Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

So what was it Aubrey? A Handmaiden of Lolth? (Ythocl or whatever they’re called?)

Yep, out of the Abyss book by Mona and Jacobs. I was concerned I had over-done it at first when it pulped the front-line, but Alwyn's crit saved the day - it decided that having sat in a room by itself for 10,000 years, maybe it would prefer to get out rather than go down in a blaze of glory.

Mothman wrote:

So what was it Aubrey? A Handmaiden of Lolth? (Ythocl or whatever they’re called?)

Yep, out of the Abyss book by Mona and Jacobs. I was concerned I had over-done it at first when it pulped the front-line, but Alwyn's crit saved the day - it decided that having sat in a room by itself for 10,000 years, maybe it would prefer to get out rather than go down in a blaze of glory.

That's where I've seen 3.5 stats for those ... not that I can remember much about them, but they're pretty bad ass aren't they?

Yeah ... I thought we were in trouble for a bit there...

Don't forget that, at 4th level, you can add a point to one of your stats.

Hey, Aub--
More 4e questions.
I keep hearing bandied about this "4e for the cinematic adventuring experience of a lifetime" line.

Okay, here's what I think.

The system is a moot point, for two main reasons.

1)the level of intensity relies on the d.m. being on the top of his game, all the players being in to it, and a spark of luck, or help from the muse; it's something to be relished when it rarely surfaces. It's not something a rules set can invoke. It's true magic; the rulesset is not a scroll that can make it come about.

2)half the time you're there, at that nebulous peak, you have to chuck the rules out the f!%&ing window and roll with it. Ergo the rulesset is moot.

I fear that they're CONSTANTLY promising this Indiana Jones ride that the system cannot deliver. After a while, empty promises are dangerous. Cry Wolf, anyone?
I think the people playing the game coupled with luck make something intensely cinematic happen.

Like the wyvern battle on the side of the cliff--that had the stuff; the only thing blunting the punch of it to any extent would be the relatively slow nature of pbp. And nothing about the Eberron setting necessarily invoked that battle.
Aubrey's setup, coupled with Lightbringer's willingness to jump off of the side of the cliff, invoked it. AP's, sure they're fun. But do they make that happen? No.
I also don't think there's anything special that's going to surface in the 4e rulesset, or any rulesset for that matter, that will invoke that.

It's not a dig on the system, either.

My gaming stuff is stored at the moment. It'll be sometime early next week before I can level Larken. I'm not even sure what he's going to take a level in. lol...

No worries, Stunty - a lot of roleplaying to come first before the stats start to matter.

Hey, Aub--

More 4e questions.
I keep hearing bandied about this "4e for the cinematic adventuring experience of a lifetime" line.

Okay, here's what I think.

The system is a moot point, for two main reasons.

1)the level of intensity relies on the d.m. being on the top of his game, all the players being in to it, and a spark of luck, or help from the muse; it's something to be relished when it rarely surfaces. It's not something a rules set can invoke. It's true magic; the rulesset is not a scroll that can make it come about.

2)half the time you're there, at that nebulous peak, you have to chuck the rules out the f&!%ing window and roll with it. Ergo the rulesset is moot.

I fear that they're CONSTANTLY promising this Indiana Jones ride that the system cannot deliver. After a while, empty promises are dangerous. Cry Wolf, anyone?
I think the people playing the game coupled with luck make something intensely cinematic happen.

Like the wyvern battle on the side of the cliff--that had the stuff; the only thing blunting the punch of it to any extent would be the relatively slow nature of pbp. And nothing about the Eberron setting necessarily invoked that battle.
Aubrey's setup, coupled with Lightbringer's willingness to jump off of the side of the cliff, invoked it. AP's, sure they're fun. But do they make that happen? No.
I also don't think there's anything special that's going to surface in the 4e rulesset, or any rulesset for that matter, that will invoke that.

I agree totally. I think what the 4e rules do is streamline the DMs job (though at the loss of the granularity and choice that 3e provides) - THAT is the power of the new rules. I didn't find the nitty-gritty of combat terrifically different so far, though this might change as levels go up (no iterative attacks, for example). In fact, combat went on a LOOOONG time for a level 1 fight, with the players saying "Haven't we killed them yet - man, this is tedious!"

I think that this isn't the first time I've heard a low level fight is a bit long. Could it be a factor of new players/new dungeonmaster/slowly taking the new ship out of drydock?

Also that Aubrey used full powered goblins rather than push over minions.

It's mainy a factor of the opposition have sodding loads of hp - like I said above, about 30 for a level 1 goblin. Plus the encounter I ran was way too strong for the 1st level characters.

