Out-of-character thread for The Evening Lamp PbP game.
Current players are:
Edited by Blackbird888
So I decided to go ahead and pick up the Shock Gloves for now, since I don't have the Precision Strike talents yet. And while I do have Iron Body, the only part I wouldn't benefit from is the reduced crit. But I'd rather add the extra strain damage to my brawl attacks for now, which is easier to trigger than a crit anyway. Basically it gives me an actual "+damage" aspect to the weapon, in a sense.
Player Character Reference:
http://swsheets.com/c/bbshkafuw-fujiwara-takane @Absol197
http://swsheets.com/c/dhh3crshq-chadrik-peldon @SebastianArrow
http://swsheets.com/c/5vyzt110a-kamoa-vehe @KungFuFerret
http://swsheets.com/c/d5ci3thkj-bralane @Magnus Arcanus
http://swsheets.com/c/y5lkkoqbo-kestrel-kai--sa @Edgehawk
http://swsheets.com/c/mcccdmumc-zik-adid-yati @SavageBob
Edited by Edgehawk
@Blackbird888, a couple questions about the Mentor: Is it OK if we go ahead and account for the Mentor in our character stats? From what I understand, as a group resource, a Mentor reduces the cost to buy the basic form of all Force powers by 5 points after character creation.
Second, I've been trying to brainstorm how our characters might know each other through the Mentor, but I don't want to step on your toes as GM. Do you want to handle this story aspect, or is a conversation about this type of thing among us players productive?
Player discussion would be productive. I'll double check about the discounts when I get a chance.
Any specific rules on attachments and modifications to equipment as long as it stays under the credit limits (9K for weapon, 2K for armor, and non-restricted)?
Nothing in particular except what I outlined. No mods, though.
1 hour ago, SavageBob said:@Blackbird888, a couple questions about the Mentor: Is it OK if we go ahead and account for the Mentor in our character stats? From what I understand, as a group resource, a Mentor reduces the cost to buy the basic form of all Force powers by 5 points after character creation.
Second, I've been trying to brainstorm how our characters might know each other through the Mentor, but I don't want to step on your toes as GM. Do you want to handle this story aspect, or is a conversation about this type of thing among us players productive?
Well, one way we could have some kind of connection through the mentor, is that we all met him/her on some other planet, at a different time. Perhaps they showed up and helped us in a situation, coming out of nowhere to lend a hand. Then cryptically saying something like "I have need of one like you" or "If you're looking for work, I have a job that could benefit from your talents on Garuu." And then we all show up on Garuu, per the Mentor's instructions, to find ourselves in this Evening Lamp tavern. Then the Mentor shows up and is like "Good! You're all here!"
Also GM, I made on final tweak to my Shock Gloves. Since I was sitting on a giant stack of credits I had nothing to spend it on, I decided to buy the Superior Quality attachment. It gives the weapon +1 dmg, so it's actually got a bonus now, plus it generates 1 advantage on each attack roll, making it even more likely I can trigger the stun. I finally found something to spend the majority of my Knight Level credits on! Yay! That cool with you?
Edited by KungFuFerret13 hours ago, Blackbird888 said:Out-of-character thread for The Evening Lamp PbP game.
Current players are:
- @Absol197, playing Takane, Mystic (link pending)
- @SebastianArrow, playing Chadrik Peldon, Sentinel
- @KungFuFerret, playing Kamoa Vehe, Guardian
- @Magnus Arcanus, playing Bralane, Warrior (link pending)
- @Edgehawk, playing Kestral Kai, Seeker
- @SavageBob, playing Zik Adid-Yati, Consular
Link for Bralane:
http://swsheets.com/c/d5ci3thkj-bralane
Edited by Magnus Arcanus16 hours ago, SavageBob said:Perhaps, à la Obi-Wan, Obreen sent one final telepathic Force message to Bralane: "Go to Garuu... Find [the Mentor]..."
(Again, just brainstorming.)
I am going to (more or less) take this idea and run with it. Bralane comes to Garuu at the behest of a vision from her former teacher. I am open to having met (or not met) anyone else in the party before arriving at the Evening Lamp.
Here is Takane's backstory, and a link!
Takane was born in the Core, to a moderately wealthy family just before the rise of the Emperor. She doesn't recall the name of the planet of her birth, only that it was one with a long history of human colonization, and one where their traditional values and practices were strong, despite the changes overtaking the Galaxy.
