TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
[X] Angel
[X] Litanist
[X] Litanist
The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
Sadly, the reason why Angel and Masked are so far ahead is precisely because Litanist votes are split. To that end
[X] Litanist
Let us commit brothers. Do not sing in discord, but in a great concert. Cast away thy feathers and thy masks, and sing true.
So far it would seem there are six Litanies - Reaping, Reinforcement, Revelation, Reciprocity, Reassurance and Repulsion. This blurb focuses on Reaping/Reinofrcement combination, which is probably the strongest one in pure combat potential, however I would like to draw your attention to Revelation/Reciprocity combination. Revelation handles mental aspects and knowledge while Reciprocity handles sharing and connections.
These two should have notable synergy with the Street, Revelation to understand it better and Reciprocity to bind ourselves even more. By default Litanist is the choice most compatible with the Street, but even basic Litanist is likely to pale to Rec/Rev Litanist who can understand and bind themselves to the Street on level beyond anyone else. This promises are very clear and easy to execute plan - our deeper connections means better choices and potential rewards, and Revelation allows us to make good choices when it comes to risk management, backing out at right times and never overstepping our stay. Other builds might be stronger but this build aims to go beyond mere strength, to instead use wits and its connection to the Street with minimal risk on its part.
We would enter worlds not as vampire out to consume everything or angel ready to fold to slightest moral quandary, but as bard walking into yet another inn, amusing patrons and sharing some of their wealth before continuing ever onwards. With Revelation we can find things of interest and things to escape, and with Reciprocity we can find interesting magics and things we can borrow, then again use Revelation to study them. Better yet, this combo should be the most useful one for studying Litanies, and in turn our improved Litanies would allow us to understand the Street even more. The internal synergy of the choice is nothing if not evident.
One major downside would be that this build is weaker than other Litanist builds if we lost our wi-fi; yet with our deeper connection with the Street, with Reciprocity boosting the signal and with Revelation allowing us to understand which rooms are too many walls away from the router, we should be well equipped to deal with this basic issue Litanist share. So we continue onwards on the Street, not merely walking towards even greater power, but unlike other options, with specific goal of understanding and mastering the Street. Needless to say, Litanist is the choice that interacts the most with real plot of the story and RecRev is combination which enables this the most, so it would be fair to say that it is just the most optimal way to engage with this story.
Thus I would ask questers to settle down their difference and vote for Litanist, so we can together dive into mystery that is Street Where the Stones Speak.
Rihaku
The Internet
Opportunity cost. Cosseting the initial powerset is if anything even worse, to say nothing of potential compatibility issues. And whatever the nature of the Masked's injury, his existing powers haven't quickly solved it, which constrains the space of possible powers.
The main issue with Litanies would probably be Homework Quest. Their scaling mechanism is predefined and not very conducive to incentivizing adventure, which I'm personally fine with but the quester base in general seems to dislike. There are ways around this but it would require Birdsie to contort the space of adventure rewards.
Wouldn't emphasis on Street connection largely remedy that though? By making our connection with Street our main progression, potential rewards become much more diverse. We are not bound to what Litanies can provide, but the bounty of Street itself is at our fingertips - a wealth of lore only this option can hope to grasp, companions that are allowed to travel with us, new Litanies, artifacts and so forth.
Three points on why the argument that 'Litanist = Homework Quest" is incorrect:
- It is more than likely that the Litanist starts with more than some books on their chosen Litanies on themselves (there are so many to make internal/external hammerspaces for a Litanist that I won't list them all) but they won't have easy access to Dominion libraries. This influences the amount of time that can be spent on boring homeworks simply because there are so many accessible pages.
- Parallel to the above, Litanists are singers - they do not merely read on how to vocalize the words to Reap souls out of people, they put them in practice. Due to theoretical limitations listed above, 'Homework' will be spent more on actual application of Litanies to see what can be done with them (creation of Artifacts, aforementioned Reaping, reading people through Revelation or Reciprocity, etc.) - an activity which is both more engaging than dry texts and not dissimilar from, say, foraging materials for Masks to see which are better for which effects.
