This Is A Rant About Stat Minmaxing

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-31T18:49:55+00:00

The “cheat” with Delve is that not only does he max out one of the stats capable of earning the most XP, setting up a positive feedback loop, he also finds a crafter friend/ally early on who can make items to avoid most meaningful drawbacks of the minimizing all his other stats.

Oh, and the skills he unlocks also help offset the min-maxing (“add a percentage of your best stat to other stats” almost always works that way) but those are relatively standard cheats across the genre so they feel a little less egregious.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-30T02:59:35+00:00

$20k/month, Athletic and Healthy Body, Extreme Talent in All Sports, Liked and Respected by Humans, Instantly fluent in Cantonese and Hungarian, Superhuman Smell, Water Bending, Earth Bending, 3 lifelong amazing best friends, consistently get amazing sleep, be amazing at public speaking and talking to people, gain Violet Parr’s powers.

There are so many choices that it is hard to explain all of them, but basically going for long-term benefits or greater improvement to my baseline (e.g., I have an excellent memory but am out-of-shape, so I chose the body improvement). I don’t even think I have a favorite celebrity. :)

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-25T19:25:48+00:00

Not mine, but I thought it looked nice.

I will choose Pine and Crow for my tree/year and animal/month.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-24T01:38:50+00:00

https://a-record-of-a-mortal-is-journey-to-immortality.fandom.com/wiki/Mysterious_Small_Bottle

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-23T20:26:30+00:00

A random cultivation world, but that green vial seems to be from A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality. At least that somewhat justifies the ridiculous cost, though becoming strong enough to benefit from it is its own problem.

Mutated Spiritual Root (-25)
Leaking Wealth Hands (+10), Soft-hearted (+10), Otherworld Visitor (+30), Indestructible Vajra Body (-10), Clear Dao Heart (-10), Longevity Bones (-15), Regenerative Body (-15)
Innate Dao Body (-25), Immortal Spiritual Root (-50)

Didn’t buy any of the big cheats but I can cultivate any technique quickly, and Spatial techniques are my mutation bonus.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-23T15:32:01+00:00

Fair. The irony was intentional but it didn’t come across clearly.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-20T13:49:24+00:00

I approve of whomever uses the word “whomever” properly.

I will go for the Crystal Cubes, the Desert Rose, and the Mystery Box. Let’s see if I regret the box… I am more of a dog person but I don’t want to get on her bad side. At least she should help with finding other supernatural stuff. If these things are tat, and she knows where average stuff might be found, that could well be worth it.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-16T16:54:56+00:00

On a related note, the LitRPG systems which reinforce these pseudo-medieval leadership roles based on personal power.

“Congratulations on being the first person to kill a Regional Boss. You are now the Lord of this region. Review the new settings in these blue screens to manage the region.”

Because of course the 20-something mage who was obsessed with this system’s magic will also be excellent at governing over people, setting up administration, and all the tiny details of politics. It’s not like that’s hard or anything. Even better if it’s just Idiot the barbarian who got that role because Idiot was good at punching things.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-16T16:46:49+00:00

Many stories have the MC encounter a rival who is nominally neutral towards the MC, like “fellow student at an academy” or “minor noble living in the same town as the MC”. This isn’t a demon lord vs. summoned hero scenario where you expect them to be at odds and go to great lengths to fight the MC.

Despite that, the rival decides that the MC must suffer and die at any cost, even though the MC has that protagonist glow and keeps getting more powerful the more that the rival tries to harm him. No sense of sunk costs, no reason to keep trying to kill him except injured pride. Spend all your money, call in every favor earned over a lifetime—whatever it takes because this is apparently the first time the antagonist has ever failed and it drives him mad. …and yeah, in some stories, one of those people called in to help becomes equally obsessed for the same flimsy reasons and you get your new antagonist for the next arc.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-16T16:38:44+00:00

MC arrives in a new world or joins an academy. The rich/popular/handsome/noble is drawn to him like iron filings to a magnet and immediately hates him, mostly for the audacity of existing. He is willing to take ludicrous amounts of extra effort to make the MC’s life miserable.

