- Location
- West Michigan
Which caste would GU even qualify for? If Gromweld has a plan, then she would have to be one of the open castes, but I'm not seeing it.
Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 18: Ravaging Rapscallions Rapidly Regret Regular Rampages
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Hi, just caught up...
I think Who is a trap, she is just not Epic in a heroic sense. Her power is great, which is tempting, but left to her own devices, she uses it for prank wars.
Meanwhile, on the subject of Broken Heros, I have noticed one name overlooked. Someone who has already tried to save the world, a top infiltrator, a Tinker specialized in closed systems, who may be the only person able to help heal Autocthon. He just needs Autochthon to fix a bit of Simurgh damage.
We need Iris to recruit Mannequin for us!
I think Who is a trap, she is just not Epic in a heroic sense. Her power is great, which is tempting, but left to her own devices, she uses it for prank wars.
Meanwhile, on the subject of Broken Heros, I have noticed one name overlooked. Someone who has already tried to save the world, a top infiltrator, a Tinker specialized in closed systems, who may be the only person able to help heal Autocthon. He just needs Autochthon to fix a bit of Simurgh damage.
We need Iris to recruit Mannequin for us!
Strunkriidiisk
THE LEGEND
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
No. Mannequin had his dream destroyed by a sentient force of nature, and then decided that since he couldn't improve the world, no other Tinker was allowed to, either. He's a petty, spiteful little man.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
Actually he was mind-fucked into doing shit like that. That wasn't him being petty or spiteful, his family was slaughtered and the most powerful telepath in setting had some fun with his brainmeats. You'd be fucked up in the head to.
As a secondary, sure; her social ability is based on her likability, her Charisma.
But she lacks the organic subtlety and guile, the high Manipulation that would be necessary to make her our primary Social.
And bumping her to Manipulation 5 for POS and IDS out of the cradle raises all the spectres of pod people rumors, in a way that buffing an already high Attribute(Charisma) does not.
And as I've said before:
She has fewer charm slots than an adult candidate like Miss M.
Her shard gives her no buff to diplomancy like Gallant or Lisa.
Her age means no access to Thousand Courtesans.
Her mandatory installation of Husk Sculpting Apparatus puts her 2 motes and 1 charm slot behind older candidates.
And those are just the highlights.
As a secondary role, I would support a 3-4 charm social combat array; Patriotism Provoking Display + Perfected Union Patterning + Pattern Faciliation Module; add Unconditional Imperative Programming and Repartee Baffles at E4.
Emotive Esthetics as well.
But as a primary role, I don't see it.
This is the girl who stitched herself up in the shower after getting stabbed by Hookwolf, after all, to avoid admitting taking injury;
Who in this Quest called GG bitch under her breath for freaking out at Taylor.
That's hardly social schemer material.
Yamada.
The psych resources of the PRT are literally at our fingertips, and we have the Backgrounds to bring them into play.
It's not like we aren't all already seeing psychotherapists due to surviving BB.
Nope.
Vista was Team Little Sister before the influx of more females with the move to Philly.
Gallant was team therapist, the one who could talk to anyone, and his Quest Interlude shows him carrying much of the non-Taylor social load.
I believe canon!Vista called him the heart of the team.
I'm not sure if Grom meant this to refer to social-sneaky or just stealth.
But it's true she has no affinity for either.
I'm don't agree.
She has not demonstrated a head for small unit tactics, let alone grand strategy.
And she doesn't do subtle or indirect, which is what you need in a schemer.
Intelligence does not necessarily translate to strategy.
We'd have to buy the War skill.
It does synergize with a high Charisma build though.
Fanon.
Post-Gold Morning Contessa is pretty clearly working off no Path when she shot Taylor.
She just ran her power -near nonstop before because she had a mission to see through.
Excellent candidate for Soulsteel or Adamant, in another Assembly or another timeline.
Maybe epilogue material, should she live that long.
Alchemical!GU is pretty easy to nerf; stick all but a few of her current shards in processing, as Autobot works through them.
