If you have any last-minute questions or adjustments, make them now, because your character sheets will be finalized as of your first die roll.
Hello!
Things I need to fix:
*Items
*Last feat
*Potentially 1 more trait
*A little backstory merges :)
I'm currently attending a lecture, but I think I will be able to finish up most of the things tonight when I get home.
My time-zone is GMT +1
Gameplay is live in the meantime, and so the chance is there for everyone to iron things out it opens such that you could spend some time roleplaying before any dice or plot happens.
Checking in. All I need to do with my sheet is the trait/skill switcheroo, which is already done and just a matter of preparing some delicious copy pasta and serving it on my profile. Which I suppose I will just do in my main handle for now until I can make a proper alias.
I need to wrap up the final touches on equipment and tying my story together with Miranda, but other than that, I think I am pretty good.
Miranda, I will send you a PM shortly with some ideas.
@Mathias - Mkay : )
@Spooky - Were you okay with pre-crafted items : )? (need to know how much gold I can sink into various wondrous item thingys)
Go for it.
Sweet
Nice backstory, Miranda. A possible connection I see is a loose one: as an investigator with the Watch, Laurence may have been a liason for Miranda. Since he was crammed in the records department for a long time, he had access to plenty of cold cases that could use the touch of a private investigator, ideally ones that fit her specialty. He has a vested interest in making sure things get solved, even if the method is via outsourcing. Perhaps they engaged in a caper or two, but in general, I think that may account for any possible meeting.
Dotting in! I'll be selecting equipment as soon as possible as well.
Yo! Checking in. I believe Grey is actually done so no worries about finalizing. XD
If anyone has ideas toward a brief meeting with Grey I'm open to it.
@Yossarin/Laurence - That sounds reasonable. With her ability to read 'important historical facts' from items, she could perhaps help with a cold case or two :)
Edit: What are the odds of finding your story in a book? (She has been in Absalom for quite some time - maybe she saw the newspaper ?)
@Mathias - PM =)?
@Spooky - is Retraining an option later in the game (for the appropriate fees of course!)? I'm not 100% on my last feat choice - so knowing that would make picking easier
Retraining is totally on the table; downtime rules are open to whatever extent the players will end up wanting them to be.
I would say the odds are very good that any character with a passing interest in literature related to occult stuff or contemporary sociological study authors or just "good non-fiction stories" could be exposed to Laurence's biography about being a Razmiran convert. And anyone recently in Absalom and who reads the broadsheets would know about his very public showdown outside the Starstone tower and the rescued kidnapees.
@Retraining - That is nice to hear. And in that case, I believe Miranda's crunchy stuff is all done! (I was considering either Point Blank Shot or Weapon Finesse as my token combat feat, but I went with the former)
@Dr. Grey - I looked trough story and I could see no obvious connections. Perhaps just a chance meeting in/around Absalom or we could hold off the pleasure until we meet in game : )
@Miranda + Everyone - It's possible, but not likely, that anyone would have met him before he started hunting. Unless they needed a doctor and couldn't afford magical healing, in which case he was a pretty well known one alongside his wife. Outside that, he tended to run in different (That is to say no) social circles. I would say the best bet would be meeting him on a job, but then again, it might just add to his creepiness if no one has. XD
Yay, finally got to make my alias. Should have a post in gameplay tomorrow.
Checking in. Should have an alias and a gameplay post tomorrow as well.
Sorry, got hit with a 24 hour stomach bug yesterday, catching up now. Miranda, PM coming momentarily.
Pardon me if I took any unwelcome liberties during the opening exposition post, Spook. I don't make a habit of that, I just do to start off in a kind of mood setting feature. I made up the balcony on the Gilded Unicorn just assuming it may be just nice enough to have one and extrapolated a similar response from the proprietor as Dr. Grey.
Oh! I knew I forgot something. Would you recommend any obscure languages, DM? The only thing I'm planning is Necril. I've got two more to pick after that.
Take whatever you feel might come in handy; original campaign means I can certainly throw certain choices a bone from time to time.
Hrm... Necril, the language of the Undead, Sylvan, the language of the Fey, and Infernal. Two useful, one longshot, all of them full of flavor. XD
Mathias and Miranda now share a business, "Otherworldly Investigations", and have a friendly, brother/sister-esque relationship.
Oh, hey, well, we've probably run into each other a couple of times, maybe. "Her tall and brooding friend, whatever-his-name-is." :)
Hahaha, yup, sounds about right.
Most likely : )
Will get my post up in a short-ish while!