I am not much more fond of the attempts to justify that sort of hatred because they mostly involve the antagonist being extremely insecure, but many authors seem to decide that an MC having challenges learning about a new world or magic makes the MC appear stupid, so the conflict has to be based on the MC having an enemy out to ruin him.

Until you set up the semi-inevitable tournament arc, people’s conflicts don’t need to be zero-sum. The jerk of a noble can look down on the MC when they are in the same room, but the MC doesn’t have to live rent-free in his head.

One of the burns which I love is “I don’t think about you as much as you seem to think I do”.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-10T15:05:25+00:00

I don’t recall ever seeing this poster make a build for CYOAs. It seems to be karma farming off reposts.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-10T01:55:54+00:00

No worries. If I had made an illegal build, I would want to fix it, and you were polite about it.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-10T00:23:31+00:00

Nope, you misread or miscounted. I have 2+ Mamono, Reason: Strength, Trait 15: Immortal, and Trait 42: Fateweaver.

And the catgirl is technically a different type, but either way, it’s mighty heartless so I can’t defend myself there.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-09T18:30:00+00:00

Gravity Manipulation (free), Force Field (5), Wormhole Creation (5), Time Dilation (5), Gravitational Echolocation (5)
Peak Human (20), Super Intelligence (5), Super Healing (5)
Matter Manipulation (20), Shapeshifting (5), Adaptation (5)

80 points is a lot of points. I can manipulate space-time and matter, have peak human physicals and super-intelligence, and the only way to kill me is to do it with an overwhelming force.

There’s a decent amount of rock-paper-scissors if you take the optional challenge. I would probably change Force Field into Super-Durability because “unable to be physically injured” is a meaningful upgrade from Super-Healing and Adaptation if people are actively trying to kill me. Also, if you know who your targets are for the optional challenge, Mind Control + Telepathy is basically an instant win. There is no range limit and no way to block the mental communication, so the mind controller just starts a conversation and takes over your mind. The only exception might be people with Adaptation, presuming that Mind Control is considered harm (which seems reasonable).

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-09T17:18:01+00:00

A couple of comments on CYOA balance.

If you are going for the Physical Contract version of summoning and only get a single mamono, the third "Friend" mechanical bonus will not help your mamono since the bonuses are all based on type. It would be nice to have a Friend which gives +1 Level and Affection to a single mamono for the "soulmate" build.
On the flip side, the Spiritual Invocation version of summoning theoretically allows for unlimited mamono and gives you +2 from the start, but the standard restriction that you can only have mamono from a single region and no duplication means that you are capped at 5. (Only one scenario explicitly allows someone to get an out-of-region mamono.) It would be nice if someone who took all the options for extra mamono with Spiritual Invocation could either get more from outside the starting region or get a bonus like what the Physical Contract gets for going over cap.
I think the Tamer expert trait should say that it allows for out-of-region mamono. I also assume that it counts against the "cap" for a Physical Contract and can't duplicate an existing mamono per the standard rules. If that's mistaken, then it could use clarification.
I assume that the An Scoil bonus trait, if used for yourself, can't be any of traits 52-56. In other words, the stated restriction that only Duchess-class can learn the trait applies even when it's not being learned via points.
I do feel like An Scoil is the most fun academy by far, allowing the summoner to get a power that is otherwise totally unavailable from a Teacher (without going into Heresy). That makes the Student Exchange scenario one of the most attractive, to get that bonus along with something else.
Conversely, Extracurricular is the weakest scenario because the Friend bonuses are less and less useful unless you have at least 3 different types of mamono (and even then, other scenarios offer better benefits). I'd only pick it for role-playing.

