Aubrey's PF Dark Sun (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Hay-on-Wye is about ten miles from my mum and dad (they are on the south side of the mountain, Hay is on the north side). It's a nice town, though it has come up in the world. We visited maybe ten or fifteen years ago and there was nothing to do except visit these really over-priced second-hand books shops. More recently we visited again, they've got nice cafes and restaurants and stuff. The second-hand book shops are still over-priced, though - I wouldn't buy a book there. The trip over the mountain along the back road between Hay and Abergavenny is breathtaking, though - fantastic views.

Hay-on-Wye is about ten miles from my mum and dad (they are on the south side of the mountain, Hay is on the north side). It's a nice town, though it has come up in the world. We visited maybe ten or fifteen years ago and there was nothing to do except visit these really over-priced second-hand books shops. More recently we visited again, they've got nice cafes and restaurants and stuff. The second-hand book shops are still over-priced, though - I wouldn't buy a book there. The trip over the mountain along the back road between Hay and Abergavenny is breathtaking, though - fantastic views.

Yeah, we did that trip this time last year when we were camping in Wales.

Tenro wrote:

Britain sounds like a strange place.

How come?

You speak of counties like we (in the US) would speak about a far-off state, or Canada or something. Like everything is so far away and different, even though Britain is a relatively small island.

Counties there are kinda like states in the US... each has its own personality, and sometimes rivalries with other counties!

I wouldn't buy books to *read* in HoW -- too expensive, like you said -- but its definitely more of a book collectors haven if you're into old/rare/out-of-print books. My mom is a big Arthur Rackham fan, and I remember one store had a whole wall of books illustrated by him!

OK, I'm off until Monday. Have a nice weekend!

Okay, I'm taking next week off of work. Not traveling or anything, but since my comp recently crapped out, my posting may be slower and sporadic until I get it fixed (hopefully shortly), while I'm away from my work computers.

Its a holiday weekend in the US, which may explain why Jareen is AFK.

Well, as he lives in Lancashire, it might not.

By the way, where are you based?

Sorry about that. Hectic weekend, not helped by walk/running 17.5 miles yesterday.......

Hehe, nice! I'm currently in Texas.

I wondered if you might be in Britain as you seemed to have quite good knowledge of some of the more obscure bits of the UK.

I lived in Suffolk for a few years, and my wife's English, so I can bluff my way around a bit. =)

So my computer issue is an inop laptop motherboard. So my options are limited to buy a new one, or replace/fix it for close to the price of a new one. Ugh!

Eurgh, been there, that sucks.

Jareen leveled as per the players hand book. Wouldn't be surprised if I've missed something, but I don't think so.

Biggest thing is a new daily...

Yeah, it looks like you get your hp, a new daily, and possibly a class feature (Barbarians get one).

Was going to ask at an appropriate break point, but at level up might make more sense... can I change out some of my powers? Having played the character a little now, I've found I have several combat powers that are very, very situational or have similar powers... and seem to have very little tactical use so far. Any chance I could swap 1-3 out for others?

Let me know what you have in mind, but I'm OK in principle.

Jareen leveled as per the players hand book. Wouldn't be surprised if I've missed something, but I don't think so.

Biggest thing is a new daily...

To be honest, it might be worth re-jigging Jareen too. Rosie created him as are an illusionist, but you don't have the book with the illusion spells in, so you have class feature you never really use since you don't really have any illusion spells. It might be an idea to reconsider your wizard specialism to be one in the PHB.

Looks like I dont get a class feature, i get a daily and some HP.

5 HP

From what I understand, skills dont go up since it is an odd level.

new daily:
Shrieking Wind Spirits (Daily, Implement, Primal, Spirit, Zone)
Standard Action Close burst spirit 2
Primary Target: Each enemy in burst
Primary Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d6 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you slide the primary target 3 squares. The primary target is dazed (save ends).
Effect: Your spirit companion disappears. The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of your next turn. While the zone persists, you can make the following secondary attack using the burst’s origin square as the secondary attack’s origin square.
Opportunity Action Close burst 2
Trigger: An enemy ends its turn within the zone.
Secondary Target: The triggering enemy in burst
Secondary Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: You slide the secondary target 3 squares.
Sustain Minor: The zone persists.

wanted to get

To be honest, it might be worth re-jigging Jareen too. Rosie created him as are an illusionist, but you don't have the book with the illusion spells in, so you have class feature you never really use since you don't really have any illusion spells. It might be an idea to reconsider your wizard specialism to be one in the PHB.

I hear you, and I wont argue.... It's probably a good idea. Will be a little while until I can sit down with the book and get it done though, so will keep as is for the moment.

No probs, just wanted to point it out. You currently get an extra +1 to hit with illusion spells... but can't select any since they aren't in the PHB. Not an ideal situation.

Indeed, and with the cold boon I think Jareen is going in a different direction any way....

Looking a little closer, at this point I think I'd just like to swap corona of floating force daily power with steel unity strike from the PHB3. I already have a couple of 'move the target' type powers, so swapping one out for a more-straightforward damage power is desirable.

