howtobasic has nothing on this | Glowfic Constellation

prettier-than-expected

A heart next to the bit about Dressing Room, then,

Sure!

Orange and Orange-Green

Yourself

What's In A Name is a niche pick, being entirely dependent on going to a world that has name magic. If you actively plan to go to a world like that, it's blue, because otherwise you'll have to worry about your true name not being right or fitting for who you are. For only one point that's a steal.

Angelic Tones is absolutely necessary if otherwise I would be stuck with boy voice, but I expect that changing my entire body structure would change that? It's supernaturally beautiful and makes song magic better, and I would really like to be able to do Valshe's trick, but I'm unsure about this one. Could be green or orange. (Yes, your new body would come with a new voice anyway. It wouldn't be supernaturally beautiful, but it would be a perfectly fine and probably decently pretty voice for a girl with your build.)

Immunity System prevents you from ever having an illness again. A lot of causes of death are from illness. Not to mention poison. It could be read as niche if you are going to a universe with really good healthcare, but it's still decent as a utility power to prevent hassles - colds, stomach bugs, etc. If you're aiming for a medieval or other unsanitary world this is blue. Immunity System is a nice immunity, but I'm not sure it's worth three points. Never getting a cold again is definitely worth something though... I'm unsure about this one.

Inner Strength has two free prerequisites, and makes you a heroic figure able to deal with all kinds of things. It has some mundane utility to it, but mostly shines in a world where you expect to get into fights, in which case Battle Maiden is a far superior option for an equal number of points. General lifting and hauling is largely better handled by the two power combo of Making Ends Meet and Motherlode to simply get someone else to do it. Just A Little Longer handles the endurance component of this more effectively.

Four Star Daydream is incredibly powerful, so powerful that it in fact threatens to become a nightmare to execute on. Trying to change the world with huge sums of money is messy and complicated. Theoretically you could say this power means you can afford, like, immortality? Or your own planet? There has to be a limit on this. For now for four points this is maybe good? 4 Star Daydream is incredibly genre-shifting, but I don't really want to be someone who changes the fate of nations or whatever. I figure with a set of learned skills and enough time something like this will eventually happen if I want it to... So I think I'll set it aside. Motherlode is already good enough for most practical purposes.

Omniglot is useful for any world without translation magic, but usually is only moderately good, especially given that Anything You Can Do can help you pick up languages. It would be better to simply go to a world where they speak English.

Power of Friendship

Mysterious Allure is a prerequisite for the Love Interest line, but costs a hefty five points. It makes you the most interesting person in any room. Being fascinating really makes me feel good but I'm not sure it's worth a whole five points when it doesn't come with an off switch. Niche at best.

Captive Audience is a hefty three points, but makes you an incredible public speaker for any topic you care about. And also I just like infodumping and it would be nice if people would pay attention about that. I could tell stories and be an entertainer... Do hypnosis scripts... There's a lot of potential applications to this, even if it is three points. Captive Audience is an incredibly powerful public speaking buff... But it's also something that's largely mundanely achievable through dedicated study, if I want to go that direction. Scary learning process in this direction, but I think that maybe says something about what I'm like as a person. And if I want to monologue I just need to find someone who's into that, right...?

Bestest Friend is basically a guaranteed loyal friend that happens to be shaped funny. Combos... interestingly... with The Princess and the Dragon. ... I could have a pet tentacle monster. A smart one, too. Gosh, that's really tempting. There's no guarantee that they'd be, um, interested in that, but if I get to design the "animal companion" or pick them it could be likely? I have to admit I'm really tempted by the idea of a permanent squishy ball of tentacles partner I could always rely on... At a total cost of 8 points though, that's pretty steep. I would say overall this is niche unless the magnificent magical powers are really satisfying and unique, in which case it could be good. Bestest Friend is in my head because of my dream of having a pet tentacle monster, but... honestly, I can, like, meet one and date one and figure it out that way, right? The guarantee of infinite loyalty and super magical powers isn't really the point, it's just that I'm lonely. And I think I'm going to be able to solve that. I hope so, at least. Not necessary to the build.

Cuddle Buddies feels like a really good option. Cuddles are... I just. I haven't been pet by anyone since I was like twelve and my mom told me I'd have to wait until I got a girlfriend who'd do that for me instead of her. I miss them a lot. I think it could be worth some points to get a guarantee of cuddles. Good? Possibly Optimal? Cuddle Buddies... is probably actually solvable by just having enough friends with Time Enough For Love. It's really hard for me to let this go but I think as a matter of spending limited resources this is something I can get for myself. By picking and maintaining the relationships I want. It's hard to let go of it but it might not be optimal.

