Question: the google slides file is opened up for edit to all who get the link. How often, if ever, does this ever fall victim to drive-by vandalism? Why not invite all specific members of the game to privately edit the file?
I suspect the answer is: it's never been a problem, but I wanted to ask anyway to hear if anybody has dealt with it.
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I take no joy in a PC's death. As a GM, I look closely at what can be done--within the rules--to avoid that catastrophe, including a methodical double-check to ensure I didn't make a mistake or miss something.
In this instance, everything checks out.
However, it's possible that my narrative and imagery tools 'painting the picture' for the PCs fell short of the mark.
The two druids are stunned and blinded, and one of them's unconscious. The bear is distracted by and focused on its immediate threat, namely, the bat swarm.
Maskini is near death, unable to stabilize due to the bleed condition, and still subject to swarm damage for as long as he is within the swarm.
There are two PCs who have the opportunity to act before the swarm sends Maskini to the Boneyard: Ijo and Bobbi.
Options include eliminating the swarm, dragging Maskini away from the swarm, healing Maskini to remove the bleed condition and restore some of his lost hit points. Ijo and Bobbi could work together to accomplish more than one of those tasks.
If Ijo would like to retcon his actions (two? attacks against Trajet), I'll permit that.
*EDIT* Looks like I got ninja'd by Bobbi, while I was drafting this post. Ijo and Bobbi may both retcon their actions to cooperate for the best possible outcome.
If the character dies before I take a single action, I'll take that as a sign ;)
Ijo, you could pick up the Alchemist's Fire that fell out of my limp hands.
Yeah, if anything this is more about player options and teamwork than GM'ing. I felt Enora was doing the right thing just trying to incapacitate the aggressors to lessen the immediate threat. Feel free to disagree though.
Link for Homestead
So, GM, clearly you had to improvise a bit there to end the battle peacefully and keep PCs alive. What would you have done if the color spray hadn't put them out for a few rounds? Do you have a set of go-to hooks to avert disaster?
Related: if a PC does in fact die how is that handled in the PFS sense? If they can afford the raising/resurrection/etc, then I imagine the cost goes on their chronicle sheet. Are there any additional considerations if they cannot afford that and the character remains dead?
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If the Pregen can't be raised, it's reported as dead, and a different PC can continue with the rest of the quests, receiving rewards for the subquests he or she completes.
If the surviving characters recovered the body and completed the scenario, the player of the slain pregen would earn the gold and prestige on the adventure, if it can be raised. (That's not likely the case for first adventure, level-1 PC or Pregen.)
To clear the condition (death + negative levels), check pages 6-7 of the current Roleplaying Guild Guide:
• The Roleplaying Guild character must contribute a minimum amount of gold to cover the costs before using any of the pregenerated character’s wealth, depending on the pregenerated character’s level: 0 gp for a 1st-level pregenerated character, 1,000 gp for 4th-level, and 2,000 gp for 7th-level.
• After applying Roleplaying Guild character resources, the player can use the pregenerated character’s funds to pay for these spellcasting services. If sold to pay for condition removal, a 1st-level character’s gear is worth 75 gold pieces, a 4th-level character is worth 3,000 gold pieces and a 7th-level character is worth 11,500 gold pieces.
• The Roleplaying Guild character can spend Prestige Points to help offset the gold cost of raising a pregenerated character from the dead. She may pay up to half of the cost of raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection with Prestige Points, at a rate of 1 PP = 375 gold pieces.
• The character can use the gold and prestige that she has earned on the Chronicle sheet for the current adventure to help pay for condition removal.
The cost of Raise Dead is 5,450gp and the two Restorations are 1,280gp each, for a total of 8,010gp.
The PC must first contribute 0gp/1,000gp/2,000gp, respectively. That can come from the gold on the Chronicle and/or the PC's current wealth; I'd recommend taking it from the chronicle (depending on the tier and the scenario, it may or not be worth 2,000; if not, the rest has to come from the PC, either in cash or prestige, using the 1PP=375gp exchange rate). Note whatever gold is coming off of the chronicle as a deduction there, then whatever gold and/or prestige is coming from the PC on its Inventory Tracking Sheet (ITS).
