Agreed. Similarly, don't think I'm judging you because the NPCs take offense. The NPCs so far that would fall right in with a lout like you are Almah's mercenaries... Which you guys are playing. :-)
By the way: I know your party isn't equipped to be detectives, but don't feel like you need skills you don't have to proceed; we will be getting into a much more combat-centric part of the story soon. Asad, I suggest you try to make the perception check on the last spoiler, which Valik and Dross both failed. It's not a necessary check, but it will speed things along.
Sorry, my daughter's been home from daycare with strep, and taking care of her has left me pretty busy. Expect an update from me of what Almah has to say tomorrow morning.
Male Humanish Pilot/8; Argumentative/4; Biologist/5; Medical Student/1
You know, I love the premise, but it might be taking too much time getting the other participants involved. I don't know if most of the others are still here or not.
I'm pretty sure it's just you and Kip84 now; maybe Pezmerga. As far as my plan, I am okay with that. I wasn't at all sure that the mercenaries would be enough to hole people's interest in the first place. When we get to the point where you will meet the other characters, I will PM the people who were interested before, and if they don't respond, advertise for new people on the recruitment thread.
However, if you, the PC who is in, are unhappy with the way the campaign is going, then we should make changes or scrap it.
This game is oodles of fun! I love investigative encounters so I've been enjoying this bit despite Dross's lack of abilities in this area. Your portrayal of the NPCs is great :)
I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. You are doing a good job. Remember that you have the option to try diplomacy checks to improve the attitudes of NPCs, which will sometimes give you more information. You guys don't have a dedicated "face," but the DC to increase indifferent to friendly is only 15+Cha. Dross did it once with the guard, and it worked out.
I will be out of pocket for several hours while travelling to the Phillipines. I have no idea how long it will take me to get an internet connection set up in the hotel...or if it is possible. Please bot me if you feel it is appropriate, I will be in touch as soon as possible.
I don't like to roll other people's dice for them, but it would be a lot faster for me to just roll these sorts of reactive rolls for you. How do you guys feel about that?
I'm going to a conference tomorrow, and badly need to work on my presentation... I probably won't be able to post until tomorrow night, and maybe not until Friday.
Been busier than I expected. The next one will be pretty long, and I'm tired, so I'm going to put it off until the morning. How are you guys feeling about talk vs. fight? I can speed things along if you want.
A little progress update: We've finished part one of the first adventure. Part two will be much more straightforward and combat oriented. Kip84's real character (and two of the others) will show up in part three.
Kip84:
Dross will probably never know why the pugwampi had the baby goat tied up; with the pugwampi dead, about the only way to find out would be to cast speak with animals to ask Rombard himself. I can tell you if you really want to know though.
I was waiting for Valik... but due to being mega behind at work (after taking a month of in march for surgery) I'm going to drop out. I'm really sorry :(
What do you think, ZetaGilgamesh? Keep it going? We can still recruit for your party-mates when the time comes. I know some good PbPers from other campaigns I'm in that might come over, and you may know some too.
I hope he comes back, but it sounded like maybe it was more RL getting in the way than being frustrated with the delay. Even if he can't continue now, I'll definitely PM him when it's time for his real character to come in.
I am going to have to change my post checking habits. This is the second time a post that I did at work burped. I guess I will not trust Paizo's update, but actually open each game to check on actual status.
I really really really hate these things. I can't believe that they are first level monsters. Perhaps with a mage and a cleric in the party they would be easier, as magic would tend to work against them...no rolls involved. But this is stupid. I had a +6 to attack and couldn't connect with them.
If it wasn't for the stupid gnolls I would burn this whole place down, or smoke the little bastards out.
If I had more smite evil per day, I would use it, but I am afraid that there is a pugwumpi chief or something around here that I am going to have to save it for.
"I really hate these things" is basically the intended reaction. You are right that they can be a little easier with a more varied party... but they also have spell resistance. So most spells cast against them do require a d20 roll. If you think it's frustrating to miss them with a charge, imagine missing them with one of your two Magic Missiles for the day!
This is actually one of the most notoriously difficult fights of the adventure path. Everyone hates pugwampis.
Sorry, I had that all typed out on Wednesday afternoon, forgot to hit send, and then was away from the computer for 2 days. The map is still messed up, but I'll fix it in a couple hours.
I'll have another post for you tonight; I'm assuming you're just going to head back to the room where you heard rustling before, make some perception checks at the threshhold, and then head in?
This section is just about wrapped up. Valik will level up to 2 over night. You also get one luck point for good roleplaying so far; I especially liked you running into the burning wagon.
Also, you'll start to encounter new PCs soon. I've sent Kip84 a PM asking if he wants to come back. The other two who are coming soon were slated to be dathom and Brother Mortimer. They were the first two to bail; Mortimer doesn't look like he's been on in months. Dathom appears to still be active in a few campaigns. Pezmerga also seems to be gone.
Do you think I should PM them, or just open up a new recruitment thread?
There's some flexibility for exactly when the next three come in to the story, though they are pretty close together. What do you want first, Archaeologist, Cleric, or Ranger? Keep in mind that you can lay on hands now, and Father Zastoran will keep loading you up with extracts, so you're not as hard up for healing as you used to be.
That gives us a little while before we need the next one; I'll PM the other old players, and then open up a recruitment thread if necessary when I think we're about a week out.
I'm almost done statting out Felliped and about to write up his backstory. Loved the write up for the recruitment by the way, very helpful. I'm having trouble picking a Flavour Feat. I was wondering if you could give me some examples of what kind of feats would be acceptable?
It is a little hard to pick flavor feats for Felliped, because many of the skill feats would be helping him pretty directly. You might consider:
Extra Traits
Black Marketeer
Careful Speaker
Fortune Teller
Galley Slave
Harrowed
Noble Scion
Prodigy
Racial Heritage
Self-Sufficient
Some of those are more mechanically beneficial than others, but all of them give interesting role-playing potential. Racial heritage, of course, leads you in all sorts of other directions for your other feats. Remember you need 2 flavor feats to start, because you get one each at 1st and 2nd levels.
Exactly as a bard (combined with the mega stats) his abilities are so wide spread that it's hard to find feats...
I really like the noble scion feat. Scion of lore really fits my backstory yet the mechanical advantages are to great perhaps for a flavour feat. (an additional +1 to knowledge checks on top of bardic knowledge...) maybe I'll swap one of my other feats out for it.
I like that one too, because it really does add a lot to the character. I agree +1 to all knowledge checks is pretty good for a bard though. How about take it as your flavor feat at level 1, then skip the flavor feat at level 2?
Especially if you take Noble Scion, you should come up with a last name for Felliped. Something Spanish or Italian sounding would probably be appropriate.
Also, I only just now noticed that the Archaeologist's luck doesn't increase its rounds/day as you level, which seems weird. I dug up a post on in the Ultimate Combat errata thread where the original author says he would make it 1/level+Cha times per day. Until level 4, that's less, but it quickly gets better, and we can use that version if you like.
Is longsword and shortbow your long-term weapon plan, all else being equal?
