Dude! Better hurry. The game starts in under three months!
Oh for crying out loud. Ok one saucy redhead coming up.
Nice, Steve. I'd be lying if I said I didn't see it coming based off your last post... and I've been hoping ever since then that it was, in fact, coming. We spoke of GRRM before and that had a real Tyrion Lannister and his first whore vibe to it (which is awesome).
Not sure where to go from here. I've finished my backstory for now. More on character motivation once we actually get our PCs together.
I guess all that is left until they arrive is for us to react to John's promised redhead. ;-)
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So Arimar - I have no idea if the whole jealous angle was something you were planning on, and I am really sorry if I stole your thunder if you had planned on it. I totally didn't realize that until just a bit ago.
However, my most recent journal post was planned a long time ago when I first created my timeline...
I love the synergy there, whether that is the direction you were going with your character or not...
Also, It appears as though I am fully settled on the Barbalchemist. The VMC makes it amazing, and to be honest, the NPC class is like the straw the stirs the whole drink. It gives me options to mitigate some very glaring weaknesses in a way that is a natural part of the story, and not some forced mechanical over-optimization thing. (despite its highly optimized nature)
Also, the story of how Benaiah became a Heretic involves some very chaotic things, which is in direct opposition to the hellknights.
This is by far the darkest backstory I have ever created, to the point of making me uncomfortable a few times, but I am really excited about the possibilities, and the synergy we already have so far. I can't wait to read more about Olmstead, Option #3, and even more about Arimar!!!
No thunder stolen. That actually wouldn't have occurred to Arimar until just then. After all, he's neutral and ended up still worshipping Urgathoa, so that really does require a fair amount of naiveté on his behalf.
So.... go synergy!
Here's my (rough) first stab at character crunch. I ran into a few questions with the Character Creation Guidelines, mainly "does the npc level count for progression of feats / abilities / skill maximums?"
I'm thinking that I'm going to take a Variant Multiclass Rogue (it fits the character) to get Trapfinding and a trait to get Disable Device as a class skill; that fits with the character background I envision. I'm unsure about whether to invest in stealth or not; if it's something that will be useful in the campaign it works well with the character, but if it's something that will be an annoyance I'll pass on it.
(I've had some GMs that totally despise stealth and any sort of reconnaissance.)
Also crunch: is there a shared teamwork feat people were thinking about taking?
For background, what I'm playing around with is a hobgoblin that was little use to the typical militaristic society: surviving at fringes of servitude, all he was really good at was taking a beating. After surviving a rock fall (cave-in?) he was left for dead buried under rock and dirt. In the midst of a days long struggle to work himself free, he had an "awakening" and became uniquely attuned to the earth (he describes it in poetic terms "Song of the stones?")
I'm toying with the idea that as part of the "awakening" he received a form of prophesy / prophetic insight, but that's entirely up to the GM (could be a fun plot point?) and I'm not tied to it.
From that point he has wandered (joining up with the group?) and attempted to better understand the power he has tapped into, acting as a sort of ascetic holy man.
To do: Add a bit of depth to him beyond the "wandering monk" trope.
So the NPC level is a bonus, so you are 4th level characters. (4 PC levels, 1 NPC level). I want you all to be heroes in your own heroic story, hence bit of extra power.
Stealth is always an option, and since this is free form, I have no problem with you using it.
Yes for the story, email me to keep it our little secret.
I took stealth as a skill for Olmstead, as well. Plus in two levels he'll have access to this little beauty....
Mind Eye (Sp): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to create a mind eye—a magical sensor through which you can see and hear. The mind eye is invisible and its size is Fine, giving it an AC of 18. Any amount of damage to the eye destroys it, but it can be harmed by only spells or magic weapons. The eye moves with a fly speed of 60 feet with perfect maneuverability and can travel up to 1 mile away from you. You must concentrate as a standard action to direct the eye and receive sensory images through it. The mind eye sees as your eyes see, including any additional senses you possess (such as darkvision or see invisibility). The mind eye lasts for 1 minute per occultist level you possess. You must be at least 5th level to select this focus power.
This should help with scouting and surveying :)
Oh, also. Olmstead will be a crit gifter, we'll see how it works in practice, so if anyone wants to carry a high crit modifier weapon, that could be interesting.
I took stealth as a skill for Olmstead, as well. Plus in two levels he'll have access to this little beauty....
