Krisam's page

Jasonfahy, how did you handle the 'knock the goblins off the bridge' part? Did you just say every hit did it, or...? I love your ideas. Haha, Grom is awesome.

The group I ran through that part saw the goblins on the other side of the bridge and the goblins started shooting arrows at them to scare them off.So the big dumb fighter cut the rope bridge down.

Hahahaha! How did they end up getting across?

My party sabotaged the already trapped bridge (none of them tripped the trap on the way over, so they don't realize it's trapped), so now they're on the island and the bridge will snap the moment anyone steps onto it. Not sure what their idea was with that...

I love hearing about how other groups deal with this adventure. There's a lot of variation within the borders the adventure sets up, and the creativity is fun to watch.

For obvious reasons, I'd be interested in what you come up with to defend Thistletop, too...

The party's spending the night in Thistletop? Wow-- gutsy of them!

Gutsy or something... *g* I'm springing Bruthazmus and Orik on them as a suggestion to return to Sandpoint and restock, but if they stay after that, they'll definitely have visitors during the night (and eerie chanting and groans from little throats in the background, muahahah).

Thanks for the link to your account of what happened. :)

The idea with the burning skeleton is interesting, I may use that. Thanks, Doug.

I'd be interested to hear how things go for your group, jasonfahy. I love that your bard is tied to Nualia like that.

Krisam wrote:

Thanks, Haladir! That will make things much easier for me if I decide she's too weak for them! :)

Any chance you also have Lyrie up somewhere?

No, but I've copied-and-pasted her stats below.

It's long, so I've spoilered it. I'm not going to take the time to properly format it, but you should be able to read it.

This is awesome. Thanks a ton! :D

I see she has lesser animate dead. With the party staying at Thistletop, she won't have a chance to prepare and cast it that much to produce enough zombies to get in their way. Any advice on that? Should I just fudge it?

Thanks, Haladir! That will make things much easier for me if I decide she's too weak for them! :)

Any chance you also have Lyrie up somewhere?

I like the zombie idea - I think I've read about it elsewhere on the boards too. I'm a little nervous about making Nualia and her crew meaner, though - my group is also 6 PCs + Shalelu, and they nearly got toasted both under Sandpoint and in the thistle maze with Gogmurt. Let us say that their grasp of tactics has not been much better than mine so far.

I just got word that the party is planning to stay locked in a room in Thistletop to recover rather than going back to Sandpoint.

I figure Bruthazmus will try to break in a few times, then if it doesn't look like the party is coming out or he's getting in, they'll zombify some goblins... the PCs will make short work of them, but I'm not sure where the others in Nualia's crew might stay.

Between the hounds, Orik, Lyrie, the bugbear and Nualia - they could mount a pretty good defense if they put their minds to it. (Has Tsuto been neutralized yet?) If you can manage the CRs, why not add some more goblins to the mix. Perhaps they were not present during the first run through (out harrassing random animals, maybe). They could even be goblin commandos. Now they rally back under Gogmurt's leadership. Don't forget his animal companion.

Even if you don't use the goblins, you still have quite a bit of fire power.

I know Nualia and her crew could mount a good defense, it's the specifics of that defense I'm worried about (since I have the tactical sense of a goblin). I guess I could bring a few goblins that were out raiding back, but Gogmurt had a pretty bad scare (and Tangletooth died), so I don't see him coming back for a few days at least, when he thinks the coast is clear again. I'd have Bruthazmus take over the goblins if/when Ripnugget dies.

Thistletop can be defended easily with a skeleton crew. Securing the rope bridge is key. Make sure an assault from the water side is not possible. Ranged attacks from the watch towers can be deadly. Use Gogmurt's and Nualia's magic + magic items appropriately. The yeth hounds' Bay ability can be very effective.

Hmm. I wonder how long it would take before things got bad enough that her crew would disturb Nualia... probably not long, even if they managed to pin the party on the bridge. Any good advice on tricky ways to use her magic and magic items?

Of course this is completely up to how you want to play it out. That said, I'm skeptical that Nualia can be redeemed. Her background makes her a good candidate for redemption. But in her mind, she has much more to gain by winning Lamashtu's favor and becoming a demon than going back to the light. And what would she go back to - a lifetime of regret without friends or family and a demon arm? I think she's too far gone already. Besides, Lamashtu probably holds some sway over her as well.

I kind of agree, but I want to at least give the player a chance to shine his paladin's light here, even if it's a small chance and hard to do. Some advice on how to structure this challenge would be welcome also.

I'll say it up front: I suck at tactics.

