Nope, not scared away, glad you're back! I did spend part of the weekend making sure someone wasn't a danger to themselves, so there was that.
Back to the game, though, queue the combat music.
Bah, I really dislike how feelbad moments initial positions can create. I really don't want to delay stuff, so you placing things out is probably best. Sometimes wrong position can really mess up tactics though. At the same time I don't really like takebacks, even if we weren't the one who decided intitally.
At least I'm not playing a charger in this game. I'm playing a charger in PFS and quite often the GM puts me one square away from charging or even behind other characters. That's quite frustrating.
I simultaneously love and loathe how complicated immeadiate and readied actions can be in pathfinder. I do like figuring out the best way to do things and how it's often possible to set up complicated combinations that are really cool. However I dislike that for a lot of people the system doesn't actually make sense without intense study, if ever. And it can sometimes take time away from cinematic awesomeness that combat can be. At least in pbp there is much better time to look up things and explain it.
I'll move my characters when I get to a computer.
Did anyone ever update the lootsheet? We spent 6k on gear right? Did Alamina get anything?
Alamina has a +1 cloak of resistance, masterwork armor, shield, crossbow, and backpack, as well as almost 1k in free gold.
I thought I calculated my GP expenditure properly
I guess it's me misunderstanding things. I see the figure 2615 listed upthread. Was that divided out evenly then? Did we have to not have to sell stuff for that? I see a lot of items we don't really need all that much listed on the loot sheet. What about Quint's gold? Did he keep it?
Personally I just added the headband to my sheet and figured the gold would be tracked combined. Do we have to set aside gold to develop the land?
I just got sick, so it might be difficult to keep up. But I'll try. Just thought I would let you know.
I just got sick, so it might be difficult to keep up. But I'll try. Just thought I would let you know.
No worries. Hope you feel better.
Also, I'm working on catching the loot back up. to accuracy. Will have it set up before you go back into the wilds again.
The party gathers their loot and the eggs, and decides to venture through the Narlmarches further on their way back to Oleg's Trading Post. Cutting a path through the wilderness, the ground softens and becomes progressively damp and muck as the nearby rivers pool together into a semblance of a swamp.
After a day's travel and exploration, you see a pair of decaying structures peeking out of the swamp. Approaching it, you see two strange individuals, one that appears to be a humanoid frog, and another that looks like an amphibian with two long tusks.
The froglike creature holds up his strange webbed hands and croaks out in heavily accented common: “Truce! Truce!”
Whoops. Yeah. Should have been in Gameplay.
FYI, it appears that I can't post from work at the moment (lunch time and after work are my most available times. Not sure if it's permanent, but it messed up my plans for today at least :-/
If Elvara doesn't get back here soon, we may have to open up recruitment again.
My son had chicken pox, which was hell. I've then been super busy trying to catch up on things... If you don't want to wait any longer I understand:/.
Oof, that sounds unpleasant!
Too bad I'm still too little to cast cure disease!
No worries Elvara. Hope your son feels better.
I still remember when I had chicken pox...miserable.
For leadership roles, these are my best guesses:
•Elvara - Ruler or Councilor
•Alamina - High priest or Councilor
•Quint - Consort or Grand Diplomat or Councilor
•Raven - General or Enforcer? Ruler?
•Vosirion - Not sure, a lot of roles are either dex or int, Marshal, Magister or spymaster perhaps?
Newcomers we now have available to select from:
Since there are 11 minimum positions available, we'd basically have to use all our NPC allies in one form or another, including at least 1 of the Levetons.
In addition, that keeps Quint in play as an NPC (which I don't have an issue with, can't speak for the rest of the team), and includes Elvara (I know she's had some tough times IRL and I'd like if she continues to play with the team)
My brainstorming for the roles:
Ruler - Elvara (and Smexy!)
Consort - Empty for now
Councilor -Alamina
General -Kesten Garess
Grand Diplomat -Quint
High Priest -Latricia
Magister -Vosirion
Marshal -Lloyd or Jhod
Royal Enforcer - Akiros
Spymaster -Raven
Treasurer -Jhod or Lloyd
Warden -Oleg/Svetlana?
