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Mushroom Man - Out of Character Discussions

12/23/2023 Carissa

Quick thought before I forget it all in holiday bliss. That staff is a "Fungal Staff" which I believe was actual description, not cheat digging. What is a fungal staff and could it actually be used to maybe control the fungal things in the cave?

Also I'm leaning against camping in the cave because I have a feeling someone already knows we're in there...

and for Vee she can spot three sets of human footprints heading deeper into the caverns to the south. Vee also spots some other footprints that she cannot tell what they are...

Worth reading story chat if you have not yet or formatted chat.

Clarifying: I'm thinking more keep exploring the cave with second choice of finding a way out. And after doing some story chat, I get now that the waterfall is more annoying than pushing against so maybe MeLange was on to something with a shield to protect while climbing? But not sure.

12/23/2023 Michael

I vote yes with the cave. We have two significianlty wounded people who could use some healing. At the same time, I would hate to find out the parents were off slaughtering food and will be coming back to feed their baby. Food for thought, no pun intended.

12/23/2023 TMO

Rothuss has one idea to try once he loses this stupid glue plant. As he said though, it'll probably just make him look really dumb when it fails. But if it works, he will need a reminder of what to do once he gets to the top to turn the waterfall off.

12/24/2023 Carissa

At this point the river's flow turns a small wooden waterwheel. The wheel is attached by a couple of direction-changing gears to a large wooden box at the river's edge. At the top of the box, there is a funnel, and at the bottom there is a spout positioned to allow a container to be placed underneath. A clicking and creaking noise comes from inside the box.

And

For the other part of after combat... the reason you are down here is Rothuss found torn vestments and followed footprints down here, you might very well be rescuing priests from the church down here.'

12/26/2023 Carissa

So current thoughts:

  1. Leaving now gives other things an opportunity to get into the cave. We are risking our presence being known AND having a new monster to fight if we retreat completely. And maybe ending up back where we are with a day lost. It'll be a full 24 hours of camping. And we still have to do watches and encounters for camping. Is it better to risk three potential encounters as we are, out in the jungle, with bait on a harness OR do we push forward? My vote is leaning push forward, but I'm making sure we have a clear idea of what camping would entail, too, before decisions are made.
  2. We have two perfectly fine PCs who we know will be on Friday (Vee and Rothuss once the plant falls off - we should wait for that) and maybe we'll gain two more (Matty and Ratbone). If we find a way to heal Melange, we could have him, but he can at least still do rolls right now. One potential way to heal him is to find those potentially missing priests if we rescue them soon and alive... There may be something else we haven't thought of, too, for healing. Not to mention, Melange can still toss things and be useful in a fight from a distance. Such as the two 40 lb plant things once they fall off Levi and Rothuss.
  3. We haven't explored the room the shambling monster was in. There are fungus structures in there which have been things we've climbed. Is it possible we can climb out of that part of the cave to somewhere safe? Or to somewhere to turn off the water? We're focused on trying to get out without even exploring what we've revealed yet. Always possible there is another switch we haven't found because, again, we haven't even explored the area we just made safe.
  4. We should see if we can clarify what Vee saw earlier and/or see if she can track a bit more. She spotted some human footprints and non-human footprints. Was it one set? Multiple sets? If it was one set of non-human, maybe it was the shambling mound. Maybe if she looks at its feet she'll be able to better decipher it.
  5. If we do explore, we can be smarter about it. Set up a trap, a trip wire, things of that sort. We don't always have to just go in guns blazing. And yes, we did for this monster, but now we know there is potential for more monsters, we can better think of ideas here.

And something I thought about yesterday is that I bet that jaguar is still stalking the mule, and given it wasn't addressed last week, I won't be surprised if it's dead or will be soon. We got a pass 12/15 since it was only three of us and it was left outside with everyone who missed that session, but then on 12/22 all those people came into the cave with us and... left the mule outside? Alone, maybe? And still tied to a tree unable to escape? So... yeah....

12/27/23 Sharif

I know it's very unlike her, but Carissa is making a lot of sense! :)

It does seem like it would be a shame to come all this way and leave empty handed. Maybe the injured folks could stay in one place while a few healthy folk go exploring? With maybe one healthy folk staying with the injured folks. If we can't heal MeLange he can at least use alert to sense if there's any danger, and if we can heal him some he could provide protection too. If we rather stick together Mel could probably carry Levi, if he's not too injured, but I think he's pretty injured. Also I think the mule is long gone, but I'm sure the Jaguar is very appreciative, and probably too busy feasting to bother with us.

Side question for at Lemon. Are we thinking Mel and Levi are just really tight BFFs a la Scrubs? Or more of a budding romance a la Our Flag Means Death? Also, are we thinking they are childhood friends or that they met in their teen years?

Oh, also I think because Mel was found, nobody really knows his birthday, but he was found around middle April (not sure if months have the same name, if not let's go with April equivalent), so that was when they kept track of his years.

Thanks.

12/27/23 Lemon

I think the contraption in the other part of the cave could potentially be the way to turn off the water to get back upstairs. So maybe we should at least investigate that more first? But yes, BOB did mention that we made a lot of noise, so potentially someone or something will come investigate. But investigating the two areas we've already seen a bit further seems to make sense.

As for Levi and MeL... maybe for now really tight BFFs but with potential for future romance? And I have no recollection of what I said about who Levi already knew when I started him so... I don't know. Were they childhood friends?

12/27/23 - Wendy

As someone who wasn’t present during the 12/15 session, it doesn’t make much sense to me that those who were left outside with the mule somehow started with everyone else who were inside the cave exploring. By that same logic, it could indicate that the characters who weren’t present for the session after could’ve been left outside to guard the mule? We did pay good money for her, and it was a blast having her communicate through translation.

As Sharif said though– I’m sure the Jaguar appreciated the gesture : )

I think the 24 hours of camping with taking turns to watch might be pretty risky. Granted, yes, some of the party members are injured pretty badly as Michael mentioned, but the caves are pretty narrow, and camping corners the party into a more defensive position during encounters. Carissa’s point about not always having to go in guns blazing opens the party to more opportunities to strategize, whereas camping might not give the party that choice, since the encounters are coming to them.

I think Sharif’s point about getting the members who aren’t injured to go out and explore is worth thinking about. If we do keep the injured in one location, though, is there a specific way to communicate when they split off? Or are they just going to wait until they make contact again? Are the chambers just close enough together that the members can hear through the echoing of voices? Maybe I’m just getting too detailed about it.

The mental image of fighting off possible threats by swinging 40lb plants made me laugh way too hard, but if they can be utilized, why not? Sounds like fun.

