A Kingdom in the making (Inactive)

Game Master Wrath

Well this is where it all begins.

Some crunchy stuff for you to work with.

20 point build. Standard starting gold for your character type

Two traits, one of which must be from the Kingmakers player guide

I will be ready to run our game in about two weeks so take your time to get things sorted. Flesh out your characters as you need. I like to try and incorporate backgrounds into the game if possible, especially for things like who can roll knowledge checks and bonuses to skill checks based on your background.

Remember your characters don't need to be tied to Brevoy initially, but they do need to have a good reason to sign on (which most of you have already provided).

TN, the campaign suggests that characters aren't too heaily tied to the nobility of Brevoy. No need to change your background concept but we may need to tweak how important her noble family is in the politics of Brevoy.

A note on languages. I play Common as a type of trade tongue. It works for communication purposes but there are times when accents and local dialect get in the way of complex negotiations. All characters start with common and their local language (eg Varisian, Ulfen etc.) There are times when local dialects will make it hard to interpret what people are saying as well. This tends to make a more immersive game and it makes linguistics a useful skill at times.

Feel free to ask questions, particularly those new to this type of thing.

I'll check back in later today if people need anything else.

Cheers

Putting my dot in.

Thanks for the opportunity to play this Wrath.

Grazie infinite - thanks a lot
Forgot to include the languages Elsbeth speaks : common-elven-infernal-dwarven ( but feel free to change them )
Also i take i'll have to change a trait...will see into that tomorrow,it a bit late night here now.
And i need to know how starting equip'll be handled.
Bye

Dotting the thread as well. I'm working on the character sheet now.

dot

Forgot about hit points - Max hit points at level 1. When we level you roll, but take a minimum of half if you roll less than that.

Starting equiment - you can spend your starting gold on anything you can afford. 1st level potions and scrolls are fine. If you have craft it is fine to assume you have crafted certain items before beginning the game assuming you can afford it with your starting gold.

Starting gold is listed on page 140 of the core book (for those with core classes). Not sure for the Witch, will check it later.

Sorcerers start with 70 average gold GN.

I just realised the traits for the players guide may not match some of your backgrounds. We can make it optional to use them if you wish, but we need to make sure your background ties you to the game somehow if you decide on taking two traits from the supplement instead.

cheers

Dot

Here's Arianna in all her glory.

Thanks, Wrath DM!

ARIANNA RAVENSWOOD, YOU SCOUNDREL! ;)

This is Mawj. She is basically ready, but needs to be taken back to 1st level. She is using the Spirit Ranger alternate class abilities.

Also, I made maps for my last Kingmaker group. Mawj is a ranger, so it makes sense for her to keep track of things IC. I use MapTool. I can reveal the terrain one hex at a time. It looks like THIS. The yellow line is the extent of the charter. Unless, of course, you have something else in mind. Just let me know.

For party planning, Mawj is archery-focused and trained in the following skills:

Acrobatics
Climb
Knowledge (nature)
Knowledge (geography)
Perception
Sense Motive
Stealth
Survival

We meet again, Tanner. Hopefully this game lasts longer than the last we played in together.

Question for you, Wrath DM.

Mawj is taking the Heirloom Weapon trait for a composite longbow. I would like this bow to be her signature weapon, but nowhere in the rules can I find anything about upgrading the Strength bonus of a composite longbow. For example, there are explicit instructions on turning a masterwork composite longbow into a +1 composite longbow, but nothing on turning a composite longbow (Strength +1) into a composite longbow (Strength +2).

Previous DMs I have played with have allowed to me upgrade a composite longbow by paying a weaponsmith for the appropriate services as if it were a magic weapon. Would this be allowable? *oh please oh please oh please*

My character sheet is finished (But may need slight adjustment depending on the answer to my question).

I'm a big proponent of having players keep the same weapon and having them upgraded through time. I merely get them to pay the cost difference in the weapon, this applies to composite as well as magic bonuses. It makes it easier to have a famous weapon or family heirloom that gets better with time and useage.

While I'll still make you pay the gold difference, we can actually make the in game mechanic more about you growing into the weapons power if that's how you want to play it.

I'll review characters in more depth later this week. Have to sign out now and get some serious marking done so I can get ahead of the curve for next few weeks.

Cheers

Edit - as for mapping, sure you can throw in the area map, that would be fine by me. I do however need to get into the skill of creating maps. Do you have to pay for a photobucket account or is it free?

For battles, I used to not do maps and rely on narrative to have things work. I actually found it made the game faster and more story like. I'm going to be flexible in this one and see how it runs. If people truly prefer using maps I can use Maptools and put things together, just have to work out how to get them so you can see them.

I'd use email but people tend to not share those (with good reason). If I can get a photobucket account without cost or too much trouble then I'll just use those as links.

I'm fine with that. The composite longbow is going to be handed down from a relative, so fulfilling family honor and growing with the weapon is ideal.

