/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>195701
>You'd be revealing your necromancer nature....
Posey is an employee of the university of arcane sciences under the necrology division: her profession in necromancy is public knowledge. Speak With Dead is not a spell with the [Evil] descriptor, and using it in pursuit of criminal justice would not damage her reputation.

Also, Posey wants to kill him. He insulted her.

>>195703
I see...
I will have to grab your tail again.

>>195706
Posey will actually kill you this time for that. She's already in a bad mood over the oil.

>>195707
But bad mares like having their tails pulled....

>>195706
>>195708
Maybe consider nipping her ear? I think that may be better received

Can somepony direct me to the rules for firearms in this game? Are we using d20 modern, or something else? Where can I read them?

I have asked this question a few times now. Idk what I would have done if my character used firearms.

I would like to apologize for wasting all that time running off by myself and splitting the party.
I was just so desperate to get one kill in, but it wasn't right for me to take up time like that.

>>195876
I am not going to mince words. When you galloped off I didn't care one iota whether Posey lived or died, and this counts on both an IC and an OOC level. You can see this in how Cavaliere didn't even bother stopping her after combat, compared to before when he tried to save her (un)life. In fact, I went offline for a few hours once the fighting stopped because I was still very angry at you and decided to take a break.

My issues with Posey are now less to do with her in-game personality than it is how you play this game, and "oh this is how she acts" is no longer an excuse to me. You have constantly and consistently tried to strong-arm the party into doing whatever you want. This happened memorably with the tiara, which you instantly and foolishly tried to use in front of all of us. You backed down when it was obvious a fight was going to break out, but insisted on keeping the tiara and "promised" to donate it to a university. You tried to start a fight with Blacksteel when we first met him and when it was obvious he is an important character, but settled with infecting him with a necrotic cyst. We got on a radio with Light Water, and although we were unlikely to outright Speech 100 him, we were making headway until you butted in and threatened him. On the boat, when we tried to convince each other of how best to approach this very dangerous mission, you kept rushing us by rounding up NPCs on your own and comically climbing up to the Kostroma multiple times while we were still in discussion. Below decks, we tried to determine if our first encounter could be reasoned with but didn't have much opportunity before you pulled a Leeroy Jenkins. That one was forgivable since it was obvious those were petrushkas. In the boiler room, you again tried to strong-arm us into fighting Light Water first, and Posey's comical restraint by Cavaliere destroyed what little regard the NPCs had for her. And finally, just now, with a creature that was conscious, willing to talk, and had personal reasons that we were productively engaging with, you outright sabotaged our attempt at diplomacy. Yes, it's obvious sabotage because you have been clamoring for combat and the griffon made it obvious that he hates bandits/pirates. I refuse to let this continue.

You can judge the quality of a player by how he interacts in a cooperative setting. A great player will figure out how to achieve his own goals while, at least superficially, achieving other players' goals. A good player will convince other players to pursue his goals in lieu of his own. A mediocre player will sulk in the corner when he doesn't get his way. A horrendous player will do what you've been doing, which is openly undermining others to get his way and his way only. The way you play this game reminds me of friendslop games, or at least how Youtubers play them, where at least one guy does stupid and counterproductive things because it's funny. The difference is of course that those games are intentionally very short and hopping back into the lobby represents very little time lost. Any multiplayer game where there is an actual investment to get to a certain point will have players who will yell at you for the same type of behavior at the very best. This game we're playing represents an investment of untold numbers of hours on the part of the players and the GM pony, both in play and thinking about how to move forward. Some of us have drawn OCs or spent money to commission art for them. There's a laxity in our game that we all enjoy, but we've long gone past this point in the case of Posey. We've explained our displeasure in-character a lot and sometimes out-of-character, but for all of that there has been no adjustment.

I have basically no actual military experience, but I've known multiple people who served and what's all-important in a military context is working together as a team. This entire quest is themed after commando raids and is cooperative so this military aspect is paramount. In a real-world setting, people who are incapable of working with others get screened out fairly fast. For those units unlucky enough to have those who slipped through the cracks, whether enlisted or officer, let's say something happens to them that gets them marked as MIA.

You use the word "coquette" and gas her up as a spy but as I've said before she sucks at that too. Posey is extremely predictable. She casts charm on everypony she meets, uses absurdly high CHA skills to manipulate, and if she can get one alone casts necrotic cyst. In combat she casts frightening presence every single time and charges in blindly, not dying either because of dumb luck or because of teammate support. She constantly flaunts her undead affinity to a degree that even modernists who scoff at old tales of necromancy would become suspicious, but we're not supposed to get suspicious because "oh she works for a university that has a school of good necromancers" even though the very head of that department has outright stated that students of the field are distrusted by society.

Posey is essentially a more capable Scrappy Doo, if you've ever seen that show. She's a millstone. We've all seen those cartoon episodes where one character drags down everybody else to their annoyance, and usually the message at the end is to not get angry at that character even though it was largely justified. The difference is that the millstone character is often mentally retarded or has a unique method that actually works at the end. Posey is not retarded, at least going by INT stats, nor do I see her method as revolutionary.

I'd write more but don't want to extend this to two posts. I've strongly considered having Cavaliere forcefully muzzle her to prevent further sabotage. She'd resist of course, triggering a fight she can't win, and because she's undead she would disappear at 0 HP. Maybe that's wishful thinking on my part.

>>195912
>and "promised" to donate it to a university
I promised no such thing. I said I would bring it back to the university for research.
>You tried to start a fight with Blacksteel when we first met him and when it was obvious he is an important character
What I first tried to do was charm him, to avoid a fight.
>settled with infecting him with a necrotic cyst
That's a failsafe to make things easier later.
>We got on a radio with Light Water, and although we were unlikely to outright Speech 100 him, we were making headway until you butted in and threatened him.
Did you envision any scenario where this mission is finished without fighting him? He wasn't giving us any useful information, just his smug villain monologue that Posey responded to.
>climbing up to the Kostroma multiple times while we were still in discussion.
We had been discussing for over two weeks irl.
>In the boiler room, you again tried to strong-arm us into fighting Light Water first
That was obviously the plot. Even GM said it was the intended path forward.
>sabotaged our attempt at diplomacy
My 32 on Intimidate WAS my attempt at diplomacy. If 32 Intimidate didn't persuade him, I didn't think anything would.
My Intimidate is higher than my Diplomacy.
>Posey is extremely predictable.
Rude... My spell list is limited. Not really saying much from the guy who does nothing but shoot a gun or punch.
>In combat she casts frightening presence every single time and charges in blindly, not dying either because of dumb luck or because of teammate support.
All this time, I have been tanking shots and drawing attention to myself in combat because nopony else in this party brought sufficient healing resources, and I have been saving my actual spell slots for Light Water and the Intruder. I would have died 10 times over were it not for my self-healing gimmick, and if at least half of the attacks directed at me were directed at other party members, all of the rest of you would be dead. I don't act like a walking pincushion just because I like it.
>unique method that actually works at the end.
Have we not been winning?
>She'd resist of course, triggering a fight she can't win
Try me.
If you thought she was resisting seriously during the tail-grabbing incident, you might be very disappointed.

>>195912
>In combat she casts frightening presence every single time and charges in blindly
My preferred method of combat is actually summoning monsters and using ranged touch spells with Spectral Hand. The frightful presence is an always-on debuff.
I have resorted to melee as a means to save spell slots in an adventure that has had quite a few encounters without rest, while also drawing attacks to myself so that the rest of the party would not be targeted. I wouldn't fight like this if it were not tactical; I played a mage because I wanted to sling spells.

>>195912
Pic very much related

>>195913
So,

I think you can argue that Posey is right in many or most of these situations. What I don't think you can argue is that there is indeed a conflict between the two characters and that posey forced the entire party into a particular course of action with her's.

When the Petrushkas and Schattenwechsel showed up, they did not immediately attack. Cavaliere, Silver, and Posey all engaged them in conversation. Schattenwechsel was willing to go back and forth with all of them. He showed that he was not receptive to Posey's hostile demeanor, her bandit disguise, her desire to attack his comrade, and that he had the high ground and an easy way to retreat. But neither did he shoot at them. He set a red line for Posey not to cross, that is, that he did not want Posey closing within melee range as they talked. While Cavaliere was still talking with Schattenwechsel, Posey crossed that red line, and the griffin, unwilling to give up a first move advantage, attacked in a surprise round. This obviously sabotaged Cavaliere's efforts at diplomacy.

