I'm good with Lia being a recruiter.
I guess Gregor could be a strategist, I did suggest it after all. :)
For us, there are only a few actions we can do without the team to do so.
Guarantee Event (No Team Required): By deliberately lowering the organization’s guard and increasing your Notoriety score by 1d6, you can guarantee an event occurs during the Event phase. If you perform this action, the GM rolls twice and takes the lower roll as the actual result for the event.
Lie Low (No Team Required): If you choose to take no rebellion actions at all during the phase, you can reduce your Notoriety score by an amount equal to the rebellion’s total number of teams.
Recruit Supporters (No Team Required): This check can only be made once per Activity phase. By spending an amount of gold equal to the rebellion’s minimum treasury value, you can attempt to recruit additional supporters. To do so, attempt a Loyalty check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the rebellion’s rank. On a successful check, increase the rebellion’s supporters by 2d6 + any bonuses granted by Recruiter officers. If you roll a natural 1 on the Loyalty check, you don’t automatically fail, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6. You can’t take this action if the rebellion is at its current maximum rank.
Recruit Team (No Team Required): You can attempt to recruit a new team as long as you are not already at the maximum number of teams allowed (discounting bonus teams). The DC and specific Organization check required to recruit the team depend on the type of team being recruited. If you roll a natural 1 on the Organization check, you don’t automatically fail, but your Notoriety score increases by 1d6.
Being early, I don't think we need to Lie Low or Guarantee an Event. Knowing the way this thing goes, we can hemorrage supporters pretty easily, but doing so doesn't lower our ranks when gained. The teams are where we get all the other actions we can take.
So since we get two actions, I would say we use the Fushi sisters for one action to Gather Information (as we have set gold aside already and need it more when upgrading teams), and then use our other action to Recruit a team.
As for which team to Recruit, since the Sisters can both Earn Gold and Gather Info, we currently don't need Peddlers (who can Earn Gold) or Street Performers (who Gather Info). So we need either Thieves (to Secure Cache, of which we don't have enough to secure), or Freedom Fighters (to Reduce Danger, which lowers our chance of an Event, which we could use).
All that said, the Strategist suggests we have the Fushi Sisters Gather Information and Recruit a team of Freedom Fighters so they can help us reduce danger while we do other tasks in the future.
Thoughts?
... Didiana as the Demagogue (despite protest, also, it has a nice ring to it). For what it's worth, you are quite charismatic, so you do have some degree of social eloquence, whether directly or indirectly. Now is your chance to put those unused talents to good use. : )
Oh definitely. Di generally carries herself well; that was always the intent and I hope I haven't failed the character in that regard. When I wrote that she would feel uncomfortable as an orator, I meant that she just plain doesn't want to use those talents. She despises social politics. She associates it with her infernal heritage and so prefers direct methods of dealing with people. This is why her one social skill is Intimidate and her vocation is busting heads. They say violence isn't the answer, but for Di it really is.
Now, the rebellion rules are a mouthful to swallow, so forgive me if I've misunderstood something but, Zek, can you confirm that the tengu sisters can take the actions Earn Gold and Gather Info, like Gregor writes above? I can't find it written anywhere. And can the unique teams take actions in addition to the allotted Rebellion Actions determined by our rank (in this case 1)? Again, that seems to be Gregor's understanding but I'm not finding it.
Assuming Gregor has it right, I'm gonna throw my support behind his suggestion: have the Fushi sisters Gather Info while we Recruit Team. Recruiting Freedom Fighters seems the best option: the sister can already act as both teams of Street Performers and Peddlers, and the Sneaks (assuming you meant them over Thieves, Gregor, as Thieves are a tier 2 team) and their caches don't seem hugely useful at this stage. The chance events seem fairly dangerous on the other hand, so having FF reducing the danger rating would be of use.
That said, very tempted to just go for more supporters. Those PC boons are tasty.
Well, Di could always play us a sad song on her violin, I'm sure that would persuade people to join the Silver Ravens.
I mentioned the tengus' available actions in the gameplay thread, but you won't find them in the player's guide as they're a unique team. They can indeed take the Earn Gold and Gather Information rebellion actions. Bonus teams don't count toward your maximum number of teams. The unique teams can't take actions in addition to the allotted rebellion actions, but Gregor the Strategist grants a bonus rebellion action (for a total of 2 actions per week, at the moment).
The rebellion rules are a bit much to swallow at first, but from what I've read, the rebellion system is one of the best subsystems Paizo has come up with. So that being said, I think we'll get into a groove on using it within a few weeks (in-game weeks).
