Let's vote up a Mouse Guard character![Step 6.5. Life experiences]

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Originally Posted by Siegel

that's basically the best way to awnser the questions but a simple Yes/No would be enought.

I agree with you from an RP perspective(that's why I answered like I did), however I can already see that some answers will make it though for you to adjudicate in what category they fall.
Especially if you have the middle them all out in the end, this probably makes your job a lot harder.

[Zelphas]

Originally Posted by Siegel

* Do you save for winter even if it means going without something now? Or do you use what you have when you need it?

* When confronted, do you stand your ground and fight or do you run and hide?

* Do you fear owls, weasels and wolves?

I like him at age 25.

1. Save for Winter. He's lived long enough to know how hungry those winters can be.

2. Stand and Fight. He knows how to choose his battles, but he doesn't often back down.

3. Fearlessness and bravery are two different things. He's smart enough to know to fear owls, weasels, and wolves.

[Slipperychicken]

Originally Posted by Fenix_of_Doom

however I can already see that some answers will make it though for you to adjudicate in what category they fall.

These are suggestions for scoring, not my vote

Spoiler

For #2) If you do anything other than immediately attack the threat, or tear your shirt off while shouting "COME AT ME BRO!", you are considered to have fled. A "tactical retreat" response is considered "run like a sissy" for our purposes.

For #3) If the response is both unclear contains the word "fear", or any variation thereof (fright, afrighted, afeared, etc), you are considered to fear the creatures.

Alternatively, you can simply ignore unclear responses.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

1) They're (did we vote on a sex?) too busy being valiant and serving the interests of the Guard to save up for the winter. XD

2) Of course our mouse stands and fights!

3) ...however, our mouse does have a healthy fear of the big beasties.

[Sanguine]

Originally Posted by Zelphas

I like him at age 25.

1. Save for Winter. He's lived long enough to know how hungry those winters can be.

2. Stand and Fight. He knows how to choose his battles, but he doesn't often back down.

3. Fearlessness and bravery are two different things. He's smart enough to know to fear owls, weasels, and wolves.

This pretty much. Though I want him at age 30.

[The Glyphstone]

35 years old.

Save For Winter.
Stand And Fight.
Fear Them.

[Scottzar]

Glyphstone has it right, as always.
5 starting nature > 6 because 6 loses fighting skill, and you are going to sacrifice all of your nature anyway so you can do the 1 nature ascendancy build.
Really its just a question of how long you want to wait before becoming omni-capable.

Patrol leader is strictly > patrol guard, the patrol guard only gets cooking over the leader, and is weaker in virtually every other way (or in those it isn't worse).

Guard Captain gives you early game militarist, which is why sprucetuck guard captain is a necessity for big animal fights. You also have social skills coming out your tail, so you can talk the other characters into mentoring your 1 nature self and get 3+ in all conflict stats (and 6+ in your better parts) by the end of the second mission.

And don't talk down to tenderpaws. IIRC they have the highest possible starting scientist, which is great, and their random skill spam can get pretty crazy fast, esp. because they can still max fighter.


The end question is: what op level is this being voted up for? It's important to know this before making the best character.

[The Glyphstone]

Since no one here knows anything about optimizing Mouse Guard, I don't think 'op level' has any relevance at all. We're voting for what's thematically cool or just sounds nice, and seeing what we get. If this was a 'vote up the most optimized Mouse Guard Character' thread, we'd only have one option each cycle.

[toapat]

Originally Posted by Scottzar

*snip*

thanks, that would have been more useful as the second post.

not like i didnt look up how nature worked to figure out what i was doing beforehand.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Really, I feel as if optimizing Mouse Guard doesn't have much of a point...I mean, the values are gonna be changing anyhow, and you can easily make up for it by throwing in and testing. (And it makes far less difference than, say, optimizing in D&D.)

[toapat]

Mouseguard has a more fluid system for skills, and "Predict weather" is actually control weather (but not as quick)

doesnt mean that you dont try really, really hard to stay at 1-2 nature to become the Paragon of Mousekind

[navar100]

The One True Mouse Guard is none other than Reepicheep, Crusader for Aslan!

[Sodalite]

Woah, I almost forgot this thread was thing, for which I apologize. However, I will reserve voting until the next round starts.

[Slipperychicken]

Originally Posted by toapat

doesnt mean that you dont try really, really hard to stay at 1-2 nature to become the Paragon of Mousekind

So you become the ultimate mouse... by being less mouselike?

