I'm curious to see what they're thinking. I mean, I've played a goblin before and it's fun, but I think it's hard to be a primary low-level foe and a core race at the same time. Do people suddenly not fear/hate goblins in most cities?
I guess they're trying to take goblins beyond the 'Drizzt' problem. I suspect a financial motive too since the pathfinder goblins are oddly cute and feature in lots of advertising materials, so I think they want people who go "Oh wow those are cool!" to be able to actually play them, rather than kill them.
It is going to be a tough dichotomy though - I'm worried that they're going to pyromaniac kender...
When I first heard that there would be Core goblins, I held my judgement. I wanted to see what their explanation was first, as there are better and worse ways to do this thing.
Then the playtest article came out and it was the usual "oh well some of them aren't evil, so Playable Race!" tripe. I HATE that. Goblins as established in Golarion are evil, vile little murder-rats. Even if they are also very cool and funny. You need a better explanation than the Drizzt thing to justify them being a playable race.
If I was Paizo and I was determined to do this Core Goblins thing, I would immediately write something into an AP or a module where the PCs help to save a goblin tribe from a larger evil and they decide to chang their ways. Or something. Not all Goblin PCs would have to be from said tribe, but it would at least provide AN in-world explanation for why any civilized creature shouldn't kill them on sight (or go find someone else who could).
Well, we still don't know that they're not going to do that. I'm still in wait and see mode. Worst comes to worst, I simply say goblins aren't a PC race in my version of Golarion.
Yep. Still looking forward to it. I'm getting at least the softcover book for the playtest.
I'm off to a relative's wedding this weekend, and likely won't be posting until Sunday/Monday. Please feel free to bot me, as needed.
Lots of changes for me this level:
+2 Con = +8 hp
+1 Fort, +1 Will
+1 BAB
+deeds: kip-up, menacing swordplay, precise strike, swashbuckler initiative (+2 initiative, when I have at least 1 panache point)
+Nimble (Ex): At 3rd level, a swashbuckler gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC while wearing light armor or no armor.
+6 skill ranks: +1 Acrobatics, +1 Bluff, +1 Diplomacy, +2 Intimidate, +1 Perception
+1/4 panache (FCB)
+feat: Blind-fight (having fought in the dark once, Aurelian has been practicing with his eyes closed)
Just double posting to make sure everyone is clear :)
I'm away for the next twelve days in Florida - going to Disney World for the first time!
I won't be able to check my games while I'm away so we'll go on pause until the 10th (or possibly the 11th if I'm too jet-lagged!).
Have a fantastic trip, I'm jelly.
Jenner gains:
5 hp +2 con = 7hp
+1 REF
+1/2 weapon/armor blessing
Skills: perception, sense motive, spellcraft, craft armor (background skill), profession merchant (background skill)
Feats: steel soul, furious focus (bonus warpriest feat)
+1 level one spell per day (gonna be longstrider, usually)
...and that fancy new axe, which is, hilariously, sort of redundant due to his aquatic combatant feat, hehe. He'll still use it, don't get me wrong.
Taking Half+1: 5 +2 Con = +8 hp
Background Skills: +1 rank in: Knowledge History, Linguistics
Skills: Knowledge (Arana) +2, Spellcraft +2, UMD +2
BAB +1
Reflex +1
Spells Per Day: 1st: +1
Spells Known: 1st: feather fall
Knacks Known: detect magic
Bonded Manifestation
Feat: Aquatic Combatant
ELIZAR:
+7 hp (6+1 CON)
BAB +1
Reflex +1
Skills: Swim +2
Free Skills: +1 intimidate and stealth
Feat: Weapon Focus (slam)
Deliver Touch Spells (30 ft)
The imperious intimidation thing has been working well for Sarine so far, though that's largely due to her good rolls. I'm looking at taking a Skill Focus(Intimidate) plus Cornugon Smash sort of build, if the latter is allowed by our GM.
Cornugon Smash is fine - I don't mind intimidate builds. :)
@Jenner - retraining is a thing, and besides you may not use the one axe your entire career (and this way I don't have to feel bad about disarming you!)
Are you all levelled Sarine? We'll be ready to move on when you are.
All patched up and ready to go now!
I guess I didn't do the hp rolling thing. I'm too used to PFS I guess.
- and I got the same number anyway.
