I will become God-Harem King of the World! [Highschool DxD/Exalted] (CLOSED)

[Eler0]

What? Do Charisma and Appearance do the same Thing in Exalted? What is the difference in effect/use? Also, won't People notice if we suddenly become inhumanly beautiful over night?

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From what I've been able to pick up through osmosis, it works like this
1 dot in Charisma gives us 1 more dice to roll, which on average means 0.5 successes
1 dot in Appearance lowers the amount of successes we have to roll by 1 to convince someone while also increasing the amount necessary for other people to convince us by 1, so it's more powerful and also used defensively.

They would probably notice when we suddenly become incredibly beautiful, but I'm willing to take the risk in exchange for SOLAR SOCIAL FU.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

[X] Three Dots into Appearance, 1 Dot into Charisma

Okay, changed my vote. This makes sense to me and can go to all kinds of shenanigans. How likely is it for us to run into someone with a similar or bigger amount of dots then 5 in Appearance anyway?

 

[Smuthunter]

[X] Three Dots into Appearance, 1 Dot into Charisma

Okay, changed my vote. This makes sense to me and can go to all kinds of shenanigans. How likely is it for us to run into someone with a similar or bigger amount of dots then 5 in Appearance anyway?

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Short of a Lunar or an Alchemical showing up out of nowhere the odds of meeting someone with appearance 6 or higher are essentially nil.

 

[Nervaqus987]

The halving of power levels thing can be countered by boosting with Ddraig, but Albion also absorbs the power he divides. In canon, Issei got around this by boosting faster than Albion could divide him after Azazel made the crack about Half Dimension cutting Rias's bust size in half, but I don't think the current mechanics have allowances for going from a five boost maximum to about 30 boosts in ten seconds.

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We've got Integrity Protecting Prana.

That shuts down a whole wide swath of hax outright.

That might be where Holy damage comes in handy though; Issei smashed up Albion pretty badly and forced Vali to regenerate it, but aggravated damage won't heal any way that isn't natural.

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The problem is that we've only got Dex 3 and no combat abilities at all.

Being able to inflict Agg damage is nice and all, but it wont mean a damn thing if we can't actually hit him.

 

[Smuthunter]

We've got Integrity Protecting Prana.

That shuts down a whole wide swath of hax outright.

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Ahah, good point. I'd forgotten about our charm selections.

The problem is that we've only got Dex 3 and no combat abilities at all.

Being able to inflict Agg damage is nice and all, but it wont mean a damn thing if we can't actually hit him.

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In that case we had better prioritize learning magic from Rias and Akeno ASAP, since we're not going to be able to tap the Terrestrial Circle of our Exalted magic until we have a boatload of EXP and training time to throw at Essence 3, the initiation, and the individual spells.

 

[protoss16]

Well it seems the 2.5 anima power twilight is really useful in this setting.

 

[Alexander]

For the training part, here the time required can be reduced with Training from Hell (meaning if you dedicate more than a certain amount of time for day to a subject the learning will go faster.

So Appearance and Charisma? The majority is the majority, but 4 Attribute dots cost 16 Bonus Points, leaving you with only 2. Are you sure?

 

[protoss16]

Does anyone know where Pipeman is?

 

[Nervaqus987]

In that case we had better prioritize learning magic from Rias and Akeno ASAP, since we're not going to be able to tap the Terrestrial Circle of our Exalted magic until we have a boatload of EXP and training time to throw at Essence 3, the initiation, and the individual spells.

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Yeah, about that.

Why exactly would Rias and Akeno teach us magic?

In canon, they did so because Issei was a member of Rias's peerage, so of course they'd teach him. However, we're not a member of her peerage here.

Add to that is the detail that we probably can't become a Devil anymore. It took all Eight of Rias's Pawns to reincarnate Issei when he was a bog standard human with the Boosted Gear. Now, we're a Solar Exalt with the Boosted Gear, meaning it's probably beyond the power of the Evil Piece system to reincarnate us.

