[DnD] Let's Cast Magic Missile!

I don't even know what skill you would properly roll on to guess if the creepy noise approaching you is an ambush. Yeah, you can roll perception but that just tells you that, yeah, there's a noise, and it's comin' this way. No amount of perception is going to allow to to guess what the noise intends. It's all down to your own personal intuition, which is more of a roleplaying thing than something you can actually skillcheck. Insight has... nothing to do with... sigh.

What is it with you people and not understanding what Insight is for. Social interactions and identifying illusions. Okay? That's it. Seeing through deceptions and determining the motives of other intelligent persons. And that's why it matters WHICH ONE YOU'RE ROLLING, because you'll look pretty dumb standing there aggressively Not Believing in something when you ought to be searching for traps.

But yeah there's both passive and active perception checks. Passive just tells them whatever their guys notice without really even trying, but an active check could conceivably roll higher and find out more if they're specifically paranoid or curious about something. Usually there's no reason to roll active perception unless you specifically have a reason to think something's up but your passive checks haven't picked it up.

For example Bob's passive perception would say "Bob's sharp ears hear something quietly scuttling overhead", but it would take an active check to actually spot the false ceiling tile that's about to fall down and drop scorpions on his head — because someone's made an effort to hide it.

(at any rate I wouldn't be enough of a dick to rule that an encounter that you heard approaching was a "surprise")

How ya doing, buddy?

You bet your britches I'm paranoid :O Especially of man-eating spiders.

K I edited the check to something that might sound plausible for perception.

FELIPE NO

Ah, that clarifies things somewhat. I remember an old DM when we used to play Rifts would roll dice in private a lot. Makes you fucking paranoid after a while.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Pang holy fuck Carcosa. Fantastic.

Most amazing jew boots

For fuck's sake, Zerg.

Hide behind me one more time and I'm lighting your horse on fire.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Pangalin

What is it with you people and not understanding what Insight is for. Social interactions and identifying illusions. Okay? That's it. Seeing through deceptions and determining the motives of other intelligent persons. And that's why it matters WHICH ONE YOU'RE ROLLING, because you'll look pretty dumb standing there aggressively Not Believing in something when you ought to be searching for traps.

So then is it possible for a PC to do a preliminary insight roll as I did with the adventurers back in the underdark, or does something have to be said first for you to roll on it?

(I was thinking that perhaps a situation might be enough to raise suspicion and cause an insight roll on an NPC, rather than the words they say. Like the mage in the cave maze. Just out of the ordinary circumstances that lead a PC to believe a conversation is strange somehow)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I don't think passive insight perception is something you roll, it's something that an enemy's stealth check would have to beat. Like armor, but for sneakiness.

EDIT: Also Pang, is it even possible for the G-Unit to call in the favor from the criminal syndicate? I didn't think anyone from that adventure was left, and i find it highly unlikely that said criminal syndicate is going to believe a bunch of random adventurers saying that the syndicate owed their predecessors, most of whom have disappeared to the mists of time, a favor and they've come to collect.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, arguably if the situation is strange enough that you think what you're seeing might be an illusion that would be an Insight check, yeah. But if you just think it's suspicious in a mundane way then you'd just use Perception to look around for anything incriminating.

Stealth is also opposed by Perception and not Insight. I know I'm making Insight seem kind of useless here but at least it comes in handy more often than Streetwise

The favor is actually owed TO the syndicate BY the Horde, but either way as you say the Horde no longer really exists and as such that plot thread is pretty much snipped (unless I wanted to do a subplot about Argumentus' farm being hassled for protection money or something).

I was speaking idiomatically.

I suspect the Argumentus plot thread would only work so long as Garrmondo remains in the party. The rest wouldn't know Mr. Hamfist from Adam.

In a similar vein of in-game knowledge, I'm still a bit puzzled why Glock would find Gabe's cousin "awfully familiar", but I digress...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

People can know each other for reasons other than having been in the same party, you know. It's not like any of you have backstories so complete that I can't embellish them a little.

Just a minor FYI: I'm going to be travelling from the 8th to the 13th, and while I'll probably be able to borrow some computer access I won't have access to any of my materials, so there will be a small hiccup there. Not that much ever happens in the space of 5 days in this game but I thought I should mention it.

FELIPE NO

The only small hiccups should be from you attending drink on.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

The only small hiccups should be from you attending drink on.

Unless Pang is an ESL-level drunk there is no way one night of debauchery on the 5th will make him too hung over to travel on the 8th.

BE ON

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Blimey, it's taken those snakes four days to get round the corner. They must be massive for you to have heard them coming from that distance and by the time Pang gets his computer back it'll have been nine. Biggest. Snakes. Ever.

How ya doing, buddy?

Nah, The entire party's probably annihilated already. Pang's prolly too drunk or busy to create five new characters and have them meet in a pub, is all.

