Fox

Indira's head turned to watch the little frogling swim...and kept turning, swivelling a full 360 degrees on its neck. She was, briefly, homesick - little flashbacks of playing hunting games with some cousin's young children, when they were too young to know words but old enough to be released from the nursery, not completely feral anymore. All half-formed mimicry and naive ambush tactics. Three long, soft grasping tendrils snaked out of her back, lazily swishing through the water to feign grabbing at the child. Never fast enough to reach, always fast enough to encourage swimming just a little faster, darting out of the way just a little more strategically. Good hunters learned how to be fast and clever. Good teachers knew how to make teaching a game. Her grandfather had taught her that, and since he hadn't taught her obscure underwater Earth languages or diplomacy, she settled for keeping a metaphorical ear on the necklace's translations.

Indira stole a bit of air as the ship filled with water, which distended her torso rather noticeably until she'd managed to even herself out and just be slightly larger; she was not much of a fan of keeping anything inside her own mass, uncomfortable as it was, but she was somewhat heavier than her companions (at least, without the armor?) and she'd be glad for the ballast if she had to swim or surface quickly. Or if there were pockets of especially deep sand; she was not a fan of sand. It was a traitorous substance. Aquaria's entrance was, she was sure, a deeply impressive one - though she didn't pretend to follow it all, she knew a challenge and an introduction when she saw one. She strode out of the elevator as confidently as she could manage, bipedal form falling forward to hit the ground on four thick arachnoid legs, torso slimming to support not just her sea-worthy appendages but a new pair of arms, long and multi-jointed and wickedly-scythed. Her more traditional arms she kept clasped in front of her, impassive as she turned an elongated head to eye the crowds. She had no mouth; she hoped her three obsidian-black eyes betrayed nothing. If this all went very very badly she was not sure she could defeat everyone assembled. She was fairly sure she could make them regret the attempt.

"You are strong, and you are not alone," said Indira, the affirmation firm but calm. "I do not like impersonating part of the religion of another, but I suppose it is for a good cause. Perhaps I can simply avoid speaking unless necessary." She shrugged, though the way her shoulders moved betrayed both a lack of bones and the social comfort to not pretend to have bones. "It would not be the first time I was disguised as a strange creature or enforcer, and no one expects the mouthless to speak, anyway." Her eyes narrowed in amusement, but it was brief enough; they tilted back down in thought as the alien flowed down into a seated position. "Is there anything we should know before we get there? Is there a form we could take that would make more of an impression?" Her body flexed, brief impressions of horns and fangs and blades running across her surface as she pondered. "If it is more than mere shape Daphne may be better at it than I am, but I will do what I can."

"A deeply concerning philosophy," said Indira, evenly, "though I suppose I am not one to judge. A trial by combat is not exactly unknown to my own people, though it is...more ceremonial, perhaps." Her back sprouted a third arm, a long jointless tendril that grew longer and longer still until it could grasp the ship and pull the rest of her up with it. She'd considered a jump - certainly it wasn't that high, all things considered - but she had an awful habit of bracing with claws and it wouldn't do to scratch her friend's belongings. "I will follow your lead, then, so long as it requires no killing. Let us hope that we are more than a challenge for your clans."

"That is...concerning," Indira admitted, following the others up. She was rather in favor of transport - she wouldn't say it out loud for fear of hurting feelings, but she'd rather take a vehicle than cling to someone else as they flew. It was uncomfortable to say the least. "I am happy to help, of course, and glad that you thought to come to us for that help. Your spawn must be very kind," she added, more of an afterthought than anything. She knew little of the mutual distaste between Aquaria's people and the Atlanteans, but it was enough. "I would guess that not many would take such a risk for their enemies." She was silent for a moment, humming to herself, then said, "Though I do not imagine everyone will be happy; prisoners are not often taken for no reason, and prison-takers do not much like being made to stop. Perhaps the help coming from a source on neither side will keep things from getting worse."

"Hello, Aquaria," a pleasant voice hummed from just over the edge of the castle walls. Indira had been busying herself with the snow, it seemed - she'd claimed some of the outdoor space for herself, and used the snow there - and, one suspected, snow imported from elsewhere - to form a group of snowmen. Or, at least, what could be charitably called snowmen, if one were very charitable indeed. Snowpeople? Snowcreatures, at least - patient metal hands had shaped December's precipitation into forms too organic to be random and too alien to be human, too many eyes on this one and too many legs on that one. They were probably fighting, or talking, or randomly placed like half-finished sculptures in a workshop; it was hard to tell. Indira was not much of an artist with any medium but herself, but she seemed rather pleased none the less. She brushed her hands off, body inverting to face their guest instead of just turning around. "What brings you to the castle?"

