[OutPost I] GM Ladile & the Pathfinder Society Present: The Solstice Scar, Version B (Tier 5-6) (Inactive)

Game Master Lady Ladile

Welcome! Please check in to Gameplay and make yourselves at home. There will be more information as well as a request or two on my part in the days to come :)

Hi.
I'm playing the same character that I played version A with. Unfortunately my Hunter was a bad choice for it because he is very clunky in PbP.

Dortlin is a melee Hunter who rides around on his large ape Clyde.
As a Hunter he has bonus teamwork feats that he grants to Clyde.

I will go over these feats and how they interact so there will be less confusion during combat.

Note that Dortlin has Combat Reflexes and usually uses a cold iron Bardiche (reach weapon)
As a large (Tall) humanoid Clyde has reach with his claw attacks. He also has Combat Reflexes.

Both have the following teamwork feats.

Outflank - +4 to attack rolls when flanking with each other. If one of us gets a critical hit it grants the other an attack of opportunity.

Pack Flanking - When adjacent to or sharing a square we are considered to be flanking any enemy we both threaten. Since Dortlin is riding Clyde as a mount he is usually sharing his square.

Broken Wing Gambit - When either of us attack we activate this as a free action. The opponent gets +2 to hit and damage on the first attack against us but that attack provokes an attack of opportunity from allies with this feat.

Paired Opportunists - +4 to hit on attacks of opportunity. If we take an attack of opportunity it grants an ally with this feat an attack of opportunity. Only one attack of opportunity can be taken per triggering event.

So in practice it usually works something like this.

Dortlin uses Animal Focus as a swift action to increase his Str by +2 to 20. He then guides Clyde to within 10 feet of an enemy and uses his reach weapon + Improved Trip to try and trip them. This CMB check includes +4 from flanking with Clyde and +1 from the Militia trait so works often. He also as a free action activates Broken Wing Gambit.

Clyde will usually just attack also activating Broken Wing Gambit.
If I feel we need it Clyde is also trained to use the Dirty Trick blind but doesn't have Improved Dirty Trick so it will provoke. Assuming the target has reach.

If the enemy attacks either of us it triggers an attack of opportunity from the other due to Broken Wing Gambit which triggers from whichever one of us they attacked due to Paired Opportunists.

Paired Opportunists + Outflank means that if either of us get a critical strike it provokes an attack of opportunity from both of us.

Now the combo is partly broken by an ally 5ft stepping adjacent to us since Dortlin can't attack adjacent targets with his Bardiche but to avoid that Dortlin will either use Stone Call at the start of combat to create lots of hindering terrain or he will switch to his +1 cold iron Nodachi.

Clyde also knows a couple of Skirmisher tricks that he can use a total of 4 times a day. Chameleon Step allowing him to move twice his speed as a move action or Vengeance Strike allowing him as an immediate action to take an attack against anyone who hit Dortlin.

tl;dr Dortlin is built around attacks of opportunity so I will probably have to post my attacks plus 2 - 4 possible attacks of opportunity and it will require some effort on GM Ladile's part to track if/when those op attacks occur.

There is some chance I play Dortlin this coming weekend. If I do he will level up to 7.The main change would be Clyde getting switched to a rhino and neither of us having reach.

here's grimdog73's toon...just finishing up the runecarved key special....should be done in time

Here's Vanya, ready to go. She played SSvA.
She's a rogue specialized in 2 weapon fighting while sneak attacking.

Dortlin, very impressive, fun-sounding PC concept/build!

Do you have a buff that gets your Ride bonus high enough to always make the DC10 Ride check to "Fight with a Combat-Trained Mount"? Still, the +8 is pretty good, only risking failure about 10% of the time.

Sadly no. Riding a non standard mount imposes a -5 penalty so even with a dex belt and an ioun stone adding a +2 bonus I still fail the ride check on a 1.

And I might switch to a Ceratosaurus next level instead of a Rhino. Haven't decided. The main differences are the Ceratosaurus has trip but the Rhino gets +2 more HP per level. Since I use Shield Companion (Animal Archives version) the HP isn't a big issue.

Good to see you again, Dortlin!

Hi Caps. I hope things go better for us this time. I think I used over 30 charges on my CLW wand plus 4 Lesser restorations. Spent my last 4 PP replacing those.

