With things finally looking up, Amber finds her singing voice. While she was nary the equal of any bard, she knew she could ring her own notes just fine, now that there was reason enough to sing. "no chimney smoke, no hammers peal,
As someone who so recently was computerless, I'd be quite the dick if I complained about this. Hang in there, DM.
Guess I'm not the only one who had a rough week, aye? Truth be told, aside from HP and possibly fatigue, I'm good. I don't exactly burn through spells currently, which feels REALLY weird, to be honest; I'm a sorceress who charges in with a handaxe and a 20 STR score--that's like, NEW to me.
Well, I'm on a borrowed computer at the moment; slow as hell but still more practical than a phone; I seriously cannot stand typing with thumbs. The stone(s?) passed but the effects still linger; I recognize this new sensation as severe dehydration, which makes sense considering I probably filled that bucket with the contents of my stomach (yes, it hurt THAT bad) sooo... Better? Yeah. Not great, but...better. At least I can still go to work and now I can get back to the campaigns, so...woo!
Amber shifts 5 feet to get at the minotaur's flank and swings for the meat.
Spotting Ienmar's headlong charge, Amber refuses to be outdone, brandishing her axe and following suit, joining Ienmar's assault on the gruesome aberration as she follows up his hammer blow with a biting chop to the monster's midsection.
Turns out, well delivered constructive criticism is one of the biggest kindnesses we can offer each other. For my part, I find the best thing to do with PBP is to let everyone find their pacing and style and give it time for everyone to adjust slightly to each others' wavelength, so to speak. The posters who are too short find ways to beef up their descriptions a bit and those who run long-winded learn to be a little more succinct until everyone finds a nice rhythm and it just flows. Setting a tone with example post lengths and desired descriptive "volume" can help get the ball rolling at the intended speed but then it's just a matter of making sure everyone's still feeling the flow.
On opening the door, Tori reflexively levels her rifle at the bot. Damn Azlanti and their 'bots..." Seeing it's inactive, she relaxes only slightly, glancing between it and the trident. After a moment of weighing her options, she sighs. "Okay, don't shoot it unless it goes hostile. Maybe it's just a butler bot. With a...laser rifle. That's...out of power? Yeeeeeaaah, let's go with that." She steps into the room, then closer to the trident, pausing with each step to note the bot's reaction, if any. If/when she reaches the trident, she slowly reaches for it, eyes trained on the robot the whole time, muscles coiled for a dive to cover.
Wow. You get to move to a new place and tear your old one down too? Sounds like a great excuse to swing a sledgehammer.
Better a quality game delayed and business concluded than a desperate, fragmented attempt that falls flat. Take care of the big things first; the boards aren't going anywhere and neither are we.
Tori sighs, shaking her head at the blustering worm--which is no bigger than her--and shoulders her rifle. "Anyone want a piece of this thing? Feel free to scare it off; I'm tired of wasting ammo on the wildlife."
Gritting his teeth, Jebediah shudders visibly as the unknown effect chills his mind. He turns back toward the forest entrance, tugging River along by the cloth of her pants leg. "This. This is why I said we should wait for them to approach. I don't know WHAT in Azmodeus's soggy ass that was, but I don't think it was an Orc. Unless the gouged eye tribe are suddenly VERY into magic and very afraid of visitors, I think they've got neighbors who don't want us here." He shudders again, trying to shake off the disquieting unease as he thinks. "Wait. It said 'my' forest..."
Tori stops mid-inspection of her rifle as Lenesel starts speaking like an elemental. "Did...did you just learn to speak water by listening to one song?"
Tell me you at least brought a snowboard or a sled or something...
"Well, it's about time!" Jebediah exclaims, wearing his hauntingly wide goblin grin just as the others turn to look down at him standing right in their midst, fully dressed. "Nameless patron, no doubt a dark and spooky location, no details? I wouldn't have it any other way. This last week has been excessively dull; if this trip doesn't involve some form of mystery, violence or explosions, I'm likely to start a few myself." He then makes his way to the table, hopping up to stand on a chair before smoothing out his shirt. He puts up a hand at Crow's offer. "Nothing for me, thank you. Don't want to start gorging myself just out of force of habit." He rolls his eyes at his own memory of younger days. "Glad that's over...so! Anyone placing wagers on what will face us? Outbreak of disease? Undead uprising? Rampaging beasts? ...Miner's union on strike?"
