'Southern Osirion Trading Company' has a nice ring to it :-)
I'm not recommending that we split things by in character greed.
My recommendation is that characters take the item(s) that are actual upgrades that they can wear/use. The rest of the items get sold off and money gets split evenly with the understanding that the "group" will pay for certain items (like the CLW wand) and otherwise people can do whatever they want with their share.
I don't think that needs to be inflexible - if we find upgrades for every character except one and it happens level after level then maybe we give that character some extra shares to get back in line with the average wealth. But otherwise it seems like a good loot system and obviates the need to have in character arguments about loot.
This is essentially the system that I favour, as well.
This is essentially the system that I favour, as well.I'm not recommending that we split things by in character greed.
My recommendation is that characters take the item(s) that are actual upgrades that they can wear/use. The rest of the items get sold off and money gets split evenly with the understanding that the "group" will pay for certain items (like the CLW wand) and otherwise people can do whatever they want with their share.
I don't think that needs to be inflexible - if we find upgrades for every character except one and it happens level after level then maybe we give that character some extra shares to get back in line with the average wealth. But otherwise it seems like a good loot system and obviates the need to have in character arguments about loot.
Same here.
Southern Osirion Trading Company sounds fine to me too.
Hello everybody!
Thanks for choosing me^^
This is Leto, an Absalom merchants son with origins in Osirion.
He´s eager to use the travel opportunity and join the Southern Osirion Trading Company.
As a disciple of the bow, he focuses on ranged combat of course.
While a tranquil person mostly, he is not immune to stupid actions or the lure of adventure, yet not the most socially skilled person.
Does there happen to be any way to tell where Falto is and/or the name of his team?
It was a rumor that got to you third or fourth hand, and he wasn't exactly the most notable person to you before, so no. You haven't heard of him being in town yet, but that's not that surprising with the amount of foreigners. Wati is a small city, but it's not that small.
So, getting clearance to actually possess a minor title, how about the formal name of the following:
Viscount and Company of Merchants of Imperial Cheliax trading into Southern Osirion
With the colloquial name of:
The Southern Osirion Trading Company
I'm terrible at image creation (and busy while at work) but since I have to have a flag, I even came up with an idea. This is my thought - The banner on the left is the flag itself but in the center the Osirion symbol from the right would be emblazoned on it. Nice long banner. Eventually to be replaced by a grand magical banner, but for the outset that is my idea!
Southern Osirion Trading Company works for me to.
I'm getting such a Victorian feel for the theme of the game while I envision the English going into Egypt's pyramids and tombs for the first time.
Victorian era, mh.
I thought of it more as a medieval stargate with magic.
Pathfinder Society or Aspis Consortium make good backgrounds too actually. Cheliax automatically has that devil worshipping evil on it for me. Aspis is a bit more on the evil side too though.
At least for me (and since my character was essentially kicked out of Cheliax for looking too angelic) it is more about being opportunistic. Cheliax, especially calling ti Imperial Cheliax, is almost an ironic reference to when Cheliax was non-devil worshiping and it is still rather clearly a large and respectable power. A lot of foreign investors are going to be Chelish citizens and they are known for being lawful and wealthy.
Pathfinder Society is known for ruthless hunting of artifacts beyong the boundaries of golarion probably :D
I'd suggest staying away from being strictly commissioned by either society, though connection to them in some way would not be a problem.
Yeah, I don't mind having members of the Pathfinder Society if people want to be that. But I also am not keen on being Team Pathfinder Society.
Sorry I've been quiet- super busy day. Right now Micah's background is that he's a business man in this as an investment, that's why it's important for him to get his fair share... If people don't want that kind of system I can tweak his background and change his order (currently his order is directly connected to his business-mindedness). I could make him a little more of a Jack Burton-esque blowhard (from big trouble in little China) but I don't want to step on any toes... Erei, are you sort of playing to that trope already?
I see my character as Han Solo except a bard. With the shooting first and maybe a bit less goodness.
As for wanting to earn money, I think that's a good in character goal. I don't necessarily think that our OOC agreement to deal with loot in a particular way has to exactly mirror the IC motivations. I mean we can certainly say that when the two teams joined up, the characters signed a charter that says that all artifacts recovered will be sold and split evenly. That is, essentially, what the plan is OOC and the only real caveat is that stuff that isn't an artifact to be sold will actually be used by people that can use them.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that we'll pretty quickly be trying to save the world and we can also just say that items are "on loan" while being used. It helps meet IC needs without ever having an OOC expectation to pay the loan back (since the group won't split up until we're done with the AP anyway).
Lol the most diplomatic character wants to be the rogue and shoot first^^
Always a practical idea :D
You playing a normal bard or some archetype?
I would prefer not to argue about loot splitting in character, or at least not too much. Got some not so beautyfull experiences with such things.
