Death to old age is a real concern in this- -I'm not seeing why it should be different for my horse.
It would be funny if your horse just lived on eternally, while you age away. Some families have heirloom weapons, yours has a heirloom horse.
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Death to old age is a real concern in this- -I'm not seeing why it should be different for my horse.It would be funny if your horse just lived on eternally, while you age away. Some families have heirloom weapons, yours has a heirloom horse.
Construct mount is best mount.
Can I have a Trojan Horse as my mount? Charge across the battlefield, trample the front lines, lance some guy into red mist, then the rest of the party climbs out?
Since Audsley's ultimate goal is to become a lich, I'm not too worried about death. Or maybe I'm really really worried about, and determined to not succumb?
I think my proposed eventual animal cohort is immortal anyway!
What was your proposed animal cohort? PM me if you'd prefer.
I intend for aging of PCs and PC class features (mounts / Animal Companions), to be something that's a fun addition to the game, not a liability or concern. It's the default option if it's something that adds to your character's narrative. For people that want to continue with the same character (without aging penalties) I have various plans in motion.
I'll probably ask further in whether or not people prefer their character to age. I hadn't really considered the longevity of animals when I made those plans though ;)
Unicorn. Hence why it has to be a cohort -- you can't get a unicorn as an animal companion normally, but if you can get a Leadership cohort of the appropriate level you could possibly get a unicorn buddy.
I'm really playing up the elf princess stereotype. ;)
Should old adventures be forgot
Trapped within our minds?
Will all our stories be for naught
Our journeys lost to time?
I raise a toast to all my friends
In person and online!
I'll treasure all our memories made
For auld lang syne.
So are we starting tomorrow? I'm ready if we are willing to overlook unfinished "How do they know each other" backplot.
I've done my double-check of Franka's stats, made some last-minute purchases and included the perk Wolfspirit gave me. Franka is ready to roll. In the interest of time, I'd suggest we forget about any previous dealing she may have had with Sera and just let them meet for the first time during the campaign.
I'm not sure how far along you are with tying in your backplot with each other. Enough to get started with the campaign, and flesh it out later?
Ready an' waiting.
Behold: The Stolen Lands!
Not all the hexes lined up, but I'm convinced that they hexes aren't perfect on the original map. Right now I'm wrestling with some final aspects of Hexploration (the math is... weird...)
Everyone should have gotten their Background Info and Hook. Let me know if you have any questions. As long as everyone is ready, the "Prologue" will start tomorrow. It'll give a couple of days to tie up some any loose ends.
That map looks sharp! Great job, DM. Can't wait to start filling in the blanks ;)
The map looks great. I'm all set, really excited to start and curious to see how things will end up in our group. :)
-Posted with Wayfinder
The first introduction is up! If there's any lingering background stuff we can address it or settle it later, but I want to get this moving :)
I'd debated between starting points, but wanted to give an opportunity for people to meet up with at least a bit of an organic feeling and have a bit of foreshadowing before diving into the rugged exploration :)
Sooo...having a hard time coming up with something to spend my money on. Would it be ok if I started with some scrolls? Probably just get two cure scrolls since I have a feeling we'll need them sooner or later.
You can start with purchasing a couple of scrolls.
Best laid plans... getting to work almost an hour late because of traffic got the best of me earlier today ;)
I added a approximation of the area intended to be covered by the charter to the Exploration Map. Right now it's a polyline, but I'll figure out something that allows me to actually do stuff to the area it covers later ;)
Fun fact, but when the AP was originally designed, there was some map dyslexia and the original charter area didn't take into account that the correct direction of North!
I have the print copy and the map "north" pointer is at an angle. Someone apparently didn't take orienteering 101!
Most likely, the actual map was done separately from the text. The idea for the 4-part map was probably discussed early in the design phase, and there was likely a rough draft map for planning the adventure content, but it got forgotten at some point that the Stolen Lands are at an angle.
