Thirst - A Ravenloft PbP

Game Master Celestial Healer

So what is happening with Belanos and Tiff? It’s probably easy enough (and makes more sense) to retcon to say that for whatever reason they never came with us to the prison, rather than suppose they have been tagging along without contributing. But where to from here?

Neil has bowed out of the game, but last we knew Moorluck was going to try to rejoin once his computer issues were sorted. CH, have you heard from him in this regard? I know he’s posted to FAWTL occasionally from his gaming console, but he mentioned it was too tedious to do pbp from that platform.

No problem with Erfan taking the cloak and Anagalia the scalpel from this quarter. Unless there are further suggestions that’s probably locked in, I’ll update equipment on my character sheet.

As far as you are concerned, Tiff and Belanos are missing. It would have been good to roleplay that, but the appropriate time has passed. They vanished during the night and you could not find any clue as to where they might be or what might have happened to them.

(That's the tough part about a PbP. It's tough to handle characters who just sort of disappear. I probably could have handled that better, but it's my first time running a PbP.)

Suggested division of Scrolls
Remove Disease (x2) 1 each for Eliva and Res
Cure Moderate Wounds - Eliva
Remove Blindness/Deafness - Res
Delay Poison - Res
Hold Portal - Erfan
See Invisibility - Eliva
Remove Fear - Eliva (Res already has one from earlier)

If this is ok with everyone else, I'll add the above items to my gear. As far as the division of the remaining stuff, potions, etc. I agree with it all.

As far as you are concerned, Tiff and Belanos are missing. It would have been good to roleplay that, but the appropriate time has passed. They vanished during the night and you could not find any clue as to where they might be or what might have happened to them.

(That's the tough part about a PbP. It's tough to handle characters who just sort of disappear. I probably could have handled that better, but it's my first time running a PbP.)

No worries CH. As it was, the timing didn’t really fit in with the game that well – I think we were already in the prison by the time it became clear that they’d stepped aside. I’ve been running pbps for a while, and I’ve tried all sorts of ways to deal with players who drop out for one reason or another, I’m not sure there’s really a perfect solution.

Unless the drop-out timing is perfect, you can't really do much about it. Like Mothman, I keep trying to find solutions - some very elaborate. You're doing just fine CH - this is a really enjoyable game.

Urdrin HP roll

1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

As a reminder - at level up, you can either roll in this thread for HP or take the average roll rounded up (d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7).

Res HP roll: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Fingers crossed

Edit: Huzzah! Thank you reversion to the mean (my last roll was a 3).

Hit point roll: 1d10 ⇒ 9

Edit: nice!

Edit 2: Nathaniel is levelled.

Res is now level 3.

I'll take the average roll (4) for this level. Level up completed.

Can I beg some suggestions for Angalia? I like the way she plays, but would love to know where you all think I should be putting the latest set of skill points and so on.

Also guys do you think Urdrin is playing way to LG or is he doing a good balance? He is LG, and I am trying to play him as such, so I was wondering if I'm doing a good balance.

Seems fine to me

Sorry that was a bit brief Jeremy, I was trying out posting from my new phone.

I think you're doing a good job with Urdrin. Any particular concerns that you have?

Can I beg some suggestions for Angalia? I like the way she plays, but would love to know where you all think I should be putting the latest set of skill points and so on.

You'll probably want to keep maxing out skills such as disable device, perception, stealth - the skills that let you really excel in the typical thief / rogue party roll. I'd consider putting a few ranks into acrobatics and climb as well.

You get a new feat at level 3. You'll want to think about what you want to do with it. Improved Initiative can be a good choice, gives you a good chance of acting before your enemies and getting a sneak attack in first round of combat when they are flat footed. Combat expertise might not be a bad one for melee combat, point blank shot or deadly aim if you want to focus more on ranged combat. If you'd rather pick up another non combat feat, another skill focus or a feat like Stealthy might do the trick.

Also guys do you think Urdrin is playing way to LG or is he doing a good balance? He is LG, and I am trying to play him as such, so I was wondering if I'm doing a good balance.

