Unbinding the Fetters - Disciples of Master Gond (Inactive)

Game Master Mark Sweetman

The path of those that aspired to be students is taking them to the Kingdom of the Impossible where they will engage in a tournament...


1 to 50 of 401 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | next > last >>

Minor Crab-beast

Greetings all and welcome to the staging point before I unleash you into your monastic training. Could you please check in, and let me know when you are happy with your crunch so that I can cast an eye over it.

Two Points of Note:
1) Non-Monks - get a free feat: Improved Unarmed Strike; so you can adjust your sheet to suit.
2) Monks - get the ability to deal monk damage with cestus / brass knuckles, or any other fist / foot type weapon that you would like (subject to DM fiat).

Once we have our group checked in, then I'll go through the rest of the details on the monastery and the pain that you have in your immediate future :)


Male Half-Elf Monk 2/Fighter 2

Nisk here checking in. Ready to put his pointy knees and elbows into some faces.


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4

Bandogrim Cotton, here, ready to float like a Will O' Wisp and sting like an Erinyes.

Quick Question: you're allowing the Cestus and Brass Knuckles with Monk damage, but will they also count for things like Feats which specifically require the use of the Unarmed Strike weapon? (ie, Dragon Style, Medusa's Wrath, etc.)


Minor Crab-beast

@ Bandogrim - in general, yes. The basic idea is to provide upgradeable magic weapons on a similar cost basis to other characters.

Are your characters ready for the DM once over?


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4
DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:
@ Bandogrim - in general, yes. The basic idea is to provide upgradeable magic weapons on a similar cost basis to other characters.

Gotcha. Thanks!

DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:
Are your characters ready for the DM once over?

Bandogrim is ready and willing!


Male Elf Rogue (Rooftop Runner)/4

Ready.


Werehare Inquisitive 3/ Seeker 3/ Bard 3

I'm having some interesting difficulty trying to edit Aleatharn's profile for perusal. I'll keep trying.


Male Human (Kellid) Brawler(fighter):3/Urban Barbarian:2

"The Champion of Ballenwood is ready, but are you ready for him!"

Thanks for selecting me, and let me know if you have any questions about my character. Might change up my Improved sunder to dragon style but I hold back since almost everybody else has it hehe, what do you guys think?


Minor Crab-beast

Reposting the character build guidelines:
1. Must have unarmed combat as primary focus
2. 4th Level
3. 20 point buy
4. Two traits
5. Standard wealth by level
6. Core races
7. HP max at 1st and rounded up average thereafter
8. Sources – Paizo published only
9. Alignment – non-evil

Will start going over characters today and giving feedback / questions as I go.

@ Torgus - I'd suggest that you wouldn't get too much mileage from sundering early on in the PbP. That's not to say that it wouldn't be useful once you leave the monastery - but that could be a wee way down the line.


Male Human Super Cruel DM 10

I will unfortunately be away from computer/internet connection for the next couple of days. Me and my girl are heading out to hang out with my family. I will be back around midday Thursday. I'm sorry for the inconvenience to the game.


Minor Crab-beast

Bandogrim Review:
1. Stats look ok - though when writing them out you didn't account for the 12 you put in Strength, which was then lowered to 10 after racials.

2. Ki pool should be only 9 (1/2 level +Wis +2) as per the Ki Mystic archetype. It replaces the normal pool, rather than stacking with it.

3. Which aspect of the Sensei archetype are you most sold on? - I'm assuming the 2nd level swap that lets you have Wis to attack and CMB?
Do you like the bardic ability aspect as well?
I'm also sensing a bit of a conflict with the 6th level swap out as well, as some of the abilities it states you can give to allies you won't have personally due to the Ki Mystic archetype.
Just want to get a sense for which bits of the archetype excite you so that we can either modify it a bit, or potentially provide an alternate means for you to access those abilities (such as through the monastic training).

