In reply to Kirpich Rockson (msg # 737):

To simplify things: mystic mark reduces the distance/familiarity penalties on Seeker, making it easier to track a person or thing with the mark. The marks can fade over time' but less so if physically inscribed.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 738):

Reanna, who was probably looking at one, has no magical inclination to recognize them. But as a thief, she is probably aware of such magic...and hence leaves the box behind because she recognizes it has been marked, without comprehension of how the magics work.

No Thaumatology?

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 740):

Oh, come on. Not ALL of my characters have Theumatology! Only 5/14, to be exact, not including the animal/elemental allies.

Heh, 3/6 for me and one of them is actually a Wizard.  Okay, a witch (Wizard/Druid) but she's mostly Wizard....

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 742):

Heh, I only have Gareth, Sederic (Who I inherited), Aine, Christine and Clarence. I actually have more with Theology (6, 2 of which I inherited, 1 is an Ally. Well, Clarence is kind of an Ally too. Not really a stand-alone character...Aine, who is built on half the points, probably does more things better. Hograth has Theology, but does not use it for spells).

Only Anita and Reanna are Mundane...both thieves. Oh, and Chris (Golem), Chunky and Crispin (Elementals), Bear and Anaconda (Animals)...but I don't really control them. They are my pals!

Don't really go for the Heavy DR types...the lack of ability to dodge kind of scares me. Even Hograth only has DR4, and that is magically lightened. I mean, with 60 lbs of plate for DR6 for a human sized critter, and a bodkin bolt doing 1d6+3(2), you are still going to cop 1d6 pi from your average crossbow, and most will be at medium encumbrance. Is it really worth it? Jednessa just goes for bulletproof nudity! Thoughts, fighter types?

That's what I'll be struggling with with Stenet as soon as his armor gets out of the shop.  At DR 7 and 60 pounds of Plate he'll be my second highest DR, but most heavily armored character.  His Dodge drops to a 7... but he (like Jednesa) really doesn't use Dodge (it's already an 8), he relies on Block and Parry and his current 4/3 DR.  And I'll probably put 3 exp into Dwarven Tough Skin Dr and push him up to DR 8.  From there it's going to require more money...

Of course, of my 6 characters no one else exceeds DR 4.  Jareth and Ülo have very expensive Hvy Leather (DR 4 and 3 respectively), Benny and Dilandua have light leather (DR 1)...  But sadly of all them only Dilandua uses Dodge, and Dilandua's parry is so great, Dodge is a fallback (but 11 is a really nice number to fallback to).

Benny just relies on prayer... and hopefully never really getting into fights.  But he's an ex-merchant turned Saint, so (like Jareth, and Ülo) he just really needs to avoid combat.

Jareth just needs to stop rushing head-on into situations he is completely incapable of being useful in.  But then the word "cautious" isn't listed anywhere on his character sheet...



Actually...  I eschewed Bulletproof Nudity for a couple of reasons... 1 - I find it slightly too cheesy for my taste*, 2 it would have been more expensive than just buying up more DR or Dodge.  Remember that optional rule buy in requires Attractive Appearance or better and Jednesa is Hideous†.

No Jednesa relies on very impressive 'naked' DR (10/12 Tough Skin Everything/Crushing) and being a mountain of meat (HP 30).  She fears eye-shots and Wights.  Yes, even dumb as rocks ogresses can learn to fear something that ignores all their defenses and drops them in three hits!


So back to your question... Jednesa tends to fight like a berserker, because she can (and she occasionally goes berserk); Stenet is cautious, often going for regular Attack Manuevers or Committed or Defensive attacks to keep his defenses available (or bonused) while still getting attacks; Dilandua will only All-Out-Attack as a fight ender, otherwise they will keep those Parries and Dodges handy (low, low DR and almost no HP); and the other three should be fighting defensively, or (preferably) from a distance (Ülo has ranged spells, Benny and Jareth have only have situational usefulness in combat).

