@FunkyEntropy
Besides separating Skein from the rest of the Wyld Hunt, I don't have any reservations about your distribution.
Besides separating Skein from the rest of the Wyld Hunt, I don't have any reservations about your distribution.
Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 18: Ravaging Rapscallions Rapidly Regret Regular Rampages
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
I like this (except for Skein) as well.
Combat situation, he's not a flipping risk, so we're looking at increased doubts.
Jack will primarily be facing sniper fire. I picked one of our few capes who can handle a few hits from him and Shatterbird, as well as being able to fight off drones so Bladedancer can focus on Shatterbird..
Clockblocker is a terrible matchup against either of Siberian or Crawler. Especially Crawler, whose acid is damage over time(and thus, not blocked by time stop), He can time stop cut either of them, but that only pops the Siberian and let Manton know that we know), or temporarily inconvenience Crawler.
Alexandria is okay, but she's unable to hurt either of the enemies on the field, and unlike every other opponent, Siberian can hurt her.
While Alexandria is capable of recognizing Manton if she sees him, remember we have a lot of civilians on site. He can simply get lost in the crowd without Chevalier to detect shards.
No issues. Not my personal preference, but no big problems
Same kit as mine mostly.
However, with Kid Win, Maestro and Weld on site, Willow is redundant. Bonesaw cannot teleport with the jammer active, and Weld can take her down nonlethally without any risk of infection(he could simply grapple her if necessary, and she has about as much chance to escape as a child), while Willow might be resistant due to Case 53...or not. A bit of a gamble, even if Wyld can fix her afterwards.
Also she's uh...tree physiology.
In a fight with Burnscar.
No issues, other than people better used elsewhere
No issues...except why split up Skein from the Wyld Hunt? Put her with them so they can clear their sector more quickly, her cloth golems can handle zombies and drones with no risk of plague.
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How does Gallants Emotion sensing work again? He might be useful for finding Manton.
I would STRONGLY recommend against splitting Skein from the Wyld Hunt.
Similarly, I question the utility of putting Who in a region where she can be detected by drones(or Jack's broadcast thing), and cannot be detected by her allies should she be incapacitated.
Drones could capture her and take her away, and neither of her allies would be any the wiser.
PRT Downtown HQ already has Dragon + Armsmaster.
Why does it need three capes again? Two yes, but three?
Not to mention that there might be friction from Chevy+Armsmaster.
Not effective at identifying a parahuman in the midst of a ton of civilians. They feel the same.
Effective at identifying civilians from zombies.
Shouldnt Mantons emotions feel pretty different fron the Rest? Most Civilians are extremelly scared, especially if we tell them that the Siberian and Crawler are nearby.
He will propably enjoy the hunt or have some other crazy emotions.
The question is if Manton will be the needle in the haystack or if he will stick out like a sore thumb.
Just use Chevalier and get proof positive that he's a parahuman pretending to be civilian.
I don't see what Clockblocker can do at the docks. He'll get his arm burned off (at best) if he tries to touch Crawler and we actively don't want the Siberian popped because we want to keep her localsed and dancing to our tune.
The Boulder team - Weld is a good addition anywhere but he can't really defend others or snap attack. I think we do need someone to be visibly in charge or we can end up with it being Kinzey and her dad. Wyld leads the Hunt but she doesn't have much experience and I don't think the Wards will defer to her but I think Weld hasn't proved himself to the Hunt. If we can't have Narwhal how about MM?
We don't know that Who can hide from Jack - in fact I'd expect him to "get lucky" with a slash without even noticing until she screams. OTOH stealth is needed in the Manton search.
I am currently thinking:
On the Second Day of Slaughter: (Effectively 5 write-in votes, with ONE Stunt allowed for each!)
[ ] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, Narwhal,
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Weld, Willow, Wyld, Miss Militia
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, (Many troops)
Air Superiority: Legend, Gust
Hunting Manton: Who
Marrow and Narwhal mark Siberian wherever she goes. Using Narwhal for that is not ideal but she has the mobility. Unless... there are transport drones provided by Dragon to move people about, right. We could put a PRT opeative in one of those and partner him/her with Marrow on Siberian marking. Then we can put Narwhal where we like. A Narwhal backed Wyld can tank anything Bonesaw can throw at her even better than Weld. That frees up Weld and MM wherever they're useful. Maybe Weld with Kali and Robert and Hannah backing up Dean.
