EDIT: WHOLLY AND COMPLETELY OUTDATED DUE TO DISCORD WARNINGS, don't vote for this
Day 1 -[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[ ] Invent Invocation (Closed Door Cultivation, +Progression when focusing entirely on training the Knight Arm)
-[ ] Contact Hephaestus
-[ ] Speak With: Brick
-[ ] Speak With: Johnny Buddha
-[ ] Speak With: Shen
-[ ] Speak With: Spike
-[ ] Double Date!
Day 2-3 -[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use -[ ] Master Invocation (Closed Door Cultivation) -[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance) -[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
Day 4 -[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use -[ ] Invent Invocation (Sheath the Blade, Stealth, Blending with the World) -[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance) -[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
Day 5-7 -[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[ ] Master Invocation (Closed Door Cultivation) -[ ] Master Invocation (Sheath the Blade) -[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance) -[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
A simple plan for a simple man. We dump everything we can into beating ass via ambush, then after a week we go beat a whole bunch of ass via absurd, overwhelming alpha-strike capabilities. After that, we go straight back into hiding while we keep grinding up our Knight Arm. We just need to hold out until we've gottwn a Royal Arm and scraped together the funds to buy ourselves a sufficiently transformative 25 Ambrosia upgrade.
[Brawler of Midwood] - Once per story Arc or major event, double your odds of winning in any situation even remotely resembling physical combat. If this ability goes on unused, its use will be spent automatically should the character "die" to a bad roll, in order to save them and let them survive instead.
[Brawler's Repute] - Instead of a single use of the Brawler of Midwood perk, you can have three per Arc or major story event.
[Now, I Am The Master] - Instead of doubling your odds of victory, Brawler of Midwood triples them against opponents who are your superior in at least one form of combat. The combat form may be metaphorical or unofficial, such as improvised combat; or supernatural, such as telepathic combat.
A Flower Is A Fist II - Above you stands the vestibule of every heart - the dream made of ignited hope. And it beats.
An active Invocation with passive effects. Can only be used four times a day (increasing with experience/training.) Its effects normally last twenty minutes but can be extended further past that, indefinitely, at the price of slightly accumulating exhaustion.
This Invocation gives its user +++++Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Wits, as well as a further ++++++++Willpower on top of that, during its activation.
A further bonus which depends on the Form of the Knight Arm applies.
Tekko-Form: The Knight Arm shines through with an outer light of soft red aura. Attacks made with the Knight Arm gain a +300% armor-piercing bonus for every blow, equally ignoring and sundering physical defenses, and further enhancing Strength by ++ when making melee attacks. Nothing can stand in the way of your hopes and dreams!
Flower-Form: The Knight Arm's petals are detached and fly around the user in a whirling storm of red husks, while its stem rests in his hand like a wand. Reflexively, the petals shall protect the user from harm, ablating away both ranged and melee damage. Mentally directed, they can be made to fly off in the form of moderate-power ranged attacks, every petal like a crossbow bolt in terms of range, stopping power, and overall offensive attributes.
[Unhesitating Martial Advance] - It's the martial artist's nature to be hesitant to strike the first blow, and there's no shame in it. Neither does a flower respond when a herbivore wishes to feast on its petals. However, every martial artist must be prepared to strike - and every flower has the ability to grow deadly thorns.
Active technique, it triggers automatically when entering combat, even if the Knight isn't aware he's entering combat, even if his Knight Arm is stored away (which causes it to immediately appear in whichever Form is preferable.) It boosts the Knight's reflexes, strength, and speed to superhuman levels (+500% to all values,) for however long it takes him to make his first proper 'action,' in a fight (including defense or analyzing the battlefield.) In most situations, it will likely allow the user to end the fight instantly.
I. Spike (Phobos)
[Arms of Terror] (lvl 6) - At will, the Cardbearer summons one of the following armaments of terror:
The Sword - A sword of pure shadow with a glossy sheen of amaranthine hue, like subtle violet light. It comes with a scabbard of starless midnight, and when unsheathed, it produces a vivid echoing hiss, which causes the hairs on the back of men to stand up.
The Sword of Terror is completely indestructible and sharper than reality, able to cut effortlessly through wood (as if cutting through air,) and easily through steel (as if cutting through wood.) For its wielder, it acts in some regards like an illusionary object, physically weightless, but to an enemy, it's completely real. Using this property with some training, it's possible to completely bypass armor (acting illusionary for solid objects,) in order to cut directly at the victim underneath (acting real for living creatures,) although this isn't usually necessary against purely mortal targets given the sword's absurd sharpness and cutting power. Further tricks and techniques can be learned. Victims observing the sword feel confoundment and fear - as a result, they will instinctively shy and look away, providing good opportunities against untrained opponents.
The Shield - A fine hoplite's shield, oily and black in color, with a blazing white conflagration in the center, shaped into a livery of a bull's skull with sharp teeth set in white rows like needles, and eyes that glow like fire. When summoned, it comes strapped to the arm with firm leather colored in dark green.
Aside from being completely indestructible and greatly mitigating most impact forces (the Shield can perfectly defend against high-caliber anti-material rifles and partially defend against a tank gun), the Shield amplifies any sound that its wielder creates when banging other metal objects (particularly, the Sword,) against it and endows them with the supernatural fear of Phobos himself. This can be used in order to focus the sound into narrow cones of sonic destruction, bursting the eardrums of victims, stunning them, and simultaneously traumatizing them mentally. It can also be released in a more indiscriminate manner, omnidirectional, striking deep terror and panic into the people around the wielder and confusing them because of the loud noise. When the Sword is struck against the Shield, the effects of the banging are doubled. Anyone forced to look at the Shield will feel immense discomfort and rapidly accumulating fear, but also a mounting desire to continue staring as if observing some grim execution.
