Skulls and Scallywags - The Changing Tide Team 2

Game Master DarkestHeart

the only thing I am wondering is should we have leveled by now?

As for recruitment, I am game as long as he is cute and doesn't mind undead things.

Yeah I kinda felt the same, sadly I get a dead level next I think.

Classic Sasha, needs her play things.

I think I'll need to get a bunch of information from Tide if we go ahead with this. I think I recall each NPC having an attitude rating to each PC, and that in turn effects what they'll let you get away with and such. I will need to read the past few pages to get up to speed, including the spoilers. And probably read a bunch of the first book to remember everything. I don't mind doing this, it will just take some time.

As for my character, I wouldn't be opposed to someone botting Chandria but that can get to be a lot of work playing as 2 PCs, so if you guys want to instead recruit someone as another replacement and we stick Chandria in the holds, that is fine with me too.

As you prefer, my friend. My only "condition" is that you return later as a player, being as Chandria or something else :)

Yeah, that's the plan :) This is just temporary until Tide's sails are back at full mast. I'll DM him and get the information I need.

Yeah, each npc had ratings for us. I'm with Bleepos, as long as you come back that's good. I'm sure Tide has a bunch of stuff to tell you.

As for the new recruits, we will give the others 2-3 days to answer my message after that I say we open the floodgates a little. I'm not one to force party roles or anything, but in your guys opinions is there something you think this group could use? We know Sasha's conditions.

Just to keep you guys up to date, I haven't heard back from Tide yet, and we can't really continue until I've got the information and until we recruit a couple more players... I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

All good! Take your time.

I'd say the other two are probably gone for good it appears. Once tide gets back to you and you have the relevant information, we can probably start recruiting.

Okay guys (Chandria here), Tide has graciously passed on the necessary details.

A few things
- You can level up as of now.
- Whoever we recruit can start at Level 2.

I'll post over in recruitment in an hour or so. Recruits should follow the same character build mechanics in the first recruitment post. Would you guys prefer 2 more players or 3? Any preference on class and race?

Hey Red/Chandria! Thanks for that :)

Here are my thoughts:

We have right now:

. Me (Captain Bleepos the Supreme, a pirate as goblin pirates come!). I'm a Rogue, but I don't have trapfinding! I don't know if it's needed on this adventure but I don't think so. If it's the case, I'd offer to change my archetype and get back trapfinding.

. Aqguazula, Sahuagin Oracle. From my point of view, he's a strong melee damage dealer with divine spells to support. He can offheal if needed, I guess, but I'm not sure he's any focused on it.

. Sasha the Tiefling Sorceress. Right now she seems more focused on crowd control but she can also blast and, I believe, will have mindcontrolling-related stuff in the future.

Besides Chandria, the Tengu Beastmorph, when she comes back.

So, first things first: for races, I believe we should now stick to normal races. Humans, half-orcs, half-elves, you get the picture. I think our crew will look much cooler if we have this kind of "balance". I think we're already enough far on the exotic side and would love to see more of the core.

For roles... I think we're good on melee damage dealing. Even Sasha is able to do so if needed, plus Chandria is fairly capable on it as well when she comes back (even if she comes with spells and bombs too! Heh).

I think we're missing a true divine caster... Hopefully someone that can channel, cast some healing spells (not only cure - I mean restoration, this stuff) and deal with undead. To be sincere, I'd hate to ask someone to be a healer since it's just boring, but I do believe one can be like a ferocious cleric, for example, with channel and heal spells and still incredibly capable to either dish damage or take hits.

I wouldn't recruit more than two people, so I'd say the other one, ideally, would be a ranged physical damage dealer. Like someone with a bow or crossbow, or tossing stuff. I don't particularly care (myself) for firearms as I think their rules are messy.

I wouldn't get anyone else to crowd the melee (including people with pets or summons) or someone with arcane casting (because we have Sasha and at some point will have Chandria back, I hope).

Anyway... This is my (a lot more than) two cents.

