GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

Off-topic:
I've had an idea for a Shoanti Chosen-One Paladin for a while; completely wrong culture and intentionally so! The problem is... information on the Shoanti Culture is mostly squirreled away... inside of an AP. The fourth book of CotCT from my understanding. As a direct result, I can't really look into Shoanti Culture without spoiling the surprise...

So, my question is: Does anyone have any really neat information about the cultures that they wouldn't mind sharing (pm or otherwise), so that I can better understand the innate culture of the people beyond 'Just assume generic native americans and don't worry about it'? :) Any help is appreciated. She doesn't really have a home, but it's a concept I enjoy.

@Ehren

Whoops! My bad! Gonna wait on you to take your action, then. :)

@Ary

Afraid not, I've never read CotCT. But honestly, the setting/culture articles you find in the APs rarely spoil much. For example, the biggest write-up on the Green Faith to date is found hidden in WoTR, but other than establishing that Sarkorian druids were the first practitioners, it has nothing to do with the AP.

This is supposedly a 'show, don't tell' version of that. Like, the entire 4th book is the players interacting with Shoanti Culture. So... maybe. But also, thank you! I'll look into it. Worst case scenario, I tell my DM 'I know about Shoanti Culture because I researched it for a character creation' should I ever do CotCT.

Ooh, and we've hit 500 posts! I'm so happy! Love you guys :D hope you're enjoying yourself so far.

This is our...fourth fight! So I'm still trying to get combat calibrated just right. I think I'm getting close to where I want to be though, getting a good idea of the CR range I need to aim for. If the ACs seem high, its mostly because I'm trying to take advantage of the wounded system. The idea is - getting that first good hit may take a little doing, but they go down faster once you start dealing damage (as the AC goes down by 1,2,3). I think it has a nice cinematic effect, that's just my opinion though D:

You can go ahead and skip me, GM. Ehren is about out of magic anyway, so he's just trying to make room at the moment.

Seems like a good match so far, and it's definitely better than the anti-climactic one-hit kill fights :)

I think you got Li'an's damage to the fly wrong, her damage roll was 4 (2 dam from blade + 2 sneak attack).

I'm enjoying everything so far. Combat has been great. Not too easy, but not overwhelming. Though I'm still getting use to the wound system.

Yeah, actually I was thinking it might be nice to have a summary of the wound system in a spoiler on the campaign tab. I had to go dig it up to double check what the penalties applied to.

It is a stark contrast to the LoF game I'm running, in which gnolls seem to keep exploding left and right with just a single hit. This is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. I'm very much enjoying the game so far, especially the interactions with our NPC companions. :)

What is LoF?

And I've experimented a lot with how to make pathfinder combats a bit better feeling. It's difficult without stretching the fights into hours-long things in real life. Nothing seems to have worked very well, but reasonable hit points with wounds seems to be ideal. I already did a 2/3 and 1/3 style of description, keying them in for 'wounded' and 'heavily injured'. Anything that stays up past 0/3 goes in its 'last leg'. Or something similar. It lets players know how much to invest in bringing that one down, and makes me not feel bad at all when the wizard hurls searing ray at the guy with 6 hp left. Because he kinda did know how close to dead he was. :)

Legacy of Fire, the last of the 3.5 adventure paths that Paizo did. So naturally, it is all kinds of jacked up. The boards have been very handy for converting everything so that it runs smoothly. Of course, it's my first real game as a GM, so I can chalk some of it down to my own inexperience.

@Li'an -

Alright, I'll put the rules up on the tab in a second, thanks for that! And okay, yeah, was looking at confirmation roll. It didn't change much - it still went to disabled :P

@Ehren -

I'm glad you like them! I'm also running this face to face, and what I'm liking about pbp is the chance to have the NPCs converse among themselves (in person, I don't like sitting there talking to myself, it's awkward and people zone out) which lets me divulge little tidbits about their personality/past a little more organically, ....I think.