5. For clarity, can you just summarise what each feat / trait / ability offers next to it. Doesn't need to be full text, just a short summary like: Insightful Strike (Ex): add Wis mod instead of Str to attacks and CMB


Minor Crab-beast

Jarquin Review:
1. Stats look a little low. Assuming your level 4 stat bump went into Strength (which makes the most sense), you should still have two points to spend to get to a 20pt buy?

2. For clarity, can you just summarise what each feat / trait / ability offers next to it.

3. For skills, I find it easier to review if you can at least indicate where the ranks have gone. Can just be in a bracket after the modifier, like: Stealth +10 (4 ranks)

4. HP should be a bit lower - it's max for 1st level, then average round up for 2nd to 4th. Should give you 23 HP at 4th level.

5. You have 3 feats - Acrobatic, Dragon Style and Improved Grapple - did you take a Rogue Talent for 'Combat Trick'? - as it is not currently shown on your profile.


Minor Crab-beast

Torgus Review:
1. Could you break down your HP calc in this thread? - just want to confirm which class level you took first, etc.

2. Could you clarify which feats you have and where they came from (as in levels vs fighter bonus)? It is a bit unclear at the moment.

3. I'd prefer if you avoided Dragon Style in your base build. You can either pick it up at level 5 (after some monastic instruction), or we could work on putting together a 'Bear' Style for you?

4. Out of interest, will you be levelling up Barb next, or Fighter, or a mixture?


Minor Crab-beast

Enjoy the short break Ryuko - we'll be waiting for you when you get back :)

Nisk Review:
1. Can you break out exactly where your feats have come from (ie. which are monk bonus, which are fighter bonus, etc) as well as the order in which you've taken the Unarmed Fighter and Monk levels?

2. For clarity, can you just summarise what each feat / trait / ability offers next to it.

3. Can you indicate which of the numbers in your skill breakdown reflects the # of ranks?


DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:

Bandogrim Review:

1. Stats look ok - though when writing them out you didn't account for the 12 you put in Strength, which was then lowered to 10 after racials.

Ack, sorry about that. Added that info, now, to make things easier down the line.

Quote:
2. Ki pool should be only 9 (1/2 level +Wis +2) as per the Ki Mystic archetype. It replaces the normal pool, rather than stacking with it.

Until you mentioned this, I hadn't even realized there was any controversy with the feature. Since Ki Mystic (Su) does not replace Ki Pool (Su), nor does anything else in the archetype, it naturally seemed to Stack to me. Apparently, opinions are pretty split on the matter, as I found this thread:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/rules/kiPointsFromKiMysticAndKiPoolStack

Pirate's post at about the middle of the thread sums up my argument, but as you are the DM, I'll (of course) abide by your ruling on the subject. However, if they DON'T stack, I'll likely drop the Ki Mystic archetype, entirely.

Quote:

3. Which aspect of the Sensei archetype are you most sold on? - I'm assuming the 2nd level swap that lets you have Wis to attack and CMB?

Do you like the bardic ability aspect as well?
I'm also sensing a bit of a conflict with the 6th level swap out as well, as some of the abilities it states you can give to allies you won't have personally due to the Ki Mystic archetype.
Just want to get a sense for which bits of the archetype excite you so that we can either modify it a bit, or potentially provide an alternate means for you to access those abilities (such as through the monastic training).

I love both the Wis basis and the Bardic aspect. Qinggong can help to replace some of the features which the Sensei allows to be transferred, but there are still some good ones, on its own. There's a +4 Dodge Bonus or +20 ft. speed, straight from the Ki Pool feature, for example.

Quote:
5. For clarity, can you just summarise what each feat / trait / ability offers next to it. Doesn't need to be full text, just a short summary like: Insightful Strike (Ex): add Wis mod instead of Str to attacks and CMB

I'll get to work on this, now.


Minor Crab-beast

Re: Ki Pools
My reading is definately that you only get a single Ki pool, not 2. So 9 Ki points if you keep Ki Mystic - or 7 without the archetype.

Re: Sensei - no problems. For the first little while the PbP is going to be a bit competetive amongst you so the bardic abilities will be muted a bit in effectiveness. But that will change after a while and you start operating as a team.

