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Welcome to my PbP game for PF2E 1-06 Lost on Spirit Road, part of Gameday IX. Hope you would have a blast!
Before we start, I would to share some of my ground rules. (In spoiler tag to not take up space.)
PbP Matters
1. This discussion thread is open for all OOC matters, so no ooc tag needed. For OOC matters in the gameplay thread, please use the [ ooc ] tag.
2. Please aim to post at least once a weekday, and at least once over the weekend. I apologise in advance though I might slip occasionally due to my work. If you would be away for extended period, please let us know in advance where possible, and we can work some botting arrangements.
3. If you have any disagreements over some of my GM calls or interpretation of the rules, please take it to the discussion thread or, even better, pm me.
4. If you have played and/or GMed this module before, please do not metagame or spoil the plot. And please let me know (if you have not done so in the sign-up sheet).
5. I would have thought this would go without mentioning until I encountered this, so… It is the responsibility of the player to keep track of the game, including referencing the map on google slides. I understand that there are times where it is inconvenient to do so. In that case, please be as specific as you can as to where you wish your character to move, what actions to take, etc. If you regularly have issues with accessing Google Slides, you might want to reconsider playing via PbP, especially for PFS as there is always combat, and thus map dependent.
Combat
6. Once initiative is determined, for the group of characters who can take actions, I would resolve actions in posting order, NOT initiative order. I used to do the latter but it doesn’t work that well in PbP, so am going with the former instead. (Game mechanics-wise, it is effectively people delaying for each other.) However, if you want your action to take place after another character’s, just indicate accordingly. Also to speed up posting rate, I group the enemies’ initiative block together.
7. RAW and to keep the game moving, I’ll double the damage for critical attacks.
Rolls and Skill Checks
8. I would do your initiative rolls, but generally will leave you to do other rolls unless it is critical to keep the game moving smoothly. Specifically for secret rolls, I have not worked out my system just yet. For some, I may just leave you to roll with results spoilered and trust you not to metagame. I may also roll some just to keep the suspense. We’ll see how this evolves.
9. On skill checks where there could be team effort involved, e.g. finding a hidden trail with survival, influencing attitude of NPCs with diplomacy, please be explicit when making the rolls whether you are attempting the check on your own, or whether you are assisting. (And take note of the pros and cons of either – more attempts means more chances of crit failures.) Also, note that at low levels, aid is often difficult (DC20). There might be situations where only one character is allowed to attempt the check (and the rest to assist) – I’ll state so explicitly if that’s the case.
10. On skill checks in general, if I feel you have roleplayed well, e.g. gave a good description of what your character does to search for a trail, came up with creative ways to befriend a hostile NPC, gave a very rousing speech, I would give bonuses. :)
Roleplaying Matters
11. The maps and handouts link (at the top of the page) would display all the maps, handouts, pictures, etc as the scenario progresses. The most current page would be right on top, while previous ones would be left there for your reference. (Incidentally, Android and IOS has the Google Slides app in case you work off mobile devices.)
12. Please have your full character information up on your character's profile page in case I need to check something, e.g. skills for secret checks. Also, please have your stat block updated with the key information. Minimally please have your current hp vs max hp, AC, all three saves and movement. Feel free to include others. If you have read up to here, include your ideal pet surreptitiously in your muster post.
13. Finally, playing by pbp provides many advantages compared to face-to-face games, the chief one being having the time and space to flesh out your thoughts and actions. So please make use of this and have posts that are more than simply dice rolls. :)
Getting Started
Ok with that out of the way, a few tasks before we kick off.
A. Go to the Gameplay page and dot.
B. Go to the maps and handouts page and fill out the table there. Paste your token picture in the Tokens box, according to your preferred marching order. (Feel free to negotiate in the Discussion thread.) Also enter your initiative bonus (usually your Perception but please flag to me attention if otherwise, e.g. Stealth).
C. In this Discussion thread, do your day job rolls (if any), and share whatever OOC information you would like the rest of the party to know about your character e.g. class, level, special abilities. We’ll leave character descriptions and introductions to the gameplay thread later when we are about to start.
Game is scheduled to start on 1 Sep 2020. See you then!
Fantastic!
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Salaish is a level 1 bard. She'll cast Inspire Courage at the start of a fight, and will want to refocus afterwards so she can be ready to do it again. She definitely wants to avoid being in melee at all costs.
Still starry-eyed over being accepted into the Pathfinder Society, Salaish sets herself up on a busy street corner for an invigorating afternoon of busking.
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A curmudgeonly, stern elf takes shifts grilling would-be mages taking entrance exams at the Arcanamirium.
Things to know:
- Starting with one extra hero point using this purchased boon.
- Because mage armor lasts until next prep, it's always crossed out in his stat bar and AC enhanced (presume it always happens immediately after prep).
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I would like to play. This is my first level liberator champion.
I will need to update her profile. So far I have only played her in VTT.
Full disclosure: I have played this before on different characters and GMed it a few times. If you want to wait and see if you can find someone who hasn’t played it yet, that is fine with me.
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I'm always down to play a repeatable if you still need a player. Let me figure out which PCs haven't played it.
