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Maybe it's just better to roll for DM vs. party, using an average of the party's initiative modifiers? This way, the party's turn can be done in any order, allowing for it to be done by post order. Of course, folks would have to delay a bit for party buffs/spells first before attacking, but maybe that's ok?
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I do something similar for my games, but using average of the enemies' init mods. That way, the enemies would always be in one initiative group. Those who beat the enemies' initiative would get to act before them (including all the benefits, e.g. flat-footed), then after that, the combat will alternate between enemies and players. Then among the players, actions are resolved in post order. I feel that is a good compromise so that those who pump up their init mod for specific strategies, e.g. rogues to get sneak attacks, would have a higher chance of getting to act before the enemies, and also effectively getting one extra round of action vs those with low init mods.
I think I may have pushed too soon yesterday, sorry about that. I'll have to try and be a little less enthusiastic in the future.
Oh yes, also confirm we've not found any usable loot so far? Or should we have stated that we are searching each room?
I was starting to wonder about that myself, since nobody had said they were searching any of the rooms. Maybe that's something I should put in my opening post? Something along the lines of:
'I will roll perception in order to determine surprise, but players should roll their own for any other use (e.g. Searching a room or listening through doors).'
Anywho, you haven't missed anything so far except for the scrolls in the office, and I'll take your question here as an intention to search.
Out of curiosity, what do you guys usually do when GMing?
Maybe it's just better to roll for DM vs. party, using an average of the party's initiative modifiers? This way, the party's turn can be done in any order, allowing for it to be done by post order. Of course, folks would have to delay a bit for party buffs/spells first before attacking, but maybe that's ok?
I actually did exactly what Untir just said. Each of the monsters in that first room had a different initiative bonus, so I just averaged them to stop things getting too tedious. So that is similar to the DM vs. party idea, but with a pseudo bonus round for those with high initiative. I think I like it that way and will keep with it for a bit to see how things pan out.
Thanks everybody for your input so far! Y'all are awesome. I'm taking it all aboard, and hopefully improving as I go :)
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For loot, I usually just straight away inform the players what there are in the room or on the enemies after the combat, to save some time. If some of them are magic items, I just provide a general description, e.g. a scroll, and their specific identity inside spoilers based on the spellcraft DC. If items can only be found via perception checks, I would similarly put them inside spoilers based on the perception DC. In other words, my take is that as experienced adventurers, searching for loot is an automatic response after combat. After all, we Pathfinders are grave-robbers, are we not? :) But definitely, you as the GM determine how you want to run your game.
That does sound quite nice, especially the assumption of automatically searching bodies after combat. I'll have to give this a wee think :)
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Yes, for loot (or information) that isn't specifically hidden behind a Perception DC in the Scenario, I just assume the party is looking around a the room they've found and the enemies they've defeated.
If there's something hidden behind a simple Perception DC, I'm likely to roll in batch just to avoid the tedious posts of "I search the room," "me too," "me too," etc ad nauseum. If there's a bit more too it, I'll try to describe it as specifically to catch their interest.
For example, if the scenario said, "There are 3 potions of cure light wounds on the counter," I wouldn't require a Perception roll or penalize anyone for not saying they "searched the room" or "looked at the counter." If there's a secret closet with scrolls in it hidden in the wall with a Perception DC 20 to find, I'll just roll their perceptions.
That all makes a lot of sense! I'll do something similar from now on, so y'all won't have to worry about whether or not you said if your searching a room, body, etc ;)
Thanks guys!
He may be too savage to worry about fancy moves, but I like that you are making good use of your increased acrobatics. All the daring do of a swashbucker, but bit more rough around the edges :)
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Ok, so it looks like I'm going to have an unexpected loss of internet access from the 9th to the 13th of October. It's extremely annoying and I can't apologise enough, but I will have to put the game on hold during that time. I had considered trying to continue using the data on my phone, but I feel that it would prove too difficult as a novice GM. However, the good news is that y'all are making excellent progress and, as much as I feared the November deadline at the start of this scenario, we are going to have absolutely no trouble finishing in time.
Again, I'm very sorry to do this to you. Please continue as normal for now, and we'll probably pause just before we get into any more combats.
