[LP CYOA] 傳

[ERYFKRAD]

Seriously bros, that is way too much of a long term gamble, when with our luck we're not exactly steamrolling through the opposition at the moment.

 

[Esquilax]

...and Esquilax raises an important point about befriending orthodox sects. Flopping back to 1A, but keeping 2C, so 1A>B and 2C>B>A

Seriously, 2C is the way to go. Healing art from the physician whose "skills are bordering on the realm of the divine" is a much better skill to obtain from him than a martial art.

The problem is that the Healing Finger technique fits in really well with the END and PER bonus because it utilizes pressure points and neigong requires endurance. Then again, if our fighting skills suck, it'll help to at least be able to talk to people before we get the shit kicked out of us.

 

[Baltika9]

Heh, we really should have gone Wudang. Learning to balance and harmonise our qi would have been much easier there.

Yeah, we probably should have - I'm regretting voting for the free-form choice. The call of MYSTARY was too alluring even for me.

Bah. Faithless, all of you!

Stroking his beard rather smugly after having declared his identity - though you have never heard of him in your life - he continues. “The energies from your core, your dantian, are now impossible for me to seal up or control. It would be like attempting to tame a raging ocean by slapping it. I doubt even the Taoists at Wudang, experts that they are at harmonizing yin and yang, can fully subdue your wayward internal energy. I have given you pills that will suppress your qi for now, but I am afraid this condition is rather permanent. It’s unfortunate that I accidentally cleared the congestion in my attempt to heal you with my qi in the first place.”

Wudang wouldn't be much help with this condition, we would probably have to devote a lot of time to meditation to discover the cure by ourselves, something that our current predicament does not prohibit at all, we just have to find a method.

 

[Kipeci]

Doubting that they could fully tame it does not mean that they wouldn't have been able to do more to help us than just crippling our qi with pills. They are kinda the masters at this stuff, as he said. Not that it matters much anymore.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Look at the wording. Fully harmonise, it sounds like there'd have been some progress at the very least, which I suspect would be sufficient to use our qi somewhat effectively.

 

[Tigranes]

Gunpowder is an equally terrible idea. Come on, we start in a Chinese pugilistic setting and we want to get guns? We want to move like the wind across rooftops, be the master of unarmed fighting, maybe wield a saber or bow.

 

[Baltika9]

And what's prohibiting us from researching our own method? Probably need INT for that, as well as END to connect to it, but you guys despair way too easily.

 

[treave]

Each sect would have had different ways to deal with your condition, some better, some worse.

 

[Nevill]

If you want to obtain freedom, you need to convince the doc, who, as you have stated, has transcended logic. As for the girl, the girl already extracted one outrageous favor from her master (saving the character without paying a life). She's not in a position to obtain a second one, even if she did have a strong backbone. I don't see this plan of yours working.

If I want freedom, I don't need to convince the Doc, I need the antidote. As the heiress and the inheritor of his knowledge, the girl is in perfect position to learn how to make it. The rest falls to us.

In corp-speak: unfortunately, we could not process your transfer request because senior management considers you an indispensable part of the team.
As in, he won't want to let us go and that only makes things harder.

Of course he wouldn't. But I won't need his permission. And it still beats doing nothing and hoping he will eventually come to his senses and release us.

The problem with 2C is that it follows the same logic:

Yes, but I think it would be a useful weapon to have in our arsenal, even if we don't use it. No harm learning it, no?

Learning a weapon we won't be using for a while robs us of a weapon that we could put to use immediately. No one here has any idea how long it would take us to fix our qi, or when we get to learn a new technique, or if the next choice of techniques will be even harder and we'll have to pass another combat tech in favor of yet another potentially useful ability. No one here can measure the usefulness of the ability beyond treave's words that it will prove useful one day, someday. In fact, no one here knows if we are going to live long enough to see its uses while ignoring more combat oriented tech like that.

One needs to draw a line when chasing the potential benefits starts endangering immediate survival. I want a combat tech, any tech, right now. Mark my works, we will find ourselves restrained and helpless a few times over the course of the LP. If you won't have your legs to fall back to, you'll have nobody to blame for your death but yourselves.

