Threads open for dotting. A meatier post is to come later.
Welcome to Crypt of the Everflame. Like I said in the recruitment thread, I am hoping to get this module completed in 2-3 months so I can start another game for new players, so please try your best to keep to one post per day.
Feel free to ask me all the questions you have, about both PbP and Pathfinder in general. I want to help you guys get some PbP experience so that you look like a better candidate for other recruitments.
On that note, thank you to those who formatted their stat blocks how i requested. In the future I would advise everyone to make sure their stat blocks are formatted as per whatever the DM says in the recruitment if they give a preferred method. When recruiting for a long term game (basically any AP) I and many others use it as a way to screen people for attention to detail, level of caring, and willingness to work with others. Not formatting it as asked is really just hindering you chance of getting into the game.
Anyway, welcome everyone. I'll start the game tomorrow. If you want to figure out how your characters know each other that would be helpful, but its nor necessary.
If mine was one that didn't meet your criteria, could you please critique it and I'll try to fix it before the game starts.
I was a bit confused by the example because it started off with no hit points, and included stuff I wasn't familiar with. I wan't sure what else to ignore/change.
If mine was one that didn't meet your criteria, could you please critique it and I'll try to fix it before the game starts.
I was a bit confused by the example because it started off with no hit points, and included stuff I wasn't familiar with. I wan't sure what else to ignore/change.
No problem. It was partially my fault for not selecting a better example. In the future I'm just going to spoiler the example stat block in the recruitment post and fine tune it. Live and learn.
For Marguerite, the main problem is the spoilers as they block the use of ctrl+F unless I go and open all the spoilers.
Here's an example of what her stat block would look like formatted in the same way as Prasutagus'.
Marguerite DuBois Female Ranger 1
Neutral Medium Humanoid(Half-elf) Core 20 pt NotPFS
Init +3; Senses Lowlight Visions (torch=40) ; Perception +10(12)
DEFENSIVE
--------------------
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 AC)
hp 12 (1d10)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1 (+2 vs enchantment effects)
Immune to sleep effect
OFFENSIVE
--------------------
Speed 30 ft (Armor: 20)
Longsword +4 (1d8+3 19-20/x2)
Longsword 2h, Power Attack +3 (1d8+7 19-20/x2)
Longbow, Composite +4 (1d8+3 /x3)
Sling +4 (1d4+3 /x2)
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 17
Feats (2) Skill Focus(Perception), Power Attack
Skills (6 class) Skills with ranks invested listed here with number of ranks invested, eg. Perception +12 (1 Rank)
FCB - List Favored class bonus' here
Languages (2) Common, Elven
SQ List class special qualities here with a brief description. eg. Favored Enemy(Atk/dmg/stealth/perception, Undead +2), Lay on Hands(1d6, 3/day), Rage (7/day)
.
This layout has the added benefit of being pretty much identical to both Herolab and a monster stat block form the bestiary. I neither have to think about where to go to find stuff I need from your stats or wonder if I am missing anything. If you still want the extra spoilers for more detail for yourself feel free to keep them.
This is also roughly the preferred layout I've seen for pretty much every recruitment I've participated in.
.
dot
First game post will be tomorrow, sorry guys. My real life game snuck up on me today.
Dotting as I try to alias!
Been trying to post in this thread for ages, come on Paizo
Edit: Finally!
First post is up in gameplay. Use you response to describe yourself a bit and get into character.
Hooks for Marguerite
She was born here but her father took her to Stoneford/Sandpoint shortly after her birth. She's back looking for her mother's elven family, whom she has heard want nothing to do with her. Arnama Lastrid is an NPC (human, ranger 4) who lives in Kassen (according to the wiki).
I'm proposing that Arnama was present at Marguerite's birth as a friend of both her mother and her father, and possibly can help her find any available information about the elves and her mother. It's also possible that Wonderful has some information/connections through the midwife who was present. It's also possible that Tainae Elaensar knows something.
Arnama suggested that Marguerite participate in this historical initiation rite in order to solidify her credentials as a "local" with the hope that tongues would begin wagging after her bold reappearance.
I can imagine Wonderful not being amused by Greysor, so if she's giving him a hard time throughout this adventure, it's certainly not personal. Just so you're aware Aipaca.
Do you want us to make our attacks, or should we wait until initiative order has been set?
Greysor, where did you find the list of what order we go in?
And also, could you please move your token when you take your turn?
At the moment I can't tell where you've moved to, which means that
a) I don't know which enemy you've targeted
b) I don't know if you're blocking my shot
c) I can't tell if I need to take a penalty for an adjacent ally (how did you figure out that you didn't need one?)
d) I can't tell if you are flanking an opponent and I should switch to my longsword to get the +2 bonus.
@CrystalSeas, I've indicated my intentions as to what I will do when my turn in initiative comes and have described it such that it can happen almost regardless of what happens before my turn comes. I've targeted the closest enemy (whichever that happens to be when my initiative comes up) with a ranged attack. Not sure what you mean by 'penalty for an adjacent ally', and I'm not flanking an opponent as I did not move adjacent to one (a sling is a ranged weapon).
