This is a non-Campaign to Test Stuff

Game Master Tacticslion

Heh. That made me chuckle ;-)

Are you sure it wasn't photoshopped? I really don't recommend you try that one...

And all I could think was "Caster/Martial-Disparity" He didn't know you two very well, did he...

Sorry - I may have drunk a little too much, but what did you mean by this statement?

*boggles*

Robert wrote:

And all I could think was "Caster/Martial-Disparity" He didn't know you two very well, did he...

Sorry - I may have drunk a little too much, but what did you mean by this statement?

*boggles*

In his quote I thought he was saying that most people play martials and there is a disparity/lack of casters because people think they take too much thinking.

So, you two like all that caster cheesiness, but he didn't know that about you then...

I think he does now :-)

Actually, the martial/caster disparity refers to the view that, at higher levels, casters outpace martials in terms of what they can do...

Actually, the martial/caster disparity refers to the view that, at higher levels, casters outpace martials in terms of what they can do...

HuH, shows what I know.

That makes perfect sense.

I just assumed that everyone knew that well made melee were 'stronger' at lower levels and casters carried more weight at higher levels.

I must really need more sleep than I realized.

Thanks for the explanation 'Golan.' That was said clear enough that even a 'tipsy tiger' er, snow leopard can understand.

I know I did and I'm tired as heck.

Oh! I always knew about the martial caster disparity - but mind you my character is not a casty caster - the requirements for archery have made me divide my stats up - so I won't be even bothering about Save or s*ck spells.

I don't have the feats for it anyway.

I suspect the only magic I will touch is buffs, condition removal and maybe summons if I want to get sacred summoning, or maybe not even then.

But martials are cool, and there's certainly nothing wrong with enjoying them. :)

Also: sorry! I've been sleeping a lot the last couple of days. Not sure why.

Man, took me a while to find the post to make sure I spelled things correctly.

Heh.

Usawoti finds himself standing on a beach and bridge-entrance that he hasn't seen in a long, long time. Almost a year. Maybe a couple of days. Who can say?

this location was before all the gates Correct?

Also, this week is of for me because of training on Monday and Tuesday. I will try and keep my posts up...

Correct. No problem. I appear to have developed a severe case of exhaustion/sleep after getting "better" from being sick, so... you're cool, my dude.

so how long will it take to cross all the gates again> Will the coven 'hear' Usawoti if he tries to contact them?

650 ft. to cross the bridge, so that's 22 move actions; it's a bit slippery, and it goes up into an arc making it rough. So a minute at two actions per round.

(This may be a retcon, but it's going off of the best heqdcanon I can recall by myself at present.)

Narrative: murder mystery (man betrays and stabs a former friend in jealous rage)

Caster is a CN fk, and maybe the body was of a LN fk. Differing alignments offer a will save.

Furthermore, what if the deceased never saw it coming, since the man, who has rogue levels...did it from behind!

Also if you want to murder people properly, be sure to take the head, then break the jawbone, and throw it far away from the murderscene...really. Cut out the heart too for good measure.

Hey, TL, I told you I might have assassin levels, right? =)

Though if you really want to put someone out of action, you use flesh to stone, then bring the statue to your own private permanent demiplane, and leave him there. For eternity. Of course, you need to be a casty for that.

Narrative: long journey across vast distance (say from one end of Avistan to another)

Put a couple of teleportation traps at the end - also not very useful if you don't know where you're supposed to be heading.

]Narrative: political intrigue at court (an evil vizier unable to be touched by law doing evil through a puppet king)

I would NOT want to dominate an NPC, nor charm them. I'm not that kind of caster. Also my inherent belief for free will. My forbidden schools as a wizard are usually enchantment and necromancy. Necromancy because it makes my skin crawl, enchantment because I believe in free will. Besides too much of the bestiary is immune to it. Now detect thoughts to skim evidence...that's a different story.

