The Chess Arenas (Inactive)

Game Master adsapiens

Discussion for the Arenas game! We will use it first to control the submissions, and once the players are picked, to discuss the game itself. Please, post only once here until we actually open this topic for conversation (otherwise, keep the questions etc. on the Recruitment thread).

.
Dash
.

Yo

Hey hey.

I will make an alias if I am selected.

Submission here.

Kit Vulpik, Kitsune Swordsfox, at your service!

Here is my submission, Cthurinai.

Here is my submission. I will make an alias if selected.

Welcome to the Arena guys! I will create the Gameplay so you can dot there (and delete your posts) so it will appear on the Campaign tab. I'm going through reviews on the sheets and backstories and should have some small adjusts to request. Until then, please feel free to ask any questions here. We will start gameplay effectively this weekend, I believe :)

All right! I'm ready for Kit to be miserable about having to do this! >:D

Ready too. Do we know ahead of time that after the fights the loser is restored?

Alright, ready to rock. :)

@Flint: basically, you'll learn most about the fights in on, during the first scenes. It's not PvP the entire time, as I explained... There's an excuse of an story going on the background :)

Hey all, I'm here! Sorry for the delay in posting, I'd forgotten to keep checking in after Thanksgiving weekend and all, but Chess PM'd me and I'm very excited for this. It seems like it'll be a lot of fun going through the game, especially alongside the rest of you.

@Flint: we're missing on your background references to what campaign you were when you were snitched, and we need to replace one of your traits with a campaign trait (not from Reign of Winter, Jade Regent or Legacy of Fire - choose from any other Paizo campaign).

Sorry for the double post, guys: I'm finishing the last details to start your game now. As much as I copied your character sheets and will help check when needed, we all know Pathfinder isn't designed for PvP. With that said, what I mean is that for our game here succeed and we have fun, I will have to count with your help and honesty.

Believe me: PvP might be the focus of the game, but there's a lot going on on the background, plus you'll have the chance to fight multiple enemies, players and NPCs. Let's keep the game fun for everybody. Winning isn't everything, and if things work well here, we might add new friends in the future or even create nice guidelines for people to play other games with this focus.

Anyway... Have fun! And please, don't mind the very much more-dangerous-than-the-other-players dungeons you'll be thrown into!

I'm guessing Gameplay with a post up means we should begin posting in there as well? Reacting to the rags and internal thoughts, I presume.

Correct, my friend. And please, feel free to post questions here - if it's something that is not going to be answered in ON, it'll be my pleasure to clarify. :)

@Flint: we're missing on your background references to what campaign you were when you were snitched, and we need to replace one of your traits with a campaign trait (not from Reign of Winter, Jade Regent or Legacy of Fire - choose from any other Paizo campaign).

Fixed. Conspiracy Hunter form council of thieves has the same effect.

@Flint: we're missing on your background references to what campaign you were when you were snitched, and we need to replace one of your traits with a campaign trait (not from Reign of Winter, Jade Regent or Legacy of Fire - choose from any other Paizo campaign).

I'll need to make some modifications.

Also, I checked, and literally every one of us that you accepted chose one of those three campaigns.

Are the reasons we need to change story based or power based or both? If it's power based, would you mind if I kept the same backstory and just picked a different mechanical effect? If it's story based, would you mind vice versa?

Oh no Misriel! I asked Flint to not use these campaigns because they were the campaigns you guys used. I wanted each person to come from a different background. You're fine with your choice ;)

Oh no Misriel! I asked Flint to not use these campaigns because they were the campaigns you guys used. I wanted each person to come from a different background. You're fine with your choice ;)

Oh, shwew, yay!

Gonna pass on posting this rotation. Go ahead. Misriel doesn't have much to add.

Wait. Question. Since Mutagen gives an untyped bonus to nat armor, does it stack with my amulet? And does the penalty I get to Wisdom reduce Grit pool? I think it's no since temporary loss doesn't change per day class abilities but I wanted to check. I mean, barbarians don't get extra rounds of rage when raging because of the CON boost so I should't loose Grit points from WIS penalty right?

I believe the natural armor bonus from mutagen would stack, as the types are different. No clue what the GM will rule for the second.

Hey guys! I'm working on my move and relocation and should be back by Wednesday. Cheers!

By which time it's an almost certainty that a few of us are to be busy with Christmas. :P

'tis the season. :D

Natural armor doesn't stack, unless it says so clearly on the ability giving it (such as on the spell Barkskin). Since the amulet is based on the spell, then I'll just assume it increases existing natural armor (which would come from the mutagen) and let them stack. Observe the amulet won't stack with other enhancement boni to your armor, though...

About Grit: you don't lose the points because of the Mutagen.

Tekumsah, if you're allowed to roll swim untrained, you'd better get an 11, too. Because this is just too funny right now.

Alas, it appears it wasn't in the numbers.

NoooooooooooooooooooooooOkay.

Holidays period and guess what? I'm going to be absent again this weekend, for some days. I'll be back Tuesday. I hope you all have a fantastic New Year's eve.

For the games I'm playing in: please feel free to bot me as needed, GM. I apologize for the inconvenience!

For the games I'm hosting: don't worry, I'll be back! Feel free to use the period to get your posts current.

I may be able to log in spottily during the weekend.

Cheers!

