Ineptitude
One day you were walking down the street when a bolt of iridescent fire fell from the heavens and painlessly immolated you. As recompense for the untimely annihilation of your prior form and course of fated action upon the cosmos, you are presented with a selection of mighty heroic roles! Unfortunately, no roles of lesser salience are available within this selection. How curious…
You may select any
one role on offer so long as you can afford it. Additional Points are available at the Drawback Shoppe, while additional Seals may only be acquired via the Binding Casino.
[ ] Normal Mode: Begin with 7 Primary Points and 2 Ultimate Seals. This is the CYOA as intended.
[ ] Hard Mode: Begin with 3 Points and 1 Seal.
[ ] 'Dalliance' Mode: Begin with 0 Points or Seals, and you must take the "Procession" Binding.
Basic Roles - Default roles that almost anyone can afford. Some may even give points!
[ ] The Optimizer [+2 Points] - You are inserted into the body of Ishida Koji after he first acquires the Title Achievement, Optimum Prime. You possess all his skills and capabilities in addition to your own, though not his specific episodic memory. The path ahead is uncertain and fraught without the aid of metatextual BP and outlined tactics… Beware the Horror King, and strive towards the Paladin of Pure Silver!
[ ] Subject "K" [+0 Points] - You are inserted into the body of the protagonist of any Isekai- or Isekai-like piece of established fiction, so long as their given name or the romanization thereof starts with a "K." This occurs at the start of their adventure. Notable examples include: Kirigaya Kazuto, Katarina Claes, and Sato Kazuma. Any piece of media as notable as the quest Immersion (or more so) is a valid target for this effect. This and other insertion options otherwise operate as per The Optimizer.
[ ] Supreme Commander [+0 Points] - You are inserted into a peak-human idealization of your preferred body and granted a Solar Exaltation with 750 XP (2e, or corresponding advancement for 3e). You may not raise your Essence above 5 at beginning. You must roll for a world below; you are a Solar conquerer sent to subjugate the target dimension, and will answer to the High First Age Deliberative if you fail. You are granted three Dragon-Blooded minions of moderate breeding and ability, alongside one scale of Tiger Warrior commandos clad in magitech battle armor.
Advanced Roles - These roles offer greater safety or raw power, at serious expense.
[ ] The Paladin [5 Points] - You are inserted into the body of Ishida Koji after he first acquires the Unique Title Achievement, Paladin of Pure Silver. Your capabilities along every metric are vastly greater, and the Horror King's presence is far less of an immediate threat. Through your Unique Title you possess the singularly potent Pillars System which will exponentially accelerate your advancement across every facet and parameter of ability.
[ ] Subject "F" [7 Points] - You are inserted into the body of Fujiwara Chika from Kaguya-sama: Love is War. This slice-of-life reality has no notable supernatural threats and your memetic powers allow you to warp reality in a manner similar to a 'toonforce' character whenever it would be appropriate or humorous. However, you must fully embrace your role as Love Detective and ramen connoisseur to maintain your heroic presence. So long as you do so, an easy life full of light-hearted adventure awaits!
[ ] Strategos [7 Points, 1 Seal] - As per Supreme Commander, but you are immune to the Great Curse, may instead choose your target world from the options available, and may substitute one of the following for your role:
*You are the ruler and commander of a YGGDRASIL Guild Base on the level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Your personal power may not exceed that of Touch Me. The Guild Base, its NPCs, and its World Item(s) may be customized within reason, so long as your total capabilities stay within the range of Nazarick's.
*You are the legitimate commander of a major contingent deployed from the universe of Warhammer 40,000. Your personal capabilities are on the level of a fully mature Primarch. Your force strength and structure would be equal to that of a 3,000 point army in the tabletop game - but with abilities as per the lore, rather than tabletop. Certain entities such as Greater Daemons may be capable of rebelling against you should you fail to cow or appease them.
*You are subject to the Great Curse after all, but in exchange may now be any type of Celestial Exalt with a maximum Essence of 7 and 1,500 XP to spend past chargen. Your retinue is upgraded with a Sidereal advisor, Solar strategist, or Lunar mate of power only slightly below yours. Your Dragon-Blooded minions number five, a perfect circle of formidable power. You sit the Deliberative as head of notable committees, or possess equivalent stature within Exalted society, vastly reducing any imprecations for setbacks or slow progress. Your command is an entire Legion of magitech-clad Tiger Warriors alongside their support staff, transports, mechanized divisions, medical adjuncts, artillery, and so forth.
[ ] Hyperion [7 Points, 1 Seal] - You are inserted into the body of any hero who demonstrates staggering, wildly superhuman talent or potential in their field of advancement. Examples include Caroline from the Gardens of Enoch, Simon the Digger from TTGL, or Galahad from Arthurian myth.
—
Supreme Commander World Roll:
Assume you are inserted at the start of the mainline story.
[ ] Choice: 1 Point - You may roll three and pick one, re-rolling repeats
[ ] Alternate: 2 Point - You may enter an alternate universe of the rolled option. For example, the New World of Darkness if you rolled a 4, or Earth Aleph if you rolled a 10. Your selection leeway is broad (crossovers, coffee shop AUs), but the resulting universe may not be wholly harmless relative to your might.
- Exalted (Gunstar Autocthonia)
- Dragon Ball Z
- Cthulhutech
- Old World of Darkness
- Warhammer 40,000
- The Culture (Iain Banks)
- Forgotten Realms (D&D)
- Bleach
- Naruto
- Worm
- Chainsaw Man
- DC Comics
- Marvel Comics
- Immersion
- The Voyaging Realm (1 year before Hunger)
- KonoSuba
- Starcraft: Brood War
- The Gardens of Enoch
- Overlord
- Fate/Grand Order
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Even Further Beyond
—
Drawback Shoppe - Your one-time visit to the Drawback Shoppe begins now! You may select any number of Drawbacks below.
[ ] Mosswort [+1 Point] - Choose one: Your sleep-wake schedule is such that you sleep when people are most active (on modern Earth, you'd sleep between 11 AM and 7 PM), or you may only truly rest and recuperate in the shadow of a bridge. If you choose this Drawback, you can't remove or reduce your need for sleep.
[ ] Perilous [+1 Point] - No matter how powerful you grow, your defenses will always require activation such that you are never passively immune to any reasonable level of harm or hostile condition. Even if you could destroy a universe with trifling effort, you yourself could be laid low by an errant shot from a plasma rifle if your 'ki' was down. Constant vigilance or mighty bodyguards will be required if you are to survive most Roles. This doesn't impede your powers of regeneration or restoration.
[ ] Suborned [+2 Points] - You must purchase an Ally. Designate one of your Allies as your Master; you must sincerely obey their commands in letter and spirit, and generally act to promote their interests within reason. If your Ally is extremely reasonable and well-aligned with you, this only grants half points. If they are cruel, irrational and demanding, it grants double points. Should your Ally perish or suffer an unacceptable fate, so too will you.
