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#strength vs dexterity
gubbles-owo · 15 days
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For the tail rating: Asbestos (arknights), Ho'oleyak (arknights) and W (arknights)
HEAVY HITTERS RIGHT AWAY, HUH??
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okay, so like. i want to be fair, right? i'm less interested in ranking tails *against* each other so much as I am in appreciating the variety of them. but like. if i had to choose the best tail in arknights. IF WE'RE ALL BEING HONEST HERE,,, yeahhh Asbestie would win this one absolutely no fucking contest. It's long. It's got volume. It's dexterous. It's WET. if you try getting your grubby little paws on the thing she will bear no hesitation in kicking your fucking teeth in for even thinking about it, so on top of all these amazing qualities it is also FORBIDDEN. lord knows there is only one person on terra who knows how it tastes, and I bet she's addicted to it. Asbestos tail rating: i need to choke on it Next up is- wait oh my fucking god jesus fuck. ign christ holy shit.
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sorry to be such a lesbian but. god. fuck. focus here gubby. okay like i said i'm not really ranking tails against one another here, but ho'ol would certainly give asbestos a run for her money. it definitely would win out in the length department, because christ look at this thing
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hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's long as fuck. it's swift and silent, imbued with terrible strength. in her spoken voicelines she DIRECTLY references the doctor (u) choking on her tail. not from her tail or otherwise implying some kind of choke-hold, nonono. ON. this thing is going down your fucking throat and you are going to like it. ...i wonder what it tastes like. admittedly i did not finish lone trail before the event closed, but even from what i saw, the written descriptions of ho'ol's tail. some lucky tail enthusiast had a field day describing how her tail moves about in detail so intricate i can only describe it as fetishistic. and that is a COMPLIMENT goddammit. if this tail does nothing for you then i am sorry bb but there's no saving you. Ho'olheyak tail rating: i need to choke on it. and i suppose with that it's time to bring things back down to earth, because, okay if i'm being honest w's tail is. fine? but like. man given the previous two this just doesn't hit the same way...
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The barbed shape is kinda neat, but in general this thing is pretttttty thin. If you know me at all then you know where i stand on the whole thin vs. phat tail debate, so I can't say W's tail impresses me all that much. Very thin, but very light and I imagine pretty quick. I wonder how sharp the end of that thing really is, but I'd guess that's it's likely safe to touch. I'm still in chapter 6 and admittedly don't know much about W as a character yet, but I imagine she'd either cause petty mischief with it in some way or alternatively get all embarrassed pissed if it's accidentally touched. I wonder what it tastes like. W tail rating: i am probably going to step on it (by accident)
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pianokantzart · 1 month
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Reading your most recent post on Movie!Bowser… it does make me quite curious as to how they’ll handle Bowser and Mario’s fighting dynamic in the hypothetical second Mario movie. In terms of physical strength, I mean. Game!Mario is quite capable of taking down Bowser in his original form(as in, can physically take Bowser down without power-ups) but Mario more or less needed the aid of the star power-up to do so. The movie versions of M&L are definitely closer to normal humans in terms of fighting prowess, so it makes me wonder if they’ll try having Mario, and Luigi by proxy, fight in hand-to-hand combat with no power-ups with Bowser at some point?
Maybe that could be a plot point in the second movie? Bowser worms his way out and starts whichever villainous plot his evil little heart desires, and Mario and Luigi start off a journey of sorts to find another star power-up, believing it crucial in obtaining victory? But, unable to find it, they’re more or less thrown into the fray with their wits and only limited power-ups in tow? And thus sustain a significant amount more of injuries without their invincibility from the star? (And perhaps the fabled green mushroom makes its debut that way…) The movies could have an interesting juxtaposition with the first movie bros being inexperienced + power-upped vs. second movie bros being more experienced + ….not-so-power-upped lol. They sort’ve have to earn their hero titles more(though moreso in the eyes of themselves only. Mostly everyone around them is already like ‘Duh. Your heroes with or without them.’ But, alas, character arcs! Potentially!) Sorry, I’m kinda word vomiting, but day by day I grow ever more curious how the second movie could play out….
One thing I like about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is that it's pretty much just an origin story. There is so much room to expand between where the movie left off and the full Mario lore as we know it today, and I for one am interested in the process of Mario and Luigi going from "Haha! We're heroes!" to "Oh f*ck, we're heroes," to "Okay... we're heroes... we can do this."
Like, how would they react to the idea of facing off against Bowser again without a power star to help them? How will their dynamic shake out when they're bouncing from one life-or-death situation to another? How will they balance their protectiveness toward each other with their moral obligations? Where will the new stakes take them? What new powerup/ally/enemy will they encounter? But back to what you're saying. If Mario and Luigi don't use powerups– even small ones– in the fight against Bowser, I predict a combination of the following tactics will be employed:
Reliance on dexterity. Bowser has them beat in terms of speed, strength, and resilience, but being a giant turtle monster he isn't nearly as agile as Mario and Luigi.
Using Bowser's emotions against him. It's his most glaring weakness, so while prodding at his ego is risky it could also make his movements more predictable.
Using their surroundings to their advantage instead of relying strictly on their own physical ability, which is a pretty common thing to do in Mario games (and video games in general.)
Leaning heavily on teamwork, not just with each other but with Peach, Toad, and probably Yoshi given the post-credits teaser.
And maybe a certain green and white mushroom will need to come into play at some point? We'll see. My biggest fear is that the writers will nerf Bowser a little so that he's easier to take on without the aid of the super star, but I really hope that doesn't happen. Speedy, strong, ruthless, unwavering, tactical, durable Bowser with a fire breath powerful enough to destroy civilizations is my favorite Bowser.
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soylent-crocodile · 8 months
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Chiosite (Race)
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(Caracal Sphinx by tashcrow on deviantart)
(As may become apparent later, I love big cats and I love cat monsters, especially sphinxes and manticores. Chiosites, pronounced key-os-ites, are an attempt to make a playable race of such creatures. Obviously, they do not have the humanoid body plan of most species, but I think that's fine to play with, and gave them dexterous hands to cast spells and carry weapons with.
The term bi-quad, by the way, is stolen from Jay Eaton, aka @jayrockin)
Chiosites are a strange folk who have the head and chest of a humanoid, but the body of a large cat. They are posited to be related to lamia or sphinxes, maftets or manticores, though these more powerful beasts all deny relation to the chiosites, who they see as “lesser”. Traditionally, chiosites walk quadrupedally, but are capable of walking bipedally and using their hands to manipulate and hold items; chiosites who live among humanoids and use their armor and weaponry typically prefer to do so.
Chiosite culture is isolationist and scholarly, preferring to live in prides in the wilderness or in ruins, with a rich oral tradition. In particular, chiosites often live alongside a sphinx, who is revered and trusted. Sphinxes are typically fond of their pride, but keep them at an arm’s length. Other prides may similarly worship a manticore, or fall in line with lamia. Chiosites have a concept of the Wanderer, a member of their culture who chooses to leave their community to gather knowledge and refine the pride’s philosophy; most chiosite adventurers belong to this role.
Stats: Chiosites are knowledgeable and powerful, but their paws are clumsy. They get a +2 racial bonus to Strength and Intelligence, but a -2 racial penalty to Dexterity. Medium: Chiosites are medium creatures that gain no size-based bonuses. Type: Chiosites are magical beasts. Languages: Chiosites begin play knowing Sphinx. Chiosites with high intelligence scores may select any language as a bonus language. Speed: Chiosites have a move speed of 30. When standing quadrupedally and not holding any items in either forepaw, this speed becomes 40. Senses: Chiosites have Darkvision 60ft, low-light vision, and scent. Natural Attacks: Chiosites gain two claw attacks that deal 1d4 base damage. When not using a weapon, these claws count as primary natural attacks. Knowledgeable: Chiosites grow up learning stories passed down for thousands of years, about all manner of things. They may make any knowledge check untrained, and treat all knowledge skills as class skills. Bi-Quad: A chiosite may stand either bipedally or quadrupedally. While standing quadrupedally, a chiosite may be ridden by a small creature and gains a +4 bonus to CMD vs trip checks, but must always have at least one forepaw on the ground and thus count as only having one hand. (They cannot wield two weapons or a two-handed weapon, for example.) Shifting between these stances is a move action.
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killemwithkawaii · 1 month
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Welcome back senpai!!! Good to see you (⁠ノ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ノ⁠*⁠.⁠✧
Sliding in your ask box bc I have a nsfw-ish Sally confession to make (⁠♡⁠ω⁠♡⁠ ⁠)⁠ ⁠~⁠♪
So, I saw this edit of his recently with a song that goes "let me play to you like I play guitar" BUT, where I'm from, "playing to someone" doubles as slang for fingering/jerking off so I was just (O/⁠//////O。⁠) "SAL???"
(but he would. he so fucking would!!!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) and I'd let him)
p.s. can I be kaomoji anon? (⁠。⁠・⁠ω⁠・⁠。⁠)⁠ノ⁠♡
[CW: NS/FW lemon, mild unsanitary, mild death/suicide for canon screenshots. Minors DNI!!!]
>Aw thank you, thank you my sweet kouhai~ 🥰💕
>YUS it is TIME ns/fw asks/hcs fucking SUSTAIN ME lets get this shit rollin again >:3c 💖💦
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>Threw this together for some canon visual reference (u welcome) ☝
>Sally FACE??? More like Sally FINGERS amirite 😏🥁
>His proportions are inconsistent but we embrace the Meaty Mitts on this blog (i mean just get a load a them sausages and tell me you ain't hungry 👀🌭💦)
>Sal being a seasoned guitarist means his skillset includes: -dexterity -finger strength -hand independence -multitasking -patience -stamina -keeping rhythm (all of which can be utilized whether its his guitar or your junk in/around his hands) 👌💯💦
>I would also like to add 'performs well under pressure' (since he can use his guitar as a weapon in battle) to the list, as well as mention that he's probably got some hard-earned guitar calluses that could offer some very interesting texture variations if he uses them right... 😳🥵💦💦💦
>Okay but Sal literally playing his guitar to you as foreplay is just... so fucking sweet (and would give him the opportunity to give you a taste of the skills listed above before you get a much more hands-on demonstration once the song is finished) 🥺💞💞💞
>There is an ask around here somewhere about Sal strategically playing his guitar while [y/n] sits on his amp and enjoys the vibes..~~~ (it's not listed in my masterlist bc i didn't add much to it, but I wanted to mention it while we're on the subject and will link it if I ever find it ;3)
>Nerdy Side Tangent: I've very curious about where you're from and if those lyrics/ that phrase is a non-English euphemism translated into English? Or maybe it's like British English slang vs. American English slang? 🤔 I ask because I (an American) have always heard the phrase 'play WITH someone,' which sounds like you're treating someone/ their body like a toy/object mostly for your own amusement without any serious thought put into it, while 'play TO someone' sounds like doing something for/to someone for their own enjoyment, and to me suggests that whatever body part(s) involved is more comparable to an instrument being played with purpose, skill and care (much more romantic!!). It's fascinating that such a small difference in wording can make such a huge difference to the mood and implications of a phrase!! (and I'm sure Sal would much prefer your version, too!) 😮✨✨✨
>Thanks for putting all of these these specific thoughts in my brain, kaomoji anon!! You have officially been added to the anon signoff list 🤗✅💖
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waystarresourceco · 5 months
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So general question - how are folks thinking about day school vs boarding school for the Roy kids?