Any game that offers the chance to roll for stats has to be worth a look. Some of the greatest characters of all time have come from rolling stats. Let's see what the dice gods throw back at me today! 9 so that one's out...
So 16, 14, 14, 13, 11, 10...I've built characters off of MUCH worse than that. Time to see what strikes me and get back to ya. Also: YE GODS, a negative PB equivalent? And a 46? As in, Four six? I wouldn't even know WHAT to do with 46 point buy; that's some 'outer realms' level insanity right there.
You will choose me or I will sneak into your house and throw foam noodles at you from the corner of your room wearing a sign that says "(Not the) CHOSEN ONE" while loudly judging your terrible taste in chairs. For precisely 5.7 hours. Starting at 3:26 AM. On a tuesday. In February. The warning has been given; your fate is now your own.
A chance for tables to mingle during downtime could be quite entertaining indeed. You'd have to be careful about allowing anything more than just RP convos though; allowing parties to share crafting, research and all that would just be a hilarious powercreep exploit. Potions! Mixtures! Concoctions made to order! Alchemical items on the cheap! Come one, come all to Dr. Castle's Castle of chemistry! One week only!
Haven't made an alias yet, but I'll throw in my opening submission here: Tori "sunskimmer" Steelfoot is a halfling operative who wants to build and fly the hottest starships in the galaxy. She's skilled, resourceful and knowledgeable. She'll snipe your eye out at any range, on foot or in the cockpit and she'll find a way to tune your ship to perfection...just don't ask her to arm wrestle. As for the crunch...how do you feel about a link to a mythweavers sheet? Prompt: The alien, a spider-like being that looks to be made of translucent crystals, swiftly moves to block you from proceeding down the space station corridor. It's body flashes rhythmically in bright reds and dull oranges as it makes a series of popping and crackling sounds similar to fireworks while pointing at the grenade on your belt.
Tori looks up with a start from her datapad at the strange, crystalline spider, eyes wide with fascination. "Whoah...now what sort of crawly are you, I wonder?" and what are you made of? As she considers performing a scan, she notices the tip of its appendage pointing to her belt. "What...that? Ohhhh...no, you don't want that." She pulls the grenade from its loop and shows it to the creature, which continues its flashing. "It's a grenade. It blows things up." She pantomimes the motions of pulling the safety pin and throwing the grenade, then makes a big flourish with both arms and her best impression of an explosion. The creature seems to shift its weight slightly, as if tilting its...head?... to one side. Is THIS thing security? Or just someone's pet? Tori lifts the grenade above her head, watching the spider carefully. She holds it out first to one side, then the other, noting as it follows the movement of the grenade with whatever passes for eyes. She holds it out in front of her and the spider seems to inch towards it...then she abruptly flings it backward, letting it bounce and roll away behind her. The spider looks at her for a moment, as if weighing its priorities, then it skitters off in pursuit of the explosive. Tori watches it go with a chuckle as she starts off down the corridor at a brisk jog. Just hope he doesn't try to-- Her thought is interrupted by precisely the sound she was afraid she'd hear: an explosion followed by the tinkling of a crystal rain. Returning to the scene, she finds fragments everywhere and crystalline limbs scattered to all parts of the hall. "Well...S*%@." After all of five seconds surveying the carnage, quick glances both directions confirm she's alone; she scoops up a crystal fragment and pockets it, then hastens off down the corridor. Seriously thought I'd actually have a minute or two...figures.
NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOooooooo...worries fam, somebody had to make the cut. Go get em, hapless--err, I mean, brave heroes!
Heheheh. Yeah, I don't consider myself a very munchkin-y player but when someone says it's crunch time I can do crunchy. And yeah, I saw that little possibility and went "how can I not? I'll probably never have the chance again."
