Zad/Wizardru's Story Hour (*final update 11/12*)

[thatdarncat]

Go ahead... Rub it in... I was sick.

It's ok, I finally figured out who the narrator was ^^;;

 

[dravot]

Go ahead... Rub it in... I was sick.

No rubbing it in, or gloating. Just a statement of fact, my man. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Zad]

It's ok, I finally figured out who the narrator was ^^;;

Well I pretty much gave it to ya now didn't I?

More seriously, I have always intended it to become more and more obvious though without a direct statement. The thing that made me want to write on this explicitly is the telepathy - it's just *going* to come up, so I figured I had better establish it. At a minimum, we have a way over a language barrier, so I didn't want to address it when we got there but handle it now. Author mechanics, if you will.

So now that it's more obvious, I'm curious what y'all think of the concept of our narrator. I'll post later with my initial thinking that got me to it.

 

[Spatzimaus]

So now that it's more obvious, I'm curious what y'all think of the concept of our narrator. I'll post later with my initial thinking that got me to it.

From the game side, it's one of the things I've always liked about the psionic classes, and it was a smart choice for Elizabeth. Like you saw in this last strip, it can act as a scout, communications link, or hood ornament, while still providing a Feat-level stat boost. Plus, back in the Mind's Eye supplement there was a Feat that added all sorts of other fun bonuses to these; better movement modes, more defense, that sort of thing.

From the story side, it's nice because it gives you a narrator with a full intelligence that isn't the usual dispassionate third-person observer, but isn't one of the main characters. Some stories have used a Wizard's Familiar as a narrator, but inevitably they have to think of things in terms of the animal the Familiar was; this isn't a problem here. Of course, its personality will still be skewed a bit by its type, but that's relatively minor. (Plus, it's a lot harder to stuff a cat in your pocket when a fight starts, and cats don't have Hardness and the immunity to mind-affecting stuff.)

Speaking of which, which personality is it? I'd guess "Resolved" from the defiance comment (plus, it'd be an ideal choice for a PW), but you could have Improved it to add another bonus, like Meticulous.

 

[thatdarncat]

Well I pretty much gave it to ya now didn't I?

yeah, I'm dense some times

So now that it's more obvious, I'm curious what y'all think of the concept of our narrator. I'll post later with my initial thinking that got me to it.

I like, it was a very smooth way to introduce the narrator.

The concept itself is neat, it avoids a lot of the narrator archtypes - it's not a disinterested narrator, it's not one of the characters, it's not a storyteller...

 

[Zad]

You hit it pretty good TDC. When "designing" the story hour for this campaign I faced a question - first person or third person. I really felt I had "done" first person pretty thoroughly in the prior story hour - it added a great slant and it was good. But it also has some limitations and mostly I wanted to try something different here. I thought about third person generic but I thought that would be dull - it offered no opportunity for any real flavor for events.

I briefly toyed with the idea of some unseen presence following the group. It would be a bit of a strain on "reality" though and didn't quite sit right - like some silent order that watches goings-on. Just wasn't working for me. Plus he couldn't interact with the party.

Now the characters weren't even firmed up, but I eventually converged on Elizabeth, and then it just clicked. - a narrator who could be lots of places, who had a point of view and yet some level of detachment, and I could even generate a little mystery about who it was. And so it went.

Spatzimaus I also have to agree with - it was win/win. I gave up a feat to get the benefits of a feat plus more. It's had some benefits where I handed it off to Astrid, allowing some covert communication between the girls. Frankly I think they handled them better than familiars - smaller benefits but smaller risks and less maintenance. Interestingly, in actual game play, it's barely been mentioned. And you are correct on "Resolved" - it was a natural choice. I originally toyed with injecting more of that personality into the narration, but I realized it would skew the story hour too far, and so left it with a more balanced feel. I have not added other elements, although I have taken the feat to allow it to hold an extra psionic focus for me.

I'm glad you find both the concept and the discovery amusing. Dravot and I liked it a lot and I was hoping y'all would too.

 

[thatdarncat]

While we're on the topic, how are you finding the 3.5 psionics rules? I've yet to build a psion character but I'm seriously considering it next time we start a low level campaign.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Resolved is probably the best choice for a PW, since there's not a Reflex-boosting choice, although in 3.5E the fact that their casting keys off WIS helps keep Will from being too weak. My PW picked Resolved as well (and later added Meticulous with a Feat), which is why that was my first guess. My Psion went with Artiste; he loved using fabricate on any random object he could find to turn it into something more artistic (like statues of various people he knew), and after he went Constructor the DM allowed me to use Craft checks to make the constructs look more distinctive.

 

[Zad]

While we're on the topic, how are you finding the 3.5 psionics rules? I've yet to build a psion character but I'm seriously considering it next time we start a low level campaign.

Psionics is, for all intents and purposes, a mana-based magic system. You could, if you were so inclined, just label it "magic" and it's how magic works in your world and go. And it's a pretty good system imho. 3.0 was reasonable, but the polish added in 3.5 definitely improves the play. The idea of augmenting powers is excellent and keeps low level powers as viable choices as you go into higher levels.

That said, we're only 5 levels in, and the psi warrior isn't exactly a powerhouse. Force Screen has been my bread and butter and the ac boost is invaluable. So far I've gravitated towards buff-type powers that enhance my survivability and it definitely makes a difference in the abuse I take vs Astrid (which is good since I have fewer hit points). Downside is of course I need to prep - most of these buffs are very short duration.

I've had an itch to try a psi warrior and a psion for a while. Aethramyr has a psion in a campaign we've played a few times but again, is low level. I've got a soulknife in the same campaign but you can hardly call that the same thing. Maybe next opportunity I'll try a psion and really stretch its legs.

(I should also note I had a psion/constructor in a game Grimm ran but it was under 3.0 and astral constructs were oh-my-god powerful. It took time for him to spin up, but he could fill the field with disposable troops. Plus they had other uses. "Hey look, a trap. Should I disarm it? Nah send in a construct." I was glad they nerfed that a bit.

So overall I think they work well.

 

[thatdarncat]

Cool. We've had one psion in my current campaign so far, but I didn't want to judge the all psions based off of one min-maxed mobile artillery character.