JBRam2002

Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression

Maurice collapsed to the ground, panting heavily as he looked at the newcomers. "Looks like you saved our bacon," he muttered, handing his weapon towards Rikken. "If you guys hadn't shown up, we would have been goners for sure."

Rikken nodded as he reached down to help Julian to his feet. "You look familiar for some reason," he said, scratching the back of his head as he wracked his brain. "Wait... Cagle, right? You're the nerd that bust into my recruitment center a while back. How'd that go for ya?"

Julian brushed the dirt off his shirt as he stood up. "Lietenant now," he replied. "Noir, get us a tactical assessment of the area. Molly, check around for any magical equipment. Maybe see what that explosion did. Nyxia, please keep an eye out for more dropships. And Nadia... maybe you should stick close to me for now."

Rikken watched as Julian gave his orders, nodding thoughtfully. "Lieutenant, huh? You've come a long ways. But your squad... they have some interesting names. Where are they from, Bodhum?"

Julian squinted back at Rikken. "You realize the GC just tried to kill you, right? We should get moving before they send in PSICOM. There was a fal'Cie in that building, and PSICOM can't be far behind."

"We know," Maurice replied, his voice solemn. "Your little cuddly friend won't have to look far. Most of the soldiers here got turned into some kind of monster. We were able to take out most of em, but those Bombs were a handful."

Molly fluttered back as Maurice finished talking. "Cie'th, and I am not cuddly, kupo! There's a whole pack of Cie'th down that road around the corner. They're bad news. We need to fly!"

Julian nodded. "You two should come with us. You're on the run from Cocoon whether you like it or not. Once we're back at base, I'll explain everything we know."

"Sounds like a plan, Lieutenant," Rikken responded with a grin. He held out a small metallic band towards Julian. "Here, take this. You all will need it more than us. Before we go, I suggest checking out that crashed gunship over there. We cleared out a bunch of Cie'th from that ship before the bombs drove us back. There's gotta be something good in there."

>Party gains an Iron Bangle!

Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression

Primer: Synthesis and Weapon Effects

One of the more customizable aspects of the RP is the weaponry. In most combat RPs, you have a single weapon throughout tge RP. In keeping with the spirit of Final Fantasy XIII, each player has six weapons they can customize and upgrade. Everyone starts with their Balanced weapon and can later find or purchase 5 more. The 5 additional weapons each have a focus. One focuses on increased STR, another on increased MAG, and the last three in your primary roles. Your Balance weapon has good stats at the cost of having no additional weapon effect.

When you customize the weapons, you should consider the weapon's name, Synthesis ability, and Weapon Effect. The latter two are found on the Synthesis tab on the spreadsheet. There are two sets of info on the Synthesis tab. The left set are Syntheses and the right set are Weapon Effects.

Syntheses can be on weapons or accessories. The more accessories/weapons you have, the better the Synthesis outcome. For example, if you have Physical Wall on your weapon and you have an accessory with Physical Wall (such as the Power Wristband), you negate 5 points of physical damage on every hit. If you have three items with that Synth, you negate 10 points, etc. So if you have everything with the same Synthesis (4 accessories and one weapon), you negate 30 points from every physical attack. However, in order to get any bonus at all from Synthesis, you need at least one accessory that shares the same Synthesis.

Weapon effects are simpler. Only weapons can have these effects. Some of them are negative (Like leadenstrike - slows down your ATB charge rate). Most are positive (like Attack: ATB Charge - recharges part of an ATB slot whenever you hit an enemy). Nearly every ability on that list has a second tier that's stronger than the first. Leadenstrike is weaker than Ironstrike (although both are negative). Improved Raise is weaker than Improved Raise II, etc. You are only going to request the weaker option. Once you upgrade a weapon to Tier 2, you gain access to the stronger option.

So to simplify things, I would suggest completely ignoring any Synthesis that has Affinity or Duration in the name. Those are less than useful, but are included because some accessories have them. That limits you to 10 options to spread around to 5 weapons, and your base weapon already has High HP: Power Surge. I'd figure those out first, then decide on the Weapon Effects. For Weapon Effects, a lot of them are specifically for certain roles. For example, you won't get much mileage out of Improved Guard if you aren't a SEN. In addition, you cannot choose ATB+ for any Tier 1-2 weapon. That is only available on Tier 3 weapons, but automatically comes with your Tier 3 weapons.

