Doing quite a bit better, enough to be back at work. Planning on posting tonight.
Ooo, Greta, way to stick your neck out with the queen! I approve heartily!
Lol- she said anything within her power… I could have asked for land and title now with no conditions instead and that would still be well within her power to grant?
Do folks want to do the mass combat rules, or just have a tough fight for the PCs as a stand-in? I'm good with either, and fully admit I am a sucker for overly complicated subsystems, but not if it's annoying for everyone else.
I'm not opposed to using the mass combat rules, though I don't know anything about them. But especially if that's something you like, Losonti, I'm willing to learn in order to heighten your experience!
Lol- she said anything within her power… I could have asked for land and title now with no conditions instead and that would still be well within her power to grant?
Oh, I hope my message didn't seem snarky. I like seeing all the party members getting ahead and advancing their goals. :)
I am a lazy player and DM (quiet Junior...lol), so I would go with the easier path.
Besides, our party is large so we can take it!
I vote no. Mass combat is usually one PC with a high cha making the rolls for an army while the rest of the party watches. There's not a whole lot of choices you can make for armies either.
Part of the problem is that it's not that complicated when we get to brass tacks.
I'd be happier if we each had an army to command. But that seems narratively unlikely.
I'm fine with either. But as a scout-type I wouldn't have much to do with the army!
I’m cool with whatever approach you want to take.
If the mass combat stuff is focused too much on 1 person and Cha checks, maybe you could ad hoc something a little more diverse for the main battle and insert a couple key encounters for us to play out, and use all that to determine the outcome? I’m not entirely certain what that would look like but maybe have a handful of different skill checks involved that are spread through different classes/stats- like knowledge(engineering) to determine advantageous troop positions, sense motive to notice when the enemy’s trying to pull units out of position, diplomacy to rally troops and keep morale up, stealth to lead a scouting mission beforehand or direct an unexpected flanking maneuver, stuff like that? That could, possibly, be a fun way to get a lot of the party members involved with determining the outcome of a big battle instead of (or in addition to) just having us play out a couple fights?
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I think I'll just model it after what my IRL GM does, which is to describe the battle around you in narrative terms and have the party doing something pivotal but on a personal scale. Sort of like you did with the Gray Garrison, but not (always) quite so involved. I'll also get us started with the adventure proper soon. Hope you all packed snacks.
Okay, so, good news: it turns out, tomorrow is my last day of classes. I'm not planning to take anything over the summer, and coincidentally it's a slower time of year at work, so I'll be less swamped with my IRL (over-)commitments. I also got PDFs and put them into my cloud storage so if I find myself with time to write up a post I won't be confounded by a lack of access to the AP materials.
Hooray! I'd say that bodes well for this campaign!
I think I'll just model it after what my IRL GM does, which is to describe the battle around you in narrative terms and have the party doing something pivotal but on a personal scale. Sort of like you did with the Gray Garrison, but not (always) quite so involved. I'll also get us started with the adventure proper soon. Hope you all packed snacks.
I have officially packed snacks, let’s do this!
And Tristan has the Team shirts!
Did we choose a team name? I don't remember!
I won't hold anyone to "Team Benny." Something that represents all of us would be better, I think. ;)
Team Galfrey? ;)
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Post tonight! For no particular reason, can folks help me find any instances of the following so far, in case I've forgotten any:
1) Anytime a member of the party killed a demon before it was able to take a turn in combat.
2) Any occasions where the party recovered enemy intelligence (like the maps you found, but in case I've forgotten one).
I'm pretty sure Greta did that to a dretch. In the mongrelfolk maze?
I haven’t had the time to go hunting for the post but I’m pretty sure I did that to the demon at the clothing store… some kind of bug-faced thing, maybe, iirc? I’m still at work but I’ll try to look for it later.
Each righteous medal is itself a magical item, blessed by priests of Iomedae, Sarenrae, and Torag. There are six, and I'll post their effects (and the criteria to earn one) here:
Any number of righteous medals can be worn, but the effects of multiple medals of a single type don’t stack. A righteous medal functions only if the wearer has legitimately achieved the feat for which she received the medal. As a swift action, the wearer can gain a +2 sacred bonus to the medal’s associated ability score for 1 minute. In addition, each righteous medal grants a constant sacred bonus on one type of roll, as detailed below.
Righteous Medal of Agility: This triangular iron medal shows a demonic face surrounded by three swords. It is awarded to a hero who delivers a death blow to a demon in combat before that demon gets a chance to act in the combat. This medal is associated with Dexterity and grants a +1 sacred bonus on Initiative checks. Greta has one.
Righteous Medal of Clarity: This circular blue medal depicts a pair of feminine gray eyes surrounded by a circular silver lightning bolt. It is awarded to a hero who recovers vital information of great use against the Worldwound and delivers this intelligence to the crusaders. This medal is associated with Intelligence and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against insanity or confusion effects. Each of you has this medal.
