One Step Beyond

Game Master Lemmy Z

Be careful what you wish for, you didn't say what KIND of luck! =p

The kind of luck that won't result in a angry & frustrated GM! >:)

Bah who needs luck when you clearly are an intelligent and skilled person Lemmy. Im sure you did great.

Bah who needs luck when you clearly are an intelligent and skilled person Lemmy. Im sure you did great.

Flattery won't get you any extra loot, Scavion. Although it certainly doesn't hurt either... Just saying. ^^.

Seriously, though... All that remains now is waiting for the results to be revealed, which is the most agonizing part by far. I hate not being able to do anything about it. :(

Game Related Stuff

After a few days of consideration, here are some news and decisions of mine concerning the game:

1- I'll be updating the campaign's google.doc to include whatever house rules are in effect in this game. This allows me to update my original house rules document without cheating you guys. So tell me now if there is something in specific that you want in or out of the game.

EDIT: I'll also be posting the notable NPCs/locations list on a separate google doc for ease of use and editing. EDIT 2: Done A link to this document can be found on the Campaign Info tab.

2- I'll have to say no to crafting feats that create permanent gear. You can take them, but they won't grant you any extra WBL. Feats that are used to craft consumables (such as scrolls and potions) still have their usual effect on WBL, though.

3- Rynjin: I'll have to ask you to use the Magus spell list. While I don't mind powerful PCs (as can clearly be seen from all my house rules), a Full BAB Magus with Wizard spell casting is beyond what I'm comfortable with. Hopefully, that won't stop your character's concept.

Also, please, add HP, AC, CMD, Perception, Sense Motive, etc on Tai Leng's classes/level tab on his profile, like Nicos and Scavion did with Eytilen and Cyrus. That makes it a lot easier to check during gameplay.

EDIT: In fact, you guys can enter the total "Take 10" result of those skills (Perception & Sense Motive) on your classes/level tab, since I only need to know their bonus if you roll, but if you're rolling you'll just add the skill bonus yourself anyway.

4- I'll try to streamline some Diplomacy rules to avoid at-will mind-control, but I won't implement them here unless you guys want me to. In fact, I'd love to hear some suggestions.

5- As Rynjin pointed out, my original house rules for casting defensively were too harsh for Magi, Clerics and other melee casters, so I'll be revising the rules for defensive casting. Again: I won't implement any new house rules mid-campaign without the approval of all players, and I ask you to tell me what you honestly think of them from a balance perspective.

Do not agree to new houserules out of politeness or just because you think other players would like them. Do it only if you actually think they are good rules. My intention here is to improve the game, not my GMing experience on a single campaign, specially if it's at the expense of someone else's fun.

On an unrelated note, here is a google.doc version of my homebrew Rogue Fix. :D

=(

I don't like the Magus list for making Touch Attacks (which is why I never really tried to make one). All it has is Shocking Grasp, basically.

Lemme rethink this a little bit then. I was only planning to take Sorcerer casting up to 6th level, most likely, if that changes anything.

Actually, Magus list does have some useful offensive touch spells, including stuff like Corrosive Touch and Vampiric Touch. Magi also have stuff not present on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list, such as Bladed Dash, Force Hook and Forceful Strike.

Are there any spells in particular that you want (e.g.: Mage Armor)? I'm open to the idea of adding some Wizard spells to your spell list, just not all of them. Getting it all is a bit much. Something similar to a Sorcerer's Bloodline or Witch's patron spells, for example. You can keep the spontaneous casting if you want.

A Magus with Full BAB and Wizard spell list is a very, very powerful build. I'm always open to discussion, but it honestly seems too powerful.

EDIT: That reminds me... Race-exclusive feats and spells are no longer race-exclusive unless they are wholly dependent on an specific race trait. (e.g.:Humans aren't able to take feats that affect low-light vision). Same goes for classes/archetypes.

From a quick perusal, Touch of Idiocy, Touch of Slime, Ghoul Touch. For non touch spells, Ki Leech seems like it'd be good, and Mage Armor is almost a necessity.

There's just a ton of spells on there that most full casters would find useless that would be pretty rad for a melee guy.

I could drop the Full BaB bit? Or even get rid of Spell Combat entirely, maybe, sticking with casting and then delivering with my punch (so I can still damage + spell, but not Full Attack + Spell).

Or swap to the Cleric list or summat and get some more touch range self-buffs and healing rather than arcane stuff, but I'd rather play an Arcane caster (never really got one to a high level before).

Plus, loads more spells per day.

Hmmm... I guess changing it to medium BAB would be fair (still powerful, but not beyond what a FFCS campaign would normally be anyway).

I suppose that combined with reduced spell-casting (only 6 levels), my house rules to some spells and spontaneous casting would make it balanced with the other characters. (I assume you'e taking spontaneous casting because you added "Sorcerer Casting" to Tai Leng's profile)

I'll just ask you to not try to surprise me with some spell that is suddenly extremely powerful with spell combat/spell strike/melee combat abilities. Just tell em ahead of time if you find some particularly powerful combo, okay?

