The Seer's Journey - DM Downrightamazed

Game Master downrightamazed

FYI, in Karthan's continuity - Mother is still in Stormfare. Father periodically goes out and adventures still, but a bit more seriously than Karthan does. I have no idea where his mother fits in Stormfare's social hierarchy, but she's probably part of the local defense forces.

Dad does go into war zones on missions, where his Darkvision and Stealth make him a good observer. Having Dad send back a report about something or other would be perfectly acceptable to me as an adventure seed.

Dad kept trying to get Karthan to become a ranger, but Karthan never really fell in love with sleeping in the bugs and under the rain around Stormhaven.

In some ways, Karthan ran off with caravans to avoid living under the Great Expectations of his parents. And to get out of that damned library; his mother can be a tiny bit smothering. He's always a little bit nervous about falling short of their ideals.

(I can also adjust Karthan's age to a more appropriate number to make the age of his father and such more amenable).

I'm figuring that Karthan's father is a Two Weapon archetype ranger who fights with an Orc Double Axe. Karthan's Reactive and Highlander traits, plus his ludicrously good senses and Stealth come from his father.

If our fooling around scene up here with Jorzan is considered 'legit', I'd like to introduce Jorzan to mother, with something akin to "I'm not even sure Dad can sneak that well in broad daylight..."

@Ad Astra: There are a couple options for Karthan's mother; she could be studying/working with Van-Galazzan, the current Benefactor of the Protectorate, and main Great Wyrm brass dragon that looks out for Stormfare, with the idea that at some point in the future, Mother is going to take over.

She could also, as you suggest, be part of the general defenses of the city, in which case she would still be friends with Van-Galazzan, but not under as much pressure and have more freedom to travel about.

Lastly, she could be part of the defenses specific to the Hec Salazar Memorial Library ("The Sal") in the heart of campus. This library is possessed of many magical items of extraordinary and massive power, and as such has its own dedicated contingent of guards, including dragons, high-level mages, and Warbanian mercenaries.

And I'm fine with you and Jorzan having met up as PvP'd earlier. 'Twas amusing. :-) I'll still need fluff from Jorzan telling me why exactly he was in Stormfare, but it sounds like you've decided to be a native, which of course is also fine.

I think Mother was working with Van-Galazzan, found the stress of staying home with a toddler while Father did scouting and spying a bit confining. She's had all three of those roles at different parts of Karthan's life.

Probably got put on Library duty when he was young, went back to "Administrative Training" with Van-Galazzan when he could walk on his own, came to find things burning a few times as his Sorcery manifested, and shifted to something that gave her better work/spawn-containment balance.

There's a part of Mother that wants to keep Karthan safe. There's another part of Mother that sees a lot of his father in him, and knows that trying to do so would build resentment.

To her, Karthan doing the caravan-guard run is better than him scouting war zones with his Father, but she still wishes that he were a bit more content to stay at home. :)

Karthan is that bizarre exception: The adventurer who not only has both of his parents living, but gets along with them and likes them.

Got any suggestions for names for his parents? Mother is a fairly important Stormfare NPC. Father probably does scouting for the city.

Got any suggestions for names for his parents? Mother is a fairly important Stormfare NPC. Father probably does scouting for the city.

For mother: Van-Merisel, Van-Pyria, Van-Calathis, Van-Haera

Actually, a nice touch would be to have your father helping the Warbanians who set out to organize a resistance in Hallas, which is overrun by the Black Dragonflight. It's close enough he could easily have got wind of badness going on, and he's stealthy enough to sneak in and take messages back and forth undetected.

AdAstraGames wrote:

Got any suggestions for names for his parents? Mother is a fairly important Stormfare NPC. Father probably does scouting for the city.

For mother: Van-Merisel, Van-Pyria, Van-Calathis, Van-Haera

For father: Grezz, Banvish, Pikk (I'm terrible with Orc names, sorry)

Actually, a nice touch would be to have your father helping the Warbanians who set out to organize a resistance in Hallas, which is overrun by the Black Dragonflight. It's close enough he could easily have got wind of badness going on, and he's stealthy enough to sneak in and take messages back and forth undetected.

