Laarafel's page

Wren frowns after reading the letter. "So, we were brought here to guard a... corpse. Based on what you're saying the corpse can't leave the bog because it would begin to decay. If so, why would someone attempt to steal it? It won't last long outside the bog, after all."

Player Name: Carolyn
Character Name: Trita Ram
Character Lvl: 5
PFS#: 2382746-2006
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Normal XP
Downtime: Fortune Telling Lore: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

I'm blind; so, if you're using, for example, google for pics of maps, etc., I'll need descriptions of them and, more specifically, descriptions of locations of PCs and NPCs during combat. For example, "player A is 30' directly in front of you attacking ogre 1 (player A is blocking LOS with the ogre 1). At your 3 o'clock approximately 5' away is player B firing arrows at ogre 2 that is at your 2 o'clock approximately 40' away...."

If you have any questions, let me know.

[ooc] Renvi is trained in Athletics but I only have a +4 currently in that Athletics (Swashbuckler/Battledancer's main stats are dex and charisma). Did no one else pick up the other climbing kit; or, was it just presumed that it would be packed on the horse?

Lyric's first thought was that the land was moving beneath her and then her stomach and bowels began moving in time with the land. Oh, this is not good,[i] she thought as she rushed to the slop bucket, choking down one mess while the other erupted. Suddenly, the room moved. Her arms flung out to either side of her to brace herself; it wasn't her imagination; the land was moving.

[i]singing songs... telling tales... Calisro was there.. maybe?

"...fetch the coffee like I asked!"

The sound of Calisro's voice snapped Lyric out of her daydream back to reality; she was on a ship and the spray of a wave hit her soaking her to the bone and nearly knocking her off her feet. "Move before you get knocked overboard, you fool," she muttered to herself and headed below deck.

We have a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy? I completely forgot about that...

Lyric goes into a bookshop and asks the store owner, "Do you know Tavvar? Can you tell me anything about her?" Diplomacy Gather Information: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 = 9

Hero Point that

Diplomacy Gather Information: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 2 = 23

Laarafel wrote:

Hell, that's why I was able to predict that this would happen months before it did happen and told people connected to Paizo to not use Warhorn in relationship to events like a Con or this would invariable occur.

Just out of interest, what is wrong with Warhorn?

Specifically, it isn't screen reader friendly. Well, to be clear, it is screen reader friendly until you try to join a game or become a GM and then it isn't screen reader friendly because the developer created a pop-up (or what I believe is a pop-up) that will not allow one to interact with it utilizing keystrokes; you have to use a mouse. According to the creator of Warhorn, it works with Voice Over (which is Apple's screen reader); however, like a lot of Blind people, I use a PC and have JAWS (the screen reader for people using PCs) and, while it registers that there is a pop-up window of some kind, it won't read it... which means he didn't code it properly (this means he didn't follow basic ADA protocols set up by federal guidelines that are generic so that all screen readers will work regardless of which one you're using). This is the link to the video I finally ended up making for the guy from Warhorn to show him the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOJJKMYWVg

Lyric listens to her comrades and then steps over to her new found friend, "You are clearly no monster, no beast. It is true that former slaves have sometimes taken their master's name; however, it is their master's name that they took not the name the master gave them. So, if their master's family name was Johnson, they took that name as their family name as their own to remember where their family came from and, yes, sometimes they even kept the name their slave owner gave them because they were used to it because, quite often, it was a normal name for that area." Lyric paused for a moment thinking. "It is not for me to tell you what your name should be; your life is your own now. You can make a decision upon a name based upon your past and what you strive toward." Then, she laughs conspiratorially, "Or, you could just pick one at random just to confuse people," and she gives a big grin. [b]"It's up to you. For now though we must take you to the Lodge to get you settled."

Lyric then turns to the Captain, "Our work is not finished, sister, but when it is drinks will be drunk and tales will be told, that I promise you!" With that, Lyric follows her colleagues and their friend back to the lodge to drop them off and then head onto the next quest.

"See? I spoke naught but truth." Dear god, someone stop me I'm quoting Shakespeare!

