Curse of the Crimson Throne

Game Master Something Wicked

So a counter-offer, then.

I'll delay my next post to give the others a chance to avoid having you hung out to dry. In the spider's web :).

Congratulations, you're now level 3!! Please post your gains this level here in discussion.

Favoured class bonus: +1 HP
2nd level spells: 2+1/day (Hold Purrson, Focused Scrutiny and Tongues)
A bunch of skill points, the only notable change is that I put a point in Knowledge Local, so now I can actually use the skill.
Character profile updated.

I'm leaving for the beach tomorrow and will be gone all of next week (yay!). I should have internet access and plan to keep up with posting, but if I'm missing in action, you'll understand why.

With a new level, you've gained another hero point! For most of you, this puts you at 3 points. Note that you can't have more than 3 at any given time, so it would be wise to spend at least one before hitting level 4. I imagine most players will want to hang on to 2 in order to "cheat death."

Also, waiting on a response to Pietro's question in Gameplay before I move us ahead.

So, I was going to be doing a mass message in all my games on Monday, telling you I was going camping for five days...instead I get to put out a mass message today, letting you know I'm in the hospital. :/ Kind of major, but I'm just being admitted for IV fluids and observation for now. I've got my laptop with me, and should, for some strange reason, have more than enough time for posting, but if interruptions do arise, that's why.

Sorry to hear you're in the hospital. Take care of yourself!

Hoping for a good outcome for you!

Get well soon, Mouse! Hospitalisation is pretty bad, especially where I come from, so I can absolutely understand. At least they let you have your laptop!

Posting the advancement for level 3.

+10 HP, (7 +2con +1FCB)
+1 Fort
+6 Skills (4 level, 2 Int) (Knowledge(local), Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Diplomacy, Sense Motive)
+2 Background Skills (Sleight of Hand, Profession(Guard))

New Class Ability: Damage Reduction (DR 1/-, doubled vs non-lethal)
New Feat: Combat Expertise
New Rage Power: (Can't decide yet.)

For the rage power, I'm thinking between Superstition, Beast Totem(lesser) and Reckless Abandon. Regarding the first two ones, they might need some re-flavouring (As in, Garvid putting on his blinders and focusing on ignoring magic for the first one, and just punching people with armoured hands, really, really hard.) For the latter, I really enjoy that rage power, but eventually Garvid'll be quite odd, with Combat Reflexes granting DR for a minus to attack, Reckless Abandon reducing his AC for a plus to attack and Power Attack reducing his attack bonus for bonus damage. I can handle the paperwork, but I'm not envying the GM having to check it all.

Sorry to hear about you being in the hospital! Get well soon!

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As for Combat Expertise and Reckless Abandon, they actually cancel each other out, right? So you'd have two feats that do basically nothing. That doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Upon further reflection, all it would do is increase your dodge bonus, which is more useful than regular armor by increasing your Touch AC. The problem is that an untyped penalty would also reduce your touch AC so it would only apply when your bonus from Combat Expertise could overcome your normal bonuses to your Touch AC, which would be with your current stats just your bonus to Dex. This would be at level 8, where you would gain a +1 to your touch AC if you're not adjacent to two foes. Still not worth it in my opinion.

If you're looking to be a tank, then just the Dodge Feat would be far more useful to you as it doesn't come with a penalty and it would be more applicable to your combats. Combat Expertise is a good move for opening up your feat options, like doing combat maneuvers, especially in combo with Strength Surge, but I don't see the appeal of adding it to Reckless Abandon. Individually, both fine, together, not so much.

Beast Totem is really strong, and a re-flavoring is good for your character, and Superstition is great for defense, especially with the human favored class bonus if you want to give up a few HP for a fairly substantial increase to saves while raging. Both of these are fine choices in my opinion. It should be fairly easy to decide between the two, depending on whether or not you want to focus more on offense or defense.

Perhaps that will help you narrow down your choices. You didn't specifically ask for help, but I figured it was implied.

Dang I just wrote a lot. Perhaps it's just been too long since I've hung out in the advice forum.

Ah. The great thing about Combat Expertise is the Stalwart feat, which coverts the AC to DR. Essentially, the combination of all that Mathfinder would result in substantial net bonuses to DR and damage, the usual PA reduction to attack bonuses and decreased AC. He also has the trait Threatening Defender, which reduces the CE penalty by 1.

Another bonus is the choice of going more offensive and more defensive on the fly, which helps keeping combat a bit more interesting (for me) rather than the usual barbarian schtick of 'charge-grunt-hit'.

I'll definitely be picking up Superstition, however, since I'm smelling spellcasters later on, and the whole imagery of Garvid is just taking blows and carrying on until he reaches his goal.

