Gods and Monsters and Heroes (Inactive)

Game Master Daxter

(750-75)5=135

Okay, everyone owes 135 gold once Amazing Red confirms one is available. If Poly disagrees, I'll recalculate the difference.

If Poly disagrees, he’ll be healing himself!

Yes that is available.

Am fine with that plan.

Consider it purchased. Nearly all of the party can use it.

Okay, sounds good. Varocles, will you carry it?

DM, I think that's it. We're ready.

Sure.

Alrighty. I will update later tonight after work.

Has anyone equipped the gear from the last encounter?

We had been discussing that stuff before the holidays, I think we lost the ball on finishing it. I definitely put on the wisdom item. There was conversation related to the other items.

I didnt take anything, there's really nothing I could use aside from the ring of protection and that's more useful on the frontliners.

We started the conversation, but it was during the holidays and life events, so not everyone was engaged. Some brave soul added everything to the loot list!

I requested both Pearls of Power and one of the scrolls of cure light wounds. Nobody challenged that, so I'll add them to my character sheet and remove them from the loot list.

Varocles was given the Headband of the Ascetic Shaman. He's also the only person who can use wand of longstrider without a UMD check. The wand is on Varocle's character sheet, but not the headband. I'm removing the wand from the loot list.

Polyoinos claimed the Ring of Protection +1 and the Potion of Barkskin +3. I can't find either on his character sheet.

Amphitryon also wanted the Ring of Protection, but only if nobody else wanted it.

Teledoros was offered the +1 Red Dragonhide Breastplate, but he's right that he can't use it. Would Poly or Varocles want it?

So anyone who wants any of the above items but who hasn't added them to their character sheets, please add them and remove them from the loot list. Also from that same haul but were unclaimed and I think people should claim them:

Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
Scroll - Cure Light Wounds

Also, it occurs to me that we could potentially benefit from that wand of longstrider to get through the tunnel to Varocles faster, but the person who's carrying it is Varocles. :)

I've added the headband to my character.

I'm glad to wear the dragon BP if no one else wants it.

Also, it occurs to me that we could potentially benefit from that wand of longstrider to get through the tunnel to Varocles faster, but the person who's carrying it is Varocles. :)

Not without trying those UMD checks., which takes a standard action which would slow you down as well.

Longstrider is 1/hour duration. Shouldn’t be using it in combat. So grab it!

Also I’m holding the BANE SWORD. Which won’t be used until needed. Because that will make best story...and because against non-casters his gloom blade is better. ;)

Amphitryon, pick up one of those potions for when it's your turn to go scouting a tunnel.

Just a heads up gang that myself and my better half are heading over to UAE tomorrow for 3 weeks. My sister in law graciously paid for the ticket to allow us some time to relax, process the loss of our beloved boy and maybe heal a little.

I anticipate that by the weekend (and the weeks to come) I'll have plenty of time to post, but first few days I'll likely be off the grid as we catch up and fall into a routine.

If you could bot Poly as/where necessary and I'll endeavour to get my head back in the game (literally) come time.

Appreciate the patience and understanding shown by you all.

Cheers

BD/Gary

Loot discussion!

+1 Composite Longbow(Str +1) -- Claimed by Teledoros
Ring of Protection +1 -- Poly's AC is low for a front-liner. I'm going to claim this for him when he gets back unless anyone has any objections.
Cloak of Resistance +1 -- Poly and Kyronai already have one. Amphy is passing unless nobody else wants it. Varocles or Teledors?
Wand of Magic Missile (Caster Level 3) (35 charges) -- I'm going to go ahead and claim this. It's not on anybody's spell list, but I'm putting points into Kyronai's UMD, and it's harder for him to wield a magic weapon.
Scroll of Restoration, Lesser -- Claimed by Varocles, along with that magic trident.
Masterwork Longbow -- Will probably end up selling this.
Wand of Touch of the Sea (30 charges) -- None of us have this on our spell list, but maybe I should pick it up? Just in case we need it because Varocles finally gets us on a boat.
Ring of Feather Fall -- I have this as a class ability, FYI. I'm fine with selling it, also.
300 gold -- I've added this to the loot sheet. I'll add anything else from this list after we've divvied this up.