I have updated Torque's sheet to reflect the pp award for November 2019. EDIT: As a note for a lot of the feedback below, the underlying math of this sheet looks fine; if one sits and does algebra for a bit one can tease out where ranks come from and how, say, that Impervious + Reflective power costs out and what the effective ranks for each are. But no player, GM, or even ref should have to do algebra if we have better options. We'd prefer that a sheet, even a complex sheet, be as intuitive as possible - even for you, since at some point you'll have to come back to this and do edits when the character goes up in PL. I've ammended my feedback below to reflect this, since it wasn't entirely clear the first go-around. It's also worth noting that this isn't a hill I'll die on - I'd prefer it be fixed before I give my approval, but the raw math does eventually work out (barring the 'mental' descriptor and the skill bonuses in vehicle form, though we have a history of being admittedly lax on skill bonus caps) and if two other refs sign off on it, I won't try to veto. HUMAN FORM: Abilities: Please list the powered/unpowered version of things like Enhanced Attributes (e.g., 'Strength: 35/11' instead of 'Strength 35'). Grumble's pointed out that the Strength bonus here is innate and permanent, so we don't need an unpowered version - a breakdown of how much is base purchased strength and how much is enhanced would be useful for math, though. Combat: With +2 Dex and no other bonuses, Torque would have a +2 Initiative modifier, not +5. Missed the Speed of Thought feat while writing this. Ignore! Powers: Immovable 4 and Super-Strength 4 would cost you power points if you're buying them on top of what Density already gave you. If you're just book-keeping what Density did give you for 'free', please list these powers under Density itself (probably indented, so that it's clear how they're organized). Likewise, please do not collapse powers you got for 'free' (like Protection or Impervious from Density) and powers you explicitly paid for (like your additional ranks of Protection or Impervious Toughness) into a single line, because that's awful for tracking and math and future edits. It should be as clear as possible at a glance how the cost of the power lines up with the ranks or effects you actually bought; right now someone would look at "Impervious Toughness 10 (Reflective) [14pp]' and would have to do mental math in two other places on the sheet to figure out how that would work. 'Mental' is a type of power, not a descriptor as such on our boards - did you mean Immunity to effects with the psionic descriptor, which is indeed a Common descriptor and would cost the 10pp you paid? GIANT ROBOT FORM: General: See notes on Abilities (notation), Combat (initiative), and Powers (Initiative, collapsing 'free' and purchased powers) from the human form. VEHICLE FORM: General: See notes on Abilities (notation), Combat (initiative), and Powers (Initiative, collapsing 'free' and purchased powers) from the human form. Skills/Powers: A PL10 character cannot have 16 ranks of a skill, since skills are capped at PL+5.