Hokay! We've still got plenty of time before we'll be starting since OutPost is a couple of weeks off yet, but to save time I want to get some information from each of you now:

***Basic Information Form***

Player:
Character:
Pathfinder Society Number:
Faction:
Slow Track or Normal:

This Chronicle #:
Starting XP:
Initial Prestige:
Initial Fame:
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle:
Starting Gold:
Day Job Roll:
Gold Spent on this Chronicle:
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:

The above shamelessly stolen borrowed from the fantabulous GM Hmm!
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Please fill out the above once you've decided on which character you'll be playing and worked out any purchases you might wish to make :)

Player: Rogar Valertis
Character: Vanya Kaleth
Pathfinder Society Number: 100733-3
Faction: Sovereign Court
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 13
Starting XP: 13
Initial Prestige: 19
Initial Fame: 21
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 02PP for a wand of Protection from evil
Starting Gold: 2357,5gp
Day Job Roll: Perform (dance): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: None for now
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:Nothing for now

Checking in again; I'm glad to see such an interesting variety of characters for this table (my table for SS-A during PbP Gameday was largely composed of slow-moving melee folk) and I'm looking forward to seeing what each of you can do!

@Dortlin - Thank you very, very much for giving a rundown on how you and Clyde work together! The early notice gives me some time to wrap my head around how you two will operate in combat which will help out a great deal :)

And now it's time for a little additional information about me and how I like to run my games!
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Who is GM Ladile?

My name is Kristin and I've been playing tabletop RPGs for the last 20 years or so. The bulk of my playing experience has been with AD&D 2nd Edition with a smattering of other systems such as AD&D 3rd/3.5, Dark Conspiracy and of course, Pathfinder. My home group switched to Pathfinder a little over 4 years ago and we've been hooked ever since. I started participating in PbP here on the Paizo forums maybe 6 months after that and then PFS PbP maybe a year and a half after that.

Yeah, that's a great story. What about your GM experience?

I'm still newish to GMing, with a grand total of 8ish games (one being a multi-table Special) under my belt at this point in time. Luckily for you, if you're interested in reading to see how I roll, you can find several of them linked under a spoiler tag on my main (Lady Ladile) profile. I'll be working to add this to my GM alias profile as well in the future.

What does GM Ladile need or want from me?

For starters, I'll (eventually) need all of the information that I inquired about in my last post - but there are also some additional things!

Okay, like what?

Something I'm trying to get into the habit of doing when I'm gearing up to run a new game is to get an idea of what sorts of characters I'll have at my table. To this end, I ask you to tell me this: What does your character do that's cool? Do you specialize in combat maneuvers? Are you a beast that crushes Diplomacy checks with the greatest of ease? If your character has a 'thing' that they do or otherwise utilizes unusual things or specific circumstances then please let me know! This will make it easier for me to account for such things during combat and other sections where they might apply. (For example, Dortlin has already done this.)

Got it! Anything else?

Yes, actually. Sometimes a player might find themselves temporarily unavailable to post in the game but, alas, the show must go on, especially if the GM and other players are still present and participating. To this end, I ask that you give me some basic instructions to follow should I need to 'bot' your character for you during combat or other moments. They don't have to be elaborate. For example, you could say something like this:

'Okay, immediately prior to combat I'm going to cast SuperBuff on our melee guy if I can. Then, if things are going well, I'll stand behind the melee guy and use my Longspear of Butt-Whoopin' to help him kill the bad guys. But if someone gets really hurt or goes down I'll use my Gloves of Awesome to heal them up again.'

Generally when I bot PCs I don't use consumable resources such as spells, abilities with <X> uses per day/round/whatever, potions, alchemical items, etc. unless explicitly given permission to do so via botting instructions *or* the situation is dire and I suspect the PC would use them to save himself or an ally.

GM Ladile, are you super strict?

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be a 'super strict'. I will run the scenario and the encounters within as written, to the best of my ability, as all Society GMs are expected to do. But I also try to utilize my own common sense when I run my games. I'm not going to have my monsters deliberately eat your familiar when (and if) there are more dangerous threats to target. I'm going to assume that the collective group is smart enough to utilize light sources when they need them, without me making you state so every single time you enter a dark place. If you have the time and aren't threatened by anything, I'm going to assume that you'll probably Take 10 to ID items via Spellcraft, that sort of thing. You're Pathfinder agents who are assumed to have had at least a little basic training before being sent out on missions and so I don't personally see the point in dithering around on minor things - it's boring and in this type of medium, it only slows things down even further.