Speaking of the loot sheet. There's still stuff on there that has been claimed by others. If you claimed anything, please help by removing it from the loot sheet. Start from this post for a jumping on point of the last loot discussion.

I am adding the following to Varocles sheet:

+1 Red Dragonhide BP
+1 Adamantine Trident
Scroll of Lesser Restoration

Kyronai, I can't find the link for the loot list.

It's at the very top of each page, above the tabs that read Campaign, Info, Gameplay, Discussion, Recruitment, Players, and Characters.

Thanks, Varocles!

So it is!!!

Welcome back Poly!

Apologies if my tone is brisk, but I'm in Project Manager mode at work, and I don't have a lot of time to post today, so that's probably going to carry over here.

All the group wants out of this excursion is to try and talk to an NPC resident of this town and avoid violence. DM's choice of making this difficult for us is Just and Right because that's what a DM is supposed to do.

So, as a group, we need to decide how we want to do this, and then we need information from DM to be able to do this.

Strategy 1: We comb through every room of every house until we encounter an NPC. DM, how many rooms are in the houses?

Strategy 2: We just kick down the front door of each house, but don't enter to try and convey that we aren't raiding them. DM, how many dwellings are there?

(Strategy 2 is what I think is best, but Strategy 1 might work better if people are just huddling in their bathrooms.)

And potentially we need to decide what to do if this plan just isn't going to work. Like, are we willing to battle someone protecting their home while trapped on this plane just so we can enforce a conversation?

Apologies if the strategy is apparent to everyone else but me. I just see a lull in the action, and it I think it's due to us not having a clear direction.

Welcome back Poly!

Ditto!

I’m certainly not willing to become the bad guy and start rousting locals. Heroes shouldn’t act that way.

Thirded on the welcome back Poly.

Apologies if things aren't clear. I am glad you brought this up rather than stew and be frustrated and then quit. If you guys have any questions and/or concerns just let me know so I can work on it. Running a campaign is very new for me.

Recap:
So far you guys have flubbed a diplomacy check(not by much so the NPC is hostile, but still failed), put yourselves under a darkness spell and kicked the door down into someone's home followed by some not-so-passive-aggressive replies. I'm pretty sure most reasonable folks would not want to speak to you. Perhaps a lighter approach would help things.

Also I tried to word his words to somewhat-neutral and not hostile, but if I didn't portray well, I will work on it.

Running a campaign is very new for me.

You're doing a good job! I'm having fun.

And I've found in PbP that when things lull, a quick level-set in the Discussion thread helps, and it doesn't have to be the GM to do it.

From Kyronai's perspective, the darkness is just protection from the arrows. While he thinks he understands why the villager(s) won't talk, he believes that the party's actions will benefit them, too, and if they can just get a chance to talk, the party will get the information they need and the villagers will be happy to give it.

But as a player, I completely understand the NPC's motivations and the metagaming die results.

Amphitryon thinks the best thing to do is kick down doors until we can grab someone and intimidate him until we get some answers. We tried being nice. So now it’s time to be less nice.

Strategy 1: We comb through every room of every house until we encounter an NPC. DM, how many rooms are in the houses?

Strategy 2: We just kick down the front door of each house, but don't enter to try and convey that we aren't raiding them. DM, how many dwellings are there?

Strategy 3: We let Polyoinos sing our way out of this problem.

So... how honest on our mission are we to be? My thoughts are to drop Circe's name into the conversation with our resident and see the reaction. If they are her foe's then we have potential allies in this quest. If they seem indifferent we tread carefully... and if they are her bondsmen then we need to be canny and seek an audience under another pretense...

Do what you gotta do.

So... how honest on our mission are we to be? My thoughts are to drop Circe's name into the conversation with our resident and see the reaction. If they are her foe's then we have potential allies in this quest. If they seem indifferent we tread carefully... and if they are her bondsmen then we need to be canny and seek an audience under another pretense...

I like that idea, and I think it's fine if you want to make the judgement call on what to say and when.

