GM Kulkos Racing to Ruin (Serpents Skull 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Kulko

Welcome aboard the Jenivere adventurers

As written in the recruitment thread I will go on holiday from 10th until 17th June with a bit more limited access to the forum. Afterwards I will start the adventure within the next few days.

In the meantime Lets finish the following preparations:

Important: Everything below is debatable. You guys ar eprobably more experienced than me, so if you believe it could have been setup better just let me know.

Introduction
If ist okay with you, could you leave a few sentences about you the player. Only as much as you are comfortable to share in such a public environment.
As for me, I am 47 years old, a German living in Vienna, dad of a wonderful daughter of 12 and work as IT architect for the austrian railway.

Finishing Party and Characters
I have tried to choose a balanced party, but if you wish to change things up a bit, now that you know who else in on board feel free to do so.

Also could each of you please make a final decision on your port of boarding, then I can setup the ship accordingly.

Otherwise please create full character sheets in your forum profiles. Please use spoilers to break up sections. Use bold to highlight important numbers. Use links to the SRD to cross-reference spells and abilities. And please provide explanations for the numbers where neccessary.

If you have any personal story hooks you want to tell me about or discuss in more detail, just PM me and I will try to incorporate them at an appropriate place.

Administrativa

I know google is the norm here, but being able to use my established toolset from all my other task would be very helpful to me. Therefore I would rather use Microsoft Office Online. I have tested out that you should be able to access and change the documents without having to signup so I hope ist no problem for anybody. If this is a dealbreaker for anybody please speak up and we will find a solution.
Under the following link you find the player documents. Please try out if you can access and change anything.
Player info folder

I have put a presentation for tactical maps and one for explorations in there and a document for your party logs. You can organize the document as you lik and I will try to place new information in the appropriate places and inform you about them. If none of you wants to organize it I will probably just paste the handouts there over time.
If you rather have a full Onenote Notebook I can create this too.

I have not yet created a lootsheet, because I have none readily availbale, so if one of you could suggest a loot sheet No problem if ist google, I can either just link it or rebuild the structure into excel whatever is prefered.

BTW I have looked a bit into solutions like roll20, realmworks or obsidian portal but thought them a bit too complex, but if you can make an compelling argument I am willing to listen.

Reference Database
For references I use D20pfsrd.com as I find the organisation and the search function much better. But feel free to use the archives of Nethys for your profile links, I can work with both.

Gameplay
I put the thread up for dotting and as soon as the ports of embarcation are set I will post a small introduction and you can post about your first days on the ship and roleplay meeting each other. I will probably mostly be silent, due to my holidax, but any important questions can be handled via flashbacks later.

Errors
Errors on my side are about to happen. After preparing for the first few encounters and settings, I am still amazed how much more you need to know as a GM, which would never botehr you as a alliteral goblin running through the swamps.

If that happens, just point it out. If ist a minor thing I would suggest we just go forward and I will get it correct the next time. Otherwise I will try to correct it in a fair way while interfereing with past events as limited as possible.

Thanks for choosing me.

I'm a 33 year old guy from Norway with a couple of small kids. Looks like we're in the same time zone and are in somewhat similar situation.

I'm not a big fan of roll20 as it require access to a computer to use. I'm using it in another game and both me and several other of the players have much less access to a computer than we do to the forums. However if you want to use screenshots from there as a map that works well enough.

I already created a full character sheet, though I'm not sure if I did purchases and wealth right.

Kendrella boarded in the shackles, though she originally hails from the jungle.

Hi Kenderella,

I assume from your backstory when you say boarded in the shackles you mean Port Peril.

As for the character, Please note from the character creation rules:
Abilities: 15 pt-buy, nothing below 10 pre-race

I actually wanted to avoid extreme setups.

Also be aware that I will also consider the negative consequence of things like low strength on your abilitie to carry things, which are actually pretty bad, from my experiences with similar builds.

As a sorcerer I don't need much gear but fair enough(and most of what I need the cat can carry). An extra spell per day lets you be more relevant at low level. I missed the part about nothing below 10, sorry. I'll adjust accordingly. Thanks for selecting me regardless of my mistake.

I played a sorcerer a few years ago that I totally dumped STR. Basic equipment put me at a high medium load. It was really annoying every time I picked up anything weighing just a couple of pounds putting me to heavy load. I liked a staff for my weapon but had to drop it cause it was just too heavy!

I checked out the One drive link. Had no problem adding a line of info to the spreadsheet. Didn't try the other stuff yet.

