Tora no Senaka - The Back of the Tiger (Inactive)

Game Master Dreaming Warforged

I would wait till we decide what we're liquidating rather than having to recalculate again and again.

I thought the average wage of an untrained labourer was 1 silver per day? Surely, Izumi gave them 2 weeks wages (depending on working days), but nothing SUPER extravagent.

When all the little kids in the entire town mob you in the morning, Sorin will not be there to save you.

You are probably right though. If 1sp is the cost of a poor food for an entire day, than that may be about right.

The arrows are not magical.

Non-magical?!!! Sounds good.
Also, Sorin, the Profession skill gives you a good idea of what you can make in a week. You make SP equal to your check for a week's worth of work. So an average human can take 10 and make 10 sp in a week untrained, or 1 GP, though since you can't make Profession checks untrained, if you're trained you're looking at about 14 for your check, so 1.5GP a week, taking 10. It has a specific entry that says untrained workers make 1sp per day.

I'm sure the craft skill could work in a similair way, meaning if Izumi took 10, he could make about 2GP a week, working under another smith.

We totally hosed Shalelu, with this party, didn't we? Two of us have ties (or *want* to have ties...) to Ameiko, two of us have ties to Sandru, one of us to Koya, and Shalelu is the ugly girl in the corner who didn't get a date.

Garand's backstory has ties to everyone but Ameiko (since I hadn't decided which trait I was taking until I saw what others had chosen), so I'm probably going to have him interact with Koya primarily, but also Shalelu, just so that she doesn't feel all spurned.

Hell hath no fury like an elf that's really good at killing people spurned... :)

I guess no one in this group prefers hot elf women. It's a shame.

Hey, she hasn't even made her debut yet. She and Stuttering Stanley probably have a lot in common, too. And if they don't, well, fine. Pavel is a warrior! Unconcerned with such things outside of victory, loot and glory!

Lonely. So very lonely.

Also: Yokai anatomy!

Sorin is young, and young men do dream big.

Besides, if he reaches a high level, perhaps the goal will not be so far out of reach then?

Pardon, my early afternoon nap quickly became a late afternoon nap and I still have to make dinner for my RL session tonight. Izumi needs to change out of his armor anyway.

The caravan...

From what I've read, the rules as they appear need to be revamped. Furthermore, it requires the group to get involve in a different mechanic.

Also from what I've read, you can play out a lot of the "caravan encounters' a different way. Furthermore, as this is a PbP, I'm concerned with the flow and am wondering if we should just avoid the caravan mechanics, sticking to the flavor.

I wish to hear your thoughts first.

Pardon, my early afternoon nap quickly became a late afternoon nap and I still have to make dinner for my RL session tonight. Izumi needs to change out of his armor anyway.

Izumi's coming down the stairs as Ameiko makes her request.

There may be information online of how to accomplish the caravan encounters in a pbp method.

But you are right, if you are focusing on the adventure/npc aspects of the arc, then we can probably gloss over everything but the critical stuff of the carvan trip. You could possibly use some one shot adventures/encounters to bulk up the experience points too.

I will defer to the GM. You gotta run it, Dreaming Warforged. If you think it will be easier and just as interesting to narrate the caravan travel and toss in key encounters as you see fit, I'm good with that. You've run the game well so far. I trust you'll make the best decision to make it fun for us. I understand some of these mechanics can be quite slow on play by post. I'd much prefer to keep on advancing at a fair pace over working in a new mechanical system that might slow us down and not add much to the play by post experience.

If the caravan rules involve me rolling dice to see how well we do on a month-by-month basis, we're all gonna get eated by Yeti, that's all I'm sayin.'

I *did* design Garand to be able to fill as many of the important and / or expensive 'roles' in the Player's Guide (cook, driver, fortune-teller, guard, guide, healer, hero, scout or spellcaster) as possible, to 'cover all the bases,' but that doesn't really change how I would have built him anyway, since most of the 'prereqs' were basic stuff.

Sent DW an email. Waiting for a reply for a more in-depth post from Izumi. Just clearing some things up regarding the history of how Izumi's father came to Sandpoint.

Being a logistically minded person, I like some of the Caravan rules... but I do not like how "Caravan Battles" are run. It's a dice-off with no tactics or anything. I do, however, love the idea of managing the caravan, setting jobs, etc.

Replied.

Thanks for the comments so far. I'll have another read at it and see what I do. I'd like to give some room to the caravan "experience" regardless though.

Thanks for the reply DW, that clears some stuff up (like, for example, why Izumi has never heard of Brinewall).

I'm taking a potion of CMW and LR.

We won't be using the caravan rules for now. I prefer to keep our momentum going. I'll play the path north as we would with other adventures. If you feel at any point you would like to explore another way of doing things, feel free to let me know.

