GMT's Carrion Crown - The Eternal Darkness

Game Master GM_ToddPBC

Hello, everyone! Congratulations for being selected for this adventure. If you haven't already, please complete your character sheets using the character creation criteria below. Please complete this by end of day Thursday, so we can start the adventure. Or sooner, if possible.

Character Creation
1) 20-Point Buy, 1st Level
2) Core races only

3) Three traits. It is required that you pick one from the campaign traits.

4) No evil characters. 

5) Max HP at first level (roll or average thereafter).
6) Max starting gold
7) Archetype stacking is allowed, assuming the bonuses don't overlap.

I'll wait to set up the game thread, so you can all have time to flesh out and finish your characters. Please let me know when you've got those ready.

The More You Know
I like to have fun and err on the side of fun over rules. This is usually in your favor, so if you show creativity, we may be able to avoid a dreaded dice roll (the dice roller on this board often hates my players).

I am going to be using the in-fashion "Step Advancement System" that was sweeping the boards like wildfire. However, in the first level, you won't be able to take the HP bonus as a step reward. That totally throws the balance off of the early game and you already have a large party as it is. Once you actually reach level 2, you make take any of the four rewards whenever you like.

I will roll initiative and use your passive perception for you when necessary. This speeds up the game considerably (so please include your initiative and perception scores high on your character sheet). If you wish to make an active perception check, please state so and roll the dice. If I don't want to use your roll (or if it's stupidly low) I will simply reject it. Your group initiative will be averaged and then you or the enemy will move first, depending upon whose is highest. This may inspire you to change feats or traits, as individual initiative is less important than in a normal game.

When doing a skill check, go ahead and state what skill you're using and roll the dice. Again, I might reject your roll if it is unnecessary, but it speeds thing up if I don't have to ask for it.

Let me know if you have any questions and when your character sheet is ready for review.

I'm looking forward to getting started!

Thanks for choosing my character and I look forward to playing with you again GMT!

I forgot that you use a group initiative so I will probably change my Anticipate Peril spell because it will be much less useful.

Thank you kindly for choosing me.

I am looking forward to the character interactions.

I might change my Sanctuary spell to either Obscuring Mist, Remove Fear, Remove Sickness, or Shield of Faith.

Sheldon - can you check your ability scores. It looks like you spent two too many points.

Thanks again for choosing me also GMT. Definitely looking forward to gaming with you again. Will be finishing up Durgrosh's sheet soon.

Thank you again for inviting me to the game. I believe my stats are complete. As I said in the recruitment thread, my background is rough but it should be sufficient to give you an idea of where my character is coming from. I'll flesh it out fully later this week, once I've finished my finals; let me know if you have any questions.

I'm a little worried - it seems we do not have someone with Trapfinding. I wonder if magical traps are a big threat. . .

Sheldon - can you check your ability scores. It looks like you spent two too many points.

You are correct sir, sorry! I have corrected it by lowering my Con. I also changed my feat. The sheet should be ready now.

Well, now you have only spent 17/20 Sheldon. You can raise some strength. Or Wisdom. Or whatever you feel like, obviously.

This is why I shouldn't do these things at work when I am distracted :-).

GMT I can't remember if you use herolab and if so do you want those of us that do to send you the character file?

I don't have a PC, so I can't use HeroLab yet. I'm trying to get Windows loaded on my machine, so I'll let you know if that happens.

The IC thread is live for some roleplaying action. Get it going, friends!

The adventure begins here.

Thank you so much for choosing my character, GM Todd! I'm very much looking forward to it.

I'm at work now, so I won't be able to post much beyond this one until later tonite!

See ya'll in the In-Character thread!!

Ghorum, it appears you're using the original Heirloom Weapon trait. I just want to take this moment to let you know that I am ok with this, as I think the errata nerfed the trait terribly.

Concept picture of Durgrosh for your enjoyment

Forgot to add description.

Durgrosh stands head and shoulders above most human men, at 6'5" tall and 243lbs he looms even when not meaning to. He keeps what he believes is the approximation of a smile on his face when dealing with others but it always seems as if instead he is baring his teeth instead, perhaps its due to the 3 inches of tusks that come up from his bottom lip. Durgrosh wears unadorned leather armor with small studded steel plates sewn onto it. He is always doing things with his hands, mixing vials, flipping pages, throttling evil doers, etc.

Durgrosh should be ready to go.

A possible interpretation of Teagan.

Except for the tragic demonic backstory. And the demon hand. And demon eye. And blatant evilness.

Looking for a picture of my character that would fit - that was a commission I got from a friend back in the day when I played WoW.

Thanks for choosing my character, GM Todd! I'm looking forward to the adventure.

I should be able to fill in whatever is left on my sheet within a day or so.

See ya'll in the In-character thread!

Ghorum, it appears you're using the original Heirloom Weapon trait. I just want to take this moment to let you know that I am ok with this, as I think the errata nerfed the trait terribly.

I'll see if I can find the errata'd trait, but if you aren't concerned, then I won't argue!

