Iberian Feudal Quest

[ShaperV]

Oh cool, I'm happy to see this got off the ground. I always tend to run quests I wish I could play in, so here goes:

The # of magics choice is an interesting one, because on the one hand multiple rolls gives us more chances to get something really cool like Flesh or Metamagic sorcery, but as we say in the last quest a character doesn't have time to develop more than one or two types of sorcery to any high level. So if we put too many points into magic we run the risk of wasting points on things we'll never have time to develop, while also shorting ourselves on stats.

As far as stat priority, since we've decided to go with a mage build obviously Soul is our primary stat. But Charm is also critical, because it's the base stat for all social interaction. Body and Mind would both be nice, but aren't critical - strong magic can substitute for Body in many cases, and good planning by the players can allow a character to be more clever than you'd normally expect based on his Mind score.

So for an initial build I'm going to suggest:

[X] +2 Soul, +2 Charm, +2 Magic

This puts our magical talent at the top end of what's normally possible for humans, and with two rolls for magic we're bound to get something we can build a powerful style on. In the long run we'd learn wizardry for maximum flexibility, but that will likely take a few years. In the short run having Charm 4 will make it much easier for us to recruit exceptional people, negotiate good alliances and defuse problems while we're working to develop our magic, which will make it a lot easier to get to the long run.

 

[Kelenas]

[X] +2 Soul, +2 Charm, +2 Magic


Sounds good to me. No idea about the name, though.

 

[hunter09]

[X] +2 Soul, +2 Charm, +2 Magic

 

[inverted_helix]

Rolling 3 times on magic isn't about getting more magics to develop, as focusing in one is definitely time consuming enough, it's about getting one of the good ones. Which definitely isn't guaranteed considering the good ones are put at the ends of the bell curve that you're less likely to roll at.

 

[staplesdex2]

[X] Luke
[X] +2 Soul, +2 Charm, +2 Magic

 

[ShaperV]

Rolling 3 times on magic isn't about getting more magics to develop, as focusing in one is definitely time consuming enough, it's about getting one of the good ones. Which definitely isn't guaranteed considering the good ones are put at the ends of the bell curve that you're less likely to roll at.

Click to shrink...

While I can see the logic in that, I hate to spend points on extra rolls when each stat point is such a big modifier. While it would be a lot of fun to get Flesh sorcery, I also tend to think that in a game where we get to research all our own spells almost anything can be turned into a very powerful ability. All four of the classic elements have very useful potential, especially if Soul 5 lets us get into metaphorical/poetic interpretations like Fire=passion or Air=insubstantiality.

 

[staplesdex2]

Meh, I'm just here to see if we could use magic to use the Force so we could Force-choke any random mook that displeases us.

 

[fitzgerald]

So Current Tally of Votes

So far out of the current tally of votes

4: +2 Soul, +2 Charm, +2 Magic: (staplesdex2, hunter09, Kelenas, ShaperV)
1: 3 Soul, 3 Magic: (kinglugia)
1: 1 Body 1 Soul 1 Charm 1 Magic 3: (Malcolmo)
1: Mind 1, Soul 1, Charm 1, Magic 3: (Adyen)
1 Soul 2, Charm 1, Magic 3: (inverted_helix)

Name

2 Luke: (staplesdex2, kinglugia)
1 Peter: (Adyen)
1 Riccardo: (Malcolmo)



In any case to help spur on decisions and / or vote changes given that at a minimum everybody wants at least 2 types of Magic.

A Fluffy Tanuki rolled a 4 on 2d6: dy Tamega gained Force Magic

A Rein Zero rolled a 8 on 2d6, Elemental Magic gained, a2znut rolled a 3: dy Tamega gained Water Magic

So there we go at a bare minimum of Magic the PC has Force Magic and Water Magic.

 

[inverted_helix]

Well those results both thoroughly suck. Especially since the traditional healing role of water magic is separated out into flesh magic in this setting. Force magic really doesn't seem that useful to me in general as it's a pure combat magic.

I'll throw my vote in to any magic 3 option that comes up with any additional vote.

 

[BFldyq]

Well those results both thoroughly suck. Especially since the traditional healing role of water magic is separated out into flesh magic in this setting. Force magic really doesn't seem that useful to me in general as it's a pure combat magic.

I'll throw my vote in to any magic 3 option that comes up with any additional vote.

Click to shrink...

Blood-bending. After all, just because we can't control the flesh itself, doesn't mean we can't manipulate the water/liquids within a persons body. Plus, at a high enough level, we'll probably have access to stuff like corrosion and fluidity.

As for force magic: flight. Very useful. Telekinesis. Versatile.

 

[ShaperV]

Well those results both thoroughly suck. Especially since the traditional healing role of water magic is separated out into flesh magic in this setting. Force magic really doesn't seem that useful to me in general as it's a pure combat magic.

I'll throw my vote in to any magic 3 option that comes up with any additional vote.

Click to shrink...

Unless fitzgerald is taking a very different approach to magic types than I did, there's no hard partitioning of effects under different categories. Each type of magic can produce any effect you can justify under its theme, and with Soul 5 we can work our way up to pretty esoteric sorts of justification.

