Hi all
Congratulations and welcome to the game.
Please feel free to dot in this thread and post and questions or queries here.
I will be creating the Gameplay thread over the weekend with your initial hooks to adventure.
Reporting in! Looking forward to the game.
Thankyou for the invite. Looking forward to playing with everyone and seeing how we come together as a group.
Very excited for this! Working on getting this profile updated and ready to go yet.
Greetings all. Checking in.
Given that Gate Pass is a relatively small city, and that we are awesome PCs (some of whom stand out in a crowd quite a bit), it might be a good pre-game exercise to figure out if/how our characters know each other.
Ash spent the 5 years or so at the Academy learning magic, and the last few months in bars losing at cards and being an embarrassment to his people.
Kiana is a recent arrival in the city, say in the last 6 months. She has probably been seen by everyone flying around at various points, but she is not a friendly person, so is unlikely to have been friendly to anyone.
The less you look like a human or orc, the more likely she is to be cordial. Of the PCs, that basically means Saltstone is likely the only person she might have traded more than single syllable conversations with. To her, elves and humans look alike.
The last few months she's been working with the rogues guild, mostly killing orcs to keep the smuggler outlets free, and tentatively talking to any non-humans in the mountain griffen riders, when she's not making very good maps of the mountains from up high.
@GM - Can Kiana have a folding work table for doing her cartography while in the air? I'm imagining a pair of flat pieces of wood with hinges on one side that fold up against her chest when not being used, and fold out and lock in place while she's gliding. With clips around the edges to hold the paper in place. She'd use pencils to sketch in the air, then use ink to redo it on better paper when on the ground. It would give her maps a veracity that most map makers couldn't hit, even with her lower skill than a master, her maps would be remarkably accurate due to her high view of the ground.
If Kiana can't stand humans (or elves), why is she in a human city on the border of the human and elven kingdoms?
I need to do some fine-tuning but the bulk of my sheet is finished. Misty I think the only thing I needed approval for were the two hanbo he wields. They are from the PPC: Adventurer’s Armory. Basically just 3 feet long staves. Let me know if there is anything else big I am missing.
I will also update my backstory and tie in the Civic Minded trait.
If Kiana can't stand humans (or elves), why is she in a human city on the border of the human and elven kingdoms?
Looking for the people who killed her tribe, so she can kill them. Notably, they were mixed Orc and Human raiders from the Ragesian side. So anyone who is killing Ragesian's, she'll be neutral toward. She's just not friendly toward. That means she's neutral toward City Gate people. She doesn't go out of her way to be friendly, but she's not going to start a fight with people who are killing the people she wants dead.
My original post just indicated she would not have sought out the company of humans or people she couldnt' tell from humans. She has little experience with Elves, and can't really tell the difference yet. Dwaves are obviously not humans, so she'd be cordial to them if she meets one. Same with halflings, gnomes, wyrd, tieflings, basically anything that couldn't disguise itself as human with a hat.
I saw it as more of a mistrust of humans and orcs because of the upbringing as opposed to a ‘can’t stand’. I think Kiana was just pointing out there wouldn’t be much interaction between your characters at this point. Also, cities are relatively safe (for want of a better word), much less likely to be killed by monsters.
Sorry for being so silent guys - weekends always hit me hardest and I don’t get much of a chance to post.
@Kiana - the map making toolkit will come in at 20gp (treating it as an exotic map making kit) you could spend 50gp and it would count as a masterwork tool.
@Sobrian - the hanbo are fine (what’s the plural for hanbo? Hanbo? Hanboes? Hanbos?)
Of the PCs, that basically means Saltstone is likely the only person she might have traded more than single syllable conversations with.
Must have been a fun first meeting. I can just see Barrack wondering what in the world is that flying bird with the table, and why does it seem to keep flying back and forth. He prolly did his best to avoid her the first time but made a point of asking some of the locals who are a little more up on local gossip if they knew anything. Once he found out she was new to the city and was generally rude to most folks he would most likely have made a point of making a peace offering to her the next time he saw her. Might help out if we have that relationship established.
