Whatever boat was used to dump us is gone, correct?
It's not currently in sight at least.
I'd recommend against swimming in any case; there may be more lobstrosities (Thank you for that word, Stephen King! ^^) lurking beneath the waves -- or worse.
Didn't mean to basically skip the whole beach scene, but I knew I wouldn't be able to post too much yesterday, so I figured I'd put Jack into the background a little. I should be able to dedicate a little more time to posts now.
Looks like we're all ready to hit the ship now?
I would say so.
Nice speech and also that was a nice use of the grease spell.
Thanks!
I've always loved spells that you can get creative with.
Hey DM,
Just to clear things up, Alexite is going down to the ship and NOT the corpse stuck between rocks.
Is that what you understood?
Fabian (aka Alexite)
Yup, and climb checks aren't necessary I'll post OOC when they are.
I know, damn! I always roll so much better as a DM than as a player, though to be honest I'm pretty lucky as a player to :)
Quinta just want to make sure you are aware that your whip will not do any damage to creatures with a natural armor of +3 or more, or an armor bonus of +1 or more. They end up being pretty useless for damage sadly, but are pretty great for combat maneuvers - extra cool points if you manage to steal stuff with a whip even though you take a -4 to the check.
Also importantly it provokes an attack of opportunity when you use a whip, so unless someone else does something that provokes before her turn comes up - or kills the already wounded sea scorp Quinta has a sting coming her way.
Drat. :-\ Thanks for the warning.
I'm used to the more streamlined 4e rules, so when it comes to Pathfinder, it can be a bit frustrating not knowing what every single little option and rule is for every situation. I didn't know that you could use Acrobatics to avoid AoO's, for example. I also didn't know that cover prevented reach attacks. There's so much situational minutiae in this system!
Its a strength and a weakness, but thats the good thing about starting at low level, you can pick this stuff up :) After a few more encounters it will all be second nature, and with PBP you always have time to look things up if you are unsure.
It's been over 24 hours since the last post. Should we just have Dragolan delay or something?
Seems reasonable to me. I'll update.
Sorry about that, folks. My home computer is giving me an incipient hard drive failure warning, and I spent waaaay too much time this weekend trying to back it up before it died.
Wat?
Hehe, don't worry about it ;)
Three rounds until the ship falls apart on us! o_o
No, but the forums have been a bit buggy lately eating posted posts and such.
Ignore these rolls - bawhahaha.
DM Carpe, I only recently discovered the existence of the scorpion whip in Ultimate Combat. Might it be possible to upgrade my current whip to a scorpion whip?
I'm going to say no Quinta, purely because you would not be proficient with it. Having whip proficiency allow you to use a scorpion whip as a whip - not as a scorpion whip, so it would do you very little good. I looked on the forums and James Jacobs commetns seem to back this interpretation, which is my instinct anyway.
Alrighty, then. I may have to invest in a feat, then. ^^
I was wondering whether Jack planned to share that bottle of booze with Aerys. :p
About loot... Personally as a player I prefer a defined treasure system, where everyone gets an equal share of all loot, with kept items counting as their resale price - half as much as they would cost new. Where you can owe as much as you want if appropriate turn up and everyone is cool with it. But I will let you guys decide how you want to handle it. I will warn you the first couple of modules in this AP, are fairly light on treasure, though with a bit of lateral thinking you can get much more cash.
Hint, information is a commodity!
@Quinta: Share his precious loot with that ice queen? Get real! Haha.
@Carpe: Sounds good to me. I'm not really too concerned with loot, so long as I don't end up falling way behind everyone or anything. Jack has an eye for valuables. He's a thief, after all. If anyone feels like he's taking more than his fair share, don't hesitate to tap him on the shoulder. He might not be entirely cooperative, but you guys outnumber him at the end of the day. Haha. :)
P.S. I'm honestly not trying to play Jack as incompetent or unwilling to help, he's just really out of his element in a jungle survival situation. xD As things progress, I'm sure he will become more useful to the group as a whole.
I think we've pretty much said and done everything there is to say and do in this scene. There hasn't been a post in over a day, so I'm guessing everyone is ready to move on?
Since you guys have already solved the water situation and taken a roll call for the exploration team, you might as well just get moving!
Yes we could use some impetous here, lets keep up the pace. Please let me know what you are doinhg for the rest of the day, I'm afraid there is really nothing for you to react to at the moment, so you need to give me some direction.
I was waiting on Aerys' response to water.
Joll would try to help build a shelter while keeping an eye on Jask and Sasha, for very different reasons. He also expresses support for Dragolan's idea on how to move toward the lighthouse.
Could you please put that as an IC statement in the gameplay thread Joll.
After dinner, Alexite will try to preserve the excess lobster meat they have. He doesn't want to have to hunt everyday because they will be busy exploring.
I'll write this IC but give me some sort of way that the cooked meat can be preserved: a) wrap it in leaves and bury it, b) wrap it with leaves and hang it from a rock so it is submerged under water (risk of predators), c) use some of the salt from Dragolan's spell to 'cure' it (lobster jerky), or d) ???.
I don't know what's best but Alexite may know...
Survival:
Alexite would not be familar with anyway to preserve the seafood - notoriously prone to turning in anycase. I'm not actually sure there is anyway you could in real life short of freezing it, lobster and shrimp really don't preserve well. Some sites say you can preserve it in airtight containers, but that's in a fridge and even then its only for up to 3 days and not recommended.
But purify food and drink would work fine on the lobster to, making even rotten meat edible - though not tasty I would imagine, but I suppose prestidigitation could solve that. Wow magic rules!
I think its probably best if I lay out some of the mechanics the AP gives so you guys have a clearer view of your options.