Background Skills: +1 rank in: Knowledge (History), Perform (Oratory)
Skills: +1 Acrobatics, Intimidate, Perception, Survival, Swim
Demon Cat Skills: +1 Knowledge (Arcana), +1 Knowledge (Engineering)
BAB +1
Reflex & Will +1
Blood Sanctuary
Feat: Skill Focus (Intimidate)
On the road until Sunday night, bot me as needed.
Might be worth recapping what we know.
We've got the letter that I linked casting doubt on Rayland and saying to trust Eliza, hinting that they're on separate sides.
Glancing upwards you catch sight of a piece of parchment poking over the edge of one of the beams above you. With the aid of a chair you retrieve it and find the Company Charter, signed by the Bountiful Venture Company, a representative of the People's Council and every colonist from the first wave. You all signed a near identical document which Ramona has a copy of onboard the Peregrine. What is strange is that a number of the colonist names have been crossed out, and a number of others - including Arkley's have small marks against them, almost as though someone was crossing them off a list.
Do we know (we might have to wait and check later) if Eliza's name was crossed out or marked?
You'll have to wait to get back to the settlement to check the list again. Since she wasn't a person of interest to you at that point no-one will have remembered her specifically (although remembering Rayland Arkley is much easier - he's important after all!)
With a bright smile she asks, "Do either either one of you happen to know what became of Silas? He killed your priest and the poor fellow is terribly upset at being dead. He could really use some closure." Ashlyn nods as if she understands exactly how he feels.
Not sure if this was intentional, but didn't we find out that their "leader" killed Silas here? Not sure if that's Rayland, who I misnamed in a post a little bit later on that page.
Wands:
Color Spray - 12 charges
Flaming Sphere - 9 charges
Goodberry - 49 charges.
Thanks!
@ Sarine: If you don't already have the wand of flaming sphere, you should take that too. It's also on your spell list and not mine.
And it may be worth using that wand before we make our rush, as we should be able to set it up to limit Rayland's movement and/or hurt him while we cross the room.
Sorry about not putting Eliza's gear up - you guys keep posting when I don;t have access to my books!
You found:
Potion of CLW x2
Wand (DC16)
Alchemists Fire x4
Lonspear
Cloak (DC18)
Ring (DC18)
Wand of Mage Armor (16 charges)
Cloak of Resistance +1
Ring of Protection +1
Wasn't Elizar our spellcrafter? I'm not sure we can figure these out. Sarine is going to swipe those potions for immediate use though. Edit: See the gameplay thread. She only used one and is willing to give up the other.
Sarine will take the longspear as well if no one else wants it. Reach might be handy as Rayland approaches.
Sarine is also taking one of the alchemist's fire. Once again, if anyone wants it (especially for the Rayland fight) I can give it up.
I haven't said that Sarine is taking the Color Spray and Flaming Sphere wands, but she is.
Just hold on to the other, that way you have it. I'm fine with you taking all those things.
Ditto! Take whatever you want Sarine. Also, don't forget there's also a scroll of burning hands if you want it.
I can use spellcraft now, but I didn't pass any of the DCs this time round. She'll try again tomorrow.
Ashlyn will take two of the alchemist's fire.
Rayland's gear:
+1 breastplate
mwk longsword
mwk spiked steel shield
cloak of resistance +1
elixir of swimming
potion of cure mod
silversheen.
He passes after one use of soul soap! Will post the fluff later.
In spite of the goodies, we should probably forego taking all of Rayland's stuff until he's had a chance to talk to us at least. Hopefully we can start getting some answers!
Sorry everyone, going through a tough patch with work and so forth right now. I'll try and find a few minutes to sit down with the books today and get the transition into book 2 going!
Hope things get easier. If we're looking to get to Book 2, should we be leveling up?
Sorry again for the long pause everyone. Post has now been made and you all get level 4!
With the 6 weeks of downtime, would you like to play it out using the downtime rules from Ultimate Campaign or just for something more free-form where you guys say the things you'd like to do and I (mostly) let you do them?
Let me know!
Everyone - I'm planning to incorporate the 'relics' rules from War for the Crown here, since Azlanti relics play such a part in the game! The sword is the first, there will be others!
Nice! I think those are great rules. Will think about what Aurelian plans to do. I'm fine with more free-form, but will defer to others if you want to use UC rules.
wooooo!
