PixCO

Not if the word is DRAGON!!!! - would Torben be more open to answering questions now that he's been given some agency of his own? Or would it be best to back off for a bit?

I'm gonna guess no after Torben's post... Kind of want GM confirmation that it actually was a log that the Bugbear hurled. "After a long beat, he added, more quietly, wasn't there a deep gnome here a minute ago?"

I want to know if the abomination might be the death they're supposed to witness, but I'm not sure if I should ask.

Sorry about that -- I can pull or adjust my post if you'd rather have Ragz stepping in.

Sorry, I just couldn't stand to see an innocent monster being pummeled like that. Brutal...

Yopine Quietclock Yopine shook her head with a slow sadness at what was happening to Torben. They were all so starved for answers that it had become a feeding frenzy. They were good questions, all of them, and needed to be answered. The Bugbear wasn't going to be able to help anyone if he was being overwhelmed by the sudden attention. "It's okay." She tried to tell him, moving to help gather the wood he'd been splitting. Any pieces that had escaped those monstrous hands were picked up and organized in a convenient stack. "Don't worry about them. Just focus on one thing for a minute." She handed Torben an untouched piece that could use some reduction before being useful. "Do what you can do in the moment. They're not in charge of you, and you don't owe us anything. You've already helped just be being here. So thank you for that. Do you need any help from me?"

I see him as sensible with an appropriate level of sarcasm, not silly. And it does have a very natural feel. I think you're doing fine.

Womp Rats of Unusual Size... geez! How many times do I have to tell them...

Right, but DCs are situational where stats are mostly constant and applied universally to the characters actions. Yopine is at the same time eloquent and a terrible liar. That's difficult to represent with a single score. Since she's meant to be bad at most of the actions that would require a charisma roll, I took a score that represented those mechanics. Otherwise she would have real advantages that work against her concept. I'll see if I can find a way to play her better, though. As for the meta-nickname, , agreed that it's a bit much. It did play well into Ragz' Deep Gnome Girl comment as she explained that's what it translated to, though. After that she seems kind of stuck with it.

Forgot about reaction adjustments. Her eloquence and overconfidence in debate should put her in the 15-16 range. Which is too high. And she's not been as uncomfortable in casual conversations as I'd planned, so 8 is too low. She's argumentative and a natural contrarian. Which many people find to be a turn-off. Or so I've been told...

Would it be fair, then, to say that Yopine's Charisma penalty is in part due to surface-world racism? A penalty that's not coming from her actions, but from her race?

She would have spent a couple of years living in the slums before her father managed to earn their way into better quarters. And that's where she does her philanthropy. Both would be blended neighborhoods. She's used to working with races other than her own. She also didn't manage to spend enough time in the Underdark for Svirfneblin culture to really take hold. At least The Guild she's going against is massively racist. All of the higher positions are held by Humans, I think I've mentioned. Other races are kept around for entertainment, or if they show great aptitude they can at least get paid well. Only Humans are in charge, though. She should be having more of a problem with Roland than with Ragz, now that I think about it. Humanity has not treated her well, and yet she's constantly having to suck up to them as potential donors to one cause or another. I might have to think about that one for a bit. 'Kind of why I try to stay away from misanthropic traits in the first place. At least the ones I have any actual control over, of course. My personal misanthropy aside. It just gets in the way of a good game even if it might add to a story. But yeah. Her get-along-to-go-along attitude is not representative of her Chr score. It might help to keep in mind that she's in a transitional state -- she started out as Neutral Evil, was briefly driven made with grief to Chaotic Evil, and has been raised to Neutral/Neutral through therapy on her way to Neutral Good. Staying away from True Neutral as I've always felt that deserves some special status. Any social skills she would have are going to be learned, and employed through careful observation. Her native intuition should rightfully be crap where her social interactions rely heavily on context clues. Not like any of us would be able to understand that, I'm sure...

Oh, mother-Svirfer! I guess the house always wins after all...

Oh, good idea. Str: 10 She's little and was never going to be a powerlifter anyway, so no focus on strength. Dex: 17 The only reason The Guild even gave her a shot. She's naturally agile and quiet, which has been honed. Con: 14 She's a survivor. Int: 16 The only reason Dillworthy even gave her a shot after failing with The Guild. This is being honed as well, but is a step behind her Dex. Wis: 10 I forgot that we dropped the penalty from this one. Ah, right. Crh: 8 Specifically so that she would have to struggle to convince anyone of anything, but not so that she would be a bore. Part of the problem with Wis is that we went with an Int driven interpretation of Perception and Insight. Less intuitive and more of a learned trait. And Traits: Personality Traits: I know enemies are set against me, and I always prepare for the worst. (Flames, Rogue) Ideals: Redemption. There's a spark of good in everyone. (Good) Bonds: Someone I loved died because of I mistake I made. That will never happen again. Flaws: If there's a plan, I'll forget it. If I don't forget it, I'll ignore it.

