Wormy's Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master WormysQueue

Been going back and forth on whether to put this thread up for ages. If I get laughed off the forum I have no-one but myself to blame...

I've been wanting to play in Wrath of the Righteous ever since it came out - in particular I want to play with this character, a fey-born paladin of Shelyn, who focuses on the redemption aspect of the campaign. Unfortunately so many good submissions come in every time a game opens up I've never managed to get into one. So I thought I'd be egotistical and see if I can find 3-4 players and a GM to go on this adventure with me.

So anyone who is interested just say so and hopefully a kindly GM will come along to give us all a game.

I'll go and sit down now...

I would be interested in joining a potential game as a player I have a few ideas for characters bouncing around and I could see myself finally putting one into practice if someone were willing to pick up the GM mantle and run with it.

Hi Iolaire (and Traskus), I'd probably be willing to run this AP for you, as I've already thought trying myself as a GM on these boards for quite some time and this may be just the push I needed, with the following caveats:

1. English isn't my native language. You might have to cope with me making mistakes while writing my posts, so you (and other interested players) need to be aware of this.

2. While I've run and played PbP games for quite some years at a german messageboard, I've never done it here at the Paizo boards so far, so it might take some time to setting everything up correctly and to get used to how it's done around here.

3. Apart from that, I've no experience with running mythic games (also this would be my first stab at this AP), so I would have to do some heavy reading before we could start this. Shouldn't be the biggest problem, but it's also something you need to be aware of.

and last but not least:

4. I'm working shifts, so while I think I can guarantee daily posts, I can't promise regular posting at any given hour of the day. Worst case scenario, this might slow down the game a bit (and we're probably living in different time zones, so this might add to this problem).

If any of this is a dealbreaker for you, just let me know. If not, I guess we have a deal. ^^

Let me jump in here as well. I have an idea for a street thug, big, hairy and scarred who for some reason has a second chance in life and ends up here. Not sure how I'll build him yet... Barbarian...Fighter...Monk, but I'll work on something today.

Hi wormys, welcome! I'm pretty sure we can get a lot more people interested. I, for one, was never able to get past half the first book and would love to join if you have a spot. Count with my help!

I'd be interested in playing through this. Though I will say I'm familiar with the first book of the game.

@WormysQueue: I would be happy to help if there's anything you need help with running this game. Mythic can be a chaotic mess, but if everyone is willing to work with each other out of character first, the game runs very smoothly.

I'm interested but I'm also new to Pathfinder.

I would be happy to play as well. I have a dwarven Synthesist "living ancestor" concept that needs some love.

I'm an American currently living in Germany and would also be willing to help out.

Hi Wormy - thanks for pitching your interest in.

For myself I have no issues either with your not being a native speaker or having used the boards before. I play quite a bit on here so I'm happy to help out with anything that you might need. (As a player I often volunteer for loot tracking etc so I'm always happy to help.)

I'm certainly keen to say we have a deal if you are willing as well.
I can turn this thread into an 'official' campaign recruitment thread and then get the mods to give control over to you or you could start your own, whichever would work best.

I have a few things to run by you for my character but they are all minor minor mechanics points so no urgency.

Looking forward to playing with you!

hello I too would like to play but a second Paladin may be a bit much.

Thanks for the offer! None of those will be dealbreakers for me and I will do everything I can to post multiple times per day but I should be able to at the very least post once a day. I'm thinking a rogue of some sort depending on what your after or a cleric going towards the exalted prestige class.

I can turn this thread into an 'official' campaign recruitment thread and then get the mods to give control over to you or you could start your own, whichever would work best.

I'd appreciate that (think it's easier for all interested not to have to watch out for another thread).

In the meantime I've read through the PbP guides in the general discussion. Lot of good advice in it (some of them I've already learned the hard way elsewhere, but still...). I'll update my profile soon with all relevant information about me and my style as GM.

