Okay, the first one to come up with a good "sempai notice me" joke or comment in game will get something... I haven't decided what yet! XD
Lol! I meant about Sandru. Ayame calls Sandru, Sandru-sempai. Anyone who has seen an anime knows the running joke of "Sempai notice me!" This normally happens when an underclassmen calls in love with a person in a high grade yet still respects them so much to call them Sempai and not really be able to show their affection out of worry it wouldn't be return. So they try to get them to notice them and start the relationship, so that the underclassmen doesn't have to.
I don't think Ayame would be competing with Ameiko for Sandru... Even if she was She wouldn't kill her sister. She loves her too much and she's kinda the only family she has left.
It's never going to be typical with this group! XD
Define typical.
typ·i·cal
/ˈtipik(ə)l/
adjective
A) Having the distinctive qualities of a particular type of person or
thing.
B) Characteristic of a particular person or thing.
C) Showing the characteristics expected of or popularly associated
with a particular person, situation, or thing.
Actually we didn't since discussion is being taking into game play, we met in the streets...
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Let me know what loose ends everyone wants to tie up in town whether more in party meeting and greeting, shopping, or other things. I can proceed to the travel whenever you are ready, but I don't want to rush anything. The conversations have been very entertaining and I don't want to squash any of it by pushing anything too fast. At the same time, don't want you to get bored if I don't push things along. So still looking for the balance.
Just need to finish talking to Ameiko before Ayame can change and head out.
So far communications seem to be fizzling out. Maybe get started on travel, but it's your call.
Is Ameiko not going to speak to Ayame now?
I also threw in to the Ameiko Ayame conversation.
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FYI -
Since I have DC6 and DC9 items, anyone can make the knowledge checks to at least know the basics. (I know for local, Ayame likely just hit higher than anyone else can get.)
Ayame also can use Bardic Knowledge on the Geography roll for stuff higher than DC10.
Still finishing the Nature chart which is more focused on creatures that are known to inhabit the swamp and some natural features. I know both Gozzamer and Ayame can get the over 10 stuff there.
For some reason I was thinking I didn't get bardic knowledge till level 2! XD
With possessed I can treat a single daily knowledge roll as trained but I don't want to waste it.
Just want to check but who else is willing to let Dav talk first? (Too the goblins)
You have a bard in the party! XD
We're always the center of attention... Plus we're talking about an excited 16 year-old, so... Good luck with that! XD
(If you ask her to let you speak first she very likely will.)
Obviously the plants can be reasoned with. The rest should be a rough fight.
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With our first combat, I have a few house rules from Pathfinder Unchained I want to make sure everyone understands. These may all end up impacting the game soon.
With the staggered progression rules, instead of gaining levels all at one time, you will gain parts of them when you reach 25%, 50%, and 75% of the required experience. So on our path to level 2, the following will happen:
25% (500 xp each) - Everyone's Saves will advance as if you had hit level 2. (This will mean +1 to your "high" saves".
50% (1000 xp each) - Everyone will gain 50% of the HP they would get for reaching level 2 (round up). They will also receive 50% of the skill points they would receive for reaching level 2 (round up)
75% (1500 xp each) - Gain any BAB bonuses you'd be entitled to for level 2.
100% (2000 xp each) - Get the remainder of your hit points and skill points. You will also receive all class features and feats you normally get for increasing your level.
We don't have to worry about automatic progression's impact on this at this point, but at higher levels, this is built in as well. (Example: The first automatic progression point will be everyone receiving a +1 resistance bonus to all saves at 75% of the way to level 3 instead of waiting to 100% of level 3.
In order to make getting wounded a bigger deal, I want to apply wound penalties. This will apply to enemies as well. It's a pretty abstract system, but basically makes smaller injuries matter. I already have all the charts for your characters in the background, so I'll include anything that happens with injuries in posts. Note, it can be pretty hard on casters, which is one of the reasons I decided to use it. (I think this will help you more often than hurt you, as injuring big casters can make concentrating and casting harder. This also means you want to keep Ayame and Gozzamer from bleeding all over the place.)
