Getting there slowly but surely.
@GM - Redeemed Criminal doesn't specify how much time has passed between the crime committed and the redemption, so I'm assuming I can fill that in myself (recycling old character backstory ideas! woo!) I also want to check since I think I've misread - are we coming to Pridon's Hearth from somewhere specific or are we just 'on a ship'?
And speaking of - Adriana looks like she was pressganged into service rather than a passenger - while not filthy her clothes and equipment look rumpled and worn, her hair is a mess and she looks to be down on her luck, and yet carries herself with a sturdy inner resolve that belies her haggard look - nicks taken out of her ears, a mishmash of healed scars across her face and what little exposed skin she shows, and the clearly missing finger on her left hand.
During the journey to Pridon's Hearth, can be dound all about the ship assisting where allowed and offering limited first aid. What little time she takes for herself is used in quiet worship of Sarenrae, tending to her heavily bandages arms, and on rare occasions, dance practice (Planning for the next 2-3 levels and attempting to keep things in theme.)
Personality wise she comes across as reserved and slightly introverted but friendly for the most part. Does not talk about herself and gets progressively colder and closed off if the subject is pushed, but is otherwise slow to anger. She does keep her reason for traveling to Pridon's Hearth to herself and gives vague answers if pushed but is willing to discuss with the others their reasons.
So a little bit there for everyone, some of this will go into her character fluff and looking forward to seeing how she'll interact with everybody. Can't wait to start!
Yes, the background traits are intently open for you to fill in the details.
The ship is coming from Eleder, Sargava's capital and main port. Sargava and the Mwangi expanse and adjacent countries are good origins for your characters. But it shall be easy to explain your presence even if you have come sailing from a farther place.
It is probably time for us to start the adventure. My idea is to begin with a brief preamble with the ship travel, which shall give you the opportunity to explore your characters and start shaping their personalities and backstories organically as you also discover a bunch of NPCs. This preamble shall start by tomorrow or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, I have begun to familiarize with your characters and what better way to do it than performing an auditory. Additionally I have started to make their stories mine and tying them with the adventure by creating some suggestions for your backgrounds.
Adriana the Penitent - female Human Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer)
- Selected companion: Divine Anthology (Divine Fighting Technique)
- Class features: The Clandestine Inquisition is not within the allowed Sources (Inner Sea Intrigue)
- Skills & Intelligence: You counted ranks and bonuses as if you had Int 12 instead of 11. Your knowledge and number of ranks shall be 1 less.
- K. local: You missed a +1 trait bonus.
- K. engineering: It is not a class skill for Inquisitors.
- Stern gaze: You forgot to add a +1 to Intimidate and Sense Motive.
- Shortbow damage: I cannot manage to find where does the +3 come from.
- Equipment: Inquisitor’s Kit (Ultimate Equipment) and Wrist Sheaths (Adventurer’s Armory) are not within the allowed sources. Also, double check remaining gold please.
- Spells: Please write down somewhere how many spells per day you have and how many have you used for the current day. I would also appreciate if you could write down somewhere Sarenrae Variant Spellcasting for inquisitors so we do not forget: “Sarenrae inquisitors can learn the following spells: 1st - sun mental, 3rd - flame blade, 5th - sun beam, 6th - sunburst”
- Orisons: Note detect magic will not be of great use without the Spellcraft skill when it comes to identifying items. Also oath of anonymity is not within the allowed sources (Inner Sea Intrigue).
- Background suggestions: Sanctified Slayer (specializing on killing enemies of the faith) is opposite with the general redemption theme of Sarenrae and the redeemed criminal trait, but those opposite themes can be the driving force of Adriana and make for a very interesting character. Perhaps she was an assassin before, and that is the reason she knows so much about killing stuff. When she tries to help the colony she resorts to her instincts of slaying as the ultimate solution for every problem, and then the feelings on her failure to search redemption and losing the opportunity to find a different way in life might create an interesting personality and a powerful evolution reason. You could have even been a Red Mantis apprentice but failed to kill your first contract, someone important in Eleder, due to a moment of doubt, which ultimately gained you this new opportunity. Now Pridon’s Hearth could be also your salvation in addition to your second chance, as probably the Red Mantis would be after you for failure. This would also have a lot of sense as Mediogalti Island is not far from Sargava.