Mind Eye (Sp): <snip>This should help with scouting and surveying :)
Nice. I'll have to weigh the skills; I'm going to be a bit skill-starved as it is.
Looking at Olmstead's sheet, you took a level of Swashbuckler, which (as far as I understand) wouldn't work with the variant multiclassing.
Also, it looks like Benaiah is the only one that's going to have a positive strength score ;)
First - thanks for pointing that out Malgrim and you are correct that there would be no benefit for Robert to VMC.
Second - Re Robert Olmstead (Abe Lincoln)
So the Variant Multiclass caveat can be treated as an option, not a 'you have to use' in this case. Totally my fault if one of my rules would nerf character creation, and my sincere apologies if it negatively affected your character.
Should your character concept not work with the VMC, choose a normal multiclass option. My character creations guidelines are meant to enhance your character creation experience rather then deter it.
If anyone needs to adjust your Crunch, or retool please do so. If one of my character creation guidelines inhibits what you want to do, just let me know.
Again, the purpose is to have cool options, rather than rules restrictions.
Third - you guys are awesome. I can't even believe how much time and effort you have put into this. I am very excited for this to kick off, and you are making my self-imposed deadlines challenging to maintain.
Fourth - and you probably don't remember, but when I ran House for the Occult Pregens, Arimar played the occultist and used Mind's Eye quite a bit. Will dig for the post if I have time.
Fifth - busy week but I hope to carve out some time this week for Player review. I trust you and Hero Lab, but you all picked such interesting concepts that I want to get a working handle on what you can and can't do. We may have a mock encounter so I can run through your characters in combat, and possible a skill challenge depending on time.
Lastly, Malgrim has it right. Since you are all penciled in, see what you can and can't do, what holes you need plugged, and such. Plan for challenging encounters. Talk about SOP.
PS Lastly, you seem to have veered towards the evilish side of the spectrum, this is not a problem as long as we understand that CE and sociopathic tendencies are outside of the scope of this adventure.
For example, Benaiah killing what he and Arimar considered to be a despicable person in the prison in order to free one of their own. This kind of selfish behavior is evil, but not CE. So allowable.
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Couple of thoughts in response to your thoughts:
RE: Evil-ish behavior. Benaiah will technically be chaotic neutral. Selfish for the most part, generally good and evil being more defined on what suits him at the time. I'll definitely stay away from CE and sociopath stuff as I think that if I tried to get in the head of that character I would just have to retire him immediately.
To that end, under no circumstances will Benaiah own a slave, or 'force himself on anyone'. I thought it would be an interesting part of his backstory, being from cheliax and it being such an integral part of that culture, however thats just not the type of character I want to play. He might be selfish, but it's still me playing him, and thats just not in my DNA.
Now, coming from the money and status he came from, he isn't really used to people telling him no, and is a bit too niave to understand why they might. I've got a pretty good idea of the type of guy that my wife hates (Jock, brash, cocky, entitled, etc) and that is more of what I am going for here. Some ladies will love him, but most with a shred of common sense will loath him.
Hopefully that helps give some context as to who I intend Benaiah to be, and also who I don't want him to be. Part of theme I am hoping to peg is that he mistakenly thinks that "being a man" is akin to something tangible, something his father was supposed to give to him, but withheld due to his jealousy. This lead him to alchemy to find a way to fabricate his manhood. Benaiah the Hidden Man alias is his Mutagen-induced alter-ego. Its a split personality that generally is locked in his mind until he drinks the mutagen. In a way, its a riff on smeagol/gollum - two parts of him that are at odds, though they have a common primary motivation.
However, he/they believe the pure form of manhood is when he is raging (mechanically from the Barbarian VMC) - which was a technique his father unintentionally gave him when he drugged him during the sacrifice ceremony. Benaiah's brain remembers how to create that drug induced short-circuit without needing the narcotics, and he learned how to be able to do it on demand. However, he can't do it for very long. Both him and his alter-ego crave it though.
I don't want to constantly beat the readers over the head with this boy vs man theme though, so hopefully I can keep it to background mood music kind of level instead of in your face. For your context as the reader though, this should help explain some of his antics and motivations.
