Absalom: To Those of Faith (Inactive)

Game Master JDPhipps

Hey guys! Here's the Discussion thread for the new campaign, and Recruitment has already been set up. Feel free to pop in here and talk about updating your characters as well as deciding whether any of you know one another this go-around. Also, let me know if you have any questions about rebuilding rules and stuff, the info is in Recruitment.

Checking in

Here's my new rogue/wizard/magus/thing.

I'm here.

Still not 100% sure if I'm going to tweak Ahto any more than just leveling him up.

I might as well explain my background and build idea a bit while I have the chance.

Mephiston is a minor member of House Thrune who decided that playing politics is a great way to get killed. So instead he went into the spy and assassination game, working for his cousin to problem solve all around Cheliax and other nearby countries. When the story of the Last Disciple reached Cheliax, Abrogail was understandably upset. If Aroden really isn't dead, her throne is in serious jeopardy. So she sent her favorite agent to go ascertain the threat. If the Last Disciple is what he claims to be, he needs to suffer an accident before he's able to amass enough of a following to threaten House Thrune's power. If he's a fraud, he needs to be revealed to rob him of his following and then suffer an accident to make sure he doesn't try anything else.

Build-wise, he's what I call the budget arcane trickster. Mass use of magic talents and wands to have a wide variety of spells and items to use. His bound Imp buddy can use any wand perfectly without a roll, so he'll likely be floating around battles and casting support spells or taking pot shots.

Almost forgot to roll my HP

Hit Dice: 8d8 ⇒ (5, 6, 2, 3, 7, 6, 3, 8) = 40 5, 6, 5, 5, 7, 6, 5, 8

Okay, that's actually really good.

8d8 ⇒ (8, 8, 4, 3, 3, 2, 8, 5) = 41 = 8,8,8,5,5,5,5,8,5= 57

Here as well! I'll be sticking with Azulth for this, as I like inquisitors and his build, and I also think it's an interesting concept to link with a "return of Aroden"--the church of Pharasma is certainly very interested in such a proclamation. As far as knowing others, that's partly for other people to decide, but I'm definitely up for it--Azulth is one of the church's more highly-trained inquisitors, so he's had dealings with people in the past.

Hit Points: 8d8 ⇒ (1, 4, 7, 8, 4, 3, 3, 4) = 34 So mostly taking average+1, but the 7 and 8 help some.

Since you're all over here now, I went ahead and deactivated the other thread.

Mostly done with the new Pyrrha magus, open for review and comments. I still have Ahto as a bond, so let me know if I need to change that

It came up in the Recruitment thread, but I changed my mind somewhat on WBL. The standard for Automatic Bonus Progression feels a little low (since it's apparently halved), and I'm going with 3/4 instead.

I keep bouncing back and forth trying to manage my wealth here...

I will need to adjust Pyrrha's equipment before start. Is ABP still current level +2?

Yep.

Azulth is mechanically updated and ready to go. I've made some changes to the original build I was going with, and steered away from trapfinding since Mephiston has picked that up. He dual-wields knives, and while he's not necessarily built for throwing them he can do so without any real difference in efficiency, especially since I picked up a blinkback belt to help with that.

His backstory is going to change as well, since we're much more powerful now. He's still a street urchin who was picked up by the church of Pharasma, but rather than a newer inquisitor, he's one of the most skilled agents they have, and holds a special title as the Gravetender--a favored operative for the church, wielding a pair of blessed knives and serving as a covert agent for the faith, rooting out threats within and without. This "Last Disciple" is certainly an affront to Pharasma and a potential threat to the church, so he's gained the attention of the church's superiors, and Azulth's as well.

Like what Azulth has so far. I'll have to maybe work on some more background to give Pyrrha more significance for being a level 9 magi.

Greetings! Varrren reporting in and happy to be here. I am pretty excited to be getting this chance!

Pfffft! How'd a dragon get in here!? Errrr I mean, welcome...

I have a lot of questions.

