Feedback

[Corwin]

1. How do you feel your character is working out? Any areas that are particularly good or problematic?

Mechanically, I get hurt a lot. If I have the cash for it soon, I will try to take care of it as much as I can. The flavor of Arcane Duelist just doesn't work right for me. It's all about enhancing a specific weapon, while I prefer to swap them as I go. And to qualify for perform I need to take monk/battle dancer, which makes it more worthwhile to go without armor, too, despite me liking the concept. I think I'll stay a proud full plate wearing paladin. So +AC, and some way of miss chance.

RP-wise, being one of the leaders is nice and so is having respect and reliable allies. Friends would be nicer, or people who support you in some meaningful way, but you can't have everything.

2. How do you feel about the other PCs?

Players or characters?

3. I strive to provide interesting NPCs, especially since this game is based around recruiting and building an army. How am I doing at that?

I'll go with Merc on this one. Feel free to reintroduce Mann as a 'named' character? We could conceivably have a roster of the 'B team' who aren't 'officers' but are above the common troops to provide some connection to said troops.

4. Who are your favorite 3 NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?

I like Annalise, Kascha, Adrian and Baleruk. Candy looks likeable so far. They are unique, interesting, entertaining.

5. Who are your 3 least favorite NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?

Sylvie for being a bitch every time I see her despite offering her my hand in friendship and inviting her over to the Aurora to find her place. The Master for being a dick, as the first thing he does upon appearing is go beat up our allies for the lulz (we beat up the giants too, but at least we had rocks thrown on our heads and our castle to cause a misunderstanding).

6. How do you feel Baator has been presented, as far as your primary antagonists go?
7. How do you feel evil in general is portrayed? I've been pulling few punches with them.
8. How do you feel about any other opposition you have?

I figure we went over this stuff already before, so no need to rehash it.

9. How do you feel the Heavens are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
10. How do you feel the Hells are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
11. How do you feel the other Outer Planes are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
12. How do you feel the Inner Planes and misc (Astral, ect) are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

I like the elemental planes the most. They feel like they have their own character without trying too hard. The heavens are generally nice, and Astral is nice mechanically in a fight. for the rest of it, like the previous answer, I think we covered is sufficiently up to date.

13. What areas have you visited and liked, or thought were fun and memorable? Why?
14. What do you think of Aurora? I try and show it off whenever I can, but it's usually just a homebase that you rarely walk around in to merely see the sights.
15. What do you think of Brightwater? It's the closest thing the group has to a town and you visit it fairly often.

Any place I go to and have a chance to talk to people or explore a bit is memorable. Places I go to in order to kill things are less so, since my goals and mental state are different on those expeditions.

I like the Aurora well enough. You often feel rushed when you run Aurora-based scenes, so I wonder if you enjoy those, and I try not to force you to run them. I like Brightwater, it's a nice place. I would like to see more of the divine realms there, but it's a bit lonely on my own.

16. How's loot going for you? Am I giving you interesting items?

When you give us loot from some cache (like that collected by Medi or a dragon), it's interesting. By its nature, loot taken as spoils of war is often less so. There are exceptions to this as well, like the ring I got to reforge.

17. How about the raw quantity of GP? With Aurora+NPCs+Expenses there's always going to be a need for more, and this was design to have some money crunch elements to it. Afina's crafting has taken a considerable load off this burden, but it still exists.

To be honest, I think I have less to work with than in previous games. Also, while I appreciate Eb's help so very much with this, don't forget that you doubled the prices on MIC stuff. That pretty much evens out. Anyway, it's been a while since I had some free cash and I recently had to resort to selling one of my items again to finance Mirima's sword, followed by going into slight debt to Afina to afford another quest-relevant item.

18. I've dropped...3-5 artifacts in game, I believe? What do you think about them?

Val'Finnegan is underwhelming as an artifact, frankly. I also felt vaguely insulted when I was told that it's really a cool artifact, honest, but I'm just too low level to make it respond. Yeeeeah. Anyway, it's a serviceable +5 holy weapon and it has a cool history, but Gae Bolg is cheap and usually better suited for combat. I've been avoiding it this quest out of concern for Candy, since I have a long duration fiend-burning aura spell on it.

Still kinda upset that the first cool artifact we came across blew up in my face along with my face, even after all the time. I guess I expected to come across something cool eventually but after half a year+ it never really happened. 21 seems a cool artifact that people who are not us get to use. The ranger cloak is neat, and I was somewhat tempted by it originally but like I said I like my full plate build conceptually and it doesn't really work with it. The books of religion/heresy could probably seem like an artifact, but I think I would view them more like permanent buffs (the same way the deep ethereal dragon, the demon god baby and the Ysgard bonuses were). Merc's evil bracers seem to be working out for him, but their nature was really not really compatible with Jaela, however well they fit mechanically.

Not losing hope on the cool artifact front, and trying to keep a positive outlook! It's not like Afina got any fun artifacts to play with, either, and I can't complain since we do get the occasional buff.

19. How am I DMing?
20. How's the tone of the game for you?

I'm playing and asking if we can play more, aren't I? I think that speaks for itself.

21. How's combat going? I strive to keep combat both dangerous and interesting whenever possible.

I find it discouraging that a single attack dismembered me, without so much as a save or a chance to avoid it. It doesn't tell me that combat is dangerous. It tells me 'mechanically raise your AC'. But that aside I find combat fun when I get to participate. I dislike not participating in combat. I think you know our abilities by now, and it would be kinda neat if lopsided encounters that cater to our specialty were the exception and not the rule. To reflect on the last one, if the wraiths attacked my side of the barrier the instant Afina started killing the evil elf, I think we both would have felt fulfilled. I have the anti-ghost weapons and Turning and area attacks, while Afina has getting into locked room setups and assassination as part of her resume. Instead, it was one fight where I was useless and watched her be cool, and one fight where I killed ghosts by the dozens (shh, forget Candy was there) and she had to resort to picking off a couple here and there.

To reiterate, I like combat I participate in. Since I get to participate in most combat (for scenes where I'm there), I like most combat in B3.

22. Now that you have some idea (but not all) of what's going on and some hints of why Lifasa fell, what do you think? Right now, it looks like the devils are using some form of fate to empower events and its your task to give fate a kick in the 'nads.
23. Who do you consider your biggest enemy in game?

I would prefer not to go into such strictly IC matters in this out of the game way.

24. This is purely meta, but I'm curious. Would your PC ever consider negotiating with Hell or a devil faction?

No, for the reason that I don't think it will be fun. IC-wise, I also have IC reasons not to do it.

