Aardvark's "A Conspiracy of Silver Ravens" Hell's Rebels Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

Dawni's not the brightest, so she's more security or loyalty -- she'd like to think secrecy is a good plan (she's got a decent wisdom), but she's not clever enough to do it.

Personality-wise, I can see Dawni a little more as a Sentinel -- and her relatively well-balanced stats make her a pretty good switch hitter to boost the checks (+3 Con, +3 Dex, +4 Str)

Ranger 2:
--> +8 hp (5+3)
--> +1 Reflex, +1 Fortitude
--> +1 BAB
--> Combat Style & Feat: Two-Weapon Fighting
--> 6 Skill Points: Acrobatics, Climb, Disable Device, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth.
--> Bonus Skill: Survival
--> Background Skill: Craft (Locks)
--> FC (Skill -> Knowledge (Dungeoneering)

Bardigan would absolutely want to go for Loyalty!

Level Up:
+1 BAB
+1 Fortitude Save, +1 Will Save
+4+1=+6 HP (½ HD. Con Bonus)
+3+2+1=6 Skills (Class 2+INT; GM Ranks in Prof, Kn. Relig, Favored Class)
--+1 rank in Bluff
--+1 rank in Diplomacy
--+1 rank in Disguise
--+1 rank in Sense Motive
--+1 rank in Perform: Dance
--+1 rank in Kn. Religion
Spells per day increase

Larenti is fine with Loyalty, and would like to be Spymaster.

I'll level up tomorrow. I've been crazy busy, so I apologize for the slow posting in my games.

Of course, made time earlier today, and the paizo site wouldn't load.

Level up:

hp: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Evasion
Trap Spotter talent
+1 each to Acrobatics, Bluff, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth

Okay, so far the consensus has been on Loyalty, so I will put that on the sheet.

@Bardigan, I had to look up the first two roles, to see how they related. Not that it's up to me, but are you sure that you are a demagogue? That one just sounds defined in a negative light, like someone spreading propaganda. It just didn't feel like that was what Bardigan was about (again, your character, so I don't know it as well as you do)

dem·a·gogue
a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.

par·ti·san
a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person.

yeah, it's taken something of a negative twist in modern times, but I was thinking it was closer to its ancient use:

(in ancient Greece and Rome) a leader or orator who espoused the cause of the common people - and that's entirely Bardigan

Okay, that's fine, I was just more curious than anything.

What about the rest of you? Which role are you intending to take?

Or, in the absence of a preference, someone else can decide to assign roles to the other members.

Regarding our focus, Aula would prefer secrecy, but will go with the group after a vote. Also apologies for wall of text, there is a TL;DR at the bottom.

Thank you Bardigan for saving us all some time & effort. Here's some more time savings for everyone:

First, a point on what "strategy" or "focus" we adopt:

Organization Checks: The rebellion’s ability to get things done and likelihood of withstanding setbacks are governed by its three Organization checks—Loyalty (the ability to be diplomatic and recover from effects such as low morale), Secrecy (the ability to trick enemies and accomplish tasks without being noticed), and Security (the ability to intimidate and recover from things such as sickness or battle). Each base check bonus is determined by the rebellion’s rank and whether or not it is the rebellion’s focus (see Table 1). Each check is further modified by the currently active officers (see page 23)

This is just NUMBERS/crunch and does not account for role-play:

I think of it like a character that has a +5 in two different skills (e.g. perception and disable device) instead of a +8 in one and +2 in the other. Sure, the +8 is REALLY likely to succeed on that one thing (either finding or disabling a trap), but if you want to BOTH find AND disable the trap, it's going to get much harder.

Rank....Focused Check...Secondary Checks
1.......+2..............+0
2.......+3..............+0
3.......+3..............+1
4.......+4..............+1
5.......+4..............+1
6.......+5..............+2
7.......+5..............+2
8.......+6..............+2
9.......+6..............+3
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Question for Aardvark DM--it does not say in the guide, but can the rebellion/Silver Ravens change focus? I'm guessing no, as it's somewhat like choosing a class, but I'm wondering, as a small rebellion may want to focus on secrecy and growth, then when it has gained some momentum focus on loyalty or whatever.
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Now onto who takes what role (CRUNCH version):

...the rebellion doesn’t need all six of these roles to be filled. You can have multiple identical officers, but note that with the exception of the Recruiter, the bonuses granted by officers don’t stack, so it’s best if each character takes on a different officer role.

