The Chess Arenas (Inactive)

Game Master adsapiens

is this game still recruiting?

I hope so, cause I'm dropping my Submission now.

Still got to finish up the Familiar, and pick sundry equipment like rope and a couple backup weapons, but the character's pretty decently fleshed out, save for backstory, which has enough to go on for a little bit.

It will be open for some more time. I need to have at least some complete/solid applications before I can announce a cut day.

I *think* I've finished this version of Kit up. Let me know if anything looks off.

Likewise. I need to format my familiar better, and again, maybe pick up a nice mundane poles and ropes equipment pack, depending on the style of the dungeons, but otherwise everything should be ready.

The dungeons vary a lot. They're like pocket dimensions, so you can expect basically anything - from a swamp-like environment up to deep dark caves, from a sky castle to a crowded market square.

I spent all of my carrying capacity on combat gear, so I don't have any left for dungeoneering gear. XD

Actually, 100 arrows counts for almost half of the weight I'm carrying...

Efficient Quiver is 1800 and weighs 2 lbs no matter what goes in it.

I didn't have 1800 left after my higher-priority purchases. XD

I've been debating back and forth... I *may* drop the plus by one on something so I can afford a Handy Haversack, which I could then use to carry a lot of other useful gear... it's just hard to decide which one I can most afford to drop the plus by one on. +3 weapon means it can penetrate several types of DR, my non-Reflex saves are low so I don't want to drop the plus on my Cloak of Resistance, I *really need* AC so dropping the plus on any of those seems unwise...

Although...

If I drop the plus on my armor by one, I could actually afford an Amulet of Natural Armor, and have enough left over...

There! I have a plan now!

I find its more efficient to get multiple cheap, stacking AC's rather then all in one. The price increases exponentially. Just makes temporary bonuses confusing since the same bonus usually doesn't stack.

Heh, I plan on old "Bag of stuff that you drop when combat starts and hope it doesn't get nicked" for my sundry gear.

~~

Yeah, but we don't have to worry that much about temporary bonuses unless we play casters, atm. :P

Masterwork backpack, muleback cords...

A list of various storage items, from Armor to Weapons. This is in no way a full listing, but there is quite a bit there.

• Armiger's Panoply Price 7,200 gp Weight 1 lb.
  
• Backpack (Masterwork) Price 50 gp Weight 4 lbs.
  
• Bag of Holding (Type I) Price 2,500 gp Weight 15 lbs.
  
• Bag of Holding (Type II) Price 5,000 gp Weight 25 lbs.
  
• Bag of Holding (Type III) Price 7,400 gp Weight 35 lbs.
  
• Bag of Holding (Type IV) Price 10,000 gp Weight 60 lbs.
  
• Efficient Quiver Price 1,800 gp Weight 2 lbs.
  
• Gauntlets of the Weaponmaster Price 110,000 gp Weight 5 lbs.
  
• Glove of Storing Price 10,000 gp Weight -
  
• Handy Haversack Price 2,000 gp Weight 5 lbs.
  
• Hosteling Price +7,500 gp Weight -
  
• Muleback Cords Price 1,000 gp Weight 1/4 lb.
  
• Quickchange Cloak Price 1,500 gp Weight 1 lb.
  
• Scabbard of Many Blades Price 5,000 gp Weight 3 lbs.
  
• Weapon Tattoo Price 10,000 gp Weight -
  

Or, be a small monk and own practically nothing!

in related news, here's my kobold monk, mostly complete. just need to finish a few small details.

Question for gear a little bit, although I understand if you'd rather not answer: How long might we expect a given "round" to ask? Some minutes of exploration and then a fight? Hours of traveling through a large demiplane environment? Days?

Just wondering if it'd be at all worth it to get a ki mat, mainly. (I too am building a monk!)

Hmm...getting things figured out.

@Loup: The maps aren't that big, so I'd assume minutes, most of the time. It can convert to an hour or two, I guess, depending of the players, but it's probably not going to be the usual.

Hmm maybe I should build a wizard focused on chaining Rope Tricks together then instead :P

Have an idea will work on it today and tomorrow.

OK, here is my submission for Dorum Stordal, my dwarven kineticist. I think everything you needed should be here, let me know if I missed anything.

One thing I wasn't sure about - I gave my character sheet above as the base, un-buffed stats, but as a kineticist his stats are pretty much always buffed because of elemental overflow. The assumption is that I will take 3 points of burn at the beginning of every day, to power my Force Ward, and that will give the following modifications:

You won't start the events with these buffs no matter what, só yes, you do have to work with your base sheet.

Loup Blanc's submission, finished up with crunch and fluff in the profile. I think everything's explained out in mechanics, but if you need anything else broken down let me know! I also wasn't sure how much tie to an AP you wanted in background, with references to us being from Golarion and having a campaign trait, so I included his direct link to Jade Regent, but that can easily be switched as well. (The trait actually ended up being useful for making sure he can understand Common as spoken by most people, since realistically his "Common" would be Tien.)

Also, one of the features of the kineticist is the Internal Buffer, a persistent storage for extra burn:

You won't start the events with these buffs no matter what, só yes, you do have to work with your base sheet.