She'd still be a major combat threat, but less of the conflict destroying monster she currently is.
It's Bonesaw and Contessa that I can't see how to work around; Thinkers and Tinker Exalts are potent beyond any conventional accounting.
She's a child who was kidnapped and broken at age 6ish, and turned into a weapon by a serial killer.
Of course we want to redeem her, even before you get to the fact that she's the world's best bioTinker and leading expert on naturally ocurring parahuman powers.
Adamant, for her devotion to the cycle.
Orichalcum, because she is almost the spitting image of this Ori in Update 2.6
GU is obviously an evangelical priest, spreading the word of Autobot.
Smiling and all, and behind it the dread power of her shard.
Would be amusing to have her ghosts singing acapella behind her as she preached; I believe Grom actually raised the possibility somewhere.
You mean like Taylor has been since BB?
Damn right she should use it for prank wars.
Not on a hero run.
We might be able to swing capturing him, and POS would probably fix him, but then he'd have to face the Earth Bet legal system.
Insufficient utility for us to take the heat on Exalting him; it's not like we're short on Tinker candidates.
Besides, he's not an Exalt candidate anyway; someone who shatters this badly in the face of adversity is not Exalt material.
If I was going to Exalt a villain, it would be Accord; way more useful, and he's actually Exalt material.
IIRC correctly dude was the victim of a Simurgh Xanatos Gambit hit during which she killed his wife and kid.
He has reason to break.
And word of Wildbow is that he has a literal deathwish; he's looking for someone to kill him, hence the .
Pitiable is the correct term, not spiteful.
Take alive if possible, but take no particular risks; and if scans show he's Ziz-touched, give the data to the PRT and let them decide.
We have other things to spend political capital on.
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- Location
- NM
Sorry, I was referring more to the general approach in worm fics than this thread in particular. To be more specific, I have a problem with how so many worm fics that run across her somehow manage to instantly redeem her with a few kind words.
More on topic, is the info on http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Alchemical_Exalted accurate, at least pertaining to the role of each caste? Never really played/learned Exalted before.
Empty her collection of ghosts since the shard is reformatted, so we need to collect dead parahumans all over again. Watch the thread flip out over debating who to kill for their powers while in a gendo pose.
Is @Gromweld charging us for the mandatory anti-moderator charm? I thought it was like POS in that he installed it by QM fiat without it taking up motes/slots.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Yes. He was mind-fucked into being a petty, spiteful little man.
I don't see Hannah as a Starmetal candidate at all. She's very much a by the book team player. Remember canon when Skitter surrendered. Miss Militia stood there while Costa-Brown and Tagg behaved atrociously, while Tagg drew a gun on a chained prisoner, kicked a civilian to the ground, beat the prisoner's head against a table and of course while he died screaming. When she she was called on it (paraphrased): "You had a plan. Alexandria said she had a plan." This is not someone who defies the establishment or even breaks the rules when she thinks she knows better.
On the other hand Colin can lie, cheat and murder for a good cause and do it cleverly (if not wisely). In canon he broke the Endbringer truce to take out several dangerous villains and give himself a better shot at Leviathan and made it look like an accident (but for those meddling kids!). He defied house arrest to go hunting the S9 (and renamed himself Defiant!). He saw fit to remove Dragon's limits on his own recognizance, changing the information security landscape of the world, altering code put in by her creator himself. At the same time, when he doesn't specifically intend to break the rules he follows them rigorously (stick, ass, up etc.) and effectively (he made team leader after all).
I prefer him for Moonsilver (problem solver prepared to change himself) or Orichalcum (goes for big problems) but there is undoubtedly enough defiant in there for Starmetal.
Clockblocker is a stronger Starmetal candidate than Gallant - more heroic, better power, readier to defy convention.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
Bonesaw... Actually she might be the only person on Bet who could reasonably upgrade us.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Poor wording on my part, as I should have qualified it with, "prior to Gold Morning," as Pre-GM!Contessa was entirely run by PtV. Her Post-GM attitude may be more relevant to the quest now, what with The Path becoming increasingly erratic, so how that will impact us is something worth considering.
