Greetings, and welcome to my 13th Age/Shattered Star Game.
This game will be firmly set in Golarion, but use the 13th Age rules set.
The 13th Age SRD has all the 13th Age rules, but lacks a lot of the cool sidebars present in the actual book. 13th age is a d20 system, I'm quite fond of it. It's got smooth combat like 4e but lots of freefom and mechanics that integrate with and encourage roleplaying.
Character Creation Rules Here.
Pregens here
Notes/Choices/Modifications below.
We'll be using the 28 point buy this time around. Please note that it works differently than Pathfinder's Point Buy.
From the simplest character class to the most complex, the
classes go like so:
• The barbarian is designed for the player who wants to roll
dice and slay without worrying too much about the rules.
• Like the barbarian, the ranger relies on base attacks
augmented by class talents instead of a power list.
• The paladin also relies on a short list of class talents instead
of powers. Like the ranger, it can be slightly more complex if
you choose its more involved talents.
• The fighter is simple to play but asks you to make interesting
choices between flexible attacks before and during combat.
• The cleric is probably the easiest of the spellcasters. It
requires a touch of patience.
• The sorcerer is probably more complex than the cleric
because of variant spells and the option to cast spells for
double the effect in two rounds. Not a decision that new
players may feel comfortable with.
• The rogue can be more complex than other classes because
you are tracking whether or not you have momentum,
constantly disengaging, and trying to use your Sneak Attack
damage effectively.
• The bard has a variety of options that include battle cries,
spells, and songs. Figuring out how to use these options in
combat and during roleplaying is probably best for a confident
player.
• The wizard is the most complex class if you choose all the
options that allow improvisation and ad-libbing; without
those free-form talents, it’s no more difficult than the sorcerer
Although they can be a lot of fun, we're going to skip Icons, although I may add back a similar mechanic as the game goes on.
•“I am a deathless pirate whose soul is trapped in a gem controlled by the Blue dragon.”
• “I am one of a couple dozen surviving members of the Order of the Koru, a group of rangers who move through the Empire on or beside the Koru behemoths.”
• “I am the bastard son of the Emperor.”
• “I am the oldest elf in the world.”
• “I cut off my own arm to show how tough I am.”
• “I hear pain as music. Sweet, sweet music.”
• “A paladin of the Crusader cut off my arm where I was holding a demon-bow . . . and in doing so, cut all the evil out of me, so that I am now a paragon of the path of the Great Gold Wyrm.”
• “I am a dwarf who was born covered in scales from the egg of a dragon.”
• “I am a former cultist.”
• “I am the reincarnation of an ancient icon. I don’t know which one yet.”
• “I am the three-time winner of the dwarven drinking championships.”
• “I was the rudest lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court.”
In this quick campaign, the players start at 2nd level and gain one level each session. Each session will represent 1 book of the AP.
Each session includes two battles. These are double-strength battles because there are only two of them. A session will also include a small number of other features: encounters with NPCs, places to explore, traps, hazards, challenges, etc.
Reduce the PCs’ recoveries to three per session.
The characters get a level’s worth of treasure spread out among the session’s encounters. They get a full heal-up and a level-up at the end of each session.
We will be Fast forwarding through the administrative stuff, like travel, and race to the action—important NPCs, exotic places to explore, and high-powered battles.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to ask.
Character Creation Sample: Hide
Step0 - Concept: I'm going to make a badass black leather wearing paladin of Asmodeous.
Step1 - Race: Going with Human, seems appropriate for the character
It means I'll get +2 to any stat of my choice, an extra starting feat and the human racial power:
Quick to Fight (Racial Power)
At the start of each battle, roll initiative twice and choose the result you want.
Step 2 - Class: Paladin! (Note no alignment in this system)
We'll do the combat stats a little later on, but Paladin does give me:
Smite Evil
You can use this talent once per battle, plus an additional number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier.
As a free action before you make a paladin melee attack roll, you can declare that you're using a Smite Evil attack. Add +1d12 to the damage roll AND deal half damage with the attack if it misses.
and 3 more talents of my choice.
First I'll take:
Fearless
You are immune to fear abilities and to any non-damage effects of attacks named or described as fear attacks.
In addition, you gain a +1 melee attack bonus against enemies that are not engaged by any of your allies. The bonus increases to +2 against enemies with fear abilities.
