Live The Balance (Original cultivation)

Jia= 4
Zhang Shui= 2
Leng Jin= 3
Lady Zhu= 1
Ma Gang= 1
Liao He= 2
Shan Hong= 3

We've only chosen Jia as a social a total of 4 times. While I would have expected the threshold to be at 5 times, I'm not sure what else could be goin on. So as it is, I'll assume that we're only 1 away from a bonus with Leng Jin and Shan Hong. So I think we should social them this turn.

Alright, Techniques.

16 total, split into 2 paths of 8. If we want to try to be balanced, then we want 5 Wood, 2 Water, and 1 Fire in each path. Without any more breakthroughs, we're looking at 6 total open slots. 2 in Mental, and 4 in Physical.

In order to get our Physical techniques in line we need 3 more Wood, 1 more Water, and 1 Fire. While I'm not sure if the order matters, it might be best to believe that it does just in case. That would mean narrowing our Physical tec selection going forward. For this stage it's be 3 Wood tecs, before 1 more Water tec, and then the 1 Fire tec to finish it off. It might be better to think about what tecs we get last.

I'm thinking two general ways.

1: x-x-x-x-x-Wood-Water-Fire
2: x-x-x-x-Wd-Wr-Wr-Fr

Since the second option can't be done as is, then we might as well go with the first option and just focus on that chain for the last 3 techniques.

Though there's always the chance that none of this is really necessary.

Moving on to the techniques themselves.

Tec1: Wood Attack, enhances strength and speed
Tec2: Water Defend, resiliency and resistance to dismemberment
Tec3: Wood Support, bonus to Spirit Ken

Before we dive in on what techniques we want, we have to think about what our build will be like. We want to be able to use Spirit Ken, and people have expressed interest in Alchemy. Aside from that, I think that people can agree that we shouldn't totally forgo combat capability.

There are 5 different types of techniques. Attack, Defend, Support, Heal, Move.

Based on some of the op's words, I think it would make sense for us to focus any Spirit Ken or Alchemy techniques on the Mental side of things.

I'm not sure how to structure that though.

Fire, because of how little we'll have, should probably be kept for combat. Water doesn't have that much itself, but 1 or 2 techniques per stage can probably be afforded to Spirit Ken or Alchemy. That just leaves Wood to carry the bulk of our Spirit Ken and alchemy.

But if we're limiting that aspect to our Mental side, there really isn't much breathing room. That's 5 Wood and 2 Water. So maybe 2 max Wood, and the occasional 1 Water. I feel like any more than that would have us being left behind a bit too much by our combat focused peers.

This is where I am now. I honestly can't think of any techniques for Spirit Ken or Alchemy. Maybe 1 Wood and 1 Water on the Mental path for the rest of this stage? 1 Spirit Ken and 1 Alchemy? Does anyone have any ideas, including ideas for more Spirit Ken and Alchemy on the Physical path?
 
@Kadmus for Jias sl perk how do we ask her what information we want her to get. Do we just include it on the plan or is it a seperate vote?

Also are there spirits that help in spirit ken rolls?
 
Fire, because of how little we'll have, should probably be kept for combat. Water doesn't have that much itself, but 1 or 2 techniques per stage can probably be afforded to Spirit Ken or Alchemy. That just leaves Wood to carry the bulk of our Spirit Ken and alchemy.
Normally, Fire is very important for alchemy. So the Fire Mental Tech should be for alchemy and the Fire Body Tech for combat. For example, the Fire Tech for alchemy can be something to regulate fire, or create a flame good to clean impurities in things.
 
[X]Plan Garden and Breakthrough 2: Electric Boogaloo
-[X] The Garden Job.
-[X] Garden job until we reach 125 sect points
-[X] All remaining Blocks on Mental Cultivation
--[X] Use the Abyssal Deeps Pill, Still Mind and Raging Qi pills.


[X] Shan Hong
[X] Ma Gang

Yeah typically when five elements come up in Xianxia you're typically going to want a guy with fire and wood to actually make stuff for you. Once we get sufficiently cultivated we should really try to focus on getting some techniques to fill out our repertoire enough to cover what needs to be covered.
 
Probably while cultivating to peak outer human since breaking through to inner human without atleast having both mental and physical at 9th step is too dangerous.

We can pick out & train our techniques or skills while doing so.
 
Regarding Techniques:
Not sure, if, at our level, we can get techniques that are dual-purpose:
Example: "Purifying Flame", can be used to cleanse poison, disease, curse and/or purify materials for crafting.
Also something that might help both in combat and in crafting: something for "steady hands" or more precision or something similar.

[X]Plan Garden and Breakthrough 2: Electric Boogaloo
 
[X]Plan Garden and Breakthrough 2: Electric Boogaloo
-[X] The Garden Job.
-[X] Garden job until we reach 125 sect points
-[X] All remaining Blocks on Mental Cultivation
--[X] Use the Abyssal Deeps Pill, Still Mind and Raging Qi pills.


[X] Shan Hong
[X] Ma Gang
 
We need 1 block a day, 7 blocks a week. The plan is alright

Edit: Ah, I see what you mean. "until 125 points" can be a problem, yeah
My plan was to have the first block every day be the Garden job, then spend the remaining blocks on the Garden job first until we get enough points to buy all 3 pills.

So on that first day the first block is mandatory Garden, the second and third will probably be extra Garden, then the fourth we start on Mental cultivation after buying the pills.
Then the remaining six days are all 1 block Garden:3 blocks mental cultivation.
 
