They are after sleeping AND Freyja's healing. Blaze is full but Auryel was pretty bad wounded.
"Hey Vanya! I have an answer to your question! So, knockin' the head off a skeleton does seem to finish it right off...but um...then they explode...so uh, watch out for that. Truth is stranger than fiction, ain't it?"
Sorry Evelina. I forgot to reply to that during the combat! Let's say that Arvanya simply chuckled. Maybe it can become a running joke going forward.
"Hey Vanya! I have an answer to your question! So, knockin' the head off a skeleton does seem to finish it right off...but um...then they explode...so uh, watch out for that. Truth is stranger than fiction, ain't it?"Sorry Evelina. I forgot to reply to that during the combat! Let's say that Arvanya simply chuckled. Maybe it can become a running joke going forward.
Yeah, that's fine. I figured it just got lost in the mix. Though, let in never be said Evelina doesn't keep her promises... ;)
Crap! The Sense Motive check is DC 18!
@Blaze: You get no xp for the yeti. Even if he was intimidated, he was still a powerful creature and simply decided that it was not worthy to attack such a large number of humans once he was discovered and had lost the element of surprise. He was also a random encounter so you'll not lag on the xp track for the AP, so no worries.
Regarding the Cloak of the Yeti:
I certainly wouldn't complain if it came my way, considering all of its bonuses are good for me (Endure Elements vs. Cold, +1 AC, +2 Intimidate) . Plus, I think it would technically unlock my Extremely Fashionable trait, since its an item of clothing worth more than that 150gp. That being said, I would totally understand if you guys wanted to sell it. It's a high ticket item and would work out to like 400gp/per person.
Not sure what to add after Freyja's and Evelina's excellent summary! Are we missing details?
I think we need to update the loot list to be able to sell items and see what amount of gold we have. Freja would like to hold onto the masterwork short sword for now unless there is enough gold value for her to buy a masterwork longsword with her share.
Also on her wish list is a masterwork heavy shield and cold iron crossbow bolts.
Well, we now know that Heldren is a "pass the buck" sort of village. I think that will probably alter how we handle prisoners from now on. There may already be agents of Baba Yaga in Demgazi waiting to release them as soon as they arrive. That would suck!
Do we have a means to make sure the items we keep balance out with those we sell? I think Frosty said that he would make changes to our current loot sheet but it looks like some things have been overlooked. I have a friend on these boards who is actually an accountant IRL. I could ask for help in building a player loot spreadsheet to average out our "take". Anyone have thoughts on how they'd like to see that work?
I could keep a running tally on my character sheet of claimed items in [ooc]blue to make it easier to tell what has been recently added, if that would help?
Also, I think we kinda skipped over it, but I think we intended to pick up the cache of armor and weapons we found at that first big trap, with the swinging log and the chest. Can we retcon that?
Hmm...I think I had a loot table I made for Excel using pivot tables, but I'm not sure if I still have it/it still works...
Well, we now know that Heldren is a "pass the buck" sort of village. I think that will probably alter how we handle prisoners from now on. There may already be agents of Baba Yaga in Demgazi waiting to release them as soon as they arrive. That would suck!
Do we have a means to make sure the items we keep balance out with those we sell? I think Frosty said that he would make changes to our current loot sheet but it looks like some things have been overlooked. I have a friend on these boards who is actually an accountant IRL. I could ask for help in building a player loot spreadsheet to average out our "take". Anyone have thoughts on how they'd like to see that work?
I could keep a running tally on my character sheet of claimed items in [ooc]blue to make it easier to tell what has been recently added, if that would help?
Also, I think we kinda skipped over it, but I think we intended to pick up the cache of armor and weapons we found at that first big trap, with the swinging log and the chest. Can we retcon that?
My thoughts on loot division is that we sell everything on the spreadsheet. If someone wants an item they can buy it from the party for the half price sell price. Plus we sorta extend credit if a person cannot afford said item at the moment - within reason. This encourages keeping items that we find which tends to increase party wealth. Thoughts?