Judging by the Lovecraftian horror theme of this adventure's title, I'd say snakes are the least of our worries. Totally hoping we're not up against a bunch of mind-flayers.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've been long wondering how it's like to play on the DM's side of the screen. Since the current campaign is on hold, I'm wondering if any interest exists for a quick Dungeon Delve. I don't have the experience or capacity to run a campaign, quick or not (I have problems with characterization, and cannot "speak" in different voices the same way Pang effortlessly does.) But I think I can manage three to five encounters, trying my best to kill the players

Sooo, who wants to get murdered? I'm thinking five level-two players, prioritizing those people who have not gotten the chance to play on Pang's games yet. Absolute minimum is for you to pick a race and tell me which of the following roles you want to play:

1. Defender - you're the "tank" of the group, and your job is to stick to the enemies so they can't hurt your more squishy friends. Indicative classes: Fighter, Paladin, Swordmage, Warden
2. Leader - you generally don't have high damage output, but exist to augment your allies' power through healing or buffs, and weaken your enemies through debuffs. Indicative classes: Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Shaman, Warlord.
3. Striker - your role is to deal as much damage as you possibly can to a single enemy at a time. Indicative classes: Assassin, Avenger, Barbarian, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock.
4. Controller - the battlefield is your playground, your powers let you manipulate the situation to give maximum benefit to your allies. Indicative classes: Druid, Invoker, Psion, Seeker, Wizard.

Alternatively, pick a race and a class (refer to the first post of this thread for the complete list). If you wish, you can also (un)optimize your character to your heart's extent.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Zerg, Zerg, Zerg. Will you never learn that the game is infinitely more fun with an unbalanced party? All this roles nonsense is the ties that bind you, slip your bonds and embrace the joy of being silly for the sake of it. Even better than a party of "Controller" classes, is a party of wizards with no elemental or status effect powers, or a party of Fighters with low hp and not wearing armour.

I sugest you jog on your idea for people to give you a race and class and just create five gnome monks more or less at random, make up some crap about a pilgrimage gone wrong and dump them at the entrance to a cavern leading to the shrine that just happens to be rammed with monsters. Quicker to set up and probably funnier in the long run.

And if you don't get five people who've never played to sign up for that, I'll take a slot. If you insist on playing "properly", I'll take a fifth slot if you don't get five non-players, as a gnome monk but don't give me any healing powers.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Now now Shin, I'm not saying that there has to be at least one of each role in the Delve. If the people want to make a bunch of helpless gnome monks, who am I to stand in the way of their demise? If they want to make a team of five ranged archers who can annihilate the opposition, who am I to bar them from their glory?

I was actually thinking of asking experienced players to come and play the monsters. Play to kill the party, that is...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Oh ok, sorry. I thought you were auditioning for one of each type. I still think you'd be better off pre-rolling though if you want a quick game and a group of gnome monks would be funny. How about Orc wizards? A group of pacifist scholars who are mistaken for a raiding party by a local militia and have to fight their way to safety? Rather than have a fixed number of fights, you could do it battle arena style, with each fight harder than the last to see which group can survive the longest. That way you might get to throw in some really tough monsters. Have each group of bad guys carry a health potion for each player and one random magic item to boost the team each round but also start adding things that cause poison or other annoying status effects.

I reckon that'd be good fun anyway and saves on you needing to characterise the monsters or come up with any sort of story.

FELIPE NO

You know, the Arena scenario appeals to my roll-playing sensibilities. Thank you for your excellent suggestion!

Arena combat it shall be!

Any volunteers?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Depending on how many interested people you get, you might want to reduce the party size, ramp up the difficulty and make it a competition, see who's party of two or three can survive the longest. Pre-publish the set lists so people can judge whether to take a couple of fighters to breeze through the early rounds but struggle against later things you might need magic to kill or take a couple of warlocks to beat the higher round but risk getting killed early on. Teams of two would certainly lead to some interesting tactical choices, although would limit the participants if one team proved successful and hard to kill.

Just some thoughts of course.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'd be willing to join, as long as it doesn't kick me from the queue to Pang's game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't see why it should, although admittedly the decision is solely Pang's to make.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm pretty sure Pang won't care at all and it's not like the queue moves that fast. Provided you can knock out posts slightly quicker than Acer you should be fine.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS ANNOYING

HAVING TO DOUBLE THE SIZE OF YOUR BATTLEMAP BECAUSE ZERG PULLS AS FAR AWAY FROM THE ACTION AS POSSIBLE

THAT IS WHAT IS ANNOYING

How ya doing, buddy?

ZERG IF YOU'RE GOING TO METAGAME DON'T MAKE IT SO OBVIOUS

PUT THE COMPENDIUM DOWN AND SLOWLY BACK AWAY

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?