As for me.... I'm an old guy, just turned 60! Father to two sons, one daughter, and I have two grandkids, one of each. They are of course the most adorable on the planet! :)

I've been playing D&D of some sort or other since 1977, but I'm not an expert on anything and I frequently make mistakes. If you notice something I do wrong, please tell me. I won't be upset, rather I'll appreciate knowing the correct information.

I work in IT for a company that keeps changing. The rumor is that they keep doing so to have a semi-valid reason to not give the employees any raises or bonuses. While that seems to be a valid explanation, I prefer to avoid such speculation....

I need to purchase some more equipment, weapons and armor might be nice! but I think most of the rest of my data is good. Port of boarding as Magnimar. Once I get the equipment right I'll check to see if I need to link anything to rules. No magic so it shouldn't be much.

Thanks for the invite Kulko, and glad to be a part of the group to everyone else.

My real name is Jeremy and I am a 44 (45) year old man, I live in the Eastern US (Massachusetts if it is of interest), and I work in the 3rd Party Global Logistics field. I am married but do not have children, except cats.

Hewit is mostly set up as the alias now but I have a few tweaks to make to the formatting (listing abilities, adding some more links, etc.). I am pretty open to making changes if it meets the needs of the group, especially a change to my Point-blank Shot feat and a change to my Family domain.

I have Hewit boarding all the way back in Magnimar. My first plan was one of the ports in Cheliax but then I read that the Lumber Consortium has been forbidden access to Cheliax, so I figured they may use an alternate port.

I have access to the One Drive for now. I am changing up computers, so I may need to figure it out on that one but it should not be an issue. I could open files, make changes, and I even loaded a file. That file is a loot tracker that I have used in many campaigns, and I will offer to keep track of it for the group (I work in inventory, I am used to doing it). The one I loaded is the one I used for a War of the Crown game I am in IRL, but I am loading it as an example.

I personally prefer Roll20, but that is mostly because it is what I am used to. It is far from perfect, and for a PBP it is almost overkill. I am flexible.

And lastly, errors happen in all games. The approach you mention about rolling with it unless it is crucial is the best. Thanks for being up front with it though.

Well, good luck to everyone and I look forward to playing with you all.

Well so far I see three ranged characters with a ranger coming up. That's probably something to look at for the party.

@Davor:
Character looks fine to me. Great Profile. As for your last language with your Background I would suggest Mwangi also called Polyglot, the local language of the people in this area of the world. As a member of the crew you will probably have learned a few words of this.

@Hewit
Character looks also fine, although I need to look a bit more in detail when you have added all the descriptions and modifiers. I am not convinced the subdomain is the smartest choice.

@Hewit

Character looks also fine, although I need to look a bit more in detail when you have added all the descriptions and modifiers. I am not convinced the subdomain is the smartest choice.

The Feather subdomain or the Family subdomain? Or both?

Neither are crucial to the concept, so I can switch them up easily.

As for "ranged", Hewit will likely be staying with 10 to 20 feet of the frontline people no matter what in order to function as the healer and won't likely make many attacks in the long run. But if the party is leaning too much towards ranged I can see about switching things up to a different deity. Most of the story will work just as well most likely.

I don't think the party is leaning too heavily in the ranged direction. With a paladin, a fighter and my animal companion we'll have plenty in melee too.

I must admit I haven't seen many ranged rogues before. I'm curious to see how you plan to sneak attack at range. My impression is that is quite difficult to pull off (which is why you see mostly melee rogues).

Kenderella's spell selection require her to be rather close to the enemy to be effective. As we advance in level hopefully that'll change.

@ Ranged, just something that I noticed, especially if the ranger also sees himself as a ranged ranger.

@Hewitt
But if you do not see yourself maling any attacks in the long run, I think it would be smarter to invest the feat into something, which you will be doing often.

Concerning subdomain, I was wondering about family. Paizo has a tendency to draw you into ever deeper customizations just because you can.

But now I try to keep my mouth shut. Its your characters after all.

Family subdomain is actually deceptively confusing. Is dead or dying a condition? What happens if you steal grappled? You're normally your own ally, can you target yourself to become immune? I haven't seen it in play before, so I don't know how strong it is, but I think it looks interesting.

I belive the ranger stated he'll be focused on melee.

Does my sheet look ok now?

Well targeting yourself to become immune is definitely not RAI from my point of view so I would rule that illegal.

Character looks good, and I really looking forward to see it in play.

well thank you kindly for the invite.

I think Gregor's close to being done, just have to wrap up the equipment side of things.

well Davor, looks like youre not the only old guy here. ;)

Names Michael. I teethed on old D&D in 1975 Im 60, ex US Army, Arab linguist. These days Im in car sales in Phoenix Arizona. Kids are grown. though I have 2 teens still at home for a short while.

