[PFS] Siege of the Diamond City - GM Ewok (Inactive)

Game Master EwokBanshee

Use this thread for out-of-character discussions and off-topic conversations. This way we can keep the Gameplay tab in character, and reading like a story.

Also, please give me the following information:

Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS # :
Faction :
Day Job Roll :
Standard Advancement or Slow?:
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP?
Do you have any planned absences between January and March?
Are you in a non-American time zone? (Nothing wrong with that, but it helps make sure I am accomodating of your posting times!)

Finally, what is special/unique about your character? This includes both crunch and fluff.

When you have time, please skim my profile to see my expectations and what you can expect from me. They are all fairly standard, but good to review.

This scenario is a Special, so it is inherently insane, chaotic, fast paced, and amazing. I've GM'd four specials previously, so I understand how they work and will try to keep it running smoothly for us!

Some more information about me: I tend to post major updates once a day, with 1-2 little updates as we go. I usually post in the early morning and afternoon, Pacific Time. Because this is a Special, I will be strict on the 24-hour combat round and will Bot when necessary. Please have botting instructions in your profile. (With dice rolls, for bonus points!) There will be times, like skill challenges, small choices, and social encounters, where I will post early due to someone's success. The reason for this is never because I intended to skip you, but because there is a lot of content in this scenario and I want us to enjoy as much of it as possible!

We won’t start for another month or so, but this is a good time for us all to dot into the Gameplay tab and make sure everyone is here! I plan to put up the introductory post on January 11th and let us getting going full-speed on January 14th.

*BeepBoop*

I will make a basic action for you if you are silent more than 24 hours during combat or an important skill challenge. Specials move fast, so posting every day is important!

If you make a BotMe! Spoiler in your profile, that will tell me what to do. Otherwise, I will attempt to choose an action which fits with your posting history so far.

*BeepBoop*

Player Name: Amanda
Character Name: Denaria
PFS #: 145174-3
Faction: Silver Crusade
Day Job Roll: None
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP? Cosmic Captive and Sky Key Solution in PbP
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No
Are you in a non-American time zone? Central US time

Denaria, your forum searching is impressive! Congrats on beating the announcement!

I happened to see it as well entirely by good timing, but I figured I’d wait ‘til I got to a PC to fill out your little questionnaire thingie! Looking forward to this!

Player Name: VixieMoondew/Bobbi
Character Name: Lady Vulpina
PFS #: 222176-2
Faction: Sovereign Court
Day Job Roll: Craft (alchemy): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP? ssssssorta! We looped an existing path (Devil You Know) into GameDay.
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? Nope!
Are you in a non-American time zone? Nope! Eastern US here.

As a quick note, I’m hoping to do a quick local PFS scenario on 1/12, two days before we get started here, so I should be level 4 by the time we start, hopefully!

Player Name: Woodenman
Character Name: TBD
PFS # : 127693-TBD
Faction : TBD
Day Job Roll : TBD
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Yes.
Was it via PbP? Yes
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No
Are you in a non-American time zone? Yes, For me it's just before Noon at the time of this post.

I've got a number of characters I could play - I'll see what everybody else brings to the table and then pick one. FYI, the following are available for me to play:

L3 Ranger (Archer)
L4 Aerokineticist
L4 Inquisitor (Archer)
L3 Oracle (Face / Support)
L3 Paladin (Melee)

Player Name: zer0darkfire
Character Name: Yajima Katsuki
PFS # : 193338-14
Faction : Liberties Edge
Day Job Roll : None
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP? Yes and yes
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No
Are you in a non-American time zone? Nope, EST -5

Finally, what is special/unique about your character? This includes both crunch and fluff.
Is being a monk unique enough lol? First unchained monk, I've been pretty loyal to the chained monk for a long time and still love it. I'm a windstep master so I can already airwalk as a level 4 ki ability for unique mechanics.

Oh—forgot to answer this question, even though I really like that you asked!

Finally, what is special/unique about your character? This includes both crunch and fluff: “Lady Vulpina” is a disowned noble who seeks to prove the supremacy of firearms over fencing to prove her family wrong. That said, she’s well-schooled in dueling weapons and combines her training with her self-schooled pistol work for a sword-and-gun style. She’s been reloading with a Beneficial Bandolier, but she’s kinda choked for Swift Actions so she’s looking forward to getting a Shadowshooting Dragon Pistol... but that’s gonna be about 10,000gp from now.

