GM, by my count Murob has taken 21 nonlethal damage, which equals her HP, so she should be staggered, not unconscious...?
Also, I am really liking the combat tracker, very useful.
Oh! You are right, I mis-noted the amount of NL damage you have in the campaign info tab the first time. I had it down as 22.
I'm leaving the country until Monday and I'm not sure what my internet availability will be. Please bot if needed, and thank you!
Shall we start a loot sheet?
Sure! I put a link in the campaign info tab, and unless you guys want it for something else I'll just use it to keep track of who has what.
If possible I'd still like you guys to keep items on your character sheets though.
@ Sorala - that's fine, if the PCs decide to go anywhere I'll have you move along with them.
Ey Murob/everyone, I just want to clarify something about how the boards work/my intent with OR skill checks.
1.) When I post a spoiler regarding an OR skill check, it's not intended as something that gives you a re-roll, but rather a circumstance where you can use your expertise in one field or the other field to try it. I should have made this more clear, so don't worry about it for right now.
2.) When you're making rolls, and you preview them, and then later you need to add more rolls (such as in this case of Murob adding a Spellcraft roll, or probably the more common circumstance of crit confirmation rolls) you're going to need to add new rolls to the bottom of your line of checks. This is because your rolls will stay persistent in order.
Example:
Acrobatics to Avoid AOO -> d20+6 -> (15) + 10 = 25
Attack 1 vs. Enemy -> d20+8 -> (20) + 8 = 28
Attack 2 vs. Enemy -> d20+3 -> (8) + 3 = 11
If I preview and see that I've rolled a 20, and then I add a crit confirm check in between the two attacks, it'll end up looking like this:
Acrobatics to Avoid AOO -> d20+6 -> (15) + 10 = 25
Attack 1 vs. Enemy -> d20+8 -> (20) + 8 = 28
Crit Confirm vs. Enemy -> d20+3 -> (8) + 8 = 16
Attack 2 vs. Enemy -> d20+3 -> (11) + 3 = 14
This applies to all dice rolls, as long as they are the same dice type. I could probably add the damage rolls, as long as I wasn't rolling d20 damage, totally problem-free after seeing the attack rolls, for example.
I last played Mogwai almost 3 years ago. It's astounding how some characters take up brain space and are hard to shake. I hope you're all enjoying him as much as I am to be back in his mind.
Totally A-OK here with the rolling info.
Also, that sheet seems solid for loot. There's very little that Mogwai will want (save an eventual Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists) so don't expect me to chime in on much loot. Happy to carry a few of the Healing potions, but it's also worth noting that I have a couple of Cure spells (and will be getting Fervor starting next level).
Ahhh, I see, thank you for the explanation.
This is more what I had in mind for the loot tracker, I'm happy to set it up like that for the rest of the group as it makes it easy to track things. Let me know what you think.
GM just to verify, these gauntlets are Claws of the Ice Bear?
Made a loot tracker with values and weight.
Oh, I see Murob. Thank you for doing so. I m happy to let you maintain it.
And yes, Karzok. They are that.
Ok, I just took a look-see at inventories, and everyone except for Mogwai has 5 trail rations on their sheet. That means that the group as a whole has 35 days of trail rations.
There are currently 8 of you (Arven, Pharast, and the 6 PCs), and you are searching for an additional 3 NPCs... with 11 people eating from that store, you have 3 days before you run out of food.
I wanted to mention that before we got too far into this :)
Also, does anybody have a specific plan for after you find the missing persons?
Murob's plan is to find higher ground and survey the area, hopefully find out in which direction First Landing is. She also intends to learn Yosiah's language and see if his people can help in any way.
We have several people with survival skills who can try to find food and water along the way.
Right - Pharast picked them up. I was including them in the 35 trail rations that I listed, as 10 + 5 (5) = 35
As for the language, I realize I never answered you! Feel free to RP learning words/sentences by conversing with Yosiah. Perhaps the ability to supernaturally-quickly learn a language in a week of game-time is reasonable? 30 days is the normal 'retrain a language' rule, but it seems unfair to deprive you of your Linguistics rank, and you'll certainly level up before you spend 30 days.
Sorry if I'm a bit slow, had a busy week at work and am a little under the weather atm.
Don't worry about it. We're in a relatively low-stress period right now, and I actually think I'm just waiting on Karzok to be nice and heroic.
I would like to mention how much I am enjoying this game so far. Leinathan is doing a fantastic job of setting the scene and keeping things moving, and there is a lot of high-quality posting from everyone else.