Level 5 will add 6 hit points, and will take the wild speed daily discipline from the DSCS book.

Sorry for my continued absence, but on top of my computer being out of commission, I'm in a class for work all week. So, I am unable to post from there either. I should be back to it by Sunday.

Going to be a bit quiet over the weekend.

How are people finding this game? I run five games here on Paizo, and it's fair to say it is probably the most sluggish in terms of PC interactions and activity. Is this just "life" and other responsibilities getting in the way? Or are people finding this less than exciting?

As DM I'd really like your feedback. There are a number of possibilities: we carry on as we are, we change something, or maybe we agree that perhaps we give up. I've got four other games on the go so it's not like I'd lack for things to do, but we've also been playing together for a while and it would be a shame if things finished if people are just having temporary issues.

I'm finding this one harder to keep a cohesive track of what we are doing,m trying to achieve. That may be because I've read Runelords, so I have a good idea of the outline, or it may be that I'm being thick and not picking up on clues (probably this).

I don't check this one out any less often, but you are right that it does seem to move slower.

For clarification, Nevynxxx plays in my RotRL game as well, not that this is based on RotRL.

Yes, the idea was to be a little bit more sandbox-y. Not sure if that has really worked out. And keeping track of plot is a bit tricky as the years go by - the salient facts can drift past a bit.

Indeed! That is what I meant.

I made a half-giant, because i often like to make characters of a race specific to the setting: half-giants and thrikreen in DS, though Muls are OK i guess; Warforged in Eberron, etc.

However, Half-giants are hardly gregarious, and are typically very much "follower" sorts, seeking to fit in to the group by accepting the consensus and supporting the leader of the group, and readily change their own beliefs to accommodate the whole. Seeing Jareen as the oldest and Arakan as the one with more of a leader-type and role has him following them. He can't really anticipate their stance on things, so rarely offers up a point of view before them, and once they have said their piece, little else needs to be said (at that point usually initiative rolls are required, haha).

Playing the character true to setting, coupled with my lack of interest in 4e, has me a bit quiet. I do check regularly, often several times in the evenings and the day i skip checking the boards is extremely rare.

Regarding my lack of interest in 4e, for a long time i dismissed it, then finally I tried it and had a little fun (IRL). I joined this game, and i like it because i like Dark Sun very much (enough to outweigh the 4e aspect). But as I continued to play more 4e IRL, I lost enthusiasm for it. The limitations on it seem strange and arbitrary compared to other systems. Such as being able to wear leather armor, but studded leather armor is an enigma to you unless you took a feat.

Additionally and independently of the above, I am in a lot of PbP games. I noticed, while taking stock of my characters, that a great deal of them tend to be quiet types, something that I am slowly trying to amend where feasible and possible.

I've been wondering about the 4e aspect. I'd consider changing from 4e to PF (same characters, converted) if people would find it more fun. I played 4e in my real-life game for a long time, but we are playing PF now and might have a go at 5e. So I'm not as wedded to 4e as I was, and while there might need to be a bit of conversion it would be nice to have all my online games with the same system (the rest are PF). That said, I'd only do that if there was a clear interest in doing so.

And yes - quiet characters are a bit of a nightmare for a PbP. At a table, someone else can take up the slack. A character not saying anything much in PbP might be in character, or simply have a player who has lost interest, and there is no way to tell the difference.

And yes - quiet characters are a bit of a nightmare for a PbP. At a table, someone else can take up the slack. A character not saying anything much in PbP might be in character, or simply have a player who has lost interest, and there is no way to tell the difference.

Yes, that is why I am trying to change, make less quiet characters and inject some speech into existing ones. Like in your Eberron game, changing the relatively quiet Nevharath for the more gregarious Kazadar.

I'm enjoying the game, and trying to do my best to keep posting regularly and stay engaged. As the relative newcomer, though, I have generally kept low-key so as not to rock the boat, so to speak. Plus, I will sometimes delay posting right away to give others a chance to pipe in first, so that could be partly to blame.

I'm ambivalent to 4e... I am here because Dark Sun is awesome. I'd play it with any ruleset, to be honest. I kinda like the challenge of figuring out new things with 4e, but I'd also be happy with PF. The only 'problem' is there are no recent or good conversions for Dark Sun to PF. I've posted a few house conversions of things myself, but often get hung up on balancing the original 2e flavor with the mech-heavy realities of 3e/PF.

However, the DSP psionics rules are excellent, so that part would not be a problem to convert, IMO.

I apologize for my absence. Losing my home computer has made things a real grind in trying to post.

I don't mind the edition, and will play Dark Sun in any edition (I still have all my old 2E Dark Sun stuff). I know my silence has bogged things down, and it happens when I tend to be the most vocal and then sometimes people can come to rely on me to say something first.

Also, I don't mind the sandbox, but I know my limitations with it. I tend to get lost in what the goals are supposed to be. It's my short attention sp...Squirrel!

