Quest General CYOA Thread

[Blasterbot]

base statistics
leadership 6
supplies 6
survival 6
speed 3
mobility 4
discretion 3
reliability 4

super heavy tank base weight 50 max weight 125
Modern Tank +1 speed (4) + 1 survival (7) - 1 reliability (3) -2 supplies (4)
+ 2 positive traits base weight +10% (55) max weight +25% (156.25)
bow gun Medium MG .08 tons ap 1.5 at 1 accuracy 6
coaxial gun Medium MG .08 tons ap 1.5 at 1 accuracy 6
main gun Super heavy 155mm howitzer 12.5 tons ap 11 at 30 accuracy 6
positive traits
1 shaped charge supplies -0.5 supplies (3.5) AT +25 now 36
2 angled armor +15% front armor +5% side armor
3 spaced armor 3 points of side armor for half weight
4 wide tracks +1.5-2 mobility (5.5-6 in winter and desert) 1.5 tons
trade off traits
1 Hand-Fitted Production +0.5 speed (4.5) +0.5 accuracy (6.5)
-0.5 reliability (2.5) -0.5 supplies (3)
2 heavily armored hatches +2 side armor -1 survival (6)
negative traits
1 none
allegiance
Greater Ustirian empire Supplies +1.5 (4.5) +3 Commander points +4 regions and conditions
Affection Breakthrough Battalion + 2 commander points
regions Cities Winter Desert Dust storms
Crew 6
driver Sergeant Grazia Fellini +1 reliability (3.5)
gunner Corporal Jadrakko Ristic +1 bonus on 4+ difficulty missions
loader 1 Hara Okeefe +1 supplies (5.5)
loader 2 PFC Nikolai Sokolov -10% weapon weight -1.25 tons
radio operator PFC Dwayne Walker +0.5 Supplies (6) +0.5 Reliability (4)
commander
1 battle field first aid +1 survival (7)
2 Infantry cooperation +1 bonus against infantry +2 in city or trenches
3 mechanics +0.5 reliability (4.5) +0.5 mobility (6-6.5 in desert or winter)
4 Long term subsistence -1 malus on faction missions
5 office warfare +0.5 supplies (6.5) +0.5 leadership (6.5)

(oh god figuring out the armor) current used tonnage 67.91/156.25
88.34free so we can buy 58.5 pips of side armor with front and rear costing half
buying all 3 half off side 57 pips left split roughly even +28 all 1 left over put it in front
take off 2 from the side for 4 in the front let angled armor handle the rest.
Front
1 free +28 +2 +4 =35+15%=40.25 max is 40 and we got it!
Sides
3 free +3 half off +28 -2 =32+5% 33.6
Rear
1 free +28 =29

final statistics
leadership 6.5/12 slightly better than your average bear.
supplies 6.5/12 through incredible chicanery, bribing the REMF, and grit we good
survival 7/12 above average but most importantly we a big tonk
speed 4.5/12 look this was never gonna be great but we got it moving almost as fast as a heavy
mobility 6/12-6.5/12 in desert or winter surprisingly good at dealing with bad terrain which is good. getting this beast unstuck is gonna suck if it happens.
discretion 2/12 at least we are the artillery so we can use the whole hill to hide if we got a spotter. we a superheavy we were always gonna suck at it.
reliability 4.5/12 Superheavies are hanger queens but with 3 crew members helping we can baby it enough to keep from needing as much as a normal super heavy
AP 11/12 (+2x 1.5/12 MGs) we are the hammer of god infantry fear us
Accuracy 6.5/12 the hammer is not always accurate but it nothing wants to be hit. still a touch above average.
AT 36/40 what part of we are the hammer of god was missed? unless we dealing with a 40 front armor heavy or super heavy this will fuck them up. if the special ammo comes through not even that is safe.
Front Armor 40 we tie the super heavy AT gun here. maybe we scared of that more likely we just gonna see people try and flank
Side armor 33.6 so the heavy AT gun can pen and the super heavies can pen the side armor here damn that is mean.
Rear armor 29 now the regular heavy cannon can pen. nothing from the mediums though. wait no a squeeze bore 57MM can still hella tough.

mission time

tank specific mission THE WALL (the name speaks to me)
we have decided to park in the entrance of a factory and tell the enemies to come and get some. this is a brilliant plan. danger 3/6 Difficulty 5/6 we face infantry and medium tanks in a city
+1 bonus from city fighting with spaced armor +1 bonus against difficulty 4+ +2 against infantry in a city negate malus from city fighting
1 4 Surprise +1 survival. they clearly never expected to see the Hammer of god sitting there to greet them here. in spite of us announcing it, sitting here, and having discretion of 2 so presumably even a blind child can spot us.
2 6 tracer rounds now our MGs will murder the infantry even better. these poor bloody infantry.
3 1 Prototype shells and now we got a 39.6 AT rating. against medium tanks. i feel bad for them now.
4 2 recent check up +1 reliability. look we are looting the factory too and they had some parts.
are we the bad guys here? I kinda feel like we are just kicking puppies. glorious victory!

unit specific mission Cracking the Shell
someone saw how effective retardation is on the battle field and decided to sail a god damn cruiser up river to fight me. holy shit I pissed them off.
+1 bonus from city fighting with spaced armor +1 bonus against difficulty 4+ +2 against infantry in a city negate the malus from winter fighting and city fighting
1 6 Tracer rounds because the poor bloody infantry aren't bloody enough.
2 4 surprise survival +1 surprise you think a boat can beat a tonk?
3 3-3-4 double surprise our survival is now a 9... these guys really underestimated the hammer of god.
4 1 1 Prototype shells and now we got a 39.6 AT rating. we can prolly pen the cruiser now. glad we saved some of those shells
yeah they get sunk these poor poor navy men should never have listened to the army. also holy shit out tonk sunk their battleship. well cruiser but still.

Faction mission Lallingen Counter-offensive the perfidious enemies have managed to launch a sneaky sneaky naval landing. damn does our intelligence suck. facing amphibious and airborne forces (infantry, tankettes, and light tanks) and 2 AT divisions. we got 3 divisions of militia and our breakthrough division was presumably nearby on downtime so they got a load of really heavy tonks mixed with poorly trained militia and some not just surplus but outdated tonks of mixed types. we receive reinforcements in a few days in the form of an armored division. so early on we got a dearth of mediums but that gets solved in a few days. likely the toughest mission yet. Commander negates the penalty for bad weather since we got long term subsistence but we only get the 1 bonus from Jadranko
1-3-2 we got a check up +1 reliability (5.5) yeah we prolly got rotated back from the front for a bit and our division was getting brought up to good while we drilled the FNGs.
the AT divisions could do some work but damn did their own Intelligence fail. the force they gathered would steam roll the 3 home guards but with the break through division being there we stiffen the resistance enough so that the armored division arrives to reinforce and push them off. not without heavy casualties among the home guard and there was likely heavy collateral as well. all in all since their costly naval invasion failed they are in a worse spot.

