Those Blessed with Talent

[redaeth]

Huh, nice we leveled up from that. We have XP to spend and we did well enough in our strategy to get a silver. All in all a good fight. Hmmm, I think I'm going to vote to save the SP for later. Instead. its time for something necessary but boring. Also? I hate being illiterate.

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
-[X] With Autumn snoozing up against us, and getting the occasional absentminded headscritch.

 

[BFldyq]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
-[X] With Autumn snoozing up against us, and getting the occasional absentminded headscritch.

 

[Raron]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading

 

[hunter09]

[X] Play with Autumn

 

[DOOMPOTATO]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
Can you go up a "tier" by buying synergistic/weakness-removing supplementary skills gained from blood bonds?

 

[Darkened]

Can you go up a "tier" by buying synergistic/weakness-removing supplementary skills gained from blood bonds?

Click to shrink...

Probably not, but you never know, I might flub the balance on some skill combo.

 

[drake_azathoth]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading

 

[wayne82444]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
-[X] With Autumn snoozing up against us, and getting the occasional absentminded head scratch.

We should get learning to read out of the way, I can only see that opening the doors to learning more skills. Besides, signing a contract when we have no idea what it said is rather annoying. I'd like to find out what it said and be able to avoid doing the same in the future.

Edit: Added the head scratch write in. I like that, and even if we end up gaining nothing from it I want to add it on.

 

[DOOMPOTATO]

Probably not, but you never know, I might flub the balance on some skill combo.

Click to shrink...

Alright, then the goal should be to combine Analyze and Comprehend to get an ability to see the entire skill trees of beast type monsters, and then make you write enough skills that there are broken combinations there somewhere.

 

[derkan]

Ho to upgrade our rating from A- to A ?

 

[Raron]

Ho to upgrade our rating from A- to A ?

Click to shrink...

Acquiring a dragon, tapping into it's power and sacrificing three and a half virgins tends to do that.

 

[redaeth]

Darkened did Autumn Shade gain no XP from the bout?

 

[john doe]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading

 

[Sirrocco]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
-[X] With Autumn snoozing up against us, and getting the occasional absentminded headscritch.

This place is making it clear. We get *rewards* for doing well at what they want us to do well at. The better we do, the more we get. Time to work that as hard as we can.
...but we only did as well as we did because out adorable little kitty is *awesome*... and that getting smacked around had to hurt him. We know it hurt *us*. He's almost certain to wander off to go hunting something at some point, but until then he might find being next to us reassuring.

 

[Darkened]

Darkened did Autumn Shade gain no XP from the bout?

Click to shrink...

Will fix when not on my phone. Thanks for the catch.

 

[Darkened]

Vote locks in 10 hours, all sheets should be current.

 

[Larekko12]

It looks like we get hand to hand boosts are there weapon boost on this path?

 

[redaeth]

LEVEL UP
Stamina+3
Agility+2
Affinity+3
Perception+1
Luck+1
Charisma+4
Monstrous Bloodline increased to level 2

Click to shrink...

Alright, nothing to discuss on the vote itself for me. Instead I'm note and to speculate on leveling up.

I wonder what the max of all the different stats are?

By Darkened's comments on No growth its probably 1/10th the progress of normal growth or something similar.

So numbers! Everyone likes numbers!

*= 1/10 x of Baseline growth
**= 1/2 x of Baseline growth
***= Baseline
****=1 1/5 x of Baseline growth
*****= 2 x of Baseline growth
******= 3 x of Baseline growth
*******= 4 x of Baseline growth


My guess for most stats is that normal growth = 1 point per level. As a baseline you can't really go wrong with 1 as a number. For our own stats...

Stamina went up by 3. Which matches my speculation so far. So good. Our health went up ... something I didn't think to check ... 10? 20? and our mana by 4. Hmmm. No clue, probably a multiplier hidden in there somewhere, different for both health and mana.

Agility went up 2. Not expected! Unless specialties have their own growth patterns outside of stat growth? It would explain Thoughtless having 0 charisma and 0 mana despite huge health. Or agility baseline is actually 2.

Affinity went up by 3, which is another outlier, it has fast growth but its tied with stamina at an increase of 3? Maybe Affinity just grows more in the first few levels given we did start at 0. That or Bestial Adepts are attuned to using artifacts far more then most specialties. Or affinity baseline is 3.