Those are just some fast and loose ideas, and ideally, we'd get Oleg & Svetlana out of the loop ASAP, and potentially recruit another support PC (yay bards).
Here's more what I was thinking:
Ruler - Elvara
Councilor - Alamina
General - Raven
Grand Diplomat - Svetlana
High Priest - Latricia
Magister - Vorsirion
Marshal - Jhod
Royal Enforcer - Akiros
Spymaster - Lloyd
Treasurer - Oleg
Warden - Kesten
That way, we won't have to deal with bringing back a PC as an NPC who we've already come up with an excuse for not being here.
One final thing about NPCs: I didn't want to bog down too much with NPC exposition, but some have deeper backgrounds than others, some being more willing to talk about it than others. Regardless of whether or not they're in a Leadership role, they'll likely be active in the upcoming settlement one way or another, so I didn't want to rush past anyone, have people assume that all the intro gave is all there is to someone, then get blindsided by potential developments :)
Hey there, I just wanted to touch base with everyone. I'm still around, though literally herding cats at the momment (fostering some fire evacuees) and I'm unsure how my availability is going to be the week of Christmas. I'm not sure how available everyone will be in the upcoming weeks, but from now until then the actual RP posting can be pretty free-form and really is up to you guys on what you'd like to do before the actual founding of the Settlement.
I do really want to get through the initial Kingdom Building hump and be ready to roll after Christmas (and / or New Years.) To nudge people towards deciding the kingdom building requirements, I've created a "voting" system I wanted to run by people. For the aligmnent, please drag the numbers corresponding to your character into the grid for your first and second picks for kingdom alignment.
I have messaged Elvara to see if they're still around; I haven't seen anything from them for a while. Depending on if we hear from them, it might be best to recruit 1-2 people before we start book 2.
Hope things are going well for everyone!
Not sure how to vote on the leadership positions....
Not sure how to vote on the leadership positions....
Make sure I'm awake enough to do the last thing I wanted to do ;)
Seriously, though, for that one it looks like there isn't contention on the player leadership roles. For now, drag your character onto the x to confirm that's what you want.
I did hear from Elvara, who is still with us and should hopefully be catching up soon.
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As for party roles, I am good with either magister or spymaster for me.
I do wonder if it might still be good to recruit another couple players. It seems we are at a good transition point, and with only 3 of us posting most days, it would be nice to have a few more to interact with.
If we did get a real arcane spellcaster, I would probably go with spymaster, since I'm the stealthy one in the group.
I'm also good with cooling down over Christmas...I'll likely be posting less-regularly myself.
Still need a couple votes for Alignment. I'm also getting set up for the npc roles.
I think mone went through...
I think mone went through...
Yours did. Thanks!
Also, I'm going to re-open recruitment for 1-2 new players.
Hey there, I'm recovering from being up ~28 hours straight and surviving holiday airport security, but I wanted to introduce our two new party members: Thurl Ravenscroft and Ryle Orlovsky. As having *two* Inquisitors of Abadar might be a bit overkill in the party, so Ryle's player volunteered to tweak the character a bit mechanically. However, as it stands I believe our Skill / Knowledges derth should be covered.
Thurl and Ryle, feel free to make an introduction. Next up, I need you guys to decide what Leadership roles you'd like to take. Once that's settled, I'll put up a voting matrix for everyone to vote on the remaining Leaders. (Check out the Leader Intros scattered over the most recent Gameplay posts)
I'll be poking in as I can through the next couple days, wifi permitting.
Good evening, everyone! Looking forward to joining your merry little band; I've played Kingmaker before, but never even gotten past the Stag Lord's fort, so I'll be walking into new territory with y'all.
Thurl is designed as a Bow-quisitor and has access to every basic Knowledge skill in the game except for, at present, Planes - or rather, Aether; he's more a jack-of-all-trades character than a master of anything.
As far as which kingdom role Thurl should be in, as an Inquisitor of Abadar, it seems like the roles that would make the most sense for him are Marshal or Treasurer; I'm certainly willing to hear what everyone else in the party thinks about it, too.