25. Do you think you can save Lifasa? IC and OOC.
26. Throughout the Planes, it can be said everyone has an agenda and a cause to promote. How much of a sense of that do you get?

I don't think anything has really changed from the last time we discussed this.


27. Why haven't the devils so much as tried to assassinate me once? It's so insulting!

[Anastasia]

Mechanically, I get hurt a lot. If I have the cash for it soon, I will try to take care of it as much as I can. The flavor of Arcane Duelist just doesn't work right for me. It's all about enhancing a specific weapon, while I prefer to swap them as I go. And to qualify for perform I need to take monk/battle dancer, which makes it more worthwhile to go without armor, too, despite me liking the concept. I think I'll stay a proud full plate wearing paladin. So +AC, and some way of miss chance.

You do. Using Robilar's Gambit is a factor too and really just asking to get smacked a lot. With your AC+that, it's surprising that you haven't died yet.

Players or characters?

PCs. Players if needed.

I'll go with Merc on this one. Feel free to reintroduce Mann as a 'named' character? We could conceivably have a roster of the 'B team' who aren't 'officers' but are above the common troops to provide some connection to said troops.

That's a thought. Toying around with things like that right now, really.

I like Annalise, Kascha, Adrian and Baleruk. Candy looks likeable so far. They are unique, interesting, entertaining.

What about them do you like in particular? Mostly Adrian, since I didn't figure you liked him that much. Glad to hear that multiple ones are working for you, though.

Sylvie for being a bitch every time I see her despite offering her my hand in friendship and inviting her over to the Aurora to find her place.

I find that ironic but perhaps not so surprising when I consider Annalise and 21. I read that rooftop scene again real quick, and it all starts with calling Annalise on bullshitting and things go massively downhill. Can't say I blame you, though I don't blame Sylvie much either.

The Master for being a dick, as the first thing he does upon appearing is go beat up our allies for the lulz (we beat up the giants too, but at least we had rocks thrown on our heads and our castle to cause a misunderstanding).

Really? For all you go on about things being 'manly', one would think someone going in, showing off a bit and starting to train people on how to be stronger would appeal.

Any place I go to and have a chance to talk to people or explore a bit is memorable. Places I go to in order to kill things are less so, since my goals and mental state are different on those expeditions.

Fair 'nough.

I like the Aurora well enough. You often feel rushed when you run Aurora-based scenes, so I wonder if you enjoy those, and I try not to force you to run them. I like Brightwater, it's a nice place. I would like to see more of the divine realms there, but it's a bit lonely on my own.

I like them quite a lot. I'm often rushing them 'cause it's only one PC and oftentimes that one PC may be holding other people up. I tend to slot Aurora scenes in whenever I have a chance, so this happens. Not all the time, but enough to where I do notice it.

When you give us loot from some cache (like that collected by Medi or a dragon), it's interesting. By its nature, loot taken as spoils of war is often less so. There are exceptions to this as well, like the ring I got to reforge.

Why is war booty less interesting, precisely?  I would assume it is at least in part because a lot of it is evil or unsuitable to be used.

To be honest, I think I have less to work with than in previous games. Also, while I appreciate Eb's help so very much with this, don't forget that you doubled the prices on MIC stuff. That pretty much evens out. Anyway, it's been a while since I had some free cash and I recently had to resort to selling one of my items again to finance Mirima's sword, followed by going into slight debt to Afina to afford another quest-relevant item.

MIC stuff has been doubled since Balmuria 1. <_<

You are about due for some free cash, though. Ithea cleaned up recently, but you're due. What do you want to purchase coming up?

Val'Finnegan is underwhelming as an artifact, frankly. I also felt vaguely insulted when I was told that it's really a cool artifact, honest, but I'm just too low level to make it respond. Yeeeeah.

Eh, that just means you have room to grow into it.

Still kinda upset that the first cool artifact we came across blew up in my face along with my face, even after all the time. I guess I expected to come across something cool eventually but after half a year+ it never really happened. 21 seems a cool artifact that people who are not us get to use. The ranger cloak is neat, and I was somewhat tempted by it originally but like I said I like my full plate build conceptually and it doesn't really work with it. The books of religion/heresy could probably seem like an artifact, but I think I would view them more like permanent buffs (the same way the deep ethereal dragon, the demon god baby and the Ysgard bonuses were). Merc's evil bracers seem to be working out for him, but their nature was really not really compatible with Jaela, however well they fit mechanically.

Not losing hope on the cool artifact front, and trying to keep a positive outlook! It's not like Afina got any fun artifacts to play with, either, and I can't complain since we do get the occasional buff.

So you haven't come across anything cool, but in the next sentence you say 21 is cool? Okaaaay. I'm not sure what to say here, since you say there's nothing cool, then you describe 21 as cool and the cloak as neat. Not really sure what to say here because of that. Do you mean something cool that -you've- gotten?

I find it discouraging that a single attack dismembered me, without so much as a save or a chance to avoid it. It doesn't tell me that combat is dangerous. It tells me 'mechanically raise your AC'.

If getting limbs hacked off doesn't tell you combat can be dangerous, I really don't know what to say.

[Corwin]

You do. Using Robilar's Gambit is a factor too and really just asking to get smacked a lot. With your AC+that, it's surprising that you haven't died yet.

My AC is 25. -4 with Gambit. I think if you take any enemy from the past two RL months and compare their attack against my AC, it wouldn't matter much whether I use it or not where it comes to being hit. The boost in damage against me isn't huge, and if I can down an enemy before it can finish unloading its full attack on me with my AoOs I save myself the damage from said full attack.

PCs. Players if needed.

Nothing to say on Muirfin, having not even met him. Ithea comes across as too aloof during moments that feel like they should be more serious.

I like Annalise, Kascha, Adrian and Baleruk. Candy looks likeable so far. They are unique, interesting, entertaining.

What about them do you like in particular? Mostly Adrian, since I didn't figure you liked him that much. Glad to hear that multiple ones are working for you, though.

I just do. They aren't acting like they're doing us a favor by being there. I'm not sure why you'd think that I don't like Adrian. I just don't think he's very effective in a fight, but I have to admire his tenacity.

Sylvie for being a bitch every time I see her despite offering her my hand in friendship and inviting her over to the Aurora to find her place.

I find that ironic but perhaps not so surprising when I consider Annalise and 21. I read that rooftop scene again real quick, and it all starts with calling Annalise on bullshitting and things go massively downhill. Can't say I blame you, though I don't blame Sylvie much either.

You really like her and it shows.

The Master for being a dick, as the first thing he does upon appearing is go beat up our allies for the lulz (we beat up the giants too, but at least we had rocks thrown on our heads and our castle to cause a misunderstanding).

