Hey, kids. This is where we'll talk tactics, field questions, deal with xp and leveling issues, announce planned absences, and generally conduct all the "table talk" not relevant to the fictional events of the campaign itself.
If you click on the "Campaign Info" tab, above, you'll see information about your characters and their backgrounds and/or campaign-relevant motivations. I'll be editing those as we establish them a little better, which we'll do here, in the Discussion Thread.
The "Gameplay Thread," obviously, is where we'll play - but I'd like to get everyone to post here in the discussion thread at least once before posting over there. At the very least, to declare anything you'd like to add or change about your character's "Campaign Info" blurb. I know most of you rolled for your character's history per the Ultimate Campaign tables, but I've got little-to-no idea what your results were.
Spectators are welcome here, and are even welcome to stop in and say hi, offer tips, or ask our players questions. Disclaimer: this bunch is new to play-by-post (but in no way new to Pathfinder); hence all the explanatory prompting, here.
Hey, Thurgood was taken as a user name. So I guess this will have to do. Back-story wise I am pretty content with my rolls, but I want to establish that my character is an alcoholic who no longer drinks but is tempted often.
I dig the recovering alkie thing, and good job with the first post, (though hold off on posting to the Gameplay Thread yet).
Hey, Thurgood was taken as a user name. So I guess this will have to do. Back-story wise I am pretty content with my rolls, but I want to establish that my character is an alcoholic who no longer drinks but is tempted often.
Most first-names-only ARE taken by this point. As long as you've made less than five (?) posts (or something?) you can still change your Alias name. Maybe just give Thurgood a last name (or a first name, if Thurgood is the surname)?
Reminder: everyone hold off on posting in the Gameplay thread until we've all checked in here and resolved character bio stuff.
Thurgood is his surname. But he refuses to give his first name to anyone. Going to keep The Thurgood, just have to be a badass to earn the name.
Hey guys. Backstory rolls complete. Ready to murder stuff.
Hey guys, Ansirus alias is done, character backstory is good, ready to get started.
My computer is in the shop ATM, so Jess and I are gonna be on the same laptop for a day or two, might be a little slow-going to start, having to switch profiles back and forth.
The only notable thing I would like to add about Mirasha is that she is middle-aged but uses her daily spell-like, Lesser Age Resistance, to ignore the physical penalties. Other than that everything is good to go.
I want to establish that my character is an alcoholic who no longer drinks but is tempted often.
Done...
The only notable thing I would like to add about Mirasha is that she is middle-aged but uses her daily spell-like, Lesser Age Resistance, to ignore the physical penalties. Other than that everything is good to go.
...and done.
Gameplay thread is go. If you've read the campaign info, you know that the four of you are preparing to go goblin-hunting for bounties. The campaign is officially on.
Nicat, James, and Sansara-Sensei, we need the statblocks for Ansirus, Thurgood, and Mirasha in your profiles. Click on your own alias and select "edit profile," then paste in the statblocks I formatted for you (check your e-mail if you don't know what I'm talking about).
I've added some NPCs to the Campaign Info page, in case you don't know who these three people talking to you are. I've also added a "Sandpoint Area" map to that page, (you can also just click here). The red "X" on that map indicates the location of tiny, two-mile-wide Brinestump Marsh (as pointed out for you by Sheriff Belor, on Shalelu's map. That tiny little niche in the larger bay that the Brinestump sits on is "unofficially" called Sog Bay. There is no larger map of the swamp itself.
Not sure if I like photobucket yet, might switch to imgur.
@ Sansara-Sensei: you with us?
Speaking of the NPCs, how should we record the whole relationship system thing? Should we write the NPC names and our relationship scores with them in our character profile? Also I know my starting score with Ameiko is high enough to grant a small amount of xp, should we add that to our characters now?
You can track it on your character sheets. Actually, if you know everyone's scores, post them and I'll put them on the campaign info tab.
If you have an XP-worthy relationship level with one of the NPCs, you can award it now. As with all sources of XP, the group will split the amount.
@ Sansara-Sensei and James Lark: Waiting on you guys before the gameplay thread moves further.