Then
Lay on Hands
Twice per day as a quick action, you can heal yourself or an ally next to you with a touch. You spend the recovery while the recipient heals as if they had spent the recovery.
and finally:
Way of Evil Bastards
When one of your Smite Evil attacks drops a non-mook enemy to 0 hp, that use of Smite Evil is not expended.
Step 3 - Ability Scores:
# Stat Cost
16 Str 10
10 Dex 2
14 Con 6
12 Int 4
8 Wis 0
14 Cha 6
I'll put my human bonus to strength and my paladin bonus to cha leaving me at
18 str
10 dex
14 con
12 int
8 wis
16 cha
Step 4 - Combat Stats:
Paladin HP is (8 + CON mod) x 3 = 30
Initiative is LEVEL + Dex = +1
AC is 16+middle mod of Con/Dex/Wis + Level = 17
Physical Defense 10 + middle mod of Str/Con/Dex + Level = 13
Mental Defense 12 + middle mod of Int/Wis/Cha + Level = 14
Recoveries 8 => 3 (Due to campaign variant)
At Will Melee
+5 vs AC
1d20+4 Damage (Big ole' 2handed war mace)
Miss: 1 Damage
Step 5 - Choose one Unique Thing
Youngest Hellknight Commander.
Step 6 - Background
I get 8 background points, no more than 5 in any given background.
4 - Hellknight Commander
4 - Contract Lawyer
I've got some flavor details to fill in, but between my concept, backgrounds and One Unique Thing I'm in a good spot for bringing the character to life.
Decided to keep it simple my first time out so going with a Paladin over the Necromancer. I have a few questions that I didn't find the answers to in the SRD. How do I go about finding the middle on three stats? Is it just the mathematical average? Also how do I determine starting gear for my AC and such.
Just like Olympic scoring, you get rid of the highest and lowest,
So if your relevant stats were 8,12,13 you'd use 12.
If they were 12,12,19 you'd use 12 etc.
We're not worried about the exactitude of funds, if you take a look at the paladin section on gear
Gear
At 1st level, a paladin starts with a melee weapon or two, a ranged weapon if they want it, armor, a shield, and standard non-magical gear that is suggested by the character's backgrounds.
So basically, a few weapons, some armor and whatever other mundane gear you think is appropriate.
As a paladin there's no reason to choose to wear light armor (it'd just be 4 less AC)
You can describe your heavy armor however you wish though. It is a priceless relic given to you by your order? Is it made of Dragonhide? Is it scrapped together from a dozen different pieces.
Think about what's appropriate for your story. Maybe the specifics of his armor aren't important to him. 13th Age is a lot more player driven than most d20.
In Pathfinder you ask your GM what's in the woods outside of town. In 13th age the GM asks What has your character heard about the woods outside of town.
Filling in little flavor details is a great way to give me story hooks to hang on things.
Alright guys, we've got about a week until we get started.
We've got
Kyshkumen : Doug Sherwood - Paladin
Oladin : Bethany Filnamorth - Bard
Treppa : ? - ?
Khelreddin : ? - ?
We also potentially have
Picciui : Hrarsk - Cleric
I'd like to get all the character details started this week so that we can jump into the action on Monday the 29th.
As a reminder there is also a slew of pregenerated characters linked to in the initial discussion post. They can either be used or as inspiration on how to create your character.
Think I've got the nuts and bolts of it down. I'll get you a full backstory via PM as I don't like to show all my cards.
Sounds good, I'm looking forward to hearing it.
Hey gang - I have not made it very far in my character creation, but I'm about to get on a long flight, might get something put together while airborne.
I'm still thinking of a half-elf ranger - I'm a bit brain-dead from travelling, so the backstory may have to germinate over the next couple of days.
I'm ready, I somehow missed the post in recruitment. I think I have all the relevant details filled out.
So just missing Treppa?
I just chatted with Treppa, she's on it. We should also be getting Olabotadonasauarus.
Which I think will bring us to 5.
I've built a wizard from Cheliax.
I need to sleep on it and check out the stats and choices in the morning, then I'll post her for your review, Rob.
Oops, I forgot to check the Discussion thread... I've been looking at the Recruitment thread...
Just tweaking backgrounds and my OUT. Need to update the Paizo character profile, too.
Wheee.