Somewhat correct, yes, but there's a lot of wiggle room. Normal Alchemicals have access to wide ranges of support networks that allow them to shift specialties reasonably quickly but their attitude/approach towards life and their tasks generally remains in-line with their caste - that's why we have some control over each new Assembly member's role/loadout, but we need to be careful to choose people whose personalities will catalyze one of the remaining Alchemical Castes.
Yes, Husk-Sculpting Apparatus will cost 2 Personal Essence and a charm slot - it will not be "free" like POS will be.
Only one person on Earth-Bet can upgrade us, and right now he lacks hands. That being said, certain Tinkers will have an easier time serving as mortal assistants should such a project become available.
So any minor we present as an Exaltation candidate has only 16 motes available?
14 at maximum really, counting the Shard Charm.
Yes, but Gromweld also said:
So I would not worry, or choose just based on number of motes. Unique bonuses can be more important than two more motes.
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Cue enormous numbers of terrible jokes from Dennis.
Taylor/Chris OTP
In theory, that's true. In practice, reduced slots/motes make an awful lot of builds non-viable.
- Location
- Fabulously Rainbow Ireland
We just threaten to let slip about the photos to Aisha and see how many jokes he feels like making then
Taylor/Chris OTP too!
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
IIRC, no one but Dennis knows about the pics he took of us (so scummy)We just threaten to let slip about the photos to Aisha and see how many jokes he feels like making then
Taylor/Chris OTP too!
I doubt it would fly at all with the other members of the team should they find out.
Edit: Or are you referring to something else? Don't want start up something that doesn't needed to be started up.
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- Location
- Fabulously Rainbow Ireland
The pool photo
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Why would Aisha care about the pool photo? She doesn't have nearly the same body issues as Taylor.
If anything she'd be mad he didn't ask her first.
I very much doubt that Gromweld, after explicitly saying that the characters would be balanced, offered us an assembly member crippled by charm choice.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
So, young children won't be as powered-up as heroes with decades of combat and life experience? Shocking.
Kids are sub-optimal choices if you want to powergame, as should stand to reason, but it's not like converting them will make them less capable - no matter what it's a net positive, just less than if we picked seasoned veterans. (Note: There are few exceptions to this rule, though those should be obvious.)
The only way we can "cripple" ourselves is if we actively pick someone that has a high chance of going rogue. Again, we can "win" this quest with our current assembly and current XP totals. Anything more from here on out just makes things easier (to a degree) and/or simply changes the types of dilemmas facing us.
Remember that he didn't intend it as a way to catch wardrobe malfunctions (which would have been scummy), but rather as a defense against Aisha (which is more than reasonable).
It basically means less Charm based benefits in exchange for:
-Narrative benefits - a young character with the ability to look like an adult(or anyone at all even) on demand has approaches that older characters can't use, and is more trusted on personal relations, we can expect people to trust a child on more easily as an individuals even as it is harder when dealing with organizations that respect maturity more. Unlike older candidates, she won't have a long list of people with expectations, or grudges that she's acquired over the years like Marrow has attached.
-Better base stats(?) - younger also means that their body and mind hadn't reached full potential, giving Autochton more room to extrapolate their base stats into a "this is how she'd be in 10 years, given massive inspiration to be a hero" rather than the more locked in capabilities of an older candidate
-Benefits in the specific manifestations of their shard power(?) - not much help needed here since she's easily the most powerful sane Shaker we know(only Labyrinth and maybe Sleeper were higher rated, including Thanda members), capable of both subtlety as per the stunt we faced in training and sheer scale, but for starters, making it Manton Optional is enormous. Younger capes almost always have stronger powers as a known factor. Grey Boy, Contessa, GU and Bonesaw are examples
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Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Its more the fact that his first thought was:
"Score! Can't wait to share Taylors Underwear pics with Chris!"
That's fucking scummy. Sorry for the curse.