The place where you post stuff that are out of character.

The Current name of this game and the general image i have of the last game being china with the Mediterranean sea in the middle gives me a concept idea.

Levels 1-5 in the main region forming connections and learning about the region, with later levels expanding on exploring a recently discovered land mass similar to what china might have done when they discovered north america taking on elements of kingdom building, and determining the future of colonization or interactions with the new region.

As a Curious scholar, a new region with exotic things to discover and write about would be something worth atleast investing into even if done by npcs off screen. Perhaps my character should get around to forming a exploration company with the leadership feat later if we don't want to persue this as a major campaign point.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Thu 17 Jan 2019.

Could you start a Rules and character creation page, and list spheres of power (and might?) on it for reference.

Majors towns and locations page might be useful as well, so as we develope the world we have a reference.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Thu 17 Jan 2019.

On it.

I can draw up a port of Effigy master to pathfinder, Admantine Entertainment has a Warlock ish class called warlock,  Vigilante Class has a archetype call warlock you might find creative and could fit with a 'man in the iron mask' image if that is your twist here.

 Though the summoner and it's archetypes could fit your bill easily enough, or the witch in a pinch. Note Pathfinder has Familiar archetypes, of which the figment one may be of interest to you for adaptability.

http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/thaumaturge
http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/symbiat


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If we are doing 2 with the option to expand to 6 players later, we could each have a Geography/Social studies thread that expands as we go and can be reference providing a degree of seperation, but I would prefer one source as I trust both of us not to meta-game info we don't have access to. I'd generally like to start knowing basic current events over the last year or so, and high profile events over the last 50 years.

What kind of goverment(s) are around and how many.

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This message was last edited by the player at 20:30, Sat 02 Feb 2019.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 5):

I am going for this: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1442057

If that helps

High ammounts of wound points are a good thing? Counterintuitive but ok.

Vigor is like hit points, from class/hit dice. Normal attacks start here.

Wounds are from stats, and represents constitution. critical hits, excess vigor damage, and negative energy can go here.

No penalty for taking vigor damage, but taking wound damage can kill you quickly, more so with lower constitution scores.

Vigor is healed as normal or completly overnight. Wounds are healed 1 per healing dice or night, bedrest can restore your level worth of wounds.

Rest is required to heal overnight similarly to caster's preparing spells.

Your wound limit doesn't increase much, but your vigor pool will with levels.

-------------------------------
May i suggest half your hit dice with a modifier of +1(1d6, 1d8), +2(1d10), or +3 (1d12) instead of random vigor points

or 1d2+1(d4), 1d4+1(d6), 1d6+1(d8), 1d8+2(d10), 1d8+3(d12)

Or just the ability not to roll a certain number or below by rerolling. 1 (d4), 2(d6), 3 (d8), 4(d10), 6 (d12)

Yes i do realize i weighted d12 a bit higher.

d20 modern's wound system is more robust, basically the same, but uses negative wounds (0 wounds is bloodied, negative woinds are dying.)

http://gamingitforward.blogspo...ty-ie-vigor.html?m=1

Touch attacks affect through vigor, so contact poisons, most spells.

Additional effects on hit require wounds, None touch attack effects, injury poisons.

Criticals apply wounds through vigor and suprise round (first flat footed attack) automatically threaten.

Bleed damage attacks should cause the bloodied condition early and stack with it(loosing 1 wound every round you act, 2 if your below wound threshhold)
Bleed damage greater then 1, can stack up to the ammount bleed inflicted or 6 if 1d6. 2d6 bleed causes 2 wounds and stacks up to 12.

Magic healing negates most bleed, as does first aid heal skill.


Should sneak attacks get a critical bonus threat?

Wounds and vigor negates the need for Laying waste by applying wounds through critical.

Character effects like stunning fist, should they be triggerable on a critical hit since vigor normally negates them, or is hitting vigor enough.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:56, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

How is having a high amount of wound points counterintuitive? It means you can take more punishment before dying.

Vigor is like normal HP, Wound points is just another word for negative HP, so anything that normally applies and happens with normal and negative HP pretty much happens with vigor and Wounds as well.

Each time vigor drops by 1/4 you suffer a -1 penalty to atk, checks and caster level. The same applies to Wounds, except you also become disabled and/or dying when it drops below half, plus there are a lot fewer wound points (after lvl 2 at least) than vigor points so if someone bypasses your vigor and damages your wound points directly you are much more likely to gain penalties.

Example: John the mage has 120 vigor and 16 wounds. Each time he loses 30 vigor and/or 4 wounds he takes penalties. During a fight he gets hit with a weapon attack that has a x4 critical multiplier and takes 15 vigor damage and 4 wounds damage. This means he now has a -1 penalty on all those rolls and checks because his wounds are below 1/4 even though his vigor isn't below 1/4. Later he takes 15 more vigor damage. Now he has a -2 penalty because both his vigor and wounds are below 1/4. Later in the battle he takes another 30 vigor and 4 wounds damage. Now he has a -4 penalty because both his vigor and wounds are below half, AND he's disabled and has to make a constitution check to remain conscious (because he's dying), and will take more wounds damage if he performs strenious actions.

Vigor represents state of mind (cool under pressure) and light damage such as bruises, stress fractures, minor cuts or punctures/bleeding to non vital stuff (like muscles), so a light rest and a chance to collect yourself will replenish that. Wounds are more serious stuff, like broken bones, punctured lungs, damage to vital organs in general, bleeding from major blood vessals like a jugilar, therefor I'm ganna use the same rules that apply to recovering ability damage (or was it negative levels?) apply to wounds as well. This means a constitution check after a long rest. Naturally, this means the more damaged you are the harder it will be to heal naturally and a really poor roll could even make it worse (due to infected wounds or hemoraging I suspect. This will make propper care crucial, just like in real life (hence the increased importance of the heal skill inspite of magical healing).

---

If you look at the retaining rules, there's a section that says you can use training to increase your HP (or in this case vigor) to its maximum limit as per HD. Meaning if you get to roll a 1d12 on a level up, but only roll a 4, you are allowed to use "retraining" to increase you maximum HP by another 8 (but no more than that because 12 is your maximum potential.

So no, there will be no mods or rerolls or averages. If the dice gods don't favor you then just flip them off and compensate your bad luck in life with hard work.

As I said before, Vigor damage doesn't necessarily means you came out unscaved, it just means it's not that bad. So normal bleeding and poison (regardless whether contact or injury or whatever) and DR and ect... works just as normal (damaging or preventing damage to vigor but otherwise having no bearing on Wounds). Only effects that directly damage the Constitution ability score itself such as constitution bleeding (not to be confused with normal bleeding), cerain poisons and spells (and critical hits of course) bypass vigor and damage wounds directly. Things that do apply to critical hits (such as the armor enchantment "Fortify") can interfere with Wound damage.

Once vigor becomes 0 then its open season on Wounds, meaning they're just like normal HP/vigor. If a normal attack does 10 damage, you take 10 damage to wounds, a normal 1d6 bleeding damage causes 1d6 damage to wounds every round. If you have DR 5 and someone hits you for 8 damage, you take 3 wounds of damage, and so on...

Creatures with no constitution have no wound points, just plain ol' HP (or just vigor if you prefer that term) and everything that goes with it (such as no threshold penalties). No need to unnecessarily complicate things.

If hit by a stunning fist you are stunned. Vigor does not negate anything, it's just another word for normal HP.

As stated in the character creation, precision damage can bypass vigor in the same way negative energy damage bypasses it. Sneak attack is precision damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:03, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

It's counter-intuitive in how it's applied mathmatically.

We went from a system with negative hit points representing bleeding to death and being staggered, to one where 1/2 wounds represents the same think.

1/2 Wounds with death at 0 wound points left VS dying opposed to -1 wounds and dying when your negative wounds = your con score.  30->15->0  = 15->0->|-15|

I can adjust easy enough.
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I didn't look hard at the training rules, that will cover my I don't to be stuck with 1 hit point per die fear.

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Complete Vigor/Hitpoint transparency will work for me, Don't see any problems with damage thresholds and skill checks.

I will Visualize vigor as light bruises, light cuts, other minor damage largely negated by armor/shields/weapons parries/body positioning, and wounds as solid blows. Enough to let poison in the blood, but not enough to be important unless another effect like bleeding is applied to the hit.

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Flaws and drawbacks: Each character should have one glaring weakness or situation they are unable to function in. Irfan has curiosity as a weakness, specifically unusual experiences or sensations.

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Precision damage sources become very dangerous dealing hit points worth of wounds and may require adjustment as we go on since sneak attack scales with levels but wound points don't. One lv6 TWF rogue can take down most lv 20 character with 2 well placed flanking hit. I'm not opposed to sneak attack dealing wound damage, but perhaps they should do wound damage based on the dice rolled instead of the number on the die.

Adjustment: Xd6 sneak attack deals Xd6-X vigor damage(or wounds if out of vigor) but deals X wound damage regardless of the damage roll? Most other Sources of precision damage apply 1d6 or a flat bonus (favored enemy, swashbuckler level's  worth) and can be applied rapidly. Perhaps they can follow a similar format penetrating vigor to deal a fixed point of wound damage that are subtracted from the vigor damage they do at 1, 7, and 13 damage respectively?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:06, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

According to paizo, negative energy damages wounds directly ether by 1 wound per damage die or 1 wound per 10 points of negative damage if it's not dice related.

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No he can't. Each hit would do 3 wounds each (because his sneak attack bonus is 3d6) however I see your point. When in doubt like this I turn to the spirit of the rules rather than the word. "Sneak" attack by its nature implies unaware/unseen/unexpected, and those who can make them (a rogue) is always portrayed as the stealthy, unseen, overlooked threat, a person that fights dirty/without honor who just wants to get the job done by hitting where it hurts.

So by that logic, a sneak attack that damages wounds directly can only be performed when attacking an enemy that isn't aware of you (meaning when you attack by breaking stealth, and when using the vital strike feat because VITAL strike duh) rather than when just flanking or feinting or invisible.

Alternatively, we can have the same rules that apply for flat precision damage apply to dice roll related precision damage. Meaning, we can have sneak attack do 1 wound per 10 points of precision damage instead of 1 per damage die. That should decrease the amount of wounds each attack does by about 60~70% unless he rolls really lucky or invests in rogue talents that boost the damage of sneak attack.

Lets not Call Precision damage out as dealing wound damage, but lets call the sneak attack sub-type of precision damage out as doing this, A class feature buff to rogue classes.

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I was afraid you mean Xd6 wound damage for all sneak attacks, 2 3d6's alone could take out someone with 18 con on perfect rolls with that thinking. My bad.

Sneak attacks doing wounds is thematic, but rogues depend on and struggle to apply Sneak attacks to deal vigor damage in most situations.

Removing the vigor damage(completely) from Sneak attacks seems wrong and weakens the rogue considerably.
Dealing full sneak attack to wounds is wrong and makes it too powerful.
1d6-1 damage +1 wound or 1d6 damage +1 wound Sneak attack seem the best of both worlds and both represent a buff to the rogue classes.

I guess by RAI player would have the choice of dealing vigor damage or converting his d6s directly to a wound each when sneak attacking, the same as healing or damaging with positive/negative energy which could be a small buff.

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Surprise rounds are separate and could involve anyone dealing (weapon) damage directly to wounds, but only allowing rogues to apply their full sneak attack to flatfooted targets wounds during a suprise round(once per target) here gives them tactical advantage over most classes. Usually enough to reach wound threshold with a single rogue, but not enough to kill a target outright with wound damage for many levels. Remember outside of rare feats and abilities you are limited to a standard or move action in a surprise round.

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Critical hits, similar in nature to sneak attacks deal a few wounds directly based on the weapon modifiers. Which makes having Laying waste less important, since a few wounds are big deal in character and game.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Off topic:
Vital strike is used more to cut things with DR or Hardness, or allow you move and attack without losing all your full attack power. It's like a swordsman forgoing extra swings to make a single solid attack, then aiming at weak points. It's a testiment of a skilled warrior.

There are other ways to deal precisions than just sneak attack.

When doing negative damage you have to choose whether to do vigor damage OR wound damage. The same applies to precision damage. And yeah, it is powerful, that's why I wanted to limit it to when breaking stealth only (or using Vital strike + normal sneak attack).

Laying waste has unique effects than just straight up penalties.

I know what the point of Vital strike was in core Paizo, but 3rd party feats blow it out of the water. In fact even other paizo feats blow it out of the water (like Penetrating strike and many shor). Not to mention vital strike was meant to compensate for the iterative attack penalty, but since we removed that vital strike loses even more point.

Well that solves any issues i have, or can see. 10 flat precision damage is hard to get so probably won't be seen till late levels.

How about just allowing Vital strike seed feat for free to rogues, and letting them get their sneak attack damage in while using it. It limits them to 1 attack, but ensures they can atleast get sneak attack each round. When they can catch a target off-guard they can sneak attack as normal. *since they have no iterative attacks before 6, no weapon damage increase.

The Shaky Alliance
  The Ironian Theocracy (by far the largest of the 3)
  The Grasslands
  The Wingheld Kingdom (the smallest)

         Vs
Invaders from the West
  Kwon-Yuu Reagency

The war is ongoing but has taken a form of stand-offish warfare? Kwon Reagency seems to be sure of their victory and has chosen not to press the issue as the they consolidate their hold on conquered land (mostly from the Ironians) and they feel victory is inevitable so why corner their enemies?

Ironian is glad the threat has slowed down and used the threat Kwon-Yuu poses to gain aide of the Grasslands and the Wingheld kingdoms despite no immediate either of their lands yet?

Tensions are high and forces are often split by nationality instead of working jointly along the warlines possibly letting old hatreds get in the way of combination tactics that may be more effective? The Alliance is threatening to crumble with so many different soldiers of different groups stationed along the Ironian border bored without threat from the Kwon-Yuu due to the treat?

Is conscripting going on? Irfan being from a presumably neutral city-state means he may have some protection from that at least early on till press gangs start or he gains influence/renown.

With soldiers and ?blessed? elsewhere, are bandits both inside and outside of towns increasing? Are most soldiers males or just is gender equal or inverted in at-least one country. Do any Countries have a volunteer soldier system?

Are there any coming of age rituals to test for affinity with exalted to find possible ?blessed? that could be of use to the kingpriest?

Immediately I see Irfan having a casual interest in historical legends and their regional differences, and a interest in things that could prove or disprove them. I imagine most of the remoter locals have a better grasp on history then constantly rewritting priest king's libraries.

----------------------------------------------

A Scribe's Wandering
Where to go, What to eat, Sight to see and Stories to hear

A Scribes's Wandering abridged.
Where and What to Drink or not to Drink

Well...Combat Stamina is free for trained full bab classes, sooo might as well give rogues some love. However, since Vital strike can naturally do 1 wound damage (gatta let the other classes have a chance at direct wound damage) if a rogue wants to use vigor strike with sneak attack to cause 1 wound per damage die instead of 1 per flat 10 precision, they have to also do it to an enemy that's unaware of them. This condition can be lessened on assassins to just vital strike + normal sneak attack conditions.

---

The invaders from the East are the Kwon Reagency.

I'll have to elaborate on the rest later cuz it's...complicated. Not to mention there's only so much an average Joe can know before the rest becomes guesswork and speculation (information is a precious commodity in medival times).
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:40, Wed 06 Feb 2019.

Tomo's stated wanting to run:

Warlock 12/Effigy Master 5/Chamelion 2/ Hellfire Warlock 1

Warlock is surprisingly close to pathfinder format, but may require access to hexes via invocation and/or expanded invocations. Witch and Hexblade could be viable starting points for a conversion utilizing the hex treat to mimic invocations, possibly making eldritch blast a scaling hex it'self.

Pool Ray Magus arcana is a decent starting point for eldritch blast.

Chameleon prestige class probably is fine on a direct port to pathfinder.

Effigy Master is unique and would also port fairly well to Pathfinder.

Hellfire warlock is cheesy and could be replaced with a invocation/hex slot ability.

How about we start at lvl 1 and go from there? Prestiege classes don't just happen out of thin air after all. And even normal classes have some cultural, geographical, historical and traditional implications. What if to become a Chameleon he has to gain the trust of a specific group that's located in a specific part of the world and the player doesn't meet them in-game by the time he's lvl 18 or whatever level he hoped he'd be at the time?

I'm also ganna need links to those classes if there aren't any pathfinder equivalents (although I'm pretty sure there are 2 different 3pp Warlock classes already).

BTW, I made a huge breakthrough in the worldbuilding yesterday. The compilation is coming along fine, although I am planning from making it an East vs West thing to a North Vs South. I kinda already did the east west thing in the last game.

https://www.realmshelps.net/ch...ernate/warlock.shtml

https://www.realmshelps.net/magic/warlock-inv.shtml

craft/use anything magical, eldritch blast, and at will spells like abilities are it's core.


The closest pathfinder warlock is sadly the vigilante archetype.

Adamant's warlock is odd but arguably more powerful eldritch blasts, if you want unlimited fireballs attacks.

https://dndtools.net/classes/effigy-master/

https://dndtools.net/classes/chameleon/

2 lesser factions + 1 wounded and exhausted greater faction. All uneasily foght a common enemy.

A giant Seemingly unified superior force invading, ripe for the coop or rebellion while the main forces are away.

A sudden developement in the seas cutting off 98% of indformation and supplies to the invaders.

splimter faction

2 lesser factions + 1 wounded and exhausted greater faction. All uneasily foght a common enemy.

A giant Seemingly unified superior force invading, ripe for the coop or rebellion while the main forces are away.

A sudden developement in the seas cutting off 98% of indformation and supplies to the invaders.

Sky ruins long dormant reawaken in a war mode due to exploration.

Splinter faction as a forced kingpriest empire only a few generations old starts a battle for heir among the conquered nations.

A mad king losing it(faith in humanity?) and using his blessing to sorch earth a large region.


Protect the heir plotline as wingshield undergoes a internal "mirror mirror, whose the most rightous in all the land."

Rogue/wild dormamt exalted being disturb and rampaging in the sea.

Sunken or aquatic Underwater kingdom. The idea of a natural or magically created airy water spell near a volcanic source has been rolling around in my head for a while. A caldara with a seemingly boiling salt water lake, roads, signs of people but no buildings anywhere. Everyone assumes the volcano wiped them out but really it was an aquatic threat , that left tgeir kingdom abandoned under the lake.

Cult dedicate to keeping ancient cities hidden to prevent the wrath of divine being/mother nature herself.

--------------------------

There are a submarine and glider knack i can take storywise around 6th level. Leaning towards lightning rod knack at lv1 and salve (healing) around 3.


Ancient legends in the mountains and coasts of a sky and sea kingdom lost to war or smited. Invaders could be more aware(retained more knowledge) of this and invaded in search of these lost places.


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I believe  get a Martial tradition, but very few of the ones listed appeal to me.
Staff Master: Does almost nothing for me.
Mechanic: Focuses on Cross bows but gives me Traps and sounds cool.
Daring Scholar: Grants me 3 extra talents since  have both spheres. I feel this is too much.

I'll leave my Martial tradition choice up to you, with suggestions for fast draw and staff mastery equipment talents to allow me to draw and use my alchemical formulae in combat with a staff.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Thu 07 Feb 2019.

You're throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, aren't ya?

The Sample Scholar on the spheres website gets martial tradition on top of Problem solver(which looks like a martial tradition to me). So i probably get one.

Actually really torn about which martial tradition to take, so i'd rather get a setting specific one then choose, could help me settle in lore wise and having a few mistakes to retrain later is flavorful.

I'm over budget gold wise at the moment 5d6 X 10 = 300, I'm sitting closer to 330 but 60(+2) of that is quality wine I'm (hoping to) planning to turn a profit at the next town with, so i could easily fix that, not to mention excess outfits. I do get one outfit and Healer's Kit for free so those also bring me under budget.

Cosmetic Material choices: (Felt natural, don't know my starting region's climate/reasources)
I've Choose Sheepskin for my Water skin
Gourd for my Canteen
Bee's wax For my candles
Ash For my staff
Has a fertile greece region theme, but as a trade town those could me common even if not local.

I Choose Parade armor, mostly on a whim, any chance it can be none nation denominating or should I got back to leather if i don't want to represent?

May want to look at Alchemy sphere's Salve talent, since i get one at first level, it's that or Bottled lighting formulae and that has a higher craft dc.

I can spend 30 minutes preparing a healing potion for free, but it expires after 24 hours, and is only good 4 times a day per person.

Healing tends to be highly valued in your game so we might want to adjust the individual use rate once per person instead of once+int at lv 1.

As i get reliable access to alchemy equipmemt that goes down to 15 minutes prepare and higher levels i can prepare multiple.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:41, Fri 08 Feb 2019.

Only way to world build in the dark.

----------------------------
Tomo try this on for size.
Should straddle warlock and effigy master while feeling a tad roguish.

http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/technician
Check these 4 abilities: Detonator, Grand Craftsmen, Chemical Insight, Electrical insight.

2 good saves, medium BaB, d8

Upgradeable bombs usable like-ish to eldtrich blast.

Golems, Acid coated constructs, robots, steampunk constructs.

Rewards you for taking and can give craft wonderous items.
Roguish trap sensing.
Intuition for a mind over matter effects.
Various Utility effects.