And even if it were possible? We'd probably lose the Exaltation as it pops out to look for a proper human host.

We may be able to ask them to teach us magic as the request of summoning them as Devils, but I'm not really sure what we've got to pay them with that would equal the cost of it.

 

[protoss16]

Shouldn't we be able to analyze any magic in this setting and be able to use due to the twilight anima power.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Yeah, about that.

Why exactly would Rias and Akeno teach us magic?

In canon, they did so because Issei was a member of Rias's peerage, so of course they'd teach him. However, we're not a member of her peerage here.

Add to that is the detail that we probably can't become a Devil anymore. It took all Eight of Rias's Pawns to reincarnate Issei when he was a bog standard human with the Boosted Gear. Now, we're a Solar Exalt with the Boosted Gear, meaning it's probably beyond the power of the Evil Piece system to reincarnate us.

And even if it were possible? We'd probably lose the Exaltation as it pops out to look for a proper human host.

We may be able to ask them to teach us magic as the request of summoning them as Devils, but I'm not really sure what we've got to pay them with that would equal the cost of it.

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We could ask Abe-Sempai if she knows any good teachers and if she can give us the basics. Seriously, there have to be magical schools or something like that. There is an entire faction of magicians. Why do we have to go to the Devils and follow Canon anyway? Go off and look for some local Yokai, maybe study whatever magic onmyouji use or something like that. Barriers, purification and Shikigami Sound like some interesting Areas. We probably cannot use the inherent abilities like Devils anyway and will need to calculate the local magic in our head like non-devil magic users.

Maybe we can go and get ourselves hired by the government? They are probably Aware of the supernatural.

 

[Nervaqus987]

Shouldn't we be able to analyze any magic in this setting and be able to use due to the twilight anima power.

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Yes, even if we are hampered by our utter lack of Occult and low Int, we're still getting 3 auto successes thanks to our Anima.

However, the analyze part keys off of Essence sight, which we don't have.

 

[Smuthunter]

Yeah, about that.

Why exactly would Rias and Akeno teach us magic?

In canon, they did so because Issei was a member of Rias's peerage, so of course they'd teach him. However, we're not a member of her peerage here.

Add to that is the detail that we probably can't become a Devil anymore. It took all Eight of Rias's Pawns to reincarnate Issei when he was a bog standard human with the Boosted Gear. Now, we're a Solar Exalt with the Boosted Gear, meaning it's probably beyond the power of the Evil Piece system to reincarnate us.

And even if it were possible? We'd probably lose the Exaltation as it pops out to look for a proper human host.

We may be able to ask them to teach us magic as the request of summoning them as Devils, but I'm not really sure what we've got to pay them with that would equal the cost of it.

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Assuming we don't become part of Rias's peerage we can still trade favors in exchange for tutoring. And I'm not certain we couldn't become a devil in the first place; it's not immediately clear whether devils have a different kind of soul from humans or whether the differences are mainly physical in nature, so the details are up to Alexander. The point about Rias's pawns is a valid one but it's also possible the evil piece system simply can't register the power difference; we are supposed to be a complete OCP for the setting, so the pieces may not know what to do with us either. Best case scenario, Rias's pawns mutate into a king upon contact with Solar essence and everyone but Issei goes "oh god, what the fuck."

We could ask Abe-Sempai if she knows any good teachers and if she can give us the basics. Seriously, there have to be magical schools or something like that. There is an entire faction of magicians. Why do we have to go to the Devils and follow Canon anyway?

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Because that's where the harem and all the other interesting stuff is. Anything else would be Alexander's own world-building, and no offense to the guy but I signed up for a DxD/Exalted quest, not Exalted/Original with a handful of DxD side characters hanging around.