(Emphasis mine).

Not sure which (if any) NPCs we can use in various positions (Aardvark probably said somewhere, but this post is already long in coming without searching for more), nor whether we get to know what their relevant stats are. Thus: each position with the bonus provided by the character listed (if it is known).

Demagogue: The officer adds his or her CON or CHA modifier to the rebellion’s Loyalty check.
Bardigan +4
Dawnilea +3
Aula +3
Larenti +3
Ganner +1
Jinx (prior PC) +2
(Rexus?) ?
(Laria?) ?

Partisan: The officer adds his or her STR or WIS modifier to the rebellion’s Security check.
Bardigan +3
Dawnilea +4
Aula +2
Larenti +2
Ganner +3
Jinx (prior PC) +3
(Rexus?) ?
(Laria?) ?

Sentinel: The officer grants a +1 bonus to the rebellion’s two secondary Organization checks, and can aid during all Organization checks attempted to resolve one event during the Event phase. The Sentinel can add her CON or CHA modifier to a Loyalty check, her STR or WIS Modifier to a Security check, or her DEX or INT modifier to a Secrecy check made during this event’s resolution.
Bardigan........Loyalty:.....+4.....Security:.....+3.....Secrecy:.....+2
Dawnilea......Loyalty:.....+3.....Security:.....+4.....Secrecy:.....+3
Aula...............Loyalty:.....+3.....Security:.....+2.....Secrecy:.....+2
Larenti...........Loyalty:.....+3.....Security:.....+2.....Secrecy:.....+3
Ganner..........Loyalty:.....+1.....Security:.....+3.....Secrecy:.....+3
Jinx (prior PC).Loyalty:.....+2.....Security:.....+3.....Secrecy:.....+1
(Rexus?).........Loyalty:.....+?.....Security:.....+?.....Secrecy:.....+?
(Laria?)..........Loyalty:.....+?.....Security:.....+?.....Secrecy:.....+?

Spymaster: The officer adds his or her DEX or INT modifier to the rebellion’s Secrecy check.
Bardigan +2
Dawnilea +3
Aula +2
Larenti +3
Ganner +3
Jinx (prior PC) +1
(Rexus?) ?
(Laria?) ?

The next two are slightly different in their bonus, one just needs to have ANYONE so that we get a bonus action (i.e. unless someone REALLY wants to be the Strategist, we can just hand that to an NPC).

The other (recruiter) wants to have the highest "level" officer and to have as many officers as possible because it grants a stacking bonus based on level (I assume this would be Hit Dice for NPCs). Likely this will need to be filled by a player character starting around level 3 or 4 (just a guess) because we won't have super-cool NPCs with tons of HD to fill it.

Recruiter: The number of supporters recruited during the Upkeep phase on a successful Organization check is increased by the officer’s character level. This bonus stacks with that provided by other recruiters.
Bardigan +2
Dawnilea +2
Aula +2
Larenti +2
Ganner +2
Jinx (prior PC) ?
(Rexus?) ?
(Laria?) ?

Strategist: The officer grants the Silver Ravens a bonus rebellion action during the Activity phase. Any Organization check made to resolve the effects of this bonus action gain a +2 bonus on the check.
Bardigan Bonus Action at +2
Dawnilea Bonus Action at +2
Aula Bonus Action at +2
Larenti Bonus Action at +2
Ganner Bonus Action at +2
Jinx (prior PC) Bonus Action at +2
(Rexus?) Bonus Action at +2
(Laria?) Bonus Action at +2

TL;DR: My recommendations based purely on known numbers (i.e. unless a usable NPC has better stats):
Demagogue: Bardigan (1st) +4 Loyalty
Partisan: Ganner (Tied for 2nd, 1st place taking Sentinel) +3 Security
Sentinel: Dawnilea (1st for TOTAL, but then NOT Partisan) +3 Loy/+4 Secu/+3 Secr on ONE event; +1 to non-focused checks (Secu/Secr if we focus Loy)
Spymaster: Larenti (Tied for 1st) +3 Secrecy
Recruiter: Aula & Rexus +2+? Supporters
Strategist: Jinx (Presumably she is stuck at lvl 1, so she isn't really useful as a recruiter) Bonus Action at +2

Wow, Aula! Impressive work! I'm happy to go with Loyalty and serve as Partisan. I will read up more on what's needed.

