The Pyramid of Shadows (Inactive)

Game Master 137ben

OK, checking in, if I'm not too late. Am I too late?

Ya sorry man, Soth beat you to it :)

OK, no problem.

question, how does Fortification affect your house rules? I have 25% fortification.

I'd just like to point you said the dragonborn had a short sword earlier and he rolled for a bastard sword or something so there might be a mistake somewhere.

I'm just mad we didn't disarm him. I didn't *actually* realise he was
A) armed or
B) had drawn his blade

Guess I shoulda paid more attention. I'm blaming Yessai of course.

Ya, I'd thought he surrendered already...

He was terrified for a bit, then when thomas turned around, yass failed a sense motive check, then combat!
Btw, for those wanting to know, you can hit the preview button below to get an idea of what you rolled.
Example: 1d20 ⇒ 19
I rolled a 19 (why now?? Why not in the midst of combat???)
Or you can hit the edit button in the top right to change something affer you posted (up to an hour).

I'd just like to point you said the dragonborn had a short sword earlier and he rolled for a bastard sword or something so there might be a mistake somewhere.

Yup. In THIS post he is carrying a shotsword and a green pouch. Maybe he's a high level Warpriest who worships a deity with shortsword as a favoured weapon.

@Yassai, Thomas:I probably should have made it a bit more clear he was holding a weapon...sorry y'all. Either way, he is pretty seriously hurt and will flee if you let him.

question, how does Fortification affect your house rules? I have 25% fortification.

The attacker checks for critical hits as normal. If a critical hit occurs, then a percentile is rolled to negate it.

So, how do people want to handle initiative? We could
a)Have everyone roll their own initiative, each person only posts actions on their turn? This is closest to how live groups handle it, but it can make combat go on for a long time.
b)As (a), but I roll everyone's initiative? This speeds the start of combat up a little for no loss in agency.
c)As (a) or (b), but allow people to post contingent actions
(i.e., if the initiative order is X, Y, Z, and Y logs in first, Y can post multiple possible actions depending on what X does, and depending on the success of X's actions)? This runs significantly faster, but can be a bit more confusing.
d)Have a single initiative count for all player characters? This goes as fast as (c) and is easier to keep track of, but the course of battle can change depending on who is online at what times. Also this would mean high-initiative characters stand out less.

My preference would be for either (c) or (d), since pbps are slow no matter what, but I'll let the group decide.

i vote B+C.

i vote B+C.

B & C work for me.

I vote B.

i'll go for B and C

I'm also fine with C. ;)

Okay, that's a majority, so B+C it is! Specifically, for initiative in the future
i)When combat breaks out, I will roll everyone's initiative.
ii)If your character provokes an encounter, you can roll your own initiative and I will count it.
iii)During combat, you can post your action, or possible contingent actions, before your turn comes up. These can be changed if later posters whose turn comes before yours alter the situation.

Does anyone have a strong objection to the above procedure?

I'm hoping we can have the prologue done relatively soon (i.e. everyone can get inside the pyramid of shadows where the adventure really picks up.) That is probably when I will reveal the campaign traits. If you have a preference for what sort of bonus you want your campaign trait to give, now is the time for requests:)

Sweet, no problem at all with this method of combat. For the Campaign trait, i wouldn't mind something that fits with the arrogant-outcast-turned-rogue backstory

Sounds great GM - as for acampaign trait, either something to do with Direlocks of the Spiral Radiant (fear effects and spell eating) or Yessai's desire to protect herself from the githyanki lichqueen (undead related)...

For campaign traits, something that made Survival a class skill for Mundarion would be good and fit his background.

Hm, as far as campaign traits go, i'd be thinking of class-specific ones that would enhance Gemheart's ability to adapt to situations. something like:

- treating INT MOD as 1 higher for class abilities
- treat class level as 2 higher for class abilities that are calculated by level (allowing increase above HD, but not giving access to class abilities early)
- allow Gemheart to treat the gems in his body as cognizance crystals, allowing him to store up to his HD in PP (scales with level, but doesn't actually give him PP, just a means to hoard them over time)

Hey DMB - any chance I can change my equipment before we go? I'm wanting to swap out my Bastard sword for a Large Bastard sword.

Just been reading through some of the Psionic rules, could almost picture De'arv'ki with the Elocater prestige class... Suddenly my climb speed and skill level would be useless (almost)

Hey DMB - any chance I can change my equipment before we go? I'm wanting to swap out my Bastard sword for a Large Bastard sword.

Scratch that - I'd apparently need Exotic Weapon Proficiency to be able to wield it as a Large one handed weapon in two hands.

I started reading the Elocator class.
Master of manipulating gravity and space... I can do that! Constant teleportation, dimention swap, free catfalls, defy gravity... yup, I can do that.
Then I read more... arial accrobatics (aka doube ranks in fly and accrobatics), personal gravity and scorn earth... Wow! That sounds like an epic 1 lvl dip :)
Can't take it till lvl 7 tho

As far as a campaign trait, something granting accrobatics or preception as a class skill would be nice. Something along the line of moving would be great as well. If you do, would it be ok if I changed some skill points around? Take a point or two and put it into accrobatics?

