Togo's Planar Adventure set partly in Sigil (OOC)

[Cespenar]

I start to like this thread and its slow journey into utter chaos.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by Cespenar

I start to like this thread and its slow journey into utter chaos.

Bah! Umbriel disapproves! (in contrast, Ifni approves tremendously )

[Togo]

Originally Posted by SPoD

Togo, Re: my IC spoiler:

Saffron

Spoiler

How far above where they are standing for the garlic sausage smell? Like, within reach, or do I need to fly? If I need to fly, would it be fair to say that the portal is where it would be if it had been on the second or third floor of the inn?

It's about 20 feet up, give or take. Yes, it would be fair to say exactly that.

[Togo]

Originally Posted by GuesssWho

Yeah, she wears robes that hide her tentacles and gills and keeps her extra eyes closed. They might have seen her tail, though, that's pretty hard to hide. Not that it's that unusual, with a group like this.

And she will speak in . . . Lime.

Excellent, feel free to chime in on the IC thread when you feel like it. We'll assume you were standing back for a bit, which is why noone has referred to you.

[Togo]

A few thoughts

The party will, unless I severely misjudge the situation, shortly be arriving in Sigil. The obvious thing at that point is to have everyone have errands they want to run, contacts they want to meet and things they want to do. Logically, since everyone did their own characters, those activities won't involve the rest of the party. Rather than have the thread disintegrate into 8 single character epics, I'm going to try and keep the action on the party as a group. That means I'm going to try and keep things current when you arrive in the city, and it would really help if you stayed together, at least at first.

Later on there will (probably) be time for people to slip off and get things done on their own, but I intend to handle that off-camera for the most part, to keep the main game moving.


Sooner or later there is going to be some form of combat, and I've been thinking about the best way to make sure that doesn't drag. I'm thinking that the best way would be to have group initiative. Everyone rolls initiative, anyone who beats the monsters goes first, then the monsters then everyone acts again, then the monsters act again, and so on. In other words, ignore initiative differences within the party, and let people act in whatever order they happen to post in. I don't generally like group initiative, and of course that method would render people's initiative bonuses less notable, but it would still determine whether you or the bad guys went first.

Anyone see any problems with that?

[GuesssWho]

Sounds good to me.

[SPoD]

Originally Posted by Togo

Anyone see any problems with that?

I'm in several PbP groups, and I think we all use group initiative. The only time it really matters is in the first round, like you said. So no problem here.

Also, I have no errands in Sigil, I'm here because I was told to come here. I'm working under the assumption that my mission will find me.

[Ifni]

Works for me! I agree with the group initiative, it really speeds up combat in PbP.

Umbriel's primary initial goal in Sigil is to learn a bit about what's currently going on in the city without getting into trouble, so tagging along with the more eye-catching members of the party makes sense for her. She's also quite intrigued by these chance-met companions, and especially wants to talk with Saffron about her plane-reading abilities. Getting in touch with any contacts can wait for later

[GuesssWho]

Sthrerrbhna is just looking for somewhere that people won't throw rocks at her. She has a snake tail, gills, extra eyes and tentacles, so Sigil is about it on that score.

[Toliudar]

I'm good with group initiative as well.

[Cespenar]

Group initiative is fine by me as well. And Rhion, well, he's on a permanent vacation, and Sigil is said to be the tourist attraction, after all.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Group initiative is fine with me. Derk's only objective is to learn and since everything is new he will be fine doing anything. He is very loyal so tends to stick with the group anyway, if only to offer physical protection.

[Obrysii]

Xiuhcoatl has sort of fallen into the leadership role, and beyond his goal of helping those who cannot help themselves, he simply is seeking a name for himself. His previous world is gone - or at least he believes it is. He has nothing but his path forward for himself.

[Togo]

Testing....

*....***....*
*............*
*...........*
*...........n
*...........***************************
*....HH.............23............................ ..........
*....HH.....................................20.... 20......
*...........................................****** ***
*....:..1..:..2..:...:..3..:..4..:...19*
*....:..5..:..6..:...:..7..:..8..:......*
*........................................18*
*....:.9..:.10..:...:.11..:.12.:......*
*....:.13.:.14.:...:.15..:.16.:...17*
*..........................................*
*....***************21*.....*
*....*****************....* 22

[Ifni]

Hmm, I'm sure that's not ominous at all

(1d20+37)[50] Knowledge (The Planes) to see how much Umbriel knows about the Far Realms (and possibly whether she recognizes Sther as associated with them, depending on how much Sther is hiding her unusual features - Umbriel's Spot check is not anything special).