This is your (the party's) rebellion, so I don't really plan to offer suggestions (just clarifications, as needed) on what rebellion actions to take. Make the rebellion what you want it to be.
Trust it to be in the one place I forgot to check. Danke very much, Zek. Everything checks out then.
I'll wait till around this time tomorrow to run the first week's actions (the activity and event phases). If you want to hash anything else out, do so in the meantime. If nothing changes, I'll assume we're going forward with Gregor's suggestions for officer roles and rebellion actions for the first week.
One thing I did want to mention is that you don't have to do something everyday (everyday of in-game time) if you don't want to. It's perfectly fine if – in-game events permitting – you want to take a week or two just to let the rebellion run in the background while your characters get some r&r. You'll just need to coordinate with each other and let me know.
Agreed on the Sisters gathering info and our second action being to recruit a Freedom Fighter Team. Although I wouldn't object to Earn Gold either.
Information is valuable - thus, let's have the Sisters gather information.
I'm fine with recruiting a Freedom Fighter Team - although I wouldn't say no to getting some Peddlers so we can increase our cash flow independent of the Sisters.
Sorry, I finally caught up. Had some truly awful days behind me, but they're over now.
@Gregor: Sentinel seems fine.
Your familiarity with rebel groups allows you to grant
a +2 bonus on an Organization check of your choice
once the party reestablishes the Silver Ravens during the
first adventure. You can change which check you assign
this bonus to once at the start of the rebellion’s Upkeep
phase.
Does this mean I could grand the recruiter a +2 if we opt to recruit a team during the next phase?
I'll read through the Player's Guide again tomorrow just to cram the rules into my head :)
I think I can speak for everyone when I say we've missed seeing your posts, Matiscio. Hope better days are ahead.
And yes, you can use that +2 on any single organization check (loyalty, secrecy, or security) each week. You can use it for the recruit team action during the first activity phase, if you'd like. Glad you mentioned that as it's a neat benefit of that campaign trait.
Alrighty, here come the first week’s activity and event phases. After the first week, we’ll have the upkeep, activity, and event phases all at the same time. Since there’s nothing to upkeep yet, that won’t apply for week one. I’ve also updated the rebellion sheet, so everything should be current on it. Let me know if you see anything amiss.
Rebellion Week One
Activity Phase
Action 1: Gather Information
For this, I’m counting the Fushis as a tier 2 team since they have 2 actions that they can take.
Since you succeeded, I'll post what the Fushi sisters gathered in the gameplay thread.
Action 2: Recruit Team
I added the +2 from Matiscio’s trait bonus.
You successfully recruited a team of Freedom Fighters! You can use them for rebellion actions for week two and onward (assuming nothing happens to them). *Evil laugh*
Event Phase
Since the rebellion’s notoriety score is currently 0, only Kintargo’s danger rating (+20) is added to the event chance roll.
Invasion!
If the CR of the encounter is below the group's party level, I'm not going to bother with actually doing the encounter as you would easily be able to deal with the threat. In this case, the party slew a few dire rats that made their way into The Wasp Nest from Kintargo's sewers.
Edit: Each team (other than unique/bonus teams like the Fushis) require a manager. That manager adds his or her charisma bonus to organization checks made by that team. I'm assuming Didiana would manage the first team since she has the highest charisma modifier.
The dire rat infestation at least gives us an in-game reason to acquire some corpse dissolving acid ..
.. and yeah, all of that makes me feel more like a narco than a rebel, haha.
Gilda's not really been casting ears of the city very much.
With downtime, I imagine this is something she'd possibly cast every day, burning the slot, to see what tidbits she can pick up.
Otherwise I imagine it might be better to swap this for comprehend languages to help on the Linguistics checks?
If you take comprehend languages on the next day, I'm okay with you still trying to aid Rexus for this week. Ears of the city would definitely be more useful if you all decide to take some downtime.
I’m going to hold off on updating the gameplay thread till tomorrow so everyone has a chance to post in the gameplay and/or discussion threads. I only plan to (possibly) do this on weekends as I still want us to keep a steady pace.
As a corollary to that, keeping a steady pace means that those who post more often will just naturally have a more prominent place in the story. I firmly believe the more everyone posts the better the story will be, so I love it when everyone posts before I update. Doing so also gives everyone more to work with in their posts.
