Clebsch's Reign of Winter

Game Master Clebsch RoW

Currently waiting on Anadrien and Rurik to act.

Huh? I thought I already went.

EDIT: Received no notification from the boards that there was a new post in Gameplay.

It wouldn't be the first glitch on these boards.

Posting tomorrow.

I 'botted Anadrien yesterday afternoon. If Anadrien wants to do something different, post the details today. I figured she'd attack the peryton who attacked her and who is moving to a position from which it could attack her on its next turn.

That works for me, thanks.

Sorry I've been inactive. It's the start of a new term and I'm going to be able to post regularly again, starting this afternoon.

All good, real-life comes first

Sorry for it taking so long to resolve Rurik's action. Channel Energy with wounded and/or dying enemies around is tricky. If it were me, I would have used a cure spell on Domition this round and one of Rurik next round if needed.

Reminder to Ingrit: there are some relevant spoilers some posts back to review.

I used Channel specifically because it doesn't provoke an AoO. My die rolling in clutch situations is usually awful and if I tried to cast a cure spell I'd just botch the concentration check.

I know, been waiting until it gets to my turn

Domitian's character sheet lists his saves as having +4 vs. charms/compulsions. His Child of Two Peoples trait gives him +2. Where does the other +2 come from?

I thought I had a spoiler on the campaign page with a few house rules. Either I never posted it or I deleted it. I added a spoiler with a few that may be relevant. The most important is a rule I use to replace the Withdraw action. I think it makes more sense and is more flexible. Let me know if you have questions.

In my Wrath of the Righteous campaign I had a rule for gaining new hit points when leveling up. For Reign of Winter, I don't recall if I went with rules stated by the GM who started the campaign or if I went with a different system.

What have you all been doing for hit points at new levels? I just want to be consistent.

It’s just a +2 bonus, so it’s a +4 total will save vs compulsions.

I want to say we do 1/2 HD+1. That’s how Dom has done it. Don’t remember if rolling is an alternative option.

The house rule you have is generous and I’d go for it.

I think we've been doing the 1/2+1 hp.

Yeah looks like 1/2 +1

I came across a kickstarter campaign for a map making application that, if it can work as advertised would be allow one to make impressive maps.

Dungeon Alchemist. If you are interested in running a homebrew campaign or just like making maps, I'd check it out. Beta versions coming out in the fall with the rollout planned for end of year or start of 2022. For a fairly modest investment, you can get a lifetime license with other perks.

Speaking of Kickstarter, I know we're all playing Pathfinder, but if anyone also dabbles in 5e I'm a writer/designer on this one.

Does anyone who has played both have a preference over PF 2E vs D&D 5E? I will probably explore one of the other as PF 1E begins to wane on the PBP boards.

Sorry for the delay in gameplay. Sunday I was preoccupied with another project and since then I've had grading to get caught up on. I'll have something up this afternoon.

It’s just a +2 bonus, so it’s a +4 total will save vs compulsions.

I want to say we do 1/2 HD+1. That’s how Dom has done it. Don’t remember if rolling is an alternative option.

The house rule you have is generous and I’d go for it.

I think the convention on bonuses to saves is to list the bonus to the save, not the result of adding the bonus to the current save.

As for hp increases at level up, we can stick with the method you've been using or we can start using my house rule. I guess I'm nostalgic for the old D&D days when rolling the hit die was a dramatic moment of leveling up, but not wanting the risk of extremely low rolls hobbling a character with low hp.

Of the two I personally prefer 5e, largely because while I appreciate having a little math & crunch in my games, I prefer the lower overall complexity level on the 5e side. Pathfinder 2e is a progression of PF, designed to still have a lot of complex rules interactions, like turning action economy into a significant factor not just in what you do but how effectively you do it. 5e has fewer stacking modifiers and simpler systems overall, which makes it easier to learn and faster to use in play. Also, 5e made the interesting choice to almost never use subtraction when you roll dice (there are a few notable exceptions but they are rare), which is important because adding is cognitively faster than subtracting and there are a significant number of gamers who struggle more with subtraction than with addition.

I revised my stat line to make it clearer.

I like the house rule. It's exciting to hit a high die roll for HP!

Lack sufficient experience to speak intelligently about Pathfinder 2e vs 5e.

Damn it, just missed the window to edit.

Sorry for the delay. I've been trying to resolve a rules question that in this case is pretty important. I've posted a question in the rules forum and hope I get an answer soon. If not, I'll rule and continue. I'll explain more soon, since to do so now would include spoilers.

No need to delay for my sake, it’s not that important.