I'm not too worried about it. The trait only lasts as long as that weapon is viable and available. So while it might be a little OP in the early game, it will all balance out in time.

EDIT: Also, we're going to have another player joining our merry band. Allia Thren - or Novennia Narikopolus - will be jumping in. She should post here shortly.

*waves*

As GMT said, I'm here now too :)
Looking really forward to this.

My profile is not 100% done yet, but should be soon. GMT knows the crunch of it already, it's just not written down formally yet.
As you can probably guess from the charsheet, I'm going to put pointy arrows in the bad guys from a distance. Lot's of them, hopefully. Hmm, maybe I should buy a few more arrows after all.

And yes, Heirloom Weapon has been nerfed alot. I never thought it was terribly overpowered. The free masterwork? Bah... 300 gp, in the long run that's nothing, and you can take the rich parent trait to give you even more (i did :) It seems weird for a Monk, but it makes sense if you know her story - which I'm writing right now)
So what you're left with is the +1 attack bonus, which basicly is a free weapon focus. So I guess it's more powerful than normal traits (supposedly half-feats), but since it's not tied to a weapontype but an actual specific weapon it is more restrictive.

Anyway, I guess i'll go jump into the IC thread as well then.

Made minor change to Durgrosh's abilities. Dropped 19 int to 18 and boosted strength to 14. I like the idea of Durgrosh being able to melee a bit when need be with his big axe or if I get feral mutagen lol.

How many of you have played CC before or know what's in store (at least as it's written, as I like to switch things up sometimes)?

Also, I know that the temptation to click others' spoilers is often too great to resist. But, in the spirit and theme of this AP, I think it will be more fun for everyone if you can. Alternatively, I may correspond with played via email to ensure secrecy. If I don't have it already, can you please email me at thetoddblog@gmail.com so i have your address.

I've not read it and never played it, but sometimes when you read the rules or general discussion forum people let some things drop without spoilers.
But not nearly enough that I know what's actually going on, or when these things (if I even remember them) are going to happen.

If we do the by email thing, you should at least add something like "Novennia and Durgrosh, check your mail" otherwise it might be missed

I have run CC once - only the first chapter, however, and we barely got past part two of chapter 1. I would be delighted if you did change some stuff from the AP (since I know a lot of what happens in Ravengro as per the book).

I would also prefer if secrecy happened through email, truth be told. I am not to be trusted with the "do not read spoilers" clause - it's a compulsion. I never act on the information in a spoiler, though I might steer towards it subconsciously. Minor things might not need to be spoilered, but the big secrets and plot twists should be conveyed through means that others cannot access.

My opinion, at least.

I'm doing CC on another PBP. It is going so slowly I'm afraid that it may not last too much longer, which was why I was comfortable applying for this one. As is most of the players and the GM only post a few times a week. I would imagine if we post daily or more this one will pass it in a very short time if it even survives. It's been frustrating because I like the feel of the game. I'm pretty good about not reading spoilers.

I haven't read it, but I was in a game that died just after the group reached level 2. We hadn't really learned anything of significance at that point, though, and beyond that I'm completely in the dark.

I played once but it didnt get past the funeral lol. I havent read the books as I have been dying to play a horror type game and didnt want to spoil the surprises.

As far as spoilers go...ironically im a spoiler junkie but I will make a supreme concerted effort to resist my addiction so it wont be a problem lol.

Almost done with sheet. The major items are there, anyway. Bear with me!

Sheldon, it says in your charsheet it was done with herolabs, I'm just wondering what Output template did you use for it? Because it seems alot clearer and better structured than the default "statblock" that I use.

I always go through and clean them up. None of them do a really good job and I can be a little anal retentive about them.

Aw, damn. I thought you had actually found a good looking one that outputs a good statblock.
Most of the other ones aren't meant for text-only use unfortunately.

Unfortunately I'm way to lazy to clean it up like that each time I change something ;)

Paueliel: Weighs half as much as normal. Shields have their Armor;

Hi from the peanut gallery! This looks like a bit of copy/paste error, which made me curious about paueliel; and though I found the trees, I can't find much on it as an item material. Where should I look?

Yes, it's a copy/paste error.
Herolabs has the stats build in already, I didn't find it in the PFSRD, but eventually found it in the Inner Sea World Guide, p. 255, very well hidden ;)

I went here: http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Paueliel

And here: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/houseRules/needHelpGettingWood&page=1

Not a ton to be found, to be true. But I like the story-value of the rare wood, particularly for an "heirloom" weapon - though that specific trait wasn't selected in this case.

As I said the stats are very well hidden, in the middle of a paragraph on a page full of boring text about Flora :)

I found it first in Herolabs, and since it didn't really seem overpowered I proposed it to GMT who said it was ok.

I haven't intensively poured through your sheets, but here are some basic questions to answer before we get rolling. Once these are resolved we can get the adventure started.

Character Sheet Questions
Ghorum
- What was your favored class bonus?
- How much gold do you have left?