I think the chamber with the 4 ft baby plant monster with the fungal structures is worth exploring, if that’s what Carissa was talking about. It would be worth discovering whether the fungal structures do have something to do with the Fungal Staff, and why the baby plant monster couldn’t be set aflame despite it being a plant. (Yes, yes, I know, “Science Has No Place Here”.) Carissa makes a point that they may be used to climb out as well, and if that’s the case we may have an easier time accessing the, um, switch / key (?) that controls the water flow.

I do feel a bit guilty that Temperance was out of commission for most of that last session. She really did get distracted by the fungal structures. Hats off to Jericho for all his healing– it’ll be a reminder she owes him. Rothuss was knocked out for our first AND second fight so... don't feel bad. You're only one-for-one so far! - Carissa

Let’s all have a grand old time everyone!

12/27/23 Lemon

Oh, that reminds me... I'm not too worried about the mule unless Ratbone and Matty show up. If they do, yes, there could be problems, but I don't think it would be that specific jaguar. We hurt it pretty good, I doubt it's still after us with all that distance and injury.

12/27/2023 Carissa

Oh no, you poor summer child. In my past experiences, we're lucky we were given a pass on 12/15 because yes, we could leave it with PCs who are on almost weekly. Again, especially because it was so few of us playing that night - an exception if you will. But that was more "you can delay your decision by a week only" kind of ordeal. But I don't think Bob has changed his ways. We definitely have never been able to say those One Round Behind (something we'll need to explain to you Wendy) can keep the animals safe, especially because it's been more than one round by now, and especially when it's players with erratic scheduling.

Now, could he surprise us? Might the mule somehow be alive? Sure! I just mentioned the mule death likelihood so everyone can emotionally prepare themselves for that.

Also I'm typing this on my phone. How many times can I say especially?? Whatever.

Edited thoughts typed on my computer: For however you want to spin it with Levi and Melange, the only tie we had for Melange is Vee meeting him at the bar some undetermined amount of time ago. Given Vee has known Levi for apparently five years (unless Levi saw Troy from a distance before he met Vee...) or so, it would stand to reason that Melange would have then met Levi in that timeframe. THEREFORE by the power of willful storytelling, you can use that link and say you've been friends for some frame within five years OR even say Levi is the one who dragged Melange to the bar which means I only have to shift a little in my head as to how Vee knows Melange. Food for thought. Well, words, really, but details. (Whatever happens, good luck to Levi and Melange! <3 - Wendy)

1/20/2023 Carissa

I couldn't sleep so I skimmed chat. So two thoughts for you all to contemplate:

1. Everything anyone has is listed on Party Pack page. If someone is One Round Behind, ask them ahead of time to hand something over. New stuff found has not been added but will be at some point including the new canoe. This isn't a complete fallback, but it helps some.

2. In past campaigns, we didn't really do finders keepers for random loot. We talked it out and tried to evenly distribute. For the newbies, if there is something we find that you like, absolutely speak up. I don't intent to start now doing finders keepers, either. That said, I wasn't really on last night so you all can work it out but before you grab the nice, shiny new item for yourself without discussing it with others, think for a moment: Who else can use that item? If your fighters, who are absolutely going to get attacked, can use it, would it be more strategic to allow them to have it than the person who'll never jump into a fight? You know something is waiting for you in the cave so how are you going to make sure you survive this time?

3. I skimmed so maybe I missed it, and it looked like Wendy mentioned it but... did you loot the second round of goblins? (We did! They didn't have any loot though like the first round of goblins : ( - Wendy)

And I'll also add that my availability will be similar for the remainder of my deployment, and depending how I am coming home, potentially that week, too. You had a good number of players last night. Don't worry about delaying things until someone is available. If it's something Bob really doesn't think you can handle on your own, he'll end the game early or change things. Case and point is the session before the shambling mound. You can handle things, guys.

Edit: Okay, no. This one bothers me so I'll speak now before it comes to head in three or four weeks. This is our first magic item and it is a very good one. I understand the excitement BUT if you went by who rolled, technically MeLange would get dibs (and as a new player, he doesn't understand the value and we shouldn't take advantage of that), but again, we've never played that way, and I am not game to change that. It's unfair and creates friction in parties. If we went by who killed the things, that'd go to Rothuss and Parry, but again, that's not fair if you're always support. We are supposed to be playing to help each other and the group as a whole improve, to think about the others and not just ourselves.

So we need to see who can use that Buckler first without it impeding their attacks. That is a question for Bob next session. We're low level. We need to keep the ones most at risk of dying alive. In my opinion, fighters get priority because they keep nearly dying. Top choices are Levi and Melange since they always jump in right in. Next choice would be a toss-up between the bards and the mage. I'd almost put mage up there because they are always trying to cast a spell, and having them harder to hit means less chance of a spell interruption so that'd be Lirt. Rothuss may benefit, too, as he at least keeps trying to fight, even if the dice hate him, but the dice hate him so he falls a bit on my ranking. Vee has long pokey sticks and uses other people as a shield so she's less a priority, too. While Jericho may want to use this as a loophole, this is not yet the time for that. The minimal damage he'd get, if the loophole even worked, does not outweigh the benefit of a shambling mound having a harder time hitting Melange. Nor would I yet advocate for Temperance as priests are, right now, the least likely to jump into combat. We need to focus on keeping our frontliner alive, and the mage who stabs things, not the ones who never jumps into combat.

If we survive, which is what matters most, especially as this is his friends helping him, then maybe we'll find something nice down the road for Jericho. But we're not there yet.

Get the details on that Buckler. Find out who can actually use it before calling dibs on it. If in the end, it is unusable by everyone else, that's another story. But determine that first before taking it.

Also I keep forgetting to add that Rothuss is a swashbuckler so, you know...

2024 01 21 BOB

So when you find a dagger give it to Lirt? ;)

Unless it's a good shanking dagger then Vee will fight for it. - Carissa

Jan 21 Lemon

I don’t want to say much because editing on phone is no thank you, but I wanted to add that I agree with Carissa. Not sure Levi will be able to use the buckler due to double machete, but probably Mel is a good candidate. The only reason Jericho was so close to death was because of scampering up the ladder. The loophole is interesting but I don’t think it’s the appropriate time yet for that. When we get a little stronger then it would be interesting to test. Also I just wanted to say… hold on thought escaped… oh yeah! Mostly saying this for Wendy’s benefit but it applies to everyone. Even when it seems like the conversation has moved ahead and it’s too late to say something, it’s not. Please bring up the shrieking mushrooms at some point, even if it does nothing but give us more nightmare fuel. In general, any information Bob shares with you is good to share with the group, even though sometimes it’s a red herring.

The question is: is it an arm buckler or one that needs to be held? These are questions to ask Bob on Friday. If it is held, you can push things with it and do similar motions so even if Melange or Levi ends up wielding only one weapon for now, it may be better for the cave. Or given Rothuss has offered to scout, and he does one-handed weapons, maybe it's better for him to have it. I want y'all to talk it out so I don't want to say too much else yet but tossing that out there. - Carissa

Jan 26, Lemon directed me.