When the idea was conceived, Schattenwechsel was intended to be basically the second follower of The Traveler besides Light Water. He fell to the side when Light Water was able to make his presence felt and he was not. But Blackheel mentioned him by name twice and referenced a griffin as the leader of the mutiny against the former and his crew on multiple occasions. Blackheel in fact names him as the leader of the leader of the mutiny, having a more direct role than Light Water. The intent with this fight was that immediately upon the conclusion of the fight with the Petroleum Monster, a set of Petrushkas would make annoying pot shots in a surprise round from the higher level, then immediately withdraw. I added Schattenwechsel because why not? Blackheel had and has extremely negative history and disposition towards Schattenwechsel, and this is why Blackheel was the only character besides Posey targeted by the Petrushkas, and why Blackheel shot at him specifically. There was half of a second when I considered that maybe Blackheel would start combat, but this was dismissed out of hand as unfun for the party. So yes, Posey could absolutely say that this was always going to end in combat and that continuing diplomacy was a waste of time.

However

When Posey crossed the red line, Cavaliere had found a line of attack in his reasoning with Schattenwechsel that seemed to hold at least some promise. Schattenwechsel had already demonstrated that he believes much of the world operates under a system of the strong exploiting and harming the weak, that the ends do sometimes justify the means, and that he was willing to take a risk on something not from this world to solve its problems. He demonstrated that the utopia of unity that Light Water promised really was his ideal of utopia. So Cavaliere decided instead to persuade him that actually this "Fellow Traveler" was very much willing to harm the weak and was not going to lead them to utopia, and he was going to use as evidence the fate of the snow pony village. Schattenwechsel may have already known this. He may have known some but not all of the details. He may have known nothing at all and it was the secret of the Science team.

What I can say definitively is that this would have been an opportunity to engage with the game world by referencing or making use of the dream sequence his Amber character had showing what happened in the snow pony village before this quest. This also would have been a great time for Posey's knowledge of the realm of chaos, demons, and other assorted eldrich horrors to come in use. Posey could have explained that she knows what this thing is, or what it might be. Or at least, what general category of thing it is. And if she wasn't sure, she had the knowledge to lie convincingly. She could have explained to Schattenwechsel that as best as she can tell, this thing is not interested in Harmony or utopia. It is an invasive predator that sees sapient creatures as food.

I had intended Schattenwechsel to be hostile and Cavaliere's attempt at diplomacy was not in the original plan. But neither was Silver pulling out a machine gun, Kira climbing up the pipes, or Posey chasing after him. Sometimes the spanner in the works can be fun.

I can understand Posey not wanting to spend time on diplomacy because when they tried that with Light Water, Light Water essentially said that he is too tied in with The Traveler and can't really disengage now, that he must "ride the tiger." However, the good aligned members of the party at least had or have the chance to convince the antagonists that what they are working for is a wild, hungry, man-eating tiger. Is that too much to ask for? I understand that lawful good characters can be annoying with an insistence on exhausting other ways to resolve conflict, but I still kind of feel like there were better options than provoking the enemy into a surprise round. Like, she could have said in character "You aren't going to convince them." Or could have said "If I showed you proof your 'Fellow Traveler' isn't what you think it is, would you abandon it?" Or just something other than exploding the negotiations against everyone else's will and letting the enemy shoot first without anyone else having a say in the matter.

And there have definitely been other instances. But I've managed somehow to use almost all of my available characters so I'll stop here.

>>195916
>What I don't think you can argue is that there is indeed a conflict between the two characters and that posey forced the entire party into a particular course of action with her's.
Okay... I can concede that.
>When the Petrushkas and Schattenwechsel showed up, they did not immediately attack. Cavaliere, Silver, and Posey all engaged them in conversation. Schattenwechsel was willing to go back and forth with all of them. He showed that he was not receptive to Posey's hostile demeanor, her bandit disguise, her desire to attack his comrade, and that he had the high ground and an easy way to retreat. But neither did he shoot at them. He set a red line for Posey not to cross, that is, that he did not want Posey closing within melee range as they talked. While Cavaliere was still talking with Schattenwechsel, Posey crossed that red line, and the griffin, unwilling to give up a first move advantage, attacked in a surprise round. This obviously sabotaged Cavaliere's efforts at diplomacy.
Okay, I will admit my intimidate check did mess up attempts at diplomacy, but nobody said that they were going to roll diplomacy either. There was no plan communicated, so I did what made sense to me.
Tbh, I was exhausted from DMing all day and perhaps not paying attention as closely as I should have.
>But Blackheel mentioned him by name twice and referenced a griffin as the leader of the mutiny against the former and his crew on multiple occasions. Blackheel in fact names him as the leader of the leader of the mutiny, having a more direct role than Light Water.
>Blackheel had and has extremely negative history and disposition towards Schattenwechsel
>I considered that maybe Blackheel would start combat
I understood that much. I inferred from Blackheel's attitude that the situation was not going to be solved diplomatically, so I went for intimidation because that is my better skill. Also, as far as pirates go, intimidation is how you deal with mutiny.
But it didn't work. Maybe if I gave someone else a chance to roll it might have worked. I am sorry.
>What I can say definitively is that this would have been an opportunity to engage with the game world by referencing or making use of the dream sequence his Amber character had showing what happened in the snow pony village before this quest. This also would have been a great time for Posey's knowledge of the realm of chaos, demons, and other assorted eldrich horrors to come in use. Posey could have explained that she knows what this thing is, or what it might be. Or at least, what general category of thing it is. And if she wasn't sure, she had the knowledge to lie convincingly. She could have explained to Schattenwechsel that as best as she can tell, this thing is not interested in Harmony or utopia. It is an invasive predator that sees sapient creatures as food.
Yeah, tbh... In hindsight, that would have been interesting to discuss. Sorry for jumping the gun.
>I can understand Posey not wanting to spend time on diplomacy because when they tried that with Light Water, Light Water essentially said that he is too tied in with The Traveler and can't really disengage now, that he must "ride the tiger." However, the good aligned members of the party at least had or have the chance to convince the antagonists that what they are working for is a wild, hungry, man-eating tiger. Is that too much to ask for? I understand that lawful good characters can be annoying with an insistence on exhausting other ways to resolve conflict, but I still kind of feel like there were better options than provoking the enemy into a surprise round. Like, she could have said in character "You aren't going to convince them." Or could have said "If I showed you proof your 'Fellow Traveler' isn't what you think it is, would you abandon it?"
Fair point.
I will try to communicate better going forward.
>letting the enemy shoot first without anyone else having a say in the matter.
Well, actually, I had a readied action to attack before combat began, and I had hoped to win the standoff and go first thanks to my improved initiative feat, but perhaps I misinterpreted the rules.

I want to reiterate that I didn't expect there to be a surprise round, because the enemy was right there in front of us unhidden and we had our weapons drawn, so I thought it would just be regular initiative.

At least the surprise round attacks were directed at me.

>>195917
So I think the most important thing to keep in mind here is that after Posey crossed the red line, Cavaliere made his post where he mentioned the Snow Pony village. Cavaliere's player also has the Amber character, who in a dream sequence played as a teenaged child in that village, watching it being taken over by The Traveler, then confronting the Traveler, and finally his POV character was killed by it, along with a small child that accompanied her. Within this quest, Silver or Cavaliere found a dead science team member who had a folder that included a detailed description of what was found in the snow pony village, and a number of photographs, including a photograph of some 80 civilians, women and children among them, face down dead and frost covered in a ditch, having apparently drowned. Light Water, head of the science team, would have known all of this. The griffin may not have known this. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have seen the photographs. This would have been new information for Cavaliere and Silver to present to Schattenwechsel as a part of diplomacy. More to the point, this would have been a fun way for Cavaliere and Amber's player to weave together different experiences and part of the game world in a way that is completely in line with his character. Whether it would have worked is besides the point, it's what Cavaliere would have done if Posey had not stopped him. When Posey provoked the griffins, she took away Cavaleire's players ability to play the game.

