This is the discussion thread for two campaigns:

Wellards RotRL OOC thread


Play-by-Post Discussion

851 to 900 of 1,491 << first < prev | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | next > last >>
The Exchange

Human 10th Cleric of Nethys | AC 21/T 12/FF 15, CMD 20, HP 103 / 103, F+12, R +7, W+15, Per +8, Init +6

Marak is now leveled as well.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

Romon is too traumatized to level.

I'll try to get to it tonight.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

Good plan with locate object, Kevin. Hopefully we can pick up the trail and deal with them before going to the tower.

Azoun, thanks for the tough love. I completely know Romon-Muchorak's bromance is going to work out! :)


[channel Clint Eastwood]Just because he saved your ass doesn't mean you'll be swapping spit in the showers[/channel Clint Eastwood]

Liberty's Edge

He's just that type of guy. :D


Wellard, when Chopper comitted his murders in Sandpoint was he wearing a mask like the ones that cultists wore?


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

... and listen closely, you may find out some details of Esteriande's history, or should I say 'istory?


No the Chopper was you run of the mill madman not a Norgrober cultist..

Dark Archive

Some dude
DM Wellard wrote:
No the Chopper was you run of the mill madman not a Norgrober cultist..

Ah, Varisia. Come for the picturesque little towns on the seacoast. Stay for the mad slashers.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7
Set wrote:
DM Wellard wrote:
No the Chopper was you run of the mill madman not a Norgrober cultist..
Ah, Varisia. Come for the picturesque little towns on the seacoast. Stay for the mad slashers.

Sounds like home! I live two miles from the housing estate where Ian Brady and Myra Hindley lived, and five from Dr Harold Shipman's old practice ... Before I moved here, I lived five miles from Fred & Rose West ...


Dabbler wrote:
Set wrote:
DM Wellard wrote:
No the Chopper was you run of the mill madman not a Norgrober cultist..
Ah, Varisia. Come for the picturesque little towns on the seacoast. Stay for the mad slashers.
Sounds like home! I live two miles from the housing estate where Ian Brady and Myra Hindley lived, and five from Dr Harold Shipman's old practice ... Before I moved here, I lived five miles from Fred & Rose West ...

I just looked up some of those...people. I could not even bring myself to read very far.

"Icky" is all leveled up.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

I know ... scary, in the extreme. Still, they are all dead or in prison now.


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3

Had almost the exact same experience as Bill, googled them out of curiosity and then before I read anything was like 'I really don't need to know any of this stuff, and it's certainly not going to help me in any way or make me feel better'...so...

Still it's always hard to imagine just what exactly could really make one human do that to another, especially children. Even just considering the existence of such people gives that sinking feeling in the gut...well, that is assuming they are human, those that do such things...


Evil is always with us..and some chose to be Evil.That is really all I have to say on the subject.Let us move on to brighter and better things.


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3

Seconded


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

Agreed. I shouldn't have mentioned the subject ...


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3

Did Ali just create a whole new industry for Golarian? Rentin equipment to adventerers? She could start a franchise! 'Ali's You break 'em You buy 'em' shops all over the land! Course only as long as Big Bear doesn't carrying all the sacks of her profit, her not being interested in such paltry ideas as capatatism and all.

Dabs, from the description of the spell don't think levitation will work for you guys as you will hardly be able to fight will levitating. Flight might work out ok, but that's the only other other practical possibility besides rings of FFall I can think of as wands of FFall won't work either. Wand of PFE are a good idea though! Also maybe shield, mirror image?, and...


Your DM will put his Heather the Sorceress hat on here and say haste..Haste is a must even if you only have 5 or 6 charges that frees up Narias spell slots for something else.

And if memory serves you haven't actually spent anything out off the kitty..you never got the chance.


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3

Was going to suggest Haste but then didn't want to step in Naria's demesne. But it makes sense, and maybe if we're getting the wand she could swap out that spell for something else?

And don;t know how many we have but a Cure wand or two never hurts

Dark Archive

Khaladon wrote:

Was going to suggest Haste but then didn't want to step in Naria's demesne. But it makes sense, and maybe if we're getting the wand she could swap out that spell for something else?

And don;t know how many we have but a Cure wand or two never hurts

Im happy for Naria to continue just casting haste spells (they last longer and affect more people than a wand version would and for a melee heavy group like this it seems to be working out pretty well) Cure light wands are always useful


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

We actually have two CLW wands in Esteriande's hands - one she started with, with a few charges left, and one given us by the Princess. Checking my sheet I have 2100gp, so 7748gp/7 = 1106gp with a little left over.