Yes, very impressive Aula. I think, though, you're suggesting Secrecy?

That works for me, though Bardigan wanted Loyalty.

Either way, I'm happy to be (and apparently a decent choice for) Spymaster.

Bard, can you expand on your thoughts about Loyalty?

Thanks, Aula!

And I'm good with the Sentinel role.

Okay, so in all this, I can't find it anywhere where it says that the focus can change. For some reason I felt like it was a decision each week of rebellion, and was malleable. As I read the player's guide again for that part, it feels like it is a one time decision.

That said, until I find otherwise, I will allow you to change focus for each new book in the AP. I feel like focus could change based on how your rebellion grows.

I will apply all of Aula's suggestions, except for the focus, since that is in question. Also, since it is such a long term decision.

Okay, reading over it some more, Laria and Rexus are some of the 'Special Allies' you can recruit, but I don't know/think they can be officers, as they each add their own special bonus effects. Also, Rexus is currently your only 'ally'.

So, you guys need to discuss/reach a decision (IC or OOC) on the focus. Like I said, I will allow it to be changed at the start of each new module. Once that is done, we can do the first step of the rebellion process, and then move on with the adventure.

Let's do a quick vote OOC for what your character (or you personally) wants focus-wise. Please just vote once, we'll go with majority. If you or your character has a 'campaign statement' for their preferred focus feel free to put it before your vote.

"Ah don't know how you can be comfortable openly rebelling against Barzilai. Ah agree that he's scum, but he's scum that controls the guards, the other politicians, and the people. Remember--it's martial law out there. If we get caught, we're executed within a day, no trial, no bribes, nothing. We need to keep it quiet and hidden, at least until we have some 'friends' that can get people out of tight spots when everything goes Azmodean."

VOTE: Secrecy

"I disagree, Aula. Barzillai is a thug and a despot, true, but his grip upon Kintargo isn't as tight as he would have us and our neighbors believe. We should rouse the people of this good city, stir their hearts and remind them of the jewel Kintargo was before Barzillai began squatting in our opera house, spouting his 'proclamations'. Rouse the whole city and the dottari won't stand between us and their master for long. If we show the people that Barzillai is in power only because we have allowed him to be, we can save Kintargo!"

Vote: Loyalty

Even though your math and mechanical insights into the system are spot on and I agree with them, I gotta have Bardigan go with loyalty. As a player, I'll be perfectly content if he gets voted down =)

I vote secrecy, too. It seems closer to a survivable tactic.

"Everything you say about Barzillai, Kintargo and the people is true, Bardigan. But the issue is timing. Do you really see everyone rising up tomorrow? The day after that? I think Aula's right. We need to build a network if we're going to do more than roll the dice and cause bloodshed."

I wicked smile crossed Larenti's face.

"You remember that blonde cousin of the Jhalteros? It took you some time, but you got to the rousing poetry at the end. Play it like that, but with the whole city."

I vote secrecy, but am happy with any choice.

Secrecy. It was Dawnilea's preference from before.

Dawnilea says, "I have to agree with Aula.. There's no hope for victory if we're captured... We won't even be martyrs... We'll just be dead, with nothing accomplished. It might be 'cause they trained me to be an assassin, but I think the better call is to strike from the shadows.. at least until we've weakened them enough that it's time to make the final strike."

I just want to apologize for my inactivity these last two days, as it appears that the site itself is completely unreachable only during the entire 8-12 hour chunk of time that I was available to post, while they deal with whatever issues they are having.

I've been having trouble connecting as well. It's frustrating when I only have a small window in the day, and the site's down.

Same here. Hopefully the maintenance that was done yesterday afternoon clears it all up!

Okay, I have updated the rebellion checklist, and now that you have determined how you intend to move forward, you as a team need to decide on your first actions you will take. You get to take two actions as the Silver Ravens organization. Those available during your 1st week as a rebellion are as follows:

(I'm skipping those that don't make sense in this very first activity, like change officer role or dismiss team)

Guarantee Event (No Team Required): By deliberately lowering the organization’s guard and increasing your Notoriety score by 1d6, you can guarantee an event occurs during the Event phase. If you perform this action, the GM rolls twice and takes the lower roll as the actual result for the event.

