GM Rednal's Skull & Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

The Wormwood

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The Dread Pirate Hurley wrote:

From what Raven's planning, it sounds like we may have a party member that can give you a tail, at least for a little while :D

Quick question, why does Lucas only resist cold and not fire and electricity as well?

Unfortunately I have my eye on the lycanthropic drawback casting tradition.

Speaking of casting traditions, Rednal, is there any way to build one that is shamanistic and has the lycanthrope drawback but will still let Asadi (name under consideration) wear armor and cast while underwater? I want him to have some tradition aspects as I want the magic to be based on his tribes rituals. Like obvious spirits floating around him, glowing facial tattoos, and his alteration restricted to just himself. Going to go human and grab that sphere to make him skinwalker-y.

Culture wise, I know that Arcadia is North American ish but while doing some research I found Maori tattoo rituals to be fascinating and am probably going to base his tribe around that. I love the idea of this tattooed, scarred, brute of a pirate.


DMRaven wrote:
Culture wise, I know that Arcadia is North American ish but while doing some research I found Maori tattoo rituals to be fascinating and am probably going to base his tribe around that. I love the idea of this tattooed, scarred, brute of a pirate.

Egad that sounds fantastic!


@Raven: That should be pretty easy, actually. XD Just take Lycanthropic (for the Alteration Sphere - it gives you a bonus talent, which can get you an Aquatic Form right away), then do Magical Signs for the glowing tattoos and floating spirits. No gestures or shouting needed.


Polynesian is a fun vibe to play with :) Have you seen Maori war dances? The New Zealand All-Blacks soccer/football team does one before their games. And they said Perform (dance) would never work for Inspire Courage.

IIRC, Razor Coast has a fair amount of Polynesian-sourced material that could be useful for expansion. For that matter, Fire As She Bears is a straight-up better system for handling naval combat than the ones Paizo provided for S&S.

@Felix Since you're looking at dragon flavor, there's a dragon cult in the Shackles that worships Dahak, an evil dragon deity. I wish I had remembered that earlier.

EDIT: @GM Rednal I've found a feat called Acadamae Graduate that would fit Ambrose nicely. It's from the CotCT Player's Guide, which means it's from D&D 3.5. Is it okay to take that?

EDIT 2: @DMRaven There's also a novel, Skinwalkers, that might be worth checking out.


That'll probably be where he gets the idea from to do the tail strike extract, then.


Well, if you meet the prerequisites, I don't see why not. XD


Haka was totally one reason for going with the Maori vibe. Plus, their war faces are amazing. So unique! Also thank you rednal! I'll go with that.


Alright, Spell Focus (Conjuration) has been replaced with Acadamae Graduate.

Also, I'm throwing renegade Dahak cultist (dragon-blooded sorcerer) on my wishlist of NPC crew members to recruit (also known as back-up characters).


Another way to build The Explorer forcibly entered The Green Room Of My Mind, an UnRogue/Cleric. Gonna take a quick effort at making it into a build, otherwise I'll stay with Warden/Investigator.


Does anybody see any obvious deficiencies with the party spread of our proposed builds thus far? The only thing I can think of is that we might need to consider ranged attack options, but that seems like it will be less of a problem in S&S than in most other APs.


*Imagines a swarm of harpies attacking your ship and lulling sailors overboard, and monsters attacking down at the water level while you're huddled up top, and enemies on other ships bombarding you with attacks while you can't reply*

Nah, I'm sure there's no reason ranged attacks might come in handy. 8D

(Although a one-talent investment in the Destruction sphere gives you a scaling blast with decent range and power, so there's that.)


The thing about my Explorer concept is that it's pretty easy to plug it into a bunch of different build ideas. If we need more ranged ability, I could, umm, let's see...

[processing]

Oooh! There's a gun Warlord archetype, isn't there? I think it's the Desperado. What if I paired that with an archaeologist Bard? Lemme see what I can come up with...

EDIT: actually, I could take the existing Warder/Investigator I've got going, and change his archetype from Dervish Defender to Hawkguard. Boom, 90% of the way there.


In that case, we should discuss firearms. The default assumption in Golarion is Emerging tech level around Alkenstar and very rare everywhere else. I've always liked that, but what do the rest of you think?


That sounds reasonable.


First draft of a more ranged effort. Rakshasa-blooded tiefling instead of vanilla, I drop the scaled skin thing (I feel it "locks" appearance too much). Classes are Warlord/Bard (archaeologist). Main focus will be on Solar Wind maneuvers, I think using the "Oncoming Storm" variant (electricity instead of fire).

