Hot DM's Song of Silver (Inactive)

Game Master Hotaru of the Society

that's okay that it's not meatier... wouldn't want it to stray into the tldr range.

Now, with more imagined insecurities! :P

TL;DR can be a real problem. Like I said in my recruitment, less can be so much more, if you can focus on those aspects that are important to you. Yes, writing a ton can show me that you're a good writer if you're a great writer. But you can show me you're a great writer if you can communicate well with fewer words. (I'd rather read a modern young adult novel than Tolkien any day.)

As a DM it's a sort of balancing act. Spoilers help a lot, since I can call out important information that people catch (or don't) via spoilers. I can also try to put in a TL;DR of what happened at the end of a post, if you'd like.

@Kesin: Whooooops. Whoooooooooooooops. Okay, yeah. I guess I'll use my next turn to Martial Flexibility that proficiency.

Probably shoulda gone with a whip, then. But eh, either way Exotic proficiency is easier to flex than improved disarm.

On the topic of Message: Technically, nothing is said regarding how many times you can cast Message, though I have always used it in the way that you can only use it once, before you lose the previous casting (though that may not be intended). It just seems ridiculous that you could cast it on everyone and everything in a room, given a few minutes' time... even at level 1.

That in mind, I also treat it more as a conference call, than having to ask the operator to tell the other person something.

I'm open to discussion and even player veto on those things, though. :)

I've almost always had it adjudicated in my games either by the dm or by me when I am the dm, that it is single casting, like light spell, even though that is not RAW, and that you can only target one person per level per casting Iwhich is RAW), and can't change targets mid spell without recasting... but I am certainly open to however you want to call it for this game... esp. since Rakhel has the spell, I'd obviously like a looser ruling, lol. At higher lvls it won't matter so much of course.

Well, what I mean by conference call, is that you don't have to talk through the caster, but can instead talk directly to anyone that is linked.

At my home table, we kept it open, but each "call" only included the participants the caster choose. e.g. with 2 targets besides caster:
him + Lia + Rakhel,
him + Lia + Kesin,
him + Lia + Adonara
him + Rakhel + Kesin
him + Rakhel + Adonara
him + Kesin + Adonara
If, say it was a battle situation and only 3 castings were possible, Rakhel, Kesin and Adonara could not hear each other. Caster and Lia could hear all.

I like your solution better, though, of only getting to maintain one at a time.

Oh, woops. Yeah, I've just always played Message as "magical walky talkies."

I guess I can only add one person to this new casting? Is Jack relaying messages between everyone?

I think my preference as a player would be "Jack is untrained in spellcraft, and used the spell badly... here's what actually happens"

Well, your way it's at-will telepathy that allows folks to make an unreasonable (at least at low levels) perception check to foil, and only if they're standing between both of you.

I don't think that a 0th level spell should be capable of that.

I'm entirely fine with you having spent standard actions to recast it to target someone else.

Similarly, I'm fine with you calling Rakhel, who has called Kesin and suddenly you can just talk to each other, then at next level, each of you can pick up another person... like Adonara and Lia. Suddenly, at level 2, the party is able to converse freely via whisper. :)

After that, it just becomes less frequently cast, or allows more communication.

Rakhel called Kyl, not Kesin...

Example, not reality. :)

Though, that's fine, too. No one wants to talk to Kesin anyway. :3

ah i see... and i'd be happy to talk to Kesin... but Kyl was a priority for Rakhel..

Sounds good. Can I retcon my last round action to walk up to where Lia and Adonara are, so that I'm messaging Rakhel and actually yelling at Lia/Adonara?

Sure. It's up to her whether you're in -her- conference call, though. I doubt you will be :P

I did a preliminary stat line, simply because it feels so incomplete without.

Also, I went with young Chandra(Planeswalker) as a character image.(3 pics linked at top of profile) Images of female red-headed short-haired Street Children in Fantasy settings are not so numerous it feels :)
But I assume the images are Level 3 or later, when a.: somebody forced Kesin to take a bath, b.: she gets dressed up in proper clothes, and c.: has access to an Arcane Pool to make her little fists flaming(though she'd prefer other weaponry).

