To Shield the World (Warhammer High Elf Mage Quest)

[Karnax626]

You shall free their beasts. That, more than anything, will be your first goal. They have made slaves of those which you share the world with, and thrown all of reality out of balance and for that you cannot forgive them. More than your name, more than your pride, they sully the world itself, and all who live in the world you.

Yes, yes, that shall be the first thing you do.

Liberation of the beasts.

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Considering Vardanis has just made something of a breakthrough w.r.t. his capacity to use the Winds I don't feel like it's too urgent to progress another one just yet? I'm actually inclined towards something like the below plan.

[] Plan Proper Preparation
-[] Bits and Bobs 1AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 1AP
-[] The Art of Two 1AP
-[] The Cure 1AP
-[] Hometown Pride 1AP

It sets us up to complete the Cure Turn 6 with 3AP, and complete both Arts of in Turn 7.

Hometown Pride is there to take advantage of our new materials. I was considering 2AP before, but considering we spent 1AP on that Bladelord's sword and 2AP on the Phoenix King (for a Tier 2 and Tier 3 respectively), 1AP plus better mats should be fine.

The latter is partly because I want to craft something else, but also because considering the news we got about this new political challenger, I don't think we should hole up the entire turn doing research. Hometown Pride keeps our name in the public eye, allows us to flex on those damn Ellyrions, and let's us see what we can do with our newfound knowledge of the Winds.

 

[Dragonofelder]

Didn't Vardanis say at one point that the only Wind not associated with Asuryan was Ulgu?

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Sounds like something Ulgu would want you to think.

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

I am firmly against doing Hometown Pride at all, because it is frankly not something we need to do at all. We have a bevy of options that give us Chrace Standing without any penalties, unlike Hometown Pride. So why dash our head against it? I truly do not understand the need. If you want Chracians to talk about you, just do Arming the March.

[] Plan Second Heaven
-[] The Art of Two - 3 AP
-[] The Metaphor, the Mystic
--Azyr - 2 AP

The Art of Two I'd like to suggest over the Art of the Blade because the former brings about an obvious boost to our magical strength compared to the later, and if we want to be better equipped at dealing with the Temple, we would need that.

2 AP in Mystical Azyr would take us halfway to completion for the Trio of specialties, and possibly complement our attempts to study the Art of Two as well, as it is the opposite of Ghur, our best Wind. These two meld well enough that getting them together makes the most sense, to me at least.

[] Plan High Magic Prospector
-[] The Art of Two - 3 AP
-[] Bits and Bobs - 2 AP

A lot of people have been advocating crafting something for sometime now, and Bits and Bobs would give us the materials we need to actually do those stuff later. And the lack of materials has been referred to repeatedly in the quest, as well. Therefore, rectifying that would be a good idea in my eyes.

The reason I am suggesting involving 2 AP in Bits and Bobs is because we know we would be doing more and more crafting in the future, and getting more materials now would both make things easier for subsequent crafting turns and prolly allow our stock to last longer before we are inevitably forced to scavenge for materials again in the near future.


Though I'd personally prefer focusing a turn and half on training up our magic, I get some people are concerned about the political Storm brewing on the horizon. But I think we should also realize that this storm is not really new but has been brewing for some time, and the best way to weather it is to increase our strength, not just our popularity. If we aren't strong enough, being more popular wouldn't help if the Champion of Kurnous simply steamrolls us when we meet.

I get why people want to do the Art of the Blade now. I also want to do the Art of the Blade. Loremaster training is a goot thing, and we should get that, but considering that the primary challenge in front of us and our greatest strength are related to magic, I am not seeing how getting Sword training right now would actually help us in the short term.

 

[Voikirium]

(Btw @Voikirium what kind of Standing does Facing the Lions give? You didn't clarify there)

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Chrace, sorry.

 

[Andmeuths]

Hometown Pride is there to take advantage of our new materials. I was considering 2AP before, but considering we spent 1AP on that Bladelord's sword and 2AP on the Phoenix King (for a Tier 2 and Tier 3 respectively), 1AP plus better mats should be fine.

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Unfortunately, for me, Hometown pride is the reason why I cannot vote for your plan. If you are really determined to make enemies of the Ellyrions, why scrimp on one AP? As for me, I've no wish to deliberately add to the number of political enemies our PC courts, when the real enemy is the Druuchi and not our fellow Asurs.

