Wormy's Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master WormysQueue

Dot...

Dot

Dot, and thank you for choosing me! I'm greatly looking forward to this!

Dot. (am I doing this right?)

Absolutely :). I would also suggest dotting the Gameplay thread. That is what lists the game in the "Campaigns" tab in your profile.

I cannot seem to post in that thread for some reason.

Did you try it with your Alias or with your main nick? Though I don't know exactly if this should make a difference?

tried it with the alias.

Hm, at the moment I'm at a loss and have no other idea than maybe to try it again. Anyone else with more experience on that matter?

I do not know. I haven't ever really run a game on here and I've only played in one short-lived campaign.

And dot. Looking forward to this!

It's going to be good.

We must be the most multi-faith party ever to start this AP. I count 6 players, at least 5 different gods and only 1 worshipper of Iomedae amongst us!

Also, I'm guessing at: 3 Archmages, a Champion/Guardian, a Trickster and a Hierophant? At least we'll never be short on spellcasting!

finally got it to work. Idk why it was being so stubborn.

@Iolaire: I think it's actually better that way! Iomedae is just one of many major goodly deities--makes sense for multiple involved parties to choose champions instead of making Iomedae do all the heavy lifting by herself.

Well, one my favorite movie quotes is from Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves, when Azeem answers the child's question why he is "painted" black: "Because Allah loves wondrous varieties."

;)

By the way, thanks for giving me the chance and inspiration to run this game. I know I didn't comment too much on Iolaire but before I expressed my willingness to do this, I had already looked over your character and really liked what I'd seen especially with regards to the redemption topic, which also is very appealing to me.

So I really hope we'll have a blast together.

I'm keen on starting the game, but would also give you enough time so that anyone can make any adjustments to his character he probably wants to make. Apart from that, tomorrow will be another 24-hour duty for me, and depending how many emergencies we'll have, I'll most probably won't be able to do anything from work. I also might want to post some things into the campaign info thread before we start (and still have to read up on some things^^), but I think that I'll be able to handle most of this on Thursday so that we can probably start on Friday. Would that be ok for anyone?

I feel that I am good to start whenever you are and am eager to get into character!

I'm cool with starting on Friday.

Also if anyone would like to add me on skype: trasklargero is my handle. More than happy to add you if you want to discuss characters or the campaign at some point.

Starting Friday is fine with me.

I think we're going to have a great group. I'm looking forward to it.

Friday sounds good to me too :)

So, arcane casters, do we want to discuss eventual spell selection now, or should we wait?

The rogue suggests invisibility

Of course one of us will choose invisibility for the rogue. It's very useful, after all :)

Specifically, I'm referring to us coordinating so we don't have too much overlap in spell selection, and maybe pick areas we should focus on. For instance, while haste is a fantastic spell, it's effects don't stack and it affects multiple targets, and since all of us have spontaneous casting (or semi-spontaneous casting, in my case), we don't necessarily need all of us to have it in our spells known/prepared list. Conversely, fly is also very useful, but it only effects one person per casting. So, barring other means of flight for the party, it would make sense for all of us to be able to cast fly if needed. Same with teleport, since that has a limit to the number of people you can take with you per casting.

This is something I usually do in a multi-caster group. It helps us make sure we all feel useful during combat.

I'll happily coordinate once we start leveling, but as a 1st-level character who's never met y'all before I'm going to keep my spells as they are. Probably going to spec pretty hard into buffing, I'll try to choose spells that affect multiple people but I can't promise anything.

I plan to invest heavily in the summon monster line of spells to take advantage of the DR bonus they get from bloodline arcana.

Other then that I'm new at this, so pretty open for suggestions.

I wasn't going to suggest that we change spells we have already chosen for first level, which would make absolutely no sense in-game. As you said, we haven't met each other. What I was suggesting is that we figure out a direction for when we level up, so we don't have to have this conversation and hold things up later as we debate over level up spells :)

Basically, I'm suggesting we plan for the future based on our strengths and what direction we see our characters going in. For instance, since Rianne intends to invest heavily in the summon monster line, I won't look at summon monster spells as a priority when adding new spells to my spellbook.

