Newbie with some questions

[AmigaDragon]

That's "Aniz". And yes, clothing can easily hide cubi clan markings, shapeshifting can't.

I missed where Jyrras' bangles showed through/over his gloves. Guess I'll have to go back and look.

EDIT:  Ok, in #859 and most others the bangles are showing but in #860 they're missing/hiding. CALL THE CONTINUITY POLICE!  I suppose we can just attribute that to forgetfulness.

[Jairus]

I missed where Jyrras' bangles showed through/over his gloves. Guess I'll have to go back and look.

Well, there's Overcompensating, I'm sure she'll get bored before she hits the water main... maybe, hmm... they're missing in a little distracted, but they're back for the rest of that discussion with Abel. And I'm sorry about misspelling Aniz's name.

Hm, if I was a little thinner I could probably pull some elements of Jyrras' outfit off... that might verge into obsessive fanboy territory, so I'm not going to go there.

[Ranzer]

Another session of killing raw-hamburger men with 22-pound tools (My wrench gives me inner strength!), another question. Maybe I should play System Shock 2 more often...

I know the order of losing the needs for food/water/sleep/breathing are pretty standardized, but what about ability order? Is that usually the same also, or are there different orders?

EDIT: For the confused, "raw-hamburger men" is my nickname for Hybrids and their hivemind's brain, which seems to oddly resemble a patty of raw ground beef. Fun will ensue when I can get a shotgun to it.

[Ranzer]

...Okay, sorry for the double post, but what happened? Is System Shock 2 a taboo mentioning or something? Did I mess up? Tell me, I need to know so that I don't do whatever I did wrong again! PLEEEEASE!

[Tapewolf]

Did I mess up?

Personally, I wasn't quite sure what you meant by 'ability order'.  I guess no-one else was either...

[Ranzer]

Personally, I wasn't quite sure what you meant by 'ability order'.  I guess no-one else was either...

Gah. Please, next time, ask me to clarify instead of putting the thread into cryo stasis.

What I meant was "Do 'Cubi typically gain things like shapeshifting, tentacles, headwings, etc. in the same order, or does it differ from person to person?". Sorry.

[Tapewolf]

What I meant was "Do 'Cubi typically gain things like shapeshifting, tentacles, headwings, etc. in the same order, or does it differ from person to person?". Sorry.

I don't know.  I would imagine that the tentacles only appear after the headwings, since that is generally considered to be the signal that they're coming into their powers, but we are looking at a sample of about 2 (Dan and Abel).  Shapeshifting has to be learned, but again it's probably only possible after the headwings have appeared.

[Damaris]

Gah. Please, next time, ask me to clarify instead of putting the thread into cryo stasis.

A twenty-four hour pause in conversation is hardly "cryo statis."  Remember, this is a posting board, not a chat room.

[Ranzer]

A twenty-four hour pause in conversation is hardly "cryo statis."  Remember, this is a posting board, not a chat room.

My apologies. Things were just going so quickly there for a while that I got kind of surprised when it wound down so suddenly. Sorry!

*snip*but we are looking at a sample of about 2 (Dan and Abel).

I have the perfect solution... A survey for the DMFA secondary cast! That should get us some answers! FIND THE TRUTH! THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! YEAAAAAAAAH!

[Stygian]

I have the perfect solution... A survey! YEAAAAAAAAH!

Sorry, Ranzer. Won't happen. We won't get fooled again.

[Jairus]

I have the perfect solution... A survey! YEAAAAAAAAH!

Sorry, Ranzer. Won't happen. We won't get fooled again.

*briefly shudders in the corner*

And I have to agree with Tapewolf: headwings at the very least are the first. As for the rest of the stuff, we've seen Dan's "transformation" into a Cubi, but we don't know how his transformation is similar to or different than other Cubi. The only other Cubi we've seen ascend is Abel, and all we've seen so far is that his headwings come on first. Maybe as Amber goes further and further into Abel's Story, we'll get a better idea for the order at work here.

I'm sorry if this is a little incoherent, but for some reason I'm really tired. And it's only 9 PM here.

[Ranzer]

...Okay, I feel like a moron, but I have to ask. What's so bad about the survey idea? Does this have a history of disaster in this board's dark and murky past?

[Tapewolf]

...Okay, I feel like a moron, but I have to ask. What's so bad about the survey idea? Does this have a history of disaster in this board's dark and murky past?

Not as far as I'm aware.

[Auron]

You know, I think the 'norm' might not be a suitable thing to base things on. You should most likely use a level system for abilities, after all, as you can tell by Dan's problems, there are the 'awakened' level of his powers, where they're pretty simple and difficult to control, and the developed level of someone like misses boxumy who runs the Cubi academy. Just allow for the character to change based on the persons play style, if they like to morph, allow them to morph into better and more varied things based on how much they use it. If they take lots of damage, regen faster, if they use suduction, etc etc.

Besides, last I check, the normal is 400+ years of training in the academy.

Edit: Changed Dave to Dan... IRL Dave is annoying sometimes, thus, the mix up.

[AmigaDragon]

...after all, as you can tell by Dave's problems...

"Dave's not here!"

[Ranzer]

Yes, I'm still here. Sort of.