 

[P_D]

Assuming we don't become part of Rias's peerage we can still trade favors in exchange for tutoring. And I'm not certain we couldn't become a devil in the first place; it's not immediately clear whether devils have a different kind of soul from humans or whether the differences are mainly physical in nature, so the details are up to Alexander. The point about Rias's pawns is a valid one but it's also possible the evil piece system simply can't register the power difference; we are supposed to be a complete OCP for the setting, so the pieces may not know what to do with us either. Best case scenario, Rias's pawns mutate into a king upon contact with Solar essence and everyone but Issei goes "oh god, what the fuck."

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I would like to point out canon Issei took all 8 pawns and 4 of them became mutation pieces later on.
The range of what Evil Pieces can reincarnate is limited to humans and supernatural beings. They can't be used on gods and such, which is what we may be classified as.
Even if we can become a devil, I'm not sure if that's something we want to do. While it would give us Gremory house's backing, it would also limit our activities, not to mention the weakness to holy things.
I feel like we may be better off building our own following, which would not only include Rias' peerage but also characters that are not part of it.

 

[Smuthunter]

Even if we can become a devil, I'm not sure if that's something we want to do. While it would give us Gremory house's backing, it would also limit our activities, not to mention the weakness to holy things.
I feel like we may be better off building our own following, which would not only include Rias' peerage but also characters that are not part of it.

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Well there's a problem with that: why would we?

At this point Issei still has the mentality of an ordinary high school student. His one aspiration is getting his harem, not taking over the world or learning magic or anything like that. Currently he's surrounded by human girls, who may find him highly attractive once we're done boosting his Appearance but probably will not be open to the idea of sharing him -- charms may change that, but that might be edging out of "be really convincing" territory and into brainwashing depending on the girl, so I don't think it's something Issei would pursue under his own initiative.

On the other hand, Rias and the devils provide us with a culture of girls for whom the idea of polygamy (or polyamory, whatever) is nothing particularly strange if the person in question is a demon lord. "Become a Demon Lord" is an easy to follow road map that will lead Issei straight to what he wants, and all it takes on his part is hard work, which he's not averse to -- therefore, regardless of whether it's a good idea from our perspective, Issei would jump at it if he's being in-character.

 

[Alexander]

Tally so far:

[X] Charisma & Appearance
Fellgar, Smuthunter, P_D

[X] Pipeman's Plan
2 dots of Appearance (8 BP)
5 dots of Occult (5 BP)
4 dots of Presence (4 BP)
1 dot of Resistance (1 BP)
MHLord, protoss16

[X] 2 dots in Stamina.
[X] 2 dots in Charisma.
Deathwings, Happerry, Drakebane

[X] 1 dots in Stamina.
[X] 3 dots in Charisma.
kinglugia

[X] Three Dots Appearance 1 Dot Charisma.
Eler0, Larekko12, Heaven Canceler


Since this is a big decision (and Pipeman's opinion is highly valuable) I am extending the voting time for ten-eleven hours. So tomorrow morning for me. G'night people.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Well there's a problem with that: why would we?

At this point Issei still has the mentality of an ordinary high school student. His one aspiration is getting his harem, not taking over the world or learning magic or anything like that. Currently he's surrounded by human girls, who may find him highly attractive once we're done boosting his Appearance but probably will not be open to the idea of sharing him -- charms may change that, but that might be edging out of "be really convincing" territory and into brainwashing depending on the girl, so I don't think it's something Issei would pursue under his own initiative.

On the other hand, Rias and the devils provide us with a culture of girls for whom the idea of polygamy (or polyamory, whatever) is nothing particularly strange if the person in question is a demon lord. "Become a Demon Lord" is an easy to follow road map that will lead Issei straight to what he wants, and all it takes on his part is hard work, which he's not averse to -- therefore, regardless of whether it's a good idea from our perspective, Issei would jump at it if he's being in-character.

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Considering that most Devils are actually people from various species including humans that were reincarnated into Devils it is probably less about Devils having a culture that is uncaring or accepting of polygamy and more just that canon Issei has a tendency to run into people that are totally okay with it no matter from where they originate. (I mean, he has a freaking angel Girl who was a member of the church interested in him which is seriously considering the option of falling down for him. He also gets a monstrously powerful Dragon interested in him and half-a-dozen other people with similarly strange or unexpected origins.)