Doesn't that just admit that mice totally suck and need to overcome their instinctual cowardice and ignorance to do great things?

[Siegel]

Originally Posted by Scottzar

Glyphstone has it right, as always.
5 starting nature > 6 because 6 loses fighting skill, and you are going to sacrifice all of your nature anyway so you can do the 1 nature ascendancy build.
Really its just a question of how long you want to wait before becoming omni-capable.

Patrol leader is strictly > patrol guard, the patrol guard only gets cooking over the leader, and is weaker in virtually every other way (or in those it isn't worse).

Guard Captain gives you early game militarist, which is why sprucetuck guard captain is a necessity for big animal fights. You also have social skills coming out your tail, so you can talk the other characters into mentoring your 1 nature self and get 3+ in all conflict stats (and 6+ in your better parts) by the end of the second mission.

And don't talk down to tenderpaws. IIRC they have the highest possible starting scientist, which is great, and their random skill spam can get pretty crazy fast, esp. because they can still max fighter.


The end question is: what op level is this being voted up for? It's important to know this before making the best character.

#1 thing: We are not optimizing here.
#2 thing: Nature 6 doesn't have to be a bad thing. You can simply put no points into fighter and ignore the -1 fighter thing
#3 Yeah, patrol leaders get more skills and attributes then PGs but thjen you have to be a Patrol Leader and have to Mentor Tenderpaws. You can't be the lone ranger archetype as a Patrol Leader. They are different animals (pun intended)
#4 You are right about Patrol Leaders, Tenderpaws and Guard captains but don't overestimate the Tenderpaw. Yeah he can get 3 or 4 in Scientist and still be a good fighter but those things don't have to come up. Because of this he will suck at beeing a Scout, Pathinfder or Healer and this can be big trouble. And if you want to fight animals, Hunter is better then fighter.
Mouse Guard doesn't have to be about constant fighting.

Still in the end it is really really hard to build a mouse that is not good at his job because you HAVE to put some points into the main skills that are needed in the game so no one should feel bad about a choice that we make. The mouse will be allright.


A low nature is more helpful if you have not activated many skills. A high nature is helpfull if you feel confident in your selection. A 6 mouse nature can use a persona point to add these 6 dice to it's dicepool. With a Scout of 4 and a trait this could eaisily mean rolling 11 dice against a problem. This is power!
(but you nature get's temporarily reduced if you do this.)

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Originally Posted by Scottzar

The end question is: what op level is this being voted up for? It's important to know this before making the best character.

I second that you are missing the point, perhaps you should review this thread*, it inspired this one and I think it illustrates the principle under which we are working here quite nicely.




*Yes, I just completed the circle of links from thread to thread.

[Draz74]

Originally Posted by Siegel

* Do you save for winter even if it means going without something now? Or do you use what you have when you need it?

Saving for winter when your survival right now is at risk is idealism. I might have practiced it in another life, but in these dark times, I wouldn't have lasted this long if I didn't know how to use my resources opportunistically. Use what you have when you need it.

* When confronted, do you stand your ground and fight or do you run and hide?

Stand my ground and fight. Running and hiding does not protect the Dibbuns.

* Do you fear owls, weasels and wolves?

I do not fear wolves.
I do not fear owls. I used to, but eventually I realized that it was a pointless fear, since you never hear them coming anyway.
I fear weasels. Because they're weasels. They don't have the healthy fear of death that any rational creature should have.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Originally Posted by Slipperychicken

So you become the ultimate mouse... by being less mouselike?

Doesn't that just admit that mice totally suck and need to overcome their instinctual cowardice and ignorance to do great things?

Actually, this is pretty much by-the-books how it works. The more heroic a mouse is, the less mouselike they become, because the nature of a mouse is to hide and run.

This means that in Mouse Guard, you have to strike a balance between following your nature and defying your nature. If you go too far to one extreme, you're so mouselike that you drop out of the Guard. If you go too far to the other extreme, you're so un-mousy that you set off on your own, because you can't get along with other mice in any regard.

[Scottzar]

Originally Posted by CarpeGuitarrem

Actually, this is pretty much by-the-books how it works. The more heroic a mouse is, the less mouselike they become, because the nature of a mouse is to hide and run.

This means that in Mouse Guard, you have to strike a balance between following your nature and defying your nature. If you go too far to one extreme, you're so mouselike that you drop out of the Guard. If you go too far to the other extreme, you're so un-mousy that you set off on your own, because you can't get along with other mice in any regard.

