Swapping Power Attack with Extra Mental Focus.
Awesome. See we're already having more interesting feats being taken!
Naturally the feat tax system is easy to integrate, but adjusting for ABP and wealth is a bit more of a challenge. Let me know if anybody needs help adjusting their gear.
Right now the benefits of ABP should include the resistance bonus of +1 to all saves, a set of +1 armor (or clothes), and a +1 weapon.
Also as an update, the scene with Benjamin in PMs is moving along swiftly. At this rate I would expect the main gameplay thread to be moving forward either by the end of this week or early next week. I apologize for the delays, my own poor planning is to blame.
About the ABP, are we using the "standard" rules within it for weapons or the alternate posted on the blog? It was mentioned in the boards (by Paizo developers) that the blog approach is the better way to go and it wasn't the "standard/official" rule because of page count.
Nevertheless, in Esdras's case, he spent 4000gp on enchantments on his armor, weapon and cloak of resistance, meaning that he is 1000gp short on items. To make it easier, I'll 'save' this gold so I can turn his sword really magical when I get the total amount of gold.
Although it may or may not be better, right now I view it as an unnecessary mathematical complication I would rather avoid. You will get cool gear, I assure you, and some minor math tweaks from this system will not create more good for the game than the headache of trying to track character wealth it will give to me.
But I appreciate you pointing it out, it is something I will look into further down the road when considering rules for my future campaigns.
Oh thank goodness, there's less reading to worry about. This also frees up 1,000 gp for Benjamin to make do with. Probably just turns into more expensive jewelry or something.
Also bump. No rolls this time. Just words.
Counter-bump!
Ah, so close and yet...
Parry, dodge, bump!
Bump.
Get a room, you two...
Badump, tiss :P
Well this should prove to be interesting at the least.
... Responded.
Alright I think we are getting close enough to the end of Benjamin's scenes that I can move the gameplay thread forward. Post incoming!
And responded.
Esdras - "As you can see, I'm crazy, so you shouldn't take my weapons away!"
Oh I had a good chuckle reading that :)
My parents are visiting this weekend, so I will likely be even less available than normal this weekend. I may be able to sneak in a post or two Sunday night.
Fair enough, enjoy the visit with the parental units. Also, I hope Philius likes what I have planned.
Weekend is over, parents are flying home, onwards!
Hope the visit was nice.
Bump.
Clearly distracted.
There's an open window leading to the outside right?
Yes, and nobody is blocking it, although you would have to...
*looks at other players*
Although you are absolutely free to do what you choose, just a friendly reminder that the High Cardinal advised you not to try anything :)
*whistles innocently*
... of course it would be that one. How appropriate.
My turn to show of my lady bumps.
Almost forgot one fairly large detail.
"Benjamin" is rushing through the assassin and towards the window.
The Knights seems ready to kick down the door and storm in, but are somewhat wary and want to see if Draegar has any input before moving in.
Apologies for the delays. Normally I like to run my games at a faster pace than this, but between work ramping up and a play I'm involved in opening tonight, I have been struggling to find enough time in the day to even eat. But luckily I have Benjamin's introduction done, and Caitlyn's will be simpler and starting at a later date.
On a brighter note, I've found a wonderful resource for creating maps and I'm really excited about the level of detail I can include on custom maps now!
Eating is important, highly recommended.
What’s the new resource? I use DungeonFog, it’s great!
RP Tools forum, people just make art and upload it for all to use.
I don't like rigid map making software. I always want to do something the software isn't capable of, and I would rather spend extra time to get exactly what I want.
Mapmaking is a hobby of mine.
I use Roll20, and at this point I have a lot of art assets. The sad thing is they aren't shareable.
However, there is a workaround. I can host a game and promote other people to GM, which allows them to mess with all the art assets on a map I'm hosting.
So if you want a high-detail custom map, you can link me to a few base images you want to use, I can put them down as a map, and drop a bunch of related art assets in the margins. Then you can mess with them as much as you want. It's basically art-legos.
In my opinion, the lighting effects alone make Roll20 the best map platform out there.
If you want to see what a finished map looks like complete with lighting effects, you can mess around with this one.
There are 4 gold-bordered player tokens on the map you can freely move around ( If you zoom the map out to 20% they should be really easy to find. Then just center the map on the token and zoom back in to see the detail). I have it set so you can move through walls to make navigation easier.
I am a subscriber of Roll20 and find it to be the best overall platform to use for all of my games. We use it in my live games with a projector onto a whiteboard and I use it for my virtual tabletop games as well.
I love Roll20!
I really like to make maps too, mostly world maps, using the old pen and paper. It sure takes time and sometimes is limited to skill but the results are great most of the time.
DM, from what you just said, you've ruled that it is possible to ready actions outside of combat.
If that's how you want to do things that's fine, I just want to clarify that's your intention.
Oh ho ho, this conversation. Yes if you go back through the history of the boards, I used to be pretty deeply involved in discussions on the rules forums. This was one of the nastier topics.
I generally allow readying actions outside of combat if the enemy is not aware of you. And even then, its usually along the lines of "if somebody starts initiative I am ready for the surprise round", like what happened with Forg earlier. For example:
1) A wizard is hiding in plain sight using invisibility. If negotiations go south and somebody attack his allies, he wants to teleport the party away. In this case I would allow a readied action, presuming nobody could notice him through the invisibility.
