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Morgrym Dolgringrun's page

344 posts. Alias of Harakani.




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I am a big fan of the multiclass feats. I love them even if you leave them exactly as is.

However, I would be really, really keen for someone to be able to take them at level 1. There are concepts where a character has been trained as an A and a B at the same time. While mechanically playing as an A and then showcasing B a few levels in works, I would love to be able to actually play as an A and a B from the get go. I'm okay if this is only true for humans with an extra general feat, or as a special heritage, or something.


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I would like to put in a request for subsection. This is not based on P2E playtest, where intrigue heavy campaigns have not come up, but on my regular pathfinder game I ran today.

I would like a subsection under perception, after detecting creatures, for detecting spells.

This needs to go through the four ways to detect a spell. I believe these are.

1. A spellcaster using a V, S or M component can be detected casting a spell. Explain how hard this is. How much does distance effect it? What about if your normal senses cannot detect them (eg S M spell cast in darkness). Please add a reference to Conceal Spell.

2. Manifestations. How do you adjudicate if a spell has a manifestation? How does this work if your normal sense cannot detect it (eg a thrown ball of acid in complete darkness). How do you know where it comes from? Can I indentify a spell from the manifestation, and is that an action? It is worth noting some manifestations go long enough someone might wander on the scene and see them - can they work out it is a spell, or what spell it is, and if so how?

3. Being affected. e.g. If a concealed, manifest free charm person spell is cast on me, it has an effect if I fail. Do I notice this? What about if I make the saving throw? Do I know I threw off a spell? Do I know what it was supposed to do?

4. Extra sensory perception. e.g. If I have continual detect magic (which some monsters do) and someone casts a spell, presumably even a manifestation-free effect cast from concealment (or distance) on someone else it will be detected. Is there a way to stop this? (This is the place where it might be okay to mention detect levels, and things like Nondetection, maybe?

This area in P1 is a poorly defined minefield where a lot of the way to discover how the rules work was by finding the feats that said they got rid of a problem you did not know you had! This doesn't need to be a large subsection, even explicit "is up to your GM to determine" would help.

What I'd love is a section where, when my players do something crazy, I can put my head in my hands and read through the section to see what the recommendations are.

Edit: there were previous discussion on the manifestation part of this, and on how they interact with invisibility. They asked for more in general, where I'm asking four a four stage parallel to the Detecting Creatures section.

Edit2: If spells had a "Manifestation" trait for perceivable manifestations, that'd be amazing.


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This might be too late to suggest.
Reasoning: Wizards tended to be picked by people willing to put in extra effort (working out what spells to memorise, extra feats, discoveries), at the moments wizards are the most powerful of the casters (opinion), and sorcerers are a bit much like inferior wizards (Arcane is the best list).

Could Wizards get proficiencies in schools, instead of just Spellcasting?
Given 8 schools (universalist is probably too small to count)
Specialists could start with 5 'school increases' and get 1 school increase per level.
Universalists could start with 7, and get 1 per level.
If the expert/master/legendary points were 3/7/15 instead of 12/16/19 then highly specialised specialist could have 6 Legendary, 1 Master and 2 untrained. A universalist gets everything at a level at 2 (trained), 10 (expert) and 18 (master).
An "old school" specialist with 6 schools they can cast, 2 they avoid, and with a specialisation in 1 can get 6 schools to master at 14, legendary at 20 and could get 6 schools to expert at 8 (but will almost certainly advance their true specialisation first)

specialist progression:

1 5T
2 6T
3 5T 1E
4 4T 2E
5 3T 3E
6 2T 4E
7 2T 3E 1M
8 2T 2E 2M
9 2T 1E 3M
10 2T 0E 4M
11 1T 1E 4M
12 1T 0E 5M
13 0T 1E 5M
14 0T 0E 6M
15 0T 0E 5M 1L
16 0T 0E 4M 2L
17 0T 0E 3M 3L
18 0T 0E 2M 4L
19 0T 0E 1M 5L
20 0T 0E 0M 6L

'old type' specialist:

1 5T
2 6T
3 5T 1E
4 4T 2E
5 3T 3E
6 2T 4E
7 2T 3E 1M
8 2T 2E 2M
9 2T 1E 3M
10 2T 0E 4M
11 1T 1E 4M
12 1T 0E 5M
13 0T 1E 5M
14 0T 0E 6M
15 0T 0E 5M 1L
16 0T 0E 4M 2L
17 0T 0E 3M 3L
18 0T 0E 2M 4L
19 0T 0E 1M 5L
20 0T 0E 0M 6L

true universalist:

1 7T
2 8T
3 7T 1E
4 6T 2E
5 5T 3E
6 4T 4E
7 3T 5E
8 2T 6E
9 1T 7E
10 0T 8E
11 0T 7E 1M
12 0T 6E 2M
13 0T 5E 3M
14 0T 4E 4M
15 0T 3E 5M
16 0T 2E 6M
17 0T 1E 7M
18 0T 0E 8M
19 0T 0E 7M 1L
20 0T 0E 6M 2L

This grants 3 things.
1. it makes the sorcerer's ability to pick and choose from the Arcane list and cast all the disparate spells at the same level much more impressive
2. wizards could get a higher proficiency faster than other casters - but in a very narrow range. Unlike sorcerers these aren't necessarily thematically tied either, but are instead mechanically similar.
3. it gives a resource that can be traded away for 'specialisation' bumps. The school abilities, for example. Quick preparation type abilities. These can even be tied to proficiency (for example if you need to have a school at expert). This gives a slot for the half-useful arcane discoveries, and at a minimum could be used on lores as well as schools to create Sage type characters.

This does come at the cost of additional work to create a wizard. It may be worth keeping universalist "as is" as an option. I'm not sure people signing up to play specialist wizards are necessarily intimidated by one more thing to keep track of, given they need to keep track of spell schools anyway.


TLDR Question;
Is it okay to use character creation software in the playtest?

We ended up spending our first session on character creation. We had a group of 5 with something like 150 years of communal experience in a lot of different systems. Three of us were PF1 GMs. All of us have run games.

It took all session to make characters. We had some technical issues, no hardcover books, not enough tablets and some socialising. All up we believe it took 2 hours per player.

Feedback so far was that making a character was hard. Upon reflection it was not intrinsically harder than PF1. We put this down to four things
1. New system meant things had to be looked up more (though a number of us had already read the rulebook)
2. Lack of a Reference Document or even hyperlinked PDF made looking things up cumbersome
3. No automated systems to assist with character creation (we have a number of systems to help with PF1).
4. Some of the sheet formatting choices were not great.

I am very interested in using software to assist, but I want to check that this will not invalidate the playtest feedback. If the intention is to find out just how hard it is to make characters without software assistance then we can push through. Note that we have made the first characters.

As an incidental if five players is an issue then I will ask someone to step out. I would prefer not to do so.


Hey,
I sent some emails about this, but I don't seem to have a response.
I have two confirmation emails for this order number.
The first says: Submitted Friday, October 20, 2017 02:30 AM
The second says: Submitted Friday, October 27, 2017 06:36 PM

These are two completely separate orders with the same order number.
The first was for Unknown Armies. I do not believe I have been charged for this - though I am pretty sure I remember getting a successfully processed message at the time.
The second was my regular subscription. I have definitely been charged for this.
The subscription seems to have arrived, the UA is marked as being in my sidecart.

I've sent two emails.
The first just asked for confirmation that there was a typo in the title of one of the UA books (marked book 1, book 2 and book 1).
The second asked what was happening with the order number.

I know that you're snowed under, but the UA books are christmas presents and delivery takes a long time to Australia sometimes. More than happy to reorder them, but I don't want to reorder them if it means I'm somehow going to end up with two copies.

Thanks


I submitted a Winter Witch concept to three different play by posts for Reign of Winter before a GM finally took pity on me and explained it was actually a terrible concept for the game.

Is it possible to find out what cool-sounding concepts are actually terrible for Strange Aeons? The Player's Guide gives some clues, but I'm wondering about something much more blatant but still spoiler free.

Like "Don't play a summoner who summons tentacle monsters" or "don't worship any of the evil Great Old Ones, except X". (Note: I'm guessing here.)

I don't want to just read the modules to work it out, because, y'know, Spoilers.

Sort of hoping GMs who have character concepts in their campaigns that prove disastrous can post hints for their successors.