Hey Aubrey- I've been reading the Sandpoint town section and see a few places I'd like to tie Illes into. I'll try to work them into posts here in the downtime before we move on.

You will be coming back, too.

Notably-
-Risa's Place (for the good Varisian food and he likes to hear Risa's stories)
-The Sandpoint Theatre (a regular patron)
-Madame Mvashti’s House (she reminds him of Madame Tallomane his grandmother and he visits once a week)
-The Rusty Dragon (more interaction with Ameiko)
and
-The Pixie's Kitten (I have plans for Hudak)

I probably won't get any of that posted tonight. Tomorrow early afternoon is likely.

Dravite-

Here's one from Complete Champion:

Spiritual Guide
You are befriended by a spiritual guide that speaks to you and aids you as long as you remain in the wilderness.
Level: 4th.
Replaces: This benefit replaces the animal companion class feature.
Benefit: You gain a spiritual guide. As long as you remain in natural surroundings (including underground caverns), this guide is a constant companion. Once you enter any civilized area larger than a hamlet, however, your spiritual guide leaves your side, returning only when you return to the wilds.
Although it cannot protect you from harm, your spiritual guide can warn you of impending danger. As long as your spiritual guide is with you, you gain a divine bonus equal to one-quarter your ranger level (rounded down) on Handle
Animal, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival checks. In addition, you can use commune with nature, as the spell, once per day (caster level equals your ranger level). You can also prepare and cast this spell normally from your ranger spell list.

Maybe not your thing, but it's the only other one I saw right off.

I like the map you put together for your current pbp combat Ithuriel. Did you draw it, or is it cribbed from somewhere?

congrads on the last battle lads, it was really cool ... all things considering you fought a big bowl of jello.. ok evil jello with teeth

but all and all good ending to great frist chapter

Thanks mate.

I like the map you put together for your current pbp combat Ithuriel. Did you draw it, or is it cribbed from somewhere?

It's drawn on graph paper, scanned in, then fixed up with mspaint. The downside is I have no layering capability right now. I don't really know what I'm doing- just trying to figure it out as I go. All of the walls and doors are copied from D0 Hollow's Last Hope because I have the free pdf. I just zoom in and copy a piece of wall, then paste it into my map and stretch or flip it to whatever shape/alignment I need. I took the plants from dundjinni's free image of the week thing and did the same with them. I was considering buying that program, but I'm not sure if I would like it. I may just get a simple version of photoshop instead as it's more versatile.

One thing I learned with that current map... pay more attention to how I'm going to map what I'm describing! Until I started trying to draw it I didn't quite realize I was describing a fight that could potentially span four floors if they move up or down. But it did make for nice sniping positions with the npcs.

Actually I was admiring how simple and clean your map for AoW is. What are you using for that? I assumed it might be some program you use for architecture design at work, but than again maybe it is something super simple... I also like it cause I was able to fit it on one page landscaped and print it out with ease.

All of us except Elisile (?) were down to 5 or less hp

I still had 12 of 18! Whoo hoo! But then again I couldn't do more than tickle the jiggly bastard. When it laid everyone out at once, I was definitely thinking- oh no.

But we have so many people... Davos wasn't badly hurt either was he? Or Lo'j.

congrads on the last battle lads, it was really cool ... all things considering you fought a big bowl of jello.. ok evil jello with teeth

but all and all good ending to great frist chapter

Missed your comment back there. Respect the evil 10,000 year old jello! In Varisia, jello eats you! ;) But thanks. Now I'm ready for the horror! Bring it.

The first map I just sketched onto graph paper. The second one I drew using AutoCAD (same way I did the map for the Triad fight in Aubrey's game). Yeah, that's the drawing program I use for work. The nice thing is its easy to scale to fit to a standard page size, or conver to pdf or jpg.

I don't know if any of you got the Gather Info spoilers and I haven't shared them yet IC, but does anyone think we should do anything to quell the unrest about how much money the town is giving up. I'll get around to this IC, but for quickness Scarnetti is doing his best to turn people against us because he's bitter about how much we were paid. 'The city guard could have done the same job and we'd only have paid their wages' or something like that. But even the mayor when embarrassed by him saying so during the speech admitted it was true the payout had put an economic pinch on the town.