RNGsus mission
8 enemy infantry and armor we on the offense not really our specialty but we can swing it. at least we are fighting infantry so we get a bonus.
location 7 Trenches we not trained in it but our mobility is 6 so only 1 malus
battle modifier 4 effective recon accurate maps hurrah! our military intelligence came through for us. nah we probably just bribed some locals.
battle modifier 5 Enemy air superiority well shit now we know why they need support.
Battle modifier 3 fortifications double shit at least we know why we got diverted to help.
malus 2 unreliable comms damn radio is on the fritz clearly it is the other guys. we take as good care as we can of our tank.
bonus 4 surprise +1 survival. seriously how do we keep catching these people by surprise we a giant tank. these people deserve what they get at this point.
12 extra support neat
8 aviation at least we haven't completely given up the air battle.
7 heavy-superheavy tanks we really need this fort to fall.
3 heavy motorized infantry this is a very well supplied attack.
Danger has hit 3 since we got 2 enemy types (infantry, armor) 3 allied types, discretion is 2 and we got a malus and are on difficult terrain
difficulty is 0 starts at .5 adds 1 for 2 negative battle modifiers -1.h because AT is 30+ survival is 8+ and we got a good battle mod.
so we found a spot of resistance and got called in as reinforcements. reinforcements were overwhelming and the enemy was crushed. how come nobody expects the hammer of god to be dropping on them at this point?

overall the Superheavy tank has been a glorious success. and has been surprisingly stealthy despite a 2 for discretion. we have spawned memes of a tonk that kool-aid man's his way through the opposition. our gun is insane. our armor is crazy. we got a great build. had to spend a fair amount of time away from my computer so it took awhile to finish the build.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Wow the Superheavy goes full ham with the possible options. Figuring out armor with muh Cavalry tank was hard enough. But it paid off 40-33.6 and 29 rear.

Ironically a PIRATE technical could possibly penetrate the rear 🍑 of your Superheavy ironically enough.

I didn't look ahead to the missions and since I was doing the design in one sitting I got the idea of trying to design a humble Cavalry tank. Initially I was think full cavalry mode for flanking and punching holes in enemy armor and vehicles. Swapped out the wide tank treads for advanced optics and what not so I could get more Commander points. Think it turned out nicely enough but just short in the firepower to penetrate the rear of any Superheavies if somehow blessed with the perfect angle of attack.

Grats on sinking the Cruiser Battleship.

 

[Blasterbot]

Wow the Superheavy goes full ham with the possible options. Figuring out armor with muh Cavalry tank was hard enough. But it paid off 40-33.6 and 29 rear.

Ironically a PIRATE technical could possibly penetrate the rear 🍑 of your Superheavy ironically enough.

I didn't look ahead to the missions and since I was doing the design in one sitting I got the idea of trying to design a humble Cavalry tank. Initially I was think full cavalry mode for flanking and punching holes in enemy armor and vehicles. Swapped out the wide tank treads for advanced optics and what not so I could get more Commander points. Think it turned out nicely enough but just short in the firepower to penetrate the rear of any Superheavies if somehow blessed with the perfect angle of attack.

Grats on sinking the Cruiser Battleship.

whenever asked at the bar it will be a battleship. it was accurately reported in the mission debrief. when I saw how much I had to bounce around on the 1st 2 pages to figure stuff out I kinda felt like I had to understand some of the missions. while the cheeky technical could do that it would be penned by the MGs so I feel like that has a fair balance. if crew served MGs represent a threat to your tank you best be super stealthy. he does need the special ammo as well for it. seems pretty fair. heck open mount means he is exposed to the air so shrapnel or a sniper could get lucky. still love that super specialist he made.

 

[Husky_Khan]

whenever asked at the bar it will be a battleship. it was accurately reported in the mission debrief. when I saw how much I had to bounce around on the 1st 2 pages to figure stuff out I kinda felt like I had to understand some of the missions. while the cheeky technical could do that it would be penned by the MGs so I feel like that has a fair balance. if crew served MGs represent a threat to your tank you best be super stealthy. he does need the special ammo as well for it. seems pretty fair. heck open mount means he is exposed to the air so shrapnel or a sniper could get lucky. still love that super specialist he made.

I'm just imagining blasting a hole in the Battleship, so the stricken vessel beaches itself and from the gaping hole spills forth a torrent of pirate technicals attempting to swarm the SuperHeavy Tank in its moment of victory, like some Tankette Skaven or something.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Scrolling back for more CYOA's...

Republic of Blades

I really like the worldbuilding on this one. Very elaborate with great imagery, a place where duelling culture appears to have merged with something like Professional Wrestling, with duellists adopting exaggerated heroic or villainous personas and faked dramatic backstories, then fight spectacular duels to entertain the masses.

This one looks fun and simpler then the Tank one.

1. Gender
Female.

2. Style
Escarlate: The style of rapier and cloak.
All of the styles look pretty cool and the cloak and blade one seems nice, not so much for the actual practical reasons, but a cloak is the closest I can get to wearing a hoodie in this age, which is both a progressive fashion trend I may be compelled to adopt, but also because it can be cold. Oh and you know... use the cloak to drape over puddles for people I guess. It's like bringing a towel along before you had a towel. But single blade seems nice but just... so... simplistic. While sword and dagger actually seems the most appealing to me martially as a duelist. No I'll go with Cloak and Blade and nerf my Duelist right off the bat... sword.

3. Fortes
Footwork
There's probably more applicable ones for blade and cloak but I like boxing as the sweet science and I do dig music and dancing as described in the schools description. I like the idea of maneuvering and choosing the pace of combat as well. It's not as intricate in the bladework as counters or feints or acrobatics but seems like it could offer plenty of chance of taking an opponent off guard and seeking advantage without overcommitting into something too flashy.

Minor:
Feints
Goes hand in hand with footwork and utilizing the cloak I suppose, even if I'm not as big on using the cloak in duels. But hey, that's why it's a minor part of my repertoire.
Martial Arts
Bit after the fact but considering the subsequent attributes of travel as well as the reasoning for the use of footwork and other background details I shared, martial arts would make the most sense. Plus it means I wasn't always dueling for fame and profit. The ending bit of the description of ending duels barehanded pretty much defines my justification for Footwork as well. So this forte was practically picked or defined for me ahead of time.

4. Stage Name
Khanette
Ugh I'm terrible with names.

5. Alignment
Good
Of course I'm the good girl. I couldn't imagine seeing myself as the villain, at least in my own mind.

6. Personality
Protective
I think I'm far more humble IRL but not on the internet. So I should go with something else if I'm a fictional duelist. Laid Back seems nice but it's pretty uninteresting. So I'll go with Protective as that can offer some plot nuggets and trigger maternal instincts. It'll increase my appeal to weebs looking for Mommy Waifus as well.

7. Attire
Practical
I already have a cloak so flamboyant is a possibility but I didn't really take any indicators of being flamboyant personality wise. Plus if footwork is the thing, unless I'm going full Dancing Master (I am not) practical seems more workable for the fast feet then anything else. I'm just practical w/cloak. And as already established, I chose the cloak for practical reasons, not flamboyant ones. See? What effective foreshadowing!

8. Dominant Color
Green
I'll go with Green. There's brighter forms of green that should compliment my complexion pretty well I hope. Plus the description said Green was a protective color so that'd go with my personality. Hides stains better then a brighter color as well. Negligible use in greenery as well.

