No, seriously Overcast.

You just assured Caspin a spear in the face and I think there's been enough in-party arguing for one day.

Also, the inn doesn't have chefs, it's just a shoddy house with a few extra rooms that an old couple rents out.

You obviously are not paying attention to who Caspin is. Even if there has been enough, he would still do it. Because he doesn't care. He doesn't care about a lot of things. I might, but I wrote him this way so I'm going to play him this way.

No such thing. Our party's motto is 'there can be only one'.

Also, Ovie, nice.
Though dammit, at this rate Docus is gonna be exhausted just keeping everyone from killing everyone else.

I for one approve of these shenanigans.

No one is getting more out of them than Jade did, so I don't see any reason to bother wasting more time RPing that out. You guys were supposed to be the quick and easy group, and Group 1 is already half done and you haven't even gone out of town yet.

Edit: Not that I particularly mind the shenanigans. It gives me more time to design your next monster. And a good amount of it is entertaining.

2x Edit Combo!: Overcast: Strife or Abscond

Ah, fair enough.
Y'know, we haven't even gotten our hands on a cart, yet.
And the PvP will probably take a while. Ahah.
...
Quick and easy, eh?

So, OC wanted to jump away, and I realized the book doesn't actually give a way to calculate jump distance.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it's equal to one's athletics skill vertically, and double it horizontally in feet. Lacking athletics skill, normal vertical jumping is 1/2 a foot, but one can, if the situation demands it, make an unskilled dex rating roll at a -2 penalty and a base difficulty of whatever I decide based on the difficulty of the jump.

Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Sniper and Pyro. Somebody yell for a medic.
 

Mpppph Mppphhhh Mmmmppppphhh!

Edit:
http://piratepad.net/YEOsgAJABt
We're actually using that, people. Drop by. Krylo's on!

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6624/aggrieve.gif

It looks like crap I don't care I put minimal effort in. Also first time I used photoshop to animate. XD

That is excellent.
 

Characters that will never die, if I can help it: Vera.

Mua ha ha, bribing my way into character immortality.

It will require continuos supplies of teh ARTZ.

Oh my god why did I spell it like that i am so sorry.

Everyone in Group 2 gets a temporary +3 CHA from breakfast.

ALSO, as we have our first combat going, forum specific house rule:

If your combat orders aren't in within 24 hours of combat starting, I'll take control of your character for that round. I will try to do something strategically useful, and I don't plan on trying to get anyone killed off. This is just to keep the game from stalling too much in combat.

Maybe all Argath really needs is a pet dingo and a reliable source of resurrection. Something to really take out his frustration on, ya know?

Not a bad idea.

Though a sentient subject would probably do best. Any volunteers for Argath's punching bag?

Also, thought:

Hey, Krylo.
Krylo.
Y'know umbral?
Course you do.
Y'know how my role over there was pretty much 'Self-proclaimed preserver of all balance'?
Yeah...
About that.

I'll try not to do that much here. Isn't really necessary, honestly, the system seems fine.

Exceeeeeeept for one little house rule.

Y'know how you're using the INT modifier to determine stat points upon level-up? Yeah. I like that rule. It is a good rule.
BUT.
The way we have it right now, it's not retroactive. If you raise your INT rating by 1 now, you get way bigger returns on your investment than if you raised it in 10 levels' time. As such, characters that invest a lot in INT early on get a lot more skill points to allocate, cumulatively.

That kinda sucks, I think. Mostly because players have an incentive to focus hard on int in the early game. Menarker wants to raise his int to improve his sythesis skills, and the way it is now, he's encouraged to initially max out int, to get the greatest possible payoff from his investment, rather than spreading his points more evenly as he levels up. Same goes for me, I want a rating of at least 7 or 8 in the long run, but I kinda want to focus more on charisma, initially anyway. But if I get my CHA now and my INT later, I'll be missing out on a whole lot of skill points.
Whereas characters who would naturally be investing into INT, like pure White/Black mages are gonna be overflowing with Skill points, in addition to getting all the other benefits of INT.