You're actually falling directly into the "takes consideration for casters" that I suggested was the issue - you are complicating an otherwise simple narrative. And that's the point: you are making concessions exclusively tailored to counter casters, and presupposing premeditation/advanced planning/specific counters. This changes the narrative.

It also doesn't prevent the faster from doing anything - just makes it more difficult. Also, your objections are too specific. Your particular element a of distaste don't synch with generic caster stuff.

Point isn't that casters automatically ruin narratives. Point is simple that you have to go out of your way to deal with them, specifically, in a manner you don't with others.

Lol. But some of these can be done by perfectly mundane means...

Lol. But some of these can be done by perfectly mundane means...

... but they don't need to be done, except that there is a caster.

Let me reiterate just how big a deal that is: the narrative flows, seamlessly, right up until a caster shows up.

Then you need to:
- mutilate a corpse (which is a loooot of work, unless you're a caster; also tends to be deeply psychologically disturbing to most) OR use magic

- use magic

- "I don't use those kinds of spells" (ignoring the problem presented by those spells existing) or "much of the bestiary is immune" (ignoring that much is not, and the power it wields in a social context)

And that's the thing. We're here debating the relative merits and impacts of a single spell of each story (that I made off the top of my head). You know what we're not debating? How to stop the dude with Sense Motive and Bluff. Because that's a thing you'd have to handle no matter what.

And that's the thing. Casters' mere existence changes how you have to build the narrative, or else allow them (presupposing the correct spell is available) to instantly alter how everything is put together.

Of course a GM can thwart a caster and make a narrative actin function. But unless the GM puts extra work into figuring out exactly how to do that, the caster is more likely than anyone else to insta-negate a particular problem on accident.

Narrative: endurance travel adventure: endure elements (+) create food and water (+) mount

Narrative: an evil spirit will possess you!: protection from evil

Narrative: no man may slay the witchking!: polymorph into a woman and/or child and/or dragon and/or...

Narrative: you don't understand the local language: tongues (comprehend languages and/or cultural adaptation optional)

Narrative: most battles before 4th level: color spray

Narrative: you need to make a thing and are low-level: crafter's fortune; high level: also fabricate (use blood money as needed)

You need a disguise!
- fabricate disguise, disguise self
... er, I mean, stealth
- vanish (or invisibility), forced quiet
... er, I mean, pretending to be someone else!
- vocal alteration, disguise self

I was going to link to my own post, but I found this one that covers much of this.

And that's the point: martial characters simply cannot do what casters do, even though casters can (effectively) do what martials do (through caster tricks and indirect damage).

A well built martial will devastate a mage or anything else by raw damage when the time comes.

A caster gets to dictate if that time ever truly comes. As well as altering the nature of your narrative and what it is you're trying to do.

... somehow, I hadn't said, "Hi" to Golan, yet! Hello!

Narrative: no man may slay the witchking!: polymorph into a woman and/or child and/or dragon and/or...

Cat! You forgot Cat! Rawr!

I get what you mean, but if you don't want me to do certain things...well I guess you can say so first? Because otherwise I'll think all buttons are shiny and press them! No malice, just simple curiosity and "I dumped wis."

Like there was a case someone wanted to carry a certain hut along to use as a tank. I just said it couldn't be done, or I would dock 1 level worth of experience from them, since there was nothing written in the mod that could stand against the Hut at that level.

How do I award xp for sitting in your armored personnel carrier and egging it on?

Hah!

I didn't tell you not to...

That's the thing, though - I think the disparity exists, but is not necessarily a problem. I think it can be a problem, but I don't think it's inherently wrong.

Everything I've been showing has been evidence of the disparity, not a disparagement of it.

But that's one of the reasons why I discussed things with you at the beginning: to set expectations and get what you guys were interested in/up to and how you wanted the game to go.

My human is out with his family today BTW. Also working like a normal human being for the next two days.

