GM Haladir's Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Haladir

Okay, I've sent Adam a formal invitation. He said that he's interested in playing either a bard or a wizard. I also mentioned that we're losing both female characters, and keeping that balance would be nice.

Well, if the GM says it's official, then I guess I'd better post here.

Hi ya'll! How's it going?

I don't normally play spellcasters, so I'm shooting for useful, not min-maxed. Hopefully I'll succeed in that regard. I've got two ideas, both of a similar vein.

The first is the bard. She's a Shelynite with a bit of a devious side, and got kicked out of her last troupe for a prank involving the Queen B's perfume and some pink hair dye. She came to Sandpoint to try out at the Theatre, but Cyrdak won't see her, so she's been earning her keep by singing where she can. Unfortunately for her, she wound up at the Feedbag instead of the Rusty Dragon, so things haven't been going that great.

The other is also a trickster, but she's a wizard with an interest in Thassilon and wordplay. She worships Picoperi, the Empyreal Lord of tricks, pranks, and jokes. She came to Sandpoint for the Swallowtail festival and to study the ruin of the Old Light. Unfortunately, she got the date wrong and is just now arriving into Sandpoint. Her familiar, a thrush named Fluff, is as bad as her master. She isn't above charming people out of their bread, pastries, or sweets.

I haven't done equipment yet, mainly because I'd like a little help on their builds. O top of that, I'm not sure which I'd like to play, but I'm leaning towards the Wizard. Thoughts?

My first inclination was the wizard, as well. The survivability of Gwynethiel would be a concern, but that's part of the fun, right? :)

Oh of course. :) The other part is having a familiar that can talk. ;)

I want to try a wizard that bounces around the battlefield while flinging fireballs. So, to that end, I've done some work on Gwynethiel here. She's still a trickster, but with a little bit of a temper and a flare for fiery displays of arcane power. Fluff hasn't changed at all. I realize this isn't ideal as far as optimization goes, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

Welcome, Adam! Very interesting; at least it looks like life will not be dull with Gwynethiel around.

Cerin will try to keep her alive... ;)

Looks good to me. I'd rather have interesting than optimized any day.

And Alias'd.

I'm going to take another level in rogue at some point, we'll just see how things go.

I posted an announcement in my games (save the RotRL one) that GM Haladir was looking for another player. One of them is expressing interest and I think you would enjoy playing with her. She's an excellent Role-player and plays some interesting characters. Halvor is in a couple of games with her, so he can provide another perspective if you want. (It's Nic and Liera's player, in case you're wondering Crispy.)

And thanks for the warm welcomes. I hope you guys enjoy playing with me, and Gwyn is one of those characters that if I don't manage to get a chuckle out of everyone ever few posts, I'm not playing her right, so it should be fun. :D

Nothing but good things to say about El Ronza, indeed.

Oh now this sounds like fun to me lmao.

Alright, Gwyn is ready to rock!

Welcome, Gwyn!

I'm still trying to figure out a good way for Lynnda and Krissina to exit gracefully. I'm going to be a sad to see Lynnda go, but I'm very wary of falling into the GMPC trap. I think I have an idea of a side-trek that we could use to transition the party. I'll need a little time to flesh that out.

I'm also thinking that the role we'd need to fill in the group would be a PC that had some combination of melee power and healing-- like a cleric, warpriest, paladin, or bard.

I've never played with El Ronza, but I've certainly interacted with her on the messageboards over the years. I'll drop her a PM and see if she's interested.

Other stuff...

I just picked up Pathfinder Unchained, and I really like the Unchained rogue. Kyrian and Gwyn: If you have the book and are interested in trying it out, I'd be happy to let you rebuild your characters as unchained rogues.

I am also considering adopting the "Background Skills" optional system. I think that system makes a lot of sense for an RP-heavy game where players are more concerned with storyline than number-crunching. Your thoughts on that?

I do not have it yet, so I can't say I'd switch just yet.

Is that where you basically get a couple of 'Crap I do when I'm not adventuring' skills? Such as Profession, Craft, etc?

Unfortunately gaming money is not going to be something I have for a while. I plan on getting the book eventually, but for now I can't afford it.

That said, don't let that stop you from adopting anything. I'll just see if I can find it on the PRD or something.

Also happy to hear that Ronnie got an invite. This should be lots of fun. :D

Re: Pathfinder Unchained: I'm fine with sticking with the CRB rogue for now.

