Lex’s eyes followed Nosey as she walked away, a deeper frown than usual adorning his face.
She’d been trying to tell him something about social dynamics, of that he felt reasonably confident, but the substance of her message remained maddeningly obtuse no matter how he looked at it. She had, in the space of a few breaths, invoked the principles of reciprocal altruism, burden-sharing, and the axiological merit of industriousness, and then somehow tied all of that back into friendship without any sort of specificity, let alone an explanation of the causal linkage. It was enough to make him very nearly gnash his teeth.
The only thing that made the frustration bearable was how utterly familiar it was. After all, that had been the result of every single attempt he’d ever made to dissect social relationships. Why should this time be any different? As it was, he’d half-expected his shadow to interject with a biting comment, but it had remained silent. As much as Lex wanted to think that it was due to him having developed more control over the thing, he knew that was a lie. This latest failure simply hadn’t been upsetting enough to rouse it.
Sighing as he put the matter out of his thoughts, Lex instead turned his attention to more practical matters, specifically rest. Although it had only been a few hours since he’d woken up, he felt exhausted, and had little doubt that if he laid down right now he’d quickly fall asleep, probably for quite some time. Although he normally hated the prospect, since it meant unpleasant dreams, right now that was preferable to the amount of pain he was in. More importantly, sleep was necessary before he could replenish his magic; once he was well-rested, his divine and dark magic would renew themselves automatically, and he’d be ready to draw power from Severance again to restore his thaumaturgical spells.
Getting up, he slowly made his way over to the sleeping area he shared with Sonata. The thought of her made him instinctively glance around, but she wasn’t to be found…probably having gone with the group that was repairing the outer door, since that was the more dangerous area. Although he approved of her choice, as he laid down he found himself wishing that she’d stayed anyway, if only so they could resolve their current fight…no, so she could resolve whatever insanity had temporarily gripped her. He had done nothing wrong, and so had nothing to feel bad about. Of that he felt entirely certain.
But as he closed his eyes and felt sleep creep over him, that knowledge brought him no comfort.
“Wait, so that thing back there was your sister?” asked Cloudbank, her voice thick with incredulity as she led everypony through the fog maze. “I gotta tell you, I really didn’t see the family resemblance.”
“I know, right?” agreed Sonata. “It’s because she’s, like, always frowning. I bet she’ll totes get lines in her face one of these days ‘cuz of how scowly she is.”
A series of awkward looks were exchanged in response to Sonata’s statement, before Drafty spoke up. “So, um, where did you grow up?”
Sonata shrugged, giving a grunt that sounded like a half-formed “dunno,” before elaborating further. “The ocean, I guess. And then we tried to take over Equestria, but some pony with a really big beard sent us to Earth, and we hung out there for, like, a super long time.”
“I-I see,” lied Drafty, giving a strained grin.
“Well,” interjected Cozy, “maybe you two can try and patch things up now? I’m sure your parents would be upset if you kept fighting.”
“Oh, we don’t have parents,” replied Sonata matter-of-factly. “At least, I don’t remember us having any.” She stopped walking for a moment as she frowned, putting a hoof to her mouth and concentrating with visible effort. “Come to think of it, I’m not even totes sure that the three of us are related.” She pondered that for a second before shrugging the entire matter off. “But we probably are. I mean, I've never heard of any other Sirens, and besides, I think of them like my sisters anyway, so it’s not like there’s any big dif.”
“Did she say ‘Sirens’?” muttered Aisle.
“Hang on. The ‘three’ of you?” asked Drafty.
“Mm-hmm,” nodded Sonata. “Me, Aria back there, and Adagio. I’m not sure what happened to her. Probably causing trouble back on Everglow.” She paused, then added, “That’s the other world we were sent to.”
“I thought you said that it was called ‘Earth’?” asked Cozy, making a pained expression at trying to keep up with what their companion was talking about.
“Oh, it was. Everglow was the other other world.”
“‘Other other world’?” echoed Aisle, unable to keep from looking dazed. He risked a glance behind him, where several other ponies were carrying tools and supplies, wondering what their reaction was to the conversation. Unsurprisingly, everypony made sure to avoid his gaze when they realized they were being looked at.
Sonata, of course, didn’t notice any of this. “The toughest part was getting used to having a pony body. It’s, like, super different from being a human.” She paused, then glanced around conspiratorially. “Don’t tell Lex this – even though he’s a big jerk and I don’t care what he thinks – but sometimes I miss being human.” She put a hoof to her chest, glancing down at herself. “It was really fun having b-”
“We’re here!” exclaimed Cloudbank, unable to keep the relief out of her voice as the fog parted to reveal the broken warehouse doors. Everypony else looked similarly grateful as they immediately started to get to work.
“So, do you think she’s crazy, or just exaggerating?” asked Aisle quietly as he walked with Cozy, who was glancing around to make sure that there were no undead ponies nearby.
“I don’t know,” she murmured in response. “Maybe both. I mean, we are talking about a mare who’s in love with a bad copy of King Sombra.”
