I like Sword-Arm a lot, I was a big champion of it before consolidation. But for all it's offensive power it doesn't give us much potential.

If we take Rune King we have a ridiculous amount of potential and can try to conquer the dungeon and any other options are extra. Sure some kind of unique magic would be sublime, and maybe possible, but we could honestly get unlucky, run into a huge fight and retreat and be fine.

We go back to civilization, take Wreath, and use Rune King to progress.

If we take Sword-Arm we are going to be stuck here searching for that potential. Dreadnought was a rare pick that both used up 3 picks and cost 7 Arete. The likelihood of us getting it again and being able to pick it aren't great. Gone unsaid is it make Iron Curtain's active permanent.



Look how good it is. Ignore wounds? We would both Deflect and use Con to weather Exotic Attacks (not really sure how that would stack mechanically).

Dreadnought is so good we could walk away from here happy, it leaves retreat open as a viable option that doesn't hurt us too bad. It's greatest strength is the power to walk away if we're put in a position to.
Sword arm gives us plenty of potential. It gives us that by increasing our ability to murderize foes and get unlimited potential that way. To someone like us, that's basically the only way to advance.

If we take it, Hunger will be more willing and capable of fighting stronger enemies, that means more experience and thus picks.

Edit: A vote for sword-arm is a vote for future shinies.
 
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I wonder where the power of Accretion comes from. Does it adhere to some internal expression of the soul that allows us to exude Pressure, or is there some kind of Overstory/Grand Narrative (kind of like the Practical Guide to Evil? maybe?) that takes note of the notable through deeds and word of mouth?
The locals seem to think it is an expression of the soul's power on the Astral Realm, which in turn influences the material world. I'm not sure whether this world and our previous one share the Astral Realm, or if King's Scepter adjusted Accretion to connect to Astral when we came here.
 
The locals seem to think it is an expression of the soul's power on the Astral Realm, which in turn influences the material world. I'm not sure whether this world and our previous one share the Astral Realm, or if King's Scepter adjusted Accretion to connect to Astral when we came here.

If they share the same Astral Realm, maybe we could wreak vengeance on those Hidden Masters earlier than we thought?
 
Dreadnought is so good we could walk away from here happy, it leaves retreat open as a viable option that doesn't hurt us too bad. It's greatest strength is the power to walk away if we're put in a position to.

You don't get to both Deflect or Ignore, Dreadnought gives you the option to choose with you'd prefer instead of having to Deflect. But yes, Dreadnought + Iron Curtain is great, though expensive. Permanent +++Protection, ++Willpower, ++Constitution, Ignore Wounds, Ignore Exotic Attacks With Constitution Check is significantly more valuable than the base form of Evening Sky for the same cost. The power of synergy!

There are comparably powerful synergies, of course - Ruinous Valor + Thousand Cuts + Pitiless Maw would cost the same as Dreadnought + Iron Curtain and offer the offensive + healing analogue to Dreadnought Curtain's defense, though only in melee range.

I wonder where the power of Accretion comes from. Does it adhere to some internal expression of the soul that allows us to exude Pressure, or is there some kind of Overstory/Grand Narrative (kind of like the Practical Guide to Evil? maybe?) that takes note of the notable through deeds and word of mouth?

Ask Letrizia for more details! Or attend her Symposium for the best cutting-edge research!
 
I imagine coming to the Symposium, and going on a killing rampage when we're asked to sit down for the national anthem or something...
Does curse of the tyrant make us attack people or do we just look at them like they are an alien and refuse to acknowledge what they said?

The way I read it it's that other people will start shit with us because we simply completely ignore any and all rules, laws, customs, norms, etc that aren't already internal to Hunger. Which makes Hunger look insane but doesn't make him suddenly aggressive.
 
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I've noticed an unusual number of guests viewing the thread lately. Anyone know what's going on? Did this get linked somewhere?
 
Why does everything have to be about potential? We already have utterly broken potential.

Note we've gained the work of years in... a week?
It doesn't all come down to potential. But if we are going to try and stay ahead of the Apocryphal Curse we do need more of it to advance.

