A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Magus Supreme
Take the Plunge [+15 RT, +10 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Doom of the Martyr) [+5 RT]
Epochal Nemesis [+3 RT]
Shogun: Harm Cognition [-1 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Form [-1 TI]
Surgeon: Away! [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer [-5 RT] - Chemistry
Surgeon: Seize the Day [-1 TI]
Arcanist: Imago [-2 RT]
Arcanist: Servitor Call [-3 RT]
Arcanist: Lower Arcana [-2 TI]
Arcanist: High Arcana [-3 TI]
Emissary: Pathos [-1 RT]
Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [-2 RT]
Emissary: Highborn [-5 RT]
Emissary: The Gift [-3 TI] - Imago
It seems the dice are in alignment with my mind today, as I rolled Martyrdom. Thus from the Foremost chrysalis emerges none other thanDr. Stephen Strange, master surgeon and sorcerer a Magus Supreme. The Gift expended on Imago is focused on expanding the remit of each Imago Bonus: for Servitor Call, it now functions to increase All Attributes of the Servitor and allows for effortful expansion of such in a fashion similar to Highborn, if appropriately slower; for Lower Arcana, it expands and allows one's Capacity to eventually rise even higher and renew faster, although this may be the work of many epochs; for High Arcana, the effective Intelligence bonus is doubled.
Altogether, these are the Attributes of the Magus, following some years of entry-level training with Honing the Mind at the feet of the Ancient One, as well as cleaving Away unsuitable mental patterns:
+11 Strength, +11 Constitution, +8 Agility, +9 Intelligence (29 for Runes), +17 Wits, +11 Wisdom (-50%), +7 Charisma, +7 Manipulation, +12 Appearance, +4 Willpower
And high levels of Astral Rank, most likely hovering around 7.5-8 or so.
With the Harmonics Rune, a cantrip-level Rune can likely be discovered every month with effortful research (even faster once Highborn is applied to Intelligence in the mid-term), and a High Rune within several centuries to slightly over a millennium. With the eventual expansion of one's Rank with heroic endeavor, this process may potentially be increased even further beyond; potentially accelerated with the Chemistry Domain for making high nootropics, which can then be enhanced with appropriate Runes. Dr. Strange was originally a surgeon, but we shall instead boldly venture down the path of Heisenberg. If more advisable for permanent buffs, might instead go with Biology.
He'll focus on the discovery of one Rune in particular to start with:
Sequestering Rune - Create a sequestered space orthogonal to reality and fully suborned to your will, in which you can manipulate basic physical laws. Emerge from it at the end of its duration. Duration: one day.
(Therefore, Temporal Sequestering is a time chamber, and a fearsome one with Rank to drive further changes; an Augmented Temporal Sequestering would have even more terrifying capability.)
Once the raw basics are hammered out, the Magus shall seal themselves within a temporal chamber with an Augmented Sequence of Temporal Sequestering, every year within a mere day without, and so he'll continue to construct improvements to his mind and sanctum from within, recasting the spell as significant milestones of Intelligence are reached to accelerate time to an even more absurd degree, discovering Runes both lower and higher, and mitigating the Doom. He'll eventually emerge from the shell of metamorphosis as a master of reality, a susurration of Rank turning aside any odds of survival or resistance from his foes, an array of Runes further enhancing all efforts; having outscaled the Epochal Nemesis and intent on striking them down with sheer apocalypse itself. Hopefully, before they can proc Martyr!
There exists a potential case that the Magus' Capacity won't be able to maintain constant Augmented Temporal Sequestering, in which case, he'll focus on finding methods of making the process more efficient, combining arrays of other Runes with long or semi-permanent durations, or Summoning-focused Sequences to conjure allies who may prove helpful. As a genius bordering incomprehension from our perspective, he'll be much better at this task than I could even dream of, and with Rank as high as his own, he'll likely find a way if one exists in even .1% of imaginable and unimaginable cases. Potentially, a 3-Rune (or higher!) Sequence may be necessary.
---
In the name of avoiding double-posting, here's some other stuff:
---
I'd be damned if my nascent Ormulum addiction simply ended because of Rihaku's new CYOA.
We've reached levels where I am so adroit at building stuff with this CYOA that I almost solely make meme builds... Orm mentioned to me, once, in passing and in hindsight, that a Taste of the Fruit should've allowed for write-in fruits, much as Practitioner allows write-in professions, Litanist allows you to decide your areas of learning, Ancient your Litanies of focus, and Expressive makes a whole-ass superpower to play around with. A custom fruit would've been the nice middle ground, but we live in a sadder reality.
(Fortunately, Reinforcement applied on seeds + Practiced gardening can still likely make new, way crazier fruit. Hooray to abusing the Litanies in the name of floral eugenics.)
Anyway, I won't rectify this state of things with illegal modifications, but it's still a nice thought to imagine some alternate timeline in which a build exists that eats the Gomu Gomu no Mi, takes Celestial Voyager, Final Scion of Water, and an Expression that hammers all that shit into "we're all friends on a large ship together."
Anyway, since we can't have Ormulum One Piece, here's some Naruto instead:
---
Naruto: The Ormulum Edition (But This Time We're Fighting Against Fire)
Location: A Unified Earth +3 (specifically, Japan) / or / The Thousand Estates +3 (specifically the Patterned Kingdom)
Magic: Practitioner -1 (The Shinobi), Litanist -2 (Reaping, Reinforcement, Reassurance - Shadow Theme), A Taste of the Fruit -1 (Unraveling)
Benefits: Exemplar -1
Drawbacks: Dreams of Distant Fire +2
The Shinobi - You possess an uncanny mastery of stealth, blending seamlessly with shadows and soundlessly navigating any terrain, as swift as a cloud's shadow before the moon and equally uncatchable. Your assassination arts are unparalleled, strikes of the ninjato aimed expertly at throat veins. Your shuriken and other thrown projectiles can alter trajectories as needed, and you can throw entire fans of them in singular motions, storing and withdrawing them from seemingly impossible places on your body to down entire teams of security guards. Once a night, reflecting the moment 'you' sabotaged multiple enemy compounds over one mission before dawn, you can split yourself into a team of shadow clones, each bearing most of your might and magics, although only a fraction of your durability, and returning with intel after destruction.
Yeah, so basically, mega-shadow ninja, all sneaky and edgy and shit. If you want to cosplay Naruto even harder, swap your Reassurance Theme to something like... I dunno, Five Elements, or Elementalism, or something along those lines. That should work, you can do basically anything with Reassurance. Or you can use Reinforcement to grow extra fruit based on other elements; with self-directed Reinforcement and Exemplar to start with, you should be able to safely chug down as many as three fruits without exploding in a grisly, bloody mess; probably more if you really, really clench your buttcheeks and try. And as a Practitioner able to study gardening and a Reinforcer, you can make some really insanely, absurdly efficient fruit as well. We're talking some real Inflorescent Aegis shit. Some serious Royal Guard stuff.
No real plans for dealing with the General, aside from, "learn enough Reciprocity to escape into the Dominion and make a career there instead." Fortunately, ninja probably don't require sleep, so he won't get a bead on your location anytime soon, barring communication with the Priestess. I'd have selected Lethe and Nemesis instead in a more serious build that aims to survive, but in this case, the General had to be selected for... let's call it, 'thematic appropriateness.'
Doesn't really matter if you're in Earth, Japan, or in the Kingdom on the Estates. Either place has lots of people who are willing to hire you as an assassin, and plenty of targets you can do hits on. Also, you get to Practice your cool ninja tricks, like disappearing mid-conversation ala Batman.
...actually, fuck it, let's make One Piece as well - a build from an alternate universe in which write-in fruit are permissible.
