Last night, a bright glow was seen in all of the Cathedral’s windows simultaneously. The last time that happened in recorded memory was just before when Iomedae stepped out of the Cathedral and into godhood. So in the early morning light, a crowd begins to build around the bottomless chasm, waiting to see what would happen. Waiting to see history made yet again as, maybe, a new god arose.
It wasn’t any big secret that Hazim Masoumi had entered the Cathedral to take the test, although after two weeks, most folks had simply given up on him. Now, perhaps, the champion of Rahadoum and Iomedae would emerge victorious. Hundreds were already gathering to worship him.
There are many possible reasons why the PCs might be there. They might be initiate clerics of other faiths, sent by their superiors to witness and report the birth of a new god. They might be on the City Watch, tasked with maintaining order and safety. They might be pickpockets and thieves there to prey on a distracted multitude. They might be sages from near or far, drawn by rumours of the ascension. Or they might be random citizens, satisfying their idle curiosity.
Whatever their reason, fate has drawn them close to each other, and to stand nearby to the oldest human any of them has ever seen. Sitting at his arthritic ease in a lowered sedan chair with the Eye of Aroden prominently displayed on its sides, he seems to be almost asleep as he waits patiently in the early dawn hours. Whispers in the crowd around him speak of Albar Tolion, the last human cleric of Aroden, the last living human to ever receive and cast a spell granted by the Dead God, with an equal mix of admiration and ridicule.
As the sun crests over the buildings to the east and the first ray of sunlight strikes the main doors of the Cathedral, the doors open, and a man walks out. He staggers, as if in a daze; his clothes are torn, his face smudged and smeared with blood, his linen head wrap askew and stained with red. The crowd is silent as the man circles the Cathedral to a point opposite the PCs, at the foot of the broken bridge of Aroden; they gasp as the man walks onto the remains of the bridge, and then out into the void. He stops a moment, as if unsure himself, but with each step he takes, stone appears beneath his feet. The man crosses the chasm and steps off the restored bridge onto the outer rim; the crowd backs away in fear and awe, as he raises his arms above his head and proclaims in a loud voice that booms across all of Absalom, “I am Masoumi!”
In that moment, as the sound of that voice reverberates across the crowd, nobody dares stir, until one small, elderly voice nearby cries out, “My god! I can feel you! My lord, Aroden!” and Tolion, who has not cast a divine spell in one hundred and five years, raises his hands and light blossoms in front of him. The light lasts a second before a stunned crowd and a stunned Masoumi, before it falters and fades, and Tolion cries out in anguish, clutching his chest.
A voice from far off proclaims, “Masoumi brings with him the restoration of the New Age!” and the mobs resurge around the new god, already forgetting the old. But Albar Tolion, his faced mixed with equal portions of age, grief, and hope, reaches out his hands towards you, with one final request on his lips.
Garim:
For the first time in a week, Garim feels no sense of the malevolent entity that has haunted his every minute. Unfortunately, he has no clue what has caused this suppression, only that, for at least the moment, he is currently free. Something about the old man's face is compelling to him...
Laya:
As usual, when out in a crowd, Laya's view of things is obstructed. The tall people just always seem to get in the way, and even the nicest of them never really clue in just how boorishly they hog the space around them.
For once, however, it seems to work in her favour. With the mob's attentions once more on the newly-risen god at the chasm edge, she can see an easy path among (and between) the forest of legs towards the man slumped partially out of his sedan chair, dangerously close to falling to the cobbles. It's almost as if fate has made a way for her...
Ofelio:
While Lanaux's eyes remain glued to Masoumi, Ofelio's gaze falls on the old man, slumped over in his sedan chair, dangerously close to falling to the cobbles. The old priest reaches out blindly, and his lips move in whispered speech...
Zuran:
Zuran stands aloof of the mob, though still amongst it, watching the new god. Masoumi represents everything strong and noble (such as there is) in the human race. Even though the man-god is clearly a little freaked out by the changes in himself, his every step brings more imperious confidence. By the end of his walk across the ruined Bridge of Aroden (ruined no longer), he is the clear master of all in the square.
But while Masoumi radiates imperious strength, the frail old man near his feet radiates a different kind of strength. While Zuran can't put his finger on it, it has its own attractions...
Now that we are four (+ me), I've set up a discussion group (obviosuly), for all the reasons people have discussion groups with PBP games.
Please feel free to get to know each other and get a feel for each others' playstyles, and I don't mind if you would like to collude on character creation. Fate and destiny have decreed that your four characters are the ones to face this threat and save the world...it probably would make sense that the fates would choose a party that complements itself well.
Here are character creation guidelines:
20 point buy
2 traits (standard trait rules) or 1 skill-based feat (either Skill Focus, or ones of the feats that gives +2 bonuses to two skills like Alertness or Acrobatic, but not Cosmopolitan)
I'm leaning strongly to good-aligned only, but I could be swayed by a good-ish LN or TN. I want there to be moral choices made at times, and I want them to hurt!!!!