Also, as much as I love Paizo, they make editorial mistakes on occasion ;)
I finally finished my rough draft of Hexploration and Provisions
I ended up not significantly changing the travel times, though I'm going to require dealing with Rivers in order to Explore a hex. Dealing with partially explored hexes is a pain. Other than that, the exploration aspect hasn't significantly changed beyond the "you know adjacent hex types." I just realized that I didn't add a turn example, I'll work on that.
The Provisions are a slightly larger abstraction, but I hate having to micromanage rations, play "who forgot their bedroll" or determine "does the hilly terrain have enough fodder for 6 horses?" I used a similar system before and it was fairly successful in avoiding some of the drudgery of exploration* The price / weight is a conflation of different rations / food types and their price / weight to something that feels meaningful but not too much of a burden to exploration.
Anyway, feedback or questions are extremely welcome :)
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Can I just say that I think Audsley is hilarious? :D
Túrante, if you're interested:
Most people use Google Translate for other languages. Head to http://translate.google.com and type in the thing you want to say, in English. Translate to the language of choice; it seems Audsley has picked Hindi for Elven. Copy and Paste the translated language into your post, and then put the original text in English behind a spoiler.
"मैं अन्य भाषाओं में बहुत धाराप्रवाह हूँ।"
The area inside the Trading post is smaller than I would have figured. Casting Entangle there will probably do more harm than good (since it will hamper Emil and Janna on their horses). Instead, I'll prepare Ice armor for the next day (along with CLW), to give me a bit more protection against stray arrows.
In my head Canon, the Trading Post is a refurbished / reclaimed watchpost that once stationed a less than a dozen people. At least, that is my explanation. The real reason for the trading post being the size it is was to sell flip maps, I'm sure. Well played, Paizo. Well played.
Re: Entangle. It could be useful to cut off escapees outside the Trading Post. Your call though
That might be more useful for Sera, since she will have line of sight from atop the wall. Sera?
Yeah, I was planning on using Entangle to make it more difficult for them to run away. Would it work on the dirt road or not though? Also, is Zev acting on the same initiative as me?
There's enough grass around that you can use Entangle.
Also, Zev is acting on your initiative; I haven't decided if I should roll him separate, but he'll delay until your initiative and you're in the second group anyway ;)
I've tried to read up on the mounted combat rules as well as possible, but this is the first time I'm playing a character with an animal companion and/or that is mounted. Please let me know if I'm forgetting things, or getting them wrong.
DM, is it too late to swap feats? I just realized that I should have really taken Precise Bomb over Precise Shot, and am hamstringing myself without it!
Go for it. In general, I allow free re-rolls up until first level, within reason. Nothing is worse than realizing your first combat that you screwed something up, and have to live with it for the duration of a campaign.
Oh wait, my bad, I got it right the first time. Precise Bomb is a Class Discovery, which I can only get at second level. Nevermind!
Nothing like starting your first combat off with a miss.
Cry me a river. Out of ~15 rolls the bandits made, only 2 were higher than 10, there were two '1's, and not a successful roll ;)
Anyway.
As the combat is winding down, it might be good for the group to think about some general travel plans: How many Provisions you want to bring, approximately how far you plan to travel in a row, whether to avoid rivers, etc. When it comes to exploration, we'll be following the Rule of Two. If two people state a direction to go, that's the way we'll go.
You'll probably get a few ideas of where you might go from here after the fight, but I just wanted to get the conversation started.
Well, since Oleg says that there have been fewer bandits over the last couple months, either something is killing them, or there are more that we aren't fighting here. If the latter, then logically it makes good sense to find their hideout!
Are there any general guidelines we should know about when deciding hexploration? As in, a sense of how long each hex takes to explore, what the benefits are of exploring a hex, how to determine how long Provisions will last us, etc? I'm completely new to this, so am not familiar with the system at all.
Posting again: Hexploration and Provisions. I'll add that to the Campaign page
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Nothing like starting your first combat off with a miss.Cry me a river. Out of ~15 rolls the bandits made, only 2 were higher than 10, there were no successes.
Yeah, but my roll was MINE.