One thing: our gear is quite behind level 2 gear. In fact, I was looking at my sheet and I could sworn I found some other stuff across the ship while... Adventuring... But I think I forgot to add to the sheet. Right now my gear is still that initial one that we buy and retrieve later without any additions. We probably should specify the wealth level to be in pair with ours for the new members (unless there's some sort of event which will magically make my gear worth 1000 gp ;) ).

Firstly wonderful and Bleepos makes some good points. However I agree with some and disagree with others.

.Number of players: 3 would be way too much, so I would say 1-2 that way like the other groups we would all have 6 players when you come back.

.Roles: I generally hate the idea of forcing people into roles, but i understand the need and what not.

.Bleepos is our rogue and a good theft at that.

.Agquazula as Bleepos stated is very much a battle cleric, I will buff himself and others buff here and there and wade into the thick of combat. As we can maybe all agree divine spells in the beginning suck but eventually they will get better. Rest assured I will be taking the healing spells, getting wands of sort and and with strange revelation maybe even channeling as a revelation.
I do plan on taking this feat I will become the first 4 armed malenti.

.Sasha our sorceress, I can't really say what her plan is. All I know she likes her undead, plans for lichedom?

.So for the player(s), I'm wholehearted against the notion that they should play normal races. The shackles are a place where all walks of life meet(mostly criminal). I would say let them play what they, although with the knowledge of what their crew would be. If they did play a normal race could be interesting to see the contrast. So races and classes should be open but here is a list of suggestions:
. Full bab character, it a barbarian,bloodrager, ranger,etc
.More casters? I would love a druid player, don't worry sash I got your back.
.ranged character, I have a friend that's trying to play get into a S&S game as a varana zen archer, if he doesn't make the cut I will tell him to put in our recruitment. Gunslingers are interesting but not what ideal.

.Alignment: I think their should be a limit, no CE and LG one doesn't really work for groups the other is next to impossible for this adventure. I would try to keep it neutral of evil. It's hard to be good when you're raiding small fishing villages and with working and or are slavers.

That's about all that is one my mind I will add whatever other input if I can think of anything.

Hey Red, there is one last thing I can think up which would be nice.
In our Campaign tab if not there somewhere else, Would you be able to post our each of our relations to the crew?

I know for Aq, the people he won over are loyal to him, but if he were to die they should join up with you guys.

I certainly can put it on a Google Slide and then link it in my stat bar. I can't modify the Campaign Info because I'm not the assigned GM.

As far as discussing who to pick, I agree with all that is said regarding alignment and # of players. For classes, considering this is an AP, competition is usually high to get into a game, so we can say what we think would round out our party and obvious preference will be given to those who fill those roles. I don't think we should be too strict on race choice but I will not take any 3pp.

As for gold... Most of us were abducted (at least Chandria was!) and brought onto a pirate ship, so I can't expect you'd have much gold outside of any that you might've found. If you can get your sheets fully up to date with your what gear you found/what you got back from Grok, I'll use that as my starting point.

Alignment: Yes, we do not have anyone good right now, as far as I can tell. But I think CG and NG could potentially find a place... Who knows? I particularly don't like anything lawful for this kind of game, not even lawful evil, but I'll go with whatever the majority prefers.

Melee: Like I said before I think we're way too crowded for a game focused in small spaces. There are larger maps as far as I can tell but I'd rather we try for something on the ranged side.

Races: I still think normal races would give the contrast that makes these games more fun. If everybody is strange, no one is strange.

Gear: I updated my sheet from the basics, but I will go through all pages here and update my gear with the extra stuff I... "Found". ;)

Yeah I never liked the starting hook for this adventure. Knowing Aqs nature he probably would of willingly joined the wormwood.

Which reminds me, once I'm done torturing my attacks, I need to wade into Groks room get all my old stuff back and the few things she took from me(Captains orders) and maybe make a trade for a few things.

For classes, make a pool and we can help decide but I still say the choice is up to Red. for melee combat, I'm sure there will be more than just ship combat but it's a fair point. Ranged could be nice. As for races, we all have our odd traits and quirks so it's up to us to role play that.

