Aardvark's "Nothing Venture Captained, Nothing Gained" Shattered Star Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

PFFFFT HAHA HAHA Oh god. That made my day. *sigh* Right, well, I'll be able to post up everything about him soon. Here's hoping that guy waiting on us to get cracking is still here.

Still around. Just lurking.

This is just a heads up. I will have limited accessibility due to travel from 25 Jul until 9 Aug. I will have my computer, but will only be able to post as the wife and available internet access allow.

It's fine, Aard, we're in a bit of a slow down at the moment anyway. I'm just going to focus on making my NE summoner asap. I'm wanting to make greed his thing, really, and his Eidolon is going to be of the same personality.

Presenting Esmeralda Salazar, though I need to wait to get home before I can apply the word document to the profile itself.

SNEAK ATTACK POST!

Still on the road, and not posting from my laptop. Once I can get on it, I will move forward, which will start with combat.

That does not bold well for anyone.

Yay combat! I sneak attack the darkness!

It bodes well for me, as long as I roll another five crits and carry the combat again.

I will be at Gencon August 14-17. I will probably not have internet access. I will be having scads and scads of fun. If you're also at GenCon, I'll be around the PFS room a lot; let's meet!

-James

Im on the road as well and will have intermittent access to email through the 22nd.

I'll be here. Considering how lax things have been of late, I'm not in any particular hurry, but I'm looking forward to when things pick up again.

Still there, Kascio?

Kascio's hanging out, throwing knives at things... targets, walls, cats... etc.

http://www.livestream.com/duborissden

Seems a little impudent, but I'm about to start a livestream and draw my Eidolon for a campaign I'm in. (This one) so if anyone wants to come watch to pass the time and chitchat about the games we're in that'd be spectacular.

I'm back guys. Sorry for the delay last week.

Alright. After a sincere amount of thinking, I've finally created Esmeralda's backstory. Long story short, she's very greedy, but isn't going to charge you per spell. Her major drawback is that, while it isn't much, her Eidolon requires penance for being summoned, and is actually named "Penance" for just that reason.

Kascio we can begin roleplaying with each other just as soon as Aard sets us up a situation. I'm sure it'll pass the time nicely.

Sounds good!

What do you think of Esmeralda? Any bit worried? If you guys aren't okay with her that's fine, but I'm far from being a game crasher.

Okay, Esmeralda.

First, there's no mechanics in the profile. Remember, I need all the PC info there in the off chance I need to access it when you are either unavailable or I need to speed things up with a roll from you (like a lot of Dareon's AoO crits).

Secondly, joining the Pathfinders is kind of an event. I'm not sure what all it entails (as I'm not a big follower of Golarion lore), but I think you need to be recommended by someone, then you have to go through some sort of training, and some test of worth. They are not a group that you can just sign your name, and the primary treasure they deal in is esoteric knowledge, lore, and ancient secrets.

Actually, I own "Seekers of Secrets", the player companion that explains how the Pathfinder Society works, and Aardvark is right. Generally, you have to apply for training years in advance, and you spent a lot of time at a special barracks in Absalom training how to get into old tombs and s@%$.

Then, you're given a mission by your primary master. This mission has no time-limit, and it's generally designed to push you to your limits. When you complete the mission (generally requiring the retrieval of some artifact or other) then you are made a full-blown Pathfinder.

Er... Alright. That works. I can include that shortly. The only reason the stat block isn't in there yet is because of the fact that I writ the backstory entirely in the school library. I'll be posting that section up soon.

Let's see...

-Years of Training in Absalom
-Find a Relic
-Become Pathfinder
-Arrive in Magnimar

Alright, that works.

Aside from that, though, what of her personality? Is anyone worried about that at all?

I'll post this here for easy visibility as well as in my profile shortly.

**Edit**

Just finished the backstory with a bit extra. Hope you guys enjoy it. It wasn't too difficult to work in.

To that end, I'd actually like to talk about that. Being that Kascio is young, and probably didn't go through the training in Absalom, how would you feel about him impersonating a Pathfinder who actually exists? I'm thinking something along the lines of his friend, who is a Pathfinder, gives him the name of a Pathfinder who is a member, probably recently and is off in the Mwangi Expanse at the moment. Kascio pretends to be that guy and eventually I imagine, gets found out. Hopefully by then he'll have proven his worth a bit more...