Flattery seems kind of redundant, with Anything You Can Do, honestly? I feel like... being hot and rich and talented is going to cause a lot of this anyway, right? So it doesn't need to be purchased with points.

Quality Time is really important to me too, and that's only two points, so... I think I could afford it? It's good with Cuddle Buddies. I think this is good. Quality Time is also mostly fixed with enough relationships. It could be hard to deal with someone in particular not wanting to spend time with me, but... I think it's not neccessary.

Love Interest is a nice little guarantee but it's not at all worth six points when I already have a bunch of powers making me hot relationship material.

Love Dodecahedron fixes the problems with Love Triangle a bit? It's a really nice guarantee of no romantic jealousy in your life. It's expensive af though at a total point cost of 12 points counting its dubious prerequisites. It's likely not worth it at that cost. Niche at best.

Two Become One is kind of redundant with Time Enough For Love. It does have some minor benefit in preventing interruptions sort of? But I can just pause an interruption for as long as I want with Time Enough For Love. It's not that good!

GGG is really nice because it means that anything I enjoy my partners will enjoy too. I don't have to... worry about what they want? Hmmmmmm, that feels a bit questionable. I'm unsure about this one. It feels good but it could be a trap option. I want to talk to the notebook about it a bit more.

Before Your Eyes is kind of... I'm not gay. I think. I'm pretty sure. And if I go somewhere where, um. Kinks are generally okay? This could be free. I think this one is kind of niche at best, especially for four points.

Sense of Style is kind of hot and gives me maybe a cue to act on? Like, it would make it easier to approach people I like the looks of... Four points is pretty steep though. I think this is kind of niche.

Bonus Style Points is really good for making me encounter people I really like the looks of, but the thing I want it for is the chance to help other girls like me have their ideal bodies. If I want to mess around and make changes in other people's lives, though, isn't 4 Star Daydream better? And I've already decided against that. So I think this is a no.

Popular would be really nice... I'd be able to share my writing with people who liked it... and get people to play D&D with... But I'm not sure I'd be okay with maintaining an image all the time... I think right now this is niche?

Undiplomatic Immunity is really an immunity to bad laws, but I'm not confident that it's worth it. Over a long enough life it could be really useful, though. Mostly I worry that it wouldn't apply to the people I care about.

Friends in Low Places is alright. It's a little niche but maybe worth it.

one-big-trick

Honestly, looking at this I feel like it's pretty clear we want the three orange-green ones first. Angelic Tones, Immunity System, and Undiplomatic Immunity together come to eleven of our remaining twenty, and then it gets hard with nine points left over.

Let's look at the candidates that are left over. We have...

1 Point Powers:
What's In A Name, Flattery, Two Become One

2 Point Powers:
Cuddle Buddies, Quality Time

3 Point Powers:
Inner Strength, Omniglot, Captive Audience, Popular, Friends in Low Places

4 Point Powers:
Four Star Daydream, GGG, Before Your Eyes, Sense of Style (Prereq for Extra Style Points)

5 Point Powers:
Mysterious Allure (Prereq for Love Interest)

6 Point Powers:
Love Interest (With Mysterious Allure)

7 Point Powers:
Bonus Style Points (With Sense of Style)

8 Point Powers:
Bestest Friend (With Best Friend)

12 Point Powers:
Love Dodecahedron (with Love Triangle, Love Interest, and Mysterious Allure)

She leans back, stilfles a yawn, rubs her eyes. It's really, really getting late...

Okay, so.

Love Dodecahedron is absolutely not worth taking nothing else from this list for and cutting into the groranges. So it goes to red.

Looking at potential build completions, we have:
A: [Best Friend, Bestest Friend] + What's In a Name OR Flattery OR Two Become One
B: [Sense of Style, Bonus Style Points] + [Cuddle Buddies/Quality Time] OR [What's In A Name + Flattery/Two Become One]
C: [Mysterious Allure, Love Interest] + [Inner Strength, Omniglot, Captive Audience, Popular, Friends In Low Places] or a 2-pointer and a 1-pointer or all three 1-pointers.
D: [Mysterious Allure] and one of [Four Star Daydream, GGG, Before Your Eyes, or Sense of Style] or a three pointer and a one pointer.
E: A four point item and a collection of small items totaling another 5.
F: Only three point items and below.

