Greetings!!
Feel free to discuss with each other how your characters work together, or know each other through their employment/service to Ninshabur of House Eannatum.
Don't worry about mis-representing Ninshabur. He can be many things to different people, and all of them true. What matters more is how you guys might fit together during this.
it's ok to say "he just hired me because X" and I've never worked with any of the other PCs before. That's totes apropes and doesn't really affect anything.
I just though it might be a bit fun to have the PCs have some connections. It's not required.
Also, feel free to stretch the RP legs a bit in here. Assume none of it is canon, but it might give us all a chance to read and mesh styles and what not. The gameplay post will go live tomorrow night.
Reporting in!
As a note, it's my 10 year anniversary tomorrow so I'm going on a trip. I'll be away from home until next sunday. I'll have internet access but my time to post will be limited.
Bug is very recognizable, so the rest of the party probably knows her as the prince's weird/creepy/murderous pet and not much beyond that unless someone in the party is one of the few people the prince trusts with her leash.
Please bot me as needed.
Rilkus Steelhand reporting in.
Have fun on your 10th! I think it’d be best to have us meet up with bug, finding her once you return.
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Suddenly you hear a voice in your mind.
Behind you, chumps. An elf with pale skin and green hair casually strolls up.
Darzus, former common street thief of Urik, current student of The Way, reporting.
I'll pick his extra languages and buy equipment tomorrow, hopefully before the first game post goes up.
Oh, and thanks for selecting me!
Rilkus slowly turned around, and glared at the elf. A psion. He didn’t trust psions.* They all looked so weak. So fragile. And then they go and tear you apart with their mind. Elf psions were the worst. All the power of a keen mind, with the tendency to change it on a whim. Traders, thieves, bandits...often on the same day. It didn’t seem like a safe combination. But then again, were humans any better? The only thing you could trust with them was how horrible they would be given the slightest bit of power. At least elves were only sometimes murdrous thieves.
Rilkus turned back around, hoping that this wasn’t the type that could real minds. He reflexively balled his hands into fists. That could get messy.
* And by this it means that he doesn’t trust mages (of any sort), druids, or psions. Basically any power that doesn’t come from one’s own physical strength (which coincidentally, is what he relies on).
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Rilkus slowly turned around, and glared at the elf. A psion. He didn’t trust psions.* They all looked so weak. So fragile. And then they go and tear you apart with their mind. Elf psions were the worst. All the power of a keen mind, with the tendency to change it on a whim. Traders, thieves, bandits...often on the same day. It didn’t seem like a safe combination. But then again, were humans any better? The only thing you could trust with them was how horrible they would be given the slightest bit of power. At least elves were only sometimes murdrous thieves.
Rilkus turned back around, hoping that this wasn’t the type that could real minds. He reflexively balled his hands into fists. That could get messy.
* And by this it means that he doesn’t trust mages (of any sort), druids, or psions. Basically any power that doesn’t come from one’s own physical strength (which coincidentally, is what he relies on).
"Be at peace, my big friend. That was a simple missive, a one-way communication. I cannot read your mind, steal your thoughts, and so on. I can blast our foes with bolts of manifested energy, telekinetically gather debris to entangle them so that you may clobber them more easily, and other useful things."
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'allo!
I made an error on my character and didn't take a campaign trait, so I'm going to fix that posthaste.
DM, you mentioned no create water spell exists. Still true even for a cleric of para-elemental rain or a water cleric? Must rely on conjuring element directly in a limited fashion?
Badr layed prostrate waiting for the Master to enter. He meditated with his eyes closed. I must be strong like the shifting sands ...
Slowly he became aware of others in the room. He open his eyes and allowed them to adjust to the dim light.
A muscled brawler and a thri-keen were on the other side of the room. Ah, the master's bug ... and a mul. These two will be useful in the desert. Keep them close ... but not too close.
He turned his head and noted a woman. She wore a symbol that Badr didn't recognize. A false prophet. She will soon learn the errors of her beliefs in the burning wastes. The desert does not forgive fools.
