I only got the Companion before now so I'd personally not seen it prior.
If the Groom doesn't have the Sea Pact ring, Jim does. Might come in handy, hey?
I'm half keen to just get sucked down into the maelstrom to have a looksee what's down there. Dibbs could always get back via the kilt, but it's a one-way dealy.
If DM rule is that the dolphin can't help, then tactics will change as follows...
1. Richard will deliver Delay Poison to Jim.
2. He will summon the dolphin next to him, and clip a small piece off it's tail fin.
3. He will alter self into a dolphin, and save the groom himself.
"Come on! Grab him and let's get out of here!" Dingus breathlessly shouts. "We're in no condition to take on these thugs!” and Dibbets finishes reclaiming his desiccated possessions and eyes the newcomers warily.
The imposing pair walk up to the strange tableau glancing at the confused tableau before the Taldan narrows his eyes at Jim and asks in a nasally voice, ”What’s all this then? No dueling off the Field of Honor.” Jim sheathes his rapier and answers "Wasn't a duel, more like a foiled robbery. The runaway, he tried to grab my mate's duffel an' run for it. We were having none of that, so he tried to spell us. Mostly didn't work...." glancing quickly at Kaul before leaning a little closer "There a quieter place we can talk?"
The Bekyar elbows his companion speaking in a deep voice, ”Deedn’t I say that look like Beedle? Sonuvabeech right here in de Eastern Destrict under our nose. Shifty leetle weezard bastahd with yellow hair chewing de flayleaf? He be owin’ Finn some money. Which direction he headin’?” The Taldan rocks slightly with the Bekyar’s jab and just stares at Kaul, ”Hey, we got rules about vagrants sleeping in the streets here. Twenty skull fine."
Eyeing the men beadily, Dibbets pipes up "He ain't sleepin, jus deep in concentration... Your thievin Beedle went that way" vaguely waving his hand about. The Taldan ignores him and calls out to the Groom "You getting his purse out there, buddy? Cuz I'm thinkin' we fine you for dueling off the Field also. Bad for business,” face plastered with the smugness of unquestioned authority. At this the gawkers starting moving back to the Field to see some action as this is looking like just another Hell Hound shake down.
Jim warily ventures "Y' can take that twenty out of what the fat man owes us. Little job--house over in the East District?" But no-neck waxes suspicious, ”Fat man? What are you talking about? You hitting houses in the Eastern District? That’s our racket, buddy. Mr. Finn don’t like no thieves in the Eastern District.” Knuckles tighten and his club starts to come up again.
His Bekyar partner stops looking around for Beedle and twigs to the talk about thieves on their turf.”What dis about teevs, Vinari?” Hard eyes unrelenting, Vinari adds ”This pale little worm just said a fat man hired him for a “little job” here in the Eastern District,”
The Bekyar towers over Jim looking none too happy ”Dis true? Who dis fat man?” Jim rolls his tongue around his mouth nervously before trying to not look intimidated "He said he worked for Finn...funny thing, you not knowing. Red face, had a half-orc and a big human working for him. Ringing any bells?" Explanation insufficient, the imposing black man shrugs and tightens his grip on his club threatening "No. Not ringing any bells"
The Groom slides into the conversation "Aye. It would seem we are all interested in this Man with the Fat Red Face. His debt for cowardice and calling out the guard on his own crew while on a job will shadow any small fine you can dream up on this corner. The Queen is arranging his fate, and I look for a name to scroll in a watery book to seal that fate."
"We believed this Man of the Fat Red Face was sanctioned by your organization as when we met him, he was accompanied by at least one of your fellows. But when he abandoned us all in the middle of the job, hollering down the street like an overheated steer, he left one of yours for dead."
The Groom extends his hand and opens it to show the ring "We came here, to let your group know of this man's cowardice and that we recovered the fallen man's signet ring, so the Guard would not be alerted to his loyalties. We escaped moments before the Guard arrived, so his corpse has become property of the Guard. Again, thanks to the cowardice of this One of the Fat Red Face. Did we think correctly that you would be interested in this news concerning the One with the Scarred Nose?"
The words spark some recollection ”Scar across de nose sound like Goyne” the Bekyar reflects. But Vinari’s eyes are drawn to the proffered jewellery jaw dropping ”Hey, where’d you get that ring?! That’s Goyne’s ring? You’d better take us there right now. Don’t worry about the Watch. We run things around here.” With the impasse seemingly softening, the Hell Hounds gesture for the newly acquainted party of misfits to lead them on to the Witch House.