May I bring my tricked-out guy, Archer O'Doom to just blow things away? Or my witch to Slumber Hex everything in sight?

Well, technically yes. But my real answer is a bit more nuanced. If your character has a 'Thing' that they do, whether that be something cool for combat or something cool for social situations, then that's wonderful! My own sense of fun isn't contingent on me 'beating' the PCs - I want you guys to succeed! And so if you mow down my monsters with the greatest of ease or crush those diplomacy checks no problem then I'm not going to get butthurt about it. That being said, it is important to also consider your fellow teammates. While I'm happy to try and make sure that you'll get a chance to do your 'Thing' during the course of the scenario, please consider whether or not it'll be fun for your fellow players to sit by while you destroy everything. Everyone deserves a chance to participate and an opportunity to shine, so maybe consider toning your 'Thing' down a little so others have a chance to do their own 'Things'.

What about the posting rate?

Glad you asked! Some of you have played with me before and know that my own posting habits and times shift depending on when I'm working and such. On the days that I work I'll likely only manage 1 post myself but on my off days I can usually manage more. In general, I try to post as much as I need to to keep the game moving along and people from getting bored. From you, the players, I would really like to see at least 1 post/day though more is certainly encouraged.
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I think that's everything that I wanted to cover for the moment, but if there's something I missed, something that's unclear, or something else that you want to ask about then please do so :)

I was waiting to see if Dortlin hit level 7 this coming weekend but I'd rather stay in tier here so I'll just play someone else Saturday.

Player: Edward McGee
Character: Dortlin Golani
Pathfinder Society Number: 145373-8
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow Track or Normal: normal

This Chronicle #: 18
Starting XP: 17
Initial Prestige: 12
Initial Fame: 32
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 2
Starting Gold: 1,308.47
Day Job Roll: [dice=Profession Sailor]d20 +11
Gold Spent on this Chronicle:

+1 Studded Leather barding for a large Rhino 1,250 gold.
Training Harness for a Rhino 10 gold
Exotic Military Saddle (Rhino) 60 gold

Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:
Gained Rhino animal companion. Took 10 on Handle Animal to teach it the following tricks.
Attack, Attack 2.0, Defend, Heel, Work, Flank, Down

(I use the bonus tricks to teach Skirmisher tricks since they don't have a DC.)

As for botting me it shouldn't come up. Even "We go hit the bad guy." Involves a ride check, 2 attack rolls, declaring Broken Wing Gambit, 2 more attack rolls for the opp attacks, And if any of those 4 attacks crit there are yet more attack rolls. I will be hiding my combat rolls in spoiler tags to avoid massive clutter.

And should the last 2 players be PMed?

Alrighty, understood. And everyone has at least dotted in except one, who I've already PMed. We've still got a couple of weeks before we start though, so there's no big rush just yet :)

GM, I'll fill out the requested data by next Tuesday.
I'm just swamped prepping two scenarios and a module for F2F groups tonight, Saturday, and Monday.
I flunked my IQ test, scheduling myself for all that, but I didn't want my personal travel to get in the way of my commitments to my local groups.

No worries Skye. I absolutely can't talk about folks failing their IQ tests because I've done the same in the past! Hope the games go well :)

Player: kuey
Character: Xuan Fung
Pathfinder Society Number: 215076-4
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 13
Starting XP: 12
Initial Prestige: 11
Initial Fame: 24
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: Nil for now.
Starting Gold: 1179.4
Day Job Roll: Perform (herbalist), mw tools: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: 4000 for belt of mighty constitution
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:Nothing for now

Heh. 3 characters with Disable Device but no Trap-spotting yet.
We have ranged attacks, Debuffs, Diplomatic characters, Several knowledge skills though none very high, and very good damage output.

Assuming that cleric who signed up plays and can channel positive I would say we are in pretty good shape.
We will all have to remember to identify monsters since it could take multiple PCs trying to get the needed DC for defenses.

What are the thoughts on marching order? Obviously with my reach/combat reflexes I prefer the front but I'm also mobile so if someone else wants the front so they have less distance to travel to the enemy I'm fine with second rank.
Though since we do have 2 ranged characters and a debuffer it will often be in our best interest to have the enemy come to us.