That gives us:
[ ] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, (PRT guy in drone)
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier, Weld
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Willow, Wyld, Narwhal
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, , Miss Militia, (Many troops)
Air Superiority: Legend, Gust
Hunting Manton: Who
Alternatively, if we accept that we won't be moving Crawler until after Manton is toast, Alexandria can join Marrow in the pursuit (she'll like that) and Weld can join us at the docks for Crawler wrasslin' duty.
The Hunt won't be happy detaching Skein but when they see the synergy between her and Dennis they'll agree.
The Boulder team - Weld is a good addition anywhere but he can't really defend others or snap attack. I think we do need someone to be visibly in charge or we can end up with it being Kinzey and her dad. Wyld leads the Hunt but she doesn't have much experience and I don't think the Wards will defer to her but I think Weld hasn't proved himself to the Hunt. If we can't have Narwhal how about MM?
We don't know that Who can hide from Jack - in fact I'd expect him to "get lucky" with a slash without even noticing until she screams. OTOH stealth is needed in the Manton search.
I am currently thinking:
On the Second Day of Slaughter: (Effectively 5 write-in votes, with ONE Stunt allowed for each!)
[ ] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, Narwhal,
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Weld, Willow, Wyld, Miss Militia
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, (Many troops)
Air Superiority: Legend, Gust
Hunting Manton: Who
Marrow and Narwhal mark Siberian wherever she goes. Using Narwhal for that is not ideal but she has the mobility. Unless... there are transport drones provided by Dragon to move people about, right. We could put a PRT opeative in one of those and partner him/her with Marrow on Siberian marking. Then we can put Narwhal where we like. A Narwhal backed Wyld can tank anything Bonesaw can throw at her even better than Weld. That frees up Weld and MM wherever they're useful. Maybe Weld with Kali and Robert and Hannah backing up Dean.
That gives us:
[ ] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, (PRT guy in drone)
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier, Weld
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Willow, Wyld, Narwhal
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, , Miss Militia, (Many troops)
Air Superiority: Legend, Gust
Hunting Manton: Who
Alternatively, if we accept that we won't be moving Crawler until after Manton is toast, Alexandria can join Marrow in the pursuit (she'll like that) and Weld can join us at the docks for Crawler wrasslin' duty.
The Hunt won't be happy detaching Skein but when they see the synergy between her and Dennis they'll agree.
That's only if he's going to try and land his power directly on them, which shouldn't be the case here. On the other hand, applying his power to objects and obstructions IS a way that can stall both Siberian and Crawler, as a timelocked obstacle can pop Siberian at least once before she wises up. Also, remember that if Weaver is present, she has enhanced flying spiders that can synergize with him almost as well as Skein does.
We don't want to pop Siberian, because that means Manton will know he's been exposed and will become harder to fight.
Siberian has a good chance to pop if she runs against Marrows perfect defense anyways, so it's not like the fight will be guaranteed to go that way either. One more possibility of popping is worth having Clockblocker there to help control the field of battle and channel our enemies where we want them to go. And away from all the civilians.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Separating Skein is a matter of necessity as the Hospital group needs a means of safely dealing with problematic bombs.
Clockblocker is a natural counter to the Siberian as timestopped objects cause her to pop.
VS Crawler we're relying on him staying out of range (and he can timefreeze barriers to protect himself from errant acid sprays) - so for like the umpteenth time he's not going to be in range of Crawler's attacks unless Weaver has coordinated a safe vector for him to strike.
Crawler's acid isn't an always-on feature, it requires activation.
IIR if Siberian pops she doesn't reappear next to Manton, he can have her reappear nearby a few seconds later. Of course, even if I'm wrong that doesn't actually hurt us as that helps us narrow down the search considerably while simultaneously protecting the dock civilians.
She's not there to deal with Crawler or the Siberian. She's there to hunt down Manton and take him out with Rods from God.
