How the West Was Won (Inactive)

Game Master goodwicki

Let us discuss this grand undertaking. First off: NPCs. How many do you want to start with in your party? From a continuity perspective, you could easily have the Arcanos fellow (human bard), Henk (orc fighter), and Kestrel the Deliberate (dwarf fighter). I can also create new people to fill in as needed.

NPC selection can easily fill in any ability gaps between your two characters.

I'll be digging out my Savio campaign notes from the basement tonight, and will then have an actual campaign page up either tonight or tomorrow night.

Depends on what jerry makes. I am planning on a straight unchained rogue. Might take an arcitype that replaces trap finding with the ability to take an extra combat trick. Undecided on that yet. My alignment is neutral so no worries there.

@Savio: Would you like to continue focusing on the weapon of legacy angle with your sword? I'm currently open to doing different advancement stuff for Savio and Jerry's character, so if you liked the whole familial sword thing we can continue that, where you'd unlock extra abilities as you leveled, some of which would be set and some of which you'd pick from a list of options. Said advancement would not count against your wealth by level.

@Jerry: If you go Paladin I may have you gain mythic a tier every 3 or 4 levels.

I'm good with the weapon of legacy.

Cool. Sword currently acts as a +1 weapon; further unlocks will occur more or less every level.

Do I need to take a trait to be nobility?

No, that'll be covered by the campaign trait I give you.

I believe the was a house of Barbarians who hated Savio's house. I remember being almost choked out by one.

I believe the was a house of Barbarians who hated Savio's house. I remember being almost choked out by one.

Yeah, I think that might be the "Viking" house, though I could be wrong.

Hopefully I have a list/summary of the Savio adventures with the campaign notes, otherwise we'll have to wing it.

being a staunch fence-sitter, i am considering a talky inquisitor.

(Talking myself into it.)

I am thinking something like (chime in if this doesn't make any sense or if you have a better idea): a minor nobleman/churchman from the royal family, who has some experience in the diplomatic core. They are sending him out to see if he can resolve the situation by one method or another.

Additionally they may be happy with the opportunity to send him away, as he makes them uncomfortable for some reason (he is sort of a throwback to the old days or something, perhaps. I don't have a good feel for what "the old days" were like in the central kingdom...more religious? more opportunity for righteous combat against the now-conquered neighbors? more machiavellian? I don't know. (I'm liking the last one.))

Some details questions:
What is the favored weapon of the conquerors' deity?
Are the background skills and power attack ed-rules still in?

Character up on my page

Jerry, are you still thinking inquisitor?

Also, found a bunch of the original campaign stuff (along with every Jer Royal campaign character I've ever made) so will be posting that up tonight.

This campaign was a lot more complicated than I originally recalled; complete campaign page update will take a couple days as I reconstruct and revise.

@Jerry: This setting's deities function similar to Eberron's in that divine spellcasters don't need to share their deity's alignment.

Mark, do you have any notes on Savio's adventures? I have that he fought some bandits in Helmswright, fought that cannibal guy, and then the whole Stoogfest debacle.

I will check tonight.

I remember lighting up some wizard after I gave him time to buff.
Also, getting into a scrap with rival house.

Yes, inquisitor. I am thinking he's sort of a missionary / problem solver who they are sending as he is wualified to try a few different approaches with the bandits and maybe one of them will work.

(sorry, not too good with my phone)

Also, getting into a scrap with rival house.

I believe the rival house you scrapped with several times was House Falstein, who are ranger/barbarian types.

Yes, inquisitor. I am thinking he's sort of a missionary / problem solver who they are sending as he is wualified to try a few different approaches with the bandits and maybe one of them will work.

Inquisitor sounds good. Would prefer that your character have volunteered rather than been assigned (technically Savio is also a volunteer.) Perhaps a missionary who missed out on the orcish conflict, or was involved and got a taste for the action, and either way is eager to be involved in work on foreign/dangerous ground.

Just so you know, savior is not stealthy. He is more of a direct conflict guy.