Lie Low (No Team Required): If you choose to take no rebellion actions at all during the phase, you can reduce your Notoriety score by an amount equal to the rebellion’s total number of teams.

Recruit Supporters (No Team Required): This check can only be made once per Activity phase. By spending an amount of gold equal to the rebellion’s minimum treasury value, you can attempt to recruit additional supporters. To do so, attempt a Loyalty check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the rebellion’s rank. On a successful check, increase the rebellion’s supporters by 2d6 + any bonuses granted by Recruiter officers. If you roll a natural 1 on the Loyalty check, you don’t automatically fail, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6. You can’t take this action if the rebellion is at its current maximum rank.

Recruit Team (No Team Required): You can attempt to recruit a new team as long as you are not already at the maximum number of teams allowed (discounting bonus teams). The DC and specific Organization check required to recruit the team depend on the type of team being recruited. If you roll a natural 1 on the Organization check, you don’t automatically fail, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6.

It seems that "Recruit Supporters" and "Recruit Team" might be the best choice.

"Lie Low" doesn't make sense as our Notoriety is currently zero. And "Guarantee Event" seems a bit risky as something bad can happen (despite the beneficial "take the lower roll" modifier).

Just my two coppers.

I like "Recruit Supporters" to begin with.

I agree with Larenti. The two Recruit options seem like a good way to kick things off.

I'm good with that too -- although, shouldn't Dawnilea be adding +3 to Security from her Dex?

Okay, the follow on question (or one I should have asked earlier) is, how do you guys want to resolve the rolls for Rebellion actions? Do you want to take turns, have one particular Player/Character do it, have me roll them, or some other option?

Also, to do the recruit team action, you have to choose which type of team to recruit. They are listed further down on the rebellion sheet, and you can only recruit Tier 1 teams, as all other tiers are upgrades of the teams you have. The chart on the rebellion sheet shows what actions the different types of teams can perform.

@Dawnilea, it took a few rereads for me to get it, but it works different than that.

Sentinel: The officer grants a +1 bonus to the rebellion’s two secondary Organization checks, and can aid during all Organization checks attempted to resolve one event during the Event phase. The Sentinel can add her Constitution or Charisma modifier to a Loyalty check, her Strength or Wisdom Modifier to a Security check, or her Dexterity or Intelligence modifier to a Secrecy check made during this event’s resolution.

So what that means is, since you guys chose Secrecy, you add +1 to the base rolls for Loyalty and Security. However, when an event happens, you add the appropriate ability score modifier to any rolls related to that one event.

1) For the rolls, I'm happy with you performing them. You can best judge when everyone's weighed in and/or when you want to move along as DM.

2) For the Team check, I suggest we start with "Peddlers" as they give us the "Earn Gold" action, which we'll need to recruit higher tier Teams. Next would be "Street Performers" for the "Gather Information" action. I'm not seeing a huge need for "Sneaks" or "Freedom Fighters" right now, and their DCs are higher in any case, so I guess I'm advising that we start with the low-hanging fruit (statistically).

Let's get some people! Recruit supporters costs [Rebellion Rank x 10] GP, so for now it only costs 10 gp; later it will get more expensive.

We may also want a team (we can have 2 presently) as teams grant additional types of actions (players guide pg 27-30).

Team types (BASIC):
STREET PERFORMERS
SNEAKS
FREEDOM FIGHTERS
PEDDLERS

Actions each grants:
STREET PERFORMERS
Gather Information: DC 15 Secrecy with +2 bonus --> Success gives either random rumor, (from GM table) or specific piece of local information that you could learn by making a Diplomacy check to gather information about that topic or individual. Natural 1 on the Secrecy check, doesn’t automatically fail, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6.

SNEAKS
Secure Cache: Hide some gear somewhere in Kintargo. Requires purchasing items to be hidden, or giving items already owned. Secrecy check to hide the items. Basically puts gear around town if we don't want to carry it ourselves...

(Seems so-so for now, as we're cash shy anyway)

FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Reduce Danger: DC 15 Security --> Lower Kintargo's "danger rating" by 5 for the next week; every 10 points by which you exceed this check, you reduce the danger rating by an additional 5. On a failed check, your Notoriety score increases by 1d4 and Kintargo’s danger rating increases by 5 for the next Event phase and following week.

