Use this thread to talk about out of character stuff, rules clarifications etc. I'll post a few links to play by post tips here soon.
Now for the possible point of contention with the upcoming game, I want to use wealth by level for character advancement and not experience.
Basically how this will work is I will keep a tally of the value of all the stuff I give you, when you break the WBL for the next level you level up. Only money earned through risking something while using your own skills counts towards leveling up.
What are your thoughts.
I think WBL will be fine mainly since it makes your job easier in that you don't have to come up with arbitrary exp point values for things and makes it so that we don't just have to be murder hobo's. The only concern I have would be My character since his goal isn't obtaining money or fame it's freedom. Another point of question for you regarding my character would be what about the fact that I'm a slave and thus don't have claim on any money do I not level or do I level but don't receive monetary rewards? Also it will shift our focus from just personal goals to personal goals plus whatever we can get our grubby little hands on which adds and forces a more selfish outlook which I think will mesh nice with a thieves game.
For the purposes of experience, you are considered to be in possession of whatever wealth you can take as long as you can reasonably get control over it. Having to then give that money to someone else for whatever reason is a choice, even if you are a slave.
A bit of your own backstory for you...
When you were bought by the crime lord, he kept you contained for a month, similar to a quarantine. After that he made sure you were fed well enough to work. You are not the only slave he has working for him but he runs on these principals
1 - You are of no use to him if you aren't well equipped
2 - You are an investment to him, so long as you pay off you will be rewarded
3 - If you can pay off your debt to him you are a free person but still a member of the organization
You have now been given over to handler to be properly trained and work with your current cell (the other players)
Your slave debt will start at 500 gp, with a 5% interest rate per week. This is in addition to any other tithes required by the guild I plan on mentioning in the first gameplay post.
Everyone's characters are looking good so I'd say we can move on from character creation.
For gampelay I need everyone to make a quick stat line in their profile that will show up right below their alias name.
To do this go to your profile page and click "Edit Profile"
Then enter the following info into the Classes/Levels line:
Spell Warrior Skald 2 HP 15/15| AC 17| T 11| FF 16| Fort +4| Ref +1| Will +3| Init +1 Perc +5 Dark Vision 60 ft | Concentration +5
Just make sure to edit it to put your own characters stats in and don't use my character stats haha.
Also here are some links to tips about PbP gaming. You don't need to read them all but it does help. I will highlight the best ones below.
Best tips:
Use Bold for character speech: "Hi Tom, how's it going" said Mahkah
Use Italics for thoughts: F+!~ its cold out thought Sterling
Use a Third Person Limited writing style. First person sounds like a good idea, but then you realize the person speaking changes every 6-7 sentences and keeping track of who "I" is becomes really painful
Collaborate with your DM on languages. Other than common, which will be in english, if you want to speak in another language talk with me and we will come up with a real world stand in. Then when you speak orcish your post looks like
"Holen Sie sich den Hubschrauber"
"Get to the choppa!"
And make sure to use OOC tags for OOC talk. Other than that I really suggest reading the entire tips post.
Hey ther
;)
Also, if anyone wants to see some of my character profiles heres a few link to my better ones.
These are a level 8 and 7 character respectively I am using to apply to two games. You guys don't need to be that extensive with your profiles, but if you want to apply to other games then slowly polishing your profile pages will make it far easier. The layout I'm using in those aliases took about 6-7 months for me to get finished and I still need to convert a few other of my characters to that style.
The first gameplay post is up. Please remember to use [.ooc] tags to say stuff out of character there, or to ask questions in this thread because its easier to tell stuff apart.
Also, please use the tips above that I posted. It really does make PbP gaming better. The formatting makes the posts much easier to read and therefore they are more enjoyable.
Hope you guys have fun.
I like how this forum automatically censors
Ya it does that. It also changes your avatar to a smurf if you say it in your post.
To move the game forward a bit more smoothly, if you read a post in gameplay but don't want to advance anything, simply say something like:
As he listens to the conversation his friends are having, Freddy leans against the wall and picks the lint out of his belly button.
