Sarachim

Originally Posted By: Dantius On a note totally unrelated to Nikki's plot to recreate the British Empire, why is Britain's national anthem still God Save The [monarch gender title] and not Rule Britannia? I mean, one is a song about essentially ruling a quarter of the world, and the other is about a hereditary monarch who's a relic of an age that ended like a century ago. And it's the same with America. The Star Spangled Banner is a terrible national anthem. It should totally be America the Beautiful. The French and Russians managed to pick good national anthems, why can't we? Well, for one thing, Britannia does not, in fact, rule the waves. The Star-Spangled Banner probably won by being written first, as it dates to the war of 1812, while America the Beautiful must not have been written until sometime after we conquered the West Coast.

Because, you know, if you think it happened in 1766, well, the consequences are just too horrible to contemplate. Understanding history has very little to do with memorizing dates.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Ooh, now I'm curious too. What could possibly be so secretive it has to be PM'd instead of posted? Calm down, everybody. It's not that interesting.

Thursday is fine for me. I'll dig around and find Lilith's alchemy thing, and maybe even get around to adding Selffar's recipes to it.

Originally Posted By: Lilith If and when I run another campaign. . . You mean "when I run another campaign." Anyway, mechanical stuff: mages have reasons to invest in all three stats. If combat techniques aren't based on Int, fighters have little reason to go beyond two points. Giving fighters a reason to put points into Int seems like it would promote balance AND makes fighters more diverse by encouraging them to branch out into Int-based non-combat skills.

Ooh, I know! Have Gunnar get captured by the rebels, and have the party spend the session on Friday rescuing him! Anyway, I'm still free on the 8th.

Session in six and a half hours.

Session in two hours. Come watch!

Originally Posted By: Triumph Just have to say, as I'm reading logs, that I laughed out loud when I "got" Grastakoss's reference to "Final Countdown." Nice! I'm glad I wasn't the only one. I was afraid I'd known Lilith for too long.

Originally Posted By: Lilith Originally Posted By: Sarachim Originally Posted By: Lilith i hate to disappoint you guys but like 95% of my duties are going to involve banning spambots that happen to post during the freakish antipodean hours I keep I have not been this disappointed in a leader since Lyndon Johnson. lyndon johnson singlehandedly browbeat Congress into passing Medicare so if that's your standard for disappointment in leadership i think i'm doing okay Disappointment is falling below expectations. I [would have] expected Johnson to do that [if I had been born yet], since the welfare state and browbeating people were both his kind of thing. Vietnam, not so much.

Originally Posted By: Lilith Originally Posted By: Rowen Lilith as a mod, again? She is going to punish us all. i hate to disappoint you guys but like 95% of my duties are going to involve banning spambots that happen to post during the freakish antipodean hours I keep I have not been this disappointed in a leader since Lyndon Johnson.

Calendar done. Wooooo, perks!

Huzzah! When do we begin?

Originally Posted By: Triumph Originally Posted By: Sarachim Certain non-combat skills (like thievery, artifice, composure, streetwise, and so forth) are vulnerable to redundancy. Although it's very good to have redundancy in some of those skills, like Composure, if one of the party members has the proclivity to use that skill to incite mobs to attack the party's main NPC ally. You know, traditionally, rolling a 20 means "you get the best possible outcome," not "you succeed too much for your own good." But I'm still not bitter.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Game theory stuff. I dispute that this is the case. A redundant specialist in hitting things would almost always be useful, because the whole party participates in combat and additional fighters do not give diminishing returns. The same goes for most kinds of magic, especially since two characters with points in the same magic school could select different spells any time they wanted to. Certain non-combat skills (like thievery, artifice, composure, streetwise, and so forth) are vulnerable to redundancy. If I were trying to produce a PC that was certain to be useful, I'd avoid those skills, and prefer ones that are unlikely to be rendered useless because someone else picked them too. In this case, I think it's more likely that, by sheer coincidence, everyone wanted to play a similar type of character.

Originally Posted By: Lilith For what it's worth, my thought process was basically "hmm, this stealthy Dex-based character that I statted out a while ago would be appropriate for an assassination mission". So I wrote her a backstory and here we are. Mine was "with such a violent intro, everyone will clearly neglect the social skills. I had better help out." I respectfully disagree with the "make the character you want, not the one the party needs" approach, because for me, what I want is to fill a niche the party needs. Composure, streetwise, and thievery (to pick three skills completely at random ) are lots of fun when the rest of the party doesn't have them, because it means that your presence gives the party options it otherwise wouldn't have. When they're all thoroughly, crushingly redundant, then the character feels useless. Not that I'm bitter because this has happened to me twice in a row now or anything.

