Nioca

Just counted it up by hand and by spreadsheet; Mal's using 60 skill points on the dot. Actually, now that you mention it though, it seems Adon Zek is indeed using only 53 skill points. It seems he forgot to take Racial Bonuses into account.

...I mean, I could have, but it was a single lousy HP. And I wanted to build it the same way I would have if I had level Mal over the course of a campaign. So... yeah.

"Few days" does not mean "48 hours", nor does "48 hours" mean "Advance Notice". At least, not properly advance notice. Some of us don't compulsively check the forums every day, you know. (Also, that few people consisted of a grand total of ONE player and ONE bystander. So... yeah)

...the hell? Seriously, Dantius. It's called "advance notice" and "reminders". Advance Notice means that people know ahead of time that a session's going down on a given date, and Reminders ensure that people who missed the initial announcement are informed before they make plans for the evening. Bold-faced text helps in this regard. So in other words, yeah, won't be making it tonight.

Yay on being selected! Also, the party make-up looks to be rather interesting... Definitely looking forward to seeing Lilith's Empath in action. And to the others that didn't get selected, don't worry; someone dying has been long overdue.

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba One thing I would like to see in the future (and this is a general AIMhack trend, not something specific to Dust Bowl) is a less sudden ending. The ending tends to be final confrontation, a few paragraphs of information from the DM, and then, boom, end campaign. I would rather there be some time after the final confrontation to wrap up any lingering questions or subplots and say whatever good-byes are necessary. Dikiyoba. Originally Posted By: Tirien, Master of Kittens I think the main reason GM's do that is so the dysfunctional parties dont end up killing each other at the end. Then again, this was the first/only party not to attempt to kill each other on a regular basis. At least, it feels like that. Actually, it has more to do with the fact that after the epic showdown of ultimate destiny, the GM's brain is more than likely leaking out of his/her ears at that point. Additionally, the final showdown also typically happens late in the session, meaning that the amount of time the GM has left is infinitesimally small. And finally, going out with a bang is more likely to be easier to handle than trying to handle the clean-up in-session. After all, it's easier to apply time-skips and such during an epilogue. That said, I would like to see a little of this at some point.

No can do. My mornings, especially as of late, are typically rather busy, and not in a way I can predictably schedule or work around, either.

Originally Posted By: Tirien, Master of Waffles Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba Everyone died. Even Patches. It was very sad. Dikiyoba. Nooooo! Not Patches! Kill Gramzon twice, but dont kill Patches! Heh. Nice to see Patches has a fan club.