The other PC I think Barrack would have made a connection with was Beauregarde. A little drink that reminded him of the home he left behind would be something that Barrack would be interested in, not to mention Barrack would most likely be happy to forage particular ingredients for the Brewer (wild mushrooms etc...).
P.S. I think Our Dwarven Alchemist is the only player not to have checked in yet.
Don't have enough for the table yet, all my money went to gear. So, how about if she's commissioned it, and will pay for it on completion? By then, she should have earned 50gp. Until then, she can just go with a simple pen and paper, making maps for the smugglers to help them figure out alternate routes.
@Saltstone - Sure, she wouldn't have been rude to him, and would have politely responded to anything he said to her. So he might have been rather surprised that she was described as rude to everyone. She does have a sharp tongue, but is selective in who she uses it on.
@GM - Can we get the gameplay thread created so we can all dot it so this shows up in our campaign tab? I keep having to remember to go to the recruitment thread to find the discussion thread so I can check it.
I totally missed the discussion part. For anyone interested, I think a small side shop with the resistance would be where most would find Beauregarde, but also various taverns and bottle shops. Maybe not the biggest name, but I can see a few of the shops around his home holding his brews.
@Kiana - Just fine tuning the first post, sorry guys. Will have it up soon!
I had a hard time fitting some backstory in for the campaign trait you wanted us to take. I like what I came up with for the Civic Minded trait (now included in his backstory on profile), making Sobrian a reluctant participant so I didn’t have to play into the politics too much. I pulled Erdan Menash from the player’s guide so let me know if it works for you, Misty. If not I can make up a random councilman to insert instead.
I also swapped a couple abilities and feats. I have never played in a campaign that was suspected to go to such a high level and wanted to do some mechanic planning that I haven’t had to do before.
@Sobrian - The connection to Erdan Menash is completely fine - works really well and helps me with a few things as well.
Gameplay is up!
Let's begin!
Are we all in the tavern now? Should we stop spoilering our posts?
@Ash
Just need arrival posts from yourself and Rose
The flight thing is a good call.
At night, creatures without dark vision or lowlight vision will be essentially unable to make perception checks to see us. For anyone able to make a perception check, there's a -1 penalty per 5 feet of distance, plus penalties for darkness.
Even someone with zero ranks in Stealth should have a decent chance of not being seen while being carried by Kiana.
Of course, all this assumes she's strong enough to lift us.
To get ahead of the debate we are obviously going to have to have, here's the rules about flying creatures and encumbrance-
Flying mounts can't fly in medium or heavy armor.
Medium and heavy loads count as medium and heavy armor for the purposes of any rule regarding movement.
That's it. Those are the only relevant rules on the subject, and they are specific to mounts. There's been a lot of speculation, house rules and threads, but no consensus or developer clarification.
Back in 3.5 flying creatures could only fly with Light loads, but that caused some serious verisimilitude issues (like eagles not being able to pick up fish and characters under the effects of a Fly spell not being able to carry their basic gear). That rule does not exist in Pathfinder.
Here's some other specific rules that we might be able to extrapolate from-
Encumbrance causes Dex penalties, which makes Fly checks harder but doesn't make flight impossible.
The Angel Wings feat specifically talks about flying while encumbered, but only in regard to characters with that feat.
It’ll be uncomfortable for both Kiana and whoever she’s transporting - but you will be able to pull it off.
I would be inclined to rule the same encumberance rules for movement for flight - 2/3 rounded up with a medium or heavy load, half speed while dragging.
My assumption was we'd seperate heavy equipment into it's own load, so no flying people in full plate. In a few levels, Kiana will get a tattoo (assuming those are allowed) of mule back cords, and then she'll have signficantly more carry capacity. As it is, she should be able to take a person in clothes one at a time, then all the equipment at once (or 1 or 2 people, all equipment, then the rest of the people).
Magic Item tattoos aren't covered in the standard rules, but Shadow Piercings are.