Do let me know, though, if you think that I'm optimising a tad too much. I can back down a bit and pick up something else. It's a fun mental exercise for me, but I can understand that some people might feel overshadowed in combat. It's all for the better that we always try and avoid it!

Ah, well both of those things make more sense now. I'm totally down with the idea now. Stacking DR is a fine thing to do.

I've got no complaints about optimization, after all, you're talking to the master diplomancer. I don't have my math handy, but I could have a +40 or so to my diplomacy and bluff check by the time I hit level 10. Of course, I could have picked up the racial trait: Silver Tongued to make Hostile people Friendly with a roll of a 1, but I figured it would be a bit much.

Also, here's my level in a nutshell:

[nutshell]
FCB +1HP. (I was looking at my HP wrong, but I fixed it. I'm up to 27 Max now)
+2 Rounds of Bardic Performance
Devastating Aria, 1d4+3 Sonic Damage to objects, half to creatures.
+1 1st level spell per day, Add Dancing Lights to list
Triple Time, 1st level slot paid
+1 BAB +1 Fort Save
+1 Skill point in the same skills I had previously
Lingering Performance feat
[/nutshell]

Here's some preliminary information. However, I see that we have some people that know their way around the rules really well.

Please suggest...

__________

3rd level alchemist
+ 8 hp (5 class, 2 CON, 1 fav class bonus);
+1 BAB;
+1 will save;
+1 1st level per day;
+1 known extract (SUGGESTION?)
bombs now do 2d6+4;
swift alchemy
3rd level feat (extra discovery)
for the discovery: EXPLOSIVE BOMBS OR FROST BOMBS?

Pietro look here for a cool alchemist discovery flowchart. I found this yesterday and thought of you.

Excellent writing y'all! I'll be on the road today and may not post until tomorrow. We'll see. I'm pretty excited to move ahead :). For those who felt left out of the diplomacy, fear not!

Garvid seems very well planned. I have no critique.

3rd level unchained rogue:

+8 HP (5class, 2CON, 1 favored class);
+1 BAB;
+1 Fort, +1 Will;
Danger Sense +1;
Sneak Attack +2d6;
Finesse Training - leaning towards choosing dagger for weapon type since she's not going for being a melee fighter; although meeting Vencarlo may have opened the door for her learning to use something like a rapier instead...

Feat: rapid reload (light crossbow);

Skills:
adding +1 to Acrobatics, Appraise, Climb, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Perception, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
adding Diplomacy (I figure she's learning a little from the others :) and it may help with gathering info in the future)

Pietro- I played an alchemist through Serpent's Skull, and I got both of these particular upgrades. They are both useful, and are definite options for the future, but I'll just type about them in a little more detail.

Now the explosive bomb will do a fair amount of damage to groups, and might get extra damage against bosses, but we have to consider our likely enemies to figure out which is the best. In serpent skull, the explosive bomb was wonderful, as we ran into a lot of things without fire resistance, and explosive bombs were able to do quite a lot of damage to groups, and I liked it very much.

But there is one thing in Korvosa that we will likely have to deal with at some point. Devils. Imps in particular have a good amount of fire resistance if I remember correctly, a fact that should be relatively well known. Hellknights might have other devils at their beck and call, and other types of damage would be definitely useful early on.

Regarding extracts, Targeted Bomb Admixture is a personal favourite, but you can afford picking it up later. For now, I'd recommend Monkey Fish, as having two extra speeds can be immensely helpful. Korvosa is full of tall buildings and it has a river. Ant Haul can also be good, if we need to steal an unconcious horse or something really heavy.

EDIT: I just remembered that Infuse Mutagen is a thing. Garvid will pass, since having less than 13 Int isn't that great for him, but Mouse, Li and even Cal might get some mileage out of it. Plus, the Con version might help against poisons and such.

Thanks both for your advice. I think I'll go with Frost Bomb and Monkey Fish so final level up looks like this:

3rd level alchemist
+ 8 hp (5 class, 2 CON, 1 fav class bonus);
+1 BAB;
+1 will save;
+1 1st level per day;
+1 known extract (monkey fish)
bombs now do 2d6+4;
swift alchemy
3rd level feat (extra discovery: frost bombs)
+9 skill ranks (craft alchemy, disguise, heal, K. arcana, k. nature, perception, spellcraft, survival, use magic device)
+2 background skill ranks (profession doctor, k. nobility)

Actual Downtime? Only two weeks won't be very long to do what he would like... Well, let me work on it a bit. Cal has a bit of ambition concerning his house funds, not necessarily in this order.

