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OK guys, here's a few general rules to be aware of. I'll do this up more formally later.
EXPERIENCE: XP are "cashed out" only when the party returns to camp. If the party has two encounters before returning to camp, and one of the characters dies during the second encounter, then the remaining party members divide amongst themselves the experience gained from both encounters; the dead character does not recieve a "share" of the XP from the first encounter, even though he survived it.
Story awards may grant XP to individual characters but generally XP from an encounter will be divided up evenly amongst all who participated.
Characters do not need training from a more experienced person to go up a level, but they do need a night's rest, and will not level up until the end of the adventuring day.
TIME:
As in B/X time is measured in 10-minute "turns." Each turn is divided into sixty 10-second combat rounds.
Doing anything in the dungeon outside of combat, such as moving, searching, etc, generally takes at least 1 turn. Any encounter involving combat will also take 1 turn - the remaining time after the combat is over is consumed by binding wounds, cleaning weapons, retrieving ammunition, and possibly doing a search of the area if you haven't been there before.
MOVEMENT:
Your combat move is the speed you can move and still make an attack. In a combat round you may also move three times that amount and do nothing else (running). If you are engaged in melee you can only move safely away (withdraw) at 1/2 speed.
Your out-of-combat movement has two speeds: RECKLESS speed (which will be 30 times your combat move if walking, or more if you are running), which you would normally move when you know there are no traps, etc., or CAREFUL movement (which will be 3 times your combat move) which assumes you are proceeding very slowly and checking for traps, secret doors, mapping, and so on.
If you want to be searching for traps and secret doors along a passage, you don't need to specify this specifically; just say you are moving carefully.
SEARCHING:
The chance to find something is always a certain chance in 6. Finding secret doors or traps is 1 in 6 unless your class gives a better rating. This means that anyone can search for traps, but some classes do it better than others. Hearing noise is 1 in 6 or 2 in 6 for demi-humans and for thieves (only thieves get better by level). Rolls for searching are done secretly by the DM.
As you move carefully or complete an encounter somewhere the DM assumes you are searching unless you have reason to be in a hurry. So this is done automatically. However, if you want you can always check again.
DM: "The door is covered in blood, and there is a carved skull on the lintel as well as an inscription that says 'PREPARE TO DIE'. (rolling) But you don't find any traps."
Players: "Yeah.... let's check for traps again."
* The second time you are searching for something, you spend 1 turn doing nothing but looking for that specific thing.
* The third time you spend 1 hour looking (if nobody finds anything) or 1d6 turns if someone does find something.
* The fourth time you spend 6 hours looking (if nobody finds anything) or 1d6 hours if someone does find something.
* After that, attempts may be made once per game day and take the same time as above.
Checking for magic and trying to identify items (assuming you are not using an actual spell) follows the same rules as searching for things. It will normally be sensible that those who have a chance to detect magic will examine items in downtime to see if they are magical.
LANGUAGES:
Literacy counts as a language. Without it you can speak and understand speech but cannot read or write.
There are no alignment languages.
COMBAT:
* Natural 20: A natural roll of 20 grants a "bonus hit." This allows you to roll again, with one of the following results:
* * A: if your first roll was not a hit, you may add the new roll to your old one to see if you hit.
* * B: if you hit but did not down your target then roll again and another hit does damage to the same target (as in a critical hit).
* * C (melee only): if you hit and down your target then you may make a free attack against another adjacent target (as in the 3.5 version of cleave).
* Cover: in ranged combat each character that is in between you and your target grants a -1 penalty to hit, to a maximum of -4. Likewise soft cover grants a -1 penalty to hit for every 25% of the target that is obscured, to a maximum of -4. Hard cover grants an additional -1 penalty to the values above, but obviously 100% hard cover negates any chance to hit.
* Blindness: being blind is effectively the same as a target having 100% soft cover as the target is not visible. A blind creature that is aware of the presence of an enemy can attack at -4 to hit. Likewise, invisible characters can be attacked at -4 to hit if the enemy knows they are there.
* Other Modifiers: Attacking a target that has high ground gives a -1 penalty to hit. Attacking from the high ground gives a +1 bonus to hit. Attacking when exhausted gives a -2 penalty to hit, while attacking a target that is exhausted gives a +2 bonus to hit.
