Koron'das vs. Stiga of the Iron Tusk clan (Commentary)

[Drozdal]

Who will it be?
One vote for Stiga \m/

EDIT: Great i've messed up the pool.

[Verrain]

Hmmm. Four choices. Two warriors.

Classic barbarian ego/smarts ratio I guess. *chuckle*

[Drozdal]

Hmmm. Four choices. Two warriors.

Classic barbarian ego/smarts ratio I guess. *chuckle*

:Stiga intimidates Verrain:

[Drozdal]

Allmighty Gronti will judge this match. So RickoniX please send him your first exchange (and your character).

[RickoniX]

Allmighty Gronti will judge this match. So RickoniX please send him your first exchange (and your character).Gronti? I could find no such user

[Thor Olavsrud]

Gronti? I could find no such user

Heh! Gronti = Kublai on nerdnyc.com

[Kublai]

Dude! You're totally blowing my cover! :evil:

[Thor Olavsrud]

Dude! You're totally blowing my cover! :evil:

What?! Oh, I get it. You're just trying to keep him from sending you his script, so he'll have to forfeit to Droz. :twisted:

[Yagathai]

Dooooom! Doooooom! Doooooom! Doooooom!

[Drozdal]

Damn my barbarinn strategy is no use against Thor's unhuman knowledge. :Steps into arent:

Sorry for all that confusion RickoniX.

[jc_madden]

so shaddup and fight already! 8)

[RickoniX]

Damn my barbarinn strategy is no use against Thor's unhuman knowledge. :Steps into arent:

Sorry for all that confusion RickoniX.Hey, I should be the one who's sorry, destroying all your hard work and killing your barbarian like that :wink:

[Yagathai]

I hear a lot of jaws flapping. I don't see a lot of blood soaking into the sand of the arena floor.

[Kublai]

That's my bad! I am busy at work! :oops:

[Yagathai]

Don't try to cover for them, Kublai. Apparently the Wheel of Pain toughened their jaw muscles, but nothing else.

:twisted:

[Drozdal]

I hear a lot of jaws flapping. I don't see a lot of blood soaking into the sand of the arena floor.
:Stiga Steps into the arena:
Strange he thinks - I never fought underground before. But there are much stranger things afoot - he thougt that he'll see people cheering shoutinh his name and throwing flowers and other useless things like that at him. But no - all the seats are taken by small quitet furry folk with tails and pointy noses. They look almost like overgrown rats in a strange way.

[RickoniX]

From the opposite side of the arena, a man walks in, with no inch of skin showing, his polished black boots ringing on the hard stone of the entranceway, wearing long blue pants and a red hooded shirt with a small black and gold insignia on the left shoulder. His morose, almost frightening presence is eerily offset by the jaunty tune he whistles as he walks in, as he approaches and assesses the barbarian, a sound, like the laugh of a man long dead, emanates from the cowl of his cloak and continues as he walks back to 10 paces and awaits the referee's signal to start.

[jc_madden]

Good intro Kublai! now fix the post name :P

[Kublai]

:oops:

[Kublai]

Introducing our first Sorcerous Champion!! :shock:

[Thor Olavsrud]

Finally!

[jc_madden]

A spellcaster excellent! I'd been wanting to see if one could hold their own in the arena without preptime/pre-battle casting.

[Thor Olavsrud]

A spellcaster excellent! I'd been wanting to see if one could hold their own in the arena without preptime/pre-battle casting.

We don't know that for sure! With the right combination of instincts...

[jc_madden]

10) By default, spells and songs will not be allowed to be cast before combat begins. However, with an agreement from both combatants, such preparation may be allowed.

Quoted from the rules of the Arena thread.

[Thor Olavsrud]

That doesn't preclude it. It just requires an agreement.

[jc_madden]

Correct. I saw no such agreement. In addition said agreement has nothing to do with instincts. Any instincts that violated that rule would be wasted if both combatants did not agree beforehand.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Correct. I saw no such agreement. In addition said agreement has nothing to do with instincts. Any instincts that violated that rule would be wasted if both combatants did not agree beforehand.

Sorcerers almost always have Instincts such as:
-Cast Turn Aside the Blade each morning.
-Cast Eldritch Shield each morning.

etc.

[Kublai]

Yeah, those cheatin' Instincts won't be allowed. Such are way more powerful than Stance Instincts, which are borderline as it is.

[luke]

Yeah, those cheatin' Instincts won't be allowed. Such are way more powerful than Stance Instincts, which are borderline as it is.