Decent skill coverage (6/2= 3 skill points), and spheres can help pad that.

Let your inner Dr. Doom guide your character but express themselves as a weaponized Leonardo Davinci Or Michealangelo.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:59, Fri 08 Feb 2019.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 24):

Ok... but this is super dee duper important.

Does it also give me access to a "Magic Jar" type spell?

Dr. Doom must have his "Ovoid Mind Transfer" :p

craft wonderous item that mimics a 5th level wizard spell, one per day/week.

Takes the form of some kind of large gem in a radio transmiter able to contain and project your conciousness over another's.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Fri 08 Feb 2019.

I'm sure there's some feat somewhere that lets you have spells from other classes, and even if there isn't I'd allow you to gain that spell via normal research spell rules.

Also, could you tune it down a little with the tech? This is suppose to be a high magic world. There's not a whole lot of insentive for tech, I'm just sayin.

Tomo, have you looked at the pathfinder warlock classes? I want to make sure the established material is exhausted before importing outside stuff
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/class...tertainment/warlock/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/class...s-paizo-inc/warlock/

Also, The Artisan class is an excellent crafting class. Might like that better than effigy master https://www.d20pfsrd.com/class...studios/the-artisan/
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Sat 09 Feb 2019.

It's a Renaissance Revolution! Down with the holy roman empire, rise of the Medici. Magic Users verse the people, The magic is dying out!  /joke

We are plotting to bring down the exalted by plunging the world into a wild magic planet /joke.

No word yet on churches or deities, core pathfinder or otherwise, no word on well know groups or even common information/propaganda about other states or where we start each start.

I feel like i'm setting blind. The Kingpriest could hunted anyone with magical talent so they couldn't become threats to their reign. Magic users could be forced to enlist.

You suggested spheres and Scholar to me, and Technician just happens to explicitly match what Tomo has been wanting to do for 6 months. Build a kingdom and defend it with a legion of constructs, The science bit isn't as important for him, but that is fluff.

Spheres by nature pushes away from magic users into skilled users and inherently magical substances. Irfan's Lighting rod Knack is most certainly powered magically to some extent, more so when it starts casting control weather, all his alchemy crafts are inherently magical ingredient/substances extracted and applied to their max scientifically.

No Mundane salve is going to cure several wounds in under a hour, mandrake root eaten or put in a explosive delivery system to deal sonic damage.

Ifran walks the line between being a Spell-less mage manipulating magic ingredients and brillant scientist.

I can Easily crank the magic element up in how I apply it to break encounter, BAM ICE-Bang = Instant bridge across the Moat, Crap that helps them too, BAM Sonic-Bang Watch them all take frostbite damage in their armor.

Pathfinder 1st, 2nd, and a lot of 3rd level spells just aren't as fun as 3.5 even the none kill them all ones.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:14, Sat 09 Feb 2019.

Those things would be much more in line with the previous game where magic was sparse. Like I said, necessity drives inovation and magic and technology are oppositely alligned. The more magic there is in the world the less tech there is and vice versa because the one that is more prevalent (thus easier to access) is used to satisfy that need.

You are much more likely to encounter hybrid magic/tech classes (like Machinesmity and Artificer) than you are to encounter a straight up tech one (like clockwork adept and Gearhead).

The setting is still in progress. I don't want to post it piece by piece in case I change my mind later (like the East West thing being north south). I want to finish the product first and your backgrounds help the worldbuilding. I nean take Irfan for example. You were going in blind yet that didn't stop you from making a complete fully functional background. And what did I do? I build around that rather than tell you to change it because it didn't match some nebulous yet unseen setting/world.
(Please keep in mind I have 84+ hour work weeks and internet is spotty at best so it's not like I can do research whenever I please. Names have been the biggest problem for me since I prefer using names that have a hidden meaning)

I'm not saying DON'T make tech (like the Scholar, although lets be honest, he dabbles into everything including magic and alchemy), maybe your character is simply innept at magic or cursed to not be able to use it or wasn't in a position to learn it due to social reasons (poverty, social stigma, ect...) but still has an unsatiated thirst for the mysterious and science is his only recourse, all I'm saying is lets not have everyone jump on that bandwagon and make sure you justify it from a roleplaying standpoint while keeping in mind that magic is abundant so there would be no pressing societal need for science. It would have to be a personal goal for whatever personal drive or personally percieved societal need (like "everything would be so much better if we used science instead of magic. Why can't people see that? Guess I'll have to show them...")
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:11, Sat 09 Feb 2019.

The setting section is for finalized ideas, bouncing stray thoughts and concepts through here can add to or develope them further.

You may or may not be the kind of person that speaking aloud help you think things through. Speaking to us though helps me feel engaged and lets me field ideas you may have missed.

A watermill is something that could be of great benifit even in high magic, and disease outbreaks rarely have enough spells to go around.

The prevelance of magic could ecen have a americanization efffect as peopke become reliant.

Unless you wdnt to give Irfan a unified tradition (champion of spheres) instead of a martial he indeed has cantrips/day levels of magic, hence his reliance on the inherent magic of things and science leverage.

I feel that this would represent 25% of the population atleast, with 75% never having the potential to cast 5th level spells even if trained and devoted.

I could be wrong and we may be closer black bull animation where everyone* has 3.5 edition cantrips and maybe a 1st level spell.

https://www.realmshelps.net/ch...eat/Magical_Training


Some regions may experience high magical aptitude densities, it could be a form of prejudice. There could be a valley of the kings where offspring of the warrior priest are taken long before birth to bask in it's magically rich environment.

Other regions may be dimorphic with some people being highly talented and others magically inept driving both sides to creage hybrid creations anyobe could use.

Grasslands brings to mind horselords of Rohan of LotR.  Tethered Blimps, mirror code, and some form of calvary being their main stay. No one said the grasslands have to be flat, Irregular rock out cropings or even rings could provide abundant reasource centers or shelter for towns and cities.

Perhaps the grasslands suffer from a hot climate year round that forces enemies to waste reasources countering the heat.

-----------------------------------


Tomo's modeling his character off his interpretation of a marvel Character who combines sorcery and magic to protect his kingdom by assuming all the burdens on himself and implementing a robotic army to expand his ability to one man goverment.

He simple wants his people to live simple lives without fear or needless hunger.

Technician has all the abilities and class features he is looking for, except the ability to create magic itenms due to a lack of spells.

--------------------------

Being low magic by birth could work for or against us as players.

It could mean we aren't generally considered draft-able, but also face prejudice. Prejudice can lead to character motivation and actions.

Tomo would take a Magneto approach, Irfan would take an Xavier.

The whole isolationist kill all the arrogant magic users VS make a balanced with equality society angle would be a heavy plot element.


We cast the exalted as "celestial dragons"ish one piece, then we cast magicless humans as third class citizens. With a Caste system.

Give the invaders the benifit of using magic and science hybrid tactics and not being magically dependant as part of their war kit so they use anti-magic elements in war.

Tomo's robotics could be the key to staving off the invaders longterm, if the exalted can get past their egos and accept a lowly magic-less peasent as powerful.

The greatest threat to a high magic ebvironment is what happens when magic fails or is ineffective. Weaponized Anti magic fields would rightfully devastate the allied forces.

Side with the outsiders who treat the magic impoverished as equals, or our homelands.

A simple thing lime this can run this deep, drive our backstory and motivations.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:40, Sat 09 Feb 2019.

Doom and Magneto do have a mutual respect for each other, that's for sure.

Although I think you meant "sorcery and technology" not "sorcery and magic."

Essentially yes, though. Like an armor-wearing artificer, but with the same access to spells as a wizard. The big compelling elements of that character are going to be whatever the obstacles to his goals are - and his goals would be pretty simple.

1. The weak need to be protected, even from themselves.
2. Most people are short-sighted, and need the compassionate guidance of an iron hand so that they might be disciplined enough to survive a very harsh reality.
3. Only those with the vision to see this clearly can be decisive enough to shepherd the world toward's peace.
4. Only those with the power to protect the world from itself can be trusted to do so.
5. Clearly, I am that person - for I am still here, and my plans still move inexorably forward.

The clearest path to world altering power here seems to be the exalted and tgeir blessings, more so with what i remeber from the last game.

Extra power and prestige come from being chosen, and by extension scrutiny and respincibilty.

It will be a option from the looks of things, but one a character can pursue but any chance of suceeding beyond stealing or tricky would be up to destiny not dice.

----------------------------------

1. Irfan believes the weak should be able to protect themselves and learn from history, sonething that seems like will be in short supply and contradictory in the world of books.

2. Ifran believes people by nature will make the better choice if they could only see themselves making those choices.

3. It's the job of those shepards to make the hard decisions for their flocks futures, and not lightly.

4. Those who have the power to change the world are those that require the most watching and reminding of what the world is.

5. Tomo character is a divine prick, but he means well and sometimes needs to be restrained when he loses sight.


I imagine our two groups will be nearby and share npcs as part of a bigger group for a while, eventually going with Tomo taking full leadership. Butting heads will lead to professional tension between us.
5.

That is a lot of information on the grasslands, more then enough to satisfy most dc 10 knowledge checks for a outsider with no experience and even some dc 15's.

"A nation of nomadic hunter-warriors who live in a sea of grass on a flat plain. Their Exalted is considered responsible for the sea of green."

Is what I'm taking away in character, maybe romanticize stories about the hunts I've read making them out to be a nation of amazing hunters at one with their environment about to hunt even dire beasts without fear.

I probably know sailors stories about their navigation skills, and it's played off as they always know where their home is and how far.

 Astrology sounds like a national science used mostly by high ranking navy outside of the green sea, and poorly understood aswell at best by outsiders, most people assume it's a form of magic innate to their people i guess. 'Developed peoples' probably have so much magical light they don't consider the stars as much.

-------------------

This is a lot to work with too.

They are also known for their love of revelry, storytelling, boisterous singing and competitive sports. Excellent reasons for Irfan to want to visit.

Reminds me a lot of how i picture Goliath race in 3.5, but as human tribesmen.

Captures a image of what a Native American nation could have been like on the great plains.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Tue 12 Feb 2019.

It is based on the native americans (and primitive hunter-gatherer cultures in general) except they're patriarical instead of matriarical.

Should we give tribemen humans a racial 6 inches to hieght from their magically enriched diet and environment?

Is a hit dice level bonus to profession star gazer a alternate racial that can replaces skilled for them?

Goliaths had some interesting prestige classes in 3.5, Dawncaller bard and goliath liberater. Might be interesting to work out a named npc using those as inspiration.

I see dire beasts as not being uncommonly rare on the plains with sone types of dire herbivores being partially domesticated, close neighbors or the equivilant of the water buffalo and the oxpecker bird.

Dog sleds were valuable even to the plains indians in summer.


This concept falls under tribal variance and teachings rather then a generic descript i'd guess.

As we are going with high Fantasy, I think this might be good with my character's intended style and capabilities.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats...t-ray-spell-touched/

somewhere around 7th level or so if rays come up often.

Throw Anything is looking pretty cool to me as a style that is functional to my character, He is bad at melee but throw anything gives him a way to fight while trying to stay out of it that works with his attributes.

Throw Anything -> Concentrated Slash Feat
               -> Grenade Expert Feat

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats...-ashe-item-creation/
Might be a fun feat to work into a npc

Is there anything you want from my character story wise? Or are you waiting on Tomo for most of that?

I suspect I will wind up somewhere between a chancellor, a conscience, and a advisor to Tomo's character as our paths cross and we gain influence.

Berserk's band of the hawk might deserve some aspects for levels 3-6, but that might be me trying to push the game towards warfare.

Griffith's drive to rising to kingship and the powerful allies he attracts in pursuit of his dream.

Background sent. ;)

Would the Mediterranean Region be a semi accurate description of the theocracy?


Greece, Egypt, Isreal, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, All being put together like the european union without a internal sea seperating them? All Uncomfortable neighbors with their own traditions and relatively stable boundaries?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:52, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

Will post tomorrow to answer questions. I have been working on general information on the Ironian Theocracy, finishing up on the Wingheld kingdom, and was planning on expanding on the general information on the world (mostly on how one gets a blessing and the significance of a kingpriest. And of course the Klift Incident. I've been mentionig that since the previous campaign so I think it deserves elaborating).

BTW, I like the background Tomo.

Kleft. A name, a Noun?

A person or a place.

A place, a geographical location or a city/group/tribe?
-------'
Why hasn't a new heir stepped forward?

No worthy heir? No, the previous kingpriest is not dead, but is in prison, exiled, incapacitated or self exile.

I like the Odin's sleep personally. A tribe stepped so far out of line at Kleft, bringing shame and danger to the grasslands (Necromancy?). That the kingpriest blew life force/knocked himself out erasing the offending tribe. So much so, that in sealing away or destroying them, he fell into a hibernal state recovering. A shame they are loathed to speak of among themselves even behind closed doors, with only tribal leaders knowing most of what happened.

Kleft today is still scarred where even the exalted shames and excludes the ground from her blessing.

Not only bringing shame by breaking the circle of life, rousing the ancestors from their rest, they sought to bring war to the outsiders under some perverted vision of spreading the Dandelion Mother's blessings.

The only thing most of the grasslands folk know is that there was a larger tribe that was erased for being shameful to all the tribes and that their shame is borne even today by the tribes.

A tribe being punished for failing a promise to another group is overused. I think whatever kleft is it's a internal failing the reflects on the pride of the grasslands as a whole, perhaps in it's entirety.

Having someone unleash the undead remains of creatures as big and deadly as those found in the grasslands across the border into the theocracy, then diplomaticalky turning around, claiming it's been handled and their king not even giving your diplomats the tine of day would sour relations for decades atleast if not centuries.

To make matters worse,give this tribe a legitamite complaint about the theocracy that drove them to warn, and fell on deaf ears with the other tribes.
------------------
Shandians and Noland from jaya has some concepts that might be useful.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:59, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

Groovy on all accounts.

I gotta build 'em out, but was reading spheres of power.

Which is awesome and I love it forever.

The clan that got erased was like the hyena's in Lion king, poor reasource edge lands, first tribe invaded and last tribe free of invaders, Constant threat of slavers from the theocracy, First to commit to war with outsiders, two weak to take more fertile inner grasslands from other tribes.

 Poor to begin with and suffering at the hands of outsiders has time went by, and told to accept it in the name of peace.

Driven to madness and hate as the other tribes turned a blind eye to the growing desperation through the doctrine of the mentallity of strong take what they need, the weak die.

The only bloodline survivors are ironically in the theocracy navy, slaves or freedmen. The priest king of the grasslands sleeps till the grudge/death curse is absolved by a decendant of that lineage in full knowledge. Perhaps the curse is of the dandelion Mother's design.

Lots of elements and sides to that.


Some say they deserved it because they were weak, others feel responcible for not acting. All agree it was shameful, but who has the shame and why varies between tribemen.

The theocracy has it's own opinions, Those undead dire creatures were nightmare material to small towns and villages, spreading past just one nation, scarring many people's memory despite their short existance.

Kleft was a boil point that remains festering to this day as the shame persists onto tribesmen too young to know why, and horror stories are told along the border nations in the theocracy. Neither side having closure and resentments growing.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:08, Fri 22 Feb 2019.

To reinterate, I'm throwing out ideas that may or may not reflect what the dm decides to put into the world. This is more theory crafting from nothing then world building.

Good role playing will probably net more exp the just killing things? and killing things isn't always the optimal experience gain lr outcome.

Potential future allies will probably net you atleast as much xp and be more useful then corpses and a bad reputation. Not to say befriend everything, but killing for killing sake out of character will probably hurt you more then help.

Circumstance modifers are real, especially with social interactions. Who you are and what others think is important.

Besides... you can always kill them later.

No read later explosive runes letters, that is double dipping.

Also last game featured a recruitable named npc cast, and had a unused premise for grow/develope your own npc. Pick a villager and train them and make them a named npc, yhen hope they weren't a spy or assassin or one of the 3 stooges.

If you played fire emblem it was a bit like that, only the convoy found a home, and you could only swap if the recruited npcs were present. A bit like final fantasy too.


Not sure about party dynamics this game, party sizes of 4, with 2 joined parties of 3 when doing the same thing sounds right to me. but 5 people to a party sounds more rounded and 8 people in the same none warzone is overkill.

Probably best to just hard cap at 5 or 6 and let main character control all npcsin a joined group.

General info complete.

Remaining topics left:
-Wingheld
-Ironia
-Arcania
(No I will not be doing a topic on Kwon-Yuu because they are suppose to be mysterious and there is little info on them anyway. And a player can't be from there, unless you say you were born there but was raised here on Hestia for some reason)

Btw, this game will be a bit more on the traditional rpg side so don't rely on the previous campaign as a template on what this one might be like. I won't stop the natural evolution of the game, I'm just saying manage your expectations.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:52, Sat 23 Feb 2019.

Short list of name, general area and largest trait/efffect of widely known exalted?

A bit from left field, don't want to know the inspiration for npcs till late in the campaign if then. Last game I was always tempted to go read the book, I should do that now that it's dead, might give some closure to what should have happened.


An Npc with craft/artistry sketch, and maybe creation/conjuration domains. This guy? is lazy, hates being off his bum. Loves sketching, would do it all day, uses conjuration for supplies but buys paper and has a easel he carries around trying to get people to pay him to sketch things to pay for his habits, but magic images creation and painting are both more colorful and appealing to most, So he has a hard time outside of special requests.


Some of his landmarks have found their way into the artworld for their detail, but outside a collector useful details in them they usually hold minor value. He perfer people and creatures, and his summons draw copy (not spring from) his private collection. Int 3+ he will only draw with there consent, and summon from those with secondary consent similar to a pact.

Some left/right play there for his summons to be a bit more unique then average, but also more limited.

Lawful alignment? French? Third wheel noble son?

Like i said left field.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

Kind of want my character to be farsighted, enough so reading is ackward without glasses, but otherwise no benefit.

Adds a second reason besides poor for his illiteracy, and further establishes a secondary father figure.  Adds future roleplay oppertunities, gags, and some depth.

I bet magic can't help him read, like some  magically magically shaped glass can. Another brick in his magic isn't everything wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Sun 24 Feb 2019.

Ok, the short list of the Exalted is posted. I was originally ganna make it A LOT longer, but then I figured "wait a minute, they can't know this much. It might spoil the fun of discovering it in-game" so I trimmed it down.

Browsing the definition of high fantasy.

found this under wuxia(last game basically) tropes

Heir to the Dojo: Given the nature of martial art schools in this genre, there tend to be certain characters who are chosen by his/her master as a successor. Xianxia has another particularly popular variant - characters going into ruins of ancient long-gone sects, discovering and passing some sort of a test in order to gain their "inheritance", ranging from techniques to artefacts to bound servants (bound immortal demons and the like)

-------------------------

Also any thoughts on where deities and exalted stand?

Do divine casters just work and count as arcane, or do deities fuel them. Do the exalted count as the deities?

dnd metaphysics: prayers/opinions/ideas give birth/power to concepts, concepts group to form entities, enities give power to divine casters, divine casters spout opinions/ideals.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1138.html

-----
 Love how you listed the sun and moon as both exalted and unknown, gives our perspective and insight into the world at the same time.

For all anyone cares, they look like a exalted, act like a exalted, and no one cares enough to investigate. They may even be exalted and if so, all the other stars might be. There is no space jammer so only someone desperate would pursue trying to get a blessing from the (greater) sky exalted.

I can see elves and other lowlight races have huge moon respect in this setting.

Last game had a clan of vampires(full on Steampunk educated elitists) and vampire hunters.

Maybe We can incorperate lycanthropy as a hereditary disease instead of a curse/injury disease. Play up the lycanthropes as pursecuted or wild country nomads.

https://goldensun.fandom.com/wiki/Werewolf
This message was last edited by the player at 06:56, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

"Deities? What are deities?"

Look, why would people worship some nebulous, mysterious beings that may or may not exist in some sketchy sounding alternate realm of existance at the word of a stranger, when you have very real, tangable gods walking all over your petunias in your back yard?

Divine magic comes from those who make a connection with an Exalted (see general info setting). Even a lowest tier blessing  will do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:13, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

The spheres I am most interested in are telekinesis, warp, creation, protection, and possibly either nature or time.

I want to Max out telekinesis and warp for sure.

I also want to try and combine warp and time... Because that seems insane.

It's the system the dm wanted, and your tge protagonist so go for it.


Deities are nonexistant, dead, or forgotten. Exalted take their place or even took over their role. Any remaining deities, if they ever existed have been reduced to powerless shrine spirits in secluded regions.

There may have been ancient temples, long forgotten and crumbling that now house provide refuge for monsterous things.

A mute knight's commander with shield fighting abilities that communicates through looks, writing, or a expanded knight's sign language (if one of his squad is there to translate). Maybe deaf and mute, campaign is high enough that could be considered a mechanical advantage.

He can be a sphere of champion's class a lv6 soldier for wingheld making a name for himself and his group as a eldritch knight type class.

I assume wingheld has some form of wyvern or other aerial knight squad that is key to it, utilizing their exdlted mountanous and stormy terrain into their tactics.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats.../shield-slam-combat/

Maybe a dragoon With enhancement sphere, some berserker, and dual wielding.