I suggest we settle on what we need group-wise, and split the rest between us to save or spend. I would suggest that a wand of spiderclimb for the party and a potion of levitation each would not be a bad idea.


Even though everyone is thinking in terms that would be realistic for adventurers I find the idea of magic shops to spoil the versimilitude. I seem to be in the minority here but just stopping at the corner wand emporium is reduces the fun in my opinion.

Now this might seem like a silly or even empty distinction but both Inikai and Marak can fashion magic items. Inikai would need someone else to provide the spells and it might take more time but it does assist me (at least) with the suspension of disbelief.

I will, of course, yield to the will of the majority on this matter. Certainly, I am mindful of the pacing of PbP games and the need to hand-wave certain things. So if i am making an issue out of nothing then disregard this post.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

I generally agree on the magic store, Bill, but there are a couple of extenuating factors here.

  • our location near one of the three top markets in Varisia.
  • Our patroness has considerable pull and resources to help us get what we need.
  • We're looking at low-level spells.
  • These are the kind of spells that would be useful in Romon's previous profession. And as a local boy, he would know where to go and who to see.

We could RP the procurement if that would help. I'm fine either way although I will confess having the mill boss run out has me in a lather to find the SOB and give him a belly full of steel.

Romon is somewhat more diffident about the bellyful of steel at this point. He is anxious to grab some alchemical items though and couple other small things. I'm just waiting to see how the party spending comes out so I know what my budget is.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

I don't think we are so much using a magic shop as we are availing ourselves of the myriad stores in the bazaar. I imagine that there will be many craftsmen and artificers present there also, and items under 1000gp in value can be crafted within a day if they are not available 'off the shelf' as some common magic items may be.

Esteriande feels similarly about the mill owner ... although she favours decapitation over disembowelment.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

I didn't say anything about ripping his bowels out, just filling them with steel.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

My bad! How did you plan to do so? I assumed it was with a sword in the guts but there are other ways ...

Dark Archive

Some dude

IMO, magic item shops *add* to the versimilitude. We aren't in Middle-earth, where we are handed eight magic items within the first month of leaving our house.

We adventure, others adventure, items are found, and sold, and it would make sense for the invisible NPCs we are selling stuff to, to also resell it, and thus, to have some sort of shops, in which to resell all of the junk that people like us off-load onto them, as well as the gear created by the various adepts, clerics, druids, sorcerers, wizards, etc. who have picked up a craft feat. (Although it's less likely there would be a 'magic item shop' so much as a temple or mages academy or guild where one would go to pick up such items.)

I'm not sure that any specialty shop should necessarily have *exactly* what we're looking for, but, in a sizable town, which could have well over a dozen craft-capable spellcasters, almost any reasonable item should be able to be crafted to order within a week.

Craft feats aren't that hard to come by, and spellcasters aren't particularly rare. There are settings where magic is mystical and special and exotic, and you have to go to the elf-lands to get them or whatever, but the mechanics of D&D have never really lent themselves to that sort of thing.

On the other hand, as already pointed out, Marak has a crafting feat, so doesn't really have to shop anyway, for some of the items he would want. Then again, the last time he had a day off to craft, he had just leveled up to 5th level and gotten that crafting feat, so it's not the easiest feat to use. :)


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

I don't know. I keep coming back to the standard daily wages and scaling against those. 3 sp/day for a "trained hireling" ie "mercenary warriors, masons, craftsmen, cooks, scribes, teamsters". Admittedly this is a base wage with some wages considerably higher. Untrained labor is 1 sp/day.

For ease of calculation let's figure 5 sp/day. So a spellcrafter clearing half of the purchase price of a 7500 sp wand of cure light wounds nets 750 days -- over two years worth -- of above-average daily wages. To my mind spellcrafters should be about as common as Ferrari salesmen.

Also, because they have to invest 2 years worth of average wages in something like that wand, I think they would be far more likely to work on commissioned pieces rather than make items on speculation.

But that's just my opinion.

