Rise of the Runelords - Pathfinder Society (Inactive)

Game Master JCServant

Salutations. This is the discussion thread for our Rise of the Runelords campaign. Using the new rule that allows running of APs using houserules for PFS credit (assuming groups play through the entire AP and not just the sanctioned areas), I plan on running a group through the entire campaign, issuing the appropriate chronicle sheets at the end of each book. This game will use my standard Pbp houserule, and will include modification the encounters, magic items, NPCs, etc., as I see fit in order to enhance player enjoyment and immersion in the story and setting. Players may also take actions 'outside the box' that moves beyond the scope of the AP from time to time. This is a living, breathing world, and while the adventure's foundation is 'on the rails' to a degree, players are encouraged to 'color outside the lines' when it is done for great RP reasons.

This game is only open to players of my Council of Thieves Pbp game. This game will have similar expectations of players checking at at certain intervals every weekday, and occasionally on weekends. Since they are doing that for CoT anyway, checking here as well is an easy 2nd step. Players of my RotRL campaign understand that this campaign is secondary...meaning that if I'm busy, CoT will get the lion's share of my attention. Hopefully this will work out in the long run. Well see.

Let's start off with discussions about who y'all want to play (classes, races, etc). In near future posts I'll be talking about some interesting character creation options you may be interested in (as far as ability scores go). Don't worry, the standard 20 pt buy option is still available to those who want it. OH, in talking about who you are playing, you may or may not want to remind people who you play on CoT so they can make the connection. Let the meta discussions begin!

Wow... GM-JC thanks for giving this one a try!

Ok... Tessai here to start with :D

I have quite a roster:

Barbarian (Human probably)
Human Priest (Here is a link to a sample of the concept)
Wizard (most likely human, most likely summoner)

But hey, it can go in a LOT of different directions - I should maybe step away from the first line of combat for a change :D

But the Barbarian Tank is REALLY cool :D

Kyle here.

I can't make up my mind what to play yet, thinking Cavalier, another priest, or wizard. I'll have to get back to you after reading the background for the scenario. May also depend on what others play.

There's now a RotRL player's guide in a RotRL sub-folder in our dropbox

Brandon checking in. I am pretty busy today and tomorrow but I don't want to miss out on this.

CoT is my first pbp ever and so far so good so I know you guys would be patient if I make some newbie errors in pfs.

incidentally, I've never played a bard so if I do sign up for this (and you'll have me of course!) I might have one a shot.

I would like to hear your opinion on multi-classing, just out of curiosity.

In my homebrew stuff I am almost always the DM, and for a long time I was a sucker for the roleplayed version of multiclassing - meaning that changing classes would mean finding a logical reason within the game for it (sometimes more complex and others not so) - if on one hand this would lend some depth to the multiclassing, and actually to the character itself, I have to admit that my feeling is that it sort of steered people away from actually multiclassing - or actually doing it already from the get go (say if we started with PCs at level3) and incorporating it into the backstory.

More recently, I have taken a lighter approach to this one, actually allowing free multi-classing, sometimes incorporated into some sort of downtime adventure time, and others not even needing that (I would that any martial class could take, say a dip in fighter without much justification, though archetypes can be a little more complex, but even so).

Also it would seem that, if you are running a homebrew free form campaign created by yourself, the actual backdrop for the multiclassing, but particularly for stuff like entering a prestige class, actually assists by providing valuable hooks to add to the campaign itself, either as part of the main plot, or as a side one.

Thoughts on all of this?

Devil sent me. :)

This toon was built for another RoRL, that failed. Very low mileage. I have a PFS version of her as well, with 2 dots already, and I think it's particularly fitting to use the chronicles of one for the other.

She's a Barb headed for spellbreaker, RP'd as dancing so good its magic (or so magic its good, yang/yin...). After that, dunno. But a plan to 6th level is more than I usually do, anyway.

If she doesn't fit, will build to suit.

Pathfinder comes with built in incentives to stay focused on a single class. The favored class bonus and the higher level class abilities are generally strong reasons to do so. At the very least, it has insured that (unlike 3.5) those people who focus in one class are generally on par with those who multiclass inteligentlly for power reasons. IMHO, it has worked. I have only seen a few players out of the dozens I played with do any class dipping.

With that being said, while I do encourage players having some RP reason, I don't force it. After all, characters in these games rarely know the exact class and skill set of other characters. You would think a follower of the gods would mostly heal, but a cleric of Sarenrae has access to a full barrage of damage, AoE fire spells. A fighter generally has lots of armor, but certain archtypes and builds don't have anything but light. Hell, witches, which in many ways look like wacky wizards, have access to healing spells. I could go on and on.

If you play a class that 'dips' in to other classes for other abilities, RP wise, I don't see why that has to be RP'd out. Your character is focusing on several disaplines to become the best fighter, caster, combatant, etc. Enough said. It's not like he gets a sign that says "I took a level of xyz" and suddenly has to start explaining that to people. The only time I believe class dipping (or even just the choice of class) has to be RP'd out is when you get to some of those really flavorful classes that lend themselves to that. If you're going to take a level of paladin, you better be a lawful good character that lends himself to that personality. If you're going to take a level of inquisitor, your character should, at the very least, demonstrate a strong passion towards that patron deity and a strong willingness to go above the law, as part of his or her character. If you take a level of wizard, fighter, rogue, etc...those are a bit more generic and don't really require any special rp flavor to do so.

