Zandomir Talathel |
Hey everyone, I’ll be out of town 8/8 to 8/17 for a vacation with family in Alaska. I likely won’t be posting at all during that time. Please bot Zandomir as needed.
DM Fang Dragon |
Thanks for letting us know Zandomir.
This reminds me. I PM'd Filbert a few weeks back and nothing. Filbert if you're reading this please write something so we know that you're OK.
He's still on the boat as an NPC but won't be joining you on missions unless his player returns. I think we can carry on for now as is although I may recruit if needed.
DM Fang Dragon |
I can't remember if I told you this already but dying in the Dreamlands doesn't mean you die in the real world. It can be very traumatic through with psychological side effects.
DM Fang Dragon |
Heinrich & Momijii please tell me you're still with us! :)
Anyway what happens next is essentially up to you.
Momijii |
Sorry been busy and not feeling well this week. Working on getting aught up today.
DM Fang Dragon |
Glad to see you're still here, get well soon!
Momijii |
I'm good today, yesterday I was just so exhausted that my brain wasn't really functioning.
Zarine Greenblood |
ha ha. :) Very, very true.
DM Fang Dragon |
So Zan's question is I think, can you in one round do this:
Swift action: Use liberation blessing (yes)
Move action: Draw a starknife (yes)
Standard action: Attack with starknife (yes)
But he was holding the bow and the question is can he draw the starknife without dropping the bow while being grappled in mid air. I'm inclined to say no because I'm not convinced he could draw a starknife one handed in that quickly under the circumstances.
If there's a rules forum thread somebody can find discussing a similar situation which shows I'm wrong I'm happy to reverse my decision.
Zandomir Talathel |
No worries, DM. I was thinking about how moving weapons between hands is normally a free action, but I totally get that being grappled would make doing so take longer than normal and/or make drawing the starknife take longer.
DM Fang Dragon |
I do hope Niles can fix the post. I'm wondering if I should hand wave it although entering the dreamlands is supposed to be dangerous.
Zarine Greenblood |
I'm on vacation today through January 10. I am still going to try to check in and update, but it may be less often, and there may be days where it just doesn't happen. Please feel free to bot me if needed.
Momijii |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sorry I've been so flaky lately on getting posts up. I've had a hard time keeping myself motivated on this particular game. Nothing to do with you guys, per se, more that I've had a hard time keeping in character and all the relentless "dungeoning" has caused a great deal of boredom at times (can you tell I'm not a dungeon crawler?). It also doesn't help that I have a hard time getting a post that means much in due to my work schedule as I can't guarantee a post until evenings and generally someone has already snagged the important bits leaving me with nothing but reacting (again nothing against you guys, you're all great).
I'm not backing out right now, though I am considering it, as I want to try and get a bit more focused on the character and see if I can get a little more motivated. Momijii is a rather different sort of character for me to run, and she has had a lot of great moments before now, I just need to figure out how.
DM Fang Dragon |
Thanks for speaking up Momijii. Strange Aeons certainly has it's share of mega-dungeons, knowing you don't like those is valuable feedback and they certainly are slow to run through with PbP format. Looking at the current content the dream quests aren't all dungeons per-se although I suppose some of them as written are quite linear hack and slash.
I also understand work pressures, my posting has become a bit irregular too due to work and family pressures.
Strange aeons has a pretty interesting back story but I'm not sure how much of that is coming across. Also I'm not sure the theme of cosmic horror is working.
So I can try and adapt, but it's an AP so making it more sandboxy (for example) is difficult. I can try to substitute and abridge more of the grindy content too, but it's easy to mess up the story arc if I'm not careful (although if the story arc isn't visible maybe that's a moot concern).
Or (and this is just an idea) we could draw a line underneath try something different. Now I've had a couple of ideas for sandbox style games I've been kicking around for a while. More on that in a future post.
DM Fang Dragon |
The only thing that can stop them is us. Look around you at your fellow recruits, maybe you see fisherman, farriers, potters, clerks and labours. Five thousand strong, we are not enough but we are all that's left and tomorrow you will be soldiers. A division comes this way, fight well and with honour and may the gods have mercy on your souls!
