I actually played 4E for a while in LFR, so I'm a bit mixed on Skill Challenges. I like the inclusion of different skills and coming up with creative skills usage. On the other hand, it felt a bit like "and here's the obligatory skill challenge." Used sparingly though I think they could be fun though.
Malgrim is going to have some non-combat skills, especially craft: Stone Mason, which I'll bump up some. I just didn't want to have it as a throw-away :)
I've got a decent start on an "Intro post" for Malgrim, but I don't want to disrupt the Skill Challenge, so I'll wait for that to wrap up :)
I was going to tie it into the bar scene where we left the Arimar and Benaiah with a "Malgrim's introduction to dark side of Absalom", but can change the time and locale as needed.
(Also, I'm pretty happy with Malgrim Stoneseer for a name. The character icon isn't quite what I envisioned, but it's the closest I could find, heh.)
Love your name and the theme we're going for so far. Slightly to the brutish side of neutral. Nice. Let's journey to the good side of neutral together... or descend into evil and chaos! Mwa ha ha!
My dice rolls have been updated, too, GM - as has my main character sheet.
I decided to lose a bit of cha to bring my con back up. More even and rounded character now. I love the number of skills I have with just a single rank - at level 5!!! Looking forward to this new style of play. ;-)
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I gotta say, I am totally digging the idea of starting on the dark side of neutral and working our way towards the good side... Specifically I think it could be a cool moment/revelation when Benaiah fully humanizes the slave girl he had as a young boy. He obviously cared for her, but when he crosses over to the realization of who she was and why that is important...
Yea, could be awesome. :)
D'oh. Totally forgot about profession (gambler), ie. the profession for a swindler.
Updated. Climb +5 will have to wait. ;-)
Happy you are all excited still. Should I wait for Robert?
Also thank you for updating those rolls. If everyone can update when they are ready it saves me a ton of time populating them as I troll your profiles. :)
Happy you are all excited still. Should I wait for Robert?
Nah, probably better to keep things rolling.
... so with Robert's permission, shall we push this into round 2 before I start suffering from PbP withdrawals? ;-)
By the way, all the PFS games seem to have wrapped up. Just waiting for chronicles from Bold Strider and then we are Whims & RoW only. I'm getting a tingling sensation. It's so nice to be able to concentrate on stuff that I actually care about.
Will be also nice to just have this game to post on while in Mexico. I'll have access to a phone, but not a computer - so I'll need Lockwoods from the 13th through to the 18th.
Cheers boys! So excited.
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Weird coincidence with all 3 wrapping at the same time...
Other weird coincidence -
My Dragon's Demand game on RPOL has entered a "temporary shutdown" phase because Deussu is burnt out - hasn't posted in a week.
My Emerald Spire game has stopped for the next two weeks because Kludde is on vacation and will be unplugged.
I went from 6 active games (one that I was GMing) to... nothing
3 current games, all on hold. When this one starts it will bring me back up to 4, but who knows if Dragons demand will survive.
So I'm with you on the withdrawal.... Now if only I could fight past this writer's block on finishing off Benaiah's journal/backstory.
I have a weird procrastination / writer's block: I have a really hard time writing when I don't have some form of looming deadline. I've had this ever since I had to write papers for school (which routinely were started the night before they were due.)
The annoying facet for this is in that it makes it really hard for me to prep posts ahead of time for games I GM. 90% of them I write out right as I'm about to post, even though I know basically what is going to happen each time.
Where this comes in for this group, is that I have a song I was working on from roughly the time that I was invited to the group, until the point that I decided to email the GM about some stuff and felt the need to get it all done. At which time, everything just clicked :P
By all means move along. :)
I take that to mean "Make your second round of Skill Challenges?"
Sorry unexpected work sprung upon me today. Will move along when I can. Please don't let me stop you, post round 2.
Of course, today I get my "payment pending" notice on Ultimate Intrigue... I'm apprehensive and insanely curious about what they did to Vigilantes. Depending on how they turned out, I may have to have that be a fallback in case Malgrim bites it.
(I spent a ridiculous amount of time with that class during the playtest, so I have a love-hate relationship ;))
Nice job all around on that one. Some behind the scenes items, all uses of action points saved a failure. And you would have failed had you not used them.
In a typical skills challenge, you have a max of 10 rounds, so with the 4 of you normally going, that is between 2-3 skills. I set a static DC that I think is in line with a level 4 character utilizing 2-3 primary skills. Feel good about that.
I had planned to kick this off next week, but I too will be afk next week until after Easter. Might hold off on starting. We shall see.
In the meantime, everything looks good from my end, all the background stuff came together nicely.
Hope everyone is still excited. :)
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Very excited!!
I need to customize my profile so it's easier to read, and still update hero lab with my skill changes, but otherwise I am good too go!
(And going through withdrawal)
The good news is, we picked a perfect week to slow down... now I can spend inordinate amounts of time pouring over my bracket...
Go State!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Hey guys! Internet is pretty poor at the hotel, so my apologies for the absence.
Great work on the start everyone, and I liked the skill challenge, John. Good for after Easter or whenever. Just let me know!