I just noticed: Zatira's one point of FA is the only healing of any kind. We are so, so doomed.

Originally Posted By: VCH So why do you walk or run in restrictive blocks of plastic and foam? Your feet have one of the highest concentrations of nerve endings in your body. . . You just answered your own question. Stepping on things hurts. I like walking barefoot whenever I can, but I can't imagine running that way. How do you do it?

Tonight's session is in just under three hours in spidwebRP, for anyone who feels like spectating.

@SoT: I bought a pair of MBT shoes, and they really did help me burn calories while toning my leg and hip muscles. The fact that the text contains an accurate prediction about my future health proves that it must be the work of the scientist it is attributed to.

Click to reveal.. Samos Elf Occupation: Detective Alignment: Pragmatic 3 Str/5 Dex/5 Int 14/19 HP, 6/10 stamina Magic (Divination): 7 Stealth: 4 Martial (Blowdarts): 3 Streetwise: 2+1 Thievery: 2 Nature: 2 Perception: 1 Artifice: 1 Martial (Spears): 1 Composure: 0+1 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. 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. Panopticon: For an instant, the caster becomes aware of all people and objects within a given radius of himself. An ordinary success can grant awareness up to fifty feet; it is possible to extend the spell further, but this will cost extra stamina and/or result in less complete information. Costs 1 stamina. New spell is pending approval.

Elves, Dragonborn, and Goblins all get Composure now.

Working on a character now.

Speaking of epic, tonight's session was, and not just because we gained a level. Click to reveal.. Porifio, level 5 Male Elf Occupation: Aristocrat Alignment: Conceited 4 Str/2 Dex/8 Int, 17 HP Magic (Enchantment): 6 Magic (Abjuration): 5 Martial (Epee): 5 Streetwise: 3+1 Composure: 1+1 Crafting (Magic items): 1 Perception: 1 4 points banked Magic(Evocation): 1 (from perk) Spells: Mind Duel: Blasts a target's mind with psychic energy. Tanali's Clear Eye: Shields the recipient from illusions, enchantments, and other magical deceptions, allowing them to see reality clearly. Nuxile's Thought Read: Gives the caster a brief look into the target's mind. A minor success will only reveal the target's emotions or most superficial thoughts. A major success may give deep insight into memories, plans, or beliefs. Costs 1 stamina. Rollo's Moderate Hypnosis: Hypnotizes one target. While hypnotized, the target will believe whatever the caster tells him and follow commands, unless he makes a saving roll to break the hypnosis. Each new suggestion/command gives the target another chance to save. More ambitious suggestions/commands are easier to resist. Elemental Ward: Bestow tolerance of an element on your allies. Stamina is required for multiple elements. Resiliency: Lays a ward on the recipient that makes him/her physically more resilient for a short time. They take slightly less damage from any source except mental, and stamina damage from blood loss or drowning/asphyxiating is reduced. Stamina can be spent to greatly increase the duration of the effect. Defensive Enhancement (A5): Permanently imbues an object with protective magic, which will shield whoever carries or wields it. Requires a long time (several uninterrupted hours) and a lot of stamina (at least 3 for small objects. More for weapons/armor). The protective enchantment can be general, or it can be specific to one kind of attack (physical, fire, mental, whatever). Limitation: Requires points in a relevant Crafting skill to use effectively. Tripfire Sigil (A5): Creates a sigil infused with explosive energy. When someone enters a certain proximity of the sigil, it detonates, doing damage to everything within decent radius. A stamina can be spent to enhance the blast power and radius further.

Originally Posted By: Venom Originally Posted By: Dantius The DLC armor packs for the second Mass Effect had less to do with style and everything to do with being essentially game-breakingly powerful god mode items that you pay actual money for instead of entering a cheat. Uh, the Alternate Skin packs DLC was cosmetic, nothing more. Nobody's forcing you to buy any of it anyways... Contrary to popular belief, someone is forcing me to buy it. He broke into my home last weekend. I'm pretty sure he's holding a gun under his jacket. Yesterday we went to see several terrible movies, and tomorrow he says I have to buy an extended warranty. I asked him what the warranty is for and he just. . . just growled, like a wolf driven mad by hunger. The police won't help me because they think I'm employing a figure of speech. Please help me. My credit card is nearly maxed out and I do not know what this man is capable of.