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A Simple Transaction I

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DarkSideBard said:
I'm beginning to see that, while the Apocryphal Curse promotes a lot of high-impact events and constant challenge and action, it also turns "not now" into "not ever", by making every moment either an active race against the Curse or a race to outscale it while it's defrayed. So the way our build initially came out lopsided due to immediately needing advantages is just going to extend eternally into the future. We're almost completely unable to pick pure-potential options.
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We can, but it requires being willing to put in the effort and ignoring Rihaku arguing it.
 
Byzantine said:
least. Just... after Cut Through.
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The point I'm making is its going to have to be a serious investment to bring it back on track, a one pick that does little right now isn't actually a big step or commitment toward making that investment. It doesn't accomplish much now or in commitment for the future so we should take something relevant. We're not so far in the clear we can afford dead weight in our picks right now.
 
Rihaku said:
Mm, you guys shouldn't think of these one-pick build votes in the context of "what do we need to fight right now." It simply is the case that picks are finite, especially safe picks, without something like Pillars, and even with Pillars you're still rate-limited on picks per month. If your goal is Protection that's actually on the level of Hunger's other abilities, Pearlescence is pretty much your only shot and you don't have the picks or Arete to spare for that. Iridescence alone is just not that good anymore, especially in light of the value provided by Blood Advancements. Plus Opalescence doesn't offer any advantages in noncombat situations, which you may be going into now. More Charisma is frequently good in case you get a Tyrant proc.



Is Quit Like A Dog the Freedom option?



WIPs get fractional amounts depending on the degree of change.
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Hunger and Forebear's Blade have been offered some multi-pick non-Arete Advancements that do more than provide stats; I think there's some hope that investment in the Evening Sky will see similar for it
 
Ignoring Rihaku strikes me as somewhat unproductive given he's the GM. Yes, he devil advocates, but the stuff he says isn't actually wrong. Besides, he's already mentioned that we're somewhat ahead of the Apocryphal curve already, the reason we're picking a Power/Progression option instead of a more Potential-oriented one like the Ring is that we're set on finishing the Temple challenge successfully. Once that's over we'll be even further ahead of Apocrypha and capable of devoting more time and effort to Potential option.
 
DarkSideBard said:
I'm beginning to see that, while the Apocryphal Curse promotes a lot of high-impact events and constant challenge and action, it also turns "not now" into "not ever", by making every moment either an active race against the Curse or a race to outscale it while it's defrayed. So the way our build initially came out lopsided due to immediately needing advantages is just going to extend eternally into the future. We're almost completely unable to pick pure-potential options.
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You're unable to right now, yeah. A combination of mitigation and good build strategy can certainly turn it around.

Talace said:
It's the collective sum of all the Non-Praxis options!
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So Quit Like a Dog is the Vengeance option? Bold.

runeblue360 said:
If we want to develop it, we should probably wait until after the Temple or focus entirely on the utility options offered. Opalescene is legit just suboptimal compared to an option that benefits from our +Progression and isn't nerfed by our Defining Advancement, especially when Rihaku's made it clear we should be desperately scrabbling for every last scrap of power we can get (remember, Cut Through is a hybrid, not the Power-type EFB Rihaku recommended). With Mage voters potentially satisfied by fragmentary access to the Praxis, we might be be able to pick up Pearlesence afterwards as a counterpart to Ruinous Valour.
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Indeed. There's simply no reason to buy an option that does almost nothing until you have 2 more picks and 9 more Arete to spend, compared to synergistic options that can improve your outcomes in the Colony as well as the upcoming Temple fights. The Hunger with Cut Through that has 2 fewer AGI +s and .7 more Protection actually is significantly weaker than the Hunger with Fierce Quickening or Vigor Itself, and in a way that you will regret if forced to fight peer-level or above enemies.
 
