Hell's Rebels: Flight of the Silver Ravens (Inactive)

Game Master pinvendor

Hm, interesting! I think Phineas would also possibly be interested in the spymaster slot, but you're right he would fit as strategist or recruiter as well as needed. He mostly wouldn't feel comfortable in the Partisan slot, the rest he would be willing to do as needed.

I'm going to be difficult (and Phineas will be making an in-character suggestion to this effect when the time comes, which we can feel free to argue around and ignore if we want to go with one of the other paths) and suggest that we go with the Secrecy focus!

The reasoning is actually similar to Isabel's last point, in that half our group (including Phineas) is publicly known. Phineas would greatly prefer an approach where we focus more on keeping our identities and the activities of the Silver Ravens a secret, such that Barzillai has trouble identifying who to strike against. We would end up growing the rebellion less quickly that way as compared to with a Loyalty focus, but with a much tighter degree of confidence on who we let in on our secret to keep our public personas and the movement safe.

Mechanically speaking, I really like the Saboteur group; the ability is powerful, but has a hefty penalty for failure. If we can get to the point where they can always hit the DC 20 check, the group will just give us +2 to everything else we try and do while keeping our notoriety more or less permanently pinned at 0. I also really like the idea of planning an ever-escalating series of misfortunes to befall Thrune's government; I suspect there will be a lot of fun roleplaying out what, exactly, we're sabotaging. There are interesting possibilities with security as well, trying to drop the danger level to 0 then triggering events with a double roll effect. I think I like loyalty the least from a mechanics perspective, but it does have resiliency going for it.

Also, here are my takes on the general idea of each of the focuses; does anyone feel differently about how these would work out?

Loyalty: More of an attempt to lead an open political movement, where the existence of the silver ravens is more widely known. We would persuade ever increasing numbers of the populace to join our opposition, using political maneuvering to build support off of whatever actions Thrune takes. Eventually, we would build up overwhelming support, preventing Barzillai from being able to take effective actions against us until he is forced out by the overwhelming hostility of the populace.

Security: Armed Rebels, where we more or less create a rival political structure to maintain a more just version of law and order and take the fight directly to Thrune and his lackeys. We would act in a more Robin Hood style, striking against Thrune and inspiring the city through action until we are able to strike a decisive blow against Thrune.

Secrecy: A secret society that Thrune knows exists, but can't find and can't prove. We infiltrate his government, learning his plans and manipulating his lackeys to create chaos, confusion and disfunction that grows and grows over time. Any attempts to strike against us find nothing but smoke as Barzillai fights a phantom, his every effort foiled until his goverment collapses and we strike against him in his moment of vulnerability.

So...

Demagogue: Varian/Isabel?
Partisan: Avrora
Recruiter: ?
Sentinel: Darian
Spymaster: Phineas/Galen? (I went to look at stats this time - Galen and Phineas both out Int Isabel so they're better in this role)
Strategist: Isabel/Phineas? (The more analytical, big picture people)

If we were going to min max I think the best options would be

Demagogue: Isabel
Recruiter: Varian
Spymaster: Galen
Strategist: Phineas

This is trying to take into account personality too, but Isabel offers +3 Cha as demagogue, Galen gives +3 Int in spymaster and I see Phineas as more of a big-picture/strategy guy. Please shout out if I'm way off base :)

As to Loyalty vs. Secrecy. I think the optimum is somewhere between the two. We want everyone to know about the Silver Ravens, and the more loyal they are then the better the rebellion becomes and the harder it is for Thrune to achieve anything. However as leaders we need a degree of deniability. I'll bring up the Masked Personas rules from Inner Sea Intrigue here, which would allow us mini versions of the Vigilante's dual identities. Find them here. which could go some way to solving the security risk... Isabel will suggest something similar when the discussion comes up. :)

I am kinda torn in the route we take. Darian, obviously, feels secrecy is a hugely important aspect of this rebellion for obvious reasons. But he also knows that they need political clout and support from all levels of Kintargo's populace.

Do we HAVE to choose just one path, or can we blend the two? If we have to go with just 1, my vote is secrecy. Keep ourselves safe first, so we can help others later. I like the Masked Persona idea, and may have to find me a nice reference image of my own "Hero" disguise.

Edit: Did some looking around, and am currently leaning towards either...

A) Image 1

or

B) Image 2

Do we HAVE to choose just one path, or can we blend the two? If we have to go with just 1, my vote is secrecy. Keep ourselves safe first, so we can help others later. I like the Masked Persona idea, and may have to find me a nice reference image of my own "Hero" disguise.

