[LP CYOA] 傳

[Baltika9]

Traumatized by the murder of his furry friends, after composing his greatest work ever Jing paints himself in their blood and makes a mask and cape out of the poor dead tiger's pelt.

Meanwhile, Zhang hangs up the poem about the massacre in his library as a testament to his deeds, because that's just how he rolls.

Or, let me put it like this:
treave, will we get a chance to assert our own personality from Zhang, or will the choice we make in 1 automatically railroad us into a certain degree of sociopathy?

You don't hang around the Southern Maniac for a year and a half without picking up a healthy disregard for the sanctity of life, but that doesn't mean you're automatically a baby-eating mass murderer either. I suppose without giving too much away, a bit of both. There are no choices here that will immediately turn you into "I MUST SLAUGHTER FOR THE SAKE OF BECOMING THE MOST POWERFUL MARTIAL ARTIST". Not even Zhang has reached that level of insanity. You might start on the slippery slope to that end, yes. But there'll always be chances to veer away from that path, though you might end up making sacrifices to do so.

And there we have it.

How the fuck do you get "WE COULD END UP JUST LIKE DIO!!!!" from this? You made such an absurd jump from "making friends with animals" to "using people like Dio". All of Zhang's techniques are lethal killing techniques; therefore, if we aren't actually killing, we aren't succumbing to the downsides of his teachings. D is the only choice here that doesn't involve killing.

You're not arguing in good faith here. Really, if you're serious about trying to maintain our own will without succumbing to the inherent corruption of Zhang's teachings - and yes, there must be downsides to tapping into the dark, primordial nature of our infinitely chaotic qi - then D is the only conscionable choice to allow us to maintain independence. I said before that if we are to keep our character's psyche stable, we will have to place morality about pragmatism, and I believe that this is a perfect example of that. There's a reason that these techniques are unorthodox, and we know that a lot of them can be dangerous to the person who practices them.

Easy: if we allow our inner chaos to affect us, we become a sociopath. A charming sociopath is still a sociopath, using relationships and attachments for one's own goals is a thing with those guys and like treave siad, we now have a healthy disregard for life in any choice. That's why I called bullshit on the "morality" argument, it's all about how we handle it. I honestly don't have anyting against any of the choices, Jing is one smart motherfucker and he can work with anything. Well, I don't like 1A, what do we need trapping for?

Keep in mind that it's next to impossible to raise stats above 8 STR by natural means as well, so this is our last chance in a long while, maybe forever, to raise our natural STR score.

 

[Nevill]

Keep in mind that it's next to impossible to raise stats above 8 STR by natural means as well, so this is our last chance in a long while, maybe forever, to raise our natural STR score.

AG is our signature ability as a Tiger, and the stat that distinguished us from a Dragon sign. Both AG and STR were our strongest statistics.

Well, I don't like 1A, what do we need trapping for?

But you want Drinking. What for?

If we started speaking from a purely powergaming standpoint, our strongest technique, Mad Wolf Step, brings our AG on par with our STR, and enhances our Sneak. Why not bank on AG as a primary stat if it also allows us to maximize Sneak at the same time? You were against diversifying further, weren't you?

 

[Baltika9]

No, our signature is strength. Always was.

Drinking is a social skill and ever present. Drinking well means we can make good friends or challenge our enemies to a pre-fight drink and come out better. It also means we can impress people at feasts and drink with the best of 'em, like the Tujue Mongols (yes, we need to keep them in mind for the future).

Passive Skills

Drinking
The pugilistic world is full of wine. Wine is used to make friends and defeat enemies. Being able to drink others under the table may well be a skill that prevents one from having their throat cut in their sleep. (END)​

It also means no one can take us by surprise when we're drunk. And we just may evebtually unlock our own Drunken Fist. I want that.

 

[Kipeci]

When did we get a point in the drinking skill, anyway?

 

[Nevill]

Drinking is a social skill and ever present. Drinking well means we can make good friends or challenge our enemies to a pre-fight drink and come out better. It also means we can impress people at feasts and drink with the best of 'em, like the Tujue Mongols (yes, we need to keep them in mind for the future).

Your END would be 6, for God's sake. You won't be outdrinking anyone.

3 Drinking, capped at 6, or 5 Sneak, uncapped. What is going to be more useful, I wonder?

When did we get a point in the drinking skill, anyway?

After Songfeng we got drunk with Yao and Qi Liuwu.

 

[Baltika9]

I already made my case for for the END bonus, Jing absolutely needs a longer fuse in a fight. The drinking skill is just a neat, manly bonus.
And not "yours," but "ours." You're part of the decline now bro, welcome.

 

[Kipeci]

Your END would be 6, for God's sake. You won't be outdrinking anyone.

That can take us to as far as the second step on the path to mastery if we pursue the skill. Personally, I wouldn't bother or get into any drinking competitions, but it's still a nice benefit to not collapse into a coma after touching a jug of rice wine. That's not the main draw of the choice, though.