Cavaliere's player chose to play a lawful good character who uses force only when other methods are exhausted. You can argue that that is annoying and that it doesn't fit with the setting or quest, but then again, you can argue the same thing about the hotheaded necrologist character. Cavaliere's player is just trying to play his character, and his character would not engage in hostility until there is no alternative. Let him play it.

Imagine that the party encounters a set of ghosts, ghouls, or necromancers that Posey is an expert in. And then immediately, Cavaliere fires a rocket from a rocket launcher at them which through its splash effects knocks Posey out and completely disables her from acting at all in the encounter, and he did this knowing it was screwing over Posey and doing it intentionally as a way to stop Posey from interacting with the ghouls, because he finds the way that she does things to be tedious and annoying. How would you feel? You'd be pissed and quit playing the game for at least a few hours, which is exactly what Cavaliere's player did last night.

And yes, it absolutely looked like you were knowingly and intentionally sabotaging Cavaliere's diplomacy because it was taking too long for your liking and you assumed it was doomed to fail anyways. Maybe that isn't what happened, but I definitely thought that you were deliberately sabotaging Cavaliere's diplomacy because he was annoying you in that moment that it happened. This is not the first time this has happened. Again, you can argue that Posey was right and Cavaliere was wrong, but I don't think you can argue that Posey undermined, or tried to undermine, Cavaliere and Silver's attempts at diplomacy in what I count as four separate instances. Maybe it's only three, but I do believe it's more than one. These are the first encounter with Blackheel where either Posey or Brie was a single move away from starting a gunfight, on the radio conversation with Light Water where Light Water started just insulting Posey and carried on talking with Cavaliere and Silver, the petrushkas in the armory where Cavaliere should have known those were Petrushkas, and here.

For the record, what set off the fight was Posey very obviously trying to close distance with Schattenwechsel so that she could be in melee range. That's why Schattenwechsel set a red line of "Not one more step." That's why Posey's very obvious violation set off the fight.

>Surprise round
Maybe it should have been an initiate roll, given that Schattenwechsel had to give an order? Then again my general position has been that if you already have a gun or drawn bow aimed at a target and you let it loose/fire, you get the first shot. The main thing is that when I designed the encounter a week before the circumstances were different and a surprise round was intended. i probably should have let Posey get off her arrow, although I didn't acknowledge it for reasons I cannot remember.

In the future I would recommend just saying in or out of character "You know that we're going to have to fight these people, don't you?" when Cavaliere or Silver start to annoy you, rather than outright sabotaging them. Same thing when they debate what to do for so long that they don't do anything

>>195919
>Whether it would have worked is besides the point, it's what Cavaliere would have done if Posey had not stopped him.
Question, does Cavalier even have diplomacy ranks? Was he actually going to roll the skill?
>When Posey provoked the griffins, she took away Cavaleire's players ability to play the game.
Well, what Posey was actually trying to do was make them stand down and let us pass (or at least stop pointing their guns at us), not to provoke them. If she were provoking she would have just attacked them outright.
Kira was already moving into melee, and diplomacy takes a full minute of conversation to resolve. I used my standard action charm ability, hoping at least half of the enemies would be charmed by me before combat began, and when I failed to charm the presumed leader I tried intimidation.
I rolled pretty high on Intimidate, but I still failed; they must have been higher level than I anticipated.
I think I get your point though.
But yeah, gambling on an Intimidate check did in fact screw Cavalier's chance to be diplomatic, and that was pretty pretty dickish of me to do. I did not pay proper enough attention to his player's intentions and I acted selfish and reckless, and for that I apologize.
Still though, we also only had like 1 round until the giant snake closed distance and grappled one of them, so I can't take ALL of the blame for initiating combat either.
>Imagine that the party encounters a set of ghosts, ghouls, or necromancers that Posey is an expert in. And then immediately, Cavaliere fires a rocket from a rocket launcher at them which through its splash effects knocks Posey out and completely disables her from acting at all in the encounter
Tbh, this is a poor comparison, because targeting an ally with an AoE attack is just attacking them (and so is grappling, for that matter). I, for one, have been very careful of not hitting allies with AoE attacks as a mage. I wanted to throw a frag grenade at the oil monster, but Silver and Cavalier were in melee with it. I wanted to cast Kelgore's Grave Mist in several encounters, but allies moved and I did not want to hurt them, so I avoided doing so because that is basic Spellcaster etiquette.
>How would you feel? You'd be pissed and quit playing the game for at least a few hours, which is exactly what Cavaliere's player did last night.
I would not do that. I am not one to ragequit. I would be annoyed ooc, but Posey knows that the undead are normally shoot on-sight in most places and has accepted that as a danger of her profession. I would be pretty pissed at being blown effect, because that is attacking my character, and my character would probably retaliate for that... if not for the fact that being "knocked out" for Posey actually just means being destroyed at 0 HP, in which case I would have to make another character.
It would not be the first time a party member has killed my character or deliberately killed monsters I expressedly wanted to interact with (both happened in my last Chaosium game, in the same session), and it probably won't be the last.
>For the record, what set off the fight was Posey very obviously trying to close distance with Schattenwechsel so that she could be in melee range. That's why Schattenwechsel set a red line of "Not one more step." That's why Posey's very obvious violation set off the fight.
I thought my intimidate check would succeed, but it didn't. I thought it would be a cool show of strength with the deliberate step as I stared into his soul, but it didn't work. I figured a failed check would initiate combat anyway, but I guess I should have asked ooc before I did anything.
>Maybe it should have been an initiate roll
It's not really important, because their attacks against me missed.
I was just trying to say that it was not my intent to endanger the party with a surprise round.

.

Maybe we could coordinate better if we announced our intentions ooc during tense situations, so no pony else messes up plans.

>>195682
Like this; this is an example of me trying to announce my intentions to cast powerful AoE spells in narrow corridors that might harm party members caught in their AoE, so that we can plan around it and formulate cooperative tactics, but nopony even replied. If I just wanted to be a dick I would just do pic related.
I am at least trying to communicate. If anypony wants to make a skill check without being interrupted, just tell me ahead of time.

I will try to do better though.

Let's try it right now. The next corridor has enemies shooting from all sides at the dark. Since this means that party members without Darkvision would be flat footed anyway, they would be best off taking full-round Run Actions to clear the hallway while another character draws fire.
Maybe like this: I will go ahead and use my high Bluff mod to create a distraction and attract the attention of the enemies by taunting the Intruder, while the rest of the party runs through the hallways. If I get overwhelmed/dog piled, maybe another party member can help me out, or not.
Thoughts?

(Part 1)

>>195913
>I promised no such thing. I said I would bring it back to the university for research.
This is a promise considering everypony recognizes how dangerous this artifact is and how untrustworthy Posey has been so far, to the point that it's only this assurance that we begrudgingly let her keep it. I'm of the mind to have Cavaliere tail her and ensure she does deliver it to the university, because that would be in-character for him.
>That's a failsafe to make things easier later.
Blacksteel coughing after she touched him added to her suspicious behavior and means none of our characters can trust her in close proximity with themselves or with anypony else. No matter how you charm Blacksteel now, you can't undo that.
>Did you envision any scenario where this mission is finished without fighting him? He wasn't giving us any useful information, just his smug villain monologue that Posey responded to.
He did seem to waver before you butted in. Also I didn't write this quest so who am I to say what outcomes are possible? Talk is free so it's generally worth doing.

Let me explain why we're exhausting our options for diplomacy and why it's in Posey's interest to play along, other than "being stupid evil is annoying and makes everypony want to kill her."
OOC reasons include:
Besides neutrals/companions there are very few enemies who aren't puppets or commandos who would shoot us on sight, so attempting it doesn't feel overplayed.
Some of these creatures, like the pirates or Schattenwechsel, are either in over their heads or misled by the Traveler, which means it may be possible to recruit them and increase our strength. At the very least, not fighting them means not risking getting shot and using more limited healing potions, so we're better capable for the rest of the quest.
I personally see it as more of a challenge to win over baddies than to just kill them.

IC reasons include:
No creature besides Kira seriously thinks a fully pacifist option is realizable, but other than Posey and maybe Blacksteel the characters generally oppose unnecessary killing.
I don't know if these characters can be converted away from communism, but our PCs dislike communism and see taking them away from this regime as a sort of rescue.
Cavaliere very strongly opposes summary execution and believes in bringing criminals alive to face formal judgement. This is why he is so intent on capturing Light Water.
More cynically, the Blackhooves will be interested in what information they have and are likely to reward us for each one taken alive, no matter how minor. It's also not hyperbole to say that Light Water might be worth more than the entire rest of the Kostroma.

