"How far" is a fairly relative term - we've been playing for about a month and a half, and (I hope) nearing 3rd level, but apparently it's a campaign that is meant to take us to 20th...
We definitely could use a tank :)
Keep in mind that this is a campaign intended to continue until level 18 or something. You've missed like... 2% of the entire game considering the first level up happens rapidly.
I imagine if we were at a tabletop, you would have missed two, maybe three sessions out of forty.
Ahh, good to hear I haven't missed that much. The reason I'm making such a deal about not joining in too late is because I'd like to experience as much of the adventure path as possible. It's likely the only way I'll get to experience them as a player.
Either way, I'm sure I can be given a summary of the events leading up to this point.
Is there a player's guide, Spiderbeard, like there was with the Second Darkness? At the very least, where in Golarion does the campaign start off?
Welcome, Essence! Hope you're joining us.
Please, call me Trigger Loaded. This is just my placeholder account for applying for new games.
It's not an absolute given, but I'm thinking of a Dwarven Barbarian with an archetype.
Spiderbeard, what's the point-buy we're going with?
GAHHH accidentally deleted my post.
Two things - first, I'm sick at this conference and my limited free time is being spent feeling sorry for myself. I can't really promise any posts until the weekend but will if I have the energy. My time will be spent recruiting a fourth and maybe fifth depending.
@Trigger:
Player's guide is here, free of charge:
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8bdb?Pathfinder-Curse-of-the-Crimson-Throne-P layers-Guide
Where you at:
You are in the city-state of Korvosa, in southern Varisia. Korvosa was formerly on the frontier of the mighty Chelaxian empire, but that empire fell and Korvosa is now a city-state with its own monarchy.
What just happened:
King Eodred Arabasti III has died unexpectedly, and his much, much younger with Queen Ileosa Arabsti is now in charge. The populatoin despise her, seeing has a gold-digger who will only continue the King's austerity. As a result, the city has gone into full-scale riots, which have continued unabated for a week.
Your character will have done... something heroic during the riots which will have attracted the attention of the guard positively, and have been invited to meet the Queen.
Starting out:
- Starting level 2
- 1,000 gp
- 20 point buy
- Hit points are Max at level 1, and then half your class die +1 (so a warrior is a d10, he gets 5 hp, +1 for 6). You can choose to roll if you want.
- All paizo classes allowed, except for psychics 'cause I haven't read occult adventures
- Unchained class variants allowed
- All races allowed (although have a godo reason to play something wacky)
- Character must be heroically motivated. That doesn't mean good-aligned, it means you will act like a hero is expected to, which a good-aligned person will do naturally.
- Two traits and a campaign trait
wait a tic, I thought it was two traits total - 1 trait + 1 campaign trait...
Uh, lemme re-check what I set you guys up with. Hold off on that third trait. :D
Also Donnell and Sevenspawn - I'm going to have to show you guys how to set up character profiles on your paizo accounts so I'm not checking spreadsheets separately.
I have three traits.
Hey Trigger, is that Clint? If so, it's BC from NPW.
Hey guys, a player I'm talking about bringing into the game is interested in playing an android. They're a proper race in Pathfinder and exist in the same game world. Pathfinder has some science fiction genre blending at the edges of it.
Great player, I like the concept, and I'm confident the character would 'fit' as exotic, rather than jarring or incongruous. But people do get squidgy about adding foreign elements to their fantasy. Thoughts?
I don't have a problem with it - presumably this opens up feats/skills that we hadn't considered viable before?
I'm traditionally one of those "squidgy" players, but if you're confident Dave, I'm game!
Alrighty, still filling out some details, but here's my character entry.
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@ Spiderbeard: We did have three traits in the Second Darkness game. Still only picked two for now.
Speaking of traits, all the campaign traits involve a hatred of Gadren Lamm. Has he been captured yet, or no? I figured out a way to involve a trait with Thod, but I'm not sure how this will interact with the part of the backstory you requested.
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@ Sevenspawn: Were you the guy who played Lonnie Bash, I believe? (And probably a few other wrestlers, but that's the one I remember.) If so, good to see you again. I played Top Dollar, though I'm sure you either remember, or Spiderbeard told you.
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@ Android: I'm a little hesitant on having an android, but not enough to try and veto the concept.
Ooh dwarven barbarian, fun. He looks like a great concept.
Go with three traits. As for the campaign trait, Gaedren Lamm has been dealt with, so you can instead build your character around the death of the king and resulting riots. Feel free to pick a campaign trait that suits your character build and we'll redefine it to fit your background.
The Gaedren Lamm plotline sort of serves as a feed into the main plot involving the King's death and the riots.
