Two things: 1: with regards to secret checks, it’s going to be a case-by-case basis for what I roll in secret, but in general I’m going to adhere to the RAW of rolling them in secret with the exception of Perception checks to, say, Seek an invisible creature in the middle of combat (so things can just go more smoothly).
2: Recall Knowledge is worded in such a way that, in my opinion, the character would have to choose the skill you’re using prior to the roll (at least while in combat), with a bit of suggestions from the GM as to which you should roll. But because of the sheer nature of PbP, I’m not going to do that in favor of rolling an appropriate skill to the situation at hand (I’d tell you what skill was rolled) whenever someone takes an action to Recall Knowledge. Here’s the table for the skilled generally used to Recall Knowledge on specific creature types.
Jevar's continued fleeing would be a Stride. Seeing that everybody has stopped and that the creature is no longer in his face, would Jevar be able to proceed with the other two actions?
I wasn't very accurate about this round, so I'm okay with it if not.
Jevar's continued fleeing would be a Stride. Seeing that everybody has stopped and that the creature is no longer in his face, would Jevar be able to proceed with the other two actions?
I wasn't very accurate about this round, so I'm okay with it if not.
I just assumed that you took three Strides. You're good to do your other two actions.
EDIT: Just keep in mind during your turn that you're technically frightened 4 (as it doesn't decrease to frightened 3 until the end of your turn)
Gotcha, thanks.
Now that we're getting clearer on encounter mode and actions, I'll start being incredibly explicit in turn actions. Sample post forthcoming...
FYI: I'm going to be out of town without access to a computer starting next Saturday (9/14) morning (US/Pacific time). I return the next day (9/15) in the early evening.
Given that I can post Friday evening before I leave and Sunday evening when I get back, I hope this will keep disruption to a minimum or non-existent.
Thanks!
Apparently I’m just a dolt who completely missed the post about the rest of Boodiddly’s actions. My bad!
No harm done!
Please let me know if any of you guys have a problem with that kind of graphic description.
No problems here! Sexually graphic stuff is the only thing (in terms of the written word, anyways) that puts me off.
No problems here! Sexually graphic stuff is the only thing (in terms of the written word, anyways) that puts me off.
Preaching to the choir.
Yeah, nothing seems to be "off the reservation" as far as what I would expect for a "horror" scenario. Thanks for asking though.
Sorry y'all, got back late last night and didn’t get a chance to post. I’ll get something up tonight though.
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Two more things for clarity:
1: Sanity damage is a mental effect, so only creatures immune to mental effects are immune to sanity damage (which, by the way, no longer includes intelligent undead or intelligent plants; they are no longer automatically immune to such effects).
2: Because of how initiative is done when there's a tie (opponents go before players, players choose among themselves who goes first), when there's a tie among players I'm just going to put it down as "[Character]/[Character]" and whoever posts first is going to be the one who goes first (unless someone specifically says that they'd wait for the other person to act first). I figured this was the best compromise for this.
FYI: I'm going to be out of town without access to a computer starting next Saturday (9/14) morning (US/Pacific time). I return the next day (9/15) in the early evening.
Given that I can post Friday evening before I leave and Sunday evening when I get back, I hope this will keep disruption to a minimum or non-existent.
Thanks!
reminder
Two more orders of business:
First: Apparently included in the upcoming Gamemastery Guide for 2e is rules for a research subsystem, so when that comes out I’m 90% sure that I’ll switch from my thrown-together rules to the more official ones. I’ll let you all know again once that book actually comes out.
Second: I’d like to establish a “Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure” in order to keep things moving swiftly. This includes party order and general exploration activities. At the moment I’m assuming the party marching order to be (using the first letters of characters’ names):
Front: U S J B :Back
If there’s only a 5-foot hallway, or
Front: U J :Back
Front: S B :Back
if there’s at least 10 feet to allow it.