Hell, maybe the various magical societies in this world is also accepting or approving of it? It may have something to do with breeding for greater power or unusual abilities. There was that one doctor that said he would find it good if Koneko made babies because she is of a rare species of Bakeneko.

And it is not that it is okay that a Demon Lord does that, it is just that a Servant often doesn't get the choice in the matter. I am pretty sure Issei and Raiser are unusual in that they manage to get so many people of the other gender interested out of their own will. The Gremory are famous for the kindness to their servants, so most probably treat them worse.

Edit: Wasn't the whole Point of getting good in social stuff to talk People into joining Issei's Harem?

 

[Selias]

[X] Pipeman's Plan

 

[megrisvernin]

[X] Charisma & Appearance

 

[Smuthunter]

Considering that most Devils are actually people from various species including humans that were reincarnated into Devils it is probably less about Devils having a culture that is uncaring or accepting of polygamy and more just that canon Issei has a tendency to run into people that are totally okay with it no matter from where they originate. (I mean, he has a freaking angel Girl who was a member of the church interested in him which is seriously considering the option of falling down for him. He also gets a monstrously powerful Dragon interested in him and half-a-dozen other people with similarly strange or unexpected origins.)

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Non-traditional family values does seem to be a theme with Issei's harem. Rias/Akeno/Koneko/Ravel are devils, Xenovia is a sheltered church girl who threw away her biases when she left the church, Rossweisse is a valkyrie, Ophis is so old and powerful she's almost an eldritch horror, etc. Only Asia really needed time to come around to the idea. Irina though... she's one of those few girls the harem could do without simply because she's so undeveloped as to have barely any character.

That being said, the idea still makes sense to me; given the low birth rates of pure blooded devils, polygamy would probably be an accepted practice among the nobility. And I keep thinking back to that second episode where Issei asked if demon lords could have harems and Rias essentially went "sure, why not" without even stopping to think about it.

Edit: Wasn't the whole Point of getting good in social stuff to talk People into joining Issei's Harem?

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Eh, Issei already has the Best Harem Ever. I'm mostly interested in the canon girls, Sona, and maybe Aika Kiryu on the side. Loading up on C-list girls when we already have an awesome harem practically formed for us is much less important than making sure we don't botch any rolls and stop said awesome harem from forming.

Plus, there aren't really any really interesting girls outside of Issei's harem, save for the aforementioned Aika and Sona. Maybe if Alexander would import girls from other shows to fill out the roster...?

*EDIT*
Also if we're going to spend all our dots at once I'd rather go with

[X] Pipeman's plan

 

[Fellgar]

[X] Three Dots Appearance 1 Dot Charisma.

Rather use it on abilities then waste it on skills like pipemans plan calls for.

 

[Smuthunter]

[X] Three Dots Appearance 1 Dot Charisma.

Rather use it on abilities then waste it on skills like pipemans plan calls for.

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It's not wasted at all. We need those skills in order to be good at the things we want to do. Five dots of Occult makes us a master sorcerer and four dots of Presence is a huge boost to our ability to social-fu people. Without those things, even if we max out both Charisma and Appearance we still won't be able to get the supernatural awesomeness that comes from Presence and Occult charms.

Further, the conversion rate of BP to experience heavily favors buying skills with BP. It only costs 1 bonus point to buy a dot of Occult or Presence, but the experience cost starts at 1 and increases to ((rating x 2) - 1) for each successive dot we purchase (for those of you without calculators, that's 1 -> 3 -> 5 -> 7 -> 9 for a total of 25 experience points, or about three charms). That's experience we would much better off spending on charms this early on.

 

[Eler0]

Can we even do Pipeman's plan? I thought we could only upgrade 2 things at the moment.

