DM Nagging: It's pretty much my job

[Anastasia]

Okay then, next week is off and we'll have an uninterrupted July.

[Ebiris]

I feel the need for a better version of invisibility, as good as superior invisibility is. Moore's Marvelous Invisibility doesn't quite cut it with that long casting time, so here's Marie's take on it. If Beelzebub already has one of this name he should've publicised it better.

Basically it fixes Superior Invis's (and all invisibility spells) flaw of dealing with a bag of flour being thrown at you or fighting in water where you leave your outline visible, provides some extra cover for sneaky spellcasting, and throws in a fun little bit to screw over anyone who manages to detect you in spite of all that.

edit: Honestly it does a lot more than screw over anyone who detects you in spite of that, it's pretty much full on slasher villain tactics like some shit you'd see out of Hellraiser or something where a guy's getting carved up in a crowded room and no one even notices. Can't say it's not an epic spell with that, though!

Perfect Invisibility
Illusion (Glamer, Pattern) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 14
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched or an object touched weighing no more than 100 lbs per caster level
Duration: 1 min/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless), see text
Spell Resistance: No

This spell functions like superior invisibility, except as noted here. The subject becomes selectively intangible except where it benefits them. Treat this like Incorporeality except the creature can make attacks with no miss chance, and when receiving attacks their miss chance comes from concealment and not incorporeality (thus ghost touch weapons or spells with the Force descriptor offer no benefit). All sounds made by the subject, including casting spells with verbal components, are muffled and require a DC 70 perception check to hear, although the subject can use their own stealth check if better to obscure the sounds of movement. Perfect Invisibility renders the subject immune to detection by True Seeing.

If a creature does manage to detect the subject, they must make a will saving throw against the spell's DC. Failure means they do not notice the subject, nor anything they are interacting with - such as opening a door, carrying a visible object, or even attacking a creature. A creature that is being directly attacked by the subject (as defined in the invisibility spell) gains a +20 circumstance bonus on this saving throw. Creatures immune to Mind-Affecting effects are unaffected by this aspect, but must still overcome the invisibility aspect by other means. This effect overcomes the benefit provided by a True Seeing spell.

[Anastasia]

Another day or two before any work or updates, finger needs more time.

[Anastasia]

I feel the need for a better version of invisibility, as good as superior invisibility is. Moore's Marvelous Invisibility doesn't quite cut it with that long casting time, so here's Marie's take on it. If Beelzebub already has one of this name he should've publicised it better.

Basically it fixes Superior Invis's (and all invisibility spells) flaw of dealing with a bag of flour being thrown at you or fighting in water where you leave your outline visible, provides some extra cover for sneaky spellcasting, and throws in a fun little bit to screw over anyone who manages to detect you in spite of all that.

edit: Honestly it does a lot more than screw over anyone who detects you in spite of that, it's pretty much full on slasher villain tactics like some shit you'd see out of Hellraiser or something where a guy's getting carved up in a crowded room and no one even notices. Can't say it's not an epic spell with that, though!

Perfect Invisibility
Illusion (Glamer, Pattern) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 14
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched or an object touched weighing no more than 100 lbs per caster level
Duration: 1 min/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless), see text
Spell Resistance: No

This spell functions like superior invisibility, except as noted here. The subject becomes selectively intangible except where it benefits them. Treat this like Incorporeality except the creature can make attacks with no miss chance, and when receiving attacks their miss chance comes from concealment and not incorporeality (thus ghost touch weapons or spells with the Force descriptor offer no benefit). All sounds made by the subject, including casting spells with verbal components, are muffled and require a DC 70 perception check to hear, although the subject can use their own stealth check if better to obscure the sounds of movement. Perfect Invisibility renders the subject immune to detection by True Seeing.

If a creature does manage to detect the subject, they must make a will saving throw against the spell's DC. Failure means they do not notice the subject, nor anything they are interacting with - such as opening a door, carrying a visible object, or even attacking a creature. A creature that is being directly attacked by the subject (as defined in the invisibility spell) gains a +20 circumstance bonus on this saving throw. Creatures immune to Mind-Affecting effects are unaffected by this aspect, but must still overcome the invisibility aspect by other means. This effect overcomes the benefit provided by a True Seeing spell.

We'll give it a try and see how it works. I have a few questions so let's see how it works out in practice.

Is it good now or were you going to tweak it any more?

[Ebiris]

Barring questions or concerns I think it's good. I'll have Marie swap out Dreamscape for it.

[Anastasia]

Alrighty then.

[Anastasia]

Oh and obviously this won't be available until after this adventure finishes.

[Nephrite]

Magic of Yesterday
Divination
Level: Brd ?, Sor/Wiz ?
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Area: 300ft radius, centered on you
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell allows the caster to see spells and magic that was used in the past. This spell reaches back 1 day per caster level and informs the caster of any magic used as if it had been freshly cast in the area as if they had used a Greater Arcane Sight spell. You are allowed normal skill checks to identify any spells or magic that Magic of Yesterday uncovers.