For a kineticist, this happens at the beginning of the day, the same way a wizard prepares his spells. As long as he has burn, he gets the overflow benefits, and the only thing that resets burn is a full night's sleep. I'm fine with spending one of the buff rounds charging up my force ward, just curious as to what your deciding factor is as to what does or does not stick with your character when you go to the arena. Are you assumed to have just woken up after a full night's rest when you begin a match?

Oh, whoops, forgot the campaign trait requirement. I'll have to fix that.

You won't start the events with these buffs no matter what, só yes, you do have to work with your base sheet.

But those buffs are kind of along the lines of "I prepared spells in the morning". Will spellcasters have to prepare spells on the battlefield?

They are not the same thing. Prepared spells-based casters will have their prepared spells at the start of the events. Kineticists will have to buff themselves on the preparation rounds and deal with the consequences during the events. The "Internal Buffer" also starts all events unfilled (no points on the buffer).

In that case, I think I will withdraw my kineticist application, since those limitations really nerf an already low-tier class. Having to spend three rounds just to get him up to where he would normally already be (mechanically, elemental overflow is assumed to be charged in order to be competitive), and completely eliminating a class feature (internal buffer is useless if it isn't persistent) is too much nerf for my taste. I had another character I had considered that I might submit in a couple of days, if recruitment is still open at that time.

Although I have some of the same concerns as Dwilhelmi, I have modified a current PFS character I have. (If we discover Elemental Overflow becoming an issue, I hope we can revisit your decision).

Don't worry, we still have time. I didn't even announce a close date for recruitment yet. You guys are fine, take your time.

Whoever already completed his or her submission, please go ahead and post it (a single post only, please) on the discussion. I saw it on another game and loved the idea... Much easier for the GM. Either post there with the profile or post the details of the submission. Thanks!

Alright, I'm going to give this a shot with no armor. I have a build in mind and I'm going to work on getting done today.

So I don't think this has been brought up, but what happens with items that become broken or destroyed? Such as if someone's weapon was sundered? Do they get repaired like the gladiator's body?

Yes

Thank you for the quick response.

Are items like boots of speed allowed since you can break the effect apart into three or more activations?

This is covered by the rules...

I simply wanted to make sure as the item could technically be activated once per day and just used for ten rounds, so I thought it better to as than to have it brought up later on that I should not have the item.

All right!

I couldn't really find a good way to build a psychic where the fights would still be fun and interesting, so I'm scrapping that idea. Maybe magus instead? Hmm...

I'm impressed with some of the submissions I see so far on the Discussion tab! Nice job, guys. I will give it a couple more weeks before closing it here, but you guys are doing an incredible job. Those combats should be fun to watch!

Okay, c'mon. Someone pick a high tier caster. Let's really see if prepared caster trumps all. Cleric, wizard, druid. Something.

Honestly, I haven't seen a single submission yet that can counter Invis +Summoned monsters, for starters. Unless you allow the old, "bag of flour/chalk" trick to act as a poor man's glitterdust.

I don't think we could handle, for example, a summoner.

I bought a Mantis Mask. Comes with three charges and the ability to use See Invisibility. I also have invisibility. What else you got?

Very nice, didn't know that was an anti-invis item, because I tried not to go too deep into anyone in my analysis.

Anyway, option two, Emergency Force Sphere.

It actually makes sense that we don't have a prepared caster of that nature for this, because honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense that the arena would get someone like that. Think about it: these are big fights for entertainment, flashy affairs with blood and guts and brawling in the sand (or water, or rocks, or whatever). If they want a caster, they want somebody who's gonna ride around in style and throw big loud thunderbolts and fireballs at people, not someone who'll go invisible, pop an impenetrable sphere around themselves, and sit back while some summons do the work.

Let's face it: it works, but we've all fought those wizards, or played as them, and there's one thing it always has in common: it's boring. And that's the last thing you want in an arena fight.

Option Two Counter: Expeditious retreat and good stealth. Wait it out.

I actually haven't played a wizard that far into the high levels. Not because I think they are boring but because I don't make a lot of wizards. I just can't think of a good backstory half the time. Feels like all of them have the same set up. Go to school for a few years. Go adventuring. End of backstory.

You are right though. It'd be hard to make a flashy wizard. They are more cautious by nature. Someone could make a strength wizard and see how that works. Use buffs to make him a melee combatant. Or play someone super confident with a lot of crowd control spells or manipulation. They screw around with the opponent instead of defeating them. Plus, a high performance check and you don't have to worry about the crowd really. Not that the crowd affects them that badly anyway. Unfriendly crowd affects attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. Not making a lot of those as a caster.

Please read the rules - in this game it also affects things like concentration and caster level checks, for instance. You don't want the crowd against you.

Ah, I went to the main page for that. Don't know why that isn't part of the performance rules. Good addition. Maybe casters weren't supposed to be part of performance battles.

Dot. I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head so I'll get one ready and have it posted in a few days.

Please read the rules - in this game it also affects things like concentration and caster level checks, for instance. You don't want the crowd against you.

That might be more effective if it actually decreased effective caster level, not just caster level checks. Against other PC's, you're not likely to make a caster level check (it's pretty difficult for PC's to get effective spell resistance, though there are exceptions), but...

Actually, you know what, never mind. I don't want a spellcaster who managed to get the crowd on his side to hit me with a spell at +2 caster levels.

Yes. That would be awful.