---
Myriad Piece, The Hierarchal Anime No One Ever Asked For
Location: A Unified Earth +3
Magic: Taste of the Fruit (Outreaching Gourd) -1, The Authority of Celestial Voyages -2, Final Scion of Water -2, Expressive -2 (Myriad Piece)
Benefits: Naturalization -1
Drawbacks: Lethe +1, Dissident +1, Nemesis +1, Dreams of Distant Fire +2
Outreaching Gourd - This bottle gourd is soft and pliant to the touch, elastic, more like a firm waterbed than a hard shell. Consumed, it confers awesome material durability and the ability to physically stretch out and elasticize one's body, selectively becoming insulatory to heat and electricity as well. You can absorb even absurd levels of kinetic damage, deformed but never truly hurt, as your body snaps back to its previous alignment within moments. Furthermore, by extending your fists and retracting them rapidly, you may punch with extreme force and at long ranges, do the same with your feet to kick or leap, and otherwise locomote.
Myriad Piece - Adventure is a man's highest calling, yet what voyage can be undertaken alone, if not a sad and meaningless one? True adventure is with one's dearest companions and friends ever at one's side. This Expression is a radiance of fortune and fellowship, a bestowal of tools and resources needed to pursue adventure and find it, alongside one's nakama. With its maximized development, it allows for the manifestation of a dimensional vessel made of frozen Water and reinforced pykrete, which can itself benefit from the Authority of Celestial Voyage: yours isn't a lonely vigil, but a sail across the stars with your friends!
Right so - Dissident, because you're an enemy of the rather literal World Government, and sailing away to find a means of overthrowing it. And I believe the rest should be fairly self-explanatory? Naturalization starts you off with the most valuable piece of your development and kit: a working crew of useful specialists and probably at least one or two fellow Expressives, if ones likely somewhat less powerful than you. That, alone, is worth the orb spent on Naturalization.
From there, Water's ethos is naturally swiftly pushed to focus on its aspect of 'blood,' in the meaning of 'ties that bind people together.' Sail onto random assorted worlds and make friends, aided by Myriad Piece, and wherever they are active counts as your territory. Take the most instrumentally useful and willing friends with you as crewmates, leave the others to spread Water's vivacious cheer. Fear not about a lack of your own resources, for Myriad Piece and your trueborn nakama shall provide: what cannot be done yourself, others shall aid you with; a brighter reflection of Nameless' lesson of off-loading work onto others.
Recruit surviving Grovetenders and adept Litanists to run a garden onboard the ship, synthesizing new lines of fruit to empower your growing crew that soon encompasses members from nearly every world of the Hierarchy; a bewildering mass of colorful characters and experts with their own idiosyncratic capabilities and crazy, wild personalities. With your ethos of Water and Expression, you'll be especially capable of absorbing and learning new magics from your nakama; likely to possess an unnatural talent for Reciprocity and Reinforcement. Eventually, once you are strong enough, return to Earth and overthrow its Tyrant.
Your Nemesis is much less of an issue with an entire crew of friends who'll aid you in ganking his ass in the name of friendship. If you encounter the General, simply revoke his right to pursue with the Authority of Celestial Voyages (he can work around this, but it'll slow him down) and swim away elsewhere as quick as your sails shall take you, spatial 'tides' pushing him back and leaving him submerged, only to resurface, huffing out a stream of void-water as a cosmic goldfish flaps about on his helmet (and is then probably seared to death from proximity,) only for him to impotently shake his fist and silently curse your name.
Also, you can probably get the Authority of Hunters Triumphant pretty easily once you arrive on the Estates, which is a major boon! It happens to be my favorite Authority as well, and has even further positive effects on this build's capabilities!
I'll be frank with you: all memes aside, this build's pretty damn good in terms of dealing with all the drawbacks selected, General included (given the damn thing's nature, it probably has non-zero odds of invading the Pit somewhere down the line and taking over.) The only improvement you could stack on top is throwing the Outreaching Gourd away (it's there only for the meme) and replacing it with either something like Practitioner (Ship Captain) or ideally, Exemplar, for ease of future magic acquisition and training. Most likely the latter, since Exemplar is Exemplar, but you can always Practice being a ship captain over time and come into it on your own.
Take the Plunge [+15 RT, +10 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Doom of the Martyr) [+5 RT]
Epochal Nemesis [+3 RT]
Shogun: Harm Cognition [-1 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Form [-1 TI]
Surgeon: Away! [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer [-5 RT] - Chemistry
Surgeon: Seize the Day [-1 TI]
Arcanist: Imago [-2 RT]
Arcanist: Servitor Call [-3 RT]
Arcanist: Lower Arcana [-2 TI]
Arcanist: High Arcana [-3 TI]
Emissary: Pathos [-1 RT]
Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [-2 RT]
Emissary: Highborn [-5 RT]
Emissary: The Gift [-3 TI] - Imago
It seems the dice are in alignment with my mind today, as I rolled Martyrdom. Thus from the Foremost chrysalis emerges none other than
Altogether, these are the Attributes of the Magus, following some years of entry-level training with Honing the Mind at the feet of the Ancient One, as well as cleaving Away unsuitable mental patterns:
+11 Strength, +11 Constitution, +8 Agility, +9 Intelligence (29 for Runes), +17 Wits, +11 Wisdom (-50%), +7 Charisma, +7 Manipulation, +12 Appearance, +4 Willpower
And high levels of Astral Rank, most likely hovering around 7.5-8 or so.
With the Harmonics Rune, a cantrip-level Rune can likely be discovered every month with effortful research (even faster once Highborn is applied to Intelligence in the mid-term), and a High Rune within several centuries to slightly over a millennium. With the eventual expansion of one's Rank with heroic endeavor, this process may potentially be increased even further beyond; potentially accelerated with the Chemistry Domain for making high nootropics, which can then be enhanced with appropriate Runes. Dr. Strange was originally a surgeon, but we shall instead boldly venture down the path of Heisenberg. If more advisable for permanent buffs, might instead go with Biology.
He'll focus on the discovery of one Rune in particular to start with:
Sequestering Rune - Create a sequestered space orthogonal to reality and fully suborned to your will, in which you can manipulate basic physical laws. Emerge from it at the end of its duration. Duration: one day.
(Therefore, Temporal Sequestering is a time chamber, and a fearsome one with Rank to drive further changes; an Augmented Temporal Sequestering would have even more terrifying capability.)
Once the raw basics are hammered out, the Magus shall seal themselves within a temporal chamber with an Augmented Sequence of Temporal Sequestering, every year within a mere day without, and so he'll continue to construct improvements to his mind and sanctum from within, recasting the spell as significant milestones of Intelligence are reached to accelerate time to an even more absurd degree, discovering Runes both lower and higher, and mitigating the Doom. He'll eventually emerge from the shell of metamorphosis as a master of reality, a susurration of Rank turning aside any odds of survival or resistance from his foes, an array of Runes further enhancing all efforts; having outscaled the Epochal Nemesis and intent on striking them down with sheer apocalypse itself. Hopefully, before they can proc Martyr!
There exists a potential case that the Magus' Capacity won't be able to maintain constant Augmented Temporal Sequestering, in which case, he'll focus on finding methods of making the process more efficient, combining arrays of other Runes with long or semi-permanent durations, or Summoning-focused Sequences to conjure allies who may prove helpful. As a genius bordering incomprehension from our perspective, he'll be much better at this task than I could even dream of, and with Rank as high as his own, he'll likely find a way if one exists in even .1% of imaginable and unimaginable cases. Potentially, a 3-Rune (or higher!) Sequence may be necessary.
---
In the name of avoiding double-posting, here's some other stuff:
---
I'd be damned if my nascent Ormulum addiction simply ended because of Rihaku's new CYOA.
