Revelation!

Games Fabula Ultima
1

As mentioned here, I’m changing Mizzle’s focus from Pilot to Arcanist. I’m still going to round Pilot out! But I feel like Pilot has been paying enough dividends that I can afford to take a break from it - a worthwhile investment indeed.

What does Arcanist have for me? Three things:

  1. Quick Summoning. I’m taking this to SL 3, letting me either reduce summon costs to 15 MP or immediately use a Pulse (e.g. a magical attack) on the turn I summon, at the cost of not being able to use the powerful Dismiss effects until next turn. The Dismiss powers are how I’ve been doing 30-40 AOE damage in previous fights, so the gamble is that the pulses and/or Merge benefits (e.g. resistances) of a given Arcanum are worth delaying this.
  2. Phantom Strength. I’m taking this to SL 5, which is +5 damage to Pulses (and spells, which I don’t have, or free attacks, which I do have - more on that in a bit). More significantly it lets pulse or dismiss damage ignore affinities - more on that soon.
  3. Revelation. This is the big, big reason to push Arcanist to 10. We’ll get to that last.

Okay, Phantom Strength. At SL 5, I have the following options for pulse effects:

  • Neko Monarch: free attack doing a flat 7 damage with my current Arcane weapon, or 12 with the Air Mage’s Grimoire. The trick is that the element associated with the attack will rotate around, and once I land on an element I like I can keep it, even through the Dismiss. With Revelation, I could drop 20 AOE damage twice, which could be tuned to the vulnerability of an enemy depending on how lucky I am. Currently this is the only way for me to get to Fire or Ice damage.
  • Storm Crow: 20 Air or Bolt to two enemies.
  • Grandfather Oak: 20 Earth to two enemies, or cleanse all statuses from an ally.
  • Honor Beyond Death: 25 Light to one enemy, or clear all scene-long spells from one creature.

But wait, what if the enemy is Resistant/Immune? Fuck you, I do what I want, because Phantom Strength lets me choose to ignore affinities. Of course, if it’s Vulnerable, I won’t ignore that and will do double damage. So I’m always doing those numbers at minimum.

This is a big deal, because I can freely summon the most tactically advantageous Arcanum without also worrying that its damage type will bounce off the boss. For example, summoning Honor Beyond Death will do something even if our phase 2 boss happens to be Light-resistant, and I get the very important Merge benefits from doing so.

Revelation has two effects. I’m going to cover them in reverse order from the text of the skill.

Once per scene, I can spend 2 Fabula points to trigger an Arcanum’s dismiss effect. These are typically the big AOE damage effects, but it could mean a second round of healing from Grandfather Oak or some other kind of benefit as well. 2 Fabula points isn’t cheap but I most likely need the doubled effect on boss fights, which is where Fabula points come from anyway.

The bigger deal is that I get a brand new Arcanum. The group all contributes something to the design of it (but I’m going to veto anything I really don’t feel fits what I’m going for with this character), and it’s exclusive to Mizzle as a character. I’m very interested in this option, and I’m also curious if people have early thoughts on what such an Arcanum would look like.

2

In case it helps, here’s the Arcana I have:

Grimoire: knowledge, preservation, temperance. INS boost, divination.
Neko Monarch: coincidences, prosperity, unforeseen events. Random elemental damage.
Storm Crow: revelation, storm, the night sky. Air/bolt damage.
Grandfather Oak: earth, plants, poison. Earth damage/resistance, healing.
Honor Beyond Death: honor, protection, sacrifice. Light damage.

And here’s the sample arcana from the playtest packet:

Antikythera: space, time, void. Fire/ice damage, party teleportation.
Banshee: birds, curses, wind. Air damage.
Caladrius: exorcism, healing, sunlight. Light damage, healing.
Enkidu: earth, sandstorms, strength. Earth or physical damage.
Kuzunoha: animals, lightning, sorcery. Bolt damage, animal speech.
Moroz: cold, ice, silence. Ice damage.
Nimue: conquest, heroism, leadership. Bonus damage.
Ophaniel: judgement, protection, sacrifice. this is basically Honor Beyond Death.
Qilin: knowledge, prosperity, temperance. This is the Grimoire.
Tubalcain: fire, heat, metal. Fire damage, weapon/armor enhancement.
Vanagandr: death, despair, hunger. Dark damage.

