Another Step Beyond (Inactive)

Game Master MaUC

Discussion for the new game starts here...

Gamneplay Thread

I liked Bed in a Thread better.

That's too bed.

So, who are the new players?

So far...? Storm Dragon and MaUC.

QUESTION:

Would you guys rather continue from where you stopped or restart everything from the beginning (or from some other point in the story).

Your call. Honestly, I have no clue what "resuming" would even constitute...I never really got a clear feel for what we were doing in the first place.

I wouldn't mind having a new character either, particularly since Frederick would be hard to build without FFCS.

I don't remember what we were doing when we stopped.

Hmm... It's probably best to start from scratch, then... That way you can
reacquaint yourselves with the campaign setting. It also makes the campaign fell more fresh, IMO.

Another possibility is starting after the end of your very first mission (saving Elena Wavebraver's beloved pet tiger). That would mean we can skip character introductions and you'd already know some useful characters, such as Ayren (which I'm sure y'all loved! XD) and Joel Ironblood (and his family). It'd also mean you already have a small, but not-insignificant connection with one of the three most powerful families in the island.

Of course, if we do start at a point other than the very beginning, we'll assume whatever adventures you lived will have been lived by whatever characters you decide to use. :)

Way before we stopped playing, I was thinking in trying a summoner.

What will be the style of OSB V.2?

I think post-tiger is a good starting point, yes.

Way before we stopped playing, I was thinking in trying a summoner.

*sigh*

This g&&***n class is haunting me... -.-'

What will be the style of OSB V.2?

I'm hoping to make it what the first game was meant to be (before the GM failed to keep a good pacing of plot progression).

There'll be some urban adventures and some wilderness exploration, although how much of each depends entirely on what adventure hooks you decide to follow.

Something that I hope to make more important than it was in the last game is "kingdom building" aspect. You guys will probably have a pretty big impact in how all the different communities of Blue Shell island see and interact with each other.

The gradual discovery of the Blue Shell's unknown history and its consequences to the island's present and future is also supposed to be an important part of the plot/adventure.

I think post-tiger is a good starting point, yes.

I think so too.

BTW, reading the whole old campaign would obviously be too much, and might actually be counterproductive, really, since we're going for a fresh start...

But I strongly advise you to at least read the very first page, since there's a lot of relevant information about the setting and lore there (and the roleplay is pretty awesome too!).

I wouldn't mind having a new character either, particularly since Frederick would be hard to build without FFCS.

Well, we can always homebrew one of those archetypes that trade their own main class features for the main class features of a different class...

^^

Do we plan to have some kind of higher power equivalent to FFCS like Gestalt or are we doing single class?

Going with single class, for simplicity's sake...

Although I might raise the attribute point-buy to 25 points.

If we all are going to change our characters (assuming Scavion will do it too), it might be better to make an actual start from the very beginning. Our old Pcs could be NPCs for our the new story.

That reminds me... Scavion did say he wanted to join the game, but I haven't heard from him since. And I still got no reply from Septid.

Hopefully, they'll show up soon...

You might want to try creating (or recreating) your characters...

Speed things up a bit. :)

Didn't know you'd posted the guidelines already.

Not sure on character exactly but I have an urge to take that goofy Possessed Hand line of Feats.

I would prefer 25 PB by the way. It's a good number, particularly since we can't be super SAD in this game.

Also: 6th level, right?

Didn't know you'd posted the guidelines already.

Don't underestimate my eagerness to start playing! That's s*@$'s been up since before the discussion thread! XD

Not sure on character exactly but I have an urge to take that goofy Possessed Hand line of Feats.

Take your time... Build multiple characters if you want. You don't have to decide until we start playing. :)

I would prefer 25 PB by the way. It's a good number, particularly since we can't be super SAD in this game.

Also: 6th level, right?

Go ahead and build it with 25 point-buy. Gives martials an extra oomph!

About character level... I guess that'll depend on what point of the campaign you want to start. In any case, I do intend to make leveling much faster than the last game, specially at low levels.

After saving the tiger, you were at 3rd or 4th level... So if we start there, just go with 4th.

BTW, what happened to the "Devil Gorge and Beyond" campaign? Is it still going?

I think it was still going on until Rinjyn was banned a couple of weeks ago.

====================

I was enjoying the low levels to be honests. Also, I feel I would not like a huge retconning of what our previous character did.

So, what have going in your life MaUC? new job? new girlfriend/s? kids? could you not find a less appealing name?

Same job, different hemisphere. No girlfriend or kids.

My name has meaning behind it, but I'd rather not discuss it here.

In fact, I'd rather keep my personal information away from this place as much as possible. :)

- - -

On a completely unrelated note... Where are Scavion and Septid?! I wanna play ASAP! XD

So, yay or nay for the summoner?

Yo sorry. Had a few calls about potential new job. I'm probably gonna be Cyrus still but remake him as a Herald Caller Cleric.

