Using the TELL channel for IC purposes?

[racestark]

I want everyone's feedback on this one, especially DM if they think this may be toeing the line towards metagaming.
Here's two examples, the druid/ranger one, of course, I am most interested in.

Say you have a char who came across some very important information (insert whatever info here). Example:
Joey was sitting in the Regal Griffon having a drink by his lonesome when two guys walk into the bar (no, this is not the beginning of a bad joke.) They don't notice Joey sitting by the fire and beginning discussing something when one let's slip that they are going to murder Joey's friend Billy because he's a Silver Shield and they just don't like authority figures or Billy arrested them once, etc.
The two are too much for Joey to handle, but he needs to warn his friend as soon as possible. Thing is, Joey has no idea where Billy is (Billy could not be logged in at the moment, for all intents and purposes). Either way, Joey heads to the Silver Grove and rps with the NPC guards, something like "I need to speak with Sir Billy of your ranks. I have an urgent life-saving message for him."
Now say Billy is logged on (but I suggest you rp with the npc right away even if he isn't, since that's what you would do in real life). Joey sends Billy a TELL semi-ic saying *asks guards at front gate of Silver Grove for an audience if available.*
For some reason, Billy is there. (He could always be there for all I know. I have no idea how much time the Shields spend at their HQ.) He TELLS Joey back saying *guard returns from inside gates and says Sir Billy will be out to see you shortly.* Now Joey can deliver his warning without posting it on the boards here or waiting around for Billy to just show up and he delivers it in enough time that it can actually be of some use.
Now say Billy is logged on and Joey sends the same TELL. But Billy is off near Eveningstar and could not possibly be able to grant Joey an audience. So Billy sends a reply TELL saying *Guard shakes head and says 'Sir Billy is off on an errand and probably will not return for some time'* or if Billy is actually headed to the grove *guard shakes head and says 'Sir Billy is not here at the present moment, but is expected shortly'*
If Billy is not coming, Joey could then TELL *leaves message with guard that Joey has an urgent message for Sir Billy*. Joey walks off then and that is that. It still leaves the details for face to face rp.
Am I boring you yet?

Now, the ranger/druid one is the one that may be toeing the metagaming line, but if everyone agreed to a set policy for it, I'm sure it would work just fine.
Say ranger Joey is off near the Storm Horns and his druid friend Billy hasn't seen him in a while and wants to speak with his friend or whatever reason. Depending on certain aspects to Billy's char (i.e. animal empathy, lvl, etc.) Billy may be able to convince a bird friend or some other fast animal to go in search of Joey to report on his whereabouts.
So Bill sends Joey a TELL saying *sends bird from Isinhold south looking for Joey* Well, Joey is actually north of Isinhold and the bird could not possibly find him in the south. So Joey TELLs back *bird searches far and wide but can not find any sign of Joey and returns exhausted* and that's the end of that.
But say Billy sent the bird north. Joey then replays via TELL *which area does bird focus on?* (I'm sure we could eliminate that line if we come up with a standard procedure. Just for example purposes.)
Billy TELLs *bird circles Skull Crag and the surrounding areas* If Joey was in an area adjacent to Skull Crag, he reponds through TELL *bird spots Joey and returns to Isinhold with discovery of Joey's location--insert location here*. Another and I did it with some flesh to it, but this is just the backbone so I'm not writing literature here.
Success!!! If Billy so chooses, he could try and catch up with his friend near Skull Crag. Joey should not wait or return to Skull Crag unless the bird somehow made him aware of itself and somehow delivered a message to Joey that Billy was looking for him. I'll explain that last part some other time if it's decided that this is a good idea.
So what do you think? I know, it's longer than "War and Peace" but reading will do you all some good. ;D

[DM Richard (Retired)]

If your character has the necessary ability AND you RP it correctly tells can be used this way in a good manner.

The problem is when people make mistakes and do things that they couldn't do and mistakenly justify it.

For example.

"...if Billy is actually headed to the grove *guard shakes head and says 'Sir Billy is not here at the present moment, but is expected shortly'*"

The guard has no more of a clue when Billy was going to be back than you have. The guard may know where Billy went or even what he was doing but no way of knowing how long it will take him. (expecially if Billy is out patroling)


"Joey could then TELL *leaves message with guard that Joey has an urgent message for Sir Billy*. Joey walks off then and that is that. It still leaves the details for face to face rp."

