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Looked over everything, and I think it would be an interesting game to run. I should note that my approach to games as a GM is a bit different than RR's, for good or bad. I'm much more demanding when it comes to game pace, and would expect everyone to be able to make at least one post a day during the week. My weekend posting is spotty, but I usually get in something most mornings when I am able.
I'd likely implement a number of house rules as well. All fairly minor, but I want to be as transparent as possible. I don't see any real challenges based on how you all have been in the past. And since I'm familiar with the posting habits of at least three of you from when I was in the game before, I think we will be fine.
So if everyone is good, I'll ask RR to swing control of the threads over to me and we can try to pick up where he left off as best as possible. For the sake of my own sanity I'll probably be a little heavy handed with getting Lucius joined up with the party to keep things simple.
Hooray! Thanks so much Gheris! I'm definitely ready to step up the pace. I'm usually good on weekdays, may slack a little on weekends but not always.
Is anyone here aware of how to transfer a game over?
Gheris now has my game notes, so I wish you all good luck and great fun. ^^
I'll be keeping an eye on this.
Ok, checking in as GM for now. I would say we will pause things until Tuesday. This will give me time to read up, make notes and maps, and so on. This will also give everyone a chance to re-evaluate their builds and make any changes they might want. Please make sure you run anything by me that isn't core before putting it in place. I'm pretty relaxed when it comes to most things, but as all GMs do, I have my peeves and problems with specific archtypes and such. None of you are playing anything close to that so I don't see there being a problem.
Since most of you are melee based, I think Lucius might be the only one considering the variant multi-class rules from Pathfinder Unchained, but I wanted to note that those are available. I will also be using the optional rules for Skill Mastery and Stamina. If you don't have access to the book I think a lot of it is already up on the d20pfsrd site for public use. As mostly melee characters, you definitely will want to give the stamina stuff a look.
Any other questions, just let me know.
Some additional stuff:
House Rules
I will be borrowing from a wide selection of source material for the campaign, but for the most part all mechanics decisions will be based on RAW (Rules as Written) within the Pathfinder system.
Exceptions or additional information include:
Pathfinder Unchained Classes: Rogues, Monks, and Barbarians can be Core or Pathfinder Unchained versions. For Rogues, I strongly suggest Pathfinder Unchained, as it removes a lot of feat tax and gives the class several new and very useful abilities.
Barbarians: Rage cycling is not permitted. No feats or items that make a character immune to fatigue will be permitted. All once per rage abilities should be read as “once per combat, while under the effects of rage”.
Fighters: All fighters get 2 additional skill points per level which must be spent in either Climb, Swim, Survival, or Perception. All fighters gain the Combat Stamina feat for free at first level. See below for details on Stamina.
Oracle: No Legalistic or Tongues curse allowed. Your curse must truly be prohibitive to your character.
Paladins: Paladins are allowed to worship any good deity, not just those who are one step within their alignment.
Monks: No vows are allowed.
Summoners: Summoners must utilize the Pathfinder Unchained rules for the class.
Multiclassing and Variant Multiclassing: Multiclassing is allowed, however dipping in several classes is discouraged. The Variant Multiclassing rules from Pathfinder Unchained are available for use. You are expected to have a copy of this material if you wish to use this feature.
Stamina, Stamina Pool, and Combat Tricks: These features and feats from Pathfinder Unchained are allowed for this campaign.
Signature Skill Feat: This feat and the associated bonuses detailed in Pathfinder Unchained are allowed and used in this campaign.
Critical Hits and Misses: A natural 1 represents a critical miss. These rolls are then confirmed by a second attack roll. If the second roll is also a miss the character fumbles the attack, which can mean any number of things based on the situation. Critical hits that confirm with a second natural 20 are considered massive critical hits and will be resolved using my own system, and usually result in very bad things for the creature hit.
Evil Spellcasting: Casting any spell with the evil descriptor is considered an evil act. Repeated evil acts will cause alignment shifts. If your alignment is ever evil, the character will be removed from the game. Clerics worshipping a good-aligned deity may not cast any spell with the evil descriptor.
Downtime: During specific periods of the game there will be downtime. During these periods the downtime rules from Ultimate Campaign will be used as needed to represent character activity. Personal holdings are also permitted and can be developed during this downtime.
Crafting and Magic Item Creation: These functions are allowed within the campaign, used as downtime activities. All created items must first meet GM approval. If I feel something might imbalance the game I will not permit its creation.
