Lucendar's Survival PbP - Welcome to the Slaughter!

Game Master Lucendar

I marvel at our DMs neutrality. If he cared who won these challenges I could not tell from reading his posts. Also, while pretty firm in his decisions, he has shown he is willing to listen to his players and change his mind if he finds that he make an error. I hope I am a reasonable when I run a game.

I guess am fortunate with his interpretation of Flat Footed, as I run it exactly the same way and believe it to be RAW. This is partly why Justified has a reach weapon and Combat Reflexes. Had Menas charged him in round 1 he would have drawn a 'trip' attack of opportunity, even though Justified was flat footed. Anyone without a reach weapon would provoke in closing with Justified, which is partly why he was concerned about Cirnos with his lance.

No, I completely agree with the way Lucendar applied the rules once I took the time to actually look it up. Now I know that if I ever enter into another low-level PVP arena Improved Initiative will serve much better than Dodge. Learning experience for me.

No, I completely agree with the way Lucendar applied the rules once I took the time to actually look it up. Now I know that if I ever enter into another low-level PVP arena Improved Initiative will serve much better than Dodge. Learning experience for me.

Depends on the "draw of the luck" Kor - I've had +4 on Ini since the beginning, and as I already said, I was almost always among the last ones to play. In theory, it should help, at least I know I was thinking along the same lines when I took a trait for +2 Ini, but as you could see in practice, I was among in the "(s)lower half". Now, creating some impromptu alliances did help a bit to of-sett low initiative rolls for me.

Unfortunately, no one in the alliance I formed at the end was able to prevent Quain from cutting me down. Although, strategically, it was the best move. I was isolated, so someone would be free to charge me without having to worry too much about someone lower in the initiative order striking them down.

Something interesting just caught my eye. Discussing with Justified, I see that, despite the setup of the game, most of the surviving party is not evil "per se" in a classical way. Assuming that what is written in character profile is correct, we have:

Quain and Haterivet - Lawful Neutral
Menas - Chaotic Neutral
Justified - Chaotic Good
Kwin - Neutral Evil

So one could say that we are a very "neutral" party, fairly split on Law/Chaos axis (2 Lawful, 2 Chaotic, 1 Neutral) as well as on Good/Evil axis (1 Good, 1 Evil, 3 Neutral)...quite interesting.

Unfortunately, no one in the alliance I formed at the end was able to prevent Quain from cutting me down. Although, strategically, it was the best move. I was isolated, so someone would be free to charge me without having to worry too much about someone lower in the initiative order striking them down.

I'm afraid so. And I believe that had I been last to act, I would also have died before acting. In the end, I was incredibly lucky to be alive. Position and acting first were all that got me through.

Kor Tiger-Spirit wrote:

Unfortunately, no one in the alliance I formed at the end was able to prevent Quain from cutting me down. Although, strategically, it was the best move. I was isolated, so someone would be free to charge me without having to worry too much about someone lower in the initiative order striking them down.

I'm afraid so. And I believe that had I been last to act, I would also have died before acting. In the end, I was incredibly lucky to be alive. Position and acting first were all that got me through.

You know what they say - sometimes it's better to be lucky, than to be good ;-)

My congrats to the DM for fair and balanced arbitration. We don't all agree with the rules all of the time but, especially in PvP, consistency outweighs realism.

For hit points when you level, you roll. If you don't like your roll, you can ask me to roll for you, but you take my roll, even if lower than yours. Please post a summary of the changes to your character so I don't have to look at your character sheet: hps, skills, feats, class abilities, saves, etc. Thanks!

Rogue (Knife Master) 2
BAB +1
Reflex +1
Hit points, add 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Skill points, +1 each to: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Swim, Survival.
Add Evasion class feature.
Add Rogue Talent: Offensive Defense, class feature.

At the start of the game, I was planning to go two hander ranger. But seeing now who's in, I'm tempted to go with the archery path and a sort of "switch hitter's" build.
I even envisaged to play a low charisma cleric but have nothing to justify than in game.

Any thoughts ?

We are rather melee heavy, so an archer may work well. I am actually considering a level in cleric, but I haven't worked out how and why exactly yet. I was also considering the Assassin prestige class when the time came. Frankly, I wasn't expecting Kwin to make it through, so I will have to give more though to his later levels, assuming he lives to see third.

Hp 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Bab +1
Fort +1
acrobatics/perception/climb/swim +1
superstitious rage power
dr 1/-
favoured bonus +1/3 superstitious bonus
+2 rage rounds per day

Gear wishlist: metal shield or scizore if shield training/bash will work with it, cestus, mithril breastplate or standard chain shirt, 3 javlins, comp short bow str +2, arrows, net, adventuring gear.

Take a level in barbarian and see how it pans out. Thought i'd post a gear list so you can look it over before i start asking for it. Adventuring gear is bag, rope and chalk etc.

Hehehe, similar here, I did not give much thought to my character, past lvl. 1.