“It makes you glad that, even after everything we went through, we came out of it with all of our marbles still in the bag.”
“Hey! You guys!” yelled Drafty, waving at the two of them from near the door. “Come help me make some deathtraps!”
Smiling at the prospect, the two moved to join her.
The blood in the water did little to soothe Sitkra’s anxiety.
“I don’t care how many more eggs were laid today!” she snarled at the underling priestess, who was currently cradling her slashed face. “The important thing is how many of them survive the Rite of First Hunger after they hatch! Now unless you have something important to tell me, get out of my sight before I make a meal out of you!”
The underling immediately fled, knowing that Sitkra’s threat was not an idle one. While members of the Holy Ones were only supposed to devour each other as a result of a duel for advancement – a challenge that in theory only a junior priestess could invoke – lower-ranked Holy Ones who were too openly ambitious or otherwise earned a senior priestess’s ire tended to find themselves “sponsored” for such a duel by another senior Holy One. At that point, their fate was sealed, since they either had to accept that “honor” and issue a challenge to a higher-ranked priestess immediately, or refuse the sponsorship. Of course, refusing would be tantamount to cowardice, which was not only an affront to sahuagin values, but also blasphemy, and so warranted an immediate death sentence. Sitkra considered issuing such a sentence as she watched the junior priestess flee, but let it go, knowing that her underling’s conduct wasn’t what was bothering her.
Lirtkra should have been back by now.
It had been several hours since he’d gone. Although there was still plenty of time before the sun rose, let alone before the spell of air breathing that she’d cast on him wore off, Lirtkra shouldn’t have needed so long. Even if the poh-nees had maa-jik – just the thought made Sitkra growl in anger – their city was overrun with itkul, which meant that they had very likely taken refuge somewhere near their ship. Finding them should not have taken much time; even if they had used maa-jik to hide, the Cripple should have been able to root them out, since that disgusting creature had similar powers of its own, and even Monitor was a hunter of adequate skill.
Just thinking of the other two made Sitkra bare her teeth in hatred. After he’d killed the poh-nees, Lirtkra should have killed both of those freaks before returning. With them dead, the Great Lord of the Deep would have to rely on herself and the other Mighty Ones – and through them, the sahuagin – even more, which was a very high priority for Sitkra and her peers. Even better, their deaths could be attributed to the maa-jik poh-nees, which made this an opportunity that could not be wasted. So what was keeping Lirtkra?
The obvious answer was that he was dead, but Sitkra couldn’t imagine that to be the case. The idea that he had been killed by mere poh-nees – the weakest and most cowardly race Sitkra had ever seen – was beyond ludicrous. Perhaps the Cripple and Monitor had gotten the best of him? Possibly…but they hadn’t returned either, and Sitkra couldn’t imagine them not returning to rub their victory in her face; it’s what she would have done, after all. Besides, where else could they go?
“Sitkra.”
The voice rumbled through the water, so deep and resonant that it was almost tangible rather than audible, and Sitkra’s body stiffened in controlled fear. The Great Lord of the Deep was calling her! Swimming as fast as she could, she exited the shrine at the center of their community and made her way to the Great Lord’s grotto. “Great Lord of the Deep!” she yelled towards the cave entrance, spreading her limbs wide to show her exultation. “I am here, as you have commanded!”
“I have received a communique from that fool on the surface, informing me that the ship which arrived yesterday remains intact.” The voice paused for a long moment, then drolly added, “He made it clear that he’d like me to destroy the thing. Apparently, he still thinks that his missives can compel me.”
“Great Lord, that anything dares speak to you with anything less than praise and fear is the highest insult!” yelled Sitkra. “Such disrespect can only be remedied by rending that infidel limb from limb!” To all appearances, Sitkra was very nearly in the throes of religious ecstasy. In actuality, it was all an act, but a necessary one to secure her life. She would not die the way her one-time comrade had, slowly baking to death in the sun and then being buried – uneaten! – in the dry ground of the surface world.
The chuckle that came in response to her plea made her shiver, knowing that the Great Lord of the Deep had likely seen through her. “I have no doubt that the day that event occurs is fast approaching. But what I want from you is far simpler: were you aware of that ship’s continued survival?” Sitkra froze at the question, and the Great Lord elaborated. “After all, you were the one I initially informed of its existence, and you assured me that you would send a raiding party to slaughter its passengers.”
Sitkra gulped, suddenly very nervous. Inwardly, she cursed Lirtkra again. He was supposed to have successfully returned before now! If he had done so, she’d have been able to take credit both for proactively dealing with the problem and for successfully resolving it! Now she either had to admit failure or plead ignorance, neither of which would make her look good in front of the Great Lord! “I…only recently received such news, and was planning to take action just now, when you summoned me.”
“Then you’re unaware that the Cripple and Monitor are currently missing?”
