All out of character discussion here please!
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Hi this is Elen's Player. I'm still working on this character, but when I'm done she'll be an Archeologist Bard with melee combat, skill monkey (including trap finding and disabling) and spell capability. Self-buffing only, though, so there's room for another bard in the party if someone was interested in playing one.
Ragnar here. Sent you a PM. No reason to keep things secret now that we have a thread though.
As far as character motivations are concerned I'm kinda drawn to Andoran's anti-slavery thing. Not sure how big a role that will play in this game though.
Just had an opportunity to glance over the concepts you presented, DH. First off, thanks! I read through your Guide to PbP GM'ing and that really helped me mold that Recruitment thread to make it a little more intriguing! So...thank you for that!
Amongst the three, I think your human/half-orc warpriest would be a perfect fit. The module does not really deal with any of Andoran's anti-slavery per se, but that concept can easily be directed towards Falcon's Hollow.
A little bit of background info on the starting town. Falcon's Hollow is a lumber town that is being run by the terribly corrupt, and by extension evil, Lumber Consortium. The currently head of the Consortium essentially runs it as indentured servitude; he pays his workers, if you can consider the pathetic pay he gives them as payment. Yet he then charges a hefty "axe tax" and owns most of the buildings in town and charges his workers rent. Essentially Thuldrin Kreed (the head of the Consortium) fully admits he takes advantage of the people of Falcon's Hollow... unfortunately no one has the power to stand up to him. Also, the powers that be in Almas turn a blind eye to the Consortium because they need the Darkwood from the forests to continue building their fleet. Don't you just love Democracy?
Therefore I could easily see such a character making his/her way to Falcon's Hollow either because they are fleeing to there, or because they heard about the downtrodden folks of Falcon's Hollow and goes to assist them!
Plus I'm trying to stick to Core races only. Also, the kobold wouldn't work out well... Let's just say two of modules deal with kobolds as they main enemy and I'm pretty sure the townsfolk would try to kill any kobolds on sight lol.
My plan is essentially this... to follow the modules for a bit so I can get used to the rules and ease into things. Once we get through the modules, if you guys are still enjoying things I have been thinking of some great ideas to continue on afterward. There are some very interesting continuation ideas in all of the modules for Falcon's Hollow and I would love to give the PCs the opportunity to make an impact on the town, for weal or woe... I would leave that part up to you guys!
What do you guys think about the scarring idea I proposed? I'm debating between all piercing/slashing damage leaving scars (even after magical healing) over varying degrees based on amount of damage. Or I may just limit it to only critical hits and full damage hits leaving scars. I felt this may add a little edginess to the campaign that I feel this series really hints towards.
I keep scar records for most of my combat-prone characters. I find it helps me remember what they've been through.
I'll have a alias for my warpriest made sometime tomorrow.
I was overly optimistic about how much time I was going to have today. Character generation will have to wait until after the weekend.
On the upside, its giving me more and more time to think, which means I'm really liking how the concept is evolving.
Not a problem! We can take as much time as you guys would like to finalize characters before I open up the recruitment.
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I'm taking the character creation stuff Faelyn shared with us by message and putting it here to make it easier to access:
Starting Level: 1st.
Stat Generation: 20 point buy. *See below for important information regarding stats.
Allowable Races: Given that this is my first GM attempt I am restricting to Core only.
Allowable Classes: All Paizo classes, save for Gunslinger, Summoner, and Anti-paladin (See alignment restriction). This also restricts any archetype with firearms attached. I do not want to deal with the headache that is the firearm rules, nor all the potential for havoc the Summoners can create on my first attempt at GMing.
Other Allowable Material: Any official Pathfinder, please be prepared to provide links from either d20pfsrd.com or archivesofnethys.com for anything I have questions about.
HP: Max HP at 1st level. You can also make a choice at 2nd level on the progression of HP at subsequent levels. You can either choose to roll for your HP, or you can select the option of taking average HP. Once the choice is made, it cannot be changed.
Skills: Knowledge skills, Survival, and Disable Device will all be important skills to have.
