[ ] Recruit Esbern and Seija
[ ] Recruit Panoramia
[ ] Recruit Maximilian
[ ] Recruit Johann
Panoramia will be a tremendous help when it comes to farming, and Max is great for both writing our papers and for general tech stuff.
I'm inclined to get Johann out of here, since we can't trust him, and Esbern and Seija should be free to go with their new knight friends. Since we get two underlings per action spent delegating, it's only reasonable to go:
[X] Plan Cute Little Underlings
-[X] Recruit Panoramia
-[X] Recruit Maximilian
Edit: Adding the synonymous plan:
[X] Plan 2 wizards
[X] Take an active hand in the EIC
Having the EIC branch out into K8P would be a huge boon to the recovery effort, and would let us keep an eye on things to make sure Stirland doesn't collapse. Easily worth an action.
There's enough traits that I'll go with heavy approval voting.
New Trait:
[ ] Infiltrator: Nobody seems to guard anything well enough to keep you out. +2 Intrigue, +10 bonus to infiltration.
[ ] Scout: Sometimes the best weapon is knowing where everything is. +2 Intrigue, +20 to infiltrating all but the highest-security areas.
[ ] Assassin: Combat is easiest when the other person doesn't realize they're in it. +2 Intrigue, +40 bonus against unaware targets.
[ ] Avatar: You're growing worryingly familiar with being used as a conduit by deities. ???
[ ] Polyglot: Your time with the Dwarves has revealed that you have an ear for languages, and learn new languages much faster.
[ ] Marksman: Blackpowder is a wonderful thing. +2 Martial, +10 to attacks with blackpowder weapons.
[ ] Collegiate: They say managing Wizards is like herding cats. Herding cats isn't actually that difficult. Can manage three other wizards per action spent.
[ ] Magical Duellist: Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.
Changed Traits:
[ ] Wolf Familiar > Winter Wolf Familiar: Turns out Wolf is a late bloomer. Wolf will grow large enough to ride upon.
[ ] Brave > Daredevil: Runic protection, magical protection, magical healing... why are people scared of combat again? +2 Martial, immune to fear/terror effects.
[ ] Blooded > Campaigner: You've seen more than your share of battles. +2 Martial, +10 bonus to fighting alongside others.
[ ] Bureaucrat + Practical: Scholarship is just a specific form of paperwork. You can live with it. Combines the two traits, +2 Learning, remove penalty to writing papers yourself.
[ ] Practical > Collaborator: Though you still prefer fieldwork to paperwork, you've found that as long as someone else is doing the actual writing, you're capable of producing some amazing papers. +2 Learning, +20 bonus to dictating papers.
[ ] Practical > Hands On: Wait, you can just get other people to do the paperwork? Why didn't I think of this sooner? +1 Diplomacy, +1 Stewardship, +1 Martial, +1 Intrigue, -1 Learning, +10 bonus to insights developed 'in the field' (as opposed to careful laboratory study).
[ ] Windreader > Windsage: Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
[ ] Disdain for Sigmar > Polytheist: Your bitterness towards Sigmar has softened with time and distance. You're still not thrilled with him, but as long as his followers are coexisting with those of other Gods, you can deal with it. +1 Piety, removes anti-Sigmarite penalty except when dealing with Sigmarite supremacists and monotheists.
Infiltrator/Scout
Both of these are very similar: The same stat boost, and a bonus to infiltration. I like both - they encourage us to go around being sneaky, which I thoroughly enjoy.
Approved.
Assassin
+40 is
huge, and this allows us to take out incredibly tough targets.
Approved.
Avatar
This is enormous, and almost certainly only available because of the absurd recent circumstances. As votes get refined, this is what I'll be doing strategic voting to keep in the Top 2.
Extra Approved.
Polyglot
Eh. We're already most of the way to speaking Dwarven, and learning additional languages isn't likely to be critical.
Fail.
Marksman
If we were head ranger, I
might consider this, although even then we wouldn't use guns that much. As it is,
Fail.
Collegiate
Eh. Two per action seems fine? It's just uninspiring compared to several other options.
Fail.
Magical Duellist
Being especially good at counterspelling is nice, especially given the likelihood of Grey Seers skulking about.
Approved.
Winter Wolf Familiar
Hm. As a Winter Wolf, I imagine he'd be a lot more capable in terms of self-defense? Hilarious, but seems redundant with Shadowsteed. I'll wait for the lore masters to chime in.
Undecided.
Daredevil
Straight immunities are
always useful, and keeping a cool head under pressure is useful in any high-stakes situation, making this likely to give a bonus when we need one most.
Approved.
Campaigner
As head ranger, this would be great. As Court Wizard, we're not likely to fight much alongside others.
Fail.
Bureaucrat + Practical
It's not
that important to be able to write papers ourselves. In general, Mathilde hating papers is a neat little character quirk that I'm in favor of keeping.
Fail.
Practical > Collaborator
Writing papers is almost certainly the lowest stakes thing we'll be doing in K8P. Spending a trait on it seems silly.
Fail.
Hands On
If we weren't the Court Wizard, I'd be all over this - A net +4 to skills is huge by itself. Alas, we're the learning advisor, which means we're going to have to occasionally grit our teeth and do intensive lab research.
Fail.
Windsage
More information from our magic senses is amazing by itself, especially given our role as "weird shit specialist", but this also gives social benefits by letting us read emotions better.
Approved.
Polytheist
I
like Mathilde's disdain for Sigmar - it adds character. Combined with the opportunity cost, and this is a
Fail.
Collating this:
[X] Infiltrator:
Nobody seems to guard anything well enough to keep you out. +2 Intrigue, +10 bonus to infiltration.
[X] Scout:
Sometimes the best weapon is knowing where everything is. +2 Intrigue, +20 to infiltrating all but the highest-security areas.
[X] Assassin:
Combat is easiest when the other person doesn't realize they're in it. +2 Intrigue, +40 bonus against unaware targets.
[X] Avatar:
You're growing worryingly familiar with being used as a conduit by deities. ???
[X] Magical Duellist:
Anyone unwise enough to try to cast spells you don't want them to will quickly regret it. +2 Learning, +10 bonus to dispelling and inducing miscasts.
[X] Brave > Daredevil:
Runic protection, magical protection, magical healing... why are people scared of combat again? +2 Martial, immune to fear/terror effects.
[X] Windreader > Windsage:
Your magical senses see more than your normal ones. +2 Learning, even more able to see and understand emotion and magical effects in others.
[X] Return it with your thanks to the Bright College. +2 College Favour.
The more favors, the better.