Nightflier's New Beginings Game Thread

Game Master nightflier

The strange encounter lasted only for a short while, albeit it seemed far longer to those involved. It seems that most of the Kariv and other passengers are flabbergasted by what happened. While Rinaldo the Bard was strumming his stings, apparently composing a song on the fly, one fat merchant started to splutter and yell: "Fools! We could die! All of us! Simply because you wanted to play heroes! I payed good money for the protection of this caravan. I demand a refund! And for these fools to be banished into the woods!"

Thaneirziah whips around, a furious look on her face. "We did what we were paid to do! I am truly sorry you were not able to gather a fine trophy to show your compatriots, but at least no blood was spilled on your fine clothes!"

Vasek turns around and nods at Than's words then adds. "Like I just said, it's gone. Would you prefer we spilled blood all over your fat feet? Would you prefer we subject the young ones in the caravan to visions death and violence to haunt their dreams? We found a peaceful solution while showing the creature that we had the strength to do it in if it didn't cooperate. Would you like for this fine bard here to sing a song about the corpulent merchant who refuse to pay the guards that just successfully averted disaster? I. Don't. Think. So."

"What do you think would have happened with out us? You would likely be his next meal no?" Tiadora asks the man pointedly.

Arak has no further comments to add that might refute the merchant's assertions further.

Faced with a disapproval of so many armed strangers, the fat man start to sweat even more prominently. "I have payed to join this caravan and enjoy its protection - not to be bullied by the riff raff such as you! When the night comes and Baba Svetlana opens the doors to her wagon, I will lodge a complaint!" He sharply turns and leaves you alone.

The doctor chuckled to himself. This was turning out to be a very entertaining day.

"Dragon, you seem to be making friends everywhere you turn. I am impressed."

Vasek mocks in a high pitched voice, "When the niiiiiiight comes! and Baba Svetlana oooopens the doooooors to her wagon, I will lodge a complaint! Waa. Give my a frakken break."

He then turns to the doctor, and smiles, "Yeah, I have a real knack for getting along with humans. It's my specialty. Talking griffons with superiority complexes, not so much"

Glimmer simply listens to the exchange wondering what is going on.

Taneirziah watches the fat merchant disappear out of view, a calculating look in her eye.

I could have made that fat prick eat out of the palm of my hand...but there has to be a better way...

"That one may give us grief down the road, not the least is preventing us from getting paid!"

The caravan moves on. Minotaurs are huffing, the draft horses have stopped neighing and it seems that they are recovered from the fear and near panic caused by the griffon. The things have settled and the night slowly draws in. Some time after dark, a tall Kariv, with a hair as white as snow and a prominent scar running down his face and neck approaches the travelers who are following the last car.

ooc]Please roll d20 + status[/ooc]

Status: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Status: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Status: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Status: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19 Status

White-haired Kariv approaches Doctor Rok Daudagr. He bows slightly and with a gravely voice says: "My Mistress, Baba Svetlana, seeks the indulgence of your presence. You may choose two companions, if you wish, and join her for dinner tonight. Do you accept?"

Tiadora looks on in interest.

"I do." the doctor nodded. Noting Tiador's interest he gestured to her. "Would you like to join us?"

"Anyone else?" he rasped, looking around the small group.

"I would. This seems rather interesting, and quite the honor apparently." Tiadora replied. The fact that the caravan was run by a woman boded well.

Thaneirziah nods eagerly in response, "I also would be honored to join you for dinner."

Perhaps I can learn more about our mysterious hostess...

Vasek starts to raise his hand to volunteer to go, then reflects upon his day so far and decides to stare off into the woods somewhere.

Vasek starts to raise his hand to volunteer to go, then reflects upon his day so far and decides to stare off into the woods somewhere.

The doctor chuckles. "Vasek my friend, I think your particular brand of diplomacy will not be needed this time."

"Ladies, I would love to have you join me."

Was there a point to the roll? I rolled 29. ;p

Arak shows a stoic face at not being recognised as of noble blood, but inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. This part of the world still confused him, and he felt uncomfortable navigating the mores and assumptions of the locals.

"It will be my pleasure." Tiadora says with a nod to the masked Doctor.

"Yeah. I'll keep an eye out for talking hippogriffs."

OK, guys. Here it is.

First, I'm gonna link here the files for my skills:

Nightflier's Homebrew Skills 2.0

There are two type of skills: Common and Uncommon. Uncommon skills can not be taken without some previous experience or teacher. Common are taken as normal. You do not have class skills, but you choose 4 background skills and gain +3 bonus (as you would with class skills). This reflect various backgrounds and interests of your characters (perhaps there are fighters who are interested in spellcraft, or rangers interested in alchemy).

