Granta's Long Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Granta

I'm feeling better now, but couldn't quite get everything done today that I wanted. Will resume our game tomorrow morning.

Glad to hear you're better, heat exhaustion is certainly a less than fun experience. Time is no problem.

Hey guys, just here to notify that I'm not finding this game to be my cup of tea, in terms of rythm, consistency and pace. I find it very hard to stay in character when there are frequent interruptions. I'm very momentum-dependant, and I'm sorry to have to bow out, 'cause I enjoyed playing with you all. There's certainly a lot of good roleplay going on in this campaign. I have to cut the number of campaigns I'm in due to real life issues (workload always increasing), though, and I have to choose the ones I'm less involved in. This does not mean that I didn't enjoy playing with you, as I said above. And also thanks to the GM for the opportunity. Hope we'll see each other on the boards in the future!

Safe travels Lord Arthur!

When I recruited for the fifth spot in the core campaign, there was a runner-up who put together a strong application . . . and wouldn't you know, he hasn't played any of our scheduled scenarios. So, everybody please say hello to Xynen!

Kembe looks over the newcomer with a discerning eye. Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13 Is he friend or foe... I cannot tell..

Kembe finds that, despite his impressive insight, the formless, colorless mass before him gives no hint to its true intentions, perhaps all will be clearer when it finishes taking shape.

Hey guys! Eager to join in, still in the process of making a new PFS character. I'm considering something arcane - Wizard or Sorcerer, but let me know if there's any particular role you think the group needs that might be better filled by a different class. I enjoy playing anything so feel free to recommend!

I'm sure that would work out just fine. We're currently with a monk, paladin, bard, and druid. So pretty flexible for whatever you feel like playing I think.

As far as covering our bases, arcane would suit us well. Feel free to what you want though, I think we have a decently strong party regardless. Play something you'll enjoy :)

Alright, this here is Xynen's new character. Wandering Varisian Half-Elf, Zevryn Raduva, Zev for short.

Since you're running an on-going narrative GM, I wasn't sure if you wanted me to jump right in, or if you wanted to give me an opening.

Also, I'll GM a Confirmation sometime soon to get him the 1xp he'll need to catch up. In the meantime I intend to play him like he already had his.

Forveniel is going wizard next level with a view to mystic theurge without racial SLA cheese.

So either an arcane or second divine caster would be very welcome.

@Zevryn: Just jump in!

Taking today off for the holiday, will resume tomorrow.

I recently went from working 15 hours a week to 50-60, and as you'd expect, it's forcing adjustments and sacrifices in the rest of my life. I don't really have the focus or mental energy to GM after working 10 hours, and I currently have too many games to update them all in the morning.

So for the time being, I'll probably only be updating this game 4 times a week instead of 6. However, Cosmic Captive finishes in 10 days, and that will free up more than enough time.

I apologize for the inconvenience, but promise it will be over within two weeks.

@Kembre.

If I go into heal you I'll get at least two, possibly three AOOs - depending on whether the scorpions have combat reflexes.

Moving will provoke, and then casting the cure. I was thinking of a guidance to begin with to help with your poison save, but came to the conclusion that in battle, there is little she can do.

I had thought Norril had a healing wand or something but I couldn't quite remember who had bought one. I understand. I had thoughts of total defense and thoughts of moving away but it didn't quite fit with Kembe's attitude. Maybe that'll change!

Even if I had the wand, I'd be provoking at least a pair of AoO's too. Sorry Kembe :(

Healing with a wand doesn't provoke.

And wands can be drawn according to the rules for weapons.

Well s*$%... knowing that this is the case, would it be possible to have a do over? If so, I would have grabbed the wand from Forvenniel, 5ft stepped, and healed Kembe. I understand if not, and will remember this going forward.

Nah its fine hopefully I don't go 100% splat.

Drawing a wand from somebody else would be different.

-Posted with Wayfinder

If Norril can do a 5' step to basically anywhere, I can move up and get Kembre with the wand without AOOs (I assume those are hard corners that prevent AOOs at the end of the passage).