Ingolf - male Gnome Barbarian/Oracle of Nature
- Selected companion: -
- Nature’s whispers: To avoid confusion, please note in Ingolf’s AC and CMD he uses his Cha modifier instead of Dex.
- Magical knack: What was the origin of this magical knack?
- Skills: It would be helpful if you could at least note the number of ranks in trained skills. Also it could be helpful you get a +4 bonus to Stealth due to size.
- Equipment: Journal (Ultimate Equipment) is not within the allowed sources.
- Equipment & spells: Note the hand on the heavy shield has to hold the shield and cannot be used for anything else, which means you will have a harder time to cast spells with somatic components than with a light shield or a buckler, specially if you plan to hold a weapon in your other hand.
- Hero points: Please note you start play with 1 hero point.
- Animal companion: Please write down which tricks the boar will start trained in (it will be already trained by when you find him to avoid punishing you for choosing to explore this background actively).
- Background suggestions: May I suggest your grandfather was making cartography for the pirates of the Shackles in order to look for new smuggling paths? Profiting Neruma is suffering continuous lizardfolk attacks, I would add in one such raids, Ingolf grandfather was killed by the lizardfolk. Ingolf then mounted on rage when this happened and when they were to finish him their shaman leader cast a bolt on Ingolf, but instead of killing him a group of evil spirits took Ingolf feeding his fury, and so he survived the bolt and killed in anger one of the lizardfolk warriors. The shaman pointed at Ingolf when he saw the evil spirits, his face that one of fear. He shouted that the Storm was cursing Ingolf like it did to the Mireborn, that killing him would only bring doom to their people, and the lizardfolk run away leaving Ingolf alone in his anger with the corpse of his grandfather. Later on Corcyra would ask the creatures of the rivers about this name and came back to Ingolf to explain him the Mireborn was a lizardfolk tribe that lived and hunted around the Korir River Delta region for hundreds of years. When Ingolf heard the call from Pridon’s Hearth, it only made sense for him to go there and map the region trying to find anything about that tribe and what they might have to do with his own curse. This would also help to explain about why Ingolf becomes a barbarian, the evil spirits just take him when he recalls the anger of his grandfather death, making him to lose his mind, becoming strong and gaining strange powers.
Jonah Halwood - male Human Ranger (Falconeer)
- Selected companion: Humans of Golarion (Auspicious Tattoo trait)
- Auspicious Tattoo: Which is the quah, the Shoanti tribe, you are selecting as the origin for the character?
- Skills: Remember to include the Armor Check Penalty.
- Weapons: It seems the pickaxe is a weapon from an adventure path source, maybe you can change it for a heavy pick or a greataxe?
- Hero points: Please note you start play with 1 hero point.
- Animal companion: If I am not missing something I think Rosemary’s HP should be 5 ((2d8+2)/2). Also, she can have 1 more skill in addition to perception, and please include all the tricks the bird starts with (7 plus Falconeer bonus trick).
- Background suggestions: The desire of fame and wealth shall be enough to motivate Jonah to adventure and to find reasons to help Pridon’s Hearth. But we can also include some specially nasty dinosaur in his story, perhaps a white Allosaurus he had been trying to hunt down around the Mwangi Expanse. This Allosaurus would had killed many of Jonah expedition companions and maybe he even received a mortal or crippling wound. Jonah would had been looking to find again the dinosaur but he had been unable so far.
Splits the Leaves - male Human Druid (Nature Fang) of Gozreh
- Selected companion: Varisia, Birthplace of Legends (https://www.aonprd.com/EquipmentArmorDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hide%20shirt)
- Feats: As you have picked the domain instead of the animal companion, I think the Human additional feat would have more use for you than the “Eye for Talent” alternate racial option.
- Equipment: Druid’s Kit (Ultimate Equipment) is not within the allowed sources.
- Weapon: Unless I am missing something, your club damage should be 1d6-1 instead of -2.
- Wind Blast: I believe the BMC bonus for this ability is +4 (1 CL + 3 Wis).
- Background suggestions: Perhaps Splits has been trained or come to believe in a path of Gozreh that praises to restore the natural order there where it has been broken. Due to your particular connection with the nature, Splits has been often called to ask questions about the weather and the future itself. Recently, during one of those sessions, Splits would have received a cryptic message from Gozreh himself, “Travel where the Korir unearths the cyclops lands. Restore what never should had been stained”. That would have triggered his interest to travel to Pridon’s Hearth and discover what might be going on there.
