Welcome!
I always do my best to run a friendly game. I want people to have fun and everyone to be able to laugh when something crazy happens.
This is part of a special so it will be critical that we run a fast game.
I really want everyone to be able to post at least once a day, preferably more. If you are going to be away from the game for a short period (such as attending a convention, on a short vacation, or needing to do some business travel), I would ask that you please post that here so everyone involved knows.
Character Profiles
Please have a profile displaying a brief overview of your character's current status. At the least it should include current/maximum hit points, AC (including flat footed and touch), saving throws, and any pools of expendable resources such as panache, grit, arcane pool, rounds of rage, rounds of bardic performance or other things like those that get expended as you use powers.
In the character profile, please include a complete stat block. You may put it under a spoiler if you wish, but if you do so please put it under a single spoiler. I do not want it split across multiple spoilers.
If you have your character sheet on a different site, please have a link to it in your character’s headers.
Botting
Botting is when someone else makes a roll or otherwise does something on behalf of your character. Bot is short for robot.
Please include botting instructions in your profile and a general tactics in case someone else needs to bot your character. It is alright if you put this in a separate spoiler from the stat block, but once again please don't split it over multiple spoilers.
Since this is a special, I would suggest you as a group come up with some general agreement for when people get botted. Some groups are more comfortable with botting than others.
Please also indicate if you have a preference for who runs your character. If there are resources you don’t mind them using, please say so.
If your character has any abilities that interrupt play such as Swashbuckler Parry and Repost, Dual Cursed Oracle’s Misfortune Revelation, the Bard Spell Saving Finale or any other things that can interrupt the normal sequence to allow an action, modify a check or cause a re-roll, I ask that you have something in your Botting instructions about when you will use this. The reason is that it can really slow down a PbP if you have to serialize actions.
Initiative in PbP
I will roll all Initiative checks for PCs and NPCs, sort them, and organize them into blocks. I will bold the names of characters that should act. I will take the NPC actions in order and reserve the right to delay an NPC in order to make them act with a group of other NPCs.
When it is your turn to act, please post. Do not wait for someone else to post just because they had a higher Initiative. If you know what you want to do but want to wait for someone else’s action to go off first, just say that.
Here is an example of how you could post before another player but have it go off after another player:
Sir Cumference waits for the elven archer Mister Oakleaf to get done firing his arrow before charging the Wily Snark.
I (and most other PbP GMs) do grouped Initiative in order to keep the adventure moving. In PbP people will have different posting schedules and often live in different time zones, Waiting for posts in order could make a single round of combat take days to resolve. Even in a normal game, that slows things down too much. In a special, you would never have time to complete anything.
Within the rules, it is as if everyone within the same Initiative block delayed until they could post.
Rules Questions
If there are rules questions, please post them in the discussion thread rather than interrupting the gameplay thread with rules debates.
Assuming you have the requisite 9 fame or the Minor BoH on a chronicle, everything should be good.
We have started and all players have posted at least once. Time to take care of a little bit of bookkeeping.
So, it appears the APL for this table is 1.5.
If the result of the Average Party Level calculation ends with 0.5, the players should decide whether to round up or down.
So, do people want it APL 1 or APL 2?
It does not matter in terms of what Tier things are or for the chronicle rewards, but with specials the actual value of the APL is sometimes used in calculations.
Also, I need the chronicle information from Ylania. Please just copy the format that the others have used above: Player and Character name as you want them to appear on the chronicle, PFS #, and Day Job or a note if you don't have one.
If Ylania is level 2, the APL is 10/6 = 1.667 instead of 9/6=1.5 and rounds to 2.
So as to not slow things down, go ahead and continue telling me what you prefer.
@Ylania Please update your profile and let me know here when you are done so I can make the appropriate adjustments.
@Ylania I assume the +4 Perception in the body of the profile is the correct value. Please fix your header.
Sorry for the delay in answering the question on Studied Target.
The runes are in the garden with the fountain. The gardens are surrounded by bushes.
Since you can’t really see the target from the outside, I am going to say you would need to make a Stealth check if you want your Studied Target before Combat.
There doesn’t appear to be a range limit on Studied Target, so when you can see them clearly from outside combat, I will allow you to Study them first.
Does this seem fair?
I picked that as the skill (perception) to be trained in unless I misunderstood the picking a skill to get.
Nope, my mistake. Thanks for the correction! You did it correctly then.
Does anyone mind if we proceed after two people agree on a course and destination?