The Armor - A chestplate, helmet, bracers, greaves, shinguards, and face-covering helmet in the shape of a dead man's skull, all the color of the darkest pitch and cold to the touch like a gravestone at night.
Aside from being completely indestructible and greatly mitigating most impact forces (the Armor can perfectly defend against medium-caliber sniper rifles and partially defend against high-caliber anti-material rifles), the Armor strikes a deep fear into any onlookers and manipulates their perceptions subtly, transforming the bearer into a nightmare praetorian. The reality of the situation seems to be exaggerated to the bearer's enemy; wounds appear deeper, more painful, and more grave; the bearer moves faster and more gracefully, striking with ruthless disregard for the survival of his enemies, with powerful blows that seem to strike at the very core of the being. He seems to feel no pain or fear himself, and one's allies appear to be bending in terror, on the verge of running away and routing. It gives the situation a tense chord of immediacy, as if the bearer's opponent was slightly drunk and overtaken by complete fear in the middle of combat.
The Javelin - A weapon that's strangely out of theme with the rest of the set, and yet, the Cardbearer feels that it has a reason for being a part of it. Rather than being a physical object, the Javelin is a bolt of jagged "solid" lightning. It is dark bluish and purple with hues of white at night, but transforming yellow and white in daylight. It can be held safely by its wielder but will spark and hurt anyone else who touches it, burning and electrifying simultaneously.
When thrown, the Javelin homes in on its intended victim, capable of arcing over or around cover, and it strikes at the speed of light, virtually unavoidable, transforming into an actual bolt of lightning in the middle of its flight. It deals a similar amount of aggravating burn damage, often sufficing to kill most uninsulated people in a single throw. And strangely enough, it seems to produce no loud sound; there is no accompanying thunder to its throw. Its sight, however, strikes an electrifying fear of God into men who perceive it, but of a different kind than most of the weapons in this set; its particular effects aim to daunt and strike fear into the bearer's equals, rather than lessers - although mortals fear it still, they do not fear it any more than supernatural lightning. However, other Cardbearers, magical creatures, or similar constructs will find that, even with supernatural willpower or "immunity" to fear, their mind is battered with visions of their certain defeat in the afterflashes of the lightning, terrifying them deeply.
All Terror weapons smell faintly of musk and blood.
Until Arms of Terror reaches Level 4, Improvements to this power do not actually improve it, but simply allow for more armaments to be summoned at the same time.
[War-God's Blessing] - All of the Cardbearer's physical statistics (& reflexes) are now peak-human at baseline and during combat, can be pushed slightly past that, replacing 'stamina' with 'mental conviction' for the purposes of exhaustion.
[Shield of the Indomitable Bull] - If raised high, the Shield hypnotically entrances the bearer's foes, compelling them to stare at its bull visage and terrifying them past its usual depth, causing lesser mortals to faint immediately. Doesn't work on Cardbearers, even ones prone to fainting.
[Sword of the Immortal Onslaught] - A strange power from outside of this locality - it shouldn't be accessible through this Card. For as long as the Sword of Terror is drawn from its sheath, the bearer can walk as the Immortal Onslaught. If they choose to do so, then, despite remaining alive, they are conceptually treated as 'undead' and unbothered by most wounds, pain, or blood loss. Alters psychology slightly to bolster the bearer's conviction. This effect immediately ends once the Sword is sheathed.
II. Brick (Boreads)
[Wind Push] - A forceful and instantaneous blow of air, sufficient to push back a few people and make them stagger. Has a cooldown of three seconds, can be charged-up for up to three seconds for more power and range, but quadratically longer cooldown.
[Run Like Wind] - A small improvement to running speed, coordination, and agility. Also boosts reflexes and maneuverability during motion greatly, allowing for almost-hairpin turns without stopping. Current peak: 85kph.
III. Father Nicholas (Constantine)
[Sanctification of Constantine] - A 60-second prayer that requires immense concentration, mental rigor, and focus; it mustn't be interrupted. At the end of the process, an area up to a single city block in horizontal width and the height of several stories is 'sanctified,' conferring a number of defensive benefits. A sanctified area disrupts all forms of enemy activity on a conceptual level (induces tiredness, reduces offense, reduces defense, etc,) at the same time as it bolsters allies in a similar manner; useful for strategizing and meeting, as it makes allies more creative, intelligent, charismatic, etc, producing a higher quality of discussion.
It also disrupts enemy magic of both the passive and active variety, making esoteric effects such as scrying or telepathy almost completely unusable and rendering direct ones such as firing off energy blasts or flying massively ineffective, and repels anything which is undead or demonic, preventing teleportation, etc. A theoretically-infinite amount of sanctified areas can be maintained; however, sanctification decays over time and has trouble distinguishing what counts as an ally and what counts as an enemy when Constantine himself isn't present to direct its perception of such. If confused or uncertain, it defaults to marking people as allies, rather than enemies.
[Baptism of the Final Hour] - If Constantine anticipates an incoming conflict, he may conceptually baptize those allies in his vicinity, causing a brief flash of numinous blue flame to flicker in the affected people's chests. A group baptism of this sort confers a number of benefits, allowing the people in question to coordinate far better as a group, including some kind of 'subconscious telepathy,' which lets the members keep track of each others' position and status far better on an instinctive level. Furthermore, he may also grant up to half the baptized people a small blessing, such as improving their resistance to disease and toxin, slightly boosting their luck, etc. The baptism wears off immediately after combat ends. Has a cooldown of one hour.