Sorry for late post, was busy today. Will try and post in morning and night the rest of this week. An app for this would be amazing.
Today's gameplay post contains a spoiler.
Every spoiler that I post will have a name - either the name of one of your PCs, or a name like "In Celestial" or "Tremorsense."
Basically, if you're the named PC, or if you possess the language or special ability named by the spoiler, you can click on it and read it. If you don't, you don't need to read it (and, strictly speaking, shouldn't). Truly secret information, however, gets sent to players via private message. Basically, spoiler'd information is secret in the "if you read this, don't use the information in-game unless you were supposed to read this" sense of the word.
Well our starting scores are equal to our Cha mod, but we get a +4 bonus with the NPC our campaign trait ties us to. So my starting score with Ameiko is 8, and the other three are 4. The first "Relationship Level" is any score of 5 or less and awards nothing, and I think everyone else will probably only be in this level. The second level is from 6 to 11 and awards some experience! The first time each PC reaches this level with an NPC we get 400 xp to split. Each time a PC gets to this level with another NPC after the first gives us 200 xp. So for my relationship with Ameiko we each get 100 xp (400 xp/4 players).
Looking at everyone else's Cha this is the only free xp we get, but Mirasha may have a chance to win us another 400 pretty quick. Her Cha is +1 and she gets a bonus with Shalelu, bringing her total score to 5. One more point and we get another 400 xp! The only ways to improve our scores is on level up (+1 score with one NPC) and once per character level each PC can give an NPC a gift (if friendly) or insult them (if competitive) for another point. Each NPC has three types of gifts and three types of insults which we have to kind of figure out for ourselves, but we each get one free gift/insult type for the NPC we're tied to.
So assuming we get the chance to give gifts/insults for character level one, Mirasha can attempt an easy (DC = Current relationship score, so 5) Diplomacy or Intimidate for another 400 xp.
Now whether or not she can even make the check depends on what type of gift/insult she knows Shalelu likes/dislikes, unless she happens to guess correctly about one of the other types. So I don't know if you want to reveal the gift/insult publicly or secretly, but we each need to know one for our NPCs.
There are three kinds of gifts per NPC. Since we're getting right into it, I'll post the ones you know about here, and to the campaign info tab.
For those of you that don't know, Jade Regent incorporates a couple of different sub-systems (like Kingmaker's kingdom-building, or Rise of the Runelords' sin scores). Jade Regent's mechanics revolve around a caravan (wherein your PCs will possess and manage a traveling caravan) and "relationship scores" with the four central NPCs of the adventure, Ameiko, Koya, Sandru, and Shalelu.
If you build your relationship with an NPC up high enough, you earn experience for your party. If you build it up to the highest level, you earn the devotion or enmity boon (depending on whether you'd been building a friendship or a rivalry with that NPC). All the boons are pretty good, though you won't know what kind of boon you'll get until you get it.
You start with a relationship score equal to your Charisma modifier with each NPC. With the NPC relevant to your campaign trait, you gain an additional +4 bonus. You can build the score up from there in one of three ways:
1.) Companionship. Each time you gain a level, you may add +1 to your relationship score with any one of the four primary NPCs.
2.) Special Events. Certain events in the Jade Regent Adventure Path can alter your Relationship Score with some NPCs. The GM will inform you of these adjustments if and when they occur.
3.) Giving Gifts. Once per level (including 1st level), you can give a gift to (or insult) an NPC in order to increase your friendship (or rivalry) with that NPC. There are three types of gifts and three types of insults that work for each NPC. You can discover these by experimentation, trial-and-error, or just by asking. At the start of the game, you know the following gifts and insults work for sure:
Ameiko: likes exciting adventure stories - dislikes racism; not just against Tian peoples, but against anyone
Koya: likes detailed maps; the older the better - dislikes blashphemy against Desna, the goddess of dreams and dreamers, travels and travelers
Sandru: likes fine foodstuffs; especially shellfish and brandy - dislikes implications or admissions of criminal behavior in others
Shalelu: likes survivalist gear and tools - dislikes insults (or even "harmless" jokes or terms, like "knife-ears") about elves
Whenever you give your once-per-level gift (or insult) to an NPC, you'll make a Diplomacy (for gifts) or Intimidate (for insults) skill check. The DC of this check is equal to your current relationship score. If your check succeeds, your relationship score increases by +1. If it succeeds by 10 or more; +2. A score of 6 or more is enough to earn a little XP; a score of 31 or higher is enough to earn the devotion (friendship) boon or enmity (rivalry) boon with that NPC. The boons, once earned, stay in effect for as long as that NPC is alive. Mind that no type of relationship (friendship or rivalry) is better than the other - the boons are just different. Since you have no idea what the boons will do for you, it's best to just play it the way that seems like the most fun to you.
