OOC Chat

One last comment: if there is a next time for PC vs. PC violence, let's try MoMo's suggestion of doing it narratively. If it doesn't work out well, we can always fall back on initiative rolls. I think everyone here is a the calibre or role player and story teller that could make this work well. Sometimes the dice do add some interesting story consequences, but let's at least give MoMo's technique a try.

Also, thanks to HypCo for always taking cool risks in this game. It doesn't always succeed, but it always makes the game interesting. Many of the memorable scenes of this game are direct consequences of the risks you have taken.

And Ygne ... oh man, Ygne is one of the most interesting characters I've seen in an RPG. She's great, MoMo. I'm curious as to how she grows from this incident. I foresee some petty pranks; Rygnar might be waking up with fire ants in his bedroll or something in the near future :)

@Jabes.play.RPG and @Lenpelletier
In the Dark Sun game I'm working on, I made a feat called Wild Talent that is basically a knock off of magic initiate.
You choose one talent & one discipline, and you get two psi points / long rest.
Feel free to use it if you want.

Sorry, I'll be posting late tonight, going out with my wife (no kids allowed) for the first time in too long....

Well now I don't want to do it anymore LOL!

Does it appeal less now because there is now another Mystic in the party?

I'm half joking. Don't worry about it. I've honestly been on the fence about it anyway. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like even though it would be an interesting element to Jarveena's story arc I don't want it to be that big of a deal. Maybe she'll have visions or hallucinations or some other weird shit happen, but will she actually manifest any psionic ability? I was starting to like less and less the idea of taking a Mystic level. I'd almost decided to just drop the whole thing until you and @deadpool suggested the idea of a feat. I don't know. I think it's cool that Moss is doing it. Adds to his mystique. :-) Mechanically, which Mystic Order is he taking?

@Jabes.plays.RPG Hope you don't feel like I wanted to steal your idea.... I was actually speaking with Lenpelletier about Moss getting some sort of magic or psychic powers before I was introduced in the game. You can see it as an opportunity to have a teacher if you ever want to multiclass or take a psy feat.

Moss is gonna be from the order of the nomad, the quest for knowledge is exactly what he is all about.
So level 1 Mystic (Nomad) gets me:
- One Talent... Mind thrust...for when I can't sneak attack
- One discipline of my choice...Precognition...my mind is opening up...
- Two bonus disciplines from the Nomad disciplines...Nomadic Arrow & Nomadic Chameleon... perfect tools for an assassin
- Breadth of Knowledge... 2 skills/tools/languages I choose to become proficient in at the end of a long rest, until the next long rest.
- 4 psi points / long rest ( max 2 per use )
- 1d8+1 hp (=9)

Mystic class

Hey not at all, man! And it wasn't even my idea at all -- it was Len's. On one hand I think it lessens the mystique if more than one person has these abilities. On the other hand, this island is probably so saturated with psychic energy that it's not inconceivable that it'll seep into anyone who's got cracks for it to seep into. In Moss' case he's willingly opening himself up to it. In Jarveen's case she's been getting busted up emotionally & psychologically over and over since the shipwreck, and her hard shell is cracking.

Among the Orders I was looking at Avatar because of the way I was thinking of flavoring it is raw emotion as the trigger, but even though it fit conceptually, mechanically I didn't really like the disciplines. LOTS of cool stuff but nothing much that felt like it fit the story except maybe Precognition.

So yeah, let's see where it goes. Maybe each time Moss uses his psychic abilities, some sort of psionic feedback loop opens up the cracks in Jarveena's psyche some more. Maybe in time she'll manifest. Or maybe it'll just give her migraines. :-D

Glad to hear you are not too upset about it, Jabes. Nonetheless, I feel I have inadvertently dangled a juicy carrot in your path only to snatch it away again, and for that I do apologize. I know you know that wasn't my intention, but it still turned out that way to some degree. I love that you take the game seriously enough that this is a thing, and I love that you as a player are understanding with how it all turned out.

So anyway, Jarveena now has 2 attacks with Sharpshooter and will soon have cunning action for insane kiting. I mean, those mechanics are so devastating you could almost RP that as psionics! Or at least a sensitivity.