I'm pretty neutral when it comes to loot - I tend to forget about it half the time. I'm keeping the stuff we got before we left, but I don't think there's anything in the unclaimed loot I need. (I did already mention that I think the cloak of the yeti should go to Evelina, yes?)
Same on loot. If something is attractive I'll ask for it. Like that composite longbow.
Fyi, Auryel's a dude ;).
My thoughts on loot division is that we sell everything on the spreadsheet. If someone wants an item they can buy it from the party for the half price sell price. Plus we sorta extend credit if a person cannot afford said item at the moment - within reason. This encourages keeping items that we find which tends to increase party wealth. Thoughts?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but seems like that would complicate things? At the moment Blaze claimed the masterwork studded leather, she didn't even have the cash to pay for half of it. And Evelina probably won't have the funds to pay for half of the yeti cloak even after we liquidate and distribute the gold. Does that mean we have to sell big ticket items like that to make things fair or can some things remain "party property" even though only one person can use it at a given time?
Like we need a wand of CLW, but would that have to be "owned" by the person carrying it or could it remain party property even though one person must carry/activate it?
Personally, I am also from the much more laid back school of loot distribution. Usually, the groups I play with just lets things go to the people who can use them, keeping a casual eye on wealth distribution to make sure certain people aren't getting way too much or way too little.
However, I do play with one PbP group who does things the way Freyja suggests. It's the campaign, where everyone is Lawful Evil, which make sense because it is a great system for parties/players that don't really trust one another.
Blaze, I believe what Freyja is suggesting is that people could still take items we can't afford. However, we would still owe the money to the party. So for instance, Evelina could take the Cloak of the Yeti, but she would be 2000gp in debt to the party.
Regarding pros/cons for that system:
Pros:
-It is arguably the best system for ensuring that everyone in the party has the same wealth distribution. Wealth disparities are pretty much inevitable with more casual systems.
-It minimizes bickering about who gets what, because someone has to be willing and able to cough up the money in order to get the item they want.
Cons:
-It is a lot of book-keeping. For any party that can usually figure out loot distribution without a whole lot of drama, it borders on needlessly complicated.
-It discourages people from actually keeping items, which overtime causes the party to end up with less wealth/power than if they hadn't sold those items. For example, there is no way I am keeping that cloak on a buy in system. I obviously can't afford it and being 2000gp in debt to the party at this point wouldn't make a lot of sense for my character from a mechanical or RP perspective, regardless of how good the item is.
(Sorry, Freyja. I realize I am directly contradicting the point you made above, but I have to disagree with buy in encouraging people to keep things).
Personally, I feel that a buy in system is overkill, since I haven't seen much indication that this group is going to struggle deciding things in a civil way. Our longest discussion about loot was the mwk chainshirt and it was only long because we kept going "No really, you can have it...". I would rather handle things like Blaze is suggesting. Party loot is essentially party property, even if one person is using. For instance if the cloak was ever sold, it would still have to be split amongst the party.
I realize that my opinion might come off as biased, since right now I have the most to gain from not using the buy-in system. For what the word of a random internet person is worth, I would be on the same side even if the cloak was going to someone else. It's just the way I personally prefer to do things.
With a spreadsheet its not complicated at all. More than half the games I play use it, including both face to face games. Its my recommendation as it helps to keep things balanced, but I'll go with anything that is reasonable.
The Loot sheet should be update now! Sorry for the delay. It seems that most of you prefer a more loose approach on loot, so lets do it.
Will update shortly!
I good with a looser approach. But I am not clear at all on what that approach is. Shall we hand out things to people that want/need then and also split gold value evenly?
Ok, I'll do my best to explain. We used this method in my Kingmaker campaign and it works especially well for the lower levels. I do use the buy-in system in a number of games as well, but I feel it can hinder the overall group until later levels when funds are less of an issue.