Yes the Ranger will be going down the two weapon combat path. Battle Axe and Hand Axe, though until he gets the feat he will be using the battleaxe only two handed primarily.

Kulko, I do agree it is my character but as the GM your input is sometimes key if you feel something would not be appropriate. I began looking at the domains again and I reverted to the base ones (I had some debate before you brought it up, I just revisited those), but thanks for the consideration.

As for the target yourself for immunity... That was not even something I considered. Though rereading it, I can see that it COULD be seen that way. I changed it back to the based already and I feel it is the better fit for the concept but I will agree with you that it is not RAI which is more the way I would read it as well.

I am mostly done I think at this point. One or two things I am looking at changing. Might add some STR and lower DEX (encumbrance is a struggle). But at this point most things are minor.

And thanks for the input Kenderella (Kender? old school fan of Drangonlance?) and Gregor. Much appreciated.

Kulko, I do agree it is my character but as the GM your input is sometimes key if you feel something would not be appropriate.

No problem with that, but its tough not to let my preknowledge what is coming shape things to much. Finding out what challenges come and adapting your characters to it, is part of the fun odf a campaign.

Gregor is getting on at Corentyn, Cheliax.

for some vbackstory assistance from the DM I would like us to come up with who hes chasing. what bounty caused him to go from Andor to Cheliax and buy maps for Mwangi....

;) he may not know a name. or the person may have an alias....

already in the works gregor, see your PM. Character looks fine.

Kenderella could certainly be a kender with her free spirit and wanderlust, but no, that was not the original inspiration behind the name, it's just a coincidence. I reused an old alias and this was the best fitting.

Regarding domains, feather seems better than the base animal domain to me. I'll probably pick up some form of flight, but I'm not a wizard, so it could be nice to get some help with getting into the air (you also get access to those spells earlier than me and I certainly won't pick fly as my first 3rd level spell, that'll probably be haste).

Sneak attack can be done up to 30' away, but with the same rules.... Basically flat footed. But I'm not really a ranged build. Finesse rogue lets me use my dex to hit with light weapons.

Yeah I know finesse lets you use dex to hit, but point blank shot is a ranged feat, that's why I thought you were going for ranged, sorry for assuming wrong.

thought this might help us get to know each other

Hewit Nichaetou----Human Cleric of Erastil
Kenderella Lefuriel---Gnome Sorceror Sylvan Bloodline
Davor Krill-----Half-Orc Unchained Rogue
Father Kerndrew-----Human Paladin of Iomedae
Gregor Kardoff------Human Ranger (2 weapon intent)

Right. PBS and later Precise shot so I don't have to take the minuses when I need to throw a weapon in to melee. Hate the feat tax, but I understand the rules....

Gregor, out of curiosity are you focusing on Know. nature and Survival? I am working on what skills to take and being limited in options I was figuring limiting overlap of focus would be helpful.

I am of course focusing on Heal for the most part, and probably Know. religion. The rest I am likely to split among a few other skills.

Also, Kenderellea and Davor, any specific skills you are focusing on? I mean Davor, that is likely a LONG list, but figured I'd start this conversation.

I only have two knowledge skills as class skills, so I will keep them maxed. Perception of course, and I will be putting ranks into bluff for feint later.... and the physical skills needed for the class.

Any others that I should have for the party, feel free to suggest.

yeah hes got a +4 Knowledge Nature and a +6 survival +8 track humans ;)

Humans are his favored enemy at 1st

I only get a few skills per level and I'll mostly be focusing on the charisma based skills.

Isn't the heal skill kinda redundant with all the healing spells? Which part of the heal skill are you looking to use?

One of us have to put ranks in spellcraft Hewit, Not being able to identify items will be a pain. I'll do it if I have to, but I really don't want to.

Are anyone picking up sense motive? I think climb will be important. I'm hoping I can ride my companion for those things, but the rest of you probably also need a solution for it.

@GM: I see now that while boon companion is in 3 different books, it's not in any of the allowed sources. I was hoping to pick this up to make my animal companion actually relevant in combat... I don't suppose you'll allow it anyway? I'm not used to such source restrictions, guess I'll have to double check everything I want to take.

@Heal Please consider that heal has also a knowledge component. And at lower levels you can't yet expect to throw magic at every disease or poison or environment you might encounter.

@climb Nod.
Also is there some rule about riding a climbing leopard I could read up on? While I see it as possible to a certain extent it sure does not sound trivial.