Play by posts tend to work best if everyone works together to keep the story flowing as far as I can see from reading other ones. Hence group initiative and saying what you will do provided circumstances don't change drastically.
Of course, DM Rostam may disagree with any of what I have said, in which case I obviously defer to him, but I am reasonably confident that he will agree.
If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Do you want us to make our attacks, or should we wait until initiative order has been set?
Yes, in the future please make attack rolls other relevant checks when asked to post actions. It is easier for me to ignore a roll than to create one.
Greysor, where did you find the list of what order we go in?
And also, could you please move your token when you take your turn?
At the moment I can't tell where you've moved to, which means that
a) I don't know which enemy you've targeted
b) I don't know if you're blocking my shot
c) I can't tell if I need to take a penalty for an adjacent ally (how did you figure out that you didn't need one?)
d) I can't tell if you are flanking an opponent and I should switch to my longsword to get the +2 bonus.
I want to address the above more or less in order, and expand on stuff a bit to explain the logic behind it on a PbP game.
Greysor wouldn't have needed to know what order people went in. I had asked for initiatives and actions and he gave them to me. After that it is my responsibility to take everyone's actions and work them together. I generally give precedence to actions of people higher in initiative, but some GMs simply go by first come first serve for how actions apply.
As for Greysor moving his token, I interpreted his "steps into range" as purely descriptive as he did not move his token on the map. That's probably just because of running a game for a few months now and reading people describing small movements within their 5 foot area.
For point a), using call outs such as closest, furthest, the one targeting Mabya are all acceptable. Calling out a specific target by color IS very helpful a lot of the time, but depending on what you want to do a descriptive call out may be more useful.
For points b) through d), you just have to go by what is on the map at the time and trust it is correct. If it's not I will figure it out and adjust accordingly.
All in all I find that PbP requires much more trust in the GM and other players than gaming at the table would if you want the game to flow well. I hope this helps answer your questions and gives some insight into how PbP works.
How do you treat the squares with trees?
Are they totally blocked?
Are they difficult terrain?
Or are they just regular movement through them?
Treat them as difficult terrain. Thanks for pointing that out.
@Marguerite - in the future can you use instead of {} to indicate out of character points. There is a "How to format your text" spoiler below the submit button if you need to look up the correct tags.
@Marguerite - in the future can you use instead of {} to indicate out of character points.
Thanks for the tip
So what is Marguerite's current condition?
Does "shakes her shoulder" change anything?
@Marguerite - in the future can you use instead of {} to indicate out of character points.Thanks for the tip
Hmmm... I think I did not explain out of character points well.
Check out this Link for an in depth description of formatting.
What I had meant by out of character points was stuff that is basically meta game information, like say the color of your target. Description about your characters actions is generally done in normal text and thoughts done in italics.
Example post:
Roderic stares at his foe, readying his blade. Taking a quick step he strikes the orc closest to him .
I hope that hurt, otherwise I'm next
/end example post
Sorry if it seems I am being nit picky Crystal, just trying to give some pointers on the general forum expectations on formatting. The content so far has been great!
I love the nitpicking, keep doing it.
It's these kinds of little details that make me hesitant to try PbP. I'd much rather be in a 'training scenario' and have you do this than have people silently drop me because I don't understand the conventions.
Folks, sad to say I'm probably going to have to drop from the campaign. My goal was to participate during my lunch break at work, as my evening hours are filled with school and other tasks required of being a responsible adult.
However, by job apparently decided to change its firewall settings, and now Paizo can't be accessed at all. I was hoping that if I held out I could slip in posts before and after work until whatever changed the firewall settings was reverted, but its not sustainable and it doesn't seem that the firewall is going to change back.
So unfortunately, I won't have time to continue :(
Sorry to hear that, 'Sani. I was looking forward to soldiering with you.
I've had some new problems in the past week accessing sites using Firefox. They've instituted a new 'anti-tracking' block that took me forever to figure out how to override for specific sites. It throws up an error window that doesn't quite have the right info about what's happening.
Maybe your IT department turned that on for everyone?
Sorry to hear that, 'Sani. I was looking forward to soldiering with you.
I've had some new problems in the past week accessing sites using Firefox. They've instituted a new 'anti-tracking' block that took me forever to figure out how to override for specific sites. It throws up an error window that doesn't quite have the right info about what's happening.
Maybe your IT department turned that on for everyone?
I doubt it, since the error I'm getting is "THIS WEBSITE IS BLOCKED BECAUSE ITS CATEGORY: GAMES" :(
Dang!
That's pretty clear. Like "all your bases are belong to us" clear.
Sorry to hear that 'Sani, good luck in your future gaming.
I'll be making an update tonight. Sorry I wasn't around yesterday, had snow storm problems.
How high are the logs and rocks that surround the campsite? Can you step over them? Or climb? Or do you have to find gaps to walk through?
Not that high, you can move through them as normal.
Also, to everyone, another player has expressed interest and given that we are down to 3 people I am going to have them make a character and join. We will keep running the game with 3 people until they get their character ready so don't worry about a break in the game happening.
I won't be able to post until Saturday. Sorry for the wait.