[Lesser Sign of Conquest] - Allows for the opening of 'sky portals,' which fire holy energy blasts which resemble halcyon rays of pure sunlight. A single one of these blasts has sufficient power to destroy a two-story house, and a given sky portal can fire them with deadly precision and rapid, machine-gun frequency. Allegedly, Father Nicholas has never used this ability, because his inherent instinct tells him it'd be 'unsubtle' to the point of alerting half of New York to the fact that, "something is going on," so he's reserving this for the direst hour. Everyone in the group fears what the Greater Sign of Conquest might look like, with the prevailing theory being, "holy nuke."
Other - A few, lesser powers - more on par with the usual fare that Godcards offer to their users. Most notably, Father Nicholas' constitution, stamina, and patience are the stuff of legend. He can, through conversation, rouse the conscience and virtues of other people around him in order to motivate them into becoming better people. He's also highly, almost superhumanly, adept at matters of administration, bureaucracy, and oratory skill. The Godcard has also boosted his combat skill, although not to the point of mastery.
IV. Michael Hunt (Arawn)
[Enmity] - At will, radiates a killing intent that scares opponents, often to the point of making them cast aside their arms and flee in fear, often abandoning shelter, preferring to run than to hide. Surprisingly, this power has a lot of fine control, letting him pick out specific individuals from a larger group, or affecting specific demographics at a time.
[Hunter Sense] - A supernatural 'sixth sense' that allows Michael to perceive the world as a dark red reflection of itself. In this state, he can outline a specific type of quarry, such as, 'deer,' or 'gang members,' and he will see tracks leading them to his victim as bright red marks, resembling footsteps or tire tracks, or whatever manner of track is appropriate for his target's mode of transport. As he uses this sense, Michael's skill with all manner of ranged weapons, including thrown implements, bows, and firearms will slowly increase; but he will lose faculties in other departments, such as speech or mathematics.
[Hound of Annwn] - Arawn can summon a Hound of Annwn to serve him. A Hound of Annwn is a red-eared bloodhound of incredible size and potent strength, capable of ripping men apart and surviving gunfire with barely a whimper. It serves its master obediently, intelligently, and unquestioningly. Can only summon one hound at a time; the longer a hound is summoned without dying and the more 'hunts' it participates in, the more powerful and big it becomes, although this growth plateaus after a while.
V. Jennifer Sibyll (Hecate)
[Spellcasting] - Upon shaking hands or touching a Cardbearer, she can gain a lesser copy of a single of their powers as a 'spell effect.' She has a hard limit of four spells that she can't exceed, but she can drop spell effects with a minute's concentration. These aren't exact copies, but rather, sorcerous versions of the natural divine effects the Cards grant. For instance, a sorcerous version of Constantine's Lesser Sign of Conquest allows her to fire a beam of supernatural hard-light, sufficient in power to crumple the side of a car. In order to cast most of her spells, she requires a few seconds of incantation (at least 4 seconds; 6 on average, 10 at maximum,) in order to prepare them. She has a fifth slot which is always irrevocably filled and lets her create floating, ghostly lights, up to a limit of four lights.
[Substances of the Quantified World] - She can identify poisonous substances, chemicals, and herbs, and their nature with a simple glance down to the rough molecular composition. All she requires is a single glance at the substance in question.
VI. Helene Schuster (Persephone)
[Life and Death Transcendence] - Can infuse "life essence" into a given location, making plants sprout from any available surface and accelerating natural healing, or infuse "death essence" into locations, making the living creatures within slow, feeble and enervated, and wilting plant life. As she infuses her essence, the effects grow stronger and stronger, ramping up in a dramatic fashion, but doing that can take time, even minutes at a time, and far more so if she's attempting to swing a location over to the other side. It takes time for either type of essence to "decay" naturally, often days or weeks, and even longer if she frequently repeats this process. At her peak, a zone of life essence can rapidly heal wounds, so fast they seem to close up in front of the observer's eyes. She hasn't tried to peak a zone of death essence yet.
[Princess of the Flowers] - A fine-tuned and decently powerful control over all forms of plant life, allowing her to animate said plants and give them some amount of supernatural power. For instance, blades of grass under her control become far tougher and longer, fibrous and flexible, usable for tripping up opponents or even anchoring their ankles to the ground. Her own facemask was made by commanding a part of a tree's bark to pop off in a specific manner, to suit her needs. She can make fruit sprout suddenly and out of season on trees.
[Queen of the Underworld] - Her Godcard claims this ability lets her command the local ghosts through sheer force of personality. She's attempted to use it numerous times by calling out to the empty air and commanding the ghosts to show themselves or perform tasks for her, and it never worked; she even tried to do this in places that are, allegedly, haunted and never received a response of any kind. The philosophical implication of this fact makes a few people deeply uncomfortable.
VII. Muriel Schuster (Baba Yaga)
[Spellcasting] - A power fairly similar to Hecate's, but of a different flavor. At dusk, as the sun's last rays peek over the horizon, she chooses up to five spells out of a set of thirty, to have the ability to cast for that day. Although the limit of her 'types' of spells is five, she can't cast more than twenty spells in total per day. Unlike Hecate's, her spellcasting is mostly instantaneous, with preparation time no longer than two seconds at most. Her power mostly includes classic spellcraft such as making objects levitate, with a slight focus on curses and enchantments; always keeps an "offensive" option, including a fire-stream or a ball of viridian mana on hand.
[Kindly Old Lady's Smile] - Aside from spells, she also has a superhuman ability when it comes to knitting and weaving, letting her use ordinary cotton to make bulletproof shawls, etc. All of the Lawkeepers have a few clothing items have woven by her, especially in their 'costumes.' She also uses this to make clothing for the homeless.
