DM Nagging: It's pretty much my job

[Anastasia]

My goals are progressing, although slowly. I'm just knocking off both necessary things and trying to match the pace of said progress.

Yes, pretty much. Seira has a knack at keeping herself busy.

I like the interaction with the friendly deities. It's a bit weird, like I've graduated to stand on the same stage but as a junior member. Still, it's cool! I did my time as Robin, and now I'm Nightwinging it up.

Pretty good metaphor for it, yeah.

Amaryl, Donald and Elle better do cool anti-Sharran stuff off screen. It's their node goals and they have a nice hook! It'd go a long way towards feeling like I don't have to micromanage everything for my node. I don't feel like much got done thus far without my direct involvement, and since I can't grab everyone for everything, it leads to me thinking that those from the node I don't involve in a current plan just sit back home and twiddle their thumbs. Whether that's how things go as a result of some oversimplifications that the game's format requires or if it's just a misconception on my side, I figure the only way to really deal with it is to give them nice hooks and see if they can solve those themselves.

Well sure, but lemme refresh on one of the point of the node goals. I want them to be something the PC is involved in, as a way to spend time with and grow with an NPC.

That being said, NPCs are doing things. However, and this is a big however, see above. You give me a lot to do and work with. This isn't a bad thing at all, but with all that's in the air, there's only so much time and posts I have. I'm not saying you're wasting your time or anything, you aren't, you're just grabbing tons of things and running with it.

[Anastasia]

Things feel like they're progressing in the right direction. Now we're prepared for anyone who tries to Time Stop and then escape on us, so that's a good thing.

I'll be curious to see what information Melia can get for us, since I really enjoy the strike raid aspect of our group a lot.

Yes, that can be a lot of fun. We'll see how you develop with those tactics in place.

Can any of you actually cast time stop?

[Anastasia]

Elle's old HP, in case I need it later.

Hit Dice: 1d4+9d10+21d12+248+31+62+2 (532 hp)

[Anastasia]

We're a few levels away from getting 14th level spells but there's not a lot there so here's one I made up that'll be obviously useful for Alicia to murder lots of people in melee combat, but is also I think pretty unique and fun, if perhaps a bit complicated. The stuff about how spell effects propagate through linked squares feels a bit awkward to explain.

Basically it's like being discount Vista though.

Space Compression
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 14
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Area: 100ft/level -radius emanation
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Under the effect of this spell space and distance become malleable, able to change at the caster's whim. Once per round as a free action the caster may alter the distance between any two points within its area of effect such that distant squares are treated as adjacent to one another. Once set, the points remain in their new configuration until either the caster resets them or else moves so that one of them falls outside the radius of the spell (based on its 'true' position - this spell cannot be used to extend its own area).

For example a caster can link her present square with one at the edge of the spell's radius and cover several hundred feet with a single five foot step, bypassing any obstacles or attacks of opportunity in her path. Or she may connect her square with that of a distant enemy, allowing melee attacks to be made through the compressed space. Lines or ray attacks can travel through compressed space normally, whereas for a radius effect a cone is projected through compressed space based on the orientation of the squares and the remaining radius of the effect. For example if a 20 foot radius fireball detonates 10 feet to the left of a square that is linked elsewhere, a 10 foot cone is cut out of the fireball's radius moving past that square, and the 10 foot cone then issues forth from the linked square aimed in the same direction drawn from the fireball's point of origin.

A creature threatens normally through linked squares, potentially increasing their melee reach and triggering attacks of opportunity on other creatures moving around them.

We're going to try this as a 14th level spell, understanding that I'm going to want to demo this with you at some point during the week and that it may be adjusted during play. It's hard to peg at a level.

[Anastasia]

Just tidying up a few stylistic issues.

Space Compression
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 14
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Area: 100ft/level radius emanation
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Under the effect of this spell space and distance become malleable, able to change at the caster's whim. Once per round as a free action the caster may alter the distance between any two points within its area of effect such that distant squares are treated as adjacent to one another. Once set, the points remain in their new configuration until either the caster resets them or else moves so that one of them falls outside the radius of the spell (based on its 'true' position - this spell cannot be used to extend its own area).