- While the two points above can be constructed as a downside for Litanist, that is only true within the boundaries of the Dominion. The Street gives access to out-of-context solutions that aren't present there, allowing for unexpected developments - which are, once again, much more interesting to read than simply 'and then you studied for 36 years how to YEET people into oblivion'.
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
Can we have the same infos for Angel and Masked?
- Location
- washington
I mean your wrong just from the fact there is an action economy like the fact is Birdsie doesn't do daily updates so expecting us to be able to manage masks of different varieties, gather new masks, then wear and role play in said masks makes things largely varied in what we can do throughout updates. The way I think things are gonna go down is we are gonna get a mask we hardly ever use, we are only going to be able to do so many things so our masks won't progress that well, and I doubt there will be many time skips for mask related FaceTime to shine and get us progress in each individual mask.
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- Location
- not doing my homework
- Pronouns
- He/They
I FUCKING KNEW GRIEVER WENT HARD
- Location
- washington
I mean I never disliked the power set I just don't wanna be a sad boi again. Though the idea of ending up in heaven realm or something would of been hilarious as the griever.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
I'm pretty sure you are the only other person to have stated that Being the Poofy Poof is why you are voting for Angel, and I'm happy to no longer be alone.
Also, damn, Greiver is even cooler than I thought, that denial-of-bad-fate power is awesome, and I'm glad I chose to vote for them too.
Power Samples (Angel, Masked)
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Since it was requested, here are some samples for the remaining two options.
Angel
The Angel's starting abilities are easily the broadest of them all - your god saw no reason to arbitrarily limit what servitor spirits should be able to accomplish - albeit with the caveat of being the most difficult and complicated to develop; advancement requires faith, and faith is not always equally 'nutritious' from all mortals on all the worlds you'll encounter. Even in an average scenario, one mortal's constant prayer can only sustain very minor miracles; a system of accumulation is the first roadblock you must overcome. Not to mention founding a stable cult that'll provide returns even after you've moved down the Street.
With that in mind, there are maybe two prevailing 'spiritual architectures' for angels on Shekhinah, optimized for different aims:
Bearer - A divine 'transmitter' of faith, your task was to metaphorically bridge the earth and heavens, and deliver mortal prayers to Shekhinah. Your faith harvest is more efficient and reliable on all worlds; you can 'get more bang' out of moderately less fuel. You also have very minor faith storage and transferal capabilities; theoretically capable of giving out blessings. Other abilities are mild and unimpressive, relative to an average angel; some empathic, telepathic and mind-reading talents, faster flight than the average, but also worse physical attributes (comparable to a baseline mortal.) Other miracles are standard, as per main description.
*Pathetic start, moderately better mid-term potential.
Guardian - A member of heaven's garrison, tasked with overseeing the vast darkness and making sure no outsiders and devils mar Shekhinah's perfect paradise. In return for almost nonexistent social interaction skills (you're not sure you've ever seen a mortal from any closer than a kilometer), your attributes and senses are downright supernal; several degrees into the superhuman spectrum, capable of outrunning a car, easily denting steel with a punch, and resisting similar physical impositions. You can more easily channel faith energy into combat-oriented miracles such as smiting light and flame.
On the other hand, you basically suck at everything else.
*Massively better starting power, adaptability.
There are more builds than what's outlined above, of course; your average angel is essentially a glorified emotional support animal with all sorts of cantrip-esque capabilities meant to aid mortals in everyday life, as well as the occasional more profound miracle. You can aim for an average or median specimen to get the highest diversity possible, or approach it from different... angles. (Heh.)
Masked
All masks start with only mildly supernatural capabilities if not even capabilities you could replicate with modern Earth technology or skills, although starting powers can often be dramatically improved with better materials or superlative design implementation, and progression can be slightly to moderately accelerated with the same. The real deciding factor is facetime; how long a mask's been worn and allowed to develop its identity. For instance, some masks are passed down family lines, although this can sometimes be complicated, since as a mask develops its own identity, it may, too, start to refuse certain bearers.