The party has just cleared the thistle maze and more or less all resistance on the first level of Thistletop, capturing Ripnugget (they captured Gogmurt too, but let him go). They haven't yet discovered the dungeon levels, but when they do, I think they'll turn back to Sandpoint to restock and recover.

My question is: with the goblins wiped out, what would Nualia & Co.'s response be? Surely she wouldn't just keep on researching as though nothing had happened? How would they set up a defense of the fort without the goblins if they have a day or more to prepare?

Where would they set up to cause the most grief to trespassers? Any specific tactics they might use would be welcome.

If it helps, the party has just hit 3rd level. One of them is a paladin of Sarenrae who used to know Nualia. I imagine a chance for her to redeem Nualia if she plays her cards right.

Thanks!

If a Handy Haversack is sized for a Small character (we don't use magical item resizing), is the capacity smaller, or does the fact that it's a magic item overrule that?

Everyone is lvl.2, core classes and races only.

We'll be sticking to this for now, as I'm not too familiar with the new classes.

i can take over the dwarf. also could i make a new character? in addition to the dwarf?

I guess it might be best if you just made a new character. What kind did you have in mind, considering what we've already got?

i can.

Er, you can what? Take over the dwarf? Make a new character? More details, please.

bump de bump

Yet another bump. We could really use that dwarf/alternate character...

more bump

bump

*sigh* If DEWN MOU'TAIN doesn't want the spot after all, I guess the slot is still open. Any takers?

A couple nice magic items to pick up. In addition to the true death crystal, demolition crystal which works against constructs. The greater form is only 6k (true death is 10k, btw), you deal 1d6 extra damage, weapon is adamantine for purposes of DR and you can SA (still needs a +3 enhancement bonus weapon). Pick up anklets of translocation. They are cheap and they allow you to teleport 10 feet as a swift action 2 or 3 times a day.

*drool* Man, there's never enough money, feat slots or skill points. Keeps us hungry. *g*

Hmm, that IS interesting. Heh, I have like 3 different builds for the same character now! Now to see what the DM will allow...

The good news is that we use extensive house rules, so I'll be getting at least one extra feat (possibly two, depending on how "expensive" they decide the feats are) and a pile of extra skill points. No complaints here! I'm looking at you, Improved Critical with my vorpal elven courtblade...

But doesn't Insightful Strike work with WIS, not INT?

*edit* Oops, wrong idea I had there. NM.

DEWN? Are you still out there?

I have a habit of letting concept get in the way of build, so this will be interesting for me. Thanks for your help and good advice, everyone! :D *brings piles of internet cookies for everyone*

I've kind of been suckered in by the Shadowdancer PC, and I'm thinking of going rogue 6/shadowdancer 10. My final rolled and modded-for-race-and-level stats are Str 18, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10. Is this a spectacularly bad idea? What equipment would you recommend (normal WBL)?

I have to admit we haven't really run into any traps so far, or at least not the kind a rogue could disable (though this could be because there was no rogue in the party...). OK, I'm sold - more SA for me!

Sorry I wasn't on yesterday, I had guests and couldn't be online. And thanks for the awesome advice! I'm a little leery of trading Trap Sense for SA damage because I figure traps are pretty much all that differentiates my rogue from the rest of the party, and we haven't met many undead so far (but our DM cycles and adventures change regularly, so that's no guarantee.) Is Trap Sense really that useless?

The arcane trickster sounds interesting, but again it counts on a better knowledge of the casting rules and spells than I have. Still, that disintegrate sounds good... I forget, do you take multiclassing xp penalties for prestige classes?

The last opponents we faces were an orc army (complete with shamans, trolls and dire boar riders) that were defeated primarily by the cleric's spells and us holding a chokepoint until reinforcements arrived; dimension-hopping werewolves that were a curse the cleric lifted, after which the ranger slaughtered the werewolves; an ogre mage in a goblin market and a bunch of giants in a giant castle; and a dungeon with some undead and a demon boss fight. As you can see, it's kind of all over the place. From what I last heard, our next adventure will consist of a rite of atonement for the cleric for what he had to do to get to the demon.

I would like to throw myself in to play the dwarf ranger.

It looks like the party is going to wrap up their current combat faster than I thought, so I'm going to go ahead and pull you in now, if you're still available. If you are, go ahead and join the group, and I'll send you the dwarf's sheet. Welcome! :)

I've joined a campaign that has gotten to 16th level, which is by FAR the highest level I've ever played. At first I built a camel-riding paladin, but the setting and general uselessness of the paladin (can't even convert anyone, that's taken care of by the cleric) has convinced me to switch characters.