For example a caster can link her present square with one at the edge of the spell's radius and cover several hundred feet with a single five foot step, bypassing any obstacles or attacks of opportunity in her path. Or she may connect her square with that of a distant enemy, allowing melee attacks to be made through the compressed space. Lines or ray attacks can travel through compressed space normally, whereas for a radius effect a cone is projected through compressed space based on the orientation of the squares and the remaining radius of the effect. For example if a 20 foot radius fireball detonates 10 feet to the left of a square that is linked elsewhere, a 10 foot cone is cut out of the fireball's radius moving past that square, and the 10 foot cone then issues forth from the linked square aimed in the same direction drawn from the fireball's point of origin.

A creature threatens normally through linked squares, potentially increasing their melee reach and triggering attacks of opportunity on other creatures moving around them.

[Nephrite]

Things feel like they're progressing in the right direction. Now we're prepared for anyone who tries to Time Stop and then escape on us, so that's a good thing.

I'll be curious to see what information Melia can get for us, since I really enjoy the strike raid aspect of our group a lot.

Yes, that can be a lot of fun. We'll see how you develop with those tactics in place.

Can any of you actually cast time stop?

Uhhhh... nope! Moore's got his Boots of Temporal acceleration which always gives him 2, but no one else can. This is another "I'm not really sold on war mage" tick, I think.

Or something I suppose I could simply look into fixing somehow for our node.

[Anastasia]

This one's primarily aimed at Neph, but anyone can chime in. Right now I have epic warmages getting all evocation spells as their epic spell options. This is a crude solution I admit. Do y'all have any ideas on how to do it better?

[Anastasia]

Things feel like they're progressing in the right direction. Now we're prepared for anyone who tries to Time Stop and then escape on us, so that's a good thing.

I'll be curious to see what information Melia can get for us, since I really enjoy the strike raid aspect of our group a lot.

Yes, that can be a lot of fun. We'll see how you develop with those tactics in place.

Can any of you actually cast time stop?

Uhhhh... nope! Moore's got his Boots of Temporal acceleration which always gives him 2, but no one else can. This is another "I'm not really sold on war mage" tick, I think.

Or something I suppose I could simply look into fixing somehow for our node.

Or getting someone who can cast it somehow or another.

[Anastasia]

It never really went anywhere. I kept poking at it but my fucking terrible rolls (lookin' at you 2-7) just crippled the effort every time. Not going with the whole interrogation thing was primarily because Alyssa doesn't have any experience in that sort of thing and I can't imagine a group of arcane researchers has someone specialized in it and I didn't want to let inexperience with it cost us finding the souls (and whatever other info he had).

Yeah, painful dice. That aside, I think it was a reasonable choice to make for her, just interesting.

Mechanically/meta, it was because my diplo/intimidate/bluff stuff isn't as high as someone specialized in it and I'd have to blow Cunning Knowledge for it. Which would have been fine if it was just one or two checks, but I can easily see it being way more than just a couple and, well, my dice history ain't fantastic.

As a general rule, this sort of thing is RP based and saying the right things. At certain points a check can matter, but saying the right things matters more.

IC-wise, yeah, I can't see Alyssa the explorer/researcher going all Guantanamo Bay at the drop of a hat. She knew what was going to happen, vaguely, and was pretty okay with it, though.

It's worth noting it's not really as...questionable as your analogy would suggest. Less nastiness and more genuinely trying to reach someone with superhuman charisma and speaking skills.

The whole turning him to our side wasn't really anything she expected to come up, and she honestly doesn't expect it to pan out, but Amaryl and Seira have way more experience with doing that sort of thing than she does. Honestly, if Amaryl had pushed it on her, Alyssa's solution was going to be to try to use that Programmed Amnesia spell to edit the guy's personality/memories to be a double agent for her so he'd be willing to report. That said, she knew that was a fairly bad option to suggest in the presence of Amaryl and Emily, and it's not really the sort of thing she actively *wants* to do, but without the experience of breaking/turning people before-hand, it's honestly her highest probability of success.

Indeed.

