Dude, of course I'm disappointed! You were telling an awesome story here. But you were also testing the bounds of human endurance.
It was explained to me like this: the reason why 2 1/2 men is so popular isn't just because most people are stupid. It's also because smart people have brain-draining jobs, and by the time they get home they don't have enough mental energy for more than sex and fart jokes.
You're proving that theory wrong every time that you update your Kingmaker. So you keep on doing that -- and I'll keep this game in my RSS, so that I'll see your comeback even if the forums are bugged. Because the game is awesome. 8)
But RL comes first. Good luck on those big cases, 'grats on your promotion, and best wishes on your master's! I really hope that you someday have the time and energy to pick this back up; but yeah, of course I forgive you. I felt like it was a privilege, to get to play in another one of your games. Take care! :)
I guess I'll take advantage of the pause to retcon in a little reaction on Senjin's turn, round 1 init 8.
Nylie's face brightens with glee when Vavana suddenly has her legs swept out from under her by a tall, well-armed, rough-looking man. Then he yells at her to run -- so she looks down at the rope that is wrapped around the Gray Maiden's shield arm, back at him, back at the rope, shrugs, and starts trying to work her wrists out of the knots. But that isn't all...
Non-random Q: Since the rope isn't entirely under Vavana's control -- being also "held" by Nylie -- would its AC be determined like an unattended item (pg. 173)?
Err, slight retcon... I forgot that I actually made a character without rope, for once. She thought that she'd gone into a field of work where she wouldn't need it. Little did she know that she was going to become an adventurer..."There are twenty of you for each of them! Just dogpile them! Armor is no use against rope!"But it might make it chafe less, I suppose. Wait, how is that relevant? Focus!
SA?: slip bonds vs. DC 17 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12
MA?: exercise prestidigitation
FA: speech
Nylie watches in horror as Vavana tries to work magic in her heavy armor. They're spell-casters, like me! They weren't kidding about re-education... Dragging her attention back to the now, the clever gnome attempts three gambits at once: slipping out of her bonds, distracting Vavana, and inspiring the humans to more effective action.
Unfortunately, the academic wizard finds herself unable to work the ropes, having not practiced much with more practical skills. So, she turns to what she knows -- magic -- and makes good use of her still-active prestidigitation. Well, "good" is debatable; she coats the Gray Maidens' leader's helmet in virtual dog poo.
Then, for good measure, Nylie exhorts the surrounding crowd. "There are twenty of you for each of them! Just dogpile them! Armor is no use against the rope in my backpack!"My reading is that mechanics-wise, they'd each get one AoO, and then be subject to a score of Aid Another vs. AC 10. Grappled, pinned, tied up, and helpless in short order. Just a matter of the civilians having the courage to follow through -- or fear of the queen's women getting away to identify them (which is why I didn't roll, since self-interest is at play now).
Opposed Str check to break Vavana's grip on the rope: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12 plus possible circumstance bonus for poorly-held?
Having gotten what she wanted, Nylie stares shocked, her awareness full of the consequences: a human adolescent dying before her eyes. My fault. Then the cacophony of the riot crashes into her, breaking the spell, and she begins to struggle in fear. "No! Let me go!" The little gnome digs in her heels and tries to pull the rope out of Vavana's hand, now that the Gray Maiden is distracted (and doesn't have three hands).
hp 4/8 Half-dead, Nylie still retains all of her dignity, even as she's dragged through the streets. Through their emotional link, she feels Felicia's confidence at following her, which emboldens the bloody gnome. She begins to speak out at passersby. "Is this what you want? For people to be assaulted and unlawfully restrained for their words? Do something! They can only do what you allow! And what you allow against me, could be used against you!" Her voice nearly squeaking at the end, the desperate wizard can't help using the words of her collegiate studies, although she hopes to make the choice stark. What the hell, use Inner Beauty for Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26 "Wow" doesn't even begin to cover it.