 

[treave]

With a high enough int, would it be possible to be the guy who invents guns?

You won't be able to get your INT score high enough, being the Tiger Adjutant. It would entail a leap in technology, figuring out many principles or their improvements from scratch and condensing a hundred years of progress into perhaps a year or two. You'd need a 10 INT genius to even begin, and even then it wouldn't be overnight.

 

[Esquilax]

Nevill makes some good points.

Each sect would have had different ways to deal with your condition, some better, some worse.

Yeah, but it seems like the Wudang would have been most suited to alleviating some of our issues.

treave, is A designed to kill and maim (i.e. sever limbs with kicks), or can it be modified to stun or KO someone? Given that it was taught by Yao's old master, it strikes me as an orthodox technique - however, since his rule was to do no harm with his hands he could also have been a rebel with deadly techniques. The description didn't leave out the possibility of Cro Cop style head kick decapitations.

It just seems like our guy doesn't have the aptitude to get good at the Healing Finger - he has mediocre endurance and perception, both of which are needed to make the technique work. On the other hand, he's got beastly strength and agility. Even if this guy is the greatest physician in the land, maybe our skills lie elsewhere. Assuming our qi issues were resolved, treave, how would we even make it into a powerful technique? It just seems like our guy would get a lot more mileage out of ass-kicking.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Because, seriously bros, qi transfer is a risky thing no matter the level of neigong, if I've got that intro lesson thing right.

 

[Absinthe]

Seriously bros, that is way too much of a long term gamble,

That is not a gamble at all. Fixing the ki is obviously on the agenda, and we are obviously going to massively benefit from this when we do. The only question is whether we want supreme finger of life (& quite possibly death) down the road or the sweeping kick which might cut grass if we really really master it.

when with our luck we're not exactly steamrolling through the opposition at the moment.

Prologue opposition has been mostly railroad material. Also, with our stealth skills, it's not a problem to avoid opposition.

If I want freedom, I don't need to convince the Doc, I need the antidote. As a heiress and the inheritor of his knowledge, the girl is in perfect position to learn how to make it. The rest falls to us.

This theory of yours relies on #1 the doc teaching the girl how to make your antidote, which he might not be willing to do before releasing you, and #2, the Killing Physician not brutally kicking both of your asses once he finds out.

Also, with a sufficiently advanced herbalism skill, we might learn it ourselves.

Of course he wouldn't. But I won't need his permission. And it still beats doing nothing and hoping he will eventually come to his senses and release us.

I'm pretty sure the narrative structure means eventually the character will be free to go. Especially if he provides some great service that pays the debt. The downside to that is that we might be required to kill the girl in the end, and that this double apprenticeship is really a way for the doc to ensure that he has an apprentice who has learned his skills, and one of you two dies in the end to satisfy his philosophy of "one death for one life." In a case like this, we might even be confronted with killing the doc himself.

The problem with 2C is that it follows the same logic:

Learning a weapon we won't be using for a while robs us of a weapon that we could put to use immediately.

Actually we can put the Healing Finger to use right away as the Finger of Nausea and Dizziness, which for a character with our agility can give him a useful edge in disorienting and thus overwhelming an enemy. A high int contributes to devising creative uses for your techniques anyway. A high endurance gives him a good combat resilience and later neigong for the almighty finger too.

No one here has any idea how long it would take us to fix our qi,

True, but I don't think a single person here is seriously considering not fixing it. Fixing ki has amazing powerup written all over it. And not fixing ki is suggested to kill him when his meridians explode, now that his ki congestion has been cleared. We all know we're going to get it fixed, and when we do, healing finger should prove quite interesting.

when we get to learn a new technique,

It's an apprenticeship for crying out loud, and he is traveling with his master. We all know he is going to learn techniques from his master, others, or even devise his own.

if the next choice of techniques will be even harder and we'll have to pass another combat tech in favor of yet another potentially useful ability.

I don't think there will be many potentially useful abilities like this. Either it pays off or it doesn't. This is one of the few techniques that pays off down the road. Anything else would be needlessly similar.

No one here can measure the usefulness of the ability beyond treave's words that it will prove useful one day, someday.

