Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 005

[Shatner]

Wanda: putting the romance back in necromancy.

[BLANDCorporatio]

"To compare her living flesh with that of the specimen". Uh-huh. So that's what they call it these days. Instead of parting the departed.

But yeah, it certainly makes sense that croakamancers would get a certain ... fascination with (once-)living matter of any sort. Really good update, for all the character insights and the linguistic flourishes everywhere. My favourite bit was how the veiled scout was introduced. No neon-light explanation "that was a veiled scout you see" (until a few paragraphs later anyways).

[MarbitChow]

That's equally possible, sure. But since in erfworld, 'life' is the presence of a thing and death the (default) absence of it, for croakamancers to be unable to use their senses on living units would require a separate mechanism of resistance. Occam's razor is in my favor here.

I'm not convinced that's how Erfworld actually works. Each turn, pigs are replaced with bigger pigs, until the pig vanishes and bacon pops. Each turn, wounded units are replaced with fully healed units. It is quite possible that the 'death' event replaces a living unit with a similar 'dead' unit that is actually a different object. Occam's Razor should really only be applied to experimental situations in a limited scientific fashion - it's not a universal catch-all for winning an argument, since we're restricting the set of conditions arbitrarily.

[gameboy1234]

Aaannndd Wanda goes right back into disturbingly creepy again.

This, in a big way.

[Whispri]

That's equally possible, sure. But since in erfworld, 'life' is the presence of a thing and death the (default) absence of it, for croakamancers to be unable to use their senses on living units would require a separate mechanism of resistance. Occam's razor is in my favor here.

I'm not convinced that's how Erfworld actually works. Each turn, pigs are replaced with bigger pigs, until the pig vanishes and bacon pops. Each turn, wounded units are replaced with fully healed units. It is quite possible that the 'death' event replaces a living unit with a similar 'dead' unit that is actually a different object. Occam's Razor should really only be applied to experimental situations in a limited scientific fashion - it's not a universal catch-all for winning an argument, since we're restricting the set of conditions arbitrarily.

Are you suggesting that wounded units are murdered and replaced with identical clones with all the memories of the original person upon being healed?

[Kreistor]

"The hoboken is the basic offensive spell known to almost all casters at the time they pop."

Almost all. It's not universal. And that concerns me.

It may be an indicator of how many casters are like Sizemore... limited to only one discipline. Hopefully Rob will clarify.

[the_tick_rules]

Wanda: putting the romance back in necromancy.

in a totally creepy way.

[multilis]

I am suspecting that Wanda's side may *not* be doomed for a while... Wanda may actually be what they hoped for and then some, they may go from being almost dead side to a dangerous power.

Superior firepower may first come to Wanda's side (uncroaked horde) before it defeats them.

...

Wanda was introduced as being unusually valuable. Here is where she may start showing *why* she is worth more than a warlord or another beginner caster.

Fate's balance may come in how much firepower in end brings her down.

[MarbitChow]

Are you suggesting that wounded units are murdered and replaced with identical clones with all the memories of the original person upon being healed?

I'm suggesting that it's possible, although if we think of it from a simulation perspective, it's more likely that they just reset Hits = Max for the nightly healing process.
But, since pigs pop into 'older' / bigger pigs each day in distinct state changes, I think that there may be a distinct state change from living unit to dead unit. I don't think it necessarily mirrors our world, where gradual damage over time eventually leads to system failure. The fact that units can continue to function in what appears to be their full capabilities even after suffering horrific wounds may support this full state-transition view of Erfworld.

[Xandercrisp]

Probably. A supernatural sense for nearby bodies would certainly enhance sensuality. All senses turn sexual in the right state of mind, but something that makes you intrinsically aware of the state and function of people's organs would rank up there.

It's quite possible that those senses do not extend to still-living bodies (she didn't, for example, use them to spot the scout - she seemed to use normal sight), which would put a bit of a different spin on using those senses sensually...

It's also possible that this "body-sense" might be a much shorter ranged sense than sight or hearing or smell, or it might be something that normally stays "inside" the casters body, and only senses when the caster concentrates on it. Sort of like sight, only with eyes that are normally closed, and it takes a conscious will to open them.

Also, I might have missed it, but is this the first time we've seen a magic item get broken (not used up, but broken) in combat?

He was wearing a very good scouting veil; she was very lucky to have spotted him in the tree. But such items are fragile, and this one had been destroyed in the melee.

[Kaed]

"The hoboken is the basic offensive spell known to almost all casters at the time they pop."

Almost all. It's not universal. And that concerns me.

It may be an indicator of how many casters are like Sizemore... limited to only one discipline. Hopefully Rob will clarify.

Hahah! I'm glad that that the haboken theory we had in the Erfgame was right. Or perhaps Rob decided to use it. Either way, the concept is in sync with the plot.