Really? For all you go on about things being 'manly', one would think someone going in, showing off a bit and starting to train people on how to be stronger would appeal.

Please don't confuse OOC jokes about manliness with how I think people should behave in a civilized society. I remember that the giants were depressed after their senseless beatdown and you said their morale would have dropped if Yuth didn't talk to them and gave them that hammer. That just spells bullying, and I don't like it.

When you give us loot from some cache (like that collected by Medi or a dragon), it's interesting. By its nature, loot taken as spoils of war is often less so. There are exceptions to this as well, like the ring I got to reforge.

Why is war booty less interesting, precisely?  I would assume it is at least in part because a lot of it is evil or unsuitable to be used.

You misunderstand my intent. A dragon's hoard can realistically have funny treatises, art, curious and the like. If we kill a dozen cornugons, they have armor, weapons and medals. This is what I mean.

To be honest, I think I have less to work with than in previous games. Also, while I appreciate Eb's help so very much with this, don't forget that you doubled the prices on MIC stuff. That pretty much evens out. Anyway, it's been a while since I had some free cash and I recently had to resort to selling one of my items again to finance Mirima's sword, followed by going into slight debt to Afina to afford another quest-relevant item.

MIC stuff has been doubled since Balmuria 1. <_<

You are about due for some free cash, though. Ithea cleaned up recently, but you're due. What do you want to purchase coming up?

Mmm, maybe you mean starting with B2? I know my boots cost the MIC amount, and so did all of my MIC gear from B1. I think so did Eb's, but I'm not 100% sure on it.

I want to purchase an animated shield to take care of my ac and boost my gauntlets with the stuff I mentioned to you before. And I really should try to convert my stat boosters into a belt of +6.

Val'Finnegan is underwhelming as an artifact, frankly. I also felt vaguely insulted when I was told that it's really a cool artifact, honest, but I'm just too low level to make it respond. Yeeeeah.

Eh, that just means you have room to grow into it.

Still kinda upset that the first cool artifact we came across blew up in my face along with my face, even after all the time. I guess I expected to come across something cool eventually but after half a year+ it never really happened. 21 seems a cool artifact that people who are not us get to use. The ranger cloak is neat, and I was somewhat tempted by it originally but like I said I like my full plate build conceptually and it doesn't really work with it. The books of religion/heresy could probably seem like an artifact, but I think I would view them more like permanent buffs (the same way the deep ethereal dragon, the demon god baby and the Ysgard bonuses were). Merc's evil bracers seem to be working out for him, but their nature was really not really compatible with Jaela, however well they fit mechanically.

Not losing hope on the cool artifact front, and trying to keep a positive outlook! It's not like Afina got any fun artifacts to play with, either, and I can't complain since we do get the occasional buff.

So you haven't come across anything cool, but in the next sentence you say 21 is cool? Okaaaay. I'm not sure what to say here, since you say there's nothing cool, then you describe 21 as cool and the cloak as neat. Not really sure what to say here because of that. Do you mean something cool that -you've- gotten?

I think you are missing important context here. First of all, yes, since you were asking us all what _we_ think about the artifacts, I took it to mean as applies to me first of all, and then covered the rest as objectively as I could.

Thus, Val'Finnegan is something I can ask Afina to make (and will likely remain so until lvl21). But Merc's bracers or cape, to contrast, are truly unique. He has that uniqueness and that utility _right now_, which makes Val'Finnegan pale in comparison. Basically, I don't get the same sense of coolness here. If it's just not enough to hear coming from me, Merc, how would you feel if your bracers gave you, say, a +2 untyped to damage on all melee attacks, but you knew that in ~5-7 levels they might do something truly awesome? Like say extend your reach?

So yes, again, in case it wasn't clear. I do pretty much hope to find an artifact that is cool to me and that I can have. I don't want to do it at the expense of other players, of course, but I figure there will be plenty to go around eventually. 21 is a ship that sailed, so are those rings. But their existence gives me hope that more cool stuff could be out there, fitting thematically for me and all.

I find it discouraging that a single attack dismembered me, without so much as a save or a chance to avoid it. It doesn't tell me that combat is dangerous. It tells me 'mechanically raise your AC'.

If getting limbs hacked off doesn't tell you combat can be dangerous, I really don't know what to say.

[/quote]

Really, the result of a lost limb on an attack that hits doesn't say 'combat is dangerous'. It says 'combat with Jaela's AC is dangerous. combat with Afina's AC is pretty safe'. But I already know my AC is shit and that I can die easily through it.

You do. Using Robilar's Gambit is a factor too and really just asking to get smacked a lot. With your AC+that, it's surprising that you haven't died yet.

This is what you said at the top of the response. With or without disabling special attacks, combat is dangerous for me and we both know it. But it's not dangerous due to said special attacks. This was the point I was trying to make.

[Merc]

But Merc's bracers or cape, to contrast, are truly unique. He has that uniqueness and that utility _right now_, which makes Val'Finnegan pale in comparison. Basically, I don't get the same sense of coolness here. If it's just not enough to hear coming from me, Merc, how would you feel if your bracers gave you, say, a +2 untyped to damage on all melee attacks, but you knew that in ~5-7 levels they might do something truly awesome? Like say extend your reach?

If it's useful now and gets more useful -and- unique, that's kind of cool, honestly, and I like that sort of thing. I don't think it's lame for items to get cooler in the future and my not having that particular unique utility right now. Evolving items are actually kinda awesome.

But!

I also have a few more options with bracers than you do with a weapon, so I do actually agree with your point about Val'finnegan.

For me, I can add other enchantments to my artifacts through the +1.5x cost multiplier, while waiting for the reach pay-off if we go by your example, and I have more options on effects I can add to boot. There's no pre-epic/epic split line rule on gear, it's purely an armor/weapons rule.

So for you, the problem is that you can't add more enchantments because you'd probably make it an illegal pre-epic weapon, and the fact that it's already something that Afina could make for you is what makes it boring. Not to mention that with GMW, you'd be better off with +1 weapons that have a lot of abilities to make them unique... And oh look, that's what your collection of other spears are.

So yeah, I do agree that in your particular situation, it's a little lame. Your artifact is a Magikarp.

[Anastasia]

My AC is 25. -4 with Gambit. I think if you take any enemy from the past two RL months and compare their attack against my AC, it wouldn't matter much whether I use it or not where it comes to being hit. The boost in damage against me isn't huge, and if I can down an enemy before it can finish unloading its full attack on me with my AoOs I save myself the damage from said full attack.

Fair strategy there.

