Rise of the New Runelords

Game Master Harakani

Edit : Nearly forgot to ask.

Quote:

You guys murdered everyone the second time rocks fell.

One more silly question but can you tell us who killed who and how ? I'm always interested in learning new ways for Denat to be useful.

The archers were level 1, with 8 HP. The two stone calls devastated them. I know common wisdom is that wizards shouldn't be dealing damage, but there are times a damage dealing spell are very useful.

Kressle, on the other hand, basically got save-or-sucked to death.

I'm a little confused about how Hargren was communicating with us. Was it a Magic Jar effect or something like that?

Honestly, I misread it the first time and didn't realize that he was actually dead and still talking through another body.

Still, even if I had known, Grey would have responded the same way. Death doesn't have the same meaning to him as it does to everyone else. :)

Magic Jar.
5th level spell. Leaves the body lifeless. Played a little faster and looser with the rules than I normally would, but did that anyway with the arcane overload/heart attack/stroke.

I've figured some of my confusion about Garess' posts. To me, it looks like he's present for Hargran's explanation, meaning he ard about the Swordlords, his appointment, and what happened with Hargran's body. If that's not the case (should be since Caillus' post about prodding him toward Hargran and asking him directly), Caillus will explain all of that to him to catch him up.

So Hargren is just incapacitated and living in a host body. Good.

I just had an idea. As we are a bit short on Str and Dex based characters, maybe we could give a leadership position to Mr Garess (when we'll more informations about him).

Guys, sorry, I was away from all computer & internet over the weekend. I'll check gameplay & post either later tonight or tomorrow morning sometime.

Aha!
No, Garess was not present for that briefing.
It was for cult members only.

This is not a cult.

On a side note, I got my new credit card because the old one expired and forgot to update my Paizo account. So, it's going to be a few days before I get Ultimate Campaign. :(

Same thing happened to me a while back :)

At the risk of derailing the IC conversation...
IC you need to decide whether to follow the bandits and hope for surprise, hunker down and build up, and/or try to annex a nearby hex.

Don't do it - there's stuff still happening - just decide what you want to do.

OOC wise (and jumping ahead a little):
STEP ONE OF KINGDOM CREATION: Choose an alignment for your kingdom (Lawful-Chaos and Good-Evil).
This is a summary of the justice system, goals of the kingdom and so forth. Kingdoms can change alignments but it is disruptive especially if the change is a big one.

STEP TWO OF KINGDOM CREATION: Roles.
Seeing as how you're starting this already.
Note that Eidolons cannot fill a role (but can assist their partner).
Familiars can fulfill a role, I guess, if they are capable of communicating and commanding.
Animal companions cannot fill a role.
Outsiders can be bound (not summoned) to fulfill a role, but it is expensive.
Roles are:
Ambassador, Councillor, General, Grand Diplomat, High Priest, Magister, Marshall, Royal Enforcer, Spymaster, Treasurer, Warden.
Hargran is Ruler.
Try to pick roles that fit conceptually, rather than just to get the maximum bonuses.
I've no problem with Arioch's dream team save Thkrull, but can people post in bold what they want AND THEN put their virtue and position in their profile. First bolded first served for now.
So EG: Harakani the Charitable Spymaster.

High Priest
Anglon the Loving High Priest. That just sounds wrong.

EDIT:Also, my vote is to build up a little first.

High Priest

Anglon the Loving High Priest. That just sounds wrong.

But whyyyyyy?!...

Arioch will fill whatever space Hargran would like him to, but his greatest strengths are as either Grand Diplomat, so he can be a fast-talker to the rest of the world, or Councillor, so he can sway they citizenry to the Kingdom's cause.

He is in favor of stabilizing the beach head/home base first. Being a student of history he is painfully aware of the folly of not making certain you have a stable supply-line.

For now, Arioch will petition to be considered

Arioch, the outward-facing, Grand-Diplomat of the glorious Theocracy of Lissala, Hargran.