Standard-ish races
Western flavour only (and no guns, so not that western)
In other words, no ninjas, samurai, Tian Xia immigrants, or gunslingers. Most of this nastiness is going down in the Inner Sea region, and it would help immersion if the characters all had something to lose if things go south.
Fun class combinations are okay, but please don't try to break the game with the most uber-powerful setup you can.
Yes to hero points.
And here's the biggie...I've been playing in a game that uses this approach and so far I'm liking it. Since it makes magic items truly special and unique, and part of the this game is a relic hunt for ancient artefacts and items, I really want that flavour.
I am eliminating some of the more basic magic items. (Weapons, armor, shield, cloaks of resistance, stat boosting items). Instead you will get bonuses every level to compensate for not getting these items. This will require a spot on your character sheet keeping a log of what you chose and when. The bonuses are from training and experience and not magical.
Every level you can choose from one of the following five categories (Melee, Ranged, Armor, Shield, Saves). You will get a +1 bonus to that category everytime it is chosen. You can choose any one of the five once every block of 4 levels (1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20). So you cannot choose +1 to saves at 3rd and 4th level, but can choose them 4th and 5th level.) And yes this starts at 1st level
Every even level your character will receive an extra +1 to a stat over the normal rules. That means at 2nd you get to raise a stat +1, 4th a +2, 6th a +1, 8th a +2, etc) You cannot choose to raise the same stat twice in a row.
Weapons The bonus is an enchantment bonus but does not make your weapon magical. For that you need to find an item with a magical power on it (like flaming or keen) or cast a spell like magic weapon. It makes having these weapons useful for overcoming DR and having less chance to break. Masterwork weapons still give a +1 to hit if you haven’t chosen the weapon bonus and also has 1 additional point of hardness. (The extra point of hardness should be added to magic items).
Armour/Shields The bonus is an enchantment bonus but does not make your armour/shield magical. For that you need to find an item with a magical power on it (like fortification or slick) or cast a spell like magic vestment. Finding magical armour makes the armor harder to destroy. Masterwork armor reduces armour check penalty by 1 (This includes magical armor). You can put points in armour, even if you don't wear armour, but you can't put points in shields unless you use something that gives you an actual shield bonus (like a shield or klarr, but not the shield spell.
Saves The bonus is a resistance bonus.
Ability Boost All boosts to a skill are considered enhancement bonuses and are from experience and training. For this game, enhancement bonuses stack up to a total of +6 maximum. So you could have boosted your strength up +2 and cast bull's strength for another +4 for a total of +6. But if you boost your strength up another point for +3, bull strength still only boosts to +6. Normal means of getting inherent bonuses will still work.
When you do encounter actually magical weapons or armour, the price of the weapon or armour for sale will be figured out as normal for the item like it had a +1 bonus on it. A Sword of Flaming will be priced as a +2 weapon
Monstrous foes will not be using these rules, but any NPCs with character classes will be.
That about covers it for now. Feel free to bombard me with any other questions you may have.
Given that Flurry of Maneuvers in the Maneuver Master archetype replaces Flurry of Blows, can a Maneuver Master take Two-Weapon Fighting normally to get two attacks, and still be able to make his free extra maneuver as per Flurry of Blows, possibly getting three trip attacks or disarms attempts in one round?
Title says it all. When my Maneuver Master monk picks up Greater Bullrush to go with Improved Ki Throw, she'd love to be able to trip an opponent, then play shuffleboard with it past all her martial allies, giving them AoOs against a prone target. Nothing in the prone condition gives immunity to bullrushing, but I'm having trouble with the visual. In my mind, bullrushing is knocking a person off balance so they back up a few (or more) steps, not the above-mentioned shuffleboard metaphor. Maybe 1d4 points of dungeon-burn damage?
For that matter, being prone inflicts a -4 penalty to AC versus melee attacks. A lot of penalties to AC also apply to CMD.
Your mastery of the shield allows you to fight with it without hindrance.
Prerequisites: Improved Shield Bash, Shield Proficiency, Shield Slam, Two-Weapon Fighting, base attack bonus +11.
Benefit: You do not suffer any penalties on attack rolls made with a shield while you are wielding another weapon. Add your shield's enhancement bonus to attacks and damage rolls made with the shield as if it was a weapon enhancement bonus.
(emphasis mine)
So the bashing enchantment is an armour enchantment while merciful is a weapon enchantment. Normally, shields can be enchanted separately as both weapon and armour, so I could have a shield enchanted as a +1 merciful weapon, and a +1 bashing shield, which would allow me to use it as a once enchanted weapon that did the damage of a shield two size categories larger and add the +1d6 of damage from merciful (all non-lethal). I get all that.
But then enter the above feat, that lets me use my shield's defensive enchantment as offense. Great way to save money at the upper levels if I want +5 for both offense and defense, but now what do I have to do if I still want merciful and bashing? Can I pretend that merciful is an armour enchantment, giving me a +5 merciful bashing ghost touch shield for 100,000 gp (equivalent +10 shield)? That seems like cheating since weapon enchantments are more costly than armour ones. Do I have to get a +5 bashing ghost touch shield (equivalent +9 shield) and a +1 merciful weapon enchantment (equivalent +2 weapon)? Semi-related question: if I get ghost touch (the armour enchantment) on my shield, does shield master let me bash incorporeal things with it as well? What about pre-Shield Master feat?