I just do. They aren't acting like they're doing us a favor by being there. I'm not sure why you'd think that I don't like Adrian. I just don't think he's very effective in a fight, but I have to admire his tenacity.

I think he's reasonably effective at his role - fighting and direct damage. He's also tenacious, yes. He's not ever going to be a dominating force in battle, but he's gonna give it his all.

You really like her and it shows.

I put her in the middle of the pack at best; I personally don't like her much under 21. That said, how is that in any way relevant to what I said?

Mmm, maybe you mean starting with B2? I know my boots cost the MIC amount, and so did all of my MIC gear from B1. I think so did Eb's, but I'm not 100% sure on it.

They were generally raised.

I want to purchase an animated shield to take care of my ac and boost my gauntlets with the stuff I mentioned to you before. And I really should try to convert my stat boosters into a belt of +6.

Agreed about the belt. I'm aiming for that for NPCs when possible, to just get the stat boosting stuff squared away. Shield doesn't surprise me - any particular set up at all?

[Ebiris]

1. How do you feel your character is working out? Any areas that are particularly good or problematic?

In terms of pure combat effectiveness, Afina remains solidly consistent if rarely overwhelming, so nothing much has changed. As multi-action becomes more and more a factor both on the part of other PCs and enemies, I'm starting to miss having 3.0 haste. Innervated Speed makes up for it slightly on the defensive front, but on the offensive front she's lagging. The contribution she makes through crafting to our whole team really can't be overstated, though, since our effective wealth is more than doubled in terms of what we can afford.

2. How do you feel about the other PCs?

Jaela's pretty good offensively but she gets hit enough for Dana to feel jealous. If she gets the time to buff up properly she can be pretty awesome. Ithea's getting a lot of milage out of opportunist, which is a big help, and tossing in quick cast enervations and the like similarly plays a big part when they land. Muirfinn's some guy that just showed up and Afina hasn't even met.

3. I strive to provide interesting NPCs, especially since this game is based around recruiting and building an army. How am I doing at that?
4. Who are your favorite 3 NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?
5. Who are your 3 least favorite NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?

Yeah, you're good with NPCs but I'll echo comments about the general army being pretty faceless. I guess we need to get morale up to 100 for more of them to unlock special scenes?
Favourite NPCs... Annalise, Baleruk, and Elena. Annalise because she has the complexity of being an evil monstrosity against all that lives that nonetheless is one of our most solidly dependable allies. Shades of grey are interesting, and her baiting of Hanna is amusing. Baleruk hits a similar note to Annalise since he's an abomination himself, but in many ways he reminds me of a big loud yet harmless dog, always shouting and puffing himself up but he knows he's got nothing without us... it's kinda sad and cute all at once. Elena I just really like because she's cute and often comic relief.
Least favourite? Of the Aurora crew I guess just the Master, and only because he never does anything so he might as well not exist. Broadening our scope, I'll have to list Naliel, since she's a nasty little snitch, and... nope, I'm out, can't think of any others.

6. How do you feel Baator has been presented, as far as your primary antagonists go?
7. How do you feel evil in general is portrayed? I've been pulling few punches with them.
8. How do you feel about any other opposition you have?

They're evil. They're oh so terribly evil and overwhelming and powerful and splendid and smart and beyond all limits. It gets pretty old, really, and I blame dicefreaks for laying on the whole perfection of hell shit so thickly, since I know that's a big inspiration for you.
Don't get me wrong, fighting powerful and smart enemies is fun, but we're already up against a realm of infinity dudes, it's even worse when it's got infinity dudes all tougher than we are. Instead of taking it as a compliment when we say our victories seem petty and pointless, please instead try to alleviate it instead.
Our other opposition I guess would be dragons? They haven't done much of anything since we got Baleruk, really.

9. How do you feel the Heavens are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
10. How do you feel the Hells are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
11. How do you feel the other Outer Planes are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?
12. How do you feel the Inner Planes and misc (Astral, ect) are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

Arborea's been good for us, and when we've visited it does tend to show off the weirdness in some places like with the star princess and star giant Jaela dealt with which was neat. Elysium's been a non-entity aside from picking up Galariel there, and Celestia's caused problems. It will be neat to visit Celestia though, since Alicia loved the place but Afina's going to be looking at it through an entirely different lens.
Hades was about what I expected, Limbo I think feels pretty lame - basically like the Astral or Air planes except with a gimmick for being able to make stuff out of nothing. Where's the crazy elemental confluences, the insane geography? It's just a big empty expanse of nothing. we've only visited one layer of the Abyss, technically two, but since there were no demons at all to be found it didn't really feel Abyssal over any generic evil place,
I do like the elemental planes, but again like Limbo I feel like not enough is made of their geography/weather. Particularly with Water, since not only have we had no crazy currents or things like that, but there hasn't been any need for swim checks even. Afina turned into a water elemental and Canderella presumably had her own method, but for Jaela to be breezing about through the water in full plate as easily as in air seems egrarious. edit: Okay there was some of that today.

13. What areas have you visited and liked, or thought were fun and memorable? Why?
14. What do you think of Aurora? I try and show it off whenever I can, but it's usually just a homebase that you rarely walk around in to merely see the sights.
15. What do you think of Brightwater? It's the closest thing the group has to a town and you visit it fairly often.

I liked the Hades fortress, for all that it was a horrid place, just for having interesting but not hilariously unbreachable defences, and the whole 'fortress under a frozen waterfall' image was neat.
Aurora feels really disconnected. I guess because it's huge it's unavoidable, but with everything being portalled then it may as well be hundreds of seperate demiplanes that never touch each other - there's no real concept of the whole.
Brightwater's just a place with lots of shops?

16. How's loot going for you? Am I giving you interesting items?
17. How about the raw quantity of GP? With Aurora+NPCs+Expenses there's always going to be a need for more, and this was design to have some money crunch elements to it. Afina's crafting has taken a considerable load off this burden, but it still exists.
18. I've dropped...3-5 artifacts in game, I believe? What do you think about them?

Me specifically? Nope, not a one. Even that nature staff/sword was a longsword which Afina isn't proficient with and can't use weapon finesse/slippers of battledancing with. About the best I've had were some ingredients I used to make a potential cool sword, but until we run into a powerful aberration that's just a potential (and it's a medium scimitar since I made it for NPCs rather than Afina).
Gp level's been fine.
I haven't paid much attention to artifacts as none have mattered a whit for Afina. I guess 21's our 'I win' button against devils we won't be able to fight without gaining another 15 or so levels, so that's nice? I'd rather it wasn't necessary, but so it goes.