I got my second Moderna vaccine on Sunday (yeah!) and Monday I felt a bit under the weather due to the side effects. That put me behind on my grading, so I'm just getting caught up. I'll have a post up this afternoon.

Congratulations on being vaccinated! So awesome to be free!

I've been researching and pondering a rules issue. I think I could go either way and it wouldn't make a big difference, so I'm going with what seems simplest and most straightforward.

Certain conditions limit the actions a character can take during his turn. Examples are staggered, which says you can take a move or standard action but not both, or nauseated, which says you can only take a move action. If the situation that causes this condition is dependent on where the character is and the character moves to a position where the condition is removed, the removal does not retroactively allow him to take actions that were prohibited or limited at the start of the turn.

My main justification for this is simplicity and also an assumption that restricting conditions slow a character down, so the time it takes to move or take a standard action is close to the full six seconds of the turn. For example, a nauseated character can only take a single move action. This implies moving half as fast as normal. So if the character moves out of the area that imposes the nauseated condition only at the last five feet of movement, this would be near the end of the time allotted for the turn. So the character would not be able to take a standard action in that short remaining time.

The reverse could happen, however. A character not restricted could move into an area that imposes such a restriction, which presumably induces nausea or some other distress that reduces options if those options have not already been taken.

At present, we are waiting on Anadrien and Rurik. If anyone knows a reason why either is not able to post for some reason in RL, let me know and I can 'bot them.

I was waiting for this resolution that you asked us to wait for! :D

I did not think I asked for any delay. Sorry if gave that impression.

Hey guys, apologies, but I think I'm going to withdraw Anadrien from the game. I've a lot going on irl, and don't think I can do the game the justice it deserves. Thank you so much for having me, and I wish you all the greatest success moving forward.

Sorry to see you go. If things change, you are welcome back any time. Good luck

Andadrien is an interesting character. I'll 'bot her until the end of this AP book and then let her make a graceful exit. We can discuss whether we want to recruit another player/PC or continue with the current group.

Sorry to see you go, Anadrien. We had some good times.

I would want to recruit another if we can pick up the pace. Might make sense when we hit the next book--I can see that giving us some new energy, as well as an opportunity to introduce a PC with a very different background.

That makes sense. After this battle the way will clear to the Dancing Hut and there will be one more battle with a guardian stationed there to keep anyone from trying to steal the hut. Then things will shift in the next book to new realms as the hunt for Baba Yaga begins.

I think the pace will pick up as the issues with Covid begin to recede (hopefully soon).

Sorry, thought I'd already posted.

Long gaps between postings is starting to be a regular thing. Please post to indicate anything that is happening that prevents you from posting. It would be nice to get back to people posting as soon as your melee turn arrives. We've been on this battle a long time. I know some of that was due to issues IRL, but I suspect some people may just have gotten out of the habit of checking for new posts and posting daily.

I actually have extra time to post, as several of the games in which I am a player are on hold.

Hm. For whatever reason, this game has shown me no updates until today, when it suddenly said I had 7 unread messages in gameplay, but the message from the DM saying it was my turn was posted 6 days ago. So some kind of technical issue is keeping me from knowing when there are updates.

I've not seen that but it's good to know about. Best to check daily even if it shows no update. I'm using the Paizo PBP add-on for Chrome Browsers, which shows new posts highlighted. It also lets you replace the avatar selected by yourself or the player from the gallery of images with your own image. Only you can see the image, but sometimes its hard to find an appropriate picture in the gallery of Paizo owned images.

It's also important after you make a post to double check that it updated. I frequently have to hit refresh 3 or 4 times before the post I submitted actually shows up on the thread.

Yeah, I also use the Paizo Campaign Tools. I have noticed that when they update sometimes the tools just break completely and have to be re-loaded. I updated my home PC recently to a newer OS and a different browser and it's possibly related.

A large part of it for this battle specifically is characters notbeing able to act naturally but having to act according to some external controlling effect, and having to clarify what is allowed, what is range of effect etc.

I've found that any effect that hijacks/modifies player agency tends to slow down posting as a lot more has to be considered.

True. I set up the scene specifically so this would be an option. The Dawn Piper would not last more than a round against a full team attack, just as the two previous Dawn Pipers were eliminated quickly. So to give her a chance to work her magic, I had the other two creatures attack so the Dawn Piper could cast spells that would slow and confuse the issue and perhaps give her a chance to defeat you all.

But I think we're past the worst of that, so if people can check daily and post when they are up, we can have it concluded soon.

Currently, it is Ingrit's turn to act.

If it's any extra incentive, the next melee with against an old nemesis, giving you all a chance for some well earned payback.

Sorry for not posting over the weekend. Things just got away from me. I'll have something up this afternoon.