"Trophy? What do you mean, 'trophy'? We're here to find out what happened to a poor creature that was, by my estimation, created to amuse its creator and by being abused by them as well as, perhaps, being sent to abuse others? We've been sent to find out what happened to this creature; how it fairs, perhaps, if possible help (if this creature needs help) and, I personally, would love to hear this creature's story because I think this creature has a fascinating story to tell. Now, if that is the 'trophy' you speak of, then, I guess, yes, you speak true and plain; I am seeking a trophy of a sort, the grandest of trophies: a tale to tell across the lands of Galarion. But, if you meant something else... Well, I'm afraid you're mistaken. This is not to say that my friends and I won't fight if struck upon, we will, of course, but that is not our desire. The question is: Is it yours?"
With that Lyric steps forward, hands raised palms outward, clearly carrying no weapon. Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Hero point the Diplomacy roll

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

TRUE CONFESSIONS: I do that all the time as a player. I look at Gameplay first, then post, and then realize that there are 11 posts about what we should have done in Gameplay, and I have now acted against the party plan!

Head / Desk

On the bright side, you have one leader gone already, and most of your party has yet to act in Round One, so there are a number of chances left to influence the remaining leaders!

OK, well, if we're doing the "true confessions"... I'm the professor who would give the social experiment "quiz" at the beginning of the course (it never counted for anything) that said at the very beginning of it to read all the instructions before doing anything.... At the end of the instructions it said, "Don't write on this quiz, just turn it in as is and leave. Thank you." Never failed, I'd only have maybe 1 to 2% of the students actually read the instructions....

I am so tempted as a worshipper of Shelyn to argue that we shouldn't do it because it creates ugly and unartistic statues :D

Actually, that might not be a bad argument from that religious perspective... I'd run with it if you feel you can make a good roll on the religion check.

Lyric steps up next to the leaders who are inciting civil unrest, "People of Absalom, you do not know me for I am a stranger to your city, a stranger to your lands, in fact. My name is Lyric Earthsong of the Song'O Clan, I come from the Mwangi Forest and this is the first time I have ever left my beautiful homeland." She pauses a moment to allow them to hear her.

"When I first came into this city, I was in awe of it." She laughs. "I couldn't imagine how many people could be in one place, you see. Where I am from, if so many people lived together in one place... Why there would be conflict and chaos and such terror... And I thought, this must truly be a magical place where people live together in harmony and happiness. But now, I see... I see that it isn't magical." Lyric points to the statue of a woman prostrate on the ground. "Is this the criminal you fear? Or, this child here? And she steps down from where she was to walk over to a statue of a young man with his open hands raised, mouth open as if to speak. "Are these the beasts that plague your nightmares? Or, merely the objects that line your pockets with gold? If it is gold you seek, are you so feeble that you cannot earn it in an honest days work? This is what these two," she points to Miranda Benikri and the Barrister, "would contend; that you are all lazy and feeble and incapable of making an honest days work." Lyric gets back up onto the "stage" where the other two stand, "I am a stranger here from a strange land but I don't believe that. I believe all of you are proud, honest, hard working folk and proud, honest, hard working folk don't want or need to earn money off the backs of another's suffering."Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Hero point that
Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Lyric looks up at the towering Half-Elves then at Sorrina, then Janira (the Halfling woman that dragged her here) then at Gorem, the Dwarven gentleman who appeared to be in charge.

"Am I in trouble?" Lyric thinks to herself, "There were so many tall buildings and that guy... Anders seemed so helpful... Stop this, they recruited you; you did not seek them out. Make your clan proud."

Trying to brush doubt and worry aside, Lyric straighten her multi-colored, multi-layered skirts that had been ruffled in the scurrying across the party floor. Brushing them out reveals that the skirt is not one cloth but actually many layers of fabrics of different colors of blue, green, purple, gold and red; if one looks closely, one will notice that this is also true of the bodice and sleeves as well as the cape Lyric wears. Each piece of fabric appears to be a shear gauze that is almost transparent that, if it weren't for the layering effect, one could see through her clothing. After straightening her clothing she briefly runs her hands through her long black wavy hair that became disheveled during their little run, a lock of her hair insists on falling down in front of her face, refusing to allow her to make that absolutely perfect impression.