[ ] Paramount [+2 Points,
Special]: The threats you encounter in the course of your adventures will be considerably more formidable. Your Nemesis, if you possess one, has access to two rolls in the Binding Casino and is considerably less squeamish about Drawbacks; Any Overlords you face will be of utterly overwhelming ability and might.
Special: If you take this Drawback and the Feather of Favor, your Feather bonus persists for as long as you do, regardless of your quest status; and you may additionally turbocharge one Self or Panoply option whose price does not exceed 3 Points, even if you chose the comprehensive boost.
Not compatible with the Meal Ticket item.
[ ] Humiliation [+3 Points] - You are the butt of various 'slapstick' gags and comedic occurrences that everyone treats as frivolous but which affect you normally. This will only make your life moderately more unpleasant and dangerous, but can certainly inconvenience or disrupt you even during the most pivotal of moments.
[ ] On the Run [+3 Points] - The forces of good, or authority if good's forces are too weak, will constantly antagonize you such that your only realistic options are to persistently lay low, flee like a coward, or ruthlessly conquer them - making of yourself a tyrant to quash their independence utterly.
The dangers provoked by this Drawback will always be such that they are reasonably avoidable if you have a synergistic build that makes competently paranoid preparations and stays continuously in hiding or on the run. You may anger the Deliberative if you take Supreme Commander with this Drawback, but you won't suffer the personal attentions of Odyssial.
[ ] Impulse [+4 Points] - Choose a sense. You are now bereft of it, and cannot have it restored by any means. This grants one less Point if you choose taste, and one more if you choose touch.
[ ] Nemesis [+5 Points] - You are pursued by another recipient of Ineptitude who desires your death. She is extremely competent and wholly unrelenting, but has low willingness to endure Drawbacks and no access to the Binding Casino. Your Nemesis begins on Normal Mode regardless of which Mode you selected.
[ ] Wicked [+5 Points]: In your realm, evil has already triumphed. The forces of darkness will have imposed tyranny or mad anarchy according to their nature, their powers innervated as to pose a serious threat even to you, accounting for all Purchases herein. Moreover, the very nature of any universe you inhabit bends towards foulness: the most reprehensible tactics seem the most effective, no good deed goes unpunished; the world itself seeks to empower and fete the most amoral and reductionist of champions. Should you yourself fall utterly into corruption, you will find no relief in having embraced the darkness, only the cruel propagation of suffering unto suffering even if you claim the tyrant's mantle.
While potent, this effect is far from absolute; it can be fought and even banished from a realm with sufficient pluck, cleverness and will. If you have one, your Nemesis' nature will be perfectly suited to the unkindness of reality: the tempo of her decisions in perfect sync with its rewards, her every intuition justified by the course of events around her.
The arc of wicked destiny will permeate even safe zones like your estate in Evening's Realm, should you possess one (though if you are very prudent there is little it will actually be able to influence, there), and significantly worsens the Procession of Worlds.
[ ] Hero's Journey [+7 Points]: You will, in the course of your life, experience three trials as truly to test you, even accounting for all your Purchases here and any future scaling thereof; these are tasks or adversaries that are not wholly beyond one of your mettle, but which will certainly require your uttermost to cleanly overcome, and which pose a very real risk of ruin, maiming or annihilation to yourself and/or those you care deeply about. Trials on the level of Vanreir, Procyon and the Maiden for Hunger; or Hunger himself (absent his party) for one such as Augustine.
Should you possess a Nemesis, she will work in concert with your trials and be impossible to decisively neutralize until you have overcome at least one.
Binding Casino - This interspatial realm of flashing lights, delightful noises and scantily-clad servers may be visited merely by closing your eyes and willing it so, but you can never stay for long. Finish your business and begone, back to the perils and adventures of the realm in which you were inserted - though leeway exists, and grows more generous, the more Bindings you've taken from the Casino itself. The Bindings of the Casino are mostly not so terrible - some may even be construed as beneficial from time to time - but they are unpredictable.
You may roll to acquire Bindings from this Casino in exchange for Seals. There is a 1-Seal bonus for the result of your first roll! All Bindings rolled are irrevocable. If you roll a Binding you've already acquired, re-roll.
[ ] 1: Null Pointer. Choose a Drawback and mitigate it by 50%. You receive that Drawback. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 2: Void Dragon. You are hilariously inept at using all forms of non-magical technology. Even objects as simple as doors may be beyond your easy comprehension. Only if magical effects are essential to the core function of said technologies can you wield them normally. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 3: Jackpot. You receive $1,000,000 and may make no further rolls in the Casino. [+2 Seals]
[ ] 4: Procession. Upon death you will incarnate into a noticeably worse (more dangerous, more unpleasant, etc) reality. This never ends and is inescapable short of becoming an existence on the level of the Forebear himself. You may choose to take this Binding voluntarily in lieu of any other Binding you've rolled. Treat it as if you'd rolled Procession instead. [+2 Seals]
[ ] 5: The Chariot. You are obliged to construct or purchase a "sick ride" - a means of conveyance you yourself find to be epic and awesome, appropriate to your stature and powers; and ensure it is regularly used and maintained in good condition, within reason. [+0 Seals]
[ ] 6: Forgotten. Much like the Sidereal Exalted, your capacity for lasting connections is crippled. You struggle to avoid being conceptualized merely as a generic exemplar of your role; those you interact with rarely recall details about you beyond the confines of that role. It will be difficult to rise beyond the level of an acquaintance even for those you interact with on a day-to-day basis. Purchased Allies are immune to this effect. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 7: Perchance. You've come to the attention of the Apocryphal Curse, but since you aren't actually so cursed, it will merely spice your life up such that things are rarely boring. This is far more survivable than the baseline Apocryphal and does not scale with nearly the speed, intensity, brutality or comprehensiveness of the Curse itself, but neither should it be underestimated. Think of it as if your life were subject to the whims of a mischievous and bratty, but mostly fair and forgiving, DM. Should the Apocryphal Curse ever be defeated in whole, you will be freed from this Binding at no additional charge. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 8: Mutilated. You lose an eye, arm, lung, kidney, and leg, and may never recover them by healing, magical or otherwise. Prosthetics are acceptable. Depending on your Role and the point at which you acquired this Binding, this may not be survivable. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 9: Arcane. All forms of communication you engage in must be extremely cryptic or annoying. For example, you could speak normally, but only if you screamed "Believe It!" at the top of your lungs after every sentence. Or, you could write forum posts, but only in the form of ARGs. Communications with purchased Allies are exempt, so long as you undertake highly paranoid precautions to ensure no one else overhears. [+1 Seal]
[ ] 10: Debt. You owe the Casino currency equivalent to one year's serious labor (2500 hours) for one of your rough capabilities. Interest rate is 20% per annum compounded daily. Unless you diligently and pro-actively pay down your debt at a rapid rate, the Casino's bouncers will regularly visit you to rough you up. At >200% of your current debt total, you will be terminated. You may also discharge your debt by working for the Casino as a bouncer or server yourself, but this is hazardous and unpleasant, respectively. Roll again. [+1 Seal]
Allies
Pets, friends, boon companions or more! All may accompany you on your journeys to come.