Player Name:TColMaster
Character Name:Conney Donnovan
PFS # :329026-3
Faction :The Concordance
Day Job Roll :Craft Alchemy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP? Yes, No to online
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No
Are you in a non-American time zone? No CST but work 2nd shift so more able to post in the AM hours than PM.

Finally, what is special/unique about your character?Conney is a bit reckless. Quick to throw a bomb in any situation, and quite recklessly, he has learned through many trials and errors and training to try to avoid hitting those in splash range. A second line support character he also keep healing wands about him to heal injured melee fighters. Strong? Nope. Smart and worldly? yes.

Not sure about Conney but the other 3 characters look like they would prefer to be attacking from range. I’m thinking that perhaps my Paladin who’s running around in melee with full plate might be a fitting option.

Not sure about Conney but the other 3 characters look like they would prefer to be attacking from range. I’m thinking that perhaps my Paladin who’s running around in melee with full plate might be a fitting option.

I'll be in the front line if that affects your decision.

Woodenman wrote:

Not sure about Conney but the other 3 characters look like they would prefer to be attacking from range. I’m thinking that perhaps my Paladin who’s running around in melee with full plate might be a fitting option.

I'll be in the front line if that affects your decision.

Also worth noting, Vulpina tends to be in the thick of it as well (she's just gotten a Dragon Pistol, even, and doesn't have Precise Shot), so a ranged character wouldn't be redundant.

Not sure about Conney but the other 3 characters look like they would prefer to be attacking from range. I’m thinking that perhaps my Paladin who’s running around in melee with full plate might be a fitting option.

Conney's a second line support character, and is NOT good in melee range.

Player Name: zer0darkfire

Character Name: Yajima Katsuki
PFS # : 193338-14
Faction : Liberties Edge
Day Job Roll : None
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Was it via PbP? Yes and yes
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No
Are you in a non-American time zone? Nope, EST -5

Finally, what is special/unique about your character? This includes both crunch and fluff.

Mixing it up a little since this is a GM baby before this adventure. Aiming for Champion of Irori PrC, so I've got two levels of tortured crusader and 2 levels of windstep master UnMonk.

Player Name: Woodenman
Character Name: Alrik Darkson
PFS #: 127693-09
Faction:Dark Archive
Day Job Roll: Nil
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? Yes.
Was it via PbP? Yes
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? No

Alrik is also a Tortured Crusader. He is a follower of Kelinahat and is a bit of a bookworm and is especially into knowledge that is not typical for a Paladin. Because his abilities only affect himself, he constantly thinks that he is "doing it wrong".

I like that more than the given reason in the archetype itself, "cannot ask others to face the things they do", which apparently means you can't possibly heal them?

My character is taken it as more of a, "people need to learn to take care of themselves approach". Like sure, I can save you from slavery or from the dragon, but you need to learn to take care of yourself and reach your own self-improvement.

Wow, that is a really cool archetype! I'll have to pick up the Horror book sometime. Looks like we're still missing RangerArcher - Wenjeff. I'll send them a PM.

For those who haven't played a Special online before, get ready for a wild ride! This will likely be the fastest moving game you have ever been a part of. Like a real-life special, there are more encounters than will likely be able to fit into the time period. So we'll run ahead as fast as we can! Because of the harsh time constraints, I will occasionally bot to keep things moving. If there is ever one PC-to-act before overcoming an encounter then I will likely bot if we are close on time. I will try to make two solid posts per day and perhaps a third update post.

Vulpina values self-sufficiency above all else, so she’s likely to appreciate your Paladin!

Looking forward to this game!

Player Name: Julien
Character Name: Wenjeff
PFS # : 293201-1
Faction : Scarab Sages
Day Job Roll : Profession Sailor: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Standard Advancement or Slow?: Standard
Have you played a PFS or SFS Special before? No
Do you have any planned absences between January and March? Perhaps a couple of days in february, but not sure yet.
Are you in a non-American time zone? Yes, in EU-time zone

Finally, what is special/unique about your character? This character is coming with an hipogriff as companion. Otherwise it's an archer build.

We're about a week out now! Who else is excited to play? :D

Me too :)

Me too! This is going to be a lot of fun. I'm building up the slide deck this week and I'll be posting an intro post for us to get warmed up this weekend.

For information: I'm still playing this character on sunday. So I will make the updates until monday.

Just finished getting Vulpina up to level 4 in some IRL PFS! I’ll update her sheet before Monday.

Feelin’ really good about my Dragon’s Breath crit today. I melted an animated statue!

Annnnd Vulpina's all leveled up. Good to go!

Character informations updated.

