Does it look like we're having fun? The game is a terrible, terrible nuisance to all of us! We hate it!


I just hope Cat hits the ghoul and not me! Be careful with your heavy greatsword strikes while I'm grappling the enemy!
And oh no, looks like the whole area will be flooded with something dangerous. That's why Ashley and Cat were conveniently placed on elevated positions and Yulya was ordered to fly. Guess it will only hit me then. After I was hit by Cat. But that's ok. I'm pretty sturdy after all. And apparently I need to become a 'hero' before totally going out. So I'm not worried.

>So what to do about this?

This is one of the best benefits of being DM. We don't do anything about this, I decide.

>give us a hint

Certainly! So far you have experienced this enemy type before, and so you have learned things, like you know they're not undead because they had a zombie form and that form cannot exist after dying as undead. You can only live once and you can only undead once, so if you die as undead, you stay dead dead. You also know they're tougher than the classic ghoul, but their zombie form was closer to the classic definition. If you like, call these elite commander pre-undead ghouls.

>low level cunning enemies

That's a great idea! When you're DM, I think you should do that.

>execute every attack perfectly

That's the one, good luck! Frankly the dice have been super nice to you so often I wonder if SheShe is actually interfering subconsciously in some way, like a DID way which is rather frightening.

>isn't really fun.

So sorry you're not having fun, my main objective is to make it as fun as possible but I am regrettably forced to have a Bear brain with inherent limitations.

>scripted story

Do we need more operant conditioning? I think this is a projection of an Alice problem of perception. It's serious, but I do believe it has improved.

>Does that sound good?

It sounds great! Good job in resolving this issue. As the supreme world leader says, thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Ashley] And God bless America! He should totally add that.

I agree I like it better that way because it makes things much more unpredictable and thus interesting. We have no monster expert, at best Cat has some experience with a few. We shouldn't know the monsters stats, strengths and weaknesses. And neither should they all be clones. But this does create some serious gameplay problems. We don't look up monsters we don't know anything about. But if we already encountered them and think we know them (or because it's common sense that a ghoul is undead) but they're special snowflakes who are just different - that's fun but it either leads to catastrophic events like Yulya wasting a Turn Undead on an obvious undead who's surprisingly not undead at all, and everyone getting killed - or endless discussions like we have now.

So what to do about this? Realistically, it should happen frequently that we use ineffective attacks against monsters we misjudge. But realistically, adventurers would perish after a few encounters, and never live long enough to level up or become heroes. I'm not sure how to resolve this. One method I proposed is to plot us against more low-level but cunning enemies who can be adjusted to permit serious mistakes without immediate TPK. But this would drag out the game for years due to XP starving.

On the other hand, right now we are up against such high level foes that we basically have to execute every attack perfectly in order to have some chance. And telling us beforehand what doesn't work isn't really fun either and - as I frequently criticize - leads to a scripted story that leaves us no options, and no means to make mistakes. But I understand mistakes mess up the game and create even more work for Joy. I still think we should be permitted to make serious and epic fails.

So my suggestion - if an enemy deviates significantly from what is commonly expected, give us a hint by describing it. We will accept any monster stat you design, from living skeletons to corporeal ghosts, but there should be at least some clue. In exchange - no more telling us beforehand what doesn't work. Only by observation or divine intervention should we learn something like that.

Does that sound good?

>technically alive
wtf ghouls are textbook undead creatures



i mean youre the dm but declaring them non-undead after Yulya comes up with turning them is a bit eh...

She has one more charge according to my records as well as one Sorceress Point. She has 1MP, 1 focus with 6MP and one with 1MP that Ashley gave her. I believe she cast bless, then charged the focus for 6 and also used the focus once for 2MP on top of the focus.

These ghouls are technically alive and therefore immune to turn undead. When they become zombie ghouls then it would work.