Since the consensus on the computer system seems to be that it's not necessary, I'll drop that, make the sword naturally 18-20, and then drop Improved Critical as a Feat.
With my last two points I bought Regeneration 2 (Recovery Rate and Ability Damage).
Working on an explanation for Balmung.
I can probably work the sword into the first adventure if you are interested in that.
How early on would it be? I'm kinda specced into swords, so I'd at least need a temporary non-magical sword to start. But getting it in-game would be fun.
You could have a non-magical sword to start and get Balmung in one of the first encounters, could even be the first one. Of course, that would probably mean the bad guys have your awesome sword.
I hope to post the beginning of Gameplay around 6:00 Eastern tonight.
You will begin on the waterfront in South Boston near the Container shipping facility. If you want to just be in the neighborhood when something goes down, there are nearby a great hot dog spot, a gala fundraiser at the Boston Contemporary Art Museum, several parks, some breweries.
If you want to be fighting evil, you have heard rumors that the Fomor have a human smuggling shipment coming into the container yard tonight.
In general, I hope to use real places for much of the campaign so that we can easily access information and maps. Obviously, those real places are fictionalized.
You could have a non-magical sword to start and get Balmung in one of the first encounters, could even be the first one. Of course, that would probably mean the bad guys have your awesome sword.
Sounds good to me. Can I be on the waterfront making an acquisition of some kind when things go down?
Like a package with of books? Sure.
How do you carry your sword?
Hm. Covered if I'm not expecting trouble. So inside a sword case or something. I could get it out quick enough, but it would probably take an extra Move or something I assume. Does that change since I have Quick Draw?
Something like this, with a zipper or velcro on top I can just rip open.
Odd John's Complications
Enemy: the Kindly Ones, as he calls the beings who stole him, are looking to get him back- if they can find him
Prejudice: Odd John is both short and appears elderly, both of which have caused him to be marginalized or overlooked
Responsibility: as host, Odd John is responsible for the welfare of his 'guests'; he takes his self-appointed duties seriously and would be compelled to act as such in situations where hospitality is concerned
Secret: John's original identity is secret and he intends it stay that way
Honor: he stands by this oath and lives to 'return what you have received three-fold'; he stands by his word as if his freedom depended on it
Temper: John's temper is chancy when good craftsmanship is being treated badly or not being given it's due
Responsibility: when he was undergoing his trials, John looked up and watched birds flying free, their example gave him hope; he is protective of birds and all who 'fly free'
Rynjin, the Harpoon brewery is right near the shipping facility, can he catch a ride with you?
He wants to refill a couple of growlers with Harpoon Stout and doesn't like driving.
Maybe Latimer would like to join us?
tumbler, I made a few changes on Odd John's sheet, subject to your approval.
I dropped his Fort,Ref,Will saves to +10
increased his attack value to +5 from +4
listed his mastered skills
added move-by attack
removed power feat: accurate from Stun
added analytical to his 'taste' super-sense
added R1 Speed (it's a serious change, giving a move of 100 ft per rnd) I started with Champions and the need for powers that give "attack, defense, and movement' is ingrained
added complications
He's at 139 points (though I need to review his points and double check).
I was thinking of either taking Feat: Luck R1 or leaving the point free and see what develops in game.
That all seems fine. I'm comfortable with character changes at this point, and probably after a couple of encounters. It is a tricky system and sometimes you need some fine tuning.
Sure.
I have some Complications listed on my sheet but I'll list them here:
Enemy: The Denarians in general (though it's unlikely they're as aware of him as he is of them), and the one in his mother especially (Gaap).
Hatred: Denarians again. If one were to show up NOTHING would take priority over their attempted destruction.
Responsibility: To running his store and to his employees.
Temper: Destruction of books is a button for him, especially rare and valuable ones and occult texts.
Sorry for the delay getting started, I was probably being too picky about things being just right.
I'd like to say that I only barely know what I am doing running a pbp, so please feel free to give advice. I have pretty thick skin, so don't worry about hurting my feelings.
Good advice for PbPs: Roll Initiative for your players. A LOT of time is lost if you don't. Consider using Block Initiative as well.
Try and keep to the one post per day minimum. Momentum is important for PbP games. Post as often as you're able and is necessary.
Explain block initiative please (feeling like a newb).
I will roll initiative. I'm going to collect everyone's hero lab files and use the combat manager. I expect to be way above one post per day most of the time.
Also, let me say that I won't generally make decisions for your characters, just doing that a little to get things rolling.
Block Initiative basiclaly means rolling all the Initiatives and putting them in "Blocks" where players in that block can act at any time.
EX you have 6 players and 6 enemies.