Poor Joey didn't leave Billy any idea where to find him so now Billy is at square one looking all over leaving messages for Joey. Unless he is dead in a gutter because in his search for Joey he walks by those who wish to kill him. Either way Joey should not send Billy a tell about the plot.


"Say ranger Joey is off near the Storm Horns and his druid friend Billy hasn't seen him in a while and wants to speak with his friend or whatever reason. Depending on certain aspects to Billy's char (i.e. animal empathy, lvl, etc.) Billy may be able to convince a bird friend or some other fast animal to go in search of Joey to report on his whereabouts."

This I need to discuss with the other DM's mainly because of the differences between DND and NWN.

However, let me point out something in this next part.

"So Bill sends Joey a TELL saying *sends bird from Isinhold south looking for Joey* Well, Joey is actually north of Isinhold and the bird could not possibly find him in the south. So Joey TELLs back *bird searches far and wide but can not find any sign of Joey and returns exhausted* and that's the end of that."

How long did you wait there for the bird and not adventure? How long does the bird search the direction you send it? Has days passed with the bird searching the wrong direction? If you moved away even after it finds him (if it can) now it has to find you. Are you indoors when the bird returns?



"Billy TELLs *bird circles Skull Crag and the surrounding areas* If Joey was in an area adjacent to Skull Crag, he reponds through TELL *bird spots Joey and returns to Isinhold with discovery of Joey's location--insert location here*. "

Here is the problem. How do you know the bird saw Billy to report finding him? Was Billy indoors when the bird flew over? It shouldn't be an automatic success when searching for a player this way even if you are looking the right direction.

If you send the tell and the players isn't where he could be seen you fail. If there is a possibility to be seen (thick woods) then a roll needs to be made. If he is out in the open and not stealthing then you have a success!

Maybe you just left a lot of this out because you are in the early approval stage but others reading it might not even think that they could fail.

[racestark]

I did leave a lot out and I was hoping to get ideas like the ones you mentioned, i.e. thick woods, indoors, etc. I do agree what I posted earlier had a lot of loose ends, but I was just giving a general sense rather than trying to push it in a certain way that would be favorable to my char.

The guard has no more of a clue when Billy was going to be back than you have. The guard may know where Billy went or even what he was doing but no way of knowing how long it will take him. (expecially if Billy is out patroling)

I agree about the part that the Shield being on their way there just TELLing that the guard says he should arrive shortly, unless maybe the Shield keeps some sort of regular schedule for appearances. (At least as regular as real life will allow, such as the moment he logs in, that could be his regular schedule to report to HQ if that's what the char usually does anyway.)

"Joey could then TELL *leaves message with guard that Joey has an urgent message for Sir Billy*. Joey walks off then and that is that. It still leaves the details for face to face rp."

Poor Joey didn't leave Billy any idea where to find him so now Billy is at square one looking all over leaving messages for Joey. Unless he is dead in a gutter because in his search for Joey he walks by those who wish to kill him. Either way Joey should not send Billy a tell about the plot.

Yes, I did forget about the part to leave a place to find Joey, which is where Joey should wait then. As to revealing the plot, how about *leaves message with guard that Joey needs to speak with him and will be waiting at the Regal Griffon* ? Is it the "urgent message" part that concerned you, because I purposefully did not suggest that Joey left a message saying some is trying to kill you, just that Joey needs to talk to you, and it's important. But then, I see how that may make Billy stop patrolling go to the Inn to see what's up. But, for rp purposes, Billy should keep patrolling when he receives the revised TELL and go to Shield HQ when he is honestly finished to receive the message. (I don't know about anyone else, but I actually rp to NPC's when no one's around. Makes it feel more real). If Joey logs off by then, well, that's the way it goes in real life sometimes, too.

As for the animal thing, that would have to be much more greatly discussed. Just some info, and I don't know if this breaking the rules or not, but I didn't see it posted anywhere, yet, but I rp that as my animal empathy goes up I can kinda send images to animals to give a sense to them what I'm trying to say, but by no means actual telepathy, just some sort of bond with nature and her creatures. The badder or more generally intelligent the animal, the higher I wait for my animal empathy to get. Like a deer may be able to understand it easily, but a dire tiger or elephant would either attack me or have no clue I was trying to communicate with it until I got my animal empathy higher. (I almost always max out my animal empathy). My companion, on the other hand, and maybe the companions of my char's closest friends, can understand simple sentences and completely understands the images I'm trying to send due to our bond with each other.

