Perfect, then. Now I just need to figure out if Slow is better for my purposes than Teleporting Strike and I'll be entirely ready. How's everyone else doing?
I am in the gear selection stage. The hardcore mechanics should be more or less finished with Nagato, though.
Still finalizing. Mostly just making sure I have any and all gear I want. Also giving my spell list a once over as well. I should be done by the end of today.
Can dragons even change their spells? Or have a list to choose from?
Spells: A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its specific description. Its caster level depends on its age, as shown for each type.
I can choose them initially but once gameplay starts she is set. They are considered racial spells really since they don't get other benefits of the sorcerer class, just that they cast them as one.
Alright, I was just curious how that would play out as the game progressed. Thanks for the clarification.
Ok, I am starting to get antsy at the thought of the game starting. Tumbler, when are you planning on starting the gameplay thread? This is just me being impatient over here. :)
We all just said that we needed to fine tune things, he's probably just waiting on us to give the green light.
Also, quick question, does it seem like we'll be traveling more or having other things come to us?
I am fine with either traveling or staying in a general area. Although Katja has an insatiable desire to see different countries and planes.
Spent yesterday being unhappy with different map solutions. Then the paizo site was down last night. I will start gameplay tonight with or without a map that makes me happy.
Anything we could do to help with maps? Or was this about the roll20/virtual tabletop sort of thing?
I think we should wait for the others. Pirate, Valdik, and Ralph have yet to say anything.
It couldn't hurt to start roleplaying a little, either. We don't need to step right into the action.
I would very much enjoy some RP in the meantime while we wait for everyone else. Much rejoicing would be heard.
I'm going to try out using roll 20 for the map. I worked yesterday with trying to create a google drawing that would work. There are several complications.
In general, I suspect tactical maps will be huge. Dragons have immense movement, other characters have access to flight and teleportation. We will obviously need something, but it may not work to have simple five foot squares. I am going to set up the first map on roll20. I've also created a google site with a template that is too robust if we are going to post everything here but I can direct link to what we need.
Quite soon I will be posting a description of an event and a phenomenon. I will let each of you figure out and explain how your character learned about the phenomenon and came to investigate it. It is an immense atmospheric phenomenon, so there will be some time to probe it and interact with each other before you decide what to do.
I'm excited. Hope no one is too miffed by the delays.
Yar!
I am ready to start. All of Sir Orrin's crunch is finalized, and the general arc of his backstory has been completed a while ago as well. The only thing missing are the more detailed tellings of specific events in his history, but we do NOT need to wait for that. :D
~P
Out of curiosity, how many people do have access to flight and teleportation? I'm not sure if Sir Orrin and Ralph have ways to get about that, do they? Hmm...
Yar!
While Sir Orrin himself cannot fly, his mount - Carolinus - can, thanks to THIS wonderful item. (so by extension, as long as he's mounted, Sir Orrin actually can fly)
If he needs to travel the planes on his own, he uses his Knowledge: Planes (and Carolinus' knowledge:Planes) to find natural portals and goes on an epic journey of exploration to find them and go through them. But if time is of an issue, he would call upon friends (you guys), or if worse comes to worse, hire a spellcaster (Caster Level x Spell Level x 10 gp + material component costs = spell casting for gold).
~P
Yar!
tumbler: is there anything we can do to help? Image creation/editing? Other?
*wants to be good & helpful*
~P
What I was actually thinking, Pirate, was that if we already have people to get us around via Plane Shift, Mass Fly would be something that could be picked up. Or just even get scrolls.
Yar.
I was just saying what Sir Orrin would do when those situations come up. He can fly. He can't teleport. In a solo game he would do the above to deal with those limitations.
No need to make spell selections based on just my response. Once everyone else replies, we can truly weigh the merits of Mass Fly vs Plane Shift. But until then, you can mark me down as on vote to Plane Shift being more useful.
Or, if once everyone posts we see that we have both bases covered, that extra spell known (or extra scrolls) could go to something else, something more corner-case utility or simply something fun.
