GM Rednal's War of the Burning Sky (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

True enough. When I came here, Ridley's post was already up and made no mention of it. As such, I ASSUMED.
Of course, checking myself is the better idea - but basically it was less of a question and more of a "update", not that it really matters since these parts of ABP are without choice anyway, and apply to all of us at those levels.
Also, I most definitely checked on creation, but for whatever reason forgot to make an ABP - Progression - Part in my profile.

Oh, right. I tend to only post character update bits that are choices or unusual, not save/hp increases etc that everyone gets.

Umbriak, I think there's something fundamentally odd about a dwarf who wants to become a giant...

...and where I come from, we call those guys "Duergar."

Update: So I was wrong about Arcane Enlightenment. It only adds spells to my class spell list, not list of spells known.

Thus, replacing Fairness with Color Spray, and not learning any other new spells this level.

Are Undead unusually common in this world (or at least with inquisitors of Ragesia)? If so, Command Undead is a pretty decent spell for Ridley to pick up, hmm.

Uh... well, I can tell you that they will be encountered within this campaign. XD This is more of a drag-and-drop setting, though, so... I'unno, assume Golarion Standard?

Fair enough. Maybe not worth using a limited spell slot on I guess.

Hum...I dunno, they seem pretty damn convenient for menial tasks and chores. If you want, I can make plenty of undead for you to exert control over later on...I mean when I have some ACTUAL ability with magic.*smug smile*

So there's this problem where I'm kind of an unwilling cleric of the deity who hates undeads more than any other deities in the golarion pantheon...

I'd say to worship me instead, but you're one of two alignments I don't accept followers from. v.v

My worship of you was short and joyful!
When the stars are right, eventually, I may rise again! I do tend to recycle dead characters I looked forward to playing...this one only makes sense in a Rednal-Game, though...

"Get in line, Eli! I made you! If anybody gets a turn at this again any time soon, it's me!"

@Ridley: Aye, profession has only incidental uses and that's fine. The question is IF the skill has a mechanical use, or if it's supposed to simply be fluff. As mentioned, I assumed the profession to be narrow "catch-all's" in their niche categorys, thats also how I always handled it. Especially to make them slightly more useful than "specific knowledge".
But here, it's a "forced" skill(Skills: +2 points per level. One of these points must be put into a Profession skill, the other into Craft, Perform, or Artistry. This is intended to represent who your character is outside of adventuring.), so it could be that it is assumed to be a pure flavor thing. Incidentally, I tried to check what you guys went with and was unable to find your profession(unless Perform is equal to Profession, in which case I'll glady swap over, too), and Umbriak seems to have Profession(Cook) rather than Craft(Food) - but then he leveled Handle Animal and I cannot see that either. Color me confused.

Sure... it's a GM call. IIRC perform was equal to profession in this campaign, but only for non-bards. I might have messed up, though; I could move Perform (acting) into something Professional if that's the case.

Typically, I've seen it as "Craft (cook)" and "Profession (chef)" with the former being the ability to make good food, and the latter being the ability to follow elaborate recipes/fit in in a kitchen or oversee cooking staff (such that Profession (chef) wouldn't help you cooking food in the wilderness, but it would be much more useful than the Craft skill at allowing you to, say, cook a feast for a king).

As bonus skills, the mandatory Profession and Performance, Craft, or Artistry skills are mainly flavor designed to help you expand on your character's personalities. (It could be a serious career goal, a casual hobby, whatever else you want it to be.)

Of course, if an opportunity comes up to make them mechanically relevant, that's just fine. XD

Sorry Farod, just giving you a bit of a hard time. Profession (hunter) is just unusual enough that it's hard to figure out where it differs from Survival (but as long as there's boundaries...)

From the core rulebook: The most common Profession skills are architect, baker, barrister, brewer, butcher, clerk, cook, courtesan, driver, engineer, farmer, fisherman, gambler, gardener, herbalist, innkeeper, librarian, merchant, midwife, miller, miner, porter, sailor, scribe, shepherd, stable master, soldier, tanner, trapper, and woodcutter.

* * *

Speaking of, Ridley, I accidentally took Perform (acting) instead of a Profession. Should I switch it out? (I'm realizing trapper, gambler, and scribe all make plenty of sense for Ridley)

Yep, I know the core rulebook ones. I figured if stuff like trapper or fisherman is in, hunter should be possible, too, as a job.
*shrug* I figure any number of professions could apply that got him outside.

Also, just to keep going: I just find it funny that the guy from the desert with Survival 10 is WAY better at catching fish seeing an Ocean the first time in his life, than the guy with Profession(Fisherman) 20 that unfortunately didn't invest in survival :)
For the specific instances, it seems like a useless double-tax, something Pathfinder tried to do away with(Search/Spot/Listen, Hide/Move Silently, Use Rope...).

Yeah, but part of that is because it's really easy to abuse otherwise (have you ever seen a low-level breadth of experience-mancer?)

Not really abusable, imho, without further investment.
I mean compared to what it's already able to do.

I think jobs are still a niche application, but if they are entirely pointless with no application possibility whatsoever(for player characters, of course), there's no reason to include them as something you can add skill ranks into, at all. Just slap a "former profession" on each character that works like a trait with situational boni(fisherman + survival for catching fish, miner stonecunning in mines, scribe +linguistics for one category of writings...)
The point they are actual skills, to invest into, implies to me that they ARE supposed to have some use, not be superceded by other skills even in their respective areas(midwife?=>heal. Scribe?=>Linguistics Architect?=>Knowledge(Engineering)...)