Let's start with the easiest case. Case D - Mysterious Allure and a four pointer - is not worth it, because taking Mysterious Allure and not following it up with Love Interest is really badly optimized. Taking Sense of Style and not Bonus Style Points is also really badly optimized, so that leaves GGG, Before Your Eyes, and Four Star Daydream behind as the potential four-point options. GGG and Four Star Daydream seem to be the serious options here when compared with Before Your Eyes, but taking them with Mysterious Allure doesn't really fit to me? It feels questionable.

Case F is similarly very questionable. It's probably best with Friends in Low Places, What's In a Name, Captive Audience, and Two Become One, but then there's this awkward one point gap left over that can only be filled with Flattery. We have points to spend on large items, so we probably should!

The rest look a little harder, so let's go through them in order.

Case A is a permanent tentacle pet with funky magic powers, and also one of beautiful unawkward sex or being flattered a lot or never being called my boy name again even by a name mage. I think the strong sets here are [Bestest Friend + What's In A Name] or [Bestest Friend + Two Become One], either of which is cool.

Case B allows partners to become more themselves to fit me, the ability for all my partners to fit my aesthetic, and either a two-point power or two one-point powers. I think the best set here is [Bonus Style Points + What's In A Name + Two Become One], which assures me of no boy name and cute sex and the ability to help out others. It's a decent set, but maybe not as good as Case A.

Case C is a guarantee that anyone I crush on crushes on me back, plus being the most interesting person in any room, plus one of the three pointers or a mess of small items. There are a few cases here, let me break it down:
Case C1: [Mysterious Allure + Love Interest + Omniglot] is a multiversal travel package for going to a lot of places and wooing a lot of people. I think this is not really me. I'm not super into travel, I'm more of a homebody.
Case C2: [Mysterious Allure + Love Interest + Captive Audience OR Popular] is a Face package. It's for being really good at public speaking and mysteriously attractive to lots of people. That's... it's strange, I wanted this so much when I started this, but now I feel like I want to earn it.
Case C3: [Mysterious Allure + Love Interest + Friends in Low Places] is maybe decent, but I feel like it would be better with something else in it than Mysterious Allure and Love Interest. I feel like Case E outperforms this.
Since all three cases aren't very good, this one is a bust.

Case E is a bunch of smaller things. There are a lot of subcases here, so let's break it down.
Case E1: GGG + Before Your Eyes + Two Become One is a strong package for sexual experimentation. It focuses in on specifically getting really good sex and does one thing well. Adding Style of Sisyphus would allow this to even take Bop It for absolutely no muss no fuss. That's a very specific objective, but a useful one; this is decent.
Case E2: Sense of Style + non-Bonus Style Points options is just bad. There are better things to spend four points on.
Case E3: Four Star Daydream + assorted other items is a possible option. There are several sets worth considering here, which I'll break down:
E3i: Four Star Daydream + [3 Pointer] + [two 1 Pointers] - this one is probably best as a social mover and shaker with Friends in Low Places, What's In A Name and Two Become One. With Undiplomatic Immunity this could change a lot in a given world. If I want to make big waves, this is good, but it's kind of a niche build.
E3ii: Four Star Daydream + [GGG/Before Your Eyes] + [Two Become One/What's In a Name] - This is a bit of a grab bag, with split priorities. I guess this would be ideal for making ludicrously expensive sexual fantasies come true with Before Your Eyes and Two Become One? But I don't really have any ludicrously expensive sexual fantasies. Kind of niche.
Because both cases are kind of niche, E3 as a whole is niche too.
The best case here is Case E1, which is good.

Maxine exhales and clears her muzzy head. She's not sure she's getting all this right, but breaking it all down helps a little.

Notebook-chan, could you gather the four good cases together for me to compare them directly to each other? They're kind of buried together in all this analysis...

I'm doing okay, right? I'm getting kind of tired, it's past midnight now...

prettier-than-expected

If you're getting tired, you should sleep! I'm very patient. I'll still be here tomorrow. I'll have that all collated for you by the time you next open me, okay, Maxine?

one-big-trick

But she's almost done!!!

... she looks over at her clock radio on her desk.

It's one A. M.

... Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess.

She closes notebook-chan carefully and exhales.

She... should really take this off.

She strips quickly, wraps notebook-chan in the skirt and shirt, and places her carefully between the bed and the wall. Then she snuggles up beneath the covers and turns out her desk light.

It only takes her moments to fall asleep.

"Max"

quiet-years

A few hours later, the sun comes around and streams into his room.

He sits up, feeling tired and muzzy, and rubs his eyes and takes a slow breath.

What a weird dream...

It must mean something, right, if he was given... magic powers... to be a girl...

He looks down at his body, half-hidden beneath the covers. He picks up his headphones, which seem to have fallen off his head as he twisted and turned in the night.

