#illyasviel von einzbern; childhood

[voidfragments]

@sweetsolars | for irisviel

a gust of frigid wind rushes into the entryway as the front doors of the einzbern castle slam open with truly iimpressive force, considering that the one who stands at the threshold with her arms extended after opening said doors is just a little girl. snow clings to her hair and clothes, and her cheeks are flushed, though whether it's with cold or childish rage is hard to say.

"mooooooooooom!!!!!" illya calls out as she storms into the castle. "kiritsugu keeps winning all our games!!! make him stop!!"

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #286: Illyasviel von Einzbern (Archer)

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're really kicking summer vacation into overdrive! None of that anime nonsense Kiara's got kicking around, just pure, unbridled summer fun with Illyasviel von Einzbern (Archer).

This build's got three parts to it; first and foremost, the water guns. Secondly, if you're going comedy mode you've got to make sure everything works out for you in the end. Finally, unlimited magical power, she is still the grail incarnate after all.

So of course we're going with sorlock. That's right, this time around Illya is a Silverquill Warlock to put that infinite energy to good use and a Divine Soul Sorcerer to still grab a magical girl transformation by the end of things.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: I ache for the touch of your lips, dear/ but much more for the touch of your whips, dear/ you can raise welts/ like nobody else/ as we dance to the masochism tango!

Race and Background

For the first time in just about ever, we're actually changing up a servant's race between versions! Simply put, we're not dumping constitution this time around so we don't need the tough feat out the gate. On top of that, what we need from the Lightfoot Halfling race is much more pressing- Sure, the +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma are nice, but we're here for the Lucky feature, which lets you re-roll a natural one on any d20 roll and use the new version.

You're also Brave, giving you advantage on saves against being frightened. Something tells me that'll come in handy this event.

Your Halfling Nimbleness lets you move through the spaces of creatures larger than you, and you're Naturally Stealthy so you can hide even if you're only hidden by a creature larger than you.

Also, I doubt I really need to say this, but Halflings are Small, so those last two abilities have a lot more use than they would on say, a human.

The one thing that hasn't changed is that you're still an Inheritor, giving you proficiency in Survival and History. We're just changing your entire genetic code, not your childhood, calm down.

Ability Scores

Illya's magic is innate, so her highest score is in Charisma, naturally. Children are also very slippery, especially when you're trying to keep them from playing outside, so her Dexterity is great as well. Playing in the sun all day means you need a good Constitution (or some good sunscreen, either or), and picking out targets is a Wisdom skill. This does mean your Intelligence is a lot lower than normal- it's summer break after all. Finally, we're dumping Strength. Illya is baby, she's not going to be hurling cars around.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: We're heading to summer camp, but before that we have to finish our Silverquill homework! Finishing that up makes you an Eloquent Apprentice, so you learn the Sacred Flame cantrip plus you get proficiency in Performance and Persuasion (on top of Wisdom and Charisma saves, Arcana, and Deception from starting as a warlock).

The real reason we're here though is for the Silvery Barbs feature. After a nearby creature succeeds on an attack, check, or save, you can use your reaction to make them re-roll that roll as if they're being charmed, forcing them to use the lower result. Once this makes someone mess up, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest or spend a spell slot on it. Making someone fail also lets you make another creature succeed, giving a second creature (possibly yourself) the ability to reroll an attack, check, or save and use the higher roll at some point in the next minute.

Oh right, we need spell slots for that to work. Thankfully we have Pact Magic, giving you one 1st level spell slot! You can cast spells using your Charisma, with cantrips like Eldritch Blast and True Strike working as your water gun, Armor of Agathys helping you track water on everything you touch after I just cleaned the house you little gremlin, and Comprehend Languages for being smart. You are still smart, you just don't use it much over the summer break.

You're also Favoured by the Gods, so once per short rest you can add 2d4 to a failed save or attack to try and not fail.

2. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations to customize their summer camp experience. Grab Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast for a high-pressure water gun. The former adds your charisma modifier to the damage of each eldritch blast, while the latter lets you push the target back up to 10' away.

Now that I'm thinking about it that's just better Lance of Lethargy, since it works on every blast rather than once per turn.

Anyways.

Your spell this level is Expeditious Retreat, making it even easier for you to bolt outside and play the second it's an option.

3. Sorcerer 1: Okay, now that school's out let's have some fun! As a Divine Soul sorcerer you get access to Divine Magic, adding Cure Wounds to your spell list for free and you can pick from cleric Spells when you level up!