I think what we know via the show/script/interviews is:
Kendall attended Buckley which is a k-9 school
Per "Prague" Roman attended St. Andrew's, presumably a reference to St. Andrew's-Sewanee School in Tennessee which is a 6-12 middle/high school (where Roman was probably a boarding student given location)
Alan Ruck has stated he thinks Connor was shipped off to boarding school for most of his educational life
Based on this, I think I had assumed Kendall and Shiv had attended day school and lived at home until college, but in reading some old interviews I came across the below video clip where Sarah mentions Shiv (or maybe all of the kids?) might have also attended boarding school for at least some portion of schooling. On a semi-related note, there's also this clip of Annabelle Dexter-Jones mentioning that Naomi attended a mix of boarding and day schools which may be semi-relevant just considering Naomi's in the same wealth bracket as the Roys (although probably not in the same social circles due to old v. new money, politics, and a few other things).
So I guess where I'm coming out on this is...maybe Shiv also attended boarding school? I can't find anything where Jeremy mentions boarding or day school one way or the other but I could see a world where (a) all the kids attended boarding schools or (b) if they didn't all attend boarding school, Kendall is the one Logan is least likely to allow out of his watch if he was already "troubled" in Logan's view but still rotating it all in my brain (and would be happy to chat about/hear others views)...
Clip of Sarah Snook mentioning boarding school below the cut for those interested:
Q:  Have you as an actor thought about what Shiv’s childhood was like or maybe even had explicit conversations with Jesse about what did shiv go through in her childhood until we meet her on screen?
A:  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you sort of create a roadmap of imaginative kind of work in what their experiences would have been and what it is like to be shepherded around and farmed off to some – probably in boarding school overseas for a bit, or college overseas at least; or you know, holiday-house to holiday-house which none of them really feel like a home. I love that bit where she’s showing her dad all the houses and homes that they have and he just doesn’t recognize them. The monumental wealth that these people have which leaves them sort of lost and kind of displaced in the world, and especially if they don’t have a home, sort of family strength and foundation to call home.” (x)
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mswyrr · 2 years
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“prey” 2022 thoughts
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-- wonderful balance of history and sci fi with the French trapper invaders and the alien Predator all feeling like they belong in the same space thematically and within the landscape they do not respect, only pillage
-- the styling and camera focus on Naru's (very expressive, watchful) eyes and her body *in motion* seeking and acting. it's a very nice approach to move around the components of "the male gaze" (a body exposed and held in place to be gazed upon vs a body that acts and emphasis on drawing you into empathy with her pov and want as the protagonist) .
--THAT SOUNDTRACK. omg. i love that they got a female composer.
--Naru's story (and size/strength/dexterity) would be the same if she was the younger brother eager to prove herself and get out from under her older brothers' shadow rather than the younger sister doing the same and sexist fanboys would be all over it
every single thing she uses against the predator is narratively earned!!! and part of her growth!! 
runt-y younger brother proves himself by defeating a monster is a classic - like,  "David vs Goliath" is a classic for a reason - and nobody has as a problem when the David is male but somehow it's absurd when the clever, not as big, but capable and smart one vs the giant is a girl? eff off
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supersaiyanjedi14 · 2 months
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RWBY Versus Series: Adam Taurus vs. James Ironwood
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"But fear itself isn't worthy of concern, it is who we become while in its clutches. Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?"
PHYSICAL
At first glance, this seems like a very simple conclusion to reach.  While Adam Taurus certainly has James Ironwood beat in terms of physical health and wellness (blind in one eye vs. triple amputee with half your chest gone, one is decidedly worse), Ironwood’s alterations and implants more than make up for his poor condition.  Though originally a run of the mill homo sapian, James Ironwood is now more machine than man, with superhumanly strong prosthetic limbs and built in armor turning him into a veritable juggernaut.  As a Faunus, Adam may have anatomical traits that put him beyond your typical human by way of his horns and likely night vision, but these traits are either vestigial or useless on neutral ground, and his is otherwise just another squishy meatbag.  Ironwood’s superior anatomy carries directly over to physical performance levels, boasting physical strength that is light years beyond anything Adam could muster up.  Yes, carving through military-grade robots like they were nothing is a testament to a heavy hitter, but it really doesn’t compare to being able to manhandle a Beowolf with only one hand.  Ironwood’s superior might is further supported by his agility, bringing every ounce of his weight and might to his target every time.  Adam may be able to brace himself to deflect a flying Blake, but Ironwood doing the same would be far beyond his ability to handle.  While Adam’s performance against Yang Xiao Long proves that he can contend with physically stronger opponents, this is all he can do, and jockeying in an arm-wrestling contest with Ironwood is well beyond his capabilities.  Quite simply, Ironwood’s body is 50% metal and he’s all the more dangerous for it.
However, despite the General’s overwhelming physical might, this is not a one-sided contest, as his Faunus opponent boasts some critical physical advantages of his own.  Adam may not have any anatomical advantages he can leverage over Ironwood, but he does enjoy a significant age gap, at minimum 20 years.  Additionally, much like Cinder Fall, Adam’s impaired eyesight is not a gamebreaker, as he has never been seen suffering from a physical blind spot, owed to either Aura-enhanced senses or simple muscle memory.  In terms of athletic ability, Ironwood’s titanic strength is matched and countered by Adam’s mind-numbing speed.  Simply put, if Adam can keep pace with Blake, casually run laps around Yang, and demonstrate blatantly superior acrobatic ability, then Ironwood is going to have his work cut out for him.  Dexterity and reflex also go to the High Leader, demonstrating greater precision and control in his sword style than the General’s simple pistol whips.  Ironwood’s ability to match and arguably defeat Winter Schnee, to whom Adam is easily comparable, is proof that he can deal with speed demons, but as with Adam and his strength, that’s the limit.  He can contend with Adam’s speed, but he can’t actually match or surpass him.  As far as health and athleticism is concerned, Adam Taurus and James Ironwood demonstrate a balance of opposites.  Both are stronger in areas the other is, while certainly not weak, comparatively lesser in, and either getting the opportunity to leverage that superiority could affect the tide of the whole battle.  If Yang can overpower Adam, so can Ironwood.  If Winter can outpace/fence Ironwood, so can Adam.  Both have proven they can engage such opponents without being overmatched, so neither will be able to coast by on strength or speed alone in this fight.
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This dynamic of opposing strengths and weaknesses carries over to their respective endurance and tolerances.  Once again, Ironwood’s cybernetics afford him a clear and distinct advantage over Adam, his natural armor and displays of physical hardiness allowing him to work through hits that would leave the High Leader a burned-out husk.  Getting back up after getting punched into a crater is great and all, but it’s not the same as literally burning the skin off of your own arm, and that’s before we consider that Adam’s last bits of Aura were taking most of the damage.  But on the other hand, it is worth noting that Ironwood’s superior displays have been the direct result of him allowing himself to take the hits even when he doesn’t have to.  Combined with his visible fatigue against the subversive Watts and his brief clashes with JNR and Winter, Ironwood’s survivability in the long term has a distinct cap.  Conversely, Adam’s final confrontation with Blake and Yang was anywhere from double to triple the length of Ironwood’s fight with Watts, during which he was executing his own intense energetic fighting style the entire time and facing opponents whose offensive pressure slaps anything Watts could muster up. Despite that, Adam still had enough energy to keep fighting unaffected after losing his Aura, and considering just how much punishment Blake and Yang had to subject him to in order to finally get him to that point, I would say that Adam has the stamina advantage by quite a significant margin.  Mental health and discipline follow a similar pattern.  Adam is the more unstable of the two, his violent outbursts being far more pronounced, whereas Ironwood’s military discipline leaves his composure far stronger to the point of apathy.  Yet Ironwood’s ruthless determination still compels him to take unnecessary risks, while Adam, be it by either cowardice or pragmatism, has shown a willingness to pace himself and cut his losses if need be.
As overall physical specimens, Adam Taurus and James Ironwood display a balance of major advantages and disadvantages over the other that match up extremely well.  Adam is younger, faster, more sustainable, and better at staying alive, while Ironwood is tougher, stronger, better equipped, and better at keeping his cool.  Both are well optimized to take advantage of their opponents’ weaknesses, and both are ruthless enough to fight to the death if need be.  As such, this verdict is determined by the severity of the disparities in their respective performances, and it is here where Ironwood’s enhancements give him a leg up.  Adam may have been able to contend with Yang Xiao Long’s greater strength and fortitude, but Ironwood is very likely stronger and tougher than Yang, making his advantage over the Faunus that much more substantial.  By contrast, Adam merely matches Winter Schnee’s agility, he does not surpass it, so his speed advantage is not enough to put the general too far out of his comfort zone.  Adam can potentially turn this dynamic around through skill at arms, but he cannot overcome Ironwood on the back of raw physicality.  To be clear, Ironwood still has an uphill battle ahead of him, as Adam’s own strengths and displays mean that he cannot afford to coast by on strength and endurance.  It must be remembered that Ironwood’s superiority is wholly in the fact that his cybernetics expanding the strength and durability gap wider than the speed and stamina gap, the latter of which are still eggs in Adam’s basket.  I will go so far as to say that if we were examining a hypothetical non-cyborg Ironwood, then Adam would sweep the edge on the back of his youth.  As it stands, however, Adam’s only hope lies in skill and power, and a battle of the body is Ironwood’s to lose.
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James Ironwood gets the edge for Physical Ability and Equipment.
MARTIAL
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Starting from the top with a comparison of their weaponry, both Adam Taurus and James Ironwood carry one standard firearm as part of their primary arsenal, their respective standard performances being more or less comparable.  Where the weapon sets diverge from this point demonstrate the differences in each warrior’s approach.  With Blush’s ability to shoot Wilt as a projectile, its use as a close-quarters bludgeon, and the versatility Wilt boasts as a sword, Adam’s arsenal provides a wider range of options in battle, which his fighting style fully leverages.  With the secondary explosive rounds of Due Process’s silver half and the gravity Dust in the black half, Ironwood boasts an array of distinct yet extremely powerful attack modes which he then layered on top of each other.  While both combatants have experience contending with each other’s outliers, meaning there is no significant gamebreakers, Adam’s more diverse arsenal and superior melee options do make him overall better armed.
Carrying over from the differences in their weapons, the combatants’ fighting styles are worlds apart yet have similar emphases.  Adam Taurus’s technique is a sophisticated yet vicious method designed to overwhelm his targets with sheer speed and ferocity, while turning away any retaliation by way of evasive maneuvers and active defense and counters.  Meanwhile, James Ironwood’s style is the manifestation of strength and power, leveraging his overwhelming might for maximum effect to pound his opposition into submission, relying on his fortitude to soak up anything the enemy brings to bear before responding in kind.  One relies on a refined core technique that blends his diverse skill set into a singular, high performance fighting style, and the other relies on a much simpler technique that allows him to dominate the combat through the direct application of power.  Both emphasize heavy offense as their first response, defending when needed when that fails before quickly regaining their momentum, in keeping with their mutual objective of dominating and controlling the engagement.  Furthermore, both have shown great success at landing counters on overly aggressive opponents, while they themselves have both overextended when facing defensive opponents.  While I do consider Adam’s guerilla assassin style as more refined than Ironwood’s gritty boxing style, the skill gap is not substantial.  Between Adam’s repeated victories over Blake Belladonna and parity with Yang Xiao Long versus Ironwood overpowering Arthur Watts and fighting evenly with Winter Schnee, their developed skill levels are more or less on par.  Technical sophistication will not be enough to allow the Faunus to simply outfence the general, especially given how Ironwood’s power is something that Adam has come up short against in the past.  To be fair, though, the same can be said of Ironwood, as evasive duelists are well-optimized for staying out of his crosshairs.  Experience-wise, Ironwood certainly has a significant edge over Adam by way of his greater years, affording him training and fighting time that Adam simply didn’t live long enough to accumulate.  That being said, the value of Ironwood’s experience is undercut by the fact that he has spent the better part of his career behind a desk rather than on the battlefield, whereas nearly all of Adam’s comparatively shorter career was spent fighting, leading White Fang raids practically every other Tuesday.