I'm actually pretty happy with those results. Some of the obvious applications include:

Force - telekinesis, flight, force fields, force blades, roof hopping, fields of high or low 'gravity', projectile effects

Water - purify & summon water, call rain, water walking, water breathing, dehydration attacks, water jets, water TK (locally powerful since we live by a big lake)

Getting into more complex and/or symbolic interpretations, force could lead into just about anything that involves movement (speed boosts, animating objects, raising & lowering temperature) while water is often associated with life and healing. Power over water could also be taken as 'power over creatures of water', which could lead into stuff like summoning water elementals or getting a huge Charm buff vs. naiads and mermaids.

So in the short run I think that gives us plenty to work with. In the long run we'll want more flexibility, but the way to get that is wizardry.

 

[kinglugia]

@ShaperV
IIRC, Wizardry can be described as..um...rituals and stuff?
(I'd still prefer having a high Body, but eh, we can boost it ourselves via Wizardry, Water and Force, though Flesh will be the most subtle one for body improvements.)

 

[inverted_helix]

Quite honestly all of those applications pale before permanent stat buffs, healing, and magically enhanced animals from Flesh magic. I mean in the original game people pretty much entirely ignored Force even though they did have it. Honestly Flesh magic was absurdly OP by comparison. Basically the only applications for force and water magic outside of combat are flight and call rain. While Flesh magic pretty much the whole thing could be useful in and out of combat. For any game where much of the time is spent out of combat you really have to look at what magics give you outside of combat more. The combat potential of Flesh magic was lower than Force, but when a good 80% of the quest is spent out of combat that makes out of combat abilities more valuable.

Wizardry as you set it up in the last game was pretty much a dice roll with corruption every time. It's just that you gave players a free way to ignore corruption in the form of Dita.

I'll switch my vote to kinglugia's now for even more absurd soul towards twisting interpretations.

[X] 3 Soul, 3 Magic

 

[fitzgerald]

Just as heads up odds are very much against flesh magic.

Your best shot is a roll of seven from 2d6. However 5,6,8,9 are elemental magic.

I was in fact tempted to drop Flesh magic as a possibility simply to ensure this quest wasnt a repeat.

Lore: On corruption.

Western Europe is essentially corruption free due to the powers of the Five Fold Gods due to a gambit by the Lady of Summer. After giving a demon sorcerer a soul and making him a champion said demon proceeded to (murder hobo) utterly crush every other demon in what had been the Western Roman Empire.

In the end the Bastard son of said champion and the Mother has hell in an iron grip and prevents their territory from being corrupted.

Instead wizards have to contend with magic that tends towards entropy.




So expect things to go 'Boom'! without proper care and attention to wizardry.

 

[fitzgerald]

Vote will close tonight @ 1 am MST (8 am GM)

 

[Adyen]

So expect things to go 'Boom'! without proper care and attention to wizardry.

Click to shrink...

Actually, does this affect enchantments and such?

 

[fitzgerald]

For magical items expect them to last a few years of light use without upkeep.

Heavy usage / time without upkeep will raise chances of failure.

Just like cars in real life magical items / enchancements will decay without mantinance.

 

[Adyen]

Is there a way to detect such a thing (ie when it's going to decay enough to go BOOM)?

 

[fitzgerald]

Once it becomes an issue I'll be describing it as good / decent / poor condition.

 

[fitzgerald]

So Soul +2, Charm +2, Magic 2 wins

 

[inverted_helix]

Well at least we have starting soul 5. Disappointed can't get access to the good magics as sorceries though. Really don't think you had to worry about this being too similar to the old quest anyways given that the last quest was pretty amazing. I would like it just fine to have a near clone of that

You said that high stats would accelerate training times on skills significantly lower than the corresponding stat, how does that work? Something like training time/(stat-skill)? That would divide training time by half for skills 2 points under the stat while normal full training time for skills one point below the stat.

I want to work on wizardry and water magic I guess.

 

[fitzgerald]

Character Creation 3


Skills

You have 29 Points to spend on skills, 1pt for level 1, 4 points for level 2, 9 points for level 3 as always (aka Level 3 Tactics will cost 14 points).

This includes improving Magic beyond level 1. At this time Wizardy and Alchemy cannot be purchased

Suggestions include:

Engineering
Tactics
Strategy
Woodscraft

 

[staplesdex2]

Diplomacy: +5 -> 2
Tactics: +5 -> 2
Strategy: +5 -> 2
Intrigue: +1 -> 1
Magic (Force): 1+4 -> 2
Magic (Water): 1+4 -> 2
Seduction: +5 -> 2

Any building projects that we have, and we'll have a lot of them, will be helpful in the long run. Strategy and Tactics I'll leave to the players to decide the complicated plans to make. I want to see they could come up with during scenarios requiring battles and statecraft. I still want to see our MC Force choke random mooks and chuck mountains on top of armies.

Edit: Never mind, changed my mind about engineering. I want him to start using Force magic for fun~, if my count works, adding 4 pts each to the magic. Plus seduction, just because.

