A Grim Moon Looms ; A Young Pantheon Grows (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

Ok! Welcome to A Grim Moon Looms, demigods! Thank you for working so hard on your characters, and I hope we can get started as soon as we can. I’m really excited to get going on this! I have about thirteen adventures to send you on, and those adventures will take you up to level 20/tier 9. I’m not the kind of guy who likes things to go on serially forever, so I’m thinking we’ll wrap up after that, but as I’m sure you know, thirteen adventures are going to take quite awhile on PBP - probably a couple of years.

We’ll be starting with Blood of Dragonscar. That adventure takes place in a small city in Taldor. We will begin when one of you receives a sending from one of your most devoted clerics - a panicked, fearful sending that calls you to aid them. However, before that I would like to see a couple of posts from each of you (we can interact with each other, or you can interact between one another) that are simply about what you do when there is nothing else to do. What I want to see is a short snapshot of how your character spends their time before they’re interrupted by the beginning of the mission. Then, we will have a post traveling to meet each other, and then we will begin the adventure in earnest. I hope that sounds good.

Because your characters are (and will be) so powerful and will have so much agency within the world, I’d really like you to consider something important: what is it that they want to accomplish? This won’t be a necessary question to answer until you’ve finished my prologue - the first three adventures. However, it will be important later on. You’ll be able to push your cults forward, defeat powerful worldwide threats, and see unseen sights. Which ones are you interested in pursuing?

If you aren’t active in pursuing these things, you will go through the story that I predetermine for you. If you’re fine with that, fine! I’m fine with it too.

I’d like to see you make aliases, formatted something like this: Appearance on top, statblock below, formatted like that, and below that your character’s personal information. Apologies if this is too specific, but it’s very easy for me to read if they’re formatted like that, and that’s my priority.

Appearance: a short description of what your character looks like

NAME- CR
Gender Race Class (Archetype) # / mythic path tier
AL Size Type (Subtype)
Init +; Senses Perception +
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC , touch , flat-footed (+ armor, +2)
hp (1d10+1)
Fort +, Ref +, Will +
DR - Resist - Defensive Abilities anything that needs to be checked against when enemies attack you - uncanny dodge, evasion, miss chance, etc.
Immune - SR
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd ft.
Melee weapon +attack bonus (damagedice + damage bonus /crit) Your attack and damage bonus should be whatever is active all day long.
Ranged
Special Attacks anything that modifies your attacks, such as a barbarian’s rage, a bloodrager’s 1st-level bloodline ability or smite evil
Divine Source (CL )
6th
5th
4th
3rd
Domains
Spells Known/Prepared (CL xth, concentration +)
7th
6th
5th
Bloodline or Mystery or Arcane School
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Base Atk +; CMB +; CMD
Feats
Mythic Feats Mythic Paragon, Mythic Two-Weapon Fighting, Extra Path Ability
Mythic Path Abilities champion’s strike (), then in order by tier acquired. If there is a sub-choice (for example, Path Dabbling or Divine Source) then it should be in parenthesis next to the original choice: (Divine Source (Chaos, Liberation) or Path Dabbling (Enduring Armor))
Traits
Skills
Languages
SQ passive racial and class abilities that do not fit under ‘defensive abilities’ or ‘special attacks’.
Worn Gear magic and mundane items on your person that you are benefiting from
Consumables potions, alchemical weapons, oils, etc.
Other Gear everything else

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OK! So, let’s get started as soon as we can. I’ve already posted the first Gameplay post, so go ahead and get introducing yourselves. We’ll keep whatever pace we can that allows us to make nice, detailed and well-written posts.

One more rule: I'm expecting to see a lot of buffs. Because of that, please be merciful to me and spell out each buff in the math of dicerolls and also in the proper order, like this:

Die! (Power Attack, M. Heroism, Bless, Rage): 1d20 + 15 - 3 + 4 + 1 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 15 - 3 + 4 + 1 + 3 = 34
Damage (Power Attack, M. Heroism, Rage): 2d6 + 15 + 9 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (3, 4) + 15 + 9 + 4 + 3 = 38

Okay, I think I've reformatted everything to be as you wanted. I'll probably be getting an initial post up pretty soon.