Maybe Paladin instead?

So, yay or nay for the summoner?

Hm? sure... My comment was just because literally every game I GM'd or played in the last couple months had a Summoner. XD

Just no Master Summoner or Synthesist (That reminds me... I should add a chapter about archetypes in the campaign rules).

Yo sorry. Had a few calls about potential new job.

Pfff... Jobs... Who care about those?

I'm probably gonna be Cyrus still but remake him as a Herald Caller Cleric.

Maybe Paladin instead?

Wasn't there a Priest 3pp class or something that was basically Brother Cyrus? A low BAB class with divine spells that can spontaneously cast all of its domain spells.

Then again, you might not want it to be identical... IIRC, you were getting bored with doing pretty much the same thing every round, weren't you?

Maybe, regardless of the mechanics, Cyrus is just a character I love to play.

It's probably why I've played him in like 6 campaigns.

BTW, Scavion... Do you have any preference on at what point start the campaign?

I'm leaning towards "right after saving the tiger". That skips character introduction, but allows me to fix some of the mistakes committed by last campaign's GM.

Right after the tiger sounds good to me.

Sacred Servant Paladin sounds awesome to me.

Great!

Have you heard anything from Septid/9fingers?

I texted him. He's had some big life changes recently so we'll see.

Quick rundown of the few archetype changes (I'll add them to the Rules doc later)

I will go with Eitylen since Cyrus will be also there.

I texted him. He's had some big life changes recently so we'll see.

I understand... I hope everything is ok with him.

If you guys want, we could start just the 4 of us and have Jaazkara (or whatever character he decides to play) join the party if/when Septid join the game. :)

I'm too sleepy for working on Eitylen's numbers right now, but If you want to start assap and we only RP a little at the beginning, we could start today.

Real quick, any plans for further consolidated or free Feats? Stuff like Weapon Finesse and Agile Maneuvers. And otherwise options to make getting Dex to at least attack easier (without Path of War as an available resource, Dex to damage is a bit more of a PITA for anyone who doesn't rock the Rapier or Scimitar meta).

My current ideas are reviving Tai Leng a your revised Monk, or playing a Psychic Warrior. Tai would be a proper drunken master with Monkey Style and Grapple based shenanigans. Hell, it might be Tai as a Meditant PsyWar. Actually that in itself brings up a point: With Combat Style Master gone, having a non-MoMS makes swapping between Styles much harder since it's always a Swift (and never a Free) action now.

Re: Revised Monk, why does it still have such a limited pool of Feats to choose from? Adding Style Feats is nice, but I've never been a fan of "Here are 5 Feats, most of which are bad, pick one" on the Monk. More nitpicky gripe: Fast Movement is still an Enhancement bonus, so it doesn't stack with Haste still. =(

Real quick, any plans for further consolidated or free Feats?

I didn't list all of them, but generally speaking, feats that are just a numerical increases scale with level/BAB. When in doubt, ask me about specific feats.

Stuff like Weapon Finesse and Agile Maneuvers. And otherwise options to make getting Dex to at least attack easier (without Path of War as an available resource, Dex to damage is a bit more of a PITA for anyone who doesn't rock the Rapier or Scimitar meta).

IIRC, the revised Dervish Dance works with any weapon that can be used with Weapon Finesse... To make things simpler, just add Deadly Agility to the list of allowed feats. But with the following limitation: Dex modifier to damage is NEVER multiplied by 1.5 or 2, even when two-handing, using Dragon Style or anything like that!

My current ideas are reviving Tai Leng a your revised Monk, or playing a Psychic Warrior. Tai would be a proper drunken master with Monkey Style and Grapple based shenanigans. Hell, it might be Tai as a Meditant PsyWar. Actually that in itself brings up a point: With Combat Style Master gone, having a non-MoMS makes swapping between Styles much harder since it's always a Swift (and never a Free) action now.

That's true... I suppose we could say all characters with IUS and BAB +6 (or Monk level 6) can change style as a free action.

Re: Revised Monk, why does it still have such a limited pool of Feats to choose from? Adding Style Feats is nice, but I've never been a fan of "Here are 5 Feats, most of which are bad, pick one" on the Monk.

Probably because that list was mostly copy-pasted from RAW. And note that maneuver feats were also added to the list.

More nitpicky gripe: Fast Movement is still an Enhancement bonus, so it doesn't stack with Haste still. =(

Meh... I'm okay with that. You do get the ability to move and use FoB, so there's no need to increase Monk's mobility even further.

Still... I gotta admit: I'm not completely satisfied with that Monk revision. Something still feels off, but I can't quite place my finger on it...

I think it's mostly because it's mainly a collection of little quality of life improvements and additions than a proper overhaul. For better or worse (and I still haven't made up my mind), the Unchained Monk feels very DIFFERENT from the original. Your Revised Fighter nails that pretty solidly, particularly with the archetypes.

