Whistling Past Ragnarok (Viking Cultivation Quest)
- Thread starter ChaosCircle
- Start date
- Original
-
- Tags
- cultivation ragnarok vikings
DarkLight140
Credit to Team
- Location
- Lost in my thoughts
[x] Greenskins (Harg Khaganate)
After reading the action economy rules, it's got to be this one. A single action spent raiding these guys will leave us with three actions remaining- and we need those extra actions for key things, most notably Cultivation (since in any cultivation genre powering up is essential) but we'll probably need to go Trading on a regular basis to turn Loot into useful stuff. If the raid goes well and we're feeling aggressive, we could even use our remaining actions to launch a second raid against another target before the season is out!
Aside from that, they've got the second-highest available Loot, explicitly benefit our Cultivation due to the plentiful targets available, and even with their two autosuccesses have few enough dice that they average well under our expected rolls (expected successes 4 compared to our expected 5.5). They seem clearly the best choice to me.
After reading the action economy rules, it's got to be this one. A single action spent raiding these guys will leave us with three actions remaining- and we need those extra actions for key things, most notably Cultivation (since in any cultivation genre powering up is essential) but we'll probably need to go Trading on a regular basis to turn Loot into useful stuff. If the raid goes well and we're feeling aggressive, we could even use our remaining actions to launch a second raid against another target before the season is out!
Aside from that, they've got the second-highest available Loot, explicitly benefit our Cultivation due to the plentiful targets available, and even with their two autosuccesses have few enough dice that they average well under our expected rolls (expected successes 4 compared to our expected 5.5). They seem clearly the best choice to me.
[X] Ulaid
I have only read a cultivation story once. It was... weird af.
Yeah, it would be nice to have an informational explaining it (at least the basics).
I have only read a cultivation story once. It was... weird af.
- Location
- barking
[X] Greenskins (Harg Khaganate)
- Location
- Germany
[X] Greenskins (Harg Khaganate)
- Location
- Florida
Correct.
Alright, I'll try to write something up today.
[X] Greenskins (Harg Khaganate)
Cultivation and You
- Location
- Florida
Tiers of Cultivation
Black (24) (Immortal)
Red (21)
Brown (18)
Blue (15)
Purple (12)
Green (9)
Yellow (6)
Orange (3) <- next tier (+3 successes vs. White-tier Cultivators)
+7 Attribute Cap
+14 Skill Cap
30 Qi Cap
White (0) <- you are here
+5 Attribute Cap
+10 Skill Cap
20 Qi Cap
Cultivation Mechanic
Cultivation is a relatively simple beast at its heart. It is your ability to channel spirit energy combined with your opportunities to do so. When an opportunity arises (such as executing a goblin and drinking in his Qi), you roll to Channel that Qi into your dantian to cultivate some aspect of yourself. This is your main path forward as a bullshit Xianxia protagonist although it has its limits. The greater the disparity between your Tier and your victim's Tier, the greater the penalty you will have on this roll and at some point it will not be worth killing mooks to acquire spirit energy. (i.e. A Gold killing a mook is going to roll the test with -6 successes, twice the normal penalty.)
But let us say you did not have the Special Trait "Reaper" and had to do things the old fashion way. In that case, it is a full Action of Meditation and Seclusion where you spend your time drinking in the natural spirit energy of a location and channeling it into your dantian to purify it into usable Qi.
An Example Cultivation Check (without an Affinity, Aids, or Location modifiers):
+8 Channel, +5 Endurance = 13 Dice for the Channel Test
13D6E4 (rolz.org dice code) => 7 successes
You are a Tin level cultivator so you have no penalties to Cultivation. If you had been a Gold Tier cultivator, you would be penalized 3 successes due to the difficulty adjustment.
Seven successes converts into 7 XP towards one of the following options:
Well I have good news for you, young cultivator! There are ways to pump up these rookie numbers!
Affinity (+8)
With the right genetics, you might end up with an elemental affinity (or even luckier! 2!). You are one suck lucky fellow with your Volcano (Fire/Earth) affinity. This grants you a bonus to any cultivation action involving these specific elements. This is mainly useful for cultivating and using Techniques. In other words, it helps you increase your ranks in a specific spell.
Spiritual Locus (+3 to +30, only one location may be used per action)
Loci are a category of rare magical sites sought after by powerful cultivators to enhance their cultivation. An example of this is a lava vents where natural Fire Magic wells up from the depths of the Earth. They provide a bonus to all forms of cultivation due to the ambient spirit energy available at the site. In addition to that bonus, they usually have an Elemental Affinity associated with them. In the case of our lava vent, it would provide an extra 50% of its bonus towards Fire-based Techniques like your elemental affinity.
Spirit Stones (+3 to +30 per stone)
Spiritual stones are tools, frequently found as loot or traded for, that enable you to accelerate your own cultivation by consuming the spiritual energy contained within such a device. Technically, any magical object can be consumed in this manner although normally it is limited to spirit stones. These stones share the same color as the various tiers of cultivation they can be used at. It is from these stones that the tiers found their names. These stones are called the "currency of the Immortals" for the simple reason when one is buying (or selling) to a cultivator, it is these stones that are used as currency.