Warlord/Bard:

Rakshasa-spawn tiefling bard (archaeologist) 1/warlord 1/gestalt 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Fiends 23, [PoW], Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 264, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 32)
CN Medium outsider (native)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 11 (1d10+1)
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +2
Resist cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks 1 phantom sun stance, archaeologist's luck 6 rounds/day (+1)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +3)
1/day—detect thoughts (DC 14)
Bard (Archaeologist) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +3)
1st (2/day)—blend with surroundings
0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, read magic, sift[APG]
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 16
Feats Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Traits ancient explorer, criminal
Skills Disguise +4, Knowledge (arcana) +1, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +1, Knowledge (engineering) +1, Knowledge (geography) +1, Knowledge (history) +2, Knowledge (local) +2, Knowledge (nature) +1, Knowledge (nobility) +1, Knowledge (planes) +1, Knowledge (religion) +1, Sense Motive +2; Racial Modifiers +2 Disguise, +2 Sense Motive
Languages Common, Cyclops, Infernal
SQ bardic knowledge +1, gambits (deadeye gambit, pinhole gambit), prehensile tail, warlord’s gambit
Other Gear studded leather, 125 gp
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Special Abilities
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1 Phantom Sun Stance (Su) Stance: Generate phantom ammunition for ranged attacks by copying a single weapon, arrow, or bolt.
Archaeologist's Luck +1 (6 rounds/day) (Ex) Gain Luck bonus to attack, damage, saves, and all skills.
Bardic Knowledge +1 (Ex) Add +1 to all knowledge skill checks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadeye Gambit Risk: The warlord attempts a successful called shot maneuver on a target opponent.

Reward: The warlord's incredible accuracy livens up his allies and restores to them a measure of spirit; the warlord and his allies gain temporary hit
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Pinhole Gambit Risk: The warlord attempts to successfully use a ranged attack against an opponent engaged in melee with an ally.

Reward: The successful and surprising attack against the foe shakes the enemy's confidence and harms its ability to
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Prehensile Tail Your tail can retrieve small objects on your person as a swift action.
Warlord’s Gambit (Ex) Regain maneuvers by taking risky actions


Okay, I think I'm, pretty much done other than making an alias.

Backstory:

Salted wind blew across the wooden pier. A small hand ran fingers slowly along the edge of the simple boat. A sail of reeds fluttered in the soft wind as the boy turns and flashed white teeth to the tall man painted with black whorls. Today he helped finish the boat. Tonight would be his tapu, the sacred night, and his first marks would be earned. Asadi smiled to himself and turned from the boat. The tall man beckoned and the two turned towards the beach, making their way toward the shanties nearby.

Pain. A deep, piercing pain that throbbed to the beat of the drums surrounding him. Asadi kept his tongue between his teeth, biting hard so he could taste blood. Not a hiss would come from his lips. The elderly man before him finally pulled away his torture implements, the shark-toothed stick in his hand covered in Asadi's blood mixed with black ink. “Na ka riro Asadi tangata!” The man exclaimed as he sat back on his heels. The drums rose to a crescendo as those around the fire stood and let out a fierce roar.

The celebration was intense. A mix of aromas filled the air, grilled fish, roasted mussels and sticky-sweet steamed kumara and fresh earth from where the older men fought within a sand circle. Despite the distractions and the celebration, Asadi had eyes for but one person. The dark-skinned woman before him had received her first marks several months ago. Her hair was tied back in a coiled braid and she was smirking at him, hands on her hips. “You still look like a boy to me,” were the first words from her mouth.

He let out a groan and pounded his chest, grinning. “Did you not see? I made not a sound! Not like Paea!”

The woman glanced over her shoulder to where her strikingly similar man was toppling Taka Maitu out of the ring with a roar. She laughed, turning back and nodding. “Yes, but when your mako are healed, you must fight him and see if you can beat him! My brother is a great warrior, you have not yet had your first real fight.”

Asadi scowled, but his expression softened when he saw there was no bite to her words. The two spent the rest of the night talking quietly. Asadi turned to the waters as the night grew dark and the tribe went to bed. Tomorrow would be war and tomorrow, when he was blooded, he would ask Takaiu's family to marry her. Surely a great warrior who would be chief would have no trouble with that?

“Asadi!” The crack of thunder nearly drowned out the words. A massive wave crashed down on the speaker, dragging him under the waves. Asadi grew alarmed until his father's familiar, scarred fin rose from the waves. The grey skinned figure swam toward him until a harpoon speared between his ribs.

The new warrior cried out and tried to swim closer, but the waves were too strong. A net of thick ropes fell from above, ensnaring him and dragging him along painful barnacles up the side of the monstrous wooden ship. A visage from hell leered down at him as blackness swept his vision.