@Boon Companion. I think its only fair that other Ultimate XXX Books should also be allowed and its in ultimate wilderness. And I think since its made for exactly this situation, Heart of Jungle is also official source from now on.

I guess you could count it as a stay in saddle check. Sadly I don't get ride as a class skill, so I don't auto-pass it unless I'm able to take 10 (outside of combat I should be able to take 10 though). Unfortunately sorcerers get very little starting gold, so I wasn't able to afford an exotic military saddle, but I'll pick up one if I can ever find one to buy once we get enough funds.

Here's the 30 second primer on taking 10, and some links to official developer commentary:

-Taking 10 takes as much time as a regular check
-You can take 10 on opposed checks
-You can take 10 on social and knowledge checks
-You can take 10 on crafting checks
-You can take 10 on checks with skills you have no ranks in, unless they're trained only
-You can take 10 on checks where the result is hidden, like disguise
-You can take 10 in almost any situation, as long as you're not in immediate danger, or distracted by something other than the task at hand

Links:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2nasd&page=3?Taking-10#112
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r24q?Taking-10-on-skills#10
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2k74y?Magic-Item-Creation-and-Caster-Level#34

An other thing I wish I was able to afford besides the saddle is some scrolls of monkey fish. If someone else can afford it that might help some with the climbing problem.

I think stay in saddle is the right kind of check, but the difficulty should be adapted in some way depending on the difficulty of the climb.

Also I think the Leopard is not described as a riding animal in the sources I found, so there should be a modifier for this too.

Overall I think you will fare better than with straight up climbing, but on tougher obstacles you will have to roll the dice too.

Leopard is just a big cat, using exactly the same stats as a Lion or Tiger animal companion. Those animals are listed as ride-able. Do you want me to change to a tiger (no mechanical change)?

Why do you want to penalize riding on a climbing animal so heavily? Holding onto the harness is significantly easier than holding onto a knotted rope being pulled up or lowered down (a DC 0 check I believe).

Note that I could have chosen a flying animal companion instead, but riding a climbing one is significantly less powerful (and I also think it fits better).

If there's indeed both extra penalties for difficult climb and the mount being unsuitable then I'm indeed better off climbing myself. I should probably swap the saddle over to a scroll of monkey fish or similar at that point since there is little point in me riding at all.

Checking in! I'm happy that we have a good week or more to work on the profile; I'll be focusing on that over the next week.

Are anyone picking up sense motive?

I will most likely be putting some ranks here, though I'm not certain yet. It's a class skill for paladins, so will be appropriate, though he's unlikely to have a high Wisdom with the 15pt-buy and need for Str and Cha.

Also, depending on our party needs, I could probably pivot into being a range-focused paladin of Abadar instead of a melee-focused paladin of Iomedae; both are appropriate story-wise in the background and as a reason for heading to Sargava. I'm open to the idea; if anybody thinks that's a good path to go down, let me know.

I have Sense Motive as a class skill. But with my 10 Wis, it is only +4.

Leopard is just a big cat, using exactly the same stats as a Lion or Tiger animal companion. Those animals are listed as ride-able. Do you want me to change to a tiger (no mechanical change)?

Here we had a misunderstanding. In the list of animla companions the Leopard or Panther is featured as a smaller cat, which had me confused. In the List of animal monsters its described as a great cat, which is probably what you were looking at.

Why do you want to penalize riding on a climbing animal so heavily? Holding onto the harness is significantly easier than holding onto a knotted rope being pulled up or lowered down (a DC 0 check I believe).

Note that I could have chosen a flying animal companion instead, but riding a climbing one is significantly less powerful (and I also think it fits better).

If there's indeed both extra penalties for difficult climb and the mount being unsuitable then I'm indeed better off climbing myself.

When I seen you riding a climbing Animal I see something like that:

Also I do not see why you think it is better for you to climb. Lets take for example a DC15 Climb (up a stepp cliff):
In order for you to be able to take 10 on climbing you would have to invest 6 Skill ranks (or a Feat and 1 skill rank).

If you ride your animal, the animal can take 10 on the climb.
Your ride check is 15-5=10. Thats an immediate take 10 without further investment.

In case there was some misunderstanding here, my suggested rule was: When riding a climbing mount you also have to make a Ride (or STR) check with an DC equal to the original climb DC-5. Animal Affinity and military saddle providing their usual bonus.

I might be confused about which cats are which. Googling panther I find: Panther is a versatile word that can refer to different leopards, jaguars, or mountain lions. It can refer to a melanistic or black cat. So let's go with Jaguar, it fits exactly what I had in mind.

