The Order of Tears (Inactive)

Game Master Choon

OOOOOOH!

I was looking around the internet for gear to another PC - and I noticed that combat-trained Bisons are only 75gp a piece! If we use mine, Noro's and Pel's money, we can have a herd of 8 CR 4 bad-ass herbivores on our side. Surely they could tackle the opposition ^^

No :P?

Do it!

I have a PFS character who (quite by accident) keeps "adopting" animals during scenarios. She's level 2 and has a riding dog and a tame grizzly bear so far.

It's a lot of fun.

Zayid: I'm a GM who likes challenging encounters, but who likes seeing groups win vs massive odds more than seeing them get squished. Thus the "generosity". :)

Freia: If you can find combat trained bison in Magnimar... Or live bison period. :P

Zayid: I'm a GM who likes challenging encounters, but who likes seeing groups win vs massive odds more than seeing them get squished. Thus the "generosity". :)

This statement makes me very happy. :)

I've updated Zayid's sheet to reflect the MW guisarme.

Just let me know when youall want to move on.

Still waiting on my message

If you mean the one I PM'd you about, don't worry too much. If it arrives it arrives. I'm being cryptic because of spoilers. Just roll with it. :)

200gp:

100gp warpaint of the fearsome visage
50gp cure light wounds potion
50gp magic fang potion

That ok?

Looks good. Ariana has posted once, but I'll move on.

Just waiting for this thing with the boy to play out. Youall might have a guide to entry #2 :)

I find really mean for this to become a Noro-only thing. Youall are free to investigate the boy who motioned to you and said "death". :)

hrm, yeah I was going to do something but it kindof slipped my mind : )

come on folks, I mean, I can take on the whole place alone, but I want you guys to have a chance too. out of the goodness of my heart.

So, this guy won't be a GMPC, but he'll pop up enough that I thought his own alias might be useful. As Noro said, its good to have a contact on the inside where your masks prevent you from going. :)

So, besides Pelgrev, anyone want to say anything more before we move on?

Nothing else from this end!

Ummmm, guys? People have been really quiet lately

I know, I'm sorry!

I'm having a summer break from my studies, which should mean that I actually have more time (debatable :P) now then usual. However, I start the day with checking all my pbps then going on with my daily life. Back at school, this meant that I had plenty of time during the less fun lectures to process and think of posts. Now I just do something else and kindof forget. Then I check back during the evenings and my stupid mind goes 'oh, no new unread posts in the Tears pbp : (' and I move over to other things. Sorry!

Now, luckily I read Lazarous post/plan and I think I got a response - lemme just type it out : )

That's fine. I'm just really excited about this next series, so I might be a little unintentionally pushy on posting. Pelgrev and Ariana get some love here. :)

Nice =)

Speaking of, I didn't truly think about how much that is on fire or revolves around fire in the average fantasy rpg when I picked the Burned drawback ... :P

For future reference, when you give us the 'monster id' do you want us to check them out ourselves or not ?

I have a rather decent knowledge of Pathfinder monsters since the bestiaries contain such pretty pictures, but I have a hard time knowing what 'parts' of the info I get unless explicitly stated : )

If you want to look up the type and all it does, that's fine. I'd refrain from looking up the specific monster, however. Spoilers, you know.

Okay : )

The reason I asked is, well, without actually knowing what a 'X' is prior to the roll, just getting the name doesn't say much (unless I look it up, that is).

I tend to give hints as to its abilities in the description, but I can see that just hunting isn't really beneficial. Alrighty. I'll hint in my fluff and post here the actual results of your roll from the monster entry.

Here ya go. :)

Ohhh wait, sorry I'm just a bit dense. I didn't realize that your hints where anything other then a description of the monster (ie 'This is monster X, you can tell since it has Y and Z') as opposed to actual hints ('You're not sure what it is, but it has Y and Z, so expect Q').

I hope that made sense ...

But spellt out abilities is nice too : )

It's both. If I describe it after a knowledge roll I'll try to give hints at its abilities as appropriate for the roll. Otherwise it's pure fluff, but it can be hard to distinguish which is crunchy, so I'll post them here for clarity.

Has anyone seen Ariana or Zayid about? I expected Zayid to post by now, at least.