The idea is you start out as chosen men and women, picked for a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Later if you survive you'll climb the ranks and start to choose your destiny, perhaps as special forces or perhaps as generals.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa |
Dungeon crawling certainly doesn't work well in PBP....However, if you look at the Pathfinder 2E rules they've kinda figured out a more "PBP" friendly version.
Basically, you decide on "roles" and then make checks and move between encounters. It's much less.....map centric. I admit I haven't had a ton of time to check into them really deeply, but I was intrigued.
DM Fang Dragon |
Out the ashes arose the Empire of Kez and the Merchant League, two great powers vying for ownership of the cerulean skies. Time and again great armadas of skyships clashed and whole archipelagos burned. The last great war was indecisive with the Kez retaining the core lands with the rest swearing feality to The League. For the last hundred years an uneasy peace has reigned but now there are persistent rumours of war amid excitement about archeological finds from the pre-sundering era. Finds your team of Archeologists from the Miskatronic University have vowed to retrieve lest they fall into the wrong hands. E.g. the (soon to be) warring nations or the ruthless Consortium who are amassing items of power for reasons unknown.
I'm thinking this might be quite a high powered game. Possibly gestalt ruleset. I'm undecided if the gods are distant or closely involved, I think that really depends on the group's preferences.
DM Fang Dragon |
I'm open to trying 2nd edition but I'm not familiar with those rules. I was planning to wait about eighteen months after release to see what the consensus was.
nilesr |
I've obviously not had a ton of time to really dig into them, but they "seem" like a marriage of 5E and Pathfinder 1E. Here's what I've liked so far
1) Simplified action economy
2) Lots of choices embedded in the class system (so no need for a million crazy subclasses)
3) Simplified skills/attack/defense bonuses
Momijii |
I agree with those observations.
I also enjoy the changes to the way criticals work and the fact that very few spells have a result of absolutely nothing, even on a successful save. The way cantrips are done is very nice, making them, especially the offensive ones, far more useful through the length of the character's career.
My only real complaint thus far is I wish the class devotions weren't so steep on stat requirements. I kind of understand why they are but it is a nuisance when you want to get into something like fighter devotion as a caster and have to meet the 14 str & dex to do it thus gimping other more important stats.
I think seeing the additional races from the bestiary made useable next year as well as the couple extra classes and more devotion feats will be interesting. I also expect them to do prestige classes the same way, with a "devotion" style feat chain to become a shadow dancer, or eldritch archer, etc.
Momijii |
Gotta admit that first one has some real potential in my mind. Even has a character concept percolating already.
Zandomir Talathel |
Both ideas seem interesting, though I would want to see more.
I have barely looked at 2nd edition. While I'm sure it has its benefits, I can't say I'm interested in learning a whole new system at the moment. But if everyone else is, I'll take a look.
DM Fang Dragon |
Fleshing out the settings will take a bit of time but let's talk about gameplay styles. For the first one Army building will be a theme, it needs recruits (an example mission might be to convince a retired general to come out of hiding). Also suppose a village has been liberated, diplomacy to recruit will be important. It needs scouts (initially you). It needs special forces operating behind enemy lines to wreck supply lines. As your characters grow, they may go up the ranks and start giving orders possibly becoming generals.
The second game will start with organising a dig in a distant island. You'll need to charter an airship and deal with pirates and unscrupulous port officials on the way. Then there will be the dig which will need protection. Airship combat will be important in this campaign and overall I think it will be a bit more freeform. There is an overarching plot (proper doomsday stuff) but how you respond is largely up to you. I expect intrigue and social skills to be important, although wilderness survival is important in such a shattered world.
I'm neutral on 1e vs 2e but I have a question about power levels. Do you prefer high or low? I'm open to 1e gestalt rules (mythic is a no, causes too many issues).
Zarine Greenblood |
I think both ideas sound intriguing. Kind of partial to the archaeologist one, and love the idea of being able to play a gestalt character.