Seeing as all the effects of all the other ratings (VIT for HP and INT for MP) are retroactive already, why not make skill points retroactive as well? When you raise your INT rating by 1, you get additional skill points equal to the times you've leveled up. I really don't see much of a problem with this. You can even justify it IC by saying that the character's improved intelligence allows them to analyze their past experiences more effectively, and learn more from them.

Soooo, whaddya say?

Edit:
That also goes for everyone else. Maybe this is totally stupid, but as far as I can tell, it makes sense. So what're your thoughts? Best to respon in the pad, really, since cluttering up the discussion thread is unnecessary.

Only one issue come to mind just recently.

I found out that with around 152 skill points, one could max out all the ranks of all the INT based skills. (Technically, you need 21 INT to do so due to needing a rating of 7 to put a total of 8 ranks, but you get the idea.)

That means maxing out all the lores and all the possible synthesis (or rather, having them all at rank 6 or so). At level 30, someone with 15 INT would have MINIMAL of 145 skill points (5 times 29 levels, not counting the first level) , which is close enough to hit that magic number. Of course, by choosing to omit some of the other stuff like cooking synthesis, those ranks could end up in other places like CHA or DEX based skills (Or Athlethics since that's the only one that uses Str).

Granted, level 30 is a long time away and I'm an advocate for retroactive boosts myself. But I think Krylo might have a bit of an issue with being able to practically max out more than half the available skills at the end of the game.

This was always the intent, but:
I think we discussed this, and I said something like I'd worry about it if it even looked like we'd get that far.

So that's a 'no'? Or a 'deal with it later'?
Fair enough. Not that much of a biggie.

In regards to damage, why is Dingo 4 still alive?
You said Fie and Docus did 27 and 30 damage respectively.
If M.Arm reduces both of those by 5, they'd be doing 22 and 25, to make 47 damage. That's a kill, no?

A: I forgot to calculate m. arm. Thanks! It only has -2 not -12

B: Death is at -23. Or any attack dealt to it at all while it is unconscious.

C: I'd have just made it dead, but Dingos regen 5 points per round, so it'll get up next round if someone doesn't finish it off.

Also, it's a 'yes, and I will deal with it later if it is an issue'.

Ooooh, that's a minus 12. And you had forgotten to calculate armor.
...
Okay, I need to stop role-playing while sleep deprived. It clearly benefits no-one. Especially not my party.

Still...

Unconcious targets have 0 Evasion, right?
Yo, Caspin? Up for a mercy kill? Or would just like to devour the fucker? With any luck, that'll give the rest a bit of pause.

As for everything else... Bluh. Argath is about to get hurt, so I'd recommend that he jump. That'll give him a turn's worth of immunity from damage. Meanwhile, Prasad and the mages can either help the ladies kill their targets, so that said ladies can then come to Argath's aid, or they can just kill one of Argath's dingos, leaving the ladies to fend for themselves.

So much for that bitch whore Lady Luck.

Point at a dingo for me to gun down and let's get this over with.

I love this part.

EDIT: And this is why we can't have nice things.

Two things.

If Argath uses Jump, does that mean Fie's Cure would miss or do we just fudge the action order?

Also, I'd suggest having Argath jump on Jade's target so they can finish it right off, though wouldn't Argath jumping anywhere give those three dingoes an opening to get at the squishy little midgets?

Cure and Jump are both slow actions, and all actions in a round take place at the same time, except slow actions which all take place at the same time but FIRST.

So you'd disappear for the monster round, then land at exactly the same time cure would hit you.

Much as both the fire and wind spells hit the dingo at the same time.

SO: There would be no fudging of action order, but the cure would hit.

Totally a moot point now, but!

Caspin totally had that spear attack coming.

The Crit just made it funny.