I'm not sure how much measurement would be enough for you, but... here are the indicators it will be very useful
1) Treave said so.
2) The doctor's healing skills are "bordering on the realm of the divine" and he is offering to teach us one of these skills.
3) The perfect balance of yin and yang indicates the character will be able to do very unusual things with this technique once he gets the ki under control.

As for the moment, we know it's a technique that induces nausea and dizziness, which can still be useful.

One needs to draw a line when chasing the potential benefits starts endangering immediate survival.

Dude, the character has stealth skills, escaping skills, and if you pick 1A he will also have talking skills. It's unlikely he will face serious danger he cannot escape.

I want a combat tech, any tech, right now.

1) Finger of Mild Dizziness and Nausea can be used as a combat tech.
2) Jinshetuipi, the escape move, is also a combat tech.
3) Yinglang Step has already been used in combat. We know it's a combat tech.
4) We're going to pick up other combat techs regardless, sheesh. Calm down.

Mark my works, we will find ourselves restrained and helpless a few times over the course of the LP. If you won't have your legs to fall back to, you'll have nobody to blame for your death but yourselves.

1) Over the course of this LP means that by that time we will already have mastered some more attack techniques.
2) Mark my words, we will find ourselves severely injured a few times over the course of this LP. If you won't have a healing technique to fall back to, you'll have nobody to blame for your death but yourself. And powerful healing techniques are harder to come by than okay combat techniques.

It just seems like our guy doesn't have the aptitude to get good at the Healing Finger - he has mediocre endurance and perception, both of which are needed to make the technique work. On the other hand, he's got beastly strength and agility. Even if this guy is the greatest physician in the land, maybe our skills lie elsewhere. Assuming our qi issues were resolved, treave, how would we even make it into a powerful technique? It just seems like our guy would get a lot more mileage out of ass-kicking.

First, 5 is already above average. Second, if B wins he'll be higher up there. Third, there will be more opportunities to raise stats later. Fourth, if he fixes his ki, I would be surprised if his endurance stat didn't go up.

 

[treave]

treave, is A designed to kill and maim (i.e. sever limbs with kicks), or can it be modified to stun or KO someone? Given that it was taught by Yao's old master, it strikes me as an orthodox technique. It just seems like our guy doesn't have the aptitude to get good at the Healing Finger - he has mediocre endurance and perception, both of which are needed to make the technique work. On the other hand, he's got beastly strength and agility. Even if this guy is the greatest physician in the land, maybe our skills lie elsewhere. Assuming our qi issues were resolved, treave, how would we even make it into a powerful technique? It just seems like our guy would get a lot more mileage out of ass-kicking.

At high levels you focus your qi to make your kicks as sharp as a sword, but swords themselves aren't unorthodox. If they perform the same function, how can you call one evil and the other good? A few would say that this is unnatural but most wouldn't. I think it would lean towards being an orthodox technique. A cruel, definitely unorthodox technique would be where you brutally sink your fingers into your opponent's skull, for example. But the kicks can be used in an unorthodox way if you purposely go out of your way to chop limbs and heads. I think that's what's going to matter in this particular scenario - how you use it.

Regarding the second question, it is possible that mastery of a particular technique will translate into quick gains in another, related technique.

Take, for example, Taijiquan and Taiji Chin Na. One is a fist technique, the other is grabs and locks. However, should you learn Taijiquan to a high level, you will understand the essence of Taiji which is also used in the grabbing technique. This will allow you to skip ranks ahead in the grab technique.

The Healing Finger technique teaches you how to concentrate and channel qi through your fingers. It also teaches you how to move your qi inside a person's body in a manner that can heal, but that's a moot point right now because your qi will do as much damage as you heal. Your own unique qi may change the function of the Healing Finger in the future, but I won't spoil how.

Finger techniques are very rare and hard to master but almost always share the same foundation. Master the Finger and you will find an easier time picking up other finger techniques in the future. More combat-oriented ones.

Now I could go on talking about shooting qi beams from the fingers and how to reach that point, and all that, but I'm not sure if that's too much meta-gaming for you guys to handle.

