GM Socrates |
I'm more concerned about the other 4 players. I need to reach out and make sure they have a means of getting notifications. Both of my other tables are done.
GM Socrates |
Cap, you aren't counting me as one of the four not responding, are you? My RSS feed, with alerts, seems to be working fine.
Yes, I was. :) I asked everyone to sound off and you had not sounded off yet. Glad to see that you are following along.
I'll be looking over your characters this weekend and getting the first post up.
DukeOfPrunes, you probably don't want your familiar to be its own PFS character. Having a separate alias does make sense, but I think you just want it to be a regular alias.
GM Socrates |
@everyone: I have started us off in the gameplay thread. Please go ahead and post there. I will audit your characters tonight and/or over the coming days, but I don't want to delay our start any longer.
GM Socrates |
@Marty/Trache Grayson
Required
- Your Sense Motive calculation is too low; you have a trait for +1 sense motive and a Wisdom of 12, so you should have at least +2 sense motive
- Similar story with your reflex save; you have a +1 from Dexterity and a +1 from your trait, so you should have a +2 Reflex save
- I can't tell how many skill ranks you've spent (see below) but it *looks* like way too many. You should have, at most, 4 skill ranks, 2 for Fighter, 1 for Human, and 1 if you spent your favored class bonus on Skills (assuming that Fighter is your favored class)
Optional
- Could you show your work? Everyone takes this to a different extreme, but for the values that change most often and/or have the most modifiers going into them, it's nice to see how everything adds up. For example, if you look at Uriah Firehands's sheet, you can see how many skill ranks he's allocated to his various skills and how those add up to give his total bonus to a skill. It's not uncommon to see similar "work shown" for AC and HP as well; I recommend it for new players, as it makes it easier for you to recalculate it when you level up or get new gear.
- Related to the above, but you probably want to calculate your standard attack roll modifier and damage roll modifiers for your main weapon. You can see how I do that on Uriah's sheet, although the damage part for him is not a useful example since, by default, he adds +0 on damage rolls. I typically do it like Longbow +10 (1d8+4, x3, 100ft., piercing, magic) so I have all the properties of the weapon right there on my sheet and it is easy to know what to roll for attack and for damage.
- It's a pretty minor thing, but you can pick one additional language reflecting the *region* that your character is from. I believe Appendix 1 of the Pathfinder Society Guild Guide has information on this, but let me know if you need any help.
- You may want to pick up a little adventuring gear. Google "pathfinder's kit" for a few items. At the very least I recommend some rope and some splash weapons. A backup weapon and/or an alternative ranged weapon is also a good idea.
- Although it is not technically required, I would appreciate some instructions on how to bot your character if you're not available to post in a timely manner--even a single sentence would be great. When I have to bot you (or validate your roll for some reason) it is really nice when all of the above stuff is taken care of as well.
GM Socrates |
@ds3272/Esmerelda Spivot
Also, player-to-player, consider the Fate's Favored trait if you've either picked up Ultimate Campaign already or are considering it.
GM Socrates |
@Makolen/Makolen Artar
- It looks like you are using Dexterity for your attack rolls with unarmed attacks. Is that a special Monk thing I've forgotten about? Normally you have to take the Weapon Finesse feat to do that.
- I think your flat-footed AC may be 1 too high. I'm not sure, but I don't think you get Dodge bonuses when flat-footed.
- Could you show your work on HP and AC? You've done it for skills very nicely already, I see!
- You took the Improved Initiative feat, but forgot to calculate it in your initiative! :) With that I think you should be at +9
- Player-to-player, I recommend picking up a couple of splash weapons: Alchemist's Fire or an Acid Flask.
Overall, well done! I'm looking forward to GMing for you. :)
GM Socrates |
@DukeOfPrunes/Dahlia Ulula
- Taking Gift Adept for Mage Armor makes sense now, but you may want to point that trait at a different spell before you level up.
- Are you sure you've got her alignment right? She seems more NG after her change-of-heart.
- Could you put her save bonus vs. enchantment in the header next to her saves like you did with the conditional Perception bonus?
GM Socrates |
@Dysole/Zemeri Vulca
- It doesn't look like you've recorded your Armor Check Penalty anywhere near your skills.
Everything else looks pretty good. I could be missing something since I've just looked at 4 other sheets and am getting fairly tired. :)
GM Socrates |
Sorry for the delay everyone!
And the reason for the delay: I am at a conference this week for work. I'll be working all-day everyday and so I don't expect to have much time to post. The reason this caused the delay? Last week I was very busy trying to get my regular dayjob done while also prepping to work this conference.