I find MapTool to be fairly quick and easy to produce tactical maps. In my Red Hand of Doom game, it takes me roughly 10-15 minutes to produce a new map. Of course, that's not counting the initial investment in making token art or producing the original map.

And, yes, Photobucket is free.

Hey Wrath,

I'm a wee bit confused. You said you liked my character background and was interested in my playing a witch. Except that I'd proposed either a Ranger or a Fighter with Archery feats. Either way I was looking to play a half-elf who wanted to help build a kingdom that he could belong to.

Anyway, since I'm eager to play in the Kingbuilder pbp I'd be happy to make a Witch instead of a Ranger, but I'm wondering if you were thinking of someone else? Or if you maybe got me confused with another player? I hope you still want me in the game, but let me know if the half-elf taking an opportunity to be part of a new kingdom appeals to you, or if maybe you wanted something else entirely.

I'm flexible enough to work with anything, but I don't want to disappoint you with my character build.

re=dotting

Hey Wrath,

I'm a wee bit confused. You said you liked my character background and was interested in my playing a witch. Except that I'd proposed either a Ranger or a Fighter with Archery feats. Either way I was looking to play a half-elf who wanted to help build a kingdom that he could belong to.

Anyway, since I'm eager to play in the Kingbuilder pbp I'd be happy to make a Witch instead of a Ranger, but I'm wondering if you were thinking of someone else? Or if you maybe got me confused with another player? I hope you still want me in the game, but let me know if the half-elf taking an opportunity to be part of a new kingdom appeals to you, or if maybe you wanted something else entirely.

I'm flexible enough to work with anything, but I don't want to disappoint you with my character build.

If it would help, HERE is a 1st level witch I wrote up a little while ago. You could copy/paste rather than spend a lot of time making it from scratch. Just replace the 'Unhappy Childhood' trait with something from Kingmaker.

I'm certain your wants-a-kingdom-to-call-home PC could be a witch. ;)

Hmmm, actually it was your background that drew me to your character, but then I've swapped the concept of the post below with your ranger somehow.

Appolgies for the mistake, however it was you I was after as the player rather than the character. Since we have an arcane caster now as well (in the form of a sorcerer) you can go ahead and make whatever character you were after. An extra ranger will be a boon in a game like this, and I'll endeavour to make sure I spread the love in terms of loot and other rewards that turn up so you two aren't competing for each others gear.

Cheers

Here is the "infernal hot" sorceress.

I was checking the campaign traits from the Kingmaker player's guide and think that brigand is the only 1 that fits Elsbeth, she may have run into troubles with local bandits and talked her way out....but that would give me an extra 100 gp to start with. I can swap the extra money since i already rolled the starting wealth and bought equip.

I got also light crossbow (that may or may not be the family heirloom weapon; it's ok for me the usual way of changing magical equip during the course of lvls ) some basic clothing and 3 scrolls : 1x sleep 1x mage hand 1x endure elements
which left me with 6gold 5silver unless i take the brigand trait.

It's up to you Wrath.

Three Chaotic Neutral PCs so far. Should be interesting...

Wrath:

Okay, great. I'll go ahead and stick with the original character concept I had, and experiment with a few other options for the Ranger so that he's still quite distinct from Mawj. Could be fun to have two varieties of Ranger in the group too.

Thanks for inviting me in the game and liking my background idea!

Sorcerers start with 70 average gold GN.

Noticed just now this advice. I rolled the indicated 2d6x10 and got about 100gp....so if it pleases you i'll just change the Reactionary trait with the Brigand trait but dropping the 100 extra gp.

To finish a couple of personal considerations:
1: i'm not going in close combat not even once
2: any chance all of you starting to use metric measurements ;-) ?

Hehe, yeah alignment wise I can see lots of arguments popping up between characters. If everyone goes chaotic neutral it will certainly make running the kingdom interesting

We have a nice mix of male and females too. Should be a well rounded group all in all.

Elsbeth looks good at a glance. I'm fine with the trait swap so you can keep her gear. Will check things more thoroughly later.

Wander Weir - sounds good. There's plenty of options available for all the character types now so building something that feels unique shouldn't be too hard.

A note to all, I'm happy to adjust items in game to suit party composition, so don't worry too much about overlapping needs for items. That part is easy.

ok i'm done in all my fiery splendor

Ok, checked over both Elsbeth and Mawj. Both of them are fine as is mechanically, good work lads.

One thought for Elsbeth- I'm not sure dwarven is going to come into play much as a language. You may want to change to something like Fey, or one of the local dialects - Numerian, Pitaxian, Brevian or Barbaric (for the local tribes). Any of these languages will see more use in at least the first two books for this campaign.

Note the local dialects are my creation and don't exist in the core rules as far as I'm aware. They are basically derivatives of common but they can be so broad as an accent that if you aren't familiar with them you most likely will misinterpret what is being said.

Also, I worked out photobucket and got some map action going for myself. Given the ease at which I can make maps in RPtools and the benefit of uploading them to such a simple storage place I believe I will run with maps for major encounters at least.