Yeah, all yours guys. Not touching this one. Jericho isn't a fighter, and don't want to deal with selfish or not, so I'll keep off magic for now. Besides, MeLange probably could find better use. If a character that has it equiped won't be in next session, at least pass on to someone who would be better suited. I'm sure Jericho can find a shield elsewhere.

Jan 20, Lemon

Hey, I just have something I want to bring up here. I wanted to re-read the chat and think about how to say things before I caused a stir. I don't want to offend anyone or hurt any feelings, but... I just gotta say, some of us are still new. Even though I've been here for... what, three years? I'm still "new" to this. Especially to playing a fighter. And I have limited space in my brain for things. And my brainspace for numbers and abbreviations is even more limited than that. I have been trying a lot harder since Lisa left, because I got used to her always having an answer for everything, I know that. But everyone has different ways that they learn better, and my way is kind of just by doing things, and asking questions along the way. I'm much more likely to remember after something like that than I am to remember reading a wall of text about it a year ago. So like, now I know that THAC0 is about attack. I know it stands for "to hit ac" something... but I still honestly have no clue what AC is. And I know I'm not the only one. TMO and Carissa seem to have a solid handle on all this stuff, but the rest of us are learning. Sometimes when I ask a question, I get an answer that, to me, doesn't answer the question. Like... you guys are telling me what I need to know, but it isn't the answer to what I was asking. You like, skip some steps. (Occasionally this comes across as condescending, although I know no one means it to, but it still stings.) So sure, I could have just rolled an attack without finding out that THAC0 has something to do with attack chances. (Is that the AC? Attack chances?) And yeah, everything would have been fine. But I still wouldn't know that THAC0 had anything to do with attack, and if a similar situation came up again in the future, I would cause the same frustration all over again. And there are a couple others that are even newer than me. So even if it's something you think I should already know, it's still helpful to spell it out so others can learn a little bit, too. Even if we don't remember all of it, every little bit helps. So yes, I know it feels like we've been around awhile, because it's been literal years in some cases, but there is a LOT to this game. And I'm glad it comes naturally to some of you, because we would be lost without that, but it does not come naturally to me. So I'm just asking for a little more patience all around. I'm doing my best, I promise.

-- TMO: I apologize for anything I added to your frustration. THAC0 is the base roll your character needs To Hit AC 0. The lower that number is, the better at attacking your character is. So if we could have communicated clearly (which I wasn't) we needed to be looking for the people with the lowest THAC0 number.

-- Carissa: My two cents of interpretation since I wasn't there for this part. One was that it was being overthought/too much planning and something just needed to happen so just roll already and/or two is toeing the line of metagaming. And to clarify, I'm not telling you all that you should have rolled, just the feeling I got that you were being told from reading that whole exchange as someone who wasn't there. As for the first, there has been an overabundance of planning this supposedly short storyline it seems so, in a sense, it was refreshing to Levi just take the wheel and go without a thought. But anyways, all that said, even if either of those are untrue, you're right that it is good for players to understand the mechanisms for their own characters. As for AC, the lower it is, the harder it is to hit you. A mage, as one who often cannot wear armor, normally starts out at 10. I don't remember what AC stands for, though. Wait, sorry. It stands for armor class. Also typing this all and finding that link on my phone wasn't fun, but that might help you with THAC0 and AC.

--BOB Yes I was getting frustrated because it was just a Roll the Damn Dice moment. As Carissa said about metagaming and over thinking, I just do not understand why someone anyone would not just roll an attack.

If I ask anyone to roll Dex, or Observation, no one questions, they just do it. You clearly stated you wanted to throw rocks at the plants. I said to roll an attack. I have no idea why everyone just stopped and refused to roll an attack. What did anyone think would happen? The best you kill it with one david/goliath shot. The worst you miss and you would have that new information.

So what MY question is: What is it about BOB telling you to roll an attack triggered panic and not being able to just do that?

Based on the summary, and again as an outside observer, my guess was worry about limited ammo and trying to plan around that, especially in a cave with limited exits and a monster that nearly killed everyone so close to the entrance. Plus being told to be careful of spell use. If you run out of ammo, that's another planning what to do next in an adventure that's becoming frustrating for many, many reasons (a different conversation). Risk snaggleworts again, an attack penalty that did matter last time, and maybe nearly die again? Maybe it's choice paralysis or maybe it's trying to regroup when you don't have Lisa just always going for it with her chaos and lack of thought or me saying, don't worry we'll figure it out as we go. It could be just a new dynamic adjustment hitch again. - Carissa

Understanding the fine details or actually almost any details about the rules is not important. Knowing the concept of lower THAC0 is better, lower AC makes you harder to hit is nice but I have never penalized anyone for not understanding details about rules.

— Wendy: Um, this is just from a standpoint of playing D&D on Fantasy Ground blank-slated / learning as I go along, so please correct anything I might’ve misunderstood!

From what I remember about the goblin skirmish on the little moat island with the shack, I was told to go to the character sheet, find your actions / where your weapons are located, grab the dice for the weapon you’d like to use, and roll it on the opponent’s token on the combat tracker. I think the part that confused me about throwing the rocks was that rocks weren’t there with the rest of your weapon selections on your character sheet. Do you just choose any weapon dice to roll with, and it counts as throwing the rocks? Or does it specifically have to be a weapon you can throw, like a small dagger? Or, alternatively, are there buttons on Fantasy Ground for these things that I could’ve missed completely? From what Lemon was doing with Levi, I understood that it might lean towards choosing any weapon and rolling it on your opponent’s token? Whatever the case is, I guess I just didn’t know how to ask the right questions to get the clarification at the time.

From what I could understand about THAC0 (had to google it during the weekend) is that both your character and your opponent will receive hits during combat, and when you’re attacking you have to roll your number or higher on dice to hit successfully (?) So if your THAC0 is 18, you have to roll between 18 and 20 to make a hit? It also apparently takes your opponent’s armor class into account, so if your opponent has an armor class of 6, you subtract that 6 from18 to get 12, which ultimately means you have to roll 12 or higher to hit?

I’m not going to lie, it’s probably choice paralysis that just bites my behind a lot. That’s just something I have to work through. I’m sure once I get accustomed to just playing, just doing things without thinking about it will come a bit more naturally!

