We've been going since March 23, 2015, and have currently played roughly a 3rd of what I've planned out for this run. Judging by that pace I expect we'll finish this season run in maybe 4 more years. By then you'll be level 10.1.
I can't predict the course of the next 4 years, but if things stay as fun as they are now I can easily see myself running some more scenarios to get you to level 12. From there on we can continue with a module or scenarios designed for Seekers ('retired' Pathfinders), and after that we can even continue with high level modules that have been sanctioned for PFS (just like Dragon's Demand was sanctioned).
There's currently 1 way to reach level 20 with PFS characters, which involves playing certain scenarios and modules in a specific order. Maybe there will be even more options by the time we get that far! :)
Didn't get to post yesterday due to a rather annoying headache... :(
Will update the game in a couple of hours!
@Urbar: Thanks for spotting that! Now our Ery has a bit more survivability! :P
I received a PM from one of you, who currently runs Murder on the Silken Caravan, about a mistake I made regarding the combat with the harpies and how Eryzule shouldn't have died. I personally think I handled the combat properly, but I was informed a second opinion's been requested from the online venture-lieutenant and that I will soon receive a PM from her.
Considering this is now going on I figured I'd lay out what's been discussed so far. Not to point fingers, just to keep you all informed about something that's currently going on and involves you.
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The player who contacted me describes that the PDF lists the harpies for subtier 1-2 as having 22 HP, because they're wounded, as opposed to the full HP harpies that you'd have faced had you played in subtier 4-5. (Those had 31 HP in the PDF.) The harpy that killed Eryzule already had 28 damage, therefor it should've been down before it could kill Eryzule.
It's been nearly a year ago and so I'm not 100% sure, but I think I approached the situation as follows:
As a GM in PFS I'm supposed to use the bestiary versions of creatures instead of the stats in the old PDFs in case they don't match, because the PDF stats are often outdated in the old scenarios. The bestiary harpy has 38 HP instead of the 31 HP the PDF harpies were described having. These stats don't match, therefor I had to use the bestiary version for the harpies.
So because the scenario mentioned I had to use wounded harpies for subtier 1-2, I figure I probably looked at how wounded the harpies were. The PDF listed them as having 22 HP. If you take the full 31 HP harpies in the PDF, this means they each had 9 damage. I figure I then used two bestiary harpies for combat, as I was supposed to, and gave each of them 9 damage. Meaning they started combat with 29 HP each.
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Looking back at the combat and how it ended, I am pretty convinced the above is how I handled it. In case the venture-lieutenant corrects me on how I handled the combat, you'll probably get back the resources spent on Eryzule's resurrection. If this happens I do suggest we still pretend Eryzule died RP-wise, because otherwise a lot of our RP since that moment doesn't make a lot of sense anymore.
Thanks for keeping us abreast of the situation, Steph. I agree with your suggestion that regardless of the outcome, I feel that Ery's death should be maintained as is. Perhaps we can retcon it that he was raised by the genie or whatever she was...
Strikes me as a good idea!
Dear gods, I was listening to some old music and suddenly it hit me... Ery should totally cover I Was Made For Lovin' You!
As someone who thinks largely in imagines I just can't get it out of my head! Imagine the following setting, maybe listening to the song as you do:
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Gwendallyn lies in her bed when suddenly the sound of a bass guitar wakes her up. A lead guitar joins the sound, and soon a male voice can be heard mixing in...
"~Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do~"
The voice starts singing, and Gwendallyn sits up straight. She listens to what the man sings, sweet words about wanting to... give it all... to her...?
Waaaait a minute, Gwendallyn thinks, "I recognize that voice!"
She gets up and walks over to the balcony's glass doors, opens them them, and steps into the night. Below her, accompanied by band members with painted faces and dressed in feminine clothes, stands a singing Eryzule who locks eyes with her as he sings:
"~I was made for lovin' you baby
You were made for lovin' me
And I can't get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me~"
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For some reason I also imagine a tea drinking British gentleman with a large mustache sitting on a nearby bench, approvingly nodding his head to the rhythm in between gentlemanly sips of tea.
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Wait...why is there an issue to our 'ery died' bit? a whole year after the fact?
I had no issues. Nor did I feel it was being played out poorly.
Edit:
Also, I like to think ery as swauve, but lets be entirely honest... If he was going to serenade Gwen.. it would be with this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxLaO8Xzjsk
I have to admit it feels a bit like I'm waiting for a verdict, but we'll see what the Venture-Lieutenant decides.
And I can totally see Ery do that! Now the question is, how much longer will it take Ery before he can persuade Gwen to join him in such a song?
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Its basically a matter of "How much time" does ery get to be dapper as opposed to Aloof.
The way I see it, The group hasn't visited him in the Saloon, nor has he ben given the chance (Save for the month in between at which point he worked super magic) to be more specialized in his attempts to make nice with his peers.
Besides, Ery is like the verdant growth that bind the group together. At least I like to think he is >.>
You need but ask, elf.
Fortunately for you, i've got a soft spot for a good romance story.
And secrets, i love discovering secrets.
(^^)
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I debated if I should say this given what's going on, but I will anyway:
Seriously Ery, laying prone and shooting a magic missle at a drake in striking distance when one has 5 HP is a good way to end up DEAD!
Maybe Steph is nicer then I am, but When I run my home game even the 9 year old has figured out: I will go out of my way to not kill you by bad luck or if you try to save yourself, but you pull something like that to a intelligent beastly? If you are new, I'll give you a couple warnings, after that, I feel no remorse in having a monster full attack you/killing you and letting the other players pick up the pieces.