I would prefer 1e personally. I am in a couple of 2e games right now, and still giving it a chance, of course (I am only first level in both). However, I am frustrated by some of the changes they made to clerics. I do like some of the flexibility, and am enjoying my sorcerer character more, but still feel the lack of all the options in 1e. That said though, happy to play 2e if that's the group consensus. :)
DM Fang Dragon |
So by my reckoning we have a draw so far:
1st concept: Lizzie, Zandomir, Momijii
2nd concept: Lizzie, Zandomir, Zarine
I think the group is most familiar with 1e. Now we could experiment with the alternative action economy from one of the splat books, the one that gives you 3 actions per round (like 2e) or stick to the usual 1e rules. I'm neutral on that.
Zarine likes Gestalt, what do the rest of you think? BTW if you have herolab there's a free community add-on for gestalt which makes rolling a gestalt character much easier.
DM Fang Dragon |
Gestalt in my experience tends to allow you to realize a concept if you're trying to recreate a character from a fantasy novel or a comic book. You often can't quite get there with a single class in 1e.
Most folks choose a full BAB plus either a caster or a skill monkey. The net result is your character is less pigeon-holed and can contribute whatever the party is doing which I feel works best for the slower PbP pace.
The downside is leveling is more complicated, but with herolab it's not so bad. I'm quite happy to build character sheets on request.
Momijii |
Never even looked at Herolab once I found out it was paid only. Doesn't help that the main campaign I play in and build characters for is a living campaign with material from it's own book as well that Herolabs doesn't have access to so it seemed too much hassle to bother with. Always do mine by hand, or keyboard as the case may be. I made a template for pbp characters a long time ago and keep a couple of blank ones as backups in case I accidentally save over it.
Never done much with gestalt. I've started a few games that used it but they never lasted long. I don't feel the need for gestalt myself but I won't say no to it either.
I will agree, Zarine, that I miss the options of 1st ed when playing 2nd but I think that, given time, we'll find 2nd ed has far greater variety of options than 1st ever did.
DM Fang Dragon |
Yeah 2e feels like it'll be great once there's a few ultimate-x books published. Not sure we're there yet mind you.
DM Fang Dragon |
For idea #1 I've written up a short pantheon. Could probably use this for idea 2 with a few changes too.
I'll write something up about airships for idea #2 next.
Momijii |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As far as the Pantheon goes it looks like a good start, obviously more fleshing out could be god, but I like it. One suggestion though, if the Major Gods have five domains the lesser should all likely have only three or four. Just a little bit of the nit picky in me.
Also, deity submission:
Karra the Maiden (love, beauty, illusions, moon) (CG)
Domains Charm, Darkness, Magic, Trickery
Worshipers Youth, Artists, Courtesans, Illusionists
Credo Love and beauty, these things are all illusions within the eye of the beholder and while as ephemeral and fleeting as the inconstant moon contain a profound magic.
Description Karra's appearance is fleeting and shifting. It is unique to everyone who views her and no two people will ever see the same thing. The only commonality is that she is always described as a beautiful maiden just old enough to be an adult.
Zarine Greenblood |
If we're submitting Deities, how about this one:
Deity: Thorn
Titles: The Cleansing Fire, God of the Forest
Alignment: Chaotic good
Portfolio Destruction, Renewal, Change, Repentance
Cleric Alignments
NG, CG, CN
Domains: Chaos, Plants, Fire, Strength (Self-Realization), Destruction (Catastrophe), Good (Redemption)
Favored Weapon: Bows (He wields a Thorn Bow ...based on this one, but likely better: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/t horn-bow/)
Thorn is basically the God of Forests and Forest Fires, which are devastating, but which fertilize and feed the new growth of the forest and spark renewal. He represents change and growth, but also cleansing and destruction, and fights against corruption and stagnation. Things that have life should be always changing and improving, giving way to new life. There is room for trees that live for hundreds of years, but also for trees that die and rot and become food and homes for other creatures, giving back to the forest. Destruction and change are part of the cycle of life.
Anyway, I haven't really given a lot of thought to how he became a god or if he just was one, or what he looks like... maybe a plant-man hybrid or something?
Zandomir Talathel |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm liking the homebrew deities. :) I might have to try brewing something up.
Is there more info you can provide about the two options, DM? If not, I'll try to weigh in on my preference, since that might help move the decision-making process along.