Sitkra struggled to maintain her outward calm, trying not to panic. One of the other nameless freaks must have reported their fellows’ absence to the Great Lord, but that didn’t mean that there was anything to connect that to her. No one had seen her talk to the Cripple, and that creature was spiteful enough that it wouldn’t share information easily. And of course, Monitor didn’t talk. She should be completely without blame.
She should be…but there was no way to know for certain. Better to offer some information and divert any possible suspicion away from herself. “I had no idea, Great Lord! But in fact, our warrior Lirtkra is also nowhere to be found! Perhaps he and the others heard that the surface-dwellers were still alive, and went to challenge them?”
“Perhaps…” Sitkra tensed as the Great Lord’s voice trailed off, as though considering the thought. After a long moment it issued forth again. “I will be going to destroy that ship in one hour. You have that long to make preparations, and then we’ll depart.”
Sitkra’s relief at the change of topic lasted only for a moment. “‘We,’ Great Lord? You and I?”
The laughter that issued forth from the dank recesses of the grotto was mirthless. “Yes. You and I and everyone else.” Long tentacles emerged as the Great Lord of the Deep exited its undersea home, causing Sitkra to shudder at the sight of her master. “In one hour our full forces will attack the pony city. They must be shown the consequences that they reap for daring to defy a kraken.”
You know it's a killer GM when they don't let you rest.
Usually, when a GM tried that, the groups I played with would go to more and more ridiculous extremes to rest before facing any more fights. Teleporting all the way back to town, fleeing to another plane of existence, that sort of thing. Or at lower levels, sealing ourselves in a cave with only tiny airholes and worrying about how we'd get back out in the morning.
Once we didn't, and let him railroad us into rushing into more fights, and it was a terrible mistake. Fighting when you're out of resources is *boring*.
Normally, at this point, Id look at my resources, and the incoming announced attack by the GM, and head off to the bog for an hour or so. Fighting? Not a chance. If Id known it was incoming in that hour, Id spend the time running for it. Of course, it would be nice to leave a little present behind but the story doesnt allow for Wizards Wheel.
Theres going to have to be one heck of a Juice De Pinkie to survive the night.
Huh, Lex tried to dissect the inner-workings of social relationships before? I think I vaguely recall that being mentioned somewhere before. Regardless, his decision to rest and face another bout of nightmares seem to be a smart choice given the impending attack. Though I doubt he would have expected to face a Kraken and it's horde of underlings.
So the Sirens might not truly be related at all, at least in the biological sense so it might back up Lex's hypothesis though not that well since she said that she didn't remember anything else prior to that.
At least the Vanhoover Survivors are putting their trap building skills to use. Hopefully they'll make enough to at the very least, delay the oncoming horde long enough for everyone to mount a decent defense, or if it comes to it, evacuate...though the question is, where to?
8077152
Are they a killer GM, or a bad GM? Because the two are not the same.
As I see it, a killer GM is one that's deliberately stacking the deck against the PCs in the initial setup, whereas a bad GM is one that doesn't really know what they're doing. Both can have the same results, of course, but they get there in different ways. It's like the Hanlon's razor of GMing.
The thing of it is, both of these are distinct from a third type of GM - the ardent simulationist - who realizes that, from an in-character standpoint, if you have enemies that are intelligent, are willing/able to be proactive, and know how the intricacies of the game world work, then you have to start wondering "why don't these NPCs try to leverage things in their favor?" If they're aware that the PCs are low on spells, hit points, and other resources, and that these guys were just trying to kill them and will probably be back to finish the job off tomorrow, then why not take action now? Some NPCs are creatures that literally can't think, others are bound to their crypts or summoning chambers, and some will just cut their losses and run. But a lot of others are going to realize that the best defense is a good offense, and react accordingly.
Sure, that's the PCs' prerogative. Just as likely, it's the NPCs' prerogative to avail themselves of everything they have to try and flush out enemies that are hiding nearby. That's one of the key differences between combat as sport vs. combat as war. It might be easier (and so, more fun for a lot of people) to have enemies who don't leave their "set piece" areas, and don't do anything until the PCs show up to fight them, but from a narrative standpoint that's a lot harder to justify.
Just standing there and saying "I attack," and rolling the dice is boring. Having an actual goal you want to accomplish, and seeing fights as obstacles to be overcome in that regard (presuming that "overcome" doesn't have to mean "killed/defeated," and that creative thinking is encouraged, rather than stifled), is a lot more fun, insofar as I've experienced.
8077153 It's a pity that at this point they have no idea what's incoming. But then, does running away when it looks bad seem like something Lex would do anyway?
8077222 Lex's problems with social interaction have been referenced repeatedly, ever since his initial appearance in A Dangerous Sparkle. Basically, he's never been able to understand social cues or nuance, and it's made him an outcast his entire life, something that he's become quite bitter about.
The issue with the Sirens being related to each other (or not) is a minor issue, but one that I've wanted to address for a while now. You might have noticed, but in Rainbow Rocks they never actually say that they're sisters, nor are they ever described that way. However, they absolutely act that way, given that they spend a lot of time sniping at each other without any real acrimony there, and always pull together in the face of opposition. That strikes me as very much in line with how families treat each other.