Vanir Restha - male Human Stormborn
- Selected companion: -
- Ability scores: It seems you still have 1 buy-point to distribute. I would suggest to improve a bit your Dexterity because it is often useful to attack at range when low level casters run out of spells and it will add up towards Vanir’s survivability.
- Feats: The Tattooed Sorcerer Archetype removes Eschew Materials from you in exchange of Varisian Tattoo, are you sure you want to expend a feat to recover Eschew Materials? I would suggest you take Toughness instead, as Vanir has a dangerously low HP otherwise.
- HP: Your sheet is missing your HP (7 by my calculations, 10 if you pick up Toughness).
- Skills: Unless you gain it from another source, K. geography is not a class skill for Sorcerers. It might be of use to work on Intimidate instead as something to do on combat rounds where you do not want to spend spells.
- Cantrips: I would suggest to change mage hand as Ingolf already has it from his curse and you can make more use of something like daze at this level. Also light, message, open/close, read magic or mend can bring more versatility than having two ray cantrips.
- Spells: As about spells, even with Varisian Tattoo the magic missile is not going to do much at this level. Having into account how many animal companions and familiars will play in the party, mage armor is probably going to be a more solidly help for you and others, specially thanks to the long duration. If you allow me the suggestions, the sleep, cause fear and grease spells are other great low level control spells you can look at as alternatives. Once you get access to level 2 spells you will like to take aggressive thundercloud as that is the only spell that can benefit from all your blasting special abilities. If you want to start blasting right now and benefit from your abilities, you should look at shocking grasp as your only option, although choosing People of the North as your companion option, would open you access to the snowball spell, the ability to use that rare spell could also be behind your strange relation with tempests.
- Hero points: Please note you start play with 1 hero point.
- Spells per day, Saves, AC, CMD, Perception and equipment are also missing in your sheet.
- Background suggestions: Vanir grandparents by father’s line would had been a couple of Garundis that honored the power of the storms and the skies in general with great veneration. They would have lived in the area of Pridon’s Hearth before the colony even existed and travelled back to Varisia when Vanir’s father, Magdi Restha, was born. When Vanir powers started to manifest his father disappeared while friends of his Varissian mother helped Vanir control his power and taught him the secrets of the Varisian tattoos. Months passed before Vanir was able to find out a lead to his father probable path. It seems the man travelled to Eleder from Korvosa. Following his steps Vanir found at Sargava’s port capital that he traveled to the Korir Delta. Now, Vanir has responded to Pridon’s Hearth call for colonists, in an attempt to find his father and discover more about the past of his granparents and his own identity.
On the one hand, nice, starting soon!
And on the other hand....there's a lot to tinker and fix up before then, so gotta get to that. I'll PM some questions and see if some small changes can be made - I might see if I can change my companion choice.
Lastly regarding the Red Mantis, that's both close to and way off what I had intended for her backstory, but I can definitely work with it.
Splits the Leaves - male Human Druid (Nature Fang) of Gozreh
- Selected companion: Varisia, Birthplace of Legends (https://www.aonprd.com/EquipmentArmorDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hide%20shirt)
- Feats: As you have picked the domain instead of the animal companion, I think the Human additional feat would have more use for you than the “Eye for Talent” alternate racial option.
- Equipment: Druid’s Kit (Ultimate Equipment) is not within the allowed sources.
- Weapon: Unless I am missing something, your club damage should be 1d6-1 instead of -2.
- Wind Blast: I believe the BMC bonus for this ability is +4 (1 CL + 3 Wis).
- Background suggestions: Perhaps Splits has been trained or come to believe in a path of Gozreh that praises to restore the natural order there where it has been broken. Due to your particular connection with the nature, Splits has been often called to ask questions about the weather and the future itself. Recently, during one of those sessions, Splits would have received a cryptic message from Gozreh himself, “Travel where the Korir unearths the cyclops lands. Restore what never should had been stained”. That would have triggered his interest to travel to Pridon’s Hearth and discover what might be going on there.
I actually swapped to Restorer (Healer's Handbook). I'll be switching out the Hide Shirt for a different armor (Medium Hide, from CRB), they're mostly all the same anyway.
---
I'll break the Druid's Kit into its components, it's things like flint, a component pouch etc. It's just faster to write it that way. Do you track that kind of minor stuff?
