Cap'n Voodoo's Freebooter PBP

Game Master voodoo chili

I have several 5E books but have never played. Plus, I haven't really looked at a 5E book for a couple of years. My 'knowledge' about 5E can pretty much be summed up by the following statement: "Having advantage/disadvantage on actions is the biggest deal in 5E.' Not sure if that's actually true, though.

This is true : ) I'd sum up the philosophy as I see it as, 'no more modifier madness'. The main backbone is a proficiency bonus that increases gradually every four levels from +2 at first level to +6 at 20th level. To Hit bonus, Saves, skill checks, etc are all tied to the proficiency bonus only modified by ability score for the most part so not tons of modifiers piling up or overlapping. Rather than a bunch of situational modifiers, you get advantage (roll twice, keep the highest result) or disadvantage (roll twice, keep the lowest result) on the d20 roll.

There are some other bits to keep things streamlined like most spells require 'concentration' which means that you can't cast another spell while you are maintaining it so that keeps the mega-buffing down. A lot of magic items require 'attunement' and you can only attune a number of items equal to that proficiency bonus again so that limits the Christmas tree effect. In all, it's a nice streamlining of things.

Sounds like we'll keep on PF1 for now, but maybe we could do an unrelated one-shot intro adventure in 5e sometime so folks that haven't played can feel it out.

If/When we do that, I could start up a campaign on D&D Beyond and share the campaign with you guys. That would give you access to almost all the WOTC content for 5E. Let me know...

That would be great, thanks!

It's interesting; based on the Cap'n's description, it sounds like the desighers of 5E and PF2 were reacting to some of the same issues with the 3.x game engine, and went in very different directions.

And this is my 40,000th post! (Would probably be more by now, but I played a few short games on Discord....)

If you guys want to PM me your email addresses, I can start up a D&D Beyond campaign and send you all invitations to join the campaign. That will allow me to share all my content with you, and star planning for the future.

Ha. Dingus really wants to make the change. I'd be happy to get through this round.

Where's Corliss at? I think we're all waiting on his action.

Hey Ding just use my email address in my profile mate :)

Just a heads up gang - I'm slammed operationally with work at the moment. Have leave booked for Friday but time will likely be sparse before then. Please bot me as required.

I'm at a workshop most of this week, and will also be slow to post.

Cool. Thanks for the heads up.

Work bug continues to bite shipmates - have bunch of After Action Review content to prep, ongoing jobs offshore and a technical response to an Non Conformance Report to prepare this week...

As such, time and creative energy will be on the low ebb so bot Kauly where possible.

Well, that's why they pay you the big bucks, right?

(At least I hope they do....)

Haha I wish mate. Not saying I'm poor, but I'm not wiping my arse with the Queens Kings face (as we say round here).

Alas more jobs have landed on my lap this week - be weekend before I'm seeing some respite.

Appreciate the patience lads

I'll be a bit distracted over the next few days. We just had to put my cat of over fifteen years to sleep; she had metastatic breast cancer, and it had moved into her lungs. We knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Sorry to hear, Jim.

Aw, condolences on your loss, Jim.

Sad to hear

Sorry to hear shipmate. 15+ years is a fair age, but know that'll be little solace in the mighty space she leaves in hearts and lives.

Ahoy shipmates - apologies on the tardy posting, I'm frankly burned out from work at the moment and days fly past before I realise I've not posted.

I've a big chunk of annual leave upcoming mid Dec for just over 2 weeks so really hoping to focus on getting back into my gaming.

Collective patience much appreciated lads.

So this is one of my things, but I've never been totally comfortable with drow being dark-skinned in DnD and Paizo's equivalent of the darker the sin, the darker the skin is just... i can't. They really should have got some outside views on that one.

So yes, these elves are drow equivalents, but their defining traits are white hair and red eyes and a glyph carved into their forehead that designates their house or patron fiend. Glyph could be purple scar tissue, but otherwise no specific skin tone for my take on drow.

That makes sense.

Season's Greetings, fellow scallywags. I'll be gallivanting about the next week. Best wishes for a glorious wrap up to 2022.

God Yule to all ye Merry Gentlemen

Apologies for the lack of posting - work burned me oot and I'm using the festive break to decompress and recharge the batteries. Hope to have more creative input going forward.

Meantime thanks for putting up with the sporadic sojourns. Here's to calmer seas and more in-game mayhem in '23.