Also note that the other characters have been trying to find common ground to convince each other. Cavaliere in particular knows a few things about Posey: she is vaguely evil, vain, bloodthirsty, but also greedy. She's kept talking about how she wants to steal the Kostroma and sell it. Cavaliere knows she has nothing in common with his ideals of justice, so he has been trying to placate her greed to get her on board with capturing the mutineers. This has been basically ignored and Posey has offered no counter-arguments, to the point that when we do fight Light Water it's a given the PCs will have to hold her and Blacksteel from outright killing him. Her only justification has been "he insulted me" which shows how irrational of a character she is. If this is how she acts on a military mission of grave importance, what is she going to do in polite society? As much as I like the idea of her setting up a trap to kill Paul Allen for a slight, what is she going to do when she is inevitably inconvenienced by a cop, or by a figure of some importance? Again, she sucks both as a spy and as a party member.

>We had been discussing for over two weeks irl.
We were all annoyed but I remember you were especially unwilling to compromise until GM Pony had to tell you, "no you can't bring a bunch of weak characters on board to shoot into the hold." Strong-arming does nothing to move us along, it just makes us more peeved at you.
>That was obviously the plot. Even GM said it was the intended path forward.
That's the weakest justification you can have. My OOC reasons (such as wanting to use the rifle my character's been lugging around, which he can't use in close quarters) and my character's earnest beliefs have not been addressed, so why should I budge? Yes there's been talk about how Light Water focuses the Traveler's energy or whatever, but there's no proof that he's critical to its ability to fight. It appears GM Pony gave us a choice and choices matter.
>My 32 on Intimidate WAS my attempt at diplomacy. If 32 Intimidate didn't persuade him, I didn't think anything would.
If rolls are all it takes, why don't we dispense with all the fluff and just have a vaguely threatening statement with an intimidation roll/vaguely nice-sounding statement with a diplomatic roll? Evidently it doesn't matter to you how a character actually thinks or how to structure an argument to convince him. Since you're so overspec'd on CHA skills, the rest of us can sit back and do nothing while you win every roll. Why are we wasting time roleplaying in a dice-throwing game?
In all seriousness though, it's my view that the player still has to come up with a point that works, and the roll is how the character manages to sell it.
>Not really saying much from the guy who does nothing but shoot a gun or punch.
If I picked ranger or monk only, then I could do only one of those options. Even so, I've used tactics and positioning whether it's worked or not. Just in the fight against the oil monster, I had to figure out the best way to stop the flow of oil, and once that was done, since the monster was resistant to either of my main attacks, I had to take out a less effectual knife to attack.

(Part 2)

>>195913
>All this time, I have been tanking shots and drawing attention to myself in combat because nopony else in this party brought sufficient healing resources, and I have been saving my actual spell slots for Light Water and the Intruder. I would have died 10 times over were it not for my self-healing gimmick, and if at least half of the attacks directed at me were directed at other party members, all of the rest of you would be dead. I don't act like a walking pincushion just because I like it.
Nopony has been asking you to tank. In fact it's very odd to all our characters that a supposedly academic mare is not only extremely bloodthirsty but is getting shot multiple times every encounter and managing to somehow heal despite not taking any of the limited healing potions. You couldn't make it any more obvious that you are not what you seem. In terms of tactics, there is extremely little coordination between yourself and the other players, and although you're very strong in combat nopony trusts you because running headlong into danger is so stupid.
As for healing resources, both Cavaliere and Kira were rushed into this mission after being introduced to the campaign and had essentially no time to buy healing potions, and Posey has no reason to take them being undead. That leaves only Silver to "blame" but meh. We were given some at the start of the mission, though they evidently weren't enough, and have had to scavenge what we could. I actually don't mind this because it's the same sort of resource distribution as many horror games where limited resources keeps you leery of fights, even when you can win the fight. If anything it made us over-cautious for GM Pony's taste.
>Have we not been winning?
We've had a total of three encounters aboard the Kostroma and none were intended to be very hard. Posey's contribution as a tank/DPS has been valuable but not essential.
>If you thought she was resisting seriously during the tail-grabbing incident, you might be very disappointed.
Yesterday I strongly considered it, even if it would get multiple characters killed, make us fail our mission, and doom the world to an ever-encroaching cosmic threat. The main reason I won't is because Floof invested both his characters here and he obviously doesn't want them killed over stupid drama. If that happened he would reasonably want to leave the campaign altogether, and if two players left (I don't think you would stay around either) GM Pony may just close it altogether.
You should reread what you said, however, and consider why this has been a problem for us. Posey has been retarded for much of this quest yet the other PCs can't really hold her in check without risking you making her go full nuclear and doom everything. The tail grab incident was funny, but I had to talk you out of casting an AOE blight spell once Kira grappled Posey. This makes her even worse of a loose cannon, since you're holding all of us hostage if we don't go along with your strong-arming methods. Again, not only does this make her a terrible spy but you a bad player, since you can't reasonably play along. I feel like I have to belittle you because anything less subtle won't get the point across. I hate that I enjoy doing so

>>195916
>>195919
I agree with all of this.

>>195917
>Okay, I will admit my intimidate check did mess up attempts at diplomacy, but nobody said that they were going to roll diplomacy either. There was no plan communicated, so I did what made sense to me.
I think we have different interpretations on when a diplomacy/intimidation roll is called for. It seems your experience is that a roll should be called right away whenever making a point and that the roll should carry the effort. This is why you're ludicrously overspec'd compared to the rest of us, who have a broader set of skills instead. For my personal preference, I want to roll only when I'm asked to for multiple reasons. Foremost is that it allows for more thoughtful diplomacy. You can have a back-and-forth dialogue to explore a character's motivations, and then capitalize on those to deliver a convincing argument via roleplay. You can't do that with an initial roll since you can roll only once. Also, it's more skill-based in terms of roleplaying rather than luck. We've tried both methods this campaign and I far prefer the roleplay-heavy option.
As for a plan, you do realize Posey was behind Cavaliere and could whisper to him? Too much whispering might trigger escalation via suspicion, but we could at least get on the same page instead of talking over each other. An intimidation roll could have actually worked here, since we outnumbered them and were clearly battle-hardened, but not the way you did it.
>Sorry for jumping the gun.
Sorry won't cut it until there's an observable change in behavior. Hate to say it, but as of right now I don't want to play another cooperative quest with you in the future because of all of this.

>>195921
>Question, does Cavalier even have diplomacy ranks? Was he actually going to roll the skill?
Four ranks in diplomacy, and yes he's held back by a -1 CHA penalty. Not great, but at least he can make the attempt. I wasn't going to roll until asked. Maybe, if Posey had asked where he was going with this, Cavaliere could have handed her the photographs and let her play up the threat the Traveler poses, using her excellent diplomatic skills. However, that would take a degree of compromise and roleplay.
>Well, what Posey was actually trying to do was make them stand down and let us pass (or at least stop pointing their guns at us), not to provoke them. If she were provoking she would have just attacked them outright.
I hope you never encounter a mugger irl. That's not a threat or any wish towards personal harm btw, but a genuine hope for your well-being. Approaching a confident man with a gun while openly threatening him is the worst thing you can do. Also, Kira was hidden from view.