Harsh morning sun brought pain; all of Asadi's limbs were sore, his mouth was dry and cracked, his eyes felt shriveled. He lifted a hand to block the sun but found himself shackled to the wall. To his left were others from the battle, of both his tribe and the cursed Asmai whom they had gone to raid. Paea lay similarly chained and looked back with a grim smile. He did not see his father among them and recalled the spear catching between ribs. Asadi had found himself aboard a slave-hunting ship off the coasts of Arcadia named the Gomati. He later found out it was a ship sailing from Okeno and he was bound for its markets. Skinwalkers could bring a good price.

Unfortunately for the slavers, Asadi and his fellows, even those of the Asmai, were not pleased by the sudden development. After nearly a month of sailing, a crewman made a mistake in stepping too close one day. Asadi had always been a fast boy and it took but a moment for shark teeth to erupt and close about the man's head. With a crunch, the corpse fell beside slowly shifting wolf and the keys at its belt were scooped up and put to good use. Despite being unarmored, unarmed, and outnumbered, the benefit of surprise soon yielded twenty dead sailors, three dead Tota, four dead Asmai and a ship in sudden need of a new crew. Tribal arguments placed aside, the displaced skinwalkers had no navigation, few supplies, and no leader. At least, not until Paea pointed to a sail on the horizon and, with a brilliant grin, demanded they make sail for it.

Asadi's second sea battle was much, much longer than the first. And far more exhilarating. The mercenary marines on board the Katapesh trade vessel were fantastic swordsmen. Their skill, elegance and curved blades did little against the onslaught of brute strength, claws, and terrifying roar of the united tribesmen. He exulted in the fight, using claw and blade to spill blood across the deck, screaming in the face of those who defied the tribesmen and ripping them to shreds with a gleeful smile. With little idea of how to return home, Paea and Asadi turned to the maps they found aboard the trade vessel. “Pirates be here,” marked a section of islands. With a shared grin, the two turned the ship in that direction.

That was four years ago. Asadi occasionally thought of Takaiu across the ocean, however, it was the one memory of his old life that shone when compared to the joy of seeking treasure and the constant battle for survival he faced. His ability to survive seemingly impossible odds, combined with a chance run in with one of the few Besmara clerics, led him to be a devout follower of the Pirate Queen. He exulted in every aspect of piracy from the sailing, to the fighting, to the spending of riches.

The skinwalker crew grew ever more daring in their adventures. Each victory building on the last, making them feel near immortal. That is until they challenged a Chelaxian vessel that was a disguised pirate-hunter. As he grew gills and swam from the sinking vessel, he bore the hunters little ill-will. He hadn't been strong enough. At least not this time, but there was always more plunder to be had, more bloody battle to bathe in.

I'll link his myth-weaver page in a moment. I need to add equipment and skills.

As an aside, are we using Background skills?

Edit: Also, if you're going to go with Warlord/Charisma setup, Redblade, could I go with an Int or Wis setup instead? The only Cha-based martial initators are zealot, the paladin, and warlord. Warlord seems a bit odd for my character's personality leaving just zealot. I had originally intended to go for a Intimidate-type build using black seraph moves, curse attacks from Eternal Guardian/Cursed Razor, and some damnation feats to strike fear. I may still go that route but would like to look into a wisdom-y [Wisdom spherecaster]/primal disciple barbarian as well or a harbinger oriented build.

Edit 2: Myth weavers sheet, will convert to a text format later. http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=941363


After looking at it yesterday (I'm at the phase where my mouth/posting runs ahead of my mind) I think my preference is to stick with the Int focus and the Hawkguard. With the warlord build I couldn't inquire settle one or two issues.

But if you definitely want to move off the Cha focus, tell me and I'll make it work.


Don't worry, after looking it over I've been playing with the idea of him being this terrifying force that he still fits best as chab-based.


Redblade, Hurely, what kind of games have you guys been playing the last year? Have you had any experience with other systems? I originally kept popping my head into the paizo forums from time to time to look for a game using Dungeon World or a fantasy version of Savage Worlds. I've yet to play with either system, but I'd love to. I also started running a Spellbound Kingdoms home game awhile back.


Apart from PF here, just my home group, where we're doing a 5e game. I'm liking it (playing an Eldritch Knight fighter, aka Wizards finally made gishing Not A PITA). I mean hell, I liked 4e too, but our GM kind of passive/aggressively hated it so he subconsciously took it out on us. But now it's all good. :-)

Sadly, my Marvel PBP game seems to have dried up. :-\


@DMRaven I built Ambrose with the assumption that we're using background skills. He'll also have to acquire a crossbow at some point.