Looks like you could use another body up front, so why don't I submit this ranger PC.
The only boon of note that I'll be slotting is this one:
promotional
Prerequisites Have a campaign coin
Cost 0 Fame
Volunteers who make exceptional contributions to Organized Play can earn campaign coins as a recognition of their hard work. If you have a campaign coin, you gain a bonus Hero Point at the beginning of every adventure. In addition to the normal powers of a Hero Point, you can spend this special Hero Point to allow another player to reroll a check.
Special: A PC can only slot one promotional boon at a time.
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A curmudgeonly, stern elf takes shifts grilling would-be mages taking entrance exams at the Arcanamirium.
[dice=Earn Income (Academia Lore), Task 0]1d20+7
Things to know:
- Starting with one extra hero point using this purchased boon.
- Because mage armor lasts until next prep, it's always crossed out in his stat bar and AC enhanced (presume it always happens immediately after prep).
Nothing interesting outside of this boon.
Free PFS training item is minor potion of healing.
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Salaish, sorry didn't know you needed my adjudication for that. The performance check failed. You can find the relevant DCs here for future reference by default. Would you have wanted to cast Inspire Courage again? I'll allow that retcon.
Nah, I won't retcon. Since it failed, I get to keep the focus point. Sweet.
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So, the tactics of these fey are interesting. Clearly they can be lethal *to one party member* with their aggressive pincer attack, but they will certainly eventually go down by allowing themselves to be surrounded otherwise (and flanked from all sides with Peri in the middle). And not in the way that you expect all pathfinder battles to end, but these guys couldn't flee now if they wanted to.
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(Taking the discussion of 15' cone here to not clog up the gamplay thread.)
Voron, I'm not so sure that would be a correct interpretation. Specifically, from the bottom left corner (origin of the spell) to the top right corner would be 20ft away.
Must admit I've never seen this interpretation of 15' cone before. Any link you could point me to that discusses this? Doesn't matter for this case but for my learning.
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At what point do you want me to do the recovery roll to determine if my PC is dead?
As your initiative goes right before that of whoever took you down, I'll count it just before the enemies' turn. So you could wait for everyone else to post, or just post first and I'll resolve after everyone else has posted. (This is the one exception to my rule of resolving posts according to the order of posting.) Of course, if someone heals you after you've posted, you would have to re-post.
Anyway, this reminds me that I forgot to give out Hero Points for the "first hour" of play. I had intended to give it to Peri for the successful diplomacy check and the roleplaying.
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A lot of GMs declare that the illustrations on pg. 456 are the only valid shapes for cones. The rules actually say “You can use the diagrams below as common reference templates for areas, rather than measuring squares each time.” I think that means you should be able to fire a cone going straight across and down at an angle, but have found little support in the community for that interpretation.
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My understanding is that the campaign coin can only be used by others for rerolls, not Heroic Recovery.
Reread Hero Points this morning. It looks to me like I have the choice of not having to roll and using Heroic Recovery or rolling the recovery check. In my current state rolling would result in CF: Dead, F: Dying 3, S: Dying 1, CS Dying 0.
DC is 12, so CF is 10%, CS is 5%. S is 40%, Failure is 45%.
If it gets there, I will spend the Hero Point.
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Correct you can only use it to reroll.
Though you could use mine to reroll the recovery check and then spend yours to keep from dying as the second use is not a fortune effect.
According to the wording below you can roll the check and then if it would take you to dying 4, you can spend the rest of your hero points to get rid of the dying condition as the trigger is your dying condition would increase (not has increased).
Spend 1 Hero Point to reroll a check. You must use the second result. This is a fortune effect (which means you can’t use more than 1 Hero Point on a check).
Spend all your Hero Points (minimum 1) to avoid death. You can do this when your dying condition would increase. You lose the dying condition entirely and stabilize with 0 Hit Points. You don’t gain the wounded condition or increase its value from losing the dying condition in this way, but if you already had that condition, you don’t lose it or decrease its value.
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A lot of GMs declare that the illustrations on pg. 456 are the only valid shapes for cones. The rules actually say “You can use the diagrams below as common reference templates for areas, rather than measuring squares each time.” I think that means you should be able to fire a cone going straight across and down at an angle, but have found little support in the community for that interpretation.
Going by the text (below), it would seem there are only 2 configurations of cone, orthogonally or diagonally?
A cone shoots out from you in a quarter circle on the grid. When you aim a cone, the first square of that cone must share an edge with your space if you’re aiming orthogonally, or it must touch a corner of your space if you’re aiming diagonally. If you’re Large or larger, the first square can run along the edge of any square of your space. You can’t aim a cone so that it overlaps your space. The cone extends out for a number of feet, widening as it goes, as shown in the Areas diagram. For instance, when a green dragon uses its breath weapon, it breathes a cone of poisonous gas that originates at the edge of one square of its space and affects a quarter-circle area 30 feet on each edge.
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According to the wording below you can roll the check and then if it would take you to dying 4, you can spend the rest of your hero points to get rid of the dying condition as the trigger is your dying condition would increase (not has increased).
Thanks! I had missed that subtle point.