It works a bit like Fort/Ref/Will saves. We pick a focus, our 'good' save and the other two become our 'weak' saves. So yeah, we have to choose one mechanically, but that doesn't mean that our plan can't merge the approaches.

While Galen doesn't feel like a Spymaster role at this point, that's not to say I can't RP him to get there, particularly after a bit of in-game time passes. I haven't made the transition for him yet other than his commitment to see this through (as it's been just a day of in-game time since the Aria Park incident right), but the notion that he could blend into that role is pretty interesting.

I like Secrecy from the RP perspective of how these characters have developed and the kind of group we are, but I understand that for the Rebellion mechanics we may be more optimal for Loyalty, so I'm not opposed to choosing that from a crunch perspective.

I actually don't really like Loyalty from a mechanical perspective, although I think Phineas would prefer it over Security from a roleplaying one. It seems ok, but is a little bit like the constitution score on a character; it doesn't really let you proactively do things, just increases your ability to take punishment. All of the team recruitment and ability to control how often and how bad the events that occur are for us will key off our secrecy and security scores. Loyalty will mostly be important to control how fast the rebellion can grow and to mitigate the negative side effects of some of the events. Just like most characters don't max constitution as their highest score, I don't think Loyalty is mechanically optimal.

I didn't consider the mechanics at all when I said Loyalty - I was thinking that, given the kind of characters we are, and what our motivation seems to be, we'd simply be good at trying to have and build popular momentum. Hence loyalty. I'm not going to stamp my foot and say "not secrecy" though if people prefer it...

Shall we vote just to keep it clear?

I'm going Loyalty because I'm putting fluff before mechanics.

Loyalty - 1
Secrecy - 0
Security - 0

If we are voting, my vote goes to Secrecy again for fluff reasons. The mechanics will sort itself out in the end.

So:

Loyalty - 1
Secrecy - 1
Security - 0

Sure! My vote goes to Secrecy.

Loyalty - 1
Secrecy - 2
Security - 0

Hey all, my laptop is back and so am I! I've followed the events in the Gameplay Thread but I'm lagging a little behind on the current topic of the discussion about our group of rebels. I will read everything needed tomorrow, since here is evening already, and then I will post my opinions ;)

Galen lets Grimple vote for him...and he votes Seecritzzzz...see!

Since it's clearly going to lose anyway I'm going to vote for Security!

Loyalty: 1
Secrecy: 3
Security: 1

Hey guys, I've taken a look at the rules for managing the Silver Ravens and the rebellion sheet. What follows is what I think about it, but keep in mind that I always prefer flavor over mechanical functionality.

I think that we should create a balanced group. Having to choose one focus, I would say Loyalty. But we should try to balance things using teams and other bonuses.

As for Varian's role in the group, I'd like to go with Demagogue. I know that, mechanically speaking, he's not the best one for the role, but Demagogue is just what Varian is according to his background and his character concept.

I am going to let you all continue to work this out up until the moment it becomes necessary to decide a final answer. ;-D

Regarding the Masked Personas...interesting. I don't really see why we couldn't use that. I do recall Crustypeanut making a comment about offering you some portion of Vigilante as UI came out when you were first getting started. I will look at that and see if it conflicts with anything in the campaign ahead.

Anyone else feel like it has been...like...a year since we leveled up? Lol

Side note: didn't we JUST come out of a dungeon? I suggest we take an in-game evening at least to recover spell slots and daily abilities.

I'll take a look at what kind of XP totals you should have. I haven't really calculated what you would have earned for your time playing pre-me.

So the eventual tally stands at:

Loyalty - 2
Secrecy - 3
Security - 1

And in terms of stated preferences for party roles:

Demagogue: Varian
Partisan: Avrora
Recruiter:
Sentinel: Darian
Spymaster:
Strategist:

Okay so secrecy it is. We'll have fun, regardless! Any input on the remaining party roles?

Phineas would be happy in the Spymaster or Strategist roles. Galen, if you wanted to transition into to a spymaster role over time, Phineas would be more than happy to start as the spymaster and transition out to a more big-picture position (or recruitment, as needed) as time progresses and Galen both shows talent and interest for the role. I think that makes a lot of sense, actually, given how the characters are set now.

Guess that leaves Isabel as a recruiter... which I find a bit difficult given her background, which is much more about watching people than anything else. I can try though.