[ ] Guardian of the Heavenly Scales [2 Points] - At the moment of insertion, you may summon any Servant from Fate/Stay Night or Grand Order who is no more powerful than Herakles (Berserker). They are fairly loyal to you. For purposes of maintaining and supplying the Servant Bond, you are equivalent in talent and abilities to Rin Tohsaka, if less so.
[ ] Grand Master [1 Seal] - As above, but you may instead summon any character from Fate/Stay Night or Grand Order who is no more powerful than a Grand Servant. They are very loyal to you, and possess their own natural mana supply and regeneration. If lesser than a Grand Servant, their potential will be such that they can equal one in time.
[ ] Quartet [2 Points] - You may summon or randomly stumble-upon any canonical ally of the character you have inserted into. However, their overall power and potential will be half a step below your own. Doesn't work with the Supreme Commander or Strategos roles, as they have no established canon to serve as basis.
[ ] Reflection [2 Seals] - You are accompanied by an alternate version of yourself that was also subject to Ineptitude. They have a complete build of your choice including Drawbacks, the Binding Casino etc; except that they may not purchase this option. They are about as loyal as you would be in their situation, accounting for the Drawbacks and Bindings you gave them.
[ ] Qilin [5 Points] - You are accompanied by a mystical beast of vast power and wisdom. You may design this entity from the ground up - its form, nature, loyalties, and proclivities - so long as its overall capabilities do not exceed those of a
Mature Adult Prismatic Dragon.
-[ ] Hidden Dragon [1 or {2} Seals] - This custom Ally is capable of practicing Titanic Cultivation as per Even Further Beyond, or possesses a roughly equivalent progression mechanism,
{with talent not less than that of Zhang Kong
}.
[ ] Party [1 Seal] - This may be purchased as an additional copy of any Ally option above, if it costs Seals; or as two such copies, if it merely costs Points. You may specify different parameters for the copies. For example, you could design three different mythic beasts with Qilin, or two different Cultivator Beasts with Hidden Dragon.
[ ] A Tyrant [2 Seals, Req. Suborned targeting this option
] - You are accompanied by your choice of the following heroic tyrants. They will be reasonably accommodating of your wants and desires.
-[ ] High Esteem [5 Points] - The tyrant you choose will be highly compatible with you, predisposed to treat you with great care, forgiving of even egregious missteps on your part. They will elevate you to be the most favored of their servants.
*The man once known as Ikari Shinji, now Lord Genome, during the crescendo of his first rebellion against the Anti-Spirals. He wields a Spiral Power-generated Unit 01 called Lazengann, which commands destructive energies capable of easily leveling galaxies.
*The man once known as the Forebear of Dynasties, now Lord Hunger, during the completion of his convalescence after his defeat of Procyon. He wields the Imperial Praxis and is capable of challenging universe-level entities in single combat. His Apocryphal Curse is attenuated to the level of the Perchance Binding; thus he is aware he is but a copy, cloud-shadow of the true Forebear's might. His Progression and Cursebearer defenses are similarly attenuated.
*The woman once known as Augustine Mirellyian, now the Lord Protector of Nilfel, at the apex of her power over the dynasty. She wields the magic of Foremost Runes, commanding the natural and unnatural forces with deft subtlety and surpassing skill. An archmage and shapeshifter of enormous power and unbelievable versatility, but naïve in social arenas unrelated to rule. Will not tolerate purple-haired Allies, especially if they are female.
Panoply
Unique effects at economical costs, but which can be lost, stolen, or theoretically destroyed.
[ ] Meal Ticket [1 or 2 Points] - Perhaps your instincts aren't well calibrated for high-stakes supernatural conflict on the grandest scales. Worry not, for you can choose to be eased in instead!
For 1 point, both your powers and those of any supernatural threats you encounter will be downscaled to the level of street-level superheroes for the first 1.2 to 120 years (your choice) of your existence after insertion. You'll be able to gain breadth in the abilities you wield, but the raw power therein will be soft-capped to about the level of the Venom symbiote. Further gains within the initial window are possible, but fairly marginal and slow.
For 2 points, you receive the benefits above, as well as a gradually-escalating period of upscaling afterwards, calibrated to be maximally intuitive and satisfying to your personal sensibilities, and you are guaranteed to survive the initial 500 years of your existence without suffering any truly unacceptable fates - so long as you do not engage in egregiously stupid behavior like defying the Debt of the Casino.
This item isn't affected by the Feather of Favor's enhancements. Timidity is not heroism, for all that it may be well understandable at times.
[ ] Sword of the Evendark [2 Points] - This blade of silver and twilight glimmers like the stars at evening, and at a command drips translucent poison with the scent of ambrosia.
*It multiplies its wielder's power in combat twofold after all other factors.
*It grants formidable powers of nondetection scaling with the abilities of its wielder. An ordinary halfling might gain mere invisibility, but a mighty hero of eons would be shrouded from all manner of detection of divination; sight, hearing, smell and myriad senses beyond human ken.
*The poison function of the blade can be invoked for ten strikes a day, guaranteed to cause at least modest harm to any target successfully subjected to its venom, no matter their apparent invulnerability.
*By virtue of its alluring scent, said poison can also be used as a sumptuous and often-lethal bribe for the passionate or weak-willed.
[ ] Arcadian Scroll [2 Points] - Weather-beaten parchment that depicts forest, ravine and mountainside in long, curving strokes. A brief sketch of paradise, within which birth and death linger still.
*Reading from the scroll, its wielder can command powers of glamour and illusion drawn from the infinite reaches of Fey territory. Changing one's seeming is simple; multi-sensory illusions incorporating audio, programmed images, and even tactile sensation are possible with modest practice. A grandmaster of its secrets could fool time, death, and the world itself; crafting mirages spun from wildest imagination but with every semblance of reality - down to altering one's true biological age or meta-ontological composition, so long as the illusion remains unshattered.
*Held aloft as a talisman, the scroll acts as a guarantee of safe passage from the depredations of inhuman or otherworldly beings. The more incomprehensible and alien such creatures are, the more seriously they honor the authority of the Scroll - but only so long as it is both presented and held aloft.
