[Stephen_Zuckerman]

*He shrugs.* Nothing's perfect, and there are points well-made on all sides. Still, I am sorry to see Harloff go... But I am rather impressed with the level of maturity in the responses to Harloff's commentary, whether his comments were deserved or not.

The only other thing I have to say... The shell. Yeah, I grumbled, but I was grinning and laughing the whole time. I was even talking to Daren's player via tells a few moments before I got the shell, saying "He's going to leave Pyyran for last, and toss him something worthless, with a comment like 'Oh yeah, you get one too.'" It was all brilliantly funny, and I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Pyyran did learn one thing, if nothing else: Don't ask if you don't want someone to tell you you can't have it. (This will play into future Dawn of Ages quests. Oh yeah.)

Sure, I could complain of favoritism on Pan's part... Or on anyone's part, really. Pyyran gets a LOT of flak from Acacea in particular, but I don't hold any of it against Acacea the player (anymore; I'll admit to letting it get to me in the past, which is where it'll stay). I usually see most of Pyyran's misfortune coming, aside from the occasional death that catches me totally off-guard. I rolled pretty high on a Tumble to make it down a cliff unscathed... Pan emoted the other two, Acacea and Eldarwen, practically dancing down the cliff, while Pyyran made his way down rather slowly. Sure, Pyyran rolled an 18 or 19 (modified to 45, 46), but his FINAL RESULT was lower than either of the others' MODIFIERS. Then, when he was trying to make it back up, he rolled a 1 on the check, and fell to his doom. A painful, if not lethal, doom.

Sure, there wasn't a set DC for the wall. In NWN, especially in mixed parties, the best thing to do is base success on the quality of rolls, and the ability that's there. That's what helps make a balanced quest work. Or even an unbalanced one. And aye, there's no way Pyyran should've taken that much falling damage as per PnP rules, but A) we're not on PnP, and B) it was better for the RP to have him hit the ground, mostly dead and unconcious.

I can't really say anything about favoritism except that I haven't seen it. *He shrugs.*

Why does Plen get noble anything? I strongly suspect that he was part of the original PnP game, for one. No reason to trash a perfectly good character concept because the general masses can't be allowed special advantages. For another, he's been here in mutiple versions, I think back to the Beta. It's the same reason that there are families for a good many of the epics scattered across Layo as NPCs. The Reynolts, the Gueses... I'm sure there are others. Call favoritism if you like, but... What does it really matter? Plen is so busy dealing with world-threatening Sinthar Bloodstone that he doesn't have time to flex his muscles as a noble. For that matter, he's the Bird Lord, so why does him being a noble even make a difference?

Eh. I understand that there are problems percieved here that can't be fixed, for whatever reason. And I'm sorry to see you go, Harloff.