Nightflier's Midnight Game Thread

Game Master nightflier

Now, let me answer your concerns.

You have already been fighting monsters with maximized hp - for the most part. Only the last two encounters used the monsters straight from Bestiary/Monster's Manual.

Now, there is a thing about the campaign setting in which we play that you keep on forgetting - Midnight is extremely deadly. In fact, it is stated so in the setting and published adventure. Not every encounter should be resolved by combat and the fighting should be extremely dangerous for the PCs.

And that has been the case during this more than a year long campaign. This latest fubar was a tactical mistake on the group's side - from my point of view at least. You got caught in blood lust and you've been ignoring the hints when not to engage in combat. For example, you have been prepared to engage the undead army led by Herald and the fungi army led by Greatspawn. That would be TPK. It was only at Duncan's and Gilian's urging, if I recall correctly, that the party decided to back off.

If we continue with this game, you should know that I'll not change the way in which I run the game. Encounters will still be deadly and the game will still be more than challenging.

I a way, I have a story to tell. This is my part of the game and that is what I get from all of this.

I understand if this is frustrating for you.

As I've said - you have all reached 4th level. This can be a good place to end this if you do not want to continue with the game as is. It was a great run so far and you are very near your goal, so I would be sorry to end it - but I am not ready to change the story at this point.

The other option is to continue the game with another GM.

Whatever you decide, I would urge you to use Discussion Thread to agree on tactical decisions before acting.

you've been ignoring the hints when not to engage in combat.

Only when we feel like we have no other option. That feeling is based on our understanding of the situation, which is based on your descriptions. The moment we understand better, we tend to run, but that sometimes takes a while. We aren't brash. (well, except for Chops) We just don't feel like we have a choice. As soon as we know we do, we take it.

For example, you have been prepared to engage the undead army led by Herald and the fungi army led by Greatspawn. That would be TPK.

This is a great example.

Army on one side. Army on the other. At first both seem to be gunning for us. We start to dig in. We know it's a TPK, but we think it's the only option. We realize that they're tied up with each other. We still don't realize it's even possible to leave. We get a better description of the situation (after we've spent a collective 10 or so spell energy that we wouldn't have if we had known there were other options) and we decide to run.

We don't know how far we ran, or for how long, just that we entered a cave. We don't know how far down the cave we went, or even how wide it is, just that there's mushrooms in our way, and one of them can drop creatures that can one-shot us (and in theory can do this every round for quite a while), and that's still the lesser threat. That TPK is coming hot on our heels (or so we think)

We don't know there's other passages. We've been told to "wait for them to dissipate" All while we still have two armies behind us.

I really don't understand where you think our tactical blunder was. We've made the best decisions possible based on the information we were given. If you want to see a change in that sort of behavior, make sure that we understand the entirety of the situation, and what our options are, at the beginning.

You've done a great job making us feel haggard, at the end of what we're capable of, and being followed, closely, by certain death. That's awesome, that's what the setting's all about, except that now when we act on those feelings, just trying to get through this, to get away from the enemies at our backs and survive, you tell us that the right decision was to wait for the enemies to vanish.

I guarantee that from now on I am going to make a total nuisance of myself when it comes to asking for more details. This is the first time since the game started that I'm not having fun. I'm really hoping it's just a fluke and that making sure we know more in every situation will remedy it. I'm not interested in quitting, or changing GMs or changing the characters. I've enjoyed the hell out of this game for a long time. I don't know what's happened since we hit these caves, but I've been getting more and more frustrated feeling like I'm being forced deeper and deeper down a hole where I have no say in what happens.

I would like to hear from someone else as well, but it seems to me that that won't be the case.

I have no problem with providing more accurate description of placements. I will most probably do "technical descriptions" here, and just write the story on the Game Thread.

But this goes both ways. I will insist on respecting proper movement rates and economy of actions.

Now, I will post in the Game Thread the lizard attacks - and both of them on Sorok, since he moved to intercept them. After that the lizards will disperse and the party can move forward.

I will describe the terrain.

In my next post, I will assign the rewards.

Rewards:

2050 XP each

Gilian also gets 3 FP and Sorok, Chops and Duncan 2 FP.