Quality shield profficencies would have to come from a tradition.

Could make a deadly proficient attacker with good defense.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

Jeeze theres a conundrum, how to work a competent drake knight force into a nation while makinging it effective while all the knights are incompetent and the drakes are in charge.

Is it like theres 10 badass commander pairings and the drakes resept the big drake and the knights respect the commanders and the drakes?

Organized chaos by physical respect and honor?

Most of the drakes like the services of the knight servant so they don't eat them aslong as they are brushed and respected?

The boss drakes are like the stallions of herd and their knight partners have the alpha female authority?

Might work, but seems like a tempermental defense force.

2nd lightning staff scholar's knack will be mildly useful and possibly blasphimous in
Wingheld, Does the wind factor mean ranged weapons are underused there or do they train to accomidate the wind in their weaponry?

E.g. wingheld army trait, you reduce the penalty on ranged weapons for wind by half.

Or a spiral arrow head design causing spin to aid in flying straight.

Tengu are always a funny race to me, i see them as they were in guildwars 1 Factions.

Well any luck I'll finally have a paycheck again come the end of the month, getting a job as basic IP issues and browser babysitter for a company.

If we go with the idea the exalted drove off or replaved tge divine deities, next on the list is the fey.


In my imagination fey as a whole feed off emotions and feelings the way divine entities feed off thoughts and ideals.

It possible the fey have been reduced as if by a drought struct the farie realm or courts due to the exalted, particularly among the more powerful fey.

If Your familiar with mushi-shi animations, fey creatures may exist as dnd creatures, but the greater fey have devolved into something more primal, magic events and occurences.

They take the form as unique boons or curses, often both inflicted upon by hapoenstance or by pact that allow miracles or judgements to happen that are fully understood and too rare for much study.

Each instance or backstory involving one could easily add depth but be stand alone.

The animation is both breath takingly beautiful, and intrinsic into humanity and i highly recommend it. Each episode tells a story that could stand on it's own without the supernatural, but the inclusion highlights the humanity involved and underscores the alien thinking of fey as if they are misguidedly helping.


It's a tall order, but it's something that could come up once or twice as strange magic.

----------------------------------


The other aspect of gaving weaker fey touches on a subject highlighted by Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

The fey are nature and life embodied in it's savage circle, but they are like the magnetic field blocking the sun's rays from nuking the earth.

In fantasy these deadly sun rays are Elder Evils, like cthulu. Entities left over from failed worlds roaming the cosmos, born  of alien design and madness. The fey are the fence that keep them out or us hidden ftom lighting up like a galatic all you can eat sign.

Exalted could be a newer creation or older occurence moving in on prime divine real estate. The one thing all the exalted probably agree on, is they don't want to share with any outside or new sources eating their divine energy.

So a having a elder evil move in is the closest thing to a threat to the exalted as a whole, particularly if they weakened the fey's protection.

I don't want to fight that pèrsonally, but having the exalted fly off to space combat while mortals fall under the chaos of a elder evil's approach could work in interesting ways.

None of this would be common knowledge for the average mook, so I can nether confirm nor deny anything. You'll just have to find out in-game.

Are there dragons, do most not reach adulthood/old age? Most dragons give a extra wide berth to Most Exalted. Do the older dragons prey on the younger dragon, or do blessed hunt them down to cut their feeding habits short? How strong would the oldest dragon in the world be compared to a exalted, a quarter as powerful? I assume most really powerful dragons sleep for centuries unless actively disturbed.

 Is there a Dragon slayer guild/group that operates across borders similar to how a vampire slaying group would? Or would it be a Blessed/government role or given out to a generic adventurer guild.


 I assume Giants keep away from human settlements and the blessed, there seems to be plenty of wild lands (wylde?) for the less civilized races to inhabit. It may be true that most of humanity stays in cities, small towns and roads and avoids the rougher terrain and deeper mountainous regions.

Are there River Folk and Lake folk, do any regions have a connection with aquatic races? If so what types of qualities make this relationship mutually beneficial for whoever they interact with? A type of aquatic farming perhaps? Unique form of weaving due to the water saturated environment producing something similar to elvish darkleaf cloth? Possibly even negating some underwater action penalties?

Guranteed clean water in exchange for farm goods?

Lax laws  and loopholes on rivers establishments creating shady districts along rivers that tend to roam around?

Alternative forms of dwarven crafting along volcanic lakes?

Woo! setting specific materials, is mana ore the opposite of cold iron's costs 50% more to enchant?

Generally it's atleast as strong as iron/steel, or atleat it is when enchanted?

A soft, easy to work metal that actually gets harder when enchanted? starts off with gold hardness but get +2 extra hardness per enchantment level?  not looking at numbers, just brainstorming.


Other fun qualities that could be worked in other places.

Lead's anti scrying/detection properties.

Magic dampening reduces the power of nearby (radius size?) spells by 2 caster levels and is resilent to magical damage effects.

there has been a constant fire and cold metal variations in multiple editions with little sucess.

Perhaps regional metals with inherient fix elemental damage on hit, fire metal could start a campfire in a about a minute.

Sea prism stone? or Rather Blessed bane, illegal, goverment/military use only, and when used nullifies spellcasting and spell like abilities.

Rare parchment that holds conjuration magic better?


A material that is translucent to none lowlight vision?

Rubber as a exotic material from the Grasslands.

Ooh, Glassblowing as a aquatic trade specidlty! They have the sands, the minerals and possibly lava vents for it. Theirs is qualuty glass unlikely to shatter due to tempature shock or simple abuse. Perfect for experimentation or storage of volatile materials or emergency supplies.

Stone wood, a type of tree where the wood partially petrifies a few days after death creating strong solid wood items comparable to metal, but more flexible tgen ironwood.

Unusual crops with odd properties, WizardEngineeredCrops, some could grant minor buffs like high altitude adaptation or heat/cold ebdurance, others could have good berry like effects, Some wizards could go full Artist/Willywonka on their designer/custom crops or livestock. Pumpkins made to grow in snow?

Unusual reversals among the less civilized races could be fun, the regency wars are bound to have some impact on the wildlands. Migrations, unusual circumstances like banding together, possibly even the emergence of a few small cities in otherwise tribal humanoids witnessing the war.

Edit: ninja'd

If you look at tge Exalted short list you will find an actual Dragon Exalted (BFD stands for Big Fucking Dragon).

Anyone with 2 braincells to rub together give the Exalted a wide berth (zealous worshippers and remnant hunters not counting, although it could be argued they lack common sense to begin with).

I was rwally hoping to leave the rest for you to find outbin-game but oh well.

Older dragons don't hunt younger ones as a rule (if they did why bother giving birth to them in the first place?). By "blessed" I assume you mean the kingpriests becauase there's nothing objectively special about a person with a blessing. In the Grasslands everyone has a blessing (you kinda get one as a rite of passage) so does that mean they're all blessed? In Pinterestus where hust about everyone can use magic, a blessing is just a title, a social status symbol, nothig more. In Arcania having a blessing means a) You're rich and have money to burn. b) You're rich and have made an investment. Or c) You've bought a tool necessary for you to make a living/peddle your craft. It's basically no different than an enchanted weapon or something.

Anyway, to bring this back to the point, kingpriests generally don't go out of their way to hunt dragons unless the pain of inaction exceeds the pain of action. That's what idiots adventurers are for.

Dragons come in 3 categories:
1) The 1st generation.
2) The 2nd generation.
3) Everyone else.

The oldest dragons in the world (ancient ones, aged 9 or was it 1000+ years, don't have acess to d20srd) are known as the 1st generation and nobody knows how powerful they are in relation to the Exalted because none of them have been seen going up against an Exalted (ether individually or colectively). In fact, the 1st generation is extremely secluded, not just from humans and other bipads, but other dragons and creatures as well. Nobody can even point to a recorded event of one seeing or interacting with one (except maybe in the Dragon Knight archives, but they're not sharing). The only information on their existance at all is from 3rd generation and onward of dragons telling humans about them, and even that information is just what they were told by the 2nd generation.

The 2nd generation dragons are the monsters of horror stories. They seem to have a hatred towards all other non-draconic creatures, especially the Exalted and bipads (humans and such). They have a deep distain towards the 1st generation for some unknown reason, and they expect reverance from the lesser/younger draconic   races and true dragons. They consider themselves the true rulers of the world. They don't sleep as much as other dragons.

The 3rd generation and onwards are your typical fantasy dragon. What they know about their origin and the 1st generation comes from what they were told by the 2nd generation (which wasn't much).
1) Dragons aren't native to this world, they were broaght here by the Dragon Exalted from "The World Of Tooth And Claw".
2) The 1st generation are idiots, now do as I say and stop asking questions! *deep resentful growl*

There isn't a slayers guild specifically for hunting dragons, or vampires for that mater. Dragons are local problems, kingpriests cannot be bothered with minutia (if it's not a dragon it would be something else, same diference). They have the big picture to worry about, not micromanaging.

There is, however an order of knights that used to ride dragons (back when they had a kingpriest who was the Dragon Exalted's chosen), but ever since they were conquered by Ironia, lost their kingpriest and the Dragon Exalted moved south, they've been forced to switch to the true dragon's lesser cousins, the wyverns and drakes (without the kingpriest they can't bend true dragons to their will).

Giants are no different than any other uncivilized race/natural hazard. If they can pull something off without blowback, they'll do it. If the pain of inaction exceeds the pain of action, they will do it even if there's blowback. And yes, aside from the Wingheld kingdom (which is nothing but mountains and rough terrain) and those nutjobs in Arcania, civilizations tend to be clusteted in more hospitable regions.

Out in the open sea you'll hear every cockamimmy story about sea creatures from returning sailors to take it seriously. Inland there are 2 major bodies of water (both in Ironia). The Suiseiton lake in the central region, and the Salt Lake in the south (they are connected by rivers). Aquatic races (at least ones that show themselves) are rare, and their relationships with land races is very case-by-case.

I will only say this about dwarves and lava (aside what you already know about them being intermingled in human societies): It was a master blacksmith dwarf, who wasn't part of any human settlement, who forged The Sword Of Trust. (a symbolic ceremonial weapon representing the alliance between the Grasslands, Wingheld and Ironia. It's not enchanted but made out of pure blood crystaline, and it's super important! If nothing else then as a political and public image tool. Think, Excalibur + Calimburn + steroids)

Edit:

I said ores (plural), meaning there's ether more than 1 type or enhanced versions of existing stuff (for example: A diamond excavated here would be a more efficiant spellcasting component than a diamond from elsewhere). Basically it makes enchanting items cheaper and/or makes them more powerful. A wizard casting a fireball using a spellcasting component from here would result in a +1 caster level. Also, magical ore might be necessary for some stuff like if you want the Improved Arcane Focus feat you have to craft your arcane focus from magic ore.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:33, Fri 15 Mar 2019.

Food for thought mostly, they are in question form to stimulate thought and consideration. It's the little interconnected things that make the world come alive dynamically. some times you can miss a golden oppertunity by simple never realizing there was one.

Exanding Alchemical Power Components with natural/unnatural mining Power compenents then. Perhaps they could be broader then alchemical versions, one type boostering the caster level of all spells with the fire descriptor, another air, or some other broad aspect of spell casting extending illusion spells. They could have purity levels +1, 2, or 3 caster levels while metamagic types form pure, like geodes and may have uses based on size.


I assumed blessed, particularly the stronger bless were like clerics and were generally in charge ala bishops, cardinals (catholic structure), and the king priests were litteral king popes/heirophants/avatars incarnate, while the common blessed got a few orisons. Reading the completed version of world info, it sound closer to dragonmarked then cleric levels, still keeping the exalt's avatar aspect in my head though. Passive benifits could range from free archetype abilities or the ability to converse with snails, or a inability to sink in water?

active abilities could be spell like daily abilities or in BFD's case breath weapons?

A good deal of why the grasslands remains unconquered could also be reluctance of other exalted to 'fund' their king priests in that pursuit, a holy prick would never admit impotency.

So adventurers are common place, is there any structure to it(goblin slayer, overlord), or is it all organized chaos around taverns and job postings or something else? Each large region has it's own guild, but the diferences between them are mostly symantics, adventure guilds host quests for a suitable finders fee, and posting 80% of the initial reward, and raking in the profits off idiots at little risk?

Monsters may not be smart, but they aren't dumb, only humans are dumb is a fun premise.


3rd generation are intelligent and have had talks with humans atleast occasionally, 1st generation are litteral myths beyond 99% living memory and recorded history with contains more propaganda then fact, and 2nd generation are capable of being a natural disaster if they chose to, and command fealty among the dragons.

I fully intended for for there to be a wide variety of magic ores, a kind of "right tool for the right job" kind of thing, an entire industry revolving around it (like Dust is in RWBY). The true crustaline used for the sword already being the rarest of them all, found only in the deepest, most dangerous of mines/caves. I just never hammered out the details. I also see nothing wrong with throwing alchemy in there, but due to alchemy's lesser prevelance in the world, people/organizations that engage in that would be fewer or at the very least relatively obscure. Irfan might even be trailblazing.

A kingpriest is always seen as a religious figure (even if he himself isn't religous or doesn't want to be part of the religious hierarchy) simply because he is "chosen by the Exalted" which are worshipped as gods. Think like how the pharaos of ancient Egypy were considered the sons of Ra. A powerful blessing is not necessary for being a powerful spellcaster (a cleric just needs any blessing, even a minor one, to establish a link to a specific Exalted. After that his power, meaning class level, depends on his own personal effort/devotion) or to achieve a high rank in the religious hierarchy because the rules vary from culture to culture (for example: In Grasslands power is all that matters (or seniority). In Wingheld, power and having a greater blessing from someone other than P'ung will mean nothing, and you would be outranked by anyone in the church with even a minor blessing from P'ung and kissed the right asses). In practice however, those of higher rank do usually end up with more poweful blessings because, just like how in medival England the kings appointed the bishops, a kingpriest would grant the clergy more powerful blessings as they rise in ranks or as he appoints them (and how he decides to appoint them is left to his own discretion. It could be for political reasons, could be based on competence/power, could be based on seniority or loyalty, ext...).

A good example of active blessings would be this
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic...nced-magic/#Variants
Also, you could get a feat you normally couldn't (like, the blessing of the Swallow, lets you use the feat Tripple Strike (a lvl 10 fighter prerequisite) once per day).

Passive blessing could indeed grant alternative class featutes and how good they are at this depends on the blessing's tier, for example a minor Mercy blessing would grant a paladin 2 mercy options when he gets that class option instead of 1. So if he has no levels in paladin this blessing is useless. A medium class ability blessing would grant an alternative feature without replacing the existing one, but you'd still need levels in that class. A greater ability class blessing would grant a class ability regardless of your own class (so you could end up with a wizard that has barbarian rage). Other passive blessings include increasing spellcasting level, increasing PoW practitioner level, gaining a feat you normally don't qualify for (like the Wyrm-born feat which is only avalable to sorcerers with that bloodline). Honestly the possibilities are too many to list. I will however make sure none of them can break the game. Blessings are intended as boons, not cheat codes.

P'ung has definitely shown reluctance to conquer the Grasslands, but The Beast has no such quims, in fact he seems to have it out for the Graceful One. The amount of kingpriests chosen by The Beast who have tried to conquer the Grasslands exceeds all others put together. The thing about the Grasslands is that it's like trying to conquer Russia, it's like trying to fight an enemy who's using guirilla tactics in a war of attrition (ideal combination btw, just look at the Vietnam war). It's not a sprint, it's not a blitzkrieg war, it's a fucking marathon. I haven't wrote this yet but the Wingheld kingdom (the capitol to be precise) is also unconquerable for the exact opposite reasons. They have the most defensible position imaginable with the most concentrated power imaginable. If you don't take them by storm you are fucked. So now you know why these 2 countries are the only ones Ironia hasn't conquered (not due to lack of trying I assure you).

There is 1 adventurer's guild in central Ironia, but other than that it's chaotic.

I said 2nd generation dragond demand fealty, I never said they necessarily commanded it. If there's one thing a dragon hates its being told what to do. The best way to describe the 2nd generation would be like the dragons in Forgotton Realms right after their appearance when they ruled the world like tyrants and the other races were their slaves. Metalic, cromatic, made no difference, they were all douchbags (a part of their history the metalics are rather ashamed of).

Alchemical power componets are very narrow as written, but they have a similar premise. Probably cheaper for the few spells they affect then ore outside bulk.

Ore should be clearly better then standard alchemy in the majority.

Alchemy seems more trail blazing as it's considerably more reliable in any region magic is less then reliable or for the magically inept. Or when you need water breathing without tripping magic detection sensors.


Add magic-psionic transparency to the rules section if not already listed since I remeber that being your intention just for clarity.

Rephrase.

Alchemical items as spell boosters should be weaker or none existant compare to mined magic power boosting ores/stones/crystals.

Even if the power is the same, ore should be much more versatile in what or how it can boost comparatively.

The pathfinder concept of using acid flask, alchemist fire or smokestick to enchance specific spells may be something you could adapt or molde magic ore off of.

I as a player always wind up at the end of a game avoiding using my consumables unless the gane gives them out like candy. I like the concept in world, and it's one that may grow with the game instead of being fleshed out immediatly.




The pathfinder core materials like mithril and adamantine. Are they going to be put in the new system, keep their vanilla form, or get reskinned?    How about the other special materials, many of which I feel lack worth and flavor abd others like darkleaf cloth.

By default I imagine the Pledge sword as statistically extra hard adamantine with the look and benefits of true crystal with none of the downsides.  +6 or +8 enhancement bonus, and atleast +10 levels worth of magic properties and maybe intelligent Lawful with a ego about mantaining the treaty.


Custom OathBreaker target for the bane weapon property, +2 +2d6 against anyone that is planning to or has broken the agreement.

Sword has enough ego to have true seeing and other abilities, enough to more then inconvinence a kingpriest should he break the treaty.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Sun 17 Mar 2019.

I really need to sit down and build out my character. :P

No pressure, dm is only spending months planning the past, present ans future time directions of the campaign and figuring a BotW sized continent with different large cultures.


Try building building a core concept from birth to the start of your adventure, try to keep the details vague, but include the concepts and type of people that were around you and how they influnced you.

 Everyone has their own story and reasons, but it's important to know what influnced your character even if you don't know or just think you know their story. How many books have introduce a character early on, only to reveal their backstory in a surprise later.

With the lore I've created thus far there's enough for at least 6 campaigns (during historically siginificant turning points I mean).

Anyway, I do agree that magic ore should and will trump alchemy in terms of augmenting spells. I will not be restricting players to "set money at a given level" as the system recommends. If you are wise enough to create an financial empire even at a low level then I won't intentionally sabotage you hust for the sake of keeping you at the level of some arbitrary rules like "3000gp at lvl 2 if fast progression" or whatever.

The pledge sword is purely ceremonial and not enchanted. As a sign of trust, a kingpriest gets to hold onto it for 1 year before he has to go and give it (in person) to another kingpriest in the alliance. Not doing so, for whatever reason, would be seen as a breach of trust and the end of the Alliance.

That sounds considerably less excaliber-ish, unless it counts as some kind of metamagic-rod or magic ore concentrate. Maybe us common people think it's got to be the definitive weapon since it's made out of material worth more the we even hope or dream of having elevating it to legendary status among the uninformed.

Not all legends live up to their reputation after all. Imagine a group of moderately competent individuals trying to capture the flag(sword) for their kingpriest thinking it's super powerful trying to gain favor. Assuming it's sent by knight mail between kingdoms instead of passed in person, or just stored somewhere ceremonially. A potential incident all based on misinformation, stupidity, and greed.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:07, Tue 19 Mar 2019.

Complete Tangent but

So Dire beasts Would be More common threat in the Grasslands, and the lesser/evil Humanoids like Gnolls and Lizard folk would be More common threat in the wilderness of Winghelm?

The Leaves Ironia (the mixed bag that it is) where Magical beasts are more Common?

Even if it's just a 5% advantage on the encounter tables.

When I said Excalibur I meant it in the historical legend significance, not the action fantasy movie sword. In the legend, Excalibur didn't have any flash magic powers, it merely chose who'd be king.

Anyway, Grasslands does have much more dire and magical beasts than average (it's a dangerous place, and it's not like other places where people are clustered in cities so the nearby region is relatively safe and devoid of such threats) although not the cave dwelling kind and the sort, it also has orc, gnoll and lizardman tribes. West WinghelD has all sorts of fucked up shit, it's a definite no-go zone. East Wingheld has more mundane dangers and yes magical beasts due to the high concentration of magic in the viscinity (the mines can be especially dangerous).

Ironia is far too large to generalize (it's like 2/3rds of the entire continent). The dangers vary from region to region.

Ah, i see the disconnect now. It's the nearly sonomous Sword in the Stone which merely had arcane lock cast on it by merlin. I'd probably made the same conclusion by either name. Nerds out about the original excalibur.

I still like the idea of misinformed masses over assuming though, more then rumors, divine rulers agreeing and symboling their pact with a sword by a awesome swordsmith?  Must be a worthy sword to be so important.

