So, that rogue... vanilla or were you thinking Archetypes?
Oh, vanilla, definitely. Female Human Rogue w/an Intelligence so high everyone wonders why she isn't a wizard...
Putting this here because I don't want to clutter the gameplay thread with it.
Alayi would probably have a hard time getting to this as a definitive limit, but she will roughly be satisfied with her apprentices skill when they can:
1) Create weaponry of various kinds consistently... no cheap swords that will break the minute you try to sharpen them or bows that look like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon (thinking of the ones where someone tries to fire and the string spinters and frays after the shot).
2) Be able to create masterwork weapons if given enough time... she will want them to at least make two of the same kind of weapon as proof of this, though she will tell them that they can take as long as needed on them and to take their time.
3) Know the basics of smithcraft and proper care for tools, safety around equipement, etc. (on a meta level, having a point in crafting: weaponry or profession: blacksmith will satisfy this requirement).
4) As time moves on, she will eventually allow them to no longer be shackled as a sign that they are making progress. At this point they will be expected to demonstrate that they can be civil at the table, not be a flight risk, and not do anything stupid (like stealing, etc.). This one is not exactly a concrete as such, but if they fail at it by stealing, trying to run, or doing other such nonsense then they probably will be executed. Just saying.
At the end (when they can meet these goals) she will get them each a set of Masterwork Tools and write them letters of reference and introduction, so that they can get jobs elsewhere if they wish.
Congratulations, with the exception of the codicil regarding shackles, you have effectively described a craftsguild's 'graduation' requirements. The term 'masterwork' originally comes from the practice of guilds requiring their journeymen to present a 'master work', literally, a 'proof' that they had 'mastered' thier craft.
Also, Rufus has no objections to those being Alayini's requirements.
Castor would have just the one suggestion, though he would recognize its impracticality in our situation: It would feel a bit more right to him if it was up to the men were allowed to choose their craft. Perhaps one of them has often been curious about carpentry, leatherwork, or alchemy.
Of course, given that we don't actually have anyone skilled in those on hand, telling that one of the prisoners has mastered their craft may be somewhat trickier. (Perhaps Oleg, as a merchant, has some measure of appraisal skill?)
It doesn't feel right to me, speaking from the viewpoint of a follower of the deity of freedom, that we would be telling them "You will make weapons", as opposed to "We want you to learn a marketable skill to set you on the right path".
Very sensible. Isn't that requirement a bit steep though? The masterwork component has a Craft DC of 20 and a cost of 300 gp. Meaning reliably crafting a mwk weapon requires having at least a +10 Craft modifier (even Alayi as of now would have to roll at least a 13 to make any progress, and it would still take her 8 weeks assuming she never fails a check. And rolling anything <= 8 would have her lose half the raw materials).
No objections to point 4.
@Castor: OOC, I'd agree; the problem being there'd be no one to teach them (I don't know which skills Oleg or Kessen have ranks in, but I wouldn't go as far as to ask them to act as their mentors). Even the knowledge (engineering) part had to be "externalized". IC, Xelani would argue they're simply not free, and it's entirely their fault for not being so. I know Castor, as a cleric to the Goddess of Freedom, would cringe at such a statement; but still, they've been offered a far sweeter deal than any captured bandit could have ever hoped for.
@ Castor: Ideally you are right... I would want them to find skills in keeping with their natural talents at the very least (if not their interests). In this situation though... well, their other options are to learn the principles of engineering along with me (which they pretty much all will do to an extent anyway, but I am open to their focusing on it as a primary if it is more in keeping with their talents) or being taught another skill by another character. I could teach them dancing, but that would probably not be a profitable skill for them.
If someone has a skill and is willing to teach it or is willing to help foot part of the bill for hiring an instructor to teach it to them I am willing to let them pursue other paths, but other than that... well, they have to learn something to be productive, and I would rather that then see them sent to the gallows.
@ Xel: Yes it is... but that is the point. As Rufus stated, this is meant to be the crowning achievement... something that proves beyond a doubt that they are really ready to go set up their own shop in a town somewhere. I might be willing to drop it to one... the thought behind it was both to make sure it wasn't a 'fluke' and to allow them the chance to improve upon their original MW using the lessons they learned from its crafting.
I could teach them dancing, but that would probably not be a profitable skill for them.
