Tales of the Legacy - Concluded

[Delemental]

They would indeed. And so would items or spells that would increase the chances of the spells actually working. I've reread that chapter, and noticed that Meeranda resisted pretty much every spell that was thrown at her. That's another thing I really hate about some BBEGs - you can never seem to hit them with your spells, while theirs hit nearly every time, making spellcasting PCs feel pretty much impotent.

Well, to be accurate, Meeranda was resisting all of the spells that Lanara was throwing at her, most of which were coming out of wands or other magic items with a fairly low caster level (Lanara has an eclectic collection of such items, though she is currently working on clearing out some of the less powerful items in exchange for fewer, but more potent ones). In the case of spells that Lanara was casting herself, well, the majority of the bardic spell list involves Will saves, not the easiest thing to use against a psion.

Kyle himself never got a spell off on Meeranda, thanks to her teleporting antics and battering him down so quickly. She was throwing out three powers a round (thanks to Quicken Power and the schism power), not to mention a swift action dimension door type effect. It didn't help that I rolled a one for Kyle's save against psychic crush and one of the other powers she used. It's the hazard of playing a wizard who never quite got the hang of 'stay in the back'.

No one else really had a chance to target Meeranda, except at the very end when she was already making moves to escape.

The truth is, she was ready for us. Not terribly surprising, since the Legacy is fairly well known and so it's hard to hide our capabilities. And we did find the abjurer's spellbook, which included the spell portal alarm, so Meeranda knew when we came through the portal and had plenty of time to prep.

 

[Sinewgrab]

Damn. A defeat. Well, most people might call it a victory, but when the BBEG gets away, it always counts as a defeat in my eyes. I'd recommend loading up on spells to prevent that.

Plus, I absolutely cannot stand arrogance and condescending smirks on the villain's part. There is no surer way to make me angry and hunt down a villain, no matter what. It's a good thing I'm not playing in this campaign, or after this battle I'd be tunnel-vision locked on Meeranda's annihilation (preferably preceded by copious amounts of fear and pain), and damn the invasion.

If Meeranda doesn't die in an upcoming chapter, I'll be sorely disappointed.

So will Tolly. Not only is she anathema, but she also threatened his (shouldabeen) girl and laid a whuppin' on his best friend.

And she smelled like old cheese.

 

[Krafus]

Good, good. I hope the party is laying down plans to track down the bitch, make her stay in place once they've found her, and make her pay every condescending smirk tenfold.

 

[Sinewgrab]

They would indeed. And so would items or spells that would increase the chances of the spells actually working. I've reread that chapter, and noticed that Meeranda resisted pretty much every spell that was thrown at her. That's another thing I really hate about some BBEGs - you can never seem to hit them with your spells, while theirs hit nearly every time, making spellcasting PCs feel pretty much impotent.

That why I have a tendency to wade in with Tolly. Resisting the blow of the maul is much harder than resisting a dispel evil, or flame strike. Part of our discussion was my admission that I was not serving the clerical role very well, and an in-character admission that Ardara's shepherd was killing sheep to get the wolves, and was going to try not to do that anymore. So, ladies and gents, no more earthquakes in the ghettoes...(sing it with me in the ghetto!

Ahem. Sorry.

 

[Sinewgrab]

Good, good. I hope the party is laying down plans to track down the bitch, make her stay in place once they've found her, and make her pay every condescending smirk tenfold.

Oh yes. We wish to replace condescending smirk with descending hammer blow in triplicate.

And I want to take a moment to thank the various posters in this thread for posting--Delemental knows that the party has his back in his writing, but getting someone not involved in the group to come forward and say "hey, this is well done" has done wonders for his ego--and more importantly, kept him writing. I tend to belabor things and get high-handed when I write, so it is nice to see him keep a level tone that is easy to read yet not childish. Kinda Feist-ish, maybe a bit Eddings-ish. I tend towards Tolkien, Carey, or other 'high' fantasy writers.

Good job, man.

 

[Krafus]

Well, he's succeeded at attracting me as a reader. I don't post at every update - sometimes I don't notice the thread among the others, at other times I just don't want to come out of lurker mode - but about once a week I make an effort to track it down and see if there's updates, and whether the update has something I'd like to comment on. I also like the metagaming explanations - like the one Delemental just gave about why Kyle hadn't slapped Meeranda with a dimensional anchor or similar spell. (Btw, considering the number of psionic powers the bitch apparently has on her, has the party considered having several characters hitting her with dispels so at least one gets through?)

Oh, and I also like violence and sex. One thing I look for in story hours is at least acknowledgement of the latter - I've really had enough of fantasy authors who give readers blood and gore by the wagonful but shy away from mentions of sex (David Eddings, I'm looking at you). Thus, Lanara is a draw for me. (And, probably to the surprise of no one, George R.R. Martin is my favorite author.)

 

[Sinewgrab]

Well, he's succeeded at attracting me as a reader. I don't post at every update - sometimes I don't notice the thread among the others, at other times I just don't want to come out of lurker mode - but about once a week I make an effort to track it down and see if there's updates, and whether the update has something I'd like to comment on. I also like the metagaming explanations - like the one Delemental just gave about why Kyle hadn't slapped Meeranda with a dimensional anchor or similar spell. (Btw, considering the number of psionic powers the bitch apparently has on her, has the party considered having several characters hitting her with dispels so at least one gets through?)

Oh, and I also like violence and sex. One thing I look for in story hours is at least acknowledgement of the latter - I've really had enough of fantasy authors who give readers blood and gore by the wagonful but shy away from mentions of sex (David Eddings, I'm looking at you). Thus, Lanara is a draw for me. (And, probably to the surprise of no one, George R.R. Martin is my favorite author.)

Dispels won't work. Our GM uses a modified slightly psionics is different . Magical dispels don't work on psionics, and vice versa.

And Lanara brings all the boys to the yard. Heh.
Actually, I should be careful--that is, after all, my own dear wife's character.

 

[Pyske]

Kyle himself never got a spell off on Meeranda, thanks to her teleporting antics and battering him down so quickly. She was throwing out three powers a round (thanks to Quicken Power and the schism power), not to mention a swift action dimension door type effect. It didn't help that I rolled a one for Kyle's save against psychic crush and one of the other powers she used. It's the hazard of playing a wizard who never quite got the hang of 'stay in the back'.

I'm always a bit confused about the utility of Quicken Power. It's a full round action to gain psionic focus, and quicken expends the focus... so doesn't that make Quicken Power something of a one-shot deal? Have I overlooked something?

 

[Delemental]

Dispels won't work. Our GM uses a modified slightly psionics is different . Magical dispels don't work on psionics, and vice versa.

And Lanara brings all the boys to the yard. Heh.
Actually, I should be careful--that is, after all, my own dear wife's character.

Yeah, in this setting magic and psionics are incompatible. It would actually be impossible for Kyle to take levels in a psionic class, just as Meeranda couldn't take levels in sorcerer.

And Lanara's player would be quick to point out that she is an opportunist, not a slut.

 

[Delemental]

I'm always a bit confused about the utility of Quicken Power. It's a full round action to gain psionic focus, and quicken expends the focus... so doesn't that make Quicken Power something of a one-shot deal? Have I overlooked something?

Not quite one-shot, but the focus does put a limit on Quicken Power. There are ways to get around it; the Psicrystal Containment feat lets your psicrystal hold a focus for you, there are other abilities that let you regain focus faster, etc. And you can attempt to regain focus in combat, you just lose a round of actions and you have to watch out for AoO's.