Nioca

Chronologically Second Circular Wood Piece! (Now in RTF!)

Originally Posted By: Rowen I have the next session marked for the 14th of this month. Ditto. It's the 14th.

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan Not explicitly in-session, but we talked about it after the session. Basically, Nioca was roleplaying Amadan based on his failures during the previous combats. FYT. (Also, there was a bit of an OoC/expectations misunderstanding as well.)

I believe there was a scheduling conflict on the 4th, which is why I wasn't able to schedule it for that date.

Just as a reminder, it's a little over a week till the next session of Z2! It's happening on Saturday, Feb 11, at the usual time. (I thought I had posted this a while ago, but apparently not.)

Time Period 1 Circular Wood Piece! (Also known as the Session 1 Log) I'll let Earles handle the quotes, assuming he wants to do them.

Originally Posted By: Randomizer Originally Posted By: Nioca Originally Posted By: Dintiradan I've been thinking about what makes superhero stories tick quite a bit lately (in a weird roundabout way, it's all Nioca's fault). Oh, suuure. Blame it on the guy who's not part of the discussion. Well, when you aren't here to defend yourself, it's easy to get the blame. Huh. So does that mean I'm to blame for most of the general forum? The Six Degrees of Nioca Blame, so to speak? In that case, I'm half-tempted to take it as a compliment.

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan I've been thinking about what makes superhero stories tick quite a bit lately (in a weird roundabout way, it's all Nioca's fault). Oh, suuure. Blame it on the guy who's not part of the discussion.

3rd and 7th both work for me.

You know, if the intra- and extra-party fighting continues like this, we're looking at an entirely new set of characters inside of three sessions. Originally Posted By: B.J.Earles It's fortunate that they haven't come to blows yet, as Marra would just skip the slapping stage and go straight for the coup de grace. You could try. I don't foresee such an attempt ending well for Marra, though. (Also, congrats on the big 200) Click to reveal.. (Yemirrr, XP-82) Yemirrr Unfettered Male Nephilim Raider Physical Description: Dark fur, large muscles, dark-colored eyes. Has tattered ears and a large scar from his left shoulder to his chest. Wearing ratskin pants and a small, tribal-reminiscent necklace. (If you've played BoA and seen the 5th nephil portrait, it'll give you a pretty good idea. Except with pants.) 26/31 HP [+2] / 8/10 STM 18 DEF / 13 WIL 5 SPD / 02/82 XP Melee (Axes) - 8 [+1] Magic (Force) - 3 Athletics – 5 Perception - 4 Thievery – 3 Stealth - 2 Acrobatics - 1 Click to reveal.. (AXE TECHNIQUES (5)) BLITZ BARRAGE (1STM) – Unleashes a devastating and lightning-quick barrage of blows onto a target, doing elevated damage and either penalizing or outright stunning the victim for 1 round. GRAPPLE BREAKER (1STM) - Counter-attacks an opponent that has grappled the character, adding the character's Melee skill and bonuses to their save versus the grapple. If successful in breaking the grapple, the opponent will take damage. UNSTOPPABLE RAGE (1PD) – Goes into a berserk rage. All attacks gain a notable bonus to hit and do extra damage, at the cost of defense. The effects last until the end of the current battle. WIDE CLEAVE (1STM) – As a full-round action, winds up and performs a massive cleaving attack, striking up to four adjacent enemies in one hit. Each additional enemy targeted inflicts a -1 penalty to-hit. SHATTER STRIKE – As a full-round action, delivers a savage strike against an enemy, targeted to harm both the enemy and a specified item; a successful hit will, depending on the targeted item and strength of hit, either damage the item (reducing its effectiveness) or destroy it beyond usability (although not necessarily beyond repair). Magical items are far more resistant to the sundering effect. This technique can also be used outside of combat to provide a bonus to breaking an inanimate object when using the appropriate weapon type. Click to reveal.. (FORCE MAGIC (3)) CHILL – Hits the target object with a burst of cold. IMPULSE – Creates a short-range pulse of force. Does minimal damage as an attack, but is capable of throwing, knocking back, or deflecting enemies and objects. Additional stamina can increase the power of the force pulse or spread it out into a small cone of effect. DISPERSION – Creates a temporary shield around the target tuned to a specific element or form of energy (heat, electricity, cold, etc.), deflecting and dispersing it into the recipient's surroundings. This reduces its damage/effects while also potentially dumping it into nearby creatures or objects. Stronger castings can disperse greater amounts of energy, and multiple energy types can be shielded against at 1STM per additional type. Click to reveal.. (INVENTORY) Ratskin Pants – Pants stitched together from ratskins. There's a few pockets for storing things. Fine Steel Helmet – A sturdy steel helmet looted off of an Empire Captain. Round Shield – A non-encumbering round shield. Protects one from blows. Battle Axe – A nasty-looking steel battle axe that Yemirrr wields one-handed. Bone Necklace – A necklace made of rat bones. Pack – A slightly-frayed pack that was looted off of an adventurer. PACK Dried Meat x6 – Portions of dried lizard meat. Bread x5 – Loaves of bread. Healing Potion – Restores missing HP. Potion of Battle – Provides a boost to accuracy and defense for a short time. Industrial Axe - A heavy axe meant for industrial use. Empire Sword x6 – A fine imperial steel blade. It's marked as an Empire weapon. Knife – A small tool knife. Gold Pieces x20 - Currency. Yemirrr does not see the allure in it. Demonology Scrolls - Scrolls on demonology. Someone more knowledgeable needs to examine them to learn more.