There's also the fact that, in A Dangerous Sparkle, David Silver had Sonata say a throwaway line about Aria and Adagio "not really being" her sisters, and I didn't want to completely invalidate what he's written. In that regard, it seemed best to point out that Sonata is an unreliable source of information, which is what this scene really does. Personally, I think the sister theory makes more sense. Otherwise, it becomes even harder (than it already is) to explain why they're the only ones of their kind. If you have them be siblings, you can say they sprang from the same unique parentage, but if they're not then you lean in the direction of needing to have an entire race of Sirens, who rather conveniently are no longer around. So yeah, I like the sister idea more.
As for Drafty and co.'s traps...as she said, at the very least they can slow enemies down. Though at the moment, that seems like a very small thing indeed.
8078187 Wow, that article is horrible. I guess what it's saying might work for some people but from what I've seen, no one really wants a challenge that you might lose -- they want a challenge that you're able to win as long as you don't do something completely stupid. Hard enough to make you think so that it isn't boring, but with room to try potentially stupid but creative things without risking total failure.
Saying 'but it's realistic to do it this way' is the GM's version of 'but my character would do this'. It's an excuse to be a dick. You're still a dick.
Of course, this is a story and not an actual campaign, so being a dick to the characters isn't as much of a problem. I've seen plenty of writing guides recommend it.
Also, some of the ideas make sense. Like enemies switching to a prepared stance, or if they know they're outmatched, sneaking away while the party rests. In the first case you're making the second fight more interesting, and in the second you're avoiding a fight that you know will be trivial and boring. No problems there.
8078445
I posted links to three articles. Which one did you mean?
A lot of people do want exactly that, and quite frankly I think those people are candy-ass, since they tend not to be interested in verisimilitude, in-character considerations, or much of anything else that tends to be involved in actually role-playing. Saying "here's a challenge that you'll almost certainly win unless you act colossally stupid or have a truly unbelievable run of bad luck" is something I find as much fun as playing a video game on easy mode with every cheat code running; it's utterly boring, and doesn't let me invest myself in my character or the game world. Why should I have to, after all, when I'm basically already a god who doesn't need to consider anything except what I want?
Now, there's certainly nothing wrong with a power-fantasy, particularly if you're just looking to de-stress and blow off some steam. That's fine; but what I can't stand is when those people suggest that anything which doesn't cater to that particular method of play is something "broken," "unfair," or "too hard" when in fact it makes total sense from an in-game perspective! If you think that the NPCs should act in a manner that makes it more conducive to having the PCs kill them rather than how actual people, who grew up in that world and are now in an incredibly dangerous situation, would act, then quite frankly you've begun to seriously lose my interest. Unfortunately, that's how a lot of contemporary RPGs are set up, and what a lot of players expect, which explains my perennial dissatisfaction with a lot of the current community.
You forgot the most important caveat: "but it's realistic" is not being a dick if it's actually true.
If someone creates a character that's a disruptive jerk, then they still bear the onus for making a character that's a disruptive jerk; you can shine a spotlight on that by asking them "well, why did you make a character that was self-evidently going to upset everyone else?" That particular point doesn't work when asking the GM "well, why did your NPC act with a sense of foresight and self-preservation when they fought us?"
I want a world that's holistic in scope, and operates from a place of internal logic and self-consistency. That should extend to how other characters act as well.
Yeah, because as it turns out, being kept to an in-character focus brings that particular problem front-and-center when it happens. I understand the reasoning why that particular bar tends to be lowered so much when it's a bunch of people sitting around the game table, as opposed to reading a story, but that doesn't mean that I like it.
All of the ideas make sense; it's just that some of them aren't conducive to the whole "here's an encounter that's idiot-proof, so you should be fine" idea that seems to be so popular nowadays. I get that it's a perennial joke that the way RPG situations play out would look utterly ridiculous if you looked at them from an in-game standpoint; I own copies of The Gamers and its sequels. But I find that particular joke to be less funny when it happens every single time you try to role-play.
8078531
No, that is completely wrong and that is the entire point.
8078551
If you want to say that something is wrong, you need to explain or demonstrate why that is, rather than just asserting it. Otherwise you're not actually making a point at all.
In fact, there's nothing wrong with pointing out that it makes sense from an in-character standpoint for enemies to fight in the smartest and most effective way possible when engaged in a battle to the death. That's why such actions make sense when portrayed from a narrative standpoint, and a lack of such actions seem nonsensical (often to the point of comedy) from the same viewpoint.
Just because some GMs use that reasoning as a fig leaf doesn't mean that it can't otherwise be legitimately invoked.
8078580 I think it's the point of disagreement that makes us not want to play in each others' games.
But if you want a rationale... there are always a range of options even if you constrain yourself to being realistic. If you use your imagination, you can find one that makes you not be a dick. If you decide to pull a dick move, it's because you chose to do so, even if it's realistic.