That's all I wanted to address, Richard, from your post without getting other people's, and especially DM's, feedback. Thanks for the good points, though. Excellent one's, I would say.

[racestark]

I should probably add that I mean for this to be nowhere near a common thing, just for very urgent or important matters.

[DM Richard (Retired)]

"As for the animal thing, that would have to be much more greatly discussed. Just some info, and I don't know if this breaking the rules or not, but I didn't see it posted anywhere, yet, but I rp that as my animal empathy goes up I can kinda send images to animals to give a sense to them what I'm trying to say, but by no means actual telepathy, just some sort of bond with nature and her creatures. The badder or more generally intelligent the animal, the higher I wait for my animal empathy to get. Like a deer may be able to understand it easily, but a dire tiger or elephant would either attack me or have no clue I was trying to communicate with it until I got my animal empathy higher. (I almost always max out my animal empathy). My companion, on the other hand, and maybe the companions of my char's closest friends, can understand simple sentences and completely understands the images I'm trying to send due to our bond with each other."


This is the part I'll have to talk over with the other DM's.

[racestark]

If you guys don't like that, I would settle for a note attatched if the messenger bird finds them.

[Munroe]

There is a cleric spell I have used on another server that would also fall into the IC /tells department.

This spell is called Sending (phb 3.5 pg. 275-276) and is a level 4 Cleric, level 5 sorc/wizard spell.

The problem with Sending is that it is a spell, which would mean that it would be up to the player to sacrifice their spell slot appropriately at the time of spell preparation. (IE leave a slot empty.) A sorceror would not be able to use it short of sacrificing a spell at level-up. So far as I know, there is no way for a DM to check regarding either of these states.

All that being said, Sending can be very useful.

Here's an example. In this example, Sonja, a level 15 cleric of Sharess (who was my character on the other server) has prepared a Sending when she prayed. (This would be me leaving empty a level 4 spell slot when she rested.) In this example, which actually happened as part of an event, Sonja and a handfull of girls have just teleported out of the Underdark by use of a Word of Recall spell (which there is no way to RP without a DM). They left the group of adventurers down there that Sonja travelled down with to rescue the girls. The girls are panicked and one of them, a young bard, foolishly wants to try to get back to the Underdark to rescue the veteran adventurers who just fought their way down and were captured by a Handmaiden of Lolth. Sonja, also wanting to know of their situation, tells the girl that she will use a spell to check their progress. In this case, it just happened to be the appropriate time for Sonja to pray. (Clerics of Sharess pray for their spells at dusk.) Actually, here's the log (names shortened, playernames removed):

Priestess Sonja: [Talk] I can check to see how they're doing. I'll need to pray first though.
Jalen: [Talk] I *have* to know
Priestess Sonja: [Talk] *nods* Alright. *bows her head and prays right where she is*
Priestess Sonja: [Tell] I'm preparing a Sending to find out how they're doing if that's cool? 25 words out and 25 word response back maximum. Level 4 cleric spell.
Ferret (DM) : [Tell] yup
Livak: [Talk] I need to get home to Mie...I'll see everyone later.. *Sighs softly, looking exhausted*
Priestess Sonja: [Tell] Going to go through you if that's cool. Targetting Lorn. "We're back, the girls are safe. Mastin sent a runner to notify Myseria of battle. How are the others?"
Jalen: [Talk] Sweet water and light laughter
Priestess Sonja: [Talk] *is still sitting quietly in the bathwater*
Livak: [Talk] *Quietly leaves, trying not to disturb Sonja*
Ferret (DM) : [Tell] send directly to him? :)
Priestess Sonja: [Tell] Sure. Just wanted to keep it inside DM control. :-) Sending to him then.
Priestess Sonja: [Tell] Sonja is Sending: "We're back, the girls are safe. Mastin sent a runner to notify Myseria of battle. How are the others?" (Sending allows for an immediate response of 25 words or less.)
Lorn: [Tell] "We're free, going to see the Queen. Remind me to keep one of those prayers recalled next time I plunge heedlessly into danger."
Priestess Sonja: [Talk] *raises her head* Lorn says "We're free, going to see the Queen. Remind me to keep one of those prayers recalled next time I plunge heedlessly into danger."
Mylyna: [Talk] queen ?
Priestess Sonja: [Talk] Arianna, I suppose.
Jalen: [Talk] *relaxes*
Mylyna: [Talk] You think we can get her to give us passes to the spa ?
Priestess Sonja: [Talk] Want to see if we can meet them there?