The Revised Monk just feels like Monk with a lot of extra add-ons. It both doesn't feel like so much a revision as a pure buff (a needed one, mind) and adds a ton of extra fiddly bits to a class that already had way too many fiddly bits.

I think it's mostly because it's mainly a collection of little quality of life improvements and additions than a proper overhaul. For better or worse (and I still haven't made up my mind), the Unchained Monk feels very DIFFERENT from the original. Your Revised Fighter nails that pretty solidly, particularly with the archetypes.

The Revised Monk just feels like Monk with a lot of extra add-ons. It both doesn't feel like so much a revision as a pure buff (a needed one, mind) and adds a ton of extra fiddly bits to a class that already had way too many fiddly bits.

That's a fair assessment... And I agree with it in parts.

ButI gotta say: The (vanilla) Monk class does have a good overall design idea... The problem is really a bunch of minor flaws that add up to a gigantic mess:

- - -

It's not the overall design of the class that sucks... It's all the small details. Fixing those details turn the class into something actually effective and cool, IMO.

I mean... Lemmy's Revised Rogue is pretty much a straight buff/upgrade as well, but it doesn't bother me at all... Although that may be because the revised Rogue Talents are so much better and more interesting than the official ones...

(All that said, I can't help but agree that the Revised Fighter is by far the most interesting of the 3 homebrews, both as a designer and as a player).

BTW, remember to "dot" the Gameplay Thread as well. ;)

I have. Fun fact, if you make a post in a thread and then delete it, you stay dotted but it doesn't clutter the thread. =)

Ah... I didn't know that. Cool. I'll keep it in mind next time I wanna dot a thread. :)

Clarification on Joint Manipulation: "You can grapple two creatures at the same time. You become able to grapple a 3rd target once you reach BAB/Monk level 11 and a 4th creature once you reach BAB/Monk level 16."

Does this mean what it says (I can Grapple 2/3/4 people with one action), or is it more similar to Grabbing Style (you can keep more than one person Grappled at a time, but need separate actions to do it)?

I was about to go to bed, but decided the thread one last time...

Yeah, I realize now that the wording is confusing... The original intent is that you can sustain a grapple to multiple creatures, not grapple all of them with the same action (which would be pretty useless if you can't sustain multiple grapples, anyway).

Basically, the idea is that you can sustain a grapple with so little effort (supposedly by twisting small joints and such) that you can do it to multiple creatures at the same time.

Good news: I revised and cleared up a lot of the stuff in the Revised Monk, making it more concise and slightly more powerful (now you don't have to spend ki to use ki wave! yay!)

Possibility of bad news: I'm worried being able to make 3 attacks at full BAB might be a tad too much at 8th level, specially considering the Martial Training class feature and the possibility of using Ki for yet another attack...

Maybe the 2nd attack from FoB should be delayed to 11th level? That's an universal FoB change I added, but I don't know if it should apply to Monks...

I think it's fine since you got rid of the BaB increase with Flurry. Which unfortunately means Monks are worse at Combat Maneuvers now I think of it. Hrm.

I would go Tetori but a lot of its class features are redundant with your houserules and revised Monk stuff.

I need a way to Grapple two dudes at once. I want to Piledrive multiple people simultaneously.

I think it's fine since you got rid of the BaB increase with Flurry. Which unfortunately means Monks are worse at Combat Maneuvers now I think of it. Hrm.

Uh... You get a bonus equivalent to the pseudo-BAB increase... And unlike before, you get it all the time (with combat maneuvers, unarmed strikes, monk weapons and natural attacks), not just when flurrying. It even increases the range of thrown weapons. :)

I would go Tetori but a lot of its class features are redundant with your houserules and revised Monk stuff.

I need a way to Grapple two dudes at once. I want to Piledrive multiple people simultaneously.

Tetori is a cool archetype... But it's too narrow-minded, for my tastes. I enjoy grappling builds, but I'd rather not have grapple as the one and only thing I can do... ><'

Oh, right... Since we are starting immediately post-tiger, everyone starts at 4th level and with the following gear:

1000gp + 200 gp from Ayren's tiger rescue quest + 1 masterwork weapon + 1 masterwork armor (that you're proficient with).

Those who don't want weapon and/or armor can sell them 600gp (350 for the weapon, 250 for the armor).

Quick Reminders:

- You met Ayren, who is an useful contact and generally harmless, but somewhat shady (and annoying).

- You briefly met the person who hired Ayren for rescuing Lord Richard I (the tiger). His name is Kodan and he works for the Wavebraver family. He doesn't seem to think much of you (mostly because of your working with Ayren), but seem like a respectable man. And makes it clear that his employers do not go back on their word.

The first official GM post of the campaign is up!

I once again suggest that you read the first page of the original campaign. There are lots of relevant information about the setting, lore and characters there. :)

In case you have your characters decided (but not fully built yet), you can play them and work out the numbers as we go.

Just remember to post your character sheets and update their profiles.