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This is a thread for out of character discussion.
Kendrosthenes and stjohnmccloskey, feel free to discuss set up prep here for the adventure, and when you all are ready I will make a "play" thread for you.
After you make your characters, please create an alias for each in your profiles. This will be what you use when you post what you are doing in the PbP.
Having the separate aliases will make it easier to keep track of who is doing what, and if you post your character under that profile, it will allow me to check your sheets when I am doing rolls you may or may not know about.
For example
This is a PbP I am playing in another thread
Don't worry about too much about format, as long as I can find it I'll be happy. Feel free to ask questions and when your characters are ready I will create a "play" thread and we will begin.
Well I suppose I'll whip up a rogue and a fighter seeing as we have a ranger and a sorcerer...then again a little more divine wouldn't hurt...
maybe a cleric and a rogue...combat focused cleric...yeah, that could work :)
I have exams at the moment but i'll need study breaks. I'll work on 'em then and when they're done i'll put up aliases.
Advice for a pbp newb?
As far as crunch on the aliases...what's the best way to format it? I tend to always make a new spreadsheet for each character because i find it's the easiest way to organize everything. Should I re-format the information into a text-stat block, or put a link to the spreadsheet? (or if you use dropbox i can just share the folder with you and you can have the exact same copy as me at your disposal)
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Don't worry to much about format, as long as I can access the info I'm sure it will be fine.
Unlike table top, there will be plenty of time to dig out what I need.
You and Kendrosthenes figure out how you want to work it out, I'll answer any logisitical stuff, and when you are ready I'll post the intro and first map and we'll go from there.
Well you get 6 skill ranks at first level, plus your intelligence modifier if you have one. Favored Enemy, Track, and Wild Empathy are the class abilities you pick up at first level. Don't forget about your race though. Most races offer other abilities/qualities (I tend to use ability even when it's passive, i dunno if that's wrong)I think you said you were human?
Humans get an extra feat at first level, and an extra skill rank at each level. That means you have 7 skill ranks to distribute, plus your intelligence modifier.
As for feats you get one for being a first level character, and one for being a human. two :) humans are a great way to start off a game.
We can certainly help with feat choice a bit later once you have an idea of what style you want to go with for your ranger.
As for skills, essentially you pick 7 (+ INT mod) skills and put one rank into each of them. If that skill is on your 'class skill list' (check the entry in the rulebook just above all the stuff about the class features) then that's a great one to pick, because IF you put at least one rank into that skill, you get an extra +3! So you write the 1 in the ranks column, then a 3 in the misc. column, and in the ability column you put the relavent modifier (cha for diplomacy, dex for acrobatics, str for swim, etc.) and then add them up to get your bonus on that skill! :)
God i forgot what skill monkeys rangers were! (just means they have a lot of skill points to distribute)
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What stjohn said.
Also, you may want to use this auto calculating character sheet.
You will still have to type the numbers into your alias, but this will automatically move your bonuses for you and auto calculate your skills, AC and some other things.
Very helpful, in my experience.
Automated character sheets are nice...but I always prefer to build my own spreadsheet. It's not that I don't trust the others, it's just that I never know exactly how far they've gone with automation so i have to double check everything. it's nice to know what my sheet does, and then also it helps me to get a hold of the rules...and it makes it more flexible. So i can have a box to tick when i'm raging or whatever and all of my stats will change, or one for power attack, or one for a particular spell or potion i use a lot. I like it :)
uh. sorry. been studying and such. happy to help make characters, and i can whip my own up quick enough, i'm just a little busy until tomorrow evening. if you guys are ready and want to play I'll speed up the process :)
If you guys want more players to make it a 3-4 player party and save some headache as far as upkeep on multiple characters, I'd be down to play. I don't mind filling any roles needed, but I would gravitate more toward playing a ninja or magus if possible.
Hmmm never mind =P
Obviously I'm not opposed, but equally obviously it's really up to kenrosthenes!
Well, the maximum skill ranks you can have at any level IS your level, so you actually have to pick three more =) make sure to get Handle Animal. I goddamn love that skill :)
Using Treantmonk's guide is a great idea. Treantmonk is an amazing analyzer of the game, and he works on strategies to optimize characters without breaking the game, and he remembers that flavor and roleplaying matter too =)
your feat choices are fine, although quickly looking over the switch hitter, quickdraw MIGHT serve you better. he says 'level three at the latest.' well...your only other option is level one! :P cleave is still a great choice though!
Once you grab breastplate, a greatsword, and a bow to match your high strength bonus, you'll find that you'll actually be out of money right quick...then again you did roll fantastically!
(ps: how does that dice thing work? does it roll for you?)
