DM Voomer's Age of Ashes

Game Master Voomer

I posted in gameplay to keep things moving (been celebrating my partner's birthday this weekend) but if any rolls need fixed per this discussion, I can do that.

Striking Dueling Pistol + ImpEmp + Weap Spec

Weapon Specialization. That is what I am missing.

I think that is right now. +4 ImpEmp, +2 WeaponSpec. Plus any other stray bonuses to damage that may be being handed out. Then EV added at the end.

And yeah, Exploit Vulnerability is a bit strange. For a lot of creatures, they don't have any weaknesses of their own, so any roll of failure or better will get you the same effect - Personal Antithesis. If they have a weakness, you need a success in order to use Mortal Weakness. Though you could still choose to use Personal Antithesis if you wanted to. And Crit success just gives more knowledge, but no additional damage benefits.

As I understand the rules, you need a critical success to fascinate in combat and, in any event, your attack would nullify the fascination. But perhaps you are going after panache? You did beat the will DC but not critically -- so does that mean you have panache even though you did not fascinate?

Focused Fascination does change the success level needed. But it doesn't change that Fascinated is a really temporary condition to apply during combat.

It does gain panache though. Repeatably. And at range. Which is better than some of the other styles get.

Can you explain more what you mean by this? "But it doesn't change that Fascinated is a really temporary condition to apply during combat." What I'm trying to apply is the language, "You gain panache by successfully performing the skill check associated with specific actions that have a bit of flair." I guess what you're saying is that she did get a success on the skill check, so she gets panache, even though a critical success was necessary to actually fascinate. Makes sense.

Yes. Battledancer gains panache even if the target isn't fascinated, as long as the roll is a success or better. Regardless of any other effects in play. And Yasami does (at least according to the profile currently) have the Focused Fascination feat. So the success would cause Fascinated condition. Briefly.

And as you already noted, the Fascinated condition itself drops off nearly immediately during combat. There are some ways of getting use from it - usually involving using Delay to change the order of when allies and enemies take their actions.

Got it. I missed the focused fascination feat. So, yes, the naunet was fascinated very momentarily!

Back at the hotel with wifi.

Yes, the whole point was to gain panache. It doesn't require a crit success.

I'm after that movement speed buff, basically.

Regarding the leading dance I just attempted - from the grappple action:

Critical Success Your target is restrained until the end of your next turn unless you move or your target Escapes.

Success Your target is grabbed until the end of your next turn unless you move or your target Escapes.

So unless it's prone from Oren's slamdunk (and if that was a crit, presumably dead, too), me force moving it should break the grapppe on Cat.

Also this is probably my last fascinate this turn, since they will be immune to FASCINATE condition for 1 hr. But I can still get panache by doing a leading dance. Just pointing that out.

I'd like to see if any of that stuff breaks Catalina's grapple before she goes, if that's alright. That changes what I do pretty massively if so.

I derped last night and realized this morning that if Catalina can hit those creatures without distance issues, her actions should have been stride, risky reload, reload, so the last strike wouldn't be valid. Totally forgot to include the movement.

Hey, folks. It will take some time to bring down the pillar due to its hardness (although reaching the break DC is easier than destroying it), but all it can do is stun you, which is significant in a combat involving the naunets, but the voidworms pose little threat to you all. Do you want to play out the combat, or should I just narrate your eventual victory? Sorry for the spoiler, but the dynamic of the battle would quickly become clear anyways. Basically, anybody prefer to play it out?

I'm good with just narrating it.

It is probably Oren that would realize that the pillar only stuns. He was the one that got hit with the beam and shrugged it off.

Narrating it would be the best way of dealing with it if the voidworms aren't a threat and the pillar itself only stuns.

All good with narration on my end.

I've been feeling a little bit of writer's block. Apologies for silence. So the game plan is we're taking the rafts to the Elephant tribe, dropping them off, then heading back to Akrivel to resupply, regroup, and resolve the Thornscales?

I'm just confirming my understanding, so if I am wrong, please say so! Lol

Sounds like the plan as far as I know.

I can't tell how the rafting trip is going to go or if there are any surprises along the way from there to the camp where the rest of the thornscales are.

That's my understanding. Working on a post now to move things along.

Voomer... What the everloving cluck did my eyes just see? Some blonde, conquistador-looking, incestuous (?) german man; monologuing on a raft containing a cannon, at least 3 people shot by arrows ( that are seemingly fired from the cannon ? ), chasing young monkeys around the raft, only to toss them over into the river afterwards.

Up until now, I was sure I didn't do any substances today.

Hah hah! Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguirre,_the_Wrath_of_God

The director is a weird guy, as is the lead actor. Herzog's movies certainly can take the viewer to some strange places.

Also, Voomer... Get in the discord?

Given how long it took him to reply to my PM it's probably expired now. Here's one that won't expire for 30 days lol

Thanks. I'm on! I'm a little fuzzy on what goes on Discord and what goes here but I'll learn in time!

