GM Hawkey's Ironfang Invasion (Inactive)

Game Master Hawkeye127

To those who have been invited, the following rules for character creation will be thus:
1. Ability Scores- 25 pt. buy

2. Races- All races in the Advanced Race Guide will be available with the exceptions of drow, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, duergar, and svirfneblins.

3. Classes- All classes/archtypes found in a Pathfinder hardback book are available for play.

4. Traits- I will be allowing two traits for each PC, one of which I prefer to be from the Ironfang Invasion players handbook. It is not required, though.

5. Equipment- Starting gp will be the listed average for your class. All equipment found in the Ultimate Equipment book is available for use with the exception of advanced firearms.

If you have any further questions about character creation, feel free to ask.

Dot

Ok, I have sent the PM to both Jesse and Ritterton. They should be joining us any time.

Zach: Still playing with character ideas.. how do you feel about ratfolk? I have something I am tossing around, but I think it would be best with a ratfolk.

Also, do you want me to get started on the maps or are you good on that?

Ok, I have sent the PM to both Jesse and Ritterton. They should be joining us any time.

Zach: Still playing with character ideas.. how do you feel about ratfolk? I have something I am tossing around, but I think it would be best with a ratfolk.

Also, do you want me to get started on the maps or are you good on that?

I think I'll be able to handle the maps just fine. And ratfolk is an acceptable race. The goal we're shooting for is to eliminate the traditional "monster races". Basically, if it's something you would encounter in a typical lvl. 1 dungeon crawl, it's off the board.

Roger dodger! I will wait until the rest get here before I start tossing ideas around though.

~Still considering the idea of an alchemist.. if nothing else, for the laughs!

Hello! I accidentally posted in the in-play thread, dammit. Now of course the board will forever think that I am a character in the game. :/

I'm currently leaning toward a human paladin (divine hunter) but I could easily be swayed in a variety of directions. Maybe a lizardfolk ranger, or possibly something else (a healer, maybe, if we need one).

Do you use background skills?

Do you use background skills?

No, sorry. This is actually the first I've even heard of those.

A paladin might be a good enough out-of-combat healer, if you can sacrifice one of your traits for Rich Parents (assuming it's allowed) and bring a wand. I'm thinking something martial as well.

Also, hi.

Hey Hawkeye, is there a link to the Ironfang Player's guide? I couldn't find it after searching about Paizo last night and a few forums.

Hey Hawkeye, is there a link to the Ironfang Player's guide? I couldn't find it after searching about Paizo last night and a few forums.

You can find it here. The pdf is a free download.

Ok, one other annoying question: You said anything from the advanced race guide that is, roughly speaking, not something you'd expect to fight as a monster in a typical adventure. Does this include centaurs? I have a centaur concept that I've been hankering to play. The problem is, centaurs have crazy stat bonuses (+4 Str, +2 Wis, +2 Dex, +2 Con). The usual compromise that I offer is that a centaur really should just have something like +2 Str, +2 Wis and leave it at that. Any thoughts? If it's too much trouble I'll just move on to something else. :)

(Since you mentioned never having heard of Background Skills, they're here. I really like them because they give some room to explore character flavor through things like Professions and art, in areas that you normally would not be inclined to spend valuable skill ranks.)

I like the idea of Background Skills, but I can understand why a GM might not want to include them. When you get right down to it, they're free skill points-- making characters that much stronger with no tradeoff. And I don't know about this particular AP, but even Background Skills can have tangible benefits (like free ranks in Profession [sailor] in Skull & Shackles, and what bard wouldn't love free ranks in Perform?)

To me it's a design choice: If you're going to do an AP about pirates and you want your players' characters to be competent, you give them at least some of the things they need to be competent. If you say "you can pick a profession for free" and you tell players you're running a pirate game, it's a deliberate player choice to decide not to be a competent sailor. Contrast to without background skills, where you are basically saying "If you want to be successful you must cut into the skills that are critical to filling your role."

With bards, they're so marginal that giving them Perform hardly seems game-breaking. Hell, really, bards are screwed by the fact that you can't get multiple Perform skills without killing your ranks, and there's no equivalent of the Versatile Performer feat from 3.5 (not talking about the similarly-named class feature in PF), where you could pick a small number of Perform skills and group them together to get a total based on spending ranks in just one skill.

So who is going with what? I have a couple of things rolling around but have made a ranged slayer and a sword and board fighter. What have yall got?

The stuff on my docket is:

* Centaur cavalier, if the DM is okay with a centaur

* If no centaur, either a human paladin (divine hunter) or lizardfolk ranger, if we still have room for a warrior type

* Or, if we need a healer, perhaps an oracle - though I really don't like any of the oracle curses and wish they had a Mute curse (like the incomplete one that Zaiobe has in Jade Regent), and I'm already playing clerics and witches in a bunch of other games, which makes me hesitant. But I can do it if nobody else wants to.

I can work on a healer type. I just knew both you and Ritter ton were working arcane types so I figured I would cover front line. If yall want front line I can cover healing. Either way is cool with me.

