Voidus

Yeah coffeelock builds are always broken as hell

SeKaan, the Grand Hotel, the Bindpoint Picking out who they wanted to replace had been the hardest part. There were so many employees in this building, but who was the right one to overhear what they needed? But when yesterday evening they had gone out to one of the many bars in the city, a rather tasteless establishment, they had found a familiar face. Emboldened a little by their own irritation at the recent encounter with another of their own kind and somehow a surviving Inquisitor, SeKaan had seen about ensuring they were invited back to the gentleman's own house. From there, a simple matter to ensure he was too sick to work today, and then to sneak in and take his uniform. Avoiding notice by anyone else had been a little more difficult, though not by much. But best that none of his fellows noticed that 'Telian' had worked today after all and decided to ask him about it. And infiltrating as a servant had always been a favored tactic, so few payed attention to the comings and goings of them, or which of them were nearby when discreet conversations were held. They were always an excellent method to find additional little secrets to support another role. And oh had they discovered some secrets today. Their body practically thrummed with the satisfaction, a heady cocktail of pride, danger, and intrigue filled their veins as they pretended to busy themself. It was a risk, staying here as they heard, with particularly sensitive ears, the door open, the footsteps down the hallway. But some small chance of gaining even more information was worth it. And fleeing might only attract more attention, she was a watchful one this Lita. And interesting. Was she Lita LaPetit? Or Attar? Or something else entirely? "Ah Telian" She called out, approaching with a casual smile. "Just who I was hoping to find. A little early for it, but I do enjoy promptness.” "Of course." They provided quickly, slipping easily into the voice they had memorized last night. "Never polite to keep a lady waiting." They gave a professional smile, with just the hint of the other that they had received themselves on first meeting Telian. A slight playfulness that SeKaan had enjoyed a great deal. The words were also an almost perfect repetition of those Telian had given when joining SeKaan to leave for more private quarters, and were paired with a casual glance down the hall as if looking to see who else may be watching. Inwardly their mind raced, trying to fill in the gaps of this persona. Being caught in a temporary guise was always a frustration, and was the main other reason they had avoided any other employees. But some kind of pre-existing and seemingly personal relationship with the very person he was tailing? Deeply problematic. But still, they had centuries of experience with this, and should be able to play a vague enough line to let Lita take the lead without arousing any suspicions. Besides, they were playing a servant right now, and while it was possible that she was simply very friendly and there was simply some personal errands that Telian ran for Miss LaPetit, SeKaan knew of a far more common reason for such familiarity. That would, if anything, only make things easier as this was one area of Telian that SeKaan had experienced personally in some detail. But for now, yes best to let her take the lead. Laurelai, Lita's rooms in the Grand Hotel, the Bindpoint Laurelai kept her hands deliberately in her lap as she listened, suppressing a fidget with only a little difficulty. Lita had moved far enough that the Soothing was only half as effective as it had been and she felt some of the worries slipping back in, her thoughts drifting from the conversation with her mother to the other recent events, and then back. She still caught enough to give a half-scandalized little choke as her mother called Voidus as stubborn ass, though really she retained enough memories from the Forgery to know it was quite an accurate assessment. But really, did either of them know anything about him? Truly? Laurelai had memories that were entirely false, and some distant impressions she'd gained of him as her boss for several years. But none of him as an actual person. And Valeria... she knew him as he had been before. But time changed people, something a Forger knew all too well, and that much time... was he in any way the same person? "A lovely story." She remarked with a small smile, one she even half-meant. "I haven't... known that he was my father for very long. I don't really know that much about him personally. It's still very strange sometimes, I had... well I had given up on ever meeting either of you." Thought it would be best if they never came back. A small little returning voice whispered, though without its usual strength. Knew deep down why they left, and that you'd only hurt them if they came back. @Mrs. Voidus @ZincAboutIt

Makes me wonder if there's a correlation Mine is also in June.