Mother: Van-Haera. "Your library books are overdue. I'm hungry. We could solve both problems at once..." :)

Father: Jhermaug Zhosk. Full-Orc Ranger built largely for stealth and combat as needed. He'd be liasing between the Warbies running the resistance movement in Hallas and Stormfare.

Thanks for the extra info Downrightamazed, was a big help in modifying Jorzan's history. Some notable changes:
-The mad wizard's ruined tower was somewhere in the Unexplored Lands, not the Bennalad.
-The Paladins were from Izmir instead, hence why the rescued slave children ended up there
-This line from his History:
"Though always grateful to the Paladins for his rescue, he found their ways too stuffy and strict and soon made his way to the much more rowdy Varna. There his talents and skills served him well and he easily survived in the hidden alleyways and dangerous streets he called his home and his connection with the darkness only continued to increase."
-And this line:
"Eventually the wandering young soul made his way to Stormfare, with idle thoughts of perhaps attending the university there. As well he was very attracted to the idea of a city almost perpetually covered in cloud and shadow and where hooded people are a common sight. For the past year or so Jorzan has spent his time getting to know well his new city and it's inhabitants, especially the seedier ones."

Hope that satisfies the 'Fluff quotient' ;) But if not, lemme know.

I had this idea regarding the K(local) bonus. Would it be possible to divide it thusly? +3 for Izma and Varna, the places his spend the majority of his youth, and they being close enough one could easily get to know both places. And +3 for Stormfare, where he has been actively getting to know the place for the past year or so? I can easily adjust his age higher if any of this makes it necessary.

Re. AdAstraGames' suggestion to use Porcupine modified Stealth etc. rules...read through most of the post and there were many interesting and suscinct opinions on both sides. Without getting into the argument myself, I'll just say here that I will happily leave it up to our DM to decide and am completly fine with whatever that decision is. If I need to adjust anything as a result, just let me know.

Other changes:
-Added Dwarvish and Undercommon to Languages. Dwarvish from his time in Stormfare and Undercommon from his time seeking hidden and shadowy underground treasure hordes. (Note, though CG, Jorzan is not above stealing from those he feels don't derserve it and giving to the more needy, which catagory includes himself)
-Replaced the non-viable Vest of Shield with Slippers of Spider Climbing
-Throwing Axe is Cold Iron
-And still need to add mundane 'stuff I almost never use but still store in backpack'items, but will have to do that tomorrow.
-Ended up going with Resiliency and Fast Stealth as Rogue Talents. Was a hard choice though as there lots of good options to choose from. I'm open to any suggestions and changes on this

*I know you wanted the hardness for certain items DM, but I'm not sure how to do that stuff. Can we not just make it the same as a similar item?
*Since Jorzan is the only trapfinder decided to just go with standard Rogue to get the trapfinding benifits. Still think I'll have his bolts poisoned at least though, but haven't been able to find prices for Poisons in the SRD, anyone have a LINK?
*May seem a silly question, but does a 5th level Rogue have 2 Rogue Talents or 3? Only reason I ask is one Char Gen I was using said he should have three. Is that wrong or am I missing something.

And I think that's it. Sorry for the big post, just trying to get in everything in the time I have. Can't wait to begin!

Sorry I've been slow getting background together, I've been going back and forth with it; but I have it now. He'll be done tonight.

@Jorzan Poison

All I could find at the moment.

Sorry to butt in but here is the poison link :) Poison

I swapped Karthan's STR and INT scores around; after looking at hit probabilities, claw attacks hitting on +5/+5 will miss about as often as claw attacks hitting on +6/+6, while 6 more skill ranks (and bumps to four skills) are more generally useful.

I also shrank him to 6'2 and 240 lbs from 6'4 and 280 since he's a (comparative) wimp at STR 14.

(Plus, this way I won't feel quite so silly having as high a STR as our front line-esque straight fighter.)

IC Thread is up, let's do this!

Happy gaming, everyone! Play nice, and let's tell an awesome story together. :-)

Thanks for the extra info Downrightamazed, was a big help in modifying Jorzan's history. Some notable changes:

-The mad wizard's ruined tower was somewhere in the Unexplored Lands, not the Bennalad.
-The Paladins were from Izmir instead, hence why the rescued slave children ended up there
-This line from his History:

I had this idea regarding the K(local) bonus. Would it be possible to divide it thusly? +3 for Izma and Varna, the places his spend the majority of his youth, and they being close enough one could easily get to know both places. And +3 for Stormfare, where he has been actively getting to know the place for the past year or so? I can easily adjust his age higher if any of this makes it necessary.

