Possession: is it worth it?
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ccccFranklin
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 3:46 pm
Possession: is it worth it?
I am about to start a second run through FT. The first time I played the Seithkona (Vanadis) and didn't use the self-inflicted possession condition much. Now I am running FT for another group, and the new player that is playing Vanadis is shying away from self-possession. Are we missing something here? It seems like a crippling penalty, is there a play style that makes it less painful? Looking for some experienced voices to sound off on this.
Re: Possession: is it worth it?
tl;dr: YES! ^^
Long version: It may look pretty detrimental to self-possess, and for pretty much most archetypes it is, but the Seithkona can definitely handle it. I'll give you solutions for both Fafnir and the CRB.
Remember, the Seithkona is like a berzerker sorceress... the more control she gives up, the more powerful she becomes! ^^
For Fafnir, Vanadis has two passives that ease the pain. First off Dark Consultation is great on its own, but when looking to minimize the chances of a bad possession, it allows you to exchange certain runes (traits) in your hand for redraws from your bag. The less Trait variety you have in hand, the less chance runes will be snapped up from you. So if you have 1 rune of each trait in your hand, and you get possessed, there is a 100% chance you will lose a rune. If you have 3 runes of only 1 trait in your hand, you have only a 33% chance that the possession will screw you. But if it does, BAZINGA, you lose all runes for that turn! Hihihi fun risks! BUT let's take a quick look at your other passive which is Barter with Spirits. This one is made to deal with possession. So lets go with the variety in hand example. If you get a rune snatched up from your hand, and you really wanted to use it this turn, you can perform the minor sacrifice and swap another rune in hand with the one that was just possessed away from you. Oh and don't forget, if you don't like the possessing spirit, you can always diminish it during the same upkeep it was inflected... just play a spiritual rune! YAY! You have everything the gain, and only a little to lose, so let go and let the spirits flood into you!
When playing with the core rulebook you get even more options to deal with possession. Just check the active and passive power boards and you'll see just how many more incentives you get for being possessed! ^^
Oh and get a familiar, they are so amazing!!!
Long version: It may look pretty detrimental to self-possess, and for pretty much most archetypes it is, but the Seithkona can definitely handle it. I'll give you solutions for both Fafnir and the CRB.
Remember, the Seithkona is like a berzerker sorceress... the more control she gives up, the more powerful she becomes! ^^
For Fafnir, Vanadis has two passives that ease the pain. First off Dark Consultation is great on its own, but when looking to minimize the chances of a bad possession, it allows you to exchange certain runes (traits) in your hand for redraws from your bag. The less Trait variety you have in hand, the less chance runes will be snapped up from you. So if you have 1 rune of each trait in your hand, and you get possessed, there is a 100% chance you will lose a rune. If you have 3 runes of only 1 trait in your hand, you have only a 33% chance that the possession will screw you. But if it does, BAZINGA, you lose all runes for that turn! Hihihi fun risks! BUT let's take a quick look at your other passive which is Barter with Spirits. This one is made to deal with possession. So lets go with the variety in hand example. If you get a rune snatched up from your hand, and you really wanted to use it this turn, you can perform the minor sacrifice and swap another rune in hand with the one that was just possessed away from you. Oh and don't forget, if you don't like the possessing spirit, you can always diminish it during the same upkeep it was inflected... just play a spiritual rune! YAY! You have everything the gain, and only a little to lose, so let go and let the spirits flood into you!
When playing with the core rulebook you get even more options to deal with possession. Just check the active and passive power boards and you'll see just how many more incentives you get for being possessed! ^^
Oh and get a familiar, they are so amazing!!!
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Ludologist
- Posts: 76
- Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2013 6:29 pm
Re: Possession: is it worth it?
I'm playing in a slightly longer campaign and I've recently built a Seithkarl (the male version of a Seithkona). I play him as generally unwilling to let the spirits take control unless they're particularly helpful. Those spirits that do me a favour, I help them move on to the afterlife. That having been said, there are still a few situations where I just HAD to unleash a ton of pain quickly, consequences be darned. Here are my thoughts on the whole self-possession thing:
1- You always get to keep your Void rune, no matter how far gone you are. In Fafnir's Treasure, you only have 2 destiny, so what you give up is 2 runes and in exchange you can put up to 4 meta tags (Area, Range, or Amplify) onto your Void rune spell every turn. That's a great tradeoff!
2- Use contingencies! For my Seithkarl, he knew he needed to unleash a specific spell, but he also greatly needed the power of the spirits to make it nasty. He set his spell in contingency (triggered off his allies shouting "NOW!!!") and let the spirits flood in. The end result was a beautifully big bang with a nice set of heals to boot (got to love Sun and Moon with multi, amplify, range and area tags! Remember: two area tags make your spells select between friend and foe).
3- Role play it out. Spirits are NPCs too (that should be a t-shirt). Talk to them. They're not under your control, but you can always try to influence them. If you get an aggressive spirit you should feel free to tempt it into greater damage: "Hey spirit! I have two tasty Amplify runes available for that spell you're wielding. Would you like to do some real damage? Shoot that thing!" If you get a helpful spirit, you can offer suggestions of what would really help tip the scales. Passive powers are game mechanics that force things to go your way, but nothing beats good role play.
4- Passives help too. Since you're talking about Vanadis, her powers are already set and lisaprez has already mentioned the two utility powers to watch for. If you ever get around to building your own Seithkona, there are even more powers to help you gain or lose control. This is a really fun archetype!
5- If all else fails, game the system. Lisaprez has already mentioned it but depending on runes in hand, you can increase your possession level and gamble with control over those runes. When the gamble pays off, it's fun! When the gamble fails, it's fun!
1- You always get to keep your Void rune, no matter how far gone you are. In Fafnir's Treasure, you only have 2 destiny, so what you give up is 2 runes and in exchange you can put up to 4 meta tags (Area, Range, or Amplify) onto your Void rune spell every turn. That's a great tradeoff!
2- Use contingencies! For my Seithkarl, he knew he needed to unleash a specific spell, but he also greatly needed the power of the spirits to make it nasty. He set his spell in contingency (triggered off his allies shouting "NOW!!!") and let the spirits flood in. The end result was a beautifully big bang with a nice set of heals to boot (got to love Sun and Moon with multi, amplify, range and area tags! Remember: two area tags make your spells select between friend and foe).
3- Role play it out. Spirits are NPCs too (that should be a t-shirt). Talk to them. They're not under your control, but you can always try to influence them. If you get an aggressive spirit you should feel free to tempt it into greater damage: "Hey spirit! I have two tasty Amplify runes available for that spell you're wielding. Would you like to do some real damage? Shoot that thing!" If you get a helpful spirit, you can offer suggestions of what would really help tip the scales. Passive powers are game mechanics that force things to go your way, but nothing beats good role play.
4- Passives help too. Since you're talking about Vanadis, her powers are already set and lisaprez has already mentioned the two utility powers to watch for. If you ever get around to building your own Seithkona, there are even more powers to help you gain or lose control. This is a really fun archetype!
5- If all else fails, game the system. Lisaprez has already mentioned it but depending on runes in hand, you can increase your possession level and gamble with control over those runes. When the gamble pays off, it's fun! When the gamble fails, it's fun!