AMMUNITION:
Ammunition can always be retrieved as long as the party holds the field after a battle.
Thrown weapons are always retrievable unless there is something like a chasm for them to fall into. You don't have to tell me that you are retrieving them. The same applies for sling bullets.
Arrows and quarrels however will tend to break when they strike stone, so for simplicity's sake we assume that 50% of all arrows or quarrels are retrievablle after any battle.
NON-PROFICIENCY:
If you aren't trained in the use of a weapon, you can still pick it up and attempt to use it. Any attacks with a nonproficient weapon are resolved as if you are a 0-level Normal Man. At 1st level this will only be a -1 penalty but it gets bigger as you gain experience. Thrown objects like flasks of oil and rocks do not require any proficiency.
HEALING & INJURIES:
* Rest: you recover 1 HP per level for every night of decent rest you recieve (a night full of interruptions probably won't count). If you rest for the full day as well, you gain another 1 HP per level.
* First Aid: after a combat it is assumed you spend some time binding your wounds. First aid can potentially heal 1 HP after a battle where the patient was injured, but a person can only benefit from this a maximum of once per day per level of the patient, and only once per incident where the character took damage.
If clean bandages are available, first aid automatically works. If clean bandages are not avilable, the patient must make a health saving throw; failure indicates that no benefit is derived from that instance of first aid.
Note: purify food and water could be used to sterilise bandages that are immersed in water, but if you have a cleric spell available you probably are going to cast cure light wounds.
* Mortal Wounds: If a character is reduced to 0 HP or less, they are mortally wounded. The character may make a health save; success indicates that the character survives for 1 round, though they cannot do much; they can crawl 5 feet, attack with a dagger or a crossbow, speak a few words, or if they are standing they can stagger along at half speed (but risk falling prone). At the end of the round the character takes damage equal to the damage of the original wound that mortally wounded him, and he saves again to survive another round.
This means that if you make the save it is possible that you can be saved after being reduced below 1 HP, but it better be fast because you keep taking damage and having to save. This also means that you could encounter a guy at -60 HP who is beyond being saved by magical healing but still has enough life left in him to deliver 'one last message.'
POISON: lethal poison always does HP damage and can therefore be mitigated with healing even if the healing does not neutralize the poison. "Poison Damage" is always multiplied by the victim's Hit Dice, so a 3 HD character that takes 3 points of poison damage takes 9 HP of damage.
Poison always takes at least 1 round to have any effect. Normally it will involve multiple saves over time.
Can we get a post of range rules? I would like to update that part of my sheet.
I can post 1/day most days - weekends are much more erratic. If I'm slammed at work I'll let the group know.
Looking forward to some olde school gaming :)
My post rate can be a little erratic due to work. Meaning some days I can post multiple times. Other days it will be rough to get a post in. I rarely go 2 days without a post though.
I should be able to at least check in once a day (except weekends). If I expect to be gone for a long period, I'll let you know ahead of time. For example, coming up in November (10-16), I'm going to Walt Disney World and will be unavailable during that time.
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Can we get a post of range rules? I would like to update that part of my sheet.
Okay, here's the ranges for various weapons. Also added this to the miscellaneous rules section.
MISSILE WEAPON RANGES (IN FEET)
Missile fire has three ranges: Short (which gives a +1 to hit), Medium (no bonus to hit), and Long (-1 penalty to hit). In an environment with low ceilings, long range fire may not be allowed.
Weapon Type
Arbalest 5 - 100 / 101 - 200 / 201 - 300
Heavy Crossbow 5 - 80 / 81 - 160 / 161 - 240
Long Bow, Light Crossbow 5 - 70 / 71 - 140 / 141 - 210
Short Bow 5 - 50 / 51 - 100 / 101 - 150
Sling 5 - 40 / 41 - 80 / 81 - 120
Javelin 5 - 30 / 31 - 60 / 61 - 90
Spear, Dart 5 - 20 / 21 - 40 / 41 - 60
Thrown Object 5 - 10 / 11 - 30 / 31 - 50
(Thrown object includes daggers, flasks of oil, throwing axes, rocks, etc.)
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@ Anastoria and Zynazyr:
Don't forget to choose between spontaneous and prepared casting. A spontaneous caster (sorcerer) will have a talisman; while a prepared caster (wizard) will have a spell book.