It's exactly the same as if being a jerk would be in character for a PC. It's hardly ever the *only* option, so they're still being a jerk if they decide to go with it.
If you think trying to figure out which is 'most' realistic or 'most' in character and always doing that is the primary motivating factor, and that you shouldn't consider metagaming concerns at all, then... good luck? I don't think you're going to succeed in eliminating all biases. But even if you do, it's still going to lead to you being a jerk sometimes.
And the people you're playing with will have their own biases and to them it'll *look* like you're picking the option specifically to screw them, at least some of the time.
8078650
I wasn't aware that I'd commented on wanting to play in your games.
The problem comes when you define "dick move" as "anything that makes it more likely that the players will lose," while "realistic" means "the NPCs will be trying their hardest to win." Given that those are polar opposites, one of them is going to need to give in the face of the other. I prefer that primacy be given to the latter option, because not only does it increase the setting's verisimilitude (which is an important component of being able to invest in the world, and thereby have fun with it), but because I don't see any particular reason why the former should be prioritized. I don't see the GM's job as including any particular impetus to make sure that the PCs win; that's their job.
Again, I think you're conflating these ideas (at least, to an incorrectly large degree). The PCs are operating under an inherent presumption that they'll function as a team, and so there's a good-faith understanding that they'll make characters that they know will be able to (reasonably) operate as a team, rather than being characters that are necessarily going to come into conflict with each other. The presumptions that the GM operates under are different. They're simply trying to administrate the world as best they can, and that includes a lot of NPCs who are going to be 1) hostile, and 2) intelligent in how they conduct their hostility.
There's certainly virtue to the idea of not considering metagame concerns, even if there are practical barriers to such a thing. That said, the issue isn't to try and "eliminate all biases," but rather to understand that the GM isn't going to try and make sure that your encounters are idiot-proofed; rather, they're going to set up a world that operates on internal logic and self-consistency, and administrate your interactions with that world under those guidelines, which will oftentimes mean that your opposition will fight with intelligent tactics that might put you at a (severe) disadvantage.
Figuring out how to "win," is your problem, not the GM's.
This makes me think of one of my favorite quotes:
"...player narration and DM fiat fall apart whenever there’s anything less than an incredibly high level of trust for the DM. The general trend of D&D’s design up through the end of 4e is to erase dependence on player-DM trust as much as possible, not to create antagonism, but to insulate both sides from it when it appears."
Quite simply, if someone thinks that you're picking an option solely for the purpose of screwing them over, then there's a problem with the group's cohesion. You can say that they should have had more trust in their GM, or that the GM should have given them more cause to trust them, but either way there's been a trust breakdown, and that's a major issue. Likewise, GMs should not shy away from running their characters in a way that makes sense because they fear the players being upset with them, since that's also an indication that the requisite levels of trust are not present.
8078687 I said the kind of games I liked and you used a bunch of perjorative terms to refer to them ('candy-assed' and so on). So I'm inferring you would not want to play in my games.
That's hyperbole. For one thing, I already gave examples of things I didn't consider dick moves that involved the NPCs trying to win. EG:
Players nova strike and wipe out 1/3rd of a dungeon. Enemy responses:
(a) Do nothing and sit in their pre-planned encounters until the next day, leaving the cleared rooms empty. (not realistic)
(b) Celebrate their victory and get drunk, so that they're even weaker when the players come back the next day. (not trying hardest to win, but still realistic) (kind of pointless except as a joke encounter)
(c) Enemies decide they drove the party off, which means their defenses are sufficient, and return the dungeon to roughly the state it was in before they attacked the first time. (also realistic, but not trying their hardest really)
(d) Enemies are scared and vacate the dungeon entirely, leaving it empty of treasure when the players return. (realistic, usually kind of boring, it looks like you're trying to punish the players for nova striking so it seems like metagaming) (but not a dick move necessarily)
(e) Remaining enemies reinforce their defenses, set more traps, and go on alert (realistic, involves the enemies trying their hardest to win, and not a dick move because the party should really be expecting this)
(f) Remaining enemies engage in a massive man-hunt to locate the place where the party had camped, because they suspect that the attack was a nova strike and the party is now vulnerable until they get the magical eight hours of rest. (this is generally the dick move, and is an example of the case I was originally complaining about) (possibly realistic given other factors, but it looks like you're metagaming to punish the party)
I don't know what it says about our level of trust, but a lot of times we end up discussing this sort of thing out of character. "Are you sure you want to back off and rest? You poked the hornet's nest and they might come after you." "Well, it'd be suicide to continue on. We'll just have to find a nice hidden place to go to ground."
Or, a couple of times: "This looks like a good place where you could rest." "What... just in this room? In the middle of the dungeon?" "You don't think anyone else has ever opened this secret door. They probably don't know it's here."
Modules!
A kraken...well shit. That's pretty near worst case scenario when it comes to water based monsters... Still, at least krackens are rather tame as far as aquatic monsters go...abilities wise anyway. They're mostly just REALLY BIG intelligent squids with magic abilities. I was thinking it was gonna be something REALLY nasty like an aboleth. That would have been all sorts of fun to see Lex try and sort out without major clerical magics as it turned his followers into water breathing slime creatures.