VIII. Yukari Campell (Athena)
[Effortless Vision of the War Goddess] - Nightvision, seeing through illusions, incredible visual clarity, capable of determining even the smallest detail as if observing via a microscope or a telescope. An active perception of several targets in her cone of vision at the same time, letting her focus on multiple events at the same time.
[Alea Iacta Est] - She doesn't trust you (or apparently, anyone,) enough to share the specifics, but, "she can see the future." How this works isn't certain, but Father Nicholas is willing to tell you that he's never seen her surprised when she's actively focused on using this power - recognizable by a slight intensity in her posture.
[Hand-Arms of the War Goddess] - Her left hand is a 'shield' that can block any attack, even ones from a supernatural source. She's confident that it'd be able to easily block the Sword of Terror without producing even a scratch. When channeling Alea Iacta Est, her prediction of the future apparently lets her use her left hand as a flyswatter against bullets. And on the other hand (ba-dum-tss,) her right hand is a 'spear' that can pierce any surface or material no matter how obdurate. She's confident that it'd be able to easily penetrate the Shield of Terror without even pausing. She calls her hands "absolute." Also bestows low-superhuman condition, mostly in the form of supernatural agility and reflexes, letting her perform the aforementioned bullet-swatting maneuver.
IX. Johnny Buddha
*A slightly superhuman physique; only a few ladder steps behind yours with the use of your Knight Arm. Worse reflexes and speed, however.
*Around 50-60% experience in unarmed martial arts that you have. Uses a style unknown to you, but one that reminds you somewhat of a mixture of kickboxing, Muay Khao, and Muay Tae; kick-heavy with a minor focus on clinches and rapid blows.
*An apparently superhuman faculty in wielding a length of perfectly ordinary chain as a mid-range weapon. He claims that he's similarly experienced with several weapons, including broken-off table legs, folding chairs, and tin plates.
*Claims to be unkillable. Is perfectly willing to go through with 'suicidal' tactics.
*He claims to have a 'few tricks' up his 'sleeve.' (He doesn't have a shirt, so how can he have a sleeve?)
*Also, he claims the "Holy Law of the Lucha Libre," forbids him from ever removing his sunglasses. Any plan which involves their removal will be considered an unacceptable order by him.
X. Shen (Kronos)
[Unknown Ability] - The Cardbearer is capable of cooking meals to a standard of supernatural excellence; he can use a sword to dice vegetables, or a potato masher to juice lemons, and the meal he creates will still end up tasting as if it were prepared by a gourmet chef in a five-star restaurant. Furthermore, any food prepared by the Cardbearer has similar benefits to the power which Spike receives from this Godcard.
Substance-Purifying Spoon - A silver-encrusted dinner spoon with a handle partially made from polished bismuth, bearing miniature, iridescent engravings of a man sitting at a table and eating from a bowl using the spoon in question. Approximate weight of seventy-four grams, well-fitted for an ordinary human hand.
It has the power to remove poison, toxin, taint, or impurity from any substance placed within the spoon's bowl and enrich its nutritional value to a nearly paranormal level, feeding an ordinary person with a few spoonfuls of ordinary tomato soup for a day. If an "inherently non-edible" substance is placed within, such as gold or silver, it will be purified of any material minorities at the atomic level and made anomalously edible and, furthermore, dietetically vigorous, providing an ideal ratio of daily nutrient supplies for the healthy development of the exact, precise average human male of around twenty-five years of age (although its balance is almost-perfect for all other humans, aside from those suffering from rare conditions.)
Osteotronic Cubes - A set of two, anomalous, customizable biocomputers measuring approximately ten centimeters along each dimension and weighing approximately half a kilogram each. They consist of an outer layer of ossified tissue surrounding a core of soft tissue, composed primarily of cardiac, nerve, and muscle cells.
These units use a form of massively parallel DNA computing to provide processing speeds equivalent to roughly 2 terahertz of conventional computing power. Each unit also possesses 400 terabytes of core memory and up to 500 gigabytes of RAM. They require no electricity to run, doing so in perpetuity, and contain a universally-adaptable jack that can expand or retract as needed in order to correctly work with any plug which is placed within. There is no possible way to hack or break into these devices using ordinary 21st-century software hacking methods. They require an external terminal to manipulate the data within.
I don't mind most of the plan, however, imho there is one significant part missing: Aspiring warrior. Improving our base stats has major synergy with [Unhesitating Martial Advance] and as such is essential for whenever we are the ones being surprised.
What if we made an invocation that lets us grow a Horcrux for ourself like a plant homunculus or something? We'd probably have to take a willpower debuff to have it though. It'd probably have some kind of Plant Cuttings theme, make a cutting of our will to grow into another us.
despite the upcoming (quite extreme) danger, the thread has been quiet. this is probably because almost all of the strategizing is on Discord. which makes sense, because Discord is faster. but that's slowed down a fair bit, so I think it's a good time to communicate the leading current plan (as I understand it. I may be biased, but I will try to avoid allowing that to color my communication. For instance, I won't be including 'Make a Food Consuming invocation' even though that is objectively the best plan):
An Invocation that boosts Aspiring Knight Meditation (AKM) 's Knight Arm Progress, and only that, at level 2, turns the d4 into a d8 and adds +2 to the roll. With an invocation like that, it's feasible to reach the next level of knight arm in time, barring quite catastrophic rolls, which is an effective +2.5 or so levels to all Invocations, possibly more for leveled invocations? I'm not Entirely sure on the specifics, but the weakest invocations of the next tier = a mid-training invocation of this tier; whatever the scaling, this is worth a lot, and more so the more invocations we make; even with just two invocations it has benefits comparable to days of training. This is way better than Aspiring Warrior Meditations, which only has a chance to give you something probably weaker than making new invocations with those actions.
