GM SpiderBeard's Second Darkness (DrEvil Group) (Inactive)

Game Master Barvo Delancy

Just one, Trig. And treatise is appreciated Daphne!

Er, Saphren. I kind of love that autocorrect though.

I saw and wondered about that. :)

Hi guys! I'm happy to say that Zoso Cendele'tiqile, elven bard, has been selected to join as our fifth.

Once Zoso responds I'll work with him on introduction and finalize build/gear.

Hey everybody! Thank you so much for inviting me to your table! I'll add a level onto my current build tonight and if anyone has notes or suggestions I'd love to hear it. Ideally my Bards combat strategy should work efficiently in the dynamic you already have going.

As you may have seen, I was in the newer list of applicants. I played 3.5 a lot on tables but took a hiatus and am new to Paizo, about three weeks into my first PbP game. I'm really loving this medium for gaming and how it bridges the gap between wanting to RP but not being able to get 6 hours set aside for a table game. I live in Central timezone, sometimes travel to Eastern for a work week.

Thanks again! I'm excited to join up!

Welcome Zoso. Glad to have a bard at the table and look forward to playing with you. Two comments about your build. 1 - did you consider the spell Saving Finale? Its Bard only and imho one of those defining bard spells. Your call of course but I wanted to make sure you considered it. 2) I was a little worried about you CN alignment. To me it does not match well your background and I hope will not match well with your play style. We are becoming a tight nit team and a real CN character might not help to further that. Thoughts?

Yeah I was swaying between CN and CG. I went with CN simply so he could be more objective when bad stuff went down, but you're right Zoso is a kind, fun loving guy. Definately not actively seeking to destroy order or tear down governments. Though, in the RP tavern, he did enjoy inciting a small drunken mob behind a good cause.

CN doesn't mean an anarchist, any more than Trig, who is LN, is a straightlaced, law-and-order type. She likes having fun and being mischievous. But she goes about it in a methodical, organized way, and likes having a structure, a framework in her life that she can hang her hat on. For a while, that framework was the Gold Goblin. Now she's relying on her friends and it's difficult for her because so little is certain right now. She's a gnome, so she needs novelty in her life, but she also wants to have something familiar to come back to.

A CN (or CG) person could find lack of structure to be preferable. He might be always feeling the urge to pick up and move to a different place, a new job, a different hobby, new relationships, new friends, etc. He might blossom and feel at peace when things aren't certain and no one knows what tomorrow might bring.

Right. I'm actually not too concerned about Zoso's alignment choice - I asked and got a reasonable response on how he's motivated that I think he'll fit in with the group.

I just need to make sure the characters behave in a heroic manner. CN is an interesting alignment to me. One of my favourite characters was CN - he HATED authority figures and being told what to do, was fanatically loyal to his friends, and cared nothing for strangers.

The problem is for freaking years CN was 'the alignment of lunatics and madmen' in the 1st and 2nd edition player's handbook for D&D. That one stupid line inspired decades of poor players playing disruptive a&$~~&@s and justifying it with that stupid line about the alignment.

Anyways, in short - it's cool. :) I trust y'all to be whatever alignment you want so long as you're on the north side of evil.

Some build thoughts, Fox's Cunning Int buff seems a little useless with this group, and the Eagle's Splendor Cha buff, @Trig would this help you much?

I'll definately replace Fox's with Heroism as that will be great for everyone.

Anyone interested in being hit by Rage?

Rage would work for me unless I am trap finding/fixing.

Hey Zoso and Lyr, can you add taglines to your profiles?

To do so, add some vital statistics to the classes/level section, you can just copy how Saphren does it.

Or if you want the super awesome way, follow this handy guide by GM Giuseppe.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DZR9FQx4XjxoxYlr7mRcnYc_tbLD0fhozc7zbXX erU0/edit

Hi folks. Just checking in to say I'm following along. I'm Traveling this week, so posting time is limited.

I'll be back Tuesday.

And I'll start posting tomorrow evening! From that point on expect posts in the early afternoon (I tend to post on my lunch break which is MST or GMT -7). I expect daily posts from y'all, and one post over weekends and a go-as-we-please rate over long weekends and holidays. And as with all APs, I intend to finish.

Also, and I mentioned this earlier, there will be some balancing tweaks as I figure out how powerful the group is vs the opponents. Bear with :)

Rage and heroism would do absolute wonders for Magnus, as would inspire courage. As a whole I'm struggling to get my numbers up, and every little bit helps. Enlarged, I should be able to keep you all out of harms way.

Also perhaps a bit fiddly for some, but the gender, race, and class fields all show up in your header, and have seperate character limits. Casters can often squeeze their entire spell list in there (until the later levels) and I find it a really handy, visible place to keep track of spells/day and the like. (The strikethrough tags are a godsend for this). I can't actually open Giuessepe's guide, but can attest to his lovely formatting as I'm playing a PFS game with him here on the boards.

Exchanging Magnus' banded mail for some +1 fullplate, upgrading his shield to +2, grabbing a masterwork hammer, a cloak of resistance, two potions of enlarge and one of longstrider (saving the rest for later). Realised I didn't actually note them here in-thread.

Magnus, thanks for mentioning the spell tracking in the header! That's a great idea. I've read a few of the PbP guides and must have missed that.

