Just to remind you... you are all allowed to make untrained knowledge checks with a DC of 10 or lower.
@Blaze: Unless I specifically say that only one of you are allowed to make a check, you can assume that these rolls are allowed to everyone.
Maybe I just have not found my phobia yet.
LOL! That's sweet of you to say, but it's not actually "normal" to have a full blown phobia. Even ours probably don't qualify. I describe mine as "borderline" because I have a physiological response that I can't control but I can still MAKE myself be still for blood draws, ride roller-coasters that go high, etc.
My thing with heights is pretty bad too, I suffered vertigo on the third or fourth floor of the capitol building in Washington DC when I approached the rail to try and look down at the seal. As soon as I was within 5 feet of the rail and could see down, it felt like the floor tilted and gravity shifted like I was going to fall from where I stood and plummet down to the ground floor. Tried to find an image to demonstrate what it looks like, but only came up with one of the Texas capitol building which is built very similar. I have also been to that one since I'm a Texan.
@Astrid, my sympathies on the upcoming dental visit! I am also in the poor boat and am currently only chewing on one side of my mouth because I have an old filling that I'm pretty sure is loose or cracked or something.
I can say the public speaking/appearing before crowds thing isn't on my list. I love acting and have performed on stage before both hundreds of people and a small blackbox theater where the spectators could literally reach out and touch me and surrounded the stage on all sides. Speeches are not a problem either.
@Frosty, Ok, good to know. I just wasn't sure given it was just below a part that seemed to call out Evelina.
As a side note completely unrelated to the phobias, one of the 'good things' about living in Brazil is that dental care is really, like REALLY, cheap here, normally only inaccessible for those deep below in the poverty borderline.
This is supposed to be surprise round action only (if you got one), right?
Yes it is. You are always free to post ahead of time but always has the risk of making your future action 'invalid'. If it becomes invalid, I'll generally change it a bit to make it work.
@Evelina: Yes, you regain a panache point!
Girls, a little question: I always find it difficult to know when you (the players in general, no you YOU) are ready to move forward or when you want some nice RP among you. To make it easier, I was thinking about you posting here in the discussion thread when you are ready to move on... Simply a "moving on" will suffice.
I'm proposing this because without the RP, many APs are just a series of 'combat rooms' and since as a pbp GM I always feel the necessity to push the game forward I always fear that by doing so I'm railroading you, which is not my intention.
I'll get caught up later - busy night last night, time for the dentist now.
Good luck!
You sound like Morticia Adams going to a baby shower, lol. But seriously, you'll come out in much better health. Dental care is like buying new tires. No one enjoys it, but it's a necessary thing.
Frosty, I'll try to remember to post an OOC "ready to move on" in my gameplay posts. Hopefully that will result in less clutter in the discussion thread?
In general, I'll want a little RP time during periods where it really makes sense. People usually socialize a little over dinner and around a campfire, not so much while they are trudging through the snow.
I'll get caught up later - busy night last night, time for the dentist now.
Hope it's as quick and painless as possible!
Perhaps I am a bad judge, considering that the last Reign of Winter PbP game I played in ran for 9 months and we somehow still didn't make it as far as we already have in this game, but I have no issue with the faster pace. In my experience, stagnation is the bane of most PbP games, so its better to move things forward and risk creating a little chaos with multiple timelines, then to let things drag out too much.
I also agree with Blaze, that it will probably be more natural to RP when we set up camp.
Well said Evelina. I concur. Trudging through deep snow in enemy territory is not conversation inducing. :)
@Freyja: Regarding time of the day, you are walking in a 1 mile/hour speed thanks to a couple medium loads and the difficult terrain of the snow. You have walked about 5-6 miles since you entered the woods so you still have 1-2 hours before it gets dark.
OK. Thanks!
"moving on"
She also thinks of her childhood friend Talia, a true witch...
The cartomancer witch I've built for my future Hell's Rebels game is named Talia! :D
Just to remind you, Astrid managed to find the loot under the trapped chest but you never discussed what to do with it. I'll post it once more to make things easier:
- 5 sets of leather armor
- 3 sets of studded leather armor
- a masterwork chain shirt
- 2 light wooden shields
- 7 longswords
- 2 spears
- a masterwork dagger
- 3 light crossbows with a total of 25 bolts.
