Gutts Plan

Some possibilities for Gutts. These make use of the costs and training table and the Mark of Autochthon.

Unlearning Brawl

Gutts can use the Mark to unlearn is Brawl charms, in reverse order. This will probably need to be spaced over a number of days or weeks, depending on how inhuman Gutts wants to get. The order is roughly:

• Pay a point of Willpower and gain a point of Precision to unlearn Shockwave Technique, gaining 8xp.
• Pay a point of Willpower and gain a point of Precision to unlearn Heaven Thunder Hammer, gaining 8xp.
• Pay a point of Willpower and gain a point of Precision to unlearn Crashing Wave Throw, gaining 8xp.
• Pay a point of Willpower and gain a point of Precision to unlearn Sledgehammer Fist Punch, gaining 8xp.

Experience change: +32xp

Increase Dex

Increasing Dex from 4 to 5 costs 16xp and takes 768 hours with a trainer, twice that without. Using the Monsoon Needles can provide training, and cuts 1xp off the cost. Unfortunately, your Essence isn't high enough to use the Needles' ability of cutting training time in half. (If you were to raise your Essence to 5 first, then it would.)

If you want to use the mark's Deep Resonance, you could spend eight Willpower and gain a dot of Precision to go into a training trance the compresses the 768 hours of trained learning into an eight-hour vision quest. If you want to describe this vision quest to the rest of the players (not necessarily the characters), you gain an immediate test to regain Willpower at the end of it (i.e. roll Conviction, gain willpower for each success).

Experience change: -15xp

Banked Training

Based on his character sheet, Gutts has "banked" a lot of training hours. The sheet says 194 hours, plus whatever he's done since then. These were supposedly targeted at specific charms, but if you want to retroactively change this, that's cool.

Leaping Tiger

To gain the Leaping Tiger Attack charm, you'd need the following:

• Learn Graceful Crane Stance: 8xp, 8 hours trained (from Jorias, Adrios, Varden, etc.)
• Learn Lightning Speed: 8xp, 16 hours trained (from Varden)
• Athletics to 4: 5xp, 144 hours trained
  • Using Deep Resonance untrained: 3wp, 1 Precision
  • Using Deep Resonance and Source: 2wp, 1 Precision, 1 permanent Source

Experience change: -21xp

Melee

By the original plan (but see note on banked training above), recent xp would have payed for:

• Undaunted Weapon Technique: 8xp, 40 hours trained (Wyr'palja's Stylebook).
• Serpent Strike Technique: 8xp, 40 hours trained (Wyr'palja's Stylebook).

Combo

A combo containing:

• Essence-Gathering Temper (min End 1, Ess 2, favored, reflexive)
• Willpower-Enhancing Spirit (min End 3, Ess 2, favored, reflexive)
• Hungry Tiger Technique (min Mel 2, Ess 1, favored, supplemental)
• Leaping Tiger Attack (min Ath 4, Ess 2, favored, supplemental)
• Serpent Strike Technique (min Mel 5, Ess 3, favored, reflexive)
• Fire and Stones Strike (min Mel 3, Ess 1, favored, supplemental)
• Dipping Swallow Defense (min Mel 2, Ess 1, favored, reflexive)
• Summoning the Loyal Steel (min Mel 3, Ess 1, favored, supplemental)

Combos cost xp equal to the sum of the minimum ability ratings of the charms in the combo. In this case, that's 25xp. Training times are not specified in the book. Our house rules are a bit complicated, but since all the charms are favored, cost (in days) the sum of the minimum ability ratings of the charms in the combo, plus the highest minimum Essence rating of all charms in the combo (three in this case). So 28 days (or 224 hours).

Using the mark's Infinite Variety in Infinite Forms ability changes this. This lets you pay xp equal to the minimum Essence ratings instead of ability, which would be 13xp in this case. It sets training time to zero. You also gain a dot in Precision. Presumably, you will do this.

None of the charms in this combo are Simple, so you can split your pool when you use it; however, you must use all of the supplemental charms for any attack action that you take, and you have to pay for them each time. So, to activate the combo:

• Pay 1 willpower to activate the combo for a turn (this is a standard cost to activate any combo, and can be done even if it isn't your action).
• For each attack you make that turn, you must pay 7m, 1wp to:
  • leap to make the attack, doubling post-soak damage dice.
  • count extra successes twice for determining damage.
  • add Dexterity + Melee dice to the attack roll
  • pay 1m per rolled damage die to to convert the die into an automatic success prior to the roll. This can be done with up to Strength dice. Because of the combo rules, it must be used to convert at least one die, if possible.
• While the combo is active, you may (but do not have to):
  • pay 1m when hit to roll one die for each point of pre-soak damage, regaining Essence motes per success. You can only use a number of successes up to your Stamina for each attack.
  • pay 3m to roll a die for each health level of damage you take, regaining 1wp per success.
  • pay 2m add Dexterity + Melee dice to an attempt to parry a hand-to-hand attack.
  • pay 1m to summon a weapon to or from Elsewhere

Once you raise your Dex, an attack with your Grand Daiklaive using this charm will use 23 dice (base pool of 10, doubled with Serpent Strike, accuracy of 3. On average, this will yield 12 successes. Assuming the target does not dodge or parry, this would make base damage 5L (Strength) + 11L (weapon damage), plus 24L (12 successes, doubled) = 40L. Assuming no soak, you convert five damage dice, that would be 35L damage rolled plus five automatic points of damage, costing 12m, 2wp for the whole combo. Against a target with a defense pool of 10 dice, they would get 5 successes on average, so the result would be 5L (Strength) + 11L (weapon damage), plus 14L (7 successes, doubled) = 30L. Even against someone with a soak of 25, this would still leave five damage dice that could be converted into successes.

One perfect defense, of course, will ruin the whole thing, but the reflexives you have should be able to get the costs back at the risk of taking some damage.

This lacks a perfect defense, but rolling 21 defensive dice should beat most hand-to-hand attacks. On the other hand, charms that make perfect attacks (like Inevitable Strike or Accuracy Without Distance) will still get through. Also, Dipping Swallow Defense doesn't work against ranged attacks.

With Summoning the Loyal Steel in the mix, you might also want to find a weapon with a high Defense rating. For two motes a turn, you could switch back and forth between weapons on defense and attack. If you attuned to a bunch of earth manses and filled the Hearthblade you found with with the stones, the defense rating could be insane (+21 at most). Otherwise, a Reaper daiklave or even a mundane hook sword might do.

Experience change: -13xp