DM Alexander Kilcoyne's Kingmaker PBP- Chapter 3

Game Master Alexander Kilcoyne

It seems our magic item planning discussion got a little derailed by Alex's change to the crafting rules. :)

At this point really, the only crafting that is currently effected is wondrous items and arms & armor, seeing as how we have no characters with craft wand or brew potion, and scrolls are not included in the rule change.

With this in mind, perhaps we should complete our list of items we might wish to purchase and/or scribe.

Items on the list to possibly purchase/scribe:
Zone of Truth (scroll)
Detect Thoughts (scrolls or wand)
Fly (scrolls, potions or wand)
Mount (scrolls or wand)
Disguise Self (scrolls, potions or wand)
Bestow Grace (potions)
Fireball or other "AOE blaster" spells (scrolls or wand)
Antitoxin
Delay/Neutralize Poison (scroll) (Kip has one potion of Delay Poison)
Remove Paralysis (scroll x2)
Remove Curse (scroll)
Remove Blindness/Deafness (scroll)
Force effects (wands and/or scrolls) of Magic Missile and other force spells (Kip has a wand of MM with a few charges)
Stone to Flesh (scroll)
Weapon blanch
Water Walking and/or Water Breathing (scrolls)
+?

As well, for (cheap but useful) wondrous items we might want to purchase:
Feather token (swan boat)
Ioun Torch
Elixir of Truth
Elixir of Swimming
+?

I've given up on the dots... I've just started pinning all my important threads in my browser and click through the cycle every few minutes. XD

Use the 'favourites' feature ;)

Not sure what to say about Tanner...he has been gone a long time, I hope he is okay. Maybe we go on without him for a little while and if he can commit to coming back and being active he can jump back in?

Of course that is harder on the GM than the players.

I'm fine with running Ilya as a GMPC for now, or having him remain at home for a while. If he has not shown up again within a week or two, we can reevaluate.

Since we just upgraded the team with another arcane caster, I'm inclined just to keep it at five players for now.

The most important thing should be to make sure Tanner is ok - apparently his area has been hit by some rough weather lately.

I have sent him an e-mail. If he is ok I imagine he'll get an e-mail out to me and i'll inform the horde of players hes on his way back.

Thats what happened in the Great Pneumonia Incident of 2011 anyway.

My thoughts are first and foremost that I hope everything is alright with Tanner and that we should give him time to return and/or reply to Alex's email. We can carry on for a spell without Ilya without too much disruption IMO. Alex may see it differently of course :)

If Tanner does not indeed return, I am fine with continuing with 5 or picking up a replacement 6th.

However, when working up Kip, I was quite conscious of the fact that too much overlap was not desirable. As such, and with that in mind, if Ilya is not replaced, we will suffer a not too insignificant diminishing of our arcane abilities. Kip's spell selection would have been, at least to some degree, different if Ilya had not been part of the group. Something to keep in mind when/if we make our decision. For that reason alone I would lean towards finding a 6th player (preferably a wizard).

Hopefully Tanner returns and none of this need be addressed.

Cheers

EDIT: While IM is nice, it would be even better to have a dedicated chat room! ;)

Hopefully we'll hear something from Tanner soon, at least to know he's okay. In the meantime, I'm fine to leave the space open for his return, with Ilya staying home to tend to important matters of state.

Loved the intro of Varn. Very ambiguous as to whether he is good or bad.

Yeah, Malthir isn't sure where Varn stands..the whole Gorum thing doesn't exactly excite him, but so far he seems a nice enough lord.

Its not like he really has anything against Neutral folk and it would be good to have the Eastern border relatively secure until Kardas is more secure...

I have a question Alex about your modifications to the crafting feats. Which value is to be used to calculate the time it takes to craft items? Will it be based on 1000gp/day on the old 1/2 cost or the newly ruled full cost? Or in other words will crafting take twice as long and realize no cost savings? :)

Just wondering.

Same time duration.

Thank you.

