To Worlds Unrambled

Game Master Scribbling Rambler

Forgot favoured class so Bardos has 10hp!

I've started the gameplay thread here.

You're in the nation of Brevoy, a land of many noble rivalries.

I'll probably use a fair bit of out-of-character blue text in the game thread at first, until we all get the hang of things. Hope I don't seem to be leading you by the nose.

Reminder: if you want to roll dice, the format is (dice=Sense Motive)1d20+3(/dice) or (dice=shoot my crossbow)1d20+2;1d8(/dice), except you replace the parentheses with square brackets.

Is the marching order on the map on the Drive okay? The crossbowman would be at F14, the mule would fit in depending on who is leading it.

Sorry for my long absence. I am setting up my alias now.

Gents, I hope you're all enjoying things so far.

I was wondering how we should handle Attacks of Opportunity.
Option 1 (fastest): I roll them whenever applicable.
Option 2 (fast, but some prep needed): Everybody gives me a few pre-rolled attacks, and I use them as appropriate.
Option 3 (slow): We wait for you to roll.

Also, when we get into further role-playing/questioning, it's probably better to ask a whole raft of questions, even if it looks a bit unnatural. That way we cut down a bit on the back-and-forth. Also, don't forget knowledge and social skill checks.

Hopefully, we'll be on to the next round tomorrow ;)

I'm all for the "fastest" option.

I also meant to say that I'm okay with people making minor tweaks to their characters (ex swap out a feat) up until we start the 2nd fight. I know some of you made them in a hurry.

I am also in favour of the fastest option. I am going to swap out my precise shot for rapid reload. I was thinking I would do that between fights so as not to cause confusion.

Also, I have a reaction power that lets me drop prone or move 5 feet to get a better AC if someone shoots at me. I'd like to put that automatically on, and unless I say otherwise, it's drop prone for +4 AC.

Is that cool?

I'm fine with you rolling for my AoOs. I won't complain if other players want to handle their characters themselves in that situation, though.

I am fine with faster.

I like option 1 better, but the only problem is handling abilities / feats that modify attack rolls. Mainly I'm thinking combat maneuvers. Option 2 doesn't solve anything in this case, and option 3 is really slow. Perhaps, in the case of my character, is it a possibility for you to consider whether the use of a combat maneuver would be appropriate at the time, and act on that?

I'm just trying to look for a way to stick to option 1, but not have everything default to attacks. If there isn't a middle ground, option 1 is still fine, as option 3 would probably bog the game down too much for the minor advantage gained from it.

Okay, sounds like I'll roll the Opportunity Attacks, but I'll look into the feats Thorthal has (I could always text Jeff to double-check his attacks).

We haven't really talked about posting frequency, but I figure I'll give 24 hours after your turn comes up when we're in combat, then move things along. If you know you're not going to be available in that window, you can pre-plan your action, or I don't mind waiting if I know it's just a bit longer.

For a minor tweak, I'm going to drop the Deft Dodger feat (+1 Reflex save) and the Suspicious trait instead which gives me a +1 to Sense Motive. In addition, I would also like to train in Sense Motive instead of Knowledge(nature).

I think these changes are more in line with how I'm playing Haer Kul, and consistent with his class. If that's okay, I'll email you the updated character sheet.

I still need to make the change I mentioned earlier, but I do want to do that.

Okay, I actually switched to a repeating crossbow, and dropped precise shot in favour of rapid shot.

I'm having computer issues, so may be a bit slower in responding for a bit.

For a minor tweak, I'm going to drop the Deft Dodger feat (+1 Reflex save) and the Suspicious trait instead ...

Just noticed - that should say "and add the Suspicious trait instead.

Neil, did we lose some posts on the Gameplay thread, or did you do some editing? The post on the singer on the walkway isn't there now.

Neil, did we lose some posts on the Gameplay thread, or did you do some editing? The post on the singer on the walkway isn't there now.

I still see it, but it was behind a spoiler.

Poor Zathras wrote:

Neil, did we lose some posts on the Gameplay thread, or did you do some editing? The post on the singer on the walkway isn't there now.

I still see it, but it was behind a spoiler.

My bad. Doing too many things at once.

I'm curious why the people of Golarion think orphanages by default belong a ways outside of a small town. And suddenly recognize the irony in that statement.

Deleted post again so Neil could post, wasn't paying attention to thread post count. It was an attempt at diplomacy with a result of 4.

On another note, I quite frequently have the forums take awhile to load, or time out. Is anyone else having that problem?

There was a lot of activity on the site today, due to their Twitch TV streaming.

Just a reminder that identifying a magic item generally requires a spell like detect magic and then a Spellcraft check by the person who cast the spell. There are a few special cases, like Haer Kul and potions.
I believe the only character in your party who can currently identify something like a magic sword is Morgrom. Petronicus and Haer Kul do not have an appropriate spell (as far as I know) and Bardos has no Spellcraft.

Ah oops sorry I forgot about the discussion thread. I will post some ideas there. And I remember thinking "Should I really take this as an opposed school? Ah it's fine there's always several characters who can identify in every party."

Detect Magic does not appear to be on the Alchemist's formulae list. Otherwise I would have taken it. Haer Kul can always do Craft(alchemy) checks to identify potions, but that's it.

I think by default, for treasure, we should take anything that indicates as magic, anything that seems higher than average quality, as well as valuables. Since neither Haer Kul nor Petronicus can detect magic or carry much, I guess we just hand stuff to the pack mule for later identification.

