I have an interesting idea: instead of just reading Lone Wolf myself and writing about it, I will write overviews of the action, and present some of the more critical choices to you. Together, we can decide what route to take =)
I went ahead and rolled up stats and equipment, but I'll get your guys' help picking the Kai Disciplines (always my favorite part!) Let's get started.
Stats: Okay, if I'm going to try and take this incarnation of this character through all 20+ books, I don't want to try and do it with crummy stats. So, I figured I would roll two d10's and keep rolling until both came up 5 or above. Lo and behold, after three terrible rolls, on the 4th roll I got a 10 and a 9! Excuse me while I write this...
Combat Skill 20
Endurance 29
Ah yeah... that felt good. Those are the numbers I always wanted to roll when I was twelve. (Admittedly, I cheated a bit, but a man can only be pushed so far!)
Equipment: Okay, let's tackle "stuff." I've got the clothes on my back, an axe (presumably for chopping the wood I so irresponsibly dropped when I saw my home was on fire) and a bag with... *roll* a lousy 1 gold coin in it. Great. In addition, I find in the wreckage... *roll* a Healing Potion! I was hoping for a weapon, but not too bad.
Moving on...
Kai Disciplines: The Kai Disciplines are the (badass!) pseudo-magic special abilities that make your character (badass!) special. We get to pick 5 now, and learn one more each time we pass a (badass!) book.
Camouflage: The ability to blend in, either outdoors, or in a city.
Hunting: Free meals outdoors, and some woodsmanship skills.
Sixth Sense: I used to always take this skill as a kid. So cool to be psychic.
Tracking: Very nice information gathering skill, useful either in cities or wilderness.
Healing: Amazing skill. Heals 1 point of Endurance for each book section you read with no combat.
Weaponskill: I don't usually take this, but I rolled a sword... Thinking of the Sommerswerd, I suggest we go ahead and pick it up now.
Mindshield: Protect your mind from the psionic powers of the Darklords and their servants.
Mindblast: Psionic powers give you +2 to combat skill, unless the opponent has Mindshield.
Animal Kinship: Speak with and befriend animals. This skill is mandatory to win book 2, unless you're a douchebag and keep the spear for yourself.
Mind over Matter: Move small objects with only the power of your mind. (oooooh...)
Voting begins now! I'll tally results in a day or two, and continue.
Last time I tried this, I rolled awful combat skill. Something like 4. After that, this high-rolling badass should be awesome.
I'd go for healing first - 1 EP a paragraph? What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteThen I'd go for mindshield as it would protect you from Helghasts and prevent CS penalties from powerful enemies.
Hunting is also good so that you don't have to fill your backpack with food.
Animal Kinship - I can't bear to leave Lord Lt Rhyger without the magic spear.
Sixth sense - I guess you knew I would vote for that one though.
Also, aren't die rolls from 0-9 instead on 1-10?
Nuts, you're right. They are from 0-9. Alright, in the interest of not mixing things up too much, I'll just bump each one down a notch. Let's treat the Combat Skill as 19 and the Endurance as 28, instead of 20 and 29.
DeleteFor more discussion on Lone Wolf's disciplines go here - http://projectaon.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=537
ReplyDeleteHealing, depending on how you interpret it, is fairly broken. Sixth Sense is a must, it helps you out in a lot of different places. Animal Kinship is necessary in book 2: without it, you'll have to take a very specific route to win. Other than that, it's pretty much a question of taste.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Healing, Animal Kinship and Sixth Sense are basically shoo-ins. I'll add a vote for Mindshield. However, for the fifth, I'm thinking something that might help open story branches would be good - maybe Tracking, but I'm not sure what its effects are over the course of the story.
ReplyDeleteAh....taking us back to the beginning.
ReplyDeleteThe intro is definitely first-rate. I agree: if you're in for the long-haul, none of this CS 10, EP 21 crap. At least 15 in the former, 25 in the latter. For Disciplines, SS seemed like a 100%. The others, season to taste. I like Hunting or Healing for my second, usually the latter (once I went all the way through the first five books without the former). Camouflage is a nice one, but so is AK. Mind Over Matter always seemed a bit more overblown than it should have been. Depending on how aggressive I'm feeling, I'll take either MS or MB, but not both. (again, often MB is my 10th) Tracking is quite useful and WS is obvious, most of the time my Lone Wolves (is that a term) have those.
Looking forward to future posts! Onward!