About Just call me BobϪӝѬʓʢϞԬ₺ᴥᵹ₾ (Bob)
Ring of Barsoom:
This delicate-looking ring to its wearer the grace and agility of one born in the low gravity of the red planet Akiton. The wearer triples the result of any Acrobatics checks to determine how far she can jump, and never needs a running start. In addition, a successful DC 15 Acrobatics check allows the wearer to negate any damage from the first 30 feet of falling damage and converts any damage from the second 30 feet to nonlethal damage. super power - Gravity Blast:
Gravity Blast (Su) You hurl a fist-size black hole or white hole at the target, which dissipates after the attack is resolved. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 50'. On a successful hit you deal 1d6 of force damage, plus 1d6 per two hit dice (maximum 9d6 at 17th level). This attack also does a Pull maneuver for a black hole or a Bull Rush maneuver for a white hole. All movement must be directly toward or away from the wielder. Use you hit dice in place of your base attack bonus and the better of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier in place of strength. This maneuver is not adjusted for size. This power pushes or pulls an unattended object struck by it 20 feet away from you, provided it weighs no more than 25 pounds per Hit Die (maximum 250 pounds). Used on a door or other obstacle, the spell attempts a Strength check based on your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to open/break it if the damage inflicted by the spell doesn’t do the job. class ability - shift:
Shift from the Teleportation Wizard School Shift (Su): At 1st level, you can teleport to a nearby space as a swift action as if using dimension door. This movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You must be able to see the space that you are moving into. You cannot take other creatures with you when you use this ability (except for familiars). You can move 5 feet for every two wizard levels you possess (minimum 5 feet). You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier. Sprout (familiar):
Sprout CR – Fey petrifern (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 116, Ultimate Wilderness 202) N Diminutive fey (plant) Init +1; Senses blindsight 30 ft., low-light vision; Perception +1 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+1 Dex, +4 natural, +4 size) hp 45 (7d8+7); fast healing 1 Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +2 (+4 vs. Mind Affecting effects) Defensive Abilities improved evasion, self-petrification, toxic secretion; DR 5/cold iron; Immune plant traits; Resist cold 10, electricity 10; SR 15 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 20 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); long step Melee slam +10 (1d2-5) Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks deliver touch spells Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +1) . . 3/day—dancing lights . . 1/day—deep slumber (DC 13), entangle (DC 11), faerie fire, glitterdust (DC 12), major image (DC 13) -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 1, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 3, Wis 6, Cha 11 Base Atk +5; CMB +2; CMD 7 Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +11 (+7 to jump), Bluff +5, Diplomacy +2, Fly +11, Handle Animal +5, Heal +0, Perception +1, Ride +3, Sense Motive +4, Stealth +19, Survival -1, Swim +2, Use Magic Device +7 Languages Sylvan (can't speak); speak with master SQ empathic link, finesse weapon attack attribute -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB Blindsight (30 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them. Combat Expertise +/-2 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack. Damage Reduction (5/cold iron) You have Damage Reduction against all except Cold Iron attacks. Deadly Aim -2/+4 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage. Deliver Touch Spells (Su) Deliever master's touch spells. Empathic Link (Su) You have an empathic link with your master. Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks. Energy Resistance, Electricity (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks. Fast Healing 1 (Ex) Heal damage every round unless you are killed. Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Dexterity on attack rolls. Fly (30 feet, Good) You can fly! Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects. Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis. Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison. Immunity to Polymorph You are immune to Polymorph effects. Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects. Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned. Improved Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save; half on failed save. Long Step (70 feet) (Su) Every 1d4 rds, can teleport up to listed distance as a move action. Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail. Plant Traits Plants have many immunities. Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage. Self-Petrification (Ex) Petrify self as standard action, gaining natural armor 5, cold and fire resist 10. Share Spells Spells with a target of "You" can be delivered by a familiar with a range of touch. Speak with Master (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your master. Spell Resistance (15) You have Spell Resistance. Toxic Secretion (1/day, DC 13) (Ex) Creature touching petrifern becomes sickened for 1d4 rounds. (Fort neg) Vayuvata, the Centered Storm (mount):