1. Restore the Manor
2. Rebuild shipping business
3. Build Bardic College
4. Build Shelyn Shrine

Proper doings of such would take several years, most likely. For just two weeks I'll have to build up some capitol and go from there. Will post soon...

[edit]Okay, if you guys want, I can put your characters to work to help accomplish my goals, but only if you like and don't have other options you want to explore, or if you only have a couple days of such. For instance, I can put Mouse to work as a porter, something she actually has profession ranks in, and gain capitol to build structures and hire teams. It's mostly for minor bonuses here and there, but they can be used for some checks according to GM discretion.

This would allow Garvid to gain trust of some locals to back him up during an intimidate or diplomacy check or Mouse to use some goods to up her station in society at least for one check or two. If you have a bit extra, you can pool them with me to build up House Fordyce for the purpose of increasing future checks, making money during downtime, and helping me accoplish goals, if you don't really have any.

That being said, I'm sure that if Li wants to get some lessons from Vencarlo or if the good Doctor wishes to spend his time healing the sick amongst the poor, these things can happen too, or instead and I won't begrudge anyone for that.

And of course, GM has a right to put the brakes on this from the get go. Downtime stuff isn't terribly lucrative unless we have a long time to enjoy it, so it could also be a money sink. Any participation with it is up to you.[/edit]

Yazi has nothing she wants to do during these two weeks, so helping Cal sounds like a swell idea.

Same here. Other than do routine stuff that he wants to get away for a while, Pietro is happy to help out as a doctor or an alchemist.

Just popping in to say everything sounds awesome! Green light from me. The downtown doesn't have to end in two weeks, but no more than a month or so to keep the story flowing.

Haven't had a chance to sit down with the computer but hopefully tonight...

Okay! Green Light!

Now, my fellow adventurers.

1. It is appropriate for Cal to work on the wealth of his house. So rebuilding the shipping business is his first order of business. Some of what he'll be building with be ostentatious or

2. Money from this business will be used to reimburse investment costs and develop new and old properties. It's possible to really overcome WBL, but that's not my intention. I just kinda want to see what I can build, and rebuilding House Fordyce is something I envisioned before downtime rules ever came out. I might want to use some of these resources in a pinch, but only with GM approval.

3. I will do all initial investment of GP to make this business thrive, and use the capitol I can gain through it to help build things that people who help me with their time. (Such as if Garvid want's to build a bar, or Pietro want's his own clinic, we could possibly make that happen once things get rolling.)

4. Unless Wicked says we find a good business opportunity, I'll be building all things from scratch. It's a little cheaper and slower, but it should be fun to watch our investment grow. This includes the mansion, which has no actual benefit besides story right now, but it would be cool to use it to impress people in the future.

5. Any buildings, teams, or other investments could be lost at any time for plot, and I don't expect the businesses to just grow exponentially, I'm really just hoping to add some life to the setting and give us some activities that could help us flesh out our characters and our world for as long as we'd need them.

I'll see what I can do to translate this into the game in a way that is consistent with our capabilities, and if anyone wishes to delve into the Downtime rules to see if I'm doing everything correctly, I don't mind.

I had a specific idea for Li during the downtime but still waiting to flesh out the details with Wicked. If it pans out, you'll all know soon enough :)

And here's a quick reassurance. I didn't die! :D

That was the first time I've ever been hospitalized, or been quite that sick, and boy...I overestimated how much mental capacity I was going to retain. Between pain, morphine, very restricted eating (not even water the first day), and poor sleep, I was lucky to even fully realize what Olympic event was running on the TV in the background, let alone intensive storytelling. But fortunately I got to go home on Sunday afternoon, and time and doctors are managing to slowly patch me back together. Being able to eat actual meals again doesn't suck for my brain capacity and energy, either. ;)

We're so relieved!!

I'm so glad you're feeling better!

So very glad that you're back at home and on the road to recovery! Hospitals are never fun. At least the tvs are better now than they were in the '80s :)

Whew, glad to hear you're better!

Glad you feel better!

Yazi already has a wand of magic weapon, Mouse.

Mouse, I've personally never seen that 25% rule implemented in a game. Glossing over it, it reads like it only applies when building characters above first level. Regardless, I won't be applying it in this game, and you're not restricted in that manner. If you still want the body wrap +1, you're free to buy it.

Cool. I'm not sure I have enough money anyway, but I figured I'd check. And Yazi, sounds perfect! I'd forgotten you got it - Mouse is happy to chip in to cover if she needs to use part of it.

It's likely that we can use the Deck to Identify that Dagger, it might just be a +1. And then we'd have something to use immediately. You can use a dagger with your brawler's flurry as well, so there's that.