Can't wait man, that was awesome!
Thanks! Part of what drew me to the kineticist is that even though they're a bit of a martial one trick pony with a couple of utility bits sewn on, Burn and Gather Power can be incredibly cinematic. I want people to call me out if I ever got *too* Exalted on us, though.
Also, I love song parodies.
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Agreed - It does feel like a lot like button mashing, but you couldn't be more right about the cinematic elements of burn and gather power. I enjoyed playing the PFS kineticist pregen. Once you get higher in levels there seems to be a few more options, but in general its still mostly spamming the kill button.
Can't wait to see what else you do with him!
Also, I love song parodies.
Great stuff! Paul Simon should have hired you as a lyricist. ;-)
Very nice work on the story. Looking forward to part 2, and this game in general!
Also, I'm back from Mexico. Had a very relaxing time, but it is great to be home again with the kids.
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Glad you are back home and safe my friend!
So, Michigan State lost in stunning fashion yesterday, and it has wrecked me.
I am going through the 5 stages of grief currently, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and acceptance.
I'm not entirely sure where I am on the spectrum, but I can honestly say that starting these games back up will give me something else to focus on, and speed my way along to acceptance.
That and baseball season starting. (I should totally go to Texas this summer sometime to watch the Tigers play the Astros - Whaddya think Damien?)
Anyways - really looking forward to this. Maybe my sports depression will help me bust through my writers block to finish Benaiah's backstory...
:D
Steve... Texas! You have a bedroom waiting for you at my house. I'll go to the game with you, too. Just let me know when!
So dance competition season has officially started - very exciting times in my household . In hindsight, the reduction of PbP to just the two games has been awesome
I just want to say that I have never gotten so much from my players while I have given so little. For that I am in awe of you all and your story telling ability. I can promise you that once this game starts that will not be the case. I have quite of bit of material already written and lots sketched out.
So once everyone is ready it will be pedal to the floor.
Glad you're getting a kick out of it... and glad you enjoyed the break from PbP. I know I did. With my parents here and Spring Break, it really was good to just not have to worry about any of it.
It has really galvanized my view of PFS also. I definitely do not want to do that. I haven't missed the thought of it at all. I'm hanging out to play Arimar and this game now. I really cannot wait.
Let's see how long I can hold off before I do some more background posts for Arimar. :-)
So... 1 day is how long I could hold off.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Heh.
Seriously, though, I really like the idea of the waitresses drugging us all in order to discover more about us - only to realize (or come to believe) that we are not the ones they are looking for. Can't wait to see how Benaiah evades capture - and to hear an explanation of why they didn't just execute him! ;-)
So... now I'm left resisting the urge to write more. I think I'll wait for Aaron to catch up. Sorry about the novella we've been collectively writing, mate!
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So... now I'm left resisting the urge to write more. I think I'll wait for Aaron to catch up. Sorry about the novella we've been collectively writing, mate!
Haha! Yea, I was chatting with him for a while yesterday on the phone about his character (I think you guys are really going to love his concept and story) and I pre-apologized for the glut of backstory already written.
On the bright side, at least its awesome material and fun to read. :)
Yeah, I've often thought that about mine. Ultimately, we try... but that's the nature of a 1 hour edit window. You're going to have to put a draft up eventually, but chances are it's not going to be 'print worthy'. Luckily, we're not trying to get published. ;-)
Oh, except the Slag Heap, of course. Nice work again, Steve!
Okay, I think I am mostly caught up. A simple backstory just won't do in this group, so I have been putting thought to it for the past 4 or 5 days. I have mostly finished my character and with some free time this evening I hope to have my first backstory post. I gotta say I LOVE the attention you have all put to breathing life into your characters! I am very interested in their individual stories just as a passive reader; it will be very fun to participate and help shape their futures! Okay, back to work for me.
So, Caerador Grimualt is introduced! I did a general backstory post, but I would like to partner up with you guys to figure out exactly when I become part of the party and tie my story in with the existing one. I also would love some advice on gearing this character; I have finished making him but I haven't spent his initial allotment of GP yet. He is an Expert (scholar) 1 / Arcanist 4 with a focus on cold-based evocation and mind-affecting spells. I'm sure a wand or two makes sense, but as for other ideas I could use them. Once I gear him up, I will lay out all of his stats in the format Steve taught me for PFS pbp and then I think I will be ready to rock.
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Hell of a first post! You are going to fit like a glove with this group. Character and player!
So for getting our group together, we basically decided that we had all been hired by the same person - that was when we met for the first time pretty much.
Everything we have come up with for that so far is in the Shared Backstory groupthink document. The information there is slightly disjointed, and based on your post you have already gone through it.
The Mistress Lanvi (and Rory/Magnimar/etc) tie in goes back to this game, and my character's (Gado) backstory.
The events involving Mistress Lanvi, and soon to involve us have a direct tie in to the prologue of that game as well, specifically the hall of wonders and all of the fakes.