Yup. And then some Sense Motive checks, we should be good to go

As a fun aside...from watching Varocles he silver tongued: dwarven Clerics can be the most charming characters.

Alternate Racial: Iron Citizen (+2 Diplomacy and Sense Motive), Lorekeeper (+2 Knowledge history and can make Untrained when on dwarfs and their enemies)

Traits:
Empathic Diplomat “You have long followed the path of common sense and empathic insight when using diplomacy. You modify your Diplomacy checks using your Wisdom modifier, not your Charisma modifier.”
Secret Knowledge: +2 Knowledge Religion

Lvl 1 with Int 12, Wis 18: Diplomacy, Sense Motive (+10) Knowledge Religion (+7)

Take that, bards. It’s the Dwarven clerics who get all the girls.

Hey, I meant to post the part in the below quote a couple weeks ago to all of my campaigns, but it seems I missed this one. Today's update is below.

Things are crazy in my life right now. My wife is in public health, so she's working pretty much 24/7 due to COVID 19 stuff and a city-wide water supply issue here in Houston, so I'm pretty much single dad for a few weeks. I'll probably need to drop off for a day or two (like I did this weekend), here and there. I intend to catch up, but feel free to bot me if needed.

Update: They closed the schools today through March 30th due to the community spread of the coronavirus. Next week is our Spring Break, so I've already taken the week off to watch the kids, but the week after that is still up in the air. Wife is still working crazy hours, children are still small and needy, but I should have some help from my retired mom occasionally. My youngest has really started acting out at school (we're assuming because of the drop in personal attention and an overall community anxiety that seems to be everywhere), so some time away from school may help her by giving her less she needs to rebel against and give her teacher a break. Anyway, I'll still be inconsistent from time to time.

Thank you for the notice. The same thing is happening here in SO-Cal. I really hope my work doesn't get shut down as well since that means I won't have income. :( But on the bright side, it'll mean I'll be home more to post!

How old is your youngest if you don't mind me asking.

I don't mind at all. I've got a 5 year old girl in Kindergarten and a 9 year old boy in 3rd grade. My work hasn't shut down either, but I had already requested next week off for Spring Break (but we cancelled our travel plans, so now it's a stay-cation for everyone except my wife). I haven't figured out the details for the week after that.

I ask because I studied child psychology for a bit and a few of my jobs have involved helping with kids so I've learned a little bit about them.

However I work in a restaurant currently so I'm extra worried about it shutting down.

Next week was Spring Break here as well, but Governor Northam just closed all schools for 2 weeks, so it looks like a long Spring Break here as well.

Hope everyone makes it safely through this pandemic.

Will people be annoyed with me if I have Kyronai initiate combat without talking to the group, first? In-character being upset with Kyronai is fine, but I want to make sure nobody will be annoyed player-to-player.

Upset? No. If that's the way you want to go. I'm not convinced it's the way we're "supposed" to go, but I'm not opposed.

I think the theme that our DM has been using is that there are multiple options for each encounter. There isn't a "supposed to" path.

Kyronai has decided which way he thinks they should go, but there isn't really an opportunity for internal debate right now.

With a few exceptions there are multiple paths for most encounters. I try to not railroad people. Though I totally expected that out of everyone Amphitryon would want to fight them.

OOC I always appreciate players asking first.

IC Amphitryon trusts his brother’s judgement ;)

Wee heads up gang - our management in their infinite wisdom are pressing ahead with an ISO audit (via Skype) which I'm heavily involved with due to my Ops Super role.

Been prepping all day today and audit is tomorrow - will likely be Friday before I'm back in the saddle again. Bear with and bot Poly if/where necessary.

Been prepping all day today and audit is tomorrow - will likely be Friday before I'm back in the saddle again. Bear with and bot Poly if/where necessary.

You have a bear AND a robot?! Why haven't you been using them in combat?!

(Audit well, dude.)

Belach moves forward and tries to strike at Amphitryon.
Power Attack: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 7 - 2 = 23
1d12 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 6 = 19

Missed by 1. If it hit I’d be at -14...death. Now *that* was close

So, sorry for starting this fight and contributing practically nothing to it due to my die rolls.

One team, one fight.