The Fourth Crusade

Game Master Desriden

Posted, again, sorry for the delay. I work at a local grocery store and this is a vacation week, so its been pretty hectic, and I do like everything there, lol.

Depending, I should be able to post a few times a day, but sometimes I'm lucky if I even get to read a game thread I'm playing in, let alone post in one. Such was today.

AWESOME GROUP AND AWESOME GAME!!! Can't wait to see where this goes, and how long and far :)...

I second the TCG: DON'T RUIN THIS GAME, OR I WILL DRAIN YOUR SOUL AND MAKE A PRETTY ORB OUT OF IT...

We all started this thread with the intent to post once per day at least. You won't find me complaining until someone is holding up a combat or some such thing for 48 hours or so. Work is necessary to by food and internet access, both of which need to happen for you to post. First things first.

Oh I know, I just hate falling so far behind. It happens with a few games I'm in due to time differences, and even though I'm behind cuz I was sleeping while others were busy postings, I hates it.

By the way, I plan on playing Akor as over the top confidently arrogant, as much as possible. If this bothers anybody let me know.

I am absolutely cool with it, as I was thinking of doing something similar. I think we will get along just fine.

Yes my fellow archer, I think we shall. It's just too bad "awesome" isn't really a word that fits, cuz if it did, Akor would be using it all the time.

Common Solider: "Sir, you killed that demon all by yourself. It wiped out a small regiment!"

Akor: "Of course I did son, I'm awesome, remember?."

BAH!

Instead of awesome try, "I'm very impressive."

"Of course I did, Son. I'm very impressive."

I intend to play Sparel as a bit off in the head. You can't cram that much into your mind without causing some hairline fractures. Not to mention the whole, " I acciedntly summoned a demon that killed my wife and child" thing.

@ Sparel - you're able to extend the telepathic bond to everyone for roughly 6 hours? So we can all talk to each other via the bond during that time? or just through you?

Malak, high five on sensing motive. I don't think anyone will be able to pull one over on us. :)

@ Sparel - you're able to extend the telepathic bond to everyone for roughly 6 hours? So we can all talk to each other via the bond during that time? or just through you?

Basically yes. If you want to talk to someone in the link telepathically you just will it to happen and it does. I used the extend spell feat to double the duration, hence roughly six hours.

I can link myself plus 6. More than sufficient to cover everyone in the group. However, you and I have this all the time thanks to permanency.

Malak, high five on sensing motive. I don't think anyone will be able to pull one over on us. :)

Definitely not with your bonus friend. Holy impresssive!

@ Sparel - Thats very cool. Now we're really like a special ops unit with head sets.

Thaddicus Marcaldor wrote:

Malak, high five on sensing motive. I don't think anyone will be able to pull one over on us. :)

Definitely not with your bonus friend. Holy impresssive!

@ Sparel - Thats very cool. Now we're really like a special ops unit with head sets.

Exactly, Communication is the key to most operations. Plus Thinking is a non action.

I just figured out my next investment!

Golem Armor!

The group choose to be a band of mercenaries that works with the Mendev government to fight demons. That means that you are not part of any organized command structure, and therefore no one can give you orders and expect them to be obeyed.

Likewise, no one is under any obligation to compensate you for your actions. Basically, you cannot be paid for doing a job that you have not been given yet.

Otherwise, every mercenary group would immediately go to the closest (or easiest) job and get in each other's way. Being able to field all these resources properly is beyond the capabilities of an army commander because no one else has to listen to any one person's authority. The Queen's Field Marshal isn't recognized by all the troops, especially those who aren't of her religion.

This might seem disorganized. That is because it is extremely disorganized. The region and this game are modeled, in part, on the actual Crusades. There were times when reinforcements were sent to help an armed group take a city. The two commanders, who worked for different nations, would then disagree who would control the region after the battle was won. The result was no battle was fought at all because they couldn't agree.

