DM Nagging: It's pretty much my job

[Nephrite]

I'm getting my second level in Singer of the Celestial Choir, which states:

Sanctified Magic (Ex)

At 2nd level and every four levels thereafter, the singer of the celestial choir may add a sanctified spell to her selection of bard spells known. This is in addition to the spells known that a bard gains as normal.

Does this mean I can pick any Sanctified magic spell for any level I have a bardic spell level for? I.e. I can pick anything between 1 and 10?

[Anastasia]

Briefly since it's a fair question: Yes you can. Any bard level you have.

[Nephrite]

Just posting this here since I'm looking at the SC, it seems like some spells are randomly italicized and I'm not sure why.

[Nephrite]

Moore reaches level 32!

Singer of the Celestial Choir 2/Favored Soul 2

5 on a d8 for a total of 5+2+8 = 15 HP and 442 total HP.

Singer bumps the Bard casting up to 31st level, which gives an extra 10th level spell known. Moore selects Sensual Blessing. I should really check what spells I already have. Ahem. Moore selects Greater Snowsong.

For his Sanctified spell, Moore selects Cleansing Rain.

Also, Moore is changing out Greater Harmonic Void for Song of the Elements.


Moore also finally gets 20th level Favored Soul casting, giving him one extra 7th, 8th and 9th level spells. I will pick them but I may want to change them up depending on what other spells we uncover from our new healer friend, if that's okay.

7th: Shield of the Archons
8th: Mass Death Ward
9th: Miracle

Also, just as a note, I'm going to go through and add the Time Domain spells off to the side because I nearly forgot I had all of them again.

EDIT: I'm also apparently really stupid and didn't realize that 32 is both a +1 saves level as well as an ability score level. He'll have to take a point in Charisma to take it to 29 base. Ughhhh that sucks so much!!!

[Anastasia]

Just posting this here since I'm looking at the SC, it seems like some spells are randomly italicized and I'm not sure why.

From the SC's first post:

A spell in italics is an epic spell for of 9th level or lower, the domain of paladins, rangers and bards. All spells of 10th level or higher are epic spells.

It's purely for internal tracking on my end and notations.

[Nephrite]

Has it always been like that? I swear I never noticed before today...

[Anastasia]

Yes it has.

[Nephrite]

Then I'm very blind.

[Corwin]

Out of curiosity, what bane types will work on the standard efreet? Magebane, evil outsider bane? Anything else?

[Anastasia]

Then I'm very blind.

I can relate.

[Anastasia]

Out of curiosity, what bane types will work on the standard efreet? Magebane, evil outsider bane? Anything else?

Magebane assuming they qualify. That's not really a standard bane type but it's own thing, so check with that to see.

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Bane_(Weapon_Enhancement)

Outsider (Fire), since they have the fire subtype. That's about it.

[Anastasia]

I'm working on a resource system, as most of you are already know. Here is a rough first draft. It's not quite finished with it, but I'd like to get feedback on it from everyone before I begin to polish it up and adjust.

Realm Management

This system is meant to provide a basic and abstract method of marshaling and tracking your realm's resources. It's meant to cover all the things your realm is investing energy into above and beyond what the PCs do - essentially what the forces you command are up to. It covers a myriad of of possibilities and tasks to complete.

Right now, this system is relevant to everyone but Tryll. This may change if Tryll gains any sort of centralized position or otherwise a position with minions, infrastructure and resources to draw on.

Rules

Every polity covered in these rules, from the lowliest settlement to the grandest plane, is called a realm and will be called as such in this article. A realm's resources are displayed as a percentage, 100%. This percentage is known as your realm's total resources. This covers things such as the military, internal production, deployment ability, research capacity and so forth. While a default amount to everything is assumed to handle basic, day by day tasks, anything beyond that requires an investment from your realm's total resources.

Every realm has the same 100% for your realm's total resources. This is not a reflection of how big your realm is nor how populous (or not) it is. Instead, various things to invest your realm's total resources into require a percentage that scales depending on the size of your realm. These things are known as tasks.

