Here is the discussion thread. Dot in when ready and fully finished with your character. I will go over character sheets in greater detail once you dot in.
This is Warforgedman, dotting in as Viktor and his battlegoat. Thanks for accepting me, I am looking forward to the horrifying ride :D
Dotting in. All the crunch stuff is done. I am still fleshing out the long text background, but the bulk of it is done and the layout is there to see. I may have got a bit carried away because I have fallen for this character and am very excited to get to play her in your game. Thanks for the pick lizardwizard :)
Ladruca dotting for duty. His crunch is done and his back story is more or less complete. Thanks for the pick and hope to enjoy some scares with you all.
Keydas Amrath, reporting for duty. Sorry, I haven't made Keydas's alias yet. I'll get it up shortly.
EDIT: And the alias is done. Sorry about the name confusion. I make all my stat blocks and such up using Google Docs before posting it, and I accidentally forgot to change the name from the one I copy-pasted for formatting. I should really create myself a template to use for that.
now just our resident brooding paladin needing to report in.
Here is hoping he shows up soon! Holidays can definitely be hectic and all.
Super excited to play with you all! I don't think I've had the direct pleasure of playing with any of you folks before.
I'm Warforgedman, I'm 27 and living in the Greater Phoenix Area. I've been playing tabletop games now for almost ten years now and have played all kinds of systems. Pathfinder has quickly grown to one of my favorites since it scratches that D&D itch quite nicely and I like the rules far more compared to 3.5. A few other systems I've played in have been Exalted, most of the World of Darkness systems, Edge of the Empire, Star Wars Saga, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020, Deadlands Classic, Deadlands Reloaded, and more that I just can't immediately remember.
I've been running games IRL for about two years now and am a gigantic fanboy of Savage Worlds system thanks to its ease of access and allowing me to be lazy GM and seem like my stories are good :D.
Like I said, I'm looking forward to going through this adventure with you and seeing how far I get before I am terribly murdered by some awful thing. That and I look forward to seeing a battle goat in action.
Resident brooding paladin reporting in. Excited to have a go at this!
Introductions - great idea. My name is Chris. I'm 52 and live in New Zealand. I've been playing RPGs for almost 40 years now, mostly D&D in its various flavours most of the time although also Traveller, Runequest, Shadowrun and Call of Cthulhu. And now of course, Pathfinder.
Until relatively recently I was just playing a slow paced game of Pathfinder with a small group of my old gaming friends, but discovering the Glass Cannon Podcast gave me the urge to try playing with new folks. And here I am :)
(If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend giving the Glass Cannon Podcast a listen - they are doing the Giantslayer AP and it is awesome.)
I am super-pumped to get to join in on this game. Bring on the terror!
first gameplay post should be up tonight or tomorrow.
Awesome - very much looking forward to it...
before I post, which of your characters would be serving as pallbearers?
Given her height I suspect Fi won't be able to contribute as a pallbearer :)
Viktor will absolutely be a pallbearer. Gunnar will not and generally be off to the side eating grass and watching people with a scowl.
Viktor will absolutely be a pallbearer. Gunnar will not and generally be off to the side eating grass andwatchingheadbutting people with a scowl.
Fixed that spelling error ;)
And now I am just imagining Filia dangling from one of the handles, feet running in the air and her going. "I'm helping see! I'm helping!"
And now I am just imagining Filia dangling from one of the handles, feet running in the air and her going. "I'm helping see! I'm helping!"
ROFL
Viktor will absolutely be a pallbearer. Gunnar will not and generally be off to the side eating grass andFixed that spelling error ;)watchingheadbutting people with a scowl.
LOL, not yet anyways. Gunnar is a mean sonofab@#&& but he's smart enough to be good for now.
Nostro would be a pallbearer.
As far as introductions:
My name is Brendan and I currently reside in Cleveland. I have been playing Pathfinder for 7 years now and have played D&D 3.5 and Call of Cthulhu.
I'll be sure look up the Glass Cannon Podcast, sounds fun!
It won't be too relevant until later on, but I want to ask this of you guys now. I had intended to have resurrection removed entirely save for specific situations. However I've come up with a new idea for it.
All resurection spells save miracle will have a restriction on how much time has passed before they can be used. And limited. Such as requiring a body. Anyone attempting to revive someone slain by a death effect must succeed in an opposed CL check vs the entity that cast the death affect. (If said entity is dead, then you must simply make a Caster level check vs the entity's Effective caster level at the time of casting)
If you have ideas for this, feel free to spit-ball them.
