Welcome to the Way of the Wicked discussion thread. Here’s where I would like the group to hone their characters, flesh out the back stories, finish the crunch etc. before we get started. Once we start, I encourage you all to use this thread for info, strategy/tactics planning etc. that might be considered ‘out-of-character’ – for instance, if your character is a meek, mild mannered librarian who wouldn’t say boo in a group but you have an idea as to how to handle combat… use the forum here to present it to the group since your ‘character’ wouldn’t necessarily be a tactician or a leader.
Now for the homework – before we start, I’d like the following completed:
1. Create your alias, complete your crunch, skills, feats etc.
2. Forgot to mention this in the recruitment but use average starting wealth for gear.
3. Flesh out your appearance /background / biography / back-story if you haven’t already done so. This *can* be a collaborative effort amongst all players should you so desire. The only thing I would ask is that you refrain from having your characters know each other at the start. I would prefer strangers thrown in to the mix together at the onset of the story. :) And you folks seriously don't ALL have to be Asmodeus followers! :)
4. Include your appearance/background / biography / back-story in your alias under a spoiler. This should include the general location(s) in Talingarde you frequented, where you grew up, your career choices, any close friends/contacts you had in your previous life etc. Feel free to reference specific locations (or make them up if they’re villages – as long as I know the general vicinity where they are, it’s all good). You can google a higher resolution of the map of Talingarde that I posted I’m sure. Shoot me a PM if you need help.
5. If you haven’t heard of or read the AP – don’t! If you’ve read or played the AP before, leave out any personal relationships with any NAMED characters please – i.e. Bardin the Stout, your close childhood friend who ratted you out is fine. You got caught when you pinched Sir Balin’s man-purse is not. :)
6. If you have a familiar, minion, follower, eidolon etc. – anything that could be considered a ‘separate’ entity that can talk, has its own actions and so own, please make a separate alias for it and post its actions using its own alias. For instance, Jojo the summoner has an eidolon that looks like an inky shadow named Steve with a whispering voice that ssssseeeeems toooo come fr-m faaaar awwaaa—yy . Steve should have its own alias – RP him well. You wanted the responsibility, you got it! Descriptions and appearance in the alias profile for this too please.
7. I’d like as much info stored in your alias’ profile if at all possible so I don’t have to go hunting through an old thread. This includes gear, limited uses/day powers, current spells memorized/used etc. etc. Have your current hp and other frequently used stats stored in your header. Again, for those that are new, PM me should you need assistance with this.
8. Please post here when you have everything checked off and are ready to start. I’ll do a final review of your character. I’d suggest refraining from posting in the game-play thread until all characters are approved.
9. The only other thing I’d ask for (as if the first 8 weren’t enough) is a post from you, the player, on the kind of game you prefer – combat-heavy (full tactical with maps and lots of rule/number crunching), more geared towards RP, puzzle solving, heavy on character interactions (with NPCs and PCs) etc. This is so I can customize the game to suit the group’s preference to (hopefully) make it an enjoyable experience for all.
Thanks for indulging my quirks folks. Looking forward to a great game.
Malum reporting in. I won't be able to get much more done today but should get most of it done tomorrow (days off are nice. :)
just checking in before bed, thanks for the choice, glad to be here. To bad I didnt end up with that Elven Magus...the tension would have been great roleplay :D
Guess ill have to settle the likes of you ;)
Id like anyone who cares to, DM included, to tell me what else you would like to know about my character. I know Theres plenty more to touch upon in his background, but ive got this darn feeling of it being "done" and am currently hitting a wall on fleshing it out. Be brutally honest and tell me if something doesnt work.
As for gameplay preferences, I enjoy character interaction, and can do just fine without combat (look to the Blood and Mist campaign im in, not a single real combat in that one yet) although I like combat so would prefer it happens an average of once ever two weeks or so real world time. This all depends on how the RP interaction is proceeding ofc, im just making an estimate here :)
I enjoy puzzles, but would probably prefer something like a 2 combats pr 1 puzzle split. I dont count Intrigue and investigation as puzzles though (the more the merrier for these), to me puzzles are in the more literal sense (like Gollum and Bilbo)
I prefer combat to have maps, but do not demand it. I like combat to be to the point with the rules ("I cast Color Spray as my Standard Action, then move 30 ft as my Move Action, drawing my weapon as I do so") but every post, even in combat, deserves a bit of fluff, not just Cold hard numbers.
Thats all from me for now, cheers!