Click to reveal.. (Sarelim Silverwind) Sarelim Silverwind Evasive Kind Male Human Street Urchin Physical Description: Fairly unremarkable human male; dark hair, slightly tanned skin tone, blue eyes. Roughly 5'11'', 165 lbs. Age somewhere between 18-24. Wears traveling cloths and a pack, along with a reversible teal/navy traveling cloak. 10/14 HP / 07/10 STM _2 STR / _4 DEX / _5 INT 12 FRT / 14 DEF / 15 WIL 0 ARM / 5 SPD / 00/30 XP Magic (Transmutation) - 4 (10) Martial (Unarmed) - 3 (6) [+1] Martial (Crossbow) - 1 (1) [+1] Stealth - 4 (6+RB) [+1] Composure - 2 (3) Perception - 2 (1+RB) [+1] Thievery - 2 (3) [+1]

Originally Posted By: Lilith Keep in mind that you should probably be weighting the high end of the accuracy range heavier than the low end for your calculations -- characters will normally be either using their best attacks or targeting an enemy's weak defense, after all. (There aren't too many situations where you want to use your weakest attack against an enemy's strongest defense!) With that in mind, Heavy weapons look a little better, Heavy weapon damage only starts beating normal weapons when the enemy's AC is negative; From ACs 0-15, heavy and normal weapons deal the exact same average damage. At ACs 16-18, normal weapons actually beat heavy in average damage; once they get above that, they both bottom out at 0.15 (since the only way they can actually hit at that point is with a critical).