Grr it seems Wayfinder won't allow my main profile to post here..

-Posted with Wayfinder

I had an arcane type that I could use but for Ironfang I was really leaning toward one of the other types that I listed above (centaur, ranged paladin, lizard ranger, etc.)

Go for that then I will figure out a healer of some sort!

-Posted with Wayfinder

I'm gonna have to say no to the centaur idea. It's a neat concept but, in my opinion, has the potential to be a game breaker. And SodiumTelluride and I could tell you some hilarious horror stories on that subject. Also, I do appreciate the link towards background skills. It's an interesting subject, and I'll keep it in mind for future games. For now, though, we're going to stick with the given rules above.

Ritterton wrote:

Hey Hawkeye, is there a link to the Ironfang Player's guide? I couldn't find it after searching about Paizo last night and a few forums.

You can find it here. The pdf is a free download.

Got it and will start reading!

I'm gonna have to say no to the centaur idea. It's a neat concept but, in my opinion, has the potential to be a game breaker. And SodiumTelluride and I could tell you some hilarious horror stories on that subject. Also, I do appreciate the link towards background skills. It's an interesting subject, and I'll keep it in mind for future games. For now, though, we're going to stick with the given rules above.

Yeah, centaurs are definitely OP as written, which was why I offered the compromise idea. I'll make something else. :)

Ok, I have rolled up a Life Oracle with the Mute curse. Full channeling capability to keep us on our feet.

So, Who has decided on what here?
I still have my slayer and my fighter if needed
Jesse: Paladin or ranger
NaTe: ??
Ritterton: ??

I think I would like to play the human storm druid I have - karist - but I may need to make alterations. I am hoping I can do that this evening and post up what I have to see if I have done it right.

Here is the quick synopsis of what I had for him - he didn't get recruited. But, I need to look at the Iron Fang traits to swap those out. I think I can do that pretty easily.

http://paizo.com/people/Karist

There's a Mute curse?

Yeah, I have never found a Mute curse besides the one in Jade Regent, which isn't even a complete version!

Also, GM are we allowed to take Variant Multiclassing?

Ok, my first attempt: Shessik, lizardfolk ranger. Shessik is a solid frontliner (though he could use better armor) with some survival/outdoors skills. He's not a Charisma-dump character (Cha 10), so he can at least get along with humans and party members. He's built do to frontline primary fighting and some skill work, and he can take a serious beating.

DM, if you don't like this, I'll move on to my next idea!

Yea.. I will post a like to it later when I get a chance, but it was in Hero Labs as being legal. In all honesty though I haven't cross referenced it with the PRD or anything.

Basically, I am completely mute. Unable to say a single thing. However, my spells act as if I had the Silent Spell metamagic feat applied to them (without changing the spell level, and I get some really cool telepathic things to compensate. I can communicate telepathically with any creature I am in direct contact with, and 1/day I can select an individual to perform a "mind meld" with and we can communicate without touching. Basically, I can choose a person to be my mouth for the day but can hold a conversation with anyone I am physically in contact with as well.

Edit: Jesse is right.. this is from Jade Regent. I did not realize this. Zach, if you want me to choose something else, I will.

Karist, Storm Druid

Ok, I think I have my guy all figured out...take a look...

As it stands, it looks like Shessik would be our only strong front-liner. Therefore I present Thakus, Sacred Shield paladin.

Awen: I looked into the mute curse for you and it should be fine. It's from a paizo-published pathfinder book and doesn't appear to be a game-breaker.

Sodium: variant multiclassing is fine.

Awen: I looked into the mute curse for you and it should be fine. It's from a paizo-published pathfinder book and doesn't appear to be a game-breaker.

Sodium: variant multiclassing is fine.

Oh, now that is a great combination. VERY COOL!

We currently have:
Ritterton: Karist, Storm Druid
Jesse: Shessik, lizardfolk ranger
Awen: Unnamed Catfolk Oracle
Sodium: Thakus, Paladin

Looks like we are ready to go as soon as everyone's profiles are set. I have a few kinks to work out, but this profile should have everything that I am currently working with. Any suggestions? I would like to find a way to get my wis out of the tank (thanks, Catfolk!), but I cant decide what other skill to bring down..

Gonna be hurting for arcana!

Perhaps.. I guess we will see what happens. Between the paly and the oracle, we can throw around spells and still engage though.

Here is the profile for Karist...would love to know some tricks to make this a bit easier to read

Everyone's a spellcaster, we just may not have as much "oomph" as having an arcane caster in the group. The druid will probably have to carry a lot of fire spells. ;)

lmao.. I completely missed that. We are, aren't we!

Karist: Here is a template that I use. I normally have to tweak a few things between characters, but it works well for me.
I had to break the coding so that it would post with everything in line Once you fix that, it should work for you. I have a word doc saved in my google file of this, so all I have to do is copy and paste then fill in the blanks.

Great thanks.

As to spells, well the storm set seems to be wind and lightening....so we can see where that takes us as we advance!

I plan on giving up my spellcasting, actually. I think it'll fit the character concept better. And that way we'll have one who isn't a divine caster haha.