Starting Gold: Maximum gold at 1st level by class.
Traits: Standard 2 traits. Below are additional traits accessible to players that should be highly considered as I will grant special consideration for any characters taking one of the traits.
Drawback: Players may take a drawback to gain access to a 3rd trait if desired.
Alignment: No evil. By extension, do not worship evil deities. I am allowing Neutral alignments with this caveat, Neutral with Good tendencies. If you use Neutral to commit evil acts you will be warned, then your alignment will begin to shift if you continue along that path. Any PC whose alignment shifts to Evil will become a NPC and you will be asked to create a new character.
Additional: I also want to see to the following: A detailed Background, including why your PC ends up in Falcon’s Hollow (remember 1st level character, so please do not go overboard), a physical Description of your character (if you have a picture, feel free to link!), and a basic idea of their Personality (a single paragraph will suffice).
Party Balance: In theory I would like to see a somewhat balanced party with the traditional adventuring roles present. There will be a good deal of dungeon crawling and having someone to disarm traps would be highly recommended.
*I am not a big fan of dump stats for mechanical purposes only; however, that being said I understand if it is important to a character concept. I will not unduly punish any character for having a low stat; however, given that information, no stats below a 7, nor above an 18 before racial modifiers. The following is how I tend to view stats: 3 Atrocious handicap (Barely functional), 4-5 Exceptional handicap (Expect this to substantially affect your character), 6-7 Above average handicap (Expect to see some impact upon your character, but not excessive), 8-12 Average for any race (minimal, if any impact), 13-15 Above average boon (You stand out against most), 16-17 Exceptional boon (Your talents immediately noticeable and draw great attention), 18-19 Elite (Very few people in the world can compare), 20 Paragon (None can compare).
Darkmoon Vale Campaign Traits:
Bad Day in Town: You live somewhere in Darkmoon Vale and had to come in to Falcon’s Hollow recently to purchase supplies, sell goods, hire some help, or some other mundane reason. You’d been in town for a couple of days before you heard about the sickness going around, and found yourself beginning to cough. Catching this disease steeled your resolve. You begin play infected with blackscour taint; assume you have only had to make one saving throw so far and failed, thus beginning with 1 point of Constitution damage. You gain a +1 trait bonus to Will saving throws, which increases to +3 as long as you are infected by blackscour taint.
Company Lumberjack: You have been logging in the Darkmoon Wood for a few years now, and whether you were born there or not, Falcon’s Hollow has become as close to home as any place you could name. You frequently come into town for supplies, but this time there is something different. The town has never been what you would describe as friendly, but people are even less outgoing than normal. You have heard some rumors about people getting sick lately, but the coughing is more widespread than you would have expected. Your years as a lumberjack may not help with what is going around, but it has given you a great deal of experience with an axe. You deal an extra 1 point of damage when using any sort of axe.
Infected Family Member: You have always been very hardy, but one or more members of your family have recently fallen ill. You have seen—and heard—a number of other people around town with similar symptoms – hacking coughs that eventually produce blood if not treated. No real cure has been found, but most of the people in town have been turning to Laurel, proprietor of Roots and Remedies, for poultices and spiced teas they say seem to help. Fortunately, you have always been very healthy; you get a +1 trait bonus to Fortitude saving throws.
Family Hero (dwarf only): Your family tells stories of the great dwarven hero, Druingar Glintaxe. He was an ancestor of yours, and you have traced the route of his final quest along a winding path across Avistan to one an ancient dwarven monestary near the Five Kings Mountains, just north of Darkmoon Wood. You arrived in Falcon’s Hollow, the closest settlement to the mountains, just as some sort of outbreak has taken hold. The journey was long, but you used the time to study about the history and current affairs of the region. You get a +1 trait bonus to all Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local) and Knowledge (religion) checks.
Pathfinder Recruit: You were discovered at an early age by an agent of the Pathfinder Society due to your natural talent with a critical adventuring skill. The local Pathfinder Venture Captain sent you to investigate rumors of ancient Azlanti ruins in Darkmoon Wood. Pick one of the following skills: Disable Device, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Perception, Spellcraft, or Stealth. You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is always considered a class skill for you.
