[X] Contain Paradox unless it would be fatally unsafe to do so.
While a part of me wants to test things by letting Paradox loose and seeing if we can form a way to predict the manifestations and weaponize them... that part does not seem like someone Sayaka should be listening to.
Well, College is a struggle this year. But I like running Quests despite my sporadic updating schedule. So let's get rolling once more for a while, see if we can't get out of the Academy. Also as a reminder, whenever dice are rolled, 10s explode.
--
[x] Talk About It
-[x] The scene from the vision you got and what it might mean, in theory. Aside from maybe your going crazy
--
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want. I promise I'm not just being passive aggressive."
Well. The wording of that makes you suspicious of the opposite, but the sheer bored neutrality in his voice makes you believe he's...trying to be sincere at least. You sigh. Might as well; this stuff has been building up inside you with no outlet for kami knows how long. Might be good to let some of it out?
"...Yeah, okay. I've just been getting really terrible sleep lately, I guess." You cast a look over to Shikamaru, but his eyes are closed already. Was he even listening?!
"Oh? Is that why you stumbled here like you picked a particularly bad fight and lost?" The Nara heir asks, lazily. You're a bit miffed, because that sounded like an insult, but you're more surprised than anything that he even saw you. Apparently you're not as observant as you thought.
"...Basically. Whenever I do get sleep I get these weird...dreams, or visions or something. They're usually garbage symbols, but...lately Naruto is showing up in them-"
"Dreaming about Uzumaki? Hn. Don't see the appeal, but he's certainly got less competition than Uchiha." Shikamaru says as your face lights up in a blush.
"N-No! Not like that! Him and his stupid bars give me headaches more often than not!" You half-shout. You know it's a bad response as soon as it leaves your mouth. You wanted to tell him, but...gentler.
Shikamaru turns his head to you, opening his eyes slowly. "Can't say you're too different from most then, with how troublesome he is. Bars, though?"
You sigh. This isn't helping your headaches go away. "I...I dunno. Lately it seems like I've been able to see things. Real things, not dream hallucinations or anything."
Shikamaru holds his gaze, wordlessly prompting you to continue. "I've been seeing...connections. Friends look like they're connected by a single ink brush stroke, Sensei was connected to his desk by a...circle-ish thing."
"And Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. He kept his voice neutral, but he was sitting up now. This could be a good thing or...
"He...He was connected to everything. By big gold bars, too. And-" Your voice hitches as you arrive at the...difficult part.
"-and after class, when I saw him leave, I...I got another dream." You gulp. "Naruto and Sasuke were...fighting."
Shikamaru snorts, "Oh? Shocking turn of events there."
Undaunted, you continue, "No...They were outside the village. It...looked a lot like Sasuke was running away and Naruto was trying to stop him and..."
Shikamaru was at full attention now, not that he was showing it openly. "And?" He asks, voice carefully measured.
"And...it didn't end well for Naruto." You look Shikamaru in the eye, hoping to all the kami above and below he doesn't report you for this. You could get in a lot of trouble. I mean, are you calling the scion of one of the most noble ninja houses a traitor? Kinda, but not really, but maybe it could be taken that was and isn't Shikamaru's dad a big deal oh kami oh kami what did you do
"But...it's probably just crazy dream stuff, huh?" You awkwardly try to laugh off the building panic-
Nope, he's still staring at you, seemingly trying to read your soul. You don't dare break your gaze.
After what seems like a literal eternity, Shikamaru nods. "Probably. I wouldn't worry about it."
You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.
"Although..." Shikamaru drags out the word long enough to be noticeable. "It'd be interesting if you could do it again, huh?"
Was that...Was that an invitation to demonstrate? Or a careful choice of words saying that he's letting your accusation slide?
What do?
--
[x] Teal - Fate
[x] Green - Life
At the last second, the surge of teal and green reached you before you fell into consciousness. FATE's voice seems a little louder when you first wake, and you sense a little...more coming out of the nature around you. It feels nice.
--
You weren't home before nightfall.
Your dad was going to kill you. You can't imagine what would happen when you got home, if only there was a way...
...the nudge of FATE pulls at you in the back of your mind. Maybe you could use it...?
