Summoner Quest (Celestial Menagerie)

[zagan]

Spoiler: Winning Vote and Roll

[X] Power
Capstone Power Roll: (770 points)
Roll D36=31
"Variable" True Customization , 600 One of Each, 700 Pocket Biosphere

Only our second time rolling in the Capstone Power list, sadly no capstone power this time. No matter what this will trigger another sub-vote.

Details:
-True Customization: This power costs the same number of points as the entry you choose and if you do not wish to gain any of the available entries you can keep your points. But you cannot reroll.
You can choose all the parameters of your custom creature instead of rolling.
Choose one type of custom creature: Custom Hybrid (100), Custom Construct (200), Custom Animental (200)(Already gained once) , Custom Intelligent Weapon (300), Custom Magical Beast (200), Custom Eevee (200), Custom Common Blade (500), Custom Summoning Contract (800)(Already gained once), Custom Shard (600)(Already gained once), Custom Sea Beast (300), Custom Dungeon Core (800)(Already gained once), Custom Theon/Parasite (400), Custom Transformer (300), Custom Mutant Animal (100), Custom Pony (200)(Already gained once), or Custom Spirit (200 + X)(Already gained once).
Consult the Custom Creatures sheet for more details on each type of creature.
Note: Options that are strike through would not be available during subvote.

-One of Each: You gain one entry (creature, modifier, ability…) from any Creature Category of your choice from each category worth 100 points or less.
You can gain this benefit any number of times.
Note: Like last time you have three options to choose from. No matter what i'll be the one choosing the categories from which the creatures will be pulled, mainly Bonus Categories. Just because it will make things go faster.

-Pocket Biosphere: Choose a creature you possess, and you gain a pocket dimension tailored to that creature. When not summoned the creature resided inside that dimension. The size of the dimension varies depending on the creature but a minimum of 1km squared and a maximum of 10km squared. It contains an environment adapted to the creature, including illusory companions and prey. You can open a portal to that dimension at will.
You can gain this benefit any number of times.

Vote:

[] "Variable" True Customization
[] 600 One of Each (42 x 100 or less points creatures)
[] 600 One of Each (20 x 200 or less points creatures)
[] 600 One of Each (10 x 300 or less points creatures)
[] 700 Pocket Biosphere

[] Reject everything and keep points.

Voting will be closed Saturday at 3 PM GMT

Replies:

That... Is a pretty powerful power... Like really good actually.

Ranged power that incapacitates oponents immediatly? Thats really good already, a trump effect that COPIES weak versions of their powers while they are pigglets?

She got a really good power there.

Click to shrink...

Yep, it's pretty strong. It does have a number of limitations that weren't shown in the chapter because that's a traumatized woman who was in no state to do power testing.

Notably, the transformation rays move pretty slowly, they have limited range, the more people are affected the less the duration last, and she only got a copy of the last transformed parahuman, and it's extremely weak. For some power it may even make them completely useless.

Considering some of the theories about companion cubes.... I REALLY dont think he should turn ANYONE into one.

Click to shrink...

I'm not aware of those theories. Details, please?

"Through"

"sparred" you missing one more "r"

Click to shrink...

Thanks corrected.

I'm guessing that was supposed to be "nice".

Click to shrink...

Thanks corrected.

Having read the Force Sculptor class entry, how does the minimum number of forcefields work if the user's level is an odd number? I assume it is meant to be rounded up or down because otherwise you need to determine what constitutes half a forcefield and that just seems unnecessarily complicated.

Click to shrink...

Yes, it's rounded down by default, except at level one.

 

[zagan]

As I half expected, the winner was "600 One of Each (10 x 300 or less points creatures)", even if I hoped for True Customization. Below, you'll find the list of categories. You'll note that I include one subcategory, Dauntless, this means that you can only choose within that subcategory.
I tried to choose categories in which we have nothing or near nothing and ones wich offer a variety of options.
Remember that if you choose an entry that implies a choice (MTG being the most obvious but it may pop up elsewhere) we'll have one last round of voting for that.
I highly encourage you to pick entries that could be used to create new heroes, so ones that can be passed off as not creatures, or just fun ones.