(Part 3)

>>195921
>I rolled pretty high on Intimidate, but I still failed; they must have been higher level than I anticipated.
Let me reiterate: THE REASON YOU FAILED IS BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU ROLEPLAYED
If you had gone along with our attempt at diplomacy or just shut up, or if we had coordinated on a different angle of intimidation ("We've fought countless puppets and just slew a monster made of this very ship's fuel; we can cut you down where you stand") then we may have avoided combat. You kept playing up your pirate-ness when he was very vocal about how much he hated bandits of all sorts. If you're tired from DMing, fine, but in tense moments like this you can sit back and observe instead of directly acting counter to what the rest of the party is doing.
Also, DnD has variance in how heavy you want roleplay vs. dice-throwing for various aspects of the game, but the very SRD explains there are different checks according to circumstances regarding the characters. I think GM Pony also plays according to this; you rolled an absurdly high bluff when accusing Cavaliere of "molesting" her and Stained Sand believed her for a moment despite having witnessed her entire tantrum. However you seem to rely on these over-spec'd skills as a replacement for coming up with convincing arguments towards NPCs. Again, if you want the game to just be dice-throwing instead of roleplaying then just say so and maybe we can dispense with all the effort that comes with writing realistic characters.
Again, Kira stayed hidden and was there as a contingency, which worked out.
>I wanted to cast Kelgore's Grave Mist in several encounters, but allies moved and I did not want to hurt them, so I avoided doing so because that is basic Spellcaster etiquette.
There is spellcaster etiquette and then there is diplomat's etiquette. I know we don't have a designated spokespony, but although Cavaliere's arguments are often different from either Silver's or Kira's they tend to work in the same direction. Posey, for all her skill points, acts like a bull in a china shop.
>Maybe we could coordinate better if we announced our intentions ooc during tense situations, so no pony else messes up plans.
We could do that as a crutch and I think we'll have to. I generally prefer communicating in-character via whispers if they're adjacent, or going off body language, but that might be too much for now.
>>195922
Look, the three of us as players have to agree on what we do next, first, before we talk about the minutiae. Convince us OOC and IC that we go straight for Light Water. I wanted to go after the Fellow Traveler but now I'm leaning towards Kira's idea of using a planar ally to pacify some of our enemies.

I already apologized for my reckless behavior. Idk what else to say at this point.
Maybe I will make a more comprehensive reply later.
>>195925
>THE REASON YOU FAILED IS BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU ROLEPLAYED
I will, however, take the time to say that that is NOT how the Intimidate skill works. Unlike Diplomacy, which can have a flexible DC based on RP and NPC motivations and attitudes, the Intimidate skill only requires me to be able to menace or otherwise frighten my enemy. A glare is often sufficient. Even animals and monsters can roll Intimidate (albeit, at a -4 penalty if not sharing a language). It is not a DC but instead a level check based on the enemy's wisdom score modified by their hit dice. The enemy succeeded on their level check, and so my roll failed.
I have made multiple successful coercion checks with far fewer words this adventure.

>>195923
>This is a promise considering
I promised nothing. I said I would take it back for research.
Also, the Tiara is an intelligent magic item: functionally an NPC, just like all the mind controlled sailors you wanted to save. It would be a waste to throw it away or try to destroy it without exploring its plotline.
>ensure she does deliver it to the university
Posey works for the university. She is the one who will be researching it.
>Also I didn't write this quest so who am I to say what outcomes are possible? Talk is free so it's generally worth doing.
Posey also warned the party several times that the mere act of speaking-to or otherwise interacting with this unidentified powerful psychic entity could have allowed it to infest your minds or dominate nearby creatures, but that was ignored. This is a basic principle in Call Of Cthulhu.
I was reckless with the tiara, but you were reckless talking to bind-bending monsters.
>Besides neutrals/companions there are very few enemies who aren't puppets or commandos who would shoot us on sight, so attempting it doesn't feel overplayed.
Didn't Captain Waters tell us to avoid engaging with the communists?
>Some of these creatures, like the pirates or Schattenwechsel, are either in over their heads or misled by the Traveler, which means it may be possible to recruit them and increase our strength.
>I personally see it as more of a challenge to win over baddies than to just kill them.
[PLACEHOLDER]
>At the very least, not fighting them means not risking getting shot and using more limited healing potions
Most of these non-lethal tactics are very limiting and risk us further damage. We don't ALL have Improved Unarmed Strike.
Nevertheless, I have thus far cooperated with your insistence on nonlethal tactics and avoided spells that would cause bleed damage, like Summon Swarm. I cooperated all this time.
I cooperated in spite of the fact that the chance of the communists turning on us or joining with the GRU as soon as this quest is over is not zero. Every enemy spared while they are mind controlled is an enemy that we might have to fight later when then are not mind controlled. If you didn't notice, they outnumber us heavily.
Why do you think I even burned spell slots to put that Cyst in Blackheel? We had no way of knowing if he would turn us in to the GRU as soon as this is over, so I planned ahead.
But I cooperated with your pacifist route anyway, because that's what most of the party wanted to do.
>are likely to reward us for each one taken alive, no matter how minor
Plausible...
>It's also not hyperbole to say that Light Water might be worth more than the entire rest of the Kostroma.
I calculated the cost of the ship converted to gold pieces. Idk if the Blackhooves would pay us more than that much for capturing him alive, unless they intended to use his knowledge for nefarious purposes to reverse engineer the powers of the Intruder, in which case Posey is the least of your concerns.
>She's kept talking about how she wants to steal the Kostroma and sell it.
Posey is taking her mission seriously, which is to pose as a pirate to avoid political scandal, and stealing ships is what pirates do. Maybe you should take your mission seriously too. The allies you want to make are more likely to trust greedy pirates with transparent motives than shady political operatives with unknown goals.
The Kostroma be necessary to take us home, especially since Silver wants to take all of the stalliongraders home with him to his base and they can't possibly all fit on that Torpedo boat, so this is the best course of action.
>Cavaliere knows she has nothing in common with his ideals of justice
Yeah, and cooperating with a griffon paladin-wannabe is also antithetical to Posey's beliefs and backstory, but you don't see me complaining about it.
Our characters have conflicting beliefs, but between the two of us Posey was written first.
>when we do fight Light Water it's a given the PCs will have to hold her and Blacksteel from outright killing him.
Maybe that's a sign that you don't need to spare him.
>"he insulted me"
He didn't just insult her, he insulted her master, her powers, her country, and her profession.
And yes, she is vain enough to kill him for that.
>what is she going to do in polite society?
You have already seen how Posey behaves in polite society.
She is awkward, archaic and still learning the nuances of modern life. That's kind of the point of her character.
>what is she going to do when she is inevitably inconvenienced by a cop
She's passed through multiple military checkpoints already. She gets through them with a combination of charms and charisma checks, like any Sorceress would.