In general, I don't want him to be a brooding "hulk smash!" kind of guy. Somehow he found this group of odd friends, and he feels comfortable and safe with them, and so he is in many ways a pretty carefree guy, with no shortage of frat boy antics. His real family was pretty harsh obviously, so he protects his new framily fiercely, eager to play the role of the muscle/braun of the group.
Hope that helps give more context.
RE: character review - I'll get my profile up this week and email John the Hero Lab file for review. I'll try to explain how I "added" the NPC class and still pulled off the VMC. Some brute force there, but I am pretty confident it worked.
Mock encounter sounds like fun. Benaiah takes a bit to really get ramped up (full buff list = Mutagen, Bull's strength, Enlarge Person, shield, then rage) but then he can smash with the best of them. Olmstead has seen a variation of this build at a live table a few years ago, so he has some idea of what it can do. (I'll take an earthbreaker likely, with its x3 crit, or possibly a scythe with its x4 crit if Olmstead is going to be handing crits out like candy...)
RE: Minds eye and House/Occult pregens. I do remember. Varimar had a very unique and memorable way of activating the ability which caused me much amusement.
Son of a... I wrote a book again. Sorry. :(
Holding off on posting too much with Malgrim to make sure the name sticks ;)
I'll be trying to finish up character crunch so I can join the gameplay thread fun. I'm planning on adding the VMC and NPC as "In-Play", otherwise it was giving some weirdness.
On the plus side, those are fairly static or rare.
GM, I want to go ahead and say "Take your time". We players may be eager, but pushing yourself to get things ahead of time won't help anyone in the long run (unless, of course, you need a nudge ;)) I think we're all mature enough to contain our excitement. Most of us anyway ;)
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Just for grins I did a straight statblock dump from herolab into my profile here.
Profile reflects zero buffs/mutagen/spells, etc.
There is one error I need to look into. I took two archetypes, beastmorph and ragechemist. Hero lab is telling me they overlap on the abilities replaced, but thats not how I remember it. I'm tired and going to bed, so I will verify tomorrow.
And for the fun of it, I turned on all of my buffs (mutagen, rage, power attack, bulls strength, shield, enlarge person) and dumped that statblock into this profile.
scythe +13 (2d6+21/×4)
for
Hopefully that isn't a sign of things to come...
for
Yea, not looking good...
for
/sigh
for
/whew
and then when Olmstead gives me his crit...
That would be 110 damage...
So like I said... glass cannon... :)
For the Archetypes:
BeastmorphUC
Features Replaced: Swift Alchemy, Swift Poisoning, Poison Immunity, Persistent Mutagen
Valid Archetypes: Bramble Brewer (Half-Elf), Mindchemist, Reanimator, Saboteur (Gnome), Vivisectionist
RagechemistCM
Features Replaced: Poison Use, Swift Poisoning, Poison Immunity
Valid Archetypes: Bramble Brewer (Half-Elf), Reanimator, Saboteur (Gnome), Vivisectionist
Ah, so much of the morning spent catching up on other threads... and not this thread, ie. the only thread I really want to post on. (Sorry Steve)
Mechanics are fun, but I'm loving the RP. A mock encounter would be a lot of fun... but we could easily run it for ourselves (if you're busy, GM).
As for the evil... well, I'm a priest of Urgathoa (as was mentioned earlier). My aim is to start on the evil side of neutral and gradually move towards the side of good - maybe even abandoning my deity for another. He'll still be a necromancer, but perhaps he'll come to realize the error of his ways. Perhaps not. Let's see where the adventure takes us... but I was thinking it'd be cool to roleplay a slow ascent to good rather than a descent into evil.
Again, let's see where the roleplay takes us.
Once everyone has settled and I've had a chance to look over we will do some mock encounters to get a feel for your characters.
So Xûll kills the other guy with such ferocity that the blood spray drowns his compatriot. We make it back to Absalom and a regaled with wrap up info and chronicles. Just 1 more post required from you, John, really.
Then we can do this game, right? Right?
:sigh: How I wish you were right.
Very close to the end, I hope to be done by midweek next week at the LATEEST!
As for a start date: Does March 7th work for everyone? I am still debating slowing down/suspending during April, but I feel we can get a great toe hold into the adventure by then. Does that work for you Malgrim & Robert Olmstead? I would still like to build up to a bar fight, and I still need some flavor posts from M & RO.
