|
Post by Scarecrow on Dec 8, 2004 7:05:29 GMT
Thanks for the welcome.
I've finished Fire on the Water. Now I have to try and smash my way through Kalte. I'll be really frustrated when I die, which is probably unavoidable.
|
|
|
Post by Sol on Dec 8, 2004 15:30:30 GMT
Purple, I looked up Schrodinger's Cat - ha ha, you may be right! Ten Kai... some call it overkill, I call it Research!
Scarecrow, worry not - Kalte is hard because of the Auto-Death sections (there are just a few... most of these only occur by random chance, so be lucky)... and also because of all the poisonous beings that auto-kill you (you can avoid these if you know how... I won't spoil the fun for you though by saying how!) Good luck!
Sol
|
|
|
Post by Scarecrow on Dec 8, 2004 15:37:48 GMT
Odd. I lost 5 or 6 characters in the first book alone, but now I've made it to the Magnakai series in one shot. My Lone Wolf is running on pure luck...
Anybody know a way I can ditch the Sommerswerd before Tahou, and the near-invincible Zakhan? ;D
|
|
|
Post by Sol on Dec 8, 2004 16:14:09 GMT
Scarecrow,
Sure - that's easy! Just leave it in safekeeping in the Kai Monostary. There is a rule for this in later books (I think it is Book 6 and onward)... just take a peek to see how it works. I do this all the time. It is a disadvantage everywhere else, but it can save your life against Zakhan.
Sol
|
|
|
Post by Sol on Dec 8, 2004 16:14:53 GMT
Or you could just "lose" it since you are allowed to drop any item anywhere anytime... but I have a feeling you would want it back later!
|
|
|
Post by Zipp on Dec 8, 2004 17:52:54 GMT
Or pretend you don't have it.
ZAHKAN: What is that there? Is that a Sommerswerd?
LONE WOLF: Huh? Where?
ZAHKAN: The big glowy thing in your scabbard. Next to the Bronnin Warhammer and the Dagger of Vashna.
LONE WOLF: Errr... no. Why would I have a Sommerswerd?
ZAHKAN: Because you're Lone Wolf. And you used it dispatch many of my guards and my pet serpent last time you visited the palace. Which reminds me, I want my Jewelled Mace back.
LONE WOLF: Ummm, quick look behind you!
STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB
|
|
|
Post by PurpleTurtle on Dec 8, 2004 17:53:12 GMT
New Kai Grandmaster Discipline:
Quantum Existence
You have evolved to the point where you no longer have a single, fixed manifestation, but actually inhabit a range of probabilities. For example, you could be 5% dead, 15% heavily wounded, and 80% in perfect health. This means that low-probability events that would normally kill you outright, only slightly increase your probability of being dead. Whenever asked to make a random number roll, you must take the weighted average of all the branching sections as your quantum outcome. Instead of a single number, your Endurance is now represented as a range of probabilities.
Note: This discipline only works if nobody is observing you, not even yourself.
|
|
|
Post by Black Cat on Dec 8, 2004 19:40:47 GMT
Or you could just "lose" it since you are allowed to drop any item anywhere anytime... but I have a feeling you would want it back later! Someone proposed something very interesting: in book 9, find a way to get jailed! All your weapons will be taken from you (including the Sommerswerd) and if you kill Kimah with the correct item that you find in Zaaryx, your weapons will be returned to you (it is said somewhere in a newsletter). Then, for book 10, put the Sommerswerd in safekeeping (because you can't do it for book 11) and play books 10 and 11 without it (some people say it is useful to not have the Sommerswerd against a specific ennemy. I won't tell you who it is ). At the start of book 12, you can retrieve your precious sword.
|
|
|
Post by Sol on Dec 8, 2004 20:16:02 GMT
Really? Getting Jailed works? Ah yes, right, I see! I guess you have to STAY in jail...! I remember escaping jail, then wandering around town. Ha haha, then the guard captain saw me as I was buying a drink and living it up... boy was he mad! Then they threw me BACK in jail...! I had to laugh though. It was very funny.
|
|
|
Post by Scarecrow on Dec 9, 2004 3:05:40 GMT
I remember being jailed and losing the Sommerswerd... it just seems a bit of an anti-climax for the sword of thousands of years legends. Ends up propping open a door in a city guard post, or something.
