If it's available, Thren's going to also buy a masterwork suit of studded leather armor for herself.
GMDQ - the list of magic stuff available in Lilywhite did not include potions of Cure Light/Moderate Wounds (other potions were on that list). Are those also in stock? Maybe those are standard issue and don't get called out on 'for sale' lists?
I mentioned above the spoiler that potions of cure light wounds are available. To clarify, in any quantity. I'd say a certain number of CMW are also available.
The potions are the spoilered list are limited to one available at this time.
Common nonmagical gear is readily available, and that includes masterwork studded leather.
Hey. I'm back. Richmond was excellent.
As far as the treasure on the previous page goes, I agree that liquidation is best.
The only interesting thing is the harp, but if the bard says let it go? Let it go.
Excellent.
Well, the bard is a singer, but if YOU want to keep the harp as a souvenir why not? :)
Indeed. Thren is a singer and dancer, not one for instruments, so if you want a souvenir, go for it! You'll have to learn to play it, I imagine, but I won't do Chelish opera to it, sorry :)
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I'll have Lee start with something less, ah, totally expensive.
Maybe a harmonica? I know it only plays in two keys (relative major and minor) but if he can carry a tune, maybe he'll pick up others...
Also, I'm trying out a new Mac (new for me at least) from work and it looks like the Paizo boards are fine (certainly better than my iPad).
These boards have been good for me on Mac and Linux, but in both cases I've just used Chrome to access them. I've not tried them from any kind of mobile, phone or tablet.
Also - I'm glad you had a good trip. Welcome back.
When the party is split, sometimes I spoiler the text just to keep things neat so everybody can easily find the post meant for them.
You can read the other spoilers as long as of course you do not use knowledge you glean from them in character if your character would not have that knowledge.
(I read other ppls spoiler text in other games all the time, I just don't metagame with it.)
Obviously if I have a spoiler labeled "GM only" I'd rather you not read it but it's not like I can stop you. :)
Basically, if there's spoiler text for Lee, feel free to read it.
It's not like he's not going to tell the party everything anyway.
We've been a bit slow these last couple days, folks. Y'all okay?
My last week was busy and tiring. This week should be better.
A moment of perhaps unnecessary transparency, but I want to be clear that you have some choices coming up that are not "right" or "wrong" answers or "worse" or "better" paths.
I've mentioned before, I was probably going to use the module "Plunder and Peril" as a possible "alternate route" for Chapter 2 of Skull and Shackles (the original chapter is called "Raiders of the Fever Sea"). Both of these adventures are modular, put into three parts, and somewhat (though requiring some work on the GM's part) interchangeable. If I do things right, the story should feel pretty seamless regardless of where you go.
When you chose to go to Lilywhite instead of Rickety's Squibs, you entered (a modified version of) Plunder and Peril, part 1. This does not prevent you from returning to "Raiders of the Fever Sea."
The Varossa/Treasure of Redclaw is the "Plunder and Peril" route.
The Tidewater Rock is (eventually) the "Raiders" route.
Your choice now, really, is pursue Varossa now (part 2 of Plunder), or just go look for treasure and get powerful enough to either "crack" Tidewater Rock or find an alternate route to Redclaw's Treasure (part 2 of Raiders). Basically, you are choosing between sandbox/mini-adventures and a somewhat more scripted story (though all plots may collapse when met by the PCs of course).
Later, again, or really at any point, you could switch routes, heading toward Tidewater (part 3 of Raiders) or Redclaw's Treasure (part 3 of Plunder).
The one difference between the two is that Varossa's story does run on something of a schedule. At some point, there would be a point of no return, that it would be too late to really beneficially seek her or Redclaw's treasure out.
Tidewater is only part of the whole "Raiders" story (it's just a goal handed to the PCs to pursue to help them head in a certain direction) and while you might miss pieces of the story by skipping out, the location ITSELF will always be there and you could always try to look for it later, though you may not get "the full story" if you look later.