3 Drinking, capped at 6, or 5 Sneak, uncapped. What is going to be more useful, I wonder?

5 sneak? No, it'd be 3 sneak, and it would still have a cap. We're currently at the exact same skill rank for both sneak and drinking, the only difference is that we have not yet uncovered a technique that allows us to hold our drink better while we do have one that helps with sneaking.

That said, I consider sneaking and drinking to both be kinda trash skills anyway. I much prefer the strength bonus to the agility and the endurance to the perception, though, so that settles it for me.

 

[Nevill]

5 sneak? No, it'd be 3 sneak, and it would still have a cap. We're currently at the exact same skill rank for both sneak and drinking, the only difference is that we have not yet uncovered a technique that allows us to hold our drink better while we do have one that helps with sneaking.

Anywhere you can use Sneak, you can use Qinggong to boost it up, so I count them together. And, yes, we never discovered a technique to boost Drinking skill, and in fact do not know if such technique exists at all. But we have Mad Wolf Step at our disposal already. Playing our strongest points and all that.

Sneak is a combat skill, Drink is social, and far worse than Speech at that. But to each his own.

And not "yours," but "ours." You're part of the decline now bro, welcome.

Not until your choice wins, I'm not.

 

[Baltika9]

Unit designation "NEVILL" is exhibiting signs of individuality and non-conformity with the HIVEMIND. Report to the nearest re-educational center for indoctrination.

 

[Baltika9]

Bros, if you want a different statboost than C, cool, we can work with all of them and I see the metits of each, but please don't vote based on the morality argument, it's nowhere near the extreme that it has been exaggerated to. It all depends on how far we'll let the Dark Gods take us down the road and none of them strongly impact that. It all depends on the choices we make out in the world.

That being said, I still want the STR and END boost for the best warrior we can get, plus the drinking to help in social settings and the Tujue (those guys are boozehounds), and not get caught flat footed at a feast.
D is a possible alternative for me, for the diplomacy boost and

But I still want a stompy Jing rather than a talky Jing. We're charismatic enough as it is.

 

[Tigranes]

Don't get me wrong, 1C would be my second choice after 1B. Even forgettinnnnnnnnng the morality argument I am in favour of AGI nd PER for the combinatorial possibilities and adaptibility - I feel like with 1C we are also a little more restricted there and thus more likely to replicate faithfully the Maniac's combat style. Which, quite apart from the insanity stuff, I don't think is the best we can do combat efficiency wise.

Excuse wmy spastic wireless keyboard for my tablet.

 

[Baltika9]

I feel like with 1C we are also a little more restricted there and thus more likely to replicate faithfully the Maniac's combat style. Which, quite apart from the insanity stuff, I don't think is the best we can do combat efficiency wise.

To be fair, we don't even know his "style", we don't know shit about him (very frustrating, the man is an enigma. Why does he want to make us the best we can be? Why does he even give a shit? I also have a suspicion he has/had the same condition as us). That deed is done, he taught us his one signature technique, we already know it and are in the process of recreating it rather faithfully and we can't reverse that.

So what? It's all about how and what we use it for.

 

[ScubaV]

BB. Codex, it is time for us to become the ultimate stealth assassin. Meet Xu Jing Denton.

As for choice 2, B seems rather obvious as the Wudang are likely to be natural enemies. I don't see much merit in choosing either of the other options over it.

 

[Baltika9]

Tally so far. Let me know if I missed something.
TOME AA
Jester A>D;C>A
Kashmir Slippers AA
Smashing Axe AA>BA>DA

Lambchop19 BC
Nevill BB
The Brazilian Slaughter BC
ScubaV BB
Tigranes BB

Kipeci CB
Azira CB
Kazgar CB
Ifeex CA>AA
ERYFKRAD CA>CB
m4davis CA
Baltika CB
XenomorphII CA

Esquilax DB

Zero Credibility DA>BA>AA
Grimgravy AC>BC>DC

Which brings it out to:
A- 5
B- 5
C- 8
D- 2
-
A- 7
B- 9
C- 4

treave, uh, we won't get Yiffed on by a tigress in 1D, will we? Also, with all this talk of chaos and anarchy, can Jing get a mohawk?

 

[ScubaV]

Actually, I'm BB not BC. Esquilax, you may want to put in a contingency vote as D seems unlikely to win.

 

[LWC1996]

1B 2A

I will be getting 5 Sneak points with qinggong stat which makes this talent muy useful when we have to sneak into beautiful maidens' bedroom to seduce her and all that.

Also going with 1B gives me 10 AGI and I rather max out speed over power here since most of the opponents will rely on dodging and not getting hit. Plus 9 STR is probably powerful enough to make my opponents hurt but that extra point of agility could make a difference between dodging a fast sword or death, or worse, being an armless swordsman.

 

[Absinthe]

You'll need to get to pressure point 4 to be good enough to really use it in combat I figure. As for the personalities, I could spell it out if you guys prefer, or let you guys speculate.

Spelling it out is better. The point of the choices is to let us shape the character's decisions and psychology.