I'm working through the weekend but I'll be around enough to help get things finalized for Monday "morning." Morning being a somewhat relative time considering I work until midnight or later.
I'm about done, besides basic gear.
Sweet, if I could get people to get headers like Hrask or Doug Sherwood, so I can see your defenses at a glance it would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, most of the way through building my character, still trying to figure out some of the more free-form aspects. I'm particularly puzzled by Icon Relationships.
Rob (or anyone else familiar with the system), can you sum up how those work or how you think about them? And how they fit into the mechanics?
I'm enjoying both the creative aspect and puzzling out how some of the mechanics will work in play - like selecting the middle bonus of three stats seems to discourage stat dumping. The one unique thing is a nice way to formalize the idea that a character should have some personality.
In Khellirin's case, he's a wood elf who’s more than a little afraid of the woods, due to an overactive imagination. He’s a very good tracker, stalker and sneaker because he wants to know what’s around him, what might be sneaking up on him, and where he can best hide to avoid it. Once he’s in a fight, he’s brave enough, because he's focused on the real threat in front of him, and he can handle himself pretty well – but his imagination of the dangers that lurk in the woods scares the heck out of him.
Rob said not to worry about Icons right now.
-Posted with Wayfinder
So he did - I realize now I didn't look behind all his spoilers, just dove into making a character. Thanks!
We're skipping Icons to start with, although as the story unfolds you'll be making friends and connections with groups and such that will serve the same purpose.
Something to remember is that flavor and mechanics aren't strictly linked. So if you're mechanically a ranger, you could be a dwarf with a strange repeating crossbow, or a nomad with a powerful hornbow or a woodelf with a living bow, or a spear chucking amazon and when you attacked you'd roll a d20 +[dex]+[lvl] and you'd do (1d8*[lvl])+Dex on a hit and [lvl] on a miss
Some of the freeform bits come from asking the players questions that would normally be defined by the GM.
In more RPGs you go to a tavern and ask the GM what's there. In 13th Age the GM might instead ask each of the players what their characters' know about the tavern, and whatever they choose happens to be true.
Example: You tell me that this is the only tavern in town that serves halflings. I had no idea that this town had a racism against halfling problems but you've just created an awesome lead for further plot and storytelling.
The other big thing is the "fail forward" philosophy. In say Pathfinder if you fail your climb check to get up the cliff you don't get up the cliff and maybe take some damage. 13th Age assumes you always make it past the obstacle, failure just represents some new unintended consequences.
Honeybottom, the ambiguously gendered halfling rogue who is way too friendly with the Prince of Shadows for her allies’ comfort, is sailing to Drakkenhall thanks to the Archmage’s artificially channeled winds thrusting the ship efficiently forward.
As an accomplished mingler and agent, Honeybottom attempts to befriend and impress one of the ship’s officers. It’s a Charisma check using Honeybottom’s entertainer background. It’s not that hard a task, so it has DC 15, but Honeybottom rolls a 4 and her level bonus, Charisma modifier, and points in entertainment don’t get her
anywhere near 15.
Used to the old way of interpreting failure, the player offers this interpretation: “I try to make small talk with him, but then I throw up a little on myself.” With “fail forward” as his mantra, Jonathan interprets the bad d20 roll quite differently. The suave PC does indeed make a good impression on the officer, but in private conversation the officer seems to be strongly hinting that he’s a recreational cannibal of some stripe.
Honeybottom hasn’t exactly failed in winning the officer over, but she has failed in advancing her own agenda. If anything, the party’s prospects became a bit dimmer now that one of them has drawn the attention of a sociopath.
My mostly complete alias is now posted. Still have to daydream a bit more about backgrounds and get equipment.
As I mentioned, Khellirin is a frightened type, which didn't sit well with his wood elf brethren. He learned the ways of the woods, but has never felt at ease there, so he set off for the cities. He's worked as an alley-basher and a street tough, as his skill set was not well-suited to most city jobs, but still manages to scare himself walking alone down a dark street. He continues to wander, looking for a place where his imagination doesn't make the slightest sound into a creeping boojum coming to eat his kidneys.
As for the 13th Age rules, I like the 'Fail Forward' idea a lot, I'm curious to see how it plays out.
One more question: since this is part of PbP Gameday, is it for PFS credit? When Oladon first lured me here, I understood it was, but I don't see that made explicit in your recruitment post. I'm not sure if it can be for credit, since it's a different game system, but O suggested that wasn't an obstacle.
