The Lighthouses and the Pit (Fantasy Mage Quest)
- Thread starter occipitallobe
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
[X] You Aimed for the Yellow Lighthouse
Character it is.
Character it is.
InterstellarHobo
Cosmic Vagrant
- Location
- No Fixed Planetary System
[X] You Aimed for the Yellow Lighthouse
- Location
- Straya
As Orange currently losing, I might give a few points in its favor.
Keep in mind that while you can play however you want (exploration/Pit diving, trading, city-defender and village-ruler being the basic four options for most mages, though which are better depends on their specialty. You're not locked into any one of these by any means, but most activities fall under one of these auspices), your specialty does make some easier, and some harder.
Bladebound are amazing sword wizards. Projecting edges of a blade, making a strike have unnatural sharpness or power - these are low-level Bladebound stuff. They're also top-tier exploration mages, because they don't tire in the same way other mages do. Their fundamental limitation is their physical fitness, and that's much easier to improve than magical strength. Their disadvantages are more that they don't offer a lot of mass offense or defense, but if you're not protecting anyone else it's not a huge issue. They're one of the best 'go out and explore and kill things' school of magic that exists. For raw exploration and trading, Bladebound is great.
Fleshcrafters start as clerics and become more Tinker-like in the long term. If you're willing to be a little bit evil, you can make your subordinates horrifyingly powerful monsters (with limited lifespans - crafting flesh to last a long time is difficult and requires extensive experimentation), and if you're not you can generally pull together a pretty good party in the long-term. You can also reasonably go out and build your own weird town and level up subordinates to do your dirty work, spending most of your time and effort on your trustworthy lieutenants. It's an indirect magical speciality, but very powerful even outside of healing. The main disadvantage is that it takes more time than others, so you need to set up your stuff ahead of time. Fleshcrafter is good at everything bar Pit-diving, as long as you take time and effort to develop a retinue.
Tremorfeet are earth mages, part of what's called the Elemental Triad of earth, wind, and water. Essentially the three elements that can be manipulated en masse, though at the cost of precision and power at any given point. Wind is synergistically powerful (arrows being the obvious synergy, but there's airborne poisons from Vineweavers among other things as well), water is comparatively weak outside of rivers and lakes (though very powerful near them), and earth is very powerful in a logistical sense. Earth allows you to raise walls and buildings, dig huge trenches and set up avalanches as traps. It takes time to use, but it's a pretty powerful force to use against massed enemies. Tremorfeet are some of the best village-rulers, and city-defenders.
Keep in mind that while you can play however you want (exploration/Pit diving, trading, city-defender and village-ruler being the basic four options for most mages, though which are better depends on their specialty. You're not locked into any one of these by any means, but most activities fall under one of these auspices), your specialty does make some easier, and some harder.
Bladebound are amazing sword wizards. Projecting edges of a blade, making a strike have unnatural sharpness or power - these are low-level Bladebound stuff. They're also top-tier exploration mages, because they don't tire in the same way other mages do. Their fundamental limitation is their physical fitness, and that's much easier to improve than magical strength. Their disadvantages are more that they don't offer a lot of mass offense or defense, but if you're not protecting anyone else it's not a huge issue. They're one of the best 'go out and explore and kill things' school of magic that exists. For raw exploration and trading, Bladebound is great.
Fleshcrafters start as clerics and become more Tinker-like in the long term. If you're willing to be a little bit evil, you can make your subordinates horrifyingly powerful monsters (with limited lifespans - crafting flesh to last a long time is difficult and requires extensive experimentation), and if you're not you can generally pull together a pretty good party in the long-term. You can also reasonably go out and build your own weird town and level up subordinates to do your dirty work, spending most of your time and effort on your trustworthy lieutenants. It's an indirect magical speciality, but very powerful even outside of healing. The main disadvantage is that it takes more time than others, so you need to set up your stuff ahead of time. Fleshcrafter is good at everything bar Pit-diving, as long as you take time and effort to develop a retinue.
Tremorfeet are earth mages, part of what's called the Elemental Triad of earth, wind, and water. Essentially the three elements that can be manipulated en masse, though at the cost of precision and power at any given point. Wind is synergistically powerful (arrows being the obvious synergy, but there's airborne poisons from Vineweavers among other things as well), water is comparatively weak outside of rivers and lakes (though very powerful near them), and earth is very powerful in a logistical sense. Earth allows you to raise walls and buildings, dig huge trenches and set up avalanches as traps. It takes time to use, but it's a pretty powerful force to use against massed enemies. Tremorfeet are some of the best village-rulers, and city-defenders.
[x] You Aimed for the Orange Lighthouse
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
mind mage first, thunderfist second, for growth and mediation with others/the world.
alchemist third, water mage fourth for variety - water can hold potions, move us, and do large scale damage.
lol nvm not options fml
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- Location
- Virginia
[X] You Aimed for the Orange Lighthouse
- Location
- Straya
Mages from Yellow are significantly more numerous than those from Orange, due to accessibility differences between the two Lighthouses.
You often see Shaderunners passing through the city, occasionally a Spellthief, and you've never (to your knowledge) seen a Glimpse.
From Orange, you see Bladebound with caravans occasionally, Tremorfeet doing repairs on the wall every now and then, but you've never seen a Fleshcrafter.
