Sarachim

Lilith requested we post our character ideas in the thread, so here's mine. I'm bringing back Lephista from CoH: Click to reveal.. (Lephista) Lephista Race: Dragonborn Occupation: Priestess Alignment: Righteous Magic (Conjuration): 9 [45] First Aid: 6+1 [66] Martial (Aikido): 3 Crafting (Alchemy): 3 Composure: 3 [84] Arcana: 2 [87] Athletics: 1 Perception: 1 Stealth: 1 [90] Perk: Emergency Medical Response When you use First Aid or healing magic on a character who is at 25% of their maximum HP or less, they receive an additional 2 points of healing. EDIT: Also, spells and techniques: Click to reveal.. Conjuration Spells: * Brafdyk's Mystic Succor: Heals a single target. * Roulsk's Patent Curative: Cures poison and disease. * Firin's Limitless Resources: Summons a basic, no-frills version of most any object. May cost stamina, depending on the object. * Lephista's Enhanced Avian: Summons a bird, of a species of Lephista's choice, intelligent and capable of speech. * Solid Shot: Summons several lead slingstones and hurls them at a target. * Tirge's Bound Foe: Causes a net of rope-like vines to appear around the target, immobilizing it. * Choking Cloud: Covers the battlefield in opaque black smoke. Enemies will lose stamina over time if they remain in the cloud, but party members and their friends will not. All attacks aimed into or out of the cloud suffer a penalty to hit. Anyone inside gets a bonus to stealth and a penalty to perception. Aikido Techniques: * Forearm hold: Lephista grabs the elbow and wrist of an opponent and forces their arm down, making it difficult for them to attack or move until they break the grip. An exceptional success may also cause them to drop anything they were holding with that arm. Costs 1 stamina, and may require more to maintain the hold against a determined attempt to break free * Hip throw: Lephista grabs an opponent and throws them backwards over her shoulder. They take more damage than a normal attack, and land on their back on the square behind her. Costs 1 stamina. EDIT EDIT: Also, inventory and backstory. Click to reveal.. (Inventory) Symbol of Mariona (worn around neck) Poncho (worn) Alchemy kit Healing potion x3 Stamina potion x3 Stimulant Featherfall Brew Protective Oil Purgative Sleeping Draught 5 of each reagent Balbus the horse Tent and bedroll Lantern 4 days' rations Waterskin 50 gold pieces Click to reveal.. (Backstory) After the events of City of Hope, Lephista stayed in Elpis. She helped its inhabitants build new homes and adjust to life on land, and eventually became the town's full-time healer and priestess of Mariona. Just as she was getting used to the idea of settling down, she received Lady Arielle's strange letter. After three anxious days, she decided that it sounded like she was needed more in Pelinora than at her current post. A week later, her affairs were in order, Acolyte Finlis had the keys to the shrine, her congregation had persuaded her to accept the money that they'd collected to help her on her way. Soon after, she was in Pelinora.

You guys talk about redistribution because you don't understand what it means to earn a post count. It took me ten years to save up these 1,200 posts, and I'll be damned if you can have any of them.

Thanks for the reminder. I almost went to a burlesque show instead.

I've never read it that way before. Of course, now that you told me, I can only read it your way. Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted By: Dantius On the subject of psychological disorders, I find that there's a tendency on the side of parents, who I do have regular contact with, to explain away thenfailings of their children with psychological disorders. Billy not doing well in school? He must have ADD or ADHD and is really brilliant in his own way, but he's just not suited to the way the school teaches. No parent ever really wants to hear that their kid is as dumb as a box of rocks, so I attribute the upswing in diagnoses of ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, etc. to a conveniet way to explain away the D's on the report card while still being able to retain the illusion that their child is somehow special. I got straight A's in school, I wasn't diagnosed until I was 20, my parents were skeptical. As a counterexample, since I was diagnosed, pretty much everybody who knows us both has told me that, if anything, my grandfather had Asperger's worse than I do. The fact that he was never diagnosed with it probably has something to do with the fact that it wasn't included in the DSM until he was in his 60s. Our knowledge of everything advances with time, including disorders that used to be too subtle for us to detect or treat.

Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith Just out of curiosity, are there any completely normal socially awkward people these days, or did they all get infected with the asperger virus? I don't want to offend anybody I don't know personally, but I just have a hard time understanding how someone could have a mild form of a debilitating mental disorder. How could you tell the difference? "Mild" is a relative term. The diagnostic line between Asperger's and social awkwardness is "significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." I'm a mild case compared to some other people with Asperger's I've met, but I still meet that standard. It's also important to note that there's a list of diagnostic criteria that goes well beyond mere social awkwardness, so it's not like they made up a disorder for everyone who struggles to make friends in elementary school. Some people on the internet might self-diagnose just because they feel awkward or they want to have an excuse for being a jerk, but that doesn't mean Asperger's isn't a real thing.