So basing on that, you'll likely change to a Qing-gong / Sensei?


Male Human (Kellid) Brawler(fighter):3/Urban Barbarian:2

1.)

HP rundown:
Actually caculated it wrong to:
Level 1: Fighter-10+3
Level 2: Fighter-6+3
Level 3: Fighter-6+3
Level 4: Barbarian-7+2
Total HP: 40

2.) Will get to work on that.

3.) Yeah I don't want to anyway, it just doesn't feel like Torgus. Coming up with a bear style would be cool, would we set it up before he gets monastic instruction or after. I was thinking it could do something like add more damage to grapples first then into a devastating pins or something like that. Let me know what you think.

4.)

Class Progression:

Level 1:Fighter
Level 2:Fighter
Level 3:Fighter
Level 4:Barbarian
Level 5:Barbarian
Level 6:Fighter
Then keep switching between them probably near the end focus more on Barbarian then brawler.


Minor Crab-beast

Torgus:
I'd say lets look at the style feats as things in your future, so you can pick them up after some time in the monastery.

For Bear Style, here are a few things that come to mind:
Ignore the power attack penalty when maintaining a grapple to inflict damage.
When raging and dealing unarmed damage, get bonuses as though two-handed (1.5 by str, increased power attack payoff)
Consider yourself one size larger for determining what can be affected by grapple abilities.
Get the grab special ability
Get the constrict special ability
Expend rounds of rage to prevent the grappled target from escaping
And some static bonuses, like + to CMB / CMD vs grapple, etc.

These are just a brain dump and would need to be massaged into a useful structure. I'd think we can put together a three feat style chain to suit.

You'll also get some benefits from the monastic training, like the fame rewards in Inner Sea Magic. These will be smaller benefits, but still worthwhile, including access to gear, etc.


Mostly done, equipment and description remain.


Minor Crab-beast

Cassadar Review:
1. HP looks a bit low - should be 25? (8+5+5+5+2)

Will cast my eye over a bit more tomorrow.


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4
DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:

Re: Ki Pools

My reading is definately that you only get a single Ki pool, not 2. So 9 Ki points if you keep Ki Mystic - or 7 without the archetype.

Re: Sensei - no problems. For the first little while the PbP is going to be a bit competetive amongst you so the bardic abilities will be muted a bit in effectiveness. But that will change after a while and you start operating as a team.

So basing on that, you'll likely change to a Qing-gong / Sensei?

One last question: are you ruling that Ki Mystic replaces Ki Pool entirely, or that it modifies it? That is, would I lose the ability to count my fists as Magical for DR, to spend Ki for an AC Bonus, and to spend Ki for a speed bonus?

If so, I'll definitely drop Ki Mystic. Losing two major class features for what amounts to a feat's worth of Extra Ki is pretty awful. If they stack for all but the amount of Ki in my pool, Ki Mystic is still pretty useful.

Thanks!


Minor Crab-beast

'Modifies' the Ki pool. So you end up with a Ki pool 2 points higher than normal, and still get all the 'standard' Ki benefits like having auto magic hands and spending Ki for AC / speed / etc.


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4
DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:
'Modifies' the Ki pool. So you end up with a Ki pool 2 points higher than normal, and still get all the 'standard' Ki benefits like having auto magic hands and spending Ki for AC / speed / etc.

Great! Then my character sheet has now been updated as per your requests, with Ki Mystic still being one of my archetypes.

Thanks!


DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:

Jarquin Review:

1. Stats look a little low. Assuming your level 4 stat bump went into Strength (which makes the most sense), you should still have two points to spend to get to a 20pt buy?

2. For clarity, can you just summarise what each feat / trait / ability offers next to it.

3. For skills, I find it easier to review if you can at least indicate where the ranks have gone. Can just be in a bracket after the modifier, like: Stealth +10 (4 ranks)

4. HP should be a bit lower - it's max for 1st level, then average round up for 2nd to 4th. Should give you 23 HP at 4th level.