I hope that helps! :)

Dotting - planning a Sorcerer for this. Will be working on it shortly!

Awesome!

Hm, with the Barbarian taken, I am rethinking.

Think I may go with an idea for a devastating white haired witch :D

Or the cleric.

whoa...so many people so fast...how many are we up to? I may want to cap it here. I also have a personal friend who's dying to get into a Pbp...

Edeldhur, Barb not 'taken' by Noa. Even if Noa's there, she's not really barb-y. More 'Barbie'. Falchion Dancing Diplomat Barbie! With her own Composite Longbow and Masterwork Dancing Outfit! :)

Plenty of room next to her for a whoever. And I WILL build a different toon if you'd feel crowded.

Answering the GM's last question, in order of posting here:

Edeldhur - Barb? Witch? Cleric?
Kyle/Brenton Demari - Cav? Priest? Wizard?
Jamzilla - Bard?
KRNVR(Noamuth) - Barb?
BudFox - Sorc

Beppo checking in here. I would make six if you don't cap it with the five before. (that's fast!)

I, too, have a few things I would like to try out, as I am a compulsive character creator and tinkerer. I will have a look at the player's guide and ponder this over the weekend...

[EDIT: ninja'd! You people are quick on this stuff.]

whoa...so many people so fast...how many are we up to? I may want to cap it here. I also have a personal friend who's dying to get into a Pbp...

Well, GM-JC what were you expecting? ;)

You guys already know I am all up for finding an arrangement between ourselves so that we obtain a balanced group, even though in CoT we have no Arcane Caster, and are still doing perfectly fine.

I guess we best just work around the ones that are more adamant about playing this or that concept/class.

Looking at our setup, and depending on Kyle's option, since he already is playing a cleric in CoT, I may fall towards that role - check my link above for an idea of the character crunch :D

Regarding the Barb, my idea revolves around a mix I have completely fallen in love with (and which some of you may also know) - Fighter(Unbreakable)1/Barbarian(Invulnerable Rager/Urban Barbarian)?? - it just owns in so many different ways :D

The Witch crunch concept actually revolves around a mix of White Haired Witch archetype and strong Magus class development - seems to be amazingly interesting to play.

Now you've done it - gonna build the 3 options (day off from work will do that to you)

This is very interesting. I like to study various games and the reasons designers do things. One of the big turn offs to me was the elimination of the main healing role in 4th edition. If you don't know, every character has a way to heal themselves in and out of battles. (Granted, there are ways to do that in PF as well, but it's not a natural ability... you have to buy wants, potions, etc). Anywho, I've always been a big fan of playing clerics myself, and was most upset about the concepts and mechanics behind 4e healing. I looked into why they changed it...and it was because, they said, no one likes to be the healing battery, so to speak.

While I occasionally get groups who don't have a healing cleric, most of the time, there's at least one person who handles that role. Apparently, here, there are multiple people lining up for it. And who says that healers are not fun to play? Pft.

Players will have 1 of 3 ways to generate their characters.

1)Purchase 20 pt buy. Y'all know what this is. This allows no change for randomness and full player control over their stats.

2)Dice Pool

Each character has a pool of 24d6 to assign to his statistics. Before the dice are rolled, the player selects the number of dice to roll for each score, with a minimum of 3d6 for each ability. Once the dice have been assigned, the player rolls each group and totals the result of the three highest dice. For more high-powered games, the GM should increase the total number of dice to 28. This method generates characters of a similar power to the Standard method.

This method gives the player strong control over their stats/fate but lady luck clearly still plays a role.

3)Heroic with one important change. Using random dice rolls, and a formula similar to 2+2d6... we come up with some values, usually higher than average. However players may not arrange. This tends to produce higher stats overall, but has the highest degree of randomness. Not for the faint of heart! Best for players who want to let the dice decide what race/class they play.

Note: I'm still working on the exact number of dice in the pool method and exact formula for Random Dice rolls. ..but it will be close what I'm saying here. Once I finalize the options, I'll let you know.

If a player chooses a random option, I will roll the values on the boards here to insure aboslute fairness (and to make sure there's no room for people claiming otherwise). I may allow one reroll, though I'm still crunching numbers to see how that affects averages. I'll let y'all know! Remember, the 20 pt buy is always a valid option for those who want to start making characters with no randomness now.

I'm intrigued by the idea of using dice pools - it's old school (and might help me settle on one of the five options I'm pondering).

Hmmmmm, I think the Heroic method might be a good way for me to chose which character to play.

Salutations.