That spell is very useful. On the flipside, I was always annoyed when people sent birds after my characters. My other character was a level 25 rogue/ranger/shadowdancer (who's focus was STEALTH) who WOULD NOT be spotted by some bird. Another ranger sent a bird after him once with a message and he didn't get it. Later I had my guy say "I can't talk to birds" when the other ranger asked him about it. He had one point into Animal Empathy, and it is empathy anyway, not telepathy. There is a level 1 druid/ranger spell that lets them talk to animals though (it is also a level 3 bard spell). Speak with Animals (phb 3.5 pg. 281) would have allowed him to speak with a bird, but I as a player did not have knowledge of it, nor would my character have kept it prepared anyway. Speak with Animals only lets the spellcaster speak with the animal anyway, not command it. The description says if the animal has a very favourable disposition toward the caster, it may do a favour (at the DM discretion). When my guy said he couldn't speak with birds, the other character had a magical token crafted that would allow such a feat. That just annoyed me more. It didn't matter, the birds never saw him anyway.

[Kolfrosta]

What I have seen done before, as far as tells IC, is:

"when you arrive to the Shield gate, a guard has a message for you" Granted, Sharita makes daily trips to the Hall, and this would work well. As I get her to the gate, I send a tell in reply "As she was approaching the gate a guard hands a message to her, she reads it" at which point whomever left the message would send tell back saying what it said.

Another thing, is I'll have Sharita RP leaving a message with Kale (for example, *slides a sealed message bearing a name across the bar to Kale along with a handful of coin*) for another player/character as to where she will be going, should they happen to be on or possibly being on, and the two characters arrange to meet in that way also.

[Lord_Raven88]

The main problem I see with this, is player acting on this information.

I.e Player1 is in the midst of a quest when they receive a tell

*Guard goes to check to see if player1 is at the Silver Shield HQ to deliver urgent life saving message*

And responds with a tell *guard returns and says player1 isn't currently here*

Then Player1 'suddenly' decides to abandon the quest and head back to his HQ.

Very naughty

[racestark]

I know exactly what you mean, Raven. That's why at first when I started playing on this server I refused to check what log in names matched with what characters.
But to fix that, I think Wolf had a great idea when she used the Sending spell and kept it under DM control. Maybe once per session, but only on matters of urgency or great importance rp wise, you could send a TELL to the DM on the DM channel and ask what you would like to do and why. If there's no DM on at the moment or if they refuse for whatever reason, then it's like not being able to find an animal that will agree to assist you. Then, the DM could completely control when that person will get the TELL or decide for themselves whether or not the animal will find them successfully based on all the variables (i.e. receipent is indoors, in stealth mode, the woods are too thick or the DM decides that the animal just couldn't find them, etc.). For all it's worth, the DM could wait 30-90 mintues before sending the TELL to the intended receipent.
If you want to avoid such a thing, Wolf, say you were in stealth near some tall trees, but you would still have a fair enough view of the sky in many directions. If the bird gets in the right area and this is the situation for your char, the DM could start the TELL like *you spy an ominous bird approaching in the distance*. You could then react accordingly to be kept unseen. But say you were in the middle of a fight with a bunch of them beefy orcs (HA! They don't scare me! ) when the DM decides to send you the TELL. Well, it's fair to say the bird would notice the commotion, possibly, and spot you to deliver the message. Then maybe checks against certain skills would be used between the player and the DM or the DM using opposing skill checks between the player who sent the bird and the person the bird is trying to find.
I'm sorry I suggested that last part if this would be a huge hassle for the DM's. I don't mean to flood the DM channel.