Alternatively, he's a half elf, long lived. He was trained as a Pathfinder, undertook his Confirmation, and sort of slipped away from the organization when he made it to Magnimar. He joined a gang, realizing the same skills that made a good Pathfinder also made for a good thieving career, and only slipped back when his affair with the gang's leader's daughter was discovered and he needed to flee.

Is there a backstory you'd prefer oh GM?

For both the new PC's

Considering this AP assumes you start as Pathfinders, it's easy enough to minimize the requirements. You could easily start the application process as an early teen, go through some short-lived training, before being sent to Magnimar. Or even have Lady Heidmarch as a patron in Magnimar, and still be an applicant of sorts. Where she and her husband trained you in the roles and expectations, and are using the events as the proving ground/stepping stone for admission.

Kascio, for the rogue I'm playing in this, she tried to steal from the Heidmarch manor, and was caught. The Lady managed to sell her on how challenging and worthwhile using her talents for the society could be. Kascio, either one of your backstory ideas could just as easily work with how lenient I'm willing to be on the requirements.

You guys don't have to have the full rigamarole to get in, but it has to be a little more than walking up raising your right hand and signing on the dotted line.

Also, Kascio, are you tracking your encumbrance? Just your armor and daggers alone is 40 lbs. Add a rouge's kit (37 lbs) and you're almost at heavy load.

Esmeralda, I see once again you are tying yourself to the Shadow Lodge. Remember the stipulation I applied from the first time.

So, here's the deal. I will allow the connection to the shadow lodge, under the restriction that you follow that last sentence of the lodge quote. Primarily the part that says, "...want the Society to prosper, and do what they must to assist their fellow agents,..."

Ah, she's actually not from the shadow lodge. Thats just from the old oz page I used to to make her. My apologies.

So essentially, barring her lodge choice, esmeralda is complete, yeah? I'd love to start replay with kascio. I'd like to get her personality down before the group gets back. Plus it'd be back something to pass the time.

Okay, did encumbrance. In battle I'm still in a light load. In exploration I'm in the medium load. So Kascio will drop his kit when battle starts, or else take the reduction in speed.

That's a neat way of doing it. I like it. I'm excited to finally start roleplaying with Kascio but at the same time I'm still waiting on Aard's go-ahead. That said, Esmeralda is a member of the Sczarni faction.

I like the "slipped away from the Pathfinders to become a criminal" idea best. I'll stick with that one. It makes for less need to lie to party members and doesn't interfere too terribly with the AP.

I don't think Kascio really has a faction. Perhaps he was Sczarni once, (and you never truly leave, do you?) but he's not sure about that now.

Kascio if you like, we could play it off as if we were both members of Sczarni that are coming to this particular lodge. I figure that'd be interesting and fun. That would make it to where you already know everything about Esmeralda and her greediness, as well as her somewhat unnerving Eidolon. She's ordinary, slightly prideful, doesn't take well to stupid ideas and isn't much of a risk taker.

That said you'd have to be Sczarni, which is perfect for both of us.

I'm cool with that.

Kascio's somewhat of a Mercutio with a knife. He sees himself as a charmer more than a fighter, but he lets his blades talk too soon and too often. He's covering up for a lot of insecurities, but he knows his stuff when it comes to getting in and out of a place without being seen.

For all intents and purposes, Esmeralda looks exactly like her profile picture. Coat and all. Though her eyes actually do have pupils, obviously. Regardless, Kascio, I'd still love to roleplay with you asap, but again, I'm just waiting on Aard's go-ahead on that. I'm not sure if our stories are fleshed out enough, but I figure we're both set to go from a roleplay standpoint.

Feel free to RP with each other. You have been called upon by Lady Heidmarch, for a job to do. She will explain more when the others return, but you will tasked with taking over for Lord Heidmarch's man when he returns. It was an impulse task, and he has other duties he should be attending. She got a hold of you two in a more official capacity.

Esmeralda, I noticed you have three feats. 1 at 1st level, and 1 for being human, but I can't find where the 3rd one comes from.

Also, I just want to remind you that Eidolon's start with 7 Int. Not that they are really stupid, but they are also not smart. I've seen way too often where they are played like they are well above a 7.

That said, I would request that you have a profile put together for the Eidolon as well (to include the status bar you should have under your name) and that you put what evolutions it has in the profile somewhere. Bear in mind that anything you give it to carry, or any equipment it has, does not go with it when summoned/returned unless it is a part of it (not sure what a shotel is), in which case it always appears/disappears with it.

Lastly, you will not be able to give commands to any of the things you summon unless you speak the language. Most importantly, it is your responsibility to control the summons in combat, to include being cognizant of what they can and cannot do.