Lonny was me, yeah. I was your fedhead. :)
Equipment purchased. The story I went with is that Thod was assigned to try and find a missing child, but didn't get much progress before the riots broke out.
I'm not sure how long has passed between the riots and the summoning to the royal court, but I'm assuming sometime during then Thod learned that Gadren had been apprehended/killed/whatever happened to him, and the children freed. (Assuming the children have been rescued.) And thus he has no current duties on his head, thus leaving him free for whatever is planned.
Give his story a read and let me know if it works.
EDIT: I tend to start most of my characters as Neutral, and then see how I play them as time goes on. So the 'N' alingment is mostly a placeholder for now.
I love how Thod's background sort of matches how you're being confusing brought in just after the hook for the game has changed ;)
Thod looks like a perfect fit. I can start weaving you in whenever you'd like.
"Gaedren Lamm, had already been apprehended "
If by "apprehended" you mean "poisoned to unconsciousness and fed to a crocodile"
I look forward to Thor joining the group (Donnell, however, will bemoan the addition of yet another large person with no appreciation for stealth)
I love how Thod's background sort of matches how you're being confusing brought in just after the hook for the game has changed ;)
Gaedren probably pissed off a lot of people. The PC's can't be the only ones who were looking for him.
Thod looks like a perfect fit. I can start weaving you in whenever you'd like.
Whenever works for you, though I'd think you'd want to wait until you had at least another PC in the party.
"Gaedren Lamm, had already been apprehended "
If by "apprehended" you mean "poisoned to unconsciousness and fed to a crocodile"
Yeah, I forgot to ask how Gaedren was handled, so I had to use some general terms. In hindsight, perhaps 'dealt with' would have been a better choice.
I look forward to Thor joining the group (Donnell, however, will bemoan the addition of yet another large person with no appreciation for stealth)
He may not have much for stealth now, but he could be encouraged to learn in the future. (That is, invest a few skill points into it next level-up.)
*****
I don't suppose I could get a summary of events leading up to the current situation so far? Since it seems half (If not more) of the RP took place off-site, I can't just read the main board to see the events leading up to right now so far.
Also, Spiderbeard, I think I still need to be added to the 'players' list of this board so I can see it on my main profile as a campaign I'm part of.
@Thod - Just post in the gameplay thread, even just say (dot) and it'll add you to the board and you will be able to start following it. Once I hear back from Aebliss I'll figure out how to bring things in. You'll have a bit of solo play before you join the others, but only so much.
Hey, all.
My apologies for all the delays, but I will be your Alchemist for this campaign. ^_^ Glad to be here. (Please disregard my backstory, still need to update that to fit the campaign, but the crunch should be good....)
*EDIT*: Backstory updated.
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Hey Trigger Loaded, here is a quick run-down of the events so far - hopefully the others can fill in the blanks as needed.
The group was summoned individually the the home of Zellara, an oracle. She enticed them to join forces to take down Gaedren Lamm, a criminal against whom we all held a grudge but had difficulty tracking down. Zellara sent us to a warehouse at the docks. There we battled three or four of Lamm's lieutenants and freed several children - Sevenspawn sending them to a safe location in the city. We learned that Lamm's office was in the same building, but below the docks and only accessible by boat.
Making our way to Lamm's lair (having avoided spiders and sharks), we were confronted by Lamm and his pet crocodile. After a short skirmish, Lamm was poisoned, and collapsed, unconscious, into the croc's pool, whereupon the starved and abused creature ate him. Looting the room turned up Zellara's week-old severed head, a magical deck of Harrow cards, and the Queen's brooch.
Leaving Lamm's we found that the king had died and the city was in riotous chaos while we were otherwise occupied. Fighting our way through the riot (and helping a drunken guard captain along the way), we returned to Zellara's, where we hoped to rest and try to figure out what was going on. Zellara's appeared abandoned weeks previous, and we discovered that the magical Harrow deck contains her spirit, and she is able to help us with identifications, illusions, and Harrow readings.
We decided to return the brooch directly to the Queen, who rewarded us and enlisted our aid to help her Guard return control of the city. We agreed, if reluctantly.
Guard captain, Cressida, sent us to an illegally operating butchery, which, as it turns out, was selling human body parts to the poor. We dispatched the henchman and captured the 'leader' (Veric), who appeared to know nothing about what was happening, and implied that he was working for a noble family (House Arkona - or, as I prefer to refer to them, Harkonnen). We brought him back for the Guard to take care of, but they don't appear to have questioned him yet.
