Good evening all!
Please check in here when you get the chance. This is the OOC discussion thread, so take the opportunity to work out any ties you want to.
By default the lot of you are hired on through a Baatezu point of contact in Sigil, a tiefling known as Gaslight. He has something of a recruitment office in the Market District and handles low level negotiations for the devils. He's a bit of a name dropper and clearly likes to play up the power and mystery of working for the devils. He has, however, delivered on any deals made with him in the past and the baatezu, at least implicitly, seem to have empowered him to make deals on their behalf.
It is up to all of you if you've met before or dealt with Gaslight before, or if this is the first contract or service that you've done for him or for the baatezu. You are all called to assemble at his small office and Gaslight has intimated that the task he has for you will send you all to the Prime Material Plane, but hasn't given you any further details in advance.
We'll have an IC thread up shortly, but in the meantime, make any final touches you need to backstories or equipment.
Happy to see you all! Here's my Wizard that will be joining you. His background is quite short, but I'm leaving a lot open for any connections that people are interested in. His contract is specifically meant to be tied in to other characters even (especially?) if the characters haven't met.
It's fine to me if he hasn't actually met anyone else beforehand. He works well with others so there isn't a very pressing need that he be friends before the group forms.
Checking in.
Pretty stoked for a little Planescape.
As for connections, if anyone else is a Mercykiller, there is a good chance they at least know of Fingernipper, otherwise, I'm good with the whole random people starting working together start.
Also checking in. It took forever to find an icon that kind of worked. Closest to a helm that I could get. Here's my reference image, btw.
I'm going to go over my crunch one last time with a fine toothed comb, and then I should be all set to go.
Also: really excited to have made the cut! I haven't played a Planescape game in over a decade.
On a final note, like Fingersnipper, I'm fine with coming in solo and meeting people as things go. Tithonius isn't really a buddy-buddy kind of guy.
Gameplay thread started.
Tithonius, I'd rethink the Faction. You don't have to go back to the Fated from the app, but the Xaositects are a bit too chaos-filled to fit well with this game. I do like a bit of conflict within the party but 99% of the game will involve doing lawful things and that faction doesn't really make a great fit.
Ah, good point. I'll switch back.
Kayla the cleric, checking in. Just need to finish my equipment list and I should be good to go.
For my faction, I went with "Sign of One".
And to add her contract: "In exchange for my services as an ambassador on behalf of the Baatezu for a period of seven years, I, Kayla Adrianas, ask for a certain set of maps."
Not being too familiar with the worlds around, I haven't determined yet exactly what the maps will be off though.
A little bit about Qalendar and party role: He's a high initiative Wizard that will specialize in debuffing the enemy. He should have plenty of buffs for his allies and a significant amount of battlefield control.
He has a decent Perception, and is intended to cover a couple of knowledges for the group. I expect that Knowledge (Planes) will be common, but he'll also have Local, Arcana, and Nature.
Other than that he'll be a pretty standard Wizard doing what Wizards are good at.
As for social role, he's not a leader. As you'll come to see, while he's open and friendly, he's also annoyingly unconcerned with the present. He's happy to advise and assist, but he also lets people make their own choices (and/or mistakes).
Kayla will obviously provide healing magic to the party, being a cleric and all that.
She'll always have her max points in Knowledge Religion, Diplomacy and Sense Motive. I'm waiting until 2nd level to put points in Spellcraft so that she can have Knowledge Geography to start with.
Sorry late check-in. had tons of running around to do this weekend, to deal with a job transition. It will settle down tonight and I'll get everything updated.
Before I do my first in game post I'm just finalizing my character sheet. Speaking of which are there any specific spells that people would prefer I had at first level?
I'll usually be memorizing Grease (because...it's Grease), and Enlarge Person. If Katrin would prefer not to be Enlarged (as I think she's the only one that would benefit from it regularly), then I can switch that spell out for something else. If there are Wizard spells that people would prefer Qalendar have, I'm pretty flexible.
I'm not quite sure how smoothly Tithonius is going to merge with the party, given that when I designed him I originally thought this was going to be a mostly evil aligned group (given that we're working for devils). We're actually all over the alignment spectrum: LN, LG, CG, N, and NE. Which should prove pretty fascinating.
As such, he's likely to be the odd man out, but I'm curious to see how we all come together. As an Oracle, Tithonius can supply healing and some low level magic, but with his Diplomacy +7 and Intimidate +9, he's pretty well equipped to be the party face. Ironically enough.
Qalendar: I appreciate how flexible and open you're being while locking down the details of your PC! I'm happy with whatever you pick, however.