We've reached levels where I am so adroit at building stuff with this CYOA that I almost solely make meme builds... Orm mentioned to me, once, in passing and in hindsight, that a Taste of the Fruit should've allowed for write-in fruits, much as Practitioner allows write-in professions, Litanist allows you to decide your areas of learning, Ancient your Litanies of focus, and Expressive makes a whole-ass superpower to play around with. A custom fruit would've been the nice middle ground, but we live in a sadder reality.
(Fortunately, Reinforcement applied on seeds + Practiced gardening can still likely make new, way crazier fruit. Hooray to abusing the Litanies in the name of floral eugenics.)
Anyway, I won't rectify this state of things with illegal modifications, but it's still a nice thought to imagine some alternate timeline in which a build exists that eats the Gomu Gomu no Mi, takes Celestial Voyager, Final Scion of Water, and an Expression that hammers all that shit into "we're all friends on a large ship together."
Anyway, since we can't have Ormulum One Piece, here's some Naruto instead:
---
Naruto: The Ormulum Edition (But This Time We're Fighting Against Fire)
Location: A Unified Earth +3 (specifically, Japan) / or / The Thousand Estates +3 (specifically the Patterned Kingdom)
Magic: Practitioner -1 (The Shinobi), Litanist -2 (Reaping, Reinforcement, Reassurance - Shadow Theme), A Taste of the Fruit -1 (Unraveling)
Benefits: Exemplar -1
Drawbacks: Dreams of Distant Fire +2
The Shinobi - You possess an uncanny mastery of stealth, blending seamlessly with shadows and soundlessly navigating any terrain, as swift as a cloud's shadow before the moon and equally uncatchable. Your assassination arts are unparalleled, strikes of the ninjato aimed expertly at throat veins. Your shuriken and other thrown projectiles can alter trajectories as needed, and you can throw entire fans of them in singular motions, storing and withdrawing them from seemingly impossible places on your body to down entire teams of security guards. Once a night, reflecting the moment 'you' sabotaged multiple enemy compounds over one mission before dawn, you can split yourself into a team of shadow clones, each bearing most of your might and magics, although only a fraction of your durability, and returning with intel after destruction.
Yeah, so basically, mega-shadow ninja, all sneaky and edgy and shit. If you want to cosplay Naruto even harder, swap your Reassurance Theme to something like... I dunno, Five Elements, or Elementalism, or something along those lines. That should work, you can do basically anything with Reassurance. Or you can use Reinforcement to grow extra fruit based on other elements; with self-directed Reinforcement and Exemplar to start with, you should be able to safely chug down as many as three fruits without exploding in a grisly, bloody mess; probably more if you really, really clench your buttcheeks and try. And as a Practitioner able to study gardening and a Reinforcer, you can make some really insanely, absurdly efficient fruit as well. We're talking some real Inflorescent Aegis shit. Some serious Royal Guard stuff.
No real plans for dealing with the General, aside from, "learn enough Reciprocity to escape into the Dominion and make a career there instead." Fortunately, ninja probably don't require sleep, so he won't get a bead on your location anytime soon, barring communication with the Priestess. I'd have selected Lethe and Nemesis instead in a more serious build that aims to survive, but in this case, the General had to be selected for... let's call it, 'thematic appropriateness.'
Doesn't really matter if you're in Earth, Japan, or in the Kingdom on the Estates. Either place has lots of people who are willing to hire you as an assassin, and plenty of targets you can do hits on. Also, you get to Practice your cool ninja tricks, like disappearing mid-conversation ala Batman.
...actually, fuck it, let's make One Piece as well - a build from an alternate universe in which write-in fruit are permissible.
---
Myriad Piece, The Hierarchal Anime No One Ever Asked For
Location: A Unified Earth +3
Magic: Taste of the Fruit (Outreaching Gourd) -1, The Authority of Celestial Voyages -2, Final Scion of Water -2, Expressive -2 (Myriad Piece)
Benefits: Naturalization -1
Drawbacks: Lethe +1, Dissident +1, Nemesis +1, Dreams of Distant Fire +2
Outreaching Gourd - This bottle gourd is soft and pliant to the touch, elastic, more like a firm waterbed than a hard shell. Consumed, it confers awesome material durability and the ability to physically stretch out and elasticize one's body, selectively becoming insulatory to heat and electricity as well. You can absorb even absurd levels of kinetic damage, deformed but never truly hurt, as your body snaps back to its previous alignment within moments. Furthermore, by extending your fists and retracting them rapidly, you may punch with extreme force and at long ranges, do the same with your feet to kick or leap, and otherwise locomote.
Myriad Piece - Adventure is a man's highest calling, yet what voyage can be undertaken alone, if not a sad and meaningless one? True adventure is with one's dearest companions and friends ever at one's side. This Expression is a radiance of fortune and fellowship, a bestowal of tools and resources needed to pursue adventure and find it, alongside one's nakama. With its maximized development, it allows for the manifestation of a dimensional vessel made of frozen Water and reinforced pykrete, which can itself benefit from the Authority of Celestial Voyage: yours isn't a lonely vigil, but a sail across the stars with your friends!
Right so - Dissident, because you're an enemy of the rather literal World Government, and sailing away to find a means of overthrowing it. And I believe the rest should be fairly self-explanatory? Naturalization starts you off with the most valuable piece of your development and kit: a working crew of useful specialists and probably at least one or two fellow Expressives, if ones likely somewhat less powerful than you. That, alone, is worth the orb spent on Naturalization.
From there, Water's ethos is naturally swiftly pushed to focus on its aspect of 'blood,' in the meaning of 'ties that bind people together.' Sail onto random assorted worlds and make friends, aided by Myriad Piece, and wherever they are active counts as your territory. Take the most instrumentally useful and willing friends with you as crewmates, leave the others to spread Water's vivacious cheer. Fear not about a lack of your own resources, for Myriad Piece and your trueborn nakama shall provide: what cannot be done yourself, others shall aid you with; a brighter reflection of Nameless' lesson of off-loading work onto others.
Recruit surviving Grovetenders and adept Litanists to run a garden onboard the ship, synthesizing new lines of fruit to empower your growing crew that soon encompasses members from nearly every world of the Hierarchy; a bewildering mass of colorful characters and experts with their own idiosyncratic capabilities and crazy, wild personalities. With your ethos of Water and Expression, you'll be especially capable of absorbing and learning new magics from your nakama; likely to possess an unnatural talent for Reciprocity and Reinforcement. Eventually, once you are strong enough, return to Earth and overthrow its Tyrant.
Your Nemesis is much less of an issue with an entire crew of friends who'll aid you in ganking his ass in the name of friendship. If you encounter the General, simply revoke his right to pursue with the Authority of Celestial Voyages (he can work around this, but it'll slow him down) and swim away elsewhere as quick as your sails shall take you, spatial 'tides' pushing him back and leaving him submerged, only to resurface, huffing out a stream of void-water as a cosmic goldfish flaps about on his helmet (and is then probably seared to death from proximity,) only for him to impotently shake his fist and silently curse your name.
Also, you can probably get the Authority of Hunters Triumphant pretty easily once you arrive on the Estates, which is a major boon! It happens to be my favorite Authority as well, and has even further positive effects on this build's capabilities!
I'll be frank with you: all memes aside, this build's pretty damn good in terms of dealing with all the drawbacks selected, General included (given the damn thing's nature, it probably has non-zero odds of invading the Pit somewhere down the line and taking over.) The only improvement you could stack on top is throwing the Outreaching Gourd away (it's there only for the meme) and replacing it with either something like Practitioner (Ship Captain) or ideally, Exemplar, for ease of future magic acquisition and training. Most likely the latter, since Exemplar is Exemplar, but you can always Practice being a ship captain over time and come into it on your own.