In the meantime, it would help me out a ton if you could help with my tables. I likes Malgrim's idea of palyers (trusted that is) filling out the tables. Please add in any ooc modifiers that I should be aware of. If not I can always do it for those without enough time. :)
Thank you so much.
March 7th is okay, but I'm heading to Mexico for Spring Break. That'll mean slow (or no) posting from me for 5 days, depending upon prevailing weather and Internet conditions.
Arimar is updated on your roll table! I love that doc. Nice work, Mike. I may copy it for RoW book 3. ;-)
Should I include my resistances under saves, or will that just get too cluttered?
Add your resistances, I may do something different with that.
Once Malgrim and Robert Olmstead get statted up, we can have a bar fight. Next week sometime if that is ok.
Done.
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I have been thinking about a reroll - hero system.
Found this and I like it - a lot. Thoughts?
The Hypertext d20 SRD - the ultimate d20 system reference
Action Points
Action points give character the means to affect game play in significant ways, by improving important rolls or unlocking special abilities. Each character has a limited number of action points, and once an action point is spent, it is gone for good.
Metagame Analysis: Action Points
Action points give players some control over poor die rolls. Although this has little effect in an average encounter, it makes it a little more likely that characters will survive extremely challenging encounters and less likely that a single character will fall to what would otherwise be a balanced foe because of bad luck. A reserve of action points lets even careful players expose their characters to more risks, heightening the game’s tension and opening the door to even more heroic action. This variant also makes it less likely that an entire adventuring group will fall victim to one powerful effect, such as circle of death or cloudkill.
Action points also make it more likely that the use of a character’s most potent abilities will be successful. For example, although its overall effect on an encounter might be minimal, few things frustrate a paladin more than missing with a smite attack—an event that becomes less likely when using action points.
That said, action points can also lead characters to routinely get in over their heads (relying on action points to save themselves), and for GMs to unconsciously increase the difficulty of encounters (since characters are more likely to succeed against foes of equal power). This is as fine as long as the characters have a reserve of such points to spend—but if they run out, encounters that would otherwise be merely challenging can become incredibly deadly. Keep the number of action points available to your characters in mind when designing encounters.
For GMs who are worried that action points increase the power level of characters without an offsetting cost, there’s an easy solution. Just think of each action point as a one-use magic item with a broad range of possible effects. With that analogy, it becomes easy to justify reducing the amount of treasure awarded to balance out the accrual of action points. Note that this is merely a tool for GMs interested in carefully monitoring character power levels; action points should never be for sale.
An action point is roughly equivalent to a magic item worth 100 gp per character level (since the higher a character’s level, the more potent the effect).
Acquiring Action Points
A beginning (1st-level) character starts the game with 5 action points. A character above 1st level starts the game with a number of action points equal to 5 + 1/2 his current character level.
Every time a character advances, he gains a number of action points equal to 5 + 1/2 his new character level. Some prestige classes might allow a faster rate of accrual, at the GM’s option.
Action Points and Existing Games
Adding action points to an existing campaign is easy, since characters don’t need to make any special changes. Each character simply gains a number of action points equal to 5 + 1/2 his character level.
NPCs and Action Points
Most NPCs probably shouldn’t have action points, due to the added complexity this would create. In the case of important villains or other significant characters, however, the GM may award them an appropriate number of action points to use against the player characters. A number of action points equal to 1/2 the NPC’s level is a good baseline.
Using Action Points
You can spend 1 action point either to add to a single d20 roll, to take a special action, or to improve the use of a feat.
You can spend 1 action point in a round. If you spend a point to use a special action (see below), you can’t spend another one in the same round to improve a die roll, and vice versa.
Add to a Roll
Character Level Action Point Dice Rolled
1st-7th 1d6
8th-14th 2d6
15th-20th 3d6
When you spend 1 action point to improve a d20 roll, you add the result of a 1d6 to your d20 roll (including attack rolls, saves, checks, or any other roll of a d20) to help you meet or exceed the target number. You can declare the use of 1 action point to alter a d20 roll after the roll is made, but only before the GM reveals the result of that roll. You can’t use an action point to alter the result of a d20 roll when you are taking 10 or taking 20.
Depending on character level (see table), a character might be able to roll more than one d6 when he spends 1 action point. If so, apply the highest result and disregard the other rolls. A 15th-level character, for instance, gets to roll 3d6 and take the best result of the three. So, if he rolled a 1, 2, and 4, he would apply the 4 to his d20 roll.
