[OOC] Out Of Character--TECHNICAL-- discussions

[Valeas]

As for the decision what to do next: I will keep this purely an IG decision. Valeas will decide this and not I.

[Surreal]

Originally Posted by Fil kearney

With LA enabled, you guys have up to 2 LA available to be bought off immediately, and still get the originally promised 5k xp to boot.
NOthing stoppig you from banking the xp until you can have the big 3LA buy off at.. hat? 18th?

Except in my case I already have an LA+5 or 6 (or... 9? if you count bloodlines), so I'm not eligible to buy off anything.

How exactly will this "banking" xp thing work? and do our level-ups occur at end of chapters?

[NoldorForce]

If I decided to spend XP on an LA buyoff or equivalents...I'd probably spend it on being a runechild, but that requires a bit of character/mechanics discussion. That is, why you've become a runechild, and what special powers you get. The variants in Mystic Secrets imply that there's a lot of possibility beyond that presented in AE - four different variants, each using a different ability score as the casting stat of the SLAs. Note that this implies the use of physical ability scores as casting stats, though Vintereth would most likely go for an Int-based version.

Vintereth's plan at this point is to quickly determine the whereabouts of Jaelith before grabbing him and making a hasty exit. Intended to be fast and to rely on akashic abilities like Delve Into Collective Memory; fundamentally, dealing with information is the primary purpose of the akashic class.

[Fil kearney]

vintereth: expected. good use o ability. I expect you guys to be able to find things outpretty easily..... its doing something about it that the x is rewarded.

banking is simply using xp later. for whatever you want.... yeah, sul is kinda stuck. with the big LA already there.

level ups occur at the end of a chapter.
consider a chater like a saving point in a video game. its a bite size chunk with a decent mix of adventure occurring.
between posting xp and my tendency to have few but highly stressful combats, plus assigning EL's to important information/npc negotiations, leveling is not too dificult. get through the chapter, get a level No guarantee of a level per chapter, but the ratios should be about right.

[Fil kearney]

well, that was easily decided. Off to sharn it is.
I'll go ahead and plug in for Celestine while he's gone, go over the juicy details, end the night, end the chapter, and begin anew in the morning for sharn.

[Surreal]

So if we're gaining approx. 25k at the end of this chapter, that's more than enough to bump into level 12... but unless we bank it or craft something, some of that will be wasted right? (because as per the rules you can't jump two levels, in which case you'll be sitting right below the line and any extra xp is wasted)

[Fil kearney]

its 20k. 5 from me, 15 from valeas' choice.
so you are techinically a few houndred or so away from level 12. this is going to pretty much guarantee folks are going ot clear a level each chapter for some time. (that worked out well.) bank as much as you want. yeah, only 1 level per chapter, please. bank the rest in case you have a short fall later.
yer at 45k now,
you need 10k to hit 55 for level 11... already have it, thanks to Val
you need 11k to hit 66 for level 12... some of you will have just gotten enough due to each post is worth 100xp right now....

so go ahead and bank a few thousand and use it to hit 12 at the end of the next chapter.

chapters will be a bit longer than the prologue... I have pacing set to end the 1st chapter at the resolution of the Jaelith conundrum. with posts included at 110 xp each, you'll easily hit level 12 towards 13 at the end. making you plenty of strong for the mournlands, which is also broken into nice bite size chunks.

I won't force you to "waste" xp... just don't level more than once per chapter, deal?

If folks think this is leveling too quickly, wait to the end of the next chapter. if you want ot slow it down to 0.5% per post we can... but I don't think anyone will complain.

[zarzak]

Wish I could grab the Saint template but I'd have to completely rework the build to get the requisite feats. Gah. >( Oh well, item crafting and levels here I come. ^^

[Surreal]

Pacing seems ok so far. One level per chapter feels about right (though if folks would prefer otherwise, it doesn't make too much of a difference to me). Just as long as you let us know how much we've each accumulated by the end of the chapter.

So how does this crafting thing work if we want to spend our own xp to have someone else craft something for us? I think there was a link somewhere in the wiki but I can't seem to find it.

[Surreal]

Also, is my movement/travel rate in the spirit world any different than on the material? Given my ability to travel somewhat freely across that boundary, it's like miniature plane-hopping in a way. I could feasibly travel faster than teleportation. Something like shadow walk seems like the closest comparison, but only affecting me. I could see how this might affect game balance though, or maybe not depending how things work out.

[Fil kearney]

sul is stuck with the same mode of travel as everyone else regardless of plane of existence.... the only difference is that the edgeworld is slightly distorted compraed to the prime. if you could actually shadow walk, that would be one thing. but you don't.

you could potentially "go beyond and skim along the edgeworld curtain, but that is a real craps shoot. it really depends on who's leadeing the way on what kid of terrain youencounter, and none of you seem to have too much history with sharn... so no promises there either.