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Rihaku
The Internet
"For day-to-day work outside of your superhero identity, you can naturally be a surgeon or pharmacist in some underground facility full of people trying to survive Fimbulvinter on the surface."
Don't forget that Winter's Brand is a Brand - everyone who perceives you knows you to be the source of everlasting winter!
Don't forget that Winter's Brand is a Brand - everyone who perceives you knows you to be the source of everlasting winter!
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Is Emmisary [The Gift] on Highborn or Pathos more effective for purposes of optimizing this portion of Highborn's effects?
- Location
- Europe
Step by Step
Attributes
2 All4 Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance
7 Intelligence, Agility + 10Dex
10 Strength, Constitution
17 Wits
29 Wisdom, Willpower
Rank Minimum 3.5 + 3.0 = 6.5
Patrons
I. The Shogun[ ] Shogun: Harm Cognition [First, 1 Token] -
III. The Surgeon
[ ] Surgeon: Away! [First, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Surgeon: Engineer [Second, 5 Tokens] - Biology
[ ] Surgeon: Seize the Day [Third, 1 Insight] -
[ ] Surgeon: Brains & Brawn [Fourth, 3 Insights] - Willpower
[ ] Surgeon: Bravado [Fifth, 5 Insights] - Courage & Wisdom
V. The Emissary
[ ] Emissary: Pathos [First, 1 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [Second, 2 Tokens] -
[ ] Emissary: Highborn [Third, 5 Tokens] -
Drawbacks
[ ] Gambit [+1-5 Tokens] - Emissary: A Will Eternal (High)Credit: 16T 10I
Debit: 16T 09I
Attributes include All +s.
This will probably be my last build for this version of the cyoa, having covered most of the conceptual ground I'm interested in.
Enter a world of cultivation where each Step transcends it's prior as the Sun eclipses a candle. The fourth Step has utter control of a universe, the fifth step exceeds this as the fourth step exceeds the third, and there are steps without end. You'll probably start in a Realm where third step cultivators show up every so often, and almost certainly in a time where an MC is making their Ascension, otherwise the average danger is just too low. But, in those realms where the true powers walk, this world is certainly as dangerous as Gunstar Autochthonia.
With the Wisdom and Will of a Nascent Foremost to supplement your Biology talent you are well suited to cultivation, ascending rapidly and without serious risk. In combination with Harm Cognition and Wisdom your Foundation should be more solid than adamant, your skill with techniques and abilities comparable, even exceeding, those of a protagonist.
Using Wisdom meditation to expand the versatility and decrease the cost of your various abilities, such as Engineer, Highborn, Rank, Cultivation, or Wisdom itself, should allow for profound advancement.
If you take this step by step, there is no particular limit to your Ascension.
This high interpretation of A Will Eternal assumes rihaku-verse style scaling for higher Steps, such that a 5/6th step would be comparable to 100 stat foremost. This should already be the case by my reckoning, but I'm mentioning it just to make sure. If that makes the setting too dangerous to qualify for Emissary I guess I'd just go to the Cthulhu-Mythos or Cthuhlutech (High).
- Reason - Ineptitude
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Rihaku
The Internet
Hm… not even close, by my reckoning. 5th Step BXC onscreen only controls a 'single' infinite multiverse governed by humanly-comprehensible concepts: such things are less than specks of dust in the wars of the Foremost. Less meaningful than the equivalent value of a single atom in the clash between Hunger and Maiden, as they annihilated infinite continuums of greater ontological variety merely by the collateral damage of the uncontrolled portion of a single clash - and these are beings whose control is so hyper-perfect that this is more precise than firing a nuke at a single termite without bestirring even the quantum foam around it.
I believe that 10th step Meng Hao and the like are potentially Mature Foremost level though, possibly as low as 7th step HI!
It's important to distinguish elevation from influence here - an arrangement of mass-energy that is effectively invulnerable to physical perturbation could be easily undone by acting on its governing concepts, whereas a block of pure mythril might be much weaker physically but far less subject to outside-context escalations. With such high Attributes, however, both are certainly within easy reach once he reaches his full potential in Engineering!
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Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Good point, although you can still always punch the people who disagree about your existence being a good thing.
Rihaku
The Internet
Hunter Prey
Remain
Surgeon: Away, Egotist: Strive (Con), Emissary: Highborn - 9 Tokens
Surgeon: Seize the Day, Surgeon: Brains & Brawn (Str), Emissary: Gift (Seize the Day) - 7 Insights
Diplomatic Gambit - Post-Crisis DC, Sibling Rivalry, Worldwide (+4 Tokens)
Weekend Ban, Sunder the Veil: Greater (Superheroes +30%)
[Gift] Seize the Day
As per Seize the day, but you receive +7 to Str, Dex, and Con plus Wits and Willpower. You may choose to further develop your ontological primacy into either a broadly-encompassing paradigm of embodied myth (Accretion), or a focused expression of your uttermost nature and desires (a Shroud).
In the case of the former you may bond with objects, artifacts, techniques and motifs in a manner similar to Hunger (if lacking his Progression or his Abduction), awakening conceptually congruent powers and passive bonuses as your mutual legends are established and elaborated upon. By the grace of the Emissary you will also be granted a single object within reason to serve as the core and focus of your Panoply: an enchanted blade, a lesser Ring of Power, a wand of dimensional magics, etc. At baseline this item won't improve your Attributes, though some may allow you to act as if certain Attributes were no lower than 15 - Constitution and Protection for a suit of plate, for ex.
In the case of the latter you may maintain your Shroud with unusual ease and consistency even before Rank 9, and thereafter may manifest it eternally. You receive a top-tier Shroud capable of governing a concept as broad as Life, Law or Chaos, with the strength of your influence mediated by your Rank. It's also possible to select a Shroud that grants two to three narrower powers as long as they reside at some sort of conceptual convergence - supernatural mastery over one's own body, mind and spirit, for example.
—-
This build comes in at Str 27, Agi 14, Con 32, Wits 14, Will 14, Int 7, Wis 7, All Others 2. For purposes of calculating Rank our highest stats dominate - Str 25 is Doomsday so we are well beyond Kal-El in both raw power and toughness.
Conservatively I think we can peg this at Rank 8.6, though an argument could be made for 9. Given we have very substantial initial survivability I am comfortable going for a greedy shroud domain like Evolution. With such immense stats and Rank, we can overpower most anyone we can't outsmart and outsmart most anyone we can't overpower, with our Shroud effectively giving us psedo-progression within a broad purview. Luckily in this universe existential primacy is the god stat - no matter how many times more powerful Superman's enemies are they inevitably fall in the end, and our Rank is pretty much second only to his own. Long-term, our goal is to scale aggressively and accumulate so much Rank we become a narrative singleton, a Doomsday for Detective Comics writ large!
Remain
Surgeon: Away, Egotist: Strive (Con), Emissary: Highborn - 9 Tokens
Surgeon: Seize the Day, Surgeon: Brains & Brawn (Str), Emissary: Gift (Seize the Day) - 7 Insights
Diplomatic Gambit - Post-Crisis DC, Sibling Rivalry, Worldwide (+4 Tokens)
Weekend Ban, Sunder the Veil: Greater (Superheroes +30%)
[Gift] Seize the Day
As per Seize the day, but you receive +7 to Str, Dex, and Con plus Wits and Willpower. You may choose to further develop your ontological primacy into either a broadly-encompassing paradigm of embodied myth (Accretion), or a focused expression of your uttermost nature and desires (a Shroud).
In the case of the former you may bond with objects, artifacts, techniques and motifs in a manner similar to Hunger (if lacking his Progression or his Abduction), awakening conceptually congruent powers and passive bonuses as your mutual legends are established and elaborated upon. By the grace of the Emissary you will also be granted a single object within reason to serve as the core and focus of your Panoply: an enchanted blade, a lesser Ring of Power, a wand of dimensional magics, etc. At baseline this item won't improve your Attributes, though some may allow you to act as if certain Attributes were no lower than 15 - Constitution and Protection for a suit of plate, for ex.
