@Nahia, sorry I remember you asked me and I did not answer.
I know the average history for him, but saying anything can spoil the fun in the future.
Even about his parents.
Anyway, I'll think of something and tell you later.
Edit: I'll try to weave a dramatic and bloody tale about a poor ogre, left to die by his parents in the strange, dangerous and accursed land of the Un's!
Oh, when I was talking about his story, I meant a cover story for him. In my 5 month overview I did mention talking to him about his history (and getting it would be neat) but it isn't expected, especially if it will be a grand reveal later. : )
Ok, back to the equipping minions thing, does that mean that we should also be giving him and Timeon a share (or half a share or something)? Or that someone should be elected to cover his costs? Or that we should just split costs among the party (or from party funds)?
And those questions are meant as much for the rest of the party as they are requests from suggestions from you, DM Aku.
As for my opinions, I say that if they are a follower loyal mostly (or only) to you, they are your responsibility (e.g. Timeon and followers from Leadership). If they are a party follower then we can discuss as a group about splitting costs of equipment or just decide to give them gifts individually. If they are a mercenary (or demand payment for dangerous services) then we either pay out of the party share or split the pay between the 4 of us.
Two smart, Beautiful woman getting on a mercenary boat... Us poor women need a bodyguard who we aren't worried about trying to have his way with us. Mercenary's can sub-contract after all. Figured we could deal with the cover story when Grumblejack shows up to get on the boat.
@Seren
Sounds like a decent idea, but the one rub there is that monstrous races are pretty much hunted on sight here. Though, since the captain is dealing with Cardinal Thorn, and he seems to be a foreigner, he might be willing to look the other way.
It still might be a good idea to have a cover story for when we eventually have to enter a town full of devout Mitrans though.
@Loot questions:
I do not know! :D
I'm just saying that apart from the initial equipment, you should not expect from me any help to equip a follower.
How are you going to deal with this, I left it for you. I just do not think it fair to make one person only pay for equipment, since the entire party (be it timeon or grumblejack or any other follower) has some benefits when the follower is around.
But again, this is just a suggestion. :D
Suspect we'll need more then a cover story if we try and enter a mitran town... If we are doing undercover things at some point we may need magic to deal with Grumblejack. Figure eventually a Ring of Alter Self will be a requirement for him if he becomes a major part of the party and we decide to be sneaky. Think cost would 21,600 for it (2nd level x 3rd caster level(wizard) x 1,800 Command Word, continous x 2 alter self min/level). So still quite some time away from getting it...
In the meantime. What if someone gave grumblejack their circlet? (Seren will not give hers up) he is technically humanoid (giant), and disguise self lets you alter subtype, so he could appear as a human fairly easily. He'll still be way too tall, but permanent enlarge person can't be unheard of in towns, especially for mercenary body guards (I mean it only cost 2,500GP + Wizard fees to be cast on you). Might raise some eyebrows, but far better then an ogre.
on Gearing:
I would be okay with fair split for Grumblejack, Seren likes him and he feels like part of the party. Timeon however is a different story, and Seren wouldn't feel any reason to give Timeon a fair share (especially because Timeon left a sour taste in her mouth after that torture room), this may change as Timeon grows/doesn't grow on Seren.
I agree with Nahia about the followers. I would never expect party gold to equip my undead horde once it starts to take shape, if they want to help great, but I don't think villians would just give gold for my minions. Think inclusion of minions may have to be done on a case by case basis...
@About grumblejack.
Since you are saying about disguising him, It may be do another thing.
Let's say Erik that is already using Sir Balin plate armor, get the pendant (it is a symbol of high rank among the Knights of Alerion). So he, a knight can disguise himself as a knight withouot the need of the circlet! And Jack can appear to be a 9ft tall un'!
Again, just a suggestion! :D
huh, just realized I can't actually use the circlet to appear human...I can only use it to appear as another outsider. So I will always appear as Aasimar of some sort with all that entails. Guess I could get really close to human but never totally human.
Seems strange I can't use the circlet to look like a human, but fire elemental, yep that's okay.
@NPC Loot- I has intended to take over Timeon's costs as needed. I figured later on when he fall more into the background of our organization and just demand payments in return.
I do think Jack might be better off just taking a share as he has been fairly involved with the party.
@DM Aku, that might be a much better idea. I'll change back to other Eric now and work it into the story. Soon.Ish.
On Grumblejack -
Close on the ring cost, but you don't can't make a command word continuous, it has to be continuous (2000 gp activation cost instead of 1800), so 24,000. Which is more expensive than a ring of invisibility, by the way.
And Nahia would not give up her circlet either.
On Gearing -
Well, when I talked about followers I was also talking about Cohorts. Mainly, because I think the cash investment is normally part of the balance of the feat. Leadership is balanced by the fact that the follower only normally get's NPC wealth by level and the PC has to share their wealth by level to bring them higher if they want it, the same way a druid or ranger has to buy his equipment for his animal companion. Basically, if they don't take a share of the XP they don't normally get a share of the wealth, seems to be a standard of this game.
