Thirteen Kingdoms: Order of the Righteous Trinity

Game Master Nathanael Love

Greetings, fellow members of the Order! Might you all walk in the light of Jarrett, stay in Attrianna's shadow, and dwell in the dark of Drexiesh!

Very cool, thanks for the invite Adweard Holte and Oxnard Kettlebeak err Nathanael Love err The Storm Crow... that may have to get shortened to Storm, or Crow or TSC or something...either way, super stoked to be here.

So far we have Adweard (either a Slayer or Inquisitor) and Vaux the Many-Scaled - Neutral Good- Dragonblood Shifter and Ivar, so possible three front liners? Adweard are you going Slayer or Inquisitor?

Ah, yeah. I went inquisitor.

cool, I was looking at the potential options, like any drafts we can't control what the others do, but there are some likely things that will or won't happen.

Hola. Thank you for having me, Glorious Leader. I shall get Vaux written up. He'll be something of a natural weapon murder engine when it comes to fighting, but quite cheerful and friendly outside of combat. The idea of a small bundle of scales in a giant fur cloak that suddenly goes Tasmanian Devil on his foes pleases me.

If we're making suggestions for our next victims recruits then I would suggest Ichabod Carbuncle by caster4life would be good. Some arcane might would be a nice addition, but I am biased - I know caster and like playing with them.

I think that's a good idea, then pick Frank Engels, Human, Unchained Summoner, NG last. I don't see Cuan taking a halfling paladin as his frontliner, that would leave ScegfOd if we wanted him.

Of course since were discussion it on a public forum, who knows what they may do after they read this.

I’ve also played with caster a fair bit. Happy to have Ichabod Carbuncle if we can.

sounds like the next pick then

Sounds good.

Also, I shall share my secrets with you, my countrymen - if you post something in the gameplay thread and then delete it you still get subscribed on the campaign tab without clutter! Neatness is a virtue when you have both dihydrogen monoxide and hydrogen chloride in one lab.

So dotting and deleting cleans things up.... got it :)

As everyone finishes their crunch:

Character Build Rules from this post

By popular demand, will be adding the option to get a 3rd trait by taking one drawback (optional).

Very cool, I may consider a drawback, I think everything else is in order.

edit:
TSC I would like to add:
On Guard You gain a +1 trait bonus to Initiative checks, and if you are able to act during the surprise round of an encounter, you can draw a weapon (but not a potion or magic item) as a free action during that round.
For the Drawback:
Righteous Indignation Effect(s): Whenever a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you must take it unless you succeed at a Will save against a DC equal to 10 + your level. You take a –1 penalty on Will saving throws against spells with the emotion descriptor that do not also have the fear descriptor.
is that cool?

Hello! I am busy at work at the moment but look forward to scheming RP and mechanics starting today.

Drawbacks will be nice to have. I crave skills.

Hm, some more substantive healing could be useful. Any thoughts on the various potential healers?

Man I really liked the idea of ScegfOd's summoner. But if we need a heal bot, Edelsmrge has a cleric. We'd just have to figure out how to get him from Chelxia to here.... And Firy'In T'sarran has a dwarf cleric. If you want to take a chance with a new player/character and we were all new at some point.

Well don’t get me wrong, I’ll take a fun party over a mechanically sound party any day.

I’ve got healing spells on my list so I’m happy to rely on wands and have successfully done so in a pretty long-running all fighter Ironfang Invasion game.

If we want the summoner, let’s go for the summoner.

Quick thought on healing: We'll have plenty of UMD and lots of parties have to get wands of clw as the workshorse of healing anyway. But someone with channels and/or spontaneous casts built in would certainly be helpful too.

I mostly say that because Frank the summoner is a buddy of mine and would be fun to play with. Full disclosure. XD

Well don’t get me wrong, I’ll take a fun party over a mechanically sound party any day.

humorously, I tend to prefer the party covering the 'traditional roles' I was looking more at the players. If you want a cleric so were your not the 'heal bot' grab a cleric, I'm totally good either way. Though you should probably ignore my post about being an oracle, though I have done that before, I don't think Ivar is the type.