In the case of the latter you may maintain your Shroud with unusual ease and consistency even before Rank 9, and thereafter may manifest it eternally. You receive a top-tier Shroud capable of governing a concept as broad as Life, Law or Chaos, with the strength of your influence mediated by your Rank. It's also possible to select a Shroud that grants two to three narrower powers as long as they reside at some sort of conceptual convergence - supernatural mastery over one's own body, mind and spirit, for example.
—-
This build comes in at Str 27, Agi 14, Con 32, Wits 14, Will 14, Int 7, Wis 7, All Others 2. For purposes of calculating Rank our highest stats dominate - Str 25 is Doomsday so we are well beyond Kal-El in both raw power and toughness.
Conservatively I think we can peg this at Rank 8.6, though an argument could be made for 9. Given we have very substantial initial survivability I am comfortable going for a greedy shroud domain like Evolution. With such immense stats and Rank, we can overpower most anyone we can't outsmart and outsmart most anyone we can't overpower, with our Shroud effectively giving us psedo-progression within a broad purview. Luckily in this universe existential primacy is the god stat - no matter how many times more powerful Superman's enemies are they inevitably fall in the end, and our Rank is pretty much second only to his own. Long-term, our goal is to scale aggressively and accumulate so much Rank we become a narrative singleton, a Doomsday for Detective Comics writ large!
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Strength Incarnate
Plunge [+15 RT, +10 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Doom of the Martyr) [+5 RT]
Epochal Nemesis [+3 RT]
Shogun: Harm Cognition [-1 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Form [-1 TI]
Shogun: The Blade [-3 TI] - Fearless (+20 Strength, +5 Agility), Fortress (Formative Crest)
Surgeon: Away! [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer [-5 RT] - Biology
Surgeon: Seize the Day [-1 TI]
Surgeon: Brains & Brawn [-3 TI] - Favored Strength
Egotist: Strive [-2 RT] - (+5 Constitution)
Egotist: Unblinking Tempest [-2 RT]
Egotist: Duality [-5 RT, -1 TI] - Taiji Path (+14 Constitution, +7 Agility)
Emissary: Pathos [-1 RT]
Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [-2 RT]
Formative Crest, a Shroud oriented on expanding the capabilities of Honing the Form, allowing physical progression at the cost of worthy adversaries and challenges. If such a potentiality exists, it'll also attempt to ignite the remaining Token into a dross of physical might. It also folds the Biology Domain into Honing the Form's shapeshifting as a part of this process: simply by existing, the Foremost becomes stronger over time as long as their Shroud is deployed, meaningful conflict providing explosive bursts of power. With Seize the Day's own Rank, the exhaustion of deploying the Shroud should also be at least mildly attenuated. It also confers ++Strength and Constitution immediately.
An inefficient build, as it has a single Token leftover and unspent - assuming that Formative Crest may eventually burn its potential off into ++ to a chosen Attribute, it'd be assigned to Strength and Constitution. Nonetheless, even without that, its Attributes are terrifying:
+45 Strength
+44 Constitution
+22 Agility
All other Attributes set to a minimum of 10.
+ 2x sources of high Rank, and secure methods of further physical growth.
Plunge [+15 RT, +10 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Doom of the Martyr) [+5 RT]
Epochal Nemesis [+3 RT]
Shogun: Harm Cognition [-1 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Form [-1 TI]
Shogun: The Blade [-3 TI] - Fearless (+20 Strength, +5 Agility), Fortress (Formative Crest)
Surgeon: Away! [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer [-5 RT] - Biology
Surgeon: Seize the Day [-1 TI]
Surgeon: Brains & Brawn [-3 TI] - Favored Strength
Egotist: Strive [-2 RT] - (+5 Constitution)
Egotist: Unblinking Tempest [-2 RT]
Egotist: Duality [-5 RT, -1 TI] - Taiji Path (+14 Constitution, +7 Agility)
Emissary: Pathos [-1 RT]
Emissary: Diplomatic Immunity [-2 RT]
Formative Crest, a Shroud oriented on expanding the capabilities of Honing the Form, allowing physical progression at the cost of worthy adversaries and challenges. If such a potentiality exists, it'll also attempt to ignite the remaining Token into a dross of physical might. It also folds the Biology Domain into Honing the Form's shapeshifting as a part of this process: simply by existing, the Foremost becomes stronger over time as long as their Shroud is deployed, meaningful conflict providing explosive bursts of power. With Seize the Day's own Rank, the exhaustion of deploying the Shroud should also be at least mildly attenuated. It also confers ++Strength and Constitution immediately.
An inefficient build, as it has a single Token leftover and unspent - assuming that Formative Crest may eventually burn its potential off into ++ to a chosen Attribute, it'd be assigned to Strength and Constitution. Nonetheless, even without that, its Attributes are terrifying:
+45 Strength
+44 Constitution
+22 Agility
All other Attributes set to a minimum of 10.
+ 2x sources of high Rank, and secure methods of further physical growth.
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
You're capped at 10 tokens from drawbacks and it looks like you've got 13 unfortunately.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Ah, damn, was that a thing? I'll edit it soon. It'll probably be much weaker as a result.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
The Slumbering King
Remain [+5 RT, +1 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Affliction of Slumber) [+5 RT]
Fate of the Foremost [+5 RT]
Sibling Rivalry (Elves) [+2 RT]
Sunder the Veil, Lesser (World of Darkness] (+1 TI]
Inheritor's Bane (Ban of the Emissary) [+1 TI]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Emissary: Highborn [-5 RT]
Emissary: The Gift [-3 TI] - Honing the Mind
Egotist: Uttermost [-10 RT] - Dreamcraft, Doom of Tyranny
Gift - Honing the Mind
*Exceed the current limits of your mind to no upper limit, shattering the psyche and reconstructing it: mind as malleable as flesh to Honing the Form, granting elasticity of thought. Capable of training all mental and social Attributes including Charisma and Willpower, similar to Highborn, albeit appropriately faster.
*The character emanates an ego gradient, composed of a constant emanation of their own Charisma and Willpower; increases bodily durability / Constitution to equal the character's Willpower, and their speed / Agility to equal the character's Wits. Furthermore, their attempts at stealth and discretion are boosted to match the capacity of their Manipulation. Over time, the parameters of this ego gradient may be expanded, and techniques developed: reading the minds of others, stealing thoughts, or even draining psyches and shattering them to absorb the fragments into one's own and accelerate its development.
*Gain +7 INT, WIS, Manipulation, Wits, and Willpower. So long as you don't intend otherwise, you're assumed to always possess a minimum of 13 +s in these Attributes.
Dreamcraft
*A memetic and mental art, Dreamcraft deals primarily with ideas and knowledge, and boasts few physical effects at first; still, it should not be underestimated. Scales to the overall mental refinement of the bearer, especially Intelligence, Wits, and Manipulation. Its foundational effect is the accession of lucid dreaming, permitting the shaping of memes even while fast asleep, locked within a half-metaphorical astral realm of one's dreams.
*Initially, its effects are limited: the craftsman may proprioceptively perceive a network of all coherent minds within the vicinity, a skein of contemplative shells. With a focused effort, the craftsman may form memes: liquid ideas, such as loyalty, hatred, or specific forms of information, which are then astrally transmitted to a target mind. Imbuing a mind with loyalty makes a drone, and allows the craftsman to connect them more solidly to himself, acting as the nexus of his nascent network. A sufficiently intelligent Dreamcrafter may, eventually, come to dominate entire civilizations without ever making a single public appearance.