Also, you guys actually like them (or at least are being nice to them, even Horgus, which is a shocker), while my f2f group managed to piss every single one of them off so they kind of trudge along in silence at this point :(

In any case the three NPCs are a lot of fun to GM. They're all very different, so playing up the contrast is fun (Anevia's optimism vs Aravashnial's pessimism for example)

@Ary

Yeah, I like that the wound system gives a kind of "visual" way of gauging how much HP an enemy has left. I already used a kind of freeform method at my f2f table, usually at 50%.

However, I'd never use the wound system at a face to face game, the math would slow things down too much. But I thought pbp would be an ideal place for it, since stuff proceeds slowly anyway.

I'm happy about the positive feedback, guys :) But if you have any concerns, don't hesitate to PM me.

What specifically drew you to Legacy of Fire for your first DMing experience? :)

I've personally never used any sort of modules for anything, instead playing by ear all along the way. My first DMing experience included me giving my players +5 to their dexterity score for wearing leather armor, and having them fight 7 skeletons because I started them off at level 7. It made sense at the time. :)

I later discovered that other people played this strange game, and learned how things worked from them. Lots of house rules later, there are still things I get wrong because they played things differently. I haven't -really- DM'd in a long while.

At the moment I've got two attempts at corralling cats going on, in the form of a Dungeon World game, inspired by Zelda... and a game that I effectively inherited, that I'm playing quite Lassez Faire. :P The characters are strong, combat-wise... I'm just trying to throw moral dilemmas and story at them until the characters begin to flourish as people.

I also have a couple of campaigns brewing about in my head, tumbling down, but no real way to use them (I'm terrified I'll become too busy and cease to be responsive, that I'll burn out, or that my depression will rear its ugly head a bit too high, and I don't want to disappoint people.)

As for the NPCs:

Horgus: Ary is grudgingly being nice. She doesn't like Horgus or anything that he stands for, but she made a promise to protect the people, and she's very big on keeping her promises, even when they're heartless moneygrubbing... ahem.

Aravashnial: Avi is difficult to be kind to, because he's having a difficult time of things, and lashing out, you likewise can't coddle (though Ary probably has a bit); it's understandable, and I'm doing my best to not metagame that too much with Ary's actions. As an avid reader, I can definitely understand the concepts of loss in a literary sense (oddly, I have an easier time of empathy with fictional characters than people, though. :()

Anevia: What's not to like? How could you -not- keep her happy? The only thing she's done that Ary dislikes is running off and leaving Avi behind after suggesting that they'd work well together. Ary is kind of resentful of being held back like that, while a wounded person fights in her place... but she's also the type to grudgingly pick up the slack and trudge, rather than pointing out flaws (or worse, telling two cripples to work together to become one whole person.)

I think that what's most important to keep in mind is that this whole day has been highly traumatic for everyone involved, and all three survivors are dealing with that trauma in different ways. They're behaving in ways that they wouldn't if they were more level-headed. Anevia in particular is already an experienced Crusader, so it goes against her nature to stay out of the fight, even though that might not be the best call.

Of course, whether that matters to your characters depends on how empathetic your individual PCs are, so that's part of the fun with roleplaying. For example, I work in healthcare, and people can be... really nasty sometimes. But you have to learn that they're in pain, upset, scared, whatever, so they're just lashing out. Empathetic healthcare professionals understand that, others get frustrated right back.

I think Anevia is a sweetie :P But she also has a lot of flaws which rubbed my f2f group the wrong way and now they all dislike each other. She's blunt, impatient, optimistic to the point of delusion, highly religious (to the point of extremism sometimes), among other flaws.

You can always ask her to stop if she's doing something you don't want her too. She's helpful towards you guys so her base diplomacy DC is a 5 :p

Ah, but if she wasn't flawed she's just be a boring, flat, uninteresting NPC. And who wants to travel with someone boring?

But Ary won't ask her to stop. She doesn't like Horgus, so she's actively asking him to do things, with Anevia (despite the fact that their ages are reversed), Ary is pretty much in 'Mom' mode. She recognizes that Anevia is hurt, but she's also going to have a hard time telling her to back off.

She's also going to be incredibly upset if Anevia goes down because Ary let her take a hit, when Ary could have been there.