I do have an opinion on the two, which is that I think "Plunder" is slightly better written and more fun/lighthearted (though it can get pretty dark at times)--it's more swashbuckly compared to more gritty pirate adventure, which suits the atmosphere of our particular game. While I luck running sandboxes, which is what Raiders is, I find most of the players I've worked with actually prefer a stronger narrative to follow. "Raiders" however does offer some interesting opportunities and of course is the default path so it's less work for me to integrate into your story. Both stories feature a lot of combat, a lot of sailing, and hot saucy pirate queens (though I think only "Plunder" has hot saucy pirate princes to go along with).
I know you can make your choices and I can just follow along and you might not know what books I'm pulling from and hopefully, if I did it right, you might not notice.
But I want to be clear first of all I'm pulling from different sources, and secondly and most importantly, that there are no tricks or deceptions -- your choices are just that, choices, and there's no right or wrong. All will lead somewhere. It's just different stories, different paths. I also recognize that at any point you all might say "screw this" and sail away. Once you have a functional boat, I can't control too much, save of contrivance, where you choose to sail.
I will note in summary again, since I've wall of texted you to death, the main difference is stronger narrative vs sandbox.
PS. I'm sitting back leaving you time to chat. When you want to move on, let me know what you do.
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"Belina! Set a course for the island of Hot Saucy Pirates!" ;)
I like the sound of "lighthearted", but that's just me.
A minor note: Lee mentioned the "powder magazine" but you do not have one of those, as you do not have cannons. (You have ballista--two on the sterncastle and two spare ones in the armory.) Nor do any of your crew possess firearms. (Firearms and cannons do exist in Skull and Shackles, but they are relatively rare.)
Just want to be sure you're aware of what you possess.
(On a related note, you have not assigned a master gunner to care for and oversee the operation of the ballista.)
Still, non-flammable sources of light are indeed useful on a ship that is made of tar and wood, so his request for everburning torches are not out of place.
Ah. I thought 'master gunner' implied 'guns'.
Of course, 'master gunner' more readily conveys the position's function than 'balistigliere' or something.
The ship reference in the link under my name shows what your ship has.
"Master gunner" is the title which they just took from real life, but it's meant to be the person who manages any siege engines (ballista, cannon, or otherwise) as well as controls the armory and maintains the ship's weapons. You could certainly devise a better title, like "Arms Master" or "Combat Engineer" or "Lord-Champion of All the Pointiness and Hurting" or what have you.
If you wanted cannons, you'd have to purchase them, and get the ship outfitted so they can be placed properly and safely (which you'd probably want to do before Hartha finished fixing the ship. A cannon costs 6,000 gp. Outfitting the ship to handle one would cost... oh, I don't know, let's say 250 gp.
By the way, here's the stats for your ballista:
Ballista, light; Market price: 500 gp; Damage: 3d8 19–20/×2; range 120 ft.; damage type P; crew 1; aim 0; load 2; speed 10 ft.
These do much less damage than cannons, but require no time to aim and only one crew member and have a superior range. It takes 2 full round actions to reload. The "speed" is how far its crew member can push it in one move action.
BTW, although knowing him he'll post as soon as I update (which is NOT a complaint), I know KD is busier than usual so if you're waiting for a response from Wahhe you may just want to continue with your planmaking. I'm pretty sure he's cool with going in disguised as an animal and going from there.
GMDQ - how did you do that!?
You posted at 4:22pm and Wahhe posted at 4:34pm.
She obviously called the house, told him to get on and post and being wise in the ways of the DQ, he did so!
Nope. I just created an appropriate irony circumstance to complete itself properly. (Glad y'all are here and updating. :) )
Guys I've got a busy day and will post probably here tonight. :) Sorry to keep you waiting!
No worries! It's a busy time of year.
Not a problem.
I know I'm traveling between Christmas Eve and New Years and my participation will be sporadic then.
Did we want to consider a winter break?
Maybe run up to a cliff-hanger that will have us straining at the leash to get back to the game in 2017?
I'm running on regular hours more or less regardless of the holiday, but I'll go with the group's wish if we decide on a brief break.