I've mentioned Tiers for weapons a few times, so I should probably introduce the Weapon Upgrade system as well. This will come up later on in the RP, but once we get to camp, an NPC will be available to upgrade our weapons for us, as well as make other weapons with the other effects. Upgrades are progressively more expensive. Your first upgrade costs 5,000 gil and increases the stats of your Tier 1 weapon. The next upgrade is 10,000 gil, etc. Once your Tier 1 weapon is upgraded to level 10, you will be able to turn in a specific catalyst to upgrade your weapon to Tier 2. This catalyst will likely be the result of a quest, but it might be available in a store. The process continues until your Tier 2 weapon reaches lvl 20. At this point, you can get a Trapezohedron to upgrade your weapon to Tier 3. These are extremely rare and will require a very difficult quest to obtain one. Once you upgrade your weapon to Tier 3, you unlock your final ATB segment and are done upgrading that weapon. Upgrading weapons is extremely expensive, but also extremely rewarding. You can increase your stats a ton through weapon upgrades, but keep in mind that the group shares their gil and will likely want to upgrade everyone about equally.

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

We are waiting on me. I'm trying to get off work early because we are dead slow. If I don't I will have a post sometime after 1800 EST. no battle-yet. Anyone who has DMed on this site before, what do you find works best for combat? Trying to schedule it when a battle occurs or auto hitting for players not available?

@The Mighty Hero

There are two options I've seen used:

1) During combat, each person simply PMs (or writes in OOC) what their actions and rolls are. There's little flavor in this method, although a brief one-line description or a quote could be added. This is the fastest method, as people don't need to write up a full post, and thus take up potentially hours or days of downtime. The DM takes the actions and places all the info into a single DM Post (edited for new actions), then mentions when the next person is up (in OOC, since edits don't send a new mention).

2) Each person writes a full post during combat. This allows for a lot of creativity, but can get a bit annoying for those whose actions are almost always the same thing. It also takes longer, as each person has to write up a full post. Typically, waiting 48 hrs between turns is not uncommon with this method, which means a full round can take a week or longer.

For this RP, I'd recommend the former. It gets us into and through combat a lot faster. I definitely do NOT recommend trying to do anything live. There are far too many people and I know I would nearly always be unable to participate.

Also, @Cardamonelaw - My PC directly addressed yours before you would have left. Would you like to comment? Otherwise, you're going to be out of the RP for a fairly long time, if that PC ever really rejoins.

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

@The Mighty Herook, thanks for the clarity. I wasn't sure if you were treating the whole set as a single tool or if you assumed I smashed the thing with my case :P I'll buy a new lockpick in town to stock up, but those should be pretty cheap.

Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression

@ReaptheMusic We certainly do! Take a look through the OP and let me know if you have any questions. I know the mechanics are quite complicated, but my PM inbox is always open!

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

This fight could be going better, and Katia was pretty sure everyone knew it, with the possible exception of the gnome. Katia climbed down from her perch once the majority of the foes had been dispatched, moving behind the shadow that seemed focused on Thea. “Just like old times, eh, Cesar?” Katia called out as she leveled her quarterstaff at the base of her enemy’s enshadowed skull. “I couldn’t hit the broadside of a schooner back then, either!”

To punctuate her comment, she spun around with a roundhouse kick, hoping to finish off the foe, but it seemed it was ready for her this time. “Perhaps, Birbin, if you lack in spells, you can pay us back later with bourbon!” she cried out with glee as her kick was deflected by the enemy’s shield. “Or at least regale us with a story of how you came to be chased by so many foes.”

Mechanics

Katia Lei

Katia climbs down from the building and moves to flank opposite Cesar, gaining advantage on attacks..

Katia’s first attack is with her quarterstaff, two-handed: 24 (second roll was lower), hitting for 5 bludgeoning damage.

Katia’s second attack is an unarmed strike: 13 with advantage, but misses.