19. How am I DMing?
20. How's the tone of the game for you?
21. How's combat going? I strive to keep combat both dangerous and interesting whenever possible.

You're a good DM. There's very little to complain about, but I think that's probably the cause of why when there is a complaint you don't take criticism well. It's not personal! Any criticism is only ever meant in the interest of making the game more fun for everyone, so please don't get down about it.
The tone is pretty bleak, we're still on the run from hell and even rescuing Ilsenine and killing the child of Lifasa hasn't really rocked the status quo.
Combat's been good. Even when Gathgarion showed up to wreck our shit in the latter battle it was an interesting obstacle, kinda like those forced scrolling levels in platformers where if you touch the back of the screen you die. (yes I can see situations where having our opponents be overwhelmingly powerful makes for interesting set pieces)

22. Now that you have some idea (but not all) of what's going on and some hints of why Lifasa fell, what do you think? Right now, it looks like the devils are using some form of fate to empower events and its your task to give fate a kick in the 'nads.
23. Who do you consider your biggest enemy in game?

I hate Fate/Destiny/Prophecies. I hate them in every game I've ever played in and this will never change. It's nice to flip them the bird in this one, but I still hate that they exist and are given weight regardless.
Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Woah. But really, we've made a few enemies that weren't strictly necessary (though I wouldn't change those actions), and it's very easy to get disheartened and give up with all we're up against - or get lazy in a seemingly easy battle and open ourselves to being sucker punched.

24. This is purely meta, but I'm curious. Would your PC ever consider negotiating with Hell or a devil faction?
25. Do you think you can save Lifasa? IC and OOC.
26. Throughout the Planes, it can be said everyone has an agenda and a cause to promote. How much of a sense of that do you get?

No. Afina is a tiny little ball of supernova hot hatred for all things devil. They can't be reasoned with, or bargained with, or shown mercy, or redeemed. There is nothing of value amongst them.
Sure we can save Lifasa. It'll be a burnt out shell of a world where the survivors will spend years burying the dead, and the water will never be safe to drink, and the piles of devil corpses will cast shadows over even the tallest mountain peaks. But that's better than the devils having it.
Oh yeah, other people have agendas. Which makes them all dicks because their stupid agendas gave hell free reign to conquer our world. Fuck them and their agendas.

27. Is 27 the sexiest badger-slaad on Lifasa?
Seriously 27: There's a lot of mysteries in the game world, from small to huge. What do you identify as mysteries, and what do you think the answers are? Assuming you have a guess as to what the answer is, anyway.

Winner by default.
Is Tannin working for devils because his slaad-maid mom is being held hostage? Is the Lady of Pain really a dozen squirrels with a ring of levitation and a cloak of disguise? Is 27 really an extradimensional fingertip of some squamous far realm non euclidean life form pursuing its own ineffable agenda? Is Pelor secretly evil? How many of our recruits are secret devil double-agents waiting for the command to strike? Will Venger distract Tiamat long enough for us to steal the Eye of Asmodeus from her hoard? Will Shar consume all of reality and render our struggles moot? Is Daa-vid still sealed on Sylvie's prime just waiting to be freed and given the right recruitment pitch?

[Yuthirin]

Feedback time.

Yays.

1. How do you feel your character is working out? Any areas that are particularly good or problematic?

Pretty embarrassed about letting Kascha and Tom die. Yeah, that was my fault. I'll be better. Other than that, I think it's too early to tell with Muirfinn. I miss Willim.

2. How do you feel about the other PCs?

Reeeeh.

3. I strive to provide interesting NPCs, especially since this game is based around recruiting and building an army. How am I doing at that?

The NPCs are amusing and fun. I find Dana hilarious and I hate Annalise. Both of those are good signs that they're good NPCs. I really like hating Annalise.

4. Who are your favorite 3 NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?

Annalise, Dana, & the Master. Followed by Elena, the Jarl, and Elrisa. The characters are rich and each has their own set of emotions, be they oily-nice evil, stoic aceticism, or brash, life-loving warrior. And so many others!

5. Who are your 3 least favorite NPCs? If you haven't covered this already, why?

Annalise, because she's so much fun to dislike. That's all!

6. How do you feel Baator has been presented, as far as your primary antagonists go?

Terrifyingly, deviously evil. Definitely not the crazed, mindless evil-horrors of the Abyss.

7. How do you feel evil in general is portrayed? I've been pulling few punches with them.

PLEASE CONTINUE PULLING PUNCHES BECAUSE IF YOU GO ALL-OUT I THINK WE'RE ALL FUCKED.

8. How do you feel about any other opposition you have?

See below. Also: Mechanus can suck it.

9. How do you feel the Heavens are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

Well, to be honest, I was really surprised at the way you portrayed Bahamut as a rigid adherent to law, but still willing to ally with his most hated enemy over a prismatic dragon. I've not seen him that way. It's nice that Morniel is around to try to help soften the blow and I know he's advancing Try's interests by being there, but really. Bahamut, I am disappoint. He should have known what we were doing right away when it came to Baleruk, and I would think he could quickly realize that we were capable of making Baleruk's plans come to fruition. Instead of opposing us and allying with Tiamat, he should have sent us an emissary right away and made his counter offer. I think that, given the choice, we would have taken the deal if it was appropriately sweetened. Allying with an evil god who spends the majority of her time in the Nine Hells was a fatal mistake, in my opinion. We could have made slaying Baelruk a priority and both sides of the agreement would have been able to benefit from this. I'm really disappointed that it didn't work out this way. Hopefully the situation can be salvaged, but I don't see our party or anyone on the Aurora agreeing to work with Bahamut so long as he is willing to ally with what essentially are the forces of Hell. Remember that the greatest of evils are not committed by devils or demons, but by saints!

10. How do you feel the Hells are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

They are sufficiently manipulative and dastardly for evil.

11. How do you feel the other Outer Planes are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

They've been fun so far!

12. How do you feel the Inner Planes and misc (Astral, ect) are shown? Are they working for you? Why or why not?

Same as above! The only elemental plane we haven't been to is Water, I think, unless Afina and Jaela are there now?

13. What areas have you visited and liked, or thought were fun and memorable? Why?

I thought the Abyss was freaking awesome. I didn't want to leave. It could have used more demons on top of the Resident Evil/Silent Hill feel that was going on there.

14. What do you think of Aurora? I try and show it off whenever I can, but it's usually just a homebase that you rarely walk around in to merely see the sights.

I'm positive that the Aurora will come into its own as more than a simple home base once Hell starts throwing its weight against us.

