Can You Hear The People Sing? (Hell's Rebels)

Game Master Paladin of Baha-who?

I could probably look this up, but I'm trying to finish something I'm working on and it's distracting me from my distractions. :)

The Street team, we're just holing up until the Sewer team can get the boat back to us. That our exfil plan, right?

I thought both teams were traveling to the same safe house via different routes and that, from there, we'd break off into smaller groups and go our separate ways during the following day. Maybe some of us returning the boat to the Villegre sewers the next night?

I thought the people in the boat were heading away from the Salt Works and then dispersing. Simultaneously, the people staying on the streets would go to the safe house and then disperse in the morning/ throughout the next day.

Were Dom and Jessi the only ones who went to the safe house? If so, it might make sense for them to split up as Jessi is proposing so that someone with each group knows where it is in case of any problems.

If I'm counting right, we have 8 prisoners plus Mallus, 5 PCs, and Sabrina. That makes 14 people. The GM's previous post says 8 people can fit in a rowboat. In case that factors into anyone's decision.

I thought we were taking to the streets and the boat and all going to the safe house, and the next day our happy band and papa strix were going home to the Wasps Nest. The prisoners were on their own unless they gave us a good reason for coming along.

I thought the people in the boat were heading away from the Salt Works and then dispersing. Simultaneously, the people staying on the streets would go to the safe house and then disperse in the morning/ throughout the next day.

Were Dom and Jessi the only ones who went to the safe house? If so, it might make sense for them to split up as Jessi is proposing so that someone with each group knows where it is in case of any problems.

If I'm counting right, we have 8 prisoners plus Mallus, 5 PCs, and Sabrina. That makes 14 15 people. The GM's previous post says 8 people can fit in a rowboat. In case that factors into anyone's decision.

[Stan Marsh voice]"I learned something today: Never trust the math of a devotee of the Drunken Hero."[/Stan Marsh voice] ;)

I think the reason against taking the boat right back to Villegre/The Nest was the fear of discovery if an alarm got raised ("Oh no! They spotted us! Quick Dom--row for Sargava!").

I think Davina's post hits close to the mark. We can quietly interview the other prisoners (likely with Forvian Crowe's input) and decide if they'd make worthwhile additions to the rebellion. Those deemed unacceptable get slowly released back into Kintargo the following day.

So, I'm thinking: Dom, Kiri, Leora, Mallus, Forvian, 2 prisoners escape through the streets; Jessi, Davina, Sabrina, and 5 other escapees take the boat through the sewers to the safe house.

If Leora had a calculator, she'd still be just as bad at math! I'm am engineer at my day job, so I think I've used up all my math skills by the time I post in this game ;)

I'm fine with any of the plans, as long as all of us are on the same page! They all get the PCs and prisoners to the same place.

So there's someone else interested in playing with us! They're the player of Seraphina in the moribund Kingmaker game that Leora, Lucius and I played in, and they're really great at RPing and have fun character ideas! Would you folks be accepting of a new arrival at this point? I'd have their character be one of the people you just rescued, as a way of introducing them to the story.

That's okay with me!

Fine with me.

Damn, I forgot about the frame-up (my heads barely in this week, sorry). Do we have a CCG-adorned item we can leave behind, like a cloak left half torn caught in a gate? Something that wasn't prestidigitated so it won't revert after an hour.

The more the merrier! Welcome aboard!

EDIT: This, of course, is in regard to the new player. See what I mean about mushy brain?

Damn, I forgot about the frame-up (my heads barely in this week, sorry). Do we have a CCG-adorned item we can leave behind, like a cloak left half torn caught in a gate? Something that wasn't prestidigitated so it won't revert after an hour.

Your CCG armband should fit the bill.

My brain's been hazy and mushy this week, too. Not sure what we should do about the documents about Kossrani skimming; probably take them with us in case they prove useful later. Was he put in command of the salt works by Barzillai himself? Might be a good bit of future proof of B-Thrune's corruption.

Awesome, I'll try and make a proper post later, but if not, assume Dukkan will cut the armband off himself and leave it on the scene.

Edit to add: the Stealth roll was already given on my Gameplay post from Thursday.

Great, Seraphina would be an awesome person to have in this game!