5. You have 3 feats - Acrobatic, Dragon Style and Improved Grapple - did you take a Rogue Talent for 'Combat Trick'? - as it is not currently shown on your profile.

Any skill with more than 2 or 3 has a full four ranks (makes managing skill increases much easier).

As to HP, I mixed up this sheet with one I was applying to a different game with, and accidentally gave it max hp for each level. That'll be fixed asap.

As for points 1, 2 and 5, I'll get back to you once I've sorted them out.


Minor Crab-beast

@ Bandogrim - sheet looks great now, you're ready to go.

@ Jarquin / Chris - no problems, we've a couple of days before things get kicked off in character yet.

I'm aiming to get the in character thread kicked off over the weekend.


Male Elf Rogue (Rooftop Runner)/4

Right, I'm pretty sure it's all sorted now.


Werehare Inquisitive 3/ Seeker 3/ Bard 3

I dislike working with large amounts of cash, because then you build for the ideal, and not the kind of aggregation that normally happens. Nonetheless, Cassadar is done, save for a description that'll go up later tonight.


Male Half-Elf Monk 2/Fighter 2

All right, I'm back. I'll put a trait/feat breakdown in my character sheet later today, but I have the time now for the others.

First bit:
1)Unarmed Fighter: IUS(Bonus), Snake Style(Bonus), Power Attack, Skill Focus (Sense Motive)(Half-Elf)
2)Master of Many Styles Monk: Snake Sidewind (Bonus), IUS (Bonus)
3)Master of Many Styles Monk: Snake Fang (Bonus), Dragon Style
4)Unarmed Fighter:... Weapon Focus (Cestus)?

I actually just realized I have an extra feat... I suppose I'll get Weapon Focus or something... May change that later.

Third Question:

My skill breakdown matches the one on the standard character sheet.
Total Modifier = Ability Mod + Ranks + Misc.


Male Human (Kellid) Brawler(fighter):3/Urban Barbarian:2

Like those Ideas for bear style!

Torgus is all ready to go, I ended up dropping dazzling display and Improved sunder for Combat Expertise and Dirty Trick. So I switched his Charisma and Int scores. Then set up his feat section to better understand when he got each one. Just let me know if I missed anything.


Minor Crab-beast

@ Nisk:
1. I'm not hugely in favor of the fact that you end up with Snake Fang (a 9th level feat) 5 levels early through the quirks of the multi-class between Unarmed Fighter and Master of Many Styles (namely three bonus feats that ignore pre-reqs). I know that it works as RAW, but would you be open to swapping the Snake Fang feat for Dragon Ferocity?

I'm mainly concerned about being able to balance some one-on-one duels early on in the piece. I would be happy to offer a means to bypass reqs so you can pick up Snake Fang at Level 6 or so, once alot of the training montage is dealt.

2. If you want to take Weapon Focus - just take it in unarmed strike. I'll rule that for the purposes of this PbP unarmed strike / cestus / brass knuckles are all interchangeable for feats and class abilities.

@ Jarquin:
Looks good

@ Torgus:
Looks good

@ Cassadar:
Looks good

Given that we look to have everyone assembled - I'll aim to kick off the IC thread some time later today :)


Male Half-Elf Monk 2/Fighter 2

No worries on the Snake Fang swap to Dragon Ferocity. And I'll grab Weapon Focus (Unarmed) then.


Minor Crab-beast

It lives!

Appreciate the change Nisk :)


Minor Crab-beast

You guys are doing well so far - just wanted to pop in and say that the antagonistic approach is very much intended and in line with what at least your initial training will be like....

Persist, persist, persist :)


Male Half-Elf Monk 2/Fighter 2

Just to clear up, when I write the first attack AC, it is because Snake Style allows me to replace my AC with a Sense Motive check against one attack as an immediate action. As I have no other use for Swift actions at the moment, I will likely be using that every round. I also factored it with the -2 from charging, though I'm not sure if it would apply, I decided to go with the less advantageous route. Up to you on that one.


Minor Crab-beast

No problems Nisk - I'd say ignore the -2 from charging for now.