At least once a day, (before we sleep at the latest) I think we should assume that we would do a detect magic on the "pile o' stuff" we collected.

By the way, in the discussion list, do we use "[ooc]" markup to indicate in-character speech?

I agree with Roy. I imagine if we find normal heavy armour, or an expensive weapon like a composite bow, we will want that, too, but we can judge those case by case.

Prahd can carry a fair amount, but I think at least one of his grit powers only works if he is light encumbrance.

Maybe we should lock all our bulky loot in the sheriff's cupboard every time we pass by.

What's are current money and gems total value?

So far the group has found:
57 cp
210 sp
37 gp
an average quality lock
a masterwork longsword (Prahd)
a magic wand (tuning fork)(Petronicus)
5 uncut agates
a darkwood bracelet
a magic shortsword
a bejeweled gold holy symbol of Erastil (Bardos)

This does not include any coins that the individual heroes already had, nor does it include Vorthad's stuff. And I hope people subtracted any coins spent on turnips and beer.

Also note that Morgrom could try to identify the tuning fork again today, as he has not tried since before the skeleton fight.

I think Morgrom has the longsword. If Prahd really does have it, I will make an executive decision to give it to Vorthad.

I totally support identifying the tuning fork!

You're correct. Looking back, I see Morgrom took the sword after Prahd offered it up.

Do you want to add a spreadsheet to the drive and give me editing access, and I will track treasure?

Party Shopping list:

Wand of identify
Handy Haversack

Party Shopping list:

Wand of identify
Handy Haversack

Everfull potion of clw.

Wand of clw would suffice for now.

The ShadowShackleton wrote:

Party Shopping list:

Wand of identify
Handy Haversack

Everfull potion of clw.

Immolation or Phoenix Cloak

what?

I think Morgrom would probably put a bid in for replacement dice.

Just a note that I am traveling on business for the next 4 days. Should still be able to post but Neil can take my turn whenever I delay by more than a few hours.

From a message board discussion: can an alchemist add a formula from a divine scroll?

Now the twist, it looks like DB hit on somethign. It says Alchemists learn spells just like Wizards and wizards can not learn from Formula books. Therefore, Alchemists can not learn spells from formula books. I do not agree with that but, the logic seems to fit the wording and I can not find wording that says otherwise.

Well, that would be inconvenient.... :-)

For the record, though, it looks to me like the process for copying from a formula book is:

1. Understand the formula (1 hour + spellcraft check)
2. Copy the formula (1 hour / level + cost of inks)

Or is #1 unnecessary when copying from a formula book? (It makes sense to me that you still need to understand the formula when copying from a wizard's spellbook.)

You're correct. 1 hour to understand, 1 hour/level to write.

Hey all. Things have really bogged down lately in both games that I'm running on here.
From my end, things at work have been more intrusive for the last few weeks. So I apologize for letting things lapse a couple of times, and for not letting you know what was going on earlier.

On the other hand, there are a few things that I think that players can do to help jumpstart things a bit:

• Please try to let me know if you're going to be unavailable for a few days. That way I will step in a bit earlier on your behalf, rather than waiting when you cannot post.
  
• Try to give me actions ahead of time if you're on and it's not your turn yet, preferably behind spoilers. They can always be altered if they no longer make sense.
  
• During investigation/interrogation, don't be afraid to pile on with social skill checks (diplomacy, intimidate, sense motive). Even if I give a bonus to the big scary half-orc, the dice gods may decide that the prisoners just aren't afraid enough of him to spill their guts, especially at 1st level. As well, a specific question is more likely to get an answer than "tell us everything", unless the target is extremely co-operative.
  
• Post. Even if it's just "the halfling thinks the dwarf smells funny" or "the medium stares into space".

We're actually getting close to your characters leveling up in both games, so let's see what comes next.

There is a new loot sheet up on the drive. I took off all of the used items, but I haven't assigned any of the new stuff to who is carrying it.

Note: I don't differentiate between arcane/divine scrolls. If it's on your spell list, you can use it. After you've deciphered it, of course.

Zathras is very sad today. Goodbye, Mr. Garibaldi.

Grapple rules, confused a little after looking them up again. Linking relevant information first.

I remember going with a light shield over a heavy shield to facilitate grappling, but now I'm not sure if it really helps. You never actually lose the shield bonus while holding another item in the hand, but can't hold a weapon. Grappling would seem pretty involved and probably equivalent to a weapon. Comparing it to a buckler, which would allow grappling (at a -1) or any other weapon use, but can't shield bash, they seem rather equivalent in trade offs. So I think I screwed up there.

In this case, Thorthal probably would have unstrapped and dropped the shield instead of gaining Improved Grapple. The grapple check would have been 15 (17 without grapple penalty), which is probably sufficient to grapple the creature?

Let's say you can grapple with your light shield at -2, rather than -4, which would be offset by Improved Grapple.

So assuming Thorthal left the shield on, the claw misses.

EDIT: Ah! I read this thread first. Claw hits.

Zathrus has brought the Planet Loot spreadsheet in Neil's shared Drive folder up to date. It took time, but Zathrus doesn't mind.

There are few items remaining to be identified:

• number of charges in the wand of lesser restoration
  
• daggers from temple and from here
  
• throwing axe from here
  

Let Zathrus know if you have trouble viewing the spreadsheet or if Zathrus has missed anything. Zathrus is usually the last to know.

Morgrom is able to determine that the wand contains 11 uses of lesser restoration.

There is also a scroll that you just found.

Updated. Thanks.

10.... 9.... 8....