Now I'd like to try an elven rogue in the hope of actually being useful for a change. Elven due to campaign concerns, rogue because we already have a fighter and a ranger and I'm nervous about remembering all the options at this level for other classes. But I've never really run a high-level character besides the fiasco that was the paladin, so I could really use some advice on an awesome build, from stats to feats to magical equipment. OR an alternate class build if the rogue turns out to be a bad choice.

Can anyone help me out? Most splatbooks are acceptable I think, assuming either I or our gaming club have them (which is likely). The new adventure starts on Monday. Piles of internet cookies for everyone who helps! :)

questions:

does the dwarf still have the shards of his fathers axe, in the hopes of finding a dwarven weaponsmith to reforge it?
How does the dwarf get along with the rest of the party?
Why does the dwarf have a yearning for the half-elf?

No, he left the shards under Sandpoint, but he could conceivably return to fetch them. Alternatively, we can retcon to say he already did pick them up when the priests were down there trying to sanctify the place.

The dwarf is trusted and gets along well with the rest of the party, despite his smell. He's especially good friends with the gnome, and likes to tease the half-elf Shoanti about being too tall. He has the respect of the brusque NPC elven ranger who is with them atm.

The dwarf had a brief fling with the half-elf in his backstory, when he was her guide in some underground caverns.

Do you have a link to the game thrread so the applicants can look over what happened so far?

Sure, here it is. Most of the game is also archived on the website linked to on the Yahoo Group in an easier-to-browse format, though it's not 100% up to date.

We've lost the player of our dwarf ranger, and we need a replacement. I'd prefer that someone just take over the dwarf ranger, but I'll consider interesting new concepts, too.

The group is currently assaulting Thistletop, so any new character will be found there, probably as a captive of the goblins. Everyone is lvl.2, core classes and races only. Concepts please, not stats.

If you'd like to take over the existing dwarf ranger (yay!), here's some info on him:

• He came to the town of Sandpoint during the Swallowtail Festival specifically to find a half-elf (one of the PCs) that he's infatuated with (whom he knew would be attending), but she's recently changed into a terse killer and his affection is unrequited.
  
• He lost his father's battleaxe under Sandpoint (shattered) and now uses a fancy handaxe he found on a mutated goblin-thing.
  
• His name contains the rare-in-Dwarven "th" sound.
  
• He doesn't believe in bathing, but believes his 'natural scent' hides him from predators.
  
• His favored enemies are goblins.
  
• Anything else you want to know about him, ask.
  

The rest of the party consists of:

• A half-orc evoker
  
• A human paladin of Sarenrae
  
• A gnome cleric of Desna
  
• A half-elf, half-Shoanti Shadde-Quah barbarian
  
• A half-elf rogue (the dwarf's interest)
  

I'll wait a week or so for volunteers before choosing. Cheers!

Thanks for the suggestions (and the link); I'll see if my gaming club has any of those/look in the Paizo downloads. Does anyone else have any suggestions to add to them?

Can anyone recommend a 1st-lvl adventure where there's little combat and mostly roleplaying? It can also be 3.5 and even something from Dungeon; I'm planning on running a pbem game for total RPG newbies, and I find it best to restrict combat severely. However, I feel too shaky as a DM to design an adventure myself, so any recommendations are really, really welcome.

I'm not a very experienced DM, so this is interesting for me... which is to say: dot.

This would be marvelous.

When I was a kid, I had several bags of those assorted plastic monsters that would become D&D monsters, and held on to them long enough to notice that they became D&D monsters. I wish I still had them. I would love to be able to find them again. Does anyone know if they are still being manufactured?

I'd like to know this, too. Of all the wacky little plastic monsters I had, I remember the rust monster and bulette best. OK, that and the turtle-crab-insect man. I think I still have them somewhere...

Thanks muchly for all your help! :)

Where is his gold spent at? It could be that he spent gold to copy over a few extra formulas.

I hadn't realized that was an option. Sorry for the newb question, but how much does copying a formulae cost?

Edit: Whoops, question answered! That could explain it, true.

Thanks a bunch, guys!

The pregen characters at the back of WBG includes an alchemist, but I'm a little uncertain about the extracts he has. Specifically their number. As far as I can tell, he should only have 4 at lvl.1(2+2 for Int), but he has 6. What have I overlooked? Could someone please explain this discrepancy to me?

I'd really like to have a few more responses from the PBP/PBEM crowd before I close the poll, so if you're reading this and you have a minute, please take the survey! It's only 10 questions, and you win Karma Internet Cookies. Thanks in advance! :)

Does anyone else have any questions or suggestions? Would you be interested in seeing the results of the poll, if it's possible to post them here?