Righteous Medal of Command: This circular medal depicts a leering demon head before two crossed swords. It is awarded to a hero who redeems one of the enemy and convinces the redeemed character to join the crusade. This medal is associated with Charisma and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against emotion-based effects (including fear effects). Junior has one.
Righteous Medal of Spirit: This rectangular medal depicts the symbol of Iomedae on a field of red. It is awarded to a hero who becomes possessed or mentally controlled by a demon but escapes from that control before he is forced to do evil. This medal is associated with Wisdom and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against charm and possession effects (including dominate effects).
Righteous Medal of Valor: This medal looks like a demonic skull, the top of which has been pierced by four red-hilted swords. It is awarded to a hero who delivers a death blow to a demon whose CR is at least 1 higher than the hero’s character level. This medal is associated with Strength and grants a +2 sacred bonus to CMD.
Righteous Medal of Vigor: This hexagonal medal depicts a white castle on a field of red with gold trim. It is awarded to a hero who is reduced to negative hit points by a demon but survives (or alternately, is restored to life) and rejoins the battle before that demon is defeated. This medal is associated with Constitution and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against death effects.
A mythic character who wears all six righteous medals gains one additional use of mythic power per day.
I may award medals for other notable achievements that don't specifically match the criteria listed but are appropriately heroic and match the theme. If you've already met the criteria and I forgot, please let me know!
Is Nurah the female halfling? I've never gotten this far in the game so don't recognize names.
Yes, sorry. There's some art of her in the handouts as well.
I just thought of a question about the medals... the +2 to an ability score for 1 minute, is that at will, 1/day, 1/ever?
That is a very good question! It is once per day.
Hadn't thought to check the handouts.... Thanks!
Who's ready to get marching?
Me!
Ready
Let's go!
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Allons-y!
Is strolling OK? Selann isn't really military....
Or does the army have some spare horses or wagons we can ride?
Junior can sing at you if need be.
Certainly!
¡Vamos!
I have two days of magic arms and armor crafting or scroll scribing free for the party to avail themselves of. If someone doesn't claim the time in 24 hours I'll make some scrolls for myself. I will take 10 on the spellcraft check, for a 19. I will rush the job if the DC is 14 or less. I can make any bard, cleric, or wizard scroll up to 2nd level.
If it takes longer than 2 days to make I will finish it ASAP.
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No enchanting for me right now, thanks. My next purchase will (hopefully) be a mithril breastplate, and then you can get to work enchanting that for me ;)
Worth remembering that you can craft while adventuring at 1/4 speed by increasing the DC by 5. I think you can stack with the double speed (and here I get to decide if you can!), allowing you to craft at half speed while adventuring by accepting a +10 to the DC.
I think that Tristan is fine for now also. He is waiting for mithral breastplate too...lol.
I’ll be out of town this weekend at an SCA event.
Worth remembering that you can craft while adventuring at 1/4 speed by increasing the DC by 5. I think you can stack with the double speed (and here I get to decide if you can!), allowing you to craft at half speed while adventuring by accepting a +10 to the DC.
There isn't normally an increase of DC to craft while adventuring?
The way I read crafting rules:
Step 1 determine time needed to craft. 8 hours per 1000gp cost of base price, round up. Except potions and scrolls of 250gp or less which take 2 hours.
Step 2 Spend 4 hour of in game time crafting. If not adventuring then you net 4 hours of progress. If you are adventuring you net 2 hours of progress.
Step 3 If you are not adventuring you may spend another 4 hours crafting and get 4 more hours of progress.
Other steps aren't relevant to the discussion.
During step 1 you may increase the DC of check to make the item by 5 to make the time requirements 4 hours per 1000gp cost of the base price.
Are you saying that I can accept another DC increase of 5 to net 4 hours of progress while adventuring rather than the normal 2?
If you wanted to impose a DC increase for crafting while adventuring that's cool too. IMO magic item crafting is 5 fewer than it should be anyway.
Oh, you're right. I apparently made it up.
I'm not sure if this is really a preparation, and I don't want to make extra work for you (and I definitely don't want to be responsible for delaying our departure), but with all these handsome, charming men who are as committed to the Crusade and to demon slaying as she is hanging around, Greta might be interested in finding one who wants to serve as her attendant (and keep her warm at night). Is there one who might have caught her fancy while she was getting to know the troops?
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You have my permission to create a knife for me to use. :)
lol.
What level of creation are we talking here? Should I limit it to a name and little bit of backstory, or are we talking his own profile for RP post and whatnot?
As much as you like! In most cases, you won't be able to take him along on adventures, since he's not mythic and is part of the regular army, but you can make a stat block and alias for him if you want. Regular members of your army at this point are all 4th-level Paladins, so use the ability array of a heroic NPC: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8, plus racial modifiers and the 1 ASI from level 4.
Sweet! I have some stuff I need to do right now but I'll try to have him ready tonight.