I posted in the wrong thread last night (because I am an idiot). Didn't notice it until I woke up this morning.
I wondered if I should flag it, but none of the options really fit.
Is it possible to get someone to delete it?
If so, who do I ask?
Post is here
Cheers


I keep getting this error: 'You have made too many requests for the same page too quickly'
I only get it from Chrome. Only on one computer. On every page.
If I try it from Chrome on a different computer is all okay.
If I try it from Firefox on the same computer is all okay.
Interestingly if I try and Ping www.paizo.com I get a Request Timed Out.
I tried rebooting - same problem.
I tried different networks (same computer, chrome) and got the same problem.

I'm guessing this is not the website so much as the way I am interacting with it, but any advice would be very welcome.


Qantium, capital of Nex, is the largest, most magically advanced city in the world. The masses of citizens contained in the walled city are seeded with rogue alchemist experiments, escaped summonings and unlicensed monsters. Every day a hundred crimes are reported, and another hundred aren't.
It's the Guard's job to deal with all of them. Most guard squads deal with the everyday misdemeanour's and fights - but not yours.
You deal with the 'unusual' crimes. The ones that no-one else can - or wants to - deal with.

Inspired by Simon R Green and Jim Butcher.

More details here

Crunch:
Starting level: 5th
HP: full at 1st level, half+1 after that
Alignment: anything appropriate for City Guard (CE is definitely not), must be able to cooperate with fellow Guardsmen and follow orders (or at least must seem to follow orders...)
Stats: 25 point buy
Class: any Paizo
Race: any Paizo
Traits: pick any two, two more special campaign traits will be given based on your background
Wealth: level appropriate (10.500 gp for 5th level)

Fluff:
Description: Please provide a description of your character as if someone saw you for the first time.
Personality: Self explanatory. This may include favorite quotes, quirks, etc.
Background: Please submit a rather detailed history of your character including prior adventures/work and how she/he happened to be in Quantium and entered the service. You are starting at 5th level, so you should have some interesting past...

This is a continuation of our campaign. We have lost some players and are looking for replacement characters.
The Guard squad currently consists of a Human Diviner and Clockwork Investigator.
We are looking for 3-5 characters to complement the group.
We need a martial character (preferably melee)and a divine character. The other characters may have any class you feel might be useful for urban investigation and monster hunting.

All submitted characters will be considered by GM and remaining players. The approval will be done by consensus.

The recruitment will probably be opened till April 24th, but if we find suitable characters before that time, we might close it earlier (but prior notice at will be given).


Players, please dot here to report in


I'm interested in running a magical investigators game.
This is a spiritual follow up to Spooky's excellent Darkest Corners campaign, so I have appropriated the name. Other influences are Simon R Green and Jim Butcher.
I have three players already, but would like at least one more.
The discussion thread here has more details.
If this looks like something you are interested in then please speak up.


DM

This is a thread to discuss the formation of a game.
It is inspired by many sources; Simon R Green's Nightside and Haven, Noir detective stories, and of course Spooky's Darkest Corners thread.

I would like a city with enough people to start to run into metropolis problems.

I would like a large class of poor, and a small class of very rich, and Tammany Hall politics.

I would like the death of pretty much any individual to be something that gets investigated. For pretty much everyone to have rights. But I would like there to be an oppressed subclass.

I would like it to be primarily human and human-like races.

I would like it to be in the early stages of an "industrial revolution" using alchemy and magic.

I would like the PCs to be elite members of the "Guards", which are a police type force. The guards also do military and crowd control, PCs unit would be responsible for investigating unusual crimes.


Here so people can dot it


A place to post what happens to the minions, and the minions themselves.


This is the Kingdom Phase 2, 4714-4715AR for the Rise of the New Runelords game at http://paizo.com/campaigns/RiseOfTheNewRunelords


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This is the Kingdom Phase 1, 4713-4714AR for the Rise of the New Runelords game at http://paizo.com/campaigns/RiseOfTheNewRunelords


Previous recruitment was at here

The game is an epic game about the creation of a new Thassilon (based loosley on Xin’s original vision). The game is strongly based on Kingmaker (but I will have to raise some threats a lot to actually be a threat).

