I've been tossing around ideas for what I'd bring in as a second character, should we go this route. Still hypothesizing.
I'm intrigued by the 2 characters idea. It keeps the group tight and functional. You two are obviously good at managing more than one character as you already have. Easy enough to say you rescued someone here or a crew member jumps ship with you, or you pick up a castaway, or you elevate one of the current crew.
Also, our Infamy and Disrepute never went up from the events in Port Peril I note. Three points were awarded I believe.
Sal, while I'm thinking of odds and ends, is there anything in the loot from the captain and first mate you want?
Nothing I can think of. Maybe the +1 Handaxe to add to Sal's golfbag of weapons.
Are you tracking loot or shall I?
I am down with the two characters if y'all are. I'm thinking would be easiest if they know each other, maybe could be volunteers from the Chelish ship or soon to be met castaways. We need full arcane and either rogue or divine--perhaps an inquisitor? I still have my oracle of Desna rolled up for this as well. What do you want to play, Thren?
And finally a general note: Work is now insane for me and will be for a few days. Am running on fumes so I might be slow. Bot if needed.
Also, our Infamy and Disrepute never went up from the events in Port Peril I note. Three points were awarded I believe.
I'm not sure where you are looking at that info.
Campaign notes, which I dont think have been altered since I stopoed being GM. Which is fine, I think we can keep track ourselves.
I was tossing around ideas for the full arcane actually. So if you'll take the divine caster, I will take a bit and build a wizard as that's the idea that's gelling the most for me. They could be recruited from the Chels, prisoners we rescued, castaways, not concerned how we get them to us so long as it's not too far ahead. I will need a few days to build mine.
Re: infamy, your post from July actually :-)
You can track loot, DQ. I'm interested in the belt of dexterity and the mithral chain shirt to upgrade my defenses a little. Take the hand axe if you want it; I am not proficient at all.
Infamy and Disrepute updated on Campaign info. I just hadn't noticed it was recorded there.
Let's make the new recruits from the recent looting, however they came to join. I think we can justify pretty much anyone having been impressed into service. They take the opportunity to jump aboard a better situation. That way we have a 4 person party heading into the next chapter.
I'll go ahead and build my wizard this weekend then.
Guys still catching up from a looong crazy 10 days. I agree with all's been said. I'm cool with divine. I am vascillating between my Stargazer Oracle of Desna and maybe an Inquisitor, for something a little different and to boost teamwork. Or maybe even druid... anyway. Not going to do cleric since we have Quinn as cohort. If you have any thoughts/opinions on the matter let me know.
When I get my brain rested I'll update the loot sheet.
While I like oracles, I'm curious about the inquisitor, having not been in a game with one.
This is what I got so far. Meet Ekote Avzim, water elementalist wizard and then some. I'll add his stat line once he's finalized. I still have a bit of money left, either to buy a few scrolls or other consumable items or add to my spellbook (which I kept thin, at least for me historically). I used my favored class bonus for a couple hp before going for bonus spells.
Looks pretty good at a glance. Might look at Knowledge skills to see what can't be filled in by another party member (we could use someone with knowledge local, though I do see you have that on a headband).
The Inquisitor I'm thinking of would be an Inquistor of Milani looking to help oust the Chelish from the region, either human or halfling, probably with a ranged attack focus. Downside of Inquisitor is of course that they only have up to 6th level spells but they do have some nice bonuses, and I was going to go Tactical Leader archetype to be able to share lots of teamwork feats which could come in handy. I have not put together a character sheet yet.
I'm posting with the oracle as a reminder of what she was about. Note she has incomplete gear here. She would be very much a stay in the back and cast type of character (though can fight if she must with her starknife) and I'd probably rejigger some skills and the like, but the full caster divine we might need more. I'd be playing two half elves if I pick her but that's not a terrible thing.
ETA: Both characters will have some Diplomacy capability; I know Thren's our real party face but IIRC she primarily focused on Intimidation so I could be the good cop to Thren's bad.
Thren is definitely bad cop. Like crazy bad cop. No ranks in Diplomacy :)
I did think about what Kn skills to take and made sure I got Kn (local) in somehow :)
I'm game for whatever so build the party you want to play.
So a full party of warforged paladins is ok? LOL
IDK I think paladins would be at a disadvantage in the Shackles, and I can't imagine how the salt air affects the warforged's joints... ;)
Lathiira, any thoughts on Inquisitor vs Oracle?