HP: 20/20. AC: 15. Ki: 1/3 (Recharge Short Rest).
Feline Agility: Available. Golden Surge: Available.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity - DM
@Gordian Nought - Wick (next)

Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression

Molly

SAB - RAV - MED

FF13-2 DLC

Age: ??
Gender: F
Place of birth: Gapra Whitewood, Cocoon.
Brand location: N/A

Description: Molly is a Moogle, one of a race of small fluffy white individuals with wings and pom poms. Molly's pom pom is a crystal which has imbued her with magical abilities. She is about 16 inches tall, and doesn't sit still long enough for people to weigh her. She has a penchant for dressing up in piratey outfits, and can hover a few feet off the ground. She could probably fly higher but is afraid of heights. She is most definitely NOT cute.

Backstory/Personality. Molly is not a l'Cie, but has come across the party and decided to assist. She began her existence in the Gapra Whitewood, a synthetic forest operated by the Sanctum to produce militarized versions of Pulse creatures. Molly harbors no ill-will towards either Pulse or Cocoon, but strongly dislikes the ongoing conflict. She would prefer everyone get along peacefully, but until that happens, she will do everything in her power to help her allies.

HP: 5. STR: 5. MAG: 2.

Weapon: Mog Blaster.

Squad Role: Arcane Expert. Molly studies ancient magic and can attempt to identify pretty much anything we come across.

Answer 1: N/A
Answer 2: DM Privileges

Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression

@alexfangtalon @Gordian Nought @DrDrMuDPhuD

I want to thank you three for your interest. All of you have asked me what roles would be recommended. I just want to get all on the same page. Currently we are fairly balanced in terms of roles. We have 1 fewer in SAB, SYN, and SEN than the other roles, but that doesn't greatly concern me since the other three are the "primary" ones necessary in every single battle (but all roles are important).

That said, we have the following plans:
Dr. Mud: COM, MED, SEN
Gordi: SAB SYN RAV - willing to drop SAB if needed
Alex: SAB ? ?

Another thing I've been watching for balance is the first role (affects your summon). We now have one for every role except MED, but we have two SAB primaries not including this trio. I would prefer if we don't gain two more SAB summons :P

One last thing to keep in mind: we will want to mix and match groups. Versatility is key in allowing groups to mix around. When I create a party, I will want all 6 roles covered. I would also like to see 2 of either RAV, MED, or COM to ensure we can take out enemies with haste. With that in mind, you three will not need to always be in the same group, so you don't necessarily have to balance your roles around each other.

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

@JBRam2002 your roll resulted in your thieves tool becoming damaged, it will either need to be repaired or replaced. I am working on a DM post that just describes the surroundings. Once inside the actual manor it is possible to uncover what is really going on.

@The Mighty Hero

Out of curiosity, how does a set of several lockpicks get damaged? Could I not simply use another pick?

Here are the contents of Thieves' Tools. Which part of the kit is broken? My intent was to jam a single pick into the lock and break that, knowing I would have plenty of spares.

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

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Ada Mavros

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Mention: @Cardamonelaw | @The Grey Dust | @The Mighty Hero

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"Hold, if you please, good sir," Ada spoke up as one of the more intelligent of them announced his departure. "If you believe that something is afoot in this endeavor, I would suggest that we would need someone of your wits, and yours too." Ada nodded towards the elderly gentleman who had opened the gate. "Whether we are in store for an ambush inside or this is truly a man's vengeance upon an unjust politician, we are in need of as many level heads as we can to counter..." Ada nodded towards the goliath rushing forth with a cadre of mongrels at his heel.

"Perhaps instead of abandoning the venture, we could outwit whoever is setting us up. If the prospect of keeping these anxious souls alive does not make you reconsider, then perhaps the intellectual challenge of deciphering this riddle would. Perhaps as a show of good faith, I should offer my name. You may call me Ada. And I..." Ada bent forward to inspect the lock on the gate that was recently opened, spending a moment to jam the pins in place. "I plan to solve this riddle. I would appreciate your expertise."

Mechanics

Ada takes a moment to take 10 on her Thieves' Tools roll, for a result of 17.