15. What do you think of Brightwater? It's the closest thing the group has to a town and you visit it fairly often.

I love Brightwater. With the addition of the Mercane, it's really become that place where you can get just about anything. I like that we've been recruiting awesome shopkeepers from them too.

16. How's loot going for you? Am I giving you interesting items?

It was going great for Willim. We'll see with Muirfinn, there's not a whole not of fantastic Druid gear with Shapeshift in the mix.

17. How about the raw quantity of GP? With Aurora+NPCs+Expenses there's always going to be a need for more, and this was design to have some money crunch elements to it. Afina's crafting has taken a considerable load off this burden, but it still exists.

There's always going to be the desire for more and more money. It will grow into crazy proportions once we get into Epic, too.

18. I've dropped...3-5 artifacts in game, I believe? What do you think about them?

Artifacts are cool, man. Nothing like untyped bonuses. They really add a customized feel to the game.

19. How am I DMing?

Great!

20. How's the tone of the game for you?

Pretty good!

21. How's combat going? I strive to keep combat both dangerous and interesting whenever possible.

Mmmmmm combat.

22. Now that you have some idea (but not all) of what's going on and some hints of why Lifasa fell, what do you think? Right now, it looks like the devils are using some form of fate to empower events and its your task to give fate a kick in the 'nads.

We're doing a pretty good job of it. I'll bet that taking out the Child sent them all into convulsions.

23. Who do you consider your biggest enemy in game?

Asmodeus. It's only a matter of time.

24. This is purely meta, but I'm curious. Would your PC ever consider negotiating with Hell or a devil faction?

I won't say it's not possible, but there's much more likelihood of negotiating with 'loths or even demons.

25. Do you think you can save Lifasa? IC and OOC.

Absolutely.

26. Throughout the Planes, it can be said everyone has an agenda and a cause to promote. How much of a sense of that do you get?

Man, it's everywhere. Every divine emissary is an attempt to influence us one way or another.

27. Is 27 the sexiest badger-slaad on Lifasa?

Clearly you have not used Google-Fu enough. Also, he's not on Lifasa. DUDE.

Seriously 27: There's a lot of mysteries in the game world, from small to huge. What do you identify as mysteries, and what do you think the answers are? Assuming you have a guess as to what the answer is, anyway.

[Corwin]

I put her in the middle of the pack at best; I personally don't like her much under 21. That said, how is that in any way relevant to what I said?

Just that I think you would be biased to any arguments about her and try to see her from a positive side. I think she's the only NPC who had other NPCs worry about her within a day of arrival, to the point of approaching a PC and asking her to help Sylvie feel better. When will Tepen arrange for a hug for me?  :(

Agreed about the belt. I'm aiming for that for NPCs when possible, to just get the stat boosting stuff squared away. Shield doesn't surprise me - any particular set up at all?

I actually have a very simple plan for AC boosting. Animated Heavy Metal Shield +1/Magic Vestment gives me +6 to AC. Making my gauntlets of weapon/armor summoning into doubling as Defending +1 Gauntlets/Greater Magic Weapon will give me +4 to AC and to Touch AC, and keep me always armed in case I don't have a spear equipped for some reason or someone gets past my guard. Then, there is the +1 equivalent Ghost Ward armor+shield enhancement that allows the +X enhancement bonus of the armor/shield to apply to Touch AC, so at a fairly low cost I could add +8 more to my Touch AC. I think this will put me at 35 AC (not worrying over Touch AC right now, it's still a lost cause as far as I'm concerned at this time). That's in the range of Ithea and Muirfin, especially if we calc in the hit from Gambit.

[Corwin]

As an aside, Hanna and Elena are fun as well. Hanna is like a cool big sis, especially of the kind where you sometimes feel like you're the more mature one. Elena is amusing, and I hope we can be better friends!

[Anastasia]

In terms of pure combat effectiveness, Afina remains solidly consistent if rarely overwhelming, so nothing much has changed. As multi-action becomes more and more a factor both on the part of other PCs and enemies, I'm starting to miss having 3.0 haste. Innervated Speed makes up for it slightly on the defensive front, but on the offensive front she's lagging. The contribution she makes through crafting to our whole team really can't be overstated, though, since our effective wealth is more than doubled in terms of what we can afford.

Yes. Crafting really can't be overstated and rippled through the party in so many ways. I figure spells will help make up for that, as well as a third mobile strike at some point - have you considered a dip into fighter (yes, yes, I can see the eyeroll across the ocean) once you qualify to grab it? Another attack will help shore up your offense.

Jaela's pretty good offensively but she gets hit enough for Dana to feel jealous. If she gets the time to buff up properly she can be pretty awesome. Ithea's getting a lot of milage out of opportunist, which is a big help, and tossing in quick cast enervations and the like similarly plays a big part when they land. Muirfinn's some guy that just showed up and Afina hasn't even met.

Yes. We really need to get all 4 PCs together to fix the 'new guy' thing with Muirfinn.

Yeah, you're good with NPCs but I'll echo comments about the general army being pretty faceless. I guess we need to get morale up to 100 for more of them to unlock special scenes?

Generally, yes.

Favourite NPCs... Annalise, Baleruk, and Elena. Annalise because she has the complexity of being an evil monstrosity against all that lives that nonetheless is one of our most solidly dependable allies. Shades of grey are interesting, and her baiting of Hanna is amusing. Baleruk hits a similar note to Annalise since he's an abomination himself, but in many ways he reminds me of a big loud yet harmless dog, always shouting and puffing himself up but he knows he's got nothing without us... it's kinda sad and cute all at once. Elena I just really like because she's cute and often comic relief.

I have to agree about Hanna. I just love the way the two bait and bounce off each other. It explains Annalise and Jaela - hate and love aren't really all that far apart, being intense, consuming emotions. Something about Annalise resonates within both of them, but manifests in different but similar ways. Whenever they're together I just let them bounce off each other - nice image there by the way - and hilarity ensues. I feel a bit bad for Jaela, but at the same time her exasperated reactions really make it work, too.

Baleruk is at least partially bark, yeah. The whole paranoid ranting thing and avoiding conflict with the party hints towards that.

Elena's fun to do random things with and get laughs. Sometimes that's really needed.

Least favourite? Of the Aurora crew I guess just the Master, and only because he never does anything so he might as well not exist. Broadening our scope, I'll have to list Naliel, since she's a nasty little snitch, and... nope, I'm out, can't think of any others.

He did contribute a new PrC and is working with the troops. You're right in that he's reserved and not really a leader by charisma type, nor a go-getter. He's more interested in biding his time and waiting for a real fight.