There's not a whole lot of difference at the very start, until you start finding scrolls (which probably won't take too long). A sorcerer can imprint one spell on his/her talisman using a scroll; a wizard can add spells from scrolls to his or her book. Both uses consume the scroll.
A sorcerer has spells known equal to his spells per day (not counting INT bonus). Zynazyr: specializing in lightning as a sorcerer basically just means an extra spell known, which might not seem as good as the option for wizards, but spells known will be at a premium for you in that case, so it's still pretty good.
If I don't hear from you I will assume you are going with the prepared option.
My schedule is much like Ferrous's. I can usually post once a day, but the time can vary (Whenever I can check into the hotel). Please feel free to bot me however if it slows things down. I'll go ahead and post in the gameplay thread, but don't have time right now to go to the new Character Sheet style. Maybe this weekend. Looking forward to this.
Waves to my old sparring partner in Scranford :)
I am going with prepared casting for Ana.
I too am a prepared caster. I went ahead and took the free stick instead of the baton, using the gold to buy another dagger.
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Hey guys.
We have one more character that needs to get finalized (we are pretty close) and we can start.
Zynazyr, please don't forget to pick a picture for your avatar. It always helps to be able to put a face to a name.
At the very latest I will post the formal intro to the Adventure on Sunday night / Monday morning. Maybe sooner if "Fistep the Fighter" is ready quickly enough.
BTW guys, how familiar is everyone with pbp gaming? Is anyone new to it?
Very familiar with pbp gaming, myself. I've been doing it for many years and am currently running five different games.
I've been doing pbp for about 2 years and am currently in WhtKnt's WLD game :)
Currently, RL doesn't allow me to play f2f very often so this is how I get my fix.
Very familiar - been here since 2007 and am in a bunch of games, ran a few too...
Like Zynazyr RL RPing dried up so this became my go-to... hands down some of the most memorable gaming moments have happened here on the boards, and I've made a bunch of great friends to boot.
Scranford and I are in a pirate game thats been running forever.. well 2011 :)
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Lots of experience. 8,500+ posts.
And as BD mentioned we've been in the same game forever...
My first pbp game was not on this site but another one over 10 years ago. I do like that the games I have started on here have a better success rate than that other site.
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OK, I have sent out the Dream Sequences.
Anastoria and Thylla, I apologize for the multiple PMs. The Paizo system crashed while I was doing that and I guess I hit something multiple times in frustration.
SPECIAL ADVENTURE RULES
This adventure works a little differently than most adventures, because of the priority of finding food and water. I didn't want to post these earlier because they do give some spoilers.
The party has no food or water at the beginning of the adventure and acquiring these is a high priority. If they fail to find water and food soon dire consequences will result.
At the start of the adventure the party has been without food and water for one day, day and thus their thirst count and hunger count start at one point each (see thirst and hunger, below).
Water provides 100 XP for each quart found. Food provides 5 XP per "half-meal" found (the amount of food that sustains a person for one day is divided into 3 "meals" or 6 "half-meals"). Once the party finds a renewable source of water, they gain a one-time award of 1000 XP but then food and water no longer provides XP, and treasure assumes its full XP value (1 XP per 1 gp).
If a character is ever reduced to zero hit points from thirst, he becomes comatose and feverish and will die in 7-12 (1D6+6) hours.
If a character's thirst count increases* to a value of 4 or above, the character takes thirst damage equal to one point of damage per hit die the character has. This works like normal damage and can be healed through the same means that normal damage is healed. Magical healing can heal thirst damage but will not reduce a character's thirst count, so eventually a character's thirst will catch up with him no matter how much healing he has at his disposal.
* Note that for a thirst count to be considered to have increased it must be at a higher level than it was at the start of the previous day. Effects that reduce a count for the day and then allow it to increase at the end of the day by the same amount or less do not count as an increase. Use the new result but round any fractions down.
The only way to truly remove thirst is to drink water. Drinking water will reduce a character's thirst count, and if he drinks enough it will also prevent his thirst count from increasing at the end of the day. A person ideally should consume one quart of water each day, but they can get along with less.