[Munroe]

f you want to avoid such a thing, Wolf, say you were in stealth near some tall trees, but you would still have a fair enough view of the sky in many directions. If the bird gets in the right area and this is the situation for your char, the DM could start the TELL like *you spy an ominous bird approaching in the distance*. You could then react accordingly to be kept unseen. But say you were in the middle of a fight with a bunch of them beefy orcs (HA! They don't scare me! ) when the DM decides to send you the TELL. Well, it's fair to say the bird would notice the commotion, possibly, and spot you to deliver the message. Then maybe checks against certain skills would be used between the player and the DM or the DM using opposing skill checks between the player who sent the bird and the person the bird is trying to find.
I'm sorry I suggested that last part if this would be a huge hassle for the DM's. I don't mean to flood the DM channel.

Two things come to mind from that: One, why would the bird look ominous? It's a bird, and probably not an evil one if a druid is using it. It looks like a bird. Two, if I'm fighting orcs, there's a good chance the bird is going to get scared off. It is, after all, foremost, a bird.

That example using the DM wasn't really meant to suggest that a DM intervene all the time. It just so happened there was a DM running an event in the instance I was giving as an example. If people can RP the spell properly (IE sacrifice the appropriate spell slot) then I see no problem with using Sending myself, but I don't really trust people to sacrifice their slots as they should. In a non-DM'd situation, they could just say they did it. In a DM'd situation, the DM could say 'cast X, a level 4 spell' so I can see you're sacrificing the slot. It really depends on how much you trust the players to use RP'd spells though because having to bug a DM to do it all the time would be annoying both for the player and the DM.

[Kolfrosta]

Then Player1 'suddenly' decides to abandon the quest and head back to his HQ.

Heh....doesn't happen, in my case anyway. If I have Shari in the middle of the Storm Horns or some other dungeon, she doesn't just drop everything and go someplace else. And, yes, I do get tells when I'm in the middle of nowhere and usually just reply, "I'm busy", or "no, can't do that right now". But the most annoying thing is, getting tells from someone to get my character to drop everything and go do something that would be out of character. Those tells, will be met with, "I'm busy", or " No, I can't/won't" everytime.

Y'all should know I know better than to metagame by now ;D

[trebarruna]

What about Quaal's feather token, bird ?

[racestark]

Hmmm. Now you've got me doubting it being a good idea, Wolf. (See, you're doing ooc also!!! )
I mean, I think the guard one is alright, if done honestly, but I'm starting to think the animal was just wishfull thinking. Oh well.

[Munroe]

Entirely depends on the characters, as far as the animals go. A druid would be very likely to notice a bird, a ranger might too, depending on the ranger and how much of a Naturalist he was. In fighting situations, I would be prone to think a bird would be "flighty," so to speak. This is just my opinion though.

I'm a big fan of the Sending spell, as well as the Word of Recall spell (which, as I said, requires a DM--I've only used it in NWN once), but RP'd spells have a very easy potential to be abused, especially in the case of classes that learn a limited number of spells such as sorcerors and bards (who select upon level-up) and wizards (who have to find the scroll to learn it, as well as spell selection on level-up).

Did I mention I love the Sending spell? Great spell but easily abused.

Edit: BTW, please call me Munroe.

[Aremithia]

Well...regarding druids, the message can be spread in a slightly different method...instead of only using a bird or whatever animal...tell to as many animals as possible...ask for the aid...minusing the factor of the difficulty of them understanding this. You can basically not depend on only 1 animal...the world becomes your information web... no?

Druids or Rangers would know when animals are hostile to them...same as animals ...some of them ...some of the others are hostile themselves...some will jump at anything...

This is after all a suggestion...

The RP'd spell is a cool idea , provided no other means of information transfer over long distance is possible.

I like whispering wind myself

[racestark]

I really like the network idea, but how do you make it work? Yeah, I don't mind telling every friendly animal I see to pass on a message if they see anyone, but how do you make that work? Secondly, I don't know if you've noticed, but a friendly animal, even to a druid or ranger, is rare and far between.
But I do like the network idea very much, much more than the TELL idea, but is it actually practical? To tell you the truth, that was my first thought before I stumbled on the TELL suggestion. It would be very nice to have some sort of animal network for the nature lovers.
Only thing I could think of is animals you find on the server that are basically message boards.

[racestark]

I was wondering, it is possible to make it so you can give certain NPC's, like the guards at the Silver Grove, Kale, Merriss, etc..., a message that can only be delivered to the intended receipent? Somehow code it so that if their char talks to the NPC afterward, it whispers them the message?
Probably just wishful thinking again. Don't even know if it's possible. I know nothing about scripting and coding.