At that point, the pregen's gear can be sold to cover the rest. Note on the chronicle that the character died and was raised. Whatever the PC had to spend up front is on the ITS, and the chronicle is noted as "hold for 4th level" or "hold for 7th level" as usual. The XP will apply, as will any remaining gold and prestige that wasn't spent on the recovery.
Mostly, just a bit of math to do and record. You just need to decide how you want the Chronicle to reflect paying the cost: either gp or a combination of PP and gp.
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To address your questions about how I handled this dicey situation specifically, Enora, I didn't need to pull any punches, really.
The bear was ordered to attack Maskini, but the monk went down, and in PFS the bad guys don't keep attacking characters once they're down and out. It was also distracted, wounded, and nauseated by the bat swarm. It didn't make sense to me to have it continue to attack the PCs in the absence of further commands from its mistress or subsequent PC attacks initiated against it or its allies, the two druids.
The druid Trajet was stunned and blinded. Among her gear, in a satchel, she had a scoll of cure light wounds (x3) that one of the PCs could have taken and used.
The druid Polgrin had heeded the old blackwood tree's exhotration to refrain from fighting; had he not been affected by the color spray, he could have been persuaded to provide healing.
The summon swarm spell only lasts two additional rounds after the caster ceases concentration, so the bats left on schedule.
The final threat from the old blackwood tree was improvised, inspired by Trajet's accusing Bobbi of betraying the Druidic Circle.
The major lessen (re)learned was that no matter how experienced a group of players at the table happen to be, covering such basics as healing is always worth a little time and effort. As GM, I should have prompted that discussion, if the players didn't consider it themselves. A potion of CLW is only 50gp, and the party could have been encouraged to pool their resources to acquire at least one.
I don't really have any go-to hooks to avert disaster, but I'm generally always looking for a legitimate way for the party to succeed rather than let it fail.
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RE: Party Composition. For myself, I have to blame my distaste for everything in the Occult book.
I have never studied any of those classes, and when I saw "spiritualist", I assumed this was some type of psionic divine replacement. Had I realized that we had three melee characters and one arcane, I would have brought in a cleric (I actually have a 1st level cleric ready, though it is Core).
If allowed, I'll switch to that character for the next mission.
Switching and applying future rewards to a different PC is fine.
Since Maskini isn't a PFS character, I had no plans to actually apply the chronicle anyways.
Alternatively, as they are Quests, could someone bring in a pregen and then apply that credit to a character (the way 'new release' Quests run normally a pregen is *required*, right?)
That should also be possiible, but the chronicle has to be applied to a 1st level character. I am not going to be creating any more 1st level characters. My current 1st level core cleric is fine. I'd rather play that than a pregen.
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Yes, you can play a pregen, but there's no requirement to do so.
We'll all receive Chronicle sheets for this quest, combining GM and player credits.
Just double-checked Slide 2 and realized Maskini has no character number. After reading your post, Maskini, just want to make sure you explained your objections to creating an official PC/unwillingness to play a Pregen to VL Redelia and cleared that with her.
If it is important to you, I will plug in the number from the core cleric I am going to continue with (once we move on to the next quest).
Obviously, he won't stay core, but that is irrelevant to me.
I was up front about not playing a PFS character.
Brunoreturns checking in. This alias isn't a PFS character, but it is one that I've wanted to play.
If that's not OK, I have a PFS core cleric that I've never played. I could bring that one in.
... but the chronicle has to be applied to a 1st level character.
Is this true GM? If so I hadn't considered this. The character number I listed is level 2.
Honor's Echo is a Quest series.
It can be applied to as many 1st level characters as one wishes, but it may only be applied to one character that is 2nd level or higher.
The rewards are variable depending on the character level that it is being applied to.
