GM Ariarh's Ire of the Storm (Inactive)

Game Master Ariarh Kane

That's understandable. :)

Just a courtesy heads up: I'll be off the boards from Christmas Eve to after New Year's day (24th Dec to 1st Jan). We have lots of family get togethers/functions and we also have family over from Ireland, so lots of sightseeing with them and not much time for sitting in front of a computer and posting. I'll be back to some semblance of regular posting from the 2nd January 2019. Thanks!

:)

Thanks for your patience, gents! Yesterday was a day from Hell and late last night (12.50am) someone broke into our front yard and tried to break into my son's car (which he parks inside the gate/fence on the drive way). I have spent the better half of my morning making flyers for the neighbours warning them (we caught the guy's action on our security cam - he came up to the front door). And, this morning the police came to the house and took a statement and a copy of the security footage. I'm exhausted as I think I slept about 2.5 hours last night.

I'm hoping to finish the search of the fort before 24th December and my time away from the boards. This week's going to be very busy with it being the week before Xmas, but I'm going to try to get through this section of the campaign. We can do it!

Thanks,
Ariarh.

Ariarh, that's awful! But at least the criminal didn't succeed and you have pictures.

I'm all up for carrying on here. :)

I really need sleep and it's late-ish here so I'm headed to bed. I'll post again in my morning.

Sleep well Ariarh.

I’m finding my RL plate is overfilled and I’m over stressed and in no mood (or energy) for gaming. I had wanted to finish the fort by Xmas, but I do not see that happening. My apologies.

Posting will be sporadic at best leading up to Xmas. I may make a post tonight my time and then on my Saturday/your Friday. Tomorrow is going to be super busy for me so no posting then.

Thanks, gents! :)

No problem Ariarh. I'll be somewhat available over the holidays, should be able to check every 1-2 days. And Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish you both a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a safe and peaceful New Year. Enjoy this time with loved ones or to simply relax and unwind. :)

I will be off the Paizo boards from tomorrow until the 2nd January.

Best wishes! See you in the new year. :)

p.s. I'll check the game board tonight, and, if need be, I will make one last DMNPC/GM post before taking my break.

I had an enjoyable Christmas and I hope ye had likewise!

And Letswalo will get out eventually. :)

I'm making changes to how much time I'm investing to posting in games on Paizo. I'm currently involved in three games, but with free time at a minimum and motivation to post at an all time low (I'm feeling burned out), this game will be taking on a slow progression from this point on. I hope this will not be a problem for you as players.

I'll only be posting on my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week (your Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). I believe I can manage three days a week without too much stress on my free and work time. There will be no weekend posting at all (weekends are strictly my personal and family time). Playing only three days a week will allow me the opportunity to concentrate on myself and my well-being in RL.

In addition, I will be retiring one of my DMNPCs as two are too much to run on top of GM duties and normal adventure NPCs. I will spend this week tweaking the character I decide to keep on/play and we will start up again on Tuesday of next week (your coming Monday).

Thanks! :)

Understood. Those changes make sense, and I hope that you feel better soon.

Thanks, Letswalo. :)

Come tomorrow, I will be finalising the encounter with the Grippli and retiring the two ladies: Eira & Oliya (I'll have an in-game reason for this, provided by a little narrative).

In her place, your new travelling companion will be Zenais, Peri-blooded Aasimar Cleric (Angelfire Apostle). She reveres Sarenrae and has the domains: Fire & Glory. I made three different characters, however decided on this one as your party of two has no caster and I wanted to provide some balance/support/healing (even though I know at least one of you will probably multiclass). She will be introduced in game tomorrow or the next day, depending on how the latest encounter goes.

I know as a Spy, Letswalo has the ability to disable devices/traps and should put a rank into it as Oliya will not be in play anymore and you will need someone with that ability in this adventure. Checking Thorongil's sheet, it seems he has Disable Device at +9 (although I'm not sure if he is going to keep that skill after speaking with him about small tweaks to his sheet).

Zenais' profile

Cheers for the update Ariarh.

