Inspiration (HP Quest)

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The sun had just set as Harry Potter lay upon the thin mattress of his bed. His bed, in his...
Quest Start
Location
Seattle, WA
The sun had just set as Harry Potter lay upon the thin mattress of his bed. His bed, in his bedroom, still a strange thought. This was, without question, the strangest, most amazing time of his life. In a single day, he had gone from being a ten year old orphan to… well, an eleven year old orphan, but an orphan wizard, that was the important bit.

And he was a proper wizard now, with a wand and spell books and even an owl (who still needed a name). At the moment, he'd like nothing better to dive in and start making his way through his new books, but there was a problem. Namely, that moments before the worst headache he had ever experienced had started building, and it showed no signs of letting up. It simply grew, and grew, and grew, leaving Harry paralyzed with agony until suddenly something broke and the pain cut off like a switch.

Gasping for air he could now tell he desperately needed, Harry could only marvel at what he saw in his mind's eye. Five packets of… information? Knowledge? Understanding? All of those things and none of them, waiting for Harry. Waiting for him to define them.



Welcome to Inspiration, my first quest! In this quest, you will be playing as Harry Potter, who has just received a very interesting ability. Those of you who are familiar with the first Worm CYOA will probably recognize the power 'Inspired Inventor.' Now, Harry won't be getting exactly that power, since five charges per day would see him becoming God-King of the Multiverse within about three turns. Instead, you will begin with five charges, and receive an additional charge every year on Harry's birthday.

Now, those are just the guaranteed charges, you can also earn more through dedicated research, and most likely omakes, should anyone want to write one. I'll put up a rules post in the near future with all the specifics.

Now, we know that you are Harry Potter, but what sort of Harry Potter are you?

Traits (Pick 3)
[] Dexterous II - You are very nimble and possess excellent hand-eye coordination and reflexes.

-[] Dexterous III - You are faster than most people would believe, with hand-eye coordination and reflexes to match. (Requires Dexterous II).

--[] Dexterous IV - There was a blur and then casting. I didn't see no draw. You are unbelievably fast and coordinated, with reflexes that border precognition. (Requires Dexterous III).

[] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.

-[] Enhanced Memory II - Anything you make a note to remember, you will remember with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory I).

--[] Enhanced Memory III - You possess Perfect Recall. You remember everything you have experienced with your senses with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory II).

[] Iron Mind - Your mind is your own. You can throw off compulsion charms like they were nothing, and with practice and a lot of effort you could even shake off the Imperious Curse.

[] Metamorph I - It seems that your physical form is a little more up for discussion than it is for most people. You can make small changes to your appearance, such as changing the color of your hair or eyes.

-[] Metamorph II - Your physical form is somewhat malleable. In addition to changing things like hair and eye color, you can somewhat alter thing like your height and apparent weight (around 10% either direction) and play around with your facial features a bit.

--[] Metamorph III - Your physical form is really more of a guideline. You can change nearly anything about yourself, altering height and apparent weight by up to 30%, though your mass will remain the same. You must retain a largely humanoid body plan.

[] Powerhouse III - You possess significantly more magical potential than the average witch or wizard, roughly eight times as much.

-[] Powerhouse IV - You possess an incredible amount of magical potential, roughly sixteen times that of the average witch or wizard. When you grow into your full power you will stand with Dumbledore and Voldemort as an equal. (Requires Powerhouse III).

[] Silence is Golden - Is this Latin gibberish really necessary? You have a gift for casting spells silently. Learning to cast a spell without the incantation requires only a little more effort than with.

[] (Subject) Prodigy - You are quite gifted in a particular discipline. Choose a subject, which can be magical (such as Transfiguration or Potions), mundane (such as Athletics or Chemistry), or both (such as History or Flight). You progress twice as fast in this subject. May be taken multiple times, for a different subject each time.

[] (Write-In) - Have an idea for a trait of comparable power and utility to the ones above? Ask me, maybe we can work something out.

Inspiration (Spend up to 5)
So, you've got all this potential floating around in your head. Maybe you should do something with it? At the moment, you can only spend one charge on a given discipline.
[] Spend (X) Charges
-[] Write-In
-[] Write-In
-[] Write-In
-[] Write-In
-[] Write-In

In addition to disciplines, you can also spend charges on modifiers. Modifiers don't do anything by themselves, but you can instead apply them to anything you work on. Examples include Aesthetics, Efficiency, and User Friendliness. I'll let you have one modifier for free.

[] Modifier
-[] Write-In

A Note. These have the potential to get very complicated very fast, so please vote by plan, or your vote will be ignored.

Once we get Harry sorted out here, we can begin the first turn. Turns will last for 1 month each.
 
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Character Sheet
Name:
Harry James Potter
Age: 11

Traits
Dexterous I - You are quicker than average and possess good hand-eye coordination and reflexes.

Powerhouse II - You possess more magical potential than the average witch or wizard, roughly four times as much.

