I agree with what was stated was needed, but do you think you could also add the need for a trapfinder? Which... might mean we'll get three people and I'm not sure if you're okay with that.
Help me... we have a ninja, why do we need a trapfinder?
I didn't like the Cha 5 sorc very much.
The ninja class doesn't get trapfinding, so I can't disable magical traps.
The ninja class doesn't get trapfinding, so I can't disable magical traps.
Aha. Got it. What about the trapfinding where Adrian pokes it with a stick, makes his save, and then I heal him?
The ninja class doesn't get trapfinding, so I can't disable magical traps.Aha. Got it. What about the trapfinding where Adrian pokes it with a stick, makes his save, and then I heal him?
That's what our tank would be for if/when we get one.
I’m out of town for the weekend and will try to weigh in on Monday.
Alexandra and Nishara
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Alexandra and Nishara
I agree.
Hello!
Hey Byron. Welcome to the team!
Greetings, folks! Thanks for the invite!
Hey you guys!
GM_Corywn, I sent you a PM but things on the boards have been wacky. What was the starting gold for Byron and Winsome?
Wisdom Welcome, Winsome!
Heal check on Ameiko, while trying not to freak out.
I don't think I did this for level 2. So if I should here is level 2.
So that was sad.
I have finished leveling. I gained 1d6 sneak attack and Combat Reflexes.
So I'm torn.
I can just keep taking ninja levels and pick up those class features like better sneak attacks, more skills, and some ninja tricks, or I can multiclass.
Aiko's partially inspired by the historical figure Hattori Hanzō, probably the most famous example of an actual ninja. Hanzō was a samurai, but he was a warrior who handled "dirty tricks" and led a detachment of Iga ninja for Tokugawa Ieyasu. If Aiko follows in that direction she'd multiclass into samurai, probably the brawling blademaster archetype, so that she can use light armor and martial arts along with her wakizashi and poisoned shuriken. This would give her more hit points and a lot of new class features but slow her progression of sneak attacks and ninja tricks. Also the brawling blademaster specifically has the problem that you're supposed to be a melee fighter but you're using light armor and no shield with a very small class-based AC bonus, so you get hit a lot... she would have to rely on using Acrobatics to flank enemies and sneak attack them and hope to drop them before they can turn on her.
We seem to have some solid frontline strength already, between our slayer, cleric, and monk, so this isn't really a necessary path, but I'm just not sure where I want to go story-wise yet.
Any input from anyone?
Winsome picked up Heighten Spell for his feat.
Any input from anyone?
If multiclassing fits your character story, that would be a good thing, but I think regardless of whether you take samurai levels you're still going to be flanking and trying to use your sneak attack damage, so you might as well stick with ninja.
Yeah I'll be flanking either way, though samurai levels will give me a better BAB. More likely to score hits. Slightly more hit points as well. I get enough skill ranks that I can still keep my Acrobatics, Perception, Stealth, Disable Device and a few others topped off even if I multiclass.
Just not quite sure which direction to go yet. Also there's the problem that if everyone is a frontliner, the front line might get quite crowded and make it hard to get into position.
Burning Hands or not, I do not want to be a frontliner.
HP: (Min 5)
We seemed pretty balanced now, so you can go with what you feel best.
Can't update right now, but I'll take the half points.
Anyway, just a few random thoughts I wrote during a meeting. Its kinda long.
As a general rule, I kind of think most multiclassing in Pathfinder is not hugely helpful. You are probably not going to power attack, so you could look at Combat Expertise, Dodge, Fighting Defensively, etc. to make yourself hard to hit in other ways even if it makes it harder for you to hit as well.
Regardless on if you multiclass, you could look at doing a reach weapon. That puts some distance between you and the enemy. Samurai fought with more then just a Daisho. If you do multiclass, the Samurai's Weapon Expertise does work with a Naginata, but I do not know of a way to make that count for Weapon Finesse, assuming you wanted Weapon Finesse with your good Dex score someday. Reach weapons are also nice if you can't get to a flank and are willing to take the soft cover penalty to attack around the front line in cramped quarters and lack a better way of attacking.
On a totally different line of thought. Samurai get a mount which, if we are traveling through most of this AP, might be very interesting and different. This is the first time I have been in this AP, but I think this is one of the campaigns where planning on riding your mount might actually work. Which would make the samurai more interesting for a light fighter who wants to hit and run right by the baddies. If you went this route you could take some mounted combat feats and seek the ultimate moment when you Critically sneak attack with a lance while charging past a flanked enemy. It would be glorious (if it ever happened). And if you do this Lances are reach weapons so if you could not be mounted the option of hanging out in the second row does still exist. Or if you managed to pull off Moonlight Stalker Feint you could Feint as a swift action and then charge to get the sneak attack. It would take a lot of effort and a couple of magic items to pull that off though.
Mostly though, I say play what you want. We will figure it out together. If you would have more fun multiclassing then go for it. If you would rather stick to the ninja, then that is what you should do. This is all for fun.
