Ideas for challenge runs

[AxelVDP]

Recently I've been wanting to do a new run, but base lunatic is too easy/boring, what are some interesting limitations I could abide to to make the run more fun?

I don't really want to limit divine pulses though, they are very useful to make everything less stressful

I was thinking something like a no extra recruits no monastery run (no dlc/online stuff too obviously), but ehh I kinda enjoyed the customization that the monastery offers so I'm not sure

I'd do a no growth run if I had a modded switch but sadly I cannot

[LoneStar]

Maybe all unique classes so no 5 Wyvern Lords. I'm not too sure on what limitations to enforce that don't make the game too tedious. Maybe try some gimmicks like Magic Bow Sniper Hanneman/Mecedes/Hubert, I was enlightened to Holy Knight Bernie the other day.

[lenticular]

One idea I've been toying with for a while is what I am thinking of as a Boar Prince run. Play as the Blue Lions. At the start of each of your turns, before doing anything else, you must have Dimitri attack whatever enemy is closest to him. If there are no enemies within his range, you must move him his maximum movement towards the closest enemy. You get to choose what attack he does (what weapon, whether he uses a combat art, etc.) and which unit he goes after if two are equally as close, but otherwise you treat him as an NPC, and have everyone else trying to keep up with him and keep him alive. Optionally, you may also want to ban batallion wrath/vantage, since it would probably make things fairly trivial after you get them both.

I've never tried this so don't know how hard or how interesting it would be.

[vikingsfan92]

One thing I kind of like doing is using the type of weaponry they are not as good at. Things like mage Petra or Lysethia in a non magic class.

[TheChoZenOne]

I been streaming a Divine Pulseless run. Its actually do-able if played effectively. Its an amazing challenge so far!!

Edited August 2, 2020 by TheChoZenOne

[AxelVDP]

11 hours ago, TheChoZenOne said:

I been streaming a Divine Pulseless run. Its actually do-able if played effectively. Its an amazing challenge so far!!

I do believe you can have fun with it, but I honestly don't want to be stressed out by having to always remember ambush spawns locations and never being able to try risky plays

13 hours ago, vikingsfan92 said:

One thing I kind of like doing is using the type of weaponry they are not as good at. Things like mage Petra or Lysethia in a non magic class.

 

15 hours ago, LoneStar said:

Maybe all unique classes so no 5 Wyvern Lords. I'm not too sure on what limitations to enforce that don't make the game too tedious. Maybe try some gimmicks like Magic Bow Sniper Hanneman/Mecedes/Hubert, I was enlightened to Holy Knight Bernie the other day.

I like these 2 suggestions but I think I'd need monastery to make them really work

[Graveless]

Make each character work on their weaknesses primarily and neutrals secondarily.

I've been doing this with: Punch MAge Claude, Armor Knight Lysithea, etc. No boon skills for anyone. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Don't spend any gold.

When weapons break, they break. When batallions collapse, they're gone. You can use teas, gifts, seeds, etc. that you get from exploring or quests, but can't buy any more. Same with Seals. Up to you if you want to allow weapons from glowing spots on the ground. Also if you want to use the Pagan Altar, but I'd suggest against it.

I imagine most of your army would be made up of magic-users, with Authority being a less-important stat than usual, due to limited batallions. Recruiting new students and faculty will be nice for the weapons and Seals. Not sure if this is even beatable on Maddening, I might try it on Hard sometime.

[MasterJP28]

Bare bones FE... One promotion per character, no abilities or arts, no divine pulse, main cast of the house you choose only, no battalions and gambits, and whatever else sounds good.

[vikingsfan92]

9 hours ago, AxelVDP said:

I do believe you can have fun with it, but I honestly don't want to be stressed out by having to always remember ambush spawns locations and never being able to try risky plays

 

I like these 2 suggestions but I think I'd need monastery to make them really work

Tbh once you get to the initial starting point you get a fair amount of exp for weapon  skills just playing the game.  And alot of the exp you get for weapons is on the weekends on non-activity point days and you can pretty much set goals and forget it mostly and use auto instruct.

Edited August 3, 2020 by vikingsfan92

[whase]

I love doing challenge runs and have too many ideas.

I have done:
- Autoplay challenge; You may only touch Byleth, then have the rest of your students make their own decision using autoplay. You can still teach them whatever and do what you want in the monastery. But in battle they have to think for themselves. Reposition is a lifesaver here.
- Class-only playthroughs: Pick a class-line (ex: soldier-cavalier-paladin) all your units may only use these classes. (I've done sorcerer, paladin, bow knight, dark knight and mortal savant)
- No-monastery: Start of the month, skip to the mission. (Though you already said you're not interested.)

Planning on doing:
- Punching PT: Only weapons I can use are gauntlets. If this isn't challenging enough, the moment I can I will change this to everybody can only fight barehanded. (Also plan to use Hanneman because that sounds hilarious and very useful for next NG+.)
- Weakness PT: Everybody can only use what they are bad at. (Which also means no Ingrid) I'm looking forward to bishop Edelgard, brawler Marianne and mage Alois.
- Everybody dies: I've done this for almost every other FE, everybody who doesn't make you go game-over has to die asap. I do wonder how the dialogue changes if you play that badly, but currently I'm still too attached to these characters to let them die. This plan will have to wait.

[Barren]

Maybe do a no master class run? That way it prevents you from using Falcon Knights and Wyvern Lords. If you want fliers, you'll be resorting to use Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Riders. So it's either you get a weapon faire or avoid +10 on a flier and not both.

I think that can be a feasible challenge because it might encourage more fortress knights of the like

[AxelVDP]

Thank you all for your inputs,  in the end I think I'll do a maddening Silver Snow minimal monastery run (enough to recruit Manuela, Hanneman and Shamir, no other recruits aside from them)

[Barren]

7 hours ago, AxelVDP said:

Thank you all for your inputs,  in the end I think I'll do a maddening Silver Snow minimal monastery run (enough to recruit Manuela, Hanneman and Shamir, no other recruits aside from them)

You'll also get Catherine, Cyril and Seteth as well. Anyways best of luck!

[AxelVDP]

16 hours ago, Barren said:

You'll also get Catherine, Cyril and Seteth as well. Anyways best of luck!

those are automatic recruits iirc, the 3 I mentioned can be missed

ty

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

7 hours ago, AxelVDP said:

those are automatic recruits iirc, the 3 I mentioned can be missed

ty

Interestingly enough, Shamir can't be missed - if not recruited, she auto-joins at the same time as Catherine, Cyril, and Seteth. I didn't want to recruit her on current (SS) playthrough, because I wanted every character to be unrecruited on at least one of my first four playthroughs, but... alas.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
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