Some of you get new feats and all of you get to raise one stat. Please take note that the game is 28 point buy. When everyone updates their characters, I'll review them. Please choose the feats from the document I uploaded and Midnight material, or check with me before you take the feat, if you are taking them from another source.

Once again, my goal is to have a comprehensive collection of feats in one document, and some of those feats now work differently than in PFRPG Core rules. That changes will be implemented after this part of the game is finished - or right now, in the case of feats taken at 4th level.

One thing you should be aware of, and it is not stated in the Feats document - it is possible now to apply an Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat to a non-exotic weapon. The effect will be better use of the said weapon, greater damage and chances to score critical. Here is the example:

SWORD, LONG
The longsword is a multipurpose cutting and thrusting weapon, generally with a straight blade approximately 3 ft. long. The cruciform arming sword, the knight’s sword, the side-sword, the Walloon sword, the mortuary sword used in the English Civil War, the Viking sword, the Chinese jian, and the Roman spatha are all represented by longsword statistics. 3 lbs., slashing and piercing damage.
Note: Exotic wielders become more adept with the point, rapier-like, and have more finesse overall; this supersedes the Taldori dueling sword of Golarion and the elven thinblade from Races of the Wild.
Simple: One handed melee with -4 competence penalty to attacks, 1d8/19-20.
Martial: One handed melee, 1d8/19-20.
Exotic: One handed melee, 1d8/18-20, Finesse; or one handed melee, 1d8/19-20 and 1d12/19-20 vs. opponents of size Large or larger.

I don't have time to say much, but I will go ahead and back up Ragnar. Most of the combats I have no idea where anything is, especially if it takes place over multiple pages. I try my best to make sure Chops does his movements properly, but he has an extra move action as well and I try and make note when he uses that move action. I just kept my mouth shut because I figure that is the way of pbp's.

I also thought that we were trapped in the water there. We spent a lot of time preparing for a slugfest with an army because we thought the only two exits were through the armies. I was disappointed after all of that prep that suddenly a new way to escape just seemed to magically appear. The hints that I did get were that there was no escape from the Herald, and we would eventually have to face it. I was also unhappy about the fact that we didn't know about the escape route until all of those spells were cast.

That is all I can think of right now. I am having fun in the game.

Rolling for hit points:
1d4 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

To follow with what Chops is saying, having a map of the combat is almost REQUIRED in a PbP game. Not having a map really does hurt us. Nightflier, I know you like to do freeform combats like back in the days of 1E, but you do need to describe things at the beginning clearly, so we can make correct decisions during combat.

Other than that, I am satisfied with this game. Let's keep it going.

I'll echo the sentiment here that we do need a fuller description if we don't have maps. The fact that we expended a bunch of resources on a fight that wasn't necessary prety much makes it clear that we all thought there was no way out.

Tunnels and mazelike settings are especially difficult without a map but we can do with at least a detailed spatial description. It would probably result in more interesting tactics as well.

Other than this I count this as my favorite game.

To be honest, maps would make things a great deal easier, but I am at a loss how would I draw them and show them to you. Also, that would be great draw on my resources. I usually don't have that much time. I will try to depict the situation better, using DT for stuff like positions and movement calculations, so as not to clutter the Game Thread.

I'm open to suggestions concerning the maps, though.

Wait are we leveling to 4 now?

Wait are we leveling to 4 now?

You should have enough xp for that, right?

I should be just slightly behind the original group but ahead of anyone else.

We should all have more or less the same amount of XPs. Only Gilian has a couple of hundred more.

Awesome now comes the synergy of level, class and path.

HP roll 1d6 ⇒ 3

HP roll 1d6 ⇒ 4

HP 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

By the way NF, I totally stole your HP rolling system for my own games. It's spreading like wildfire.

Sorry for interrupting, but I just stumbled over your discussion.

Making maps is not a big deal:

I'm running three PBPs on these boards and making maps takes about 2 hours per week.

Here is where you can get: Maptools the standard programme for map making.

The maps could look like this:

1. Party + guards vs. zombie horde, so large-scale battle (sadly all zombies are already ded at this point^^)

Battle Mat 1

2. Rise of the Runelords Initial Goblin assault

Battle Mat 2

3. Half of the party meets a displacer in a backyard.

Battle Mat 3

...and really enhance combats.

Once you have made the maps you can screenshot them and load them up to a webspace everyone can access.

