OK Everyone. Once you've all finalised your details we can get going.. Post to say Hi, and again when everything's done (unless it already is, in which case say so when you dot in).
Welcome to the Formidably Maid
Me timbers be shivered!
Glad to be aboard!
I do be needing to finish packing me seabags a bit, but me stats be all ready to go if needed.
Likewise, I should get equipment together and finalize stats. I'm excited to set sail!
Once everyone dots into the gameplay, it'll show up under characters, but we've got:
Rogar - Dwarf Alchemist (Chirurgeon)
Alessandra - Half Orc Rogue
Diego - Human Bard
Bellara - Human Gunslinger (Buccaneer)
Shaeda - Halfling Ranger (Freebooter, Skirmisher)
Not a bad party, and female heavy!
I'm here!
Packing bags and getting guns and weapons and...things. (Finalizing stats as well.)
Glad to meet all of Bell's new shipmates!
Thanks! Glad to be here, looking forward to this. Just finishing a few bits, will be good to go soon
So I think that's everyone dotted in. Let me know when you're ready to start!
.... Aaaand I'm done (I think: let me know if anything's obviously missing, DM) - ready to roll!
Not a bad party, and female heavy!
I agree, looks like a good mix - should be an interesting game experience doing without divine support and arcane firepower!
should be an interesting game experience doing without divine support and arcane firepower!
Indeed, the lack of those two qualities should completely change the game, it will be quite interesting. Have to place our faith in Besmara, or the GM.
I look forward to seeing how clockpunk will work, or even how the GM interprets the term.
I imagine we're all familiar with steampunk, I just imagine it's meant that clockpunk will lean more heavily on clockwork items, both artifacts and creatures.
Lodestone, would it be a fair assessment that you're thinking sort of a Golden Compass feel?
I don't see Doc's alignment, but the others are CN, CN, CG, N. And by my background, I'm probably N, with G tendencies (at least where slavery comes into play).
So not your standard crew of cutthroats and murderers.
So not your standard crew of cutthroats and murderers.
Certainly not - Alessandra is a highly superior cutthroat and murderer! ;)
I think Bellara is ready. Although I have to admit, some of her gear is less utilitarian and more geared for the RP side of things.
This is my first time playing a gunslinger, so I may make a blunder here and there. I'm hoping to get guidance from the ones who know the rules better than I do. :)
First level charactes are supposed to blunder a bit!
As for the gunslinger, we outlaw them and summoners in our home games, so I'm mostly ignorant of how they work, but I'll read up on it to be more helpful with the rules.
It's my intention to keep Shaeda's sailory skills (profession, climb, swim, fishing) at level, so she can always keep the ship afloat in an emergency.
It's not normal for a Ranger to be the face, but she does have decent Diplomacy, and she has a racial bonus on linguistics, so if desired, I could keep her diplomacy and linguistics up. It won't both me at all if the Bard was to be planning to be the face though, that's a very good use of the Bard IMHO.
My stealth will be good, so I can hang with the rogue. I'm not sure she'll ever be great at melee, as that would take Weapon Finesse, and feats are at a premium if I'm to do the archer job effectively, particularly with a halfling's strength.
I intend to speak with horrible grammar, and a standard pirate's brogue. I won't be using a dwarfish/scottish brogue, I'll leave that for Doc.
And don't be afeared of offending Shaeda, or her handler. I'm a 44 year old male, Navy brat, former Army soldier, and now civilian employee of the Marine Corps, so I've heard it all.
Oyyy, I should also mention, since our GM appears to have the same pedigree, I was blessed to do pretty well in the RPGSS this year, making it to the round of 16, and my first round Wondrous item was actually a nautical bard item. Maybe we can convince the GM to let Diego have one.
And I think Shaeda is ready to go!
The plan with the bard would be to build a face/knowledge character. I'll try to keep his social skills high and utilize bardic knowledge. As for combat, he's built kinda crippled ;) I like the idea of whips and want to focus there. Which gives him good range, and opportunity to attempt trips/dirty tricks from 15' away. So more of a controller during combat, while boosting others with songs and spells.
So if there's something you're crippling to cover diplomacy, etc. then I wouldn't worry about it. But if you like that aspect of the character, it always helps to have multiple charismatic characters!
I'm usually indisposed on weekends I'm afraid, so most of my posts will be through the week. But I can post multiple times a day on weekdays. I'm making sure I get the character finalized today so I'm not holding anything up.
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I believe Rogar is ready.. Although a dwarf and an alchemist, he has decent social skills. Someone else can be the party face, but Rogar is meant to be the amiable drunkard, easy for anyone to have a chat with.
In the beginning Rogar doesn't really shine in combat. He'll stay away from melee, throwing bombs and hoping to not burn the ship :) Level 2 onwards he can direct some healing to others, and at some point the bombs start to be really effective.
