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I mainly think that letting Cloudia's 2nd level buff (her highest level spell of which she only has 4, so now 3) run out after she explicitly asked the party to press on by one character's decision to investigate is a bit harsh.
[dice=fortitude]d20+4+2
It's not like she is asking that we never investigate the room, just that it be delayed for 4 minutes! And standard operating procedures can always be broken if a player says they want to take an action counter to it (which Cloudia did).
I hear both of you. Unfortunately, I can't reveal more about the decision without spoiling the chronicle. Happy to talk this out further, and how I can be a better GM, as an ongoing thread here in the discussion.
I will say that in my tabletop games, short-term buffs were generally cast when there was a known threat in the next room, i.e. the party is behind a door and can hear the ogres talking. Cloudia took a risk to cast a buff without knowing what was in the next room.
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I hear both of you. Unfortunately, I can't reveal more about the decision without spoiling the chronicle. Happy to talk this out further, and how I can be a better GM, as an ongoing thread here in the discussion.
I will say that in my tabletop games, short-term buffs were generally cast when there was a known threat in the next room, i.e. the party is behind a door and can hear the ogres talking. Cloudia took a risk to cast a buff without knowing what was in the next room.
So one of the things that is often used in PbPs is the rule of two or the rule of three. So if there are two conflicting options, the first one to get the required number of votes (2 or 3) 'wins'. This way it requires more input than one player's instictive reaction. (Rule of two means that just one more person needs to second the idea.)
Personally I think the "if you decide this, open this spoiler" a bit baiting.
Also, I have absolutely no problems with the GM rolling all the saving throws if the party gets hit by an effect or perception checks when required.
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I don't play it, but I GM it a lot; consequently, my knowledge of PC creation is minimal, but I am reasonably comfortable running it.
It feels more stream-lined to run, but that could also just be that it doesn't have quite the complexity of PF1 yet, as it is a new system.
On average (with a party that posts every day), I find that I am able to finish a scenario in about two weeks, via PbP.
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*shrugs* As with any of the previous iterations of D&D there will always, for the foreseeable future, be people playing it, somewhere.
As a popular organised play campaign?
Unless we get something like 'Undead Greyhawk', with people writing their own 'fan' scenarios, I think that what will realistically happen is that interest will gradually peter out over the course of the next few years - people who started playing relatively recently will have a huge back-log of scenarios, and they will probably play those for a while, but it will be difficult to entice new players to try an 'old' system, when there is a 'new shiny' system available.
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Re: a WOTC campaign, 5E is a pretty rules-lite system - I mean, even after 9 seasons of AL, the complexity is *far* less than that of PF1 (or even PF2), due, in part, to the less frequent book release schedule, but also because there is, fundamentally, not a whole lot of difference between low level and high level play.
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DnD is an easy system to play/GM but as a player I largely prefer PF2 because I can make match the character I want to play with the rules of the game contrary to DnD where only the way I will play my character will change...
I also think that PF1 as a Organized Play will die sooner or later. People will always play Pathfinder 1 (there is still people playing d&d!).
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I've been mostly Starfinder - almost played my first game at a con this weekend, but left before the last slot cuz I had an interview Monday morning and was already exhausted (con drinking - the best worst idea).
From what I've seen, I don't think there's going to be any one choice for what happens to 1E - our local lodge has a decent number of people who won't touch it for their own reasons (I think mostly that they can't be as min-max-y as they want with a new, more balanced system), and a bunch of people who have simply accepted it full-sale. Bet it varies a lot from group to group, too.
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My main issue with 2e is the lack of options. There are just so few nice feats for some classes that you are forced to take specific paths. I also don't like the fluff bloat with backgrounds. to me it would have been more interesting to have the player pick the stats affected and use a little imagination and come up with their own background stories. Really? You have to have a background as a bartender to get the stat bonuses offered for a bartender? Blah!
The actual mechanics are OK though. But for a rich character building experience I'm sticking with 1e. And then there is the pocketbook. Don't want to drop a few Cs to keep up with the inevitable flow of basic source material that is bound to come out. I'd rather buy a 1e module and GM for a change as payback to all the GMs that have done so for me. Or maybe take advantage of the next humble bundle.
Maybe in a couple of years when a better selection of materials are available and I can get them in a cheap bundle. THAT might entice me into 2e.
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About 2E I don't mind the "lack of options". I prefer fewer option and a better well balanced game than what PF1 has become (that's one of the reason I play in CORE).
As for the Background, they have not that much influence and the traits in PF1 had more or less the same goal (but people quickly forget the meaning of the trait for their usefulness in term of gameplay).
