Hi folks. First off I want to stress that GM Dak's thread is NOT required reading for the other players. I have an idea of how to merge this story together and get it chugging in the right direction with this mix of characters. That starts with getting the character backstories in line with the description in the AP guide. Nothing actually changes about the story hook for the new characters. You're still invited to appear at the Heidmarch estate, the Pathfinder's Society's most recently opened chapter house.
I think Valai and Rommin need to level up - go ahead and do that.
What questions from the recruit thread did I fail to answer? The new characters still get 150 gp (which is a stretch given the druid's background - I think you have an acorn... :)
rolling HP (Assuming thats how we determine HP for Levels 2 onwards?)
Have also leveled my character up from Level 1 --> Level 2
Amadia, your Alchemist will be the first I've DM'd, so I'm looking forward to seeing it in action. I'm going to be doing some reading on alchemist and also Irori while I watch my ball team struggle tonight.
HP are correct - your class die + CON + a possible favored class point.
Some other policy stuff that occurs to me to share:
- I don't really do experience points. The APs give good guidelines for leveling, I just try to follow those. I may drag this party behind that recommendation a little due to party size if none of the fights are challenging.
- At the table I usually use a space-targeting rule such that the caster/thrower targets a square and the effect is centered on a vertex determined by d4 (1=NW,2=NE,3=SE,4=SW). This tends to mitigate the effects of square-counting and makes fireballs more exciting! If you guys hate it, we'll do it a different way.
uugh.. bad football making all rational thought unpossible...
Oh yes, also I've done combat maps via a google site in the past. In order to be able to post art from the materials that you'd normally see at the table, I keep the site secured thru email addresses. I've set up something here. Send me an email at smoochy.knave@gmail.com and I'll add your email addresses to the permitted user list for the site.
I picked up battlemaps from DM Bigrin on these boards that are tremendous, so shout out to DM fellowship!
Amadia, your Alchemist will be the first I've DM'd, so I'm looking forward to seeing it in action. I'm going to be doing some reading on alchemist and also Irori while I watch my ball team struggle tonight.
Stop it plz, the pressure is 2 much!
In all seriousness, the standard alchemist usually combines the physical power of the mutigen form, with the battlefield control and ranged utility of the Bomb. My Alchemist differs from the standard since its built primarily as a supporting character, such as replacing Mutigen for an Inspiration Pool, and for the ability to pass out buffs to its allies. Its my first time playing with this particular archetype (which makes for a frailer than usual Alchemist), so I hope I do it justice.
I previously just used average hp, so I'll roll for it now:
Well, that was unfortunate.
A couple character questions:
One thing that was left a little open in the past thread and what is left open at the beginning of the AP is the relationship between the players and the society. Lawson's clarified things in his background - he's been an initiate and this assignment in Varisia (and his documentation of it) is his confirmation into the society at large. The same can be true of any other players entering the game here - arriving in town on the same ship that brings Lawson and the renowned pathfinder Shevala Iorae to town. This means that your backgrounds now include a stop-over in Absalom to pass through the initiate ringer. This is the fast-track to membership in the society if that's part of your character concept.
Or your character's relationship with the pathfinders can be more a more informal attachment. Let me know and I'll gauge Sheila's attitude towards the group accordingly.
In terms of theme, I was thinking he's been a druid/monk since before the forest was destroyed. In terms of levels, I was thinking of taking 3 more levels of monk before returning to druid so that I can still get a full progression for my companion thanks to the Boon Companion feat.
Actually, its interesting that you mentioned the companion's name, because one of Appenrel's things is, "Forests don't have names. Neither do plants."
Appenrel would probably on the ship in order to examine possibilities in a new location, but not necessarily with the intent of entering the society.
I always planned on Amadia already being involved in the Pathfinder Society - if not yet an official member, than at least one already closely affiliated with the Grand Lodge. Not sure if this means if she should be on that boat or not, but she should have a positive relationship between herself and the society, at least for now.
level 2 HP I guess, since everyone is doing it.
Question, are we always rolling for HP, or can we take half if we want to?
Afli wants to be a member of the society, his goal is to write something good enough that the society will make him a full fledged chronicler, so that I can take that prestige class. SO I would guess given the opportunity to fast track in Absolam, Afli would jump at the chance.
EDIT: One more question GM, I want to buy a masterwork tool, to assist in my profession scribe check. UE lists price at 50G, but it's ultimately up to the GM to declare what it is, or even if you will let me. Basically, writing something worth 50G for pathfinder chronicler is going to be hard, so I need every bonus I can get.
I'll go with half max. + Con. modifier for my hp for second level. ^^
I fixed my equipment and the longsword vs. raven matter during the level-up -- and spent a chunk of money upgrading the sword, so my equipment list is now... a bit different from before.
I would also rather go with average hp every level than roll for it. Are we allowed to do that?
No doubt. You guys feel free to take average + CON, etc.
The main idea of the Treesinger archetype in general was to distinguish him from normal druids focusing on creatures and connect him more with the idea of nature as a whole, and to link that with the monk ideal of order. So I'd be fine with having a domain instead of a companion if you think that would be better.
Hope to kick off gameplay tonight!
:) Whee!
I edited my character slightly and switched to a domain (Plant). I'm excited for tonight.