Not since Wednesday

Ok. Just got a PM from Zayid detailing some concerns he has about how I handled the recent introduction of 'Z'. He has many good points.

Firstly, I want to say that youall can PM me any time you have a concern about the campaign in general, the direction of it, how I'm handling something, or anything else. This is a cooperative storytelling process. This is not ''my" story. It is our story. Thus, I never want youall to feel like you can't raise concerns.

My recent introduction of 'Z' was awkward, I'll be the first admit. I honestly didn't expect youall to not come running (or walking, or sneaking) when he pointed at you and you lip read "dead" or when he produced a knife. Then youall did what PC's are famous for doing and stayed put. It kinda threw a massive wrench in my plan and made the situation come off poorly.

I'm not blaming you for how things went, I'm just describing what happened on this side of the screen. I'm still new at this. In fact, this is my first homebrew ever, so I am still a little green when it comes to this kind of unexpected occurance. I apologize for sidelining people, and I recognize how that could have been done better.

Thank you, Zayid, for making me aware of your concerns and not just dropping off the map. Thank you all for playing with me. I think that doesn't get said enough.

ok now I feel like I am partly to blame as well,

No, no! I'm blaming noone save me. I just wanted to put that out there for transparency's sake.
There are some exciting things coming, and I'd hate for this incident to detract from it. I've learned. I will try to apply said learning to future encounter design. Now, what to do in a dusty, smelly room?

Ariana hasn't posted yet, but I think everyone else has.

Thank you for running the game : )

You are doing a great job, keep at it !

And I'm sorry for being a bit passive - it just felt reckless to bumrush a child across a sea of poor people ^^

are we still a part of the multi GM thing? is Ferel's Aspis consortium gang still around?

They are. You'll see them soon, actually. You'll see level 3 soon too. :)

I assumed Noro would indicate If she wanted/needed our attention.

I am greatly enjoying this experience.

I figure we all cycle our attention a bit, so that was a couple days I stepped back.

Likewise, the terrifying Noro wasn't startled by a child with a knife, so Ariana didn't see much need to.

Sorry for being so quiet lately, these last two weeks have been a game of: "Are we moving, are we not moving?" culminating in the last two days and this weekend and monday moving into a new place. Posting may be awkward until Monday but should be fine afterward! PC may go offline tomorrow night until Sunday or Sunday until Monday.

Good to hear, Ariana. I hope the move goes smoothly. I'll cast your standard daze if necessary. :)

Hmm, level 3 soon-ish?

I've been thinking about my arcanas (Rime spell metamagic for feat I think). At 4th level I get a hex, and at level 6 I plan on picking up the Familiar arcana (Improved Familiar at 7 to get an Nosoi. They are adorable!).

So unless I spend a feat at 5 for an extra arcana (or hex), I'm going to have to stick with my level 3 arcana and level 4 hex for quite some time. The hexes have most utility (since they don't cost anything to use!), but depending on which hex I pick I might end up valuing different arcanas.

The Hexes I'm thinking about at level 4 is either Flight, Evil Eye or Prehensile Hair.

Flight since flying might come in handy : ) But it doesn't really contribute to actually winning the combat. If I pick this one, I might save a spell slot or two (for Fly/Feather Fall) but I will still need to relay mainly on my sword and spells to win the fight. Thus any Arcana that lets me fight longer/better would make sense.

Evil Eye gives me a great option to contribute to combat without using my quite limited pool of Arcane points and spells. Even if they make the save, it's one round of -2 to Arianas spell of choice - or perhaps -2 AC while Noro, Pel and Aboki tear them apart. On the plus side, it fits well with Freia's curse and debuff style. And it lets me be a bit more liberal with my pick of Arcana, since I have something else to resort to when my pool is dry. At level 8, the penalty becomes -4 which is rather substantial (but a good bit into the future).

Prehensile Hair is cool. Coupled with Combat Reflexes (at five) and a spellstriking Rimed Frostbite, Freia could become quite the crowd control machine. Sadly, I think it requires quite a bit of setup since all hexes are standard actions (please tell me if I'm wrong here - it would be so awesome!). And it isn't compatible with Spell Combat unless one picks up another arcana (Natural Spell Combat). This path has great potential, but I will have to pick the Arcana with extreme care since I won't have feats left to pick up extra.

