Monsters and Men Table 2 (Inactive)

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So we would have Jarrod, Kishan, Julian, and Aaron. I'll probably invite Buzzard to come over with his Werewolf Monster Hunter.

Anyone have an idea to get us past our current paralysis?

I think just a slight jump forward will do it. If there's any dangers between here and the portal back, just describe them popping up as we walk and start from there. I think we're agreed we want to stay in the NeverNever as short a time as possible?

Kishan was of a mind to investigate (do the whole dungeon crawl) and get to the bottom of the mystery of the door in Julian's house, and what it was his "parents" were guarding it for (or from).

Of course, the NeverNever is admittedly not a place to hang out in lightly, so if she is out voted, she'll accede to the group's wishes.

If it is alright, I may take the opportunity to see if Kishan needs any fine-tuning, points wise, as we did for the Justice League restart. I can't recall; we're we ever awarded any new Power Points in this game?

I think THERE'S where we got stuck. I don't think we ever had any indication that this tower actually went anywhere except the bottom of the tower or anything.

I'd like to figure out the connection between Julian's parents and this part of the Never Never, but I also don't want to be stuck in a particular place if it's holding us back.

I was looking forward to exploring the NeverNever a bit, as it was Jarrod's first time there. But yeah, the main story is in the mundane world, so if everybody wants to get back to it, that's fine with me.

Ok. Sounds like we have a majority who want to dig around in the tower a bit. I've never run a dungeon crawl on PbP, obviously, and I don't want it to be grindingly dull, so I'll try to keep things moving.

Everything interesting is on down the stairs below the waterline. I mean, there is also the longship, but here in the tower it is further down. I'll try to get something together to get us going again on Wednesday.

I need to think on how to spend these points. I want to finally learn how to do flame control stuff, but every method I can think of costs a bit too much.

What's your budget, and what do you consider 'flame control stuff'

Obviously, if you make it an alternate power of something, that usually gives you the most to work with...

I don't have anything I could logically use as an alternate. My two main thoughts:

1.) Absorption (Energy, Flame Only) that uses Boost to give a Blast.

2.) Just straight up Fire Blast linked Element Control (Fire)

Both are doable on 3 points, but neither are particularly USEFUL even at just PL 7. The second option has the biggest potential for upgrading later though, I think.

My third thought is a bit of a weird one, is the Flame Blast/Fire Control as an alternate of my Immunities. That comes out kinda wonky, but could potentially be justified as "using up my internal furnace" and being susceptible to fire damage (and poisons and diseases) for a brief period after use. The main problem is that to boost my Fire Blast and Flame Control from there, I would ALSO have to boost my immunities.

Though come to think of it, with Tumbler's permission I could do a bit of consolidating and link my Super Strength with my Immunities or something, the former of which I have more interest in boosting later.

Aaron has a lot of small powers (Speed 2, Super Strength 1, a few immunities, Super Senses) working together, and not really any one big power to do an alt of. Even Gram is only Device 2.

Maybe the best way to do it would be to put Speed/Strength/Immunity/Protection(?) into one array and say it tires him out or takes a lot of concentration to do the other thing.

Here's my idea, done with my typical degree of overkill, make of that what you will.

Basically it takes your present build, and turns it into the default version of an Alternate Form Power.

Blood of the Dragon (Alternate Form 10)

Strength +4 4pp
Super Strength 2pp
Speed 1 1pp
Leaping 2 2pp
Impervious Protection 4 8pp
Regeneration 2 2pp
Comprehend Languages 6pp
Super Senses 12 12pp
Immunity 8 8pp
Feats: Blindfight, Fearless, Skill Mastery, Uncanny Dodge, Prone Fighting 5pp

50 pp

Alternate Power Buddy basically brings the dragon part of himself closer to the surface, so he gains access to fire manipulation powers.

Soul of the Dragon

Impervious Protection 4 8pp
Immunity 8 8pp

Flame Blast 7 (Penetrating, Secondary Effect, Accurate 2) 30
*AP*Breath of Fire: Blast (Area: Cone, Secondary Effect) 28
*AP*Flaming Skin: Damage 7 (Sustained, Aura) 28
*AP*Fire Control 10: (Secondary Effect, Selective Attack) 30pp
*AP*Nullify 7: (All Fire Effects Simultaneously) (Area, Perception) 28

Alternate Power And here he actually allows the Dragon to emerge from himself entirely, basically leaving his body as a separate entity, with a non-corporeal body made of pure flames. The downside of the power being that while it is outside of him, Aaron basically becomes a vanilla mortal, and has to manage with his skills and Gram to get by. Of course he gains a fanatically loyal counterpart that is telepathically linked to himself, but able to act independently.