Quain, I love playing rangers, and switch-hitter is one of the nicest things they have, and you seem properly setup for it. Although Kwin said that we are melee heavy, in your place I'd still expect you to be more on the front lines than shooting from behind, somehow you just "belong" there :-) J/k for that, but from my experiences with rangers, unless I build specifically an archer, and have the "luxury" of being in good sized, and evenly mixed party, I spend much more time hitting things, than shooting them.

If your thinking about taking a few cleric levels for healing Quain put some thought into inquisitor insted, it would compliment what i get of your concept, you can still use wands, get some great buff spells, don't need a high wis and your judgements compliment your favoured enemy quite well. There are even some feats designed for ranger/inquisitors in advanced players guide.

Having a healer wouldn't hurt but do what ever you feel like, if we have to make do without a healer then we can do.

Justified is taking levels of Fighter at least through level 3. At level 3 his archetype lets him use a shield while wielding a pole arm. >:)

As I look over possible fighter feats I ponder the idea of some, or all of us taking a Teamwork feat... If we are going to be working together as a team for a while it might be worth it. I do know that at level two no one else gets a feat. But for level three its something we could consider. Thoughts?

as a two weapon fighting barbarian i'm quite feat starved, the only teamwork feat i would consider would be lookout and only then if we had someone in the party with a huge initiative bonus and an always act in the surprise round ability.

they are useful but just not more useful than improving your strengths or covering your weaknesses.

edit: i just re read my post in the game play thread after i got home from work. my spelling was terrible but i blame man flu and the train, not sure how i managed to mistype that badly even on a phone though.

Monk 2

BAB +1
Flurry of Blows +0/+0 (from -1/-1)

Fort/Ref/Will save +1

Hit points, add 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 1 = 7

Skill points, +1 each to:
Climb
Escape Artist
Knowledge (religion)
Perception
Swim

Add Evasion class feature.
Add Deflect arrows as monk bonus feat.

Well I cant wait to see whats in store for you guys, maybe it will be so frightening, I'll be happy I didn't make it! *laughs maniacally*

note, no one understood my last post, how can communication be so difficult? I keep forgetting that logic and language don't mix in social medias.

Okay, after some thought, I've decided to stay as a Ranger for this level with the Archery path.

Ranger (archery 2),

BAB +1, CMB and CMD +1
Fort/Ref +1

HP: add 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

Skill points 6+1 fav class.
Add 1 to:
Climb,
Intimidate,
Kn Dungeonering,
Perception,
Sense Motive,
Survival,
Swim,

Archery feat: Rapid shot.

If I were to take a level of cleric in the future, it would a cleric of Thamir Gixx, Divine Strategist archetype, Trickery domain (Deception subdomain). I believe Kwin is a strong believer in the elements of the portfolio (Greed and Opportunity), but I will have to see how the story and character development go for a bit to determine if I want to take that or not.

If I were to take a level of cleric in the future, it would a cleric of Thamir Gixx, Divine Strategist archetype, Trickery domain (Deception subdomain). I believe Kwin is a strong believer in the elements of the portfolio (Greed and Opportunity), but I will have to see how the story and character development go for a bit to determine if I want to take that or not.

I'm not ruling out inquisitor in the next levels, but for now, as tempting as it seems, it would not flow with the game.

Yes, I have considered Inquisitor too. And Barbarian. And Fighter. Hard choice.

If you take the divine strategist archtype i would most definately be interested into investing into lookout.

My intention is to build a two weapon fighting shield tank with good ac and touch ac, damage reduction and saves taking advantage of d12 hp. Early on i'll be aiming to pick up witch hunter for a little extra damage, spell sunder to strip defenses, ghost rager for touch ac and eater of magic for rerolls. Feat wise power attack, improved sunder, shield bash and improved twf should increase my damage and give me a few control options.

Sometimes helps if you can plan around your party members concepts so that info may help, not sure how long Lucendar is planning on running but i have ideas for my feats and powers up to 10th.

Justified levels as a Fighter. +1 BaB. +1 Fort. Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus Glavie-Guisarme. In place of Bravery he gets Pole Fighting, which lets him change his grip as an immediate action on his weapon so that he can threaten/attack at 5 feet.

4 skill points added. Skills are Ride (goes from +2 to +6), Intimidate (-1 to +3) Knowledge Engineering (from - to 5) and Knowledge Dungeoneering (from - to 5).

Health increases by 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Was there some discussion of time alone with our wardens for the winners? We do not have to play that out, but I am hoping that I did not imagine that. lol

I think Menas would enjoy the idea of letting the warden walk to sweat for a while, but no doubt he would hunt him down eventually for his revenge.

I'm enjoying the conversation with the baron so far. You know, despite the haphazard means by which we can together, I suspect we actually may coalesce into a pretty effective force. And, we will absolutely need it!

Hearing wraith being pluralised just made me think i need ghost rager asap. Undead game without a paladin or a cleric could be challenging, looking forward to actually finding out about the job though.

Its probably 11pm or later for Hat so he might not post until tomorrow, no issues waiting though.

I am liking the rping and your personalities coming through as well.

Hearing wraith being pluralised just made me think i need ghost rager asap.

See, it is just making me think I need the Fleet feat. Over and over.

