At the Adventurers' Table: Chapter Twelve

[Purr]

Just look at this Brendoran and Luna teamwork going on here! It's like you're an established fellowship of characters willing to lend each other a helping hand or something! How cool! =)

Because of Luna, I'm going to add a bonus to Bren's attempt to convince Bria!

EDIT: That's called a Circumstance bonus of +2! =)

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus Hey, Cap'n? Did you want Otiorin to act before I posted? =)

 

[Psychie]

Just look at this Brendoran and Luna teamwork going on here! It's like you're an established fellowship of characters willing to lend each other a helping hand or something! How cool! =)

Because of Luna, I'm going to add a bonus to Bren's attempt to convince Bria!

EDIT: That's called a Circumstance bonus of +2! =)

Lets just hope that the dice are feeling generous today. I can just imagine the fun of a '1' rolled right about now....

 

[Psychie]

I forget; do we have Action Points in the Playtest version of this?

 

[Purr]

Nope! Instead you have Hero Points. =)

 

[Kaerri]

Note to self: check to see if there's more replies on the next page so you don't miss alerts..

 

[Purr]

Heya Gang!

Life has been busy and good, but still busy. I hope to post today. =)

 

[Purr]

"If I had my bow, it could provide us with all the light we could need, but I don't know where it is right now."

Psychie My pardon for not having been more clear about this - as Bren stated earlier, all of your characters are aware that your races, character classes, and gear have been swapped with someone else in your team.

And if by chance Oreleth missed that, she would certainly recognize her own breastplate and bow now on Otiorin, however altered they would be to fit him, just as certainly as when he earlier recognized his beloved sword, the Moonlit Edge, on your character (see in-game post #23). =)

Feel free to edit your post if you feel it would benefit you. =)

 

[Psychie]

Oh! Ok, I misunderstood. Must have been a blonde moment.

 

[Psychie]

I went ahead and changed the post a bit.

 

[Purr]

"Bria Goodheart, on my devotion to Mielikki and my hope of becoming her paladin once more, I, Brendoran Sarabina, son of Killane Sarabina of Summerset, do hereby swear to commit no evil acts."

Big surprise! Total plot twist there! Who could have guessed that Bren would swear to do nothing evil? Wow! Is anyone else in shock here? (Hee hee!) =)

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

Ah, so it's not just my monitor? It actually says that, wow... I kept refreshing the page, waiting for Dann to fix what appeared to be a major typo! *woof*

 

[Purr]

Ha ha ha ha! 8D

 

[Purr]

And Brendoran returns the favor to Luna with his own words! Luna gains a +2 Circumstance bonus to her already-high roll!

Nice teamwork, Gang. I recommend you keep it up. =)

 

[Purr]

Great writing, Wolf! I love your descriptions of emotions there. =)

A little Shop Talk here - without a post for Otiorin to activate the Light on Command function of the Moonlit Edge, I think it's only fair to say that Oreleth's bow is "lit."

Also, I believe low-light vision is used automatically by creatures who have it. In other words, unlike darkvision, I don't think you have to declare the use of low-light vision. With this in mind, I feel comfortable showing you in game what Otiorin and Oreleth see.

Any questions?

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

No questions.

Heh, I do strive to write accurately. The challenge is to allow others to perceive your character's inner workings without explicitly writing down their thoughts in italic. That's cheating. If, and only if, what is going on with your character is visible from the outside, to some extent, it's up to you as a writer to put those clues there in the form of adequate portrayal.

Now, assuming no one stops Nivirea, she's going to walk as far as where it becomes too dark to see, at which point she'll remember to ransack her (now all too logical) mind for ways to light the way *woof*

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Sorry, night shifts are slowly sapping the meaning out of my life. I'm good now.

Captain Hesperus

 

[Psychie]

At this point, Oreleth doesn't know that anyone else's weapon can light up on command like her bow can, so she wouldn't think to ask Oriortin about which one of his weapons have that power.

EDIT I just saw the IC post where he tells me about it. Nevermind!