A task consumes a percentage of your realm's total resources. A task has a difficulty from one of six categories, with the difficulty determining the percentage of your realm's total resources needed to accomplish it. You can engage in as many tasks as your realm's total resources permit, but never above 100%. See table 1, below.

(Add table last so I can paste this without having to bombard people with code. Numbers are not final.)

Minor: 1%
Light: 5%
Moderate: 10%
Serious: 20%
Critical: 50%
Custom: Varies.

A task is further distinguished by the task's rank. This is to scale the task to the proper size that the task covers. After all, a task for a village and a task for an empire are on far different scales. A task's rank can be as low as 1 and as high as 30 (or even higher, theoretically). See table 2, below.

(A table of task ranks and how each rank sizes up.)

1: A small hamlet.
3: A village
5: A town
7: A city (Victoria)
9: A metropolis (Balmuria)
11: A kingdom (United Baronies)
13: An empire (The Old Malmuth Empire)
15: An 'average' demiplane (Makil's Demiplane)(Before you ask, no Aurora isn't average for a demiplane, I'm not sure where I'd put it)
17: An 'average' planar group (Githzerai)
19: A 'strong' planar group or demiplane (Githyanki)
21: The plane/domain of a demipower (Sylica, the Cauldron)
23: The plane/domain of a lesser power
25: The plane/domain of an intermediate power
27: The plane/domain of a greater power
29: The plane/domain of a planar lord (Asmodeus, Morwel) or a greater power that leads a pantheon (CL, Moradin)

An example task is provided below.

Clear Out the Mines
Task Rank: 5
Task Difficulty: Moderate (10%)

Clear some kobolds out of our mines so we can get back to work. They're hampering the city's livelihood and endangering miners.

The task's rank is 5. That means the task's size is something a town may deal with. In this case, it's a band of kobolds interfering in a town's mining operations. The task's difficulty is moderate (10%), which means it takes 10% of your realm's total resources to deal with. In this case it may be rounding up a party to deal with it from the town itself, or pooling money to hire adventurers to sort it out.

That all assumes your realm is rank 5, a typical town. However, a realm may have a task to which its rank does not match. If the task's rank is higher than the realm's rank, increase the difficulty by one for each rank it is above the realm's rank. For example, the above task would be treated as a serious (20%) difficulty task by a rank 4 realm. A rank 3 realm (a typical village) would treat it as a critical (50%) task. While a a village that isn't quite a town can buckle down and step up with an increased investment to deal with the task, it becomes nigh overwhelming for a mere village. Any task that would go above critical cannot be accomplished by your realm in this manner. Such things are more the domain of PCs or IC action rather than your realm dealing with things.

Additionally, if your realm's total resources permit, you can multiply the resources expended by two, three, four or five. If you do, this increases the speed and results of the task getting done. This represents devoting an abnormal amount of resources to a particular situation. Certain custom difficulty tasks cannot be altered in this manner.  Using the previous example task above, if a rank 5 realm wished to expend three times the normal resources to a task, this would raise your realm's total resources invested into it to 30% increases both the speed and improves the outcome of the task.

Do note that even investing heavily into a task won't let you accomplish something that is impossible, nor does it guarantee success. Even the best and most lavishly funded efforts sometimes fail for a variety of reasons. (Not to mention the fact that these things going wrong often give adventurers jobs.)

In the inverse direction, if the tasks' rank is lower than the realm's rank, decrease the difficulty by one for each rank it is above the realm's rank. For example, the above task would be treated as a light (5%) difficulty task by a rank 6 realm. A rank 7 realm would treat it as a minor (1%) task. A town on the cusp of becoming a big city has more resources to deal with such a thing, while a proper city can easily dispatch forces to clean out the infestation. Any task that would go below minor should not be considered tasks for you at all. These are the sort of things that are simply dealt with by your realm, the forces, funds or effort needed trivial to them.