Background Skills: In addition to a character’s usual compliment of skills, each character will get 2 skill points per level to spend on background skills. These skills must somehow be explained in the character background and represent life before adventuring.
Skills qualifying for Background Skills include; Any Craft, Any Profession, Any Performance, Appraise, Handle Animal, Sleight of Hand, Knowledge - Nobility, Knowledge - Geography, and Knowledge - History.
This is retroactive, so each of you will have 8 skill points at level 4 to apply to background skills. You can re-allocate skills accordingly if you already have some background skills as your chosen skills of course.
I will be handling tactical movement in Roll20. I feel this will be the simplest way to allow scenes to evolve without me constantly updating images in a Google doc or other such tool. It also allows me to use some line of sight tools and the like as well as show off pretty maps! I ask that everyone maintain a level of honesty when using this tool, and not to move unless otherwise told to. I’d prefer to keep some things secret and peeking around corners can spoil surprises! If it turns out that Roll20 becomes too difficult for everyone to use, as I know some places of business block it, we can look at other alternatives. I've seen some clever use of Google docs in the past for maps, but I haven't really messed with that too much. Since the group has been using Roll20 so far we shouldn't have a problem.
For ease of play I will always assume that you are taking 10 or 20 when possible. As experienced players I assume everyone is familiar with how this works, but if not you can do a quick Google search to find the answers. If you are in a situation where you can take 10 or 20 and you are performing an action that would allow so, simply give me the result in a format like Skill Check – Take 20 – Perception = XX where XX would be your result. Remember you can almost always take 10 on most skills, with very few exceptions (Use Magic Device being the primary one). Taking 20 is reserved for those instances where you have plenty of time and resources at your disposal. Most commonly taking 20 is used for things like Perception checks. Remember that in combat you cannot take 10 or 20, and if the result of a check could result in a negative effect for your character you cannot take 20. If for some reason I determine that you cannot take 10 or 20 after you make a post I will let you know so that you can roll your result.
On the subject of rolls, I will be rolling for any of the typical stuff that you shouldn't know the result of. Disable device, trap-finding activities, etc. I will also be rolling these in person with real dice. So yes, that means you truly will not know the result, even if you find yourself tempted to peek at a spoiler. :) This will go the same for typical checks hidden from the party like Stealth and the like. Just be forewarned on this. Just because you don't see the roll doesn't mean it didn't happen. This will not only remove excessive spoilers from posts but should lend more of a storytelling feel to the game.
I handle combat in a journal style of format. I feel that this method leads to a more vivid and interesting feel, as it plays out more like a story than a random set of rolls. Because of this method I use party initiative for combat. Everyone will get a roll, with those beating the combined roll of the enemies getting a "Free round" of attacks. My initiative style almost always favors the party, since you have more chances to get the jump on the bad guys. Once the high initiative characters act, the enemies will act in concert, then the party takes its turn. Because of this style of combat, its important that I have everyone's actions before I do an update. I will usually wait a reasonable amount of time, but if you are the last one we are waiting on to post, and an hour or so has went by, I will try to determine an appropriate action for your character to move combat forward. When doing this I will never expend your spells or items unless the situation involves the potential death of a party member. If you want to give me a running list of options you might take in the event I need to GMPC you, just place those in your profile under a "GM Instructions" spoiler.
How you all choose to handle loot, gold, etc will be entirely up to you. I leave that for the group to figure out. When it is time to level up I will let you know. When leveling up be sure to run any feats or choices by me that do not appear in the Core rule book so I can approve them for play. I’m sure I won’t have a problem with this but I want to make that part clear. When you level you will also have the choice to add (HD/2)+1 in hit points (Just like Pathfinder Society) or tempt fate with having me roll the dice for your HP. In either case the choice will not be reversible.
I will not make you track mundane items like food and water, but anything else must be on your character sheets. You should be tracking encumbrance but you can ignore coin weight unless it is due to loot gained during an adventure. I will assume cash on hand has been exchanged for high denomination coins or trade-able gems.
When you are in a city and there is downtime announced you are free to shop, create items, and so on. I will generally announce how much downtime will be available before the next plot hook takes place and will allow you all some time to handle housekeeping activities. This is also typically when you will be leveling up. Cities will have limits to what can be purchased, so keep that in mind when planning your shopping. You won’t just be able to waltz into a shop and pick up a +2 Giant Bane Greatsword.
