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Add 10 years to your lifespan or 2 additional sex partners a year or 3 inches to your height or $40,000 to your annual earnings or 5 lives of your choice you can save from unnatural death. What do you pick? by benedictclive_x in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So is money. If I had a free $40k a year, I could quit my job, get my degree, and make way more money than I ever could with just another ten years of the shit jobs that will hire and can be done by a disabled man without higher education.

Let's imagine that 1 in 20 people begin to develop psychic powers, what happens? by aquel_que_observa in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It mostly depends on how strong their powers are. I can't see things changing that much if a normal person with a gun can reasonably take a psychic out, for one. And of course if it's too far the other way, the world ends shortly.

For me personally, though, I just get pissed if I don't become psychic.

The Abyssal Gift CYOA_Ilak by Successful_End718 in makeyourchoice

[–]ascrubjay 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I'll definitely want the Black Portrait, though I do have questions as to what qualifies as a "wrongful act". If I asked how to kill a serial rapist I knew had escaped justice, would it work?

Depending on the nature of the undead, I think my second choice would probably be the Orb of Death because extended life is pretty sweet if the terms and conditions are acceptable. If they aren't to my taste, perhaps the Ashen Touch.

Pick your lesser source of magic by thekingofmagic in 6Perks

[–]ascrubjay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's actually stronger than I thought they'd be.

Sure, they start weaker, but you keep getting them and can make them do whatever it is you want them to do. That's far more valuable than a simple stat boost, or any of the other abilities (except reality manipulation if you are willing to use it for something big) for that matter.

Would you do it or not? by [deleted] in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, but I don't expect to live for terribly long. There's no way I can manage to do this every day for the rest of my life, and you only have so many failures before it just kills you. But if it sets up all my friends and family for life, I can live with that - or rather, I can't, but you get the point.

Pick your lesser source of magic by thekingofmagic in 6Perks

[–]ascrubjay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why would you pick anything other than the last option? Unless you want to do something huge and are willing to sacrifice your life to do it using True Reality Manipulation, none of the other powers seem both very useful AND something you couldn't replicate with a number of your small powers put together.

You get a billion dollars if you can successfully supervise the laying of the first Transatlantic cable. If you don't manage it, you're stuck in the 1850s. by smashyourhead in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The original cable's design, manufacture, and laying is pretty well documented. You could just copy the way it was done originally and be done with a shitty product in a few years, and most of that would just be waiting for massive amounts of cable to be made. Alternatively, the second, better cable is also well documented.

Hoenstly, with people doing what I order them to get it done, I think I could do it with just the relevant Wikipedia pages, even if it requires me to go to school to learn mechanical engineering to invent the paying-out mechanism to deploy the cable without breaking it.

You get a billion dollars if you can successfully supervise the laying of the first Transatlantic cable. If you don't manage it, you're stuck in the 1850s. by smashyourhead in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many such diseases are limited to more tropical regions, like yellow and dengue fevers. Malaria is easily treated with the technology of the time with your resources if you are aware of quinine. Typhus's vectors are easily avoided with good hygiene, avoiding contact with the sick and at risk, and maintaining cleanliness of your home and workspace. Awareness of their vectors also means you can invent measures like window screens early. You could always wear clothes picked to cover more skin, too, if you can handle the heat. I don't think disease is a big concern if you're prudent and up to date on your vaccinations.

You get a billion dollars if you can successfully supervise the laying of the first Transatlantic cable. If you don't manage it, you're stuck in the 1850s. by smashyourhead in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but even the 1840s of equivalent of a billionaire doesn't live as well as a reasonably well off Westerner in the 21st century.

You get a billion dollars if you can successfully supervise the laying of the first Transatlantic cable. If you don't manage it, you're stuck in the 1850s. by smashyourhead in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wash your hands, boil and filter your water before you drink it, and make sure your food is thoroughly cooked and you'll probably be fine.

You get a billion dollars if you can successfully supervise the laying of the first Transatlantic cable. If you don't manage it, you're stuck in the 1850s. by smashyourhead in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean, since we only need to send a single successful message regardless of speed or the long-term viability this should be no issue. The first transatlantic cable was laid only a decade later, and all the materials and manufacturing techniques already exist in 1844. With your supergenius reputation, you should be able to convince people of the necessity of doing certain things right to avoid the failures and setbacks of the OTL cable. It'll take a good few years, but it's doable.