Finally, there is one more feature in how your realm handles tasks. You may assign a leader to direct each task. This leader must be a named NPC that has featured in your adventures and is available for your realm to call on. Each leader has trait that influences how the task is accomplished. This trait may help the task succeed, it may lower the task's costs or a myriad of other things. This is where you all come in: I'd like a list of named NPCs working and available in your realms so I can generate them as leaders.  You may not use members of your node for this, they are automatically disqualified. This isn't the place for them, their place is in the node adventuring and dealing with IC things.

What Your Realm Covers Automatically

Your realm's day to day and basic operations are assumed to be covered. However, a few special tasks are available to represent an increased investment in certain matters.

Realm Defense: This is an investment in your realm's defense above the norm For example, the norm for a hamlet might be a single retired guard and a few farmers keeping an eye out. For a city that's a routine city watch along with any related law enforcement elements. It's what you'd assume would be there. Any investment in this task channels resources into a more active and robust defense. A village dealing with a few minor raids may invest 10% into this, while a city under siege might invest 100% into this.

Rest: Not every percentage of every realm is used all the time. This is normal and this is what unused resources should be put into. Most non Hellish realms have some percentage here, as it's only normal to rest forces.

Realm Defense
Task Rank: N/A
Task Difficulty: Custom (Any)

The percentage of your resources dedicated to your realm's defenses, above and beyond the norm.

Rest
Task Rank: N/A
Task Difficult: (Any)

The percentage of your resources not dedicated to a particular task.

[Iron Dragoon]

For the most part, it looks pretty basic but solid. I think there needs to be some form of quantification for like, defenses, offenses, and some basic upgrade type stuff, though. Like, the DC to attack your realm is 50, your military might is +30, ect.

Also, are there going to be reoccurring tasks or something that needs to 'cool-down' before it can be done/attempted again? Like, festivals every month or a recruitment drive for the military (only so many military aged people, after all).

[Anastasia]

For the most part, it looks pretty basic but solid. I think there needs to be some form of quantification for like, defenses, offenses, and some basic upgrade type stuff, though. Like, the DC to attack your realm is 50, your military might is +30, ect.

An actual, serious attack on your realm will be handled IC. However, resources devoted there would make your realm respond better, be better prepared and altogether less likely to fold up. I'm not looking for numbers for that because that's not really the aim of these rules. It's meant to work in a certain degree of abstraction without getting into numbers, rather than, 'Iddy has 30% of his forces on defense, attackers have to roll DC 40 to sack the guild'. Instead it would be like, 'Iddy has 30% of his forces on defense, the guild expects an attack and is ready, so the effort is valiantly resisted and sets up a counterattack that the PCs deal with'.

This is meant to be an aid to diverting resources and getting things done, not into a mini system that requires more numbers and systems beyond the minimum needed to make this work.

Also, are there going to be reoccurring tasks or something that needs to 'cool-down' before it can be done/attempted again? Like, festivals every month or a recruitment drive for the military (only so many military aged people, after all).

Generally not, though if I feel that's needed in execution I'll factor that in and add it. More like 'Recruit local military strength' might be a light task, then doing it again would be a moderate task. Then maybe you hop to a different task of 'recruit military strength beyond your borders' which is a whole different task, now that you've tapped out the land you control.

Still tinkering with the exacts there.

[Anastasia]

Finally, there is one more feature in how your realm handles tasks. You may assign a leader to direct each task. This leader must be a named NPC that has featured in your adventures and is available for your realm to call on. Each leader has trait that influences how the task is accomplished. This trait may help the task succeed, it may lower the task's costs or a myriad of other things. This is where you all come in: I'd like a list of named NPCs working and available in your realms so I can generate them as leaders.  You may not use members of your node for this, they are automatically disqualified. This isn't the place for them, their place is in the node adventuring and dealing with IC things.

Just emphasizing this part so y'all can do your work on it and not miss it.