9. Backstory
Bland
What am I even doing? Have cloak, will duel.

10. Training
Self Taught
None of the training seems appealing to my bland backstory where I learned Escarlate so a school seemed like the best place. Self taught almost seems munchy, but the more one looks at it, you can have a very bland self taught backstory. Plus it'd make sense for having an unconventional Escarlate stylist with that kind of footwork. It's already a rare style and I imagine footwork with Escarlate is even more rare. Plus I'm practical so maybe I was an athlete in some other sort of combat sport or performing art but using a sword as a duelist is more appealing and utilitarian in the REPUBLIC of BLADES. Munchiness aside from being self taught, I must be humble.

11. Career Events
The Journey
Hired Teacher
Around the Country
Oh good, there's something for Protective types. The Journey and Around the Country both seem pretty appropriate and can give me a nice ronin appeal when it comes to being self taught. The Hired Teacher thing works hand in hand with being Protective and taking the Green as well. Plus it'll give a legacy of training a student with my particular style as well as a steady source of income since I don't think I'm doing too well in attracting crowds of people for my dueling style. Plus the Around the Country trait means my Duelist was probably doing all sorts of lowbrow events as well in villages and fairs, not just big ol performances for the patrician classes and the like which might not gel with my duelist character who doesn't really have the background or lineage for it. Needless to say I'm the protective and patient teacher as described in the event. Whether that'll market Khanette to my fanbase more or less... I don't know.

12. Character Pool
Literally get none of these lol. My Student isn't good enough for it. If they were, they wouldn't need me to be so protective of them. But hold up... if I roll a d28 what would the Student I'm so protective of TURN OUT TO BE?
- d28 = 13.
The Ashen Ripper
Oh no. My student will grow into the Ashen Ripper who is described as a Legend. Almost a God Among Villains. The character has haunted the Republic for more then three centuries and it is said that no less then thirteen women have played her successively over the generations. She appears sporadically to challenge the strongest hero of the time then disappears without a trace. She's never been defeated! Looks like there's a reason for my unique style. She wanted to learn it to add it to her repertoire. I hope the prospective Ashen Ripper didn't end up killing me... or maybe I do! 😭 Do I really want to live on with this as my legacy?

13. Patrons
Going to roll a d8 to see who hired me to train Little Miss Ashen Ripper.
- roll d8 = 8
Patriarch Lazziano
Well with a pedigree like that, I guess I was hoping to impact my student for the better. Results were ultimately mixed. Hopefully one of us ran a rapier through the fat bastard of the Religious Conclave.

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

I really like Republic of Blades too. If I had more electricity I'd do out a build. I honestly think I'd go for a full WDF (WORLD DUELING FEDERATION, BROTHER) type build. Probably the heel in the vein of Kane or Undertaker. I might pick my dad's brain for some other famous heel options to spiritually succeed.

 

[Blasterbot]

let us see what we can do here
Male I am a special snowflake

Style Ecarlate I looked for a bit and know what I want

Major Forte Feint being tricky
Minor Forte Taunt taunt and extra tricky
Minor forte Acrobatics even more strange angles and even trickier

Name Dippy Dawg got inspired by the goofy personality trait lets just roll with his OG name.

Hero

Personality Goofy-Trickster I am going to be silly and tumbling and dodging around while my smack talk is gonna be borrowing from looney tunes, tom and jerry, and early Disney style for my taunts.

Attire Flashy-Heavy I want something silly and billowing and flashy with armor under it to take some hits from people as I taunt to generate yet more drama and piss them off.

Color White and Blue to sell the cloud cuckoo lander thing we got going on at times.

Backstory lets keep it light might even make it silly in places. the whole point of the persona is to be a lighthearted goofy clown in the ring. keep it light hearted and PG clearly he was raised by butterflies and bees with how he floats and stings.

Training Found the woman who trained him did not pass on her persona to him but her being a similarly tricky style and him being a great potential under that background I feel gives him the best shot at making it come together.

for the events lets go with
Around the country playing the smaller ring and building up popularity with more of the small folk honing myself against the smaller time but much wider variations as I travel eventually heading for the big time where we get to

Out of sight not the first fight of course but the my style pisses off someone better than me by a bit. they go for a more lethal blow than the duel calls for and try to lay me low I rest, recover, train and then

The Silver Night on this night I make a reappearance beating the one who beat me in a particularly humiliating and slapstick manner.

@Husky_Khan you get 2 minor Fortes in addition to the Major Forte

 

[Husky_Khan]

@Husky_Khan you get 2 minor Fortes in addition to the Major Forte

Oh snap... that makes more sense. Editing meow.

 

[Blasterbot]

Thanks to Brian Boru for turning me onto the next one

Feeling silly so lets go for a high seas captain.
Skills (5 total)
1 Beast Master
2 Golden Touch
3 Well Read
4 Trickster General
5 Sea Lord
Units
1 15 Seaman and a Carrack (15) need a second boat for my dragon
2 25 Swashbucklers (10) boarders are important
3 15 Seaman and a Carrack (15) 3rd boat I am the admiral
4 25 Swash bucklers (10) boarders are important
5 50 Pikeman (10) when we go ashore we need marines to poke things with a stick
6 40 Halberdiers (10) they pair well with the above
7 20 Scouts (5) eyes for when we land
8 5 engineers (5) keep the ships prepared and can build fortifications
War beasts
1 Dragon (80) we are gonna be representing carrier warfare here on these high seas.
2 5 thresherlings (5) Swashbucklers love these guys so lets give them attack puppers
3 5 thresherlings (5) Second verse same as the first
4 Sea beast (20) we got a submarine too I am the pokemon master
Lieutenants
1 Katherine (5) is she a fighter? no. however a skilled admin, quartermaster, and diplomat? yes and I wish that I had more.
2 Gujong (15) a very gifted frog man who specializes in counter and healing? yes please.
Infamous Regiments
1 Blue Sun Order (30) 10 highly skilled mages of mixed specialty
2 Evelyn's Treasure crew (35) 1 veteran crew of 10, 30 boarders, and 5 thresherlings
Drawbacks
1 Cursed (+50)
Contracts
1 Sword of Life and death (keep the sword)
2 Treasure of the Seas (keep the treasure)
3 Unconquered fortress (take the fort)

got me a fleet. got me some beasts. we can make a landing and give a good showing if we need to as we got a big ball of pikes and halberds with some skirmisher support from the swashbucklers and threshers. then we got cannons and a dragon. and a bunch of mages.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Hmm, Pirates were my first thought too so I'll go a different direction.

The M-Team

Skills
Diplomat
Well Read
Trickster General
Attack Mage
Countermage
Few of my Lieutenants have any social skills so Diplomat is a must. Trickster General because I'm going with all wizards here so I won't be fixing problems by charging them, but rather erasing grid coordinates. Attack Mage because it's a much more expensive option than the other mages so adding that is a bargain, and countermage because shutting down illusions and keeping my mind clear will protect me from one of the biggest threats, being mind controlled/beguiled into walking into a trap.