...Of course since this kracken apparently has a giant posse of it's own, that's not quite out of the question yet, is it?
8078774
Hold on now, I was referring to those people as being candy-ass, rather than their games. There's a difference. (That, and it seemed appropriate, given that you referred to that article as "horrible").
More specifically, what I was objecting to was the attitude involved, which cast derision on the idea of not deliberately slanting things in the PCs favor as somehow being the wrong way to do it, when I think that it is, in fact, far more legitimate than trying to assure that the PCs win.
I don't believe it's hyperbole since, from what I can tell it's an accurate representation of the play-style that you're advocating. Insofar as examples go, the only ones I found from you were "enemies take a prepared stance" (I'm not sure what that means; I think it's "readying an action," but I'm not certain) and "running away while the PCs rest." Why you're holding those up as being legitimate rather than "attacking while the PCs rest," and the like I'm not at all sure, and that's part of what I see as the problem. There's a metagame implication that doesn't jive with what makes sense from an in-game standpoint, and when such a conflict occurs the in-game standpoint should be the one that wins out, since that's what makes more sense if you're trying to run a world that has verisimilitude.
Okay, so we're in agreement on this one. Enemies that don't do anything in response to outside stimuli (without even getting into questions of exactly what they do) until they're in imminent danger of death are a major blow to believeability.
And here's where I start to have a problem. What "victory" do the NPCs think they're celebrating? It should be self-evident that the PCs were not forced to retreat by the NPCs' tactics, but simply because they ran out of their limited-resource abilities. Since those same limited-resource abilities are available to the NPCs (e.g. limited spellcasting and healing), they should be able to recognize this unless they all - across the board - have severely low Intelligence and/or Wisdom scores. When the enemies quit the battle a third of the way through, and more importantly, quits of their own accord rather than in response to any sort of active threat on your part, there's very likely going to be a subsequent engagement in the very near future, which you should know if you're operating with the same tools!
The idea of the bad guys thinking that the PCs temporarily ceasing active hostilities is a victory might work as a gag when they're raiding a lair of particular dull-witted goblins, but other than that I have a hard time taking this seriously.
This is better, but still has some issues. Mostly in that they likely took some losses, and so are going to have issues with trying to restore their lair to its previous state due to the time and cost of getting replacement manpower and repairing damage to the area. Moreover, they should realize that traps and strategies that were used before won't be effective a second time around, since countermeasures will likely be prepared if the same enemies invade again...and that should remain a distinct possibility, since once again, if the enemies left of their own accord, rather than in the face of an active threat, then they're likely to return. Defending a fixed location is a siege, rather than a battle, and one of the defining characteristics of a siege is that it's a protracted engagement.
That's leaving aside the fact that the replacement NPCs are likely to be very cognizant of the fact that they're replacing characters that died in the previous fight, and so are going to want to adopt different tactics so that a "successful defense" doesn't require them to die as part of it. If the outer rooms of a complex were breached before, and the defenders killed before the attackers left, then if you do the same thing again the same results will likely happen. Being positioned at the place where the last guards were slaughtered tends to make people think "I'm not going to go out like that!" That's doubly true if we're getting into issues of the defenders being resurrected or re-summoned, as they're the ones who're now getting a second chance and won't be eager to squander it.
To be fair, this response does get into realistic levels of stupidity, the sort that often comes up with incompetent mid-level lackeys that you often find serving as bad guys in stories. The problem here is that simple darwinism tends to come into play at this point, and the "eh, do the same thing over and over" defense starts to quickly eliminate the NPCs that can't adapt and survive. You might think that that's fine, since the PCs are the one bringing that particular hammer down, until you remember that the PCs aren't unique in terms of being adversarial forces that the NPCs have likely faced before (something that become more and more true as the challenges get higher and higher-leveled). They should have already been through this particular winnowing.
Okay, there are several underlying presumptions here that need to be addressed. For the most part, the issue of fleeing the premises presumes that there's not a compelling reason to stay and simply change up your defensive tactics, since a lot of "set piece" encounters want to justify why the NPCs have chosen to dig into a particular location in the first place. If this is a particularly important temple of their faith, or the entrance to an interplanar portal that they need to guard, etc., then fleeing won't really be in the cards for most of the defenders as a response to an initial strike. Presuming that there's any level of dedication going on, and a shortage of cowardice, then "abandon ship" will be the last resort, rather than the first.
That said, I also don't think that this is necessarily "boring," simply because it assumes that the adventure stops there. If the enemies have fled - or rather, have had time to coordinate and organize a withdrawal - then there's not likely to be much left behind, or at least not much that the PCs will value. Unless the enemies have very different value systems, or are suffering from a shortage of provisions that help them to move items in bulk (an issue that becomes less and less relevant as magic becomes more prevalent), then they're going to take everything that they can with them when they go, leaving behind the least valuable things (and only when they have to).