You CAN raise multiple relationships at the same time, but you only get one companionship and one gift (or insult) per level, so you'll probably want to focus on one NPC until you reach a satisfactory level with that NPC, or unless your Diplomacy or Intimidate scores are VERY good - good enough to reliably earn that +2 bonus per gift or insult.
Added relationship scores and party XP level to the Campaign Info tab.
For now, I am assuming that everyone is pursuing friendship with the NPCs. If anyone is pursuing rivalries instead, let me know. I'll eventually update the relationship levels in the Campaign Info tab to specify the type of relationship.
If Thurgood is pursuing enmity with Sandru (fun fact: the enmity boon for Sandru comes, in part, from "enjoying anything that makes Sandru angry," according to the official description), then he might be able to bump up to a score of 6 as soon as you hit character level 2.
Another fun fact: Sandru's emnity boon is really, really good. Although his devotion boon is also pretty sweet for mobile types.
Final fun fact of the day: As a quick GM's courtesy - Koya's devotion boon literally gets better the earlier you earn it. If anyone's going for it, I recommend going for it first. It's not a big deal, it's just a "you get [thing] at each level" type of boon.
@ Everyone: While traveling, what kind of marching order do you want to use? Who's in front, and by about how many feet? Where's the mammoth? Is anyone abreast of anyone else, or are you all in a line? Straight or staggered? Close together, or spread out? If the latter, by how many feet? Etcetera.
Give me some details on where you'd like to be.
The mammoth next to Mirasha, both near the front, everyone not in a straight line. I would assume the caster in the back and the fighter in the front, but let's see what they say
My suggestion would be the two slower characters (Thurgood and Brigitte) abreast up front, Mirasha behind Thurgood, mammoth behind Brigitte, and I'll follow Mirasha.
I will take point. I want the mammoth in the back with the squishy types and Brigitte behind me. I don't think we should be too spread out, but like 5ft apart for 5ft steps ya know.
@ Everyone: For those of you that haven't heard, Farden has resurfaced and seen his shadow, indicating a long winter will be joining our campaign imminently. We aren't slowing or taking a break in the meantime, though - the game goes slowly enough that Farden will probably be ready to go before anything really exciting happens.
@ Farden: Currently, the party is really, really balanced. One dedicated party face and arcane caster, one heavily-armored front-liner, and two melee-centric hybrid casters with decent skills. That leaves you freed up for pretty much anything you want to bring in. If you're strapped for ideas, though, here are some things that might be good for Jade Regent:
> A samurai, monk, oracle, ninja, or some other suitably-Eastern character. Also: proficiency with one or more Eastern weapons or monk weapons. There are a lot of Eastern-flavored weapons and magic items floating around in this campaign.
> Human characters from Minkai (e.g. a human character of Tian heritage). To a lesser extent: kitsune, samrasan, tengu, and other "Eastern" races might be appropriate. Note, however, that the campaign does not start in Eastern-flavored Minkai (though it'll get there, eventually). Actually, Jade Regent is a very "the journey is the story" AP, in the style of Journey to the West / The Lord of the Rings.
> Charisma. Specifically, Diplomacy and Intimidate. Jade Regent features an "NPC relationship" system that translates to some XP and other bonuses. On the other hand, the party has a dedicated "face" already and, between the four existing PCs, covers Diplomacy and Intimidate reasonably well. Even so, having ranks in one of those skills might still benefit your character personally (in terms of getting the relationship bonus[es] earlier), if not the party as a whole, much. In general, though, Charisma can't hurt for this campaign; there's a little more NPC interaction in Jade Regent than there is in the typical AP.
