DM Barcas - Skull & Shackles: Freedom of the Sea (Inactive)

Game Master Isaac Duplechain

Whoah, I missed the post about the Teamwork boon. That's awesome, thanks!

Tomorrow I am going to post about John burying at sea Iakob. Who would like to get in on the scene?

But where are you gonna find the bagpipes?

Does Rosie have her fiddle?

I'd be happy to join in, but should probably avoid it to keep up the fiction of the enmity between Doran and the Andorans (sounds like a band from Absalom...)

Rosie does have her fiddle. Thanks to making her friendly, it's an easy check to get her to play for the ceremony.

I'll join in. Vrunyar didn't have much time with Iakob, but he did respect him.

Part of me says I wanna join in, part of me says Wyn should probably lay low (plus she just had a lot of stuff to do). Let's say if you post something and it makes sense for her to participate, I will, and if I don't, it's not because I'm not interested but just doing what feels most appropriate.

Sounds good, I'll leave it open ended.

Y'know, you don't often get a chance to see the cold-blooded murder of a PC. It is usually a death in the heat of battle (or maybe an assassin), which has quite different mourning connotations.

I didn't want to run too far with Grok and assume that I could take the twine and canvas. I figured that would give everyone a chance to chime in. If I get the materials I asked for I plan to visit Rosie next and ask her to grab her fiddle and play during Iakob's burial. I am thinking something like:

This.

After that I was going to do Iakob's burial scene. Sound good to everyone? Is this ok Isaac?

Fine by me. Gives you something to write while I am off getting irradiated tomorrow.

@Everyone: I was thinking about something and I wanted to bring it up here. During recruitment different roles were discussed. I had said that I saw myself as Iakob's right hand man. With him gone however, the group seems to be functioning organically. I have tried to give some leadership by suggesting that Doran and Thorn play up the pirate angle, but I would like to take on more of a leadership role as the group develops. What are your guys thoughts on this?

I have no problem with that, John. I think it makes sense for your character and your skillset is suited for it.

I think of course it would be appropriate for the characters themselves to discuss it when it becomes relevant but I'll definitely go along with it.

Since our "cast" has changed a bit since the beginning, with me as one of the newcomers, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to reprise the discussion in general of roles as well.

I think Ollivor isn't being as chaotic as I might envision, but then again, he's not suicidal and acting out too much might just get him there. That said, it's been established that if you earn his respect, he'll follow because of that. I'd say John has a good start

Beyond that, I don't know what 'role' he fits best. He's been very much the land lubber on ship, but that will change somewhat when we hit second level and he gets a few points to play with. I think in some ways he's been a bit naive to the evil in the world and this little cruise is changing that but he's not exactly an innocent either.

Once John posts the burial scene, I'll be a-movin' us onwards.

I'll post it as soon as I get off work. I happen to be off friday as well so I plan to catch up.

I would expect John to try to step in and fill Iakob's shoes (at least one of them...), so I'm good with it. Doran isn't likely to move in that direction - he'd prefer to be the competent bosun or other such role. He'll keep the ship working well, and doesn't have a problem telling someone how to do it properly, but doesn't have the personal history to be much for taking the leadership role.

Ran out of time. Wife is on her way home and I have pork chops that have been marinating for the last three days. I promise I'll write up the burial at sea, but it won't be until later tonight.

So I decided to break up my post. If Isaac wanted to throw something in for Rosie then thats cool. I'll launch into the next post in a few hours.

Isaac, how do you want to do this? Do you want me to describe Rosie gathering the others and then I ask Sandra to say a prayer on the behalf of John, or are you planning to set the scene?

You can just assume that it is done and that no one gave you any problems. Launch straight into the preparation/funeral if you'd like. Give a speech if that's your bag, or just reflect.

Ok, sounds good!

I am OK with John Taking a Leadership role, I believe my character is more of a loner who has been isolated his whole life. I feel he has the ability to lead on a few occasions but it would not be a permanent position. I feel Thorn has Taken a "Jane" character type.

You're gonna have to explain to me what a "Jane" character type is.

You're gonna have to explain to me what a "Jane" character type is.

I believe he means a "Jayne" character, as in the hero of Canton, wearer of the cunning hat, in reference to who he'd be on Firefly.

On a vaguely related note, my kids got me Jayne's hat this year for father's day. While I got a laugh out of it, that's not exactly the character I most associate with personally on the show.

Ah, you are correct. I was misled by the spelling, because Jane is a girl's name.

Ah, you are correct. I was misled by the spelling, because Jane is a girl's name.

Well played, sir.

So, when we are done with Iakob's funeral, we will move forward to the next two days and their skill checks. I am looking at Doran and Vrunyar as the principal players in the first one, and Thorn and Ollivor in the second. (We will be doing them simultaneously to save time and give people stuff to do.)

Its a girls name and I spelled it right. All because some one thought they were having a girl and then saw the surprise and asked them self why and the light bulb came on. Throw a "y" in the middle of the name to try and trick us to think they were cute or clever.