Basically, we treat our adventuring party like a company. Anything we find during our adventures is designated Party Property and is communally owned by us all. We can all weigh in about who should have it at a given time. I'll use the Yeti cloak as our example. Blaze and Freyja have little need for it, but others in our party can still benefit from it. Right now, we all agree that Evelina needs it most, but if something happens to Astrid or Arvanya (or even an NPC) like Con drain, the person with the most need may change and Evie will give up the cloak to that person since she is not it's sole owner. We did something similar with the swapping of light armors to give Astrid leather PJ's.
Everything we decide to sell off will be split among us evenly, this way Evelina isn't stuck with no cash to buy the smaller items she needs along the way just because the yeti cloak is more useful to us to keep than it is to sell. Other items that usually go into the category of Party Property are things like healing items, alchemical goodies, and AC boosting items that anyone can use like rings of protection. Anything that we buy that is meant to be Party Property, we all put in for equally. So to buy a wand of CLW between 5 people is 150 gp each.
Things will look a little uneven on the "wealth" section of the spreadsheet between each member, but it' misleading since we will still divvy the proceeds whenever a party property item is sold. It will prevent us from having to give up a useful item like the yeti cloak without severely limiting what Evelina can buy at a crucial time like this. It benefits us all for each member to be as well outfitted as they can be since we depend on each other for survival in combat.
Let me know if anything is still unclear!
@Blaze: Makes sense to me.
Regarding the loot list:
We might want to take a look and make sure there is nothing that was already claimed or that someone might want to claim.
@Freyja: I see a Masterwork Longsword on that list, I know you had mentioned wanting to buy one. Also, I see a Masterwork Shortsword, which I thought you had claimed.
@Everyone: I see a lot of scrolls and potions on the sell list. Did we want to keep some of those in the party cache. A lot of them are pretty useful. Also, do we want to keeps some of the odds and ends, like the silk rope, grappling hook and healer's kit?
Also, would anyone object to me holding on to the masterwork thieves' tools. I kind of forgot we found any and was probably going to buy them.
I agree Evelina,
I think the party should keep the following as party items:
Climber's Kit
Crowbar
Healer's kit
All the potions and scrolls but not that poison oil.
I do not recall gaining the MW longsword but yes, Freyja would very much like to turn in the MW short sword and claim the MW longsword. And someone should claim the silver dagger. Just too handy if you need a silver weapon.
I'll third those suggestions!
So I think this is our Keep List:
Arrows (40 or so? I notice Arvanya is smart enough to recoup her arrows ;^)
Bolts (20 is plenty since Blaze will rarely use the light crossbow)
Climber's Kit
Crowbar
elixir of hiding
grappling hook
healer's kit (5 uses)
Light Crossbow (1 for Blaze)
mw longsword (Freyja)
mw studded leather (Blaze)
mw thieves tools (Evelina)
potion of invisibility 1
potion of lesser restoration 1
potion of pass without trace 1
potion of spider climb 1
scroll of endure elements 1
scroll of magic weapon 2
scroll of unseen servant 1
silk rope 1
silver dagger 1 (who wants to carry this?)
tanglefoot bag 1
*Also, I would really like us to get that cold iron cage back or if that isn't possible, maybe buy/get some made. I find it doubtful the fey will be sent away for trial...
Sell List:
arrows 300
bolts 17
dagger 3
lamellar leather armor 1 (Was this Freyja's? If so proceeds go directly back to her)
leather armor 5
light crossbow 2
light wooden shield 2
longsword 7
mw dagger 1
mw hand crossbow 1 (Does anyone have proficiency for this?)
mw handaxe 1
mw short sword 1 (Anyone want to claim this one?)
oil of taggit 2
short sword 18
shortbow 17
spear 2
spellbook 1
spyglass 1
studded leather armor 3
gold ingot engraved with Taldan royal seal 1
silver lady's ring 1
shards of tiger's eye gemstone 3
leather riding boots of elven make 1
Blaze will also sell off her mundane studded leather armor, and the art piece she made with a craft check of 24.