Speaking of, you get a second spell list that also uses your Charisma. Pact slots and Spell slots don't mix- you have the same number of slots as if you were a second level warlock and a first level sorcerer, no multiclassing tables required. Thankfully, you can use warlock slots for any sorcerer features and vice-versa.

Enough complexity though, now let's talk magic. Pick up Frostbite and Poison Spray for two kinds of sprays from Ruby. Speaking of, Ruby can run off on her own and mess with objects as a Mage Hand. If you want even more assurance that you'll pass a check, check out Guidance or a first level spell like Bless for a 1d4 bonus to one check or any check you make in the duration respectively. You can also use Mage Armor to not die, if you really want to.

4. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers are Fonts of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcery level. You can turn points into spell slots or vice-versa, but technically the more interesting stuff happens next level. All the points and extra slots reset after a long rest, btw.

I say technically, because we have just unlocked the secret of infinite spell power. Like I said last level, you can use warlock slots for sorcery features like font of magic, so you can turn warlock slots into points, then take a short rest and get them back without resetting anything. So turn your points into sorcerer slots and repeat each short rest. Now, you have infinite spell slots. Over time. After all, you only get two points per short rest, so that's one 1st level spell slot per hour, and it'll take four hours for a fifth level slot once you can cast those spells. Definitely a downtime activity.

Anyway, grab some Magic Missile this level for some archer balls. They're like caster balls, but a knight class!

5. Sorcerer 3: Third level sorcerers get second level spells like Dragon's Breath, letting you shoot out cold damage as an action each turn in a 15' cone. It's not high-pressure, but this will fill your tank for up to a minute. Aside from that you can also use those sorcery points for Metamagic, customizing your spells. Heightened spells force disadvantage on one creature's first save. Blasting someone in the face with water only has one save. Transmuted spells are especially funky, letting you turn once elemental kind of damage into another. Ruby's already got water and poison settings, why not make her a flamethrower too?

Oh right, German, sorry. I meant you can make her a flammenwerfer. That's right, you can werf flammen in D&D now! The wonders of technology!

6. Sorcerer 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma for even stronger spells.

...Admittedly this doesn't help any of the spells we get this level, but it's good in general. Resistance lets you add a d4 to the next save you make. We're aiming for "comically burnt" from this fireball, not "actually dead". That's a mood killer. You can also Enhance Ability, giving you advantage on all skill checks of a certain kind for up to an hour. If you pick endurance, the target also gets temporary HP. If you pick strength their carrying capacity doubles, and if you pick dexterity they don't take falling damage on falls of 20' or less.

7. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers get Magical Guidance, letting you spend a sorcery point to get advantage on one skill check, further reducing your chances of failing at just about anything.

You can also cast Haste to speed up your summer fun even further with doubled movement speed, an extra action, and a bonus to your AC and dexterity saves. This will tire you out though, and when the spell ends you need to take a round off actions and reactions.

8. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level divine souls have Empowered Healing- whenever a nearby creature casts a healing spell, you can spend a sorcery point to re-roll a number of those dice. This doesn't use your reaction, but it only works once a turn.

You remember how I said Eldritch Blast was a high-pressure water gun? I lied. Lightning Bolt sure is, though. Just make sure you transmute it to do cold damage before you point that thing anywhere- it'll deal 8d6 of lightning damage in a 100' line otherwise.

9. Sorcerer 7: At seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells like Freedom of Movement! Have you ever tried to hold onto a kid while their friends were playing outside? Exactly.

10. Sorcerer 8: Eighth level sorcerers get another ASI, and as an Elemental Adept you'll find your water guns firing much more powerfully. Now, all your cold spells ignore resistance, and the minimum damage they can do per die is 2 rather than one.

While you're not one for buffing the whole team, you can give one hell of a Motivational Speech to the kiddos. If you spend a minute hyping them up to play, up to five nearby creatures get temporary HP and advantage on wisdom saves. Additionally, if a creature gets hit by an attack they gain advantage on their next attack roll. The spell lasts for an hour for each creature, or until their temporary HP is used up.

11. Sorcerer 9: Now that we have fifth level spell slots we have the perfect opportunity to test out that feat we got by using Cone of Cold, spraying out 8d8 cold damage in a 60' cone to each creature that fails a constitution save.

