Yep, pretty good. One thing, and this is entirely my personal taste: I'd try to have maybe a bit of a lighter hand on the alterations.
A big part of the draw of Curse of the Crimson Throne for me, at least for the parts I've seen of it, was it being urban and very much a conflict of people to people. I'll admit I was a little unsure when I found out Lamm's gang had turned into angry doggos.
That is, of course, purely my opinion, and I'm happy to go with whatever the GM and group enjoys.
Sorry, folks, it’s been a hectic weekend in my part of the world: chasing paperwork in anticipation of the start of term at school, and fighting off feeling under the weather, though I was able to figure out what it was, at least.
So time for the DM to ask: Is everyone enjoying things at present, or do you want to see some changes, etc? Feedback is always appreciated.
Thanks for having us! I’m having a lot of fun: your Korvosa looks like a fun place for our characters to get in over their heads. Like Io said, the light meta touches here and there are neat. Things are really going to get busy for me in meatspace after Labour Day, but I’d like to think I should be able to keep up here. Let me know, too, if I’m getting too wordy – it’s one of my bad habits.
Yep, pretty good. One thing, and this is entirely my personal taste: I'd try to have maybe a bit of a lighter hand on the alterations.
A big part of the draw of Curse of the Crimson Throne for me, at least for the parts I've seen of it, was it being urban and very much a conflict of people to people. I'll admit I was a little unsure when I found out Lamm's gang had turned into angry doggos.
That is, of course, purely my opinion, and I'm happy to go with whatever the GM and group enjoys.
I was thinking there might be a spooky hoodoo explanation for that in-game. Maybe I missed something in gameplay, but I think we recognized that these guys weren’t always so fuzzy. Machaera flubbed a couple of Knowledge checks to identify things, so part of the larger plan is to search the wizarding libraries in town for information on probably-not-werewolves. And we still need to decipher Lamm’s ledger.
Most of the additional alterations will be more class levels on human foes to match the group, and so on. The angry doggos portion of Lamn's gang was to match the flavor of the gang's name, and add a sense of the supernatural element that hides behind a human cover in cities. The AP is mostly urban with a big travel part in the 4th and 5th (though it's local to Korvosa), and lots more skullduggery, rebellion and so on.
Can I get a link to the loot sheet again?
Also, GM, are we doing the 'evolving' weapon thing after all?
Can I get a link to the loot sheet again?
Also, GM, are we doing the 'evolving' weapon thing after all?
Yup. It's the easier set of "I have my magic thingie of ever evolving awesomeness" rules that I have seen for Pathfinder, since I really don't want to go have to buy something else. Also, realize that the prices you have for the art objects, etc, may not be their actual values, since they haven't recently been appraised since your first examination. Art objects, gems, jewelry, etc., all sell for full value, while equipment, magic items, are usually at half resale value.
how exactly will the scaling items work? I'm reading over the page and I'm not sure I'm really getting it.
Ideally, I'd be upgrading my pistol as I level so do I need to pay associated costs? say I wanted it to be a +5 Lucky Igniting Shocking Burst Pistol at the end of the day. At level 4, would I apply the initial +1? then at, say, at level 8 I could add the lucky quality and so on and so forth?
Happy 1000th gameplay post, everyone!
For scaling items, they all start out as a base magic item, whether a +1 axe, sword and so on. Instead of you paying the associated costs, you get a reduction in treasure shares based on what the item's scaling type is, as each particular item represents a value of your total wealth. There are three types, baubles, prizes, and major items. They represent 5%, 15, or 30% of your wealth as said investment.
5% is a bauble, which is comparable to a usable magic item like a potion or a scroll, but it still retains its power. Their example is the legacy arrow, which you can use once per day but it gains the ability to not be destroyed upon firing, and some weapon qualities. 15% is a prize, which is comparable to moderate magic items, like a belt of strength +4. 30% are major magic items, such a holy avenger, staff of power, the nose of Vecna, that sort of thing.
So what you have to determine is what caster level the item starts out at power, and then what powers it gets as it goes up. But you have the general idea. Now what's also interesting with almost every PF AP is that they give out about 10 to 20% more wealth to PCs then what the game normally suggests, not counting the fact that there are always an artifact plot item or items somewhere in the game the PCs can use.
Still kind of lost.
Suppose I want Headsman's heirloom axe to be a scaling item, how would I go about kicking that off?
Let's take your axe. Say you wanted it to be a +1 scaling axe. Now a normal +1 axe costs 2,000 gp, though since your axe is fire-forged, it goes to 2,600 gp. We'll mark it as a prize, which would make the total weapon equal in value to 15% of your character's wealth as they level. Then we look at the table marked Value of Scaling items, take the lowest gold piece value that matches it, and that makes it a 7th level caster equivalent item. So, your +1 scaling fire-forged axe of saving princesses from wolves is 7th level. Then we need to figure out what the next ability would be, because we'll use the total base price of the axe plus the next ability and compares it to the Value of Scaling Items chart to determine at what level it unlocks. Until you get to that experience level, the weapon stays as a +1 axe, and you lose 15% of what your treasure share is as you go up.