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With their skill sets and skill levels so closely matched, the most relevant factor in this verdict is going to be their respective tactical sensibilities, ironic given their mutual legacy of disastrous decision making.  Both Adam and Ironwood are ruthlessly domineering fighters whose primary strategies center around asserting their control over the situation, their differing methods being paths to roughly the same destination.  Adam’s strategy of active defense and counter allows him to turn any attack back on his opponent while he rushes in to eviscerate the target before they have time to recover, preventing his target from bringing their full might to bear against him.  Meanwhile, Ironwood’s approach of enduring and powering through allows him to blunt any spearthrust against him before coming crashing against the opponent’s guard with more force than most are reasonably prepared for.  Both frequently open as the aggressor, moving to overwhelm the enemy directly while refusing to give an inch of ground.  Failing that, though they don’t like doing so, both are able and willing to fall back on defense to wait for an opportunity to counterattack.  Due to his overwhelming offensive might, Ironwood would certainly dominate in a head-to-head engagement, bullying through Adam’s more refined technique with brute strength and pounding him into submission.  However, I do not believe that Adam would fall into this trap.  As a guerilla fighter, Adam has consistently been in a position where he does not have the strength to meet his opponents head-to-head.  Instead, he opted to use that strength against the opponent, taking advantage of their overextended attacks to rush in, get inside their guard, and cut them down, or simply relying on his Semblance to use their own energies against them.  Yang proved that the best way to defeat Adam is to play defense rather than offense, denying him the openings he needs to exploit, forcing him to come to you, and ultimately using his own tactics against him.  This is simply something Ironwood doesn’t do.  Whether barefisted or guns-ablazing, Ironwood is an offensive dervish, charging in and attempting to overpower his opponent directly with overwhelming might.  On the one hand, this makes Ironwood extremely vulnerable to Adam’s counters, as he will be forced to chase after the Faunus and meet him on his own terms.  But on the other hand, Ironwood’s sheer output is beyond anything Adam has encountered beforehand, meaning that if the general is able to get his adversary between a rock and a hard place, Adam could get into trouble very quickly.
As such, this is going to hinge heavily on Adam’s ability to contend with Ironwood’s offensive.  The practical benefits of Ironwood’s simpler, stronger fighting style are best expressed in a close-quarters engagement; as with Winter, Adam’s refined swordplay will merely allow him to contend in a pure hand-to-hand brawl.  However, Ironwood’s weapons of choice are firearms, meaning that he is just as likely, if not more so, to open with gunplay to strike his opponent at range.  Therefore, the big question is this; can Adam Taurus reliably defend himself against James Ironwood’s primary forms of attack?  Yes, he can.  Guns are exactly what he built his defensive technique to address, and advancing vanguards are exactly what his hit-and-run tactics are meant to subvert.  If he can deflect a firing squad’s worth of rifle fire, he can keep pace with Ironwood’s trigger speed.  And if he can endure Yang’s machine gun punching spree long enough to find an opening to evade, he can certainly work his way around Ironwood’s more sluggish advance.  Furthermore, Adam’s own marksmanship and unarmed skill, while outclassed by Ironwood’s, will still be adequate to interfere with the general and wear him down, whether by interfering with his focus in his normal state or chipping away at his Aura when he’s going full Mettle.  Where Winter was trying to whittle him down with precise cuts, Adam would be tearing into his exposed flank.  However, this isn’t to say that Adam will simply be able to dance circles around Ironwood and slice him to ribbons.  We’d still be experiencing something of a stalemate here, as Ironwood’s sheer output still eclipses what Adam has confirmed experience with, meaning he is still going to be a serious danger if he gets the chance to properly leverage his own offensive power.  Outside of Yang (who eventually killed him), all of Adam’s confirmed or implied opponents have been fellow skill-based warrior assassins like himself rather than domineering juggernauts.  If Ironwood is able to get his target between a rock and a hard place, Adam would ultimately get crushed underfoot.
Making Adam and Ironwood’s dynamic with each other even more significant is the fact that their weaknesses are centered around their inability to deviate from their chosen patterns.  Both combatants have come up short against each other’s fighter type in the past, Adam falling to a heavy-handed brawler in Yang Xiao Long, and Ironwood a dynamic speed fencer in Winter Schnee.  In both cases, their only recourse was to double down and escalate rather than adopt a more appropriate strategy, meaning they ultimately had nothing to fall back on when overwhelming force wasn’t enough against their more measured opponents.  And this approach would be equally ineffective against each other given they are both equally unyielding when their backs are to the wall.  A pure contest of martial skill between these two would be both a spectacular display of combative talent and a savage war of annihilation.  And given their shared mastery of contrasting fighting styles and tactics, their ruthless aggression, and the significant strengths and weaknesses they have over each other, I don’t see either combatant as having any sort of decisive advantage over the other.
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I declare Adam Taurus and James Ironwood EQUAL as Martial Artists and Combat Strategists.
SPECIAL
Adam Taurus and James Ironwood are physical combat specialists who use their Semblances as a direct supplement to their martial techniques, and their applications of their abilities play directly into their respective strategies.  With Moonslice, Adam’s approach of defense and counter is given a whole new dimension, with each blow he blocks or deflects providing him with fuel to unleash a devastating counterattack.  Meanwhile, Mettle perfectly plays into Ironwood’s endurance strategy by giving him the means to leverage his strength and power without interference or distraction from even his conscious mind.  However, when efficiency and application are added to the mix, one power is easily more viable than the other.  While Mettle does reinforce and elevate Ironwood’s performance to a substantial degree, its nature as an inwardly directed power means that its ability to directly influence the combat is extremely limited.  Ironwood may be able to hyper-focus every single one of his punches and bullets to get the most bang for his buck, but his attack output is still restricted to how hard he can punch and nothing more.  By contrast, Moonslice is an ability that has direct offensive applications, affording Adam an additional attack vector to supplement his physical technique.  Furthermore, Mettle’s properties could potentially exacerbate Ironwood’s overextensions, leaving him blind to threats outside of Adam’s direct attacks.  Ironwood may have the means to power through injury, but Adam’s ability to absorb hits makes him the only one who can capitalize on injury.  In a battle of pure Semblances, Adam’s more versatile powers afford a critical advantage.
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Ironwood is not entirely helpless as an ethereal combatant, however, as he is the only one here who incorporates Dust into his fighting style.  With the gravity bullets loaded into Due Process, Ironwood compensates for Mettle’s lack of offensive application by way of powerful shockwaves.  Not only do these blasts count as a decent match for Moonslices’s energy waves, but Ironwood’s use of them to support his movements and recoveries affords him a degree of versatility that Adam lacks.  The problem, however, arises when tactics are thrown into the mix.  Adam may be something of a one-trick pony when it comes to firing off Moonslices, but deflecting gunfire to build up energy for those slices is his go-to tactic in just about every situation.  Blake and Yang both proved that the best way to subvert this is to blindside Adam with shots he can’t see coming and can’t deflect, something Ironwood’s certainly capable of doing.  Problem is…he doesn’t.  While perfectly willing to sucker-shoot someone at point-blank range, Ironwood overwhelmingly favors long range gunfire to attack the target directly, which is the absolute last thing to do against this opponent.  Trying to gun down Adam Taurus at range, even with magic bullets, is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline.  Not only has Adam proven that he can keep up with Ironwood’s trigger speed, but his performance against the spider drone in the Black Trailer shows that he can easily deal with the magnitude of Ironwood’s rounds and throw them back.  If a gigantic laser cannon couldn’t overwhelm Adam’s Semblance, comparatively dinky Dust bullets ain’t gonna do the job either.  The only piece of Ironwood’s arsenal that even comes close to the spider drone is the energy cannon he utilized at the end of Volume 8, which isn’t applicable here because the cannon is not part of Ironwood’s standard equipment; he only breaks it out for special occasions.
At the end of the day, James Ironwood’s special abilities either gain him nothing or they seal his fate, especially when contrasted with the far more flexible powers Adam Taurus has at his disposal.  Absorbing hits and throwing them back with a sword may seem like a very basic power, but not only has Adam made incredibly calculated uses of it, it is also perfectly optimized to use Ironwood’s own energies against him.  Ironwood’s typical use of Mettle will merely enable him to keep charging after Adam without a thought to what his opponent might attempt, playing into the Faunus’s guerrilla tactics.  Meanwhile, Adam will be able to capably nail the general with his own bursts of destructive power fluidly chained into his swordplay.  And between Ironwood’s overwhelming offensive focus, emphasis on gunfire at range, and the extra oomph of his Dust rounds, he's going to be giving Adam quite a lot to work with.  While Moonslice will not be enough to instantly one-shot Ironwood, it will still be more than enough for Adam to wear Ironwood down.  Furthermore, for all his instability, Adam is able to maintain a more complete situational awareness without sacrificing his focus and aggression, only failing to account for the unexpected when he is being actively distracted.  What Blake achieved with clever feints and flanking maneuvers, Team JNR achieved with an opponent with tactical tunnel vision.  Ironwood has certainly mastered his Semblance and his use of Dust, but he is overspecialized and relatively one-note.  Adam makes far more intelligent use of a Semblance that is more tactically viable and, dare I say, more powerful, and does so in a way that will make him the general’s worst nightmare.
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Adam Taurus gets the edge for Special Abilities and Powers.
VERDICT
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The name of the game here is Equal and Opposite.  When looking at these two on paper, Adam Taurus and James Ironwood appear to have nothing in common, and in fact appear to be exact opposites to each other.  One is a red and black garbed Faunus hailing from the dregs of society, leader of a smaller guerrilla force, and an openly malevolent, violent, and selfish young man who expressed his cruelty through both a terrorist campaign and a frighteningly abusive relationship.  The other is a blue and white clad human from the most prosperous Kingdom on the map, commander of a large, organized army, and an outwardly charming, friendly, and honorable man who is genuinely dedicated to serving and protecting the world.  However, when one observes the fine print and pushes aside the cosmetic details, the two are tragically far more similar that either would dare concede to.  Both were powerful leading figures within two dangerously controversial factions in the world of Remnant.  Both were initially driven by higher, nobler causes for the sake of their own people, only for those missions to become twisted and corrupted by their mutual preoccupation with power and control, itself heavily influenced by their severe physical and psychological trauma.  But more than anything else, both were the architects of their own destruction, their egos and fear gradually driving away whatever allies they had as they slowly spiraled down a path of madness and murder.  Both believed themselves to be the hero, but they merely lived long enough to see themselves become the villain.  Just as there are a plethora of ironic similarities and stark reversals between these two, so too are their diametrically opposed approaches to combat perfectly suited for engaging the other.  Physically, Adam Taurus has youth on his side and boasts superior agility and stamina, but James Ironwood’s cybernetic enhancements grant him vastly greater strength and durability.  One is optimized for an endurance run, the other dominates a slugging match.  With martial arts, Adam Taurus’s dynamic and counter-centric swordplay and James Ironwood’s domineering brawling and firepower are seamless foils to each other, perfectly optimized to hit the other where he is weakest.  And in the realm of special abilities, Adam Taurus holds the means to attack using his opponent’s own power against him while James Ironwood possesses the ability to deliver each of his devastating blows with laser-guided focus, both powers elevating their respective fighting styles into something greater than the sum of its parts.  This is nothing less than a contest of equals, and while both would be loath to concede to it, they are very much each other’s perfect adversary.