With that in mind, the plan is I understand it is as follows. Parts which I believe would benefit from attention, or some form of contribution, are bolded:
On the first day, if possible, invent an invocation which makes it possible to train invocations faster (Someone should make this fit into Cultivation, Martial Arts, Will, or some combination thereof in a cohesive manner.)
Whether this can be done or not, Invent and Master the Aspiring Knight Meditation Enhancer Invocation (Someone should make this fit into Cultivation, Martial Arts, Will, or some combination thereof in a cohesive manner. - EDIT: To some degree, Completed in the form of an Invocation called 'A Stem Is An Arm', not posted here because I am the last poster at this time. Due to the specifics of the Invocation (which do not reduce its effectiveness. Making your Invocation form-dependent gives it new options at no cost!), Aspiring Knight Meditations performed after the Knight Arm becomes Royal should use the Tekko form of the Invocation, making them superior to standard training actions.)
Then Meditate.
On the subsequent days, the specifics are more dependant on ideas. There's a laundry list of invocations to create, some of which have not been fully written to my knowledge. Of course, if there are any valid invocations which grant extra actions, they would be in the first day, or else here.
The Invocations to make in this plan, in the last list I see are:
A (perfect) dodge invocation (may need to be written up or conceptualized?)
Sheath the Blade (a stealth invocation)
An Invocation to feed Willpower into Physical Stats (May need to be written up)
Petals in the Wind(protective flowers deflect into targets instead of blocking) an invocation based off the Lotus Flower option of the Alheria Silververse CYOA. no name, but the concept is fairly settled owing to the breadth of the Lotus Flower blurb.
Body Abides, Soul Overrides (powering through wounds with DETERMINATION)
aaand that's all. More ideas for invocations may be beneficial if any is more useful. I believe an assessment tool so Zane will realize his foe is out of his league faster is also on the docket?
Those invocations would be slated for immediately after AKM-boosting invocations and any Training-boosting invocations, and followed by dumping remaining actions into A Flower Is A Fist and Unhesitating Martial Advance, though my impression is that's not a principled 'this is enough invocations, now to get stronger ones' decision so much as a lack of beneficial, necessary, non-included, cohesive etc invocations to further create.
We're basically preparing to escape an adversary that would take an Imperial Knight arm to meaningfully contest.
I came up with a plan recently that involves a couple of invocations and stat synergies with Unhesitating Martial Advance's percentage buff, though I can see the argument for using Aspiring Knight Meditations instead of Aspiring Warrior Meditations. See the enemy with Sensei's Sparring Sense, teleport away with superhuman acuity with Teacher Appears to Student, initiate the Sheath the Blade stealth technique.
Teacher Appears to Student(Cultivation/Martial Arts): An Invocation that enables Zane to teleport to people seeking Martial Arts or perhaps Gardening instruction and is usable as a somewhat socially awkward escape technique. Based on a quote of contentious origin that may or may not have originated from Theosophists, "When the Student is ready the teacher will appear".
Sensei's Sparring Sense(Cultivation/Martial Arts): An invocation that gives Zane a supernatural grasp of an adversary's capabilities/limits as a passive effect, running on the logic that a good martial arts teacher does not curbstomp their students in sparring, instead fighting on a level close to theirs so they might learn something.
Sheathe the Blade: Aabcehmu has gone into this already.
This is basically my plan with the Aspiring Warrior Meditations replaced with Knight Meditations for a chance of bigger invocation mastery levels. It does not get the armor from Hephaestus, nor does it go into specifics on how Zane romantically pursues Helene.
Probabilities ignoring whatever bonuses Aspiring Knight Meditation may bring:
2% Chance of reaching Royal Rank(I'm not sure how or if a progression booster is worth putting in this plan, but a carveout in days 2 and maybe 3 should be enough if people are interested)
100% Chance of Teacher Appears to Student Level 2, 74.07% Chance of Teacher Appears to Student Level 3(Assuming 3 actions invested in mastering it)
15.65% Chance of A Flower is a Fist Level 6
3.9% Probability of Unhesitating Martial Advance Level 6
50% Chance of Sheathe the Blade Level 2
Day 1:
[]Aspiring Knight Meditation
[]Create Invocation(Sheathe the Blade, Stealth, Blending with the world)
[]Create Invocation(Sensei's Sparring Sense, passive, grants Zane a supernatural sense of an adversaries capabilities/limits)
[]Create Invocation(Teacher Appears to Student, lets Zane teleport to the location of potential martial arts or Gardening students in need of teachers and is usable as a somewhat socially awkward escape technique)
[]Create or Master Invocation(Teacher Appears to Student)
Days 2-6:
[]Aspiring Knight Meditation
[]Master Invocation(A Flower is a Fist)
[]Master Invocation(Unhesitating Martial Advance)
[]Master Invocation(A Flower is a Fist)
[]Master Invocation(Unhesitating Martial Advance)
Day 7:
[]Aspiring Warrior Meditation
[]Master Invocation(Teacher Appears to Student)
[]Master Invocation(Teacher Appears to Student)
[]Master Invocation(Sheathe the Blade)
[]Helene Social Link
[]Helene Social Link
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
Day 5
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
Day 6
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
Day 7
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Speak with Shen: Have Dinner Together
-[ ] Double Date
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation
On a road trip at the moment so I can't properly argue. That said, the basics are pretty simple. You need to:
1. Know this guy can kick your ass
2. Notice the guy before he kicks your ass
3. Run away from him trying to kick your ass
4. Hide so he can't kick your ass
5. Train until you can kick his ass
6. Kick his ass
3 is the real issue. This aims to develop a toolkit with which to accomplish that at minimum. As for executing the plans, actions that take place earlier take priority over actions taking place later, so if the former fails, additional later actions should be subsituted. And AKM should only be done until attaining the Royal, after which it can be substituted for whatever would benefit Zane the most.
