Elsewhere in the Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master Giant Halfling

Ah, I don't think I could keep everything she has done and remake Hedy the way I might desire to. Her familiar is the biggest hurdle, plus any drop in alchemist means potentially not having the same spells, so... guess she'll stay the same. Oh well...

Paddy, do you want bard spells or just the performance stuff? If the latter, it might be worth reading over the exemplar brawler or evangelist cleric... both get versions of performance but wouldn't be as adversely affected by poor charisma. Or, alternatively, you could also consider being from one of the plane-touched races but of dwarven descent instead of human? Oreads have a feat or two specifically for gaining some benefits of dwarven heritage, and their 2 sub-races don't take a penalty to Cha at all (in fact the gemsoul actually gets a bonus to it), or you could go with an aasimar or tiefling of dwarven stock and have quite a few options for stat adjustments.

Or, you can just make a bard with poor Cha; that's fine too. I'm not against it if that's the one you want to go, I'm just trying to help point out some options that might be a more natural fit for what you're looking to do.

edit: also, I never had a problem understanding the accent, but toning it down some might be easier for others and for you when it comes time to post?

*Important Question*
Hmmm... I see Hedy was hoping for more change too... do you guys want to do a hard reset? Like, start over at 6th in Port Peril? Or, we could 'slip into an alternate reality' if you prefer? Everyone could keep the same names and basic personalities and have (basically) the same shared history but we'll do a free for all on rebuilding? It sounds like that would be the best fit for Hedy and Paddy, but I'd really like to hear from all 5 before making a decision...

Missed the accent question. I have no problem with it at all and am happy to have Hedy be the one to have to ask, What?, on occasion. I am not nearly as good as the others at understanding, but think it is neat and atmospheric.

I like bard spells. Bard spells are cool. I'll just stick to the harmless ones.

Well I'm aiming for a whole new character, so it doesn't matter to me. I was under the impression that Hedy was changing because I might step on her toes (though I don't know how exactly I'm doing that).

Nope, was considering changing cause we are losing one of our main front line brawlers (Brainiac) and another was morphing into a mid-range damage dealer (you sir). Figured we'd need more melee.

I'm gonna go melee bard if that helps. I'm thinking Str based with arcane strike and medium armour.

Hedy- you could probably become much better in melee without much change... if you just switch out 2 feats for wf-rapier and fencing grace that'd be a pretty big improvement right there (without requiring us to change timelines or anything). Also, since we haven't really done anything since leveling, anyone could change their 6th level without a problem (so you could go alchemist 4/swashbuckler 2 if that helps).

I liked the accent didn't cause any major problems for me and as noted made for good atmosphere. It might be easier to do a reset as far as bringing in a whole bunch of changes (new characters, major changes to the ones staying) but otherwise it feels better to me if we move forward from where we are.

Let me offer a little clarification on what I meant by the different options.

If we did a hard reset we’d basically be starting over from scratch but with 6th level characters on a slightly more established/stable ship. I’d probably reuse most of the crew instead of making them all up from scratch, and people would be free to use the same or different version of their current characters or to make something completely new, and it would be a totally new story.

If we ‘switch timelines’ most people would be playing the same or different versions of their current character and those switching to something completely new would have to pick if they were coming on in Port Peril or if their new character was part of the past adventures instead of their previous character, and we’d be continuing the adventures of the Night Talon from where we are right now.

If we just make some changes then it would be the same ship and crew with a couple officers coming and going and some others doing some retraining in port.

Arcane duelist clashes with Sea Singer. I'd be open to working for a way to get the two archetypes to work together, but there are a few things that would need to be addressed:

- The abilities that replace countersong (rallying cry, and sea shanty) I prefer sea shanty.

- The abilities that replace suggestion and mass suggestion (blade thirst and mass blade thirst, and whistle the wind and call the storm) I like both of them.

- The abilities that replace bardic knowledge (arcane strike, and world traveller) I prefer world traveller

- The abilities that replace versatile performance (bonus feats, and familiar) I prefer bonus feats

- The abilities that replace well-versed (bonus feats, and sea legs) I like sea legs, but bonus feats are really good.

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I'll keep the accent, or something similar to the accent

That sounds like too much overlap to work out, Paddy. But it also sounds like you clearly prefer sea singer, so I guess just going that way is the clear winner.