Thanks for the selection! This is Bryan; Numair should be mostly done. The only question I have is regarding skills - the WotW player's guide gives an extra 2 ranks to everyone, are you using this?
I also would like any comments or feedback on Numair's background; I wrote it late and with a severe migraine :-(, so let me know if anything doesn't make sense or sounds stupid or whatever.
As for the kind of game I prefer, Numair himself is definitely built as a party "face". His strength is in interaction with NPCs, but can certainly still be effective in combat.
"Sssss ..." (Numair's familiar checking in!)
Quick check-in; Crunch complete and in profile, fluff soon to follow.
I also would like any comments or feedback on Numair's background; I wrote it late and with a severe migraine :-(, so let me know if anything doesn't make sense or sounds stupid or whatever.
Well I dare say migraines are your muse then. Crunch is impeccable, that ungodly Bluff stacking in particular makes me shiver with munchkinny delight :D
I did however find a small but amusing error. According to your crunch, Numair has a trait which makes Bluff always a "class kill"...doesnt bode well for our dear con man ;)
Background is compelling and surprisingly packed with information for its length. Im hard pressed to think of anything that could be added.
You are a scholar and a gentleman, and I salute you!
Just a quick note folks - the reason I asked for detailed background, back-stories, biographies etc. is so I can weave your stories and cater them to your character. Basically, if you like RP, you may find towns you grew up in or visited making an appearance in the campaign, people you've known etc.etc. You'll get as much out of it as you put in... so if you choose not to have a detailed background, no skin off my back. I can run a 'by the rails' adventure... for those who want that little extra, I try to go the extra mile. That's all. :)
It's not going to make or break your character at this stage of the game if you don't want to detail every aspect of his/her life.
The only question I have is regarding skills - the WotW player's guide gives an extra 2 ranks to everyone, are you using this?
Nope - you get a 25 pt buy for stats though. :)
Oh right GM Fyren, about that question concerning Disable Device as a class skill...
Oh right GM Fyren, about that question concerning Disable Device as a class skill...
Yep - it's cool - remove perform, add disable device
Cool, thanks. Was gonna edit in another question, but since you already answered, heres a new post!
Elven Curve blades are a staggering 80 of my 105 gold, and id probably prefer to use a rapier to start anyway. My main concern is how hard or easy it will be to aquire the curveblade. Id rather bite the Price bullet than be unable to get it later.
Elven Curve blades are a staggering 80 of my 105 gold, and id probably prefer to use a rapier to start anyway. My main concern is how hard or easy it will be to aquire the curveblade. Id rather bite the Price bullet than be unable to get it later.
<whistles innocently> I haven't the foggiest idea Mr. Doran... sometimes, one just has to make tough choices without knowing the road ahead yano? ;)
UPDATE ON PC REVIEWS:
Giltharon - think you may have forgotten a favoured class bonus (either skill or hp, doubt you'd want bardic performance) - other than that, it looks good.
Numair - check your PM for clarification I need on your feats
Izabelle - crunch is fine except the trait thing I had pointed out earlier - once fixed, you're good to go once you add the fluff
Malum - Review Pending
Akasidra - Review Pending
Twigs - Review Pending
I will try to get to the rest of them hopefully tomorrow night provided they are complete by then. I will be unavailable during the day tomorrow so will check in around 8 pm EST to continue and hopefully finish the review process.
Thanks for accepting me, boss! I'll probably start as a rogue and take my second level in the martial artist monk archetype (which won't actually change anything, save for nixing the alignment restriction). I'll start moving his backstory and such to his profile and get to work on the crunch.
And seeing as I'd forgotten to mention it in the last thread, I've never read the Adventure Path, which Reign of Winter excluded is a first for me.
I definitely enjoy the combat side of PbP despite not being a big fan of it on the tabletop. Getting to spend whatever amount of time I like mulling over my action and embellishing it with description and banter (hard to pull off at the game table) just adds a whole new side to the game for me. The same goes for roleplay. There's a lot more you can pull off through text and with a bit of prep time. Stories, songs, parables, languages, organic references to the campaign setting.
While I definately enjoy roleplay and interparty banter, I don't really like to see it at the expense of actually progressing through the adventure. My Second Darkness game went for an entire year, and we never saw level 3. The GM sidelined the adventure itself to give us a stage for inter-party conflict and sandbox investigations of Riddleport, and the result was an agonizingly slow game. If the GM can keep the ball rolling the roleplay should come naturally, and you can trust us players to give an awesome show.
So in short, if you're asking what kind of game I prefer, I'd say a fast paced one.