Also, I'll be out of town Sunday and Monday for the eclipse happening here in the US. I'm going to try to update us while I'm away, but it'll depend on whether or not the campground I'm staying at has internet. Worst case, I'll update things tomorrow night, then the next update will be on Tuesday. I'll try to leave tomorrow's post open-ended so everyone can do some roleplay and in-character discussion in the meantime.
Apologies for failing to post yesterday. Found myself busy.
On a completely unrelated note, if any of you boys and girls in the US have the option to see that eclipse, like our gracious GM, I highly, highly recommend you do so. You may not think it a big deal now, as I did, but seeing a total eclipse really is a stunning experience. Would recommend.
And glad to see you back, Matiscio.
Just don't look directly at the eclipse without special glasses! And thank you!
Yep, from what I hear, it should be quite stunning, as you said. And I do have some special glasses for watching it. Good luck finding some if you're still looking. They're rarer than unicorns at this point.
Yay for having internet. Also, the eclipse was spectacular. If you get a chance to be in the line of totality for one of them, I highly recommend you take it.
Who Gets the Scrolls, part III: the Writing's on the Scrawl
Hi, I'm Didiana Drost. You may remember me from posts such as Who Gets the Scrolls and Who Gets the Scrolls II: Papyrus Panic. Today we're discussing scrolls and who gets them.
So yeah. Remove Disease and Cure Blindness/Deafness are easy enough to distribute as Gilda is the only one able to use them. Daylight could go to either Gilda or Di; I'm gonna say Gilda as Di has more spells per day and Gilda has the higher concentration check.
I'm gonna let Evander and Gilda hash it out over the Cure Moderate Wounds scroll. Gilda can use it, but Evander can add it to his not-a-spellbook. No particular opinion on the potions of Restoration, but if the four potions of CLW go to Di, Evander, Gilda and Gregor that would leave every member of the party with one such potion.
Thoughts?
As Gregor has little use for any of the scrolls (until he goes Bard), he's okay getting a CLW.
As for the potions of Restoration, I think those would be best held by whoever fills the support roles. The people that will have more available actions to retrieve and distribute such a potion during combat if necessary. Or, to the people whose effectiveness would be most hindered by ability damage. So, it's a tough call, as Gregor as a Bard will be mostly support, but he suffers the least from ability damage with his scores so close across the middle (and not really relying on any one stat as a primary).
Gilda would be a good choice to hang on to one of the potions of lesser restoration, as would be Di. For the other, either myself or Gregor. I'm rather reliant on Dex for fighting, but Gregor being a back-liner as an archer would allow for ease of distribution of the potion if needed.
Evander is currently unable to copy spells into his formulae book, as he finds himself lacking Spellcraft. I suspect that, next level, I'll be pouring some ranks into both that and Craft (alchemy). I also won't be able to make an extract of cure moderate wounds for another 2 levels at the earliest, so Gilda having the scroll for now is more valuable for immediate use.
Sure, Gilda can hold onto the divine scrolls for now. I suspect a Cure Moderate is only being used prior to Evander's scribing in the most dire of circumstances.
Once everyone is good with who gets what, go ahead and move your new stuff to your tab on the loot list.
Also, I can't wait for the fourth part of Who Gets the Scrolls. I hear it's a real nail-biter.
I went ahead and distributed the scrolls and cure light wounds potions (Gilda gets a pile of scrolls and one potion to each person that didn't have one already). It wasn't clear who you all wanted to have the potions of lesser restoration, so those are still in the shared tab.
500 posts and counting! Well done, everyone! We're also over a third of the way through the first book of the adventure so yay for us!
Party time! ~~\._./~~
I'm going to hold off on updating us today. I would really like everyone to weigh in on what to do about Vendalfek, so I'll plan to update us tomorrow night. I realize it's labor day weekend here in the U.S., so that's probably why posting has been a bit slower than usual.
Everyone okay out there? I know the weekend was slow, but I would like to get back to a consistent pace again. That said, I'm not going to update us with just one reply, so everyone chime in as soon as you can.
Apologies. Going back to a regular work schedule after summer has just hit me hard. Always takes a little while to reacclimate. Will still be aiming for daily posts, of course.
Sorry about that. Got a bit swamped with stuff. Should be good now, though.
I predict a slow Thanksgiving and Christmas, too. :)
No worries, folks. Just don't want us to slow down too much. I agree with Painlord that there's more risk in going too slow than too fast. And fair point, Gilda. Thanksgiving and Christmas will likely be slow. Haha.