Just for completeness, here’s some bonus arcana from “Arcane Whispers”:

Airmid: exorcism, healing, plants. Earth damage, healing.
Baihu: beasts, metal, wind. Air damage.
Damocles: dread, hesitation, punishment. Dark/light resistance, debuffing.
Fafnir: fire, protection, wealth. Fire damage, IP regain.
Huginn & Muninn: knowledge, memory, storms. Air/bolt damage. This is the original Storm Crow.
Lady Higanbana: death, isolation, melancholy. Counterattack, dark damage.
Maneki-Neko: coincidences, prosperity, unforeseen events. This is literally the Neko Monarch.
Marchosias: fire, loyalty, vigor. Physical/fire damage.
Rangda: medicine, poisons, witchcraft. Poison damage, regain HP/MP.
Tiamat: chaos, saltwater, serpents. Ice damage, clock manipulation.

3

Invisible Sun’s Weavers have “aggregates” which bundle together various cosmic or universal qualities. Here’s a list of those, in case it’s helpful to suggest domains for an Arcanum

Stealth, Trickery, Poverty, The lower classes, Rumor, Filth, Whispers, Betrayal, Health, Strength, Vigor, Thirst, Energy, Wounds, Family/Ancestry, Obstacles, Contests, Battles, Mysteries, Understanding, Purpose, Cold, Decay, Obfuscation, Night, Division, Stone, Hardness, Gravity, Beauty, Wealth, Land, Damage, Destruction, Heat, Illumination, Movement, Passion, Escape, Joy, Distance, Sight, Vengeance, Pursuit, Ignorance, Blindness, Time, Courage, Love, Relationships, Interaction, Secrets, Space, Size, Capacity, Duration, Other universes, Mental damage, Compulsion, Conjoining, Desire, Attraction, Proximity, Subtlety, Quiet, Silver, Softness, Deception, Sky, Journeys, Water, Aquatic creatures, Life, Rest, Recuperation, Sleep, Dreams, Nightmare, Immobility, Sloth, Allure, Value, Corruption, Seduction, Guilt, Obsession, Power, Sound, Shaking/Breaking, Fear, Protection, Shelter, Height, Imprisonment, Speed, Grace, Speech, Breath, Invisibility, Weather, Ice, Silence, Stillness, Endings, Impassivity, Nature, Plants, Darkness, Wood, Growth, Mystery

4

Now that I’m back at my PC, I can write out a few more thoughts.

Like I said in the Discord, the Gallimaufry is an obvious choice (though obvious choices are not always the best). Rather than focusing on the knowledge aspects of city’s culture, another potential avenue is focusing on the giant turtle aspect. I could see the following as the starting point for a Revelation-tier arcana based on the great turtle:

Gallimaufry

Domains: the sea, travel, turtles
Merge: (Turtle Power) You and your allies gain resistance to cold damage and can breath underwater.
Pulse: (High Tide) You deal each enemy you can see 15 cold damage.
Dismiss: (Sea Surf) Chose one option:

  • Every enemy you can see suffers slow.
  • every enemy you can see that is suffering from slow will perform one fewer action during their next turn (to a minimum of 0 actions)
  • You teleport yourself and up to five other nearby allies you can see to a location touching the Contour Sea or its tributaries.

Once the second or third option is chosen, this dismiss effect becomes unavailable until next dawn.

This is a bit of a riff off Antikythera’s abilities (particularly the Dismiss ability) but I think they’re worthy of a Revelation-tier Arcana.

Next idea is some sort of Spirit of the Stream of Souls or Collective Power of the Souls of the Stream. Given its prominance in the game, makes sense that Mizzle’s research might give him insight into the nature of the Stream no one else understands.