Huh, I thought I fixed that... Must've been eaten. The perils of using multiple computers.
I actually did grab the bardic performance racial favoured bonus. It does add to Archaeologists Luck uses, since the feature is affected by feats and abilities that modify the standard Bardic Performance.
Actually about Archaeologist Luck, I tried looking up whether it gets two xtra daily rounds pr level like regular performance does, but didnt find anything conclusive. All I got was a vague reference to the Archetype author suggesting it should be +1 róund of performance pr level, but I havnt been able to find the post.
Hi folks - one of the things I committed to as a GM was a promise to you, the players, to keep things moving. So here's the deal - if you haven't already done so, you have until Thursday, July 18, 1800 EST (that's 6 PM EST) to finalize your character's crunch and have it ready for review. That's 48+ hours after you were selected which should be more than enough time IMO :)
Anyone not checked in or without a full crunch submitted by the deadline can consider themselves summarily uninvited unless you have extenuating circumstances that may or may not grant you a pardon. I have three alternates ready and chomping at the bit wanting in and I'd much rather include players that actively wish to be involved.
I'm going to try and have all submitted reviews looked over tonight with any stragglers/newcomers tomorrow night. Game start will be NO LATER THAN - Friday, July 19/2013 (earlier if all reviews are done by tonight).
I hope this didn't come across as harsh but I meant it when I said I fully intend to finish this AP! :) Thank you.
Malum is pretty much complete. While his gear is a little light, he used most of his wealth on a bundle of short merchandise (aka halflings) and the rest of his gear was on board the ship that sank.
I didn't factor in his armor into his crunch since I think it is unlikely they are letting him wear it. :)
Looking forward to it!
UPDATE ON PC REVIEWS:
I have 30 lbs of reaper miniatures from their kickstarter showing up sometime today at me house so guess what tonight entails? I decided to find time to get reviews done earlier.
Giltharon - done and ready!
Numair - done and ready!
Izabelle - done and ready! (love the concept btw)
Malum - done and ready! (I find myself wishing I had stuck you in the other group with the halfling... )
Twigs - conditionally done and ready (could you please PM me the desc on the trait? I know you quoted the source but am at work and can't read it at the moment. Other than that, you're good to go!
Akasidra - Review/check-in/crunch/backstory Pending - <26 hrs - tick tock, tick tock
While im technically done, I do intend to get some location info and persons of interest added, but im currently at a friends house getting ready to DM our live game tomorrow.
We are going to pull an all nighter tomorrow (thursday) gaming into the night. Ill try to sneak into the thread during the day, but thought id get a heads up about it in case im a little late to get into the gameplay thread once it opens up.
Looking forward to starting.
Also, Yay Reaper. Im just too addicted to plastic minis, hate the metals :/
I also would like any comments or feedback on Numair's background; I wrote it late and with a severe migraine :-(, so let me know if anything doesn't make sense or sounds stupid or whatever.
Well I dare say migraines are your muse then. Crunch is impeccable, that ungodly Bluff stacking in particular makes me shiver with munchkinny delight :D
I did however find a small but amusing error. According to your crunch, Numair has a trait which makes Bluff always a "class kill"...doesnt bode well for our dear con man ;)
Background is compelling and surprisingly packed with information for its length. Im hard pressed to think of anything that could be added.
You are a scholar and a gentleman, and I salute you!
Thank you! And I will say I enjoyed reading Giltharon's background very much. I thought the way you wove in how he got his abilities was great. Very inventive, and I think you succeeded quite well in making an archaeologist to be feared!
Also, Yay Reaper. Im just too addicted to plastic minis, hate the metals :/
I like metals or resin for showpieces - stuff I want to throw in a display case away from grubby hands after it's done. For gaming and everyday general use, I'd agree that plastic is the way to go! No worries about chipping the paint or damaging the figure if ya happen to drop it off the table. Reaper's new Bones line is nice for that stuff... can't beat getting 200+ figures for a c-note. :)
And now, I'm off to do inventory.
How should we treat our equipment? I've been trying to stock up on things I could reasonably smuggle into the prison and maybe try to flog off to the other PCs. The "Rogues Kit" from UE leaves him a little too well prepared for my liking (and the fact that every PC with one of those has an iron pot irks me to no end :P).