So shouldn't we save the pills till next week when we can spend more action on it? Now might be the time to check on that alchemy business.
 
So shouldn't we save the pills till next week when we can spend more action on it? Now might be the time to check on that alchemy business.
If we put it off until next turn, it means one less turn without the extra action block from reaching full Fifth step.

Considering 21 actions was enough to get us from peak Third to Seventh step in physical, 19 actions should be enough to get us from Mid Second to at least Fifth step in Mind.
 
9th step

Wait, so that means there is a total of 18 technique slots?

5/2/1x2=16

4/3/2x2=18

There are other combinations, but 4/3/2 seems more balanced. Do we want that? It'd be 8/6/4 per stage, so the difference between nature's wouldn't be too extreme.

I don't think I'll be able to do any speculation on specific techniques today, so feel free.

[X] Shan Hong
[X] Leng Jin
 
Regarding Techniques:
Not sure, if, at our level, we can get techniques that are dual-purpose:
Example: "Purifying Flame", can be used to cleanse poison, disease, curse and/or purify materials for crafting.
Also something that might help both in combat and in crafting: something for "steady hands" or more precision or something similar.
Actually, @Kadmus can you give uns insight on those ideas?
 
You can certainly get techniques that serve dual purposes like that, though they'll be worse at both than a specialised technique.

Regarding spirits improving Spirit Ken - you can get one that will do so, but you'll need to figure out what kind of spirit it would be, and that will likely be basically all the spirit can do.
 
Nice still useful since it would help in befriending other spirits and any job we do that involves spirit ken.

Edit: Also @Kadmus what about asking Jia for info how do we use her sl perk?
 
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You just include it as part of a plan vote and she will get you the info.
 
I feel like getting a spirit to help with talking to spirits runs into diminishing returns. We can already talk pretty darn well to them, so I'd think a spirit should either do something we can't or act to shore up a weakness of ours. Our needs also vary a lot depending on whether we go crafter or fighter, though having two slots as a first realm does help with choice uncertainty.
 
Cool
@Karnax626 what kind of info do we ask Jia
about being an alchemist or spirits that we can contract?
We'd probably get more bang for our buck if we asked about things more relevant to her skillset. Spirits and alchemy research in general probably aren't her ballpark, but I could see her finding out which outer disciples currently have a spirit/if so what spirits they have.
EDIT: Or we could ask her for info on the Huang scion that Shu Lin mentioned was attending the Sect.
 
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  • Name: Zhi Gao
    Age: 15
    Origin: Peasant
    Talent: Speaker
    Gender: Male

    Short Biography

    Zhi Gao was a respected member of his tiny village, due to his ability to see and talk to spirits and ghosts. Snatched away from his home by the Raging Ocean Sect, he's torn between being resentful of being taken from everything he's ever known, and glad that he has this tremendous opportunity.

    Stats
    Mind: I (2)
    Body: I (2)
    Spirit: I (2)
    Talent: I (2)

    Skills
    Appraisal (Mind): 0%
    Athletics (Body): 30%
    Body Cultivation (Body): 50%
    Bureaucracy (Spirit): 25%
    Melee Combat (Body): 0%
    Mind Cultivation (Mind): 50%
    Ranged Combat (Spirit): 0%
    Social (Spirit): 10%
    Spirit Ken (Spirit): 50%, +5 DoS on success.
    Survival (Body): 30%
    Tactics (Mind): 0%
    Thievery (Mind): 0%

    Cultivation
    Insights
    First Step: Water drips from the blade.
    Second Step: Grass sprouts from the drops.

    Mind

    Outer Human, Second Step 17/30

    Body

    Outer Human, Third Step 40/40

    Techniques

    Mental 0/2
    Outer Human

    Physical 3/3
    Outer Human
    Wood-Nurtured Physique (Wood, Attack)(J, 10%): Muscles as dense as oak and flexible as bamboo. Enhances attack damage and speed.
    Deepwater Body (Water, Defend)(J, 10%): Your body is like the deep ocean, able to absorb attack after attack without being destroyed. Grants extra resilience and makes it very hard to dismember you.
    Ancient Oak Patience. (Wood, Support)(J, 10%) You channel the sturdy patience of those ancient trees which have lasted for centuries. Your hands grow steadier, and your bearing solemn and regal. Grants +degrees of success to the number of dice kept on Spirit Ken rolls, to a maximum of the letter rank of this technique, e.g. if this technique is ranked J, you may add up to 1 extra dice kept to your Spirit Ken roll on success.

    Equipment

    None

    Resources

    Sect Points

    101

    Misc.

    - Familiarity with the 'public' layout of the sect's vessel.
    - Special repeatable garden job available for sect points. (Uses Spirit Ken).

    Relationships

    Shan Hong: Acquaintance (2)
    Leng Jin: Acquaintance (2)
    Jia: Friend (3) - Quick Feet, Sharp Eyes: Once every 4 weeks, Jia will gather information about a single thing or person for you. She can get information that is not publicly available. You will need to do her a favour in return for anything that is difficult or dangerous.
    Zhang Shui: Acquaintance (1)
    Liano He: Acquaintance (1)
    Zhu Bai: Acquaintance (0)
    Ma Gang: Acquaintance (0)
@Kadmus Under the body section, it says that the protagonist is the third step. Didn't the protagonist reach the seventh step during update 2.4?
 
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