They're evil. They're oh so terribly evil and overwhelming and powerful and splendid and smart and beyond all limits. It gets pretty old, really, and I blame dicefreaks for laying on the whole perfection of hell shit so thickly, since I know that's a big inspiration for you. Don't get me wrong, fighting powerful and smart enemies is fun, but we're already up against a realm of infinity dudes, it's even worse when it's got infinity dudes all tougher than we are. Instead of taking it as a compliment when we say our victories seem petty and pointless, please instead try to alleviate it instead.

This begs a multi-fold response, so I'll do it part by part.

First of all, I agree that this happens. It should happen with any Outer Plane. There are going to be things out there that can smear a level 20 party like finger paint. That's just the nature of the planes versus the material realms.

Second of all, that's Hell's most basic propaganda line. Hell constantly tries to intimidate in everything it does. They always present strength, always try to be or appear in control. There's an aspect of this that's important to understand - even with the powerful cornugons, guarding Ilsenine was only one aspect of that. If someone did successfully attack the Bloodletting Peak, they'd almost certainly feel they were outmatched by the Blood War hardened forces there. Hell is constantly assaulting you in body and morale, chipping away at the one thing that can lead to Hell being overthrown - hope.

Hell plans everything or close enough to it, including how they want foes to perceive it. I'd find it worth mentioning that despite all this, you also get glimpses of Hell being anything but monolithic and invincible. Abigor has a plot to overthrow him, the True King of Hell is subverting devils against the Serpent Throne, that resistance still exists on Lifasa. Despite all the chest-beating Hell indulges in, it doesn't change the truth of things. By the same token, despite trying to manipulate destiny, Hell is still defied.

Third of all, I don't entirely agree your victories are petty or pointless. You've ruined a diabolical prophecy to enslave all of Lifasa forever, rallied fragments of Lifasa and secured support, and recovered an ancient, powerful fortress to serve as your moving base of operations. Hell wants you to think that what you're doing is futile. They want your victories to seem petty, small and utterly irrelevant.

Our other opposition I guess would be dragons? They haven't done much of anything since we got Baleruk, really.

Lucky for you guys.

Arborea's been good for us, and when we've visited it does tend to show off the weirdness in some places like with the star princess and star giant Jaela dealt with which was neat. Elysium's been a non-entity aside from picking up Galariel there, and Celestia's caused problems. It will be neat to visit Celestia though, since Alicia loved the place but Afina's going to be looking at it through an entirely different lens.

Yeah, Celestia was a solid ally in Balmuria 1 and now the opposite has happened. The frame of reference is much different now, which is nice for variety.

Hades was about what I expected, Limbo I think feels pretty lame - basically like the Astral or Air planes except with a gimmick for being able to make stuff out of nothing. Where's the crazy elemental confluences, the insane geography? It's just a big empty expanse of nothing. we've only visited one layer of the Abyss, technically two, but since there were no demons at all to be found it didn't really feel Abyssal over any generic evil place.

Limbo showed a lot more of that when Jaela+Annalise+Hanna visited and met the Operator. Your first trip was relatively blessed and Ithea being an Anarch helped shield you from the worst of it. No comments on the rest - I agree and there's various reasons on those, so I don't have much to add.

You're a good DM. There's very little to complain about, but I think that's probably the cause of why when there is a complaint you don't take criticism well. It's not personal! Any criticism is only ever meant in the interest of making the game more fun for everyone, so please don't get down about it.

I don't take criticism personally. I do argue about it sometimes or when I don't agree, but I do listen and it ain't personal. It's not that, it's more of a naturally argumentative style of making a point, I suppose. Cor in particular has a real knack for drawing that out of me.

The tone is pretty bleak, we're still on the run from hell and even rescuing Ilsenine and killing the child of Lifasa hasn't really rocked the status quo. Combat's been good. Even when Gathgarion showed up to wreck our shit in the latter battle it was an interesting obstacle, kinda like those forced scrolling levels in platformers where if you touch the back of the screen you die. (yes I can see situations where having our opponents be overwhelmingly powerful makes for interesting set pieces)

Yeah, I was hoping it would be seen like that. That chase scene was a whole lot of fun from start to end and a nice change of pace.

I hate Fate/Destiny/Prophecies. I hate them in every game I've ever played in and this will never change. It's nice to flip them the bird in this one, but I still hate that they exist and are given weight regardless.

Yeah, that's why I conjured up a scenario where the point was to give fate the middle finger. The basic theory for fate that I run with is that it isn't solid. It's why divination magic about the future is cloudy at best.

Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Woah. But really, we've made a few enemies that weren't strictly necessary (though I wouldn't change those actions), and it's very easy to get disheartened and give up with all we're up against - or get lazy in a seemingly easy battle and open ourselves to being sucker punched.

Now I feel like you switched to surfer dude voice. >_<

Anyway, yeah, that's why the opening pitch had the line about being willing to take it all, get up and give 'em hell in return. I just like to restate that every so often.

Sure we can save Lifasa. It'll be a burnt out shell of a world where the survivors will spend years burying the dead, and the water will never be safe to drink, and the piles of devil corpses will cast shadows over even the tallest mountain peaks. But that's better than the devils having it.

Let's say you get Lifasa back like that. What then? I figure a fey would have something to say about that in particular.

Is Tannin working for devils because his slaad-maid mom is being held hostage? Is the Lady of Pain really a dozen squirrels with a ring of levitation and a cloak of disguise? Is 27 really an extradimensional fingertip of some squamous far realm non euclidean life form pursuing its own ineffable agenda? Is Pelor secretly evil? How many of our recruits are secret devil double-agents waiting for the command to strike? Will Venger distract Tiamat long enough for us to steal the Eye of Asmodeus from her hoard? Will Shar consume all of reality and render our struggles moot? Is Daa-vid still sealed on Sylvie's prime just waiting to be freed and given the right recruitment pitch?

I was hoping for a more serious answer there, in all honesty. Finding out what you guys think are the current mysteries is enlightening.

[Anastasia]

Pretty embarrassed about letting Kascha and Tom die. Yeah, that was my fault. I'll be better. Other than that, I think it's too early to tell with Muirfinn. I miss Willim.

Poor Willim.

The NPCs are amusing and fun. I find Dana hilarious and I hate Annalise. Both of those are good signs that they're good NPCs. I really like hating Annalise.

Good, good. I like that you like to hate Annalise instead of just flat hating her. That's encouraging.

Annalise, Dana, & the Master. Followed by Elena, the Jarl, and Elrisa. The characters are rich and each has their own set of emotions, be they oily-nice evil, stoic aceticism, or brash, life-loving warrior. And so many others!

Poor Elrisa.

