Mummy's Mask (Inactive)

Game Master Daniel Penfold 351

Dot.

So will be setting up maps/etc over the next couple of days and then we can get going.

The maps will be photocopied from hardcopies of the mags, this may mean that occasionally they can be a bit blurry/squashed, feel free (those who can to adjust them so that they are easier to use as I will be using an editable google slide document.

sounds good. Thanks for the selection.

Also glad to be along for the ride!

Thanks for picking me! I will put together an alias and dot in later today.

We have 7 players for an AP probably designed for 4-5. Will you be adjusting CR to accommodate?

Do I need to make any adjustments to my character to fit the party? I assume one of the 7 of us is either a rogue or has the trapfidner trait?

We have:
1 Druid (Resurrected trait)
2 Monk
3 Ranger
4 Occultist
5 Sorcerer
6 Cleric
7 Bard (With the trapfinder trait.)

Not sure about the other PC trait choices.

I’m glad to be aboard, all, thanks to Daniel for having me.

Anyone know why you can’t select an avatar image for your character, only for your Messageboard aliases? I’d prefer to post in-game using my character, but not if I can’t add an image to it.

I’m not new to PF, just to PFS play and games on the Paizo site.

Hello all (this is Papa.DRB);

@DM Daniel - Thank you for choosing me.

@All - I have the Trapfinder Trait. I had planned on being the trap guy, as well as bardic support.

@Azwynn - Create a messageboard alias "Azwynn Khazarak"(which I see you have done), select a picture for it, and then post here in discussion and in the gameplay thread using your new alias.

@DM - Regarding no feat tax, I have taken Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot. Is the Point-Blank Shot free, ie. I get another feat?

-- Cymric Baird aka Papa.DRB

@Cymric. I created the Messageboard alias Azwynn first, then when I added the character, the Azwynn Khazarak alias appeared, but when I go to the details for Azwynn Khazarak, I am unable to add an image. It just takes me to the screen for editing the character.

If I try to add a profile, it just takes me to the screen for adding a new character, which doesn’t seem like something I need.

@Cymric. I created the Messageboard alias Azwynn first, then when I added the character, the Azwynn Khazarak alias appeared, but when I go to the details for Azwynn Khazarak, I am unable to add an image. It just takes me to the screen for editing the character.

If I try to add a profile, it just takes me to the screen for adding a new character, which doesn’t seem like something I need.

You can only edit alias names* and change avatars from the Account Settings page. There should be a list of all your aliases on the left hand side.

*You can't change the name of an alias once you've made 10 posts with it

Ok, rules, maps, notes and treasure list links all added for your convenience. They are all shared documents and you can all edit them as required.

@ Okochukwu - Yeah I will be adjusting the CR of encounters accordingly.

I will be starting the gameplay posts later tonight. I live in the UK so we are currently on GMT +1

We all know that RL can get in the way of gaming, this is fine. All I ask is that if you know you won't be able to post for a couple of days just drop a note here and we can bot you.

On the note of botting this profile has a spoiler towards the bottom with botting instructions.

No problem.

As a final note this ap assumes that you have already met and formed a party. It would be great if you could come up with a party name.

Team name suggestions:

Sand Scarabs
Haboob Striders (a haboob is a giant dust storm and is fun to say)

Anyway, creativity is at an all time low, thoughts??

Hi all, thanks for selecting me.

As I said, never played or read MM, so this is completely new to me.

As for a team name there is only one real choice. Sarenrae's seven! :)

One question, are we doing channeling healing the living and harming undead, or using the standard rule where I have to declare what the channel is doing?

Personally, I kind of like Sand Striders as a name.

Seeker Oread does not see a point to a group name.

Ooh, ooh! Linguistics is a background skill, so we could all take it and get some common languages that way. It wouldn't be in character for Azwynn to learn too many extra languages, but I could say that her mentor, Taurun, sold her on the idea of learning 2-3 spare languages so she can privately communicate with her teammates if need be.

Only really need one person in case Oread needs to explain something complex. I'm gonna take "Osirian Sign Language" if anyone wants to tag along, but it's gonna depend on the GM since there aren't any actual sign languages in the rules.

