Was kind of waiting for Dareon to weigh in on the current discussion about the windows
Faedrin nods to himself, convinced he's struck upon an idea that will, at the very least, please the Heidmarches. He kneels down besie the open chest in the room and idly checks for a false bottom then glances under the bed.
Perception:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
I'm ready to move to the next chamber if everyone else is
Tanjvats and Kascio, find nothing more of interest in regards to false walls and illusions. Just the same, Faedrin reaches the conclusion that anything either portable or valuable has already been removed from the room.
The northern door, a little stuck at first, leads to nothing more than the ruins of a room or hallway beyond. It looks as if nothing remains in this space other that large chunks of rubble.
Faedrin looks up as Tanjvats wanders off into the adjoining chamber. Rising to his feet, he quicksteps after the half-orc, catching up to him and Kascio as the pair peer through the stuck door.
"I don't suppose we're lucky enough for the shard to just be laying on a shelf on the other side of those doors?"
Sadly, the room or hallway is thoroughly destroyed. It is most likely that whatever brought down the impressive Irespan itself is the same that caused this place to collapse.
Faedrin sighs even though the answer is what he expected. He regards the large set of double doors with a frown, shaking his head at himself for not studying the cantrip that would let him see the presence of magics.
"Be careful, you two. Those doors are rather... ominous." He shudders as he looks at the runes on the doors.
These doors are made of a silvery metal decorated with images of burning eyes that look inward toward two sets of runes carved onto the face of each door. The images are not of anything overtly as disturbing as the mosaic wall decorations, but there is still something just a little off about an image covered in burning eyes. Not to mention, just like some paintings, the eyes feel like they follow you.
Nearing the doors, it's easy to tell that they put off a decent amount of heat. One could probably stay warm in these large stone halls just by standing near enough to whatever the odd metal is that makes up the doors. It is only a small radius of heat, felt maybe no more than a foot away, but increases intensely the closer you get over that brief span. It's almost like the heat put off by an iron pot just taken from the flame.
HP 21/21; AC 18, T 15, FF 13; F+2, R+7, W+0; Perc +10 low-light; CMD 16
Kascio reaches his hand toward the door, trying to determine the aura of the heat. "Fascinating," he murmurs, then looks around the door to see any traps/locks.
Nothing about the door seems to bear traps of any kind, nor are there any visible locks. The heat doesn't seem to be centralized to any specific portion of the door, as much as it comes from the metal the door is made of itself. The whole door is equally as hot.
"I can feel the heat even from here - is it too hot to touch, Kascio? Maybe those runes have something to do with it. Or maybe we can pull the doors open with some rope?" Faedrin shrugs, unsure what to make of the runed door and the rather obvious danger of its heat.
male human fighter 1/alchemist 1 | hp 15/19 | AC 22, touch 14, FF 18, CMD 17 | Fort +6, Ref +5, Will -1 | Perception -1, Init +3
Dareon looks intently at the door, crossing his mailed arms. He's a little concerned about the heat of the door, but he's more concerned with the material makeup of the door.
Knowledge (arcana): What is this metal?:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23 Knowledge (history): What are these decorations?:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27
"Does anyone have something flammable that you don't care much for?" Dareon murmurs, patting his backpack for a moment before realizing that he probably doesn't have anything of the sort - unless he rips a page out of his formula book. "I'd like to see if this is hot enough to hurt us before we try and open it."
Kascio gingerly decides to feel the surface of the door, and had it not been for the gloves that he wears, he certainly would have burnt his hand. Even with the glove, he was able to tell that if he kept his hand there much longer he would feel the heat more severely through it.
Dareon recognizes the door as similar to the shard, whereas the shard was made of a coppery substance that wasn't actually copper, the doors are made of a metal that is very much like silver, but not. The decorations on the door do not stand out as anything specific to any one era or historic time period, but he does notice that the runes pointed out by Kascio are written in Thassilonian.
