The Carrion Crown (E7 goodness with House Rules frosting)

Game Master Helaman

I guess we're going to need that other player then. I can maintain the rate that I've been posting- once in the morning and a couple times in the evening. I can't post at work or while sleeping so that's my frequency. As mentioned, I'm on Spring Break this week and be out Thurs through Sat likely.

As for incorporeal, I can channel and I took the souls domain which allows me to grant a weak ghost touch on weapons. That should help.

Definitely. As I said, my group of players doesn't have a cleric. That should make a big difference (I hope).

Sorry to see you duck out Vigilance. I don't think there's been any problem with your posting so far.... :/

I will miss him as a character and he's a good bloke as a player too.

I'll have the next player take an investigative bent.

Incorporeal undead.

There are two types. Standard varieties of undead and haunts. I'll say little on the latter but they are not always things to be 'fought'.

Having a cleric helps big time but there are other options and some in game equipment floating around. There are some in town solutions that may cost you gold, may cost you trust if you take certain shortcuts (ie breaking into a certain shop and helping yourself to the bottles marked 'Oil of Magic Weapon') IF you get caught out.

You may be able to earn some aid from the townsfolk by building your relationship with them and I've embedded an NPC option or two - not hirelings per se but people who may throw a spell or two your way.

On the rules front? I've some changes on holy water, which I WILL allow you to use vs incorporeal undead if you splash it around with a holy water sprinkler (small damage to be sure but its something) - you hit everything in the targeted square with a spray of holy water - I figure ghosts don't like that. The 'Disrupt Undead' cantrip I will also allow... just don't cross the streams. I've already listed that Clerics do FULL channeling damage vs. incorporeal and not the standard half (save still applies). They also add Cha to the damage rolled.

I expect that the incorporeal undead will give you SOME grief. I am, in fact, hoping on it. They are meant to be hard and a challenge in my mind - scary in fact. I am of the believer that like the Ghost Busters themselves, an acceptable option after a failed rushing of a Spirit will be to run. You can re-think your tactics, prepare appropriate counter measures and come back at the encounter another way.

If you don't have a full suite of options against ghostly undead, what can you do? Aid another as the situation may allow, fight other undead/physical foes leaving the spectral to those equipped to handle it and so on. I see this as also giving certain characters their spot light moment. Your contribution to the fight may well be keeping the ghost distracted and giving the applicable characters opportunity to win the day.

With time and some leveling, you'll opportunities to learn spells or feats that allow combat against incorporeal undead.

With Book 2 - you are on something of a schedule (and minus a cleric doesn't help at all for one part of that investigation that has a passel of nasty spooks). Book 1? You have 30 days. There are events happening that impact on that 30 days but, over all?, that time is still available.

Without giving any of my re-writes away, I want you to experience Ravengro, the location, as a NPC in its own right. I don't want you to grind out some parts of the game in a 2 day orgy of hack and slash. There are undercurrents and events that make this a fantastic start to this AP, that can be missed if the players are fixated on only one part of the story - it is the core, the important 'must resolve' part to be sure but I hope to expand your view to other mysteries and events before the serious Ghostbusting happens.

Finally, you should have 3 spell casters (discussions with the new player have been around a Melee Inquisitor) - you should be able to come up with some magical solutions with a some investment in spell usage.

Give me a chance with this - if it does become 'not fun' then I'll relook at it (I have some contingencies in mind already).

Oh, I'm fully willing to give you a chance. I was curious more than anything. It sounds like the game won't be low magic so much as capped magic. There are no spells higher than level 3, but that doesn't mean spellcasters are totally nonexistent. I think it'll be fine.

^_^

Fingers crossed. Call me on stuff that doesn't work - call me on stuff that isn't fun.

Its a shared experience and we either all win or we all lose. I really want this to be a) a long running game that you guys are still enjoying a year or more from now and b) a place where my house rules are kicked around and refined and with some addition of your own ideas.

Just as an example on 'E6' and the game.