Scion of the Light: Your family can trace its genealogy back to a notable hero of the Shining Crusade. While not all of your ancestors lived up to the progenitor’s legacy, you show great potential. Your patron, a religious figure with ties to the Crusaders of Lastwall, sent you to Darkmoon Vale after receiving visions of a great evil in service to the Whispering Tyrant taking refuge in the area. You are to do whatever you can to ensure its plans are foiled. To this end, you received a special blessing: any time you rest to heal, you recover an additional number of hit points equal to your Constitution bonus. This additional healing is not increased by resting for an entire day, nor with a successful Heal check.
Werewolf Hunter: You spent a great deal of your life hunting lycanthropes. You may have lost a loved one to a werewolf attack, or you survived an attack by one yourself, and you have sworn to prevent this from happening to anyone else. To that end, you procured a silvered weapon. You came to Falcon’s Hollow to pick up this weapon from a local smith just as the town seems to be coming down with some sort of plague. Choose one weapon (not a double weapon) with which you are proficient; you start play with an alchemically silvered version of this weapon.
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This one didn't get separated from the previous:
Company Lumberjack: You have been logging in the Darkmoon Wood for a few years now, and whether you were born there or not, Falcon’s Hollow has become as close to home as any place you could name. You frequently come into town for supplies, but this time there is something different. The town has never been what you would describe as friendly, but people are even less outgoing than normal. You have heard some rumors about people getting sick lately, but the coughing is more widespread than you would have expected. Your years as a lumberjack may not help with what is going around, but it has given you a great deal of experience with an axe. You deal an extra 1 point of damage when using any sort of axe.
Doomed Hero here.
Here's my Alias for the character. His background is pretty much done, but there's no mechanics for him yet. I've never built a Warpriest before so its taking me a longer than usual to get the rules to do what I want them to.
Thanks Zilka! Going to look over the characters today and tomorrow, but so far everything looks good on your Zilka and I like the back story for Greyson.
Zilka looks good! I have not heard anything yet from our other RoW folks, so going to give them a little more time. If I have not heard from either of them by the time you guys have both finished your characters, then I will likely go ahead and open up recruitment.
Alright, Caine's done. That took a lot of research for what turned out to be a really simplistic starting build.
Story-wise he's drifted away from Abadar and developed his own code based mostly on the flaws he sees in Abadar's laws. He's a priest without a patron, but his ideals closely match those of Iori (who encourages his followers to seek their own paths to enlightenment anyway, so he's really a follower of Iori in the truest sense, in that he doesn't actually realize he's following Iori while he's carving out his own path). He's going to act a lot like a a really disillusioned, cynical paladin. He's a mouthy, stubborn drunken gambler who spends most of his time around whores and degenerates. He's also one of the most genuinely altruistic and kind people you're likely to meet.
Caine is going to fill the traditional role of Cleric (healing and secondary damage dealer). At only two spells per day his healing doesn't actually go very far, so the group will probably want to invest in a Wand of Cure Light Wounds as soon a possible.
Awesome, sounds good Greyson. I will look him over in a little bit. Also, based on your background I'll PM you some information regarding Greyson and some of the members of Falcon's Hollow... especially regarding Greyson's choice of locales.
Have not had a chance to look over Greyson, yet, however I should be able to once I get home. Also, if you want to go ahead and 'dot' the Gameplay thread to link this to your page, feel free!
Greyson looks good. The only thing I would like to ask is if you would model your stat block to match that of Zilka's, I would really appreciate it. It's just easier if all the PC's have the same format.
Also, I will be PM'ing both of you with information on the setup to the beginning of the campaign. I'll also have a few questions for each of you.
Yikes! You want me to write out a Herolab character sheet by hand? Ouch. Alright, I'll work on that tonight.
Oh! No, Greyson, you don't have to do your whole character sheet like Zilka's. I just meant the subheading beneath the character name. Sorry, I should have been more clear.