Obviously, the same question could apply to flaming, shocking, or any of the other weapon enchantments that aren't normally shield enchantments. If I put the dancing ability (armour) on it, can it make shield bashes for me like a dancing weapon makes attacks for me (pre or post Shield Master feat)?
So my villain, under the effects of an invisibility spell, was forced due to irrelevant circumstances to attempt an overrun against one of the PCs. Obviously, the invisibility was ended by the overrun attempt, but then the question came up whether the PC should get an AoO against the villain.
Not being able to come up with a rule showing why he wouldn't, I allowed the attack, but was wondering if it had been stated anywhere if the invisibility would prevent an attack of opportunity. I know full concealment negates attacks of opportunity, but at what point does the concealment end in this situation - before or after the attack of opportunity would be provoked?
It may have been on a lamp post, the door of a public outhouse, a tavern's bulletin board, or a passing rumour in a far off land. The Magnimar City Watch is creating a new investigative unit, dedicated to those crimes and mysteries beyond the scope of the standard City Watchman. Adventurers on retainer by the City Watch and the Lord-Mayor. Guaranteed income of 5 gold coins a week plus living expenses! Interviews begin at 9 am sharp on Oathday, the 2nd of Rova, 4710 AR at the Pediment Building in Magnimar. See Captain Ilar Percival.
So bright and early on that morning, you arrive. The Pediment Building has all the appearances of being invaded given the amount of armour and steel shown.
Captain Percival is an older gentleman, his uniform is crisp and clean, with the bright links of his chain shirt peeking out from underneath. His office is sparse and plain, a soldier's office, with simple if comfortable furniture. He quickly sizes each of you up in turn with his steely blue eyes peering from beneath bushy grey eyebrows. He asks you about your pasts, your abilities, what you think you would add to the team. Once you've talked about yourselves for awhile, he thanks you for coming, takes down your contact information, and brings in the next candidate. You head back to wherever you are staying with promises that you'll be contacted, if accepted, tomorrow morning at 7.
You wait out the evening and bright and early, as promised and hoped for, a City Watchman shows up at your residence with an invitation back to the Pediment building. You got the job!
45 minutes later, you find yourselves sitting in a small waiting area with five other individuals, the other successful applicants. An officer tells you that Captain Percival has been delayed, and he'll be with you shortly.
Feel free to get things started. Please try to only post with your character's alias. A discussion thread has also been created: post in whatever character you want there, though it's often easier to know who is talking if you use your character's alias, as we tend to start identifying each other by that profile.
It may have been on a lamp post, the door of a public outhouse, a tavern's bulletin board, or a passing rumour in a far off land. The Magnimar City Watch is creating a new investigative unit, dedicated to those crimes and mysteries beyond the scope of the standard City Watchman. Adventurers on retainer by the City Watch and the Lord-Mayor. Guaranteed income of 5 gold coins a week plus living expenses! Interviews begin at 9 am sharp on Oathday, the 2nd of Rova, 4710 AR at the Pediment Building in Magnimar. See Captain Ilar Percival.
So bright and early on that morning, you arrive. The Pediment Building has all the appearances of being invaded given the amount of armour and steel shown.
Captain Percival is an older gentleman, his uniform is crisp and clean, with the bright links of his chain shirt peeking out from underneath. His office is sparse and plain, a soldier's office, with simple if comfortable furniture. He quickly sizes each of you up in turn with his steely blue eyes peering from beneath bushy grey eyebrows. He asks you about your pasts, your abilities, what you think you would add to the team. Once you've talked about yourselves for awhile, he thanks you for coming, takes down your contact information, and brings in the next candidate. You head back to wherever you are staying with promises that you'll be contacted, if accepted, tomorrow morning at 7.
You wait out the evening and bright and early, as promised and hoped for, a City Watchman shows up at your residence with an invitation back to the Pediment building. You got the job!
45 minutes later, you find yourselves sitting in a small waiting area with five other individuals, the other successful applicants. An officer tells you that Captain Percival has been delayed, and he'll be with you shortly.
Feel free to get things started. Please try to only post with your character's alias. A discussion thread has also been created: post in whatever character you want there, though it's often easier to know who is talking if you use your character's alias, as we tend to start identifying each other by that profile.
Given how hard it can be for people new to the PBP scene to find and get into a game on these boards, this game is for you. I'm interested in folks that either haven't tried a PBP game yet, or only managed to get into one that didn't last very long. I have another version of this game on these boards (no peeking!) that's at 1700+ posts and still going strong.
Please post character concepts here, with a fair amount if not complete crunch. Captain Percival is looking to put together a well-rounded and complete team, with all the bases covered. Once you've submitted a character, the selection process OOC will follow pretty much the same lines as what your characters would go through IC: I'll pose several questions in-character designed to help you and me get a good feel for who your character is, and looking for in-character responses.