But then he detected the most foul of smells. The smell of craven treachery. The smell of evil incarnate. An elf! All elves must die! The desert burn his black, empty soul!"
Badr struggled to regain his mental calm. For a moment Badr questioned the wisdom of his master. How could he possibly trust an elf? Has this elf been summoned to take me back to the forest ridge? We are doomed to failure! This one must suffer. This one must die ...
Badr reached for the reassuring bone pommel of his obsidian dagger.
The mul grunted ”Good.” He then attempted a warm smile, something he wasn’t very good at. His eyes clearly betrayed his unease though. He was certain that he could tear the elf apart with his bear hands. But that was if he could catch it. And the elf could easily run circles around him, blasting him with psionic Power. And if it could read minds, it would never admit it. No, it would say just what it had. But how did one guard his thoughts? It was a weighty matter, which sadly, would require much thought.
'allo!
I made an error on my character and didn't take a campaign trait, so I'm going to fix that posthaste.
DM, you mentioned no create water spell exists. Still true even for a cleric of para-elemental rain or a water cleric? Must rely on conjuring element directly in a limited fashion?
Yup nonpermanent sources of water can be created even for rain clerics. Same with metal. Oh and endure elements doesn't exist as a spell or power.
"So what's the point of a rain/water cleric?" Excellent question. They do all their cleric stuff just without the permanent fluids and endure elements.
Abilities that mimic having endure elements DO exist as innate features of the race/class
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So, just to be clear, maximum wealth by class just means convert gp to ceramic pieces, and the same goes for the costs of things. More or less you'd be able to buy the same things as a regular game *except* for metal (I found the table of costs by material).
The one thing I didn't find there was the affect of, e.g., bon or obsidian on weapon usage. In original dark sun, it imposed some penalty to damage (there had to be some benefit to actually obtaining metal), IIRC. Did I miss that in the conversion somewhere?
I'm not sure what to do for extra languages, but as this character is somewhat intelligent I'm going to pick a mix of languages of races in Urik and the ability to read and write.
1. Read/write elf
2. Read/write urik
3. Speak mul
4. Speak dwarf
5. Speak Thri-Kreen
Any other Urik languages that are worth considering?
In all fairness, elves do have a reputation for being CN.
Also...I’m not an expert on Athas. Does steel exist? Or should I change the name to ironhand?
I've updated Badr's equipment in dedicated "equipment" spoiler separate from the hero lab stat block. I'm also assuming we're simply taking the normal class max and converting it to cp. So, I've used 240 cp as the starting wealth for Badr.
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Shifting uncomfortably in her inix-hide leather armor, the bone studs on it standing out in stark white contrast, the human woman with the rest of the group seems wary but confident. She carries a frame pack with a variety of traveling supplies and has a loose-knit filter scarf draped about her neck in case of sandstorms. She has a short spear and a shield, though she doesn't have the musculature of a soldier or gladiatrix. In fact, it's hard to tell exactly what role she's expected to play, as she's not a templar, nor has she evidenced any of the power of the Way, as a student of psychic abilities might. She seems to regard the various happenstance companions evenly, as if she is reserving judgement until having seen their own capabilities.
metal: none, nada, zilch. Not really, it's just super expensive because it's super rare!
effects of non-metal:
Bone/Horn/Shell/Ivory/Teeth: armor and weapons are fragile, weapons have -2 damage(minimum 1), and 1/2 hardness of standard weapon; armor has 5 hardness, -1 shield/armor bonus
Obsidian: fragile condition, 1/2 hardness, but no damage penalty
Stone: Weapons made of stone have half the hardness of their base weapons, and have the fragile quality.
Languages:
Mul and half-giants don't have their own languages. They're created races.
