this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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Imaginary Witches

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Imaginary Witches

A community to share images of witches and any other witch adjacent characters like dark summoners, necromancers or mages with a witchy vibe.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The bristles have a locking mechanism between it and the butt of the rifle. So it's detachable.

I assume firing while flying is a 'last resort' type of combat, and not the intended use case for this kit. If the rifle wasn't chibified, it could be made long enough the stability of the butt would be done by the users thighs, right hand on the trigger, and left hand on the barrel/grip. You'd need a secondary sight at the end of the barrel to account for this pose, or some sort of magical version of it.

Looks like this is less of a skirmishing frontline kit and more of a mobile stealth / sniper setup, where the witch goes around finding a good spot and getting set up to fight before rapidly leaving. Take the hat off for reloading, then quickly reattach the bristles and put on the hat before breaking contact and flying away.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Ah you're right that there does seem to be an attachment locking mechanism for the broom head.

(Some day I'll get glasses. Someday.)

So... I suppose that makes sense if the broom head is required for flight mode.

As far riding the thing... yeah, I too did not figure it would be intended to be fired while mounted... I guess yes if it was drawn differently, you could sit on the butt stock.

...

As far as combat role?

I think it would more accurately be described as a skirmisher... a sort of individualized light air cavalry, if used en masse.

Without assuming the use of magic to cloak your visual appearance, I don't really see this as stealth.

Sure, flying around on a broom is typically depicted as silent, but its highly visible.

IRL snipers typically make use of terrain and extensive camoflauge to stay totally undetected, they're usually inserted far from their target or AOE and then move on foot, in as much cover/concealment as possible, do the mission, then back to an extraction point.

Huge emphasis on stealth within the AOE, and I do not see a flying person as hugely stealthy without the use of some kind of visual cloaking magic.

The primary advantage of using the broom here appears to be that you basically condense pilot/driver and soldier into the same person, as well as the weapon and vehicle into the samw thing, thus you don't have the long distance between insertion/extraction area/method and actual AOE.

To me, the most comparable thing I can think of would be something like light infantry mounted on bicycles or motorcycles.

I see this as a kind of mobile, lightly armed (not much ammo) and lightly armored infantry(wo)man, optimal for skirmishing in that she can speedily insert and retreat, and that this kind of attack can be easily scaled, as each soldier just comes with their own means of transit, which presumably has 0 or very little logistical upkeep and maintenance demands.

Also, without some kind of magical bullet aiming or magical vision / optics... not really even a marks(wo)man, in my book. She just has a standard rifle.

...

As for taking off the hat... this did not occur to me rofl.

Soldiers are generally trained not to remove their helmets in combat zones... but this ultimately derives from their protective abilities.

What if the hat is enchanted to repel attacks?

Or if it must be worn in order to fly the broom?

I have no idea, but it just seems like a chest bandolier would be more practical, perhaps a waist bandolier would work better with the given battle dress.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

I do like your skirmisher motorcycle analogy. That does seem the most likely.

There is also a bullet magic grimoir, which is explicitely included in the kit. The character very likely has some sort of aim/damage/range bonuses that get applied during combat, if not outright magic missile levels of targeting.

If the kit is for skirmishing though while staying mobile; yeah. Bullet hat is dumb.