Whoo. Okay, my thoughts criticisms, varied and hugemassive as they are. Let me just say that playing as Eva was a bit of an eye-opener. Some of this has already been brought up with individual parties, but I thought I'd lay it all out here. First, some thoughts on AIMHack mechanics. Click to reveal.. (MECH THOUGHTS) 1. Magic Classes First off, taking a quick trip back to the previous conversation of spells, there were both mentions of how spell levels are somewhat arbitrary and the vagueness of what actually constituted 'Epic' spells. A thought ocurred to me on this front: Why not divide it into classes like Lilith's alchemy system? Named levels of spells that help eliminate the vagueness of how powerful a spell should be at that level, and also provide a solid idea of the spell heirarchy. For example: Click to reveal.. (Spell Classes) CANTRIP - Simple spells that require 1 rank in spellcasting to cast. BEGINNER - Spells that are fairly easy to grasp and require 4 ranks in spellcasting. INTERMEDIATE - More powerful spells that require a firm grasp of the magic involved, and 7 ranks in spellcasting. ADVANCED - These spells require a powerful wizard to cast, requiring 10 ranks. These spells also require someone to teach these spells, and also usually have casting limits and stamina costs. MASTER - Rare and powerful spells, requiring 14 ranks in spellcasting. It's not easy to find people who teach these techniques. EPIC - Incredibly rare, incredibly powerful, requiring 17 ranks to just use. Said categories could also be applied to martial techniques as well. 2. Double the levels, double the trouble. I'm really not sold on the double-level thing. It just provides too much power too quickly, and with spellcasters, the housekeeping is atrocious. And before I get told that the difference isn't as significant as the numbers indicate... yeah, it is. It becomes significant the second the virtual D20 hits the virtual table; if you've got someone that has 15 points in a skill, and someone who only has 5, balance becomes a nightmare, and it's something that'll only get worse as levels increase. It's one thing to have a gap in skill, but ask yourself this: If there had been another Evoker on the team that had a spread out skill set and wasn't dead-set on magic and Evoking, how would you have balanced situations where that magic came up? Balance it so it challenges Eva, and the weaker Evoker gets left in the dust. Balance it so the weaker Evoker can handle it, and Eva steamrolls over it. I mean, yeah, it did encourage some of the players to spread their skills out a little, but even so, our characters are decked out with multiple skills at/above their current level and/or inflated base stats. Not to mention HP, which is insanely high at L5. And yes, while a mature player shouldn't take advantage of the absolutely gargantuan min-maxing opportunities present, that doesn't mean we should leave such potential for abuse in place. Furthermore, while the idea is that double levels happen less often, from the Ephesian standpoint, we wound up at L9. So I'd say that really didn't work out either. (I'm sorry if I'm coming off a bit extremely blunt here; I don't mean offense, I'm just pointing out what I think didn't work.) 3. Trials and Attribute-lations A while back, Lilith posed the idea of a stat-less system, doing away with Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. At the time, I wasn't warm to the idea, but having finished this campaign with a 9 INT character, I think I see the idea in a new light. The stat system, as it is, limits character concepts and prioritizes optimization over creativity, and can wind up causing problems at their more extreme ends. And it's not just munchkining either; to use an example, part way through, I wanted to put a point in nature on Eva, to represent her growing acclimation to the wilderness. But I hit a problem; If I put that point in place, Eva's high INT score would kick in, resulting in a mindbogglingly massive bonus (+10, to be exact). Gramzon, the guy who's been doing nature all along and had invested time and energy into it? Would have been outstripped by 4 points (4 Nature + 2 INT, for a +6). All because I put one lousy point in Nature. One thing I'd like to try is a completely stat-less system; everything done via points in skills. Simply because it'd allow other kinds of characters, make things easier from a balance front (both on the DM and the player), integrate it all into one seamless system, and discourage rampant minmaxing. 4. Wait, don't we already have someone who does that? While we're on the skill system, that's probably something we need more of: Skills. Seriously, everyone who isn't a mage starts blending together, simply because outside magic, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room. There's a total of 13 skills (19, if you count the magic classes as individual skills, and 20 if you count Ranged and Melee Martial separately). You get a party of 5 together, and odds are extremely good you're going to get a bit of overlap. And redundant skills can make a character feel just that: Redundant. I think addressing point 3 would help alleviate this somewhat, since it'd prevent natural "Go-to" skills for Low-Int characters from forming. But really, just a few more skills would help on this front so people could spread out more. 5. I roll for Deus ex machina. Okay, this has been a bit of a trend I noticed recently. It seems that Religion checks are being made to outright call on assistance from the gods themselves. To an extent, I'm a bit conflicted about this; one one hand, it makes sense that someone could call on the gods' assistance, and there are numerous roleplaying opportunities that present themselves. On the other, I do think there needs to be limits and such involved. Even if it's just a simple, "Go away, you bother me" from the god in question if the character gets a little too dependent. Otherwise, I think it could add a nice touch, especially if we've got someone particularly devout. I'm all for making Religion more useful... It hasn't come to much thusfar. And now, stuff that's not so mechanical regarding the campaign. Click to reveal.. (CAMPAIGN THOUGHTS) 1. Bumble in the Jungle Well, first off, and you addressed it as well, but there was too much just wandering in the jungle. Seriously, we spent a total of 4 sessions worth of time just walking or wandering the jungle. Next time, unless it's necessary for some reason, it'd probably be a good idea to keep wandering to a minimum, unless exploration is the point of the campaign. 2. Suddenly, Labyrinth The labyrinth jaunt was neat. It really was. However, it came out of nowhere and felt like a bit of filler/deus-ex-machina before the final battle. I'm not sure if you had that planned all along or if it was just a last minute way to get us to Vurziveh. But the sudden shift from "Jungle and Weather Mages" to "Reality Bending with Jareth and Hoggle" was disconcerting, and had little to do with the plot. An equally-awesome route might have been a Storming the Castle approach, making our way through hostile forces to get to Vurziveh, instead of making an unexpected trip to another reality. Also, fie upon ye for trying to make an end session with a greater WTH quotient then Brigandage's. 3. Expecting Cities? Too Bad. Jungle Time. While the campaign was awesome in what it did, there was a bit of false advertising in there. Namely, the bait-and-switch pulled from "Investigate Koros for the cause of dust" to "Wander Ouracasos and try to figure out a way off". Admittedly, there was a plot reason, but that still meant a good majority of characters were built with handling cities and civilization in mind. A minor thing, but still. All in all, an excellent campaign. I particularly like how you handled NPCs; they felt like they were actually different people, rather than just one person voicing many people. And I think you, overall, did a good job. I don't think I'll be sad to see Eva go. Trying to choose 12 different spells daily was a bit of a pain, as was keeping a journal for her. Plus, I felt like she never really exhibited any real personality, aside from a few minor quirks. My next character will hopefully rectify this. Thanks for doing this and great work, Sarachim. It was a lot of fun! I'll be writing up my epilogue shortly.