Ok i've been thinking about vital strike now people are hitting BAB +6 and have come up with a definitive ruling.

Vital Strike will still have a feat tax.

Although originally I wanted to simply tie it into BAB, the feat is so much better for big monsters (usually) that giving it to everybody as a freebie feat would be detrimental to your group.

However, the vital strike chain as written is a huge feat investment for fairly low returns per feat. My ruling is this-

The vital strike feat chain has been condensed to one feat. When your BAB reaches the appropiate level, it automatically upgrades to the next feat in the chain.

Thanks for reading.

Kalev has purchased a MW silver shortsword and and a MW cold iron hand axe (if possible) at 642 gp.

Hi guys. I've taken over Ilya and built all the cities using the city building toolkit in the KM forums. Just looking for some place I can start uploading them and once that is done i'll keep links to them in my DM profile.

I've determined that the house destroyed was adjacent to the herbalist so your ok for building requirements; although the house will have to be rebuilt on the same turn as the herbalist or before.

Hi guys. Just so theres no confusion when he posts here, a friend of mine will be coming in as our 6th to replace Tanner after you deal with the Owlbear. He has a concept I found really interesting with ample RP opportunity. Ilya will go into NPC mode.

Well, let me be the first to welcome our mysterious comrade and newest member!

Cheers!

PS And let me offer a prayer for Tanner, that all is well with him and that we may hear from him in the future.

Hello all!

At long last I've got into one of Alex's play by post games. The story so far has been a fine read. I will make sure my posts will meet the high standard you've all set.

That said, with any luck my stay will be temporary. Hopefully Tanner will be back in touch soon.

At any rate...

...I present Ricter Vorsk, Hellknight squire, sent to the River Kingdoms to fight against the chaos endemic in the Greenbelt.

I must admit the length of his backstory spiralled out of control a little bit. In short, he was part of one of Galt's many failed governments and narrowly escaped execution. He joined the Hellknight order of the chain out of hatred for the murderous rabbles that infest his home country, and is now a junior member of the elite order.

In case any of you haven't come across hellknights before, it's important to note that they emulate the lawful aspects of Hell, not the evil aspects. This doesn't stop them wearing armour Sauron would be proud of, but nonetheless they're a hardline lawful neutral organization. Some of them admittedly sway towards evil, but Ricter isn't one of them.

Alexs tells me that mechanically another frontline hitter would be a decent addition to the party. However, if you guys feel you definately need an arcane spellcaster - I see this was mentioned above - I'll happily roll one of those instead. This is just one of several ideas, and I'm keen to make sure I use a character everyone is happy with.

That said, with any luck my stay will be temporary. Hopefully Tanner will be back in touch soon.

I can always run for 7. I wouldn't invite you into a game only to boot you out.

I'm really excited by Ricter, both mechanically and by backstory. I feel with 5/5 of current players having spells anyway hes a good fit in the front lines with Malthir and Kalev without being too similar.

We're working into tying him in, but with Kesten Garess being a member of House Garess hes likely to be called back to Brevoy with the rising detente there...

I must say, I never saw a hellknight coming! :)

It should definitely be interesting!

Welcome aboard!

Malthir draws his blade when he sees the knight from hell coming...upon getting a closer look, ah its a hell knight...sorry, just a slight difference... :]

Welcome aboard. It will be good to have another Lawful leaning character. It has been hard on Malthir cow-towing to all of these Neutrals. Now we can finally rule this kingdom with the iron fist of LAW, disolve the ruling council, arrest the dissenters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Less lawful leaning and more lying, horizontally, in a lawful direction.

Ruling with an iron fist eh? I think you and I are going to get on just fine. All jokes aside, the reason Ricter is in Kardas is to see if the Guardians are interesting in an alliance with the Hellknights at some point further down the line (as in, at least one full chapter of the AP). That's what he's bringing to the table when he requests membership of the Swordhaven court. We shall see how things play out from there.

I must say, I never saw a hellknight coming! :)

It should definitely be interesting!

