Savage Kirthfinder

Game Master Kirth Gersen

Swamped at work, sorry.

If I worked outdoors, that could have been a more ambiguous statement, but I don't, so it's not.

On the other hand, Jym's got 2700 discretionary mojo at 3rd level, vs. only 1380 allocated. He could easily look for those last 4 potions (50 each) and suddenly realize he has a satchelful of them from somewhere (900 total) -- and still be at 2080 mojo, well within his limit.

Ok, so what's the limit on that scenario? Every time a PC uses a potion, he could just automatically replenish it? Or am I not understanding what you're saying? Or are you allowing it as a one time thing?

Ok, so what's the limit on that scenario? Every time a PC uses a potion, he could just automatically replenish it? Or am I not understanding what you're saying? Or are you allowing it as a one time thing?

As long as you're somewhere near a town or something, we'd just assume he re-stocks whenever he gets the chance -- either apothecary friends just happen to have extras, or friends are giving them in payment for favors; or maybe the water-priestess lady, sad that Gwl isn't coming back, has an attack of conscience and offers you free potions forever. In the wilderness, we'd come up with some other semi-likely scenario -- just as you're about to run out, you might "just happen" to find a satchel of them on the corpse of some unlucky adventurer.

Expendable Items: For one-use items like potions and scrolls, simply apply the standard cost for each item against your numen until that item is used. On the other hand, to keep a supply of expendable items on hand, it’s easier to simply price a large stock of potions of bull’s strength, for example, as a command-activated item usable at will (see “Designing Custom Items,” below); using those rules, that price would be 2 (spell level) x 3 (caster level) x 900 (command word) = 5,400 numen total (compare to 4,500 gp list price for a 50-charge wand of bull’s strength in the core Pathfinder rules, for example).

Sorry folks. Death in the family threw us all for a loop and knocked me out in a big way. I apologize for being such a flake lately, I am back and pinging and I should be more present moving forward...

Very sorry for your loss. I had one as well Sunday night, so I am very, very sympathetic. Take whatever time you need -- the game can always wait.

Condolences to both of you.

Yeah, sorry to hear it guys.

Deepest sympathies. Loss is always tragic.

Thanks everyone and I'm sorry for you too, Kirth.

Uro, you around? Was Jym wanting you to come up with a defense plan too much of an ask?

Just a heads-up, I'm likely to be offline from tomorrow through Tuesday. Happy Hanukkah, Kickin' Kwanzaa, Rockin' Ramadan, Super Solstice, Crackerjack Christmas -- and any I'm forgetting -- to all.

Happy merry merry to all.

I'm back online and out of the hospital, so feel free to continue!

Hey sorry, RL and work have been a little crazy and I kinda just forgot to keep checking on my games here. I'll work on getting up to date asap.

Sorry I've been MIA, also. Work and family stuff has taken up too much of my brain power. From what I recall of the map, I'm in favor of trying to leave the estate grounds and find a way to escape the manor and find some place more defensible, but if Lady V isn't willing to leave that's a moot point.

If I had more time to use Jym's Network of Informants ability, maybe we could find something, but I'm under the impression that attackers are very imminent.

50 lashes to you both and now you have to win the fight on your own. :p

RL has been *rough* lately. Glad folks are able to start trickling back . Hope things are smoothing out for folks.

Can I lower the numen cost of a wand by collecting one with less than 50 charges? Would that just be the same cost as a stack of same level scrolls? I'm not sure because wands are easier to activate than scrolls.

Jym,

The short answer is "it depends." The easiest way to handle a wand is to price it as an at-will item (spell level x caster level x 900) and not even worry about tracking charges -- your wand essentially never runs out, like a "six-gun" in an old Western movie they shoot like 100 times in a row without reloading.

However, if you really don't mind the extra bookkeeping, yes, you can treat it exactly like a charged item from the Pathfinder rules: spell level x caster level x 750 x (charges/50). That also leaves you vulnerable to running out of charges mid-adventure, however.

I've gotten quite ill, hoping to catch up in a couple days when not so horrible feeling...pilot me as an npc as needed, ty.

Feel better Devon!!

Jam, you're not the boss of Devon.

Devvon, feel better, please.

I demand good health!!

I...live?...Sorta? Ugh.

Back in the swing, zombie like and with much coffee and vitamin c...

I'll take Jam's orders to improved health but my body doesn't seem interested in complying at anything than a snail's pace.

Hey Kirth, is the latest version of docs posted online? You sent me the latest when I first joined up but I think I am missing spell info and wanted to reread a couple things?

Hey Kirth, is the latest version of docs posted online? You sent me the latest when I first joined up but I think I am missing spell info and wanted to reread a couple things?

Yes, they're here.

Sorry everyone for dropping out for so long - I am going to plead work demands(lame I know) plus the excitement and nerves of planning for a pending new addition to the family :) anyway Bal is back hope you are all enjoying the good days.

Man, I love babies. Totally understandable. And I think most or all of us have had a stuff causing a delay. It just happens.

Congrats Bal!!!

Public congrats on behalf of the community, Mate!

So... how do people like the new boards layout?

The layout is something that I can get used to. If that's what it takes to improve the reliability of the boards, then I'll take it.

I don't like that links aren't differentiated out from the standard text, and all of the text seems smaller, which my old-man eyes don't like. However, it's only been a day, and I imagine that there's lots of tweaks to be made in the coming week. I'll worry about what I don't like after I've given Paizo a chance to get the board how they like it.

And hey, look, both of those things have been tweaked!

I really like the way it looks. I've run into problems while trying to navigate around though.