Guess that leaves Isabel as a recruiter... which I find a bit difficult given her background, which is much more about watching people than anything else. I can try though.

I don't know if that could help, but perhaps we could try to put up a roleplaying scene in which Varian and Isable talk about this particular topic. Varian would suggest her that if you want to do the good of the people, you can't limit yourself to watch them. That could motivate Isabel's attempt at being a recruiter, at least from a roleplaying point of view. As long as flavor is concerned, though, I could see Varian and Isabel frequently exchanging their roles. Sometimes Varian will give inspirational speeches to the crowd, but sometimes he will leave the stage for Isabel while he recruits more people for the cause of the Silver Ravens. Do you think that this would help?

Isabel Rhelian wrote:

Guess that leaves Isabel as a recruiter... which I find a bit difficult given her background, which is much more about watching people than anything else. I can try though.

I don't know if that could help, but perhaps we could try to put up a roleplaying scene in which Varian and Isabel talk about this particular topic. Varian would suggest her that if you want to do the good of the people, you can't limit yourself to watch them. That could motivate Isabel's attempt at being a recruiter, at least from a roleplaying point of view. As long as flavor is concerned, though, I could see Varian and Isabel frequently exchanging their roles. Sometimes Varian will give inspirational speeches to the crowd, but sometimes he will leave the stage for Isabel while he recruits more people for the cause of the Silver Ravens. Do you think that this would help?

Perhaps if we split by target audience? Isabel has good, subtle entree into the aristocrats, but not an awful lot of understanding of what makes the normal people tick. Varian is dead, so he can't talk to the aristocrats, but he's good with the 'common folk'. Maybe we can do something around that.

About loot...do we have a current list being maintained anywhere?

I left your original link in the header, but all of us only have view access. I can try and get something put together when I have time unless one of you feels ambitious.

Maybe... I track loot for another game so I might be able to copy it over.

You guys can save a copy of mine to your own drives and use the new copy. Thats why I made sure you had view access to it.

Sorry for my recent absence, I had an unexpectedly hellacious stretch at work and today is the first time I've had to even hop on the boards. Getting caught up now.

Lurking on roll20 for a bit.

I'm really glad you all took some time to roleplay and add some more facets to your characters. I admit I have been quiet because I was in fact hoping to see some of that. I plan to get things rolling once more, so expect some posts from me later today.

Pin: I plan to check in with Darian's parents at the Aulamaxa estate once this scene with Isabel is over. Do you plan on any significant interaction there or can I just glaze over it?

I'm not 100% sure I understand what you're asking, but I just jumped on Roll20 if you want to chat about it.

Man...Isabel's a stout sleeper...lol

Pulled a back muscle, so currently being seen by a physician. I may get some more posted today, but might be delayed until tomorrow if the meds end up being sleepy time.

@Darian: I owe you some posts. I didn't get to the research I planned on the Aulamaxa Family for reasons related to my situation and family stuff, but I will try to get that finished soon.

It's cool. We have it spoilers so we can keep it as "in the past" if need be.

@Avora: I'm not clear if you're wanting me to add some significance to the Harrow draw or not, or leave it to you for pure RP purposes. Let me know.

No Pin, this is just flavor text on my end, thanks :).

@Galen: Regarding the Harrow deck, I've decided the reason it's not an actual Harrow deck is because it's missing cards, but the cards you do have are in fact actual Harrow cards. Future draws are possible, but I will add an element for the missing cards. If you want this to become a more integrated part of your character given his background, I have some ideas brewing...

Anyway...

How to draw Harrow using dice (or RNGs!):

1d6 for the suit:

• 1 = hammers
• 2 = keys
• 3 = shields
• 4 = books
• 5 = stars
• 6 = crowns

1d10 to determine alignment:

• 1 = LG
• 2 = NG
• 3 = CG
• 4 = LN
• 5 = N
• 6 = CN
• 7 = LE
• 8 = NE
• 9 = CE
• 10 = roll again

Obviously, I will need to adjudicate the actual results since some of the cards are missing from Galen's deck, so please allow me to tell you which card you actually get instead of using any sources from Paizo or the oracle. :)

I'll be out all day tomorrow, and won't be able to post until the weekend. Please bot me as needed.

Looking to get a Galen post in today -- it's been a bit challenging to think about Galen's existence post-Aria, as he's essentially homeless now and his motivations for performing would be heavily impacted. So not the greatest thing to write about, but I'll find an angle here for his day.