Buffing the melee side is pretty natural for me. Having a big threat close by can sometimes keep the focus off the cloud of arrows forming in the air ;)

We're in business! Check out the gameplay thread. ZOso and Lyr - your activity will be in spoilers until you join up with the main group (which should be in short order). And the main group - you're in a fight!

Zoso and I have worked out a way to link our backstories. It's loose, but works well within the parameters we've been given.

I'm going to spend the next 6 hours in a car, so don't expect much posting from me today. I'll be back in business late tonight or tomorrow.

Totally fine, you and Zoso are on your own time and so no rush.

Headed out for a weekend at a con so will not be able to post much if at all. Back Monday.

Have fun! I'm also at a conference for the next day or so. I'll have updates but they may be at strange hours.

As a note on the maps, I use google draw - the link for the map is at the top of the page via the 'Currently at' section.

I use a live drawing anybody has edit rights to. This is a trust-based model, but I also find it's the most flexible and fastest one for me. You are free to move your own tokens as you wish within the rules of the game. If you happen to move in a specific way that avoids attacks or obstacles, use the free draw tool to sketch your path or I may ask questions.

There may be sections where the map has hidden parts to it. I'll cover those with black spoiler squares. This is a trust-based system, so I trust you to not move those, or if you do move them, not to use the information in-game. After all, it's an AP - anybody could get it and read ahead if they wanted spoilers that badly.

I think Lyr might be the most complicated character I've ever built. I've been slowly finishing his character sheet for 2 hours and I'm still nowhere near done.

Reminds me why I don't usually play Pet classes. It's like a whole other character to build.

Well I'm looking forwards to seeing how he works out for you!

Also Lyr, can you put a tagline in your class/level section? Saves me a lot of time hunting through yoru character sheet.

Sure. It's subject to change soon though. I'm not done with equipment yet.

Just a heads up that I'll be camping over the easter long weekend and reception is incredibly temperamental. I have plenty of downtime to post, but may not have the means to do so from the 25th-28th. I hope it doesnt hurt our momentum too much! I'm going to squeeze in as many posts as possible before I leave. :)

No offense taken Saphren! I thought it was funny, I've been enjoying Zoso and Saphren's sarcastic banter while they get to know each other. I didn't reply right away to give other people time to post and push the game during the morning if they wanted to.

Good point though on it ending up being wasted. This is my first Bard and I've been wondering what the correct etiquette is for buffing in this party. I definitely don't want to enrage someone's character and spoil the encounter for them... I'm cool with requesting buffs. Once the PCs have experience with each other I'm sure they'll put a couple "plays" together of different combinations and strategies they like. What does everyone else think or prefer?

As for the opinion as fact, I think I half follow you.

I try not to be too sensitive but it seems quite different to me to say "Joe finds the man distasteful" versus "the man was distasteful". Its one thing to think or say something but another to state opinion as fact. I think it started when I was playing a mage that always remembered to cast detect magic and search for treasure and one of the player started referring to me as the greedy wizard like it was a fact and not his, or his character's opinion. At least if its in character it can be responded to in character.

Yeah I see what you mean, that'd be pretty annoying. No one wants someone else writing their character for them.

Back in civilization! But I won't be able to catch up until after work tomorrow.

Totally fine, it's a long weekend. We're not back on full schedule until tomorrow.

Question about how blind spellcasting is handled in this campaign before I post:
How I think it works, spells with a target need sight to cast while area effects do not.
Moving forward with that logic, would touching a target instead of being able to see them satisfy the targeting mechanic?

Yes, but you'd need to succeed on the touch attack with the 50% miss chance.

Hey just fyi I'm at a conference and so although I can post the times may be a little weird.

I am traveling this weekend and starting tonight my ability to post will be limited.

My bad forgetting the spell roll, cell phone post today. 24 Acrobatics didn't relieve me from an AoO?

Saphren is right, red is prone as well.

GM, what are your thoughts on Taking 20 or Taking 10? Some GMs really don't like those rules, so I wanted to ask before I started using them.

No issues. Use them as intended.

Ah yes, thanks for catch Saphren. The last of the cobwebs should be coming off here soon, but I appreciate the patience everyone.

Any of you guys play PFS? I'm looking for a PFS player with a Core character to round out a group that just finished Among the Living on play-by-post. We're about to start up The Penumbral Accords. A skillful character would be well received if anyone has one or is willing to create a new one.

-Posted with Wayfinder

"...the spell prevents bodily contact by evil summoned creatures. This causes the natural weapon attacks of such creatures to fail and the creatures to recoil if such attacks require touching the warded creature. Summoned creatures that are not evil are immune to this effect. The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against the blocked creature. Spell Resistance can allow a creature to overcome this protection and touch the warded creature.

This is why I cast it. If the Shadow Demon is Summoned (or anything similar), then it can't actually attack Magnus.

Not anything similar. Summoned only. If it was called or gated, it can attack him.

If it was Called or Gated, we are swinging way outside our weight class.

Not necessarily. It could have been called by a higher level person and then told to accompany these drow to the surface.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Any of you guys play PFS? I'm looking for a PFS player with a Core character to round out a group that just finished Among the Living on play-by-post. We're about to start up The Penumbral Accords. A skillful character would be well received if anyone has one or is willing to create a new one.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Trig, I have a Core druid level 2. What level are you playing at? I could join you with an iconic.

Most of the folks are level 2, one is level 3. We've already got two druids, not that more isn't fun.

The druid is melee if that helps.

Heh, so are the others. No worries, the more the merrier.