Boo!
As Yag suggested, I think pre-cast spells should be subject to the agreement of the combattants.

Or how about this, all characters start naked with their weapons and armor in the middle of the arena. First character to get into his armor, grab his weapon and kill his opponent wins.

-L

[Kublai]

Pre-cast spells by agreement is allowed, ye who doesn't read the Rules.

However, there's a difference between pre-cast spells that people agree upon and a cheatin' Instinct that allows the sorcerer to cast his spells before the match without an agreement. Such Instincts have a precedent with the Stance Instincts and thus participants may think they can get away with doing the same with spells. I am nipping that in the bud.

Now bugger off! :evil:

[jc_madden]

nstincts such as:
-Cast Turn Aside the Blade each morning.
-Cast Eldritch Shield each morning.

etc.

And orc slave masters have instincts like:
-Bosh silly caster over the head each morning.
-When silly caster tries again stick him in the 'ear with hot pokers unitl he changes his broken instincts....

[jc_madden]

Or how about this, all characters start naked with their weapons and armor in the middle of the arena. First character to get into his armor, grab his weapon and kill his opponent wins.

Then my next character wil be Wang Hung Lo, master of Drunken-Dong style.

-or-

Thurm Thunderpenis, Dwarf Dork fighter.

[Kublai]

Just look what you started, Abzu! :roll:

[luke]

there's nothing broken about a "cast each morning" or "cast before" instinct. They are, in fact, a good example of Instincts. Who wants to have to state over and over again across a trip of many days, "Ok, I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense."

Sorry, JC but that's booooring and something that Instincts are designed to overcome/bypass.

It's the same Instinct as "Sleep in armor when on campaign" or "Always enter a fight in Aggressive stance."

So long as fighters do not have Instincts which directly affect another fighter, everything should be fine. No "I blast the first thing I see with White Fire" Instincts.

However, I do recognize that Sorcery is a potent, potentially arena-breaking force, so player agreement is crucial.

And, Mr Arena Master, last time I checked said rules, agreement for spells was a suggestion by Yag and not in the fixed rules.

-L

[Kublai]

And, Mr Arena Master, last time I check said rules, agreement for spells was a suggestion by Yag and not in the fixed rules.

-L

::sigh::

This just further proves my point. :cry:

When exactly was the last time you checked? I've had the rule in there since he first proposed it.

::sigh::

[Thor Olavsrud]

And, Mr Arena Master, last time I check said rules, agreement for spells was a suggestion by Yag and not in the fixed rules.

Booyah! :lol:

Unfortunately, while starting with spells up tends to swing things heavily in favor of the spell caster, the opposite is also true: not being able to start with spells up severely limits the caster -- especially since you cannot sprint and cast!

And when you're up against boxers that can make your head explode from 11 paces away... :wink:

But what can you do? I think we'll have some awesome sorcerous duels once the Revision is out and they get access to the Range and Cover rules.

[Kublai]

Thor, what is Rule #10 of the Rules of Combat? Are you sure you want to support Abzu with your "Booyah?"

And no, I didn't just add it in. :x

[Thor Olavsrud]

And no, I didn't just add it in. :x

We'll never know, will we? :twisted:

[jc_madden]

there's nothing broken about a "cast each morning" or "cast before" instinct. They are, in fact, a good example of Instincts. Who wants to have to state over and over again across a trip of many days, "Ok, I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense. New day? I cast Magesense."

Sorry, JC but that's booooring and something that Instincts are designed to overcome/bypass.


Uggg pay attention to the conversation man, I'm not arguing that "always cast" instincts are broken, only disallowed in the context of this arena challenge. Furthermore I QUOTED Kublai's rule #10 regarding this fact in my orginal retort.

[Kublai]

BACK TO THE FIGHT!

Poor, slow Stiga! :oops:

[Thor Olavsrud]

uh oh!

[jc_madden]

So is his spell wasted?

[Drozdal]

So is his spell wasted?
No he's just waiting to release hell upon me :|

[jc_madden]

Oh, good times.

[Drozdal]

Oh, good times.
Not for Stiga for sure :(

[RickoniX]

BACK TO THE FIGHT!

Poor, slow Stiga! :oops:I don't get how he's so slow considering Black Barbarians get approximately +8 Phy every lifepath, unless someone really wanted greyshade power? :P

[Thor Olavsrud]

Poor, slow Stiga! :oops:I don't get how he's so slow considering Black Barbarians get approximately +8 Phy every lifepath, unless someone really wanted greyshade power? :P[/quote]

The Black Barbarian really needs more than 4 lifepaths to get going. At most, he's got +5 P. :lol:

What you need to ask yourself, is where did those physical points go if they didn't go into Speed? :shock:

[Yagathai]

I can get a Black Barbarian with 25 physical stat points in 4 lifepaths.