12. Sorcerer 10: At tenth level you get another metamagic option like Extended spells, which double the length of a spell. You might have infinite slots, but that's not excuse to be wasteful.

Now that you've spent plenty of time at summer camp you've probably learned how to Create Bonfire, creating a fire nearby filling a 5' cube. Any creature in the space when you cast the spell or that moves through the space needs to make a dexterity save or take fire damage.

You're also still clever enough to recall Legend Lore, letting you cast a 5th level spell over 10 minutes to learn lore of a legendary item, person, or place, where the more you know already increases the potency of the spell. Again, Illya's still smart, it's just not something she's focused on at the moment. She's had history classes. I assume. Admittedly I don't know that much about the Japanese school system, but still!

13. Sorcerer 11: Now that we have access to sixth level spells we can properly turn into a magical girl with Tasha's Otherworldly Guise. By harnessing the power of the upper planes, you become immune to radiant and necrotic damage, as well as the charmed condition. You also get a flying speed, another bonus to AC, and your weapons attacks are magical and can be used twice per action. We didn't pick up a pact blade this time, but if you want to use old-school Ruby now it's an option.

14. Sorcerer 12: Twelfth level sorcerers don't get a spell, but your Ability Score Improvement will make your spells stronger now that your Charisma is maxed out!

15. Sorcerer 13: Now we're getting into the big spells. Grab Prismatic Spray to blast your enemies with the biggest Splash Rainbow known to man, dealing 10d6 of various elemental splashes, or petrifying/banishing enemies in the way. If you want the rainbow with less randomness, use Transmuted spell to guarantee cold damage. Or the petrification and banishment. It's not a perfect replacement, but 6/8 times it's fine.

16. Sorcerer 14: If you'd rather not use spells to turn into a magical girl, your Angelic Form aught to keep you airborne. It gives you a slightly slower flying speed, but they last until you don't want them and they don't take a sixth level slot.

17. Sorcerer 15: This level is where you would get an eighth level spell... If I liked any of them. I don't, so grab Fizban's Platinum Shield instead for your own protection. You get a bonus to your AC, resistance to elemental damage, and have evasion. You can also pass this to other creatures, if you want to be a team player.

18. Sorcerer 16: Use your last ASI to become Resilient with Constitution saves, giving you proficiency in them and also rounding out your constitution score for an extra 18 HP. No point spending all your magic on a water gun if it just falls out of your hands when you take damage.

19. Sorcerer 17: Seventeenth level sorcerers get one last metamagic option, and Distant spells will help you become a proper archer by doubling the range of your spells.

With access to ninth level spells, you can finally use the most powerful water gun in the world! Transmute Meteor Swarm and blast entire cities with tons of cold and bludgeoning damage, an-

Oh. Okay. I guess Mass Heal is a good option too. You can hand out up to 700 hit points as you wish, and any creatures who get hp from this spell also is cured of all disease and are un-blinded and deafened.

20. Sorcerer 18: Our last level of sorcery doesn’t net you any new spells, but your Unearthly Recovery is still pretty useful. If you’re at half HP or lower you can regain half your max HP as a bonus action once a day! It stinks that we didn’t get any invincibility like in your kit, but your healing factor should more than make up the difference.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Having infinite spell slots is always a plus on a caster, especially on a caster that is both healing the party and dealing damage. Also, while this isn't in it's own category it's worth mentioning you have much more health than your usual self, so you can stay in the fight much longer.

You're also practically immune to failure, re-rolling 1s and adding up to 2d4 to anything else, with advantage from either Magical Guidance or Enhance Ability. If you set out to do something, odds are it's getting done.

Flight on a caster is always amazing, especially blaster casters with distant spell and ways to mess with enemies' movement. Zip around the field, knock people 40' back into pits or whatever, fun for the whole family.

Cons:

Actually getting those infinite spell slots is a nightmare, since you only get 2 points per short rest. That's four hours of rest for a single fifth level spell slot.

Plus, we didn't even pick up Greater Restoration (though you could replace Tasha's Guise with that after you get your wings), so you can't even avoid the fatigue that comes with staying up so late! I mean yeah it's not a school night, but that's going to catch up with you!

...You're short, so your walking speed is lower? I don't know what to tell you. You fly so you basically ignore regular combat, and you're protected from elemental damage with Fizban's Shield. Just don't get eaten by a dragon and you're fine.