The way Background Skills works:
In addition to the regular skill ranks every PC gets from class level and INT modifier, everyone also gets an additional 2 Background Skill ranks per level.

Skills are divided into two lists: Adventuring Skills and Background Skills. Background Skill Ranks can only be spent on Background Skills; regular skill ranks can be spent on either.

This system adds two new skills: Artistry and Lore.

Artistry represents creating some kind of work of art that isn't necessarily a tangible object. The skill can be used to compose music, choreograph a ballet, write plays or poems, etc.

Lore is a kind of Knowledge skill that is extremely specific-- the kind of knowledge a self-taught "buff" might know about the topic. So, you could have Lore (Chelish military) without having ranks in Knowledge (history) or Knowledge (nobility); or Lore (musical instruments) without having ranks in Appraise, Craft, or Perform; or Lore (owlbears) without ranks in Knowledge (nature).

If you're interested in adopting this system, let me know. Retooling your character is pretty easy, and I'll give guidance on that if you decide to go down that path.

Just so that our new players are on the same page: The original GM abandoned the campaign just as we were about to start the Goblins in the Glassworks encounter area. I took the reins of the campaign at that time.

When creating new characters, I'd like to mostly keep to GM Holden's original character creation guidelines.

New Character Creation

Starting Level: 2
Ability Scores: 20-point buy
Traits: 2 traits, one of which should be a Runelords campaign trait. (See RotRL Players Guide)
Drawbacks: Allowed, optional. A Drawback allows you to take a third Trait.
Starting wealth: 1000 gp (Standard WBL value)
Hit points: Max at 1st level. Subsequent levels take a static value based on Hit Die: d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7.
Alignment: Any non-evil.
Character Classes: All Paizo core and base classes are allowed with the following exceptions:
- Ninja and samurai not allowed (not thematically appropriate)
- Summoner not allowed.
- Gunslinger allowed ONLY with the Bolt Ace archetype from Advanced Class Guide.
Rulebooks in play: Core Rulebook, Advanced Players Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Class Guide. I also will allow everything from the Player Companion Varisia, Birthplace of Legends.
Other Paizo sources: If you wish to use rules from other Paizo-published Pathfinder sources, please run the rule by me first. I will most likely allow it, but I want to be familiar with it.
3PP Sources: I am less inclined to allow 3PP material, but if you really, really want to try out something, run it by me. I'll try to keep an open mind.
Leveling: I don't use XP. I will just tell you when it's time to level up.

Oh, and in case you're interested, here's a little about my GM style and philosophy. One thing I didn't note in the above post is that I'm pretty much always open to outside-the-box thinking. If you want to try something that isn't specifically covered by the rules, I'll make a table ruling to let you try it. Much like improv comedy, I try very hard to take a "Yes, and..." approach to what you want your character to do.

I make my rolls behind a spoiler-tagged GM Screen. I would ask you not peek behind the curtain, but obviously I can't stop you if you want to do so. I'll state that I have no problem overruling a die roll if I think it would make for a better story; I will likewise occasionally give ad hoc bonuses to your own rolls and say that you succeed when your roll might have indicated otherwise. I prefer that bad die rolls complicate the story, not derail it.

The way I run combat: I roll initiative for everyone. Please state what you intend to do and make your die rolls. I'll then sum everything up in a narrative for the round, keeping in mind initiative order. The narrative is what really happens, but feel free to be as descriptive in your combat posts as your whimsy takes you. I'll take as much of that into account as I can.

Well, you said my name three times, so here I am! I'm like Beetlejuice that way. (Also, I'm a sucker for kind words and a personal invitation.)

Two of you should know me well by now, but for those of you who don't - hi! I'm Veronica, or Ronnie. I'm a 24 year old teacher's aide from South Australia with a pet Cavlier King Charles Spaniel, a fiancé, a healthy gaming habit, and a little over two years' experience with tabletop. I play PFS and far too many PBPs, and try to get online every day. As Adam mentioned above, I like to play interesting characters, such as an empathic medium being driven mad by the voices in her head, a samsaran investigator with a Jekyll-and-Hyde split personality and an addiction to polypurpose panacea, or a farm boy paladin with an axe and an old draft horse instead of a longsword and noble steed.

That said, the character I have in mind is from a now-defunct game - a blind oracle with the life mystery, flavoured as a connection to the primal life forces of the First World. She'll be focused on healing and buffing, but she has a longspear for when she needs to help with melee combat.