As long as it can accommodate the custom campaign traits, that should be fine. Please still include background and other fluff details in your alias profile. Can do, and thanks. I could easily just put the campaign trait in the alias, or even perhaps in the profile line of my posts if you like. It's just nice that mythweavers visually a real character sheet; I got my start on tabletop games so it's just a mental connection that works for me.Already gravitating towards some kind of undine rogue; not sure if I want to lean into the swimming too hard because I have no clue what we'll face, but the unknown is just the nature of the beast, no?
After a coinflip and some random choices on a whim, I'm kind of stirring around a half-orc sorceress (yes, that's -ess, that was the coinflip) with the possessed bloodline and pass for human feat. For some reason the idea of playing a charismatic "human" who doesn't quite know she's part orc is growing on me. Goin for that archmage path too. Might make more mechanical sense to do a human with orcish kinds of traits but meh, min-max, schmin-schmax. We'll see.
Plot twist: NOBODY gets picked. everybody: surprised pikachu face
It's the FINAL COUNTDOOOOOOOWN duh-nuh-nuuuuuh duh, duh-nuh-nuh duh duh... WHAT. Somebody had to do it. We were all thinking it.
I...guess Amely can fill more than one role? Still basically arcane casting though. Control with some roasty-toasty-burny-blasty-watch-for-the-fire-it-gets-nasty on the side.
Competition's getting fierce on these backstories. Almost starting to feel like I've slacked off... Then again, I've been away from PBP and the boards for...some time now, so maybe I'm rusty.
I've tried a few methods of chargen that attempt to blend the random with the consistent, with mixed results. Method 1: "Shared Destiny." The GM rolls one set of 6 scores and everyone assigns those scores as desired. Simple, random, but fair because EVERYONE gets the good with the bad. Method 2: "The Catch." Assign a point buy, perhaps a few points lower than normal, but before they allocate their points roll ONE ability score that everyone must keep AS IS. Method 3: "Tempting Fate." Every player gets a pool of 24d6 for abilities. They must use a minimum of 3d6 on each score but may choose where to allocate the remaining d6's, keeping the best 3 rolls for each score as per standard. This gives them the power to roll a regular "drop the lowest" set on everything...or hedge their bets on an 18 or two at the risk of lower scores. Great for roleplayers who love savant characters, SAD-builds and aren't afraid to play someone with a major weakness.
"Long as we can clear it for supply runs to the settlement, the haul's just gravy." Gunnar swats away something next to him. "AYE I said the HAUL, ye thrice stank gasbag! Not that it was yours to begin with!" He then exhales, shaking his head. "Sorry. Nosy ghosts always coughin' up opinions..."
Gunnar scoffs. "I'll serve me own mum a brew o' Goblin spit 'fore ya catch me climbin' up a privy chute." He leans against a wall, arms folded. "Sides, old ghosts'd never give me a moment's quiet fer that..."
"Supposed to be scary enough to make the town nervous, so I don't suggest taking him lightly." Gelin peeks through the doorway behind the bar. "Wonder if they've got any fresh cheese...cheese is good." As he starts to step through, he freezes mid-stride, then spins around to the group, eyes wide. "Wait a minute!" She called me smooth!"
Don't jinx us, ya fool!
Well now... Gelin removes his hat with a slight bow, flashing a warm smile. "Mayhap she smiles on us all then. Gelin Brooklane, at your service, milady. We find ourselves setting out on something of a quest; while I'll never scoff at a deity's blessing..." he inclines his head toward the shrine, "The truth is we heard you'd had a bit of a misadventure of your own. I'm curious to hear a bit of the tale, if you're inclined to share. Tymora willing, it might give us a bit of insight into our own mission."
"GAH!" Gelin clutches at the gash in his side, gritting his teeth as he lunges for the offender. [b]"That's MY blood! You can't have it!"