Ary is probably overcompensating; from where she's sitting the city she lives in was probably just completely destroyed. Along with a good portion of her friends. The only thing really keeping her going is a combination of her faith (bolstered by the harrowing), and the other 'survivors'. If Ary were alone, she'd be a pathetic mess right now. (not to mention, probably bug food) But because she has people to help, to protect, she's able to ignore things, and focus on the 'protecting people' part.

I also have a few theories about some of the stuff going on (based on Ehren moreso than anyone else) that I know Ary wouldn't begin to think of, and is definitely too busy to consider. (Like that the Menhir/Wardstone still being there isn't necessarily a good thing :p)

But Ary won't ask her to stop. She doesn't like Horgus, so she's actively asking him to do things, with Anevia (despite the fact that their ages are reversed), Ary is pretty much in 'Mom' mode. She recognizes that Anevia is hurt, but she's also going to have a hard time telling her to back off.

I love that Ary has basically taken it upon herself to herd all the wounded/weak survivors around, it speaks a lot to her character :) Also epitomizes the Marshal path, which makes me happy.

It makes her come across as a leader, even if part of it is just overcompensating. Which is heroic.

Definitely enjoying all the interactions so far. And Ary's doing a splendid job as the group's shepherd!

From Li'an's point of view, Anevia is just doing what's expected of her. She'd not ask Anevia to back down because in the same situation she'd be unwilling to do so herself. Also, if it isn't apparent, there's definitely a bit a hero worship aspect there for Li'an, given Anevia's renown in the role they share :p

Aravashnial she's more than willing to cut slack, having known him for most of her life. She has quite a bit of respect for him, and empathy for his situation.

Horgus she definitely doesn't care for, and is content to leave in the hands of Ary and the others. If she needs to interact with him she will, but she's not exactly the diplomatic type.

I also have a few theories about some of the stuff going on (based on Ehren moreso than anyone else) that I know Ary wouldn't begin to think of, and is definitely too busy to consider. (Like that the Menhir/Wardstone still being there isn't necessarily a good thing :p)

I liked all three Hierophant applications about equally in a vacuum, but Ehren won out for me because his presence really enhances the overarching story.

Obviously, if he wasn't in the group you'd have no idea that the wardstone still stands, so I think him being in your "accidental" group kind of gives it a sense of predestination. (Combined with the whole spooky harrowing of course ;) )

...Mostly I liked the idea that Ehren's mythic powers would come directly from the wardstones/ley lines - which in turn makes him a sort of mobile wardstone - very hierophant. I like to think of him eventually becoming a force of nature itself, so that was exciting to me.

I know a lot about CotCT, if you want to question me about Shoanti culture. I'm actually DMing it right now for my tabletop game.

OH HEY. You're Mahorfeus! Sorry about MY LoF game falling apart. It was dying for a long, long time and I just got really bored.

And once he can wildshape into an earth elemental, he could literally be the rock of the group. :P

I am really glad that you liked the concept. When I pitch my ideas I'm always worried about being a little too minimalistic, but this is one I've always wanted to use in a WotR game. I'm very glad he was picked, and I am eager to see how things go once we go mythical.

OH HEY. You're Mahorfeus! Sorry about MY LoF game falling apart. It was dying for a long, long time and I just got really bored.

Aha, think nothing of it - I can't really blame you. I was fully prepared to wait for Mordin to enter the spotlight, but thinking back, I can't help but feel that I could have injected a bit of life into the game if I had used a character concept that could have showed up sooner. Maybe not. I'm just glad to have the opportunity to play in a game with you, honestly.

I added the wound threshold subsystem rules to the campaign tab for reference. Let me know if there are other things you guys would like on there, it is meant to be a resource for you after all.

One thing that my napping mind informs me of: Raising the AC of creatures due to the wound subsystem may be punishing to the players (especially as we don't have reliable healing at the moment). If we have difficulty hitting something, and then get pummeled, then we may be pushed into a position where we reasonably can't hit. It's a dangerous line. It still sounds good in a vacuum, but try to remember that a fireball that knocks the party to 1/3 HP may well be a TPK all on its own. :)

One thing that my napping mind informs me of: Raising the AC of creatures due to the wound subsystem may be punishing to the players (especially as we don't have reliable healing at the moment). If we have difficulty hitting something, and then get pummeled, then we may be pushed into a position where we reasonably can't hit. It's a dangerous line. It still sounds good in a vacuum, but try to remember that a fireball that knocks the party to 1/3 HP may well be a TPK all on its own. :)

Or just try to play defensively ;) The fact that losing HP is dangerous in this game is something you will need to account for. If it is reallly scary, there are feats for the system:

Critical Cure
Your healing is more effective if your patient is badly injured.