Thanks, and the same to you and yours!

Holiday best to all my shipmates and here is to more years of shenanigans.

Happy Holidays!

Happy New Year, ya scurvy dogs!

Happy New Year lads - Lang May Yer (collective) Lums Reek!

Here's to a healthy, wealthy and (un)wise 2023 :)

Cheers

BD/Gary

Well, I'll even take a reeking lump over a leeking rump. Thank you and a happy 2023 to all.

I think Corliss wanted to redo his spells. I'm ready to press on after that.

I think Corliss wanted to redo his spells. I'm ready to press on after that.

Oops--I'll try to get that done later tonight.

Safe to assume it's warm enough inside the tower that Corliss doesn't have to commit all his 1st-level slots to endure elements for a day?

Safe to assume it's warm enough inside the tower that Corliss doesn't have to commit all his 1st-level slots to endure elements for a day?

Yep. Around 15C underground.

Spell list updated. It appears that he had enough higher level spells remaining to convert to cure spell to assure that everyone starts the new day at full hps.

I knew it was coming, but my computer is now down. Sooo I'll be gimping along a week or so while I figure out a fix, replacement, or alternative. I appreciate your patience O.o

At least the lights are still on so I'm doing better than many in central CA this week. Looking like another interesting year already :p

Good luck, Cap'n!

I haven't had my computer on for the past couple of days, and I can't check the map on my phone. Probably later tonight, though.

Very good. I just got mine fixed : )

BTW all- I'm thinking of dropping the confirmation roll and just let crits be crits. Anyone have a concern about that?

BTW all- I'm thinking of dropping the confirmation roll and just let crits be crits. Anyone have a concern about that?

Me! The way the dice hate me, I can see this backfiring when the enemies get all the good rolls.

Plus, I'm used to making the confirm roll. Old dog, new trick, and all that....

Sounds good to me. Anything that takes us closer to 5E... :-)

Get's mine an' Lopps vote :)

Me! The way the dice hate me, I can see this backfiring when the enemies get all the good rolls.

That is the other side, but you all do have a greater crit range than most of your foes. I could just waive your confirmation rolls if you forget, Corliss.

Kaul-It's an extra couple steps, but I always copy my post before I submit and then refresh after to make sure it took. If it didn't which occurs not infrequently, I can always paste, resubmit, and refresh again.

I think it's reasonable in a P6 game; if we had access to some of the higher-level improved crit feats it'd be overpowered, though.

@Cap'n: Aye I normally do exactly that, but had slipped out of the habit - which of course cued the boards to start shanking my posts lol.

1d20+10 Concentration (Plus whatever other bonus I have for playing P6)

I'm still undecided about level modifiers increasing beyond 6. P6 says that every 5 feats gained is the equivalent of a level so maybe I'll allow a +7 level modifier at 6+5, but we're not there yet.

Slammed at work shipmates, will be mid-week before I'm likely clear.

Please bot Kauly as necessity arises.

Aye Kaul. Will do, prob more talkie this week than actions needed so no worries. I appreciate you and everyone keeping on even through busy times as we head into lucky year 13!!!

As you may have noticed, a level up is pending so I wanted to take stock:

A. Are you still enjoying the variety of adventures selected? This last one is likely the most standard PF we'll see what with the PFS and drow and the like. I've still got tons of good 3.5 and other things to convert, but this one seemed to work as a decent bridge to what I'm working on with Aesha. I think Black Dow might like where we're going next. Any adventure flavors you might like me to keep in mind for the future?

B.What do you think of the PF6+ mechanics at this point? I checked where we would be based on straight XP and it'd be 8th level. I think that tracks. Is it OK or is it feeling flat?

I'm kind of torn in that I'd like to scale up from gritty to more heroic threats, but again don't love the modifier creep for BAB and skill checks as levels rise in PF. That's why I had mentioned maybe switching to 5e, but I don't think that is a realistic ask as folks are pretty busy.

The thing in particular that I like about 5e is that power level is graduated in tiers rather than having BAB and skill ranks that ratchet up every level (and eventually blast past typical ACs and skill DCs). Instead, 5e has a catch-all 'proficiency bonus' that increases every four level for a much more gradual modifier increase that allows AC and skill checks to remain relevant.

Are you all fine with PC progression as is or would you like to go to a more standard level progression? What if we tiered BAB and capped skill ranks? Maybe a slightly hybrid PFD5e?