Just want to reiterate that if i seem rude its intentional but not ment to offend. I loved Quain and Justified's reactions to the news...

Just want to reiterate that if i seem rude its intentional but not ment to offend. I loved Quain and Justified's reactions to the news...

No issue, it's in game and we're getting to know how Menas is.

Just got home guys - saw 30+ posts in game thread and from the looks of it, it is becoming more than interesting. Let me re-read once again all that and I'll post soon...sorry for delay, but it IS May the 1st ;-)

I'm sure to the clever eye, you can see my influences for this PbP:
Escape from NY
The Champion's Belt mod in Age of Worms where the players have to prevent the ritual that turns all the people in the Greyhawk arena to wraiths with a wave of negative energy
The Spire of Long Shadows mod in AoW, where the druids encircled the ziggurat with an obsidian wall

Trust me, I am not running AoW, just thought it would be cool to run a game in an apocalyptic style undead city.

Sorry, I guess I am missing a bit on my "nerd" education, but the only thing clearly visible to me is Snake Pliskin and Escape from NY, other references are lost to me :-(

Not nerd, classic Dungeon magazine 3.5 Adventure Path, that took you from level 1-20. Also my favorite AP to date.

The huge undead city is going to be awesome, if you can build the tension and atmosphere the trip will be intense. I'm glad i invested into perception and stealth, i'm sure some of my regular RL players would love such an undead heavy game with the AoW feel.

I haven't read AoW! I am actually playing in it right now on these boards and we are still early on. But Escape from New York, oh yeah, completely recognized that!

The huge undead city is going to be awesome, if you can build the tension and atmosphere the trip will be intense. I'm glad i invested into perception and stealth, i'm sure some of my regular RL players would love such an undead heavy game with the AoW feel.

In a way it's better if none of us is a cleric. There won't be any aura to track us. But healing is going to be tough, really tough. We'll need to be really stealthy and cautious.

I've only DM'ed it, am playing it also on these boards. 7th level now, loving it from the player's perspective. Sorry if I didn't spoiler my points but the AP is more than 5 years old. :)

Just got home guys - saw 30+ posts in game thread and from the looks of it, it is becoming more than interesting. Let me re-read once again all that and I'll post soon...sorry for delay, but it IS May the 1st ;-)

Not sure what you mean by "May the 1st". May Day? No special holiday where I live.

Justified is still thinking the Baron means to kill us and raise us as undead. It really would be our best bet to get in and find the girl. Of course he would have to give us something to resurrect ourselves or we could not get out. --> No undead can leave...

I am very curious about how good the gear will be. Our Baron has lots of resources. I could see us with a lot of gear above out level. Heck Its been a year, I could see us questing some first in a training mode to level again before we go in.

Haterivet wrote:

Just got home guys - saw 30+ posts in game thread and from the looks of it, it is becoming more than interesting. Let me re-read once again all that and I'll post soon...sorry for delay, but it IS May the 1st ;-)

Not sure what you mean by "May the 1st". May Day? No special holiday where I live.

For lots of people in Europa (and especially in France where I live), it's a bank holiday with demonstrations from all labour unions.

Justified* wrote:

Haterivet wrote:

Just got home guys - saw 30+ posts in game thread and from the looks of it, it is becoming more than interesting. Let me re-read once again all that and I'll post soon...sorry for delay, but it IS May the 1st ;-)

Not sure what you mean by "May the 1st". May Day? No special holiday where I live.

For lots of people in Europa (and especially in France where I live), it's a bank holiday with demonstrations from all labour unions.

Not wanting to get too political here, but that sounds like great fun <-- NOT. Glad we do not have that in the South in the US where I am at. Labor Unions in my part of the US are not too popular.

Okay, in terms of the gear, the Baron is giving you 4000 gp each, which is above the wealth level for 2nd level characters. If you desire an item not in the Baron's possession, he will have messengers obtain it for you from known merchants in Kaer Maga, which includes anything in the SRD, including black market items, like poison, etc. You can post your shopping list in this thread. You can pool your money also, if you wish. For weapons and armor, no need to pay the MW expense and cost of the weapon/armor. Simply put, you want a +1 weapon, it costs a flat 2000 gp; +2, 8000, etc.

May Day is quite a holiday in my country...Ok, there are labour unions and such, but TBH it is a minor deal. Most of the people just go to one of the many picnic areas, and enjoy food and drink. Roasted pig (pork) or lamb is very typical, followed by very liberal amounts of rakija (domestic brandy) and beer. Yep, I am "under the influence" already (just a bit, mind you) and I am off to sleep. Tomorrow is another non-working day, and I plan to enjoy it thoroughly...what does a monk do with 4.000GP worth of equipment? ;-) G'night everyone, cya tomorrow

Back to buisness. The good news is that as a ranger, I can use a wand of CLW even if I can't cast spells yet. So that's a must I think.

Special materials? Free mithtil full plate?

Well i simply cannot afford a mithril breastplate so i'll have to write up a list of items later. Got a small list, gonna stock up on potions and oils i think. Tempted to spend 3k on a +1 bashing shield but i think thats a large portion of my cash on one item.