Thresholds and Conditions
This rules variant uses three special conditions that apply automatically when a character reaches the corresponding wound thresholds: grazed, wounded, and critical. These conditions are not cumulative—only the most severe one applies at a given time. The disabled and staggered conditions have the same effects as in the core rules, but apply to a wider range of hit point totals, as described below. Unlike grazed, wounded, and critical, the disabled and staggered conditions stack, so a character who is disabled or staggered is still critical as well.
Healthy
A character above her grazed threshold (3/4 of her maximum hit points) is healthy, applying no special modifiers. The character doesn't gain a condition in this state.
Grazed
A character above her wounded threshold (1/2 of her maximum hit points) but at or below 3/4 of her maximum hit points is grazed. She takes a –1 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as to AC and caster level.
Wounded
A character above her critical threshold (1/4 of her maximum hit points) but at or below 1/2 of her maximum hit points is wounded. She takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as to AC and caster level.
Critical
A character at or below 1/4 of her maximum hit points is in critical condition. She takes a –3 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as to AC and caster level.
Disabled
A character with a Constitution score of 12 or higher who is at or below 0 hit points is disabled until she falls below a number of hit points equal to the negative of her Constitution modifier. For example, a character with a Constitution score of 18 would be disabled from 0 to –4 hit points and unconscious at –5 hit points. A character with a Constitution score of 11 or lower is disabled only while she has exactly 0 hit points.
Staggered
Instead of being staggered only when their amount of nonlethal damage equals their remaining hit points, characters using this system continue to be staggered from that point until their nonlethal damage exceeds their current hit points by an amount greater than their Constitution bonus, at which point they fall unconscious. A character with a Constitution score of 11 or lower is staggered only when her nonlethal damage exactly equals her current hit point total.
Caster Level Penalties
The penalty to caster level from the grazed, wounded, or critical condition can make it so an injured spellcaster is unable to cast the highest levels of spells she would normally be able to. However, it doesn't cause her to lose any prepared spells or spell slots. The penalty to caster level also reduces her bonus on concentration checks and lowers the range, duration, and effectiveness of her spells. The penalty can't make her effective caster level lower than 1.
Since we are in a swamp full of disease ridden insects and poisonous animals and plants (not to mention poison using goblins) this is an excellent chance to make Poisons and Diseases more important and flavorful.
The basic Pathfinder rules for diseases and poisons don't necessarily mimic the progression of these afflictions in a believable way; a character with a few lesser restoration spells can simply ignore most diseases, and diseases and poisons that don't affect your Constitution score can never kill you. What's more, because these afflictions tend to affect ability scores, their effects can be unrealistically powerful—a poison that damages Intelligence can take down any creature of animal intelligence, regardless of CR. The following optional system presents progression tracks for diseases and poisons that cause the victim's situation to become increasingly worse.
Progression And End States
When a victim fails his initial save and is afflicted with a disease or poison, he immediately gains the effects of the first step down that affliction's progression track. For diseases, this is latent/carrier; for poisons, it's usually weakened. This replaces the affliction's normal effects (such as ability damage and ability drain), though many afflictions still produce additional symptoms. At the GM's discretion, truly deadly diseases and poisons might cause the victim to start further along the progression track than normal. All effects from disease and poison tracks are cumulative.
Most afflictions also have an end state—a point at which the disease or poison has progressed as far as it can. Once an affliction has reached its end state, the victim keeps all current effects (but doesn't suffer further effects) and can no longer attempt saving throws to recover from the affliction. By default, each disease and poison track has an end state of dead, but some afflictions have less severe end states, and others might progress only to a certain intermediate state at worst, allowing victims to continue attempting saves.
In general, whenever a victim fails a saving throw against her affliction, she moves one step further down the progression track, gaining the effects of the next state and keeping all previous effects, until she reaches the end state. If she's afflicted with a disease, she moves one step back toward healthy whenever she fulfills the conditions in the disease's Cure entry (usually by succeeding at one or more saves). Once she reaches healthy, she is cured. Poisons work differently—fulfilling the cure condition removes a poison from the victim's system, but she remains at the same step on the track and recovers gradually. (Treat a poison that has exhausted its duration in the same way.) For every day of bed rest (or 2 nights of normal rest), a victim recovers one step; this recovery is doubled as normal by Heal checks, and tenacious poisons might require a longer recovery period.
Usually, neutralize poison or remove disease immediately moves the victim to a healthy state on the respective track, and a heal spell will work for both. However, once the disease or poison has reached its end state, only a more powerful spell such as miracle or wish can remove its effects.