Pretty much, yes. A prolonged and equal fight between two Great-level exponents usually ends up with one or both sides pulling a new technique out of their ass as they attempt to counter each other. In this case, they might not have raw intelligence, but their experience and technical expertise makes up for it. For a young fighter, he'd definitely need a good INT and PER to play the countering game. I'd probably consider INT 7 and PER 7 as entry-level for this sort of mental match in general, the minimum you need to be considered good at it. Of course, if you lack in perception you'll need to compensate for it in intelligence, and vice versa.

Is it possible to self-learn the Yuhe Finger?

Voting A.

High int and perception allow Jing to spontaneously copy and devise moves. Moves allow you to temporarily boost stats. Int is also applicable in any situation. It's also useful for remembering and improving on previous teachings. Traps is also a skill Jing will probably need.

Voting second A so that Jing has another sword skill.

Endurance is good but voting C also brings Jing closer to being another Ean and that LP doesn't need to be repeated. Also, as treave says, "any rate, your qi and your neigong cannot be trained or modified without triggering certain events. If you'll notice, it's not tied to your endurance cap. It's entirely separate. You're unique, a special little snowflake. For the foreseeable future you can't learn any other type of neigong other than Primordial Chaos."

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

learning Yuhe Finger to have a self-healing

Sorry, but we have no meridians now, so I doubt we that will work...

 

[ScubaV]

You'll need to get to pressure point 4 to be good enough to really use it in combat I figure. As for the personalities, I could spell it out if you guys prefer, or let you guys speculate.

Spelling it out is better. The point of the choices is to let us shape the character's decisions and psychology.

Pretty much, yes. A prolonged and equal fight between two Great-level exponents usually ends up with one or both sides pulling a new technique out of their ass as they attempt to counter each other. In this case, they might not have raw intelligence, but their experience and technical expertise makes up for it. For a young fighter, he'd definitely need a good INT and PER to play the countering game. I'd probably consider INT 7 and PER 7 as entry-level for this sort of mental match in general, the minimum you need to be considered good at it. Of course, if you lack in perception you'll need to compensate for it in intelligence, and vice versa.

Is it possible to self-learn the Yuhe Finger?

Voting AA.

High int and perception allow Jing to spontaneously copy and devise moves. Moves allow you to temporarily boost stats. Int is also applicable in any situation. It's also useful for remembering and improving on previous teachings. Traps is also a skill Jing will probably need.

Voting second A so that Jing has another sword skill.

Endurance is good but voting C also brings Jing closer to being another Ean and that LP doesn't need to be repeated. Also, as treave says, "any rate, your qi and your neigong cannot be trained or modified without triggering certain events. If you'll notice, it's not tied to your endurance cap. It's entirely separate. You're unique, a special little snowflake. For the foreseeable future you can't learn any other type of neigong other than Primordial Chaos."

Weren't you the guy that left the thread in a huff because things didn't go your way? You really like your fingering.

 

[Baltika9]

Uh, why are learning sword skills from an unarmed master? I'd figure having a secondary non-lethal hand technique will be more useful, since we lost duancao legs when joining the monastery.

 

[Absinthe]

Lambchop19, a proper Yuhe Finger that actually heals others would probably be impossible. But a Yuhe Finger that heals Jing and probably injures others might be doable.

ScubaV, two points. One: I'm bringing up the Yuhe Finger again because it's relevant now that "any injuries you suffer to your internal system can no longer be healed by the qi of others." So Jing needs a healing technique of his own if he doesn't want to slowly get owned by internal techniques. That palm strike stayed in his system until Yao removed it, and he'll have more trouble where she came from. Two: I excused myself because the discussions here are more like shitting contests.


Baltika9, honestly, I've no real opinion on the second vote. Changing my vote to just A, no second vote.

 

[Tigranes]

So having left the person who can teach us the Yuhe finger, having opened the floodgates to our fucked up qi, and having removed our meridians, you now want us to self-learn the Yuhe Finger in a totally unique custom-tailored version? Sure, if we have it, it'll be good, but there's been zero indication from treave that this may be possible.

 

[Kipeci]

Darn. If we're going to lose out on C to some other nonsense, it shoud at least be D that we lose to.

 

[Absinthe]

Tigranes, it's more likely he'll have another chance of learning it when he wraps up his plot thread with Yao. I was just asking for the sake of it. The A vote is mostly because this character has done little with his perception, and copying/countering moves sounds more interesting than copying the Southern Maniac. I don't even see much mechanical benefit to a C vote. Going from Str 8(+1) to Str 9(+1) is more like overkilling a strong point than actually contributing something. Going from End 5 to End 6 isn't very useful when it won't affect qi or neigong either. Voting A seems better for that, considering his only road to improving qi/neigong is self-learning.

Preferential vote of 1A>B>D

 

[Kipeci]

Well, let's ask treave , then, he seems fairly talkative about this nonsense.

Will there be much of a benefit for going from strength 8 to strength 9? You've mentioned a lot of benefits for boosting intelligence up from its current point at seven, is there anything similar for boosting strength?