Driving with my family earlier, I saw a car whose license plate said, of all the unlikely things, "MILANI". I took this as a good omen, and said, "Vive la revolution!" Exactly no one else in the car knew what I was talking about.

:-\

Hello everyone!

I am starting to draw up my new rebel and thought it might be handy to get your input on what would work well for the party. So far my plans are human, male, and quite possibly a wizard who will be built with an eye toward crafting magical items. The player's guide doesn't have too much to say about this sort of character, so I thought I would ask here.

What can you tell me about why these people were imprisoned and why you rescued them? I'm leaning toward the campaign trait ex-asmodean, but wonder if being captured already would make him a known element and thus less helpful to your goals.

Also, I'm as yet unfamiliar with the particular game mechanics of this AP, specifically the "leading teams". And finally, are you all past the point of the initial protest, or do I need to pick a reason for that still?

Hi BD, these prisoners are kind of blank slates, so you can do pretty much whatever you'd like. You don't have to pick a reason to protest, but it would be a good idea for your character to have been to the protest.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Yay, welcome! (this is Milo, playing your friendly hidden cleric of Cayden Cailean)

Us PCs went to rescue the prisoners for a few reasons. First, Kiri's father was captured and being held there. Second, we had to rescue Formian Crowe (though I'm having trouble finding out where his name was first mentioned and why he was important). While the salt mine was not directly being controlled by Barzillai Thrune and his Chelish Guard goons, the folks running the place were reporting to him, so this was sort of our first open move against him.

The prisoners were being held as slaves, but seems like they were captured pretty recently, so maybe your character was enslaved after he got found out. I don't think there's an issue with you being a known element. I won't out the other PCs deep, dark secrets, but Leora is a member of an illegal faith. If you want to keep it on the down-low, some disguise and bluff stuff would be good. Some PCs have levels in vigilante.

We are still getting used to the rules for the rebellion ourselves, we've only done one turn of rebellion rules. The teams stuff is in the Hell's Rebels player guide. You can manage a number of teams equal to your Charisma bonus. In some cases, your stats can help the team with whatever action you have them do during the rebellion actions, but for most cases, I think it's just a flavor thing for the PC.

Nice recap, Leora!

Welcome, new rebel-to-be!

Uh oh... Been playing around with stats and had already been tanking my charisma into negative modifiers. Does this one not work the same as Kingmaker where a high intelligence modifier would be equally useful in a different position?

*goes off to investigate*

Edit: Ok, I see this is where that "pretend you have a 14" Charisma trait that confused me when I first saw it comes into play... Hrm... =/

*still reading*

Forvian is the leader of a band of mercenaries known to Laria Longroads. He's sympathetic to the bellflower network and is no friend of the Thrune government. Your new character can be one of his mercenaries (no reason a wizard can't be part of a mercenary group) or can be someone else that just got thrown in there after being picked up at the Aria Park protest.

The number of teams you run is controlled by your Charisma, but that's really not that big a deal. There's way more people available to run teams than there are teams for them to run at the moment, and Rexus and other NPCs could always step into that role as well. Note that Lucius is going to become an NPC shortly unless he shows back up again, and Lydia is already considered an NPC.

So, as you can see in the gameplay thread, those going through the streets have had the misfortune to encounter something... BD, your new wizard can be part of that group if you want, even if you haven't completely finalized your build, or you can hold off.

Things to keep in mind for your build: Since you were a prisoner, you don't have a spellbook right now, but you'll be able to get one as soon as you're back at the Ravens HQ. Laria will provide one at no cost (let's say it's one that a fallen comrade left with her), and the spells in that book are the ones you get as your starting spells. (All cantrips, 5+Int 1st levels for starting out, plus 2 more for 2nd level.)

Now, the thing about prepared spells is that they last until you cast them, and maybe you just didn't have the chance to. Right now you can have whichever cantrips you want prepared, and 1d3 ⇒ 1 first level spells left -- except that 1st level spell can't be one that would have been helpful in trying to escape. So no Vanish, no Charm Person, no Grease.

Welcome Bludedove. I've seen you on the forums, but I don't think I've had the pleasure of playing with you.

I just got done with PAX West. That's why I've been quiet for the last few days. Four crazy days of gaming convention. I'll be back to my usual checking the forums like crazy now. My Mom is visiting in about a week so the 13th-18th may be slow posting again.