As you can probably tell by the number of posts I've made today, I'm already psyched about this campaign. Thanks for joining in and giving me the chance to stretch my mind again.

cheers

One thought for Elsbeth- I'm not sure dwarven is going to come into play much as a language. You may want to change to something like Fey, or one of the local dialects - Numerian, Pitaxian, Brevian or Barbaric (for the local tribes). Any of these languages will see more use in at least the first two books for this campaign.

Ok changed Dwarven with Brevian

Anybody else not getting a dot? I've tried posting with several different aliases now and still nothing.

** spoiler omitted **

BTW, Wander Weir, what kind of ranger are you looking to make? Do you have access to the APG?

Tanner:

Hello, got to do sort of a newbie question.
I may be wrong but my feelings is this group lacks "tanking"
I mean no offense of course, just that i'm used to have a primary tank (usually a fighter specializing in weapon/shield feats chain)and 2 support tanks ( barbarian and/or a pally ), but that was some years ago during the last sessions with the 3,5 i had.

I may be wrong but my feelings is this group lacks "tanking" I mean no offense of course, just that i'm used to have a primary tank (usually a fighter specializing in weapon/shield feats chain)and 2 support tanks ( barbarian and/or a pally ), but that was some years ago during the last sessions with the 3,5 i had.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Sometimes that's a problem but I don't know if that'd be a problem with Kingmaker or not. I'm not sure it'd really be necessary. With two Rangers and a Fighter/ Rogue, we might not have a heavy tank type but we'd still be dishing out quite a bit of damage at a pretty rapid rate. And the cleric is nothing to sneeze at either (I've been in games where the cleric *was* the tank).

You know...i feel a little fragile :-(

I don't think you'll have any worries about that GN. I did select people who play well, but I also kept an eye on balance.

We have a fighter, cleric, two rangers, rogue and a sorceror. I feel we've covered most things well. I'm sure you will come up with tactics that will keep everyone alive. Also - clerics, rangers and rogues can mix it up in combat with the best of them if needed.

Kingmaker has less dungeon crawling than any Adventure Path I've read. It's more outdoor environment which means on average you'll be starting at distance from foes. It's also the first adventure I've read where the players guide actually stated that mounted Paladins would actually work well. In other words far less restrictions on combat in terms of walls and rooms. Have faith in your companions hehe.

Vanulf, in order to get a dot show up, you have to post in your main Avatar (that is using the Vanulf avatar). I see thatyou did this earlier in the thread, maybe try again using that one to see if things work out.

Have faith in your companions hehe.

That is natural, it's just that usually in RL groups *I'M* the main tank.

Summoned creatures from the cleric and sorcerer can act as damage sponges, as can animal companions. I think between two rangers and a dextrous fighter, we should be fine.

Please, let there be a dot this time.

What ex speed are we using ? slow medium or fast ?

This AP uses medium progression. Plenty of different ways to get it in this one as well.

When I post using my GM avatar, I will track PC's xp there to make it easy for everyone. That will also be an easy location for me to keep images and quest info so people can drop back there for reference.

Three PC's done now, three to go :)

While I still want more time to get my head around what is needed and get enough resources together before starting, I can create an in charcter thread when players are ready to get some preliminary roleplay going.

Let me know when you are ready to go "in character" enough for this type of interaction. Once you're all at that stage I'll get a thread started even if I need a little time before I can progress you into the officila AP.

Cheers

Three PC's done now, three to go :)

While I still want more time to get my head around what is needed and get enough resources together before starting, I can create an in charcter thread when players are ready to get some preliminary roleplay going.

Cheers

I'm ready anytime :-)

Just introducing the alias. :)

As you can see I've started building the character - but am still far from done.

Not that this is a problem for me, but are there ANY men at all in this group ? PC wise obviously

I think that this is the first campaign where female PC's outnumber Male PC's that I've ever been in.

I'm getting close to being done with my character. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done today.

Alright, the mechanical side of things should be settled. I'll get to writing the history section tonight, but the rough sketch should remain valid. In regards to Wraths request at not being tied to the nobility too closely, I've decided to make her a bit more of a black sheep - to the point that allowing her to go on an expedition is seen as preferable over actually having her around where she can do damage.

After doing a lot of thinking about my build and looking over the APG and the Core I've decided to pretty much start over with my Ranger. Still same background (well, enhanced) still a Half-Elf Ranger but I'm just not liking the Crossbow action I was working on.

So, starting over from scratch, trying something completely different. Still hoping to have the character done today though.

Am I going to be playing the only male character? Weird!

I should also be done soon.

Here's a draft of the second ranger in our group. I'm shooting more for balance between melee and ranged attacks. Most of what remains to be done are the equipment list and his background write-up. Will be adding those things shortly.

Lev, seeing we share a common origin, should we coordinate backgrounds, or assume we come from different branches of the family, and have rarely, if ever, met?