F Half-Orc Bard (archeologist) 1 | HP 10/10 | AC 16 T 11 FF 15 | Ft +4 Rf +5 Wi +3 | Init +3 | Perc +3 | Luck 7/7
Like that!
Well, here is my character, I think he should be in order.
Gotcha! That I can do. :)
Well, here is my character, I think he should be in order.
Ok, I will look it over!
Also, if you guys take any non-standard racial traits, please indicate that somewhere on your sheets so I can make a note of it.
Hey everyone, I added some stuff to the Campaign Info tab if you want to check it out! I will be adding additional information/links as I think of them!
When do you anticipate starting a recruiting thread?
-Posted with Wayfinder
I had hoped to give Keolin a few days to get back to me, but I think I'll open up recruitment Tuesday afternoon. If he is able to get a PC into me during recruitment I'll select his character in addition to two others. I never did hear back from Droviz either way, so his opportunity for a guaranteed spot have passed. I'll send Keolin a PM and let him know.
I will then close Recruitment on Friday, take the weekend to look over all the submissions and then make my selection Monday. How does that sound to you guys? I don't want you all to lose interest!
Also, are you planning on taking multiple levels of ranger? Or just one the to meet the prereqs for EK? Just curious if I should try to get a full caster, or if you had planned to fill that spot.
Sounds great to me. :)
As for the other question, yes, I am intending to go near full caster, one level loss for ranger and one for Eldritch knight, so I'll be one spell level behind where I was supposed to be so to speak.
Recruitment thread is open!
Well, after looking at the recruits, I'd be taking the two Halfling females of course, that way poor Zilka won't have to bear Ruhk's constant flirting alone.
Hey guys! I'd love to get your input on the submissions so far. Which ones are your favorites or the ones you think would make for a great fit. Feel free to PM me with the info. Also once I close recruitment tomorrow night, I would also love to have you guys shoot me a list with the three PCs you would like to see selected. This is your story, I am just the teller and would like to allow you guy to make the best of it. Once the official selection has been made, I'm going to give them all some tie ins like I did with you three. And for any characters who have similar Darkmoon Vale traits, such as Pathfinder Recruits... I will get with those characters for additional background info!
And Ruhk, thank you for changing your stat bar. Much appreciated!
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Thinking about what we need currently, combat-wise:
Hammer (characters whose job it is to do damage to enemies):
Grayson - definitely
Ruhk - partially, depends on what spells he takes when he goes sorc.
Zilka - partially
Anvil (characters who control the flow of battle and use debuffs, save-or-suck and save-or-die effects on enemies)
Zilka - partially (whip for tripping and disarming, some spells)
Ruhk - maybe depending on spells
Arm (characters that enhance the party with buffs):
Ruhk - maybe if he gets buffing spells
A strong debuffer (anvil) would definitely be useful, as would a character with buffing capabilities (arm).
I think Faelyn is talking about the submissions in the recruitment thread. Not us.
Pretty much all party roles are covered by the three we already have except for a Face character. Anyone with a decent charisma and the skills to back it could fill that role.
Thus far my favorite submissions are Belladonna and Peoney. A halfling rogue and ranger combo would be impressive in combat and would allow our entire party to be stealthy. There's a lot of good synergy between their characters and they'd fit in well with the rest of us. We could approach combat from a much different angle than usual if we could all move reasonable quietly. (I just rearranged my skills to allow me to be sneaky too!) Also, with their higher ACs and Saves we could probably get away with less healing.
How many party members are we looking to have?
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I think Faelyn is talking about the submissions in the recruitment thread. Not us.
Right, I'm just thinking about what roles we have covered between the three of us as it currently stands. Basically, we have direct damage pretty well covered, without a lot of the other combat roles. This can mean difficulty with certain types of encounters.
Honestly, I kinda prefer it that way. Makes us less magicky folks have to get creative.
Honestly, we have a lot more magical utility than first glance suggests. Ruhk, who will eventually be filling our primary arcane caster role, actually has the least magic of all of us right now.