It just lets me know you've seen it and want to move on. Otherwise I'll wait until 7-9 at night then move it on.
Smurf turf
Posted a link on the Campaign tab (Left most tab) to the Neuwold page on my wiki
Just to clarify before anyone asks:
Yes the gates in the main walls of the city will be "open" at night, if you do try the go around the outside approach. But they will simply be secondary man doors meant for a single person, opened as needed by the guard so there won't be any sneaking in the gate. Over the wall maybe but not through the gate.
Also, Sterling, would you mind getting yourself an avatar picture?
We will be needing to travel through other gang territories for our mission. What are our general relationships with the other gangs in the city?
Here are The Enlisted's relationships with other criminal organizations, as well as the main reason for the non-neutral ones.
The Enlisted
“Allies” – Iron Watchers
Good Neutral – Dark Side Smugglers, Blades Before Dawn
Neutral – Isle Smugglers, Free Striders, Gold Association, Eastern Commission, Crimson Legion, Dwarven Carta, Magi imperium
Bad Neutral – Elvish Shogunate, Jade Commission, Dust Guard
Feuding – Ivory Brotherhood, Chrome Plague
Points of contention with organizations you have bad relationships with:
Ivory Brotherhood – Fighting over the Wall Market district, also they dislike the Enlisteds acceptance of non-humans/halflings into their ranks
Chrome Plague – Due to alliance with Ivory Brotherhood
Elvish Shogunate and Jade Commission – You refuse to bend the knee to the elves
Dust Guard – They are fighting over the Dust Market with Blades Before Dawn, its nothing personal
Points of reason for why you have good relationships with these organizations:
Iron Watchers – The Enlisted keep the city at bay while they collect the protection fees. They have agreed to spring for discounted items for you as compensation
Dark Side Smugglers – You keep transport taxes low in return for low shipping/receiving taxes for yourselves
Blades Before Dawn – They were losing ground to the Dust Guard, but offered you a half cut in their conquests if you small amounts of aid and keep the peace between the two of you.
Just a heads up, my next post won't be until tomorrow around 5 pm my time. hopefully that gives everyone time to post by friday morning
@Vreni - I'm sorry about this but I butchered you initial character review. Things you should change:
- You only get two feats (my bad for not realizing it/telling you to pick more)
- If you want to two weapon fight effective you should pick up the two-weapon fighting feat. At this level I would suggest taking dodge and weapon focus like you have (you will get the mobility feat for free now as well) and generally only fighting with 1 weapon, then at level 3 get two weapon fighting.
- At first level you get 4 save points, you do not need to use the Slayer classes save progression. These save points can be spent on any of the three saves (fort, will, ref). I would advise putting 3 into will and one into fort [will give you > Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2] and then dropping Iron Will (this is good because you nee to lose two feats anyway). I would also put more points into will/fort over reflex as a failed reflex save will almost never kill you.
- Pick up two Kukri's instead of daggers (they're daggers on steroids, flavour them however you like just pay the correct price for them)
- Your strength score needs to be added to your dagger damage. Your melee slot should read: Dagger +5 (1d4+3 19-20/x2) for main hand attacks or Dagger +5 (1d4+1 19-20/x2) for off-hand attacks (Also note you only have main hand attacks unless TWF, all pathfinder characters are ambidextrous until that point)
- Store most of you gold somewhere (the safe house works)
Remember 50 coins = 1 lb of weight
- I am also not sure where you 18 AC is coming from, its 3 armor, 3 dex 1 dodge, don't know where the last one is coming from please tell me
That's all I'm seeing right now. Sorry I butchered the review so badly the first time. If you need any help/want advice on how to make the TWF rogue build work, either me or Sterling can help a lot
I plan to take two weapon fighting at 2nd level as a slayer talent. The 18 AC comes from the Dodge feat. Thanks
I plan to take two weapon fighting at 2nd level as a slayer talent. The 18 AC comes from the Dodge feat. Thanks
I already accounted for the dodge feat. Your sheet has +3 armor from the studded leather, +3 dexterity from your dexterity modifier, and then +1 from the dodge feat. Total of 17. Not sure where the last point is from still.