*Further sophistication allows memetic effects which are self-spreading, infecting entire civilizations even with minimal contact between carriers, and expands the skein's range to cover the entire collective unconscious. Antimemes are accessible to cover one's existence and tracks, or conceal secret activities. Further attainments can exchange ideas from metaphor to reality, as dreams become lucid: creatures that embody conquest armed with swords that embody death, carrying the wielder's will into the physical world. Ideal artificing is potent and as versatile as the memeplex of the wielder, simply layering on ideas as needed to craft whatever's necessary.
---
Do not submit to the eldritch horrors, for that is the path of inadequacy. No, become the eldritch horrors. On the eventful night of awakening from the Foremost chrysalis, the newborn Slumbering King rests on a throne and falls asleep, an ever-dreaming tyrant. He offers salvation to all minds, desiring to reciprocally link them to his own spirit, a hivemind kingdom ruled over from a fantastical realm: although the Ban of the Emissary prevents violent conflict, there's hardly any violence to instant and unquestionable mental domination. Afterward, they'll naturally consent to being eaten or used as living pawns in further quests for domination.
Once he's devoured sufficient geniuses and made them a part of himself, his Dreamcraft shall develop, its boundaries pushed to new peaks: even if the ithilyor refuse diplomatic approach, it matters little, as they'll scarcely even remember being offered peace by any being whatsoever - even as the scythes of the faerie gladestalkers descend on them, they won't realize what is actually killing them, arrogance the hammer in their coffin. Intelligent they may be, they are no Slumbering King, and cannot approach his incandescent erudition and far-reaching webs of manipulation.
Remain [+5 RT, +1 TI]
Fool's Gambit (Affliction of Slumber) [+5 RT]
Fate of the Foremost [+5 RT]
Sibling Rivalry (Elves) [+2 RT]
Sunder the Veil, Lesser (World of Darkness] (+1 TI]
Inheritor's Bane (Ban of the Emissary) [+1 TI]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Emissary: Highborn [-5 RT]
Emissary: The Gift [-3 TI] - Honing the Mind
Egotist: Uttermost [-10 RT] - Dreamcraft, Doom of Tyranny
Gift - Honing the Mind
*Exceed the current limits of your mind to no upper limit, shattering the psyche and reconstructing it: mind as malleable as flesh to Honing the Form, granting elasticity of thought. Capable of training all mental and social Attributes including Charisma and Willpower, similar to Highborn, albeit appropriately faster.
*The character emanates an ego gradient, composed of a constant emanation of their own Charisma and Willpower; increases bodily durability / Constitution to equal the character's Willpower, and their speed / Agility to equal the character's Wits. Furthermore, their attempts at stealth and discretion are boosted to match the capacity of their Manipulation. Over time, the parameters of this ego gradient may be expanded, and techniques developed: reading the minds of others, stealing thoughts, or even draining psyches and shattering them to absorb the fragments into one's own and accelerate its development.
*Gain +7 INT, WIS, Manipulation, Wits, and Willpower. So long as you don't intend otherwise, you're assumed to always possess a minimum of 13 +s in these Attributes.
Dreamcraft
*A memetic and mental art, Dreamcraft deals primarily with ideas and knowledge, and boasts few physical effects at first; still, it should not be underestimated. Scales to the overall mental refinement of the bearer, especially Intelligence, Wits, and Manipulation. Its foundational effect is the accession of lucid dreaming, permitting the shaping of memes even while fast asleep, locked within a half-metaphorical astral realm of one's dreams.
*Initially, its effects are limited: the craftsman may proprioceptively perceive a network of all coherent minds within the vicinity, a skein of contemplative shells. With a focused effort, the craftsman may form memes: liquid ideas, such as loyalty, hatred, or specific forms of information, which are then astrally transmitted to a target mind. Imbuing a mind with loyalty makes a drone, and allows the craftsman to connect them more solidly to himself, acting as the nexus of his nascent network. A sufficiently intelligent Dreamcrafter may, eventually, come to dominate entire civilizations without ever making a single public appearance.
*Further sophistication allows memetic effects which are self-spreading, infecting entire civilizations even with minimal contact between carriers, and expands the skein's range to cover the entire collective unconscious. Antimemes are accessible to cover one's existence and tracks, or conceal secret activities. Further attainments can exchange ideas from metaphor to reality, as dreams become lucid: creatures that embody conquest armed with swords that embody death, carrying the wielder's will into the physical world. Ideal artificing is potent and as versatile as the memeplex of the wielder, simply layering on ideas as needed to craft whatever's necessary.
---
Do not submit to the eldritch horrors, for that is the path of inadequacy. No, become the eldritch horrors. On the eventful night of awakening from the Foremost chrysalis, the newborn Slumbering King rests on a throne and falls asleep, an ever-dreaming tyrant. He offers salvation to all minds, desiring to reciprocally link them to his own spirit, a hivemind kingdom ruled over from a fantastical realm: although the Ban of the Emissary prevents violent conflict, there's hardly any violence to instant and unquestionable mental domination. Afterward, they'll naturally consent to being eaten or used as living pawns in further quests for domination.
Once he's devoured sufficient geniuses and made them a part of himself, his Dreamcraft shall develop, its boundaries pushed to new peaks: even if the ithilyor refuse diplomatic approach, it matters little, as they'll scarcely even remember being offered peace by any being whatsoever - even as the scythes of the faerie gladestalkers descend on them, they won't realize what is actually killing them, arrogance the hammer in their coffin. Intelligent they may be, they are no Slumbering King, and cannot approach his incandescent erudition and far-reaching webs of manipulation.
It is according to the CYOA, but To Might Alone got sixteen Tokens from drawbacks, so I'm not sure.
Severance Package
Choice: Remain Here +5T & 1I
Shogun: Harm Cognition -1T, Honing the Mind -2T, Honing the Form -1I, The Blade (Faultless, Fortress: Sanctum, Foremost) -5I
Arcanist: N/A
Surgeon: Away! -2T
Egotist: Strive (Luck) -2T, Unblinking Tempest -2T, Duality (Taiji: Luck, Wits) -5T & 1I
Emissary: N/A
Drawbacks: Fool's Gambit (8, Affliction of Slumber) +5T, Foresworn (League of Adventure) +2T / Sibling Rivalry (1, Orcs) +2T, Shogun's Ban +1I, Sunder the Veil (Greater, Aliens) +5I
An updated version of the SORD GUD test build. When offered even a pale shadow of the power to Cut Through, why choose anything else? I immediately invoke the Shroud to retreat to my Inner Sanctum, where I'll abuse Honing the Body's regeneration to sever enough of myself to trigger Away. Weakness and Rivalry's visceral dislike of orcs (a trait Dien would disapprove of) will be prioritized over hesitation, as the Severance Package requires time and effort to realize its potential.
Within my soul's training grounds, I'll incubate like some legendary monster, practicing one cut after until I can carve the Realm of Forms as easily as a loaf of bread. Faultless with Foremost makes Severing a single skill, so there's no need to train separate applications. Eventually I'll be able to chop down the Aliens' tech tree one branch at a time, pruning their FTL and nanotechnology until their crowning achievements are all excluded.
Sorry, my little green friends. Reality 2.0 just dropped. And according to the patch notes, strong AI's impossible after all.
Apart from Faultless, Harm Cognition and Honing also require practice. The former's particularly important as it lets me navigate high-risk periods outside the Sanctum and gauge the risks of rest. Slumber is inconvenient with all this training (Tyrant would be the 'optimal' Curse), but stage two mitigation is achievable via Faultless. Invoking my Shroud's only moderately exhausting and will get less so with time, so I can sleep in relative safety.