Its no secret that 'Broken Moon' is the Werewolf chapter.

To my thinking, this module is perfectly playable with standard werewolves as baseline foes.

Compared to your average level 1-2 Warrior (or even 'Fighters') that make up the foundation of the game world? These things are BADASS - they are VERY capable of chewing through a squad of soldiers, especially if the poor bastards aren't armed to deal with them. A level 3 ranger who has them as favoured enemy may well be able to kill one in solo hand to hand combat- which is what I'd expect from a dedicated werewolf hunter.

You'll likely be hitting level 6-7 at that point but even so, even the basic models are not likely to be one hit wonders and will be challenging in packs (which is sort of the point within the story as written) but at the same time I want a narrative 'consistency' which I HOPE the E6-7 rules will allow for. Trust me, by the time we hit Broken Moon we'll know how viable it is and you'll likely be sick of my E6 soapbox.

The leaders? Fine - they're a different stripe of badguy but if your base line werewolf in BM needs to be 3-5th level NPC with lycanthrope template just to challenge the party at a MOOK level (ie needing a few of them together at that level just to be a speedbump) then it just sort of irks me. I get that the game levels up and in the traditional PF play you sort of need to do that but it just smacks of the world powering up just because the characters are.

Ok... rants over :) I will return you to your regularly scheduled game shortly.

I agree. Core Golarion is kind of like E15. I haven't seen an NPC that's higher than 15th level in any of the books, the vast majority are under level 10. There are monsters of higher CR sure, but they are rare and supposed to be essentially epic threats on a national (or global) scale.

In one of the games I'm running right now the party is 10th level. There are seven of them, and they do have high point buys. But, they are soooo powerful. The combat they are in now started as a CR 15 dragon (Woundwyrm) and seven CR 9 demons (Nerizos). It's the beginning of round 3 and the dragon and one demon are outright dead, another is confused, and the rest are heavily wounded. One PC is down, but alive, and the rest of them are essentially untouched.

They put out like 250-300 damage a round easy. They could probably take out a CR 20 monster (Balor or whatever) without all of them dying right now, and they are level 10. I've found that past level ~14 or so, the game effectively becomes impossible to play. Or at least 100x as hard. You have to have people with a lot of time, who are capable of handling very complex sets of rules interacting just to get through combat. I tried to run Witchwar legacy (17th level mod?) with a party of 12th level gestalts a while back. It was insane...the combat posts took me hours to write and there were so many minor retcons and rules mistakes we had to go back and fix, or look up. It was not that fun, despite being super epic.

It's definitely a different game when you cap it at level 6, but it's a more realistic, sometimes more fun game.

I think I'm going to bow out. I am available to post 2-3 times a day, but it seems like every time I can, no one else is. Then I end up holding people up the days I am gone most of the time and end up posting late. (On days I travel like today.)

Never the twain shall meet. Yada yada.

If you can post 2-3 times a day....the when doesn't really matter. We're all on different schedules or even time zones...

Too bad.

If the new player goes strength based inquisitor, would you consider giving me trap finding if I take skill points in disable device?

I think, for the moment there is no need, and if Baradlon sticks with Urban Ranger for 3 levels he'll get it as a class feature.

He said he was switching. Lore warden I think.

Are there going to be enough magical traps that we should be really worried about having someone with trapfinding? I could take the trapper archetype as well to get disable device.

To be open with you all, I can't recall any in book 1 off the top of my head... That's not to say I am 100% on this or that it would still be the case if you go massively off plot... For instance by robbing the temple.

If trapper suits then take that - changes at this point are ok. That goes for everyone.

Actually, I'm insane. I already have disable device at +7...

Hey all, just wanted to pop in and say howdy and that I'm looking forward to playing together! GM Helaman mentioned that you guys could use a strength/tank type and/or a skill monkey, suggesting perhaps an inquisitor or a slayer. I was thinking about trying a slayer since I already play a skill-focused inquisitor in another PbP, but I'm happy to go with whichever one you guys would prefer :)

Actually, I'm insane. I already have disable device at +7...

