Important Notices

[Firewind]

Re: Important Notices

I worded it like that because I didn't want to look like I was pointing fingers or trying to assign blame for anything Mezlo

Also spell resolutions tend to be time consuming anyway so I personally don't count sorting out a spell's effects since there's so many different things that can affect it. Plus we have to look it up to tell Yyg exactly what the spell does if he can't remember what it does himself.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Important Notices

I think the point Yyg was trying to make is that we ought to know the effects of our own spells so we don't have to look it up every time. If you're going to be using it you should know what it does and only have to look it up if there's some clarification needed on the fine details for a ruling.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm also going to second Mezlo on the scheduling thing. It doesn't really affect me too much because my Saturdays are pretty wide open, but for others it's useful to know the schedule as early as possible so they can plan for it or let us know in advance if they cannot make it.

[Jarre]

Re: Important Notices

I'm working all weekend so can do Saturday if its on wil be nice break from the work.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Important Notices

I understand the concern surrounding my last minute scheduling. I'll make sure to tell you guys by Thursday night/Friday morning from now on. Barring any unforseen last minute things, I should have ones posted by then.

My apologies for the past few sessions.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Important Notices

I don't like to point fingers at anyone in specific... so instead I'm shaking my fist at all 5 of you. Each of you has your own little quirk that complicates each session. Some are obviously more noticable and annoying than others. I'm not going to go into specifics, as that wouldn't end in any other way than aggresseive self-defense of your actions. Instead, I simply ask that the following SIMPLE guidelines be followed. Deviation too far from them will result in some form of universal punishment... I'm thinking a 250xp loss... as a motivator.

1. No more metagaming. You know what it is... I know you do... however I feel it's necessery to remind you of a few points. Namely... you and your character do NOT share knowledge. Should you encounter a monster that your PC has never seen before (which based on the partys backgrounds basically account for almost everything) you will have no strategic advantage besides what you can observe mid-combat. You do NOT share knowledge with other party members. If Cid decides he's going to Sense Motive and he learns that whoever you're talking to isn't telling the whole truth... that it's something you can act on until he tells you. Any future communication of such things... and all actions taken in response to such un-knowable information will be treated as if you're speaking aloud in character... or in cases of blatent abuse of un-knowable information... the 250xp penalty will be enforced. Lastly, many of you have argued that your characters are acting on their intuition (when defending why you took an action that I have previously deemed unknown to you). Understand that Intuition is encompassed within your Wisdom Score. You're only going to be as wise as your Wisdom lets you be. The same pertains to your Intelligence. Smart ideas are better left to smart characters. Similarly... any idea proposed by a character with an INT score lower than the idea would require will be rendered unusable. Unfortunately, although many good ideas originate from Armando, that makes his ideas... almost always inadmissable. On the other handm, due to his Wisdom, it makes his intuition the strongest. Remember the difference and do not attempt to blur the lines.

2. Cut out the out-of-game talk. I know I occasionally do it, but far more often I find myself stopping others from doing it. Feel free to talk about whatever you want when we're on break or gathering together at the start of a session, but be prepared to save it when it comes time to start/restart play.

3. When it's your turn, you're speaking. The only time it should be acceptable to interrupt someone else is if you're trying to roleplay and correct their wording, withhold information or something similar. Example:

Lily: You're willing to pay how much for me to steal a book from the old cleric on the hill? You don't say... and how do you feel if some kind of accident were to..."
Theron: Ahem... I think what my over zealous friend here is trying to say is that we'll pass. Thank you.
Lily: No I don't think I will... I think I'd like to hear a little more about the old bast...
Theron: *Puts Lily in a playful looking but very effective headlock* Oh lily... you jokester you! We're fine, thanks. Have a nice day! (To Lily at a whisper: What in the 7 hells is wrong with you?!)

4. More skills exist in this game than strictly Acrobatics, Perception, Sense Motive, Knowledge and Diplomacy. Find opportunities to use them sometimes. Spice things up a little. Otherwise it's kind-of a waste of your skill points if you ask me. the way I set up knowledge aquisition is by choosing a list of skills that could be used to aquire knowledge (not always knowledge checks) and attribute skill challenges to them. For instance... when you first entered the mercenary camp and I suggested that you could use this time to dig up information on Modra (and in all honest I shouldn't have had to spoon feed you that idea), the skills I attributed to the challenge were Diplomacy, Endurance, Intimidate, Streetwise and Bluff. Knowledge of any kind was completely useless... as the Shadowfell is a new experience to the entire party. You attempted none of them.

5. Roleplay. Roleplay. Roleplay. Your characters should feel like an alter-ego at this point. They have personalities... agendas... predjudices... neurotic tentancies. Play those out. It's not nearly as intimidating as it seems. All you have to do is flip a switch in your brain where you stop being Cid and Start being Vince. Don't even allow yourself to speak as Cid. If you want to take it a step farther, craft a unique voice for them... something that isn't hard to commit to for long periods of time. For instance, Mezlo could have a pompous arrogance to his voice. Something like that would mix well with the casual indifference he shows towards injuring allies. Armando on the other hand, could have a fatherly persona and pseudo-authoratative voice to accompany it. Fire and Cid are like twins desperately seeking to be different from one another. Cid maintains healthy skepticism at any and everything and as such, should sound waary and hessitant while maintaining a nearly constant impatience. Fire is more of the arrogant and boasting PC who... as he's said in the past... he models after OoTS. Jarre is a fighter... and as such... should almost always relate things as closely as he can to combat. Example: "Breaking through a door is as easy as squashing kobald skulls. You just need the proper thrust, momentum and brute force... like... SO!!" *kick* "See? I didn't even need to dirty my sword or take out any tools, heh"

[Firewind]

Re: Important Notices

Hey I'm pretty sure that I've rolled Bluff, Stealth and Sleight of and in acts that may or may not have been used to boost personal wealth . Plus Adam tended to set off the traps before I could roll Disable Device except for that one time I somehow did it mid-encounter to stop him from getting us all killed.