Laurelai, stared after Lita as the door closed behind the redhead, a small part of her mind aware that she should be worried, though the emotion was suppressed by Lita's continued Soothing. Once again she longed to simply be able to return to her apartments and wait under a stream of cool water in the shower. But leaving... would not be a good idea. Not until she had a better grip of herself. Or she'd just end up causing even more problems. "Oh Laurelai," Valeria said, interrupting her thoughts. "It saddens me that you will never know the sweet burn of our ambrosia nectar." A new drink? She wondered, immediately curious as to how it might taste. But then other worlds can be a bit hit and miss. Might get stuck with a Roshar where they call that colored swill wine. "Come, come," Valeria continued, moving for the bedroom. "You can't let me go out shopping in an outfit I have already worn. Perhaps you can show me that marvellous forging ability again. Oh, Parum Faba, the things I could tell you about the silks we had..." A slow smile appeared, actual enjoyment rather than the sort of ambiently pleasant vacant one she had been wearing. It would certainly be the most preferable distraction, a drink and a discussion of one of her favorite topics. And new silks... well perhaps if she could ask enough questions, she might even be able to reproduce some. Gods what could some of her favorite tailors do with a new fabric? "Yes, please do. It was one of the first things I started studying by myself... fabrics. Have to study quite a bit to effectively Forge anything, and I always wanted new clothes." She smiled, moving to follow after her mother. "Wanted to learn how to do it on purpose, thought it might help to..." To stop accidentally murdering everyone who tried to care for you. A dry voice whispered in her mind as she trailed off. How far you've come, now you just hurt them with every waking moment instead. She shook her head to dismiss the voice, and the images that threatened to follow. The continued pleasant calm from Lita's soothing, a little more generalized now that she wasn't here to adjust it, but it helped her to calm once again. Forcing herself to divert the topic. "Parum Faba... you call me that often. I... remember it, I think. But not what it actually means." She said, latching on to the moment of curiosity. @Mrs. Voidus

Took a passing glance over the most recent ones but yeah they've well and truly lost their chance for me.

Lita's Suite, The Grand Hotel, The Bindpoint It was a strange feeling to be completely relaxed and calm while being verbally attacked by a woman who had been an utter stranger only a couple hours ago but had in fact been your presumed dead mother. But Laurelai was grateful for Lita's continued soothing of her emotions. Even with them in a tight grip such as this she could feel her mind fixating on the numerous impossible revelations of the last few minutes. Veevee is still alive? She considered with a mental monotone. And we've both been in the Dark Alley. How many times have I walked past Vivica? How did I never realize? "Plenty of vices to indulge here. Wine in the cupboard, cigarettes in the drawer." Lita interjected, breaking Laurelai's musings. She turned to follow the gesture, feeling oddly dreamlike and unaffected for better or worse by each new shift in tone of the room. Simply absorbing the the information. It was oddly relaxing, but also gave a sense of sharpness, keeping her alert. Almost like... An azure fall of droplets to the stone floor below, a silent rainfall. Whispers that promise a relief from all troubles, an answer to all questions- "-think you could stay here and wait for me?" Lita finished, Laurelai only just catching the end and the look that Lita directed at her. At the same moment she caught the subtle movements of an Alleycant message, taking a beat longer than usual to decipher it and nod. "Of course." She replied aloud, voice almost eerily calm. "Bad habits need company don't they? And I'd be happy to catch up more with... with my mother." It was difficult to adopt her usual polite tone and expressions, the extra-carefully constructed ones she used for lying. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to go home and enjoy a long shower. Though a small part of her realized that she needed Lita to continue Soothing her until she could come to terms at least a little with the rapid shift in her life. @Mrs. Voidus @ZincAboutIt

Can never be emphasized enough, one of the most frustrating things as a DM when you get to someones turn and they have given no thought as to what to do. Also as a piece of advice, keep in mind your character does not have to do the optimal thing, they are even more pressed for time to make this decision than you are. They have six seconds to decide and act. It's okay for them to make a mistake and do something suboptimal rather than count out five different kinds of area effects to decide which perfectly hits the most enemies.