Completed :)

You might want more answer options in the "what type of game do you play?" question. The current options are "MMORPG" and "PBP/PBEM", but I know people who play online via Skype or some type of Chat program. They wouldn't really be able to answer that question :)

Thanks!

I deliberately left realtime online "tabletop" games out of the equation so I could focus on the other two in my project, but I probably should have explained that. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Linked

Thanks!

Hi there,

I'm doing a bachelor project on gaming (game literacy and social ties that bridge the digital divide), and it would really help me out if as many online roleplayers as possible would answer a few questions for me within the next few days. I've made a short questionnaire with just 10 questions here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FF8WYHB

If you have any questions, post them here and I'll do my best to answer. Thanks in advance for your help! :D

Yeah. That brings a certain saying to mind that is relevant to that particular situation and the thread at large.

“Of course we must fear evil men, but there is another evil that we must fear more… and that is the indifference of good men.”

Sounds like the people just standing by with stupid looks on their faces should be kicked in the face just as much as the offending guy.

Heh, it's good to know there are more paladins around than the one he was playing. ;) Thanks, guys. The other two players were another girl and the guy's friend, and the DM was another friend, so no chivalry there, I'm afraid. Though the DM did apologise for Jerk Guy's behavior as I left. He seemed pretty shocked, too.

More OT, I also like the pledge from Dragonheart as a code. It hits on most of the major moral problems that might be encountered and how to handle them.

A paladin is sworn to valor, <- a limit on sneaky behavior, such as using poison
his heart knows only virtue, <- a representative of his deity
his blade defends the helpless, <- no mowing down, for example, unarmed people
his might upholds the weak, <- which side he should choose in a conflict
his word speaks only truth, <- lead by example
his wrath undoes the wicked. <- pure paladin-y goodness

[sidetrack]

Wow...just...wow. Maybe we do things differently here in the southern US, because had that guy punched me or any gamer I know in the head he'd still be taking his meals through a straw.

I'm not a very strong girl, whereas the guy was pretty fit, so I wasn't about to get into a fight with him. Had I been the Hulk, though, it would have been awfully tempting.

[/sidetrack]

This old gem.

Huh, that brings to mind a game I was in as a player once. Due to some Flaws, my CG character was under a compulsion to eat fresh raw meat every night. I met the paladin and the rest of the party on the way through the woods where I lived, and one of the party members convinced me to guide them through the woods. That night, my character went to slip away for his nightly meal (not something he was proud of, hence living alone in the woods) when the paladin, in a fit of metagaming, suddenly became aware that I was leaving and leapt out of his tent to tell me that I wasn't going anywhere, because he decided who did what and when in the party.

A bit puzzled and a bit disbelieving of such an attitude, my character shrugged and said the paladin couldn't exactly stop him if he wanted a guide. So the paladin cut his throat.

Later that day, the paladin's player punched me in the head for arguing with him about what constituted dishonorable behavior. Yeah, the irony wasn't lost on me. The jerk went on to become a known figure in the LARP community of Denmark.

I never got into LARP, or played with him again. The other two players, first-time roleplayers, never played an RPG again to my knowledge.

I once had a player who had a scruffy-looking paladin. To introduce him to another player's character (a mage), I had him come upon the mage just after the mage had fended off a group of bandits. The paladin drew his sword and commanded the mage to stop and drop where he was. Thinking he was another bandit, the mage yelled something about not being taken by bandits and turned to run - so the paladin cut the unarmed, good-aligned mage down from behind for ignoring his orders.

Yeah... that game didn't last long.

The longest-running game I've ever been in (over 20 years now, off and on) is a systemless mixture of FR, Ravenloft and homebrew. Very munchkinny, lots of fun.

I'm currently playing in a 3.5 homebrew world created and DMed by my RL group. I'm also playing in a 3.5 PBEM mixture of Eberron and Ravenloft.

I'm running several online games, all Pathfinder: two Golarion (Rise of the Runelords) and one heavily-altered FR which I may or may not merge with Planescape much later on.

Do the Shoanti of Varisia worship the same gods as the rest of Golorion, or do they have their own?

There seems to be very little info about the Shoanti in the golorion campaign source book. Is there a source book that features the Shoanti?
Thanks for the help.

In the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, pg.7, it says, "the Shoanti revere abstract powers of nature, their ancestors, and tribal totems." It also has a little info about them in general.

Death Quaker: I'm sending you a big box of chocolate internet hugs. I wish all players and GMs were as considerate as you.