Kale Good morning folks
Lunchtime?
#30MinuteMissions time.
The ABC is running an article on 'marriage sabbaticals' and...
Did you just try to rename 'trial separations'?
The millennial urge to reinvent shit and think it's different just because we/they do it.
Cryptomnesia allll the way down
Current status: on a giant beanstalk, surrounded by orks and an ankylosaurus
To be clear, the plan was:
Kale: spots orks
Wizard: can telepathically talk to them
Kale: hey, tell them... you're their god, and your prophet is arriving soon
Wizard: what?
Kale: we'll get them to escort us, it'll be great
Wizard: and I teleport you in their midst?
Kale: yes?
Wizard: I'll drop you on them
Kale: wait, no... I'll use the beanstalk spell, you can drop me down, the beanstalk will catch me, it'll look cool.
... that's how I ended up in a beanstalk, at 'far' range.
In amongst the 'that's AI' (when it isn't), we also have 'that's IRL'...
... when there's literally a fucking Worth1000 watermark in the bottom left of the image.
Looks like someone from Worth tried to say 'hey! we're over here now!'
... and the link is on the .ai TLD
... no, no thanks.
AI art gen comps? sure, I'll glance at that shit, show me your prompts.
But no, not at all the same as photoshop comps. Not even close.
So, #Daggerheart
We're up to... five sessions(?) now, and level 3, and it's basically just... unhinged as fuck.
I have NO idea how a party is meant to be 'managed' by a GM in this system, it's all completely fucked and broken by a few innocuous cards.
Like, mechanically, it feels like certain cards + other cards are just... yeah, ok, I guess that's fucked up
This isn't even getting into how the construct wizard (clank?) for our party got a free elemental for a pet.
Like, my character got a random trophy, the wizard got a fucking portable battery.
Ranger pets suffer from the standard 'if it costs me an action to command my pet to attack, why aren't I just attacking with my action?' that a lot of RPGs seem to have (genesys does the same thing with drones/familiars, but I think it's a maneuver instead of an action, which is ok-ish)
Let's have a look at the Book of Illiat domain, shall we?
> Arcane Barrage: Once per rest, spend any number of Hope and shoot magical projectiles that strike a target of your choice within Close range. Roll a number of d6s equal to the Hope spent and deal that much magic damage to the target.
Ok, so you can max at 6 hope (typically, I think?)
so, 6d6 auto damage. Right, sure.
... but! our wizard can use armour as hope as well (it's a t2 item)
This is, hilariously, not even the worst in this tier.
> Telepathy: Spend a Hope to open a line of mental communication with one target you can see. This connection lasts until your next rest or you cast Telepathy again.
Our wizard has been using this to harass the fuck out of an NPC that pissed him off.
You see that person, ONCE, and you're automatically in their head. Until you stop to rest.
Now, let's look up Sage domain, level 4:
>Make a Spellcast Roll against a target within Close range and choose one of the following options:
> You pull the target into Melee range or pull yourself into Melee range of them.
> You constrict the target and force them to mark 2 Stress.
> All adversaries between you and the target must succeed on a Reaction Roll (13) or be hit by vines, taking 3d6+2 physical damage.
(and you get vines to restrain them)
The fuck is with that first option?
'pull them to you from close to melee'
Yeah, ok, but... why wouldn't I just... walk over there?
You have to make a spell roll for this.
Fifty percent chance you lose focus (by rolling fear).
Like, fifty percent chance your 'come over here' move just shifted control back to the GM, leaving you with an enemy standing next to you?
... why?
Now, compare that with Vicious entangle. (level 1, Sage):
> Make a Spellcast Roll against a target within Far range. On a success, roots and vines reach out from the ground, dealing 1d8+1 physical damage and temporarily Restraining the target.
> Additionally on a success, you can spend a Hope to temporarily Restrain another adversary within Very Close range of your target.
... it does damage, is Far range (not close!) and also restrains!
... WHY WOULD YOU BOTHER WITH THE OTHER OPTION?
Shimmin Beg (he/him)@DarkestKale is there any game where pets are neither largely decorative nor broken? It's a really tough line to walk because of action economy.
I have this problem in Necropolitans; the murder machine melee fighter feels her nigh-invulnerable rust monster is useless because it's not doing relevant damage. Well, yeah? A pet that's even slightly comparable to a high-level PC isn't a couple of featsworth of class feature.
@shimminbeg I feel like if you go STRONG COMBAT PET, then your char should be pretty weakshit, and if you go STRONG FIGHTER CHAR, then your pet should be for something that isn't combat.
@shimminbeg IN THIS CASE, I thought I'd be stealthy-archer fungus gal, with the soft walking bonus, etc.
No, the cards are basically 'HAHAHA OBLITERATE CUNTS WITH FIREFLY SWARMS, TELL THEM TO EAT DICKS'
So... my bird scout is basically just flavour.
@DarkestKale Yeah, fundamentally you can either be a nobody who happens to be friends with a powerful thing, or a badass with a friendlet who needs your protection, or a very average person with a modestly capable pet.
Superhero with powerful superpal works fine in solo comics or stories where they're fundamentally *two characters*, but in an RPG that is not what's usually happening.
@DarkestKale (also, PF combat pets tend to be preposterously tough and largely impossible to subvert*, to the point where hurting or even debuffing the pet is vastly harder than hurting the actual PCs. If it was also actively contributing a lot it'd need to be nerfed defensively so it wasn't an irresistible force.)
*People unaccountably object when you make their pet monster fight them.
Jon Hancock@shimminbeg @DarkestKale An interesting feature of the Hero System is that the actual description of how a power works can vary enormously, because it's an effects-based system. Recently on the Hero forum someone wanted to make a shield like Captain America's, which can be used to strike a target at range and will then return to the thrower's hand. Several builds were suggested, some rather involved, then came the idea that you could just make it a Blast, much like a laser or lightning bolt. Since Blast is ready again on your next turn it has effectively "returned to your hand," and the other effect—hurting a target at range—is also covered. Simple.
Animal sidekicks can be created as points-based characters in their own right, but they could also be interpreted as the visible part of different powers in much the same way as the shield. It just depends what you want them to do.
@BigJackBrass @DarkestKale It feels like a nice way of handling a lot of these things. I know GURPS (probably Hero too) has "granted by familiar" to represent losing powers when your pet is away.
Roger BW 😷@BigJackBrass @shimminbeg @DarkestKale Especially if you want the pet to be narratively invulnerable - you can lose it temporarily but it's "part of your legend" and won't go away forever.