Accepting Fixation provides dramatic boons and improvements, although comes with some associated mental contamination (mask identity starts to seep into your own, and eventually fuses with you at Final Fixation) and makes the mask harder to remove, both physically and psychologically; in extreme cases, masks might have to be scraped off in a manner that cuts off flesh from the victim's face as well. Post-Final Fixation mask-wearers can be terrifically strong, even if the mask's facetime is inferior to others.
It's worth noting that "facetime" here refers not only to how long a mask's been worn on one's face, but also how many 'significant events' it experienced; development of identity isn't simply a process of wearing a mask constantly; it must experience the world.
Here are a couple of samples (at different facetimes) to whet your appetite. You'll generally start at some point on the gradient between Low and Mid Facetime, although closer to the latter, unless you take multiple masks with you (which reduces facetime for each), or unless you accept some degree of Fixation (which enhances effectiveness.)
Mask: Dark Lord
Low Facetime: Attributes are debatably superhuman, although not to an extensive or impressive degree. Experienced manipulation and intimidation skills, comparable to a mid-rank member of a secret police organization. Can instead develop mild seductive charisma.
Mid Facetime: Can endure small-arms fire with ease, shatter a steel plate with a single punch, and run at the speed of a rushing car. Can telepathically penetrate people's minds if within a reasonable vicinity, reading the contents of their memories and thoughts and suborning the weak-minded to one's will; secret police skills are near-supernal, capable of enforcing dread upon a helpless population. Can seduce even the strong-willed with honeyed promises, if their vulnerabilities are known. Can summon a heavy suit of thematic articulated plate armor that vastly enhances durability and reduces the impact of enemy blows, at the cost of agility and flexibility. Mild umbramancy.
High Facetime: Can send a main battle tank flying with a contemptuous slap, shrug off a sustained attack from a group of the same, and move fast enough that mortal eyes can barely track you. Armor is now a permanent feature while the mask is worn, although the agility and flexibility penalties are significantly reduced; can be overloaded instead to return the penalties, but gain near-invincibility and absurd skyscraper-crushing tyrannic strength. Can shroud an entire city in a veil of conceptual terror, dominating minds utterly and near-incurably. Moderately advanced umbramancy, including shadow constructs and servitor spirits. Increased risk of Fixation.
Mask: Suspicious Masked Mask Salesman
Low Facetime: Improved bartering and social skills, comparable to a talented and charismatic merchant with at least a decade of experience. Upon seeing an individual, can more easily match them to an 'appropriate' mask in one's repertoire that'd serve them well.
Mid Facetime: Bartering is now downright supernatural, capable of swaying even strongly skeptical and biased customers to at least give some of your products a try before seriously committing to a negative preconception of your business. Gain a pocket space in an enlarged backpack that can hold effectively limitless masks, or thrice the apparent external volume of any other form of matter. In cases where one's business is under attack or investigation by the law, gain mildly superhuman agility and the ability to pack all relevant items in half the time. If a customer is matched to a mask successfully, their Fixation thresholds are farther apart (unless desireable.)
High Facetime: Can now successfully barter and complete trades even with eldritch abominations who are generally indifferent - or potentially even somewhat hostile - to human beings, and in alien languages (only for the purposes of trade; friendly socializing is not covered.) Can always extract maximum value from all trades, or ensure maximal customer satisfaction or return rates, or any one other central parameter to a business dealing. Agility, packing, and unpacking are improved and permanent now. The pocket space doesn't require a backpack as a focus anymore, but continuing to wear one makes you look objectively less untrustworthy for whatever reason.
Angel
The Angel's starting abilities are easily the broadest of them all - your god saw no reason to arbitrarily limit what servitor spirits should be able to accomplish - albeit with the caveat of being the most difficult and complicated to develop; advancement requires faith, and faith is not always equally 'nutritious' from all mortals on all the worlds you'll encounter. Even in an average scenario, one mortal's constant prayer can only sustain very minor miracles; a system of accumulation is the first roadblock you must overcome. Not to mention founding a stable cult that'll provide returns even after you've moved down the Street.