There is a similar situation here. Most everyone here does not want a horde of demons to destroy the planet. Beyond that, disagreements about discipline, rank, tactics, money and religion consume a good portion of the time for anyone in command.

Remember, you have holy armies that answer to the queen, holy armies that answer to other religions, regular people who volunteer and criminals given a choice of jail or service all working together.

The Queen - in her wisdom - realized that no one person would be trusted and obeyed by all these groups. So the Queen tries to maintain cohesion through the power of the purse.

As I said before, your group has worked with the Exchequer's office before because it pays the bills and divides the treasure. It also reports directly to Thomas Paulet, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Paulet, in turn, reports directly to Queen Galfrey in Nerosyan.

There are no official bounties paid for demon's heads and the like, though some unscrupulous merchants will buy demon body parts for the black market.

So, while you have gotten minor rewards and thanks for killing demons on your own, the bigger rewards come from jobs. Those jobs are offered through the Exchequer, who is in contact with the government that uses divine seers to get a handle on where to send its troops.

Does that help explain the situation better? Please let me know if you have any more questions.

That said, here are the benefits of your group:

1: You can do as you please so long as you honor all contracts and laws.

2: You keep what you find/kill. You don't have to pay tithe or turn over what you find during your jobs. The only exception is when you are asked to retrieve something specific as part of the job (i.e., please find and return my ring).

3: You are regarded as neutral by most of the organizations. This can change over time if you seem to go out of your way to show disdain to specific groups. This means groups other than the queen might hire you for something or you could work for two different armies of two different religions and they won't be that upset.

4: Everyone is watching you to some extent. Keeping up with the shifting politics of the war is important, so people will pay attention to how you act, what you say and what you do. This gives you a great opportunity to be heroes. It also means that your mistakes will be public.

Any questions?

That clears a lot up. Disregard my ooc questions on the other thread.

Very informative GM_Arbiter. That sums up the situation very nicely.

That really does answer a lot of questions. Good stuff.

Can somebody please double check my skills, lots of math, which I suck at.

Sure. I love math. Will get back to you on that...

Edit: Okay. Which skills did you place within the headband? You mentioned it was a +4 to all, so that gives you two skills to max out.

Right now, with the info I can go on, I've got you at 47 skill points too many. Obviously, I'm missing something somewhere. What Inquisitor domain did you choose? That might help clear some stuff up for me.

Edit again: Okay. I'm down to 30. Forgot about Favored Class bonus. :P

Edit for a third time: I'm thinking the domain you chose is probably one that uses your Wisdom modifier, which will make a HUGE difference and probably be the difference. (Well, some difference anyway.)

It would probably help to know what kind of items you may have as well, if any pertain to skills.

Opps, totally forgot about the two from the Headband.

And your right, I think I messed up when calculating my max ranked skills.

Edit-

Breakdown: Diplomacy, Heal, Perception, Sense Motive and Spellcraft are my maxed out skills. Knowledge(Planes) and Knowledge(Religion) are from the Headband.

Bluff, Disguise, Knowledge(Arcana), Knowledge(Nature), Linguistics, and Stealth have 11 ranks.

Intimidate and Survival have 12 ranks.

That should equal 180.

You should have a total of 126 skill points plus 16 from favored class, which gives you a 142 total.

Okay. Your 38 skill points too many then.

Remember, you don't calculate your skill points with the headband. The headband auto maxes two skills out. It looks as if you multiplied your level by your Int modifier of +3. You still have to go by the original modifier of +1.

Edit: Technically, you have 178 total skill points. But 36 of them are automatically tied into two skills due to the headband. The rest you get to allocate as you see fit. They did it this way, so, say, you got conked on the head and someone took your headband, you don't have to go through and re-allocate your skills. It just takes away the two skills it's tied to.

I just realized I forgot about favored class bonus entirely. I'm thinking mine may be best suited for HP.

You should have a total of 126 skill points plus 16 from favored class, which gives you a 142 total.

Okay. Your 38 skill points too many then.

