From what I understand, JamesLeng enjoys running the initial crew through the dungeon, as it's much livelier and pretty fast/straightforward to run. Might also be looking for some cover art for threads, which I'm possibly going to get done, but I've not been well this month so it's a toos up of when it'll actually get started and finished

>>123749
>passive exp and gold boost over time
No.

Marijke and the pirates from before the reboot are now back in play in thread 6.

>>123756
okay. In retrospect, that idea sounded like something from a pay-to-win mobile game.

>>123774
Excuse me while I binge watch threads 1-3.

>>123774
Might want to do some finagling of my characters- assuming Alphious is out of play, having only had a couple lines of dialog; That leaves Stone and Riv. Gonna do some creative editing with Riv, try to make her less homicidal, and might want to send Stone the way of Tall Jack Rat? Don't know how well he would fit in in either case though, might have him wander off for the time being, we'll have to see. Don't want him to have left his promise to the bandits unfulfilled. Interested in seeing how Marjike and Davina will play together, doubt either one will want to sign on with each other. Are the characters going to have gained any experiences, or maybe some inventory changes? Seems weird to have done so little of consequence in the past few months that they've not changed, but it also seems out of form to have everyone get free stuff outside of play.

>>123777
>inventory changes?
Describe what you'd like to have retroactively acquired in terms of loot, a secret hideout, etc. I'll veto anything totally unreasonable or add curses/complications to borderline stuff.

>>123747
It would be a good point for new players to jump in, which I think is important. I probably never would have joined if it weren't for the last reboot.

>Interested in seeing how Marjike and Davina will play together, doubt either one will want to sign on with each other.
Sorry to disappoint, but assuming the two groups interact more directly than through Goris as intermediary, I don't see much more exciting than opposed rolls to negotiate terms. Maybe Dav makes a pass and Marijke gets confused, but that would be a lower probability outcome.

But no, I don't see the pirates signing on to team mercenary or vice versa. Possibly a temporary collaboration or arrangement of some kind (if we sell the pirates the Guardian of Skin, or if they provide transportation, or we collaborate on raiding Talon North, that kind of thing).


Also while I'm cool using Marijke and the pirate crew as a plot device here, I'm not really interested in bringing her back as fully fledged PC beyond that? If that distinction makes sense. She sailed off into the sunset once, she was kind of a poorly thought out mess from the beginning, she doesn't fit with the other parties (nor would it make sense IC for her to leave her current gig), her crew/party is almost entirely npcs by this point (and we have more than enough of those to manage already), and the players for most the PCs she had established relationships with have dropped out.

So background or cameo character? Sure. Joining one of the active groups, or leading the pirate crew on adventures? Eeeeeeeh.

>>123781
I think I can get on board with that. Maybe have stone run an errand for the Tall Jack Rat crew and wander into the sunset

>>123781
I think I can get on board with that. Maybe have stone run an errand for the Tall Jack Rat crew and wander into the sunset

Alright, overcame my procrastination and made some crap art for myself. https://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/890020.html

>>123787
I'm certainly not expecting anyone else make their characters stick to that! (Especially not characters who joined later in the game and had less play than mine). There's ways individual characters could be brought into current events, or even the whole ship if that was wanted.

>>/quest/890093
Welcome to the game friend

I think I still need to re-distribute Ivori's inventory and stuff. Maybe replace the hood and rope with more books or poisons, and she's covered head-to-toe in black robes / bandages; they won't serve as armor but they do make her harder to see. What do you think?

Honor might not be the best term to describe Ivori's higher ambition - point is, she wants to save her sister, find out what happened to her, and figure out what she wants to do now that the master she dedicated her existence to has shown his true colors and declared her anathema. I dunno how to describe that.

I've also got Ivori's backstory fleshed out more; the House of Goodhall is officially "a lowbred infestation of honorary nobles that were thrown a bone during the war", while in truth they were one of the most influential criminal families in the region with lofty ambitions to indirectly rule the entire kingdom. I say 'were', because their shadow empire has been crushed by their rivals, using a combination of experimental rituals and an army of assassins. Ivori, Embri, and their fellow ninja were captured and used as sacrifices for one of these rituals, but whatever makes the twins special as Huldra mutts allowed them to survive (as opposed to their colleagues who were imploded to pulp) and gain new powers. Ivori got the mind-control parasites and Embri... Embri isn't in Passholdt anymore. Ivori barely managed to use her new power to get one of the casters to kill the others and then do something suicidal but not to the parasite, then passed out and suffered heavy amnesia. Ivori went back to her master in a daze, only to find that her beloved Count Goodhall demanded she commit seppuku for crimes he refused to specify. When he subtly implied that her sister should show herself and the twins ought to mutually murder each other, she fled like hell. On the surface, the town was almost completely normal with the exception of a girl in black rags crying herself out. Ivori saw the signs of new management here, some missing bar patrons there, toasts in the noble houses signifying genuine happiness instead of feigned ignorance for the first time in years. The Goodhall criminal empire is broken, and its only major impact on our tale is the possibility of other ninja hunting Ivori down. If they even still serve the fallen Count, and if they don't they may even negotiate terms for joining up with their former vice-captain.

>>123821
I for one am nervous about you and Strngy changing your inventory- I was going to bring rope and mapping supplies until I saw that they were covered. Not a compelling reason for you to bring stuff that's OOC, but I do think those are bases worth covering, we've used/needed those items in the dungeon before. Everything has a use, but certain things have a wider general applicability.

If you need rope, I'll bring rope. I just worry that Ivori's going in without enough poison. So someone else may want to bring poison vials since Ivori brought the poison encyclopedia. Since she's a townie, can she buy more books and poison materials later? Guess so.

>>123836
I think anyone can buy poison later, a townie is the only one who can have them in their starting equipment though. If you wanna swap stuff out for poison you don't have to hold back on my accord, I just think rope is useful to have. Up to you what's most important for your character to bring though

I'm fine with swapping out the manacles for writing kit but now that I think about it, it doesn't really make sense for Mizer to bring a writing kit and no light source

>>123845
Apart from the heat lance itself, companions may be carrying their own lights, or you could've had a supply of candles or torches which were expended and/or discarded earlier in the disaster.