Vayuvata, the Centered Storm CR 5 Large air elemental (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 120) N Large outsider (air, elemental, extraplanar) Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 13 (+7 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural, -1 size) hp 68 (8d10+24) Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +2 Defensive Abilities air mastery; DR 5/—; Immune elemental traits -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed fly 100 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 slams +14 (1d8+4) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks whirlwind (10-40 ft. high, 1d8+4 damage, DC 18) -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 18, Dex 25, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11 Base Atk +8; CMB +13; CMD 31 Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Weapon Finesse[B] [b]Skills Acrobatics +15, Escape Artist +15, Fly +21, Knowledge (planes) +5, Perception +11, Ride +7 (+9 to stay in the saddle), Stealth +11 Languages Auran Other Gear exotic military saddle -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Air Mastery (Ex) Airborne creatures take a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls against this creature. Combat Reflexes (8 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed. Damage Reduction (5/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks. Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only). Elemental Traits Elementals have many immunities. Fly (100 feet, Perfect) You can fly! Flyby Attack You can take a standard action during your move action while flying. Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed. Immunity to Critical Hits You are immune to Critical Hits Immunity to Flanking You are immune to flanking. Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis. Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison. Immunity to Precision Damage You are immune to Precision Damage Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects. Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned. Mobility +4 to AC vs. AoO provoked by moving out of or through a threatened area. Whirlwind (10-40 ft. high, 1d8+4 damage, DC 18) (Su) Become a whirlwind which damages foe in same square and may trap them within (Ref part). Background:
Bob's player is Robert Jackson. He is a mildly autistic software engineer working for an application company. He wouldn't be able to play the game very much except for great multitasking skills and a number of automated macros that let him split his attention without standing around paralyzed. He would sometimes get some ribbing as "Robot Bob" when he was distracted and let them take over too much. Some of his macros weren't technically in line with the TOS, but he worked hard to keep them under the radar. It helped that he wasn't using them as an aimbot to get MEGAKILLZ! in PVP. Many times they were focused on healing and maneuvering. He only programmed the possibility for a few attacks - ones that didn't take up limited resources. He ran his macros on a separate machine that acted as a virtual monitor and controls. He kept the responses in line with human reactions and added plenty of randomness in responses to keep it fair and undetectable. The added overhead of parsing the onscreen visuals instead of using an API helped with this. He kept up with this by using the same UI mods he used for his own play, even though exotic settings would make it easier for the computer. It was being a completist that got him something unique. In studying some in-game books, he ran across some references to the John Carter books. These matched up with some strange markings. Eventually he decoded this. By finding a specific spot, waiting until the game-world moon appeared and meditating, he managed to transport himself. The meditating was interesting. One simply had to keep your hands off the controls for the required 27 minutes. This was a solo gaming area based on the ancient series. Bob had seen the movie, but he downloaded and read the books to figure out any other issues. The quest was moderately long and sadly didn't require much knowledge about the books. But it did have special rules that allowed for enormous leaps while walking on the moon. At the end of it, he got the Ring of Barsoom, a unique item for the first to complete the quest. As he was writing up the post, somebody dropped a video about the location. They only got a bog-standard ring of jumping. Most people didn't think it was worth it. He did still write it up for the game forums, but by then, opinion was pretty set. With the number and detail of his posts, he gets contacted by the company to help beta test new R&D content. It would all be under an NDA until it's officially released, but by doing this, he could earn some game perks and help them build the world. These R&D worlds had new experimental mechanics with basic storylines. Some of the graphics The first R&D world was a pair of worlds where you'd fall between the regular fae world and a dark, corrupted version. In this case a literal fall. The world would rotate and shift and you'd find yourself falling face first, though taking reduced damage. While it was a cool effect, it was disorienting. If you weren't stable in the real world, you could find yourself turned around. And when you flipped into a battle you started prone. He recommended changing that mechanic. While going through the dark fey realm, Sprout fell into a pool and was corrupted. It took some digging but the worlds were connected due to the dark fey stealing liquid mana at the source. This pool let him purify the taint, and Sprout came out of it with fronds that worked as wings and a few new quirks. The second R&D world involved black holes that sucked you in, white holes that pushed you away and walls of force that you had to catch. Of course, you had to fight gravity themed monsters that also pushed and pulled you. Possibly off the force platforms. This was a fun challenge, especially once Bob got to the gravity temple and got his own gravity blast. With this he could push and pull people himself and set up his own combos. Since he didn't have a good ranged attack, this was a useful power to have. The damage was moderate, but being able to reposition people was helpful. The third R&D world was more abstract and geometric than usual. There was an odd switch added to the UI. Playing with it flattened out the 3D effect of the DMMO headset. This seemed familiar, and a little experimentation confirmed it. This level was all about shits in perspective. By standing in the right place, flattening out the world and