Looking to get the loot squared away here.
Here's the list after deducting Raith's potions-
MWK composite shortbow
4 arrows
Masterwork broken chainmail (Tsutamu's)
Magic Wakizachi +1 (Tsutamu's Whispering Shrike)
Potion 1 = Identify
Potion 2 = Identify
Potion 3 = Identify
Potion 4 = Cure Moderate Wounds
Potion 5 = Cure Moderate Wounds
Potion 6 = Cure Moderate Wounds
Potion 9 = Lesser Restoration
Potion 10 = Lesser Restoration
Ring = Climbing
Wand = Cure Light Wounds (19 charges)
Chain Shirt = Masterwork only
3,820 sp
421 gp
jewelry worth 560 gp total

I've claimed the wakizashi, I believe and Izumi has the MWK composite shortbow. Will it be preferable to give Garand the wand of CLW so he can prepare non-cure spells or should I take it to start the backup healer role? I'm pretty sure either Garand or Sorin should take the potions of identify. I've got plenty of stuff, so I'm hesitant to claim potions just yet- when we figure out who's getting the wand it'll be easier to determine whether I should grab a CMW or leave it for another PC.

That leaves the Ring of Climbing, the MWK chain shirt and the broken chainmail. Can anyone repair the chainmail to sell it? Will we be getting 50% for selling everything off (jewelry and armor) or do we need to haggle?

Izumi did indeed grab the bow, and will also take the arrows (since I've only used 4) if that's alright. Nice and even.

Izumi sadly cannot repair the chainmail... he's a weaponsmith. However, while we're on the subject, I was looking up repairing items, and you just have to make the check and spend 20% of the cost. The problem here comes in repairing masterwork items, since masterwork has seperate checks (so, for example, to make a mwk katana you would need 2 checks, one at DC 18 for the katana, and one at DC 20 for the masterwork...ness). What it DOESN'T say, is how you go about repairing masterwork items. I'm assuming the intention is either to require 2 seperate repair checks, or just use the masterwork DC, but I need your ruling on this DW.

Sorin commences spell research into several disciplines. He increases his knowledge in several fields and begins the process of mastering Tien. In short order he masters the written form of the language and the rudiments of the oral language, but only practice will improve his ear and pronunciation.

I recommend selling the jewelery and any unused armor. The ring of climbing holds no interest for Sorin and he would like to sell it to raise more gold for spells. As for the identify potions, Sorin will take one and sell the others, while grumbling continually about the insult of using crutches for Arcane Knowledge. (Sorin capitalizes the words when he says them)

Purchase 3 additional scroll cases, 1 waterproof bag, 1 blank travelling spellbook. Additionally at the Feathered Serpent look for the following spell scrolls:

1:Endure Elements
1:Detect Undead
1:Feather Fall
1:Magic Weapon
2:Protection from Arrows
2:Arcane Lock
2:Knock!!!!!!!!
2:Alter Self
2:Make Whole
2:Spider Climb!!!!
2:Bull Strength
2:Cat's Grace
2:Rope Trick
2:Glitterdust
2:See Invisible

If there is another mage in town, Sorin would like to know who so he can see about perhaps copying a spell or two at a reduced cost, rather than purchasing a scroll.

Whatever money is left of Sorin's will be used to make 1st level scrolls. I will tell you how many after the shopping trip.

I'll work on a shopping list for Pavel once we have an idea of how much cash we're getting total. Should we get our own horses? Will we need cold weather stuff, rations?

Also, just did the calculations. Izumi is going to need at least 2 weeks at a forge to fix the katana >_<.

I've cleaned up the loot list. You get:

587.6 gp for each

Izumi, your sword needs a good polishing job, but the steal is right. With two weeks of polishing on the road and 50 gp to get masterwork polishing stones and some fine leather to redo the hilt wrap, you'll be able to bring the sword back to its ancestral quality and sharpness.

Sorin, given the time you have (about 5 days to a week, you can find those scrolls, though at the regular price.

Note: You probably will never come back to Sandpoint.

Shopping List
Longbow- 75 gp (sell off shortbow, or donate to someone)
MWK light steel shield w/shield spikes- 169 gp
Two weeks of trail rations- 7 gp
Horse, heavy- 200 gp
Bit and Bridle- 2 gp
Riding saddle- 10 gp
Saddlebags- 4 gp
Feed, one month (assuming there's room in the wagons- total weight comes to 300 pounds)- 1.5 gp
Cold Weather Outfit, just in case- 8 gp
Antitoxin- 50 gp
526.5 gp

Leaving me with 86 gp, 1 sp.

OK, bought and successfully learned: Knock, Spider Climb, Endure Elements, Feather Fall and Magic Weapon. Wrote all the spells into my spellbook. Bought a cold iron dagger as well.

