Hot DM's Song of Silver (Inactive)

Game Master Hotaru of the Society

Alright, now have stats in an alias. As long as I'm posting anyway, I don't mind feedback but aren't relying on it, so feel to critique if you've got time.

Feedback and a grade would be interesting to get. :)

Don't think I'm going to be able to meet your time frame, Hot GM. Good luck to all the applicants!

So is it just me, or is this the perfect game for the Ensemble feat?

On a semi-related note, if Oskin is selected, I think he'll be taking a few illusions on his sorcerer side, as we go. You know, for visual effects for this Super Music Group.

So is it just me, or is this the perfect game for the Ensemble feat?

On a semi-related note, if Oskin is selected, I think he'll be taking a few illusions on his sorcerer side, as we go. You know, for visual effects for this Super Music Group.

You're not wrong! That's why I went with a solid dance background. We need some visual flair! Enhance with Silent Image for immediate "sets" anywhere we go!

I guess it's a good thing Lia's got both Perform (Act) and Perform (Sing), then. :)

Like any good opera actress should.

Sorry FC! I just need to place a time limit that allows me to 'get things done' while I have days off. :)

I'll work through PMs tonight.

Dance and Sing, for Kesin.
Good body control and a lovely voice. No classical schooling, though- but with some effort and teaching by someone who had, she could well be a very versatile performer.

I wrote Oskin as a very Bardly Bard. He's got Act, Dance, Percussion, and Sing, which is his specialty. I also gave him the Diva-in-Training Trait, which is a super-bardly trait too.

Full Dance for Melissa. Works better with knives but still great without.

@DM
Does a monk have to be in direct alignment with his deity?
If so, does he still have to obey the lawful modifier of his alignment?

Monks must still be lawful unless archetyping out of it. (I believe the only option for that is Martial Artist. Others are probably better informed!)

At least from my point of view, they're one of the few base classes for whom alignment restrictions truly make sense; what they do is a way of life, building upon themselves day after day. :)

There's an Aasimar trait (thus allowed to humans, half-elves, and half-orcs via Variant Heritage) that lets a monk be NG. Otherwise, yeah, martial artist is an option (just not if you're going unchained).

Really? What is it?

@Dragoncat: Trait is Enlightened Warrior. Turns out it also works with NN.

What about the deity question?

Can I be a monk that worships Sarenrae?

Well, if she can have paladins, I don't see why she can't also have monks.

Presumably as long as your monk is LG.

The standard person can probably worship a diety while being two steps removed on different axes simply by virtue of agreeing in minor ways and not overthinking it.

A Cleric, or other divinely-influenced class should be within one step: You might not agree with your god whole-heartedly, but you hold some of their tenants sacred and ensure (in your own way) that they receive worship in regards to those.

A Paladin, on the other hand, should have a code specifically tied in to the sort of god or goddess they wish to worship, because that god has laws that Supercede the laws of man (in some cases, specifically stating to observe the laws of man). They are in an almost literal sense 'the hands of god'. In Essence, a 'Lawful Good' Paladin makes sense as a Neutral Good character when they worship Shelyn, because the laws that they follow are Neutral Good in nature. All of that is just my opinion, though.

That being said, in regards to your question: A Monk is not inherently divine, and may be a layman when it comes to worship, all the way up to a champion of the cause. A lawful, good monk can easily worship Sarenrae.

Zeb is a 'Song and Dance' man. ;) That feat, though, looks tailor-made for some of us ...

How strict are the alignment rule(pertaining to Lawful evil/neutral)?

Lawful Evil - Absolutely not.
Lawful Neutral - Not a good idea. Particularly good submission, though...

Both of these alignments are 'problematic' within the AP, as the character is generally pretty likely to follow the basic 'Hellknight Order of the Godclaw' perspectives, if nothing else. The only way I've seen it work is 'my law is better than yours', thus far. That's not to say it can't work with something else, but the fact that your Lawful Neutral character needs to either be able to get along with folks that are actively breaking the law, or at least actively ignoring it in many cases.

This is of course different for a Lawful Good character, for whom 'Good' can easily be more important than 'Thrune's Law'. :)

Also... how many lawful musicians do you know?