Just to keep thing moving, at some point tomorrow I'll probably post a description of the feast. But feel free to post pre-feast activities...

Hey folks. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be traveling for a couple weeks starting tomorrow. I think I will have some opportunity to post but it will be more sporadic and I'm not sure how easy it will be to do long posts. It seems like people are in a slower summer mode anyways, and I know Lisi's player still has a lot going on.

We are in a transitional moment in the story with a lot of roleplaying situations and not much combat -- the Elephant People, the Thornscales, the Ekujae, and then whether you decide to pop back to Breachill before tackling the remaining pillars and Belmazog's fortress. Feel free to do as much or as little roleplaying you want during these periods, but if there are aspects of your characters you want to explore more, this period will be a good opportunity.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

How much of this can we assume to be doing safely? How far into the plot of future events can we make assumptions about before we are going to run into content that you have planned that we as players don't know about?

In terms of doing things safely, things are pretty safe here with the Elephant People, meeting up with the Thornscales, and returning to the Ekujae. To the extent you encounter any foes, it won't be the Cinderclaws this far West and any random encounters are things you can handle and we don't need to play out. Mostly, you just scare away some jungle hazards with displays of force -- snakes, etc.

So things aren't too disjointed, it would be good if we still kept the rough chronology so you are all posting about the same things at the same time (with generous allowance for going back to add things, of course). I will move things along somewhat slowly, but if folks aren't posting about a certain situation I may just move things along to the next.

If you know your player wants to do something in some upcoming situation and want to spend some time thinking about it, you can always take some notes offline and then add it to the gameplay thread when we get to it. Of course, how you like to do your creative writing is up to you!

Does that answer the questions?

Awesome roleplaying posts everyone.

I’ll do a post in the next day or two wrapping things up with the Elephant People and moving you all to the Thornscales, but feel free to post whatever you want in the meantime.

I will do my best to get a post up tomorrow afternoon. Y'all know what I'm dealing with right now and I appreciate your patience. <3

No problem. It seems like there's a lot going on all around, so I'm fine with it proceeding slowly. Periodically I'll nudge the story forward a bit, but I'll try to leave plenty of time.

I'll get a post in during my planning period! Sorry for my silence this weekend, I was sleeping. A lot.

I'll get a post in this evening! Work today has been quite busy. The teens are needy.

I bet they are!

Thanks for the great posts. I've been doing some juggling and working late, but I'm going to aim to get the Leopards' response up tomorrow.

To provide a bit more guidance on what the Ekujae could give you... It would, for example, be reasonable to choose a consumable of your level or maybe a couple levels above, or a couple consumables of a lower level, or possibly a lower level item. It should make sense as something the Ejujae could make and that would help in taking on the Cinderclaws, and of course subject to my approval. I can try to think of some things (in addition to the healing magics) if you all don't have particular ideas. Any questions?

I am looking into getting a staff. And maybe a spellheart.

Perfect Droplet spellheart
Staff of Final Rest
Accursed Staff

I would love to get access to a lightweight, but durable rope. Or a ribbon that won't get cut on the first blade it hits.

Basically, something to make the rope dart with.

I can't think of anything at the moment Catalina would benefit from, but healing potions and the like are always welcomed, lol.

Yeah. Atm, I can't think of anything for Oren, outside of potions.

A variant healing potion: Elixir of Life

and do we know what sort of breath weapon Belmazog has? I'd be into getting one of these:

Potion of Resistance (lesser).

Sorry for taking so long. I meant to post last night, but I ended up falling asleep. Been dealing with a head cold. My health has been through the ringer lately, LOL

Partying with the students, were we?

Nope, homecoming is tonight LOL I get to patrol the dance floor and make sure nobody's adding to the population.

I'm gonna say it. Pre-gaming a whole day ahead of the actual event is probably not a good idea.

Seriously, though - get better!

Sorry for the delay in posting folks. I’ve been traveling and pretty distracted by everything happening in the world. I’ll get back into the groove soon.

DM, you alright? Still traveling?

Stairs down to the portal chamber repaired, and sigil jewelry for the entire party.

Back on page 60.

I think we had some minor plans for repairs and improvements, but I don't remember what they were.

Caiten, you mentioned having a copy of the inventory sheet. What about other sheets? Links in header are all dead.

I only grabbed the inventory sheet.

Alright. Guess we'll remake then.

But I know we cleared up and fixed the stairs to the ring.
And we did a general touch up everywhere (getting rid of the debris, fixing the floorboards, reinforcing walls, etc) without comitting to actual room projects so far.

So it should be a clean slate.

I guess I will get to work on a calendar from day 1.

Started working on this today. Slowly moving through the campaign again.

I will continue tomorrow, but feel free to contribute if you have the time and mood.

I have things up to the Portal to the Mwangi Expanse entered.