But just for a short impression:

1. In general, I'm more the storytelling type of GM. Doesn't mean that I'm prone to railroading (quite the contrary, in fact), but to me, role-playing is mostly a type of collaborative storytelling, which I think lends well to PbP games. Also doesn't mean that I'm the storyteller, and you're the listeners. I expect you to tell the story with me.

2. I value the input of players. Be it in the form of background stories, in-game or out-of-game suggestions, if you offer me hints at what you like to see in the game, I try to include it. That also does mean that I don't feel slavishly bound to an AP's plot. Sure, that is, why we have met here, so we'll try to get the AP done, but if it shows that there's something to explore out of the AP's direct scope, as long as you want to, we'll explore it together and return to the AP's plot later. (just as an example, I read Iolaire's background story and already think that it would be a bit unsatisfying not to include it into our story one way or another).

3."Think the rulebook has all the answers? Then let's see that rulebook run a campaign!" Mike Mearls said this and I totally agree (I could also quote Monte Cook or Gary Gygax to the same effect).
That does not mean that I don't value the rules, it especially does not mean that I cheat (I don't and I won't). But it means that I don't invoke rules just for the sake of rules-lawyering and thereby break the flow of the storytelling, when it isn't necessary. So if you want to climb over a wall, I may not necessarily call for a climb check (You're naturally free to still do it). This said, I may use failed skill checks a bit different to what's the sandard in D&D/Pathfinder and instead use them as in "well, you still succeeded, but (insert interesting, possibly nasty side-effect)."

So at the moment I count 8 people interested in playing. As I think I can handle a group of up to six members, there would be already two people missing out on this in the end. I'm not sure what the tradition is at these boards, but I guess that it gets quite frustrating if there are dozens of applicants and only a minority gets chosen for actual play. Can also be quite overwhelming for the GM I assume. So my preference would be to have a maximum of ten applicants at a time. Meaning that another two could chime in, before we (at least temporarily) close the recruitment.

At the moment we have:
Iolaire - her idea, so one slot's already taken
Traskus
scranford
The Chess
rungok
andygal
Crusader Wolf
Sabrina De'Foe

@rungok and The Chess: I don't generally mind if someone already knows an AP or part of. I trust you can separate player and PC knowledge.

@andygal: Being new to Pathfinder is certainly not a problem for me.

@Crusader Wolf: I know that synthesists have kinda bad reputation for being broken. Still, the concept intrigues me, so I really would like to see it and decide on its own merits.

@Sabrina De'Foe: I generally wouldn't mind having two PCs from one class in a group and especially not in this AP. As long as no one tries to overshadow the other player, everything shoud be fine. So I wouldn't base my decision whom to chose only on this fact. It's just that your chances to be chosen might be slightly diminished, as the other paladin is already in. But if your character is awesome enough this would be much more important for me.

I will chime in with an expression of interest. I'm thinking I'll make an arcane caster of some variety, maybe an Arcanist. I've wanted to get in on Wrath of the Righteous, and have missed out on a couple of recruitments so far.

As someone who'a done a few PbPs on the forums, most people are understanding of not getting in, especially if they know in advance not everyone will get in. I started up a Rise of the Runelords game last month that had 30 applicants, and was only taking 6. It's hard to choose sometimes.

Language and time zones aren't an issue for me, either.

Excellent! This pleases me. I can definitely separate in character and out of character information.

I think I would like to make a divine caster for the game. I have played a rogue before, so I'd like to avoid that role.

Gotta get my interest noted so I'm on the list. In other words, definitely interested.

I'm currently considering a sorcerer, but I could be persuaded to play a rogue if nobody is playing one.

I will rephrase my earlier statement and I'll go ahead and offer to play a rogue for the party. I have an idea in my head that I could go with depending on what the specifics are. Of course, I'll remain open to playing any class depending on what the group specifically needs but for now I'll put in for playing a rogue.