Units
Scholars (20)
Old Mages (10)
Healing Mages (10)

Lieutenants
Librarian Miriel
Zed the Seeker
Sofia the Weird

Warbeasts
Fox Spirit
Ents (2)

Infamous Regiments
Dunhilda's Awakened
Blue Sun Order
Friends of the Last Moon

This gives us a wide range and assortment of mages, with many specialized researchers. Our meat-shields are 60 zombies, two ents, and two elementals. The ents are backed by a large number of old mages able to buff them up to high heavens so we'll do pretty well there. I'll be honest, the fox spirit looks way overpriced at a glance given it's half a dragon, but I'm presuming it's got some serious chops buried under there somewhere, while Kitsune tend to be lower level mobs the likes of Tamamo-no-Mae or Kurama show that the big foxes are powerful indeed. With diplomacy I get to befriend her so that's good.

Overall this is a very small band (which means bigger shares for each) specialized in solving problems that are tough to crack by just throwing more bodies at it. Basically, we're the magical A-Team.

Drawbacks:
Cursed
Hated

Who'd have thought messing around with all manner of horrible and forbidden magic would bring curses down on our heads, and reanimating armies of corpses would make the peasantry fear and hate us? Inconceivable!

Contracts
Sword of Life and Death (Keep the Sword)
Delving a Labyrinth is what our band is made for, our small numbers and very high firepower for our size gives us a huge advantage in tunnel fighting and our large number of big brains make navigating it easy. Our strategy will be to use Sofia's farsight and teleportation to get deeper into the labyrinth and bypass the most dangerous sections and the Fox Spirit to throw down illusions that misdirect the bandits into said sections instead of taking safe paths. If any bandits catch up, kill their scouts, reanimate them as zombies, and have the scouts turn against their former comrades as a delaying tactic. We don't need to kill them all, we just need to get to the sword first.

Sadly the Ents will probably have to wait outside.

The Queen of Death (Join her against the church, gain 2 undead giants)
We're already in the church's bad books for having so many mages and doing forbidden research. Joining Vanya is a natural step. The giants are also welcome since we don't have a lot of giant meat shields and taking some heat off the Ents and Elementals will help.

Day of the Swarm (New Lieutenant)
While conventional weapons don't work on the swarm, I'm betting "All the Fireballs and Ice Storms" is a pretty valid swarm killer.

The Ruins of Unknown Kabbath (Keep the Book)
Another one this band is tailor-made for, and lifting our curse is a priority. We'd keep the book for its knowledge anyway given our band's focus.

Siegebreaker (Reduce Hated)
It looks a lot like these Golems are puzzle bosses, which is pretty much our bread-and-butter. We'll use Sofia's far sight to examine the golems at range, then research their weakness and hit them for massive damage.

The Way to Hell (Abundant Supply of Hellstone)
I mean, this is just a natural extension of the path of anti-church activities we've been taking already. Honestly not sure which option is better, I have no idea what we can get from chatting with the Monarch of Hell but I'm guessing we can craft all kinds of badass magic weapons and armor from Hellstone so going with that.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Thanks to Brian Boru for turning me onto the next one

Excellent.

Spoiler: Stream of Consciousness Regiment Generation

I'll go with a POLEARM MASTER. I've been praised by countless individuals over my mastery of handling Polearms of all sizes and girths. Plus if there's one thing History Geeks/Nerds tell me it's about how Polearms and spears and shit are superior weapons of War or something back in the day.

Oh wait... I get five skills.. that actually makes more sense. I guess I'll go with Well Read. I do like to read. Hmmm a lot of these skills... I dunno about them being directly applicable to a Mercenary Company as to an Adventuring party so.... I'll go with Offensive Strategist and Defensive Strategist since that goes in line with the previous skills as well as Mercenary Companying. And Healer. Seems useful.

Skills:
Polearm Master
Well Read
Offensive Strategist
Defensive Strategist
Healer

Now to spend that renown and make an extremely unbalanced Army in haphazard manner, like all good Mercenary Captains should.

I am required by law now to recruit Polearm based troops because I am a Polearm Master. Initially I was thinking maybe I could be the Polearm component of my Army but clearly that wouldn't make any sense. Instead I'll be leading my Army into battle... wielding a Polearm. How is that for Command & Control... Where's the Captain? Oh she's in the MASS OF PIKES! Totally available and putting her skills to maximum use!

40 Renown = 200 Pikemen (The most basic of Polearms)
50 Renown = 200 Halberdiers (Also a Polearm, but its mention to be good with muskets as well, so now I need Muskets! Also they come in forty but I want companies of one hundred. I JUST NEED THAT MATHEMATICAL SYMMETRY)
40 Renown = 100 Musketeers

Wow there goes 130 Renown...Now all I need to fear is everything that can blast apart a regiment of tightly packed infantry! Literally nothing like that at all that exists in a fantasy setting. Actually... with that said...

10 Renown = 2 AntiMages
5 Renown = 2 Purple School Wizards
5 Renown = 5 Healers

I don't want some 5th Level Invoker blasting apart my regiments with a Fireball spell. Plus I might need some Purple School Wizards to help shroud the advance of my FIVE HUNDRED MOOKS ADVANCING UPON YOU IN PARADE ORDER. I'd order more but I'm not sure how much Purple I need to hide my battalion. Plus Healers because... I want to save as many lives as I can, especially of my own loyal forces.

Oh my gosh, only 50 points left. Who knew hiring five times traditional company size could be so laboriously expensive. I still have Lieutenants to buy... I mean recruit.

Wait wait wait... I should purchase some beasts... I will not ignore a category completely. Oh my gosh... I'm so gimped... I have no skills to handle any of this... 10 Renown for 20 Warwolves... Blargh. I need trackers. I guess they just bark at me until I figure out they're telling me there's a pixie stuck down a well or something.

5 Renown = 10 Wolves.

Woooooo forty five renown left. I want a Lieutenant for each of my companies. And a handler for my GOOD BOYS since I don't speak Wolf. And I maybe allergic to animal dander... how did I even survive?

*looks over the Lieutenants.*

Hey... HEY! This one is carrying a Polearm. Automatic pickup. And he's a Seneschal which should be useful for administrative tasks.

5 Renown = Armundus.

Oh my gosh... do ANY of you have any Wolf Skills? Good grief... Oh wait... you! YOU THERE!

20 Renown = Amelinne the Ranger (Comes with a bonus Wolf!!!!1)

She can also shoot firearms. I still want one more officer but honestly outside of the Marigold Knight and old man Theodrid I'm not thrilled by any of the prospects. Might come back to visit this because leadership is important. Then again I only have 25 renown left lol.

Yep literally can't afford any of the Mercenary Regiments. I will be FORCED to accept a Drawback I think if I want to unlock all of the Achievements.

Hated actually sounds hilariously appropriate. What else would you call five hundred soldiers stomping through the land foraging liberally? Everything else... Oh wait... Cursed... that affects being Well Read. I almost feel game bound to choose that instead.

+50 Renown = Cursed

I was going to choose Hated because it seems realistic plus Cursed seems pretty ill defined... but I am Well Read and want to put my nebulous skills to nebulous use upon nebulous drawbacks. Plus this means I now have 75 points to add to me Cursed Regiment!