Benefit: When you cast a conjuration (healing) spell, it cures 1 additional hit point if the recipient of the healing is grazed, wounded, or critical. The additional healing increases by an additional 1 point at caster level 6th, and every 6 caster levels thereafter.

Endurance
Harsh conditions or long exertions do not easily tire you.

Benefit: You reduce the penalty from being grazed, wounded, or critical by 1 (to –0, –1, and –2, respectively). In addition, you gain a +4 bonus on the following checks and saves: Swim checks to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion, Constitution checks to continue running, Constitution checks to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checks to hold your breath, Constitution checks to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves to resist damage from suffocation. You can sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.

Twist the Knife (Combat)
You’re especially dangerous against enemies who are suffering from injuries.

Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls against grazed, wounded, or critical enemies.

I still say that giving up Endurance is the saddest part of becoming a real Demon Hunter. :P

Hm. I previously thought you were rule-of-cooling Ary being webbed in Horgus's place. Bodyguard doesn't actually cause me to take the hit. I'm just defending an ally, pulling them out of the way, stuff like that. I just give them a bonus to AC. There's a feat called 'In Harm's Way' that takes the hit for them, and that completely ignores whether they'd have been hit or not. It's something I may take :)

But, I'm cool with taking the hits for them. And It may have just been attacking each of us individually (that's what it looks like!) I just wanted to make sure you knew it wasn't me trading my getting hit for them getting hit or something. :)

Edit: Heading to work soon, and will be incapacitated for a few hours. (ugh, working a sunday!)

It was just a rule of cool thing, because yes, by RAW all that aid another does is add 3 AC to to the target, but I liked the storytelling implications of Ary getting webbed and how she interacts with that.

Also, the only reason Horgus didn't get webbed in this instance is because of bodyguard. If he managed to dodge it of his own dextrous accord, then I would have just said he dodged it :P

No, in the future if you manage to bodyguard away a huge hit, Ary won't take the hit for them. This was only done because I think it opened up the combat to some more interesting decisions/roleplay than normal. Literally the worst thing that could have come out of her getting webbed is that she could have gotten pulled to the crab early and forced to fight it. (unlikely, given her high str)

Hope work goes by fast for you!

Yeah, I've no worries about that, either; giving me something to interact with was very much welcomed :p Being pulled likewise would have been welcomed by the player; leaving her charges behind would have sucked, but she'd have felt useful, so I'm thankful!

I was just definitely more leery about the idea of her taking 25 damage at some point because she gave someone 3 AC. I'm cool with interacting... I'm less cool with being a bloodstain. :) So I just wanted to make sure you knew how it was supposed to work and was just having a little fun (which I have no problem with!). :)

I think Ary posted her action and may finish the crab with it.

No, like a stupid bad, terrible human being, it slipped my mind to leave something before I fell asleep last night. I've been exhausted the last few days, and going to sleep around 10pm at the latest. I'll get something up ASAP. Sorry for the delay.

No, like a stupid bad, terrible human being, it slipped my mind to leave something before I fell asleep last night. I've been exhausted the last few days, and going to sleep around 10pm at the latest. I'll get something up ASAP. Sorry for the delay.

Stop that, you are none of those things!!!

I figured out (and I think Ary did too) that trying to get a single good hit in is better than aiding a single ally, as it essentially will likely give out a smaller bonus to everyone aiding them, while also limiting the damage received... as such, I think Ary's more likely to try to open up the enemy, before going into aid routines. Ary was kinda goaded on by Horgus to attack rather than aid this time, though (which may be to the team's detriment :p)

Edit: :P also, that was me kind of kidding, kind of being me :p I have a self-deprecating humor (though I also do feel bad that there was such a long pause because I didn't prepare anything!)