Maika, reporting in! My profile's almost done - I'll have the religion/cult stuff up shortly. I've also got a quick reference bar format for anyone who wants to use it (use the Gender/Race/Classes bits of your alias in that order if you need space):

Level(s)/Tier | HP: XX/XX | AC: XX / T: XX / FF: XX / DR: X, SR: X, Resist: X, Immune: X | Fort: +X, Ref: +X, Will: +X | M. Atk: +X, R. Atk: +X, M. Touch: +X, R. Touch: +X | CMB: +X, CMD: X | Init: +X, Perception: +X

....Also, I have an avatar in my profile if anyone is using the forum add-on and wants to see my character's face.

Hey, I wanted to let you guys know:

All characters will be using Wound Thresholds in this campaign. I will keep track of your hit points and your current threshold for you in the Campaign Info tab, so don't worry about that.

Just to be aware that being in combat and taking damage will give you debuffs.

Also: Reducing your CL (as Wound Thresholds do) sometimes means that you cannot cast your highest-level of spells. If your CL is below the minimum level required for a character of your class to cast a spell, you cannot cast that spell.

I don't know what anyone else has, but I have heals for sale if you feel too wounded. 8D

...Speaking of, @GM, how much would you say is fair for Maika to have in her Commission (a 5% cut of whatever people have deposited with her in the past, which she generally saves up). I have 28,000 GP I haven't spent yet, so I could just dump some of that into her Commission account if you'd prefer. I don't want to break wealth guidelines or anything, though it's worth noting she can only use those funds to cast magic on/for herself.

Calxakti here, dotting in. I'll have my alias and all that updated by tomorrow.

Hey everyone, grats for being chosen! I'm very excited to be here, it will be my first online campaign. I converted my character partly to the given format already, but will remove the unnecessary fluff information and store him under an alias from the main thread.

I'll work on posting Adol under an Alias somewhere this evening, and begin writing an introduction scene for him showing his solo daily life. I was up very late yesterday finishing the application and am currently a bit sleep-deprived. I'll continue when I've rested a bit more, haha.

Also, I saw I made a slight derp when picking the feats, as I didn't include combat reflexes when that is fairly vital to the character. I'm going to make a slight adjustment somewhere in either the itemization or the feats to get that one in.

Thanks again for the invite.

Rirsa; Reporting in. I have my appearance; but I'm still working on the conversion ( I work 8am-4pm EST) I should have it by the end if the day; do you need a sheet for my Herald as well?

Alithea's sheet should be ready to go. I used spoilers for things with longer lists, as I tend to not like the Hero Lab style output that just puts things into a single long list.

@DM Divinity: Do you have a preference around whether the lead in post should be out adventuring, or should it be more a day back at her temple?

@Maika - Just so I understand Maika's abilities: You do actually spend the gold from the accounts when you cast spells, right?

Also, assuming that you sell 5 spells of your highest available level each time you gain a level, since obtaining your commission ability... you will have 2,959 gp in your own commission account. I think that's fairly reasonable: It will allow you to cast a few higher-level spells totally for free before needing to sell more spells to refill it.

@Trevor - Make sure you make a new alias, named "Adol Cristin" or something similar, and equip it with an appropriate alias image.

@Alithea - No preference! I basically wanted to see a post or two showing what a 'normal day' looks like. If that's adventuring, go ahead!

@Rirsa - as NPCs, the cohorts are under my purview, as far as I can see. This allows me to have people to interact with you while you're out adventuring, and also make sure that you don't get the perfect amazing cohort that matches perfectly with your PC. That's why I asked for really good descriptions.

@Maika - You should separate your divine source SLAs out by level. You actually get one slot for every spell level, not one each or one total.

Wait, is Dalaston seriously where the module takes place? I just chose a moderately sized Taldane town that I thought made sense for the drow to pop up in.

Yes, Dalaston is seriously where the module takes place. Funny to see that it wasn't on purpose!

Hey guys,

I'm having a bit of trouble getting the stat block from the thread into the profile. I made an alias for this campaign and tried to copy my character information into the text block at the bottom of the Alias page, but every time I do so, I get an error that 'the backtracking limit has been exceeded'. Then, nothing happens and I lose the post.

Am I doing something wrong? Closing the paizo site and reopening it doesn't fix the issue.

That aside, I'll work on a scene set an Akiton prior to the summons of the adventure.

Yeah, that happens to all of us. Make sure you write posts in notepad or something if they're really long and you don't want to lose them.

I recommend basically just waiting a few minutes, copying all of the stuff you want to copy, and then opening a new page to post it in.

Yes, money is actually spent from Maika's accounts when spells are sold. If people want more spells, they need to pay to refill their accounts. (She does not receive the value of the money spent from their accounts - she only gets her 5% commission.)