Hunger works like thirst, only it is less severe. Each day without food increases a character's hunger count by one. A person's hunger count acts as a penalty in the exact same way as thirst, but only one third (round down) of the person's hunger count acts as a penalty, so a hunger count of three is the equivalent of a thirst count of one. The party starts with a hunger count of one but will not take any penalties unless the count reaches three.
Food is measured in "half-meals." A person can remain reasonably healthy if they are on half-rations and that means three half-meals per day. Preferably though they will get three full meals per day, which is the equivalent of six half-meals. Note that it does not matter how frequently the character actually eats; he can eat his food for the day all at once or in little snacks over the course of the day. All that matters is the amount of food the character is getting.
If the food they eat is fresh, it will contain some moisture and will also count as water drunk. Three or more fresh half-meals in a given day will also count as a half-pint of water drunk. If the food is dried (such as most preserved food) then it will not help alleviate thirst.
Hunting: If a party kills a monster and then wishes to eat it the DM can assume that there are a number of half-meals of edible meat equal to the monster's hit points. Note however, that certain types of monsters are not suited to making meals. Any creature that is venomous or diseased gives the risk of poisoning or infecting someone who eats it.
You guys can all add a section to your character sheets (somewhere near the top) that looks like this:
THIRST COUNT: 1 (penalty: -1)
HUNGER COUNT: 1 (penalty: -1/3 = 0)
Total Penalty: -1 to hit, -1 to damage, -1 to ability checks, -2 to maximum HP
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Oh, almost forgot:
Anastoria, Zynazyr, and Montague all start with bonus languages (a number equal to your INT bonus).
Zynazyr, as an Alphatian you get Alphatian as a free language - not that this matters much for this adventure. As a caster you also start with literacy.
Montague, your character will not know how to read and write unless you tke Literacy as your bonus language. I am not sure if reading is important to you or not.
Otherwise, there are all the typical humanoid races to have languages from, along with things like dragons, giants, and so forth.
If you want to speak a human ethnic language there are these (with their Earth Analogs):
Common (Thyatian)
Ellekan (Greek)
Traladaran (Slavic)
Atruaghin (Native American)
Ethengari (Mongolian)
Marklander (German)
Prydanic (Old English)
Gyllan (Irish/Gaelic)
Norlandr (Scandanavian)
Alcairi (French)
Meredic (Spanish)
Ylari (Arabic)
Bogozi (Turkish)
Thothian (Egyptian)
The following would be potentially available but I would want to hear a bit about how your character learned these tongues:
Pharnazi (Persian)
Ishnantan (Babylonian)
Sindrani (Hindi)
Zhuongli (Chinese)
Shoku (Japanese)
Aer-Ya (Thai)
In the short term, I don't expect character languages to come into play much.
On the language front Clerics gain the Holy Tongue of their faith - would that be Lawful for Thylla or something else?
You guys can all add a section to your character sheets (somewhere near the top) that looks like this:
THIRST COUNT: 1 (penalty: -1)
HUNGER COUNT: 1 (penalty: -1/3 = 0)
Total Penalty: -1 to hit, -1 to damage, -1 to ability checks, -2 to maximum HP
Can you provide clarification on what you mean by -1 to ability checks? Are these the 6 different saves? Another mechanic where you have to roll under your stat to meet the check?
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MAPPING
Guys, I put a map up for the first level of the dungeon. Nothing is filled in yet.
In the spirit of the old-school kind of game this is, I kind of wanted to have a player be a "mapper," but I am having a hard time envisioning how this would be practical.
On the other hand, the method I am using now will end up producing some very large pages, since using it this way will turn the overall dungeon map into the combat map as well. But it saves me from having to do up a combat map for each encounter and then another overall map for the dungeon.
I am new to using Google Drawings and if people have suggestions as to other ways to handle mapping I'd be happy to hear them.
Please note that I am travelling today and will make a post tonight when I am able.
On my cell phone and not able to move. Please move Ferrous to 7.18 thank you. Which brings up a question of diagonal movement is each diagonal square 5' or 10' or my preferred first is 5' second is 10' alternating type of deal.
In regards to languages, are there any that an Alphatian might typically know, other than Alphatian, or am I free to pick? What are the typical monsters in Alphatia?
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You are free to pick.