The premise is that a rich dwarven wizard named Hargran Stonebound ran a small (and illegal) ‘cult’ of Lissala in Cheliax, out of Egorian academy. He has seven apprentices/acolytes who are as much lab assistants as anything else.

A few nights ago he arranged a contract with Brevoy to claim the Stolen Lands. He grabbed his students and ran, but the Cheliax government tried to stop him. He is now near death and his students are largely on their own.

There are Seven students (obviously) but three have or are dropped out, so I am looking for three new characters.

Characters should be ex-students and cultists of Hargran who have answered his call to arms.

The group is about to go Mythic. Recruitment ends when just before they do. I'm guessing a week.

I would like everyone to think about why their character was in the ‘cult’;
Are you a true believer? Are you simply hoping to acquire some of Hargran’s wealth? Seeking secret knowledge? Taking advantage of the fact Hargran will give you a better grade if you are in his cult? Hoping to gain power? Using Hargran’s well known tolerance of strange races to gain a measure of protection in prejudiced Cheliax, which has now turned on you?

This is also a Mythic game. Resurrect the true Lissalan Church and in return you will become her Champions on Golarion.

I think a strength of PbP is that it can cope well with many NPCs on the player sides, so Leadership, Familiars, Golems, Summons etc are all fair game. Be warned that means that this is a large party starting to verge on a small army.

I hope this will be a game where a lot of discussion and planning takes place, so be prepared for it.

Currently we have
The Charitable Runelord in Grey, bearer of Rune of Necromancy, Necromancer Wizard
The Generous Runelord Denat, bearer of the Rune of Conjuration , Conjurer Wizard
The Kind Runelord Simon, bearer of the Rune of Evocation, Gun-using evocation Wizard
the Loving Runelord Anglon, bearer of the Rune of Enchantment, Cleric of Lissala.

Available runes and virtues are
Temperante, Zelaous, and Humble
Rune of Abjuration, Transmutation, and Illusion.

Character creation
Level: 5th level, SECOND MYTHIC TIER (which you will get at game start. 6th level hopefully by end of the year)
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts for core races, 25-RP for other races. Human or human derived preferred but not required.
Traits: none (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: Anyone with a Knowledge (History) total of 10 or more gets a free Feat at the start of game.
Gold: 11000 (say what you will about Hargan, he’s not stingy)
Characters Must:

* have craft wondrous and & prof in a martial or exotic polearm
* have worshipped Lissala
* not be a dedicate of another god (or religious philosophy)
* be lawful
House rules:
Bladebound may choose a polearm as their black blade.
Clerics of Lissala may take the separatist archetype without the domain penalty.

Special
I will also consider accepting applications for up to one Kobold character of any class with the following limits
Level: 5th level, SECOND MYTHIC TIER (which you will get at game start. 6th level hopefully by end of the year)
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts.
Traits: 2 (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: None.
Gold: 100
Characters Must:
* Have recently converted to Lissala
* Be a local Kobold


FOREWORD

Almost certainly you - dear reader - have heard of the New Runelords. You may even know certain dry facts, or been subjected to the propaganda posing as historical evidence the current Runelords promulgate. Rest assured that this history is different.

I have taken the facts and evidence, statements from various summoned beings and a lifetime of work in the field of Divination and used it to construct - in never before detail - the true story of the Rise of the New Runelords.


This is the start of the discussion thread.


Rise of the New Runelords.

Eustace Thrune, The History of the Egorian Academy of Cheliax, 4800AR wrote:


Hargran Stonebound 4312-4714
Lecturer in Pre-Starfall History 4482-4603
Reader in Pre-Starfall History 4603-4713
King of Hargran 4713-4714
Hargran Stonebound is one of the most notable of Egorian Academy’s faculty members. For centuries he quietly educated in pre-starfall history, especially that of Thassilon. While his academic reputation was not widely regarded, his speed at the creation of arcane devices and magical items was exceptional. The sale of these items left Stonebound a rich dwarf and this in turn gave him a degree of protection from the turmoil in Cheliax following the death of Ardoen that occurred three years after he became reader.
Not much is known of Stonebound’s history - his family name appears to have been a pseudonym, suggesting he was an exile. It is now known that he kept two major secrets. Firstly, that he had access somehow to an artefact or site of great significance to ancient Thassilon that was instrumental in his prodigious enchanting output. Secondly, that he was in fact the head of a Lissalan cult.
There are several theories as to why on 7 Pharast 4713 he decided to found the kingdom of Hargran (as it was then known). It is generally agreed that it was due to a desire to make a mark in history, though Stonebound officially claimed it as a divinely inspired dream. The story circulated by the bard Grigori that Stonebound made a bet with a fellow academic that he could do a better job than Xin is almost certainly fiction regardless of its popularity among history departments across Golarion.
Hargran died of old age in 4714AR at 402 years of age. He never saw the heights the kingdom would reach when it passed into the hands of his seven acolytes. While his name is certainly stamped in history it is usually only as a footnote to the names and deeds of those new Runelords.
Catechism of Reformed Lissalan Church, 4815 AR wrote:


“Great chaos rose up, and a voice said “Let there be a new Thassilon”, and seven new Runelords stepped forth and faced the Chaos”

I’m looking to run an epic game about the creation of a new Thassilon (based loosley on Xin’s original vision). The game will be strongly based on Kingmaker (but I will have to raise some threats a lot to actually be a threat).

I’ve run Kingmaker before from 1 to 20 tabletop, and there’s a few changes to the kingdom building I’d like to make, but these are mostly expansions and clarifications.

The premise is that a rich dwarven wizard named Hargan Stonebound runs a small (and illegal) ‘cult’ of Lissala in Cheliax, out of Egorian academy. He has seven apprentices/acolytes who are as much lab assistants as anything else.
One night he comes to his group, explains that he has arranged for them to found a kingdom, and in doing so brought the cult to light - very soon the church of Asmodeus is likely to make life very uncomfotable.
Unprepared and unready, but brimming with magical power the group teleports to a small trading post on the outskirts of Brevoy.
As the quote at the start suggests, Hargan is not long for this world. The damp River Kingdoms will hasten his demise, and eventually leave your seven characters in charge.

I would like everyone to think about why their character was in the ‘cult’;
Are you a true believer? Are you simply hoping to acquire some of Hargran’s wealth? Seeking secret knowledge? Taking advantage of the fact Hargran will give you a better grade if you are in his cult? Hoping to gain power? Using Hargran’s well known tolerance of strange races to gain a measure of protection in prejudiced Cheliax?

I would also like everyone to think about a reason why your character would stick it out. This should be in addition to the fact have sworn certain oaths that might be binding, have no easy way to travel out, and are working for a wizard who has Teleport, Scrying, Nightmare and Baleful Polymorph.

This is also a Mythic game. Resurrect the true Lissalan Church and in return you will become her Champions on Golarion. Don’t worry about mythic tiers for now though. I have plans for post-kingmaker play, but as that is a long, long way away so don’t worry about that for now either.

I think a strength of PbP is that it can cope well with many NPCs on the player sides, so Leadership, Familiars, Summons etc are all fair game.

I hope this will be a game where a lot of discussion and planning takes place, so be prepared for it.

I would prefer academic characters, with little survival (you can pick it up later), and while Caster level is NOT required, it is probably a good idea.

You can strongly link your character to a virtue at this time, but actual virtue picking will happen after characters are chosen.

Character creation
Level: 5th level
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts for core races, 25-RP for other races. Human or human derived preferred but not required.
Traits: none (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: Anyone with a Knowledge (History) total of 10 or more gets a free Feat at the start of game.
Gold: 11000 (say what you will about Hargan, he’s not stingy)
Age: Max starting age for class/race combo (27 years).
Characters Must:

    * have craft wondrous and & prof in a martial or exotic polearm
    * have worshipped Lissala
    * not be a dedicate of another god (or religious philosophy)
    * be lawful

House rules:
Bladebound may choose a polearm as their black blade.
Clerics of Lissala may take the separatist archetype without the domain penalty.


A couple of threads have been grabbing my attention lately and I am strongly considering running a game based on it.

Kingmaker campaign based around the rise of seven new PC 'Runelords'.

I figure the game would start at about level 5 and go from there. Some of book #1 could be used (with increased CR, obviously) and quickly hit book #2.