Tithonius: You mentioned you can supply healing, but you changed your spells from your application, didn't you? You had CLW, Divine Favor, and Cause Fear (which is a pretty good spread for a spontaneous caster.)
Do you often find use for Bless Water and Know Thy Enemy? We have a cleric, so Bless Water seems less useful than it is normally. And Know Thy Enemy I've found much better as a scroll or even a wand. Especially since we have a Bard and Wizard and the party covers every identification knowledge skill. As a spontaneous caster it's best to stay away from niche spells, but you may have more experience with that set than I.
We have a lot of Diplomacy, which is always good. And if we want to sweet talk, Nora looks like she'll be able to handle that. And if we want to Intimidate, Tithonius is our go-to guy, with Katrin as a solid back-up there. Socially, I think the group is in a good place.
Just another note as I'm going through character sheets - Tithonius, you are going to have to swap out Wing of Darkness. You have to be level 7 to take that Revelation.
It is? Crud. It is. I'm going to swap in a new feat then. Probably Combat Casting. Thanks for the catch.
@DM: Random question, I know that in the original recruitment you said no traits from campaigns, but the traits in the mummy's mark were taken from the people of the sands players companion. Anywho, what I wanted to ask was would you allow me to swap out my reactionary trait for the trap finder trait (to get the ability to disable magic traps back)?
This group aught to be pretty interesting with so many spellcasters.
So sorry about no posts. Had to take fiancee to Urgent Care Unit. Apparently all the walking doing registry stuff before I leave aggravated something in her abdomen.
@DM: Random question, I know that in the original recruitment you said no traits from campaigns, but the traits in the mummy's mark were taken from the people of the sands players companion. Anywho, what I wanted to ask was would you allow me to swap out my reactionary trait for the trap finder trait (to get the ability to disable magic traps back)?
This group aught to be pretty interesting with so many spellcasters.
I'm going to stick with my original position on campaign traits. That trait fits the AP (since there are lots of traps) but dropping the Trapfinding feature from the rogue class is supposed to be a big cost, so I don't like replacing it with a trait.
And for Nora and posting rate, I wouldn't stress. We're going to get going in earnest this week at the normal daily post rate, but emergencies are emergencies. If you need time and can let us know, please do.
Tithonius: You mentioned you can supply healing, but you changed your spells from your application, didn't you? You had CLW, Divine Favor, and Cause Fear (which is a pretty good spread for a spontaneous caster.)
Do you often find use for Bless Water and Know Thy Enemy? We have a cleric, so Bless Water seems less useful than it is normally. And Know Thy Enemy I've found much better as a scroll or even a wand. Especially since we have a Bard and Wizard and the party covers every identification knowledge skill. As a spontaneous caster it's best to stay away from niche spells, but you may have more experience with that set than I.
Good questions, Qalendar. I originally removed CLW because I thought I could spontaneously convert any spell to that as an oracle, but reading the rules again I find that:
In addition to the spells gained by oracles as they gain levels, each oracle also adds all of either the cure spells or the inflict spells to her list of spells known (cure spells include all spells with “cure” in the name, inflict spells include all spells with “inflict” in the name). These spells are added as soon as the oracle is capable of casting them. This choice is made when the oracle gains her first level and cannot be changed.
So I'll just add CLW back in. Also, I'll swap Bless Water out for Divine Favor. Not sure what to swap Know Thy Enemy for, however. Maybe an all-purpose spell like Bless?
One out of three spells being a niche spell isn't a bad plan. Though if you're looking for suggestions, I would go with something like Bane or Command. They're pretty good for your concept and Command is an especially flexible spell even though it allows a save and spell resistance.
Though if you end up liking Enchantment spells, getting Spell Focus (Enchantment) is good. And if you plan on taking debuffs, Spell Penetration is a must. If you prefer buffs, Bless is indeed quite good. And while the save bonus doesn't stack with Inspire Courage, the attack bonus does. I'm also a fan of Obscuring Mist as one of the few low level battlefield manipulation spells. Obscuring even Darkvision is quite useful at times.
I'm sure Tithonius understands the cant much better than I do. Just to make sure I'm on the same page: there's a king of a Tempus worshiping nation called Sarendon who is at war with some research oriented mages? And we're to help the mages depose the king? Is that right?
I'm sure Tithonius understands the cant much better than I do. Just to make sure I'm on the same page: there's a king of a Tempus worshiping nation called Sarendon who is at war with some research oriented mages? And we're to help the mages depose the king? Is that right?