^ Agreed! It is a good game. Thanks, everyone!
Agreed! This whole group has been wonderful and talented.
I'd like to call out Sorala, especially. The musings about Irrisenian life and imagery are just astonishingly good writing.
Yes, thank you for all being so wonderful! I was a bit leery of some of you, as you are rather new to the boards and that's usually a sign that you're a risk of leaving, but you're all wonderful writers and your characters mesh perfectly with the story that I am looking to tell.
I'm looking forward to your success, and excited to see which direction you'll go :)
Hey, thanks Yosiah! I've had a lot of fun thinking about just how foreign most everything would seem to someone from a cruel, perpetually winter-laden land.
I've always had the idea for a magi-knight in mind, but could never get the fluff to really work. When this recruitment was going on, I was reading the setting book for Irrisen and it all just came together. It is a really fantastic setting book, very evocative and original. I think when I'm done running my homebrew on these boards I'm going to run a Winter's Rebels game, mashing that setting up with the Hell's Rebels AP. That's a few years out though, as I can only handle running one game at a time.
I've enjoyed your take on an Arcadian (very different than my homebrew's take!). What was the inspiration?
I caught up on the gameplay thread, but there's not much to add (yet!). Just letting you know I'm up to date and ready to post ;3
Playing a grumpy reserved farmer-priest is very much the antithesis of my RL persona, so it can be a bit of a challenge at times.
I'll be out of town this weekend for a wedding. I'll try to get on at least once on Sunday but I'm not sure what my connection will be like. Please bot as needed.
Sorala - sorry for the delay! I really loved the Hell's Rebels AP as a player - enough that I'm running it as a PbP on this messageboard right now, actually. I don't know that there was any singular inspiration for Yosiah - I was given a list of deities, and Kofusachi caught my eye as the Laughing God/God of Luck and Fortune, etc. I was really worried about *NOT* playing a "Noble Savage" Native American-type character, so I figured I'd make it a little bit more European, and worked with our GM to come up with an organization that uses religious warriors, a la the Crusades. I don't know that I've really answered your question, but that was my thought process, and I've really enjoyed Yosiah as a character already. I'm glad you like him!
Regarding the recent decision to brazenly charge the ogres:
Yosiah is kind of a coward, but also knows that if a fight happens, it had best be on his terms. Y'all can't understand him, which is why I didn't bother writing a whole internal monologue, but essentially - this is his first time fighting something this big, he's scared, and doesn't think he has a chance unless we get the upper hand quickly. So he panicked, and his military training kicked in before he could turn tail and run.
My own inspiration for the Arcadian civilization was supposed to be something like Marvel's Wakanda - a reclusive, secretive, religious and conservative nation. One that is extremely refined and advanced.
It's why I chose French for the language as well, because the aesthetic of that IRL country as well as The Witcher's Toussaint are sort of what I wanted to evoke.
I think when I'm done running my homebrew on these boards I'm going to run a Winter's Rebels game, mashing that setting up with the Hell's Rebels AP.
Let me know if this ever comes to fruition. Me likey that idea.
I had Mogwai cast forbid action to try and prevent it from attacking - I hope that's an acceptable thing to have done, Yoricks!
I had Mogwai cast forbid action to try and prevent it from attacking - I hope that's an acceptable thing to have done, Yoricks!
Perfect! We'll make a goblin out of you yet.
:D Just what I've always wanted!
I have another houserule to add, relating to that concentration check thing!
Currently, the rules surrounding them are thus:
When you're casting spells in a threatened zone, you can choose to make a concentration check. Succeed, and you cast the spell with no problem. Fail, and the spell doesn't take effect, and you lose its use. If you choose not you, you take an AoO. If the AoO hits you, make a concentration check with a DC equal to 10 + the damage.
I'd like to remove the concentration check procc'd by the AoO's hit. This makes the decision about whether or not to roll for concentration an actual decision - roll for concentration, and maybe lose the spell, or forgo it and take an AoO?
Thoughts? This is a common rule in my F2F games.
I like it in principle, though I'm not sure how that works with the Magus - they're in combat a lot, and may end up losing a lot of spells that way. I'm biased as the guy with Fervor, so I'll let the others weigh in.
Well, actually its just a straight buff to defensive casting...
OH! I misread it the first time.
I don't hate that idea, though I think it makes casters a bit more powerful.
I also wonder how it works with things like readied actions to disrupt casting with an arrow, etc.? Or tripping?
I would say only the triggering AoO is affected.