Male Human Super Cruel DM 10

OK then, shame it doesn't work for CMD :(


Werehare Inquisitive 3/ Seeker 3/ Bard 3

I'm guessing it's a benefit of the opposition's class to make a follow-up pin in the same round that a grapple was established? Not that I'm trying to find it, just curious.


Nah; there's a Rapid Grapple feat that's either Monk level 9 or BAB +9 with Greater Grapple as a requisite. It's in Ultimate Combat, and allows you to make a grapple check as a swift action (allowing for the three grapple checks in one turn versus Nisk).


Minor Crab-beast

Me'mori - I think you're right and I probably bent the rules a little against you.

The first grapple is always a standard action, Greater Grapple feat allows a second check as a move action and Rapid Grapple feat gets a third check as a swift action.

So Cassadar would only have been grappled when he bore down on you from behind, not pinned. Have rectified in the character post.


Werehare Inquisitive 3/ Seeker 3/ Bard 3

I didn't want to use OOC in the post either, but I wanted to use 1 ki for the dodge bonus to AC, just to turn the encounter into a footrace up the mountain.. I suspect that I'd have lost, but eh.


Minor Crab-beast

For the record, I don't mind questions in OOC in the game thread.

Don't feel too bad Me'mori - you were the only one to make it past him ;)


Male Human Super Cruel DM 10

My posting will be a tad spotty the next couple days. My dad is in town and I'll be hanging with him. I'm sure I'll find a little time to get on the computer, but I won't be as active as usual.


Minor Crab-beast

No problems Ryuko - have fun with the parental unit.

As I've stated earlier, I'll be using a modified version of the Inner Sea Magic rules for magic schools for this PbP. This will reflect both your position within Master Gond's monastery, as well as provide 'currency' that can be spent on specific rewards / benefits.

My proposal is that I track you all as a team for your 'Fame' or 'Standing', while you each will generate individual 'Prestige Points' to spend on rewards. (if anyone has a better name than 'Prestige Points', I would be more than willing to change it)

At the moment, you have a collective 'Standing' score of 1, and each have 1 PP. Your official rank within the monastery (provided that you still choose to continue) will be 'Applicant', and you'll need to jump through a number of hoops yet before you are actually allowed to join up properly.

Once you manage to make it through basic training and get accepted for further study, I'll describe a list of available purchases and the PP cost in this thread. I promise that they will be suitably juicy and rewarding, though if you have any specific Level 5-6 appropriate rewards - let me know.

Any questions or comments or suggestions on that brief?


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4

Definitely sounds fun and interesting. Can't wait to see how the system plays out, not to mention the challenges we'll be facing in order to advance.


Might it be worth using similar rewards to the ones used in Pathfinder Society?


Minor Crab-beast

Chris - that's the general idea, though will be tailoring the rewards to be a fair bit more 'monk-y' and have the potential to bend the rules a little.


Male Human (Kellid) Brawler(fighter):3/Urban Barbarian:2

Sounds like a cool idea to me!


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4

Please forgive me if my posts are slow or sparse for the next day or two. I'm right in the path of Hurricane Irene; though I'm hoping that it won't affect me too badly.


Not a problem and best of luck.


Male Halfling Monk (Ki Mystic, Qinggong, Sensei) 4
Cassadar wrote:
Mostly done, equipment and description remain.

Please forgive my metagaming, but I just realized that Cassadar used a Stunning Fist attempt over in the PbP thread. That confused me, as I thought he was a Flowing Monk. On your sheet, you have Cassadar listed as a Flowing Monk 4 under the classes/levels section, but under his Special Abilities he's got all of the normal Monk class features (Stunning Fist, 2nd Level Bonus Feat, Fast Movement) and none of the Flowing Monk features (Redirection, Unbalancing Counter, Flowing Dodge).

Did you mean for him to be a normal monk, instead of a Flowing Monk?

1 to 50 of 401 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Online Campaigns / Play-by-Post Discussion / Unbinding the Fetters - OOC Thread All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.