Glad to see you in here! Now, get on the front lines and fight that bear while we run ;P
Hello, new friends! As noted, I'm reworking Ryle a bit mechanically - Wolfspirit suggested an Empiricist Investigator, which I think fits (though part of me is tempted to go Mastermind, just for the perversity of going down that route for a LG PC.) I should be able to put aside a few dedicated hours to it tomorrow night, but until then, some passing thoughts:
- Basic crunch thoughts: keep and expand on the high intelligence (as demanded by the class); higher cha than wis (probably more in line with the character concept than the first version, and does more to differentiate him from Thurl); probably dexy melee to take advantage of the terrifying mountain of skill points headed his way - but very open to suggestions, as this isn't my forte and I don't know what you would find most useful, mechanically.
- "Has basically every knowledge skill" is another area where there might still be a lot of overlap between Ryland and Thurl - of course some overlap just means they get to geek out together, but I would imagine Ryle knows more social sciences while Thurl knows more (meta)physical sciences.
- Magister, treasurer, or spymaster seem like the most obvious Roles, but I need to bone up on the systems - are you using the original Kingmaker, Ultimate Campaign, Ultimate Rulership, or some other version? Ryle would most likely vote for 1) LG then 2) NG for kingdom alignment. Though these all sound like fun things to debate in-character!
- Ryle is likely travelling alongside Thurl to meet the rest of the party, and they likely have a lot to agree on (as well as, likely, a few things for Thurl to chew out Ryle on.) Ryle is likely looking to Thurl to be a spiritual mentor in this crisis period, though Thurl's ability to play that role effectively might run up against Ryle's refusal to see things in terms other than "I was ruined for being completely in the right," which is all the harder to get out of because it is, more or less, true.
- Other background intertwining: anyone also from an aristocratic background (Elvara?), or who would have been involved running a business taking work from the state (Raven?) could have had some obvious reasons to have met Ryland at some point or another. Or not - it's a big world out there - but I'm open to imputations of the history there.
- Family stuff! For heightened melodrama! And story hooks! Ryland is in a loveless, but over the years grown mutually respectful, political marriage to a Lady Aianna Medyved Orlovsky (a botanist of some small renown from whom he learned his smattering of alchemy.) Ryle preferred the company of other men, and was happy to make no fuss about Aianna's own affairs; each focused on their respective political-economic or scientific obsessions. Being a father to her children started out as the marriage did - as a social duty - but eventually became a joy in its own right, a space he saw as a refuge from being a stern prosecutor or rigorous intellectual and simply a friend to some little people. (His children themselves, though, would probably still describe him as a stern prosecutor much of the time.) After the first round of political fallout, and with the prospect of further and more violent repercussions to come, Ryland and Aianna mutually agreed by correspondence that it would be safest for the children to be legally and socially distinguished from him as much as possible - the semi-open secret of their arrangement made more open and less secret, the children declared bastards, the marriage itself quite likely annulled. The drinking started before this, but it certainly accelerated afterwards. Aianna has promised to send postage to Oleg's Trading Post () keeping him apprised of their fortunes.
- I'm still working my way very sloooly through the IC thread but want to say that I'm really enjoying it. There are a lot of great character moments - here's hoping I don't screw up the dynamic!
Out of curiosity, how long ago and how bad was the first round of political fallout? If it was up to around four years ago, Raven could have spent one of her first assignments guarding you. Of course, her sword was much smaller back then, and less shiny, but still...
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Welcome to the new recruits!
This has been a great game so far, with the exception of some players just vanishing. I hate to see people put so much effort into character submissions, only to disappear.
We have a good core group, but I like having some more people to interact with.
As for skills, we're not totally inept. I have 10 skill points a level, and am maxing disable device and stealth. I have put points into knowledge arcana, religion, and planes, but don't have access to local, nature, or dungeoneering. So those would be nice to have someone cover. I also have some decent diplomacy, but not great.
My combat role is stealthy, second-line skirmisher.