PM'd you RE: trait, and will have my feats done before friday your time. I'm trying to plan out a build for him but I've really no idea where I want to go with it. I'm thinking the Enforcer feat from APG and Sap Master and friends from UC, dodge, and maybe even improved grapple if I can find the feats for it. In short I've been staring at a more or less entirely blank feat path for him and am totally unsure where to go with it, but I'll get my ass in line before that gameplay thread starts up.
Also the Bones line are to be my gaming groups first ever miniatures, from a long and proud tradition of using d6's, trivial pursuit pieces, drawn cardboard tokens and little plywood squares... basically whatever's on hand. Although I'd all but forgotten about our joint order until now. :P
How should we treat our equipment? I've been trying to stock up on things I could reasonably smuggle into the prison and maybe try to flog off to the other PCs. The "Rogues Kit" from UE leaves him a little too well prepared for my liking (and the fact that every PC with one of those has an iron pot irks me to no end :P).
That's a really REALLY good question re. equipment... one that I'll answer with an earlier quote up in the thread "sometimes, one just has to make tough choices without knowing the road ahead yano? ;) "
At the end of the day - Twigs sounds like he's been in and out of several places before he got into serious enough trouble to be sent to Branderscar. Question is, did he know he'd end up there right before he got caught? And what might happen to poor Twigs if he got caught with smuggled contraband?
Your Bones are likely on the way today or tomorrow if you haven't already rec'd a shipping notification. I think they're just wrapping up shipping to places other than US and Canada now. Some of them look pretty darn nice.
Yep, there are some really nice figures from Reaper. Got paint on a couple but that is about it right now.
Alright. I've got a pretty good grasp on what I want to do here. Normally I'm not quite so fussy, but the original PC was both a rogue and a monk at different points in time, and I'd like to stay true to that.
Twigs is going to take the Enforcer feat (lets him demoralize as a free action when he deals nonlethal damage) and a level in monk for stunning fist. Combined with the thug archetype he can disable foes with sicken, shaken and stun for the big-hitters (I'm thinking our Antipaladin, here) to mop up. For skills he can be the party trapfinder (unless this adventure is trap free?) and do a decent job of scouting, but I'm sure a druid will give him a run for his money in that department.
Monk/1 - Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist flurry of blows
Rogue/2 - Trap Spotter, Mantis Style (UC, boost to stunning fist DC)
Rogue/3 - 2d6 sneak attack, brutal beating, +1 Str
Multiclassing is messy business though. I can't flurry of blows in armour (so I'll have to squeeze in two weapon fighting, perhaps in place of skill focus) and fiddle with my point buy. Fyren, how do you feel about fractional BAB/saves? If I dip in monk, I'd lose a point of BAB, but with the fractional BAB rules I'd stay on the medium track but lose out on the +2 to all of my saves that monk gives me. I think fractional saves were in the Beta, so I don't know why they didn't make it to the final product, but my GM was generous enough to allow it for my arcane trickster, so I thought I'd ask in here.
Alternatively I can just play a rogue with brass knuckles and wait until 11th level for stunning fist (damned +8 BAB requirement), but I think this way makes for the more interesting character (if not necessarily more effective, putting my sneak attack a level behind for the sake of stunning). I'm not entirely sure which way to go, so I thought I'd ask the rest of the group. Does a monk dip sit okay with the rest of you? It should let Twigs be sort of a flanker/support combatant to complement our power attackers and summons in the front line, as well as laying down the shaken condition for a -2 to spell DCs, which is nice in such a caster heavy party.
Anyway, there you have it. Feeling out Twigs' tactical role in the party, a plea for build advice and probably far more information than everybody needed to know. That'll be all.
@ Twigs ~ it seems like a solid plan, and you have already identified that armor is going to be difficult or two-wpn fighting.
@ Fyren ~ slight tweaks to Malum - Prehensile Tail replacing the Fiendish Sorcery and it makes more sense that Malum can speak to the 'merchandise'... so swapped out Dwarven to replace it with Halfling for languages... :)
... the general location(s) in Talingarde you frequented, where you grew up, your career choices, any close friends/contacts you had in your previous life etc
Getting to work on this. Any word from Akasidra?
I've added a tactics writeup, a little more gear and finalized his build, because as it probably shows, I had the night in... I'm damn near spending every copper piece of Twigs' starting gold on a few stolen items that may or may not have some story behind them, we can come up with that on the fly... I might also give him some tamed/captured rats, as well. He can't actually control them at all, but there's good eating on those. I can also roll some sleight of hand checks to smuggle some of it into his cell, I hope.
Fyren, how do you feel about fractional BAB/saves?
