Nice to meet you! I'm sorry for only replying after a couple of days - it looks like work's been frantic for a couple of us this past week!
No worries, I know that's how it goes a lot of the time with PbP. :)
Hello! Welcome to the group!
I suspect we'll fill both very similar yet very different roles in this game, and I'm interested to see how it all plays out.
Sorry it took so long for the welcome. I don't think I've been on the forums for more than 5 minutes in a week.
Hmm! I'm interested to see how your build plays out! I'm guessing one of the prestige classes is Eldritch Knight? I know nothing about Occult Rituals so if that's something you're planning on doing I will look forward to seeing it happen!
I don't think we'll overlap much at all, just fyi. I only took a level in Sorcerer so that Laura has the Aberrant bloodline, which was the only way I could find to get her a tumor familiar. She's really a brawler/fighter, and I suspect she will kind of play like a hunter with her familiar. She can use arcane wands, and later on she can flex into Item Mastery feats to give her more pseudo-spellcasting, but for the most part I think she will be just punchy-punchy melee. If she survives, of course! :-D 8-O
Actually, Arcane Knight is not what I'm going for. Instead, I'm going to get Loremaster and Ritualist, with the aim of being the ultimate toolbox caster. Magus is primarily there to prop me up in combat and give me something to contribute for the first... 9 or so levels until I start branching out into my prestige classes.
That sounds fascinating!
Alright, sorry for the absence. Been working, as well as working on how to introduce the new member.
Catching up and posting now!
I did want to say, I adjusted the challenge of the combat to compensate for the group only having three party members now.
You will meet the new member soon, but not quite during this combat.
My bad, forgot I was waiting on someone who wouldn’t show up. Won’t make that mistake again!
Should Aoife go? l didn't act last round.
I believe you’re after Veda, your perception check wasn’t high enough to act in the surprise round after it attacked.
So.... Bump?
I'm still here! Trying not to be too pushy or to muddy the waters further by posting outside of initiative order again.
Okay, new rule time. Gonna start botting people during combat if it’s their turn and they haven’t posted in a few days.
I won’t make any flavor decisions or have them say anything, just turn them into combat NPCs for that round.
Starting.....now!
I want to sincerely apologize for my prolonged absence. I presented flu-like symptoms last week, and have been undergoing tests in the hospital to make sure it was just the flu, and not the new corona virus thing. Luckily, it was just the flu, so I am back home with my internet and computer now.
I will be posting later today and getting things started again!
No worries, thanks for letting us know. I hope you're feeling better, but please make sure to take care of yourself! I know what it can be like to push oneself too hard while still recovering.
Glad to hear you don't have the Coronavirus, though sorry to hear you've got the flu!
I was very worried and panicked for a few days there, but turns out we’re all good here. But enough about all that, time to get this show started once more!
Alright, did Veda leave us as well? Do I need to find another party member, or do one of you know what happened?
Again, I’m sorry for the disjointed post times recently, I have been quite busy these past few weeks and such. I will be making an effort to post more regularly, however.
I'm still here. I don't know if anyone left, sorry.
I'm not sure if Veda's just fallen off the edge of the world; I know it happens sometimes, with play-by-posts.
And thanks for checking in. I can certainly understand how things crop up, and you're hosting us, so I'm hardly going to pout! :) I'm happy to ease into gearing up at whatever pace suits everyone.
I do apologize especially to you, Laura, for bringing you into this and then immediately having issues with getting people together and all.
Hopefully we can fix all of this, and get this show going again. I’m much more stable now in posting, what with getting over all my health issues. I’m in this for the long haul, and won’t be abandoning this if I can avoid it.
I'm still around as well. I'm used to slow games, I'm used to fast games, so I can work with whatever pace is needed.
So, what’s it gonna be? Find someone else, or continue as just the three of you? I can alter the encounters either way, but will be more than fine finding someone else.
Was there someone in the last recruitment drive that you could reach out to and invite to the game? Pausing to recruit will probably slow our momentum even more, but if you think that's best it's fine with me. :)
You could probably get someone new, works for me. That said, I don't think we should pause in the meantime.
Getting a divine caster would probably be good.
Messaged a secondary candidate about joining, but also continued in the meantime.
Hi everyone!
Satomi is going to be joining at some time in the near future.
Glad to be here!
Hi, Okita! Welcome!
Hey Laura, and hey again !Kutlwisi because this is Zhalet from Mummy's Mask!
Hey, small world! :D I'm actually Mahzuzi in that game, but good to see you here!
Oops, sorry! I copy pasted the wrong name. It's one of those games that require name copy pastes for posts :p
Welcome! Amusing to see we're keeping the all-female party going.
No worries, Okita!
Have you finalized your character? I saw you have a lot of discussion in your profile, and if there's anything you want to discuss I'm open to weighing in, but I have no strong opinions. I think she looks like a fun and interesting character to play, with lots of features that will probably help out the party. :)
Hehe, and to keep on the names theme for a moment, Satomi's name is given in the Chinese / Japanese manner, with family name first. American style her name is Satomi Okita, so you can call her Satomi. :)
Actually there are a few things I'm wondering about build-wise. Are y'all using maps to track combat carefully? Satomi's current build probably requires that since she would be very mobile in a few levels.
She's using a reach weapon for a wider AoO threat range and will be picking up Combat Reflexes as soon as possible. Perfect Aid + Bodyguard will let her use AoO's to increase allies' AC.
She'll eventually be able to pounce, so a combat round for her could look like this: Move 15', Feint (free action), attack as a standard (probably using vital strike) retreat back 15' (move action completed) and then use AoO's to support allies against attacks.
This might be a bit much to track in PbP without close mapping. Figured I'd mention it now in case this seems like too much to deal with.