Roger. I can get started on him. Do you have any recommendation for Dwarven lands he could be banished from? Ideally for piracy

You want it to have been so serious they branded your face, right?

IIRC, the are dwarves settlements in the mountains inland of Port Peril, so that would have huge potential for getting caught up in piracy, but a really low chance of that extreme of a punishment (unless maybe you grew up somewhere extreme strict like a militant, ultra-religious community or something).

Cheliax is violently opposed to piracy, so that might be your best bet for an extreme banishment? Either mainland Cheliax and you came down into the Shackles by way of Ilizmagorti, or you could be from a colonial settlement somewhere closer?

Back to loot, Hedy will take care of infamy to free up Murillo for the important stuff, MONEY. Paddy as the quartermaster could aid?

18200
+8000
+2000 for the belt
+4160 for ghost touch +1 rapier (with the sale of the cutlass it would mean 3003 out of your share to claim it Murillo)

How much are the bracers, assuming our spellcasters could identify them as well
Bracers of Growth- Once per day, as a full-round action, the wearer of these bracers can double in size, as the enlarge person spell. This effect lasts for 2 minutes if the wearer is a humanoid, but only 2 rounds if they are a different type of creature.

you wouldn't have a list of the masterwork weapons by any chance?

I prefer not to reset, as I’m enjoying the story. So ‘no’ on hard reset. I’m fine with the other two options, with a personal preference of same timeline.

I feel like we’re entering a new stage of the game, so a reset isn’t necessary story-wise. It just erases our in-game memories, which feels like it would do more harm than good.

Thanks, Saph. I’d prefer to think of the hard reset as a last resort too. Like, we’d only do that if the change was so dramatic it didn’t make sense to act like we were continuing the same game.

Personally, I’m leaning towards the ‘alternate timeline’ idea. I’m a big fan of verisimilitude (that sense of reality/believability/continuity that brings worlds and games to life), so they idea of just making a bunch of changes and not addressing them is uncomfortable for ooc. So, the whole switching timelines thing is really just a way to justify to myself why some of the characters changed so much, I guess. But the idea is that the story would continue from here as if nothing changed except that things would be different... Hedy could rebuild but her history would basically stay the same (except in all those fights she was relying on her own improved skill instead of a familiar’s aid). And, Paddy could pick whether he wants to keep the same profile and history with Vadoma and the rest of the party but be a very different character, or if he wants the old Paddy to leave (possibly with Vadoma?) and a completely character to sign on. Does that make sense? Are people on board with that?

I like Murillo as-is, but I admit this game has a very different tone than I first imagined, such that I don't know he's a particularly good fit from a narrative standpoint. He's intended for popcorn murder and mayhem, while I feel we're definitely in a much more light-hearted, easy-going vibe. While Murillo is intended to be (darkly) humorous, he's also intended to be a hypocritical fanatic who makes his living by killing strangers to take their stuff. I now realize when I thought "a Pirates of the Caribbean style game," I was picturing more Barbossa and his crew than Jack Sparrow and his friends :P

Everyone (except Jordanna :( ) seems to be enjoying the game as it is, and most are also able to post more frequently than I can. At this point I feel like playing Murillo as intended would basically be raining on everyone else's parade.

It is not raining on mine, sir. I am happy for you to play your character in Any way you do, and you are always welcome to yell at Hedy if you are feeling she screwing things up right and left. Tell her she is a soft marshmallow of a pirate, it will not hurt my feelings. She will yell back though.

Hedy is an easy-going type, but will not bat an eye at cold-blooded murder if there is profit in it. Though she'd rather charm and stab in the back any day of the week. We've not had piracy yet, just treasure hunting. After this, we can hunt down a merchant ship to see if Murillo fits more to your liking?

Yeah I could work with that, DM. I'd be able to keep the Paddy profile, and make the stat changes needed. I could drop the whole 'scarred and banished' part as well. I would like to make a few item changes though, such as the waraxe and pistol. I could convert them into weapons of similar wealth.

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I get where you're coming from, Murillo. I like his darker nature, as it's a good contrast to the rest of goofball seatopia and the tail of the blue boobies. Up to you

I like Murillo as well, I think he's a good counter to the rest of the crew and the character I am thinking of bringing in will fit well with him as he is out for vengeance because of his past.