We're certainly an unusual bunch, aren't we? We have two spies from entirely separate factions, a priest, a non-evil chromatic dragon, two former criminals, and a city guard captain. I think we might have reached the point where we're weird even be Absalom's standards.

I'm just looking forward to Edward using Command Undead to grab some undead someone else made to ram them into things and destroy 'em and our Inquisitor side-eyeing him because that is just this side of okay to her church.

I'm playing a pragmatic balance freak, what is this life. Anyways, looking forward to playing with you all!

The aforementioned city guard captain is reporting for duty!

So the band's all together now? Schweeeeeeet.

Also belatedly, Azulth and Ed may already know each other. Ed's a member of the Society so he travels a lot, meaning he frequents Pharasmin churches all over the place.

We will actually have one more joining us some time tomorrow; the player has some real-life issues going on so I told him to finish up his character soon and get it to me. However, this is most of us.

Wow, eight's a pretty big group.

Welcome, everyone! I look forward to playing with you all. As far as Ed goes, it makes sense we'd have met at some point--Azulth is based in Absalom, but he's traveled to other points for the church as needed, so they probably met somewhere. I'm sure he has 'opinions' on Edward's modus operandi... but then, Azulth himself is trained to walk the edge of what the church usually allows, so as long as it stays under control he's willing to understand.

Welcome Edward and Tosguld.

Immediately thinking Tosguld and Pyrrha might have some knowledge of one another if you are interested in shared background development to help with character bonds.

That is, unless I can find out what I need to do to play a dragon. He's almost thirty feet tall! :D

I don't think that Mephiston will have a huge amount of contact with other characters before the game starts. But he's been to everywhere from Korvosa down through Osirion on various jobs so maybe he's encountered other people. He's currently staying in the Chellish Embassy, so anyone who's involved in politics might have briefly met him before.

Well, he is usually only about 5'10". He can change shape and spends most of his time in the form of a middle aged human man, a former professor of religion and history, and goes by the name Varrst.

About like so, but usually less bloodstained.

He would likely be willing to answer questions you have. He has also been living in Absalom for something like 130 years.

Pfffft! How'd a dragon get in here!? Errrr I mean, welcome...

lol .. thanks!

It's a short story that starts with me telling DM Jon 'I have a couple of strange ideas for a character that will both take a bit of effort on your part' and ends with DM Jon telling me that he likes the dragon idea better than the other one...

I'm kind of curious what the other idea was now...

@Pyrrha: I like the idea of related character backgrounds. I imagine Tosguld has a favorable opinion of you despite your chaotic tendencies.

Wow, eight's a pretty big group.

Wouldn't have been fun if the 8th passenger was even stranger than the non-evil chromatic dragon?

Anyway here I am! Sorry for making you all wait on this weary, old minded yet young bodied elf. Make sure to wear a sweater while we adventure, eat your vegetables and always exhale when you pull the trigger.

I see you are speaking of bonding backgrounds, and I'm up for it. If our friendly blue dragon wants too, we should be aproximately of equal age so perhaps we know each other from before?

It's a big enough group that I'll only just be able to keep everyone out of the negative channels, alongside one summoned creature/animal companion/what have you.

If we pick up any more friends I'll have to get creative. :'D

@Azulth: Seeing as the Grand Lodge is also in Absalom, they probably see each other whenever the both of them are between missions at the same time, then. He tends to gravitate back there for their wealth of information, and he'd frequent the cathedral while he was there.

If it helps in any way, I do intend to make use of Jon's homebrew rule regarding movement during full-attacks. So unless we are in a small room, I shouldn't usually be inside the channeling range.

There's something about dual wielding guns as you jump and run that makes my inner John Woo go happy.

@ Variel: John WOOOO!!!

I love it!

So Varrren has been living in and around Absalom for the better part of 140 years. He studies at the various repositories of knowledge from time to time, occasionally acting as a professor of either history, magic, or religion. He also spends some of his time away on adventuring expeditions.

