Deus Machina - The City of Stars (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Because discussion threads are very helpful!

Also, I rarely check the gameplay threads until right before I post (to avoid losing the reminder that you've all posted), so ask questions -here- if you want to get a faster response. ^^

@Baxter: Please organize your Abilities in alphabetical order within your alias - this helps me quickly find things when I need to reference them.

@Garrak: Please finish up your profile, adding in all the details along the same format as this character has.

@Straehan: See below.

@All: Your Abilities section should also include things like your Traits and Feats - spells don't need the full descriptions, though hotlinks (when available) do help. ^^ I'll be writing up more details on the other members of the Agency - and your general relationships with them - a little later this evening.

Alright, things should be cleaned up for you now.

Ok I finished up the profile. I edited the backstory a little bit too. I kept the smuggling angle, but changed it up a bit.

Sure you want to keep the slave angle? Remember, slavery itself is not a crime within the city... although it's a different story if a character has a personal objection to it and getting involved made them upset. ^^

Oops. I didn't save it. Fixed now. No mention of slaves at all.

Strae checking in! I'll update my character sheet to the preferred standard, etc.

So, it looks like we are a little thin on healing... Should we be buying wands, potions, etc.?

Well there is Mila. We could take her along, GM willing.

In general, Mila has her own assignments - but I may make her available for some particularly intense missions as a heal-bot. ^^ I would suggest having at least a few potions and wands throughout the group, though - there's less magic in the group than I expected.

(For future reference, Mila's a Bloodrager [Arcane]/Cleric [Good/Glory], and probably going to stay a level or two below you at all times.)

Expanded Information: Abal's Agency and your Associates

With a fairly large population (a significant part of which is transitory, only staying for a few days to trade), Auralis is a city whose residents have... occasional needs. The order within the city is kept by the large population of guards, who thoroughly patrol the markets and protect the various areas of the city - though the Poor District and Agriculture District are generally allowed to run themselves as long as things don't get out of hand. Thus, street crime and violence are fairly minimal, and the Council of Merchants has a vested interest in keeping it that way.

However, many other issues do pop up... scholars studying the arcane sometimes need rare ingredients from the Planes (and fast!), wealthy merchants sometimes want to make deals involving rare or dangerous items, and somebody needs to deliver a message to that grumpy ambassador from the Plane of Fire - ideally before he burns down half the block.

Enter Abal's Agency, one of a dozen or so companies in Auralis that trade in miscellaneous services. Your job is to do whatever you have to in order to solve the problems of the agency's customers - and despite the small size of the business, which operates about three blocks into the Artisan District, you have a reputation for being honest, reliable, and capable. Your income isn't phenomenal - and quite a lot of it seems to be spent on Remei's snacks - but it's a respectable and reasonably stable lifestyle. That said, it does require a certain degree of... moral flexibility. You're expected to uphold the laws of Auralis - and those laws were written to uphold trade, which means that what the merchants do with their merchandise is none of your business.

Supporting your efforts are three other members of the Agency.

Remei, the owner of the business, is a young-looking Tiefling who mainly seems interested in sweets. Despite that, she's the owner of the Agency - a post she's held literally for hundreds of years, if the records of the city are to be believed, and she's never talked about her personal life. Remei lives within the Agency's building, in a small room on the third floor you've been told never to enter unless you really, really want to. While she's never revealed the full extent of her powers, you do know that she's far more intelligent than most people will believe, and her childlike behavior may be her method of coping with a world unable to match the pace of her mind...

Gareth is a quiet warrior, though not out of a desire to be mysterious - rather, he seems more focused on getting the job done, and he avoids most kinds of wasted effort. You've only worked with him on a handful of missions, but those were enough to make it clear that he is a very capable warrior - clearly worth the high prices the Agency charges for his aid. There's not much to complain about - his income has paid for quite a bit of your own salary over the last year, especially on days when things have been quiet, and he's almost always off on one mission or another.

Mila, your occasionally-berserking healer, is the only member of the Agency newer than you are. She was obtained mainly for her magical skills and ability to hold off evil and undead creatures, and Remei has already announced plans to train her up as someone to help keep evil Outsiders in line during their visits to the city. Mila tries to save a few healing spells for you at the end of each day, but since her magic is for sale to the highest bidder, she's not always able to do that - and Remei has suggested that you never get into the habit of absolutely relying on her unless she's sent along on a task. A nice girl overall as long as you don't send her into a rage - there's still a dent in the couch from when she used it to smack a customer who got out of line.

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I'll be writing up an introductory RP post tomorrow. ^^

Hmmm... OK, if we want to go with a healing wand, I'll need to route one of my skill points to UMD. Is that OK with you Rednal?

I guess the other option would be for me to re-route a level of monk into a level of Oracle. I'm not particularly interested in devoting many levels to Oracle... but I could do a few and focus on healing magic... Again, only if you guys think it's a good idea and Rednal agrees.

I'd rather you have a strong concept you want to stick with - and going for the healing wand (and point in UMD) is probably the easiest way of doing so. XD

Go with the healing wand and the point in UMD. That should be good enough to at least heal us up inbetween battles. We can set aside some party gold along the way for a wand fund so it isn't just you buying them.

Alright, so our terrible trio is composed of a Brawler/Fighter ex-Guard, a Monk/Sorcerer, and a Gunslinger/Slayer

Point of interest, our social skills are intimidate and bluff. Are we okay with scaring and lying our way through things? I've done it before but it can be tricky at times.

OK, I'll just switch some points around.

Regarding Diplo, I've got a +4... not great but not terrible either. Hopefully we can make it work.