That brings up something; I am looking at a Sorcerer possibly with the aquatic bloodline, does anyone have different suggestions or ideas? I'd love to hear them if you do.

@Murillo- It’s up to you how (or if) you want to proceed but (fwiw) I agree with the others that Murillo provides a valuable counterpoint to many of the other characters. Honestly, I was looking forward to some more RP of him reminding everyone that you’re pirates and ought to be doing pirate stuff. Murillo also seems like an obvious choice for first mate with Jordanna and Vadoma leaving (since he’s the last remaining original officer) and I expect that will set up some interesting new RP with the contrast between Hedy’s very group-oriented leadership style and what I’m assuming will be a bit more heavy-handed an approach by Murillo. Just some thoughts, keep us in the loop with what you’re thinking, please.

@Hedy- I think I maybe already said this to you but if not, or if it was unclear, everything I wrote to Paddy (right below this) would apply to Hedy too if you want to rework anything.

@Paddy- If everyone is alright with the ‘alternate timeline’ idea (which so far it seems they are) you could basically change whatever you want about Paddy—his stats, his classes, his equipment, even some of the fluff if you want—and basically we’ll all just pretend that the new version of Paddy is the one that hiked through the jungle to kill the naga and went to the island to battle undead for the treasure with the other remaining characters.

@Vadoma- Sorcerers require a little bit more ‘upfront’ work because you need to be more confident in your spell selection, but they’re honestly easier to play than prepared casters (and get more spells/day, which is nice). Aquatic is certainly a fitting bloodline for this game, and I think elemental (air or water) or stormborn both could be as well. The only concern I would really have with aquatic at all was if you planned to take something like undine for your race, just because then some of your bloodline abilities would be redundant with your racial abilities. Also, if you’re not crazy about your first level bloodline power I think there’s an option to trade it for a familiar (if you want to have a parrot or a monkey or some other pet).

I'm not really sure what you're looking for, Vadoma.

- Do you want only full-casters?
- Do you only want Charisma characters?
- Are you only interested in water-type characters?

Because I can come up with some really weird ideas. I just don't know where to draw the line.

Technically Ratfolk aren’t an option, although you could be the rat skinwalker sub-race. Gillman and merfolk are out too. Grippli was not one of the base options when we started, but there was one recruitable one in game (the one in the lizardman village), so if someone really wanted to play one I’d allow it (but my preference would be that you were the one from that village and joined up when the PCs killed the naga).

Could we recruit in Port Peril and have them join that way?

Definitely like some of these ideas Paddy, my concept is someone that will make you question their sanity and I'm looking for a build whose power comes from the sea. I will investigate these overnight and see what appeals to me.

The group-oriented leadership style is to facilitate pbp in a group of players. All of who are equal despite the positions our characters hold on the ship.

Murillo as first mate, I second that!

I am looking at options for Hedy.

So… with a new timeline, I’ll trade out my two feats. Wrestling feats are cool, but impractical. Take Choke Hold. I pinned the fire-breathing zombie, but wasn’t about to take a -5 penalty to my roll. It was a nat.18, so I could have choked him and prevented fire-breath, but if course I had no idea he could do that.

So basically, if the feat didn’t come with a -5 to grapple checks, I’d use it with every pin (which is rare). But with the penalty, it’s scary! I did actually roll a successful choke on Capt. Swift (after he breathed fire), but Jordanna and others killed him anyway.

I don’t like a feat coming with a penalty that makes me hesitant to use it.

I might take some fun background skills too, seeing how my knowledge isn’t really that helpful, especially with a bard joining the team. (Will he have Pageant of he Peacock, like my bard? …aaaand Bardic Knowledge? …unlike my bard.)

Could I take the following Background Skills:
• Artistry: Wrestler! (or Perform: Wrestler!) — this would be a combination of trash talking, sexy cat fighting, and playing to the crowd. And craft(costume) as well, if Artisty. Basically a perform skill, except I can break stuff and be an asshoIe.

If no, I’ll find a standard perform skill. (Diplomacy was a skill I picked to simulate her ability to work a crowd. I’ll still keep that, even if my weird-made-up background skill is allowed.)

• Lore: Fighters! — Saph knows a lot about fighters, fighting, and fighting styles… whenever the dice say so.

• Porter — Still pitting 3 SP in that!