I think if we go on a crafting spree that is taking sides and plunging straight into the muck of Ulthuani politics (and + /- standing actions with different faction represents this to me), it will be many, many turns before we will be able to refocus on actually becoming a better mage.

The Art of Two I'd like to suggest over the Art of the Blade because the former brings about an obvious boost to our magical strength compared to the later, and if we want to be better equipped at dealing with the Temple, we would need that.

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Edit: One more thing to note about Art of Two: if you really want to craft the good stuff in an Elven Craftsman-mage quest, multi-wind enchants is probably the play here. It allows us to be more creative with our enchantments.

 

[Karnax626]

I am firmly against doing Hometown Pride at all, because it is frankly not something we need to do at all. We have a bevy of options that give us Chrace Standing without any penalties, unlike Hometown Pride. So why dash our head against it? I truly do not understand the need. If you want Chracians to talk about you, just do Arming the March.

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The QM has said it gives us more standing and favours than other equivalent options, and like I said earlier I think the Crafting turns are cool and want to see more of them, but if people feel that strongly about it I can switch it for AtM.

The Art of Two I'd like to suggest over the Art of the Blade because the former brings about an obvious boost to our magical strength compared to the later, and if we want to be better equipped at dealing with the Temple, we would need that.

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[-] The Temple: In your efforts to hunt down the source of the monsters coming down from the Annuliis, you located something alright: an ancient temple to Asuryan, surrounded by the bodies of dead Druchii. It was protected by magic beyond your grasp, if not wholly your comprehension. (0/8-2 (Cardinal Azyr)=0/6, Locked until further personal development IE Loremaster or Archmage options)

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Advancing as a Loremaster is called out as being one of our potential options for unlocking the Temple, so either Art of the Blade involves more magic than the text implies or physical skills will also be useful. Either way it will help us prepare for it just as much as the Archmage option.

Unfortunately, for me, Hometown pride is the reason why I cannot vote for your plan. If you are really determined to make enemies of the Ellyrions, why scrimp on one AP? As for me, I've no wish to deliberately add to the number of political enemies our PC courts, when the real enemy is the Druuchi and not our fellow Asurs.

I think if we go on a crafting spree that is taking sides and plunging straight into the muck of Ulthuani politics (and + /- standing actions with different faction represents this to me), it will be many, many turns before we will be able to refocus on actually becoming a better mage.

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I never said we should plunge into the political scene. I had one free AP left in my plan and figured Hometown Pride gave us the biggest bang for our buck. I poked fun at snubbing the Ellyrions, but it was neither my primary goal nor do I think it'd be the end of the world.

Besides, I think it'd be a mistake to assume we can just avoid politics until we're ready to engage with it on our own terms. I'm not saying we stop being a mage and start attending court, I'm saying 1AP on improving our Standing might be beneficial for more than just personal gain.

 

[Andmeuths]

I never said we should plunge into the political scene. I had one free AP left in my plan and figured Hometown Pride gave us the biggest bang for our buck. I poked fun at snubbing the Ellyrions, but it was neither my primary goal nor do I think it'd be the end of the world.

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Hometown Pride is just going to drag us into a very silly slapfight between two Kingdoms that we are free to not get involved in. Even if we cannot avoid politics, I don't think seeking out trouble is the way to go, and throwing 1AP cavalierly into that slap fight basically is that. Pick your battles, this one to me is just unnecessary and the last thing I want is this leading to Ellyrion supporting the Champion of Khurunos.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

Hometown Pride is just going to drag us into a very silly slapfight between two Kingdoms that we are free to not get involved in. Even if we cannot avoid politics, I don't think seeking out trouble is the way to go, and throwing 1AP cavalierly into that slap fight basically is that. Pick your battles, this one to me is just unnecessary and the last thing I want is this leading to Ellyrion supporting the Champion of Khurunos.

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Yeah, this. I like the idea of a plan that starts us off on several things, but Hometown Pride kills it.

An alternative is:

[] Plan Nonpolitical Preparation
-[] Bits and Bobs 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 1AP
-[] The Art of Two 1AP
-[] The Cure 1AP

That seems more interesting, and I might well vote for it.