I'm happy to offer suggestions for Rianne as we go along. I could also give you a Pathfinder magic overview, if you're interested.

I also have Summon Monster SLAs as a class feature, so we'll have plenty of meatshields and flankers, but looking through my spell selection it seems like mostly single-target-only buffs. So I won't be as helpful there as I'd hoped until I start getting 3rd level spells. On the other hand, the fusion form will be a pretty good all-around combatant and my summoned creatures last for minutes instead of rounds, so I should be fairly well rounded.

Coming from one of the major frontliners: buffs always appreciated! :D

Also worth considering - is anyone going to look into divination and abjuration? Things like see invis and so forth will likely be very useful.

Don't worry too much about healing - I'll be able to bring that pretty well between LoH and my second pool of channeling. :)

Also a question for the group as a whole: How do we, once we are in the game, want to keep track of party loot?

I haven't played in many games on here but it should be possible to set up something to keep track of it.

I suspect that utility spells should be largely left up to the arcanist who learns more spells though the celestial bloodline does have some nice bonus utility spells.

Just to note: Summoners dont get very many spells per day, BUT if I max out my Use Magic Device skill I should be able to use arcane & divine items & be flexible that way. So add "support healer" and "item-utility" to my potential roles.

Yes to both. Abjuration has nice little things like "Resist Energy" and "Dispel Magic" in it, both of which are highly useful. While I'm not as big a fan of a lot of the lower-level divination spells, some of the higher-level ones could be very useful.

Invisibility is an Illusion spell, but illusion is too useful not to pick up. The schools I'm most likely to neglect overall will probably be Necromancy and Enchantment. I haven't quite decided on Evocation yet or not - Mythic Magic Missile looks like it could be fun.

I'm also going to look into possibly using counterspell as a viable tactic. The Arcanist has a couple of very useful exploits that can make it work in the mid-high levels. It isn't something that will be particularly useful until at least level 7, if not later, though, based on how the exploits work.

EDIT: I was intending to max out UMD, as well. I might still put points into it, but I may divert points into other skills, like Knowledges, too. I suspect Rianne was thinking something similar.

As for Party Loot, we could set up a spreadsheet in Google Docs. That way loot just gets added to the list and someone just has to say "I'm taking this +1 longsword" and then it gets noted who claimed the item.

I'm down with the Google Docs idea

I don't mind being the one to set it up or keep track of it, was just curious how we wanted to do that.

I'll put some points into UMD (I have an alternate racial trait that gives bonuses for some magic items), but I was also gonna put some points in several knowledge skills (and a couple into Linguistics to get Celestial and Abyssal but that will have to wait until I have an RP excuse).

I don't mind being the one to set it up or keep track of it, was just curious how we wanted to do that.

In former games I run it was most often me who had to do this (because players weren't very interested in this part of the game, so if you (or anyone else want to help out with this, that would be awesome. This said I'll probably keep tabs on the characters' wealth anyway (just to make sure that they are equipped within the range of the wealth per level table in the PHB and be able to make any corrections necessary so that no one misses out too much). As this includes keeping track of who gets what, I'd probably do it by myself if no one wants to.

By the way, I've seen other GMs including links to lists like those in the head of their campaigns. Is this done via the short description field or is there another trick to it? (I'll probably simply try it out for myself, as I plan to use Google Draw for battle maps).

Then there's this:

I have been asked about my approach to the use of skill checks and as this might be interesting for everyone, here's how I go about it:

Players are generally free to do any skill check they think appropriate to do by themselves. This includes passive skill checks like Perception, Knowledge checks and things like that. I also don't expect them to write lengthy in-game descriptions of why they do the checks, so if it is clear what the check is for, you don't need to describe it every time (because, quite frankly, describing every climb check needed to climb up a mountain might get boring soon). So if you feel like it, describe what you're doing, but you can also add a short ooc description, so just that I know what you're trying to do with the check.