HP:1d4 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Solvi and Ilona, you should use my method of rolling for HP. It's d4+2 for Channelers. Check out my profile.

HP 1d4+8

By the way NF, I totally stole your HP rolling system for my own games. It's spreading like wildfire.

You are taking a level of Barbarian, right?

And you have my blessing for taking the HP rolling system. :) I plan to rob certain sets of house rules as well. :)

Sorry for interrupting, but I just stumbled over your discussion.

Making maps is not a big deal:

I'm running three PBPs on these boards and making maps takes about 2 hours per week.

Here is where you can get: Maptools the standard programme for map making.

The maps could look like this:

1. Party + guards vs. zombie horde, so large-scale battle (sadly all zombies are already ded at this point^^)

Battle Mat 1

2. Rise of the Runelords Initial Goblin assault

Battle Mat 2

3. Half of the party meets a displacer in a backyard.

Battle Mat 3

...and really enhance combats.

Once you have made the maps you can screenshot them and load them up to a webspace everyone can access.

Thank you for your advice. Sadly, those two hours per week are two hours less for everything else, but I will try to do something about that - at least for more complicated encounters.

HP:1d4+8

You're going with Barbarian?

hp: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Rerolling hp 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 no change

Yep. Barbarian. Spirit Totemm uncanny dodge, Stamina (midnight barb trait) better bab and better HP. This is a good level.

One thing you should be aware of, and it is not stated in the Feats document - it is possible now to apply an Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat to a non-exotic weapon. The effect will be better use of the said weapon, greater damage and chances to score critical...

Link to my campaign.

I am incorporating Kirth's weapons houserules into an upcoming campaign with some modifications. I wanted each category to use the same die. I followed the tradition of the bastard sword with more weapons and made some others as finessable with exotic proficiency similar to the aldori dueling sword. Check it out and let me know what you think.

It's a work in progress.

Hit points 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Sorok Hamfael wrote:

HP:1d4+8

You're going with Barbarian?

Yes, I know for a while I was going back and forth between Fighter and Barbarian, but I was definitely leaning more toward the Barbarian side, while you seemed to prefer that he take fighter. In the end I thought it more appropriate story wise that he go Barbarian this level.

1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

I love the idea of all barbarism, especially since the Charismatic channelr gift I'm taking is inspire rage which stacks with barbarian rage.

@Sorok

No, I am not surprised. I just wanted confirmation.

@Chops

Yeah, I plan to use a lot of Kirth's house rules, but I am still planing to add to them and to expunge some feats and other stuff.

When all of you finish with updating, I'm gonna review the characters and then we can proceed.

Yeah, I plan to use a lot of Kirth's house rules, but I am still planing to add to them and to expunge some feats and other stuff.

That's what I am doing too. I really like having a Fighter be better at using a spear than a cleric. It opens up more viability of a fighter-type specializing in something like club, spear, dagger, mace...without feeling gimped.

Also, I realized that I used the "Strong" trait wrong as written. It says that two ability scores need to be dropped. I wouldn't have taken the trait if I noticed that and I know you are allowing us to rebuild anyway. Is there any chance that you can wave the second score drop? I really don't see why Strength is penalized when every other ability score boosting trait only calls for one score to be diminished.

@Illona and anyone else who buffs. I went through most of that fight not knowing I was buffed. I realized that is mostly my own fault at being inattentive, but I was thinking that if any character maintains a buff, we should but on ooc listing what buffs and bonuses we are currently projecting; including my Shield Other ability.

Good idea. Another thing I've seen is for the buffer to end their post with a list of active buffs each round so all party members have a running countdown.

Since I'm the primary buffer I wouldn't mind doing it.

If the party wishes, there is a possibility to remake your characters right away. No need to wait for the pause. I plan to use Kirthfinder feats and weapon system and I need to rework dworg and elorg, but otherwise we can proceed with the remaking.

We will probably need to do a bit of tweaking as I incorporate Midnight specific feats and feats from other sources, but I think that won't be a problem.

So, what do you say?

As long as we're using just Pathfinder and Midnight feats/weapon system the only thing I think I might need to change is the feat Roll with it from Savage Species. I've done very little outside of the norm as far as the character sheet is concerned.