I went to bed exceptionally early last night (9 pm), was feeling particularly tired for no reason, then dreamt that I was wearing contact lenses and one of them fell out. And I wasn't carrying my glasses.

When Robert gets back: just FYI, the bad guy is clearly damaged, though how much depends on how you look at/examine/sense motive/knowledge check her.

Hah! Can't fool me, Mort! I favorited your double post before you could delete one of 'em!

I double posted because I was on phone. I deleted it because I didn't want to clutter thread with repeated posts. My conscience is clear, I have nothing to hide =)

Nyahahahahahaha~!

wow, just got home from out of town and need to go to bed because I have meetings tomorrow. I read the in game post... Heavy!

I will post a response of some sort tomorrow early evening (est around 8:00)

since this is discussion, the mental connection is still up right?

*Sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil*

Yes.

ok, posted in a couple of other games. So a few questions here to prep for tonight.

1st is it ok that I retcon riding mope, I forgot about him :-(

2nd we sacrificed a list of nondescript magic items I assume everything, so he's wearing the armor the giants gave him and carrying his non magical stuff, basically that's it right?

3rd is he still carrying the ice weapon the coven gave him or was that sacrificed?

4th does anyone have what level is he and what his general numbers are? If not I will try and calculate tonignt. Mort if you have that information go ahead and post it, that would be prethis so it wouldn't be violating your "see no blah blah"

gotta to get ready for work, be back on in 12 or so

1) that's totally fine
2) yes (your statistics shouldn't change much, though)
3) you still have it (it wasn't permanent so it doesn't count
4) nope - I do not, I'm afraid

Also, answers to some unasked questions:

- there is exactly one visible living creature left other than you (and Shuuvu and Mope): the bad guy

- the bad guy is currently wounded (though how much is not clear)

- Inarus can read stuff once Usawoti gets to it; that connection is still open

- when Usawoti experiences the searing pain, so does Inarus and Iya-Iya.

And now a question from me: which keys were sent with Usawoti and Iya-iya (if any)? Or are you abandoning that idea?
(If I had to recommend one, it'd be the gluttony/necromancy (air) for Usawoti and wrath/evocation (fire) for Iya-Iya. But that's just theming. It can be whatever, really. I'm just fiddling around with how things suss out down the line so it'd be nice to know where the keys get to in ~500 years.)

ok answering your question, I assumed Inarus used all three keys: one to close the 'evil rift' one to open the porthole from where his people was to golarion and one to open a portal for the giants.

a question I forgot, did 'the eternal seed' and 'the mouse' make the transition from Usawoti's old armor to the 'giant armor'?

GM TL is it ok for Mort to help me calculate what level Usawoti is?

just FYI, the bad guy is clearly damaged, though how much depends on how you look at/examine/sense motive/knowledge check her.

We need to calculate what level Usawoti is so he can make the perception/sense motive/ knowledge checks on her.

Also I need to go look at what other 'tricks' the coven gave us to see if any will fit in this situation. I don't really want to rain down the weapons ice storm on the evil plant if there is a chance Yeye is still alive...

- doesnt' matter who holds the keys: any of you connected could use it
- ES did; ... the mouse was never explicitly in your armor.
- sure, I don't mind if you get help!

so where is the poor little mouse? did he stay back with Inarus? It's like the bird man of Alcatraz except its a mouse and a dragon and a giant tower... not very similar I guess...

Hah!

As I'd previously pointed out, the last time he was ever mentioned was in Inarus' armor; then there was that icy explosion...

*ahem*

That said, I'll allow a retcon - you can have brought the mouse into Usawoti's armor pocket. (Which, let's be honest, will work out better than your armor.)

You’re currently under 7 neg levels after what I did to you, so you can’t use any of your higher level spells – nothing above 3rd level.

.

Well crap, I didn't give Usawoti any skill in sense motive so the neg. levels would put his adjustment at -3... not sure that's going to help much. BRB going to go look at my sheet....

post what here?