Bellow the skills are my fate point rules. You start the game with the number of fate points equal to your Charisma modifier. You gain a fate point each time you level up and at my discretion (as a reward for role play or heroic deed).

Natural 1 on a d20 is a critical fail; in combat you loose all your remaining actions for the round and are considered flat-footed until your next initiative. When rolling for skill checks, natural 1 is the most negative outcome (you insult an NPC, fall from the cliff). Natural 20 in combat results in a critical hit that you do not need to confirm. In skill checks it gains you extremely favorable outcome (when rolling Perception, you may bypass all the traps etc.)

I would prefer that we choose a published setting that is available to all of us and is PF compatible.

I nominate Midgard by Kobold Press, since I have played it recently, but I will accept the majority opinion on this.

So, no matter how good you are at something, there's always a 5% chance that you'll screw up so badly that you'll be flat footed?

No matter how stealthy or invisible something is, there's always a 5% chance I can spot it?

I'm not sure I like that rule. I'm willing to listen to an argument about how it improves the game, but my first reading of it leaves me skeptical?

I'm fine with Midgard. It's a fun setting.

The game will start at 1st level. You will roll 4d6 drop the lowest 8 times, and choose the best six for your attribute scores. Depending on the setting we choose, everything published by Paizo and the publisher of setting in question will be allowed.

A natural 1 becomes increasing ly more devastating the better you get. A level 1 commoner rolls a 1, loses his action and is Flat footed.

Okay.

A level 20 damn near demigod of a Ranger with TWF and 8 attacks per round (9 or 100 depending on weapons and feats) rolls a 1 on the first attack ( that still would hit due to insane attack bonus) and is rendered useless for the rest of the round?

Really?

Also the GM rolls more dice than we do. If we're facing large groups of enemies, automatic crits on a nat 20 could inadvertently butcher the part pretty quickly.

I'm also good with Midguard.

I use critical fail to represent forces of chaos and uncertainty that rule the life of even ordinary men. It has been a part of the game for a very long time and it's kind a tradition that natural 1 is a fail. In my experience, critical fail gives the game an element of uncertainty and unpredictability that improves it, since even the lowest goblin can score a natural 20 on a knight, and even a dragon can fumble while chasing the PCs. And those fumbles and lucky shots have been part of genre fiction from the beginning. On the other hand, that happens a lot less than in 5% of the throws, or a lot more, depending on how much luck the player has. Same goes for the critical hits, but they can be modified by feats.

Anyway, if you take a look at fate points rules, you'll see that critical fails can be compensated for by spending fate points, which is one of the reason I've included them.

Anyway, I am willing to not us critical fail and optional critical hit rules, but then I'll remove fate points from the game. Take a look at them and then we'll decide by majority, if that's fine with everyone.

It's the invalidating the rest of your turn that's the worst part of it. An automatic miss I could live with. If you'e a tactical player, the rest of the rule can wreck you.

A high level fighter facing a rogue who misses his first attack pretty much just died by becoming immediately flat footed and taking no actions for the rest of the round.

A rogue would actually be devastating. Always take quickdraw and have a ranged weapon. Sneak attack anyone who rolls a 1

I vote drop crit rules and fate points. I like the skill Houserules though.

Also, I'll vote Midguard or anything else really. I don't know much about it, but I'm kind of sick of Golarion.

4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 2, 3) = 11
4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 6, 5) = 16
4d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 6, 1) = 14
4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 3, 6) = 14
4d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6, 6) = 18
4d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 2, 1) = 10
4d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 3, 4) = 17
4d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 5, 6) = 17

So a 16, 16, 14, 14, 13, 12

I could do worse :)

I'm gonna create a Dropbox folder with Midgard books and invite all of you. In order to not break any copyright laws, I'm gonna try to set the file to view-only.

I'll also vote to drop the fate points and crit/fumble rules.

4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 1, 2) = 9 Drop
4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 1, 5) = 12 Drop

4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 3, 4) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5, 6) = 16
4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 5, 2) = 17
4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 2, 5) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 3, 5) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 3, 6) = 18

Hot damn!

Midgard Campaign Setting is the link for a Dropbox folder containing everything you'll need to create your characters. I'm here for all possible questions.

I would urge you to use as much as possible Midgard races and classes. You can find the races in Advanced Races Compendium and classes in various New Paths products, including New Paths Compendium.

There is one more thing to consider: the number of players. There are five of you right now, and I've send mail to Martin, Gilian's player. Do you wish to recruit more players?