[Misha Aogail]

I use tells IC for whispering to people while in stealth mode. Since some people don't have a high enough listen to hear me, it's generally the only way I can communicate like when I'm hiding and relaying information. I always try and make it so the people I do this to/with know it's IC. I always test to see who can 'hear' and who can't by a test whisper. If they can't hear me then, then I use the tells. DOn't do it very often though, and so far it hasn't been a problem. And yes, when I say I'm right beside/behind you using this, I really am.

[Kolfrosta]

Posted by: Misha_Aogail Posted on: Today at 14:33:50

And yes, when I say I'm right beside/behind you using this, I really am.

I'll vouch for that.... ;D

I think Sharita's most common phrase while travelling with Torian is "Where's Torian?" And then she'll be right there next to her......

[Munroe]

I tend to not listen to whispers in /tells because if you are whispering to me then that counts as a success on my listen check if I hear you. If I don't then you need to speak up and come out of stealth.

[soulfien]

birding.about.com/library/weekly/aa021498.htm

To survive, to eat, to mate, to live, a bird relies heavily on its sense of vision. Because sight is so important to them, birds have highly developed eyes, even more so than humans in many aspects.
Look closely sometimes at the eyes of hawks or owls and notice how large they are in proportion to their head, much larger in proportion than human eyes.

The eyes of most birds are on the side of their heads. This placement allows them to be able to see the things on each side at the same time as well as in front of them. This type of vision is called monocular vision. Birds with eyes placed like this get a wide area of vision to be able to see danger as quickly as possible. For instance, Rock Doves (pigeons) can see 300 degrees without turning their head. Some birds, like Woodcocks, have their eyes placed far back on the sides of their heads, allowing them even to see danger behind them. However, with monocular vision, birds have a harder time judging distances and have worse depth perception.

The vision that occurs when the field of vision from each eye overlaps is called binocular vision. Birds, like raptors, have their eyes placed far to the front giving them binocular vision as people have. These birds may have a 180 degree field of overall vision with much of that binocular. They have much sharper vision to the front than than their monocular cousins. For instance, the Rock Doves may only have 30 degrees of binocular vision.

Owls, with wonderful binocular vision, make up for the lower field of vision by an amazing ability to turn their heads to face backwards. Also most birds' eyes do not move in their sockets as our eyes do. Reflex movements of their necks usually replace the eye movements.

The structure of a bird's eye is similar to humans. However, there are some very important differences. Most birds' have eyes that are flatter than human eyes. This flatness allows birds to have a larger area in focus at one time while we focus one smaller area at a time.

At the back of eye is an area called the retina. It is made up of several different types of cells. Rod cells are sensitive to small amounts of light. Nocturnal birds that spend the night hunting, such as owls, have many more rods than humans or than birds that find food during the day. There are almost a million rods per square millimeter in some owls while we have only around 200,000 per square millimeter. That certainly explains why owls can see so much better at night than we can.

Another reason nocturnal birds see better at night than humans is that these birds' pupils are larger. These huge pupils allow more light to come into the eyes than our smaller pupils do.

Cells called cones are also present in eyes. Cones allow the brain to perceive colors. A human may have 10,000 cones per square millimeter while some birds may have up to 120,000 per square millimeter! Nocturnal birds who have the extremely high concentration of rods will have very few cones - it is much more important to be able to see in low light and not very important to distinguish colors. On the other hand, birds who forage and feed in the daylight see colors very clearly from far off. It's been said that a hummingbird can spot red flowers from over a half mile away.

There are also foveae, which are zones of maximum visual sharpness. People have one fovea. Some types of birds, such as hawks and eagles, have two, allowing them to have a type of double vision.

The color of birds' eyes depend on the species. All of the same species will normally have the same color of eye. The only exception is when an albino bird occurs. This bird will not have the normal color eye of its species but have a white pink colored eye.

You should be aware that there is an eye disease spreading amoung many birds called House Finch Disease. Infected birds has swollen red eyes that may have a crusty area or be runny. In some cases the eyes are so infected that the bird is practically blind. Badly infected birds will usually die of starvation, not being able to find food.

Infected birds have been found in the United States east of the Mississippi River and into Canada as far north as Quebec. It is believed that there is no danger to people becoming infected, only other birds. If you see an infected bird, contact your local wildlife authorities. Click here for more information.