It's the -1 threshold that's problematic for me. Something severe like a -5 penalty is cartoonish enough to justify door-kicking, but where's the cutoff for -1? Just slightly more foolish than the average Svirf'. I'll work on dialing that in. Charisma could be a much more fun conversation, though. How easy would it be for her to convince a crowd to follow some action if they didn't know who she was? Or, for that matter, they've been around her long enough to know that she's often wrong.

It's been suggested that I take this question to the group as a whole, so - I'm currently playing Svirfette with minor penalties in both Wis and Chr with a high Int. The concept is meant to be someone with an ineffective personality due to others not taking her seriously, and an inability to keep her mouth shut without real effort. Let me know if there are adjustments that need to be made. Those are tricky penalties to get right.

Given the short amount of time she was out there, I think that'd be more embarrassing for D'Artegenon.

Yopine (Svirfette) Quietclock The deep gnome girl jumped at the half-orc's return. She really hadn't expected his interference again this early. But at least he was bringing some much needed answers to a very confusing situation. One hand went to her own neck, and where the symbol of Gelf Darkhearth lay hidden beneath her armor. She'd claimed allegiance with the traitor God before learning what he'd really done to earn the name. That was not a position from which she could criticize anyone's choices. Svirfette finally relaxed after hearing the explanation. A quick extension of her delicate tongue in Wyck's general direction was the only gloating she required. As for the rest, there would be questions. She wasn't ready to start asking any of her own, but they would come. Yopine looked to her 'twin', inviting her to the conversation as well. Pinky had a way of drawing sense from the world that escaped the over-thinking rogue. She could use a little more of that help now.

Svirfette is currently observing. I'm good to go.

Yopine (Svirfette) Quietclock Svirfette gave her own sign of frustration, though she waited for the nonsense to end first. Maybe she wasn't saying it right. She tossed a shrug towards Roland asking for help on this one. She could work through the crazy in time. Did they have much to spare, though? "So it was just the two of you watching us? No one else? That part was a lie?" That was hard to believe. Dillworthy alone had spies everywhere. If not for D'Artegenon's insistence on absolute secrecy, the old Hare would have had her on constant surveillance for her first mission. Who was that for if nobody else was even trying to watch them? "And whatever it is you're supposed to witness, you haven't seen it from any of us..." She paused in her words. No group of ancient wizards gazing into crystal balls in smoke-filled rooms? Or cackling old hags inhaling whatever bubbled out of those cauldrons? Not even so much as a trained squirrel following them? It was inconceivable. "Just the two of you. And whatever it was you're supposed to witness, it's not the people you brought together. But it's the people he brought together, right? The people at this campsite. All of the people at this campsite. And I hate to remind you, but you're a person at this campsite." She considered her next words carefully. Svirfette had been watching the pair for some time now, trying to learn why they were all here. She'd managed to guess well on a few things and Wyck had just confirmed some others. The important thing happened, however. The boy was finally talking to them rather than around them. "You know, sometimes when you can't find the missing piece to the puzzle it's because you're sitting on it. How do you know for certain that whatever's meant to be witnessed this time around isn't going to be you?"

I gave a head's-up about my post yesterday so it doesn't get lost in weekend activity. I'll look for a reply to that on Monday. So where do we go from here...? EDIT: And yes, I finally got payback!

Yopine (Svirfette) Quietclock Yopine had listened to Wyck's apparent rambling with a neutral, patient expression. Her work with the socially disadvantaged had given her plenty of experience with aphasia, and she was hearing a lot of that in his jumble of words. Not everything needed to make immediate sense. What mattered was picking up on the important parts. "Wyck? You keep saying we. We're here to witness. We've been with you..." She was slightly confused, not sure how much he really knew, how much he was really saying, and what his words really meant. "Whatever's going on? Whoever's watching us? You're being watched, too. You're part of this, Wyck. You need to help us figure it out."

Aha! Svirfette's little sister was an aspiring novelist. I think I can use that here... Damn metatrap.

Nobody ever does. I have my own health issues giving me a pass on the return-to-office so far. Not sure if that'd be good luck or bad, but unfortunately they're getting better and I may not be able to justify the sensible solution forever. But then we did just have some big outbreak in the office... Maybe they'll reconsider before I'm actually healthy enough to get sick again.

Oh, that one is rough. Sorry to hear. And just horrible for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I definitely feel the team disconnect working remotely, but it's just such a waste. Time, resources, breathable air. I mean maybe if someone would have told us 50 or 60... 70 years ago? Really? JFC we're dumb. If someone would have told us that's where all of this was leading maybe we'd have done something about it. Ahwell.