So, if she's pinned...Tanj doesn't even need to make an attack roll, right? He can just CDG with the silver sword and kill her.

You are enlarged, the Spell gives you a -2 Dex and -1 size penalty.

Grappled gives a -4 penalty to Dex.

Also, Pinned is not helpless (which is required for CDG), she just loses her Dex bonus (which allows Sneak attack).

Aha! Sorry I was home whenever you mentioned the issue with 3 feats. I was confused for a moment, too, but then I realized I'd made Hero lab give "1 Extra Feat" specifically for Weapon Finesse in the default settings of the file, but then I axed it and put improved Initiative. In light of that, I've removed Improved Initiative.

Esmerelda, I seem to remember something about "you only get the starting amount of gold for these characters". A Large mwk bastard sword is much more expensive than a starting summoner can afford. Priced at, if I'm not mistaken, 370 gold.

Also, how does it have 19 Str? The base Strength for a Biped eidolon is 16. Add one ability-score-enhancing evolution and it reaches 18 str. It doesn't have enough HD yet to get any increased ability scores.

FURTHERMORE, you actually can't have it use exotic weapons. In order to let it use weapons, you have to give it the "Weapon Training" evolution, which costs 2 evolution points and only includes simple weapons. 2 more points gives you martial weapons, but that would preclude increasing its' strength.

Rich Parents Trait for the gold, as per backstory.

The Base Strength of a Bipedal Eidolon is 15. An Eidolon can gain a strength or general stat increase starting as soon as level 1, but gets a bonus stat opportunity for every 6 levels it possesses. So it can have 1 starting out as well, but can't gain it again till level 6, 12, and 18. (It can have a total of 4.)

The Eidolon's strength is 17, but for the first 10 minutes it's summoned it has a +2 bonus to it's strength score for a feat, but I had that in-play checked, but apologies on that. (Although in-game it does currently have 19 strength.)

As for the exotic weapon use, it took the feat. Using the Eidolon evolution points for it is an option, mind you, and that certainly is an option if I'd wanted to give it power attack as a feat instead, but I figure the strength bonus and the AC increase is preferable.

I merely used it's feats for Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword)

In fact, I was actually wrong about the base form Bipedal. It actually has a 16 strength starting stat, which means his base strength at the moment is 18! Which pleases me greatly. His dexterity is also 12, and I'm not sure what happened there.

Size Medium; Speed 30 ft.; AC +2 natural armor; Saves Fort (good), Ref (bad), Will (good); Attack 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Str 16, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11

As shown.

That means that when I summon my Eidolon, he's got 20 strength for the first 10 minutes! Hooray for that.

Hey guys, I'll be away on an annual camping trip this weekend. I'll be leaving mid afternoon on Thursday and won't be back until Sunday night, though work and life have been frustrating enough of late that I may decide to stay an extra day.

Anyway, there's no cell reception or internet or anything at the mountain top cabin we'll be staying at, so I'll be offline for the duration of the trip.

Hey guys! I started writing a homebrew adventure that I want to test out, and I was wondering if any of you guys are interested?

Anyway, go ahead and check out the recruitment thread I started up, here. So far it's just a few people arguing with me about homebrew changes and character generation preferences. Let me know if you're interested or just post in the thread, I'd love to have any of you.

Still with us, Kascio?

Yep, just waiting for the introduction to the Heidmarches.

Per Aards comment on my damage roll. Damage on my attack is 1d6+1-1..Str bonus +1 then -1 for alchemical silver on a slashing or peircing weapon.

I need to roll better! :-)

It's okay, this fight is totally in the bag :)

I have couple of big days at work coming, so I won't be able to post as frequently. If someone else wants to get us through this, that would be great.

To that, how much of this tower is left to explore?

Due to a discussion in one of my other games, I will begin tracking loot in this profile. To do so, I will need you all to make sure I'm aware of what you are picking up/taking, and when you sell/claim.

I'm not tracking what you buy on your own, only what is found, appraised, claimed, or sold.

Given my statement of tracking loot, from this point forward I will only be tracking what is claimed by the players as having been taken, and prices will only exist for what has been appraised. Also, I will still need specifics along the lines of "2 sets of leather and the short sword", vice "Everything but the heavy stuff".

I would like to make a point about how I see the pace of a game. When the scene requires a map or the enemies/NPC's acting, I accept that it is wholly on me, and admit I have dropped the ball on moving forward at times. When the scene is all RP or IC decision-making, that pace is set by the players.