Theoretically, anything you could get as a magic item you could get as a piercing for 1.5 times the usual cost. It's a good way to double up on your item slots.
They are Paizo, just not generic rules Paizo, they're from the Inner Sea Worldguide. Up to the GM of course. Either way, piercings would work as well. Either way, adding them will make sure she can haul a lot and still fly normal, which is the eventual desire (eventually heavy load belt as well).
Masterwork Backpack would also help mechanically, but it would obviously have to be custom made and described in a way that made sense with your wings.
Given that they are cheap, it might be something you could start with or afford soon.
Already done, and bought with starting gold.
Her backpack rides low on the back and goes up the sides, leaving her wings free. Her back muscles and bones are different, so that's not a bad way to carry things. A human using her pack would have a major back ache in a few hours. LOL
Magic Tattoos are going to be easier to find than Shadow Piercings - just in regards to expanding Magic Item slots
A couple of things campaign wise (I realise I probably should have put this in a post earlier):
I hope you don't mind the liberal use of spoilers to kick us off, I like to play the "Let's try and get everyone into the story" rather than starting with assumptions. When the party splits I would like to continue to do the same
For initiative, how would people prefer to run it. I'm okay with any of the following:
- Group initiative, no rolls, party goes then NPCs act
- Group initiative, average party roll vs average monster roll
- Individual Initiatives
And finally, if you guys have any issues, questions or ideas about or around this campaign, feel free to post something in this discussion thread, PM me, track me down through social media or however else you see fit. I like to think I'm a reasonable person who can respond well to criticism and ideas.
I have no real preference on how to run initiative. Whatever is easiest for you to track and keeps people posting with as little waiting for others as possible is fine by me.
Having ran a few, anything that prevents initiative like enemy, two characters, few more enemies, then the rest. It's hard to track.
That's why I'm leaning towards the first two
I usually roll individual for the PCs, then roll one initiative for the NPCs, then do the Fast PCs, Enemies, Slow & Fast PCs, Enemies, Slow & Fast PCs, Enemies route.
Example :
Moe : 8
Larry : 8
Curly : 18
Joe : 17
Curly Joe : 10
Skeletons : 15
Moe/Larry, Skeletons, Curly Joe/Joe/Curly/Moe/Larry, Skeletons, Curly Joe/Joe/Curly/Moe/Larry, Skeletons, etc.
For GM sanity and ease, I use a Block Initiative system.
Enemies get one roll (or average their rolls to one initiative).
Players get split into blocks of "before the bad guys" and "after the bad guys."
Generally, who goes before the bad guys only matters in round 1. After that both sides just take turns.
I allow PCs to post in whatever order they can/want to within their "block".
That's just me though. YMMV.
Sounds like what I use Ash, above.
For GM sanity and ease, I use a Block Initiative system.
Enemies get one roll (or average their rolls to one initiative).
Players get split into blocks of "before the bad guys" and "after the bad guys."
Generally, who goes before the bad guys only matters in round 1. After that both sides just take turns.
I allow PCs to post in whatever order they can/want to within their "block".
That's just me though. YMMV.
This seems to be the best choice in PbP. I use it the games I run as well.
Pretty much, yeah.
If we're happy with that, that works for me. Just wanted to get a bit of a consensus.
I'm agreeable to that as well.
GM, what is your stance on 3rd party spells? There are a few I am interested in. Meant to bring it up earlier, but life got in the way and I forgot.
For most content outside the core line of books (CRB, APG, UM, UC, ACG) just let me know first. I'm generally pretty open to it and there's also a few new spells in this campaign that you'll have access to as they come up (like Gabal's Superior Missile)
That looks a little too powerful for a 0 level spell, would you consider a reduction to the radius to 60ft (to reflect the similar spell Deeper Darkness) a fair comprimise?
Absolutely.
I'll add it to my cantrips. Any additional cost you want me to pay for it? A 0th level scroll to scribe it into my book from?
5gp scribing cost plus 2.5gp to read from another spellbook, you would have had access to spellbooks at the College
Alright.