Transacted Miracles are basically the "investment" type of sale - it doesn't give you the most magic per GP spent, but it does offer flexibility. She doesn't need to have the magic prepared ahead of time - as long as people have enough in their account to cover it, she can provide what they need at the time they need it, and in the long run that may be more efficient than trying to buy the right spells for every possible situation and not using most of them.

All right, I finally got it, thanks. My character sheet should be complete according to the desired format. I'll try to get Maika's setup for the quick reference stats running too, and then I'll get to writing up a scene.

Hey guys: I am building your cohorts (hopefully according to your idea!)

I wanted to let you guys know that they will be noticeably weaker than your characters, since they're built with standard NPC arrays of abilities and wealth, and don't get a lot of the free stuff that your PCs get.

Also, in terms of cohorts: If you want to bring them on an adventure, you will have to specifically say that you go and get them. Also: The larger the party gets, encounters will be tuned up appropriately, so as to keep things challenging.

I wanted to ask: Would you prefer to be able to control them in combat, or would you prefer that I do so?

Would you prefer to be able to level them up, or would you prefer that I do so?

I'll leave you completely free to control and level Gurna. She's more to cover my bases than any actual in combat support role.

I mostly wanted to have someone for story reasons. I don't really plan to bring them along in combat, or have super particular plans for Bookworm at all yet.

I'll let you control anyone following Maika. XD For what it's worth, they'd normally be the type to just sit back at camp and take care of things, so don't feel any need to push them forward on my behalf.

I'm fine with you controlling Koria, and I would probably prefer keeping her at home both IC and OOC. OOC there will be enough going on with just the main PCs. IC I don't think Adol would want anyone in unneccesary danger if he can conceivably do something by himself. Regarding the building and levelling up, I'd envisioned her as someone mostly handling things on Akiton and when possible providing some long term buffs to slightly protect Adol when he ventures outward (things like enduring blessing + any cleric buff). She is also one of Adol's possible outs if he gets stranded in a hostile plane by himself. I don't expect this to be very likely given that I seem to be in a group with 5 full casters, but you never know? :)

I have an update; I have everything but Consumables; Miscellaneous stuff and a backstory/ Religion info.

Edit: Should I post in the gameplay section?

@DM Divinity Does Alithea have any idea what this place would look like? I'm trying to figure out if she has a way to get there fairly quickly via teleportation, or if this will be a more manual process.

Even a basic description of a place is enough to teleport roughly to the same area. If Alithea visited a library or something and then found some basic information, she could then teleport to an area outside of the city.

Yeah, hella post in the gameplay section!

By the way, is everyone aware that the campaign uses 'gain max hp' as a character creation rule? Everyone's hp seems very low considering this, except for mine and calklaxi's.

Secondly I do have one request for the build of my herald, if possible. Is she allowed to take enduring blessing ability and lend path as a spell? This would grant Adol the mythic spellcasting ability at mythic tier 1 for 24 hours after leaving akiton, which means he could cast one mythic spell, in this case his signature Shield Other spell, for a limited amount of time in exchange for 2 of Koria's mythic points and locking her out of mythic spellcasting for the same amount of time. It seems fitting that being actively worshipped by his herald at home grants Adol a slight boost in ability.

Sorry; it's been a very long time since I've been in a play by post; they'll get more elaborate the more I play.

D6s and D8s don't give a lot of HP.

Yeah, d6s are unkind, and differences only compound further with max HP and additional HP per tier.

I did however totally forget about FCB, and my tier HP, which along with my decent CON brings me up +32 HP, which is MUCH better.

I added tier HP, but I did forget about the FCB... It'd only be like, maybe four or eight HP difference. Multiclassing, eh?

Hey, if you're a half-elf with Favored Prestige Class, you can benefit from all 3!

True, too bad I'm a drow who doesn't have it.

2nd Update; did consumables and other Gear; have left over cash ( none from Silverwing; because it was separate... Will do backstory and religion in a notepad and then paste.

Actually, there's a weird specific feat to make prestige classes a favored class. Otherwise, prestige classes cannot be your favored class.

Why, from a design perspective, I do not really know.

And yeah, Adol - a character with d10 HD and 18 CON has 6 extra hp per level compared to a character with D6 HD and 14 CON - 9 vs. 15 gained per level. That difference only gets bigger with every level.

The feat is called Favored Prestige Class, she was referencing it. I find it bizarre as well, but I think Paizo were trying to stop prestige classes from being what they were in 3.5.