Also, our 6th player has had to bow out, so unless you want me to find you a 6th (which I could do in a heartbeat) then we will carry on with 5. I think y'all have some nice party balance here, so I'm not worried about it.
Also, y'all may want to be aware of one of my favorite rules (as a player).
Taking 10: When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure—you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn't help.
Taking 20: When you have plenty of time, you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, if you roll a d20 enough times, eventually you will get a 20. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.
Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes 20 times as long as making a single check would take (usually 2 minutes for a skill that takes 1 round or less to perform).
Since taking 20 assumes that your character will fail many times before succeeding, your character would automatically incur any penalties for failure before he or she could complete the task (hence why it is generally not allowed with skills that carry such penalties). Common "take 20" skills include Disable Device (when used to open locks), Escape Artist, and Perception (when attempting to find traps).
Ability Checks and Caster Level Checks: The normal take 10 and take 20 rules apply for ability checks. Neither rule applies to concentration checks or caster level checks.
GM Socrates |
Alright folks! I don't have another conference for at least 6 weeks. Still have a lot to do at work but my posting rate should be able to climb up to something more normal for the near future. Let's see how fast we can go in this time!
Help me out and try to post every day; even if I don't manage to post every day. When I *do* post if y'all haven't posted yet it will make everything go slower.
GM Socrates |
I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but I have a lot going on right now. It may still be a few more weeks before my posting rate is back to normal. Sorry for the delay, everyone.
GM Socrates |
I just realized I forgot to notify my tables; I'm out for a funeral and burial today and tomorrow. And I have yet more family coming to visit on Saturday and Sunday.
GM Socrates |
[late night grumpy post]I know it can be hard to keep momentum going when the GM doesn't post for five days straight. However, five days should be more than enough time for everyone to get a post in. The more of you I have to bot, the longer it takes me to get the next GM post in.[/late night grumpy post]
I don't have the time/energy to find a nicer way to say that; my apologies.
Also, I just realized I never explicitly stated it before. My botting policy is that if your character has been Up for at least 24 hours and you haven't posted yet, I will bot you for the round with my next post.
Esmerelda Spivot |
If I did something that caused me to be "botted," I apologize, but I am watching for my opportunities to participate quite closely. Am I supposed to be announcing what I do before my turn in the order? If that's so, I'll do it.
I have no problem with how you played my character, but I don't see how she was "up" at all.
I apologize for not understanding the flow of things.
Esmerelda Spivot |
Also, I apologize for screwing up the map, which I think I've now done. The arrow keys moved a layer, or something, instead of just moving the view. Oops.
GM Socrates |
No worries about the map. I fixed it.
Perhaps my initiative status is confusing.
When I post this:
Initiative Order
Janira
Makolen <= Up
Zemeri <= Up
Dahlia <= Up
Grayson <= Up
Easy <= Up
Wolves
Everyone with their name in bold has something to resolve by making a post. It could be that I just need you to make a save or some other check (in which case I will call that out to you somehow).
If you have <= Up next to your name, then you are up in initiative and should post an action for the round. Rather than having you post one at a time and resolving each of you in order, I just let you all post as you are able and then resolve it as best I can.
So on Tuesday I posted the block above and was waiting on a post from all five of you, but only Grayson and Dahlia posted an action in the time since then.
It's not the end of the world if I have to bot someone. Stuff happens to everyone (as my own posting rate lately has shown), but if you can post when you are up it would be great for you to do so. If the players aren't posting in between my posts it will only exacerbate the pace issues caused by my poor posting rate.
GM Socrates |
I thoroughly apologize. I... have had some issues I've been dealing with and I had completely spaced on this game. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Ninja'd! Real life issues happen to all of us, like I said. Don't beat yourself up! Just post when you can; that's all I'm asking. :)
Esmerelda Spivot |
Ah. Ok.
In that case, I have a question. I've already acted in the other thread, but strategically it would have made more sense for me to wait this turn and see if the western wolf was dispatched, in which case I could shoot at the eastern wolf (edit: which is, apparently, already dead). Is there a way to manage that? Because that's why I was waiting.
Also, I didn't understand that "up" meant that I could go *now*, even though those ahead of me have not gone yet. So, again, apologies.
Finally, I understand that the map is not laid out on a compass. By which I mean that up is not north. How do people normally designate left/right/whatever?
