DM Nex's Age of Ashes (Inactive)

Game Master NeoEvaX

Hello all! Wanted to get everyone dotted in then we can verify characters and backgrounds. Then get started.

A few quetions issues I saw.

1. Beryl Brighthammer - I am not sure what background you picked. I could not find it.
2. Vrolun and Kana - you are both using PFS characters. Do you need to make normal aliases?
3. Bertrum - Your Anathema includes not wanting to call civilization a permanent home. One of the big parts of the game is getting a castle and setting up long term home. We can figure it out, but I just want to make sure you are aware (its in the Players guide). You can totally live outside or wahtever.. Just heads up.

Once everyone dots in I will collect a bit more info then we can start!

Well, well, well; look who has a crush on a certain small green gentleman!

Hello All and thank you for allowing me to join this most excellent adventure!

Mosquito is your fun-loving, easy-going, chatter-box.

Huzzah, thanks for picking Beryl, I'm very excited to get started with this!. She has the reputation seeker background (with darklands lore), she was my first 2E profile on the boards here and I must have missed that, sorry. I've updated her profile with that now.

I still need to pick her starting formulae, I will get that done tomorrow.

Hello to Mosquito (and everyone else)!

Awesome! Here we go. Into the unknown together! Yeah I read the players guide (nice and short) and I just figured I would find a way to live 'nearby' the castle but still be a part of it. Thanks for helping on that.

Does anybody else have the 'Dragon Scholar' background?

I forgot to check on my Initiative. Is it calculated differently in PF2?

Both you and Mosquito have dragon scholar background.

And initiative works different here. Is mostly going to be your perception. Occasionally, it can be something different. Like stealth if you were stealthing before encounter. Or even a social skill if you where talking as combat started. You should assume perception or stealth unless I say otherwise though.

I kinda like the system.

I absolutely love this new system! I have been studying it since August, so anyone needing assistance; I am willing to help.

There are 3 modes to game play: Down Time, Exploration, and Encounter modes.

During Exploration Mode, we each choose an Exploration Activity, which may decide your Initiative.

Really great mechanic. It allows for a quicker "roaming the dungeon halls stuff".

Yeah it will allow me to ask "What are you all doing". You give me an idea. (usually a flavor version of an Exploration Activity). Then I know what your character is doing.

I can do secret rolls if needed. It will help speed things up. We will figure it out as we go. There will be a lot more of me asking what you are doing, vs asking you for rolls.

A side effect of that, is I am going to want easy access to your skill points so I can roll easy. All things we will figure out as we go.

@Beryl - Thanks for updating. I just could not find it. Though reading your backstory that one makes sense.

This weekend I am going to do a full check on your sheets and offer any suggestions I have for formatting. I am sure it will all be ok, but I am just going to do a rebuild of everyone to double check.

Thank you for the invite!

To my knowledge it should not be an issue that the profile is a PFS character one, and I am perfectly fine not receiving credit. I don't do PFS on PBP. Honestly, I barely do PFS at all anymore. If it is an issue I can certainly set up another alias.

And glad to see the group coming together. An iconic mix I would say.

Please let me know if there are any other questions. I too enjoy the new system. I just got done running Fall of Plaguestone with some friends and at the end of July I will likely run Extinction Curse for them as well.

I was not sure about the PFS vs normal Alias on the boards. If you are not worried, I am not worried.

I was shooting for a fun diverse group. Hopefully everyone works together well and we have a lot of fun.

I am sure we will all make mistakes as we go through. Please, if anything seems wrong or I do something off, let me know.

Its an interesting mixed group...

Our two main melee people are small sized.

I can make up for some of it, but I'm not a specialized melee person. I picked a general mix of abilities, both ranged and melee.

Throwing in an alchemist and sorcerer too...

I'm really curious how things will go.
=)

That just makes it more fun!

Thanks for the invite! I am really looking forward to it!

Also, don't worry about the character template. I made her specifically for this.

I have a few rules questions that have come up while I've been looking over Beryl's character sheet.

