Hello and welcome to a game for the new kids! After seeing so many of the new guys in my previous recruitment not get a game, I felt bad and decided that I'd start one just for folks who don't have a lot of play by post history here on Paizo's forums.
I went through my previous recruitment and sent a PM to five people to see if they were interested. I'll give them two days to check in and we'll see how many people we have. If we're short a full group then I'll open up recruitment and grab whatever we need.
Hello potential players! I'm looking for a group of 5-6 players to embark upon a journey in Nirmathas! Please review the information below, but most importantly check out the steps in the Application Requirement sections to see what I'm looking for.
I'm planning on keeping the recruitment open for at least 5 days. If we get a ton of responses than I may shorten it and if we don't get any I may extend it. I'll give at least 24 hours notice before I close it if I close it early.
For now, just dot in and say hi. I'll get the requirements up once we get a party going. Gameplay is also open for dot and delete as well.
Checking in and looking forward to filling my application. Huge thanks for setting this up GM ShadowLord !
Checking in and looking forward to filling my application. Huge thanks for setting this up GM ShadowLord !
My pleasure, everyone has to start somewhere. No need for an application though, if you're in this thread then you're in the game.
Awesome, can't wait. For other incoming players I'm happy to fill pretty much any role. I tend to prefer skill-monkey or caster classes, but I haven't played a full BAB class before. Really, any role suits :-)
Welcome Tom!
I'll give the folks I sent PM's too through today to respond. If we don't hear from them I'll post up a recruitment thread tomorrow.
It's been 24 hours since I've sent the PM's, so I've opened up recruitment. If the others that I PM'd don't respond by tomorrow I'll start pulling from the recruitment thread until we've got a party.
Alrighty! I've selected four additional people and we've our group of six, so let's get started!
I know next week is Christmas and that will slow things down. Let's tenatively set a start date for a week from day 12/28. If that won't work because of the holidays, no problem we'll push it a little bit.
This is not a dungeon crawl, but there is a large amount of time being spent indoors with confined spaces opposed to outdoors and the forest. You already have a group of six, so keep that in mind when constructing your concept. Things like animal companions and summons will make an already cramped area even busier.
You guys can go ahead and hash out your characters now, working out in here who is playing what.
THE HOOK
Each of you finds yourself in the small cit of Wispil looking looking for work. A man named Silas Gribb offered you a job a caravan guards for his upcoming trip to Belhaim, a small town located in the Verduran Forest of north-central Taldor. The story begins as the caravan departs on its journey.
Here are my guidelines to determine if this is the PbP for you:
Post as often as is necessary but keep it regular. I tend to check the boards several times a day but less often on the weekends. Ideally, we’d have at least 1 post per day from everyone, as needed, but I understand that’s not always possible. Minimally I'd like to see 4 posts during weekdays. I am going to do my best to keep this game moving. If you only check the boards on the weekends or every few days, this is not the PbP for you.
Perseverance is preferred. This is a rather long module. If you don't think you can devote the time to hang around for at least six to nine months for this, this is not the PbP for you.
Communication is key. Whether it is letting me know of a vacation where you might not have internet access, questions about some minutiae of game play, or simple clarifications; communication is how I gauge how engaged my players are, and how I can tune the adventure so that everyone is enjoying themselves. If you don’t think it’s important to let the other players and GM know when you aren’t going to be able to post for a few days, this is not the PbP for you.
Roleplaying. As mentioned above, I like for my players to take the lead in a goodly portion of the adventure. Cues and clues will be given to prod, but I'd rather you go off on a wild hare chase rather than be spoon-fed copied portions of the module over and over. If rolling dice is your go to solve a problem and your character is the strong silent type, this is not the PbP for you.
Quality posting. Know how you get when that hamburger you ordered doesn't look anything like the picture on the poster? That's how I feel about craptastic posts. No one (but you) is forcing you to rush a post out the door, so take your time with it. If you prefer to let the others do the talking, while you toss in one word responses, and like to roll for social skills with no explanations, this is not the PbP for you.