T port is probably the fastest way to do it, but lo! the joys of animal companions! celestine is reluctant to do so.
That bird is gonna be a major headache for you once you actually get to the city tho. exotic Size huge animals are a luxury very few could hope to maintain... but there is a specialty niche in the city up in the higher suburbs. You'll figure it out.

[Fil kearney]

oh, hey surreal... there is no hard rule regarding reducing ite costs for xp expenditure.. but the double the crafting cost for sale is compensation for both time and xp expended.. remove the xp cost, and the end gold value would potentially reduce as well. That is going to depend on negotiating, faction, and luck.

[Fil kearney]

Originally Posted by Valeas

Im generally doing fine.

There are a number of reasons why Im not that active in the game thread at the moment, but that should get better as soon as we are in an enviroment better suited to Valeas. In this social enviroment, I had him only respond to others, but in other situations, you can expect him to be more proactive.

As a non-native english speaker, I will most likely not be able to produce as well written posts as you guys are, but I will do my best.

I also know that with my late entry into this team, Im still behind on the Teambuilding process, but I hope that will solve itself on its own once the game is rolling.

While I do have some experience with PbP games, I must say that this one is by far the most organized and demanding game I ever played in. This is a good thing, but I am gonna need some time to adapt to that.

I don't know how I missed this the first time. But I see it now.

1. thanks for the update.
2. I had no idea you are not a native speaker. kudos to your tutoring!
3. You are starting further behind than everyone else in xp since you bought off your LA, instead of leaving it as one side of your 1st and 2nd level gestalt combo... If you are able, I'd recommend posting as often as I do to at least keep up if not get ahead.
I'd also recommend start plotting to fill in details on history to get boost xp. out of game.
4. Surreal has introduced some wonderful tension for later development... Sul obviously doesn't like Val yet, and probably doesn't realize the connection yet. I thinkt he Mournland will make that a fun discovery.
5. Yeah, I force folks to really get involved more than most... but with such a high level start, its necesary to make up a bunch of history to explain how you just appeared out of nowhere. I'm glad you're enjoyin the challenge.
the fact that you think its demanding and are willig to stick with it is a HUGE compliment to me. thanks.

I'm gonna make valeas pay the piper for his feral template in the Mournland.... just so there are no surprises.
I am going to default to horse considering thecharacter, unless you have a particular animal in mind...
"IF you were any type of animal at all, Valeas, which would you be?"

I'll give you reason to wear that veil!

[NoldorForce]

At this point, I'm pretty much set on using the extra XP to become a runechild (resolved in the Mournlands) and for item crafting. Now...I'm not going to be spending all the XP for the item crafting. I will be spending the appropriate XP for Vintereth's equipment. But anyone who'd like her to enhance their equipment will need to give some XP up to pay for it. I'm not made of XP, after all. And in return, you'll get a big increase on your effective wealth. There's something at the end of Vintereth's equipment list showing that she has nearly triple her expected wealth due to item crafting.

To facilitate this, there was some spell mentioned in a PHB2 web enhancement that allowed for this sort of thing. To that end, it'll be scribed in Vintereth's spellbook, and at least one more dedicated wright will be made. (Unless Fil doesn't care about the time required to craft stuff, as that's the only reason to make the homunculi.) Magic item factories, here I come!

All this makes Magic Item Compendium sound more interesting.

I have a .txt file somewhere in which I summarized the approximate power levels of the SLAs gained by runechildren. I'll need to look at AE and come up with a theme...

[zarzak]

Originally Posted by NoldorForce

At this point, I'm pretty much set on using the extra XP to become a runechild (resolved in the Mournlands) and for item crafting. Now...I'm not going to be spending all the XP for the item crafting. I will be spending the appropriate XP for Vintereth's equipment. But anyone who'd like her to enhance their equipment will need to give some XP up to pay for it. I'm not made of XP, after all. And in return, you'll get a big increase on your effective wealth. There's something at the end of Vintereth's equipment list showing that she has nearly triple her expected wealth due to item crafting.

To facilitate this, there was some spell mentioned in a PHB2 web enhancement that allowed for this sort of thing. To that end, it'll be scribed in Vintereth's spellbook, and at least one more dedicated wright will be made. (Unless Fil doesn't care about the time required to craft stuff, as that's the only reason to make the homunculi.) Magic item factories, here I come!

All this makes Magic Item Compendium sound more interesting.

I have a .txt file somewhere in which I summarized the approximate power levels of the SLAs gained by runechildren. I'll need to look at AE and come up with a theme...

Sounds good. How will this xp pricing work and such?