*Once, the scroll may be immolated in a curling snarl of blue-silver fire, to deliver death unerringly to any one mortal target of whom the wielder is aware. This fails against beings of supernatural might, but those constrained wholly by mundanity, no matter their puissance, are entirely vulnerable.
[ ] Shroud of the Briarthorn [3 Points] - This cloak of ivy and nestled brambles glows with a sheen like copper under moonlight, rustling as if borne by an easterly breeze even when completely still. Un-needed it folds up into a docile packet the size of one's palm; unfurling with a snap, it snarls like a wolf at hunt.
*The wearer of the shroud gains powerful regeneration, mending wounds in seconds and lost appendages in less than a minute. Toxin and disease flee their system with helpless rapidity, purging all but the staunchest of venoms within moments. The shroud itself benefits from this overwhelming vitality; ensuring its permanent destruction would be a chore even for the mighty.
*The wearer may shift to a half-mortal form, taking on attributes of a beast from bog, grove or fen; this hybrid state grants vigor sufficient to withstand grievous injuries unblinking, and strength enough to shear through solid concrete with raking swipes. Depending on the nature of one's spirit animal, could also serve as a useful disguise or means of locomotion.
*The owner is given masterful tracking, survival, and navigation skills for all forms of wilderness terrain, even without the Shroud manifest.
[ ] Advurent Blades [4 Points] - The twin adder-fangs of the Highwayman are cutthroat stilettos sheathed by overlapping flanges; when deployed the naked steel glistens constantly with an uneven coating of blood.
The Blades grant the stunning-death swiftness of the Highwayman himself; their wielder's every movement carrying the shock and impact of an axe-blow at full gallop from the moonless midnight dark.
*The wielder of the Blades is guaranteed to possess significantly superior speed to any adversaries. At baseline, they can always move at least two hundred times faster than an ordinary peak human. This ISH 3.0 effect instead grants +0.5 ISH speed against foes whose powers overwhelm it.
*Rapier Mode: Carried in the hands, the Blades inflict ever-bleeding wounds that drain the target's Attributes, healing the wielder and extending his lifespan. Attribution reduction is not initially substantial, but it is wholly uncapped and scales to injuries inflicted. By this method can even undying opponents be permanently neutralized.
*Kata Mode: Implanted permanently in the wrists, the Blades deploy at a gesture, wholly concealed from all manner of detection until the first strike is made. The wielder gains an unnatural expertise in ambush and stealth well beyond the greatest human masters of the art; those slain by the blades contribute small fractions of their overall power to his own.
The Blades may, at a 1-point surcharge, combine with the Evendark Sword into a singular mammoth weapon, the
Dreadsword: a dark-violet slab, single-bladed and slightly curved, that stands near nine feet in length. Thereafter they count as a single 7-point Purchase with the following additional properties:
*The Sword grants overwhelming superiority in all physical domains (baseline: 200x peak human), rather than speed alone, as an ISH 3.9 effect, with a +0.7 ISH bonus to physical stats if this power is superseded.
*The Dreadsword carries all the benefits of Rapier and Kata Mode, but its Kata Mode expertise is changed from stealth to intimidation and social dominance. A single glare from the Dreadsword's wielder can stop an unprepared soldier's heart.
*If the wielder serves as general, assassin, or enforcer for a notable tyrant ("A Tyrant" Allies all count), that tyrant receives an extreme bonus to resilience and administrative effectiveness until the wielder is felled.
*Used as a sword, the terrible crushing pressure of the Dreadsword inhibits all forms of regeneration or recovery in its victims.
*Used as a shield, the Dreadsword dissipates and absorbs any quantity of mundane force or energy; only supernatural effects can even remotely harm an alert wielder.
[ ] Crown of the Ancestor [5 Points] - This crown of rigid adamant gleams dully under the harshest lights, and otherwise deigns not so much as to twinkle. A massive sapphire of purest dark is set upon the brow, and pairing-stones of facetless opal to each side.
*None but the purchaser may lift the crown.
*Worn upon the brow, the crown grants vast intelligence, unyielding resolve, and spellbinding wisdom, sufficient to turn even a simpleton into a conqueror and emperor of worlds.
*But its wisdom is cynical, its plots unsparing: in time the insights of the crown will, if religiously followed, lead inevitably to ruin and one's final unmaking.
*The wearer also gains mastery over one magic school of their choice:
-Abjuration: Wards, seals, bindings, protections and countermagic, sufficient to repel an army of assassins and their wizardly backers. Also deals in the creation of unbreakable magical contracts.
-Evocation: Brute command over energies natural and unnatural, with power enough to level cities but precision sufficient to perform micro-surgery.
-Enchantment: Comprehensive augmentation of the self, sufficient to reach twice the human peak in every arena of mortal endeavor; and the power to shape and compel the minds of others, sufficient to enthrall even an elder dragon for hours at a time.
*For he, or she, who has the perspective to truly lift the crown once victory is attained; to stop at the apex and continue no further, to reach understanding's limit and henceforth stand aside, there can be no more reliable advisor, and perhaps no greater blessing. For the power of the crown is competence itself, the power to bend outcomes to one's liking by any and all means.
*But for those who would too keenly mourn the death of their greater self, who overreach and surrender to hubris; the crown is their end, as surely as night follows day.
[ ] Kalymitous Runes [6 Points] - Lines and sigils of glowing blue that flash emerald and crimson in the dawn light. The Titanic power of yore is channeled through these meagre etchings; they cannot be destroyed, but they can theoretically be stolen, if the attacker is willing to employ means sufficiently gruesome.
*So long as the bearer does not practice any style of systematized or formal supernatural influence (essentially all the magic systems granted by this CYOA count), they receive the following benefits:
*A one hundred-fold increase in raw combat power, applied after other modifiers. Stacks fully with other multipliers from Panoply, and can be improved over time with diligent training.
*Catastrophe: The bearer's strength embodies the Principle of Destruction. They may conceptually devastate, ravage or annihilate even intangible, abstract or untouchable targets such as the underlying structure of a magical ward, an incorporeal ghost, or even a certain emotion in a target's mind. More abstract targets require progressively more enormous exertions of strength to affect, and correspondingly apocalyptic levels of collateral damage.
*Indomitable: The bearer can be hurt, strained, slowed or swayed, but never stopped or slain. Damage mounts and progressively weakens them, but can never truly incapacitate them or put them down. As their state becomes more dire, their effective resistance to harm becomes ever-more resilient and insurmountable. Defeats harms esoteric and physical.
*Craftwork: The bearer's fingers are conveyances of peerless craft; they are a prototyper and combat engineer of unbelievable intuition and ability. The more value they destroy, the more proficient they become: razing a nation, the bearer would be capable of erecting earthworks for a miles-long front in minutes, or continent-leveling weapons within hours. Each major project diminishes their capability in this field, requiring further cycles of destruction to fuel.
