It is something of an irony that the Inquisitor has no infiltration capacity whereas the cleric can at least pull off a decent "Yeah, I'm the cleaning crew" bluff.
I'm working on it. I just had silly knowledges I had to get first. I swear I'll get it next level.
Erugh....I think I need to take a few days off. I just read over everything from the start of this arc again and I'm, frankly, confused as all hell as to what's going on. Lousy week, including being sick and having to deal with a bunch of inconsiderate jerks at work.
For once I have followed the plot well and know what I want to do, but seem to be locked out of doing anything. I feel sidelined and punished. It was my initiative to get us in (but not my bluff check, I know). But then I was sorta tossed aside. I even have a diplomacy skill to use.
o_o; I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't know you had Diplomacy!
Don't sweat it, Rosa. I totally get the getting worn out and confused thing; you're doing fine.
So far the AP's mechanics seem to set us up for splits; GM, is that just the way this thing runs, or are there ways to rectify that?
It's not really set up that way, just more how you guys are approaching things. Each of these 'missions' are pretty open to multiple solutions.
o_o; I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't know you had Diplomacy!
We Urban Barbarians are quite social :)
Let's get through that damn door, Segang.
We gotta work on you guys' 10 round patience limit. Gonna start drugging you all before we go scout ... ala B.A. Baracus.
You gonna spike our milk now? And for the record, I was content on waiting for you guys to do your thing.
Its true. Segang is very bad at waiting. Melianthe may be worse. :)
"Sun burn this, Segang, we're going inside," growls Melianthe. She wanders off, casting Mage Armor. After a moment, she walks to the edge of the gangplank, some distance from the guard, with an innocent expression, and then Sleep Hexes him.
Whoa! I read only one guard present.
You talked to one guard, but there are more present. No one asked for further details, but in the original Eel's End post, it was inferred.
In that case....noooo, Melianthe will not hex a guard only to anger another and raise alarm.
Well, you did say we could find other solutions, and our stealth people are also our face people (although we have a good Intimidate crew outside)...anyhow, suggestions, Demitria and Segang?
Not really. We could try to bully our way in, but that could make things worse.
"Who are you and who do you work for?"
"We're the people who work for the people willing to pay you."
Heh heh heh. I love that line. ^^
Trying to play Segand's impatience as a growing thing and give the group a chance to intervene - Demitri caught on immediately. :) He will likely only stomp around and look unhappy unless he hears trouble or one of the guards takes notice of him and pokes him.
And then he would try to intimidate to get in and only attack if he was attacked or if he knew his friends were attacked. So unless one of those things happen Segang has to let Absinthe roll.
I see it with Segang, it was Mel that surprised me!
Maybe she really should multiclass into Barbarian... ;)
Re.: Megatron vs. Galvatron...
I liked Megatron. His design was that of a warrior robot. In comparison, Galvatron looked... weird. His legs looked as though he was wearing boots, and his head had those crown-shaped projections. Megatron looked like a soldier, Galvatron looked kind of like a robot emperor.
Their transformations...
Galvatron became a cannon. Sure, good for him. But Megatron, the leader of all Decepticons, became a handgun that had to be wielded by another Transformer. This despite the fact that he was the leader of the evil Transformers; he had to trust his underlings to wield him wisely and responsibly.
Megatron didn't transform often, and it was something special when he did; you knew his handgun form was powerful and dangerous. Galvatron's cannon and arm-gun were too powerful. Depending on the writing, he could blast whole planets in one go.
The insanity. People have said that Megatron was borderline crazy, what with the convoluted plans, but he was lucid and he didn't bash around his own troops unless they really ticked him off. Galvatron was just a ticking time bomb 24/7, and he disdained even basic strategy. His idea of a battle was to charge in blasting and to keep blasting until all enemies - and often, allies - were dust. Or until he got his butt kicked.
Megatron had subtlety that Galvatron lacked. Subtlety and style. It was dark, dirty and evil style, but he had it. I would have paid to see an episode where someone extracted Megatron's base programming (insert other relevant techno-babble) from Galvatron and put it into a new Megatron body. He probably wouldn't have been able to win a direct confrontation, but I bet old Megs would have plotted circles around Galvatron, not to mention most of the Decepticons would have tripped over their own feet in their rush to join his team.
On a totally unrelated note, a wikipedia article on Megatron suggested that his name is a contraction of " Ó mega therion", "the great beast". Biblical references aside, that is pretty venom...
Agree with all of the above... Megatron was a megalomaniac but still plotted and planned; Galvatron was just b%&&!&* crazy and a complete sociopath. He was okay in the movie, but nuts in the subsequent TV shows... so (assuming it was deliberate), the mental snap probably happened when Unicron died.
Also, I'm pretty sure Megatron is just a techy word mash-up. Tron = robot, Mega = 1,000,000x
Galvatron became more effective after he got hit with the big blast of Matrix-energy, though. His last caper was much more in keeping with the standard that Megatron had set for his most successful plans.
You know, apart from the bit where he almost bought it because the Autobots still on Cybertron managed to ambush him and caught him in a crossfire and he just stood there instead of trying to flee.
Come to think of it, there was one episode where I liked nutball Galvatron: weave world. He showed his very few virtues; determination and endurance. Of course they were polluted by pride, but Galvatron showed that if he was subjected to the right kind of pressure, he could actually be brave and refuse to give up, no matter what.
I think that maybe Torkulon did briefly improve his mental state by funnelling off some of his excess madness. Unfortunately, as Cyclonus said, he probably fried some circuits getting to the planet's core and Whoops! Mr. Axe-Crazy was back. Such a shame.
The finest slice of dialogue from that episode:
Cyclonus: "It knows what we're doing, it's trying to stop us!"