Can do. I'll redo some stuff on his page then. Might snag an extra Secondary ability of some sort.

What was your change to Spont casting again? I know you had the "Same progression as Prepared" rule, I think (though that point's a bit moot here, since I'll probably have some delayed progression after 2nd(.

You know... Just clicking on what you want to see in the summary of the campaign's googledoc will take you straight to the correct page.

But here they are anyway:

Spontaneous Casting

Spell Progression
Sorcerers and Oracles get access to their spell levels at the same rate that Wizards and Clerics do. (2nd level spells at character level 3, 3rd level spells at character level 5, etc). At levels where spontaneous caster get spells they wouldn't have access to while using the normal rules, their number of spells per day of that spell level is 1 less than what they would have next level (minimum 1).e.g.: A 5th level Sorcerer gets 2 3rd level spells per day.

Known Spells
Spontaneous casters start with 2 known 1st level spells and learn 2 additional spells of any level they can cast whenever they go up a level. At least one of these spells must be of their highest spell level available. If they have access to cantrips, they also start with 4 known cantrips and learn 1 extra cantrip every 4 levels.

Metamagic Feats
Metamagic feats do not increase the casting time of spells unless the spell level is increased by 3 levels or more. (Quicken Spells is still an exception).

Spell-Like Abilities
Spell-like abilities do not count as spells for the purpose of fulfilling feat prerequisites unless specifically stated otherwise.

Too hard (also my internet is being a b*&+~ and opening new tabs makes me go =().

Basically, you start with 4 cantrips and 2 1st-level spells, then you get another 2 spells of any level you can cast per character level, plus 1 extra cantrip every 4 levels. EDIT: I don't mind retraining, but for simplicity's sake, you can only retrain a spell for another one of the same level or lower.

You also get access to bonus spells from class features as soon as you are high level enough to cast them. e.g.: A Sorcerer who gets Fireball as Bloodline spell only needs to wait 'til 5th level for it, since that's when he becomes able to cast 3rd level spells.

Nice. I might take a Draconic Bloodline later. Or the Admixture Arcane School so I can transmogrify my Elemental Grasps to match my Elemental Fist damage (or diversify it to check resistances).

So considering your view on alignment restrictions being lame, am I okay to take Versatile Channeler to get an offensive option from my channeling?

Sure! I never saw positive/negative energy as innately good or evil anyway. They are just types of energy that happen to affect living and undead creatures in different ways.

Which reminds me... Smite works on anything that is smart enough to have an alignment (but Oath of Vengeance is banned). (Again I'll ask you guys... Try and resist the temptation of stacking bonuses, a couple damage boosters is okay, but versatility will really help).

New gameplay post, BTW.

As usual, I'll give you guys enough time for you all to reply/react to it before posting my next one.

Hey, here are some light conditions rules I've been using for a couple years now. I think they are simple and fair enough to use, but I failed to add them to my google.doc.

Lighting
For a simplicity’s sake, there are four lighting conditions:

Clear: The obvious standard state of lighting conditions during daylight. Everything is well illuminated and characters don’t need any special sense to see it.

Dim-Light (Localized): This happens when complete darkness is broken by a small source of light (e.g.: a lamp in an otherwise completely dark corridor). What can be seen depends on the distance something is from the light source*:

- Up to 10ft: Objects can be clearly seen, and most fine details can be perceived as well, although extremely small ones might require much closer inspection (e.g.: letters on a book)
- 11-30ft: Objects can still be normally seen, but it’s impossible to distinguish fine detail.
- 31-60ft: Seeing stuff becomes difficult. Everything at this distance gets concealment
- Beyond 60ft: Complete Darkness.

Different sources of light might have different ranges, but unless specified otherwise, this is how localized sources of light work.
(e.g.: A normal candle has lighting ranges of "0" (only allows distinction of detail on stuff that is right next to it) > up to 10ft > 11~20ft > Darkness).

Dim-Light (Widespread): This is the case when there is enough light for the area to not count as darkness, but it’s still too dark for it to count as clear (e.g.: A dark forest under a full moon’s light). All characters are treated as if they had a small source of light centered on them.

Darkness: Also obvious. This is complete darkness. Creatures who have darkvision can see, everyone else is effectively blind to whatever in inside the area of darkness. (Although some creatures can still perceive things through other senses, such as blind sight).

This means, among other things, that Rogues can Sneak Attack in areas of dim light, provided that their target is inside the 2 first range increments of the light source.

*Keep in mind that characters don’t have to be inside the area of light to see what is there.

IME, this makes it much easier for players and GM to know whether or not a character can see something and what has concealment and what doesn't.

What do you think?

My question to that would be how does that effect light based spells?

Their area of effect defines what they illuminate. If the spell increases the light level of an area by one step, consider everything to be 1 step closer to the source of light.

Localized Dim-Light is about small light sources, such as a torch, a lamp, a ioun torch, etc.