Ah, and another note. I will hold my ability to make minor changes or houserules as I see fit. Note I prefer to do things "by the books" normally, but some things I prefer to follow rule of cool or over awesomness. So far, this has made my games, (at least in my opinion) 20% cooler for players. Some of the things I do off the top of my head-
a nat 20 on a saving throw will always have adverse effects on the caster proportionate to the level and the degree of the harmful effect of the spell resisted.
Some spells will be stronger than others,
an example- the spell Undeath to Death- The change here is that the HD restrictions is based on your Caster level, rather than a strict maximum, and non-inelligent undead receive no save against it(however it will effect all non-intelligent undead before moving on to intelligent undead)
a roll of nat 20 does not need a crit confirmation for players. Any crit rolled based on an improved crit (ex. 19-20 crit range, you roll a 19), must still be confirmed. Crit range of 19-20 get a +3 to confirm, 18-20 get a +2, 17-20 get +1. Anything with a higher threat range than 17-20 gets no bonus. These bonuses stack with any other bonuses.
I will be allowing feats for Path of War for full and 3/4 BaB characters, the idea is that you would take the feat to gain access to maneuvers from Path of War. If you would desire to go down this road, PM me and we will work something out at the time of leveling up.
Spells along the lines of Darkness/Daylight, Hallow/Desecrate work as resurrection spells, with opposed Caster level checks from those that cast them. Darkness and spells of its nature automatically dispel the light cantrip. Darkness will also be more potent of a spell, to what extent I am unsure, however I expect it will be enough to plunge most areas of light into almost pure darkness, at the very least it would be the equivalent of a night with some stars and possibly a semi-bright moon.
For the resurrection magic, I'm more agreeable with magic still being able to bring people back, just more difficult. Makes it have a stronger and more powerful impact, I think. It also ensures that gentle repose is a powerful spell and very useful.
Will these higher level magics be able to regenerate missing limbs or anything like that? I'm sure Raise Dead requires the body to be whole or you'll have lost some "features".
I'm cool for the confirmation rules for criticals. I see that 20 is an auto-confirm for players, do the bad guys get the bonus to critical confirmation rolls as well or is that only for players as well?
I am 100% for Path of War stuff, I love that book and the things within. I would definitely love to look into it, just not sure what I would go for is all.
The rest of the spellcasting rules don't really bother me and the character I have, so I leave it up to the spellcasters in the group to see how they feel.
Keydas would be a pallbearer if asked.
My name is Phntm. I am in my late 20's in the western PA area. I've been playing RPGs for over a decade, and have been playing PbPs for about a year, now.
I'm fine with the change to the Resurrection thing - such powerful magic should be rare and hard to get. I'm wondering though - the "slain by a death effect" rule will mean that it is "better" to be killed by a man with an axe than by an evil wizard's death spell - is that the sort of vibe you are angling for?
The change to crit confirmation sounds good. I have seen games where a natural 20 that doesn't get confirmed still does max normal damage, but this approach is cool too... they both treat the 20 as something special, so I am cool with it (not that it's going to be a thing for my character much)
As for the Darkness thing - all I can say is that it is going to make things a bit unpleasant for my slightly darkness-phobic little halfling - I can't wait :)
The changes off the top of my head for resurrections-
Gentle repose- Instantaneous, preserves the body exceptionally well for 1 year per caster level.
Raise Dead- works as normal, but is required to be used within 1 hour/ caster level of the targets death. No deformations are healed, if the target lost an arm upon death, even if you find the arm it does not reconnect or regenerate. If the missing limbs would cause death, the target immediately dies a number of rounds later equal to his constitution modifier. If cast one someone under the effects of Gentle repose, the time restrictions raises to 1 day/ caster level.
Resurrection- As Resurrection, however you must have at least half the targets corpse, any missing limbs must be replaced either with the targets own limbs, or those from another. You must cast this spell within 1 week/caster level. Gentle repose extends this window to 1 month/caster level.
True resurrection/miracle- Function as written.
Hows this look? To be fair, I've not played extremely high levels very often, and most of the time these spells weren't needed. But I think it would be good to get a feel for things now.
first post up. Now let the games begin.
My name is Josh and Ive been playing pathfinder on and off for about 5 years. This is my first play by post ( well 2nd but the 1st lasted 40 posts) I live right outside of Montreal.
Ladruca probably would not be a pallbearer.
I'm just encouraged that you think it likely possible some of us will get to that sort of level :)
well, while I think this setting should be scary, and have the possibility of very real death, having PCs drop left and right can get disruptive, besides, you folk are technically the hero's, so heres to hoping!
Also, something I should have noted at the start. Anyone not from the core book races... actually, anyone not human, half human, or halfling, if you regularly try to hide/disguise what you are, I'll assume you take 10 every morning, if not, but you have today, make a disguise check.