Spent 2 hours per 1st level scroll, max 4 scrolls a day for 4 days to make 15 scrolls at 12.5 gp each. 2 Alarm, 1 Endure Elements, 2 Enlarge Person, 2 Grease, 5 Mage Armor, 3 Summon Monster I.

Sorin is down to 75gp, 5sp. Which he will save for contingencies.

Do we need horses or can Sorin ride in the wagons as he always has?

Also what about food?

Ooh, thanks for the tip that we might never return to Sandpoint! Instead of putting money down for barding, I'll just see if the local armorsmith / leatherworker can alter some dog-barding to suit the purpose quickly...

Shopping List;
3 Alchemist's Fire (60 gp, 3 lbs)
extra Holly and Mistletoe (-, -)
Healer's Kit (50 gp, 1 lb)
Longbow (75 gp, 3 lbs)
Leather barding for small bear (20 gp, 7.5 lbs)

Weapon Cord (AA, 1 sp, -, attached to longbow)
Wandermeal (AA, 10 days worth, 3 sp, -)
Trespasser's Boot (AA, 8 sp, 2 lbs)

Ioun Torch (dull gray ioun stone w/ continual flame, 135 gp, -)

Sell off;
Shortbow (30 gp, 2 lbs)

spent 341 gp and 2 sp
+15 gp for sold shortbow, if half price available

Food will be provided. No need to buy any. You can all ride in wagons. Horses are not necessary except for afe rare encounters.

Mwk shields, as armor, won't give +1 to hit, but if you pay 300 gp, you can say it's mwk for attack and defense.

Just to be clear, Sorin did miss the point that Sandru was teasing Shalelu.

Shopping List

Longbow- 75 gp (sell off shortbow, or donate to someone)
MWK light steel shield w/shield spikes- 169 gp
Two weeks of trail rations- 7 gp
Horse, heavy- 200 gp
Bit and Bridle- 2 gp
Riding saddle- 10 gp
Saddlebags- 4 gp
Feed, one month (assuming there's room in the wagons- total weight comes to 300 pounds)- 1.5 gp
Cold Weather Outfit, just in case- 8 gp
Antitoxin- 50 gp
526.5 gp

Leaving me with 86 gp, 1 sp.

Okay, removing the food for me and the horse gets me to 94 gp and 6 sp. I think Pavel would still want his own horse unless it's just really going to be a complete hassle- don't want my ranks in ride and handle animal to go completely to waste.

Izumi's shopping list (work in progress):

Katana repair materials: 50gp
Making the Banded Mail Mwk: 150gp
Wartrained Heavy Horse: 300gp

Leftover: 100gp 14sp 2cp.

Will finish later.

Izumi's shopping list (updated):
Katana repair materials: 50gp
Making the Banded Mail Mwk: 150gp
Wartrained Heavy Horse: 300gp
Bit and bridle: 2gp
Riding saddle: 10gp
Saddlebags: 4gp
Leather Barding for the Horse: 40gp
Cold Weather Gear: 8gp
36gp 14sp 2cp

Things he doesn't need anymore (would like to sell):

Light Spiked Shield, Steel
Scale Mail
Longsword

Who is claiming the wand of Cure light wounds? Garand or Pavel? I feel it would be best in Garand's hands since Pavel will be in melee and Garand is a ranged attacker. Anyone else claiming more potions?

Dreaming Warforged,

You care if I embellish a little with my NPC? Flesh out their interaction some?

Shopping list:

winter blanket 5 sp
water proof bag 5 sp
small steel mirror 10 gp
50 foot silk rope 10 gp
soap 1 cp
tent 2 person 15 gp
everburning torch 110 gp

146 gp and 1 cp total

I'm looking for a Temple Sword and Nunchaku. Can you check Sandpoint to see if any might be available?

Izumi's shopping list (updated):

Katana repair materials: 50gp
Making the Banded Mail Mwk: 150gp
Wartrained Heavy Horse: 300gp
Bit and bridle: 2gp
Riding saddle: 10gp
Saddlebags: 4gp
Leather Barding for the Horse: 40gp
Cold Weather Gear: 8gp
36gp 14sp 2cp

Things he doesn't need anymore (would like to sell):

Light Spiked Shield, Steel
Scale Mail
Longsword

Feel free to sell for half value.

Who is claiming the wand of Cure light wounds? Garand or Pavel? I feel it would be best in Garand's hands since Pavel will be in melee and Garand is a ranged attacker. Anyone else claiming more potions?

Dreaming Warforged,

You care if I embellish a little with my NPC? Flesh out their interaction some?

By all means.

Shopping list:

winter blanket 5 sp
water proof bag 5 sp
small steel mirror 10 gp
50 foot silk rope 10 gp
soap 1 cp
tent 2 person 15 gp
everburning torch 110 gp

146 gp and 1 cp total

I'm looking for a Temple Sword and Nunchaku. Can you check Sandpoint to see if any might be available?

