The other five was not including the five taken by Kra. I'm saying that if the essence cannot be distributed to any other birds, Squacks will take the five essence Kra is not taking.
In combat there were six attacks in the ambush round. In the roundup, there are four corpses and two living birds. Only six birds engaged in combat, leaving the three scouts. I intended to fight with seven, but unclear orders lead to there being only six present.. natural enough for war, really.
I thought there were nine total. Seven regulars, Kra, and Squacks.
If I can help it, I'd rather not waste the asset of an instant heal and respec from a transformation when I have nobody to fight. As a stage 0 creature, I am worth less than a stage 1 or higher would be for someone attacking me, and a creature might well overestimate chances of winning a fight with a badly-wounded stage 0 creature, and be readily beatable by a level 1 creature geared to win that fight.
In any case, I intend to fight almost exclusively higher-stage creatures than myself, and will try to direct upgrades to allow me to engage them successfully. Either they will let me steal essence from their kills, or they will make risky engagements with creatures that are worth very little essence and are disproportionately dangerous to fight.
Here's, for instance, what I might pick as a transformation.
These are not orders, I haven't decided yet. I would like to hear your opinion, though.Name : Squacks
Species :
Appearance :
HP or MP increase : MP
Attributes increased : Str +1
Traits gained : Flier -> Acrobatic Flyer. Wings are agile and capable of swift movement, allowing constitution defense rolls to be rolled on strength dice instead of con dice. Maybe a small speed boost?
Slashing Claws: -> long ones with blade profiles instead of more common dagger points, well suited for blows delivered at high relative speed, or in passing.
Skills gained : Spell Resistance. Costs MP. (Aiming for a spell worthy of a 15MP casting cost.) Provides some protection against MP-using skills, be it extra resistance or making opposing skills occasionally fail to affect the target at all.
Hit and Run. Can attack and attempt to disengage, preventing a follow-up attack by the target. Cannot be used on first turn after it was last used successfully.
Actual orders are,
If transformation is required in order to not-die, do it. If it's not, take the essence and leave the battlefield. Keep at least 2 essence for myself, and if possible, divide the essence beyond that between the remaining scouts that didn't fight. Then proceed in the direction of the migration, remaining in hiding as much as possible.