DM Fang Dragon's Strange Aeons (Inactive)

Game Master FangDragon

Wands and evocation magic are definitely a thing! Creative use of elementals too...

Like loading a fire elemental in a catapult, to launch it onto an enemy ship?

Using a lightning elemental as a defibrillator?

Not sure about the defibrillator but flinging a fire elemental sounds legit ;)

I've copied Karra and Thorn into the doc and granted edit rights so if anyone feels like doing a pass to keep the number of domains consistent you can.

I suppose it would be helpful to know what other races are available in the two settings. We've touched on it a bit, but, for instance, would a fetchling make sense in either setting? And how involved are the planes in general with these two settings?

The workload for you, DM, is the main thing, so if you're cool with it, I'm cool with it, haha. Gestalt is fun and not something you get to do that often.

I liked all the info about airships. That sounds like something that would be a neat mechanic, though I would be curious how actual airship combat would work.

The first campaign player races are limited to: Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome. The planes have been fairly remote until the invasion.

The second campaign has all the standard races including Tielings, Aasamar, and many low RP races from the ARG. I'll have to think about fetchlings they're a 17RP race so they have advantages over lesser races. The elemental planes are well connected to Oberon especially the plane of Air. The higher and lower planes are quite remote so devils and angles are not a big part of the campaign.

There are rules for ship combat I may be able to adapt. I'll investigate and post them later.

So I think we can adapt these rules. The biggest challenge is 3d combat and how to show that in PbP game. I have an idea for that however. I'll mock something up later.

Gotta admit that the variety of races available in the archaeology game, and the airships, are starting to grow on me a bit. I have a couple of ideas starting to percolate for characters for that one too. I'll adjust my vote to either campaign is good with me.

*EDIT*
Dealing with 3d maping wise might be a problem but I think it is doable. Just adapt the rules for flying from the flight skill to handle verticle movement. You can always add a notation of +/- distance to indicate height from the "middle" of the sky. For example:
Highwind +30ft
Galbados +10ft
Wasp, Hornet, Stinger -20ft

If they are overlaping it is easy enough to do something like:
Highwind +20ft/Wasp, Hornet -20ft
Galbados +20ft/Stinger -50ft, plumeting

*EDITEDIT*
Dangit! Figures I get this bug to figure it out while at work.

A plotted movement system would be imperative if we are handling three dimensions instead of one, which I think we should As a sample.

Highwind has a move of 12, turn mode of 3.
Basic Moves:
Moving forward is no extra cost (10 ft movement)
Descending at 45 degrees (standard descent) costs double every other descend movement
Ascending costs double plus 1 additional movement
Turning 45 degrees costs 1 move

Example movement:
Initial location for highwind is square A1+30ft
Move forward 3 (3 move east) (D1+30)
Turn 45 Degrees right move ahead 1 (move into E2, 2 move points)
Descend (moves into F3+20, 1 move pt)
Move forward 2 (H5+20; second diagonal is dbld to 3 move used)

Total move used 9/12, final position H5+20 facing I6+20

Half wish we could do hex based for this part, much simpler to handle since diagonals never count dbl.

An idea for a deity.

Name: Xandarus
Nickname: The vigilant One. The inspiring leader.

Alignment: LN
Portfolio: Community (Cooperation), Glory (Honor), Nobility (Leadership), Strength (Resolve).

Worshipers: Guardsmen, soldiers, mercenaries, community leaders.

Favored weapon: Longsword.

Credo:
Through cooperation, one can achieve glorious things.
Honor gets respect, and both are the qualities of a good leader.
Show courage in the face of danger, and those near you will share in it.
Strength in unity, together we will overcome any obstacle.

Xandarus is depicted as a young human male, mid twenties, with short brown hair. He wears a green vest underneath an auburn colored scale mail.
Giving off an air of a stoic and fearless leader.

Sacred animal: Wolfdog.

Merry xmas everyone!