>>195939
>Again, she sucks both as a spy and as a party member.
Oh, fuck off with that. You are in no position to complain about me being bad at my job. You're supposed to be a mighty ascetic mystical hero who can fell giants and solo small armies, but you have the same DPS of all the lvl 3 subelite warriors we fought on this adventure. You're supposed to be the resourceful one who is always prepared, but you didn't even have your items sorted out when you arrived (a wise ranger would have brought his own cure wand), and you had to jettison half of your equipment because you were too weak to carry it. You tried scouting ahead, and after failing your stealth checks and meeting a warband you jobbed so hard I that had to sacrifice TWO of my precious flying minions (which I cannot replace; also they cost a total of 2150 gp in spell comments) to rescue you so that you could retreat; and then I had to make an Intimidate check to scare off that same warband (albeit, I did enjoy doing it) because you were too low HP and you didn't want to fight them.
Glass houses, bitch.
>you were especially unwilling to compromise
All I wanted was to enter the ship and leave most of the airponies behind. I came up with several ideas.
>That's the weakest justification you can have.
Why do we even need a reason to go kill fight the villain that has been foreshadowed all year?
>the rifle my character's been lugging around, which he can't use in close quarters
Since when can you not shoot a rifle in close quarters? You have point blank shot and precise shot.
Where are you getting these gun rules?
>so why should I budge?
Well, if you prefer to have a "it's what my character would do" moment, you could just sit by yourself while the rest of the group fights.
>Yes there's been talk about how Light Water focuses the Traveler's energy or whatever, but there's no proof that he's critical to its ability to fight.
You also don't know if the Intruder can even be destroyed at all in its dormant state. It survived a meteoric impact: maybe it can't even be destroyed.
Light Water is vulnerable to bullets. Light Water is capable of moving/escaping. NPCs like Blackheel want to get rid of him. That's all the reason we need.
>If rolls are all it takes, why don't we dispense with all the fluff and just have a vaguely threatening statement with an intimidation roll/vaguely nice-sounding statement with a diplomatic roll?
Okay.
>Evidently it doesn't matter to you how a character actually thinks or how to structure an argument to convince him.
No, well-phrases dialogue could occasionally earn you a +2 circumstance bonus to a skill check, or plausibly even lower the DC or even eliminate the need to roll at all.
>Since you're so overspec'd on CHA skills
Posey is specialized in Bluff and Intimidate because infiltration and conquest is her job, and it is necessary for her success and survival. She doesn't have diplomacy ranks, just racial/synergy bonuses and high charisma: force of personality.
>If I picked ranger or monk only, then I could do only one of those options.
And I am a sorceress who charges into melee with a sword. We both play in odd ways.
>>195924
>Nopony has been asking you to tank.
I'm still taking bullets that would otherwise be directed at you. This turned out to be necessary with all the encounters we have fought on this adventuring day.
>You couldn't make it any more obvious that you are not what you seem.
You can bring that up after the question if you want, or even right now if you want.
I did not make this character with the assumption that I would be able to keep the disguise forever.
>I actually don't mind this because it's the same sort of resource distribution as many horror games where limited resources keeps you leery of fights, even when you can win the fight. If anything it made us over-cautious for GM Pony's taste.
Well, the books do say to adjust encounter difficulty in low-magic games specifically because combat is balanced around players being assumed to have frequent access to healing magic, but we have managed so far.
Not that I am complaining.
>We've had a total of three encounters aboard the Kostroma and none were intended to be very hard.
We have had four encounters, not including the one Posey fought by herself. Two waves of humanoids, one giant monster, and one wave of humanoids accompanied by a mid-high level elite NPC.
This is on top of the three adventuring days of encounters we have already fought through on this adventure, but we are managing. We are winning despite odds.
>The tail grab incident was funny, but I had to talk you out of casting an AOE blight spell once Kira grappled Posey.
Do not attack me and I will not attack you.
>It seems your experience is that a roll should be called right away whenever making a point and that the roll should carry the effort. This is why you're ludicrously overspec'd compared to the rest of us, who have a broader set of skills instead.
I did not put all these ranks, features, traits and other resources into pumping my intimidate mod to not use it.
>As for a plan, you do realize Posey was behind Cavaliere and could whisper to him?
Then why didn't you? If you had a plan, you had the opportunity to share it.
>An intimidation roll could have actually worked here, since we outnumbered them and were clearly battle-hardened, but not the way you did it.
I met all the conditions to make an Intimidate check. Don't make assumptions when you can't see behind the DM screen.
>Sorry won't cut it
Then continue seething.
>Approaching a confident man with a gun while openly threatening him is the worst thing you can do.
Well, if I encountered what seems to be a powerful sorceress with a robe made of shadows and a crimson halo in a land where mage could turn my skin inside out with a glance or redirect bullets or lay powerful curses on those who sleighted them, and that mage does not seem at all scared, I might hesitate before attacking them.
Would you mug Darth Vader? I wouldn't.
>irl
D&D is not real life.

>>195925
>THE REASON YOU FAILED IS BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU ROLEPLAYED
No. Intimidate is an opposed level check. I met all of the conditions to roll it. I can intimidate with a simple glare if I want to, and I like that because it fits my theme of a character with an imposing presence.
You are only assuming it failed because of "roleplay" because you did not like it. You have no information to base that off of.
>the very SRD explains there are different checks according to circumstances regarding the characters.
I am aware of how the SRD and DMG handle the Diplomacy and Bluff skills, and how their DCs vary by factors of ten or more based on circumstances.
Now look at the Intimidate skill: do you see those same circumstance factors there? No, it is an opposed level check. It is the least-powerful but most-reliable charisma skill.
> I think GM Pony also plays according to this; you rolled an absurdly high bluff when accusing Cavaliere of "molesting" her and Stained Sand believed her for a moment despite having witnessed her entire tantrum.
That was a shitpost that I did not intend to actually get away with.
>I know we don't have a designated spokespony
This is usually the character with the highest Cha skill mod.
>Convince us OOC and IC that we go straight for Light Water.
Blackheel wants to do it, and it's his ship. I said this IC.
OOC, GM wants us to do it. It is easier and simpler to do content in the order that the GM is prepared for.
>Kira's idea of using a planar ally to pacify some of our enemies.
What is Kira even doing? What powers is she using?

This is a little off-topic, but if anyone lurking is familiar with the country of Sweden, could you tell me what the must see locations and sights of Sweden are? Especially towns, cities, and castles. Thank you

>>195943
I'm sorry for shitting up your thread, GM. I weighed the cost of replying, and it seemed worse to just ignore it this time.
I will try not to engage with arguments going forward. I don't want to get baited into another weeks-long pissing contest like I was with Brie's player.

>>195944
But please try to take the wishes of other players into consideration. Even if you don't agree with it, or can't understand it, it is better to have a game wherein everyone is having fun and more or less getting along with others, rather than just begrudgingly tolerating each other.

>>195945
Alright. I will try harder.

I have mellowed out and can see I was typing too angrily earlier.
>>195939
>tiara
Those are important details, yet Posey still forced the issue without consensus. I can overlook it because (aside from the reckless handling) it's in-character, but it showed what was to follow.
>Didn't Captain Waters tell us to avoid engaging with the communists?
He never told us about the eldritch world-destroying horror.
>Most of these non-lethal tactics are very limiting and risk us further damage. We don't ALL have Improved Unarmed Strike.
It hasn't been productive or safe for Cavaliere either. I said not fighting them, not non-lethal attacks only. I am not going to force party members to avoid lethal attacks because that would be idiotic when their lives are in danger and the stakes are so high. I really meant dissuading combat when we have a chance to. That pirate boarding party is still somewhere, so we might get another chance.
>Nevertheless, I have thus far cooperated with your insistence on nonlethal tactics and avoided spells that would cause bleed damage, like Summon Swarm. I cooperated all this time.
Thank you, but if you suggested using swarm against a particularly large and dangerous group we might actually go along with it. I actually have more objection to using it against Light Water like you want because I want to capture him alive. I know you really want to kill him but I feel like your justifications aren't as strong and we should agree as a party one way or the other first.
>unless they intended to use his knowledge for nefarious purposes to reverse engineer the powers of the Intruder, in which case Posey is the least of your concerns.
We really won't know if his knowledge is at all useful until we interrogate him ourselves, and then if we really have to we can chuck him overboard. If anything though I think the tiara is more directly dangerous since it's an active mind-control artifact that we're taking back.
>Maybe you should take your mission seriously too.
The worst I've done as Cavaliere is convince Bokli to come along by suggesting citizenship in Equestria, which no pirate can reasonably promise, but it worked because I pay attention to character motivations. No, he hasn't been LARPing as a stereotypical pirate, but neither have the actual pirates we came across (yes, I know there are canonical stereotypical pirates in this time period, that is if you take the movie as canon). Really, the worst damage to our cover has come from having to countermand your "orders" which have been reckless and without consensus. Likewise, Posey took the nominal position of "captain" without any approval, when I'd much prefer designating Silver as such due to in-character leadership experience and his neutral alignment.
>The Kostroma be necessary to take us home, especially since Silver wants to take all of the stalliongraders home with him to his base and they can't possibly all fit on that Torpedo boat, so this is the best course of action.
I do now agree on that because we got the boiler running.
>Yeah, and cooperating with a griffon paladin-wannabe is also antithetical to Posey's beliefs and backstory, but you don't see me complaining about it.
My point was that despite differences Cavaliere has been trying to work along with her motivations to his best ability, but this is entirely one-sided. Not storming off/attacking isn't enough since we're stuck on this quest together and have to find a common solution.
>He didn't just insult her, he insulted her master, her powers, her country, and her profession.
>And yes, she is vain enough to kill him for that.
Okay, so how do we convince her not to do that? Because that reason certainly won't convince Cavaliere or anyone else, and I don't want to have to worry during a boss fight about how to hold back a party member as soon as he's low HP.
>>195940
>You're supposed to be a mighty ascetic mystical hero who can fell giants and solo small armies, but you have the same DPS of all the lvl 3 subelite warriors we fought on this adventure.
He's not supposed to be anything other than a fast-drawing western duelist who's also good at throwing punches, but prefers to solve problems without violence using his other skills. Also adding guns from Modern throws off DPS figures, and of course a revolver will do less damage than a SMG. That's why I brought the ATR.
>You're supposed to be the resourceful one who is always prepared, but you didn't even have your items sorted out when you arrived (a wise ranger would have brought his own cure wand)
That's an OOC issue because I didn't even know what that was.
>you had to jettison half of your equipment because you were too weak to carry it
Moreso the fact that Cavaliere is reliant on dexterity bonuses, and found a powerful weapon to use. I'm sure you would have done the same in his shoes.
>You tried scouting ahead
It wasn't so much as the encounter itself (which was an unlucky happenstance and due to all of us missing that encounter) but trying to take out the squad leader by himself. If Kira wasn't getting gunned down I would've avoided it.
>I came up with several ideas.
I was uncharitable there. You did actually try to come up with a plan we'd agree to before eventually getting frustrated and attempting to leave.
>Where are you getting these gun rules?
If I recall, GM Pony required that the ATR had to be fired supported, which is less than idea in close quarters. Cavaliere could go prone anywhere, but it would leave him vulnerable.
>Well, if you prefer to have a "it's what my character would do" moment, you could just sit by yourself while the rest of the group fights.
Right now it's Posey (and Blacksteel, but he's a NPC) vs. Cavaliere. You can't leverage popularity against me. Diplomacy stats notwithstanding, Cavaliere makes better arguments than Posey, and he's also willing to give Kira's idea a try while Posey has been rather dismissive.