Over the last year, it's been mostly PbP, and mostly PF, for me. There was an attempt at getting the gang back together for a sequel to TLV, but the GM disappeared and it fell apart. Though we did get a Sixth Ranger out of it.

As for IRL gaming, a friend of mine tried his hand at creating his own system, so we played a bit with that, and now I'm GMing a Diablo game using PF.

I've never played Savage Worlds, but Deadlands always sounded cool. I do have a passing familiarity with Dungeon World, though. There was a Legend of Zelda game set during Link's 7 Year Itch Sleep that used it here on the boards. It sadly collapsed before getting very far.

I don't think I spent enough time with it to form a concrete opinion, but I will say that the character generation didn't appeal to me. It felt like the free-for-all that 3.5 turned into with an overdose of classes, combined with a lack of cohesive editing oversight (I think most of the class packages were created by the community? But it seemed like that's how the game was supposed to work?). I typically like rules-light systems, but I'm not sure that works when the emphasis is on dungeon crawling.


I have a friend that has that kind of attitude toward 4e too, I adore the system though. I haven't had the chance to play 5e yet, but I'd like to try it out.

Diablo via PF? That sounds like a fun concept! Lots of dungeon delving, I imagine.

I'm not too familiar with dungeon world, but I got the impression the rules were pretty concrete, even if they were rules-lite. I don't typically like rules-lite systems but the whole Powered by the Apocalypse game series intrigue me.

As an aside, Hurley, would you mind sharing your Notepad++ character template? I don't have a template any longer and loathe to type in all of those brackets again.


Constant dungeon crawling is something that makes Diablo difficult to port over to tabletop gaming. I'm trying to skew closer to Diablo II with a lot of overland areas, so I'm doing a lot with hexcrawling. I've also started to use hexes in place of a fully-mapped dungeon. Each hex has to include some kind of interesting feature, whether it be an encounter, a set of treasure caches, a tactically useful dungeon feature, a shrine, or a quest-related event. I find that it works a lot better to emulate the feel. Plus, if I make the tables, I can even generate the dungeon procedurally. [OOC]WHY AM I ONLY JUST NOW THINKING OF THIS?!?!?[OOC]

I've copy-pasted Ambrose's statblock from Notepad++ into a Google Doc. I don't have a "blank" template, I just copy-paste and edit the content. Hopefully that will be acceptable.


Heh. Well, there's always Rappan Athuk, I suppose. XD

As far as tables and developing stuff, though, I doubt you're going to get anything better than the Tome of Adventure Design. It's crazy-useful. XD


Rednal, the Investigator archetype Questioner swaps out Alchemy for bard-like spellcasting. But they didn't get the ability to ignore ASF in light armor like a bard gets. What's your take on this? RAW, they don't get what's not on the page, yeah, but is it RAI at your table?


If it doesn't say they get the benefit, then they don't get it. Getting to ignore ASF is pretty useful, after all. XD

(And not a problem for most Spherecasters... incidentally, there's an Investigator archetype for the system.)


As interesting as Spherecasting looks, I still don't have a strong enough grasp of it to feel comfortable making a character with it. I'll stick with the vanilla Investigator, or Archaeologist Bard for that half of my character.


Right-o. o wo/ If you feel more comfortable after seeing it in action with the others and want to try it then, it's available as a retraining option. Otherwise, Vancian it is. XD

(It's really no trouble to run a game with both systems. I have another game that's got Vancian, Spherecasting, and Psionics all in the same party, and nothing's gone horribly wrong yet.)


How do we feel about undead? I'm debating/considering snagging Death and Lingering Necromancy as sphere/talent. However, I know that undead are a tricky subject even with an evil party. Additionally, it makes minions which can complicate combat more for the GM so it's Rednal's call. Fortunately, with Spherecasting, minions are never permanent so that little aspect doesn't need to be considered.


Well, there's Conjuration, but... *Coughs* Anyway.

The good thing about play-by-post is that since we can all take our time, it's easier to handle lots of minions. XD It's not something I'd invest heavily in, though. The Ghost Touch line, on the other hand, might come in very handy indeed...


What do you guys think is the minimal investment needed to make ranged weapons a viable fallback position, even if they're not your first choice in combat? I've got the Hawkguard written up, but I'd honestly rather be Stabby Rapier Guy than Shooty Bow Guy.


GM Rednal wrote:

Well, there's Conjuration, but... *Coughs* Anyway.

The good thing about play-by-post is that since we can all take our time, it's easier to handle lots of minions. XD It's not something I'd invest heavily in, though. The Ghost Touch line, on the other hand, might come in very handy indeed...