On further thought I'm actually dubious on this. After all, once the AKM reaches royal, the enhancer- as long as someone can figure out how to make it flavorfully fit in the first place- will become substantially more powerful, which will make AKM meditation more useful as well. Granted, we won't reach the next tier of Knight Arm after royal with it in the time available, but the empowered enhancer might boost the Invocation-granting and Mastering benefits into the range of 'Actually useful probability', which would probably make it better than, say, Aspiring Warrior Meditation. Especially since the invocations it makes are guaranteed to be contextually helpful; If we've already unlocked everything we can think of that'll be helpful, the invocation it makes will have to either stack with what we have, or help in a way we didn't consider. both options are potentially invaluable.
More generally I'm of course in favor of the general structure, which makes sense since I helped formulate it, though actually writing the enhancers as invocations and adding a food-based invocation yes I'm still on that we have probably like at least a 50x multiplier to mere tomato soup(I imagine it takes at least 10 spoonfulls of tomato soup to feed someone for a day normally.) if Zane can make an hour of normal eating worth even half an hour of training that's 24 hours of extra benefit every day. is probably important.
Seven Days Have Passed...
A cold wind blows in the November air...
Day 1 Action Summary (November 20th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 5 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 90 (Success) - Invented Plowshares Into Swords
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 40 (Negative)
Plowshares Into Swords
All tools, from a simple horseshoe to a modest shovel, are weapons in the hands of the right people - become the plowshare-bane of tomorrow.
Adds a +1 bonus to all checks to Master an Invocation, and a +1 to every roll of Aspiring Knight Meditation. However, in return for these considerable empowerments, your ability to use peaceful implements for their intended purpose is curbed - all forms of civilian life grow further distant as every kitchen knife no longer cuts vegetables as was once its destiny, but instead sinks into human flesh like a biting adder. Even a task as innocuous as pouring water into someone's glass can rapidly and unexpectedly become lethal as you smash the entire pitcher against the side of their skull with brutal force on an uncontrollable impulse.
Can be toggled on and off with a full day of meditation, in order to resume normalcy. It'll be assumed that you choose to turn it on for periods of extended training.
All other actions for the day converted into Master Invocation for the above.
Master Invocation: Plowshares Into Swords (x4)
Current Mastery Level: 1
*Mastery Progress: Complex Action (self-affecting growth curve, see below)
1d6+1 = 4
Mastery Level 2 (bonus from +1 to +2, 1 leftover point; new requirement 6 points)
1d6+2 = 6
Mastery Level 3 (bonus from +2 to +3, 1 leftover point; new requirement 9 points)
1d6+3 = 9
Mastery Level 4 (bonus from +3 to +4, 1 leftover point; new requirement 12 points)
1d6+4 = 6
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4+4 = 13 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 99 (Success) - Invented Sheathe the Blade
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 97 (Success) - Improving Plowshares Into Swords to Mastery Level 5
Sheathe the Blade
A true master knows when to stop fighting, and to avoid combat to start with.
The character may now seal the use of their Knight Arm for a duration, requiring a brief action (15 seconds) to unseal it. When the Knight Arm is sealed, all of its supernatural functions are disabled, but in return, the Knight is provided with an awesome anti-memetic effect targeting themselves and anything they are in direct contact with, causing attention to slip off of them and for people to more easily forget them and their actions. In essence, the Knight is no longer the Knight, but simply another commoner in a faceless crowd. As soon as this Invocation's effects end, the Knight receives ++Agility for a couple of minutes.
Current Parameters
Anti-Meme: ++++++ (significantly more forgettable than a person who is peak-humanly bland, boring, and characterless in people's memories)
Agility Bonus: ++ (a sufficient bonus to run on par with a local track star)
Extension: + (only non-living items in direct contact with you benefit from this Invocation)
Master Invocation: Plowshares Into Swords
Current Mastery Level: 5
All tools, from a simple horseshoe to a modest shovel, are weapons in the hands of the right people - become the plowshare-bane of the ever-distant future.
Adds a +6 bonus to all checks to Master an Invocation, and a +6 to every roll of Aspiring Knight Meditation. However, in return for these considerable empowerments, your ability to use peaceful implements for their intended purpose is curbed - all forms of civilian life grow further distant as every kitchen knife no longer cuts vegetables as was once its destiny, but instead sinks into human flesh like a biting adder. Even a task as innocuous as pouring water into someone's glass can rapidly and unexpectedly become lethal as you smash the entire pitcher against the side of their skull with brutal force on an uncontrollable impulse.
Can be toggled on and off with a full day of meditation, in order to resume normalcy. It'll be assumed that you choose to turn it on for periods of extended training.
Master Invocation: Sheathe the Blade
Current Mastery Level: 1
A foolish swordsman may hope to cut down a petal floating in the wind, but the petal will simply flow around his swing, dragged by the current.
This Invocation is a perfect dodge action, allowing its user to reflexively dodge any attack, no matter its speed or nature, even if it is too fast to be dodged. It can only be used once per minute, and no more than a whole total of its Mastery Level value per day.
Invent Invocation: Echo of the Brawler
*Invention Attempt: 1d20 = 15 (Success)
Invented Echo of the Brawler
Echo of the Brawler
As a permanent improvement to his competence, the Knight may now add his own Willpower score to his physical statistics, and use his own conviction to accelerate stamina recovery. However, as a permanent manifestation of selfhood, he may never surrender in a fight against something he despises.