I ask if anyone does make last minute changes to character loadout (assuming JL approves), please post an updated initial build. It makes keeping track of things a lot easier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasipha%C3%AB
>>123854
>(assuming JL approves)
Tweaking something in accordance with my own recommendation is fine. Other retcons are also most likely acceptable, so long as the detail to be altered hasn't become tactically relevant.
>>123837
This is correct. However, starting equipment may also imply some things about your character's skills: any tool you considered important enough not to leave behind, even in an emergency where a few fewer pounds of encumbrance or an extra day's rations might be a matter of life and death, was likely a tool you considered yourself adequately proficient in the proper use of.

>>123867
Technically I wanted the rope to be a grappling hook but that's beyond Ivori's current budget.

The one poison vial she currently has hidden in her wooden statuette is just wide enough to dip her arrows or the tip of her knives in, and contains a poison designed for debilitating opponents; the non-lethal aspect is a negative, but Ivori needed something cheaper than freaking omni-poison. If the target won't go down from an arrow to the brain / neck, you can expect them to be a long-lasting boss battle, so the poison will make the ensuing fight far easier.

The shinobi hood is basically a black blanket. It doesn't do much, but Ivori has gymnophobia - fear of being naked in public. This helps.

Also I forgot to mention she has fox ears.

And finally, those tools for lockpicking and surgery are mostly for lockpicking.

>>123921
>Fox ears

I'm curious as to how "Kitsune troll" works to be honest

>>123921
>Technically I wanted the rope to be a grappling hook but that's beyond Ivori's current budget.
Could be a grappling hook minus the grapple. Your starting gear is supposed to represent what you have left after Things Went Wrong, after all.

>>123933
Could have also gone with rich bastard and have a cool grappling hook, but yeah, most of this stuff is whatever was close or important enough to risk death to grab, at least canonically. The start in the dungeon is pretty tough so I generally try to cover bases, then imagine retroactively why my character wanted that stuff.

>>123932
Whoops, hope I haven't been posting under the wrong name this whole time, that'd be confusing

>I'm curious as to how "Kitsune troll" works to be honest
Well, here's what little about them that's come up in-game, what I can find on the mythology, and what pathfinder has to say. Less kitsune, more weird forest critter that can pass for human so long as her clothes stay on and you don't notice the tail.

>>108846
>Troll-kin include huldras, who make no damn sense physiologically: they could be mistaken for elvenoids, apart from the fox tails, but instead of a spinal column they've got a gaping hole, and instead of a normal array of vital organs, the inside of a huldra's torso looks like a hollow rotten log.

http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Huldra

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary4/huldra.html (Although this calls them fey, which I don't think is true in our setting).

>>123936
>(Although this calls them fey, which I don't think is true in our setting).
Yeah, I've messed around a lot with what sorts of things count as which creature type, fey in particular. Didn't really have a good slot for a primordial chaos/narrative-dominated otherworld in the setting, so metaphysically most of the classic woodland fey count as elemental spirits, roughly comparable to genies. Huldra fell in with troll-kin instead, well... ultimately due to association with trolls in folklore, but Pathfinder stats make the link fairly direct.

>>/quest/889926
>>/quest/889930
Did anyone else want to weigh in on this? I thought Vos at least would have an opinion on kill vs capture.

>>123939
There are still fey of some kind aren't there? I remember Deros Frist mistook Viste for one.

>>123933
Sounds about right. Once this quest is over, I'm having Ivori upgrade the rope back to a grappling hook.

>>123935
Rich Bastard would not describe a servant who was recently branded a traitor. Even if she managed to steal a fortune while fleeing from a dozen other well-trained ninja, that would just give Count Goodhall an excuse to post an official bounty on a thief holding / spending a sack of gold (under a court of law using truth spells), and not his former loyal assassin who he tried to murder for no apparent reason. More importantly, laundering such wealth requires the black market, and with most of the local underworld celebrating their victory over the Goodhall yakuza, while the remaining loyalists have been sent a bounty for the traitor, Ivori is going to need to wait a few months for new blood to carve out a spot and do business with someone they've never met from a faction they've never fought.

Speaking of which, Ivori's former connections with the black market are severed, but she knows the terrain and can give out pointers on how to deal without getting scammed too much.

>>123932
Ivori will occasionally play fear pranks on others. Mostly the enemy, but if she's bored she'll resort to her friends. Or just set up traps and imagine someone else getting a fist full of confetti in their face.

It's meant to be a sensual indulgence thing. In town, she can spend her money on big pranks and mess up entire festivals for a laugh.

>>123943
Didn't even realize I wrote agatha instead of Aaphia, whoops

How does damage scale as Player Characters find and equip higher-quality weapons? As in, what is the cost:damage ratio? For instance, say someone has a [sword] that deals [1d6, expected value 3.5] damage, but then they find a better [sword] that deals over 50% more damage on average [1d10, expected value 5.5], but with the same weight, same size and mostly same shape, same compatibility with current feats, etc. How much more would it be worth than the old sword? How does this go for 100% damage, 200%, etc.?

>>123951
Melee Weapon Quality Muscle-powered melee and thrown weapons come in several quality grades, described below. Quality influences the odds of breakage when you parry a very heavy weapon; see Parrying Heavy Weapons (p. 376). The prices listed on the weapon tables buy good-quality weapons at TL6 or less, fine-quality ones at TL7+. Cheap: A cheap weapon is +2 to break – and if it can be thrown, it has -1 Acc. It costs 40% of list price at TL6 or less, or 20% of list price at TL7+. The mass-produced swords issued to ordinary soldiers are often of cheap quality. Good: A good weapon has no breakage modifier. This is the standard quality through TL6. At TL7+, good-quality weapons cost 40% of list price. Fine: Any fine weapon is -1 to break. A fine blade (cutting or impaling weapon) also gets +1 to cutting and impaling damage. At TL6 or less, a fine-quality fencing- or sword-class weapon of any type costs 4 times list price. (Katanas are often fine!) Other weapon types cost 3 times list price if they do only crushing or impaling damage (e.g., a mace or spear), or 10 times list price if they can do cutting damage (e.g., an axe or halberd). At TL7+, all weapons are “fine” at no extra cost. Very Fine: Only fencing weapons and swords can be very fine. A very fine weapon is -2 to break and gets +2 to cutting and impaling damage. At TL6 or less, very fine weapons cost 20 times list price; at TL7+, they cost only 4 times list price. Presentation weapons (decorated, bejeweled, gilded, etc.) are also available. This will further increase cost (and resale value) by 5-20 times.
Further incremental improvements are possible with magic, but exponentially more expensive.

