The Savage Tide [OOC]

[PersonMan]

Ah.

Well, compared to that, my reason is fairly mediocre. I just can't really think of anything to do-it's a sort of natural 'long DM post' moment for me.

[lostsole31]

Sorry guys, just finished Finals week, ended the term, and moved into a new place. I've been swamped the last two weeks, which is why things were falling behind here. Thanks for your patience.

[PersonMan]

Don't sweat it-a lot of my other DMs have been moving around the same time, too. I guess moving prices are low...

And you came back at a good time-it's a nice feeling to have 15+ emails, all notifications of different PBP threads being updated...

[lostsole31]

You guys set up for melds and spells for the next day?

[PersonMan]

I'll take care of that ASAP tomorrow. Just about every other PBP I'm in has been filling my inbox with updates, so I've been fairly busy.

[Tacitus]

Aye, the probable list at the end of my last IC is what I've settled on for melds.

[lostsole31]

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Aye, the probable list at the end of my last IC is what I've settled on for melds....

I'm inclined to go with Worg Pelt, Soulspark Familiar, Lightning Gauntlets, and Truthseeker Goggles, with the Capacity feat dedicated to the Familiar, which would be Bound, turning it from a Least Soulspark into a Lesser Soulspark (which makes it more bad-ass than Darrius).

Okay. Where is the Essentia located?

[Tacitus]

I've made the changes for melds and essentia on my sheet, including a quick reference stat block for the familiar.

[PersonMan]

Spells have been chosen(Mage Armor, Burning Hands, Shield and Charm Person).

[lostsole31]

Tac, please provide me with a link to Shape Soulmeld [Worg Pelt]. Long ago, I had copied the writeup for that (and for Indigo Strike) onto your character sheet, but it was removed. It could've been that we were both on your sheet at one time and it didn't save as a result (seen that a few times). However, if something shows up on your sheet and you didn't put it there, please don't remove it yourself. If you have any questions, ask me. It is likely I put things there for my own easy reference.

[Tacitus]

Hmm, I've been careful not to remove anything from the sheet, and also to not make any edits while you've been online on Giants, so I'm not sure how that might have happened, but oh well.

http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/f...Shape_Soulmeld

And awww, why does it have to be blue? The one in the book is purple, and green is suitable Chaotic. XD

Thank you for the clarifications.

[lostsole31]

Tac, that's not what I was looking for. I have Magic of Incarnum, the book. I have Magic of Incarnum, the book, on .pdf as well. What I need is the writeup for Worg Pelt on the D&D site. I tried searching for it but I can't find it.

[Tacitus]

Ah, Worg Pelt specifically. I must have misread your meaning.

So... copypasta from the PDF?

Spoiler

WORG PELT
Descriptors: None
Classes: Totemist
Chakra: Feet or hands (totem)
Saving Throw: None
You gather worg spirits around you to form a cloaklike garment. It strongly resembles the pelt of a worg, from the top of the beast’s head perched atop your own to forelegs extending down your arms and rear legs hanging behind you. The fur is dark and thick, and glassy red eyes smolder in its face.

Worgs are quintessential hunters—stalking predators, quick runners, and fierce combatants. Totemists who shape worg pelt soulmelds hope to emulate some or all of these qualities, and sometimes the worg’s malicious evil as well.
Your worg pelt grants you a +2 competence bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.
Essentia: Every point of essentia that you invest in your worg pelt increases the competence bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks by 2.

Chakra Bind (Feet)
The hind legs of your worg pelt fuse into your own legs, lengthening your feet and shins while shortening your thighs, enabling you to run on your toes like a predatory animal. Your legs are totally covered in the dark gray fur of a worg.
Your base land speed increases by 5 feet, plus an additional 5 feet for every point of essentia you invest in your worg pelt.

Chakra Bind (Hands)
The forelegs of your worg pelt fuse into your own arms, adding weight and bulk to your hands. Your arms and hands are completely covered in the dark gray fur of a worg.
When you hit with a bite attack—whether it is a bite attack you naturally possess, one granted by binding this soulmeld to your totem chakra, or one granted by another soulmeld, spell, or special effect—you can attempt to trip the opponent as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip you.

