My other choice would probably be a gnome sorcerer or wizard, since that lets me keep my "new race and new class for every character" rule.
Also, could I volunteer to be the first GM? This will be my first time GMing PBP, so it would be nice to start with an old friend.
I've got limited signal where I'm camping, so I'm just checking in to say I'm thinking about a druid, as previously mentioned.
And I agree that Hmm should go for it! If we need to start off with a slightly slower pace due to gameday, that's okay by me.
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Sounds like so far:
Kate: GMing Confirmation, archer ranger *or* gnome arcanist
Dennis: paladin *or* monk
Khel: dirty nature lover
Rob: paladin/sorcer/dragondisc *or* wizard
Hmm: maybe?
Khel, have you heard back from Oladon?
If Hmm and Oladon are in, that'd be six folks. We could do 7 (as one will always be GMing).
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If I played, it would be as a bard. Although I love small races (gnomes and halflings) I think an all-small party would TPK pretty quick in Core.
I am debating doing a human archer bard from the Mwangi expanse or a half-orc with a falchion from Averaka. There are so many interesting human ethnicities to play with!
Hmm
A few thoughts and things:
I'm traveling tomorrow, and on a work trip this week, so posting will be a bit erratic.
It sounds like we've got the beginnings of a lineup, pending a few decisions. Anyone with an *or* in Rob's list above feel any closer to a decision? Hmm, can we write your name in the ledger in pen? I note your use of the subjunctive in your last post, still expressing some uncertainty.
Finally, I'm still thinking about my druid, was even daydreaming about a dwarf druid who's more focused on earth and stone than those tree and flower people that are always running about. But a thought did occur to me (aside from the fact that he'd have a 20' move speed), which is that we'll be facing a lot of demons and other evil outsiders in this run. And I'll need to make regular SR checks for my spells, and my animal companion will face some challenging DR, which will be tough to overcome in Core.
So, is anyone else worried about power, or just going for it purely based on character idea? I noted a couple of early paladin volunteers, which would fare well in this campaign, and am wondering if I'll be watching from the sidelines, eating goodberries, as my big crocodile fails to really hurt demons.
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I wouldn't worry *too* much. My experience with PFS is that some of season 4 is pretty tough, because that was the year that the PFS developers listened a little too much to the optimizers. Otherwise, most Pathfinder adventures are written to challenge a group of characters built more or less like the pregens. The highly optimized (even loophole-optimized) characters that a substantial subset of players bring to the table means that I often see PFS combats that last a round or two at most, and many people take no damage.
So, yeah, if we don't super optimize, we'll take some damage. But, as long as we're not complete flakes, and are competent adventurers, we should be able to do OK. I wouldn't sacrifice the sort of character we want to play on the altar of combat damage potential.
A fair point, Rob, and nicely put. I agree about the overall degree of difficulty, and I generally build much more towards flavor than power as a result. In this case, I don't want to just build a deadly munchkin, but I also don't want to be ineffective relative to everyone else, as that would get old over the course of 33 scenarios, hence my question about what the rest of y'all are thinking.
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Can I promise to come in on only one scenario -- the Confirmation -- and see how the group gels and moves? I think I need to see that before fully committing to the 33 xp plan. Is that okay?
If not... I think you had best find a replacement for me. Bret might be great! So might Fromper, KingofAnything, or others.
Hmm
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If I'm not mistaken, we still have room for one more anyway, don't we?
Kate: GMing Confirmation, archer ranger *or* gnome arcanist
Dennis: paladin *or* monk
Khel: dwarf earth/stone druid
Rob: paladin/sorcer/dragondisc *or* wizard
Oladon: "an elf or something"
Hmm: bard (provisional)
That's six. If we always have six characters and one GM, there's room for one more. Should we preemptively invite Bret to join this group of six? (What's his forum alias?)
Also: Oladon, I don't know how long you've been gaming, but of course back in the days of OD&D, "elf" was a class. :) I started with AD&D/1e in 1977, so I didn't find out about that until later.
Can I promise to come in on only one scenario -- the Confirmation -- and see how the group gels and moves? I think I need to see that before fully committing to the 33 xp plan. Is that okay?
My only concern about this, should you decide not to continue, will be the challenge of finding a replacement player with a Core character with just 1 XP - though we'll probably figure it out.
Having said that, I understand that you don't want to commit to a multi-year PbP project without some experience of the group first. What's more, I expect we'll all have such a fine time together that you couldn't possibly walk away from this opportunity.
In short - this approach is okay by me, though others might feel differently
On the other line of inquiry - yes, we still have room for one more, if Hmm sticks around.
I have Bret's email address, I'll shoot him a note.
Note received. Thanks for the invite!
I haven't done any core PFS yet. I reserved a number as a dumping ground for GMing, but there never was enough interest in core around here for that to be needed.
... wait, elf isn't a class in PF?
Elves have class, even when they are barbarians. That is separate from what class they train in.
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Of the core races, I haven't created an elf or dwarf yet so I would probably play one of those. I'm pretty flexible about which one. I'm not quite at the point of having a rule about it, but I have enjoyed playing a variety of races.
I am pretty comfortable filling in with whatever class people feel we need.
We will want to look at how the group balance changes as different people GM. For example, it looks to me like when Khel GMs we will be depending mostly on the bard and paladin to provide all of the restorative effects. We also may have a little bit of trouble with haunts since the only channeler would likely be the pure paladin.
It currently looks like no one will be disarming traps. The core rogue is weak, so we may just want to skip that. If not, I could look at doing an Arcane Trickster. Does the group want to just say traps don't matter, or should I look at fulfilling that role?