>>/quest/890627
For future reference, optimal animation involves about a pound of tellerauthelot wasps per eight pounds of corpse. Not enough causes clumsiness or partial paralysis; too many and extras crowd the body's cavities, maybe even start wandering off. "Edgar" in the first MIB movie had similar problems. A pound of bugs spread out in a single layer is about five square feet, so four pounds is enough to cover a typical elvenoid from head to toe. Minimum swarm capable of any noticeable degree of collective consciousness and planning is about half a pound, basic language and tool use requires about three pounds. Breeding a truly massive swarm and concentrating it tightly together might result in further enhancements to intellect, but the logistical challenge of food, water, air, and heat dissipation associated with the metabolic equivalent of four people sharing a coffin has proven challenging on previous attempts, anything solidly superhuman may require hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

>>123943
Well, keep in mind three things we're fairly certain of, about the larger context around that reference:
A) he was factually incorrect, Viste is not and never has been knowingly affiliated with anything called the Court of Valorous Pearls (and Vos started out as an eel-man, not a naga),
B) the real Deros Frist's brain had already been eaten by some sort of alien parasite at that point,
C) knowledge transfer through that process was imperfect, as evidenced by degradation in teleportation range and convenience.

In the real world, back at tech level 4, even well-educated people had some fairly bizarre beliefs about distant cultures or supernatural creatures which they'd never quite encountered personally, yet nonetheless regarded as plain facts from trustworthy sources. The drakocracy encourages rigorous competence in many fields, but the international spread of peer-reviewed research into a more comprehensive taxonomy of spirits, thereby progressively banishing false rumors thereof, is one of the main pillars of what it was created to prevent.

I have an idea for a character, but they're mostly just speculation at this point.

Class: Rich bitch
Specialization: Gunslinger
Seriously Expensive Item: Gun Bracer (set of dozens of pistols)
Higher Ambition: Escape from this doomed world / kill all Titans (yeah, right!)
Lower Ambition: Science!

Phobia: Cosmic (any mention of the Titans, Old Gods, or rulers of the Outsiders causes terror)
Mutation: Entire body is an octopus-based eldritch being with healing blood, multiple limbs, and a hive mind with poor social skills. Uses the skeletons and skins of elvenoids to pass as human.
Vulnerability: All physical damage CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE. No exceptions. Level of amnesia, insanity, and other mental debilitations dependent on severity of damage.
Innate Power: Healing Blood - in small doses heals wounds and illnesses, but can negatively mutate in medium or large doses.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/DeepRise
She's a planeshifted Noble who barely escaped from a universe ruled by Royals, Titans that are the size of (and shaped like) mountains that blow themselves up to rid the universe of sentient life. She has kept a low profile for decades, living an uneventful life as an alchemist... and then one day she found proof that there are Royal Titans in Serpenthearth. Now she's on a panicked mission to get off this plane of existence before they burrow out of the Old Gods, smack the silly out of the Drakocracy like a flamethrower to flies, and blow up everything ever.

>>123961
>ambition: start a fight I can't possibly finish
>equipment: license to piss off every dragon
>phobia: knowing which plane I'm on
>concealable mutation: no elvenoid, eohippoid, or goblinoid characteristics whatsoever
>vulnerability: excuse to behave even more erratically than normal, particularly in combat

No. Not allowing this.

>>123962
>>123961
First thing that comes to mind is a tesseract squid, old enough to have witnessed time before some of the current divine pantheon, maybe dried out and reconstituted only to find the world is a strange and busy place now. Big intellect and alien mindset fits into the science and banned gadgets angle, surprising new God’s fits the “kill the titans” angle... brain damage seems harder to adapt, maybe instead some sort of pre-existing condition that’s made them delusional? Fear of the cosmic could relate more specifically to the past/present changes, maybe they don’t like others of their kind and are scared of them or something like that. Or maybe they just have existential dread brought on by the inner workings of certain theologies or scientific ideas like the heat death of the universe and stuff. Mentions of the planes aren’t scary, but talking in depth about the mechanics behind them might set off a panic attack

I kinda want more people to mess around with the Deck of Many Things. Nobody's even seen card #22 yet. That one's effect seems kinda silly and weak at first glance, but might be absurdly powerful if you think about it crookedly enough.

Santova 2018/07/02(Mon)06:46 No. 123971 ID: d22dc0
File 153053919464.gif - (1.92MB , 268x295 , CFF3D43F-107E-4764-B9DA-B240A48DD949.gif )

>>123970
My characters are, unfortunately in this case, somewhat interested in living. Plus, the cards have thus far been kind to us- doesn’t seem smart to keep gambling while we’re ahead.

>>123970
>>123971
Yeah. There are frankly too many outcomes I'd rate as terminally unfun or character ending in that deck to give drawing any serious consideration.

I can say if Rhea drew the death card she'd try to challenge it to a bake off instead of trial by combat (after all, in a duel, you're supposed to get to pick weapons). And probably get cut down anyways when refused, but hey, that's one of the less scary possible outcomes as we can get it reversed by our Trumpet Archon patron.

>>123970
Pog already had a turn, and Azure has too much to lose. I think the deck is meant for loaning out to the destitute, and receiving a fraction of the earnings in exchange. However, some of our party (Isiah) might object to leaving the unlucky reaper targets to die.

>>123974
Isaiah, Son of Elohim, Prophet of Hanspur, who's domains cover water, travel, trade and death? As long as everyone is making their own choices, death is not something Isaiah objects to.

