@Storyteller Shadow: Welcome back!
Also, please lemme know if my posts earlier are more helpful or more annoying xD
(Personally, I really like the (new) button that shows up when there's an unread post, and I also sometimes click on those when it's a bad time for me to post, so I thought it might be helpful... possibly maybe...)
@Kana Cherryblossom: thx for the tip ^^
I definitely do like having my games in my campaigns tab ^^
All is well :-)
Sorry for going silent there right when I got the table together again between (mostly) annoying bad s*+! I am adjusting to a new schedule for my daughter and having the boards be shut down for August essentially got me out of the habit of daily checking and things snowballed...
Yay babies ^_^
BTW, is 15gp a typo? or is it a lot in the city of towers?
'cause I'm fine either way, but 15/50ths of a pound of gold isn't up to the usual DnD standard for economic shenanigans xD
Then again, the Cogs don't seem all that dangerous...
It's 15 GP. Supposed to be a 1 to 2 day job (Mickey P will get into that) which is a fair pay day if it's a quick dirty retrieval job...
getting 15gp for taking a long walk does sound more generous xD
I'll update tonight, thanks for the patience.
Final battle map updated.
Second half of group now almost in position to meet with first part of group.
Finally moving alone here!
Welp, Frank will try to cover for Kana and her nat 1 if no one else does xD
I PM'ed electric eye a few days back, will bot him for now to keep us moving along.
BTW, I feel like maybe we shouldn't make Zabeth pay for the whole bribe, anyone care to chip in?
(Frank is hesitant to part with shiny objects, but if everyone chipped in, I'm sure he'd feel too guilty not to)
Maybe a gp each? xD
No no it's all good I'm loaded. Thx though.
Electric Eye.
The Campaign Info tabs cannot be edited until the next update to the website so that's real great but it is what it is. Just check in every third day or so till that issue is resolved then I can see whether you are listed as a PC in the game. Sigh.
Anyone think that we should just all go together instead of scouting? XD
And is there a third option? xD
Could send in a familiar or just wait and see if anyone comes in or out?
Watching and waiting.
Why don't I ever think of that? xD
Anyway, if no one else votes, I think Frank will just let the over-eager Broulnindre go, she's more or less a super-familiar anyway...
I'm reading it for no reason now, and it's not the first time it happened. I wonder if I pressed the X button by mistake one of the times I checked with the cell phone. I don't have fingers, I have a bunch of sausages...
I was just remembered it's been a short while since the last post for this campaign, and then I remembered about this:
With all new people coming in to the game, I just wanted to say I have no problem adjusting the PC to fit the party. If there is, e.g., someone who wants to take the trap dealer, I could look for a class without it, or if someone wants to take another frontline role and we think there'll be too many.
Honestly, I've always been a bit "obsessed" by party balance and all that shyte. I don't like it when someone is stripped of his niche and 5 minutes of glory because all roles overlap.
And I forgot to ask earlier: could we chat about party balance, Electric Eye? I'm very curious about that point of view.
Sure! You tell me, what do you want to do/achieve? What do we need in the group?
I'd like to keep the Investigator part of the character, since it focuses on skills and there are tons of skills EE could specialise in to avoid overlapping. I'm sure there are ways to be good at combat without dipping Fighter (more so having access to Spheres).
I meant more theoretically, and I was hoping the "I'm very curious about that point of view" was a good way to specify that, but now I that you've asked, I want to take care of those practicalities first xD
The main thing Frank does is have Broulnindre around :P
She can sneak around and be a scout and Frank can peek with Bond Senses for maximum scouting ability :D
Also, if she "dies", then she'll just come back the next day (probably in a huff) instead of us needing to drag a corpse to the nearest 9th level cleric and spending oodles of cash.
In short: F & B can scout real good :P
B can also disable devices that aren't magic traps better than the average rogue. (Though, she will be good at Aid Another for magic traps once she has 10 ranks (@ level 13))
As for what we need, I don't think I have a good idea besides we need one or two people that can take out magic traps (longer than 1d4 rounds with dispel magic, though we might make due with that feat that makes dispel magic affect traps for 1d4 minutes...)
...and combat ability is always good!