Man, there's apparently a lot of names already floating around. Did I mistakenly miss a big chunk of it in the recruitment or did this come up with the DM while you guys were building characters?
Only non-PC name thrown around so far has been Laurence's former landlady, who by virtue of likely never coming up again isn't something you'll need to worry much about.
I meant the city names and details. Small hints here or there. Also the birds. Might be I missed a few things thanks to my bloody fever this week but I'm not worried, just excited and curious. XD
The city names are all just peoples' backstory locations. The birds weren't mentioned in the recruitment thread, but in the opening post. I didn't want to drop any hints--and in fact am still playing my cards real close--beyond the contents of the letter, which was kind of needed for the core concept of it all.
Ah, sorry. I gotta read things a little more closely. Been sick all last week so my minds still a bit foggy. This rp time before the game actually worked out in my favor in that regard.
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*Bouncebouncebounce*
Soon™
Soon™
You work for Blizzard?
Nice.
And we have ale!
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In answering a PM to Mathias, it occured to me that I haven't really said anything about difficulty in the campaign. So, to put it simply; I'm running Wrath of the Righteous for my meatspace table of six fairly optimized players and in manually rebalancing the campaign have put the fear of god into each and every one of them. I'm not a killer DM by any stretch, but I like to make my players sweat. Especially in a campaign with horror elements.
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Soon™You work for Blizzard?
Nah. Half-Life 3 on Valve :P
I think Miranda is the only caster (the good Doctor is more of a drinker/brewer!) I thought it would only be decent if I gave you a quick rundown on how the Occultist works. So you know what to expect - and what she actually can do and not.
An Occultist is a middle level spontaneous spellcaster, like a bard or an inquisitor. But unlike those two, she does not pick her spells on a case by case basis. Instead her spell selection is even further limited by schools.
At start, she can learn spells from only two schools. Given that she is level four (one level is an investigator dip!) she has gotten the privilege of learning a third school. Only schools she has picked is on her spell list (that means she have to use UMD to cast Occultist spells from any school she hasn't picked).
She knows spells from the Divination, Illusion and Transmutation school.
For each school she knows, she get to learn one spell from that school for every level. From Divination, for example, she has the Detect Magic cantrip, Comprehend Languages as a first level spell and Locate Object as a third level spell.
So right know she knows a grand total of three cantrips (one of each school), but also three level two spells!
---Psychic Magic---
Of note is also the fact that she uses Psychic magic - which is neither Arcane nor Divine. As such, she can't use spell completion or spell trigger items crafted by such classes without UMD.
Of greater impact is that all Psychic spells lack both Somatic and Verbal components. That is, they require no motion nor sound to work. They do still provoke attacks of opportunity (a feature which I do not plan on using! :P).
Instead, they have Thought and Emotion components. Spells with the Thought component require great concentration and as such they are a bit harder to use when a concentration check is called for. Spells with the Emotion component require the caster to be in the right state of mind to complete the spell - if she is afflicted by hostile effects with either the emotion or fear descriptor, her spell fails.
---Implements---
Additionally, the Occultist makes heavy use of Focuses for her spells. At the start of each day, the Occultist chooses one object, called an implement, to serve as a focus for each school of magic she knows. Trying to cast a spell from a given school without the proper implement creates the same penalties as a Wizard whom lost his Bonded Object. The choice of Implement for each school is limited to a set of thematic items.
For example, to serve as an implement for her Divination spells, Miranda can each morning pick between using a Crystal Ball, a Harrow Deck, a pair of Goggles ect
These implements do not only serve to hinder the Occultist and get sundered, they can also be imbued with power in their own right. At the start of each day, the Occultist gains a number of Mental Focus Points which she can distribute among her implements.
Each implement has a resonant power which gives the item some magical power as long as it is charged with Mental Focus Points. This power typically gets greater with the number of points invested, but is capped by level. This power is typically granted to the wielder of the implement, not necessarily the Occultist.
For example, Miranda's goggles serve as a Divination implement. As long as they have atleast one Mental Focus Point they grant their weilder low-light vision. For three points, they grant Darkvision 60 ft.
Additionally, each school of magic has a Base Focus Power - an effect that can be used by expending one or more Mental Focus Points from the associated implement. Only the Occultist can use Focus Powers.
For example, Miranda's divination implement grants her the ability to, as a swift action, gain +2 on a certain roll before her next turn in exchange for one Mental Focus Power.
Finally - as the Occultist gains levels they may pick (advanced, non-base) Focus Powers. These are more advanced tricks that also expend Mental Focus Points from the implements of the proper school.