Special Actions
A character can perform certain tasks by spending an action point. In addition to the actions described below, some prestige classes or feats (see below) might allow the expenditure of action points in order to gain or activate specific abilities, at the GM’s option.
Activate Class Ability
A character can spend 1 action point to gain another use of a class ability that has a limited number of uses per day. For example, a monk might spend an action point to gain another use of her stunning fist ability, or a paladin might spend an action point to make an additional smite attack.
Boost Defense
A character can spend 1 action point as a free action when fighting defensively. This gives him double the normal benefits for fighting defensively for the entire round (+4 dodge bonus to AC; +6 if he has 5 or more ranks in Tumble).
Emulate Feat
At the beginning of a character’s turn, he may spend 1 action point as a free action to gain the benefit of a feat he doesn’t have. He must meet the prerequisites of the feat. He gains the benefit until the beginning of his next turn.
Extra attack
During any round in which a character takes a full attack action, he may spend 1 action point to make an extra attack at his highest base attack bonus. Action points may be used in this way with both melee and ranged attacks.
Spell Boost
A character can spend 1 action point as a free action to increase the effective caster level of one of his spells by 2. He must decide whether or not to spend an action point in this manner before casting the spell.
Spell Recall
Spellcasters who prepare their spells in advance can spend 1 action point to recall any spell just cast. The spell can be cast again later with no effect on other prepared spells. This use of an action point is a free action and can only be done in the same round that the spell is cast. Spontaneous spellcasters such as sorcerers and bards can spend 1 action point to cast a spell without using one of their daily spell slots. This use of an action point is a free action and can only be done as the spell is being cast.
Stable
Any time a character is dying, he can spend 1 action point to become stable at his current hit point total.
Improving Feats
The use of action points opens up a whole range of possible feats. However, it’s easier on characters simply to improve existing feats to take advantage of action points—that way, characters needn’t spend their precious feat slots simply to gain the ability to use their action points. Below are a few examples of how action points can be used with existing feats. Unless otherwise stated, each effect requires a free action to activate and lasts 1 round.
Blind-Fight
You can spend 1 action point to negate your miss chance for a single attack.
Combat Expertise
You can spend 1 action point to double the bonus to Armor Class granted by the feat. For example, if you take a penalty of -3 on your attack roll, you gain a +6 dodge bonus to AC.
Dodge
You can spend 1 action point to increase the dodge bonus granted by the feat to +2. The effect lasts for the entire encounter.
Improved Critical
You can spend 1 action point to double your critical threat range. Since two doublings equals a tripling, this benefit increases your threat range from 19-20 to 18-20, from 17-20 to 15-20, or from 15-20 to 12-20, including the effect of your Improved Critical feat. This benefit stacks with the benefit from Improved Critical, but not with other effects that increase threat range.
Improved Initiative
You can spend 1 action point to double the bonus on initiative checks granted by the feat, from +4 to +8.
Metamagic Feats
You can spend 1 action point to add the effect of any one metamagic feat that you have to a spell you are casting. The spell is cast at its normal level (without any level adjustment because of the feat) and takes no extra time to cast.
Heighten Spell automatically raises a spell’s effective level to the highest level of spell you are capable of casting. For example, if a 7th-level wizard with the Heighten Spell feat casts burning hands and spends 1 action point to heighten the spell, the spell is treated as if it were a 4th-level spell in all respects even though the wizard prepared it normally (as a 1st-level spell).
Power Attack
You can spend 1 action point to double the bonus on damage rolls granted by the feat. For example, if you take a penalty of -3 on your attack roll, you add +6 to your damage roll.
Spell Focus
You can spend 1 action point to double the increase to save DCs granted by the feat, from +1 to +2.
Spell Penetration
You can spend 1 action point to double the bonus on caster level checks granted by the feat, from +2 to +4. The effect lasts for the entire encounter.
The Hypertext d20 SRDTM is owned and created by Jans Carton.
I had a really great post about action points... then the web goblins ate it. Sigh.
I may go through and re-post it, but the short summary is that I really enjoyed Action Points in Eberron, so I would favor them here (though they make balancing encounters more challenging.)
::cough chough:: Eberron? Oh well, I like you immensely so we will let bygones be bygones. I forget that it became the default for while, didn't it.