If you want to make adjustments to these lists, just speak up!
Seems fine to me.
Only questions I would raise are:
1. Does Astrid/Anyone want to keep their leather PJs?
2. Do we want to keep the Potion of Pass Without Trace? Personally, I think its circumstantial enough that I would be fine just selling it.
Yea, I can agree. One Pass Without Trace is not gonna be much use for the 4 of us.
Going to be off-line some this weekend and into next week. Have a funeral to attend to and then some medical tests early Monday. Will post as time allows.
All right, folks...here's the deal. Medical issues started escalating again the last few days, sending me to the emergency room again last night. Migraines are starting to escalate again, work stuff is starting to escalate again, and depression/anxiety issues are starting to escalate again (perhaps unsurprisingly, given the laundry list above). The upshot of it all is that time at work to post is even more limited now, and I get home from work lucky to muster enough energy to make food and fall into bed.
I really, really hate to say it, and I've been agonizing over the decision, but I just don't have the resources to put into consistent posting right now. I'm scheduled to have surgery in a month that hopefully will get my medical issues under control; work situation is less certain, but should (hopefully) be resolved within the next couple of months as well. Until then, I'll leave it up to you, GM. if you're ok with my posting getting very spotty at times, I'd be glad to keep playing; if not, feel free to replace me with absolutely no hard feelings. It's not for dissatisfaction with the game that I'm putting this out there - I've truly had a great time.
Sorry to hear about it Astrid! I'll think about what to do before replying. Guys, I'm at the beach without access to my computer so I'll only be able to update on Monday!
:(
Sorry to hear you are going through tough times. Hope everything works out both with the game and more importantly, the real life issues.
So sorry to hear you are having health problems! I sincerely hope your surgery helps and that you are feeling much better soon. Real life always comes first, we do understand that.
I really enjoy Astrid's character, but she is pretty vital to our survival as she is both healer and front-liner. Just going along with her actions put into delay wouldn't be fair to us, and expecting the GM to bot her very much isn't fair to him. I hate to say it, but this is why you picked alternates, isn't it Frosty?
Maybe there could be a compromise? Astrid could maybe stay close to Heldren to help protect the townspeople and she could jump back in with the group at some later date when time and health are permitting?
I am up for anything that keeps Astrid in the game.
I've decided to keep Astrid in the game for at least a month or two so we can see if she can get better and rejoin us. Taking another player now with the possibility of Astrid re-joining us in the future is not a good option since when/if she does, it would bring us to six unless we 'kick' the player that takes her place in between and neither of the two options is a really good one.
Meanwhile, I'll be botting her in combat and I'd like to invite any of you to RP her reactions as you see fit... if not, she will remain as a 'shadow' during RP scenes. To do this, when you imagine a scene were she could participate, just write your PC's action and also her response.
After this 'couple months' are gone, if Astrid isn't able to return I'll look for another player.
Thanks. On an...interesting note, that ER visit on Thursday prompted a follow-up with my regular doctor today. She got surprised that I'd been put off that long with all the issues I'd been having, one thing led to another...and now the surgery that was supposed to be a month away is happening tomorrow. Little freaky and not at all how I expected my day to go, but it'll be nice to have it over and done with, and hopefully it'll mean being able to get back into the swing of things in a couple of weeks instead of a month and a half. :)
Oooh, I've had one of those days. Kinda makes your stomach do a flip! For what it's worth, I put off gall-bladder surgery much longer than I should have and my situation has been greatly improved since I got it done.
Wishing you a really excellent surgeon, fast healing, and only the best drugs until you feel better! ^_~
Ditto from me. Get better and get back to your game. :)
I think I speak for all those on the sidelines of the campaign in wishing you well! :D Hopefully the surgery goes well today!