Racial languages:
Thri-Kreen, Giant, elf, dwarf, halfling, Tarek, OLD Athasian
Human languages:
Urik, Nibenay, Balic, Tyr, Draj, Raam, Gulg,[the free cities speak the languages of the city states they're closest to]
It's also worth noting that it's pretty rare and weird for non-Kreen to speak Thri-Kreen. It's a language full of ticks, clicks, whistles, chips and trills, and also has non-verbal components from antennae movements and pheromonal changes. Kreen are also notoriously xenophobic in their traditional hive-cluture.
The combination of those things means non-Kreen don't learn to speek Kreen very often.
I don't know how/if any of this fluff translates into the Pathfinder language mechanics.
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It's also worth noting that it's pretty rare and weird for non-Kreen to speak Thri-Kreen. It's a language full of ticks, clicks, whistles, chips and trills, and also has non-verbal components from antennae movements and pheromonal changes. Kreen are also notoriously xenophobic in their traditional hive-cluture.
The combination of those things means non-Kreen don't learn to speek Kreen very often.
I don't know how/if any of this fluff translates into the Pathfinder language mechanics.
Coconut shells!
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It's also worth noting that it's pretty rare and weird for non-Kreen to speak Thri-Kreen. It's a language full of ticks, clicks, whistles, chips and trills, and also has non-verbal components from antennae movements and pheromonal changes. Kreen are also notoriously xenophobic in their traditional hive-cluture.
The combination of those things means non-Kreen don't learn to speek Kreen very often.
I don't know how/if any of this fluff translates into the Pathfinder language mechanics.
Yup, aware. I suppose a DM ruling is in order on that too but I don’t mind swapping it out.
i'll allow it but it's not TRUELY the same language. It's an approximation. You can get the gist of what's being said
instead of "I find eating fine cheese to be an altogether enjoyable and nuanced experience. I especially favor the smokey scents and rich textures of gouda."
A non-native speaker would get: "Bug want eat cheese."
If you really want it, especially so that we can understand our Bug, you could always take the route of "know thy enemy." Kreen will eat humanoids, and they especially find elf tasty. Understanding the rudiments of Kreen language is not just about communication if you're an elf - it's a survival advantage.
Agreed. Ok. I will be setting up the gameplay tab tonight. I keep getting distracted by RL
I like the idea that a lot of the nuance is lost by non-kreen. That fits with what I had in my head.
Between rudimentary sign language, pidgin laguage and sense motive, I don't think the language barrier will be too much of an issue. I do want to play with it as a story element for a level or two.
Good thing that I made a brawler...I picked the class because it felt flavorful for a Mul. A lifetime of slavery and hard labor would not give proper combat training. But it would give the strength needed to just make a fist and bash someone's face in.
Looking at the rarity of any kind of metal, unarmed fighting is looking much more attractive.
That...and his wooden arm guard is starting to look to be 'top of the line' as well. :P
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If you really want it, especially so that we can understand our Bug, you could always take the route of "know thy enemy." Kreen will eat humanoids, and they especially find elf tasty. Understanding the rudiments of Kreen language is not just about communication if you're an elf - it's a survival advantage.
I like the idea that a lot of the nuance is lost by non-kreen. That fits with what I had in my head.
Between rudimentary sign language, pidgin laguage and sense motive, I don't think the language barrier will be too much of an issue. I do want to play with it as a story element for a level or two.
Okay, you talked me back in it. I'll keep baby-thri-kreen as a language :D
As a Psion, I'm sure you'll have other ways of communicating soon. Nothing smashes language barriers like telepathy
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GM, can we get Gameplay open to dot the thread? It would make it easier for us to track updates if it was on our games tab.
Gameplay is now live!
took a bit longer than expected (sorry about that)
I wanted to bring up something out of game as a warning to the party-
Bug isn't going to be very reliable at first. If a fight breaks out, she's just going to sit there. She doesn't communicate right now and doesn't come with an instruction manual, so until someone figures out the thing with the leash, she's just kind of along for the ride.
I realize that this is a pretty big departure from the way most characters behave so i wanted to bring it up in discussion rather than surprising the group by unexpectedly skipping my initiative in the first encounter.