System question for you Kirth. Is there any variant (or have you considered any variant) of a rageless barbarian? Maybe with lesser, static bonuses? I dunno.

The reason that I ask, is that tracking rage in a pbp can get sort of cumbersome at times.

As I'm typing this though, I'm wondering if I'm just describing a ranger or fighter..

Ease of play was the impetus behind the simple "add +2 to everything" instead of "all your attributes get a +X bonus." Number of daily rounds is clunky and a pain to track, as are rounds of bardic inspiration, but I can't think of a slick way of doing them otherwise (3.5 barbarian was x times per day, which was pretty limiting if your fights only last a round or two).

[dice=Confirm]1d20-1 Nope, not a hero point.

So, I remember it from playtest that a nat 20 earned you a hero point, but these past few times I've noticed that you've been confirming the roll to see if the hero point is actually earned, or not.

I started to wonder if this is something new or if I've always misunderstood it, but I can't actually find anything in the Kirthfinder docs (2017 or 2014) that says that natural 20s are a means of earning a hero point.

What is the correct knowledge that I need to put in this lump of swiss cheese I call my brain?

Skill crits used to be the method, until someone convinced me that it isn't a good idea to encourage people to make a lot of pointless skill checks. Confirming actually made the whole thing a lot worse, because it meant that easier checks were more likely to award them, which flies contrary to the whole intent. Very Bad Job, Kirth!

So, officially, the rules changed to the following:

Accumulating Hero Points: An unlimited number of hero points can be accumulated.

 Each player character begins play with one hero point.
 Tough adventures will start with a bonus hero point being awarded to each PC at the start of the adventure, to help ensure survival—the rationale being that the characters are aware a difficult task lies ahead, and are keyed up for it.
 Successful completion of a major adventure or long-term goal (fraught with peril and otherwise heroic; not “I finally wallpapered the house”) results in the gain of 1 hero point.
 Finally, particularly heroic deeds or awesome outcomes―ones that cause the entire table to break out in spontaneous heartfelt cheering― generally result in a hero point award. Successful execution of a particularly cunning or daring plan might likewise provide 1 hero point.

However, I did leave in this statement, concerning critical skill success:

On the other end of the spectrum from Critical Failures (see above) are critical successes. In this option, skill checks with a DC higher than (10 + the character’s skill modifier) that succeed with a natural 20 should also be played up to be more awesome than regular successes. This can be done in terms of story bonuses; mechanically, it might mean treating the results as 10 higher than is actually the case, or even awarding a Hero Point (see below) in some cases.

The last sentence is intentionally ambiguous so as to allow each referee/group to adjudicate it as they like. I've been using that in order to try and get you guys a slightly larger buffer against extinction (as it should be clear by now that I don't pull ruthless bad guys' punches unless they're actually impaired in-game in some way).

However, because a lot of DCs aren't high enough yet to make this come into play that often, I've been going with pretty much any natural 20 skill check made when it actually matters, but looking for confirmation so as not to be throwing around hero points like a broken vending machine.

Again, though, I'll be the first to admit that confirmation does not work in any way that makes any sense, so I'd like to ditch it. But at the same time, I don't want hero points popping up every 20 or so skill checks. In a home game, the last bullet point of the "official" rule for gaining hero points seems to come up a lot more often, though, and I needed a way to make up for that in the PBP.

So, given that rationale, if anyone has a suggestion, I am definitely open to it!

Ok, thanks for the clarification

Will think on a suggestion to better define the last bullet point.

So if we are talking about just our game, I think getting a Hero Point on a Nat 20 skill check is fine. Even without a confirm roll.
We have been playing our game for, what 3 years? I think Uro has earned maybe 4 or 5 hero points during that time. Not exactly a bonanza. Hero points are fun, I think if anything, give them out more often.
Anyway, I'm not much of an optimizer or tactician, so I need it. :-P

OK, being a scientist, I'm constantly on guard to avoid falling for confirmation bias coloring my view of results. So I checked the DCs vs. skill bonuses of all that natural 20 skill checks so far. Out of 10 such checks, I see the following trends:

OK, being a scientist, I'm constantly on guard to avoid falling for confirmation bias coloring my view of results. So I checked the DCs vs. skill bonuses of all that natural 20 skill checks so far. Out of 10 such checks, I see the following trends:

Nice! I'd give you a hero point, if I could.

I therefore recommend in favor of Jam412's suggestion.

I'll agree because today is April 12th.

One idea I was considering is that if you ever feel that PbP players push skill checks with the intention of getting hero points, you could limit it to one per party per thread page.

Hope we haven't lost Devon. Should we keep boting Elebrin?

I think we need to, for the time being. I PMed Devon a few days ago and haven't heard from him. Does anyone want to volunteer or do you want me to do it?

If still nothing by the time the siege is resolved, maybe Elebrin gets fed up with all the horror and bloodshed surrounding you guys and parts ways?

I think we need to, for the time being. I PMed Devon a few days ago and haven't heard from him. Does anyone want to volunteer or do you want me to do it?

1, 2, 3, NOT IT.

All, I'll be taking my family camping for the weekend. I'll be back Sunday night.

So I have to sincerely apologize that I let our game fall off my radar in a big big way. I sort have had a few weeks of just...complicated crap and I didn't handle my world very well. IF its not too crazy to have me come back, cool. If I have well and truly passed the point of being worth having around I seriously understand, lol. I will do my best to read through the back log while I wait to see how you folks feel.

Come back Devon!

Let's leave it up to the dice.

1 = Devon stays
2 = Devon goes

1d1 ⇒ 1

Well, looks like Jym settled it! Concur.

So be it :p