It's the little things like meeting a dc 10 gives you info, but that info isn't always absolute truth, it's just common knowledge. dc 15 knowledge can be wrong, but helpful. Knowledge about the sword is probably was knowledge nobility or history so now it's knowledge society. Most people are untrained in atleast 1 aspect.




A super cheeky way to start would be for whatever tragedy/disaster/success Tomo has to start a manhunt and have Ifran help or get cohersed into helping him only to get branded as a fugative himself. It's a bit soon, but having him get marked as a future kingpriest by divination and having his whole family line fall under 'herod's law' for execution could be fun. The slaughter of his family over' some stupid spell' triggers a seething arrogant disdain that resonates with the BFD exalted. The classic self fufilling prophecy.

Probably drawing too much from his red dragon heir character though. It will be fun to see what he comes up with and how it works into the setting, and how a simple fool alchemist gets dragged into it.

-------------------------------

Does that mean the stronger the magic in the region, the more likely stronger magical beast will be there, and vice versa, almost like they don't belong? Keep a magical creature im a anti-magic field long enough it becomes weak in this setting?

Like the world without exalted providing magic would be mundande, and civilization would collapse like America if electricity stopped flowing?

On the subject of farm lands do you have a general idea of who feeds whom and with what? I'm sure 3.5 spells like plant growth in it's wide range form get used a lot in this setting, but heroes feast type spells aren't daily usauge spells fpr the populace.

Roads seem like they could be rivers and trails in the grasslands, some inca and aztec(mayan) roads in Wingheld to accout for terrain and weather, but maybe Ironia roads are reaching roman standards.

Do Most traders move by cart or by some closer to balloon/blimps/magical. I imagine the mount spell or a variation could save a lot of money for them.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Thu 21 Mar 2019.

I'm not seeing what I meant, I remember ancient mexico having raised pathways between settlements intent on staying above rain water during have rains. It Sounds like tge scabe, but with a emphasise on why it was elevated to prevent flooding, something their exalted may tend to do.

http://www.theoldexplorer.com/...a-technology/sacbeob

Inca roads are pretty unique in their own rights, ideal mountain paths to my knowledge.

Inca used a form of indentured slavery where theur workers worked for the right to have basic goods shipped to them.

Grasslands and Wingheld could both display barter over currency traits as a people.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Thu 21 Mar 2019.

You need to think of magic like you think of energy. And what does energy do? Radiate. So it's only natural that higher exposure to radiation would affect an organism somehow.

The Grasslands and Ironia are pretty self sustaining. Arcania imports from everybody, mostly from Ironia because Hrasslands is too far and importing food from Wingheld is too expensive (since they don't have much to begin with). Wingheld capitol can conjure its food through magic or afford to import delicacies from abroad (or take it from the populace below). The rest of Wingheld citizens are kinda fucked since mountains aren't great for growing crops. Luckly, 1 of the 9 major tribes of theis pacifists (relying entirely on trade and thus the protection of the other tribes) and have the most advanced agrocultural magic technology techniques and they are located mostly near the southwestern corner of the Grasslands. They can create vast golden fields of wheat, but lack the ability to process it (coaxing rock and trees from the plains to build windmills is A LOT harder than making certain plants grow). Wingheld has absolutely no shortage of windmills so they have a mutually beneficial relationship.

And yes, the tribes of the Grasslands generally prefer barter (especially with Wingheld) because gold and precious stones and other stuff like that has absolutely no value to them outside that of what foreigners asign to it. Wingheld commoners too have less contact with Ironia than Grasslands so they would prefer barter (plus they are poorer). The capitol is a strict monetary currency exchange, using fiat currency only on a local level.

The Grasslands has no rivers (it does rain regularly though) or trails (they get swallowed up by the land/Exalted's power just like any other structure). It's just a green featureless plain as has as the eye can see.

Northern Ironia (the richest part) has Roman style rock paved roads, the rest...meh, depends but it's mostly less advanced. Wingheld has raised pathways because it does rain there. A lot.

Definantly sounds like wingheld will have a lot of the circumstances that inspired south american architecture and design.

Rock way stations to resist wind and rain. Kind of get the impression the surface of the mountains is stable outside of erosion, and a lot of the building was done with erosion prevention in mind, Terrace farming.

Stone is the most abundant building reasource, and goat/alpacas/lamas provide the bulk of the common livestock.


Manchu Piccu could serve as the base seed/figmemt for the capital city

Ifran probably is from a major port that services 3 Ironian regions and provides river access to other atleast 2 others given this info, but a trade post that handles goods between wingheld and Ironia could be a possibilty along a neutral border.

I admit i got carried away when I realized most anyone with sword training could deny an actions and get a free attack off it. It's not as disruptive to play after knowing the rolls as i thought, the better a hit, the harder to parry after all. I've had bad experience with a more disruptive ability that could be spammed.

In fact it makes sense to parry a really bad or a really good roll, knowing the damage or not which a fighter reasonably could estimate.

A low roll is taking advantage of poor swordplay, a high one is a active attempt to protect yourself from getting (seriously) hurt.

Dms will fudge rolls if they want so secret rolls on rpol aren't a big deal. Player can roll against that during their next turn easy enough to attempt to undo a hit or punish a bad swing. At 5 stamina points, parries won't be a constant occurrence .

Dm's will always have the upper hand in combat and predictive awareness, as long as everyone isn't a Jedi knight for no reason, 95% of players will never fuss about the dm's insider knowledge or hidden rolls particularly for npcs.

It's always good to have basic info like our characters could intuit without being mechanically represented, he doesn't seem to be trying to attack you, or he seems to be attacking not only to kill you but to hurt you. They seem to be waiting for something, something seems unexpected/unusual. He seems to be watching your blade and counting hits, you'd love to play poker with this sucker one someday.

Sometimes it's just simpler if the dm rolls: I the player ask for information but can't decide or don't know which knowledge check, that is a good time to skip 2 posts just by dice rolling and giving them the full result of their knowledge check.

Other times like saving throws, or most combat, it's better for the player to roll, even if they unknowingly carry immunity to it through a item then state the effect failed when giving results.


roll20 may be hit or miss because i'm job searching, and Tomo is a bit more then full time with lots of small breaks.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:39, Sat 23 Mar 2019.

That's the kind of retroactive editting of situations I'm hoping to avoid. And it goes both ways. Imagine you roll against an enemy thinking he's done for then on the gm's next turn he retroactively undos a hit and goes "no wait, sorry he's still alive...and takes an Aoo against you because you moved out of his threatened zone".

And its not just parrying that can do this.

Generally we avoid that in other play by posts by having Dm Turns the player turns, if the monster is still alive after we hit it, it becomes a matter of intent. There no perfect solution once people start acting out of turn, it will always be distruptive one way or the other outside of real time.

This is why i mentioned Intent and readying somethings as a free action, it gives clarity on what would trigger said out of turn abilities. We as players can only assume it's low on health, but not dead without dm approval, and would generally post not only our actions but intent to move if the target goes down. Be that to aid a ally, or charge a enemy. With Mobile melee it's not like we are hitting once then deciding to full attack or not either. Just because something provokes us, doesn't mean whatever is provoking us stops to mother-may-I each time. It simply provokes regardless and rolls anyway, It's not like we took the stop still feat. Combat is a hectic confusing place and it's up to the dm to straighten out what happens and try not to purposely punish the players for no reason. Generally if we want to take the saftey off and take risky actions like provoking in melee, there will be written intent to take that gamble.

Monster C
Monster D
 ---
Player 1
Player 3
 ---
Monster B
Monster E
 ---
Player 2
 ---
Monster A
Monster C
Monster D
 ---
Player 1
Player 3
......

On a seperate note

http://www.geekspeaker.com/its...-constitution-score/

Holy shit, it's like this guy read my mind!

Nothing new under the sun. If you think our current world order is the first to visit the moon and build jet fighters your probably wrong, but how would we ever know.

Tomo you there buddy? I read you were driving yesterday, so i assume that means vacation which means back-piled work.


Can we establish the narrative of the campaign.

Last game had a deep-seated them of brother torn by circumstance and brothers in arms as a focus.


I assume this one will be intented to be less politically/war driven, unless the players work towards that.

Ifran starting encounters will probably shape his path considerably as he starts off a bit not quite naive, but underestimating how evil people can be for no reason but laziness or other sins. He assumes most people struggle through life helping each otger or atleast not climbing over each other. People in his town had to work together to survive, those few that hurt others tended to get turned into the guard and vanish.



Tomo tends to gravitate towards heavier characters
This message was last edited by the player at 03:55, Tue 26 Mar 2019.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 87):

Could magic ore dust be used as the key component in making spell scrolls.

The correct type of ore dust suspended in ink, for the correct type of spell? Applied in the correctly by a knowledgeable caster?

It's generally glossed over why scrolls cost so much and where the magic muscle comes from.

Scribe Scroll would be the knowledge of mixing ink and magic ore dust and applying it in the correct consistency.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Tue 26 Mar 2019.

I already gave Tomo his narrative for beginning, I'll give you yours soon.

Magic ore isn't necessary for scrolls, but it would give them that extra oomph when applied correctly by a qualified expert.

Thought it would be a cool economy setting thing. Well there is one way for Irfan to change the world as a Alchemist scribe he could invent and implement that.

I'mma start a fresh thread private just for Irfan's story line and information, so it's all in one place and clear.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 90):

Ok I finished re-writting  the backstory to be slightly more coherent then the piecemeal version it was. Old man may have had a gun, but he used lighting in a jar to wound the thief now.

Natural Lighting causes a unique form of scarring called lightning flowers, presumably magical lighting bolt will not cause this type of burn. And alchemist capable of recreating natural strength lighting would be seemingly out of place in setting.

I'll add a cliff note to the scars.

I can also see the old man designing Rube Goldberg Machine with Irfan. I'll just leave that part vague, but that where traps sphere comes into play.

I put some word to blank npcs that may or may not have to be fixed as they get introduced.

It's worth a re-read to refresh yourself.

---------------------------
May have room for 1 more adventure skill depening on where backgrounds skills would up, trading 2A skills for 2 B skills.

Waiting on languages, which depend a lot on lore, I have them marked roughly as what the languages i want are.

I bought (surplus) local parade armor instead of studded leather armor on a player's whim, I figure I can dye it a presumably neutral solid color, but thats also lore based decision.

Updated traits, since Yesterday, so i'm feeling pretty ready unless we want to bicker some more.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Wed 27 Mar 2019.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/38...kWZ1tm904wo1_400.png

Ok, now i want a self aware book of transmutive pop-ups as a familiar/intelligent magic item. I don't know what it does but it sounds cool.

Tiny size book creature, maybe a mimic or animated object, a variant of homonculus, a tome guardian craft calligraphy?

Gains natural attacks and movement from transmutation or summoner evolutions, maybe as a figment familiar or innate alterself at will? Gains 5ft reach through abilities.

Can be used to record things but is prone to wiping or changing notes over time or when feeling spitful.

Very vocal about it's living conditions. Known to eat other familiars that get too close.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

Fun Fact is just realized that Capitol is a word, and the definition and use is stupidly close to Capital. Capital City/Top Percent/Money , Capitol Building/governing body.

12:24: Irfan rolled 20 using 1d20+8.  Pen Letter stating my qualifications, not sure who will deliver it to whom yet. Probably can't be adress to the kingpriest directly, but thats a society check.

12:22: Irfan rolled 24 using 1d20+6.  Forgot Diplomancy to improve attitude of servant, Disregard if you wish as over eagerness on Ifran's part.

12:20: Irfan rolled 13 using 1d20+6.  Diplomacy check to gather info. (Current Common rumors in wingheld and the servant's opinion.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Sat 30 Mar 2019.

Fun Thought.

If IRL Magicians claim to be magic for fun and enterainment, do in setting street magics practice magicless magic to astound audiances.

Are you detecting? good good. Keep detecting and.... Tadah, Rabbit out of a hat gentlemen.

Is there a secret rogue guild of sleight of hand performers with a secret code to never reveal thier secrets?

You'll just have to find that out in-game.

As I was writing the Ironia setting I was reminded that I never did answer Irfan's question on how merchants get around.

Poor merchants use horses and wagons. Simple, but cheap and gets the job done. More well off merchants use magical or conjured mounts (more reliable than plain horses, but also more expensive) or use self-proppelled enchanted wagons / land boats. These are especially popular in Arcania due to the harsh environment and because of the fuckton of salvage of warmachines left behind from the war (the magical equivalent of tanks).

Airial commerce and travel in general has historically never gained any traction because, a) it would be an expensive investment, and b) the skies have always been very dangerous. You never knew when you might encroach upon some dragon's or other flying monster's territory, or get caught in some spontanious weather phenominau caused by an Exhalted on the move or even an Exhalted who was stationary but had a mood fart. And then of course there were the kingpriests, historically there were always 10 of them and all of tgem very paranoid. You never knew when one of them might shoot you down while flying over their country because they suspected you were an enemy kingpriest's spy or assassin or mistook you for a monster or had a random fit of madness. And landing down to pay tolls and be searched every time you entered and left a kingpriest's country would defeat the purpose of using air travel over ground travel in the first place. And even if all went fine, people on the ground had battles all the time and with mages being so common who's to say you might not get caught by a stray spell or deliberately get shot because they mistook you for an enemy/monster.

I'm not saying it's not possible, they certainly have the means and magic, but historicallt merchants have always asked tgemselves "why take the risk"?

Being Airborne means your highly visible and subject to probable death upon malfunction. Air travel is only prevelant today because of it's speed factor. Slow overland flight is a horrible idea unless going up the Z axis is the only logical choice. A thin point in a high moutain chain you can pass through with considerably less time and and hassle by float through rather then climbing or circumnavigating.


So we have either hovercraft like luke's landspeeder in early Starwars, able to cover rough-ish terrain, but not able to gain significant height. Or things like Disney's Beauty and the Beast contraption where it's got basic propulsion mechanisms similar to wagons or legs but is magically powered. Most magical Transport caps out at 10 miles per hour tops, unless it's military class or stupid expensive.

I'd say the Starwars hovercraft because a) magic is abundant and b) they don't have the tech to make non magical self propulsion mechanism. And even if they did why would they choose it over a horse or magic propolsion? At 10 mph with all the maintenance and other problems that come with early tech it makes it quite inferior to both.

Tomo is pretty busy himself right now, so it might be a smart idea to wait till the 6th month anyways( I am horrible with relating time to other people, i have atleast a -2 modifier in it, can't even do the months in order by name).

And he'll be less busy in 2 months?

Can't really say, right now he squeezing out 10 mins 2-4 times a day and staying up late.

He is under a abnormally large workload right now. Thats why he hasn't put the detailed work into the character sheet yet, still odd he isn't replying/checking in every 2 days here though.

That accurate as of march 28th, so i think whatever workload should pass before the end of april. I assume he needs a week or so getting his character sheet in order once he has time before he will be comfortable with it.

Question.

Ironia has seemingly displayed steady growth throughout recorded history. What was the catalyst or tool that allowed them to expand, suberb leadership/tactics, unusually gifted casters, a specialist spy network, communication, or just a series of lucky wins early followed by unusually inclusive policies creating a network of loyal countries that grew into a super sized nation?

Don't need the true answer, the propoganda one will do. British pilots spot german fighters at long range due to carrot diets.


If we look at the 3 regions they had trouble with, the savage lands of the grasslands, the treachorous mountains of Wingheld, and the previously uncursed deserts of Arcania.

I assumed Ironia would be modeled on roman, anywhere they could build roads to easily redistribute troops they could conqure by size and logistics. Countered by shifting sands, untameable wilderness, and  unstable mountains.

Is the truth they just had a young at heart but well trained kingpriest take over and run wild?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:05, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

That is an excellent, EXCELENT question. I was hoping you'd have lots of fun finding it out in-game because it isn't a single solitary reason.

The official propaganda is that it's "DIVINE PROVIDENCE!" obviously. I will say this though, Ironia didn't start raising in power until the Great Magus Supreme came into power. And he is not the most powerful kingpriest in recent history. That title goes to the kingpriest of Wingheld. Ironia doesn't have "unusually gifted casters", that title also goes hands down to Wingheld (the issue is not even in dispute). And in terms of raw power/capacity even the shamans/oracles from the Grasslands have the Ironians beat (basically, Grasslands has the power but not the control/finnesse, Ironia has the control/finesse but not the power, and Wingheld has both the power and the control). The fact of the matter is, the Great Magus ether can't or doesn't bestow blessings upon other people like other kingpriests do. In other words, Ironia is the least magical per capita of all the 3 alliance members. Ironia has however elevated warfare to an artform. They have military science and strategy colledges, and founded most Martial Tradition institutions (aside from the Grassland's Bloody Fangs, Primal Fury tradition, which is the oldest). Basically, in terms of warfare Grasslands has the power but not the control/finnesse, Wingheld has the control/finesse but not the power, and Wingheld has both the power and the control.

About the 3 regions. Ironia won its wars by fighting smart (comparing them to the Roman empire is a very apt analogy). There are no battles where rivers of blood flowed with massive casualties on both sides. Think of it like having a Shen (from the previous game) in every war room, in every meeting, before every battle, on every battlefield. They practiced blitzkrieg type warfare. Stroke quick, fast and repeatedly where the enemy is the weakest. If the enemy has a solidified stronghold then let them have it, attack the countriside instead, withering the enemy away indirectly, work behind the scenes, defeat tge enemy with as little bloodshed as possible, as fast as possible, ect... Basically the Sun Tsu of that world.

Now this can't be used on Wingheld because the capital is self sustaining and THE MOST SOLIDIFIED FORTRESS since...ever. There's no "smart" way you can take it out, only brute strength. And if you take the contriside but not the city itself then you'd be perpetually on the defensive because they can just attack you from up above at their leasure (summoning elementals or just raining down spells).

The "smart" way also doesn't apply on the Grasslands because it's not like fighting waves of opposition, it's not like playing chess, but an unending stream, a game of throwing dice. You have no idea when and where the enemy/danger is coming from, where and when it's going, how strong it will be nor it's objective. There's no hills, forests or whatever to make use of for strategies, there's no native resources you can use to sustain your campaign, and you have to remain eternally vigilant and strong enough on every location to repel the Grassland kingpriest (and as we all know "he who defends everything, defends nothing") because you never know when and where he might show up and just stomp the area. In short, the Grasslands are chaos where traditional warfare doesn't apply AT ALL. Only through brure strength can victory be achieved. And to Ironia's credit, they did try just that. When all but Wingheld and the Grasslands were under Ironia's iron grasp, they crawled into the Grasslands inch by bloody inch over a long and exhaustive canpaign, even made respectable headway too. But then the Kwon-Yuu showed up and Ironia had to abandon the campaign because they couldn't wage war on 3 fronts (yes 3 because even though they weren't assaulting Wingheld at the same time they still have to maintain a stron military presense near them at all times) and keep the empire together (military presence is needed to keep internal unrest in check).

As for Arcania, those guys folded like paper. The problem is, they fold to everyone like paper. Let me explain: You see, even though Arcania is based on the Sahara/Middle East, they don't have oil or some other natural resource worth taking. Arcania is not even a nation, just a bunch of of individual sovereign settlements that happen to find themselves in the same general geographic location. Its people consists of outcasts and undesirbles (or descendants there of) from other nations (and no, that doesn't mean there's a master assassin behind every corner, violent crimes are swiftly delt with via mob justice because you don't shit where you eat and "honor among theves"). The only resourse Arcania has is its people (they can pay taxes/tributes, right?) however, Arcania is basically Hong Kong (a rock in the middle of nowhere with no resources, yet the ultimate expression of capitalism). Arcania specializes in trade and manipulating the market (buying resorces/goods from other places and selling them elsewhere, also stealing and scavinging what others overlook). When a conqueror comes around with an army, a sniveling, greasy, servile little man who is all smiles and rubbing hands steps forward and welcomes them "oh yeah sure, all hail the Kwon-Yuu, thank you for liberating us from...^{pssst, hey, who was here last week?} _{the Ironians, sir} from the evil Ironians! Now would you like to reserve some lodgings for you and your men?"

Any time "their ruler" takes money from them via taxes or tributes or spoils of war or campaign war chest, they just jack up the prices in business dealings with that nation or increase tarifs, basically the free market works its crazy magic and they recoop their loses on a collective level rather than personal. In the end the only thing the "conquering nation" did was redistribute its own wealth from its general fund to a specific concentrated individual/organization.

So yeah, Arcania gets conquered and reconquered on a daily bases by whoever happens to be passing by at the time.

BTW Arcania became a wasteland 1000 years ago, that's before the rise of Ironia.

By shen, he means that Protagonist from the old Log Horizon animation, a character so far up in his ego and intelligence that he explains the fight to the reader before it even happens outmaneuvering every dirty trick and plot twist 3 episodes ahead of time, and sits there smiling without lifting a finger as he wins, only instead of a buffer class he was a ninja grandmaster. The kind of character only a Dm can effectively pull off without a lot of help.

This Guy is the closest you'll find to Shen in most animations. Only not self-ware adventurer from another world sucked into the game.


I figured it was a wasteland all through known history, but became a cursed wasteland during the war. I like it, an Arabian Florence, as long as life goes on, one ruler is as good as the next and their skills and goods are their claim to fame. They draw in raw materials and turn out quality goods and arts which get sent back out.