@jerry: I'm thinking that you would be a cousin of the royal family, the further removed the weirder your guy is. The actual "church" of the kingdom is a fairly loose organisation, so you needn't be beholden to any religious superior or bureaucracy, especially given the nature/idea behind the Inquisitor class.

that sounds good. mark, do you object to my guy being sneaky? paladin is also an option. it might be good to have a guy go reconnoit first? but if that will not work i can think about it.
ed, what is the conquerers' god's favored weapon?

I believe it's the bastard sword.

To answer your other questions from earlier, yes we'll be using background skills, and yes the alternate combat rules/feats.

aha! savio can replace combat expertise then i think.
and i can continue to sit on the 1H/2H fence indefinitely.

aha! savio can drop combat expertise then i think.

You are correct; Savio has an extra feat to take. Updated campaign page with the variant combat rules, and added background skills note to character creation info.

The variant combat feat rules technically also make the first tier of finesse training useless, but I feel the 2nd tier more than makes up for this.

word

@Jerry by all means be sneaky. Once I level I can put a rank in it if I so choose and have a +9.

I updated my character with new feats.

I couldn't find any Savio stuff. As far as I remember those were all the adventures. They were multi session. I can't remember where we met Henk. I remember he tore i tup though.

Okay. I have some sparse notes. I'll work them into a usable narrative to help set up new direction of campaign, and post it up on the campaign page.

I'm glad to see that with the variant combat feat rules, Savio has at 3rd level rogue close to all of the feats he had as a 7th level fighter/rogue.

Indeed!The unchained finesse damage rule actually makes him better than the 7th lvl version.

Zerby might have notes.

I didn't finish this yet, but thinking something like this:
==============
N Human Inquisitor 6

str 14
int 13
wis 17
dex 13
con 14
cha 12

init +5
mv 20'
hp 27 = 8 + 5*2 + 2c*3 +3fc
ac 19 = 10 + 6a + 2s +1d

f 6 =3+2+1t
r 2 =1+1
w 6 =3+3

bab 2

mwk bastard sword: +5 1d10+2 19x2
...judge: +6 1d10+2 19x2
...judge,pa: +4 1d10+6 19x2
...2h: +5 1d10+3 19x2
...2h,judge,pa: +4 1d10+9 19x2
mwk mty longbow: +5 1d8+2 20x3
...judge,da: +4 1d8+6 20x3

feats/abilities
T1 Omen(faith): +1 intimidate; 1/day demoralize as a swift action
T1 Veteran of Battle(Religion)?: +1 initiative; may draw weapon as free action in the surprise round
T1 Resilient(combat)?: +1 fort saves
D1 Paranoid: DC to aid you is 15 rather than 10
H1 Toughness
1 Gang Up: considered flanking when 2 allies threaten him
I1 Domain: Conversion - +wis instead of normal stat on bluff/diplomacy/intimidate
I1 Judgment 1/day: swift action, lasts until combat ends. +1 sacred to hit (or some other options).
I1 Monster Lore: add wis on knowledge checks to identify monsters
I1 Stern Gaze: +lvl/2 morale to intimidate, sense motive
I2 Cunning Initiative: +wis to initiative
I2 Detect Alignment: at will, per spell.
I2 Track: +lvl/2 to survival to track.
3 Cleave
I3 Solo Tactics: you still benefit if allies don't have TW feats.
I3 TW: Paired Opportunists: +4 on AoO when adjacent to ally; you may AoO on threatened enemy when he provokes from ally

skills 3 * (6+1i+1h+2bs)
bluff 10 = 3+3 +1+3
intimidate 9 = 3+3 +1 +1t +1sg
perception 9 = 3+3 +3
sense motive 10 = 3+3 +3 +1sg
stealth 8 = 1+3 +1+3
survival 9*= 3+3 +3 [+1 tracking]
diplomacy 5 = 1+3 +1
disguise 5*= 1+3 +1 [+10 disguise self]
heal 7*= 1+3 +3 [+2mw]
climb 6 = 1+3 +2
swim 6 = 1+3 +2
kn(arcana) 5*= 1+3 +1 [+3id]
kn(nature) 5*= 1+3 +1 [+3id]
kn(religion) 5*= 1+3 +1 [+3id]
bs:kn(geogr) 3 = 2 +1
bs:kn(nobil) 3 = 2 +1
bs:kn(hist) 3 = 2 +1