Stenets biggest weakness (IMO) is his very, very low Move.  It starts at 5, but drops to 3 with his heavy armor.  That means he's not (my preferred combat style) a skirmisher, he's a line anchor.  Inversely both Jednesa and Dilandua are designed to skirmish (move 8 and 11 respectively) and are meant to move in response and deal with break-out threats, or charge past the line and engage leaders/casters/etc in the enemy's rear (or flank and force the enemy to deal with multiple engagements).  Granted, high Move (especially 11+) isn't really often useful in PbP games, not only due to diminished tactical mapping, but due to facing mostly skirmishing foes.  It's rare we face foes that try to move as a line or engage as a block (the battle outside the Abbey gates might the first I've seen here, where a superior numbered force was arrayed in battle lines... and due to our group make-up we laughed all over those lines and decimated them).



* Though admittedly in a regular "Orc and Pie"/"Back To The Dungeon" style DF game, I'd think it was just fine.  The cost is born in requiring an Advantage that is usually useless, Attractive Appearance.  So for most Barbarians (and other non-Social types), it's perfectly fine.  For Bards or Swashbucklers I'd feel it was too cheesy.  Now I'm contemplating an Elven Barbarian who survives on Dodge, Beefcake Protection (Bulletproof Nudity for DFD:Barbarians), and Flesh Wounds...  Fozzio Lanboni, and unlike the namesake (Fabio) give him no actual social skills... okay, maybe Public Speaking (Puns)...

† And as a rarity, most of my Characters here are monsters...  4 out of 6!  Jednesa and Ülo in the traditional sense (though Jednesa is good-natured and Ülo knows better than to start shit she can't finish... generally, though put her in a room with Christine and there will be some hair pulling (at the minimum)); where Dilandua is a highly ethical sociopath (Callous + Bloodlust + Code of Bushido) and Jareth is now a Cultist of the Elder Things (while he's not really a 'bad guy' and has no compulsion or disad requirements to use his new powers, he really doesn't know what the drawbacks are yet, so he has no reason not to use Cultist 'spells').

Woops.  Hope Mario doesn't twig to that...

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 745):

I don't think Clarence is bright enough to realize that...or what to do if he did. IQ of 11, but somehow is is not really practical IQ.

DR 10 tough skin for Jednessa? How did you manage that? I could not get the GM to agree to more than DR 6 for a Golem with inbuilt plate, though originally he was designed with DR8 or 10 (I can't remember now). He is much harder to heal than Jednessa...

Specific power-ups for Ogres and Barbarians (Ogres can have up to DR 3 (Tough Skin), Barbarians up to DR 2/4* (Tough Skin, Everything/Crushing), the Shirtless Savage Lens allows up to DR 5 (Tough Skin, Cannot Stack With Armor)).  So some of it doesn't stack with armor, so even if she ever bought armor whatever is armored loses 5 points of her 'native' DR, so she has to buy Plate if she buys anything... and armor costs 5 times and weighs 6 times as much for her, so that Plate is stupidly beyond her means to buy or even carry†.  (I have contemplated a Plate helm and gauntlets...  that's just over 5k$ and is actually still pretty light, slap a few enchants on them and she'd still be at No Encumbrance)



* So most Ogre Barbarians are probably rockin around DR 5 (Tough Skin) before whatever garbage DR their Hide Coat or Bearskin Cape brings to the party (if they're wearing anything at all).  Note, Dwarven Barbarians can rock all the way up to DR 9/11 (4/6 if not being all Shirtless).  Now I'm thinking about recreating a Dwarven Beerserker I once played in D&D who had a penchant for taking his kilt off at the start of fights...

Aw man, what was his name? [digs through old character sheets...] Aha!  Garrison Page.  He wore a pot helm, heavy manica on the right arm, plate forearm on the left, a brigandine kilt, plate boots, and fought using a pair of heavy ulu (punch axes).  (But no, just like with Fozzio Lanboni, I've already got a Barbarian.  So they get shelved.)

† Okay... that's not exactly true.  A full suit of Jednesa sized Plate weighs 300 pounds and would put her at Medium encumbered.  It's that price that's a crusher at 37.5K$.  She could get an Ironskin Amulet for less than that!  (Which is what she's saving for)

It's probably about the same normally...