Thassilonian Runes for Dareon:
The left door bears runes that spell out the word 'LISTEN', and the right door spells 'THE EYES'. The style and spacing of the runes is oddly familiar, and you realize it is like the ones found on the Paradox box Lady Heidmarch gave you all as a test on the first day.
Faedrin shakes his head in helplessness as Kascio brings his hand away from the door, tendrils of smoke plainly wisping off his gloves. Turning to Dareon, "Whether or not it's hot enough to cause something to combust, I'm not sure - but Kascio's gloves are smoking so I'm pretty convinced that, yes, those doors can hurt us as they are." He scratches his head and looks back at the door. "Do the carvings or decorations on the doors mean anything?"
male human fighter 1/alchemist 1 | hp 15/19 | AC 22, touch 14, FF 18, CMD 17 | Fort +6, Ref +5, Will -1 | Perception -1, Init +3
Dareon raises an eyebrow at the runes. "It's another puzzle." he says, somewhat tiredly. "The words "Listen" and "The Eyes" are spelled out in Thassilonian here on the doors - I think we're supposed to re-order them like with the puzzle box that Heidmarch gave us."
He thinks for a moment before continuing. "The puzzle box's key was "Lucre" - a word that's connected to greed. So, it stands to reason that the key here is connected to greed as well. However, I doubt it - this place seems to be a shrine to Alaznist- Unless I'm mistaken, in which case excuse me -the Runelord of Wrath - so I'd be willing to bet that the keywords for this puzzle are related to wrath."
"Sure seems like it," Faedrin offers, his tone tinged with disdain. "For being some world-spanning empire or whatever, they sure left a lot of tedium for those who came after."
HP 21/21; AC 18, T 15, FF 13; F+2, R+7, W+0; Perc +10 low-light; CMD 16
Kascio looks at the cleric with open awe. "That's some high Thassal-thinking, Tanjvats." Moving quickly as his glove burns, he rearranges the letters into the words Tanjvats spoke.
As Kascio touches the runes with his gloved hands, nothing happens. Each rune pressed, pushes in, but does not change places with the next one pushed. It looks as if he's doing what he's supposed to, but nothing is happening.
Edit: Also, when pressing runes, I need the exact order they are pressed to rearrange them.
Female Human Summoner 2 Hp 12/12 AC 11, Touch 11, FF 10, Fort +0, Reflex +1, Will +5
Esmeralda curts a smile as the group begins to put together the code. "I don't see what silence would have to do with wrath, but I've yet to help in the solving of said puzzles, so I know little." she points out. "What do you suppose solving this one does? Cools down the door?" she asks, pointing at it. "If that's the case, what we're looking for is likely inside, and apparently the tower girls were too foolish to actually access it, fortunately." she says with a grin as Penance nears the group dragging his sword across the ground.
Faedrin tries to console Tanjvats, "I don't that you're wrong in your suggestion, Tanjvats. See? The letters didn't even change position when Kascio pressed them. I think your solution is probably right, we just have to figure out how to get it into the door."
He nods at Esmeralda, "Cooling the door would be nice, I just hope there isn't a tribe of pugwampis or worse contained on the other side."
Female Human Summoner 2 Hp 12/12 AC 11, Touch 11, FF 10, Fort +0, Reflex +1, Will +5
"Listen and... The eyes. If it's just something that involves rewriting the words to involve Alaznist, and wrath, for that matter... then..." She trails off for a moment, placing her hand to her lower lip and tapping it for a moment. "Perhaps Inlets?" Though Silent does sound oddly more appropriate."
Faedrin steps up beside Kascio and, with an ungloved hand, touches the L then S. If the runes swap places and touching the runes doesn't burn his fingertips off, he next presses the T then N.
Deciding to test a theory, Faedrin removes his glove and touches first the 'L' and then the 'S'. The palpable heat of the door is stronger against his bare flesh, and the result is the beginnings of a blister forming to coincide with the feel of burned flesh. The runes, however, do switch. The letters glow briefly and switch places on the door, saying now "SILTEN" "THE EYES".