Have fun! This is one of the most important, because if you aren't having fun, why are you playing? Of course, this applies to everyone else too. So, don't be a jerk. If you want to have fun, then this is the PbP for you!
RACES
- Core are preferred, some Featured races will be allowed.
- BANNED RACES: Hobgoblin, Kobold
- ALLOWED RACES - CORE: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings, Humans
- ALLOWED RACES - FEATURED: Aasimars, Catfolk, Dhampirs, Ifrits, Oreads, Ratfolk, Sylphs, Tengus, Tieflings, Undines
ABILITY SCORES
- 20 point buy.
- No stats below 8 or higher than 18 before racial modifiers.
- If you are dumping a stat I fully expect you to RP your character to be lacking that ability.
CLASSES:
- Most Paizo-Published Classes and Archetypes permitted. Ask GM approval if concerned.
- One Archetype per Class.
- Unchained variants of classes MUST be used for Summoners and Barbarians. Monks and Rogues can pick Unchained or Normal.
- Playtest characters allowed under the agreement you will accept changes to the classes that Paizo finalizes when they go final.
- If you intend to play Paladin, I expect strict adherence to alignment and decision making.
- Witches are allowed, but Slumber Hex is not allowed.
FEATS
- Most Paizo-published feats are permitted, no third party feats allowed.
- Banned Feats: Leadership & Antagonize.
- Crafting is allowed, but any custom gear requires GM approval.
TRAITS
- Two traits total from Paizo-published sources.
- You may optionally take a drawback to add a third trait, however, if you take a drawback you better RP the drawback in your characters personality and expect I will try to do so as well.
SKILLS
- 1 extra free skill point at level 1 to be used on Craft, Profession, or Perform (not Perform for Bards)
- We will be using the Background Skills system from Unchained.
GOLD
- Average gold for your class or roll for starting gold.
HIT POINTS
- Max per Hit Dice at level one, 1/2 HD + 1 thereafter.
ALIGNMENT
- Good Alignment preferred.
- No Evil alignments.
RELIGION
- Characters may worship any deity but must be within one step of their alignment.
OTHER STUFF
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FLUFF & STUFF
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Super excited that I got into this campaign. Nice to meet you all!
I'll start working on a character as soon as I know what class I'm going to play. Others have said they are flexible with what classes they're playing. I'm similarly flexible, and would be willing to fill pretty much any role. I would like to avoid playing a vanilla Bard or Cleric right now, because I have active characters [one PFS character, one home campaign that starts in January] in other campaigns with those classes with very strong personalities.
If no objects, and if roles are covered, I'd love to try out an Empiricist Investigator, as I love the flavor of the archetype and have never gotten a chance to play one (EDIT: Actually, just remembered the character build I had in mind would probably take a 1 lvl dip into Inspire Blade Swashbuckler, so it would end up Swash 1 / Investigator X. Would probably start at level 1 as an Investigator though).
That being said, if the party ends up needing another role, I would change that up as need be.
* If we need an Arcane caster: I've really wanted to give Arcanist a bash as well.
* If we need a Divine caster: I'd give Oracle or Warpriest a try (I've wanted to play a Druid, but they tend to get a lot of creatures and could be tough in a dungeon crawl).
* For a ranged striker, I would probably go with an Alchemist (Grenardier) or a Ranger.
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Hi Cheburn!
I've no objections to your investigator, it's a very fun class and gives us a good skilled character to start.
My own first choice would be Fighter. With this being set in Taldor I've got an idea for a character who is the headstrong daughter of a now wealthy family of Ulfen guard in Oppara. She wants to rebel somewhat by returning to the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and slaying a linnorm. Of course she needs to train first, and so she's taking mercenary jobs in Taldor and training hard in shield and spear all the while.
That said I'm trying not to get too attached to the idea because if nobody's first choice was some sort of support / healing role I would switch and take that up, something along the lines of Cleric or a Life Oracle, neither of which I've played before and are interesting to me.