From the sprite and the atomie you were able to retrieve a short sword, a shortbow with 19 arrows, and a rapier... unfortunately they are all diminutive size! The sprite should always give you 14gp but I laughed at the though of a diminutive fey carrying fourteen coins (the size of their heads) in a pouch, so I'll find a place to include them in the future in a more plausible way.
To make sure we are all settled for the camping night:
You'll camp about 30 feet from the trail and with a fire to warm you up. The tent will be settled up so four of you will sleep inside while the last one will take the watch. At the current temperature, the pony will be just fine if kept near the fire and somehow away from the wind (the trees already helps). You'll look for wood and then establish four watches: 1-Arvanya&Auryel;2-Blaze&Evelina;3-Freyja;4-Astrid (I'm guessing the first two watches but what I proposed puts good detection in each one of them).
Hmm. The masterwork armor is a slight upgrade for Freyja as it lowers the armor check by 1. Might be better for someone else though. It weighs the same as her current lamellar leather at 25 lbs. So it does not help people with weight issues unless they are in medium armor and want to downsize to light.
I can't think of anything else to do with the gear, except Freyja lacks a ranged weapon (except her spear) and will carry one of the crossbows.
camping sounds good except I'd prefer to be closer to 100 feet from the road. And maybe try to obscure the tracks from the road to where we are camping once we get settled in, if that's possible.
That watch schedule looks good to me, although we could just have 3 watches of 4 hours each since we only need 8 to sleep. Neither Blaze nor Evelina will need a solid 8 hours for spell casting reasons, so we are fine in the middle.
For the gear, we should have only taken the stuff we want to claim and then hide it someplace else so we can retrieve it for sale on the way back so we aren't overburdened by it. The only things that Blaze can really use are the mwk dagger and the mwk chain shirt, but as they are the two most valuable items, I'm happy to let someone else have them. Chain shirt should probably go to a melee focused character.
Blaze will take a light crossbow just for some extra range if we ever need it.
That is funny about the sprites carrying coin! Maybe they shrink it down?
I'll grab one of the studded leathers for pajamas - I just realized that this is the first character I've ever actually started in medium armor. (Probably taking Endurance third level just to add to the ranger-y-ness if I can spare it...) Other than that, none of it's terribly useful, and like Blaze said, we can always retrieve it on the way back in (although we do have a pony that can carry, too).
Would the little fey weapons work for fine tools for Blaze's art? Or maybe an interesting piercing tool or jewelry?
Studded leather pajamas... kinky! XD We'll be twinsies.
According to our loot sheet, Shiny is already over a heavy load... =/
Blaze can take some stuff back and carry it in her sack and drop it when we begin combat.
Given that almost anything I take will push me to medium encumbrance, the only thing that I would even consider taking is the masterwork chainshirt, since +1 AC is always good for a frontliner. However, if Freyja wants it, I'm not going to fight for it, since it would net me quite a lot of penalties.
Definitely missing the 13 strength I had on the original 20 point buy version of the character. I must confess, I forgot all about carry capacity and mostly just figured I was giving up Power Attack as an option. In retrospect, I probably should have just reduced cha to 14 or 15 instead and avoided the headache. Ah, hindsight being 20/20 :p.
---
As for watch order, I have no problem with that. I was probably going to have Evelina awkwardly approach Blaze while at camp anyway. Having that conversation while they are both on watch and everyone else is asleep might be even better.
And yeah, poor Shiny is getting rather overloaded. We might need to start leaving some of the less valuable or heavier loot items behind.
That chain shirt weighs 7 lbs more than the hide shirt you are wearing. But if you can handle the extra weight take it. Its not a point of AC to me. Its only a reduction in Armor Check penalty.
I won't claim anything from this batch. Evelina could certainly benefit from increased AC if she can spare the weight.
@Blaze: I believe that the bow and arrows are not useful as a tool but the rapier might be!
Remember to let me know when you finish the RP and want me to move on (this is not me pushing you for I'm loving the great RP)!