Re. AdAstraGames' suggestion to use Porcupine modified Stealth etc. rules...read through most of the post and there were many interesting and suscinct opinions on both sides. Without getting into the argument myself, I'll just say here that I will happily leave it up to our DM to decide and am completly fine with whatever that decision is. If I need to adjust anything as a result, just let me know.

This is all great, Jorzan, thanks for the added fluff, it's excellent!

Your idea of splitting the Knowledge(local) bonus is fine with me, good idea. And don't worry about hardness, that was just for the vest.

I'm yet to read up on the porcupine rules Ad Astra linked to, honestly, been too busy getting everything else together. I'll check it out. In the meantime we'll just use RAW and shoot from the hip. :-)

Might want to remove the "Immune to Magic Missiles" note from your sheet, Jorzan. :)

OK, Sir Justahl is done, except for his horse. What do you think?

============================================================

APPEARANCE
Tall, broad shouldered and extremely handsome. He has 'classical' aasimar features, with golden skin, shocking blue eyes and a magnificent mane of white hair. He is usually wearing his armor, polished to a very high sheen and lit up with a Light spell to enhance his visibility to his allies. He wears a surcoat with the insignia of Iomedae prominently displayed.
When mounted he holds his lance high and flies his knights Pennant its tip, his horse galloping effortlessly and seemingly not even touching the ground.
When out of his armor, he is dressed resplendently in a courtiers outfit.
In dim light he appears to have a faint numbus of light around him.

I'm at work, so I can't read extensively (and will post when I'm back home), but what language is the local one for where you placed Agon? I left a language slot open.

I may also switch out his rank(s) in Ride for Linguistics. In restrospect, Monks on horses aren't a very prominent mental image for me.

I'm at work, so I can't read extensively (and will post when I'm back home), but what language is the local one for where you placed Agon? I left a language slot open.

I may also switch out his rank(s) in Ride for Linguistics. In restrospect, Monks on horses aren't a very prominent mental image for me.

No worries! Thanks for the heads-up. :-) Common is the lingua franca of both Goreme and Stormfare. Coming from Goreme (as long as you're cool with that) means that any of the following are likely languages for you to have picked up: elvish, dwarvish, sylvan, any other language the Fey might use.

@Justal: that's great! Hahahaha, you lothario, you. The background is all fine, just get in some fluff on how you came to be in Stormfare over in the IC thread when you get a chance, you don't need to have it in your profile/character sheet, just the thread.

The adventure seed is kind of depending on your presence in the IC thread, so the sooner the better. :-)

Well then! I adjusted his Skills and Languages (opted for Dwarven and Elvish).

By the way -- Survival is Wisdom-based, not Dex-based, Kelne.

Also, Karthan -- Agon totally wouldn't mind the occasional Mage Armor spell cast on him when we get into tussles. ;)

Might want to remove the "Immune to Magic Missiles" note from your sheet, Jorzan. :)

Missed that. Oops again! Thanks Eagle Eye ; )

By the way -- Survival is Wisdom-based, not Dex-based, Kelne.

Also, Karthan -- Agon totally wouldn't mind the occasional Mage Armor spell cast on him when we get into tussles. ;)

Not a problem. It will probably be on his 'routine spells cast' list, along with Mage Armor and Unseen Servant on himself. (Check my profile under "Routine Behaviors"). Indeed, if you're willing to help go in on a Rod of Extend Spell, it becomes a day-long pretty quickly.

I will also recommend that you pick up (or if it's not too late to alter your equipment, swap out for) an item of Gravity Bow. It about doubles your average damage per shot, at the cost of taking your first round combat action. Mine, if it had unlimited uses per day, would be 3,600 GP. Since shooting the Heavy Crossbow is, for Karthan, a "Oh crap, setting them on fire isn't working..." plan, 3x per day is probably fine.

I would love to find an item that granted the use of the feat Vital Strike; I have no idea what it would cost, though it's probably in the range of "Ring of Evasion" territory.