[thepnictogenwing]

Fictive departments within The Pnictogen Wing! the number’s growing all the time....

CW: allusions to severe child abuse and medical trauma

We are a very fictive-heavy system, here in The Pnictogen Wing, and it’s likely that we have numerous fictives from fictional Universes that we visited all the way back to our earliest childhood. Our human host unfortunately suffered from a profound and prolonged state of dissociation all through childhood into adulthood, thanks to severe and repeated abuse at the hands of parents and a certain pediatrician to whom their parents seem to have...given over their child to be tamed. Chara says that they remember their childhood as though it were viewed through a pinhole, or as if seen and felt through a veil. They were numb, experiencing things that they did not understand. The only things that made sense were some of the things they read and saw on television. It was, however, Toby Fox’s “Undertale” that supplied us with a central sense of identity. Chara bonded first, and for some years they were the only fictive of importance in the system. The complex and confusing year of 2019 brought Frisk and myself into the system, as well as our first “Fate/” fictive, Emiya Shirou. Later events brought in more “Undertale” fictives, Kris from “Deltarune”, and in addition I realized that I was myself a subsystem made of up of four parts at least: myself as a “healed” Asriel Dreemurr, Flowey the Flower as my alter ego, Prince Ralsei of “Deltarune”, and a shadowy and extremely shy “Deltarune” version of myself. Also we added many more “Fate/” fictives. Shirou’s sister Illyasviel von Einzbern emerged in our system. Matou Sakura and her Servant and girlfriend Medusa of Sarpedon joined, as did Medea of Colchis—all from a continuity that seems to merge elements of “Fate/stay night” with “Tonight’s Menu with the Emiya Family”. From “Fate/Zero” we acquired Artoria Pendragon. From “Fate/Apocrypha” we acquired Artoria’s son Mordred, Chevalier Astolfo, Atalante, Jack the Ripper (very peeved at her offensive “Fate/” depiction), and most importantly Jeanne d’Arc, who became Chara’s confessor. (Chara’s background, like Jeanne’s, is Catholic.) Merlin and La da Vinci have been lurking from time to time. And it’s likely there are more Heroic Spirits who are hoping that we will address their problems.

Akemi Homura, Kaname Madoka, and Sakura Kyoko arrived from the world of “Madoka Magica”. Mae Borowski turned up from “Night in the Woods”. All three Wiggin children arrived from the world of “Ender’s Game” (and all three changed their surnames within days). Orual from C. S. Lewis’s “Till We Have Faces” and Winston Smith from Orwell’s “1984″ turned up...and one of our older members turned out to be a fictive as well, our faithful unicorn headmate Duo (formerly “Mono”), who as it turned out was connected to Charles Williams’s strange novel “The Place of the Lion”.

It’s far from over. The total number of fictives we host may be in the thousands, at least, and we need to figure out how we are to deal with them and resolve their tensions. All of them are hoping we can help them somehow. What with? In many cases, we don’t yet know.

~ Pastor Asriel Dreemurr of Pnictogen

[theabyssalmuses-archived]

Headcanon time - Ibaraki Douji ! 

Ibaraki....has a few issues in regards to ‘Child Servants’ . 

To be blunt and overly simplify- She hates them.  Not in a ‘I’m going to kill you’ type of way either, but in a deep rooted- almost unexplained hatred that she can’t quite explain. Seeing them happy, or enjoying themselves. She feels anger, but she is not so heartless as to direct it toward the children themselves. 

To be more specific- What she feels is not exactly ‘hatred’, but Jealousy. Ibaraki Douji’s upbringing was...not..really very good. And when I say that, I really mean it. Let me put it into perspective. 

Oni are brutal, bloodthirsty creatures at heart. Naturally, an Oni upbringing would easily kill a human child. And yet, even with these standards, The way Ibaraki’s mother treated her was deep in the scale of ‘Heavy Abuse’.  (Honestly, It’s a wonder she survived.)  

Now older, she is deeply affected by this upbringing. Persistent on being ‘a true oni’ as her mother wished her to be, but... she never really ‘grew up’ properly. This is why she’s so attached to Shuten, and also why her personality is so ...volatile. It’s the reason behind her more ‘childish’ nature..because she is childish...but still an Oni. She feels jealous at other children for having a ‘childhood’ where she did not. She is jealous that they do not receive harsh beatings, and that they are not beaten within an inch of their life.