So, time to throw some fuel on the fire. If the game dissolved into a massive PvP battle, which character would come out on top? Disregard if you find this silly. I just like talking mechanics sometimes :)

I never even thought of that!
Every man for himself? Maybe Rygnar. Teamed up, I don't know. But Jarveena could shoot them all down if she was properly set up to snipe.

There is a lot of variables to take into play. The biggest one I can think of right off the bat is: Teams or Solo.

Teams: Definitely whoever is Team Barbarian. Elspa's wolfpack feat is HUGE!
Last Man Standing, it depends on the situation I feel. Open or Closed battlefield? In-character or just Mechanics? Dumped on the same battle field or separated on one v. one?

If we are fighting last man standing in-character, Rygnar definitely would not win; he wouldn't dare lay his sword on Elspa...or Jarveena.

I don't really know what Moss is anymore cause I haven't read up on Mystic. Knowing what I know about the others, my bet would be on Elspa. I know it'd be one of the barbarians, and I think Elspa's shield would bring her out on top, compared to Rygnar's greatsword.

Honestly, a fight between Elspa and Rygnar may come down to whichever of them wins initiative and gets that first hit or two on his opponent before they rage and halve incoming damage.

And if we were talking teams, then I think the strongest team of three would be Elspa, Rygnar and Frick. Frick has more attacks to take advantage of Elspa's wolf totem, and Rygnar has the great weapon feat which becomes more reliable with advantage.

This is just my opinion for damage output and resilience. Jarveena or one of the rogues would make it more versatile for sure, and better in certain situations. But Jarveena doesn't benefit from wolf totem, and the rogues are going to sneak attack if Elspa is adjacent anyway, and they only have the one attack to hit with.

If we're talking pairs, then Elspa + Ryg/Frick, for the reasons stated above. Likely Rygnar. Not sure which one (more attacks vs more accurate great weapon feat) would math out to be better with advantage.

In a one on one vs. Either rogue and either barbarian, the only way the rogue could win, short of RNG, is to bait out the barbarian rages and run away again, but I don't know if they could do this without taking a few hits anyway. Would help to have the mobile feat. Moss could get a good sneak attack hit on the first round with assassinate if he wins on initiative, before the barbarians start out raging and halving damage. If the barbarians reckless attack, that could make it more favorable for the rogues.

I had a game among close friends that I ran where we occasionally would run mock fights between PCs every now and then. The barbarians always won during the lower levels.

I think Moss could take care of the barbarian with a little luck (move, dash, range psychic damage), but it would be a sure thing if I get to set up my assassinate. Unfortunately just winning the init. is not enough for it, I have to get the surprise round to get the automatic crit. But if I do...1d8+4(bow)+3d6(sneak)+2d10(psychic)+1d4(poison)...all of that doubled, hurts a lot but its a one shot deal I can't always do.... Moss would be in trouble with Jarveena and Frick.... And I think it would be a toss of the die with Ygnee.
Edit: At level 7 I wouldn't be able to surprise Elspa and Rygnar anymore because of feral instinct, so from there on I'd need a lot more luck to beat them...

If no one objects, I think Moss is about to rejoin the group.

Ygne has the alert feat, so she isn't surprised, and Moss wouldn't have advantage from sneaking up on her, but she doesn't have the same crazy psychic stuff.

You might be able to get a barbarian. They would catch Moss eventually though, with fast movement, so Moss would be taking the occasional OA, but it would certainly reduce their attacks. The damage being psychic helps a lot. Is that at will, or is there a limit?

Mind thrust is the psychic equivalent of a cantrip. And you're right, with the alertness feat Moss would not be able to assassinate you. But you don't have to worry, Moss is sees a little of his younger self in Ygnee and is a little troubled by the fact that it feels right being with you guys...but he won't tell you that lol

Given that player characters can rise from the dead as NPCs this PvP conversation might be put to the test! I almost got an undead Frick twice, and Undead Ryte is hanging around somewhere ...

Evil Robot Uses!!!

I feel if it's like that it'd be 1 (undead npc) vs 5 (pc), we'd sweep the floor with whoever that unlucky one is; unless that one turns out to be Elspa in which case Rygnar would fight on her side regardless if she attacked him or not, his loyalty knows no bounds.