EDIT: Notice that this house rule is not in the campaign document. I'm just asking for opinions and suggestions here. I won't add or remove any rules to his campaign without consulting you guys.

Sounds fine to me.

Phew! That took a while! Next time I'll just railroad you guys into sending your characters straight to bed! >.<

Well, since I'm a natural at being annoying, I'll use this gift to ask you guys to standardize the order of information in your character class/level tag, that way it's easier for me to see the necessary information.

Please, put it in the follow sequence:

HP X, AC X (tch X; ff X), CMD X, DR X/Y (if any), Fort X, Ref Y, Will Z, Special Senses (if any), Perception X, Sense Motive Y

Where X and Y is the corresponding bonus.

And since I'm already here... What do you think of this rule for casting defensively:

DC = 10 + Highest BAB threatening the caster + double spell level +2 per additional adversary beyond the first.

Against one enemy, the caster still has and advantage as he adds his casting attribute while the enemy at most will have full BAB.

(Again, not adding it to this game, just asking for opinions)

On an unrelated note...

NICOS!!! POST SOMETHING!!! WE MISS YOU!!! *shoots flare into the air*

Eh. I'm not really a big fan of any rule making Casting Defensively harder.

Seems like balancing casters by making it harder for them to do anything (not just accomplish something worthwhile, but actually act) just leads to frustration.

I like the +2 per every additional adversary, the BAB thing seems too much.

Okay. Thanks for the insight.

My goal is to make it so casting defensively is not an auto success without at least a few small resources being put into it. It's difficult enough to battle casters without casting in melee being an auto-success.

Back to revision it is...

COnsider adding something for conditions. Like blindess making it harder.

There is a house rule saying that the "Fatigued" and "Exhausted" condition make concentration checks harder.

Added a few entries to the list of Notable Places. Mostly stuff that Cyrus and Tai Leng saw during their tour.

It will be a shame but Brazil will get eliminated this friday Lemmy :/

I wouldn't be surprised... Nor would I care, actually.

I kinda hope Brazil wins just so that six fingered family of "good luck charms" don't get ripped apart by crazed soccer fans.

Huh... I just found out Brazil had a game today. oO

Curses, going to the horse races with the family caused me to miss the flurry of posts. You couple o monks you guys.

I prefer to think of myself as a Hasted TWF Ranger

What is the light condition on the corridors?

Good enough to see normally. There are a few torches hanging on the walls.

The corridor itself is not very long. About 60ff.

Okay, since Nicos pointed out that he doesn't like stati Initiative, I'll roll it for you guys, k?

It'll be done in alphabetical order, first you guys, then whoever you're fighting.

So it'll be something like this:

Brother Cyrus Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Eitylen Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 15
Tai Leng Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Enemy A Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Enemy B Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Enemy C Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 1

---------

Therefore, combat would go:

Enemy B
Eitylen
Tai Leng
Brother Cyrus
Enemy A
Enemy C

---------

Obviously, in game, I'll add your corresponding Initiative bonuses.

If an NPC is obviously on your side, its initiative is rolled right after yours. If not, it is grouped with the enemies, even if they belong to a different party.

Putting it (and the battle map) in the campaing mini info is also a good idea.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out Roll20. :P

Dunno how to post tokens and associate them to players. -.-'

Do I have to update my own? Are there generic Roll20 tokens?

EDIT: Okay, found tokens. Let me know which one you guys want, if any. Can try to find more of them. Not exactly a vast selection, but I think it's possible to add more.

You can take any old picture from the internet, save it to your computer, and drag and drop it onto the board to make a token (or a map, when you're working from a book).

If you hop on Roll20 at a specific time, I'd be more than happy to walk you through it.

You can take any old picture from the internet, save it to your computer, and drag and drop it onto the board to make a token (or a map, when you're working from a book).

I see. If you guys have any image you'd like to use as a token, send it my way.

lemmyrpg@gmail.com

If you hop on Roll20 at a specific time, I'd be more than happy to walk you through it.

Sure. I'll probably be home by 7~8pm (EST)

EDIT Ah, just found TokenTool. That will make things easier.

Gave control of your tokens to you. Since there were 2 different tokens circled by two different players, I had to make an educated guess of which one belong to who, so check it out and tell if I guessed correctly.

EDIT: Only now I noticed that one of you specifically told me that had circled the token you wanted in cyan. -.-'

Gods, I can be dumb sometimes... ¬¬'

Scavion helped me with Roll20. Think I got it right this time. Only Nicos remains to pick a token for his character.

BTW... You guys can act whenever you want, you know... Just saying. ^^

I recommend attracting the guards to your room. This way you have a bigger area to fight.

No idea how to choose the tokens.

just circle one... Or tell me which one you like

(e.g.: "1st column, 2nd row. The guy with the bow and arrow.")

where are the tokens?

In Roll20.

Wish me luck guys! Finally taking my driver's test today.

In Roll20.

Well, yes, ¬¬, but where?