Spoiler:
Campaign Background
The City Watch of Magnimar created a new investigation unit, dedicated to investigating crimes of a supernatural or unusual origin. Captain Ilar Percival, the man in charge of the MSI (Magnimar Special Investigations) Unit, selected the PCs from a pool of thirty applicants to be the flagship, prototype unit.
The pace of the game will reflect that of the typical serial police drama on television, with each “adventure” being a case. Combat will play a role, though often your goal will be to apprehend the target, rather than kill IT, and a lot of your opponents will be members of PC races and classes – there will be very little monster hunting. Use of social and knowledge skills will be play a large role. Please see below for a list of skills in their (estimated) expected order of usefulness and importance.
Some of the time, the PCs will complete the current adventure before another one starts. Other times, multiple adventures may be going simultaneously, and these adventures may or may not be connected. This is done to try to reflect the real world reality that police detectives don’t have their cases handed to them one at a time like on TV (unless, of course, their high workload is a plot device). Also, players cannot assume that all cases will be completely or even successfully solved, at least not right away. The bad guys won’t just sit around waiting to be caught. If it looks like they’ve gotten away with it, some may skip town, or lay low for awhile. Some cases will be solved, but hint at further conspiracies down the road.
Character Creation
As almost all of the campaign will take place within the city itself, nature-based classes will be at so serious a disadvantage, that they would likely have not been hired in the first place. Alchemists, bards, clerics, inquisitors, fighters, monks, oracles, paladins, urban rangers, rogues, sorcerers, summoners, and wizards are all good choices. No firearms or eastern-flavoured classes (other than monks, and with them I usually prefer some sort of alternate explanations on the unusual fighting styles, etc.) please. All PC races are good choices and are allowed, as are aasimars, tieflings, changelings, and fetchlings. Characters cannot be evil-aligned, and must have a reasonable motivation to want to work well for the MSI Unit and the good of the city of Magnimar.
Creation guidelines are as follows: 20-point buy, standard starting wealth, max starting hit points, and either two traits (not from the same list) or a bonus feat (any feat that grants bonuses to skills, like Skill Focus, or Persuasive).
Prestige Points
Throughout the campaign, we will keep track of how well (and favourably) the PCs are known in the various areas of Magnimar. I have divided the city into 8 communities, and you will get a prestige score for each area. At character creation, you start with zeros in all communities; you may alter that balance by two however you wish (one -2 or two -1s for two +1s or one +2). These changes should be reflected in your characters’ back stories. Prestige points will be given and taken away throughout the campaign, and will not necessarily be the same for all PCs. A PC’s prestige score in a community is applied as a modifier to all Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and Knowledge (Local) rolls made within that community.
Having a prestige score of 10 or above means the character is usually recognized by the citizens of that community, and their starting attitude is automatically one degree higher than normal. A score of -10 or less also means the character is usually recognized by the locals, just in a negative way and their starting attitude automatically starts one degree lower than normal. The character also suffers a -2 penalty to Disguise checks made against the locals, whether their score is positive or negative. Scores of 20 and -20 guarantee recognition and locals are automatically considered helpful or hostile, as appropriate. The character also suffers a -5 penalty to Disguise checks made against the locals.
Districts of Magnimar
Since the entire “world” of this campaign is in one city, I have divided it into separate communities, combining them into the following eight groups:
A: Alabaster and Marble Districts
B: Naos, Irespan, and Bridgeward
C: The Capital District, Grand Arch, and Vista
D: The Bazaar of Sails, Dockway, Beacon’s Point
E: Lowcleft and Keystone
F: Rag’s End and The Marches
G: Silver Shore, Kyver’s Islet, and Ordelia
H: Underbridge
Urban Rangers select two favoured communities at third level. Whenever one of these communities’ bonuses would be increased, the other increases also.
Skills in Probable Order of Importance
Keep in mind, this list is just a guess (although I know those first 5 are right).
In addition to covering key skills, there are several key roles Captain Percival selected the party to cover. They include: arcane knowledge, divine knowledge, somebody to question suspects, somebody to examine crime scenes, somebody to examine bodies, somebody to be the muscle, and other roles typically found within the serial police drama trope gone high fantasy. Forensic investigation techniques are unknown; expect things to be more Sherlock Holmes style, rather than NCIS style. Of course, one PC may be able to cover more than one of these roles.
Could I get some confirmation that I haven't been completely out to lunch for the past decade, and that you are in fact allowed to draw a weapon and take a 5-foot step in the same round? As in, doing a move action that doesn't involve movement doesn't prohibit the five-foot step?
So looking through the Critique thread, and all the responses Neil is churning out, I am starting to see some common trends with rejections that I didn't remember noticing as much in looking through previous years' critique threads. Maybe some other people can notice more.
Before I start, I'm not talking about SIAC, SAK, or "this has already been done" items, but some of the design space choices people (myself included) are making that aren't being well-received by the judges. Also, I'm purposely avoiding mentioning any specific items (save my own), so if these seem a little vague, that's why. Please nobody make this a tear apart somebody else's item thread.