For example, Miranda can turn herself Invisible for one Mental Focus point with her Illusion implement - or turn an ally Invisible with a touch for two!
Summary: As many low level spells known as hight level spells, limited by school.
Thought and Emotion instead of Somatic and Verbal components
"Focus component" on all spells - called implements.
Has a pool of points to distribute over the implements which give passive powers - can be expended for nifty tricks.
I am in the midst of running WotR for my table of 5 optimizers, Spook. So if you have managed to do what I cannot and actually make them sweat, I know exactly what to expect!
Not sure how deep you are, but you know the room in the citadel in book two, with the couple level two archers and the arrow holes? Yeah, I turned that into a tense-as-shit encounter that took 45 minutes of running and maneuvering and nearly dropped two characters by making the archers actually threats. Or earlier, with the brimoraks on top of the watchtower, where my decision came down to "maybe I'll just throw an advanced manticore in there" and it went so horribly that our dragon sorcerer--who decided to cast Fly on him, engage it in the sky, and then between the attack and the fall damage was like 1 HP from dying even with the Mythic ability that doubles your Con for the purpose of negative HP--gained a dread nemesis to return later in the campaign.
I don't like pushing player death on people just to be cruel; it can be kinda discouraging, especially when done often, and sort of throws a wrench into the story. If people die, obviously they die and that sucks. But I like to walk the line where you're tense and playing smart, because I hate running chunky salsa power fantasies. Even when I'm running Chunky Salsa Power Fantasy: The Adventure Path.
Ah, the chunky salsa effect. A Shadowrun veteran, by chance?
We are nearing the end of Book 4 now. After realizing what the mythic rules do to the balance in the game I have now figured out how to balance it more effectively and am giving the players decent challenges during combat situations...and out of them, just by adding a little of my own fluff here and there.
The particular encounter you cite there was similarly fun for my group. The archers gathered some demons together and kept engaging the party in hallways using hit and run tactics until the party retreated right into another encounter. That made it hairy for them, but it was enjoyable because they had to cut loose with their mythic abilities and wreak carnage in order to survive. Blood everywhere. :)
I've dabbled.
We're on book three currently, and I'm throwing in a lot of side content to go with the downtime, some little adventures tying into the businesses they're all starting and the occasional module. My solution to Mythic balance has really just been to assume Mythic rank = level when adjusting for CR. Sometimes this means adding monsters or just scaling things up with templates or replacement monsters in the same subcategory. Sometimes it means throwing my own creations out there, and while my players are "fairly optimized" insofar as the Dex Paladin is wearing full plate and invincible, and the Fighter is progressing along pretty much the typical "this is how fighter fight good" path, they aren't really going for anything too destructive. But I'm mostly on GM duty because the characters I make break the shit out any system we try, and my skils are much better put to work throwing crazy strong enemies fro them to struggle with than for someone else to run Scion and just break because they can't handle it what I've done.
Sounds like we have similar players, only replace your fighter with a barbarian who wears miss chance equipment and add a second ranged paladin who smites with his bow. I take the approach of artifically boosting CRs by cramming many encounters together (which also makes the dungeon crawl go a little more quickly) and, of course, throwing HP into the stratosphere. I'm not particularly creative about that part, I'll admit.
Side note, Spooks: is there a specific format you need/want for the stats in our profile? Some DMs want it done a very specific way for their ease of interpretation, others don't care so much just so long as it is presented somehow. Figured I would go ahead and ask now.
Have a readable statblock and I'll be fine. Now that profiles are working again though, everyone please format your Race field to look something like Miranda's or Laurence's. I'll be handling a fair amount of rolls for you guys, and that makes it easier to refer to shit.
I actually plan on doing two aliases for Grey. The mutagen thing doesn't affect -that- much but it will become more and more thematically appropriate, and in addition will probably make your life easier since you won't have to search through my posts for what sort of buffs he'll be getting.
So apparently Doctor Grey's statblock listed him as a level 1 commoner for a while. Heh. Whoops. Fixed now.
As far as his extracts go, there doesn't seem to be enough room to list them all. Instead I'll post a list, like the one that will be below, of what he has prepared. I'll just keep track of the amount used via the bar and the stat block using the * key that I've set up in it.
His current, and typical, extract list will have...
1st lvl: Expeditious Retreat x2, Heightened Awareness x2, Negate Aroma x1
2nd lvl: Blood Transcription x1, Spider Climb x2
GM, just noticed your account name. I'm loving it! I'm imagining the "Hungry Like the Wolf" video populated by Pokémon characters.
Will be posting shortly. Sorry for the delay.