DarkSideBard said:
I'm beginning to see that, while the Apocryphal Curse promotes a lot of high-impact events and constant challenge and action, it also turns "not now" into "not ever", by making every moment either an active race against the Curse or a race to outscale it while it's defrayed. So the way our build initially came out lopsided due to immediately needing advantages is just going to extend eternally into the future. We're almost completely unable to pick pure-potential options.
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the ideal approach is to fight really hard and take pure power so you outscale the Apocryphal Curse, then pivot into hybrid or pure potential with that hard-won safety
 
DarkSideBard said:
I'm beginning to see that, while the Apocryphal Curse promotes a lot of high-impact events and constant challenge and action, it also turns "not now" into "not ever", by making every moment either an active race against the Curse or a race to outscale it while it's defrayed. So the way our build initially came out lopsided due to immediately needing advantages is just going to extend eternally into the future. We're almost completely unable to pick pure-potential options.
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It's not that necessarily. We really didn't need to go to the Temple to defeat Bearic, a sober, sensible schedule of grinding would have left us in good shape. If we're gone with Substantially and Rains, we'd fight him with 150% effectiveness and no Exhaustion. Still rough but a few picks along the way and we're have been good. The reason we can't pick potential type options is because we threw ourselves into a place that massively outleveled us and then made a bunch of suboptimal choices decisions afterwards.

If we'd gone with Make for Civilization, we'd probably have an EFB by now already, since we wouldn't have no burn Arete just to stay above water. Still probably be massively weaker though since the XP we've gained here has just been wild.
 
runeblue360 said:
If we'd gone with Make for Civilization, we'd probably have an EFB by now already, since we wouldn't have no burn Arete just to stay above water. Still probably be massively weaker though since the XP we've gained here has just been wild.
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I suspect it wouldn't be so simple. But yeah, we'd probably be weaker but have had a more coherent build.
 
Remind me, is Pillars of Creation an advancement that we can just pick up whenever we have Arete, or we still need picks for it?

That whole "Picks are not unlimited resources" is starting to worry me.
 
As for fighting the rot beast, the more I think about it the more confidence I have. Basically because of our ringer Gisena. Her stats are comparable to hungers better ones pre uttermost and she'll have blood buffs (I think these will also be stronger than before since they scale of potency of recipients blood and hers just got boosted) so between that and shutting down hostile effects she's in a great position to sound out its abilities, nerf it, and lead it into a situation where hunger immediately gets in a decisive strike, minimizing his exertion and exposure.

A new age has arisen and the roles between caster and frontliner have turned.
 
[X] Investigate the Schools
[X] Fierce Quickening

Keeping that Ghosts After School activity open for Letrizia and momentum, but switching over to getting more sord-relevant stats right now. Limited Picks got me spooked, so best to get in some more offensive measures. If anything else, the ++AGI and +WITS will help us make anti-synergestic choices faster.
 
It's interesting that Exalted Spirit and Slice Fate have fallen by the wayside some. Though the colony isn't a very risky situation for you personally, Hunger flipping out and being unable to resolve a Tyrant proc socially could result in a loss of healing chances at best (as he leaves the Hot Springs) or wholesale butchery of the Sovereignty's law enforcement / military (and subsequent psychological harm to Hunger) at worst. It's pretty unlikely but more relevant stats, or a re-roll especially, would make it much less so.

You haven't had to contend with the Doom much but it can definitely create nasty situations when you aren't the unquestioned leader. Even a combat type EFB-equivalent doesn't save you from "Hunger resists arrest, law enforcement escalates, Hunger escalates back, neither side is willing to back down, lots of unnecessary deaths occur and Hunger gets PTSD"-type scenarios. And that's the safe outcome, for societies unable to escalate beyond Hunger and simply kill him. It's a situation where the Plenary Brand can actually be helpful, though of course broadcasting that you're so easily provoked comes with huge downsides too.

Exalted Spirit, Slice Fate, Vigor Itself can all reduce the chances of that.
 
[] Lift the Siege
[] Fierce Quickening

The fact that we haven't taken Opalescence is like popcorn in my teeth too, but I don't want to kill myself over it. My lonely self over on Vigor Itself is switch-

Uh, hold that thought.
 
Sounds like it's time to establish our bonafides with some socially acceptable killing, wouldn't want to dip into any antisocial murder their ignorance might provoke.
 
[X] Investigate the Schools
[X] Vigor Itself

I think Slice Fate is the more correct choice, but I'm not going to complain about an EFB
 
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