Gm Aest's Kingmaker: To Forge a Kingdom

Game Master Aest

That's some heavy stuff, Daen. ::Hug::

Take the time that you need. As Kaz said, we'll still be here.

Agreed. We'll hold here and wait for you.

Oh god, trapdoor spiders. These things are f~**ing EVERYWHERE in Australia, and you do NOT screw around with them.

And this one's gigantic!

It's like a little taste of home! :')

Well, a bit bigger than home, I'm sure, but...

@Everyone: Map's been updated. Also, on further consideration, I love your route! So much to do!

Watch out, if the spider gets you, then home will have a little taste of you!

Yikes Daen. I'm sorry you're going through all that. :(

Also spiders are evil. Eeevvvvilllllll

Watch out, if the spider gets you, then home will have a little taste of you!

"In Soviet Russia, spider step on you!" Sorry, I failed my Will save.

Okay, I finally got the time to look through things and see what Daen would want to have ordered. He'd like to get a Traveler's Any Tool. It's a useful thing, and he'd be happy to have it for party use.

Also, I'd like a whetstone.

Finally got the time for a gameplay post, and... well, crap. The "stand back and pepper it" approach has been ordered; Kaz is a terrible shot (mechanically and story-wise); I can't do a ride-by attack because I'm on a Large horse and my allies are in the way; and I feel like I need to do something this round because otherwise Luthor's wasted a hex on the one guy who can't do anything >.>

Well, you don't have to follow that approach. I mean, the spider won't mind targets being closer.

There is that. But Kaz isn't stupid. :P Also, the other reason is the big one holding me back - the fact that my allies are in the way of my horse, so I can't charge through their spaces.

Who's party leader? Not Cyanne. It's you. And you have a paladin's fort save. You want to go in and fight the spider, go ahead.

Just expect a lecture on testosterone poisoning afterwards. :)

Well, Cyanne's goal of saving Daen from the poison isn't exciting, but it could be useful. You could always Aid Another her to help her make the DC for her heal check.

Maybe we should mess with the marching order, since it seems there's a lot of situations where everyone's getting in your way. I certainly don't want to let you chargemurderkill every enemy, but you should be able to do it sometimes.

EDIT: Kaz is party leader? I don't remember you guys appointing anyone. I just picked Kaz when Akiros needed someone to talk to for a better story.

"In Soviet Russia, spider step on you!" Sorry, I failed my Will save.

Dont worry, if you hadnt failed yours I would likely have done it.

the fact that my allies are in the way of my horse, so I can't charge through their spaces.

I was actually considering that originally but forgot to add a bit about Luthor trotting his horse out of the way. He certainly would have.

Actually, ride by attack would be pretty useful, if we can get the spider to open the door. No attacks of opportunity, and it will have to chase you to hit you. You could also do a ride by Sunder on that trapdoor, I think. That would also be useful. Then we could get at it a bit easier. Allies can go through each other's square, so feel free to just go on through.

Cyanne - can't get to the spider, the Order of the Mongoose is in the way ;-)

GM - helping with the poison problem looks helpful, as long as I don't need to be adjacent. (It doesn't mention it explicity, but it certainly seems as though it would be needed.)

Changing the marching order might work, but if Laliytsa and I are both at the front, it leaves the squishier ones at the back, which is problematic. Chargemurderkilling every enemy isn't something I want to do, either, and there are things that shut it down easily (like difficult terrain or cramped spaces).

I think Kaz being the leader just sort of happened without his knowledge or consent. I think there was a post when Cyanne first joined us that suggests Daen thinks that way, so there's some evidence for it in-character. Of course, whether or not Kaz actually feels that way himself is another matter entirely, since, while likeable enough, he's never led more than a horse and cart in his life.

EDIT: Daen -

If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge.

So unless we all want to take Cavalry Formation next level, no luck.

I like the idea of a ride-by sunder, though.

Concerning your off-topic rambling, yep, that's how Cyanne works.

Kaz and Daen have been trading off the leadership role... Daen does a lot of the logistics and decisions certainly.

But from Cyanne's viewpoint, Kaz was party leader when she first met all of you. Daen treated you as a leader. Laliytsa was all praise and admiration. Luthor is just cheerful and oblivious.

Cyanne thinks of you as leader, pretty boy.

Daen has been looking to defer leadership in this group since the beginning. He doesn't believe he has any skill for it, although oddly enough he does find himself in such roles often. Maybe it's that blasted Surtovan blood.