Anywho, nice to see Group 2 actually getting stuff done. Might post something for Group 1 tonight - basically Arden throwing out some last minute suggestions (mainly to Raltz) and going off to find the computers with her adorable mana cannons. Also Kole, apparently.

If the dingos rush the mages there wouldn't be a cure to worry about anyway. Would dingos recognize the squishies as easy targets, though? I could see humanoid enemies, but dingos?

Can they smell our fear?

Are these baby-eating dingos?

We're boned.

The reward for killing them is one half-digested baby carcass.

If you examine it you will realize that a dingo really DID eat her baby.

Well in that case now we have something to keep Caspin happy with.

Only for a minute or two.

I doubt it'd take him long to eat a baby.

I mean we just send him off to kill dingoes.

It'd be like a piñata for him. Crack it open and get a treat.

Oh, also, on battle orders: Don't just discuss things in the thread. Post in the thing when you're ready.

I only say this because last time I ran an RP someone posted what they wanted to do in the discussion thread and didn't get around to posting it in the ACTUAL thread by the deadline. As a result they didn't do what they wanted and then complained and I, being super nice, went back and edited.

Not this time! Because this time I'm warning you!

I don't check the discussion thread, necessarily, when writing up the combat posts. I have enough flipping back and forth between the dice roller, the RP thread, and the spreadsheet.

Overplanning is the best planning.
 

Okay, first: Caspin devoring shit is awesome. Seriously, if anyone witnesses that, our entire group should get a +2 bonus to intimidation checks against them. I mean, yeah, he only eats monsters, but still.

"I'm afraid I cannot give you orders, captain. But I advise that you and your men cooperate with us. Partly because it is for your own good, and partly... partly, captain, because my ravenous friend over there is still hungry."

Secondly: Huh. Heal on Argath? Is that necessary? Not that I don't like Argath...
Wait...
I don't like Argath.
But that's still not the reason I don't want him to get healed!

But see, what I'd recommend is that Argath jumps this turn, and, next turn, lands on one of the Dingos he's fighting right now. By then, those 3 dingos will have moved into medium range against us.

But see, if Fie uses Aero on one of the Dingos, instead of just Healing, then we can kill another Dingo at the start of next turn (since fire+aero on already weakened dingo = fried dingo casserole). And since Prasad can still act this turn, and the next, he can fire twice at another of the 3 (or, effectively, 2) Dingos. If Argath then lands on the dingo to deal increased damage, and I have docus cast fire as a standard action from his staff (bit of a risk, but eh), we'll have killed another one of them before they can actually act to attack us, since they'll have to spend their next round moving into short range. If we do it my way, by the point, only one dingo will be facing the four of us (Argath, Prasad, Fie and Docus), and one dingo each will be facing the two Viera, while Caspin will be going around slitting throats and pocketing the occasional organ in case he's feeling peckish later.. It's an easy battle at that point, since none of them are going to be killing anything, short of crits. An easy battle at that point.

Whereas, if Fie heals instead of using Aero, we have a bit of a problem, since we're down one strong attacker. Meaning more dingos survive, meaning they can seriously threaten the casters when (if) they charge us. And in the long term, we'll be taking more damage than if the mage just decided to forsake healing and get on with murderin' shit.

Anyway, McTahr, let Argath bleed, help me kill some dingos, yo.

Edit:
Aaaargh POS nooooo
That is not the correct target!
That is not the correct target at all!

Edit2:
Okay, okay. I'm overthinking this. Ignore the above bit, if you like.
But if the battle ends with less-than-optimal results, I will laugh. And mock you. All of you.

Gem.

What did we say about overplanning?

Still not sure whether to have Argath jump or not.

Okay, I overplan. Move along.
 

That it was the best planning. That's what I said, anyway. And who cares what you say?