Black (24) (Immortal)
Red (21)
Brown (18)
Blue (15)
Purple (12)
Green (9)
Yellow (6)
Orange (3) <- next tier (+3 successes vs. White-tier Cultivators)
+7 Attribute Cap
+14 Skill Cap
30 Qi Cap
White (0) <- you are here
+5 Attribute Cap
+10 Skill Cap
20 Qi Cap
Cultivation Mechanic
Cultivation is a relatively simple beast at its heart. It is your ability to channel spirit energy combined with your opportunities to do so. When an opportunity arises (such as executing a goblin and drinking in his Qi), you roll to Channel that Qi into your dantian to cultivate some aspect of yourself. This is your main path forward as a bullshit Xianxia protagonist although it has its limits. The greater the disparity between your Tier and your victim's Tier, the greater the penalty you will have on this roll and at some point it will not be worth killing mooks to acquire spirit energy. (i.e. A Gold killing a mook is going to roll the test with -6 successes, twice the normal penalty.)
But let us say you did not have the Special Trait "Reaper" and had to do things the old fashion way. In that case, it is a full Action of Meditation and Seclusion where you spend your time drinking in the natural spirit energy of a location and channeling it into your dantian to purify it into usable Qi.
An Example Cultivation Check (without an Affinity, Aids, or Location modifiers):
+8 Channel, +5 Endurance = 13 Dice for the Channel Test
13D6E4 (rolz.org dice code) => 7 successes
You are a Tin level cultivator so you have no penalties to Cultivation. If you had been a Gold Tier cultivator, you would be penalized 3 successes due to the difficulty adjustment.
Seven successes converts into 7 XP towards one of the following options:
- Breakthrough: A Cultivator must prepare to breakthrough to the next tier of cultivation once their body reaches the limits of their current tier. Breakthrough attempts occur once you have filled the XP bar for a Breakthrough and will require a full action to complete. Since you are a bullshit Xianxia protagonist, these automatically succeed. If you were a lesser talent, you would need to roll for these and potentially be forced to start over from square 1 if you failed. For anyone wondering, NPCs have a Talent stat that represents their odds. Each point of Talent represents a 10% chance to breakthrough, further penalized by tier. The minimum for a NPC to become an Immortal is Talent: 9.
- For each Breakthrough, you gain a Foundation trait which is basically a new trait related to Cultivation and/or specific Elements and/or specific Techniques that boost your capabilities in that area. The broader the Foundation, the weaker the bonus.
- Spirit Cultivation: Increasing the spirit energy that can be contained within your dantian. This increases your Qi and allows you to perform supernatural feats of ability beyond the reach of mere mortals. You are capped at 20 Qi as a White level.
- Cultivate Attribute: You can cultivate a specific attribute, such as your Endurance or Intellect. This costs 5x as much as improving an individual skill rank but you get a +1 to multiple skills and possibly a wound or will box as well. You are capped at 5 (peak human performance) as a White level.
- Cultivate Skill: You can cultivate your ability to cultivate if you so desire. Or any skill for that matter. This converts the XP into ranks that move you forward in a given skill. However, the number of ranks you can have are capped at 10 as a White level cultivator.
- Cultivate Technique: You can cultivate specific supernatural techniques to improve your aptitude for them. For people used to Western Fantasy, it is probably easier to think of them as spells that you level. So like, you can have 10 ranks in Fireball and if they fail to Evade, well, you do damage accordingly. This is the narrowest application of cultivation as it applies strictly to the use of a single technique. The ranks you can hold in a specific technique are equal to your Skill Cap. So for a White Cultivator, that is 10 ranks.
Well I have good news for you, young cultivator! There are ways to pump up these rookie numbers!
Affinity (+8)
With the right genetics, you might end up with an elemental affinity (or even luckier! 2!). You are one suck lucky fellow with your Volcano (Fire/Earth) affinity. This grants you a bonus to any cultivation action involving these specific elements. This is mainly useful for cultivating and using Techniques. In other words, it helps you increase your ranks in a specific spell.
Spiritual Locus (+3 to +30, only one location may be used per action)
Loci are a category of rare magical sites sought after by powerful cultivators to enhance their cultivation. An example of this is a lava vents where natural Fire Magic wells up from the depths of the Earth. They provide a bonus to all forms of cultivation due to the ambient spirit energy available at the site. In addition to that bonus, they usually have an Elemental Affinity associated with them. In the case of our lava vent, it would provide an extra 50% of its bonus towards Fire-based Techniques like your elemental affinity.
Spirit Stones (+3 to +30 per stone)
Spiritual stones are tools, frequently found as loot or traded for, that enable you to accelerate your own cultivation by consuming the spiritual energy contained within such a device. Technically, any magical object can be consumed in this manner although normally it is limited to spirit stones. These stones share the same color as the various tiers of cultivation they can be used at. It is from these stones that the tiers found their names. These stones are called the "currency of the Immortals" for the simple reason when one is buying (or selling) to a cultivator, it is these stones that are used as currency.
- Location
- Florida
Votes close tomorrow night.
- Location
- Florida
[x] Greenskins (Harg Khaganate)
- Location
- Florida
Its either or. You can kill things for XP or you can just reflect for XP.
- Location
- Florida
I think the question was can we just absorb the qi gained from the reaper, or do we yave to "digest" it?
- Location
- Florida
You can just absorb the spirit energy gained from the Reaper.
They are not warhammer at all, I just like the name greenskins since it encompasses goblins/orcs/etc.