I knew that about charging, but I didn't know that ride by attack required a charge action. My bad. Normally Daen will like to hang out in the back of the line, but on this occasion he did hop of his horse and come forward.

And I (the player) have been enjoying NOT being party leader in this game. I somehow wind up in the party leader role in most of the games I play. Cyanne has many leadership skills, but is content to support others in their goals.

Cyanne - for me, it's the hesitant "Yes?" and the subsequent look on Mal's face that gets me every time. And you're right - Daen's certainly more tactical and logistical, whereas I am not, which is why none of my characters are!

Daen - yeah, unfortunately Ride-By Attack specifies charging. Which is why it's a pretty situational thing to build for. But when I get to use it, it's a good feeling!

GM - I gotta get some shut-eye (yay, it's past midnight, I start work in eight hours), but in the interest of moving along: if I can use the Treat Poison application of the Heal skill at range, I'll do that, using Luthor's hex to roll twice and take the better result; if I can't, I'll begin maneuvering into a position from which I can charge this thing. Happy for you to adjudicate and post my actions for me; I've held this up long enough, and can't guarantee the time to post in the morning.

GM - helping with the poison problem looks helpful, as long as I don't need to be adjacent. (It doesn't mention it explicity, but it certainly seems as though it would be needed.)

If 911 operators can direct someone over the phone for First Aid, I can't see why you can't Aid Another (give good advice) from the back of a horse.

The rules are pretty open on exactly what counts as Aid Another. They are clear that GM has final say and can impose further restrictions to aiding another on a case-by-case basis.

Digging the latest song.

Oh, thanks! It's just a little ditty to show her being a bard and doing the inspire courage thing.

I'm hoping I'm right that the big grey things are rocks. It would be embarrassing if I just had Cyanne leap into a pit... If they are rocks, how tall are they? I probably should have asked all this BEFORE leaping into action.

At any rate, now Kaz can five foot step and charge with impunity. The Order of the Mongoose no longer blocks him.

Boulder-sized rocks. Between three and five feet tall.

Oh good. Totally leapable on that roll then. I lied about my heritage. It's not aasimar, it's amazonian tree frog.

I'm thinking cross-blooded aasimar and tree frog, myself. With extra glitter and bells.

Cyanne was a frog in Kingmaker
None she met could forsake her
With bells and glitter all agleam
Dancing free her only dream
She saw her prince, fell head over
Heels though he was House Surtova
But what would happen if they kiss?
Would they live together in royal bliss
Or would they form an amphibian crew
Diving deep, daring as all lovers do?

I don't think Laliytsa sees it like there's one party leader and the rest are followers. Everybody has their unique talents/areas of expertise. When they're traveling she's the leader because she knows the land and how to track.

Daen's good at tactics (present encounter excluded) and she trusts his plans. Back in the trading post he was the 'leader' when it came to planning out their route. She made suggestions but she would have gone along with whatever he came up with.

Then there's Kaz. She trusts him to both know and do the right thing. She feels safe following his lead because he's pure, for a lack of a better word. He does things out of the goodness of his heart and because it's the right thing to do.

Luthor's one of the best spellcasters she's ever seen. When it comes to magic he's the leader as far as she's concerned. If they run into any magical trouble she'll follow whatever he says.

She's still sussing out Cyanne but she likes what she sees.

These are all good points, Laliytsa! I love that everyone contributes; this is a most cooperative party.

It's okay to still be sussing out Cyanne... She hasn't proven her worth to the party yet, and her abilities are hard to quantify. Bards are back up spellcasters, back up fighters, back up everything... When you're all about party support, it's your job to make everyone else shine.

Hmm

Man, this combat is reminding me that, a couple months ago, I went to the ER for a spider bite. It might sound laughable, but as I've mentioned, in Australia, you don't stuff around with snakes* or spiders, as pretty much everything here is venomous. My entire arm was swollen, tight, and bright red.

The students in the front office at work as I was signing out were taking bets on whether I'd die, or develop superpowers. One kid was even trying to identify what kind of arachnid it could have been:

"Okay, is the pain so intense you feel like you're going to pass out?"
"No...?"
"Okay, so it's not a redback. And does the site have white lines spreading from it along your veins?"
*whimper* "No!"
"Okay, so it's not a whitetail, that's good..."