Day 3 Action Summary (November 22nd)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4+6 = 23 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 21 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 80 (Negative)
Further Mastery of Plowshares Into Swords is impossible. As such, will re-try any of the actions below if they fail instead.
...And they all failed, even with the reroll. Rolls: 7, 1, 5, 4. It seems your luck ran out.
Day 4 Action Summary (November 23rd)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4+6 = 30 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 11 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 87 (Negative)
Achieved Royal Rank Knight Arm.
Mastering Invocations... (AFiaF x2, UMA x2)
A Flower is a Fist reached Mastery Level 4 (Leftover Points: 7)
New Parameters:
*Eight activations per day, lasting 60 minutes each without exertion.
*+10 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, +14 Willpower.
*Tekko-Form: +500% armor-pierce, ++++Strength when making melee attacks.
*Flower-Form: Every petal has the power of a low-caliber rifle shot using AP rounds.
Unhesitating Martial Advance reached Mastery Level 4 (Leftover Points: 2)
New Parameters:
*+800% to all values instead.
*Lasts for two actions instead of one, then for another action at half-strength.
*Can be suppressed voluntarily if expecting combat, in order to be triggered mid-fight during an advantageous moment, no more than three actions into combat.
Day 5 Action Summary (November 24th; Thanksgiving)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Imperial Rank): 1d6+6 = 12 out of 90
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 56 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 26 (Negative)
Mastering Invocations... (AFiaF x2, UMA x2)
A Flower is a Fist reached Mastery Level 5 (Leftover Points: 9)
*Instead of having per-day activations, can be simply toggled on and off.
*+14 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, +18 Willpower.
*Tekko-Form: 600% armor-pierce, +6 Strength when making melee attacks.
*New Sub-Invocation Banishing Blow - A maximum of six 'critical attacks' per hour can be declared, causing a point-blank impact explosion that doesn't hurt the user; attack has a 0.01 rating of ontological magnitude.
*Flower-Form: Every petal has the power of a high-caliber rifle shot using AP rounds. The capstone of this ability reached.
*New Sub-Invocation Flower Shot- Allows you to amass roughly 20% of your petal total into a single 'ball' which is then shot forward with the power of a .50 cal, casually blowing off limbs and piercing through kevlar like a blade through butter; attack has 0.01 rating of ontological magnitude.
*Knight Aspirant now has a 0.01 rating of ontological magnitude when this is toggled on.
Unhesitating Martial Advance reached Mastery Level 5 (Leftover Points: 8)
*10x to all values instead.
*Lasts for two actions instead of one, then for another three at half-strength.
*Can be suppressed voluntarily if expecting combat, in order to be triggered mid-fight during an advantageous moment, no more than five actions into combat.
*Can be triggered a second time per encounter.
Day 6 Action Summary (November 25th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Imperial Rank): 1d6+6 = 21 out of 90
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 2 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 51 (Negative)
Mastering Invocations... (AFiaF x2, UMA x2)
A Flower is a Fist reached Mastery Level 6 (Leftover Points: 13)
*+20 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, +25 Willpower.
*Tekko-Form: 800% armor-pierce, +10 Strength when making melee attacks.
*Flower-Form: Every petal has the power of a high-caliber rifle shot using AP rounds. The capstone of this ability reached.
*Knight Aspirant now has a 0.02 rating of ontological magnitude when this is toggled on.
Unhesitating Martial Advance reached Mastery Level 6 (Leftover Points: 16)
*10x to all values instead.
*Lasts for two actions instead of one, then for another three at half-strength.
*Can be suppressed voluntarily if expecting combat, in order to be triggered mid-fight during an advantageous moment, no more than five actions into combat.
*Can be triggered a second time per encounter, but only for a single action's span.
Day 7 Action Summary (November 26th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Imperial Rank): 1d6+6 = 33 out of 90
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 53 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 66 (Negative)
Mastering Invocations... (AFiaF x2, UMA)
A Flower is a Fist reached Mastery Level 7 (Leftover Points: 11)
*Knight Aspirant now has a 0.03 rating of ontological magnitude when this is toggled on.
*+25 Strength, Constitution, Agility, Wits, +35 Willpower.
*Tekko-Form: 10x armor-pierce, +15 Strength when making melee attacks.
*Banishing Blow now has twelve uses per hour, its attacks have an ontological magnitude of +0.02, and doubled power from before.
*Flower Shot now only utilizes 10% of the petalmass and it has the raw power of a main tank gun; it has an ontological magnitude rating of +0.02.
Unhesitating Martial Advance reached Mastery Level 7 (Leftover Points: 7)
*12x to all values instead.
*Lasts for three actions, then for another three at half-strength.
*Can be suppressed for no more than eight actions.
*Can be triggered a third time per encounter, but only for a single action's span.
Remaining actions: [X] Speak with Shen: Have Dinner Together and [X] Double Date, however, this process is interrupted due to your achievement of Royal Rank.
As you can see in the ledger above, you've achieved the Royal Rankof Pax Bellum. And you know what this means...
Build Vote Time,
Come on grab your plans,
We'll go to very distant lands.
With Spike the Sherm-Head,
and Zane the Superhuman.
The fun will never end,
it's Build Vote Time.
---
As of right now, you have 16.5 Ambrosia.
There are several possibilities for your Improvement into Royal Rank. Select no more than three of the below; can pick the likes of New Concept or New Form more than once, same for any other thing that would make sense; in case of doubt, ask the QM.