I don't expect folks to post around the days of Christmas/New Year's but I have off in the interim and I'd prefer to post where possible. That said I know folks travel and get busy.
Sorry I still need to update, and I have to grab some data from the modules at home before I post a proper response. I ended up getting someone's spare ticket for Rogue One last night which was an opportunity I didn't want to miss (it was good!), so sorry for the continued delay.
You made the right call! :)
I'm glad to hear you liked it - I'm headed to a late showing tonight.
Good to hear, I'm planning on seeing it tomorrow.
Now back from seeing Rogue One. Definitely worth seeing. The line that will stick with me forever I think:
"There's a problem on the horizon-there IS no horizon."
K-2S0 was definitely one of the highlights of the film for me. Despite giving it a lion's share of the one-liners in the movie I thought they did really well elevating it above just comedy relief.
===
Wahhe - are you worried about reading the "Intelligence, Knowledge Arcana or Nature, DC 10" that GMDQ put behind a spoiler tag? If so, I think that should be OK. That's why I had Lark speak out-loud about the need for silver.
GMDQ - as reminder the Feint DC = 10 + BAB + WIS bonus <OR> DC = 10 + Sense Motive bonus of the target, whichever is higher.
Table talk for the group - I went for the feint for two reasons. One, Sneak Attack damage and two, the Werecrocodiles are AC 16 when denied their DEX bonus. I just felt the lowered AC and extra damage were the way to go instead swinging against AC 23. If anyone has any better ideas or if I've got my math wrong please feel free to chime in. Thanks!
AC 23 is brutal.
Sadly, Lee is missing 11's (which is their touch AC).
I think Feint is a decent plan.
Now might be a good time to remind you that your familiar can deliver touch spells, and your familiar has a +8 to attack compared to your +2 (Muffin needs to roll a 3 or better to hit AC 11).
I know you don't like putting your familiar in danger, for good reason, but there is also good reason why they gave familiars that ability.
GMDQ - are there movement restrictions on squares that are on the edge of bridge? For instance, the square behind Werecrocodile 2 is roughly 50/50 bridge and water. Can we move there normally or does it need an acrobatics check?
Also, I made a little Stirge token on the tactical map. Please let me know if you'd rather I not add things to that document.
Wahhe - I think the Stirge can attack the same turn you summon it. Also, you might have the range the summon it immediately adjacent (or behind) to Werecrocodile 2.
I apologize in advance if I'm being too much of a busybody. ;)
The stirge takes a full round to appear so it does not attack till next round.
On phone can't answer everything else in depth but basically all's good and if a square has 50% or more bridge, you can move on it normally.
Just FYI folks getting on the road soon for holiday festivities. I will probably check in on my phone when I can but it will probably be sporadic and I think most or all of you have your own Christmases to celebrate so I don't expect a lot of checking in.
I hate to end on a combat but I wanted to get this bit started... if it drags on too long I have thoughts on how to deal with it.
Happy holidays to all!!
===
PS: More on thermopyle's questions:
Bridge movement: to reiterate, if the "bridge" drawing takes up half or more of the square, you can move through it normally. Less than half, you need an Escape Artist check to squeeze into the space, or Acrobatics to leap through successfully.
I didn't mention this, but I'd say the bridge has a low railing, maybe about 3 feet high, that helps keep people from falling off. Medium or larger creatures could still be pushed over the side with a good enough Bull Rush check (you technically can't bull rush someone into a wall, but I'd count a rail as less of a wall).
Adding tokens to the battle map is fine. Obviously don't move terrain or other pieces around--but it's okay to add stuff, or if you accidentally move something to move it back, etc. Spellcasters can add stuff to show where their spell area effects are.
Summoning: again, summon spells take a full round. But yes, once they do appear they can appear anywhere in range; they don't have to appear next to the caster.
Happy Holidays, y'all!
I may not be able to check in again until Monday (12/26) or so.
Merry Christmas to everyone :)
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Following up on my previous post in the game thread... so, I hate damage resistance (DR).