I'm heading to a PFS game soon and won't be back on seriously until tonight, but I look forward to playing with you all!

It'll be a pleasure, I'm sure. Have fun! :)

Welcome, Ronnie!

Welcome indeed! It should be interesting having a blind oracle for sure. And Australian? I may have to ask you a few things to help me put a tick in my buddies feathers whose from New Zealand lol. He's got plenty on me for being American, but I've got just about nothing on him lmao.

Well, I guess I should introduce myself then. My name is Adam Warnock. I live in Prattville, AL, just north of Montgomery.I'm 25 and I'm a web developer. I have an odd sense of humor. I like to GM and play PIathfinder more than is probably healthy, and to remind my RotRL players of a certain dancing, singing goblin. I also like Lego and have a lot of fun playing around in LDD. (It's like having all the pieces you ever wanted as a kid in your toybox. :D)

I think I've shared this with the other players...

I'm an IT manager at a major research university in central New York State, USA. I live about 30 miles south of Syracuse. I'm in my mid -40s. Im happily married to a non-gamer, and we have a teenaged daughter (She's into sci-fi/fantasy, but never really got into gaming.)

I started playing RPGs in 1982. Originally that was a weird OD&D/AD&D hybrid game with some much-older gamers. I quit that group after a year, and started DMing the Tom Moldvay D&D Basic Set/ Expert Rules with friends my own age. We switched to AD&D in '85, and I played AD&D through high school and college. 2e came out while I was in college, and we switched over almost immediately.

After college, I was burned out on D&D in general, and on GMing. I played mostly GURPS, Champions, and Call of Cthulhu through the 1990s. In 2000, a friend invited me to play in a D&D game using the brand-new 3rd edition d20 rules. It wasn't until 2010 that I finally hot back behind the GM screen: It was Rise of the Runelords in this new Pathfinder "D&D 3.75" system.

My Rubelords game folded in 2013 when two players moved out of town and a third resigned, just as we were about to start"Fortress of the Stone Giants."

My name is Austin and I live in West Covina, CA. I'm 45, a library assistant and I got my first AD&D Player's Handbook back in 1980. I played off and on with friends at school for the next few years until I got to high school and met up with a group that introduced me to a lot of other games (Villains & Vigilantes, Call of Cthulhu, Gamma World, and Star Frontiers to name a few). I got into the World of Darkness games in the 90's and had one of my longest campaigns to date, a Vampire: Dark Ages game that lasted about 4 years.

My group kind of broke up after that, real life and all, and I just started getting into Pathfinder and PbF in 2010. I play mostly PFS on RPGGeek, but I really like the longer Adventure Paths which aren't run very often there.

Well, we played up in The Technic Siege and almost got TPK'd, but it was fun. But now it's 9:00 at night, and I'm pretty beat, so my rebuild will have to wait until I'm at Hero Lab tomorrow night.

I look forward to playing with you all! And Kyrian, I'll have to have a good think, but there are two big things you can use to mock Kiwis: accents, and indecent acts with sheep.

Looking at the Lore skill, it actually sounds very familiar to me. I have a mild form of autism, and it sounds like a great way to represent the narrow focuses Aspie kids tend to have. Of course, I'm sure that's not what was intended, but still...

Adam: You're playing a multiclassed spellcaster, so I thought I'd mention: I do allow the feat Practiced Spellcaster from the D&D 3.5 book Complete Arcane.

This fest does not stack with the trait Magical Knack.

That is tempting, but I think I'll stick what I have. I wasn't planning on taking more than one more level of Rogue, so the feat wouldn't really be of use to me anyway.

That said. I'm looking forward to getting started. :D

I have some annoying news regarding my posting frequency...

Due to some idiots getting caught watching porn during the workday, my employer has deployed some "Big Brother is Watching You" software onto all of our work-issued computers. This means that I'm now limited to using my smartphone for gaming posts at work, even during my lunch hour. Unfortunately, it's hard to do long posts from a phone.

I still expect to be able to post from home in the evenings on most days, supplementing with the occasional short post during the day.

That said, I think I've figured out how to transition out Lynnda and Krissina.

As for how to introduce Gwyn and Helena... I think I have something as well. This would work best if the two of you are traveling together, heading north along the Lost Coat Road from the city of Magnimar. Would you be able to work that in to your immediate backstories?

I'll be reviewing the new characters' stats over the next couple of day, mainly to be sure that I'm familiar with their capabilities.

Certainly. I'll get with Ronnie to see what we can come up with.