Perception went up by 1. Matches my speculation on growth again.

Luck.... went up 1. Which is a bit odd given a growth of 4, but Darkened did say Luck was special. So it might be more dependent on events? Or as a specialty Bestial Adept doesn't have great Luck growth, going by my unproven theory of specialties having their own growth patterns outside of stats.

Charisma went up by 4. Not too surprising here. Matches my speculation over growth.

So... being half right throughout the stats isn't exactly encouraging. I need more data!

 

[BFldyq]

redaeth, have you considered that our stat gains might be partially determined by what we do to level up?

 

[redaeth]

redaeth, have you considered that our stat gains might be partially determined by what we do to level up?

Click to shrink...

Hmm, that'd be a lot of work for Darkened. I'd personally hate to run a system that tilts stat gain in that manner instead of a flat multiplier of some sort.

 

[Darkened]

The only variables are how many stars a stat has and what level you're hitting.

+20 charisma would be insane at level 1, but isn't that meaty at level 600.

the formula in general is simple enough to eventually be guessed maybe, but I botched the numbers for a few attribute gains at low levels, so you'll gain an extra point or two.

 

[redaeth]

So I'm missing the modifier\multiplier for level ... got it.

 

[Wawv]

[X] Study
-[X] Reading
-[X] With Autumn snoozing up against us, and getting the occasional absentminded headscritch.

 

[Sirrocco]

It looks like we get hand to hand boosts are there weapon boost on this path?

Click to shrink...

The specialty is rare enough that no one would know much about it beyond what their own sensing skills can guess. It's one that won't exist below A rank.

Shapeshifting generally would preclude a lot of common weapon strategies, or be an alternative to it. You do have the affinity stat to be quite solid with most conventional weapons.

I will say that no core skill you have requires a weapon, but, say, many of the feline skills could be used with fighting claws or the like, tiger claw is perfectly valid for all of them. Similar outcomes may exist for other trees you unlock.

If you really want to focus on a particular weapon, your easiest method would be to research, find and bind a beast with an actual connection to that particular weapon or work on studied skills that mesh will with your other stats.

Click to shrink...

also...

"Blood Bond"

Your power surges to life, filling you up and bursting through in a storm. It moves from resisting to pushing forward, raging through your veins like a storm and setting your blood on fire. It takes and takes and takes, crushing you, burning you and breaking you, pushing through your kitten and back out into you, changing you, adjusting you.

You can hear your bones crack and shift, your skin melt in agony as your power does everything it can to throw you off, to make you give up before you can finish. You don't flinch.

-5HP
Feline skill Tree was unlocked in the Supplementary Skill List
Shadow Element Skill Tree was unlocked in the Supplementary Skill List
Tiger Claw has been learned

Click to shrink...

So walking out the implications...
- The critters that we bond can give us new Base skills. That's not something I'd noticed the first time through.
- Tiger Claw is now a base skill, and will probably improve as we level (or perhaps as Autumn Shade levels?).
- All of our extra "unarmed combat" skill thus far is coming, one war or another, from our bond with Autumn Shade. It's entirely possible that all of our weapon-specific or approach-specific abilities will come from our animal companions. It thus behooves us to choose animals that are not only powerful in their own right, but that synergize well with each other, and with our planned approaches. Worth noting that it's probably going to be relatively easy to find beasts that buff unarmed combat in one way or another (if that's the way we want to go), and not as easy with weapon skills.
- In particular, while we can blood-bond a second critter immediately, we probably don't want to. Better to learn to read, first - and then go through the Mu clan library, looking for creatures that would work well for us and useful event skills to pursue. Worth noting that spear isn't necessarily a bad long-term pick. It works well as a cavalry weapon, and cavalry is certainly a viable strategy for us, in addition to other concerns. The only thing workign against us is that it's liekly going to be a *lot* easier to find unarmed-buffing critters than spear-buffing critters.
- whatever we do for our long-term plans, it's worth noting that we're probably going to be the tank (perhaps a secondary tank). We're going to have a lot of stamina, we have enough attunement for some pretty nice armor, and while it may well be worthwhile to bring in some sort of really tough critter to join us on the front line, by the way we work, bringing that critter in is likely to make us tougher.
- I'm actually thinking that the claws and the toughness means that long-term, we might do well (long-term) with a grappling style (though not necessarily exclusively). "I'll hold 'em, you hit 'em" is a classic, we're pretty much guaranteed to have furry friends to handle the "you hit 'em" part, and the claws mean that we can be adding some extra damage while we do it.