I did some number crunching. Here are the results: Code: OVERALL WEAPON TYPE DAMAGE (AC -2 to 23)(This is basically how the weapons average out against all varieties of foe)TYPE |DMG_MEAN (4Rnd) [12Rnd] | DMG_RANGE (4Rnd) [12Rnd]Ligt | 0.685 (2.74) [08.22] | 0.10-1.05 (0.4-4.2) [1.2-12.6]Norm | 0.883 (3.53) [10.59] | 0.15-1.95 (0.6-7.8) [1.8-23.4]Hevy | 0.881 (3.52) [10.57] | 0.15-2.05 (0.6-8.2) [1.8-24.6]Lt.T | 0.648 (2.59) [07.78] | 0.10-1.05 (0.4-4.2) [1.2-12.6]Nm.T | 0.813 (3.25) [09.76] | 0.15-1.90 (0.6-7.6) [1.8-22.8]===============================================================LOW AC WEAPON TYPE DAMAGE (AC -2 to 10)(How the weapons fare against enemies with low defense, when the attacker has large hit bonuses, or both)TYPE |DMG_MEAN (4Rnd) [12Rnd] | DMG_RANGE (4Rnd) [12Rnd]Ligt | 0.969 (3.88) [11.63] | 0.75-1.05 (3.0-4.2) [09.0-12.6]Norm | 1.438 (5.75) [17.26] | 0.85-1.95 (3.4-7.8) [10.2-23.4]Hevy | 1.450 (5.80) [17.40] | 0.85-2.05 (3.4-8.2) [10.2-24.6]Lt.T | 0.942 (3.77) [11.31] | 0.70-1.05 (2.8-4.2) [08.4-12.6]Nm.T | 1.346 (5.39) [16.15] | 0.75-1.90 (3.0-7.6) [09.0-22.8]===============================================================NORMAL AC WEAPON TYPE DAMAGE (AC 5 to 15)(How the weapons fare against enemies with normal defense in normal circumstances)TYPE |DMG_MEAN (4Rnd) [12Rnd] | DMG_RANGE (4Rnd) [12Rnd]Ligt | 0.750 (3.00) [09.00] | 0.50-1.00 (2.0-4.0) [6.0-12.0]Norm | 0.850 (3.40) [10.20] | 0.35-1.35 (1.4-5.4) [4.2-16.2]Hevy | 0.850 (3.40) [10.20] | 0.35-1.35 (1.4-5.4) [4.2-16.2]Lt.T | 0.700 (2.80) [08.40] | 0.45-0.95 (1.8-3.8) [5.4-11.4]Nm.T | 0.755 (3.02) [09.15] | 0.30-1.25 (1.2-5.0) [3.6-15.0]===============================================================HIGH AC WEAPON TYPE DAMAGE (AC 10 to 23)(How the weapons fare against enemies with high defense, when the attacker has large hit penalties, or both)TYPE |DMG_MEAN (4Rnd) [12Rnd] | DMG_RANGE (4Rnd) [12Rnd]Ligt | 0.425 (1.70) [05.10] | 0.10-0.75 (0.4-3.0) [1.2-09.0]Norm | 0.364 (1.46) [04.37] | 0.15-0.85 (0.6-3.4) [1.8-10.2]Hevy | 0.350 (1.40) [04.20] | 0.15-0.85 (0.6-3.4) [1.8-10.2]Lt.T | 0.379 (1.51) [04.54] | 0.10-0.70 (0.4-2.8) [1.2-08.4]Nm.T | 0.314 (1.26) [03.77] | 0.15-0.75 (0.6-3.0) [1.8-09.0] From this, we can determine a few things. First off, and most glaringly, heavy weapons suck. They do the most damage against weak foes (where the extra damage isn't needed), and in that case the difference in damage between heavy weapons and normal weapons is completely negligible. They also do the worse damage than almost any other weapon group (save normal throwing) against high-AC foes. Overall, the net effect is that heavy weapons are basically reach weapons without reach and with worse accuracy; one's better off sticking with a normal or reach weapon in every conceivable circumstance, especially considering the former allows a shield and the latter allows ranged melee. In addition, light weapons do surprisingly well versus high-AC enemies; in fact, they have the best damage output of any weapon type when going against an enemy with high AC. Arguably, this could be a feature; someone with a light weapon and a debuff could move in and soften up a High-AC target, at which the characters with normal and heavy weapons move in for the kill. However, as the Overall analysis indicates, every weapon group except heavy balances out pretty well. Also, where would magic fall in this schematic?

Originally Posted By: Lilith EDIT: Just to make one further comment on the HP-inflation thing from a couple of posts ago -- my personal preferred solution actually is to simply not make HP increase with level. The main practical consequence of this change is that damage doesn't have to scale to level: a level-1 enemy won't hit a level-10 character very often but will still do significant damage if it gets a lucky hit in, and 20 archers on a castle wall are a meaningful threat no matter how much higher-level you are than them. I like the idea of this, and it widens the encounter design space slightly, but it does seem to be a matter of taste. That actually sounds rather agreeable to me, especially with the damage system you currently have in place: Right now, you've either got to pull numbers out of your rump or have fights be a battle of attrition if PvP breaks out. If it's a flat 10 (or if it's a constant number depending on survival strategy), then you could use the same damage system for enemies that you do for PCs. (In case you haven't noticed, one thing I'm definitely for is consistency; I find it preferable when the PCs and the NPCs are both playing by the same basic set of rules. As a player, it helps reassure me that everything's fair and on the level. As a DM, I find it just plain easier not to have two separate sets of rules for the different sides of a conflict.)

A thought about the survival strategies and HP: As it stands right now, HP inflates rather rapidly. Even squishy characters wind up with a massive amount of HP as they hit high levels, enough so that attacks need to do a ridiculous amount of damage to even pose a threat. I propose the following: Halve the starting HP for each strategy, and reduce the gains-per-level by 2. This reduces the HP inflation drastically, and also makes the difference between Endurance and Evasion/Ranged strategies more noticeable. This also makes Evasion a slightly-less appealing strategy to take, since its high defenses is actually balanced by low HP. Code: _______________AS IT STANDS NOW______________ENDURANCE - 20 +5 - L1:20 L5:40 L10:65 L15:90 BALANCED - 16 +4 - L1:16 L5:32 L10:52 L15:72RANGE/EVD - 12 +3 - L1:12 L5:24 L10:39 L15:54_______________PROPOSED CHANGE_______________ENDURANCE - 10 +3 - L1:10 L5:22 L10:37 L15:52 BALANCED - 08 +2 - L1:08 L5:16 L10:26 L15:36RANGE/EVD - 06 +1 - L1:06 L5:10 L10:15 L15:20