[Obrysii]

Originally Posted by Togo

Testing....

If you're trying to make battle maps, the best way to do that is by making them in Excel and then taking a screen shot, uploading to imgur, and posting the image in spoiler tags.

[Togo]

I'd have thought that the fact that she directly referred to far realms, and her description of her appearance, would make the connection spottable, if not fairly obvious.

Note that there several theories as to where the Far Realms actually are. The most popular is that they are far away - outside the traditional great wheel cosmology - hence the name Far Realms. The second is that they exist in some of the spaces between the planes, and that any damage to the planar structure risks opening a portal to these mad and twisted realms. This is generally seen as less likely, because there are plenty of examples of planar rifts that don't do this. The last is that the Far Realms are actually all around us in some sense, but that most people aren't able to directly perceive them. This is a theory most often advanced by the mad, a group which includes a disturbingly high proportion of those who actually study the Far Realms in any detail.

[Togo]

Originally Posted by Obrysii

If you're trying to make battle maps, the best way to do that is by making them in Excel and then taking a screen shot, uploading to imgur, and posting the image in spoiler tags.

Hmm.. I'll have to play with that. For the moment I just wanted to give an idea of what the layout is.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by Togo

I'd have thought that the fact that she directly referred to far realms, and her description of her appearance, would make the connection spottable, if not fairly obvious.

So I figured, I just didn't want to make assumptions, as she did say she was trying to hide her less-obvious traits (everything but the tail)

Thanks for the Far Realms info

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Also, Togo, I was just thinking about the group initiative thing. I would not mind at all if you would roll initiative for all players and NPC's. It would mean a bit more typing for you, but you can reuse the template, I guess. This could cut of in some cases 24 hours of real time waiting for all to have logged on and rolled initiative. Just a suggestion, don't know how you all feel about that?

[GuesssWho]

My idea is that on a maps of the planes, the Far Realms are all the blank parts.

[Toliudar]

Obrysii, I'd like to thank you for giving me a really, really good straight line. If the fake flirtation (Godot REALLY means nothing by it) is annoying for either you or Derk, it can stop at a word.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

It is fine with me, though I must admit that I went and double checked your gender on your sheet

[GuesssWho]

I should probably be added to the first IC post, by the way.

[Togo]

Originally Posted by Autopsibiofeeder

Also, Togo, I was just thinking about the group initiative thing. I would not mind at all if you would roll initiative for all players and NPC's. It would mean a bit more typing for you, but you can reuse the template, I guess. This could cut of in some cases 24 hours of real time waiting for all to have logged on and rolled initiative. Just a suggestion, don't know how you all feel about that?

Good idea. Can anyone who's initiative modifier at present is different from the one on their character sheet let me know over the next day or so? It might be different because of spells, temporary effects, not being in your base form, etc. Can you also include initiative mods for any familiars, animal companions etc.

[Ifni]

If I have one memorized, please assume Umbriel casts Nerveskitter (+5 init for all PCs) whenever the party rolls initiative.

For the GM:

Spoiler

Umbriel takes 10 on her CL check (using her Arcane Mastery feat) to get 29. Succeed or fail, she'll learn something interesting

Also, can you confirm my Contingency is okay? I basically want a Silence to go off (targeted on Umbriel) if the party is about to get hit with a Blasphemy/Holy Word/Word of Chaos/Dictum, or Wail of the Banshee. If possible, I'd also like to use my Extraordinary Spell Aim feat to exclude Umbriel from the effect of the spell, at the time that I cast it into the Contingency.

[SPoD]

I'm a +8, Gylda is a +7 (unless I'm riding her when the battle starts, in which case she goes on my turn).

[Autopsibiofeeder]

My initiative is +0, like a dragon's initiative is supposed to be.

[Cespenar]

Rhion's initiative is -1. He usually arrives after the battle is done, and looks around all puzzled.

[Ifni]

Did Androse really mean Umbriel when he asked about expertise on wands with a teasing wink, or Godot? If he's wandering back over to Umbriel (who's waiting in line to get a drink from the beer wagon as an excuse for hanging around and inspecting people with Arcane Sight), she will probably be rather amused by that question

Re "children", Umbriel is old enough to be Derk's mother - or grandmother, if she were human She's quite elderly (75, although illumians live longer than humans), at an age where she's noticeably slowing down physically, although her mind is sharper than ever. Her spells help with mobility and make her less frail, but don't really disguise her age.

EDIT: Familiar's initiative is +2, but she will rarely be an independent combatant.