GM Rednal's Skull & Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Yeah, I thought I was back. I wasn't back. I'm so sorry, I've never been this flakey in all my years on the site. Ye gods, moving sucks. But holidays are over, I've MOVED and gotten NEW INTERNET, and I'm silently wondering what else is coming down the pipeline, because now would be the time.

New internet is good.

Let's crush..rats. Hmn. Not the most dangerous first fight with gear. Although hopefully it'll go better than the last one did!

As an aside, Rednal, do you know if Atsadi would benefit from his own Collective/Hollow Faith abilities? It specifies granting a bonus to "allies" and I can't remember if allies also affects the caster/user or only his compatriots.

Jeggare is not yet in Atsadi's collective and would not receive any benefit. :( We should fix that later. *goes to research Maori rituals and find something that might be fun and fitting*

As a general rule of thumb, you count as your own ally unless an ability clearly notes otherwise. So if, for example, something grants a bonus to "allies in your Collective", you would also get that benefit.

Huh. Nifty. I'd always assumed it only applied to other people, but I figured I'd asked as I could vaguely recall some Pathfinder FAQ stating what you said.

Ally: Do you count as your own ally?

You count as your own ally unless otherwise stated or if doing so would make no sense or be impossible. Thus, "your allies" almost always means the same as "you and your allies."

Yay being able to benefit from my own buffs!

...I'd like to apologize on the dice roller's behalf. It did a bad thing, and has been sternly spoken to.

This might be the first time I get to be in a campaign that outlives my character XD

Well..AOE healing is about to be very advantageous. Of course, if Jeggare died outright, Atsadi would just bring him back as a zombie for the fight. XD

Can you do that already?! I should have taken a closer look at Spheres of Power. Granted, it didn't give me the option to summon different creatures, which is something I felt was important, and having a persistent eidolon to summon didn't quite work for what I wanted. Speaking of Spheres, there's soon to be a new addition to the line.

On an unrelated note, I always wanted to play a character whose mage armor was a sentai henshin à la Power Rangers.

Yeah, Reanimate is a basic power of the Death Sphere. XD Most of the system's powers are available as early as Level 1, although Caster Level is still pretty important. Of course, it only lasts one minute right now, but...

A system that gives you access to the basic effects you want and scaling their power with level sounds so much better for what I usually want.

There's a reason a lot of people prefer Spheres. XD It's a lot like Paizo's usual philosophy on classes, for that matter, and why they usually avoid Prestige Classes. If there's a neat character idea, there's something to be said for making it possible to play from first level...

Yeah, Spheres > basic casting by such a HUGE amount. I'm excited for the Spheres of Combat splat.

*Waits on Post #2...?*

So..a bit random, but I have a couple of questions. The Soul Weaver from Spheres of Power doesn't mention how it gains its souls. It has a limit maximum of how many souls it has and a maximum of how many it can "call" each day. I hadn't had Atsadi call any yet as I wasn't sure if he had any souls. Once a soul is used, it is expended.

So..questions: 1) Does Atsadi need to replenish his souls in some way?
2) Can he/does he use the souls of those he kills/finds bodies of?
3) If the above is how we run it, can he take the souls of those dire rats?

Otherwise, it looks like he just conjures his maximum each day. He can only call X number a day, but they stay around until used. So theoretically he can, over a period of days, call up his actual maximum. As long as he has 2+ days without expending souls, he will have a small handful around him.

Just trying to figure out how you envisage it all working, Rednal. I wouldn't want to assume anything that is in my favor.

The Soul Weaver gains souls simply by summoning them, up to to maximum they're allowed to call each day. You can certainly flavor it as taking remnants of energy from those you kill over time, which don't become "souls" until you call them up. The important thing to remember about Spheres of Power is that its classes have minimal fluff, so you're free to flavor it in whatever way works for you as long as it doesn't change the mechanics.

Honestly, requiring someone to kill things in order to replenish their daily powers is a bit harsh. That's when you start getting Bag of Puppies scenarios, and anything that does that is basically bad design by default. XD

The Soul Weaver gains souls simply by summoning them, up to to maximum they're allowed to call each day. You can certainly flavor it as taking remnants of energy from those you kill over time, which don't become "souls" until you call them up. The important thing to remember about Spheres of Power is that its classes have minimal fluff, so you're free to flavor it in whatever way works for you as long as it doesn't change the mechanics.