PEDDLERS
Earn Gold: Security check --> multiply the result by the team’s tier [1]. This check is how many gold pieces the team earned for the week. Add this to the Silver Ravens’ treasury. Roll a natural 1 --> still earn gold, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6.

I would say Peddlers or Street Performers at this point, but keep in mind that these special actions use up our actions for the activity phase--earning 1d20+3 (Ganner)+1 (Sentinel/Dawnilea) gold (average 14.5 gold...) doesn't seem like a good use of an action for now, but if we upgrade Peddlers to Merchants then they earn 2x that for the same action...

Anyway for now we probably want to up our rank (at Rank 2 we all get a free skill point!), which means recruiting supporters a lot! (But since we can only do that once per activity phase, we might as well get a team too).

As for rolls:
I'd say let's have Aardvark do the rolls so that when we're resolving these phases he can do it all at once (i.e. we decide what we're doing, he can do the rolls and resolve it, then do all the GM-y stuff for resolving the other phases).

I definitely like the Street Performers option, as we need to gather a LOT of intel at this point.

I'm thinking Street Performers to start -- realistically, can't help but think we'll be doing much of the financing of the rebellion for the first while.

Street Performers sounds like a good starting point.

Okay, so we have Recruit Supporters, and Recruit Team (Street Performers) for the first week's Rebellion actions.

Each team has to have a manager. The manager is one of the Officers. Each Officer can manage a number of teams equal to his or her Charisma bonus (minimum of 1). The team modifies all Organization checks made when taking a rebellion action using the manager’s Charisma bonus (minimum of +0). I have the Charisma bonus for each officer written after the officer's name in the Rebellion Sheet.

That said, was there anything you guys wanted to do/deal with before the first Rebellion checks? What are you doing with Chough? What are you doing with the Fushi Sisters? What are your plans with the treasure you had all found thus far?

Larenti will manage the Street Performers (assuming we successfully recruit), as it seems to fit the flavor of his Spy Master role.

Not sure what we should do about Chogh, the Fushi Sisters, or the treasure.

Can we recruit the sisters? Could be very useful

You could certainly try it and see, though I would ask that anything you guys do in regards to either Chough or the Tengu be done in the gameplay thread.

Currently you have all of them down in the Wasp's Nest, and Chough is only knocked out. Once she heals enough NL damage (which returns at 1 HP per level per hour) she'll be conscious again.

I'm waiting to find out what you are doing with Chough? What are you doing with the Fushi Sisters? What are your plans with the treasure you had all found thus far?

We were going to try to research Chough, I thought -- though Bardigan's idea to get a sage or doctor works.

When it's mentioned IC, Dawnilea will certainly push for going to talk to the Sisters and try to bring them onboard.

Treasure... that's tricky. There's a lot of value tied up in those Ravens -- but I can't shake the thought that selling them would be bad. I'd imagine that we could split and sell most of the rest, though -- that said, given that (per the earlier discussion), we're probably going to be funding the rebellion, at least in early days, I'd suggest we give a "share" of the treasure to the Ravens for operating expenses.

I agree with Dawnilea's suggestions. And Aula will assist anyone who wants to try and get the sisters on-board with the rebellion.

Aard, can we get a description of what the silver raven figurines do since Rexus successfully id'd them?

The Figurines are straight out of the CRB.

LINK

Oh! Derp. Don't mind me =)

I have company coming in today, and then I'm leaving Friday for the World Boardgaming Championships for 9 glorious days. I'll try to post, but I might be intermittent, especially on travel days.
I'm back the last day of July.

Given the events in the Wasp's Nest, their struggles to get to the silver raven cache, and the research into Chough, I'll drop Bardigan's skill point in Knowledge (dungeoneering).

Going to be out of contact for a week and then spotty for another week. Apologies for the late notice, but C-section is tomorrow.

Yay! Go have a baby! =D =D =D

Be well! And congratulations on your impending sleeplessness!

Took a minute to review the loot sheet and our spoils thus far - have we distributed the cloak of elvenkind and the +1 leather armor we recovered? Apart from those 2 things and the silver raven figurines, I think we can convert the rest into coin unless someone wants one or more of the scrolls?

I think Larenti will benefit most from the armor. Probably from the cloak as well as he's been our dark-vision scout.

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Regarding Rebellion Actions, Aard,

Am I understanding correctly that in addition to our normal actions, the Fushi Sisters let us take an additional action of either Gather Information or Earn Gold?