There are a multitude of opportunities for him to have met and possibly formed a friendship with you. He is as unlike a blue dragon as you are unlike an elf. He often jokes that he is a silver trapped in a blue's body.

He is also completely enthralled with flying, and loves to share his love of flying. So much so that, unlike many dragons, he is completely willing to carry others into the sky.

@ everyone: If you have spent much time in or around Absalom, it is entirely possible that you might have some shared background with Varrren, whether you know his true self or not. I am agreeable to shared backstories; it helps make a reason for us to trust and work together.

Good to see people working on connecting backstories and such, I'm digging what people have come up with so far. Feel free to hammer out a few more details on these subjects and figure out how much you all know each other and how. I'm excited to get this started, and I'd expect to have the Gameplay thread up in the next few days, mostly likely on Saturday as I'll have some more free time. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Gameplay is up!

Expect a post from me in Gameplay by around 4 PM EST tomorrow. I was going to post today, but I was pretty busy. Not only was there schoolwork to be done, but today was my girlfriend's birthday so of course there were things to be done with that. However, I have some free time tomorrow to work on getting up another post to really kick things off for you all.

Variel, we never did iron out how we know each other.

You are completely right, and it isn't the only thing I forgot (I added my traits this morning).

GRRR!! Stupid Paizo killed my response....

So, I was thinking we could do a combination of the first and last ideas. Variel saved Varrren's life when Varrren was being hunted as a juvenile dragon, and some decades later, Varrren was able to return the favor when Variel was at the mercy of a hostile dragon.

Varrren was fleeing a group of dragon hunters who had injured his wings, grounding him. When he had made enough distance from them to change his shape, he took the form of a hound, not noticing Variel standing nearby in the shade of a tree, watching him. When the hunters caught up, Variel pretended that the hound belonged to him and that he had seen no dragons. Variel's actions saved Varrren's life, since he was outmatched by the hunters at the time.

Some decades later, after Variel had left his now-unbearable home, he ran afoul of a young adult black dragon. By lucky coincidence, Varrren was on his way to meet up with Variel (or perhaps just happened to be passing by the area for a more happenstance situation), and spotted the elf in dire straits on the ground below. Much larger than the black, Varrren dove in and injured the black sufficiently to drive it off.

Varrren, sounds hella good to be honest (missed the dot, should have checked before :( )

Jon, would you like me to describe the Sword I mentioned or should I leave it to you?

Almost forgot, I will be camping till Wednesday. I'll try to check things but truth is I don't think I'll be able.
Please do bot me!

Whichever works for you, but it'd probably be easier if you described it.

Varrren, sounds hella good to be honest (missed the dot, should have checked before :( )

Jon, would you like me to describe the Sword I mentioned or should I leave it to you?

Almost forgot, I will be camping till Wednesday. I'll try to check things but truth is I don't think I'll be able.
Please do bot me!

Cool! Let's go with the 'on my way to meet up with you' option, since it is more believable.

I'll be updating this tomorrow.

This is the last week of classes of my senior year, so my time is required to be well-budgeted. As this game has just started it's going to be my first priority in terms of timely updates, but although I hope that none of my games really suffer it's likely my posting rate will decline for the next week or so. This game, if I play my cards right, won't really see a change, but we'll see.

After that, I'm into finals week but that's more free time in all honesty.

Take care of your studies, Jon. We appreciate you and all you do for us, and we will be here when you have time.

Hello all!

This is just a message to let you all know I'm back and I'll have time to post on a normal schedule again. I meant to update this tomorrow with two of my other games, but I just wasn't up to the task at the time. I'll let you all know if I expect a serious interruption but for the time being it's smooth sailing.

This took longer than I wanted it to (I forgot to make player tokens, my *favorite part* of new games) but combat is live! The link to Roll20 is in the header for the campaign, just click that and you're in. Let me know your name or change it to your character name for this campaign and I'll give you control of your token.

Never used Roll20 before, but I'm servant6 over there, too.