then turning 3d back on you could change the sizes of objects, make paths join from one to another, and even move yourself from one point to another. Sadly, this world never got implemented. It was a bit fiddly, a bit too reliant on puzzles, and the nature of things made it only work for one player. It was a fun playground, but not the sort of thing that appealed to the core DMMO community. Games like Superliminal, Monument Valley and Museum of simulation technology were indie darlings, but never hit A-level success. Even when he wasn't Robot Bob, he didn't feel the need to politic within the guild. He was happy to let the more opinionated members set policy and choose which raids and wars they went on. Kerwynn worked as guild leader and Ekaterina kept the schedule . His build wasn't as focused on specific drops, but he was usually up for helping people grind for the things that they needed. He spent a lot of time in chat with Ginza, both in game and out. In many ways Ginza was as deep a scholar of the game as him, thought perhaps a little more focused on the effects. They had many conversations about the benefits vs. costs of being undead, the different packages available for purchase and other issues. Debating weapons and melee vs ranged. Along the way, he developed the nickname G#. Short for G-sharp. A comment about the musical note, the elven curve blade, and Ginza's focus on the rules. And three keystrokes over five. Bob's not sure that he ever explained it before or just let it come up in context. Outside of work and the game, martial arts were his serious hobby. He had gotten into Taekwondo as a kid after being bullied. His Sensei kept a very ordered dojo, so he didn't have to worry as much about the social aspects. Hyperfocus was useful here, overcoming his natural inattention to the physical world. He kept it up as both physical maintenance and preparation for the worst. Bob is his desire to unplug and connect with the natural world. Of course as a city boy, how much he would actually enjoy spending time in the real natural world is questionable. The lack of temperature control and the bugs would definitely get to him, but it's still a dream of his. It's also not a coincidence that Bob's telepathic powers make it much easier to communicate with people. In game this was being able to see a flag when people were using deception skills and abilities. But it didn't help with chat or voice with no skills. Bob enjoyed the support role. In big raids, it was too stressful to be counted on to be DPS or keep aggro. But healing he could do. He would add a little delay to the macros so he was usually responding, but they would catch him if he got lost in the weeds. Failing to keep your allies vertical was a mortal sin. At their headquarters, Bob was responsible for the unspeakable garden. This is a twisting cavern filled with plants, vermin, oozes and magical traps. Each is carnivorous, toxic, psychic, parasitic, or otherwise unpleasant. Most of these plants live in swamps or underground, so they don't need a lot of light. Dancing lights, sunsoil, phosphorescent moss and a string of will-o'-wisps provide what is needed. While the garden is deadly, there's a safe path through for people who know the secret signs and a few passwords. Besides the mazelike path there are also illusions to send the unwary into danger. Often the safe path will loop around so that a pursuer will see a shortcut to the person. Those usually have some of the deadlier hazards. Some of the plants are edible. Somebody properly trained can harvest a surprising amount of food from the garden. But the garden also needs to be fed. They do keep some livestock- birds and goats and rats. This is enough to feed the garden and a little more. Between the garden, the livestock and a little magic, they can keep everybody living alive through a siege. Since the change, Bob's mind is completely different. The first level of changes is easy to understand. He doesn't have the primal drives and instincts of a mammal. Hunger, fear, anger, sexual desire. All of the things that get a human's blood flowing don't mean much when you don't have a heart, stomach or testicles. But on a deeper level, humans’ minds are shaped by their language. Until they put a concept into words, they can't truly understand it. If their language doesn't have the right words, they have to circle around and can never quite pin it down. But now he was working with raw concepts in a way that no human could ever do. This also changed communication from a chore to a joy. He no longer had to fight his own mind to express what he wanted. He simply thought it and the other person's mind organized it into the restrictive boxes of language. When they communicated back to him, it came with all the sociocultural associations connected to their words.
On top of this, he had completely new ways of interacting with the world. Sensing spirits and feeling the vibrations of psionic energy. Simply senses he had no equivalent of. It's a bit of a rush to have powers at your fingertips. Except he didn't have fingertips anymore. His tendrils seemed as dexterous as hands, but in a different way. When he didn't think about it they worked fine, but when he focused too much on it, it's weird. Still he would have loved having this reach in the real world. Translating Taekwondo to his new body was similar. Simply letting it happen worked much better than thinking about it. He didn't have any levels of monk on this character, but that didn't stop him from translating this from the real world. Eating is now pretty weird. It's less like what he's used to and more "Putting a mass of food inside myself to slowly rot, liquefy, and be absorbed." Taste doesn't mean as much, and fortunately it seems that being inside kept the smell from getting too bad. Fortunately being a fungus meant a lower metabolic rate. But deep down, this felt natural. Bob wasn't a foodie before, often choosing food that's quick and easy over taste. A dinner of ramen and a protein bar wasn't uncommon. This was very convenient. |