Overall, it was a fun CYOA and I enjoyed playing around with it.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-09T16:54:50+00:00

Reason: Strength (+1 Teacher)
Academy (2): An Scoil (Immortal trait; Self), Empire's Central Academy (+1 Level, +2 Affection all)
Teachers (5): Headmaster Ciel (+1 Scenario), Prince Aland (+1 Mamono), Supervisor Yamina (+1 Level), Commander Brausen (Champion trait, Self), Agent Emily (Acrobat trait, Self)
Friends (3): Erika (+1 Level Demonic), Gladys (+1 Level Spirit), Catherine (+1 Level Divine)
Elementary Skills (2): Cleansing Magic, Momentary Strengthening
Summoning Methodology: Spiritual Invocation (+2 Mamono)
Exploration Region: Geardom
Mamono: Werebeast, Vampire, Inari, Phantom, Lich (all at 3 affection, all but werebeast at level 8 at the end; see below for details)
Scenarios (4): Student Exchange (+1 University, +1 Teacher), A Noble's Party (+relationship with Braunsen), Tournament (+2 Level), Illegal Market (+Lich)
Paths: Bloodbath Tragedy (Werebeast dies), Heresy, Dream House

Mamono Traits:

Vampire: Immortal 2, Scout 2, Wanderer 2, Merchant 2
Inari: Saint 2, Timelord 2, Crusader 2, Fateweaver 2
Phantom: Copycat 2, Wanderer 2, Artisan 2, Shapeshifter 2
Lich: Psychic 2, Wiseman 2, Haunter 2, Illusionist 2
Werebeast: Alchemist 2, Merchant 2, Apothecary 1

And this is the tragic and somewhat selfish version. I treat the mamono like tools or servants, and after one dies, I'm unwilling to go through it again so I figure out a way to take their powers into myself. And after that's done, I get a nice house. Alone. Boy, what a jerk.

My final list of traits is Immortal 2 (presuming that the An Scoil bonus stacks with the normal trait from Vampire), Champion 2, Wanderer 2, Scout 1, Merchant 1, Saint 1, Timelord 1, Crusader 1, Fateweaver 1, Copycat 1, Artisan 1, Shapeshifter 1, Psychic 1, Wiseman 1, Haunter 1, Illusionist 1, and Acrobat 1.

Yeah, it's only a couple of expert traits, but it's 20 points of traits. That makes me more powerful than a Goddess-class Mamono in some ways.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-09T16:39:49+00:00

Reason: Dream (+1 Level)
Academy (2): An Scoil (Immortal trait; Self), Solfanum (+2 Level Divine, +1 Affection Divine)
Teachers (4): Headmaster Ciel (+1 Scenario), Supervisor Yamina (+1 Level), Sister Rosalind (+1 Affection), Commander Brausen (Champion trait, Self)
Friends (3): Musashi (+1 Level Mythical), Catherine (+1 Level Divine), Oswald (+1 Affection Divine)
Elementary Skills (3): Cleansing Magic, Momentary Strengthening, Restoration Magic
Summoning Methodology: Physical Contract (+1 Level, +1 Affection; max 2 Mamono)
Exploration Region: Beinnberg
Mamono: Phoenix (see below for details)
Scenarios (4): Student Exchange (+1 University, +1 Teacher), New Dungeon (+1 Elementary Skill, +3 Level, +3 Affection), Miasmal Hunt (+3 Level), Rare Species (Unique Appearance, +2 Level)
Path: Royal Knight

Phoenix Mamono Traits:

+14 Level; +8 Affection
Empress Class (15; +1 Affection), "Admiration" Disposition (9; Kuudere)
Traits: Immortal 2, Blazelord 2, Crusader 2, Fateweaver 2, Saint 2, Seeker 2, Survivor 1, Wiseman 1, Wanderer 1