Well when lying or scaring doesn't work, there is always fighting. Let's just hope that Remei doesn't send us on missions that require political finesse.

GM - Super Genius Games has an exotic Shield - the serrated shield - that I think would be interesting for Garrak to use. Basically it makes shield bashes slashing with 19-20 crit range. Considering that brawlers has proficiency in all close weapons (which includes normal and spiked shields), can we consider him proficient in the serrated shield?

Also, for gauntlets, it says that they come with my armor. Since my armor is masterwork, can I consider the gauntlets masterwork for the purposes of attacks? or should I consider it independent and pay for it as a masterwork weapon? If that is the case, can I still consider it mithral? Similarly for the shield, should I pay twice for masterwork, one for the armor aspect and one for the weapon aspect?

Furthermore, for emei piercers, the description states that it allows unarmed strikes to do piercing damage. Does this mean that the damage would be the same as my improved unarmed strike?

Sorry for the questions. I normally play casters and I have never played a monk or a shield user before.

For the Emei piercer, the damage should remain at what is listed until you get Close Weapon Mastery at 5th level.

*Coughs* Well, let's just say that there are times when negotiating would be a better tactic...

For the Serrated Shield, you would be proficient with it as a weapon, though not for using it as an actual shield - unless you gain proficiency through another method, of course.

If the armor is masterwork, then the gauntlets associated with it are also masterwork. No need to pay twice.

Baxter is correct on the Emei Piercer. ^^ And don't worry about questions - answering them is part of my job!

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Garrak and Straehan, please add your quick reference data to the "Classes/Levels" bit in your Aliases, the way Baxter has (up to Perception; any other details are strictly optional). I can (and do) use that information regularly.

I'm almost done with updating my character sheet and it will have the headers you want. Unfortunately I was in class all day yesterday and will be doing that today as well. I'll post my new character sheet tonight.

Well then it's a good thing fighter states proficiency in all shields. :P Thanks for the help.

I fixed a few errors I found with Garrak. Turns out some of my class features are with light armor only and I misremembered the price for mithral for medium armor. I also added a description for his shield and put more in for his appearance.

Back from class and tweaking my character sheet. I had to shuffle some things to buy the wand of CLW. I'll finish up his purchases soon and post in the game thread before then.

Straehan? You're up.

Sorry, sorry. I flatout missed that I was holding things up.

Hey guys, any objection to me creating a google spreadsheet doc to track loot, splits, etc.? I just find things go a bit smoother if we handle loot in something of an organized fashion.

No objections on my end. ^^

That would be very useful.

OK, just PM me your email addys and I'll add y'all to the list.

Hey Rednal I was plugging all the treasure into the spreadsheet and I came out with an approximate value of 745.5 GP. I think you said the total should be around 848 GP. I'm trying to figure out the discrepancy. I was using a 50% sale value on everything but the cash. Are you using a different value?

Also, guys, what do we want to keep or sell? The Oil of Bless Weapon is probably worth keeping. I'm less certain about the Scroll of Bless Water and the Oil of Animate Rope (which is funny as hell).

I'm using what the completely random generator told me the value was. XD If in doubt, though, the individually listed values are the correct ones.

OK. If it is a 50% sale price then my figure should be on point. We're RICH!

I don't know. I can think of a few uses for an oil of animate rope. Granted, it will be unlikely that a situation will present it self. The question is that one emergency use worth the gold we get from selling it. The scroll of bless water can probably gotten rid of.

I've got no problem with keeping the oil of animate rope. We'd only get 25GP for it and it screams 'creative solution'. :)

I'm saving up to craft a double-barreled shotgun so every silver counts but I support keeping the oil of animate rope.

No problem. I'll put both of those on the 'keep list' and distribute them out as 'team items' (i.e. ones that don't count against our shares of the cash). Everything else will go in the sale list.

Again, if you guys want to see the spreadsheet, send me a PM with your email addy and I'll add you to the viewer list.

While Basher works on the lock, Straehan pulls out a wand and heals Garrak.

CLW Wand (2 charges): 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (2, 6) + 2 = 10

I'm assuming I don't need to do a UMD roll while we are out of combat since failure carries no penalty aside from taking a bit more time. If you'd rather I roll, let me know.

I think we can safely assume that you're able take whatever time is needed. XD If there is a problem to deal with - something actually time-sensitive - I'll let you know beforehand.

Gah! I mean to post that in the gameplay thread... I'll transfer the post over there.

Regarding UMD stuff - I'm good with that plan. Also, if we are in combat rounds I'll default to including a UMD roll just in case.

So, I've tentatively handed Garrak the Bless Weapon oil and Basher has the Animate Rope oil. After we sell everything else, we each walk away with 232GP.

Hey folks,

I'm going to be on vacation for about 10 days starting on Tuesday (7th). I'll try to post but I may not have the opportunity regularly. Feel free to bot me as needed.

Will do. ^^ Baxter, Garrak, how are you doing?

Apologies on the late posting. Somehow Deus Machina vanished from my My Campaigns tab. I've got it showing again now.

Doing alright, gonna be doing my part for the local legal system tomorrow.

Doing ok. I just started classes again (my university is on a quarter system) and started rotating with a new lab, so life is pretty busy.

Any way we could get the current map posted in the campaign description or something?

Sorry, Granny took a bad fall, been busy with that.

You're up, Straehan.

Sorry for going silent over the last few days. I got sick as a dog while coming back from vacation and I've been bed-ridden since then. I'll try to catch-up with the game and post within the next day or so. Feel free to bot me if that works best.

I certainly prefer to let people make their own actions. XD Just relax as much as you need - and drink lots of water, yeah? ^^

*Checks watch* Hmm...