I'm going to check if additional traits is allowed and if I can find a trait for riding... Though it still doesn't solve the problem of not having enough skill ranks...

Looks like additional traits is allowed and Beast Bond is perfect for what I'm looking for.

Can I pick reactionary for her given her constant vigil for danger during childhood? She wasn't bullied, but always had to stay on her toes regardless.

Thanks a lot for clarifying how you'll run riding a climbing animal, it'll make it easier for me to know what to expect.

Hey team,

So after some considering about the party make up I have a few changes to mention.

Instead of the Animal domain, I am going to switch it out for the Plant domain. It actually feels like a better fit for a lumberjack background and I don't know why I hadn't thought of that originally.

This means no additional animal companion from me. And since I was also considering taking the Boon Companion feat I have a feat slot that I can fill with Precise Shot at level 3, bringing the character back to a ranged focus (well, besides healing).

As for skills, I can definitely focus on spellcraft (not INT focus but it is a class skill) and I will likely have Religion and History covered. Plus heal with the rest spread across a few others to be secondary or aid. Probably some in Sense Motive as well.

And last, welcome Kerndrew. I would say stick with the melee if that is where you wanted to be. I can provide some ranged support as needed and the rogue seems to be riding the line. I think its a good split.

Looks like additional traits is allowed and Beast Bond is perfect for what I'm looking for.

Can I pick reactionary for her given her constant vigil for danger during childhood? She wasn't bullied, but always had to stay on her toes regardless.

I dont think I want to know what she had to look out for, but the traits are fine.

What are people's perception looking like? I'm debating greatly between a rank in perception and bluff. I'll definitely put a rank in the one I don't take next level (along with intimidate), but I wonder if it's crucial for me to pick it up or if it's better that I cover an area others might not be as strong in?

@Father: Welcome! I'm happy to see you here. I'm surprised to see a redeemed paladin of Iomedae instead of Sarenrae, Iomedaens don't strike me as the forgiving lot, while Sarenrae is actively looking for redemption opportunities. As for melee or ranged, I would suggest to go with whatever you think fits your character better. I think both options could work quite well, so it's up to you what you want to play.

My perception is +6, and Gregor's stat line indicates the same.

@Father: Welcome! I'm happy to see you here. I'm surprised to see a redeemed paladin of Iomedae instead of Sarenrae, Iomedaens don't strike me as the forgiving lot, while Sarenrae is actively looking for redemption opportunities.

Just to clarify, it's not that he was a paladin of Iomedae who then fell out of favor and came back; he was a straight-up gangster (who had no interest in any religion) but had a coming-to-God moment, and Iomedae's church was there to help lift him out of that life. He only became her paladin after his redemption; he had no connection to Iomedae or any other church prior.

Hewit only has a +2 to perception. He's more focused on the magic and devotion than observing what is around him. He's not likely to be a good scout.

To give you the possibility to introduce yourself I have started the boarding of the ship.

I will post new passengers as we reach new ports over time, but there is no strict need to stay with the order yourself.

Davor is part of the crew already and Hewit has also boarded at Magnimar.
The others will join in Kintargo (Father Kendrew), Corentyn (Gregor with his new responsibility) and at last in Port Peril (Kendrella).

Any idea on the timeframe for the boardings? Would be nice if I didn't have to wait a month before we get to Port Peril. I don't want to rush stuff, but depending on how you do it things might take a while.

Lets not wait for Father Kerndrew right now but proceed.
As I sai, no need to wait for the proper order lets get you all on board.

Sorry I thought you were going to prompt each port

No probem, it just did not work ut that way, because Kerndrew is still working on his character and he is quite early in the boarding scheme.

After the last one has boarded its still about 2 weeks until the advaneture start so feel free to discuss as much as you like with each other.

Sorry folks; my dog got sick this weekend and my time was all been shifted to his care. He's at the vet now and I'm working on catching up. I'll get the crunch online here quick and then catch up in Gameplay.

Thanks for your patience!

One more thing i forgot:
My experience is that people who fall behind their posting schedules due to real live intervening also don't react easy to forum messages.

For my Pathfinder Adventure cardgames I found it very helpful to have a second communication channel independent of the forum, for these scenarios.

We could either setup a discord or Hangouts channel. If you don't want that I would at least ask you to give me an E-mail adress which I can contact when you go missing.

my email address is on my parent persona's page (Dread) for just that reason ;)

Gregor, one quick note... Hewit is human. No need to correct it I feel but wanted to make sure you knew.

ahhh so he is. I looked at the picture and not read the sig line