For ease of play (and because some of you may not have read this section), I’m going to put down the exploration activities laid out in the Core. This list is not be-all-end-all, of course, so you can choose to do something that isn’t explicitly on this list, but this is what’s laid out and generally how I’d rule things. For the Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure I’d like to know what your character would do and I will try to adhere to that as much as possible, pausing for player input only when there’s an active roll to be made (such as rolling to disable a trap, but not the Perception check to find the trap). When not using the Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure (such as the case right now) I’d also like you to state what your character would do until the party returned to the Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure (if what you want to do differs from the activities below, I’ll work something out).
TL; DR I’d like to establish party-wide botting instructions so I can make dungeoncrawling not drag out unnecessarily due to the nature of PbP. The Core’s outlined exploration activities are restated below:
You spend 10 minutes affixing a talisman to an item, placing the item on a stable surface and using the repair kit with both hands. You can also use this activity to remove a talisman. If more than one talisman is affixed to an item, the talismans are suppressed; none of them can be activated.
(Not really relevant for dungeoncrawling; generally if you stated that you’d take the time to do this before returning to the Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure then I’d allow it)
(As normal for Sustaining a Spell or Activation, you become fatigued if you do so for longer than 10 minutes {unless the spell/effect can explicitly be Sustained for longer})
(Note: detect magic no longer has the “blocked by 3 feet of wood, 1 foot of stone, a thin sheet of lead, and a partridge in a pear tree” caveat; you must have line of effect to detect magic.)
(Let me emphasize that this tactic exists!)
You can instead use this activity to continue Sustaining a Spell or Activation with a sustained duration. Most such spells or item effects can be sustained for 10 minutes, though some specify they can be sustained for a different duration.
Any reference to speed is referring to travel speed in feet per minute, which is 10*a character’s base Speed.
There are, of course, other things one can do during Exploration, so I would check out anything with the exploration trait as well as Identify Magic. Again, this list isn’t exclusive to what you can do, but it’s a nice and extensive baseline.
I'll take a crack at this!
For our SDP, Urzok will Defend until the party gets the feeling the room is safe. Then, he will Search. When ready to move to the next room, he will Defend again. Follow the Expert will be used every time it is possible and someone in the party has the right skill. He is also willing to be the Expert if the person with the best training modifier is him.
Did I miss anything, GM?
Just curious, what was the reaction the Doctor took when Urzok closed in for another swing?
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Just curious, what was the reaction the Doctor took when Urzok closed in for another swing?
I am accepting of curiosity and usually sate it unless I have a reason not to. I have a reason not to.
EDIT: And none of the “doctor’s” instruments are combat-oriented; they’re all improvised daggers. The only difference between that and using your fists to deal lethal is that these things deal a different damage type.
And that kind of explanation for the Standard Dungeoncrawling Procedure is what I’m looking for, thank you.
Jevar's SDP:
Jevar will Repeat a Spell (mage armor) towards the beginning of every day since it's lasts until next prep.
If the group wanders into an area dark enough he will Repeat a Spell (light).
Jevar will Detect Magic in each new room, looking for magical traps or other auras. If there are items of particular focus or interest (e.g., a statue, a chest, a mirror), he will focus detect magic on that object.
Shakur doesn't have much of a need for things. Just make sure the doors aren't trapped before opening 'em, and his dagger (when/if we get it) is out at all possible times (In civilized society he probably doesn't wield it too intently).
So here’s what I’ve got for the SDP:
Urzok Defends until he feels the immediate vicinity is safe, after which he Searches.
Jevar Detects Magic (mage armor and light don’t really make sense for Repeat a Spell, since those are things you cast once for the day, while Repeat a Spell is casting something continually; not sure if you understood that. Also "focusing detect magic" isn't a thing anymore; the spell only tells you if there's something magic in range, not where it is [at this level, at least], but you can choose to ignore magical stuff that you already know about [like Boodiddly's potion]).
Shakur Searches.
Boodiddly Searches (until he checks in and informs me otherwise).
In the process of writing up the next thing. You all have your gear back, FYI, you just needed to search around the furnace rooms a bit more (which you did).