Overall, I think that in the long run, the oracle is the better bet due to the simple fact of being a 9/9 caster. Sure, being spontaneous delays access by one level, but your 9th level oracle will get spells before Sandara, who is 2 levels behind Thren.. The inquisitor would be neat, but as we go along we'll need what the oracle brings more and more I think. Though I can't figure out how an oracle with the clouded curse can stargaze ;)
There are no rules for rusting or corrosion outside of specific spells, so the warforged would be fine, though getting them off the seafloor if they went overboard might be tricky lol
Overall, I think that in the long run, the oracle is the better bet due to the simple fact of being a 9/9 caster. Sure, being spontaneous delays access by one level, but your 9th level oracle will get spells before Sandara, who is 2 levels behind Thren.. The inquisitor would be neat, but as we go along we'll need what the oracle brings more and more I think. Though I can't figure out how an oracle with the clouded curse can stargaze ;)
Read the backstory! ;p
I think I'll go with Riori. She's already mostly built and I just need to tweak a few things.
I'm going away for a couple days as some well deserved comp time for the prior work insanity so I will still be slow. Apologies but should be ready to go fully in a few days.
No problem. I'll be away Halloween weekend myself, up in PA visiting old friends.
Read it :P
Also, there is a silly part of me that wants to do this with nothing but 6/9 casters for some reason. Glutton for punishment I suppose :)
Currently running a Return of the Runelords set in a Wild West version of Varisia, as an example of me being fine with weirdness.
While the general themes of this AP are pirating, the elements of resisting Cheliax certainly make paladins a viable option. Might be less piraty than others, but being a privateer isn't technically against lawfulness, is it?
As for warforged, a trove of Azlanti clockwork soldiers turned to anti Chel devil slayers sounds like fun!
In all seriousness, Riori's backstory is cool. In my face to face version of Curse of the Crimson Throne, one of the characters was an elven ambassador to Korvosa who was quite prolific in his romances.
In my subsequent Shattered Star campaign, several PCs were half elven or elven children of his. With your permission, I might imagine that Riori has an abundance of half sibs out in the world.
Ekote is fun and has a very unique spell list.
I think going all spellcaster will be fine. It will require creative solutions, but the AP doesn't focus as much on straight up tactical situations as much as some.
I went looking for odd and obscure water magics for him to reinforce his unusualness. I just hope to be useful, it's been quite a while since I played a wizard.
Back from travels and finalizing Riori, and working on rejiggering skills quite a bit, as she originally was designed to fill in some gaps we had in the party at the time that Sal now fills. I'm going to build up Knowledge Local, Lathiira, so you could specialize that headband in something else. Engineering, maybe? Or Nobility?
I am also putting more points in Knowledge Religion and dropping Planes.
Also I have to admit I feel a bit toes-stepped-on with the maxed Knowledge Nature on Ekote. I know Sal's bonus is lower (though her Aquatic Mastery boosts it on water by +6) and intellectually I understand it's just fleshing out the concept. At the same time I don't want Sal's skillset to become useless. I'm not going to fight you on it, but feel the need to lift that up.
Now that I'm done whining, on to more important matters:
Lathiira, I had written into Riori's backstory that she, after some prediction shenanigans at Plumetown, is seeking out the party specifically because she believes her destiny is to join them. She missed actually meeting the party in Plumetown waiting to see Keeba's eyes and probably headed toward Hell Harbor to meet up with them and probably got captured by the Chelish on the way. Perhaps Ekote and she were on the same ship captured? Maybe Ekote also had visited Plumetown?
SuperT - I am fine with Riori being the child of your ambassador as long as you are fine with your ambassador having thrown an innocent baby at a wall in hopes of killing it.
Here's Riori much more finalized. Let me know if anything looks terribly off or if there's anything you recommend changing. I may purchase a few more potions/disposable magic items with the 492+ gold I have left.
Also: since Lathiira made me second-guess: if it is too janky/broken to have Riori have the Clouded curse, with the idea being that "she always sees the stars" (which occludes much of her normal vision but conveniently still allows her to see the night sky at night, thus for example still granting her the benefit of guiding star), I am willing to either (a) change her curse, or (b) accept a drawback like giving her a penalty to saving throws versus effects that would throw off her "star eyes" like the dazzle spell or sudden changes in light, e.g., daylight. I wasn't trying to wriggle around the rules, I just thought it would be cool Desnian twist on the "curse," and of course I wanted to have some fun with the blind soothsayer trope. Lame would probably be the next best option (and I could get rid of the muleback cords).