--Lemon again

For BOB, yes, I completely understand your frustration. But you are coming at it from the perspective of someone who has all the information. I'm sure you do try to see it from a player perspective, but you've been doing it so long, that it's probably not an entirely accurate idea of what some of us are experiencing. The reason I brought it up here instead of a private message was because when I privately messaged Carissa to get her thoughts on it, she also basically said she would have been in the "roll the damn dice" camp as well. She did not know, however, that at the time, I thought ammo was limited. I asked about the availability of rocks in the cave and was told 2d12, and I thought that was it. I even commented on how that didn't seem like very many rocks, but no one was like, "Oh, we'll be able to find more if we need to." In retrospect, even if there were not more rocks in the caves, we could have climbed back up and gotten some more, but among my many faults is my tunnel vision in this game. Or lack of multitasking ability. I don't know what you want to call it, but when I'm focused on one problem, that's it, I'm not thinking about anything else. My brain was like, "Problem is throwing rocks good. How to solve for throwing rocks good." Nowhere in my thoughts was there the problem of "get more rocks, how to solve get more rocks." So my solution was "best rock thrower should throw rocks. find best rock thrower." I don't really see that as metagaming. I think at this point, our group has been in a few scuffles and spent some time killing time, we'd probably have an idea of who is a decent thrower and who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. And it wasn't panic that made me stop and try to figure this out, it was an attempt at problem solving and understanding game mechanics. When I don't ask about the other blind rolls, it's because I have an idea of what they mean. Dex means we might slip or fall. Wisdom means maybe we're going to get a new insight. Etc. And yes, I could keep just blindly rolling things and blundering along, but I'm not learning anything that way. And it's great that we have you and TMO and Carissa who know these things, but part of Carissa's frustration before was (and correct me if I'm wrong) that not that many other people understood a lot of these game mechanics, which leaves one or two people making all the decisions and planning and mental load. So yes, I could keep going along just doing whatever and yes, I know I will not be penalized, but I won't be helping either. And I want to be able to help. I'll be honest, after Wendy's explanation, I FEEL like I'm more clear on it than before, but... Levi's THAC0 was 18... so that means he's bad at hitting? 18 is not good, it doesn't seem like.

And yes, this particular problem is over, and I could just let it go, but what if we encounter a similar problem in the future, where the stakes are higher and there really IS limited ammo? Or who knows what.

So in conclusion, yes, I understand the frustration. But I don't think it's great in the long run if I don't try and learn some of these things, so I am asking for patience and explanations dumbed down for me while I work on learning. I have read most of the things that get linked on the site, and chunks of books that were relevant to my class, but it doesn't stay in my brain just from reading it. I need to experience it in the wild an apply the knowledge to my experience in the moment so that it can stick. Not only that, but a lot of things in this world are slightly different than they are in the books, and sometimes even different from googling, because different editions have different rules as well.

And to Wendy, I totally understand the choice paralysis. That got me a lot with my last character. Mostly for me it was because everyone knew more than me, and I was afraid of making a bad call and getting us into a bad situation, so I just sat back and let more experienced people make the calls. It kept us safe (mostly... sorry Fives), but it exhausted the people who had to make all the decisions. You don't need to worry about it too much right now, I have no problem calling the shots at the moment, and you're still really new and it's a lot to learn. But there are times when the people who tend to take charge aren't there, and that's when other people need to be able to do those things. I just would like to be able to learn in a way that makes sense to me, so that I can make educated decisions. Levi is great at winging it, but Lemon doesn't love that quite as much. I mean, I hate spending hours planning, because we never know what we're going to find when we get there, so it feels really pointless to me, but that's a different problem. The amount of time spent planning for this venture into the cave could very well have contributed to the frustration level, but again... different circus, different monkeys.

Edit to add: It's not just useful for me when I ask for a dumbed down explanation... I think probably there are one or two others who benefit from it as well.

Another edit to add another thing: The other thing about blind rolls when BOB says "roll for dex" or whatever, is that it's not optional. I can't choose not to do it. But here we had a choice of who was going to throw rocks. Knowing everything I know NOW, yes, I can see why you felt like it didn't matter who threw the rocks. But at the time, from my perspective, it felt important. And I wanted to try and make a good, educated decision. And even if the answer was "THAC0 has nothing to do with your chance of hitting this plant with a rock" then I would have wanted to know what DOES decide that. Because my brain was suddenly interested, and that's the best time to learn and remember. I know it slows things down, and I'm sorry for that, but that is why I'm asking for patience with this. I occasionally need to slow things down in order to understand them.

— Wendy (2): TMO, I really appreciate the THAC0 and AC Crash Course! Maybe it’s just me and my need to physically organize information where I can see it, but having this all compiled to refer back to gives a lot of clarity.

I really do resonate with what you said about choice paralysis, Lemon. Granted, it doesn’t help that I tend to be pretty slow about decisively finalizing ideas, or that I buffer when I’m put in a situation that requires faster reaction time. My brain is just forever loading, I guess. I think Carissa mentioned some time ago on Discord that there was a “slow down” or “stop” button we could use on Fantasy Ground? I’ll probably try to log on a bit earlier this Friday / before Friday to take a better look at these things.

Quick THAC0 course:

I hope this helps and makes sense. - TMO

Lemon: Thank you! It makes sense, but I still have questions. Questions that I need answered in order to understand the practical application of it. So I realize that it's highly dependent on what the armor is of the thing you're trying to hit. I get that. And I get that the dice are dice. But in THEORY, if our group was aiming at the same thing, does this mean the person with the lowest THAC0 actually has the better chance to hit? (We can use your unarmored peasant with AC 10 if that helps) And is it different for different weapons? And if so, how do I figure out what that is on my character sheet?

TMO: No worries, and you have it right. The character with the lowest THAC0 will have the best chance to hit, all else being equal. Levi has an 18, iirc, and Rothuss has a 19. Therefore, to hit this poor peasant with a rock, Levi would have to roll an 8, and Rothuss a 9.

Now, please note I said "all else being equal", because of course there are ways to modify this! 😉 If you're using a magic weapon, are specialized in the weapon or fighting style, or are very strong or have good aim, then you can add bonuses to your to-hit roll. So if we have an imaginary character who is specialized in throwing weapons, they could have a +1 or +2 to hit with throwing rocks, and would add that to their die roll.

Lemon: Awesome, thank you! So how do I find out if I have any of those modifiers?

TMO: Next to STRength and DEXterity should be numbers for To-Hit Modifiers. STR for melee, DEX for missile. Bob wasn't making us take a non-proficient penalty, but if you're using a weapon you aren't trained in, you would normally have a -2 to a -6 added to your die roll (this is a bad thing). But most everybody knows how to throw a rock.

On your Skills tab, are you specialized in a weapon, or a fighting style? There are a lot of different ways to get modifiers from those if you have them, too many for me to summarize here, but it's typically a +1 or +2 added to your roll, but it can get higher if you obsess over a single weapon (hi Talwyn!).

And the last one is in your Equipment, do you have a magic weapon? Right now the answer is pretty much NO. Unless you want to start shield bashing with that +3 buckler we just picked up. That is an option, btw, and not necessarily a bad one.

