GM OfAnything's Darkest Abduction (Inactive)

Game Master KingOfAnything

Discussion for The Darkest Abduction.

Please make your Day Job rolls here!

After a successful adventure, Lurgh likes to go fishing to relax.

Fishing: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Thanks again to everyone for joining us, I think you will all make a good team and hopefully a memorable experience. The APL comes to 9 even, so we will be playing high tier with the four person adjustment.

As I mentioned in recruitment, we won't be starting for two weeks or so. I plan to post the mission briefing on or about April 10.

If you post in Gameplay to add the thread to your campaigns, either post in character at the Grand Lodge or on the road to Karcau. If you dot instead, please remember to delete.

Handle Animal (Senay Tiger Farm): 1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 21 + 2 = 40

"Ve sell the best tigers in all of Katapesh!"

___

As an aside, it will be fun playing alongside people that I only know as a GM. I'm waving to all the familiar faces in the crowd.

Zahra is updated in Hero Lab, but I need to get her formatting updated here.

Hi all.
Many thanks for including me.

Vrald has no day job. Being a knight and newly entitled lord is full time consuming activities.

As a side note, Vrald may hit level 9 before the start date, as I have a scenario that I'm GMing that is down to the last encounter now. I don't think that is likely to mess with the APL due to rounding.

I'll clean up his stat bar prior to game start.

I will most likely be going for a Faction Journal Card check-off which replaces the day job.

Although I enjoy taking the time to paint a scene from our various travels, Mr. Valsin has been heavily encouraging me to take more time preparing a detailed report on each of our missions.

Still, I do dabble at times!

Craft: Painting plus Day Job boon: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 2 = 24

Do you have a preferred format for the stat bar? I will need to update mine before the start of the game.

I like to see alignment in your descriptor. You might add your channels per day and Bit of Luck per day before your conditions.

Lurgh begins each day with an extended mage armor (16-hour duration). I've accounted for that in his starting resources.

I like to see alignment in your descriptor. You might add your channels per day and Bit of Luck per day before your conditions.

Done!

Dotting in. More to come on Monday: on my way to a con tomorrow morning

Checking in. I am in the midst of fully updating this character, as I have not actually played it in some time. I'm going through and putting every single Boon I have on file, so I will PM the DM once this is completed.

Day Job -> Heal (Temple): 10 + 16 = 26 <Take 10 = +50gp>

Thanks for checking in.

You can take ten on a roll by replacing your dice with just a '10'.

Take Ten: 10 + 16 = 26

Learn something new every day.

How is everyone doing? It looks like I've ran games for most of you through out the years, so "howdy". Looking forward to playing.

I'm looking forward to this as well.

We have two other scenarios that we have planned for face to face just before this begins. It has been much too long since we last played them. It will be nice to go back to them.

They are such fun to play. I am happy that we get to play them again. Beckett and Hallet, I actually get to play with you instead of GMing for you. So exciting!

Hmm

Yes indeed. I have not played this character in a long while, but I'm a fan of Ustalav, (well, really I'm a fan of Ravenloft and Ustalav is the closet thing Golarion has).

I'm considering swapping out my Inquisitor Bonus Teamwork Feat for one of three things. Lookout, as it seems popular, Collective Recollection would give us a lot better chance of nailing all the Knowledge checks, and thus getting as much of the background story as possible, or Mystic Reverberation.

I'm not actually sure just how this would interact with the Inquisitor's Solo Tactics ability, (so I'm thinking probably not a good option), but it seems like it could be very nice in this group.

Thoughts?

On one hand, it's less likely I will be caught by surprise, so Lookout may not be as beneficial, overall, essentially adding a third chance to everyone's tendency to roll Nat 2's on the Paizo boards. :P

Collective Recollection basically offers a nearly assured Aid Another to all Know Check rolls I have ranks in, which is most, but not all.

Yes indeed. I have not played this character in a long while, but I'm a fan of Ustalav, (well, really I'm a fan of Ravenloft and Ustalav is the closet thing Golarion has).