> A "fifth wheel" support character might be good, considering how very well-rounded the party is. I've heard recently about witches using Fortune and other buff-type hexes with the Scar hex to buff and support the party from a mile away - exactly the kind of ridiculous mechanical accomplishment that makes me think of you. A straight-up bard (or sensei monk) would not be amiss either, since three out of four of the current PCs are very attack-roll-oriented (with one melee-centric animal companion, to boot).
> If there are a couple of things the party is missing, it's these: a dedicated skill-monkey, a dedicated healer (although half the PCs do have some healing capacity; the inquisitor, in particular, does it pretty well) and dedicated ranged offense. If there's anything the party doesn't need, it's another front-liner (three out of four PCs are better off in melee than elsewhere, with a fourth animal companion on the front line as well).
Play-by-post games go pretty slowly (read the PbP guide I sent you; there's some special stuff you'll need to know), but build whatever you're building as soon as you can. The sooner you're ready, the sooner you can track loot and encumbrance for everyone else we can all play together.
So here's what I'm gathering from everyone's various thoughts and wishes regarding marching order:
Thurgood on point with Brigitte just behind him, followed by Mirasha and the mastodon (abreast) and Ansirus in the rear. Everyone spaced out about five feet, except maybe Ansirus, who keeps very close to the mastodon.
And I assume the mastodon is commanded to "guard Mirasha (or maybe Ansirus?)" by default?
Sound about right?
@ Mirasha: A note about the mastodon; make sure you give your commands with Handle Animal during your turn, if necessary. The mastodon (and other animal companion or familar characters) will act in accordance with your instructions (limited by the tricks they know), but the GM will run them on the appropriate initiative count. This keeps Handle Animal useful and follows most closely to the rules, and also keeps combat moving if you post only once per day, but your companion's initiative roll is far-removed from your own.
Yes, by default his command will be to defend Mirasha.
Sure, if Thurgood wants to be alone ahead of the group he can be. We've never spread out that much before and been fine, but we need to add Farden in somewhere, too.
So Thurgood up front, then 5 feet empty space, then Brigitte, followed immediately by mammoth with Mirasha adjacent, immediately behind the mammoth will be Farden (whenever he gets here) and Ansirus behind Mirasha.
Farden here! Or proper alias name. That order sounds good to me whenever I meet you.
OK I know it isn't the most important thing but as I've only just joined I have already noticed we stopped putting quotes around our speech. I just want to make sure I'm not beaten by the GM again.
OK I know it isn't the most important thing but as I've only just joined I have already noticed we stopped putting quotes around our speech. I just want to make sure I'm not beaten by the GM again.
Quotation marks are conventionally supposed to go around speech, yes, if only because boldface has other, non-speech, uses. Mainly for the GM, though you're free to use bold in other ways, for example: to emphasize loud sound effects like , for fireballs.
As long as you don't hit me again.
Not rushing the alligator investigation, but once Sarn and everyone is done with this scene: consensus is "ignore monster tracks, get to shack ASAP," yes?
As long as you don't hit me again.
Kind of hard not to, with an AC like that.
Yea I say we move on and save whatever this is for later.
Just wanted to see what I could.
Just wanted to see what I could.
Like I said, not rushing; just wanted to know for sure where "on" is when the group moves on.
We are officially in combat. So here's how that works:
The map is here. You can click anywhere to enlarge (and should, it's much easier to see what's going on). The current battlemap will always have a permanent link on the Campaign Info tab. That'll be the easiest place to find it. The map is updated manually, by me, so your actions may not reflect right away, so always check to see what's happened since the last time I posted (whenever I post, I'll also update the map).
I'm also going to post a map key in the next few minutes, though hopefully the map is pretty self-explanatory.
Regarding talking in combat: in Play-by-Post, it's generally accepted that you can talk while flat-footed (unless something prevents you from doing so, obviously), since it makes posting frequently easier.
IMPORTANT: Regarding initiative: Any group of PCs that act in subsequent order may act in ANY order. This is important.