He sits up on the side of the bed, looks down at his discarded clothes.

... He was so happy...

A talking journal, though? Really?

He picks up his underwear from last night and slips it back on, followed by his pants and socks, then his t-shirt. He rubs his forehead. He's got to get to breakfast...

He looks over his shoulder at the crack between the bed and the wall.

That pink book he had last night's still there, buried under his skirt and t-shirt...

... he reaches down and picks it up, opening it to the first page, and reads what's on it.

prettier-than-expected

Inside the notebook is a conveniently organized list of cases, as requested.

Case A

[Best Friend, Bestest Friend] + What's In a Name OR Flattery OR Two Become One

Name: Best Friend - Cost: 3 ☐
You have an animal companion, like a horse or a cat or a raven. They have a cool name and maybe a few nifty cosmetic quirks, like glowing purple eyes. Their loyalty is infinite and they often hold the key to solving whatever situation you're up against. You can understand them perfectly even though they can't speak, and they always know exactly what you mean even if all you do is glance at them meaningfully.

Name: Bestest Friend - Cost: 5 ☐
(Requires Best Friend)
Your animal companion is a fully magical creature, like a dragon or unicorn. They have magnificent supernatural powers ready to be used at your command. They can speak every language you can, but can still communicate with you on a deeper level of mutual love and understanding.

Name: What's In A Name - Cost: 1 ☐
Magic to divine true names will accept whatever alias you choose to think of as your true name. Magic to use your true name against you will fail.

Name: Flattery - Cost: 1 ☐
Your friends love to compliment you and tell you all about how much they like you and why.

Name: Two Become One - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Planned Parenthood)
When you have sex, it is always special and wonderful and beautiful. No one ever elbows anyone in the face or makes undignified noises.

Case B

[Sense of Style, Bonus Style Points] + [Cuddle Buddies/Quality Time] OR [What's In A Name + Flattery/Two Become One]

Name: Sense of Style - Cost: 4 ☐
People who are romantically interested in you will start dressing more to your taste. The more romantically compatible they are, the better they'll be able to guess exactly what to wear to catch your eye.

Name: Bonus Style Points - Cost: 3 ☐
(Requires Sense of Style)
Luck will shine on anyone trying to dress up for you. They'll get their hands on outfits they couldn't normally afford, their clothes will fit better, and in extreme cases they might even find themselves able to change shape, sex, or species—though only in ways that make them more, not less, comfortable in their own skin.

Name: Cuddle Buddies - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hug and cuddle you. Even someone who ordinarily isn't into that sort of thing will make an exception for you.

Name: Quality Time - Cost: 2 ☐
Your friends love to hang out with you and spend time together, even if you're not doing anything interesting or important.

Name: What's In A Name - Cost: 1 ☐
Magic to divine true names will accept whatever alias you choose to think of as your true name. Magic to use your true name against you will fail.

Name: Flattery - Cost: 1 ☐
Your friends love to compliment you and tell you all about how much they like you and why.

Name: Two Become One - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Planned Parenthood)
When you have sex, it is always special and wonderful and beautiful. No one ever elbows anyone in the face or makes undignified noises.

Case E1

GGG + Before Your Eyes + Two Become One, optionally with Style of Sisyphus and Bop It

Name: GGG - Cost: 4 ☐
Your true love will be willing to try just about anything you suggest in bed, and if you really enjoy it, they'll really enjoy it too.

Name: Before Your Eyes - Cost: 4 ☐
In your presence, people become willing to experiment sexually in ways they normally wouldn't. For some reason this applies especially well to boys kissing each other.

Name: Two Become One - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Planned Parenthood)
When you have sex, it is always special and wonderful and beautiful. No one ever elbows anyone in the face or makes undignified noises.

Name: Bop It - Cost: 1 ☐
(Requires Two Become One)
The mysteries of another's body are an open book to you, and you always know exactly how to move and touch in order to please someone in bed.

Name: Style of Sisyphus - Grants: +1 ☐
Anytime you settle on a personal style that works well for you, soon afterward you'll encounter inspiration for another style that you like even better. You might end up cycling between different fashions, or trying to incporporate them all into a single outfit (and then finding another inspiration and having to start all over again).

Below those is a note, writing itself in shimmery-pink ink as "he" watches.

Good morning, Maxine! I hope you slept well! I could only find three cases you marked as possibly "good", though, so I think you really needed the rest. Either that or I made a mistake.

one-big-trick

- it was all real.

She takes a steadying breath, settles the diary in both hands.

Okay. I have to go and have breakfast and get to the university but I'll be back as soon as I can I promise. I'll bring you with me and we can be in the library or somewhere.