>>123974
I plumb forgot Pog took a pull, actually. It kind of got overshadowed by Nin's mess.

>>123970
Nin keeps throwing the deck at everyone but nobody's biting! What's wrong with you mortals?

I think these are all the cards we've identified so far: https://pastebin.com/GKyYAJaQ

Surprisingly, I'd only rate a few as outright deal breakers (3, 8 and the soul sealing for sure, 2 probably for anyone who is less for the lulz evil than Nin, 4 if you didn't have angel rez on speed dial, maaaaybe 20- those extra lives might manifest in some way that's worse than a regular rez). Still a lot of blanks, though.

So yeah, not super interested in a 15%+ chance of randomly shutting down a character. Maybe if we were bumming around with a less interesting set of goals and items to work with, but team magic sword is plenty interesting as it is, that whole gambling while you're ahead philosophy still stands

>>123973
Hitting Death in the face with a pie, as a way to end the attack, fits into the "just crazy enough it might work" category, but at the very least you'd need to have that pie ready in advance. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070119 Or some supernatural capability to produce pies on combat timescales.

The "soul-sealing" effect is something you can potentially recover from under your own power, but it might take months or years, IC knowledge of geography/cosmology is a major factor, and you'll want somebody doing medical maintenance on your comatose body in the meantime.

>>/quest/890979
In that case, I'm wondering why Lizzy stayed behind in the first place.

>>123986
The timeframe to be rescued or recover from the soul effect is the entire reason it made my list of disqualifying cards. Removing a character for what could easily be a year of OOC play or more (barring convenient time skips) is as good as doing away with them permanently.

Not my intent to complain or criticize the contents of the deck, though. It is supposed to be wonder paired with horror, as I understand it. But so long as there are outcomes I would consider unacceptable, the cost-benefit will never be in favor of my drawing outside of desperation.

That is almost exactly what I expected. Wasn’t sure on the details but I was hedging my bets on physical transformation.

As for why Lizzy didn’t follow down the cooridor, there were some characters who hadn’t stated actions yet, and I figured that exploring the cool magic chair would be a fun diversion while everyone lined up and got ready to move out. Didn’t wanna go “oh a magic throne, probably turns you into something, whatever bye.” No one else seemed interested, so I gave it a spin. Wonder how I’m gonna do being scared of the dark without most of my lights. Good thing I lit a candle before I got up.

>>123999
Whoops, I actually read that wrong, thought it occurred when I got up not when I sat down.

I am planning on joining the game. Seemed interesting. However, question:
Can I make up a race or do I have to use a pre-existing one?

>>124005
Racial bonuses don’t really affect the game, so if you’re making a custom race, use the fear/mutation/vulnerability/power to describe it; otherwise, as long as JamesLeng gives the thumbs up afterwards, you can make something custom. Key word is that is has to be concealable, so we don’t have too much trouble in town if we make it out. If you have more questions, you should check out the discord, the link to join is posted further up.

>>124005
I love the encyclopedia of rocks, that's fantastic.

>>124005
New PCs are pouring in! We're really glad to have you

Name: Robert Cornelius
Race: Human
Class: Soldier
Specialization: Grey Paladin (Neutral Good)
Greater Ambition: Break The CyberCurse
Lower Ambition: Drug Addict
Mutation: Cybernetic Infection (patches of plastic across the entire body, ugly looking and miscolored, but acts as minor armor)
Phobia: Molysmophobia (Fear of infection, will attempt to sterilize any wound out of combat and will panic if unable to do so for an extended period of time)
Weakness: Water causes skin bleeding, especially around the plastic patches.
Innate Power: Various Cybernetic Implants (less than Hore), plus CereberOS, a Cybernetic AI warped by learning the path of righteousness from a Paladin, as opposed to its regular protocol of learning from a customer and convincing them to buy more products. This AI currently has little use, but will gain more skill as it learns from Robert and other party members.
Inventory:
Left Shoulder: Spear
Right Shoulder: Zweihander
Left Hip: Jug of Fortified Wine
Right Hip: Soap
Chest: Chain Armor
Head: Plate Armor
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Iron Statuette (Saint Agatia)

Robert used to be a bland, insufferable stereotype of Paladins: lastborn son of a higher noble, got a job as a squire, survived to see knighthood in the local church of Saint Agatia, rose up the ranks, and finally reached Paladinhood with a faint sense of pride and a greater duty to bring order and prosperity to the world around him.

Then one day, he literally stomped on a metal spike during combat. He didn't think much about it beyond "ow ow ow NO pain is immaterial worry about the miserable orc bandit about to murder that merchant ow", but weeks after he got it pulled out and healed, a strange substance began to grow on his foot. When it got near his ankles, he decided to amputate the whole thing, get it regrown, and forget about it. About a month later, the strange substance reappeared and spread throughout his body. To his horror, he learned he was possessed by a demon that called itself CereberOS, and his vision was interlaced with strange charts and colored bars. Robert quickly ran for help to get his body exorcised of the demon, only for its powers to accidentally reveal high corruption in the high priest he begged for salvation. The priest declared him anathema and ordered the execution of Robert, who fled. Robert spent the better part of a season trying to keep to the Paladin code, but the demon in his head kept showing him the plight of the downtrodden in ways that the church refused to address. Realizing he could never be a true paladin again after knowing the suffering that order refuses to address, but also afraid that the demon may one day overtake his mind and turn him into a plastic monstrosity, Robert has vowed to rid himself of the demon and become a true hero of justice and righteousness, without begging the church or demons for constant aid.

Unfortunately, the faulty nanite cyberware has also injected him with multiple combat stims, and he is now a drug addict. Kind of mellowed him out.

(The nanotech comes from the same catastrophe that brought Ms. Wutashi into the Blood Mire, though Robert has never met Hore in his life.)

Dunno if I really want to implement this character instead of Sahara first, but I'm posting him for editing.

>>/quest/891899
Here's some details on the effect Eira's power would produce with her starting owl-hug statuette, reposted from a chat, and split up to prevent my initial character creation post from getting huge.