Faedrin shakes the pain out of his hand. He touches the T and E, then the T and N. He inhales sharply, shaking his hand again, "If we're wrong, this is going to hurt a lot."
Faedrin steels his nerves, and as quickly as he can, makes all the letter switches to spell out the guess by Tanjvats. Everyone can hear the unintended sound Fade makes as he sucks air through his teeth at the pain caused by each touch. The sound of skin being singed, and the following smell of burned skin soon follows. Finally, he manages to make all the appropriate changes.
The runes are alight, the ones he touched, then they all begin to glow. Soon there is light 'tunk' sound and the doors appear to hang more than before, as if they are now bearing their own weight on unseen hinges, instead of being supported by one another.
Faedrin shakes his hands again, trying rather ineffectively to soothe the pain. Looking up at the doors darkly he growls, "I think I figured out where the wrath part fits into the damn riddle! Gods that hurt!"
Status:
HP: 6/12
AC: 19 (15 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 17
F/R/W: +3/+4/+4 (+2 vs enchantment, immune sleep)
Arcane Pool used: 0/5
Harrow Points remaining: 2
Female Human Summoner 2 Hp 12/12 AC 11, Touch 11, FF 10, Fort +0, Reflex +1, Will +5
"If the doors are free to move now, or are at the least pryable, I'd advise we allow Penance here to pry said door open with his sword as leverage, though I personally doubt it'll fit." she suggests. "Otherwise I would slap on gloves." she says with a grimmace at the obviously burned fingers.
Faedrin sighs as Tanjvat's magics wash over his hands and steal the pain. He nods after, seeing the flesh perfectly whole and soft once more. "Thanks, Tanjvats." He then turns back to the door, hanging free as it is, and he draws his rapier.
"Just in case this is also like the puzzle box in that something's inside..."
Status:
HP: 12/12
AC: 19 (15 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 17
F/R/W: +3/+4/+4 (+2 vs enchantment, immune sleep)
Arcane Pool used: 0/5
Harrow Points remaining: 2
male human fighter 1/alchemist 1 | hp 15/19 | AC 22, touch 14, FF 18, CMD 17 | Fort +6, Ref +5, Will -1 | Perception -1, Init +3
Dareon stands at the fore of the group, shoulders hunched protectively forward (kind of trollishly, but he's leaning forward into whatever might come tackling out), his new shortsword and shield at hand.
The door opens way too easily on old hinges bearing such heavy weights. Whatever methods or artisans were used to craft such a thing were clearly quite effective. The room beyond is of a decent size, and bare of anything except ages worth of dust. However, the Thassilonian murals here are as vibrant as if they were painted yesterday. A dusty, cobweb-choked corridor runs northward.
male human fighter 1/alchemist 1 | hp 15/19 | AC 22, touch 14, FF 18, CMD 17 | Fort +6, Ref +5, Will -1 | Perception -1, Init +3
Dareon moves carefully in front of Kascio, casting his gaze in the same direction as his chest, making sure that he's ready to respond to whatever danger that comes out.
"Somebody detect magic? These are too well-preserved to be natural."
Real quick, on phone, but I houserule that everyone gets weapon finesse for free. Treat it as a property of the weapons that are finessable as opposed to a bonus feat of the character.
male originally elf Sinister Villain 10 / PC Nemesis 10 / Memorable BBEG 5
Ok, with that, I think I'm leaning toward my magus idea, though maybe less theify and a little more scouty.
I'm thinking an elven kensai, with those 16's in dex and int, then by the time level 7 or 8 rolls around we'll see if the course of the campaign still has him steering toward shadowdancer. Maybe he's a little brash, a little over confident, and a little spoiled - but maybe that will change after he signs on with the local Pathfinder lodge.
I'm thinking Alabaster Outcast might be the way to go for this guy's roots - and I think his adventures might change him from a cocky spoiled rich so-and-so into a level headed guy who cares about helping whomever he might.