Wait... Wait.... Wait a f'ing minute here. I can hire sixty Vamberg Musketeers for thirty renown... and they'll train us in Musketry... This means I don't need to hire 100 Musketeers... I only need to hire.... forty musketeers. Well fifty... they come in increments of 25. Soooo... lemme go back... eliminate half of my musketeers. Add twenty points... that gives me 95 renown.

And honestly... I'm dumping this Cursed thing... it's too vague. *punts*

Captain: Polearm Master, Offensive Strategist, Defensive Strategist, Healer, Well Read (No longer Cursed)
40 Renown = 200 Pikemen
50 Renown = 200 Halberdiers
20 Renown = 50 Musketeers
10 Renown = 2 AntiMages
5 Renown = 2 Purple School Wizards
5 Renown = 5 Healers
5 Renown = 10 Wolves
5 Renown = Armundus the Seneschal
20 Renown = Amelinne the Ranger (Comes with a bonus Wolf!!!!1)
30 Renown = 60 Armored Musketeers 'The Vamberg Musketeers

Okay ten renown left!

10 Renown = Elyscia the Marigold Knight

The fact she instills disicpline and trains troops and prides professionalism is what helps put her over.

Starting Army:

Captain:
Polearm Master, Offensive Strategist, Defensive Strategist, Healer, Well Read (No longer Cursed)

Units:
200 Pikemen
200 Halberdiers
50 Musketeers
60 Armored Musketeers 'The Vamberg Musketeers
2 AntiMages
4 Purple School Wizards
5 Healers
10 Wolves

Lieutenants:
Armundus the Seneschal
Amelinne the Ranger (Comes with a bonus Wolf!!!!1)
Elyscia the Marigold Knight
This is nice. Five hundred troops plus change. Amelinne the Ranger and her Wolf Pack do the scouting. I got some mage support in that they actually support my troops as they grind their way forth. I'm still thinking of taking Hated just because it makes sense, even if our Regiment doesn't do anything malicious. Having a bunch of mercenaries stomping through the lands of peasantry is seldom a net positive to the locals... but I digress. Lets see the contracts.

Spoiler: Contracted Missions

Unconquered Fortress:
Nope. Can't carry a siege without artillery... or ships apparently lol.
Plague of the Seas:
C'mon man.
The Sword of Life and Death:
Sounds like an adventuring party... plus I'm not sending my massive regiment into a labyrinth. Like... No.
Wyrmlord:
Will hunt down and 'persuade' to leave or.... if already Hated... I could kill it without added consequence by rendering the land barren! Actually lets do that.
+ 40 Renown (Hated) but ironically maybe I can also get some locals to join me if I persuade it to leave. I'll spend my forty points on new recruits after this mission. But instead of picking the troops... I'll do it by dice roll as the Faith intends.
Roll a 1d12
1. Scouts 2. Pikemen 3. Halberdiers 4. Two Handed Swordsmen 5. Archers 6. Heavy Cavalry 7. Musketeers 8. Engineers 9. Assassins 10. Templars 11. Seamen 12. Scholars
d12 = 8
5 Engineers for 5 Renown
d12 = 2
50 Pikemen for 10 Renown (Oh Good... More Pikemen)
20 Scouts for 5 Renown (Actually that's pretty useful)

This is kinda boring though... Lemme roll for Warbeasts and see what happens with my remaining 20 renown.
d18=16
Hydra... can't get a Hydra...
d18=4
Pegasus. Can't get a Pegasus...
d18=6
Ent... *reads* Oh... OH I can get an Ent!
Spending the last five points on Old Mages now lol.

New Army after three adventures passed on and one adventure I'll assume I was successful at!

Captain:
Polearm Master, Offensive Strategist, Defensive Strategist, Healer, Well Read

Units:
20 Scouts
250 Pikemen (50 Local Pikemen)
200 Halberdiers
50 Musketeers
60 Armored Musketeers 'The Vamberg Musketeers
5 Engineers
2 AntiMages
4 Purple School Wizards
5 Old Mages
5 Healers
10 Wolves
1 Ent

Lieutenants:
Armundus the Seneschal
Amelinne the Ranger (Comes with a bonus Wolf!!!!1)
Elyscia the Marigold Knight
Also Hated!

The Queen of Death
Would march upon and would kill for Templars. But since I'm not a Defender of the Faith or Demontouched I guess that means I default to the Brooch... which means I can now DIVE INTO THE MASS OF PIKES WITH GUSTO! 10/10 would kill Queen of Death again!

Day of the Swarm
Oh hell no!

The Ruins of Unknown Kabbath
Again... it sounds like an adventure. I'd happily escort a troupe of scholars to these ruins or whatever or an adventuring party but doing all of the final legwork seems very un-Mercenary Regimental.

Siegebreaker
I have some magic, and an Ent but if other Human armies can't do anything about this, I doubt I'd be able to help. I shall remain Hated I guess... sad.

The Dragon Wakes
Maybe the Dragon will oblige and land on our pikes? Yeah I don't think we can help here.

The Way to Hell
The Well Read skill means I am almost required to take the invitation of speaking with the Monarch of Hell after a successful campaign... but why would I want to? I want the Hellstone. Regardless, marching into Hell should help with us being less Hated... or maybe spread that Hate even more. Plus I get to test my Brooch's limits. We're going in lads!!!

Here lies Khan Hus'kee who led her Regiment to the Gates of Hell, overthrew the Legions of Dis and Spoke with the Overlord of Avernus about Hellstone Mining Rights. Wow... what a disappointment that turned out to be for Hell's Monarch. The greatest of all Pit Lords cut down the poor Mercenary Captain down where she stood as too late she found out her Brooch in fact... did not protect her from the Hel-Forged Blade of the Monarch of Hell itself repeatedly stabbing her until she stopped quivering or talking... the former happening before the latter. Thankfully the regeneration was so might that his Hellblade was stuck in her misshapen regenerating body that it allowed the rest of the Regiment to bring down the Monarch of Hell only to shockingly find out, said Monarch couldn't die because lol... where else was he going to end up?

The Khan, extremely well read, and per her last wishes however, knew this and with their foresight the regiment hooked up Hell's Monarch to the Extraction Machine our wise Engineers and Mages constructed to torture the Monarch in perpetuity in order to harvest Argent Energy from him. They also were able to start mining the Hellstone. It was like having your cake, baking it in Hell and eating it too. Haters gonna hate but everyone wanted that Hellstone and Argent Energy.

And who knows, maybe the Khan will come back. The Army of Healers and Old Mages merely have to... keep rearranging her charred and misshapen bits until the regeneration comes together in a relatively practical manner or something right? I'm sure she won't be deeply traumatized by the Lovecraftian body horror she's likely undergoing herself with these efforts. Happy ending all around.