@DM Divinity I think it mostly exists to make Prestigious Spellcaster have a feat tax.

That's the most puzzling part of it to me! Why couldn't they design a feat that was actually desirable to take, like, "not worse than Toughness" level desirable.

Also, @Adol, I'm okay with you using that combination on your herald to request a buff spell whenever you leave her.

I have notes about some of your mythic stuff:

Alithea seems to be missing her first-tier path ability. Since Crafting Mastery is a first-tier ability, she can take that ability in her tier 1 slot and choose a tier 6 ability.

Adol's mythic path abilities are formatted a little bit strangely. They don't seem to be in order, and you seem to have a lot of extra words put down. Now that I've written it out, it does seem correct, however, I don't know what marshal's order you've chosen, or what champion's strike you've chosen.

Mythic feats:
1st - mythic paragon
3rd - mythic leadership
5th - extra path ability: Legendary Item

Mythic Path abilities:
1st - Extra Mythic Feat (Dual Path: Marshal)
2nd - Ever Ready
3rd - Fleet Warrior
4th - Divine Source (Law, Good)
5th - Inspired Defense
6th - Divine Source (Travel, Archon, Exploration)

What is Adol's bloodrager bloodline? How did he get that bloodline?

The falcata swashbuckler is actually called the rondelero swashbuckler on Golarion. Dueling with a falcata and buckler is a specifically Taldan martial art. How did Adol learn this martial art?

Also, I found this ability: "-During rage, Adol gets an untyped +2 bonut on attack rolls vs everyone who has attacked him during the rage. His weapon damage die is then also calculated as one size larger (2d6 for falcata)."

What is this ability?

Martial Focus should be in heavy blades, not just falcata.

I thought you don't get a Path Ability at level 1, instead just getting your Path's unique ability. I guess I just misread it.

This is, of course, very exciting. I have moved Crafting Mastery down (I liked the idea of Alithea wanting to make her own things so she understood them, even though I blew most of my wealth on magic eyes).

I've taken Component Freedom instead. I like the idea of Alithea being able to manipulate how her magic operates on the fly. As a result, I removed the Diamond Dust from my inventory, and used some of that networth to record a Scroll of Stoneskin into my book.

I'm supposed to have six skills (4+Int+ Human); aren't I? I wonder if I should take Knowledge(Arcana); or Survival?

You also get background skills, for a total of 8 skills per level.

You also get background skills, for a total of 8 skills per level.

Yay! I can cook! I will be adding them in shortly.

Edit: I have a question about Mythic Weapon Finesse; does two-handing a weapon finesse able weapon apply 1.5 my Dexterity modifier to damage?

Indeed it does (although you can only do this with actually two-handed finesse weapons (spiked chain, estoc, elven curve blade?)).

Indeed it does (although you can only do this with actually two-handed finesse weapons (spiked chain, estoc, elven curve blade?)).

Ok; I had decided to favor the Estoc anyway; because of how common it is used in Chevain.

Edit: Edited for clarity.

I have notes about some of your mythic stuff:

Adol's mythic path abilities are formatted a little bit strangely. They don't seem to be in order, and you seem to have a lot of extra words put down. Now that I've written it out, it does seem correct, however, I don't know what marshal's order you've chosen, or what champion's strike you've chosen.

Mythic feats:
1st - mythic paragon
3rd - mythic leadership
5th - extra path ability: Legendary Item

Mythic Path abilities:
1st - Extra Mythic Feat (Dual Path: Marshal)
2nd - Ever Ready
3rd - Fleet Warrior
4th - Divine Source (Law, Good)
5th - Inspired Defense
6th - Divine Source (Travel, Archon, Exploration)

What is Adol's bloodrager bloodline? How did he get that bloodline?

The falcata swashbuckler is actually called the rondelero swashbuckler on Golarion. Dueling with a falcata and buckler is a specifically Taldan martial art. How did Adol learn this martial art?

Also, I found this ability: "-During rage, Adol gets an untyped +2 bonut on attack rolls vs everyone who has attacked him during the rage. His weapon damage die is then also calculated as one size larger (2d6 for falcata)."

What is this ability?

Martial Focus should be in heavy blades, not just falcata.

Good catches!

I'll change the martial focus to heavy blades in general.

FOr marshall's order, he has rally. For champion's strike, he has sudden attack. I'll add them to his stat block.