Where possible, Karthan is going to cast Darkness on himself from the wand. He can see through it. Anyone else with Darkvision would benefit from it, and if you can find a way to see through the dark, it's almost certainly worth it for you to do so to benefit from it.

This effectively gives a 'sniper's nest' to shoot from, may cause people we're shooting at to lose their DEX bonus, forces them to make a 'pinpoint where it came from' Perception check to shoot back, and gives 20% concealment in all but the brightest light conditions. And it doesn't go away when you attack.

Vital Strike is useless to me; I use Flurry of Blows with a bow, after all. I want to not move and do full attacks in combat.

And Agon doesn't have Use Magic Device, nor would he be pretty good with it if he did since he isn't that charismatic. However, in that first round, he can inflict 4d8+48 damage if all attacks hit and he expends a Ki point for an additional attack. Sure, 8d6+48 damage is nicer, but I don't really see him as a 'buff myself with magic wands before I start shooting' person.

An extend spell rod might work! Though by the point we get that, Bracers of Armor+4 may already be within reach. We'll see. :)

Whoops, shows what happens when I'm not paying attention. Will also add in a few items when I'm back at home. The lack of hammer and stakes, for instance, is simply deplorable.

Vital Strike is useless to me; I use Flurry of Blows with a bow, after all. I want to not move and do full attacks in combat.

A widget of Vital Strike is useful for Karthan, because Wands of True Strike, Gravity Bow and Heavy Crossbows make for a horrible rate of fire anyway. If you're only getting a shot off every other round, making sure it A) doesn't miss, and B) does as many dice as possible makes sense. :)

(You are, of course, welcome to put broken arrows into the Quiver of Mending to repair them in between fights. We're both lucky that the designers of this game know bupkiss about bows made without nylon strings working in the rain, needing to keep bows unstrung, and bowstring replacement...).

And Agon doesn't have Use Magic Device, nor would he be pretty good with it if he did since he isn't that charismatic. However, in that first round, he can inflict 4d8+48 damage if all attacks hit and he expends a Ki point for an additional attack. Sure, 8d6+48 damage is nicer, but I don't really see him as a 'buff myself with magic wands before I start shooting' person.

Ah, right. I forgot that the Command Word activated item requires UMD.

An extend spell rod might work! Though by the point we get that, Bracers of Armor+4 may already be within reach. We'll see. :)

Ayep. Though an Extend Spell rod is 11K, and the Bracers of Armor are 16K. The Bracers don't get turned off by a dispel magic.

Two Lesser extend rods (one for each of us) are 3K each, which is a pretty serious bit of win.

The question is, will you really need two of them? 3 per day for a Lesser Rod. If we were to split that up, it'd be 1500gp each. I'm not seeing any spell on your list worth extending that isn't Mage Armor, unless you want to use it to get Shield for 12 rather than 6 rounds, but that sounds like a bit of a waste.

Though we'd have to buy that later, I'm pretty spent and can't really afford to get rid of any of my magic items. I'm sure Karthan wouldn't have much trouble convincing Agon of the merits of buying one -- he certainly won't come up with the idea himself. But seeing as he's very wise, he should realize the wisdom of making such a purchase quickly. Heh.

The question is, will you really need two of them? 3 per day for a Lesser Rod. If we were to split that up, it'd be 1500gp each. I'm not seeing any spell on your list worth extending that isn't Mage Armor, unless you want to use it to get Shield for 12 rather than 6 rounds, but that sounds like a bit of a waste.

Ah, I was misreading Lesser, Standard and Greater. I thought those regulated the number of uses per day, not the maximum level of spell effected.

No, a single Lesser Metamagic Rod is absolutely worth getting for the two of us for Mage Armor.

Acid Arrow (and Flaming Acid Arrow) is the other candidates for Extend Spell, which effectively doubles its damage. (Extended Flaming Acid Arrow is 2d4+5 damage for 6 rounds; this is functionally 60 damage out of one long ranged, no saving throw spell. Against a target with 10 fire resistance, it sucks...)

Teamed up with you, I'm seriously considering picking up Flaming Arrow as a spell. Both of my fire damage bonuses apply to it.