At the same time, we do have access to see all of our character sheets. *goes to snoop around other peoples spell selection and natural abilities*
EDIT: after a very brief refresher on everyone's characters, I see that Nagato is a high level Druid, so not only can she wild shape into anything that flies, she has full access to the entire Druid spell list. That covers flying easily and minor forms of teleportation within a plane, but not much for inter-planar. Katja is a dragon and has Fly on her spell list, so flight is a non issue for her. She also has lots of teleportaions spells and Plane Shift known, so she has all bases covered. Validk is a wizard, so has much of the spell freedom of Nagato, but with an even larger selection of spells. As long as they have an idea of what will come the next day, they can both customize their spells known for that day, though it does look like Validk's carrying spellbook does not have much for planar travel, but does have fly and various teleports for non-planar travel. Jacob has a good mix of teleportaions, planar travel, and flight spells known. Sir Orrin can fly at will so long as he's mounted, but cannot innately teleport or plane shift. Ralph seems the least mobile, with nothing (that I could see) granting flight for himself.
EDIT 2: haha, if Ralph weighs less than 4800 lbs, Carolinus could grip him with his talons and ferry him through the air, bomb-dropping him on enemy targets. If Ralph weighs less than 1600 lbs, Carolinus can do so without getting slowed down! :O
In short, I think flight is fairly well covered. Plane shifting and teleportation partially so as well. ^_^
~P
Yeah, I don't want to be the type to have everyone overspecialize to the point of which the group functions without any part, I feel like it's important to keep everyone having the same access to the same abilities to the point of homogeneousity. It's kind of a tough line, though, so sorry if I'm seeming abrasive.
Yar!
No worries mate! You care about party effectiveness and homogeneity. That's a good thing. Not abrasive at all (in my opinion) :D
I dare say my reply may have been seen as abrasive. *feels sheepish*
So far it seems (to me at least, in my quick overview of everyone's current sheets) we are doing a fairly decent job of being both self sufficient and simultaneously filling in each others gaps. I'm sure something may come up we didn't anticipate and we will have to improvise in order to deal with it (isn't that part of the fun?), but from the looks of things, that will probably be a rare occurrence. *knocks on wood*
also: A GAME POST!!!! and right when I have to leave for work too. *pouts*
~P
I have finalized Katja. I am tired and have to be up at 3:15 to be on the road by 4:15 so I will make a gameplay post when I have more energy.
Two questions:
Everyone: Just want to confirm that only Jacob went on the mission to Hell to rescue Sir Orrin. This will help with the specific details of my written backstory and will also help influence how I roleplay/interact with you all. Same with other past adventures, of course. So far I also have: Validk in Magnimar to discover and dissolve a cult in Magnimar (though not sure if he came with us on the journey to Penumbra after that); and Katja in Andoran and possibly other areas early in Sir Orrin's career working to free Chelix slaves and potential other missions involving the Rose and the Bellflower Network.
tumbler: I realize that I've made a potentially huge assumption. It's something that I've always done in my games, but I realize that it's not actually RAW as far as I can tell. It is this: Animal Companions with an Int of 3+ can learn languages, but normally cannot speaks them (they can understand via listening and reading, but not speak). I've always used Draconic and Sylvan as languages that animal vocal chords could handle, and thus supernaturally intelligent animals can speak those two, but nothing else. However, this isn't actually RAW as far as I can tell. What are your thoughts on this? (if it matters, Carolinus is a dinosaur animal companion with an Int score of 14).
(I was about to have a small conversation between Carolinus and Sir Orrin as we traveled and found the remnants of the storm, then realized it may not be legal, so I cut it from the post)
That seems like a reasonable houserule. I would imagine it as spoken with a severe accent because there are some sounds he simply can't reproduce, possibly added to some more natural noises like the raptors make in the Jurassic Park movies.
Cool. Yeah, I was going to describe it as an over-simplified version, with a few words slurred, perhaps with a lisp, and some words missing completely and with other eccentricities added (like as you mentioned, Jurassic Park raptor noises and such)... but the basic meaning still getting across.
Thanks!
^_^
Is it just me, or is Draconic a good go to language for just about anything?
Also, I'll certainly post more as the situation progresses. Initially, I was going to open up at Validk's demiplane, but I couldn't figure out how he'd know about the storm from there.
Woa woa woa! I missed the port over! Not good!
Well now I will have to focus extensivly on getting Ralph finished up :)
You do realize there Pirate that if you picked me up (and I should only weigh a few hundered pounds) and I did a bellyflop dive bomb, it would crack the earth?
Gobo, I also mentioned Ralph in the gameplay post. I hope you don't mind a whole lot that they start at the same place.
