6th Discussion Thread for 'Shadow of Love'

[Larry_OHF]

What an amazing post Cyril. I will have to take time to work on it, and that time cannot be this morning. I will be around later, most likely tonight. We'll chat.

[Cyril Darkcloud]

A few notes regarding Joseph the character

As I believe everyone is aware, Joseph is a first edition AD&D style illusionist. In 1e the illusionist is not a mage or wizard, but practices a very distinct magical art – one which wizards and mages cannot typically master – that focuses exclusively on illusion magic. Only an illusionist capable of mastering the most sophisticated forms of illusion magic can make the use of the Shadow Walk spell that Joseph has employed twice so far in this game. One thing most people do not realize is that the original location of the expression “shadow magic” in the AD&D setting was as an aspect of illusionist magic, and 1e maintains a connection between illusion and shadow that makes a very interesting fit for this game as it involves an ability to wield shadow effects that has nothing to do with evil.

For our purposes, Joseph is as accomplished a spellcaster as Andrion was (and might be again some day [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img] ), but in a very specialized way – he does a limited set of things, but he does them exceedingly well.

Joseph is neutrally aligned – he is completely devoted to his art. While he will lean toward the good side of the fence on a fairly regular basis, it is more accurate to locate him on the neutral side of the good/neutral border. As I’ve tried to indicate in posting his reactions to the others, he has a peculiar fondness for good characters, even, perhaps especially, the pompous and dramatic ones, and is not averse to helping them – although his reasons for doing so are not likely to be from any sense of shared moral obligation or the desire to be particularly heroic. Good characters, to him, have a unique ability to generate or blunder into the most interesting and difficult of problems, and occasions like that give him the opportunity to push the boundaries of his craft. Besides the good guys usually make for much more pleasant company than the bad guys who can often be counted on to be not only despotic and tiresome but likely to feed a guy to some drooling critter from the outer planes at the drop of a copper coin.

In terms of abilities and stats – Joseph is both exceedingly intelligent and remarkably agile. His dexterity is 19, which in 1e places it at a level that only the most nimble of elves would attain. He is also very charismatic. His charisma is not that of one who is incredibly attractive physically nor of one who is a born leader, but rather of one who is naturally likeable, trustworthy and convincing – one is inclined to both believe him and to like him. Physically, However, is both weak and frail. His strength and constitution scores are both well below average and his hit point total is rather low. Surviving to high level has meant, therefore, that he has also learned how to both avoid direct combat as well as how to protect himself should that eventuality arise. Afterall, the first thing any illusionist of quality needs to master is the art of making himself as difficult to hit or damage as possible – mainly because it won’t take much to kill him should he start taking physical damage.

In this game, Joseph has come to realize that it is quite possible that none of the other characters have ever experienced anything like a 1e illusionist before. He will certainly exploit this and he knows how to do so since successful and accomplished illusionists were also fairly rare even in 1e. With regard to events at the tower, Joseph has been casting and concentrating at a very high level for quite some time now. Physically he is tiring and his magical resources are nowhere near full strength. Reaching the tower, breaching the tower and this new very complex illusion are pushing him close to his limits. Ordinarily a creature like Nanashi, even though she could tear him to pieces in about 5 seconds, is not a significant threat to him – especially when she is unaware of what she faces in him. With his full repertoire at his disposal he could very likely, and without doing any physical damage, completely shut her down psychically and emotionally, perhaps even kill her outright. He does not, however, have his full repertoire available here.

At the present moment, Joseph is completely locked into to what he is doing – he is not worried about Nanashi as a physical danger, nor is he even giving a thought to the effect of what he is doing upon Larry. He is only concerned with producing an excellent and completely convincing semblance of reality. His art must be done as flawlessly as possible and nothing else really matters to him when he starts casting in this way. While he can, and most certainly will, take an attempt to help Larry into account in his maintenance of the illusion here, he will do nothing more to directly help him – he will not break a spell of this quality and difficulty inelegantly or prematurely to stop Larry from bleeding to death.

[Morgeruat]

Heh, one of the great things about 1st ed spellcasters, they all had their own benefits (regular mages had straight power and 2 additional levels of spells to choose from, clerics had healing and some pretty good offensive power, druids had less healing, but rocked in nature, all of which was a bit diluted by 2nd ed, and further stripped away in 3E)

[Larry_OHF]

It is past Vincent's turn to post for his team, and I suggest we give him a little time to catch up. It could save Yevaud's life. Anarrima knows that she cannot get done in time. She needs a little time spared.

[TAOWolf]

due to circumstances beyond my control.. lol
I will be putting my post up tomorrow if that's okay, Larry..

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by TAOWolf: due to circumstances beyond my control.. lol I will be putting my post up tomorrow if that's okay, Larry..

Now, for every day you are late, a wolf puppy dies.

[Morgeruat]

ouch, the modding mage is truly a despicable person. Naughty Naughty mage.

[TAOWolf]

You will pay for every wolf you take.
Twice for the young ones.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by TAOWolf: You will pay for every wolf you take. Twice for the young ones.

If it means keeping you active and on the hunt, its worth it.

Now...what should I do to the others that are slack in posting? Hmmm,,,maybe Marcos would like to have his nards removed by one of the clerics for use in a spell component...

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Ah man! I wanted to kill the next unsuspecting victim!

O well, looks like I'll just have to do the next best thing then......

[ 11-21-2005, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: Cyril Darkcloud ]