I do intend to raise Letswalo's disable device, it's just that I felt the need to spread my ranks over a lot of skills at level one. I intend to stick to spy, except perhaps branching into unchained rogue.

I will update this game much later in the day. My apologies for not updating sooner, but for most of today I'll be dessert making, baking/cookie decorating with my eldest sis-in-law for my great nephew's upcoming Christening (which is on Saturday).

That is perfectly understandable Ariarh. I hope your baking and cooking efforts go well. :)

Thanks, Letswalo. All the baked goods are done! :)

Liam's christening is in the morning, so weekend will be busy as our Irish guests will be leaving Oz on Sunday morning (the day after the christening). I'll make new posts come Monday/Tuesday.

Happy Weekend! :)

Enjoy!

Question:

So for those who have been watching I've been trying something a bit different with Thorongil than I have with any other players I've played in the past. Specifically, how his alignment functions.

To clarify something; I hate the Alignment concepts. It heralds from the D&D game before it was even AD&D and was just a template for a character's personality - "Good" vs. "Bad" when "Good" equaled someone like Richard the Lionheart and "Chaotic Good" equaled Robin Hood and "Bad/Evil" equaled Darth Vader and "Chaotic-Evil" equaled "Nazgul".

It taught people who played the old-school combat games like Warhammer how to do actual Social RP (a concept people really didn't do in board games until D&D came out and started encouraging it).

Because of D&D they made a whole list of spells to boost/harm those beings of certain Alignments - but then the whole thing made less and less sense the more you think of it.

Tolkien created Orcs to be monsters bred by Sauron because - when they were killed by the "good guys" the reader/audience wasn't meant to feel guilt - we weren't meant to ask "Couldn't the Orcs be saved; or reasoned with - couldn't they have made peace instead of war?" - and the answer is - "Okay, listen; you might be right but that would have been really boring to read about. This way you can read about epic battles and know that the good guys were good and the bad guys had to be killed in an epic battle because they were monsters made to be evil and so, as a reader, you don't feel guilty."

Obviously that attitude has changed to the point that we actually have "Good Guy Demons" - creatures that are, by their definition, SUPPOSED to be pure beings of evil, but then we see Hellboy and the audience says - "Not ALL demons are evil, I guess" and so the whole Alignment thing makes less sense as it evolves.

This then takes us to the part where Alignment equals "Morality" - but even then, that's hard to codify. Is Robin Hood "Good" for helping the less fortunate? Sure! But he's a thief who takes the tax money used to pay the ransom to get King Richard home from the Crusades after Richard "The Lionheart" bankrupted England by going on the Crusades while Prince John did what he could to earn the money needed to pay for his brother's ransom and still run the country (at least; the part about John and Richard is accurate historically) the point is - who is really the "Good Guy" in that tale and who is the "Bad Guy"?

It's all about how the character comes off, in my opinion.

So yeah - I don't normally like Alignments.

That said; Thorongil is a different concept for me. He's literally a character who is supposed to be bordering on "Lawful Good" (not sure how that plays - I never choose my Alignments anyway, I just RP them and let the GM tell me how my Alignment is supposed to be. Fun aside; I had a Character in the Skull and Shackles game - she was LG but she had no problem killing pirates and thieves as they were evil; and she could serve in the company of pirates as she took an Oath to a different Character that she would obey his orders, even though he himself became a pirate/privateer - I had a lot of other players claim that she wasn't really a LG character though, because I had her personality like Arya Stark, though, fun aside, I hadn't seen Game of Thrones or knew who Arya Stark was when I made the character, but you get the idea - she ENJOYED killing evil pirates because she was a bit of a tomboy and enjoyed fighting, but I digress)...

Anyway - when I was young I used to play Chaotic-Good Characters because I liked Robin Hood and Han Solo - when I got older I switched to Lawful Neutral because, formally, Neutral means you follow the gray space "between" good and evil, doing what should be done in the moment - and "Lawful" because my characters DO follow Codes; but not the Law of the Land, they follow their OWN code that they make up - so I'd make up what things my character would/wouldn't do and then stick by that code and figured LN gave me the flexibility I needed to play what I want but the "Code" part gave me some guidelines I'd invent that I wouldn't cross to keep me playing a character that's consistent.