Nearsighted I - You have difficulty clearly seeing things further than a few feet away from you. Can be mitigated with corrective lenses.

Scrawny I - You are small and skinny for your age, leaving you somewhat less physically powerful than others.

Inspiration (5 unspent)
None

Possessions
Wand - Holly and Phoenix Feather, 11 Inches
Pet Snowy Owl - A nameless female snowy owl.
Assorted Hogwarts Paraphernalia - Robes, books, potions supplies and so on, stored in a trunk.
 
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Rules, Mechanics and Important Information
Rules, Mechanics and Important Information

Copied from the Worm CYOA document.

Inspired Inventor: You are the worlds first Tinker 12. Each day you have five charges which can be spent to improve your tinker abilities within a specific area or theme. A single charge would make you a good thinker within an area, roughly Thinker 4-5. Each additional charge after this doubles your abilities (around a two point bump in rating), with no limits to how many time you may spend a charge on a certain area.

As a tinker, you have superhuman scientific knowledge, understanding, and skill at applying it, able to make or do things that modern science would consider impossible within your theme. Spend a charge on Augmentation and start crafting cybernetics out of scrap. Spend some on medicine and cure cancer in an hour. Should your different themes overlap then they stack, building off each other and integrating perfectly. All fields of knowledge are viable for this. Spending charges on martial arts would let you design and teach unbelievable fighting styles, and a political science tinker could design forms of government that function better than anything we have today.

As long as you have time and resources, there isn't anything you couldn't do.

Above, you will find the text for Inspired Inventor from the Worm CYOA document. Here is how it is different in this quest.

• You begin the quest with five charges, as per normal. Instead of an additional five per day, you will receive one additional charge each year on July 31st​, Harry's Birthday.

• You may earn additional charges in specific disciplines by studying and doing research. For example, by studying and doing research on Transfiguration, you will eventually gain enough experience to earn a charge in Transfiguration. Note, this does not mean that Harry has to somehow come up with amazing, centuries ahead of it's time information in the subject, he just needs to learn things he didn't know about it. Essentially, once Harry has enough knowledge and understanding of a subject, he reaches a sort of critical mass and his power steps in to fill in the blanks, bringing him up to the next level.

• Things like omakes may very well give bonus experience towards new charges.

I reserve the right to say "no" to any given discipline. This will usually happen for one of two reasons. Either because it's something that Harry would have no reason to suspect it's existence (Soul Magic, for example). Or because it would be an instant win button and break the game (Memetic Engineering, or Political Science for example).

Disciplines and Modifiers

You may spend charges on Disciplines and Modifiers. A Discipline is, as per the original CYOA, an area or theme in which Harry possesses incredible knowledge, understanding and skill at application. At this time, any given Discipline can have only one charge spent on it. This will change as the quest progresses.

Here is a table of the various levels, a rough estimate of their utility, and the amount of XP needed to reach that level.

I 75 to 100 years beyond cutting edge 100 XP
II 2 to 3 centuries beyond cutting edge 400 XP
III 5+ centuries. Minor "Impossibilities" now possible 1,600 XP
IV 1000+ years. Major "Impossibilities" now possible 6,400 XP
V Clarktech/Sufficiently Analyzed Magic. There is no functional difference between Science and Magic at this level. 25,600 XP
Modifiers do not possess a level (unless people decided they really want them to). They are more like 'flavors' that can be added to the things that you create. You may apply as many, or as few modifiers to a given project as you like.

Artificial Intelligence
Chemistry
Computers
Energy Sciences
Gastronomy
Manufacturing
Martial Arts
Materials Sciences
Medicine
Music
Robotics
Structural Engineering

Charms
Combat Magic
Divination
Enchanting
Mind Arts
Potions
Transfiguration
Warding

Aesthetics
Blackboxing
Efficiency
Robustness
User Friendliness
 
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[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
[X] Iron Mind - Your mind is your own. You can throw off compulsion charms like they were nothing, and with practice and a lot of effort you could even shake off the Imperious Curse.
[X] Silence is Golden - Is this Latin gibberish really necessary? You have a gift for casting spells silently. Learning to cast a spell without the incantation requires only a little more effort than with.
 
holy crap. wait guys, lets figure out what we can get without needing to spend a trait point on in quest.
 
holy crap. wait guys, lets figure out what we can get without needing to spend a trait point on in quest.

Oops. Sorry, forgot to mention. So far there is not a thing up there that you cannot get in quest with enough effort. This is just your starting load out, as it were. Even supposedly "impossible" things, like becoming a metamorph* can be earned with enough effort. Inspired Inventor be bullshit like that.

*Which should probably be on the trait list as well :p
 
could we dump all 5 charges in potion making? and how long do they last?

No, you may only spend one to a discipline at this time (that will change later on). They are permanent, however. One charge will put you around a century ahead of whatever the current state of the art is. Potions is an odd one though, as you won't be able to really make use of it until you have done some research into what reagents are available and what properties they have.