Well, I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment. This gigantic map that I was talking about has the "northern" (as defined by the map itself) and "southern" sides of it being the shorter sides. I tend to stick to "north is up" with PbP, but by doing that I've essentially made the individual five-foot-squares significantly smaller and harder to see. I know I said that I'd use a more zoomed-in part of the map when we go in encounter mode, but I still want the path the PCs take to be clear. Anyone have any strong opinions on the matter?
This map seems reasonable to zoom in on already.
Search sounds like a good plan - though he’ll swap to Follow the Expert as the situation calls for.
I appreciate the real talk! As the player, Urzok will learn to trust these guys and will bring the three shifter bodies to them. He isn't going to like being someone's errand boy, but it'll happen anyways! Generally speaking, I usually have my characters gravitate towards what I think is "smart" for the player to think, but they reach that conclusion through a way the character would. This gets increasingly easy when other players are "in" on it and their characters then start to nudge mine. Suddenly we have organic RP :D
I'd post this in gameplay, but I'm not up and I'd rather share than wait.
Just checking in to the thread while traveling. I’ll get a real post up later today. Just wanted to say that I really appreciate your GMing style on PbP GM!
Just checking in to see what folks are thinking thus far. Hindsight is telling me that this AP was probably not the best one to introduce folks to 2e, and I’m likely going to adjust some of the more brutal early combats to accommodate for that. Nonetheless, I hope I’m not turning people off of the new system because of what’s written in the AP.
I just noticed I was ninja’d by Jevar, to whom I respond: Remember, Attacks of Opportunity are not universal anymore, and creatures almost universally have only one kind of reaction that they can take (maybe two if you count Shield Block), with very few exceptions (I can only think of one where one of the reactions isn’t Shield Block). And even if he did have Attack of Opportunity, he would’ve taken one when you cast shocking grasp.
I'm having a good time! The only "growing pain" for me with 2e is how swingy a fight can be with the potential for three attacks a round at level 1! I do like harder, grittier fights, so no worries here!
It's alright for me. I'd appreciate dumbing down the more brutal fights, but I think it's a decent introduction. Nothing like dying to learn how to play a game. (for reals, though. My first death in PF1 changed how I played.)
I'm enjoying it so far. The 2e rules don't material impede the mood of this AP, at least as far as I can tell (I'm sure there's a lot of work for you in the background). I'm still reading through parts of the book.
RE: the AoO, good to know. I think I still would have had to draw a weapon that round anyway.
Just realized that I completely ignored Urzok's question: yes, rerolls and preventing death are all that Hero Points are used for (at least as far as I know).
Okay, crazy day is basically over.
What I’m mostly wondering from you guys is if you decide to press on or cut your losses and rest for the day.
It's only cutting losses if we're on some sort of time pressure, right? Did I miss that there is one?
There isn’t a pressure for time. Let me rephrase: I’m asking if you guys want to keep going without (to use Jevar as an example) any more of your first level spells or Drain Familiar, because you guys still have one more of those things that you have to fight.
That's a tough one... Are we out of healing? Idk that we can handle one of those without at least being at full HP, and even then it is risky. Alternatively, sleeping might mean we get jumped in the middle of the night by one (or more than one, yay).
It seems to me we have considerable risk either way.
So, because you gave someone with the Medicine skill (Shakur) and a healer’s kit, the party always has healing because someone can always Treat Wounds, it’s just a matter of if you take the time to do so or if you use magic for the time-efficiency but at the cost of using up resources.
Gotcha. I'll leave it up to those with the resources to decide! I'd like to heal up and push forward, but, again, I will follow what the healers want to do!
I'm okay to press forward, cantrips are not trivial in 2e, and keep a caster in the game :)
I’m very glad you asked that! The answer is both “yes” and “no.”
For one, that doesn’t just apply to attack rolls and saves, it now applies to all d20 rolls (the minor exception being ones that you can’t feasibly “fail,” such as Survival to follow tracks; in these cases getting a bad result just results in the activity taking more time than it should’ve).
