[OOC] The Ox and Arrow Inn

[Alisard]

Geez, what is more important, schoolwork or DnD?

[Naresh]

I'll post later
Tomorrow I'm moving back up to Uni, so unsure if I can post or not tomorrow.
-Bug

[Alisard]

Ugh, I could have ended this fight this round with an Entangle spell, but everyone is in the area of effect!

Oh well, Ro Chiva's got a few tricks up his furry sleeve...

[Naresh]

Sneaky way to get a 3rd level spell Alisard, took me a while to find that
Javelins only have a 30% miss chance though. Better hope they don't aim for you
-Bug

[Naresh]

Wow you guys are getting unlucky... they only have an AC of 18, which is less then an average roll for most of you :/
-Bug

[Still_Pond]

Well, I'm doing that on purpose, to remain in character you know.

[Alisard]

I know, this fight shouldn't be this hard...good thing I have a wand of CLW, I'm down to 50% hit points!

I chose Air Domain for Ro because I figured it fit his upbringing on the plains, the spells are just a bonus.
He'll have to start using his electricity ability.

I guess he could also use Summon Nature's Ally, but I hate putting innocent animals in harm's way! It seems cruel to summon them to fight for you, and let them get chopped to pieces. Would a druid really do that?

I don't know, I can summon a black bear to shred these bullies, I just don't want him to get hurt!

[Moridain]

I always think of it not as summoning actual animals, but summoning the Spirit of the animals. They come willingly to your aid, fight till the magic or their power runs out then go back to spiritual plane of nature to be called again when next you need them.

[Still_Pond]

I've had that druid issue before. It seems out of character for a nature lover to use animals for tools like that. I too thought of them as poofing back to their happy little lives post-summoning. You can't eat the meat or gather up the claws of the fallen summons after all, so that all goes someplace. So I see it as you've used magic to bring them here, and when they can no longer serve the same magic returns them, no harm done. They probably don't even remember anything happening.

I've also had a hard time summoning animals like a lion when my druid has never left the temperate forests. How did she see a lion? It gets worse when they can shape change. Could a desert druid really shapechange into a shark? Would she even know what a fish was? I actually ended up rolling on a huge list of animals to create a list of animals she'd seen. That worked rather well actually. The DM made me write up background stories on all my dire animals, as they are rare and I wouldn't have seen every dire animal there was without considerable effort.

[Naresh]

Yeah, I tend to house rule a limit on Druids, there has to be a logical way for them to know what they're summoning... That being said, seems how we're using that, you will tend to see more exotic animals to copensate.
-Bug

[Alisard]

I like the idea of summoning the "spirit" of the animals, I can do that without a guilty conscience (I know it's only a game, but it would bother me to put those creatures in harm's way).

I agree that the game has to follow some logical rules; I always try to incorporate that into my games and stories. Even though it's a fantasy world, it still has to follow some logical laws of physics, even the magic. Otherwise it's difficult to suspend the disbelief of the world actually existing.

[Moridain]

I know it's only a game, but it would bother me to put those creatures in harm's way

Back when Neopets was popular I remember just quitting the site because I wanted to delete a neopet and couldn't. I got to the 'are you sure you want to delete this' bit, hit that and it said 'Really? You want to abandon me?' 'Why? What did I do wrong?!' 'Noooo! /weeping/' and then gave up...

I am not that bad any more, but sending even imaginary creatures to their death feels kind of mean, unless its pokemon in which case CAGE FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

As to the exotic animal thing I have two things I assume about most druids:
1/ Their masters knew large numbers of animals and, as part of their training, hunted, trained and or conjured them for the student to study.
2/ At night, as they dream, druids go into the mind of the spirit animals. They see what they see, live as a rabbit being hunted with its fear but also acceptance of the rightness of this. The predator hunting, with its gratitude at the ability to live on and respect for the cleverness of the rabbit. In my mind they spend each night in a new animals mind, learning about all sorts of creatures from all around the world in intimate ways only a druid can.
That is why druids are capable of Summoning Dinasaurs, even though in most realities they haven't existed in a very very long time. The spirits still run around on that plane, and they might have spent a night as one at some point.

[Naresh]

I Nuzlocke pokemon games, if a pokemon faints, its dead, you have to release it. All of them also must have nicknames, and you can only catch a limited number, makes it more tragic.

As for dinosaurs, that's what druid dream quests are for

I'm an environmental scientist, so I love animals, that being said, I've never had a problem with it all :/
-Bug

[Naresh]

Posts from Moridain and Feely missing
-Bug

[Felyx Zephyr]

Sorry for my absence. Life has been pretty bad the last two days, but I'll have a post up in like 3-6 hours. Just need to get home and eat.

~FZ