Kicker would be starting with seven (probably arcane) casters who are not optimised for wilderness adventure.

After re-reading a lot of Kingmaker I think maybe it could work. The two questions I can't resolve are
(A) what's the interest level?
(B) Should it use the mythic ruleset?

Any thoughts?


No spoilers please,

Was just wondering how appropriate or inappropriate a cleric of lissala would be as a PC in shattered star, I've been careful to avoid spoilers but it is pretty obvious lissala would fit the theme... but might be as the major villain!


I've done a PbP Playtest of Ashes At Dawn and introduced the rules to my tabletop group in Broken Moon. The update was not brought into play.

Broken Moon
As a GM very much appreciated the Agile and Savage templates as a way to easily upgrade a few monsters to low mythic.
My experience has been that (Level+Mythic tier) is slightly less powerful than level alone IN COMBAT. I don't have enough numbers to justify this beyond the randomness involved in dice.
One of my players has used their mythic wisdom ability on perception a few times to enormous effect (once to spot guards from two hundred feet away, once to see an invisible caster).
Players had trouble with tracking Lesser Trials.
I found the suggestions around how to make a game feel mythic very useful.

Ashes at Dawn
You can check out the threads if you would like more detail.
Once again I found the templates an easy way to upgrade monsters. Would have been good to have a few more "easy add" templates, maybe at +2, +3 and +4. This would let a GM using a published adventure easily upgrade some monsters to Mythic.
There was a confusion about what happens to a mounted character using Amazing Initiative and wanting to move.
We had a character with DR/- and DR/Epic. The fact these didn't stack made DR/Epic useless for him, despite it was a very appropriate ability for his character to have developed. Not sure if I missed a rule on that.
It did feel to me like there were a few too many points under this system. New iteration should fix that.
"To the Death" proved instrumental in a character's surviving. It was great, but probably appropriately costed.
Despite me trying to push it I saw no love for lesser trials. One players suggested it might be due to the fast pace of the game.


Four days ago you left ill-fated Illmarsh, and your minds rebel at remembering the horrors you faced there.

Four days of hard travelling along the winding coastal road to Caliphas.

You were met at the gates of Thrushmoor by the Bishop of Versex. Looking somewhere between awed at having been visited by his goddess and insulted at being used as a mere messenger he stopped the guards from allowing you entrance.

"Oh no - Thrushmoor is not for you. The Lady of Graves appeared to me in a dream last night, telling me to meet you at this spot with two gifts and a warning."

At a word healing energy washes over you, dispelling your tiredness. At a gesture five pharasmin novices, each leading a fine fresh horse, come forward.

"I was told to tell you this: 'The hunters have become the hunted. Death seeks. Darkness comes. Make haste to Caliphas."


Alright, let's do this!

Can everyone sound off please - want to check we've got everyone.

Sound off question: Do we use individual or shared Mythic Weaknesses.

As for Ascension events, my suggestion is everyone has ended up with a patron (Ustalavic) deity helping them on. Pharasma and Desna are the obvious choices, with Morrack being given the big thumbs up by Abadar.

Sound okay?


Hey all,
I'm interested in running Carrion Crown #5 'Ashes at Dawn' using the mythic rules.
Looking for 4 characters that are level 11 with mythic tier 5, and different mythic paths.
I'll up the CR of encounters appropriately, but otherwise try to run as per book.
Game to last about a month, so I'd like people who can post at least once per day.
Previous knowledge of the book NOT a problem. Knowledge of previous books of Carrion Crown a plus.
Looking for characters, not just stats - don't just want to do combat.
Don't need to post from an Alias, but please link to one.

Full Character Creation Rules:

15 point buy
Core rulebook + APG only.
No Traits.
82K equipment, no more than half in any one item.


hey
Don't meant to nitpick, but just wondering
"you can expend one daily use of mythic power to increase any d20 roll you just made by rolling 1d6 and adding it to the results"

This doesn't say bonus, and seems to imply it increases the die result.
If I roll a 19 on an attack roll and add 1, is it a natural 20? Is it a 20 for the purposes of critical?

Guessing I'm just misreading it.