That I will argue with. Music is not inherently chaotic. Music can be of any alignment, filling any purpose, spurring any emotion. The inherent emotional aspect makes it seem chaotic, as it is often a thing of sweeping change... but that would be completely disregarding the storied history of music, and the musical traditions we've kept mostly intact for hundreds of years. A musician can study music, and make beautiful songs, without being 'chaotic'. Remember, nature itself uses music constantly, and our lazy human brains have been found to copy animal calls in our own song (specifically, opera has a lot of commonality with songbirds... if you slow the latter down, or speed the former up.)

That's completely disregarding the use of music in storing history for the next generation and making it easier to 'keep' via Oral Traditions.

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

That is a can of worms that need not be opened. Especially in recruitment or no one would ever finish. Arguments can be made to use any stat for just about any ability in any class. I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma.

Full Dance for Melissa. Works better with knives but still great without.

Everything works better with knives! Plus, Kakure might be able to teach Melissa a thing or two about juggling while Melissa teaches her about dance so they could perform together.

Also... how many lawful musicians do you know?

Obviously you haven't met any really dedicated music majors. Those folks give monks a run for their money in the legalism with which they practice their instruments. Gonna agree more with Hot DM here: music can be of any alignment.

Yup! My only musician friend was a concert pianist growing up (with her father a musician known in small circles.) Hours upon hours of practice is often forgotten when thinking of bards and musicians. :) I accept 'fake it til you make it' though.

She's since become a biologist, focusing on marine studies, but also got her teaching license, so spends more time teaching students than studying otters. :)

Absolutely!

There is also something to be said for natural talent, particularly with non-classical instruments. There's nothing that says one must be classically trained to be a good musician, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

It's kind of like the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer. One derives power from focused study and practice while the other gets power from some innate quality. Each can be extremely proficient and might even possess skills that the other lacks, but, in the end, they are both magic-users.

Then again, a bard could just skip the music thing and do something silly like juggle knives. Lol

Hot DM wrote:

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

That is a can of worms that need not be opened. Especially in recruitment or no one would ever finish. Arguments can be made to use any stat for just about any ability in any class. I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma.

So whats wrong with getting Charisma to AC?

Zayne Iwatani wrote:

Hot DM wrote:

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

That is a can of worms that need not be opened. Especially in recruitment or no one would ever finish. Arguments can be made to use any stat for just about any ability in any class. I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma.

So whats wrong with getting Charisma to AC?

Ha. Touche. Good old Chainmail Bikini. Rule 1 in gaming. The better the armor the less actual armor.

MordredofFairy wrote:

Zayne Iwatani wrote:

Hot DM wrote:

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

That is a can of worms that need not be opened. Especially in recruitment or no one would ever finish. Arguments can be made to use any stat for just about any ability in any class. I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma.

So whats wrong with getting Charisma to AC?

Ha. Touche. Good old Chainmail Bikini. Rule 1 in gaming. The better the armor the less actual armor.

Mystery cultists of Arshea would agree with you. :)

Most music, once composed, is very, very 'lawful', meaning mathematical in some way or another. (Why else would one have a time signature?) Jazz is about the only music that is inherently 'chaotic', and even that has an internal rhythm that is innate to each song and set of performers.

Zayne Iwatani wrote:

MordredofFairy wrote:

Zayne Iwatani wrote:

Hot DM wrote:

I thought about allowing a trait to allow characters to use int and a trait to use wisdom for Bard, but I figured that would seriously change the tone of Bard for this. I'll probably keep it in my pocket for houserules in another game. :) 'Studied v. Intuitive v. Expressive'

That is a can of worms that need not be opened. Especially in recruitment or no one would ever finish. Arguments can be made to use any stat for just about any ability in any class. I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma.

So whats wrong with getting Charisma to AC?

Ha. Touche. Good old Chainmail Bikini. Rule 1 in gaming. The better the armor the less actual armor.

Mystery cultists of Arshea would agree with you. :)

As would Nymphs(Unearthly Grace), for that matter...(and a few others)

I guess I was thinking of "celebrities from the past century" who, by and large, tend pretty chaotic. But that might just be societal preferences.

Nope... there are THREE revelations that give Charisma to AC, as well as one Paladin archetype. There's also one archetype and two PrCs that give Int to AC, and one class and two archetypes that do Wis.

I guess I was thinking of "celebrities from the past century" who, by and large, tend pretty chaotic. But that might just be societal preferences.