Also I think this is the first character I've played that has less than 30 move speed so let me know if I start walking too fast.

@Kahina - you would have to declare

@Seeker Oread - yeah sign language is fine.

Sand Striders is cool! Ogochukwu is down with Sarenrae, so Sarenrae's Seven would be good... except I'm not sure he would feel comfortable claiming to be selected by her.

Raiders of the Lost Ar... Nevermind.

I like the alliteration of Sand Striders or something with Scarabs: Seven Scarabs, Steel Scarabs, etc.

I'm cool with adding Osirion Sign Language as a team thing. It certainly makes sense for actions out in the desert where sounds carry. Unfortunately, given how tight skill points are for me, I may have to wait until next level to learn it.

@Seeker. *You* only need one person to aid your communication, that’s true. But I think there are advantages to a *party* having at least one obscure language in common. Like the face person being able to tell the party that the friendly-seeming local ain’t as great she’s making herself out to be. (thank you, sense motive!) or calling out something in the heat of battle that you want your side to understand but not the other side. Mind you, I wouldn’t suggest a sign language for this - It would be a problem in the heat of battle and it’s not effective in the dark.

I’ll add Osiriani Sign Language to Azwynn’s list of languages known and Linguistics to her background skills. I’ll have to remove a point from Knowledge (Nobility), but that’s no biggie.

Also, I’ve never played with an Oread party member before, so I looked up their race page to see what they’re like. Seems Oreads tend to get along well with Dwarves. And as the only 2 non-humans in the group, seems our 2 characters might be inclined to gravitate toward each other. Maybe we could say Azwynn and Seeker met before joining the party, and she started learning Seeker’s sign language because she saw he was some having trouble communicating with others? Azwynn hasn’t been in Wati all that long, maybe 1.5 years. Not sure how that meshes with Seeker’s backstory, but let me if you like this idea and when/how you think they could have met.

We have:

1 Druid (Resurrected trait)
2 Monk
3 Ranger
4 Occultist
5 Sorcerer (Wati Native - but I'm flexible)
6 Cleric
7 Bard (With the trapfinder trait.)

These are the languages I currently have for Ogochukwu
Common, Mwangi, Ancient Osiriani, Sylvan, Undercommon, and Polyglot

I could swap one out if none of them are suitable as the party's "secret language."

Also, everyone should add a Bot Me spoiler to their profile. With 8 players there are going to be times in the coming years it takes to finish this AP where we're waiting on one or more people; your Bot Me spoiler should give instructions for the GM or another player to bot you in combat in order to keep things moving along.

Ogochukwu is not a Wati native. I think it makes sense for him to have met the rest of the party *in* Wati, or possibly some of them on the way there.

While I definitely like the alliteration of Sarenrae’s Seven, I think as a party we follow enough different deities that it doesn’t seem right to me to favor only one deity in a party name.

However, if we wanted to keep the alliteration, I’d be fine with adding Seven to the name and including Kahina’s suggestion that way. So maybe Scarab-Seeking Sand-Striding Seven, or 5S for short? Or even Sand-Striding Seven/3S? I think I really like 3S, the Sand-Striding Seven. That first one is kind of a mouthful.

And I do have to admit I’m curious about the point that Seeker raised. @Daniel, why do we need a party name in the first place?

IIRC, the team name idea is pushed in the Player's Guide to the AP because we are in competition with other treasure seeking groups. Perhaps team reputation becomes a factor later on?

@Ogochukwu: Would your character be opposed to Ogo as a nickname? If he doesn’t like it, can you suggest one? Ogochukwu is a bit of a mouthful, though I’m sure it’s a fine Mwangi name. ;)

@Azwynn - the party name is more for RP purposes, in the first two parts of the campaign you are competing against other named groups, so it is a way for NPCs to recognise you as a group,after this it becomes unimportant

@Daniel/Kidhir: Roger that

@Seeker: the PF Golarion wiki https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Wiki has this to say about Sign Languages:

Several groups use sign and gesture languages to communicate. As deafness and muteness are unusually common among Varisians, many know a highly developed sign language. This method is also used by the Sczarni as a silent thieves' cant.[46]

I’m not sure how Seeker might have encountered the Varisians, but they do seem to be highly nomadic.