We have several melee characters. I was thinking during our last fight that a ranged character would be a great addition. To give Kiri some help on the ranged damage dealing. And for the love of all that is Caden Caylen please take Knowledge Nature. ;)

Ok, I will step on the gas so I can contribute!

@Davina, I think your Rose met my Selima recently during Feral's Silent Tide. And never fear, this guy is going to be a bloody know-it-all type, plenty of room for Knowledge Nature. =)

One last question: Would a charisma boosting item be able to provide the bonus to potentially be able to lead a team in the future? Or does it need to be a straight-up natural ability or that fake-it-til-you-make-it trait?

@Bluedove Ah yes I remember you and Thirsty. That cat did some serious work in those fights. Rose really wanted to ask for a ride through the wet streets, but she was terrified he'd eat her or you'd turn her into a toad for just asking.

Stat boosting items really truly improve your abilities, so it works fine with things like that.

Hey, here's an idea. To keep people from being bored, I'll have you all run one of the NPCs in this combat. All of the NPCs other than Forvian have this stat block, except that they are fatigued.

Bluedove, you get the blue one, which you can replace with your wizard if you want.

Davina, you get the yellow one.

Jessibel, you get the red one. She's prone since her falling down caused the noise that triggered this event.

I'll continue to run Forvian, who is green.

Jessibel, you get the red one. She's prone since her falling down caused the noise that triggered this event.

I'm sure it's just a total coincidence you assigned me the klutzy one. ;)

VERY IMPORTANT: GM--Did you remember to tell Bluedove about the two boons at character creation?

On second thought, I'd like to pass on playing one of the NPC escapees.

I promise to not get bored though.

Hey, what parts of town are in the direction Nicolae is moving the ghost sound?

Who has the wand of silence, Jessi or Leora?

EDIT: Good answer! Good answer! (claps enthusiastically, then wonders how he ended up suddenly playing Family Feud)

I believe Leora does.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Yep, Leora has the wand of silence. I could use it, it just takes a full round to cast, so I was thinking that the people who heard us would now see Leora using a wand but if you think it will help, I'll give it a shot. Also, suggestions on where to place the spell?

I don't know, I honestly hadn't planned this out that far. :) But it's an option. Feel free to jump in with a plan.

You've already acted, so it's not like we can get this thing going until after he's already around the corner, right? My first thought, and I'm not married to this, but just throwing this at the wall, is we try and Bluff him, stalling him long enough to drop the silence effect, then lay into him, drop him, quickly hide the body, and get the hell out of Dodge.

Who else has a plan they'd like to volunteeer?

I was thinking something similar, but just try and bluff our way out of it. If they are just random passers-by we can intimidate them away, they'll think we are CCG. If they are CCG, we could try bluffing and showing them our falsified papers, tell them that a law breaking citizen is flaunting curfew and ran away across the roof, they should help us by tracking him down, or we always have the option to fight if things go south.

Okay, that works pretty well. I was also thinking we embellish a bit, say the fictitious runner was gonna try and bribe us with a stash he'd hidden in (some neighborhood in the complete wrong direction), hope their greed got the better of them.

Then, of course, if he's not bitin', there's the "air blasts and steel" option to fall back on.

I think the potential boon or boost was covered in the email GM Paladin sent me. I picked the shiny one, 25 pt build. ^_^

I am pretty much done with the build, but PC Gen is not giving me the option of the traits I'm going for, so I had to add in some substitutes to get the bonus mechanics correct. It's all noted on the sheet.

I did a search and it looks like some of you are rolling for HP? I tend to have good luck in that department so I will opt for that as well.

Lvl 2 HP Roll: 1d6 ⇒ 6

He should have a hawk familiar as well, or possibly an owl, if we tend to move and act under the cover of darkness more often than in daylight. I haven't drawn that up yet since I figured they aren't pocket sized, so he would send the bird away when he was captured. I also didn't know how to do the hp.

Similarly, I haven't gotten to equipment, since it would have been stripped from him, so whatever he owns will be wherever he was staying.

I might rethink the Varisian Tattoo feat... I liked the ethnic flavor and that it gives him an extra round of Vanish at this point but I think I was expecting an increase in CL to raise save DCs and after double checking, I don't think that's the case. I'd swap it for Improved Initiative if I decide to. I'm too tired to think about it more now, but I wanted to put some meat on his bones, so to speak.