Do we know yet what amount we are dividing between ourselves yet from sale of items with the adjustments to Loot? For the record, I'm fine with parting with the pass w/out trace as well. Although it could potentially be useful if we ever chose to send out a scout.
I think I might get a masterwork buckler and possibly a spiked gauntlet or cestus so Blaze can technically be armed and provide a flanking bonus at times. But I need to know for sure that neither of those will prevent her from counting as having "both hands free" for the purpose of using her abilities. The buckler straps to the arm and the spiked gauntlet doesn't prevent you wielding a weapon in that hand normally, but I thought I would double check.
How this 'barter' will work: instead of selling your stuff for half the price, you can barter them for the full price IF you exchange for an item in the same category (weapons and armor, potions, general gear, etc).
So if you want to get rid of a shortsword (10gp) you could sell it for 5gp or trade it for a battleaxe.
Cool. Quite nice. This is the time to gear up.
Looking at Freyja's gear here are sort term goals:
Claim the MW Longsword from the loot while giving back the MW shortsword. I think this has been oked.
Sell/trade her Crossbow and bolts and upgrade to a MW composite short bow up to Strength 16. If she does this she would like to pick up some Cold Iron arrows. Note that a MW composite shortbow that is +3 strength would cost 600 gp so that is likely out of bounds for now. Worst case is she will claim one of the short bows.
Sell/trade her heavy wooden shield for a masterwork version.
For barter purposes it looks like we have
Weapon Value: 2248.7 (assumes we well mw handaxe, shortsword, dagger, and hand crossbow. If we do not then this number decreases. So speak up if you need one of these mw items.)
Armor Value: 336
I think I might get a masterwork buckler and possibly a spiked gauntlet or cestus so Blaze can technically be armed and provide a flanking bonus at times. But I need to know for sure that neither of those will prevent her from counting as having "both hands free" for the purpose of using her abilities. The buckler straps to the arm and the spiked gauntlet doesn't prevent you wielding a weapon in that hand normally, but I thought I would double check.
Frosty, still need an answer on this...
RP post will come in a while. Since Auryel picked up light armor proficiency id like to outfit him in a suit of leather. I love the image of an armored wolf charging into our battles against the ice witches :).
I'll probably mostly hold back since I already got a big item and I need to start saving money for a mithral shirt. However, I would like to barter for a mw rapier if possible, since its my main weapon and stabbing things accurately is about all I'm good for ;).
I think I might get a masterwork buckler and possibly a spiked gauntlet or cestus so Blaze can technically be armed and provide a flanking bonus at times. But I need to know for sure that neither of those will prevent her from counting as having "both hands free" for the purpose of using her abilities. The buckler straps to the arm and the spiked gauntlet doesn't prevent you wielding a weapon in that hand normally, but I thought I would double check.Frosty, still need an answer on this...
Sorry Blaze! Yes, your hands are considered free for your abilities, both for the buckler, the spiked gauntlets, and the cestus.
The cestus actually became my standard by for all my PCs... simple weapon, wide crit range, always armed, B and P for damage type versatility, hands are free to do whatever you want... just too good to pass!
********************************
Ok, here is your shop list so far:
mw composite shortbow (+3) 600gp
cold iron arrows (20) 2gp
mw rapier 300gp
cestus 5gp
mw buckler 155gp
mw greatsword 300gp (for Astrid)
wolf leather armor 20gp
This still leaves you with 1142.7 to trade for weapons/armor/shields.
It would still be enough to 'upgrade' the following items (essentially bartering your gear for a mw version):
mw composite longbow (+2) 400gp (for Arvanya)
mw hide armor (2) 300gp (for Arvanya and Astrid)
mw hide shirt 150gp (for Evelina)
mw studded leather armor 150gp (for Blaze)
wolf lamellar leather armor 100gp (for Auryel)
This would still leave you with 42.7 gp for bartering or 21.35 to buy whatever you want. Aside from that, you still have 824.68 to spend in whatever you want (technically you have 324.68 but as soon as you finish breakfast the lady will give you her jewelry box that is worth 500gp).