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

The QM has said it gives us more standing and favours than other equivalent options, and like I said earlier I think the Crafting turns are cool and want to see more of them, but if people feel that strongly about it I can switch it for AtM.

Advancing as a Loremaster is called out as being one of our potential options for unlocking the Temple, so either Art of the Blade involves more magic than the text implies or physical skills will also be useful. Either way it will help us prepare for it just as much as the Archmage option.

I never said we should plunge into the political scene. I had one free AP left in my plan and figured Hometown Pride gave us the biggest bang for our buck. I poked fun at snubbing the Ellyrions, but it was neither my primary goal nor do I think it'd be the end of the world.

Besides, I think it'd be a mistake to assume we can just avoid politics until we're ready to engage with it on our own terms. I'm not saying we stop being a mage and start attending court, I'm saying 1AP on improving our Standing might be beneficial for more than just personal gain.

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I do realize that in terms of AP cost Hometown Pride does give us better Chrace Standing rewards, but on the whole it isn't worth it for me, because we can gain Chrace Standing far more easily than we can gain Ellyrion Standing, so trading the former for the later doesn't make much sense. We have three other actions available rn that give us Chrace Standing, too, after all.

As for the choice between the Loremaster and Archmage options, you are right, training in either is almost equal in value. I am just ranking Art of Two higher coz Vardanis does say the Temple is rich in the workings of Qhaysh. So I concluded that learning a bit of it probably the better option of the two.

Now I might be wrong, but I'd like to think that my approach does have some logic behind it.

An alternative is:

[] Plan Nonpolitical Preparation
-[] Bits and Bobs 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 1AP
-[] The Art of Two 1AP
-[] The Cure 1AP

That seems more interesting, and I might well vote for it.

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One reason I don't find it very efficient is that the Temple action says that completing any one of the two training options is good enough to get us into it, so doing both seems like a bit of inefficiency if we want to get into the Temple as soon as possible.

Considering our recent religious experience, I really do think that getting inside the Temple as soon as possible is the best choice we have. Getting some mechanical benefit from our new status as Touched/Chosen/Mantled/Champion of Asuryan should be real good.

 

[Andmeuths]

As for the choice between the Loremaster and Archmage options, you are right, training in either is almost equal in value. I am just ranking Art of Two higher coz Vardanis does say the Temple is rich in the workings of Qhaysh. So I concluded that learning a bit of it probably the better option of the two.

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Also, Art of Two opens the door to multi-wind enchantments. If you really want to craft cool stuff in an Asur Mage-Craftsman quest, that's where it's at. If the door is open to two enchantments per masterwork, the crafting permutations increase massively.

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

Also, Art of Two opens the door to multi-wind enchantments. If you really want to craft cool stuff in an Asur Mage-Craftsman quest, that's where it's at. If the door is open to two enchantments per masterwork, the crafting permutations increase massively.

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Once we do get the White Lion Pelt, I am all for enchanting it. I especially loved one suggestion that said we should try to combine the Premonition of Azyr with the Bestial Instincts of Ghur. Pretty sure it would lay a very stiff penalty against surprise attacks and assassinations against us, a significant danger when your most hated enemy are the Druchii.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

One reason I don't find it very efficient is that the Temple action says that completing any one of the two training options is good enough to get us into it, so doing both seems like a bit of inefficiency if we want to get into the Temple as soon as possible.

Considering our recent religious experience, I really do think that getting inside the Temple as soon as possible is the best choice we have. Getting some mechanical benefit from our new status as Touched/Chosen/Mantled/Champion of Asuryan should be real good.

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That'd defensible. I'm very leery of not taking the initial Loremaster option while we have the chance, and likewise a bit concerned about bouncing back and forth too much, that inclines me strongly to vote for plans that either complete The Art of the Blade immediately or go for completing both simultaneously.

The simultaneous plan is also maybe a one turn delay depending on what we do next turn...two turns at most. It's a delay, sure, but not a vast one, and it's very plausible we're talking a fair ways in the future for that anyway if it requires stuff beyond the basics (which it probably does).

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

That'd defensible. I'm very leery of not taking the initial Loremaster option while we have the chance, and likewise a bit concerned about bouncing back and forth too much, that inclines me strongly to vote for plans that either complete The Art of the Blade immediately or go for completing both simultaneously.