No matter, really glad you like it. Trying to create challenging encounters has me excited. You have played with Xull for what 4 scenarios. Ever scenario I ran, all 11 or 12, he was exactly the same. I can't wait to see him flee in terror. Or so I hope.
I love combat, and challenging combat that doesn't require the pebble of insignificance to overcome. I tried to create and reskin some cool monsters for you to kill.
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I like it, very cool concept. I'm game to roll with it. Will have more questions about exactly how things work as we implement, but I like it
-Posted with Wayfinder
Very happy with action points. It seems like there are a lot of them available, so we should take the power creep discussion seriously.
I do enjoy anything that takes the random out of a system that has as wide a range as d20.
As for Xûll... he's a beefcake, but the dice roller really loved him. I was going to say I enjoy how Bugdip is experiencing more of Finarin's luck, but he just Xûlled the last set of rolls.
Anyway, action points get a thumbs up from me.
Hey now, I love Eberron. I'm relatively sure I have every Eberron RPG book (including the ones that cost a ridiculous amount on ebay now...) and most of the novels. The quality level of the content varied, but I enjoyed the pulp action feel and several of the world design opportunities it allowed.
It *did* come at a time that Wizards was heavily trying to figure out how to attract new audiences with magitech / steampunk and Explorer. The inclusion of psionics and Sarlona could be fairly easily carved off entirely. There were a few other rough edges, but overall it's probably my favorite published campaign world. Golarion has grown on me, but it's a little "And the kitchen sink" for me, and that's coming from someone that just said they loved Eberron ;)
Ahem. So, Action Points. ;) Sounds good.
I suppose one question to address while coming to "challenging encounters" is your philosophy on whether some encounters we're *supposed* to run away from and how obvious they are going to be. But other than that, I'm on board for tough but fair encounters
Great question.
As this is not a Published Adventure - I am going to try out some different things, but basically following the APL and CR guides from the DMG. I have given you an extra NPC level, more than average gold, and Action Points.
I will not write encounters that are meant to kill you or ones that are unwinnable. You are heroes in your heroic story and I want you to live happily ever after. I want the challenges to be challenging, but winnable. That is a delicate balance.
But stuff happens. Dice go cold, poor strategy, ect. Things might go bad. We will deal with all that as it arises. I have already put in place contingencies, but we will see how it goes. Do stupid things, expect bad things to happen.
We are playing on challenging mode, not God mode.
/Rant
Can I just say that I really enjoyed D&D 3.0, I was offline for the 3.5 revolution, but coming back to Pathfinder, I really, really like it. Does it have some problems ::cough cough::, yes. But it has more redeeming qualities than flaws.
One 'flaw' that I have noticed over the last year and a half, are the use of the social skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive. All of these skills quantify a qualitative ability, and that is great for pre-teens that don't know how to act, or Roll Players who just want to hack and slash. These skills are elegant, clearly defined, and adjunct a situation simply. In PFS, there is no greater mod breaker, encounter wrench, character crutch than Diplomacy. It has become a mechanic, like BAB. Often a player's post is mediocre at best simply meant to bookend a roll.
Unless you come across a group such as yourselves. You have shown that you care about role playing, and that you invest time and consideration into your characters and posts. As such, we are eliminating the social skill rolls, except in the case of character class abilities. i.e. your class has a Demoralize class ability and you need to roll Diplomacy. Specifically in the case of Arimar, you are a divine castor worshiping an unsavory patron passing himself off as an arcane castor. I have no fear that your posts will stay true to this characterization.
Social skill success and failures will be determined by me, the GM. I will take into consideration many factors. The Encounter. Are we are on the brink of a combat? Unlikely you will be able to talk your way out of it. What are the NPCs thoughts about you prior to you talking? Is your diplomatic post staying true to your character? These are a few samples of what I am talking about.
I would be happy to discuss this or clarify should anyone what to. :)
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I like it. Feels more natural, and gives both you and us more freedom to take things where we want to go as a story. There is nothing worse than nailing a post and chumping a roll.
Benaiah does have some mechanics invested into intimidate (including intimidating prowess feat) many for the purpose of demoralizing in combat.
-Posted with Wayfinder
All hail the GM who actually takes roleplaying into account! ;-)
Actually, I can't remember the last time I took a diplomacy roll into account for RoW. Don't know if I ever made that explicit or not. Jack often does a crap roleplay and follows it up with a diplomacy roll and rocks it in (because he pumped the skill)... but I react however I like anyway.