I won't claim anything from this batch. Evelina could certainly benefit from increased AC if she can spare the weight.
That is the question, isn't it ;)
I am genuinely struggling to decide which I would want more, the +1 AC or the better armor check penalty and movement speed...So, I was just going to let Freyja take it because, well, to quote Sondheim, "Then from out of the blue, And without any guide, You know what your decision is, Which is not to decide". But then you guys had to go an call my bluff!
Girls, as an unrelated topic, it looks like I'll need a replacement for my Hell's Vengeance game... would any of you be interested? One of the players has a couple exams and most likely won't be able to keep playing.
We are still on the beginning, perhaps 25%-33% of the first book and soon to hit level 2.
The vacant 'spot' is of a cleric but you'd not necessarily need to pick the same class. The other players are an unchained rogue (female aasimar), an investigator (male human), a fighter (male human), and a witch (male human). All of them are LE. As you might see, the group is lacking both a front liner and a divine caster.
Cleric of Asmodeus? Sounds fun to me. Sign me up.
Oh, good, Freyja's volunteered - I don't have to feel guilty about turning it down. :) Between personal up-and-down-ness going on and a GM gig that's hit six or eight months earlier than I expected with my IRL group, I may have to end up cutting my PbP games back, not pick up more. :P
Glad to hear you are interested Freyja! As soon as I'm 100% sure about the spot I'll let you know.
@Evelina: Moving on in this case only means that you finished the 'dinner RP' and can go towards the sleeping/watching scene. If nothing of worth happens during the night (like no attacks and stuff), I'll describe the night and prepare the 'morning' scene.
Good to know. I'd probably be ready to move with Evelina then, bit I'd also be more than happy to watch how things play out with the others.
Regarding the other game, I'll probably be good and pass on trying to apply. I'm constantly fighting the urge to apply for new games or even run my own game on the forums. However, right now I think I am at a good number where I can be active, write reasonably long posts and still have fun doing so. With a full time job and GMing two in person games a week, I worry I'll over extend myself if I have too many online games going. So, I've told myself that I am only allowed to join a new game if:
-One of the games I am running finishes and I don't start a new one.
-The project I'm in at work finishes and I have a lot of downtime.
-One of my current online games dies out.
GM Frosty, are you familiar with the Fiendish Vessel archetype? It sounds very thematic for this setting. Its a Tiefling only archetype.
And a question about the group, just because I am curious: Is the fighter not a front liner?
@Freyja: Yes, I'm pretty familiar and actually the player leaving the game was a tiefling with this archetype lol! No problem at all with you picking the same class/archetype/race though. The fighter is a front liner, a pretty good tank, but the others (rogue, witch, investigator) are kind of squish so I'd prefer to double down on the front line with another PC than add to the squishness... the thing is that if the fighter falls, it would be a bloodbath in some cases.
Gotcha. I envision this cleric being pretty tanky but with a longspear for reach. And a mace of course since that is the deity's favored weapon. With shield equipped and wearing a breastplate I imagine an unbuffed AC of 19 or 20.
I could simply take over the current cleric if you wish. Or I could do a slight rebuild to make him more mine but keep the same name. I have done that before and I think it helps with consistency.
Regarding the loot so far, I think only Freyja claimed a light crossbow and I'm not sure if Evelina will take the mw chainshirt... also, what will you going to do with the rest of the loot? It weights over 220 lbs and Shiny is already on the edge of his carrying capability.
If Evelina does not claim the mw chain shirt Freyja will. And that will free up her lamellar leather armor (+4AC, Max +3 Dex AC penalty of 2, 25 lbs0. So if this is available Astrid might want it instead of the studded leather.
Astrid claimed a set of studded leather armor and Blaze a light crossbow too. And a recommendation was made to bury what we do not carry somewhere where we might claim it later.
Someone took the mw dagger I think. If not maybe Blaze should?
As we eat food and burn firewood Shiny's load should slowly get lighter.
Thanks for the invite re Hell's Vengeance, but I will hold out to apply for your Strange Aeons game ;).
As to loot, burying/hiding it somewhere to return for later sounds good to me.