Thanks for the heads up. As long as it is for RP and doesn’t actively hurt us, I’m good.
But...without an instruction manual isn’t it universal to hit something until it works? ;)
Sure, unless it's something dangerous. ;)
Agreed. I like Bug's concept, but we gotta make sure that concepts don't kill parties. (even priests of a pacifist deity of waterfalls can kick ass in .. ways) :-p
You knew about my priestess of Eldath?
You knew about my priestess of Eldath?
2:36 time stamp It's a crappy copy of the ep.. but HILARIOUS all the same..
I am the game master! You are my pawns!!!!!!
Ah. When I was at Interplay in '96 I was in Scott Bennie's 2nd edition game and I played a pacifist priestess of Eldath. (This was especially funny because our frontliner was a lawful evil fighter.)
DM, in yet another oversight, the conversion guide does not have a price listing for water. It has prices for broy, wine, and waterskins, but not water.
Now in DS core water is not THAT expensive, it's 1 sp (10 cp) for a 250-gallon tun. (See p. 52 of the Rules Book from the original boxed set.) Is it reasonable to assume that this price is still relevant?
Note to party: 250 gallons weighs 2,000 pounds (a literal ton), so there's no way our mul is carrying that. We would either need an inix, or we need to get less water and split it up among us.
ahh..
GRRRR
let's use 10cp for 250 gallons.
so it's not THAT expensive. I think the main problem will be exactly as you said; transporting that much water, or finding water when you run out of your own water because you couldn't carry 250 gallons with you. :-p
Ok ladies and gents, I think our best bet in that case is to purchase 50 gallons of water and a barrel. (Barrel is 2 cp, 50 gallons would be 2 cp.) This would weigh 430 lbs. (400 for the water weight + 30 for the barrel), which I think Rilkus could carry lashed to his back. (Someone else would need to carry his backpack and blanket - probably me.)
I'll front the tiny monetary cost for the barrel and water.
We also need food. It's 1 cp and 2 lbs. for 2 days of food. We need at least 50 days of food to make it out there safely (and that could go bad if we get lost or hit a sandstorm), which would be 50 cp and 100 lbs.
If we do this, we will have enough food and water to get to the Smoking Crown, but not enough to get back. We would have to rely on finding valuables out there and then swinging by the settlement of Makla and trading for more food and water.
Note that our kreen doesn't take as much water, so that helps.
Also, everyone who has Survival skill has a chance to extend our supplies by finding grubs, lizards, cacti, etc.
Does this sound good? If so, I will mark off the costs, Rilkus will get a barrel with 50 gallons of water, and everyone on the team will get 10 days of trail rations (weighing 20 lbs) each.
DM: Normally I would, as a rain cleric, use magic to create water and help with this, but since that ability is gone, I guess I'm stuck just funding it out of pocket. Obviously you can't have create water as an orison; when I ran DS in 3e I just made it a 1st-level spell only available to clerics, druids, and rangers with access to the Water domain or one of its subdomains. But alas!
Does endure elements still exist?
So that comes out to 1 CB for 2.5 gallons of water? (which is roughly a week for one person's consumption if they ration tightly). Sounds remarkably reasonable.
Yep - the equivalent of a copper piece in a typical D&D world - but remember that in PF/D&D, the expectation is that you drink a gallon a day, so you're looking at more like 3 CB for 7.5 gallons.
Also, I dunno how things are done in Urik (there's not a lot of details about the city-state proper), but in Tyr - even before Kalak dies - they actually have a water dole. In that city there are 17 public wells staffed with templars and everyone can go and get a daily water ration for free. In large municipalities, water is a commodity that isn't free, but it's not hard to get. The real problem is when you are out in the desert. :)
Sounds like a good plan Sienna. I recommend we split the cost. Badr will contribute 11 cp and can cover others if necessary.
Rilkus already said he's broke, and he'd have to carry the barrel, so I'll pay for him.
Bug as a slave presumably doesn't have any money so I'll pay for her, too.