1) Bandoliers. Beryl is a healer and an alchemist. She has healers tools (for treating wounds), and alchemist tools (for quick alchemy). Bandoliers are a handy item which can contain a set of tools and allow you to save an action when doing something that requires tools. That means Beryl's tools are competing for her bandolier space. Is it OK to wear two bandoliers?

2) Poisons. Can Beryl prepare some poison at the start of the day using her advanced alchemy, apply it to a crossbow bolt, then use and fire that bolts at some point during the day? As far as I can tell poisons can be applied to a weapon (or ammunition as per the errata), and last until the first hit (to a max of 24 hours in the case of advanced alchemy), I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something.

Mosquito will be like a little big brother to those in the group; once we get to know each other. During Combat, he will be Charging across the battlefield; engaging those targets that get too close to our Squishies...lol. He will be very protective.
He will be curiously courageously incorrigible! He laughs. He just wants to have new experiences.
By the way, I am playing him as if he hasn't a clue as to this Call for Heroes business. I like the idea of his accidentally becoming a Hero; as his patron deity had also done in becoming a god.

@Half-Wild Mosquito has Dragon Scholar background also. His dream is to heroically defeat a dragon; like in the stories he hears. That is actually why his feet have found themselves in Breachill. He heard rumors of a goblin tribe that has information about dragons.

And don't let his size fool you; he will be effective, if not a bit unpredictable.
My concern is party Healing. PF2 can be brutal; although more fun than PF1 (imo). I play a Cleric 8 in my weekly F2F game; and he uses every drop of available Healing in a day of adventuring.
Unfortunately, our little goblin will not have any skills in that area. He will attempt to lessen the hits, but he can't fix them.

Really excited for this experience! I do enjoy rping goblins...hehe!

Healing may become an issue at times, but I think we may be able to work on it. Beryl is going to be doing some healing, though not sure how well an alchemist can do at that. I am also going to be doing some healing via medicine at first then spells later (most if not all of the divine spells I will prepare will likely be heal).

In addition, if we work together to get some consumable like scrolls, I could use those as well. Plus as the draconic bloodline allows me to provide some AC mods to others maybe I can provide some additional support in that manner.

As for skills, I hadn't settled on a path just yet. Looking over the group, perhaps Iz should focus on being the face of the group for skills. Of course, I also feel it would be interesting to see Mosquito as the face if that is more where the group would like to go.

@Beryl to answer your questions.

1. I think 2 Bandoliers makes sense. Just cross your chest. Any more than 2 I don't think makes sense. Its a 0th level item, so go for it.

2. I did some digging. I think my vote would be they last for 1 day. I think that fits with the exposure rules as well as with the Rogue feat Poison Wepaon. That feat lets you apply a poison as a single action. On a normal weapon a critical fail the poison is wasted. Since they are ammo, I would say they last till the next day. Unless someone finds another ruling that makes more sense.

@Mosquito - Party healing. I know that the Sorcerer will have some healing eventually as they are a cleric dedication. And the Alchemist has healing too. I decided that would hopefully be enough. As long as someone is up for giving medicine some attention. Healing out of combat is not too bad now. Taking a 30 minute break can heal up a lot of people. So when there is time, we should take breaks to heal/recover focus.. etc.

@DM Nex thanks, that sounds good.

Beryl can create minor healing elixirs as part of her advanced alchemy. They only heal 1d6 HP and they compete with her bombs so she's likely to only have a couple per day at least to begin with. She can also use crafting to treat wounds, so hopefully with Kana-Deniz's help she can keep people alive!

Medicine--and it's Skill Feats--are fantastic!
Chirurgeon is a great Research Field; I haven't looked at Alchemist too much.
If we have 2 people that can reliably use Medicine, plus the other in combat options; we should be fine.
Battle Medicine Skill Feat is nice also, because you can Treat Wounds in Combat using only 1 Action.

Yeah Battle Medicine is great, but you can only do it once a day. There are some limits, but we can figure it out.

Also Bertrum has access to some healing too. I figure there will be enough spread out to make it all work.

I have healing spells and the medicine skill as well. My character is designed to be self-reliant so he covers a lot bases. That includes healing.