I briefly considered Slumber or Healing, but I discarded them. Healing since it isn't actually super exciting (while useful!) and Slumber since it feels a bit cheap.

Now - Arcanas.

Natural Spell Combat seems like a good fit for Prehensile Hair, but it won't actually do anything right now. And we might need power now ... It also feels like a slightly one-trick pony pick, since both the arcana, hex and feat (5th level) will be dedicated to doing one thing, even it that is a powerful thing.

Arcane Accuracy is super awesome - especially since Freia got good Int. It eats pool points at a rapid pace, but that shouldn't be a problem if Freia got a plan B for combat (like Evil Eye). Arcane Accurate Rimed Frostbite is deadly, and it works good now.

Spell-scars or Wand Wielder both extends her stamina, but doesn't really give her any more oomph in hard fights. And they cost money to use ... Not sure if they are worth it ?

Concentrate is merely a quick-fix for when the dice spites you. It's both powerful and useful, but boring.

There are a few 3rd party Arcanas that are fun; I'll link them here but I'm not sure if they are allowed (or if I would pick them if they were):

Malice. A nice damage buff - will only work with Evil Eye, thus do nothing when I pick it up. The combo would give Freia great stamina since it costs nothing but actions to use.

Arcane Focus. Simply reduced the Spell-Combat penalties with 1 for a minute. In theory, this is like a more economic version of Arcane Accuracy - but it only functions when one is using Spell Combat, so it doesn't really help hitting those really hard targets.

The last option would simply be to pick up the Familiar now. A Trush provides a useful bonus, as well as being a good scout. Decent out-of-combat utility, but won't help her kick ass. As a plus, Trushes are really adorable.

This is mostly to help me focus and pick - but I greatly appreciate thoughts and feedback, especially if you played Magus before!

And sorry for the wall of text ^^

I'm not going to say anything because I feel that I'll decide your character for you. :)

That being said, Who's up for Kicking in a door?

So strong opinions then :P ?

I looked over the Magus and realized I get a bonus feat at 5 (yey!) which means I have a bit more wiggle room. Probably I'll go Arcane Accuracy & Rime Spell @3, then Prehensile Hair at 4 and then at 5 pick up Combat Reflexes and Extra Arcana [either Evil Eye or Natural Spell Combat]. Or Retrain Rime into the bonus feat slot, and grab both the hex and arcana, ditching combat reflexes ...

Meh, I'll figure it out eventually ^^

But I might refluff Prehensile Hair a bit, if that is okay.

Also - lets kick in the door : )

Note to self: Detect Magic the room we are leaving later, not now since it might tip the pirates off

last time I tried to kick in a door I rolled a Nat 1 and looked like an idiot...No comments or <makes a fist>

Well, it can't get worse, can it ? *ducks behind solid looking cover*

Alrighty. So who's gonna give this door the Boot?

Noro it is! Surprise coming tonight. I hope youall enjoy it. Its been several weeks in the making. :)
Please post so that your general formation/marching order for bursting into the room is known. I'll have a map up as soon as the surprise is revealed.

We should probably have some default order anyhow.

Noro and Pel up front? And perhaps someone with good perception (Zayid).

The problem is a bit that everyone of us except Ariana want to get our grips on our foes, but I feel Freia benefits alot from being able to manoeuvre around a bit (so she can drop the occasional Colour Spray on enemy mooks !)

Aboki can take rearguard so that we don't get jumped from behind and end up with our squishy spellcaster being... squished.

If we're in a situation where there may be traps, then Zayid should probably be going first, but when we're kicking in doors to start combat, Noro or Pelgrev is fine.

So I'm proposing (for this situation): Noro, Pelgrev, Zayid, Freia, Ariana, Aboki.

Works for me : )

I'm down.

Ok i have the chance to play the dragon's demand for pfs credit... anyone play this? I will be pkaying a pfs version of noro

Noro in front is ok with pel at his side.

The rest is also ok

awwwww shiiiiiiiiit, boss mode!

Don't trust the stats in my header, they're for me in one of Choon's other games.