Trying to discredit a whole category of skills because people can try and break a system with some shenanigans is the wrong way to handle that, imho.
There's way too much breakage possible to try and cover it all, and if the players get out of hand, it's the GM's right to put a stop to it.

Actually, I feel like some recent adventures have been better about making Profession a worthwhile choice. *Rubs chin* In Wrath of the Righteous, for example, Profession (Soldier) did good things for your ability to lead armies. On the 3PP side of things, the Northlands Saga made Profession (Sailor) a very helpful thing for the Viking-like PCs. There's usually only one or two in a campaign that really stick out, but it's something.

Don't think too hard about it, though. XD Outside of campaign and roleplaying uses, Profession is meant to be a money-making skill. That's it. In THIS game, I just wanted your characters to have a bit more depth than being murderhobos - and having some kind of hobby or cover profession helps with that. XD

All good. I just didn't want to suck at my hobby of hunting because I don't level survival and they overlap.
I'm all fine with Hunting ONLY able to provide meat/animal products, and not helping in any other form, and only have a flavor-aspect.
I don't expect to use it to use track or anything like that.
But fine, I'll stop thinking about it ^_^
I just thought if there's a problem, I'd best identify it early.

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm all fine with Hunting ONLY able to provide meat/animal products ... and only have a flavor-aspect.

Literally!

Is the effect of these potions Endure Elements? If so, Umbriak's already got that one covered, and we can feed the remainder to a horse. Or have them as back ups. Whichever.

Surprisingly, no. They're potions of Stand the Heat, a new spell for this campaign designed mainly to let you endure the temperature of the forest - which is much hotter than Endure Elements is capable of resisting.

The touched creature and all equipment it carries suffer no harm from being in even extreme heat. It can exist comfortably in temperatures as high as 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This protection is sufficient to endure the oven-like heat of a forest fire, though neither the creature nor its equipment is protected against fire damage.

If the affected creature catches fire, it can put itself out automatically by spending a move action.

Aye, 260° Celsius...that would make breathing difficult. I figure low-level fire resistance will not help even a bit there, considering I would possibly not burn to a crisp, but still die from Asphyxiation.

In that case, we can possible use the potions for player 4 to get a pack animal across?
And bind the other horses together and send them off...if we are pursued, they may follow their tracks for a while. Just need to scare them into running straight, possibly with something making noise behind them.

You could probably get one animal across, yeah - but not all of them.

Actually, I think it's be best if the old man gets the horse so he doesn't keel over after an hour of walking. I share Umbriaks lack of confidence in his ability to make it.

He's old and racist, but his daughter seems cool and I'd hate for her to stop because he drops dead.

Is the swarm stunned on land (in melee reach), or still over the gorge?

You Spray'd it while it was still hovering over the bridge, albeit much closer than it was before.

Crew, any good ideas for dealing with the swarm?
Stuff I have is single-target or weapons.
I gladly act as if I don't know, but neither should be effective.
Problem is, wasting more turns doing nothing effective just means they'll be up and coming at us again...so I'm open for ideas.
And yeah, the swarmbane clasp was mentioned for a reason...fully planned to pick one up soon with Farod so I could skip area blasting for now.

I'm just gonna note right now that it does take weapon damage, albeit reduced. It's not a "totally immune to weapon damage" swarm. I think it might have been in the original, but I felt that was inappropriate to throw at a low-level party that has fairly limited blasting options.

Yay, these bats are Tiny instead of Diminutive.

Okay. Rapier drawn, attack readied, though swarm immunity to precision means it's not super great.

Does GM silence mean we get an extra turn? I might even hit them this time.

No, it means I forgot I was waiting on more than one of you. XD Y'all should poke me when that happens, ideally right after you post.

*pokes Rednal*

"Like this?"

Curious about the campaign title here >.>

Yeah, makes one wonder.
Does this game have continues if we mess up plot-related decisions? Like, say, releasing a super-powerful entity that proceeds to flood the continent with fire just because we wanted to see what would happen? :)

The game has a number of alternative outcomes for different situations, yes. XD

*Rubs hands*

Good.

*Smirks*

*pokes Rednal here, too*
Just because you did update Legendary Planet yesterday: Only Umbriak won initiative, so...let them burning corpses do their thing...

Oh sure, poke the GM and get me paralysed! Boo!

Hey, I tried my best to help you out, there.
Damage still abysmal, here, as said, will be taking a couple levels before it picks up. May still be enough to get rid of it.

"If you think my human has opinions regarding fiery undead, you should try sending an incorporeal swarm-undead against them...", Yin nods vigorously, "In about...7-8 levels sound fine to you? Also tell Yiddie I said hi."

Could be worse. Could be an incorporeal undead golem swarm that's on fire.

It can always be worse. Make it Devilbound for some regeneration as well and you're set.
Heck, if it's just about annoying things, simple add the Eternal Template as well.

Point is, that Incorporeal Hivemind Swarm did come up. Unlike those theoretical examples. And while that never murdered any characters, it did leave Yin impressed.

But yeah, flaming undead are being felt more strongly about.

I think this is the part where someone's supposed to say "Stop giving the GM ideas".

All-game post:
Today the veterinarian told me, unexpectedly, that I will have to euthanize my companion of almost 13 years, my housecat Nikita.
She would not survive the weekend, and I will go to the doctor tomorrow to prevent her from suffering.
I am feeling both like crying all night and hitting walls with bare fists.
I will take a while off.
I have no idea. I may need a couple days to come to term with this loss, or I may be back soon hoping to put my mind somewhere else.

Please bot as needed. Apologies.

*Nods*

Understood.

So... because Farod is traveling, the whole party has posted.