I think I'll go for the summoner. We're also somewhat missing rogue/scouting action, and that's a niche that's a bit harder to fill than healing.

Vaux should have that covered. Scouting, at least, and I'm thinking of picking up a dip into rogue for a variety of reason. Disabled Device would be nice.

Ach, difficult decisions then.

Any case, I've got an exam to take and I'll sort out what I'll do afterwards.

Good luck with your exam!

Ichabod is small, has a little dex, and doesn't wear armor. So if the party wants everyone to be kind of stealthy, he could go that route. But he's not going to be a primary stealther.

Did you all see ScegfOd's post in recruitment? He's definitely trying to sell his characters strong points :)

Vaux is here, so clearly this is the most desirable kingdom.

Good luck on the exam.

Exam was surprisingly easy. Let’s go for Scefgod, he’s got party endorsement and can help to fill in any cracks in our healing capabilities.

I also like how attentive he is to the recruitment thread.

Yeah he's pretty much always a consistent poster and very engaged with whatever is going on.

Adweard: Glad the exam was easy. You mentioned you and I have PBPed together before. I've def seen you around the boards plenty but I can't for the life of me remember when we played together. Looking at your aliases didn't help me either. What face do I know you by?

Also, I enjoy the non-traditional title of Dean for our ruler. What are other officials called or other ranks lower down the ladder? Are we all members of the Council of Commanders or is the Dean's ruling council a different body? I'm curious to figure out more about our specific roles within the Order.

Oh man!

the title of Dean was part of what drew me to the Order submission, because it pegged directly to a title already in use on my Old Empire region--

the Church of the Three is structured:

Primate (like the Pope)
Dean (leader of a Kingdom, or branches of the Church, similar to Cardinal)
Curate
Archbishiop
Bishop
Monsignor
Priest
Postuland
Deacon
Acolyte

Obviously, a military order likely has different lower titles for non-clerical members.

ooohhhh Ivar wants to be a Bishop.... what makes all this humorous to me is Ivar's perspective on religion.

Ivar compares gods to the old ladies in his village where he grew up.

When asked he'll explain. Whenever the old women in his village would want help with something they would bake a pie. You could smell them cooking And which ever pie you liked you could go offer to help her and she would give pie as a reward.

Gods want something from people. Different gods want and offer different things. People serve the god who will give them what they want.

Ichabod, that’s because we didn’t PbP on the boards per se.

You’d remember me as Alakras, the half orc, half scorpion man of Prevail!

@The GM, part of what drew me to the Church of the Three was actually the defined ranks. I had no clue what to call the leader of a former mercenary company, and seeing the title of Dean right there to use I added the religious angle.

After catching up it seems I shouldn't have worried about being picked xD

Also, not sure what rank would be granted after winning some sort of tourney (or being literally impossibly sneaky, we could go for the sneak angle, hehehe....)

@Ichabod: looks like Tim/Jim didn't get picked, but we're in a kingdom together nonetheless xD

@Vaux: how much do you want to be the scout? 'cause Broulnindre will be expendable :3
Granted, it could also be a pair of sneaky people, which might matter sometimes xD

@Glorious leader/Dean: OHHAI xD
I made Traegar and Stronk in that game :3

BTW guys, do you like late-game free Greater Restoration, Black Tentacles + Dimension Door, or auto stagger one opponent for at least 8 rounds?
They're lvl 17+ things, but I'm planning ahead since Eldritch Heritage needs 4 feats.
Alternatively, VMC Bard would fit Frank nicely and only cost 1 extra feat.

Ah! Alakras! Good to see you again!

Ok so what title(s) would make sense for a gnome sorcerer who loves alchemy, explosions, and the finer things in life? Ichabod is a solid diplomat, for whatever that is worth.

@GM: would you allow Trap Finder for my Eidolon? (gotten via Additional Traits)

If it helps, Frank doesn't have a campaign trait. He will be taking a drawback as well as a combat, faith, and magic trait (the faith trait and drawback are both related to B, amusingly)

But B, depending on how hard our other scaly teammate wants to lean into disabling devices, will want a way to handle magic traps xD

There are other ways, like signature skill and that feat that let's me use Dispel Magic for 1d4 minutes instead of 1d4 rounds...