But I think it's more likely that some casters don't recieve the ability to use Haboken because they don't need it. Erfworld puts a lot of value on ordained roles - Casters such as Foolamancers, Thinkamancers, Croakmancers, these are all casters that by nature are involved in combat and manipulation of it, if only indirectly. Other casters, such as Predictamancers, Mathamancers, and Moneymancers probably have no need of a basic offensive spell to defend themselves with - there is no reason for them to be on the battlefield.

[Lamech]

I think that the Hadoken, might be something that all classes get, but only almost all casters pop with. Wanda probably didn't start knowing every spell she ever could, some casters might just have a random missing bit of info their.

[marshalkowski]

Point of confusion on my part, and I may just be thinking of the rules other people have been conjecturing, not actual canon:

Don't croaked units disappear at the start of your next turn? Or, in other words, wouldn't Wanda have to uncroak the scout this turn, and not have the luxury of waiting until morning? I could just be misremembering…

[Lamech]

Point of confusion on my part, and I may just be thinking of the rules other people have been conjecturing, not actual canon:

Don't croaked units disappear at the start of your next turn? Or, in other words, wouldn't Wanda have to uncroak the scout this turn, and not have the luxury of waiting until morning? I could just be misremembering…

Unless they are moved. Which they did. So she gets her first puppet.

[Ptharien's Flame]

Point of confusion on my part, and I may just be thinking of the rules other people have been conjecturing, not actual canon:

Don't croaked units disappear at the start of your next turn? Or, in other words, wouldn't Wanda have to uncroak the scout this turn, and not have the luxury of waiting until morning? I could just be misremembering…

I thought that was only for "harvested" units, but maybe I'm misremembering.

EDIT: ninja'd with a better answer.

[marshalkowski]

Point of confusion on my part, and I may just be thinking of the rules other people have been conjecturing, not actual canon:

Don't croaked units disappear at the start of your next turn? Or, in other words, wouldn't Wanda have to uncroak the scout this turn, and not have the luxury of waiting until morning? I could just be misremembering…

Unless they are moved. Which they did. So she gets her first puppet.

Okay, that makes more sense. Thank you!

[TazTheTerrible]

Interesting...so hoboken is not just a thinkamancy thing. All casters can use it as a basic offensive spell.

That which we call a magic missile by any other name would hit as hard.

about a twisted Dirtamancer who falls in love with his own crap golem.

What the boop...?

Sure! It's said the affair left Malion happy as a pig in...well, I'm sure you can guess. (In the interest of full disclosure, this joke was adopted from a Spider Robinson line.)

Teehee! Pig, Malion. Godawfully brilliant pun. ^-^

[raphfrk]

Each turn, wounded units are replaced with fully healed units.

That would mean that Parson "dies" every morning. Ofc, the same argument can be made that maybe, conciousness is broken by sleeping and a new person awakes every morning.

[MarbitChow]

That would mean that Parson "dies" every morning. Ofc, the same argument can be made that maybe, conciousness is broken by sleeping and a new person awakes every morning.

Now we're venturing into the realm of philosophy. If a Star Trek transporter breaks you apart and reassembles you using atoms in all the same atoms, but they're not the same atoms, are you the same person? If, over time, you replace every part of a ship, is it still the same ship?

[Saladman]

"The hoboken is the basic offensive spell known to almost all casters at the time they pop."

Almost all. It's not universal. And that concerns me.

...Wha...? I don't even follow. What's the concern?

It may be an indicator of how many casters are like Sizemore... limited to only one discipline. Hopefully Rob will clarify.

Considering most casters are either limited to or choose to stick to their discipline, if almost all casters have hoboken then hoboken can't have anything to do with cross-discipline skill. It sounds more like the generic "All" school in the old D&D schools of magic. It's described as a "ball of juice"... raw juice, maybe, divorced from the shape of a specific discipline?

But I think it's more likely that some casters don't recieve the ability to use Haboken because they don't need it. Erfworld puts a lot of value on ordained roles - Casters such as Foolamancers, Thinkamancers, Croakmancers, these are all casters that by nature are involved in combat and manipulation of it, if only indirectly. Other casters, such as Predictamancers, Mathamancers, and Moneymancers probably have no need of a basic offensive spell to defend themselves with - there is no reason for them to be on the battlefield.

I can't quite see this being the case; a "basic offensive spell" is only useful to a caster lacking a better one, making it all the more useful the farther your specialty gets from direct combat. Shockmancers presumably have direct effect combat spells, weirdomancers have a useful indirect ability with their "fly-then-drop" gambit, etc. Capitol/indirect/support casters surely need some basic crutch more than anybody if they're ever caught out.

My first thought was that maybe hippiemancers for instance started without it, or perhaps flowermancers specifically, since it would be more directly contrary to one of their core functions of suppressing conflict. And shockmancers also might lack it for the opposite reason, they might just have a stronger basic attack.

But I like Lamech's idea also, that it's just an occasional function of semi-random but weighted spell selection.