I've been giving this a lot of thought, and talking carefully with a couple of close friends...and while I don't want to disappoint everyone, I can't please everyone and meet the goals I've set for myself and this campaign. To be upfront, one of those goals is to allow a close friend of mine who has an excellent history for RP'ing with me to join one of my Pbp. He's still working on logistics to make sure this is viable, but if he can join, I want to leave that door open for him until we start. Also, as I've mentioned, I want to keep this group somewhat smaller so that it is easier to manager.

So I've had to boil down the list based on a number of factors including posting history, chemestry, and a few other unmentionables :P

Elderhur, Jamzilla, Brenton, Noamuth... and my friend who will join later if possible... this gives us 4-5 players. Congrats to those who made it in. I'll let you know if that changes, but right now, I think this will be it unless someone changes their mind.

I was to late to put my name in, i was mulling around some idea of what i wanted to go. Never mind good luck to all those that got in and enjoy.

Sorry to hear that Aemon... Hey, stick with CoT - that is our main game, and it is running amazingly with the group we have ;)

Witch crunch finished - Next level should be magus hexcrafter.

[btw, this is Edeldhur/Tessai alias :D]

Crunching Barb now ;)

Honestly, we should all take the Heroic method, and build the group from that - maybe pushing us out of our comfort zone?

But... GM-JC 2+2d6 runs an average of... 9 per stat? I am surely looking at this wrong...

LOL, yeah, I saw that, knew it had to be a typo. I will totally go with whatever 'less controlled' method is on offer.

Hey guys, glad to be running through this one with you.

I'm up for us all using the heroic method once the formula is finalised, it should certainly make for some interesting choices and honestly I'm pretty open to the class I play.

Only real worry is that we all bottom out the same stat. :) But that, too, is fart of the pun.

So when the formula's set, roll my dice, please. If you roll everybody's, and hate the results, it's of course your call to roll them all again. It can hardly be said the GM should not have that option.

ROLL ROLL ROLL :D

:) I agree. This is the moment before the paper comes off, when the box could contain anything, everything. And you know what? Even if we all 'dump-stat' half our numbers, that's part of the story, too.

So yeah, this is how we roll. :)

working on it now...

I like the 6+2D6 except that it quite often comes up with some very big deviations. I've seen quite a number of 6 pt builds as well as 50+.

So, Heroic will work as thus... 6+2D6: Min of 12pts, Max of 35pts. If its higher or lower, player may choose what stats to add to or take away from in order to get that min/max.

Now, if that's what you want, say so now, and I'll roll you're as soon as I get the chance. And y'all can start making characters.

I'm game. I guess if I get 12 points I can always aid another lol

I once got stats so bad, I built a halfling, Lem Menayd.

So, roll my dice, sir!

Ok Brandon is first! Here it comes!!!

Have fun all!

Brandon

Str:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (4, 3) = 13
Dex:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (4, 4) = 14
Int:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (5, 4) = 15
Wis:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 5) = 13
Con:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 6) = 15
Cha:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 4) = 13

Hello everyone, my name is Aaron, I'm Phil's friend. I've been playing pathfinder with him for about a year. I've never done a pbp before, but I am looking forward to it!

Thornborn
Str:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 2) = 11
Dex:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (1, 3) = 10
Int:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 2) = 10
Wis:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (1, 4) = 11
Con:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (6, 3) = 15
Cha:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 1) = 10

Hmmm...9 pt build. EVIL. Add 3 pts. Is there another halfling in the future?

TheDrid
Str:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 5) = 13
Dex:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (6, 6) = 18
Int:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 5) = 13
Wis:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 3) = 11
Con:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 2) = 11
Cha:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (5, 4) = 15

Cool, just to clarify JC, can I adjust these?

Hi Aaron, I'm Jamie. Welcome aboard!

Adjust? Nay! That's a 28 pt build! Now, go make a character!

lol I'm not complaining! By adjust I meant can I allocate these to whatever abilities I choose but I can see that's not the case.

I'll wait to see what everyone gets and we can discuss our class options. With my highest stat as a 15 in Int, good Dex and Con, elf wizard is jumping out so far....

I once got stats so bad, I built a halfling, Lem Menayd

I just got this, lol v funny

We might have trouble filling the usual roles, but we'll be fine.

Aaron, welcome. PBP is like the tabletop, only we have time to stop ourselves from making Python quotes. :)

I'm in. Rolls please :D

Edeldhur

Str:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (6, 4) = 16
Dex:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (2, 3) = 11
Int:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (4, 1) = 11
Wis:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (5, 6) = 17
Con:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 5) = 14
Cha:6 + 2d6 ⇒ 6 + (3, 1) = 10

30 Pt

Welcome aboard Aaron, you'll fit in just nice and smoothly don't worry ;)

Thanks for the rolls GM-JC.

Now... Let's see... Anyone with any set ideas already?

Wizard for me, race to be determined but I'm open to suggestions on all aspects at this pointpoint.

You have great stats for a melee cleric, druid or battle Oracle. Or just a particularly wise warrior type-!

With my high dex, I'm going Bow fighter

I should make good on that wis, maybe go full cleric or fighter with some monk thrown into the mix :D

Oracle is a little gimped on Cha to be honest, but druid.... Wow, I have been considering that one for a loooong time :D