Cressida's newest mission is to send us to bribe a criminal overlord, Devargo (King of Spiders) for information regarding an ambassador who is bent on undermining the city's leadership. So far we've resisted this mission (much to Spiderbeard's chagrin, I'm sure), suggesting instead that we pit Arkona against Devargo in the hopes that they take care of one another. We are due to return to the Guard in a day to review the mission.
Righty-o.
Welcome Raven Six!
Donnell is an investigator and would love to compare notes regarding elixirs :)
(he'll also be entirely fascinated by the fact that you are a construct)
Raven won't reveal that right off the bat.
There will be other interesting things to observe, too. ;)
Okay guys, I'm going to hold off on a fifth. I know Aebliss and Trigger are reliable players and Donnell and Sevenspawn are posting like mad. This is good to go.
Also Aebliss, I personally know everyone else in the game (granted with a few years since I last saw Sevenspawn or Thod). So in the interests of welcoming you, hi! I'm Dave. The others can chose to, or not to reveal their secret identities if they so please.
Gameplay post to get Thod and Raven into the game will go up shortly. I'll resolve the little side quest with Sevenspawn and Donnell right away as well and we can get into the plot. Thanks for joining.
Ahh, thanks for the summary, Donnell. Now to get postin'.
Hey Aebliss, welcome! I'm Tim.
Good morning, Aebliss.
I'm Jonathan - welcome!
Hey, guys. ^_^
Thanks for the welcome.
What is your take on Alchemists and item crafting feats? I'd like to invest in some if possible.
Whoops, forgot about introductions.
Greetings, Aebliss. I go by Trigger Loaded. Old meatspace friend of Spiderbeard, and an old acquaintance of Sevenspawn.
Nice to meet you. ^_^
@Raven - Crafting is fine by me. What did you have in mind?
Craft wondrous item, magic arms & armour and construct.
Homunculi are so gosh darned useful.... and crafting more artificial life would mesh with Raven's personal quest for meaning and continuity in her own existence. :)
Sounds fun, go for it.
As a note, I also forgot to let our new players know I'm using background skills from pathfinder unchained. So if you wanna re-jig your skills to take your two free background skills feel free!
Sounds fun, go for it.
As a note, I also forgot to let our new players know I'm using background skills from pathfinder unchained. So if you wanna re-jig your skills to take your two free background skills feel free!
Yay, background skills! :D
Also: WHOA! I just found this while looking into discoveries: Promethean Disciple. I see the Paizo staff was trying to fix the holes they left when they initially made the Alchemist class, after all... Would you allow me to use this Discovery instead of getting the appropriate feat chain?
Unchained's background skills? I'll have to look into those. I'll adjust my character sheet when I give the rules a one-over.
Dave, send out a link to those when you don't have the death-sick.
Unchained background skill rules.
Here's the link. Hosted by Paizo itself, so perfectly legal.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
There's a link to the general PRD. Handy reference.
Here's two other links I like to use for reference. Both have their ups and downs.
Your cough-syrup-addled GM checking in. Yeah, what he said.
Raven won't reveal that right off the bat.
There will be other interesting things to observe, too. ;)
I'm a little too eager to start rolling Knowledge-Engineering checks at her :P
GM Spiderbeard, how do you feel about using stuff from the Occult Adventures-sourcebook? Kundalini is looking pretty tasty. Of course I'd need to take two levels in Rogue to get it...
I have not read through occult adventures. Link me to what you're interested in and I'll ponder.
I'll post later tonight, but wanted to say: great writing all around. Glad to have both the new players here!
Absolutely, great group here.
Sevenspawn brought up the idea of a thieves' cant with me and I'm pretty cool with that idea since it seems very Korvosan. He had a skill point unassigned so I'll let him take that as a language. It is of course free for others to take if necessary, althouhg it's largely a flavour piece.
Thanks for that, Dave - and for enduring the liberties I've just taken with the slang. In a great game, that post was the most fun I've had thus far!
Donnell might take another point in Linguistics to learn it from SS next level - I hadn't considered it before, as it's often considered a secret language (like Druidic).
And yes, thanks to all - this is my first PbP and I'm enjoying it enormously. Thanks for enduring my commentary on Donnell's inner turmoil :)
I have not read through occult adventures. Link me to what you're interested in and I'll ponder.
This is Pathinder on chakras and kundalini. As you can see, I need at least one Ki point to get into this, which I hope to get through a level or two in the Rogue class, with the talent Ki pool, and having taken the feat Psychic sensitivity. Later on, I hope to take the Chakra feat chain: Initiate, Adept and Master... or however far I get. ^_^
Kundalini looks like an interesting path to pursue, even if only for a while, and gives me something to strive for, feat-wise.
Sure, go for it!