I'm open to gestalt, and I do like it, I'm just a little wary of the power-creep it provides. The initial boost is already high, but I can only imagine what it will be like at higher levels. Still, being able to make a character modeled after a superhero or book character or something similar would be cool.
Another thing to consider is that gestalt might not be that necessary if we're all coordinating classes (assuming everyone participates). Having everyone on the same page should make it easier to make sure we have every party role covered.
Still, I'm open to gestalt, and might actually have a slight preference towards it. I just suspect it gives extra work for the DM and this is already a homebrew campaign, so something to consider.
Momijii |
*Cackles maniacally*
My homebrew sdeity creation monster is ALIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!
Momijii |
*Shrugs off the smite*
Haw! Foolish paladin! My monster doesn't care about good or evil, order or entropy, only the creation of new deities! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
DM Fang Dragon |
Momijii thanks for Karra the Maiden I'm sure we can fit her in. So one thing I'd say overall Elodinism religion is a bit like Catholism in that officially everyone worships Elodin but they often venerate one or more saints. Elodin does grant spells but so do the saints. Oh and yes I need to do an editorial pass to normalize the number of domains. Thorn looks good too, he'd be a servant of Elodin created to tend the forests.
Zandomir happy to provide more details, is there anything in particular you're interested in?
So about the second campaign, airships!
Large electrical fans push the airships along. Sails used to be used for this but you were at the mercy of the winds (without water a rudder was ineffective so you had to rise or fall to take advantage of different layers of wind). Electrical power comes from lightning elemental imprisoned within platinum cages. Fast airships can travel over 150 miles an hour. Small airships are typically unarmed and rely on speed. Larger airships have a variety of ballista and trebuchets. Also dropping stones from a great height can inflict terrible damage on things below.
The weather is quite a major factor for storms can dredge up rocks and debris from the interior which can scour islands and trash airships.
Naturally predicting the weather is an important skill and is folded into survival. Navigating an airship requires profession: sailor checks. Usually you can take 10 on these checks but not in combat. Kn: Engineering and Kn: Arcana is of course essential for maintaining the ship and you can attempt to overdrive the lift crystal and the fans with successful checks leading to increased velocity.
Momijii |
*Laughs maniacally at Lizzie and uses Super-phenomenal cosmic powers to remove her admin privileges. Her removal is denied.*
Momijii |
*lip quivers*
How could you Lizzie, my Papa's dead!
*begins crying*
Momijii |
*clutches Lizzie to her like a teddy bear*
DM Fang Dragon |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Re races in the first campaign Dwarves and Humans are by far the most common races. Halflings coexist peacefully in most human cities and gnomes in dwarven ones. Relations between between the four races are generally pretty good since the two major races favour different habitat and over the centuries they forned a mutual defence pact (The Alliance) to deal with trolls, goblins and dragons. The two lesser races are not populous enough to cause problems with natural resources.
The second campaign has the standard golorion races.
Re thorn, perhaps he was a powerful druid who melded with a tree at the end of a long and eventful life and due to Elodin's favour he was elevated to his current position?
DM Fang Dragon |
Re Gestalt and GM effort I doubt it makes things that much harder. I've played in a number of gestalt campaigns and based on what I've seen I'd use APL +2 or so as the default encounter strength and adjust accordingly if things seem too easy or hard. I've been playing things by ear on the other campaign I run for several years and it seems fine. The bit that takes effort is the world building. Of course you can help here ;)
Zarine Greenblood |
I like the druid melded with a tree and then ascending idea for Thorn. :) Airships sound cool and scary. :)
Momijii |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That is a neat druid idea.
I remember in the Iron Kingdoms setting under 3.5 rules there was a whole website of homebrew things and one of the things someone did was, within the rules and without costing any caster negative levels (a setting thing) figured out how to build an airship. Guy did an amazing job of it.
I'll read these airship sections after work.
*EDIT*
Oorrrrr I will read aiships now.
That is pretty good, I like it. Given the setup losing gunpowder isn't a big deal, hell, they can simply mount wands and such for "guns".
I still like the idea of a paintball gun with the pellets filled with potions to shoot people with. Book series I really like did that and the main character, a witch, was always putting "sleepy time" potions in the paintballs to knock out enemies with.