Maybe with a new DM, she will make a miraculous recovery?

So about loot. Had we found a masterwork morningstar, or was that just my imagination?

Most of the loot from the Fair Fortune is listed here which does include a Mw silver morningstar. I think the loot tracker above basically lists everything you got prior to my start as GM.

Did anyone ever roll Appraise for the non-gear related treasure? I don't recall ever seeing that anywhere which is why I haven't mentioned the value of your warchest for your rebellion.

Any chance I could retcon having claimed the morningstar? If you'd rather not I understand, but as a 3/4 BAB trying to TWF that +1 to hit would be a huge boon :).

If not now, I will definitely be asking for that at the first opportunity.

You have all had a nearly 24 hours to do whatever you want. So splitting the loot and what not seems fairly open. If you want to lay claim to gear with your fellows' consent, I can't imagine there would be any problem.

I saw nothing that screams Darian, except maybe the cloak of elvenkind.

@Darian: I'm going to hold off on the posts about interactions with your parents until after this little side adventure. Let's assume that your most recent visit with them was fairly brief as they were busy and rushing off to handle things. You will have gotten the impression there has been some kind of shake-up with business...probably thanks to Thrune, of course.

Ok.

Hey GM, I don't seem to be able to find Darian and Avrora on the map. Could you please place me behind Darian?

I sure can!

FYI: the visibility is currently restricted based on corners and all that, so since the basement is officially a separate part of the map, there's a little "tunnel" on the Roll20 which leads there, so you can move your tokens back and forth if you need to do so.

EDIT: I added a purple line to lead you if anyone is having trouble finding the "tunnel."

Howdy! Currently in the market for a replacement PC for an ongoing Hell's Rebels campaign. Melee/tank/meat shield/frontline combatant is the current desire. We are a group looking to locate one more player interested in this role and also interested in active roleplaying. Hell's Rebels is definitely a game with action, but also lots of downtime which we hope to fill with subtle character development and interesting story.

Still interested? Please continue reading. :)

The character creation outline for Hell’s Rebels characters will be as follows:
Rules for character creation marked with a ‘*’ will have additional notes below the overall outline.

• Starting Level: Replacement PC will start at 2nd level.
  
• Alignment: Any Non-Evil. The campaign is Chaotic Good themed.
  
• Ability Scores: 15 point buy.
  
• HP: Max HP rolls at 1st level. Players will roll for HP or take Average from level 2 onward.
  
• Traits: 2 traits, one of which must be a Campaign Trait. A third “Reason for Protesting” mini-trait will also be required to explain why you attended the Aria Park Protest.
  
• Drawback: Drawbacks are allowed.
  
• Base Starting Money: 1000gp.
  
• Races*: Any Core, plus Tiefling and Tengu. Other races may or not be allowed at the DM’s discretion, though any beyond the above mentioned ones will carry certain penalties for the rebellion.
  
• Classes: All classes from Paizo Products, including Occult Adventures. Unchained versions are mandatory for those classes that have unchained versions.
  
• Firearms: Firearms are allowed, but operate under the standard rules, and thus are not commonly found in Kintargo or Cheliax.
  
• Crafted Items: Any character able to craft items through a feat may do so at the reduced prices. Characters with craft skills may craft items ahead of time at the reduced price if they can craft the item by taking a 10 and succeed.
  
• Background Skills: All players gain an additional 2 skill ranks per level to be used in Background skills.

*Unusual Races: Races that go beyond the above-mentioned choices will see a penalty to the rebellion - most notably, unless steps are taken to hide one’s unusual race, the group’s Notoriety will see a greater increase each time Notoriety is gained, and the organization’s starting Notoriety will be higher for each unusual race. Submissions including a race native to Cheliax are more likely to be considered.

When you create a submission, please create a character alias and include your character information in the form of a bestiary stat block like Theodric Rothnt’s Profile. An easily copied and modified version can be found here. Alternatively, Hero Lab format or something very similar to either works as well.

Also, include the following information in your profile:

• 1) Appearance
• 2) Personality
• 3) Background

When reading backgrounds, I’m looking for ways that you as players tie yourselves into Kintargo; Where do you live? Do you have family here? How long have you lived here? Do you have any special haunts that you frequent? Do you have friends or rivals? These sorts of things I’m looking for, and the better tied to Kintargo your character is, the better chance you have at being selected. This also helps me see who has read the player’s guide and the ‘Kintargo at a Glance’ article within it.