Remember, you don't calculate your skill points with the headband. The headband auto maxes two skills out. It looks as if you multiplied your level by your Int modifier of +3. You still have to go by the original modifier of +1.

Edit: Technically, you have 178 total skill points. But 36 of them are automatically tied into two skills due to the headband. The rest you get to allocate as you see fit. They did it this way, so, say, you got conked on the head and someone took your headband, you don't have to go through and re-allocate your skills. It just takes away the two skills it's tied to.

Note: Essentially you get max ranks based on HD per +2 of an Int headband. That's pathfinders simplification to clear up this issue in past editioons.

Step 1) Calculate skills without headband.
Step 2) Int items are created with one skill per +2. These are chosen at creation and do not change. In other words you cant reallocate or change them. Keep in mind that these arent actual ranks, so you won't get your class bonus if it.s a class skill. My recommendation if you headband is tied to a class skill is to put one point in that skill to get the +3 class bonus. Of course that skill rank doesnt stack with the headband ranks, but it's a moot point.

For example: Stealth (class skill) would be a +24 at our level if you put one rank in it and the item is tied to it.

+ 1 rank (that you allocated from your pool and doesnt stack with item bonus)
+ 3 dex (or whatever it happens to be)
+ 3 Class skill bonus
+18 Item bonus (because you are 18HD or 18th level it will scale with you.)

if you do not put a rank into it that bonus drops to +21 (minus the class bonus)

If you have a +4 item you pick 2 such skills that automatically get max HD ranks. Those skills will never change for that item.

Hope that helps.

Finished all my spells save for my last 6th level, torn between Blade Barrier and Cure Mod Mass...thoughts?

Btw, Oterisk, check out Battlemind Link, we can have lots of fun with that one.

Finished all my spells save for my last 6th level, torn between Blade Barrier and Cure Mod Mass...thoughts?

Btw, Oterisk, check out Battlemind Link, we can have lots of fun with that one.

Is your character primarily offensive or defensive?

Are you sure you don't get the +3? The reason I ask is, because I can't find it within the description of the item itself. Was it a discussion thread topic or something? I don't do discussion threads, so I've no way of knowing.

And when I put it in herolabs, it calculates it as a rank and gives him the +3 class skill bonus. (Not that herolabs is be all end all, I'm just pointing it out is all.)

Offensive, but I have no problem taking an extra healing spell, especially a mass.

Are you sure you don't get the +3? The reason I ask is, because I can't find it within the description of the item itself. Was it a discussion thread topic or something? I don't do discussion threads, so I've no way of knowing.

And when I put it in herolabs, it calculates it as a rank and gives him the +3 class skill bonus. (Not that herolabs is be all end all, I'm just pointing it out is all.)

I don't think Herolabs is set up to differentiate ranks from item ranks. But, no I'm not sure. Just seems to make sense that if you don't actually have ranks that you don't get the bonus. I'm willing to be proven wrong though.

I'm in the process of readjusting my magic items, decided to drop the shield's enhancement bonus, and just use Magic Vestment instead which actually gets me a net of +1 to AC, lol. Once I have everything figured out, I'll post to let you know.

That's interesting thought on that, though. Now I'm curious.

If the question is about the headband, here's the item description:

This intricate gold headband is decorated with several small blue and deep purple gemstones. The headband grants the wearer an enhancement bonus to Intelligence of +2, +4, or +6. Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the headband is worn. A headband of vast intelligence has one skill associated with it per +2 bonus it grants. After being worn for 24 hours, the headband grants a number of skill ranks in those skills equal to the wearer's total Hit Dice. These ranks do not stack with the ranks a creature already possesses. These skills are chosen when the headband is created. If no skill is listed, the headband is assumed to grant skill ranks in randomly determined Knowledge skills.

Which means, take your Int, number of skills per level based on class, favored class bonus, add that all together and multiple by your level (assuming you get the same number of skill points from your class each level).