Galvatron: "You cannot stop me. I am Galvatron! I am your destruction!"
Cyclonus: "He is crazy."
In tvtropes terms, I'd personally cast Megatron as the Big Bad... and Galvatron as a miscast Brute.
In D&D/Pathfinder terms, Megatron is a Fighter, possibly with ranks in the Commander PrC, but Galvatron is a Barbarian, who should be in the Frenzied Berserker PrC as quickly as possible.
And now, I am going to stop ranting about Transformers so I can get some sleep. ^^ It's a shame, because I was having fun doing it. :p
I've found plenty of biblical references in Transformers so that doesn't surprise me. And I hated that Megatron became a handgun. It just seemed so weak that he had to have his minions wield him. Yes, he was more subtle and that has its own merit, but I liked the unpredictable crazy Galvatron. And you make a good point about weave world, it showed that just bring it attitude that I liked, and of course Galvatron was the one who finally had the sense to end Starscream.
Sense? In my opinion, that was one of his biggest mistakes! ;)
When Starscream was around, Megatron always knew who'd be involved with any plot to bring him down, and he could smack Starscream around easily, thus discouraging others who might like to try the same and steadily weakening Starscream's position.
Also, when Starscream wasn't trying to take over, he could be brutally efficient.
What Galvatron did, was remove an asset in battle and the big lightning rod he could have used to deflect his minions' discontent later in his career.
Of course, that is just my opinion.
Don't get me wrong, I love Starscream too. But why would you keep someone around that is always trying to undermine you? Letting him live showed more weakness than anything. He betrayed him enough times to get his own TV trope! I do agree that he was brutally efficient one of my favorite characters, but at some point one has to be fed up with being betrayed all the time.
You beat me in Transformers trivia! I've got the episodes on DVD but haven't watched them in years. I'm a huge fan of the new game, though... very G1 feel with a ton of easter eggs and references.
I always liked Starscream, but he was so much wasted energy. If he'd spent half as much vs the autobots than on plots vs Megatron, they would have gotten rolled years ago.
I f!$$ing hate Starscream. I did a little dance when he died. I could watch that on repeat forever.
But it matters not, they were all secretly manipulated by the greatest Decepticon of all time, Soundwave.
I once had a nightmare where Soundwave essentially tried to skin me alive. o_o He was darkly awesome, though.
Oh, boy. ^^ 'Atlantis, Arise' has it all. Buzzsaw puts in multiple appearances, Starscream actually comes through for his side, and Megatron and Grimlock duke it out mano a mano!
All right, I'm ba...*Looks around.*
what.
All of you make me feel old. That's all I'm saying.
Why? Are you a Gobots fan?
What I am saying is that Transformers were something my kids watched. lol
So what do you remember watching when you were their age? *honestly curious*
The Andy Griffith show?
I guess the equivalent was shows like Untraman - anyone ever see that? I remember liking Speed Racer too. What else... I think I was 16 when Star Wars came out.
Andy Griffith was in reruns even when I was a kid. :)
Oh, there was this show that was part live actors and part animation on Sunday nights when I was a little kid. It was further adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It rocked.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062593/
Plot Summary for
"The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1968)
Huckleberry Finn and his friends, Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher, travel from one animated world to the next, always followed by the same villain, Injun Joe. The gimmick is that Huck, Tom, and Becky are live action characters and everything else is animated.
One night while taking a short cut through the cemetery, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher encounter Injun Joe, who has recently escaped from prison and seeks revenge on the three youths for their role in his imprisonment. While running from their mortal enemy, the trio run into a cave and somehow are drawn into a time warp and wind up bouncing from one time period and country after another and during their travels meet up with various incarnations of Injun Joe. Now the trio continually try to escape Joe while trying to find their way home
I watched Speed Racer as a very very small child. Watched it again as I got older and went through a depression period where I was horribly disappointed in my childhood because of it.
Do we actually have enough money to pay for the information or do we have to go back and get more? o_o;
You dealt in plat for the info so we are fine. Can't afford the dragon. We recieved 250 gold and 100 plat which is a total of 1250 gold.
Drat. Poor little guy.
I am headed to a con this weekend where I am in charge of the PFS gaming. Leaving noon central time tomorrow and will be mostly off line for most of the weekend, but will try to check things during any down time.
No problem... sorry about the erratic update rate; work the last week or so has been tiring.
I'm not a board lurker, so forgive me if I'm not up to date on all the controversial rules arguments...
I can't find anywhere that says wearing gauntlets makes you "armed" and thus able to perform AoOs. The item description switches your punches to lethal damage, but are otherwise considered "unarmed". This is further supported by the spiked gauntlets, which specifically say you're attacks are "armed" with them. Both are from UE, which is (supposedly) the most recent source.
Well it's up to you. It's basically a free weapon attached to the armor. It's like wielding a shield in that respect. But its one of those things that the NPCs would realize that and should act accordingly. Either don't do things to not provoke or ask him to take his armor off. I mean knife games are less dangerous when you're well protected anyhow.
Agree with Demitri. I have played that you get an AOO with gaultlets. I am fine with it being your call. And Demitri certainly is right that the NPC would know how it works.
Edit- Looking more closely, I am not sure that that Segang does not provoke when he strikes as the gauntlet entry says it lets you do lethal damage but says its still an unarmed attack. The rule set is large enough and confusing enough that its hard to be an expert.
I agree with the confusing assessment...
After confirming it with a few forum explanations, I'll stick to the RAW: normal gauntlets don't make you "armed", and you'd draw AoO for attacking with them (without IUA).
I won't be a jerk and penalize Segang with an AoO for this round, but we'll use the above for future combat rounds. Cool?