Given that both combatants predicate their success on controlling the engagement, the decisive factor in this matchup is going to be tactics and conduct, as he who can get the other to fight on his terms is he who controls.  This is especially ironic given how both combatants are known for having made extremely ill-informed, borderline foolish, strategic decisions, a failing that went a long way towards driving them to ruin.  However, neither Adam or Ironwood is truly incompetent, they simply lack forethought and tact, and it is worth noting that their blunders were often influenced by factors beyond their control.  When examining their baseline conduct and approaches, they are again well-suited to engage each other, but there is a noticeable disparity that finally tips the scales one way.  James Ironwood is the embodiment of the direct application of power, linear warfare.  Everything he is bringing to the table, body, weapon and soul, is specifically designed to be the strongest and most formidable piece on the board, capable of overcoming any adversary while being virtually impossible to assail himself.  He never deviated from this approach to combat simply because he never needed to 9 times out of 10, and the few times he did run into trouble, all he had to do was hit a little harder before the enemy finally broke.  Meanwhile, for all his ambitions and delusions of grandeur, Adam Taurus is a guerrilla assassin first and foremost, non-linear warfare.  He is operating from a position of lesser strength more often than not, so he works to avoid the head-on collision whenever possible.  He rushes in to cut the enemy down before they have time to respond then quickly move on to the next target, and should they try to fight back, he will defend before immediately countering.  Attacking Adam directly will either give him the opportunity to retaliate or provide fuel for his Semblance, and it is worth noting that most of his successes in battle were against opponents who actively resisted him.  Adam had plans to subjugate the world, which would naturally involve eventually crossing paths with stronger armies, namely Atlas itself, so everything about him is built with the goal of undermining that strength.  And because this is exactly the kind of approach to combat that James Ironwood specialized in, he is exactly the sort of opponent that Adam Taurus has optimized his skill set to combat.  Adam’s ironic tactical and defensive superiority makes his narrow advantages in all other areas decisive edges.  His greater speed and agility will keep him out of the general’s crosshairs, while his superior stamina will allow him to maintain his performance further into the fight.  His fighting style is perfectly suited to take advantage of Ironwood’s overcommitments and land critical blows to further wear him down, while his Semblance will take his enemy’s own consistent attacks and throw them right back at him.
However, I need to stress that Ironwood is merely at a disadvantage, he is not overmatched.  Adam’s advantages may be crucial, but Ironwood’s own are still guaranteed to give the Faunus problems.  If Adam makes a single mistake or Ironwood gets the change to bring his full power to bear, he is going down.  The only thing keeping Adam in this fight is his defensive technique, which he will only be able to execute so long as his head is in the game.  Psychological health is the bane of both combatants’ existence, and their final defeats owed greatly to their deteriorating mental states.  However, while Ironwood is outwardly more collected and stable than the disturbed Adam, his stubborn, borderline obstinate, determination was his greatest weakness, burning his candle from both ends by forcing his way through unnecessary risks, a factor that can lead him to either soldier his way to victory or completely burn him out.  Adam may be the more overtly explosive and volatile man, but his instability is specifically rooted in childhood trauma and his relationship with Blake, and he only lost his cool when specific buttons were pushed.  When Adam’s in the field, he is cold, focused, and all business.  Even accounting for Adam’s clear hatred of Ironwood, Ironwood’s lack of intimate familiarity with Adam means than exploiting his instability would be unlikely even if he were one for psychological warfare.  furthermore, Adam's conduct demonstrates that he is at least somewhat aware of his short fuse, operating in a way to prevent his composure from being tested. Both are extremely arrogant, yes, but Adam has displayed at least a small willingness to recognize his limitations and compensate for them, whereas Ironwood simply tries to be big enough to ignore them, damn the consequences.
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In my view, if Adam Taurus and James Ironwood were pitted against each other in the context of the lore, they would no doubt approach each other the way they did Sienna Kahn and Ruby Rose respectively, the former playing it safe and assassinating him and the latter dispatching his forces to hunt him down.  But if dropped in cold, their battle would most likely play out as a combination of their respective final duels with Yang Xiao Long and Winter Schnee.  However, I also feel this would be a far more drawn out and vicious affair.  To take a cue from YouTuber Antione Bandele, I will be breaking my projection into three stages; the Early Fight, the Mid Fight, and the Late Fight.
The Early Fight would begin as a simple standoff before exploding into action, both combatants charging in for the initial exchange.  Despite their tendency for heavy offense, Adam and Ironwood typically open with a more controlled offensive, still aggressive but keeping their full might in reserve so they can assess and escalate as needed.  Ironwood’s heavier guns and unarmed combat would enable him to initially gain ground through sheer force, but Adam has a better recovery strategy, absorbing hits with his Semblance and evading anything else before instantly countering.  At the same time, Adam’s initial retaliation will be sure to knock Ironwood around a bit, but not in any way that would actually slow him down.  As such, this battle will not be decided in the early fight, instead functioning as more of a mutual assessment.
The Mid Fight is where things will begin to escalate.  Once Adam and Ironwood have each other’s measure, they would pull out all the stops, making more deliberate uses of their Semblances and powers while settling into an increasingly brutal rythem.  Blades and bullets flying, surges of energy exploding around them, punches and kicks thrown, both intent on burying the other where he stands.  It is here that Ironwood has his best chance of victory, as the increased intensity of his onslaught is certain to start putting Adam under serious pressure and potentially overpower him.  However, I do not consider this outcome likely, as Ironwood’s approach is too straightforward to push Adam out of his comfort zone.  It must be remembered that Yang defeated Adam by goading him into overextending, not by penetrating his defenses.  Adam’s greater mobility will be more than enough for him to stay out of Ironwood’s crosshairs, while the openings provided by Ironwood’s attacks will be too great for him to ignore.  This constant interruption will also undermine Ironwood’s own offensive, as he will be forced to respond to what Adam is doing rather than controlling the flow.  While Watts’s slippery retreat gave Ironwood the opportunity to marshal his strength and power through, Adam’s in-your-face hack and slash will be chipping away at him at every opportunity.  However, this will not be enough to seal the deal, as Ironwood’s greater durability and iron will will allow him to shrug off all but the most catastrophic hits and continue fighting.
As such, the final verdict hinges on what happens in the Late Fight.  By this point, both combatants will be utterly exhausted, their Auras either already broken or one hit away, though Adam will be better off thanks to his more controlled approach to the battle while Ironwood would be leaning on the native power of his prosthetics and otherwise running on fumes.  Both would be frustrated with not having ended their opponent yet, and would set aside grace to finish it once and for all. From here, I can see two potential outcomes.  Option A; Ironwood’s fatigue will leave him exposed to a series of attacks that he can no longer effectively defend against and endure, and Adam will be able to cut him down.  Option B; Ironwood goes all out and smashes into Adam with his full cyborg weight, willingly subjecting himself to any following injuries in order to bully through Adam's guard and beat him into a bloody pulp.
Of these two outcomes, I view a Faunus victory through attrition to be the more likely.  Ironwood may be capable and willing to accept a pyrrhic victory, but he will only be able to do so if he is able to successfully get the drop on his target, and the only example we have of such was against a distracted Arthur Watts.  Unlike Blake Belladonna, Adam has no reason to underestimate Ironwood outside of sheer stupidity, and would be on guard for any potential counterattack.  In fact, Ironwood’s extreme threat level would no doubt play into Adam’s hands, motivating him to skip gloating and dispatch his target at the earliest opportunity.  Compounding this outcome is the fact that Wilt and Blush are simply the superior option for such a takedown than Due Process; regardless of how powerful Ironwood's pistol whips are, battering someone into submission with blunt force trauma is not an efficient way of subduing your target quickly, especially when compared to a sword blade. Ironwood’s fierce resolve does him credit, but instead of pulling victory out of the fire, his final charge would merely prompt Adam to end it.  In a scarlet flash, the High Leader would narrowly avoid the general’s mauling fist, and Wilt would carve into what remained of his flesh and bone.  General James Ironwood’s body would fall to the ground dead, and the battered, bleeding, and exhausted Adam Taurus would use the last remnants of his strength to raise his bloody blade to the sky and roar in triumph.
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I declare Adam Taurus the victor.
XX
Well guys, I hope you enjoyed this next installment of the RWBY Versus Series.  I’ve done my best to explain my position as completely as I can, but I understand if you disagree with me.  All I believe is that Adam is the more likely to end the fight on his terms.  If you disagree, that’s perfectly fine.  All I ask is that you keep your comments civil.
In the meantime, feel free to send me asks about future matchups, stay safe, and I’ll see you guys later!
*all images taken from the RWBY Wiki*
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thehomelybrewster · 6 months
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Ability Scores in 5e & Other RPGs
This little rant is inspired by a post by a blog named The Angry GM, titled "Your Ability Scores Suck" as well as a post titled "8 Abilities - 6, 3, or 4 Ability scores?" by DIY & dragons, because those two articles and my past few months of looking at various TTPRGs have led me to some insights into my own philosophy in how I like TTRPGs and how I feel about 5e's Ability Scores.
So let's look at how a couple of RPGs handle ability scores or their equivalents. Namely I'll look at D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, The Dark Eye (4th Edition Revised), CAIRN, and Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon is relevant to this. And it'll actually be the second game we'll discuss, but the first obviously has to be...
D&D 5th Edition
D&D famously has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. In most situations the exact ability score no longer is that important, however, since from 3e onwards d20-based checks have become the near-universal input you play D&D with. This means that instead the ability score modifier is key, which ranges from -4 to +5 for most player characters.
Now while these six scores might seem pretty equal, players have quickly figured out that certain ability scores are more desirable than others, unless you play specific classes.
Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are for example the three most common saving throws. 109 out of the 361 spells in the Player's Handbook force a saving throw using one of these three ability scores, while Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma only have 24 spells. Thankfully every D&D class gives proficiency with two saving throws, one of the three major ones, and one of the lesser ones (and certain subclasses as well as the monk get more saving throw proficiencies, but that's besides the point).
Additionally, when it comes to skills, and thus out-of-combat usefulness, Strength only has one skill tied to it by default (Athletics), while Constitution has none. Charisma has four skills to its name, Dexterity three, and both Intelligence and Wisdom have five.
Now the DIY & dragons article mentions that there are effectively three axes you have to cover with your ability scores: physical vs mental, force vs grace, and attack vs defense. That leads to eight abilities total. In 5e, using what we know about the game, we can make some great deductions.
For one, Strength is almost exclusively concerned with physical force attack, while Constitution nearly exclusively covers physical force defense. Dexterity meanwhile fully covers physical grace attack, as well as physical grace defense, since it affects AC and is used for Stealth, as well covering evasion-type saving throws. Dexterity is incredibly powerful in 5e, arguably the most powerful ability score.
On the mental stat side, the lines are less clear. All three ability scores can be used for offence, though Intelligence, being the casting ability score of only wizards and the generally utility-based artificers is the least offensive of the three. Still, its association with wizards means it probably is best associated with force, because fireball. Charisma easily can be sorted into grace and is mostly offensive, and Wisdom straddles the line between force and grace, but is also both clearly offensive and defensive.
As you can see, Intelligence & Wisdom & Charisma are rather ill-defined, a point also made by the The Angry GM article, but mechanically Wisdom is universally useful, while Charisma is either super important (because you're playing either a Charisma caster or a face-type non-caster, such as a rogue), or can easily be sidelined/dumped. In fact a lot of tables seem to disregard or minimize Charisma when it comes to roleplay, my tables have definitely done that. Mostly because you don't want to have players not participating in roleplay encounters because they don't have at least a +2 in Charisma and several skill proficiencies in that area.