There are a lot of monsters in Alphatia, including many that wouldn't be found here. Using magic, Alphatia built their empire by dominating humanoid leaders through spells like charm person. Since most Alphatians are not willing to act as warriors, the soldiers of the Alphatian army are mostly non-human and include some bigger creatures like Trolls and Minotaurs, though most of them are human-sized humanoids. There are many dragons in Alphatia as well, and those that can use magic are allowed to take part in Alphatian society.
A lot of languages are already covered between Ferrous and Anastoria, so feel free to be creative if you want.
Marching Order:
Ferrous is fine being in front with the thief. Since Fistep is short bow trained he should be behind me. I would then suggest Zynzyr with torch behind the thief. With a rear guard of Ana and Thylla.
So looking like
M D
Z F
T A
Where D = Dwarf (Ferrous)
Is this acceptable?
So question about how far torch light goes. Some sources seem to say 20' Radius some 30' radius some as Light spell are 30' diameter. Along similar lines how are we going to handle Infravision for Ferrous and Ana. Will you update on the map with a generic warm body icon if the target is within 60' but outside torchlight distance?
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As in B/X, Torches will illuminate a 30' radius, as will lanterns.
Good catch with the light spell. I hadn't noticed that detail, but they ought to give the same brightness as a torch at least, so we will edit that to a 30' radius. The 30' diameter is based on the original B/X text. Usually though light gets used to blind enemies our counter darkness spells.
As per B/X, infravision cannot be used in an area that is lit by normal or magical light. So if you want to use it you need to have your torchbearer to hold back while you move ahead. You can normally use infravision to find your way in the dark, as stone and air have different specific heat levels and will rarely be the exact same temperature. However, cold-blooded creatures will often not be distinguishable from the background stonework using infravision. Same goes for undead, constructs, etc.
If you do see something using infravision, you will usually be able to tell what it is, at least roughly. You will get more information than just "a blob of heat."
[Dice=TempHP]2d3+2
Marching Order:
Ferrous is fine being in front with the thief. Since Fistep is short bow trained he should be behind me. I would then suggest Zynzyr with torch behind the thief. With a rear guard of Ana and Thylla.
So looking like
M D
Z F
T AWhere D = Dwarf (Ferrous)
Is this acceptable?
Works for me. Thylla will most likely come thunder up from regardless if we are threatened :)
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Works for me. Thylla will most likely come thunder up from regardless if we are threatened :)
Yeah rear guard is basically for when moving through the dungeon don't want any baddies surprises us from behind and taking out our low hp characters. I would expect that Ana and Thylla to move to the front and Montague to either move back or circle around depending on how many we faced.
Still figuring out Cantrip in this system.
I believe Zynazyr has suggested using a Cantrip to hold the stone in place. Can he then also cast a cantrip to open the door while maintaining the first? This is because I don't know if he would know the success or failure of his first cantrip. If that is known than ignore the second.
Hasn't the plug he's describing already been tripped by the hobgoblin?
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Hasn't the plug he's describing already been tripped by the hobgoblin?
The "plug" is resting on the top of the door at the north end of the hall, which is closed.
The hobgoblin lying in the doorway of the secret door to the west no doubt tripped something to trigger being shot by the crossbow, but you didn't find anything there.
Re:Cantrips: Yes, Zynazyr will know if a cantrip works or not. But if he casts a second cantrip, the first one will end unless it is something that works without conscious control (like making a candle-sized light). Most cantrip effects have an instantaneous duration.
Nice roll Montague!!!
How many holes per corner? Could these be plugged with a spike?
I'm loving how a room with a potential trap has us (rightly) walking on eggshells and taking it slow and careful.
In modern systems we'd have spent 1 round rolling like demons, invoking various skills, feats, powers and gifts to disarm the trap, reanimate the hob and tell us the direction where the greatest concentration of gold can be found.
Use number 1 for a Hobgoblin corpse.
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I'm loving how a room with a potential trap has us (rightly) walking on eggshells and taking it slow and careful.
In modern systems we'd have spent 1 round rolling like demons,...
1e was really designed to give all classes the chance to find and resolve traps; thieves had the added ability to disarm things with thieves tools, but the chance of success in 1e was pretty low for a 1st level thief, so it is generally better to try to figure out the trap first, and then either spring it safely or go around it.
I greatly prefer RP solutions to traps. Even in my PF games I allow players to do this, though the skill checks do resolve things much more often.