GM Endless Forms' PFS 03-10 The Immortal Conundrum (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Tuholski

Hello all!

I'll be gone this weekend so we won't be starting until next week some time.

Great, it will give me some time to update.

Cool. I may play as Miss Elizabeth (my rogue pregen), but I'm still thinking about the barbarian pregen.

I sent Burglar a PM, letting him know. ATM I think I'll hold off and try to get Burglar to run it for me in the future as I would really like to run Shin through and Ezrek is currently about to shat himself in Waking Rune.

Of course the temptation may be too great, I give in and play a pregen.

Invite: Received, though you caught me with only 2 characters in tier! (That's actually really bad for me for any non 7-11 tier.) What sub tier are we trying for?

5-6 I believe? I'm level 6 at any rate.

6th still (I think) Hair Witch, once insane, but unfortunately needed a Heal. Now he's just confused and slipping back into insanity.

9th Diplomancer/Heal Battery Cloistered Cleric

For Tsusuko, I'll have to upload his one impromtu play at a convention a few months ago and double-check his XP.

I just need to finalize the Class info space. But here's Amiri.

So, a few things. The pre-gen info for Amiri gives her raging AC as 19, but the CRB says that AC is dropped by 2 when raging - so I changed it to 18. I couldn't find anything that would allow her to decrease the AC penalty when raging.

Also, she's going to be a jerk. I figure that she has a bastard sword, so maybe her personality should match that.

I'm sure Sahar will enjoy her refreshing lack of manners :)

Hey Burglar I hope this character is as fun as your summoner.

Hey Burglar I hope this character is as fun as your summoner.

Alas, his "fun" was cured by a Heal spell after being feebleminded... Heal cures insanity, after all...

Not to say he's horribly boring now, he's just the opposite of what I envisioned him to be at creation. Note: I've got my Ironwood chronicle up and Tsuusko just has a few statblock updates (like gold and stuff that can be interred from a chronicle.)

As an aside, Tsusuko's Strength patron is the Lurker at the Gate, Yog-Soggoth. Though a Heal and constant therapy from a fellow Seeker Pathfinder may keep it at bay, while on the field, Tsusuko has a gradually increasing chance of losing his sanity again each time he uses a spell or class feature (activating his Combat Hair, any helpful Speak with Master, etc. etc.) Back when I decided this was how I was going to handle the character concept being ruined a few scenarios back, I decided on a d100 so there's zero chance of looking like or accidentally padding d20 rolls for better numbers or something.

Tsusuko, How does one "absorb" personalities? Is this an ability of witches?

Entirely RP-based "ability."

See, Tsusuko's original purpose was entirely for convention play (usually Dragon*con), where I play with random people at each table. Once per table (or whenever, but it was usually once a table if that), I'd pick someone who's character I would either enjoy playing or would enjoy imitating and skewing their personas, and "absorb" it. Every time I'd start a session, I'd roll a die to determine "who I am" today. At the time of the Heal, I had a local player (Jander, Cleric of Sarenrae 12), Brick Wall (Halfling Fighter ?, AC beast), and the paladin Luthril (of the current Venture Captain of one of the Carolinas, though he (with forewarning) was at least slightly inebriated at the time of play, which made for hilarious banter about Sarenrae and how attractive Iomedae was.)

Tsusuko (if you look at his whole gear list, which is not carried at the moment) includes Mock Armour, a tower shield, and a plethora of weapons he's not proficient in (though he would regularly carry around while his hair did any actual attacking.)

Currently, he's being put through post-mission therapy by Jander (at his request), though if Tsusuko "breaks," he'll be back to his silly antics.

Yes, I remember Tsusoku from Veteran's Vault (I was Glaurung). He has been much more subdued this mission. I hope he didn't absorb Glaurung, that would be a frightening prospect, although he might get along with the Paracountess a little better.

Yes, I remember Tsusoku from Veteran's Vault (I was Glaurung). He has been much more subdued this mission. I hope he didn't absorb Glaurung, that would be a frightening prospect, although he might get along with the Paracountess a little better.

I believe he was Brick Wall in that scenario. And no fear on the other thing, since he's lost all previous personalities and memory from (and before) the insane time. He'll automatically regain the Jander one, due to both his IC exposure to him and my OoC my desire to praise Sarenrae for everything from drugs, the ocean, and to immolation again. I won't force it though, it's against my own personal meta-code (which is a cool word I just made up.)

Dang, Tsusoku/Ernest/Amira/Burglar - you are an inspiration. I thought I was clever with forcing Maaarv to put on his smoked glasses whenever he faced an insect, but Tsusoku's condition is just fantastic role-playing.

A tip of the hat to you.