Straightening to her full 3'3" height, she clears her throat and says, "Hello, my name is Lyric Earthsong of the Song'O Clan. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. Your people recruited me to the society although I'm not sure why. I am but a simple storyteller amongst my people."

She attempts to show her skill.
Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Gnome5663, if you join the Discord Hmm mentioned, I can see if I can pull together a table of 1-01 for you. Just let me know and we will figure out a time.

I would love to hear how you handle tactical scenes and any advice you have on making tactical scenes more accessible as I have never GMed for a blind player and want to make sure it is a positive experience.

By "tactical" I'm presuming you mean combat scenes and that's relatively simple. What I tell GMs is that the easiest way to describe a combat situation is the way the blind and the military do it; it's basically a clock system. You use the person as the center of a clock. 12 o'clock is straight ahead; 6 o'clock (i.e. on your 6) is directly behind you; 3 o'clock is directly to the right; and, 9 o'clock is directly to the left and so on. From there you just simply add distances. So, for example, GM Hmmm is at 1 o'clock about 10ft away fighting a skeleton. At 2 and about 15 ft, there's a pair of wolves chomping on Jesse Davis who is prone and bleeding. Directly at your 6, KingTrey is fending off a zombie. And, from your position, you can see a pack of 5 more wolves headed in fast (positioned between 8 and 9 in a v-like formation) they're about 60 feet away. What would you like to do?

Gnome5663, that sounds awful! Let's make this better now. I am going to cast 'Summon Venture Officer', so that we can get the Online Team to this discussion to help you.

If you can read and post on the forums, theoretically we can PBP with you. I would love to have you come join one of our games. I have a game of Absalom Initiation going on right now for newcomers to PBP that only just recently started. I would be happy inviting you to my game if you don't mind coming in after the opening mission briefing / party scene.

As for VTTs, Minnesota does not use Warhorn. We use Meetup for our signups, but if that does not work, Minnesota would love to have you come join us. We can probably help you get set up for games happening throughout the week. My group, Dreamers, does their game on Wednesday nights, but there other games happening at different times.

Minnesota Organized Play Meetup

And here is a link to Minnesota's discord channel: https://discord.gg/Yr8AJXF

Come to our Discord, tell us that you're blind and want into a game, and mention that @Hmm sent you. The @ symbol will call out my name, and make sure that I see you!

QUESTION: Is Discord ADA compliant? We would love to keep you gaming. If it is compliant, there is PBP on Discord, and we could probably arrange for you to join a PBP discord lodge and have a VA get you settled into a game.

Been using Discord for quite some time (started using it for WoW) and, while its not perfect (nothing is), they've made it compliant enough that I can use it for pbd and just comms in general.

And, thank you, for inviting me to the game... been cooped up for a little over 2 months now so trying to keep busy -- so if you have a seat at that Absalom Initiation table... yeah, I'd like to come in.. Don't know anything about Meetup but will check it out later. Thank you.

Lyric casts Inspire Courage It's a 60' emanation. "You inspire your allies with words or tunes of encouragement. You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects." I believe everyone is within the 60ft range at this point... If not, Lyric will jump down from the cart and move into a position that will put as many people within the buff as possible. Lyric then casts Shield on herself and braces for impact. "They're coming in fast! Get Ready!

Since Lyric has Keen Eyes, it would probably be best to utilize that via Search +9 Perception

On the first night, Lyric, nervously, gets in front of the goblins to perform songs on her fiddle. Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

The second night, Lyric again takes the proverbial stage to perform. Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

First of all, you are right. All the sees stuff in the rulebook where it wasn't necessary (like for most spell targeting) should absolutely have been written around ability to perceive instead of see. I've brought that up in post before too, and my understanding is that it is something that they would like to try to make better into the future.

But to your question about the character:

Is this a character for a home table or for PFS?

At your home table, I would sincerely hope that the people you are going to play with in person are thoughtful enough to be able to make any accommodations necessary, and waive any rules silliness that would prevent you from playing the character that you want to play, especially since no one who is sighted is going to be able to tell you that you are playing your character wrong.