FA: Speech
SA: Use prestidigitation SPA (1 lb. of force)
FA: "Speech" through empathic link with familiar
"Ow!" Nylie staggers at the blow and draws herself up with as much dignity as she can muster, bloody and being tied. "I'm really quite good. You're just disappointingly perceptive." Beads of sweat form on her brow as the door handle turns, and it slowly swings open a little. The colorful wizard screams mentally at her feline little sister, projecting all of her raw terror. RUN!!!
Nylie has an untrained +1 to Escape Artist. Even if she could take 20, it still wouldn't be good enough. Should I start making another character? :)
FA: Speech
NA: 5' step
SA: Use ghost sound SPA (DC 11, I think)
"Re.. uh.. re-educated? I'm not so sure that I like the sound of that!" Nylie's voice squeaks as she backs carefully away from all of the big folks in the room, Felicia held close. A faint cacophony of noise filters in from the door, gradually growing louder, until those inside can make out the unmistakable sounds of a riot: shouts, running feet, the splintering of wood and shattering of glass. As loud as up to eight running and shouting humans, for up to two rounds, thanks to Trickster. I guess we'll see if her abilities can get her out of the pinch that her trusting nature put her in...
Nylie swiftly inventories her magical options, and doesn't find a single one that she can use with three soldiers in her face, between her and a closed door. So she uses what she has left: audacity and charm. "Hi! I'm Nylie!" Smiling brightly, the frightened gnome sweeps her familiar off of the counter and holds her closely, while extending a hand awkwardly to the one named Vavana. "And this is Felicia. We like causes! How can we serve the Queen?"
Nylie beams at the alchemist's praise, then scrunches her forehead in concentration. "Wait wait, I know this. In Principles of Force, Professor Kenfel taught that a spell's effect depends on the system. On leverage and feedback loops, reinforcing or opposing. Your prestidigitation can cause a rockslide, if you pick the right rock off of the right cliff -- whereas a fireball cast at the ocean will have no effect at all, as other water rushes in to take its place, and the vapor rains down later. So. What's the feedback..."
The focused gnome doesn't notice the half-elf petting her familiar as she ticks off her thoughts. "Suppressing unrest is an additional expense on top of what caused the unrest in the first place, that will put greater pressure on Bridgefront and the rest of the city. So that's a pushback loop, where buying more enforcers will result in more disaffected young men with nothing better to do than cause trouble."
Nylie ticks off another finger. "Then every young man imprisoned or slain has a mother, a father, and maybe sisters and brothers. Maybe sons and daughters. Probably friends. Maybe they don't cause trouble except for speaking out -- but if the pattern holds, then the Queen won't even abide that. So there's another pushback loop that she'll push against."
The little wizard runs a hand through her purple hair and then holds her chin, looking off into the distance. "Okay... timeline. No idea. Depends on the Queen's restraint, and how good she is at silencing critics. But it's only a matter of time until everyone's a critic, whether that takes three months, three years, or three decades. Every scenario is a bad one: either her force is so brutal as to trigger the pushback right away, or we endure mild brutality for a long time."
Nylie shifts uncertainly. "Umm. But there are some classes after that one that I haven't taken yet. It fits with my history classes, but I can't be sure..."
@DM Barcas: I feel sorry for you. We really need to get this group together, so that it doesn't take as much feedback for each minigroup of one or two players. I can't even imagine your plan for that, though. For my own amusement, I'm going to try to tally the circumstances:
* Alejandro and Lucadeno are at a butcher shop in North Point buying dusters, in order to impersonate gang members.
* Elrithrathiel and Vaenathis are fighting for their lives against Grey Maidens in the Mierani embassy in South Shore.
* Senjin is saddling hippogriffs for (and gathering information from) the Sable Company in the Heights.
* Nylie is learning basic alchemy (and practicing sedition) at Theumanexus College in East Shore.
Nylie considers Professor Donavhan's question intellectually, missing the point and treating it like any other academic problem. "Weeelll... At first, I thought that she just had poor relationship management skills. But half of that is anticipating others' reactions to your behavior, and the Hellknights showed up remarkably quickly."