*A bearer that does practice a style as prohibited above still gains a tenfold multiplier in combat power and immunity to age and disease, but no other benefits.
[ ] Stone Rings [7 Points] - The twin Rings of Earth hold not jewels but ordinary rocks, yellowed and muddied; worn on the fingers, the Fungible Bands grant power and sovereignty over the natural capabilities of one's world. Called the Circles of Mortality; held together they forge Ouroboros: the infinite, made manifest.
First Ring:
*The wearer receives a high-tier power native to their insertion world; in Marvel they might become a mutant equivalent to Magneto or Charles Xavier; in Sword Art Online, a technological savant to surpass Kayaba. This comes with any required secondary effects essential to the intended functioning of the core power.
*This power grows modestly but steadily with time and training, and may be expanded in all parameters with no upper limit: cost, restrictions, drawbacks, number of targets, and stranger attributes still may all be improved so long as one invests the effort.
*For each additional world they spend at least one continuous year inhabiting, the wearer receives a power of similar tier native to that world. Each power may only be trained in the world of its origin, however.
Second Ring:
*The wielder receives resilience as if that of stone, or comparatively greater if their inherent toughness eclipses that of ordinary men. This effect scales upwards indefinitely.
*The wielder actively draws the disinterest and apathy of beings vastly more powerful or capable than them. Unless directly provoked, higher powers of all sorts tend to leave them and theirs alone, staying out of any conflicts in which the wielder is involved unless said conflict actively and massively impinges upon their core values; the wielder is similarly shielded from vast-scale reality warping, temporal paradoxes, perfect precognition and so on.
If the Stone Rings are their bearer's only Panoply purchase, -2 to their Point cost.
[ ] The Shining Armor [9 Points] - The vestments and heraldry of heroism undimmed confer onto a worthy wearer the affordances of those chosen by the world to serve as its stewards and champions. Crafted by enlightened intelligences at the end of time to embody all they desired to uphold and bring into the world, this artifact of staggering hypertechnology appears to the naked eye like a simple, if stupendously well-crafted, suit of full plate. While outrageously formidable, its capabilities at base are fundamentally premised on an understanding and manipulation of gross material reality.
*Truth: The Shining Armor is inhabited by a fully aligned nascent artificial intelligence whose capabilities are intended to match those of its wearer, and whose character is impeccable and beyond reproach. It is capable of independently operating, repairing, and maintaining the Armor's many systems or instructing the wearer in the same, and also serves as a powerful deterrent against theft or informational warfare. As its wearer grows in might and wisdom, so too will the armor's inhabiting intelligence, though it cannot match truly supernatural intellect beyond the ken of any physical processor. Still, hyperspace-augmented femtotechnology drawing on the infinite potentiality field of meta-zero point flux can keep up for quite a ways. Its ultimate capabilities are incomparably beyond those of, say, the greatest Culture Minds.
*Justice: The Shining Armor cannot be borne by those of a markedly unheroic disposition. Average levels of courage, resolve, and virtue do however suffice - it would hardly be heroism, if beyond the grasp of ordinary mortals. To worthy bearers it offers resilience sufficient to embolden even the cowardly and paranoid: all hostile or undesired effects diminished by three full tiers of conceptual potency, save for Bindings and Drawbacks; and physical protection just shy of invincibility. The supernova blast of a planet-killer would not so much as perturb the Armor's polish; a universe-slaying onslaught might slightly dent it. A spell that would normally slay the bearer might only modestly sicken them; enchantments that enthrall their mind merely stun them for bare moments.
Offensively the Armor is equipped with post-quantum ascendant technology capable of leveling worlds and suns: anti-baryon flux fields in the form of blade and shield; shoulder-mounted reality-strippers that target the very ravel of the universe, and an armamentarium of lasers, masers, inducers and micro-missiles sufficient to overcome a vast array of esoteric foes. Should it be necessary the Armor may adapt to effect destruction on scales grander still: entire universes winking away before the thunderous onslaught of Justice given form.
*Love: The wearer of the Shining Armor will be guided to find companionship of any kind they desire, in a form that powerfully fulfills and satisfies them on a level the human imagination can scarcely conceive.
[ ] Feather of Favor [2 Seals] - This faultless white feather with highlights of golden orange conveys a slight aura of guilt and embarrassment. It may be stolen, but not destroyed. Only the purchaser, however, may actually benefit from its properties:
*The purchaser, while in possession of the feather and on a Quest, may either comprehensively upgrade all his capabilities by a major conceptual tier, or choose one Panoply or Self effect to turbocharge to utterly outrageous heights. Neither effect affects Allies, save that you donate the Feather to Lord Hunger, who benefits fully as if he were the purchaser instead.
*Alternatively, the purchaser may receive the benefits of the Justice Remittance from
DSB's CYOA, though their patron is not quite so mighty as that one.
Examples of the comprehensive upgrade:
*The Sword of the Evendark now grants shadow-based teleportation and the ability to sprout shadow constructs with the same Attributes as one's physical form. It quintuples combat strength instead of doubling it.
*The Shroud of the Briarthorn becomes a wooden fang which, when plunged into the flesh of a target and held there, grants them the power to assume the form of any beast which walks or swims or flies, and undying immortality that can heal total bodily annihilation in milliseconds.
*The Kalymitous Runes now multiply combat power by a thousandfold, and their rate of growth is vastly greater. Catastrophe can now be wielded with some modicum of precision, and Craftwork extends to all forms of technological innovation rather than brute industrial proceses.
*The character's Exaltation gains +2 Essence and +350 XP.
*The character now has five Save Slots instead of three, and also may also 'pause time to think,' unmoving, for up to twenty-four hours a day.
Examples of the singular turbocharge:
*Sword of the Evendark: The Evenblade offers power as profound as it is simple: a clean +0.5 ISH improvement to the character's combat effectiveness after all other factors. The sacred poison that its hilt distills from the world is venomous to those disagreeable factors of mortality and mundanity: the Cerulean blue Azoth itself by which Chrysopoeia is undertaken. Each day, the sword may extrude Azoth of sufficient purity and density as to match the wielder's attainments in all other arts combined, ensuring that the force and grace of their body shall never tarry behind the powers of their spirit and mind. Even in the absence of its bearer's diligence, the baseline harmonics of the Evenblade suffice to create enough Azoth to elevate a mortal human into an adept Mage-slayer within hours.
*The Crown of the Ancestor's downsides are mitigated by 90%. It now grants total mastery of seven schools of magic each as potent and versatile as those in the examples, and their might multiplied tenfold in numerical parameters. In addition to intelligence it grants continuously updating Rank commensurate to one's stature and accomplishments, minimum 7. It is now indestructible, and the magic systems it grants will be absorbed into its wearer's body and become innate powers over time.