Lisa: Did I hear my name? When I am invoked, I feel a pull. And anyone who knows me knows that I always have something to say.

TMO gave an excellent description of THAC0 and AC. Even if no one remembers all the details, just knowing fighters generally have the best chance to hit and mages the worst with everyone else falling in somewhere in between is good. But all that said, here’s the thing…

What it all comes down to in the end is a roll of the dice. The best fighter in the world can make a lousy roll. Swing and a miss! And a mage can step up and roll a 20 for a critical hit and save the day.

E.g., Tree trying to kill us. Indigo is a great fighter. Let him toss a potion of explosion. He hurls it at the tree, rolls horribly and the potion goes far wide and explodes in the middle of nowhere. Loss of potion. Loss of turn and the tree decides in retaliation it’s going to eat Indigo (because well everything wants to eat Indigo). Oh well. Next!

E.g., We’re at the portal to Hell and death grip demon things have got a hold of our fighters of massive strength. Can they use all that to break free? Nope. Mage Johan walks up and rolls unbelievably low and sets the big strong fighters free. Not once but twice. Who’d a thunk?

A group can look at the odds, plan and strategize the best they can, but in the end it all comes down to the roll. So really someone willing just needs to step up and give it a shot (pun intended).

Lemon: Yes, but I also need to learn! Unless you want to come back and let me blindly follow you again :P

2/10/2024 Carissa

"If a flesh creature (living moving breathing) enters one of these rooms, five pods per round will split open in that room is the guess that Temperance makes given what she has seen before." and "Each room has 15 pods."

These are like ticks. They won't move without something to trigger them. The two pods you all discovered earlier did not open so they were likely the two who were dragged in before us that we wanted to try to rescue. The angry muttering you heard earlier that you avoided is likely responsible for all of this. The fungus staff may or may not help control these things.

These are easy to hit if we actually take the time to hit them. They are like goblins. So we rescue Mel BEFORE he ends up in a second room with more pods to trigger, close the door which was opened by a strongman and a large pod and therefore likely cannot be opened by these small ones, find the angry muttering guy, and interrogate him.

And my apologies to Wendy for not seeing that inspiration from Temperance earlier. If I had, it would have changed the planning.

— Wendy: All good! The chat tends to move pretty fast especially when we’re all anticipating combat. It’s easy to miss things; I know there’ve been times where I’ve asked questions that have already been answered because I missed it with chat flow.

This might be a minor detail, but I remember the large pod corpse was in the middle of that… uh, door? Gateway? Would we have to push the pod corpse to close the door? Or does it just close if no person is in the doorway? I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to push it away, but considering the swarm of pods it sounded like it needed to be a fast action, so I wanted clarification on that.

I’ll look back through the summaries or story chats and see who has the fungal staff. I didn’t want to try to look back through the site records when we were in combat.

In terms of finding the angry muttering guy, I’m guessing that means we’ll have to find some way to climb back up that... um, water slide we came down on? Or was there another open door we could go through? (Or maybe that was a chute? I don’t have an accurate picture of our current location.)

2/11/2024 Carissa

For Wendy. The best way to find out is usually the Party Pack if it's updated. And I finished updating it. I didn't specify who had the staff. I only know I made sure Vee handed it off before I left for California and asked Lirt and Temperance to take a look at it, so it's fine if you claim Temperance still has it. And if you feel like helping me keep up that page, I won't say no. :) (I edited the party pack page to say that Temperance has it for now! - Wendy)

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on our situation by Friday, but two things: ALL OF YOU CHECK THE PARTY PACK. We have things to use. We found a fancy unidentified magic arrow (I think). We have some potion of some sort. We have the staff. We have things we can try to use. What isn't on the list, but I did mean to elaborate on is Vee's other weapon she prefers only slightly less than her trident: a net. She can try to toss it over the podman while someone goes to help Melange break free before we skedaddle out of that room. If she has to lose that net, she'll just go buy another - it's fine. I just need to double check the size but I believe it was in the description...

The large podman had shut the door then was killed so I'm pretty sure he's behind it and not in the way. With enough people and strength, we should be able to close it again.

Y'all brainstorm over the week, okay? Not sure we can go back up the waterslide, but we can follow those footprints up the other path? Or find a way that isn't down farther.

2/13/2024 Carissa

Okay, now that I've kind of reacclimated to regular life again, I have thoughts. And yes, this means Vee is back to ruin the fun.

  1. What is our objective?: We've definitely lost sight of this in the cave exploring. So going back in the chats, we only have two goals here which is to find out why the Temple of Orange Sunsets has not received their supplies AND if possible to find those supplies to bring them back. What are the supplies? We were never told. Perhaps a successful brewery roll might give us some insight. Or those supplies were with the individuals that we were hoping to save or maybe they went the route of the town and we did not cross their path. BUT... we know why the supplies were not received. There's a landslide. Done. Check. Loan paid.
  2. Why are we exploring the cave?: To get some more ideas about what happened, to see if it was a way into the church, and because it was fun at first. But we're clearly going DEEP and the Church was UP and not DOWN. So I think at this point we can conclude that this will not lead to the church, and even if it does, at this point that's not on us. The Temple of Orange Sunsets asked us what to find out - not to get into the church. If they want us to do that, they can outfit us to do it.
  3. So what do we do now?: If you couldn't guess it yet, Vee (and me) have reached the conclusion that this is far past what we were asked to do. We aren't even being paid to do this so why keep going? Let's get out of here, tell the Temple what happened, and if they're unhappy then they are unhappy, but we're just low level adventurers and if they want more, they need to step it up or ask someone else.

All of this is to a point I think we've forgotten the past few weeks: we don't have to keep going. We'e allowed to retreat, regroup, or tell the Temple to suck it (Vee's words). But this isn't reasonable. Most of you may not remember, but we've certainly done this on past adventures of just saying, "Screw this, I'm done" and that was that. We don't have to be completionist and nor should we be - unless we want to die. SO my proposition on how to continue: We Save Melange. That's obvious. But how?