Vote:

[] Dauntless: Write-In
[] Jewel Pet: Write-In
[] Various: Write-In
[] League of Legends: Write-In
[] God of War: Write-In
[] Sonic: Write-In
[] Dota: Write-In
[] Star Trek: Write-In
[] Magic The Gathering: Write-In
[] Command & Conquer: Write-In

Voting will be closed Sunday at 3 PM GMT

 

[zagan]

We're nearly finished with the voting. We have the winner for 8 categories.

-Dauntless: Stormclaw
-Jewel Pet: Kaiya
-Various: Bob
-League of Legends: Zac
-God of War: Phoenix
-Dota: Brewmaster
-Star Trek: EMH
-Command & Conquer: Nanocore

And we have two entries that need to be specified. You need to choose one Wisps from Sonic and an Uncommon Treefolk from MTG.

Vote:

[] Sonic: Wisps: Write-In

[] Magic The Gathering: Uncommon Treefolk: Write-In

Voting will be closed Monday at 3 PM GMT

 

[zagan]

Spoiler: Winning Vote and Roll

[x] Elytra wanted to see me but she didn't say why.
[x] Power
Capstone Power Roll: (650 points)
Roll D36=5
600 Speed Amplification, 600 Strength Amplification, 600 Beneficial Emulation

Will you go all out on Speed? Branch out with Strength? Or go with something more exotic.

Details:
-Speed Amplification: Each time you gain this power increase the multiplier of your Speed Boost power by 1.
(It becomes x3 the first time, x4 the second time, and so on.)
Note: Taken once already, actually at x3.

-Strength Amplification: Each time you gain this power increase the multiplier of your Strength Boost power by 1.
(It becomes x3 the first time, x4 the second time, and so on.)
Note: Actually at x2.

-Beneficial Emulation: Each time you gain this power choose one creature you possess. It permanently gains a copy of one Trait (as per the Grant Trait Power) or a copy of one Attack (as per the Gift Attack power) of another creature you possess.
Note: YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHOOSE THE SPECIFIC RIGHT AWAY. We'll do a sub-vote to choose the creature and what trait or attack it gained.

Vote:

[] 600 Speed Amplification
[] 600 Strength Amplification
[] 600 Beneficial Emulation

[] Reject everything and keep points.

Voting will be closed Thursday at 3 PM GMT

Replies:

@zagan is this an "all three are happening and we're just picking which order" or deciding which one we want to happen and the other two will butterfly away? Because all of these are interesting and itd be kind of a shame to miss out on them.

Click to shrink...

Don't worry. See below.

Concerning the vote, no matter what you choose the other events will happen later. We're just determining what comes first.

Click to shrink...

We can meet with Legend pretty much whenever and the senator is interesting but it could be something inane and political. Meanwhile, we haven't interacted with Taylor in a while and if she's reaching out it's probably important.

Click to shrink...

The meeting is not with Legend. it's with Haven (an independent hero group centered around Christianism) It's just that Legend approved the request. I specified that because haven doesn't have the authority to demand a meeting with a Protectorate Hero. Much Less Compendium.

The URL contains the word images, it leads to a broken image, and it doesn't play sound. I checked again, and it still doesn't lead to anything but a broken image.

Click to shrink...

Weird it work for me. It's a link I found in the wiki, at the very top of the page for EMH.
Anyway, it wasn't important so I removed it.

Also, before I forget again, has Strega tried using some of Alex's more magical materials to make her totems? I honestly can't remember if she has tried that or not and I am curious what happens if she carves something out of the cool cheese Alex has lying around. I mean, the dungeon squad is looting the stuff and there hasn't been any mention of anyone else finding a use for it. You can carve cheese after all.

Click to shrink...

I hadn't considered that. It's a good idea.

Just be careful. Bob may be a spirit of intellect but he has the libido of Hugh Heffner. He often helped Harry but half the time at the cost of either making Love (read list) potions or letting him free to stir up orgies in sororities.

Click to shrink...

Bob's personality is in part shaped by his owner. Bob's libido came from the fact that Harry got him when he was a teenager.
If Bob wants some porn Alex can just give him a laptop with internet access. That's enough porn to pay for his service for the rest of eternity.