As for the theory that I originally meant to ask about, I'm curious as to why you're self described as "obsessed" with party balance. :3
Oh, bad experience. I've seen too many times how someone doing a job is constantly overshadowed by another one doing the same job strictly better. I've been caught in that cage too, and I know the feeling. "Man, I wanted to play a rogue because it's fun to be the sneaky guy around, but this damned elf is playing rogue/fighter/wizard..." When that happens, you feel like you're spending feats and gold to accomplish something no one is going to appreciate, since the other guy will do it instead of you most of the time.
So, usually, I'm "obsessed" with the fact that everyone in the party should have a niche focus. Even though I like my PCs to be moderately well rounded, within rules boundaries (I would never expect a Paladin to swim in skill ranks), I try not to focus on things others are going to already have covered, unless they are (or I am) specifically neglecting them.
At my usual RL game group, before making new PCs, we usually try to assign the roles we thing we're going to need. "What else do we need? Do we have healing?", "I can do that!", "I can help a bit", etc. It helps avoid frustration.
So, in this case, I just wanted to play an investigator because I've never had the chance to, but I don't mind leaving behind Disable Device or whatever, if I can have a core to stick to. I could focus on Knowledges, or neglect skills and go Studied Combat, whatever, as long as we all have fun. So yeah, you have a point on the scouting thing. I'll just keep on adding ranks to Stealth and Perception, because they're skills that everybody want, and otherwise focus on another thing (and tweak a pair of things when we are allowed to retrain/change, probably after we exit the caverns).
As a bard, i have the trapfinder trait and can disarm magical traps.
Right now it's +12, inspire competence will make that a lot higher, since i get an extra bonus, when i only buff myself.
nice, <3 trapfinder trait.
@Electric Eye: I think I know what you mean. It's definitely nice to be the best at a particular thing and have a chance to do it.
I think as long as everyone gets a chance to shine, it's not really party balance that's the issue. I heard a story about a group that decided to all be paladins, and I heard that they had fun trying to figure out creative ways past traps and things.
To put it another way, I agree that having overlap is usually bad, but I also think having a base or two not properly covered might make for some interesting and fun challenges ...anyone have experience with that?
As for Electric Eye's focus, I definitely like the sound of Studied Combat. Can't have too many rockets in a game of rocket tag :P
Likewise, it's pretty difficult to overshadow someone else in a knowledge skill. So I'd encourage everyone to grab a knowledge skill (maybe we can coordinate those somewhat?)
I'm personally considering getting the Dilettante feat (after dipping into basically every knowledge), both to fit Frank's character and because sometimes you roll high and figure out an important weakness/factoid about something/someone xD
nice, <3 trapfinder trait.
Not sure how to interpret that right now.
I didn't want to make an archeologist or rogue again and it was said we needed trapfinding, so there's that.I'll admitt it right out of the box, i'm not a fan of summoners, especially with eidolons which resemble a PC so closely.
Companions of all sorts are already very powerful and that way someone is essentially playing 2 characters, not seldomly overshining several other characters. Difficult territory and i already made quite some bad experiences there.
Scouting is very niche as well though, did not happen in games i was very often and usually 2 or more characters can do it together or you can use magic.
I could drop that trait any time and find something else fun to do, don't know who can disarm magical traps at the moment else.
Maybe if I were more specific it'd make more sense?
+12 is nice. That's before your buff, right? That's about as good as you can get without spending feats, so it's a nice bonus.
BTW, the <3 is a sideways heart, in case you haven't seen that before...
and the reason I like the trapfinder trait is that for the price of a single trait, you can deal with magic traps with any class.
Without that trait, anyone who wants that job is forced to pick from two classes (investigator and rogue are the only two, right?)... or a short list of archetypes of other classes, now that I think about it.
Ah, I think I know why you weren't sure how to interpret that earlier, I wasn't thinking >.>
Maybe we can just ask who wants to handle magic traps while we're on the subject?
Personally, I'll be pretty happy as long as I don't have to figure out how to get Broulnindre the ability xD
Oh, Storyteller Shadow has some "everyone X" games which are fun. Thanks to archetypes, diversity is present, and then roleplay makes the rest. But for that to happen, usually it's put in the table before and everyone agrees.