I noticed Thurl is level 2 and Ryle level 4...we're all 3. Is that intended, or do we need to adjust some levels?
Thank you for the welcome! Thurl is actually level 4...I just haven't updated his profile by-line. Gonna go do that as soon as I finish this post.
I haven't made any plans to read through the interactions you've all had prior to Thurl meeting the others; I figured I'd be able to present a more realistic interaction by not doing so. I don't imagine there is much chance for any of the group to have met Thurl in any prior interaction by virtue of the fact that he doesn't really live a social existence, nor has he for several years.
I'm not intending to max out any skills with Thurl; at least, not at this point. That may change and me max out a couple or three skills, such as Perception, but beyond that I honestly haven't really made a lot of plans for the future of the character.
I have picked up Craft (Bows), as well as the masterwork artisan's tools to work on them, and I'm pondering at some point getting Craft Magic Arms and Armor if anyone else thinks that might be useful. Kingmaker seems like one of those rare APs were there really will be significant enough downtime to make use of the crafting rules.
The 4th level is technically a reward for starting the settlement, but I figured the new players might as well come in at 4th
Has anybody claimed the amulet of natural armor +1?
I said I'd write up Ryle tonight, and, indeed, I've been at it for a few hours, but I think I really failed to account for how many moving parts Investigators have! At least I'm not making an Occultist...
Male human investigator (empiricist) 1
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +[color=red]2 (dex) +???[/color]; Senses Perception +12 [color=red]5 (int, thanks to ceaseless observation) + 4 ranks + 3 class skill???[/color]
[u]DEFENSE[/u]
AC [color=red]???[/color], touch 12[color=red](10 + 2 dex)[/color], flat-footed [color=red]10 + ??? (armor)[/color]
hp 31 ((8+1) + [5+1)*3(4 HD)
Fort +2 [color=red](1 class + 1 Con)[/color] Ref +6 (+7 vs traps) [color=red]4 class + 2 Dex; +1 vs traps (Trap sense)[/color] Will +2 (+4 or +11 vs. Illusions) [color=red](4 class - 2 Wis; +2 vs Illusions and can spend inspiration to use Int rather than Wis vs them[/color]
[u]OFFENSE[/u]
[u]STATISTICS[/u]
Str 10 Dex 14 Con 13 Int 20 Wis 7 Cha 13
Skill points per level: 11 = [color=red](!!!) 6 (investigator) + 5 (int)[/color]
Inspiration: 7
[color=red]if Ryle has a point in a Knowledge skill, then he has +5 (int) + 1 (rank) +1 (racial) + 3 (class) +1d6 (free inspiration) = 10 + 1d6!!! or 13+d6 if he has all four ranks in it[/color]
[u]TRAITS, RACIAL FEATURES, CLASS FEATURES, FEATS[/u]
[color=red]TRAIT 1[/color]
[color=red]TRAIT 2[/color]
(extra human racial feat)
Comprehensive education (human racial trait, replaces Skilled): +1 racial bonus to all Knowledge skills (if being an Investigator did not grant all Knowledge skills as class skills, this would make them class skills rather than give the racial bonus.)
Alchemy: ability to prepare and consume extracts (and hand them to others with the Infusion discovery) [color=red]lots of complicated stuff here to record[/color]
Inspiration: Have 7 points to spend to give +d6 on any skill check, free to use on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he's trained in the skill.
Trapfinding: +2 (that is, half-level) bonus to Perception skill checks to locate traps and Disable Device checks; can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
Ceaseless observation (empiricist, replaces poison lore/resistance): use Int for Disable Device, Perception, Sense Motive, UMD, and (for purposes of gathering information) Diplomacy checks.
Infusion (investigator talent, spent on the infusion alchemical discovery): others can drink and benefit from Ryle's extracts.
Keen recollection: can make Knowledge checks untrained
Trap sense: +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps.