Some diseases and poisons cause the same effects as a condition (such as sickened) or render characters paralyzed. Effects that modify or remove those conditions (such as immunities) do not apply; only effects and immunities that help against diseases or poisons apply, as appropriate.
The track is here for different types of poisons and diseases for anyone interested in look further.
Wow! I like the added options given, particularly the option for more personalized information if you excel at a knowledge check!
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I LOVE knowledge checks (in case you haven't noticed).
I try to blend giving more commonplace information at the first couple tiers with getting into specifics you can tailor at high.
FYI, this SHOULD be on the easier end of encounters. However, it gives a chance to see some of the swamp mechanics in play since there are so many things going on between poor terrain and the fog, and it will give me (and you) a little bit of an idea of how the party handles combat.
Hope you don't mine how I placed the party. I figured the ninja was up front scouting, with two of the "front liners" leading the main party, the Sheylinites talking fashion behind it, and Gozzamer off picking daisies (or mushrooms, or bugs) bringing up the rear and off the trail.
I apologize for a delay, but I will post once I get home
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I'm continuing to do a lot of homework on this campaign. I think the short term stuff (which is months) is all set up, and I hope you all have a great time exploring the swamps.
Caravans
I'm doing a lot of reading on the pros and cons of caravans, along with how others have modified caravan play in their games to overcome some of the issues with that system. I'll likely make some modifications to the caravan system, because there are some pretty big gaps in it right now. Building, maintaining, and running caravans is a major part of this campaign, and I want to make sure it's a tool that will create stories (and not automatically lose battles for you, which the base system does.)
I'll try to keep everyone in the loop when I figure out how to handle this part of the AP since it is such a big part, but I have a lot more reading to do. All I'm sure of right now is that the mechanics are broken (I can do the math and figure that out) and the story opportunities can be improved. A lot of proposed fixes are out there, so I'm weighing them against each other.
Leadership, Cohorts, and Relationships
A feat I always consider a lot in campaign modes is Leadership. Even though it won't matter until book 2 to 3, I want to propose this now in case it impacts how you will want to build and advance your character. I do want to allow the leadership feat. I know this is a really strong feat, that can really change the balance of the game. However, I think it really fits he relationship focus of this AP. I'm going to make a compromise.
1) I am not going to allow leadership to be taken as a feat. This is both a positive and a negative for you. You don't have to burn feats to get help, but you also won't get to make your own custom cohorts. (I'd rather use the NPC's provided and concentrate on their relationships with the PC's instead of creating even more.)
2) NPC may or may not accompany you on certain parts of the adventure based on their personal motivations, their relationship ranks with the PC's, and the story. So effectively, you will get "free" cohorts at times by making sure you have good relationships with various NPC's. Each NPC has built in conditions on what they will and won't do. Legendary games wrote up all 4 main NPC's in addition to 3 additional NPC's you will encounter through book 1 and 2. I've followed their model to do 3 additional NPC tracks over those two books (and I'm looking for more that may make sense.)
3) This also means you won't have to wait until level 7 to get help for certain things.
4) I had another post on staggered leveling. One addition I'm going to make to that is splitting the level up relationship points. Those points will come at 25% and 75% of level instead of the two points coming at 100% of level. Background skills will also come at 25% and 75%. The main goal is to make the advancement of characters much smoother. (This means at your first 25% advancement, you will be entitled to saving throw advances as if you hit level 2, you will get 50% of the background skills you would receive for level 2, and you will get 1 comaraderie point to apply towards 1 relationship.)
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I have my next post about your current situation ready. I'm holding off a bit more, to make sure everyone has at least 24 hours to add to the conversation and influence solutions. I have my kids tonight, and am taking them to Pizza, but I'll likely put up the post from there around 6 hours from now.
I dunno. I hear he has a lot of baggage he is just quiet about it XD
You do have part of an entire fiend lingering in Dav's mind to play with. XD I was half tempted to take the Damned story Feat even though I never planned to go through with it. But decided against it because I didn't want to give you too much...
Give the gnome something shiny and new and he'll be fine. I hope I was not coming off as argumentative.