I could go either way re mechanics vs free-form-- basically Jenner's going to use the time to try and scout good mining ores/explore/exploit the caves we found, (i.e., getting the basics going of, say, a forge, or at least a crude mining operation if possible) ... and, also, try and make armor/spread the good word of Abadar. Short of Craft Magic Arms and Armor, which I won't have til at least 5th level, that really doesn't mean much mechanically, as the best he could make would be masterwork armor. That said, if it's possible he could make some masterwork armor in the downtime, that'd be great-- I'm fine with that being something that just helps the colony in general, as Jenner makes, like, shields, for the regular colonists to have on hand, or if it goes to specific PCs.
Are there any sort of colony 'stats' we need to be thinking about as players, like, say, variant Kingmaker type rules?
If we want to go that way I'll work some out, although freeform will work pretty easily here too.
All your stuff is fine Jenner. Luetin will be happy to have some help at the forge so you can make weekly checks for crafting and I'll adjudicate it to something sensible rather than Craft RAW.
Aurelian Level 4
+1 to attribute: +1 Cha (to 18, boosting daily panache, etc.)
+ hp; half +1 (6) is better, so +6 hp +2 Con = +8 hp
+1 level of swashbuckler
+1 BAB, Reflex save
+1 bonus feat: Weapon Specialization (light blades)
+6 skill ranks: +1 to Acrobatics, Bluff, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Swim
FCB: +1/4 panache (3/4 now)
Do we have a loot list somewhere? We probably need to figure out what we have available to trade, so we can order supplies.
--
Trying to decide how Aurelian will spend his downtime, but will try to have a post up in the next day or two, if not sooner.
Its up at the top of the page and labelled 'Party Loot Tracker'
As for rules... I'd prefer free form. I don't know the downtime rules off the top of my head. I'll have to look into it.
Level coming soon!
LOL. Don't know how I missed that! (Well, actually, I was looking at the links on GM Nik's profile, but still...)
Looking at the list, we've not got a ton of stuff to trade out:
* mw machete (310 gp)
* hatchet (?? gp; honestly it feels like we'd just donate it to the colony's stores)
* polished coral (150 gp)
* 2 +1 tridents (1,315 gp each)
* dented flask (probably not worth anything?)
* strange glass bottle (I *think* that's actually the bottle of air, which I think we should hold onto; Jenner currently has it)
That's not a lot -- trading all of that in would bring in 1,620 gp total. I'd be inclined to say we should order a wand of cure light wounds, and divvy the remaining 870 gp between the four of us for whatever future (or current, if there's something you guys want) purposes.
--
Can someone in the colony identify Eliza's cloak, ring and wand? (Those could add a bit to the above total.)
--
Also, any word on Evie? It'd be nice if she can join back in for Book 2.
Do we know (or should we make up) what time of year it is? Too often when we roleplay, time just kind of slips by unnoticed and it'd be neat if we had any notion of what season it was and such. I'm thinking of having Sarine's birthday come up during the downtime.
Also, do we know how close we are to Golarion's equator? Are seasons really even happening here?
I have no complaint if we end up selling the masterwork machete. Sarine has it as one of her weapons at the moment though.
Also, while her sword is rapidly becoming awesome, Sarine's armor could use some help. A masterwork breastplate or something like that would be nice. I assume we aren't getting Rayland's stuff?
Oh, yeah! Now that I have detect magic is the strange glass bottle magical? If so, what's the DC to identify it?
That's not a lot -- trading all of that in would bring in 1,620 gp total. I'd be inclined to say we should order a wand of cure light wounds, and divvy the remaining 870 gp between the four of us for whatever future (or current, if there's something you guys want) purposes.
We definitely should trade for a wand of cure light wounds. Since Ashlyn's a worrywart and always tries to heal people as soon as she can anyway, why don't we let Ashlyn hang onto the wand, and then you guys can split the rest of the cash three ways instead of four? I don't need a melee or ranged weapon, or an armour improvement right now, so I don't mind letting you guys take the bulk of the cash for spending. She would've used her share on healing stuff anyway. Better a wand than the healing potions I would have bought.
Thoughts?
Don't pay for the Wand of Cure Light Wounds out of your own cash. If that isn't party loot nothing is. Otherwise it sounds good.
We'll also want to look into getting some bows, probably. Throwing javelins & such only goes so far in terms of having a ranged weapon option.