Magical traps would be the issue, but doesn't seem like it will be an issue.

Sounds great Lady Ladile!!!

What skills are we lacking?
Me- Diplo, Bluff, Knowledge, perception, UMD

Or if you guys wanted something else instead of either of those classes, I can do that too. I'm used to filling in the gaps in my RL group, though those are usually spelled 'h-e-a-l-e-r' ;)

As far as posting goes, I'm on GMT -6 and can usually post multiple times on my days off. Work days are more limited since I work long hours but I can still get in at least one, it just might not be until I get home that night.

We are good. Play what you want to play. I haven't seen the slayer yet! It would be cool to see one in action. ;)

Yup, welcome Lady!
I agree, play what you want.

Am pretty sick today. Will I post? Sure - shortly in fact - but follow ups after that for the rest of the day will be iffy. Likely will post in 12 hours or so*

*need to be up for sodding conference calls.

After thinking on it some more, I think I'll actually go with inquisitor after all; I'm a little more familiar with how the class works and it seems thematically appropriate for the AP anyway. Most importantly, the hook that I had in mind for her being here is based on race and works just as well for an inquisitor as it does for a slayer.

I'll get to work on the crunch and such; hopefully I'll have a finished character to submit for approval within the next few hours and then I can jump into the game tonight.

Yeah - sounds good.

I don't know if you guys ever listen to Podcasts of game play but over on the mp3rpg.com site they have an hilarious grave side scene in Ep1, make a mental note to listen in a month (and please don't listen to them all until HoH is wrapped up) but it pretty much goes....

Player 1: We did stuff - adventures and... stuff
GM: Oookay. Don't want to say more?
Player 1: Not really
GM: Okay Player 2, you're up.
Player 2: (A large male, clearly gay* half orc) The Professor was my first lover, a mentor when I was studying at University.
-Lots of joking follows including Kendra having a small breakdown and 'Are you sure you have the right man?' 'We could always turn him over'.
Player 2: You said to tell a story.
GM: Yeah a backstory, not a back door story.

Matters were not improved when the DM PC, Cleric, told his own stories to distract from Player 2s revelations and inadvertently came out with a few of his own (in the spirit of what just happened)

* I don't have issues with this but in the context of staid Ravengro, the added Orc angle and the unexpected manner of the reply made it funny.

Still pretty sick. Gimme a few more hours to move the game on and for others Baradlon to post (he may have already but I missed it)

Ha that's pretty funny, bet they threw in a few rigor mortis jokes

Okaaay, finally submitting Elidal Zemiel for character audit and approval. I think I've got everything, but if I've screwed up in some manner (forgotten something, etc.) let me know and I'll fix it as quick as I can. After reading over the other characters, I definitely think that we're going to have so much fun together - looking at you specifically, Lament and Simeon ;)

There's a pretty decent spread of skills amongst everyone already, but I tried to plug what few holes I could in a manner that would make sense for the character. Like Sense Motive. I was a little surprised that no one seemed to have ranks in Sense Motive. Inquisitors are the poster child for "ye olde hairy eyeball" though so it worked out nicely.

And with that, I'm going to bed because it's 5:30 in the morning. Augh.

Excellent. You are the Mysterious Cloaked stranger I forshadowed earlier so just jump in.

Tally Ho.

Sry. Crazy day. I'll post in the morning!

Tally Ho.

Tally Ho is my way of saying "I am active and waiting for posts".

I'll leave it another 24 or so hours before giving the story another prod or two.

Okay... Who wants a re-roll? A Mulligan that can be used at ANY time in the next week of game time. It is time dependent as I don't want you banking them en masse.

All you need to do is write a few paragraphs outlining the day as your character saw the events and their thoughts and impressions in Jounal form. If you capture 'reminders' of what you consider to be important impressions or evidences so much the better.