The board picture is mostly because paizo has even less variety, and this was one variant that keeps age open, could be an anthropomorphic fox under the mask, and seems sneaky :)

Nice images... well chosen..

Are we planning to fight the thugs off while the crowd flees? I'm wondering if I should go for lethal damage or not.

I'll follow your lead. You tried to protect her. Kesin is now imprinted on you, surrogate mum!
Just kidding, but honestly, I won't be doing much damage with weapons currently, so it's not my decision to make, I'd simply do what you do. In unfamiliar situations like this one, she may opt to imitate what others are doing that seem to have an idea about whats going on and how the odds stand.

I think we're just offering a vigorous defense as we flee too, taking opportunities that present themselves to make life more difficult for the baddies. :)

I didn't like that hint about avoiding friendly fire, and since Kyl is clearly not a friend of the Thrunes, seems to know what he's doing, and is bent on getting out of Dodge, that sounds like a good idea. I wanted to at least try to spook the thugs to give the crowd a better chance, even if Dazzling Display is a full-round action, and if I could roll over 10, it might actually have been worth it. That said, barring complications, Adonara is going to start moving in the next round. In any case, I don't think anyone would blame you if you went for lethal damage at this point.

As a heads-up: Today is my last day at mthe first job I ever had. I've worked here for just shy of nine years... But I've decided I need to move on to a job that pays better... As a result, I'm going to be picking up a lot more hours at work, changing my schedule in the process, and ultimately having a lot less time for those things and people that I love. That being said... I'll become less of a post hog in the majority of my games. Things might change in the future, but at the moment, I'm hoping to continue playing in my games.

I don't at all plan on disappearing, especially as a DM, but I might be less good about posting often, soon. (Every 36-48 hours was specifically because of this probability)

Congratulations!

(Also, lucky bastard making all his saves :P He better run, or I'll go stabbify him like a rabid hobbit)

:p. Kesin does have a bite attack...

:p. Kesin does have a bite attack...

Nope, Kesin has Weapon Finesse...my small teeth are not very dangerous with my low strenght, as such, I learned to move gracefully and use my agility to my advantage...(alternate racial trait).

I assume since it IS a feature of the race, I could technically use my tiny fangs to bite unresisting things using pure flavor(since mechanically it's impossible), but I am unable to use them in combat :)

Hey, congrats on the new job and wish you the best in it... how exciting!

Here's hoping your new job works out well. :)

Yeah, here's hoping. :p

Scarily big changes, though.

It's not exceptionally clear in my mind when the Rebellion (at least for Kintargo) was ended, but it started 109 years ago. It's been a little less than 50 years since it ended, so I'm going with 'somewhere around 50 years ago' for my answer. Thrune's redactors have made it so that only oral traditions really remain. So, anything you do know about them should totally be along the lines of John Henry, Daniel Boone, etc. I don't have good European analogues, I'm afraid.

Anybody know?

Either way, Kesin is supposed to be a bit of a fangirl of those past Silver Ravens(even though I did not pick starstruck), believing Jackdaw(a half-real Golarian Batman) will return and save us all.
Will make for an interesting RP bit if we do meet him(she firmly believes it's a guy).

I figure it's either in a book I haven't read through yet, or it's like one line in the entire book, which seems to be how these things work.

Alternately, it may be in the guide to Cheliax (which I also don't have!)

He's probably a succession of people, men and women, each of whom has been Jackdaw in turn, so there's always one in the city at any one time. It'd be just Kesin's luck that it's a woman now, lol.

Well, in another campaign, that may well be true, in some ways... :3

I am kind of hoping it's a woman, but I also hope it's the original. Like, a gnomish bard lady or something of the sort(must be a long-lived race, after all)
Because, you know, those stories of the muscled half-giant choking a dragon to death with his bare hands mean a lot to Kesin...