To quote one of my earlier posts (the first one in recruitment) "Players are expected to ROLE play, not ROLL play." I'm not one to crunch numbers down to the nth decimal or keep track of how many copper pieces and silver pieces you have if you had 3 pints of ale one night... You wanna use em? Go for it... don't want em? No skin off me back... Combat is going to be challenging and an essential part of the game but RP is what will make the diff in whether your character does well or falls backwards on a butter knife and accidentally stabs himself twenty-three times in a row... :D
We start tonight around 9-10ish EST tonight regardless of full group or not. I have the starting post prepared and ready to go for both groups. Will post if after kids go to bed and I've had my down-time.
Very good. Excited to get started!
It has begun! Hope you folks enjoy. We'll have an alternate joining us soon instead of Akasidra. Cheers.
Cool. Izabelle can tell you I tend to get pretty pedantic about character creation, mostly so I can put it out of my head once the game gets off the ground. I'll be glad to put the crunch behind me as well.
Howdy all - I'm your alternate candidate, very happy to be joining the game! Looking through this thread, you seem to be an experienced group with some solid PbP chops and some very cool character ideas.
Felrin's info is all in the alias, but in short, he's a somewhat surly clockmaker of slightly odd appearance, who studies people around them to see what makes them tick. He lost his family, and his freedom, to what the Mitrans call "justice," and he's ready to do what he can to bring the whole thing crashing down.
Looking forward to some quality evil time with you all.
So to make things interesting - Sulphur and Brimstone are pretty much neck and neck right now - I'll throw out a little meta-challenge. First group to make it off of the starting level gets a wee bit of special reward from yours truly. :)
Izabelle, not to complain but if Tomas comes back and sticks a sword in me I'll be most unhappy with you. :)
(although I'm okay with him stabbing Felrin... :)
Having said that... nicely done. :)
Interesting!
I think Twigs was at a festival today. He probably won't be back for a few hours yet.
@Malum: Haha, that is perfectly understandable.
I'll post Tomas' reactions once Twigs has posted too... he won't stick a sword in Malum... too afraid of tieflings for that. The druid might be fair game tho for calling him out... hehe... ;) lol
(although I'm okay with him stabbing Felrin... :)
A gracious tiefling welcome, eh? ;p
@ GM Fyren, i know you mentioned that the squares are 10' across instead of 5'.
I just want to confirm the dimensions of the cell are 60' by 30'.
@ Numair - I was just about to outline a lovely plan for Felrin to help get you some spell components... but then when I looked back you never told the rest of us what you need...
Basically if Felrin uses his alter self to free himself from the manacles he could probably find some sand to pass to you, along with some bits of wool. The issue of course is can Felrin make it look like he is still manacled when the guards come back.
Over to you! :)
I thought he did mention it?
If Felrin is willing to put his hands back in the manacles before his Alter Self runs out, he wont even have to make it look :P
I mentioned the key ones; detect magic has no material, and mage armor (cured leather) and message (copper wire) were less critical to any escape plan. So sand and wool are the primary components I would need.
Maybe it was just me then, but it read as if you trailed off in the conversation and then starting looking around for stuff.
He did exactly that :-)! It was more just to show he was considering additional options, and reassess what was needed. Copper wire and leather would still be helpful, of course! Especially since we have no armor and message would help skulking around quietly.
Fyren - would you allow Take 10 on the concentration check to get past the anti-magic field? At least when I'm not in immediate danger? Felrin would get a 16 that way, if he concentrates on the buzzing for a bit first. If not, I'll takes me chances.
Fyren - would you allow Take 10 on the concentration check to get past the anti-magic field? At least when I'm not in immediate danger? Felrin would get a 16 that way, if he concentrates on the buzzing for a bit first. If not, I'll takes me chances.
Provided you're not under time constraints or in any immediate danger, you can take 10 - i.e. you take 2-5 minutes focusing on the disruptive field, building up your inner will to push past the field and have your magic take effect. If you need to cast a spell *NOW* (i.e. at a specific time such as when a guard walks in, you want to cast Charm or Sleep) I'd ask for a roll.
Hmmm, knowing this, could Gil do the same (Taking 10 nets him just barely the required 15) for Mage Hand? Its duration is Concentration, meaning he could cast it prior to Numair and Felrin putting on their show.
The only flaw with your reasoning Gil is that you would be taking a chance as to whether the guard would actually wander in or just give a warning through the slot in the door. I'd roll a d10 to determine the guard's actions. Right now they're all yukking it up in their guard room taking it easy... oops, did I just let that slip?!