The ruhuk hordes have no way of breaching my Sanctum save perhaps the direct efforts of the Warlord himself, and the Aliens have no magic. If the latter manage to abduct and analyze the former to integrate findross into their technology, then I might have problems. But that's what +20 Luck and Rank 9 are for. Still, no excuse not to get out ahead of the problem.
My first serious excursion will be to take on the Warlord and subvert him via Away. With only +11 Strength this would take some doing, but Faultless also allows my Blade to sever any material without resistance! It shouldn't take being bisected more than, oh, a dozen times before he sees the light. Once subjugated, he can be brought back into the Sanctum to serve as a training aid and guardian during Slumber.
Sanctum spits me out in the same place I left, so a climactic confrontation's likely inevitable despite my Luck and efforts to buy time. Unblinking Tempest prevents me from being blitzed or manipulated, Rank wreaks havoc on technology, and my transcendental Blade will have to do the rest. Assuming I'm victorious, the cleanup can commence. I'll sever the humanitarian consequences of the Alien and Orcish depredations, then start in on everything else, putting death, disease, and the ability to step on legos to the sword.
An unfortunate consequence of Severance Package is that I'm better at abolishing what I despise than engendering what I prefer. The result will be a circumscribed world. A rare few may glimpse reality's scar tissue, feeling through fumbling inference places where concepts displeasing to the Sovereign were once affixed. But minds are adaptable; who has the will to pick at cognitive scabs for long? Coopted technology and reformed Orcs offer boons the Blade cannot.
For my part, I'll live nappily ever after. With the ability to train Severing's ISH I may even attain a third stage of mitigation!
Is it possible to use energy blasts with necromatic power ? From what I understand shadow blend allows you to travel to different worlds ? Real worlds? Os to possible to go to anime worlds ? Like danmachi and get falna ? Would I be able to keep the falna if I return? And can I use shadow blend to update the falna ? Also I choose skinchanger + shadow blend
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Chicago, IL
- Pronouns
- Any/All
You're lucky I was looking at the thread. It's been weeks since I posted A Magical Dream and could easily have missed this. Feel free to ping me if you have questions about a CYOA that I posted a while ago in the future.
It is possible to develop the ability to shoot blasts of necrotic energy with Necromancy, but it's not easy. Probably a Necro-Wyrmling would have the easiest time with something like that, by developing a necromantic breath-weapon.
Shadow Blend lets you go fantastical or fictional worlds, but the Abyss is immensely vast, terribly dangerous, and extremely difficult to navigate, so finding a specific fictional world would be a monumental effort. If you do manage to find another world, acquire something from it, and then bring it back to our world without dying, then yes you can keep in the waking world, since it has some amount of real substance to it, rather than just being made from umbral matter.
I have no idea what danmachi (other than, probably an anime or manga, I guess?) or a falna is, so I don't know how to answer that question.
@Aabcehmu is to possible to gain nercotic power through skinchanger ? Does using necromancy cost necrotic power ?Is it possible to draw power from umbra to cast spell ? In Elden ring magic caster draw power from magical pr divine entities and in marvel mystic arts draw power from dimensions so ? Maybe with necromancy since it gives rituals amd incantations and necrotic power would fuse with umbral matter? Necromancy + shadow blend = sorcery? What would happen if I chose necromancy and shadow blend ?
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
At some point you should take this to Discord or DMs or something, also people aren't always willing to provide writeups for every conceivable combination of options so you need to be willing to do at least some degree of your own extrapolating/interpretation whenever Aab gets tired of answering questions. If it's reasonable in the context of the CYOA/not blatantly gamebreaking nobody's likely to complain about whatever homebrewing you do for a build you post.
Like I don't think anyone would complain if my interpretation of Emissary's Gift applied to Harm Cognition in Rihaku's most recent CYOA adds some level of passive defense and starts out as if you had already done a bunch of training with the level one version. Or if I made the Level four version of Surgeon Away no longer require removing body parts to change peoples minds making it closer to the Faultless title from Shogun Blade.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Does the Sequence of Mentation Augmenting Mantle work? We have no three-rune examples, unless Sequence is itself counted, and it's unclear what counts as a 'basic rune'.
I would expect it to integrate Mentation with your Mantle, though, granting ~full mitigation of the Wisdom penalty unless dispelled?
Does this let you get the earlier runes if you Remain? And does the Mantle count as higher-level?
Which five classical elements. Gubat Banwa taught me that the Phillipines use a different one from mainland China. (Which itself kinda conflates Wood and Wind, because of the former's visual effect on plants.)
Which five senses? Is sight required? Is proprioception banned? Is it possible to fool the sense of humor, or of good taste?
How does this interact with Egotist's Duality? Are they just not compatible?
Do termite eggs count? Humanshifting should already have included the embryonic fishlike forms. Is a Foremost Shapeshifter of the Fourth Attainment truly less capable of compactness than a djinn?
Does this count as a %-based penalty for Mentation? Also, how does Falter V combine with the Arcanist's Wisdom penalty - do you wind up with Wisdom 0?
Does every token spent on this have to come from one of those drawbacks, and can you spend Insights on part of the cost? Presumably at a rate of two tokens per insight?
How far can you expect to get in a billion years?
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
The Mastermind
Remain Here [+5 RT, +1 TI]
Sunder the Veil, Lesser (World of Darkness) [+1 TI]
Inheritor's Bane (Ban of the Surgeon) [+1 TI]
Fool's Gambit (The Doom of Tyranny) [+5 RT]
Fate of the Foremost [+5 RT]
Sibling Rivalry (Orcs) [+2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer (Biology) [-5 RT]
Surgeon: Brains & Brawn (Favored Dexterity, Specialization: Genetics) [-3 TI]
Surgeon: Bravado (Emblem of Wisdom) [-10 RT]
30 Dexterity, 25 Wisdom, 15 Wits, as well as 5 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Willpower, and Intelligence.
Feet and hands swift enough to outrace the Flash, sufficient Wisdom to transcend all earthly philosophies to the same degree by which they transcend the cogitations of a worm in the dirt, and Intelligence to surpass von Neumann's own by a slight edge; the resultant character is a beyond-epochal mastermind.
Who else, on all of Earth, could be suitable to rule over it? Surely no changeling, no mere werewolf, no vampire elder, no orcish Warlord.
To start with, the Tyrannic Mastermind ardently absorbs the strengths and traits of each supernatural genus into himself, refining and recombining evolutionary paradigms, forcing adaptation in stress-test environments or simulated scenarios, enhancing codons until a shining coordinate at the center of the deoxyribonucleic skein emerges.
Soon, he'll bear the best traits of each species, surpassing each of them in turn: all the might and supernatural disciplines of an elder vampire without any of the banes, unbounded shapeshifting from lycanthropes without weakness to silver, and the strange ephemeral arts of the changelings without susceptibility to binding oaths or cold iron. The strength and undying resilience of the orc, without the wildness of mind and obedience to the Warlord. At the crossover of their abilities are new potential developments: combined supernatural energies harmonizing, instead of interfering discordantly.
From there, even further optimizations are made, and with the Emblem of Wisdom, the versatility of genetics is expanded: the deoxyribonucleic cradle of material chemicals is abandoned, at first in favor of quadhelical picometer-scale pseudo-substrate structures, and eventually, even that crutch is abandoned in favor of the absolute elegance of Astral engineering, attaining an emanation akin to Astral Rank and elevating absorbed capabilities to hitherto unseen levels. Earth's conquest is assured, but the Tyrant shall set his sights on worlds other than this, to spread his glory to them as well.
Eventually, having consumed the souls of sorcerers, he'll wield an array of stunning magical arts; a vampire antediluvian's force of body, mind, and personality as well as supernatural blood and disciplines; the ability to shapeshift perfectly into any coherent form he can envision and heal from a single cell within a heartbeat; a selective ethereality and ability to transcend physical law with metaphorical impositions; and even wield harvested orcish findross itself in various deteriorated arts that superficially resemble Graces and other marvels.