Remember that she'll have Weaver with her OMGWTFHAX tracking skills looking out for Manton as well (as is so often the case bullshit magic makes the impossible possible) so she ought to be able to find him within 1~3 hours of searching. The math I posted a couple pages ago applies just as much to Manton as it does to Jack Slash; Weaver should easily be able to find him within the first interval because she'll have Perception 5 + Survival 3 + Survival (Swarms) 2 + Stunt 2 + Conviction 4 + Ally Assist 1 = 17 dice = 8.5 successes plus 2 autosux (2nd Percep Aug) plus 1 autosux (flight being faster than jeep by one degree) = 11.5 sux on average. In comparison Manton is going - at best - to have Wits 5 + Survival 5 (Inconspicuous dude who lives in his jeep) which at TN 6 averages to 5 sux.
Even with a large (-3, which is quite generous as that's only two steps away from Difficulty 5 which allows you to accurately reconstruct what a suspect looks like based upon a scrap of cloth) external penalty due to not knowing what he looks like, barring extremely bad luck we'll find him in the first search interval.
Remember that if Manton catches on that's still a Win Condition for us because we can immediately switch tactics to freezing Crawler and then sending Marrow after him to put him out of his misery.
If only we could be that lucky. If Manton is in the crowd Taylor can spot him with a quick Medical Diagnostic scan.
Willow being redundant is entirely the point. I kept her there because I wanted there to be multiple redundancies to insure the capture of Bonesaw.
That being said...now that I think about it we don't know if Kid Win's jammer will block Willow's teleport as well. It's presumably a different mechanism but that's not something I'd like to count on.
Switching her to the PRT team to give another avenue of taking down Bakuda.
Who is held in reserve and will not be deployed until the drones get cleared out. There's a reason why I have both Legend and Gust in reserve with special mention of one of their jobs being to establish air superiority in addition to having the Narwhal and Bladedancer prioritizing the elimination of drones.
1. There are propably more parahumans unwilling to fight the Nine under the civillians than there are people who will fell joy and excitement in that situation.
2. Chevalier is line of sight only, Gallant has an area around him iirc.
3. Gallant can fly. Chevalier has to walk.
4. Chevalier is one of our strongest fighters, Gallant is otherwise only really useful in the least important battlefield.
5. Gallant can propably be hidden in one of our Swarms, while Chevalier will be seen instantly. Rumors of Chevalier looking at the civilians instead of fighting will alert Manton that something is off.
One downside is that Gallant propably wont be able to kill him, but that can be solved by having Legend unassigned so he can help out once Gallant finds Manton.
False, we just got disabused of that right in the latest update because the Diagnostic scan still takes an action per scan, we can only process a small number of civilians in an active combat situation.
Far too small to nail Manton.
No, he can't. I think this particular power gets mixed up with Aegis having it a lot - I've done it myself. Honestly it would make more sense for Gallant to have it, but... *shrug*
Gallant cannot fly.
Bullshit.
Neither of them can be hidden by a swarm without drawing attention to it.
We have Larceny 0.
Gallant detects emotions.
Manton does not output Siberian-specific emotions.
Point of order:
Alexandria has no sensory abilities, to the best of our IC knowledge.
Still makes me uneasy; it is Aisha after all, and her Valor is uncomfortably high.
And I dunno if Jack can still pick up on Strangers; Chevalier was aware something was off, after all.
*shrug*
dpara
slightly confused ascendant
[ ] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Chevalier, Marrow, Weaver, (PRT guy in drone), Who?
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Narwhal
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Wyld, Weld
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Willow, Gallant
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Bulldozer, Miss Militia, Skein
Did some flipping around , put Chev first for that sweet mass scanning.
Bladedancer x Narwhal not much Jack can do against them.
Added goodguy Weld for extra Bonesaw hugs (apart from alexandria he is probably also the most fire resistant).
Clocksy, Willow, Gallant surprise that Mannequin!
and a rounded team for the hospital.
[ ] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Narwhal
[ ] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Wyld, Weld
[ ] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Willow, Gallant
[ ] Philadelphia General Hospital: Bulldozer, Miss Militia, Skein
Did some flipping around , put Chev first for that sweet mass scanning.
Bladedancer x Narwhal not much Jack can do against them.
Added goodguy Weld for extra Bonesaw hugs (apart from alexandria he is probably also the most fire resistant).
Clocksy, Willow, Gallant surprise that Mannequin!
and a rounded team for the hospital.
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FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
It's a single misc action, which is Speed 5...but that's not the point.
If he's in range for us to use the medical scan that removes the external penalty we'd normally have to deal with for not knowing what he looks like because we'd have an easy means of detection that circumvents that issue.