Momijii yes I'm very tempted to use hex for ship combat. It's supposed to be easy to make a hex overlay in Photoshop, I'll have a go later.

Lizzie I think he would fit the pantheon best as Saint Xandarus.

Oh and Happy Christmas everyone!

Yeah, I've played a few space minis games and, short of free measuring, the best developed one was Star Fleet Battles which used a hex map. The rules were, overall, extremely complex to the point you almost need an advanced math degree to play it, but the only part we'd need is the movement section. They did a much simplified version that was free measuring that used very similar movement rules without all of the math to dole out energy allocation. The bare basics of it are very similar to what I put above. I can try and convert it over a bit better if you'd like. It shouldn't be too hard and will require only a little more effort than what I already did.

Oh, and lest I forget, Merry Christmas all!

@ GM,
A saint would imply the person in question was of Good alignment, no?

No I don't think so. Can't have an evil saint but LN sure.

Oh I should probably mention that islands can move, blown about by the winds. Of course the bigger islands hardly move at all and maps work just fine. Smaller islands are often marked with a radio signal, with a unique calling signal. Now with a directional antenna a radio engineer with a DC 18 check can try to figure out how far away the island is, which is handy if you want to find a particular island again.

Momijii I think the flying rules make sense, because there are going to be headwinds and all sorts. Some areas of the atmosphere are very rough others gentle as a summer breeze.

So do I get the feeling the an archeological adventure among the islands in the sky is the current favourite?

Hmm, didn't think about the wind but yeah, if you determine the wind is blowing from x direction with sufficient strength you can adjust the speed moved accordingly. Adds some more tactics as using the wind is a factor in your ability to move and turn.

With my expanded interest to include the Archaeology one as well I think that gives us a majority so yeah.

I think the archaeology one is also my preference.

I’m starting to think about classes. Do you know what level we’ll start at? And are we definitely going to use gestalt? And what’s the lowdown on ability score allocation and health?

I like the campaign hook. I’m interested in the double credit. :)

I'm thinking 25pt level 3, gestalt. I'd like to request that one side of the gestalt is a class with 6+ skills. Only Paizo sources. No scores below 7 or above 18. I'd prefer to keep it to races with RP score of 15 or lower so that nobody is eclipsed.

I aim to give you all a good challenge but no need to build hyper optimal combat monsters since I'm planning on lots of intrigue too and you'll get bored if you make something too one sided. Anyway if anyone wants to make a young Indiana Jones this will be the campaign for it! (since firearms are not a thing on Oberon I'd be tempted to build him as an archeologist / brawler with control rope, there's other ways too ofc.)

Oh and count on having: Town based encounters, wilderness encounters, some small dungeons, a fair bit of aIrship travel and some airship combat. My aim is for social skills to be important and also combat skills. I guess what I'm suggesting is that the party and players should try to be well-rounded.

"No scores below 7 or above 18."

Is this before or after Racials?

I was musing an engineering/antropology oriented character.

Would it be plausible to craft clockwork servants, or animated objects?

Also, if you decide to require everyone take t least one class with x skill per level I would either require six ranks total after bonuses or a base of 4+ ranks per level or more. There are only four or five classes that get 6+ or more per level.

I was thinking after racials for the scores and we can go with 6+ ranks after bonuses - don't want to be too restrictive. The intent here is to try and get characters who can contribute with more than just combat. Oh and some classes just need 1 stat so starting off with a 20 is a bit too much :)

Understandable and works for me.

Now to figure out what I want to run...

Sweet. I don't know for sure what I am doing, but likely something like ranger/sorcerer

Or maybe I'll do the actual "Archaeologist" bard archetype, which would fit well with this story. Hmm. Okay, yeah... probably bard/ranger instead, unless that is too similar to everyone else, and then I'll switch to something that fills a gap in the party.

