-OOC- thread for LOF: Awakenings

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Elif Godson: Forgive my MIA status, have had some issue's this past month or so, hopefully the road is going to smooth. I'll catch up and see what I can do.

What a surprise! I am glad to see you back! We need a good, sneaky archer/rogue.

[ 02-24-2007, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Cyril Darkcloud]

DM's Note: Given the the amount of time that has passed for the two groups to observe one another the level difference between Ana and everyone else should be becoming rather clear to all but the most obtuse of characters -- the deference of the members of her group to her as well as the quality of her equipment and the quiet assurance in her bearing at some point need to be noted.

Similarly, she should readily be able to ascertain the approximate experience levels of both Xaver and Pandaros.

[Kazilan]

How does Ana know Xaver and Pandaros' experience levels? It sort of belittles our characters if she magically knows all about us right from the start.

Maybe I'm just misunderstanding her role - Is Ana a super-unstoppable DM character, or a pc that Larry is controlling? As far as I know at this point, she is capable of casting two low level cleric spells, and thats it.

[Elif Godson]

Oh no, she has the touch, experience out weigths a lot here, basically it is like going into the service, you can tell those who have been in it compared to the fng fresh out of school.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Kazilan: How does Ana know Xaver and Pandaros' experience levels? It sort of belittles our characters if she magically knows all about us right from the start. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding her role - Is Ana a super-unstoppable DM character, or a pc that Larry is controlling? As far as I know at this point, she is capable of casting two low level cleric spells, and thats it.

Anarrima is not an unstoppable character, and is subject to die just as easily as any other character. She is here to help the game progress and heal characters as needed.

Much as Elif said, you can tell from being around her that she has seen her share of troubles in life.

Also, and this came from Cyril when I was asking the same question as you, it is quite apparent that the armor and weapons that Ana's party has is of higher quality and cost than the gear of Pandaros and Xaver...by far. You have no idea what is magical and what is not, but the dwarf at least would see a difference in the weaponry, such as Yevaud's blades. They're not your average-cost weapons.

Does that help put it into perspective?

I'll have an Ana post ready tonight.

[Kazilan]

Thanks for the explanation, I see what you mean. I guess after reading Cyril's post I was worried that Pandaros (and Xaver) were going to be rendered insignificant by the other group. I've played in some pen and paper games where an almighty wizard or super powered warrior take over and make the rest of the players somewhat useless.

[Cyril Darkcloud]

That's an understandable concern, Kazilan, and it is certainly not the intention here. It is rather an insistence that we simply take basic things our characters can learn about each other seriously. Pandaros and Xaver are also seasoned enough characters that should be able, given some time to observe things, to size up another group with reasonable accuracy. This has little to do with exact information about another character's precise level and abilities, so much as being able to determine with reasonable accuracy the ballpark in which one is playing so to speak.

In fact my post has less to do with what Ana is capable of than with the ability of Pandaros and Xaver to recognize a potentially difficult situation before it takes a surprising turn. And the converse ability of the other group to have a genuine sense of the degree of threat characters such as Xaver and Pandaros would typically represent.

Typically, unless there is significant reason to hold otherwise, we can assume that relatively seasoned characters should at least be able to distinguish without much difficulty the difference between low-level, mid-level and high-level characters as well as so called zero-level commoners. This is not infallible by any means and can lead to surprises - but on the whole it's just one of those things that comes with having accumulated a fair amount of experience.

In fact, depending on how their religious symbols are displayed it might well be the case that Xaver and Ana could recognize each other as priests. And while they may not know much about each other's religious tradition they might well be able to make reasonable inferences as to whether or not one or the other might have attained a relatively high rank or even what the general sphere of patronage the other's deity influences. Note how this, however, is do to taking their precisely clerical experience into account.

We don't need to be obsessive with this, but an occasional attentiveness to our character's experience levels for things other than combat or spellcasting or skill checks can add a bit of flavor to our RPing and allow us to develop them a bit more fully.

[TAOWolf]

WE are back from my mom's... I'll be online most of the afternoon and evening..

[Larry_OHF]

I added in my post of Ana that she had shown forth her holy symbol and spoke a simple blessing of good tidings, and this gave Pandaros and Xaver a good feel. It was not a spell, but the blessing still held some divine properties to it that made them feel a little better than they had. I did this to aid Xaver in realizing that Ana was all of who she said she was in relation to being a priestess for a good-aligned goddess.

[Larry_OHF]

Take a look at the top of the page at the new directory we have. It is a list of current games and some info on each.