That doesn't mean that the PCs have nothing to show for their work, however. It just means that their work isn't done. Now the mode of the adventure has shifted into an overland (or over water, or into another plane) pursuit, at least if the PCs need to kill some particular individual(s) and/or retrieve some particular item(s). All that's changed is the location, rather than the goals involved...which helps to underline that just throwing themselves at the dungeon and then pulling back as soon as they're at sub-optimum strength was a bad idea to begin with.
No argument here, as this is the core of any proactive defense. The only issue here is why this is divorced entirely from option (f), since if the enemies have the method of proactively going after the PCs, there needs to be a compelling reason why they wouldn't do so. "The best defense is a good offense" is common sense, particularly for NPCs that have set up a military-scale base designed to defend against aggressive incursions. That's part of "trying their hardest to win."
Okay, and here's where you lose me completely. HOW is this a dick move? If the NPCs are aware of how magic works - and since they're almost certainly going to be using the same rules, then they absolutely should be - have good reason to believe that the PCs will be back (and that's not at all unrealistic, since they understand the "nova" principles that the PCs are using and will intuitively know that no one makes a major assault just to penetrate part of a complex without killing anyone truly important or stealing anything truly valuable), and have methods of proactively tracking the PCs down and taking the fight to them, then how is that possibly metagaming?!
It only "looks like" that if you don't bother to look at it from an in-game standpoint and make a presumption of bad faith on the part of the GM, a presumption that wouldn't hold up to scrutiny if you just thought about it from the position of someone who actually lived their entire life in that game world. Most PCs won't be unique in their powers and abilities, and so should realize that the same tactics developed around those powers and abilities are therefore open to the NPCs. "Scry-buff-teleport" works just as well for NPC spellcasters as it does for PCs, so if you don't put up anti-scrying and anti-teleport defenses, you can't really complain when you wake up in the middle of the night to find the enemies conducting a raid on you.
"Metagaming" is understood to mean "making decisions/undertaking actions based purely on out-of-game knowledge," which means that it's not metagaming - and therefore not a dick move - if there's an in-game reason for it (presuming that the reason is one that's plausible). Can such reasoning be used as a pretext for doing something spiteful? Sure, but that doesn't mean that any instance of such reasoning must therefore necessarily be used to hide a metagame decision.
By contrast, "dick move" - from what I can tell - is being used to mean "any instance of the NPCs proactively tracking down and attacking the PCs, rather than only fighting back when the PCs attack them."
The NPCs should be run like real people, and that means that if they have the resources, will, and ability to counterattack, they probably will...and in a way that they think is most likely to achieve victory, based on everything they know.
Here's the thing: just because the enemies will try to find the characters while they're resting doesn't mean that they'll succeed. The characters just need to anticipate that response and plan accordingly to try and make sure that their own defenses hold up better than their enemies' did. If they've put up anti-scrying and anti-teleport measures, along with other defenses to disguise their presence and repel invaders, then their chances of not being found go up considerably. But the more resources they have, then the more resources that their enemies have as well, presuming that they're facing challenges of a comparable level.
Likewise, I don't think that there's anything wrong with the GM asking for clarification regarding the PCs' actions, giving them clarification when asked, or even giving them a nudge every now and then to remind them of some salient detail that their characters likely wouldn't have forgotten. That conversation, if held between two PCs, could very well have been an in-character one.
That's much riskier, because the GM is telling the PCs what conclusion they've come to, rather than describing the scene and letting them draw their own conclusions. Yes, maybe there is a notable layer of dust in that secret room, which might suggest that no one has come there and so no one knows about it. On the other hand, it might mean that just one character - who's still alive - knows about it but hasn't used it yet, or has used it and made sure to disguise that with a spell that erased his footprints (heck, even some rangers have abilities like that).
For that matter, that ignores spells that can track the characters down, such as locate object (if they know that the PCs use something like an unusual weapon or a particular magic item). Don't have that spell prepared? Well, most preparatory casters will know to leave a slot or two free, which can then be prepped in only fifteen minutes. Plus simple things like uses of the Survival skill to track, etc. All of these things need to be accounted for if the PCs want to maximize their chances of success.
The thing about modules is that they need to be adjudicated during actual play. There's simply no way to pre-package every possible way the NPCs could react.
8079820 The funny thing about creatures like krakens is that, while they don't have many special abilities, that just means that their high CR is represented by things like hit points, BAB, damage dice, etc., which means that in a straight-up fight they're damn serious opponents. Throw in that they'll also typically have high saving throws (and, in a kraken's case, several immunities, including all mind-affecting effects), and you have a good recipe for a tough fight.
Now add into that a large number of minions (to help tilt the action economy in their favor), many of whom have spellcasting and special powers (to shore up variability of options, other attack methods, etc.), and that "tough fight" becomes "a seriously deadly encounter."
...all of this while Lex is low on hit points, very nearly out of magic, and has several weaker ponies that need defending. So yeah, "worst-case scenario" does seem like a rather apt way to describe it.