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Arcane trickster could be cool. Of course, it means that we'll only have somebody able to properly handle traps when you weren't GMing....
If I make some arbitrary choices for people (so this is not final, of course), we'd have:
Kate: gnome arcanist
Dennis: paladin
Khel: dwarf earth/stone druid
Rob: paladin/sorcerer/dragondisc
Oladon: "an elf or something" <-- Ranger?
Hmm: bard (provisional)
BretI: arcane trickster
If Hmm's bard has a high enough INT, she'll have loads of skills, and could potentially be Emergency Backup Disable Device.
The only fully arcane person we have would be Kate's arcanist. However, when she GMs, we'll still have two half-arcane types (arcane trickster and pre-dragon disciple, the former being much more arcane) and a bard. I should say that at level 1-3, my guy is a paladin, so he won't be half-arcane for a while.
With two paladins and (presumably) an animal companion, we ought to always have at least two solid melee types.
We won't have a primary healer, but lots of folks will be able to use CLW Wands....
As for other things: do we want to make one "campaign" on the Paizo Forums for this whole gigantic thing? Or do we want to make a new one for each scenario? The advantage of the latter is that it will administratively be easier to switch around GMs.
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The CHARACTER LIST
Kate: gnome arcanist
Dennis: paladin
Khel: dwarf earth/stone druid
Rob: paladin/sorcerer/dragondisc
Oladon: "an elf or something" <-- Ranger?
Hmm: bard (provisional)
BretI: arcane trickster
The listing of gnome 'arcanist' is throwing me off when we're discussing core. Arcane gnome might be better!
My bard is decided on class. I told Bret that I would determine my race, ethnicity and background by whatever he's playing. Maybe we'll have a bunch of elves! If so, then I'll be the elfiest archer bard ever. With a whip and longsword for backup. And enough dex to be backup disable device!
If Bret decides to go dwarf... Well, then I will be a melee dwarf bard with an AXE. That will be an interesting challenge, with a racial minus to charisma, but hey... There's got to be some cute dwarves, right? And summon monster wands are a thing!
As for other things: do we want to make one "campaign" on the Paizo Forums for this whole gigantic thing? Or do we want to make a new one for each scenario? The advantage of the latter is that it will administratively be easier to switch around GMs.
I'd rather have one campaign. Switching around GMs is fine so long as we have someone willing to maintain it no matter who GMs.
Hmm
I don't think she's said it here, but Oladon did tell me she's thinking of a cleric, so we'd have a couple of people who could patch the party up, and still one available when one of us is GM'ing.
I'm also not sure of the exact nature of my druid, but I think I'll likely stick with that class.
And one campaign sounds okay to me, I usually put links to maps and such in my avatar, so I don't mind not having edit rights to the campaign page in general.
I've heard that too long a thread can cause problems on the Paizo boards. Is that true?
I'm not clear on exactly how these boards work with respect to linking discussion, recruitment, and the gameplay threads. Links to resources are easy enough to put it in each GM avatar, and the main campaign tab usually doesn't have critical information.
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If I am going Arcane Trickster, it is most likely as an elf.
Since this is core, I think only the rogue is capable of disarming magical traps. I would say HMM's Bard could put the skill points to better use in other skills. I think we just don't have me GM trap-heavy plots. In general, traps are a thankless distraction anyways.
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Dunno if there are problems with long threads. If we start to see it, we'll adapt.
Here is the character sheet for my character. If you're interested to see what I have planned, click on the "Level Plan" tab. He's a Paladin of Apsu. Yeah, yeah, I know, Apsu isn't in Core. Well, I'm pretty sure we're able to use anything we want for roleplaying and background purposes, and there's no mechanical effect of worshipping Apsu, so... yeah, he's a paladin of Apsu. Was raised by a silver dragon. Is probably too idealistic. Came into the Pathfinder society via Ollysta Zadrian, who (I suppose) was an aquaintance of this silver dragon. (I should come up with his adoptive mother's name.)
This character was actually originally a regular character that has 2 GM credits. Because it's level 1, I'll redo that character to something entirely different. I've modified Verrix a bit to make sure he's Core legal. (My other guy... well, how about a Ganzi cleric of Yog-Sothoth? Too scary? Eh, whatever. I'll figure something out. I have more characters than I get to play, anyway.)
I will go ahead and create a campaign for this.
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Here is the gameplay thread of the campaign I just created. Dot it to get it on your own list of campaigns.
Once everybody's figured out characters, Kate, feel free to dive in with Confirmation as soon as you're ready to go!
That's fine; I think I'll need the weekend to get things started anyway.
I think I'll go wizard with my gnome, which means I'll probably be an illusionist, but I'll also get that figured out this weekend.
Yes, I will be coming in with an Elf.
HMM reminded me that the Rogue/Ranger combination works quite well. If the group thinks that having someone more capable in melee would be better, I could do that instead of an Arcane Trickster.
Either option works for me.
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Whichever you prefer. With a bard and a wizard, we're going to have *somebody* who is able to make knowledge checks and read arcane stuff in any event. So, there's something to be said for the R&R.
Also, if we change our mind during the first three adventures, we have the first-level retraining option.
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Think I'll start off like this and we will see where we are after the third adventure.
It sounds like we will be switching off GMing with each scenario, so this will also allow us to see how the dynamic changes as we rotate through. After all, one of us gets put on the slush pile, reading through apprentice Pathfinder reports for Valsin.
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Now that we've got a discussion thread set up for our core game, I'm going to mark this game inactive.