Update tomorrow morning! For the second round, I will tune down the dungeons. I'm already modifying some of the ones I have. The environment is a little too murderous right now :/

I feel like we designed a bunch of characters with being self-sufficient duelists, but the lethality of the environment means what you really need is a self-sufficient dungeon explorer. Which is usually a role that requires an entire party and dedicated magical healing, which felt discouraged.

We're also almost purely martial classes, which means we don't have ways to handle things like swarms or poison (on a failed save) well.

Or, in my case, enemies who roll luck a couple times in a row. :/

I feel like miseriel could have lasted longer if she had just ran. I think her movement was still faster than the swarms. Swarms are tough to deal with with only melee.

Also fact that we can have consumables is a problem too. A few splash weapons and a lot of situations would have been easier.

I think I would have survived longer yes, but no one's really dealing with the environment so hot. And they had me surrounded because I failed perception, so I would have taken some damage no matter what.

I'd say the second problem with the environment other than just the deadliness of it is that there's not any real choice in them. Sure, some of us had multiple paths to choose from, but without the time to scout out and determine which path best suited our skills (or has the best rewards or whatever our decision might be), it was basically rolling a die. I'd like it if the dungeons felt like some cleverness and careful use of our skills would give us a major edge, instead of just how well we roll in combat.

Of course, I recognize that achieving that is much more difficult than simply tweaking numbers to not kill us, so I'm not expecting it to happen, but it would be nice.

I imagine that if there are a number of different dungeon environments, we'll all have our chances to use our skills. Being that we're all mainly martial types, it does mean we're at a disadvantage for some things, and exploration isn't necessarily a strong suit... but I think we all have a skill or two here and there that can help in the long run.

I mean, sooner or later there'll have to be a Mega Awesome Shaolin Showdown of Death on bamboo poles over a spiked pit, right?

...I hope?

Ah, I wasn't meaning skills as in the rules-constructs, but skills as in 'the things we're good at'. :D

Basically, I'd like the opportunity for cleverness rather than dice rolls to give us an advantage. Perhaps I just didn't pick up on it, but it didn't seem like the environment in this set of dungeons was conducive to that. But as I said, it's difficult to design a Pathfinder dungeon where there are clever ways to make things easier for yourself (without being ridiculously obvious, at least).

I went back through what you went through and yeah...the rolls were not on your side. They needed a 19-20 to hit and managed to hit them a lot. I do wonder what the water was. A way out or an elemental laying in wait.

Yes, you guys are right. I'm using parts of maps from old games I GM'd (usually for parties of 4, with CR 5 or 6).

My idea with this game wasn't simply to clash players against each other, but also tell a backstory. More importantly, however, was to conduct it as an experiment of classes within dungeons; like self-sufficiency, let's say.

Other words: the game isn't only about PvP, but actually what classes would fair better in a more general aspect (hence why the skill checks on the beginning as well).

So far the challenges have been quite brutal, and it's on me. I need to review the maps and tune it down, probably. I already made them much smaller to speed up the engagement.

Should we change the type of game? If it's not being fun, we can think on modifications to make it more fun to you guys.

EDIT: By the way, there were already some advantages on the fields... Like potions and a wand. They're just not too obvious. Plus, some challenges there are definitely to run from, or maybe to "kite" towards your enemy :)

I'm fine with it being not just PvP--that was clearly meant to be part of it from the start, and it's part of the reason I threw my hat in. The opportunity for PvP is fun, but a good game needs to have more than that going on, and this one does--and should. That'll include some tough environmental factors, NPC enemies, all sorts of stuff. I like the idea of that. (I'm also looking forward to hopefully teaming up with the others to take on combats as a team of gladiators--at least I figure that'll happen eventually.)

A first combat that brutally stomps us and makes us hurt is rough, but in some ways it does give us a good in-character look at this arena. It's about the show, but it's about more than simply being good at fighting. (That said, our characters are primarily built toward fighting, so maybe a little more of that would be solid.)

If you want to test classes then some of us should probably roll up a divine and arcane caster. There are three martial characters and me who is still firing from melee range. I would honestly like to see how a caster would have faired in Kit's area.

Also is Tekumsah in the tower? How much further would I have to go to even fight him?

Honestly, I prefer it with none of us being casters. I also prefer there being less emphasis on the PvP. My main issue with the challenges is that most of them have just been roll-fests--it didn't seem like most of them had any options to them other than fighting or running blindly into the unknown.

It's difficult to say how to fix this, though... more opportunity to scout, maybe? Multiple paths ahead at all times with the time to check out which one has the best risk/reward ratio? Not sure.

Most classes aren't even close to self-sufficient. Divine classes maybe. Each other class has glaring weaknesses that they'll just crumple to, and, well, everyone has bad luck every now and again. Not sure what to do about that, either.

A properly built arcane of our level is self-sufficient via summoning. Level 10 is actually right in the summoner sweet spot of levels 7-13. You can summon healing minions that are relevant, spellcasting minions that can aoe, and melee minions that can make equal level fighters jealous.

Also, I'd like to mention none of us have a will save over 10. A proper arcane would have a 75% chance of completely disabling one of us on their first cast.

Unless the environment screwed them over by running them out of spells, I don't see how a caster would lose to one of us. None of us are in crazy rage-lance pounce instant death from 100 feet away builds, except maybe Flint.

Ah, true, I always forget summoning.

Putting it on hold for now. I'm working on the maps to reduce them and make them less deadly, and considering suggestions from the players. Some people seem to be demotivated, so I'll consider even the possibility of cancelling the arenas. :/