Dice Trial By Fire - OOC

[Sherwood]

The lords, then they would have their champions take to the field in answer to your challenge.

 

[D. Rex]

Sherwood

Hey! I have returned early from my tribulations. Much earlier than anticipated.

 

[Sherwood]

Excellent. I'm currently pondering the Fae response to Maja and her delightful taunting. Looking forward to this.

 

[Random Word]

I take it the Threaten attempt failed, and only qualified for a Minor stunt? What was their Resolve?

 

[Sherwood]

Pretty high. You were just on the cusp of success.

 

[Random Word]

Ah, if it was a Major could I toss the Willpower earned into the roll for an extra success?

 

[Sherwood]

Oh, sure. Go for it.

 

[Random Word]

Okay, if it qualified as a Major that would give it an extra success, plus one more from spending the WP earned immediately, putting it up to a whopping 9 hits. Still too low?

 

[Sherwood]

Ok, give me a moment to edit the response.

 

[Sherwood]

A brief edited response is up.

 

[D. Rex]

Still here! Can't think of anything to say. But I'm here and not forgotten. Pretty excited to see where things are going. Brain is just stuck in a muddy rut.

 

[jaydude]

Could Kuaidao take one of the Fae champions by himself? I'm a little hesitant after what happened the last time I fought a cataphract, but I'm also hopeful that my character here's more suited to the task than Atusa was.

 

[Random Word]

By my estimation Kuaidao is significantly stronger than Atusa, and would absolutely wreck Acekara. Kuaidao has a resting attack pool of 14 + 2 (Pounding Heart Triumph) + 2 (Stunt) = 18, a mote-neutral pool of 20 reroll 1s (3m excellent strike, 2m dipping swallow), can create a Size 2 Might 1 Battlegroup on command to assist him by creating Onslaught penalties or helping control range, and has much stronger action economy with the ability to Decisive without an action for 3m with Solar Counterattack and either Decisive or Wither without an action any time he drops the opponents initiative from above his to below for 3m. Perhaps his largest advantage over Atusa is Thunderbolt Attack Prana, which is probably the best alpha strike Charm in the game. It tends to all but end duels on round one.

In my opinion, the ideal flow for Kuaidao is to:

1. Put up ISEx2 for 6m.
2. Start at Short range.
3. Win JB with a 7m maxed excellency + WP (Expected value of 11i).
4. 4m1wp Thunderbolt Attack Prana with 3m Excellent Strike to attack with 16 dice + 1 auto-success + re-roll 1s (You can spend on an excellency here to clinch the hit, or spend WP). That will deal an expected 11L on the top of turn 1, likely giving the enemy a -2 or even -4 would penalty, or killing them outright if you roll well/they're squishy.
5. The enemy will attack back. Parry it. Excellency may or may not be called for depending on attack pool. You have a resting parry of 8 with stunt.
6. Withering attack the enemy with 3m Excellent Strike and maybe a 6m excellency to attack with 22 dice + 1 auto-success + re-roll 1s.
7. If Step 6 dropped their initiative below Kuaidao's (and it almost certainly did if it hit), One Weapon Two Blows for 3m to either withering again if they have a lot of HLs, or decisive to kill them.
8. If they survived Step 7, the enemy attacks. Parry again, then if you didn't Decisive in Step 7, Solar Counterattack for a Decisive that will probably end the fight on round two.
9. If the fight isn't over, settle into a mote-neutral attack and defense pattern, or even a mote-positive pattern to save for OWTB and Solar Counterattacks. The wound penalties at this point should mean things are soon over. If the enemy can negate wound penalties and has enough HLs to tank all of that punishment, then things get trickier.

All told that's 6m + 7m + 7m +?m (for parry) - 5m (regen) + ~9m + (Maybe 3m + ~9m if OWTB goes off) + ?m (for parry) + 6m = 42 motes in total if you spend nothing on defense, leaving you with only ~4m remaining. That's pushing it, so I might trim back on the excellencies on some of the attacks. With various wound and onslaught penalties, some of those excellencies are almost certainly overkill.

Before going all out on someone like that it's worth knowing if you'll be expected to fight more than one duel back to back without rest. Maybe tag Spider in for the second round.

 

[Sherwood]

I have a plan for either Kuaidao taking on a single fighter by himself, or having a group on group fight with multiple Exalts and Fae going at each other. It sort of depends on how you guys want to do this; let Kuaidao shine on his own, or show off as a team.

 

[Random Word]

Maja intends to step back and let Spider and Kuaidao do the showing off. At most she might intervene with her 'spot the enemy's greatest weakness Charm' if things ever look dicey.

 

[Psychie]

I am good with getting Spider into the mix, or we can sit back and enjoy some popcorn and watch Kuaidao go nuts and lay waste to the Fae. Either way, I'm good!

 

[Sherwood]

Ok, so we are looking at Kuaidao and Spider doing a two-on-two. Perhaps Rory will join in and make it three-on-three.

 

[jaydude]

Yeah, I'm fine either way.

 

[jaydude]

Assuming the champions are the same ones as shown in this post, I'm currently more inclined for us to take on the first three, on the basis that their concepts seem the simplest to handle (Martial artist, beast, spearman). Of course, since Kuaidao's not the only one who's going to be fighting, I'm welcome to other suggestions.

 

[Sherwood]

That is the group you are seeing.

 

[Psychie]

I like that trio for us to fight. Is the thought we take down one at a time by coordinated effort, or split our attention between the three? I would suggest we combine attacks on one of the Fae at a time and eliminate that target before taking on the other champions.

 

[jaydude]

I like that trio for us to fight. Is the thought we take down one at a time by coordinated effort, or split our attention between the three? I would suggest we combine attacks on one of the Fae at a time and eliminate that target before taking on the other champions.

Makes sense so far. Assuming we get the chance to do so. Odds are that we'll all end up in close range of each other once the fighting starts.

 

[jaydude]

Order of Initiative.
Round 2
9 - [Spider]
9 - Sparkling Moonlit Edge
7 - Berentram
5 - Rory
5 - Thok
0 - Berentram

I feel I should point out that my character is still very much an active participant in this fight.

 

[Sherwood]

lol I just noticed that, and have edited the initiative order. You are up. Sorry about that.

 

[Psychie]

At least I don't feel so bad for forgetting the Soak on my roll when our Storyteller goofs up too.