As far as familiars, I think HP is half their master's, isn't it?

*High-fives Dom*
We might just pull this off, good call with the story with the gold. Maybe he'll be greedy enough to fall for it!

Nicolae, it all sounds great! Our "style" for our rebellion is stealth, so you can already see your skills are coming in handy.

(thumbs up with one hand, fingers crossed on the other)

Ok, I looked over illusion spells and I just don't think that the Varisian Tattoo is worth my while after all. Increased CL is just going to add a little duration here and there, and I already have a specialist ability to extend some illusions. I could see it being helpful for a school like Evocation or Conjuration, but not so much for an Illusionist.

Crunch is now complete including the familiar and equipment. I like the idea of Nicolæ being friend and colleague of Forvian Crowe, so his reason for going to the Protest was "Tagging Along" to try and keep his friends out of trouble... Clearly, he failed. XD

Hopefully since we were nabbed at the protest, our base or homes remain uncompromised. Or else I just bought a lot of equipment I no longer own! >_<

Oh! And I need to ask: Were the crossbows offered by the party light or heavy?

Light crossbows.

Jess:

One thing to keep in mind when evaluating the combat performance of a Bard is not to neglect Bardic Performance, if you will pardon the wordplay. At least one or two of other people's hits would probably have been misses without the +1 from that, so all that damage is 'yours' as well as the +1 to damage on hits that would have been hits anyway.

QFE, just in case it needed it (and even if it didn't).

I'm totally neglecting Bardic Performance--I take that as a given duty for a bard. ;)

The frustration I'm feeling--and that's coming out in Jessi--is that she has been next to worthless in combat. I know I didn't build her to be a combat powerhouse (Str 10, which, I'll point out with some amusement and pride, is still the 3rd-highest in the party), but I at least invested in Weapon Finesse and a high-crit weapon in the hopes that she'd at least be semi-competent. Thank the gods the GM bots her on Sundays and makes the occasional AoO for her because the Paizo dice bots hate her in combat when I make the rolls.

Summary: 8-of-10 attack or confirm rolls in the single digits; total damage in hit points: 6.

Less than 1 hp damage contributed per month of gameplay.

I'm trying to plan a decent build for Jessibel going forward, but...how can you plan around dice rolls like that?

Thanks for letting me whine/vent. I'm glad I researched her rolls cuz now I know I'm not just imagining things. :)

I'm trying to plan a decent build for Jessibel going forward, but...how can you plan around dice rolls like that?

The short answer, and I suspect you know this already, but I'll say it out loud, cuz sometimes we all need it: you can't plan around cold dice.

I know we've all had That Run of luck, where it feels like you're using a d8 for attack rolls. All you can do at this point is hold on, and wait for the wheel to come around, which it will.

Hang in there. None of us are in this alone. :-)

Dom

I had three weeks where I couldn't roll above a 4 on a d20, but rolled the highest possible on the damage dice. It happens.

Yeah, I guess it's all a matter of perspective. 10 attack/confirm rolls is a pretty small sample pool, but when you say "I've dealt a grand total of 6 points of damage in 7 months" it sounds a lot worse.

As a player I'm not half as frustrated as Jessi the character is: After all, her frenemy Sabrina just totally upstaged her! ;)

I figured that in combat, it was Leora and Jessi's job to make all the bad rolls so Dom and Kiri could crit all the time with their massive damage modifiers ;)

I had kind of a crummy combat as well, between casting two sort-of useless silences and not bothering to cast bless, if that makes you feel any better!

Jessibel Aulamaxa wrote:

I'm trying to plan a decent build for Jessibel going forward, but...how can you plan around dice rolls like that?

The short answer, and I suspect you know this already, but I'll say it out loud, cuz sometimes we all need it: you can't plan around cold dice.

Well, you could plan some options that don't require you to roll the dice. My PFS bard makes pretty good use of the spells unwitting ally, grease, and saving finale. None of those require you to roll a thing. Two of those are bard-only spells too. And trust me, when you just reversed the fighter's very serious failed save like fear, confusion, command, etc, you are EVERYONE'S hero!