As for jump...
Well, he has 14 hp and 4 armor. They do 9+1d6 damage each, and there's 3 of them. They each have a 7/12 chance of hitting you, and if 2 of them hit you, then you're almost certain to go down, unless their rolls are crap. Plus, even if just one hits, it has a chance to crit. Doing the math in my head, you have about a one third chance of survival if you stand and fight. And since nobody brought any phoenix downs, you'd be out for the rest of the mission.

Unless you're saying you wanna have Argath escape? you have the atheltics skill for it, but say bye-bye to any claim to 'manhood' Argath has.

So probably best to jump do as I tell you and jump.

Welp, I'm having Ark request his Remedy from Phil and suggesting Kole and Raltz go with him. A team of 3 and a team of 4. Kole won't be stuck in the same party as Elsa, a meatshield, healer and magic caster on both side and party size as equal as it could get.

Only reason Fie healed: I forgot Argath could jump. Can we retcon combat posts pre-deadline or no?

I kinda think we can. But might as well wait for Krylo to okay it. Maybe add a note underneath the post, that, if possible, you'd like to hit Dingo 3 with Aero instead, if possible.
I'll have docus do the same with fire.

Kole getting stuck with Elsa on his team is the best possibility.

I forget.

How does Krylo feel about mounted combat?

@McTahr, not much time yet, but it's fine to edit before the deadline, usually (if everyone has posted before the deadline I probably won't wait for the deadline).

@Riin, pretend it's exalted, and stunt it. It's all okay if you stunt it well enough. And MAYBE make some rolls to stay mounted if things get hairy. Not sure it it'd be ride or athletics in the case of a human's shoulder. I'll come to a conclusion before combat though.

Would Kole have to do rolls for performing combat with a Tarut on his shoulder?

Edit - Kind of an irrelevant question since you do all the rolls anyway.

Something that didn't fit well into my post:

Sometime during Jhennek's distracting talk, Arden would have passed the item she found in her search of the third floor to Bello.

Arden Loses x1 Pepper Bomb!

Bello Gains x1 Pepper Bomb!

I can't recall what the item's exact effect is, but I know it might inflict stun if thrown. Krylo knows the details.

Edit: If Krylo insists, I'll edit the pass into the post, but until I hear otherwise, I'll assume it'll suffice.

Yes! A chance to manipulate someone! I've been waiting for this since we left Rios!

Also, Pepper Bombs (or Stun Bombs, as Teal's PM called them) don't appear to be in the book. What's up with that?

shiiiiiiiiiiit

EDIT: BAD PULL EVERYBODY RUN OUT OF THE INSTANCE

EDIT 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: Okay, so the udrafresk appears to be eating the dingos with low HP, so we don't have to go all out in killing them. Just wound them enough for him to get the scent of their blood and move in while we try to recover. Spell absorption isn't constant, so I'm thinking it has to specifically target a casting spell in order to absorb it. I don't know if using cure is going to be reliable, so if anyone has some potions, you may want to use them to get the wounded party members up to speed.

Long shot idea: Do we have any means whatsoever of tainting the dingos in order to knock out the monster and capture it once the dingo is eaten?

=D

Trip over, posting started!

To point out the obvious, the udrafresk's arms clearly do something annoying. I'd guess the other arm is the attack arm.

So it's a matter of whether it's the sort of boss where it's a lot easier to take out the limbs first, or whether it's the kind where you should just ignore them and go for the face.

And whether chopping up its arms will stop us getting that sweet, sweet bounty.

Actually, on that point is it OK to just hit it with regular attacks or is there some subdual option we should be using?

I mean most of our capture options are completely dependent on the thing being in a bleed out state so I think we want to beat the piss out of it. I think the dingo's are doomed though.

Couple of points:
First, yeah, we probably won't have to deal with the dingos too much. Or wouldn't. If not for the fact that two of them are up in our mages' face. I really think that at least one of those needs to die. As for the rest of the dingos, wounding them should be enough. I agree that the Fresk will prolly go for them. It'd be best if we could get everyone into one group, to give the Udrafresk more wounded dingos to choose from, though.