I've organized some of Cal's material under the "House Fordyce" tag in the campaign tab. Cal, please let me know if anything's amiss.

Second, note the "Player Dice" tag at the bottom of the campaign page. Are your numbers accurate? Please double-check your own stat blocks and taglines to ensure that ACs, Saves, Perception, Initiative, and other useful bits are up-to-date.

Feilaken- A broad, mustachioed Ulfen with nearly white hair, whether from age or heritage it's fairly hard to tell. Often carrying around the Contrabass, he's been known to don a Tuba as well.

Henrik- A sublime young man with a deep tan. His hair is a black mop that covers his eyes, and he wears fairly non-descript clothing except for an exceptionally bright red scarf around his neck that hangs down to his knees. The most technical guitarist who has been freeloading at Cal's house for the past few months. He gains most of his money doing gigs in rich people's parlors and on occasion with the Kendall Amphitheatre, losing it to who knows where.

Those guys are newly mentioned.

Also, new content:

The Great hall- Towering marble pillars support two balconies in this narrow but immensely tall room for the size of the building it's in. Doors on the main floor open to the First Floor Parlor, A Billiards room, the Library (currently boarded up), A Largish dining room at the front of the house and a sizable kitchen in back. The walls are a paneled mahogany, stained dark and imported, but splotchy in areas from a lack of treatment over the years. Hanging from the ceiling is a brass and glass chandelier, surprisingly immaculate considering the rest of the decor.

That should do it.

Seeing that my last post in the gameplay thread is more than 48 hours makes me 'nervous'. :)

FYI, I'm still here looking for RP opportunities with you all.

Game on!

Nice of you to check in. I'm back home, ready to play. During this downtime, I'm going to follow the story lines ya'll have put forth. Li and Cal are exploring their history. This will take a few days to hash out. In the meantime, it sounds like there's a play brewing and an old manor to rehabilitate. Garvid has mentioned investigating the Arkonas. What does everyone else think of that idea?

What are your characters doing today, while the play is being prepared? where do you sleep? What do you eat? Do you have a job, pets, or loved ones to attend to? If not for Zellara, what would you have been doing now?

Food for thought. After a few weeks have passed in-game, the AP proper will resume.

Questions/comments?

What are your characters doing today, while the play is being prepared? where do you sleep? What do you eat? Do you have a job, pets, or loved ones to attend to? If not for Zellara, what would you have been doing now?

Food for thought. After a few weeks have passed in-game, the AP proper will resume.

Questions/comments?

Pietro will go back to his routine of doctor for the spoiled rich during the day and also attend the poor (in disguise) during the nights he can get away.

I could write some of that stuff but it would be much better if I could 'do something' with at least one more PC. I don't want to 'force anything' either so I can just wait until some story line, which involves Pietro, develops naturally.

I just wanted to check in. :)

If my last post was confusing to some, I'm sorry. I am doing everything for a reason. Cal is a little broken. I was hoping to suggest that if you went behind his back about the records and didn't tell him that he'd be okay with that. He's still conflicted about the whole thing, and it would be easier at this point to lie to himself than to confront the truth. If you'd rather deal with his trouble more directly, there's room for that too. I'm very willing to explore this with anyone willing to RP it out with me.

Like I've said before, I've been building this character for years, and he's a bit complicated. Hopefully we can work together to make something memorable.

-----------------------------------------

I'm planning a bit of a post involving my downtime activities. I will be asking for help, as much as it's offered.

The downtime rules are fairly straight forward. If you make a skill check, the tens digit is something you can use toward earning a thing called capital, which you can use to build rooms and recruit teams. Taking 10 is encouraged for consistent results.

Pietro, you can use your craft alchemy score for any type of capital, and Yazi, if you help you can use your knowledge religion score for several types. Both of you helping will more than double my individual earnings and I'll make some headway. I needed 16 days on my own to handle the capital which I wanted to build, with the two of you, it will take us a little over a week. If anyone else wants to chip in, it will definitely help, and I'll finish even faster. If we have a month before we do anything else adventure wise, I might even get to see the profits actually begin.

I'm planning on rebuilding a dock to produce coin (to fund further projects) as well as increase the amount of Influence Capital I can produce. Then, I'll start a small theater, one with barracks for the troubadors so they can have their own place to be. Once that happens, I'll "rebuild" the manor, which will do quite a lot to help rebuild the Fordyce reputation. After that, I'll grow the theater into a bardic college. Somewhere in there, I might have to do another dock or even another business if it comes available just for additional revenue.

I doubt I'll be able to finish all those projects and get to the place where they'll break even for all my investment, but I might. I don't know what is going to happen with it, but I think it will be a lot of fun to watch it grow for a bit.