So does anyone have any ideas about that? Potentially we could do something for the town besides fighting. I don't know exactly what-

As far as Illes is concerned... maybe I could do a benefit performance (the tale of our asskicking) to help with the town's recovery and build our own reputation. Proceeds going to the families of those killed in the Glassworks and the raid. It would make a much better show if it were collaborative though... Throw in a few scrolls of silent image with Elisile and Vethran casting while Illes plays musical accompaniment and we might have a decent show. Maybe Hudak would like to reenact a version of his battle with the slime lord where he whoops it big for the swooning ladies of Sandpoint? Silent Image has duration concentration so we could get a lot of use out of them for a stage show.

Any thoughts of this or other schemes?

The glass works may need help getting up and running again. Maybe people could use some inspirational religious guidance... Maybe some of us would want to start or support a business to further the town's development. I don't know. Let's throw some ideas around.

Haven't we spent a sizable chuck in this little one-mule town? I figure they've got most of what we've been "paid" back, although different people have it now.
Hell, we've probably bought more healing items and higher-end weapons than this burg sells in 5 years.

I don't really know. I haven't spent much in this town in relation to what we were paid. 5 1st level scrolls & our shared mule, room and board. Most of my kit I assume came from travels before I arrived in Sandpoint.

But I'm not talking about giving their money back! No way. More of a PR thing. With the show we'll give something of a non-material value (other than the scrolls which I already have) that the people of the town will pay to see and then funnel that money to some of those who need it most.

Of course I realize Scarnetti will have plenty snide to say about such a show as well, but he will hopefully be working against stronger public opinion in our favor.

But you couldn't "pay" 1/2 price for that item anywhere else. Why should I take a pay cut (because let's be honest - loot is an adventurer's pay check) just because we found an item instead of having to "buy" everything. Perhaps I'm not comfortable "selling" to you at 1/2 price.

See, I don't look at it as "that's as much as we could get." I look at it as "that's how much the rest of us will have to pay to get an equivalent item, so your share should still be equal to mine."
If that's the party consensus, then I'm for selling everything and splitting the gold. Then it's a fair and equitable division of loot.

With they 1/2 value method, those of us who aren't finding loot are still getting screwed, just not as badly.

That's a possible problem with the accounting approach (and I'm an accountant) - the worth of an item on a "going concern" basis is its replacement value, which is the full cost. But by treating them at full cost in working out the compensation for those less endowed, you might end up with the situation where the value of the magic items completely outweighs the money generated from selling the stuff available. So in order to provide compensation, you end up selling items you might otherwise want to keep, and so actually end up reducing the party's effectiveness as a whole given the reduction in value of a sold item versus its full price.

While I sympathise, I don't think anyone is being "screwed". There are different ways to do this, but it seems that those who post most often have "bagsied" a lot of items before others actually found out what was on offer. But on the other hand, a lot of the items have been handed to those who are most proficient at using them, and most (I haven't checked the full details) people have only taken one item and where more than one has been had, it is minor (like Hudak's masterwork shield).

My real life group handles these things by rotating the right to the items, so each person gets one item before the the next person gets an item (though that is much easier to do at the table than online over a several days), and the right to first pick is based on the value the PC currently holds in terms of items. But ultimately, what it boils down to two things: not much useful gear was had for some PCs v others (luck of the draw, very much based on what the module made available, and anyway correctible by the DM on a long term basis); and, the sheer number of people in this party (nine) which means that even if we handed the stuff out on a strict rotational basis it is likely someone would end up with little or nothing from a particular hoard. We have only really had two hoards to date: the goblins (mostly for resale, with the exception of a few items, due to size restrictions) and Nualia's crew (I just left them with exactly the same stuff they had in the module for ease, but there was no rogue in her group).

Given that we are in this for the long haul, I hope that Stunty will trust me to take his comments into account when allocating the treasure in future (when, to be fair, some other PCs might get screwed instead). You raise a very good point which had occurred to me, but I hadn't really noted how some individual characters really didn't do quite as well specifically from this hoard until he mentioned it. If I was to suggest a method, I would go with the original approach and expect that things come out right in the medium term. The "accounting approach" was the one I originally favoured by my real life players didn't like it and it did lead to stuff tending to get sold rather than kept.

On the specific point of magic weapons: don't worry about that. It made no difference to the last encounter since her DR wasn't DR/magic. By the time it does matter, you will doubtless be in possesion of a series of magic weapons.

Illes would like:
Scroll of Sleep
Scroll of Comprehend Lang
Scroll of Minor Image
Scroll of Whispering Wind

But Illes is also carrying a mighty mwk shortbow (+1 str) that was never bought out of the loot. We just had it and no one else was using it going into Thistletop. So we should add it into the total value, changing that, divide it again by 9 and he'll buy it back out with his share.