Secondly, check out the Red Mage abilities, guys. Read the description of 'Runic'. Sounds like what our grotesque friend is doing, no?

I'm guessing it can act twice each round, once with each arm. The right arm attacking normally, the left arm either using Runic, or Return Magic (I'm guessing it either returns magic, or heals itself with it), or maybe even casting its own spells.

Not sure about tactics, not that anyone cares. I think Argath pulling back to the mages would be a good idea, but... bluh. Let's just see how it goes.

As long as the Udrafresk survives, we should get the full reward. In theory, anyway. Not sure how they'd feel about a maimed Udrafresk...

Well even if we wreck its arms as long as the beastie is alive they can contain it and let it rest and grow new arms, probably.

Anyway, Krylo, two questions:

Could Argath have attacked one of the Dingoes that surrounded him with Jump? I wasn't sure it could be used at short range, and that's why I had him attack Vera's.

Second, the Udrafresk is a boss monster, right? Not just a rare hunt?

Suggestion: We wreck your arms. We watch you grow new ones, probably.

I'm not sure if that would work.

Hey, Krylo. If we take out its arms, will our employer still pay us the full amount, provided it's alive? The condition is 'a live specimen', but on second thought, that seems kinda silly...

So, what's the mission, exactly?

Edit:
Also, what's gonna be up with Docus' Team switch. You said you were thinking about it. Reached a decision yet?

Okay, not wreck wreck.

But I'm pretty sure we can get away with injuring the arms a bit.

Also, we need to talk to the employer. They specifically wanted the arms and head back. Methinks they knew it could do something with its arms, and it's entirely possible they weren't completely honest with us.

The fact that you are flying into the air is what gives you the range for a charge attack. This means you can use it on any enemy within medium or short range.

Attacking Vera's was still probably a good idea, though, as it removed you from attack range of two of the Dingos, and you can only use jump twice more this fight.

End boss, technically.

It is as the NPC described it. Clarifying OOC would be cheating!

Nope.

Right, okay.

I think I've got a decent plan.

If POS can edit his post, Prasad can target Dingo 2 and he can take it out, provided none of his shots miss.

Argath can jump on Dingo 3 and probably take it out as well. Fie, Docus and Caspin can cast their spells on Dingo 5. One of them will get sucked up by the Udrafresk, hopefully Caspin's, but two spells ought to be enough to seriously hurt Dingo 5.

Jade can handle her Dingo, and I doubt Vera will want to back her up since it involves moving close to the Udrafresk, so she can just group up with the mages.

How's that?

If I'm going to waste my spell I'm wasting it on the Fresk.

Well I wasn't sure Runic would work on Blue Magic.

Although my real reason for wanting Caspin's spell to get absorbed is that if the Fresk uses Return Magic he'll get blasted by his own laser beams.

And I'm okay with that.

Wait, now we're planning?
Now?

Couldn't you have made up your minds before breaking my spirit and causing me to curl up in a fetal position and sob softly?
No?

Still, Dracorion doing it?
Naaaah.

...

Anyway.

The plan's allright. But the problem is uncertainties. We don't know how the Fresk will act, or what rules govern it. But we can make assumptions.

Right now, we're assuming that it will prefer to attack wounded dingos, right? So, what I'd recommend is this. We try to buy as much time as possible for our mages to damage it, by giving it a lot of wounded dingos to attack before focusing on us.

A great first step would be to leave the wounded dingos alone. For now, anyway. We can kill them if they're threatening us, but until that's the case, let's let the Udrafresk take them down?

We have 4 dingos, two of whom are wounded.
What I'd recommend is that we wound the dino closest to the Udrafresk and kill the dingo charging us, while wounding the other one this turn, if possible. Not sure what to have Vera do.

Hmm...