In terms of a party “secret language”, I favor languages spoken by only a few creatures/races (1 if possible) and/or languages from places we are unlikely to visit or encounter visitors from. What comes to mind off-hand is Aboleth. Aboleth is spoken by Aboleths and other aquatic aberrations, and I’d put our chances of encountering one as low on this campaign. Possible only if we have to do some sea travel. However, I’m negotiable about this if someone else can suggest an alternative.

Azwynn can’t pick a party secret language up this level, she’ll need to wait til at least 2nd.

I already speak 1 secret language ... Druidic you can all dip a level and learn it too! ;D

I’d also like to suggest that each party member be acquainted with 2 other members from somewhere, and those links are how the party got assembled in the first place. Wati is only 7300 people, so native Watians stand a good chance of knowing one another. You can also have met in a tavern, have met each other on a project somewhere, have talked magic together, talked religion together, whatever you can come up with.

I’ve already proposed that Azwynn and Seeker have met when she noticed him struggling to communicate and she learned his sign language. Plus, Oreads are known to get along with Dwarves.

I’ll also propose that Azwynn and Okaris have hunted together or talked nature together at some point.

So, assuming Okaris and Seeker agree, Okaris = Azwynn = Seeker.

Let’s see if we can fit all of us into this acquaintance chain!

That all seems reasonable.

Azwynn = Okaris works for me. Hunting buddies it is.

Okaris could also know Kidhir since they are both desert nomads.

"Ogo" is fine for Ogochukwu. Fun fact: he is named after a Lyft driver I had. He said that the name means "The Grace of God."

It seems to me that Ogochukwu might have met Kahina on the road and struck up a conversation with her about Sarenrae? I have it in my head that he worships Sarenrae, though it is not a particularly significant part of him.

So

Ogochukwu <-> Kahina

Okaris <-> Azwynn <-> Seeker

That leaves Kidhir and Cymric to tie us all together. Kidhir and Kahina are both Garundi, so maybe they are previous acquaintances? It could be Kahina was traveling to Wati to meet Kidhir for exploration purposes? I didn't look at either of your backstories at all; just brainstorming.

Ogochukwu <-> Kahina <-> Kidhir

Okaris <-> Azwynn <-> Seeker

It seems that Okaris might have met Kidhir since Kidhir is a desert nomad and Okaris lived in the desert (a subculture of Garundis, also) so

Ogochukwu <-> Kahina <-> Kidhir <-> Okaris <-> Azwynn <-> Seeker

Perhaps Okaris ran into Kidhir in the streets of Wati, looking for something to do.

That leaves Cymric. I will let him or someone else propose a way he could have met. Maybe he met Ogochukwu and Kahina on the road?

This is all hypothetical; if you don't like what I said for your character, feel free to say so. I just don't want us to wait around all day trying to figure it out since I think in the long term of the AP it is not that important.

EDIT: I see I was ninjaed. Great minds think alike. :)

I plan on taking Linguistics most levels so I'm fine with whatever you all want to do for a super-duper secret party language. I have Azlanti since both my traits grant access to an ancient language, but I don't know if you can take ancient languages with the Linguistics skill.

@Azwynn Seeker came from the mountains and you came from the sea so it looks like the best place for them to meet is in Wati. Oread live to be like 400 years old, so hanging out in the city for a year waiting for the tombs to be opened to the public isn't unbelievable.

Seeker came to Wati along the Crook, the river that runs east-west across the southern end of the country and splits at Wati. Around 180 miles, plenty of time to have meet another of the party members who may have been traveling that rout, especially with a 20 move speed.

On a shallow perusal it looks like we're pretty melee heavy. I expect this AP is going to have a lot of narrow corridors so we should probably maintain a strict marching order. Two non-reach melee in the front, two reach melee behind them. Also going to be a lot of bodies providing soft cover to enemies. We may all need to take teamwork feats to reduce the soft cover. Something to consider before we start.