Studied combat: can use a move action to study a single enemy; gets +2 (= 1/2 his investigator level) as an insight bonus on melee attack rolls and as a bonus on damage rolls against the creature. This effect lasts for 5 rounds (=Int mod) or until he deals damage with a studied strike, whichever comes first. The bonus on damage rolls is precision damage, and is not multiplied on a critical hit. An investigator can only have one target of studied combat at a time, and once a creature has become the target of an investigator's studied combat, he cannot become the target of the same investigator's studied combat again for 24 hours unless the investigator expends one use of inspiration when taking the move action to use this ability.
Studied strike: upon successfully hitting his studied target with a melee attack, can do additional 1d6 damage (and end study.) The damage of studied strike is precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit; creatures that are immune to sneak attacks are also immune to studied strike.
Unfailing logic (empiricist, replaces swift alchemy): +2 Will save vs illusions, and can spend inspiration to swap Wis=>Int on such saves
Weapon finesse: can use Dex on attack with light weapons
[u]GEAR[/u]
[u]ALCHEMY[/u]
Extracts per day: [color=red]1x3, 2x1 +??? for Int bonus?[/color]
[color=red]extracts known: 2 (first level) + 5 (int bonus) + 2 (2nd, 3rd level) + 1 (4th level, meaning his only free 3rd level extract) = 1x9, 2x1 + any paid for[/color]
1st-level Extracts: comprehend languages, cure light wounds, polypurpose panacea, see alignment, tears to wine
2nd-level Extracts: cure moderate wounds
I think my instinct is to go for things that make sense with the concept, but that that lends towards the basic bias of the class towards not being especially useful in combat and making everybody else irrelevant when skill checks are involved. So as I fill in the remaining gaps/rearrange things I might lean more into the idea of his getting some knightly training from his upbringing.
Out of curiosity, how long ago and how bad was the first round of political fallout? If it was up to around four years ago, Raven could have spent one of her first assignments guarding you. Of course, her sword was much smaller back then, and less shiny, but still...
I'm thinking of him getting sacked relatively recently, certainly within the last year - but there could have been moments in the years before then when he was performing politically sensitive investigations and needed to hire a security detail. If so he would likely have thought of Raven as the kind of analytic, professional commoner the military should be getting its commanders from (at least, if her demeanor was as analytic and professional a few years ago as it is now!)
She has definitely has had the benefit of experience since those years, but Raven already had a head for tactics and was much more likely to analyze and make a plan rather than just charge in like most other mercenaries.
Also, I just realized I don't have a good reference picture for Raven.
Ryle sheet update: this will be done when I can get some credit card complications with HeroLab sorted out, because after n hours of trying to get everything to work on my own I'm going to have to concede defeat.
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +[color=red]0 (dex) +???[/color]; Senses Perception +12 [color=red]5 (int, thanks to ceaseless observation) + 4 ranks + 3 class skill???[/color]
[u]DEFENSE[/u]
AC [color=red]???[/color], touch 12[color=red](10 + 2 dex)[/color], flat-footed [color=red]10 + ??? (armor)[/color]
hp 31 ((8+1) + [5+1)*3(4 HD)
Fort +2 [color=red](1 class + 1 Con)[/color] Ref +4 (+5 vs traps) [color=red]4 class + 0 Dex; +1 vs traps (Trap sense)[/color] Will +2 (+4 or +11 vs. Illusions) [color=red](4 class - 2 Wis; +2 vs Illusions and can spend inspiration to use Int rather than Wis vs them[/color]
[u]OFFENSE[/u]
Speed 30 ft.
Melee greatsword +5 (2d6+5) (+7, 2d6+7 studied)
Special attacks studied combat (+2, 5 rounds), studied strike +1d6
[u]STATISTICS[/u]
Str 14 (+2) Dex 10 (+0) Con 13 (+1) Int 20 (+5) Wis 7 (-2) Cha 13 (+1)
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 16 [color=red]10 + 5 cmb + 1 Orlovsky[/color]
Feats Martial weapon proficiency (greatsword), Power attack, Furious focus
Skills [color=red]hoo boy[/color]
Languages Taldane (Common), Azlanti, Draconic, Hallit, Tien, Varisian
Skill points per level: 11 = [color=red](!!!) 6 (investigator) + 5 (int)[/color]
Inspiration: 7
[color=red]if Ryle has a point in a Knowledge skill, then he has +5 (int) + 1 (rank) +1 (racial) + 3 (class) +1d6 (free inspiration) = 10 + 1d6!!! or 13+d6 if he has all four ranks in it[/color]
[u]TRAITS, RACIAL FEATURES, CLASS FEATURES, FEATS[/u]
Accelerated drinker: can drink potion as Move rather than Standard action.