 

[Purr]

"Merciful Corellon! This one was bigger than Vardadraug!", he said in an awed whisper,

Vardadraug is a wolf. Even baby dragons are larger than full-grown wolves. This Gargantuan-sized skeleton is one size category larger than the Craven - and that damned pyro-hydra was Huge! You may be thinking of the silver dragon you met - Koshianth. But she's as big as beasts get at Colossal! =)

Otiorin only half-heard Oroleth's word of instruction regarding the bow. He already knew the words and actions required to cause it to glow.

To clarify - magic items sometimes have "command words" or "command phrases" in order to activate their powers. These can be anything the crafter decides. However, just because two weapons have the Light on Command power, the chances of them having the same command word or phrase is extremely unlikely. The Moonlit Edge is a Gray Elf short sword while Oreleth's enchanted bow might be Wood Elven, or given her travels, orcish, gnomish, centaur, you name it!

Indeed, Otiorin knows how to use Oreleth's bow without her having to tell him. The same goes for Oreleth and the Moonlit Edge.

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

I apologize in advance for the way-too-detailed analysis, or if I misunderstood something, but...

According to Dannigan, Otiorin and Oreleth have gone a minimum distance of 650 ft through an uneven, winding tunnel before reaching the chasm and bridge where they are now. Through complete darkness (beyond the first 100 feet). The average walking speed for a young person is about 5 ft/s, so under such difficult conditions you'd be lucky to get half of that - let's round down to 2 ft/s, which I still consider rather generous. Given the distance, it took them an absolute minimum of 5 minutes to reach the bridge.

Meanwhile, Nivirea only started out from the campfire when the two of them were already at the bridge... So 5 minutes later. How is she already there?

- First of all, the very real possibility remains that she was delayed by Bren, Luna, or even Bria, which would add more time (if someone or something hasn't made her change her mind altogether). Those people haven't posted yet.​

​

- Assuming nothing of the sort happened, I still expected Dann to stop me with a post about Nivirea reaching the edge of the darkness, at which point she'd have to see if and how she could light the way for herself. I mean, not only would that be in Dannigan's character, so to speak - but if it didn't happen, it would mean skipping the first chance for me to actually cast a spell in this game - after many months of not casting a single noteworthy spell as my original class, now I don't even get to cast spells as a different class ​

​

- Next, even if we ignore the first two things, by acknowledging Nivirea's presence so soon we automatically establish that Otiorin and Oreleth have been so completely and utterly amazed by the dragon's remains that they stood there stunned for a full 5 minutes until Nivirea finally caught up with them. Bonus argument: It's more than likely that it would take Nivirea even longer to navigate the caves, since she has none of Otiorin and Oreleth's stealth ability nor experience in such situations (she's a spoiled 21 year old maiden from a noble house in Summerset, doh ).​

​

And while we're being quasi-realistic, if Oreleth's bow only provides light for up to 20 feet away, how are they even able to make out the whole chamber, dragon and light-swallowing gorge included? (even accounting for an additional 20 feet owing to their low-light vision ability) Unless there actually is light coming from the outside, as shown on the image?

Okay, this last bit is probably too much. But I definitely move that Nivirea hasn't caught up with Otiorin and Oreleth yet, and isn't going to, until they've spent 5 minutes without making any progress somewhere.

Wolfalysis complete *woof*

 

[Purr]

Wolf Rawrrr Good thoughts! Thanks for sharing your thoughts here with everyone! This is one element that makes tabletop gaming so special - everyone is right there to ask, team up with, disagree, and have fun with!

In text? I can't tell what any of you are thinking unless you tell me. So, when in doubt, share here! =)

Some "mental meanderings" if you will from your Friendly Neighborhood Dungeon Master. =)

1. I think Cap'n and Psychie were giving Nivirea a friendly welcome with their characters as a way to get her into the scene. Harmless and well-meaning for the sake including a fellow player ("That's you, silly goof!" says Bria the Healer to Wolf in my hyper-head).