I'm not a native english speaker, so my grammar might also be unintentionally terrible :) But what I'm aiming for Rogar is some kind of Pirate/Dwarven. Also, how strong language are we comfortable using (and allowed in the forum)?
Alright! Diego should have all of his stats/equipment finalized now. I do have a ruling question for you:
Diego has two standard whips and one scorpion whip. The scorpion whip does d4 instead of d3 damage, and can do lethal damaged (which the standard whip cannot without specific feats). The text states that if one is proficient in whips, then you may use it as a whip. I'm assuming this means that it possesses the reach, disarm, and trip qualities that a standard whip would. But I want to make sure before I use it that way.
Even if you rule that it doesn't, he has two standard whips... so slight setback, but nothing world collapsing. If you rule it's ok, however, then I'd like to spend the money to replace those other whips with scorpion whips, since why not?!
That's everyone! Let's do some piracy!
We're supposed to have plans? Um...let's see here. I was envisioning Bell as being quite useful with the heavy machinery on the ship, cannons and such. So I'll be keeping up her Engineering and Profession, Siege Engineer (is that redundant to have both?) for sure.
Does she need Exotic Weapon Proficiency if she's a siege engineer? I'm confused since some siege engines seem to be considered firearms as well.
Regarding being piratey, Bell will probably be the least piratey in her speech. She'll probably try to be buddies with Doc though when she finds out that he's an alchemist - alchemical bullets and the like! Besides, she'll need a drinking buddy.
If we don't have a strictly melee person, maybe I don't need that Precise Shot feat. Or wait, Alessandra is melee?
Edit: Nevermind, Siege Engineer gives her the proficiency for siege weapons. :)
Shaeda never really had the opportunity to melee, maybe she'll like it? The Rogue needs a flank buddy, and Freebooters give flank bonuses too. At 3rd level I could take Weapon Finesse and gain some versatility. We'll see.
It does seem like we have at least 3 ranged, 1 melee, and 1 that uses melee from range, haha!
But it's about the story, so we'll make it work!
"Listen, sweeties: The 'plan' is to take what we can, and have fun - and take out anyone who tries to stop us. And look awesome while we do it"
So yeah, that's Alessandra. Subtle, she isn't - but if you need to lie to (or, better yet, threaten) anyone, she's probably the go-to person for that. Diplomacy... probably best left for someone else.
I've designed her to be decent in mêlée - but with a flanking partner, she's potentially deadly.
Diego, as I read the RAW on scorpion whips, they're the same as normal whips but do lethal damage. So same reach, disarm ability, and so on. Remember though that you provoke an AoO for using them! Just as well you've got dedicated mêlée cover, hmm? Although if one of you robust hit-point types could be the meat shield, a girl wouldn't say no, you know...? ;)
I could swap PBS for Finesse, and go the 2 weapon route if needed, instead of the archery route if needed. Wouldn't change any of my skills, just my fighting method. The two "ladies" of Allesandra and Shaeda could really whip up on people.
Thanks Alessandra. And yeah, Diego wears a cestus so he can still attack in melee without provoking AoOs. It also allows him to take AoOs himself, since whips don't threaten until I get further down the feat chain.
Hi guys,
Sorry for the delay - having to sleep is a pain... Just so you know I'm in Australia so probably quite out of sync with most, if not all of you.
Quite a few posts to read through so I'll reply to the questions I noted, but remind me if I missed one.
* Shaeda: I haven't actually read The Golden Compass (been meaning to for a while). The technological aspect of clockpunk is similar to steampunk, but without the steam - so there are no trains, no advanced guns (revolvers, rifles etc.) - Think of a world where Leonardo's more out-there creations actually worked and The Turk wasn't a fake. There will be Clockwork Automata and strange gadgets - these will become more prominent as the campaign progresses, and will, in many cases take the place of Magic Items (mostly just through reskinning existing items).
From a social perspective, where Steampunk is generally set in the 18th-19th centuries (or an analogue thereof), Steampunk (at least in this case) is more like the english civil war and earlier (16th-17th centuries). - Think Francis Drake. This means that there are standing armies, consisting mostly of musketeers, pikemen and light cavalry - but plate armour is still used by some, especially breastplates (this won't come in to the campaign much because,.. well Pirates!.
Cannons on ships are a relatively new thing, so ships (which are fairly old) generally don't have gun-decks. Instead small cannons are mounted on the upper deck (see the Campaign Info tab for a new piece of small artillery - the Swivel Gun. As far as fashion is concerned, 17th century is pretty much the traditional pirate garb, so standard pirate is about right (think Pirates of the Caribbean).
* Shaeda: We might see about the Bosun's Whistle turning up :)
* Diego: Scorpion whip can do all the manoeuvres a whip can.
Apart from that, it looks like everyone's pretty much good to go. If you've got anything left you can make some changes in the early part of the game - so long as it doesn't effect a skill you've already used or been given the option of using (so if you want to swap to melee Shaeda, you still can.)
