General conversation/OOC commentary

This has been a nail-biter. You put in a lot of work across your games. Please believe me when I say, I am quite ok with you doing what works best for you.

I quite like the separate posts. If a previous post is getting updated and revamped, I’m never really sure if I’ve read the most recent version. But like everyone else says, whatever is easiest for you. You’re doing a fckn great job of running this and truly making the pbp style super enjoyable and riveting.

Not sure what class Ishi is, but was wondering if he has the Great Weapon Fighting style to reroll those 1 and 2 on the crit?

Barbarian, as I recall.

Correct. For reference, anybody can view the list of PCs (and look at the characters) in the start of the character creation thread.

I just wanted to point out that, for multi-round combats like this one, I will be linking the master posts for each round, so that you can more quickly review what has happened in previous rounds (and also have a fun read later on). For example, the first post of the current combat now has a link just under the top that points to the second round, and that links back to the first and forward to the third, and so on.

If I may ask, did the Lord Mayor Wild Shape into a manticore…? Polymorph maybe?

Question: have I allowed unconscious characters to eat goodberries (which explicitly requires an action) previously in this campaign? If I have (say, in "Caravan of Peril"), I'll allow it here and for the rest of the campaign for consistency. But otherwise I'm going to say that one can't feed an unconscious person a goodberry (or its superior analog, a glimmerberry), because the person doing the eating must use an action.

Don’t think it’s ever come up. Couldn’t a berry be mushed to let the juices go down?

fair enough - it does require eating

Hey guys
I really enjoy our game, the setting, everything - except my character.
She feels flat and mostly a powerhouse as the Twilight cleric is. I truly get why that subclass is banned at many tables. The twilight cleric has its huge santuary range with free activation that provides temp hp each round. Its ridiculously powerful, and granted without it, this latest combat would have been much different. In comparison, the artificer's gunner bot has a shorter range, and costs a bonus action to use.

I have tried to make Elowing more interesting by turning her more native American-like, but other than interacting with Ishi she hasn't really connected. But I don't see any development or personal story arc for her.

Since this encounter started and the hunger of hadar spell, I have had a character concept bouncing around in my head.

Faith is a tiefling from the streets of Grayhaven. She has the criminal/street urchin/acolyte background. She knew Elysia and Eozindra when they were kids, but they knew her as Shade . She was rescued from the street by a kind priest (or forced to community service, but ended up liking it and the teaching of Ellendaed, Goddess of Valor or Bealdor the High, God of the Sun). She turned her life around and converted to the church. She was getting ready to take her oath as a paladin when her demonic side expressed itself as shadowmagic. Horrified and ashamed she fled down below.

On that note, runekyndig has asked to switch characters. I don't like to swap out characters, but runekyndig has long expressed dissatisfaction about the character he made previously, and we're not yet at a point where the characters are locked into the story (*). So in the spirit of wanting the players to enjoy the game they're playing, I've agreed. To that end, if Elowin falls to 0 HP in combat, he wants Elowin to die rather than be rescued or resurrected. If she doesn't fall to 0 HP, then we'll find a way for Elowin to choose to leave the party. Then at some point soon we'll find a way to introduce the new character, Faith.

So think about how that's going to work for your characters that have relationships with Elowin - how will they say goodbye? how will they process her absence? - because the chance to say farewell to her will come soon. The PCs will miss her, but we players may, too. After all, we've enjoyed Elowin for a year of our lives; let's commemorate the time we've had with her in the party.

runekyndig will also be posting about Faith as he creates her in the character generation thread, so you can start thinking about how your PCs might know her/have run into her in the past.

* - there is a big character beat coming up where the characters will be tying themselves into the quest/campaign. But even after this, if someone is really unhappy with their PC and wants to change, we'll try to find a way to make it work (though story-wise it will be...complicated). I want to make sure that you're all having a good time.

I just want to say that the way this is being done is fantastic. Thanks @spaceseeker19 for being flexible and making sure everyone is happy with their character. I’ve made characters before that I ended up not liking as much in play as I did in theory so I can relate. I think losing Elowin will make for some strong RP character development for the group at hand and I’m glad we aren’t losing a player! Excited to see what new connections can be made as we move forward. And I hope @runekyndig can enjoy the game more with a character that feels more substantial. :)

I'd love to hear what ideas everyone has about Adran and Eozindra's acceptance (the two healers), not to mention everyone else who could stabilize Elowin. I have ideas, but I've had about a day longer to process this. Given that she is going to die, what might we do character- and story-wise to make it OK?

My initial thought is that something prevents it. I dunno what pact the Lord Mayor had, but maybe his death causes a reaction... sort of a retributive strike? A partial cave in, or parts of the ground fall away (a la a sinkhole)?

I know it would feel a little forced, but... Adran has a spell slot and his own sister is dying less than an arm's length away.

Unless you want to go with Divine Intervention, and say Luna actively prevents the healing -- the spells fail? If she truly is "calling Elowin home."

Thank you for your understanding about the chancing character.
I believe that you closed the wounds, but the sword plunged into her heart - that is major organ damage and an instant stop of the heart. Your magic works and wounds close, but it doesn't restart the heart. That is revify or similar spells that can restart major organs, not a first-level cure wound.

That is my take anyway.

It can be narrated however we want I suppose, but mechanically... unless you suffer Massive Damage, or have three failures on death saves, a first level heal spell can and does save your life.

Stabbed through the heart? Arrow through the brain via an eye socket? Sliced carotid or femoral? None of it really matters. (My belief is they did away with what would normally be "kill shots" IRL to prevent the game from turning into "How many enemies can I shoot in the eye?" Besides, HP -- like many other things in the game -- is largely an abstraction.)

Massive Damage or three death save failures. And I guess certain effects like Power Word: Kill. That's it. 🤷‍♂️

Morik can and would absolutely try to save her as well, so what I'm thinking is that during the time spent in that darkness, it was just so vile or something, and it somehow affected Morik's abilities. I mean, look at all the bad rolls we had, we could easily just narrate that there was some sort of disturbance down here or something, and the healing spells went off without effects (kinda like we rolled badly with our attacks and missed). Maybe...?

OK, so here are three of my ideas to add to the pile:

- Elowin is done, and she rebukes those who are trying to heal her, refusing their aid to be at peace with Lunea (advantage: we get some fun role-playing dialogue with Elowin as she dies)
- The robber's blade was treated with a poison that resists healing (advantage: we get some tearful attempts to spare/revive her)
- the Dweller in the Deep takes Elowin as payment for the death of his chosen, ie, the Lord Mayor (advantage: there's nothing to be done; her earthly vessel is empty, and the surviving PCs have to cope with the horror).

As you consider which you'd prefer, keep in mind the meta knowledge that the party will soon be finding a new PC who will join the party...

Of your three, I'd say the last idea is best. That said, I think the second is probably the one we should go with.