Well, my uncharismatic character with low social skills would benefit from this rules interpretation more than others, though something is probably going terribly wrong if he's taking point in social situations. I'm viewing Malgrim as a step away from being a functional mute. I wouldn't abuse that rule, though it does give him the opportunity for rare "Where did that come from?" dialog without being penalized for not investing heavily in social skills.
As a devil's advocate for the Pathfinder style of social skills, I have played systems (World of Darkness) where it's common form for good RP to trump crunch. The downside to that is I've seen exceptionally persuasive players with low social skill characters act like they've got max stats and skills. It's a bit exploitative, but treated like the norm in some groups.
As long as we can stay at a happy medium, it should work fine though :)
Me: "So what do you say to the group of murderous trolls?"
Player: "I got a 40 Diplomacy check"
I wouldn't abuse that rule, though it does give him the opportunity for rare "Where did that come from?" dialog without being penalized for not investing heavily in social skills. <> As long as we can stay at a happy medium, it should work fine though :)
You hit the nail on the head there - RP your characters appropriately.
I listen to a podcast - Critical Hit from the Frog Pants Network - it is very good (Except it is D&D 4th) and they talk a lot about other systems. I may have to give one or two a look over.
The problem becomes RPG are such a niche game, and it is hard enough to find players/groups for D&D and PF. it becomes almost impossible to find one for those lesser know rules sets.
Welcome to another installment of GM /rants
Today we will continue to discuss Skills, this time focusing on 'Flavorful Skills'.
We all know you are going to try and max Perception, and sprinkle out the various Knowledges for some Monster Lore. Can't overlook Climb and Swim, never know what environs you will be in, but should you really invest in Profession (Baker)? How will this help you? When are you ever going to use it?
As I took the GM mantle upon my shoulders, I read through lots of Gameplay threads and GM posts related to the scenarios I was running. I was pleasantly surprised when I'd come across a post like, 'My table had a blast. One PC had Profession (x) and was able to do Y. '
The problem you run into is that PFS is so ubiquitous, that it really is a miss and ever hundred scenarios you play, one hit. But boy does it feel good to get that one hit.
In this case, your adventures are written by yours truly. So there is no reason that I cannot weave your character choices to make them more relevant. Want Profession (Barber), I can do that. Craft (Paintings) no problem.
This is one of the reasons that I wanted you all to take an NPC class. Think about your own life.
I worked in Fast Food, Retail, and a host of blue collar jobs before my current vocation. Sure I don't use those skills super often, but they are there and a part of who I am. I'd like you to approach your characters the same way. Throw one or two skill points on something fun. You don't have to go crazy and max it out, or take Skill Focus as a feat, but wouldn't it be nice to have something different in your skill allocation?
I know as a GM it'd make it more fun for me. :)
Tomorrow Variant Game Play: the Skill Challenge!
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More rants more rants more rants!!!
Seriously... That sounds awesome. My mind is already turning gears thinking about what mine would be...
Based on my backstory so far, Benaiah wouldn't have had much of a vocation before he was branded a heretic. However, he likely had to quickly learn how to be a decent sailor so as not to get tossed overboard on the ship that carried him away from Cheliax...
Or we would have had to not suck at being a dockhand when he got to Absalom initially, in order to make enough coppers to eat, drink, sleep and... well... sleep.
I like this... I really really like this.... :)
Max perception? Max diplomacy?
Why do I feel that every one of John's rants is directed at me.
... oh, that's why.
To explain my skill choices a little more.... my Expert class was along the lines of getting the fast-talking street urchin out in Arimar. Hence bluff, perception, sense motive, disguise. I took out sleight of hand and stealth at one point for some reason... but I may put it back in (perhaps using ranks taken from diplomacy). As for professions... I've focused more on knowledges (part of his search for forbidden lore).
Oh, right, so I might re-jig my skills. Take a profession (perhaps), but street urchins are less profession oriented in my mind.
We'll see how it works out.
I really like the attention and focus you're putting on this kind of thing here, GM. Had you considered using background skills from PF Unchained instead of the NPC class?
Because you break my encounters :)
No seriously, I am not targeting anyone - at all. Just observations that I have witnesses over the course of the last few years.