*The Runes now grant 90% of their full power even for formal system users, or thrice that for those who fulfill their normal requisites. Rather than merely improving combat power, they elevate the character's Strength, Endurance and Dexterity one full step along the Infinite Singularity Husk. Craftwork becomes Prowess, which grants supernal skill in all tasks that require bodily coordination or dexterity. Catastrophe can now be wielded with precision scaling to one's Prowess. The bearer may eventually learn to summon the Orbs of Kalym, given time and diligent exploration of their abilities.
*Dreadsword: The
Dread Knight's Plate is mirror to the Shining Armor, Tyrant's answer to that blinding facade: extruded directly from the Realm of Forms, it is a juggernaut of pure invincible oppression, mailed fist made incarnate. This dark-indigo set of full articulated plate and arms is capable of retracting to the enormous sword that is its core while preserving full functionality, but prefers in battle to be fully unfurled that it might stamp despair more wholly upon its foe's unresisting face:
*To its wielder it offers total dominion over all endeavors even remotely relevant to its domains of Knighthood and Tyranny; where this ISH 4.5 effect would be superseded, it grants +0.9 ISH to Might, Agility, Willpower, Charisma and Wisdom instead.
*A knight of such bearing may owe fealty only to a master worthy of his service. If the wielder loyally serves as general, assassin, or enforcer for a notable tyrant ("A Tyrant" Allies all count), that ruler grows indescribably in splendor and ability so as to outshine even their greatest servant: the equivalent of +30 to All Attributes, a further flat +0.7 ISH bonus to Intelligence, Appearance and Constitution, and general +Progression.
*The above bonuses are permanent and irrevocable, surviving even the destruction or dispellation of the Plate, save two. Progression falters if the Tyrant outstrips the Knight by too unseemly a margin: their role as chief martial instrument must be relevant, for the authority of their respective stations to matter. The Constitution bonus quickly fades if the Knight perishes, or feels he has become truly estranged from his overlord; returning with his life or amicable relationship, respectively.
*However, each knight may pledge such service only to a single Tyrant ever; neither death nor dissent are justification to depart from his duties.
*The pulverizing inevitability of the Dread Knight's triumph manifests as a Rank 11 shockwave of Pressure emanating from every swing of his Sword; with a single stroke he casts a shadow over the cosmos, so all might witness that the vanguard of tyranny has arrived.
*Stone Rings: The
Elder Ring acts as per its lesser counterparts, save for the changes below:
*
Outer Face: Apply the effects of
Legendary (+1 ISH in raw power, ----------Mental Stability) to the power one gains from inhabiting a universe.
*The Mental Stability penalty only applies when actively using the power and can be trained off like any other drawback.
*While further increasing the raw power or finesse of existing capabilities is no easier, training to reduce the drawbacks or costs of any power or technique is considerably faster: one to two orders of magnitude depending on severity, with harsher drawbacks being quickly mitigated into a tolerable state.
*Sleeping, relaxing, and participating in recreational activities may now count as high-quality training for the wielder's purposes; this may be applied up to eight hours a day towards any pursuit he prefers, so long as he lives in a way congruent with his own values and meaning.
*
Obverse Face: As a mortal human, the wielder's physical, mental, and spiritual resilience is upgraded to equal that of his entire world, drastically improving his capacity to handle and resolve injuries, mental instability, and spiritual corrosion. If he was already tougher than an ordinary human, his durability improves correspondingly further. This effect scales up perfectly without limit.
*The wielder gains the benefits of the Defining Advancement,
Stranglethorn, which further multiplies the durability granted above.
*Should the wielder somehow come to the direct attention of beings who the Stone Rings would manifest apathy within, they are, while remaining generally non-interventionist, considerably more likely to respect him, negotiate with him as an equal, and/or treat him as an inevitable aspect of the universe that cannot and should not be eroded, destroyed, or fundamentally altered.
*That which is Static, when infused with the Feather's power, becomes instead
Eternal:
*The character is immune to all forms of alteration, including harm, which he would prefer not affect him. This is wholly selective and may manifest partially: he may bypass the damage of a blow while allowing its force to hurl him to a tactically advantageous vantage, for example. This ISH 3.9 effect, if superseded, instead applies -1 ISH to such undesired alterations instead. Among other ills this wholly prevents the character from declining or diminishing in any way due to age, negligence in one's training, etc.
*The character progresses at only 92.5% of the speed he would have.
*While this power theoretically permits the character to costlessly perform any techniques or spells that would otherwise require personal resources to employ, its leeway in such self-inflicted matters is considerably lower: merely reduce the cost by two orders of magnitude for lesser exertions like stamina, or by three orders for those that require great sacrifice. For example, a forbidden technique which might otherwise kill him to perform might only assay the permanent sacrifice of a finger.
*Linear III: The character gains five 28-BP achievements of synergistic nature, and a further two '56-BP' achievements that integrate into a cohesive and surpassingly powerful enhancement.
*The Estate of Evening: Turbocharge is roughly +0.9 ISH to the ability itself, with the chief drawback of an option reduced by 90%. The chief weakness of the Estate of Evening is that, for all its combined progression, comfort and safety, it can only indirectly influence the outside world. Turbocharged Realm of Evening access, then, would draw upon the wielder's now-vast and deep connection with the Realm to command and manifest the
Evening Sky itself around him no matter where he should tread, and grant advancement with it as per an adept of enormous talent and ability, though far, far less in ultimate potential than the likes of its other bearer.
As for his estate in the Realm, it is vastly expanded in size and magnificence, his influence over it broader and more precise, the temporal acceleration factor expanded to 800 times and immune to baseline atemporal influence; and his stature within the Realm may be further improved with connections and training as to augment all of these features. At baseline, his estate now incorporates features very similar to those granted by Hunger's
Gilded Cage Achievement. It nearly goes without saying that, compared to splendor such as this, such a trifling wound as the Mutilation is hardly an inconvenience at all.
While blocking access to the Realm itself was already effectively 'impossible,' Procession worlds of sufficient depth might have managed that torment. Such is now immeasurably more difficult, requiring outrageously, unfathomably greater elevation before the slightest impairment will even begin to find purchase.
*The Logos: The character becomes Thrice-Great, with natural proficiency equal to Nameless' orb purchases except for the augmented versions of each system: Logos over Diagram, Immortal Cultivation over Titanic, and Ringcraft over Artifice.
Self
Powers tied to your self intrinsically.
[ ] Static [2 Points] - A condition of defensive stasis that strongly mitigates all forms of harm on a conceptual level, but which somewhat hinders your growth as well. Expect to advance with one-fourth your previous speed in all areas.