Plus Thorn can not spell

Spelling: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (10) - 5 = 5

As far as roles go, Wyn is I think a support character. In combat, she's a strong arm, but also has a "dirty fighting" style that is about harrying the enemy as much as dealing damage... she can set them up to help others take them down. Out of combat she's got a skill set that she could apply toward leadership, but she's better about reading others to tell the team what she thinks (sense motive), keeping the group's own motives quiet (bluff), and strongarming the bad guys to give information (intimidate). She's like the guy who stands next to the leader and scowls to help give the enemy the impression they mean business.

She could lead in a pinch but would probably rather follow. Her backstory indicates she also is unlikely to take off on any sort of venture without someone else inspiring the decision... she was sitting in Absalom because she couldn't decide what to do with herself. It was loyalty to her employer and customer combined with chance that got her on this journey. Not a lot of personal ambition but willing to be part of something and help it become great.

As an incentive to post, we will be leveling up to level 2 at roughly 500 posts.

'Roughly' can mean a lot, particularly given I have shorter posts than some of you that might only count as half posts, but power mad player that I am, I have to ask

I suppose that I made a promise... And you've all been through some harrowing stuff the last few "days."

Level two! Level two! We made it to level two!

We're going to go with average (rounded up) hit points. Post your changes here.

And you're all officially way behind WBL, but that's life as a prisoner. (Poor Vrunyar doesn't even have an alchemy lab to utilize a lot of his class features! Yet.)

I have an idea about that, though. John is pretty much permanently assigned to the bilges now because of Plugg's hatred of him. He could use it as a (very smelly) hiding spot for accrued items, including smuggled alchemical items that Vrunyar could start making and/or stealing.

Also: last call for speaking at Iakob's funeral. I'd like to get moving by this evening (IRL) on the next few days of action (for which you can use your new & improved level 2 stats).

That's awesome. I've got a post in mind, but am visiting family on the east coast and must head to the beach.

Will try to get something up later, and will work on leveling up as well.

There's always a Earlier... tag if I move us along before you get your chance to speak and you really want to.

@DM Barcas: No surprise on John getting assigned to the bilges. I doubt that anyone would willingly go into the bilges unless they were told to, however something to consider is that the space would be very damp so things like spellbooks and scrolls might be damaged from the water?

Right now we have among our possessions,

Johns smuggled dagger inside of his peg.
Doran’s dagger.
Tanglefoot bags (2)
Smokesticks (3)
Boarding Axe’s (2)
Doran’s MW thief’s tools.
Vrunyar’s formula book.

Currently Doran has:
MW Thiefs Tools
Smokestick (1)
Dagger

John has:
Dagger hidden in his pegleg.

Vrunyar has:
Formula book

Unclaimed that will be placed in the bilges for later use:
Tanglefoot bag (2)
Smokesticks (2)
Boarding Axe (2)

@DM Barcas #2: Are you ok with me taking the Trophy Hunter Archetype? Personally I dont' think its very strong but it would allow me to use Iakob's pistol (once I manage to pry it out of pluggs hands). The only problem is that it removes wild empathy from level 1 (though I have not used it yet).

Thoughts?

Trophy Hunter and Freebooter both replace Hunter's Bond at level 4 (with Freebooter's Bond and Hunter's Aim, respectively). Perhaps you could take a level in Gunslinger, or we can come up with a custom combat style for firearms (or hybrid firearm/melee)?

John, Doran smuggled one each of the smokestick, tanglefoot bag, and boarding axe into Wyn's gear. She can give those things to John to hide, but I was thinking she'd either hold onto the smokestick or tanglefoot bag to hide for herself amongst her stuff (or give one or two to Ollivor to stash amongst the kitchen stores).

Wooo! Leveling.

I am torn and would like your thoughts:

Option 1: Level fighter (Cad). Nets me a bonus feat plus +1 to disarm, steal, and dirty trick, and of course increase to BAB and Fort. I plan to level mostly in this class. Leveling NOW means it is also a faster path to hitting Fighter-Cad 3, where I get caught off guard as a bonus feat, and it is of deep, personal importance to me that Wyn becomes capable of easily punching people in the face with drinking mugs. I get 4 total skill points (plus whatever I decide to spend on favored class, if any). Story wise, Wyn has done a lot of fighting and strong-man (to coin a phrase) work so it makes sense for her to have her ability increases reflect this.