I don't suppose Agon would object to, oh, at 7th level, having access to batches of 50 arrows that did an additional 1d6+4 fire damage apiece?

Though we'd have to buy that later, I'm pretty spent and can't really afford to get rid of any of my magic items. I'm sure Karthan wouldn't have much trouble convincing Agon of the merits of buying one -- he certainly won't come up with the idea himself. But seeing as he's very wise, he should realize the wisdom of making such a purchase quickly. Heh.

Ayep.

EVERYONE!:Forgot to mention, I do the APG hero point rules, and I'm a big fan of PCs trying to pull ridiculous epic stunts. That doesn't mean they will instantly work, it just means I love it when people try, especially if it involves hero point use. :-D

So! You all got two at 1st level, one every level thereafter, and as such you have 7 hero points to blow.

Be careful, though, I'm stingy giving 'em out... :-p

EVERYONE!:Forgot to mention, I do the APG hero point rules, and I'm a big fan of PCs trying to pull ridiculous epic stunts. That doesn't mean they will instantly work, it just means I love it when people try, especially if it involves hero point use. :-D

So! You all got two at 1st level, one every level thereafter, and as such you have 7 hero points to blow.

Be careful, though, I'm stingy giving 'em out... :-p

I should mention that the book states that there's a maximum of 3 hero points unless you've got a specialised feat. Should that still apply, or do we disregard it?

I adjusted Agon's skills again -- Hero Lab doesn't include the Knowledges by default, even the Class Skill ones, so I forgot about it. And looking at the map, the main part of Gorene doesn't have much in the way of lakes or anything, so a particular aptitude for Swim doesn't make any sense anyway.

I also got rid of Fly (how'd he acquire that? Dunno what I was thinking). Instead, I put 1 dot in each Knowledge History and Religion.

This is the last time I'm changing anything. Sorry 'bout that again.

I fervently deny any and all liability for damaged keyboards as a result of my last post in the IC thread.

I fervently deny any and all liability for damaged keyboards as a result of my last post in the IC thread.

What that song rules.

DM Downrightamazed wrote:

EVERYONE!:Forgot to mention, I do the APG hero point rules, and I'm a big fan of PCs trying to pull ridiculous epic stunts. That doesn't mean they will instantly work, it just means I love it when people try, especially if it involves hero point use. :-D

So! You all got two at 1st level, one every level thereafter, and as such you have 7 hero points to blow.

Be careful, though, I'm stingy giving 'em out... :-p

I should mention that the book states that there's a maximum of 3 hero points unless you've got a specialised feat. Should that still apply, or do we disregard it?

DISREGARD! :-D

You've got seven. I award one new one per level. GM GOVERNANCE! *thunderclap*

I adjusted Agon's skills again -- Hero Lab doesn't include the Knowledges by default, even the Class Skill ones, so I forgot about it. And looking at the map, the main part of Gorene doesn't have much in the way of lakes or anything, so a particular aptitude for Swim doesn't make any sense anyway.

I also got rid of Fly (how'd he acquire that? Dunno what I was thinking). Instead, I put 1 dot in each Knowledge History and Religion.

This is the last time I'm changing anything. Sorry 'bout that again.

No worries, man. :-)

AdAstraGames wrote:

I fervently deny any and all liability for damaged keyboards as a result of my last post in the IC thread.

What that song rules.

Yes. But using Ghost Sound to play it on Ukelele's as theme music - in character - might well cause someone to spray soda over their keyboard.

Hence the disclaimer of liability. :)

Karthan has style. It's a style ALL HIS OWN...but he has style. :)

DM Downrightamazed wrote:

AdAstraGames wrote:

I fervently deny any and all liability for damaged keyboards as a result of my last post in the IC thread.

What that song rules.

Yes. But using Ghost Sound to play it on Ukelele's as theme music - in character - might well cause someone to spray soda over their keyboard.

Hence the disclaimer of liability. :)

Karthan has style. It's a style ALL HIS OWN...but he has style. :)

Or, you know, coffee. Spray coffee. That might happen too. To "someone."

hp die rolls for mount, 'cause I think he's gonna need them: 6d8 ⇒ (3, 8, 8, 8, 8, 7) = 42

Cool!