While I'm here, I also hate spell resistance (SR).
Both are redundant systems (DR to fast healing, regeneration,[wounds close after they open] and Natural Armor [especially thick hide]; SR to saving throws and resistances and immunities [resistant to magical effects]) that slow combat down and often halt things as we realize we need to do a redo later because someone forgot to roll SR, etc.
The one nearly unique purpose of DR is to reflect the mythical reference to creatures that can "only be harmed by x" -- i.e., cold iron to hurt a faerie, silver to hurt a werewolf. A full accurate reflection of this would actually be full immunity to weapon damage unless they are made of X material. This of course would be even more of a pain in the ass--such creatures would be a much higher CR and/or you'd have fights where only one person can be effective (which often ends up being the case for DR anyway).
And even this is not unique--regeneration also works as a reflection of resistance/weakness to materials, i.e., trolls, whose regenerative abilities are halted by acid or fire. Regeneration also requires some degree of tracking (GM has to track what damage has been done by the material), but it hits on something of a delay so it's easier for more people to have at least some effect.
Plus the other thing about DR is once PCs encounter it a couple times, they just turn to carrying ye old Golf Bag of killing implements, a weapon of each special material in case of emergency, and then the point of DR becomes moot. Which is the other problem of DR--it is either too effective, or completely ineffective, nowhere in between. In the high level game I ran with some of you, I found DR pointless to even track because everyone had multiple means of bypassing most DR anyway, so it did absolutely nothing to make the creature more challenging.
To make DR easier to work with, I can think of two solutions:
1. Change it into regeneration. In this fight, it would probably make it worse for the party because they're not hitting very much, but at least all weapons would be somewhat effective at first. I'm not sure if a straight translation would be balanced -- i.e., if a creature has DR 10\silver, does that become regeneration 10\silver, or should fewer hit points be healed?
2. Change weapon damage resistance into a flat reduction: say, all damage is halved (to a minimum of 1) unless it is dealt by the special material. This does weaken the ability itself (because more damage can be dealt per attack potentially), but the monster could also be shored up with more hit points or AC as is reasonable. It also maintains the flavor idea of DR and The upside is potentially everybody can deal SOME damage, meaning the fight doesn't depend on the one guy with the right weapon or having versatile weapon or whatever (and isn't dependent on that one guy rolling well). The amount could be adjustable--a creature with low DR might change to taking 75% damage, a creature with high DR might change to taking only 25% damage.
Neither issue resolves the PC with the Golf Bag o' Implements of Destruction, or the fact that at high level everyone pretty much bypasses DR anyway, but it seems like if any attack does at least SOME damage, people might feel less obligated to spend all their wealth on a case of rapiers, each made of a different material.
Any thoughts? This would not take effect during this fight, but if folks liked the idea we could experiment with it in future combats.
If folks would rather stick with the rules as written that's fine too.
For SR, I've always just wanted to try doing things like assigning specific immunities rather than broad magic resistance, e.g., a succubus is immune to charm and compulsion subtype spells, but not other magic. Alternately a blanket bonus to saving throws vs spells seems an easy enough and effective solution--if you want to improve someone's chances of resisting a spell by, say, 25%, just give them a +5 bonus to saves. That way only one die needs to be rolled. This doesn't affect players except that they no longer have to worry about taking feats like Spell Penetration.
Thoughts on that are also welcome.
Well, if my attack dealt no damage, I won't be able to effectively damage these guys. Even with bardic music in play, my max base damage is 10 (6 for rapier, 1 music, 1 arcane strike, 1 magical bonus of weapon, 1 strength). I'll need to crit, and well, Crankipator....
I'm aware that I do the least damage in the group. Lark frequently sneak attacks for extra damage, Lee has spells such as shocking grasp that deal more damage. I'm a bard; not noted for great damage, not a full-blooded martial after all.