Oh, don't mind me. I've had questions about how the clouded curse truly works for a long time. Stick with your concept :)
I will switch over to Engineering, which I had debated over previously as a skill to add to her team. That way there's less Knowledge skill duplication. For my headband, I'll look around till I find a skill I like ;)
Ekote can certainly have been aboard the same ship as Riori, it's a good way to establish some sort of prior relationship (fellow captives) between the two new ones.
My sense is the key drawback to Clouded is you basically can't target or cast LOS spells past 60 feet, and of course you can't see ANYTHING past 60 feet meaning you have no chance of spotting that sniper on the roof or whatever.
I have it in my head that she was going on about the stars leading us toward the heroes of the Shackles and then they get captured, so perhaps Ekote has been suspicious of her augury skills? ;)
More likely he's now a bit put-out by them. Got led to some Chells, not heroes lol
Here's Riori much more finalized. Let me know if anything looks terribly off or if there's anything you recommend changing. I may purchase a few more potions/disposable magic items with the 492+ gold I have left.
Also: since Lathiira made me second-guess: if it is too janky/broken to have Riori have the Clouded curse, with the idea being that "she always sees the stars" (which occludes much of her normal vision but conveniently still allows her to see the night sky at night, thus for example still granting her the benefit of guiding star), I am willing to either (a) change her curse, or (b) accept a drawback like giving her a penalty to saving throws versus effects that would throw off her "star eyes" like the dazzle spell or sudden changes in light, e.g., daylight. I wasn't trying to wriggle around the rules, I just thought it would be cool Desnian twist on the "curse," and of course I wanted to have some fun with the blind soothsayer trope. Lame would probably be the next best option (and I could get rid of the muleback cords).
I like the idea of the stargazer combined with clouded. One of my favorite apps is called Skyview, and it uses enhanced reality to label stars and constellations and such, but you can also turn it to see what is below the horizon, effectively seeing through buildings and even the earth. If you could always see the Cosmic Caravan wheeling around, you would have a different relationship with it.
That app sounds awesome.
Okay, I think Riori is ready to go then (still thinking about potion buys). Are we waiting to introduce the new party members? Lathiira are you ready with Ekote?
I think I'm good other than filling out my stat line the rest of the way. So introductions can happen whenever we like.
Once you guys are ready to go we can introduce the new folks. You are out of danger from the pursuit and the next thing is your arrival at the island. We want to get the new folks introduced before that.
If you'll set us up a scene, perhaps as we're going over the plunder from that little excursion, we can have at it!
Also FWIW, I've missed creating characters. Now I have other ideas trying to gel in my head :)
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Creating characters is a terrible addiction.
Probably we want to do introductions with those we rescued?
That's the idea. I suggested maybe a scene as we count up the loot from us raiding The Queen's Hand. You can tell us what we got plus our new crew ;)
Anything else we want to do before we hit the island? Any other treasure to be gone through?
I think you got the right breakdown of all of the treasure as we went. I can go back through and make a list if you need that.
Nah, I was just referring to divvying up what we found from the Captain and First Mate.
We ready to continue?
I am. If GM wants the NPCs to chat a bit with the newbies that's fine with me or otherwise I'm ready to proceed.
Hey everyone. I’m super sick at the moment. I’ll get back online as soon as I can.
As noted in other game, rest up and I hope you feel better soon.
Rest up. If need be we can all declare a brief pause. I'm sure my coming week will merit that.
Yeah, good luck with the Thanksgiving/Black Friday rush.
Thanks. My schedule the following week will also be unfun.
I'm easing back into my life. Right at this moment coughing up a lung or three. I know Lathiira works retail, so the next month or so will likely be mad. I'll be gone for a week before Christmas. We can take it slow.
Having evaded pursuit, you continue on toward your prize, known as The Isle of Empty Eyes. As you approach the island, you spot a number of low lying shoals and barrier reefs surrounding your destination. You can navigate these hazards to find safe harbor or leave the ship off shore and use ships boats to reach the island.
This week and next will be the main issues for me with some schedule changes. I'll be able to post. I do not however claim that my posts will all be completely sensible!