In the gameplay thread, is the storm actually a spell or is it just like a spell?
What time of year is it?
While I'm often against assuming, I'd think that the opening post alludes to it being summer.
Vixen: It is summer.
ace: It is like the spell, in the way that a spell-like or supernatural ability has effects similar to a spell but isn't exactly the same.
Alright, seems cool. I'm planning on having Jacob teleport over to the general area and float over with Ralph, but it seems like Gobo's not quite ready for it yet.
Heads up from my end. Since I am traveling half way across the country, my posting ability will probably be highly spotty from Saturday to Tuesday. I need to finalize some details with my characters anyway.
Ya, sorry that I am not ready to go yet :P
BTW, I like what you did there Ace so feel free to keep me along and take any liberties you need and I will jump right in wherever you left me off, I should be ready in a day at most.
Glad to see this taking off!
Alright, I'll just at least get to the teleportation to the area soon. If you want to do a quick post for roleplay purposes, I'd be sure to try and keep us from doing actual combat until you're ready, Gobo.
Also, where exactly should I post the spell slots I still have available per day? Just wish to lay that sort of thing out in the open in the interests of fairness. I could post here or in the gameplay thread and bring it up in the footnotes of any post that contains Jake casting anything.
Ace, may I suggest a play by post guide? It helps tremendously for games like this.
The biggest thing I am looking for when when characters say or think something and as the poster we want to convey that to the reader.
Example Speech:
"I am looking for my sword. Have you seen it?"
Example Thinking:
"Curses! I thought I left my sword here!"
Alright, I'll fix that when I get off my mobile and enact on it in the future. Thanks for that link, I was wondering what the standard on this site was.
Not a problem. I like to help when I can.
Tumbler, how do you want to work using the spell-like ability Katja has for Control Weather?
It states in the spell that it takes 10 minutes to cast. With being a spell-like ability does it still take that amount of time? Or is it just 1 standard action with the effects taking place 10 minutes later?
Spell-Like Abilities: Usually, a spell-like ability works just like the spell of that name. A spell-like ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus. The user activates it mentally. Armor never affects a spell-like ability's use, even if the ability resembles an arcane spell with a somatic component.
A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description. In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell.
Spell-like abilities are subject to spell resistance and dispel magic. They do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated. Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled.
If a character class grants a spell-like ability that is not based on an actual spell, the ability's effective spell level is equal to the highest-level class spell the character can cast, and is cast at the class level the ability is granted.
Supernatural Abilities: These can't be disrupted in combat and generally don't provoke attacks of opportunity. They aren't subject to spell resistance, counterspells, or dispel magic, and don't function in antimagic areas.
I can't find anything that suggests it would take more than a standard action to activate. It would take 10 minutes for the change to occur.
Is anyone opposed to me making assumptions about passive rolls when it comes to things like perception and knowledge checks. You guys have high skill checks in many passive skills, so if you would obviously see something or know something, I would prefer to just assume that and tell you. This should help things move more quickly.
Of course, you can always actively make your own check about anything.
Also, I'm currently spoilering anything that might not be apparent to everyone so you get the joy of sharing it yourselves, let me know if that is incorrect.
I'm not against it in some circumstances. If it looks like we'd understand these things easily, wouldn't hurt to make them automatic.
Fine with me. The most common method that I've seen (may not be that common, but it has been in the games I've played in here) is to create spoilers with the info, have the check DC in the spoiler title, and trust (honor system!) that only players with the check beat will look at it.
But in the end, whatever you are most comfortable with and think will make the game run smoothest. :D
I'm cool with it.
Oh, and just a quick little FYI, as this is something that is easy to miss but may become important (and is completely in the control of the GM in most situations)... Sir Orrin's goggles have the powers of the Lenses of Figment Piercing, meaning I don't have to interact with an illusion to get a Will save to disbelieve it, I instead get one simply for seeing it.
Don't think this is important right now, but it may come up later, and I wanted to make sure I mentioned it before it comes up. ^_^
Never saw that item before. Neat stuff, P.
I'm waiting a bit for everyone to make it into the gameplay thread. If that doesn't happen by tonight, I'll go ahead and wind down the storm. Katja's control reaches two miles in each direction. I have set up a tactical map on roll20 and we can try that out once it matters. Still, the map is only 26 inches square, so I'm guessing that a lot of tactical movement is going to end up being descriptive