Regarding prevalence of spell-casters (or any PC class) using the 3.0 DnD DM's Handbook suggestions, for a "small city" of 12,000 each class gets 2 top dogs of level 1d8+6 through 1d3+6 depending on class, spellcasters being less common and you branched down from there, doubling population every time you halved population. Magnimar is a small city, so we should expect at most 2 tenth level casters of each type, 4 5th level, 8 3rd level, and 16 1st or something like that to serve a population in the low teen-thousnads. Admittedly the guidelines say other factors, demographic, economic, or narrative, may affect that number.

On the other hand, common goods like axes are ridiculously high-priced too. A spear -- 20 sp. Four days of good wages. Two days worth of profit. Did it really take 2 days to select and smooth that shaft, hammer and hone the spearpoint and set or bind the spearpoint in place? Longsword 150 sp. 75 sp profit. That's 15 days. A garden variety smith can make 2 a month and live pretty well. Masterwork?

Pity me. This stuff drives me crazy.


As I said, I am content to forget my objection and proceed. In fact, I am quite sure that some of you here could probably greatly impress me with your ability to role-play the purchase of magic items. Of course, the pacing of on-line games does not lend itself to such things as extended commercial affairs.

For my own purposes I like to imagine the sale of magic items being tense affairs like large-scale drug or gun deals. Both parties would need to establish contact and some level of trust but never be completely at ease with eachother. And there would always be the chance that something would go wrong and blood would be spilled. In a world where low-powered magic items are common this would be rare unless the items in question were extraordinarily powerful.

To be more succinct: on to the bazzar.

On a different note:

Wellard, I want to send you an e-mail with some Word documents attached. All the files are related to the game, one of which I sent to you when the game began. I just need to do a little more editing. Would that be okay with you?


therealthom wrote:

I don't know. I keep coming back to the standard daily wages and scaling against those. 3 sp/day for a "trained hireling" ie "mercenary warriors, masons, craftsmen, cooks, scribes, teamsters". Admittedly this is a base wage with some wages considerably higher. Untrained labor is 1 sp/day.

For ease of calculation let's figure 5 sp/day. So a spellcrafter clearing half of the purchase price of a 7500 sp wand of cure light wounds nets 750 days -- over two years worth -- of above-average daily wages. To my mind spellcrafters should be about as common as Ferrari salesmen.

Also, because they have to invest 2 years worth of average wages in something like that wand, I think they would be far more likely to work on commissioned pieces rather than make items on speculation.

But that's just my opinion.

Regarding prevalence of spell-casters (or any PC class) using the 3.0 DnD DM's Handbook suggestions, for a "small city" of 12,000 each class gets 2 top dogs of level 1d8+6 through 1d3+6 depending on class, spellcasters being less common and you branched down from there, doubling population every time you halved population. Magnimar is a small city, so we should expect at most 2 tenth level casters of each type, 4 5th level, 8 3rd level, and 16 1st or something like that to serve a population in the low teen-thousnads. Admittedly the guidelines say other factors, demographic, economic, or narrative, may affect that number.

On the other hand, common goods like axes are ridiculously high-priced too. A spear -- 20 sp. Four days of good wages. Two days worth of profit. Did it really take 2 days to select and smooth that shaft, hammer and hone the spearpoint and set or bind the spearpoint in place? Longsword 150 sp. 75 sp profit. That's 15 days. A garden variety smith can make 2 a month and live pretty well. Masterwork?

Pity me. This stuff drives me crazy.

In either the first edition DMG or Players Handbook section on money, Gary Gygax wrote that he envisioned DnD economics to resemble those of Alaskan towns during the Gold Rush. The prices of all things were greatly inflated by the influx of great weatlth in surges.I wish I still had my 1E books.

It is probably best not to think to much about it. Just like, I should not have thought so much about the magic shop to begin with.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4
Bill Lumberg wrote:

...

For my own purposes I like to imagine the sale of magic items being tense affairs like large-scale drug or gun deals. Both parties would need to establish contact and some level of trust but never be completely at ease with each other. And there would always be the chance that something would go wrong and blood would be spilled. In a world where low-powered magic items are common this would be rare unless the items in question were extraordinarily powerful.

...

This is a cool take on it. Very cool.

Crafters could establish a reputation for reliability. Buyers could be fairly comfortable in dealing with a known personality. Back alley sellers ("Psst, buddy, want a magic sword?") could be legitimate, or conmen or thieves using the lure of magic items as bait. And Sellers of all stripes would always have to be very careful that their buyer wasn't going to rip them off.