I am happy to answer any questions here or via PM. Thank you for stopping by!

Dotting, also would a ragebred or other varient skinwalker barb be ok. I have some other ideas but I have been meaning to play that. I was thinking that I could play him as pretending to be a beastmorph alchemist drinking his 'mutagen' to change shape.

Any issues with a paladin? Any gods in particular to be avoided for reasons of the party/game so far?

I have a double axe half orc that I have been wanting to play for a while now. I will conform him to your specifications today and post him soon.

Player in the game here. I would also like to stress the need for someone who actively partakes in role play. Not only does it keep the game moving and interesting, but it's good for exploring various hooks and providing the DM with opportunities to work in campaign bits. The more active role players the better. We would prefer a "Role Player" over a "Roll Player."

Dotting, also would a ragebred or other varient skinwalker barb be ok.

I honestly am unfamiliar with the expression 'ragebred.' That phrase doesn't seem to come up in the PRD nor d20PFSRD, so if you can elaborate or explain a bit more, I can answer you clearly.

Any issues with a paladin? Any gods in particular to be avoided for reasons of the party/game so far?

Paladins: I don't have a problem, per se, but obviously playing the class could be tricky as the AP lends itself better to those less rigid in the Lawful direction. Also, it's worth mentioning the current focus of the Rebellion is Secrecy which may not really jive well with a paladin's code when the party does sabotage and similarly "underhanded" actions. I also suspect that there may be moments when the Rebellion may have to wrestle with the moral dilemma of allowing evil acts to occur without intervention for one reason or another which would be in direct conflict of a paladin's code to prevent the suffering of innocents.

Gods: I would recommend avoiding Lawful deities for the most part since I imagine those who are not will be more likely to allow slips in the Paladin's code for the benefit of the cause whereas many Lawful deities would be more likely to disapprove of trying to shirk Thrune's 'legitimate authority' of the region. Some deities may even approve of the intent of the current situation which could cause a paladin PC to come in direct conflict with his own church which might require some serious roleplaying to avoid consequences.

If you have more questions, please let me know.

It is one of the Varients under Skinwalker It shows up halfway down the page. I also ended up chosing Scaleheart/werecrocodile kin. If this is a problem i can switch to another race and this archetype

Interesting. I wonder why their search function didn't bring it up at first. I'll read up and let you know.

Throg here.
Tentative crunch and backstory complete and in character.

While I reserve the right to change my mind, my concern for race in Hell's Rebels is mainly based on the level of bigotry inherent within the game world of Cheliax. Human-seeming feels like it would work just fine in terms of interactive context, so skinwalker as a race should be acceptable for submission purposes.

Two hours of work

May I present Sentir Damutu, former Castellan of House Aulamaxa, and former thief, now crusader for Milani (mostly).

Please tell me if I messed anything up, I tried my best to copy everything into your preferred format! Really look forward to this game.

@Throg & GM Mowque: Thank you for your submissions. I'll allow another day or two for more submissions, then confer with the active players on a selection.

Hoping I can have a concrete decision possibly this weekend.

dotting

I'm interested. I'll try to come up with a concept.

Still a work in progress, but it should give you an idea where I'm heading.

Thank you for your submission, Dreaming Warforged. Looking good so far.

Ok, I think Emmett is pretty much done.

Let me know if you have questions or comments.

Here is Hryvnas Raszamy. He is a warpriest of Desna with the Cult Leader archetype which makes him a bit more Rogue-ish than Fighter-ish. Not sure if that would fit with your game.

He is a Garuda-blooded Aasimar, but has the Scion of Humanity alternate trait so he looks human without a disguise.

The crunch would have to be updated for your game but the Fluff is more or less done.

Thank you for your submissions everyone. I will be looking over everything and rendering final verdicts. I may have a couple of questions which I will send along to you via PM, but I hope to have worked out a solid decision with the current players' assistance by Sunday evening. I post from the Pacific Time zone for ease of reference.

Thanks for the update!

In case you're wondering what's happening with the recruitment, DM Spirit of Pinvendor has mentioned preferring to step down as GM for this game.

Link to post.

Hi everyone, thanks for the interest but as Dreaming Warforged noted the GM has had to pull out from the game. We, the remaining players, have spoken and we've decided to let the game die gracefully. Thanks a lot for your interest and for some great characters - I hope you all find games for them in the future!

I had a feeling.