That said, I, from a player perspective, have no problems spreading the wealth, especially since Seren and myself will help that wealth go further, as long as we don't ultimately end up spreading ourselves too thin.
From a character perspective, Nahia is usually pretty generous (it cultivates good will, which makes it easier for her to get what she wants), especially if helping you will help her and she could potentially get a favor out of it down the road. However, she does not currently think very highly of Timeon, and it will take some time for that to change. However, she has no problem lending/giving Eric a coin purse or two for himself.
And I can completely agree on giving Grumblejack a share of party treasure.
Semi related side conversation -
I played Hackmaster for a short while and one of the interesting concepts they had was a "party charter", the idea being that it was a contract signed by each of the party members that discussed such things as loot shares, rez costs, and individual responsibilities. For example, a party member might receive an extra share (or half share or quarter share, etc) for the following things:
* Great personal sacrifice, as agreed upon by party vote.
* Being mortally wounded.
* Being singularly pivotal in the success of a mission/job/adventure, as agreed upon by party vote.
* For taking on a party role (Captain, Treasurer, Medic, Scout, Record Keeper, Cartographer, etc)
Needless to say, part of the fun in the game was devising as much legalese in the charter as possible (the game spent several pages of the Players Handbook talking about how calling dibs on loot works and how ignoring properly made dibs calls would penalize your statistics).
One Seren looking like a Fire Elemental -
Huh, never realized that. It's neat, though odd. It also means that I could disguise myself as a Fire-Giant midget, a merfolk, or a werewolf, but not an undine, ifrit, oread, or sylph.
@Seren Alter self.
Well, if it was 3.5 she would be able to change into outsiders...
And get their NA... and lot's more. Alter self was really broken.
Transmutation in general in 3.5 had a lot of issues. Though illusion had problems on the other end of the scale.
I don't necessarily disagree with the way disguise self was worded, it just produces odd situations.
For example, if a human casts disguise self, they can appear as a Wayang (a race of supernatural humanoids who trace their ancestry to the plane of shadows) but not a fetchling (a race of humans who were trapped on the plane of shadows and warped). They could turn into a really short fire giant, but not an ifrit (the fire elemental touched "human"). Or a really short stone giant, but not an oread (earth elemental touched "human"). Or a really short storm giant but not a sylph (air elemental touched "human"). Or a tengu but not a harpy. A lizard folk, a grippli, or a boggard, but not a sahuagin.
Anyway, I just find it amusing. : )
@Seren
You're not just limited to Aasimar. You should be able to turn into any outsider. Really short Balor? That's cool. Tall mephit? Also cool. Hell hound? You bet that's cool.
And something that really hurts my brain trying to figure out how this should work: Invisible Stalker.
If you want to be really close to human, try one of the elemental touched or the Suli (I don't have my copy of the advanced race guide in front of me, but they seem to be pretty human).
Ya that's true. Though Aasimar is my native race, and those goody good Mitran lovers probably look more favourably on someone with a celestial heritage then anything else, though one of full blown angel races holds possibilities.
So
Zerik hasn't checked in since:
Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 04:59 PM on gameplay thread
and:
Sat, Feb 15, 2014, 04:12 PM on discussion thread
I'll give it until tomorrow. If he does not send any smoke signal, I'll re-open recruitent.
But I'm really hoping he does come back! :D
Me too. I'm having a blast with Seren. This is far and away my most enjoyable campaign that I'm currently playing.
I must say this has been my longest running pbp. Sadly, the one I had been least active (regularly) in as well. Hope he comes back too.
Agreed. I've been enjoying this greatly, and I, too, hope he comes back.
Very sorry for being away and slowing things down. I've just caught up on the discussion thread.
I'm okay with contributing to equipment for the followers.
Zerik isn't buying or selling any gear. He will go with what he has.
I haven't read game play yet, but I like the idea of Erik being a knight of Mitra since he has the plate and we have access to the holy symbol.
Zerik can be a caravan guard or a squire of Erik, I'd be happy with either. I update after I read game play.
Cheers and sorry once again for the delay.
all good. Glad your back!
No problem, just glad to hear from you!
Also, Eric, just wanted to say that I'm willing to "purchase" the Mitran holy symbol and loan it to you for your disguise (so you won't fall further into debt), if you'd prefer.
@Nahia- Well, I'm sure we can share the cost or something.
@Zerik- Glad you have returned! No worries on the delay. Might be better for you to go with Caravan Guard or merc of some type. I already have this lazy attitude with Eric's disguise and I am not sure it would be believeable with you being a squire.
Sounds good. I like the idea of a merc. Gives me a little more flexibility than caravan guard.
As we learned earlier - expect Seren to look like a fire elemental when we finally burn this ship to the ground, I'm going to have some fun with outsider disguise self.
@Zerik
Update your crunch to level3 please!
@all
and how about Grumblejack? are you guys taking him?
I'm up for it. It seems like we have a disguise for him and a one for Eric, so it looks like we're good.
Will do. I'll update it tomorrow. I'll finally have a day off hopefully :)
Yes, we will take him. Realized I never updated my crunch (thought I did, maybe didn't save it) nor changed my picture back.