As a side note; I took a look at my stats and discovered that Sorok had 2 extra points of the original 28 because I had decided to drop his Charisma down to 8. I'll make the proper adjustments now.

Kirhtfinder house rules, which will become "Nightfinder" when I finish modifying them, I suppose, have a new rules for weapons and weapon groups, but they will not affect you in any significant way, or anyone with martial weapons proficiency.

Guys, since I am once again in a position to run multiple games, I have decided to resume the Scarred Lands campaign. This setting has captured my imagination with the same strength as Midnight did and it's quite possibly one of the best settings ever created for DnD. I am looking for six players. Since I am most comfortable gaming with you guys, and you already know all the bad things and all the good things about my gaming style, I would welcome you in this game as well.

Scarred Lands game will be a lot different than this one, though. If this one was railroady, with a sense of destiny, fate and doom, the Scarred Lands will be more sandboxy, with a significant amount of role playing and politics.

The game starts in a town called Totenwald, somewhere in the wilderlands of the Scarred Lands, I haven't yet decided where exactly. The town is build around several mines in which new types of ore are discovered, which are extremely valuable and allow creating new types of weapons, so that has drawn the interest of the great powers of Scarred Lands. Here is the link for this game.

I'm heading out of town for a week. I'm still going to try to post once a day, but I might fall behind. If we get into a situation where you're waiting on me, Sorok can post for me and Gilian or Ilona can make choices for Ragnar.

Nightflier,

Every one has updated his character, if I'm not mistaken. Can you have a look?

I was on a trip till yesterday. Just got back last night. I'm gonna review the characters today.

Mark, are you still interested in Scarred Lands game?

We'll continue with the game. Everything seems to be in order, except -

Ragnar, please recalculate your stats. It's 28 point buy, not 30 and Dorns must put their +2 in Strength.

We'll continue with the game. Everything seems to be in order, except -

Ragnar, please recalculate your stats. It's 28 point buy, not 30 and Dorns must put their +2 in Strength.

Hmm. Pretty sure they were right when we went through character gen, but I scoured the old posts and can't find when we talked about it. Oh well.

Ragnar's Dex is now 7

Ragnar, I have decided to give further awards for Chronicle posts. Since you use Muni as voice, I'm gonna give Fate Points to the raven as well. He gains number of FPs equal to the number of posts in the Chronicle.

Did find this though.

Was I supposed to be giving Ragnar FP's as well as muni?

nightflier wrote:

Ragnar, I have decided to give further awards for Chronicle posts. Since you use Muni as voice, I'm gonna give Fate Points to the raven as well. He gains number of FPs equal to the number of posts in the Chronicle.

Did find this though.

Was I supposed to be giving Ragnar FP's as well as muni?

Ragnar receive 1 Fate Point for the 1st chronicle post, as well as Muni. All the others went just to Muni.

Okay, so you have leveled up and it's time to receive new white bone powers.

Ilona:

Arcane Boos bonus feat: BOOST, ARCANE
Benefit: You can burn arcane energy to empower your martial abilities. As a swift action, you can spend one of your uncast spells or spell slots to grant yourself one of the following insight bonuses for 1 round:
 Bonus on attack rolls equal to the spell’s level;
 Bonus on weapon damage rolls equal to twice the spell’s level;
 Bonus to AC equal to the spell’s level;
 Bonus on saving throws equal to the spell’s level;
 Damage reduction equal to twice the level of the spell expended against all but one alignment or special material (cold iron or silver).
 Resistance to acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic energy equal to 5 x the spell’s level.
Source: This feat supersedes the Abjurant Champion prestige class feature of the same name, from Complete Mage.

Also, I realized that I used the "Strong" trait wrong as written. It says that two ability scores need to be dropped. I wouldn't have taken the trait if I noticed that and I know you are allowing us to rebuild anyway. Is there any chance that you can wave the second score drop? I really don't see why Strength is penalized when every other ability score boosting trait only calls for one score to be diminished.

Sorry I haven't replied earlier. Yeah, in your case I'll wave the second score drop, but I'll not make it a rule for future games.

Your 4th level power:

Scent: A bestial heritage becomes more prominent in you, perhaps more pronounced by the remnant of the savage halfling's soul. You gain Scent as ability.

Was I supposed to be giving Ragnar FP's as well as muni?

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.