Woo, fun session. Click to reveal.. (Selffar, level 4) Name: Selffar Race: Elf Occupation: Gentleman Alignment: Classy 5 STR/6 DEX/2 INT 24/26HP, 6/10 STM Martial (Improvised) 6 Thievery 4 Composure 3+1 Crafting (Alchemy) 3 Streetwise 2+1 First Aid 3 Stealth 1 Perception 1 Artifice 1

Woohoo!

Originally Posted By: Lilith oh my god i leave this thread alone for two hours and you guys manage to find something even more embarrassing to argue about than D&D I'm not arguing. I'm explaining the definition of "fiat" so Dantius doesn't embarrass himself again. Originally Posted By: Lilith money you use to buy a sports car isn't fiat money, it's Fiat money True story: I thought of this joke, almost made it, then thought, "nah, I'll leave it for Lilith."

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Sarachim Even if I grant the metaphysical distinction you're drawing between intrinsic and "traditional" value (which I don't), that doesn't change the fact the value of gold is not the product of government fiat, but of market forces. The "fiat" in fiat money is the government's assignment of a face value to an object that is greater than the value of its components. The value of a gold coin, by contrast, is equal to the value of the weight of gold it contains But it's circular reasoning! You just said that the value of a coin is equal to the value of the metal it contains, which I agree with, but there's no reason why the metal should be valued so highly at all! That's like me saying that the twenty I have in my pocket is worth the faith in the US government that it's worth 20 dollars, but in both cases it's just faith that gold is valuable, or that the US government is creditworthy. There's no essential difference between the two at all- they're just objects that people have decided are worth believing they have value; hence, there's no reason to classify them differently, they're both just "fiat" in their own sense. In the sense that all value is socially constructed, yes, the two are the same. The same would be true of steel. If everyone spontaneously decided, tomorrow, that they don't want to drive any more, my steel coins would plummet in value overnight, just as surely as the price of gold would plummet if everyone stopped thinking it was pretty. However, "fiat" doesn't mean that the value of something is a social construct. Its meaning is much more specific: fiat currency derives its value from the institution that issues it (and, as you noted, people's faith in that institution.) As a corollary, fiat currency can't be used for anything else, because its face value is greater than its material value. Commodity money, on the other hand, can be taken out of circulation and repurposed as something else. For example, cigarettes have been used as commodity money in prisons and in Russia shortly after the fall of Communism. They're commodity money because you can do two things with them, smoke them or buy things, and they're equally valuable either way. Sure, it's theoretically possible that everyone in your cell block could give up smoking at once, triggering a financial crisis, but that's pretty unlikely. It's definitely a fundamentally different source of value than the government's fiat.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Sarachim Originally Posted By: Dantius But it lacks practical, industrial applications! Am I expected to just respect useless things because tradition dictates it? The market value of things with industrial applications is just as dependent on arbitrary consumer preferences. Steel, say, may have fixed physical properties, but the price of steel depends on the prices of all the things you can make with steel, which in turn depends on how much I'm willing to spend on a sports car. All economic value is "tradition," as you call it. Yes, but a sports car has value in that it can do things in and of itself that a lump of shiny metal or sheaf of paper cannot- move you from Point A to Point B ten times faster than without, for instance. Likewise, manufactured goods almost universally have a positive impact on our standard of living, and thus have actual use where currency would not. It's disingenuous to compare the price of gold to a sports car simply because we're both only willing to pay the market price for them. How, exactly, is any of the above relevant to economics? You didn't address my point that the value of the car depends on how much value I attach to being able to travel 10x as fast, which is just as much the product of my imagination as the value I attach to gold earrings. Even if I grant the metaphysical distinction you're drawing between intrinsic and "traditional" value (which I don't), that doesn't change the fact the value of gold is not the product of government fiat, but of market forces. The "fiat" in fiat money is the government's assignment of a face value to an object that is greater than the value of its components. The value of a gold coin, by contrast, is equal to the value of the weight of gold it contains