Okay, so I statted most of my characters under the HipsterHack system. Click to reveal.. (That's a lot of characters) ==================================== ==================================== ETRIS TANNER LEVEL: 7 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Control OFFENSIVE: Fortitude SURVIVAL: Balanced DEFENSIVE: Fortitude/Reflex Health: 40 Grapple: 3 Attack: 2 Taunt: 1 Stabilize: 0 Fortitude: 2 Reflex: 2 Will: 1 TECHNIQUES Shockwave (Ranged Assault/Fortitude) [+2/1STM] Tyinian Sunbeam (Ranged Strike/Fortitude) [+4] Hinder (Control/Fortitude) [+3] Force Shield (Support) Razorwind (Assault/Reflex) [+2] Force Throw (Control/Fortitude) [+3] (Nothing really to note here, other than that Etris definitely got a bit of an upgrade from his Labyrinth rendition. If I was actually building him in this system, there's a couple things I'd do differently.) ==================================== ==================================== AMADAN RAYTON (BLOODMARSH) LEVEL: 7 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Support OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Balanced DEFENSIVE: Reflex Health: 40 Grapple: 0 Attack: 4 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 1 Fortitude: 1 Reflex: 3 Will: 1 TECHNIQUES Fire Arrow (Support) [+1/MAct] Detrimentum (Ranged Strike/Fortitude) [+2] Spinneret Arrow (Support) [+1/MAct] CryoArrow (Support) [+1/MAct] Explosive Arrow (Support) [+1/MAct+1STM] Blur (Support) [+1] (Most of my characters ported over without too many hiccups. Amadan, however, is a good example of how this system can get really wonky when you have an unusual character. By definition, his various Arrow spells are close-ranged Support spells, and NOT ranged Strike spells. This means he doesn't need to use the Ranged survival strategy. In addition, since he DOES have one ranged strike spell, he doesn't fit under the Evasion survival strategy. This slots him into Balanced, where, he gets 40 hitpoints. And because he's reflex-based, it means he's got a fair chance of taking Mal Travers in a sword-fight. In short, as-is, Amadan is completely and utterly broken) ==================================== ==================================== AMADAN RAYTON (ATCT) LEVEL: 12 PRIMARY COMBAT: Support SECONDAY COMBAT: Strike OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Balanced DEFENSIVE: Reflex Health: 60 Grapple: 0 Attack: 3 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 2 Fortitude: 1 Reflex: 3 Will: 1 TECHNIQUES Energetic Arrow (Support) [+2/MAct] Ameliorate (Support) [+2/1STM] Pyrokinesis (Control/Fortitude) Volcanic Arrow (Support) [+2/MAct+1STM] Hunter's Jump (Ranged Support) [+2] Truefire (Ranged Strike/Reflex) [+4/FRAct] (Mostly the same as his Bloodmarsh incarnation, but with primary and secondary swapped.) ==================================== ==================================== EVA ROE LEVEL: 5 PRIMARY COMBAT: Assault SECONDARY COMBAT: Support OFFENSIVE: Fortitude/Reflex SURVIVAL: Ranged DEFENSIVE: Will Health: 24 Grapple: 1 Attack: 1 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 1 Fortitude: 0 Reflex: 0 Will: 2 TECHNIQUES Flameburst (Ranged Assault/Reflex) [+3] Errant Maelstrom (Ranged Assault/Fortitude) [+3/3STM] Prismatic Armor (Support) [+1] Yarren's Disruptor (Control/Will) Heal (Ranged Support) [+1] Deflective Sheen (Support) [+1/1STM] (There's a lot of things I'd do differently with Eva here, but no matter how you slice it, she gets nerfed hard, here. That said, some of her abilities don't show up here, because they fall on the utility side of the spectrum) ==================================== ==================================== MAL TRAVERS LEVEL: 8 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Assault OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Balanced DEFENSIVE: Reflex/Fortitude Health: 44 Grapple: 0 Attack: 4 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 0 Fortitude: 2 Reflex: 2 Will: 1 TECHNIQUES Wings of Fury (Ranged Strike/Reflex) [+4] Blitz Barrage (Strike/Reflex) [+4/1STM] Crimson Confiscation (Strike/Reflex) [+4] Talon Defense (Assault/Reflex) [+3/2SMT&FRAct] Impregnable Barrier (Support) ??? (Yikes. Mal would be a rather terrifying opponent to face, especially if he's got his perks as well. Not much else to mention here) ==================================== ==================================== ARELL ISEIL LEVEL: 5 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Support OFFENSIVE: Fortitude/Will SURVIVAL: Ranged DEFENSIVE: Reflex/Will Health: 24 Grapple: 1 Attack: 2 Taunt: 1 Stabilize: 1 Fortitude: 0 Reflex: 1 Will: 1 TECHNIQUES Vitaepulse (Ranged Support | Ranged Strike/Fortitude) [+1/MAct | +3] Soulfire (Ranged Assault/OMGWTHBBQ) [1STM] Hibernation (Ranged Control/Will) [+1] Sanguine Corruption (Ranged Strike/Fortitude) [+3/1STM] Bachman's Muscular Delimiter (Support) [+1/1STM] Void (Support) [+1/1STM] (Hard to tell how effective Arell would be under the new system; a lot of her spells would fall under utility. Soulfire... I have no idea what that'd fall under. And Vitaepulse, being a healing and anti-undead spell, has two different bonus values) ==================================== ==================================== HEXELION TYRALSON LEVEL: 4 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Control OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Balanced DEFENSIVE: Reflex/Will Health: 28 Grapple: 1 Attack: 4 Taunt: 1 Stabilize: 0 Fortitude: 1 Reflex: 2 Will: 2 TECHNIQUES Stalwart Defense (Support) [1STM] Steelstorm (Assault/Reflex) [+2/2STM] Myn's Friendly Fire (Ranged Control/Will) [+1] ??? ??? ??? (Most of Hex's combat techniques don't fit under this new system; I'd have to come up with new ones.) ==================================== ==================================== YEMIRRR RATBANE LEVEL: 4 PRIMARY COMBAT: Strike SECONDARY COMBAT: Assault OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Endurance DEFENSIVE: Fortitude/Reflex Health: 40 Grapple: 0 Attack: 4 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 0 Fortitude: 1 Reflex: 1 Will: 0 TECHNIQUES Blitz Barrage (Strike/Reflex) [+4/1STM] Wide Cleave (Assault/Reflex) [+3/1STM FRAct] Shatter Strike (Strike/Reflex) [+4/FRAct] Grapple Breaker (Strike/Fortitude) [+2] Chill (Strike/Reflex) [+4] Impulse (Assault/Fortitude) [+1] (Chill got nerfed into a melee-ranged spell, which kinda defeats the purpose of having it. Even so, Yemirrr's still an opponent you probably wouldn't want to face on a battlefield.) ==================================== ==================================== SARELIM SILVERWIND LEVEL: 1 PRIMARY COMBAT: Support SECONDARY COMBAT: Strike OFFENSIVE: Reflex SURVIVAL: Evasion DEFENSIVE: Reflex Health: 12 Grapple: 0 Attack: 3 Taunt: 0 Stabilize: 0 Fortitude: 2 Reflex: 6 Will: 2 TECHNIQUES ?????????????? (Not much to say here, other than "wow, look at that reflex defense". He definitely becomes a bit more competent in combat.) Drawing some conclusions here: First off, it seems that melee combat and melee fighters get a definite boost under this system. However, a specialized mage can be a bit difficult to run because, while six combat techniques works fine for a melee fighter or hybrid character, it winds up becoming rather restrictive for a specialized mage (see Eva). Also, if you have a mage specializing in Strike spells, especially ones based off of Reflex, they become inexplicably good at melee as well. Which is... odd, to say the least. Finally, how would perks, traits, and special abilities be handled under this system? Would they still exist?