Welcome aboard!

A big +1 on all three counts.

In other news, I now possess a bachelors degree. Only a 2:2 but thats all I really expected.

Ooh, a Hellknight. That could be lots of fun, considering Fenna would have been in a child in Westcrown during 4576.

If you did want to go with a spellcaster, you could probably keep much of the concept and play a Signifier.

In other news, I now possess a bachelors degree. Only a 2:2 but thats all I really expected.

Congratulations! Was graduation today, or was it your results?

I won't be attending graduation, think its in a few weeks. Just results.

Congrats on the degree!!!!!!!

Yeah, sometimes I think that Malthir is Lawful Good with Neutral Good tendencies...with all of the none Lawful characters around Mal does his best to not be overbearing...Alex, if you ever feel like I need to pick up that aspect more just let me know.

One other thing that will help me RP this situation, can you tell me what common knowledge I would know about HellKnights? Thx.

Yes, my congratulations as well Alex!

Welcome to out new player and congrats to Alex! :)

I'm getting married next Saturday (July 2nd), so as we approach that date, I'm highly likely to post a bit less frequently.

Tsk where was my invite? Congrats mate

One other thing that will help me RP this situation, can you tell me what common knowledge I would know about HellKnights? Thx.

Nothing beyond the common knowledge- they are a large military Chelish organisation with multiple branches. You also know that to attain Hellknight status they must have single handedly bested a devil.

Tsk where was my invite?

Owlbear ate it...

Your setting a bad precedent...reduced posting?
Your soon to be wife should learn early that she will be taking second seat to your geeking! :)

Another congrats!!!!!! Enjoy the day and best wishes from all of the Guardians :)

Malthir Al Dagon wrote:

One other thing that will help me RP this situation, can you tell me what common knowledge I would know about HellKnights? Thx.

Nothing beyond the common knowledge- they are a large military Chelish organisation with multiple branches. You also know that to attain Hellknight status they must have single handedly bested a devil.

Malthir will be impressed when he brings in the Balor horns....

May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past!

Congratulations and best wishes Jace!

Meanwhile in an alternate universe...(ie DM TANNER'S LEGACY OF FIRE OOC THREAD)

Please make him take mage armour :).

and

And enlarge!!!!!!!!!!!

Kip feels his ears burning...? ;)

heh

Maybe I am a little slow on the uptake, but I just realized with Ilya gone, I am the only Guardian that is chaotically aligned... and, of sufficient level to register as such via Ricter's Detect Chaos ability.

This should get very interesting! ;)

I mean, the guy can smite me?! What is up with that?

I wonder how he feels about pranks? :)

Maybe I am a little slow on the uptake, but I just realized with Ilya gone, I am the only Guardian that is chaotically aligned... and, of sufficient level to register as such via Ricter's Detect Chaos ability.

This should get very interesting! ;)

I mean, the guy can smite me?! What is up with that?

I wonder how he feels about pranks? :)

I got to admit, I'm having a hard time seeing just how we are going to come up with a RP explanation for adding a Hellknight to the council. (I haven't read any of the spoilers between Kesten and Richter, so there might be something there to justify it).

For starters, the alignment of Kardas is Neutral Good, despite having a LG ruler. And most of the choices made by the council have been less that lawful - just look at the crimes we have let fly.

Personally, Casimir's gut reaction if a Hellknight shows up and asks to be part of the council is to say "Go to hell!" (no pun intended). And it is my impression that while all of the characters have different alignments, none of the have a strong preference for "Law and Order" in the sense that the Hellknights seem to prefer.

I really don't want to knock EngineHouse's choice of character, but the more I think about it, the more it feels like we would make decisions that are way our of character in order to shoehorn a PC into our group.

Anyway, I thought it best to voice these thoughts before we actually meet Richter and it becomes too messy to retcon things, if it comes to that. Please convince me I'm wrong, but right now, I feel like a Hellknight in this group is asking for a lot of internal conflict - and not in the fun way.

