A Game of Kingmaker

Game Master Wandering Wastrel

Yes, being first level is a bit hazardous :)

@Tristan - spiders (like all vermin) are immune to mind-affecting effects so your spell won't do anything. Better luck next round.

Waiting on Sasha, Nariel (who is hopefully back from her trek away) and Arianna.

Since we'll probably be spending a fair amount of time on horseback, I'll point out that according to the Ride skill, you can attempt to mount/dismount quickly with a Ride check DC 20. Success makes it a free action, failure makes it a move action, which is what it would be anyways. There's no reason not to try.

(I say that, but I'm not going to try because Arianna has a dex bonus of +2 and an acp of -3 so her highest possible result is a 19.)

Tristan does not often encounter vermin. He favors classier establishments. He gives this whole 'nature' place 1/5 stars.

... but yes, I'm happy I'm not a con 8 wizard right about now ;)

(cough cough)... Con 10 Wizard.

@Arianna - quite right, I should have added that; although I'm not sure how many of you can get a 20 on Ride right now...

@Tristan - heh. Quite right. As a biology major, I am firmly of the view that nature belongs in a laboratory.

Would now be a good time to throw up a loot-tracking document? Also we could speak about how we want to deal with gold-sharing. I've always been a fan of equal-shares and also one 'party' share that can pay for group things.

I'm fine with equal-share and one share going to the party for, well, whatever. Utilitarian me prefers a 'what's best for the party' approach with regards to loot and gold, but I know many ain't a fan of that ;)

I'll set up an editable spreadsheet for y'all this evening, so you can update it and arrange it as you please.

As for the horses, good question. What are you going to do about them? Good luck finding wood for a fire out in these conditions.

Erm, would a Survival check help any? Maybe to find good shelter?

I can use channeled energy to help mitigate nonlethal damage on the group throughout the night if needed.

Survival check could definitely help! Given that you have heatstones, tents and unlimited snow as a makeshift building material, it's a DC 18 Survival check (aid another is permitted) to construct something that will keep you and the horses in some degree of comfort for the night.

Also, anyone with ranks in Knowledge (religion) would automatically know that although Erastil is often depicted as having a stag's head, his symbol is a bow and arrow. It's possible that some obscure sect exists out there that uses a stag head holy symbol, but it's far more likely that what you've found isn't a holy symbol at all.

EDIT: if you do press on, you're facing Fatigue/Exhaustion due to the cold plus lack of sleep. You won't be able to prepare spells etc until you've rested. But it's your call - let me know what you decide to do.

Tristan will throw out a knowledge(local) check to see if he recognizes the amulet as a symbol of any known local groups. Not sure if Know(Local) really applies, but it's probably the best he's got.

Edit: Nevermind, he doesn't have Know(Religion). Was thinking of a different character. Next level he'll pick up some more knowledge skills...

Sorry that I missed posting yesterday. Looks like you guys managed without me. :)

Catching up now.

I'd like to have Ayluin (her hawk familiar) scope out the area around us, just to be sure there isn't any additional danger about. She has empathic link, so if there is something that deserves our attention, Nariel will at least have an inkling I would think? About the only useful thing she can do at the moment.

Grr, stupid website.

Anyway. I have now put a Loot Sheet up. It should be possible for anyone to edit, so whoever wants to set up whatever system they like can do so; I leave it entirely up to you.

Also, did you decide what to do with the body and/or the silver amulet? The ground is frozen solid, so burial is out of the question.

I forgot to comment on the stag's head in the gameplay post, but you can assume Raquel would point out what the GM stated about it above.

We'll take the amulet with us for now, and I guess leave the body behind. It would slow us down too much. Raquel would say a prayer over it, at least.

I suggest we cremate the body, given that burial is out of the question.

I specified that I shared what I learned about the Stolen Lands from the library, when we stayed in the inn for the night, did everyone else pool their intelligence?

Given that you're all in this together, I think it's a reasonable assumption that you share information unless you specifically post that you're holding something back (for whatever reason).

Yes, yes I do intend to keep up with the 'song-writing.' Soon I'm going to start re-writing lyrics to my favorite songs and claiming Tristan wrote them. Prepare for lots of grunge-rock and folk-rock songs, Kingmaker-style.

Yes, yes I do intend to keep up with the 'song-writing.' Soon I'm going to start re-writing lyrics to my favorite songs and claiming Tristan wrote them. Prepare for lots of grunge-rock and folk-rock songs, Kingmaker-style.

I'm going to hold you to that :)

Seriously, though, great work. I love people who actually play bards as bards rather than skillmonkeys.

Also: stupid frickin website. Really, Paizo: twice in 2 days?! Come the **** on!!!

I'm experimenting with having the more significant NPCs have their own avatar. If you don't like it for whatever reason I can revert to everything being in this avatar.

@Nariel - you've probably guessed, but for avoidance of doubt all your falcon saw was a bunch of men sitting down ready for dinner. Nothing to worry about.