The bandits seem to look at each other, one of them shrugging, the other seeming indifferent. Seeing his compatriots not really caring,the last bandits says "We're listening," He looks over the half-elf, clearly liking what he sees and smiles with a rather toothy(though he is missing plenty so not THAT toothy) grin adds, "beautiful."
Please don't.
@ Xel: Yes it is... but that is the point. As Rufus stated, this is meant to be the crowning achievement... something that proves beyond a doubt that they are really ready to go set up their own shop in a town somewhere. I might be willing to drop it to one... the thought behind it was both to make sure it wasn't a 'fluke' and to allow them the chance to improve upon their original MW using the lessons they learned from its crafting.
It's fine, really no objections here. Just pointing out that their new conditions for parole are "3rd level, Skill focus, mwk tools" (assuming they have an INT lower than 12). Then again, deciding on their improvements is mostly a matter in gmGM's hands, so we can just assume they're going to level up "at the speed of plot" (my favorite speed after ludicrous, incidentally).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's fine, really no objections here. Just pointing out that their new conditions for parole are "3rd level, Skill focus, mwk tools" (assuming they have an INT lower than 12). Then again, deciding on their improvements is mostly a matter in gmGM's hands, so we can just assume they're going to level up "at the speed of plot" (my favorite speed after ludicrous, incidentally).
That sounds about right.
"And what do we have on this thing, a CUISINART?!"
"No sir!!!"
Actually, if time & cost is not so much of an object, it is possible to create a Masterwork object at only rank 1 in a craft skill. It just requires 'taking 20', which would ultimately run the cost up to something like 6000 gold (technically less than that since they could 'recycle' much of the cost of the 'failures'), but it would be a masterwork. Which would also show that they were capable of crafting 'common' items just fine, which, since that would be what they were doing the majority of the time would work as well...
As for dividing the loot, I suggest the following: everyone picks what he likes out of the items we salvaged, the rest (including gear we no longer need) we can give to Oleg in exchange for some store credit. That plus the GPs we recovered can both contribute to form a "common cash" which can be used to pay for common expenses (like Alayi's fortifying effort) and the remaining equally split up among us.
In that spirit, I agree with keeping the music box and letting Alayi take the earrings for herself. There should still be plenty of gold left to pay for the improvements.
Or 'I'd really like to be able to hit the bad guy' stuff...
It's less that that is fun than the opposite being most definitely 'not fun'...
The way it makes more sense to me is: group money for common expenses like fixing the catapults, personal money for everything else (like buying gear, weapons, magic items).
gmGM said that the parts for the catapults should cost 50 gp, even adding the oil and spikes to that we should stay within 100 gp, I reckon. Giving to each one of us about 200 gp to spend after cashing in the various longbows etc.
There was a 3.5 Third party sourcebook focusing on arcane spellcasters that had, among all the other spells, a specific variation on Prestidigitation called Hygiene. Mechanically, the only effect it had was it gave you a +1 circumstance bonus on Fort saves vs. disease on the day you used it; but it also meant you didn't have to worry about silly things like 'soap' or 'mouthwash' ever again...
It was my second favorite spell in that book, right after the one that was a variation on Summon Monster that allowed you to summon a Fiendish Dire Weasel already attached to the victim's ...
But that one was just for the mental image of some poor schmuck running around trying to get a Fiendish Dire Weasel off his head.
While I certainly wouldn't say I'm pleased to hear our sibling game is now inactive, I'm not really surprised. Being a prospective father doesn't leave much time & running a PbP requires even more time & effort than playing in one. How far along did you guys get, GmGM?
We didn't get too far. Though to be fair, I wouldn't say that you guys are REALLY far either. We were just about to engage Kessel in our own fight to the death but oh well. I prefer DMing anyways so it's fine.
As a note, I will probably be unavailable from Wednesday to Saturday or so. Thanksgiving holidays have me traveling a bit. Feel free to RP whatever you guys wish.
On that note, I am unlikely to post much tomorrow. My son has the day off from school & we are going to go see Big Hero 6, which unfortunately is going to involve a lot of bus commuting to & from & down & back...
If I do post it will likely be either comparatively early in the morning, or late in the evening.