Hey everyone! Thanks DM for the invite, definitely dont object to getting some more pbp experience. Lol
When I get to play Pathfinder as a PC rather than GM’ing—which isn’t often—I tend to gravitate towards martial classes with a bit of spellcasting, i.e. Bloodrager, Magus, Skald. Right now I might be leaning towards Skald
I’ll wait to see what other people are thinking before making a final desicion and I also dont mind playing any class that we need filled!
Happy to adventure with everyone!
Thanks for bringing me aboard! I'm glad to be working with y'all.
I'm also flexible, though I suspect that my preferred class--a cleric--will probably be left to me anyway. I was thinking a follower of Shyka the Many.
Everyone checked in today, excellent!
It looks like everyone's first choices will more or less work together a cohesive party as well.
Have fun building your character, that's one of the most interesting parts of starting a new scenario (for me at least).
I’m thinking of taking the Spellwarrior Archetype for the Skald. I’m worried it may double up too much on Errestan’s Sorcerer and the loss of Spell Keen will definitely be felt, but I do like the versatility of screwing up caster more and eventually countering spells as an immediate action.
What does everyone else think? I keep flipping between it and the normal Skald.
Some fun classes in the mix! Investigator, Fighter, Skald, Cleric and Sorcerer. That fills the 4 core roles well too. We have a fair amount of magic (3 arcane, 1 divine). I was expecting that everyone else's character choices would make mine easier, but that doesn't appear to have happened -- anyone have any thoughts on what roles would benefit the party?
Great! I'll start working on my character then before the holidays get out of hand.
- Based on what I see, I think you could go with almost any class. Though if the Fighter is going spear/shield, we don't necessarily have a high single-target damage character (though I think we have a nice mix). A 2H Barbarian or Inquisitor, or a switch-hitting ranger (2H/bow) might contribute nicely? Unchained Monk also does pretty solid damage and has good mobility. And while YET MORE Arcane, a Magus also gives high burst DPR. I'm not sure how Magus plays with Inspired Rage, though maybe Spell Warrior gets around that?
- Part of me feels like Enhance Weapons may be a little less general purpose than Inspired Rage, and losing Spell Kenning is really sad. But I can definitely see some applications for Enhance Weapons at least. Being able (at level 5) to enhance two party members weapons with Keen or Ghost Touch (or even just adding a +1 enhancement bonus at level 1) while also granting rage powers is pretty nice. FWIW, I don't think you'd get to the Immediate Action counterspell in The Dragon's Demand (ends around level 7 iirc). But if you're continuing with the character somehow, it is worth considering, and quite strong.
- Thank you for the detailed CHARACTER CREATION RULES. I am curious if you are going to allow retraining. Specifically, for this class build, I would normally pick up Weapon Finesse at level 1 Investigator, and then dip into Swashbuckler at character level 3 (Inv 2 / Swash 1). Swashbuckler gets Weapon Finesse (Rapier) as a class feature at 1st level though. I'm curious if I would be able to retrain out of Weapon Finesse at that point. If not, it's no big deal, I may just be a little less accurate the first few two levels. (I know people will often start with 1 level in Swashbuckler, but given the party composition, I'd like to get level 2 Investigator ASAP for Ceaseless Observation.
I'm curious if I would be able to retrain out of Weapon Finesse at that point.
I don't have a problem with retraining feats.
Some fun classes in the mix! Investigator, Fighter, Skald, Cleric and Sorcerer. That fills the 4 core roles well too. We have a fair amount of magic (3 arcane, 1 divine). I was expecting that everyone else's character choices would make mine easier, but that doesn't appear to have happened -- anyone have any thoughts on what roles would benefit the party?
I echo what Cheburn said. Pretty much anything will fit in that sixth spot. Though I will say, going back through I saw you like to play casters. If you'd rather go the magic route, I do have a few more ideas I wouldn't mind trying out and could give up the cleric spot with no issue. I can always try that character again later.