This takes me back to my actual point (trust me, I get there eventually ;)

Thorongil is supposed to be someone who is LG in theory (only the GM can tell me if I'm playing that right or not; but that's the intention I made with him). He's fought enemies but he tries to come up with diplomatic solutions rather than simply kill people outright - he also obeys the law and recognizes authority.

When I was a kid I used to hate LG because that always translates to stick-in-the-mud, obnoxious, arrogant types. I realized when I was making this character that Aragorn, son of Arathorn, from the Lord of the Rings was basically Lawful-Good and I used Aragon for the inspiration for this character.

Even when he's in disguise he's not lying to people - he always says things like - "I am called Strider" - and not - "My name is actually Strider son of Rider" or something silly like that. He tells the truth, he obeys the law, he does what's right, and so on.

So everything about his character has that "feel" to it.

I'm not sure if a LG character will fit this campaign, though, and I've never played one - and even when I DO play Alignments I always play the way I think the character should be played and let the GM decide what my character's Alignment is (though, of course, I do often get into some spirited debates with GM's about why my opinion on what my character's Alignment is right and theirs is obviously wrong, but again, I digress ;)

So that takes us back to Thorongil and my actual question.

Specifically - given his personality and how I've tried to play my Alignment thus far, which video seems to capture his personality better thus far?

- Video One -

- Video Two -

And just for fun, what about this one? -

- Someone who is more Chaotic Good but still Good -

Alignment is a awkward artifice, and I find myself at odds with it for character concepts more often than I'd like.

This superthread of alignment handbooks makes for very interesting reading. Well, at least the handbooks that got past the idea phase. ;)

I would definitely say Video One.

Letswalo in contrast, was once firmly in lawful neutral territory for want of a better term. A true believer in maintaining order. Not cruel but willing to commit acts that a LG character would object to.

And then he burned out, hence his current malaise. Though perhaps he is getting over that, and may find a new path.

Alignment is a awkward artifice, and I find myself at odds with it for character concepts more often than I'd like.

This superthread of alignment handbooks makes for very interesting reading. Well, at least the handbooks that got past the idea phase. ;)

I would definitely say Video One.

Letswalo in contrast, was once firmly in lawful neutral territory for want of a better term. A true believer in maintaining order. Not cruel but willing to commit acts that a LG character would object to.

And then he burned out, hence his current malaise. Though perhaps he is getting over that, and may find a new path.

Thanks, it looks interesting, I appreciate the link!

Also, thanks for the advice via the video :)

I think Thorongil's character and morality lies somewhere between Aragorn and Robb Stark. (Loved Aragorn but even he was too serious. Robb was weak and a mummy's boy - coddled as the first born Stark son. I never warmed to Robb in GoT - I was always fascinated by Jon Snow and his potential and character. I thought he was the stronger and braver of the two.)

A true stickler, pure LG character won't be too useful in this colony as the residents are a hodge-podge of society and some are even running away from the law itself. To have such stern morality (via LG) would backfire and would set Thorongil up as a target for the less reputable among the residents.

I know Aragorn is labelled as "Lawful Good" and to an extent he is being he has a strong moral code/core. Yet, he isn't light and sunshine - he can be gritty and quite unpleasant with his sullenness and silence. But he does get the job done. He has his flaws and I like that. But morality isn't one of his flaws.

Thorongil is supposed to be someone who is LG in theory (only the GM can tell me if I'm playing that right or not; but that's the intention I made with him). He's fought enemies but he tries to come up with diplomatic solutions rather than simply kill people outright - he also obeys the law and recognizes authority.

The above can work in Pridon's Hearth. Respect is key in any new colony and people will need to see you on their side (protector, diplomancer, problem-solver etc). But, if you're too heavy-handed they may feel judged, lacking/lesser and suspicious of intentions.