And I'm fairly sure that in D&D, Intelligence is more "Academic" Intelligence, a truly intelligent character would have good INT, WIS and CHA. Theron being pretty insightful and working things out does make sense since his Intelligence score might just be representing the fact that the character just didn't get a formal education.

Personally I Roleplay my character having High INT, Decent CHA and Average WIS (using 8-10 as a comparison point for your average person) by making it pretty blatant that my character tends to make things up as she goes along. I think the whole Investigation in the last visit to Overlook (I still have no idea how I ended up getting stuck under the table), and my attempts at Lily trying to pass herself off as a Merc (and failing badly) in the Mercenary camps made that much apparent. I always pictured a high INT Chaotic Good Rogue as something like Han Solo or Indiana Jones in how they can come up with things on the fly.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Important Notices

And I'm fairly sure that in D&D, Intelligence is more "Academic" Intelligence.

- Charisma measures a character's personality, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and appearance.
Nothing to do with intelligence....

- Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons.
Everything to do with intelligence...

-Wisdom describes a character's willpower, common sense, awareness, and intuition.
Nothing to do with intelligence...

The difference, Fire... in plain english... with no room for interpretation.

Straight from the Pathfinder Handbook.

Personally I Roleplay my character having High INT, Decent CHA and Average WIS (using 8-10 as a comparison point for your average person) by making it pretty blatant that my character tends to make things up as she goes along. I think the whole Investigation in the last visit to Overlook (I still have no idea how I ended up getting stuck under the table), and my attempts at Lily trying to pass herself off as a Merc (and failing badly) in the Mercenary camps made that much apparent. I always pictured a high INT Chaotic Good Rogue as something like Han Solo or Indiana Jones in how they can come up with things on the fly.

That is the biggest and most lame cop-out I've ever heard from someone trying to write off their lack of creativity.

[Firewind]

Re: Important Notices

You see this is one reason I dislike text chat since it's hard to convey tone. I had a bit of a ranty "You Suck!" post written last night but after sleeping on it and reading over the thread again... Basically I can break what I really wanted to say down like this without sounding like I'm whining or ranting:

1. I was never trying to disagree with you or sound like I'm whining and I apologise if I came across as sounding like that, just trying to give a justification to roll with Armando keeping his "Smart Guy" role. I actually fully agree that we should all cut down on knowing things we can't possibly know since we have all done it at some point.
2. The points listed for those stats still need some form of intelligence anyway. Leading people as part of charisma? Well that person will know what to say and when. Well grounded common sense from Wisdom? They will generally have a cool head and while they might not understand what is going on, they will have some understanding.
3. It wouldn't be unreasonable to include Knowledge Skills in with how "smart" someone can be since they reflect a more specialist knowledge of subjects. While I think everyone (self included) has tried some very liberal interpretations of what Knowledge skills actually do, I'm thinking we should be taking those into account when working out as to if someone's character would reasonably know that.
4. I'm going to argue against a lack of creativity from the party when it comes to solving your "Puzzle Bosses" Yyg. One thing I've seen each of us do is pick an action that would be perfectly in character than, get talked out of it or just plain shot down by the rest of the group because it isn't the most efficient way to win, even if it would be in character, fun or creative to do. Not pointing fingers here because everyone has done it at some point (again myself included).

Also I'm not sure if this applies to anyone else but I will give the honest answer as to why I admit fully to usually saying "Anyone want to say anything?" or something like that when we are in a Roleplay Situation or seeming nervous, hesitant or as though I'm doing things half heartedly:

1. I really do want everyone to have a chance at roleplaying and start feeling a bit like a spotlight whore when I'm the only one talking but nobody else is saying anything, when or when asking exposition questions in the hope that someone else might chime in.
2. Likewise when I see someone else on a roll I don't really want to put them off it, we aren't at an actual tabletop so sometimes it is tricky to chime in at the right time, especially when voice comms have a slight delay and Skype bugging out when more than one person says something at the same time. Plus we might not have someone chiming in because say Theron is handling a situation with a guard and Vince is thinking "Oh hey he's got this" and is ICly comfortable with him handling the situation.
3. Not even attempting to using this as an excuse since if I'm coming across as lacking creativity then I must be doing something wrong, but please take into account the fact that it is starting to get late when Jarre and myself are playing so there is every chance that one of us is quite tired and in one of those "Can't think, brain AFK" modes, especially once Alcohol/Caffeine is involved.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Important Notices

Tomorrow: 4:00pm EST to start. Arrive early to ensure we can start on time.

Can you make it?

[cidbahamut]

Re: Important Notices

Sounds like a plan.

[Armando]

Re: Important Notices

Sorry guys, can't make it to this one. Parents visiting plus studying for an exam. I appreciate your effor to schedule it early though.

[Firewind]

Re: Important Notices

Tentative yes. Most of the plans for my little sister's birthday are in the afternoon so I should be able to make it if you don't mind occasionally being disturbed by a bunch of 12/13 year old girls.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Important Notices

Considering Armando will not be able to attend, tomorrow's session will be postponed until such a date available to everyone.

Mezlo. Enjoy family time.

[Firewind]

Re: Important Notices

Considering Armando will not be able to attend, tomorrow's session will be postponed until such a date available to everyone.

Mezlo. Enjoy family time.

Fine with this. It means I get to spend the evening with my sister too

[Mezlo]

Re: Important Notices

Cool.