Changing DR to regeneration would probably make things worse because these guys have a respectable AC as well and we're all 3/4 BAB classes or worse, so given the Crankipator's capriciousness, we could go a round or two whiffing and they'd heal up. Mind you said not in this fight, but imagine another fight like this down the road with some decent melee combatants.
Your second idea has some merit: maybe reduce damage by 25% for each 5 DR they have?
As for SR: the issue with SR getting converted into save bonuses is that it could lead to escalation. If I were playing a blaster sorcerer or wizard, getting a +5 bonus on saves would be a serious impact on my ability to do my thing, even though many monsters have poor Reflex saves. If I'm the type who likes save or suck or charms or compulsions, having every creature that had SR now get that bonus may become frustrating as they roll their saves all the time. In our prior high-level campaign, I didn't optimize my casting stat and when we ran into level-appropriate creatures I still could have problems with foes making saves. Even lower-level mooks managed that stunt. The immunities would actually be more palatable to me though this won't affect me much. You could at least work around it with some good Knowledge rolls or the occasional feat (Threnodic and Thanatopic Spells set a precedent here, some sorcerer bloodlines too).
Unfortunately, I haven no insight this moment on how to deal with the golf bag of weapons issue. I can post tomorrow when I don't have to get ready for work and see if my scrambled brain comes up with any thoughts though! But I will note I wouldn't buy a case of rapiers, I'd go over into medium encumbrance. And I'd planned on arcane bonding to my rapier at 5th and if time comes up improving it down the road. As I'm not a URogue, I have to unfortunately work for my Dex to damage :P Lark!
Thanks for your thoughts. They are, as usual, very helpful. I think you're right that regeneration is a poor solution.
I was speaking hypothetically about the case of rapiers thing/golf bag (though of course by the time you could collect such a thing I'd reckon you'd have a handy haversack).
Regarding SR... my memory of that campaign is that enemies sometimes rolled well on saving throws (not that your save DCs weren't high enough) and you tended to roll well on SR even when SR was extremely high. On the latter bit, do you trust the Crankipator to treat you as kindly? ;p In seriousness, I don't think your anecdotal experience is quite representative--not to mention, all due respect, but I remember PLENTY of times your spells were (annoyingly ;) ) effective, and you tended to get fixated on the extremely rare few times they weren't.
My logic on boosting saves is to reduce two rolls to one and put everything in the hands of the defender--instead of creature rolls save, AND you roll SR. There shouldn't be two lines of defense in my opinion, just the one, and not a roll that is hard to remember. If there's a fair chance the monster would save anyway, it's not like bypassing SR would help you either. +5 is a high bonus and it's probably the highest I'd grant--to creatures like, say, pit fiends, not your run of the mill speedbump baddies. The other thing about boosting saves is if the spell in question has NO save... there is no SR still to get in your way, which actually boosts the power of the PC.
On bards and damage.... at the risk of sounding like I'm telling you how to play, we've got a sorcerer and druid for blasting and battle control... your strength is boosting yourself and others as well as providing melee support/flanking. I play an archeologist and an arcane duelist on these here boards myself and I am certainly not a big damage dealer (especially in the campaign with the 3rd party ranger archetype that does massive melee damage) but I can build up some respectable stacking through buff spells and bardic performance for both myself and others. E.g., heroism or good hope plus inspire courage stacking up for good measure. You'll get a good boost next level, as your inspire courage bonuses increases to +2. At 6th you can start adding energy damage to your weapon. You may not be uberpowerful with swordplay but as you develop various abilities Thren is going to hold her own very well.
As for Dex to damage, I would allow you to take this feat from Ultimate Intrigue:
FENCING GRACE
Your dashing style and fluid rapier forms allow you to use agility rather than brute force to fell your foes.
Prerequisite(s): Dex 13, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier).
Benefit(s): When wielding a rapier one-handed, you can add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to that weapon's damage. The rapier must be one appropriate for your size. You do not gain this benefit while fighting with two weapons or using flurry of blows, or anytime another hand is otherwise occupied.
In addition, if you have the panache class feature, you gain a +2 bonus to your CMD against attempts to disarm you of your rapier while you have at least 1 panache point.