*Bats his eyes innocently*

Still thinking,

*purrs*

did the jewelry not answer?

Look, I'm busy!

>.>

<.<

(Sorry!)

But, uh, no. To answer you, they didn't see anything, though they note the presence of many magical fields, including illusory ones, which might be hiding invisible things.

(Sorry to deliver this ooc - I'm out of tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime...)

(I do apologize - I was trying to answer you, but was rushed to do some mathiness and a full translation/write-up so I can do a better one later.)

sorry for taking so long, I'm going through the coven spells to see if there is any possibility of winning this fight without destroying everything in the area.

Obviously hoping the 'coven spells' still work, hoping that since Usawoti has the ice hammer that it will still nuke everything.

Also hoping we might be able to fine Yeye, might be able to use reincarnate...

Of course since you call it a tragedy, I'm hoping the plant lady isn't Yeye and the giant form was just a disguise...

I will post tonight when I get home from work... this is the problem with actually working at work instead of posting...

Oh, snap, he's on to m- er, I mean, I have no idea what you mean, fellow human. Certainly nothing like that was planned...! >.>

I will tell you, ooc, that she is not Yephima. I am not that cruel. I mean, of course, now that you've mentioned it, I wish I'd thought of her being the plant lady (and seeded more hints of that; maybe even made it true!) but, uh... I didn't. So you out-evil'd me. This time. I mean, I wouldn't hold out hope, were I you, but not because she's a plant lady.

Oh, and that dagger and/or shiny new rock may be important.

Or not.

Whatever.

>.>

(Also, you might be able to handle this via hammer, sans explosion. Or not. #dot-shrug)

EDIT: also, please don't feel pressured by me! I understand how real life goes!

(I do apologize - I was trying to answer you, but was rushed to do some mathiness and a full translation/write-up so I can do a better one later.)

Ugh, and I still got a thing wrong. Whoops!

Oh, well. I'll fix it in a bit.

Oh, hey, Usawoti: are your stats fully updated? I can't make observations or informed decisions (such as telling you what you know/observe, or whether you whiff your attack or hit it) without knowing what you're currently capable of.

Oh, and that dagger and/or shiny new rock may be important.

Or not.

Um what dagger or rock?

Mort in PM wrote:

You’re currently under 7 neg levels after what I did to you, so you can’t use any of your higher level spells – nothing above 3rd level.

.

Well crap, I didn't give Usawoti any skill in sense motive so the neg. levels would put his adjustment at -3... not sure that's going to help much. BRB going to go look at my sheet....

Oh, hey, Usawoti: are your stats fully updated? I can't make observations or informed decisions (such as telling you what you know/observe, or whether you whiff your attack or hit it) without knowing what you're currently capable of.

no my stats are messed up, according to what Mort told me he's basically at 7 neg levels, so I’m subtracting 7 from all his rolls.

I need to calculate his AC, so I need to find the giant armor and then add the bonuses from the jewelry.

GM Tacticslion wrote:

Oh, and that dagger and/or shiny new rock may be important.

Or not.

Um what dagger or rock?

From here:

Usawoti arrives just in time to see a disgusting creature facing away from him - top half akin to a fungal woman, bottom half merely a monstrous bulb of rotting fungus - holding up a decrepit, green-skinned woman in one hand, and ripping the literal heart out of her. There is a brief flare of green fire in the shape of a woman, which is (screaming) quickly sucked into the beating heart... a heart that shrivels and shrinks and turns into a hard, shiny gem.

As I am bad at describing things, it lacks the description of the dagger. WHOOPS~!

(This is why I clarify things out of character - just in case I somehow miss something in-character, I can get free description space ooc.)

So... BONUS DESCRIPTION!

Clutched in her hand is the device used to rip the heart from the other woman - a black, twisted two-bladed dagger. Currently the former heart (now a gem) is wedged between the two pronged blade.

I cant describe scenery for nuts…tell me about it.