I have long argued on these forums that most of the mechanical rules for sensory loss should be built around the immediate experience of losing that sense with long term capabilities to learn how to adapt without it. Any character who has been blind since character creation is not going to be experiencing blindness in the same way as a character struck blind on the battlefield. I think the key is making sure the GM understands how there are fewer times where perception check exclusively means a visual perception check than a sighted person is going to realize, especially for a character accustomed to using their other senses to make perception checks.

Which is why the real issue isn't the rules, but the reality that most GMs and other players who are sighted are going to have to be willing to be creative in adventure design and play, and many of them are not willing to take the time to think about. Again, if these are your friends then I sincerely hope they are willing to take the time to be more creative in their play.

If you are making this character with the intention of being able to insert them seamlessly into an organized play situation or other stranger table situation, then I think it is reasonable to have this character ready and hope that the GM and other players see the situation for what it is, a new learning and play opportunity for them as well, but it might be a bit presumptuous to assume that every table is going to be ready. Having a back up character might also be a good idea in that instance, if the goal is just to make sure you are able to play, but long term that does feel like a terrible solution, especially if the group is a recurring group and just decides never to accommodate you. But I have a lot of love for this game and its general community of players and believe you will find a place with this character at a table, and that table will be happy to have you.

Overall, as a member of this community, I want you to know that any player is welcome at my table and that usually we create character concepts together in a session 0, and that concepts such as yours are perfectly welcome, especially in the generation phase of the campaign so that we can all talk through our expectations and concerns to make sure that we can all fun together.

To be honest, I play PbP/PbD in both non-society and society games. So, it's not a bunch of people that I know; these aren't friends from home or even from the area (hell, I can't find a local game -- not even a local PFS game)... So, I'm stuck moving from table to table with a bunch of strangers; so every time I'm usually dealing with a different GM and a different group of people and some idiot going, "Blind people can't do that!" Half the time I've got the group telling me I'm "courageous" for playing the f**ing game... (like it's hard). Since the system is set up in such a way that I can't do anything but table hop, I'm basically forced to reinforce ableism which goes against Paizo's creed of acceptance which seems contradictory to me. Now, I asked to discuss this privately with Paizo because i felt this was an internal matter but they said take it to the forums; so... here I am.

The section in the Core Rulebook is actually right before the section on playing a deaf character.

Blindness or Impaired Vision wrote:

A blind character can’t detect anything using vision, critically fails Perception checks requiring sight, is immune to visual effects, and can’t be blinded or dazzled. You might give this character the Blind-Fight feat (page 149) for free.
A character with impaired vision might take a –2 to –4 penalty to vision-based Perception checks. Spectacles or other corrective devices might reduce or remove this.

And as always, the advice given is to work with your GM.

Actually, what the CRB says is these are suggestions. The paragraph before this read:

"Work with the player to find ways to respectfully represent the disablity. Conditions such as blinded pr deafened aren't a good fit for a character who has been living with a disability long term. Here are suggestions for rules you might use for PCs with disabilities."

Now, note it says quite clearly that these are "suggestions for rules you might use." The argument I have and why I make the comment about ableism is the statement made about long term disability (specifically in relationship to blindness and deafness) because, like Unicore, I know (as anyone in the Disabled community will tell you) someone who has lived with a disability for a long time has learned adaptive skills and techniques that you, abs (sorry, that was disrespectful), that the sighted and hearing simply haven't become familiar with and/or managed to learn. It's not to say you aren't capable of learning; I'm sure you are... quite capable of learning, it's just that most of you don't possess that skill set.

Oh, and more than a few blind people are skilled marksman with both bows and high powered rifles (including myself); I also have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and until I busted my knee on the job competed around the midwest. But more to your rhetorical commentary about the military... while they do not recruit blind people as sharpshooters, they don't toss them out of that position if they happen to be blind either. And, before you say anything, the U.S. military is notorious for being lax with their medical checks upon entering the military and, once in, they can't force a soldier to leave simply due to disability. In other words, dear boy, someone can have terminal cancer and stay and serve until their death (I happen to know a few who passed their physical just to get through the door so they could get care, chemo and the like -- all pre-ACA) and, yes, I know a couple of blind people who made it through basics, got the sharpshooter badge (apparently it's not that difficult)... So, before you talk, I would suggest knowing of what you speak.