Jim murmurs to Dibbets "I'll take the ocean, thank you very much. This place is like navigating shoals when you don't know iffin' the tide's in or out...." which draws a stifled chuckle and nod from the diminutive one. The Groom narrows eyes and spits a stream of salt water into Kaul’s face, watching a moment to see if it elicits a response before shrugging "Will definably require assistance," With a beckoning to the Tian-man, the two begin to struggle to get Kaul from recumbence to vertical.
Jim eyes around for a nearby street food vendor to get some strength back, spotting a greasy man selling fried shark on a stick. Not picky, Jim moves to exchange coin for gristle before Vinari barks ”Hey, get me one of those, too.” Jim looks at Vinari, looks back at the vendor, wordlessly hands over a skull, and holds up two fingers.
The motley lot of them make quite a sight as they amble awkwardly onwards. Two imposing enforcers led by a woozy Taldan chewing on fried shark, a dirty midget, and a scarred and drooling half-orc propped up by Messrs soggy and sweating. Dibbets stumps alongside Kaul, giving him an occasional slap to see if he'll come round… but as they walk a flicker of movement goes unnoticed and Kaul’s insensate form is relieved of the possession of a certain weighty sack.
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did I really use tableau twice in the same sentence. le sigh. It's fun to reread the early days despite a few editing flubs. three cheers for Mark!
Reads back over rewrite - smacks head - nope, that was one that crept in during the editing process... so my bad :P
FYI - I've kept all of these in a word document, and once I get the first 'book' down (essentially tying into Chapter 1- The Witch House Job) I'll send it through to y'all.
Huzzah!
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Fun fact - in my offshore experience I have worked with Cliff Richard, Jimmy Dean and John Lennon. (just playing off the Little Richard comment in main thread)
Dibbs- your air bubble spell used proactively would take care of any wet powder probs. There are also several magic items to allow aqua guns.
Yeah - I figured that, though Dibbets is hardly sage-like in the way of the gun yet, so I'm happy for him to have the surprise come in game :)
Fun fact - in my offshore experience I have worked with Cliff Richard, Jimmy Dean and John Lennon. (just playing off the Little Richard comment in main thread)
Have dealt with Jim Morrison and Ed Wood in the past...
Jim- Keep your blade close- trusty blade gains a +1 enhance
yep Jim, I said it was a +1 weapon.
Hey, it's been a while. Thanks for the reminder.
actually it might be time for a special ability because a 12 hp crit is just kinda sad...
It'd be 16 if not for the sobs and the fatigue, but point taken; a standard Ftr5 is probably doing a little more than that. I should probably take Power Attack next level. Not much finesse, but it'd take him up to 1d6 + 10 damage.
What are peoples thoughts on the Advanced Class Guide playtest?
One that I thought was particularly well done is the Swashbuckler, it looks to actually make a lightly armored mobile fighter worth it.
I haven't done more than skim over them, but I agree on the swashbuckler--in some ways, it reads like a 20-level duelist. Not sure about how the panache mechanic will play out in a real game, but it's close enough to grit that it should work OK.
Heads up shipmates - I'm heading off this Saturday to Houston tae spend Thanksgiving with my bro/sis-in-law. We're on a busy schedule so unlikely I'll get much time/interweb access so I is highly likely tae be off the grid until beginning of Dec (back on the 1st).
Skipper - please DMPC Kauly as necessary after tomorrow evening...
Sure thing, Kaul. I thought about going to see my brother in Houston this Thanksgiving as well. Too much of a rush with only 4 days though.
Kaul is a couple hours ahead of the others currently so I was going to delay him a bit to see who boards Besmara's Shrine first.
Yeah, end of the year and holiday season. This week is US Thanksgiving so I'll likely be out wed-fri.
if the Groom had had time, he'd have mentioned that you are under the main street in the Old City.
Have fun, Cap'n! I'll be out a chunk of that time as well.
Fellow Salsa appreciators - any favorite recipes amongst you?
I've got my eldest's birthday party coming up and have volunteered for salsa duty. I'm thinking of a roast corn and black bean, but am open to suggestions iffin ye have any better ideas?
not a black bean fan, but here's one for black-eyed peas that might work as a sub. I'm not sure that avocado will work as well with black beans, but you could try with and without. Maybe add some diced jalapeno to fire it up.
