Odds and ends

[Anastasia]

Re: Neve. I'm leaning towards Song of the Heart, but if you really want snowflake wardance I'll go along with that too. Lemme know which you prefer.

[Anastasia]

Yuria returns from the Well of Souls. Yay!

Lyris and Marianne have been posted. If you aren't aware, their racial powers are callbacks to Balmuria 1. Blame Alicia'n'Seira.

[Merc]

Sheet change summary for Whurric for level-up & reincarnation:
-Lose all dwarf racials (primary change: lose 2 con, gain 2 cha, lose darkvision)
-Gain some human racials (speed went up, gain bonus feat, but assuming not the extra skill points)

-Picked up Streetfighter from Barbarian 7 (Damage Reduction ACF from cityscape web)
-Gain 1 essentia from Incarnate 8, and can use IR 2/day now.

-Saves for barbarian/incarnate leveling go up by Fort+1, Will+1 (fort also went down 1 from drop in Con though). Net result: Will+1.
-Picked Toughness as human bonus feat, so HP didn't go down from con drop.
-Putting lv 8 ability point into Con for Con 17.

-Trading Combat Reflexes feat (might as well get something else, I've made zero AoOs, really) for Skill Focus [Intimidate] (Because Hatbot is just a hatebot).
-Switched around some of my 'default' soulmelds.

Didn't get any loot besides glass statue, so no changes to wealth and no reason to buy anything just yet either.

[Corwin]

Re: Neve. I'm leaning towards Song of the Heart, but if you really want snowflake wardance I'll go along with that too. Lemme know which you prefer.

Pick what you like. My reasoning for both was what it was, along with an attempt to take Neve in a sufficiently different direction from V-chan. What I really care about, anyway, is her not being forgotten (literally forgotten, in group scenes, how everyone gathers except her) and... doing stuff. Talking. Whichever. She started opinionated and proud and quickly went really passive and invisible.

[Corwin]

I would like to ask that Neve and I pick a day and disguise ourselves while going out in Balmuria and blow all her castings on Heroism on one single task. Gather Information: Aaeru.

My check is +19, taking 10 it's 29, with Heroism it becomes 31. If Neve aids successfully, 33.

[Corwin]

I'd want to trade in my Arcane Strike for something like http://dnd.savannahsoft.eu/feat-2556-shadow-blade.html or a melee Deadeye if this is possible. Did you have time to consider it, Dune? I asked before but it presumably got lost in the Senaril stuff.

[Anastasia]

Re: Neve. I'm leaning towards Song of the Heart, but if you really want snowflake wardance I'll go along with that too. Lemme know which you prefer.

Pick what you like. My reasoning for both was what it was, along with an attempt to take Neve in a sufficiently different direction from V-chan. What I really care about, anyway, is her not being forgotten (literally forgotten, in group scenes, how everyone gathers except her) and... doing stuff. Talking. Whichever. She started opinionated and proud and quickly went really passive and invisible.

Okay, went with Song of the Heart. Will be picking up some gear shortly.

[Corwin]

Okay, went with Song of the Heart. Will be picking up some gear shortly.

Can't go wrong with mithral breastplate, right?

[Anastasia]

I would like to ask that Neve and I pick a day and disguise ourselves while going out in Balmuria and blow all her castings on Heroism on one single task. Gather Information: Aaeru.

My check is +19, taking 10 it's 29, with Heroism it becomes 31. If Neve aids successfully, 33.

> roll 1d20+4 Neveril aids
* Hatbot --> "Ko-Canadaisalie rolls 1d20+4 Neveril aids and gets 11." [1d20=7]

1. Aaeru is a crazy monk. She lives in the wilds and runs around using magic to clean herself.

2. I heard of that Aaeru! I heard she wrestled a bear down and won! Better wrestler than a bear! I hear she works for a candy shop or something, too.

3. Aaeru? Oh, I remember that name. She helped bring in a Sharran this past spring.  I saw him get hanged.

4. Oh, are you looking for Whimsical Sweets? She's a member. Nice girl.

5. If you're looking for her, go down to the House of Suffering. She serves Ilmater.

6. You know, you look a lot like her. Are you her sister? What? You have the same facial structure as she does.

7. Yeah, she's a bare-handed fighting master and a sorcerer too. She hangs out with a strange crowd at a candy shop.

[Anastasia]

Arcane Strike revised and added to house rules. Read as: nerfed.

[Corwin]

So unless there's a mixup in my understanding of the rules, if you avoid an AoO (such as by being at a distance/having reach/being invisible) you can use any combat maneuver with impunity.

But should there be AoOs for them to begin with? I don't see what it brings to the table, honestly. Wouldn't it be more interesting if everyone could use combat maneuvers, and the extra feats just opened up bonuses for the specific maneuver? Or, maybe, an extra use of it per round for a second followup feat? They might be streamlined right now, but hardly anyone uses them, and I think it's a shame. They can really spice up combat over the usual 'I hit him with my sword' stuff. Thoughts, guys?

[Ebiris]

The problem is that they're generally better than just attacking normally. If you can disarm/trip/immobilise someone easily then it's going to be your first option unless you're really confident of a one hit kill - generally people who take those feats do build around spamming their one favoured combat trick, because it's better. I don't see any advantage to making them even harder to defend against.

If someone takes the time to set up a combat maneuver by accepting an AoO for movement, or getting invisible, or using a reach weapon, it limits their use to against stuff you're at a disadvantage against without levelling the playing field. That makes it exciting - disarming the two-handed barbarian rape machine, tripping the AC tank so everyone can gang up on him while he's down, that sort of thing. It's better than just opening up by disarming everyone you ever fight who wields a weapon because holy shit why wouldn't you?

[Corwin]

I actually figured it would work out because CMD has all the bling people tend to carry counted in. All the bonuses for dodge, deflection, etc. For me, grapple is better than normal attack, but I also have the feat that boosts it and the enlarge person spell obviously helps as well. Without that, I'm better off attacking, I think. [My attack is +13, my grapple CMB is +15; my ac is 27, my grapple CMD is 34. Without my grapple feat, it becomes: attack at +13, grapple CMB at +11; ac at 27, grapple CMD at 30]

I guess my character could be skewed? In any case if this doesn't sound like a good idea, I'll drop it. I just had lots of fun trying to bullrush and disarm people so I wanted to bring it up.

[Corwin]

Dune isn't ready on the feat front, so I'm going to swap out Arcane Strike for Spell Rehearsal.

While I'm at it, can I drop Critical Strike in favor of Benign Transposition? I never ended up using it.

[Anastasia]

Sure, changes go without incident.