The only difference is that if you get some of those points from a Headband of Intellect, you cannot freely spend those points. They are "locked in" for one, two or three skills (the amount of the bonus you get to Int) at max rank.

Does that make sense?

Knowledge(Planes) and Knowledge(Religion) are the two skills tied to my handband.

Somebody wanna double check? seems I got 142 spent, but I'm not positive.

@Tiny Coffee: Dude, you're right. You do have to spend a skill point to get the class skill bonus.

I went to the ASK JAMES JACOBS thread. :)

When something like that comes up, I just gotta know how it's suppose to be. (If there is, "a suppose to be", that is) I hate it when something hangs in the air like that.

Good call, dude.

@Tiny Coffee: Dude, you're right. You do have to spend a skill point to get the class skill bonus.

I went to the ASK JAMES JACOBS thread. :)

When something like that comes up, I just gotta know how it's suppose to be. (If there is, "a suppose to be", that is) I hate it when something hangs in the air like that.

Good call, dude.

I'm a role model. It's very stressful. ;-)

I do wonder how you handle such stardom. :)

I do wonder how you handle such stardom. :)

I'm far too famous to answer questions like that. You can talk to my publicist for headshots or whatever.

lol! Crackin' me up, dude!

@Oterisk: Hey buddy, your jump check should be +50. With your speed being 60' beyond the 30' base, you should add +24 to your acrobatics for jump. You only added +18.

Love the background by the way. That was some pretty funny stuff. :)

@Monkeygod: I got you at 4 over. Six over if you count the 2 skill points you have to burn to get your class skill bonus with the skills in the headband.

And I can't get a 26 stealth without putting 20 ranks in it. So I'm guessing you have some type of stealth item or something? If that's the case, that's probably where I'm missing the possible 6.

Yup, +10 from Improved Shadow Armor, and I'm gonna reduce two skills by 1 each to toss into Planes and Religion.

Cool. That'll help a lot.

Looking at it, I now have you at 3 under. So, in essence, you should have 1 skill point left to spend, after you burn two for the headband skills. :)

Huh...let me triple check, cuz I've added them up twice now and got 142 both times.

Here's the number of ranks I added to get to the skill total you have on your sheet.

+5 in Bluff
18 in Diplomacy
5 in Disguise
13 in Heal
6 in Intimidate
5 in Arcana
5 in Nature
10 in Linguistics
17 in Perception
17 in Sense Motive
14 in Spellcraft
11 in Stealth
13 in Survival

1 each in Planes/Religion

Which gives me 141. Let me know if any of these are wrong.

It's 18 in Perception and Sense Motive, and I have yet to add a rank to Planes/Religion yet.

Ah. I see. Well in that case, your totals for Perception and Sense Motive should be 1 point higher then. :)

You should also be only 1 over then. Let's just say you have spent those skill points in headband skills, this is what it would be.

5 in Bluff
18 in Diplomacy
5 in Disguise
13 in Heal
6 in Intimidate
5 in Arcana
5 in Nature
10 in Linguistics
18 in Perception
18 in Sense Motive
14 in Spellcraft
11 in Stealth
13 in Survival

1 each in Planes/Religion

143 skill points. Just take away one somewhere and you're good! :)

I can't help but ask; Have you selected your 13 languages, Monkeygod. ;)

Dang that's a lot of languages!

Aye, I have, 13 isn't all that much, when you consider that there's 20ish in just the PFSRD alone, not counting all the regional dialects in Golarion.

Also, vast majority of my gear is accounted for.

Akor, yes battlemind Link is great. Really great. Use it as often as you like. :)

Javell, thanks for the catch on acrobatics, although upon further reflection I should get a +24 for land speed and a +18 as a class bonus for the High Jump ability with the ability to spend a Ki point and leap 22 feet straight up in the air on a roll of a 1.

...and I'm glad you liked my back story. It was fun to write. I read yours as well, and I must say I did enjoy it too.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has helped someone with their character and the math. The numbers at this level get crazy pretty quick.