So as a Rogue I have Trapfinding defined as:
A rogue adds 1/2 her level to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device skill checks (minimum +1). A rogue can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps.
As a Knife Master I give up Trapfinding for Hidden Blade defined as:
A knife master adds 1/2 her level on Sleight of Hand checks made to conceal a light blade.
Looking at the parallels - I lose the 1/2 level bonus to Perception and Disable to gain the same bonus in Sleight of Hand. That's clear enough. BUT do I also lose the ability to attempt to detect/disarm magical traps entirely?
"Um, my race is native to Zi Ha. Many of my births took place in that sacred land. For my people, death is just another phase we go through. We are born, we die, then we are born again. In this life, I am Rose, but as a, um, soul, my name is Chunhua. In my last incarnation, I was called Violet, a name I took since my guide across the Crown had difficulty pronouncing my name. And while Violet has passed, she still lives as Chunhua, and in this life as Rose. Does that make sense?"
The disfigured Varisian stares unblinking at Rose-that-is/Violet-that-was/Chunhua utterly fascinated by her tale as well as her unusual race. He leans in; his response is frank and forward. "You are very interesting." Only belatedly does he realise he's being too intense and that among people you don't do that. He falls back on his church-training. He tries to put a friendly smile on his scarred face and immediately sits back, trying to look casual and non-threatening. "Sorry."
Lem smiles at Rose's description of her people.
You are truly blessed. For all people death is not an endpoint, but merely the start of another journey. But if you remain here, in this realm, you can learn from your previous lives and share the details of your journeys with others. I don't mean to pry, but do you retain the memories from your other...travels?
Rose sinks lower in her chair as the scarred man leans in. Realizing he is trying to compliment her she says, "Th-thank you." Then the halfling speaks up, his words calming her. "I do retain some of them. The best way to relate is to imagine a dream, only it comes while you are awake. I can see an empty field where a building now stands, or a familiar looking man that reminds me of a child I recall. When I came to town, I remembered my last life and my last days with the Professor..." As Rose remembers the memory, a sad look crosses her face.
Hey guys. Sitting at an airport waiting for a plane to Sydney, so am writing on my phone and don't have the time or wherewithal for quotes and formatting niceties.
That being said, yes, I think you do lose the capability to locate and disarm magical traps if you lose trapfinding; the whole text is replaced by your new ability.
In terms of wands and coverage of abilities and such, like I said in the recruitment thread, I am a storyteller first. 9 times out of 10, that means I want your characters to survive. that tends to mean that when I GM, I alter treasure to give PCs the tools they may lack if their class/skill selection has gaps. You will likely see what I mean fairly early.
What all that means is that you should first and foremost play the characters you want to play, and let me worry about gaps. If you have no ability find and disarm magical traps, for instance, I might replace them with guard creatures or haunts. That sort of thing.
If, however, an enemy bad guy relies on buffs and none of you have dispel magic prepared, well, that's a choice you make, and I won't be altering that sort of encounter In that fashion.
I will likely be incommunicado for long periods over the next two days--probably until Monday my time to be honest, given the busy weekend ahead. When I first set the dates for recruitment etc this training course wasn't even on the cards! In any case, I hope you can be patient until next week, when we will really hit the ground running.
PS: Raj, many many thanks for marshalling this discussion about skills do well. I really appreciate it. : )
That being said, yes, I think you do lose the capability to locate and disarm magical traps if you lose trapfinding; the whole text is replaced by your new ability.
Flori listens politely. Fascinating. The professor certainly knew a lot of different people!
If he liked these folks, I imagine I'm in good company.
Walter watched interestedly as Rose spoke about herself. He wondered if she was natural or not, what the Church would think about her. His knee-jerk reaction was that she was blessed-- extremely blessed-- by the Lady, able to die and be reborn without judgment and without becoming remade. At the same time, though, did she exist outside the spiral? He eked out what was left in his glass before setting it on the table. He realized suddenly that she was probably the only person he'd ever met who knew what it was like to die, and understood the glimmer of emotion that crossed her face when she spoke about the Professor.
"I actually attempted to steal a book from him..."
Raj smiles at the tale which is similar, in some ways, to his own. His question is more a matter of professional curiosity, "Which book was it?"
Word format would be great, thank you. My email address is my username at gmail dot com. : )
That being said, yes, I think you do lose the capability to locate and disarm magical traps if you lose trapfinding; the whole text is replaced by your new ability.
Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated. : )
Hey folks. Here are the results of my mechanical reviews.
Flori
Nothing to add, didn't find any errors.
Lem
Seems to be missing his armor class numbers, which I've calculated as AC 17 / 14 touch / 14 flat-footed.
Parade armor usually only affects people from the same country. In Lem's case, did you have a mechanic in mind for how you wanted to armor's effect to play out? The simplest explanation would be that it affects folks who share Lem's faith...but that seems a bit too specific. Let me know if you have any particular ideas.
Raj
Nothing to add, didn't find any errors.
Rose
Seems to be missing her Initiative bonus; it should be +2 from her Dex, I think--unless I'm missing something?