That will help keep things moving.
It doesn’t sound like any of the characters want to scout, but the Eagle may well do so again.
If successful, the scouting allows you to find out what is in an area -- to the limits of the scout's ability to identify and report.
If failed, combat begins with just the scouts and the enemies. In that case, the rest of the group arrives in 1d3 rounds.
Success would allow you to evade an encounter and try a different one.
If you guys aren't going to use the Aid Token, it is best to pass it along to others.
The more it gets passed along, the more likely it is to come back with a better boost on it.
Only one character can attempt a boost, but it doesn't take a combat action.
Aid tokens:
Only one person can activate or boost it, then the token is moved on. Most effects give something to everyone at the table.
Boosting it allows other tables to use the boosted effect. This can be important to a table that lacks certain skills or a high level table (where the difficulty numbers are much higher than at this tier).
Any character can activate the token. When activated, you can take either the normal effect or (if it had previously been boosted) the boosted effect. The only way to get an effect from Provide Knowledge or Provide Spellcasting is to use a boosted effect.
Where it says one PC gains, only the person activating it gains that portion of the effect.
As an example, if Kioshi activated the Aid Token for Allied Offensive, they would do +1d8 on their melee attack and all the other characters would consider their opponents Flanked for one round. Melee Rogues love when others activate this one.
One character uses it for one round, then it moves on to a different table. That table then uses it or boosts it.
The effects may last more than one round, such as the Timely Inspiration. That lasts for 3 rounds.
The more quickly the token gets passed, the more tables can use or boost it. I have seen Aid tokens have over 20 boosts by the end of a special played face to face. This is my first PbP special, but I expect it can be boosted even more in this environment.
With specials played face to face, the Aid Token is usually a sheet of paper that people write on. Those who boost something put their names down so the people that use it know who they have to thank. We will be attaching names to boosts as well.
You are all welcome.
Since it was asked, yes you do specify which skill you are boosting. It can be any Knowledge skill or Spellcraft, provided the character is trained in the skill or has something allowing them to roll even if not trained.
The better the roll, the better the results. Easy, Average and Hard are the possible values.
Just a couple of words out of character about specials.
They tend to have a similar structure. There is a threat. In order to deal with the threat you need to deal with several lesser threats at the same time. A large group from the Society is all working on this at the same time, each sub-group trying to take care of the portions they can handle. You occasionally get help from other Pathfinder groups in the same area.
I’ll now relate that to this special.
The museum has gone mad and interlopers have taken over Nigel’s office on the third floor. They also set off all sorts of protections.
You need to get the museum protections under control before tackling the office.
Your group goes for the opponents you can handle (such as the wax golem) while other groups go after different creatures (such as Advanced Clockwork Golems) but the museum is large enough that all those fights can take place within it.
Other groups helping each other is represented by the Aid tokens.
As groups accomplish things (get successes or special successes) the environment changes. At some point there will be enough successes to unlock the warded office on the third floor.
Does that help people visualize what is going on, both mechanically and in the story?
Yes, the office is on the third floor and the wards around it are currently preventing access.
I would have to check additional resources. Where are they from, which book?
The link that Sek gave said Alchemy Manual. Elves of Golarian does have some special arrows done via Alchemy, most notably the Durable Arrows. In either case, the answer is checking Additional Resources.
Edit to add:
Looking closer, it appears this item is in either.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Alchemy Manual **
The spontaneous alchemy rules on pages 4-5 are legal for play; Archetypes: the drunken rager on page 12 is legal; Equipment: all equipment, magic items, and reagents on the inside of the front and back covers, as well as pages 6-31 are legal for play except cytillesh extract, cytillesh spores, fungul grafts, fungal eyes, fury gas, ginger extract, mugwort extract, reaching vines, shaman's paint. The mythic alchemical items on pages 26-27 are legal, however the mythic section of each is not available for PFS play. Note that any inidividual items found in kits can not be sold back seperately. The correct price for the vial of efficacious medicine is 7,000 gp; Feats: the feats on pages 5 and 8 are legal for play; Misc.: the new abilities for improved homunculi on page 14 are legal for play. The ooze crafting section on pages 22-23 is not legal for play. The herbalism as alchemy section on page 24 is legal for play. The mythic path abilities and 1st-tier universal path abilities sections on page 26 are not legal for play.
They are on pg. 21, which is within the range of 6-31. They aren’t specifically listed as an exception. Looks legal to me.