Whether you think that suits the character is up to you.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Right now we seem to be picking a lot of techniques that seem to support combat as opposed to being offensive combat techniques outright. Might be interesting if we do that all the way to the end.

 

[Baltika9]

Argh, they're both good. I may just end up flopping to break the deadlock, since I don't think we can go wrong with either.

 

[Absinthe]

Actually, Baltika9, with your flip and Brazilian Slaughter's flip, I'm pretty sure the #2 votes are now A-7 and C-11. Flip back to 2A and it will be A-8 C-10. So flipping back to 2A would actually help create a deadlock, rather than break one.

 

[treave]

Hm, I just recounted and still have it as such:

LWC - AB
Smashing - AC
Azira - BC
Zero - AC
Ifeex - AA
ERY - BA
Xeno - AA
Kipeci - AA
Jester - AC
Baltika - BC
Kashmir - AA
Absinthe - BC
Tigranes - AA
Nevill - AA
Cassidy - BA
Stygian - BB
Esquilax - BC
TBS - AC
ScubaV - AA
Lambchop - BC

1. A - 12, B - 8
2. A - 9, B - 2, C - 9

 

[Smashing Axe]

Blah, I'm hooked now. It's difficult being patient waiting for an update. More please!
And god, another tie!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Rolling is an option here?

 

[treave]

I'm putting down 1A as a victory due to its fair margin and commencing with making the update. It's not a long one, doesn't directly involve the technique learned in this choice, and should invoke less discussion.

As for the technique, I'll leave it open until the update is ready to be released or someone flops, whichever happens first.

 

[Baltika9]

<sigh>Why not, let's shill my already dubious integrity even more. AA.
I think you guys are right in that we're spreading Tigerbro out too far and too thin. Right now, I'm trying to sell myself on the idea of 1B, which isn't what should happen when you argue for anything. Better to fortify that which we're already good at, although I'm all for a PER bonus down the line, that's a very useful stat to have.
What originally attracted me to the Adjutant were the origins, even if he is just an adopted orphan with horrible luck. If anything, that just increased his allure as a character: a true gentleman maintains his composure even when ears-deep in shit. Going 1A just increases that, a quick wit and silvery tongue will help us a lot in persuading new Masters to teach us, decyphering new techniques and, most importantly, figuring out a cure for our qi problems. As a very wise man voice once said,

We’re going to try and make you into a… kkk kkzzh masterpiece.

We're taking this guy all the way to Khan, though. "I'z da thinkiest, da smashiest, the stompiest and da sneakiest, so I'z da boss!"
And if we're still playing by that point, Khagan. Aim for the skies, bros!

 

[Absinthe]

Baltika9, dude, don't do it. We can take a cointoss anyhow.

2C means a very rare technique, which not only heals but with the character's special ki results in other applications. And it helps us develop qi beams down the road. You're sacrificing a crazy powerful rare technique for a regular attack, which we dont immediately need. We can (and will) grab a regular combat technique at the next opportunity anyway.

Seriously, combat techniques are common as dirt in wuxialand. Apparently finger techniques are very rare with powerful results.

 

[Baltika9]

Look, finger techniques are cool and all, but.
Slashing off limbs with a knife-hand or piercing them with a side-kick is awesome too.
Edit: I wonder if we can experiment with that later on and turn it into a bludgeoning technique, using our hands and legs as hammers.

 

[Absinthe]

Baltika9, that's only when you raise the kick technique to a stupidly high level:

A. Duancao Legs. (斷草腿, Grass Breaking Legs) A physician's hands are to cure, not to kill. So said Master Yao's own master, though Yao doesn't seem to abide by that maxim. The Grass Breaking Legs is a kicking technique that is quick and sharp. True masters [Emphasis added] of this ability would be able to cut pliable grass by the force of their kicks alone.

If you become a True Master, then any technique is going to do ridiculous shit. Fuck, this technique would probably be on the weak side for what a true master can do with a technique. At that point Yinglang Step would probably border on invisibility and Jinshetuipi would be a teleportation-like disappearing technique. As for the finger, obviously a crazy beam. And like I said, combat techniques are common as dirt in wuxialand. We can easily pick up another one. We can't easily pick up another finger technique, especially not without knowing one first.

2C is so much better.