 

[Adyen]

Engineering -> 1 (1)
Tactics -> 2 (5)
Strategy -> 2 (5)
Governing -> 2 (5)
Magic -> 2 (5)
Negotiations/Speechcraft -> 2 (5)
Politics -> 1 (1)
Nobility (People and Positions) -> 1 (1)
Covert Ops -> 1 (1)

Let's be a bit more well rounded, seeing that we're the actual liege of the country.

Edit: Count not valid at the moment.

 

[fitzgerald]

Adyen to accurately spend the points

Governing, Politics, and Nobility are all covered under the Leadership Stat, which is currently at 2 (As in your parents made it a required course alongside riding and swordsmanship)

Magic requires either Force or Water being identified

 

[Adyen]

Adyen to accurately spend the points

Governing, Politics, and Nobility are all covered under the Leadership Stat, which is currently at 2 (As in your parents made it a required course alongside riding and swordsmanship)

Magic requires either Force or Water being identified

Click to shrink...

How would you go about identifying it?

And would increasing Leadership be 9, or 14?

 

[inverted_helix]

How would you go about identifying it?

And would increasing Leadership be 9, or 14?

Click to shrink...

He means that you spend points on Force or Water, not on Magic. Identifying which of the two you spend the points on.

Raising Leadership would be 9, we've effectively already bought the first 2 ranks by default.

For my taste
Leadership 2->3 (9)
Water 1->3 (13)
Engineering 2 (5)
Diplomacy 1 (1)
Tactics 1 (1)

Quite honestly I have no interest whatsoever in force choking someone. I'd rather have more useful out of combat skills. Further focusing on one magic type will give us more benefit than spreading across two. Water magic promises more utility outside of the tiny amount of combat we'll end up doing.

Tactics also covers most of what fighting we do end up doing as its treated as unit tactics. They never even got to large enough groups to reach Strategy checks in the last game.

Though incidentally Fitzgerald never said what the impact of high stats on a skill would be precisely. Given he said it would offer discounts on training it would be good to know now as it might affect what we want to buy now. (As if we get discounts in training those skills in game, but not buying them now, logically there's a comparative advantage in buying the skills that we won't get discounts on now.)

 

[fitzgerald]

@inverted Helix

High Stats will make getting skills (or fractions up there of) easier to get from adventures.

 

[Adyen]

Modified skill list:

Engineering -> 1 (1)
Tactics -> 1 (1)
Strategy -> 2 (5)
Magic (Water) -> 2 (4)
Negotiations/Speechcraft -> 2 (5)
Intrigue -> 1 (1)
Leadership -> 3 (9)
Archery-> 1 (1)
Accounting -> 1 (1)
Discerning Motives -> 1 (1)

I admit that it's likely that none of those will ever come up through the game, but I just see a possibility that the skills will be used, especially as we will be leading (if I understand correctly) a much larger amount of land in this game.

I picked Strategy over Tactics for that reason - with our stats, it's not likely we're going to be leading from the front anytime soon, so overall Strategy would become more important than Tactics.

I'm actually not sure if Accounting falls under Leadership or not (I'm thinking not as this deals with money), but I figure I'd get it cause we had a lot of trouble with that in the other game until we found someone else who can do it.

I'm keeping Water at 2 since our Soul is 5, that's a total of 7 which is kinda silly, but hey. It's only the same as our Charm of 4 and Leadership of 3.

 

[inverted_helix]

Modified skill list:

Engineering -> 1 (1)
Tactics -> 1 (1)
Strategy -> 2 (5)
Magic (Water) -> 2 (4)
Negotiations/Speechcraft -> 2 (5)
Intrigue -> 1 (1)
Leadership -> 3 (9)
Archery-> 1 (1)
Accounting -> 1 (1)
Discerning Motives -> 1 (1)

I admit that it's likely that none of those will ever come up through the game, but I just see a possibility that the skills will be used, especially as we will be leading (if I understand correctly) a much larger amount of land in this game.

I picked Strategy over Tactics for that reason - with our stats, it's not likely we're going to be leading from the front anytime soon, so overall Strategy would become more important than Tactics.

I'm actually not sure if Accounting falls under Leadership or not (I'm thinking not as this deals with money), but I figure I'd get it cause we had a lot of trouble with that in the other game until we found someone else who can do it.

I'm keeping Water at 2 since our Soul is 5, that's a total of 7 which is kinda silly, but hey. It's only the same as our Charm of 4 and Leadership of 3.

Click to shrink...

I really don't see what makes you think we have a bigger area than before. Also a mage is going to be on the battlefield too.

The other game never had difficulty with accounting. They recruited the accountant before they even took control of the fief, before they left the central city. I don't see it as likely we'll waste our precious time on accounting either. Accounting takes ridiculous amounts of time and effort and we have better things to be doing with that time.

Magic doesn't add up like the other skills do that way. Soul is more raw potential, and the skill in that magic is what you can actually do with that power. Most things in the last game were limited by the skill in magic rather than the Soul value.