2) A rogue is holding a concealed weapon on a spring-loaded sheath. He is hoping to lie his way past some guards, but if things go poorly he wants to stab the guard. In this case I would not allow a readied action, because the enemy (or potential enemy) is able to see him.
I hope that makes sense and seems fair.
Also this specific instance was a little weird, because he was already holding his action long before you and the Knights entered the room.
However I don't want to discourage a creative violent solution to the problem. Perhaps a creative approach will allow you to get the drop on the man holding the knife, and I'm definitely open to that. But charging him across the room will certainly be too slow and easy to react to.
My rough intent (albeit unsaid because I figured we'd be rolling initiative before it mattered) was to charge in when the guards breached the door.
Since readying outside of combat is loosely allowed, in the future I'll make sure to state my intentions before any door breach.
Next question-
Those windows on the right side of the map- Do those go to the outside of the ship, or to the deck?
How hard/how long would it take to do a surprise attack from behind, smashing through the window from the outside?
That's fair. And I'd be happy to run it as such. But I believe I will stick to the reasoning that charging across the room is too telegraphed and time consuming to prevent his action, but you will have the choice of how to handle it. If you decide to follow through with the charge you will definitely act before everybody else except that one man.
They go to the outside of the ship. That would have actually not been too difficult, throw down some rope and smash your way in, definitely would have caught them off guard.
If only I had my whole adventuring kit. No grapple, no rope. Oh well.
Guess someone who isn't me is going to have to talk his way out of this.
Nice write up Esdras!
Draegar, you don't see anybody else in the immediate vicinity, but you know more Knights are coming soon. What do you want to do in the meantime? From the front deck you could climb up and try the window entry if you're interested.
How long would it take me to get there?
Perhaps a minute if you rushed and found rope easily.
I'm going for it. Hopefully Esdras can keep them talking.
Just let me know when I'm ready to get back into the scene.
Will do!
Weekend is over, you guys know what that means!
Ah, it seems we are running into yet another hotly debated rules topic. Identifying spells.
I've put a lot of thought into this, and after much consideration and hearing a lot of opinions and arguments, I have ruled that magic always manifests in some observable way. Even if still and silent. Perhaps your eyes glow, perhaps the air around you shimmers, perhaps your left ear turns purple. Regardless, something happens that lets onlookers know something magical is happening. The details of which are entirely up to your discretion, as long as it's something that is noticeable.
Now even though something happens, that does not mean it is seen. Somebody would still need to make a perception check to notice whatever weird little magical quirk was presented. You could fool somebody with various tricks, even as simple as going "Hey look over there!" And casting the spell while they were distracted.
In addition, if you're not trained in spellcraft, and the effects aren't completely obvious (i.e. a fireball spell), they will likely have no idea what magic you just cast, only that you did do magic. You could have just cast a reality-changing 9th level spell, but unless the effects are obvious, for all they know you just used prestidigitation to clean your boots.
That goes for everybody, but I wanted to point it out now since Esdras seems to be under the impression that because his spell is psychic nobody will notice he did something magical. Since he is actively talking to the people and they are focused on him, they will almost certainly notice the telltale signs of magic on him. Perhaps something as simple as his sword glowing, perhaps something much more harrowing like his appearance flickering into the summoned spirit for a split second.
Ah, it seems we are running into yet another hotly debated rules topic. Identifying spells.
I've put a lot of thought into this, and after much consideration and hearing a lot of opinions and arguments, I have ruled that magic always manifests in some observable way. Even if still and silent. Perhaps your eyes glow, perhaps the air around you shimmers, perhaps your left ear turns purple. Regardless, something happens that lets onlookers know something magical is happening. The details of which are entirely up to your discretion, as long as it's something that is noticeable.
Now even though something happens, that does not mean it is seen. Somebody would still need to make a perception check to notice whatever weird little magical quirk was presented. You could fool somebody with various tricks, even as simple as going "Hey look over there!" And casting the spell while they were distracted.
In addition, if you're not trained in spellcraft, and the effects aren't completely obvious (i.e. a fireball spell), they will likely have no idea what magic you just cast, only that you did do magic. You could have just cast a reality-changing 9th level spell, but unless the effects are obvious, for all they know you just used prestidigitation to clean your boots.
That goes for everybody, but I wanted to point it out now since Esdras seems to be under the impression that because his spell is psychic nobody will notice he did something magical. Since he is actively talking to the people and they are focused on him, they will almost certainly notice the telltale signs of magic on him. Perhaps something as simple as his sword glowing, perhaps something much more harrowing like his appearance flickering into the summoned spirit for a split second.
Ok, no problems. In this case, I believe the most logical way would be for his sword to glow for a moment. I was indeed thinking there would not be any sign, but not solely because it was a psychic magic, but instead because it doesn't have an obvious effect, like the fireball in the exemple. I've had GM's doing it like you said (all magic have signs) and others saying that some spells have no signs. I'm good with either approaches and will take that in consideration in the future.
I appreciate your understanding. I know this is a controversial rules argument and I try to be as consistent as I can. You can trust that all NPCs and enemies will have the same logic applied to them.
GM, a question before I post: What is your take on combat maneuvers used against an ally? I'm specially interested in the Drag or Reposition maneuver here, intending to move in and take the High Cardinal out of danger.
Most combat maneuvers specify a "foe" or an "opponent" as the target, but I don't really see a reason for not use them against allies.