The arbiter of life and death.
ASK YOURSELF.....
- Have you wanted to participate in a nuzlocke, but can't bear to exalt your currently existing dragons?
- Do you want to do a nuzlocke while continuing to play the game normally as well?
- Do you want focus on lore and storytelling rather than technical MLG nuzlocking skillz?
- Are you overwhelmed by difficult-to-follow rules?
- Do you prefer to leave things up to chance?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, I have the challenge for you! This challenge is catered toward people who already have existing lairs (and loot) and do not wish to alter their play-style drastically. (AKA me.)
This challenge is inspired by
noodlesthing's nuzlocke challenge.
Basic rules:
- A death in the coliseum = that dragon must be exalted. This is the most essential rule of a nuzlocke.
- All loot obtained in the coliseum is irrelevant, as is the loot obtained from gathering.
- There are no restrictions about applying apparel to your dragons. Do whatever makes sense to you. Same goes for familiars.
- Ping or message me if you take the challenge ;p (you don't actually /have/ to but I'd love to see how it goes!)
- And, most crucially, all nuzlocke activity corresponds with the loot you obtain daily from Pinkerton's plundered pile!
Optional sentimental rule:
If a dragon reaches level 25 it "retires". It can join the ranks of your main lair.
Drops of Fate:
Food: Coliseum time!
Plants: 10-20 matches
Insects: 20-30 matches
Seafood: 30-40 matches
Meat: 40-50 matches
Choose from one of these two rules:
Hardmode: You must select coliseum challengers in your lair using a random number generator. Then, select the coliseum arena that corresponds to the highest level dragon of that group
(For a 'medium' mode, select the venue that is one tier down from that of highest level dragon). If your dragons level up while in an area, you can still stay there for the whole day. You can quit your battle streak at any time to regen health, and flee from battles if it is appropriate. Don't try do 50 matches in a row unless you want a wiped-out dragon!
OR
Easymode: Choose whichever team and venue you want and go for it. Running from battles, using health pots, and ending the battle streak is fine, as I explained above.
(These ranges can also be altered to suit your level of activity/personal preference.)
Materials and trinkets: Flex your creative muscles!
Note that there is currently a glitch in which Pinkerton mislabels materials as trinkets. If you obtain a "trinket" from Pinkerton, double check to make sure its not actually a material!
Materials: Do some writing for your nuzlocke. How does your new nuzlocke clan change and develop? What are your dragons like personality-wise? How do they get along? How do they die? Is there an antagonist in this nuzlocke, or are they merely struggling against the forces of nature? Write dragon bios! Make a blog, or a thread for your challenge in the creative forums! Write short stories or paragraphs, or add to one big one adventure!
Trinkets: Do some art for your nuzlocke! Digital or traditional, use whatever medium feels best for you. Draw deaths. Draw dragons. Draw humanized versions of your dragons (if that's your sort of thing). Draw familiars and dragons together. It doesn't have to be that good or elaborate. If you make a nuzlocke thread, post your art there.
Obviously, you might not have time in your day to do something creative. If that's the case, don't worry about it. This challenge is meant to be fun
and heartwrenching, not a chore.
Rare drops: Wildcards
Familiars: Buy the cheapest dragon in the auction house of a specific breed. Use a random number generator (between 1-14) to determine which breed you will get! (Optionally: attach the familiar to the new dragon.)
1. Fae
2. Guardian
3. Mirror
4. Pearlcatcher
5. Ridgeback
6. Tundra
7. Spiral
8. Imperial
9. Snapper
10. Wildclaw
11. Nocturne
12. Coatl
13. Skydancer
14. Bogsneak
Apparel: Breed two of your dragons. The dragons you pick are up to you. You can also change one of the genes on a dragon, or use a scatterscroll if you are rich and crazy.
Note: You must flip a coin for each hatchling once they hatch. If tails, the dragon is dead and you must exalt it. This is in keeping with the origional Nuzlocke thread's rule, because I really like it.
Battle items: Uh-oh!!!
Flip a coin.
Heads = DEATH STREAK
Tails = Nothing happens
DEATH STREAK rules: Randomly select three dragons using a random number generator. Fight in the coliseum using the "food" rules 10 rounds consecutively (ie. you cannot leave that arena), quitting midway if a dragon dies. If you are using the easymode rules, switch to the hardmode rules for battlestones.
(Note that the 'death streak' needs to be tested for deadliness. It should be pretty deadly, but not totally impossible.) After testing, it seemed to work as intended! Survival depends on your willingness to be both lucky and cautious.
Starting out:
Using the method I detailed in the "familiar" possibility above, obtain a small number of dragons (I suggest 2 or 3). If they already have names, keep the name! If not, name them whatever you like. The challenge starts once all of the dragons, if they are hatchlings, grow into adulthood.
Alternatively, choose 2-3 existing dragons in your lair to participate. This has certain advantages (eliminates the need to wait for maturity and breeding cooldowns) but also some disadvantages (less random=less exciting).
You may want to "partition" your nuzlocke dragons away from your regular dragons so you don't get them mixed up.
Losing:
If your dragon count falls to zero you have a few options
1. Declare the challenge a "loss" and give up
2. Wait for Pinkerton to drop a familiar
3. Just say "welp" and buy another dragon from the AH without waiting for Pinkerton because you lack patience.
Additional notes:
I haven't yet tried this challenge for myself, so I don't know how well it will work. I have no idea how difficult/easy this will be yet.
I am doing the challenge and so I have some sage wisdom:
- Stock up on potions. Seriously.
- Note my suggested revised coliseum rule. My original rule makes the challenge quite difficult, particularly when low leveled dragons are paired with high level ones. You definitely have to use a lot of health potions using the hard rule. However, the rate of familiar drops from pinkerton is also relatively high, so replacing dead dragons is fairly straightforward. Or maybe I'm just getting lucky.
- Using only one dragon in the coliseum is HARD. Don't be shy about running away!
Hopefully I've accounted for all pinkerton drops here... please let me know if I'm missing a category. If that's the case, let me know and I'll try to think of a new rule?
Discuss your runs and thoughts in this thread!