Initiative Order:
Player 1
Player 2
Player 3
Player 4
Enemy 1
Enemy 2
Enemy 3
Player 5
Player 6
Enemy 4
Enemy 5
Enemy 6
Within those 4 blocks, the players AND enemies can act in any order. Block 1 could go Players 1-4 in order, or 4321, or 1342 or any other combination, and same for the others.
Reducing opportunities to wait your turn. Makes sense.
Sure, for people without hero lab I'll just build one.
I've never liked it. It makes mistakes a lot and the devs like to guess what the intent of the rules is instead of having their product use the RAW until otherwise FAQ'd. Due to the nature of this, half the time they're wrong on the interpretation.
I don't get to play much, and mostly use it as a GM. For whipping up NPC's or monsters who are only going to be around for a few rounds, it is great. And I don't mind too much if everything isn't perfect.
I GM far more than I get to play, and I've personally found that the convenience far outweighs the issues with accuracy for me. It generally gets the math right, and I've never had it mess up anything game-changing.
I can imagine it's pretty solid for GMing since accuracy isn't important, but I like my PCs to be as perfect as possible.
Generally when I GM I only make the relevant stats rather than building them like a PC though.
For example, I build 8 monsters for this game today in about 2 hours.
Are they monsters you plan to re-use? That still seems like a lot of time spent for one-shot monsters.
Most of them were kinds of monsters rather than individuals, so they will be reusable. Plus I will probably run some version of all of this in the real world, so it will pay off. Plus I worked about 90 hours last week, so I needed to sit on a couch and think about fun things.
Been alone with the kids all day; will post in the game thread as soon as I get a chance...
Most of them were kinds of monsters rather than individuals, so they will be reusable. Plus I will probably run some version of all of this in the real world, so it will pay off. Plus I worked about 90 hours last week, so I needed to sit on a couch and think about fun things.
Sounds relaxing. =)
Is the 1000 feet away comment for one of us or all of us?
It is approximately true for all of you. Your description might put you a little closer. I figure since we are out of initiative it doesn't have to be super specific. Note that you are all pretty close together, so you might see each other depending on senses and means of concealment.
Regarding tipping the balanced container...
For an evil GM, that would be a pretty 'hilarious' way to start a campaign. "Mystery man tips balancing cargo container, dropping 128 trafficked Chinese refugees 50 ft onto the ground. 76 killed, over 40 hospitalized. ICE and FBI homicide are uncertain of the killer's motivation, but have announced a nationwide manhunt for the suspect."
I'd laugh.
Aaron's strong point is obviously not physics.
Keep in mind that being able to see the heat of object behind a solid wall, like in Robocop, is a myth, and in fact, a thermal-imaging camera can only see the heat being emitted by the top few microns of a material. In fact, and infra-red heat-sensing camera cannot even see through perfectly transparent glass since it displays the temperature of the glass itself in the image, and most glass is not transparent to Infra-Red light.
Using heat vision on a cargo container might reveal the entire container being slightly above the average ambient temperature, if the occupants all pressed their bodies up against the wall, transferring body heat to the metal, but since that would be super uncomfortable, chances are the temperature of the container containing people would be only minutely different from an empty container.
However, if you wanted to be able to see through things movie style and ignore the reality (it would be really cool if it actually worked that way), I'd suggest shifting a few points into some sort of X-Ray vision, maybe with a Heat-Source Dependent Limitation...
In this case I was imagining he could see up into the dark container through the open doors. But for seeing through walls, x-Ray vision is the way to go.
In this case I was imagining he could see up into the dark container through the open doors.
^This.
Though, would a "limited X-Ray" come with a reduced cost? It's 4 ranks, but it'd be cool to have. I was sort of assuming we'd be using the fictionalized versions of these abilities rather than the "realistic" ones, and so I'd be able to see people through at least the average wall like predator vision or something.
Edit: Wait, is Ultravision redundant with Darkvision? All it says is I can see by UV light or starlight in the dark.
That does sound pretty redundant.
Just don't look through my coat.
Why? What are you hiding?
You can limit the x-ray vision to get it for 3 points, I think. Darkvision can see in the dark, ultravision can see ultraviolet light. Could be redundant, though I can imagine a scenario where someone might use UV markers to prevent normals from seeing something. I mean, flowers do it for bees.
I would definitely give a dragon ultravision.
I'll see if I can trim some points.
Anyone know how to make code appear in a post? I want to post up some pre-built text to make combat tracking easier, but I can't figure out how to keep them as code that we can copy/paste rather than converting into the formatting.
Mess up the code, for one.
[ooc]Here is some OOC text.[./ooc]
That may defeat the purpose though.
If we can then copy it to Word or notepad though, that'd work.
Do I need to spend a hero point to 'edit' the scene?
Line2:
Line3:
Etc:
Maybe something like this?