It makes a lot of sense though keeping useful found items and also sharing healing and similar stuff in my eyes.
Since Leto is most likely the offspring of a pharao and wants to find proof of that to reclaim Osirion for him, a name like Obsidian Scarabs or Disciples of the Ascencion might also suit us.
My character is a straight up un-archetyped Bard. Though he can certainly put on the smile and do whatever charming needs doing.
Mechanically he'll be pure support - I mean Flagbearer basically says "I don't even attack things so that other people can fight better". And I'll continue with the Banner of the Ancient Kings eventually and a reskinned Master Performer/Grand Master Performer. So yeah, expect my character to do nothing but cast spells personally while making everyone else extremely effective at what they do (at least in combat, out of combat he'll be the usual social skill powerhouse).
Nice! Looking forward to that, had such a character myself in Jade Regent, but did some damage with a bow and lots of enchantment spells.
Had the Lotus Geisha Archetype, was very fitting there^^
I know my character will love you for those sweet, sweet buffs making him actually competent in melee without having to sacrifice his spellcasting abilities.
I know my character will love you for those sweet, sweet buffs making him actually competent in melee without having to sacrifice his spellcasting abilities.
While standing around I give +1 morale to attack and damage. So singing that's +2/+2 at level 1. And I'll keep using my favored class bonuses to boost inspire courage for a while. So yeah, it should even out the early levels and then grow from there.
I'll still be tossing out Grease and when needed Saving Finales, but I'll basically be a caster rather than an attack roller.
My plan is to generally cast a useful (usually buff, like Prayer) spell on round 1, then move in to melee, occasionally healing/removing negative effects when needed. As a 3/4 BAB character going with the iconic sword and shield style (but not TWF), my damage won't be spectacular, but it should be good enough as a secondary role.
Well, at starting at level 2, Setesh will be a natural-attack-focused melee fighter, so he will certainly enjoy the bonuses :-)
I do want to loop back to the group name discussion.
My proposal is as follows:
Long Form - Viscount and Company of Merchants of Imperial Cheliax trading into Southern Osirion
Short Form - The Southern Osirion Trading Company
My crappy copy/paste flag idea is above.
Erei- are you changing your skills or just planning to pick up social skills with versatile performance? I ask because currently pretty much all of my skills are social and I'm hoping to avoid too much doubling up...
Also, if GM doesn't mind I'm gonna tweak my character some... The original concept was to be sort of like the secret-nazi guy in the Last Crusade... Organize and sort of fund the expedition, let someone else do the figuring things out bit, then profit (you know, minus the betrayal and death)... There's obviously already some doubling up with Erei also wanting to be the organizer, and a profit motive is obviously going to be an issue for this party... I'm still at work (it's 2am here), but I'll try to find time tomorrow for revisions.
I'm just going to use Versatile Performance.
As for motive I really don't think having profit as an IC motive is a bad thing as long as there is an OOC understanding of how loot gets split. Some IC conflict is good, but stalling the game constantly to handle banking seems bad.
And I think the plan is that my character formed a group in Absalom and met a group your character had formed in Wati and the two joined together for mutual benefit (my character needing local connections and the Wati group benefitting from a noble title). With that said, if you want to make changes to that plan I think that's fine. And anyone wanting to join up in Absalom is certainly welcome to have done so. Gives some additional ties/backstory.
Changes to the characters are more than fine if you feel you need to in order to suit the party. I don't think the particular changes you're looking at in this case are strictly necessary from my point of view, but you're still welcome to make them.
I think the intent is that your character, Micah, is the focal point of how the group came together. Erei and Almathea learned of you through Almathea's contact. So they traveled to Sothis, You knew of two people with the right skills for the expedition so you contacted Setesh and Leto, then found a guide to get you to Wati. I don't think it's strictly necessary that you personally brought every person individually into the party. It also feels a bit forced that way. In this way, you all have a reason to work together rather than for someone. Erei and Almathea need funding. Your company needs legitimacy. Seems like a way for it to work. But your character is the driving force of why the group came together.
As for social skills, I wouldn't worry too much about doubling up. With six players there's going to be a lot of overlap between skills (except, apparently, knowledge skills in this group.) Also keep in mind that Erei won't have nearly as many social options as Micah until you get to a much higher level.
With that said, you're welcome to make any changes you need to.
Additional note: I'm just waiting on a final vote on the group name to post up the game thread.
I wasn't planning any major changes to the backstory or party formation- I just want to change my order and that will require tweaking my personal background.
As for name, Southern Osirion Trading Company sounds great to me; that would have been my first suggestion if I had realized it was more accurate than 'Inner Osirion...'
Game thread is up! It's a holiday weekend so don't feel in a rush to post. Feel free to finish up loot and connection discussions.