@cheburn Good point about not reaching level 10. You pretty much echo exactly why I keep switching between the archetype and the regular Skald. Lol
It does feel like it may take a few level for the Spellwarrior to really feel useful while the regular Skald hits the ground running at level 1. I’ll spend the weekend thinking about and see if anyone else has any thoughts.
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Level 7 in PbP is really, really far away. Given the typical flow of PbP games, this is likely over a year.
That being said, when we finish this thing if you guys want to keep going there are plenty of 8-10 modules we could try out. While the module ends at 7, that doesn't mean we have to if there is a consensus to keep going.
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I've been playing around with Yngvilda my Ulfen Fighter. I haven't completely settled on all the details yet, but I'm leaning toward two weapon fighting with the shield and perhaps an axe rather than spear so I can benefit from the Ulfen weapon training trait.
Cheburn is correct that not going two-handed means she won't be putting out a huge amount of damage, but I love the iconic image of the Ulfen warrior banging her axe against her shield before combat. Hopefully she can contribute by barging through doors and drawing the attention of any enemies we might face!
@Incandescant I'd play whatever you fancied since it sounds like we've got the basics covered; all of Cheburn's suggestions sound good. Maybe approach it from the other direction, why are you in the middle of a Taldan forest looking for work as a caravan guard? If you fancied being Ulfen you could be Yngvild's brother or something and perhaps we set out together?
@SamuraiNitta If you like the flavour of the Spell Warrior I'd go for that. It might not be powerful straight away, but if that's what's calling to you you'll probably have more fun.
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I think I’m going to go with the regular Skald, get ready to rage everybody!
I've been working on putting together my nameless (as yet!) Investigator's backstory, and have been enjoying doing so. I'm planning on playing as a Forlorn Elf, and it's very fun having the large amount of "childhood" to play with. I'm trying to nail down a timeline, based on major events in Golarion, and am trying to figure out the current year. I believe the current Golarion date is around 4718 AR. But do we know what year The Dragon's Demand starts?
But do we know what year The Dragon's Demand starts?
I've searched the book for a year and there isn't one. I'd just assume current time for now.
Thanks for the input @Cheburn and @TomG. As we've got the core roles covered and I'm very much into spell casters I'm currently thinking up concepts for divine caster classes I haven't played: Oracle (Varisian(?) Seer or Ulfen Stargazer), a Shaman (Ulfen Overseer), a Druid (Ulfen Druid of Desna?).
I'm hoping to spend some time building characters tomorrow, but we've got a lot going on with the festive season.
Here’s what I’ve got so far for Sabrine Basri.
@GM ShadowLord Let me know what you think, I went with a lot of traits and background stuff that I felt reflected her coming from a noble family in Taldor. I grabbed a trait from the player’s guide for War For the Crown. If that gives me too much at the beginning, I can modify it for sure.
I'm quite enamoured with the idea of an Ulfen Magus, channelling arcane power through his rune-encrusted blade...
@GM ShadowLord, I'm curious to hear how you'd rule on Inspired Rage and spell casting?
Inspired Rage states: "While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration."
Does that rule out spell casting? Is that simply spells which require concentration i.e. maintaining a spell with a duration that would require concentration checks if hit?
Sabrine: I did a cursory look through and nothing sticks out is incorrect. I'm curious to see how she interacts with the commoners! :)
Incandescant: So the way I see it is the skald can continue to cast, but any ally who accepts the song would not be able to cast since casting spells requires concentration.
Realized that the text for inspired rage was for Enhance Weapons from the Spellwarrior before I switched back to regular Skald. Now it accurately reflects Inspired Rage. I’m also interested to see how she interacts with commoners and maybe even a few party members lol.
Yngvilda Grimsdottir ready for adventure!
Yngvilda:[b] Looks good!
[b]Galandram: No worries, we're not in a rush. I set the tenative start date as Friday but if we need a few more days we can push it no problem!
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Hi guys!