  1. First we need to make sure Vee is free. The podman is almost dead, but I don't think it is dead. Anyone (priest, mage, bard) can stab it and it'll die. Either its so close to dead that Bob just assumed she's free OR she is free. But we need to make sure because we do NOT need a second person dragged off, especially one with health and fighting abilities.
  2. We try to make use of Vee and Lirt to end the fight quickly. If we can give Lirt an opening, she should cast Flaming Hands on the podmen past the doorway. Vee should try to pin down as many as she can with her net. It'll be like fish in a barrel at that point. We need the other podmen dead so they don't take anyone else.
  3. Melange needs to roll Bend Bars. You have a 20% chance of it happening which, while sounds low, is actually good. If someone can tell me the wrestling chance, that may change my mind if it's better, but given that Vee only has a 7% chance, I think Melange underestimates himself. In the meantime, Levi can also try to free him. We need Melange free not just because we don't want to activate another room, but because he is incredibly hard to hit now and we absolutely need that.
  4. We follow the footprints back up to the top. The podmen of the other room tried to bring you all back to to the first pod room so I'm sure there is a way up there. We may have to fumble a bit to go back up that slide, but there must be a way. Why put all these podmen down here if they couldn't move up?
  5. We try to see who is doing all this - BUT CAREFULLY. Whoever or whatever has the command of all these podmen clearly has power. The Church of Mists must know the existence here given the random dude we ran into knew about it. And yet the Church hasn't done anything. Either they underestimate or they don't have the power. I mean, a literal army is being grown down here and some of them might have been former church members. We're hurt. We need to get out alive. Do we want to confront a madman who has had sleep and health and rage at intruders? And to this point: if we do end up having to confront him then treat him like a mage - hit him and throw him off balance before he can do that to you.

And my last thought is while it'll be very, very tempting to heal Lirt and Rothuss right now as they are at 1 HP... we should think that through before we use the rest of the spells left on them. No offense, but Lirt shouldn't be in a fight anyways (and Vee will be watching her back now) and Rothuss is... well, not always keen to jump into a fight anyways. We need to be strategic and make sure the healing goes to the right individuals.

Final thought: Bard(s) need to be using their inspiration. I don't know if Melange will hear it, but all of us could use that extra bonus.

2/13/2024 Lemon

I will have more things later, but right now I just want to say that I don't think the door was particularly heavy. The first time it opened because someone knocked. The second time, it was hard to open because the giant pod guy was standing in front of it holding it closed. Probably trying to protect all the babies we're currently murdering.

That's all I have now.

2/15/2024 Also Lemon

Ok, here are my more thoughts. I'm fine with telling the church "too bad, this is your problem now," but

1. I don't know why we would have been led into this cave (via BOB) if it wasn't important? Idk, maybe it's a red herring, but when we started, I just assumed it was important somehow. 2. I don't think it's necessarily too late to save the guys in the pods... it's still the same day... they're pretty close to the entrance, so if we find a way out, we would only be catching them a few hours later. Which, maybe is way too late, because we already spent a night somewhere else, but if it wasn't too late when we came in, it might still not be too late when we get out. But that brings me to my main concern 3. How to get out. We came down like two waterslides and multiple waterfalls. We definitely aren't getting back out the way we came.

I know everyone but me is like, super over it with this cave, but I do think we could consider, IF we find a safe place (and I know that's a HUGE "if") staying the night and then trying to find a way out in the morning.

Also, I would hope that BOB wouldn't confront us with a crazy madman mage that we COULDN'T deal with. If we do find someone controlling the stuff, hopefully they will be like "great job you passed my tests, here's a bunch of treasure and a way into our church of the mists and podmen" or something. Like, we don't know why the podmen or there, or the connection, if any, to the church. Maybe the church hasn't done anything because this is the church's doing. I don't know. I'm still pretty new to all this, I have no idea what's going on. But I'm absolutely fine NOPEing out of here, if we can find a way.

Otherwise I agree with all the stuff Carissa said.

In addition to that, I have a question for our priests (and anyone else if they can heal?). And please don't take it the wrong way. It's not a critique or a request to play any differently than you want to play. But I have realized that I have been making some of my suggestions/decisions/encouragements based on thinking that our priests will heal us if we get into a scrape. But they don't have to, and it's my fault for not considering this earlier. But I do just want to ask them... do you prefer to use your spells in combat, or do you want to save them for healing? Also, please understand that I'm not going to hold you to it if you answer a certain way. If you say combat, and then in combat you decide you want to save one or two for healing, I'm not going to be like, BUT YOU SAAAAAID. And vice versa. But I do want to know which way you're leaning so that I can make more informed decisions when I make suggestions about what I think we could do next.

One of our biggest problems currently (and I know it won't be forever, but right now) is people getting to 0 hp. So once we get out of this cave and back somewhere safe, I think we should try and figure out how to best keep that from happening before our next adventure. But that is a conversation for a different day. But if the healy people don't mind, I would like them to use the rest of this adventure to consider if they tend to like helping in combat more or being healers more, so that in the future, we can all take that into account. AGAIN, it's just a preference, and it's definitely fine no matter what you like better, and I will not hold you to your decision at any time. It's just that I think knowing this preference will aid in planning a little bit better.

2/15/2024 - Michael’s Notes.

Informal Bonus Session for Planning

Link to Google Document for viewing in intended format. To be locked in two days.

Additional Notes: This was a discussion done through discord and FGU. I would like to thank attendees for insight, potential movement, and possibilities for our scenarios. Thanks all!

Notes from Wendy: I’ve taken the liberty of condensing any repetitive information. Some information might be altered slightly based on interpretation, and there may be additional notes in blue if I have questions. I hope that’s okay with you, Michael!


There are 8 PCs, listed from right to left, cavern to tunnel, with current HP status.

16? Pod Creatures (I thought there were only 15, did we just miss one?)

Remaining Spells:

Items on Hand: Please refer to Party Pack for more details.

Inventory to Consider

  1. Rum bottle: Throw on fire? (I’m guessing its the Molotov cocktail scenario we discussed last week?)
  2. Fungal Staff: Someone could explore / try to use it. It could lead to one of the following:
    • Act of Divine Intervention: They leave us miraculously be
    • Act of Divine Tickery: They snicker at us
    • Act of Divine Hellfire: They kill the person who holds the staff.
    • Regardless of outcome, the Deck is reshuffled the turn for that character in the scenarios.
  3. Drink/Throw unidentified potion. This is the Joker, and I did not account for it in this scenario list. %(It’s also unidentified, so it could potentially harm the person who consumes it)
  4. Arrow is useless for this round. It cannot be fired through this many people unless I’m missing something here.

Things to Keep In Mind:

  1. Lirt’s “Flaming Hands” Spell: Damage and range amongst other points. (From what I remember from Carissa’s post, we may have to clear away from the doorway for this to be the most effective, but to be discussed?)
  2. Making checks before acting won’t hurt. Please don’t hesitate to roll any checks, whether that be Wisdom, Inspiration, etc.
  3. Vee is 10 “Moves” away from a chance to break free on her own.
    • Lirt and Rothuss are currently at 1HP. They may try to help her if they choose.
    • Jericho is definitely willing to help, but has a pretty high chance on getting grappled on another turn. Then it is 5 podmen turn before Vee can attempt on her own.
  4. MeLange is a 1 in 5 chance and 4 “Moves” away from breaking free on his own via Bend Bars.