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Sarachim Okay, fine, I'll clarify, you absurd pedant. Because most people think gold is pretty, it was and is frequently used for things other than money- jewelry, sculpture, etc. This gives it value. This value is no less "intrinsic" than that of any other commodity. Please stop treating economics as though it were engineering. But it lacks practical, industrial applications! Am I expected to just respect useless things because tradition dictates it? The market value of things with industrial applications is just as dependent on arbitrary consumer preferences. Steel, say, may have fixed physical properties, but the price of steel depends on the prices of all the things you can make with steel, which in turn depends on how much I'm willing to spend on a sports car. All economic value is "tradition," as you call it.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Sarachim Originally Posted By: Dantius Gah. This is one of my biggest pet peeves IRL. Gold is a fiat currency. Full stop. It has no more intrinsic value than that which is assigned to it by society, which makes it by definition, a fiat currency. Fiat currency has its value assigned to it by a government (or, in theory, some other institution such as a bank.) In a setting where gold is accepted as a medium of exchange even when not minted into coins, it is commodity money. Furthermore, you have kind of an odd idea of "intrinsic value." Gold is pretty. That's value. I think paper money is pretty- it certainly has an intricate and precise design. It has as much industrial application as gold. That doesn't mean it has more or less intrinsic value than gold- it's only useful as a medium of exchange and for jewelry, which hardly counts. Okay, fine, I'll clarify, you absurd pedant. Because most people think gold is pretty, it was and is frequently used for things other than money- jewelry, sculpture, etc. This gives it value. This value is no less "intrinsic" than that of any other commodity. Please stop treating economics as though it were engineering.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Gah. This is one of my biggest pet peeves IRL. Gold is a fiat currency. Full stop. It has no more intrinsic value than that which is assigned to it by society, which makes it by definition, a fiat currency. Fiat currency has its value assigned to it by a government (or, in theory, some other institution such as a bank.) In a setting where gold is accepted as a medium of exchange even when not minted into coins, it is commodity money. Furthermore, you have kind of an odd idea of "intrinsic value." Gold is pretty. That's value.

Selffar, level 3 Click to reveal.. Name: Selffar Race: Elf Occupation: Gentleman Alignment: Classy 4 STR/6 DEX/2 INT, 21HP Martial (Improvised) 4 Thievery 4 Composure 3+1 Crafting (Alchemy) 3 Streetwise 2+1 First Aid 2 Stealth 1 2 points banked

Originally Posted By: Nikki So, everybody levels up as normal - 12 skill points to spend this time as well as the usual stat increase. I'll also be getting in touch with two of you via AIM, so watch out for that. I'm currently working on a log, I'll get it to you as soon as I can, and I'm hoping for a session next Thursday (that's the 18th/19th for Lilith). It will depend on my internet and my sister allowing me to steal it (and her couch) though, but pencil it in. If you could let me availabilit know by dropping me an email or an IM, that'd be great. Thanks."

Originally Posted By: Rowen Labyrinth, Selos, Bloodmarsh, Brigand, Dustbowl, Theressa, CoH, One Eph did at his summer camp, Rummors, Two one shot campaigns (one by Nioca in place of Brigand, another by Diki), IiC, Party of Three, One that is secret from the masses, EoD. Wait, what? Something's secret from me? I'm massive? Also, Slarty, you forgot Zombies!

Avadon is the only one where you recruit a party whose members have minds of their own, though. It feels the most BG-like to me.

New spells pending approval. Click to reveal.. Samos, level 6 Elf Occupation: Detective Alignment: Pragmatic 3 Str/5 Dex/7 Int 18/25 HP, 7/10 stamina Magic (Divination): 9 Martial (Blowdarts): 6 Stealth: 4 Streetwise: 2+1 Thievery: 2 Nature: 2 Perception: 1 Artifice: 1 Martial (Spears): 1 Composure: 0+1 2 points banked Spells: Location: Gives information on the location of an object or person. The more familiar the caster is with the target, the more accurate the intel. Vision: Gives a vision of a location, allowing the caster to see and hear things as if they were present. The closer the area is and the more familiar to the caster, the longer and clearer the vision will be. Portent: Offer advice regarding a person's immediate future. Stamina is recommended for accuracy. Detect History: By touching an object or person, or being present at a location, the caster can gain glimpses of insight into the object, person or location's past. Lehun's Messenger: Allows the caster to send a brief verbal message to someone they are personally acquainted with, even across great distances. The recipient may make a brief reply. Costs 1 stamina. Soucon's Many Ears: The caster touches an item and enchants it. From now on, the caster will be able to see and hear whatever happens at the item's location as though he were present, any time he wants to. Unfortunately, while doing so, he is oblivious to his actual surroundings. Costs 1 stamina. Divine Eye: This spell alerts the caster any time intelligent creatures enter or leave the target area.

Once again, I'll miss a chunk in the middle, but should be available for the beginning and end. Hopefully it won't be as long this time.

Maybe the xkcd line is aspirational, not descriptive. Quick, somebody edit a path to philosophy into County Town!

152. Tetujin and tonic- Melenam specialties. The Seventh Saga?

140. Burning Pleasures- first member, Benjamin Franklin

I'm going to be traveling on Wednesday, so it's possible I'll arrive late. If I'm not there at the start time, go ahead and begin without me.

69. Yo Paranoid!- Domino's scary antique of unsurpassed cultural significance A reference to Domino's pizza and its mascot the Noid. EDIT: 87. Which of the Wasteland- moving antagonist "Witch of the Wasteland" is music from Howl's Moving Castle.