[Thor Olavsrud]

I can get a Black Barbarian with 25 physical stat points in 4 lifepaths.

That's simply not possible. In 4 lifepaths, these are the only possibilities:

Born Peasant (lead to Barbarian), Ripped from Mother's Arms, Slave to the Wheel, Pit Fighter. That grants 21 Physical points. You'd be age 18

or

Born Village (lead to Barbarian), Ripped from Mother's Arms, Slave to the Wheel, Pit Fighter. That also grants 21 Physical points. You'd be age 20.

[Yagathai]

Instead of Pit Fighter, take Slave to the Wheel twice.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Instead of Pit Fighter, take Slave to the Wheel twice.

d'oh! You're right of course. :oops:

The downside is that the only lifepath skills you'll have are slaver-wise and wheel-wise opened at root, with a paltry 3 general points to distribute. Not very appetizing.

And even then, you MUST have a higher Power and Forte than you have Speed and Agility, and a higher Will than you have Perception.

[RickoniX]

I can get a Black Barbarian with 25 physical stat points in 4 lifepaths.

That's simply not possible. In 4 lifepaths, these are the only possibilities:

Born Peasant (lead to Barbarian), Ripped from Mother's Arms, Slave to the Wheel, Pit Fighter. That grants 21 Physical points. You'd be age 18

or

Born Village (lead to Barbarian), Ripped from Mother's Arms, Slave to the Wheel, Pit Fighter. That also grants 21 Physical points. You'd be age 20.25 or 21, he should still have more speed than my little cripple (though seriously, this guy is a bad-ass NPC, not half as combat oriented, but I plan to drive any players the kings men capture go insane/turn on his friends)

[Yagathai]

I'm not saying he'd be a practical character, but oh the locking and charging he could do...

[luke]

I'm not saying he'd be a practical character, but oh the locking and charging he could do...

::puts gold star on the Grave Digger's head::

[Yagathai]

*basks in the warm glow of Luke's praise*

[Kublai]

Well! That came down like a house of cards, didn't it! :shock:

[jc_madden]

th-th-th-that's all folks!

[Kublai]

Conan would be proud.

[Drozdal]

Conan would be proud.
Aquilonia is soo far away....

[Thor Olavsrud]

Ouch!

[luke]

so what spells did the Sorcerer have? I'm very curious.

-L

[Kublai]

RickoniX will have to post his character himself. He did have some very useful ones, but just no time to cast them!

[Thor Olavsrud]

Without the ability to put up spells ahead of time and Sustain them, I think I would probably choose to go with something like Sarch's Glare off the bat. His Will likely wouldn't be higher than 4, so it'd be a good gamble.

I'd probably do something like this:
V1
Avoid
Avoid
Sprint Away

V2
Incant Sarch's Glare
Cast Sarch's Glare
Dash Away

V3
Slash throat with knife
Walk Toward

[Kublai]

Why would you Sprint and Avoid, thus earning a +4 Ob to your Avoid? What's the point? I'd much rather stack the end of the Volley with 2 actions.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Why would you Sprint and Avoid, thus earning a +4 Ob to your Avoid? What's the point? I'd much rather stack the end of the Volley with 2 actions.

In this case, you give him Ob 4 anyway, additional successes are gravy. Plus you get the Avoid+Natural Defenses if he happens to charge, which Barbarians are prone to do. Block would have been another option, of course.

But really the whole point is just to get far enough away to not get hit while incanting. As for stacking the actions at the other end, who needs 'em?

Granted, RickoniX was super unlucky on his casting roll. But the probabilities say that on all black dice, you have a better than 90 percent chance of earning 4 successes on 12 dice. And since sorcery dice open end, it's probably closer to 5 successes. Since a Black Barbarian with only 4 lifepaths is unlikely to have a Will higher than 4, it's a fantastic gamble.

Once the spell goes off, the Barbarian is completely paralyzed for as long as you Sustain the spell. You don't need to rear-load the actions. You can spend a few actions gloating before you slit his throat.

[Kublai]

Base Obstacle was 4, fyi. So he woulda needed 11 successes to have avoided that fate! :shock:

[Thor Olavsrud]

Base Obstacle was 4, fyi. So he woulda needed 11 successes to have avoided that fate! :shock:

No no! I was talking about from the very beginning of the combat, when they started 5 paces apart!