spells (lvl:known:perday:dc:list)
0:6:-:13: sift, create water, detect magic, detect poison, light, read magic
1:4:4:14: disguise self, comprehend languages, clw, remove fear

fc: hp,hp,hp

25 pt buy
s 14 5
i 13 3
w 15 7 +r2
d 13 3
c 14 5
c 12 2

I guess we are the bluff em if you got em party.

Ok, I think I'm here.

Would like to point out that the Veteran of Battle trait doesn't actually allow you to act in a surprise round when you normally wouldn't be able to, just allows you to draw weapon for free when you get the drop on someone.

Owlbear favorite misuse of rule!

This should be interesting, two neutral fun loving, light hearted guys exploring the wilderness with the best interests of the kingdom in their hearts.

Ha, yes. We will make [unnamed medieval feudal kingdom] great again!

That's fine, Ed. I don't know if I can even take that trait -- is that an alignment restriction on the guy or on the deity or is it just that it's for a militant god? I think it's a good trait though, since usually you don't have a move action in the surprise round to draw as part of. I was also thinking that I would eventually take the Lookout teamwork feat, which would let me go in the surprise round if I am adjacent to someone who can act.
There is a trait that gives +1 kn(nobility) and kn(local) and makes local a class skill -- I think I want to take that instead of the fortitude save one (I was waffling because I wanted kn(nobility) as a class skill and it doesn't give that...but I just realized local is better. I'll make that change.).

Made an error in naming convention, royal House now House Koenig. Jerry, I don't suppose you'd be up for playing Gustav Ludwig or some such Germanic variant?

I remember the katana swordsman with a mask and us fighting barizou and lemures.

Perfect! Now he can be Bester.

Perfect! Now he can be Bester.

You should be able to go to 'my account' and edit the alias name for your character as you haven't made 10 posts under that alias yet.

I'll do it tonight, we just have a bunch of rollerskating and other b@%~*!&~ going on before then

Hmm... Can I take the sanctified slayer archetype? I feel like the judgment is going to be annoying to use, and the studied target (while still annoying to use in combat) has the potential to be really good out of combat (like studying a guy to gain a sense motive or bluff bonus during an interrogation or a dinner party (which Heinrich considers largely equivalent)).

The sanctified slayer is fine. Personally I think the judgment is much more versatile, but it does have limited uses per day.

You might be right (e.g. the first time i can't bypass alignment DR...) ... I'm just sort of desperately looking for things that reduce the amount of "X/day" that I need to keep track of. (This exercise has sort of reminded me how ridiculously complicated Pathfinder is. And I didn't even try to figure out what a "Mythic Tier" is yet!)

You might be right (e.g. the first time i can't bypass alignment DR...) ... I'm just sort of desperately looking for things that reduce the amount of "X/day" that I need to keep track of. (This exercise has sort of reminded me how ridiculously complicated Pathfinder is. And I didn't even try to figure out what a "Mythic Tier" is yet!)

Don't worry about mythic tiers; when the time comes you'll basically just have a list to pick an ability from.

As for x/day, I figure we'll do most if not all combat face to face, not play by post, so I don't think it should be too big a hassle. I want to use the play by post to move things along between sessions so when we do meet up we can start off in media res, as it were.

Also, after the first adventure, we'll use the play by post to manage the 'Civilization' aspect of town and county building. My idea is that the first gameplay post will be a summary of our first tabletop session, and to do further wilderness exploration and roleplaying encounters, use this discussion thread to iron out any questions, use the campaign page to track loot and npcs, and use the site to provide me with easy reference for your character sheets.