Remain Here [+5 RT, +1 TI]
Sunder the Veil, Lesser (World of Darkness) [+1 TI]
Inheritor's Bane (Ban of the Surgeon) [+1 TI]
Fool's Gambit (The Doom of Tyranny) [+5 RT]
Fate of the Foremost [+5 RT]
Sibling Rivalry (Orcs) [+2 RT]
Shogun: Honing the Mind [-2 RT]
Surgeon: Engineer (Biology) [-5 RT]
Surgeon: Brains & Brawn (Favored Dexterity, Specialization: Genetics) [-3 TI]
Surgeon: Bravado (Emblem of Wisdom) [-10 RT]
30 Dexterity, 25 Wisdom, 15 Wits, as well as 5 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Willpower, and Intelligence.
Feet and hands swift enough to outrace the Flash, sufficient Wisdom to transcend all earthly philosophies to the same degree by which they transcend the cogitations of a worm in the dirt, and Intelligence to surpass von Neumann's own by a slight edge; the resultant character is a beyond-epochal mastermind.
Who else, on all of Earth, could be suitable to rule over it? Surely no changeling, no mere werewolf, no vampire elder, no orcish Warlord.
To start with, the Tyrannic Mastermind ardently absorbs the strengths and traits of each supernatural genus into himself, refining and recombining evolutionary paradigms, forcing adaptation in stress-test environments or simulated scenarios, enhancing codons until a shining coordinate at the center of the deoxyribonucleic skein emerges.
Soon, he'll bear the best traits of each species, surpassing each of them in turn: all the might and supernatural disciplines of an elder vampire without any of the banes, unbounded shapeshifting from lycanthropes without weakness to silver, and the strange ephemeral arts of the changelings without susceptibility to binding oaths or cold iron. The strength and undying resilience of the orc, without the wildness of mind and obedience to the Warlord. At the crossover of their abilities are new potential developments: combined supernatural energies harmonizing, instead of interfering discordantly.
From there, even further optimizations are made, and with the Emblem of Wisdom, the versatility of genetics is expanded: the deoxyribonucleic cradle of material chemicals is abandoned, at first in favor of quadhelical picometer-scale pseudo-substrate structures, and eventually, even that crutch is abandoned in favor of the absolute elegance of Astral engineering, attaining an emanation akin to Astral Rank and elevating absorbed capabilities to hitherto unseen levels. Earth's conquest is assured, but the Tyrant shall set his sights on worlds other than this, to spread his glory to them as well.
Eventually, having consumed the souls of sorcerers, he'll wield an array of stunning magical arts; a vampire antediluvian's force of body, mind, and personality as well as supernatural blood and disciplines; the ability to shapeshift perfectly into any coherent form he can envision and heal from a single cell within a heartbeat; a selective ethereality and ability to transcend physical law with metaphorical impositions; and even wield harvested orcish findross itself in various deteriorated arts that superficially resemble Graces and other marvels.
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Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
I do have to ask, if instead of using Shogun: The Blade for Agi for Brains and Brawn Dexterity synergy, it was Emmisary: The Gift to elevate Surgeon: Engineer to the 4th level (plus Brains and Brawn Synergy), would the build be substantially 'worse' in capabilities?
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
You could do Symbology instead, directly augment your Runes and incidentally a bunch of other stuff, like your own mentation. (Hyper-optimized language/visuals/assorted codecs for thinking seems like at least as good a paradigm for Thinking Better as hyper-optimized brain chemistry.)
Can you take anything from the Egotist while swearing to the League of Adventure?
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Let's see:
I think you can, yes.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Here's yet another Infinite Morning build. I've decided to make one with Roderick's Testament, Apheliotes, and Memento since they deserve some love.
Inspired by the Mandalorian.
The Huntsman
Location: Blasted Heath (+3)
Magics: Practice (-1)
Benefits: Chosen One (-2, Practice)
Artifacts: Memento (-1, Longbow), Roderick's Testament (-1), Apheliotes (-2)
Drawbacks: Three Wishes (+1), Hamartia (+1, Wrath), Phylactery (+1, Apheliotes)
DLC: Power Word: Bird (+1)
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The Hunter's Longbow - Once a mere tool of archery practice, it's only sensible it'd become a tool of archery Practice. Grants a benefit comparable to Into the Ormulum's Practitioner; lesser due to the limits of Memento, then increased through synergy with Chosen One. Its focus is on archery, with minor habits of hunting, tracking, and bounty hunting. All endeavors of that nature are improved appropriately. Furthermore, the wielder of the Hunter's Longbow has increased odds of being Acknowledged as the Authority of Hunters Triumphant.
As a Chosen Practitioner, acquiring the Authority of Celestial Voyages with Roderick's Testament isn't such an unimaginable dream. It'll still be the task of a voyage across the world of Pleroma, visiting each of its major hotspots, and perhaps even returning to the Encystment. On the way there, the Huntsman seeks adventure and profits in equal measure, and yet, isn't entirely selfish with these blessings. As a hunter ought, he'll seek to acquire a loyal band of followers, a tribe of his own, and then seek to embody the Huntsman's Authority in truth, aiming for Acknowledgment via loyalty to one's tribe.
Once the Huntsman's earned his namesake Authority, he'll turn his eyes to the immediate needs of the tribe, practicing and acquiring new magics, and restoring the Wind Princess' panoply. He'll establish a foothold on Pleroma, and with Celestial Voyages, sail to nearby worlds to acquire other magics and return with them to benefit his loved ones.
Many villains shall be hunted and put down by the Huntsman's bow and arrow! His arrows, guided by the celestial winds, shall be impossible to avoid; coming as swiftly and endlessly as sunbeams.
Inspired by the Mandalorian.
The Huntsman
Location: Blasted Heath (+3)
Magics: Practice (-1)
Benefits: Chosen One (-2, Practice)
Artifacts: Memento (-1, Longbow), Roderick's Testament (-1), Apheliotes (-2)
Drawbacks: Three Wishes (+1), Hamartia (+1, Wrath), Phylactery (+1, Apheliotes)
DLC: Power Word: Bird (+1)
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The Hunter's Longbow - Once a mere tool of archery practice, it's only sensible it'd become a tool of archery Practice. Grants a benefit comparable to Into the Ormulum's Practitioner; lesser due to the limits of Memento, then increased through synergy with Chosen One. Its focus is on archery, with minor habits of hunting, tracking, and bounty hunting. All endeavors of that nature are improved appropriately. Furthermore, the wielder of the Hunter's Longbow has increased odds of being Acknowledged as the Authority of Hunters Triumphant.
As a Chosen Practitioner, acquiring the Authority of Celestial Voyages with Roderick's Testament isn't such an unimaginable dream. It'll still be the task of a voyage across the world of Pleroma, visiting each of its major hotspots, and perhaps even returning to the Encystment. On the way there, the Huntsman seeks adventure and profits in equal measure, and yet, isn't entirely selfish with these blessings. As a hunter ought, he'll seek to acquire a loyal band of followers, a tribe of his own, and then seek to embody the Huntsman's Authority in truth, aiming for Acknowledgment via loyalty to one's tribe.
Once the Huntsman's earned his namesake Authority, he'll turn his eyes to the immediate needs of the tribe, practicing and acquiring new magics, and restoring the Wind Princess' panoply. He'll establish a foothold on Pleroma, and with Celestial Voyages, sail to nearby worlds to acquire other magics and return with them to benefit his loved ones.
Many villains shall be hunted and put down by the Huntsman's bow and arrow! His arrows, guided by the celestial winds, shall be impossible to avoid; coming as swiftly and endlessly as sunbeams.
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