As such, it would be very amusing to have her meet the REAL jackdaw ^_^
"I am Jackdaw"-"No you're not! No, no, no, no, no! Never!" - "No, really, it's me, in the civil war blablabl" - "(Tears in eyes)It can't be! You're not him! I won't accept this!" *runs off crying*

He's probably a succession of people, men and women, each of whom has been Jackdaw in turn, so there's always one in the city at any one time. It'd be just Kesin's luck that it's a woman now, lol.

"Have you considered a career in Jackdawing?"

Giving a chance for someone to either aid Adonara's Diplomacy attempt... or to expressly not do so. They're getting really mixed signals right now... and so am I. :) So we'll see how it plays out after I have a better idea of what people are aiming for.

At the moment: Jack/Kesin sort of offensive questioning. Adonara thinly veiled threats with honey on top. Lia switch hitting between threats and offers to help. Rakhel needing to give me some information on what she intends to do with that hypnotism.

Also, Kesin can't see around the corner, so it's not necessarily important, but the grayish-white space at the 'end' of the alley isn't a dead end to me. :)

sorry was out all day, just got home.

That was supposed to come across sweeter than it did, but since I rolled low I just ran with very thin veils indeed. The idea was to be a bit gentler than pointing swords under people's noses as such, but I guess Adonara's just a bit too used to being spooky at best, if not outright intimidating. Maybe she should make up a story that she's from Nidal, or something. And an alias would probably come in handy, at some point. Oooh, ideas...

Anyway, she was serious. She's perfectly happy to examine the unconscious thugs, stabilize them as necessary, and let their buddies carry them off. Big words aside, she won't force the issue on her own, if it comes to that, but she really doesn't trust the Chelish authorities with anyone they can paint as a troublemaker for their own nefarious purposes, so she's really hoping to play just hard enough that both sides going their own ways without too much more fuss seems like the best idea. That hypnotism isn't going to last forever, after all.

Well the party's not exactly on the same page right now, nor do they know or trust each other. Personally, Jack just saw these guys basically illegally beat up a bunch of people, and is kinda mad.

Kesin does not like them because she does not like their boss. Simple as that.
She's not used to being openly confrontational though, so will take a hint to shut up. She does stick around with Lia at the time, unwilling to leave her in a potentially dangerous situation after she came to help Kesin.
Either way, I withdraw my questioning, but will not support diplomacy either, feeling enmity towards those guys.

I haven't even looked at gameplay, yet. :P I'll get to it in the morning. Sorry for blah-ing out at the moment. :(

No worries, we just did some RP among ourselves :)

I haven't even looked at gameplay, yet. :P I'll get to it in the morning. Sorry for blah-ing out at the moment. :(

My sympathies. It really is kinda daunting.

Indeed. We all know what it's like to have other things to worry about.

(Honestly, it's been a bit of a relief not to have to catch up too much this morning. I'm taking a bit of a break to post this, and then it's back to tidying up the references in my last paper for my semester at uni, working on an abstract for one conference, and trying not to think about polishing up a paper for another at which I'll be presenting in a couple of weeks. Makes her Will save to avoid curling into a ball of unhappy grad student.)

Yey grad school!

So glad those years are behind me... I did love uni but didn't like all the work involved.

Oh, but it gives me so much time to PbP while waiting on experiments!

University, Work, and a 2-month old Baby, here -_-
(admittedly I'm mostly taking a break from university, this term...also, I'm a old student...very old(based on "average student age"))

pbp is still pretty much all I have time for, these days-

long out of school, retired, my son just turned 30, lol

I play at home with friends too, but I love pbp for when I'm not working in my studio (I'm a textile artist as a hobby since I rarely sell things I make... sometimes I do, but usually i just give things as gifts or donations with the occasional sale)

Working on a post nowish. If it takes longer than 45 minutes to get out, it delays until after work. Sorry.