That's a good sized group. I think we will be fine.

Can we get an idea of the themes of the game you want to run to help us tailor our characters appropriately?

The game will be centered around the city of Zobeck, in the Crossroads region. Forays into the Margreeve forest and mountains beyond it are to be expected. Player's Guide to the Crossroads should give everyone more than enough clues about the nature of the game, but your characters can be from any place on Midgard, not just Crossroads. I would prefer not to deal with more inhuman races, such as tosculi, centaurs and lamias, but I'll not forbid them outright, as long as you create appropriate backstory.

More info on character creation: Everyone gets max starting gold and 2 traits. One can be taken from d20pfsrd (or any Paizo source), but one must be from Midgard sourcebooks.

Also, expect more mature themes. Midgard is strongly influenced by Lovecraft Mythos, as well as darker European and Slavic legends and fairy tales.

4d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 5, 4) = 21
4d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 5, 1) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5, 4) = 16
4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 1, 2) = 13
4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 2, 2) = 9<----drop
4d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 2, 5) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 3, 4) = 12
4d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 4, 3) = 11<-----drop

17,14,14,13,12,10

Pretty good

I'll also vote to drop the fate points and crit/fumble rules.

4d6 Drop
4d6 Drop

4d6
4d6
4d6
4d6
4d6
4d6

Hot damn!

Don't forget you're dropping the lowest die

4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 1, 2) = 9 Drop
4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 1, 5) = 12 Drop

4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 3, 4) = 12
4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5, 6) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 5, 2) = 15
4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 2, 5) = 13
4d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 3, 5) = 14
4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 3, 6) = 15

Ugh. That's a whole lot less awesome. Decent general scores. Guess I'm not playing a primary caster or anything that requires a high single attribute.

I'm thinking a switch-hitting Warpriest might work with these stats. I have an idea for a Tengu priest of Odin. Or a female human modeled after a Valkyrie.

Edit: Nightflier, how do you feel about Spiritualists?

Check out the priest class in New Paths. Also, Hugin rsce in Advanced Race Compendium. Also, you can have tow 17s with these stats, which is not bad at 1st level.

Does anyone have a suggestion about where could I upload images of monsters, items, NPCs, maps, stuff like that?

Obsidian Portal has been out go to.

OK, I'll try it when we have at least character concepts.

In the meantime, are there any questions about the setting that I can answer? Any character concepts I can help you with? Feel free to take your time and skim through the Campaign Setting book and Player's Guide to Zobeck in search of ideas.

One thing I forgot, Midgard uses an optional rule which I've found extremely useful: Status.

Rules for Status can be found in Midgard CS pg. 24.

@Doomed Hero

I haven't had the opportunity to see the spiritualist in play, I'm afraid. I would rather have something from Midgard, such as their Shaman class. Check it out, and then we'll talk :)

I am OK with dropping the critical fail and critical hit rules, along with fate points from the game.

Here are my rolls:

4d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 5, 6) = 14 = 13
4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 6, 3) = 15 = 13
4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 2, 1) = 11 = 10 (Drop)
4d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 4, 6) = 17 = 14
4d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 6, 3) = 13 = 12 (Drop)
4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 4, 5) = 20 = 16
4d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 3, 1) = 15 = 14
4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 1, 4) = 15 = 14

So...13, 13, 14, 16, 14, and 14. Not too bad.

I am thinking of a basic class, either fighter or rogue at this point. Race will probably be human...possibly tiefling. I will peruse the Crossroads book for further ideas.

If you are interested in rogue, take a look at New Paths #8 The Trickster. Also, there are rules for playing tiefling in Midgard in Advanced Races Compendium.

@all

I've asked another guy, who is well versed in Midgard to join us if he has the time. If High Duke and Llaelian join us as well, we'll have seven players, which is nice number for pbp. If not, we'll have at least five, I hope.

Let's recap the rolls and possible roles:

eakratz: 16, 16, 14, 14, 13, 12
Doomed Hero: 15, 15, 14, 13, 12 - hugin warpriest/spiritualist/shaman(at my suggestion)
Mark: 17,14,14,13,12,10
Eric: 16, 14, 14, 14, 13, 13 - human or tiefling rogue/trickster(at my suggestion)

What kind of problems might a lizardfolk have? Especially if I use the giant alt trait. Thinking lizardfolk unchained monk.

And then I realized a beasty monk-type is very similar to Chops. Maybe I should do the arcane guy. I don't do that often.

I'm thinking with my stats I should probably go with a Primary caster, either arcane or divine. I'll read through some stuff tonight.