OK, so I've scoured the Forums looking for information on the subject of creating a blind character for PF2e; however, every time I run a search, I keep getting sent to posts related to PF1.

I'm interested in creating a blind character mostly from an RP perspective; however, I don't feel, if played properly, the "flavor" would alter gameplay. In other words, I'm not looking for this to give the character advantages or disadvantages; as a blind person myself, being blind is a character trait (like being left or right handed) not a flaw. The problem I'm running into is that, while PF2e has some rules and things written into that would allow for Deaf/deaf characters to be written into play rather seamlessly (ex. sign language), aspects that would allow the same for a blind character seem to be absent or, to be more specific, the rules are designed to actively object to blindness or visual impairment.

This is a bit disconcerting, given Paizo's stance on inclusivity and acceptance and more than a bit confusing given how simple it would be to simply make some adaptive tech (i.e. reasonable accommodations) possible to a blind or visually impaired character. For example, a character who was blind could use their staff as a cane as their mobility aid (no need for "blind sense feat" people that's just silliness). One might be able to see if the writing on a wall was raised or indented enough for a blind player to read with the sense of touch (i.e. can you say adaptation of scribe lore)... For other things, one could, of course, use a familiar if one had the class for it if one so chose, the point is there are options ways of mitigating all kinds of things if you know how. However, some of the feats and/or skills specifically utilize the word "eyes" or "see" and, if you've a GM that's being a literal ass (every pun intended)... your blind character just became a liability to the party for no reason other than Paizo's apparent ableism....

All of Ohio is in lockdown mode too, although I was put into quarantine last week because I was exposed to someone who was exposed (just started getting a cough and wicked headaches yesterday but it's probably just the crazy weather shifts we've been having). I'm just glad I'm retired; can't imagine what kind of hell this is like for someone who has to earn a paycheck and can't work because of this shit.

Downtime Herbalism Lore: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Lyric attempts to help the local people fend off the Orc flu by utilizing what she knows of the local herbs.

Dotting in. Also, would like to disclose I'm blind. So, maps, images, etc. are obviously going to need to be explained... I don't need detailed info about what a character looks like (unless it's actually pertinent info for plot or combat reasons -- i.e. you don't need to be Faulkner and tell me about the brocade in the drapes on the damned window behind the main characters for 10 pages; but also don't be Hemingway and give me so little that I don't know there's a dog sitting next to the old man fishing (the dog might bite).

In combat situations, I'll need to know where everyone is (generally speaking). The easiest way to do this is to use me as the center point and think of a clock.... 12 is directly in front of me, 6 is directly behind, 3 is directly to my right, 9 is directly to my left, and so on. You then just add distance to this. So, say Enemy 1 is 30' at 1 o'clock, enemies 2 & 3 are coming from about 9 and 60' away and there is a 4th enemy at 12 at 25'. Your party is spread out dealing with them in the following manner... (something to that effect) This way, I get a sense of where everyone is, exactly how everyone is positioned, etc. I'll be paying attention to people's moves but there times when certain moves throw a creature in a direction and, without being able to see, you don't know exactly where they've been thrown. I don't need to have that information until my turn but I'll need it when my turn happens to be able to make sensible choices.

And, if this sounds like elementary stuff, I've learned to just presume that the GM has never worked with someone who is blind before and start with "Blindness 101" training if you will.

If you have any specific questions, just ask. If I need anything specific, I'll be sure to let you know. I haven't used Paizo's platform before to do pbp -- been using Discord. Is there a guide somewhere that I can look at that has the commands that I can look at?

Hi, I'm fairly new to the game. Haven't played Pathfinder for long and haven't ever played PbP before so I'm not exactly sure how this all works. Kind of wondering the same thing as @SuperBidi: How do I subscribe to a game? Do I just contact the GM/DM? Sign up... Should I sign up to the discord channel? If someone could just teach the newbie the ropes I'd appreciate it. lol