I like the google slide idea and I'm going to continue to update the Party loot stash locker.

I will try to have my character fully updated tonight. Can't wait to see the submissions, we're bound to get some people over from Diamondusts recruitment and the razor coast one.

Sounds good guys. Thanks for helping with this. I'll post in recruitment early this evening.

I finally finished updating Bleepos' sheet with everything he... "Acquired". Damn, that goblin is gonna be keelhauled so bad that the ship is gonna turn all green!

hey guys. Sasha is not a big blaster, she is more into undead stuff but her power level is too low to really start happening yet.

Her mother is a lich so lichdom may be in her future.

I am fine if there is another arcane caster as long as there is not excessive overlap in abilities.

how about HP? roll or 1/2+1 HD?

Full HP all levels per Tide's rules - I can fix my sheet if Red want to tune it down.

Yeah, let's go with full HP since that's what was in Tide's rules initially.

It's no easy task figuring out everyone's relationship with everyone else. I got the main ones from Tide, but I don't know, for example, what Ratline thinks of Bleepos, or what Tam thinks of Sasha.
The way to figure this out is to go through every page of the game, and I will do that if I have to but first I wanted to simply ask. Do you all know which NPCs you've interacted with thus far and generally, what their reactions were/how you influenced them?

Bleepos interacted with all the PCs, obviously, and like that with the NPCs (using the list from Tide's profile):

Officers
Barnabas Harrigan - Just the basic "loving" interactions
Mister Plugg - Just the basic "loving" interactions
Master Scourge - Just the basic "loving" interactions
Ambrose Kroop - No interactions
Cut-Throat Grok - Friendly interactions; she acts friendly towards him, I think. Bleepos already had two conversations with her at the quartermaster's and he even tried to give her some gold, but she didn't accept. I believe the entire group become her friends.
Peppery Longfarthing - No interactions
Riaris Krine - No interactions
Habbly Quarne, the “Stitchman” - No interactions
Kipper - No interactions
Patch Patchsalt - No interactions
“Caulky” Tarroon - No interactions
Owlbear Hartshorn - Friendly. Bleepos and Linnet had a conversation with Owlbear and approached him with compassion.

Swabs
Rosie Cusswell - Friendly, apparently. They had been swabbing together. She told him about the keys to the armory.
Giffer Tibbs - No interactions
Jack Scrimshaw - No interactions
Crimson Cogward - No interactions
Tilly Bracket - No interactions
Badger Medlar - She probably hates him and the others, especially after we tried to make it look like she was drunk and sleeping on the job, after our fight
Shivikah - No interactions
Aretta Bansion - She fought against us, probably unfriendly
Fipps Chumlett - He fought against us, probably unfriendly
Jaundiced Jape - He fought against us, probably unfriendly

Riggers
Slippery Syl Lonegan - He fought against us. They fought and Bleepos bit her savagely... "I'll get you when you aint so brave greeny" were her last words to him. Not sure they're on good terms :)
Tam "Narwhal" Tate - He fought against us, probably unfriendly
Maheem - No interactions
Ratline Rattsberger - No interactions
Conchobhar Turlach Shortstone - No interactions
Barefoot Samms Toppin - No interactions

Well Sly is dead, killed by the Sahuagins.

As for Aqguazula's crew.
.Shivikah, I won over and she's interested in my plans.-Helpful
.Cogward, I managed to win over with tales of violence.-Helpful
.Rattline, I told him that I would watch over him and make sure Cog wouldn't bully him.- Helpful
.Maheem, seemed interested in my goals, spoke of a ripple effect.-Friendly
.Grok, not part of his crew but won her over with magical alcohol, was pissed because she thought I stole goods from her. Told me not to speak to her for a few days till things blow over.-Up to the Dm.
.Owlbear, beat the crap out of him in a fight but spared him from my wrath.-up to the dm.