This includes animal feed (5 days), a backpack, a belt pouch, a blanket, a flint and steel, holly, mistletoe, an iron pot, a mess kit, soap, a spell component pouch, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin.
I really just hate buying all of those things one at a time.
---
The Wind Blast is normally +4 but the Campaign Trait says:
+2 trait bonus on saves, skill and ability checks related to weather, wind, water and electricity effects.
I assumed it was an ability check because it used an Ability Score but Bull Rush is an Attack Roll so I'll adjust it accordingly. Would the trait provide me a bonus to Swimming as it is a skill check relating to Water? A concentration check due to a storm? I'm more curious than anything because it seems very vague and I hate to be asking constantly.
---
I also plan on getting a Familiar later so Eye for Talent is worthwhile, as it stands right now there aren't very many feats that are particularly interesting. I mean +4 Initiative is a thing but its kind of dull.
---
As for why he is traveling to the Hearth, I think divine providence is a good one. I don't normally play people who are driven so directly so it will be fun.
Alright, breaking down the bigger things. From the top!
- Class features: The Clandestine Inquisition is not within the allowed Sources (Inner Sea Intrigue)
Going to swap that out with either the Heresy Inquisition (Source Ultimate Magic pg. 42) or the Conversion Inquisition (Source Ultimate Magic pg. 41). Heresy would be my choice, but I'd like GM feedback.
- Skills & Intelligence: You counted ranks and bonuses as if you had Int 12 instead of 11. Your knowledge and number of ranks shall be 1 less.
- K. local: You missed a +1 trait bonus.
- K. engineering: It is not a class skill for Inquisitors.
- Stern gaze: You forgot to add a +1 to Intimidate and Sense Motive.
Fixed. I mistook dungeoneering for engineering somehow. I'm blaming fatigue and taking the L.
- Shortbow damage: I cannot manage to find where does the +3 come from.
- Equipment: Inquisitor’s Kit (Ultimate Equipment) and Wrist Sheaths (Adventurer’s Armory) are not within the allowed sources. Also, double check remaining gold please.
The +3 is the ranged attack bonus, I may have just put it in the wrong spot.
Echoing Splits above, will just break the kit down to its parts but do you track all the minor bits and pieces?
- Spells: Please write down somewhere how many spells per day you have and how many have you used for the current day. I would also appreciate if you could write down somewhere Sarenrae Variant Spellcasting for inquisitors so we do not forget: “Sarenrae inquisitors can learn the following spells: 1st - sun mental, 3rd - flame blade, 5th - sun beam, 6th - sunburst”
- Orisons: Note detect magic will not be of great use without the Spellcraft skill when it comes to identifying items. Also oath of anonymity is not within the allowed sources (Inner Sea Intrigue).
Will have it sorted out as requested.
- Background suggestions: Sanctified Slayer (specializing on killing enemies of the faith) is opposite with the general redemption theme of Sarenrae and the redeemed criminal trait, but those opposite themes can be the driving force of Adriana and make for a very interesting character. Perhaps she was an assassin before, and that is the reason she knows so much about killing stuff. When she tries to help the colony she resorts to her instincts of slaying as the ultimate solution for every problem, and then the feelings on her failure to search redemption and losing the opportunity to find a different way in life might create an interesting personality and a powerful evolution reason. You could have even been a Red Mantis apprentice but failed to kill your first contract, someone important in Eleder, due to a moment of doubt, which ultimately gained you this new opportunity. Now Pridon’s Hearth could be also your salvation in addition to your second chance, as probably the Red Mantis would be after you for failure. This would also have a lot of sense as Mediogalti Island is not far from Sargava.
There's a lot to work with here and most of it plays well into what I was intending for her background - namely someone who isn't afraid of violence but with her conversion has started consciously making the effort to be less violent and less lethal; Sarenrae's Mercy was chosen for keeping with this theme. The Red Mantis might not play into things but having the choice to use them is awesome.
There's also the fact that the Redeemed trait has her with a letter for Sheriff Praet, so there's plenty of potential there for reasons why Adriana is in Pridon's Hearth. I'll be focusing on backstory some more once her stats are properly sorted.
All fixed as requested.
Let me know if there is anything else that seems funny or possibly missing.
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fixed up my profile. Animal companions are a pain to build, I always miss something on them. should be set now.
