You can feel free to level up. Most folks, if not everyone, probably did gain enough. There will be time for some minor RP and recovery type of stuff before we dive into a new chapter. I need to decide where to set the new character's exp and PM some story seeds/info. Farcluun will have final payment sent and there will be a little scene setting up future stuff, so take a few days to level and make plans.
Overflow xp, the bane of dual-classed characters!
Yay! The mage psionicist no longer has higher hit points than the thief! :D
While the crew is getting their level-ups sorted out, I think I'll roll stats for the second character on my character tree...
A psionicist-worthy stat spread. I'm thinking of giving the Brown Elf psionicist kit a try.
Psychokinesis (again?)
Ballistic Attack (with Telekinesis)
Putting the 18 in CON, for a 16 total. Rolling for HP!
So, 21 HP total. Neat.
Ouch. I don't know whether to allow a reroll or say, "Dems the breaks, it's Dark Sun."
Per DMG 2nd edition p. 71, I can only advance one level, and the excess is lost. That puts me at 2,999, and next time we gain xp I go up to cleric 3.
Yeah, that one is annoying too. Of course, you dug that hole for yourself, lol. Starting dual classed was an interesting way to go, though.
That said, I'm going to allow you to get the level out of the way now. Your exp is what it is for now, but go ahead and do both levels. Seems silly to make you wait for a single point. Plus I can see the added spellpower being useful.
Thinking about a few other things, but will be making moves forward early this week.
Not a complaint! Just making sure it was clear why I didn’t keep all of the awarded Xperia’s.
Once I reach level 4 it’ll all be worth it. Assuming I stay alive. ;)
Going to level 3 also means my current character tree alt Jezebel goes to psionicist 2/ranger 2/thief 3.
-> 1 hit point
Discretionary points: +15 Climb Walls, +5 Move Silently, +5 Hide in Shadows, +5 Detect Noise
Bonus half-elf survival proficiency: scrub plains
Going to hold on to the weapon and non-weapon skills for now, have no real idea what I want to spend them on...
DM: May I use cure moderate wounds from Spells & Magic? Level 2, heals 1d10+1.
Yes.
Yaaay! (Better for everyone really)
Question, are we using the weapon mastery rules?
Yeah, we can pretty much greenlight most stuff from Combat and Tactics. Just be careful you don't fall victim to the next time a dwarven banshee howls ;-)
Ooh! That's a neat plot twist!
Sooo what's next for our heroes? Do we try to cross the desert and find somewhere to go, or are we hunkering down here now that the oasis is cleansed, or... ?
A decision I'm kind of waiting on myself. I have one last expository scene to post before things get going. More story seed sorts of things, but otherwise just curious to see where these heroes go.
Ko will go where the rest of her clutch goes. She is saddened by the loss of so many members over such a short period, but will protect those that remain.
Shall I make an introductory post now?
Actually yeah, it might help sway things one way or another and balance the choice presented by the next thing I was talking about...yeah...that will work nicely. *Evil villain cackle*
Alright—I’ll make a post once I get home.
That is the actual end of the module!
There are some other bits in the module but a lot of them are bad. There's a location that is supposed to be an ancient art installation, but it gives direction to the DM that it should be described to the players as some kind of puzzle - you are literally supposed to screw around with a bunch of colored blocks for an hour and get nothing from it. There are several rooms that are completely extraneous (our good DM skipped many of them) and in the initial version of the mod it explicitly has a big setpiece battle between two NPCs where the DM is supposed to just roll dice behind the screen and make the PCs think they are going to die and not let them do anything.
We got lucky :)
Sorry to have kept you all waiting! Finally got to post!
Not at all an inconvenience, especially given the timing! I also have another player preparing to join us in addition to Cas, so over the course of this week I'll be getting things onto the next chapter.
Oh? What sort of character? Or is that going to be a surprise?
Possibly a ranger? I'm not entirely sure yet.
Well, if we stay here, I will probably keep playing Sienna for a bit. If we move on, I will swap to my alt for the overland travel.
I had been tossing around an idea for staying in Yaramuke, but I also have plenty of random things ripe for conversion or implementation, so it really doesn't matter very much to me from a DM's perspective. Either way, I'm going to put up a post in the next 24 hours with some foreshadowing and story seed stuff and will need to know after that exactly what folks are doing.
I'm good with anything, I need little motivation to keep with my clutch mates.
I'm up for just about anything.
The biggest problem with staying in the Yaramuke area is that there just aren't a lot of resources. There's the oasis with water and a little bit of plant life, but the city itself is so badly ruined that unless we dedicated a lot of time to hauling rocks and digging out sand it would basically be living in tents in the desert. Of course if the team wants to try that - make a new settlement, eke out survival in the desert, fight off monsters, deal with the consequences as word slowly spreads that the Curse of Black Water is over and now there is a free oasis where people will flock - we can certainly go that way!
OTOH, you're all already here so you'd get first crack at anything currently in the ruins...which I have expanded (in my mind only so far) on far beyond the information in the book. Based on what little canon is available I've envisioned a donut shaped city with the Oasis in the center. Only the noble quarter has been explored so far. The merchant and peasant quarters, as well as security and templar areas.
The worry is that eventually as word gets out, powerful forces will arrive to try to capture the area. Hamanu wanted this region so that he could use the oasis to feed and garrison a large army, which would let him extend his power further east and directly threaten Raam, Draj, and Nibenay. Other sorcerer-kings and queens would try to stop him from doing this, as it would be a fundamental shift in the balance of power of the Tablelands. Merchant-houses would try to take the place to turn it into an oasis and fortification for their trading travel from east to west and back, while raiders would want it as a base so that they could raid caravans along that same route. Basically this is a rare opportunity where a large, lush oasis is now free from outside control in the middle of an otherwise unoccupied valley with many ruined buildings around, and EVERYONE WANTS A PIECE.
Could be an entire campaign, just a group of characters slowly building up and protecting a free town and rising to the occasion of ever-increasing threats. ;)
Go with what ever is easier for you. I am sure the party can adapt.
Mechanically, my Brown Elf Psionicist is all put together. Her background is coming along. Otherwise, I'm interested in seeing what happens next.
Due to Shavuot I will not be on till Monday night. Bot as needed.
Incidentally, it appears we no longer have a thief.
Hopefully, that won't be a problem.
Probably not a huge one, but if anyone wants to create any alts to add to a character tree, feel free to create them before we really get back onto the path of adventure.
Also I might be slower than normal for me early next week. I will have phone access but it might be harder for me to get to maps until Thursday.
If I switch characters, my alt has thief levels.
Moving forward post will be coming tomorrow, apologies, my week has been crazier than expected. No plan survives contact, yada yada.
I've been super slammed with RL stuff and summer insanity, but am working to get caught up today and tomorrow, thanks for your patience!
Just a quick heads-up, I may be slower than normal for me this weekend thru early next week. Not absent, just slower. Hopefully back to normal by Wednesday.
I realize we seem to have ground to a bit of a halt, if we want we could just go ahead and shut things down here and celebrate the fun of the story recently concluded.
I'd like to keep going. I obviously enjoy where I am taking things, so assuming we are moving forward I'll find a way to push things ahead and dangle some different story hooks.
I’m all for moving forward, but something must happen to move the story forward. We have no direction to go and few supplies, we aren’t driving the story anywhere.