Second, “nat 1s fail” isn’t completely true. More accurately a natural 1 and natural 20 result in a degree of success one worse and better (respectively) than what you would’ve gotten from the numbers alone. So while, yes, this usually results in a natural 1 being an auto-crit-fail and a natural 20 an auto-crit-success, in some cases (like if you’ve got a high modifier and rolling against a low DC) a natural 1 can actually result in a regular failure or even a success, and if you’re taking massive penalties (like if you’re taking a third attack of a turn), your modifiers could actually result in a failure to hit, but because it was a natural 20, you actually got a success.
Two examples with some devils:
First let’s say that I were to send a pit fiend at you guys (I would never do that) and it decided to attack Urzok with its jaw attack. This is how it would go down:
Now a 41 attack roll beats Urzok’s AC almost two-and-a-half times over, so it’s clearly a critical success, but because it rolled a natural 1, that critical success is stepped down by one, turning it into a regular success, meaning that it would hit, but it wouldn’t deal double damage.
For the second example, let’s say that Urzok is fighting against a bearded devil and is swinging for the fences with his third attack of the turn with his longsword. This is how it would go down:
A result of 18 is a failure (but not a critical failure), but because Urzok rolled a natural 20, that failure goes up one step to a success, so he would deal the devil 11 damage.
I have an order of business that I’d like a consensus on: initially I said that I’d reset Hero Points at the beginning of each book, but upon further reflection I realized that Hero Points, as written, are supposed to reset “every session.” Now, of course, the nature of PbP makes the concept of a “session” as being very irregular. As such, I’d like to propose an alternative (that I admittedly stole from another PbP GM running a long-running campaign in 2e):
At the first of each month (excluding tomorrow, October 1st so I don’t just spring this on you all), Hero Points will reset back to everyone having 1.
I’m proposing this because Hero Points are supposed to be spent pretty frequently, and this method will encourage using them rather than just stockpiling them for the end of the book (of course, if we were to use this then I’d probably hand them out more frequently to encourage their use).
Thoughts?
Sounds like a decent plan here.
1's/20's: Thank you GM, your posts are very thorough and helpful. As always!
Hero Points: I'm ok with that! I didn't realize they were supposed to be a relatively frequent occurrence. Would you mind posting a reminder for the first couple of months if we do end up doing this? Won't change my vote either way!
This seems reasonable to me.
I like the hero point reset mechanics. It sounds good to me.
Forgot about that! My bad.
Seems like a safe enough place to rest and recover some sanity. I'd like to not be taking a -1 to most things. How do those sanity recovery methods work again?
Seems like a safe enough place to rest and recover some sanity. I'd like to not be taking a -1 to most things. How do those sanity recovery methods work again?
You can cure madnesses by reducing their DC to 0 through either mundane means or magical means, both of which are explained in this post (mundane means listed under the “Madness Overhaul” spoiler and magical under the “In addition to the regular choices for the spell Restoration” spoiler). I’ve been keeping track of the madnesses everyone has and the DCs therein.
Critical Success: heal sanity damage equal to twice your Charisma modifier plus the Intelligence or Wisdom modifier (whichever is higher) of the person giving you guidance and therapy.
Success: you heal sanity damage equal to your Charisma modifier plus the Intelligence or Wisdom modifier (whichever is higher) of the person giving you guidance and therapy.
Critical failure: take sanity damage equal to half your Charisma modifier with a Basic Will save of the same DC as the original check.
Quick aside, though: Shakur’s taking a -1 to everything because he’s sickened 1 from something that has nothing to do with his sanity.
Oh? Uhh. What can I do to figure that out. I thought they were the same thing.
Figuring out exactly what’s wrong with you would be a wise starting place.
Hey all!
Due to the fact that I've got 7 irl games in 4 days starting Friday (5 of those in 2 days at a convention), I likely won't have the mental strength to post this upcoming Friday-Monday. Feel free to bot me as necessary.