Something to consider is that groups will often buy a wand of cure light wounds. Wands can be used by anyone with the spell on their list, so your ranger would be able to use it. When i build a cleric he'll probably do most of the healing (although he's not going to be a dedicated healer because that's dumb :P) Wands are handy because they have a lot of uses and are relatively cheap per use (you dont have to use up spells for the day) so if you have some cash left over that's not a bad thing!
other equiptment...backpack, for sure. maybe a waterskin/bedroll for flavor purposes? I never knew a dm to penalize someone who DIDNT carry them but most people do just because it makes sense. just have a look at the big ole table and see what you want. one rule i found to be true is that you can NEVER have enough rope haha. Both of my characters will be carrying 50 feet i think. =) also: don't stress it. youve got a pretty good handle on what you want and what's feasible already! :D
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As to equipment, I would really recommend spending some time on the player guide for the AP. It will give you a good sense of the flavor and about why you are there. I don't want to give anything away by making suggestions one way or another. I'm actually really glad StJohn has come in to help in that regard, since as a GM it would be hard not to "cheat" with advice like that.
I am going to post the first "gameplay" tonight to start in game role playing, introducing your characters to each other and such, along with the first map (which will be an experiment...)
Once we have everyones stats we'll being the "adventure" part. Don't worry to much, you are first level, characters tend to evolve as the game plays out.
No rush on making characters, the opening scene is a festival so your character can walk into the game as they are ready. Nothing that requires dice will happen until we are all ready. This is a long AP, if you all are enjoying yourselves we'll be running this for awhile, so take your time.
hmmm. it looks good. you'll definitely want to be swapping out some of that equiptment later. The greataxe is fine i suppose. A greatsword isn't necessarily that much better, maybe save until you can get yourself a nice falchion.
I dunno what your dex is, but it could be that you'd be better off with armorother than chainmail. If your dex modifier is higher than two, chainmail will restrict it down to two (on page 151, the column that says 'max dex bonus')
in fact, looking at it now, i would definitely suggest scale male or maybe even hide armor which should free up some serious coin. and weight too, until you can afford breastplate.
Ant the spare coin could get you that falchion assuming that's the way you want to go :)
That shortbow though...that needs to go asap (assuming you plan to use it often). I suppose it might be worthwhile to save until you can get one that's fitted to your strength modifier (it'll cost 100+100*your strength modifier)
You can drop the trail rations, even just for weight's sake, because you have the survival skill, you should be able to feed yourself no problem. Chalk is good, rope is good, grappling hook is good. I'm not crazy about lamps, but that's up to you. I wouldnt bother with a lamp AND a torch though, and if you carry a lamp you have to carry oil too.
Exams are done =D time to make my characters now!
OK so let me give this a go
I can't imagine that there's a 'drop the lowest' option
Ability Scores
=11
=11
=11
=12
=12
=7
=13
=12
=15
=8
=13
=11
I'm thinking I'll be making a battle oriented cleric (I've never done that before so here's hoping) and a rogue...maybe with a ranged focus because the cleric and the ranger will both focus on melee i think...?
EDIT: wow...I'm thinking I should have done point buy D= this is awful haha
I know you offered 20 point buy, and I decided to roll instead, but can i take you up on 15 point buy? or even 10 point buy would be better on the top one haha. or a re-roll? (I'm a fan of the heroic rolls but i'd be really glad for anything of course. I mean I can make due, but id rather not have to)
well, let's give it another go
new scores
=14
=10
=11
=13
=16
=10
=14
=10
=13
=17
=12
=13
old scores
4d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 3, 3) = 12=11
4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 2, 5) = 13=11
4d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 2, 4) = 12=11
4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 1, 4) = 13=12
4d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 4, 2) = 14=12
4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 1, 1) = 8=7
4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 2, 1) = 14=13
4d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 4, 4) = 13=12
4d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 4, 5) = 18=15
4d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 2) = 11=8
4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 2, 5) = 15=13
4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 2, 2) = 13=11
Kendrosthenes, get the falchion. I can buff the crap outta you with my cleric and get you critting right and left!
I'd propose that you'll not need combat casting. hopefully we'll have enough people in the front to deal with whatever's trying to get us and you won't look like an easy target.
Improved initiative is great. I'd actually say that sleep would be a better choice than mage armor...hmmm I think you only know two first level spells if i'm not mistaken. Color spray is a totally brokenly amazing spell. Protection is really good too. mage armor is ok. Sleep stops working once we get out of the first few levels, but in the first few levels it's the best bloody spell ever haha.