Jednesa has MR+3 and SM+2, so spells cost 3 times as much and are at -3.  Her native resistance to Potions means Heal Pots are basically a no go (unless you're willing to waste a bunch in an emergency hoping I roll 17 or 18).  Right now our group has an indulgence of healers*, otherwise Jednesa would be in Chris' boat, one healer who may be busy doing something else very important right now (and if I remember correctly you're using the Repair spell on Chris, so it's pretty damned costly and not a combat viable spell).

Okay, Jednesa can use Healing Stones, I should invest in a handful for her for emergencies.


* I mean seriously, four healers.  We are swimming in healing.  It's practically criminal that any of us should go about at anything less than full HP...

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 747):

Well, yeah, but Emma has the Huge Healing double Perk (Major healing only), for 2 points, which enables her to heal Jednessa like anyone else.

Christine has the Minor Healing (Golems Only) spell specifically for healing Chris, so it is much of a muchness, but she has to spend twice as much to heal him as Major Healing would allow.

But yes, we do have probably the best party for rapid recovery in Northport!

Aw yeeeeeees!  So no need to worry about crippling the healers anymore, it's full bore 'zerker mode now!



(I kid, Jednesa only rarely 'zerks.)

In reply to Jednesa (msg # 749):

Lol, isn't she 'zerking now?

Unless you can recognize he's not actually using magic to cast his new found "spells"... I think we're both safe.  As far as I can tell Nodwin knows 'something' is up*, so group wise, unless someone asks Jareth how he's suddenly casting spells when he's said he has no "magic"... (but then Ymid did do something to Jareth's thinky bits, so feel free to invent whatever wild excuses you want)


* Jareth suddenly became Excommunicated sometime between Ymid showing him how to operate the Bone Gate and him 'casting' Seek Gate to find the Devil's Pawn Shoppe, and as a divine caster Nodwin gets a twig on that (and right now I can't remember if we told Nodwin's Player or not, but I'm pretty sure he already knew something was up).  I say "sometime" because it took a few months of back and forthing between me and gwythaint to figure out how he wanted to work Cultist Powers, and we eventually settled on "Just do it like Cultist of the Elder Thing in Pyramid 3/43" since it did basically everything he wanted and already had a spell list, and has Excommunicated as a requirement for it's Power Investiture.  And I added a new spell list† for Jareth's 'Patron', so, you could say Jareth has basically become a Warlock from D&D without the kewl 'constant' blasty power.

† Actual Gate and Knowledgeing 'spells'.  The Cultist list is all telepathy and TK and making people's heads explode.  Not really Jareth's cuppa tea.  Though telepathy might be useful.  Scary telepathy...

Actually no.  She made her Berserk roll at the start of combat and hasn't taken any damage, so hasn't needed to check since.  If she were berserk she wouldn't be trying to choke it out, she'd have already ripped two heads off (possibly all three) as that's a whole lot faster (and safer)...

Her plan was to pin it and squeeze it till it passed out.  The pinning was so it couldn't swipe anyone else (or get a lucky crit on her).  The choke is because she's still trying to not kill it.

I mean it's a big kitty cat and we have a Druidess (I'm pretty sure we have a druidess), so that means Three-headed Kitty friend!  Just the right size for Jednesa to play with!


You gotta see the long play here.  ;)

In reply to Jednesa (msg # 752):

Oh, of course! Jednessa is only SM +2, right? That should mean she is the same as SM ) for Major Healing only.

But how are we going to convince kitty to play nice? Especially as her friend is quietly cooking in the background now? Well, unconscious due to fire damage no-one has put out...

Ah, here is that perk...

Huge Subjects†‡
You’re accustomed to casting a particular Regular spell on larger-than-human-sized targets. This perk is common among dragon wizards, giant mages, and so on! You must specialize by spell. When casting that spell, subtract one from the target’s SM (minimum SM 0) before multiplying cost. You may take this perk twice, to reduce SM by two, but no more.