Chakra Bind (Totem)
The head of your worg pelt becomes one with your own head. Your eyes begin to glow red and replace the glassy eyes of the pelt, while your lower jaw extends to join the upper muzzle of the pelt, granting you a fierce bite attack.
You gain a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage. You can use this bite either as a primary attack (in which case it uses your full base attack bonus and adds your Strength bonus on damage rolls) or as a secondary attack (with a –5 penalty on the attack roll and applying only half your Strength bonus on your damage roll).
Every point of essentia invested in this soulmeld grants you a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls with your bite attack

[PersonMan]

I feel like a Wizard now, instead of a buffed Monk. Although, having my first AOE spell of the game completely fail is a bit of a bad start...

[lostsole31]

Who says it failed? I mean, he could have more than 5 HD ....

[PersonMan]

5 or more HD=stunned for 1 round.

Doesn't seem like he was stunned to me...

[Tacitus]

Oh hey, electric crit.

Confirmation: (1d20+3)[20]
More Shock Therapy: (2d6)[8]

Gotta love touch attacks!

[lostsole31]

Nice crit, Tac ... and good battle.

Yeah, I know ... long post. But I want you to enjoy the story aspect as well as the actual interaction. That said, if you remember way back when, I mentioned that I wanted to do a lot of 'pushing' so as not to bog things down at these lower levels. I hope you both are still having fun!

P.S.: Last night was 'humpday' ... as you are both halfway to next level. I am E-mailing each of you your T-G sheets just to make sure that things are still as you want them. If you want to make any adjustements, please let me know. Obviously, it is too late to make any adjustments based on race ...

[Tacitus]

Alright, I've made a few comments on the T&G sheet and will be sending it back as soon as it lets me sign into my mail again.

Noted changes to Essentia and Melds on my sheet. Adamant Pauldrons (+) [2], Crystal Helm (B) [1], Lightning Gauntlets [1], Worg Pelt [0].

[lostsole31]

Tac (and Celiss) .... I know, I know. I won't be happy until your souls are mine.

Anyway, continuing with my anal-retentiveness. When I send you TG sheets, please don't make corrections and send them back to me. I then have to compare between sheets and see what has changed. It sounds minor, but it is more important than you might think. Or, keep that initiative (because you did actually do a good job, Tac), but give me a blow-by-ounce of what you changed. These little details may seem silly, but they actually have "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" effects in-game.

Obviously, PersonMan, there is nooo way you can do that - because it's way too much work for me. The very fact that your TGS has gaps and the file ends with "player view" should tell you that you definitely need to give me a narrative. I'll adjust and re-send after 'spooking' it out again, and let me know how it is.

Next, and this is mainly for Tac .... I'm cool with you guys moving essentia or re-setting spells, especially when I ask for it. The problem with Darrius is that his abilities are so manifold and various with his melds that a change in essentia might change several things (skills, especially). But swapping out melds (I know, I asked you too, sorry) can totally change other things on a character sheet.

So, Person you are fine for now. Tac, please always be sure you let me know exactly how much essentia is moved from A to B (and former and current totals). However, when it comes to melds, either tell me what you want to switch to ... or, tell me what you had before (and how much essentia was last in it) and what you have now.

The reason for this is that it is too much for me (as a DM) to try to remember all of your character's abilities. That said, both the adrenaline of a situation (yup, even in pbp), or even the disconnected nature of pbp, is enough for players to often short-change themselves on attack bonuses, damages and damage bonuses, skills, saves, etc. And let me tell you now, nothing screws up a story and throws a brick through the window of illusion and suspension of disbelief we weave together when a player says, "You know, I went back and refigured and I noticed that I actually could have ...."

It happened before when we switched from the Parrot Island setup to this prior one, Tac, and I had to basically review your character sheet from the bottom up so I could correct out the changes I had made. Also, please remember .... owing to the fact that my middle name is Moloch and people feed me their children ... let me make those changes . If nothing else, conducting those changes is like writing your notes again - it helps me be aware of your abilities. They are probably easily remembered by you, but my updating your sheet with these constantly shifting numbers makes the Rain Man in my heart smile.