Action Economy: Anything that messes with action economy is getting hosed. Doing stuff that should be a standard action, but making it a swift or free hasn't gotten good responses. One thing I'm not sure on is whether something like a defensive item which allows an immediate action reaction to an incoming whatever falls into the same category.
Money Sinks: There are lots of items in the critique thread, some of them quite expensive, that state outright that certain conditions can cause the character to lose this item, either by the user sacrificing the item to get some effect, overuse the item so it goes nova, or its intended use makes it quite likely that an enemy will be able to either steal or destroy the item. Maybe it's just my play-style, but my 12th level fighter still has a cure moderate potion in his pack from 4th level because I can't bring myself to use it, just in case I'm going to end up needing it more later. The idea of spending thousands of gold on an item that's just going to end up getting ruined by the bad guy, or a single-use consumable costing thousands...well, like I said, maybe it's just me. Elixir of fire breath is as far as I'm willing to go in terms of an expensive consumable.
Takes a Slot But Doesn't: This is kind of a variation of the "Makes you Blind but Not Bling" Auto-reject line, but there are a few items that take a slot, but only when you want to do a specific task, and then you just remove them in favour of a different item of the same slot when the task is done.
Doesn't Take a Slot, But Does: The opposite of the last group. Not wanting to point out any actual items, so I'll make up a riduclous example of my Carrot of Vorpal Bunny Deterring, a special carrot, when, held in your hand, automatically deflects the throat lunge of any attacking vorpal bunnies. Very useful against the critters, but I have to go around carrying this carrot on the off chance that I'll run into one, instead of, for example, a shield or second weapon.
Completely Nullify an Entire Threat: These items completely (or almost completely) negate an entire __________, so that this item is great if you're going to be facing lots of ____________s, and otherwise a waste of pack space. Plus, completely negating entire __________s is just another way of making adventuring safe, which seems to irk Ryan no end.
Again, these are just my observations as more and more items get posted. If anybody else sees some design space choices that aren't going over well with the judges, please add them to the list.
Being rather active in PbP games here on the boards, and running two myself for which I want to create aliases/avatars for major NPCs, I'm beginning to accumulate a lot of aliases of my own - some for inactive PCs, some active, and some NPCs. Would it be possible to have the ability to sort the aliases into categories? The pie in the sky would be the ability to attach categories to the appropriate campaigns, meaning that when posting in a PbP thread, only the aliases in that category would appear in the drop down list.
The PCs know that their enemy is using invisibility, and know that their enemy eventually has to come to them. The party witch is spamming detect magic at the only entrance to the room, concentrating for the full duration. My question is do you have to concentrate on the specific magical aura for three rounds to get all the information, or if you're already concentrating on an area, are you suddenly going to go from "no magic present" to "faint illusion aura present" instantly, or go through "magic present" first as soon as the guy steps into the room?
I'm curious to see what combinations of spells and meta-magic people have come up with which most benefit from the Magical Lineage trait. For my current controller wizard (for a PbP game, so I know the advancement will be slow and therefore a low-level solution gives me the most immediate returns), I've chosen grease so I can make it Persistent for only a second level spell, but I know there have to be better options available.
So I'm a maneuver master specializing in Ki throw. My wizard buddy hits me with enlarge person, so now I'm ten feet tall with a ten foot reach, and can throw my foe into any square I threaten. Well, since I can threaten the "squares" ten feet above me, I'll just toss the guy into one of those and let him enjoy the twenty foot drop for 2d6 falling damage.
Anybody seeing any violations with this trick? Seems cheesy as all get out, but maybe legal?
Flurry of Maneuvers (Ex): At 1st level, as part of a full-attack action, a maneuver master can make one additional combat maneuver, regardless of whether the maneuver normally replaces a melee attack or requires a standard action. The maneuver master uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus to determine his CMB for the bonus maneuvers, though all combat maneuver checks suffer a –2 penalty when using a flurry. At 8th level, a maneuver master may attempt a second additional combat maneuver, with an additional –3 penalty on combat maneuver checks. At 15th level, a maneuver master may attempt a third additional combat maneuver, with an additional –7 penalty on combat maneuver checks. This ability replaces flurry of blows.
So is this to intend that only the extra maneuvers can be ones that normally require a standard action, as opposed to an attack action?
For example, I can make a maneuver master who can do trip/trip or disarm/grapple (get those pesky light weapons out of their hand first) but can't do grapple/grapple (for the extra damage or a pin).
At 15th level, now I can do one attack action and three standard action maneuvers, but it's too much to do a standard action maneuver first? And am I required to do my attack action maneuver first (so, disarm/grapple instead of grapple then disarm)? Perhaps the specific language is to prevent first-level characters from grappling and pinning an opponent in one round, but is that really so bad? I suppose you give him a few lengths of rope and he hops about the battlefield cattle-rustling and hog-tying the low-level mooks once per two rounds. Again, is this so bad?
What would such a cult look like? I don't buy that the neutral evil clerics of Pharasma can go against their goddess and embrace undeath, and actively taking on the death side of Pharasma's portfolio by killing random folks treads on the toes of other deities. A band of kidnapping mid-wives, perhaps?