For example, if the initiative order is:
Brugard
Glitch
skeletons
Farden
Sansara
skeletal champion
Brugard and Glitch may act in ANY order (whoever posts first), then Farden and Sansara may act after the skeletons, also in ANY order.
You may still ready and delay as normal, or simply wait for other characters in your 'initiative block' to act first if you like (or if it makes tactical sense), but you should STILL POST ONCE PER DAY, even if it's not your turn to act (talking is a free action; see above).
Regarding moving: When moving, simply call out where you're moving to using the intersection of the letters and numbers along either side of the map that describe the space. For example, if Thurgood wanted to move next to Sarn, he'd move to space S17.
Regarding actions: When attacking or casting spells on enemies, you should feel free to describe the attack ("Vimak brings the hammer down,") but don't describe the results of that attack, since the enemy might have any number of defensive abilities that you're not aware of.
What most people do (though you're free to break it down however you like) is just describe their turn, but insert throughout the description to annotate actions and resource expenditures.
For example:
Lark stabs the infant with his rapier while maintaining inspire courage . "You're doing the god's work, Kev. The god's work."
With a sigh, he steps over to the couch and sits back down while Kevgold murders the rest of the family.
A note about the Discussion Thread and talking tactics:
You can talk tactics here, but - unless there's a reason not to - you're equally welcome to have your characters talk tactics, out loud and in character, in the Gameplay Thread ("get behind me," or "flank it," etcetera). It can be good for keeping the scene entertaining and realistic, and can give you a chance to make your post for the day even when it's not your turn.
MAP KEY is up, and posted to Campaign Info. Rules for swamp terrain can be found here. There's a little more to it than the following summary includes, but basically: light undergrowth and shallow terrain take 2 squares of movement, heavy undergrowth and deep bog take 4, and the deep bog provides cover to Medium creatures (including the snake, who is currently benefiting from it). If you're in the water, you're making Swim checks to move.
Note also that the footbridge gives high ground (+1 to attack rolls) to characters attacking creatures in the water or the bog.
Oh, and remember that this round is a surprise round for Ansirus and Thurgood. Single actions only.
@ Lark: Is Power Attack included in your attack and damage on your character sheet? If so, can you put a little note or asterisk in there somewhere?
Should I assume that you're using Power Attack unless your post states otherwise?
It is included and assume I am using it unless otherwise noted. I will make a point to tell you in
I'm waiting on Mirasha's attack to be resolved and the mastodon to do it's attack before I try anything.
Combat resolved, XP awarded on Campaign Info.
Everyone's free to act again. Ansirus is at 0, so limited to single move actions only. I think Brigitte only has one heal left. Not sure if anyone else has heals. You could also camp.
I was totally going to move the grapple back into the deep bog terrain as a standard action. If I survived the attacks of op, I could've taken a move action to "take improved cover" (+8 to AC) in the deep bog (you can do that, if you're Medium) while constricting Ansirus to death from 0 hp.
Alas.
S~+%...I think I stumbled into mad scientist territory again this morning.
And that's all my spells! Rest?
S$~$...I think I stumbled into mad scientist territory again this morning.
So let's not rest in the middle of the swamp. I say we keep going to Walthus' shack and rest there.
Also, perhaps we should change the marching order.
Thurgood and Mirasha up front, Ansirus and Ricardo next, then Brigitte and Sarn
Look good? Good.
To the unknown feral Halflings who collects venomous snakes? yeah what could go wrong with resting there.
Also, rest in the swamp? Where all the murderous constrictors live and have had a taste of ifrit blood?
I like both ideas
Yea I agree with Sarn...both ideas sound good..
1. Rest in swamp.
2. Ansirus is killed by giant snakes.
3. Get his blood.
4. ????????
5. Profit.
So I'm hearing mixed feelings about camping now versus at the "warden's" shack. Assuming the warden is alive and friendly (and any snakes are under control), there's safety at the shack. On the other hand, traveling with NO healing is dangerous. You could also go back to the Lost Coast Road, but that still involves traveling without any more healing.
What's the plan?