverage to great effect with his strategic acumen. While strategy is his strong suit, boosted Pen, Truck and Time allow him to serve as a desent combat support to his damage dealers if the need arises.
As a sidenote, something more tactic focused than Philosopher King would be more optimal, but this sounds cooler so eh.
Position: Soft Support
Warmain
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Output 2
Exalted Tincture, Exalted Sword(Piercing Blade, Saber, SMA: Melody of Violence), Exalted Pen
It is hard to overstate the absolute absolute amount of lethality Warmain brings to the table. This is the evolution of the standard Sword/Pen build which doesn't take Time since you have allies, and instead takes Tincture for its combat form. Needless to say, Protean form with boosted Bread from Rune King and with added resurrection Runes, amped by Sword and shielded by Pen Wards is absolutely terrifying foe capable of destroying virtually any other Master. Its unreal grit is the only thing that can even begin to claim to withstand the onslaught of a Storm Queen. A unstoppable force and immovable object in one, Warmain will often hunt down enemy Sword Exalts to shred them with its powerful combination of absurd stats, unreal dexterity offered by Piercing Blade and ever shifting body of Protean form.
You will notice that he took Output 2; since most of abilities here are prep based, it is a necessary sacrifice to allow his build to exist without resorting to war. His SMA is Melody of Violence, a savage martial art that increases ones durability, taunts enemy and grows stronger as more damage is received. This absolute blender of a build is your lynch point, taking on multiple masters or even being launched by your own Storm Queen into enemy to take her attention and buy time. And if that wasn't enough, this build still has Pen/Blade scaling which means that it will only get scarier and scarier as the war goes, even with all the distractions on his mind...
Position: Carry
Comedia
Blossoming Spring, Long 4
Exalted Timepiece, Exalted Companion(Exalted Truck, Exalted Awe, Adept Sword(Honorblade))
Our hit and run master makes yet another appearance. This two man combo rocks Greek comedy and drama masks, and is responsible of much what your team is capable of doing. Comedia provides both Timepiece and Truck for your team, doing a lot of heavy support on logistic side. He also provides his powerful Awe focused Companion, which allows you to grow your team by Aweing vulnerable targets, capturing them and then giving them to Philosopher King. Their two main game allows Comedia to locate targets for Companion via precog, and which point Companion teleports on their victim, forcing them into servitude via the Honorblade.
Comedia is the glue that binds this team together, and his death would undo a lot of what they are trying to accomplish. However, with him, they can afford very systematic gameplay of focusing targets of opportunity, especially teams weakened by Season of War, and growing stronger by enthralling their Masters for Philosopher King. They might not beat every team 1v1 every time, but that is not what they are trying to do.
Position: Offlane
Bob
A Dalliance, Blossoming Spring, Embrace of Winters
Output 2
Exalted Truck, Exalted Companion(Exalted Rune, Exalted Timespace), Exalted Pen
Bob doesn't get cool color or name because Bob doesn't care. Bob is here to fucking win. And he does that by picking most generically useful abilities which would fit in every time there is. Bob provides great redundancy for Comedia with Truck and Timepiece usage, removing your single point of failure and greatly increasing consistency of your team. He also provides invaluable Exalted Rune, allowing your entire team to benefit from Bread and allowing you repair artifacts.
Bob's usual place in battle is right next to Warmain, supporting him with temporal acceleration, teleportation and regeneration outside of relative safety of his endlessly resurrecting mecha. You shouldn't underestimate Bob just because he is a support; he is supremely sturdy and his timeshifting pen seals can take many opponents off guard!
Position: Hard Support
And remember kids - best ability is availability!