Dahlia Ulula |
Easy, you can state in your post that you will attack white wolf, but if it is dead then I will attack grey wolf, and if it is dead then I will pick my teeth. If there is a fourth possibility that you didn't account for, then Socrates will either prompt you for a different action or make a reasonable assumption for you.
Esmerelda Spivot |
If, for instance, I say I attack the one wolf, or if dead I will attack the other wolf, or if also dead then I will pick my teeth, and then what happens is (1) first wolf dead, (2) second wolf (2)(a) knocks out my teeth and then (2)(b) dies, then we have a situation where I have no teeth so I would need a fourth option.
Got it. Thank you.
GM Socrates |
That's more or less how it tends to go. :-)
GM Socrates |
The Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest comes out in August. It will be a free download while it is in playtest. I signed up to play in a game starting in August. If any of y'all would like to join me, there are still slots open here. I signed up for Arclord's Envy on that sheet, so if you want to play with me, that would be the place to sign up.
For the Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest you would either be creating a new character with the Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest rules (released on August 1st or 2nd at GenCon) or you would be using a pre-generated character provided by the playtest. I don't actually know for sure whether or not the former will be an option.
The homepage for the playtest is here and the blog posts about the changes in mechanics and the like is here.
Dahlia Ulula |
Mr GM sir,
At one point you said that I should make an alias for Tulip rather than a character sheet. I was never able to figure out how to do that. Any pointers?
Thanks.
GM Socrates |
Dahlia: I am not ignoring your post! I just haven't had time to take care of it.
https://secure.paizo.com/paizo/account => "Messageboard Aliases" => "Create New Alias"
I am really, really disappointed at the pace I'm providing for y'all. Most GMs I play with get in between 3+ posts/week to 2+ posts/day. Should I find a replacement GM? It might be difficult to find one GM willing to continue running games for us indefinitely. I could possibly join y'all as a player if we did so, although a replacement GM might not be fond of that. Let me know how you feel about it.
Dahlia Ulula |
Socrates,
You gotta do what's right for you. It would be nice for things to speed up, but, obviously, there are more important things than pbp.
If you decide to continue GM'ing this adventure, I will appreciate whatever time you are able to put into it. Perhaps in the future your available time will increase.
DoP
Esmerelda Spivot |
For myself, I would rather go faster than we are going, but I would also much rather keep you as GM, Cap. So please let's not make any changes.
On the other hand, like the rest of us, I put a lot of work in on my character and the idea of us going even slower is painful. So if this is what it has to be, for now, that's ok, but *please* do not think of our acceptance of this pace as tacit encouragement to go even slower, or to fade out. That would be unfortunate.
Esmerelda Spivot |
I'm going to be phone-posting from 8/4-8/11. I expect, at the rate we're going, I won't miss anything. But I'll try to keep up anyway. Might need some forgiveness for formatting issues.
GM Socrates |
My plan is to make at least 1 or 2 major updates this week.
GM Socrates |
The site seems to be working again and the long weekend is over. I have a lot going on at work this week but I should be able to get us started up again no later than the end of this weekend.
GM Socrates |
Upon further reflection I will not continue to GM. I apologize for letting you all down but I won't let this drag on any longer. I think you have a great group here and I am really, really disappointed about not being part of it's development. Presuming you are all still interested, I am sure I could find a replacement GM that would be happy to finish out this scenario and possibly run some additional ones afterwards.
GM Socrates |
... does anyone else want to keep playing? No point finding a GM for one person.
Esmerelda Spivot |
Look again at this post:
Upon further reflection I will not continue to GM. I apologize for letting you all down but I won't let this drag on any longer. I think you have a great group here and I am really, really disappointed about not being part of it's development. Presuming you are all still interested, I am sure I could find a replacement GM that would be happy to finish out this scenario and possibly run some additional ones afterwards.
You did not ask us, on Wednesday, to raise our hands if we were interested in continuing. You volunteered to go find another GM. Well, now that we know you're waiting until we've indicated our interest in playing, let's see what the interest level is.
GM Socrates |
Presuming you are all still interested, I am sure I could find a replacement GM
Apparently this did not come across like I thought it did. I'll say what I thought this sentence meant:
I am happy to find replacement GM if y'all are still interested in playing.
FWIW, if three of you are truly interested and not just apathetic, I think that is enough. A new GM could easily recruit players to fill out the group. Let me know what you each would *like* to do.
Esmerelda Spivot |
:) You know as well as I do that this is as committal as Dysole gets:
I'll play if people keep wanting to. I will also be fine if we stop. A tad disappointed, but okay