I too am eastern time Zone. Michigan to be more precise. I'll probably do more of my posting during the day though, instead of at night. Work allows me some freedom to do not work related things for a few minutes here and there, and after work i'm usually busy, or trying to catch up on video games and TV.
A picture of the Shard of Pride is here.
I'm in the Tampa Bay area. I'm slammed at work so my posting is strictly on my own time. After school duties with my offspring, better half, etc usually mean my posts will be 8-12 at night est. Weekends I might post more, and that usually means Fri-Sun. 4x10 schedules rock if you can pull it off!
Question DM Luke, how do you want to do the fluff requirement for me wanting to go Pathfinder chronicler? I have to get someone to buy something I wrote for 50 gold.
My thought would be that I would use the profession money making rules with profession scribe every week, and I would add up my rolls until I got to 50 gold, but I'm not sure how much time passes in this AP. If I get average rolls it should take me 6 weeks.
If you want I could also actually record our adventures and at various points try to sell the story, and you could judge how much it would be worth. It would also conveniently give use a document to reference if we forget stuff, or if someone new joins us.
I'm having internet trouble at home. Please DMPC me as needed.
Will do Valai. Hope that gets worked out soon.
Afli, I'm certainly not going to judge anyone's writing for its worth in gold :) The mechanic you propose sounds great. I appreciate as much as you want to add to the story in whatever form you want to add it.
For that matter, if anyone wants to add any content to the site, please let me know and I'll figure out how to give you editor privilege.
In terms of time's passage, its not really giving much away to say that the characters themselves are largely in charge of the timetable - from about where you are to the end of part 6! But of course everything in this pbp format passes sloooooow.
Lastly - shout out to Appenrel - our druid hasn't chimed in for awhile. Still out there? Interested in the silvered scimitar before the story moves along?
Alright group, we've lost our player for Appenrel. I want to get your opinion on how we move forward.
I'm comfortable leaving the party size at five (finding a graceful exit for Appenrel in the story), recruiting a new character or handing Appenrel over to one of you.
He did represent a pool of healing and a potential melee combatant to the group.
I vote we replace Appenrel with another healer. o_o No sense skipping on that good healing mojo, especially not at the early levels!
Agreed, although I'd even be willing just to pick up a divine caster period, its nice to have arcane and divine options.
OK I think we're good. My wife wants in the game and is willing to run a divine spellcaster of some sort, but not a druid/monk. I'll DMPC Appenrel until an appropriate spot, then we'll work in someone new.
Don't worry about favoratism - I've killed her characters plenty of times :)
I'll put a post together to move us along this evening while I watch my ball team embarrass themselves.
That works for me. I'm on mobile this weekend, so posts will be short.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Hello, Mrs. DM! ;)
Wonderful, its good to have you aboard =]
Hello all! Thanks for the welcome: I figured if I was going to hear about the game I might as well play along! I haven't played in awhile so I'm a little rusty. I'll apologize now for any missteps. I will catch up on the thread and get my character made so I can be 'inserted' at an appropriate time. Looking forward to gaming...
fyi gang. The better-half has created a Vudrani cleric of Saranrae to add to the mix. She only exists on paper right now, but we'll get her an alias and get her online this weekend. Last I heard of her background made me pretty happy, though there are still some gaps.
I know the where and the how to get her inserted into the game and its not that far ahead. Hope the pace and tenor is working out for everyone. I was a little discouraged to lose a player so quickly, but I guess that's just the way of text-based games. The forum's open on ways to improve the game and keep it interesting for all involved.
I'm interested to know how many folks actually get to live-game at the table these days. The only table game I have going is a Jade Regent game with my offspring (14 & 11) and we actually play only so often. We're in the opening stanzas of a version of Hungry Storm that I've pretty much redesigned from the ground up.
I don't really have an opportunity to get to a live game at table. Living in NZ means your population size is pretty small, although I have an online gaming group that we all get together for, so I guess its slightly similar in that sense. I hear about people meeting up for a game IRL, but honestly have no experience with it sadly :(
I currently GM a live game every Sunday afternoon for 4 guys I used to live with, and 1 other friend. Right now we just got into Book 6 of Rise of the Runelords. We started all the way back in June 2013.
I'm lucky because 4 of the 6 of us GM. So before me we played Kingmaker that ended in book 3, and they did a Serpents Skull game on Saturdays for a while that ended in book 2.(We like a challenge, or get overconfident, so we have tough fights, which usually ends in a wipe at some point.)
After I'm done, the same guy who ran Kingmaker wants to run Second Darkness, then the guy who ran serpents skull wants to run Iron Gods, and after that I will probably be running Skulls & Shackles.
My live group disbanded sometime last year. :( Just when I was set to return after a prolonged absence.
The last time I had a table game other than with my kids we ran the Savage Tide AP. We had a TPK on the Isle of Dread. It's fun with the kids but definitely not quite the same. For one, the fart jokes are way too common with an 11 year old ninja at the table. (Smoke Bomb!) And I'm pretty sure a TPK would have both kids in outrage and possibly tears. Pam won't join the kid's game no matter how many pretty dice I buy her! She's a smart one.
There's a local group running Skull and Shackles at my FLGS, but as you say Rommin, time for work and family just doesn't permit. So I'm definitely happy to be part of a new game, even if its only over the intertubes!
Rommin: No worries. My work has a tendency to explode in my face from time-to time as well. Sorry I missed. :) Your turn again.