2. In Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest, Nivrea can move at 35 feet per round (in part because she is wearing Luna's Boots of Striding and Springing; these add 10 feet per round). The way the game sees it, if Nivirea can see/has light (which she does not but Otiorin and Oreleth do along with their elven-granted low-light vision), then Nivirea can, even going carefully, be at the bridge in just less than 20 rounds. Doing a little math here, 20 rounds (each lasting 6 seconds) means Nivirea can get there in only two minutes. But... only if she can see.

3. Nivirea's trusty magical kunai with Light on Command is not on Nivirea, of course, but Luna (who, with her new Intelligence score and given the rarity of the kunai in the "western" continent of Averlund, probably thinks the kunai is some strange kind of sharp climbing instrument instead of what it really is).

So, both Cap'n and Psychie jumped the gun (crossbow?) a little. I say, no worries! This is small stuff (which wise people don't sweat). If, say, you had provided Nivirea with a reasonable light source in your next post and proceeded, I could have been convinced to continue the scene. Not because its accurate, but because it doesn't bend the rules so far as to get in the way of fairness, and their getting together promotes fun. My favorite RP ingredients! But... as it stands (fairness speaks!), I do need to know how Nivirea is using her non-fey-blooded peepers before she gets to the bridge and meets up with her fellow party members. Maybe... with the help of a wizardly cantrip? =)

4. Re: Stunned "argument." As your DM, I tend to forego realism and accuracy as long as the spirit of the game is kept and my own way of DMing is not compromised. Besides, we are not in combat or something equally heavy - you're in Exploration Mode (which gives more freedom than Encounter Mode). Plus, we're all new to PF 2.0 Playtest. I'm willing to roll with a lot.

5. Re: Light source. Yes, there is. You may have noticed I chose to describe the bridge without words, but with an excellent piece of artwork from a talented artist. Oreleth and Otiorin see precisely what is in that artwork (save for what I listed in the spoiler, of course), illumination included.

6. Above all, and for as long as we play in Sharseya, everyone remember the spirit of the game! It's the most important part of any roleplaying game! Most any practiced Dungeon Master will probably agree that as long as the fun is there to excite the imagination and the fairness is there to balance out the world, then the campaign you're in is worthwhile. Ask questions. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it. DMs are guides after all.

And have no worries, Detective Wolf! There will be plenty of times during this playtest where I will need all of you to supply accurate, reasonable information when I need it (like how Nivirea is intending to see). And because this is a text-based game (and not tabletop), there will also be times when I go by characters' intentions as you write them. That way, I'm bogging down the game asking small things. So, read and write carefully, everyone!

And this is where I kindly and well-meaningly poke Psychie . =)

Oreleth doesn't say anything about the sword having the same power to glow as her bow; instead, she just gives the silent command to make the light to have the resulting illumination join that of Otiorin.

(bold mine)

As I explained both in-game and my OOC post just yesterday, those weapons your characters have with Light on Command use command words to function. They cannot be activated silently. Just pointing it out!. =)

One more thing, Gang - and this is important - when in doubt, ask me. =) If you want to know how long it will take your character to get from A to B, or if you need clarification on how magical items work (they don't all work the same!), I am your Dungeon Master for good reason. =)

 

[Kaerri]

I must admit, when I saw people reacting to Nivirea arriving at the bridge so soon, my first thought was "Well, there goes our chance of trying to stop Nivirea from leaving, since she's already assumed to be elsewhere by now." I figured I'd just change the plans I'd had for my post from actions to thoughts, but from what Dann says it sounds like she isn't there yet after all? Not sure what Bren can react to at this point.

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

The simplest fix at this point would be for Captain and Psychie (who probably jumped the gun only because Captain did it first?) to edit their posts to exclude all mention of Nivirea. Bren and the others deserve a chance to respond, and even if the truth of all the wolfalysis lies somewhere between the confines of reality and the gamescape of Pathfinder 2.0, I believe she still definitely couldn't have gotten there yet *woof*

 

[Psychie]

I'll edit my post now.

 

[Purr]

O.K., Psychie. I can roll that way too. Since this is largely PC interaction, I'm willing to go with whichever way you want. =)