Option 2: Dip into Rogue. Archetypes being considered are Rake (because if you're going to be a cad, you may as well be a cad AND a rake), Thug (her character concept is basically "bouncer"), and Pirate (go figure). All of these trade off trapfinding (Wyn has probably never had to deal with a trap in her life, makes no sense for her to have it). The first two archetypes offer things to do with Intimidate, which Wyn has trained and uses and will continue to use. The latter would be a good reflection of the fact that she's now been at sea for while amongst other seafaring scoundrels (it nets her Sea Legs for free). Additional benefits include a die of sneak attack (bolstering her "dirty fighting" combat style), improved reflex save, and buckets of skill points (10 including Int and human bonus). This would allow her to train Diplomacy and Knowledge (Local) as class skills amongst other appropriate things. If I end up dipping into rogue, I will not level it far--it might be this level and that's it, or at most no more than 4 levels, with the focus still being on Cad/Fighter building. Story wise, Wyn has been using a lot of skills lately and done a little sneaking around, so it makes sense to have her ability increases reflect this.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Both are valid options. From a storytelling standpoint, the rogue level may make more immediate sense. Ultimately, which would you enjoy more at the moment? It is likely to be 500-750 posts until the next level, so it will stick around for a while.

Assuming that Isaac is ok with me taking the Trophy Hunter archetype:

+8 HP
+1 BAB
+1 Fort, +1 Ref
+7 Skill points (+6 for class, +1 for human bonus)
Perception +1, Diplomacy +1, Sense Motive +1, Profession (Sailor) +1, Stealth +1, Knowledge (geography) +1, Climb +1
Sword and Pistol combat style: Two Weapon Fighting.

@DM Barcas: I didn’t see that replacement at level 4. Your right, the essence of what I want is a hybrid firearm/melee combat style.

I feel like the combat style used by the Gulch Gunner Archetype is rather fitting with its focus on close range gun combat, but it is not exactly what I want.

So, how about this:

Sword and Pistol Combat Style
If the ranger selects sword and pistol combat style, he can choose from the following list whenever he gains a combat style feat: Catch Off Guard, Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw, and Two-Weapon Fighting. At 6th level, he adds Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Snap Shot to the list. At 10th level, he adds Greater Two-Weapon Fighting and Sword and Pistol to the list.

I added Catch off Guard So I can use my pistol as a club in combat after I have shot off my round. (treat it as a club)

I also added Sword and Pistol because I felt that it was pretty much essential for the build.

The rest are pretty self explanatory

My plan would be at level two to take another level in ranger. At level 3 I would take a single level of gunslinger to pick up the 1st level grit traits and use of a gun. Then go back to ranger. That way the build would coincide with getting Iakob’s pistol back (hopefully). Eventually, If you will allow it I might want to retrain my Power Attack feat since I planned for John to be a 2hand ranger but I’m not wanting to go that route anymore. At level 2 I think I would pick up Two-Weapon Fighting and then at level 3 I when I go Gunslinger I would take Catch Off Guard. That way I could fight with a sword and pistol at least initially, firing off a single round before charging into combat and wielding the pistol with its butt, like a club and using my cutlass.

Thoughts?

Everyone: Lets make sure we get a good coverage of skills now that we are all together. I seem to be focusing on diplomacy so I have continued on that route as well as sense motive, but I grabbed stealth and Knowledge (geography) as well as Profession (sailor) again. Isaac had mentioned that we diden't have most of the knowledge skills covered. We might want to fix that.

Wyn: I think either option is good. I like the flavor you are trying to capture.

@Barcas - when I made Doran a Knife Master, it was with the thought of Synthia being our more burglar-type rogue and Doran being a bit more of a cut-throat type when needed. Now that we're down to one rogue, would you let him change his archetype? I haven't really looked into different types yet, so I'm not sure I'd want to make such a switch, but was curious if you'd allow it.

@Wyn - they do both sound like good approaches, but the rogue dip sounds like fun!

@John - sword and pistol sounds pretty awesome - fits with the campaign theme in general, and fits very nicely with the story, picking up Iakob's pistol and all. I've never seen it in play, so it'll be fun to see how it works out.

@John - sword and pistol sounds pretty awesome - fits with the campaign theme in general, and fits very nicely with the story, picking up Iakob's pistol and all. I've never seen it in play, so it'll be fun to see how it works out.

*nod* When Iakob was still among us, I didn’t want there to be much overlap in styles, but with his death I thought it would be an appropriate switch. I know there’s going to be another 500-750 posts between the next level, so I thought that going ranger would be a better fit, since I doubt I would be getting my hands on a pistol any time soon. It should dove-tail in nicely where I hope we will be at when we hit level 3.

By the way, nice way to play up your side of the story aboard the ship I can’t wait to see how Plugg responds.

How about that as a compromise? I switched S&P to the 6th level list and Snap Shot to the 10th. (I don't know why S&P requires SS as a pre-requisite.)

Doran, feel free to switch the archetype if you find one that feels better.

Barcas - thanks, I'll look into archetypes.

And thanks for the Bluff roll! I should have included it, but I'm glad you did it for me...

Glad it worked out, and that Plugg has a terrible Sense Motive.

** spoiler omitted **

How about that as a compromise? I switched S&P to the 6th level list and Snap Shot to the 10th. (I don't know why S&P requires SS as a pre-requisite.)

That seems fair. Can we change the Archetype name to Corsair?

You got it.