 

[redaeth]

For a spear based monster we might want to look at something like horned ungulate or a scorpion or a bee\wasp\hornet. Those are the 'spear' users generally associated with the animal kingdom.

... maybe a manticore?

 

[Fredo]

For a spear based monster we might want to look at something like horned ungulate or a scorpion or a bee\wasp\hornet. Those are the 'spear' users generally associated with the animal kingdom.

... maybe a manticore?

Click to shrink...

Unicorn or bonespear?

 

[Sirrocco]

Oooh. I like the scorpion idea. Get one large enough, and we have our mount, too.

Want to make sure it's not light-aspected. Some scorpions might have tendencies in that direction, and the light and darkness wouldn't mix well. Decent chance of getting a second tank that way, though, if the armor's tough enough, and/or some grapple skills. Perhaps earth for a tunnelign ambush predator? I'd bet there are some shadow scorpions, too - though I don't know if doubling up like that is likely to be cool or inefficient.

Hmmm...

There are also overall menagerie concerns. We'll be building it one at a time, but they're worth paying attention to.

Worth considering the travel speed of our menagerie too, and something about scale and the utility positions.

Scale (smallest to largest)
- Can hide on us: Pretty much always available. We can protect it easily in combat. no transport concerns. Seriously limited ability to contribute in combat due to scale, barring particular special abilities (like an effective ranged attack)
- Can ride on us: Generally available - may be rendered unavailable by certain social situations. We can protect it in combat to a limited extend. Basically no transport concerns. Potentially limited ability to contribute with melee attacks due to scale - effectively, can assist us, but may not be able to effectively engage foes by itself and/or may endanger itself in so doing (creatures at this size are often fragile).
- Can be carried by hand or in pack: Can generally be kept available in situations where combat is expected. Fights as a separate entity, but can still benefit from some protection by remaining within our controlled space. Largest size that can be transported long-distance with our own movement abilities. One notch up on the melee attacks from previous.
- Anywhere between "can be carried" and more or less human-sized: Can generally be kept available in situations where combat is expected, but may become tricky to deploy full force effectively in tight quarters (things like spears help with this). Can (and must) fight as a separate entity. Melee attacks pretty standard.
- Notably larger than human-sized: The "in cramped quarters" melee issue becomes an issue in more cases. Past a certain point, it may become difficult, impractical, and/or rude to take the critter into buildings/tunnels/etc. Anything much larger than a human (horse-sized, for example) will likely have to live int eh stables most of the time while we're in the city. Possibility that a certain critter might be ridden, permitting us (and any of our other critters that can fit) to use *its* mobility powers (and possibly protected area). Larger critters are also more effective in large-scale combat, particularly in open terrain. Of course, they're larger targets, too.
- Siege: Large enough that it can only be meaningfully deployed in the wilderness or in open battle. Potentially quite useful for assaulting entrenched positions and/or walls. Can likely fit us, all the other animals, and any friends we may have made long the way on its back.

Travel speed is basically going to be the speed of the slowest critter who can't get a ride on other critters. For maximum move speeds, we'll either want a fast and/or flying mount that all of the slower ones can climb onto, or we'll want most or all of our critters to be small enough for us to carry, and for one of them (or more) to be a bird so that we can sprout wings for ourselves and carry the lot of them. Travel speed isn't going to matter a lot for the lower levels (where we're unlikely to leave the city, and even if we *do* leave the city, we wouldn't be allowed to do so by ourselves) but will matter at the higher levels. (If nothing else, some of the critters we'll want will likely be not close.)

Travel setups will depend at least partially on how large Autumn is likely to get when full grown (and how fast over long distances) and on what other human friends we might wish to bring along (like, say, the idiot).

Wyverns also make a solid spear animal, if permitted. They fly, they might be large enough to ride, and they have a barbed tail as one fo their salient features. They're more middle ages European than asian, but I don't actually know enough about the sorts of critters that might show up in this game to get anything more in-genre.