P.S.: I am sooo sorry about the bit about the worg pelt. I don't know what the hell my problem was. I remember having to look up something on the D&D Website (it was Draconic melds), and I flipped too quickly through MoI and overlooked worg pelt in the text. It was like looking for a pair of glasses that were on top of my head.

[Tacitus]

Because I use it so much, I often forget how... complex Incarnum can be. Its somewhat of a problem, and something I've noticed in regards to myself with complex systems. Most notably in part of a meta-game system for a free form RP multiverse I take part in on another forum, the virtual currency is called Energy Points. I run the system because no one else will and to me its simple as cake. Everyone else hates it and I can never see why.

>.> But I digress.

This is the first game I've played where the DM wanted more access to our sheets than just public permission, and while I rather like the idea of it, its still somewhat foreign. I consciously know you've got access, but I don't always think about it when I go in and tinker with things. The melds, especially. From this point forward I'll do my best to keep any tinkering on the sheet to an absolute minimum, and if I make changes maybe put up a sort of a changelog in the notes section or something. If I remember, anyhow. XD

[PersonMan]

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Because I use it so much, I often forget how... complex Incarnum can be. Its somewhat of a problem, and something I've noticed in regards to myself with complex systems. Most notably in part of a meta-game system for a free form RP multiverse I take part in on another forum, the virtual currency is called Energy Points. I run the system because no one else will and to me its simple as cake. Everyone else hates it and I can never see why.

It took me two reads to really understand it, so I can definitely understand it being funky in play. I once planned out a character fusing Incarnum, Binding and several other classes, which would probably end up being 90% bookwork, due to spell selection, etc. It's nice to see how Incarnum works in a 'real' game.

[lostsole31]

It's good stuff, but in pbp it takes a lot more focus. At a table game, we just wrote on a little white board with dry erase markers (or on the map with wet-erase markers) of the breakdown and it was just fine.

And thanks for being understanding, Tac. Another reason for wanting to be on the front lines of everyone's characters, is that invariably there is an NPC in the group who is pretty savvy, and might be better at knowing how to implement your PC's abilities into a team than yourself ... assuming they know what you can do in the first place.

[PersonMan]

See? What did I tell you?

This'll be just like the Zombie Pirate Caverns-I'll get a staggering number of crits against "immune to crits" monsters...

[lostsole31]

See? What'd I tell you ... a hit is a hit is a hit.

[PersonMan]

Finally, something that pierces(heh heh unintentional pun) DR. And max damage.

Also, until now I was waiting for one of your big mid-combat update-posts, as you usually have one of those in situations like these.

[lostsole31]

I know most (all) of you will get this message in several posts, but I want to make sure I cover my bases.

I will be going on 'vacation' from Friday (6/10) through the end of July. I will have access to the Internet, but among long-distance travelling, spending time with my bestie in VA, attending a 3-week stage combat intensive in NC, and seeing family I haven't seen in over two decades in NC/SC, I will not be effectively 'attached' to my computer like you've enjoyed in game (or player) turnaround over the last few weeks.

If I am playing in one of your games, vice DM-ing, I'll still check things often enough to at least say, "DM, can't give response right now, please cover." I would post/not post like this because my phone makes BBC codes extremely cumbrous and I have to type very slowly and can't even cut-paste for security in case a post doesn't get through. It isn't unless I have time in the evenings that I'd be able to actually post.

Gamers in mine? Yup ... patience. And chocolate ... preferably Godiva.

[PersonMan]

Hopefully, once you return I'll be sleeping better, as recently it's been getting annoyingly difficult to not wake up tired...

Well, I hope you have fun in (NC/SC? Is that where you're going?).

[lostsole31]

Virginia (VA) first to spend a week with my best friend.

Then, Winston-Salem NC (North Carolina) for stage combat intensive.

Then, about a week between NC and SC (South Carolina) to spend time with cousins.

Then, home again, home again jiggity-jig to NM (New Mexico).

[PersonMan]

Ah. Well, that certainly sounds like fun.