Staring into the distance, focused on her line of reasoning, the intense little gnome gestures to emphasize her points. "The logical implication is that our new Queen knew how she was perceived, and simply preferred to use force to suppress the reaction to her ascension, instead of managing perceptions by changing her behavior. Therefore, we can expect her behavior to remain unchanged in the future: more luxury in the Castle, more hardship in Bridgefront, and more use of brute force to retain power at all costs."
Nylie starts at a sudden thought. "Ummm... And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone I said that, since vain people always fear articulate critics -- and that goes double for unpopular rulers. So if the example of the Hellknights is anything to go by, she probably already has a plan in place to deal with anyone who speaks against her..."
Nylie sighs with relief at not actually causing any explosions. That wasn't so bad. Maybe I could be good at this! The wide-eyed gnome beams as Professor Donavhan praises her, then climbs down off of the stool that is nearly as tall as she is. The purple-haired young woman gathers up the slate that she uses for taking notes in class, when the brilliant (if odd) half-elf asks her to stay after. But... I thought I did okay."Of course, Professor Donavhan. What is it?" A cat twines through her legs and mmmrows hungrily.
Does the Trickster trait apply to spell-like abilities? I would think so from the description, but it isn't explicit in the rule, so I didn't want to just assume.
Nylie trivia:
In a defunct homebrew game, Nylie's friend Pakak -- a Shelynite half-orc in the Acadamae -- once helped shut down an illegal fighting ring, by investigating why some pseudodragons were blocking workers from a warehouse. Turns out that the men had killed some young pseudodragons by capturing them, binding their wings, and forcing them into pit fights. Also, thanks to his stories, Nylie is kind of paranoid about imps; that's why she always carries a scroll of protection from evil, just in case.
Although clever and tough, Nylie is also very small, and was very frightened by the riots. For now, she keeps expeditious retreat memorized so that she can run away if things get crazy again; and if she's trapped, then she has silent image to help her get away. (With Effortless Trickery, she can maintain the image as a swift action; and with her gnomish spell-like abilities, she can add light and sound.)
Nylie's parents don't have the same last name -- even though they were married -- because, well, gnomes. It simply didn't occur to either of them to take the other's name. Also, the surname that Nylie made up for herself has a double meaning that is multilingual and vaguely anagrammatic -- because, well, gnomes.
Nylie's cat Felicia is happy to be a Brillamorrow. That isn't just an assumption, or an anthropomorphic projection; they've actually talked about it. (Gnomish speak with animals.) It makes sense to the smart feline, since they feel like family.
I assume that it's okay for her to start with a scroll that she scribed herself? If so, then the crunch and fluff are all complete, with hopefully some hooks in the background. All that's left is to spiff up the profile. 8)
Roger on the cat. I'll leave the breed vague for now, and when I get the time, I'll do some research to find the one most likely to follow people around. Speaking of time, it's been a rough week so far, but I should have Thursday off. I expect to get most all of the details squared away then.
I still need to edit the formatting, finish her background, and decide on a description. (Aside from cute and small.) And finish kitting her out. But aside from that, she's mostly done! Highlights:
* Took the Academician and Gift of Tongues alternate racial traits from the ARG. She's a bookworm and a linguist! (No "cunning" jokes please.)
* Failed to get prior approval on the feat and traits. For this character, I like Effortless Trickery and Trickster from Gnomes of Golarion, and Inner Beauty from Faiths of Purity.
* She'll have almost all the Knowledge skills by next level, and all of them by 3rd. Started with the ones that seemed most appropriate. Waiting to see how much time we have for other things before investing in Craft (alchemy), but I assume that a wizard school with a gnome sponsor has a good lab. ;)
* Created a custom container in Hero Lab called "Dorm Room" to put all the stuff in that she doesn't carry around with her. Still need to fix the default output for it.
* Can Nylie carry her Tiny cat around without occupying her hands, or do I need to give it the Heel trick? (I'm picturing it as a Burmese? or whatever the ones are that like to sit on your head.) In all my years, I don't think that I've ever played a Small wizard before.