I think you are playing it very well. There will probably be some conflict between Res and Urdrin sometime in the future, but that is strictly from a roleplaying stand point. It will be interesting to see how a lawful good character keeps from getting corrupted in Ravenloft.

Sorry that was a bit brief Jeremy, I was trying out posting from my new phone.

I think you're doing a good job with Urdrin. Any particular concerns that you have?

Specifically he refused to take an attack of opportunity on the surgeon when she was unarmed. That had to do with honor more than anything. And when Res used bluff he only went along with it because he knew everyone was hurt and not in good enough shape for another fight, but it still bothered him. But i was wondering should the going along with the bluff be unlawful. Even if it was still the good thing to do.

Rev Rosey wrote:

Can I beg some suggestions for Angalia? I like the way she plays, but would love to know where you all think I should be putting the latest set of skill points and so on.

You'll probably want to keep maxing out skills such as disable device, perception, stealth - the skills that let you really excel in the typical thief / rogue party roll. I'd consider putting a few ranks into acrobatics and climb as well.

You get a new feat at level 3. You'll want to think about what you want to do with it. Improved Initiative can be a good choice, gives you a good chance of acting before your enemies and getting a sneak attack in first round of combat when they are flat footed. Combat expertise might not be a bad one for melee combat, point blank shot or deadly aim if you want to focus more on ranged combat. If you'd rather pick up another non combat feat, another skill focus or a feat like Stealthy might do the trick.

Combat Expertise is also the prerequisite for Improved Feint. If you want to pull off the stuff the Surgeon was doing, that might be an option.

Mothman wrote:

Sorry that was a bit brief Jeremy, I was trying out posting from my new phone.

I think you're doing a good job with Urdrin. Any particular concerns that you have?

Specifically he refused to take an attack of opportunity on the surgeon when she was unarmed. That had to do with honor more than anything. And when Res used bluff he only went along with it because he knew everyone was hurt and not in good enough shape for another fight, but it still bothered him. But i was wondering should the going along with the bluff be unlawful. Even if it was still the good thing to do.

I don't think Bluff is necessarily unlawful. It may not be his personal style, but I think he could see its effectiveness in others - especially if it avoids bloodshed.

Jeremy Mcgillan wrote:

Mothman wrote:

Sorry that was a bit brief Jeremy, I was trying out posting from my new phone.

I think you're doing a good job with Urdrin. Any particular concerns that you have?

Specifically he refused to take an attack of opportunity on the surgeon when she was unarmed. That had to do with honor more than anything. And when Res used bluff he only went along with it because he knew everyone was hurt and not in good enough shape for another fight, but it still bothered him. But i was wondering should the going along with the bluff be unlawful. Even if it was still the good thing to do.

I don't think Bluff is necessarily unlawful. It may not be his personal style, but I think he could see its effectiveness in others - especially if it avoids bloodshed.

Yeah I'm trying to play up his honor as best as possible for the lawful thing. I'll try and not to be the LG dick though :P

I promise I'll try and sort her out today. Sorry to be so slow.

I promise I'll try and sort her out today. Sorry to be so slow.

No particular rush.

Rev - Ouch about the finger. I hope you are ok. Take care.

Yes, hope that your hand is not too painful and heals up soon Rev.

Seems like things heated up while I was away. I was hoping there would be room for Tif to return now that her mad creator has regained access to the boards.

Let me know how everyone feels about it, and what I need to do to get her back in the game. :)

Seems like things heated up while I was away. I was hoping there would be room for Tif to return now that her mad creator has regained access to the boards.

Let me know how everyone feels about it, and what I need to do to get her back in the game. :)

Yes, bring Tiff back. Maybe we will come across her again as we make our way south. Welcome back.

Come back :)

Angalia thought she'd been escorting Belanos somewhere via the Vistani underground.

I'm going to message you offline, Moorluck, to fill you in on where Tiffana's been, etc.