IN ADDITION, if he's in the crowd that means he's on foot and we'd get a substantial mobility bonus to our tracking roll (foot => horse => jeep => flight).
Perception 5 + Survival 3 + Survival (Swarms) 2 + Stunt 2 + Conviction 4 + Ally Assist 1 = 17 dice = 8.5 successes plus 2 autosux (2nd Percep Aug) plus 3 autosux (flight being faster than foot by three degree) = 13.5 sux on average
Arguably we can also apply the bonus from Microscopic Lens since we are, after all, explicitly scrutinizing objects (in this case, people's brains) for specific details. It's overkill but I figured I'd just bring it up to highlight how hilariously easy it would be for us to find Manton if he were actually physically present at the docks.
At that point we can just skip the virtue channel and just burn a WP instead because with average rolls we're beating him on the contested roll with Autosux alone.
I don't think Chevalier can effectively mass scan - Manton will probably be in a vehicle a fair distance from the docks.
[X] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, (PRT guy in drone)
-[X] Stunt: For all the smashed buildings it's a subtle dance; you keep the Siberian from killing your brutes (or you!) and they try holding Crawler who will happily rip his own leg off to get past. Prayer's IEU is invaluable. Flaring anima buys you a moment to take a call: "You have Bonesaw? Well done!" You meet tiger eyes, "Cut them off..."
[X] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier, Weld
-[X] Stunt: PRT Officer Sasha Freeman couldn't believe her luck. Eight years she'd waited for this chance. Weaver had ordered sniper teams into position to take out Jack Slash without killing the mutilated Ward, and now she had a clear shot. She pulls the trigger as he evades a spray of blades, stopping at a shattered window. "This is for my brother."
[X] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Willow, Wyld, Narwhal
-[X] Stunt: The throbbing howl of the sonic battle suddenly goes black. "And he's walked into the oak." Willow nods and steps. The rest of the advance is hard fought but inevitable. Miasma, smoke, killer drones and fire are overcome. Teleport tag ends when Burnscar appears in a pre-diced flame. Chris's device hums, Willow points and soon, Bonesaw screams.
[X] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
-[X] Stunt: Outside is the thunder of Gully clearing mines the fast way but in Uriel's office is silence. Scratched on the wall is Join Us. "Why... Why do you think I'd... no" Mannequin's pose radiates disbelief. Build what you like. "No. People matter." Blades slide from ceramic. The psychopath retreats only to be stopped by a foam grenade. "Improved formula."
[X] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, Miss Militia, (Many troops)
-[X] "What do you do if Hatchet Face appears?" "Kind of busy boss!" Dean blasts a security guard zombie over a trolley of medical records folders. "What do you do?" insists Hannah. "Get his attention and run," There is the sound of shotgun blasts, "Boss?" "Crow drones. Go on." "Run for the open where you or Gust can pick him off."
Free Actions
[X] Docks Shelter: Alexandria, Bulldozer, Marrow, Weaver, (PRT guy in drone)
-[X] Stunt: For all the smashed buildings it's a subtle dance; you keep the Siberian from killing your brutes (or you!) and they try holding Crawler who will happily rip his own leg off to get past. Prayer's IEU is invaluable. Flaring anima buys you a moment to take a call: "You have Bonesaw? Well done!" You meet tiger eyes, "Cut them off..."
[X] Street King Castle: Bladedancer, Chevalier, Weld
-[X] Stunt: PRT Officer Sasha Freeman couldn't believe her luck. Eight years she'd waited for this chance. Weaver had ordered sniper teams into position to take out Jack Slash without killing the mutilated Ward, and now she had a clear shot. She pulls the trigger as he evades a spray of blades, stopping at a shattered window. "This is for my brother."
[X] Boulder Builder Mountain: Feral, Inquisition, Kid Win, Maestro, Slate, Willow, Wyld, Narwhal
-[X] Stunt: The throbbing howl of the sonic battle suddenly goes black. "And he's walked into the oak." Willow nods and steps. The rest of the advance is hard fought but inevitable. Miasma, smoke, killer drones and fire are overcome. Teleport tag ends when Burnscar appears in a pre-diced flame. Chris's device hums, Willow points and soon, Bonesaw screams.