Also, I will be using my Cohort, Hirelings, and Followers rules for this game. So at level 5 you get a level 1 Cohort if you choose to look for one. Just figured I'd let you guys know now instead of surprising you.
Can my cohort be an orphan crime squad of spies? they can stay in the orphanage called 'smurf turf' I'm not sure yet if I'm kidding.
Oh ya sorry I totally added the dodge bonus twice
Lol probably not Sterling. Basically you get to tell me what you are looking for and I make something close to it and give them a back story. Then I'll post all that for you and from then on they are yours to play 100%.
And no worries Vreni
smurf turf
Oh and how do people want to do combat? Theater of the mind (mapless) is not a thing I want to do. Here are my options to you:
1 - Google Spreadsheet - the map has to be in squares sadly, and looks like crap, but its easy
2 - Hexographer-to-Scribus-to-Google Powerpoint - looks great, and has hexes
3 - Roll20 - online mapping tool you need to log into to use. It works really well and I believe will be less of a hassle that option 2. Also has hexes. Down side is everyone needs to make an account
Personally I want to use either a Google Spreadsheet or Roll20, but I also want to hear all your votes.
dang I know all dem back alleys
Haha just realized I posted here instead of the gameplay one. Lol smurf brained sometimes when I have multiple tabs open.
Hey Vreni, it looks like your Int is 11 not 9. you should have 8 skill ranks if you do.
And yes you get the perks, since that is your culture.
Oh s@$! your right! I was mixing up wisdom and Intelligence
Here's a brief description of the cities night life, just so everyone is on the same page:
Most of the city quiets down fairly quickly as dusk settles over it. The walls and buildings make the darkness come quickly, with little time between sunlight and full darkness. At night the city guard is much less forgiving than in the day time and the lowest of criminals are out looking for easy targets to mug.
The parts of the city that don't quiet down quickly are the Aristocratic, Noble, and Imperial districts. The aristocracy and nobility live in more heavily patrolled areas of town, have their own guards, and enjoy moving about from engagement to engagement late into night. Specifically for the Imperial District, a night shift moves in to replace the day shift and the bureaucracy and accounting continues. The bureaucrats of the Empire haven't ceased activity in nearly 40 years due to this.
In the parts of the city that do quiet down there are some small tasks such as guard patrols, rat catching, and bars that continue to operate.
btw, I vote Roll20 for combat.
Just letting everyone know that I will most likely post very little between December 23 and 26. Not that I need to do much as I am waiting on a plan of action from you guys.
If you have any more questions feel free to ask them.
@Vreni - I checked you character sheet and it says you only have a normal backpack. If you purchased one with a false bottom could you link the source for the price? Otherwise it'd cost 30 gp more than a normal backpack. This makes it a DC 20 perception check to find anything hidden in the false bottom though so there is a mechanical benefit to it.
Okay I'll minus the gold from my inventory
I've got my last exam today so not much time, but Thursday/Friday I will move the game onto travelling through the city, under the bridge and through the south commons, as that seems to be the consensus
Sounds good.
Hashtag smurf turf.
I'm holding off on posting, you guys keep on hashing out your plan.
where is the link to the google doc?
Its up at the top beside where it says Starfinder... well it is now anyway. I forgot to put the link up when I made my post. Thanks for catching that
Also, feel free to change your characters position on the map when your make your turn.
E - Eva
S - Sterling
V - Vreni
M - Mahkah
G1 - Guard, has a shortsword and shield - neither is drawn
G2 - Guard, has a shortsword,shield, and crossbow - none are drawn
Also, Eva brought it up but everyone feel free to act now, no need to wait for Mahkah unless you want to
Do I have to reroll stealth everytime I move?
In combat yes, but since the guard has turned and seen everyone except Eva who is invisible there's no point in it right now
I believe Eva always has her buckler strapped to her arm
Cool cool, didn't look that closely, just checking. BTW Smurf turf