Nevertheless, I like 1E and I have enough material for numerous years of play :)
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Actually Jack took the first violent action by shooting at the dragon. You just joined the party. But you are right, it did attack Jack after he plinked the illusion, but can you blame the little fellow? In either case, I don't have a problem with either of your actions. I mean it WAS a dragon before we learned better. It was just so dang amusing to have one half of the party trying to talk to it while the other half was trying to obliterate it.
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Well, to be fair, it *was* a Red Dragon, which are known for being evil...
Jack also doesn't like it when things try to mess with his mind.
If we manage to drop it, I am perfectly happy to spend resources to stabilise it, so that we can have a better chat with it (from a position of strength).
I am just concerned by the fact that someone, some time ago, thought this thing was enough of a threat that it needed to be locked up...
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Sorry, none of the many things we encountered should have taken more than 5 minutes each, even with looting and healing up and we haven't had 10 of those. The heroisms were cast during and after the skeletal champions.
We're not doing a museum tour, we're doing a strike team style dungeon cleaning.
I really don't think we've been in this dungeon longer than 30 minutes in total. It might feel longer due to the one post a day. :-P
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Sorry, none of the many things we encountered should have taken more than 5 minutes each, even with looting and healing up and we haven't had 10 of those. The heroisms were cast during and after the skeletal champions.
We're not doing a museum tour, we're doing a strike team style dungeon cleaning.
I really don't think we've been in this dungeon longer than 30 minutes in total. It might feel longer due to the one post a day. :-P
*sigh* Just trust me.
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Also, what about the dancing whips...
The feather tokens are one use only. I suppose they still exist as huge whips but I don't imagine they'd be much use to the party. (Well, except to tie up your prisoners.)
Strangely, it's not on the chronicle sheet at the end of the adventure, which seems like a bit of an oversight.
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Technically, they last an hour, but there is nothing in the description that suggests someone else (other than the original 'user') can take control of the whip...?
It is described as a dancing weapon, although it uses its own bab, but I agree it is unclear if someone else can just take control by wielding it again after it dropped. I've got a decent UMD, so if I have to pretend to be the original wielder, just give me a DC.
As a standard action, a dancing weapon can be loosed to attack on its own. It fights for 4 rounds using the base attack bonus of the one who loosed it and then drops. While dancing, it cannot make attacks of opportunity, and the activating character it is not considered armed with the weapon. The weapon is considered wielded or attended by the activating character for all maneuvers and effects that target items. While dancing, the weapon shares the same space as the activating character and can attack adjacent foes (weapons with reach can attack opponents up to 10 feet away). The dancing weapon accompanies the activating character everywhere, whether she moves by physical or magical means. If the activating character has an unoccupied hand, she can grasp it while it is attacking on its own as a free action; when so retrieved, the weapon can’t dance (attack on its own) again for 4 rounds. This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons.
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Technically, they last an hour, but there is nothing in the description that suggests someone else (other than the original 'user') can take control of the whip...?It is described as a dancing weapon, although it uses its own bab, but I agree it is unclear if someone else can just take control by wielding it again after it dropped. I've got a decent UMD, so if I have to pretend to be the original wielder, just give me a DC.
As a standard action, a dancing weapon can be loosed to attack on its own. It fights for 4 rounds using the base attack bonus of the one who loosed it and then drops. While dancing, it cannot make attacks of opportunity, and the activating character it is not considered armed with the weapon. The weapon is considered wielded or attended by the activating character for all maneuvers and effects that target items. While dancing, the weapon shares the same space as the activating character and can attack adjacent foes (weapons with reach can attack opponents up to 10 feet away). The dancing weapon accompanies the activating character everywhere, whether she moves by physical or magical means. If the activating character has an unoccupied hand, she can grasp it while it is attacking on its own as a free action; when so retrieved, the weapon can’t dance (attack on its own) again for 4 rounds. This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons.
Hmmmm, Uldar's quote talks about "the activating character" as if it were the controller. I'm reading this as if the party can't make use of the dancing whip because they didn't activiate it. Do you read this differently, Uldar?
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OMG that was a lot of work. And I'm STILL interviewing for those same jobs. I feel like I'm in the middle of a criminal probe. 4 rounds of interviews with 9 people. You'd think I was applying to be a VP.
So, I really want to bring Travail back. Anyone volunteer to GM another chronicle?
Oh, and I'll get to your chronicle sheets over the weekend.
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Well, more than 75% are free for me to play.I'm in PFS Sessiontracker under miteke. I'm playing in a seekers grandmaster torch scenario and have never played the many fortunes of said. That would be nice but I don't know whether it works for others. Your best bet may be to list 4-5 that you want to run and have us elminate the ones we've played.