Everything is fine. Sometimes I have little to hook onto (or, well, that's how I feel) so I'll simply wait for a more opportune moment to step on in :)
Hopefully none of you are hit by Irma. I know a player in one of my other games is .. and I saw the footage of what it did to one of the Dutch islands in the Caribbean. Brrr :(
Gotcha. I'll see what I can do about that. : )
And yeah, the folks around the Gulf of Mexico have been having a rough time of it lately. Looks like Jose may be on the way afterwards, too.
In the interest of giving everyone a chance to respond, I'll hold off on updating us till tomorrow night. Mondays seem to be particularly hectic. For the group leaving the Salt Works, note that I plan to push you all back to base, so go ahead and post anything you want to do before going there (in addition to responding to Vendalfek's inquiry).
Been without Internet, will post/catch up tonight!
Thank you for the heads up! Hope all is well now.
That was meant to be "Be my guest." lol
No offense, but I really don't get the seagull.
Personally, I can't stand them. I come from the west coast, and they are just annoying rat birds. Finding Nemo had them spot on.
I've seen a group of 3-4 chase off a majestic bald eagle perched nearby because he was too close to the great big cafeteria garbage cans that they picked out of nearby.
Okay, a couple things I want to cover.
Times like these are a good point to discuss the game plan ooc here in the discussion thread. It’s not really that different from if this was a face-to-face game - there would inevitably be a discussion among the players as to the best option. You can, of course, proceed with rp in-character, but at this point, it’ll probably be easiest to decide on a solution here in the discussion thread then proceed with the in-character dialogue accordingly.
As far as the decision goes, I want to mention that I would strongly advise against a plan that only involves a couple people. This would potentially keep the majority of the party from posting for a number of days. If everyone agrees on this option, though, I would advise that the section involving only a couple people take up two or three days (in real life) at most to avoid keeping everyone else out of the story. That might mean the couple characters involved need to post more than once on those days, so that would be another consideration if we did a segment like that.
Normally, we could probably do something like where we had the party split in two, but everyone had something interesting to do in that case. In this case, I don’t think that’s really an option. However, if everyone wants to do the infiltration option, you could incorporate the other characters by having them be prisoners or something along those lines. Basically I’m just saying that I want everyone to be actively involved in the story as much as possible. As a general rule, any plan should involve all six of you in some capacity.
"Couldn't we just defeat all of them, and then stage it to look like there was a falling out? Maybe, we could even find or fabricate evidence that would do just that."
I revert to my original suggestion. We go in, kick butt, take names. We find or fabricate evidence. Then stage the bodies to look like a falling out between the Church of Asmodeus and the CCG thugs. Use that as our story, that the mayor's allies can't get along or work together (or be trusted). Try to cause a 3-way falling out between the groups.
I agree. Evander's plan was similar, just with the extra complication.
I do think we should try to at least semi-stealth the mission, though. If we can take out the two guards keeping watch without them raising the alarm, that might make the rest of the mission go a lot easier.
No offense, but I really don't get the seagull.
That's okay. I don't get 'Dave'.
Seriously, at the risk of killing the joke, feel free to explain that one, anyone. Non-native speaker here, so it may have just flown over my head. And I'm sure there's another bird joke to be made right there, but I can't be bothered.
+1 for jumping ahead to the rescue mission. We try to take out the two guards out front as quietly as possible (via Sleep or, if that's not enough for both, Charm Person + Sleep), and see where we go from there. Most likely to bustin' heads.
That sounds like a solid plan, Gregor, and I'm fine with moving ahead to the rescue mission.
Assuming everyone wants to jump ahead to the rescue mission, we'll go ahead and do that. While we're discussing it, everyone does need to decide what time during the day or night they want to go. (It makes a difference).
+1. Jump ahead. Full group.
Day or night. Both have advantages. I'd probably say during the day though as there's more city noise to mask whatever we do.
I disagree, I think night would be better. Not only does it cover us, but if we can catch more of them without time to gear up, the better.
Also, the strategy of putting as many to sleep before being seen is the best one. If we can knock out at least a few before they know what's happening, then we have people on the inside backing up our story that there was a falling out.
For example, we catch 2-4 CCG unawares, then we deal with the rest of the place, and stage it to look like a falling out between both factions. Those CCG back up whatever evidence pointing to the Asmodean skimming, and they are personally at odds with the church. Increasing tensions between the two groups.
I'm fine with night, but Matiscio will be blind as a bat without a light source. On the flip side, this might also apply for the people we're visiting.
Except for the Dwarf, I think the CCG is mostly human. Plus, there may be lights once we get inside.
I agree with using the cover of night to do the deed. Daylight has too many chances of passerby noticing us.