Raquel: apologies. I genuinely thought it would miss due to range, but be an appropriate dramatic way of starting the fight. Maybe we should consider the possibility that Cayden Cailean doesn't actually like you?

Oh, he likes me, alright. I'm his favorite punching bag! I'm just surprised it wasn't a critical hit.

Unfortunately, since I was flat-footed, I couldn't use my adoration ability to try to prevent him from attacking me.

GM: can you make the battle map editable so we can move our tokens?

Oops, I thought I had! Sorry. Unfortunately I can't fix that from my phone but I'll be home later today and will sort it then.

Also, since we have a map this time, I should say that the squares are 5 feet in ALL directions, including diagonally. This means that reach weapons work across the diagonal. (TBH it's something I was hoping that PF2 would fix, but it seems not.)

Hexes. Why can't they just use hexes. Oh well, so be it. I don't think the use of hexes would somehow undo the hex on Raquel. Hex or no hex.

As for the detect evil thing: I figured it was a fun narrative way to introduce how Aivar uses his abilities.

@Nariel: Sleep is a 1-round casting time (plus a move action to retrieve the scroll in the first place, but I'm willing to let you have that this time rather than redo the round). The spell will take effect next round.

Also, I believe the DC from a scroll is the minimum, which for a first level spell is 11.

Agreed, hexes would be a far superior method for combat.

Anyway Wastrel, the moment I read the in-game post, I understood why Ayluin hadn't registered any problems. I knew that limitation, and until she has a telepathic link with her familiar, it will remain that way. C'est la vie!

Items always use the lowest possible DC so Sleep, needing 11 INT to cast, only gets the +1 DC for it being a level 1 spell. Still, it can pack a solid punch ^^/

You're right, I forgot about that. Well, hopefully we can get one or two of them asleep anyway. I've always got Color Spray memorized, so that is my backup.

I'm intending to hit them with Sleep as well.

WW, I'm working off the assumption that Tristan would have dismounted his horse before attempting to enter the compound, either leading Able by the reins or leaving him outside until they knew if there is a stable or something inside. That would have been my own tendency (not that I ride very often).

Question for everybody: What timezones are you in?

I go from no website late last night to 10+ new posts this morning. As somebody that usually can't post until 11 am EST, it's a lot of catching up to do. :)

I'm in EST, but I work early in the morning, so I'm usually on steadily from 4 AM - noon, and checking in sporadically throughout the afternoon and early evening.

CET here.

Hi Sasha - yeah the website crapping out doesn't help anyone >.< Hoping Paizo sort it soon as it's getting annoying.

I'm usually on either GMT or CET, depending on where work puts me, but I occasionally travel further afield.

And that's 10+ quality new posts, thank you :P

Also EST, tend to check the forums periodically during the work day.

And that's 10+ quality new posts, thank you :P

I never claimed they weren't worth reading. ;)

I'm also EST but I'm also a college student on break so my sleep schedule is really bad. Up until 2 AM, sleep in until 11. Once the semester starts at the end of the month I'll be up much earlier.

Battle map now editable (I've updated for this round with your moves) - and I've put the link in this avatar so you can keep track of it. Hope that helps! :)

@Tristan - Sleep is a 1-round action to cast, so you can only take a 5 ft step.

@Sasha - drawing a weapon is a move action until you have +1 BAB. Sucks to be level 1, I know.

@Sasha - drawing a weapon is a move action until you have +1 BAB. Sucks to be level 1, I know.

Not to be a pain, but my assumption was that Sasha would have taken her bow out when seeing these guys were shady, but before combat began. Unfortunately, I didn't get to post anything during that period due to Paizo's web issues.

If Sasha can't have her bow out before combat, so be it, but that was my line of thinking.

You know, all my time playing Pathfinder and I'd never noticed Sleep had a 1-round casting time. Huh. 5-ft step it is!

@Sasha - OK, that works. I'll run the next round on that basis :)

I've found a lot of people missed that change, myself included for several years.

You know, all my time playing Pathfinder and I'd never noticed Sleep had a 1-round casting time. Huh. 5-ft step it is!

That's one advantage of using a scroll for sleep, though the decreased DC sucks. Basically, I'm sure a number of them will resist, so having your sleep take effect the next round will help to get some or all that Nariel missed.

The same thing goes for Enlarge Person. When you point it out, people tend to go 'huh?!'

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like Diplomacy isn't the right skill to demand a surrender. Especially if you're pointing a weapon.

Le shrug. I was in a hurry at work and just picked a skill. Either way, I figure the tone of the demand matters a lot - trying to reason with people into surrender is different than trying to terrorize them into it. Up to the GM, of course.

The important thing is the dice roll (esp when it's a nat 20!). I can modify the skill as needed, unless it's something like knowledge that you have to be trained in. With Cha 18, Tristan is pretty good at Intimidate even untrained.

Intimidate would be the skill, but with Tristan's natural 20 and his high charisma... pretty much any bandit would've be cowed into submission.

I'm at a wedding today, so posting will be scarce. Bot as needed.

Wow. Is it ... alive, once more?!