I really need a re-roll. My character won't work with that ability score set, and I'm still eligible for one... That last roll set was a net +3, and a 10 point buy.
OH MY GOD FINALLY one that isn't disqualified.
May I please use this set?
I do realize that I re-rolled a lot, but I also rolled a 5 and a 4, and I really wanted to play a character that wasn't crippled in some way or another.
Shalafi, I don't see your second rolls. I see the results, but not the actual rolls themselves. Did you accidently erase them. If so, if you edit them back in before the hour is up they will appear and be the same.
Otherwise I'm sorry, but I can't accept non rolls. What you have with the non-visible rolls, is actually a 20 pt buy, +4 total modifier. Those would need to be rerolled anyways. Even if they were point buy, I don't allow 7's before racial mods.
That would be a 17 pt buy. I hate to be a stickler, but even if the 5 was equal to a -12 it would still be valid (no less than 15 pt buy or total +5 modifier). I hate to say it, but these are the risks inherent in accepting to make the rolls.
Using 4d6 drop lowest, can still net a 3 in a score.
With that being said, I haven't used my roll rules in a long time, and forgot that I have you roll 7 times and take the top 6 scores.
So everyone roll 1 more score and replace your lowest if it is higher than it.
Wait, hero lab said I only got 2? Rogue's don't get a talent or a feat at level 1, right?
Fighters are what get 3 feats at level 1. Rogue's are privy to only 2. Right? I don't think Rogues get weapon finesse for Free. They can get a rogue talent equivalent though.
Have there been particular rules that have seemed arbitrary that I should explain, or are you looking for a rundown of any future introductions to the rules?
I have been loathe to introduce the house rules discussion, because we were dealing with so many other subjects (which AP, rolls or point-buy, evil or not, character concepts now or later). I had mentioned earlier that after we get further situated I wanted to discuss house-rules.
So far the only ones introduced was the rolling method and free weapon finesse.
The rolling method (4d6 drop lowest die 7 times, then drop lowest score) sadly started as 6 because I forgot I used 7 from back in the day before people made and expected point-buy to be the norm. I include a too high/too low cap because there tend to be hurt feelings across the gaming community when someone has higher stats than the rest of the party, so I wanted to keep it within a point frame for a little balance in the swingy dice method.
So far:
Dal has a +12 Mod (just at cap) equaling 38 point-buy
Duboris has a +10 Mod equaling 37 point-buy
Lein has a +9 Mod equaling 25 point-buy
and with your last rolls, (13, 13, 11, 15, 9, 13 [dropping the 8])
You have a +5 mod equaling 18 point-buy
Is it lower than the others yes, but as I stated before that the risks of choosing to roll are accepted when deciding to roll. I allowed the option to choose not to roll, but that the decision must be made prior to finding out the results of the roll, so people don't see their rolls and decide that they only want random when it's beneficial to them (the same reason a lot of people love crit rules but hate fumble rules even when they follow the exact same mechanic).
As for Weapon Finesses as a free feat to everyone, since it is only a benefit, I didn't think anyone would have a complaint. The idea being that if a weapon is finessable, and a character has more finesse that brute strength, why would they learn to use weapons only by brute strength unless they get special training to use their finesse. I (as well as a few on the forums) believe Finesse should be a property of the weapon itself. Can a weapon be used effectively with agility over power? If yes, then it is the weapon that has the ability to be used with dex, not the special training of the individual that focused on using his higher dex than str to attack with a weapon that can be effectively used with dex.
I have other houserules that I propose, but my intent was to actually discuss these with a group, as I don't make sweeping houserules if the majority of the group does not agree with the logic and reasoning behind them.
I'm personally a tremendous fan of fumble rules, really. It adds that extra pizzazz to problems. It doesn't really bother me if they're not there, though.
As for your methods of rolling dice for stats; roll 7 sets of 4, drop lowest die from each, then drop lowest score, is usually how I, myself, do it.
The "Curve" point buy is plenty good.