I decided to drop that auspicious tattoo trait, I didn't realize that it was a shoanti only thing. one of the things I really hate about PF1 is traits. there are so freaking many of them and not a good way to search through for what you like. and the sites that do have a good list of traits don't often show all of the requirements like that... found a different trait that probably fits a fortune hunter like Jonah a bit better: Canon of Coin. won't work at all right away, but once he is able to hold on to some gold it will give them same +1 will save as the tattoo.
swapped out the pickaxe. odd that it is only in one campaign, but whatever. just wanted a good backup melee weapon anyways. switched to a heavy flail.
and for backstory I have this now: (like the idea of the white Allesarous)
... and that's when I knew I had it. Weeks of tracking, supplies down to almost nothing, my guide already turned back from exhaustion. but finally it was just me and him, the finest specimen of a Bulette you ever did see. he was wounded, and I was ready for him. I knew where he would burrow out and when he did, I took my shot. right on the money! Jonah slams his fist down on the table, making a few coins jump.
at that point he looked around the table and to his dismay saw that no one was really paying much attention. had he told this story before to this group? it was hard to keep track.
one of the men at the table ordered another beer for Jonah, but a voice in the back of his head told him it was just given to make him stop talking for a bit.
Not interesting enough anymore am I? They just don't get me. they don't understand how impressive these hunts are. I'll show them.
but all of this pales in comparison to the biggest trophy of them all. the white Allesarous! one of Jonah's companions spit out a mouth full of drink at that. oh yes, I know what you're thinking. none of those around here. but mark my words, they are quite real, and this one is a king among monsters. bears the scars left by dozens of hunters who have tried to bag him. all of them are just bones now, gnawed on by the beast and his pack. but he hasn't faced me yet, has he?
on of the men just shakes his head Sure Jonah, I'm sure you're going to be the one to take this one down. be sure to bring us back a tooth or somethin'
You laugh now, but when I bag this beauty and bring it back here you'll have some apologies to make, Brand. in fact, my cousin is living out near Sargava in some little spot named Pridon’s Hearth. he claims he has seen the White Allesarous. I'm going to be heading that way next week. might be a while before you lot see my pretty face again, but when I return I'll have that tooth for you!
Sure Jonah. you do that. I bet you 10 gold you never even see the beast
Ah you know me too well. never could resist a bet. Jonah reaches out and shakes his friends hand before dropping a few coins on the table and strolling out of the bar.
Ingolf - male Gnome Barbarian/Oracle of Nature
- Nature’s whispers: To avoid confusion, please note in Ingolf’s AC and CMD he uses his Cha modifier instead of Dex.
Right now, my profile has unmodified Hero Lab output. I will go in and hand-edit the relevant sections.
---- Magical knack: What was the origin of this magical knack?
Corcyra the Naiad is meant to represent this.
---- Skills: It would be helpful if you could at least note the number of ranks in trained skills. Also it could be helpful you get a +4 bonus to Stealth due to size.
Hero Lab doesn't include number of skill ranks in the output; I'll hand-edit it in. I'll also add in Stealth, which I have no skill ranks in.
---- Equipment: Journal (Ultimate Equipment) is not within the allowed sources.
Is there something in the allowed sources to represent a notebook? It's purely for roleplaying purposes.
---- Equipment & spells: Note the hand on the heavy shield has to hold the shield and cannot be used for anything else, which means you will have a harder time to cast spells with somatic components than with a light shield or a buckler, specially if you plan to hold a weapon in your other hand.
I'm aware of the issues with a free hand for casting spells. I may add a second weapon, so I can drop my first one when necessary.
---- Hero points: Please note you start play with 1 hero point.
Will add this in.
---- Animal companion: Please write down which tricks the boar will start trained in (it will be already trained by when you find him to avoid punishing you for choosing to explore this background actively).
I was assuming that Ebba wasn't going to start knowing any tricks, so that will make this a lot easier.
I can't find an official ruling on how many tricks a bonded mount can learn. I've heard people say 3 tricks per point of intelligence, which would mean 18 in this case (the bonded mount has Int 6).
My understanding I still need to make Handle Animal checks, even if Ebba understands Common (1 rank of Linguistics).
Paizo blog post about intelligent animals.
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- Background suggestions:
It will take me a while to incorporate this. Composing backgrounds takes me a long time.