So I've been working up a back story and have added it in. It kinda fizzles at the end though. Any suggestions?

So I've been working up a back story and have added it in. It kinda fizzles at the end though. Any suggestions?

It may seem that way from the writer's perspective, but not the reader's. Both Ko'Faahin and Shessik have solid backstories that explain what brought them to the region (my apologies to Karist and Thakus if I missed yours). If everyone is comfortable with their character choice, I'll make my first post later today and allow for a bit of roleplaying before we really kick off the game.

GM asked me to post here saying that he will move us along in the AM.

Moving topic to the Discussion thread.

It's kind of a pet peeve of mine when characters in a movie/show/etc use the R2-D2 Rule instead of the Wookiee Rule-- i.e. repeat things in a way that would make for a pretty odd conversation if we could understand both sides.

"Do you think he likes me?"
"No, I don't think he likes you at all."
"Do you like me?"
"No... I don't like you either."

(The Simpsons made fun of this once. "You want us to tell our side of the story? You'll see us tomorrow? Goodbye? Dial tone?")

Having said that, I don't want to take away anyone's fun and there will probably be situations where simply repeating what Ko says for everyone's benefit is the best thing to do anyway. But I think it would be fun to (at times) carry on conversations with her knowing that the rest of the party is only hearing one side. Bonus points if you can make the other side understood without repeating it. (The Force Awakens did this really well. "Same thing I always do; talk my way out of it." "(growl)" "Yes I do! Every time.")

-Posted with Wayfinder

That works fine if you are in a tabletop where you can pass a note or send a text on a device and then the other party member can mangle it, or if the players know each other well enough to have a level of trust for ad-libbing when the speaker says stuff that implies what the other character said. In this case, Ko' doesn't know me and I don't know her, I would have a hard time making guesses as to what would be all right and what would imply too much or the wrong thing; AND, in the PbP format, this means that every time Ko' wants to say something, she must ALSO wait for me to translate it. Wookie ruling it means that she can just say what she wants to say and the assumption is that Shessik said it without getting into "I'm repeating what the computer said, it's a dumb job but it's my one job and I'm going to do it!" land.

For specific scenes there may be opportunities to create that sort of implicit conversation or misunderstood dialog, and there may be times when Shessik says something that is not quite what Ko' meant because he's trying to put his own perspective on something (think about the conversation in Planescape: Torment when the Nameless One asks Dak'kon to translate for Fell, the tattoo artist, while he (Nameless) can already tell what Fell is saying, and does this to expose that there is something Dak'kon doesn't want to talk about). For day-to-day gaming, there will be plenty of times when Ko' wants to say something and we don't need to make a production out of it, and we shouldn't hold up the game just because I wasn't online at the same time! :D

I can see both sides of this discussion. I think it make for some hillarious gaming if we were at a table, but the whole point was to keep the game moving along at an acceptable pace without obscene lags waiting for translations. I think we can work in a lot of what you are suggesting, Thakus.. and I can see that as being a regular sidebar. Shessik, I am very chill and relaxed.. you can take the conversations any direction you wish without offending me in the least.

-Posted with Wayfinder

At this point in the adventure, you’ll have a chance to pick up a number of npc followers before fleeing Phaendar. While these npc’s can help you later on, you’ll need to find resources to help sustain them. Ironfang Invasion offers a unique tracking system for this called provision points. One Provision Point sustains a person for 1 day and consists of a half-gallon of fluid (clean water, or ale, broth, cider, goat’s milk, or sheep’s milk) and 3 to 5 pounds of stable food (apples, berries, bread, dried boar, dried venison, hard cheese, mushrooms, nuts, pickled vegetables, and smoked trout). The PCs’ followers carry their resources in a hodgepodge of bottles, jars, and satchels stuffed into improvised backpacks. Each Provision Point of resources weighs about 10 pounds. Together one trail ration and a waterskin also translate to 1 Provision Point, but weigh only 5 pounds. As you fight your way through the town, you’ll want to check each location for as many provision points you can find, carrying as much as you can but also making sure the npc’s are loaded down with as much as they can carry before sending them towards the bridge.
I’ll be keeping track of how many provision points you acquire and how many villagers you save with an excel spread sheet (that will be attached to the page soon) that you guys will be able to view at any time. That said, it will still be on you to keep track of loot you find, so make sure to be checking enemy bodies as well. Good luck!

Incidentally, with my masterwork backpack I have a light carrying capacity of 100 lbs., of which I am currently carrying 65. My medium load is at 101-200 lbs.

Sorry didnt see the notes in the discussion...I think how Shessik and Ko work out the telepathy thing is one that needs to work for them. I can work with either.

Provision points - thanks Hawkeye for the explanation as I was trying to understand how that works. Ok, that is pretty cool mechanic. So finding things to carry stuff, and then the stuff are equally important.

Just letting everybody know that I'll be heading out of town this weekend for a camping trip. I'll try to post from my phone if I can but I'm not holding my breath. Next post will definitely be up on Tuesday.