 

[zagan]

Beneficial Emulation won the previous round of voting so now we need to choose a creature and choose what trait or attack we should give it.

First a reminder of the rules:

-Beneficial Emulation: Each time you gain this power choose one creature you possess. It permanently gains a copy of one Trait (as per the Grant Traits Power) or a copy of one Attack (as per the Gift Attack Power) of another creature you possess.

And to go with that here are the rules for Grant Trait and Gift Attack
-Grant Traits: At any time you can choose to grant ONE trait from one of your creatures to another one.
You can only grant a trait from a creature not currently summoned.
A trait can be a body part, limb, internal organ, skin. It can be characteristic such as immunity to poison, resistance to fire, or the ability to absorb sunlight. It can also be more esoteric such as magic reserve, knowledge on a subject, or skill with a weapon.
You can use this ability at will but only on one creature at a time and you cannot use it multiple times on the same creature.

-Gift Attack: You (or any of your summoned creatures, designated as Gifter) can choose any techniques/spells/special attack that does not depend on a physical medium, and gift it by touch to any of your summoned creatures or you, (from here on designated as Receiver). The Receiver can then launch that attack any time afterward.
Gifters cannot use or give the same attack to someone else as long as the first gift attack isn't used.
A Receiver can only hold one gift attack at a time and can choose to lose the attack without using it.
The Gifter can take back the attack at any time with a touch.

The trait or attack grant follows all the same rules as it did for their original owner (same duration, range, number of uses, recharge rates, etc…). With the caveat that physical traits are scaled up or down to fit the receiving creature. Also, keep in mind that the choice is permanent and that the original owner of the trait or attack do not lose it.

As an additional rule for this quest a given trait or attack can only be given once. That is put into place as to avoid abuse and repetition. you cannot give the same super powerful thing to multiple different creatures even if we roll Beneficial Emulation multiple times. In the same vein, a given creature can benefit from Beneficial Emulation only once.

I will give you some example using creatures we do not have. (Because if I use some we do have I'll know you'll only use my examples.)

Trait Examples:

Pair of Wings from an Eagle
Trunk from an Elephant
Claws (from all four limbs) from a Lion
Tail from a Stegosaurus
Armour from an Ankylosaurus
Skin from a Chameleon
Horn from a Rhinoceros
Eyes from a Cat
Ears from a Fennec
Pair of Legs from a Kangourou (in addition to or replacing previous legs)
Pair of Arms from a Gorilla (in addition or replacing previous legs)
Jaw from a Crocodile
Stomach from a Cow (in addition or replacing previous stomach)
One head from a Hydra (in addition to a normal head)
Regeneration from a Tarrasque
Displacement effect from a Displacer beast
Magical Immunity from an Adamantine Golem
Anteanna from a Rust monster
Static ability from a Pikachu
Ghost-type from a Gastly
Electric Aura from a Spark
Eyes of a Basilisk
Endbringer Physiology from Behemoth
Ability to walk on water from a Blue Chocobo
Chakra Network from Gamabunta
Martial Skills from Kung-Fu Dugongs

Attack Examples: (despite the word attack this can be any active effect, healing, movement, transformation, summoning, etc…)

Fire Breath from a Red Dragon
Teleportation power of Blink dog
Flamethrower move from Ninetales
Infinite Throwing Hammers from Hammer Bro
Summon Temporary Spiny from Lakitu
Generate Illusory Clone from Pom Pom
Heal spell from Healslime
Explode on command from a Creeper
Instant Sinking Moonbow Noble Phantasm from Minamoto-no-Tametomo

I'm sure, I'm missing plenty of other possible examples. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any doubts.

And lastly here's a link to the character sheet that contains a full list of our creatures. Creatures that were given away cannot participate, be it to give or gain something.

The vote will follow the following format. Please respect it.

[] Creature X gains Trait/Attack Y from Creature Z

Examples: Elephant gains Wings from Hummingbird

Voting will be closed Friday at 3 PM GMT

Replies:

You know, I actually can't remember if Bob can cast magic on his own. Did he ever do so in the books? I remember him giving advice but I think being able to actually cast spells is something of an inborn trait that requires a body. Or am I forgetting something?