It's been a busy but nice day here, hope you 'mericans have a nice thanksgiving. ^^
My room-mate is an excellent cook, so I had a very good thanksgiving. Followed today by busily preparing a household for winter which included completely raking up all the leaves & other detritus from the back yard. Tomorrow, my work week begins once more.
Seconded. Happy Thanksgiving to all the nice US folks in here!
Am I correct in interpreting that we haven't yet technically mapped any of the area? I looked at the Overland Map & see either blank hexes or hexes with terrain & question marks on them. Do we need to 'map' the hex the Trading Post occupies?
As we are no longer on quite such a timetable & the Stag Lord all but screams 'Boss Monster', as others have already noted, Rufus is much less concerned as to where we go first, though he is going to rather strongly suggest we not go more than a half a week out on any trip & honestly, only two days or so for the first few times, this is effectively completely unexplored terrain for us & the last thing we need is to wind up 'stuck' somewhere & the Post occupants not have any reason to expect us beck on a regular schedule.
Given we only have two horses left, our travel speed is going to be what our feet can move us at. Fortunately, we should all have a 30' move rate I believe. Of course, I'm not certain how long that translates into to thoroughly 'explore' each hex.
If he had a preference, Rufus would likely argue for something like down to C6, then up to B6, then back to the Trading Post, as a kind of 'getting our feet wet', then start going out for longer & longer as we become more accustomed to what we will be doing.
Am I correct in interpreting that we haven't yet technically mapped any of the area? I looked at the Overland Map & see either blank hexes or hexes with terrain & question marks on them. Do we need to 'map' the hex the Trading Post occupies?
That question was probably aimed at gmGM, but if not, I'm under this impression too.
As we are no longer on quite such a timetable & the Stag Lord all but screams 'Boss Monster', as others have already noted, Rufus is much less concerned as to where we go first, though he is going to rather strongly suggest we not go more than a half a week out on any trip & honestly, only two days or so for the first few times, this is effectively completely unexplored terrain for us & the last thing we need is to wind up 'stuck' somewhere & the Post occupants not have any reason to expect us beck on a regular schedule.
I agree.
Given we only have two horses left, our travel speed is going to be what our feet can move us at. Fortunately, we should all have a 30' move rate I believe. Of course, I'm not certain how long that translates into to thoroughly 'explore' each hex.
Indeed, one good investment in which to pour a little of our current cash might be a couple of horses (on that note, Xelani would gladly pay a couple of GPs to have someone train Katryona for combat).
If he had a preference, Rufus would likely argue for something like down to C6, then up to B6, then back to the Trading Post, as a kind of 'getting our feet wet', then start going out for longer & longer as we become more accustomed to what we will be doing.
I'm also for starting small and mapping the closest hexes first before venturing too deep into the Greenbelt. Regarding the other leads, we still have no idea where that temple is (so scouting the countryside & searching for it are actually one and the same thing in our current situation), the mites I'm afraid might prove too much of a challenge as of now, and slaughtering everyone at Oleg's might prove detrimental to my paladin abilities. So yeah, exploration it is.
IC, Xelani having no ranks in Survival and/or associated skills would probably defer to whomever would be showing the better knowledge about such things. If he happens to be a cleric of the goddess of travel, all the more serendipitous ;)
So after Alayi's done questioning the prisoner and presents the list of whatever material she might need for fortifying the trading post, I guess we're ready to go (provided it's still morning)?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've modified the map a bit for ease of game play. I originally had the hidden hexes but found that it was unrealistic for you guys not to have a simplish map(yes this is a bit more detailed than "simple" but imagine this was something simple that one of you had or was given that gave a general gist of the area).
There is a difference between "crossed" and "explored". A hex can simply be traveled across, this takes time but not as much as exploring. Anything that is obvious(major settlements, major landmarks) can be found by simply crossing the hex. However, there are many locations on the map that are not as obvious. Exploring a hex can(and usually will) reveal anything inside of the hex. Not all Hexes have a landmark(hidden or obvious). I will help you guys out and say that generally speaking, a hex either has no landmark or only one landmark. So if you enter a hex and and I tell you about something in the hex, you do not need to be concerned with exploring the hex, you have found the landmark. There is an experience reward for exploring a hex whether it has a landmark or not, so there is a small reward for finding "nothing" :D
Xs represent a hex you have not been to. ?s represent hexes you have crossed but not explored. !s indicate a hex you haven't really been to or explored but you know something is there. Currently, as a reminder, G5 is the bandit fortress, E6 should be where the mites are.