Final Roster:

Captain: (Rest in Peace)
Polearm Master, Offensive Strategist, Defensive Strategist, Healer, Well Read, Brooch of Vanya

Units:
20 Scouts
250 Pikemen (50 Local Pikemen - Wyrmlord)
200 Halberdiers
50 Musketeers
60 Armored Musketeers 'The Vamberg Musketeers
5 Engineers (Wyrmlord)
2 AntiMages
4 Purple School Wizards
5 Old Mages (Wyrmlord)
5 Healers
10 Wolves
1 Ent (Wyrmlord)

Lieutenants:
Armundus the Seneschal
Amelinne the Ranger (Comes with a bonus Wolf!!!!1)
Elyscia the Marigold Knight

Still Hated?
Exclusive Mining Rights to Hellstone and Argent Energy

 

[Blasterbot]

@Bear Ribs Fox spirit Is likely the best spy/infiltrator/assassin option. in built illusion magic and foxfire likely knows old magic as well. likely hundreds of years old. also a waifu option if you like the ears. considering how much other magic could be available I would argue she is basically a build your own fox waifu lieutenant as long as you aren't enslaving her. capable assassin. absurd amount of time to build up mundane skills. master of multiple magical disciplines. she might not be a warbeast like the others but she is an insanely strong pick.

 

[Bear Ribs]

@Bear Ribs Fox spirit Is likely the best spy/infiltrator/assassin option. in built illusion magic and foxfire likely knows old magic as well. likely hundreds of years old. also a waifu option if you like the ears. considering how much other magic could be available I would argue she is basically a build your own fox waifu lieutenant as long as you aren't enslaving her. capable assassin. absurd amount of time to build up mundane skills. master of multiple magical disciplines. she might not be a warbeast like the others but she is an insanely strong pick.

I mean, I'm generally going on that assumption but literally, the only power listed in the description is that she can shapeshift between ghostly fox and beautiful woman. Foxfire and illusions can be kinda inferred from other myths but fox spirits vary a lot and it's just an inference, not actually given in the CYOA.

 

[Blasterbot]

I mean, I'm generally going on that assumption but literally, the only power listed in the description is that she can shapeshift between ghostly fox and beautiful woman. Foxfire and illusions can be kinda inferred from other myths but fox spirits vary a lot and it's just an inference, not actually given in the CYOA.

look if you spending enough to get half a dragon I expect something for it. it ain't gonna be a 9-tailed god but it would be a strong asset. even if kinda specialized.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I rather like the flavor this one. Honestly, the mechanics too, it's one of Savestate's better CYOAs in my opinion. It's not so monty-haul as many are and doesn't just hand huge stacks of free stuff to you at every turn, there's a range of immortality options, f'rex, but all of them have both up and downsides and all of them make you work for it. This is a CYOA where you have to really examine the fine print and it actually sets up an adventure where you earn your way to power the hard way.

So, a build. Trying not to actually cheat the ending here. Lots of math done to figure this one out.

Spoiler

I would, by nature, always use the bronze ticket first on the theory that what I learn there would help me make the most of the superior silver ticket next. It's fairly apparent that mixing and matching lifespan enhancers are key, especially since I'm already pretty old and can't afford to throw fifty years at this so...

Bronze Upgrades:
Elixir, Bath
Themes:
Water, Knives

I would be taking this trip entirely to prepare myself for the future. Elixir reduces my age by 3 days per plane, bath reduces the aging process by 30%.

For true immortality, only knives and darkness work outside the planes. Water runs into size problems eventually, candy and kinky virgins only grant extra years and can't be extended anymore once the trip is over, train grants reincarnation but not an extension of this life, Isekai is... odd.

So knives and darkness, except they don't play well together and would lead to a wretched trip, I wouldn't have the willpower to spend years with only those two planes as my entire existence. Water and Knives though... they work together well. I would definitely enjoy the plane of water but the edgy plane of knives not so much... however look at the advantages:

Water's longevity lets you extend your lifespan by becoming larger, at a rate of 1 year/inch with efficiency going up with more purchases. This eventually runs into square-cube issues. Water's physique lets you mold yourself into new shapes.

Knive's longevity is fairly garbage, it only grants an extra week of lifespan per purchase, though it has no permanent side effects and leaves you merely temporarily very weak. However, it works forever once off the plane. Moreover, look at the effects of its physique: it lets you cut away portions of yourself that make you weaker... such as being morbidly obese if one were to spam water longevity purchases followed by using water physique to reshape oneself into a shortstack hamplanet instead of a beansprout. Knive's physique also lets you slough off negative effects... such as the results of knives' own longevity.


Points to Gather:
I would actually listen to my liaison here though I'd take longevity anyway...

I need 7 years each to fully absorb the physiques of my two worlds, so a 14-year journey. So long as I can manage to store away enough food, switching planes won't be a big deal as physiques comes entirely from eating, not from presence on the plane. This really only works on the bronze ticket, because you have only two plane options. With the silver ticket, it becomes too likely that you won't roll the same plane multiple times in a row and run out of food.

This means I would need 4984 days, rounding up to 5000 days to allow for some baths and losses would net me 4000 points. The initial trip should be a mad dash to grab elixirs and points, then switching to actually working on the plane's benefits after it's no longer feasible to run from one end to the other in a snap. I'll work on water physique first, as it lets me adapt to survive in a peaceful, friendly environment while knives is... less welcoming so being able to grow knife-proof skin will make me feel more comfortable there.

With the hot springs available, this would take about four and a half years of lifespan (you don't get point-based benefits until you leave the trip) but the elixir futzes with that by removing 3 days per plane, early on I'd be dashing as fast as possible to get through the planes that were only ten+ seconds long and chugging an elixir at each. Early plane trips are good for nothing but reducing lifespan in this manner so I'd speed-blitz them since there're only two planes. By the time the exit is an hour away, I'd have shaved 1,062 days off my age and spent less than a day doing so. Sleep will become an issue eventually but it will take a significant amount of time to do so.

At 22,000 planes, and snagging their attendant elixirs, it would take me around a day to get to the next exit. At this point it would start being cost-inefficient to keep snagging elixirs... but 22,000 elixirs times three days is 66,000 days, or about 180 years off my lifespan.

A moment's thought reveals that I'm old, but not that old, and this makes it clear that I can basically cut myself down to a young teen, spend 10 years grabbing the water and knives physiques, traditions, and horizons, and still come out at the end in my prime with as many elixirs as I can carry. There's nothing stopping me from taking an Elixir and drinking it later (read the fine print, this CYOA really wants you to check the fine details) so I can stuff a backpack with them and keep myself at the ideal age during years of study. A magic bag of holding is the kind of treasure you might find in the water plane (They enhance existing abilities, such as carrying capacity in this case, and are more powerful than other planes) so keeping an eye out for an early item like that would be hugely beneficial. Once planes start taking hours to cross, instead focus on finding a speed-boosting magic item. Of course, any item of water breathing will be tremendous before I have enough Water Physique to grow gills.

There would be no difficulty getting in the 10,000 hours of training to fully internalize both traditions in that timeframe so I can fairly say I have both. The thing is, although as Essi says, you can hit 12,000 points in a lifetime, it's multiplicative with the effects of regular baths reducing the aging process by 30%, also with water physique I'd be able to move far faster than normal and with knife physique, I could excise my need for rest so going much further. Based on my overly-complex-optimization spreadsheet (That thing was seriously bats, iterative equations on the scale needed to keep track of this many simultaneous variables was fun to work up), I can get myself a whopping 1,348,902 points and still emerge about the same age I am now. However since I won't constantly run and will need to stop to train and study, even if many studies and trainings can be done on the march, I'm calling it an even million.