Funny, my one character from there couldn't leave fast enough and isn't really looking to return soon.

I'm considering swapping out my Inquisitor Bonus Teamwork Feat for one of three things. Lookout, as it seems popular, Collective Recollection would give us a lot better chance of nailing all the Knowledge checks, and thus getting as much of the background story as possible, or Mystic Reverberation.

I'm not actually sure just how this would interact with the Inquisitor's Solo Tactics ability, (so I'm thinking probably not a good option), but it seems like it could be very nice in this group.

Thoughts?

Since your character has a decent perception skill, Lookout would potentially allow Omar, Zarah, and Pumpkin to act in a surprise round. There is a small chance that Omar would also perceive something, but overall it is unlikely to do your character any good.

At very least, you could use the Collective Recollection during the briefing. Once we hear what sort of mission it really is you could decide if it is worthwhile for the whole adventure. If it is one of those with hard to identify creatures, it would be a good idea. The value during the briefing depends on how the GM views Aid Another with Knowledge skills. Some say without that feat you can never aid on knowledge skills. My view is it allows you to aid as a free action instead of a standard action.

I'm not sure how Mystic Reverberation would work with Solo tactics. I think it would allow you to leech metamagic feats off others, but the only one I see is Heighten Spell. Probably not worth it.

Looking back, it looks like I misread Mystic Reverbration and I do have to actually have the Metamagic Feat, which was where I was confused how it would work.

I had been thinking it would allow you to add your Metamagic Feats to spells on the fly, even though no one else actually shares the Feat.

Garinol wrote:

I'm considering swapping out my Inquisitor Bonus Teamwork Feat for one of three things. Lookout, as it seems popular, Collective Recollection would give us a lot better chance of nailing all the Knowledge checks, and thus getting as much of the background story as possible, or Mystic Reverberation.

I'm not actually sure just how this would interact with the Inquisitor's Solo Tactics ability, (so I'm thinking probably not a good option), but it seems like it could be very nice in this group.

Thoughts?

Since your character has a decent perception skill, Lookout would potentially allow Omar, Zarah, and Pumpkin to act in a surprise round. There is a small chance that Omar would also perceive something, but overall it is unlikely to do your character any good.

At very least, you could use the Collective Recollection during the briefing. Once we hear what sort of mission it really is you could decide if it is worthwhile for the whole adventure. If it is one of those with hard to identify creatures, it would be a good idea. The value during the briefing depends on how the GM views Aid Another with Knowledge skills. Some say without that feat you can never aid on knowledge skills. My view is it allows you to aid as a free action instead of a standard action.

Regarding how I handle Aiding a background Knowledge check, I allow an aid instead of a check, but I do limit the number of people who can aid a single check to two.

For monsters, I would like to know which bits of information are most useful to you all. I usually spoil a few checks.

Faeranduil's standard knowledge questions: Spell resistance, Elemental immunities and/or vulnerabilities, DR, Signature abilities in that order.

My questions are pretty much the same as Faeranduil, but I'm more interested in energy resist/immune than SR.

I applied a GM credit chronicle to this PC, it doesn't change his level, but it meant he could afford the robe of arcane heritage he'd been saving up for. I've updated the character sheet.

I would say for me, Alignment/if they can be interacted with, followed by Special Attacks, especially the ones with conditions that might afflict us, followed by DR, followed by Resistances/Immunity, with lore mixed in throughout.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep those in mind.

We will officially begin the scenario with the briefing on April 10. Until then, I wrote up and adapted a description of the city. Go ahead and get introductions out of the way before you meet the Venture Captain. Otherwise, have some fun exploring!

What a lovely introduction. This Saturday I'll be aFK most of the day, but I'll try to get up a couple of introductory posts up for Pumpkin and me either Saturday night or Sunday evening. A city of artists! Omar and I are already in love!

My... I don't think I've ever rolled so well on Sense Motive in my life! It is a pretty lousy skill for Zahra, normally.

I'm going to be busy this week, so feel free to advance the story for each other.