>>195940
>You also don't know if the Intruder can even be destroyed at all in its dormant state. It survived a meteoric impact: maybe it can't even be destroyed.
It has a hard exterior but it has an orifice, and we have enough explosives to blow it to kingdom come.
>Light Water is vulnerable to bullets. Light Water is capable of moving/escaping. NPCs like Blackheel want to get rid of him. That's all the reason we need.
Blackheel's wishes aren't relevant unless if they help us to do what we need to do. Those other considerations are worth weighing as a party. Do we risk a harder, maybe impossible bossfight but while we're at full-strength to make the secondary objectives easier, or do we risk serious losses doing the secondary objective to hopefully make the main bossfight easier? There is no obvious answer. There's also the consideration that if we do fight Light Water, we might not have to kill him to weaken the Fellow Traveler. Maybe knocking him unconscious is enough like with the petrushkas, and there's the slim chance we can convince him to reject the Fellow Traveler and let him atone, which will probably kill him but achieve the same ends.
>She doesn't have diplomacy ranks, just racial/synergy bonuses and high charisma: force of personality.
I don't know what bonuses you have, just that you have more capability for charisma than any other character in the game, yet it's being squandered. It reminds me of a retarded person trying to write a smart character: to him, it sounds smart, but it's laughably bad to someone who gives it seriously thought. See the classic comparison between Sherlock and No Country for Old Men. It's the same deal with Posey and Cavaliere. Posey is naturally charismatic to an absurd degree yet every creature in the party either outright hates her or views her with suspicion. She bosses others around, doesn't even pretend to care about the well-being of others, and regularly throws fits of rage. She basically acts like a barbarian and is oblivious to that because she brute-forces her charisma checks. I hate to toot my own horn, but while Cavaliere is not naturally charismatic (in fact he has a malus), he's checked on party members to see how they're doing, coordinates with the team, and even gave away his food and booze to the various stragglers and prisoners. Does that mean everypony is willing to die for him? Not necessarily, but I'd like to think they're less likely to turn on us. Silver has also done a good job of winning over creatures along our way even if his primary motivation seems to be getting in their pants. Meanwhile, Posey seems to take the communists turning on us as a given, and although using them as a means to an end is in line with her character, she never came up with a convincing sob story like how greedy capitalists forced her into a life of piracy.
>I'm still taking bullets that would otherwise be directed at you. This turned out to be necessary with all the encounters we have fought on this adventuring day.
Thank you, but still, heed my words.
>I did not make this character with the assumption that I would be able to keep the disguise forever.
She just arrived in the city, still has basically nothing, and will be in that location with these characters who have been around her. Unless if you intend to kill them for being witnesses, it would be wise to keep your cover from being blown.
>We are winning despite odds.
And more importantly, we are having fun.
>Do not attack me and I will not attack you.
You do realize we were trying to save Posey's (un)life, right? If she went to Light Water I was not intending to follow, because screw these strong-arm tactics. Maybe some creatures would have went with you but we would have lost those too. Please stop doing things the other party members hate and we won't be causing trouble for you, either. It reminds me of how on the boat you wanted to dissect dead griffons despite there being a time constraint and despite being in full view of other creatures. I know we all have acted before thinking things through but geez.
But no, if Posey decides to gallop off again to her own peril, we won't stop her this time. If she tries to kill a creature the rest of the party unanimously agrees to leave alive, or otherwise causes unnecessary risk for the rest of us, there will be problems.
>I did not put all these ranks, features, traits and other resources into pumping my intimidate mod to not use it.
You'll get your chance, even if not on this quest. The thing is, you could have used it here if you communicated a plan to use it. However, that would require trust from the other party members, and that is squarely in the negatives currently.
>Then why didn't you? If you had a plan, you had the opportunity to share it.
Cavaliere was the first to see them and to communicate with them. I think it's courtesy to follow the lead of whoever's first to initiate conversation, and if you have a better idea, to present that first. If Posey saw them first and used intimidation, while Cavaliere tried diplomacy without getting her approval first, I would be in the wrong there. I will confess however, that this was happening too fast for me to keep up with what the other party members were saying while I was honed in on writing up my main argument.
>Then continue seething.
You'll get your fights. However, this particular attempt at diplomacy, with the unique approach I was taking, is forever gone. I won't forget that.
>Well, if I encountered what seems to be a powerful sorceress with a robe made of shadows and a crimson halo in a land where mage could turn my skin inside out with a glance or redirect bullets or lay powerful curses on those who sleighted them, and that mage does not seem at all scared, I might hesitate before attacking them.
>Would you mug Darth Vader? I wouldn't.
The griffon was allied with a (in his mind) benevolent demigod from outer space. Conventional magic wouldn't cut it.

>>195941
>You are only assuming it failed because of "roleplay" because you did not like it. You have no information to base that off of.
Maybe I'm mistaken then and an intimidate check wouldn't have worked at all. However, take it from GM Pony's own words:
<When the Petrushkas and Schattenwechsel showed up, they did not immediately attack. Cavaliere, Silver, and Posey all engaged them in conversation. Schattenwechsel was willing to go back and forth with all of them. He showed that he was not receptive to Posey's hostile demeanor, her bandit disguise, her desire to attack his comrade, and that he had the high ground and an easy way to retreat. But neither did he shoot at them. He set a red line for Posey not to cross, that is, that he did not want Posey closing within melee range as they talked. While Cavaliere was still talking with Schattenwechsel, Posey crossed that red line, and the griffin, unwilling to give up a first move advantage, attacked in a surprise round. This obviously sabotaged Cavaliere's efforts at diplomacy.
>It is the least-powerful but most-reliable charisma skill.
I was considering giving Cavaliere more points in intimidate but he's deficient in a number of other skills he needs and that's of less priority.
>That was a shitpost that I did not intend to actually get away with.
It was funny though, and I'm glad you did it.
>This is usually the character with the highest Cha skill mod.
I would pull my hair out if we had to rely on Posey for every communication. Nopony would be left alive.
>Blackheel wants to do it, and it's his ship. I said this IC.
He is a political commissar, and I don't think that even factors into the ship's regular chain of command. In fact, I don't know who is the acting captain in this situation. The implication is that the survivors are so decimated and scattered that there's no clear leader.
Also, as a political commissar, he is more committed than your average communist, and giving him what he wants now risks that he'll turn on us once it's opportune, especially when he realizes we're headed for Equestria. It's really a good thing that you gave him that cyst though I still stand by that this unnecessarily undermines your cover.
Finally, he can't call the shots anyway. NPCs can guide us, support us, inform us, or refuse to go with us, but they can't lead. You can like them, hate them, make love to them, but they don't make the decisions. We as players do. Right now, we have three players: you, myself, and Silver/Kira's player, so two of us should agree on one course of action and the third should abide by it (nothing says one HAS to, but it's good to do so).
Personally, while I think fighting the Fellow Traveler now is tactically the smartest choice, I'd like to see what Kira's idea is, if it doesn't take too much time.
>>195944
In Brie's case it was just spite-filled hurling of insults for its own sake. I'd like to think this has been marginally more productive, even though I've said things I shouldn't have. You've already said you're sorry, but I just want to have confidence that we won't be butting heads over and over the rest of this. It would be better to have a wizard hurling fireballs into crowded rooms than this.
>>195946
Thank you!