Honestly, requiring someone to kill things in order to replenish their daily powers is a bit harsh. That's when you start getting Bag of Puppies scenarios, and anything that does that is basically bad design by default. XD

That's...a really good point!

I do love that idea for flufff/flavor though. So that's what he'll run with. Now..Atsadi would love to just have the souls he summons fly around him as little misty shapes with creepy skull faces...but I'm not sure how the Captain would feel about that.

Eh..he'll probably do it anyway. His whole theme is fear/intimidation while actually being a kind of nice/friendly guy XD

...I don't think the Captain would appreciate you spooking the rest of the crew. o wo [/Fair Warning]

I was thinking of that and superstitions are rampant on the sea so it wouldn't be a great idea...Hm...maybe a roll for it..

Wisdom check for Common Sense: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

...Well..Atsadi isn't the wisest pirate :(.
....this isn't going to end well.

Do we take regular day actions now or do we just move on to the night?

I think we just move onto night, but that's the GM's call.

Honestly, I was sort of waiting for you to go back up. XD Unless you want to just not talk to anybody until nightfall, which might lead to some pointed questions.

(And by pointed, I mean "with the end of a dagger". ...As you've probably noticed, these aren't exactly the nicest bunch of salty sea dogs. o wo)

Oh Atsadi does, he went straight up to Plugg XD I think Jeggare is already topside too.

GM, do you have any objections to Ambrose offering himself up to Peppery Longfarthing as an apprentice ship's mage and navigation assistant?

I don't. ...The officers might, though. They, uh, don't like you very much. o wo And aren't interested in letting you get uppity, so think carefully if you go for that.

Do either of you have any interest in playing a one-shot (probably one heist) of Blades in the Dark?

The game sums itself up best with: Play as a "...group of daring scoundrels building a criminal enterprise on the haunted streets of an industrial fantasy city." The setting is best summed up as "You're in a haunted Victorian-era city trapped inside a wall of lightning powered by demon blood."

Alas, I'm not familiar with the system, and my sheet of games is a bit full as it is. XD I suspect you'll find plenty of takers with a public recruitment, though.

On a similar note, I think I'm going to go ahead and accelerate the rest of this 'part', or it's going to take us forever to get through what wouldn't actually take that long on a table. XD Do either of you two mind if we fold the rest of this into exposition and move on?

Not at all!

I'm potentially interested, though it's best to warn that I haven't been great at daily posting during this stage of my life.

I'm fine with accelerating, but for clarification's sake, do you mean the current conversation/night action sequence, or this entire section of the book? Either is fine, I'm just not sure what's being proposed.

The entire section of this book. XD Basically, it's meant to help you get used to life as pirates... and goes a LOT faster on an actual tabletop. I thought you two might be ready to move along now.

Yeah, the daily/night actions take some time. Even if we manage to do one day a day it'd take a month or so. (aren't there 20 days or something like that?).

We can just accelerate. Assume Atsadi uses Diplomacy every day and every night from here until forever.

Btw, Rednal, I'm loving your Godbound campaign. It's been a good read so far. How do you like the system?

It's pretty solid so far, although GMs will definitely have to be pretty smart about how they set up encounters so players don't just fog things up every time and attack with no risk at all. XD It's a nice, narrative break from a number-heavy game like Pathfinder. (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the numbers. o wo But variety is good, too.)

Leveling up Atsadi is, in some ways, easy. In others not so much.

For example, based on our play so far it's obvious he needs a point in Perform (oratory). He loves to tell stories, he loves to talk to others. I feel he definitely has an aspect to performance.

I envisage Atsadi very much as a Maui type character.

As an aside, I'm super excited for the martial Spheres of Combat to come out. The playtest looks amaaaaaazing. I love the idea of Athletics sphere.

Anyway, breakdown summary for level up:
Basic Attributes:
+1 Will and Fort
+1 BAB
+1d10+2 HP (are we taking average, or have to roll? Do we roll then take average if it's less than average? Not sure what you prefer, Rednal.)
+1 Caster level
+1 Initiator level
+1 pp/day

New Skills
4 to spend
+1 Perform (oratory)
+1 Intimidate
+1 Autohypnosis
+1 Bluff

New maneuvers
+1 Maneuver Known: Spilled Salt Intent: Add some debuffss.
+1 Maneuver Readied
+1 Stance - Aura of Misfortune Possibly, anyway. Would a debuff to saves be useful for Jeggare? How many, if any, save-making abilities do you plan to have him pick up? Cursed Razor has a few and could benefit in the long run from it as well but I want a stance that helps your spell focus. Alternatively, if you think you'll use buff spells or abilities then Distorted Clock may be better (extends effect of beneficial spells).