If selected though I'd like to go through with you at somepoint and work to create a backstory that not only fits with the setting and story of Wrath of the Righteous but will also align my character with the rest of the party and give you plot points on my character you can bring up if you so desire.

I am interested

I think i might have an idea for a warpriest of Calistria

Actually, after looking it over, I'd really like to try a mesmerist. I can do the divine caster but others are submitting those too, so I'll try making a melee mesmerist/support fighter.

I've updated my profile with the character generation rules and some general rules for the coming campaign. Feel free to make comments and or suggestions to improve them. by the way, is it correct that the list functionality can't be used in the profile?

update on possible participants (I'll add your suggestions so far but I don't consider them set in stone at this point):

already in because it was her idea
Iolaire - playing a paladin

applicants for the other five slots
Traskus - Rogue
scranford - Fighter?Barbarian? Monk?
The Chess - no idea so far
rungok - mesmerist
andygal - sorcerer
Crusader Wolf - synthesist
Sabrina De'Foe - paladin
Phntm888 - arcane caster
Nickadeamous
Raltus
mcridill

So it's eleven instead of ten but that's okay. I'm looking forward to your character ideas. As i said before I still have some reading before me so you don't have to rush it.

Did you inherit a play-by-post?

If you are the GM for a play-by-post campaign but didn't start the thread, please email community@paizo.com.

We need:

A link to your profile page (click on your name at the top where it says "Welcome, your name!"
A link to the gameplay and discussion threads for the campaigns you have inherited.
Just copy and paste these links from the address bar in your browser, please.

As you can see I've turned the thread into a full campaign. Wormy - if you go ahead and send this over to the mods they'll give you all the power :)

I'm really glad to hear that you're keen to add in character bits. One of the reasons I went looking for a GM is because Iolaire is a pretty specific character with a fair bit of background, so I wasn't confident that she'd get into a game unless people were willing to go fluff heavy. Delighted that you are!

Small mechanics tweaks: Can I swap the Infernal starting language for Sylvan? (makes a lot more sense being raised by fey).
Also do you allow the varient ability tables for Aasimar and Tieflings? If so could Iolaire take ability 49 on the tiefling table (healed by positive and negative energy)? I wanted something to represent how, by being raised among the fey, she isn't quite normally human - since I see the Fey as a whole as standing somewhere in between/apart from Good and Evil, this seemed like a nice thematic power.
Finally - the Touched by Divinity Trait allows you to choose a domain and take the first level power. Since anyone who can choose domains can choose inquisitions instead can Iolaire use it to take the first ability from the Redemption Inquisition? If so, would you say that that is the skill bonuses, the automatically merciful weapons or both? For the character I feel like the automatic merciful weapon is most fitting but I would never say no to skill bonuses! :D

Just so that everyone knows how Iolaire was built:
20pts buy
2 traits, including one campaign. Drawbacks allowed for an extra trait.
Any pathfinder book allowed.

Is that ok with you Wormy or would you like changes made?

It looks like a fun AP, demon bashing, I'm interested.

So I went ahead and made the crunch of the characters I have in mind based on those rules in your profile:

Rogue character primary application

Cleric character in case no one else wants to do a primary healer.

I'll be adding the backstory ideas that I have in mind for each of them, will probably message you with them or post them here when I get the chance to do so.

@Iolaire: sent the necessary info over to the mods. So thanks for the info.

as far as background integration is concerned, that is actually something I really like to do, because it makes the players more invested in the game if their characters have actual stakes in it. See also what I wrote in my profile.

Same goes for the character creation rules. You'll see that I already included the way you built your character. :)

Campaign info in my profile

I'll transfer this to the campaign info tab as soon as I have the right to do so.

I'll have to go to work now, so the other questions will have to wait a bit. I think the language swap is fine with me, though.