Romans were also known for their examples and demonstrations of power as-well, but it was always the war, social, and civil engineers or it's allies that enabled Rome to reach victory one way or another in nearly every fight. To call Rome Nobly Underhanded would be an understatement. First they humiliated your most prideful strength, then they seized control at the head of the snake, and followed up stomped any lingering resentment out as brutally as possible to force conformity. Generally speaking they tried to leave things better then they found it with intent on long term domination in mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:16, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

He was actually a Deductionist (as a class feature you get a cohort at lvl 7, which in Shen's case was a ninja). Shen himself was quite fragile because it's a kind of Sherlock Holms kind of class, or a Scholar class if you will (a skill monkey class basically).

Arcania didn't become a wasteland because of the war (it was already one when they fought on it), given how poorly history is preserved saying that 1000 years counts as "all of known history" wouldn't be far from the truth. Oral history and fossiles prove that Arcania used to be a lush place before 1000 years though. There are multiple theories floating around on how it became a one (a result of Pintherast and the Great Magus Supreme's duel, a side effect of some magical experiment involving sucking the energy from the land and compressing it into some magical immortality artefact, the terraforming effect of some as of yet undescovered Exhalted deep underground below Arcania, ect...) but the most popular one is that that's what happens when 2 Exhalted settle their differences directly rather than through their proxies (the kingpriests).

And yes, long-term domination is definitely the operative word of the day. Conquering an enemy land and rulling over conquered lands are 2 very different things (Game of Thrones reference). Kingpriests conquering other kingdoms is nothing new, but Ironia is the first to retain stability as it grew.

Now i need to Create a world map and work backwards to create features boundaries and notable marks.


First i need to know the relative shape and dimensions of the current continent. 2X wide to 5Y tall? and shaped like a coffee mug or is a bear shape?

Don't worry, I'll create the map. What I need you to do is compile all those ideas you had about characters into a few posts in a private message so that I don't have to hunt for them throughout the ooc and pms when inspiration strikes.

In reply to GM (msg # 108):

Eh We might need a Dedicated thread or post underneath my polished character background thread for that. Kinda of wanted to get atleast the gritty part of finding the perfect map out of the way since it's data and time consuming.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

I've started it a bit, most of those need a lot of polish since I only had the one developed idea and it was largely plagerism. Try not to judge them too harshly until I've had a week to weed, tweak and adjust them.

You can include other ideas you had as well, not just the characters.

I think I collected most of them for now. added a few, tweaked others. I'll probably revisit them in 48 hours but they will stay vague unless i see a perfect place to implement them.

More seed thoughts or concepts tgat can grow.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 112):

I have conflicting Private message and (WIC) thread information.

On the one hand, Arcania has a long standing military tradition and was heavily resistant to Ironian expansionism.

On the other hand I have they are a capitalistic rogues den that rolls over like the french and is highly skilled at economic transactions.

Did Ironia just break them like a wild stallion with their conquest, or like Japan post WWII?

Option 3, every city put up individual resistance to ironian laws and order in a less military and more civic traditions. Or roguish military tradition.

Perhaps a 40 theives element, impossible to subjugate properly and constantly making life miserable for the conquerers, not quite guerilla warfare so much as bandits able to blend in or out at the first oppertunity?  Has terrorist vibes, but what would you call a minute man besides a terrorist?

If we go with my concept of Arcania having a shadow goverment, then the concept of 40 Ninja Assassins might be one direction to go.  Simultanious rolling over and heavy resistance that is hard to actively oppress.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:27, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/a..._character_creating/

I've talked about my character's flaw being curiousity, But this thread reminds me to point out the driving force behind him is that people are mostly good. As of the start of the story, Ifran has never considered there being pointless evil among humans, monsters and cat sure, but humans are only evil to survive, sometimes in order to thrive, but never for giggles.

He could concieve getting robbed, murdered, or conned, just never because someone felt like it and no real reason.

He thinks people are inherently good before being acted upon by circumstance and environmemt. If everyone worked together on their issues, the world could ve a utopia.

This is his story flaw, his intended moral dilema.


The curious bit is more for dm control and basic go to when script events or filler material. A plot device if you will.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:37, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

What???

In which thread have I ever said Arcania had a long standing military tradition with heavy resistance to Ironia? I was talking about South Ironia, the region to the EAST of Arcania.


That region has a more slavic/bavarian flavor to it (BTW bavarian culture is the precursor to the Germanic cultures) and warlike. It's a more mountainous region (Arcania is just a desert).

Arcania is also in the South regions of the Hestia continent (it's separated from South Ironia by mountains and a fuckin chinese wall) and technically part of Ironia (which technically makes it part of Ironia), it's just not really a part of it in practice. Think of it as East Tolan in the previous game. It was technically part of Tolan, but it's main purpose was just to act as a buffer zone.

Edit: BTW the word "utopia" was coined by a french communist writer/idiot, and it involved a slave class along with a loss of individuality (litterally. Everyone was suppose to become physically near identically androginous and think the same like automitons) and all human progress and knowledge (litteral book burning, with his own being the last to be burned.

Just a little fun fact.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:42, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 115):

I speed read over the word east in southern ironia, that makes a bit more sense. Most of Romes sucess with the germanic tribes came from pitting then against each other and playing dangerous games of favortism. Southern Ironians sound a bit like grassland tribes that were exiled from the grasslands, possibly even more viking/Klingon, blood thirsty glorious combat death seekers skilled with axes.

If i remember any headcannon about germanic tribes them it's that they had good constitution scores, in hit points and fortitude saves.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:50, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

Welp, out of Classwork. Out of goverment income.

just need to put in some effort studying for my CEH and CCNA certifications and take those tests.
 A job would be nice, any kinda income that can cover it's travel and food expenses.

 A job willing to pay for relocation would be perfect.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:19, Mon 22 Apr 2019.

So your saying tbe original dedinition of utopia is pretty close to turn everyone into unthinking drones. Sounds like ants have life alk figured out then.

I just realized I've been writing Exalted with an 'h' all this time.

In reply to GM (msg # 119):

Sorry lost my post mid way somehow, went to find a name and came back to it being blank.

Sleeping now bit the relevant action will be

enters, name, city of birth and what Irfan assumes this is about and how he is useful.

Tomo is a little busy at the moment and we have to wait for his responce before we can resume.

It's fine, I didn't expect this 2 months ago, but I'm sure it'll clear.We should be able to squeeze out at least 2 posts per week.

In the meantime, we can world build more!

I realized a defining experience for Irfan last night.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:37, Mon 06 May 2019.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 122):

Busy busy, drugs n background checks.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:32, Thu 09 May 2019.

Ok guys, do you want me to merge the threads now?

Sure! Works for me. :) I just replied too. :p

In reply to Loki Karnak (msg # 125):

Might help keep from tripping over our shoes and you from constsntly middle manning.

Sorry been bingeing on MHGU before my job starts. those hunts are deceptively long and short, and also flow into each other as long as someone needs something.

Yes that was mental Gymnastics, but it was a long conversation and Irfan is being a bit paranoid and excitable. It's the biggest day of his life, and now he is worried about sheltered socially inept royals ruining it.

Guys, just to clarify, vigor can be healed by healing magic just as if it were HP. The healer simply has to choose whether he's healing vigor or wounds (if any) because he can heal ether but not BOTH at the same time.

I put extra effort into that post. Enjoy.

That post is awesome - super swamped today so haven't had time to put anything together yet, but suffice to say it will involve Loki taking out his temper on some training. :p

In reply to Loki Karnak (msg # 130):

Use this as a guideline as to how effective training is (training is pretty much the same as retraining) https://www.d20pfsrd.com/basic...-options/retraining/

In reply to GM (msg # 131):

To Loki, He is trying to tell you that you could be define the training and make it work towards a goal.

To Dm, He simply meant he was doing the Arcanist equivalent of waterfall training or holding heavy stuff up magically. Possibly with harmless violent outbursts.

What I meant was, you need at least 4 hours (preferably 8) of uninterrupted, dedicated time (preferably multiple days in a row without traveling around or adventuring) for optimum results.

1~2 hours here and there from time to time are not ganna cut it.

So like I said, who's driving this thing?

In reply to GM (msg # 134):

I'm think I will be nominated to start, get it out of town and a little ways down the road before getting replaced by his Green-ness as he seen/understands the controls and  can push it faster.

I assume he took spellcraft as a skill.

Ooook.

EDIT: Guys, just to give you a sense to scale on the world, 1 pixel on the map is about 4~5 miles in "real life" so to speak.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Wed 22 May 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 136):

I just realized i was getting docked a point for armor check penalty on that check (probably should anyways for longterm checks.  Irfan has really good reflexes, just isn't strong enough to manhandle the wheel properly or learned enough to finesse the magical components for control.


Camels tend to drive themselves with little need of direction if your not leading tge caravan, and he isn't used to manuvering things bigger then him.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 137):

Note, Skills are an aporoximation.

Sometimes the key attribute can chanve based on the nature of the activity in question.

Don't be afraid to call out a check as being  strength based for a dex skill or vice versa if it makes more sense that way.

Maybe a sour old npc requires int based diplomacy checks instead of cha.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 138):

Your a little less conspicous tgen this icecream truck.

Obviously rich to be using magic transport let alone out of the right envuronment.

You have no royal colors or merchant goods.

The simple answer is your a court magician escorting a miner noble lady from place to place. It stinks, but it matches her fine clothes and fine transport.

Irfan did ask you which titles you wanted to use before, when props/trade goods could be obtained.

Tengu gender equality middle/upper classes?

Marriages usually decided by individuals or by familiy.

There is gender equality in the upper classes (because magic) but they are bound by family tradition and obligations so the  marriages are all arrainged (neither side has a say in it).

Middle class is more polarized but marriages aren't arrainged.

Hey guys, I could use some feedback. I usually do this once a month to see if everyone is on track. The prologue is coming to a close soon so I wanna make sure we get off on the right foot starting the 1st Act.

In reply to GM (msg # 142):

I could use a summary on relevant information, feel like the context of information is getting lost in the generic info dump.


Weather information could be a bit more abstract, how it's going to change instead of numbers, any major concerns or poyential hazards.

Slight winds, very Windy, Hot, Cold, getting Colder.

Npcs haven't really had a chance yet, every one has so far been on point.

Right now the playèrs are both distracted and it's slowing the game down.

You've been prompt and a through dm hitting every point.

9.9/10

Clear communicate will always illude me, so thats not on you, and my phone has been mispelling.

For starters, my Great Aunt died on Monday, so I'm a bit all over the place. Not that I wasn't before, but come Friday I will not likely login, and if I do, I probably won't be able to post.

Feedback - Love it, really enjoying the way you post and the unique "feel and flavor". I have a learning curve with my character, skills, abilities, and some of the other stuff that I do find very interesting. I have to get through, but I am mostly feeling guilty that I'm not able to post more frequently and in more "detail" than I have been.

I really appreciate the help and input on these things as well.


Only negatives I can think of, and these are on a scale of 2 out of 10, so barely worth mentioning, might be when my character does something that I might do differently in an effort to move things along. I'm always fine with stuff like that, but I won't say that the stickler in me doesn't make grumbling noises. It hasn't happened often though, and it's all been reasonable.

Overall, you've been a great DM, I'm enjoying the world, Irfan is my roll-dawg, I like the style (I like the anime style vibe and have been playing into that), and I'll be having even more fun when I have more time, a few less distractions, and a better grasp of the rules.

Well then stop rolling so damn high! On a lore skill no less (those things already have lower DCs than a normal knowledge skill). But jokes aside, I can't make it too easy. You gatta pick through the rough to find the diamond. Which you did admirably I might add.

As for the weather...point taken. I was just copy-pasting that stuff off the weather generator app. Will fix that in the future.

---

Tomo, shit man I'm really sorry to hear whenever someone uses a family member. My condolences.

I will admit I'm rushing through this prologue a bit, and I'm sorry for that, but in all honesty I was hoping it would be over by now  and we could get to the meat of the story.

As for the rules...I believe in Monty Oum's "rule of cool" so don't be afraid to think outside the box. The rules are there to make the world seem more realistic. It's why I use vigor and wounds instead of HP (if something would be lethal in real life but not very effective in DnD numbers, I can always say "in this specific situation, it bypasses vigor and inflicts damage directly to wounds"). I think you'll find it easier to adjust to the rules if you start your thought process with "Ok, would this make sense in real life (accounting for magic and stuff)" rather than "Ok, is this written somewhere in the rules? Is it compatible with this game system?"

Anyway guys, thanks for the feedback.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:52, Wed 29 May 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 145):

Once your character gets around lv3 and starts becoming a somebody, and as you both get a clearer picture of each other the scripted eventts and reactions will flow smoother.

Part of it's the Dm's style, and the other part is immersing you in the environment. Mostly you just haven't taken a level of badass in game yet. It does get much better as the tracks get laid, and you show more personality traits.

Well in that case, just like they do with Ashley in Critical Role, you're just ganna have to play Tomo's character as an npc until he comes back.

In reply to GM (msg # 148):

In 2 hours, I have a different character I  can use, i should be able to replaced the damaged childhood/batman complex for chaffing young noble and get a temporary approximation. He seems to be playing with a serious hellbent over his sibling/betrothed.

That more of a explination then his other character had for being distressed.

Wait, what, hold up, get back here! Run that by me again.

You want to get rid of Irfan in order to introduce a new character??? WHY?!

Or are you referring to Loki? In why case, I repeat, why? You're just filling in until Tomo gets his shit together. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You don't even have to put Loki front in center, just keep him in the background, silent, offering opinion here and there but usually just along for the ride sort of.

If it's too much of a bother I can do it. Why would you want to throw in a new character to the mix now?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:35, Thu 06 June 2019.

I'm using one of his other game's characters as the baseline template for running him.


In terms of thinking, as a person I think like a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_(chess), always capable of moving multiple spaces, but always following a crooked path and crossing subjects.

Loki's player thinks like a  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(chess), Logically and able to make significant leaps and bounds in a conversation and thinking.

You harness both your logical and creative sides equally and smoothly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(chess).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(chess) would follow along most reasonable trains of thought and only get lost when hitting information they don't understand.



Classic Tomo here would be over-explaining suspiciously in an attempt to appear ordinary instead of nodding and waving, and letting them pass uneventfully. Dragging this encounter out to about 4 paragraphs, leaving the other merchant more perplexed and afraid of asking further and loosing more time to someone who clearly doesn't match their less then legal transportation.

Rich Kid trying to act normal, while the whole street can see it's a facade.

Naturally he would be honestly trying to avoid drawing suspicious, but his methods of doing  so will do the opposite.

You are so ganna laugh once this encounter is done.

Here's the map for the Wingheld kingdom:

The crossed swords icon is the Dragon's Death fort. The large icon north of that near the lake/river is Pintherast.

Yes I know this map if from Skyrim, but it fits. Compare the river to the game map, you'll see I'm right.
This message was last updated by the GM at 15:50, Fri 07 June 2019.

 Well, clicks stop watch, one traveling merchant encounter down, 2? weeks?.

That encounter could have easily turned into a fight (or at least a peace negotiation if the kitsune successfully snuck up to the brute and put a sword under his neck) if the smugglers didn't manage to rip you off.

The funny thing is, they wouldn't target high nobility/importance people because that could lead back to them (average people didn't have any connections to worry about fallout), so if Loki didn't try to act as a normal Joe they'd pass you buy. But then they rolled a natural 1 on the perception check vs his influence bluff and thought yup, he's exactly who he says he is. Newbie with more start up bank than brains that doesn't know what he's doing. Lets con him LOL

The kitsune read through their bullshit and knew they were trouble so he feigned incompetence in order to check the back and confirm who they are and get the drop on the big guy that looked like the most trouble.

But then Irfan stepped in and figured the rich newbie dumb merchant was already his mark and it would just be in poor taste to step in on a fellow Arcanian con. Honor among thieves entrepreneurs and all that, the rule of the dibs is sacred.

04:30, Today: GM rolled 21 using 1d20+8.  Smuggler perception check.
03:09, Today: Irfan rolled 19 using 1d20+6.  Influence to convince to sell 2 blankets,  and take his vermin repellant, for 8 gold.
08:19, Sat 08 June: Irfan rolled 24 using 1d20+7.  Premptive appriase check, would said goods be worth half, that much, double, tripple what is offered.
03:52, Fri 07 June: Secret Roll: GM rolled 13,7 using 1d20+4,1d20+6.  Kitsune bluff vs brute sense motive.
03:43, Fri 07 June: Secret Roll: GM, on behalf of Loki Karnak, rolled 11,19 using 1d20-1,1d20+10.  Perception vs Influence (with 1 successful aid another).
09:26, Tue 28 May: Secret Roll: Irfan rolled 24 using 1d20+8.  Lore Trade Routes.
02:53, Tue 28 May: Secret Roll: GM rolled 24 using 1d20+5. Kitsune
02:46, Tue 28 May: Secret Roll: GM rolled 6 using 1d20+5.  Perception.
02:37, Tue 28 May: Secret Roll: Loki Karnak rolled 15 using 1d20+9.  Influence.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:04, Wed 12 June 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 155):

Side note.

Sacred Geometry can is use the dice roller it'self to _Timestamp record numbers found using a second post after rolling for the feat.

Dm can penalize what they feel are late answers judging by tinestamps, and self govern for npcs.

It's hard to judge a feat the relies more on out of character ability then in character ability.


Could sacred geometry be considered has harnessing natural energy and fimilar to english ley lines. Could structures have been built by ancients and recent humanoids to harness these principles to power continous spells or spell like effects effects, possibly even fields favorable or antagonistic to specific schools of magic.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Fri 14 June 2019.

Soooooo sorry guys. Life had been absolutely insane. I've been working 12 hour days, sometimes longer. Catching up now.

I will never hold people's RL obligations against them.

Too much fluff information? Hope I didn't cause a sensory overload with a verbal diareha.

In reply to GM (msg # 159):

No, i'm being partialy lazy, and Loki was the intended target here, so it's his spotlight. Not sure if he even has the weekend off, or how he is unwinding if he does.

Irfan is mildy uncomfortable lying to a child, Arcania a place where any number of outside agencies could make a move on others, and thimgs that get swallowed in it's sands or darkness yend to stay that way.


He was contracted to find out what happened, which could ve very easy or time consuming. Find her healthy or in good health is more then he can deliber in full faith, after all it's been atleast a week, maybe more simce she vanished off the Orbs (web) and Loki decided pissing off (Zeus) Old Pinterest (spell check) is a reason course of action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The emotional missle is pointed at Loki, Urfan's going to distance himself from the impact crater.

Loki needs to react first though here.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Mon 17 June 2019.

Pintherest is a type of bird btw.

In reply to GM (msg # 161):

I thought you chose it based on the image sharing website, Google isn't finding a bird by that name irl. Could be a language thing or in game bird.

A tengu named Toucan, Sounds Rogue gallery-ish. I can see Pintherest naming a bird after himself or adopting a nane based on a bird or being named after one before becoming exalted.


From now you shall call me The Pinterest, Thunderbird, Lord of the Skies, Master of Winds.

I think delaying for a day in a smaller city, large town would be a decent decision. Log enough to restock and gear up properly for the desert. I'll work that into my guide post with a town and a bit of story to go with it.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 163):

Who are we waiting on? You Me or Loki?

Loki.

Loki's worklife aside,  That seemed like a statement more the a prompt. I don't see Lok8 not steering as his guide suggests, unless he sense motives Irfan is being less then 100% with his rush the entire desert in one go strategy, or something influences hibm to be stubborn.

Perhaps adding a prompt or just a question mark to clarify your looking for validation.


Also your waiting on saving throws and skill checks. It's been 2-4 days in the desert, a restock and wardrobe change are eell in order.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 166):

Yay, we are all up past midnight in the US!

I'm in Europe.

In reply to GM (msg # 168):

Join the Discord server by hitting the chat button on RPOL's home page, top right.

I'm heading to bed for roughly 8 hours instead I guess. Really would like that instant messaging conversation.

Had work this morning. Had to install a gate.

Rolled a healthy ammlunt of fall damage there, i wish my fireballs rolled higher tgen a 4 for once. Posting.

Wasn't so much fall damage as much as it was impact/collision damage with a god.

In reply to GM (msg # 173):

I'll be in the discord channel for the rest of the day if you have time. Or alternatively you can add me to Roll20.net game, i'm in your messages there.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Thu 27 June 2019.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 174):

Once I get approved and dm's advice on the Marine group, I'll consolidate the thoughts and plug them into background.

https://youtu.be/-sGiE10zNQM?t=163 to about the 3:56 Second mark.

A hvy weapon used as a anchor, a pole, and a counter weight. Especially that kick to the face. That will be my 2nd level manuever flash kick.

In Heavy crashing dragons, sometimes you lead weapon, sometimes weapon leads you, and sometimes you both just salsa, othertimes you river dance. Eitherway something getting a bruise.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Fri 28 June 2019.

Custom Trait, For Medicial Purposes:You always count as sucessfully Aiding others on heal check.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 177):

You can only attempt to heal a particular creature with this ability a number of times per day equal to 1/2 the number of ranks you possess in the Craft (alchemy) skill (minimum 1) plus your practitioner modifier.