Character submitted.

Gah, I just got your message about the planar blade. John's level up has been updated accordingly.

Also, Leitha still has yet to level.

Originally Posted By: Faithful I honestly would not have a problem with a simple registration code. If I could buy the game, receive a registration code that would work for the game for life (no matter how many times I install or uninstall) I would have zero problem with that. That is not what we are talking about though as best I can tell. The code is only good if your system does not change, or if you never install new hard drives, etc. ... Wha? SW registration codes don't monitor system changes. At all. The only real way to unregister it is to mess with or lose a specific game file. Now, if you're switching computers entirely, I can see where this can cause a hiccup (or if you have a crash that wipes out hard drive data), but DRM it ain't. EDIT: Semi-sniped.

Gah, this sorta keeps falling from the forefront of my mind. I only have the three (aside from Jewels' above, who... yeah). Anyway, the epilogues I have. After leaving the group to strike out on her own, Iliau decides to find some place that welcomes hir. Click to reveal.. (Iliau's Epilogue) After leaving the other survivors of the adventuring crew, Iliau Silversword went down to the docks of Ssareko Point. Ze looked for a ship that would take hir far away from Skarrifissk and its horde of bandits. And far away from Ouracasos, because ze was pretty sure the druids wouldn't welcome hir back. And far away from Issinga, because ze was pretty sure King Drazo still had a bounty on hir head. And far away from Laessos, because ze was pretty sure the Furrier Guild won't forgive hir for releasing all those dire weasels... Erika, meanwhile, seaches for her long-estranged father in all the wrong places. Click to reveal.. (Erika's Epilogue) Erika decided to travel with Reat and the others to Hermit Isle, figuring she was just as likely to meet her father there as anywhere. Unfortunately, nobody there knew anything about a hat salesman named John. So she remained with Reat, knowing she had to find him eventually. Finally, at some future point... Click to reveal.. (Harosh's Epilogue) A ragged-looking lacewing flits through the snow-laden trees, cradling a bundle of cloth. He hasn't stopped to rest, or even breathe, for two days. This lacewing is Harosh. He's still not sure what he's holding. The sight of it alarms him. The feel of it is worse. All he knows is that it once belonged to Erratis the Necromancer, and it was buried by his mentor Orlis the Cliffpainter. And that it can never be allowed to fall into Reat's hands. He does not know where he is running, nor does he know when he will stop. All he knows right now is that it felt very good to finally hit Reat with a shovel. So... Yeah. If I can get everyone else's epilogues in, I'll make a full epilogue text file. And as added incentive, I'll also add the general fate of Skarrifissk and certain NPCs to the epilogues. So get submitting!