Well, here goes nothing...
You form an image in your head first. You see yourself sneaking into your window on the second floor...no, your parents will notice you've been gone, going back into your room to hide won't help, would it? You could try giving your dad the puppy eyes; dad is normally pretty weak to that, so if your special ability could help...
--- What do?
[x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
-[x] ...Too bad it was a dream, huh?
What Image do you form in your head?
SPELL CASTING TIME!
A spell as the following characteristics at it's base level:
One Potency
One Turn / ~5 Second Duration
1 Target / 1 Meter Scale
Self/Touch/Thrown Range
Takes 3 Hours to Cast
Now, you can upgrade all of this (usually) at the cost of getting -2 dice to actually cast the spell, as well as Reaching, which increases Paradox Risk. However, there's not a limit on how much Reach you take to upgrade a spell.
-2/-4/-6/-8 to Spell
1/2/3/4+ Potency.
2/3/5/10 Turns.
2/4/8/16 Targets, or can affect bigger targets, or goes from roughly Small Room/Large Room/Floor/Ballroom or Small House.
+1 Reach gets:
Change Spell's Primary Factor from Potency to Duration or vice versa.
Instant Cast Time (Does not give -2 to roll)
Added Spell effect, depending on spell. (Usually does not give -2 to roll)
Why would you ever Reach? Well, besides that middle option being pretty important in a fight, sometimes you just need moar powah. Fear not! You don't have to embrace the Abyss and start throwing around Paradox like it doesn't matter. All spells get one 'free' Reach for every dot you have that meets or exceeds the Arcana requirement.
If I lost you there, don't worry, I have examples.
Say Sayaka wanted to cast Interconnections again. That's a (Fate ●) spell, and Sayaka currently has (Fate ●●). So, since she has two dots that meet or exceed its requirement, she has two Reach that she can have that do not risk Paradox. If you wanted more, It's a 1-1 trade: 1 Reach = 1 Paradox.
Last thing, a spell's Primary factor is automatically increased by one per Arcana dot you have minus one. So instead of Interconnections having a base Potency of one, it would have a base of two because you have (Fate ●●) and 2-1 = 1.
This page will let you know your limits on how creative you can be at your level. Remember, you can do literally anything with your magic, it's just a question of if you have enough dots.
For Spellcasting votes or any write-in which you want to cast a spell, you can ether:
A: Describe an effect, maybe some specific spell factors you want.
or
B: Stat out a spell and effect exactly. If you go this route, please format as [x] Name of Spell
[.spoiler=Spell Name]
Potency:
Duration:
Scale:
Range:
Cast Time:
Reach:
[./spoiler]
...and I'll take care of the rest.
Welcome to Magic!
[x] Write-in
Note on those worried about Paradox for the first vote: Sayaka isn't forcing anyone else to see what she sees, so it's not like she's producing a magical effect. That doesn't make it the right decision, but it's not automatically the wrong one.
Now, you can Reach to upgrade all of this (usually) at the cost of getting -2 dice to actually cast the spell, as well as increasing Paradox Risk. However, there's not a limit on how much Reach you take to upgrade a spell.
Are you merging Reach and spell factor penalties? Because those are very different things. For example, the way you've got it right now it's not possible for us to get extended duration spells.
EDIT: I'm leaning towards something like Momentary Flux (weak precognition) to pick the most helpful approach.
Are you merging Reach and spell factor penalties? Because those are very different things. For example, the way you've got it right now it's not possible for us to get extended duration spells.
EDIT: I'm leaning towards something like Momentary Flux (weak precognition) to pick the most helpful approach.
...Well shit. That's embarrassing. Also slightly baffling how he missed that for so long.
Rewrite incoming, I apologize profusely.
EDIT: There we go, all fixed. Incidentally, Mages are now more powerful that I originally thought, and that's shocking.
EDIT 2- THE EDITIONING: Oh, and this is not a comprehensive list of how you can muddle with a spell. This is just all Sayaka can manage right now, since she's still 'warming up' in a sense.
[x] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[x] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[x] Plead sickness from our headache
-[x] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[x] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[x] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate ●●) right before begining to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
Momentary Flux lets us check if something (in this case, our own actions) is good or bad for us. We're an Acanthus, so it doesn't cost anything but time to use. People should suggest more plans to check with it. Exceptional Luck will give us a +2 bonus to not getting in trouble.