THIS IS NOT A RECRUITMENT THREAD

* I really like these rules.
* I am most concerned about the lesser trials, so I'd like to provide feedback on that.
* I know that the combat system etc is going to be tested pretty thoroughly, so not as worried about playtesting that
* I'm prepared to run a PbP, but I'd like to focus it on the value of the lesser trials.
* Given feedback closes early jan, and I'm getting married late dec, I see this whole thing is going to need to aim for a month-and-a-half (though if it's a good game, I guess I could keep it going after dec)

I'm interested in suggestions in how to best craft a PbP that actually showcases the lesser trials in order the get the best feedback.

I think not just running combats is important. Part of me thinks a sandbox might be the best way to do it, but that might be my favouritism towards showcases.


It is nearly 6:30 when the gate-guard screams out.

Grandmother has been trying to make dinner, but the coughing has gotten so bad one of the older kids has had to take over while she sits down.

Thom-Thom is sitting out on the seat in the front garden watching the gate; his vision means he often pulls night shift, though the silver sky has not yet darkened to black.

Everyone else is bustling around the house but Minnow, and some of the younger kids are grumbling about Minnow being late - mostly because they want to get to the pastries Tarek brought home from work.

Suddenly Thom-Thom screams out "Minnow! Trouble!"

Those who run out into the street or garden see Minnow, arms pumping, covered in sweat, running like the wind away from the gate. A few seconds behind her, just emerging, are a pack of large but mangy long-haired dogs.

You have initiative. Put yourself on the map starting in Thom-Thom's square and move from there. Anyone who wants can look out a second story or first story window, but that has limits where you can see.

NOTES

Anyone want to volunteer to be helping out in the kitchen?

Knowledge Nature DC 12, trained only:

These appear to be a feral dog with a bit of wolf in them. Maybe a quarter or an eighth.

Knowledge Local DC 20, trained only:

These dogs belong to the War-Wolves, a gang of crazy Ulfen thugs and mercenaries that live out 5 gates past High Road. The War-Wolves often use a pack of dogs to run down quarry while they follow behind.

Dinner at Grandmother's House:

At Grandmother's house dinner is not just a meal, it is a tradition.

It starts about 6pm when the various kids with jobs start coming home. Those who can bring food for the table, or toys for the little ones.

Grandmother brings out the main meal and for an hour or so the family talks about their day. Grandmother tells a story. Sometimes someone sings. The kids who are too young to go out talk about what they've been taught by an older kid that day. Anyone who can show something off does.

After dinner Grandmother kisses every child on the forehead and sees them off to baths or bed. Grandmother's kisses are special - not just a symbol of affection but imbued with healing power that soothe aches and heal scratches.

Minnow:

Minnow is thirteen (almost fourteen, as she'll be quick to tell you). She looked gnome sized when she came under Grandmother's care two years ago, a tiny urchin living in East Markets. Grandmother bought her home and fed her up, and discovered Minnow's Talent. Minnow can run. Minnow can run. Minnow can run faster than any other kid at Grandmother's house. She can slip through crowds "like a fish through water" - that, and her size, is where her name comes from.
Minnow is quick - but she's also grown a lot of size and muscle with regular feeding. She's cheerful, and friendly, and loyal. Generally no-one has a bad word to say about her... but no one has ever said anything good about her smarts either.
Minnow is trying to get a job as a runner, but she's been known to fall back on her old occupation of snatch-and-run thief.


Discussion thread for Leviathan Rises


Setting
The City is immense. A network of demiplanes carved out of nothing by desperate arcanists and gods-touched over years. No-one is sure how many people live in the city, but it dwarfs even mighty Katapesh and Absalom, and every resident a refugee, trying to eke out a living on their flimsy lifeboat of a city in the maelstrom of the Astral Plane.

No one would have believed in the last years of the Age of Lost Omens that the wars and conflicts plaguing Golarion world would vanish into insignificance compared to what was to happen. The stars came into their conjunctions and the Others fell to earth, the Old Ones rose from their tombs and seas, and the Outer Gods returned once more.

Those who did not flee Golarion died, save for some small areas overlooked or protected by the gods or the most powerful of magics.