On the flipside, the majority of the Statkari and both Fenna and Malthir are lawful in nature- if Ricter was LE and representing the interests of Asmodeus i'd definitely agree but his dedication to law and order is akin to Sir Edric's and that was working ok.

I actually think the council has been fairly lawful about most of the decisions it has made. Take for instance, the negotiation with Satyr's- chaotic fey. To work alongside them, Fenna and Ilya negotiated a deal where they would essentially have to work within Kardas law within tightly negotiated contracts to go about their business.

The idea is that-

A- Kesten Garess is going to be recalled to Brevoy- hes already received a letter demanding his return. You will be in need of a strong leader to act as General.

B- Ricter would represent an alliance with the Order of the Chain- a lawful neutral branch of the Hellknights and a strong military organisation; this should appear pretty tempting to a frontier kingdom with no standing army. Despite his ties to the Order, he would need to earn the trust (and rank) to be allowed to establish a foothold in Kardas and would work with legitimate authority (the rulers of Kardas) in order to do so. I imagine if he manages to get a Hellknight headquarters built they would still be subject to the laws of Kardas with an agreement in writing that the forces could be used by Kardas in military operations.

C- Ricter would act within the laws of Kardas, understanding their importance. This isn't a chaotic character designed to wreak havoc with the status quo.

D- Ricter would have a great deal of interest in public enemy number one- Grigori. He pretty much perfectly fits the profile of the kind of miscreant the Order of Chain would have an interest in apprehending. I'm hoping Ricter will be able to track him down and earn some respect with the Statkari for doing so (Jhod is planning to suggest they 'use the Hellknight' to deal with Grigori; hes a crafty git).

All good points, Alex, and as I said, I really want to be proven wrong here.

I'll do whatever it takes to make things work - but if other members of the group feel they have to strain a bit to do this as well, I think its best to say so now.

Jace/Alex, Malthir will have a few concerns...but less around his Lawful aspect (of course) and more around what this organization will want from Kardas.
The last thing he will want is some organization with their own agenda getting their hooks into Kardas and potentially pulling them into some political mess. (probably wouldn't happen but something that Malthir would have to be convinced otherwise.)
Also and more importantly, the Statkari stand for Kardas. While I can easily see this being a military alliance, a Hellknight would have to prove that his love for Kardas matches his love for his Hellknight cause...I am sure we can RP it out, I think the only reason why accepting Kip might be a little easier is due to the fact that he has less baggage :) but I am sure we can work through it if any of us lives that long...

I am looking forward to some RP possibilities...several things are swirling in my head at the moment, some of them Richter may not like :)

I am hoping that there will be a few interesting differences of oppinion at first, but nothing that is actually disruptive. I will try to get the RP to go that way. Like I say, though, if you want me to roll something different I'm sure Alex can have the NPCs send me on my way and I'll roll up a good-aligned character for Kesten to track down as his replacement. This is your game, after all. I still think Ricter could be fun, though. I think you should go ahead and read the spoilers to get an idea of how I'm playing him, if that's ok with Alex.

potentially pulling them into some political mess.

Wasn't Kardas founded with the express purpose of getting pulled into Restov's political mess? ;)

...a Hellknight would have to prove that his love for Kardas matches his love for his Hellknight cause...I am sure we can RP it out, I think the only reason why accepting Kip might be a little easier is due to the fact that he has less baggage :) but I am sure we can work through it if any of us lives that long...

I presume you are meaning why Ricter would be accepting of Kip yes? ;)

I'm willing to RP out meeting Ricter and let the chips fall where they may... if the situation is unworkable.. then he can try again with a new character. :)

I suspect it might be helpful for you all to look at Ricter's spoilers detailing his time in Swordhaven thus far- I trust you not to metagame :).

Wasn't Kardas founded with the express purpose of getting pulled into Restov's political mess? ;)

From Restov's point of view yes it was.

Now if Grigori is working for the Surtova's and we find this out...that will be a completely different story. :)