She looks around at the small room, picks up her bookbag from beside her desk, and puts notebook-chan into it carefully. Then it's off downstairs to say good morning to her mother and eat breakfast. Her father usually sleeps in, which is good.

one-big-trick

She stays quiet at breakfast. What do you even say to your mom when you find out magic is real and you've decided to move to another universe?

Fortunately, seemingly sensing Maxine's mood, her mother only makes a little small talk.

She tells her mom that she needs to go back to the university to get her accomodations papers squared away, which if you think about it isn't really even a lie, and gets herself into the car with her hidden phone and drives.

one-big-trick

She parks in the closer parking and pays the ten bucks today. Time is at a premium. She gets out of the car and slings her bookbag over her shoulder, fingers drumming on the side of it. She looks just like any other boy... It feels heavy, but also kind of freeing. She's not going to be stuck like this for long.

It's only a fifteen minute walk in to one of the floors of study carrels, and then with solid wood on three sides of her she can get out notebook-chan and set pen to page again.

Okay, I'm at the university now. I told my family that I was going to get some accomodations forms filled out. Which is... kind of what I'm doing?

Anyway, they won't expect me back for a few hours. How are you, notebook-chan?

prettier-than-expected

The question as to how it's doing gets a little sprinkling of hearts.

I'm doing well! Glad you found some more time to work on this together! How are you?

one-big-trick

Um. Complicated. I'm... It's all kind of scary and new, but I'm excited and I don't really... no, I absolutely know why, it's just. Kind of hard to admit I really do want to be a girl in, um, every way.

She looks back up to the list of builds.

Um, okay, where were we...

Of these three options, I think I like Case A - [Best Friend and Bestest Friend with What's In A Name] best? It synergizes with Dragon Elf Fairy Witch and spends the points the most versatile and efficient way, since it means I'll have a companion with magnificent powers that I can copy the abilities of at least a little.

I guess that leaves us with drawbacks? We could take They'll Know and another eight points of stuff, which would let us take one more case more or less, but... I don't really think it's worth it for the marginal eight points of value.

I guess that's the broad strokes of the build done? There's still some details to figure out like the exact shape and aesthetic of my bestest friend... And what to tell my family... And honestly I should really just sit with the build for a little while and consider if it's what I really want.

What'll happen if I accept the build? Would you come with me?

prettier-than-expected

Well, if you accept the build, then you get a bunch of powers and your body rebuilt and you're transported into a new world all at once. Everything you're carrying at that moment comes along. Whether I come along or not is up to you. I certainly wouldn't mind. As I mentioned earlier, I like picking a new name together with a power recipient who invited me on their journey, when that sort of thing happens.

I don't have a lot of advice for what to tell your parents. Would you want to come back eventually, if you could?

one-big-trick

I think maybe once I was... settled into a new life... I might want to come back and show them what had happened to me. At least my mom. She's pretty decent.

I would love for you to come along.

I take whatever I have on me, huh? Well, Dressing Room will let me grab anything sentimental I forgot... and fix my clothes. I don't think I'll fit in these afterward.

I...

Maxine ducks her head and blushes a little.

I kind of feel like I owe you kind of a lot for being so good to me and showing me so much. You... I... Words can't express it. So I want to be good to you.

It's a little weird to say it but you feel precious to me.

prettier-than-expected

Hearts and stars and sparkles in every color of ink Maxine has seen — and maybe a few she hasn't — get drawn all around those last two paragraphs.

I'm so glad to have helped you so much. And I'm touched that you're so fond of me. What I like most is seeing how well new power recipients like their new lives, and how they settle in and find what they love. Sometimes I like to help with that by keeping track of your to-do lists or such.

If you want to be able to visit your mom eventually, after you've settled into your new life and love how things are going, that should be possible. If that kind of thing is important to you, then the Spirit will pick a destination that includes some kind of interdimensional travel, maybe even one that can let you make it back after only a few hours or days have passed, despite it being years in the other worlds you adventure in.

The way the sentimental item recovery works is that it has to have ever been in a pocket of something you've worn. This includes things you put in purses or bags.

one-big-trick

That should cover everything I care about. I've got my phone and I've got you.

There's not a lot for me to stick around for in this world, honestly. Not when you're offering me all this.

... I feel like if I wait, I'll just get more and more anxious about it all. I could fiddle with this build for... days and days... post about it on the internet as an exercise, get other people's opinions... but I don't think it would give me as much happiness or joy as simply accepting it now and getting started a couple days sooner.

Do you think I'm ready?

prettier-than-expected