In the event that a character dies, and you do not have the means to bring them back to life, that player may choose to create a new character for the game. That character will start one level behind the existing party in terms of experience and will at some point catch up and be equal to the party.
Good luck and I look forward to the upcoming adventure!
GM Captain Trips will have to email Paizo at community@paizo.com.
In the email there needs to be two things:
A link to your profile page (click on your name at the top where it says "Welcome, your name!"
A link to the gameplay and discussion threads for the campaigns you have inherited.
GM Captain Trips will have to email Paizo at community@paizo.com.
In the email there needs to be two things:
A link to your profile page (click on your name at the top where it says "Welcome, your name!"
A link to the gameplay and discussion threads for the campaigns you have inherited.
Awesome, I'll do that tonight when I get home.
Yay more skills!
Yay party initiative!
I do have a question though. The secret rolling(IRL) does not apply to combat right? I've had bad experiences with that.
Nope, just secret stuff. Sneak checks, some perception stuff, so on. Basically anything that would happen behind a screen followed by an evil grin from the GM. Combat rolls are always in the open.
I thought about creating a thread for stuff like this to use for all of my games combined, but I figured it was more hassle than it was worth. I have a d20 in my desk at work for just this sort of thing :P
Good to hear.
Thanks for all these house rules! I want to check in regarding my proposed build, in case it has more multiclassing than you feel comfortable with.
Silvio's build revolves around using his Aldori dueling sword, so he's been working toward taking the Aldori Swordlord prestige class. But with the release of the Swashbuckler, that's actually where I'd like to go with the build. So I'd like to make Silvio a Rogue 5/Aldori Swordlord 1/Swashbuckler X, representing his transition from roguish fighter to trained duelist. In this regard, the dip in Aldori Swordlord plays a particularly useful role role in the transition, because it allows Silvio to use his dueling sword as a one-handed piercing weapon, which is a prerequisite for swashbuckler abilities.
Is that something you would be okay with?
Have fun, everyone!
Thanks for all these house rules! I want to check in regarding my proposed build, in case it has more multiclassing than you feel comfortable with.
Silvio's build revolves around using his Aldori dueling sword, so he's been working toward taking the Aldori Swordlord prestige class. But with the release of the Swashbuckler, that's actually where I'd like to go with the build. So I'd like to make Silvio a Rogue 5/Aldori Swordlord 1/Swashbuckler X, representing his transition from roguish fighter to trained duelist. In this regard, the dip in Aldori Swordlord plays a particularly useful role role in the transition, because it allows Silvio to use his dueling sword as a one-handed piercing weapon, which is a prerequisite for swashbuckler abilities.
Is that something you would be okay with?
Perfectly fine with that.
Have fun, everyone!
Won't be the same without you, but hopefully we will manage! I'll keep a seat warm for you. :)
Thanks Rusty Rooster for running a great game! Good luck with everything, and hope to catch you around the boards again soon!
Sorry for falling behind in the discussion (Way behind judging by the number of posts)
I'll try to get Staryth updated soonish
Thanks to our new DM for taking over, and good fortune to Rooster
I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. It was a bit of an experiment for me, and in hindsight, I should probably have chosen a module instead of an AP.
Be good to your new DM, now!
Sorry for falling behind in the discussion (Way behind judging by the number of posts)
I'll try to get Staryth updated soonish
Thanks to our new DM for taking over, and good fortune to Rooster
No rush. Enjoy the long weekend. We will try to kick things off on Tuesday and drive forward.
For my background skill points, can Silvio take the new Lore skill from Pathfinder Unchained? I'm interested in having him take Lore (Shingles) to represent that he knows who to talk to and where to go to get stuff done in that neighborhood, which is something he gained from making contacts as one of Gaedrenn's Little Lamms. (His other background skill is going to be Sleight of Hand.)
Let me read on that a bit before I give an answer. I didn't really want to go in the route of the combined skills because of the level of change that involves. However I'll give it some consideration and review it.
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Just about ready to kick things off and pick up where we left off. I'm trying to make sense of a few diversions from the material in the published AP, so I've still got a couple things to work out and how I'm going to account for those.
Does everyone have their builds finalized with whatever changes needed to be made?
Yea, Lucius is done.