With that in mind, there are maybe two prevailing 'spiritual architectures' for angels on Shekhinah, optimized for different aims:
Bearer - A divine 'transmitter' of faith, your task was to metaphorically bridge the earth and heavens, and deliver mortal prayers to Shekhinah. Your faith harvest is more efficient and reliable on all worlds; you can 'get more bang' out of moderately less fuel. You also have very minor faith storage and transferal capabilities; theoretically capable of giving out blessings. Other abilities are mild and unimpressive, relative to an average angel; some empathic, telepathic and mind-reading talents, faster flight than the average, but also worse physical attributes (comparable to a baseline mortal.) Other miracles are standard, as per main description.
*Pathetic start, moderately better mid-term potential.
Guardian - A member of heaven's garrison, tasked with overseeing the vast darkness and making sure no outsiders and devils mar Shekhinah's perfect paradise. In return for almost nonexistent social interaction skills (you're not sure you've ever seen a mortal from any closer than a kilometer), your attributes and senses are downright supernal; several degrees into the superhuman spectrum, capable of outrunning a car, easily denting steel with a punch, and resisting similar physical impositions. You can more easily channel faith energy into combat-oriented miracles such as smiting light and flame.
On the other hand, you basically suck at everything else.
*Massively better starting power, adaptability.
There are more builds than what's outlined above, of course; your average angel is essentially a glorified emotional support animal with all sorts of cantrip-esque capabilities meant to aid mortals in everyday life, as well as the occasional more profound miracle. You can aim for an average or median specimen to get the highest diversity possible, or approach it from different... angles. (Heh.)
Masked
All masks start with only mildly supernatural capabilities if not even capabilities you could replicate with modern Earth technology or skills, although starting powers can often be dramatically improved with better materials or superlative design implementation, and progression can be slightly to moderately accelerated with the same. The real deciding factor is facetime; how long a mask's been worn and allowed to develop its identity. For instance, some masks are passed down family lines, although this can sometimes be complicated, since as a mask develops its own identity, it may, too, start to refuse certain bearers.
Accepting Fixation provides dramatic boons and improvements, although comes with some associated mental contamination (mask identity starts to seep into your own, and eventually fuses with you at Final Fixation) and makes the mask harder to remove, both physically and psychologically; in extreme cases, masks might have to be scraped off in a manner that cuts off flesh from the victim's face as well. Post-Final Fixation mask-wearers can be terrifically strong, even if the mask's facetime is inferior to others.
It's worth noting that "facetime" here refers not only to how long a mask's been worn on one's face, but also how many 'significant events' it experienced; development of identity isn't simply a process of wearing a mask constantly; it must experience the world.
Here are a couple of samples (at different facetimes) to whet your appetite. You'll generally start at some point on the gradient between Low and Mid Facetime, although closer to the latter, unless you take multiple masks with you (which reduces facetime for each), or unless you accept some degree of Fixation (which enhances effectiveness.)
Mask: Dark Lord
Low Facetime: Attributes are debatably superhuman, although not to an extensive or impressive degree. Experienced manipulation and intimidation skills, comparable to a mid-rank member of a secret police organization. Can instead develop mild seductive charisma.
Mid Facetime: Can endure small-arms fire with ease, shatter a steel plate with a single punch, and run at the speed of a rushing car. Can telepathically penetrate people's minds if within a reasonable vicinity, reading the contents of their memories and thoughts and suborning the weak-minded to one's will; secret police skills are near-supernal, capable of enforcing dread upon a helpless population. Can seduce even the strong-willed with honeyed promises, if their vulnerabilities are known. Can summon a heavy suit of thematic articulated plate armor that vastly enhances durability and reduces the impact of enemy blows, at the cost of agility and flexibility. Mild umbramancy.