Glad to to see i'm generating character ideas there midio >_<

Just been reading through some of the Psionic rules, could almost picture De'arv'ki with the Elocater prestige class... Suddenly my climb speed and skill level would be useless (almost)

Yea Elocator is a fun prestige class:)

To the other questions: since the game hasn't gotten past the prologue, I'm open to free character rebuilds. Yessai, if you want to swap a feat for Exotic weapon proficiency, you can do it now without penalty(but once everyone gets inside the pyramid, switching things around will require spending time/resources retraining). Same goes for Midio and skill ranks.

Yessai, if you want to swap a feat for Exotic weapon proficiency, you can do it now without penalty(but once everyone gets inside the pyramid, switching things around will require spending time/resources retraining). Same goes for Midio and skill ranks.

I will take you up on this. If you want to give me a campaign trait that explains just how I wield such a fell blade that would be nice (as well as offsetting the -2 penalty)... ;)

looks like i goofed up and didnt pick my language. I saw my INT MOD was +3 so i picked 3... but counted Common as one of them.

I'll let the GM decide what my last language is, what would have made sense in Sigil.

looks like i goofed up and didnt pick my language. I saw my INT MOD was +3 so i picked 3... but counted Common as one of them.

I'll let the GM decide what my last language is, what would have made sense in Sigil.

Plansecant would make sense, as would any of the psionic languages (Maenad, Ophiduan, Xeph).

Ooh, wish I had chosen Xeph...or Planescant - is that more likely than Common for a Gith?

Trait time!
Mundarion:

Cool cool, time to update my character sheet again. BTW, gunna put survival as the class skill, already have the other 2.

I like the trait :)
Accrobatics it is.
Btw, i had a really busy last few days and i have gotten behind, sorry for that :(
Si i am going to be doing a bit of catching up here :)

Sweet

Yup. You got a real nice trait there Gemheart :)
Btw isnt the improved armour customization lvl 5+?

Have fun with the bonus on fortitude saves guys :)

Yup. You got a real nice trait there Gemheart :)

Btw isnt the improved armour customization lvl 5+?

damnit misread that one. Thought I could take it once and the second time was after lv5

Sweet trait GM!

Have fun with the bonus on fortitude saves guys :)

Will do. Stay close to me and we'll be safer from undeddz. ;)

By the way, I have absolutely no idea what staircase you are referring to Midio. GM - just where is everybody?

By the way, I have absolutely no idea what staircase you are referring to Midio. GM - just where is everybody?

From the description of the room

To the west*, is a marble staircase about ten feet wide, leading down.

I'm assuming everyone climbed out of the pit on the west side (the Ettin is on the east of the pit). Thomas, Midio, and De'Arv'ki are going down the staircase. The talking head is on the opposite side of the room, behind Gurrak.

Gemheart will head towards the group and follow them.

Yep. I just reread the description of the room.

Gurrak said the plants were off the south where the green shaking wall lies.

The intrepid adventurers have gone down the staircase to the west.

Yess has drawn Gurrak's attention away from the heads, by moving "beyond her". I guess that will just put Yess on the east side. Hmm...

Sorry, i rolled a dice to see which direction i would go ^_^
Apparently love of randomness takes precidence over fear of giants >.>

So Midio, you want to detect traps the old fashioned but hard way? Alerting the rest of the party to the trap being there by screaming when it nails you? Silliness aside, we need to get some sort of marching order, figure out who's going to be point, rear guard, etc. Or we could all just go wandering off in a random chaotic fashion and let ourselves get picked off one or two at a time. I'll have a more serious in character post later.

Seeing as many of us haven't been introduced yet, I was planning on having an introduction scene in the next room if you guys don't mind.

On topic of marching order, I volunteer for point as I have a pretty decent perception and good saves overall along with LLV.

Or Mundarion because trap sense...

If Mundarion goes point I'll pick middle as I can be versatile in my attack range.

I was under the impression from posts in the recruitment thread that we were already somewhat acquainted if not an established adventuring group. I can't seem to find these posts now of course... Though the intro mentions allies...

Yess is fine somewhere in the middle, or on rearguard for Perception purposes...

Currently Yess is keen to co-opt the Ettin as a friend, and wishes to investigate the green shaking wall...

Is Dee going to take the talking head while Yess and Gurrak "head" off to investigate???

You weren't assumed to know each other before coming here.
People looking for an area for introductions and/or planning could probably use the bottom of the staircase--it is too small for Gurrak to fit down comfortably and too thick for anyone on the other side to hear.
Or ya could just open it and see:)
Sorry guys, I'm having family issues (grr...)
I'll have more to post later tonight hopefully.

Okay thanks for the heads up GM.

Hope your family issues resolve. For what it's worth, thanks for running this. The pyramid is a lot of fun already and we have an interesting party (and NPCs)... Looking forward to more exploration and strange characters...

I don't know about a marching order, Midioto is not the type to walk somewhere single file...
I can defently stick around somwhere in the middle of the group but by his very nature he will be poping all over the place, looking at different things and pseudo-flying.
Honestly I would much rather the GM decide where exactly I am at the beginning of any encounter, giving it a bit of randomness as I move about, even if it does entail a bit more risk on my part (but not to the detriment of the party).
He embodies movement and I don't like the idea of being constrained too much (despite being in a prison XD)

On a different note, when you describe rooms, would you also describe how high the roof (if any) is? Even if it is just "room is 10ft high" or "30ft high roof" because I can fly and if I take Elocator I can walk on the roof...

And I second Yess! Thanks for running this!
Enjoying it lots so far!