Base status: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

@eakratz

Lizardfolk hail from the far South, from the jungles and marshes. The Crossroads region, with its continental climate and harsh winters would be dreadfully cold to them for the better part of the year.

Other than that, Zobeck has a large kobold population, so the lizardfolk would probably be considered by most citizens of Zobeck and Crossroads as either ovesized kobolds or some kind of dragonkin from Mharoti Empire. With your stats, I'd recommend dragonkin fighter or paladin, perhaps. Take a look at Player's Guide to the Dragon Empire.

@Mark

Take a look at theurge and white necromancer in the New Paths Compendium and priest in New Paths #9 The Priest.

@all

Oceanshieldwolf will join us, I hope soon, with either gauntlet-witch or shadowsworn. It remains to be seen. Of course, a lot rides on the rolls. :)

Hi all.

Sorry for the long absence DH. And for dropping Mae. I had to drop all my PbP's or blow a gasket in my mind. Hi Mark, I think you may have briefly been in the same Razor Coast, Texas Style game DH and I were in, many moons ago.

Let's see now..

4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 6, 2) = 18 16
4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 5, 2) = 12 10
4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 2, 4) = 15 13
4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 6, 1) = 12 11
4d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 3) = 9 Drop
4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 2, 4) = 12 Drop
4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 6, 4) = 18 16
4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 3, 2) = 13 11

I will work with that.

I believe so. We've also both been in the LEGENDS OF CADRANITE game.Good to see you around.

OK, so...

eakratz: 16, 16, 14, 14, 13, 12 - lizardfolk/dragonkin monk/caster/paladin
Doomed Hero: 15, 15, 14, 13, 12 - hugin warpriest/spiritualist/shaman(at my suggestion)
Mark: 17,14,14,13,12,10 - primary arcane or divine caster
Eric: 16, 14, 14, 14, 13, 13 - human or tiefling rogue/trickster(at my suggestion)
Oceanshieldwolf: 16, 16, 13, 11, 11, 10 - gauntlet witch/shadowsworn

To be clear, none of these choices are set in stone. I'm just compiling them so that all of us can have in mind what are the current choices.

So although limited to 6th level spells I'm leaning toward Magus. (It's probably my favorite class).

Skirnir Shieldmaiden or Eldritch Archer from Perunalia could work

Please, bring back Ilona in some manner :) I would prefer melee build, if that's OK with you. Also, there's a great magus archetype in Wasted West guide.

Edit: I have added Might of the Magus to Midgard folder. Check it out. There's a feat that would allow you to use two-handed weapon. If you are inclined to do that, I'm gonna suggest a weapon to you.

What's the tone of the game? You suggested a paladin earlier so can I assume we are to be heroic?

What's the tone of the game? You suggested a paladin earlier so can I assume we are to be heroic?

This is always a hard question for me to answer, I must admit. Ultimately, the tone will be dictated by the PCs. Midgard is a dark world, where gods play much larger and active role than in traditional D&D settings. There are a lot of elements taken from the Sword & Sorcery genre, mixed with dark folklore of Eastern and Central Europe. There is an Empire of the Ghouls that is slowly conquering the Underworld, a princedom of vampires, a savage North, not unlike Conan's Hyboria. There are dwarves that capture slaves to work in their mines. "Heroes" such as paladins can be in fact racist jerks. What I want to say, this is a very multidimensional setting, which is very like fantasy Europe. But Europe is a place filled with tensions, ethnic divisions, ancient slights and vendettas.

So, I don't want to run grimdark campaign, but I also don't want to run a typical heroic game, such as those set usually in Forgotten Realms. There will be some unsavory elements, whores, assassins, demonic cults aplenty, but also fights against the encroaching Chaos and undead menace. There will be a lot of Evil enemies, but a lot of Neutral as well. Dungeoncrawling aplenty, but political games as well. All of that will be offered. Ultimately, you will set the tone of the game.

In my current RL game, the PCs are tiefling bladebound hexcrafter magus; chaotic good paladin of Sarastra, the shadow fay goddess of night and magic; extremely charismatic trollkin spell-less ranger of gypsy upbringing, gearforged clockwork wizard and oracle of life.

I hope this helps.

Addendum: I will allow paladins of other alignments if someone wants to olay the class. But all divine-oriented classes should expect more intimate relationship with their gods than in usual campaigns.

What's your reasoning for preferring I play a melee building?

** spoiler omitted **

I can go down that road if Mark don't want to. When you said paladin any alignment I was thinking something like this for

Pic of a character I haven't gotten to play.