Anyways - as far as when you became a part of the party, based on John's comments I believe that is going to be a part of the opening vignette... This is as detailed as we have gotten for all of us:
4714 - Benaiah branded as a Heretic, escapes Cheliax on a ship bound for Absalom
Early 4715 - Ship arrives in Absalom, Benaiah works for scraps and coppers on the docks, eventually
Late 4715 - Meet Mistress Lanvi and travel to Magnimar. Benaiah and company are recruited/hired by Mistress Lanvi in Absalom.
When we come out of the flashback, that is when further down in that document you get the offshoot/tie in with the Isle of Dread game and the hall of wonders, which you would be a part of.
As far as gearing - I gotta dig into that some more. Some of the PFS survival stuff still has good applications, even out of PFS (cheaper consumables, etc). Things like a pearl of power, magical defenses (wand of mage armor is a good buy) are good too.
Spending money to add spells to your spellbook is never a bad thing...
In fact, if you can scribe scrolls, (which you can't do in PFS) then you should scribe as many scrolls as possible. The theory is that a scroll is almost as good as liquid cash. You scribe them for half price, and sell them for half price. Even exchange, no gold lost. Except you can't cast a desperation feather fall or snowball with a pile of gold coins...
Hope that makes sense... I felt like I was rambling for a bit there.
Thanks Steve!
Also I will say that you can scribe an additional spell per level you can cast - so 0,1, & 2.
In addition you can buy scrolls and scribe them into your spellbook following these rules:
Spells Copied from Another's Spellbook or a Scroll: A wizard can also add a spell to his book whenever he encounters one on a magic scroll or in another wizard's spellbook. No matter what the spell's source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing (see Arcane Magical Writings). Next, he must spend 1 hour studying the spell. At the end of the hour, he must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty school. If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into his spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.
to add a spell in PFS you spend 1.5 times the cost to scribe...
in other words (SL^2) * 10 * 1.5
----- Copy | Buy
level 1: 10 | 15gp
level 2: 40 | 60gp
level 3: 90 | 135gp
etc...Plus, you should always pay attention to casters we face... and ask if they have spellbooks. :D I don't think it has mattered, yet, but...
Finally, you should ALWAYS take-10 on that check. I assume you'll have a Spellcraft skill bonus 5 + spell level! At first, with a 14 INT, you'd have a +6... and if you keep buying 1 rank per level, you'll never have to actually roll.
So a few musing about the opening. Damien, Steve, Chris and I have been together for a really long time gaming together. We averaged a least an hour or two per day for a very long time, and the lion's share of that time was PFS.
It is with a sad heart that we take a break from it, though the reasoning is sound, but there are so many great memories there that I though the best place would be to start where it all began.
So this opening is supposed to be cathartic, full of emotion. It was for me, and I hope it is for you.
So excited to be starting this one up!
I must admit to trepidation when I felt another briefing from Valsin coming. I really do want to divorce myself from PFS and the Pathfinder Society in general. When Jack had ties to Sheila Heidmarch when he was playing Aeslin in Isle of Dread, my first thought was 'You play so much PFS, why tie yourself to it when you don't have to? There is so much more to Golarion! When not playing PFS, just ignore that the Pathfinders even exist, man!'.
That's just me, though.
Anyway, I was quite pleased when I got to the end of the post. I hope my follow-up was in the vein of what you were trying to achieve.
I didn't quite get my post up last night like I meant to, though I reworked it slightly and hopefully fit it in well. It might make sense if my post snuck in before Arimar's though ;)
Also, my catharsis is less for PFS (which I still run), but more for "I got that block of writing done." :)
I'm good with the reordering! Nice one, Malgrim. I, too, included a lyrics snippet (not a cool parody like yours, I know) in my post as a small homage. It might be a little too obscure though. If you like metalcore, hardcore, oom-pa-pa-metal-fusion or just enjoy a brilliantly disturbing song, give "A Little Piece of Heaven" by Avenged Sevenfold a listen. If you don't like listening to lyrics and having your imagination go wild, the film-clip will help (though it takes any subtlety out of the song).
Steve and I were brainstorming a bit, we thought it would be a good party investment to have a wand of CLW that Arimar holds and a wand of infernal healing that Caerador holds. If we share the cost of both wands across the party, that would be 375 gp apiece, and it would give us the party healing we would need. What does everyone think?
Arimar can't cast cure spells spontaneously, so I already have a wand of CLW. It's not PFS so share and share alike. No need to chip in. Free for all to enjoy charges.
That said, I'm happy to contribute towards a wand of infernal healing.
Sorry boys, weekends are terrible for me the next month or so. Will do my best.
Cool. I'm off to Washington DC this weekend (Sat - Mon) to see Ryan (who Steve will remember, and John played Isle of Dread with).
I'll try to post while there, but it may or may not be limited. Really don't know. At least once a day, though... but probably from the phone.
He hasn't emailed you yet? Man, he said he would. In that case, he also says 'hi'!
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I just realized my profile isn't updated. I'm a terrible player... sorry :( I'll find a way to get that taken care of soon. It will involve getting Caerador to help....
-Posted with Wayfinder
Benaiah seriously - don't worry. Enjoy vacation. We can get this all sorted out when you get back.