I'm also usually the guy of "hey, pick what you want to do and I'll pick whatever you leave behind", so we can do this - Investigator is so friggin' flexible that it can shine at whatever. Just don't ask me to be the face, please, I'm so tired of being the face at my home games that I almost never feel like being face here on the boards :)
For me the trapfinder trait feels a little bit like an excuse^^
Didn't want to take another archetype though, since they take away things i wanted to have.
Sandmann slumber and sneak attack are pretty cool, but first level ability is niche in my eyes and suggestion just too bard.
Some bards do get the rogue ability to disarm magical traps though.
I can do magical traps since i already built for it and it would also fit the character, but someone else could also handle it.
"Facing" can be done by different persons i think, or we can split it. Everyone wants some spotlight and contribution^^
In my experience, teamplay also brings the best solutions.
We could name "leading" characters for certain situations though, who would do a main roll etc., be supported by others and could then be botted in critical situations if necessary.
Ease of gameplay in PbP.
I bet Kana is good at at least one of the face skills, being that she's so good at disguise that she switches portraits for it :P
@Electric Eye: Maybe we should do a survey of everyone's character sheets so they don't have to volunteer their skills? XD
As far as face skills go, Frank could probably invest in one. He doesn't have them as class skills, he just has the good charisma, so he wouldn't be particularly great...
edit: ...all the new characters are female except for Frank, but he comes as a pair with Broulnindre xD
Also, we have a few people with diplomacy, but unless I missed something only Zabeth can Bluff well and no one can Intimidate well xD
Yeah switching portrais is a nice addendum there :)
Versatile performance will bring a lot more skills over the levels.
Already have +9 in diplomacy.
I live, updating now.
yay!
Also happy thanksgiving xD
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It is Thanksgiving Miracle!;)
Oh, Storyteller Shadow has some "everyone X" games which are fun. Thanks to archetypes, diversity is present, and then roleplay makes the rest. But for that to happen, usually it's put in the table before and everyone agrees.
Well I used to anyway :-(
"used to"?
D:
Everyone X means all the same class?
yes. So all wizards (X = wizards) or all gun slingers (X = gun slingers) or something xD
yes. So all wizards (X = wizards) or all gun slingers (X = gun slingers) or something xD
Correct, pre-Divorce I was running 30 games and about 7 were so themed. I was playing in about 40 or so. Down to DMing 9 and playing in 5 and struggling with all of that so life is a bit different than it was at this time last year!
I'll move Group 2 along once everyone else checks in and heads down.
Sounds good ^_^
Also:
Ouch. Divorce sucks. I guess at that point the alternative must be worse, but still...
PM'd Dev on the combat side to let him know he is up.
I think we are all moving down?
You know, Aerin Aurora has posted on the first of the month twice in a row now. Anyone think that we'll get another post before Saturday? (Dec 1st)
xD
So if the posting pattern holds, Aerin Aurora will post today. If not, I think it's safe to say no one wants look for alternate routes xD
Been meaning to post just freaking backed up (again) will be posting tomorrow morning for sure.
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I'm a day late. Sorry. :p
I moved B on the map per her post. She's probably getting a flanking bonus from Jiri, too
thx, also yay xD
After realizing that I can edit it too, I decided to move the rest of team B ~60' south.
I'm not sure the positioning is exactly right 'cause I'm not 100% sure about where the rubble is, so everyone but Kana might be a 5'-10' farther north xD
edit: I'm now torn as to whether we should be team B because we're the second team to go down into the depths or because we have Broulnindre xD
@anyone who wasn't sure: Broulnindre is definitely female (or at least, as female as eidolons can be) xD
(I tried to write her entrance in a way that didn't immediately describe the person that just joined the fight. I was hoping the first sentence could give readers a modicum of the surprise/disorientation that the characters would probably be feeling. I always like it when player and character reactions can match.)
Computer at home has broken down, until fixed posting depends on other devices with unreliable availability.
Hope to have this fixed soon :(
Not sure what the surprise/disorientation should be about?
I daresay the majority of eidolons i saw, especially those resembling humanoids, were female with some quirks :)
hope your technical difficulties are over soon ):
As for surprise, it's kind of surprising for some extra-planar entity to just show up without so much as a twig snapping to announce her arrival xD
Also, I would've expected most eidolons to be gender-less monstrous killing machines based on the complaints against summoners I've read. Maybe those guys aren't picked on the PbP boards so much? xD