I'm also going to pick up a wizard as our fourth just to get a utility caster, because it's REALLY hard to play utility as a sorcerer. I'll do a little bit of battlefield control and buffing, but I'm thinking that his role in combat may be minimal? I dunno. god now im thinking about changing my mind again haha :P
sewing needle & soap for flavor reasons?
oh hey! you don't have a melee weapon! D:
if you can't afford anything then grab a club and a sling haha they're free and actually not awful all things considered!
even if you dont plan on using them, its always worth having just in case. if you really like the idea of not holding a weapon when you're casting, then ok :) but grab a dagger and don't use it :p
Yeah, I'm with ciretose, fluff is what makes the game fun! A buddy of mine once grabbed a pitcher at one point...and you know what? we made jokes about it CONSTANTLY...and occasionally it actually came in handy!
but whenever we stopped he always refilled his pitcher or whatever. It was fun! maybe yourcharacter has a thing with being well dressed (repairing your clothes after every injury) and washed, and that's FUN :)
good stuff haha This looks like it'll be a great game
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oh hey! you don't have a melee weapon! D:
if you can't afford anything then grab a club and a sling haha they're free and actually not awful all things considered!
even if you dont plan on using them, its always worth having just in case. if you really like the idea of not holding a weapon when you're casting, then ok :) but grab a dagger and don't use it :p
You do only get 2 first level spells, not three. The charisma bonus applies to how many times you can cast spells per day.
The trade off between wizard and sorcerer comes in how often you can use a spell. A wizard memorizing a spell takes a slot. If that spell isn't useful that day, tough. That slot is wasted. Additionally a wizard with color spray will have to memorize it multiple times a day to be able to use it more than once a day.
A sorcerer knows fewer spells and learns them later, but they can use any spell they know as long as they have casting slots available. This is why it is easier for new players, as you don't need to figure out as many spells and you don't have to worry as much about "saving" a specific spell for a specific situation.
When you pick spells, make sure it is something you could see yourself using for a long time. I personally wouldn't take protection from evil at this point, as the cleric already has it, but that is me personally.
Ask yourself "What is my character going to do often." and look for spells that will help you do that. For example, color spray is great, so long as the enemy isn't in melee with a friend as it effects friends as well as enemies.
Right now that is your only offensive option, period. That could be a problem. You can get a bow, you can get acid splash, etc...there are a number of ways to go. But you need to think about what you want your character to be doing if a fight breaks out.
Also, why did you select the arcane bloodline? Not a criticism, I'm just trying to understand your character concept.
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Treantmonk is great, but his guide is more about long term character planning and optimization rather than first level character making. It is also a general guide, rather than an instruction manual. He pretty much says as much.
In my experience, you will want to adjust to the needs of your party and the AP. If you want to play a fey bloodline gnome, great. If you want to play something else, also great. You really need to like playing what you are playing, because if you do you will figure out ways to make it work much more easily than playing something you aren't interested in playing.
Color spray is a good spell, so are magic missile and sleep. You'll get more spells as you level, but the question to ask at each level is "What am I planning on doing at this level"
I would say keep color spray and take either sleep or magic missile, but also take a look at all the 1st level spells on the SRD and see if there is one you could see yourself using a lot.
That really is the most important part of spell selection, having spells you plan on using.
Think about who your character is, then make choices. Your ranger, for example. Is he the kind of person who has an axe or a sword? Are you going to try to be ranged more or melee more? If you are going to boost Dex you'll likely be wearing lighter armor so you can use the dex bonus and not take movement penalties. But if you are going to boost strength you may want that extra AC.
Make sense?
Yeah Kendros I'm sorry if i gave off the wrong vibe, I actually LOVE roleplaying, and it's really not just about the numbers. I have never tried a battle cleric before, nor fighting with reach! I'm trying them because i want to. My suggestions are not the end all be all, just minor things for in-game reasons, but if you want to pass on my advice for flavor/personal reasons then that's absolutely fine
for example, magic missile isn't bad, and it will give you an actual attack. Sleep is brilliant at first level. Every encounter you use it in we'll likely win.
But hey! we're PCs! we're gonna win anyway :P
so if you want to sling spells and bring down some arcane punishment then grab magic missile, if you'd rather control the battlefield and lock it down so your ranger can go lop off heads, then choose sleep. Either way is totally fine, and the flavor is more important to the fun-ness of the game.
The same thing goes for the ranger. I suggested the falcion for in game reasons (my buffs will work better with a larger crit range) but if you don't think that your ranger would use such an exotic (in terms of flavor, not mechanics) weapon, then go with what you feel like! :)
Sorry if my advice came across strongly as "you need to do this or you'll be an awful D&D/PF player!" haha didnt mean to honest!