EDIT: Double-sniped. I was responding to Triumph. Yeah, that's how I've been interpreting it too, but the thing is, a character can go from having a passing knowledge of a skill to total mastery in 4 levels or less. That's like me going from a high-school graduate to a nuclear physicist in under a month. The system's Lilith's using, I think, helps alleviate this, but it doesn't remove it entirely. I honestly think part of the problem is that we're giving out too many skill points. Here: -Under the Original Ephasian Leveling system (+2 skills), the fastest you could hit rank 10 was L4, with fastest reasonable time being L5. -With the Sarachim Leveling system (+4 skills), the fastest you can hit 10 ranks is L3. Yikes. -Under the Lilith Leveling System (SP 2xL+6), the fastest you can hit 10 is L4, though the fastest reasonable is L5 (it'd require all but 1 skill point invested in a single skill to hit it at L4). What I think we're seeing is that we're awarding skill points like we're in a system that hits epic at 20. Seeing as we hit epic at 10, it's a bit of a problem. So the answer may be as simple as scaling back skill points a bit. I also think character creation may be part of the problem; we can get halfway to epic before the first session, and still have points leftover to invest in other skills. I've been toying with skill points and leveling a bit, and here's what I've come up with: 12 SP at character creation, and 2xlevel of skill points for each level up. It'd push the soonest you could hit 10 ranks back to L7, and hopefully encourage the spreading of skill points a bit.

Yeah, but that's the thing. The double-level system either forces you to be ultra-stingy with levels, or to award them at a pace that results in you hitting absurd levels of power over the course of a single campaign. Of course, I think part of the problem is that it's just as easy to go from 10 ranks in a skill to 11 as it is to go from 1 to 2. In the original leveling system, you could hit 11 ranks in a skill by level 4. It's just more egregious here. Also, of course Eva has some powerful spells. She's L7. If martial abilities were implemented more solidified, we'd be seeing powerful martial abilities as well. Though that's two other cans of worms. That said, I think part of it is that Eva relies on her spells. She can't get by on anything else, so she needs to adapt her spell roster or die. It also helps that I enjoy making custom spells and coming up with ideas.

Yeah, I think the double level thing breaks down as you gain levels. If I had focused on two classes instead of three, I'd currently have epic level training in two different spell classes. At level 5. I mean, if the campaign kept going, Eva would be a spellcasting force of nature before she hit double-digit levels. Which is a bit broken, to say the least.

This level up means that Eva has near-epic casting abilities in three different classes. Yikes! Click to reveal.. (Eva Roe, Level V) Name: Eva Roe Sex/Race: Female Elf Age: 21 Occupation: Wandering Healer Alignment: Empathic Homesick ATTRIBUTES Strength - 2 Dexterity - 2 Intelligence - 9 Health - 20/20 (+4) Stamina - 9/10 Speed - 5 SKILLS Magic (Evocation): 7 Magic (Conjuration): 7 (+2) Magic (Abjuration): 6 (+2) Religion: 2 Composure: 1 Streetwise: 1 TRAITS Weak (Weakness) - Eva lacks in physical power. She has heightened difficulty in any task that requires physical strength; For any strength check or skill check that uses strength, her Strength is treated as if it were at 1, regardless of her actual strength statistic. Bookworm (Perk) - Constant study has made Eva an expert on all things magical. Eva gains three additional spell slots. INVENTORY 2 Gold 25 Silvers 0 Coppers (4.50 Gold), Traveling Clothes, Spellbook, Journal, Pen & Ink, Hardtack, Water Flasks (2/2), Stamina Potion, Vibrant Red Cloak, Old Papers, Coffee, Coffee Pot, Rations, Old Papers, Odd Mold Sample, Concentration of Mana, First Aid Kit, Piece of String, Gold-Threaded Robes SUMMON Patches the Criticalico - A positively adorable male calico cat, summoned by Eva on a critical success. Gaining independence, but still rather loyal, Patches has demonstrated remarkable tracking skills. Likes attention.