New Talents
+1 Magic Talent: Fast Divinations (reduce from 10 minutes to 1 minute)

New Abilities:
+ Burning Contemplation - use Charisma instead of Wisdom with psionic feats.
+Conviction - Personality Fragment (Ex) - Gain the Psicrystal Affinity feat and use your Initiator level as the Manifestor level.

+Martyrdom - 1/round can redirect 5 hp of damage to himself as a free action when an ally in his collective is struck. he can spend 1 pp to reduce 3 damage. Maximum of 2 pp for 6 damage resisted.

+Blessing - Spend a channel energy to grant an ally +1 luck bonus on all saves for 24 hours.
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Are we using Favored Class stuff? I don't think I picked one for level one (nothing on the character sheet). Should I have done so? And picked one for level 2?

Favored Class Bonuses are a normal part of the game - of course you should have one. XD

As for HP, Max/level. There's only two of you, so it's harder to spread the damage a party is expected to take around - having max health brings the group a lot closer to what the game expects.

In that case, he'll have +2 pp/day as his human favored class benefit from zealot. Let's him absorb some extra damage via Conviction.

Atsadi will also explain and add Jeggare to his collective during the extended ship stay.

Basic Attributes:
+1 Ref and Will
+1 BAB
+1d10+2 HP (Favored Class HP from Wizard)
+1 Caster level

New Abilities:
Aristocratic Discipline (+1 Will save) [Swashbuckler]
2 new level 1 spells [Wizard]
-Air Bubble
-Touch of the Sea

New Skills
10 to spend
+1 Perform (dance)
+1 Profession (sailor)
+1 Knowledge (arcana)
+1 Knowledge (geography)
+1 Knowledge (planes)
+1 Diplomacy
+1 Spellcraft
+1 Stealth
+1 Perception
+1 Sleight of Hand

- - - - -

Atsadi, don't forget about Background Skills. Is the Spheres of Combat playtest available? I haven't seen it yet, but I'd love to take a look!

As for buff/debuff spells, Ambrose doesn't have many of those. He mostly focuses on battlefield control spells from Conjuration and utility spells to make life easier.

The Spheres of Combat playtest is not available, in no small part because it's changing so regularly. As a general rule, I don't allow playtest material - best to wait until it's finalized. It will, however, be permitted once the full version is out. And your update looks good. ^^/

Sorry, I didn't mean available as in 'available for use in this game', I meant, 'available for the viewing public to peruse'. I doubt I'd actually convert Ambrose even when it does come out, but it's good to hear the option will be there.

Ooooooh. XD As a matter of fact, it is. There's a link in the Kickstarter thread here on Paizo, and the current playtest is a public one so they can get as much feedback as possible. By all means, take a look!

I didn't realize you could spend a spell point to use Divination as a standard action. Instead of Fast Divinations, could I pick up Tremorsense(sight) instead?

Yes.

Sorry, trying to get something akin to your post up. It's been a long weekend, but I hope to have something up today.

I understand those! I look forward to it. Delays are expected in a PbP. But to keep everyone interested/moving I figure a push here and there isn't a bad thing!

GM, you are correct; I'm terrible about updating my profile. It's especially tricky with a game like this as days go by so quickly. To make sure this doesn't happen in the future, I'll post posted spells for the day at the end of the day. I should put together a default list that will be assumed in the event that I don't post preparation in advance.

I do truly despise Vancian casting, but the Spheres system just doesn't work the way I want it to for summoning :/

GM, if we're nixing the illusion, Ambrose doesn't act until they're in boarding distance.

Given that you were chasing the ship overnight, I'm happy to let you configure a new list now and say that's what you had prepared. o wo/ You certainly had the time to do that.

I thought Sphere summoning was pretty good? I haven't fiddled with the system really until this game, but doesn't it let you have more customization?

Spheres is good for summoning up one strong companion or multiple weaker ones (although it CAN get out of hand if someone's allowed too many...). It's not so good for summoning up a variety of creatures, like the Summon Monster spells, although creative use of the Alteration Sphere could help.

Work switched me to an overnight schedule temporarily and it's playing havoc with my posting schedule. This week should be better as I adjust, but I figured I should give a heads-up (because I'm terrible about that).