Okay-- I have a plot and short two-person encounter to bring Gwynethiel and Helena into the campaign.

Your encounter will be on the Lost Coast Road, where the two of you are heading north to Sandpoint from Magnimar. I'll leave it up to you as to why you're going to Sandpoint, and why you're traveling together. I would appreciate it if you would hash that out here on the discussion board, so I'm privy to the background.

Ronnie: When you have a chance, would you level Helena up to L2? Also: I see in her background that you have a bunch of references to some other game world. I'm not sure how up on Golarion lore you are, but would you mind replacing those references with places in the Inner Sea (preferably Varisia.) I'd be happy to work with you if you have questions.

Also: Everyone should start thinking about their Level 3 options. We're pretty close to leveling up again.

She's up on it. Helena was made for a game of mine that fizzled originally. We're not too far into getting our backgrounds together, but I think we have some of the basics down.

-Helena's mother and Gwyn's mentor were at the least acquaintances, more likely friends.
-Helena and Gwyn know each other because of the above.
-And somehow Helena winds up joining Gwyn going to Sandpoint.

It's sparse, but I think we'll have things ready this weekend.

Sorry, it's been a week from hell. Work has been completely draining - I'm a teacher's aide, working one-on-one with a very difficult eight year old. We made some great progress last term, but he's come back from the school holidays defiant and violent. After the work day, I've just been wanting to sleep.

I'm pretty up on Golarion lore, being a subscriber to as many different things as I am. Magnimar is just unfamiliar to me, so I've been doing some homework. As Adam said, I made Helena for one of his homebrew games, so I need to tweak her a bit. I should have her done soon, given that it's now the weekend and I can focus.

Reading more about Magnimar, I'm not sure whether I want to flavour Helena's mystery as a connection to the primal life force of the First World, or as a gift from the Empyreal Lords that watch over the monuments of Magnimar. Thoughts? If I go with the former, I might even go with the fey-blooded alternate racial traits in Heroes of the Wild, if allowed, to play up the flavour.

Also, GM, what's your thoughts on the wording of the 'clouded vision' curse?

Your eyes are obscured, making it difficult for you to see. You cannot see anything beyond 30 feet, but you can see as if you had darkvision.

Would you rule that as her vision being like a dome, where absolutely nothing can be seen beyond a certain point? Or that everything past that range is simply blurry and indistinct? If she looked up, would she be able to see the sky? And would her vision always be completely achromatic, or only in complete darkness? I apologise for the barrage of questions, but I like to work out limitations early on, for RP if nothing else.

I've always played Helena as being somewhat detached, and not having many friends. Gwyn could have been her eyes in the city - I'm thinking maybe Helena's (Varisian) mother moved to Magnimar from elsewhere when her marriage fell apart, which would mean Helena hadn't grown up knowing Magnimar, and would therefore need help finding her way around. Being somewhat withdrawn and enigmatic, she wouldn't want to lose the one friend she'd really known, and would therefore leave with Gwyn when she set out.

Still hashing things out, but it's a start!

She could be from Whistledown, originally. I think that the veil between Golarion and the First World is thin there. I like the idea that Gwyn helped her learn Magnimar's streets. That would require some editing of her backstory, but that's okay. I think that idea's a keeper.

I like the Fey-blooded idea. My character, both as a druid and a gnome, would definitely have a favorable first impression to someone with ties to the First World.

Re: clouded vision: Here's how I'm going to rule...You can see vague blurs of colors past 30 feet, but they appear completely out of focus and as if you're looking through dense fog; you're still effectively blind beyond 30 feet. You can see normally within 30 feet, and you also have darkvision in that range; in darkness your vision is monochromatic (as per normal darkvision).

Re: Fey-Blooded alternate racial traits: I like this concept too! And you just gave me an excuse to buy Heroes of the Wild!. Reads section of book...

Okay... I'm not normally a huge fan of the alternate racial traits, but I really like this concept for Helena, so go for it if you want! You can trade the Skilled human racial trait for Fey Magic, Fey Thoughts, and Low-Light Vision. (This means Helena would have to drop her bonus skill ranks for being human.)

Apparently, this book is so new, its rules content hasn't yet made its way into either Archives of Nethys or d20PFSRD...

Note that even with Low-Light Vision, Helena can still only see out to 30 feet.

Enter the new characters!

I don't have any encounters planned in the village of Garret's Landing, just some role-playing space. (There may be a plot point or two you might uncover...)