You can make any last minute changes to your characters now if you like. Just let me know what you're changing just so I don't miss it and have a different idea of what I'm working with. :)
Also, if you have any last minute purchases of equipment to make, go ahead and make them now.
Oh, a couple final notes on characters:
Make sure to list the encumbrance for equipment. I'm not too strict on how much treasure and random stuff you can carry (within reason). Dropping a pack at the beginning of a fight is no problem. You can even be regularly leaving it behind a bit, then going back to pick it up. I'm all about hand-waving that sort of thing.
I'd like character notes underneath your profile pic. You can use Setesh and Nevai as good guides. I'm not too worried about format, just have the following info:
Class, Hp (current/total), Saves, AC (total, touch, flat-footed), CMD, Perception, Initiative
Then let´s roll with SOTC.
Nate Lange you have preknowledge of the AP?
I got it sitting on my shelf, but never looked into it.
Love to play things before i run them if possible.
Profile update for the stat line coming today when I'm not phone - posting.
Excited to get dungeon delving.
Reorganized statline.
I developed the habit of keeping track of hp and status in a spoiler while posting. That ok?
Reorganized statline.
I developed the habit of keeping track of hp and status in a spoiler while posting. That ok?
That's fine by me. As long as it's easily available, I'm good.
Nate Lange you have preknowledge of the AP?
I got it sitting on my shelf, but never looked into it.
Nope, all I've seen is the player's guide.
I worked 20 hours yesterday and 11 today... So I'm fried... I'll try to get my stat line up and my order/background updated tonight but it may well be tomorrow...
Alright, so, just doing a quick summary of characters:
Almathea:
Skills: Acrobatics+7, Knowledge(Arcana, Engineering, History)+10, Linguistics+8, Perception+9, Spellcraft+8
Role: Ranged support, utility spells
Erei Jentis:
Skills: Appraise+9, Knowledge(Dungeoneering, Nobility, Religion)+8, Perception+4, Perform(Dance, Keyboard, Sing)+8, UMD+8
Role: Buffer extraordinaire!
Leto V. Derexhi:
Skills: Acrobatics+6, Climb+6, Perception+8, Sense Motive+8, Stealth+6
Role: Ranged DPS
Micah Haynes:
Skills: Appraise+5, Bluff+9, Diplomacy+9, Intimidate+7
Role: Party Face, Melee DPS
Nevai Alaro:
Skills: Handle Animal+3, Perception+5, Survival+5
Role: Melee DPS, Healer
Setesh Bantling:
Skills: Craft(Alchemy)+8, Diplomacy+2, Disable Device+8, Knowledge(Arcana)+7, Knowledge(Nature)+7, Perception+10, Profession(Embalmer)+5, Spellcraft+7
Role: Melee DPS, Trapper
Skills Not Yet Covered:
Knowledge(Geography, Local, Planes), Sleight of Hand.
Generally speaking, though, we seem like a fairly balanced party, covering all of the major roles, with a little bit of overlap on skills.
I am amused that the Cleric does not have Knowledge(Religion) - how does he know about his own Faith? Is he actually sure that he is worshiping Horus? ;-) (I kid, of course! That said, in an AP called 'Mummy's Mask', having more than one person who can identify undead may be a good idea... so someone else besides the Bard (whether or not it is Nevai) may want to pick up ranks in it.)
Our friendly neighborhood wizard may want to consider putting a rank in Knowledge(Geography) and Knowledge(Local) at level 2, just so that we can make those checks (I know we have Bardic Performance in the mix, too, but I would prefer not to rely on that).
Someone should seriously consider maxing out Knowledge(Planes); outsiders have a disturbing tendency to show up with regularity, especially from about level 5.
Having more than one person who can help in social encounters might be a good idea; at present, Micah is the only one that can meaningfully contribute. Because of this, I swapped out Appraise for Diplomacy (since we already have two people taking ranks in Appraise), even though Setesh has terrible Charisma, just so that I can act as a 'back-up' Diplomat. Of course, if, at level 2, Erei takes Versatile Performance(Keyboard Instruments), thereby gaining Diplomacy and Intimidate by proxy, that will work just fine, too.
I can help with knowledge history, religion and nobles at some point.
Getting sleight of hand would also be possible for me.
If we run into problems, i could still take 1-2 levels of inquisitor, what i´m considering anyway. That would give me a lot of social skills with WIS, limited casting and on level 2 WIS to INI, making me superfast^^
I actually think that it is perfectly reasonable that there are some overlaps, and a few (relatively minor) gaps - after all, our PCs were not raised together from birth, with the goal of forming a lean, mean, fighting machine ;-)
I just wanted to identify the areas we may want to consider shoring-up going forward...