For simplicity, I will go ahead and tell you some rough times. Anyone with a knowledge of survival could give you these:
At you're current speed(30ft) it takes a few hours to cross plains(most purely grass green hexes), a few more to cross any other hex. Exploring takes a day or two, depending on the terrain you are exploring.
I was debating with how best to represent the map to you. Technically, you guys would probably know the general layout of the area. The main thing is that this area hasn't been explored in many a year so no one really knows what or who is out there.
My apologies for having fallen off the grid for the last few days. My work has moving from one building to another and has been having us help with the moving of everything we will need in our new location.
Suffice to say, I have been unable to post while at work and have been coming home late in the evening, tired and fried. I hope to be able to catch up on what has been happening in my games this weekend. If not I will update my status to reflect it.
Feel free to bot me if necessary, I do not want to hold up progress. I really am sorry for both my not being here and me taking this long to even post a generic message.
Regards,
-The Emerald Duke
What Xelani said...
Thanks for the heads up, Alayi.
Yep, seems like we're ready to head out.
So I finished an interview this afternoon after finishing the written portion of my Final exam...
And they offered me the job. All things go well, I will be starting full time as an HVAC technician trainee on the nineteenth.
The down side is that my free time will be drastically curtailed. It shouldn't be enough the I have to start paring down games, but it is likely that my posting rate will drop, possibly to as little as once a day or so.
Congratulations on getting the job!
Yeah... Two thumbs up Rufus!
My apologies for the last minute claims. I hadn't had much time to consider Castor's equipment, with university work on me, and I'd missed a few obvious things.
None needed, obviously – actually, I remember Castor having claimed the longbow & quiver for himself soon after the first fight and have already subtracted them from the final list (another one was claimed by Alayi, if I recall correctly).
As for Kressle's studded armor, up until she had made her decision whether to accept Rufus' offer or not she could still need it (or even be wearing it); which would actually make it a perfect timing on your part!
Actually, he's claiming a second longbow here, to have a spare should something happen to his first one.
As for the studded armor, didn't realise it came from Kressle. Alrighty then.
Oh. Very sensible, with both Castor and Xelani mainly relying on longbows for their combat effectiveness keeping a spare one is actually pretty smart. So I guess the final list of items to be handed to Oleg should look something like this
Weapons & Armor
Short Sword x4
Dagger x6
mwk Axes x2
Longbow x2
Shortbow
40 Arrows
Light Crossbow
20 Bolts
Leather Armor x5
Miscellaneous Goods
Silver Earrings
Crate of Furs and Hides x6
Bottle of Liquor x8
Looks right to me.
I guess I was unclear. We will need three more horses & saddles to have everyone riding. A light horse (non-combat trained) plus saddle is going to be right around 95 gold. As combat training the horses is something Rufus can do while Alayini is fortifying the Trading Post & a combat trained mount is more than twice the cost of a riding mount for comparatively little value for us, I don't see it as something we should be wasting funds upon.
So I'm saying add
light riding horses X3, military saddles X3
to our 'shopping list' with Oleg now. That way, when we come back from our first few explorations, the horses will be here & we can start focussing on clearing the plains/low hills areas quickly.
If that's what you meant, then we are in full agreement - indeed we were actually thinking the very same thing (to the point I was even about to ask Rufus for help in training Katryona for combat).
Castor will likely make the same request for Capella.
As far as party contributions go, when we get to level 3, Castor will be able to use Masterwork Transformation to give the party's gear that extra 'oomph' without the hassle of acquiring better equipment.
While we can't have everyone riding for now, I think taking the one horse we do have (Capella) with us in our excursions might be advisable. This way, if we find ourselves having to lug something heavy (or carry someone injured) back to Oleg's, we won't be slowed down by it. The same goes for the noncombat gear that might otherwise put people over medium encumbrance (like bedrolls, tents, and the like.)
Edit: Wait, now that I think about it, how many horses did we bring with us on our first excursion? Had we taken the fourth of the bandits' horses with us for Happs to ride on, making five horses total with Capella?
Unless my math is wrong, we have one additional horse besides Capella.
Hance my statement that we needed three, rather than four.