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I just looked at that sorcerer guide...
It's not bad, but it isn't nearly as good as a Treantmonk guide.
Sorcerers and Wizards value spells very differently, as you will see since one of the other players is a wizard.
A wizard can learn any spell and not worry about only having so many "spells" known. But when he memorizes each day, he has to memorize spells multiple times (or make scrolls) in order to use a spell more than once.
So magic missile, color spray, sleep, a wizard memorizes all three and can only cast each once a day. But a wizard can also memorize different spells if they know what they will be facing to be sure the have the right spell (or they try...sometimes it doesn't work out so well...)
A sorcerer with the same spells doesn't worry when they use it, because they can use it again and again. But they can't swap out to have "The" perfect spell. So they need to take spells that work a lot of the time in a lot of situations.
There is a lot of debate as to which is "better" but in my experience Wizards are either great or useless in a given situations, while sorcerers tend to always have something to contribute.
Trust me, as you play you will get a feel for how you like to play a character and it will develop. At first level you have a lot of room for your character to grow.
Mine's all set :) sorry it has been for a while but I forgot to put it up.
Kendros, i have never heard anyone say good heavens before! hahaha
This should be great though. I'm thinking I'll like play by post. :)
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Mine's all set :) sorry it has been for a while but I forgot to put it up.
Kendros, i have never heard anyone say good heavens before! hahaha
This should be great though. I'm thinking I'll like play by post. :)
Looks good.
Kendros, let me know if you need help plugging in the numbers. I think the basics are all ready.
My guys are all set on the map :)
As I said, the excel sheets are linked to the web, so when you click that link on the profile page it'll be my most up to date version.
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Belor's and Trin's information is updated based on their character sheets. The only thing I couldn't calculate is initiative. The character sheets have a lot of blank boxes, but I'm hoping they'll get filled in later (assuming they do).
If anything is incorrect, do let me know. (Ciretose: At some point, I'd like to review the completed sheets with you to make sure I understand why the sheet calculated what it did.) I will not cheat so any errors are purely the result of me not understanding the rules or overlooking something.
I updated the map. (I like it!)
Initiative is your dex modifier plus any special modifiers you may get from your class or feats. In your case on both I believe it is just your dex.
I will look at the rest tonight when I get home from work and if everything is good we'll start then.
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Off the top (I'll look at more later)
You didn't include your AC bonus from armor.
On the sheet I sent where the armor slot is, if you put the AC bonus and the Armor check penalty in it will calculate it for you. So for you, with scale mail your normal AC should be 18 (3 dex, 5 armor) but you will take a -4 armor check penalty.
In addition on the sheet there are check boxes next to skills for you to check off your class skills. If you do, it will add the +3 bonus for class skills. It also should be adding in the bonuses from ability scores and I don't see those either.
Speaking of armor, if you are wearing scale mail, your movement is reduced to 20.
Also I was wrong, Trin has improved Init meaning her initiative is her dex plus the bonus from improved initiative.
stjohn if you get a chance take a look as well, I'm at work so I can only skim right now.
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Off the top (I'll look at more later)
You didn't include your AC bonus from armor.
On the sheet I sent where the armor slot is, if you put the AC bonus and the Armor check penalty in it will calculate it for you. So for you, with scale mail your normal AC should be 18 (3 dex, 5 armor) but you will take a -4 armor check penalty.
In addition on the sheet there are check boxes next to skills for you to check off your class skills. If you do, it will add the +3 bonus for class skills. It also should be adding in the bonuses from ability scores and I don't see those either.
Speaking of armor, if you are wearing scale mail, your movement is reduced to 20.
Also I was wrong, Trin has improved Init meaning her initiative is her dex plus the bonus from improved initiative.
stjohn if you get a chance take a look as well, I'm at work so I can only skim right now.
Looking at it more thoroughly, you also did not add your class level to the section on the top right labeled "class recorder"
You want to put the BaB, Skill and Saves here as it will auto calculate for you.
If you want to post your form somewhere I can look at it I will do corrections and work from that form.
If you do that I'll certainly look them over too! I tried with the stat blocks but couldnt see anything ciretose missed. I find it hard to read formatted like that I'm afraid. Far too used to pen and paper character sheets :)
Well, the skill ranks seem to be pretty close to right at first bluff although I suppose i'm a bit surprised stealth isn't higher. Then again you have that armor on. HD stands for hit dice. For player characters it's basically just your level :)
For BAB and the saves you just take them strait from the chart in the core rulebook I believe! I actually can't get the pdf to work for some reason so i'm not 100% sure how things play out on it, but I would assume that's what you do.