Rant VIII: The Reckoning

The new neighbors moved in this last week. Couple of pretty young guys. They seem nice. Yesterday they moved in their part basset hound dog, Dash. He's cute as all hell, but they leave him in the basement when they go to work at 7 in the morning. It's 8:30 and Dash has not stopped barking and howling. Everyone is awake because of it. Hope Dash gets used to his surroundings fast because this is going to get old very quickly.
When I first started as a constable in a remote northern town, I had this exact same thing happen. They kept the dog in the room directly below mine and after a night shift trying to sleep my day away listening to the dog howl for 8 straight hours until they got home, I was ready to shoot both them and the dog.

I had to move to fix this problem.
 
WARGBLEBLARGLE!

If you are a churchy type person, or happen to know any Christian clerics, please give them a space to nap and maybe a nice cup of tea. They're going through a lot right now.

Do not, in contrast, give them hours of minor, time-sensitive, administrative BS to do IN THE MIDDLE OF ADVENT!
 

Dave

Staff member
I wouldn't give them minors at all.

edit: Dorry, @Dirona . I understand. But the joke was way too easy. I couldn't pass it up. Sorry for the dickish reply.
 
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I wouldn't give them minors at all.
Given that part of that administrative BS is chasing down a bunch of people's vulnerable sector police record checks because OMG we need them all by the end of the year...
(even though the policy, which no one can actually find of course, has apparently been in place for years)
ya... it's a thing.
 
WARGBLEBLARGLE!

If you are a churchy type person, or happen to know any Christian clerics, please give them a space to nap and maybe a nice cup of tea. They're going through a lot right now.

Do not, in contrast, give them hours of minor, time-sensitive, administrative BS to do IN THE MIDDLE OF ADVENT!
I really regret choosing the Knowledge domain for my cleric. My asshole DM decided that meant my god required extensive book keeping. So every time I kill an orc, I have to stop and make an annotation in my Book of the Dead Orcs . . . while the fight rages on.

I can't even heal my comrades first, which has directly led to more than one party member dying, which of course means even more paperwork
 
I really regret choosing the Knowledge domain for my cleric. My asshole DM decided that meant my god required extensive book keeping. So every time I kill an orc, I have to stop and make an annotation in my Book of the Dead Orcs . . . while the fight rages on.

I can't even heal my comrades first, which has directly led to more than one party member dying, which of course means even more paperwork
I am stealing this to use as a DM. You should also probably have to use one round to at least say a prayer for the dead too.... It's 6 seconds, what's the worst that could happen?
Thank you.
 
I am stealing this to use as a DM. You should also probably have to use one round to at least say a prayer for the dead too.... It's 6 seconds, what's the worst that could happen?
Thank you.
Hey! Talking is a free action. Bonus action for a sign of some sort akin to crossing oneself perhaps though
 
I am stealing this to use as a DM. You should also probably have to use one round to at least say a prayer for the dead too.... It's 6 seconds, what's the worst that could happen?
Thank you.
I'm a little concerned that you're inspired by an idea that started with "My asshole DM . . .":aaah:
 
I'm envisioning a class feature...

Witness: Whenever your character knowingly observes a creature dropping to 0 HP within XYZ ft, they must use their reaction, if not already spent, to pray for their passing. This prayer is verbal, unless silenced, and somatic, unless bound/grappled. In lieu of this prayer, you may cast a Witness Spell, if available (so long as the dying creature is one of the targets). If your character is unable to Witness because they spent their reaction on anything other than a Witness-triggered action, or they are casting a multi-action spell, they must spend their next available Move action praying (this effect may compound for many rounds).
Witness Spells: Bless, Sanctuary, Spare the Dying, Revivify, Death Ward, Raise Undead.
 
I'm envisioning a class feature...

Witness: Whenever your character knowingly observes a creature dropping to 0 HP within XYZ ft, they must use their reaction, if not already spent, to pray for their passing. This prayer is verbal, unless silenced, and somatic, unless bound/grappled. In lieu of this prayer, you may cast a Witness Spell, if available (so long as the dying creature is one of the targets). If your character is unable to Witness because they spent their reaction on anything other than a Witness-triggered action, or they are casting a multi-action spell, they must spend their next available Move action praying (this effect may compound for many rounds).
Witness Spells: Bless, Sanctuary, Spare the Dying, Revivify, Death Ward, Raise Undead.
That's far more lax than what my fictional DM decided. It takes a whole damn action to record a death - and that's assuming I've got right book in my hands. Did you notice how the book I mentioned was titled Book of the Dead Orcs? I'm hauling around a library on the back of a mule, praying the mule doesn't die because I forgot to pack the Book of the Dead mules.
 
I really regret choosing the Knowledge domain for my cleric. My asshole DM decided that meant my god required extensive book keeping. So every time I kill an orc, I have to stop and make an annotation in my Book of the Dead Orcs . . . while the fight rages on.