The City is chaos - every district is distinct. Buildings, streets, even whole suburbs were ripped out of Golarion and placed into a demiplane. Collapsing demiplanes have dumped buildings from one district into another. The laws of geography and geometry apply strangely in some places within the city. Even time can run differently in some districts. Law is applied haphazardly, and in places gangs are the only law. An emergency council claims to represent and govern the various districts - a claim often met with derision.

You were only a child at the time. Half trained in some apprenticeship, or simply living your life. You don’t really remember clearly what happened, just shattered images and memories, but you remember your parents. You were roomed with other refugee orphans, and you banded together in self defence through those first three years - the hardest years.

Your gang now holds a tiny bit of territory and you eat almost every day. But your “grandmother” - the old witch woman who has looked out for you all since you arrived - has gotten sick. Her minor magics can’t cure the cough that racks her night after night. Unless someone does something, soon she will die.

Behind the curtain

This is an urban, high magic sandbox game (like an urban Kingmaker). Golarion still exists, and you might even be able to save it one day, but at the start you need to concentrate on making sure your gang survives.

The game setting is inspired by Simon R Green’s Haven & Nightside, Steven Brust’s Adrilankha, James Blish’s New York City, and the Cthulhu Mythos.

I love games where I can work my way up, and build something in the setting - not just follow an adventure path. Something where I can be proactive in seeking power within the game. I love Kingmaker for the sandbox kingdom building elements in it. I have tried to build a game for people looking for this sort of thing.

I am looking for people who want to build a deep and rich world in an urban setting.
Source is Core, APG, UC, UM and ARG and maybe other Paizo products (ask me)
Looking for young characters (normal starting ages waived) but not too young. Somewhere between 13-16 (depending on race) at the start. Start at level 1 (hopefully end up at level 20 and with characters around 50 years old)
Posting: Looking for people who can post at least once per day, preferably more.
Race: humans preferred, but core races are fine, apg races probably okay and maybe even a custom race allowed.
Attributes: 20 point buy for nonhumans, 25 points for humans.
Traits: 2
Skills: as normal and pick an extra class skill from Survival, Stealth & Sleight of Hand
Equipment: minimum starting amount for class. Wearing medium or heavy armour or carrying large weapons is likely to attract unwanted attention.
HP: Max at 1st, average +1 (d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7) per level.
Alignment: Any, but character HAS to be strongly attached to the group.
House Rules: Crafting feats have no caster level requirement.
I will need;
* A name and quick description of a younger kid in the gang you look out for
* A time when Grandmother (old Female Human Witch 4) saved you
* A name and description of an enemy in a gang whose territory borders yours.
* An ally or friend you have made in the area outside the gang who will help you out.
If you are selected I will need;
* Three short term goals (eg “Get a heavy crossbow”)
* Two mid term goals (eg “Join a wizard’s guild”)
* Long term goal (eg “Achieve Immortality”)
* Inter-group ties


I've got an idea for a game that's been exciting me, but I'm not sure if it would work.

I love games where I can work my way up, and build something in the setting - not just follow an adventure path. Something where I can be proactive in seeking power within the game. I love Kingmaker for the sandbox kingdom building elements in it.

I also really like the idea of an urban but high magic setting, like the cities in Stephen Brust and Simon R Green's settings. Somewhere people live and work, but anything is possible. Within Golarion the two obvious choices are Kaer Maga and Whitethrone. I'm tending towards Whitethrone.

I want to build a rich and deep world and I am really want players to want to sandbox inside it.

While this sounds like a great game for me I'm just not sure if people are interested in this style of game.

What do you think?


I am considering running a campaign in Whitethrone in Irrisen.
In such a campaign I would like people to take cold themed characters like winter witches etc.
Trouble is, I can see that in a campaign where half the monsters you are going to encounter have Cold resistance, and a sizeable fraction are vulnerable to fire, Cold spells are a poor choice.

I was planning on saying that die to the extreme cold, cold spells (and class spell like abilities, but not monster abilities) are extra effective in Irrisen. This would be for both PCs and non-PCs.

Not sure if I should, or how to do it. Considering
* All cold spells do +1 damage per die
* All cold spells are +1 CL
* All cold spells are 1 level lower.
* All cold spells treat Cold resist as three points less.
* No change to cold spells (PC's Cold resist defence balances PC's weaker cold attacks)

What do people think?