Now it's a bit different with social skills. I don't want anyone to jump through loops just to be allowed to roll for diplomacy, but I think that interaction with the setting's NPCs is an important part of the game, so if you're just rolling a bluff check without actually playing out the bluff, that's kinda boring too. So I'd greatly appreciate if we don't do something like this too often. I might even go so far to steal from 4E and put some skill challenges in the game, though I would try to be very organic and flexible about it, so that it doesn't end in a dice-roller-fest.

This all said, PbP misses out on some visual aspects of role-playing (mimic, voice, body language and the like) and I wouldn't expect you to guess from what I write alone is a skill check is necessary or warranted or not. So what I would do (if you agree on it) is to make some rolls from time to time by myself and using the results of those for any skill check probably appropriate for the situation but not made by the players (as an example let's say there is a secret door and I use one of my results so that Uldir isn't forced to add a Perception check to his posts every time you enter a new dungeon room; or let's say I know that the rogue generally looks for traps but unluckily forgets to include the respective check just at the location I hid one). Main reason being to accelerate the game and not having to add a post just to remember you to make the roll by yourself.

So I would probably roll a list of let's say 20 d20 and use those results for any of those situations (in the sequence I get the results, I wouldn't chose the result I like best for any hidden agenda). I just wouldn't necessarily tell you where we're at at my list of results (though if you take the time to count, you might be able to make an informed guess ^^), as I wouldn't want you to metagame about it too much.

If you agree, that is, if you'd rather make those checks yourself, then this is OK with me.

So if you have any comments on that, suggestions how to improve the process or if there's anything you don't like at all, just tell me, because at this moment nothing of this is set in stone.

I'm all for anything that speeds up PbP, so feel free to make whatever checks you find move things along. I do like the suspense of rolling in critical situations, and failure is often as much fun as succeeding, but for the situations you mentioned I'll all for it.

I'm planning on spreading the knowledge checks as well, so we should have everything well-covered skill-wise.

For links to maps, I use the Short Description so it appears at the top of each page. You could also put the links in the "Class" section of your profile, which would make them appear beneath your name every time you post.

I'd be okay with keeping the list on a google doc that I'll make editable by everyone with the link so everyone can access or edit it as they desire.

I'm more than okay with the way you describe handling the rolls I've played under GMs of all types and personalities so adapting isn't hard its just a matter of knowing what to expect.

I'm all for filling in checks for the purposes of not screwing everything up because people forgot to make a perception check and missed something important.

And roleplaying out social checks is obviously a good idea, it's a roleplaying game after all, the roleplaying is basically the point. Granted, I can't promise to be as good at social skills as my 15 CHA character but I can try. I'd be utterly hopeless in a F2F game but hopefully I can manage in this setting. Having time to think things over helps.

I can be much the same way with in-game social skills. Having time to come up with what the character says while not holding everything up is very beneficial.

As someone who's GM'd before, having characters at least make an effort is helpful. If the party wants to Bluff the guard and says "I tell a believably lie" then rolls a 4, then the GM is stuck having to think up a guard's response AND the player's initial lie on the fly.

Granted, I can't promise to be as good at social skills as my 15 CHA character but I can try. I'd be utterly hopeless in a F2F game but hopefully I can manage in this setting. Having time to think things over helps.

I don't expect you in any way to have the same stats as your character, so you don't have to do something exceptional. But as CrusaderWolf is saying, it helps a lot if I know at least on what to react and not having to figure out those things for myself (and I also don't want to play your character, that should stay your privilege.)

Two other things I might add to the campaign info tab:

Regarding magic items

I'm a big fan of random treasure creation. I won't change treasure found in the adventures for change's sake, but as I have to adapt the treasures to the party size anyway, there might be changes where necessary, and those I will roll randomly. I'm personally of the opinion that it can be a lot of fun if you have to succeed with items not perfectly fitting for your character.

This said: I'm not trying to hold something from you away. So if a player has a wish (or even a little wish list) about items he or she might want to get his hands on during the game, I'll try to include those items in future treasures to be found (within reason), or use other ways to let you get those items (if buying, crafting and downtime activities don't already take care of this). So just let me know a bit before you would need something like that so that I can think about how to include it in the game.