That said, I'm not really sure what Emily's thoughts on Alyssa are. I think she had lofty ideas and while Alyssa hasn't *failed* to meet them, not exactly, I don't think Emily really understood how Alyssa operates when she threw her hat in. I'd like to get some sort of feedback on that, if possible. Same with Jarem. Nothing like super OOC/Meta break-down or anything, just like if Alyssa's meeting or missing what they expected and how/why, just for personal insight.

She doesn't precisely understand, I'll say that much.

As for the rest, I'll cover that a little later, need to mull it over and how I want to do that.

I did like the part when I blew the smoke away and he went "Damn." =)
The fact that I know her heard Emily talking about dropping the cage and hoping to use it as a chance to escape, only for me to derail it is even better.

That was a nice little bit there, definitely.

[Corwin]

Well sure, but lemme refresh on one of the point of the node goals. I want them to be something the PC is involved in, as a way to spend time with and grow with an NPC.

That's actually not been fully clear, I'm afraid. Take Kascha, for example:

Kascha: Good, Loyal. ("Hmm, there's so much to do for the Cauldron. I should get out there and do some hands on work with the elements.")

So yeah, I suggested she go and do that thing. Which she did, without me. I fully expect that to fulfill her node goal.

Or Sanzha:

Lady Sanzha: Good, Watching. ("Planar events are moving. Perhaps it's time I rejoin them.")

The phrasing and context suggest she needs to take these steps on her own. I did get involved in talking to her about it on several occasions, offering advice and getting others to help out, and provided her with some options she could go for alongside me. If I'm intended to actually find her cool unique deity thing instead of Sanzha deciding on it herself, it's not actually been made clear to me.

It's obvious there is some involvement necessary, but while some side quests are clear hooks to do them throughout with an npc, others seem more of a 'go do that cool thing' sort of instruction.

That being said, NPCs are doing things. However, and this is a big however, see above. You give me a lot to do and work with. This isn't a bad thing at all, but with all that's in the air, there's only so much time and posts I have. I'm not saying you're wasting your time or anything, you aren't, you're just grabbing tons of things and running with it.

Mmm. It's been an informed ability in B6 so far, at least as far as my node is concerned. Things would've been different had I returned home to a report of fresh volunteers progressing along the Rainbow Pixie model, or to have Sanzha present me with baby Behemoths. Or if the Earth side of things either advanced in some tangible way, or Donald&Elle reported progress to me of their own initiative instead of me seeking them out to ask them. Stuff like that.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa's Node

Overall Condition: Young.

Members

Emily: Relieved ("Let's go do something awesome and smite evil, Alyssa.")

Did beating the assassin count towards this?

[Nephrite]

Things feel like they're progressing in the right direction. Now we're prepared for anyone who tries to Time Stop and then escape on us, so that's a good thing.

I'll be curious to see what information Melia can get for us, since I really enjoy the strike raid aspect of our group a lot.

Yes, that can be a lot of fun. We'll see how you develop with those tactics in place.

Can any of you actually cast time stop?

Uhhhh... nope! Moore's got his Boots of Temporal acceleration which always gives him 2, but no one else can. This is another "I'm not really sold on war mage" tick, I think.

Or something I suppose I could simply look into fixing somehow for our node.

Or getting someone who can cast it somehow or another.

I was under the impression our node for actual NPCs with combat sheets was full. Is that not the case?

[Anastasia]

Amaryl avatar is up for future reference. It's ultra-basic on purpose.

[Anastasia]

Sunday evening status update.

Saturday Night: Weekly roundup, along with a more in depth commentary on how I think the game is going (spoiler: it's going good).
Sunday: Day off since it's week 1 of the NFL season. I might do a smidgen of something but that's purely optional.
Monday: Empty out the todo list as much as possible.
Tuesday: Finish Beezlebub. This may run into Wednesday, depending on how things go.
Wednesday- Friday: Spells.
Saturday: TBA, it may be a catch up day if needed.
Sunday: Not much, any cleanup and mostly football.

The commentary hasn't really gelled in my head yet, it's still too rambly. As for the rest, I've gotten most of the todo stuff done that isn't a huge effort and/or time sink. That's good enough for now, spell todos will be rolled into the spell push later in the week.

[Corwin]

Okay, on reflections lets do healing flames as clr 6 and pal 5.

I think this spell never got settled? It's not in the Spell Collection.