>How about it makes clouds of floating, glowing feathers, which stick to anyone who passes through and provide a mixed bag of status conditions?

>Weak levitation, entanglement, heightened hearing and vision to the point of overstimulation being a risk, don't make as much noise but it's hard to hide the glow.
>Something like that. Could be a benefit to allies, hindrance to enemies, or field-control depending on context.

>On consideration I think I'll go with a little of both light and darkness. Feathers glow white when they're loose, but radiate candle-level dark once they've adhered to someone's aura. Visual effect for someone inside is like a combination of welding goggles, good modern binoculars, and a decent microscope: impaired night vision, flash protection, and extreme magnification at short or long distances.
>Tactile effect is somewhere between swimming and wrestling against tentacles. It's like the air's viscosity has increased, so you can move upward but any movement at all is a struggle.

>So we've symbolically got light and dark, enhanced and reduced perception, vulnerability, a kind of embrace or restraint. Ties back into the owl-hug image, and the mirror stuff.

>I figure, loose feathers settle out in a few minutes normally, faster in high winds, but if you stack up enough of them as a barricade it could last for hours or days.

>Feathers ON somebody last almost indefinitely if they're cowering in dark crevices, can get 'burned off' by blunt impacts, energy weapons, or the wearer screaming and/or deliberately trying to scrape it off, but not by stabbing.

>>124088
Mutation should be a specific cybernetic system. Given that the slippery slope started with stepping on a rusty nail, how about digitigrade legs made from plainly unnatural materials, like the Ivory Stalker here? https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/sword-interval/ep-124-witchmoot/viewer?title_no=486&episode_no=133 Could be concealed under a floor-length skirt, allows marginally superhuman running or jumping, bloodless, sturdy as plate armor, but totally incompatible with standard shoes and trousers. Bit of inspiration from District 9, too.

Vulnerability would be to electricity. Half again as much damage, and even weak hits often cause temporary paralysis, seizures, or partial amnesia, so counting on his photographic memory for mapping purposes is risky.

Innate power would be laser eye removal. A broad array of powers, effectively, though individually somewhat weak. He can read books and perfectly memorize the text as fast as pages can be turned, though true comprehension takes the normal amount of time. He can do the work of a full team of master surveyors, mathematicians, astronomers, or accountants, without any tools, 60x as fast and sometimes even in his sleep - though he doesn't know the professional jargon of those fields, and thus would have a hard time explaining the reasoning behind his results, or finding gainful employment on such a basis anywhere within the influence of relevant trade guilds. He's got uncanny accuracy with ranged weapons, given a target that's not magically concealed, enough time to aim, maybe an initial shot to figure out the wind. He can temporarily blind anyone with visible eyes, or fill their field of vision with pictures or text as fast as he can think of it, from hundreds of yards away - given line of sight. He can give himself arbitrary tattoos, again just by visualizing the desired result, and any removed skin retains the design. That's the only way to 'print out' a permanent copy of a memorized map with perfect fidelity, though infection risks associated with being flayed would constitute a phobic trigger at a -3 penalty even under ideal conditions, -6 or worse outside a well-run hospital or shrine.

At higher levels, he'll grow more eyeballs on various non-face parts of his body, then learn how to extrude them as semi-autonomous scout drones, or even single-use assassins.

For a traditional sort of paladin, high ambition should be something along the lines of "protect the innocent by bringing the wicked to justice." Self-centered desire for purity and escape from the 'curse' fits better as a low ambition. Addiction to something that can be supplied internally doesn't make much sense.

Equipment is fine apart from one detail: swap the greatsword for a wooden shield. Blade of honor was lost while fleeing the death sentence, have to make do with a lance (but no horse).

>>/quest/891928
>Jade Amulet
It's a jade coin/band. She found it after she survived the bloodied ritual that killed her friends, and it signifies her will to keep living.

>Scimitar too expensive
Her build is meant for knives anyway

>Backpack Inventory
>Prehensile Tail Mutation
>Vulnerability to sonic-based attacks / abilities / noise
>Fear of Bloody Ritual involving Bathing
Looks good. Still want that tail dong though, good place to put the jade coin/band.

>Innate power: Chainsaw Claws
That just screams mundane. And obsolete in the long run.

I really want to keep the phase power. It's cumbersome, but the main focus is utility and tactics over added DPS. It weakens and slows her when she uses it, so in a straight fight it would outright kill her. This is not a game about straight fights, it is a game about (1) surviving, (2) completing mission objectives, and (3) mentally surviving. As Sahara develops her blade dance, she'll invent new and creative ways of using her double, which she passes through completely - of which include the ability to take a step back and stab through yourself for one hell of a legitimate FRONTAL sneak attack, or slice a blade through her other self's arm harmlessly to hit a target her other self was blocking. How it works is that a partially-transparent copy of herself does something different from what she's currently doing, so she might spontaneously grow a blurry arm or a whole ghost of herself might step out of a standing position, while the original stands still. Neither of them can interact with the other, and any damage the blurrier self takes is inflicted back on the original.

In the current situation with a rampaging Lizzy, it's really effective: her duplicate can move a step to the left, insult the Minotaur Queen, and phase out of existence by moving her tail out of the way of her original before the blow connects.

This innate power is also interconnected with her Time Thief specialization: She is instinctively shedding time frames and phase-shifting them a split-microsecond forward. Schrodinger's Cat, eat your heart out.

If I can't use this innate power, something other than supernaturally sharp claws would be nice.

>>124094
More like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBdFXXV9hwY

Other than that, awesome.

>>124095
>I really want to keep the phase power. It's cumbersome,
I'm having a hard time picturing how that power would actually work, which is the level of 'cumbersome' where it potentially crashes the physics engine and ruins everyone's fun.
>one hell of a legitimate FRONTAL sneak attack,
The 'claws' power was in no small part balanced against Maru Red's axe. Summonable melee weapon, doubles as a mundane tool. Difference being, where the axe is all about rage and blood and bringing the noise, this one is SO concealable that it can even be concealed while in active use. The claw-blades are potentially as big as swords, but invisible and unnaturally silent.
>obsolete in the long run.
At higher levels, imagine waving your hand in someone's general direction, not even close enough to actually touch, and then they fall to the floor as a heap of meat-cubes.
>Time Thief specialization
I don't remember approving that. Time control is not a particularly plausible skill set among academics, street-level criminals, or any normal sort of trade guild.
*checks the quest thread*
Yeah, no, you didn't include a specialty at all.