I will say, that 4E has been harder for me to maintain, as I no longer have my DDI sub since I was only using it for this game, and it wasn't worth the money. As such, I still haven't leveled to 5 (being Hybrid Bard/Rogue in Dark Sun), needing 4 books just to level with core rules. In PF, I can at least access the PRD/SRD when I have a computer available.

I will say, that 4E has been harder for me to maintain, as I no longer have my DDI sub since I was only using it for this game, and it wasn't worth the money. As such, I still haven't leveled to 5 (being Hybrid Bard/Rogue in Dark Sun), needing 4 books just to level with core rules. In PF, I can at least access the PRD/SRD when I have a computer available.

I am in somewhat of the same boat. I never had a DDI sub, but I used a friend's account previously. As he and I no longer play 4e IRL, he stopped his subscription so further edits in 4e must be done by hand. I have, however, shelled out the money for Herolab PF rules (most of them, anyway). Though DS races would need some adjustments from a base race in Herolab, nothing I can't handle.

OK, what do people think about going to PF for this campaign? The only issue for me would be the conversion for some of the PF-specific stuff, but I assume Athas.org or something like that has relevant stuff.

A conversion that we used in a PF DS game that sadly bit the dust a while back, which might be helpful now I think on it.

I wouldn't mind it. There isn't a shaman that I am aware of in PF, but I imagine some archetype of druid probably covers things. failing that, some kind of cleric.

Yeah, I'd be up for conversion. This is the only 4e game I've played, I only have the core book, and as others say, I use the srd resources more than the books anyway.

That said, I'm not unhappy with the way the rules are working.

There is a shaman in the Advanced Classes Guide, but it looks a bit strange and I can't quite get my head around what it does. So if you prefer druid, you can go with that.

Oh yikes, totally missed that class. The hybrid classes dont really wow me, played a few Investigators before Nalverren, and i find them very sub-par. Also I am not an Oracle fan, and as near as i can tell Witches arent great at healing. I might look into one of the new Occult classes. Spiritualist seems fitting, possibly with the Onmyoji archetype and likely with a spirit of Dedication (thinking it to be his former mate, killed by the head-taker, though it could be more of a general spirit of athas. Spiritualist seems to play similar to a summoner, i havent studied it deeply but it appears they dont customize their spirit but it's attack seems more thematic than getting as many natural attacks as possible.

Still gotta look to see if druid is more fitting. Saurian Shaman archetype for druid seems fitting if you aren't keen on Spiritualist. That would see Cahel more at ThKal's side clawing and biting, which wouldn't be bad.

Either way, i haven't played a PF druid in ages, and haven't played a Spiritualist at all.

I don't have the Occult Classes book and I've not been wildly interested in getting in or using it, to be honest. I don't expect a converted character to necessarily be a direct cut-over of the previous version unless that makes sense for the player. I was assuming something for Cahel much simpler like a druid but taking a domain instead of an animal. The PFSRD shaman seems a bit complicated for not much pay-off. I know literally nothing about the Occult book. It's up to you, but some of the obscure stuff isn't necessarily well play-tested and often quite weak.

I think Saurian Shaman might be fairly inappropriate - there aren't many dinosaurs on Athas. You could consider Ancient Guardian or Desert Druid?

If you greenlight the PF conversion, Psychic warrior probably makes the most sense for Morthak. Wilder is a bit too much of a caster, and though Aegis is cool, its too much manga/mecha for the campaign flavor.

I had high hopes for desert druid until i read it, mechanically it seems terrible.

Ancient guardian i kinda had high hopes for, but it seemed somewhat inappropriately focused on items.

Saurian shaman i think includes reptiles not just dinos, but maybe that was only for some abilities.

I'll shift focus away from occult stuff then.

OK, pretty much everyone has replied other than Th'Kal, and pretty much seem happy to do a conversion. Let's wait a day or so, but it's looking like conversion is in the offing. As for the associated problem of a slow game, Th'kal's non-reply to this subject is sort part of the problem....

Just so you know, I'm camping with Cubs (and Beavers, Desna help me!) this weekend, so from sometime tomorrow, until Monday I'm going to be offline. Please Bot Jareen as necessary.

Arakan will likely be a Vivisectionist Alchemist (if that's alright), as it seems the best match for the what he is (HYbrid Bard/Roge) and keeps the idea of an Athasian Bard (Poison/Assassin). Unless there is a Bard archetype that gets Sneak Attack? I'm not aware of one, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

A kinky choice, but I like it... And I agree, in good keeping with the character overall.

OK, I think Th'Kal has had a reasonable length of time to respond. We'll go with the PF reboot - it's official. On level... Since there are 30 levels on 4e and only 20 in PF, assume your characters are 4th level. We will be running with the fast advancement track.

We can discuss conversions of magic items on a case-by-case basis.

FYI, i'm currently primarily posting from my cell phone, dealing with crappy Hawaii hotel wi-fi (it's like they expect me to go outside or something) for four days until i fly to a different hotel with unknown wi-fi potency for an unknown number of days.

So, while i will be posting, they will be slightly more infrequent and most typically brief.

Copy/pasted to all games.