Tif will be adding another level of Sor, so 1d6 ⇒ 3 for Hp

1d8 ⇒ 7 hp

Finally updated Angalia.

Can someone check me? I'd be most grateful.

I was wondering if Urdrin could fashion a makeshift headstone with his affinity for rock and metal?

Angalia would help with that. She's an engineer by trade.

1d8 hp

Finally updated Angalia.

Can someone check me? I'd be most grateful.

Looks ok to me.

Have you remembered your favored class bonus? +1 bonus either to skill points or hit points per level?

I did. Put it towards skills as I rolled high for hp.

I was wondering if Urdrin could fashion a makeshift headstone with his affinity for rock and metal?

I'm sure he could fashion something suitable.

CH, I apologize in advance for hijacking your discussion thread, for a moment, but I have started a new PBP and thought some here may be interested.

Souls for a Devil

Missed this earlier. It sounds like a wonderful campaign, but I am ridiculously over-committed already and will pass for now. I will watch and read with interest though.

Missed this earlier. It sounds like a wonderful campaign, but I am ridiculously over-committed already and will pass for now. I will watch and read with interest though.

Thank you - if you change your mind, just let me know and I am sure I can work you in. Also, any comments or suggestions are most welcome. I think this group will push my novice gm skills to whole new level.

Feel free to pick my brains any time you like.

One of the things I am working on for this campaign is a character creation guide for new characters. I'd like to have something I can point to the next time we bring somebody in.

We left your home world fairly generic, but I think it would be useful to make it a little more specific. Would there be any objections to referring to the home world as Golarion? I know some of you know more about it than others - as long as you are in Ravenloft, it doesn't really matter; nothing changes. I just think it would be helpful for new characters.

Could Breden be in Varisia? That seems like it would be compatible with your backstories. Let me know if you have any thoughts there. Once we work some of this out, I will write up that guide for future PCs.

I think several of us stated or implied in our character back stories that we were from places in Golarion, and those of us that have religious characters worship Golarion deities, so I think that would be fine.

I’d sort of had it in the back of my head that Nathaniel was from northern Andoran, but Varisia works as well.

Whatever works for Nathaniel will work for Angalia as they're from the same area.

I thought of Andoran, and it could work if people prefer. The initial scenario suggests someplace decentralized (no oversight for Gilbraith, the locals had to hire heroes to deal with him), which reminded me of Varisia, but many places could work.

I'm looking for something of a consensus, so keep the thoughts coming.

At first, Andoran seemed too settled to me to allow a tyrant like Gilbraith to survive. However, after looking at some information on Darkmoon Vale, I think there are pockets in Northern Andoran where a man like Gilbraith could stay under the radar for a long while. Varisia is a good second choice. Res has been wandering around since he left Lastwall so he can turn up anywhere.

I think Northern Andoran is a good choice as the location of the village of Breden.

Eliva is a wanderer, so either works well for her.

Tif's pretty much the same. Anywhere is fine with me, but just so you know I know virtually squat about Golarion.

Tif's pretty much the same. Anywhere is fine with me, but just so you know I know virtually squat about Golarion.

Knowledge of the setting is completely unnecessary. It just helps anyone new who joins the group come up with their characters.

To give a little more info at what I'm getting at here, it occurs to me that if we bring in any more characters/players, having them come from the Breden surroundings strains credibility. It worked for Urdrin and Belanos, but you can only get away with those coincidences so many times. I am planning on coming up with a short list of possible scenarios for future characters that rely less on wild coincidence. One of the ones on the list is for the character to be a Golarion native who has been in Ravenloft for a long time, and is probably not from the same place you are. Such a character might find themselves thrilled to join up with your mission, with the possibility of a long sought-after escape.

Laying out that option and a couple others may be useful the next time we need a new character due to PC death or the loss of a player.

Since we'd decided that Nathaniel and Erfan were known to each other (if not necessarily "friends") before coming to Ravenloft, Golarion is good for me as well. Erfan's story is generic enough that it really could be anywhere, though.