A kraken? O_o
That was one of the last creatures I was expecting. Then again, I assumed that the Great Lord of the Deep was actually affected and not immune as opposed to willingly lowering his immunity as to be able to get the Demand and then relying on a Will Save to negate the Suggestion...
A kraken DOES only have a +11, even the Unique one only has a +13...
Of course, nothing says that this is a normal kraken. It does have a high title (normal krakens "only" have the "Lord of the Deep" title... which, in retrospect, was a big hint) and an entire civilisation serving it. Maybe it's actually utilizing some magic items? Even with a... Whatever qualifies as a cloak underwater of resistance +5 would make a huge difference.
8080702 There are several points that I wanted to reply to, so I'll be quoting to make it easier to address each one:
I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way. Even leaving aside the issue of voluntarily lowering an immunity - which I don't think can be done (unlike, say, spell resistance) - I'm fairly confident that a creature immune to mind-affecting effects can receive the transmitted message of a demand spell without being subject to the suggestion effect, since that's how it works on a successful save. Admittedly, that's not iron-clad, but I feel like it's a solid interpretation.
Can you source the bit about the specificity of their titles? I couldn't find anything about that in their entries in Mythical Monsters Revisited.
You've touched on a salient point here, one that I've been frowning about for a little while now. The Wealth By Level tables (for PCs and NPCs; though I think important NPCs should use the PC-level WBL chart) are an inherent presumption for characters, but so far I haven't had a lot of the NPCs make use of those. In fact, other than Lirtkra's trident, none of the recent enemies were described with magic items at all (though that doesn't mean they didn't necessarily have any). I consider this something that I need to work on going forward.
8080328
Yes, but sometimes I want to share a specific video. Me and a guy I am editing for have been sharing music back-and-forth, and I would prefer if the video was there, rather than being linked.
8080792 After looking into it again, I found that I made a mistake: I was sure that you CAN voluntarily forgo such resistances, so I looked it up and found this:
So if he supressed his special resistance to magic (which I assume to mean such a resistance/immunity, as this specifically DOESN'T apply to regular spell resistance, which you have to lower), he'd take the full demand head on.
I'm not sure how the partial thing works. Normally, when you are immune to something, you negate the entire effect, even if the save is for half (for example, a creature immune to fire doesn't take half damage from a Fireball). I guess it could be true, because sending in and of itself is only an evocation, but demand is mind-affecting...
Honestly... I dunno.
About the title, well, the prd says that
, so I kinda thought that it was fitting that a bigger kraken would be a Great Lord of the Deep.^^°
Finally... well, there is no listed equipment... Maybe they are just not supposed to have any? I mean, a kraken is a competent fighter either way. It's not like he's an androffanian who's lost without items^^
I mean, I guess he's a grappler with a lot of natural attacks... Maybe an Amulet of Might Fists/Tentacles/Relevant Appendages +1 with Ghost Touch (16,000 gp) would make sense? Can't say, really, because I don't know nearly as much about PF as I do about 3.5^^°
praise an fear -- praise and fear
8081762 Fixed!
8080997 Hm, good catch on noting that special resistances can voluntarily be lowered. That said, I really don't think that this is necessary in this particular instance, since a demand spell is quite clearly packaging two effects in together, those being sending and suggestion, to the point where the spell basically says "this is a sending spell with a suggestion effect mixed in," and then goes on to call out that if you save versus the suggestion, the sending still happens. As such, I feel comfortable in my interpretation of the same thing happening here.
With regards to the title, since it wasn't capitalized in that description, I hadn't taken particular note of it. It doesn't really mean anything notable in this context.
Finally, insofar as gear goes...the problem is that there are two things to be cognizant of. The first one is actual gear listed in a stat block. The second is any treasure found in the monster's possession (if not necessarily on their person), such as in their lair. If a creature turns out to have a magic short sword, for example, in its stash, then all of a sudden it's rather awkward to realize that it was fighting with an ordinary club instead of that. That's not even getting into the fact that NPCs should have WBL progressions of their own to begin with, as opposed to generic creature entries.
8082193 Ah, okay then^^
Though I believe there IS a concept of NPC wealth levels in Pathfinder (I know they exsist in 3.5 and I think I've seen the Pathfinder verison before), though it mostly concerns NPCs with levels and, of course, every item they had could fall into PC hands after the fight...
Just one typo this time around. Kill it with fire!
I don't think the 'at' is necessary. It makes it sound... Awkward?... or something.
Edit: I realized it is unnecessary description.
Quite the accomplishment! He should be proud.
Logically, yes, emotionally, no. Butt then again, he has no clue how emotions work in relation to this, does he?
Budding sadists?
Ooh, things are starting to get interesting.
8371087
Good to have you back, James! Flamethrowers charged!
Typo roasted, toasted, and burnt to a crisp!
Nah, Lex still has a reservoir of sneers into which he can dip.
Nnnope.
More like their sense of what's an appropriate pastime is a little...off, due to recent events.