Given that, I will attempt the recovery roll and on failure use the hero point to do a Heroic Recovery.
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Voron, I'm not so sure that would be a correct interpretation. Specifically, from the bottom left corner (origin of the spell) to the top right corner would be 20ft away.
Must admit I've never seen this interpretation of 15' cone before. Any link you could point me to that discusses this? Doesn't matter for this case but for my learning.
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A lot of GMs declare that the illustrations on pg. 456 are the only valid shapes for cones. The rules actually say “You can use the diagrams below as common reference templates for areas, rather than measuring squares each time.” I think that means you should be able to fire a cone going straight across and down at an angle, but have found little support in the community for that interpretation.
yeah, that's what I was going for
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But yes, that does make the far right corner there 20' away. No GM, I don't have any discussion to link around this, it seemed intuitive to me for a moment, but you have me doubting it now.
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Oh, now that we're talking hero points, reminder of this:
Things to know:
- Starting with one extra hero point using this purchased boon
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Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be away next weekend, the morning of Saturday, the 19th through sometime in the evening on the 20th (US/Pacific time). As per my typical practice I catch up and make posts the night of my return.
Hopefully it's barely or not at all noticeable since that is the weekend and I do like to catch up on the day I return.
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Peri knows she wouldn’t be able to identify stuff and for that reason is hesitant. She most definitely is not telling anyone else how they need to act.
Sorry if it came off that way.
Oh, don't worry about it. That was just role play. Salaish isn't the type to hold a grudge, so she'll pout for a bit, and then forget it ever happened.
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(You think that if you can find out what he is fleeing from, you might be able to play on his fears to give up the treasures via a Deception check, or convinced him they are not that valuable with a Underworld Lore check. Alternatively, you can attempt to steal from the thief with a Thievery check.)
Glancing at all our character sheets, it looks like our party's highest bonus is in Diplomacy, with Pre Fix, Su Fix, and Salaish at +7. I'll wait until Voron indicates how he shares (or doesn't share) this info to post in game.
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Yup, sure. Peri would be aware of the enemy although not necessarily her location. However, because the invisibility only drops after the first attack, she would not be aware of it until after it occurs. That said, you're absolutely right that RAI, a champion need not be aware of the enemy or even the attack.
Must admit that I took a long while deliberating this, and finally decided to go by how I envision reaction (rather than champion's reaction). Again, this is not in the rules either, but to me, a reaction has to be in response to something that the character is aware of, otherwise it can't react to it, i.e. the character must be aware of the trigger before they can take the reaction. Taking fighter's AoO as an analogy (which similarly doesn't state that they need to be aware of the trigger), it makes little sense to me them to take an AoO on an enemy creating an opening if he is not aware of that.
Might not be the correct ruling, but just to share my thinking.
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The trigger for the Liberator's champion reaction is "An enemy damages, Grabs, or Grapples your ally, and both are within 15 feet of you."
To use the game terms, the damage would be Observed. I don't think that is in contention.
In this case I believe that invisibility has granted the enemy either Undetected or Hidden status. In this most recent case it is most likely Undetected since I didn't have a chance to Seek and it specifically states Invisibility grants Undetected until the Seek.
Going back to Trigger, it says "Reactions and some free actions have triggers that must be met before they can be used."
So the question is must my character know that all conditions are met before attempting a Trigger.
If we go with the character must know, something like Call on Ancient Blood or Orc Superstition would require that the character know that the source of a saving throw is a magical effect. That makes it quite a bit less useful.
Searching triggers, there is also Guardian's Deflection (a fighter feat) where the trigger specifically says:
Trigger An ally within your melee reach is hit by an attack, you can see the attacker, and the ally gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to AC would turn the critical hit into a hit or a hit into a miss.
There are two things I note about this feat. It specifically calls out that you must see the attacker and that it depends on something that I don't think it normally detectable -- being within 2 of a critical hit or a hit.
At this point, I'm convinced this is not as clear as it should be. I do think that the text for Guardian's Deflection and a few other actions with triggers make it seem like you do not have to be aware, but I can't find that spelled out anywhere.
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Hmm, that the Guardian's Deflection feat specifically calls out that the character must be able to see the attacker would suggest that other reactions need not. But I still can't visualise how an AoO would work if the trigger enemy can't be seen. Hmm...
For Orc Superstition though, I kind of make a distinction between what is character knowledge vs what is player knowledge. Saving throw, for example, is not a character concept - it is rather what the player does in response to a situation and hence the GM would be providing the info to the player (i.e. make a saving throw against magical effect) so that the player can make the decision whether to use the reaction. Making an AoO is dependent upon character knowledge, even if the player knows what's happening.
Guess my final conclusion for now is also that it is not as clear as it could be. If only they had a line under Hidden or Undetected that says that the character can't take reactions to such creatures, or something.
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Interesting.
Going to the Appendix for Invisible, we find out something new.
“If you become invisible while someone can already see you, you start out hidden to the observer (instead of undetected) until you successfully Sneak.“
Unfortunately I still haven’t found anything in the CRB stating one way or the other what state of awareness someone has to have for triggers. The best I can do is point out ones that specifically state you can see someone.