But I don't recall getting it back after beating the Zakhan (you can kill him with the Dagger of Vashna too I think).
|
|
|
Post by Peregrine on Dec 9, 2004 3:22:31 GMT
This one was cleared up in the Newsletters (Summer 1987). Incidentally, looking back over the thread, it occurs to me that Zipp's party-of-ten approach provides a good way to illustrate the "statistically impossible" point for those who're still unsure. The idea was that, if you had ten 1-in-10 chances of instant death through the series, it would be statistically impossible to complete. This is the same as saying that one of Zipp's Lone Wolfpack would be statistically expected to die on each one. Makes sense, right? Well, it works for the first roll. You have ten Lone Wolves, and each has to survive a 1-in-10 shot at death. Statistically speaking, nine should survive, and one gets crushed by that mast. Now you come to the second 1-in-10 roll, but only nine Kai Lords have to pass it. Nine times 1-in-10 odds means 0.9 Kai Lords should die; or in other words, eight survive, and one has a 90% chance of being dead. (Damn, PurpleTurtle spotted the Schroedinger reference before me. ) We'll say he dies. Next time, you have eight of them, and statistically, seven will survive and one has an 80% chance of dying. Say he dies too. The odds of dying go down each time; by the time five are left, the odds are even that all five will survive. (This is a simplification, of course, since they do all have a chance of dying; actually the odds of group survival are closer to 60% with five Kai Lords. They're slightly better than even with six.) It's the combination of these decreasing probabilities of death that means ten 1-in-10 chances give about a 35% survival rate. (Calculate it as 0.9*0.9*0.9*0.9*... because you have a 90% chance each time. If you have a 2-in-10 chance at some point, it'd be 0.9*0.9* 0.8*0.9*...)
|
|
|
Post by Ofecks on Dec 9, 2004 3:40:44 GMT
Then, for book 10, put the Sommerswerd in safekeeping (because you can't do it for book 11) and play books 10 and 11 without it I really don't reccomend doing book 11 without it. Sure, you'll have a much easier time with the Chaos-Master, but it's really really hard to make it through the rest of the book's nasty battles. Believe me, I've tried numerous times.
|
|
|
Post by PurpleTurtle on Dec 9, 2004 4:56:35 GMT
This one was cleared up in the Newsletters (Summer 1987). Incidentally, looking back over the thread, it occurs to me that Zipp's party-of-ten approach provides a good way to illustrate the "statistically impossible" point for those who're still unsure. The idea was that, if you had ten 1-in-10 chances of instant death through the series, it would be statistically impossible to complete. This is the same as saying that one of Zipp's Lone Wolfpack would be statistically expected to die on each one. Makes sense, right? Well, it works for the first roll. You have ten Lone Wolves, and each has to survive a 1-in-10 shot at death. Statistically speaking, nine should survive, and one gets crushed by that mast. Now you come to the second 1-in-10 roll, but only nine Kai Lords have to pass it. Nine times 1-in-10 odds means 0.9 Kai Lords should die; or in other words, eight survive, and one has a 90% chance of being dead. (Damn, PurpleTurtle spotted the Schroedinger reference before me. ) We'll say he dies. Next time, you have eight of them, and statistically, seven will survive and one has an 80% chance of dying. Say he dies too. The odds of dying go down each time; by the time five are left, the odds are even that all five will survive. (This is a simplification, of course, since they do all have a chance of dying; actually the odds of group survival are closer to 60% with five Kai Lords. They're slightly better than even with six.) It's the combination of these decreasing probabilities of death that means ten 1-in-10 chances give about a 35% survival rate. (Calculate it as 0.9*0.9*0.9*0.9*... because you have a 90% chance each time. If you have a 2-in-10 chance at some point, it'd be 0.9*0.9* 0.8*0.9*...) Hell, if you've mastered Quantum Existence, you could go through a hundred thousand random number rolls each with a 90% chance of killing you, and still end up just a little bit alive...
|
|
|
Post by Scarecrow on Dec 9, 2004 7:29:06 GMT
Are you sure you can leave items at the Kai monastery? My books only say you can leave money, not items.
|
|
|
Post by Peregrine on Dec 9, 2004 7:43:35 GMT
Are you sure you can leave items at the Kai monastery? My books only say you can leave money, not items. Yup. Money and Special Items are explicitly permitted in the rules. I can't quite recall the basis for it (probably a Newsletter or something), but the general consensus is that you can leave Weapons and Backpack Items in safekeeping too. Here's the Special Items bit:
|
|