Let's say we want the next power to be bane shapechangers. That adds +1 to the weapon, and makes it 8,650. We take the lowest price on the Value of Scaling Items chart under prize that includes that, which is 9,300, and that makes the weapon 10th level. When you hit 10th level, you would then have +1 fire-forged bane shapechangers axe, and you would have lost 15% of your total recommended wealth up to that point for that axe. And so on.
The key is you can stop scaling the item at any time. The more scaling items you have, the less treasure you get, and that can also be applied to the entire party if they have scaling items, depending on how you guys and I agree to treasure reduction.
I feel like I should understand that, but it's still sort of going over my head.
Let's go with our current state of affairs.
If I want to bring my axe up to +1 now, do I basically sacrifice some amount of gold that we got?
I had an idea, stormcrow: Since Headsman will be spending a pretty significant amount of gold on 'evolving' his father's axe, maybe we could flavor that gold loss as being money Headsman uses to better the lives of his fellow courtiers. That's where a lot of his gold would go, logically.
That makes sense.
Sure that works. And if you want to make your axe +1, you can simply say its scaling and you won't lose any treasure until you hit 7th, because that's when the axe "activates." Or if you don't want to do the scaling thing, you can simply go upgrade your axe like you normally would.
So, uh.... the axe would only become +1 at level 7? Or would that be partial?
I like this idea. Deffo a little complicated but I think by playing with it a little I'll get it down pat.
Sorry about no posts the last few days. Had a wedding to attend.
Well, let's take a step back for a second, Headsman. Is your axe going to be your signature item, a secondary item, or a bauble? The level of experience that it can acquire its next power will start out lower depending on which one type of scaling item. Regardless of which you pick, it will be a +1 axe, and you won't have to worry about losing any money to upgrade it until you hit the experience level at which the next power activates if you go with the scaling item rules.
If you want to got the normal upgrade path, rather then using the scaling stuff, then you can just pay the normal price and it's a +1 axe right now. It's not using the scaling rules, but simply reskinning the buying a new magic item process, by sacrificing the money which is used to maintain the court and its inhabitants. Perhaps the axe gets blessed by Torag, Abadar, Cayden Caliean, or Sarenrae since the Court has a shrine to a couple of those gods, and it/they reward your devotion to your charges. Perhaps it's Shoanti place spirits, or simply your own determination that's reflected in the weapon.
I'll go ahead and consider the axe a signature item. I'm guessing the money-equivalent gained in getting it +1 now will be balanced out in the long run?
The cost hit to your treasure shares won't kick in until after 5th level, and then it will be 30% of everything you get after the treasure is divided. We'll want to figure out what you want the axe to do eventually, so that way we know what levels it's powers will boost at. Any additional powers get priced as you would a normal magic item. We'll work on that as you level.
RE: communication, perhaps we should get these?
These seem a bit expensive for the sake of communicating. I don't think it's really worth it.
I imagine the good doctor should be able to cover our communication eventually.
Yes soon as I can add the last person to my collective we will be good that way
I just realized I missed the bracers of armour and sheath of holding while updating the loot sheet. I also haven't been able to find the latter to price out in terms of divvying up the loot and/or converting things people don't want into hard currency, I'm afraid.
The sheath of holding is an old 2e item from the Complete Book of Fighters I added in. 1,000 gp equivalent, caster level 9th, secret chest. You can drop in any edged weapon weighing up to 20 lbs into this item, and recall it as a move-equivalent action. (Because just saying move isn't specific enough.... Sometimes I do wonder if Korvosa was a commentary on rules lawyering...)
Thanks. It looked vaguely familiar, but the versions that sprang to mind did fancier things like turn the scabbard and weapon invisible to boot, so I knew I was thinking of something else. Incidentally, is the potion of corruption resistance that we found set to a particular alignment already?
Also, folks, if there’s stuff that you definitely don’t want to keep (say, any of the mundane gear, for example), let me know and I don’t mind crunching the numbers. Or let me know not to worry about it: I don’t mind handwaving things (can you tell I only ever took one course in accounting? :) ), but I also don’t want anyone to feel left out of a fair shot at the shiny things that they might want.
is there a link to the loot sheet?
Loot spreadsheet of doom:
Is Gir going to sing the Doom song?
All the consumables we should keep, since they will be used often.
Yanis would take the potion of lesser restoration
Delay poison
Potion of Resistance
Oil of Purify Food and Drink
Did we figure out what the Shimmering Vial with paste is?
Nope, that's the soundtrack that plays whenever you guys get up. The nerd cred is real with this group. The shimmering vial is a dose of silversheen.