Once I have the building at least underway, I'll be happy to do a bit of subterfuge with Garvid. I hope he doesn't mind waiting a little.

Would Yazi use her Knowledge religion and not her Craft skill? How would that work in RP terms? Shall we make our rolls here or in the game thread?

Yazi very much wants to investigate the silver dagger and check on her people.

Heyo! Busy week, but I'll be back to posting often. Great work with organizing, Cal. Garvid will mostly help with security, for now, and the Arkona investigation might have to wait, when I have a tad more time.

Great posts, everyone.

Concerning skills and skill checks:

TLDR: Various skills can help in various types of capital, which are used to create teams and buildings. Hitting multiples of 10 when earning capitol is best, as it maximizes your effort.

If you have a +10 in a skill, taking 10 gains you 2 capital no matter what. If you have less, roll. You might hit that 20, but you can't do less than 1 capital.

Would Yazi use her Knowledge religion and not her Craft skill? How would that work in RP terms? Shall we make our rolls here or in the game thread?

Yazi very much wants to investigate the silver dagger and check on her people.

Knowledge Religion is better mechanically, but this is at best an abstraction. I don't really want to RP a whole heap of days of working on the docks. So, RP what your character would like to do, and we'll use the skills that are best.

All done with building in 5 days, thanks everyone! We'll start earning money with it on day 10, when the first rooms are finished, and once we hit day 21, it will be fully functional. I'll get a RP about all this up in a few hours.

Oh, and Mouse. You're the only one with a skill under 10 that I used in my calculations. If you'd like, feel free to roll 5 times for the time we used to see if you earned more capital than I allowed for. I don't mind having a bit extra for future projects.

If you wish to use the Dock for a Day or Two to earn capital for yourselves, Cal would say it's more than worth it for the help you've gained him. Capital can be spent in your own building projects, which I'd be happy to help you with, or to gain +1 bonuses in particular rolls, which would be useful in game.

I think I might switch from Laborers to Sailors in the future, because they actually have skills that might help with earning Capital. I do have to be aware of the cap to the number of people Cal can employ, due to the guidelines of those kinds of downtime rules.

You can only recruit a team if the character levels of its individual members are equal to or lower than your Leadership score. Even if you don't have the Leadership feat, calculate your Leadership score as your character level + your Charisma modifier.

My leadership score would be 10ish (Depending on GM allowances), giving me leave of 6 1st level dudes. Once my renown/level increases, I'll be able to actually hire more workers, and we'll go from there. This should be sufficient for now though.

Pardon the interruption...

I am GMing a fairly fast-paced PBP game here and have room for one (or maybe two) people.

I'm running the module Ire of the Storm, which takes place south of Sargava; there's more information in the campaign tab.

Your PC would enter the story as level 2 and be expected to end up level 5 or 6. I may even continue the game with another 'module'. However, I'm not promising that just yet because by the time we're done, there may be other things that I want to GM.

If interested, take a look and see if this is something you would enjoy playing. Please PM me so we don't clutter up Wicked's thread anymore than necessary.

Game on!

BTW, Li is a player in the game and Mouse used to be one but she bailed on us. :(

For downtime things: Yaziyah would still like to investigate the dagger (not sure on the best way to do that) and finish checking the library (can Mouse pick locks? If not, we'll wait for Li to get back).

Hey Yazi, you could use the deck to cast identify on the dagger. That's new.

Ahhh, thanks for reminding me. Then this is what she is going to do after we're done with the library exploration.

No prob, that's what teammates are for.

Hey GM! Would it be okay if I spent a few days using my performance skill about the city to earn some gold? I can take 10 for a Extraordinary performance without using my 1/day trait now, so I should be able to earn 3d6 gold a day. I'm going use it on capital anyhow, so I don't think it will affect the game too much.

If I do invest any more gold into rooms and buildings, I'll probably do the manor next. I don't really have to hire anyone for it beyond what's already established, and so I can continue rebuilding House Fordyce on a financial level.

He would take 1 day off, spend 3 days on performance since the weekends favor that anyhow, and spend 3 days gaining capital, and that would round out his week. So....

Day 6- Diplomancy with Garvid
Day 7-9 Perform 9d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 1, 1, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1) = 27 gp Earned
Day 10-12 Earn Capital 3 Goods, 3 Influence, 3 Labor (cost 105g)

I still need to figure out exactly what rooms I need to take in the downtime rules to fit what I have planned for the manor, but it shouldn't take too long. Also, I'm going to run out of money fairly quickly as well, but I should be able to keep ahead until we get back into the story.