Forgive me if this is covered in the recent Pharasma article, but I don't own the Carrion Crown adventure path to read it and there's nothing on the wiki about what evil clerics of Pharasma would be like.
It may have been on a lamp post, the door of a public outhouse, a tavern's bulletin board, or a passing rumour in a far off land. The Magnimar City Watch is creating a new investigative unit, dedicated to those crimes and mysteries beyond the scope of the standard City Watchman. Adventurers on retainer by the City Watch and the Lord-Mayor. Guaranteed income of 5 gold coins a week plus living expenses! Interviews begin at 9 am sharp on Oathday, the 2nd of Rova, 4710 AR at the Pediment Building in Magnimar. See Captain Ilar Percival.
So bright and early on that morning, you arrive. The Pediment Building has all the appearances of being invaded given the amount of armour and steel shown.
Captain Percival is an older gentleman, his uniform is crisp and clean, with the bright links of his chain shirt peeking out from underneath. His office is sparse and plain, a soldier's office, with simple if comfortable furniture. He quickly sizes each of you up in turn with his steely blue eyes peering from beneath bushy grey eyebrows. He asks you about your pasts, your abilities, what you think you would add to the team. Once you've talked about yourselves for awhile, he thanks you for coming, takes down your contact information, and brings in the next candidate. You head back to wherever you are staying with promises that you'll be contacted, if accepted, tomorrow morning at 7.
You wait out the evening and bright and early, as promised and hoped for, a City Watchman shows up at your residence with an invitation back to the Pediment building. You got the job!
45 minutes later, you find yourselves sitting in a small waiting area with five other individuals, the other successful applicants. An officer tells you that Captain Percival has been delayed, and he'll be with you shortly.
Hello players. This is the discussion thread for the Magnimar Special Investigations campaign.
Once I get confirmation from people that they're on board to play this game, I'll be sending permissions to view the campaign google site. This is where we'll keep track of things that happen to the party, and the clues you've uncovered in various cases you'll be on.
In the library, there is a handout called Player Notes. I apologize, it's a bit of a wall of text, filled with background, character creation guidelines, and some new mechanics I'm trying out for this game.
The character creation stuff is buried in that document, so I'll repost here.
20-point buy, max starting hit points, standard rolled starting gold, and either two traits or one of those feats that give bonuses to skills, like Skill Focus or one of the ones that give bonuses to two skills like Persuasive or Athletic.
The main thing to think about with character creation is that, since the party has been selected from a pool, we can discuss character ideas as a group to find a well-balanced group of characters. This campaign is entirely urban, so nature and mounted characters aren't good fits. Welcome all.
P.S., when you do log in to the web site, please add your information under the Contact Numbers tab.
One of the main things that attracted me to Pathfinder and Paizo in general (and I can't be alone on this), is the incredible level of customer support and interaction you folks have with us, your loyal customers. It's quite a heady experience to have Sean K Reynolds and Neil Spicer threatening to rough you up in a dark alleyway and take your wallet!
My question is, given how often you folks are on these messageboards, do you ever find yourselves scrolling down to the near bottom of the screen and check out what some of us are doing with Paizo Adventure Paths or homebrew Golarion games in the play-by-post section?
My group of intrepid colonists and I are looking for one or two brave additions to our group. The premise is that you are part of a joint Taldor-Pathfinder-House Avenstar (Absalom) endeavor to establish a viable and lasting colony in Arcadia. The ships have arrived and the colonists encountered trouble from a powerful magical field being created by an ancient artifact. The party has just deactivated the field, making it safe for colonists to finally land.
Any interested persons are welcome to submit concepts for characters. Basic guidelines are as follows:
Non-evil (preferably good)
25 point buy
Base races plus tiefling or aasimar
APG material welcome
At the moment, the party is looking for a divine caster. The campaign is very wilderness-oriented, and with very few dungeons, mounted characters are quite viable.
Our group will be deciding together on submissions, and we would like 1 or 2. We need a divine person, but some other great concept may convince us to enlarge our party somewhat.
Of course, doing a bit more digging in that table suggests that a person could create a command word item, like an amulet or cloak of greater invisibility, that worked 5 times per day for 7 rounds each for a cost of just over 50k. Given that one is unlikely to need greater invisibility much more often than that, it should be an okay option.
As the title says, it's the only AP I have not yet played or at least started. I know it's supposedly one of the least popular, but surely some people must like it.
A friend and I (both long-time players and heavy role-players) are looking for a game to join as we've never "sat" on the players' side of the GM screen together before. We're both very active and would be committed for a long haul.
If anybody would be interested in giving it a serious go, I can promise you at least two interesting and flavourful characters. Let me know.
My half-orc rogue 1/barbarian 1 is currently raging and at 3 hp. He is currently being flanked by a pair of goblins and needs to get out of there. He attacks and kills one of the goblins, then attempts to use Acrobatics to withdraw from the other one, but fails to avoid the attack of opportunity and takes 4 points of damage. At this point, the racial ability says he can fight for one more round as if he is disabled.