The defense provided is surpassingly effective for the point cost, scaling with the intensity of the offense: such power allows even an ordinary mortal to survive a nuclear explosion only badly burned, and would extend the healthy lifespan of a young human to over 500,000 years. A good rule of thumb is to reduce incoming harm to 1% of its prior force, or 1/10,000th for greatly overpowered attacks. Highly recommended if your initial power is great, given the risks one could take with such an aegis defending them.
[ ] Linear [2, 4, or 8 Points] I - III: With each purchase, the raw power of your role is improved in a linear fashion. For 2 points, you receive a notable but specialized capability equivalent to a limited-use trump card or high-tier 7 BP Achievement in Immersion. For 4 points, you instead receive a game-breaking capability that roughly doubles your total power level, equivalent to a high-tier 14 BP achievement. For 8 points, you receive spectacular abilities that dramatically elevate your quantifiable power, equivalent to a high-tier 28 BP achievement. The capabilities granted by this option scale off the baseline power of your Role choice.
Examples:
If taking the "Paladin" Role, you could expect to receive Achievements roughly equivalent to these in power:
I: [Flesh and Steel Symbiosis] [Symbiosis Tier I, 7 BP]
Symbiosis effects work like a selective tech tree - Each tier requires the tier preceding, and each Achievement on a given Tier is mutually exclusive with the others of that tier.
"World Champion" is more than a mere Title. It is a way of life. For he who pursues excellence unsparingly, discipline shall be his armor in all things.
*+10 Body, +5 Charm as man and armor become conceptually integrated. It becomes impossible to sunder, disrobe, or otherwise remove armor from wearer without his consent.
*The World Champion Armor of Aincrad may now slowly (~1 minute) shapeshift between various styles of clothing and armor, from a simple cotton t-shirt to steel-and-ceramite mechanized body armor. Its mechanical benefits and degree of protection do not vary, but aesthetic factors, natural or implicit weaponry, and raw mass often favor bulkier and warlike forms for actual combat.
*The consciousness of the World Champion Armor may now share senses with its occupant, allowing it to stay continuously alert for incoming threats. Prolonged vigilance in this manner is not mentally demanding for the inhabiting mind, nor does such impair its usual cognition; it is as indefatigable as it is indestructible. Wearer may disable this feature at will.
II: [Shining Diamond Perfection] [Symbiosis Tier II, Total 14 BP]
What lives on is the will; and the will is both the end and the fundament of all things. Will overmasters body, as essence overtakes form.
*+5 All Stats as synthesis in the abstract is now embodied in reality. Symbiosis on a sub-molecular level ensures the composite entity wields the best traits of both man and armor.
*The World Champion Armor may now shapeshift freely at combat speeds, with access to the entire range of physically plausible outfits and accessories, not dissimilar to certain symbiotes portrayed in popular fiction. Disguise, intimidation, even fashion - all can be rigorously optimized with a thought, or multiple purposes served at once!
*The composite being is no longer indestructible, but is incredibly resilient (about 2 full Milestones beyond what its Body stat would grant) and gains rapid, comprehensive, and metaphysically potent regeneration in addition. So long as a single particle of their being survives, they can recover from the most gruesome of wounds.
*The World Champion Armor still grows in power alongside its wielder, but now also gains equivalent non-combat or utility abilities for each combat-related capability it acquires, quadratically amplifying its rate of progression.
*Holy- and Light-based effects are added to the Armor's arsenal of conceptual symmetry, merging Magelight and Holy Magic into the [Enlightenment] Skill.
III: [The King Azure] [Symbiosis Tier III, Total 28 BP]
Physicality is an illusion. Remove the mask, and behold the godhead beneath.
*Convergence of mind, spirit, and physique wholly incarnates the being into the context wherein he seeks to act. +20 Wits, Magic, and Luck. Merge all Magic Skills into one and apply full symmetry between them, then receive +350 Magic Skill and
++Progression in Magic. However, destroying the composite being's physical form (a monumentally difficult task) now annihilates it wholly: mind, spirit and destiny all.
*The being's HP and MP pools are interchangeable. Its SP Pool is unnecessary and converted to additional maximum MP. The being is immune to hostile effects that would destroy or drain their MP.
*If the being was not already, they become omnilingual, untiring, and wholly immortal short of such annihilation as mentioned above. They are not subject to biological needs.
[ ] Exponential [1, 2, or 4 Seals] I - III: With each purchase, the underlying potential of your role is improved in an exponential fashion.
For one Seal, your growth rate and ultimate potential in all areas is tripled, and you gain access to a basic but reasonably versatile form of magic similar to that of a JRPG player character. This school of magic, the Functional Set, synergizes normally with your existing capabilities and, alone, caps out at the ability to challenge and defeat universe-destroying entities.
For 2 Seals, you may receive an Exaltation of your choice, or augment the underlying metaphysical potential of an existing Exaltation to the highest reasonable interpretation of such (roughly equivalent to a Celestial Exaltation from Odyssial's universe). Alternatively you may dectuple your growth rate and ultimate potential in all areas, and gain an uncapped version of the Functional Set, or a version with non-combat utility comparable to that of Vancian magic from D&D, scaled up appropriately to the quantitative scope of the Set itself.
For 4 Seals, you may receive any of the following:
*Spiral Power with potential equal to Lord Genome's.
*The Logos of the Diagram, but if you do not possess at least near-peak-human prowess with formalisms (as the Optimizer role would), you risk your life, sanity, and underlying existential coherence in its practice.
*The Gamer System of Han Jee-Han, but with your choice of stat array (Default, D&D, Exalted, Pillars System, AST) and unbounded potential.
*Three Save Slots. You immediately load upon dying or encountering any truly unacceptable outcome.
*Unconditional at-will access to a substantial estate within the Realm of Evening for yourself and up to four friends at 20x time dilation relative to the world of your insertion. You have great influence over the Realm within its bounds.
Quests:
What's a hero without a heroic quest? Choose at least
one.
[ ] Default [-1 Seal]: You must simply complete the ordinary quest or purpose of your role. This does not count as a Quest for purposes of the Feather of Favor.
[ ] Imperialist [-2 Points]: You must take Supreme Commander and, in addition to conquering the target world, must restrain the worst impulses of the Deliberative and Exalted Society to prevent the gross moral decay of the Exalted Host that eventually lead to the Usurpation. This may be done with violent means.
[ ] Bestride [-2 Points]: You must take the Kalymitous Runes and pursue a generally heroic, proactive course of life without inflicting massive collateral damage on others.
[ ] A Dalliance [0 Seals]: If you chose 'Dalliance' Mode, you always count as being on a quest for purposes of the Feather of Favor.
[ ] Enemy Mine [0 Seals]: You must take the Nemesis Drawback, and must yourself choose Hard or Dalliance Mode. You may design your Nemesis' build, but it must be extremely optimal, though you are free to take into account her dislike of Drawbacks.