I'm likely to spread my knowledge ranks around as we level to fill some gaps. I mean my bonus will be extremely high as I get +1 per 2 levels without putting any ranks into something. So the single rank nets me a +3 for being a class skill and that's the real point of it. I really wouldn't worry about other people putting ranks into random knowledges that we don't have. If my bonuses aren't good enough spreading the 3 ranks per level around to 6 knowledges then someone else wouldn't be good enough putting ranks into a knowledge every single level.
As for the social skills, I'll eventually cover a huge variety. But at level 2 I'll probably take Versatile Performance in Sing since doubling up on Bluff and Sense Motive is much better than doubling up on Diplomacy. Taking a small bonus in Diplomacy as our Alch is basically valueless - we can't adjust attitudes faster and by failing checks you actually hurt us. So that isn't a skill where we benefit from redundancy.
I would just worry about sticking to the things we are each good at and creating redundancy where it is useful - Climb, Acrobatics, etc.
Edit: I don't mean to say that Knowledge redundancies are worthless (they aren't, unlike Diplomacy most of the time). But I wouldn't worry about investing in a Knowledge that you are bad at that would make you worse at things you are good at.
I am not trying to be a primary Diplomat - I want to be able to contribute in social situations by assisting the primary roll ;-) Otherwise, most social situations (at present) will boil down to Micah (and later Erei) talking, whilst the rest of us watch, and wait for the next encounter.
I agree, having Setesh try to be a primary diplomat would be worse than useless, as it would have a decent chance of making the NPC hostile...
However, having more than one diplomat (and by that I mean Erei, *not* Setesh) also means that, for example, if Micah's player is sick (or something has happened to the PC), we have someone else who can step-up and charm the NPCs.
Also, regarding Knowledge skills, as long as we someone covering all of the Knowledge skills to some degree, that is fine :-) I just wanted to make sure we had a semi-coherent plan ;-)
I think there will be plenty of talking to be done that doesn't actually involve rolling dice. I haven't read Mummy's Mask, but it is rare that an AP focuses on rolling dice in social meetings like it is a combat.
I don't mean that no one else can buy a social skill, but I would focus on things you are good at. Negative charisma characters probably shouldn't be spending limited skill points on social skills, for example. I think grabbing a Knowledge, even a redundant one, would be better.
And if we lose any character I suspect the GM will be nice enough to let us shift things around if needed to account for it. I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Yeah, unfortunately, with the 2+INT ranks from cleric and pretty MAD ability requirements (STR, CON, WIS, CHA), there's not a whole lot I can do to contribute in the skills category. I wanted to take ranks in Kn. Religion and Diplomacy, but my character background lended itself better for Handle Animal (being raised as a small child by falcons) and Perception and Survival (spending his entire life traveling the desert trade routes and avoiding snakes and such).
Oh, it makes perfect sense (you are also the only person in the party who has Handle Animal and Survival, which is important).
Mh my experiences with AP´s seem to be different.
There always was a lot of skill rolls, diplomacy, sense motive, bluff among the most rolled next to perception.
Being able to aid another regularly is valuable there.
I'm trying to say that while rolls are present, the concern was that if you couldn't make that roll you'd just be standing silently. I don't think that's something you need to worry about. There will be rolls, but just because you aren't throwing dice doesn't mean that you aren't able to contribute.
As for Aid Another, it is definitely something. But I don't think it is that big of a deal. People will be good at what they are good at and I have Inspire Competence as well (which is like a free improved aid another).
As Erei has pointed out, I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to contribute to social situations without diplomacy. Diplomacy is important, but it's also important to know things. So while Micah and Erei will do a lot of the social rolls they'll need you to tell them what they're talking about.
Oh, and on the note of what gets rolled most often, yes, Perception is still as ever-present as it always is in Pathfinder. But knowledge skills of all varieties come up often in this AP. I'm also a big fan of making skills matter, so expect that some other skills will be useful as often as I can make them.
No worries there.
Only my experience is, that aid another can be a big gamechanger with a possible +10 on the outcome and nothing bad happening if it´s not met.
You can roleplay that as just standing by and nodding or something similar easy, no need for everyone swinging around great speeches or such.
Ok- stat line is up and all mechanics are updated... Still have to tweak the background (just to remove religious stuff). All the group organization stuff can stay unchanged, the only difference is that the motivation is no longer profit... Now we do it for "fortune and glory"
Trying to catch up on house work after crazy week but should have a gameplay post up tonight.
Wow this game features 1 RPG Superstar Top32, 2 VL´s and 1 VC.
Also nearly everyone has more than 1000 posts.
Looking forward to how this will develop.
Oh, I hadn't noticed this before:
It was buried in the recruitment thread but if you have a character whose race is human and they only speak Common (Taldane) you're allowed to choose a second regional language that would be appropriate to your character. I think Micah is the only one left that needs to do so. (I noticed it earlier on Leto's sheet.)