The simultaneous plan is also maybe a one turn delay depending on what we do next turn...two turns at most. It's a delay, sure, but not a vast one, and it's very plausible we're talking a fair ways in the future for that anyway if it requires stuff beyond the basics (which it probably does).

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Elves are known for being capricious. Switching between the two is not really a big thing, as far as I understand. And we would still have the chance to complete the Art of the Blade after we have taken the Art of Two.

And considering that the Temple is one of the really early discoveries, I don't think starting with it would gated behind too much effort. First layer should get us inside, at least.

 

[Karnax626]

I do realize that in terms of AP cost Hometown Pride does give us better Chrace Standing rewards, but on the whole it isn't worth it for me, because we can gain Chrace Standing far more easily than we can gain Ellyrion Standing, so trading the former for the later doesn't make much sense. We have three other actions available rn that give us Chrace Standing, too, after all.

As for the choice between the Loremaster and Archmage options, you are right, training in either is almost equal in value. I am just ranking Art of Two higher coz Vardanis does say the Temple is rich in the workings of Qhaysh. So I concluded that learning a bit of it probably the better option of the two.

Now I might be wrong, but I'd like to think that my approach does have some logic behind it.

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Fair enough.

For the Temple I'd kind of assumed there'd be more tests inside, some of which would be physical or combat related hence why Loremaster progression was called out as potentially being useful. Although then that wouldn't explain why it's calle out as being necessary just to unlock the Temple.
I do still want to complete both initial actions on the same turn, but I could be convinced to stagger completion by no more than one turn?

Turn 5: 2AP on Art of Two
Turn 6: 1AP each on Art of Two/Blade
Turn 7: 2AP on Art of the Blade
That lets us find out next turn if Art of Two alone is enough to unlock the Temple without overly delaying the Loremaster action.

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

Fair enough.

For the Temple I'd kind of assumed there'd be more tests inside, some of which would be physical or combat related hence why Loremaster progression was called out as potentially being useful. Although then that wouldn't explain why it's calle out as being necessary just to unlock the Temple.
I do still want to complete both initial actions on the same turn, but I could be convinced to stagger completion by no more than one turn?

Turn 5: 2AP on Art of Two
Turn 6: 1AP each on Art of Two/Blade
Turn 7: 2AP on Art of the Blade
That lets us find out next turn if Art of Two alone is enough to unlock the Temple without overly delaying the Loremaster action.

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Personally, I prefer doing things one thing at a time. So we can pushback Cure for a turn and instead invest more afterwards. Because if the Temple is unlocked, I believe most of the thread would want to do that anyway, so it would not really delay things whether we start it this turn or the next.

So I'd suggest

Turn 5 - Art of Two - 3 AP

If Temple Opens -
Turn 6 - 3 AP Temple, 2 AP Art of Blade
Turn 7 - 3 AP Temple, 1 AP Art of Blade, 1 AP Cure

Otherwise -
Turn 6 - 3 AP Cure, 2 AP Art of Blade
Turn 7 - 1 AP Cure, 1 AP Art of Blade

I'd also suggest investing 2 AP in Mystical Azyr to see it the whole thing sycns with the Art of Two. We wouldn't be needing crafting turns soon enough to actually need to Bits and Bobs this turn. Depending on the results, though, we can always do it on Turn 7 instead.

 

[Voikirium]

For the Temple I'd kind of assumed there'd be more tests inside, some of which would be physical or combat related hence why Loremaster progression was called out as potentially being useful. Although then that wouldn't explain why it's calle out as being necessary just to unlock the Temple.

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I plan on explaining it when you actually do it.

 

[Ashmaker]

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Bifurcated magic for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of Two 3AP

[] Plan Training to killing Druchii
-[] The Art of Two 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Swords and Runes for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Runestone 3AP

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Research for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 1AP
-[] A Cure 4AP

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

That SV thing happened where I hit enter while outside the writing box and this posted prematurely.