The notes above about size and travel are my only real concern about the scorpions. I can easily imagine a scorpion large enough to ride - but I don't know that it would be fast enough that we'd *want* it as a mount-scale companion. I can easily imagine one small enough to hide on our person - but in that case, it's probably not contributing much to our combat abilities other than the skill unlocks it brings, and that seems like a serious waste. I suppose you could have one at large-dog scale, that would handle combat fairly well while still being potentially transportable, but dog-sized scorpions are going to be even trickier than most beasts their size to get into a situation involving polite company.

Additionally, there are position players to consider.
- It would be really handy to have something with flight. Overhead view scouting is very handy in a number of cases, and personal flight is even more handy in even more cases. To a lesser extent, tunneling and aquatic abilities could be handy.
- We're going to be leading creatures into battle and very much wanting them to survive it. Healing abilities are going to be valuable - especially since a beast with heal means we can learn heal.
- In general, anything with useful buffs is going to be handy, given the number of buff-targets we'll have going into battle with us.
- I'm sure there are others.

 

[redaeth]

- Can hide on us: Pretty much always available. We can protect it easily in combat. no transport concerns. Seriously limited ability to contribute in combat due to scale, barring particular special abilities (like an effective ranged attack)

Click to shrink...

I've always liked snakes for this kind of thing.

 

[Sirrocco]

I've always liked snakes for this kind of thing.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. Actually, something like an Alaspinian minidragon (out of the Flynx and Pip series) would be ideal - hideable, flies, and has a potent short-ranged attack. Alternately, if we could somehow manage to get a snake (or other hidable creature) with built-in healing powers, that would also work well.

 

[Darkened]

As much as you'd like to take the day and nap or play with Autumn, you want to know how to read more. The thought of having to sign something you can't understand again chills you to the bone. Besides that knowing how to read's how you get ahead in life. Maps, books, signs, whatever. If you can figure them out without needing clues then you can pretty much take care of yourself in the world.

So you turn your back on the beautiful sunny day, march to your room and, with Autumn on your lap for spiritual support, start to pour through your instruction materials, scribing out every new character a few dozen times until you know it by heart. The work's agonizingly boring, but you persevere. Even with the reality of having money setting your imagination on fire, you persevere!

Autumn lacks your patience for such things. At first he tries to follow you, staring curiously as you write each character and occasionally batting a pen out of your hands to 'help'. At least you like to think that he's trying for your sake and not just being a very bored kitten. Still, he eventually he slips off your lap, curls around your feet and closes his eyes. There's something about his gently breathing body and the monotony of your work that almost send you to join him.

You grit your teeth and resist the urge. You're not the Idiot to nap anywhere for no reason! Eventually you make it. Autumn starts awake, dashes panicked into your desk then spins around dizzily before settling his gaze on you, straightening himself out and lifting his head high as if he had the most dignified awakening in history. Your cat glances disdainfully at your study materials, then walks to the door and threatens to start scratching it unless you let him out.

If he wasn't so adorable about it, you'd be rather annoyed at the traitor. Still, you send him dashing out into the halls and resign yourself to study until the evening meal. It's boring, and a bit lonely, but you manage to make good progress.

A new day rises and you find yourself, practice spear in hand, back to getting beaten by Winter Breeze. There's only a few XP this time. But leveling has made you dramatically faster and tougher, her 'gentle' taps sometimes don't even damage you at all. Autumn is helpful as ever, dashing in to distract or leap for her back whenever he can. At the end Winter Breeze heals you and sets you to work. It seems your free afternoons will not repeat.

In the evenings you study. Winter Breeze shifts effortlessly from brutal combat instructor to severe teacher, though you note her occasionally nodding in acceptance when your reading progress seems to be going better than expected. Gradually the jumble of characters all around you starts to fade into something you can almost understand. You wouldn't say you can really 'read' yet, but you've traded a sea of strange squiggles with a few islands you can comprehend to well ordered patterns of word with the occasional squiggle.

Sparring, chores, study, sleep. It's weird to live with such a routine life, never wondering if you're going to eat tomorrow, never wondering whose going to get nabbed by the guards or get hurt in a fight, knowing that Autumn and even the Idiot will be around.

Gradually the seasons start to change. The leaves in the garden turn brown and red and it almost seems a dream that you were ever really hungry. The guards and other servants start to accept you as one of them, or at least stop treating you as a stranger.