Thanks for understanding, guys!
Don't worry about it Sidi, what with the site outage and the forthcoming pause, we can wait a little longer for your post. Thanks for the warning though :)
Woohoo! Congratulations!!!
I couldn't resist a hangover joke... Anyhoo, well done folks! If only the bad guys could survive the first round, I had such plans to make things challenging for you :)
Okay, so we are pretty much finished now apart from the debriefing, so let's see about some super special gameday boons! Everyone roll a d20, if you get an 19 or 20, roll a d4 to see what you win.
Bad luck everyone, maybe next time. Just dropping in to say that I'm working on chronicle sheets now, and that they should be ready by the morning ;)
Okay folks, your chronicle sheets are here!!!
Please let me know if there are any problems and remember to make a copy, just in case I delete them from my drive at some point in the future.
Thank you everybody for the game! I have really enjoyed my first foray into PbP GMing, and I hope that y'all enjoyed the game too. As I attempt to grow as a GM, feedback from players is going to be vital. As such if you wouldn't mind, please stop over here and let me know if there is anything you liked, or disliked during this game, and I'll be able to switch things up accordingly for future games. With your help, who knows, maybe one day I’ll be good enough to run a whole adventure path.
Almost forgot, rolling for Dus so that I can report this game...
Doh! No goodies for anyone this time round.
There is just one more unfortunate thing we need to sort out before everyone goes their separate ways: Patros contracted Ghoul Fever, and because it can lead to death, it needs to be resolved.
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 13; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves.
I don't think that Remove Disease is in anyone's spell list, but you are in the middle of Absalom, so spellcasting services are available. Remove Disease requires a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) vs the the disease DC (13 in this case), so if you want to be sure of being cured without rolling dice, you need to purchase the spellcasting service at caster level 12, the costs are as follows:
CL 5 * 3 * 10gp = 150gp
CL 6 * 3 * 10gp = 180gp
CL 7 * 3 * 10gp = 210gp
CL 8 * 3 * 10gp = 240gp
CL 9 * 3 * 10gp = 270gp
CL 10 * 3 * 10gp = 300gp
CL 11 * 3 * 10gp = 330gp
CL 12 * 3 * 10gp = 360gp
Everyone is free to chip in if they like, but are under no obligation to do so.
There is also the option of letting things run there natural course, and attempt the saving throws, two saving throws in a row will stop the fever and Patros will be righht as rain.
Once we have it all sorted out, I'll update Patros' chronicle sheet accordingly.
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If Patros wishes to try to attempt the saving throw route, Untir can perform heal check (autopass by taking 10) to treat disease, granting a +4 to each saving throw.
Otherwise, I'm more than happy to split the cost for CL12 spell.
Now that's a neat trick, Untir! Saving throws with a total modifier of +5 against a DC of 13 is definitely doable.
You could always try the natural route for a couple of days, Patros, and if things don't seem to be working, switch to magic. So with a dose of antiplague taken now, you can roll your first saving throw twice and take the better result. Then you could attempt your second saving throw and have the option to use your reroll if needed.
Excellent, just a couple of days in bed with a mild fever! Patros is too tough to succumb to a little ghoul fever, and with Untir's help, he makes a speedy recovery. Technically the modifier should have been , but you made the saves either way :)
Right then, since I'm supposed to mark that on your chronicle sheet, you can find the revised sheet here. Thanks guys!
Thanks Sidi! The vargouilles were an interesting one. I'd never seen them before, but they have the potential to be really nasty :)
Okay folks, I'll leave it another day or two before I mark the campaign as inactive, just to make sure everyone has had a chance the see their chronicle sheets. Once again, thank you everyone for making my first experience as GM a happy one!
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Not sure if anyone will still read this, and I already wrote a PM to our GM, but I also want to apologize to the other players for falling silent at the end of the game. Didn't plan to do so, but things got a bit hectic on my side of the PC and in the end, I was a bit over my head and lost the necessary focus.
I still tremendously enjoyed the game. You had all great characters and I had a lot of fun reading your Posts. So, again, apologies, everything that went wrong regarding my participation was my fault and my fault alone.
Dus aka Wormy