As far as starting out, while we are exploring the adjacent spots, we may as well stay at Olegs between each trek. This keeps us close by if the Stag Lord decides to send a message.
Yep, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can try for a trip of three hexes at first, going West from Oleg's, then South-West, East (Forest), and back to Oleg's. After that, we could make another circle to the east of Oleg's and have most of the immediate area secure.
Definitely a good idea in case we run into anything unexpected -- we don't want to be two weeks out, get stuck due to inclement weather or something, and run out of provisions! :D
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Just to make sure I (the player) am understanding this correctly:
There are 6 PCs, 5 of us with horses, and Zev; which gets us to a total of 12 Provisions necessary for each day? Which would make it 6gp and 60 pounds of Provisions each day.
I'm pretty sure the extra weight involved would slow everyone's horses down to the 40-foot speed mine has when it's carrying a fully-geared-heavily-armored humanoid being (but probably not past that).
Does Sera ride Zev? Or walk alongside?
With Sera on foot (30-foot minimum speed): It's 1 day for Plains, 3 days for Mountains, and 2 days for every other hex.
With Sera mounted (40-foot minimum speed): The only difference is its 1 less day for swamps and hills and forested terrain. Not a big change.
My mount has Strength 16, which means light encumbrance up to 228 lbs. Medium encumbrance goes up to 459 lbs.
If we take two extra horses with us for just the provisions, that brings our need up to 70 lbs. of provisions per day. This means that the two extra horses could carry 6,5 days worth between them, at light encumbrance. All of us stay at speed 50 in that case.
Alternatively, and since we'll be making a short stint this time, we could settle for 30 foot speed (since this will only matter for exploring forest and swamp). Accepting medium load for the horses means that each of our horses can easily carry two days worth of provisions in addition to a rider. That's 10 days' worth, more than enough for exploring three hexes. We could even swap around some of the load to keep Janna and Emil at light encumbrance, and have them at full speed for charging and scouting.
Isn't this why you have a pack horse that is there just to carry extra stuff?
Well, you guys did just commandeer a half dozen horses from the bandits ;) You could use one or two to keep Provisions. The goal with Provisions is for them to have a Soft cap on how much you can explore without restocking, without being too much of a burden. 5lbs is nice because it's easy to calculate, but if it's too heavy we can change it. More thoughts later
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Well, you guys did just commandeer a half dozen horses from the bandits ;) You could use one or two to keep Provisions. The goal with Provisions is for them to have a Soft cap on how much you can explore without restocking, without being too much of a burden. 5lbs is nice because it's easy to calculate, but if it's too heavy we can change it. More thoughts later
5 pounds works nicely. No complaints here. If we're going to have pack animals, I'll spread some of the gear I've got among them.
New math:
6 of us; Zev; 5 riding horses; 4 pack horses is a total of 16 Provisions.
That would be 80 lbs/day, and 8gp/day.
That would put us at 40 or 50 feet all around, and not be much more to care for (besides the pending fireball that wrecks the lot of them).
I'm relatively sure that Zev isn't a riding animal, so you'd need to add another horse to the mix for her to ride. I'll let the math guy figure that out though ;)
You do get reclaim 24 Provisions from the bandits and their mounts to add to your own stores. Provisions are something that you'll occasionally get as rewards from some encounters or quests, and you can regain them by going half-speed and making Survival checks. There are a number of competent Survivalists in the group, so that is an option when Traveling or Exploring, though it does increase the time it takes.
Speaking of time, I've alluded to it before, but there is a rough timeline of events triggered by some Encounters. Before now was "Day 0" / Prologue, but the Encounter with the Bandits puts you on Day 1: "Desnus 1st, 4710". I created a calendar to track the passing of time and make note-keeping easier. Also, most time will be tracked rounding down to a "half day" increments for the sake of making life easier. For example, today the group spent a half day rolled up into "dealing with the Bandits." If you want to, you'll have enough time that you can leave the trading post and spend a half day traveling to a new hex, or spend the rest of the night resting up. Your call.