I'm up to date now - decided to scatter my background skill points among various talents I imagined Silvio having in the past - 1 point each in Appraise, Perform (dance), Profession (gambler) and Knowledge (nobility). Still 4 points in Sleight of Hand.
Hope everyone had a great weekend, including those who went out to Paizocon! Looking forward to the restart!
Okay, I'm up to date. I put almost all my points into midwife and herbalist professions.
Sorry about the wait
For my background skill points, can Silvio take the new Lore skill from Pathfinder Unchained? I'm interested in having him take Lore (Shingles) to represent that he knows who to talk to and where to go to get stuff done in that neighborhood, which is something he gained from making contacts as one of Gaedrenn's Little Lamms. (His other background skill is going to be Sleight of Hand.)
Just to muddy your waters a bit Silvio, I am good with Lore (Shingles) as a background skill. If you want to pick that up still please feel free.
Crazy busy at work. I might rearrange a few skill points and just get all of those things I mentioned along with Lore (Shingles).
Dead quiet for me this weekend. I worked Friday night and Saturday night from 1am-8am on some special projects, which left me sleeping during the days.
Just a head's up, I'm heading to Origins this week and will be there from Wednesday to Sunday supporting Pathfinder Society events there. I will be very limited in posting but I'll try to get something up at least once per day if I can manage. I return Sunday night and should be back in full swing next Monday.
Just wanted to let everyone know this morning that my schedule at Origins has been far more harsh than I anticipated. Been waking up at 6, getting to HQ by 7, working with the PFS players till around midnight, then getting back to the hotel and passing out. I woke up a bit earlier this morning, sleep be damned, so I had time to get this message out to all of my groups. I have free time tonight, as I'm open for our last slot, so I'll be getting an update out to my games then. Thanks for being patient! :)
Hope you're having fun :)
Made a quick change to my character so he's better at diplomacy and worse at bluffing. Want to make sure Lucius is the master bluffer amongst us!
Whew. Thank goodness. For a moment I thought I was going to get a really sucky roll on diplomacy
I'm juggling a bunch of stuff at work today and might not get a post up till tomorrow morning or later tonight. I've tried to update a few of my threads but I don't think I'm going to get to them all before my next long meeting.
Sorry for the delay!
Sorry all, hectic weekend for me which was followed up with me being offsite yesterday for work which kept me doing actual work instead of the fun kind. Back to business!
Yeah, I was vaguely keeping track of wealth, but that was ages ago (see tracker in my profile - I stopped tracking after we received our reward for returning the Queen's brooch). I can tell you I'm not a reliable person for such tasks. I know I somehow got enough wealth to throw it all into a +1 dueling sword, leaving me fairly poor otherwise.
Well I'm working on it as we speak, the link is in my header. The armor, ring, and the poison haven't been identified yet. I can try to identify them if you like.
I'll just take 10 to make it easier.
Let me review book one and see if I can match up any rewards that might have been missed. While I do that, can each of you figure out your total wealth, including all gear, so I can compare it against suggested wealth by level? If there is a disparity there this can easily be resolved. In some of the early APs there was a distinct lack of loot, so we may have to improvise with a stipend from the guard.
Silvio has about 3,000 in gold and gear.
Lucius has 3k in gear as instructed.
The magic items were +1 Studded Leather, a +1 Ring of Protection, and a vial of blue whinnis (5 doses; Fort DC 14; 1 Con/unconsciousness).
Krojun, please go ahead and select an item, or items, with a total value of 1000gp to bring you up to wealth by level. This is above and beyond the items mentioned above which have not been sorted out.
Just waiting on Staryth to figure out his totals. Looking at his profile he doesn't appear to have much more than 1000gp in items and coin combined. We need to bring that up to the 3k mark as well.
I definitely want to make sure you all are properly geared for this so you can safely move forward. Being only 4 players is tough enough, being undergeared is worse. The main "tank" having a 15 AC at level 4 is discouraging, but that's mostly because loot has been off.
Very sorry, I appear to have lost track of my stuff... I'm terrible at that. I'm showing 367 gold, 8 SP, 9CP, and if hero lab is right, gear value of 734 gp on top of that.
But that's not counting the coin we had given to us and then donated IIRC
Well before we set out once again lets make sure everyone has done their shopping and updated accordingly. At your level you should each have a magic weapon at this point, I'm kind of shocked by the sad level of gear from the first book.
Let me know when everyone is updated and we can proceed.