Note, they also made standard alchemical healing much more available and cheaper too. That should help a lot.

@DM NEX So, I was looking things over and I made a mistake with the character build. I don't need to scrap it but I do need to do away with one element. I cannot take the Familiar feat at level 1. Sorcerers NORMALLY don't get a feat at first level. A human sorcerer can, so that is why they exist I suppose, but as an elf I won't have access to it.

I most likely will simply do away with the familiar aspect of the story if that is acceptable to you. Please let me know and I will work it out. Thanks.

That’s fine. I don’t mind a flavor familiar that will turn into a real one, when you take the feat, if that is still your plan. Otherwise feel free to adjust how you want.

That’s fine. I don’t mind a flavor familiar that will turn into a real one, when you take the feat, if that is still your plan. Otherwise feel free to adjust how you want.

Thanks. I really do like the story element of having the little dragon(ish) familiar and while it won't really develop into the little dragon I originally thought, it still has that appeal to me. Plus, the lower level feats for sorcerer don't fit with where I was seeing it go. Thanks for understanding. We'll leave him as flavor until 2nd level when I can take the feat officially.

Ok! I set up Roll20 for everyone. I made tokens for everyone, using your profile images on the forums. I put a different color circle around each of you. You just need to join the game here:

https://app.roll20.net/join/7881291/UTQ4aw

Its all free, and we will be using it for maps. Everyone can move the player tokens, but I have to move the others. Let me know if you have any trouble.

I put Mosquito next to Warble in the front row, but I will let everyone else decide where they want to sit. Once everyone is seated and I know roll20 is working for everyone we can get on with the Call for Heroes!

:)

Sweet! All set!

Do you want to set up character sheets also? The PF2 ones are really easy to navigate. We use them for my EC game (tonight).

Na. no real need. I am mostly using it for maps. Its nice to organize and I have plenty of games on there. Its nice since we can log in individually and deal with things.

Our sheets can just live here. But if you want to move it there for your records, I wont stop you :)

I am in now. I will move Kana shortly.

One suggestion though is to create a link either on the header section of the whole campaign or the campaign page.

Yeah. I have some more Campaign stuff to sort out. I want to put some header up there. With some good info, including the wiki I made for images and stuff.

I'm in and seated. Looks good to me.

@Bertrum Yes; 3 Actions takes a bit to get used to, but it does become quite fluid , intuitive as you go.

Recall Knowledge= 1 Action
Stride= 1 Action
Point Out= 1 Action

Here is a link for easy Encounter Action Reference.

Readying an Action requires 2 Actions and you use your Reaction to do it. Therefore, only 1 Action actions may be Readied.

Hope this helps!

I updated Beryl's profile yesterday to show her advanced alchemy preparations for today, I hope that's OK. 3 reagents spent on items, 1 saved for quick alchemy.

I'm rather wishing I'd got liquid ice in my formula book now, the name of the AP should have been a dead giveaway :)

All good! Live and learn :). You get more when you level, right?

Yes two per level, and I believe she can add more by buying them, subject to access and money of course.

Regarding the Hydrolic Push. I double checked the angle of the attack, there is no fire right behind the mephit. If there was I would have let you put some out.

It is a missed attack after all, I will say that that area wont burn as fast. Not sure if that helps at all.

Thanks...thinking that this fire may be a problem...lol.

Regarding the Hydrolic Push. I double checked the angle of the attack, there is no fire right behind the mephit. If there was I would have let you put some out.

It is a missed attack after all, I will say that that area wont burn as fast. Not sure if that helps at all.

I'll take it. Would have rather hit him and push him back the 5 ft., but the dice don't always favor me. Unlike Roll20 lately... 3 Nat 20 Crits last night in a row. My players really hate me.

Reminder, Everyone has a Hero Point. I plan on handing them out at set times. I am thinking every week or 2. Maybe after each fight. Its supposed to be every hour of play, so I feel like a week or 2 might be good for PbP.

Anyway, you all have 1. There are some additional ways you can use them, they are listed up at the top in the description.

There is also a link to my wiki page. This will be where I put info and pictures. I will often link from there to here for pictures and stuff. Feel free to take a look.