Honestly, I thought I didn't think everyone would like Annalise so much. Go figure. That one I didn't see coming at all. I mean, I figured Cor would, but not everyone else to that degree.

Terrifyingly, deviously evil. Definitely not the crazed, mindless evil-horrors of the Abyss.

Good. I'm trying on that front - even if you're not inclined to  use it or meddle, finding out about diabolical politics or seeing the devils use coherent strategy helps reinforce that.

PLEASE CONTINUE PULLING PUNCHES BECAUSE IF YOU GO ALL-OUT I THINK WE'RE ALL FUCKED.

'Pulling few punches' means I haven't been pulling punches, generally. Generally most encounters you fight against the devils are CR 21 minimum and you're surviving. The Fallen ambush was CR 25, just for reference. Now CR's a flawed system with plenty of pitfalls, but it gives you a reference to how I'm pitching enemies against you. You're facing low epic battles and hanging in there, and even triumphing.

Then again, there are things like Gathgorian who is likely CR 35+. So there are nastier things yet out there.

Well, to be honest, I was really surprised at the way you portrayed Bahamut as a rigid adherent to law, but still willing to ally with his most hated enemy over a prismatic dragon. I've not seen him that way.

Yeah, it's an unusual situation for him. If you can get Bahamut and Tiamat to cooperate, something's gone way off the beaten path. Bahamut's also of Law and the father of all dragons, which bestows other responsibilities on him, just as being the mother of all dragons and of Law bestows responsibilities onto Tiamat as well. One can obviously infer that the entire Prismatic Dragon thing was unusual.

It's nice that Morniel is around to try to help soften the blow and I know he's advancing Try's interests by being there, but really. Bahamut, I am disappoint. He should have known what we were doing right away when it came to Baleruk, and I would think he could quickly realize that we were capable of making Baleruk's plans come to fruition. Instead of opposing us and allying with Tiamat, he should have sent us an emissary right away and made his counter offer. I think that, given the choice, we would have taken the deal if it was appropriately sweetened.

He did have a servant try to make nice with you guys and offered quite a bit. You guys didn't bite at all.

I thought the Abyss was freaking awesome. I didn't want to leave. It could have used more demons on top of the Resident Evil/Silent Hill feel that was going on there.

I'm of two minds about that Abyss trip. On one hand I'm not happy that it got mixed reviews, and in that aspect consider it a failure. On the other hand, I do like the horror I experimented there as well as a lot of the stylistic touches like that. In any case, I felt it was good to mix up the Abyss and provide something that emphasizes the chaotic in chaotic evil.

I love Brightwater. With the addition of the Mercane, it's really become that place where you can get just about anything. I like that we've been recruiting awesome shopkeepers from them too.

Coool. I sort of like it as your town to visit for things and like displaying the local flavor there. The pot seller today comes to mind - just had fun with him.

It was going great for Willim. We'll see with Muirfinn, there's not a whole not of fantastic Druid gear with Shapeshift in the mix.

Fair warning, I'm still relatively new to druids so bear with me as I get a grasp on them more. I'm planning some things but it takes time and work.

There's always going to be the desire for more and more money. It will grow into crazy proportions once we get into Epic, too.

I figure.

Speaking of, I need to revise the epic crafting feats, don't I? Let me do that after replying here. I keep putting it off.

We're doing a pretty good job of it. I'll bet that taking out the Child sent them all into convulsions.

Morniel said he suspects as much, and it's a reasonable supposition to assume so, if the Child was supposed to be invincible.

I won't say it's not possible, but there's much more likelihood of negotiating with 'loths or even demons.

Duly noted.

Man, it's everywhere. Every divine emissary is an attempt to influence us one way or another.

Yeah, the Planes are about competing ethos, moralities, forces and ideals. Everyone's wants to see their particular one win.

[Anastasia]

Just that I think you would be biased to any arguments about her and try to see her from a positive side. I think she's the only NPC who had other NPCs worry about her within a day of arrival, to the point of approaching a PC and asking her to help Sylvie feel better. When will Tepen arrange for a hug for me?  :(

You're also loud, brash and rarely show a vulnerable side is seldom seen. Honestly, Jaela is that and has an established support system that's known of. In Sylvie's case, you had a troubled genius come in who caught Tepen's eye. He related to that for his own reasons and took steps. He doesn't relate as much to a paladin-angel that's notoriously headstrong. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Sylvie deserves it more than you. What I'm saying is that your public images are different and you get different reactions because of it.

Most of the other NPCs who you recruit have their shit together and aren't in a position where people need to show them concern or would pick up on it. The only other one that comes to mind is Ilsenine - and there's huge, obvious reasons as to why people should show her support and interest.

I actually have a very simple plan for AC boosting. Animated Heavy Metal Shield +1/Magic Vestment gives me +6 to AC. Making my gauntlets of weapon/armor summoning into doubling as Defending +1 Gauntlets/Greater Magic Weapon will give me +4 to AC and to Touch AC, and keep me always armed in case I don't have a spear equipped for some reason or someone gets past my guard. Then, there is the +1 equivalent Ghost Ward armor+shield enhancement that allows the +X enhancement bonus of the armor/shield to apply to Touch AC, so at a fairly low cost I could add +8 more to my Touch AC. I think this will put me at 35 AC (not worrying over Touch AC right now, it's still a lost cause as far as I'm concerned at this time). That's in the range of Ithea and Muirfin, especially if we calc in the hit from Gambit.

I don't allow the gauntlets as a free source of defending AC unless you're actively using them to fight with. I feel that's genuinely abusive of the intent of the ability. There's no real sacrifice - you're not losing any real to hit since you're not using them to attack with, but instead the weapon you're holding. I deepsixed this for Alicia back in Balmuria 1 and I'd make the same ruling here.

[Merc]

He did have a servant try to make nice with you guys and offered quite a bit. You guys didn't bite at all.

He was just very obnoxious holier-than-thou, honestly? He sucked with diplomacy and made a crappy first impression.

[Anastasia]

He did have a servant try to make nice with you guys and offered quite a bit. You guys didn't bite at all.

He was just very obnoxious holier-than-thou, honestly? He sucked with diplomacy and made a crappy first impression.

Oh, he was. But there was a good faith offer made. I don't dispute that, only that there wasn't any sort of offer made.

[Corwin]

To be fair, Yuth's original point was....

Instead of opposing us and allying with Tiamat, he should have sent us an emissary right away and made his counter offer. I think that, given the choice, we would have taken the deal if it was appropriately sweetened.

There's a difference between doing it properly and as some last ditch resort because they failed at what they were really trying.