I'm good either way, as it looks like fun, but I was wondering.
A ranger afraid of the woods and a wizard afraid of her own magic. This could be an interesting group.
Alright, just about done.
Not entirely happy with the two OUTs I've come up with, so I may still tweak that, and haven't written down her backstory and description yet, so those're empty.
We are indeed playing Giantslayer in Campaign mode, meaning we can use whatever rules we want and still get PFS credit. One day we'll run that Rise of the Runelords p1 Larp that Chris Mortika has been planning for years.
Gameplay is up and going btw, just waiting for Olabot and Kyshy.
So, earlier I misspoke, when I said I was making a half-elf. I meant a wood elf. Which is what I made. Somehow that one post stuck with everyone, since both Doug and Fortuna have called me a half-elf.
Wood elf. Just not in the woods. They're scary.
So, earlier I misspoke, when I said I was making a half-elf. I meant a wood elf. Which is what I made. Somehow that one post stuck with everyone, since both Doug and Fortuna have called me a half-elf.
Wood elf. Just not in the woods. They're scary.
Fixed, sorry! Glad you pointed that out. I think I called you that because Doug did.
* tries to gracefully pass blame *
Yeah probably my fault. I've been known to purposely call other characters by the wrong race. This time it was purely accidental.
OK, off to the hospital this morning. I expect to be up and posting by Saturday, but could be kidding myself. In the meantime, go ahead and bot Fortuna as needed. Easiest thing for her in battle is to spam magic missile alternating with acid arrow on even escalations.
Get those Gobbos! Later!
Thanks Trappa. Good luck and stay safe.
As a note I'll be at a con this weekend. Friday-Monday.
I should still manage a post a day, but am quite unlikely to manage any more than that.
Please feel free to bot me as necessary.
And I'll be there with you! At least for Saturday.
I'll be curious to see how the gang bots our GM while we're gone...
*rubs hands together in anticipation*
That'll teach me to paste to all my pbps
I am home and upright but not for very long at a time. Will try to catch up on pbps today a bit at a time, but please feel free to bot if I am slowing you wond.
Hey guys, heading out camping with the bears shortly... be back on Monday or Tuesday. Feel free to bot me in the meantime. DM, kindly refrain from kilting me.
Special may have taken 6 hours tonight. Sleeping instead of posting. I think Kyshy is being summoned all day tomorrow as well. We'll pick back up Tuesdayish.
Yup I was summoned.
-Posted with Wayfinder
If you're interested in some of the mechanics/math of how encounters in 13th encounters are made, you can read below.
You'll normally get an equivalent leveled monster for each PC. So with 5 level 2 PCs, you'll get the equivalent of 5 2nd level monsters.
Since we're playing the Quick Campaign variant, instead of having 4 encounters per day, you'll get 2 double strength encounters instead, so your encounters will have the equivalent of 10 2nd level monsters.
Encounters should feel tough and epic.
In this particular encounter you've got
9 level 1 mooks (Goblin Scum) which is the equivalent of ~2.25 level 2 foes.
3 level 2 casters (goblin mooks) which is 3 level 2 monsters.
2 level 2 troops (Hobgoblin Warrior) which is 2 level 2 monsters.
Finally 1 Large* Level 3 troop (Ogre) which is the equivalent of 3 level 2 foes.
Brining us up to 9.25 level 2 foes, which is close enough, especially with the fires going on and everybody being new and not having any magic items yet.
*large creatures generally have about twice as much hp and do twice the damage of creatures of their level. They also count as 2 foes.
Ah, very instructive. If only I had known this before trying to solo the ogre...
You'll be fine :)
Probably...
Also, these 2 rules can potentially come in handy:
Rally
Once a battle, every PC can use a standard action to rally, spending one of their recoveries and regaining hit points they've lost in combat.
Since rallying is all about digging deep into what makes you a hero, you should take a moment when you rally during combat to specify what gives your character the will to keep fighting after being knocked around so badly: is it honor, pride, the mission, vengeance, a chance to outshine your rival, or something unique to the situation and your character’s spirit?
If you want to rally again later in the same battle, make a normal save (11+). If you succeed, you can rally again that battle. If you fail the save, you can take your turn normally, but you can't rally that round.
And...