"grand diplomat works for Simon (Simon says :-)

Also was planning on taking leadership and having a spymaster (not the PRC) cohort. It fits rather well with the diplomat thing. Plus it's one of those things that happens mostly ooc anyway. His function will be information brokerage, so he'll be set up to deliver messages quickly and securely.

Edit: I vote build up a little then annex hex.

Also, I'm open to suggestions on both posts and adjectives for Simon.

Treasurer
Are you going to use the leadership role skills optional rule ?
Denat the Generous Treasurer .. that seems.. so strange :D

Edit : one more question
Are we going to see ourselves as the spiritual heirs of Xin ? or rather as cultists of Lissala ? or something else ?

And anyway I agree with Arioch about the need to stabilize what we have first.

Taerine the humble councilor.

Considering her self-effacing nature, representing others seems to make sense for Taerine.

She also votes for building up our strength before going after the bandits.

The Master in Grey, Charitable Magister

Let's get our base of operations secure and strong before we start expanding.

Uh. Still not clear on how those offices work or where Caillus is best suited. What are my responsibilities as Warden?

Basically the offices mean you apply your character's stat bonus to one of the "stats" of the kingdom. The general, for example, increases the kingdom's stability by a value equal to the general’s Strength or Charisma modifier. Having it be vacant decreases Stability by 4.

Each of the roles adds a stat modifier to the kingdom's stability, economy or loyalty. Whenever something happens with the kingdom (i.e. it annexes a town), it must make a check using one of those "stats" to avoid a consequence.

So, in the annexing a town example, one of us would have to roll a Stability check (which would be modified by the general's Str/Cha modifier, along with modifiers from other officers). If we were to fail, the kingdom's Unrest would increase, which applies a penalty to the Stability/Economy/Loyalty stats. If Unrest increases too much, the kingdom could start losing control of territory.

Looking purely from a power gaming perspective, Caillus' high Charisma means he'd be good as the councilor, general, grand diplomat, high pries, or magister. I think all of those but general have been claimed at this point; not sure if you feel that Caillus would make a good general or not.

I actually think Caillus would make a pretty good general. But the receommendation on the dream team was for me to serve as Warden because we have a shortage of Strength.

However, playing the tactical offense and defense of the kingdom sounds like fun, Caillus has a great Charisma score, and of course, speed and mobility for armies is right up his philosophical alley.

I'm good for General, Warden, or both if they are connected enough in their applications.

What y'all think?

If you think General is fun, go for it.

From a game mechanics perspective, you can't double dip. Basically we fill what we can and either take the vacancy penalty or recruit someone for the other positions.

Can we change from one to the other? Which one is most important now?

I do like the general idea.

Remember, we can find NPCs to fill some of the roles. If you like the general idea, I'd say go with that.

Okay.
Anglon: Priest
Arioch: Grand Diplomat
Denat: Treasurer
Grey: Magister
Caillus: General
Taurine: Councillor

Looks like you got beaten to the pip Simon.
Interested in Marshall, Enforcer, Spymaster or Warden?

Marshall: Enforces law in the country except settlements.
Warden: enforces law in the settlements.

Especially at the start I'm happy for people to dance around changing roles.

Denat: I'm not starting with the leadership skills optional rule. I am torn over allowing it.

Simon is basically a magic cowboy so he's much more rough and tumble than a standard wizard. Warden would work quite well, but he's got the wrong stat.

Having a cohort is still on my list of things to do if possible. I like the spymaster idea, but I could just as easily build it to fill one of the other roles.

Warden uses Con, and Simon's not poor at that. With Molly as Marshall perhaps?

Sorry all. Boards ate my big explanation post. Will try to repost tomorrow.

Warden uses Con, and Simon's not poor at that. With Molly as Marshall perhaps?

That could work.