Happy Holidays, folks! Here are the post counts for November 2019 as we close out the year - a slower month all around, but on we go! We cannot be stopped. We are unstoppable. As ever, there's a human component to both post reporting and counting; if you didn't get your threads up you still have a chance to put them in late thread counting, and if you believe something went awry with your sheet or tracker updates please reach out to me or the greater ref team and we'll look into it. angrydurf Empyrean: 15 posts = 2pp Kanunu: 1 post = 1pp Red Lynx: 0 posts = 0pp + 1 (ref) = 1pp Cubismo Ms. Thursday: 2 posts = 1pp Dariusprime Fulcrum: 1 post = 1pp Vox: 14 posts + 1 (rollover) = 15 posts = 2pp Darksider42 Spectre: 5 posts = 1pp Dr Archeville Artificer: 5 posts + 9 (rollover) = 14 posts = 2pp Dead Head: 9 posts = 1pp Doktor Archeville: 0 posts = 0pp Horrorshow: 13 posts = 2pp EternalPhoenix Terrifica: 0 posts = 0pp + 1 (ref) = 1pp Exaccus Facsimile: 3 posts = 1pp Techneaux: 1 post = 1pp Fox Masque: 0 posts = 0pp + 1 (ref) = 1pp Grumblefloof Dirge: 0 posts = 0pp Mister Strix: 7 posts + 3 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp Octoman: 25 posts = 3pp Persephone: 5 posts + 5 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp + 1 (guide) = 3pp GM: 4 posts * 2 = 8 Heritage Crystal-Gazer: 22 posts = 2pp Grimalkin: 8 posts = 1pp Torque: 3 posts + 8 (rollover) = 11 posts = 2pp KnightDisciple Thunderbird: 6 posts = 1pp Judex: 2 posts = 1pp Raven III: 0 posts = 0pp + 1 (guide) = 1pp RocketLord Archer II: 5 posts + 5 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp Cheval: 4 posts + 6 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp Forever Boy: 7 posts + 18 (GM) = 25 posts = 3pp + 1 (guide) = 4pp Justice: 6 posts + 4 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp Rebellion: 0 posts + 13 (GM) = 13 posts = 2pp GM: 23 posts * 2 = 46 Sailor Torpedo Lass: 3 posts = 1pp Semi-Autogyro Gnomon: 15 posts = 2pp Shofet Soliton: 19 posts + 6 (GM) = 25 posts = 3pp + 1 (reputation) = 4pp Corona: 11 posts = 2pp The Meta-Naut: 5 posts + 6 (GM) = 11 posts = 2pp GM: 6 posts * 2 = 12 Terrakhash Black Mamba: 2 posts = 1pp Chromium: 3 posts = 1pp Tiffany Korta Emerald Spider: 3 posts = 1pp Merge Trois: 4 posts + 6 (GM) = 10 posts = 2pp + 1 (ref) = 3pp Ms Bright: 2 posts = 1pp The Immutable Betsy Brooks: 1 post = 1pp Valkyrja: 1 post = 1pp White Lioness: 1 post = 1pp GM: 3 posts * 2 = 6

No posts this month. Woof. Ref point to Masque, please.

Rad. APPROVED!

I'll be visiting family for Thanksgiving, 11/24 to 11/30. I may not be in chat as much.

APPROVED!

APPROVED!

Nice! Just some minor math things, looks like: You've bought and paid for 3 APs, but noted 2 in the Array line; the feats in the third AP should probably be on Strike, not Super-Movement; that last AP should be 19/20, not 20/20. You should also probably note the Impervious version of your knockback (-4 / -9 solid form).

Masque Rainbow Connection (4) Ref point to Masque, please.

Archiving; this version of the sheet has been replaced by a new revision.

All sheets should be as complete and self-contained as possible. APPROVED!

Good catch; I'd briefly forgotten how Environmental Control's odd pp/rank effects work. Nothing more here. APPROVED!

The Hammer array is missing its pp/dp cost, though I believe the math does work out. Looks like Thursday's bought Environmental Control 6, not 4; the cost on this array slot also needs adjusting, since you haven't bought 20pp worth of powers here. (It's legal to buy less than the slot's budget, of course, but the final cost should be noted for good bookkeeping; the sheet template has examples of how this can be done.) 'Accurate' on Teleport is not a ranked extra; it should be noted simply as 'Accurate', not 'Accurate 5'. The Immunity should note that Ms. Thursday is immune to environmental cold, not the cold descriptor.

I admit to some confusion; the sheet's still labeled 'Watchdog/Daystar', and Watchdog's paying for a sidekick, but there is no sidekick on this character request. Is it intended to be Watchdog only (in which case, she'll have to shed those Sidekick ranks), or are we missing the other sheet (in which case, we'll probably want to find a way to insert it under Watchdog's sheet and before Absurdist's approval comment)?

Archiving; this sheet has been replaced with a new version.

APPROVED!

I'm still down for it, but I have the most recent post.

Elizabeth made a distressed choking noise, looking wide-eyed at Judy. "I'm....not president material," she insisted, holding up her hands like she was warding the very idea of it away. Which, really, she was - and she briefly wondered if there was some magic that could wall off dangerous plans. "I'm kind of a mess, you really don't want me to be the actual leader of anything, even on paper." An understatement, but it would work - the pit of her stomach had dropped out from under her as soon as the young magician had thought about the responsibilities of _presidency._ It was too much. She shook her head, white hair falling in front of her face for a moment before she pushed it back. "I like helping, though, and if someone else is calling the shots I'm happy to pitch in? VP would be...a lot," she said, grimacing, "but I'm willing to give it a shot if we don't have any other volunteers. Worst case, I can be two of me, and that'll help. And that thing there? All that empathy? That sounds like president material to me."

This week's work stuff is hitting me hard, and I'll have a guest around all next week, so I may be around less than normal. I'll try to check in still, though.