==
(I don't consider wearing a buckler as "hand is otherwise occupied" as in Pathfinder, bucklers are strapped to your arm and your actual hand is free.)
You're right about fixating on the bad times; human memory is good for that. Re: Fencing Grace, I'm aiming for that at 7th, which is when Leadership becomes an option too. Taking my prereqs now, hence my comment about 'having to work for it' :)
And I know I'm good for support. I'm just not quite there yet and my last spell selections were based on buffing (cat's grace) and not dying (blur). I'm not upset about things with the walking luggage-to-be. I'm just not high on the dealing of damage yet :)
For SR: I'd say that the bonus should probably be something like +1 to saves per 4 pts. of CR, max at +5 as a ballpark figure. Or +2, +1/6, something like that. I understand the problem of extra die rolls well enough.
And I don't trust the Crankipator, ever, for the record. Period :)
i agree that SR and DR are cumbersome and a pain at first but then become useless later on. I also agree with some offer your ideas for fixing them.
Sadly, though, I'm on my iPad and don't really have what it takes to type out a whole discussion, but I'd like to pick this up later.
The SR chat may be above my pay grade, but I also like the suggestions for simplifying DR. I like the flavor of DR; were-critters vulnerable to silver makes sense. However, the flavor of a golf bag of just-in-case weapons is less interesting.
Saturday and Sunday are travel days for me, so don't count on me to post.
Happy New Year!
Re: golf bag. Pathfinder fixed that, by letting higher powered magical weapons bypass DR. Still doesn't resolve the issue that it's trouble at lower levels, unimportant at higher levels.
The way I've understood SR is that it's supposed to be a balancing factor against the power of casters, along with their poor BAB, saves, etc. The problem is that every balancing factor has a way to bypass it: touch AC mitigates poor BAB (not even a problem for some casters at that), some spells have no SR plus the existence of feats to help against it, feats to boost save DCs, etc. So it makes SR just one more die roll to resolve something. So in order to resolve a touch spell against an enemy, you might well need to make a concentration check (because you happened to start up close), hit their touch AC, beat their SR...yeah, too many rolls. A save bonus, whether against specific types of spells or all, makes more sense.
Oh, and Happy New Years to everyone!
A little bit of plot summary, since we had a bit of holiday hiatus and this combat lasted awhile:
Your ship will be ready in a few days.
You killed some drakes, which unusually laired very close to a lumber camp and killed some lumberjacks. This has let your ship be worked on faster.
You have recruited a number of people to your ship, most of whom are refugees from the Magpie Princess (heretofore referred to as "MP"), who attempted a mutiny/defended the ship from a mutiny when one of the ship's dual captains killed the other. These former MP crewmembers reported that much of the town seemed to know about their predicament, leading them to believe someone was spreading rumors about them to try to keep them from getting employed on a new ship.
The MP crew also told you that the surviving MP captain is looking for the treasure of Jemma Redclaw, a fabled massive fortune hidden somewhere vaguely west of here.
Lark spotted in the fireworks what might've looked like a giant crow passing overhead. When he discussed this with the former MP crewmates, they suggested it might be another MP crewmember loyal to Varossa named Hyrix, who is a tengu, which is a crow-like humanoid, which could explain who was the source of the nasty rumors. ((I'll note tengu can't fly and the GM might have temporarily forgotten this earlier on... erm, I mean obviously if it was Hyrix, he was probably using a fly spell.))
Wahhe spied around the town in the form of an eagle in hopes of spotting Hyrix. She didn't spot him, but did note one of the halfling watch at Hartha's sneak into the forest to deliver a package in the woods, suggesting someone is hiding out there.
The party wanted to look for Hyrix--or whomever this crow-person might be--to see if they could resolve whether he is indeed the source of the MP crew's woes and do something about that.
On their way to do that, they were assaulted by a pair of werecrocodiles without explanation.
[Feel free to also of course re-read the thread and/or use the search feature to look up information you feel you might need]