I think it best that Thorongil play on the line of NG/LG, especially in this adventure. Not killing someone on first meeting is assuredly the best way to proceed... Following rules can be beneficial (if the lawmakers in town are just, fair and moral). But what if they aren't for some reason? Will that upset a LG purist? Thorongil strikes me as gallant and right now I like that. However, if he presses his morality on others, then that won't be good for him or the party. That's all I'm saying.

=====

Nooria is definitely NG.

Thorongil, in this scenario I will not permit a take 20 on Perception as I asked for an actual (second) Perception roll/check, which you have posted already.

GM Ariarh wrote:

If any of you would notice more, please roll a second Perception Check.

Perception Check

1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

It’s 4.20 am here, so I’m headed back to bed. I will update the game once I’m properly awake.

Thanks.

Personally, I distinguish between good and pleasant. A lawful good character can do great deeds and selfless valour - while being a grumpy, rude, and brutally direct sort.

True. Yet, having an unpleasant (rude, grumpy, combative etc) LG character in game can be problematic.

True. It depends on how grumpy.

I think Sir Fredric Fulk remains well within party-acceptable, while being *intensely* focused on driving cold iron into demons and their worshipers.

Love the curt response. ;) I have no issue with intense drive in game. A seasoned roleplayer will understand what line not to cross when it comes to extreme personality - just enough sass or grump without becoming obnoxious or toxic. Yet, many a time it gives more than some players the opportunities to be a d#ck and say it's simply character flavour and how their character would behave. I honestly don't expect my characters to get along with everyone, yet when players go out of their way to be annoying, obstinate, difficult, rude etc - it drives me insane and doesn't inspire me to play alongside them. I personally despise LG and CN aligned characters on these boards for the reason I have mentioned: people think they can do as they please without consequence in and out of game. As a general rule I tend to stick to the following alignments when I create my characters: True Neutral, NG or CG. It works for me. ;) I have yet to play an evil character on these boards (although I do love an interesting anti-hero type, if played right). LOL

Oh, I know the type.

A lesson I learned long ago: do not let players away with the plaintive excuse of "But I'm just roleplaying my character!" if it becomes a problem for the campaign. Certain players saw opportunity to create characters and play them in a manner that amused them but was immensely disruptive for everyone else at the table.

I rarely play evil characters. In an anyway-serious game involving such, I tend towards the calculating sort who see the benefits of cooperation - and the perils of offending others with few scruples.

I will update the game later today and then I’ll update it again on my Monday evening. Thank you for your patience, gentlemen.

Please have yourselves a good weekend. :)

Certainly.

I will update this board tonight my time. :)

Nooria hears something coming from beneath the fallen bookshelf - in the vicinity of the trapdoor.

"Help me!"

I didn't mention it spoke Common and Nooria can understand its spoken language as can the rest of you. My apologies as it was late and I forgot to say the words were, and, still are, in Polyglot. It never spoke in Common.

Ariarh GM wrote:

Nooria hears something coming from beneath the fallen bookshelf - in the vicinity of the trapdoor.

"Help me!"

I didn't mention it spoke Common and Nooria can understand its spoken language as can the rest of you. My apologies as it was late and I forgot to say the words were, and, still are, in Polyglot. It never spoke in Common.

Ah!

In which case Thorongil is even more suspicious. Why should a person in the militia speak Polyglot when calling for help? Why not Common if he is a militia man?

Well, only one way to find out!

Apologies. I'll update this game in my morning. Night! :)

Once your party has returned to Pridon's Hearth (or if you're spending the night at the Witterwil's - come morning) - You will be able to Level up! Exciting! Just let me know what you plan on doing re your return trip and I can narrate it and move you to Pridon's Hearth and your private meeting with Sheriff Adaela Praet to report what you've discovered.

You can start levelling up your characters and please post your level 2 levelling info here on discussion. Thanks, gentlemen!

Good stuff. :)

I'm making my way through posts and will level up when I can.