"Zayne Iwatani"I mean there is even a revelation for oracles that gives Charisma to AC. Charisma. [/QUOTE wrote:

Nope... there are THREE revelations that give Charisma to AC, as well as one Paladin archetype. There's also one archetype and two PrCs that give Int to AC, and one class and two archetypes that do Wis.

That's not a nope. "There is even a something" is not saying "There is only one something". There exists a revelation doing this and that just states that there are elements fulfilling the claim, and does not limit quantity of these elements.

It's also really easy to accidently end up with multiple of those on tristalt. And boom, your AC is 60+

If you're in a tristalt game, you should have a LOT of ways to ignore enemies' AC. (Were you one of the people I sundered and disarmed to death in that tristalt recruitment that never went anywhere?)

Actually, scratch that. In any balanced team, you should have a lot of ways to ignore enemies' AC, and at least a few of the character proposals here are skirting that idea.

If you're in a tristalt game, you should have a LOT of ways to ignore enemies' AC. (Were you one of the people I sundered and disarmed to death in that tristalt recruitment that never went anywhere?)

Actually, scratch that. In any balanced team, you should have a lot of ways to ignore enemies' AC, and at least a few of the character proposals here are skirting that idea.

Nope, you didn't manage(no armor or shield to sunder and weapon created from nothing as free action). Your char was fancyful too, there, though, but yes, it was one of divinitus trollings. Just saying there's lots of crazy things out there, but it's also plenty easy to find out about interesting combos.

Ignoring AC is fine, but that always means you have to be able to affect something in the first place.

Flexibility is good, thats the overall gist of it. Flexibility is superior to specialization in game terms.
Plus min-maxing and optimization is boring, both as a player, and most often, also the characters produced by it.

I'm late! But I'm still working. So much to do, so little time... take your time. :O

That being said, I'm not accepting any more submissions even from those who have dotted, at this time. We're Closed.

I'll get everyone situated in my popomatic random decidinator, and then get a bit of feedback to folks in order to see what we can do to adjust things.

That being said, either it's because I just don't read submissions for games I app to, or I have some really ridiculously good applications.....

Okay, so... I've started a first round of PMs, letting folks know if they aren't in. For the most part, this pertains to Melee Fighters. It was both lucky, and unlucky how things worked out.

I had a lot of 'really good' and 'good' submissions, but the two I picked leapt out to me, and resonated with me. If you haven't gotten a PM from me, you're still in the running.

I just didn't feel right leaving people sitting for days, waiting to find out if they were in, when I'd already made my decision... or close to it. I'm not going to protract that, it'd do nothing beneficial.

I do welcome additional questions (either in thread, or PM).

If you stick around til the end, I'll let everyone know the things that stood out as 'great' to me. The mileage of other DMs will almost assuredly vary... and I also welcome conversation about that! (I mean, many of you are DMs yourselves and may have preferences!)

That being said...

You are both in! :)

Yay! :)

Is there a place for us to dot the discussion thread, GM?

Gameplay's been up since I opened recruitment, so I could have the rules in the editable format. :)

Congrats to Lia and adonara...good luck to all others who haven't recd pm's yet... is the whole party going to be all girls? Hmmm...

@ Hot DM
I just like to write that if you PM me today I will not be able to answer untill around 8 hours from this post. I'm out with friends to watch Paris-Roubaix

Haven't heard from Adonara's player yet...

Yay! Just popping in to acknowledge the good news and kind words - thanks, GM! - and that I'm looking forward to seeing who else will be joining us. I was trying to be good and not keep posting, "Do we know yet? Do we know yet?" :) Patience is a virtue, if a difficult one, for us sneaky roguish types.

Good luck to everyone!

Indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing the final picks. :)

As are we all!

Aye. Very curious, indeed.

Gameplay's been up since I opened recruitment, so I could have the rules in the editable format. :)

I think what she meant was that the Discussion tab is not yet linked to a Discussion Thread - I assume she meant to chat a bit with Adonara without cluttering up gameplay :)

The antici...

Pation. You don't get to do that here!

I'm going to work on explaining to folks why they weren't chosen (as with the previous batch), before announcing who gets in.

On the topic of discussion pages, I have no idea what you're talking about... >_>

yay!!!! (watching the spreadsheet, lol)