The warrior poet samurai archetype can apply Weapon Finesse to naginatas, and fights unarmored. Alternatively, going down the spear dancing style tree to spear dancing spiral allows you to pick a polearm to finesse, but that's a looot of prerequisite feats.
I was looking at the brawling blademaster because of the unarmed combat (being a ninja with unarmed combat skills just fits the motifs).
The trick with using a reach weapon is that other party members provide cover if they're between you and the target, unless I take the phalanx formation feat.
Some of this depends on whether Aiko eventually switches to fighting with no armor, or stays in light armor. Having reach does help with staying out of the way in melee, though. I could, of course, just be boring and get Point Blank and Precise Shot and use a short bow or shuriken and just stick to being a ranged ninja.
Most of the samurai archetypes that I'm looking at give up the mount. Also, I know that this AP eventually involves traveling over the north pole, and I would imagine that keeping a mount alive in those conditions is pretty rough (on top of the difficulty of keeping the party alive!).
Yeah, the soft cover can be a pain, but reach gives options. Options are almost always better then not having options in a game. Its also easier to flank with a reach weapon. Or at least it is in 3.5. I have not looked to see if they changed it in Pathfinder.
In regards to long feat chains. This is a long campaign. Doing something that takes a while to get to can add to the experience, IMHO.
I think the Warrior Poet sounds pretty awesome, and you can plan on using a naginata but fall back to a katana or wakizashi if cover or close proximity makes the naginata unusable.
But it does sound like you want to do the Brawling Blademaster. The one downside to the Brawling Blademaster in this group is you are traveling with a monk. I am not sure how much shopping there is in the north pole even if we are on a caravan route so items may be difficult to come by for both of you. Although this may have way more monk items in it as well.
And lastly, just off of what you said there about giving up on melee, I do not think you should go ranged. Describing your characters choices as boring is never a grand sign. :P
I'm actually leaning toward the warrior poet now as well, because I can get a high speed and Spring Attack around the battlefield with a reach weapon with finesse, do sneak attacks and flanks, and use Acrobatics to get into position. It would give me a lot of battlefield flexibility. Plus of course I can always poison it. ;)
One of the other advantages is that if I do take Spear Dancing Style, I can "choke up" on the naginata and fight with it as a double weapon if I'm trapped in melee, so the reach becomes a non-issue.
I've played a lot of archers and it's just a very predictable build most of the time: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, then either Rapid Shot or Vital Strike or the Empty Quiver Style tree.
I really relished the idea of getting samurai "flavor" into the character as I think it fits well with the idea that she is descended from the bodyguards for Ameiko's family, and is the last of her line, trained by her father to fight and do the shadowy stuff necessary to keep Ameiko alive.
On top of this, Aiko still has Trap Spotter and good Perception and Disable Device, so she can notice traps and then help with disarming them. She just can't do the magical ones alone. Tripwires, deadfalls, poison needles and blades she can handle perfectly well on her own, or assist Byron.
I do like having a reach weapon, although in Byron's case its not necessarily going to be his primary weapon in most fights. It is a lot of fun to smack baddies coming in to fight you. And if you are going to do the hit and run thing that makes a lot of sense to have the extra reach to get further away.
Gonna try this out and if I don't like it I can always beg the GM to let me pay to retrain.
The tough part is that we are now stuck doing the entire Brinewall dungeon without access to a market, so I don't have a naginata and have no way to get one until after we're done with this whole section and can get back to a town! On the up side, this does represent a huge improvement in my attack ability with the wakizashi and nunchaku.
Speaking of buying stuff, the loot tracker is empty. Have we really gotten no loot? That can't be right.
~~~~~~~~~~
Level 3: Samurai (warrior poet) 1
+1 BAB, +2 Fort saves
+7 hit points
Feat: Phalanx Formation
Skills: +1 each of: Acrobatics, Bluff, Disguise, Disable Device, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth; Linguistics, Sleight of Hand
New language: Skald
Class features: dancer's grace, flourish: Exodus of Jinin, order of the dragon, resolve 1/day, skirmisher's challenge 1/day
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I know you were paid in diamonds while in Riddleport - 10 worth 1000 gp each. That is really the only loot since you left Sandpoint. You should still have whatever you haven't spent. I don't see any posts where you specified what you spent that loot, so the party should still have access to 10,000 gold.
I know you were paid in diamonds while in Riddleport - 10 worth 1000 gp each. That is really the only loot since you left Sandpoint. You should still have whatever you haven't spent. I don't see any posts where you specified what you spent that loot, so the party should still have access to 10,000 gold.
Great, thank you GM!
That raises the question of whether any party members wanted to buy anything before we left civilization? Better weapons, armor, magic items?
Okay, I finished.
Added 4 to my health +2 fro CON for a total of 22 hp
Skills: +1 to Acrobatics, Climb, Knowledge (history), Perception, Stealth
New abilities: Fast Movement +10, Ki Pool (flurry counts as magic against DR)
+1 BAB
Should I do the "you're back, what did you find?" post?