Spirit of the Dragon (Sustained;)
Summon Fire Dragon 7 (Fanatical, Heroic; Mental Link)
Int: 6
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 4
Strength: -
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: -

Fortitude: Immune
Reflexes: +5
Will: +2 (+3 vs. Mental)

Skills: Acrobatics +7 (4 ranks), Notice +6 (4 ranks)
Feats: Dodge Focus +3, Weapon Focus (Aura) 3

Immunity: Fort Effects 30pp
Insubstantial 3 (Fire; Permanent) 12pp
Aura of Flames (Damage 1, Continuous, Aura Secondary Effect; Permanent) 5pp
Flight 1 1pp
Breath (Blast : Area [Cone]) 3pp
Mind Shield 1 1pp
Regeneration 1 1pp
Growth 1 (Dispersion) 1pp [Basically, he doesn't get any stronger or tougher, but he does gain size, space (volume), reach, and intimidation)
Power Reserve 25 (Aura of Flames, Flight, Breath, Mind Shield, Regeneration, Toughness, Growth) 55pp

Attack: 0 (+6 Aura)
Defense: 5
Toughness: 4

105mpp

Power Reserve gives him a bank of 50 PP he can shift between powers depending on where you want his focus to be at the given time. He does melee by amping his Aura power up to 7 and thus attacks with "claws" and "teeth" made of flames. Or his can channel the points into his breath for an area attack weapon, or into his toughness, should he come up against an opponent with Harms Incoporeal or non-fire energy attacks.

This idea might be too far out there for you, but it struck me as really in keeping with your Dragon Blooded theme. This uses 2 of your 3 PP, leaving you one more to do with as you like.

That's really cool, but yeah I think it's a bit much. I want things to be both less drastic and sort of unlocked a bit slower as abilities progress.

I'm posting this on all of my games. I recently went to the doctor's, for the first time in over 10 years, and while I am relatively healthy, I am on a couple meds. One of the meds, unfortunately, does make me lethargic and not up to doing much of anything. If I don't post for a day or so, which I'm trying to do, you'll know why. Feel free to DMPC if needed.

Well, another delay as the gaming gods are frowning upon me at the moment. Myth-Weavers has lost all character sheet data saved after July last year. I'm having to go through all of my sheets and fix any problems I come across. Feel free to DMPC for me in the meantime. Sorry about this.

Not your fault. Whole site rolled back to last July.

I never particularly like the Mythweavers sheets. When running a game, I've always preferred people have their character in their profile.

They're well organized sheets and a hell of a lot less crowded looking than profile sheets are for most games. Mutants and Masterminds and Savage Worlds are exceptions.

The only benefit to a profile sheet is that people with enough spare cash lying around to buy Herolab can use an automated sheet (like Myth-Weavers semi-provides) and export the results.

Feel free to post with rough numbers until you can get your sheet back together.

I have to admit that I can barely function in character creation without HeroLab. Or maybe it isn't that, it is more like I don't have time for things I can't deal with in HeroLab. I built a character for a Star Wars Saga game last weekend and it took me all day.

Star Wars Saga just takes forever to build characters with in general I think.

True. At home I have tended to run Star Wars games in Mutants and Masterminds. Works really well.

I like Saga edition, though I agree character creation does take a while.

In related news, I've had to go through all of my character sheets on Myth-Weavers and fix any problems as they lost all saved data generated after July last year. Good news is that Jarrod didn't have anything to fix. Still have a few more to go through, though, and it's taking foooooorrrrrrreeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrr......

Hey guys, not so much having trouble with the story (I remember most of those details), but I am travelling and a touch short on time. In Orlando with the family, so spending.most of the waking moments of the days in the parks. Will try to make a meaningful contribution soon.

Color me jealous.

So how does Alternate Form work exactly? Rigor's idea is a bit too much at once, but if Alternate Form ADDS abilities rather than replacing them it could be an interesting scaling thing.

If I buy Alternate Form 3 with my points do I then get 15 points to allocate to different things that stack on my already existing abilities? It's written pretty vaguely.

Having an alternate, slightly buffer, fire breathing form that I can evolve as I level would be cool. Particularly as something that might take a bit of set-up (takes me a minute to transform or change back, or has a limited duration).

Yes, that is pretty much it. You get 15 points to buy powers that you only have in that form. And they are additive, so you could have a strength boost, or add blast, or armored skin, or whatever.

I'm not sure what to do with this campaign, guys. I love the characters, and when things are happening I love it, but clearly I'm not hitting the sweet spot of inspiring enthusiasm or giving clarity for what should be going on.

It seems we have completely lost Echos Myron, I'm guessing to real life since he has stopped posting pretty much everywhere.

At loose ends.

I think the plot has gotten a bit bogged down is all. The Julian sidetrack followed by the hiatus hasn't really helped matters remain focused.

I think it would also help if we knew the stakes. As-is what wevknow is: The Fomor are bad, and they want these things.

Not knowing what we're doing creates a disconnect.

Yeah. I'll agree with that. We are really close to knowing what the stakes are. I was trying to go for that whole style where Dresden encounters some random events and the slowly congeal into one big scary thing, but obviously that isn't working.