I look forward to seeing your levelling info, Letswalo. Thanks. :)

I have levelled Nooria. She's gained a level in Ranger (Wilderness Medic) and her favoured enemy is Humanoid (Reptilian) to help with the possible lizardfolk situation.

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HP on level two and onward is calculated as average rounded up plus CON modifier. Remember, also, you have 2 background skills per level.

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Thorongil & Letswalo, can you place the pertinent info on the alias/status bar under your character name (similiar to how I have Nooria's) to make it easier on me, if I need to bot you. Thanks.

Can you please have your levelled sheets ready to go by my Monday (your Sunday)... I will update the game tomorrow afternoon. Thanks kindly.

Thorongil & Letswalo, can you place the pertinent info on the alias/status bar under your character name (similiar to how I have Nooria's) to make it easier on me, if I need to bot you. Thanks.

The status bar was already updated.

Background Skills Level 2
Knowledge: Nobility
Linguistics: Halfling

Human Skills:
Knowledge: Local

Intelligence Skills
Knowledge: Nature
Knowledge: Dungeoneering

Class Skills
Perceptionx2
Diplomacy
Stealth
Sense Motive
Spellcraft

It wasn’t updated previously - ( your 1st level) status line only gave partial info when Thorongil was level 1 and often I had to go to your profile page and Letswalo’s to find out other information. Thanks why I asked for a more comprehensive status bar two days ago on discussion.

Can you please provide the other levelling info too regarding increase to bab, saves, hp... Thanks.

Can you please provide the other levelling info too regarding increase to bab, saves, hp... Thanks.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Here are the other adjustments:

BAB: 0
Fort: 0
Ref: 2
Will: 2
HP: 6

Thank you, Thorongil.

Once I’m home from the hospital, I’ll update the game. I hope Letswalo will be able to update his character soon as you guys will be jumping into the next part of the adventure once I’ve posted. Thanks.

Once I’m home from the hospital, I’ll update the game. I hope Letswalo will be able to update his character soon as you guys will be jumping into the next part of the adventure once I’ve posted. Thanks.

I am not sure why you are at the hospital, but my prayers are with you in the meantime.

GM Ariarh of the Storm wrote:

Once I’m home from the hospital, I’ll update the game. I hope Letswalo will be able to update his character soon as you guys will be jumping into the next part of the adventure once I’ve posted. Thanks.

I am not sure why you are at the hospital, but my prayers are with you in the meantime.

It was an initial meeting with my specialist before the medical procedures and operation I require for my health/wellbeing take place. I also had to fill in the admittance forms for my short stay in hospital. I appreciate the prayers. Thanks, Thorongil.

Can you please post any messages regarding availability to post, absences etc here on the discussion thread because I'm no longer on Discord and can't read the messages there.

Thanks kindly.

===

Letswalo, how goes the levelling? Just checking in with you because I haven't heard from you on the game since your Thursday or on discussion. Let me know if all is well. Thanks!

** spoiler omitted **

Apologies. It was a busy weekend as well.

I'll be taking a level in unchained rogue.

Are fractional base bonuses in effect.

Primarily a Solo Game. There will be a supporting DMNPC.

Character Creation Rules:

• Level 1 character
• 25 pt buy
• Allowable Races: Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Aasimar
• Allowable Classes: All Core, Base except for Shifter, Summoner, Vampire Hunter and Vigilante, Hybrid classes – the following only – Hunter, Investigator, Shaman, Slayer, Swashbuckler, Warpriest, Third Party (Tripod Machine classes): Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Scholar, Scout and Hunter.
• 3 traits (there are no campaign traits for this module, so choose what you would like). 4th trait allowable if Drawback is selected.
• Maximum HP at level 1; average plus one plus CON modifier on each successive level.
• Starting gold 400 gp
• Free/Bonus language at start of game: Polyglot
• Using Background Skills: 2 per level.
• No ability stat less than 10 (after penalties).
• All alignments (except for CE) are allowable.
• No crafting in this game. There won’t be much downtime to be able to sufficiently craft. (So bring and buy what you need.)
• Begin play with one M/W weapon to the value of 500 gp.