1. What is your name? Long. 2. How old are you? Too old. 7 months shy of the 20-year mark. 3. Where do you live? In my imagination. 4. What is your favorite color? Green and Black rate pretty highly. 5. How many phones do you own? 8. That said, 4 of them are connected to the main landline, and 2 are nonfunctional. 7. Wait, what happened to question six? My future self erased it. 8. Someone has just loaned you a time machine that can take you to any location on the planet during any time period. Where/when do you go? Go back to the beginning of this poll and erase question 6. Seeing as question 6 does not exist, this means that, in the near future, I have located a time machine. 9. If you were forced to change your PDN to something completely unrelated to its current form and your original username, what would it be? Cat. 10. If you could transform at will into any living animal, what animal would it be? See 9. 11. It's ninja sliths versus pirate nephilim. Who should win? Really, this is an unfair match-up. It should be ninja nephilim versus pirate sliths, which plays to both of their strengths. That said, the Nephilim win either way.

... Man alive, I thought Brigandage's scheduling problems were awful. But this takes the cake, for certain. My sympathies, Lilith.

Works for me.

Just noticed this, but Leitha hasn't leveled yet.

*ka-bump* The log for Session 10 is now complete! My sincerest apologies for not getting it up sooner; it slipped my mind a few times. Anyway, we currently only have two epilogues in thusfar! Please, make sure to send in an epilogue for your character; if you don't really know what to write, you can just send me a simple idea of what you want your character to do, and I can fill it in from there.

Click to reveal.. (Jack Heraln, now with twice the level!) Name: Jack Heraln Race: Lacewing Occupation: Scholar Alignment: Sensible Sarcastic STATISTICS STR - 2 | HP - 14 DEX - 2 | STM - 10 INT - 7 | SPD - 5 CXP - 0 | TXP - 30 SKILLS First Aid - 4 (+1) Magic (Divination) - 3 (+1) Artifice - 2 Religion - 3 (+1) Perception - 2 History - 2 (Racial Bonus) Nature - 1 Thievery - 1 (Racial Bonus) SPELLS Decipher - Allows the caster to read languages and script he is unfamiliar with. Read Magic - Reads the purpose of a magical object, effect, or aura. Detect Magic - Detects the presence of nearby magic. Reveal - Searches for hidden objects and reveals invisible enemies Mnnima's Darklight - Grants the caster a visual image of the surrounding area as if brightened by torchlight. This does not see through walls, but can penetrate magical darkness. The effect lasts for roughly an hour. Ekhart's Anatomical Familiarity (1 STM) - Grants the recipient an innate understanding of Motian anatomy. The next heal roll (be it First Aid or Magical Healing) that the recipient performs will be more likely to succeed and will heal considerably more damage. Tanner's Hostile Divination - Scans a creature or being, determining any notable strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. The stronger the roll, the stronger the caster, and the weaker the enemy, the more accurate the information. INVENTORY 16 Gold 8 Silver 1 Copper (16.81 Gold), First Aid Kit, Translation Booklet, Spellbook, Fancy clothes, Tinker's Tools, Dowsing Rod (magical, actually works, doubles as a short staff) Click to reveal.. (BACKSTORY) The chance of a lifetime. That's what Elpis's resurfacing meant to Jack. A scholar in the arts of engineering and religion, it was practically his duty to go. The likely-numerous engineering marvels and practices of aeons past would likely make whoever could gather that information first very wealthy. Which is why the Ylesk Academy of Arts agreed, and sent him off with a bodyguard. Unfortunately, on his way to Dilegad, he was attacked by the pesky menace of brigands, and was forced to fly from his protector. Whereas he was supposed to have a private trip there, he was instead forced to join up with another group en-route to Elpis, where he hoped he could be the first to make the discoveries that would forever make Jack Heraln a household name.

...That would explain how you managed to get it up so fast.