Scholars are considered Proficient combatants and use Intelligence as their practitioner modifier.

I'm cool with a house rule, If I get a break on crafting times. It's a lot of healing but time consuming.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Sat 29 June 2019.

Oh ok, nvm then. Heal away.

In reply to GM (msg # 179):

Sad face, I was hoping for being able to keep some prepared indefinantly if once per day.

Just wait till i get a portable alchemy lab. And pop out 2 or 4 in 15 minutes.

Hydrated Vitality(fast healing 2) is too good to work on wounds(no rules for vigor and fast healing), So 6 consecutive  healing worth heals 1 wound, or the normal effect 6 healing and 1 wound? 5 Fast Healing recovers 5 wounds in 6 rounds?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Sun 30 June 2019.

5 consecutive heals heal wounds. (5*2=10. Wounds are recovered at ether 1 per 1dx if the healing is dice dependent, or 1 wound per 10 healed HP in the case when its abstract/fixed/non-dice related).
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:15, Sun 30 June 2019.

Animals will avoid this place for about another week, making a scent lure by alchemy is impossible by tools and would take 3-6 days if the check is even sucessful, trapping a animal goes back to point one.

We need help, but help doesn't have to mean wild animals or civilized people, help can be magic beasts or benevolent natural and magical forces. I think i need to make a desert lore or a complex composite skill check, Milkweed probably should make a knowledge nature check.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 183):

What is the average height(above water) if a warship's deck in game?

10 ft? 15ft? 20ft?

base 8 +1d20 +10 manuever=19-38 acrobatics check.
19/4 = 4.75ft minimum.
28/4 high jump = 7ft, being medium gives me a starting jump of 8 ft, i think i can grab a ledge 15 ft off the ground on a average jump. 15 -6 ft tall = 9ft of clearance

If using swim subset of athletics because water, that becomes 9 ft on average + my usual 8.  17ft-6ft tall = 11ft clearance.

If the average deck with railing is 12 ft out of the water, it will be a few levels till I can reliably jump onto a boat.

It varies, but usually the beam of a ship is 15~25 ft.

Thats hard to react to,we should all be friemds, but it feels bad to let it play out that way.
I can assume they are usually protective, or atleast Alex is. Feels really out of context to just allow this to happen, but it seems to be normal in context.

I'mma go off the lore we worked out as us being a group in the cadets, and trust them as this is normal. It Hawke was pulling, I'l follow anyways.

She fucked up. Time to pay for it.

Soap party, That I can understand. Like shrek said, better out then in, especially among family.

I see you played a trap card.



I'll counter with Perception and common sense.

Dm plays


I knew i should have traveled alone.

Lol

I once won the yugioh national so I really appriciate the card analogies.

Do i need to roll steaLth or initiative? i don't have a way to negate special senses with stealth, and Hana is probably bad at it. If it comes to a fight I would really like to drive this thing off instead of fight it to death if it does attack. I like to think most monsters would have a point where they decide to go all in or try to go lick their wounds.

Results are up if you need them.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:02, Sat 06 July 2019.

You don't need it just yet. Also, if you recall, I did compare Hana to an angelic figure. And ahe can cast healing. And has been shelteted.

You do however need a new track roll for the new, smaller tracks.

Rolled a 19 survival check including wound danage.

Those were all aspects of why I chose the Cloistered Youth, besides the angel bit.  She isn't streetwise or wilderness savy at all. Loki is more logical then any kind of wise. She could easily have forced an encounter by ineptitude, caring, or less likely spite.

I think a good rule of thumb is if a predator gets below 26% vigor without being cornered or making headway, they will try fleeing around that time.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Sat 06 July 2019.

The angel bit was just something I threw in as a description of her once (while feathers + soft blue/white flowing clothes, plus her very nice and polite way of talking...when not throwing a tantrum).

Personally I would assume she is dignified, royal, and quiet like a porcelain doll until she puffs up like a jigglypuff about something.

https://media.giphy.com/media/E4unmDmXBaJnq/giphy.gif

Also I wasn't playing my alignment, I was playing my role, helping these dying saps doesn't improve our survival chances, and getting attacked lowers them. If there was a mostly intact sandskimmer I may have risked it to see if the part was there. It feels more like being given the options

A. Good
B. Greedy
C. Good and Greedy
D. Slothful <---
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Sun 07 July 2019.

Well not really dignified. She was a lot more...what's the right word...childish? and polite/easygoing and compassionate (before the crash). But yeah, she would pout like a jigglypuff whenever she wouldn't get her way.

Admit it, this was you when you read that last post

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:26, Sun 07 July 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 197):

I started with the pictures and read bottom to top so it was more.



Aliens, robots, stepford wives what kind of kinky crap where tgey shipping.

I taught myself to read and threrefore to write late, so my writing more a form of inconsistant mimicry. It's goods for the clarity of actions, espesially if i'm including other's actions in my posts. What your doing is fine, so do what comes naturally. I have the quirk of being adjusting between reading shakespherian english and modern without missing a beat because of how I process words and my vocabulary. I see sentences as more a collection of meanings being associated together rather then a math equation, so if the sentence structure changes like it does in german, I barely notice until after I process it.

"The boy is playing with the ball in the street."
Is basically the same as
"The ball is in street boy plays"


I'm simply(instinctively) writing in a style that seems appropriate, probably based on the "box car children" books, and reflexively based on your posts where you activing for multiple people. I may even switch back and forth without noticing.

Your refering to me/my character in the second person quite clearly. It's in classic dm this is what happened, or this is what you know format.

I'm using a mix of 3rd person descriptions and a mix of 1st and 2nd person internal dialogue depening on if i'm looking at things as a player or from a character's perspective.

I think it's fine as is unless it's going to peeve you mow that you've noticed.

Sorry for the delay. Had a lot on my plate. Large storm and a small flood.

Tropical storms David and Akia? Your a natural reasource as a active story teller dm.  I don't mind sharing and a little waiting, when we hit a pause we can put liv into the correct timeline/period game if you want.

Timeline (IR means Ironian Reckoning, HR means Harmonian Reckoning):

Irfan
Current date: Lamashan 20th, Oathday, 485 IR (Fork in an alternative timeline. From this point on I will list the timeline I think will most likely happen given the current circumstance)

.
.
.

HR 0 - The hero overthrows the evil despot of the Ironian Empire, is crowned Kingpriest and renames it Harmonia (the Holy Theocratic Kingdom of Harmonia to be precise) because he perceives and strives for a world in harmony with itself. And then secludes himself from the public eye. The new Harmonian calendar is adopted.

HR 20 - The region of Lordemar has its autonomy recognized as the Warriors' Village successfully defends it against Harmonia during the campaign that was dubbed "The War to end all wars".

HR 70 - Fork in an alternative timeline. An event that may or may not happen, or happen differently based on the actions in the Irfan game.

HR 78 - Fork in an alternative timeline. An event that may or may not happen, or happen differently based on the actions in the Irfan game.

HR 80 - The Sacred Understanding between the Elves, Gnomes and Dwarves in the Holy Woods region (South Harmonia) has been established, ending the age old bloody racial disharmony driven conflict. A great mythal is erected to. for all intents and purposes, isolate the region from the outside world (especially humans). https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Mythal

HR 110 - The Tolan Monarchy is established in central-east Harmonia (it's capitol in present day Suzna).

HR 157 - Fork in an alternative timeline. An event that may or may not happen, or happen differently based on the actions in the Irfan game.

HR 160 - Bards spread the tale of "The Humble Noble" far and wide. A rural noble in the Wild lands (the north-western most reaches of the continent) who is the 1st person ever to successfully slay a vampire.

HR 185 - Poor leadership following the death of the 1st king, led The True Tolan kingdom to segregate from the Tolan Monarchy and establish itself as a separate nation (it's capital located in today's Tolan DC, DC standing as initials for Der Crune in ye old language Der Crune Tolanish, which means The Crown's Tolan or The Royal's Tolan, depending on how you translate it).

HR 212 - A Senate and Congress is formed at today's Four Streams, starting to govern the surrounding area, separating itself from both Tolan kingdoms as its own state.

HR 230 - Taking advantage of Harmonia's many internal struggles (caused in part by rumors that The Hero kingpriest is dead), general and later kingpriest Krampus Bavar, wielder of the Mark of Sovereign Right, stages a bloodless coup in Zarigrad and secedes the entire South Harmonia, forming the Crimson Empire (same territory as before it got conquered by Ironia because the culture remained in place). Renames Zarigrad to Stuttminster. Lordemar joins them.

HR 237 - Harmonian noble Maximilian Aurum quenches the Harmonian Civil War and rebellions. As reward he is granted a substantial amount of land east of Tolan. He forms his own Kingdom (The Golden Kingdom) but maintains very close relations with Harmonia (they viewed it as a vassal state that serves as a buffer with Tolan).

HR 252~314 - Tired of their incompetent and weak leadership, the people of the Tolan Monarchy rebelled, renamed it Yuzna and replaced the government with a merchant hegemony. Also, at the same time, the Golden Kingdom takes this opportunity to invade the collapsing Tolan Monarchy and the True Tolan Kingdom. True Tolan Kingdom pushes back the Golden Empire and wins over the eastern area of the former Tolan Monarchy, which the Golden Empire initially conquered. True Tolan Kingdom changes its name to just Tolan Kingdom because the Tolan Monarchy now is just Yuzna. Border disputes between the regions of Tolan and Golden Kingdom were frequent even without an official declaration of war. Golden Kingdom eventually becomes the Golden Empire.

HR 280 - Tolan finances the creation of powerful military organisations (dwarf/human paladin fiefdoms) to counter the threat of the Golden Empire.

HR 292 - The Chultuk Empire starts a war with Oberon (the strongest of the independent island nations) but its fleet is immediately wiped out by the Queen and her Mark of Justice, putting an abrupt end to their southern expansion plan. The incident led to her death, the death of her son and heir, and the loss of the Mark.

HR 294 - The paladin orders unite and secede from Tolan, forming a nation with Stoneaxe as its capitol. A Land Reform was issued to compensate Tolan for its financial investment.

295 HR: Chultuk-Thetisia War
Thetisia's history in the 200s is highlighted by a series of conflicts and naval battles with the mainland Chultuk Empire to the northeast (the region south of the Crimson Empire, which Harmonia never managed to reconquer, nor the Crimson Empire later), using the Cthulhu Sea as the theater. In 295 HR, a decisive naval battle was fought between these regional superpowers which resulted in complete victory for Chultuk. What is now considered a very shrewd move, Chultuk agreed to withdraw from Middleport under the condition that the island be granted independence from Thetisia.

HR 299 - Though never declared or engaged in open warfare, Chultuk and the Crimson Empire have always been hostile towards each other and engaged in 4D chess military/political machinations and preparations against each other. Which the Crimson Empire were so damn good at that its nobles started engaged in a sport of "human hunting" (invading Chultuk territory and hunting down people in some small, inconsequential village). In HR 299, the lost Mark of Justice resurfaced in 1 such village during 1 such hunt and resulted removing it and anyone there off the map. Both sides (Crimson and Chultuk) suspected and blamed the other for the tragedy and worsened the relations, eventually leading to an open war.

Liv
Current date: Pharast 4th; Sunday; year 302 HR

HR 314 - Tolan, Four Streams, Yuzna and Stoneaxe sign a mutual defense peace treaty to counter the rising power of the Golden Empire. The Alliance of the 4 States.

HR 340 - 3 mountain top on the Pinto/Arcanian desert boarder get mysteriously blow off and 1 lake dries up...overnight.

HR 347 - Gulag (the largest prison in the Crimson Empire) is finished.

HR 349 - The Kwon-Yuu r-Fork in an alternative timeline.

HR 362 - The Grand Academy is built in Merdrarel (the Tolan Territory north of Four Streams).

HR 365 - The Royal palace (largest in the world) in Emboracum (The Golden Empire's capital and 2nd largest city in the world) is finished. The Mark of the Beast leaved Harmonia and is enshrined in the palace. Harmonia claims it was a gift.

HR 366 - Pinto joins the Alliance of 4 states (making it 5 states).

HR 370 - The Crimson Empire finishes Scarletina (an impenetrable frontline defense castle against the Alliance of 5 states, from which one could retreat or launch attacks at will).

HR 373 - Merdrarel negotiates independence from Tolan.

HR 378 - Merdrarel joins the Alliance of now 6 states.

HR 392 - The position of principal of the Grand Academy in Merdrarel is switched to a democratic election rather than a hereditary position given to a member of the elven royal family.

HR 407 - Grasslands-Harmonia war Fork in an alternative timeline. Also, the Crimson Empire completes the Morav castle (and its 2 satellite forts), effectively completing its impregnability against the Alliance (and pretty much anyone from the north).

HR 411 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 415 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 417 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 419 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 420 - Several clans break way and form their own nation in the far west of the Grasslands. The GX Merchant Confederacy.

HR 421 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 422 - The GX Confederacy solidifies its independence with the completion of a boarder.

HR 424 - Based on post likely previous choices A good chunk of the Grasslands (and Harmonian forces there in) get devastated.

HR 425 - Harmonia and Grasslands sign a 50 year non-aggression treaty.

HR 437 - Golden Empire invades Tolan.

HR 438 - Kwon-Yuu succession war

HR 439 - Fork in an alternative timeline

HR 441 - The New Taiyo-Kou Dynasty invades Kwon-Yuu

HR 443 - Innkaku's Great Counter-Offensive

HR 446 - Crimson Empire civil war.

HR 447 - Alliance-Golden Empire war officially ends. Golden Empire gains Kyoto. Pinto, taking advantage of the civil war and invades Crimson Empire but fails. Also Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Irfan game

HR 448~459 - Following the war, Merdrarel began to suffer from poor crop yield, falling back on its annual tributes to the alliance, earning derision from Stoneaxe. Four Streams, being far away from the Golden Empire, started to become tired of the situation with it. Pinto, located to the far west, felt that its interests were neglected and its resources drained for wars which did not affect it.

HR 449 - Thestisia sends Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Liv game to Kwon-Yuu to Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Liv game. Kwon-Yuu civil war stars. Also Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Irfan game

HR 450 - Golden Empire royalty kidnapped by Tolanese soldiers dressed as bandits on route to Tolan DC on a diplomatic mission. King escapes, queen and prince Oreimo Aurum are captured. Prince witnesses his mother getting repeatedly raped, tortured then killed before being rescued. Border skirmishes intensify. Kwon-Yuu civil war ends.

HR 453 - Crimson Empire revolution begins.

HR 455 - Crimson Empire revolutionary army leader dies. Inkaku's real son takes over the leadership.

HR 456 - Revolutionary army tricks Pinto and Yuzna into invading the Crimson Empire.

HR 457 - Revolutionary army wins. The Crimson Empire is reformed into the Scarlet Republic.

HR 458 - General Inkaku dies. The Scarlet Republic launches a campaign to reclaim the territories occupied by Pinto and Yuzna and succeeds. Pinto and Yuzna relations worsen, each blaming the other for the fail. Prince Oreimo makes an alliance with Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Irfan game

Original game, Woren Inkaku
Starting date: Sarenith 1st; Moonday; year 460 HR
The Alliance feels the wrath of the Mad Prince.

HR 472 - Assuming Woren good ending Harmonia incites an uprising within Tolan (in the formerly the Golden Empire region). Shen in retaliation incites a civil war within Harmonia.

HR 475 - GX-Grassland war. Harmonia, taking advantage of the situation, also invades. The 2nd Fire Bearer war begins. Luke tries to destroy the world Fork in an alternative timeline depending on Woren game.



I have a lot more I haven't revealed. This is just the rough speculated projection of the world's history. There were also a few more places where Liv's game has influence but I didn't want to spoil it.

As long as Stein's Gate style time travel laws are in effect, I'm ok with this. Actual interaction between the time/world lines should be fairly limited usually with only the source(s) of the timeline(s) being aware of their shifts.


I'd never personally plan with much out for anything, but it's always a good fallback guideline especially when kept vague on why and how.

I figured Liv fit into the later time line since magic was (pretty) sparse and the mark system was in effect.

~~~~~~~~~

Kind of get a party dynamic feeling that Liv and Alex are the fighters, Hawke and Djem are the Tacticians, and Osoana and Kalima are both so overly specialized that it hurts their general fighting skills yet shines when it's called for. Djem and Hawke both have good fighting skills but they also have other skills and don't consider neither consider themselves good fighters but do consider the other to be skilled.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Sat 13 July 2019.

When I say an alternative timeline I mean history may unfold differently. I really had absolutely no intention of doing any time or dimension traveling.

Stein's Gate is a really good watch if you have the time.

 Episodes 1-22, OVA episode, Stein's Gate 0 series, then Episodes   23-25


Gate Spoilers

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Being stuck in a loop, slowly being denied thier sanity, friends, family, comforts, hope and dreams.   All in a narrow window of time, being exposed to a life time of growing isolation and torment, haunted by things others don't know.

Sounds like the perfect characterization of them dying soon after being marked and having destroyed their associations. For someone to be a successful king-priest to him they would have to be true-ly evil enough to enjoy inflicting suffering and watching everyone close to them die. It's not a punishment, it's a trial to find someone worthy to be his "bailiff?" and carry out impartial and judicious justice in the world. It just works like a death curse because someone that twisted and impartial is nearly impossible to find.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alternatively call them unwriten times, periods of instability, times of obscurity, or Unfixed events. Implies a state of quantum flux/shrodinger's cat or whitewashing, where the exact events and event the outcomes aren't really known to be facts, History belongs to the survivors after all. Even if the 'winners' had a major and total defeat, the 'losers' could have chosen to cover something up, and use the 'winners' as their facade to draw attention away.

We also have divine powers that could intentionally(and some that could do it with indifference) screw with divination around major historical events, and earthly magic users that would want to hide information before and during battles.

Been playing Beeropoly, don't expect a responce today.

EDIT: I won.
https://postimg.cc/w19xcwGC
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:08, Sat 13 July 2019.

Currently on vacation and I only have my cell phone so posting quality will decrease. (village by a lake, no wi-fi, just mobile data internet, which is spotty at best)

It's cool, wasn't expecting a update till the weekend atleast.

Floods tend to cause problems, drinking too.

I just posted because i found that humorous.

You've been logging in daily, so it's not like i was worried.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 209):

I guess the logical thing would be to have a after party party for our group, away from our senoirs. That way Hawk can give a direct statment or not at his own discression.


Oops.

Obviously the first thing Irfan should realize at this point is mirages are common in the desert.

As a player I should say nope, not happening.

As a character I desperately want there to be a town there, even if i know the odds.


I can
A. try to get Hana to reveal (details of )what she sees, perhaps she sees wagons and horses but no sandskimmers.

B. Trust Horas for the moment, and try the good old attempt to disbelieve.

C. Meta game it.

D. Cities are enchanted to go unnoticed by monsters or those with unusual vision types. Sensable, but outlandish.

B seems the most direct way to suceed or fail, to resolve this dispute. A is the most logical but would could easily go wrong or give a false positive.

Roll a nature check.

Not avoiding you just have a mental health weekend.

 Irfan rolled 11 using 1d20+3-2. untrained  nature check.

Ok, I'm back from my vacation and can now devote this game the attention it deserves. Where did we left off?

Irfan was rushing towards a mirage when Horus the Blue interupted him, and we were doing a character knowledge check, I basically beat a dc 11, or failed a larger one to try to snap out of it.

Liv is reluctantly setting the stage for the hazing tomorrow under Hawke's prideful orders, and planning on keeping a watchful eye on Osoana tonight and tomorrow and try to rest.

You need to post in the Arcania thread.

Loki is with the kitsune, hopefully and still out of commision.





Presumably for a month or a month and a half i guess.

That's ok, no rush. I'm talking about Irfan. What exactly are you doing? The last post I see is mine.

Ooc:
Not sure if Irfan can react smartly to this situation, i'm being warned but i failed my initial check, do i reroll or ?



I rolled an 11.



~~~~~~~~~~

So thats where I'm at is figuring out how to react to Horus's prompt. It's a rather grim warning to Irfan, even to probably give him a second will save, but he as a character really wants this to be reality.

Welcome to dnd, where hard choices you can't find in video games find you.

More of a meta game question. I'm all for hitting the breaks, irfan's full of relief, and tge logical acftion is to take 5 minute break and observer/wait instead of acting.

Kalima is the rogue of the group. Yeah the others are just random +1 babs or the like. The veterans aren't exactly your supperior officers (different ships, different divisions and all that). Is irfan going towards the town/person, backing away or standing put?

he(Irfan) doesn't change his direction though( he continues head toward the town.)


I'm using Rogues in the traditional Rpg sense of 3/4 Base attack classes with more skills and abilitys). Rogues, Ninjas, skirmishers, investigators, alchemists. Probably not the more proficent in combat types, but not untrained/trainable. The General Striker/dps types.

As opposed to the traditional +1 BaB martial classes Fighters, Rangers, barbarians types which Liv and Hawke would belong to.

It's really would be a nice time to expand the roster with some un-athletic cook or something being that last man picked at dodge ball practice. Liv's group may be the misfits but I presumed they were all anime misfits, capable enough to stand out on their own in their own ways. We can identify the runt of the crew here, and even his job or unique traits like son of a captain forcing him into the navy in the family honor against his wishes. He would much rather be a """""" then a sailor or marine. He may not even have combat feats!