1st post will be in the gameplay thread soon.
I think melee would be best, as we have a rifleman and alchemist, and the whip user.
Ok, I'll swap out Point Blank Shot for Weapon Finesse. Can still use the bow just fine at this level, as well as before. It just sets the tone for future development, so no other changes.
I'll get my crunch changed.
One more thing,... Just as a bit of a warning.
The early stages of the adventure include some NPCs you DON"T want to mess with - There are lots of times that a careless character could die... I don't intend to hold back if you act in a way that invites death. - Be careful!
That's pistolwoman, thank you very much! ;)
Swapped out a knowledge skill for a craft (engineering) because...clockwork!
Craft (clockwork) might be better..?
- Gameplay thread is up and 1st post is posted. Welcome aboard!
Then craft clockwork it shall be! (I have never taken craft anything before.) >.>
Shaeda has been updated!
I'll be slow to post tomorrow. I'm teaching a class for most of the day and need to prep for it as well.
Whew, I've got some catching up to do! Sorry for the delay all. As I said earlier, weekends are usually a miss for me. But I have no problem with playing Monday catch up if you're ok with it as well.
Shaeda, it was still fun to roll to see what she got. :)
Haha, yeah yeah
Shaeda, it was still fun to roll to see what she got. :)
You could always have tried to climb quickly. Let's see if anyone has the guts to try to beat you by doing so!
Note that I've added a map of The Wormwood to the Campaign Info tab and to the banner at the top of the page.
Hope the ruling on Seasickness is OK with you Alessandra! I know its unfair to suffer so much just for failing one roll, but the whole point of this part of the adventure is (kind of) to piss you off! - There will be a whole host of unfair things that will happen to you over the next few days!
Hopefully no-one gets too annoyed - its all part of the game. I can however back off a little if it's spoiling anyone's fun.
Nah, it's fine, just a game (through gritted teeth)...
In all seriousness, I'm having a great time; some excellent role playing, I really have the sense of getting to know the characters. If the price for that is a few bad dice rolls, so be it! Thanks all, onwards and upwards everyone(well Bellara anyway *mutter mutter mutter*)!
Indeed it's enjoyable!
Of course, I'm not either of the nauseated ones, or the rock that just fell to the deck either, but I'm sure I'll get mine in due time.
In many ways the double blind aspect of this medium is nice. Had we all been in a room together, we might have been talking around the table determining who has the best climb skill. Not knowing that Bellara was a ringer in the climbing department, Shaeda made assumptions and decisions, and she got beat for it.
It would have been impossible to time it out so we all rolled once, waited for results, all rolled another time, etc. That would have taken 8 real days. I've only played a small PFS module in this format, but in a long campaign, and with the GM ~12 hours out from the rest of us, I suspect the players will spend daytimes describing our actions and intent, and then Lodestone will determine results in the evenings, and we turn it all around again the next day.
It will work, and I look forward to it.
I'm unable to get to google drive on my work computer, so I'll have to wing it if naming specific locations becomes important. Well, I can look on the cell phone, but small screen you know.
Hey Lodestone, and fellow players, is here a standard set of info to stick into the headers, so it shows under your name? Any advice, or directions?
Am I the only one that thinks Paizo's servers are down way too often?
Errr, for real? I won't get into an argument on natural 1s and skill checks, just let us know if that's to be the rule for this game, and I'm good to go.
Any other home rules we need to know?
If you guys object to 1s being an auto-fail I've got no problem with that - honestly I never thought of it as a house rule, I've always played that way. Not trying to screw you over or anything :)
The subject in Pathfinder is only mentioned really for Use Magic Device (which might not be relevant in the clockpunk world).
This thread handles it pretty well, and the link to the d20SRD is good, as in 3.0 it was explicit that natural 1/20 had no special calling for skills.
Like i said though, it's my first day as a pirate, and I'm not trying to rock the boat.
OK,.. Guess it must have been a house rule from the old AD&D days,.. interesting. Let's go by RAW and not have auto-fail on a 1 (or auto succeed on a 20).
BTW Shaeda. If you type this...
(AC: 17 [T: 14 FF: 13] | HP: 7/11, 6NL | F+0, R+7, W-1 | Init: +4 |Perc: +4)
(with your own stats obviously) into the "Race" part of your profile it will work... Makes it easier for me when combat's on so that I don't have to search through your profile to see if you get hit, or spot things.
if you add:
spoiler=Skills]Diplomacy +7 (+8 vs. attracted), Knowledge (local) +3, (nobility) +9, Perception +4, Perform (act) +9, Perform (dance) +8, Perform (sing) +8, Sense Motive +4, Sleight of Hand +5, Stealth +5, Use Magic Device +7[/spoiler
(with square brackets at the ends) to your classes / levels bit too then you get a nice little spoiler in your header...
If you could do the same Alessandra, it would be very helpful!