When I did my first-aid course for work (at a rural primary school), we were told that if we even suspect someone's been bitten by a snake, to call 000 immediately. An ambulance can take up to 45 minutes to arrive, and given that we have several of the most venomous snakes in the world living right here, that's intense.

::Nods::

My mother got bitten by a fiddle back spider, and it oook her months to recover. I'm glad the bugs in Minnesota are less deadly.

BTW, did you include the +1 to attack and damage in your ride-by attack?

Of course! It's kind of hard to miss :P

Okay. When I don't see the +1 as a separate addition in the formula, I always ask. In my Razor Coast Game, we have two players who always forget to add the bardic buffs. :)

Hmm

I'm, er... I'm jumpy with my formatting. Sometimes I spell it all out, eg Attack (PBS, Deadly Aim, inspire courage) 1d20+10+1-2+1; sometimes (particularly if I'm at my desktop and have Hero Lab active), I just mash it all in together. >.> If I could be certain that spelling out every buff and penalty wasn't annoying people, I'd just spell everything out for the sake of clarity... and have longer dice rolls than actual RP text.

I have to admit that I'm sometimes lazy in my formatting too, but I'm pretty good about remembering bonuses. One doesn't play a support character for long without having the constant check of bonuses. Just last night in my RL game, I was reminding the other players of Haste bonuses, even though we're level 15 now, and I've been doing it for nine levels.

Bonuses are my friend. I always check for bonuses.

Was the paizo site down for you guys yesterday? I kept checking it and being sad that it wasn't working.

I'd just spell everything out for the sake of clarity... and have longer dice rolls than actual RP text.

How many rolls do you expect to be doing O.o

As for the site Laliytsa, I didnt notice anything.

Kazimir wrote:

I'd just spell everything out for the sake of clarity... and have longer dice rolls than actual RP text.

How many rolls do you expect to be doing O.o

My level 8 Warlord (from Dreamscarred Press' Path of War) recently finished up her first combat. She had haste and circle of winds active from other party members, as well as the party cleric casting buffs, using one of his domain powers to grant extra bonuses to hit on top of everything. She was flanking, she'd often charge, and she had maneuvers that granted her bonuses, and when she wasn't using her strikes, she was laying down hasted full attacks. On top of that, she had Combat Reflexes, and a fortuitous weapon, so I'd roll five attacks of opportunity in advance every round.

We're nowhere near that level, but that was up to eight modifiers to keep track of at once. I had ridiculous amounts of rolls going, and trying to write that much RP for a single combat post without getting introspective and wanky was too hard. I've had a few people tell me I'm a great writer, but I'm too lazy!

As it is, I need to roll ride, handle animal, attack, and damage to charge into battle atop my noble steed horse. I need to roll for mounted combat each round. If my horse attacks, that's another two attack and damage rolls. Plus I need to keep track of buffs like inspire courage or Smite Evil. Maybe I'll just start spoilering my rolls!

Was the paizo site down for you guys yesterday? I kept checking it and being sad that it wasn't working.

Yeah, it was down. Checked the Facebook page to confirm. I got home from work, raced to my computer to post, and... Nothing!

@Laliytsa: Yeah, Paizo was wrecked for me most of the evening. Was a bit worried it was all on my end, but it turned out okay.

I love Breadth of Experience feat. And hooray for a school that had endless eclectic lessons in whatever!

Spider Silk Harvesting

Apologies. I have makeshift weather rules, and the combination of the last three weather checks came up not-quite-blizzard.

What's the area like around the tent? Do we have any kind of cover or are we out in the open?

It's an open area with very little cover.

Ah, then the cold winds will buffet the tent and seep through. Cyanne will need all her skills to jolly up her friends.

I'll be at a con this weekend, starting today. I'll be GMing some PFS gaming tables, running herd on a pack of 7-8 teenagers, and doing other things. Posting will happen but at a slower rate.

Hope all the Americans enjoy the holiday weekend!

I'll just wait until someone says definitively what you guys are doing.

Ok, ive read the spoiler, but wont act on it until we actually get to the three through someone elses post. Call it pacing or something :)

It may be a slow next couple of days. Tomorrow will be spent at my grandparent's house, and Monday I'll be on the road to Phoenix to visit my other grandparents (because Phoenix, Arizona is a good place to be in July).

I sense this is a reference to a heat wave? We are experiencing one here in Denmark right now. 28 degrees celcius, im sweating my pants off (literally!)