Btw Clyde has Narrow Frame so he is slowed in 5ft hallways but not squeezed.

Player: Larry Smith
Character: Skye, Shaman of the Lyrune-Quah
Pathfinder Society Number: 67083-19
Faction: Dark Archive
Track: Normal

This Chronicle #: 11
Starting XP: 12
Initial Prestige: 12
Initial Fame: 22
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 2PP (I still need to decide what.)
Starting Gold: 1660gp, 9sp, 7cp
Day Job Roll: None
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: None (yet)
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle: Nothing comes to mind, presently. This will be Skye's second Solstice Scar. Hmm GMed his first excursion (Version A) in the company of Corona and other groovy cats.

"Hoot."

Player: caps
Character: Peribras Sandlock
Pathfinder Society Number: 137974-03
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #:
Starting XP:
Initial Prestige:
Initial Fame:
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle:
Starting Gold:
Day Job Roll: Profession, thief-catcher: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Gold Spent on this Chronicle:
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:

Things to know about Peribras

• Before becoming a Pathinder to see the world, Peribras was a thief-catcher in Absalom. This gave him a unique background and unusual skills for a ranger (disable device, diplomacy, and disable device, primarily) and also made him a little more world weary and cynical than one might expect from your average cheery halfling.
  
• Peribras is a lover of animals. He keeps a thrush and a couple of rats in his person at all times. They serve no mechanical purpose. He also has a donkey that carries around adventuring gear; a guard dog that is basically just around for scent and some Perception checks (now being outclassed by the wolf); a pony that he rides for travel and occasionally in combat; and a wolf animal companion, Darkpaw, his most common battle companion (as PFS only allows one at a time).
  
• Peribras is an Archer who has mostly traded DPR for accuracy. He is an experiment in refusing to pay the archery feat taxes. Hopefully he makes up for his reduced damage output with his non-combat utility, but that's debatable.
  
• His favored enemies are humans (+4) and undead (+2) and his favored terrain is urban
  

Sorry, I've decided to apply the chronicle for the Runecarved Key for this character, so the above information has changed. Please use this version.

Player: kuey
Character: Xuan Fung
Pathfinder Society Number: 215076-4
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 14
Starting XP: 13
Initial Prestige: 13
Initial Fame: 26
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: Nil for now.
Starting Gold: 7679.4
Day Job Roll: rolled 28 earlier
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: 4000 for belt of mighty constitution, 3000 to upgrade +1 cloak of resistance to +2 cloak of resistance
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:Nothing for now

^Got it!

The sleepies caught up to me a little sooner tonight than I'd anticipated but I will get an opening post up in Gameplay hopefully tomorrow or possibly Friday so people can go ahead and start chatting with each other. Don't forget, we start Monday! I know site navigation and PMs are still a bit borked but I'll send out reminder PMs as well to everyone.

Following kuey/Fung's lead - at whose table I am playing during this special - I will be up front and note that a couple of the sections present in Solstice Scar B are identical to sections from Solstice Scar A. There's plenty of new content too but any character that's already played Version A might experience some deja vu here and there as we truck along. Rather than try to force some sort of blanket narrative or explanation (it was all a dream/time shenanigans/aliens/etc.) on everyone, I'll simply let each character make what they will of things and we'll roll with it. Sound good? :)

Sounds great!

A little late on the draw but it works out since we're starting the intro part of things today, apparently! You may begin posting in Gameplay and I'll go ahead and drop PMs (such as the PM system is, right now) to folks in case they don't see the campaign notifications :)

If the GM approves, Skye will spend 2PP to gain membership in the Restful Pathfinder's Lounge.

Approved! :D

I will do the same.

GM, what's the CL of the Heroes' Feast?
Temp Hit Points: 1d8 ⇒ 7 +1/caster level.

It actually doesn't specify; we'll take the base CL for now - which I believe would be 11th Cleric/Bard - and in the meantime I'll check with the other GMs to see what they think. Sound good? :)

Yup, that’s the general rule for an unspecified CL.

temp HP: 1d8 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

I just noticed the slides. Since Dortlin will often be riding Clyde a token for him will be more relevant. I put one there but if you have one you think is better for a skinny large ape feel free to use it.