I'm also kinda addicted to the magic shop concept in the form of how it was introduced by the Shackled City AP of old. For those of you not in the know: it was (one of the first times I saw something like that) the concept of a magic item shop where the items got changed over time to fit the needs of the players according to their level. I'll adapt this a bit for this campaign and might use it to introduce some items normally not available for an official Pathfinder campaign (3pp items, old 3.5 items , something like that). This is an additional offer you can totally ignore and won't replace anything.

I also like “named” magic items (I loved all those creations especially be Ed Greenwood) with a history behind it, so if time allows, I might introduce this for some of the items you'll find or be able to buy. But that will be more for atmosphere, so is again something you can easily ignore.

Combat

Another thing I would like to have your input about how to handle it. In combat situations, I have often found that it can become quite tedious if you have to wait for a specific person to post their character' s action because of initiative. So what I used to have in former campaigns was something I called “initiative groups”, meaning that everyone would roll for initiative and then all players whose initiative was between two enemies were allowed to post regardless of their actual initiative order.

As an example: Orc 1 has init 14, Uldir has rolled for a 12, Rianne for an 11, Kendren for a 7 and Orc 2 for a 6. So after Orc 1 acted on his init, Uldir, Rianne and Kendren could act without having to wait for the others with a better init. Again, I'm not trying to punish you, so if actually would be better for Uldir to act first for whatever reason (let's say because he wants to buff Rianne with Protection from evil first), we can still wait for his action (or, if Rianne has already acted, add it to her action if it was deciding for her success afterwards). But in general, it might accelerate fights a bit EDIT and I'd also accept if Kendren should post first und buff Uldir with some spell, so it should rather be to your advantage.

I'm actually doing something similar in my Runelords game, and then what I do is resolve the actions in Initiative order. I have no problem with doing it as you suggest, since it can keep things moving. If you wanted to roll initiative instead of waiting for us, that could work just as well. I've seen a lot of GMs do it that way on the boards (including me).

The magic item stuff should be fine. I know I was considering taking the Legendary Item mythic path ability at least once, simply because the Archmage's staff is such a classic fantasy trope, so I suppose a useful staff in that regard wouldn't be bad :).

I'm good with the role-playing, treasure determination, and would welcome you rolling initiative, and assigning block to act.

OOH, I love named magic items, I always enjoy giving weapons, armor, staffs, etc names & histories even if they're not strictly speaking "unique".

I'm fine with the initiative thing too, been having some serious lag issues in one of my other games where one player is really slow to post.

Edit: as far as magic shops go, I actually prefer as a player and GM to have items carry the low-to-mid range "essentials" almost always, but more powerful gear is either loot or custom jobs. I think it provides better fidelity to the world but it's not a sticking point. If the others would rather do OTC items I'm fine with that as well.

The initiative idea is fine by me as well as what else you outlined. I am good with the role-playing aspects as well and have no problem making sure if I am saying something in character to actually try and flesh out the characters words rather than just make a roll of the dice.

Though do you have a problem with us rolling the die in advance and then using the result to describe our actions or intentions.

Though do you have a problem with us rolling the die in advance and then using the result to describe our actions or intentions.

Nope, no problem with that. You just need to be a bit cautious about guessing what the result of your roll might be. Not that you describe outright failure when actually the check succeeded (or vice versa).

Also remember what I already included in the campaign info, that I might replace failure with partial success, but with complication (13th Age calls this the "Fail Forward" rule). So instead of just saying that you can't do something, I might decide that you actually can but that there might be unforeseen consequences. (I might even ask you what you think that the consequences of a check should be if you fail, to give you the possibility to influence the outcome)

Nothing you've said is a problem for me. Io will be heavily roleplaying diplomacy rolls (Redemption FTW!) and probably not making any others... lying is tricky for Paladins afterall.

Named items are cool - I'll avoid a shopping list though since I know that paladins get a lot of shinies during this AP so everyone else should probably get first call on other cool stuff.

I'm fully in favor of GM's doing a lot of rolling, it keeps things from slowing down and in a Pbp that's vital.