@Forvenniel: Correct, those are hard corners.

It seems like Forvenniel is confused about my notations, and there's a chance she isn't the only one, so here's an explanation:

The scheduled list of scenarios has been moved to the "Campaign Schedule" sheet of my Tracking Spreadsheet. The file is also linked on my GM profile, so you don't need to save this post or anything. Now, on to business . . .

All the AP discussion in Flaxseed has got me thinking a little more about our long campaign, mainly about mixing it up. Both to keep things fresh, but also to give us some rest. To that end, I would like to ask for feedback on two ideas:

• Inviting a guest PC to fill the sixth spot when we play scenarios from season 4 or later.
  
• Taking a break occasionally, which could range from just pausing play to having you guys take turns behind the GM screen.

I'm open to both ideas. I've learned that gming PbP is not my preferred gming medium, but I'd be willing to do it occasionally.

Both of those sound good to me.

I note that some of the scenarios I can play for credit I can't necessarily GM for credit, and others I couldn't play I could conceivably GM

I like the ideas of occasionally switching the GM and having a guest.

Provided we live through the basement fight, both of those ideas sound like good ones, especially for GM's like Aerondor who won't have to play a scenario without credit if they can step in as a GM. And another player with always breathe a little life into things with a new perspective and personality.

Whatever works best for the group. I must admit though I haven't yet thrown my hand in the ring of GMing. Its easy enough to find a guest/fill in player in a long set campaign. I'm sure we all have friends on here that are good players that could possibly fill in a game here or there.

I want to apologize for my recent (and possibly continued) absence. I'm feeling very burned out right now, but will hopefully be recharged by next week.

Good luck with things Granta. Life gets busy.

Yeah, no worries. Avoiding burn-out is a always a good move.

Shifty and Hmm have done a good job of scaring me about overseeing Solstice Scar, so I want to make sure that I don't fail at this responsibility. One of the things I'd like to do is delay the start of Consortium Compact.

If overseeing the special turns out to be an absolute nightmare, then I would wait to GM anything else until Solstice Scar finishes. But if it ends up being easy to manage, then we would start the next scenario just a week or two late. Either way though, I do intend to finish our next game during GameDay VI.

Ok, thanks for the update!

Just a heads up, between Sunday August 6th and Thursday August 10th I'll be out on a camping trip.

Last year there was intermittent cell service, I will check in as often as I can. Hoping to be able to catch up once in the morning and once in the evening but can't promise it will be that frequent, feel free to bot if needed.

Some of you may have heard me rant and rave about spending prestige, and I've finally started writing up something about it. So, please let me know what you think . . .

Let’s imagine a couple of 19 XP characters, Chilon and Semach. They both bought a wand of cure light wounds with their first 2 PP, but then followed different strategies. Semach saved all of his prestige in case of death, while Chilon bought these items:

In the first scenario, they bump into a couple of spectres in the second-to-last fight. The cleric activates Chilon’s scroll of death ward for him, but Semach isn't so lucky and has to fight the boss battle with three negative levels. He dies, but 16 PP and 2,560 gp later, he's back to full health.

But our story doesn’t end there. Next scenario, the big bad evil guy drops a quickened black tentacles and empowered cloudkill on round one. Chilon chugs that potion of gaseous form right away and escapes, but Semach dies--again. Once more, he has to spend 16 PP and 2,560 gp to recover.

They’re both level 8 now, and have earned approximately 40,000 gp in their lives as adventurers. After restoring his negative levels, Semach is worth about 35,000 gp. Chilon is quite a bit wealthier though. In addition to the original 40,000 gp, he still has 32 PP (or 12,000 gp) worth of magic items.

So, would you rather be Semach with his 35,000 gp or Chilon with his 52,000 gp?

My arcanist spends quite a few of his PP on scrolls to bolster his defenses. False life has been a favorite as an Elven arcanist with a 10 Con and no defensive exploits. Lots of other wands like prot evil, CLW, and magic missile. Its very handy to be able to buy a 5x level 2 scroll for 2PP. The single 3rd level potion is less attractive but if you can't use scrolls its pretty important for certain things like blindness.