Dunno if I get some kind of circumstance bonus for his glasses and scarf but ladruca would have a 10 disguise if he takes 10.
This is his check for today.
To pass yourself off as human. Unless you took "pass for human" alternate trait you are /noticeably/ different. The nature of your heritage has a marked effect on peoples opinions of you and even aasimars, elves, and gnomes are treated with usually a mild suspicion. dhamphirs and teiflings get at beast mild distrust most of the time.
and yes, I gave you a slight bonus Ladruca. however... with the inclement weather I'll say they didn't get a good enough look to be completely sure... Unfortunately, Gregor's spell and speech were... very effective.
Yep. I don't see how the crowd would have reacted any differently.
Ustalav is a very superstitious place, and the smaller the town, the more superstitious. I'm pretty sure Ravengro counts as a small town.
with a population of ~400 or likely less? yeah. Small. haha
I'll be back around tonight folks, got to finish cleaning before the gaming group arrives. Tonight is Skulls & Shackles and more half-orcs with Cockney accents :D
As long as it doesn't F the party, Nostro will not attempt to hide who he is. He would prefer to try to show people that his actions and faith are more important than the body he has. He is ashamed of his heritage and would rather not be a Tiefling, but if the Inheritor sees fit to bless him anyways, he shall do his best to honor her decision to do so.
Thats quite possible to due, if you are good, live long enough, and don't get them on your bad side first. Speaking of. There is a certain mechanic in this AP. Would you guys like me to tell you about it, or keep it a secret until its effects are shown? It doesn't really have any spoilers, just effects how certain things work out.
Also, apologies if I Get the pacing wrong. Honestly PbP pacing is so different to IRL game pacing I'm not sure how much the story needs to advance at a time. If I need to take it slower let me know, don't want to take away RP opportunities needlessly.
I think one of the benefits of PbP is we can continue the story while also indulging in roleplay of one particular scene. All it takes is a single divider and all is good.
As for the special mechanic of this book, I'm fine with whatever you're comfortable with. A friend ruined it for me when I was telling him about how g#$~+#n excited I was about having a motherf&$$ing battle goat but I'm good with you. I'm sure if you wish to tell us, we won't metagame it and react however feels appropriate still.
Also, I'm so excited for battlegoat. So. Excited.
suppose thats true. I'll go ahead and give you this-
Trust- your trust is at 18 at the moment.
but thats it. Not what that means, if its high or low, how it changes etc. I'm sure some might know, but I like to feel mysterious :P
also, if anyone wants to take a look into it... the feat "Exorcist" will be allowed in this game.
Will your goat grow big enough for you to ride him in to battle? Cos that would be awesome :)
Will you be giving us trust updates?
I'm ok with the pacing! I'm in another game where it is incredibly slow and it is quite refreshing to have the pace pushed like this.
I also think the pacing is looking pretty good. You guys just post a lot while I'm asleep.
I would also appreciate getting Trust updates. If only so I can try and figure out whether or not we're doing a good job at earning the townspeople's trust.
EDIT: There is one thing I would ask you to do. Since my Naturalist power relies on me identifying the creature we're fighting, when we first encounter them, I would like you to include a spoiler with the relevant knowledge check and the minimum DC so I know what I need to roll to identify the creature. That way I can attempt the knowledge check and then decide my action, as opposed to waiting for you to tell me if I succeeded or not.
Im okay with the pacing as well. My last game lasted 40 posts across 10 days, so this one looks to be surpassing that in a quarter of the time. :)
Sadly, I do not believe there will be many ways to get Gunnar to Large Size. He will be able to shapeshift quite soon though into Medium size, so Filiana could possibly ride him. All you have to do is get him to like you. :P
The pacing is going super well indeed, I like it so far. I also request that, for speed and efficiency, we do block initiative for combat? I see that it tends to make things quicker and easier when fights occur.
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Rather than everyone waiting to act on their Initiative count, people act in groups based on how their initiatives are rolled.
Essentially, the GM rolls Initiative. Let's say we end up with the following:
Gregor & Viktor get a 20 and a 21, respectively.
The bad guys get an 18
The rest of the party get below an 18.
Gregor & Viktor could post their actions in whatever order they post in, then the GM resolves their actions, and takes the bad guys' turn. After that, the rest of the party goes in whatever order they happen to post, and the GM resolves their actions accordingly. Then, we start round 2, in the same Initiative order.
This way, if a PC is going last in the Initiative order, but they can check the forums more frequently than the person ahead of them, they don't necessarily have to wait for that person before taking their turn. It makes Initiative a bit more fluid, but it keeps the game moving during combat.