Some unexpected issues filing our taxes this past weekend ate up most of my time. Sorry for the delay.

I'm super busy at work at the moment, so please bot me as needed. Sorry for the trouble.

The PCs can check on the dancing hut but they will find it is guarded by powerful enemies and won't be easy to claim after a resource depleting fight. As you consider what to do next here is some information that you should know.

Let me give you a little meta-information at this point. The main threats have been removed from the forest and all that remains is to liberate the dancing hut. That will be a major battle and it would be good if the PCs use this moment to rest and recover, so all can start fresh and at full hp. The winter guard is still dealing with the uprising and so will not be a factor if the PCs leave the forest to check in with Solveig. They can use the opportunity to sell loot and purchase new equipment if needed. Only items with base value of less than 13,600 gp can be purchased and then only after getting a result of 26-100 on a d100 roll. There is not time to shop for special items or spell casting services. No roll is needed for mundane equipment. Also Solvieg can cast cleric spells to heal and restore if needed, at no cost.

We can RP this but I'm okay with just assuming the PCS make a quick trek to the shrine and return to the forest at first light.

A second bit of meta-information is that once the PCs enter the hut, their main option for survival is to use the hut to travel away from Irrisen and to other planes in order to locate the only way to stop the winterizing effect already affecting Golarion. In other words, the PCs will be boarding a train bound away and into the next book of the AP.

The PCs will level up to 7th at the end of the book, so all that remains is to be sure the group is at full strength and has all the equipment they want/need.

I'm inclined to remove Anadrien as an NPC at this point. The party still has 4 PCs which is what the AP is designed for. You have two spell casters and two figher types, so the party is well balanced, IMHO. We could recruit two new PCs and introduce them into the game as the game transitions to the next book. I'm okay with leaving things as they are.

You are welcome to role play looking through the formerly blocked gap in the trees that leads to the dancing hut. Post actions in the gameplay thread to initiate this.

Given that we've just completed one brutal escalating pitched battle, and will soon be heading into another, I wouldn't mind RP-ing the brief downtime/restock/healing.

In terms of being able to function with the party as is, we should be fine, especially considering that at 7th level, Wapiti becomes a much stronger melee presence (base attack improves, secondary attacks, powerful charge, ability increases)

We're a bit lacking in the rogue skills department by ROW isn't all that urban a campaign anyway.

That is a good point. It's always a good idea to have someone who can disable traps with at least some level of skill. Now that I think about it, I think that was what Anadrien was recruited to do. So I can think of several ways to deal with this.

1) Ignore it for now. As noted the ROW AP is not heavy with traps, although the last parts of the next book do involve a dungeon for which disable device will be very helpful. A lot of the traps can be bypassed by cleverly interpreting the room and discerning a way to avoid triggering the trap without disabling it. So the issue can be deferred for now.

2) Someone takes a level of a class that has disable device as a class skill (Investigator, Ninja, Occultist, Rogue, Vigilante). Or given that all of you have at least +2 bonus from dexterity, you could just put ranks into disable device (up to 7) and end up with a decent bonus that would probably get you through things. Taking the Skill Focus feat for disable devices would add 3 so it would be the same as having the class skill.

3) I could continue to run Anadrien or (my preference) I could create an NPC who can serve. Anadrien was a bard with a trait that gave her disable device as a class skill, plus her dex bonus was +4. Her melee options were limited to archery. She does not even have a melee type weapon. So she's not very versatile. Although she is a bard, she took an archetype that did not allow any bardic performances, so she was basically a rogue. If we did this option, the NPC would remain at a lower level than the party and not take a leadership role, always following the will of the party.

4) We can recruit for a 5th player with the requirement that the new player be proficient at disabling devices and see what we get.

As far as gear before we shop for anything, I thing Dom is the only other person with a bow (with Anadrian gone) so the Efficient quiver's all yours, though I would like to take the Cold Iron and at least half of the normal arrows.

I can see the air elemental gem being useful.
The potions we add to our collective potion kit (if it's easier we can keep them all in Wapiti's saddlebags), and of course, Rurik should hold the diamond for possible restoration spells.

I'd be fine with a trapfinder NPC (I'm pretty sure as heroes of the rebellion we've likely inspired somebody to adventure)

I'm going to be away from posting until Saturday night. I would encourage everybody to make a post a day doing some non-combat RP. We need everyone to get back in the habit of daily posting. We've got a little time until we have to decide about the three options suggested above, so don't delay posting on that account.

Use the time to evaluate your gear. I won't have time to do anything to help coordinate the gear, so someone will have to figure out what you have to seel and do the accounting.