House Orlovsky: + 1 trait bonus to Diplomacy, CMD
Extra feat (human): spent on weapon proficiency
Comprehensive education (human racial trait, replaces Skilled): +1 racial bonus to all Knowledge skills (if being an Investigator did not grant all Knowledge skills as class skills, this would make them class skills rather than give the racial bonus.)
Alchemy: ability to prepare and consume extracts (and hand them to others with the Infusion discovery) [color=red]lots of complicated stuff here to record[/color]
Inspiration: Have 7 points to spend to give +d6 on any skill check, free to use on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he's trained in the skill.
Trapfinding: +2 (that is, half-level) bonus to Perception skill checks to locate traps and Disable Device checks; can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
Ceaseless observation (empiricist, replaces poison lore/resistance): use Int for Disable Device, Perception, Sense Motive, UMD, and (for purposes of gathering information) Diplomacy checks.
Infusion (investigator talent, spent on the infusion alchemical discovery): others can drink and benefit from Ryle's extracts.
Keen recollection: can make Knowledge checks untrained
Trap sense: +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps.
Studied combat: can use a move action to study a single enemy; gets +2 (= 1/2 his investigator level) as an insight bonus on melee attack rolls and as a bonus on damage rolls against the creature. This effect lasts for 5 rounds (=Int mod) or until he deals damage with a studied strike, whichever comes first. The bonus on damage rolls is precision damage, and is not multiplied on a critical hit. An investigator can only have one target of studied combat at a time, and once a creature has become the target of an investigator's studied combat, he cannot become the target of the same investigator's studied combat again for 24 hours unless the investigator expends one use of inspiration when taking the move action to use this ability.
Studied strike: upon successfully hitting his studied target with a melee attack, can do additional 1d6 damage (and end study.) The damage of studied strike is precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit; creatures that are immune to sneak attacks are also immune to studied strike.
Unfailing logic (empiricist, replaces swift alchemy): +2 Will save vs illusions, and can spend inspiration to swap Wis=>Int on such saves
Martial weapon proficiency - greatsword: Ryle recieved some knightly training in his youth.
Power attack: +2 damage, -1 to-hit if using weapon one-handed (first attack each round with both hands no penalty due to furious focus)
Furious focus: no penalty to use Power Attack on first two-handed attack each round
[u]GEAR[/u]
Chain shirt (100 gp, 25 lbs., +4 AC, max Dex bonus +4, ACP -2)
Greatsword (50 gp. 8 lbs, 2d6 dmg, 19-20/x2 crit, Slashing)
[u]ALCHEMY[/u]
Extracts per day: [color=red]1x5, 2x2 +??? for Int bonus?[/color]
[color=red]extracts known: 2 (first level) + 5 (int bonus) + 2 (2nd, 3rd level) + 1 (4th level, meaning his only free 3rd level extract) = 1x9, 2x1 + any paid for[/color]
2nd-level Extracts (2/day [color=red]1 class + 1 int[/color]): cure moderate wounds
1st-level Extracts (5/day [color=red]3 class + 2 int[/color]): comprehend languages, cure light wounds, polypurpose panacea, see alignment, tears to wine
Poking in before doing some more traveling. So far Thurl mentioned Warden and Treasurer for Leadership Role while Ryle mentioned Treasurer and Spymaster. I haven't seen any objection to either of those, so Thurl=Warden and Ryle=Treasurer would certainly work, if that's what you'd like. If we get that nailed down, I'll post the voting for the remainder of initial Leadership positions.
Also as a follow up, we'll be running the "stat determines Bonus" as opposed to skills. If there's any more questions I missed, let me know :)