Alright, stats and all that should be sorted, formatting might be a little weird (Used PCGen, it's a little fiddly) but it's all be there and ready to go.
Working on background still but outside of what I've put down not too much should change, she's basically raedy to go
+2 trait bonus on saves, skill and ability checks related to weather, wind, water and electricity effects.I assumed it was an ability check because it used an Ability Score but Bull Rush is an Attack Roll so I'll adjust it accordingly. Would the trait provide me a bonus to Swimming as it is a skill check relating to Water? A concentration check due to a storm? I'm more curious than anything because it seems very vague and I hate to be asking constantly.
I admit the writing is not clear from my side. I was more thinking on Concentration or Knowledge checks. But under the current writing I guess it is just fair it contributes to Swim when you do it in water... as weird as that might sound.
I also plan on getting a Familiar later so Eye for Talent is worthwhile...
Noted! That has sense. As for feats, I would go for Toughness or Dodge, as you will lose armor and shield bonuses once you start to polymorph into animals and elementals. The Natural Spell feat is almost mandatory once you start wild shaping.
Going to swap that out with either the Heresy Inquisition (Source Ultimate Magic pg. 42) or the Conversion Inquisition (Source Ultimate Magic pg. 41). Heresy would be my choice, but I'd like GM feedback.
Both options seem good to me. The Conversion Inquisition may lead to a bit more light and fun moments, specially if your companions respond to your attempts of conversion (either positively or negatively xD)
The Red Mantis might not play into things but having the choice to use them is awesome.
That's fine, it was just a suggestion. You can chose a different typical criminal group, or the Aspis Consortium, or just create your own one. The more rooted into the campaign setting the more probable it is for me to create or enhance encounters that call to your past to make the adventure more interesting to you.
Let me know if there is anything else that seems funny or possibly missing.
I think we are ok.
...found a different trait that probably fits a fortune hunter like Jonah a bit better: Canon of Coin
It seems we already know who is gonna be carrying the party treasure... xD
Right now, my profile has unmodified Hero Lab output. I will go in and hand-edit the relevant sections.
If it is easier for you, I am fine if you just make all the clarifications in an addendum either at the end or the beginning of Ingolf's profile, so you just have to add that section and not edit the whole thing each time.
My understanding I still need to make Handle Animal checks, even if Ebba understands Common (1 rank of Linguistics).
Paizo blog post about intelligent animals.
For this matter, I think it might be of help the controlling companions guidance found in Ultimate Campaign.
Nonsentient Companions: A nonsentient companion (one with animal-level intelligence) is loyal to you in the way a well-trained dog is—the creature is conditioned to obey your commands, but its behavior is limited by its intelligence and it can't make altruistic moral decisions—such as nobly sacrificing itself to save another. Animal companions, cavalier mounts, and purchased creatures (such as common horses and guard dogs) fall into this category. In general they're GM-controlled companions. You can direct them using the Handle Animal skill, but their specific behavior is up to the GM.
Sentient Companions: A sentient companion (a creature that can understand language and has an Intelligence score of at least 3) is considered your ally and obeys your suggestions and orders to the best of its ability. It won't necessarily blindly follow a suicidal order, but it has your interests at heart and does what it can to keep you alive. Paladin bonded mounts, familiars, and cohorts fall into this category, and are usually player-controlled companions.
Also aligned with the blog entry (very good finding), I think you should be able to deliver simple commands through speech, similarly to what you would do with a "slow" cohort. But, because it is still and animal, it may be of use to train it with Handle Animal so you can still command it without the need to speak.
Game start
We still have to hear about Vanir's player, but I think I will begin the adventure anyway later tonight.
Ok, and here starts the adventure.
There we go!!! :D
I have designed the current scene so you can all present your characters and start interacting with each other.
That will hopefully help you define your characters before we start to learn about the NPCs that travel with you and we move into Pridon's Hearth and the first events of the adventure.
If we've been on the ship for a while, would it be too much to have changed my spells prepared for more water/wind themed sailing abilities? It doesn't seem like he would pray for Entangle in the morning while on a boat.
Feel free to change spells, although it should be not relevant (I say this to save you the time and hassle).
Working on an in-game post, might just be a bit slow - everyone in the house has a fever, so, you know, loads of fun there.