@Ogo: Since Cymric is a Bard archaeologist and you’ve done a bit of exploring on your own, maybe you met Cymric on one of those outings?

@Seeker

Us meeting after we both arrived in Wati is fine by me.

I’m fine with a strict marching order, and Azwynn can take either role, but if we need her to do reach, I should get her another weapon.

Teamwork feats are fine,too, though I’ve never been in a game where we were allowed to use them. I’ve only got 2 more feats figured out, and 3 beyond that that I want to get, though I have to be at least 9th for all 3. 7th might be a good level for me to get a teamwork feat.

Yeah, Okaris and Kidhir run in something of the same circles. Nomads (particularly Garundi) having a strong sense of hospitality in the harsh desert, they certainly could have met several times. I try not to read backstories so I don't know if Kahina is a 'local' Garundi or not. If she is a regular at Wati or the deserts surrounding it - that's a plausible connection. For the moment, I'll assume Okaris is my connection.

I just realized we both have darkvision. Now I'm STOKED about the sign language.

Are we keeping track of minutia? Rations, water, light levels, ammo, carry weight etc? I'd prefer if we did, but I think most people don't care about it much.

@Seeker: Woohoo, I bet we can come up with some great uses of darkvision/sign language!

I’ve planned for the minutiae, but I guess that’s all up to Daniel.

Cool Dwarf feature I was previously unaware of: while Dwarves are limited to only 20 ft/minute, their pace is not slowed by either a medium or heavy load. Which is a good thing, because the Lucerne Hammer I just bought for Azwynn so she can do reach weighs a whopping 12 lbs! I guess we have to hope she never falls into a river, lol.

Meeting someone on the road would be a fine way for Cymric to meet one of the group. He was from Osirion originally, with a stop at Absalom to pick up his bard skills. One other way would be that he was searching for a group that needed someone to take care of traps (Trapfinder trait) as well as being a font of general knowledge and overheard you forming up and asked to join.

As far as languages, he knows Ancient Osiriani and Sphinx, in preparation for exploring his home in Osirion. With lots of skills he can learn any language from someone who has it and is willing to teach.

edit: just posted in game play thread. I went with the 'I'd like to join your group' method. Also, sometimes Mondays are harsh days for me. I am retired, but have a 4 hour/week part time job, and I also do some volunteer work. The volunteer work is not on Monday usually, but today was an exception so I am tired.....

Since Cymric is a Bard archaeologist and you’ve done a bit of exploring on your own, maybe you met Cymric on one of those outings?

I was going to go for this, or having met you on the road already. The eavesdropper introduction feels more socially awkward. You were going to be the friend that Ogochukwu said he was inviting. I should have posted that explicitly.

I think Ogo may go the "did you forget about me already, Cymric?" route.

Kahina is a Wati native. If we're using background skills I will put a point into sign language, with the many languages and dialects it's probably very useful in Osirian.

The other she will put into Knowledge History as she's a bit of a nerd. That seems to be a good link to her knowing Ogochukwu. Both Garundi, both interested in the past.

Her campaign trait was Undead crusader. So Kahina is very keen on destroying any we come across. She has Healing and Sun as her domains.

Combatwise she's not too good ATM. A few more levels and spells will fix that. So I see her as buffing and support if we are in combat.

Ogochukwu is not a Garundi, actually; he is a Mwangi.

Teamwork feats are fine.

@Seeker - it would be useful to as there will be dungeon exploration and later travel into the desert.

@Cymric - no worries.

Just to say as I live in the UK I tend to post early in the morning (UK time - currently GMT+1) and about 9pm in the evening so you may find I have posted twice in the same day (not sure what the time difference is). I do this so I can keep relatively up to date as I am running/participating in a number of gangs, however I can slow things down if this is too fast for people.

Posting more often is fine with me as long as it doesn't burn anyone out. Posting rate and burnout are two of the main things we have to balance to make an AP run really last.

I generally try to post twice a day, depending on how often others are. My work hours are all over the place and unpredictable, so sometimes I post at noon and sometimes at 1 am. Might take a bit to get back into the swing of it, haven't played in a year.

I should be able to keep up with the post rate.