EDIT - Perform, Craft and Knowledge (history) are class skills. I suppose the Wrestler! skill would count as a class skill. What about Lore? I might take it anyway, especially if it will be a specialized knowledge… but thought I should ask.

Hedy is wavering between good with the sword or switching to gun chemist and being good with bullets. Either way Cream, her owl, will become a pet that stays mostly in her cabin.

nice background skills :) kind of a mix between dance and oratory.

@Murillo, I don’t do this on purpose, as far as I know, but it seems that if the game is X my character is... well... not X.

My point being, it wouldn’t be rain on my parade for you to play a pirate in a pirate-themed game in which the expectation was to play pirates. If anything, I’m surprised my wrestler fits the world so well—just for the nicknames alone!

(Which reminds me, @GM, yes, same crew, please.)

@Vadoma- the obvious option for a caster whose power comes from the sea would be a waves oracle and the deep one curse would be a natural fit. The mystery powers might be more cold based than you’re looking for though. Your original sorcerer idea would definitely work too, and the aquatic or elemental water bloodlines would likely be your best bets (although water might be getting back into being too cold based); there’s also a seaborn bloodline you could take if you look at the wildblooded options. The other obvious choice would be a druid; that would move you back to being a prepared caster but there are several archetypes that could be a good fit (many of which Paddy already mentioned).

@Hedy- I get why you do it, I just think it’ll be interesting to see Murillo try something more assertive and/or try to get you to do so.

@Saph- sounds good, but lore wouldn’t be a class skill I don’t think, no.

Sounds like I'll stick with Murillo and feel free to let loose! For what it's worth, Murillo is built to enter front line melee combat and flank with allies; his healing spells are more meant for between combats and emergencies.

@Saph- sounds good, but lore wouldn’t be a class skill I don’t think, no.

So… knowledge checks are rather GM controlled with standard DCs. Do you think it would be worth having this? It’s sort of a specialized knowledge. I’ll take it if it would do any good.

Another (arguably better) question is: could my performance background skill be of use when we boast of our battles? In Saph’s case, she would specifically boast of her flying kicks and grappling. She will also have diplomacy and intimidate. I almost don’t want to bother with intimidate, except it seemed to match her persona (whereas bluff does not).

I’m ditching stealth because… just no.

@Saph- I just read through the background skills again and it turns out I was wrong (probably on more than one count). Lore is a class skill for everyone. It does have to be quite narrow though. Like, more narrow than I remembered. "Fighters" as you described it is way too wide. It would have to be like "Famous Gladiators" or "Famous Wrestlers" or "Styles of Wrestling"... you could take something more about fighting styles in general if you want but it would have to be confined to a specific region and/or type (eg "Fighting Styles of the Coastal Garundi" or "Avastani Dueling Schools"). I'm not sure how worthwhile it would be, if I'm being entirely honest? Depending on which specific area you pick it may come up occasionally, so I guess it depends on how badly you want to know those times it does?

For artistry, that's fine if you want to take it but reading the description it sounds much more like its intended to make you good at blocking out or choreographing a match more so than the kind of showmanship you're describing. I think, probably, the best fit for what you're looking for is perform [act], which includes comedy (for taunting), drama (for playing up hits), and pantomime (for some of the physical showboating). Artistry will not be usable for increasing infamy but perform [act] would (although, it wouldn't be you re-enacting specifics fights so much as using the skills you developed for the ring to present a really engaging tale of you all's exploits).

Oh! That’s fun. Perform Act it is!

If Lore isn’t worth it, no biggie.

You know what might be? Linguistics!

As a Truespeaker (Racial trait), I get 2 languages per rank. Also, I think I incorrectly took an extra language thinking I get two languages per INT mod bonus. So I’ll need one rank to correct that.

I’m taking Tien. I’m happy to learn 4 more languages and keep 3 ranks in Porter. Open to suggestions! (As in, who do we trade with?)

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Edit - updated profile. New-Timeline Saph has Combat Reflexes and Vicious Stomp. I have not committed to 4 of the 6 languages I can have from 3 ranks in Linguistics. I have intimidate instead of stealth now.

No change in items, but can I spend some of the 2347.14 that’s in my purse?

okay, changing the two archetypes to alchemist(gun chemist) and swashbuckler(inspired blade). Dropping the two feats that gave her evolved familiar and added back the mutagen. Replaced with precise shot and point-blank shot. Also dropped elemental strike for fencing grace.