Magic resources update:

So far I have used:
One lvl 1 spell slot on Chill Touch (seven touches not expended) in combat
Two lvl 1 slots (Versatile Spellcaster) to cast Necrotic Cyst (to control Blackheel later)
Two lvl 1 slots to cast Disguise Undead (averting mane crisis + intimidating/glamorous costume change in preparation of a boss fight)

The remaining power in my scroll of Animate Dead (creating Monstro)

This leaves me with:
Three lvl 1 spell slots
Five lvl 2 spell slots

Misc abilities:
Racial Spell-like abilities:
Detect Magic 1/day (Magic-blooded), unused
Read Magic 1/day (Magic-blooded), unused
Nystul's Magic Aura 1/day (magic-blooded), unused
Gaseous Form 1/day (seven round duration; Red Curse), unused

Spellstitching SLAs (now lost)
Create Magic Tattoo 3/day, expanded, active
Tenser's Floating Disk, expended, active
Unseen Servant, expended, active

Supernatural Ability:
Negative Energy Burst (7d4) 1/day, unused

Unused consumable magic item resources:
"Magic bullets" (unidentified) x5
"High caliber magical silver bullet" x1
"Magic rifle crystal"
Arcane Scroll of Ray Of Enfeeblement (CL1), (6 charges)
"Hyena mask" (unidentified)
"Hyena totem" (unidentified)

.

I think I have enough left for this boss fight due to Posey's extreme, but I am going to be drained after any hard fights.

If anyone else wants to try using the magic bullets or the rifle crystal, you can be my guest. I tried to figure out what they do years ago, and I am pretty sure DM has forgotten what they actually do by now.
The bullets are all at least +1 weapons. I think magical ammunition resizes like most worn magic items do.

>>195943
I can't come up with anything worthwhile seeing in Sweden. Like, 'Uppsala Domkyrka' was impressive when I saw it, but compared to churches in Europe, it's really not that special. And while there are statues and stuff to watch, it kinda is less than anything out in Europe.
The Vasa Museum is pretty neat, but again its really just an old, previously sunken ship.
I guess there is Runes ingraved in stone at certain places to check out, that's pretty neat.
And there's that law: Right to roam, that enables you to pick berries and mushrooms and such in private forests and such. So feel free to check out nature.
Otherwise, it's not Norway in terms of landscape and views, sadly.
Otherwise, I would direct you to the internet for things I might have missed. I genuinely don't know if there really is anything, especially to impress an American. We are a very humble country in that regard.
We do have a bunch of statues and fortresses scattered around in the country tho. Then again, it's not as big as the ones elsewhere.

If you wanna meet up, we can do that, too. ^^

I think I came up with a plan for how to have Kira do her ritual and also finish the debate for where to go next at the same time. I just need to type/research.

>>195971
>>195973 →
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So, anyway, I was thinking that while Kira did her little prayer ritual, I could draw some sigils and do some chants with a Forgery check and a Bluff check to make Light Water believe that we are actually about to invoke divine intervention, which would make him desperate and cause him and the Intruder to attack us, and then we could fight them.
I just sort of default assume that they must have some limited degree of dimensional travel because most mages do and the Intruder was able to travel across space-time and summon countless creatures. I thought that if we can get them to teleport to our location, we could give ourselves a surprise round while also being able to fight them without being dogpiled by summons.

Also it would conveniently end the discussion about where to go which boss to fight next.

>>195954
Thank you, Sven!

>>195953
>and I am pretty sure DM has forgotten what they actually do by now
No, that was ammunition for a magical rifle (it's a thing in Equestria at War, look it up there)

>>195984
I meant the bullets, but okay.

I will just assume that they are +1 bullets.

If anyone wants them, be my guest. The Traveller might have damage reduction, so ranged fighters should consider it.

So

On the one hoof, our main constraint in advancing - the availability of fluffernoodle's player - seems to have cleared up at least somewhat. However, I am not perfectly available at the moment, and I am not sure how long this window would advance.

I would very, very strongly recommend that any planning or ideas or what have you that needs to be settled out of character happen now, instead of waiting until we can move, then finding that there is a problem.

>>195985
Was it on the torpedo boat? Then it's either for the anti-tank rifle, or for a griffonian-style rifle.

Like in real life, basically every faction has its own bullet design. So whatever faction that you find ammunition with, that's the faction that ammunition works with. Did you find it in diamond dog scavenger ship? Then it's Equestrian/New Mareland (they use the same bullets). On the Kostroma? Then it's Stalliongradian. On the pirate boat? Then it's Griffonian Empire. And so forth

>>195987
>I would very, very strongly recommend that any planning or ideas or what have you that needs to be settled out of character happen now, instead of waiting until we can move, then finding that there is a problem.
I want to go assassinate Light Water. Blackheel agrees and that appears to be the intended resolution.
Cavalier wants to go destroy the a Intruder. The Intruder is the main monster, so I say that has some merit. However, I also have a strong feeling that the Intruder might not actually be destructible unless Light Water is defeated first and/or it is coaxed out of dormancy.
Kira wants to go do her prayer ritual thing that is somehow supposed to free all of the thralls from control. I have yet to get my religion check resolved, so idk. If it would actually work though, that does sound like the best thing to do, because it would eliminate some 50% of enemies we have to fight (especially since the rest of the party wants to go the pacifist route, and although Posey specializes in fighting subelite humanoids she's frustrated that they seem to be immune to fear).
(Silver doesn't get a vote because his player is playing two characters. Unless he agrees with me, of course.)

To compromise, I suggested picking a ln advantageous location to do Kira's ritual, and then using one of the enthralled sailors as a camera to show the enemy, to bluff Light Water and/or the Intruder to come out and fight us themselves, and then we just fight whichever of them shows up.
This plan of course only works if either the Intruder or Light Water are capable of casting dimensional door or otherwise rushing to the scene (flying/slithering) though, but if we do Kira's thing at all I think it's worth a shot. It would be a very Call Of Cthulhu way to defeat the monsters, and thematically takes back control from an enemy that has been calling the shots throughout the adventure.

Tbh, I don't have very strong feelings about what to do next, so long as we can actually advance the plot.
>Like in real life, basically every faction has its own bullet design. So whatever faction that you find ammunition with, that's the faction that ammunition works with.
Magic ammo doesn't resize? I guess that makes sense.
>Did you find it in diamond dog scavenger ship? Then it's Equestrian/New Mareland (they use the same bullets).
I found the rifle crystal and all 5 magic bullets and also the high caliber silver bullet in the diamond dog ship.
Anyways, just offering them to anypony who wants to use them.
If no pony uses them, I will just sell them after the quest is done. I might keep the high caliber silver bullet though, if only because it looks like an anti-vampire weapon and it would look good excellent on my desk as a prop for a Necrology consultant.

>>195973 →
>>195978 →
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The reason that Posey was using innuendo was because she wanted to keep her bluff secret, so that the Intruder doesn't get wind of her plan to ambush it.
If players are receptive to the plan, she will use innuendo to communicate it to them to (with the exception of Kira, because she has to lack ulterior motives for her prayers to be genuine).

Does anypony have thoughts to share?

>>195989
I'm receptive to it. Kira will be very happy to free all of the new friends!

>>195983
I like this idea, since it reverses the playing field to be in our favor. Cavaliere could set up his ATR in the best possible place.
>>195987
>I would very, very strongly recommend that any planning or ideas or what have you that needs to be settled out of character happen now, instead of waiting until we can move, then finding that there is a problem.
I agree. We should either do Fluffernoodle's idea seriously, or a feint, or maybe both simultaneously.
>>195988
>However, I also have a strong feeling that the Intruder might not actually be destructible unless Light Water is defeated first and/or it is coaxed out of dormancy.
A strong feeling is not the same as knowing, and while DnD doesn't always play by hard-and-fast logic, I do think it's the better option to attack the source. Because it's in a hold, our option for retreat is better than in the narrow corridors of the upper decks.

So we have a plan then?

Okay, let's pick a place to do Kira's thing. I don't want to do it in the boiler room. Maybe somewhere above deck, so I can use Momstro.

Also, GM, can you give me the results of my knowledge check?