His intent in moving is to get next to the party cleric for a CLW spell, but I'm wondering if he's still able to make his move action this round, or if being disabled he's limited to a single standard or move action per round, in which case, he's done for this round. Also, if he can make his move action, is his ferocity now done for and he falls unconscious (which ends his rage and puts him at -5)? I don't think this is the case as it specifically says you can act for one round as if disabled, which implies to me until his next initiative comes up again.
The ferocity is clear as day when the attack that puts him below 0 occurs on some monster's turn, but not so clear when it's his own turn's actions which provoke the damage.
The Anchors Away is a modest to slummy tavern/inn in the docks district of Cassomir. Clearly if they wanted to, the Pathfinder Society could have gone a little cheaper, though finding cheaper might have been more work than was worthwhile for the few coppers they would have saved. As you push open the door, it makes a sound not unlike an anchor chain being upraised, revealing a smoky and slightly rank interior. Oddly enough, none of the tables are in use, save one. A human man in his early forties with long, grey-streaked hair and weathered features sits at his ease with a hearty meal in front of him. He looks up from his food at your entrance to wave you over to him.
"Falcon Gray", he introduces himself. "Welcome aboard."
First come, first served. Just start role-playing with your entrance into the inn. Feel free to describe yourselves and interact with each other and the characters present. Welcome to the Anchors Away and The Fallen Shall Rise.
Hi folks, here is the creation/recruitment/OOC thread for The Fallen Shall Rise, my Arcadia colonial PbP.
First the number-crunching:
25-pt buy
1.5 times max starting gold which can include one masterwork weapon, armour, or item
1st level
No evil (prefer good)
Core and APG classes only
Core races plus tiefling and aasimar (maybe others, ask first)
Two traits from anywhere (I have a pair of campaign traits that people can choose one of, if interested)
This is a primarily Taldane expedition which departs from Cassomir and stops in Absalom, so character origins from pretty much anywhere in Avistan or Garund are fine. The only hook requirement is that your character must have a reason to stay on board ship and go all the way to Arcadia.
This campaign is not combat intensive, and focuses much more on diplomacy and politics (though that doesn't mean low-Charisma characters will have nothing to do) than dungeon-crawling. Indeed, most combat encounters will take place out doors, and there will be lots of opportunity for mounted combat (if that's something you like).
The reason for the big point buy and extra gold is not because I like munchkins, but because this is a low-treasure campaign. The PCs are moving into a fairly primitive area and will not be gathering huge piles of magical loot. The big numbers at creation are just to help give them a little boost. Expect item creation feats and craft skills to be very useful and well-used.
Can't think of anything else to mention at this point, except this: I love group concepts over individual ones. If a bunch of people want to get together and come up with a group scenerio where you all know each other already, so much the better.
When I try to post to a messageboard from my blackberry, I can get as far as writing out my post, but then the "submit post" button is missing. Does anybody know how to post with a blackberry?
Arcadia - a far away land rife with adventure and unknown perils and possibilities.
Arcadia - a place none of you probably ever saw yourselves visiting.
Arcadia - a heck of a lot better place to be than this stinking dungeon cell in Cassomir.
Certainly, it was not a place you ever considered going when you were planning your escape, whispering through the wee hours of the morning, but fate and chance were both working in overdrive this morning. It started when the guards had come to change Hobart's chamber pot. All things went as before: guards rudely and gruffly commanded Hobart to leave the pot near the door and retreat to the back of the cell, Hobart obliged of course, and the guards opened the door. The thin string you had all conspired to weave together and tied to Hobart's pot became taut in Lilo's hand across the way, pulling the pot between the surprised guard's legs. As he bent over to watch the wandering chamber pot, Hobart seized his moment and attacked. Hobart managed to grab some keys and toss them to Rommin who quickly let himself out and joined the fray. With the guards subdued, you were all let out of your cells and made your way into the guard room next door. After the light resistance was dealt with, you found a pleasant surprise: your equipment and gear, stored in a side cupboard.
A quick shout from the other side of one of the other two exits announced reinforcements, but chance took hold and the rusty, swollen door failed to budge. The short delay was enough for you to grab the rest of your gear and duck out the dark and twisty passage that led to the gloomy and smoky kitchen and out into the crisp, pre-dawn air.
You wandered the back alleys and streets for awhile, eventually finding some clothes to change into and strap on your armour and weapons.
You had a general plan to head to the docks to book passage on a ship somehow, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a ship not only taking on passengers, but doing so for free! All you had to do was agree to sail away to a far away land, possibly never to return. Given your current circumstances, that sounded perfect!
The Lady Iona is a beautiful two-masted ship of Taldoran design, filled with activity as people and cargo are loaded aboard. At the foot of the gangplank, an imposing centaur in armour and wearing the colours of Prince Stavian III stands at the bottom of the ramp along with two soldiers in different colours. The two soldiers are sitting behind a crude table with ledgers, taking the names and occupations of those wishing to make the dangerous voyage to Arcadia, which, according the propaganda poster nailed to a nearby pole, is the Land of Opportunity.