Sorry for the delay, I've had a lot of shit on my plate. I'll try to post as soon as I can.

Figured it was that, or the Fire Emblem: Three Kingdoms Release. Irfan should probably throw the dagger to Horus, with a Ac 5 like a slash weapon to hit his square, instead of repositioning.

Are you sure you want to stand between 2 giant monsters snapping at each other?

I think Liv's post can extend to recieving our orders and a cut to a small interactable/memorable scene as we leave the bay. Probably with some kind of formal retaliative tongue lashing for Liv in between.

Room for more of those mixed feelings from Gawain over amusing him by failing to help a hazer, and disappointing him by 'salting' a man while he is down.

 Hawke did good that fight, a swift and decisive victory should translate to +1/2 moral for the gradutes, and -1,2 for the alumnia fights, evening the odds a bit.

In reply to Liv Vladislav (msg # 228):

Privat link

So Liv is free to interprete/misread Hawke here.

 For some who has been living life in the third person for so long constantly evaluating himself on his image and expectations. He is getting his first hard look at life As Hawke, not as Son of the Vladislav. Beyond the harbor, on that boat, with a loyal crew, he could be anything, go anywhere. He's not used to having options, ever choice he's made so far has been almost predetermined. He and Djem have both worked for this their entire lives, but unlike Djem this was the expected path for Hawke. He's finally at a point he can stop (death)marching on that path, smell the roses, and contemplate why he follows his dad's path, and what that means to him.

A look of wonder over potentials, is quite an unusual look for Hawke. For once he is choosing to let tge future be, rather then directing it.

Indeed. She has no idea what Hawke is thinking or feeling now (unless you make a DC 15 perception check to make a hunch guess. This is a dedicated and concentrated action though so you'll miss out on other potential options at this junction in the story).

Irfan is, according to Wounds and Vigor,  staggered regardless of vigor points due to wounds. Any actions he takes risks re-opening his wounds, Even if the damage is absorbed by Vigor points first, he won't get very far in his current state unless carried, both due to straining his body by moving.

Unless having vigor points supersedes the wound clause and acts like a form of stabilize.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/stabilize/

Or the primary function of the heal skill's First Aid, which is to stop a creature from dying due to injuries while dying and presumably unconcious.

At best if he keeps loosing vigor points, he needs to make his next 5-6 move and/or standard action effects count.

On the other hand if he managed to staunch the wound enough, that it isn't going to kill him to move around some, he has more freedom to try reaching a safe location.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 232):

I know your research capabilities are limited, but i'm thinking a large medivial Cog or it's replacement the Hulk would serve perfectcally as the basis for our ship. Both feature a rear Castle, we can adapt to a captain's cabin, a cargo hold, served as trade vessels, and were easily converted to troop transports or equiped a siege engine for war. Both featured a single mast, and commonly featured oars. Noteably they lacked a keel, but used or could adapt the use of a rudder. Both boats wre relatively shallows/river friendly due to the lack of a keel, could be beached by parking in the tide zone with minimal reprocussions when needed. Both rode high when unburdened, and could carry heavy burdens easily.

Tge high deck when unburdened combined eith the castleing, gives a seconard crows nest effect, allowing djem to see much further from the deck. It would also give the height needed for Gawain's boats to go unnoticed.

Tropics, Spring (didn't have a time i could easily find, and assume it's a warm island/carribean still stupid cold some times)
Weather Report

Irfan rolled 46 using 8d8 with rolls of 5,5,8,8,5,3,4,8.  Wind Directions.


So 5, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 5?
Or 5, 5, 6, 8, 6, 5, 4, 6? Skip corners  Eitherway

Liv rolled 14 using 1d20+6 to predict weather.
Osoana rolled 18 using 1d20 to aide other.
DC 15 per day, making +5 intervals gives extra day(s)

Day 2 Prediction Success
Day 3 Prediction Success
Day 4 Prediction Fail
Day 5 Prediction Success
Day 6 Prediction Fail
Day 7 Prediction Sucesss

Temperatures not quite low (40) enough to be dangerous, but a but concerning. 90 is the start of dangerous heat levels.
* !  Tier 1 Moderate winds, no penalties
* !! Tier 2 Strong winds, minor penalties
* Strong Winds: Ranged Attacks -2, Wind-affected Skills -2
* Heavy Rains: Perception -6, 25% Visibility range, -fire, -6 ranged
* Night 2: Perception -6, 25% Visibility range, Ranged Attacks -8, Wind-affected Skills -2, Flames extinguished
This message was last edited by the player at 03:47, Tue 27 Aug 2019.

Average Day aboard SS Kitty.(name pending)
6 Am breakfast starts cooking.
Dawn ~7 am?
8 Am Travel day starts.

Lunch 11 AM to 1 PM shift swap with off duty marines to eat

5 Pm Travel day ends

Dusk ~6 pm? Dinner Starts Cooking
7 PM Liv does her daily swim if possible/uneventful.

Crew of 15 -4  Officers and a lookout(Kalima, Hawke, Liv, Djem, Osoana)
Gives me 10 crew sailors, with 8 on traveling duty and 2 on maintence most days.

Hawke out ranks everyone, leads when needed, supervises at his leisure (general Aid Other to lowest roll). He should be our Helmsman, leading from the front, commanding given the small crew. Don't know if he is willing though, and no one will push it without a reason.

Djem is the Usual Helmsman, Even though he is our best "Artillery expert" and should be in charge of the ballista when Osoana isn't.

Liv is the Usual cook I guess, Able to fill in as needed around the boat. Could probably intermix Cooking and Fishing when needed as a full day job.

Kalima always trades out duties shifts, surprisingly keeps moral high by doing nothing (officially).

Osoana is still the sharpest eyes we have, and she prefers the quiet peace of the mast so it's a win win as long as she gets to eat.


(I didn't know knowledge Nature Covered ships with sails)

None combat DCs for driving checks boats are DC 5 (diplomacy/intimidate) to row, or 15 to sail. DC 20 and DC 30 in combat though.

I think we can advanced to the Calm of day 4, and get a stock on how far we have to go, where we are, and what needs doing (Liv needs some HP retraining).
This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Tue 27 Aug 2019.

What do you want to do about the Draugr (Pirates of the Carribean Flying ducthmen crew) pirates on the encounter rolls.

It says there is only 3 of them, and not a captain so having anything better then a rowboat as a 'ghost ship' seems unlikely. We encounter them twice over the week, so having them be the same group would be nice, but that means we avoid or escape them on the first encounter.

Let say we shoot down their small ghost dingey with the ballista, "YAY we killed some undead monsters!"  The next day we ride the storm front. After the storm passes over us they show up the next morning crawling up the ship's hull? -> Melee and guard's warning shouts while Liv is preparing breakfast?

They have a good swim speed, and were in the same storm we rode.

I did the first 40/971

I'll have "Central Tolan - Tolan DC" done by midnight Friday or Saturday US Time I think.

I've decided to keep the text coloration in, because most of the posting was done with the coloration indicating who was speaking in mind. I'll edit out OoC: text that doesn't add or build meaningfully.

What makes you think you encountered undead?

In reply to GM (msg # 238):

Your 75 and 74 d100 rolls compared against the low level ocean encounter list.

In reply to Liv Vladislav (msg # 239):

If that was individual exp or already split group, irfan is just last lv3 on slow track.

He either needs either a mineral deposit or a town to level up at. Vermin repellant was left behind with Loki, and has questionable effect on large vermin.

Liv is a bit unprompted, is she in charge of shore leave and boat safety stuff while Hawke takes care of business? Ughh, time to be the middle boss.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Wed 04 Sept 2019.

Sorry for the radio silence, been kinda hecktic with the ocean crossing. I kept getting stuck on opening duty. Will try to post tomorrow.

Horus seems to have some simple folk honest naive moral compass, easy to con, but hard to do so against blantant wrong doing. Luffy-like

Convince him to do nothing, difficult, convince him to stand by and go against his savior? Not a chance.

Haha would never let it slide either, it would be a albatross around anything later.

Arcanians help each other yes, but they arent fighters or brave, anything resembling direct help from the crowd is out.

If we run and escape, this all boils.

Maybe Hana's gesture will cause a miracle. More likely it will lead to her being questioned and beaten.

There had to be some trick in play here, like Ironians turning a blind eye in fear of losing peace or it's a secret forward base. Just too many unknowns, he couldn't tell where to squeeze. Whatever the case it seemed they had been occupying a while.

He can't stop Hana, it was too much too fast, but he could pull her out of the fire. He hated the timing, and he still needed to find that piece.

This calls for showmanship, and just the right brand of crazy.

Horus as Zoro the gay blade, Hana as damsel in distress, and Irfan as the disruption.

I can tell you 1 thing I accidentally omitted in my post or rather didn't think of until later. Due to your high roll, you know for a fact these aren't Ironians or other Arcanians or bandits or whatever, posing as Kwon-Yuu for whatever reason. They are legit Kwon-Yuu, from the uniforms to the language they shared between themselves, to the magic they used.

Also, if you recall an earlier conversation between some patrons in the tavern the previous day, there had been rumors of Kwon-Yuu sightings up north recently, but you didn't get the impression they were lamenting of the Kwon-Yuu visiting this place or living under their boot while resenting the Ironians for doing nothing about it, which means there's no recent long term occupation/stationary presence. The locals seem quite surprised to see the Kwon-Yuu in their own backyard (right here, so close to Ironia proper) throwing their weight around like they just don't care. (pun intended)

Anyway, should I wait for you to post or proceed with another one of my posts under the assumption that Irfan doesn't stop Hana and just lets this play out for now?

In reply to GM (msg # 243):

I'll post.

Hana Sticks her foot in it,  Horus Promptly follows suit without a weapon.... Didn't think that one through did he.


Irfan invents new curses including several related just to him recognizing her as the correct wingheld daughter. Words and Papers can't get them out of this jam, (though it looked like paperwork from the boss would be followed with minimal questioning).


Irfan needs to arm Horus, find a part, Rescue Hana, Evade the Kwons, And make off into the noon day sun like a camel boy. Perfect, just perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Irfan assumes if Pintrest loses 3 kids in the desert, he will phone in his big bad Exalted buddy or just blast Arcadia off the map himself as a matter of pride. Perhaps Irfan overvalues family and pride a bit, Even a bad father has a pride in himself and therefore his offspring right?

To him this is Resident evil, Umbrella is right there kicking over trash cans and he is stuck with the presidents daughter in a alley out of ammo and with no phone. If the president's daughter dies or gets captured all hell breaks loose.

Either way the Kwon will probably burn this place day and make it look like a monster attack just to cover their tracks after making a upset this big.

It just went from one man getting beaten half to death, to a death sentence on the town because of Hana showing her face and powers. It's do or die, but most arcadians are  horribly inept in a fight compared to trained fighters, even if they out number them.

Loki will single handedly restart the war as soon as remotely possible if they kill or take Hana.

She is thinking with her bleeding heart and not a ounce of gravity.

Irfan can't help here any longer, not very well atleast, and not any closer to finding out what the Kwon want to know or hide.


Irfan's Immediate solutions at hand are the market people( Highly unlikely to convince a mob to suicide rush the soldiers when they might live by standing around or hiding), The market products, steal the nearest soldier's sword(nearly impossible by Raw)..

So we have Find something to use, disarm a soldier to arm Horus(and hope he can use it), or Go get help, but what kind of help would be found in a small outer city like this? Highly unlikely there is a Arcadian ?shadow? hanging about that would openly take on this many Kwon, Maybe another Foreigner at a bar, Or wait If the Kwon aren't the outside influence on this town along with the explosive exports then that means....


Even if he armed Horus, surely Horus could only take on one or two soldiers at best let alone that thing. No Irfans best hope is to get a bigger or big enough fish, but Hana would have to hold out long enough without getting abducted while he was gone.


Irfan needs to take stock of the immediate suroundings and objects, or get a clue as to where this munition factory thing could be.

Well, at least Horus being armed is 1 less thing you need to worry about.

You also had a good idea before.

And speaking of faulty goods, I suggest you reread that post. The fat merchant was telling his friend there was no way the cargo was responsible for the explosion.

The merchant said cargo from here could have caused the explosion, only he wasn't carrying good from here just (cover) goods bound for here.  To say nothing of the nature of the explosion, it's 4? Known Survivors( counting a camel). Or this officer's information it was a monster attack, not denied by the fat merchant.

Also dice roller is being mean. It can barely broke a 10 on his influence roll. He is gonna need a lot of circumstance modifiers.

---

is Horus a (idiot archetype) savant 3pp class, that would be both genius and dm fiat. skin to the goblin's webcomic's sword of oblivious.

1st point, yes. The fat merchant does believe the cargo he gets from here could possibly cause an explosion but he was very dismissive of it. I guess I poorly communicated that. His friend also seemed very skeptical that that could be what happened, insinuating he was bringing IN other cargo that could be more volatile (so we're talking about 2 unknown cargoes here. 1 that they export from here and 1 that's possibly traded throughout Arcania/the world but on the downlow due to its dangerous nature or something). And yes, the incident happened when the fat merchant was on his way here.
2nd, as far as the merchant has said so thus far (both to the officer wand what you caught yesterday), he's the only survivor (+ the camel).
3rd, yes the officer did mention a monster and the merchant didn't deny it. Keep in mind Irfan caught only a bit of the conversation, amids the hustle and bustle of all the other noise, as he was passing by, so it's very possible he didn't hear the whole story. Plus the merchant did have an unknown amount of time head start on you guys, so who knows how his story may have changed as the days went by.
4th, I've been using a coin instead of the roller in order to save on traffic (in hindsight I probably should have brought my mini dice). Tails 1~10, heads 11~20, then roll again and divide by half again. I usually need 3 or 4 tosses to get 1 result unless the roll to AC/DC difference is very close. Not too happy about it though since it makes the numbers around the middle much more likely to pop up than the numbers in the far ends (1 and 20). So if you could roll the random 20s for me, that would be great.

5th, yes he's a Savant, though I added my own flavor to it. I got rid of the necessity for a notebook, he just needs to see something in order to copy it (all other rules of the class apply normally. Though keep in mind this setting has blessings and Spheres of Power/Might and stuff so that could lead to some unusual builds). On the 1st day he added the sword Hana was carrying, 2nd day he added your Knowledge Society skill. 3rd day he added Hana's cure wounds spell, 4th day he added the armor he saw in the market (he doesn't need to see cantrips/orisons in order to use him, which is why he was able to use the ventriloquism immediately to annoy the street performer). We'll see what he learned today.

How do you like my use of the class by the way? Am I doing it justice? And how did you figure out he's a savant anyway? What gave it away?

The nail was conjured equipment after looking over all the imitation/mimic classes. I have a somewhat decent none verbose memory, and the notebook part threw me off for a bit.

There is a memory mage in fairy tail who has comparable magic, I think having permanently lost his memory and being kind over matter oriented has lead him to have minor wish like abilities. He could have quite the backstory, of who he was and what he could do, a powerful kwon arcane mage perhaps. He lost a lot with his memory, but parts of working magic stayed as a innate skil. He could just be a broken summoner archetype that has gone haywire, maybe even one of those that merge with their elodion summons.


Can see the summoner going brain dead and the summons taking over in a freak accident.

BTW you should update your sheet. And it's your turn to post.

Besides gold and Irfan's equipment my sheets should be up to date, for the moment assume Irfan is under medium encumbrance, he intended for camels or Horus to help carry some gear.

I've been having to think a bit about what to say.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 251):

Huh, must have started those and never submitted it, I did type it in.

  I'll say no to the elemental breeding knack, Aspect Infusion for the moment.
 It's a nice borrowing magic ability, but I want to get to a higher level where having access to substances from the elemental planes, or in setting magic crystals is more believable before I do that. I will take it next i think, If you can't fight it's time to call in your big buddy :D.

Rapid Alchemy knack is closer to where his power level is, and would work well i think. Irfan is starting to better understand innate magics rather then just physical reactions and chemistry, he can refine items and build them faster by working all 3 angles at once instead of just the 2. He can prepare the right trick in a very short amount of time, for the right plan.

Astrology is a good option, but I'd like to pick that up in the green sea.

For now I'll take the encase them in flash ice Martial Imposition, Ammonium Nitrate. It builds on the Debuffer/Skill monkey route i'm intending to go.

I think the element breeding would be ideal story-wise if you get back to Wingheld some day. You also don't have to use him for fighting, just to augment your flashbangs. Think of it like carrying a (green) lantern, and wvery time before you throw a grenade you're like, "need some help buddy) and you dip it into the lantern through a special valve to get some of the elemental's essence in it.

I also like the idea of Amateur Arcanist. You (a veritable genious) don't spend all that time among the finest mages in the world (Loki and Hana) without picking up on a few things. Same for the Martial (the Kitsune).

Adding your Int to the alchemy's DC is a great idea.

Astrology in this world isn't as much about the stars influencing the world as it is about the impact the Exalted have on it. I have an in-game reason on why to put some more distance than a usual high fantasy setting between the world and other bodies/planes.

In reply to GM (msg # 253):

I've got off my lazy butt and transcribed

Warren Start -> pong/Storage shed event.

With colored speech text and have it on a text document i'm willing to put up on google and send you via email and/or post to Loki's little creative work app.

I used Left and Right Aligned text to seperate your posts and Warren's in for clearity in cases of conflicting accounts.

17(16 without Legend) pages long and roughly 9.8K words. size 48 KBs

What do you want me to do with it?



P.S.   using the find function for </red> makes coloring large sections easy. Just  shift click the start of speech, hit color, hit find 2x, repeat...  hit 'replace all' with blank input, change to <red> repeat previous step.

I have warren's First sparring match-Tolan fort escape.

It's a bit longer, I I'll need to edit more because (excessive) combat text and spaces piled up, and theres some unneeded guidance OOC text going on.  The paragraph format used on RPOL doesn't translate well so some stuff needs to be moved closer together.

28 pages, 325 paragraphs, 10.5K words atm,  expect to shave 8 pages off and bring it closer to 10k words after removing <red> and other artifacts.

Not all combat text is bad, it can help give the writers a descriptive sense of impact to a good swing that missed or comedy to a awful fumble.

 Traps? Alchemy? Spheres could run off this system.
Scholar materials:

Scholar abilities relating to material impositions, flashbangs, and some knacks at dm's digression consume 1 or more Material point per ability in use.

Combining a explosion ability from a imposition to a flashback would count as at least 2 material points.

A scholar's materials include mainly powders and liquids similar to a chemist's supply closet, along with unique extras based on their specializations.

It should be handle similarly to a well stocked spell component bag, with pieces scatter throughout the scholar's person and bags.

1 Materials point take up 1 pound weight, to synergize the scholars ability to carefully pack and carry loads using Int..

A scholar has no daily limits on usage, but can be restrained by action limits, carrying limits, and time. They should be allowed to restock overnight in the wild to some extent, and easily in most towns or bigger settlements.

Since materials harness inherent magic of substances and things, the scholar can distill many kinds of items to create similar effects, but may find themselves unable to recharge some abilities in specific areas at Sam's choice, or otherwise have abilities limited by mishap or circumstance.

I suggest you make full use of your portable alchemist lab whenever you can. You know me, I'm not a stickler for the rules if you can make it sound plausable, so as long as you can justify having X I'd overlook Y for the sake of Z.

BTW what did you pick as your bonus combat talent/sphere?
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:50, Fri 18 Oct 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 257):

Foam Trap, trap sphere

I may have goofed on alchemy talents known, will check that later.

Ok, Alchemy sphere -> Instant Foam

As a alchemy item it's possible to use it as a trap item, but may require a trap sphere talent to use(or improve) alchemy items in traps.

It's a Thick (burst of) of soap bubbles, that needs to be cut through or muscled through.


Dart traps can substitute dart damage for throwing a alchemy item, and snare traps drop can choose to simply trigger a alchemy item at that location(like a tripwire pulling a gernade pin).

Itching poweder traps, sneezing powder traps, smoke sticks, Alchemy sphere instant foam traps, ect.

Irfan can make some scary itching/sneezing powder with rapid alchemy.

Rapid alchemy knack functions similarly to a portable alchemy kit as far as speed goes, granting the same time reduction as a alchemy kit, without the skill check bonus for a masterwork tool.


Irfan has just been on the run so much he hasn't had a chance to really stock up and arm or expected to need to yet. His strength is less raw damage output and more tricks/debuffs, so the smaller party size is working against him a bit.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Sat 19 Oct 2019.

Can check my spell book over if you want, it's kinda in a beta state, where I think everything relavent is tgere, but it doesn't feel smooth andgameplay will show excess or missing aspects.


Right now Irfan is looking a bit like a 3.5 psionic using a larger power points pool, but with limited ability to recharge or spend multiple points at once.

One quick note, Your way works too.

I'd treats the soldiers and civilians as 2 groups for rolls as you did.

But treat the camels as a attack spell vs cmd based on the trample feat and overrun manuever.

I'd do damaged as a hoove attack based on how many hoove attacks you expected a group to get hit by, and how many camels went into each group.