I still need to read more through the ghost touch talents. I'm hoping to find something that lets me combine multiple effects into one touch. Tossing fatigue and sicken onto a foe and then smacking them with a strike that adds a condition while in a stance that adds another condition..Fun XD


That's what the Spellcrafting system is for. ^^


@DMRaven I've got no problems with undead. I'm not sure how the Conjuration line helps though, as that seems to lend itself to summoning a single monster rather than large groups of them.

@Felix Ambrose has decent Dex. I was thinking of just giving him a crossbow (once he finds one) and calling it good. Archery is a great combat style, but it requires a lot of investment to really shine. I'll be doing what I can with spell selection to help mitigate ranged threats. If it's really that big of an issue, I can swap out Swashbuckler for Fighter and switch-hit with the excessive feats.


Yeah, I was thinking the absolute minimum would be to give Lucas a bow, a few of the Solar Wind maneuvers, maaaaybe a few of the archery feats, and that's that. The Warlord/Archaeologist can support that well enough, I think. I'll flesh it out more tonight.


The Warlord/Bard is coming along pretty well, actually. Traits, how many in addition to the campaign trait? One or two?


One trait, plus the campaign trait. ^^


Great, in that case, I'll probably take the POW trait Unorthodox Method, and swap out one of the Privateer's disciplines for Scarlet Throne (I'll ditch either Steel Serpent or Thrashing Dragon).

Profile will probably be up over the weekend.


I have one more thing I want to try building before I commit to a character. I said I didn't want to be shooting bow guy, but after looking over the Gunsmoke Mystic archetype, I might be willing to be shooting pistol guy, especially if you're using Oncoming Storm style to fire lightning from your gun. :-) Would an Unchained Rogue be an acceptable Gestalt with that class?


What kind of Unchained Rogue build are you looking at? I'd rather not see something like stacking regular Sneak Attack damage on top of the excellent damage a PoW class can already put out. XD Gotta keep things balanced, after all.


I honestly don't know. UnRogue is there mainly as "class with a lot of skill points that doesn't require another non-Wisdom mental stat". I'll look it over and see what I can come up with. First thought: take something like Knife Master, that lowers non-dagger SA damage.

If you've got suggestions, I'm all ears.


Well, the True Professional archetype by Drop Dead Studios gives you (even more) skill points and a fair number of bonus feats. You could tilt that towards various feat-based solutions for things.

You could also go the Pact Magic route and take the Fringe Binder archetype, I think. This would let you learn how to make friends with various spirits that give you different powers, so you could adjust yourself to what you'll deal with on a day-to-day basis.


I'm sure I can make something work with the True Professional. I'll get to it. :)


As a general reminder, don't just try to make your Mystic side even more awesome with all those feats - try to expand and get new ways to solve problems. ^^b In the long run, that'll help you out more than killing enemies slightly faster.


In that case, are pistols going to be more common, or is there a reason that Lucas has experience with and access to firearms?


The Dread Pirate Hurley wrote:
In that case, are pistols going to be more common, or is there a reason that Lucas has experience with and access to firearms?

I think for this version of Lucas, at the outset, he'd see the pistol mush less as a weapon in its own right, and more of a focus object for his discipline. The Gunsmithing that Gunsmoke Mystics normally get at first level, maybe could even be pushed back to 2 or 3, to reflect his "ramp-up" time with the weapon.

For this version of him, I think his father was a pirate captain who vanished 20 years ago, first mate and chaplain to [fairly renowned captain of the previous generation here], who led one of the many ill-fated expeditions into Ghol-Gan. The weapon made its way back up to Riddleport and to Lucas*. The boy started fixating on finding his way down to the Shackles, and figuring out what happened to his father. Over the course of his childhood, the weapon practically taught Lucas his knowledge of the Oncoming Storm discipline. He used the skills he's picked up to make his way down to the Shackles, and ended up getting a drink in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time. :)

Plausible? On the right track?

*I know, valuable object makes its way halfway up the continent to its original owner's son, with no one pocketing it along the way? Almost like Besmara had a plan for this...


After further review, the Mystic build isn't coming easily, so the hell with it. Warlord/Bard will go into Lucas's profile at first opportunity.


Okay, so! Are we all pretty close to settled on builds? ^^


Ninety percent there, just need to decide what discipline to use for melee. Thrashing Dragon (works with class features), Steel Serpent (goes with my whole snake motif), or Scarlet Throne (is overall pretty boss).


I'm pretty sure Path of War lets you branch out later...? I'd go for whatever you think will be the most stable and reliable in the early levels.

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