Attribute x4000 (400,000)
So two thousand times human normal focus and strength, not a bad start to superherodom. Honestly not entirely sure that much ability to focus might not be a bad thing, I may go for extra strength and not as much focus. This is the upper limit of what can be done with attribute.

Consumer Goods x5000 (10,000)
Essi isn't entirely correct in her assessment that it's not good to focus just on points. A combination of 84 consumer goods and 84 return tickets is sufficient for a single person to gain the physique, horizon, and tradition of any plane. This is actually superior to trying to do so on a plane, as you can't choose which plane you go to so your quest to gain physique can be interrupted if you're not able to bring enough food to last until you hit that plane again. This makes it relatively easy to gain physiques with the bronze ticket, where there's a 50/50 chance of getting the plane you want each time, but much harder with the silver ticket where you have four planes to choose from.

Return Ticket x4000 (40,000)
The flipside of the combination of Consumer Goods with Return Ticket is that it can be given to somebody else so with a few companions to snag via Companionship, I can have each of them already set up with my own Physique, Tradition, and Horizon bonuses for the next trip. Or, sell them/give them to family and friends. I can do all three with this many tickets and consumer goods. You can also bring back as much magical treasure as you can carry each month from each plane... have I mentioned I'm well over 2000 times stronger than a normal human now, and have put effort into obtaining numerous magic items from the plane of water that increase carrying capacity?

Advancement x990 (495,000)
More powerful than attributes, but multiplicative with them and not as good before taking attributes up. Fortunately, I've taken my attributes up, and these don't have the same upper stacking limits that attributes do. This takes the form of increased potential, requiring more training, but I have access to a somewhat difficult path to full immortality and tickets to other planes to train in without time passing on Earth.

Longevity x1000 (50,000)
There are better options and hopefully Essi can teach them to me after she becomes my liaison. But as is, I now gain 500 years of extra lifespan in exchange for an inch of height which I can excise with knife physique, and can extend my lifespan by 500 weeks at the cost of feeling very weak and tired for a few days hours with knife longevity. Coupled with water granting adaptation to survive, and knife causing nearly all negative effects to slide off, I'm as close to fully immortal as you can get with only two planes of power.

Magic Items x4000 (4000)
A few major items per purchase so thousands of major items per plane. Knife items are always hyperspecialized blades so I'll have a decent assortment of weaponry, while water items are more powerful than items from other planes and increase existing powers, making the powerful even more powerful.

I don't need all these items but plan to sell off all but a handful once the plane trip is done. It seems like a much better option than currency. I'm pretty sure Elon Musk would pay far more for a crown that increases mathematical prowess than I could get from a box of sand dollars and seashells.

1000 Points: Companionship
I wish I could get it earlier as I do enjoy solitude but not quite that much. But, got Essi for the bigger trip coming, this was just a warmup. As her list provides some others, put together a band of like-minded heroic types and assemble our own adventuring party for the silver trip with four other equally awesome beings.

While I could blow some points on currency and special materials, there's no reason to think I wouldn't be able to grab some with Return Tickets if they turn out to be useful later. Also while Water and Knives have some pretty sweet benefits, their currency and special materials aren't that impressive. Now sugar? That's on the shortlist for the silver ticket and sugar's special material is off the hook. But sugar absolutely has to wait until I have knife physique to shed negative effects, there's no way I can eat nothing but candy for seven years straight without going into a diabetic coma otherwise.

I won't know about Husc until I return from the first trip, at which point Essi will be able to explain it to me. It's notable, however, the Husc appears to be exactly opposite to Essi, a spirit of air and darkness to Essi's spirit of air and sunlight. The author has confirmed they're equals in this manner.

Given Essi qualifies for Companion, the equality means Husc does as well. Coupled with the horizon and tradition of knives, which makes me better at things I really want to do and when focused on a narrow goal, I can use my ludicrous focus powers to make sure my approach to Husc is maximally effective at convincing her to take a vacation away from destroying earth and visiting the planes. Once there it becomes a whirlwind experience of giving Husc a good time and wining and dining her until she's willing to keep on partying with us for all eternity rather than destroying the Earth.

This means that, contrary to my original plan, the silver ticket won't be used to gain all the other traditions and physiques and ascend to supremacy the old-fashioned way, though after a few eons of this coupled with the knowledge of Essi, Husc, and three other equally powerful spirits can do, I can probably pick up all that anyway.

If this fails, and Husc just won't come along or isn't amenable to being wined and dined even with my abilities combined with Essi's knowledge, instead switch to Strategy 4. After the silver ticket journey spanning tens of thousands of years traveling to Sugar, Geometry, and Isekai, use return trips to recruit heroes from another world on the plane of Isekai to kill Husc. As one explicit result of knife physique is being able to kill spirits, well, I might well be able to do it alone, but it never hurts to have friends.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Alright, it was brought to my attention (but the author of the Plane-Jaunting CYOA no less) that I had an error in my spreadsheet and was getting more points than should be possible for the exploits I was using.

In fact, the build I used can hit around 150,000 points from elixirs and baths before burning pre-existing lifespan, still lasting around 180 years in total but taking far more years to actually gather all those elixirs. The general concept and build still work since I was throwing around points fairly extravagantly on stuff like four thousand return tickets, four thousand boxes of magic items, and nearly a thousand advancements.

New point build would be:

1216 Attributes
40 Advancements
100 Longevities
120 Boxes of Magic Items
100 Return Tickets
8 Companions

The silver ticket is largely unchanged but has no upper limit once sufficient knife longevities are involved. Ironically it would use the same mad dash opening but instead of elixirs, the goal would be dinner bells in order to obtain sufficient food reserves to ensure a streak to get a physique wouldn't be broken by hitting too many planes of the wrong nature in a row.

Alternately, to get enough food to last seven years and grab a full physique, one needs a plane 42,580 meters long. That's presuming that when it says there's food for five people for every ten meters, it means one meal for five people in that distance.

 

[Blasterbot]

So i remember looking at this one back on SB at some point no idea if i posted it. @Cherico made a fic with this on QQ so now ima make a build

Race Beastfolk
Nation Lys
Occupation Treasure Hunter
Special Ship
traits
Beastman free trait Saboteur
trait 1 Athlete
trait 2 thief
cyber/magic 8 points
null mage
Telekinesis (3)
Shadow manipulation (2)
Intangibility (3)
gear 3
1 grapple glove
2 Sniper
3 energy pistol
ship type
nethership dreadnought (6 upgrades +1 for special ship 8 squads min)
1 Spirit of wind
2 aetherium hull
3 heavy artillery
4 cannons
5 library
6 Workshop
7 crew rooms
Crew squads (need 2 to fill a role)
1 3 Aether mage
2 3 Aether mage (need doctos/healers and they do fire and windy things)
3 3 goblin engineers
4 3 goblin engineers (fills a needed role for my ship)
5 8 lys warriors
6 8 lys warriors (numbers that work for fighting and scouting)
7 5 cog warriors (beefy dudes for helping the gobos and fighting)
8 5 cog warriors
crew individuals
1 Oxford (fills the scientist slot to keep my ship up and is a mage plus fits the treasure hunting ideal)
2 Cordelia (fills pilot role, is a navigator, and is a skilled negotiator)

look we basically going to be pulling indiana jones/ lara croft stuff while owning our own boat ala Disney's Atlantis. dreadnaught size is partly to make big hauls and fight off the abundant number of pirates and privateers. ADVENTURE TIME!