Your write up does help people see the benefits in spending the PP on consumables. People should be figuring out the weaknesses of their characters and trying to have solutions on hand.

People should be figuring out the weaknesses of their characters and trying to have solutions on hand.

I generally spend prestige on spells that aren't needed often enough for the casters to prepare them everyday, but that are really needed when the situation does arise. A scroll of death ward might be the best example. If you don't have one, then your touch AC is the only thing protecting you from level drain; if you do have the scroll, then you completely avoid the problem.

'Completely' is a bit of a stretch. Without a knowledge check and good initiative you'll likely suffer from at least one whack, especially if you have to rely on someone else to use the scroll.

Do you have a list of recommended spells to purchase in some form? I've seen consumables change the course of encounters multiple times and would like to emulate that level of preparation. Especially for my characters with caster levels.

Items that work well with consumables like potion sponges may also be worth mentioning. Noting the functional differences of scrolls vs potions vs oils vs wands for some spells may also get people thinking about it more. For example, deeper darkness. A scroll of Daylight isn't going to do you any good, but if I had never seen this happen I probably would have picked up the scroll and thought myself prepared.

With your characters, do you typically start doing this with every 2 PP you get?

Do you have a list of recommended spells to purchase in some form?

Sadly, no. I work up individual lists for each of my characters when I create them.

I've seen consumables change the course of encounters multiple times and would like to emulate that level of preparation.

That's really the point I'm trying to make, but in a storyish form. The above examples were taken from just one of my characters, albeit the highest level one. And those are only about a quarter of the times that his scroll library has potentially saved somebody's life. Both Huritt and his familiar are casters with ridiculously high UMDs though, so he's not the average example.

For example, deeper darkness. A scroll of Daylight isn't going to do you any good, but if I had never seen this happen I probably would have picked up the scroll and thought myself prepared.

Huh?

With your characters, do you typically start doing this with every 2 PP you get?

I keep 2 PP in reserve, in case the briefing hints at a very important purchase. Other than that, I spend all prestige.

By deeper darkness, I meant when you are in the area of effect of a deeper darkness spell. The standard counter would be to cast daylight. However if you bought a scroll of daylight, you are SOL because you can't read the damn thing!

If I were not at a table where this happened and saw first hand the importance of thinking about what form would be the most useful, I would have purchased a scroll of daylight with the intent of being prepared for deeper darkness.

Make more sense?

Oh, I thought you were saying that daylight wouldn't counter deeper darkness for some reason. That's one I still get in a scroll, since 1-2 move actions will usually get you out of the darkness effect anyhow.

I can't find it now, but I could've sworn somewhere in this very discussion thread a player (current or previous) posted a long list of generally useful consumables you can buy for 1 or 2 Prestige Points. I'm sure there are also more of such lists around the site.

I'm working up a list of such useful items for myself, a fair few are of the buff variety because I plan to have good saves, but you never know when you'll botch one and end up with some nasty status effect. Given that, I'll certainly stock up on some nice items to negate or remove such problems. I can see myself having a solid UMD score, but I am a bit confused over a scroll question. I am unlikely to take enough levels of paladin to have a Caster Level (I planned on switching to ninja after 3), but I would meet the initial three requirements of casting from a scroll (spell type, spell list, ability score). Would I have an effective CL of 0, just rolling a d20, or would I not be able to cast from the scroll at all?

Are you thinking of this list?

And I would count you as caster level 0, but don't forget that you still have to decipher the spell first--which is a pain for the 1/2 progression casters that don't get read magic.

Are you thinking of this list?

And I would count you as caster level 0, but remember that you still have to decipher the scroll, which can be a HUGE pain for classes that don't get read magic.

Ah ha! There it is.

I figured I might buy a wand of read magic for that, but I'm not quite sure how good of an investment it would be. Should only be 375 GP, and I don't see myself having to use more than 50 scrolls too often. I don't think there are any classes that don't get the spell, it's just a first-level spell for some and therefore a lot less useful. Another problem solved by sweet magical wands!