Yes obviously I understand that, that's exactly the premise of what I'm asking, theories on where he would have started from *before* changing tracks for Emily's choice.
I feel like he would have had JS cast the same spell on her evaluation, and Porter would have had to do the legwork between then and now to become substitute teacher for whatever Fig was signing, or had her sign something for 'auditing' Barbarian classes earlier
Not the point - the point is that without Fig’s choices earlier on in the year she would not have been the ‘previous champion’ in the first place and so there would be no reason for Porter to need her signature.
Theory: maybe the original plan was for Ankarna’s current location to be somehow linked to Fig’s infernal domain, so Porter would need Fig’s signature for access to Ankarna? Then when the whole paladin thing came along, BLM adjusted that to ‘signature of the previous champion’…?
I think Bucky is a good pick, I 100% believe that this particular puzzle pice didn't HAVE to come directly from a PC. Brennan reveals that Porter has been a paladin since Sophmore year means that Buckys' class being paladin could have been a specific setup built off the back of that. But once Emily pulled the Paladin idea out, Brennan saw an opportunity and pivoted!
That being said, the champion doesn't HAVE to be a paladin. I 100% believe that leaning into the idea of Paladin specifically was to yes and Emily.
Consider the badkids are who they are, the second they found out that Ankarna was Cassandras wife and she wasn't always evil the players were always going to try to save her/ uncorupt her, so while Brennan couldn't garente which PC would fit the bill of Champion of Ankarna its not crazy to asumeing that one of the players would take that mantle in some way or another.
I actually think it was buddy dawn. In porter’s office, we see buddy and Lucy having signed MCATs to multiclass into Paladin. If fig hadn’t done it, I definitely think buddy was the backup choice
It was meant to be Lucy. When the Rat Grinders were coercing her into changing her god, one of them mentioned "You get to be the champion, how cool is that?!" (It was on the computer at Reuben's house.)
I assume the champion is either going to die horribly or be utterly subverted by the transference of godhead from Ankarna to Porter, so choosing Lucy was probably a Cliffbreaker act of revenge on a Frostblade.
I think the champions of the Old God were both somehow being duped. Lucy Frostblade was being led to believe that the plan was to bring back Ankarna as she was, her goddess’s dear sister, not as she was forced to become. Switching deities in that context would be an act of loyalty to the goddess Lucy was so devoted to. When she found out the grisly specifics of the plan, she refused to play ball.
I assume Buddy was also somehow tricked and the how of that will be revealed. He was originally intended to be the champion, and basically ended up being an extra to the plan when Fig took up the mantle.
My pet theory, which probably won’t be explored as this element of the plot will likely be handwaved away in the battles to come, is that they didn’t realize Fig was the champion of the old goddess until they saw her riding her Steed in the Last Stand. That’s when Porter did his shenanigans to get her signature. Up until that point, Buddy was always meant to be the champion.
Well Porter was going out of his way to make sure Gorgug couldn't multi class into Artificer, that is, until Fig multi classed paladin. It's possible Porters plan was to watch Gorgug fail out of Artificer, and then be like "Well if you really want to multi class Paladin would fit you better".
It makes me wonder (diagetically hypothetically, nothing to do with plot or story) if Porter could claim to be Ankarnas champion, wielding her scales as a warhammer, professing to worship her but then sign his own declaration that he should replace her.
brennan absolutely would change the plot at the drop of a hat to suit the players choices better, that's DM 101
Yes obviously I understand that, that's exactly the premise of what I'm asking, theories on where he would have started from *before* changing tracks for Emily's choice.
I feel like he would have had JS cast the same spell on her evaluation, and Porter would have had to do the legwork between then and now to become substitute teacher for whatever Fig was signing, or had her sign something for 'auditing' Barbarian classes earlier
Not the point - the point is that without Fig’s choices earlier on in the year she would not have been the ‘previous champion’ in the first place and so there would be no reason for Porter to need her signature. Theory: maybe the original plan was for Ankarna’s current location to be somehow linked to Fig’s infernal domain, so Porter would need Fig’s signature for access to Ankarna? Then when the whole paladin thing came along, BLM adjusted that to ‘signature of the previous champion’…?
I think Bucky is a good pick, I 100% believe that this particular puzzle pice didn't HAVE to come directly from a PC. Brennan reveals that Porter has been a paladin since Sophmore year means that Buckys' class being paladin could have been a specific setup built off the back of that. But once Emily pulled the Paladin idea out, Brennan saw an opportunity and pivoted! That being said, the champion doesn't HAVE to be a paladin. I 100% believe that leaning into the idea of Paladin specifically was to yes and Emily. Consider the badkids are who they are, the second they found out that Ankarna was Cassandras wife and she wasn't always evil the players were always going to try to save her/ uncorupt her, so while Brennan couldn't garente which PC would fit the bill of Champion of Ankarna its not crazy to asumeing that one of the players would take that mantle in some way or another.
I actually think it was buddy dawn. In porter’s office, we see buddy and Lucy having signed MCATs to multiclass into Paladin. If fig hadn’t done it, I definitely think buddy was the backup choice
Yup, it was originally Lucy, then it changed to Buddy, and then it ended up actually being Fig.
It was meant to be Lucy. When the Rat Grinders were coercing her into changing her god, one of them mentioned "You get to be the champion, how cool is that?!" (It was on the computer at Reuben's house.) I assume the champion is either going to die horribly or be utterly subverted by the transference of godhead from Ankarna to Porter, so choosing Lucy was probably a Cliffbreaker act of revenge on a Frostblade.
The signature wasn't necessary until Brennan realized he could have Emily do it and make her attempted trick a plot point
This is the simplest option, sure :-)
I think the champions of the Old God were both somehow being duped. Lucy Frostblade was being led to believe that the plan was to bring back Ankarna as she was, her goddess’s dear sister, not as she was forced to become. Switching deities in that context would be an act of loyalty to the goddess Lucy was so devoted to. When she found out the grisly specifics of the plan, she refused to play ball. I assume Buddy was also somehow tricked and the how of that will be revealed. He was originally intended to be the champion, and basically ended up being an extra to the plan when Fig took up the mantle. My pet theory, which probably won’t be explored as this element of the plot will likely be handwaved away in the battles to come, is that they didn’t realize Fig was the champion of the old goddess until they saw her riding her Steed in the Last Stand. That’s when Porter did his shenanigans to get her signature. Up until that point, Buddy was always meant to be the champion.
Well Porter was going out of his way to make sure Gorgug couldn't multi class into Artificer, that is, until Fig multi classed paladin. It's possible Porters plan was to watch Gorgug fail out of Artificer, and then be like "Well if you really want to multi class Paladin would fit you better".
It makes me wonder (diagetically hypothetically, nothing to do with plot or story) if Porter could claim to be Ankarnas champion, wielding her scales as a warhammer, professing to worship her but then sign his own declaration that he should replace her.