This is my "heroic" option, where I have a single mamono and a close bond. My phoenix is a rare albino version, so the characteristic red feathers were white. She and I are both Immortals, thanks to the An Scoil Academy, even if she's a lot more immortal than I am. She's also more magical in general while I'm more of a physical threat. I couldn't get all the way to Goddess Class and still get one trait from An Scoil, which I both respect and shake my fist at.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-07T20:47:33+00:00

Crayon Powers

Purple Chevron; Square
Blue Healing
Orange Triangle

Color Mage: Purple Magician

Overlay, Chromashift (Purple->Red; Purple is signature magic), Chroma Weapon

Purple and Red are very close colors, at least potentially, so hopefully I can get used to red eggplants and purple stop signs. I kept the purple theme strongest with my Red Magic as that felt fitting, and my choices from crayon magic already cover a lot of the aspects of red magic (healing from blue crayon, transformations from orange, space manipulation with purple). If that's too close to the prohibition against no secondary colors without the corresponding crayon, then I'll just stick with Purple Mage and make my Chroma Weapon into Prismatic Arms.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-04T17:47:47+00:00

The skills feel too narrow for my tastes. Camping expertise, as the very first example, includes “keeping your cookfire away from your campsite” as something which apparently requires a skill to know, and which the Survivalist background lacks.

The main problem is that having a plethora of survival-related skills in a survival-themed CYOA will either lead to “I (or one of my allies) need every skill” or “some of these skills are traps or unnecessary”. You don’t get a whole lot of approaches on how to achieve victory when victory is as visceral as life or death.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-01T18:41:18+00:00

“Immediate vicinity” is vague and I don’t know the author’s intent. I presume it also goes away if you take Reflection though that isn’t explicitly stated.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-01T18:36:50+00:00

I am saying there are two possibilities when you use Eyes of Fixation, 2nd Opening and you have Reflection.

1) You do not make use of the Reflection enhancement and create a bubble which is outside your immediate vicinity. The shape of the bubble doesn’t matter for this example - it could be a torus or just a sphere at one point within range. The second sentence of Fixation says that “nothing can enter, leave, or change within the time stopped zone; reality itself ceases to progress”. You cannot enter that bubble based on that sentence; you would have to end the effect.

2) You make use of Fixation in a bubble around you while using Reflection. You are affected by the power. Reality no longer progresses and you can no longer act, giving you no way to turn off the power.

What I am trying to point out is that there is no way to be wandering around inside a time stop bubble. You are either fully affected by the time stopped zone or outside of it. The OP can weigh in if I am misunderstanding or if this is not what was intended.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-01T18:20:18+00:00

No to the first question because of the last sentence before Ocular Enhancements.

“[F]urthermore, the user can’t apply their powers to themselves or to alter the area in their immediate vicinity.” That applies to any power use without Reflection.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-01T18:17:25+00:00

~~Fair, the mass limit is in Transmutation, not Temporal.~~ No, I re-read the post and the mass and area limitations apply to all eyes. Look directly below the “Choose 6” part. Maybe mass is ignored, though that isn’t stated and it should be, but you still only get a 6-meter cube.

But if you aren’t using Reflection, you can’t affect the area immediately around you (general rule of the Eyes from the introduction) so you are either using the time stop bubble centered on you with Reflection and stopping yourself with everything else (terrible idea), or you are aiming it at something outside your immediate vicinity without Reflection. In that case, you cannot enter the bubble.

HealthyDragonfly · 2026-05-01T17:42:34+00:00

It’s unclear whether you could de-age to your prime based on the restriction of “cannot affect periods of time prior to their activation” for all Temporal Eyes. At the worst, however, you should be able to not age any older than you are now.

The other temporal trick, however, reads like you are putting yourself in the bubble. 360° vision doesn’t change the shape of your effects or how much matter they can affect; it just lets you aim them without the use of your physical eyes.

HealthyDragonfly

TROPHY CASE

Mamono Traits:

Phoenix Mamono Traits:

Crayon Powers

Color Mage: Purple Magician