I know it makes casters stronger, but only on paper since everyone without impossible AC or defensive buffs up casts defensively anyway.
That said... Are there suggestions to balance it?
When I was at PaizoCon, I got to playtest Starfinder (which was RAD!)
One of the changes made in that system is, if you cast a touch spell in melee, it never provokes, and if you cast any other spell in combat, it always does. No casting defensively.
Thoughts on that idea?
^ As a magus, I like that idea! :)
Looking forward to SF too.
Work is giving me a kicking at the moment. I hope to get caught up on things tomorrow/Friday.
In other news:
In a shocking turns of events my consistent roll20 group dissolved today for a variety of RL related reasons. This is heartbreaking for two reasons:
1. In my experience it is extremely hard to find a reliable group on roll20.
2. We were playing my 'white whale' AP: Second Darkness. What really stings is that we just started book 3 and (I'm assuming) we were about to head to the Darklands.
I'm not going to hesitate to being the search for a new gig, so would any of you fantastic people know any good groups or players that frequent roll20 that you could put me in touch with?
The only caveat to this request is that I want to play in Golarion. I figure that if Paizo went out of their way to develop the setting, then I should honor that commitment by playing in it. Otherwise, I am up for just about anything.
I'll be searching for a new group on my own, of course, but if you all know someone, don't hesitate to chime in.
Thank you!
Sorry Karzok, but I don't use Roll20! Good luck finding something, though.
@ concentration checks - that is simple and balanced, only it totally invalidates a lot in Pathfinder. You know, like Combat Casting, or spell combat.
I have a question for you guys! How do you feel about random encounters?
I have two different stances regarding them: One is that they're useful and fun! They extend a campaign, they can provide some interesting combats, and they really help to illustrate how dangerous certain areas are.
The other is that this is Play-by-Post, and I don't really like spending time on non-narratively-interesting encounters, as sometimes encounters can take days or weeks.
note that i certainly don't plan to not have encounters... I just wanted to know what you guys thought!
Encounters can be fun and interesting, although perhaps not completely random ones (as in, you roll on a table for the critters to throw at us). And perhaps there is a system to expedite combat for less-relevant encounters, so that the world still feels dangerous but we don't have to slog through four rounds of combat that is not necessarily relevant to the story. Personally I don't feel that a full AP campaign needs extending in a PbP format.
On the other hand, I felt quite jittery when we found the spiderwebs, as I was expecting the spiders to show up at any moment. So perhaps indicating the presence of really dangerous creatures without us actually encountering the creatures would work to a degree for that purpose. And that uncertainty can work really well for creating tension.
Or perhaps the encounters can be made to have some story-related purpose, like the one we just had with saving the halfling from the ogres, or a story-related payout.
I'm agreed with Murob - even not seeing the spiders still kept those moments pretty tense. In general I lean away from random encounters because of the speed at which PBP combat takes, but they certainly can be useful in fleshing out the world - and as you said, especially in a game like this where we are in the wilds, it feels appropriate to come across different things. I don't know how much the spiders / ogres have been "random", but what's been happening so far is totally working for me!
We just checked into the hospital for the birth of our second son, so I might be out for a few days. Please bot Karzok as needed!
Fingers crossed and congrats!
Yay! Good luck with everything, Karzok!
Re: random encounters, in this PBP, they have a place in terms of exploration and discovery. So I say, go for it!
Thank you. Baby and mama are doing just fine.
I like random encounters if they add something to the experience, but not so much if they're used for padding.
When I was running RotRL for a few friends, one of the most memorable moments was when I cooked up was a random encounter of a hydra and a couple marsh giants during a rafting voyage. They can certainly add something to the experience if they're done right.
Considering the high bar you've set up to this point, I say go for it.
Congrats on the addition of baby Karzok, that's wonderful news. :)
Congratulations, friend!
Oh man, congratulations!!! I hope you managed to build up a reservoir of sleep what with the days to come ;3
A belated congratulation to Karzok.
I guess we're just waiting on Yosiah to come back and explain some things. I don't think I'll be able to post during this weekend, though.
If I am, I will move us forward (Yosiah or no Yosiah) when I am able to post. If I am not, I will move us forward on Monday morning.
Check! Thanks for the update. I'm sure he'll drop by soon enough so we can exchange some information :D
Hey folks! Sorry, it's been an INSANE week at the new job. My old gig gave me plenty of free time to post throughout the day, so I'm adjusting :)
I'll be posting tomorrow, for sure.
I'm in airports all day today. Please bot if needed and I'll be back in the swing of things tomorrow.