She doesn't remember, however, because of a battle between the then-Republic forces and Seperatist forces took place above the city when she was four, and debris, stray laser blasts, and the marching armies devastated the city below. Many families suffered heavy losses, but few homes were hit quite as hard as the Fujiwara compound. Both her parents, her older brother, and her elderly grandmother were all killed, along with most of the droids and staff. Only a lone butler remained to get her to safety.
When the battle was done and the last destroyer had jumped to hyperspace, the two armies leaving those in the ruins below to fend for themselves, their butler placed a call to Takane's grandfather, now her only living relative. She was not happy about being placed in the man's custody: her father had disagreed vehemently with the old man and he had left, disgraced of the family, for another world.
When she first went to Antar 4, the homeworld of the gotals, young Takane was an angry girl. The luxury she was accustomed to left behind, her family dead, and her guardian the one man she knew she hated. The high gravity and extreme environment of Antar 4 did not do much to help her. But her grandfather was not harsh, although nor was he soft. He took her rages in stride, and slowly taught her the virtues of hard work, discipline, and most importantly, honor. And when she was ready, she was given a sword.
From twelve, she trained in the martial arts, focusing on the traditional curved blades of her heritage, honing her body and mind. As she trained, often while meditating, she sometimes felt a deep connection, like she was floating in a vast ocean, the tides pushing and pulling her in different directions.
Eventually, however, her grandfather, already an elderly man, took ill, and there was nothing the local doctors could do. It was a local infection that humans were not biologically equipped to endure. On his deathbed, Takane's grandfather bade her two things: take his sword as her own, and to go out into the Galaxy to find her destiny. As a starting point, he bade her to find and old friend of his on Garuu, who could help her along her path. So she left, going off-world for the first time since she had come, looking for something she knew not what. But that ancient and infinite tide pushed her forward...
1 hour ago, Magnus Arcanus said:Link for Bralane:
How do you pronounce that, by the way?
45 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:How do you pronounce that, by the way?
Brah-LANE
So, depending on how we're planning to run the moment of meeting, I can see a couple of things happening. If we're gonna play it out, then Takane can see the street toughs "bothering" Zik and step in to help the "defenseless beggar," as her honor demands that she do, and they could meet that way, and it could be the way she meets the mentor (assuming the benefactor mentioned is our mentor 
) and Zik.
Bralane's pull of the Force is vague enough that it seems she'll be fairly easy to fit in, as she's likely to listen to it if it tells her to go with these weird people . Otherwise, if we're not planning on playing out our meeting and just saying we've all already met, this could be a background event that happened, which brought Zik, Bralane, and Takame together. The others I don't have quite the feel for. Although I'll admit that Takame will not quite know what to say about the talking archaeopteryx 
!
A reason for the mentor to be on Garuu could help a lot.
I'll describe what I envision the planet is like:
Located in a far-flung system bordering Wild Space, Garuu is an isolated and insignificant world compared to the rest of the galaxy. The planet has abundant water and vegetation, though no native sentient species and a relatively tame selection of local fauna--native ones, at least. Geographically, the northern hemisphere contains the largest continents, while the southern contains the largest oceans and numerous archipelagos. The planet remains relatively cool year round, especially in the north. Compared to worlds such as Chandrila and Alderaan, summer on Garuu only every approaches a warm spring. Densely forested mountain ranges and steep, verdant valleys dominate the northern continents, while the southern lands enjoy a much more varied ecosystem.
Colonized hundreds of years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, the first wave of colonists were mainly Corellians and Duros. The first major city and only starport established is Garuu City, located on a large island in the southern hemisphere. Despite the seas being rich in life and ideal for seafood farming (in fact, seafood is still Garuu's primary export), the northern lands were found too adverse to properly turn into arable or pastoral land, and the weather was just cool and wet enough to prevent much development. Numerous other migrant species found their way to Garuu, including Ithorians, Twi'leks, Togrutas, and Arcona.
Technology levels drop the further from Garuu City one travels. Some groups who colonized the planet found this desirable--in particular, the Ithorian herd that settled. The planet has a diverse culture of many parts, but the planet has no true centralized government, and was never a part of the Republic. The Imperial Governor that resides on the planet now is centralized in Garuu City, and shows little care or concern for the planet outside of the seafood exports; otherwise, the Empire takes only a passing interest in the planet.
Rumors abide that the Jedi Order or another Force-using organization established an enclave on the planet, though there is nothing definite. Some Force adepts, particularly the Force-sensitive Ithorian nature priests, find the more remote parts of the planet brimming with the Living Force.
Ooh! I like this planet!