>At higher levels, imagine waving your hand in someone's general direction, not even close enough to actually touch, and then they fall to the floor as a heap of meat-cubes.
This is anime levels of bull!

>>124099
>Time control is not a particularly plausible skill set among academics, street-level criminals, or any normal sort of trade guild.
She got her powers from one of the underworld blood rituals I talked about. Barely survived, used her new innate power to kill the cultist while he was lording over her, and is recently discovering her new class.

Okay, if Time Thief is out, I think Swashbuckler will work. Fighter (Dancing Blade) as a second choice.

>Claws are actually OP
Okay, but I'm selecting Weapon Finesse / Deadly Agility to max this out. Sahara is dexterity-based.

>>124104
Post an updated version with the changes, so I can approve it and the game can proceed.

>NO GODMODDING
Sorry about that, I just wanted to get some roleplay in for an unfinished character before the turn was over. Didn't mean to break any rules.

Alright, I guess Sahara is ready:

Name: Sahara
Race: Catfolk
Class: Townie
Specialization: Blade Dancer
Higher Ambition: Treasure Huntress
Lower Ambition: Bibliophile
Mutation: semi-prehensile tail improves balance (though not to the point of supernatural perfection) and allows touch-range communication of complex concepts using Gesture skill http://www.prequeladventure.com/2011/06/463/ but can get caught in things or grabbed by enemies much like a trailing cloak
Vulnerability: heightened senses including high-frequency hearing with excellent directional discrimination and near-IR vision, but easily overstimulated or hypnotized, particularly by fire. Lizzy's magical lights are safe.
Phobia: rituals involving blood and/or bathing, even in a purely symbolic capacity. Dark sacrifices, life-saving surgeries, butcher shops, baptisms, necromancy, communion wine, whatever. Deliberately bathing IN actual blood (ala Countess Bathory) would be the absolute worst, but incidental exposure to battlefield gore or traversing a body of water for some purely secular purpose is usually fine. Combing/scraping, licking, ecstatic dancing while naked in the rain, or meditating in direct sunlight (preferably with quiet, improvisational music in the background), are the only tolerable ways to become clean.
Innate Power: Claws. Looks like normal elvenoid fingers, grips cliffsides like best mundane climbing gear, rends wood and flesh like a chainsaw, but quietly.
Inventory:
Shoulders/Hips: Portable Library; backpack containing a few books (Combat Manual, Medical Manual, a novel, and a stolen wizard's book)
Head: Hammock (bedroll)
Neck: Coin Purse tucked between tits
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Jade Amulet (Coin shaped with a hole in the middle)

>>124100
High-level characters are supposed to be basically godlike. Getting there takes a while, and in the meantime, watch out for any NPCs who might have a head start.
>>124132
This is fine.

The art style in that example of gesture looks familiar, but I don’t recognize that source material. Does the author/artist run a quest on here?

>>124157
Maybe because the style is verily similar to Homestuck.

>>124157
Prequel has been around a while, but to my knowledge Kazerad hasn't done anything here.

(One could have a lively debate if Prequel counts as a quest by tgchan's standards, weighing audience participation and railroading. It's not guilty of false advertising though- that subtitle on the page header is an accurate mission statement).

>>124100
>This is anime levels of bull!
We have a PC who is a literal magical girl with transformation sequence. And that's hardly the only example, the anime boat sailed a while ago. :v

>>124164
>>124162
I know why I recognize it. There's a thread in the general dis with some of the art as it's thumbnail, so I recognized it but didn't remember why

I think it’s funny that the new fire hawks couldn’t wait to get out of the dungeon but the current crew is completely focused on science and art and treasure and such, seemingly no interest in leaving.

>>124580
Eira's sure been pretty lucky at walking right into things that make her high ambition happy, so far.

Might not know this in-character, but then again maybe you could. If Greznek's overall military readiness is a major obstacle to your plans, King Kazleth might be exactly the man you need to talk to. Whoever makes Greznek's strategic decisions is clearly terrified of him, based on their willingness to devote unique resources to a highly specialized defense-in-depth along his most likely line of approach. Signs of Kazleth mobilizing to attack may seize their attention, delaying effective response to simultaneous but seemingly unrelated problems - particularly something subtle, like a quiet outpost along a different approach missing a scheduled check-in.

Minoan ox-men are more generally famous for their spatial reasoning skills. Temperament and size make them ill-suited as wilderness guides in most cases, but when sufficiently motivated (or mind-controlled in ways that don't impair their judgement) they excel at navigating mazes.

>>124869
>ox men are renowned for their spacial reasoning
>I am playing an Ox Man

This feels like it'll be a recreation of me being in charge of mapping as Riv again.

>>124869
Although if whoever makes Greznek's strategic decisions is justifiably terrified of King Kazleth, that really makes me wonder if talking to him or trying to manipulate his actions is a great idea. (And I think we've got several party members who would object if a plan to bluff or distract a city with a real threat accidentally stopped being a bluff).

Ideal outcome to engineer would be the output reporting everything's still normal.

>>124894
It's almost like we're little fish in a big big pond, plotting on how to take down a... I don't know maybe a shark or a bird or something, while trying to keep the lion seal from noticing.

Still think that if we can reason with the lion seal we stand to gain an upper hand, or at least remove a potential obstacle. Of course the downside is that we might just get eaten ourselves, or give our quarry forewarning.

For Decaro Vos's eelbee babies, once they grow up I'm considering adapting pixie stats from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, but instead of fairy magic they're automatically shrine maidens devoted to Tittivila, and need to spend six hours per week (in one solid block, not an hour every day) within appropriately holy locations to avoid having their unnatural hybrid metabolisms start to collapse.

