Imperfectionist

Progressive Arcanum

Leotamer said
And honestly, I think giving Monks a good thing is better than giving them draw backs considering Xi is already the weakest magic. If anything, I think they even should have some limited magic resistance, other wise, what good is a fist of steel if someone can throw fireballs at you or put you to sleep.

:P You get that sexy Wisdom-bonus modifier to AC, though! Plus, with such high saving throws, most of the time you'll be able to just Will yourself through that sleep spell, dodge the fireball with lightning-fast Reflexes, take an Abundant Step to teleport directly in front of the magestrava, and rip out his beating heart with one punch!

Yeah, Monks are awesome. Seriously, though, a Monk in this universe who trained as a warrior (we cannot assume they all would; in fact, quite a few are probably simple ascetics) would be very likely able to dodge quite a bit of offensive magic. Insorcery? Maybe not. But definitely things like fireballs.

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:) You're right, of course. It's simply a thought experiment. The top one percent of Sykers...

Country of a million souls, 2% (20,000) are Sepcarim. Divided by three (if we assume rates of Monk, Shaman and Syker are roughly equal, which hasn't been discussed, as far as I know), we get 6,500 to 7000 Sykers in all. The top one percent of that? 65-70.

How many in that group are skilled with mental manipulation en masse? It only takes one.

EDIT: It isn't unreasonable to imagine a group of less than a dozen in the entire world, all attempting to out-plan and out-predict the others.

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Weak spots don't have to exist, I think, but in this case there is a big one:

Other Sykers. These people are not alone in their massive abilities. For every one that wants to take over the world, you can bet there's at least one other who already saw it coming and arranged for a crazy Dune-style prescience-manipulation plot in order to stop them before they even start. :) I'm sure it balances out overall.

The implication, though, is that humans and even magestravi are simple playthings, bound to the endless invisible conflicts of seers... x.x Talk about a conspiracy theory. I've just given my character something completely new to fear.

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Excidius said
Definitely a good point. That being said, if you can have a monk get close enough, the Syker dies from one hit.

:P The Syker already knows the Monk is coming, and has prepared 20 mind-slave Magestravi and a few Monks of her/his own for protection... That's the thing with future-sight characters (see Muad'Dib), they've always got a plan.

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One tiny thing to add: Misa mentioned this in passing, but Monks do not have a "downside", in the form of the Syker's big-brain/small-body dichotomy. I believe the reason for this is scale. A Monk might be able to live to 300 on a sip of water a day, punch through walls and leap tall buildings with a single bound... But a determined Syker can erase a city by manipulating memories, and can exert their will over large swaths of the population, all the while peering into the future to make sure they're on the right track, and taking out rival seers as quickly as they are born (and that's just the stuff Hanged explicitly mentioned).

A powerful Syker would be a very dangerous villain, but they also get the greatest drawback of the three Sepcarim. Considering what they're capable of, whether it's really a drawback or not is debatable, but the intent is there.

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Zombehs said
All of the swords from the second picture could qualify, the leftmost and second from the right swords in the first could possibly fit the bill too.

Alright, something of an arming sword, then. At the least, not a hand-and-a-half. :) Thanks.

By the way, Misa, I caught a sneak peak when your unruly CS got away... And it looked fabulous. Thought you'd like to know.

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Komamisa said
Right. It's not directly stated, but like Ouramancers, Sepcarim make up a very small proportion of Magestravi. Magestravi themselves make up a small proportion of the human race. It's something like 5% of 10%, though don't quote me on those numbers, haha.

20% for Magestravi and 2% for Sepcarim (it's somewhere in the info post), and I'm pretty sure the 2% is actually out of the total population, them being relatively separate.

Again, as to insorcery and Sykers Misa knows best.

Why don't you have Danny be a Magestrava with a focus on insorcery? You wouldn't have to change anything, it is much more in line with how you understand his history, and it even allows him to draw from the other branches of magic in a pinch.

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^ This! :) Misa knows best. She's much better than I am at questions and answers.

(There are also a lot fewer Sepcarim than Magestravi.)

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Leotamer said
But my understanding of Skyer is that they are literally built from birth to withstand magical back-leashes which is what makes them different from Magistrava. What I gather are Magi are people with full control of all the types of magic but because of it they are a more fragile to magic black lash of one particular type of magic, where as Monks and Skyer are born with the intact ability and mastery of one type of magic, and Shaman's willingly give up the other two magics in favor of making a treaty with Nature allowing them to freely use karma. I am not saying bad things can't happen as a result of using magic in the form of strains and such, and I image it is very possible to light yourself on fire using karma, but the effects are not as violent as if you were a Magi, like a Shaman won't be liquefied for using karma but his contract with nature might be terminated if he over uses his magic. Though I guess we will see what Hanged says.

Excidius said
I think it's all the same but relative. Because those with only one energy type are so in tune with said energy they can achieve higher specialized feats than a full Magistrava could. However, the same rule applies, if they push their own limits, back lash happens. They aren't immune to back lash, their limits for that type of magic are simply higher.

Well, there's the thing. Sepcarim don't do magic. Like, at all. Magic is the mixing of the three energies to produce effects, and every magic spell (including insorcery) involves the use of all three energies. Magestravi do magic, and Sepcarim are something else entirely: pure. Sepcarim embody their specific energy, it flows through them as a part of their soul... So, no, they really don't have any magical backlash, because they simply aren't magical.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure this is in the interest check, if not the first post.

HylianRose said
-snip-

:P It sounds like you have quite a group. That Savage Worlds character, though... -shudder- That's pretty brutal, cutting yourself open just to get at your guns. You'd think there'd be holsters...

Zombehs said
It's a simple longsword, something off a Google search would be similar in appearance.

So...

One of these? Or more like one of these?

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Ah, I see. It does sound like something of a headache, at least for you (as the GM).

So! I was catching up on the IC, and I saw a couple of things that were rather confusing...

1. Jedly, IS Danny a Syker, or is he an insorcery-focused Magestrava? You or Danny seem to have forgotten the difference, even referring to Alexander's Syker abilities as "the path of insorcery", which they most definitely are not. You might want to re-read Hanged's explanations of the magic system, esp. the energies and the Sepcarim. There is a very real distinction there.

2. What kind of sword is Veili's blade, specifically? I mean, what style of swordplay is it meant for? I think that might help me to visualize it more effectively. As it is, I'm having something of a hard time (not that this is particularly important; I was just wondering about it).