- Location
- USA
I am pretty interested in Bladebound, mostly because I want to explore the world and the pit. I kind figured Shaderunner would be the best at that but now I wonder if there's places that are too dangerous for the Shaderunner to go that a Bladebound could.
Also seems like Bladebound and Thunderfist would be an amazing combo.
Also seems like Bladebound and Thunderfist would be an amazing combo.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
meh
it synergizes but they both aim for the same thing, and thus limit
complementary skills are better; synergy but minimal overlap
- Location
- Straya
And since, well, Orange took the lead, here are some arguments for Yellow.
Shaderunners are top-tier exploration mages ,and they're uniquely suited to defense in some ways - high-level Shaderunners can stealth others. That being said, sans stealth their combat abilities are regular human. They are excellent for stealing things out of the Pit, and for facilitating trade. Bladebound are very good at personal offense/defense, but their range and power limitation means that they're not great at defending others, as they have to get close to really max out their offensive powers. Shaderunners are sneakier and much, much better at keeping others from dying. The best Pit-descenders tend to be Shaderunners, though Bladebound are a close second. They're invaluable when it comes to trading, and also escort aspirants to the Orange Lighthouse, and sometimes the Blue when hired to do so. They're not really suited to a village-ruling or city-defending playstyle, though.
Glimpses have precog. This should be enough to convince anyone of their utility and versatility. Being able to predict which fights to take is huge, as well as predicting what enemies might do hours in advance. Glimpses can set up the battlefield to their liking, though they do suffer when surprised. They tend to defend cities (information has a multiplier effect), but they can reasonably do most things, though not much direct combat. They tend to need parties of other mages to be really effective, but given that Glimpses tend to stay in cities, a Glimpse willing to travel would have their choice of exploration parties or trade caravans. The best parallel is the Thinker from Worm, though without shard-induced confrontation. The Glimpse playstyle is inherently keeping your distance and orchestrating events, coupled with the occasional smug smile as your plan comes together.
Spellthieves are the traders. They can literally trade spells with one another, and carry healing or the like over to another city to barter for lightning or arrow-splitting or plant-growing. They're not great at exploration or descending into the Pit due to needing other mages to steal from, and they can't really rule villages as there are no other mages there, but as traders they shine, and as defenders they're solid. They can also store a lot of magic, so while their 'charge' depends entirely on other mages, a Spellthief can theoretically cast spells from sunup to sundown as long as they have enough in storage. Their playstyle is entirely different to other mages - other mages have limits and get tired as they approach them, Spellthieves can boost their limits tremendously by clever planning and trading.
Shaderunners are top-tier exploration mages ,and they're uniquely suited to defense in some ways - high-level Shaderunners can stealth others. That being said, sans stealth their combat abilities are regular human. They are excellent for stealing things out of the Pit, and for facilitating trade. Bladebound are very good at personal offense/defense, but their range and power limitation means that they're not great at defending others, as they have to get close to really max out their offensive powers. Shaderunners are sneakier and much, much better at keeping others from dying. The best Pit-descenders tend to be Shaderunners, though Bladebound are a close second. They're invaluable when it comes to trading, and also escort aspirants to the Orange Lighthouse, and sometimes the Blue when hired to do so. They're not really suited to a village-ruling or city-defending playstyle, though.
Glimpses have precog. This should be enough to convince anyone of their utility and versatility. Being able to predict which fights to take is huge, as well as predicting what enemies might do hours in advance. Glimpses can set up the battlefield to their liking, though they do suffer when surprised. They tend to defend cities (information has a multiplier effect), but they can reasonably do most things, though not much direct combat. They tend to need parties of other mages to be really effective, but given that Glimpses tend to stay in cities, a Glimpse willing to travel would have their choice of exploration parties or trade caravans. The best parallel is the Thinker from Worm, though without shard-induced confrontation. The Glimpse playstyle is inherently keeping your distance and orchestrating events, coupled with the occasional smug smile as your plan comes together.
Spellthieves are the traders. They can literally trade spells with one another, and carry healing or the like over to another city to barter for lightning or arrow-splitting or plant-growing. They're not great at exploration or descending into the Pit due to needing other mages to steal from, and they can't really rule villages as there are no other mages there, but as traders they shine, and as defenders they're solid. They can also store a lot of magic, so while their 'charge' depends entirely on other mages, a Spellthief can theoretically cast spells from sunup to sundown as long as they have enough in storage. Their playstyle is entirely different to other mages - other mages have limits and get tired as they approach them, Spellthieves can boost their limits tremendously by clever planning and trading.
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- Location
- USA
But Bladebound is mostly limited by your body. And Thunderfists let you shape your body beyond whats normally possible. Seems like it would be a multiplier at that point.
- Location
- Straya
It's sort of 50-50. Some monsters are better at detection, others at fighting. Bladebound tend to be limited by wounds, tiredness, etc. When it comes to the Pit, they need to keep fighting or retreat entirely - a Shaderunner can run away, stealth up and continue downwards, a Bladebound is going to want to bug out entirely in the same circumstance. They're very good at soloing stuff, but if they get hurt things can go downhill rapidly.
Conversely, a wounded Fireeyes with two broken arms is weak only in the sense that she needs someone else to spoon-feed her and wipe her butt, she can still kill a lot of people and/or Darklings.
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[X] You Aimed for the Yellow Lighthouse