Accordingly, any sort of extended adventure they go on would more or less require bringing along an appropriate portable shrine: eight pounds, one gold, takes a minute or two and a Religious Ritual roll to set up. Could stretch out the ceremony to as much as half an hour for a bonus on the roll, or speed it up by taking a penalty, but the sanctified area's radius is limited according to the officiating priest's level - one yard per spell circle they're capable of, with the basic model. A non-empowered priest can sanctify a permanent temple just fine, but counting on them for a portable setup means only someone actually touching the shrine benefits from the improved sanctity. Better quality portable shrines can multiply radius of effect, but are also more expensive, and often heavier, more fragile, and bulky, such that efficient transport involves a pair of long poles and a small team of appropriately devout porters.

Note that increasing local sanctity for one god means reducing it for any opposed powers, which would impair the divinely-granted capabilities of priests or champions devoted to those powers accordingly. Furthermore, divine casters often rely on context clues rather than having an innate, reflexive sense for sanctity the way mages do for ambient mana.

>>124972
If having a shrine to one god makes followers of other gods weaker, does that mean the eel babies would be risking deterioration at a faster rate if they... walk? Swim? Fly? into, say, a shrine to Tiamat or something like that?

Sounds good to me. We don't have any other religious types among the Fire Hawks IIRC, though this might cause conflict with Team Magic Sword.

>>125009
There's the Agates, thought they're npcs at this point.

Might depend on where you draw the line for opposing powers. Do they have to be antagonistic, or just different? Tsathoggua is for sure opposed to Tittivila. But Firemom and Tittivila and Agatia would all agree, for example, that undead aren't good.

>>125007
Probably wouldn't accelerate deterioration, but they likely won't be eager to stick around long enough to find out. Definitely would impair Tittivila-granted healing spells that might otherwise be used to patch up the damage.
> if they... walk? Swim? Fly?
All of the above.
>>125011
>Might depend on where you draw the line for opposing powers. Do they have to be antagonistic, or just different?
Ambient energy levels in GURPS, whether that's free mana or divine power, are measured on a six-point scale.
Very high: anyone can cast spells one or more circles above their usual limit. Using spells you'd be capable of normally gives a full refund of the FP cost. Excess power is unstable, so all failures are treated as critical failures.
High: the uninitiated can sometimes cast low-circle spells. For sanctity, prayers are more likely to be heard.
Normal: default rules.
Low: Spells are cast at -5 to skill, but critical failures are treated as ordinary failures. Not enough juice for a backfire.
Very low: Spells are cast at -10 to skill. Difficult to distinguish from 'none' for most practical purposes.
None: Relevant type of magic cannot function.

Inherently magical creatures often require constant exposure to at least low mana to survive. In an environment of very low or no mana, they take a point of injury per minute. Eelbee shrine maidens require high sanctity for long-term survival, but they're fine for a week and then take damage only every six hours.

Very high sanctity is rare, generally limited to the god's immediate presence or unique holy sites. High sanctity is shrines, temples, sites where the god made a relatively minor but well-remembered personal appearance, that sort of thing. Could include temples of very closely allied gods. Normal sanctity is most of the world - or 'the parts of the world that matter,' for gods with a narrow geographic focus such as patronage of a single city. (Such mural-crowned tutelaries are notable in the default Dungeon Fantasy setting insofar as their holy warriors, the Invincible Town Guards, are more than capable of dealing with rowdy adventurers at home, but cannot upstage our heroes or short-circuit the plot by projecting any significant military force into the surrounding wilderness.) Low sanctity represents areas the relevant god finds unpleasant, or where their influence is being actively contested. Very low/none means areas the god has deliberately forsaken, or been successfully expelled from.

Loosely allied divinities - those with mutual interests, or forced together by common enemies, but who also have significant disagreement or mistrust between them, such as Tittivila and Agatia - might have normal sanctity at each others' shrines, low in major temples and high holy places. Opposed powers, such as Tittivila and Tsathogua, have low sanctity at each others' shrines or in regions where the majority of the population goes to weekly services, none in hostile permanent temples and high holy places.

An open assault on the temple of an opposed power, involving at minimum a) kicking in the door or otherwise destructively disrespecting the temple's perimeter, b) unambiguous display of challenge, such as a battle cry or banner with the intruding patron's symbol and c) some sort of desecration applied directly to the central altar, potentially as little as a thrown piece of rotten fruit, raises the sanctity level for the intruding power from "none" to "very low" within the violated temple until attackers are driven off and the mess is cleaned up.

Ritual exorcism to shut a hostile temple down completely, so it'd need to be re-consecrated from scratch, takes four hours per attempt. Even a lay priest, or certain non-cleric specialists, could do this; it's a skill check, not a spell. In fact, any conventional spellcasting, regardless of source, within line of sight of the ritual in progress automatically ruins the attempt. There are various ways to make the process faster and/or more reliable, mostly by throwing raw power at it. https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/consecrate https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/remove-curse https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/h/hallow

At least Vos will have something to spend his money on in the future besides charity: buying stuff for his kids!

Problem I just thought of for 3oS - how exactly do you go about setting a card as normal/inverted when you're *throwing* it at somebody?

>>125147
Same way a skilled knife thrower hits with the pointy side instead of the blunt one, only it’s probably more of a metaphysical distinction than an actual physical orientation. Perhaps a little of both? Big thing though is that I think there both intention and mundane skill involved, and that fouling either would probably result in unintended consequences

Alright, Orange, since Green Redford was (at least temporarily) incapacitated, if you'd like you can generate a new character to start off back in the throne room, and play both of them at once.

Here's my new char.