Spirit of the Stream

Domains: energy, renewal, new beginnings
Merge: (Blessing of the Stream) You gain Resistance to dark and light damage.
Pulse: (Soul Magic) You perform the Spell action for free. In addition to your normal spells, you can cast the following spells: Aura, Barrier, Cleanse, Dispel, Soul Shroud, and Soul Weapon. When you cast an offensive spell this way, you may use [WLP + WLP] for the Magic Check.
When you cast a spell, you may ignore its Mind Point cost; after you have ignored two costs this way, this Arcanum is automatically dismissed (after the spell resolves; this is not considered a willing dismiss).
Dismiss: (Truths of Creation) Chose one option:

  • Rebirth: Choose one creature you can see. The chosen creature recovers 999 Hit Points, and also recovers from all status effects.
  • The Source of All Magic: until the end of this scene, you gain the ability to perform
    Rituals whose effects fall within the Elementalism, Entropism, Ritualism, and Spiritism disciplines. The first time you perform a Ritual during this scene, its Mind Point cost is halved and cannot be altered by any other effect. You may only choose this option once per scene, and never during a conflict scene.
  • Dust to Dust: You deal 30 damage to every enemy you can see. The type of this damage is light if you are not in Crisis, or dark if you are in Crisis; damage dealt by this effect ignores Resistances, and also ignores the Immunities and Absorptions of champion-rank enemies.

This one is based on giga-Arcana Zirnitra from the Bestiary preview.

Finally, we could do giga-Prisma. Definitely makes sense why Mizzle would be the only person to bond with this one.

Prisma

Domains: change, discovery, wonder
Merge: (Manifest) When you merge with Prisma, if they are not present in the scene (such as via Compression Tech) they join the scene at no cost.
You gain an additional action each turn that can only be used to perform this arcana’s Pulse Skill Action.
Pulse: (Needs a Name) You make a free attack with any of Prisma’s weapon modules (whether the module is active or not), regardless of whether you are piloting Prisma or not. You gain a bonus to your Accuracy Check equal to your total number of Admiration, Loyalty, and Affection bonds.
Dismiss: (Bolstered) You and every ally present in the scene treat each of your Attributes (DEX, INS, MIG, WLP) as being one die size higher (up to a maximum of d20) until the end of your next turn.

A lot of this one is off the dome, but I think it’s sufficiently powerful enough to be Revelation-tier powerful.

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5

So I’m not sure about some of this stuff, for a few reasons. For example, a lot of these suggested effects feel way more powerful than a typical Arcanum, and that in turn feels way more powerful than a Heroic Skill ought to be.

I’ve got this now as a Pilot - Prisma has the Seafarer module.

This is a little too good, as it feels like it trivializes a lot of travel. I can essentially put us anywhere on the coast once a day, and we can fly to any inland destination we like. Also, with Antikythera, I might have tried doing this as a ritual invoking that Arcanum’s various domains, and so it feels like it devalues gaining that Arcanum (if/when I do).

This effectively gives me 6 class levels of Spiritist for the cost of 1 Heroic Skill. By comparison, the Extra Spells Heroic Skill grants 2 spells total, not even counting the other benefits of this Arcanum suggestion.

Holy shit these are all incredibly OP. As a game designer I’d burst into flames if I willingly let myself have this much power.

Aside from the idea of a d20 attribute, which also feels way overpowered for this game, nothing here feels really exciting or novel compared to, y’know, entering my vehicle the normal way; at best, I’d be able to summon Prisma by spending MP instead of with Compression Tech and IP. In that case, did I waste that class level?

6

Rather than picking “some Arcanum that embodies Mizzle as a character”, I feel like we should be looking for something like “some Arcanum that covers some as-yet-undiscovered part of the world or its history” - something that adds to the setting. An ancient power source the Archmagus once tapped, something like the Phoenix but that was tied to a now-forgotten people, a sleeping spirit from an ancient temple…

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7

Would it shock you to learn, if anything, I toned this arcana down from what’s printed in the Bestiary? The basic guidance was “This is about the strongest an arcana should be. Probably don’t let this be a player’s starting arcana.”

Definitely a different tact than what I was going for, but also something that’s appropriate for Mizzle and JRPGs in general. In the case of this path, I’m much more interested to hear what you three players can come up with and how it ties into the greater history of the world. We’ve obviously got some time before this becomes a reality (like five or six more levels?) so nothing to rush into but, much like Prisma, giving me some runway will let me introduce them in an organic way.

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8

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