Well as I said perhaps you should go take a look at your target before formulating a plan.Romon will show you where it is he grew up near it.

On the subject of magical items in general..I prefer to go with the fact that you have merchants in the Bazzar of Sails selling plunder from across Varisia and beyond..think of the stuff you have sold already in this campaign then multiply it by the number of adventuring grops roaming around Varisia alone and there has to be a fairly active trade in part used wands, scrolls and potions(I'd probably include any Ring or Wonderous Item under 2000Gp in worth in that) For the more expensive stuff yes you need to find someone to make it for you but minor magics are pretty common.

It also goes someway to explaining why the horrendously over inflated( in terms of coin in circulation ) economy works in the D&D trope.You get gold you spend it on magic , that gold then gets spent by the trader to buy new stock from another bunch of adventurers who use that gold to buy magic..the money is therefore concentrated into the hands of a few dozen traders in magical items who have to keep the money moving to stay in business.

Come to think off it there might be less coin around than people think if it's mainly tied up in the continual trade in magic.


therealthom wrote:
Bill Lumberg wrote:

...

For my own purposes I like to imagine the sale of magic items being tense affairs like large-scale drug or gun deals. Both parties would need to establish contact and some level of trust but never be completely at ease with each other. And there would always be the chance that something would go wrong and blood would be spilled. In a world where low-powered magic items are common this would be rare unless the items in question were extraordinarily powerful.

...

This is a cool take on it. Very cool.

Crafters could establish a reputation for reliability. Buyers could be fairly comfortable in dealing with a known personality. Back alley sellers ("Psst, buddy, want a magic sword?") could be legitimate, or conmen or thieves using the lure of magic items as bait. And Sellers of all stripes would always have to be very careful that their buyer wasn't going to rip them off.

Looks like we are all online right now.

If I ever DM (UNLIKELY!) I would love to set up an encounter based on a deal going wrong.

Off to bed now, my alarm goes off at 5:20 AM

Good night, all

Dark Archive

Some dude
therealthom wrote:
For ease of calculation let's figure 5 sp/day. So a spellcrafter clearing half of the purchase price of a 7500 sp wand of cure light wounds nets 750 days -- over two years worth -- of above-average daily wages. To my mind spellcrafters should be about as common as Ferrari salesmen.

IMO, most magical crafters are going to have only potions and scrolls of low level spells 'on the shelves,' and only spells that they already know, from experience, 'move,' such as cure light wounds and lesser restoration potions. Other stuff will be on-demand, and regular customers will known to order stuff in advance of anticipated need (and only because they *are* regular customers, and perhaps pay half up front, will they get this sort of consideration from the crafters) so that the item they seek will be available in time for when they want to have it.

Other stuff 'on the shelves' will be random crap that was sold to the vendor, and probably kind of esoteric, or else it would have already sold (or been seized up by the owners for their own use). Some feather tokens and a hand of the mage, or whatever.

.

On the one hand, in 1st edition, when *any* permanant magic item represented someone losing a point of Constitution *permanently,* it made some thematic sense for magic items to be all rare and mysterious and that other definition of 'magical' (as in, 'rare' and 'evoking a sense of awe and wonder'), but the modules kind of ignored that by having ever-increasing piles of magical loot that was, in many cases, kind of crazy junk. I mean, really, what 11th level magic-user spent a point of Constitution, representing years off of his life, making that Murlynd's Spoon or that pair of Eyes of the Eagle, knowing that he was only going to be able to make about ten magic items in his life before he burned out and died from it?

Eh. Massive flavor / crunch disconnect. Hardly the only place in D&D that happened...


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

I like Wellard's suggestion, that would make trading in magic items like speculating in land/property: it ties up a lot of money, people still do it in order to make larger amounts of money, it can make huge profits in the long run but can also incur serious losses if it goes wrong.

In the meantime, let's do some scouting today as suggested and then decide what we will need.

Liberty's Edge

ok, now that i'm awake in my part of the world and have missed so much...i've skimmed through most of this. I still have my 1ed books! To include an odd Unearthed Arcana. (the pages are opposite and upside down from the hard cover)

I have no issue either way we go with the purchasing. I would like to use Marak's feat (however I understand that time is an issue), I always hate seeing Feats seemed wasted when they are not used. :(

If we go searching for a shop it should prove to be very interesting...for one Muchorak and Ali are not well versed in magical arts, of course she is more versed than he. So when he goes shopping for something he wouldn't know to look for such items as Levitation, Flying, Spider climbing; as he has never encountered nor seen them used. He would know of healing wands, magical weapons to help him in combat and magical armor. However he would still be 'blind' to specific properties of such items.