Also: Each of you can have one light riding horse (not battle-trained), and standard riding gear for free. (Saddle, saddlebags, bit & bridle, etc).

A couple of notes about your characters' appearance...

Gwyn: Elven hair is usually fine and straight, and tends to the same color range as human hair (blonde, brown, ginger, black, etc). Unlike most other races, elves' hair does not lose its color as they age. However, some elves have white or gray hair throughout their lives. Elves just don't have blue hair; that's a gnome thing.

Helena: I don't see anything about your appearance in your character profile. Would you mind writing a physical description, so I have an idea what she looks like?

I see what you mean. I was imagining hair that appeared black unless the light hit it just, so I guess could change it to black hair with midnight-blue highlights so that's clear. Also, she could just be dying it, she is that eccentric. :)

I'll also have her profile updated in a bit with her revised background and her newly acquired horse.

And Gwyn's updated. :)

GM: All works for me! I'll take Perception and Bluff as my class skills. Regarding low-light vision and my limitations, that's fine, and I'm happy to drop my bonus skill ranks for the concept. I don't usually go for alternate racial traits either, but this just seems to fit too well. =)

I've been slammed with personal issues over the last couple of days, but I'll get an introductory post up and start typing my description and background.

Also, did you decide whether or not to use the background skills system?

Sooo... Is there something of an inside joke that the rest of us should understand here? I'm kinda lost lol. And I'm sorry if it seems like I've had a lack of posting, it's more along the lines of trying to figure out where everyone else is at on the page considering we're losing two characters and about to gain two more. I'm being reminded of the awkward silence moment that occurs in a real table top game lol.

Ah, sorry. Ronnie is in every game I GM here. The joke is about how I put her characters through the ringer in one way or another. One had a nightmare about a lady seducing him turning into a bunch of spiders, which he's terrified of. Another got the tar beat out of her. I haven't done anything to her Jade Regent character, but her Wrath of the Righteous character is pretty much tailor made for me to put her through the wringer, and that's only just begun.

Or at least that's what I think she meant.

Unless your talking about the routine that involves a slide-whistle, a miniature dwarf pink elephant, and a dancing rubber dragon. That is just improv. :)

I'm just enjoying the show. Did you want to run the two scenes concurrently or are we going to wait until the Hel & Gwyn show catches up to us?

I'm glad you're enjoying the show. Gwyn is supposed to be part entertainer. Expect her to use Prestidigitation, liberally. :)

Sorry for lack of updates. I had to work 11-hour day on Monday, and today was my weekly IRL Pathfinder game. Hopefully, I'll get the next post up tomorrow afternoon.

If we are going to use the Background skills, I would like to add 1 rank to Know (engineering), (geography), (history), and (nobility), if that is all right? Just to cement Cerin's reputation as a know-it-all. ;)

Ah, sorry. Ronnie is in every game I GM here. The joke is about how I put her characters through the ringer in one way or another. One had a nightmare about a lady seducing him turning into a bunch of spiders, which he's terrified of. Another got the tar beat out of her. I haven't done anything to her Jade Regent character, but her Wrath of the Righteous character is pretty much tailor made for me to put her through the wringer, and that's only just begun.

Or at least that's what I think she meant.

Unless your talking about the routine that involves a slide-whistle, a miniature dwarf pink elephant, and a dancing rubber dragon. That is just improv. :)

Pretty much this. Adam has a track record of tormenting my characters. The arachnophobic character has been jumpy around spiders since losing a lover to shiver, the one who got the tar beaten out of her actually kinda deserved it for charging in, and my WotR character was basically me saying, "Alright, sure. You want to play hardball? Bring it on." My Jade Regent character, well, I figure it's just a matter of time.

And we don't talk about what happened to Helena in her first game. Do we? :P

But given Gwyn and Helena's history, I suspect there'll be more than one noodle incident cropping up.

And I swore I'd never, ever do anything like that again. I still feel like a sleazeball anytime I think about it.

And yes, there will be a many more noodle incidents. Some of them might even be bad enough to have Gwyn embarrassed.

You did swear, and I've yet to see you go back on your word. I still think the spider thing was much, much worse, though >.>

Man, playing this up is really going to stretch my creative muscles, I'll tell you that!

I look forward to it then. So I don't know how much of the game play you two have read, but how well do you guys think the first meeting with Kyrian will go cause I think it would be hilarious (in the epic disaster type of way lol)