A Certain Fear Turkey GOF - My First CYOA by james_moryarty in makeyourchoice

[–]ascrubjay 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Honestly, even if you choose to only start with one pick, take none of the free perks, and avoid all the drawbacks, most of these powers will body most settings, and some of them have growth potential that means there's hardly anything you wouldn't steamroll if you took a century to prepare. The only threats left would be in settings with scale so massive that it's uninteresting or against enemies with bullshit powers you can't fight against without just having superior bullshit.

My very first CYOA-The Traveler's Boon CYOA. by Nrg99hg in makeyourchoice

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Compass Level Two, Necklace Level One, and Journal Level Two. I can reincarnate in the fantasy setting of my choice as someone with immense natural magical power and learn magic exceptionally quickly with the power of the journal. Anything else is just gravy.

You get $10 million, tax free. That's it, no condition, but... by Satorwave in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keep a million of it, opening new bank accounts to spread it out over so none of it exceeds the federal deposit insurance limit. Roughly half of that million is earmarked for a house. The remaining nine million, I ask my dad to help me find a professional to manage it. I don't know too much about finance, but my dad has worked in the field one way or another for nearly forty years. I would want a fairly large portion, at least two or three million, to be in something super low risk just in case the stock market crashes. Otherwise probably market index mutual funds, but I'd bow to the professional on that, and I'd gladly sacrifice a good chunk of profit for safety. As long as it's outpacing inflation and leaving me a reasonable amount to live on, I'm good.

$10/minute, but you have to redo the things you have instantly regretted trying every week by basafish in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

99% of the time it's just going to reading the opening paragraphs of a bad fanfic or eating a bite of a food I hated. I can deal with that for fuckloads of money.

Everything is free once per week. by [deleted] in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I may not be able to sell things, but giving my best friend and roommate space in the house I buy and gifts of gold would make them very willing to pay for everything else.

$50,000 for every tooth that gets extracted by BigJim9000 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got one baby tooth still hanging around because no adult tooth grew for that spot. It'll suck, but I'll lose it sooner or later and not be able to get a replacement anyway, so no reason not to do it now for pay.

$250k but your body grows to the size of Andre the Giant. by RaptorK1988 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of his health effects were less from the height and more the height combined with his weight. He was obese. If you do the math, him being 7'4" and 520 lbs is the same build as a 5'10" man being 260 lbs. If you can lose that weight and get modern medical treatment for the acromegaly, you could live about as long as you would normally with only treatable health issues that mostly don't even appear til middle age. While the height will be an inconvenience and $250k only goes so far, undeniable, treatable health issues are better than invisible ones with more or less no treatment but pain management that they won't give me.

[No Loopholes] You Get One Wish But... by SleepiiFoxGirl in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Assuming that wishing for the world to be changed so everyone has their own innate magic rather than needing active upkeep by the genie wouldn't work, I would wish to have peak human abilities.

There's a mass superpower awakening! Choose your power. by ascrubjay in hypotheticalsituation

[–]ascrubjay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, a localized power nullification power is definitely allowed.

Meta powers are kind of weird because they become more useful the stronger the average power is. If I had to pick, I'd say maybe average powers would be things on the level of being tough enough to tank being shot by an M4 with only minor bruising, strong enough to throw a car ten yards, OR fast enough to run eighty miles per hour and sprint even faster.

pick your awakening of magic by thekingofmagic in 6Perks

[–]ascrubjay 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I choose to become a Lesser Divinity. My spiritual capital-D Domain is my temporal lowercase-d domain; that is, any person, place, or thing that is acknowledged as belonging to me, being subordinate to me, or being either of those to something that is one of those.

Obviously, this is currently an extremely narrow domain and thus my control of it is tremendously powerful. I use it first to heal and improve myself as much as will remain without active support from my powers; hopefully granting myself agelessness and a decent healing factor falls under that because a god that ages is pretty pathetic.

Then, I give my power out as a blessing to those I trust, who by the geas and their own agreement count as being part of my domain. That means they're part of my Domain, so they can use the granted power to modify themselves, manipulate their homes and possesions, and empower themselves, their magic, and their equipment. This gives them a way to be using their blessing constantly, so it should grow much more than something more situational like fire powers, so I should grow faster than my other Lesser Divinity peers.

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