Also, I just didn't notice the bit about weapon finesse, and that makes complete sense. I've dealt with groups, however, that wanted that feat to apply your dex mod to damage, which took forever to explain why that's not going to happen.
That aside, I'm more than content with the lot of all of this. What do you think of Oo?
Male Silvanesti Elf Wizard (5)/Wizard of High Sorcery (10)/Archmage (5)
Well your, I don't allow this number on a cap seemed very arbitrary since it was made after rolls were made. I think it would have been more prudent to put all that information some place rather than doing what was asked and being told no, I don't allow that.
male originally elf Sinister Villain 10 / PC Nemesis 10 / Memorable BBEG 5
To Shalafi's point, in one post he's told he can't use a particular set for a pair of reasons, one of them being that you don't allow 7's before racial mods. (the other being that the actual dice rolls weren't shown, but that's beside the point)
In the very next post, you explained why leinathan would be stuck with his roll of a 5.
Now, he wound up not being stuck with a 5 because of the 7th set of 4d6 you recalled at that point, but it did leave a bit of a "make-up-your-mind" kind of impression.
Part of the confusion is undoubtedly caused by the volume of posts we've had, with character generation just up and taking off like a shot for some of us. It's a shame we didn't flesh out the stat generation discussion more before we forged ahead, but what's done is done at this point.
I think a house rule discussion would be better served sooner rather than later though. At the very least we can nip potential confusion in the bud that way.
HERE is the link to the first post I made about deciding between point-buy or rolls.
When I first brought it up I stated the standards (except for forgetting the 7th roll, and remembering only after I was about to tell Leinathan that he had to deal with having a 5 in his rolls).
The minimum/maximum standards were addressed upon first mention of deciding which character generation method would be used.
There is no minimum single score for rolled numbers, even having a 3 is possible if you are unlucky enough to roll 4 1's twice in the same set. There was only a minumum total value of all the scores combined. As is seen often on the DPR boards, a 7 is acceptable to quite a few people as long as an 18 is available.
The only other thing I added after the rolls (besides the forgotten 7th roll that benefits everyone), is that I need to see the rolls. I guess I can assume blame for that as I figured that them being visible/confirmable was a given. I'm sorry that something happened to your rolls, but again that is why I emphasized the use of preview. It shows exactly how the post will display when submitted.
If you go back and look at my post, I was making the point that since I couldn't see the rolls, maybe he put in a point-buy build. I didn't know.
Then, I stated the standards for point-buy builds. Not that his rolls were wrong for having a 7.
The post I responded to stated:
If they were rolls, I couldn't accept rolls I couldn't see (coupled with having a total mod below +5)
If it was point-buy, I couldn't accept it as there was a 7 included.
The point was that either method did not meet the previously laid out minimum requirements.
I intended on starting house-rule discussion, but everyone was eager to get their rolls done. Since I figured rolling their stats, wouldn't hurt the process, I had no issue with it. I wanted to discuss the house-rules before PC's were made, though, because of various house-rules that may affect Char-gen.
Male Silvanesti Elf Wizard (5)/Wizard of High Sorcery (10)/Archmage (5)
I did not see that my rolls had been deleted until well after the hour time limit had passed as I was teaching a course last night. They were done the legitimate way but I must have deleted them, I think because they had been posted on a wrong avatar, and I thought I had repasted them. Oh well. This whole thing is becoming very cumbersome.
Aye but you must admit. The anticipation is more than palpable! Rough starts aside, this has the potential to be an awesome show. A few wayward rolls here and there isnt enough to curb the possibilities, right?
I'm playing around with some different character concepts...I'm also trying to guage what the party needs, so we can have a balanced party, but mostly I want something that's gonna be fun to play.
Hmm.
I'll get back to y'all soon with a character.
Alright, I've re-considered character creation.
I wanted someone bookish and Lawful, so that we could have some sort of annoying scribe in the party, but I also wanted a melee character, so that ruled out Cloistered Cleric.