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for ability progression? One or two odd ability scores can work out pretty well if you intend to raise them both, but three or more can be detrimental to the build. You've basically cut yourself out of a +1 modifier somewhere by doing that.

I don't mean to criticize, I know I'm the new "guy", but I enjoy talking builds and I would like to try and help you feel better about your role, if you don't mind. What would you like to see her do? ^_^

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the "taking care of the prisoners" business you posted. Most people don't bother with understanding all the interesting things prestidigitation can do, let alone roleplaying them out. I found it very creative and fun to read. ^_~

Well, you could plan some options that don't require you to roll the dice. My PFS bard makes pretty good use of the spells unwitting ally, grease, and saving finale. None of those require you to roll a thing. Two of those are bard-only spells too. And trust me, when you just reversed the fighter's very serious failed save like fear, confusion, command, etc, you are EVERYONE'S hero!

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for ability progression? One or two odd ability scores can work out pretty well if you intend to raise them both, but three or more can be detrimental to the build. You've basically cut yourself out of a +1 modifier somewhere by doing that.

I don't mean to criticize, I know I'm the new "guy", but I enjoy talking builds and I would like to try and help you feel better about your role, if you don't mind. What would you like to see her do? ^_^

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the "taking care of the prisoners" business you posted. Most people don't bother with understanding all the interesting things prestidigitation can do, let alone roleplaying them out. I found it very creative and fun to read. ^_~

Thanks for offering to help out and thanks for reminding me again about saving finale--Kiri mentioned that one when I was picking a new spell at 2nd-level but it had since fallen off my radar. Gotta at least get a scroll of that spell...once Jessi actually adds read magic to her known spells (planned for next level).

Ability progression plans: 4th--+1 Dex; 8th--+1 Cha; beyond that--????

What would I like to see her do? Great question. I guess my answer would be 'become a competent rebel,' whatever that entails.

When I created her, my plan was for her to be a support character, likely specializing in relations with Kintargo's nobility. Toward that end, she's joined the Kintargo Opera House Society faction; that has left her poor but with a neat boon in sight (5 Fame points): when she multiclasses, she'll get a +1 level bonus to her bard spellcasting (both spells known and spells per day). At 35 Fame points, the bonus bumps to +3, so that's a ways off.

Then reality set in. Our party had several ranged specialists (sorcerer, gunslinger, Kiri's aerokineticist, and Davina usually started combat firing her crossbow), so Jessi's role morphed into more of a melee type (not to do damage herself, but to engage an enemy to give the ranged folks time to do their damage). The sorcerer and gunslinger seem to have drifted away from the game and Davina's taken a level of swashbuckler to pump up her melee capabilities, but I think Jessi's combat role is still pretty much the same: Inspire Courage and then try to keep enemies off of Nicolae and Kiri.

For multiclassing, I'm looking at two options: 1) Unchained rogue (charlatan), with the holy grail at 3rd level being the Grand Hoax/rumormonger advanced rogue talent. That really looks interesting/fun/powerful(?) in a city-based AP like Hell's Rebels, plus the Aulamaxa noble family has 'public opinion' as one of its house specialties, so the fluff fits great as well.

2) Vigilante (stalker), in which case Jessi would likely become Dom/Dukkan's annoying and mostly ineffective sidekick. Again only planning up to a 3-level dip, I'm leaning toward Gossip Collector and Social Grace for Social Talents and Shadow's Sight for her Vigilante talent to gain low-light vision & darkvision.

Both choices would also give Jessibel a little punch in combat as well from sneak attack or hidden strike.

Any advice would be appreciated.

P.S. - And welcome to the game!

Yeah, sorry about that. There was recent influx of gorgeous new images and a lot of them were from Hell's Rebels. This NPC had a few different images, so I thought I could get away with using this one. Tinker probably shouldn't be this good looking, but I'm apparently too vain to post under an ugly face. The only other ones I liked were either too fair to be Varisian or too burly to have an 8 Str. XD

Heh, I just couldn't resist being a wiseass and having Jessi say that. You picked the right one for your avatar, though; the GM put a slightly more wild-haired picture of Rexus in the game's NPC gallery.

And welcome to the 8 STR Club! Pretty sure Davina and Kiri are in that boat, as were the two characters who drifted away from the game (Lydia and Lucius).