I thought it was a band of dire corbies living in the basement
Headsman would want the potion of cure light wounds, one of the acid flasks, and will gladly pick up a few extra from whatever people aren't too interested in.
I thought it was a band of dire corbies living in the basement
To paraphrase Paul and Storm: Dire Corbies is the name of my D&D based Eagles cover band.
All doom metal covers I'd assume
As to loot there's nothing there that really piques my interest A straight cash cut will do for me. Though, I'd suggest the crown go to the court.
How do you guys want to allocate the consumables? Better to tally up the total cost of everything and divide it per person, then let people deduct their purchases from that total?
Hmm. I'm happy with just letting most consumables just float around unless someone wants to claim something in particular, or if we figure we should just sell some stuff (acid splash items and eeeevil magic, I'm looking at you!), in which case we can worry about splitting things up more precisely.
What I like to do in most games is not include the consumables in the split and just give them to whoever they make the most sense with.
Consumables basically benefit the whole party when used, anyway.
The corruption resistance potion is against chaos.
I just figured there would be high pressure for things like healing potions and what not with the consumables. No worries, let's just leave the reasonable consumables out of the total and have people mark the spreadsheet with who's carrying what?
Sounds like a plan!
Also, just a note from your friendly neighbourhood accounting wizard (note: this means I’m the wizard who’s doing the loot math, not one who’s necessarily good at it): OK, having added everything up, as near as I can figure, if we sell the mundane gear lurking in the “undivided gear” column on the spreadsheet, the unclaimed gems and artsy things, bracers of armour, and potions of protection from good, and leave aside the crown and brooch for now, that should get everyone around 1530 gp worth of loot (or 1415 if no one wants the very fancy dagger, which would be pretty much their share of the loot this time around, and we sell it instead). So, if we can unload everything else, that 1530 gp, minus the cost of the listed loot you choose (if you feel the need for a teak cigar case, for example), is your allowance for the night’s work. :)
Before we sell the stuff off:
GM: Can you confirm that I can mark my axe as +1 now with the evolving thing?
Also I thiunk Gaedrenn's axe is missing from the loot table.
1530-650 (the potions)=880 gold
Yes, the axe was left off, because it was obvious where that was going. :) More seriously, I'm not too worried about this stuff, so with a generous splash of handwavium, I figured that what we would get for "selling" Gaedren's axe would be absorbed by the mysterious ritual that "activates" the evolution of your ancestral axe, like Stormcrow said:
... simply reskinning the buying a new magic item process, by sacrificing the money which is used to maintain the court and its inhabitants. Perhaps the axe gets blessed by Torag, Abadar, Cayden Caliean, or Sarenrae since the Court has a shrine to a couple of those gods, and it/they reward your devotion to your charges. Perhaps it's Shoanti place spirits, or simply your own determination that's reflected in the weapon.
Yanis, most of the consumables also weren't included in my calculations, because I imagine they're going to end up going to whoever needs them, though we can definitely assume you're carrying them. It's really just the gems (if you don't feel like carrying around a bunch of coins) and the stuff in cells B22-B37 of the spreadsheet to think about that would eat into your share of gold. If you don't mind taking a hit of another 100 gold, why don't we go with the idea that you've also got the oil of keen edge, which leaves you with 780 gp?
Phew! Numbers! I'm an aspiring philologist, for Calistria's sake! And on that note, my semester officially starts in a couple of days, so I might post at odder times than usual until I adjust to my new schedule, but I think I should be able to keep up.
I figured someone who would be wielding a weapon would want that oil since they would have to be close to me for Yanis to apply it.
@Headsman, yes your axe is now +1.
@Machaera, but think of how much literature you'll be able to appreciate now with all of this counting.
@all Also each character please add 250 xp per person for concern about the orphan and donations/roleplaying.
Technically, you can sell Gaedren's axe for 1,000 gp since Headsman's axe is getting activated as his signature item, using the scaling rules rather then simply upgrading it using the regular magic item rules, and he won't start taking treasure share hits until 5th level, since the caster level of the item is 5th level. The scaling item doesn't cost anything to activate, you simply do it, and don't lose any treasure until you reach an experience level equal to its caster level. If you sell Gaedren's axe, that will raise your gp per person to 1,696 gp.
For the consumables, simply note which ones each of you are carrying on your character sheet, since you're going to share them amongst the party.
I'd like to carry:
potion of lesser restoration (1)
potion of CLW
acid (1)
Please let me know if anyone wants the above also before I add them to my character sheet.
Also, seeing as Headsman has a lot of carrying capacity to go around, I'll gladly be the pack mule for whatever people don't want to carry. Just tell me what I need to mark.
I'd like an acid, thunderstone, and maybe the cat's grace, but there are a few dexsters that can benefit from the latter...
Did you want to move forward with your purchases here or in play? You'll have 1696 gp each to buy things and stuff and more things.