[Misha Aogail]

Uh... While I'm still trying to gather what the birds thing is about, I'll explain why I don't come out of stealth mode. Because YOU may be able to hear me and know where my location is becauase I'm whispering to you, but Billy-Joe-Bob sitting at the base of a tree 100 feet away won't be able to hear me and still wouldn't know I was there. By coming out of stealth mode I reveal myself to EVERYone in the area, not just to the person I'm talking to and there are some instances where it's vital that only one person knows where I am (Like... If I'm in a thieve's guild following a friend who just got initiated, for example).

'Course another way I used tells for IC purposes was when I needed to get someone's attention while stealthed. I just sent a tell that said something like, *you feel a tugging on a belt pouch*. This also works for those who actually DO snatch a few things as well.

[soulfien]

the birds thing was simply the result of me being in another weird mood and reading the part about a druid sending a bird to look for someone

[DM Richard (Retired)]

After last nights actions, I thought I should bump this thread up.

This thread (and reply 34 - 45 from the one I'm linking here) are very good pieces of information to know.

frc.proboards37.com/index.cgi?board=roleplayideas&action=display&thread=1101365409&page=3

[Booze Hound]

Another use for whispers for IC reasons can be for hand signals and the like. Similar to what Misha was saying, sometimes you are in stealth, hiding from a lot of people, but you can get the attention of just one. If I came out of stealth to get his/her attention, then everyone sees me. But doing something like

*an acorn hits the back of your head*

in a tell could be all you need. Or if it is a frequent associate, perhaps you have a signal that others might ignore but he/she would recognise. Say a ranger is hiding and wants his friend to come away from the others he might

*you hear a familiar bird song* and the ranger could be whistling some bird call.

or even if said ranger had a particularly noticable stench

*for some reason you think you smell a wet dog nearby*

I have had a lot of fun with that particular IC tell because I know a rather smelly ranger.

[Helgrin Granitesoul]

I have used tells when searching for a pc.. Now this isnt sending a tell to someone and saying "hey where are you". Which of course everyone has done - including me - alot. It is more in the lines of talking to a NPC and using the tell to the person I am looking for as if I was talking to the person I am questioning.

Example - I did this looking for Kah one day, had heard he ran out a gate so I asked the gaurds near the gate if they had seen him and then I described him as well as I could. First I typed out the questoin in normal dialogue and then I sent the same question in a tell to Kah with a little additional informtion like which NPC I am actually talking to. Since he did go out the gate just a few moments before and I had described him pretty accuratly, he sent a tell back to me acting like he was the gaurd talking back and said "Yes.. He ran by me like the hounds of hell was on his arse". All of this was pretty cool on Kah's part since that day I was looking to take his head if I had found him.

Evana, Quendros, and I used to do this all the time when we were looking for each other too. Actually it was a lot more fun to do it that way then to just say.. Hey lets meet here.

And its not a thing I used with every tom, dick, and sally on the street. Most of them are not going to remember specificis of indviduals that may of passed by them. It is more to specific NPC's like barkeeps of places I know they hang out in - city gate guards whos jobs it would of been to examine and question people entering cities, and certian merchants I know they deal with alot.

I think I even had someone come back as asking for a little gold before they would tell me what they knew which I thought was awesome. So I rped giving the NPC the gold and then on the way out found the nearest trash can and threw the tip in there since I couldnt really give it to the npc in question.

If I had a been a dm that person would have definitely gotten a small XP reward for coming up with that response.

[moulinous]

logandoug said:

Another use for whispers for IC reasons can be for hand signals and the like. Similar to what Misha was saying, sometimes you are in stealth, hiding from a lot of people, but you can get the attention of just one. If I came out of stealth to get his/her attention, then everyone sees me. But doing something like

*an acorn hits the back of your head*

in a tell could be all you need. Or if it is a frequent associate, perhaps you have a signal that others might ignore but he/she would recognise. Say a ranger is hiding and wants his friend to come away from the others he might

*you hear a familiar bird song* and the ranger could be whistling some bird call.

or even if said ranger had a particularly noticable stench

*for some reason you think you smell a wet dog nearby*

I have had a lot of fun with that particular IC tell because I know a rather smelly ranger.

*you hear a snort and the gurgle of ale being drank*

yeah...that is my new one...