How bout this:
Argath: Jump on Dingo 5
Jade: Move to join the group
Caspin: Move to join the group
Vera: Attack her dingo (2)
Docus: Standard-action fire on Dingo 3.
Fie: Standard action Aero on Dingo 3.
Prasad: Attack dingo 6

That way we'll all be in a group, and, by the time it's the enemy's turn, there'll be quite a few wounded dingos around. The one facing jade, the one facing Vera. If it spends a turn killing Jade's, and then goes for Vera's, we have at least 2 more turns before it goes for us. That's two turns of spells and bullets.

Which is also kinda why I'd prefer ovie not to cast. I think the best time for us all to cast is when we're all targeting the Fresk. We should be able to deal with the surviving dingos as they are. The important thing is preparing to hurt the fresk.

Planning is okay. The problem is overplanning, which is what you do.

I like mine better because it gets the Dingoes out of our hair. They'll still be alive, only in negative HP, and if the Fresk goes to finish them off that buys us time.

I'd prefer to cast later myself, Caspin only has two shots at this and after that against that big bastard he is essentially useless. So yeah, edit coming.

Honestly? What is the difference?

Okay, I didn't actually consider that. Yeah, we don't need to keep them alive. Though I still think it might be smart. I mean, you're the Udrafresk. There's a bunch of adventurers and some wounded dingos facing you. You kill the dingos first, cause they're prey.
But replace the wounded dingos with unconcious ones, and they're not even a threat anymore. Only the party is.

But let's still keep them spread out. And let's keep the team together. I don't like the thought of the fresk killing us one after the other while we watch helplessly.

In fact, the plan doesn't change much. Caspin and Jade should still get close to us to avoid getting picked off individually, especially Caspin. Vera is doing allright against her dingo so far. And with my plan, only one dingo survives against the mages, and he can get killed soon enough.

Also, let's try to bring it to 0 without breaking its arms.

Edit:
Aaaanyway not demanding we plan, everyone can do what they like and I'm totally chill with that, but if we're gonna plan, let's do something that's actually useful.

Just noting that Caspin moved to Long Range rather than joining the group.

You realize that Docus and Fie are even more useless than Caspin? And they all have just about the same MP left.

The difference is you.

Does this thing even have the brains for that? I mean, it didn't give Jade half a look before it ate the dingo near her. Now? There's another dingo near her that my plan doesn't touch.

It just sits there, a big juicy target to keep the Fresk occupied for this turn. Next turn, whether it does or doesn't go for the wounded dingoes, we're ready to start wailing on it whether we go with my plan or yours.

My plan just has a lot less enemies chipping away at us.

Sure, if Arhra can edit, we can pull Jade back.

I'd rather not move Caspin at all. He's not close to the Fresk, and in case it has some AOE thing I'd rather not keep everyone bunched up together.

Besides, would you rather have the thing strike at Argath and Jade or Docus and Fie?

Your plans are terrible.
 

It's funny, because I thought this would be too easy for you.

Edit @ Drac: Caspin's spell uses 10 mp. Fie's cure uses 5, Fie's Aero uses 3, Docus's Fire uses 3.

They may have less MP, but they have more casts in them.

Yeah the MP economics in Blue Magic are complete bullshit.

Bluh. I'm not used to the system. Gimme a battle or two and I'll be down with this.

Also, I don't know how you DM. I know AB.

Okay, I'll rethink this properly...

@OC: You're paying for confusion.

@Gem: Just imagine someone who really wants to see you die.

And long range, I swear at this point no dingo, or Udrafresk can touch Caspin without sacrificing two turns of movement.

I may make a few of them two-fers.
 

Also! This is your abnormal type. I'm hoping to make you all kill an end boss of each type before I'm done.

So you've still got... Aerial, Amorph, Arcana, Aquan, Beast, Construct, Dragon, Fiend, Humanoid, Insect, Lizard, Plant, and Undead!

You are going to save Undead until we have the ability to make sure it doesn't come back over and over again...right?

Oh wait, I forgot about Devour.