Speaking of proficiencies, for skills the maximum you can add is +6 or +12 if you have expertise, while with saving throws the maximum proficiency bonus is +6, so with saving throws in particular, a +5 for a saving throw from that relevant abilty score is a massive defensive boon, though it's often less relevant for skill checks.
This knowledge, as well as the known issues with Intelligence-based skill checks often being seen as gate-keeping plot relevant information, leads to the realization that Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma are the three most frequent "dump stats", with the latter two in particular often having implications in out-of-combat situations, while Strength is a "safe" choice for full spellcasters.
Now let's think about how other games handle this... Let's begin, as I threatened in the beginning, with...
Pokémon
Pokémon famously uses six so-called base stats for its collectible creatures: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Using the system described by DIY & dragons, Attack and Defense clearly map onto the physical, and Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense clearly onto the mental. There is no distinction made between grace and force. HP is a universally defensive stat, and Speed is both offensive and defensive.
Naturally, Pokémon doesn't involve dice rolls. These stats are used for formulas and comparisons. But you can already see that Pokémon, at least since Special got split into Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense starting in Gold & Silver, has a clear division of these stats, with it being clear what they do.
Now due to the mechanics and the goals of Pokémon, an individual character (read: the actual Pokémon) doesn't need to have balanced stats. Largely also because these stats only affect combat, the main mechanic of these games. Any out-of-combat activity present in Pokémon games in fact uses distinct stats, completely distinct from the base stats of the Pokémon. These can then be discarded/put into the background when that out-of-combat activity, such as Pokémon Contests, is removed from subsequent releases.
Now let's look at a D&D-related game that has a different approach to ability scores, because it provides a stepping stone to look at different RPGs...
Pathfinder 2nd Edition (Pre-2023 Revision)
Pathfinder, being a game spun out off the 3rd Edition of D&D, also uses the six ability scores that D&D uses: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Just like with 5e, Pathfinder associates certain skills with certain ability scores, and just like 5e, Strength and Constitution are connected to only one and no skills respectively.
Still, that's just part of the bigger picture. Pathfinder 2e, just like D&D 3e, doesn't use ability scores as saving throws. Rather it uses three distinct saving throws that are tied to ability scores. Those saving throws are Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). These are, for the keen-eyed, the same ability scores that are the primary saving throws in 5e. This means that defenses are covered exclusively by these three ability scores, and of these Constitution remains purely defensive, while Dexterity and Wisdom also have offensive capabilities. Still, the offensive power of Dexterity is lowered because in general it cannot be used to increase your weapon damage, contrary to how 5e does it.
It should also be noted that both when it comes to skills and saving throws, the calculations for rolls are very different than in 5e! If you are proficient with a skill or saving throw, you add both a bonus equal to your degree of proficiency (from +2 to +8), as well as your character's level, to the roll, in addition to your ability score modifier. This leads to massive bonuses, especially since magical effects can be added to that, too. Of course Pathfinder uses a sliding scale to determine difficulty classes and has a degrees of success system, but with that knowledge, the -4 to +5 you add to your rolls will matter less than 5e's ability score modifiers do. In general, as long as the modifier is at least a +1, it's fine.
This has actually led to Wisdom being considered a dump stat for many Pathfinder players, and that especially applies when playing with one alternate rule that I want to highlight.
In the Gamemastery Guide, the Alternative Scores variant rule splits Dexterity into Dexterity and Agility, merges Strength and Constitution, and makes Charisma rather than Wisdom the relevant ability for Will saving throws. That variant rule acknowledges the power of Dexterity and the relative weaknesses of Strength and Constitution, but somehow strengthens Charisma further. I don't have any numbers or insight on how popular this alternate rule is, but given what I know about Pathfinder 2e character optimizers, I wouldn't adopt the change to Will saves if I were to run this variant rule myself.
Still, the knowledge of these three saving throws puts us nicely into the realm of indie RPGs, which have really run with this. So let's look at one as an example.
Cairn
This lovely little game written by Yochai Gal has been a well-supported indie darling and is currently in a playtest for a 2nd edition.
Cairn uses three ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower. It also uses a d20 roll under system, contrary to 5e and Pathfinder. This means that you aim to roll below your ability score, rather than adding a number to a d20 roll and seeing if you can meet the difficulty class threshold.
They are also, in combat, mostly defensive. Strength in combat mostly concerns surviving blows. Dexterity is used to determine if you move before the enemies and for escaping combat. Both Strength and Dexterity can be used for saving throws against certain spells. In combat Willpower is necessary to cast spells without suffering penalties.
Offensively none of the three ability scores are that important. They don't add to damage, they aren't important for making attacks, or anything of the sorts. Spellcasting outside of dangerous situations usually doesn't involve die rolls either.
This makes the three ability scores very balanced, but it also gives them comparatively little meaning. They are your protection from harm. Including out of combat. But Cairn doesn't know skill checks whose failure state isn't "nothing happens". If player characters have no pressure, they succeed. Especially if they have useful equipment for it.
Using the DIY & dragons blog post as reference, Strength only represents physical force defense, Dexterity only represents physical grace defense, and Willpower represents mental grace and force defense.
So, let's look at a different roll-under system, one that might provide additional inspiration for game designers...
The Dark Eye (4th Edition, revised)
The German TTRPG The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) is old, almost as old as D&D, and in its design its often as an antithesis for D&D. It's incredibly math-y, has a generally less heroic (but also categorically "good") playstyle, and is a class-less (kinda), level-less system. To ensure I know what I'm talking about, I'll focus on the 4th edition, which has by now been superceded by its own 5th edition, because that's the one edition of it I actually played.
DSA (its German acronym which I will use for brevity's sake) uses eight attribute (!) scores:
Courage, Cleverness, Intuition, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, and Strength.
Each of these eight attribute scores affects the character directly. Heroes have base values (melee attack, ranged attack, parry, initiative) that are calculated by adding together set combinations of attribute scores and dividing the sum, most often by 5, to determine those base values. For brevity's sake, let's look at two of these base values: attack and parry. Attack is calculated with Courage + Agility + Strength, while parry is calculated using Intuition + Dexterity + Strength. Both use two "physical" attributes and one "mental" attribute.
Similar rules also apply to calculating how much your character can withstand, be it through their general vitality (which is equivalent to hit points), their endurance (mostly used as a resource for athletic feats), and their wound limit, all of which can be used to defeat characters. Even the amount of astral points, the spellcasting resource, is calculated using your attribute scores. Every attribute is used at least once when calculating these eight values, with only Cleverness, Charisma, and Dexterity being used only for one of these eight fundamental character traits, with Charisma being the least important, because it is only used to calculate astral energy points, which are irrelevant for characters that don't know spells.
Furthermore skill checks in DSA are made by rolling three attribute checks in a row and then using skill points to modify the results if necessary. Skills use either three distinct attribute scores (e.g. Cooking, which requires Cleverness & Intuition & Dexterity), or two attribute scores (with one being used twice, e.g. Perception requires one Cleverness check and two Intuition checks). Simple attribute checks where you use only one attribute are rare, with heavy lifting often being the key example for it. There are also loads of skills in DSA, with the character sheet per default having twenty four skills, with more being common on most characters.
As you can hopefully see, all eight ability scores are used very often and impact your character greatly. They are furthermore more clearly delineated than the D&D standard, however they also don't map onto the DIY & dragons parameters for ability scores, despite having eight of them!
Conclusion
What can we learn from this? Well, honestly, draw your own conclusions. The six ability scores of D&D and Pathfinder are not the "be-all and end-all", that's for sure. You really need to think about what your game wants to do.
Is it just combat-focused? Then all ability scores should matter in combat and to (roughly) the same degree!
Does your game consist of multiple gameplay elements? If yes, then they should all be accessible and fun for players even if their base stats are "bad" in one aspect, while still allowing for specialization of player characters.
Generally, there is no "one size fits all" solution, and this rant hasn't even gone into ambiguity between different terms, the implications of specific terms and associated thresholds, or the exact history of ability scores in D&D before 3rd Edition!
Anyway, I hope this was legible, fun and informative.
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kaitoutrixie · 9 months
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Mysterious Joker Spidersona OC: Kaitou Rosetta Spider
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This is a request drawing by @spyderschaos
I haven't watched Spider-Man Into The Spider Verse or Across The Spider Verse. But I've been seeing everyone's fun spidersonas, and I came up with this idea of a spidersona OC for my favorite anime series.
For those who don't know, Kaitou is the Japanese word that means "Phantom Thief"
Secret Identity; Emi Sasaki
Age; 19
Hair Color; golden bronze brown with dyed light pink on the right side of her head.
Eye Color; light blue
Full-body Picture; (made on the online dress-up game "Soft vs. E-Girl" on Doll Divine)
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Home Universe; lives in the anime world of Mysterious Joker, a world full of different types of phantom thieves.
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Rosetta Spider Character Info; Unlike other spiderman/woman, Rosetta Spider is a wanted phantom thief who uses her spider powers to steal treasures around the world. Emi dreamed of becoming a phantom thief after meeting one as a little girl. Emi debuted as Kaitou Rosetta Spider at the age of 18. Born in Japan, Tokyo. Emi lives on her own, which makes it easier for her to travel across the world. Rosetta Spider respects the phantom thief code of never killing anyone or causing unnecessary harm to others to steal treasures. Rosetta Spider would offend steal treasures that are spider themed.
Family Background; Both of Emi's parents worked as archeologists, and sometimes they would bring Emi along to their excavations. Her parents died in a plane crash when Emi was 11 years-old.
Spider Powers Origin; When Emi was 10 years-old, and her parents brought Emi to an excavation site. Emi had secretly stuck off on her own, which led her to find an ancient enchanted ring that gave Emi her powers after she accidentally cut her finger on it. Although Emi doesn't need to be wearing the ring to use her powers, the ring does transform her into her phantom thief attire. Emi never told her parents about the ring or her new powers. She wears the ring on her right hand ring finger. But the ring is hidden under her gloves while in her phantom thief attire.
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Kaitou Rosetta Spider's advance notice card; Front Back
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Rosetta's Powers;
Spider-sense (a precognitive ability that warns her of impending danger)
enhanced strength, stamina, and agility
cling to nearly any surface by her hands and feet.
Healing Factor (she can heal faster then an average person)
able to produce spiderwebs from her own wrists, by applying a small amount of pressure to the base of her palms. The webs are capable of supporting Rosetta’s weight as she swings from building to building. The web is super sticky, can tied people up like rope, and also hold heavy objects up to 178 kilograms.
She can project light pink transparent diamond-shaped shields (same as Rarity's powers from Equestria Girls), which can also project multiple diamond shields and form a dorm. They can even be stood on or used as a flotation device.
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Other Skills;
Sleight of hand (a collection of dexterous hand movements designed to manipulate objects and deceive spectators)
Lock-picking
Master Of Disguise (able to disguise as anyone and even mimic other people's voices)
Stealth Mastery (sneaking around quietly and carefully that no one notices)
Cooking & Baking
Acrobatics
Singing
Likes;
Exploring new, abandoned, and ancient places
Meeting other phantom thieves (even if they end up becoming her rival/enemies afterwards)
Mysteries/Local Legends (she would sometimes investigate the local legends that catch her attention. Sometimes she would invite other phantom thieves that are her friends/rivals to investigate with her)
Fairy Tales (Her favorite one is Sleeping Beauty. And sometimes she would steal fairy tale related treasures for fun)
Stealing treasures that have a legend around them (She would sometimes investigate to see if the legend is true or not)
Mexican food (favorite being burritos and nachos)
Seafood (favorite being sushi)
Apple Desserts
Dislikes;
Bullies
People who would purposely hurt other people to get what they want.