We are off! Welcome all! This should be a lot of fun. Time for the basic introduction portion, with some skill checks. We should have two days for this. There is more information, with higher skill checks, that I'll give out based on rolls.

Maps are up, in my header and in the campaign header. Please go to Slide two and paste your picture in. (And your pet, if applicable.)

Next order of business: Decide what the marching order will be! Then arrange the pictures on Slide 3.

Tomorrow the action should really get in gear, so get your questions in while you can!

This is an older special, so Aid works a little differently. First, you may choose to receive a Care Package three times during the scenario, between scenes. This can include either 1d8+5 points of healing for one person, a single masterwork cold iron weapon, or 10 pieces of cold iron ammunition to use for the rest of the scenario. Also, the Seekers table is the only one to give out Aid tokens. When we get one I'll explain more. Basically they will give us a menu of fun buffs choose from and use once.

Will there be a designated time to purchase weapons/equipment, or should I just post here whenever that I'm buying them (as long as it's before the action starts)?

Great question! Now would be the best time to make purchases.

Also, for our schedule, one day in PbP equals five minutes in real life. So certain things, like giving out knowledge information, are faster in PbP. And other things, like skill checks in chase scenes and social encounters, can take longer.

Just gotta say, I’m loving the mental image of Vulpina sitting at the table working her charms while three burly dudes squint over her shoulder at the poor guy across from her. With Denaria also working that Intimidate skill, we’re basically a walking mafia.

Vulpina’s making an offer he can’t refuse!

Yajima is the type that would just leave the bag of gems and take the medical supplies regardless of the merchant's acceptance if he doesn't agree to the fair price

Wenjeff is also on this mind.

The word “shipment” was used and I’m not certain how capable we are of taking it ourselves. Depends how big it is, I suppose!

Yes, that scene was great! The box was only medium sized, two of Vulpina's back-up strong men should be able to handle it!

For reference, Woundward and Confluence are red, Outer is yellow, Battle and Egelsee are green.

woundward on 1, confluence on a 2: 1d2 ⇒ 1

Vulpina is right. Since most people want to go to where people need help the most, we'll go Confluence.

Re: Readied Attacks

As far as I know, there’s no rule that says you can’t ready actions outside of combat (much like the GM doesn’t have to declare combat for you to strike someone). That way, for example, you can enter a room with your shield raised (Readied Action: Total Defense).

Readied actions are under "Special Initiative Actions"

Here are ways to change when you act during combat by altering your place in the initiative order.

In addition, Ready:
The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though the action that you ready might do so).

Emphasis mine. I've never had a GM allow readied actions outside of combat as nothing really supports you doing that.

That’s because in-combat requires specific rules about how actions take time and affect initiative—but there’s no reason you can’t take actions listed in Combat outside of Combat (such as casting a spell)—just that there are rules for how it works in combat.

That's a fair point, but the ready action is only an action that you can using "during combat". It is listed nowhere else other than under a header of "ways to change when you act during combat". Since we aren't in combat, those actions are unavailable.

Honestly, I don't really care one way or another, I just don't think it's technically allowed, and never has been in my experience. Better to just give PCs a surprise round than to let them ready an action outside of combat.

I agree with your arguments (ie you cant ready actions outside of combat) but I assumed that we were effectively in combat regardless of the lack of initiative rolls. (We glimpsed the badguys and know they are coming this way.)

Ha, of course, my added description got us into trouble again. Per the scenario, the demons miraculously appear at the edge of the map at the top of round 2 and get a surprise round. I was trying to give a little explanation for how you saw them coming but couldn't quite act yet.

So, we aren't in combat during Round 1. But here we are on Round 2 and we can avoid the whole argument because the demons rolled REAL bad. So everybody here moves first. If you rolled previously, let's just use those rolls for this round.

---

Also, the blue circles are the ritual circles that Kreighton will use. Don't step in them, or magic will go very badly!

“Just use your rolls for these round,” eh?

Yepp, I saw your rolls and didn't want them wasted! Ha!

Also, FYI, things are going to ramp up, in difficult, every 5 days or so for the next month. This would be more obvious IRL, so I wanted to mention it. (We're almost to the first of those bump-ups.)

Conney, do your bombs just do Fire Damage? Or is the 2d6 fire damage and the bonus damage is something else?

@Denaria, DEAR GOODNESS that is a lot of damage with a bow. Where does the extra 1d6 come from? A warpriest ability?

Assume Cold Iron for the rest of the module unless otherwise noted, yeah.

It was a great round for those of us with range :D