More significantly, you manage to level up again, after which sparring with Winter Breeze seems to stop giving you any XP at all, and you start to think maybe, a little bit, like you could call this place a home. That doesn't mean you let yourself relax all the way of course. You're not an idiot and you're not going to really trust anyone but Autumn.

You rarely (never) see the old clan elder or the permanently exasperated and stressed Mu Gan for more than a few moments. Everyone else is pretty easy to deal with. Before you know it there's snow on the ground and you actually have warm clothing for once! One afternoon, after waking the Idiot up from his garden nap in a pile of leaves, the boy frowns and seems to think of something.

"Right! We need to go find you a second monster soon, don't we? I did promise after all!"

You're surprised he remembers more than last week, but you doubt anyone really took his words seriously...

He mulls over it in whatever passes for his mind for a few moments before shrugging, "Impossible! It would be irresponsible to bring a kid into the wild, so, we'll have to wait until you're at least 12! And you should be at least level 5 10 so just to make sure you can take care of yourself."

That sounds nice, you guess, though you're a bit iffy on relying on the Idiot's help to find another friend. Maybe if he'd really tell you more about himself, but he always avoids the question or ignores you when you asks and it's starting to dawn on you that he might be doing that intentionally.

"Anyway," your young lord nods to himself, "What I'm saying is that we should have you do a real job! Something a little risky that'll get you some solid XP. That's to say, it's time for an adventure! It's gotta be an adventure!"

You perk up despite yourself. Another level or two, and something that challenges you a bit. You don't think you could ever get bored of warm beds and three meals a day, but a little variety couldn't hurt. At level three you're already so much sturdier, faster and stronger than you were a few months ago. You feel like you could take on the whole world. (At least if Winter Breeze isn't included)

"An adventure?" you ask tentatively hopeful. It's coming from him so this is probably an awful idea.

"YES! An adventure. What I mean is that I had Mu Gan look up some easy stuff relating to the clan's business. Usually this would be delegated well below his level, but there's gotta be a few things we could have you do to get up par that aren't urgent. So I bullied him into tracking down a few jobs we'd have just given to low level adventurers anyway. I mean, we could have you spar more with others, but bringing people here, letting them steal you from me after I bought you to be my friend not theirs or just waiting while you go up by inches would be boring. I tried to have those stingy old men pony up to bring that Sword Saint Grandpa here, but they wouldn't okay it and the bastard wouldn't even respond to my letters asking him to come, or did Mu Gan get them before they got sent out... What I'm trying to say is that real experience beats practicing or actually studying things any day! And we can have someone watch you and training you up the right way is just boring!"

You've gotten used to drowning out his words. They're probably exaggerated anyway, and not listening is easier than letting him get to you. Eventually he winds down.

"Anyway, Winter Breeze says you're reading better these days, so pick for yourself!" And then he hands you several scrolls he seems to have been using as a pillow, brushes the dirt off his back, or tries, and walks inside.

It takes you a while, trying to put together characters you know and figure out what they might mean together, or filling in those you still don't know, but you actually manage to understand most of the stack of 'jobs' the Idiot left for you.

In conclusion, well, you guess they did come from him so you can't say you're that surprised.

Spoiler: Jobs

The clan wishes to restore an old manor located in a town they've recently begun to govern near the capital. Local villagers report strange noises and lights as well as numerous stories of ghosts. Someone needs to figure out the source.

As always the army is short on several important supplies. In particular, certain rare herbs can only be gathered fresh from the great forest near the capital.

A high level scout is needed to track the whereabouts and condition of the Great Northern Phoenix as it seems to be wandering from its traditional territory. It is urgent to warn the nearest city governor, Mu Len, if there may be a need to evacuate the region or muster the nearest army.

Princess Daiyu's pet white fox died. The Mu clan wishes to procure a replacement for her upcoming birthday celebrations. While rare, the creature is very weak and found only in the forests near the capital. Additional rewards will be given for the adventurer who catches a fox deemed most appropriate as a gift.

Event Skill Obtained: Literacy!
Spear Proficiency 1 Studied!
+33XP

LEVEL UP
Stamina+3
Agility+1
Affinity+2
Perception+2
Luck+1
Charisma+3

Same Souls, Distant Selves was learned
​

What job do you pick:
[ ] Spooky Mansion
[ ] Gathering Herbs
[ ] The Fox Hunt!

(Will adjust Autumn's sheet tomorrow when I have the time)