Sarine Level 4
+1 to attribute: +1 Cha (to 14, mostly for long-term spell needs)
+ 1d10 ⇒ 1 hp; half +1 (6) is better, so +6 hp +2 Con +1 FCB = +9 hp
+1 level of bloodrager
+1 BAB, Fortitude save
+1 bonus feat: Eschew Materials
+5 skill ranks: +1 to Acrobatics, Intimidate, Perception, Survival, Swim
+Spellcasting!: 2 spells/day, Spells known: Burning Hands & Shield - her caster level is 4, so the burning hands will help out a lot vs any swarms we meet. Otherwise, it's mostly an AC booster right now. I'm planning to pick up Touch of the Sea next if nothing else changes.
+Bloodline Power: Sarine gets +1 natural armor to AC & cold resistance 5 while raging, so her AC won't tank as badly now.
Thoughts? In a word, no. :)
I realize that feels equitable, but having all of the characters be at/around the appropriate WBL is important. It's more fun for players in general, but also means there's less chance of you getting knocked down early in a fight (that's clearly *Aurelian's* role), which can change the whole dynamic of a fight. Even if you're just getting things that boost your defenses, it's important to keep up with the rest of the group. A wand of CLW is a group treasure and something that should basically be used out of combat mostly.
--
Barring any changes from the GM, according to the modules: We're about 1,000 miles due west from Mediogalti Isle. At roughly 30° N latitude, the area has a humid subtropical climate. While temperatures in the region can reach 100° F, for the most part the temperature ranges from the low 70s to the high 90s. The air is humid, and when it’s hot, it often feels like every breath is forcibly swallowed rather than comfortably inhaled. The temperature in the region rarely drops below freezing, and when it does, it’s only for a few hours during the night. While generally wet—as daily rain showers sprinkle the region in the afternoons for periods of time lasting from 20 minutes to an hour a day—the region sees a potential for violent storms, especially in the late-summer to late-fall months. Winters tend to be dry.
For downtime, Sarine doesn't have any really specific plans. Training some of the townsfolk to fight & scouting the area nearby are probably on the agenda. She'd also want to go talk to the chatty constructs that the party met before, assuming that they will let her leave without too many problems. Sarine gets 22 for Intimidate if she takes 10 now.
LOOT: I have some gear I'm returning to the pile as well. I was wearing the meridian belt until could sell it. I also have an ability that grant me a shield bonus now, so I no longer need the shield cloak. Both are up for grabs, or for sale if no one wants them.
Taking Half+1: 5 +2 Con = +8 hp
+1 Strength
Background Skills: +1 rank in: Knowledge History, Linguistics
Skills: Acrobatics +2, Climb +2, Perception +1, Swim +1
BAB +1
Fort +1, Will +1
Spells Per Day: 2nd: +2
Spells Known: 2nd: cure moderate wounds, spiritual weapon
Spiritual Interference
ELIZAR:
Free Skills: +1 intimidate and stealth
Magic Attacks
I'm not changing the setting - so climate is as Mott says. Nice a tropical mostly!
You have plenty of time to identify magic items. Eliza had a wand of mage armor (16 charges, not that you know that of course!), a cloak of resistance +2 and a ring of protection +1.
Rayland isn't dead, but he does feel pretty guilty about what happened, so if you asked him to donate his weapons/armor he probably would.
I'll ask Evie, but she's been mighty busy and fairly stressed with work so I'm not sure she'll want something else on her plate right now.
Hm...if we aren't likely to get Evie, should we recruit a fifth player (and there would still be a spot for her if she wanted to check in)? Or are these APs written with four in mind?
AP's are written for 4, although I have someone in mind if you guys would like a fifth.
@Ashlyn: the azlanti device is a masterpiece of clockwork engineering, but not magical. Valuable though - 800gp if sold to a collector.
I'm not familiar with the relic rules from War for the Crown. Can I get a summary of what that's about?
I tend to like five for PBPs. I think it goes along a bit better, though if everyone else would prefer four, I'll defer.
The relic rules are basically scaling items. It means you can get a cool weapon early on and invest (emotionally) in it, as opposed to just giving it up when you're high enough level that you find/can afford something better. Think of Bilbo's Sting, I guess, where you can get a +1 spider-bane short sword at low levels and not feel like you need to give it up halfway through your adventures.