This all frees up one of her discoveries, so adding Frost Bomb as a kind of replacement for her elemental strike.

Cream will be a pet now, so no familiar, but she still has him.

You should have named your owl familiar Harry.
I have something in mind that I think you'll enjoy. It's no Cream, but you'll get a good kick out of it.

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Paddy's almost done. Man, dwarves get so many circumstantial bonuses. Drives me mad. I'm not even a ranger anymore

I look forward to it! And... um "lum reek hen" can't figure out that one. Why should her lum? reek like a hen? lol. I tried I really really tried!!!

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GM - lots of discussions, but did you see my two questions about selling loot?

price on Bracers of Growth?
and
you wouldn't have a list of the masterwork weapons by any chance?

That's a Scottish one

And then we have ‘Lang mae yer lum reek‘, which sounds like it would be announced accompanied by an unpleasant smell, but is in fact a pleasant Scottish sentiment, originally translated from ‘long may your chimney smoke’ and now meaning something akin to I wish you a long and healthy life.

I really don’t know the Galorian universe at all. My first PF game (2016 to Still Going) is on a DM-created world, and Strange Aeons and Kingmaker are my only current APs.

I’m guessing Polyglot is something like Patois or Creole, and that language is associated with the Shackles.

What about Cheliax? Do they have a language? I should know that one.

Oh! Maybe Aquan! And I still get one more for this level.

EDIT - Sign language!! (Thieves’ Cant)

Cheliax doesn't, unless you count infernal. You could check out the Skull and Shackles player's guide for suggestions. I think they mentioned trade languages being highly used.

And Thanks! Paddy for the translation :)

Sea Singer bards get a familiar

I'm here to eat your bananas and deliver your touch spells

Jerk is a mascot. At this level he can have two other masters, who can share spells with him and deliver touch spells. Warning though, these spells are at -2CL.

It was that or “Spank?”

Ha! Loving the new familiar already!

Hedy- The bracers retail at 1,000g (so 500g to sell); there were 6 masterwork cutlasses, 2 masterwork (small) shortswords, and 2 masterwork greataxes.

Saph- Taldane is the common tongue in Golarion and the official language of Cheliax. Polyglot is the language of the Mwangi (the dark skinned people who dominate most of the southern continent, Garund) and, along with common/Taldane, one the two official languages of the Shackles. Polyglot is a good option for this campaign, as is aquan. After those two, Osiriani wouldn’t be bad (that’s basically the Egypt of Golarion and they have significant shipping interests) or maybe Skald (the northern/Viking people’s language), or you could look at things like sylvan or aklo that some of the creatures you might run into could speak.

Paddy is updated. There are a lot of changes.
Paddy will still be frontline. His AC and hp are both much higher than the average bard.

• +6 Linguistics (# Ranks, +2 to checks, +1 INT)

—> Common, Celestial, Draconic
—> Truespeaker: Aklo, Aquan, Polyglot, Skald, Sylvan, Tien

Okay, so I took almost all that were suggested. I like Tien, especially for a monk.

So I get Common and Celestial with my race, Draconic from the +1 INT, and six more from 3 ranks in Linguistics (2 per rank).

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By the way, I have 2347.14 in my purse. Can I buy something? I don’t plan on changing any of my starting items. 1000g on Muleback Cords might be fun, just for even more heavy-lifting insanity.

So loot, 34430 / 6 (assuming shares for all players at the time we got the loot) = 5738.33.

Murillo, to keep the rapier just subtract 3003 from that number (assuming you are still selling the cutlass.

@Saph, if you have leftover gold from before go ahead and spend it!

@Everyone, we’ll probably gloss over most of the business stuff, especially this time since there’s so much else going on, but please feel free to RP in port. We will need to figure out a few things though... like how long we’ll be in port? Staying too long could lower morale since it delays the next payday (unless you set aside a point or two of plunder to placate them when they start getting antsy). Once we know how long you’re gonna stay we can look at how many rolls you can make and talk about who’s gonna make them. Besides selling loot and raising infamy, you could also recruit more crew if you want? It wouldn’t require any checks but you could also have work done to the ship (she took a little damage when Murillo hit the reef, and there’s more upgrades you could get).