I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but I was basing that belief on:
At any time,
he can apply the Chronicle sheet to a 1st-level Pathfinder
Society character, but if that character gains XP from another
Chronicle sheet, he can no longer earn additional rewards
for that character for playing the other Honor’s Echo quests.
There is no mention of being able to apply the quest to a 2nd level character, nor is there any mention of evergreen status. Perhaps this is overridden by something in the PFS documentation (that's happened to me before). if so, I'd appreciate if someone could provide me a reference.
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Popping in here to answer a few questions:
Unfortunately, you do need to be giving credit to a level 1 PFS character to play this. It is an evergreen adventure. One of the things that is sometimes frustrating about PFS is that the rules aren't always in one clear place. This is an unofficial source, but it often is easier to find things in than official resources: List of Evergreens, search for Honor's Echo for your answer (it also is dated this May, so should be up to date)
Brunoreturns, you do need to play either as your own PFS character or an official pregen. What I thought you meant with your earlier comment was that the alias was not a PFS character alias in the system, which would be fine, if there was some complicated reason that made that better. You could even take advantage of first level rebuilds to make an existing level 1 PFS character into a totally different character, who you then rebuild back to what they were after the adventure. They do have to be a PFS character, though.
Gotcha. Thanks! I can come up with an alternate level 1 character, probably by end of this weekend.
It’s funny, I would have expected to find the answer on the Paizo message boards alone.
That's fine. I am going to be playing the cleric I already have generated for the rest of the session anyways.
I'm never going to play the character again, so if it makes everyone feel better to create a chronicle sheet for that character, it makes no difference to me.
I'll update the Sheet tonight.
BTW: I am not trying to be contrary. I have 4 PFS characters, each 2nd or 3rd level. I just have no desire to have more. I know that many of you have scores of characters, but I am a minimalist. This fifth character I created when I thought I might try CORE out, but that was a passing fancy.
GM: I've updated the table in the slides to identify an eligible 1st-level character to receive the credit.
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The end of a scenario often seems written in haste, or perhaps it just gets short shrift in the editing process to meet the constraints of word count.
In face-to-face play, we often compound the problem, in a rush to conclude play and complete Chronicles within the allotted time.
In the medium of PbP, however, we have the luxury of time and space to present a more satisfying denouement, drawing the strands of the plot together, offering a more complete explanation or resolution than that offered on the page.
The other thing that can be done, especially in the context of PbP, is transitions and translations for quests.
So we now transition to another GM's campaign for the next quest?
I brought this up a while back, but a reminder that I'm away without internet from July 14-22 (that starts this next Saturday). Bot as necessary.
Also, I suppose I could transition to the new character I created since it's just as eligible to *play* this scenario, or would that be too disruptive?
I assume we will still want some arcane. I am already converting to divine.
Not sure what your other character is. I'd be just as willing to play a pregen. Balazar is fun...
Other character is.... wait for it... a custom arcanist! Very arcane in fact.
My map is ready, other than Enora's new character.
Map link is in the statline.
Okay, after HEAVY borrowing from GM Lorenzo (Thank you in advance!) and a few modifications of my own I think I have this ready for prime-time -- if folks see issues with it, please let me know.
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There's another, fresh-faced Pathfinder sitting at one of the inn's tables, when the party returns to Oppara.
As you enter, the aquatic elf rises from his seat, graceful and charismatic. He has dark green eyes and long, silky blue-black hair with subtle green highlights, framing the pale green skin of his face. There's a light crossbow propped against his chair and a dagger at his hip.
"Melicertes Palaemon, oracle of Yuelral." You've heard of the elven goddess of magic. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
The elf extends his hand, and you can't help but notice the delicate, translucent webbing between his fingers. You recall that aquatic elves have similar webbing between their toes, too, enabling them to swim adroitly through the water.
The elf seems a little jumpy, maybe even a little paranoid around strangers. You wonder if this has something to do with those curses oracles suffer. Probably.
"I understand we have another lead passed along from our employer, Remaio Alcasti?"