Walter
Seems to be missing the bonus from his leather armor (which will bump his AC up to 14). Also missing a target for Inspired by Greatness (which has to be a spell you can cast now). And lastly, he seems to be missing a language (Cosmopolitan grants two extra languages).
Karrik
Nothing I could spot. Just watch out for Karrik becoming a walking armoury. I can handle the number of weapons he carries around at the moment...but any more and he'd cut himself every time he turned around. ; )
Theron
Theron gets Varisian as a free cultural language. What is his Resistance judgement?
Dragomir
Not sure how Dragomir reached a CMD of 17...I only get to 16. I presume by the feat 'Unarmed Combat' you mean 'Improved Unarmed Strike'?
Otherwise, looks good to me so far. : )
Now I better get some sleep before day 2 of training tomorrow.
CMD = 16, making changes. I'll change to Improved Unarmed Strike (as a fighter bonus feat)
Oh, I see Dragomir's CMD as 17.
10 + 1 Bab + 4 str + 2 dex.
As to Karriks mobile armory. I went back and forth about this, but in the end he's an analytical mind with a belief in preparation. So while he disdains the ignorant locals for their superstitions, he recognizes that they very possibly might have come from a truth lurking out there in the dark somewhere. I mean, just like the Professor used to say, "Just because I'm not wet from the rain doesn't mean it's not prudent to carry an umbrella."
Ahhhh - thats why I had it as 17...
Let me put some thought into his weapon selection and see if I can get a more streamlined set, though. I just don't want to spend all cash getting a few mundane weapons up-front.
Theron gets Varisian as a free cultural language. What is his Resistance judgement?
"Which book was it?"
Karrik shakes his head at the Varisian's question, "That is the humorous part." He rubs his nose as he recites the title, "Dissecting the Connections of the Ley Lines of Logic: An Editorial Catalogue of Ancient Ustalav's Greatest Uncelebrated Minds in the Studies of History, Arcanery, Science, and Cosmology. By Artemis L. Krolvin." He looks up at Rajuna with a look that is somehow both a bit embarrassed and still completely engaged. "It was a fascinating read. I mean, Krolvin was a complete lunatic -- as were half of those authors -- but the book as a whole really forced you to reconsider the ramifications of the impact of one subject upon another. To this day I have no clue how it fit into the Professor's studies and searches."
His eyes light up a bit as he seems to come back to the present, "Have you read much Krolvin*?"
Dragomir's eyes widen slightly and he coughs up some beer as the half orc sprouts off gobblity guuk fit to shame any preacher he'd ever heard.
Damn me...
Raj is glad he wasn't drinking when the half-orc fires off the book's title. It's a shame to waste good booze. He barely understands the title, let alone the subject, and is quite sure he couldn't repeat it with a knife to his throat.
Raj's reply is laced with mischief, "Oh, so it was light reading. I figure the book was so big to make room for that title." He scratches his head as if genuinely pondering the question, "I mighta read it once... it's a picture book, right?"
"Have you read much Krolvin?"
Used to less seemly companions, Raj almost responds with a drover's exclamation of absolute denial - No, but I nailed his sister. Seeing Rose, Flori, the Halfling Holy-Roller, and the finely dressed Karrik, he amends his quip. "Krolvin? No... but I think that bastard owes me half a crown." His lopsided smile emphasizes the joke.
Flori listens, but says nothing. This airy talk of obscure books is beyond her understanding, like much of what the professor said.
Theron shook his head as Karric discussed the book he had tried to take from the professor. "...I've studied my share of what I thought were obscure subjects, but that book sounds like it is far beyond me," Theron said before taking a gulp from his drink. After being silent for a moment as he thought about how he had met the professor Theron added, "It nice how even something that started out as a mistake can bring about some good. From the way you talk about him, I take it that the professor acted as a sort of teacher or mentor for you?"
"I have," Walter said, and raised his hand. He felt spurred on by the mention of something that he knew. "Um, you know, It's a shame that someone so brilliant had to go along and write up a fictional definitive history volume on all of those poor people. He sounds so convincing that it's hard to believe that he just made up anything he couldn't support with evidence. And on top of that, Krolvin was charismatic enough--and had enough pull-- to convince a judge and jury-- four times-- that the libel charges against him by the authors he wrote on were actually true. Which was a shame in Farseech's case-- he was an astronomer-- because he wrote that Farseech had been using pixies tied together with string to draw the stars on the glass ceiling of his home, which is why they started calling Farseech the 'fairy flier'. But this isn't all just Ley Lines, Krolvin did this with all of his works, it's just that not all of the people he wrote about well, knew they were being, uh, 'libelled' at in other counties."
He grew nervous for a moment, worried that he was being boring, and turned his empty glass on the tabletop, his eyes focused on it. "I'm also pretty sure that he married his sister," he finished.
Oh, I see Dragomir's CMD as 17.
10 + 1 Bab + 4 str + 2 dex.
Yup, but Dragomir's banded mail reduces his max Dex to +1, so his Dex only counts for +1 rather than the full +2. : )
(I did make the assumption Dragomir would likely be wearing his armour when his CMD was called upon; I should probably have spelled that out, sorry.)