Your way fits in a odd Path of war way, but it encourages finding environmental attacks a bit much, This was basically a fireball from a 4th level wizard, and it was scattered instead of a directed charge. At practicioner level 3 it would be 3d6, on a good damage scale? Interesting way to scale damage to character lv though, Scholars would reasonably be full practicioners for this, even with poor BaB. (alchemy and traps scale off ranks, scholar abilities off level, practioner level is off BaB 1.5 + 3 Int = 4)

I'd like to think it was reflex to negate since I assume I had 10 camels to work with outside the stables, unless I screwed up and brought down the stables.

Irfan's gonna regret this later, if he gets time to reflect. Right now he's hopefully evened tgmhe odds a bit

Thoughts on saying Irfan take a 1 hour spell prep in the morning to prepare/create/upkeep alchemy sphere formulas, thats basically 4 items right now with rapid alchemy or portable lab, that are good till next morning?

In reply to Irfan (msg # 261
That was the info i needed to move forward.

Horus and the Officer are still on the table, but Hana is in bad shape. I've got about 1 round to act freely.

I need to make a gut check on with face Irfan wants to present now, and how to roll with things. See you in 4 hours.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 262):

Man Open Hand sphere is like candy for Liv, it's got a lot of the stuff i want in there, including reasons to intermix unarmed strikes in with 2 handed strikes.

Unarmed damage causing battered condition, Versatile unarmed strikes + bleed, several trip options. Even gives me the unarmed strike feat by association.

Your expecting that greatsword and get a kick to the leg battering you. Next turn she is matrix dodging past you, but you your footing is still off so you can't AoO, and then she hits you hard where you hard in the back.

Interesting and fitting solution to her thrashing dragon issue, learning to overcome tge weakness Gwain pointed out.

Man, I gatta find the time to post in that thread, ugh. There's a feat that grants you sphere talents in case you don't have enough.

I'd have to double check, Liv has a martial tradition, but a Path of War class i don't think she progresses in sphere talents by default. She'd need 1 to unlock and 2 to spend to be worth it. Not really worth sinking 3 feats, even with training. The free feat is her combat style feat too.

I can worry later.

I think i did good, that minigame cleared out a bunch of 1's from my rng. Irfan aporeciates.

1 word: Training.

Take the feat once then 2 more times through training.

I paused the chase to give you a chance to act/react. I like to think Irfan is moving fast and beating the embargo timer, but didn't want to get carried away since it moving forward is more uncertain, and the challenges finding a exit encounters making it out of the city are kind of in your area of expertise.

It also was a good point for Horus to react or act, or the Kwon to have a plot twist for Irfan.

The switch is good info, but Irfan's in flight or fight mode, so he bas to shove it for later.


-------------

I'll post for Liv, but i was hopping to get a sense of Captain-Crew attitudes for the day.  A lot depends on Hawk deciding to wait in port, and seeing if Djem has any procedural advice.

Liv did just drill everyone for going into town (enmass) so taking time off wokld seem rude.  Hawk having an announcement and putting up shore leave guidelines woukd be a bit cool. We aren't just a DnD party we are part of a organization, so side questing isn't as big a option.

Now a bit of a rumor about round?belly that he  promised someone a boat i think, and now he has a spare rookie naval vessel in port. I can see someone hounding him over it and him passing the headache to us. I think wjoever showing up with signed orders from beer?belly to escort/assist/transport whoever would a  interesting idea.

You also didn't specify Osoana returning last night, which would have been noticable this morning IF she was missing, esp if she didn't show up for food.

I also think if the villagers showed up with a simple sounding request Hawk might take it as the honorable marine think to help out.

It would be intresting to see how Hawke is coping, the letter was routine, He isn't sure how to move forward, and his crew just mildly muntinied. He might think he nedds more discipline or be nervious. Finding a problem for him to solve would be a good reason to check up on those monster rumors with the fisherman.

Hawk is still the captain here, so Liv's habds are tied between making large decisions and walking the walk she just laided down.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:49, Sat 26 Oct 2019.

I felt kinda guilty for neglecting that thread so I was a bit hasty with Liv. In hindsight I have a much better post in mind for when she goes to deliver Hawke his breakfast (which will have to wait till tomorrow cuz I'm exhausted and I have to do the opening tomorrow. Double smoked). Your (or should I say Liv's) personal opinion/suggestion on the matter would still be welcomed. Might sway, reinforce or even inspire a different course of action than the one he had already planned. Plus I prefer to give my players a bigger influence over the story rather than have them be reactive. I mean look at what happened with Irfan. 1 failed survival check way back in the beginning (getting kinda lost, or at least veered off the intended path), failing to pick up on the subtle RP hint/red flag from one of the characters, and you end up in the path of an Exalted. Add another failed piloting check and instead of leaving the encounter unscathed you end up stranded in the desert. And don't even get me started on the current situation. I'll comment more on it once it resolves.

As for the chase, after seeing the big perception check (or if you were using stealth to blend in the background, wait for them to pass you then go back the way you came) I wanted to have the fat merchant do the "pst, pssst" thing and call you over to the secret entrance as gratitude for having Hana step in to save/protect him. In ether case, saving the merchant lowered the DC of finding it. On your own you wouldn't have found it on a 26 roll, at least not while in hot pursuit by a bunch of trained, well-armed murderers (all these things bump up the original DC and so on). I'd also like to point out, all chases have an end goal, a prize if you overcome all obstacles. Right now you're running around blind with no plan, no idea what the next step is, what the "end goal/prize is".

This is completely a tangent, but I also wasn't sure whether to have captain Rasho spot Irfan falling off the camels right after the bang drew his attention, this way giving him a bit more of a personal grudge against him instead of Horus or Hana since he'd put 2 and 2 together and figure out he was to blame for the stampede. Or maybe he'll find out anyway depending on what happens next. We'll see because this whole storyline had taken a much much MUCH more different route than I had anticipated *insert Matt Mercer's "No, that's ok. This is fine." every time his players derail the storyline*


Osoana was not missing from the drill this morning and Liv didn't see her return with the boys, or separately like Kamila had. She performed just as badly on the drills but not because she was hungover but simply because she can't keep up physically with the rest (she's not build like a linebacker the way Kamila is). Her position was earned due to her rare magic prowess.

THe villagers don't even know you are at their disposal. Would you approach a random soldier with a personal request?

Nods, that just it If it did happen, its because either they have a big problem or Liv does. Hence why Liv went to go check in on Hawke quick. It's just hard to make arbitrary decisions right now, Liv has 2-3 plot hooks already from yesterday she could follow up on, but has to make sure things are settled here first, or maybe they aren't settled. Liv's a bit of a problem solver in here own way, if her friends are melancholy she dislikes it. She didn't like pushing everyone yesterday for just blowing off steam, but better her punishment then Hawke's, and she still has a job keeping things in order. Crews best friend, Captain's firm right hand, it's a ackward position.

Perhaps the Villagers have a Drag of a problem the local authorities don't feel like helping with that requires a large ship. These people do look up to the marines don't they, even when the local militia is a bit lazy. Perhaps Liv goes to them looking to cheer Hawke up by playing to his heroic vision.

 Right now I need a bit more to know which direction Liv is going to go in and why. Push and pull with the dm and find a path more interesting then either.

 Irfan just feels hounded by fate ever since encountering the exalted. I've got some brooding pent up for him. He goes his whole life almost dying only once a month, and after that exalted(or kingpriest) he is nearly dying twice a week and constantly on the run. The problem is it's been straight none stop survival and running for his life. Now he has hurt people, a lot of people. Bluntly Irfan is constantly feeling stressed and hunted. A little nudge to remind him he has that exalted scale and he might snap at it.



-----------

In a vacuum Liv will take Djem, or possibly suggest hawke take him, down to redbelly (being super lazy not looking this up) and see if he can be an annoying enough prick to get thibgs moving.

Beerbelly might relate better to kamila though, and he may have something for us but is too lazy to send for us to get it.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Sun 27 Oct 2019.

Regarding Irfan...

Game system aside, I want to know HOW (from a realistic, common sense point of view) do you exactly expect to escape. What's the escape plan at the end of the obstacles because that exist strategy is what determines, in part, the nature of the obstacles. If there is a secret passage to get past the walls around the town, right now you have no idea where it is, how to find it nor it's nature (would it fit a camel? Would you have to go down some steep dark stairs? Would you even have the time to look/activate any special mechanism it may have with the Kwon-Yuu so close? The soldiers from outside should be swarming the town any second now if they're not inside already).

Also, you have 1 camel. Hana is still pretty much out. No, Horus hasn't tied/strapped her to the back of the camel yet, nor has he mounted the camel yet ether (he was kinda falling back because he had to run with Hana in his hand so he reached you just as you tamed/calmed the camel down so that it didn't bolt from you when you approached/touched it). Also note that camels don't make sharp turns very well and being sneaky atop a camel might prove tricky.

If you want me to, I could retcon the fat merchant doing the "pst, pssst" at you to get your attention and call you over as I originally planned.

---

About Liv...

I'm sure you noticed the whole "parent using the child as a tool/project or projecting onto them" has been a kind of side theme in my games. It kinda stems partially from personal life experience, so I guess that's the author's pouring himself into his work right there if you want to look at it that way.

Also, while the analogy and comparison between Kol and Gwain is a good one between, neither are as black and white (gatta love those shades of grey). Both of them have more history and history between them. Kol for example isn't as unfit to lead as you perceive him to be. He had been in the military back in the day, so it's not like he's a pampered noble raised on a cushion all his life and fed with a silver spoon. His failings manifest more prominently elsewhere. Again, you don't yet have the full picture of both of them, but you are close.

And yeah, the eggs are burnt.

So anyway, what exactly are you doing next? Your posts didn't specify.

That is just it I can dream up whatever kind of escape sequence i want for Irfan, but ultimately it's under your control. Throw some navigation or camel obstacles at me, or give me reason to think the Kwon have sealed the town exits.

Irfan's goals includes 1-2 more camels and a rear gate for them to escape out of. Maybe a obstical is making or widening a Wall.

His trust of the sunscorched merchant is not none-existant, but if would be greater if there was eye contact or a wave before he vanished. As it stands he was uninvited and has good  business reasons to hand us over.

Irfan wants to set out on camel back, towards another hopefuly safe town.

He knows Loki will make his way there.

Now wouldn't be the worst time to encounter a new party member either, That could spin the situation. Maybe a simpler pc or a skilled npc class.

In reply to Irfan (msg # 272):

With Liv, I played out a possible future and what i'd kind of like to see play out with sone reasonings.

Liv doesn't make the hard decisions but kind of reacts and guides otherd in their decisions, I'd feel more confident if Hawke as for opinions on matters.

Or you can have Hawke dictate our goal, then give Liv the helm to accomplish it. If we were a free crew and Liv was captain, we would be looking for a job or a heist. Hadke's primary duty should be patroling, but no one on the crew would truely oppose anything honest he decided to do.

Nothing says Hawke didn't pay attention to the villagers yesterday himself. I could see him finding fault in Redvelly's carefree nature, and trying to show him Marine pride by righting the wronged merchant's problem.

Liv will pass the day on the boat relatively uneventfully, and check on Hawke again at a better time to see why he hasn't issued a directive.

There was only 1 apparent entrance and exit to the town and that was the main gate (through which more Kwon-Yuu soldiers poured in). You don't know for sure, but it seems reasonable that a few would remain behind to make sure nobody got out until they can sort out what's happening (remember, they were outside, they don't know what happened. They just know there was a loud boom, then a herd of camels they could see just inside the town ran off, then there were screams).

Irfan did not see a rear gate (like I said in the beginning, it was a simple, small town with a shabby 10ft-ish mud-like wall going all around, most likely for keeping out wild dangerous creatures). He simply speculated that if this town was smuggling something out or importing in from offste that they'd gave a secret way in/out. Or at least whoever's in charge of such an operation would have an escape route for himself (every vip has one, it's just common sense).

As I said, I did originally meant to make it so that the merchant called you over with a "pst psst" and a hand wave, but I played it off a little different because you rolled a high perception. And I did say I could redcon it to where he did call you over.

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That's just it, Hawke isn't stepping up.

No, he didn't really pay that much attention, though I imagine Liv finned him in on what she thought interesting as they made their way to the ship.

Honestly, I don't think he is spending active resources to block me. It feels bad, but his way of blocking me gives me a terrible idea. There really is no fighting him head on, or even really fighting him at all I guess. My 2 remaining options are throw a flash bang and and hope he catches it in front of his face(after all the last 2 broke on impact, not telekinesis).

Even if that happens and he fails his Fortitude save, and becomes staggered for 1d4 rounds. Irfan is probably staggered by wounds.

Horus is down if not out, and Hana is out. That guy is throwing around 3rd level spells like candy. Irfan is 3rd level.

He wants Horus and Hana Alive, He didn't say anything about Irfan, and Irfan tried.

Best bet would be to take the out from the telekinetic throw For something like "you may make a hide check whenever your subjected to a reflex save spell."

I actually did think of that and is exactly how I wanted to write it in the story if Irfan successfully used it. Though in all honesty I though you would've used it back at the start of the conflict instead of using a stampede (didn't saw that coming at all). It was like "DM, are there, like, a lot of animals around, like horses", and I'm like *leaning away uncomfortably, not liking where this is going* 'Well it is a town with a lot of traffic. Mounts would be a must, and if there's demand for anything in Arcania there would be someone who'd supply it so...yeeeees, there are a bunch of camels. You did look for a camel merchant. 'and he'd be near the entrance of the town since that's where most of the business would be taken care of. Incoming merchants wanting to dismount and have their mounts taken care of or discard/sell them for new fresh ones or something so they don't walk around town with large animals in tow, that would just be inconveniant, especially due to the narrow streets...'There's a rukus so he'd be leaning out to see what was going on."
You: "Perfect! Lets throw fireworks in a crowded theater and yell FIRE FIRE! BOMB!"
Me: 'Oh no'

You lamented Rasho's lack of interest in Irfan as it being his death sentence if he caught him, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that same lack of interest is the reason why he couldn't be bothered to perpetuate the pursuit and confirm the kill.

BTW I think there as something similar like that in Spheres of Might. I think it may have been something like riding explosions to propel yourself or something, I dunno, just talking off the top of my head.

On the fly DMing: using half remembered mechanics to the beat of the rule of cool while telling a story by necessity or laziness.


In this case necessity.  if monk can punch hard enough to ring a bell, so can a spellcaster. He just adapted a spell to his fighting style via training, or some other feature.

Telekinetic punch Magus would be awesome.

Similar to incantations I like the idea of spell caster being able to go into cast self destructively in order to bend rules too.

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I can see him grab the third one to throw back, then it going all naruto paper bomb because it's a flashbang instead of a unstable flask.He

Unfortunately. The experience gap is too far, and Irfan scraped by with his teeth again.

It's been a great since his 3.5 and shown up as various class features since. What better time to disappear then the distraction of a explosion or spell.

I feel like I caused enough hassle for the Kwon to have felt like he worked. Got him to bow a few spells and dailies. I think there was no real chance at escape with him on to us, Haha was too big a prize to let go.  She needed to stay back and Horus was just way too unaware(not his fault).



I was honestly looking for something like a cart on a slope, that would bull rush the kwon encircle and create a opening so They could use to escape. A distraction and a disruption. The fact that there were more outside made Irfan panic, he would have chloroform Hana had he know that.

Cm said, no carts but I have these highly dangerous unpredictable things. player says screw it Horus is a literal mind over matter white knight, he can grab a charging horse and save a damsel. Do says Camels charge, surprisingly you only nearly killed everyone but only the unlucky informed died somehow. Duck roller gives it's self the insurance squirrel high five.

Right now Irfan's facing a Similar powe-gap as with Saito/Warren in the sewers. Things are bad all over, but there are silver linings. One is he probably has time since the Kwon should need to rest up, and murdered will want to question and torture Hana. Right now then being in critical condition works in Irfan's favor.

He just needs to get somewhere relatively safe, heal and figure out his next step. For tonight. The Kwon don't seem to be much of a individual threats though he suspects there's a few good leaders mixed in. This guy is a monster compared to Irfan, flash back to playing 'kick the Irfan' It's no fun once you stop reacting. The good news is monsters still sleep right? What mean muhahaha?



Also it was more of daisy chain some fireworks in people's pockets and yell nothing. Not sure if that is better or worse

Ever seen the Despoiled Spell metamagic feat? Lowers the spell slot cost but does 2 Con dmg which can't be healed until the expended spell slot is recovered. I think there was a bloodmagic feat that did something similar as well (boosts CL by taking dmg), and there's that Blood Money swift spell (instead of paying gp for material component spells you take 1 Con dmg per 500gp or something like that).

Incantations simply take this to the next level because all incantations are, by definition, ritual spells without the tried, tested and safety features ingrained in an actual ritual spell (think of it like summoning a demon without a protection from evil inscribed beforehand). It's like comparing a gun to somebody shoving gunpowder in a narrow tube, putting a diamondrock at the end, then heating the rear end on an open fire (just like captain Kirk did in the original Star Trek against that slow lizard monster thing).

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It wasn't impossible to escape from him. But like I said earlier, it would have required some really REALLY good rolls on your part (and probably more than a few bad ones on his part), but the possibility was there. "The sun would have to sunrise out of your ass" as we say in my country (Which basically means having the Devil's Luck).

Sorry, it's a desert town. Not a lot of slopes in deserts except sand dunes, and they'd clear those out when making a city.

Ah yes, the Saito vs Warren scuffle. Saito had the field advantage but also the brains advantage as Warren tried to head-through-a-wall things as always. Took 1 bad acrobatics roll on his part (when jumping the gap) to fuck it up for him.

This guy is an experienced military veteran (you'll find out even more later. Remind you of something/someone from the Warren game?). You may have worthless bloat climbing up the ranks during peace time Rumblebelly, but not during war. And the Kwon were at war with the Alliance until just very recently. Irfan is just a pencil pusher (a very smart one, but still just a desk jockey) who only just recently decided to travel the world. He's like Twoflower (the world's 1st tourist) from Terry Prattchet's Diskworld series. They are simply not in the same league.

Anyway I'll post more tonight.

I'd just like to point out, and this is meta knowledge as well as a setting feature, but the Exalted are, for all intents and purposes, as far as anyone knows the source of magic in the world. You will notice each Exalted as a sphere of magic associated with him (Weather, Nature, Life, Death, Light, Darkness, Fate, War ect...).

If you look more closely you will notice 4 spheres are missing however (Space, Time, Creation and Destruction). Can you destroy something with fire or lightning? Sure. But that is not the same as the absence of existence.

Now Irfan is no expert on magical theory so he doesn't know any of this, but he certainly has never heard of teleportation magic or countries/rulers/societies using anything like it (just think about how that would affect the nature of commerce and war!). Even kingpriests (as far as he knows, and he knows a lot) have to physically travel from point A to point B. They might do it very quickly with magical flying, but they have to bow before the laws of the world all the same. Also, Hana didn't create water out of nothing, she merely gathered the moisture in the air from a larger area into 1 spot (he would have asked her at some point about this and she would have explained it. Probably what inspired the foam and/or freeze grenade).

He assumed the Kwon-Yuu would travel by boat, but knowing a thing or two about sailing and sea stories, he's never heard the phrase "jump to somewhere" used before. Not in sailing, not with skimmers or horseback, not with any mode of transportation. Simply put, nobody says that (again, keep in mind he has no concept of "teleportation").

I have mentioned on more than 1 occasion than when Ironia encountered the Kwon-Yuu they wre caught off guard by how different they were. You kept thinking I was referring to them being more advanced technologically, and I kept telling you that's not the case. Now you know (partially) why.

In reply to GM (msg # 279):

You've pointed translation magic is in play (relatively late) sojump is one of the least suspect things said.

 The use of other side and a reference to lunar positioning stood out to me.

Almost as if there was some gate however the context is assumed. Irfan could assume there is a unusual barrier or wall, but besides the player brain going "otherside of the pond" and space time, the only clue Irfan has is cursed roadways which could be a translation of what they call it or what he knows it has.

Irfan was give a time frame and the knowedge of where he could find this group.

My player brain immediatly though of something like Etheral jaunt, go to the etheral plane and travel miles, but that would be advanced magic.

The closest Irgan could imagine jump to related as travel, is the incredible Hulk, which is incredulous.


I hadn't broken down the spheres element, magic generally overides some and uses other laws of physics to create a outcome.

Create water generally opens a portal to the plane if water, rather then transmutes it I read right.

Now Golden sun Psi energy evaporates, sublimates, and condensates waters.  Should I be looking at magic as psi energy in your game if your familiar with it?

Mickname wise i may not have read through it carefully, but i have the mental image of a Nazi SS crone, necromancer pale, slightly bald, old but more stern then frail, that only smiles when sadistic, and has a  unearthly chill to him, the OMG WHAT IS THAT DARK spot by my door in the middle of the night feeling, where you forgot you just threw your jacket whebn you came home.


Well thats bad for Horus and good for Irfan. Now that *Mendola* has his information he will think Horus useless, leaving him to bleed out, costing him a leverage too with Hana and giving Irfan another Tool to rescue her with.


There's a Stronger Sicker man by this guys standards?

The dice tell their own stories, it's fu  when you reroll the same thing 3 times in a row when no one wants the first outcome. The dice literally are the third teller of the story, the organic element.