Feb 3rd works for me. Again, I'm sorry for the short notice regarding my unavailability; it shouldn't happen again. (Although I confess some interest in the idea of seeing how the DM plays Amadan. )

As a heads-up: something just came up. I may wind up three or more hours late, assuming I can make it at all. Sorry for the short notice.

8 minutes -13 minutes till the session starts! And we're still missing a couple of player and the DM.

Re-railing for a second here: Holy. Freaking. Crap. Why the hell don't they bring this guy up on charges? (It's rhetorical, but feel free to answer anyway)

Originally Posted By: Nioca January 21st (Saturday) at the usual 7:00 PM EST. We're still on for this date. I'm closing character submissions precisely 24 hours before the start of the session. So if you're looking to submit a character, it's now or never. Speaking of which, I've got news that the party will be relieved to hear: You're getting a new medic. (The exact details are still getting hammered out, so no charsheet yet) See you Saturday!

Both Monday and Thursday work for me.

Calendared.

Originally Posted By: Lilith (Jan13) Originally Posted By: Triumph (Jan13) Logs! Please! Logs! I am really curious to know what's been happening in this campaign. i'll try and get my log backlog dealt with tomorrow (Jan19)

It also isn't that effective versus dial-up modems; the black-out effect only happens once the page is finished completely loading. Which, if it's image-intensive, can take a while.