Click to shrink...

I know he could be released to speak with other spirits and possess Dresden's cat

Click to shrink...

Bob is a master of theoretical magic. And yes in the book he acts mainly as a spy. He can possess living creatures and also objects, animating them. He can also be used as a power source for spells if the caster has no magic of his own. But it's costly for him. And lastly as a spirit, he's can attack ghosts.

-snip-

Click to shrink...

Thanks corrected.

 

[zagan]

Spoiler: Winning Vote and Roll

[X] A Protectorate hero: Taurus
[X] Creature
Creature Roll: (650 points)
Category Roll D50=13 Star Wars/Mass Effect, Entry Roll D188=81
100 Kath hound, 100 Knobby white spider, 100 Kouhun
Category Roll D50=46 Slugterra, Entry Roll D77=35
200 Negashade, 200 Neotox, 200 Phosphoro

Okay, Taurus will get the amulet. The idea is good, he could use more speed.
As for the creatures we got either Star Wars and/or Slugterra.

Details:
Nothing this time.

Vote:

[] 100 Kath hound + Micro Bonus
[] 100 Knobby white spider + Micro Bonus
[] 100 Kouhun + Micro Bonus

[] 200 Negashade + Micro Bonus
[] 200 Neotox + Micro Bonus
[] 200 Phosphoro + Micro Bonus

[] 100 Kath hound + 200 Negashade + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Kath hound + 200 Neotox + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Kath hound + 200 Phosphoro + Micro Bonus*2

[] 100 Knobby white spider + 200 Negashade + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Knobby white spider + 200 Neotox + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Knobby white spider + 200 Phosphoro + Micro Bonus*2

[] 100 Kouhun + 200 Negashade + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Kouhun + 200 Neotox + Micro Bonus*2
[] 100 Kouhun + 200 Phosphoro + Micro Bonus*2

[] Reject everything and keep points.

Voting will be closed Saturday at 3 PM GMT

Edit: Corrected the Micro Bonus quantity. 2 instead of 3.

Replies:

EDIT: Actually, @zagan would you mind me asking how Assault's power works here? Does he just manipulate kinetic energy or does he absorb and build it up and if the latter would being able to run 20% faster provided a worthwhile boost to him?

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure what you mean. From what understanding, and from the wiki, he absorbs kinetic energy when he's subject to it. Punching him would do nothing for example. And once charged he can use that energy to boost himself. Running faster, or striking harder.
The amulet wouldn't affect his powers. It just means that he can run faster bot when charged and when not.

Oh my god I just realised something, the Argothian Treefolk might make for a perfect partner for Assault.

It was stated before that probably the most useful usage of them would be to grant them, alongside Equip Trai, to a hero who's already immune to some other forms of damage to round them out right? Assault's power makes him basically immune to most, if not all, forms of kinetic based attacks which is what most low tech fights consist of, combine that with Argothisn Treefolk and he gains an additional immunity to stuff he's otherwise weak to such as lasers or Tinker tech in general.

It's worth considering at the very least.

Click to shrink...

The idea as merits. I'll definitively keep it in mind.

 

[zagan]

Spoiler: Winning Vote and Roll

[X] Power
Capstone Power Roll: (690 points)
Roll D36=9
600 Corpse Extraction, 1000 Empowerment of the Keepers (Too Expensive), 400 Endless Multitude

Nice, very nice. Only two options but both can be very good.

Details:
-Corpse Extraction: Each time you gain this power, choose one creature you possess. When using your Material Extraction power on that creature instead of summoning only part of its body you can summon its whole corpse. In addition, you can choose to have the corpse instantly transformed into ready-to-use materials, skin turned into leather, meat cut into pieces, bones cleaned, a golem's body turned into ingots, an elemental into pure essence, and so on.
Note: If this wins the vote, we'll have a subvote to choose the creature.

-Endless Multitude: Each time you gain this power you gain the ability to use Swarm on one additional creature or generate an additional 100 copies of a creature when using Swarm on it.

Vote:

[] 600 Corpse Extraction
[] 400 Endless Multitude

[] Reject everything and keep points.

Voting will be closed Monday at 3 PM GMT