The centaur looks you over as you approach, wrinkles his nose slightly at the smell, and says, Good morning, to you. You are all wishing to join up with the new colony?
Hi all,
Looking to regain some of its former glory in the New World, the throne of Taldor, in an alliance with House Avenstar of Absalom and the Pathfinder Society, is embarking on a historic voyage to establish a colony in Arcadia. The journey is treacherous and opportunities abound for scoundrel and saviour alike to prove their mettle.
This is a homebrew Golarion campaign taking the PCs on a voyage across the Arcadia Ocean to help establish a new colony. It will contain equal parts of combat (more emphasis on wilderness than dungeon crawls) and diplomacy/intrigue as the PCs are immersed in the backroom dealings of the colonial leaders, deciding which side to take, or perhaps even create a "side" of their own. This will be a relatively low-treasure style of play (or at least low on the "traditional" view of treasure).
I'm looking for a party of 5 or 6 PCs - all 1st level - and while not necessary, group proposals are encouraged. If interested, please send me a description of your character including the usual things such as name, class, background, history, personality, and motivation for getting on board the colony ship (ship puts into port in Cassomir and Absolom). Also helpful would be an idea of your posting rate and a good e-mail address. Please send all this to gmnazard(at)gmail(dot)com.
I'd like to have at least 10 entries to pick from, so I'll give it until Wednesday evening, and will let people know either way.
What happens to the Eidolon if its pre-14th level Summoner is brought below negative hit points? What about if the Summoner dies? Does the Eidolon get to keep fighting, or does it disappear, leaving the party bereft of two combatants in the middle of battle?
I've looked and looked and can't find it but it's so obvious, somebody else must have seen it by now. Could somebody please point me to the link/post/article/whatever explaining why summoners get minor creation as both a third and fourth level spell or, more likely, which one of these is a mistake? For that matter, I know there's an errata document out there, but I can't find it either.
Any reason anyone can think of that a huge eidolon with the Swallow Whole evolution but not the grab(bite) evolution couldn't take the Snatch feat from the Bestiary and still use the Swallow Whole ability?
There have been several threads bashing the current craft rules as being either "unrealistic", "taking so much time to create even simple items that no PC would ever bother", or "both". As I see it, part of the problem is that the 3rd edition designers (and everyone else who has since inherited the original flawed system) wanted to create a generic method/formula that could be used to represent creation costs and times for all mundane items and leave valuable pages for things like cool spells and sorcerer bloodlines instead of tables on how to make nails.
While coming up with individual creation costs, times, and DCs for everything on the mundane equipment list would take the Pathfinder designers way too much time that they could (quite legitimately) put to other uses, we as players and GMs could probably throw such a project together fairly quickly if we worked together.
For example, there was discussion in an earlier thread about how the current rules break down if you try to craft a sewing needle. Under the current system, a 1st level expert with 1 rank in Craft (blacksmithing) probably has a +5 or +6 bonus meaning an average roll of 16. If the DC for a sewing needle is 10, they beat the DC on average. According to the forumla, they complete 16 x 10 or 160sp worth of work in 1 week. That's 32 times the base price and 1/32 of a weak is 5 hours 15 minutes.
I am no expert at all in medieval smithing practices, but 30 minutes on Google has helped me learn that the typical practice used circa 1300 would be to cut off 5 inches of thick copper wire, heat and cool one end to make it malleable (a process called annealing), beating that end flat and punching a hole. If there are some experts out there that could tell me which part of this process takes over 5 hours, please let me know!
My proposed mechanic for crafting sewing needles (which is a proto-type for my new crafting system) is as follows:
Item: metal sewing needle
Market Price: 5sp
Raw Materials: 2sp
Creation Time: 1 hour or 5 hours for 10
Base DC: 10
Items that take less than a day are either you succeed or you don't. Items that take more than a day you make a check each day to make progress and failing by 5 or more means you mess up half of the raw materials.
A craftsman would be able to take 10 using the Base DC. Alternatively, he could choose to lower the DC by 5 but take twice as long and be able to take 20 on the check, or could raise the DC by 5 halving the creation time and not be able to take 10 or 20 on the check.
If anybody is interested in helping me out in this project, please let me know. I would suggest that the easiest method would be to claim the item(s) you have knowledge about or would like to briefly research in advance on a first-come, first-served basis.
I apologize in advance if this topic has been covered before.
My understanding of Combat feats is that you can only use one per round. Looking at Deft Shield, I see that if I make a shield bash and hit, I get to keep my AC bonus. Very nice. A few levels later, I look at Shield Slam and see that I can make a free bull rush when I hit. Very nice, except...have I now lost my AC bonus from my shield? A few levels later, I'm now a "Shield Master", and get to do lots of wonderful things with my shield (and I have my shield AC bonus back) but now I can't have my free bull rush anymore. What happened to being a "master" with my shield?
Would it be so unbalancing to say that I get to keep my AC bonus with Deft Shield (on a successful hit only, can't get greedy), add the bull rush ability on top of that with Shield Slam, and then take away the penalty to hit and add the magic bonuses with Shield Master? In other words, can't combat feats of the same tree be cumulative?