Tents will be provided. You can find both weapons, but you can't 2-hand flurry, unless You can find convincing arguments. You can also find chicken swords.

Raith Shadar wrote:

Shopping list:

winter blanket 5 sp
water proof bag 5 sp
small steel mirror 10 gp
50 foot silk rope 10 gp
soap 1 cp
tent 2 person 15 gp
everburning torch 110 gp

146 gp and 1 cp total

I'm looking for a Temple Sword and Nunchaku. Can you check Sandpoint to see if any might be available?

Tents will be provided. You can find both weapons, but you can't 2-hand flurry, unless You can find convincing arguments. You can also find chicken swords.

What do you mean two-hand flurry? From what I understand it's more of a descriptive difference than a mechanical difference. I can't gain the 1.5 strength bonus using a one-handed weapon with two hands or with a two-handed weapon while using flurry. There is a line under the ability that says I do full strength bonus whether using an off-hand weapon or a weapon two-handed. My friend pointed it out to me when I was thinking of using a polearm with a Sohei. You can get the two-handed Power Attack bonus, but not strength. But it's not something I would do given that I use Crane Style, which always requires one free hand. So no worries there. I'll always have a hand free as its part of my style.

I want the weapons for damage variety. The nunchaku for when I get Improved Disarm. The Temple Sword because I've always liked the idea of a monk with a sword like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Zatoichi. Though Zatoichi might be more of a samurai, though what I've seen him do seems more like a sword fighting monk/fighter. I was a little unhappy when I saw the Katana or Wakizashi couldn't be used as a monk weapon. I've wanted to make Zatoichi for so long.

The Celestial Bureaucracy wrote:

Raith Shadar wrote:

Shopping list:

winter blanket 5 sp
water proof bag 5 sp
small steel mirror 10 gp
50 foot silk rope 10 gp
soap 1 cp
tent 2 person 15 gp
everburning torch 110 gp

146 gp and 1 cp total

I'm looking for a Temple Sword and Nunchaku. Can you check Sandpoint to see if any might be available?

Tents will be provided. You can find both weapons, but you can't 2-hand flurry, unless You can find convincing arguments. You can also find chicken swords.

What do you mean two-hand flurry? From what I understand it's more of a descriptive difference than a mechanical difference. I can't gain the 1.5 strength bonus using a one-handed weapon with two hands or with a two-handed weapon while using flurry. There is a line under the ability that says I do full strength bonus whether using an off-hand weapon or a weapon two-handed. My friend pointed it out to me when I was thinking of using a polearm with a Sohei. You can get the two-handed Power Attack bonus, but not strength. But it's not something I would do given that I use Crane Style, which always requires one free hand. So no worries there. I'll always have a hand free as its part of my style.

I want the weapons for damage variety. The nunchaku for when I get Improved Disarm. The Temple Sword because I've always liked the idea of a monk with a sword like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Zatoichi. Though Zatoichi might be more of a samurai, though what I've seen him do seems more like a sword fighting monk/fighter. I was a little unhappy when I saw the Katana or Wakizashi couldn't be used as a monk weapon. I've wanted to make Zatoichi for so long.

I hadn't seen that line either. Thanks!

Regarding the katana as a monk weapon, Eberron had a line of feat that allowed the longsword to become a monk weapon. Would you like me to look into it and make a proposal?

That would be cool. Or if you don't mind my temple sword losing the trip ability to look like one of the Chinese swords in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Thoughts on caravan roles;

I picked the most 'expensive' role Garand could fill, to make the expedition more successful for Sandru, as the less of the expensive rolls he has to fill with hired flunkies, the better.

Scout and Guard are the most expensive (100 gp / month). Entertainer, Guide and Healer the next (50 gp / month). Cook, Driver, Trader and Wainright, the least (10 gp / month).

Fortune-Teller and Spellcaster can only be covered by a PC, or one of the 'big four' NPCs (Koya and Sorin seem best for those, perhaps?).

I can do guard. I imagine Raith could learn to be a wainright if Profession (Handyman) isn't enough.

I guess since three of us are guards, I'll end up driving. So it's pointless for me to own a horse.

It looks like Sandru is going to drive, actually, and I don't think there's a limit on how many guards we can have.

It looks like 5 from the guide. Each of us gives a +1 to camp security and caravan awareness when we are moving. The other roles are imporant too, and as a spellcaster Sorin has significant flexibility in his roles. If we have 3 guards already, Sorin should probably switch to another role, at least at the beginning.

Bought a temple sword and tonfa for now for 31 gold.

Dreaming Warforged,

Let me know if you come up with something that can let me use a katana. That would be really sweet. Then I'll eventually tie Raith's hair back and buy him a kimono. I can show his slow metamorphisis from young, country bumpkin handyman to supernaturally quick and badass Eastern swordswman/martial arts fighter.