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Post by kieran on Jul 27, 2015 15:37:09 GMT
I was thinking about giving the Grandmaster series another go (my last attempt ended with me dying in Book 17 and never getting round to having another go), but I'm not sure I can be bother playing through all the Kai and Magnakai books. If I start with a fresh character in Book 13, will I stand a chance or will I be too weak?
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Post by Thomas Wolmer on Jul 28, 2015 9:03:31 GMT
You will be very weak. I did this to playtest the GM books and managed to get a character starting in book 13 through books 13-16, with many restarts at the beginnings of the books (including adjusted discipline choices, since they really have to be optimized for you to stand a chance), but I gave up in book 17. I might not have had enough patience then though, I think I tried less than 10 times. To get a character through book 13 I had to try more than 20 times if I remember right.
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Post by kieran on Jul 28, 2015 11:30:53 GMT
Well I managed to get through Book 13 first try by the skin of my teeth. I rolled 30 for my CS and took grand weaponmastery, kai-surge and deliverance to give me a decent chance. I also allowed myself to heal 1 EP every non-combat section as the rules do state that you have mastered Curing which allows you to heal after fights even though it doesn't specify the 1 EP. I also took Assimilance thinking it would be useful for an infiltration mission and indeed it was.
I was very lucky though. Managed to roll a 9 to escape Cadak's vines which saved me from the demon thing. And Deliverance saved me from the river monster thing. Doesn't excatly fill me with confidence for Book 14 which I seem to remember has a really tough dragony thing to fight.
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Post by Thomas Wolmer on Jul 28, 2015 13:07:03 GMT
Well, if you allow yourself to heal 1 EP as if you had played the Magnakai books, then it will be fairly easy (I got through book 13 on my first attempt when I played a veteran character, even though I had no idea what disciplines and paths to choose). But if you *really* start from book 13, it won't.
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Post by kieran on Jul 28, 2015 13:24:49 GMT
Yeah there's no way I would have survived without that, my EP was hovering around single figures towards the end. I suppose technically it's cheating but it makes no sense that I'm supposed to know Curing yet am unable to use it. Plus if Joe didn't want us doing that he should have made his combats a bit fairer I suppose the same argument could be used regarding Weaponmastery, though at least newbies can always choose Grand Weaponmastery which grants everything Weaponmastery does and more. While as Deliverance doesn't grant the steady EP regaining that Curing does.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Jul 28, 2015 19:50:26 GMT
Yeah there's no way I would have survived without that, my EP was hovering around single figures towards the end. I suppose technically it's cheating but it makes no sense that I'm supposed to know Curing yet am unable to use it. Plus if Joe didn't want us doing that he should have made his combats a bit fairer I suppose the same argument could be used regarding Weaponmastery, though at least newbies can always choose Grand Weaponmastery which grants everything Weaponmastery does and more. While as Deliverance doesn't grant the steady EP regaining that Curing does. Well, not counting the Sommerswerd you do start up with a better CS score in the GM adventures. For carried over Lone Wolf you have (without Sommerswerd): 19 (max base) 5 (all lore circles) 7 (Silver Helm. Silver Bracers. Kagonite Chainmail, and the latter is only 40% chance to get) 31 For starting character you have: 34 (max base) For Endurance the carried over character has a few EP more. So accepting some random death chances and taking grand weaponmastery and kai surge, you have about the same chances for a new character, except for the battles where you really need the sommerswerd, which are surprisingly few. As for curing I'd use the new order rules as a good compromise. You can use it for restoring up to 10 EP during the adventure.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Jul 28, 2015 20:02:04 GMT
It is also noteworthy that there is escape options for most bosses. In book 13, 14, 16, and 18 you can avoid the hardest opponents by wit, wise choices or evasion. You can evade a lot of combats in 17, but the two toughest you are required to fight.
Similarily noteworthy is that most bosses are affected by Kai Surge.
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Post by jdubs1211 on Jul 29, 2015 0:53:31 GMT
Are you reading the actual books or using one of the project aon programs?
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Post by kieran on Jul 29, 2015 9:21:07 GMT
The actual books, 90s editions.
Yeah being able to evade two tough fights in Bk 13 really saved my bacon.
From what I've heard, Lord Ixiataaga is pretty much impossible whatever you do so I guess I'll have to nerf his stats a bit.
Not sure even that would have got me through ok!
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Post by kieran on Jul 30, 2015 12:06:09 GMT
Had a crack at Captives of Kaag last night. I'd noticed Grand Nexus seem to come up a fair bit in the previous book so I selected that here... and never once got an opportunity to use it. After a pretty unlucky roll, I ended up falling off a spooked kraan to my death (well, technically to my unconsciousness but a helpful giak finished me off). The one battle I had was pretty easy so that's encouraging. When I try again I think I'll go with Grand Huntmastery as it seemed to help with just about every roll going.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Jul 31, 2015 15:25:48 GMT
Had a crack at Captives of Kaag last night. I'd noticed Grand Nexus seem to come up a fair bit in the previous book so I selected that here... and never once got an opportunity to use it. After a pretty unlucky roll, I ended up falling off a spooked kraan to my death (well, technically to my unconsciousness but a helpful giak finished me off). The one battle I had was pretty easy so that's encouraging. When I try again I think I'll go with Grand Huntmastery as it seemed to help with just about every roll going. or Animal Mastery to remove the random death risk. But normally one would have Grand Huntmastery and Kai Alchemy from book 13, to get past the Ghardoz Bridge safely. But for a new character you might have better choices and it is better to accept the risk of death by random number. Assimilance and Grand Pathsmanship comes to mind.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Jul 31, 2015 15:45:03 GMT
From what I've heard, Lord Ixiataaga is pretty much impossible whatever you do so I guess I'll have to nerf his stats a bit.
For a new character where you then won't have the Sommerswerd, the only reasonable way to defeat him is Kai Blast (from Kai Surge) and hope for some luck on the rolls. It can go fairly quickly.
Ixiataaga's HP is fairly low, so if you roll high on the damage, while not getting a 1 or a 2 on the combat rolls (both would be instant death for sure without the +8 bonus for Kai Surge), the battle can be over in 2 to 3 rounds, and while you can be quite beat up by then, you are fairly likely to survive if the battle is that short. It requires you are lucky, but I'd give it maybe 10% chance.
If it is any consolation, if you pass book 17 everything later will be easier.
And I playtested the GM series and all mini-adventures fairly reasonable, latest print.
The two toughest (most dangerous) Lone Wolf books (up to 20) is 1, 11 and 17. The overall toughest adventure is the bonus adventure in book 7.
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Post by kieran on Jul 31, 2015 18:08:52 GMT
Oh thanks. That doesn't sound too bad.
Surprised you would say bk 1 is one of the hardest. Or do you mean the mongoose version?
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Post by beowuuf on Jul 31, 2015 19:54:40 GMT
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Post by kieran on Jul 31, 2015 21:13:17 GMT
Ah. I must admit I tried the Mongoose version once and wasn't greatly enamoured. May have to give it another go.
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