This is also cannon as how to ascend to ultimate mouse-power anyway. The Black Axe is even noted as dropping to 0 nature in the books, which by RAW opens up a nightmare of technical exploits. In that time that he was alone, he would have easily ground out his stats, so when his nature started coming back (when he met the others) he finished his ascent.

Just look at him murdering foxes in one hit, where a fox is equivalent to 200 - 2000 or something mice.

[Siegel]

So shall we go on now?

The Age right now is 30

Saving for winter
Stand and fight if confronted
Fear Owls and Weasels

which will put nature at 4. The mouse can't be Bold or Generous (which are traits) and also not Fearless

The next step is hometown. This defines of course how he was brought up and gives acces to one trait and a skill (typically a trade) that is typical for the town.

The choices are

Barkstone
A busy working-class town.
Skills: Carpenter, Potter, Glazier
Traits: Steady Paw

Copperwood
One of the oldest cities and home to one of the two mines in the Territories.
Skills: Smith, Haggler
Traits: Independent

Elmoss
A once prosperous city, known for its medicinal moss.
Skills: Carpenter, Harvester
Traits: Alert

Ivydale
Renowned for its bakers and bread.
Skills: Harvester, Baker
Traits: Hard Worker

Lockhaven
The home of the Mouse Guard
Skills: Weaver, Armorer
Traits: Generous, Guard’s Honor

Port Sumac
A busy little port town between Darkwater and Rustleaf.
Skills: Boatcrafter, Weather Watcher (more like control weather if you make the test)
Traits: Tough, Weather Sense

Shaleburrow
A simple town known for its delicious drinks!
Skills: Mason, Harvester, Miller
Traits: Open-Minded

Sprucetuck
Known for its scientists, medicine and scent concoctions.
Skills: Scientist, Loremouse (knowing about animals and talking to them)
Traits: Inquisitive, Rational

Flinttrust
A town known for their trade in tools, wood and iron
Skills: Smith, Tools-wise
Traits: Bold, Determined

Sandmason
A castle made out of sand
Skills: Dune-wise, Glazier
Traits: Nocturnal, Quiet

Grasslake
Located near a lake Grasslake has one of the largest militas in the territories
Skills: Insectrist (controling insects), Militarist
Traits: Nimble, Defender (has been in a milita/city guard)

(These towns are not cannon in the rules but are used in my game, maybe you like them. They are still on the map)

Wolfepointe
A rough frontier town, close to the wild country
Skills: Insectrist, Harvester
Traits: Tough, Natural Bearings (you know your way in the wilderness)

Pebblebrock
A town dominated by the monastery of the blue mountain, the Pebblebrockians are a especially relaxed and peacefull folk
Skills: Mountain-Wise, Harvester
Traits: Wise, Quiet

Blackrock
Blackrock has the largest archive of mouse history next to Lockhaven.
Skills: Archivist, Administrator
Traits: Cunning, Innocent

What we need to do is choose a city, one skill from that city and one trait.

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Sprucetuck
Skill: Loremouse (knowing about animals and talking to them)
Trait: Inquisitive

Just wondering, why aren't those three towns part of your setting?

[Siegel]

Originally Posted by Fenix_of_Doom

Sprucetuck
Skill: Loremouse (knowing about animals and talking to them)
Trait: Inquisitive

Just wondering, why aren't those three towns part of your setting?

They are part of the setting and i used them. In the book there are no rules on what skills and traits you get from coming from that town. There are rules on how to create additional towns though and that is what i did with Pebblebrock and the others. The towns are part of the setting but not of the RAW. Treat them as houserules.

[Mandrake]

I vote Ivydale.

[Amphetryon]

Wolfepointe
Skills: Insectrist
Traits: Natural Bearings (you know your way in the wilderness)


Because "Insectrist" is awesome.

[The Glyphstone]

Grasslake
Insectrist
Defender

[Zelphas]

I'm going to agree with the Glyphstone here.
Grasslake
Insectrist
Defender

Insectrist does sound pretty awesome.

[Sodalite]

Let's see if we can get this thread as filled with bandwagons as the BW thread.

I'll also go with Grasslake, Insectrist, and Defender.

[Sanguine]

Flinttrust
Tools-wise
Determined

[Siegel]

Anyone else?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Originally Posted by Sanguine

Flinttrust
Tools-wise
Determined

I'm actually gonna bandwagon this.