[ ] Fusion of Forms- The Knight Arm's present Forms are fused into one inextricable object.
The new (and only) form of the Knight Arm is a pair of gloves made out of twined brambles, tied around the user's hands almost like bandages, with flowers sprouting from them around the forearms. Across his fingers instead are sharp protrusions like a steel blade reminiscent of the former version's tekko-form.
As of now, the Knight Arm is able to act as both Tekko and Flower at the same time, essentially fusing both Forms into one, called the Gloves of Briars Form.
Alters the name of Pax Bellum into Morum Parabellum (deriving from, "Morum" which means both 'blackberry,' a bush known in legend for being cursed by the devil for daring to cut him with its brambles, and custos morum, which means guardian of morals. And, on the other hand, "Parabellum" means simply 'prepare for war.')
[ ] Fusion of Concepts- Instead of narrowing your concept-base by rejecting ideas, it's possible to fuse them into more comprehensive ones, which bear the concepts of their parent-concepts while also providing new and unique options. None of your Invocations will alter, but future growth will be made slightly easier/faster as a result.
Can make one of the following fusions:
Willpower + Martial Arts = Fighting Spirit
Willpower + Cultivation = Achievement
Cultivation + Martial Arts = Combat Farming
[ ] New Form - Add a new Form to the Knight Arm.
[ ] New Concept - Add a new Concept to the Knight Arm. Must be synergistic and fitting with its current format.
[ ] Blessed Inspired Source of Creative Force [7 Ambrosia] - Allows you to pick a second Inspiration, awesomely expanding the power of the Knight Arm, but also greatly limiting what it can do and be used for - think carefully before picking this up. Also levels up every Invocation you have currently learned by one Mastery Level.
[ ] Absolute Favor of Invocation [7 Ambrosia] - Mark a single Invocation you've already learned as 'Favored.' Immediately raise its Mastery Level to your current maximum (Mastery Level 9 in your case,) and you can now train it past its capstone by up to three Mastery Levels as if it were an Imperial Invocation.
[ ] Absolute Manifestation of Concept [12 Ambrosia] - All Invocations made with a particular Concept as its center will now be marked as, 'Manifest.' It allows you to train said Invocations with an extra 1d6 and a +3 bonus to each Mastery roll, but it must be patently clear that said Concept is at the very center of said Invocation.
[ ]Limitless [Royal] Mastery of Invocation [25 Ambrosia] - Instantly levels up every Invocation you have currently learned to Mastery Level 7, and future Invocations start at Mastery Level 5, with halved learning costs until they reach Mastery Level 7. All other Invocations level up once, but cannot exceed your present capstone.
[ ] A Prison of Self, Broken [50 Ambrosia] - Never again bow your head to the uncaring cosmos. Instead, earn the power to make it care.
Allows you to, in the future, pick up yet another boon of the Lotus Maiden of your choice, such as [ ] Lotus Child or[ ] Esoteric Assumption of Responsibility. Another possibility is Master of the Order, which allows you to unlock the innate potential of others to help them unlock Knight Arms of their own.
[] Seasonal Blessing [50 Ambrosia] - Alas, the power of this blessing is unknown to you. It's probably something good, though.
Wood, especially in the five elements sense, is pretty rich territory. I wouldn't be opposed to picking it up, though I'd prefer we fuse two of our current concepts first, since I feel like there may be downsides to having a too-bloated concept list.
Also more esoterically, cleansing the impure thoughts out of tempted people... by beating those thoughts out of them, of course (it's Zane, after all).
If you choose AMoC of, let's say, Willpower, and then do FoC with Willpower + Martial Arts, AMoC will treat Fighting Spirit as its new Manifest Concept. All previous Invocations will retain this Manifest trait.
Wood, especially in the five elements sense, is pretty rich territory. I wouldn't be opposed to picking it up, though I'd prefer we fuse two of our current concepts first, since I feel like there may be downsides to having a too-bloated concept list.
[ ] A Prison of Self, Broken [50 Ambrosia] - Never again bow your head to the uncaring cosmos. Instead, earn the power to make it care.
Allows you to, in the future, pick up yet another boon of the Lotus Maiden of your choice, such as [ ] Lotus Child or[ ] Esoteric Assumption of Responsibility. Another possibility is Master of the Order, which allows you to unlock the innate potential of others to help them unlock Knight Arms of their own.
Oh wow how I wish we could afford this, Esoteric Assumption of Responsibility seems like something we definitely should snag if we want the Earth to… y'know, survive.
How about concept of Purity, though?
You know, purifying all this demonic essence:
Also more esoterically, cleansing the impure thoughts out of tempted people... by beating those thoughts out of them, of course (it's Zane, after all).
That might be a good idea, we could also afford two concept fusions if we did that right? We could buy a new Concept (Purity), and the fuse it with Willpower which would probably be great for fighting demons. We could then fuse Cultivation and Martial Arts.
Maybe in the future we could even fuse those two advanced concepts together.
Here's an idea I had for a Knight-Arm for someone other than Zane.
Lucis Verifer, the Inquiring Arm
Forms: Flashlight
Concepts: Light, Truth
Inspiration: Pyldret, the Dragon Champion
Inovcations:
Pour Out The Sun (Light): Fires a powerful laserbeam.
Ablego Umbras (Light): Illuminates a large area, dispelling all ghosts, spirits, or other ethereal presences therein.
Fear of Falsity (Truth): Prevents the target from lying or otherwise perpetrating deception, or even from withholding the truth when questioned.
Revelation Casting (Light/Truth): Reveals the true nature and abilities of those the light shines on. Pierces illusions and disguises, reveals plans and schemes, uncovers feelings and thoughts, nothing is left hidden.