Some Thoughts About Different Possibilities

  1. We either successfully help free Vee or Vee frees herself on her own on Turn 1-3. Once that happens, we worry about MeLange, who has a 1 in 5 chance of breaking free on Turn 4. Ideally, MeLange succeeds in getting out of the grapple through Bend Bars, we need to close the door and move away from encounter. (I think there was another alternative to Bend Bars too?)
  2. There could be a chance that the party members struggle to help Vee with her grappling podman between Turn 1 and 3. In the case that Melange successfully loses his grappling podman before we free Vee, we could use the extra help. We’ll try to help him get to the door from our side! (Michael’s original notes also say we will have done something to clear the door, but that also means taking care of the podmen near the door, so I’m a little confused here. Wouldn’t that essentially mean that Vee’s podman would have to be taken care of before Melange gets back to us? My noodle brain needs to get untangled.)
  3. The Worst Case Scenario that BOB’s rolls are in his favor and ours are not, Jericho is willing to stick to the last to see what can be done to help. While I certainly won’t be judging, near death characters should attempt to flee for either reinforcements or literally just being strung up and turned into a Podman.
    • If the worst should happen, characters who are severely wounded (Lirt, Rothuss, Temperance) could prepare to flee after a move.
  4. Lirt, Rothuss, or Jericho could also explore the Fungal Staff during Turn 1-3 if necessary.


Characters who are equipped with the HP and the Resistance to rescue Melange



Really, you are right. Anything can happen. However, I believe it boils down to these four scenarios for GTFO scenarios unless an act of God(s) occurs.

2/15/2024 - Wendy

Some more questions and responses to other questions. My brain is a bowl of spaghetti right now, so I may have some more thoughts when I’m more coherent.

  1. I think the cave is pretty tricky, just because we haven’t explored all the parts of it yet. It would be nice as Lemon said IF we can find a spot where we can catch our breath, but so far we either needed to get away from risky caverns or waterslided into risky ones. If we’re able to close the door, would that be a good space to just… rest? Between the waterslide and the door? I’m just grasping at straws for this one.
  2. I’m not too certain about getting out through the way we came either. Climbing would be our first challenge, but we also just got through the situation with the cliff where creatures had the higher ground level to their advantage. Not sure what the odds are for creatures to be waiting up there, but we don’t have Lirt’s fog spell like we did last time, and it wouldn’t be too great for Rothuss to try climbing first with his 1HP.

Since Lemon brought it up, I have some general questions about this Healing vs. Combat Priests thing. I might be misinformed because I didn’t get the time to do research on the role of Priests and Priest spells in depth yet, so please feel free to correct me accordingly! :)

  1. Is it important that they have to choose one or the other? My guess is it’s because it prevents roles from overlapping, like how there are specific positions in team sports.
  2. If I do choose a specification for said priest, do I only fulfill actions for said role? So, hypothetically, if Temperance were to decide to be a healing Priestess, she’d be expected to use her spell slots for healing spells and hang back during combat?
  3. As a Priestess who can only use first level spells right now, the only thing I have available to use without bringing in other materials for said spells are healing, so I don’t see problems with that now, but from my understanding, as Priests level up or gain more materials, they’re able to use different offensive and healing spells. And once they become available for use, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be regardless of what ‘type’ of Priest your character is?

If I’m going to be honest, I don’t mind developing Temperance as a healer. It sounds fun to figure out arrows and shanking with daggers for attacking while keeping her spells for healing. But I have yet to actually get the time to develop anything for her character-wise (As TMO once said, she’s Church of Undecided right now), so more on that at a later date.

2/16/2024 Carissa

Since we're trying to build up a group where we communicate things, I'll add a short note here. It gets frustrating when everyone tosses out plans without building off any of them and ignoring previous ones. We now have five different possibilities tossed around which translates to overplanning and confusion. Good points were made, but we should be building off plans, not coming up with twenty new ones. I'll leave it at the for now.

So a few points that need to be made that were missing:

  1. We are at least two hours deep into cave. It isn't just surviving this encounter that matters. It's surviving getting OUT of this cave.
  2. You have three fighters. This was my point about freeing Vee. Levi is off saving Melange. That means, unless you squishy ones want to defend yourself, you need to prioritize getting Vee free. I'm not saying this because it's my character - I'm saying this because you need all your fighters right now. Her chance of freeing herself are LOW. That podman is almost dead. Don't waste time thinking or messing with anything else this round - free her. Before you all get attack or she gets taken to yet another room and we have more podmen activated.
  3. You're not accounting for HOW EASY THESE ARE TO HIT. Without looking at chat, you have roughly a 75% chance of hitting a podman. To quote Bob, "JUST ROLL ALREADY!". Once we free Melange, they have less than a 20% chance of hitting him. And this is all BEFORE we add any bonuses from bard inspiration that we still need to do. I hate doing the metagaming math, but no one seems to be paying attention to how easy these are to hit. Just hit them.

And to make a quick reply to Wendy:

  1. The point that Lemon is making is when we get to situations like this one. If you tell us at the beginning you want to be a support priest, then in situations like these, we're going to expect you to save your spells for healing. If you tell us at the beginning you want to do combat, then we're going to expect you to know your spells and start using them at this point in combat. I have played both. Raelynn was pure support and she'd heal you day and night and sometimes whack things when she needed. This simplified things. Her main spells were healing, chanting, and bless. You could always count on her to boost your stats in battle. When I played Shi'Nynze, she was more combat. She actually had some good aim with her bow and knew her spells to use in combat. If you were at half HP, she wasn't wasting an healing spell on you because she wanted to save it for combat. BUT, and here's the most important part, when the party was low on health, she STILL saved a spell or two for healing because, as a priest, your most important spells are healing spells. At her core, she was a priest not a mage. And this was something the party knew was that, in a bind, she'd support you and make sure you lived.
  2. So this is the crux of the situation. Do you want to play as a priest or as a priest who wishes they were a mage? You don't have to choose. But you need to make sure the party know what they can count on you doing for when we find ourselves in this exact position with two nearly dead, a long walk out of the cave, and the potential that we will not get to rest and regain spells.
  3. And to add, I'm not trying to tell anyone how to play their characters either BUT you need to make sure we all understand how you're playing it AND you need to make sure you understand not just your spells, but the value of them.

I'm happy to toss out give priest advice if you ever want it. I played them for numerous years from low level to high level. And I'll tell you at low level, the useful spells for combat are minimal. Not to mention, we restarted the campaign so the items you need to cast spells are also minimal. If I were playing a priest right now, I'd be saving my spells for support and doing combat with my weapon. As you say, once you get to a higher level? You'll gain some really cool spells that, in some situations, actually may be more valuable than a healing spell. For example, there is one that scares shambling mounds away so rather than worry about healing someone, you can just stop the fight before it starts. But that's for later.