I am not expecting 'War and Peace' - Something short but flavourful to summarise for the website Adventure log. If you want me to link to certain ppl or evidences, let me know. Just post in the discussion board here your Journal entry... it may be a letter to a loved one or any other written medium, as long as it fufills the purpose.

I'll ask for new entries periodically.

If there are multiple entries I'll take the best one at the time.

Now for the good news...

I'd like to use Step Improvement for levelling. It works better for weekly sessions where you can throw something out at the end of the session but I want to try it for PbP. You've completed what I would consider to be a single night of gaming.

Step Improvement Rules.

Read the link and select one aspect of your character and level that part only (though you still count as level 1 for spell effects etc).

Steps are an easy and fast way to measure your character’s progress from one level to the next—they’re mini-levels that let you improve your character after every game. Because you normally get at least one Step after each game session, you know that at the end of each game you can expect to improve your character a little bit, and after four games, you can expect to gain a level.

A) Hitpoints and BAB (take hits better and hit others more easily)
B) Saving Throws (resist those poisons, traps or spells)
C) Skill Points (access to new skills or improvement of the old skills)
D) Class Improvements (gaining class feats, class abilities and spells)

Your level will be 1A if you level your HPs and BAB, or 1D if you selected class features inc. any feats etc that would normally gain at this point)

Since I joined late, do you want me to hold off until the next step improvement?

Nah - lets keep everyone together. It was a dangerous crossing for you - full of adventure yadda yadda.

:)

Lament chooses option D and gains:
-Haunted Eyes (Ex) At 2nd level, a dirge bard gains a +4 bonus on saves against fear, energy drain, death effects, and necromantic effects.
-Secrets of the Grave (Ex) At 2nd level, a dirge bard gains a bonus equal to half his bard level on Knowledge (religion) checks made to identify undead creatures and their abilities. A dirge bard may use mind-affecting spells to affect undead as if they were living creatures, even if they are mindless (though spells that affect only humanoids do not affect them, even if they were humanoids in life). In addition, he may add one necromancy spell from the spell list of any arcane spellcasting class to his list of spells known at 2nd level and every four levels thereafter.
-Spells Known: 0)Read Magic 1st)Chill Touch, Grease
-Ability to cast one extra 1st level spell per day

Nice! So you are a Dirge Bard 1D.

As you get additional steps it may change to 1AD or 1ABD etc until you have all 4 then you are level 2.

Interesting. So how will it fit with E7?

There were a couple more skills that I wanted to start with so I'll go 1C.
Adding Linguistics (Ancient Osiriani), Perception, Sense Motive, and maybe Know (arcana).

Once you hit 7th things slow down a bit but it will be 1 HP, 1 skill and then 1 feat. The HP/skill choice is not locked as to which is first.

Character sheet updated.

Ranger (Urban Ranger) 1/Fighter (Lore Warden) 1A

+1 BAB, +7 HP

Elidal will go Inquisitor 1D, which adds:

Cunning Initiative (Ex): At 2nd level, an inquisitor adds her Wisdom modifier on initiative checks, in addition to her Dexterity modifier.

Detect Alignment (Sp): At will, an inquisitor can use detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, or detect law. She can only use one of these at any given time.

Track (Ex): At 2nd level, an inquisitor adds half her level on Survival skill checks made to follow or identify tracks.

+1 1st level spell per day.

+1 Orison and +1 1st level spell known.

Now to figure out what to research when we have some downtime, I think?

Excellent

As to downtime and research? Hold on to your pants... events are getting rough. :)

Im off to bed - cya tomorrow

Been on the go all day and Aniversary tonight. I may not post something meaningful for about 12-15 hour.

Forgot about my step improvement
Taking D, for 1 0 and 1st level spell cast and known.

TallyHo

Busy day at work; will have something when I get home later this evening.

cool - anyone gonna take a crack at the free reroll and give me a journal entry?

I'll probably give it a try soon; have five days off from work after tomorrow so I should have time to write.