Eventually the questions are going to come around to Tsusuko. I'm curious as to how he will respond.

My problem is that so many of my characters end up acting like I would in social situations. I don't like to make waves or cause problems. I think way too much about what I'm going to say before I say it. I'm extremely boring at parties.

Even here, I started off meaning for Amiri to really be a bastard in her personality - but that response I gave was just as I would answer it out of character - reasonable (or an attempt at being reasonable) and calm.

I just wish I was better.

Sometimes it's easiest for me to take a trait (either my own or an exact opposite of my own) and accentuate it beyond normal. Trotter, my archaeologist, is absolutely my know-it-all bookworm self to the extreme. Sure, my slyph druid, is a bit of an air-head whereas I'm generally very focused. It's not necessarily true for all of my characters but it's generally true for the ones that I find easiest to RP. Pick some character trait (or flaw), focus on it, and then just push it to the extreme.

And hey, I'm a science student; I don't even go to parties.

Sometimes it's easiest for me to take a trait (either my own or an exact opposite of my own) and accentuate it beyond normal. Trotter, my archaeologist, is absolutely my know-it-all bookworm self to the extreme. Sure, my slyph druid, is a bit of an air-head whereas I'm generally very focused. It's not necessarily true for all of my characters but it's generally true for the ones that I find easiest to RP. Pick some character trait (or flaw), focus on it, and then just push it to the extreme.

This this this, one hundred times, this. Plus, never "plan" a character's personality adamantly; (at least for me) it is all about the spur-of-the-moment adaptations. I'm not talking about mid-play deciding my character is someone's secret cousin, but when your man-child who blubbers at the thought of speaking to women is exposed to two Calistrian Clerics for three missions straight, he gets over the difficulty ever so slightly. I suppose it's more of a "staying fluid, not static" ideology, but meh.

I also adhere to the age-old tradition of blatantly ripping off tropes and characters.

No, I actually think you're better than average. Even in my first PbP game Sewer Dragons, you had some good back-and-forth, especially with Sahar. Those were some good RP moments.

Also, second to what Tsusuko said. I usually start with a character concept and then it morphs into something else when I start playing them, depending on how people respond. Trotter (archaeologist above) was originally just supposed to be the Indiana Jones of the halflings. But he turned out to be much more fun and likeable when I turned him into the pedantic bookworm and now locally we have an entire clan of halflings to flesh out Trotter's family. Immediately after a combat ends he puts his pistol away and begins lecturing the party on the development of the architectural styles of the Thassilonian Empire or something and everyone rolls their eyes at him and starts looting the bodies.

For another example, Glaurung was originally just a gnome really interested in dragons. I decided to insert a little Zarta-Dralneed-sex-obsession into her after I was playing a game and make a joke about making a Ride check against another character-now that pretty much dominates her personality and I think most people tend to really like her spunkiness.

I'm kind of curious for an outsiders view on it. I try to find 1 or 2 things to focus on for a character and play them up, or at least to get the character 'started' and see where they go from there. Sahar had seen very little table play before I started doing PbP with her, so while I though I knew who she was supposed to be...

It's a little tough when 3 of my characters are Keleshite woman, but I feel like Kuduro, Sahar and Pavanna are all fairly different. I also try to use their faith as a guide. Though Kuduro is having some anger issues in Our Lady of Silver currently.

I really love the PbP format because it gives you much more time to think about how your character would/could/should react to what's going on.

And for the record Signboy you do a great job, don't worry. Two of my top 5 RP moments involve Desmond. :)

Yeah, I wouldn't look at the any kind of imagined disparity too hard; I have 62 levels in PFS alone (not counting first levels with 2 or less sessions), which doesn't count APs done for PFS credit (of which I have 2 partial (each in books 4/5) and one complete (which I am now helping DM for DM cred myself.) It's really a gained-with-time thing.

And to be fair, you gave Ernest a somewhat different direction (though the two other females of the party definitely helped there, dragging him to a brothel-temple, but that was in a different direction.) Ernest was originally supposed to be "super Society nerd who tells stories about his great-great grandfather and the Shoanti or some other bs" that he thoroghly believes. He's (d?)evolved into a blubbering man-child when any lady with is about, with a knowledge background (though I've finally gotten back to storytelling, since there's no more lady PCs about that make suggestive comments in his general presence.)

And if I were to count the characters that are both Original-ish (read: not another cool guy jerk like my original "character that didn't suck," a trope I've been almost entirely avoidant of until I got to my Situation-esque ninja) and "haven't been defined by in-game play", I'd probably be able to count them on one hand.

All in all, you're doing fine. It takes a little to get used to the pbp environment, too; real-life games assume a LOT more time constraints and often don't leave room for visiting the ice cream stall mid-game to buy your pig ice cream.