High Facetime: Can send a main battle tank flying with a contemptuous slap, shrug off a sustained attack from a group of the same, and move fast enough that mortal eyes can barely track you. Armor is now a permanent feature while the mask is worn, although the agility and flexibility penalties are significantly reduced; can be overloaded instead to return the penalties, but gain near-invincibility and absurd skyscraper-crushing tyrannic strength. Can shroud an entire city in a veil of conceptual terror, dominating minds utterly and near-incurably. Moderately advanced umbramancy, including shadow constructs and servitor spirits. Increased risk of Fixation.
Mask: Suspicious Masked Mask Salesman
Low Facetime: Improved bartering and social skills, comparable to a talented and charismatic merchant with at least a decade of experience. Upon seeing an individual, can more easily match them to an 'appropriate' mask in one's repertoire that'd serve them well.
Mid Facetime: Bartering is now downright supernatural, capable of swaying even strongly skeptical and biased customers to at least give some of your products a try before seriously committing to a negative preconception of your business. Gain a pocket space in an enlarged backpack that can hold effectively limitless masks, or thrice the apparent external volume of any other form of matter. In cases where one's business is under attack or investigation by the law, gain mildly superhuman agility and the ability to pack all relevant items in half the time. If a customer is matched to a mask successfully, their Fixation thresholds are farther apart (unless desireable.)
High Facetime: Can now successfully barter and complete trades even with eldritch abominations who are generally indifferent - or potentially even somewhat hostile - to human beings, and in alien languages (only for the purposes of trade; friendly socializing is not covered.) Can always extract maximum value from all trades, or ensure maximal customer satisfaction or return rates, or any one other central parameter to a business dealing. Agility, packing, and unpacking are improved and permanent now. The pocket space doesn't require a backpack as a focus anymore, but continuing to wear one makes you look objectively less untrustworthy for whatever reason.
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K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Griever
[X] Masked
[X] Masked
- Location
- washington
I mean in fairness angels evolve and I doubt the mask stuff is what we will fully end up with by the end of this quest either.Coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb of power blurbs
How would switching masks work mechanically? Would we have to specifically add to votes/plans between turns that we want to switch or could we automate it by deciding what masks are meant for what situations?
Character should be capable enough to put appropriate masks as they are needed i.e. if they have trading, combat, sneaking and travel masks, they won't put combat one when trading and so on unless there is some reason to.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
It'd depend on the situation; if a case obviously calls for a swap (you are not wearing a mask, entering combat, and have a combat mask = obviously put on the combat mask) you'd do it automatically; if there's any blurriness, it depends on how uncertain the character would be about doing it.
Khona Moshr
Pink Flamingo Cabal Healer(they/them)
- Location
- Alabama
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Angel
I like the idea of just trying to do good.
I like the idea of just trying to do good.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Addressing peoples concerns about action economy and crafting when it comes to masks.
Birdsie has established that developing a mask takes a combination of wearing it and essentially doing narratively interesting things wearing it. Especially doing narratively interesting things with it. There's only so much time that can be fit into a day.
Which is why I propose if Masked wins, that we Final Fixate on one mask or get 2-3 masks for ourselves and only craft masks for potential party members. It's completely possible to have multiple masks at chargen. We could theoretically not have to make any masks for ourselves all quest if we plan correctly.
Birdsie has established that developing a mask takes a combination of wearing it and essentially doing narratively interesting things wearing it. Especially doing narratively interesting things with it. There's only so much time that can be fit into a day.
Which is why I propose if Masked wins, that we Final Fixate on one mask or get 2-3 masks for ourselves and only craft masks for potential party members. It's completely possible to have multiple masks at chargen. We could theoretically not have to make any masks for ourselves all quest if we plan correctly.
- Location
- Louisiana
Yeah so like I said, the higher power levels are dependent on accepting mental contamination. Angel has no issues with this. Rather than dealing with that headache, just pick the thing that is straightforward on power growth.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
It's not like we the voters are the ones suffering mental contamination. And if the mental contamination is voluntarily acquired, is that not a characterization decision in its own right? Just pick masks we don't find overly noxious in the psychological side effects.