A more meat and potatoes martial option would be Mutation Warrior Fighter rather than Warrior Poet Samurai.
On the Oracle side the Pei Zin archetype will give her a touch healing and condition removal similar to Lay on hands and Mercies. That's a few levels away though.
Satomi's oracle mystery is currently Succor, which is what lets her Aid well. But if reach Aid based on AoO's seems very complicated for PbP, she could switch her mystery pretty seamlessly. Life would give her greater healing if that seems better. Time would make her better at area control and general support.
I'm flexible on all these things. I think she has a very neat build right now, but I also realize it might be too finicky to manage for this game.
I'd love to hear any input anyone has on the subject.
I figured an Oracle could be quite useful to the party as it is right now, and I also enjoyed the theme of Okita.
And no, we weren’t actually using combat maps so specifically, but I can certainly find and set up something to do so if your build requires it. Roll20, or the like.
Edit: site note, I put up a post for gameplay, if Pras and Aoife wanna keep exploring.
Oh whoops, thanks for pointing out the surname/family name thing. I should have realized!
I like the tactical options maps give us, but I'm also excited about delving deep into the psychological roleplay of these characters in these situations. Satomi is really going to be a fish out of water, I imagine!
Oh that reminds me, what are the parameters of the memory loss? What do characters currently know about themselves?
Sorry for being so slow to post this week, everyone. My home institution is pulling out all the stops for pandemic preparedness this week, and while I'm not directly affected, there's quite a bit of to-do pulling everyone just off-kilter.
Nice to meet you, Satomi! And thanks for your patience, Laura!
Satomi's oracle mystery is currently Succor, which is what lets her Aid well. But if reach Aid based on AoO's seems very complicated for PbP, she could switch her mystery pretty seamlessly. Life would give her greater healing if that seems better. Time would make her better at area control and general support.
I'm flexible on all these things. I think she has a very neat build right now, but I also realize it might be too finicky to manage for this game.
I'd love to hear any input anyone has on the subject.
Sounds nifty! I hope we’d all be happy with whatever mystery makes you happiest. And for what it’s worth, if we can make it to the next level, I’ll happily take the healing hex, having erred on the side of taking something a bit more thematic from the get-go, even while stacking archetypes that limit Prasitis’ choices for the first few levels quite sharply. Lessons learned. Or not - I blame the Wis penalty. :)
Regarding the memory loss, I played in the beginning of another version of this adventure path (that didn't even get as far as we are now!) and the GM of that game allowed us to remember our names at least, after a little while, which I thought was really important. It was extremely difficult referring to each other by nicknames.
Alright, I've looked at oracle mysteries and given it some thought. I think Life is out because it's too much focus on healing when combined with Pei Zin. We're a small party so versatility is good, and this won't add much to it.
Succor would be a really great mystery if Satomi were a halfling or a fighter. Since I can't get combat reflexes until level 3 and the AC bonus won't be big enough to matter much after about 10th or 12th level, it's sort of a dead end pathway. Halfling can stack up lots of aid bonuses, while fighter can invest feats. I couldn't find enough bonuses with my limited number of feats to make it work really well on that side. Otherwise Succor tends to debuff, and we already have a witch for that.
I think the Time mystery will be the way to go. Satomi won't have a high enough charisma to be very good at offensive casting, so she'll stick mostly to party buffs and battlefield control. Time works well enough with those two areas, and it fits her background and personality well.
I'll consider it for a couple more days before a actually make the change, Ancestor also looks promising, for more melee effectiveness, but I'm not sure we need more of that.
If anyone has any comments or suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know!
Time is a great mystery, Satomi! It also lends itself thematically to the idea that everyone else is in this sort of pseudo-Victorian era and then a samurai steps out of the mists! :)
(Although the difference between eastern-western historical ages isn't as pronounced as most people think, of course.)
I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services. We're expecting to be hit with maybe the biggest rush of benefits applications ever due to statewide service sector closings.
I'm going to be pulled off my normal job to help process intakes somewhere between sometimes and a lot, and it's possible overtime could become involved.
I don't know what this is going to do to my availability right now, posts from me could become spotty at times depending on how things unfold. It's getting pretty crazy right now.
Unfortunately, Satomi and I can't really post anything to the game until we appear in the narrative. I totally understand why everyone's slow to respond, of course, but I thought I'd post here to say that I'm still ready and involved. :)
Same here, I might not be able to post every day, but I'm still able to be active.
Will do our best! And it’s understandable: I’m currently a wreck IRL, where I’m not a pretty, pretty pointy-eared princess with magic at her fingertips. :/
No argument here, so long as Siti can hang back and provide ranged support with her last hard-won hit point. She’d be all for swooning decoratively, but there’s only so much more bleeding all over the place she can safely do at the moment. :)
I feel that we're on the edge of collapse, but could push on just a bit farther so that we have everyone on-screen.
Apologies for prolonged absence.
Had quite something to do with flu and corona and being on the frontline there partly.
Hope the situation calms down a bit now.
Will try to catch up and rejoin as fast as i can.
Ah really glad i find some time to get back to gaming!
Forgot how cool this character is^^
Hope you are all well and healthy and this game can continue.
Apologies, faithful adventurers! Been under a lot of stress recently, and have been voiding on my duty here. I am recommitting to running this game now, and will be devoting at least one post a day from here on out, barring exceptional circumstances.
As for Veda returning, I think a party of five members is perfectly fine with me, but it is the party’s decision whether or not they want to handle five people. I am sure it won’t be an issue in the slightest, however.
For the newest member of our party, Okita, I have plans to introduce her after you return to the barricade with your three freshly killed doppelangers. Fear not! I am back in control.