Cookie Jar Pilferer 9 ; Dimensional Explorer 4

Notes to self:

Spoiler:
swan boat feather token 450 , +1 longsword 1315, hand of the mage 900, elixir of fire breath 1100, bracers of armor +1, ioun torch 75, elixir of tumbling 250,


Female Forest Gnome Wild Druid / 9| G AC17, W AC18 H AC17 DW AC21; HP 81/81, CMD 21, F/R/W 10/10/6 **, Percep +11 Low-light & Scent, Init +7

Ali's leveled up except need to pick a feat and some gear, any suggestions?


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

Druid vestments?

I haven't picked gear yet, in fact other than specific stuff we may need I'm saving pennies for a weapon upgrade.

Liberty's Edge

Muchorak needs weapon upgrades as well... :D


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3
Dabbler wrote:

Druid vestments?

I haven't picked gear yet, in fact other than specific stuff we may need I'm saving pennies for a weapon upgrade.

Was looking at those, but I meant more for the Feat. There's so many possibilities and Ali is the only druid I've played in a Long time.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7
Khaladon wrote:
Dabbler wrote:

Druid vestments?

I haven't picked gear yet, in fact other than specific stuff we may need I'm saving pennies for a weapon upgrade.

Was looking at those, but I meant more for the Feat. There's so many possibilities and Ali is the only druid I've played in a Long time.

Natural Spell - a must have for all druids that change shape.


M Brownin (Half Pale Skin/Half Dark Skin) Healer 8/Merchant 3
Dabbler wrote:
Khaladon wrote:
Dabbler wrote:

Druid vestments?

I haven't picked gear yet, in fact other than specific stuff we may need I'm saving pennies for a weapon upgrade.

Was looking at those, but I meant more for the Feat. There's so many possibilities and Ali is the only druid I've played in a Long time.
Natural Spell - a must have for all druids that change shape.

Turned out was an easy choice after all. Power attack it is. Would for sure have have taken Natural Attack, a while ago, but it specifically does not work with Shapeshifting. Which is kind of understandable considering some of the advatages Shapeshifting has over Wildshaping


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

Yes, I went for it too, you need it to up the damage output if you are going to dish out damage. Furious Focus is a great one for 9th level, after that I'll have to choose whether to go for damage output or maneuvers ... decisions, decisions ...


Female Forest Gnome Wild Druid / 9| G AC17, W AC18 H AC17 DW AC21; HP 81/81, CMD 21, F/R/W 10/10/6 **, Percep +11 Low-light & Scent, Init +7

Yup, the life of a modern pre-medieval ass kicking woman is never an easy one, sigh.


He's got pointed ears, like Spock. // AC 17, FF 14, T 15 // HP 68/73 // F,R,W 7,11,4 // Percept 14 + // Init +4

Wellard, regarding our 2 weapon fighting discussion a couple weeks ago ... How do you feel about this FAQ?

I believe you indicated that you felt differently. Your game, your rules. If we play per the FAQ, I might want to change Romon's last feat from TWF to Combat Expertise heading for improved feint. (Still might want to chase TWF. I'm not sure.)


My posting is going to be less frequent for the foreseeable future, especially on Mondays and weekends. I will still try to get at least one post a day, though. Just don't asssume that I am leaving the game.


Romon wrote:

Wellard, regarding our 2 weapon fighting discussion a couple weeks ago ... How do you feel about this FAQ?

I believe you indicated that you felt differently. Your game, your rules. If we play per the FAQ, I might want to change Romon's last feat from TWF to Combat Expertise heading for improved feint. (Still might want to chase TWF. I'm not sure.)

I'm fairly sure that FAQ stance is what I had in mind ..ah the internet home of many misunderstandings.


Just a heads up guys I'll be away from my computer from Friday till Sunday as I will be in London attending Dragonmeet on Saturday (for PFS games) and need the days either side for travel.


This IS the internet you know ... Alegedly human Expert (IT) 5/Ninja 3/Witch 7

Have a great time!

851 to 900 of 1,491 << first < prev | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Online Campaigns / Play-by-Post Discussion / Wellards RotRL OOC thread All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.