Re firewood, am I right in reading that 20lb of firewood lasts a single day? If so, we will need to gather more tomorrow, replacing the load on Shiny. Poor Shiny.
We can always gather wood when we're building the fire, though, to save poor Shiny.
And lamellar leather might not be bad - Astrid's in hide, which has the same AC bonus and is medium, thus slowing her down. It's one less ACP and more speed, although hide seems more in-character.
I fine with Freyja taking the chain shirt. Sounds like it would allow two people to upgrade...and while the AC would be an upgrade, I would also be taking quite a few hits for medium encumbrance. Plus my armor is not good to anyone as a hand-me-down.
Also, I would agree that we should focus on taking the necessities and the more valuable items (jewelry box and masterwork items) , then bury what we can't carry.
OK, I am updating Freyja with the masterwork chain shirt. Astrid, you have the lamellar leather for your pjs. maybe you will sleep better without those studs. :)
The cartomancer witch I've built for my future Hell's Rebels game is named Talia! :D
Could it be we are the same person???
Could it be we are the same person???
The cartomancer witch I've built for my future Hell's Rebels game is named Talia! :D
:O
Turns out my Talia's staying as theoretical as yours, though - she was going to be a GMPC if no one in my group wanted to play arcane, which the original members rarely do. But I got a last-minute newbie who was ok with playing a wizard and I really didn't want the extra moving piece on my brain if I didn't have to, so yay being rescued!
@Freyja: I'll need a roll from you, either diplomacy or intimidate. Since the faery is clearly hostile, diplomacy will be a pretty difficult check. Also, if you choose the diplomacy route, you might make two rolls, one to influence atitude and the other to make a request.
You have honored your bargain Sprite and now we shall honor ours. Know that now all humans are your enemies. Remember your promise to us.
I am guessing you meant not all humans are your enemies? ;)
Yea. Sorry. Computer was down this morning and I was doing my best to post from my phone.
First, Something has happened and this game is no longer showing up in my active games. Help? Maybe by posting in the game threat it will fix itself. Update - It did not. :(
Second, I'll be attending Gen Con this year and will be mostly unavailable from this Wednesday morning through Sunday evening. Please bot me if needed.
I can't stress enough how much I HATE this glitch with the campaign tab...
What happened is that for some reason the campaign edit page failed to properly load but due to the size of PC screen, there is no way for me to notice it besides scrolling down to check it (which I usually forget to) and when I update it, it erases everything that had failed to upload... you might see that my gazetteer is now missing much if its content, and it also unchecks all the boxes.
Hey. Just to make sure I understand, is the Frozen stream the path ahead or just off to the side of the trail? It effects what Evelina would do/suggest next. If its not in the way, she isn't going to bother pursuing the elemental, but if its in the way she wouldn't see a reason not to just keep walking across it.
Movement on an ice sheet is considered difficult terrain (requiring 2 squares of movement for each 5ft) and increases the DC of any acrobatics check you make by 5. You also need a DC 10 Acrobatic check to charge or run.
The cleats reduce the additional movement cost by 50%. This way, each square will cost you only 1.5 movement instead of 2 even if it is still difficult terrain.
I thought your map was quite good, by the way. But I might know a tip to help this issue in the future. Paizo maps included in the PDFs always have stuff like traps and locations of enemies on them, but there is sometimes a way to get around that. I use the standard, free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Using this program, I have found there are often two ways to extract an image from a PDF.
1) Use the "Take a Snapshot" function under the Edit tab. You draw a window over what you want to appear in the image and it automatically copies whatever you draw it over. Including any text typed over the image.
2) Using the cursor tool (arrow), left click on the image and it will highlight it. Then you right click and select "copy image" and it will copy ONLY the base image without the text overlay.
I made a quick slideshow to show the difference here using the most recent map I used in my PFS game. The click and copy method does not work on every PDF, but it does on most of them. Depending on what you use, the method might vary. I hope that helps!
That's useful information, Blaze. Thank you for sharing!
I'm leaving for the beach tomorrow and will be gone all of next week (yay!). I should have internet access and plan to keep up with posting, but if I'm missing in action, you'll understand why. Please bot me if necessary.