I think it would have worked much better in a live game, but the stretched out nature of PbP has impacted it a bit.

I'm still here, just trying to get used to new medication that saps my enthusiasm for anything. All my games have been slacking because of it, thought I think I'm getting better with it.

That said, I do agree that, though it's a really cool idea, the nature of a PbP game does make it a bit iffy. I think that's why so many games are APs and modules, you have a set story and generally know what to do. However, I'm willing to tough this bit of slog out. Just try to bear with me a bit.

You don't have to apologize for taking care of yourself. I get that. Just trying to get better at this whole thing.

I'm not sure what to do with this campaign, guys. I love the characters, and when things are happening I love it, but clearly I'm not hitting the sweet spot of inspiring enthusiasm or giving clarity for what should be going on.

It seems we have completely lost Echos Myron, I'm guessing to real life since he has stopped posting pretty much everywhere.

At loose ends.

Don't get too discouraged. The game has great characters and a great feel to it, and I think it will pull through these occasional lulls. I must admit that I have a bad habit of simply not posting when I am not sure what to do. I should probably try to find some other way to address those moments of indecision, as silence is not particularly helpful to anyone, and contributes to that feeling that we are losing momentum.

Momentum is a good analogy for the challenge, as it feels like when we have a good moment of buy-in, the game starts hopping, but when we start to suffer indecision, everyone starts fading away.

I will try to do better for my part.

I work much better with very clearly defined goals. Solving a specific roblem I'm fine with, it's investigations and long term planning I struggle with, I've noticed. It's why three of my games (this one, another Mutants and Masterminds game, and a homebrew Death Note-esque game) I struggle to post in.

Honestly, all the games I've played in, especially before joining the forums here, have basically been hack'n'slash with overtures of role playing, so I'm actually intrigued with the investigation aspect of this game. But I do agree that indecision on how to post can be killer on forum games.

Since it might be relevant here soon, I'm finalizing my Alternate Form. One question though: How do power cost per rank below 1 work in 2e? I can't find it.

In 3e, it becomes fractions when it would become "zero". Does it work the same here?

EX, I want Alternate Form 3. I wanted this to be a power that takes a bit of effort to activate (it's a Standard) and can't be relied on (Unreliable flaw).

So the normal cost would be 3. Changing it to a Standard action from a 3 is a -3 cost per rank modifier. That would drop it, per 3e rules to 1/2 point per rank. Unreliable would then drop that to 1/3 of a point per rank, 1/4 per rank, and so on.

Is that correct here?

Edit: NVM, found it, that IS correct.

Edit: Correct in principle, not in specifics, I'm a dingus.

It seems this reduces the ratio to 1/4 point per rank.

Aight, this is probably it:

Alternate Form 15 (Full Round -4/r, Unreliable -1/r):

Available Points: 75

Flame Control Array (23 points)

Flame Breath: Area Blast 7 (Cone) (21 points)
--Alternate Power: Absorption 20 (Limited: Fire Only, Sustained Duration) plus Energy Storage (1p) (21p)
------Absorption grants: Growth up to rank 5.
--Alternate Power: Elemental Control (Fire) 10 linked Super-Senses 1 (Awareness: Fire effects)

Super Strength 5 (10p)

Speed 5 (5p)

Regeneration 10 (Bruised/Unconscious 3, Injured/Staggered 3, Disabled 3, Recovery Bonus 1) with Regrowth and Persistent (7p)

Super-Senses 1 (Awareness: Magic)

Immunity: Bullets (5p)

Terrifying Roar (Paralyze 8, Burst Area) (24p)

As we get more stuff, I'm probably going to take at least some of Rigor's suggestions, things like the Flame Aura and whatnot, but this seems like it'll be fun for now. Only works about half the time, but I can go ham on some dudes once it's up. Some things like Wall Crawling, Claws, Glide, and eventually Flight will come down the line. Actually, I might make a slight amendment and trade a few of the Speed ranks for Wall Crawling and Glide Flight right now. I'll think on it.

If we ever make it through this first big arc and continue beyond it, I will also let you raise your Impervious to 5.

Don't know if others have been having the same challenge, but I've been having a lot of trouble getting Paizo to load. The last two days, it seems like it has been constantly down.

It seems that Sundakan/Rynjin has been banned again, and maybe Jarrod isn't up for keeping up with his games. With that in mind, and considering the difficulties we have had in advancing things, I think it is time to shut this down.

It hurts, because it is probably my favorite thing I've done in roleplaying in the past 20 years, but all good things and all that.

Banned again? Really? What is he up to? Seems like he needs to maintain one account for discussions and one for just playing...

Yes, that really sucks, but I suppose the writing is on the wall in that regard. I guess unless they pipe back in soon with some emphatic desire to get things going, then things are at an end.

Thanks for running a great game. I know you struggled a bit to adjust to PbP time scales and such, but I want you to know I enjoyed the game a great deal and thought you did a great job of setting the mood.