@That Sean fellow: As I explained above, I want to keep the number of applicants in a range I can handle (mainly for time reasons), and as there already is one more than I originally suggested, I hope you'll understand if I'm not inviting you in the choosing process right now.

@traskus: See above, will take a first look in the evening.

I've got a tentative character mostly made up, need to read the player's guide for the trait and set up my points. Tomorrow, as it is "why are you still awake" o'clock right now.

Background skills? Skill unlocks?

Both from Unchained

I'm working on two concepts - a bloodrager and a brawler. I'll post here when ready and decided. Thanks for the opportunity GM :)

No worries. Next time then ;)

Okay, one question about starting wealth: when you say starting gold according to your class entry, do you mean the average, roll for it, or the maximum?

I have a tentative character sheet with a couple of paragraphs of backstory. I should maybe flesh it out sometime when I'm less tired. I think I've done everything right but..

Half-elf sorcerer

I've used one alternative racial trait (arcane training), I hope that was OK.

Background skills? Skill unlocks?

Both from Unchained

I think that those actually work fine within the frame of Wrath of the Righteous. So if you (meaning all of you, naturally) would want to use those, then go for it.

This said, we might have to work out a way how to handle downtime stuff without slowing down the campaign too much. But generally, I like this idea.

regarding starting wealth: to clarify, I actually meant rolling. If you'd rather take the average value, I'm fine with that.

Still at work, so I'll take a look at the character stuff later on.

Money: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8

Hmmm...slightly more than the average, so that'll work.

Plus, background skills will allow me to round the character out nicely. Next step, creating the character sheet and writing up a backstory!

I would adore to reprise my character I played for a brief WotR campaign - I don't have the stats up anymore (reused alias), but you could check this alias's post history if you want to see what the character was like.

I'd be building a Tiefling Alchemist gunning for the Trickster mythic path.

I'll check in the thread again later, in case a couple of those 11 people drop or something.

So with Background skill Sandt now has +5 Diplomacy and +5 linguistics which gave his Skald as a language

Alright, so here is the work-in-progress of my dwarven Synthesist, C&C welcome! I don't think it's obscenely powerful, no min-maxed stats and when in his fusion form he cannot cast spells with somatic components. High hitpoints, but I'd be happy to do HD1/2+1 for the Eidolon's hp at 1st level if you'd prefer. If you would rather not include a Synthesist I understand, but I figure in the campaign with Mythic tiers its probably not unbalanced.

And here he is! Phntm888's Arcanist, Kendren Nollt. Please, let me know if I've missed anything or if anything needs work. I'd like to put forth the best possible submission I can.

I've slapped background skills on and changed Infernal for Sylvan, which makes way more background sense. Hope you don't mind :)

@Traskus - Iolaire is taking the hospitallier archetype so she'll be a pretty proficient healer after fourth level (especially if they are feats that will boost how well she channels...)

Just a short update. before I go to bed (it's 2:30 a.m. here in Germany, or "why are you still awake" o'clock, as andygal put it :D)

I had some PMs going on, with a fellow GM who nicely offered some advice regarding this AP, and with one of the players (Traskus), whose character suggestions I'd seen first.

I'll take the same approach with every other prospective player: Have a look at the char , and if I have comments, suggestions or questions, I'll do this via PM because if I clutter the thread with this, you might miss on important information. I'll go through your stuff as it came up in this thread and will regularly update where I am.

Generally my approach is: Background first, Crunch second. This has nothing to do with my personal preferences but with the fact that it takes me generally longer to form an opinion about the crunch, so if I start with the background, you get faster feedback. Hope this is ok for everyone (and if you have questions regarding rules stuff, don't hesitate to ask).

Will be back after some hours of sleep :)

Rolling for gold...

2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

Here are the bare bones of Alfred Black... Human rascal and unbreakable fighter. I'm really busy tomorrow, but Wednesday should allow me to finish up the background. I already know it, just got to find time to type it up.