I am not saying don't make unintelligent character choices, so by all means max Perception if you like, but throwing a rank here or there could pay off unexpectedly.
For instance - Profession makes no sense for your character Arimar, but I would allow you to make Sleight of Hand a class skill, provided you take a rank.
As for Background Skills, I know we use it for RoW, and another GM wanted to use it in his game. Not a huge fan but I would 100% allow it should you desire to.
Working on my GM rant for the day - translation to PbP is proving more problematic than I thought.
Not a /rant, but a homebrewed rule ::smooth::
Variant Gameplay: The Skill Challenge
Where do you come up with this junk? So like I mentioned, I listen to a podcast called Critical Hit, and they run 4th edition rules. The GM, who is fantastic by the way, has houseruled a 4E mechanic and I really like it and want to try it out.
The purpose of a skill challenge is to recreate cinematic sequences that would others prove to be clunky or cumbersome with normal PF rules. Similar to a chase sequence, but different enough for me to explain the rules. Think of story mode with rolls.
To begin with, I will describe a situation that you all will be in. For this example, you are escorting a King and Queen in the midst of a coup to safety. You are on one side of a bridge, and you need to get to the other side of the bridge. Parallel to this bridge is a ledge of gnolls firing arrows at you, and an unbeatable mod of traitorous guards behind you in hot pursuit.
So for a skill challenge, we will roll initiative. We will go by rounds, so only one post per round.
The first person looks over his skills, and chooses a skill that he feels he can use. Say he is a spellcasting class, well you could use Spellcraft. You describe how you are using a spell, and roll Spellcraft in a spoiler.
Next post in the same vein. Maybe they have Profession (Soldier) so they have been in this situation before and assist the Queen out. Or maybe you use Knowledge Engineering to know that the bridge will slope a certain way, or maybe you use Heal to quickly field dress the King's shoulder so that he can move faster. You see where I am going with this.
When your turn comes up again in the next round, you have to use a new skill. So you cannot use Spellcraft again in Round 2.
After the first round, I will post your current successes and failures, and we will begin round 2.
All Skill Checks are made against an unknown, static DC. Like an NPC's armor class. There will be a number of successful rolls that will result in a Victory Condition, and consequently, there are a number of unsuccessful rolls that will result in a Failure. Usually 8 successes result in Victory whereas 3 unsuccessful rolls result in Failure; whichever comes first.
You may spend 1 Action Point during the duration of the Skill Challenge for a reroll, once. For instance if there are 3 rounds, and you make 3 skill checks, but used your action point on the first round roll, you cannot spend an action point for your second or third round roll, even if you still have available action points. You have to spend the action point before learning of the results. You must take the results of the reroll, even if they are lower. You cannot reroll a reroll.
There will be a negative outcome to Skill Challenge Failures, depending on the challenge. They will not be severe like death.
Questions? I'd like to actually run this now should you be able to. I know that Robert is not ready yet, so no need to pressure yourself. This is just for fun/practice.
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Robert (Who plays as Chris L. in real life) and I have had several conversations about this exact kind of skill challenge. He really likes it, and I have experienced it once in a game he ran long long ago (skull and shackles).
It was quite a bit of fun, and so gets my enthusiastic endorsement to see how it fits in this game.
Skill challenges look cool. Kind of like social combat in the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG (if you're familiar with that).
Anyway, great idea. Let's see how it works! Can't wait.
Just don't make us each roll 9 times while researching in a library. I'll quit the day that happens.
Can't get a post up just yet. Hopefully soon-ish this afternoon.
So the way I read it, we need to post in initiative order, which is slightly different from our normal combat posting protocol, correct?
Got my post ready, I'll wait for Arimar.
This is going to be fun :)
Technically that is how it was run but PbP is too clunky. We will go by rounds. Post away.
I hope you don't mind, but based on chats above, I retooled Arimar somewhat to remove a rank or two from perception and diplomacy to make him more well-rounded.
Thank you for the offer of making sleight of hand a class skill, I've taken a rank there. I will try to take more.
I also re-jigged his ability scores to get a higher intelligence (at the expense of constitution). Gives him some more skills to work with. I've even taken ranks in appraise.
Anyway, hope all that's okay... but I think it fits more with what you've been talking about. My only max ranks are in knowledge (religion).
If all that is okay with you, I'll then update the doc.
Not at all. Tweak away!