Super Spicy Food
Bacon and BBQ
Tea and Coffee
People who don't take her seriously or ignore her challenges/advance notices.
Allies/Rivals; (some Mysterious Joker spoilers here! I won't be adding their pictures though)
Kaitou Joker - a phantom thief who's known as the "Miracle Maker". Rosetta met Joker when they were both trying to steal the same treasure. Joker is one of the few people who knows Rosetta's secret identity. He discovered Rosetta's identity on his own. Joker was very confused, shocked, and curious about Rosetta's spider powers when he first found out about them (especially her webbing ability).
Hachi - a ninja who works with Joker as his phantom thief apprentice. Hachi met Rosetta the sametime as Joker and also knows her secret identity. Hachi sees Rosetta more as a friend then Rival. And Rosetta would sometimes help Hachi in the kitchen when she visits Joker.
Kaitou Silver Heart - a world famous phantom thief that Rosetta looks up to. And is the person who taught Kaitou Joker, Kaitou Diamond Queen, and Kaitou Spade how to be phantom thieves. Emi met Silver Heart during her first year as a phantom thief. Silver Heart knows of Rosetta's secret identity and sees her as another one of his apprentice, teaching Rosetta some phantom thief skills and tricks from time to time. Rosetta would vist Silver Heart at his place to hear about his adventures.
Kaitou Diamond Queen - the granddaughter of Kaitou Silver Heart. Queen lives with Silver Heart and she met Rosetta when she came to visit Silver Heart one day. Rosetta and Queen get along like best friends. Queen is one of the very few people Rosetta told her secret identity to. Queen enjoys hanging out with Rosetta. Sometimes Queen and her phantom thief partner Roko (who is a talking dog) would join Rosetta in investigating legends involving treasures.
Kaitou Spade - a phantom thief Rosetta met through Kaitou Joker. He sees Rosetta as a worthy rival and gets along fine with her.
Rose - a witch who is the twin sister of Kaitou Shadow Joker (Kaitou Joker's rival). Rosetta met Rose after helping Shadow Joker save Rose from Professor Clover. Rose and Rosetta took interest in each other powers, and became friends right away.
Enemies; (also has spoilers here)
Professor Clover - a lunatic + psycho who wants to steal every treasure in the world, and will try to get it by any means necessary.
Devil Fang - an evil organization who put out a bounty on Kaitou Joker, Kaitou Diamond Queen, and Kaitou Spade.
Dr. Neo - a space researcher who is overly obsessed with aliens. Rosetta mainly finds him to be annoying.
The Anti-Phantom Theif Organization - an international police force created in Japan for the soul purpose of fighting and arresting phantom thieves around the world. The only known members so far are Police Inspector Dogusaburo Oniyama, who is the head of the organization, and police officers Ginko Kurosaki and Momo Shirai. Rosetta really doesn't see them as her enemies, she just sees them as Officers who are decided to their jobs.
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aresgodofwar23 · 2 months
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1rst photo
Ko Jack and finn using powers from the hBo max shard to defeat Shadowstrike.
Jack has the purple shield
Finn gauntlet hand
Ko engert.
The leader of the Syndicate. He is hard to destroy and is stronger then you realize stronger then Tko.
Mao Mao and Camber going against the female Swordsman Vortexa. She is fast as the human eye .
Mao Mao has the headband of Forsee where he can predict attacks before even strike. Vambre for her magic sword purple with magic gloves that can help her sword strength increase .
Tulip fires her weapon powered by the stone so she can harm the leader of the syndicate.
Steven universe Zak Saturday Garnet, ultra Shaggy, raven r Dexter Bubbles and Buttercup and Susie mccallister vs Excruciator and his robotic dogs.
The heroes was ambushed with attacks as The ecruciater master of lighting a knight of vengeance and extermination. The heroes fought the evil Syndicate with everything they got will they win .
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raisedbythetv89 · 9 months
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Using a beloved anti-hero/fictional serial killer - Dexter to illustrate a point about buffy - STAY WITH ME lol HEAR ME OUT OK
Imagine if during Dexter we got a season where something happened to him where the guilt of killing somehow became enough to stop him needing to kill (he still had the impulse but could control it and not act in it) and he became tasked with being the protector and guardian of a 15 year old girl of a person he killed as penance. A way to right a wrong and work towards his redemption for all the innocent lives he took along the way for the sake of his survival and not getting caught. (Not penance for the actual evil ppl he killed just to clarify)
And INSTEAD when she’s 16 he starts to develop a romantic relationship with her, openly discussing that it’s wrong but not doing anything of substance to stop it from happening and their relationship eventually causes him to start killing again and he doesn’t do anything to stop the girl from believing it’s her fault. Eventually Dexter abandons her when he realizes she holds no true redemption for himself and maybe he is just causing her more harm than good but does continue to lead her on by making her believe if one day he does enough good they can finally be together - you know like this young girl is his reward for being a good enough boy.
This is the framework for Buffy and Angel’s relationship without the vampires and the 231 year age gap.
If you enjoy Bangel I will never judge or shame you for it we all get to like what we like freely because at the end of the day it’s fictional and liking things in fiction never hurt anyone.
BUT if you’re a bangel who likes to act morally superior and judge spuffy’s and cry “seeing red” every chance you get (which truly just like WHY we all will never forget, that moment was so traumatizing for everyone involved including the actors. Spuffys just look at everything AFTER that episode that was Spike’s fantastic redemption arc and Buffy’s forgiveness, as well as everything that came before (the context that spike and buffy had a very blurred boundaries, sexual and physical relationship without a safe word and with established treatment of each other that lied WELL outside the norms of healthy relationships with regular humans without superpowers and super strength) Rather than the traumatizing standalone attempted SA scene from buffy that was the ONLY ONE that was actually filmed in a graphic and horrifying way vs alllll the other ones that blow right past actual SA or severely violating memories/minds/bodily autonomy - angel, willow, faith, ethan, giles/the council and xander’s violations of buffy, spike, riley, anya, giles and tara to name just the examples I can think of off the top of my head - angel, willow, faith, giles and ethan all with souls when they did it! vs soulless spike.
Maybe reconsider not throwing stones from your glass house when my ship’s framework without the vampires is: two enemies who have killed a lot of the other’s side and who were tasked with killing each other but instead fall in love despite their best efforts not to (not without hurting each other in the process of course, it literally would not be ENEMIES to lovers if they didn’t do awful things to each other along the way we are fully aware of both spike and buffy’s problematic behaviors) but both being SIGNIFICANTLY better people for it by the end of both the tv show and the comics because they both take accountability, apologize and seek to right their wrongs when they do cause that harm to each other and treat each other as equals.
Basically bangels and spuffys will NEVER agree or see things eye to eye because of the vastly different nature of these two frameworks of relationship dynamics so stick to your respective sides of the fandoms and we can all just have a chill, fun, sexy, sad, peaceful time lol ok? OK thanks 💜
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vixensdungeon · 4 months
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Deadvent Calendar: Day 7
Ace
Neutral Cutthroat
Player: Leonore Macey Strength—17 Intelligence—14 Wisdom—9 Constitution—7 Dexterity—12 Charisma—10
Notable possessions: sword +1 (+3 vs. trolls and clerics)*, shield +1, potion of healing, potion of undead control, cursed scroll
Cause of death: curse
*Note: while Ace inherited Mac's trollslaying sword, the sword's Lawful alignment prevents her from actually wielding it, so she didn't carry it with her
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starrook · 4 months
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character deep dive
NAME: alcryst
BODY
height: 5’7/171cm
strength ★★★★☆ (strong, but not build like a brick shithouse so he’d give himself a 2)
dexterity ★★★★★ (what that +3 to dex cap do king. suited to delicate tasks!)
health ★★★★☆ (was never a sickly child and has a great immune system)
energy ★★★★☆ (bundle of nervous energy most of the time, always alert. around friends though he is a lot more calm and self-assured.)
beauty ★★★☆☆ (in the eye of the beholder. personally i think he’s cute but in a rat sort of way. alcryst would rate himself a 0/5. realistically he’s probably average.)
style ★★☆☆☆ (doesn’t have much personal style as he’s stuck with diamant’s hand-me-downs most of the time. he’s exploring that with the different colors and hair clips and boots, but still doesn’t care too much about fashion.)
hygiene ★★★★☆ (has a haircare routine, if alcryst skips out on it it fucks his whole day up, he won’t feel like himself without it). 
SKILLS
perception ★★★★★ (noticeably observant of other people’s actions and habits and tries to anticipate their needs, ex. offering celine tea that helps her sleep, knowing that citrinne trains at night and lapis sends money to her family.
communication ★★★★☆ (when he’s not being alcrysty he’s very well-spoken and gets his point across well. he always speaks his mind for better or worse)
persuasion ★★☆☆☆ (scores low mainly due to the initial impressions he usually makes. i’d like to think that people who really get to meet and know alcryst are more readily swayed by him, but that’s not everyone)
mediation ★☆☆☆☆ (prince alcryst “allies? with ivy? fuck no” of brodia has a hard time staying objective and generally picks sides. It’s one of his weaknesses vs it being more of a strength for diamant)
literacy ★★★★★ (likes philosophy books? get him away from me)
creativity ★★★☆☆ (he’s come up with a lot of creative ways to put himself down haha. sometimes i think about that line from his boucheron support that goes like “NO we can’t go from 100 to ten, that’ll exclude one of the zeroes. i feel sorry for that poor zero, cut out because of a weakling like me” like christ man, bars)
cooking ★★★★☆ (he’s always tasting his food while he cooks so that it doesn’t turn out to be dogshit, so alcryst’s food usually turns out tasty. he’d be good at one of those palette testing games from hell’s kitchen where you guess the food just by taste and texture.)
combat ★★★★☆ (he’s alive right? that counts for something. alcryst pulls his weight)
survival ★★★★☆ (i think alcryst would know enough to survive in the wilderness for a while)
stealth ★★★☆☆ (has startled people by being too quiet when he approaches them)
street smarts ★☆☆☆☆ (has only ever known life as a prince and grew up fairly sheltered)
seduction ☆☆☆☆☆ (LMAOOOOOOO)
luck ★★☆☆ (not the -1 modifier…)
handling animals ★★★★★ (confused a wolf out of attacking him and then made friends with it… that’s talent)
pacifying children ★☆☆☆☆ (does not know how)
MIND
intelligence ★★★★☆ (i can’t remember how the fandom hc of alcryst being good at complicated math started but he’s smart prommy)
happiness ★☆☆☆☆ (TOUGH TO ANSWER. alcryst is still grieving his father and he’s going through a difficult time in his life)
spirituality ★★☆☆☆ (i dont know why i find it hard to see alcryst as religious. like i can’t see him praying to the divine dragons.)
confidence ★★☆☆☆ (he’s gotten a little bit better!)