I honestly find the feat tax notions refreshing as hell. Feat taxes are a plague and should be designed out, full stop. Automatic bonus progression is fun for almost the same reason, but it applies to your gear rather than feats. It allows you to get magic items that actually DO COOL THINGS rather than just keep you from missing every freaking roll and dying instantly. The combination of the two means that everyone is viable and everyone gets to pick feats and go for items they WANT instead of things they HAVE TO HAVE TO FUNCTION. I haven't had much experience with either thing myself, but when you compare them to the vanilla rules, it's not hard to see how liberating they are. I say double down and go for it. We'll have enough numbers and optimization to worry about with raising a settlement; getting rid of a few lines of bookkeeping and min-maxing can only serve to improve the flow in my opinion.
IDRIX is the burny-roasty guy here, so I have to ask.. WHY ARE MY DICE ON FIRE?!
Hmmm...not exactly I think. This is actually treating the card as a thrown weapon, dealing damage and specifically tacking a touch spell onto it. It also interacts directly with throwing Harrow cards specifically, as does the Harrower prestige class. Nothing says I can't describe my other spells that way, though, which now that you mention it, I think I shall... Hmmm, maybe I should just say "screw it" and buy an extra deck...or two. I'm sure we can find crafters to produce more; I don't think the Harrow deck itself is magical... I've been doing a little revising to make the build a little less clunky since it seems really action-heavy; I don't like to be a spotlight hog (not often, anyway) and the Harrow means I'll already have some extra dice rolls filling up my posts... They REALLY needed to do a design pass on this archetype to make it less tricky and more functional. For something that should be so simple, it's really technical, I'm realizing...here's hoping Pathfinder 2 makes it a little more intuitive!
Bit of a flashback for me here...I once got into an all Dwarf campaign; "The Quest for Arcadia," it was called. Robert Brookes ran it; eight Dwarves, a wild range of impossibly diverse characters involved and even the recruitment itself was loads of fun. Sadly, Mr. Brookes' life took a turn and his time commitments shifted, bringing the glorious experience to an abrupt end. Here's the campaign if you're interested in reading. Perhaps some inspiration can be gleaned. Don't let it humble you too much, though; I don't want people giving up just because they see a big pair of shoes to fill.
Gelin covers his mouth to stifle a giggle, twirling his wrist and setting his mage hand to some aggressive shadow fencing with the goblin. "Have at you, fiend! Haha!"
Kha'Rassi spies the entrance to the interior, glances back at her approaching party, then carefully takes out a vial, holds it in her mouth, unstops it with her teeth and allows the liquid to flow in, keeping out as much water as possible. Once the air bubble forms around her, she spits out any stray water, takes a breath and goes for the gap leading inside.
Young half-hag girl kills her abusive father; runs off with talking fox to find mother. (Hyphenated only counts as one! HAH!) Girl runs away from home to make parents stop fighting; turns out she's the empress. Kobold with wings raised by half-elf; plays pranks to stop an invasion of home forest. (hyphen for the WIN) Dwarf cleric has to learn to wield an earthbreaker and is uncomfortable around dead bodies.
I wouldn't call this 'victim blaming.' I'd call this advice. While there's no justification for the behavior that causes victims, there's also nothing stopping a victim from protecting oneself by whatever means they find effective. It may not make the problem disappear from the world, but it will protect said victim from at least some potential dangers. I agree: no one should HAVE TO hide who or what they are. I understand that kind of pride, and I share it when I want people to know the truth about me. That said, if that pride is turning one into a victim in the interim, it's wise to examine one's priorities and make sure that pride is important enough to risk being victimized. Do report, flag, and block. Do try to teach people to be better to each other. Do set the best example you can. Do be clear with people and do your best to truly resolve the problem... DON'T use pride as an excuse not to protect yourself in the meantime. Your safety, and your right to feel safe, may one day be worth more than that pride.
If there were ever a list of threads that need stickied, this would be on that list. Wonderful food for thought here; especially the push/hook relationship. That's something I've never really thought of as a player, even when I find myself doing it, but I can see where it would be incomparably healthy for a game. Keep this thread alive, ladies and gents; it's a service to us all.
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