[] Plan Preparing to make a cool cape for looking good while killing Druchii
-[] Bits and Bobs 1AP
-[] Facing the Lions 4AP

[] Plan Looking into the stars for ways of killing Druchii
-[] The Metaphor, the Mystic - Azyr 2AP
-[] Cardinal Heavens 3AP

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Bifurcated magic for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of Two 3AP

[] Plan Training to killing Druchii
-[] The Art of Two 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Swords and Runes for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Runestone 3AP

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

[] Plan Research for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 1AP
-[] A Cure 4AP

[] Plan Swords for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 2AP
-[] The Art of the Blade 3AP

That SV thing happened where I hit enter while outside the writing box and this posted prematurely.

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One would be hard-pressed not to notice your dedication to Arm the Long March and Killing Druchii.

 

[Ashmaker]

One would be hard-pressed not to notice your dedication to Arm the Long March and Killing Druchii.

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I had more non-Arm the Long March plans, but like I said: it posted prematurely. I do think it's an underrated option, it's not as flashy as some of the personal development choices, but it's a great way of supporting the people defending our home, our people, and ultimately the entire world. And on that note:

[] Plan Arming others for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 5AP

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

I had more non-Arm the Long March plans, but like I said: it posted prematurely. I do think it's an underrated option, it's not as flashy as some of the personal development choices, but it's a great way of supporting the people defending our home, our people, and ultimately the entire world. And on that note:

[] Plan Arming others for killing Druchii
-[] Arming the March 5AP

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You could just edit the post and add the stuff that you missed.

And that much dedication is prolly overdoing it, and I am sure we don't really have that much material in our hand, either, to afford the effort. The result would, after all, depend on the materials available, too.

That's the reason most of the other plans advocate doing Bits and Bobs before any crafting actions, actually.

 

[Karnax626]

Personally, I prefer doing things one thing at a time. So we can pushback Cure for a turn and instead invest more afterwards. Because if the Temple is unlocked, I believe most of the thread would want to do that anyway, so it would not really delay things whether we start it this turn or the next.

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Cure is something I want to complete Turn 6 at the latest if possible.

I might be willing to do something like the below?
Turn 5: Art of Two x3, Cure x1, Art of the Blade x1
Turn 6: Cure x3, Art of the Blade x2

The issue is we still don't know if Bits and Bobs helps with actions that don't explicitly mention a Crafting turn.

 

[OzymandiasAgain]

Cure is something I want to complete Turn 6 at the latest if possible.

I might be willing to do something like the below?
Turn 5: Art of Two x3, Cure x1, Art of the Blade x1
Turn 6: Cure x3, Art of the Blade x2

The issue is we still don't know if Bits and Bobs helps with actions that don't explicitly mention a Crafting turn.

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This looks perfectly acceptable too, though I'd still like to remind you that if Art of Two unlocks the Temple, maybe most of the Thread will vote to unlock that.

And why do you feel the need to complete the Cure urgently?

 

[Ashmaker]

You could just edit the post and add the stuff that you missed.

And that much dedication is prolly overdoing it, and I am sure we don't really have that much material in our hand, either, to afford the effort. The result would, after all, depend on the materials available, too.

That's the reason most of the other plans advocate doing Bits and Bobs before any crafting actions, actually.

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Yeah, I did edit a couple in, will have to work on the rest later. And I admit that Arming others for killing Druchii is not a very serious plan.

The issue is we still don't know if Bits and Bobs helps with actions that don't explicitly mention a Crafting turn.

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I also assume that Bits and Bobs are just for Crafting turns, Arming the March is for making all the normal gear required for arming the March.

And why do you feel the need to complete the Cure urgently?

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Not the guy you asked, but I'm interested in The Cure because of how well it meshes with our newfound sense of purpose.

Yes, yes, that shall be the first thing you do.

Liberation of the beasts.

You lean back, mind full of thoughts of bursting open menageries full of suffering creatures…

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[OzymandiasAgain]

Not the guy you asked, but I'm interested in The Cure because of how well it meshes with our newfound sense of purpose.

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Well, I'd admit it is a good reason. But imo magical research and training should occupy a higher priority for us atm as we are facing increasingly more tasks that are locked because we don't have enough training. Getting better at magic would be necessary if we want to take forward the Cure. Right now, as it stands, completing it will only gives us the ability to cure mildly mutated beasts, so I'd say complete the training properly, enhance your magical know-how and then attack it in a stretch.

 

[Voikirium]

Bits and bobs get you crafting material that can be used for personal work or commissions and possibly something like Arming the Long March.