Right now I'm wondering what to pick first as an ability. The tentacles seem fun, but I'm tempted to choose shapeshifting, if only for the possibilities of both battle and novelty ("...did I just pass myself in the hallway?"). What do you guys think?

[Jairus]

Hm... I'd imagine that shapeshifting would be more useful of an espionage ability, while conscious control of one's tentacles would allow one to use multiple weapons in battle: see here.

Shapeshifting. It's the power I'd want most.

[Jer-oh-me]

Yes, I'm still here. Sort of.

Right now I'm wondering what to pick first as an ability. The tentacles seem fun, but I'm tempted to choose shapeshifting, if only for the possibilities of both battle and novelty ("...did I just pass myself in the hallway?"). What do you guys think?

I think you should do both.

[Ranzer]

Well, now that I've decided to pick shapeshifting, there's a catch. I don't have the EXP to get it yet, but the GM has a "if you don't get it when you first describe it, it's locked" rule. The result? I have no idea how MUCH EXP I'll need. It could turn out to be really powerful if I'm creative enough with it, but that would require more experience. Except I don't have a guideline.

I've started referring to this as Schroedinger's Skill. May be expensive, maybe not, but you don't know until you try to buy it. *headdesk*

[Jairus]

... Sorry, you're looking at a guy who's never played a tabletop game like DnD in his life. I've got no real advice for you in this situation.

By the way, your dragon's dead.

[Ranzer]

*drags himself in*

Sorry for vanishing off the face of the earth, everyone. It's been due to several reasons:

A. Torturing myself with an attempted Let's Play of Kaizo Mario World, or...
B. Becoming off-and-on ill for the past couple of days, or...
C. Playing with poisoned apples in Oblivion, or...
D. Attempting to beat "Canned Heat" in EBA and failing miserably, or...
E. Simply nothing to report.

Anyways, as an update to the "'Cubi in a RP" scenario, the wing-tentacles appeared last night. Unfortunately, since they weren't quite ready to come out on their own, it involved them ripping through formerly closed skin. May be hazardous to your health.

I'm getting a somewhat sadistic amount of fun out of playing a deadpan bastard who can lie through his teeth to people he's met. It's a nice change from my old character concepts.

Anyways, I'm feeling a bit feverish again, so I think I'll close this post here before I start going off on one of my delusional rants again. Sorry for vanishing for so long.

[Ranzer]

My sincerest apologies for the double post, but in interest of getting this back on topic, I actually have a QUESTION this time! *scare chord*

#I've stopped keeping track: This isn't something that'll be used right away, but I'm curious. Does anyone know about how strong a 'Cubi's tentacles could be? Since they're boneless, I can't imagine them being able to lift too much without a bit of shifting, but I haven't had time to look through all the comics and get some measurements.

Sorry for this going so off-track, by the way. I have a tendency to break off into weird tangents at times... obviously something that I'll need to rein in. Anyways.

*goes off to break his fingers trying to improve his rank on Jumpin' Jack Flash*

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Based on what Amber has done with them, I'd say "as strong as the Cubi wants them to be"

Since they can cut through metal, or, in the case of Aaryanna, throw Merlitz around like he weighs nothing, I'd guess that either everyone weighs very very little, or the Cubi tentacles can be very strong.


My money is on the latter... (I can post links if you get lost)

[Jairus]

Based on what Amber has done with them, I'd say "as strong as the Cubi wants them to be"

Since they can cut through metal, or, in the case of Aaryanna, throw Merlitz around like he weighs nothing, I'd guess that either everyone weighs very very little, or the Cubi tentacles can be very strong.


My money is on the latter... (I can post links if you get lost)

I'm gonna add that it's entirely possible that younger Cubi might have more difficulty using them as weapons or for heavy-lifting, but I can't think of any evidence in canon to suggest that. The limbs may be magical, but to someone who is unused to them it might be difficult to willingly make them strong enough to lift people up and toss them around or become sharp enough to cut through a body. Again, though, there's no canon backing this idea up.

[Ranzer]

Well, I figured I'd break my fingers trying to get a rank increase on Jumpin' Jack Flash. Turns out that I dislocated a shoulder temporarily instead, so I'm taking a break from EBA for a few days while it heals.

#NO MORE CANNED HEAT, PLEASE: Can shifting be done in the middle of a fight to do things like, say, hardening a limb to take a hit from a blunt weapon? I was thinking about taking that as a perk if it's possible.

[Jairus]

From what we've seen, I'd say that so long as a Cubi can spare the attention to shift them, they can do it. I tend to think that those arms need some attention, at least: they may operate almost subconsciously (I'm not really certain), but they need to be controlled in some fashion. I think it's more like a Cubi is thinking "I need them to be razor sharp" rather than a thinking "Okay tentacles, be razor sharp!" Does that kind of make sense?

[Ranzer]

My apologies for the late reply. I've been trying to deal with the mental-image-out-of-nowhere of a DMFA dancing team in Elite Beat Agents. I'd just replace it with something else, but that's so insane that I want to keep it... anyways.

Yes, it makes perfect sense. I'd probably translate that into using a turn or something to do, I dunno. I'm still not sure as to which ability I want to take first, but I'll think about that when it's not 15 minutes until bed.

Thanks for the help again. I'll keep you posted as I have more questions, promise.

EDIT: Incidentally, I just got up to Jumpin' Jack Flash on hard. I no longer fear death.