I can't even heal my comrades first, which has directly led to more than one party member dying, which of course means even more paperwork
I shouldn't laugh but this is frakkin' hysterical! :rofl:
 

Dave

Staff member
I have a HUGE project that I've been working on. This thing is very high visibility and very, VERY make or break for me. I have two or three weeks left on my deadline and I've come to a screeching halt due to having to wait for IT to create a custom online form for me. I sent the tech a "what's happening, dude" email this morning and his response was, "So I might have missed it but I need a ticket put in so I track the work. I thought I mentioned that but I be could be wrong."

Mother fucker I put that ticket in on Monday! It's #321894. And now I've CC:'d my boss and the EVP who is breathing down my neck about this. Dumb fuck. Ignoring my request for a week? Ain't happening.
 
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Dave

Staff member
It's just weird. I mean, yesterday we were all having fun at our Christmas party.

And they have updated the article:

Bellevue Police arrested David Clark, 35, and lodged him in to the Sarpy County jail on the for the following charges:

  • Attempted first degree murder
  • First degree assault
  • First degree domestic violence
  • Use of a weapon to commit a felony
  • Felon in possession of a firearm
Apparently she's been seeking help - I don't know the nature of the help - because she was afraid of him. I haven't spoken that much with her in about a year, since I got moved to my new position, so I have no idea about any of this. The whole university is in shock right now.
 

Dave

Staff member
When I know something I'll say. She had an 11 year old and a 17 year old who were at the house at the time.

Her department is largely absent today. Most of them have been sent home.
 
Yeah, that'd be expected.

You want to hope she makes it out of surgery, but when it's brain trauma, it ain't gonna be sugar plums and candy canes on the other side.
 

Dave

Staff member
Here’s hoping “shot in the head” means something that doesn’t involve brainpan intrusion.
There's been a lot of talk about what they meant, but of course a simple winging wouldn't put her in the hospital in "extremely critical condition" or require surgery.
 
There's been a lot of talk about what they meant, but of course a simple winging wouldn't put her in the hospital in "extremely critical condition" or require surgery.
Right, but “entered right orbit, shattered upper jaw, and then exited rear of neck narrowly missing spinal column” is still supposedly “better” than “damage to both frontal and temporal lobes.”

—Patrick
 
My purse was stolen out of our car. :( I had a hundred and fifty bucks worth of grocery gift cards in that. I mean, it's not the worst financial hit I've taken near Christmas over the past few years...but it still fucking sucks and makes me think I'm suffering some kind of Christmas curse.

The purse was also my grandmothers, one of the only items I owned belonging to her. It was vintage, made in the fifties, with real brass fasteners. It was, genuinely, one of the most lovely items I owned.

And I forgot it in the fucking car.
 
Hard disk failure. Had to get a new PC. HP Pavilion, 12 GB, 1TB with 120 SSD. WIndows 10. No idea how to transfer stuff over from the dead drive and if it's worth forking over the money.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Hard disk failure. Had to get a new PC. HP Pavilion, 12 GB, 1TB with 120 SSD. WIndows 10. No idea how to transfer stuff over from the dead drive and if it's worth forking over the money.
Ooh, eesh. If it was the actual hard drive itself that failed, you may be SOL for getting anything off it.

However, if it was the hard drive controller on the motherboard that failed, it'd be pretty simple to just take the old harddrive out of the old PC and plug it into the new one. It'd show up as another drive in the list of drives you already have, and then you could just browse to the files on it.
 
Hard disk failure. Had to get a new PC. HP Pavilion, 12 GB, 1TB with 120 SSD. WIndows 10. No idea how to transfer stuff over from the dead drive and if it's worth forking over the money.
You were saying you didn’t think it was gonna last.
I’m sorry that you were right.

—Patrick
 
Ooh, eesh. If it was the actual hard drive itself that failed, you may be SOL for getting anything off it.

However, if it was the hard drive controller on the motherboard that failed, it'd be pretty simple to just take the old harddrive out of the old PC and plug it into the new one. It'd show up as another drive in the list of drives you already have, and then you could just browse to the files on it.
Black screen, press f1 / f2, crash anyway sort of thing.
 
My purse was stolen out of our car. :( I had a hundred and fifty bucks worth of grocery gift cards in that. I mean, it's not the worst financial hit I've taken near Christmas over the past few years...but it still fucking sucks and makes me think I'm suffering some kind of Christmas curse.

The purse was also my grandmothers, one of the only items I owned belonging to her. It was vintage, made in the fifties, with real brass fasteners. It was, genuinely, one of the most lovely items I owned.

And I forgot it in the fucking car.
Oh no, that's terrible! Did they break into the car or was it unlocked?
 
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