I didn't think it would matter particularly what order the mythic abilities were taken in except for dual path, which is why I didn't write that out. Their requirements are less strict than the feat order, which require BAB and character level as prereqs. I'll add the progression in if you prefer it.

Adol is an Id bloodrager 1. This is a bloodrager archetype that does not have a bloodline, but rather channels a certain emotion to create an effect similar to rage. It was flavorwise the closest thing I could find to an actual barbarian rage, a result of being worshipped mainly by barbarians and his time on the savage planet of Akiton.

Instead of the bloodrager bloodline power, that emotion usually also grants a special effect to the rage. For dedication (Adol's one, since he is supremely dedicated to protecting those around him, but also supremely dedicated to 'Estivas'), he gains Iron Will as a bonus feat during rage but also the noted effect that you asked about.

How this works mechanically: during rage, an id Bloodrager gains the abilities of a spiritualist's phantom of that emotion. He counts as both the spiritualist and the phantom for these effects. For dedication phantoms: they gain a retaliatory buff to attack those who attack their master. But since Adol is both the phantom and the master, he gains a retaliatory buff against everyone that attacks him, specifically.

Regarding the falcata swashbuckler, I used the name I found on the reference document, though I'm aware it's also called rondelero swashbuckler. I'm totally fine with it being something he learned in Taldor or from a Taldan instructor during his days in the Pathfinder society, though. Adol has been in Taldor quite a bit since the Society has been heavily involved there regarding the events leading up to the War for the Crown adventure path. Essentially, many Taldan nobles conspired to keep the princess from ascending the throne since Taldan customs are that a woman couldn't be monarch, which may or may not have already led to that civil war at this point. Is there any potentially interesting hook here with an instructor figure from Taldor in the planned modules? I could also come up with something myself.

Fun story/other potential hook: in the original campaign Adol is from, during his heresy trial, Adol was also charged with 'sword heresy' next to Estivas heresy. Essentially, he'd lost his temper during the trial and claimed the church of Iomedae was too set in its old ways, and that a sword could be used in other ways than slashing.

This was viewed as Heresy since in my head canon, the church of Iomedae has been involved with actively suppressing use of longswords in other ways than this, which is why everyone normally doesn't know how to stab with a sword anymore, though everyone still knows how to stab with a dagger. They did so since in the holy scriptures of Iomedae's Acts, it begins with a section of 100 consecutive pages of "Thy sword is for slashing, and thy shield is for blocking." Each page is written in gradually larger, bolder and less elegant writing. The order thus took this as a kind of sacred commendment and adhered to only do exactly this and nothing else, which also explains why no one except a swashbuckler mechanically knows how to parry an attack with a sword or weapon in general.

Of course, there were also those who hypothesized that Iomedae had simply grown increasingly frustrated with her usually quite dumb yet pretty followers, and that she took the test of the starstone in part to be rid of them in the afterlife. Everyone who has voiced such opinions has been excommunicated from the church.

When Adol confronted the first circle of knights with this, they laughed at this rediculous notion, upon which he swore he would find the most bulky 'sword' he could to properly show them how to still stab with it. From that point on, he used falcatas (axeswords) as a weapon and became a falcata Swashbuckler, since their thing is that they can treat Falcata's as one handed piercing weapons.

He also had to be rescued from prison by the rogue who'd tricked him into worshipping Estivas. She did this quite stylishly, I should add, by stealing all the swords of the entire first circle and replacing them with cheap knockoffs, which is seen as a divine sign of displeasure from Iomedae. When that happened, the church saw fit to only excommunicate him, not willing to risk 'Iomedae's' wrath.

Unfortunately, that is also where the original campaign ended, and I can't say how things would have developed from here.

Thanks for all that explanation :D As much as it wasn't required, it was appreciated for its good humour.

@DM Divinity I did not use it, actually. I was thinking of using Control Weather to make it rain with my Wild Surge and marked it off, but reconsidered due to the amount of time it would take to be useful. I'll increase my power back to 15/15

GM, is my teleport to the city all good and if so, what do I arrive to?

Refer to the mythic nerfs. Wild Arcana costs 1 mythic power + 1 per 2 levels of the spell you are casting.

level 1 spell - 1 MP
Level 2-3 spells - 2 MP
Level 4-5 spells - 3 MP
Level 6-7 spells - 4 MP
Level 8-9 spells - 5 MP

Also, you only regenerate 3 points of mythic power each day.

Because of this, it becomes important to manage how much you use Wild Arcana on a regular basis.

- - - - -

Ah yes - I will post for you momentarily, Calxakti.