Rune King has all magic we learn advance 4x faster. That compounds with the different magic systems already giving cross system synergy. To create some obscene advancement as we learn more systems.

Ultimately though, Rune King is just the cherry on top. That is what makes Dreadnought so obscene. It's a Power and Potential option stapled together for 7 Arete.

Depending on what exactly the dungeon is made up of the Exotic Attack con save could be huge. In FoR with tripled con we might be functionally immune to exotic attacks even with their higher levels.

And the Tired/Exhausted buffs make taking risks as a whole safer, reducing the amount we are weak.
 
See, the problem with all of that is I only have issues with the Rune King part, so trying to sell the rest of it is a waste of time. I agree it's good. But that magic boost is not worth it and never will be.
 
Cross magic system synergy is what won us the last game (and BPs, lots of BPs), so the Rune King is pretty enticing, even with the permanent loss of an eye. Some will consider the disability too costly, some will think it's a fair price for such enormous gains.

It doesn't all come down to potential. But if we are going to try and stay ahead of the Apocryphal Curse we do need more of it to advance.

Rune King has all magic we learn advance 4x faster. That compounds with the different magic systems already giving cross system synergy. To create some obscene advancement as we learn more systems.

Ultimately though, Rune King is just the cherry on top. That is what makes Dreadnought so obscene. It's a Power and Potential option stapled together for 7 Arete.

Depending on what exactly the dungeon is made up of the Exotic Attack con save could be huge. In FoR with tripled con we might be functionally immune to exotic attacks even with their higher levels.

And the Tired/Exhausted buffs make taking risks as a whole safer, reducing the amount we are weak.
Not to douse your enthusiasm, but we'd still have to pay an additional 7 Arete for that Deflection/Con against Exotic attacks.
 
Why would we get 0.2 rank this time with apex when we could vote stranglethorn and have 20% more rank forever?
Counter: Rank is the god-stat, but mortal life has benefits too. With Stranglethorn, we're all-but committed to seizing rank-ups until we're at least at where our boy was before seizing Hunger. That could be weeks of updates!

More personally, Stranglethorn ties up a lot of its power in the Establishment ability, which gives high incentive to pounding out conceptual territory like 'sage' or 'dictator'. It's not convenient at all for someone whose gains come entirely from blood-soaked adventure. It wouldn't force us to cash out, but future arguments for such a thing would be more enticing if beginning our Establishment were among its benefits.
 
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Counter: Rank is the god-stat, but mortal life has benefits too. With Stranglethorn, we're all-but committed to seizing rank-ups until we're at least at where our boy was before seizing Hunger. That could be weeks of updates!

More personally, Stranglethorn ties up a lot of its power in the Establishment ability, which gives high incentive to pounding out conceptual territory like 'sage' or 'dictator'. It's not convenient at all for someone whose gains come entirely from blood-soaked adventure. It wouldn't force us to cash out, but future arguments for such a thing would be more enticing if beginning our Establishment were among its benefits.
I mean we're not committed to that but is that bad? That would make us stronger than unshattered and we'd be up an arm and an eye potentially. Given a sizable portion of voters want once and future king which is better the more base rank we get, we're going to be taking a lot of rank upgrades anyway so we might as well take the option that increases their value now.

We can just frame ourselves in the context of adventurer and gain establishment benefits while adventuring! Any context works for it not just being a ruler.
 
Why would we get 0.2 rank this time with apex when we could vote stranglethorn and have 20% more rank forever?
Because being better at social/combat/exploration now has vastly greater utility than the same later, obviously enough.

Like, I don't care about Stranglethorn much because it's a reward from a rando mob. Getting more power now, and mass Rank plus Domination/Prominence is the most powerful build we can get in next three votes, will allow us to beat actual bosses and acquire waifu powerful rewards.

Moon dungeon heavily rewards any short term expenditure to the fullest! Meanwhile, Stranglethron is very much long term solution that happens to give some stats now.
Not to douse your enthusiasm, but we'd still have to pay an additional 7 Arete for that Deflection/Con against Exotic attacks.
Quite. Spending 14 Arete for pure defense when we have Evening Opalesence/Iridesence/Pearlesence line is pretty ??? not gonna lie. For same cost you could get Dominion/Prominence and still have 5 Arete left over. Like, that's more than halfway through to 25!