EDIT: We can't get a scene length luck boost right now, so it's only useful if we can cast it right before doing something.
[x] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[x] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[x] Plead sickness from our headache
-[x] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[x] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[x] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate ●●) right before begining to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
[X] Teal - Fate
[X] Yeah...
-[X] ...Too bad it was a dream, huh?
[X] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[X] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[X] Plead sickness from our headache
-[X] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[X] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[X] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate ●●) to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach on instant cast, 1 Reach on Advanced Duration)
[x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
[X] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[X] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[X] Plead sickness from our headache
-[X] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[X] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[X] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate●●) to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach oninstant cast, 1 Reach on AdvancedDuration)
[x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
[X] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[X] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[X] Plead sickness from our headache
-[X] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[X] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[X] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate●●) to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach oninstant cast, 1 Reach on AdvancedDuration)
Did you typo? These are things you get with dice penalties in Mage not reach.
Edit: Derp, I forgot to add that I'm glad this is still going.
Edit the 2nd: Did you know there's a spell casting reference in the back of the book just before the index? It's full of charts and summaries of how spell casting works.
Guys, Instant means one round in WoD, and standing around for a good 20 seconds or so as you test each possibility is a mite bit suspicious. [x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
Paradox won't be much of a risk, we're Gnosis one and at worst it's one witness plus maybe one more die from over Reaching. Ninjas probably count as supernatural anyway, so it's likely not even that.
There's only a very small possibility that we'll run into paradox with this; we live in a ninja village where people can be born with the ability to punch souls, or have natural genjutsu abilities so powerful they effect reality.
Did you typo? These are things you get with dice penalties in Mage not reach.
Edit: Derp, I forgot to add that I'm glad this is still going.
Edit the 2nd: Did you know there's a spell casting reference in the back of the book just before the index? It's full of charts and summaries of how spell casting works.
Guys, Instant means one round in WoD, and standing around for a good 20 seconds or so as you test each possibility is a mite bit suspicious. [x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
Paradox won't be much of a risk, we're Gnosis one and at worst it's one witness plus maybe one more die from over Reaching. Ninjas probably count as supernatural anyway, so it's likely not even that.
The second part of the vote is for after we wake up. There's nothing suspicious about sitting around for a minute considering our options after we've just woken up. I'm not even sure there's anyone around.
So what does "...Let me show you" do, if we're not casting a spell for Shikamaru? To be clear, my impression is that we're both voting for what to say/do to Shikamaru before we fall asleep and what to do after we wake up and realize we're late.
So what does "...Let me show you" do, if we're not casting a spell for Shikamaru? To be clear, my impression is that we're both voting for what to say/do to Shikamaru before we fall asleep and what to do after we wake up and realize we're late.
That option is to demonstrate what you saw for Shikamaru, which was (Interconnections). That's the spell Sayaka will attempt to cast, along with the (Momentary Flux) /( Exceptional Luck) combo that is currently winning.
[x] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[x] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[x] Plead sickness from our headache
-[x] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[x] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[x] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate ●●) right before begining to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
[x] Yeah...
-[x] ...Let me show you.
[X] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[X] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[X] Plead sickness from our headache
-[X] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[X] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
[X] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate●●) to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach oninstant cast, 1 Reach on AdvancedDuration)
[X] Cast Momentary Flux (Time ●) to pick between the following plans (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
-[X] Just show up and apologize for being late
-[X] Plead sickness from our headache
-[X] Try the puppy dog eyes
-[X] Sneak back in and hope they don't notice
Momentary Flux = Gnosis + Time + (???) = 5d10
Paradox = 0d10
[X] What ever plan we end up going with, use Exceptional Luck (Fate●●) to provide a bonus to a relevant skill (spend 1 Reach on instant cast)
Exceptional Luck = Gnosis + Fate = 3d10
Paradox = 0d10
Normally I'd roll Paradox first, but since we don't have any, we can skip to the good part. In regards to the Willpower, I'll explain it in the chapter.