Last time you died you were being heroic and things like that happen. (For the record I also have zero issue with what happened that time. It was a shock but did not feel unfair. It was a hard fight.) But this time, you shoot a freaking tracer bolt from your hand at a drake who's still looking at you after just putting you down for doing the exact same thing before?
You cast Bane, heal, pretend to be dead and pass your turn... any of those I'd most likely give you a pass, but that... IMHO your just asking to be eaten.
Ok I'll stop ranting now and go watch some politics to simmer down.
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I have a feeling this next round is going to hurt Gwen something fierce. While it's super awesome grappling a dragon, taking a breath weapon to my face or bite and tail slap could ruin my day... Tereze, please by ready with some of your super awesome healing powers!!!
Also, I've decided that I really, really need to invest in my AC. Going to start pumping flat bonuses in my armor and look at grabbing a Ring of Protection.
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Steph, i'd like to ask.
Full attack is a full round action.
A full-round action requires an entire round to complete. Thus, it can't be coupled with a standard or a move action, though if it does not involve moving any distance, you can take a 5-foot step.
The only movement you can take during a full attack is a 5-foot step. You may take the step before, after, or between your attacks.
Steph, i'd like to ask.
Full attack is a full round action.
A full-round action requires an entire round to complete. Thus, it can't be coupled with a standard or a move action, though if it does not involve moving any distance, you can take a 5-foot step.The only movement you can take during a full attack is a 5-foot step. You may take the step before, after, or between your attacks.
There's another rule that applies here: specific beats general.
The drake already had all the actions required for a full-attack. Its Speed Surge ability gave it an extra move action on top of that, and the drake chose to use it before the full-attack.
Imho, that sounds a tadbit illogical, as by your interpretation it crosses two rules, instead of specific beats one.
It looks more akin to haste giving the extra attack.
But that's GM's call.
Without Speed Surge I would've moved and attacked; 1 move action, and 1 standard action. With Speed Surge I had 1 extra move action that I used to move, and then I used my full-round action.
I don't quite get what the illogical part of my reasoning is, but regardless; the darn thing's dead now.
The perfect enemy for this party! :)
There's some extra planning involved from this part onward, to make the season run work well. You'll get details on that later on, once we get there!
The Dragon's Demand module has an overarching storyline, which is from this point forward pretty much 'you have to kill a dragon.'
There's not a whole lot of storyline in the earlier seasons of Pathfinder Society. Mostly just short adventures. The newer seasons have more of an overarching plot. I've linked the metaplot overview of season 0 in the spoiler below. You can safely read it without actually being spoiled.
I think it's mostly up to us to create some kind of connecting story, and of course (if you guys want it) we can expand into larger modules once we run out of season 0 scenarios and the season run as I originally planned it comes to a close.
From the Grand Lodge in Absalom, Pathfinders were sent all over the Inner Sea region. Some teams were sent to explore newly-discovered ruins or investigate strange items; others went in aid of members or allies of the Society. Through its actions, the Society gained several new allies, including Skelg the Ripper, an envoy from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and Nigel Aldain, curator of the (now infamous) Blakros Museum in Absalom. Agents were sent to many of the nations in the Inner Sea, including Taldor, Andoran, Cheliax, and Qadira. Teams were dispatched to locations as far-flung at the lawless River Kingdoms, revolution-wracked Galt, and the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse.
Throughout the year, various national governments saw the Pathfinder Society as a tool to further their own goals, and quietly began to support individual agents within the Society. These national factions garnered much support, and began to co-opt Society missions for their own ends. Pathfinders who once worked as a team instead carried hidden agendas from one of five national factions: the Eagle Knights of Andoran; the nobility of devil-worshiping Cheliax; the Sapphire Sage of Osirion; the merchants of Qadira; or the nobles of Taldor. While not leading to outright conflict between members, these factions often distracted Pathfinders from the Society’s goals.
By the end of the season, the Decemvirate had tested their crop of new agents, weeding out those unable to handle the duties of a Pathfinder. The Society’s masked leaders had also noted the increase in nationalism among the Society’s members. Rather than clamp down on the national influences, the Society embraced them, and Pathfinders began overtly assisting various nations as troubleshooters and investigators, alongside their normal duty of exploration. But there were some in the Society who saw this rise of nationalism as an ill omen, and yet others who saw it as an opportunity to strike.
Okay, so the module actually gives you two weeks instead of one year, but I had to change that. We have to pause Dragon's Demand after the Crypt of Tula, because if we immediately play the last sanctioned part of Dragon's Demand your level will 6 by the time you get back to the Pathfinder Society scenarios. That's too high to play some of the scenarios.
We will have to play seven scenarios before coming back to Dragon's Demand, which I intend to fit into the roleplay as missions you get during this one year you have.
"But we aren't supposed to leave the Belhaim unless we head toward the dragon! What if the dragon notices us leaving, and why would we leave in the first place?"
Yep, and for a moment that gave me a headache. I've figured something out though, and you will find out what when the time comes! :)
A thousand apologies for my absence the past few days; my son has been sick with the Norovirus. Friday he spent much of the day throwing up and I spent it cleaning that up several times. I'm just getting back into the swing of things this morning.
Good to have you back, and I hope your son will feel better soon!
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Indeed they are, Tereze! We've been lucky enough that my wife and I didn't catch the bug thankfully.
I don't live in Chicago, but rather northwest Indiana, specifically Porter county which is one county over from the Indiana/Illinois border along Lake Michigan. I didn't realize anyone here lived that close to me!