Banded mail +1, MW bastard sword (1400+335)
Bugbear: MW mighty (+4 STR) comp longbow, 4 elf-bane arrows (800+184)
Breastplate +1, Sihedron medallion (see below), holy symbol of Lamashtu worth 100gp (1350+100)
Goblin stuff:
- Ripnugget: chainmail +1 (1300)
- Manic: battleaxe +1, chain shirt +1, light shield +1 (2310+2409)
- Weasly: MW dogslicer, mighty (+1 STR)composite shortbow +1 (310+175)
- Squat: half plate +1, greataxe +1 (1750+2320)
- Gruesome: MW dogslicer, MW heavy crossbow (310+350)
- Alwyn's old MW greatsword (350)
Total selling value: 15753 gold
-+1 battleaxe(2310)
total value: 18063 gold

Stuff to keep:

MW Heavy Steel Shield (Hudak?) 159gp
3 everburning torches 330gp
2 potions of CMW 600gp
Cloak of resistance +1 1000gp
Wand of magic missile (Vethran) 570gp
Scroll of Sleep, scroll of Comprehend Languages, scroll of Minor Image, scroll of See Invisibility, scroll of Whispering Wind 500gp
Masterwork composite longbow 400gp
Bastard sword +1 (Hudak) 2335gp
Greatsword +1 (Alwyn) 2350gp
Wand of CMW (Alwyn) 1080gp
Bracers of armour +2 (Vethran or Elisile?) 4000gp
Wand of Lightning bolt (Vethran) 180gp

14pp

OK, the total of all the above, at full price is 31707gp, and per character that is 3523gp. People can work out what they want to keep and what they want to sell, but if the swag divvied out as follows:

Alwyn - greatsword +1 and wand of CMW 3430gp
Hudak - MW heavy shield, bastard sword +1, MW composite longbow 2894gp
Vethran - wand of lightning bolt, wand of magic missile 750gp
Elisile - scrolls, bracers of armour +2, sihedron medallion 8,000gp
Dravite - cloak of resistance 1,000gp
Larken - nothing
Illes - nothing
Davos - nothing
Lo'j - nothing

Unallocated items - 2 potions of CMW, 3 everburning torches

No one is actually sigificantly out of whack except Elisile, because she has the two most expensive items on her - the Sihedron Medallion and the bracers of armour +2 - and the guys who have nothing (though Dravite isn't doing very well either). It might be more equitable to give the medallion to one of the other characters, particularly one that tends to get hit, since the main power of the medallion is to cast False Life on the wearer once a day. If the medallion goes elsewhere, Elisile is not so far off beam.

More to come on the cash....

Right, I can't be bothered to go into detail about my calculations, but I calculate that of the remaining sellable swag, the cash allocation should be as follows:

Alwyn - 31gp
Hudak - 274gp
Vethran - 1246gp
Dravite - 1133gp
Lo'j, Larken, Ille, Davos - 1587gp

In addition, Elisile owes 2250gp, to be allocated on a pro rata basis from future income (or deducted from future shares).

These figures are largely illustrative, assumes the allocation used above (and therefore not assuming that the medallion is given to someone else, and still leaving some items unallocated, which also would alter the figures slightly).

Now, I don't suggest we get bogged down in calculations like this again, since it was very little fun for me as I prefer to think about dragons and demons, not do a spreadsheet with accounting in it. Plus there are a number of assumptions which are distinctly challengable (especially with regards to Elisile, how much she owes and on what basis the remainder is allocated). In short, please trust me to hand out appropriate treasure over time.

This works for me.

Aww man. Sorry to call you in as the auditor and arbiter, but thanks for straightening it out.

One more question. If I now want to by some of the scrolls out of the loot... full price or half price?

I'll roll with that.

Someone else can take the medallion if they want it – for a moment there it looked like it was going to be sold off, and I didn’t think that was the right call, which is why I called it. But someone else is entirely welcome to it if they want it (Dravite called it too, or someone who missed out on any loot is welcome to it).

I think items should go to the person whom will get the best use out of them – but the medallion seems like something anyone can use, so it might be a good item for one of the characters who tends not to get “custom” loot. +1 to all saves and cast false life / once per day is a pretty good deal for anyone.

Illes should have the scrolls he called.

If no one else wants the bracers, Elisile will happily take them and owe the group whatever excess there is.

That's fine.

If someone else takes the medallion, they effectively get no cash allocation (assuming they had nothing before) and Elisile's debt goed down to 500gp. Any items you take effectively reduce your cash allocation by half their value.

If someone else takes the medallion, they effectively get no cash allocation (assuming they had nothing before) and Elisile's debt goed down to 500gp. Any items you take effectively reduce your cash allocation by half their value.