In reply to Emma Wilson (msg # 753):

The issue with Chris 's DR is that he is costed out as equipment rather than an ally with points.


Back next week all!

In reply to Narrator (msg # 754):

Ah, so it was how he was paid for, rather than what he is. How many points would he cost as an Ally instead? Is it possible to change him across? I cannot remember the logic we discussed at his creation, nor whether it still applies with the changes since then.

Balir is rocking the tough skin and heavy mail for DR 7/5.  He's a typical dwarf, through and through, including an excellent shield block.  Very stout, hard to hit, does very good axe damage, and I gave him the Power Grappling perk to make him a mini-Jednessa.

Goran is much the same, although he's a priest wearing mail with a morning star and shield.  I would have done him differently, but he's inherited, like many of the characters have been.

Haveron is using the 2-H sword with mostly Scale.  He's way more offensive than defensive, but he also has plenty of beef around him.  Focus is more on leadership and making himself a mercenary company, so he's content to have good people.

Alchemist McNealy is more jack-of-all-trades than he is straight healer.  He's somewhat undone yet because we really haven't finished the alchemist stuff.  He has a list of what he is carrying, but I think he should be able to gadget potions way faster than he has.  That said, the GM has enough to do and he's functioning well enough so I haven't pushed it.  In the giant scheme of things, it's not critical.

Jareth picked the right priest to adventure with.  Nodwin has curious, weirdness magnet, and broad minded as a trio.  As long as Jareth isn't being evil, he might not react as strongly as others.  He's also noted to be quite young, meaning he isn't really as rigid as older priests would be.  It may be that I have played him more flexibly than he should be at this point.  I either did not know or did not track the excommunicated bit.  When the GM gets back I'll need to remember to ask if he would care about it.  He's wearing a hodge-podge of chain and leather but most of it has been enchanted, so he isn't overly encumbered.

Hey, need to pull on your collective experience for a couple minutes.

I have a buddy running a ShadowRun game.  It's slow because he's in school, mostly playing because we have been personal friends on and off for a longish time.

My character in the game just branched out into Rigging, which is to say operating drones.  Ultra Tech has like a couple paragraphs, but handles them more like characters you would buy with points.  We're looking to use them like equipment, so buying them with cash.  Is there a good book for this sort of thing?  I probably ought to know, but I'm much more on the consumer side of things, and have mostly done fantasy.

Appreciate any pointers you have.

In reply to Balir Ironhide (msg # 757):

So the Shadowrun game is run using the GURPs system? GURPs Bio-Tech or Ultra-Tech would be my Goto GURPs books, though there is a fan Shadowrun GURPs book as well. But if he is using Shadowrun, I would have to ask which version...I only have 2 and 4, and they are both old now!

I would look at using drones in Ultra-Tech. They can be either gear or allies, depending on software...or AI. Ultratech has heaps or Robots...they need to be coupled with a computer brain and software though, and that is where the price gets scary!

Okay, two questions, are you asking for a good book for drones/robots stated as gear?  Or for rules on drone usage?

Though, I'll be honest, upon reflection my answer isn't likely to change.  The only GURPS books I can think of that fit either question (regardless of answer) are Transhuman Space and Reign of Steel.  Though Reign of Steel less so, I'd just stick with TS (unless you have RoS already).

If you want I can skim my TS books and see which ones would be good for equipment cribbing.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 759):

Checking in, may be adding a new player, a barbarian orc priest

In reply to Narrator (msg # 760):

Cool. Which thread?

I'm looking for drones as gear, meaning purchase price.  And yes in GURPs.

GURPs Ultra Tech mostly does character points for cyborg chassis.  I didn't see where it had much equipment for purchase, and it didn't do drones as we are accustomed to seeing these days.  That's mostly how the GM has been running it.

The ShadowRun book might be worth reading eve if it's just a fan base, just to learn the ropes.

If the other books have any good recommendations, please let me know.  Just a good brief set of guidelines would be worthwhile.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:27, Sun 18 Oct 2020.