Well I hope you enjoy it. A very different sort of game, but as long as everyone's having fun that is after all the point.

My response is more at how one could possibly justify hundreds of Tiamats rather than the mechanics of damage 5e damage is silly. Though a million... outside of a very specific mechanical exploit I imagine that would have to be from homebrew? Even with multiple lvl 20 classes there's a limit to action economy.

Oooh where do I begin? Well first off this is less a specific thing and more a general feel, but I really feel like the designers pay a lot more attention to what does and doesn't work in their game, have a better grasp of how it is actually played, and design accordingly. There are so many oddities of 5e that make me genuinely wonder if WOTC actually know how people play their game. Probably the biggest specific things for me are the customisation and the action economy. I adore the three-action system, it just simplifies so much and I know so many GMs who kind of houserule similar things for 5e and it honestly amazes me that it took so long for someone to actually make it this simplified. No specific actions that can only be used for specific things and you only get one a turn. Spend your whole turn sprinting? Can't do anything else but sure you can do that. And it removes the 5e problem where some classes just have nothing to spend certain actions on. Like Bonus action is often dead for many players. Customization is amazing, the weapons all feel so diverse and actually give you a potential reason to branch out from the standard longsword, greatsword, longbow, shortbow, dagger or rapier. And the Archetypes and the way multiclassing work give a lot of ability to diversify your build without becoming broken like a lot of 5e multiclasses do. Helps make every character feel actually unique. So many 5e subclasses give little to no variation, so everyone who plays that subclass feels very 'samey' but the feat progression in PF2e means you'll never have the same build as another character unless you're like deliberately copying them. And love the racial feats, the high level unlocks are amazing and let you do things like Tieflings with actual wings that don't break the game, gnomes who feel fey because they can just pop back to the feywild when they feel like it, even if they're not a caster.

Whisper gave an approving nod as Vivi moved around the room before finally returning to Whispers side. She was cautious, but not so paranoid that she let it freeze her, or avoid looking into potential dangers. That was well. If only all of their other compatriots could be said to fair as well. Whisper had initially been planning to use the others as potential bait for any traps they might find, but so far they had not met with anything of the sort, only creatures. Cobalt, the Steward, had obviously not explored this deeply into the phenomenon either, which meant his experience was no longer useful. And Vivi and Whisper had, both times now, been the ones to enter and evaluate rooms first. Was it really for the best that they continue to stick together as a group? Or was it time to re-evaluate Vivi's earlier suggestion, make a run for it with the two of them. They were smaller than the others, and likely quieter. They had already proven they could both navigate around the exterior of the estate effectively as well. The others will take some time to climb up. She wrote, opting to use letters scrawled in the air rather than an audible means of communication. And we are already ahead... perhaps we should remain that way? She gave a smile, a secret, wicked expression, wordlessly motioning in the direction of the door. ------------------------------------------ "No more than two on the rope at a time, and I'll go just before Byron. Cobalt, you should probably go, then you, Perses." Cobalt gave a sigh, frustrated at the lack of ability to strike back at the creatures, but nodded. A whisper of steel against steel as he resheathed his saber and moved to the window, reaching out to pull on the rope and test it was secured. From the angle of this window it was difficult to entirely see what was happening in the next floor, though it seemed perhaps one of the windows had been broken, based on the sound they had heard. Lady Warren anticipated some damage to the estate. He reminded himself, though unable to keep from entirely wincing. The box is the most important, so long as we recover that... "Stay safe." He said, giving a respectful nod to those who would be following him up. "Do not risk agitating them any further, don't look down once you start climbing, just in case."

Curious how your fighter got six attacks per round at 10th level, that's wildly throwing off the power curve of the game.

Also kind of a big issue of affecting the entire party in huge ways, especially at high levels when the rest of the party wants to teleport around the world but they can't because one of them wouldn't teleport with the others. Would need entire party to buy in on one of them having this restriction. I'd probably suggest Magic Resistance if you really wanted to go this route, it's an existing mechanic and a bit more balanced.