So, there's a country named Sarendon that is described as a bunch of villages with a central king. It seems that people, or at least the king, worship Tempus. In that nation there are some mages that don't like fighting with strength of arms and would prefer to research; this has caused the king to take issue with them. You are being asked to resolve the situation in a way that favors the mages but doesn't leave Sarendon in chaos.
Gotcha!
So the question remaining is: "Are the mages as violent as the king and just want to kill their enemies with magic instead of steel."
So it might not be helping the good guys, but helping the equally bad guys that the devils favor.
Tithonius, in changing up spells, it looks like you've got one extra one in the level one section. Should be two level one known plus the choice of cure or inflict.
So the question remaining is: "Are the mages as violent as the king and just want to kill their enemies with magic instead of steel."
So it might not be helping the good guys, but helping the equally bad guys that the devils favor.
*Shrug* We're working for devils, doing good deeds isn't really part of the job description.
Order: Fighter, Thief, Bard, Wizard, Oracle, Cleric?
I've got +17 to stealth, so I can scout, but I think this works as a general walking order. I like having the wizard in the middle, but if either of the divines intend to melee, we can move them closer to the front.
@Tithonius: Out of curiosity, how come you're not wearing armor?
His revelation of +4 armor may not stack with regular armor.
His revelation of +4 armor may not stack with regular armor.
That would most likely be it.
That's what I get for not looking for oracle mysteries under 'gear' :p
Tithonius, still need to fix your spells known on the sheet. I also think you took both a skill AND an hp for the favored class option, so you'll have to remove one of those.
I've removed an hp.
I'm not sure what I need to fix in terms of spells known. Oracles start with 2 first level spells. I have an additional spell due to my charisma, and all oracles get healing spells:
In addition to the spells gained by oracles as they gain levels, each oracle also adds all of either the cure spells or the inflict spells to her list of spells known (cure spells include all spells with “cure” in the name, inflict spells include all spells with “inflict” in the name). These spells are added as soon as the oracle is capable of casting them. This choice is made when the oracle gains her first level and cannot be changed.
Hence the four known spells in my list. Am I making a mistake somewhere?
Oh, yeah. Your Charisma gives you additional Spells Per Day, not additional Spells Known. (It's in the paragraph right before the one you quoted.) As noted, the human favored class bonus is, indeed, crazy-good.
Oracles can cast an absolutely insane amount of spells every day, but they're very limited in their choices.
Ah! Thanks for the explanation. I'll change that now then.
PC powwow time?
Any thoughts on how you guys want to approach this? (We can do this all in character if you would prefer, but this seems like it would be faster.)
It looks like, at the moment, we wait for the leader. In the meantime we could get some rest, explore, or talk to some more people. It doesn't much matter to me.
Our summoners are proving remarkably cagey about their power, abilities, and intent. I agree that we need to speak with their leader, get some straight answers, and then make plans from there.
Shall we scout a bit deeper into the ruins to find out own area to camp in while we wait then?
If they are being cagey, we may not want to be sleeping in the middle of their group.
From what you can tell so far the city is largely intact, but very dark and in extreme disrepair. The terrain outside of the cave is a relatively average forest, not terribly dense and with no dangerous wildlife that you saw on the trip to the cave.
Sure, let's scout out our own camp. I don't honestly expect trouble from the mages, but Tithonius isn't very trusting to begin with :P
We have darkvision and light spells, so the dark part isn't an issue. I think that I would rather camp in the ruins that out in the forest.
Once you guys have a firm decision, just head there in the gameplay thread and I'll get you where you are going.
Are we talking like an Underdark-style city, which is completely enclosed within one massive cavern? Can we get a sense of how high the tallest buildings go, and how high up the cavern ceiling is?
Are we talking like an Underdark-style city, which is completely enclosed within one massive cavern? Can we get a sense of how high the tallest buildings go, and how high up the cavern ceiling is?
You have no idea at this point. The mages have some torches and other lights, but only in the small buildings at the edge. It is clear that there are larger buildings further in, but whether it is a large cavern or if it gives way to an outdoor area, or breaks into tunnels, you just can't see from where you are. It does look like buildings are a couple of stories at least however.
That's pretty fascinating. Almost intriguing enough to abandon our original mission and just head off exploring.
Just nudging everyone on this, been a few days since we've seen much activity. Let me know if there is anything people want to get done around the camp. You are all more than welcome to take care of other needs while others finish their conversation if you don't need to talk to Gyda. You also have access to a map now if you want to do any sort of planning.
sorry about dropping off the face of the earth for a bit. Work and life have gotten crazy stupid and it just finally starting to settle down.