Cool. Also, Elisile will not take any scrolls (as Illes and Veth wanted most of them anyway, and they'll probably be more useful in their hands); does that bring her debt down to 250gp then?

Lo'j is all leveled up, except I need to make a choice.

Does the party want

An extra move action, on my turn
or
my level in temp hit points for my level in minutes

each of these can be used once per day, for now

gah, loot...

I just want +1 full plate when we get to magnimar

Aubrey the Malformed wrote:

If someone else takes the medallion, they effectively get no cash allocation (assuming they had nothing before) and Elisile's debt goed down to 500gp. Any items you take effectively reduce your cash allocation by half their value.

Cool. Also, Elisile will not take any scrolls (as Illes and Veth wanted most of them anyway, and they'll probably be more useful in their hands); does that bring her debt down to 250gp then?

Correct.

Right, I can't be bothered to go into detail about my calculations, but I calculate that of the remaining sellable swag, the cash allocation should be as follows:

Alwyn - 31gp
Hudak - 274gp
Vethran - 1246gp
Dravite - 1133gp
Lo'j, Larken, Ille, Davos - 1587gp

In addition, Elisile owes 2250gp, to be allocated on a pro rata basis from future income (or deducted from future shares).

OK, this looks like a more up to date analysis, following on from above:

Alwyn - 31gp
Hudak - 274gp
Vethran - 1171gp + scroll of See Invisibility
Dravite - 1133gp
Lo'j - 1587gp
Larken - 337gp + medallion
Illes - 1412gp + the other scrolls
Davos - 1587gp

Elisile's debt is now 250gp

There are also the two potions of CMW and the three everburning torches which have yet to be allocated.

Illes already has an everburning torch, so not me. The toughs probably want those cmw, but if they go unclaimed Illes can claim them to keep them in the group.

Lo'j is all leveled up, except I need to make a choice.

Does the party want

An extra move action, on my turn
or
my level in temp hit points for my level in minutes

each of these can be used once per day, for now

Extra move action sounds pretty awesome.

Mothman wrote:

I like the map you put together for your current pbp combat Ithuriel. Did you draw it, or is it cribbed from somewhere?

It's drawn on graph paper, scanned in, then fixed up with mspaint. The downside is I have no layering capability right now. I don't really know what I'm doing- just trying to figure it out as I go. All of the walls and doors are copied from D0 Hollow's Last Hope because I have the free pdf. I just zoom in and copy a piece of wall, then paste it into my map and stretch or flip it to whatever shape/alignment I need. I took the plants from dundjinni's free image of the week thing and did the same with them. I was considering buying that program, but I'm not sure if I would like it. I may just get a simple version of photoshop instead as it's more versatile.

One thing I learned with that current map... pay more attention to how I'm going to map what I'm describing! Until I started trying to draw it I didn't quite realize I was describing a fight that could potentially span four floors if they move up or down. But it did make for nice sniping positions with the npcs.

Actually I was admiring how simple and clean your map for AoW is. What are you using for that? I assumed it might be some program you use for architecture design at work, but than again maybe it is something super simple... I also like it cause I was able to fit it on one page landscaped and print it out with ease.

There are 2 free programs that do layering if you want to try them out. They are similar to Photoshop. One is called "GIMP" and the other is "Paint".

Dravite will take a CMW potion and reduce his share by 150gp.

He needs a cure ugly mug potion.

There are 2 free programs that do layering if you want to try them out. They are similar to Photoshop. One is called "GIMP" and the other is "Paint".

I use Paint for some stuff but I still haven't learned everything I need to. It is a good program and if I invested a bit of time to learn it I can see it has some good potential.

Sweet, thanks for the link! Plus it has to be an improvement over mspaint in greek which I've figured out mostly through trial and error :)

Don't reduce your cash allocations now - it screws up the calculations. Just take a potion or torch and not worry about it.

An extra move action sounds great. I find Illes often juggling hands between instrument, scrolls, somatic gestures and the occasional weapon.

Vethran will take one of the everburning torches. He generally only needs one hand to cast with anyway, so I might as well contribute a light source with the other hand.

Don't reduce your cash allocations now - it screws up the calculations. Just take a potion or torch and not worry about it.

K

Dravite is leveled. Ranger 4. Bumped up wisdom, rolled 7+1=8 hit points(linked in profile), took the uncanny dodge chain instead of an animal companion, and I can now cast a 1st level spell(longstrider usually, to compensate for my stubby dwarven legs!).

Who be yer fav'rite stub-e-legged hooker?