humor ★☆☆☆☆ (doesn’t always recognize jokes for what they are and is bad at telling his own)
anxiety ★★★★★ (naturally anxious)
patience ★★★☆☆ (no patience for himself)
passion ★★★★☆ (feels very strongly about everything)
nice         ☆★☆☆☆     mean
brave       ☆★☆☆☆     cowardly
pacifist     ☆☆☆★☆     violent 
thoughtful ☆☆☆★☆    impulsive 
agreeable ☆☆★☆☆     contrary
idealistic   ☆☆☆★☆     pragmatic
frugal        ★☆☆☆☆     big spender
extrovert   ☆★☆☆☆     introvert
collected   ☆★☆☆☆     wild
ambitious / possessive / stubborn / jealous / decisive / perfectionist
SOCIAL
charisma ★★☆☆☆ (questionable rizz)
empathy ★★★★☆ (cares for other people more than himself)
generosity ★★★★☆ (5 stars reserved for citrinne)
wealth ★★★★☆ (prince of brodia, enough said…)
honest   ★☆☆☆☆ deceptive (not very good at lying)
leader   ☆☆☆★☆   follower (born follower, always a follower)
polite     ☆☆★☆☆  rude (has been on both ends of the spectrum tbh)
political ★☆☆☆☆  indifferent (prince of brodia, he always has an opinion)
BELIEFS
higher power ★★★★★ (they a fuckin dick tho for bringing sombron and the hounds back from the dead but not his dad)
fate/destiny ★☆☆☆☆ (i think it would be the brodian mindset)
magic ★★★★★ (see higher power)
soulmates ★☆☆☆☆ (can’t imagine himself having one)
good and evil ★★★★☆ 
luck ★★★★☆ 
PRIORITIES
family ★★★★★ 
friends ★★★★★ 
love ★☆☆☆☆ (is not holding out for love of his own because he doesnt know if he’ll need to marry for political purposes… but it would be nice)
home ★★★★☆ 
health ★☆☆☆☆ 
praise ★★★☆☆ 
justice ★★★☆☆ (not out for revenge)
truth ★★★★☆
power ★★★★☆ (getting strong 4 brodia)
fame ☆☆☆☆☆ 
wealth ★★★☆☆ (brodia’s wealth not personal)
others' opinions ★★★★☆
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crescent-cubed · 5 months
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LONG ASS BIGSAW POST BELOW CUT
OK SO
First things first, let me go over my vision for BIGSAW!
BIGSAW aims to be a setting-neutral d100 system inspired by D&D 5e, and the ways that the community has come up with over the years to make it better, along with some personal touches! I want it to be very flexible, in that it gives Game Masters the ability to pick and choose from a bunch of additional optional rules alongside the base rules, many of which can be customized themselves!
Now, you may be wondering, what does BIGSAW stand for?
It's an anagram of the first letters of each of the Stats in the game! The Stats are as follows:
Brawn
Intellect
Grace
Sense
Appeal
Will
Technically, I would have liked it to go BGSIAW so that similar Stats are next to each other, but that isn't as catchy or legible as BIGSAW, so it's not that big of a deal.
Each Stat value is added to d100 rolls, which are the equivalent of d20 rolls in D&D or Pathfinder. This system uses a d100≥difficulty success ruling, meaning that you have to roll equal to or above the desired number set by the Game Master in order to succeed at difficult actions.
At character creation, the base rules state that each Stat starts at 0, and you have 30 Stat Points to add to each stat, with the maximum value of a Stat being 15 at character creation. In addition, you are able to reduce a Stat down to -5 in order to gain an equivalent number of stat points if you want to Min/Max your character a bit!
Each of the Stats are used for different things, obviously!
Brawn is the Strength AND Constitution equivalent for the system! Now, I know that it can be a bit of a controversial take to have HP and strength damage use the same stat, BUT my reasoning is that, if you're gonna be on the front lines with heavy armor and a battleaxe, you're already likely to have both of those stats high already, so why not just combine them?
Intellect is the Intelligence equivalent for the system! Shocker, I know, lol. I'm thinking about adding a rule that lets players roll Intellect in certain situations for a chance for the GM to give them a hint on how to solve a problem!
Grace is the Dexterity equivalent for the system! Not really much else to say here, honestly! It's probably not gonna change much from D&D!
Sense is the Wisdom equivalent for the system! It's flavored to be more about common sense, instinct, and literal senses, rather than about actual wisdom, which fits more under Intellect, anyways.
Appeal is the Charisma equivalent for the system! However, unlike D&D it is ONLY used for social/artistic abilities in this system! Things like Sorcerer magic in D&D are covered by Will!
Will is a sort of mix of Constitution and Charisma for the system, but ONLY for the ability to resist or power through effects for the Constitution aspect, and power skills that depend on life force, willpower, etc for the Charisma aspect.
I'm also gonna have Skills that will be able to be added to rolls, regardless of Stat used, so long as the Skill is relevant to the roll!
Lastly, for this post at least, I'm getting rid of levels, in a way! Instead, I'm replacing it with the Rank system! Rank, as of right now, uses a 1-10 rating system to determine how powerful your character is and what Abilities they have access to. Rank is gained through milestones ONLY, while Ability Points and Skill Points are given out both at a Rank Up and by the GM at smaller milestones! Stat Points are only given at Rank Up.
That's it for now! I have a few other ideas in the works, such as armor, differentiating Brawn vs Grace weapon fighting, a possible Mana/Energy pool, and how Skills and Abilities work!
I hope you enjoyed reading!
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thatboomerkid · 1 year
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Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy
Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy
fomor boar (see M20 Gods & Monsters pg. 105) for use with Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition, W20 Book of the Wyrm, and Book of the Wyrm Companion
ATTRIBUTES: Strength 5, Dexterity 2, Stamina 6, Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
ABILITIES: Alertness 2, Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Intimidation 2
Willpower: 3
Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -5, Incapacitated
Armor Rating: 1 (seven soak dice, total)
Attacks: Bite (Strength +1 lethal); Gore (Strength +2 lethal); Body Horror Cannon (8 dice lethal; 25 yard range at Difficulty 6; may fire as a single-shot or Three-Round Burst [W20, pg. 295] weapon; see below)
Fomori Powers: Berserker, Body-Horror Cannon (x2), Eat Corruption
Brought to you absolutely free to use, to enjoy, to share, to dick-around with, and to argue about  – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.
Hugest of special thanks to Josh Heath and to all of my First Team: Last Chancers & Exalted Vs. World of Darkness players.
Portions of this material are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.
Nothing here is official World of Darkness material.
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art by the incredible Joey Wallace
Berserker: A Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy has a Rage Trait of 5; it may spend & regain Rage exactly as if it were an Ahroun (W20, pg. 144-145) and is allowed a standard Rage-roll to remain active after falling to (or below) Incapacitated. In addition, a Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Gun-Piggy regains points of temporary Rage by consuming corpses, radioactive material, bio-hazardous toxic waste, and other absolutely horrible things (such as, just for example, radioactive corpses soaked in bio-hazardous toxic waste; see the Eat Corruption Power, below, for details). Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Gun-Piggies are vulnerable to frenzy (W20, pg. 261-262).
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Body-Horror Cannon: As a standard action, a Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may choose to spend a point of Willpower or Rage, suffer an unsoakable Health Level of aggravated damage, and roll Willpower, difficulty 7. On a success, the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy draws-forth its cannon instantly; on a failure, it begins pulling the cannon free but must wait three full turns before the weapon is fully ready.
NOTE: The Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy is free to act normally during this time: it does not need to spend further actions “drawing the weapon” as the object slowly emerges from the creature’s body. The Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may – should it fail on this activation-roll – choose to pull the weapon free early, but doing so prevents the beast from regaining its lost Health Level of aggravated damage when the effect of this Power ends (see below).
On a botch, the point of Willpower is spent and the Health Level of aggravated damage is dealt, but the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy can’t force its weapon to emerge from its body for the rest of the scene.
If the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy achieves three or more successes on the Willpower roll to activate this Power, the beast reduces all Difficulties to use the weapon in combat by -1.
When this Power is fully activated, the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy gains use of a Semi-Automatic Shotgun (W20, pg. 303) with unlimited ammunition (detailed above).
This hideous biomechanical firearm is pulled from the monster’s body, still dripping viscera and roaring like a chainsaw, and is often studded with weeping human eyes, crafted of compressed car-engines & rotten meat, continually spraying blood – and less-identifiable fluids – as it screams affronts to Gaia; such cannons are usually crawling with maggots & the obsidian-jade balefire of deepest Malfeas: in all instances, the mere sight of such a weapon incites the Delirium.
This grotesque weapon merges once again with the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy’s body at the end of the scene or after one hour, whichever comes first; the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may choose, at that time, to expend an additional point of Willpower (or Rage) to instead maintain its weapon’s existence for one additional hour or for one additional scene, as appropriate.
The Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may always choose to reabsorb its weapon at any time as a free reflexive action.
If this weapon is removed from the grasp of the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy early, the weapon decays to bits of cartilage, rot, and infected, bubbling ooze at the end of the round … then erupts once more from the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy’s body – appearing in the monster’s hands, ready to use – immediately before the beast’s next action.
When the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy absorbs its weapon back into its body and ends the use of this Power, the monster instantly regenerates its lost Health Level of aggravated damage … unless the weapon was drawn-froth early after a failure on the creature’s activation roll, as noted above.
Each unique, individual Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may choose three (3) of the following Special Ammunition Types when it crawls forth to defile & devour Gaia’s children:
Acid-Drenched Thunderwyrm-Teeth: The piggy’s cannon deals -4 dice of damage as compared to a normal Semi-Automatic Shotgun, but the weapon deals aggravated damage rather than lethal; any creature struck by a blast from the weapon also suffers an additional 2 dice of aggravated damage, soaked separately, the following round (difficulty 6 to soak).
Jagged-Razor Bone-Slivers: The piggy’s cannon deals -1 die of damage as compared to a normal Semi-Automatic Shotgun, but the weapon automatically ignores up to three points of armor. This specific Special Ammunition Type may be selected multiple times, and its effects stack: a cannon with Jagged-Razor Bone-Slivers [x3], for example, deals -3 dice of base damage and ignores up to nine points of armor. The Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may always choose to apply a smaller number of “doses” of this Special Ammunition Type to a shot it makes, if it desires.
Nasty, Sharp, and Pointy: The piggy’s cannon deals +1 die of damage. This specific Special Ammunition Type may be selected multiple times, and its effects stack: a weapon with Acid-Drenched-Thunderwyrm-Teeth plus Nasty, Sharp, and Pointy [x2], for example, would deal -2 dice of base shotgun damage, aggravated (rather than -4 dice); the target would then suffer 2 dice of aggravated damage (as normal) the following round.
‘Splodin’ Tumor-Loogie: The piggy’s cannon deals -2 dice of damage to its primary target; when its projectile detonates, however, the shot then deals [-1 die/2 yards out] of lethal damage to everything else in the area: this means 6 dice of lethal to the first target, 5 dice to everything within two yards, 4 die to everything within four yards, and so-on all the way down to one die of lethal damage to anyone 10 yards away from the target (this is, of course, assuming that the blast doesn’t also have the Nasty, Sharp, and Pointy Special Ammunition Type, above, applied to it -- increasing the base damage of the shot -- or any Special Ammunition Type that LOWERS the base damage of the weapon).
Tumor Full of Infected Waste: This unique Special Ammunition Type may only be added to a ‘Splodin’ Tumor-Loogie shot (see above); when the projectile detonates, it also coats everything within ten yards of the detonation-point with a thick layer of bubbling biohazardous sludge, which very rapidly begins filling the same area with toxic gas. Direct expose to the sizzling liquid deals 2 dice of lethal damage each turn, on the target’s action, until it’s washed-off, while exposure to the fumes deals 2 more dice of lethal damage each turn (also on the target’s action). Creatures with any level of poison resistance or immunity to poison (such as leeches and those with the Gift: Resist Toxin) are immune to the gas, but not to the sludge; a creature outfitted in a full biohazard suit is effectively immune to both. The sludge and gas dissipate after about ten minutes unless cleared-away early: use of the Gift: Call the Breeze (W20, pg. 199) can push away the fumes, but not the sludge itself. This specific Special Ammunition Type may be selected multiple times, and its effects stack: each time it’s selected, the sludge and the fumes each increase the damage they deal by two dice of lethal damage.