Clyde's Perception is +5 and as a mount he goes on my initiative most of the time.

A recent GM was confused by this so I should mention that I put current buffed stats in Parentheses. Clyde has a +1 Deflection bonus and Resistance bonus from Shield Companion and I have updated his stat line.

On that note, Sova is usually perched on Skye's shoulder. I moved her icon onto Skye's on Slide 2.

Well, I mean I had the perfect ape icon in mind but now...

(Just joking! :3)

Thank you for the additional information; unless you prefer otherwise I'll operate with you and Clyde both acting on your initiative when I roll for combat.

Skye, I don't believe she did when I played with you, but do you plan to have Sova do anything during combat or will she be a non-combatant for this run?

I would almost always have her stay within arms reach, perched on my shoulder. There might be a rare situation where I’d have her deliver a touch spell, most likely a cure light wounds spell.

So she will not normally be acting in combat.

I shared this observation in the discussion thread of another scenario Lady Ladile is running, but I want to acknowledge her here, too.

The GM is adding a lot of great dramatization to these early scenes.

Love it and appreciate the gracious extra effort! Lady Ladile is a first-class GM.

Having sucked up to the GM, Skye will probably die an agonizing death in this scenario. ;-)

Thank you, Skye. I may not trend towards silliness quite as often as some GMs but neither do I like to be 100% serious all the time either. Besides, I figure I owe it to all of the players - and to myself - to try and make this particular version of the experience different from your first one but hopefully just as enjoyable. It's more fun that way :)

And also, I have some standards, man! I'm an equal-opportunity dealer of death behind the screen because being impartial as a GM is very important, you know :3

On a slightly more serious note, I'll be working tomorrow so it'll likely be another late-update night. However I do have Thursday and Friday off so I'll hopefully be able to be a little more responsive on those days and we'll be able to get some things done :)

Peribras do you have the Elves of Golarion book or better yet the Alchemy Manual?

For 1 gold more you can make your adamantium arrows durable and they won't break.

Arrow (durable)

Nope, I don't have either of those books. Durability is great, but they can still get lost, right? Seems like a defect in the RAW. By RAW if you fire a projectile there is a 50% chance that it is "broken *or lost*." That durable condition is neat, but it doesn't make it any clearer what the chance is that the arrow is unbroken but still lost. RAW it seems kind of useless.

In my mind lost on a durable arrow means literally lost. I've lost some firing at enemies hovering beyond a cliff. And I lost a couple by shooting at an enemy and the room collapsed before I could spend time looking for the arrow.

If your GM is forcing you to roll breakage on a durable arrow just stop shooting the durable ones.

Of course the book is an actual cost as opposed to the 1gp extra for durable on adamantium arrows.
The Alchemy Manual has some pretty nice power components for spellcasting.

Rub a little toe jam on them and have your animal companion use scent to track them down.

Aid token, coming your way!

***Token #3***

Passing Aid Token to: Ladile
Current Boosts: None

Followed the link to the aid tokens, but the benefits aren't numbered. The third one described is:

Timely Inspiration: A Pathfinder agent provides the effects of a bard’s inspire courage (+2) bardic performance for 3 rounds. Boosted: increase bonus by 1 (to boost, expend 3 rounds of bardic performance)

Shall we use it now and pass it along? Skye votes 'Yes'.

Vanya nods:"Sure! Let's spread the love around!"

Sure. Dortlin and Clyde are very accurate but DR is a big issue for them at this point. Anything that boosts damage is good.

I'm GMing in a another table so to clarify on the aid tokens, whoever is using it can choose which benefit to activate. The number #3 is simply for the GMs to track the tokens floating around. Once used it has to be passed to another table. If we don't want to use it we can boost it and pass it on.

Let's use it and move it!

Hoo...apologies for the practically two days' worth of silence guys; I got home from work Wednesday night not feeling well and spent basically all of yesterday in bed.

(Looking at my favorites and recent posts it looks like I *did* peruse the forums at some point yesterday but I must've either been half asleep or in a bit of a fever state at the time because I *do not* remember doing so...)

I see we've gotten an Aid Token during that time; I'm about to get us moving again and I'll account for the Aid Token (and what you guys have selected) as well so we can move it along to the next table!

Adjusted the swarm's size to be 10x10 because I forgot to do so - thanks for the reminder! (You know who you are.)