We have an interesting little team so far. My interest is more in finding other folks who fall in line with our existing themes than filling theoretical party gaps. I find synergy of style to be more important than synergy of mechanics, personally. (that's not saying I don't prefer both. I just look for stylistic choices first)
Hey guys! Sorry I did not answer your question earlier, Greyson. I am going to go with 6 players. That way if we do lose 1 player to attrition (a very likely occurrence), then I will not necessarily have to recruit anyone.
Thank you guys for your input on the potential PC recruits. I think I have made my choices, but I am waiting until recruitment is officially closed before I make my final decision. This is my thought so far...
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I agree that it's a very hard choice to make!
Quick change to Zilka -- switching Dex and Int so that she'll qualify for combat expertise and improved trip/disarm eventually.
-Posted with Wayfinder
I agree that it's a very hard choice to make!
Quick change to Zilka -- switching Dex and Int so that she'll qualify for combat expertise and improved trip/disarm eventually.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Okay! Sounds good, Zilka.
Belladonna here! Happy day this is =D
So! What do you guys need from me?
Zirren here, glad to have been chosen (not an enviable task). I copied the status indicator format off of Zilka. If you need anything else, happy to oblige.
This will be my first game on the Paizo boards; normally I play on RPOL.
How do you do that, Zirren?
<- New to pbps T-T
Nevermind, I think I figured it out. One sec
Hey guys, rough day at work... Finally heading home now (late, of course). I will get some updates to Zirren and Belladonna in a bit.
Tyty! Welcome home!
Okay, so we are just waiting for Nathaniel to check-in and then I would like to get us started Monday morning. I'll set the scene and then let you guys run with some RP time if you would like.
Belladonna & Zirren, I will be sending you both a PM with some background information for your characters. Also, Belladonna, if you would add all your character sheet information into your profile like the others for ease of access for me. If you are feeling particularly helpful, if you could model it after Zilka/Zirren's profile pages that would be a great boon for me.
Okay, I'll get on it! A question. When you say Monday morning, do you mind if I post in the early afternoon? I have a final in the morning.
Of course, Belladonna. You don't have to post right away. We are going to go with a laid back posting rate. I would like folks to be able to get at least one post every other day. If we can post more than that, then so much the better! You can get your post in whenever you have the opportunity to post.
Thanks GM, can you tell that I'm new to this? Lol
I do have 2 years of playing pathfinder though, so that part isn't new. It'll probably take a lil bit to really figure out how pbps work, although I've been researching to get a better idea. Thank you for your patience!
Also, I think I have my profile ready. Let me know if there's anything I can do/change.
Sidenote: If Belladonna is too much to write, feel free to call me "Bella" ooc of course
So! What do you guys need from me?
Since you'll be our scout, what we'll need from you is to keep a high posting rate during exploration and combat scenes. The momentum of the game will be based on the pace you set.
Essentially, you need to always be trying to push us forward to the next event.
This seems straightforward, but it is actually the most crucial player role in a PbP game. The rate at which the scout and GM can bounce back and forth to reveal and set up events is seriously important. I've seen slow scouts kill games, and fast scouts save games I thought were in danger of petering out.
No pressure. ;)
Bella, profile looks good. Thank you for that, makes my life easier and anything that makes my life easier makes your lives easier. If you have any suggestions or questions for me about Bella, feel free to PM me, or you can post here.
I will do what I can to help you with PbP. Once we get everyone checked in I'm going to go through a list of expectations and ideas I have to keep things moving along smoothly.
Also, Bella, is there a certain time of day that you will be more available to post? If so, during those crucial scout missions, I will try to keep myself active and available to push the game along.
Zirren, I haven't forgotten about you, just had a busy night with my little guy. Wife is working tonight, so I had my hands full with our son. I will shoot you a PM tomorrow with some background ideas that we will bounce back and forth.
On that note, I have to be up for work in 6.5 hours... So I'm off to bed! Look for more from me tomorrow.