Same thing for backstory, working on it, just not super focused on it, Stupid fever. Feel free to make elaborate crazy guesses if you want, and stay healthy.
Quick question. Are you okay with me getting another Familiar? We will have 2 animal companions already so I just want to make sure, many people don't like the clutter and clogging they may cause so I want to confirm.
I particularly prefer to give the spot to player characters, but if done respectfully critters are always a good addition.
It also means the player requires more free time available for posting, as he is controlling 2 characters instead of 1, which mean more roleplaying and rolls for each post.
Guys and gals, I really hate to do this, but I am just not getting enough inspiration from my character to even finish getting gear for him. Rather than keeping delaying you all, I will simply withdraw with my sincerest apologies.
I am sorry to see you leave. Well, I guess this is the drawback of not rolling a character during recruitment.
My sincerest apologizes to you all as this recruitment method has not worked out as I have planned.
Anyway, as we are just starting, I think it is worth to try find a 5th player. I will have a look at the list of candidates to see if someone is willing to roll a character, hopefully an arcane caster of sorts.
Sorry to see you go, Duke. Good luck!
@GM - we're still pretty much right at the start, bringing in another person shouldn't be a problem, even asking them to roll an arcane caster of some variety shouldn't be that big a deal.
I am sending PMs trying to find a 5th player.
Good job with the RP in the gameplay, please keep it going, and try to build up inter-group interactions. There will not be more NPC interruptions for the time being.
Still waiting for some answers from prospective players and sending a couple more PM's today looking to enroll a 5th player. For some reason it is being much more difficult than usual.
Anyway, feel free to keep meeting your different characters.
Ok, I am still hopeful we can bring someone more, but I do not want to hold up the adventure start any longer. Whatever the result I plan to start the action by Monday.
Hello folks! Better late than never, as they say!
GM Rutseg mentioned you might need an arcane caster. Might I propose an alternative? I love intelligence-based characters because I like rolling lots of skill checks, and I think an investigator could fit into this group quite nicely!
Background would be a Pathfinder agent on his first mission - to Explore the uncharted wilds to the south, Cooperate with the locals to develop stronger ties, and Report on any artifacts or discoveries found within the jungle! However, he's much more enthusiastic about his work than might strictly be required (think Nigel Thornberry).
However, I'm a bit torn between what type of investigator would fit best, and I would love your feedback (as you all know your party much better than I do even after reading up and down the Discussion thread). Would you prefer:
1. "Vanilla" investigator
- Can pass out handy extracts like shield and enlarge person
- Can learn new extracts via found potions
- Can do poisons
- Intact Studied Strike means more consistent personal damage contribution
2. Antiquarian Investigator
- Casts spells, no extracts
- New spells like wizard
- No poisons
- Intact Studied Strike means more consistent personal damage contribution
3. Cryptid Hunter Investigator
- Can pass out handy extracts like shield and enlarge person
- Can learn new extracts via found potions
- No poisons
- Buffs allies' AC (+1) and everyone gets one Studied Strike attack (+1d6)
Thoughts? I should bee able to have him fleshed out and playable by the end of tomorrow.
Welcome to the game!
IMHO, it really depends on what you would most enjoy playing. All of those choices would be effective.
The vanilla investigator will likely have the highest damage output. The Antiquarian gives up having a Mutagen, which is a fairly big deal. The Cryptic Scholar doesn't get Studied Combat (+half level to hit and damage).
I'll also point out that there are some significant choices about how to build a "Vanilla" Investigator. A strength build using a longspear will do the most damage, while a dex-focused "Swashtigator" (Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1/Investigator X) has the best defenses (I have played both).
My experience is that Studied Strike isn't important for damage output — you typically want to keep Studied Combat going, instead of ending it for a slight damage bonus (unless you're sure that you can kill the enemy on the next strike).
With 3 melee oriented builds, an archer and some extra animal companions, do not feel pressed to add up on damage output. The combats are going to feel easy anyway.
Just take the one that seems more fun to you (as long as it does not ruin anyone else fun). In my case for example I find the trinkets-stuff stands out of regular and gives a nice theme that helps differentiating the character.
Given the current vibe at gameplay I think it is about time to move forward and out of the prologue introduction, and now that we have a 5th player, start the adventure. Please, don't feel rushed to finish your character details Hawthwile, take as many days as you need to.
Hi Hawthwile!