But she knows that this too, is bad. She feels she should not feel jealous for such a thing. They are children, and thus should not experience such cruelty. And thus she hates herself for these feelings. Truly, A vicious cycle. 

HOWEVER.

There is but one thing that she hates even more.  

For these children to be in distress, or in pain, or upset... This is what Ibaraki Douji hates even more. Any- ANY- who would cause such suffering to children will find themselves subject to Ibaraki’s wrath she should witness it. 

To see this reminds her of her own childhood- spurring her into a true Berserker Rage, she will likely project her own feelings toward her mother onto whoever commited such an act- (and it’s safe to say, Ibaraki does not like her mother one bit. She hates her even more than she hates Raikou.) The ending for that will not be pretty, it’s unlikely even Shuten could calm her down- (or even..if Shuten caused it, weather Ibaraki would hold back at all...) 2 command seals would have to be used- 1 would simply not be strong enough to stop her in this instance.

To top this all off...Ibaraki is unaware of most of these facts. All she knows is that seeing child servants (and indeed just children) makes her uneasy, and she’ll usually avoid them if she can. 

Servants that qualify include: 

- Abigail Williams  - Illyasviel von Einzbern - Sitonai  - Jack the Ripper  - Nursery Rhyme  - Hans Christian Andersen (look at him ! ) - Paul Bunyan  - Kid Gil - Mochizuki chiyome - Medusa (Lily)  Im sure you get the picture by now. 

TL;DR Ibaraki has a dislike for children but if any harm comes to them before her she will obliterate whatever caused it with all her strength,

[tinyholygrail]

Truth: How about sharing one of your most embarrassing childhood memories? Dare: Force at least 3 servants to eat your food.

Let’s Play a truth or dare: Send a Question AND a dare. My muse HAS to choose between them.

Caster scoffed. “Ha! The joke’s on you, because I don’t even have any embarrassing…childhood…memories…” Actually…wait a minute…there were probably a few things that could be construed as embarrassing, that she’d rather people not know about…and hadn’t she seen some Servant versions of her parents walking around? They could probably come up with stories aplenty if she said she didn’t have any, and she really couldn’t have that.

She had her reputation to protect, or, well, the reputation that all of how many Servants that actually knew she even existed in Chaldea, those that wouldn’t mix her up with her other self anyways, being that they had the same name and Servant class. So, it seemed she’d have to convince some other Servants to eat something she’d made. She still had some ‘cookies’ left over from her previous attempt, and it wasn’t like they were rock-hard or anything, so they were probably still edible!

Now it was just a matter of finding some Servants she could successfully convince to actually bite into the cookies she offered them. Well. That was easier said than done, but she’d still do her best so as to avoid retelling anything unfortunate. Let it never be said that Illyasviel von Einzbern wouldn’t commit to something once she’d said she’d do it!

She’d only have to find three Servants that were kind-minded enough to consider that refusing her offer would make her unhappy, and thus make themselves eat at least a bite to appease her. And there were so many Servants in Chaldea that it shouldn’t take too much to find at least three who would be willing to try some cookies, even if they looked like lumps of charcoal.

And so, Caster set off to find some Servants willing to volunteer themselves to the cause. Whether or not there happened to be any food poisoning incidents afterwards among the Servants of Chaldea absolutely couldn’t be connected with that choice, definitely not. 

[voidfragments]

illya huffs and pouts even as she lets her mother wrap her up in a blanket and accepts a hot cup of tea from her. holding the cup in gloved hands, she lets the heat soak through the knitted material, warming her frozen fingers, before taking a sip to warm herself from the inside as well.

tragically, while it eases the cold, it does not ease her indignation.

"even you can't beat him?!" color her shocked! kiritsugu may be good, sure, but she always thought irisviel must be even better! a moment later, her eyes light up at irisviel's suggestion. "what games does he not know how to play? or should we make up our own, like our chestnut spotting game?"

One could say it was mother's intuition, but really it was just Illya and Kiristugu tend to spend around the same amount of time outside before they would return to the castle. Iri waited near the grand entry way with tea and a pile of blankets and extra cups so her two favorite people could warm up when they returned.

Hearing the doors open, she jumped, eyes wide and blinking as she stood up and walked a bit closer to the doors, moving onto her knees with arms wide open to offer the chance of a warm blanket.

"If only it was that easy little one. Even I haven't won a game against him yet." she said with a sympathetic smile. "We just need to find our own game to master before we let him join us." she joked.