[Kublai]

Me too! Wait... are we talking about the same thing? Muscles of Water?

Base Ob 4 + 6 pts of Power + Dashing = Ob 11= Barbarian down.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Me too! Wait... are we talking about the same thing? Muscles of Water?

Base Ob 4 + 6 pts of Power + Dashing = Ob 11= Barbarian down.

With Sarchs Glare, Its Base Ob 4 + 1 Dash. And he is finished.

[RickoniX]

Honestly, I never expected to face someone with super crazy power exponent, my fault I guess, though five successes on 12 open ended dice was also a little un-expected (Be sure to watch for this guys namesake up next :P)

Concept: A torturous ex-mage who revels in pain
Name: Koron'das

Koron'das was the son of a mage of middling power in the capitol city of Kreg, ruled by the High King Titus the 12th, named after an obscure and long dead elven prince of little import, he was forced by his father to be a wizard, and was raised, despite his personal deviances, because of his remarkable abilities, soon after being raised to the mages guild, however, he was cast out and disowned by his father because of his forbidden experiments on hapless citizens. Soon after, he found a job in the kings castle as a dungeon guard, and because of his troubles never mentioned his lineage or abilities, but was soon promoted to dungeon master and then head inquisitor, in charge of interrogating the kings most heated political opponents and most willful enemy spies and extracting information, those who knew of him often tried to commit suicide when they heard they were sentenced to a slow death at his hands.

Lifepaths: Born city, sorcerer's apprentice, sorcerer, lead to noble court, torturer

Age: 30

Per: 4 Wi: 6 Ag: 3 Sp: 3 Po: 3 Fo: 6

Hea: 5 Mw: B10 St: 7

Su: B4 Li: B6 Mi: B7 Se: B8 Tr: B9 Mw: B10

Calligraphy B1
Interrogation B4
Sorcery B6
Anatomy B5
Torture B6
Knives B4

Gear:
Run of the mill dagger
Clothes (Blue pants, red shirt with crook of the inquisitors in black and gold on the left shoulder)
Polished black high boots
2 rp worth of coin

Dagger: Pow +1 VA - Add 1
I: 2 M: 4 S: 6

Spells:

Muscles of water (abstracted)
A spell most useful for one dealing in pain, this spell turns weakens the targe, and for most men, will lay them flat, it will prevent their body from moving while keeping their mind alert, this spell reduces the target's power by the number of successes over the base obstacle
Anima, taxing, presence, sustained, single target
Compression
Ob 4^, 4 syllables


Shards
Ob 2^, 2 syllables

Thunderclap
Ob 2, 2 syllables

Turn aside the blade
Ob 3^, 8 syllables

Association:
Inquisitors of the lord King Titus

Traits:
Gifted, brutal

Beliefs:
Pain is life, life pain; No man can resist what I can do; Torture is a great way to let off steam

Instincts:
Never let an enemy die quickly; Always bind before torturing; Never let a job go unfinished

[luke]

Korondas looks like a playable character. Are mad? You can't field playable characters in the Arena of Death Toons and hope to survive!

These must be living missiles, intent on the destruction of their opponent and nothing else. Bred from birth to do one thing, and one thing only: KILL!

Were I you -- and I am not -- I would have tooned Korondas like this:

Callig B1
Interr B3
Sorcery G6
Anatomy B3 (and fought to FoRK this into my Knives)
Torture B2
Knives B6

but that's just me.
-L

[Drozdal]

If i were you RickoniX i would start match with thunderclap and then proceed to Sharding Stiga's ass into oblivion.

[RickoniX]

Korondas looks like a playable character. Are mad? You can't field playable characters in the Arena of Death Toons and hope to survive!

These must be living missiles, intent on the destruction of their opponent and nothing else. Bred from birth to do one thing, and one thing only: KILL!

Were I you -- and I am not -- I would have tooned Korondas like this:

Callig B1
Interr B3
Sorcery G6
Anatomy B3 (and fought to FoRK this into my Knives)
Torture B2
Knives B6

but that's just me.
-L
Yeah, I probably should have, but when I thought of doing that my anti-munchkin defenses kicked in and I slapped myself with my notebook, trust me, my elven prince does not make the same mistake :P

[eruditus]

Or how about this, all characters start naked with their weapons and armor in the middle of the arena. First character to get into his armor, grab his weapon and kill his opponent wins.

-L

F$&K! I like THAT! Its so "brad pitt in the basement!"