I'm with Ingolf on this - play what you feel you'd enjoy the most. Investigators are solidly flexible even with a 'vanilla' build so its more about what you like to do - skill monkey? party face? We'll work with you regardless.
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Welcome! Just keep in mind it is wilderness so finding Scrolls will be difficult to learn new abilities.
Pick whatever is the most fun for you.
Hawthwile I hope you have a clear enough idea to let yourself drop in gameplay. No need for a detailed description of your character or a full statblock yet, just make your presence known joining the longboat so you all start together ;)
Mmmm... I feel I need to wait and let you react to Tonny papers appearance before moving on.
Besides, a memorable intro for your character :)
On mobile. I'll try to get something up when I have like 30 minutes on my phone.
Oof. Even with all that modifier, still rolled a 1. Off to a good start!
Oof. Even with all that modifier, still rolled a 1. Off to a good start!
It can only go better from now on :)
Ok, I have uploaded Pridon's Hearth map. You can find a link at the top of all the campaign pages. That link will always point to Pridon's Hearth map regardless of how many encounter maps we add.
The yellow Pathfinder [P] marks your current position and to the right of the image (you might need to pan out of the screen if you are accessing through your smartphone) you will find a legend of places you have visited or heard of.
If that helps you, feel free to add slides to the presentation where to hold attack rolls or other templates you commonly use so you have a handy place from where to copy and avoid having to type repetitive coding.
In case you play from your smartphone I strongly recommend to install the "Google Slides" ("Google Presentaciones" in Spanish) app so you can easily pan around, zoom and move tokens comfortably.
Another link will always point to the current map so you can quickly jump to the current encounter map once that is a thing.
Let me know of any special dealing you would like to do before resting for the night, or if you want to straight look for a night's room at the Stone Hall.
I should have asked this before but since the letter to the sheriff do all of the guards now know about Adriana? Can she just go to one and ask politely to be taken to her 'room'?
There are no guards per-se, what you witnessed were the members of the militia. And those are basically all "guards" you will find aside of probably a few mercenaries on certain businesses like Narsus State.
The sheriff pointed out the general area where Adriana should direct herself, and she will have no problem to find her 'room' and register in :)
Although I am pushing through the main plot, please, let me know if any of you has any particular interest on the colony. Something like starting your own business or visiting a particular location. We will see it done as best as possible without derailing the rest of the adventure.
No ideas for Adriana given she's currently got a set path for the time being, but I'll take suggestions.
I'm assuming that the marlaria tonic is Quinine, made from the bark of the Cinchona tree. Real-world Quinine is an ingredient in the carbonated beverage Tonic Water, which was originally used as a prophylactic against malaria.
Good research! Yes I think they were referring to something like this, although they do not use real names in the adventure.
So hopefully not to meta-game while also not holding us up, does everybody have a request on what the 100GP should be spent on? Rope, rations, components, miscellaneous?
Ingolf needs some extra to finance his purchases. He probably shouldn't have deposited money at the Countinghouse. :)
Exotic pack saddle 15 GP
Saddlebags 4 GP
Small tent 10 GP
Total 29 GP
He has 10 GP in his account, and 9 GP, 0 SP, 8CP left over (nothing paid for yet).
Rope would be a good idea. Perhaps another tent? We could consider acid flasks or alchemist fire, in case we run into a swarm.
I will give you until tomorrow to complete logistic decisions, then I will put the party on trip (unless you decide to take a different direction forward).
Not to metagame but Splits will salvage as much as he can from the land. In case of hunger he does have goodberry ready for you all as he said.
I don't know if I can blow away a swarm with my wind tunnel ability so it is a good choice to get something to deal with swarms.
Eventually when he gets his reward he would be aiming to grab you all a healer's kit to help in the early levels, but for now it is extremely restrictive.
Okay so, feedback so far is -
Rope
An Extra Tent
Acid/Alchemical Fire
Alchemical Regeants
Downtime and crafting is DM's call but I can start putting together the list of current items and try to be ready for when we go jungle treckin'
I have a long weekend. Will post when I have some actual time.
Same here, more on my plate than expected. Will post ASAP
I don't have anything else i need at this point. not sure how to bring it up in character yet, but Jonah would very much like ot act as treasurer for the group. one of my traits will give me a +1 will save if I'm holding 100gp/level. we won't have that much right now, but i imagine we might once we start looting things...