Some character ideas that would fit thematically: A botanist interested in exotic (i.e. man eating) plants. A zoologist / hunter who aims to document and capture specimens for the University Zoo (Inquisitor monster knowledge would fit thematically, also lore warden). An airship pilot (ideally a cha class with a mix of face skills, Kn:Sailor, Kn:Engineering, Fly and a combat side). A lift crystal mechanic (going to need Kn:Arcarna, Kn:Engineering, Kn:Planes one side of the gestalt should probably be an arcane caster). Obviously archeologist bards fit this campaign, these likely need to be half elves to sort out the bug/feature with performance (although we can house rule that problem away if folks like). I'd say that bardic lore will be rather useful although there are world class experts at the university.

Re gestalt one interesting side effect is otherwise questionable archtypes can become quite good e.g. Eldritch Scrapper brings 9th level casting and martial flexibility to a (probably) full bab other half. Another example is a Blade Adept arcanist plus a full BaB class for a better eldritch knight.

Wierdo from these forums wrote a Guide to Gestalt note we don't need some of the more OP combos but it gives a good idea of which classes work well together.

How should we handle Aasimar (or tiefling) variant abilities?

I have seen DMs who let people roll three times and choose, or they roll for you, or various other things.

On the Aasimar chart, obviously anyone would like 9, 20, 40, 50, 70, 90 (they raise stats), but if you are a DM that likes to choose for us, I was sort of thinking that 44 (If you stand atop a grave and meditate for 10 minutes, you learn the name of whoever lies buried below.) would be a good ability to have background- and story-wise. Or else 52 (understand any written material). Those would contribute a lot to an Archaeologist's career.

Also, alternate physical features... can we choose, or do you want us to roll for those?

Half tempted to try learning to play the occultist, could be a lot of fun. Leaning towards that or a psychic as one of the classes currently. Just wish occult skill unlocks weren't quite so restricted on their uses. Thinking strongly about taking ranks in appraise so I can use psychometry to read objects, sadly it is one use per day.

So an occultist or psychic would be great. Happy to add a custom feat to allow expanded usage something like additional wis modifier usages per day.

Re Tielings / Aasamar all the flavorful ones (44 would be very fitting for this campaign) you can just have. The stat raise mods are going to have to be rolled for however (best of 3), does that seem fair? You can choose alternative physique since those tend to be tied into the character concept.

Much as I'd like to try an occultist I think I'm leaning towards psychic more now as I know that class and with gestalt it's better to stick with things I know I think. grand question now is what other class to take...hmmmm. Almost tempted to pick up draconic bloodline and go with an esoteric dragon bloodline, could be fun when mixed with a psychic caster, and maybe go dragon disciple later on for better survivability.

I've started collecting all of this information to form a Players Guide.

Seems I'm getting to this way late.

Sorry, the holidays kinda floored me. Although the campaign setting is intriguing and seems hella fun I'm not really interested in anything gestalt. I was sorta hoping for a 2E game, but good luck guys.

Thanks for letting us know Heinrich. Sorry to see you go :(

I think I'll PM a few people in other games I'm in to see if there's any interest, hopefully avoid an open recruitment thread.

Working on the build now and had a couple more questions.

1.) Background skills? Yes or no?
2.) Traits? How many?

I’m currently thinking of making a druid plus something else. If potentially two animal companions is too much, I can come up with something else. (I know Zarine mentioned possibly going with a ranger.)

As for character creation questions, are we doing any feat taxes rules or just standard?

Background skills yes and 2 non-campaign traits. No feat taxes. If this was a table game two ACs would be too much, but for PbP sure why not. Probably a good idea if at least one can fly or its going to get in the way however.

I think we'll also use skill unlocks and stamina for fighters.

Big question, do we want to keep the usual action economy or try the three action per round optional rules?

We also need to consider what to do with this game. Perhaps you decide the dream quests are simply too dangerous and that on balance you don't really want your memories back since you're happy with who you are now? Any thoughts?