[ ] Overlord [+0 Points, Special] - You will face a truly fearsome enemy, an inimitable tyrant whose might or competence surpasses yours vastly, and whose cruel and ruthless temperament will lead your reality to inevitable ruin if he is not permanently stopped. While vastly beyond you to begin with, he cannot scale with any notable speed.
Special: If you successfully overcome the Overlord, thereafter you will benefit from serendipitous fortune as if affected by a purely positive / benevolent version of the 'Perchance' Binding.
[ ] The Turning [+0 Points, Special] - You must remake the society of your inserted world according to your true preferences: encouraging what you desire, abolishing what you despise, and enforcing such rules and means as would exist in your personal ideal society. When the world is truly utopian by your honest and unbiased measure, this quest will be considered complete.
Special: You may not undertake this quest if your initial power OR capability to scale would allow you to easily dominate society without significant and relevant resistance. You must make at least half-hearted efforts towards completing this quest for fifty hours a month.
[ ] Accept Diminishment [+0 Points, Special]: Take no Purchases more costly than 5 Points or 2 Seals, and no Drawbacks greater than +3 Points.
[ ] Epic [+2 Points, Requires Hard or Dalliance Mode]: Take at least three of the following: Paramount, Nemesis, Wicked, Hero's Journey, or Procession. You receive one of the following Epic Blessings:
[ ] Blessing of the Phoenix -
*Discount the Feather of Favor by 1 Seal.
*Once, when you would be utterly defeated, return in time to the point immediately after your immolation. You may make different decisions for your build here, but keeping the same rolls. If you take Epic, you receive the Phoenix's Blessing without this clause.
[ ] Blessing of Refutation - Choose two:
*Whensoever you would be dealt harm, or suffer a grievous loss, so too shall those who had a direct hand in inflicting that harm. This will be made extremely obvious and apparent in terms of causality.
*Your Nemesis is now a rival of sorts, no longer seeking your demise or ruin, merely to one-up and humiliate you, but mostly reasonable and entirely willing to team up against greater threats. You may snap them out of any irrational state with the following catchphrase: "Without calculation, failure. Without ruthlessness, tragedy."
*You must choose this option: You receive a minor power boost from typoes.
[ ] Blessing of Lunar Azure -
*You may shapeshift as per an Essence 5 Lunar Exalt with a standard array of Charms, Knacks, and Heart's Blood, with mote pool / regeneration as though you were in Creation. As you grow in power, so too shall this ability - higher-Essence Knacks, greater imitation of abilities, Chimerical Knacks without downsides, etc.
*Once, you may call upon the intervention of the Cursebearer, Wolber Strobe, to resolve your difficulties. He wields the Imperial Praxis with a sage's artistry and a savant's prowess. But even such power as this is not guaranteed to result in your victory against every foe.
[ ] Blessing of Fibonacci -
*No matter what travails may present themselves against you, you will always possess a circle of loyal and powerful friends capable of granting a significant advantage in your present challenges.
*You may sacrifice this boon to summon around you the Hyper-Dimensional Fortress Novakhron as armament of forbidding vastness, which can surmount virtually any difficulty for the hour it is permitted to intervene.
[ ] Blessing of Formal Intelligence -
*You are initiated into the Ordinal Spiral at a level competitive with your other notable capabilities, and have great ability in its upkeep and advancement.
*You may instead receive the Noble Praxis at a similar level.
[ ] Blessing of Hyacinth -
*Drinking any alcoholic beverage grants you a relevant and notable buff corresponding to the nature of the beverage. No effect can protect you from inebriation or hangovers.
*People will understand your memetic references and actually find them funny. This will be surprisingly, extremely useful at the most pivotal moments in your life.
*The nature of any extremely embarrassing private messages you send will not be leaked to the general public, except by your own volition and will.
[ ] Blessing of the Lone Wolf -
*If you take no Allies, you may combine any two Panoply items in a manner similar to the Advurent Blades and Sword of the Evendark, with correspondingly magnified effects.
*If you take only one Ally and the Feather of Favor, they benefit from the comprehensive boost of the Feather as though they were you.
[ ] Blessing of Greed -
*You may halve your total Points in order to receive +50% more Seals, or vice versa.
*You may make multiple purchases of Exponential, but each costs a cumulative additional Seal.
[ ] Blessing of the Gacha Stove -
*You may choose to be a streamer for a pan-cosmic streaming service whose business practices are reputable and terms, fair. The content is simply that of your life and adventures herein. If you work hard and provide entertaining content, you will succeed and gather a community of generous, loyal and interesting followers who will donate power and currency to your cause. Though slower than the Logos, growing your streaming audience is sufficient means alone to match its furthermost heights, and synergistic with all your other power sources.
*The omniversal currency donated by your community can be used to roll in the Cosmos-Transcending Gacha, which contains, among other things: every Genshin Impact and PS5-playable character as purchased Allies, Jiko and Letrizia Artriez as Tyrants, the Destroyer Halo advancement as a Self option, and the Lo-Fi Beats Skin (actually changes the appearance of the world, not just your perception thereof) as a Panoply option. The risk-reward prospects of the Cosmos-Transcending Gacha will always be favorable enough that you can seriously contemplate rolling.
[ ] Blessing of the Zampire -
*You may create exchange contracts of nigh-arbitrary complexity which trade reified Utility. Reified Utility is valuable to every agent and contracts involving it, if voluntarily agreed-upon without undue influence, may not be reneged upon in letter or spirit (an ISH 5.9 effect which escalates as you do). Reified Utility may be traded in exchange for actions, possessions, commitments, attributes, or capabilities of the counterparty. Agents may also consume Reified Utility to directly improve their hedonic valence thereafter, with no undesirable values alteration or clear upper limit - though the marginal value of each additional unit is decreasing.
*The exploitation of this Blessing is left as an exercise to the user.
[ ] Valiant Blessing -
*Should you select an option or undertake an endeavor because it would make a better story of your life, the impractical downsides of said decision will be significantly mitigated, and your mettle substantially increased in the handling, proportional to the drama and literary value conferred by that decision. With this Blessing, certain adventurers might challenge even the Hero's Journey with surmountable odds.
*The storyteller's gift is not the hero's, but let it never be said they are mutually exclusive.
[ ] Blessing of the Shrike -
*Your reaction speed in moments of import is second to none (an ISH 5 effect which scales as you do). You will always act first when it truly matters; the relevance of this ability is dependent on the nature of the task or contest in question.
*Your talent for formal and technological systems is substantially improved, as if the comprehensive blessing of the Feather were applied to it. This stacks with all other effects.
*If you rolled the Void Dragon Binding, you may instead take the opposite effect: your understanding of technology is unimpaired, but you severely lack proficiency in magic to the degree that it fails to integrate sophisticated technology. The Ordinal Spiral always counts as wholly technological for this purpose; its shadow never does.