On another note, starting next week Monday I will be moving the combat posts forward every day. It's not to bad now but it will start to drag the module on for quite a while once we hit the Crypt if I don't.
Had some free time, and since you killed the wolf the update was easy.
On Saturday I will move the game forward, but you guys can heal as needed and stuff atm.
Also, CrystalSeas, is your friend going to submit a character soon? When I contacted them they said it would be a day or two buts its been 5-6 now.
Sorry. Here's the first draft. What needs fixing?
Anton Male Wizard 1
Neutral Medium Humanoid(human)
Init +2; Perception +1
DEFENSIVE
--------------------
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 Magic:Mage Armor)
hp 8 (1d6)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3
OFFENSIVE
--------------------
Speed 30 ft
Dagger, mwk (Bonded Object) +1 (1d4)
Crossbow, Light +2 (1d8) (19/20)
Hand Of The Apprentice 7/day
Wizard Spells Prepared
Lvl 1: Burning Hands , Magic Missile
Lvl 0: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Read Magic
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats (2) Great Fortitude, Combat Casting
Class Feats Scribe Scroll
Skills (6 class)
Appraise +8 (1 Rank)
Know (arcana) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (history) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (nature) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (planes) +8 (1 Rank)
Linguistics +8 (1 Rank)
Perception +1
Spellcraft +8 (1 Rank)
Languages (4) Common, Draconic,
Special Ability
Originally I based this on the Ezren pregen, but my first attempt at customizing it removed a couple things. I've changed my mind and I've added back the cane (club) and made it my Bonded Object.
Here's the revised character sheet
Anton Male Wizard 1
Neutral Medium Humanoid(human)
Init +2; Perception +1
DEFENSIVE
--------------------
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 Magic:Mage Armor)
hp 8 (1d6)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3
OFFENSIVE
--------------------
Speed 30 ft
Cane, mwk (Bonded Object) +1 (1d6)
Crossbow, Light +2 (1d8) (19/20)
Hand Of The Apprentice 7/day
Wizard Spells Prepared
Lvl 1: Burning Hands , Magic Missile
Lvl 0: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Read Magic
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats (2) Great Fortitude, Combat Casting
Class Feats Scribe Scroll
Skills (6 class)
Appraise +8 (1 Rank)
Know (arcana) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (history) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (nature) +8 (1 Rank)
Know (planes) +8 (1 Rank)
Linguistics +8 (1 Rank)
Perception +1
Spellcraft +8 (1 Rank)
Languages (6) Common, Draconic, Goblin, ?, ?
CANTRIPS
Acid Splash
Arcane Mark
Bleed
Dancing Lights
Daze
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Disrupt Undead
Flare
Ghost Sound
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Open/Close
Prestidigitation
Ray Of Frost
Read Magic
Resistance
Touch of Fatigue
LEVEL 1
Burning Hands
Color Spray
Expeditious Retreat
Grease
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Protection From Evil
Shield
Sleep
@Anton, it looks good except for the spells in your spell book. At level 1 you should have 3+int modifier spells, so 7. You have 9 so you will need to get rid of 2.
New spell list:
LEVEL 1
Burning Hands
Color Spray
Expeditious Retreat
Grease
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Protection From Evil
I took the original spell list from the NPC Codex, Ezren Level 1 where it says:
spellbook (contains all prepared spells plus all 0-level spells; 1st—color spray, expeditious retreat, grease, mage armor, protection from evil, shield, and sleep),
but apparently that's a mistake that has never been mentioned in any errata.
I removed shield and sleep
Also, if this is an adventure to a crypt, Anton has the following spells prepared each morning
1st—burning hands (DC 15), magic missile
0 (at will)—disrupt undead, detect magic, read magic.
Sounds good Anton. I will work you in soon.
@Greyson and Wonderful, you guys still here?
Yup sorry GM Rostam, posting now
Not my greatest introduction, but you're in the game now Anton.
How big is this lake? I want to look across the lake and around the shore.
Also, tactics question.
Would I have been able to Take 10 on the Knowledge (Nature) check?
Thinking about it, it seems like it would have been better approach.
The lake is about a half mile across, so you can see the far side, though not clearly.
And yes, you could have taken 10 on the K(Nature) check since you were not in combat or any danger.
@CrystalSeas and Anton - Sorry I forgot to mention I was away over the weekend.
Responding to CrystalSeas PM here:
I was going to bring up the lack of activity to you and Anton here. I am going to assume only the two of you are still here and I am more than happy to continue the game with just the two of you.
So Anton and CrystalSeas if you are willing I will resume tomorrow.
Anton and I are going to talk about this tonight. I'd like to continue, if he's up for it.
CrystalSeas & I talked. We'd like to continue.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but I try to post 3-4 times between Monday and Thursday, skip Friday and post earlyish Saturday morning. If needed I make another post Sunday but that's been pretty inconsistent.
Given that you two seem fairly active and I won't have to wait on others I should be able to keep to that routine fairly well.
Thanks for that schedule.
We're trying to get the characters leveled up. We should both be ready by the end of today or early Monday morning.
Thanks for the heads up.