16 oz cowpeas
17 oz corn
2 diced tomatoes
1 diced avocado
½ C green onion
¼ C cilantro
Dressing:
1 T red wine vinegar
4 T lime juice
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper
Nice - though p'raps I'll leave the jolly-penos to one side just in case the little uns decide to take a taste as well :)
Speaking o' jolly-penos and such - I'm back fae my thanksgiving in the Lone Star. Now a 1st dan in the martial art of Black Friday combat shopping and ate WAY more Mexican than one man should.
Dibbs ye need tae start em young in the hot and spicy appreciation society :)
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Today is (well, for him the past tense is close to being more appropriate) Black Dow's birthday. Here's hoping it was a good one, mate!
Was indeed... cheers shipmate :)
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Happy Birthday, ya harelip bugger!
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Happy Beard-day again Kauly.
And Skipper - Cowboy Caviar is a success, cheers :)
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Happy Day of emergence.
Very Festive! I hope you've had a chance to recover.
Mateys - FYI exchanged an email with Meowzebub - he's dealing with a big pile of real life right now - but will be back once it's over.
any suggestions for the Groom's actions?
Mmmm probably not what Dibbs had in mind when he said cause a "distraction" lol
I'm thinking he opens with blistering invective.
I'm thinking he opens with blistering invective.
+1
Mmmm probably not what Dibbs had in mind when he said cause a "distraction" lol
Kaul IS a distraction.
So I think I've settled on allowing an intimidate check against as many individuals as your reputation score and seeing as Kaul indicated that he wanted a private performance from the dancing 'girls', they're outta there!
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Probably for the best that the lassies are scarpering... wouldn't want em catching fire :P
So I like the idea of the Infamy Score from the Skull and Shackles AP, but not the mechanics. The disrepute/impositions system is overly complicated and I really don't like granting supernatural effects for a mundane ability. In my opinion, Infamy should stay on the social skills end of things. So here's what I'm working on:
Infamy House Rules:
1. The party can make a single intimidate check to demoralize that applies to as many adversaries as their Infamy Score.
2. The party gains a bonus equal to 1/2 their Infamy Score on a single diplomacy checks dealing with crew morale, recruitment, and parlaying with other pirates. The bonus can also be applied to any checks for selling plunder.
This gives me something for handling mass intimidates that occur quite frequently. Of course, I'll have to lower the maximum Infamy score to something more reasonable like 2x Average Party Level.
No disrepute points and I may call it Reputation as well so as not to confuse Infamy points with Insanity points.
Sounds good Cap'n, and gives us a reason to start trying to make ourselves a bit more infamous eh?
Should add that to keep it reasonable, maximum Reputation (Infamy) will be 2x Average Party Level rather than 4x.
The Groom Round 2:As his mates pile in around him and get bloody, the Groom sighs and hefts his heavy crossbow to a shoulder. Eyes squinting he squeezes the trigger and the wood bucks and spits death...
I don't think judgement of smiting acts like smite evil that way. See the description here:
Smiting: This judgment bathes the inquisitor's weapons in a divine light. The inquisitor's weapons count as magic for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. At 6th level, the inquisitor's weapons also count as one alignment type (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. The type selected must match one of the inquisitor's alignments. If the inquisitor is neutral, she does not receive this bonus. At 10th level, the inquisitor's weapons also count as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction (but not for reducing hardness).
Compare to smite evil:
Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
huh, sounds more like the monk's ki pool than smite.
that's partly why I shied away from running the Groom, I really don't know much about the inquisitor class.
btw, where's old Kaul? I def think we're heading into the holiday doldrums. I'll be traveling extensively last and first weeks o' the years just to let you all know.
I've run a couple of inquisitors before, one in the L5-L6 range and one PFS L2. They both differed somewhat from the Groom, though there were a few common elements.
Lack of sleep... that's my excuse :P
Sorry Skip - am here - some of my family heading off to visit other family on faraway shores, so this weekend's been a pre-xmas-xmas...
Couple that with some bad storms which made the interwebbing spotty means I've been awol this last day or so.
Ran an crazy luddite Inquisitor before in a sadly defunct game... totally enjoyed the class (and the character) so if needbe I'll happily chip in on running Groomy also :)
So the holidays are upon us and I have a whole lot of driving to do. Posting will be sparse for a fortnight. Cheers All!