Durgrosh
- How did you get Knowledge (Religion) to +10? EDIT: Never mind. Teagan solved it.
- What was your favored class bonus?

Novennia
- Where did your nobility knowledge come from? Did you spend a skill on it?

Sheldon
- You've only spent 19/20 ability points.

+1/2 bomb damage for half orc alchemists so nothing now but +1 next level

Yes I did. I have skills in Climb, Know Nobles, Know Religion, Perception, Perform Wind Instruments and Ride. Except Know Nobles they're all class skills.

6 skillpoints = Monk 4 + Human 1 + Favored class 1

Your group initiative will be averaged and then you or the enemy will move first, depending upon whose is highest. This may inspire you to change feats or traits, as individual...

Of course the quote gets cut of right at the point I wanted to quote...

I don't want to tell you how to do your game and "average" certainly works. I just want to throw this out here.

In another game I'm playing we do it like this, and it seems to work quite well:

1) Everyone rolls individual initiative. (or rather GM rolls for everyone)
2) Monsters roll one initiative (or average, works the same).
3) The players with higher than monsters initiative can act now, in any order.
4) Then it's monters turn.
5) Now it's everyone's turn again. The ones that already act basicly take their actions for turn 2 already, which happens before the monsters.
6) repeat 4+5 till combat is over.

The result after that first "surprise round" is the same as average really. All players then all monsters, then all players again etc.

The difference is that first round where you have the chance to act before the enemy does.

Example:
A 19
B 17
C 16
Mobs 13.4
D 8
E 6
F 3

A,B and C can act and post in any order.
GM does the Mobs turn and sorts out the players actions, puts them in order or however he wants to handle it.
Then everyone posts again.

Yes, that may result in F going before D, and B doing it's 2nd turn action before E even posted the first turn, but since all 6 of them are going before the enemy in turn 2 again, it really doesn't matter.

I haven't checked, this might be a bit unbalancing, since the players can act on their individual order and attack partially first, evne if their average would be lower (In this case their average would have been 11.5), while the monsters don't have that advantage in round 1 (there might have been one or two in there that rolled a 20+ while the others pulled the average down with crap rolls)

The advantage is that individual Dex scores and Initiative traits/feats etc are more important again. On the other hand with the average approach those feats/traits might help your group to beat the enemy's average, and make everyone go first. Or everyone goes second.

Well just wanted to throw that out there.

I'm a little worried - it seems we do not have someone with Trapfinding. I wonder if magical traps are a big threat. . .

I don't know how much of a factor they are; but by sheer coincidence, today I found a way that you can solve it, if it's a problem. On p. 29 of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide, the Seeker archetype for Oracles (and Sorcerers) adds to the classes that can fill that role. What you would have to give up at first level is having Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, and Stealth as class skills; so your Bluff would go down by three, or four if you chose to put that skill point somewhere else (such as Disable Device).

The answer to the Novennia skill conundrum is that apparently, in addition to +1 on Diplomacy and Sense Motive, Fiendish Presence also lets you take one as a class skill. So, that's what's meant by "Fiendish Presence (Cheliax): Diplomacy", not that Diplomacy is the only one she gets a bonus in. (And not that I fully understand why she chose to buttress a weakness that teammates can fill over bolstering her unique strength.) But, I had to do some research to figure it out; and the same goes with finding out what Chance Savior does in mechanical terms. This is why I do my profiles manually. (That and I'm cheap.)

I promise to always throw my peanuts from the gallery... gently.

(And not that I fully understand why she chose to buttress a weakness that teammates can fill over bolstering her unique strength.)

Hmm, I don't know.

Woah, woah! Tones are hard to read in text, and I think you read "confused" as "sarcastic". If your background were easier to find, then I would've re-read it -- because I *love* that RP stuff -- and I'm sure I would've seen how diplomacy makes more sense than sense motive. Please keep in mind that I'm just an observer, and I have a limited amount of patience for hunting around in threads. That's why I really love when things like background and description are in profiles. <Makes a mental note to finish writing a description for Anton.>

Sense Motive is already a class skill for monks. So no need to select that.
I'm sorry, my post was maybe a tad to agressive, I thought you were complaining about the fact that I decided to get some Diplomacy at all, which with 8 Cha I'll never be good at. Yes, from an optimizer standpoint it's wasted, but that's not how I spend my skills at least not at the first few levels.

The background has actually not been added to the profile yet, I hope to get that done in the next few hours, or maybe tomorrow :) I know I said that yesterday too, I just keep getting interrupted by other stuff.

I apologise for Teagan's personality being very... prickly and unfriendly. After all, he is an Ustalavian...

He's not your typical, jolly, hyperactive gnome, that's for sure

Indeed! Oh, Cerebus syndrome, what have you done!?

My Dwarven friends: Are you still wanting to play? It's only been a little over a day, so I'm not too stressed yet. Just want to check in and make sure.

Indeed. I just ended up passing out before I posted yesterday. Finals week can be a pain.