Hmm, what to do with this one. In some ways I would like to see it continue but those are mostly because of side stories I enjoyed that haven't wrapped up yet and mysteries unsolved. Conversely the grind has gotten a bit much for me as well. If we decide to end this one I'd like to try and tie up some of those loose ends.

This game: I am okay resolving it narratively as well. I'd love to know what happens in the story, but Zarine is obviously too breakable for the battles, and I'd rather just let the character die than try to come back with something more optimized. Memories Schmemories. :D Seems like she doesn't want to know what it was like serving some psycho evil guy anyway.

The new game:

Sounds good on the Variant Abilities. I'll take 44 and work it into my background. Also, when do characters need to be ready? (I'm still on vacation until the 10th, so might be difficult pulling something together before then, but I will if I need to.)

Three-Action optional rules: Never used them, so completely unfamiliar, but willing to try if that is what the group wants.

Animal Companions: I haven't chosen an archetype yet, but might go with an option that doesn't have a companion anyway, so definitely don't avoid druid for my sake. :) I'm in it for the archery, not the companion.

No feat tax: Do you have a link to the rules for that? I think that means there is no such thing as point-blank shot, but can't remember all the details, and not sure of any official source.

I believe it means that certain things, point blank shot, weapon finesse, power attack, combat expertise, are baked into your character if you meet the pre-reqs.

Not soo sure on the three action rules, I'd have to read them, but at that point we're getting really close to playing 2nd ed so it might be better to go that route if we decided to use them.

Sorry to be clear I'm proposing we don't use the elephant in the room feat tax rules. For those curious here is a link. Nothing against them per se its just on top of gestalt it moves the needle a bit too far.

And now I find one of the difficulties of Gestalt, not enough feats to go around for the hybrid designs, or do we end up getting additional feats beyond the normal 1 every odd level?

Also, changed up what I was looking at a little bit and will need to talk to you about some possible issues with the build. I'll do that later.

Looking, now, at a Spiritualist (fractured soul)/Psychic sorcerer. Sadly I can only focus on casting or combat, both is just too much with the need for spell focus feats and such.

There's multiple paths to combat proficiency. E.g. at the bear minimum a str-based martial needs power attack leaving most of the other feats open for caster things. Some other combat styles are very feat intensive (e.g. dual wielding or archery) and would synergize best with something that didn't need a lot of feats (e.g. self or party buffs which don''t ever get resisted).

Another thing to think of there's a bunch of classes / archetypes that add free feats some of these become rather good.

Is there a particular visual you're going for?

Oh and regarding when to start, IMO there's no massive rush. I'd like to give this game a proper send off which might take a week or so. Does that seem OK?

Naw, nothing in particular. I'd contemplated getting glaive proficiency through a trait and getting bladed brush and weapon finesse but the number of feats needed is just prohibitive. Planning to focus on casting anyway since it's not that big a deal and may just grab weapon finesse for a feat so I can use a melee weapon in a pinch I intend to use my phantom to keep enemies off of me more than anything else.

The issue I need to discuss with you has to do with the archetype and the phantom I intend to use. The emotion phantoms all remove some of the spell-like abilities the spiritualist gets and they gain spell-likes to compensate. Unfortunately not all of the phantoms get these abilities as they were added later and the abilities were never given to them for some strange reason. Would I just not lose these spell-likes or would we be able to work out appropriate ones for them?

Been 0.00 here, so happy new year everyone!
Best of wishes. :)

Happy New Year to you as well. :)

And okay, no anti-feat tax rules. Got it.

Made a few more additions to the Player's Guide.

One more question. To help make the pet type classes pets a bit more survivable can we do the max hp, or even 3/4 hp, per hit dice so they aren't quite so squishy?

Oh, and how are we handling our HP, full, roll, something else after first?

Let's go full hp for level one and Max(half plus 1, roll) for later levels for both pets and players.

Sorry not had time to think about that archetype yet, will try to do so soon.