What stay does Marshall use? Wis Or dex i hope. Molly's stats are Str 2, Dex 15, Con 8, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 7

Now ill need to figure out how to make flocks of
Ravens to act as my eyes and ears in the settlements. Perhaps a clone master cohort. :-)

Marshal does in fact use Dex or Wis.

Marshal does in fact use Dex or Wis.

Nice.

Also my clone master alchemist cohort would make an excellent spymaster. Though he doesn't really become effective until he's 8th level and can make lesser simulacrum. Of course when he's 10th and can make doppelgänger simulacrum he'll be extremely effective.

Could just use homonculi shaped to look like Ravens.

How they might be so immediately aware of your dire circumstances, without being made aware of the immanent attack staggers the imagination."[/b]

A discussion with Hargran later will reveal the likely truth on this.

Not prescience, just nepotism.

Simon: So can I put you and Molly down as Marshall and Warden?

Simon: So can I put you and Molly down as Marshall and Warden?

Absolutely.

I make that a majority vote for ATTACK!!!!

Is that right?

I vote pour attack, Denat was just being cautious.

If I'm gonna be General, I'll put more into Survival until it's decent. Gonna have to manage rangers and such, and it's clear we need more experts than just Molly.

If I'm gonna be General, I'll put more into Survival until it's decent. Gonna have to manage rangers and such, and it's clear we need more experts than just Molly.

Agreed. We need troops of rangers/Druids scouring the lands.

Maybe there are druids in the wilderness near the fort (well.. one druid would be a good start)

Master in Grey: I am happy to assume you have your gold pieces in chunks of onyx. Remember 25 gold per undead HD. Lesser animate dead only does one body at a time, and is a 3rd level spell - how many are you wanting to do tomorrow?

you can animate as zombies if you want - but that will significantly slow the group's progress if you take them with you.

Even though the spell says "no variants", given these were archers I'm happy for you to raise them as the archer variant skeletons if you like.

Positions are on the campaign tab.

Please check you all agree.

If Caillus is General, will he be in charge for this foray?

Interestingly, Onyx gems in the amount necessary to raise large HD undead doesn't actually exist within the rules (that means no Zombie Giants or Dragons anywhere, ever, unless you have access to Polymorph Any Object).

A good houserule I've seen is actually to use Onyx Dust instead (that way you can grind up ten 25 GP stones to raise a 10 HD skeleton if you need to)

What do you think?

Anglon is actually going to be doing the casting (along with a Desecrate spell to boost them). As a cleric he has access to full Animate Dead, rather than just Lesser. I'm just going to take control of them with My Command Undead ability once they are raised (he'll order them not to resist me).

Myself, I'm using a scroll of Create treasure map on Kressel's corpse tonight.

I tend to see gems in pathfinder as some mystical substance.

Gems greater than the normal amount do exist, but are subject to normal rules for finding rare expensive items - though there are shortcuts.

Anything over the "standard" quantity/quality would probably have a story attached. They are rare enough that mass-produced-magic would run into a limit.

Most of the time for a PC in a Kingmaker game this just means they have to be ordered, then arrive 'between' turns.

Finding the gem component to make an "x of continuous resurrection" would be problematic.

That okay?

Grey: I assume the scroll will be set to Broad?

I don't want to cut off people talking, but I also want to make sure we don't just talk.

If I give people 48 hours to put together their plans is that going to be sufficient?

At the moment the plan seems to be
* Send Molly out aerial scouting.
* Last minute prep (1/2 hour)
* 8 hours sleep (8 hours) - servants on guard duty
* morning memorisation (1 hour)
* morning spells cast, armour buckled, breakfast eaten (1/2 hour)
* make good time to whatever Molly has found.

Is this correct? That means the Bandits will have about a fourteen hour lead on you. It is likely they have also stopped to camp at some point - if not they'll be all the more exhausted when you do catch up.
You will be hindered by the lowest speed of those going.
There are no horses here (unless someone conjures one).
Molly's information MIGHT be able to help with the morning memorisation, but if you wait for her to return that time will increase the Bandit's lead.

All good?