A. This last adventure has been fun, but a little more...heroic than some. It'd be good to have one where we're wading through gore, and the only question when we meet an NPC is whether we kill them right away or save them for later. Seriously, Kaul has been a marvel of restraint lately while Jim and Corliss talk to people, and he deserves something.

As a segue to B, one of the explicit design elements for E6/P6 is that 6th-level characters should be more capable than the majority of other characters they encounter, and your adventure selection has been good for that...especially since this is far from an optimized PF party in terms of gear. Kaul and Jim can turn out a respectable amount of damage in a fight, and you've been doing a good job of challenging us with essentially attrition combats--we kick a$$ and take names in every fight, as we should, but we also take damage that doesn't get completely repaired between fights. And for variety, we get the occasional tough monster.

B. It feels like we're advancing slowly, but I think that's an artifact of 1) playing at a slow but steady pace, and 2) me having Jim's next few levels planned*. I'm like, I want to get to <this feat>, and <this next feat>, and <this other one>. That's a feature of d20 games in general, though.

One of the interesting things about the level cap is that only full-BAB characters get iterative attacks. I, of course, think this is a great thing, on account of being one.

What we could do, maybe, is every x feats (where x is something like ten) take a level instead of a feat. We'll still be kind of fragile compared to normal PF characters with comparable xp, but we'll be a little closer in capabilities to them (with the tradeoff between class features and feats). I'm not sure how much I like this, though, as it eventually gets PCs (and I'm looking at you, Dingus) into spells that start to break the game.

One thing to keep in mind, btw, is that if Jim gets to +8 BAB--something impossible under P6 as written--by RAW he can take the Improved Critical feat. Threat range doubles, and if you remove the need to confirm crits he's really going to be a damage machine. So you may want to think about whether the feat exists.

I'm enjoying the game as is, though, so in the short term I'm fine with keeping the tinkering to a minimum.

*This next level is probably going to be a rank in Bluff and the Fencing Grace feat--gives him another point of damage per attack, and will stand him in good stead next time we fight a shadow. After that, probably the two-feat combination to punch up his DEX two points.

I'm fine with how things are going. PF6 is kinda "same old, same old" to me, especially since I came into the game with Corliss already at 6+2 or so. Not a lot of development for him. Still, I'm used to it and am generally enjoying the game.

Some good food for thought (thoughtfood...mmmmm....). I see that Kaul seems to be in some alignment with Jim's comments. I think Dingus would be the most likely to want to change things up, but apparently folks are contented enough. Do speak up or PM if you have other thoughts. I do not suffer from a fragile ego. In fact, I think the cardinal sin of GM-ing is being too enamored with your part of the story.

Sounds like there's been a wee bit too much of being Big Damn Heroes and there needs to be a bit more murder hoboing. I'm taking notes.

That attrition thing Jim mentions is thanks to Corliss letting me nerf his healing factor which I truly appreciate. I'm a little concerned that he's not feeling particularly effective at anything else though. I owe you, Corliss. Let me know what might help you get more out of the game. You've been in- what? over 5 years now. and about two real levels. :D we are truly advancing at a leisurely pace. No worries.

Dibbs was particularly good at letting me know when he wasn't happy and also taking things in weird direction both of which I quite appreciated.

Again, I appreciate the input and do let me know if there's a particular part of the sandbox you'd like to investigate.

Sorry about the slow replies. Work Associates in from out of town and my posting will be limited the rest of the week, but I'll try to keep up :-)

Work remains unrelenting with me also - will be weekend before I'm likely back focussed (I'm also on 24hr call at the moment for whole of March as my back-to-back is off convalescing after an operation).

Agree on getting Kaul's black mood back - been far to civilised in some encounters lol.

On the whole am enjoying the game - like the ebb and flow of the tide, my engagement is oft mercurial due to work and creative motivation.

The prospect of 5E did kick start my ideas - but would appreciate an opportunity to take stock, perhaps rebuild Kaul as there are some feats/powers that I keep forgetting I have lol.

Flavourwise think the balance is right betwixt intrigue and mayhem and I do massively admire your ability to herd us Skipper - we veer between ambivalence for treasure to zealousness for the weird stuff (which I think is what makes this game unique).

Ah Dibbs - if only him and Groomy were to rejoin the crew :)

Right - back to the grind. Will post when I can lads.