<<<<<<< Carissa, we did NOT come up with 20 new plans. We sat down, discussed what magic was left. We looked at what inventory we had. We then looked at numbers, HP, and chances. We have FOUR scenarios that isn't ANY PLAN except on the first 1-3 turns. The WHOLE POINT was to see if we could free up Fighters. That was It! We assumed it was GTFO after that, but you'll notice that we don't particularly care what we do, just that we worry about Fighters. That would be freeing Vee, and freeing MeLange. We looked at potential attacks, what Lirt could do, and tried to figure out who would be in the game when we start, for the first people on the Combat Tracker. This is ALL explained. It may not be the prettiest, but I documented all of it. We DID build off prior plans. We DID consider previous plans. We aren't throwing out ANYTHING. I'll admit it gets frustrating when we are just trying to figure out how to make it work. And yes, we did consider their low chance of hitting. I also considered that one of them in ONE TURN almost crippled Rothuss. And I'm saying it right now. To hell with what anyone expects spellwise from Jericho. If it makes it easier, pretend he doesn't cast magic. That way, it'll be a pleasant suprise. Being shunted into this "Well they normally do this." No. I'm not doing that. Jericho simply not being Evil will have to do for the group. That way, I can just do what I want and have fun.

---

Lemon

Another reply to the priest questions.

Michael, I am not saying you have to play a specific way. I LITERALLY SAID THAT in my post. I also said I am not asking anyone to commit to anything. I'm just asking what your preferences are so we can plan accordingly. When we started this campaign, you said you wanted to be a healer. Healers heal. You can be a priest and not heal, absolutely. Or you can be a priest who likes to try and stop fights entirely so no one needs healing. You can be a priest who likes to murder things. You can be a priest who wears his underwear on his head and dances around naked during a full moon and speaks entirely in a language no one else understands. YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT AND HAVE FUN. I'm just asking WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO and WHAT IS FUN FOR YOU so the rest of us can figure out what WE want to do, so that we can also have fun.

Because for me, being trapped in a cave with four people nearly dead, 13 alive enemies, and zero healing spells IS NOT FUN. So do whatever you want, please, but also PLEASE FUCKING COMMUINCATE WHAT THAT IS, because if you aren't communicating, then I am actively not having fun.

I want you to do EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT, I just want to know what TENDS to be fun for you. I don't want a commitment. AS I SAID ABOVE, if you tell me you prefer healing and then you decide to do some stuff in combat, I'm not going to get mad about it. If you tell me you prefer combat and decide to do some healing, I'm not going to get mad about it. But if you tell me you like to be part of the combat, then I will know that, and if we get twelve levels deep in a cave surrounded by 20 fucking pod people, then I will know not to count on having three healing spells at the end of it, and I will make my decisions accordingly.

I swear to god, I tried to say it super nicely above, but at this point I feel like you are either not reading it, or intentionally misunderstanding what I am saying, and it's starting to get to me.

I love you, and I want you to have fun. But I also want to have fun. I'm not asking you to commit to anything or to play in a way that is "expected." I just want to know what you find fun, so I can also have fun. That's it. All I'm asking is TELL ME WHAT YOU LIKE DOING IN THIS GAME. Because we are a group and we need to know how we function as a group. And I've gotten extremely frustrated by players in the past who acted like this was a single player game, so please don't do that to me.

I am now going to quote what I said again, so that you can see how nicely I tried to just ask you to communicate. "In addition to that, I have a question for our priests (and anyone else if they can heal?). And please don't take it the wrong way. It's not a critique or a request to play any differently than you want to play. But I have realized that I have been making some of my suggestions/decisions/encouragements based on thinking that our priests will heal us if we get into a scrape. But they don't have to, and it's my fault for not considering this earlier. But I do just want to ask them... do you prefer to use your spells in combat, or do you want to save them for healing? Also, please understand that I'm not going to hold you to it if you answer a certain way. If you say combat, and then in combat you decide you want to save one or two for healing, I'm not going to be like, BUT YOU SAAAAAID. And vice versa. But I do want to know which way you're leaning so that I can make more informed decisions when I make suggestions about what I think we could do next.

And for Wendy... same thing but less swearing. You're not making any kind of commitment to being one kind of priest or the other... just playing around with those things, finding out which is more fun for you, and then communicating to the group which is more fun for you. If all our priests decide they want to do more spells in combat and less healing spells, that's absolutely fine. We can go buy healing potions before going into a cave, or something. We will work it out. But it helps to know those preferences in advance so we don't get stuck in a situation we can't get out of.

That's literally all I'm asking. And you might not even know yet, because you haven't had a chance to do combat spells. And Michael might not know yet either, and that's also ok. The communication is the important thing.

======= Carissa, we did NOT come up with 20 new plans. We sat down, discussed what magic was left. We looked at what inventory we had. We then looked at numbers, HP, and chances. We have FOUR scenarios that isn't ANY PLAN except on the first 1-3 turns. The WHOLE POINT was to see if we could free up Fighters. That was It! We assumed it was GTFO after that, but you'll notice that we don't particularly care what we do, just that we worry about Fighters. That would be freeing Vee, and freeing MeLange. We looked at potential attacks, what Lirt could do, and tried to figure out who would be in the game when we start, for the first people on the Combat Tracker. This is ALL explained. It may not be the prettiest, but I documented all of it. We DID build off prior plans. We DID consider previous plans. We aren't throwing out ANYTHING. I'll admit it gets frustrating when we are just trying to figure out how to make it work. And yes, we did consider their low chance of hitting. I also considered that one of them in ONE TURN almost crippled Rothuss. And I'm saying it right now. To hell with what anyone expects spell wise from Jericho. If it makes it easier, pretend he doesn't cast magic. That way, it'll be a pleasant surprise. Being shunted into this "Well they normally do this." No. I'm not doing that. Jericho simply not being Evil will have to do for the group. <Edit> Let me rephrase. When it's time to heal, Jericho will. When it's time for something Else. Jericho will. Jericho doesn't make decisions in a vacuum. If someone says, hey, I think Jericho should save a healing spell, then done! If they don't, then Done! he'll cast what he feels is appropriate. I'm not going to be shunted into this odd no mans land of expectation. If the group needs to know a set path for Jericho, let's go with Joker. That way, they know he's attempting to do the best he can, but may not cast what everyone expects him too. In fact, just think of him as a fighter that doesn't do fighting the normal way. >>>>>>>

Hello, yes, thank you. Lemon again and THAT'S ALL I WANTED. Thinking of him as a fighter who doesn't do fighting the normal way, perfect. Got it. Will plan accordingly.

It's a bit weird for a pacifist, but that's totally fine. I just wanted you to TELL ME THAT.

So.....we know what we all are now? lol. :D I'm not sure we'll ever figure this one out.

Let's say Battle Priest. It's easy. I think we'll have to just have Jericho kill off that part of the story. It's gotten to monstrous (hehe get it?). Let me talk with Bob about penalities, but yeah, this is just too much. It's fun, but a PITA.