.Scourge and Pluggs probably want to kill me especially after the bilge encounter.
.Badger, Aq Broke her ribs with Shivikah and Cog.-Hostile
.Fipps, was also beaten unconscious in the fight with Badger.-Hostile

Thanks a lot guys, this helps immensely and saves me a ton of time. We've got a few recruits so far. I think we should give it until Saturday and then decide.

Sounds good enough to me, okay so I'm going to clean up aqs's back story with a few details here and there because it's probably messy and I do have a bad habit of not rereading my work. Pbp helps though.

As for the crunch, I'm almost done fixing him up as a level 2 character, for combat I will remember to reduce his attack by 1, just until he goes to sleep and wakes up a second level character.

So I'm going to go about sorting the loot list again. Should we consider Linnet and Dacota's gear forfeit? Also assuming they come with us where ever, free slaves?

Interesting submissions so far, but who will make the mark? Also I wonder if cuan is going to make a druid.

I think we should forfeit their gear unless they have any gold. The gold should be divided to the party. I'll likely stick them and Chandria below deck for the time being and figure out a more long-term solution later.

Yeah, we've got some great submissions so far. Once we close recruitment I'll ask for your feedback on them, I want the team to be happy with whoever we choose.

That's a fair judgement to me, I will make note of that. It would appear as if the other group is interested as well.

Just wanted to let you guys know Tide's given his input as well on the potential recruits. I felt it was the right thing to do given that he's the main GM.

So the way I post is a little different than Tide, who seems to have preferred to post in bursts - which is fine, just a different way of doing it. I generally post a few times throughout the day as I can. I work full-time so it's basically if it slows down, I get a post in. Evenings I almost always manage to post. Weekends are hit and miss - some I have a ton of time on my hands, others I'm not even home.

You're doing fine Red! Once you decide to close recruitment, just let us know. It'd be my pleasure to help go through the candidates. To be sincere, I like a lot the people on the Paizo forums. Most are very friendly! I just wish most would keep the post rate but, having a busy life myself (full time job, baby at home, etc.) I completely understand why it's not realistic sometimes.

Bleepos interacted with all the PCs, obviously, and like that with the NPCs (using the list from Tide's profile):

Riggers
Slippery Syl Lonegan - He fought against us. They fought and Bleepos bit her savagely... "I'll get you when you aint so brave greeny" were her last words to him. Not sure they're on good terms :)
Tam "Narwhal" Tate - He fought against us, probably unfriendly
Maheem - No interactions
Ratline Rattsberger - No interactions
Conchobhar Turlach Shortstone - No interactions
Barefoot Samms Toppin - No interactions

actually I think Sasha and Ratline have a date coming.

sorry I was silent, so much going on. and need to get back into character

Don't worry it's all good. That's true you and him are going to shack up. So he will be loyal to you.

I must've missed that date. Going to flip back a few pages and read it. That'll be a fun scene to set! Stay tuned.

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think of the new recruits thus far? A lot of sorceresses, trying to put Sasha out of a job it seems.

I have not looked yet

Actually Red, do you think we cut off new submissions tonight for new entries but end part way tomorrow ones that are currently there?

Yeah, that's fine.

I think once we close, you guys should DM me your top 3 and any input you want to provide. I'm reluctant to have that discussion here because everyone else could see it, including potential recruits, and some may be sensitive to certain things.

That's totally fair, I know I'd be bummed out too if all of this happened right in the open.

Agreed. Once you close, I'll go through the guys there and send my feedback. I like the ones I saw there so far, but I'm not really analyzing anything too deeply at the moment. :)

Same, saw some that I thought we could really use. Either way should be fun.

Okay, I've gone through all the recruits and I've made my mind on who I feel is needed and why. I will send a pm to red shortly.

I think I've decided as well and Tide has sent me his thoughts. Let's hope we all have similar lists, hehe.

Opps, let me send you my suggestions. Let me know if they're similar in the pm.

I just need to update my skills and the items of mine that Grok has.

Yup, no problem. So far I've received suggestions from you, Sasha, and Tide.. Once Bleepos lets me know, we'll have two new recruits, and a new day will soon begin. :)

updated for level 2