>We'd be at 17 now if we took civ and saved dutiful.

Remember folks, picking shinnies feels nice, but our job is to make our trip to dungeon worth all the investment. Get Rank, get Rank mods, beat bosses.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Wolfy on Jun 8, 2020 at 5:06 AM, finished with 362 posts and 57 votes.
 
You desire a power that's "never easily defined" to also be "explicit?"

This isn't QQ, you know!
If a "master" can exist, that seemed to me to imply some form of active skill as opposed to something that purely passively occurs around them. Meaning I was expecting something the average user without the theft ability is actively aware of doing. Even if it amounts to a vague "pulling his Astral mass down into the world to press outwards with the radiance of his Rank and drawing them into the rhythm of his legend" or "feeling the moment his Rank rasped across his foe's existence and lunging in to seize the opportunity" or even "By the byzantine dream logic of Accretion this attack was in a way equivalent to the time the Tyrant had ... and therefore he could counter it by ...".

Something, anything, that would constitute a skill rather than a passive state of being. Even if that skill is just judging when and how that passive state of being will flare up.

====================
On the other end of things, I wonder if high rank risks becoming stuck in a rut, unable to escape the narrative arc of your legend as the world keeps being drawn into mirroring elements within it. The whole "History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes." concept.
 
I did link the quest on a couple Discord servers I was on to give context to some of the art I was sharing, but that was like last week?

Thanks for helping to promote the thread!

Not to douse your enthusiasm, but we'd still have to pay an additional 7 Arete for that Deflection/Con against Exotic attacks.

7 Arete and 1 pick! Imagine stacking it with Iridescence or Pearlescence, though! You could face tank a spirit nuke, not just a physical one! Not enough gun indeed!

Counter: Rank is the god-stat, but mortal life has benefits too. With Stranglethorn, we're all-but committed to seizing rank-ups until we're at least at where our boy was before seizing Hunger. That could be weeks of updates!

Could be longer than that, even. Rank is hard to raise just with feats unless you're willing to go totally balls to the wall on risk. The other Accretion methods (fame, craftsmanship) can be useful to raise it more safely, though of course it's a bit slower.

We can just frame ourselves in the context of adventurer and gain establishment benefits while adventuring! Any context works for it not just being a ruler.

Mm, Establishment is mostly a timeskip power. You'd get more noticeable benefit from a single pick focused on the area of interest, though over the course of years that would change. It is really powerful in timeskips, though, basically giving you free stuff and suppressing your enemies increasingly the longer the timeskip lasts.
 
Get the fffffffffffffuck outta here with that Mage Build. Necromancy and our Extrusion is the only "Mage" Build we shouldaccept.

[X] Search for Humans
[X] Bring Gisena
[X] Apex

Pure Apex Predator.

Note: I'm still waiting on that promotional call or I boycott.
 
Get the fffffffffffffuck outta here with that Mage Build. Necromancy and our Extrusion is the only "Mage" Build we shouldaccept.

[X] Search for Humans
[X] Bring Gisena
[X] Apex

Pure Apex Predator.

Note: I'm still waiting on that promotional call or I boycott.
B-but Apex is recommended for Warrior-Mage build! If you want SORD, vote Sword Arm.
 
You could face tank a spirit nuke, not just a physical one! Not enough gun indeed!
A valid concern given we had to deal with a literal soul nuke in Terrascape. After a dungeon, even!

unless you're willing to go totally balls to the wall on risk
:V
I'm not sure what it says about us that we've got three advancements this way already.

Though that makes the Rank offered here even more valuable.

Mm, Establishment is mostly a timeskip power. You'd get more noticeable benefit from a single pick focused on the area of interest, though over the course of years that would change. It is really powerful in timeskips, though, basically giving you free stuff and suppressing your enemies increasingly the longer the timeskip lasts.
Timeskips don't really enthuse me. I'm sure they're going to be inevitable after a while, of course, but that's some ways off.
 
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