I kind of think we need to know we make it back first or if Hattori does something else.
My intent was just to wave everyone over to the graveyard. Maybe someone with some Religion skill can figure out what's up with this little shrine-thingy.
I am sorry to hear that. I hope things go well for you!
This is heartbreaking. Can anyone else take up the reins? I'd really like to keep it going.
We can show this to a recruitment thread and hope someone can pick it up.
Hope springs eternal!
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Hello!
I saw the post and I’ve always had a soft spot for the AP. I was curious and think I could possibly run it. If I could get a quick rundown of who’s active and what your playing it would help. I’ll take some time to read through as well, any alterations that you were playing with?
Hello!
I saw the post and I’ve always had a soft spot for the AP. I was curious and think I could possibly run it. If I could get a quick rundown of who’s active and what your playing it would help. I’ll take some time to read through as well, any alterations that you were playing with?
Hello! Hattori Aiko here (using the Asian style of "family name-personal name," so her personal name is Aiko) is a ninja/samurai who's loosely inspired by the historical figure Hattori Hanzō. She has the trap spotter bonus and a decent perception, but ninja don't get trapfinding, so she can't disable magical traps. Other than that she's geared for stealth, acrobatics, and a little bit of social savvy.
Story-wise, Aiko is the daughter of the Kaijitsu family's personal bodyguards, who came with them when they left Minkai long ago. She was trained by her father as a ninja, so that she could watch over Lonjiku and Ameiko. (Of course, Lonjiku is long since dead, thanks to the events of Rise of the Runelords). She has semi-secretly fallen in love with Ameiko but is loath to push the issue or even to discuss it.
Aiko has the magical wakizashi that was recovered back in the swamps near Sandpoint, though the prior DM apparently made some changes to it and didn't explain all of them to us.
In combat, Aiko looks for opportunities to sneak attack. As a ninja she can use poison, though we haven't had enough money for her to get any yet. Her samurai skills let her finesse a wide range of weapons, though she only just gained that level and so she doesn't yet have a naginata—she's designed to strike from the second rank with a naginata, avoiding penalties for soft cover from striking past allies thanks to the Phalanx Formation feat. Again, since we just reached level 3, but we are outside of Brinewall, there's been no opportunity for her to purchase a polearm (especially something from abroad like a naginata), so she's currently stuck using the unidentified wakizashi.
Welcome to the party!
Oh If you're willing to run it, we have the full party available. It just may take a bit for everyone to realize this.
Winsome is an abjuration-focused arcanist, and though he's bad at evocation, he can still use his arcane power to shoot magic missile-like blasts. He's trained as a very defensive spell duelist, and grew up an adopted dwarf-- his father is one of Sandpoint's most well-known locksmiths, and because of his training he can disable magical traps (though he'd always rather let others try first). He's kind of cowardly and has a stutter.
Zaraleva is a changeling cleric of Sarenrae with a lot of ummm "spirit."
I’m reading through the story so far now, about half way. It’s only the 4 of you correct?
As for some info on myself; I’m a big fan of RP and set piece combat with the occasional dungeon crawl to change the mood. I really want to empower you guys to try things and do what you want both for your character and in character. If you wanna build a wired way I’m more than willing to help facilitate that, I won’t slap you guys around constantly, with huge monsters and traps if you all decide on clerics just for example. I’m willing to offer a rebuild and repurchase as well for anyone who wishes. It seems like you guys might have missed some treasure a little bit I could be wrong. It also will help give you something to do while I prep things. I am in the national guard and having training most of next week as well so prep will be slow starting off. Also to be upfront an upcoming deployment will change my posting schedule as well as possibly make posting impossible for a month or two starting mid june. I’m willing to run things for you guys but want to be upfront there will most likely be a large span of time where I can’t post. If this is fine with you guys then it should make things easier.
As for my concept of the AP is to dig into the relationships of the NPC’s and the people, as well as exploring the ideas behind the AP (which will be revealed hopefully by the end of the book). So I’ll give ample time for RP when possible, and will simply ask that everyone let me know when they are ready. Obviously if things start to drag then this may start to get cut back. But if one or two of you wanna do something then we can by all means zoom in on that. I’m not a fan of the AP specific rules, ie caravans and relationships, so I’m not going to use them if that’s all right with everyone. Though I think story wise incorporating their topic in isn’t a bad idea. Once I read through I wanna reread the first book, I haven’t read it in a while so starting up will take some time. I’d also ask that everyone make sure their sheets/alias are all set with stats, levels, and common rolls. I use them also so it can expedite things to keep it going. I like to make some group rolls (initiative, group perceptions, group saves, etc.) so that way it can keep things moving.
Let me know if any of the stuff above doesn’t work and we can tweak things to suit you guys. It’s definitely interesting coming to a preexisting group as a DM so I don’t wanna change everything just for you guys to not have fun.