For example, with a charge in potions, you will know that in order to create a potion of a given effect, you would require ingredients with properties A, B, C, and D, but which do not possess property E or F. But you won't know that rat spleen and boomslang skin fit the bill until you do a little research. Of course, spending that charge will give you the knowledge of how to go about determining the properties of an ingredient, you just don't know what exists in reality and is readily available yet.
 
[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
-[X] Enhanced Memory II - Anything you make a note to remember, you will remember with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory I).
--[X] Enhanced Memory III - You possess Perfect Recall. You remember everything you have experienced with your senses with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory II).


ok I suggest we don't spend our charges just yet as ICly we don't really know all that much about different fields anyways. also any ideas for a modifier? we get one free.

should probably figure out fields that synergize a lot and give us the most bang for our buck obviously.
 
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[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
-[X] Enhanced Memory II - Anything you make a note to remember, you will remember with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory I).
[X] Iron Mind - Your mind is your own. You can throw off compulsion charms like they were nothing, and with practice and a lot of effort you could even shake off the Imperious Curse.

This combo or veekie's combo works for me. Simple and effective.

I'd agree that we could save up charges for at least a few updates till Harry reads up about the magical disciplines, and just vote on the traits for now. Well, maybe social engineering / persuasion. But as someone who hasn't read Worm, I have zero idea of what the Inspired Inventor talent actually means.

I personally would rather an HP quest focus on the magical world, since I've recently been binge-ing too many 'intersection of magical and muggle world' quests and fics. But that's just my opinion.

But along those lines, I'd be interested in spending charges on:
- Potions
- Healing in general
- Charms/spell-crafting
- Mental Arts

Transfiguration is also an obvious choice, but it would feel a bit cheap if it ends up with Harry being able to transfigure anything he wants. And I guess there may be other magical arts too, depending on how much the QM draws from fanon.
 
[X] Plan Personal Powerbase


No idea what to pick for charges or modifiers, any chance we could get a list of examples of something? Edit: Thank you! :D
 
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[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
-[X] Enhanced Memory II - Anything you make a note to remember, you will remember with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory I).
[X] Iron Mind - Your mind is your own. You can throw off compulsion charms like they were nothing, and with practice and a lot of effort you could even shake off the Imperious Curse.
 
[X] Plan Personal Powerbase

[X] Powerhouse III - You possess significantly more magical potential than the average witch or wizard, roughly eight times as much.
-[X] Powerhouse IV - You possess an incredible amount of magical potential, roughly sixteen times that of the average witch or wizard. When you grow into your full power you will stand with Dumbledore and Voldemort as an equal. (Requires Powerhouse III).
[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
Powerhouse because more power is simple better and enhanced memory to help with learning.

[X] Spend Charges
-[X] Martial Arts
-[X] Medicine
-[X] Potions
-[X] Transfiguration
-[X] Enchanting

I chose these five because I belive they have the greatest potential towards self improvements, which would be the base for the initial game thus maximizing long term benefits.
 
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:eyebrow:
Err... just to check the obvious... but could we use a/ny charge to reduce the time frame by which we gain a new charge? Like say by half? Cause if we can, and especially if we can use all five charges individually to reduce the recharge time, we'd immediately be able to reduce recharging to two weeks. And would only have to spend three more to reduce it to one a day. Checking this first before making my suggestions.
 
:eyebrow:
Err... just to check the obvious... but could we use a/ny charge to reduce the time frame by which we gain a new charge? Like say by half? Cause if we can, and especially if we can use all five charges individually to reduce the recharge time, we'd immediately be able to reduce recharging to two weeks. And would only have to spend three more to reduce it to one a day. Checking this first before making my suggestions.

The only thing you can spend charges on is disciplines.
 
Okay... is there any disciplines to reduce charge time (in general)

No. I'm starting to think the confusion here is with the name 'charge.' I'll try to think of something else to call them. Think of them as points that you spend to learn how to do new things. They things you learn in no way effect the rate a which you get new points.
 
The only thing you can spend charges on is disciplines.
can there be a modifier which basically means anything we make can have a material substituted in its construction?
example: any engine we make does not need to be made with iron or steel as we can use another material as a substitute that still lets the engine work.
 
See the newly added "Rules, Mechanics and Important Information" section above.
Ah, that's quite informative.

Though, I'd still be ok with waiting till a future vote to decide on the initial charges to spend. Perhaps with preference voting for the plans, since whichever charge plan that gets a plurality of votes might not have a majority support due to the many different options.
 
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[X] Plan memory defense, no charge for now
-[X] Enhanced Memory I - You'll find it much easier to recall things that you make an effort to memorize.
--[X] Enhanced Memory II - Anything you make a note to remember, you will remember with no effort. (Requires Enhanced Memory I).
-[X] Iron Mind - Your mind is your own. You can throw off compulsion charms like they were nothing, and with practice and a lot of effort you could even shake off the Imperious Curse.
 
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