If anyone wants to start a loot sheet I can link it there too.

I have a loot sheet I have used on a number of games. I can send a link to my Google Drive if that works. I don't mind doing the recording as well (I do inventory in real-life, so I am used to it).

Actually, here is a link to the one I would use.

Age Of Ashes

Sent request for access.

Sent request for access.

Sorry, Drive changed it to default to no access. Should be open for all to view.

@DM NEX So, how exactly did you get those symbols to show up? I'd much rather use them in the sheet than how I am currently doing it. So share the secrets wise one.

Thanks! I will link that loot sheets. Its good to have that in one place.

Looks locked down for me still, just fyi.

I found another game here on the forum with the symbols. I am sure they are somewhere in the unicode. I just copied them, put them in my notes for later. Then pasted them in.

So copy and paste all you want! It should work on any modern editor that uses unicode.

Just wanted to bring up something I noticed.

When you are posting you can start the post then click preview. This will display what the rolls will be, and you can continue the editing. The rolls wont change if you preview vs submit. THis way when you do submit its the final submittion.

I tend to check posts pretty fast, and I have been a bit confused because I have seen them mid edit.

Multiple Previews > Submit + edits

I tend to break the 4th Wall when I do my edits. Apologies, as it can be a bit confusing. I am a Deadpool fan.

I also tend to do Fluff posts in between actual post.

The only problem is if you take too long to finish or preview too often you can sometimes lose your post altogether. It works like you say, but not always correctly in the end. I suggest copying your post before each preview click just to keep from losing anything up to that point. That way if it fails, you can just 'Paste' it again and try again.

NOTE: This can sometimes lead to double posts too, but...you can delete double posts pretty easily if you catch them.

Yeah, thats true. I tend to do most of my work in a note app then copy it in for the rolls then preview a few changes.

Honestly, whatever works for you. I just know to wait a bit before assuming the post is done :)

Yeah, thats true. I tend to do most of my work in a note app then copy it in for the rolls then preview a few changes.

When I GM in this format I too tend to use a text editor of some sort as I find my posts tend to be lengthier than when I am a player. I do also try to copy my posts before submitting to make sure it takes (I've lost too many to count by forgetting to do this).

She hands you 2 Minor Healing Potions, a lesser antidote, and a lesser antiplague, as well as a 5 pouches (each containing 50sp).

Mosquito will take a Minor Healing potion; along with the sp!

Mosquito will go wherever Kana and Beryl tell him. He made be developing a fascination with them...lol.

Mosquito will go wherever Kana and Beryl tell him. He made be developing a fascination with them...lol.

Iz (she will likely ask the group to call her that shortly) is equally fascinated with Mosquito. She's never really dealt with goblins in person, but she's heard stories. Enjoying it completely.

Thank you! I absolutely love playing goblins. I have a few that I have gotten to have fun with in various PbP; although, this is my only active little guy!
I do appreciate you guys allowing me the latitude!

Added a Exploration Activities spoiler up top.

these are:
Avoid Notice
Defend
Detect Magic
Follow the Expert
Hustle
Investigate
Repeat a Spell
Scout
Search
(Let me know if there is something you wish to be doing that doesn't fit these.)

When you go into any area, I would like your character to tell me what they want to do. I will either roll for you, when needed, or ask you to roll when its relavent.

Example. If you say 'I want to avoid notice and be stealthy'. You wont need to rolls stealth till it matters. I will either roll for you, keeping it secret, or just ask you to do it.

Mixing up actions "I want to avoid notice, but also search the room" can be done, but it will fatigue you after doing it too long.

Also depending on what you are doing will determine what initiative roll you need to perform when needed. This is a learning thing for me, and I am sure to mess it up occasionally. Lets learn together.

Also depending on what you are doing will determine what initiative roll you need to perform when needed. This is a learning thing for me, and I am sure to mess it up occasionally. Lets learn together.

This is one aspect I really enjoy about 2E but also is one of the most odd feeling in action as a GM. I love it, but I often feel I am not handling it right. But, as you said, it's a learning process.