Flee
Fleeing is a party action rather than an individual action. At any point, on any PC’s turn, any player can propose that the fight is going so badly that the characters have to flee.
If all of the other players agree, the heroes beat a hasty and successful retreat, carrying any fallen heroes away with them. In exchange for this extraordinarily generous retreating rule, the party suffers a campaign loss.
At the GM’s discretion, something that the party was trying to do fails in a way that going back and finishing off those enemies later won’t fix. If the heroes were on their way to rescue a captive from unholy sacrifice, then naturally enough the captive gets sacrificed.
Don’t worry, overcoming setbacks is exactly what heroism is about. The point of this rule is to encourage daring attacks and to make retreating interesting on the level of story rather than tactics.
Oh Pirate GM, a question for you: can you tell me if my healing in this post used one recovery or two? I think it used two, but I'm not sure. Trying to figure out if I'll be out of recoveries once I heal on my turn in the current fight.
On a related note, if I'm out of recoveries, I can still heal, right? It looks like I just get half the effect and take a -1 to some rolls. Which is better than dying.
Looks like that was only 1 recovery. Beth let you use your recovery and gave you 4d4 on top of that and that's all I see rolled there.
You are correct about the out of recovery rules as well.
Just something to take note on. If I hit you with Lay on Hands it uses one of my recoveries.
I'll be out most Monday. I have to go tackle the state/county who decided I didn't send them necessary paperwork regarding health care and then I'll be working in the evening. Likely won't post until after midnight.
Congratulations to everybody for making it through chapter 1, I hope you're all having fun.
• +1 to attacks, defenses, and skill checks.
• An additional die of damage with weapon attacks.
• More hit points (by class).
• An additional feat. Choose any feat whose prerequisites your character satisfies. Feats are classed as adventurer (can be chosen at any level), champion (can be chosen at level 5+), and epic (can be chosen at level 8+).
• The ability to wield an additional magic item (see page 285).
• At 4th level, 7th level, and 10th level, you add +1 to three different ability scores.
• Possibly more powers and spells, and possibly an increase in their strength. The rules for acquiring or improving powers and spells vary from class to class. See character classes in Chapter 4 for details. In general, characters have a moderate number of attacks and spells.
Assuming you'd like to continue into part 2, I am more than happy to let any of you change any bit of your character that you might want to, even creating an entirely new one if desired. Maybe your class or personality isn't as exciting as you had hoped, or you want to play something simpler or more complex.
I've noted the normal character retraining rules below as they will be relevant in the future.
•Talents: Talents are a core element of your character. If you’re going to rearrange your talents, something extremely significant needs to have happened in your character’s story, some personal transformation or revelation.
•Spells: You can change the spells you can cast after each full heal-up. We don’t see much reason to penalize or favor some spellcasters over others on this count. If your PC is a spellcaster and you want to choose different spells that are legal for your character, go ahead.
•Powers: Non-spell powers are a bit harder to swap around than spells, but not that much harder. You can reselect your power choices when you gain a level. You’ve had the time to gain experience and power, so go ahead and shift your focus if you like.
•Feats: Characters clearly need to revise their feat choices occasionally, mostly because feats are attached to spells and powers that you can swap in and out of. Feel free to change these.
Gameday boon rolls (20/16 win)
Once again congratulations on completing Giantslayer ch 1. Once I get people's PFS #-Char I am happy to make out chronicle sheets. Feel free to go look up the sheets from either the Additional Resources page if you want to see what the rewards are like prior to choosing a character.
Be careful reading ahead though, there are spoilers on the sheets, and while we're only loosely following the path if spoilers bother you, then I recommend against peeking ahead.
The chronicle sheet for part 1 is for characters level 2-4. It can also be assigned to a level 1 character with 2 options. 1: set it aside until the appropriate level, or reduce the gold award to be appropriate for a level 1 character. Please also let me know how you're applying the sheet.
As always any questions let me know. I've had a blast so far and am looking forward to getting started on chapter 2 soon in this crazy whirlwind campaign.
Stupid player question: What are gameday boon rolls? Waht do we do with them?
If a 20 or 16 was rolled you'd get a little bonus sheet that you could apply to one of your PFS characters.
Ah, thanks! I've seen boon sheets (mostly being awarded as prizes) but didn't know how they worked.
All leveled, and finally finished my decisions from first level too... *whistles innocently*