I will be giving my headband to Jack for his disguise.
I will post my update for the trip after the Olympic hockey game (so in about 3-4 hours)
@Nahia. I updated the loot sheet. Arts and gemstones are sold for full prince. In that case, the amulet is worth 250gp.
@DM Aku, ok, so we're listing things at they're sale value, so if you want to keep an art object or trade good then you pay full price. Noted.
No I believe if you want to keep an item you have to pay what we would receive for it. For weapons we would only receive half for it so if any party member seeks to retain it then they pay half as well. That's the way we have been doing it.
Right, sale value, what you can sell it for.
@all
In a normal game it makes sense to have some random encounters.
But here I'll be skipping then.
Makes no sense delay the history to have a combat that add nothing to the game history.
Sorry for not posting yesterday or the weekend. My wife was hospitalized for the flu. I'm back now (she was able to go home last night), but short on time. Promise to catch up and post this evening or during my lunch break at work. Just wanted to make sure you guys knew I didn't forget about you.
@Eric, glad to hear from you! Sorry about your wife but glad to hear that she is better!
@DM Aku, right now, I'm always going to be preparing Blood Transcription as a spell and looking out for enemy spellcasters. As such, if you decide to summarize random encounters, will you point out any spellcasters whose corpses may be present?
@Nahia
Sure. The triton was an Oracle.
Edit: Okay, that was not enough information:
Let me write down his spell known.
2nd level: (4/day): slipstream, summon monster II (small water elemental or 1d3 dolphins only)
1st level: (7/day): cure light wounds, magic weapon, sanctuary, touch of the sea
0th level (at will): detect magic, ghost sound, guidance, light, mage hand, mending, resistance, stabilize, virtue
@Spell BLOOD TRANSCRIPTION
The spell description is not clear about this, but I will use in this manner:
If the caster is a spontaneous caster, you get to know all his spell know.
If the caster need to prepare his spells, you can only access his prepared spells for the day.
It make no sense to me you have knowledge about his spellbook if he does not have that in his mind that day.
@DM Aku, technically, I think it is even more restrictive than that overall. For prepared casters, it isn't very clear, but I think I would only have access to the spells they have not cast yet (it says "had available to them" and I take that to mean "that they could still cast at the time of death"). With spontaneous casters I think that translates to only levels that they still has spells per day available for at the time of death.
Though feel free to disagree with me and give me access to their full prepared list. :D
Also, not a lot in that list for me. I'll go with Summon Monster II, and take 10 teaching it to my familiar that night. I'll throw up an RP post for it when work will let me.
Also, thanks for all the extra work I put you through!
@Nahia
Don't worry.
I do not mind chars getting almost godlike strong in game, as long they do it in a RP way. I really do not like when players forget about the history and only look at the math in the crunch.
So far, I'm really happy with you guys. Actually, more than happy. :D
Also, there's no problem. I'll have a couple of days off next week. I'll try to anwer all the players questions in PM. (Really, I got a lot of then :D)
@all, I'm updating the loot sheet. Anyone want any of the gear, particularly that +1 Trident?
And speaking of loot, we should probably finish off the loot calculations from the trails before I start calculating up divides for this stuff (since we haven't sold it yet).
If grumblejack takes the CLW potion and a share, I take the Holy Symbol, Eric takes the full plate, and Seren takes the cloak of resistance, then the GP totals come out to be:
Nahia: 353.333333333333
Seren: 53.3333333333333
Eric: -336.666666666667
Zerik: 653.333333333333
Gumblejack: 623.333333333333
Party: 653.333333333333
Any comments or complaints? Can everyone afford this split?
Didn't know Jack was getting a share. He isn't part of the knot, I was under the impression he would be provisioned from the "Party" gold.
It was discussed a little bit back, still on this page of the discussion. I think it happened while you were still fairly absent. It makes sense to me (both as a player and as a character) because Grumblejack definitely does his fair share of taking hits and bashing things in the face. However, if you concerns about it, feel free to discuss. : )
Oh, I must have missed that. I am a little greedy but if that's what was agreed I'm happy to go with the flow. Jack does pull his weight so it is fair that he receives a portion of the loot.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Building Your Own Evil Organization
Would it truly be a villainous campaign without minions? I think not. But keeping track of an organization can be a tedious affair. So, with this optional system we abstract the paper work and help you skip the bookkeeping and instead get back to the glorious business of evil.
How do I build an Evil Organization?
Mechanically, the answer is take the Leadership feat.
When you take the Leadership feat you receive a cohort as normal but instead of receiving followers, you become the master of an evil organization. If multiple PCs buy the Leadership feat they must choose whether they are each starting their own organization or if they are pooling to form a council of villainy.
There are advantages to both. Councils can hit higher target numbers but control can be an issue. Individual groups are weaker but there is no question of control.
Just for you to know. And plan your feats ahead of time if you want to create your organization.
Feeling happy DM Aku? : )
@Nahia.
Yes
@Nahia again;
Sorry I edited the post just after you had your post.
Then I will edit mine. : )
Sure. :)