Alfred Black

Basically Alfred was a town drunk and rabble rouser who was in and out of jail since his early teens. He was mean, and a bully, and did a lot of things he's not proud of. Some event (TBD) made him see the light, and he's now trying to redeem himself for all his previous sins. His past still haunts him however, and he forces himself to move forward always.

Hi Wormys! Chess here, with my submission. Allyo is a sorcerer :) I will ping you by PM. Thanks for running the game and the opportunity of submitting my character.

been messing around with equipment, file should be up to date.

A question for those of you who would know this: How long does it usually takes the Paizo guys and gals to react to inheritance requests?

Apart from that, I read and commented on the background for Iolaire, Sabrina De'Foe as well as the characters of Traskus and andygal. Going through the thread, my To DO-List looks something like this:

raltus
Uldir Forgeheart (Crusader Wolf)
Kendren Nollt (Phntm288
rungok
Alfred Black (scranford)
Allyo Shan (The Chess)
mcridill ?
Nickadeamous?

I'll continue after work and hope that i'll have finished my first pass tomorrow at around the same time, so that everyone has gotten some feedback until then.

I have two questions I'd like your feedback about. First one revolves araound the character's campaign trait. If every player can choose freely, chances are high that at least two players will end up with the same trait. Now I don't wanna be restrictive about that and force anyone to change his or her background, but I also don't wanna choose the participants based on their choice of traits alone.

now you're naturally free to follow the Player's Guide advice on this topic, if YOU want to do so. But I'd rather change some events in the AP, so that everyone can keep his background without missing out on roleplaying possibilities. So would everybody be on board with this, or is the Player Guide's idea of handling things very important for anyone?

Second question revolves around the integration of 3rd party material. I'm a big fan of the OGL and generally like using 3PP material. So I'd probably add some things to the AP or replace things in the AP with 3PP material on a case by case basis. If you all agree, that is, Don't wanna force this on you, if you don't like it at all. So I'd like to hear your opinion about that.

I'm working on putting together a dwarf earth kineticist and will hopefully have some thing posted tonight or tomorrow.

I'm fine with which ever direction it goes. I've changed up numerous campaigns and no ones ever complained. I think it helps it to feel unique to the group at hand, especially when players are somewhat familiar with the adventure. I'm not bothered by most 3rd party stuff but will admit that I think the Path of War stuff is overpowered.

My understanding of the Wrath campaign traits is that the one you choose has an effect on the mythic path you later take - not that it locks you into one, but that it provides a bonus for choosing the related path. Having never played or read the AP, I don't know what form that takes, whether an ability or a numerical bonus or something else, and I'm not sure how that bonus is balanced into future encounters.

It would probably depend on the nature of the changes. One of the reasons I want to play Wrath is because I've heard it has a fantastic story, so as long as the changes don't take away from that, I'd probably be okay with them. If the changes you make enhance the story, so much the better :).

I've also already worked the Riftwarden Orphan trait's fluff into my character's backstory, so if any of that is changing, I'd like to know so I can rework it.

As for the second question, I don't have a problem with you swapping in 3pp material. I don't usually work with it, but for the most part I don't have a problem with it. I have heard that a lot of the stuff from Path of War overshadows most Paizo martial classes, so if we have a Fighter or Ranger and you throw some of that in, they may not appreciate it so much.

I'm not a fan of Dreamscarred Press's psionic rules, but that's because d20pfsrd.com has them arranged in a non-intuitive fashion (referencing terms before defining them), and I don't care enough for the psionics to purchase a PDF of the rules, especially with the release of the Occult Classes.

And maybe a little D&D 3.5 psionic trauma...

I'm not at all familiar with 3pp material, I am still a fairly new convert over to Pathfinder from 3.5, but I'm willing to read up on whatever I need to.

I agree with Phntm88 about a good story, if you want to make some changes go for it, I play this game for good interactive storytelling. It's your game now, just keep us posted.