Then I stumbled on a couple of things:
Cavalier! There's an archetype called emissary, and an Order of the Tome dedicated to preserving knowledge. (Both located in Ultimate Combat)
My idea would be a character that's a somewhat typical Pathfinder - very dedicated to Explore, Report, and Cooperate. Concerned with regulations and caution. He'd be a very mobile fighter both in and out of the saddle of his trusted mount. He'd be a human cavalier (emissary). Likely Lawful Good. His mission in life is essentially that of the Pathfinders - to find and preserve knowledge, especially written knowledge.
He'd likely be going with the Alabaster Outcast or Monument Scholar trait. Perhaps his family disowned him for being so flighty and not wanting to continue the family trade, or perhaps I'll make him a half-elf, and he was disowned for being...embarrassing.
Anyway, I'll have a character sheet and some background up shortly. Thought we needed a frontliner, what with our lineup of Rogue, Magus, and Wizard so far.
Can we have the rest of our character creation guidelines soon? Starting gold, mostly.
male originally elf Sinister Villain 10 / PC Nemesis 10 / Memorable BBEG 5
That's a neat slant on cavalier! It's not often frontliners are cast in a bookish, scribe-y light. Very cool.
---
@Shalafi - I think a full arcane caster would be handy to have around. If we're both elves with an arcane bent, would you be interested in playing siblings at all? If you liked the Alabaster Outcast campaign trait, maybe we could have both been booted from the family for whatever reason(s).
Just kind of brainstorming out loud. No need to attach our backstories if it doesn't fit your idea of the gal. =)
The breastplate is free as per Alabaster Outcast. When I actually buy equipment, it'll be with the average of 175gp allocated to cavaliers, unless told otherwise.
Dareon Niroden
Male human cavalier (emissary) 1
LN medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception -1
EXP:
PP:
FAME:
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 21, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield, +3 Dex)
hp 13 (1d10+3)Current: 13/13
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will -1
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd 30ft.
Melee battleaxe +4 (1d8+3/x3)
Ranged longbow +4 (1d8/x3)
Special Attacks Challenge (+1 damage, +2 saves, +2 Bluff&Sense Motive vs. target)
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 9, Cha 9
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 17
Feats Mounted Combat,
Traits Alabaster Outcast, Historian
Skills Handle Animal +3, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Knowledge (history) +6, Linguistics +7, Profession (scribe) +3, Ride +7
Languages Common, Varisian, Thassilonian, Elven
SQ In or Out of the Saddle, Bonded Mount
Order Order of the Tome
Combat Gear ; Other Gear breastplate, battleaxe, heavy wooden shield, longbow
COIN:
PP:
GP:
SP:
CP:
Alright so I'm not done, but this is pretty much what he's gonna look like. He's gonna lack some social graces (and honestly, he doesn't really care). His ultimate priority is to gather and protect knowledge, and to deliver it to Pathfinder Lodges to be stored. He's a consummate researcher.
He's also a pretty big guy, and he knows it. He's done a lot to learn how to be careful with his body, because he knows he can just break stuff if he isn't careful, and if he broke some ancient carving carelessly, he'd never forgive himself.
Those things said, he's got the capacity for goodness within him, and he may even progress to Lawful Good in time. He's a reliable adventuring companion, and would always prefer to take a hit than a more fragile person.
You don't need to ask for core stuff Shalafi, and Elf and Enchanter are both CRB. Like I said, in one of my initial posts, I am fine with just about anything in the 4 core books, and on the SRD, except for the exclusions I had listed (Most non-core races and Gunslinger, Ninja, Samurai, and Monk) though monk is swingy for me if they can be built and played without the very STRONG Wuxia feel they have about them.
For starting gold take the average
For traits, take 2, one of which must be a campaign trait (though I will accept the PF society traits in the Player's Guide as campaign traits for this AP).
I will post in a little bit the House rules I would like to discuss before implementing (or not implementing based on consensus).