RP post will come in a while. Since Auryel picked up light armor proficiency id like to outfit him in a suit of leather. I love the image of an armored wolf charging into our battles against the ice witches :).
If you are doing barding, might as well go Studded leather for one more point of AC. Cost difference is minimal.
And I like your recommended buy list GM Frosty. I recommend we upgrade the leather barding to studded leather barding for 30 more gold from the barter pool.
I for one really dislike Hide armor. It slows your movement and has a -3 AC penalty for +4 AC. Go with Scale Male if you can afford it, or even Chainmail. Or just stay with Light armor.
If she has funds from the gold split Freyja will upgrade her shield to a MW shield to lower the AC penalty.
If people want to spend the bartering pool to get better armor, I'm fine with having Evelina stay with the armor she has. Mw hide shirt isn't that big an upgrade and I would be getting rid of it as soon as I could afford the mithral shirt anyway. I would probably go for a better buckler before the upgraded hide shirt, but if the money can get our medium armor folks in stuff better than hide, I really don't need either. I did get the Yeti Cloak, let's not forget. As long as we have money left for at least a partial cure wand, I'll be happy.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Upgrading Auryel's armor to studded leather instead of lamellar leather would give you 70gp, which is enough to take two scale mails instead of the hide armors.
The new list is as follows and also here are the rolls so we can see which item is available or not (Heldren's base value is 500gp, so 75% of chance to have anything below that):
cestus 5gp (for Blaze)
cold iron arrows (20) 2gp (for Freyja)
2 mw buckler 305gp (for Blaze and Evelina)
mw composite longbow (+2) 400gp (for Arvanya)
mw composite shortbow (+3) 600gp (for Freyja)
mw composite shortbow (+2) 500gp (for Freyja)
mw greatsword 300gp (for Astrid)
mw heavy wooden shield 150gp (for Freyja)
mw rapier 300gp (for Evelina)
2 mw scale mail 370gp (for Arvanya and Astrid)
mw studded leather armor 150gp (for Blaze)
wolf studded leather armor 50gp (for Auryel)
Well, that was unfortunate! This still leaves you with 1109.7gp for bartering and 824.68 to spend elsewhere. The following "Expensive" items are also available:
+1 cold iron sling bullets (10) 860.2gp
wand of magic weapon (24 charges) 360gp
wand of scorching ray (42 charges) 3780gp
arrow magnet 600gp
ring of force shield 8,500gp
Uh oh... What are we saying? Heldren is too small to have the things we need? What can we do to get them then?
Also what about our wand of cure light wounds? That was our most wanted item... Can we not get it either?
Perhaps I was confused about the wolf armor. I was thinking the original goal was Leather amror, not Lamellar Leather. I was trying to spend more gold and get better armor for the wolf.
Uh oh... What are we saying? Heldren is too small to have the things we need? What can we do to get them then?
Also what about our wand of cure light wounds? That was our most wanted item... Can we not get it either?
Every settlement has a Base Value (500gp in case of Heldren). Any item below this value can be found with a 75% chance. Aside from the base value, each settlement also have a couple slots of items for those which cost more than its base value, which represents the itens I posted earlier.
There are a couple ways to circumvent this of course. In a week, you can search one more time, effectively re-rolling your chances of finding an item, and also get a new set of 'special items'. You can also order some items to those capable of creating them... for an example, you'd be able to order Isker Euphran (owner of the smithy) to make the itens you want, but it will take him some time as well.
Unfortunately there is also no wand of cure light wounds since its base value is above the base (the number of charges are irrelevant). You can try your luck with a couple potions and scrolls though, even if a bit more expensive.
This is the reason why commerce takes place in the big cities, right?
Any chance a partially charges wand could be had? Maybe a lower chance than 75%?