So we're about two days away from the original dart on the wall of Friday. I'd like everyone to check in and tell me whether you are finished, will be finished by Friday or won't be finished by Friday. There are no worries if you won't, I just need to know when I need to spend time getting the game started.
Thanks!
I have the build done and the basic background in my head. I should be able to create the background and move it all over to a profile by Friday.
Out of curiosity, I've seen several different profile varieties for the build. Do you have one that you prefer? And is there any particular reason?
I’m pretty happy with Sabrine so I think I am good to go!
I should have Galandram ready to go by Friday. I'm just going to get up a description, and probably refine his background a little bit.
Looks like we're 4/6 for Friday, very nice. Incandescant and Errestan?
Out of curiosity, I've seen several different profile varieties for the build. Do you have one that you prefer? And is there any particular reason?
All that I'll ask whatever format you put that it has all of your information listed in the profile, I don't like going off to another site to pull up sheets on external websites. I'll also ask that you build out your quick stat bar with pertinent information, but it looks like everyone has got that down too.
I've updated Galandram's Background and Description, and I believe he is ready to go at this point. I know that with the first level as a Dex-based Investigator, he will not be dealing a ton of damage at first. (Technically, I think a Str Investigator would outdamage him at all levels, even with his future dip into Swashbuckler, but I like the Dex-based flavor for him). Hopefully, the utility and skills he brings to the table will help even this out, and if it's a problem, I can bump the Swashbuckler dip to second level.
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Hi, happy Christmas everyone. Sorry I've not posted my character yet, I've been away visiting family and only got back today. I'm pretty much done. Still got to figure out how to put all the details onto the site.
I should have it all done tomorrow morning. I just have gear to do.
Eldon Cade is a halfling sorcerer who was born into a nomadic tribe of halflings roaming the deserts of Osirion. He developed a strong affinity for lightning which only intensified upon discovering his arcane talents.
Choosing to leave his family and travel the world more widely Eldon left Osirion and has been hiring his talents out where he can whilst exploring the world, causing minor mischief and becoming more and more fascinated by electricity.
I should have more details for his background worked out soon and I've already done all the stats.
Hi all, seasons greetings!
I'm afraid the season has been more demanding of my time than I anticipated and I don't have a character ready yet, nor will they be ready by Friday. I don't want to hold everyone up though, so if you want to get started on Friday with 5 then no hard feelings from me.
Otherwise I should have something put together by Sunday. My plan is to go Inquisitor. I like the idea of a Taldan (unbearded or very minor noble) who longs for the glory days of Taldor and is disgusted by the deeds of the modern day nobility - they should be leading by shining example, but sadly that hasn't been true for generations (please correct me if I have my lore wrong).
I'd probably go Iomadae, Erastil or possibly even Abadar for deity. Haven't played much in Golarion but I think those deities would fit the bill.
Ok... What I'll do is just get the gameplay thread started for some pre-game RP tomorrow and one you finish up we'll get the show officially on the road.
Hi, so I think I'm done. I've created an alias and a profile for that alias. Is there anything else (Sorry I'm new to playing on the forums). Do I need to submit my character sheet for approval or anything?
Eldon - You need to edit your profile and make some edits:
1) You need to edit the Classes/Levels to include more than just Classes/Levels. If you scroll up to the other players you will see that they have a quick-stat reference line. Everyone has a different format (which is fine), the important thing is to cover your initiative, hit points, saves, perception, cmb, cmd, speed, special vision, and any other pertinent areas.
2) You need to post your full stat block into your profile under the About text at the bottom. If you look at other players profiles you will see what I'm talking about.
3) You need to create a background and description add those below your stat box.
For some reason I can't create a post under the gameplay thread. It won't let me hit Submit Post. I've never seen that bug before so I sent an email to support to help.
I'll get us underway as soon as this is resolved.
Ok they fixed it! Ignore all the spam and jump into gameplay.
I believe Cei is ready
Desdemar Salvus, inquisitor of the accidental god, reporting for duty.