Question: How does one go about getting knowledge skills which are not automatically granted by class? For example, since we don't have a ranger Or Druid (something I hope we don' come to regret as it seems much of this adventure will happen outdoors/in the wild) I have composed Jorzan to make up for that lack as much as I thought appropirate. But what's to stop a Rogue from learning about Nature if he feels like it? I think there should be some rule that lets one spend two (or whatever) Skill points to get 'training' in a specific skill. After that they can add as many ranks as they choose, based on their level of course.

Perhaps this has already been done somewhere though and I'm just not aware of it. Thoughts, comments, ideas anyone?

I'm pretty sure you can just add skill points as normal you just don't get the +3 to non-class skills.

Alright, character and mount complete.

Khaladon, Havoc XIII is correct: You spend the skill rank, and get rank+INT as your modifier, rather than ranks+INT+3.

Karthan has Knowledge (local) and Linguistics bought that way.

And Tanel has K nature! Though he's no master.

There is a vague appeal to move Karthan towards Dragon Disciple after level 10, largely because it would give him Diplomacy as a class skill, and all Knowledge skills as class skills.

But it's only a vague appeal. Being able to start a Sorcerer at level 6 means avoiding the Valley of Suck from level 3 through level 5. It's a question of how much fun I'm getting out of my spells of greater than 3rd level, versus what I'd be gaining on Dragon Disciple.

I'm moderately tempted towards that first level of Ranger myself. Favoured enemy and additional class skills have a definite appeal.

A Zen-Archer is pretty much destined to suck the first few levels, so I avoided that particular pitfall myself. I'm tempted to take a couple Fighter levels at some point.

Zen-Archer 15, Weapon Master 5 would be pretty badass.

I really like this game so far! (Even with coffee-shops and advertisement mages ...)

By the way, downrightamazed -- I'm using Hero Lab to keep track of arrow use as well currently, but I'm wondering if it's really necessary that I do what with Handy Haversacks and Efficient Quivers and all. In theory I could buy like 500 arrows and carry them around with me at all times.

Agon, Flaming Arrows is definitely on Karthan's shortlist of spells for 7th level. It and Haste are running neck and neck for the 3rd level spell to grab at 7th.

Haste helps the melee guys a fair bit (about a 60% increase in their combat capabilities, makes them run faster, more accurate). Flaming Arrows more than doubles your output per shot, and you're actually shooting enough shots that we'd get *through* the ammo between us in one likely combat.

Thanks for the skill info folks. :)

Took a couple ranks from other Knowledge skills to add 1 each of of Knowledge Geography and Nature, to fit in more with my idea of Jorzan as an avid outdoorsman as well. And one from Bluff to give to Spellcraft to indicate his growing interest in the arcane arts (although I would argue that as Shadowdancers get a type of spell casting, Spellcraft should be a class skill anyway)

Next question: May seem a silly question, but does a 5th level Rogue have 2 Rogue Talents or 3? Only reason I ask is one Char Gen I was using said he should have three. Is that wrong or am I missing something.

Oh and bought 300gp worth of Drow poison GM.

Haste should give a Flurry guy another attack, too, right? Eeexcellent.

@Khaladon You can always use the Pathfinder SRD to check pretty much anything:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

According to the rogue entry, it should be two Rogue Talents. The third is gained at level 6.

@Tanel You're Irish? Awesome, always wanted to visit good old Ireland. I'm from Austria, myself.

@Khaladon You can always use the Pathfinder SRD to check pretty much anything:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

According to the rogue entry, it should be two Rogue Talents. The third is gained at level 6.

That's what I thought, just wanted to double check. And ya, SRD is all I Can use

Barring a clever idea in the next 4-7 months (about how long it'd take for us to level), I plan on leveling in Sorc for 7th.

I plan on taking Improved Init as the bloodline feat. Going last sucks when you're the blasty mage.

I get four new spells known.

3rd: Haste or Flaming Arrow, plus Fly (bloodline).
2nd: See Invisible or Darkvision or Glitterdust
1st: Vanish or Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement or Sculpt Corpse

The above are the shortlist of spells I'm considering.

I'm looking at the following shortlist for feats:

Greater Spell Focus [Evocation], Intensify Spell, Extend Spell, Expanded Arcana