Name: Gale Fuentes
Class: Hedge Witch
Higher Ambition: Knowing his past, purpose, and place in the universe
Lower Ambition: Fashion.
Specialization: Botanomancy, magicks related to plants.
Mutation: Gale stands at a few inches less than the average man. He has a pelt of short fine bluish grey fur. He has a head in the shape of a dragon's but much rounder, friendlier-looking, and furrier. He has some white teeth and claws of steel. His eyes are pretty much circular holes on his head covered by thick black glass. He has no ability to close them, but he can cover them.
Gale is yet to realize, but under his hide of skin and fur, he's mostly mechanical. His skeleton is made of rods of bronze, and his innards are of brass gears constantly spin to keep him moving. He still has to breathe in oxygen and eat food to keep his gears a-turning, his greasy blood flowing, and his lubricating fluids fluid. His black blood circulates through his body to distribute heat.
Phobia: Theophobia - Deathly afraid of gods
Vulnerability: High voltage electricity can literally shut him down.
Innate Power: Metalloception - Gale is perceptive to any metal in his surroundings.

Left Hip: Dried bread
Right Hip: Throw-and-Grow Beans
Left Shoulder: Spear
Right Shoulder: Kindling
Neck: Clean cloth, hooked needles, & thread
Head: Iron Spikes
Somewhere uncomfortable: Bronze Statuette of a lizard holding a pole with a lantern.

>>125493
Approved.

The Fire Hawks, Team Magic Sword, and any other group which has reached the surface or otherwise made commercial contact with civilization sufficient to plausibly hire new retainers, can add more playable characters without existing PCs needing to be incapacitated - but only if such new characters do NOT take the "all three and an innate power" option.

>>/quest/902355
It's coffee cake. Because Polo, mashed up with "Casper the Friendly Ghost."

Name: Joseph Strudelbaker
Class: Soldier
Race: Tiefling
Higher Ambition: Achieve a great destiny
Lower Ambition: Gourmand
Mutation: Head is covered in spikes protruding from his skull, which are mostly covered by his hair
Equipment:
Scimitar
Heater Shield
Chainmail Tunic (borrowed from the Fire Hawks)
Leather Armor
Basic Pistol
Bullets and Gunpowder
Pouch of Salt and Pepper

Battle-hardened yet suicidally overconfident, Joseph is an ex-military mercenary seeking his destiny. After hearing of Hore's exploits in the Passholdt arena, he waited for months just to reconnect with his old war buddy and follow her on the path to greatness.

Hore thinks he'll get himself killed if he's left alone to charge into a horde (again), and so she has recommended him as a new inductee into the Fire Hawks.

Joseph has a weak spot in wisdom, but his other five stats are equally balanced and high. He salvaged the gun from an enemy during his war days, but didn't turn it in; Hore's plasma beams inspired him to believe that having a gun is part of being a successful hero. How true that is usually depends on the state of the gun, as he has been disguising it as a smoking pipe.

>>125585
Pfffff-hahaha. Well, the orc brotherhood has successfully wooed me, at least.

>>125592
>Basic Pistol
>Bullets and Gunpowder
No. We've been over this.

>>125592
>>125615
Swap those out for crossbow and bolts, or bow and arrows, and you got a character who looks pretty similar.

I don't think the Fire Hawks are lacking in melee dudes, although suicidal overconfidence does give Vos a bud to charge immediately into danger with (Joe will probably end up picking up some mutant healing before too long). Mundane ranged attacks is an area less well covered (we have Hore's blaster, thrown weapons, and spells), and Esmeraude does have some spells that buff or synergize with that kind of thing.

I thought that "the ability to mass-produce superweapons" was the actual ban, and finding advanced technology you have no hope of understanding was still legal, hence the airplane jet as a makeshift hammer. Oh well.

How about a hand crossbow that curses bolts it fires to make really loud screaming noises until they hit something?

>>125647
Pretty sure if you wanted a one-off piece of forgotten tech (like the rocket hammer, or Mizer's cutting torch) in your starting equipment, you'd have to be a Rich Bastard and take that as your very expensive thing, not a soldier.

>How about a hand crossbow that curses bolts it fires to make really loud screaming noises until they hit something?
That would be a magic item of some kind, so again, Rich Bastard. Or maybe a Hedge Witch with screaming arrows as their consumable. (Or somebody with an active power that created the effect, but the whole point here is making some characters with less than maximum weirdness).

So, would something like this be allowed?

Agatha Spires
Class: Townie
Ambitions: Giving things back to their rightful owners / candied apples
Phobia: Thunderstorms
left hip: lantern
right hip: coin purse
left shoulder: Azarthraine's spellbook. How fortuitous!
right shoulder: dried fruit
chest/neck: chain armor
top of head: helmet
somewhere uncomfortable: jade amulet

>>125651
Yeah, that's fine.

From Azure's mentors:

"The core aspect of modern dancing is the consistent fact that it is a physical art recorded by the concept of vision. As you move, you concentrate the focus of the vision of your audience in the corresponding direction of your force. Do not, under any circumstances, discard this force. If you must be the center of attraction, balance every outward motion with an accompanying inward one. If your show and its producers demand a sacrifice of attention towards the scenery (read: other dancers), be sure to move the force towards the ones that have been demanded in turn to return it back to you once their meager display is complete. And finally, understand the limits and tendencies of your audience. Though we are unable to truly comprehend the scope and range of vision itself, we can say with certainty that those who live in the Blood Mire have a certain tendency: when they crane their heads upward, they get a crick in their necks and feel the compulsion to re-align them back. What goes up must come down, so to speak. Thus, usually you can perform an upward show of hands as your flourish and expect the focus to come back down relatively quickly. Just be sure to catch it."

Now that Azarthraine has his spellbook back, I can't keep playing him as an NPC. Who's going to take over being the lizard wizard?

>>126081
I'm juggling less characters than Santova, Kome and Strgy, and I'm already ostensibly in-charge of the Fire Hawks through Dav, so my taking over the other leadership character might make sense.

I'm really not at all confident about being able to manage the resources an nth level caster provides, though (good gods the spell per day preparation), and it feels pretty weird having a PC 10+ levels higher than everyone else.

Any reason why he doesn't work as an npc? I get not wanting one very powerful npc to overshadow player agency, but I sort of thought his position was going to be advice, artillery, logistical support, getting us jobs, crafting spirit sanctums and stuff in exchange for divine or magical favors / resources, etc.

Also I sort of liked having a character in a position to refine plans and rein us in when we come up with plans that don't make sense in-setting, or badly use resources we don't understand well.