So, a reason why Takane's Grandfather could have sent her to the mentor is because he knew the mentor is a Force-user, and could tell that she might be, too. He obviously wouldn't have told her, what with the Empire and everything, but could have sent her here to train with him. In that case, the mentor could be here either investigating the rumors of the Jedi/other Force tradition relics, or could just have come here because it's a planet that's fairly strong in the Force.
One idea for Chadrik is that he could have known the mentor during his time at the Jedi Temple. That might mean changing the mentor for Blackbird a bit. It's just an idea that I thought I would throw out there. I don't know how long the characters have been on the planet or if they just got here. I know Zik has been here for a few months at least. Maybe Zik felt some "force vibes" from Chadrik and informs the mentor. Or the mentor felt it himself and has been an employer of the good Rodian. Whichever fits into Blackbird's vision of the mentor.
So I am thinking of tweaking my backstory a bit, and having my teacher, Obreen, originally be from Garuu (her reasons for leaving she would never discuss). Instead of Bralane's journey to Garuu being 'the random will of the Force', it was instead the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" moment that SavageBob suggested, where a force ghost of Obreen (or whatever) told Bralene she needs to travel to Garuu to complete her training. So after escaping the blockade of the ghetto, she booked passage on the Sunbeam Sentinel for Garuu.
There is no timeframe necessarily associated with all of this; Bralane could easily have been on Garuu for the last few weeks or even months if that works for the story.
As for this:
1 hour ago, Absol197 said:If we're gonna play it out, then Takane can see the street toughs "bothering" Zik and step in to help the "defenseless beggar," as her honor demands that she do, and they could meet that way, and it could be the way she meets the mentor (assuming the benefactor mentioned is our mentor
Bralane would definitely come to the aid of anyone who is getting set upon by thugs. I don't want to steal Absol's thunder here, so its also fine for me to stay out of it.
47 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:A reason for the mentor to be on Garuu could help a lot.
Well the Mentor doesn't have to actually be with the party, in fact the book strongly urges them to be "busy" with other things for as much time as possible, allowing the players freedom to do as they see fit. So if you are having trouble working the Mentor into your plot device for why we are here, and why he is also here, you could have him be offplanet, and he just told us all to go here. I mean you said we were hired for a job. I got the impression that we were already contacted for this job prior to beginning of play. If that is the case, then he's the guy that got us all in line for this job. He basically said "Go to this planet and meet here. There is a job for you" Or similar plot hook.
Were we previously contacted for the job, prior to beginning of play?
Getting hired happens during the story. You've come to the planet for unconnected reasons.
I think it would work if the group (individually or otherwise) got a message to meet the mentor somewhere on the planet (you weren't given coordinates, just a general idea). The adventure would start somewhere after you've met and are on the way to where you think your mentor is.
And I also checked the mentor privileges: you get a discount on one Force power. It should also only be with starting XP only, but I'll ignore that.
30 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:And I also checked the mentor privileges: you get a discount on one Force power. It should also only be with starting XP only, but I'll ignore that.
It's only the discount when buying the basic version of the power, the write up doesn't say anything about it being a 1 time thing.
Well, it says a Force power, but I guess it just depends on how you read it.
I'm probably leaning more towards the mentor being someone Chadrik knew from his time in the Jedi Temple if that's all right. Suddenly hearing about him and searching for him.
11 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:Well, it says a Force power, but I guess it just depends on how you read it.
Well, looking at it comparatively, the mechanical bonus is supposed to be generally equivalent to that offered by a Holocron, right? They're presented as equal options. Narratively, both provide a chance to learn from someone about the Force (either your mentor or the gatekeeper in the Holocron) and a lead into potential adventures (the mentor asking favors, the Holocron telling you about lost relics or ruins), but mechanically, a Holocron makes two skills career skills.
Assuming that all the characters gain the full benefit from that, that results in a discount of 50 xp for all the characters in a party (Cost of each skill rank is -5 for two skills, and each skill has up to 5 ranks). If the mentor bonus only applies to one Force power's basic ability, the total discount is 5 xp per character. The mechanical benefit of a Mentor is considerably less. If, instead, the bonus applies to every Force power's basic power, the current benefit of a mentor is a 80 xp reduction. Larger than that of a Holocron, yes, but not off by nearly as much, both percentage-wise and absolute value-wise. And I'd argue that there is a much greater investment required to make full use of each individual Force power than to make full use of a skill.
You're the GM, though, so I'll of course defer to your interpretation. That's just my reasoning for why the devs might have meant it to be per Force power instead of a one-time benefit.
Edited by Absol197