[X] PRT Downtown Headquarters: Gully, Clockblocker, Skein
-[X] Stunt: Outside is the thunder of Gully clearing mines the fast way but in Uriel's office is silence. Scratched on the wall is Join Us. "Why... Why do you think I'd... no" Mannequin's pose radiates disbelief. Build what you like. "No. People matter." Blades slide from ceramic. The psychopath retreats only to be stopped by a foam grenade. "Improved formula."
[X] Philadelphia General Hospital: Gallant, Miss Militia, (Many troops)
-[X] "What do you do if Hatchet Face appears?" "Kind of busy boss!" Dean blasts a security guard zombie over a trolley of medical records folders. "What do you do?" insists Hannah. "Get his attention and run," There is the sound of shotgun blasts, "Boss?" "Crow drones. Go on." "Run for the open where you or Gust can pick him off."
Free Actions
[X] EOA - Free Action: "Gust, get higher, you aren't as tough as Legend." As you hold five other conversations you mutter, "If only we knew what the bastard looks like." - "William Manton" Alexandria's voice drips hate. You don't hesitate, "Chambers, get an image to", "Who, take Suzy, sweep west, stay hidden." and finally, "Everyone, today we close down the slaughterhouse. Good hunting!"
[X] FPoP - Free Action: You follow the rubble wake as the Siberian heads straight for Geode's home suburb. "Get clear now!" You buy some time moving the semi dismembered Bonesaw with your paramagnetic tether but you can't keep tiger from cub forever. Snarling, the projection charges on smoke to reach you. You see a rainbow flash three blocks away: Bonesaw falls from empty air.
I still need stunts for three locations. At the Castle we want someone to kill Shatterbird and then Weaver out of nowhere or mundane sniper to kill Jack. At the Downtown HQ we want to end up with a Bakuda bomb suitable for Crawler - maybe a timelocked thread through the trigger guard of the grenade launcher. I wouldn't be surprised if Mannequin and/or Bakuda get away as the tinkers are more thematic end bosses than Jack in this quest. I'm open to suggestions for the hospital, maybe just a good action vignette to maximise the defenders' dice.
Edit: Stunts added
XP Expenditures - I need to do some more drawing
[X] EOA - 4 XP - Resistance ●●●●○
[X] EOA - 2 XP - Survival (Swarms ●●○)
[X] EOA - 6XP - Ally (Wyld) ●●○○○
[X] FPoP - 2XP - Athletics (Ramming Speed ●○○)
[X] FPoP - Free Action: You follow the rubble wake as the Siberian heads straight for Geode's home suburb. "Get clear now!" You buy some time moving the semi dismembered Bonesaw with your paramagnetic tether but you can't keep tiger from cub forever. Snarling, the projection charges on smoke to reach you. You see a rainbow flash three blocks away: Bonesaw falls from empty air.
I still need stunts for three locations. At the Castle we want someone to kill Shatterbird and then Weaver out of nowhere or mundane sniper to kill Jack. At the Downtown HQ we want to end up with a Bakuda bomb suitable for Crawler - maybe a timelocked thread through the trigger guard of the grenade launcher. I wouldn't be surprised if Mannequin and/or Bakuda get away as the tinkers are more thematic end bosses than Jack in this quest. I'm open to suggestions for the hospital, maybe just a good action vignette to maximise the defenders' dice.
Edit: Stunts added
XP Expenditures - I need to do some more drawing
[X] EOA - 4 XP - Resistance ●●●●○
[X] EOA - 2 XP - Survival (Swarms ●●○)
[X] EOA - 6XP - Ally (Wyld) ●●○○○
[X] FPoP - 2XP - Athletics (Ramming Speed ●○○)
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sainen
Elder Lich
Alexandria's Thinker powers are/were a known variable(hence the origin of her name) it's just she plays them down. Taylor has Lore 5 + a 2dot specialty in parahumans, as such it's entirely reasonable for Taylor to know about Alexandria's thinker powers.
that said those Thinker powers are only somewhat useful for tracking
All sensory powers are Thinker powers.
Not all Thinker powers are sensory powers.
Alexandria has Thinker powers(intelligence, memory). She does not have sensory powers.
She most definitely does not have sensory powers geared to detect parahumans; there is a reason why both Chevalier and Weaver's abilities in that region are classified.