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Just an FYI - I'll be at Disney from Tuesday to Sunday. I'll try to at least post 1/day, but won't be watching boards as close as I usually do. I have maps and such already made for the next 3 likely encounters, and have the outlines of major posts ready to go. (Not sure which ones you might do or avoid, so have several ready.)
In the current situation, not sure if everyone is busy out of game, or stuck as to what to do in game.
You have a river/waterway directly in front of you flowing from right to left. It extends beyond the 30 feet you can see through the fog in front of you (so it's wider than 30 feet), and extends both left and right beyond 30 feet. Here are the main options I can see:
1) Swim with the croco...I mean swim the river. (Or possibly climb in and find that you can walk across it if it is less than 6' deep. It's murky and deep enough you don't see bottom. Somewhere beyond your vision in this direction, something is lit up.
2) Follow the water upstream (to the right). You may have originally come from that direction, but you have gotten turned around and aren't sure where the trail is.
3) Follow the water downstream (to the left). This is the direction you heard the goblin voices and the walking on wood. It's been suggested that could indicate a bridge in that direction, but you are sure there are goblins who were chanting and marching.
4) Double back and try to pick up the trail. You aren't quite sure how far back you got lost, or if the trail still actually goes this far, but you are sure that you are no longer on a trail.
5) Wait here and see what happens.
6) Surprise me.
My apologies all, I have had an unexpected house guest for the last while and had no time to post. Getting posts up now. Thank you for your patience.
-Rob
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I haven't been pointing it out, but I have been updating the Brinestump Marsh power point deck as we go.
Newest stuff is always at the top. In addition to maps, I throw in appropriate pictures, whether specific to NPC's, or just thematically appropriate stuff to set the mood for the current encounter or setting.
As you travel through the swamp, I've put some broken up maps with pointers. I'm not using the full swamp map at once, due to the fact that you guys are pretty much lost, with no way to tell what direction is what from within the swamp.
I bring this up because Gozzamer probably doesn't need to swim. The encounter with Scribbleface was where the "bridge" meets the shore.
Some key things I'll point out from the knowledge checks:
1) Old Fish Road is on the East side of the swamp. It fell out of use due to goblin activity. This is the way you entered the swamp.
2) New Fish Road is where fisherman go now. It's at the north end of the swamp, and is the area that the Warden patrols.
Free info from me:
3) The two roads don't connect together, and you have miles of swamp and crossing water to get from one to another.
4) Not all features of the swamp are on the trails. (More free info...there are more than 2 trails.) Many key features of the swamp are on the trails though.
5) My version of the map has 27 locations of interest noted on it. You have found 3 already. (Only 2 of those locations are actually vital to the plot, the rest are optional things.)
I may or may not have just pulled a me at a party. OH I'm here to visit you...screw you, I see you have a pet. I'm ma chill over here with it all party.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Sorry about out the delays to the game. First, power was out in Memphis for two days. Then, I don't know how many posts Paizo ate this week, where I typed up lengthy posts and Paizo was back down when I submitted. It was frustrating, but I hope that things get smoother, and the game can pick back up better.
Dav...please please don't chew out other players OOCly. I get what you are trying to do as a character. It's a wonderful idea, but in Pathfinder it is the most aggravatingly difficult type of character to pull off.
A redeemer must always get the drop on the enemy, because the enemy will attack first and foremost regardless of what action Ayame would have pulled. Which would've caused Sarhashil to attack the one that attacked her which would likely ruin your chance your negotiations...unless they are cowed by the sheer neck breaking kick.
The point I'm trying to make is, and this will be frustrating...90% of the time, you aren't gonna be able to do what you are wanting in your character style unless you get that Initiative bonus up big time. Because bad guys will give good guys a reason to kill em.
When we all made these characters, we made them to have fun. We didn't sit down at a table and have a discussion on what kind of merry band we will be so there are bound to be behavioral conflicts on how to deal with issues.
I have an honor system to protect a certain character...honestly anyone he considers weak in the party. They get attacked, he's gonna put his foot down and stop em. I'm not gonna change how I play the character, it's cultural, it's familial, it's ingrained.
Please take deep breathes and do your best to play your character despite the issues you run across. ^_^
~gently pokes the group~
Gozzamer would like to harvest the ears, but is certain the paladin would be against it. So if he can do that outside the paladin's perception, he will.