I wanted to keep this one a little more limited as I think being able to potentially identify magic from days and days ago could be really strong. No idea on spell level for it... Brd 9 and Sor/Wiz 12? I am unsure on that one.

[Anastasia]

Mmm, bump it up a little higher and we can test it a bit, see how crazy it ends up being.

[Nephrite]

Magic of Yesterday
Divination
Level: Brd 10, Sor/Wiz 13
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Area: 300ft radius, centered on you
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell, which is a modified version of Hindsight, allows the caster to see spells and magic that was used in the past. This spell reaches back 1 day per caster level and informs the caster of any magic used as if it had been freshly cast in the area as if they had used a Greater Arcane Sight spell. You are allowed normal skill checks to identify any spells or magic that Magic of Yesterday uncovers.

[Nephrite]

These are probably bad.


Light of the Illuminated Heaven
Evocation [Light, Good]
Level: Clr 14, Pal 12
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Area: 77 foot radius, centered on you
Duration: Instant
Saving Throw: Will partial (see text).
Spell Resistance: No

You call upon the light from the highest layers of Mount Celestia to erupt out of you in all directions. This light purges and weakens shadows in its radius as it fills the area completely with light. Any evil creature who is within the spell's radius loses any benefit from magical or supernatural shadows for 7 rounds. Creatures that succeed on their will save find these powers weakened briefly and lose their benefit for one round. This spell acts as Superb Dispelling against magical or supernatural darkness and any shadow-based spells (Maximum CL 45).



I went a little high on the effects on it because the radius isn't that big, but it may still be too strong.



Shadowdread Weapon
Evocation [Good]
Level: Sanctified 13
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Weapon touched
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell removes all normal benefits and properties of a weapon and turns it into a glowing white ethereal version of itself. While enchanted like this, the weapon is able to strike those who use shadows as a primary defense. The weapon ignores any miss chance provided by magical or supernatural shadows or similar effects.

The bonuses from this spell overwrite a weapon's normal properties, but it cannot affect an artifact.

Focus

The melee weapon to be enhanced.

[Anastasia]

After a great deal of thought and with far more regret, I've decided to suspend Balmuria 6.

The plain truth is this: As my health continues to decline so does my energy and my mind. B6 is a lot of game, an ambitious effort that's met that cold reality. I've slowed scaled back operations to try and accommodate this. However, over time it's become clear to me that this isn't a viable solution.

I haven't been happy with my DMing lately. I haven't been happy with player reactions because I haven't been able to put enough energy into the game to improve those reactions. I simply don't have the energy at this particular juncture in my life to be the DM B6 needs to prosper. I've kept things going in the hopes I rebound or I can make it to some medication changes that could theoretically help. However, I've come to the conclusion that this is unlikely to help sufficiently.

As such, I'm going to suspend this game for at least two weeks, perhaps longer. I'm going to take some time away from any and all DM matters to see if extended rest helps. To be honest I don't think it will, not enough to change the tide here, but I owe it to this game and all the work put into it to try.

After that, I'll either resume this game on an accelerated pace to reach an ending, or simply conclude that as of now I can't adequately DM this game. Should it be the first, I may focus on a select cast for some sort of ending to keep things moving. In other words, trim things down to make it more manageable for me. If it's the second, I'll suspend this game indefinitely. I won't rule out coming back to it if circumstances improve - you never know if today is the day your prayers will be granted - but I'm not optimistic that I'll ever pick it up again if so.

Regardless of which transpires, that will be followed by rest and possibly another game. I'd love to keep DMing, but I need something with a smaller DM footprint. B6's footprint is extraordinarily large. Perhaps even try an IRC game again, see if I can manage one of those. It almost certainly won't be D&D, as I've already decided independently that whenever my next game comes, it won't be D&D. I've mentioned a few projects at times

To be clear on an important point: This isn't your faults. Getting older sucks is all, and getting older with a bunch of conditions coming home to roost is even worse. I've had this in mind for some time but I haven't mentioned it, as I feel any premature mention of it would merely make it more likely to happen, as well as change the atmosphere of the game. The final straw was going to Alicia's thread and realizing that running a giant battle event was unthinkable now. Not your fault, Eb, just happened to what pushed me to finally do this.

There's still a lot of good in this game and has been recently, but (and this is a big one) I don't want that good to drown and be lost.

So I wrote this all out and let it sit a bit. I'm going to post it because it feels like it's the right time to post it, though I'm leaning more towards the 'finish the game in trimmed down mode' now that I'm over the initial burst.

[Iron Dragoon]

Sounds good. Do what you gotta do for your own quality of life, bud. Hope you get an upswing soon.

[Nephrite]

I have Thoughts and Opinions on this that will be further stated when I get home and not coming from a phone. This is just an acknowledgment of having read the above.

[Anastasia]

Sounds good. Do what you gotta do for your own quality of life, bud. Hope you get an upswing soon.

So do I. Thanks Iddy.