You have two NPCs who have offered to hunt already, both of whom seem fairly confident in their abilities. I'll go ahead and tell you that Sasha has a +4 to survival and Jask a +5, so a 4 hour hunt will get enough food for six people if both of them go and take 10.
You can also choose to assign friendly NPCs a role within the czamp, which they must fulfill for 24 hours. These roles are...
Hunter: One hunter provides food for eight medium creatures per day.
Defender: Sets up traps around camp, mechanically this means that anyone/thing that attacks takes 2d6 damage per defender this damage is distributed evenly amongst foes.
Guard: Reduces the chances of wandering monster attacks by 5%.
Medic: Reduces the chance of being exposed to disease by 5% and increases the number of HP healed overnight by 2.
Jask: Medic, or Hunter. Is willing to accompany you if you wish it, clearly more of a healer than a fighter.
Sasha: Guard, Defender, or Hunter. Is willing, even eager, to accompany you if you wish it.
If an NPC fights with you they will get an appropriate cut of XP and loot, but you are otherwise very welcome to use them as you see fit if they are friendly.
For setting up camp you can either; tell me what you do and make a survival check with all of you aiding the person with the best survival modifier - you may also use Jask and Sasha. Or simply say we we set up camp and leave me to fill in the blanks in which case I'll roll with the highest of your groups survival modifers and no bonuses for aide, etc. Hope that seems fair :)
Please feel free to give me feedback by the way folks. If you ever feel I'm being uncharitable, or I could do something to improve the game please let me know. I don't promise to agree with you, but I do promise I won't mind hearing it and will consider it carefully :)
Let's set up camp with everyone aiding the one with the highest survival skill.
Okay I'll need a post from everyone giving their contribution then please. I'll give it a few hours and then proceed with you having set up the camp.
It looks like you plan to head out from camp and spend the rest of the day exploring then return at nightfall? Please let me know if you are cool with that, or give me another option so I can advance things for the group. If you do go with exploring please specify whether your preference is for east or west on the trails or hacking your own path through the jungle - which will clearly take forever (choochoo ;)!).
Jack if you choose to saty at camp, you'll essentially be doing nothing, other than RPing with the NPCs as you choose - if I don't roll a random encounter - or you can choose to fulfill one of the NPC roles. Is there anything I can do that would make Jack mkore inclined to go out adventuring? I don't want to compromise your character idea, but adventurers who don't adventure don't get XP.
What I've seen in the past when a number of people are working together on a task that doesn't require a defined leader (e.g., three people trying to push a heavy object with a STR check DC to move) is that everyone participating rolls a check. The highest result--even if that's a person with a lower bonus--is the base, and everyone else may or may not Aid Another depending on their rolls. In the case where everyone can take ten, the point is moot, but it seemed to be a better model for collaborative efforts.
Hmmm, seems fair enough let's go with that. Still want fold to post IC if they want a check and a chance to aide - a brief idea of what you are doing, etc. Don't forget the gear from the ship btw.
OK, fair enough. I'll post Alexite setting up camp IC and also post a survival roll and we'll go from there. As a player, I'll post what I think it's best for camp but please adjust if an 'experienced ranger' (i.e., my PC) would do something different.
On a side but important note , I really think that Jack should come exploring with us because: a) he's a PC and should be doing PC stuff and b) some of us have been/are DMs and you don't want to split the party up unless necessary (double the work, timing issues, etc.)
For Jack's player: I understand trying to roleplay but you did know this AP involved wilderness survival so if Jack doesn't have a compelling reason to go with the explorers' group then make one up. Maybe with the shipwreck Jack suddenly realized that time is fleeting and life is short so he wants to make the best of it. Or make up some unreasonable fear of staying behind with some of the NPC (that Ishirou guy looks scary and he's not friendly). Or maybe he suddenly wants to learn about the wilderness and survival so he hangs out with the people that seem to know what they are doing. Or make something else up.
Not trying to force your hand but I really do think it would be best.
I actually didn't know this AP involved a lot of wilderness survival. I've never played it or even read a thing about it. That being said, I don't really -mind- going along with the rest of the group. I can just say Jack decides staying at camp would be boring. That's all the motivation he would need.
I misunderstood how this was supposed to work mechanically. Everyone seemed to be suggesting in-character that we split the whole group into two teams based on what people can do. I just played along with that, not knowing that what you guys really meant was "leave the NPCs at camp and take all the PCs into the jungle" lol.
I'll remedy the situation in my next post, but I'm running a Maptool game in like 5 minutes (the preparing of which is the reason I havent posted today). I'll try and sneak a few minutes here and there to compose something soon.
No problem Jack, I generally want the PCs to stay together as much as possible since it makes life so much easier for everyone and tends to make for a more enjoyable game. I don't want to constrain people from RPing how they see fit, but its generally easy enough to justify sticking with the group if you try to.
Session ran way too long. I will post in the morning!
Just want to say I know I've been scarce, and I apologize for that. I've been in a hurry, because I'm going on a two month sabatical soon, and have been trying to get all my stuff moved into a new appartment before I go. Beyond that, I think my school has been trying to get as much value out of me as they can before I take my two months, because they've been ramping up my classes. As such, most of my downtime has consisted of moving and lesson planning. I've finally gotten MOST of my stuff moved, so I will be a bit more vocal for the next week and a half or so. After that, I'll be traveling around China for about a month, and since I haven't had too much time to plan it, I'll be winging most of that trip. I'll surely have access to the internet at times, but on other occassions there might be periods of a few days during which I won't be able to get online. After that, I'm visiting the States, and though I'll be visiting people, I'll be able to find a couple of hours each day at the very least. Anyways, just wanted to give a head up on that.
I'll just assume Lydran has been going with the flow over the last few hours of in-game time and keeping mostly to himself.