Though, an aside: Is the "Trade Prince having daughters" thing canon somewhere, or was it just impromptu stuff? I'm totally burgling it (as well as his sexual alignment thing), unless I can find anything contradictory in a cursory search.

Despite the fact Tsusuko has, like, +9 diplomacy, without being someone else, he's the worst party guest ever.

I kinda wanted to fail that SAN check, though; I had magnificence cooked up for that.

A commonly missed point of Combat Reflexes, though my to-hit is so low that it rarely even matters (nor did it actually matter here, so whatevs. Just an educational post about Paizo and their intricate "Let's put rules in different chapters" mechanics.")

linky

At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. You can't use your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) while flat-footed. Barbarians and rogues of high enough level have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which means that they cannot be caught flat-footed. Characters with uncanny dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat. A flat-footed character can't make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat.

Oh, you're right. I knew that but thanks for reminding me. It's listen in the Combat Reflexes feat too, I just wasn't thinking about it.

That's cool, my +7 and poor rolling always tend to miss everything by this tier, anyways. It was used pretty well against threatening archers in difficult terrain, though! Also, though it likely also won't matter, Tsusko also has Improved Unarmed Strike because he's Tien because I'm building for Improved Grapple for my hair's purposes, though given FAQs about using weapon in combat manuvers, I should just take Weapon Focus (Hair)...

If you grapple from 10' away and they can't reach you, they can't take the AoO anyways. Same with someone tripping with a whip from 15' away. Tripping provokes but they can't reach you so it doesn't matter.

+2 from Improved Grapple isn't bad though. And Greater Grapple is even better.

The Hair explicitly prevents AoOs, so that was never my concern. It was a "Buff up my 1/2 BAB CMB as much as possible so I'm not useless high-tier." Note that Improved Grapple ALSO adds to the CMD (which is astounding for Tsusuko with his Defensive Combat Training.

Plus, then I can say "He's Tien, he totally know martial arts!" as a non-mechanical side benefit.

It speaks true of my attention span to say that I only (just now) realized that Tsusuko was the only male in the party.

Awwwwwwwwwww yeaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Tsusoku - you have inspired me to a monk/white haired witch build...I shall call her Rapunzel! I'm sure others have done it already, but I was reading a Fables trade paperback this week and I was like...wait.a.minute!

Ha, nice. Be sure to build up to Feral Combat Training for maximum hair flurry (unless you're archeypeing it away), and note the errata on the WHW's special Hair actions (Swift, not free action.)

-Posted with Wayfinder

Peri is normally quite catty with party members unless they are Qadiran, Elderly, good looking male, or a meat shield. So this is two groups in a row where she is coming off as soft.

Shin just finished up Our Lady of Silver with me last night so he's free now. I believe the play was to use this group + Shin and Desmond for Wonders in the Weave Parts I and II. Wardstone Patrol still has quite a bit left though and that first combat took forever so we'll see if we end up finishing this one before Desmond finishes in Wardstone.

We're making good progress on this one though so I have a feeling we'll finish this way before Wardstone.

Roll Day Jobs if you have them.

@Amiri: who would you like to apply this to?

@Endless - Linnea: 64554-2

craft(Baskets): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

I believe Tsusuko is 22357-7, though the Dash # might be wrong.

-Posted with Wayfinder

I believe the plan after this is to play The Wonders in the Weave, where Shin will be rejoining the party. I've opened the gameplay up for dotting since this scenario should be wrapping up soon.

I think the original plan was for Desmond to join as well but since's he's still tied up in a game you could always play Amiri for Part I and then switch Desmond in for Part II if he's ready by then. There's a boon if you put both chronicle sheets adjacent on the same character (but honestly it's not that outstanding of a boon).

9783-2

Day job - Craft (bows): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

Thanks everyone. We're pretty much finished. I'll get a wrap-up post and chronicle sheets out late tonight or tomorrow morning; Monday nights are PFS nights in Bloomington.

In the meantime, Shin is eagerly waiting over at Wonders in the Weave. You should join him so he's not so lonely.

I'm gonna see how far through Day of the Demon my Conjuration Wizard is; As much as I don't think we need any more Arcane power, Tsusuko is quite boring as of late, which leave me kind fo wanted to AP chronicle level my Wizard or someone else up into the 7-11 range. I find it absolutely HILARIOUS that I have no non-seeker melee martial character above 3rd, given my affinity for melees.

Amiri/Linnea

Peri

Sahar

Tsusoku

There you go! I'll leave this up for today so you can grab your chronicles and then I'll be setting this campaign to inactive. Wonders in the Weave will get going right away!