Edit 2: I'm also in a super big hurry lately, and really impatient, so doing it on saturday morning and monday morning probably made me overexaggerate the 'bad human!'. Also, dreaming of Dora the Explorer meets Tomb Raider meets Futurama meets Assassin's Creed may have colored my perceptions of what is funny or acceptable. But the dream -was- gloriously bad!

Edit 3: It also wasn't even funny, thanks for calling me on being a jerk to me. :)

Aiding to attack (especially +3 at lvl 1) will probably be useful while an enemy is still healthy, but when they're already mostly dead at -3 AC anyway attacking is probably better.

And I went to bed the same time you did it seems :p so I am ultimately the rate determining step here. (chemistry jokes :O!)

I'll have to look later. No aid at work today. I also forgot my grazed condition. I'll need to go back and double check the claw hit damage and apply it. -1 to my hit, if that changes things. (I'll try to keep up, but may wind up doing the headdesk thing for a bit. :))

I'll have to look later. No aid at work today. I also forgot my grazed condition. I'll need to go back and double check the claw hit damage and apply it. -1 to my hit, if that changes things. (I'll try to keep up, but may wind up doing the headdesk thing for a bit. :))

No changes, thanks for the catch though!

Markus' turn will consist of pointing fingers at the huecuva and utilizing disrupt undead. He will prioritize the one Anevia targeted.

Ranged Touch, no Precise Shot: 1d20 - 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) - 1 - 4 = 9
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Sorry if I'm delaying anything. Got home and paizo was down last night... but just for me. Well, from the looks of it, this morning... just my google chrome. I have 49 posts to read through.

I don't have much time to post. I read up until initiative was called, I can't really do a good post. I'll try to get it in first thing at work, after I help my coworker.

I don't have much time to post. I read up until initiative was called, I can't really do a good post. I'll try to get it in first thing at work, after I help my coworker.

Don't worry =)

And yeah, lots of posts, I felt like being dramatic and stirred some s+&$ up :p

That was definitely masterful s!@$ stirring. Seems like Aravashnial has a natural talent for it. Perhaps a as-yet-unknown elven racial trait? :P

Ary mostly doesn't know what was going on, as she doesn't speak Elven.

So it was basically a lot of whispering, then Markus getting annoyed, and Avi being smug. Then Horgus being smug. Then in a perfect world where Paizo doesn't hate my google chrome for some reason, Ary says something clever, and everything is instantly better, and a chorus of angels begins to sing.

Instead, because she didn't get the chance, we got a bunch of decaying dwarves. Way to go, guys, way to go.

Also, Li'an, Miss Kiora moved the initiative counter, but didn't say you were up. I think you're still up. :)

Edit: And you post as I post. See. The universe really does revolve around me. :)

Edit Edit: My OCD eventually got the better of me, and I was required to make the light circles more circle-like. It was driving me crazy that they were light ovals (and as a direct result, I was thinking very strongly of trying to turn said circle to give Horgus more light... :|)

Hah! I saw it, I was just trying to figure out what to do. :)

Li'an *was* going to take it cautiously, but she can't let a perfectly good enchantment on Lleuad go to waste, so in she goes!

You'd better hurry. Only 18 minutes and 54 seconds left! :)

I think the 'Good' Descriptor is more about outright stating that any 'spell' you get from it is going to carry the good descriptor, that using the abilities move you towards a good alignment, and the like. Which is totally in keeping with Pathfinder's insane need to classify efficient between-battle healing as evil. :P

The thought that anything other than a spell has a descriptor is mind-boggling to me. But then, I've never really delved into third party stuff before. I don't think the disciplines are actually aligned though.

Also, it occured to me that preparing two cure light wounds spells and blowing them both right after is just asking for a bad day. I think I am having druid's remorse. ;P

Actually, what little I've read of path of war is basically 'melee caster with full bab, high hit points, solid saves, and a regenerating pool of spells'. But that's just from a cursory glance. I really don't get 'fighter' from it so much as 'gish'.

Dammit. Somehow I knew that would happen.