I will probably post a bit less in the coming days since I have a couple of very busy days ahead of me. Our eldest son did not get into the high school he wanted to join. Now we have to choose again from the schools that are left. Needless to say his second and third choices are also not available anymore, so we have our work cut out for us.

In our city you apply for 1 school. If there are more applicants than places there is a lottery. After the lottery you can apply again for the schools that still have places available (and then also indicate 2nd to 4th choices). The schools will take care that everybody is placed in the second round. Problem is that the weakest schools tend to be left...

@Faeranduil

Sorry your child didn't get in their preferred school. Good luck on your search!

Wow, sounds crazy, like in order to not end up in a lower-tier school you have to put down mid-tier options in your first picks.

Where I am schools have to take children in their local zone.

I hope you get things worked out, Magabeus.

I'm going to be in New Orleans this weekend (a big source of inspiration for Karcau). When I return, we will begin with your characters' arrival at the Cloisoi Theater to meet with your Venture-Captain.

I don't mind if you continue your excursions or not, but I would like Lurgh, Omar, and Zahra to post any preparations for going to the theater. Faeranduil, Garinol, and Vrald posted theirs before the flashback to earlier in the day, but may update their actions, if needed.

You can only apply for one school. Last year the school he applied for could place all applicants. This year they can't place 50 of the 225 applicants.

All the schools combined in our city guarantee to have a place for each child at his or her education level. However it might be that you do not get a place at the preferred school, which is what happened to our son.

Things will work out, there are still some options left. We are exploring them, and we have some stress and anxiety. That is the role of the parent, our son is coping really well.

Made it back from New Orleans! I'm excited to get this going.

Same here. Being part cajun, Im really considering making a Swamper soon.

Alright, the post is up. You can see Basia on the second slide of the deck linked in my header. We have begun.

Excellent. I will try to get a post in later this morning.

Hmm

Updated for two scenarios played and edited my wands so they show the correct number of charges remaining.

---

Added Ring of Protected Life.
Added Glamered to Armor.
Added second Pearl of Power 1st.
Replaced Lesser Talisman of Freedom that got used.

Adjusted spells memorized, leaving some open slots.

Oh... I just bought a ring of tactical precision!

Hmm

Is there confusion about the NPCs?

Olivina is the missing heiress. She is first in line to inherit when her parents die, but she doesn't have her own money or title, yet.

Countess Livgrace rules the city and has hired the Pathfinder Society to find the missing girl.

On a related topic, should we start up an NPC codex?

I've done them for modules, but most scenarios have small enough casts that it isn't required. If there are more than 5-7 named NPCs, then it starts becoming valuable.

Do it.

Hmm

I've added a slide you can take quick notes on.

I suggest refraining from speculation about motivations before you have any evidence about what actually happened.

Countess Livgrace and Olivina Sharnau are not related.

@Garinol, did you mean Olivina?

I generally advocate Pathfinder avoid politics, especially regional politics, Sasandra's absence might have some long term effects if this part of the nation looses influence.

The countess is not missing, she's asking you to investigate the abduction.

I guess so. I was trying to be a bit ominous with that second spoiler, but failed.

One special thing Vrald can do is coach the whole team in a skill. This gives everyone a +4 bonus on that skill. The earlier I use this, the longer we have to use the bonus, but of course, saving it for later can also be helpful.

If anyone has suggestions in a skill they would like coaching (diplomacy, perception, know(nobilty) etc) let me know. I can just do this once/scenario.

Casting spells is fine, just mark them down and their durations. I'll keep a clock going.

Please be explicit about what or what area you are searching, as that will affect the time it takes to investigate.

Bloodhound = 9 hours
Comprehend Languages = 90 mins
Magic Circle = 90 mins

Barkskin, domain spell, with extend rod = 200 minutes. +4 Natural Armor.

I think someone moved me around on the map. I was trying to cut through the seats on the top to wind up where the party is now currently on the map. In other words I was going to the same place, just wanted to go around rather then down the middle.