 

[Bear Ribs]

So i remember looking at this one back on SB at some point no idea if i posted it. @Cherico made a fic with this on QQ so now ima make a build

For some reason this one doesn't grab me as much but I'll throw a build at it.

Decided I'll try for a rogue trader vibe.

Race: Human
Don't want to be a furry or shortstack so it's human or robot, and robot doesn't appeal either.

Nationality: Frontier
There're hundreds of small isolated towns here, sounds like an ideal place for a small-time trader to wheel and deal.

Occupation: Trader...
...Kinda. In the frontier there's not going to exactly be any peaceful, unarmed traders after all. We're also squeezed between the Empire and Lys so the odds of getting caught up in their spywork are around 100%.

What's Special: YOU
This was a tough one because, well, none of these are actually that interesting somehow. I personally wouldn't want to rely on gear that can be easily stolen, the special crew members don't seem all that special (aside from how hard it is to get mages otherwise) and while the special ship is pretty good, I don't want to just rip off Blasterbot's build. The You options aren't that amazing either but more skills doesn't hurt.

Traits (3)
Navigator
The wastes probably have the worst maps of any location on the globe, and most importantly when I do find a new village, I'd want a personally made map leading to it so that my competition doesn't know the village is there and undercut my monopoly.

Athlete
None of the skills seem super-related to being a trader so this is more a quality-of-life upgrade, it never hurts to be at peak health.

Sorcerer
Look honestly even the special YOU options don't grab me, I hate the idea of having my emotions meddled with so Hyde is a hard no, Tesla seems super-narrow in its application. Sorcerer does, however, say complete mastery of your powers and Null is dangerous to use so having total mastery of it is going to be rare and thus valuable. The mysteries also show some significant room for spamming sorcerous might.

Cybernetics
I did take a long look at the spine and lungs but I'm a sorcerer.

Magic
Aether is mostly used to heal: 1 utility spell and 3 attack spells.
Null is mostly used to destroy: 1 attack spell, 3 utility spells.
Lol. So with Sorcerer and no cyber, I have every spell except the magic flashbang. Not bad.

Healing
Fire Manipulation
Air Manipulation
Null Field
Shadow Manipulation
Telekinesis
Intangibility

Gear
Sword
Grappling Glove
Energy Pistol
Only one piece of gear that isn't a weapon. I wish there was more interesting stuff here. What about a steampunk spyglass, forcefield generator, alchemy lab? Why the list gotta be so boring with a dozen variants on "Shoot stuff?"

Ship Type: Airship
This makes me deeply suspicious of how high these ships can really travel. A typical blimp has a cruise height of 600-1000 feet and doesn't really do well at higher altitudes due to the lifting gas expanding and potentially blowing out a cell (There were specific military zeppelins that could go to high altitude but they were a pain). So if their ability to maintain speed at "any height" is actually a factor, Aether ships must have a hella low ceiling, and vice versa for Null ships. Airships tend towards around a 70mph speed so not as fast as the magic ships but not dramatically slower either.

More likely the author didn't know/think about how low the altitude for an airship really is, so I'll take it as intended and presume the airship actually can tool around at 20,000 feet without issues. This being the case, it's a better choice for the trader. Simply put, if we wind up facing any pirates in an Aethership we can just go up in elevation to where they slow down and laugh as we sail away, and vice versa when dealing with Null ships. Additionally, since a major part of our terrain is rainforest, having the option to travel at higher altitudes can keep us out of the more miserable weather without slowing us down.

Additionally, I'm really not comfortable with an aether ship due to that nasty Null Field spell. The range isn't specified but a globe 5 meters in radius that shuts down all aether sounds like just the kind of thing somebody would throw at the engines of an aether ship. Meanwhile, Null ships are always at a severe disadvantage when landing.

Size: Frigate
Seems to be the best choice for a tradeship. No point in carrying two million tons of cargo to service a village that might only be 150 people, but a small fast ship isn't desirable either.

Upgrades
Crew Rooms
Workshop
Hangar Bay
Heavy Artillery
It seems odd to me that carried craft require upgrade slots. There seems to not be several things I'd see as good upgrades for this build, like expanded cargo bays or a mage's research room.

Crew Rooms to build loyalty and morale, and because I personally don't want to share. Workshop because we're going through an area where repairs might be hard to come by and because we have crew that will build entire engines. The Hangar bay is going to start empty but we'll likely fill it over time.

Artillery is the ideal weapon for this build, as we'll be trying to kite any enemies so the long reload times aren't as big a deal, but an early engine hit for massive damage would be swell.

Crew
Magi (Aether)
Aerian Traders (Human)
Scouts (Beastfolk)
Engineers (Goblin)

Companions
Cordelia
Iolde
Jessie

Cordelia covers the pilot slot. Additionally, she's at an advantage in entering strict ports. Because she's a beastman, her advantage will mainly be in Lys, Union, and Waste ports which is why we have a human trader crew for the Empire ports we might need to visit.

Iolde is a brilliant engineer, always good to have, and her range of hobbies are entertaining and will boost morale. Finally the fact that she can build entire engines, and will do so for fun, means we can probably build additional craft to fill our hangar bay.

While between myself and the magi squad we have an abundance of healers, Jessie is a field medic and fighter who will be able to do healing without using aether and that could be useful if there's something weird going on in the magisphere.Additionally she likes everybody so provides a bit of a QoL enhancement.

There really aren't a lot of good male companions for this build, just about every guy is a fighter of some stripe except Oxford and he's a poor fit for anything but a treasure seeker.

Mysteries
Clockwork Undead
The Mechafauna

As I'm apparently a supreme Null Mage, I should have good odds of taking over some undead. They can provide us some extra disposable muscle and take the heat off the living crew in a pinch. We might even be able to use them as labor for hefting cargo. Ditto Mechafauna since I also have masterful control of Aether. We're not going to actually go fighting mechafauna (unless things go terribly wrong) but try to tame some and sell them as circus animals or to gladiatorial operations in the Empire.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Supervillain Academy

Spoiler

 

[Bear Ribs]

I'm not usually fond of CYOAs that are just a quick "pick one from each list" types rather than a real build but this one actually feels a bit deeper than the usual as figuring out how to combo your job and perks actually has some complexity. Still a two-minute CYOA though.

A build:


The Jobs: Customer Service, Retail
The Hours: Graveyard, 9-5
The Others: Politicians
The Extras: Former Worker

Super persuasive, knows exactly what other people want, can enforce a solid "No" once a day that will always be accepted. Politicians automatically listen to me and I never need sleep so I can devote more hours to working on persuading them. Time to change the world.

Also lol to Janitors being minimum wage.