Frank, we should coordinate on what arcane spells and charisma-based skills we have to reduce overlap. My skills and spells are in the profile but certainly aren't set in stone.

Question for other party members:
How many would enjoy being buffed with mage armor? What about enlarge person? Reduce person? Adweard, are you going melee, archer, or switch-hitter inquisitor?

Melee. No need for mage armor.

Melee that would enjoy enlarge person? Reach and damage are nice but lower AC isn't great.

I'm betting Ivar would like enlarge person but idk but the rest of the melee.

Melee monster. Enlarge would only up me to medium, so it wouldn't be great.

-2 AC, -1 reflex, vs. +1 damage, +1 damage die size, +1 cmb. Would that be worth it to you? Are you going str or dex melee? And are you planning on investing in AC? I'm just wondering if it would be "Not worth knowing for Vaux's sake but he'd take it when available" or "Vaux would almost never want this cast on him even if it didn't cost resources."

Enlarge would help Ivar, it's one of the spells he will have at fourth level, but someone else casting it would be fine too.

oooh, if I leave B as medium sized, she'd be a decent combatant for a few more levels :3
I guess only Frank would be able to cast Enlarge Person on her though... at least she's immune to Charm Person? XD

Vaux is a dex build, with a ton of AC so I'll also be taking -1 to hit from the dex drop. Situationally it might be good, but it'll probably not be ideal most of the time.

Ok I shouldn't spend one of my few spells known on enlarge person then. Thanks for helping me figure that out, folks!

Vaux: Would you benefit from mage armor, then? At low levels, that's often the best armor for dex characters, esp. if they shapeshift.

I think Monsignor Ichabod Carbuncle, Diplomat of the Order makes sense for my title.

My current spell choices:
0: Acid splash, detect magic, message, penumbra (little alchemical stormcloud hangs out above Ichabod much of the time)
1: Burning hands, grease, mage armor

I think it would make sense for Ichabod to be a follower of Jarret. Deities associated with light are often associated with fire and/or lightning and those are very thematic for Ichabod. Does that seem reasonable to those who know more about Jarret?

GM: Can I take the family ties drawback?
"When a family member makes a request of you, you must fulfill that request or take a –2 penalty on all Wisdom– and Charisma-based ability checks and skill checks until you either do what was requested or succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw, which you can attempt once per day at the start of each day. You can’t take this drawback if you have no family. If you ever lose your family or lose contact with your family, exchange this drawback for the Doubt drawback."

It could be really fun because Ichabod has a crazy family tree. There are several gnomes in the Order he is closely related to. But when you go a little farther back, there were some pretty crazy and charming gnomes who experimented quite a bit. There is both orc and dragon blood in Ichabod's past. So the family members who come asking for help could get really interesting!

Yes, that draw back is appropriate.

Jarrett does not have any specific associations with fire or lightning, but he's the good aligned war god- so damage dealing spells of all varieties are appropriate.

All righty, What do we need to do to get started?

Are we already titled folks familiar with each other? Or just meeting for the first time? Has the Dean met with each of us and brought us in to meet each other? Are we new to city and find a tavern...

What's the next step after characters are finished up with the crunch and little fluff?

So, other than RP, all three games have to start the same time-- you guys can handle party introductions however you want, and feel free to do so in character or to work out the back story OOC whichever you'd prefer.

You guys are ahead of the curve so far compared to the other tables as far as finishing crunch.

I also have some more work to fill in back ground before I'm ready to kick things off which I'm working on currently.

Vaux: Would you benefit from mage armor, then? At low levels, that's often the best armor for dex characters, esp. if they shapeshift.

Vaux has some armour right now, so Mage Armour won't benefit him much. Dragonblood Shifter is one of those archetypes with lots of great flavour and a distinct downgrade in power, so it'll be level 10 before I can actually do any shapeshifting. With the Shifter class. And even then it'll be brief bursts of 'dragon'. Honestly, I was tempted to not use the archetype, but I really like the mental image of Vaux changing colours. It's even in the name.

Sweet! I've chosen inspired as my trait from that drawback.

It seems like it would make sense/be fun if our characters already knew some things about each other and perhaps have even worked before together.