Tumor of Gore-Slick Calcification: This unique Special Ammunition Type may only be added to a ‘Splodin’ Tumor-Loogie shot that is also a Tumor Full of Infected Waste shot; when the projectile detonates, the sizzling bile sprayed over everything in the area rapidly hardens into a dense, solid mass of semi-organic, contagion-ridden resin: something like pustulent basalt – formed by the rapid cooling of liquid iron – bubbling with hot plastics & liquefied death. Each round on her action, immediately after a creature suffers additional damage from the toxic sludge of a Tumor Full of Infected Waste, the creature also gains one of the following (her choice):
she suffers a one-die penalty on all Dexterity-related dice pools
she suffers a two-dice penalty on all Perception-related dice pools
her movement-speed is halved, rounded down: because a normal human jogs at a rate of 13 yards per turn and runs at a rate of 20 yards per turn, a human who selects this effect twice (for example) may jog at a rate of only 3 yards per turn or flat-out run at a rate of 5 yards per turn
A creature reduced to a Dexterity score of zero or lower by this effect is effectively frozen – immobilized, able to take only purely mental and social actions (such as screaming for help, activating Gifts that require no external movement, or having a panic attack, for example) – while a creature reduced to a Perception score of zero or lower is effectively blind, deaf, and utterly numb, able to smell and taste only the thick, clotted, tar-like poison coating her, with all sensory-organs otherwise filled-in & glued-shut.
The congealing sludge eventually becomes glass-like – still oozing, ever so slightly, like 120-degree asphalt warping under a gout of balefire – and subsequently shatters into shards of irritating organic-metal dust after about ten minutes (as normal for a Tumor Full of Infected Waste shot).
This specific Special Ammunition Type may be selected multiple times, and its effects stack; each time it’s selected, a creature affected by the sludge suffers an additional “debuff” of her choice (an extra die of Dexterity-penalty, two extra dice of Perception-penalty, or an extra halving of her movement-speed) each round, immediately after suffering damage from the sludge of a Tumor Full of Infected Waste effect: a creature hit by a Tumor of Gore-Slick Calcification [x3] shot, for example, might choose to gain a two-dice Dexterity-penalty and a two-dice Perception-penalty on her first found after suffering damage, then choose to suffer a four-dice Perception-penalty and halve her movement-speed again on the following round.
The Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may always mix-&-match its Special Ammunition Types as it desires, switching between them or combining them on the fly.
NOTE: if a Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy would ever gain a new Fomori Power for any reason, the beast may instead choose to gain two (2) new Special Ammunition Types.
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Eat Corruption: A Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may draw strength & sustenance from unnatural sources, gaining up to ten points of Willpower or Rage (piggy’s choice!) each day from consuming objects thick with corruption and nightmare resonance.
No single object consumed in this way can provide more than three points of Rage (or Willpower), and most such objects provide only a single point. Objects to be consumed must be things associated with depravity, monstrosity, decay, or excess: the Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy gains no benefit from consuming gravel, unless it’s from a spot where a mortal died.
A Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy can even gain Rage (or Willpower) from eating normal human food, so long as the food is eaten in full view of a starving person; alternatively, the piggy might smear the food with blood or other bodily fluids first.
A Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggy may also -- at the Storyteller’s discretion -- gain Rage (or Willpower) from consuming murder weapons, stolen wedding rings, rare art, illegal drugs, human flesh, maggots, vomit, feces, insects, bones, and suicide notes.
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Word on the street these days has it that Chicago-based “private conceptual bio-research design-&-consulting firm” (read as: illegal black-ops military-grade flesh-engineering studio) Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs LTD. — an off-the-books division of Nik-Nak Computing & high-profile, top-end contractor for Project Echidna — is, as of this most recent financial quarter, under new management.
VERY new management.
This is, just to be clear, more than somewhat to be expected: the catastrophic failure of the Particularly Diseased Pigeon (Book of the Wyrm Companion, pg. 46-47) to hit its numbers in terms of “being able to fucking MURDER a whole shit-ton of Bone Gnawers & their kin” could NOT have come at a worse time for the company, already reeling from the tragically underwhelming debut of the Lookie-Loo Hooty-Hooter (Book of the Wyrm Companion, pg. 38-39).
Long story short? Inflation is up, real wages are down, the stock market is a shit-show, the economy is a shambles, another recession is right around the corner, and the Lookie-Loo Hooty-Hooter is — while certainly a, uhhhh … a “technical marvel,” I guess? — it simply lacks the ... eh, how you say?
The uh ...
THE MOTHERFUCKING WOW!!1! FACTOR, DAWG
... I suppose, that’s required to truly electrify the Board of Directors.
Look, man: Peter Culliford, Benjamin Rushing, and Chase Lamont may not agree on much — other than a shared love of serial-murder & some hardcore mutual disdain for one another — but I think we can all agree that they (and their colleagues) expect something slightly more impressive than “an owl that can see werewolves” when Harold Zettler unveils his newest project.
Like, you know!
A penguin made out of napalm!
An orangutan that shits ninja-stars!
A rattlesnake with a rocket-launcher, and then when it bites you it turns your blood into even more rocket-launcher-snakes that shoot their way out! Pew pew pew!
And let’s be clear: while Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs LTD. may have a few big wins under their belt, they are — sad to say — sorely lacking the proven track-record of a group like Danmakuden Dynamic (an affiliate of Ichibashi, a subsidiary of Hallahan Fishing Company), or the First United Blargarian Church of Squaid the Redeemer (a splinter-faction of Incognito), or even those asshole bastards over at the Dick Meatsweats Collective (very proudly sponsored by O’Tolley’s, the Family Place!).
Speaking of which?
Yeah, those conniving shit-heals rushed their piss-poor, brick-stupid, utterly-unnecessarily-flashy Pure Goddamn ‘Murikan Patriotism Elemental (Book of the Wyrm Companion, pg. 53-54) out of beta-testing just to get the jump on the hot new King Vulture-fomor currently being built by the evil genius ornithologist team at Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs, Codename: The King of Vrock.
THERE IS NONE HIGHER.
Hey, dickheads! “Avian-based fomori” are, like, their THING over here, man!
... or, I guess, at least, they were?
A guy who knows a guy who works at Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs told me that Harold Zettler flew-in from Beaumont on the night the new quarterly figures dropped to personally eviscerate the CEO & feed him to his top brass.
It was a goddamn horror-show, man.
Anyway: Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs is officially out of the bird-business.
They’re now in the PIG business.
‘Cause the new big-man over at Jetpacks & Sugar-Bombs -- a fellow by the name of Beauregard T. Waterhouse, former head honcho of Southeastern Waterhouse-Mangrove Suburban Development, responsible for fifteen out of the twenty largest hog-rendering facilities in the United States -- has a vision.
And that vision may be briefly summarized as The Age of Swine.
... the longer & less-summarized version, which Beauregard is currently writing-up -- one chapter at a time! -- as a sort of tell-all, self-help, personal-growth & lifestyle-fitness guide / business-Bible for all those cutthroat businessmen who aren’t (yet) greedy enough to literally devour the bones of the enemies, gets a LOT more into Mr. Waterhouse’s deeply held personal belief that “humans,” as a species, will very soon be replaced by a race of genetically-engineered super pig-human hybrids who have been designed to be as delicious as possible.
Once he’s finished, he’s REALLY hoping to get on Oprah with it.
Maybe on Joe Rogan.
Fingers crossed!
(Please note that the “T.” in Mr. Waterhouse’s name stands for “The Boss”).
A figure otherwise shrouded in mystery, Mr. Waterhouse is an intensely private man: they say that no one has ever met him personally, dealing with him only through phone calls, emails, and his loyal assistant: Scoot Turgsen.
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Scoot Turgson, ladies & gentlemen: proud, card-carrying member of Tau Upsilon Phi (W20 Book of the Wyrm, pg. 137)
The reason for this privacy is two-fold:
Such anonymity affords Mr. Waterhouse the rare & valuable opportunity to sow mistrust, discord, paranoia, and suspicion among his employees.
Mr. Waterhouse is not human, per se, and in point of fact is technically a Skullpig (W20 Book of the Wyrm, pg. 154-155) who has eaten so many goddamn fomori that he’s now rocking an Intelligence of 5 (or possibly higher, if you decide to give him the Mega-Intelligence Fomori Power [W20 Book of the Wyrm, pg. 133-134 & Book of the Wyrm Companion, pg. 59], because ... eh. Why the fuck not, at this point?)
... and oh yeah, it ALSO lets Mr. Waterhouse do a wide variety of goofy voices for his own amusement (one of his favorite hobbies): while in-character as a CEO, for example, he 100% sounds like Foghorn Leghorn fucked Boss Hog.
He just finds it very funny to hear people shit themselves with terror while he rants & raves about killing them into a speaker-phone with a silly accent.
But that’s not important right now.
What’s important is that Mr. Waterhouse now has the money & connections to make his dream of replacing humans with swine-monsters an actual reality; his hot new Rage-Fueled Fully-Automatic Disposable Gun-Piggies, already in the ramp-up to full-on industrial-scale production, are just his first step.
He has so many more horrible ideas.
And pigs are SO CHEAP to work with!
... and unless someone from the Garou Nation and/or the Beast Courts of the Emerald Mother* can get their shit together and stop him, Mr. Waterhouse is gonna kill a whole goddamn lot of people as he attempts to stomp the world into mud beneath an infinite tide of squealing, Bane-infested murder-pigs.
*NOTE: that would be your PCs.
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As noted above: portions of these materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.
Nothing here is official World of Darkness material.
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all hail the Dark Pack.
(for more information, see here)
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paperanddice · 1 year
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Oh shit, it's a wolf with a bomb on it! They often work with groups of creatures, moving in and activating their bombs once several targets are locked up in melee, willing to detonate their allies if it means getting a few enemies as well. Most creatures they're partnered up with are fine with that trade off.
Outside of dreams, the blood wolf is just a well trained, stronger wolf with a bomb. Likely used by people who aren't druids as shock weapons, sending them sprinting into enemy lines to explode on top of expendable troops. Necromancers and warlords who recruit big forces of people they view as lesser would be a fan. Originally from the Dreamblade base set. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!
5th Edition
Blood Wolf Medium aberration (bloodcut), unaligned Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20) Speed 40 ft. Str 15 (+2) Dex 18 (+4) Con 15 (+2) Int 6 (-2) Wis 15 (+2) Cha 9 (-1) Senses passive Perception 12 Languages - Challenge 3 (700 XP) Keen Hearing And Smell. The blood wolf has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell. Pack Tactics. The blood wolf has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the wolf's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) piercing damage and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. Detonate. The blood wolf activates the bomb it's carrying. At the start of its next turn, if it isn't dead, it explodes, dying instantly. Each creature within 15 feet of the wolf must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) fire damage and 14 (4d6) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.
13th Age
Blood Wolf  3rd level wrecker [aberration]  Initiative: +7 Bite +7 vs. AC - 8 damage. Pack Attack: The blood wolf gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage for each ally engaged with the target (max +4 bonus). Bomb: The blood wolf activates the bombs strapped to it. At the start of its next turn if it is still alive, it explodes and is destroyed. When it explodes, it deals 1d6 fire damage to each nearby creature not engaged with it, and makes the following attack against each creature engaged with it: C: Detonate +9 vs. PD - 20 fire damage. Miss: 5 fire damage. AC 18 PD 17 MD 13 HP 46
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