 

[Smuthunter]

Can we even do Pipeman's plan? I thought we could only upgrade 2 things at the moment.

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Alexander put the plan on the table so I'm guessing he wants to plan out how all the BP is getting spent now, even if we only actually spend it on two things immediately.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Huh, I just saw that Devils have an inherent weakness to sunlight and can be harmed by powerful light attacks even if they are of the non-divine sort. At the start, apparently Issei said that that he returned to human Level just by being in sunlight. So, do you think that would be bad? I mean, we are practically a living sun.

 

[Smuthunter]

Huh, I just saw that Devils have an inherent weakness to sunlight and can be harmed by powerful light attacks even if they are of the non-divine sort. At the start, apparently Issei said that that he returned to human Level just by being in sunlight. So, do you think that would be bad? I mean, we are practically a living sun.

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Possibly. However note the existence of Kiba's hybrid sword balance breaker -- it is possible for holy and demonic powers to intermingle and harmonize under certain conditions, what with god being dead and all.

 

[P_D]

Just a random thought: I wonder how many dots we would need in appearance to make angels fall just by looking at us?

Well there's a problem with that: why would we?

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Rias made the offer of becoming a devil when he was dying so it's not like it was something Issei consciously chose. From the very beginning he was against becoming the whole servant thing. The only reason why he put up with it was because he had the chance of becoming one day becoming a king and getting his own battle harem to serve him.
Now there are three major differences from canon:
1. Issei would have to consciously choose to serve Rias, which is, again, something he was against. Issei is very much a person who prefers to be served over serving someone.
2. Issei now knows that there are people out there that see his continued existence as a threat and thus knows that he needs power to protect himself.
3. Issei now has awesome power of his own. If a devil can gather bunch of people to serve her, why couldn't he?
Right now there is absolutely no reason for Issei to become a devil as it does not offer anything that he could not obtain on his own that would be worth it, except maybe power to protect himself but Issei already knows there are other options that may require less than lifetime commitment. Thus, i think it would be perfectly in-character for Issei to want to remain independent and just build a harem on his own.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Possibly. However note the existence of Kiba's hybrid sword balance breaker -- it is possible for holy and demonic powers to intermingle and harmonize under certain conditions, what with god being dead and all.

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That is different. He would still be hurt if he cuts himself with the blades. (Well, maybe he can dismiss them like Emiya Shirou before they can hit him...) In fact, a Devil can just fine handle a holy sword, just if he gets scratched, he is in serious trouble. I mean, Xenovia also uses that holy sword while being a reincarnated devil. But avoiding your own magical Lightshow Looks much harder.

Edit: It is also not about holy or not holy, but only about light. Light itself harms devils, it doesn't have to be holy.

 

[John At Dawn]

So I was re-reading the update and I saw this:

Five minutes later you enter your home, remove your shoes, greet your parents (who give you a cursory glance and a "Hello." before going back to the TV), go into your room and collapse on your bed like a sack of potatoes.

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1. So your son comes home from his first date (I refuse to believe Issei wouldn't have told them about it)
2. It's a bit late
3. He looks a bit upset or confused
4. Do nothing and don't ask how it went

Our parents suck.

 

[Smuthunter]

Rias made the offer of becoming a devil when he was dying so it's not like it was something Issei consciously chose. From the very beginning he was against becoming the whole servant thing. The only reason why he put up with it was because he had the chance of becoming one day becoming a king and getting his own battle harem to serve him.
Now there are three major differences from canon:
1. Issei would have to consciously choose to serve Rias, which is, again, something he was against. Issei is very much a person who prefers to be served over serving someone.

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Not really true, no. Issei was mildly annoyed that the choice had been made for him for all of a few lines or so, then Rias dropped the bomb about becoming more popular with girls and then "you can have a harem" and that was the last time he ever complained about it. After that point one of his catchphrases is "I will become the strongest pawn!" and things like that. If being a servant comes with benefits that allow him to achieve his lifelong dream then he's all for it.