As to Karriks mobile armory. I went back and forth about this, but in the end he's an analytical mind with a belief in preparation. So while he disdains the ignorant locals for their superstitions, he recognizes that they very possibly might have come from a truth lurking out there in the dark somewhere. I mean, just like the Professor used to say, "Just because I'm not wet from the rain doesn't mean it's not prudent to carry an umbrella."
My apologies, I didn't mean to imply I didn't like the idea of him carrying around all those weapons, just that physically I think he's pretty much run out of places to strap them. Here was my logic:
- War razor: in a pocket or on a belt loop maybe?
- Dagger: maybe strapped to a thigh or forearm?
- Morningstar: one hip.
- Scimitar: other hip? Or maybe across his back.
- Light crossbow: doubled up on a hip with something else perhaps?
- Spell component pouch: on his belt.
- Spellbook: no idea. Would likely be in a backpack during the day, I would guess.
- Quiver: not sure.
- Belt pouch: on his belt.
- Backpack: on his back.
Karrik's a strong guy and can carry all that just fine...but locating it on his person (a) puts his image somewhat at odds with the refined gentleman look mentioned so far, and (b) means he will a tough time ditching anything in a hurry as his movement will be rather restricted by all the paraphernalia hanging off him.
Magi are the perfect characters for this as they can pick up any weapon and make it magical, so why not have the right weapon for the job? My last magus carried a guisarme (reach, trip, slashing), a lucerne hammer (reach, bludgeoning/piercing), an earthbreaker (non-reach bludgeoning), a halberd (non-reach piercing) and a scimitar (non-reach slashing) for a while. The GM did eventually make me ditch a few. ; )
So I do like the idea of Karrik being a mobile armoury, I'm just not sure it's going to be physically possible to carry much more on his person. Shove lots of them in his backpack, however, and take your (standard?) action to retrieve the item, and we're all good to go. One thing he could consider is to actually get a whole set of e.g. daggers made up with all the different materials, so an adamantine dagger, a silver dagger, a cold iron dagger and so on. Then he could carry them round in a roll like a chef does. : )
I also don't mind the idea that Karrik has a few weapons still 'on commission' to complete his set that he can't afford right now, and that they will mysteriously arrive in Ravengro (having been sent on from wherever he was before) as soon as he gets the cash together to buy them. ; )
As for the Resistance judgement, I think I get to choose the resistance every time I activate the judgement.
Quite right, thank you. Carry on!
"Dissecting the Connections of the Ley Lines of Logic: An Editorial Catalogue of Ancient Ustalav's Greatest Uncelebrated Minds in the Studies of History, Arcanery, Science, and Cosmology. By Artemis L. Krolvin."
That is awesome. I have enormous amounts of trouble coming up with decent book titles for RPGs, but that's pretty much bang on target. Nice work!
He grew nervous for a moment, worried that he was being boring, and turned his empty glass on the tabletop, his eyes focused on it. "I'm also pretty sure that he married his sister," he finished.
Damn that was funny. : D
Karrik leans in, obviously excited about the young man's thoughts, "I can't say that I knew he married his sister, though it wouldn't conflict with any of the other information i've been able to unearth about his sordid personal life. And I certainly won't argue that he was more parts showman and spotlight hound than academian. But you said it yourself, the man had some serious genius. Not to mention balls. The underlying themes and fundamental questions he asks about the prevailing world views are… well… they're certainly worth thinking about if nothing else." He continues; a horse with the bit between his teeth. "I agree that one must read any and every one of his 'suggested' histories as just that… a fabrication, but to me it's so much more than that. There was just as much fact drawn upon as there was fiction, and he said up-front that his conclusions were much more about broadening the views of the collective universities' stances on what could and should be taught than an attempt to prove our history and science books wrong. But to me all that isn't even the exciting part. For every obviously dismissible hypothesis he posed, there were two or three questions that merited some actual thought from the great minds of his time and ours." He stops to take a breath, realizes this is probably not the time or the place, and sits back.
He gives a weak grin over to Rajuna, "I remember there being a fair number of renderings in the Catalogue, though none that many would consider all that interesting. I do hear he died with more debt than fame, so it wouldn't' surprise me one bit if he owed you more than half a crown."
The half-orc struggles to bring the conversation back to what it should be… the Professor. "He was a good man. Saw something in me that was worth having around, and gave me the opportunity to learn and to prove myself." His voice drops to a barely audible rumble, "He was a good man indeed."
He grew nervous for a moment, worried that he was being boring, and turned his empty glass on the tabletop, his eyes focused on it. "I'm also pretty sure that he married his sister," he finished.
Raj deadpans it. "In his defense, she was a looker... once you got past the buck-teeth and shoulder-hump."
Oh, I see Dragomir's CMD as 17.
10 + 1 Bab + 4 str + 2 dex.
Yup, but Dragomir's banded mail reduces his max Dex to +1, so his Dex only counts for +1 rather than the full +2. : )
(I did make the assumption Dragomir would likely be wearing his armour when his CMD was called upon; I should probably have spelled that out, sorry.)