GM Jhaeman's "Dawn of Flame: Soldiers of Brass" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

I just need the credits for some upgrades - we didn't find anything that would improve Jin directly yet.

We should have a pretty big chunk of money by the time we finish with this place and sell everything.

Yep, you guys will definitely have some cash once you get a chance to sell accumulated loot! Do keep in mind that Starfinder only gives a 10% return (unlike Pathfinder's 50%), so it's best (if possible) to adapt and re-use something found then to trade it in.

Loot Sheet updated. Not sure what the multitool is worth.

Loot Sheet updated. Not sure what the multitool is worth.

It's priceless. :)

Not sure how comfortable I am with a bipedal turtles welding a staff weapon...

Smoke 'em if you got 'em! In 24 hours, we begin The Final Countdown!

FYI:

I will be attending Gencon later this week. My posts beginning on Wednesday may be slow. I'll try to get some botting instructions up tomorrow night.

I'm actually presenting a seminar regarding programming I do for young people at the library where I work. Trying to get some slides put together for the presentation.

Leaving for Vegas this morning, and won't be back till late tomorrow, so I might miss when my turn comes up. If so, just have me crawl out of the grease and stand up if possible.

Thanks for the bot. I am back, but waiting for my turn to be up again.

@Zharis: Glad to have you back! I've been botting 3/5th of the group, and feeling like I'm playing chess against myself :)

What's the check to climb or jump onto the computer console? Jin wants to avoid cover penalties at all costs

I’d treat it as difficult terrain that requires two squares of movement.

I'm back after an enjoyable Gencon.

I have not caught up on posts yet, though I will before bed tonight.

Glad you had a good GenCon, and welcome back!

While being botted, you took 4 E&F and then 5 E&F.

Jin is getting a brand new suit, some new shoes... then he'll go check out the Sun's night life.

Great work, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the adventure. You were a great bunch to GM for, and I really appreciated how were self-directed, did really fun role-playing, and kept posting steadily through some long fights.

You've fulfilled your commitment admirably. But like Nib, I'd be remiss if I didn't try to get you on board for more. After my usual two-weeks of downtime, I'll be starting Dawn of Flame, Chapter Three: Sun Divers, and I'd love to have you all participate. I know Chapter One and Chapter Two was very focussed on fighting terrorists and street gangs respectively, but it's no spoiler to say that Chapter Three really gets into the meat of the AP with some solar exploration. I'm looking forward to it.

If this is your stopping off point, my sincere thanks and happy gaming!

If you'd like to stick around for Chapter Three, let me know and I'll contact you when the campaign thread for it is ready in two weeks and I've recruited new players as necessary to fill out the group. In the meantime, I'll post final XP here; you can also sell and purchase loot, and I'm happy to assume any unidentified magical items are identified.

Oh, and if any of you play Starfinder Society and would like a Chronicle sheet, please let me know and provide info on the SFS character it should be assigned to.

Let me just say that I had lots of fun, and I think GM Jhaeman did a great job with this.

I think Hani developed nicely, and 5th level is going to be huge from him. I feel like he was generally only good for a couple things: the occasional engineering skill check; and soaking LOTS of damage.

At 5th level (assuming he levels up), I think he'll have more choices. He might even have the capacity to do some damage! New equipment is high on his list, including new armor and an upgraded weapon. A Mark I personal upgrade is also high on his list.

It's probably a good idea for us to get our found gear list in order so we can divide up credits.

Obviously I'm leaning heavily toward returning in two weeks. I suppose I will spend 48 hours making sure I am down for this--but honestly...

Hani will be back.

A couple things:

Yes, I will take a chronicle sheet.

Assign it to 278101-703.

Also, there was a special opportunity for Hani to get some extra experience points by doing some engineering tasks. Did I miss that?

Thanks for GMing!

Jin is in for the long ride, happy to rejoin when book 3 fires (!) up.

Please set the chronicle to #291669-707.

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Between the personal loot everyone was carrying and the crates of goods on the first floor, hopefully we'll have enough credits for some big upgrades

Zharis is still in, but I don't need a chronicle sheet.

I've got to hit the beach for a few days, but when I get back, I'll get the XP and Chronicles ready.

@Hani: Excellent, glad you're leaning towards sticking around. Yes, the bonus XP opportunity is still available.

@Jin: Great! The heavy damage output you bring is really handy in these tough fights.

@Zharis: Yay! The campaign wouldn't be the same without my favourite spokes(cat-)person.

I shall stay =) I was frustrated with the combat initially, but things are coming together for Xylian. He doesn't hit as often as I would like, but he hits hard when he does, and I'm enjoying having so many high number skills.

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Ok, if my math is correct and I got all the loot listed and we sell everything I have marked for sale, that would come up to $64,081. Divided by ten equals 6408.1. Add 6k plain old credits and 2100 UPB's equals 14,508.1. Split five ways equals 2901.62.

That's assuming we can fix and sell the sports car, of course. I'd be ok with keeping the utility vehicle, but I'm not married to it. Maybe sell a few of the high-capacity batteries. If no one else wants any, 15 is probably more than even Xylian can reasonably use.

I am tentatively interested in the Red Star Plasma rifle. I don't see anything in the Line weapon property or the Overcharge trick that would prevent them from working together, so Xylian could hit multiple targets with a single Overcharged shot. I'm just not sure how useful E + F damage will be.

Ok, if my math is correct and I got all the loot listed and we sell everything I have marked for sale, that would come up to $64,081. Divided by ten equals 6408.1. Add 6k plain old credits and 2100 UPB's equals 14,508.1. Split five ways equals 2901.62

Does that include the 2,000 credits we got as a reward from DCI on the last gameplay post?

Either way, it's very low. We are at or near level 5, which as an average wealth of 9,000.

With that loot sale and his current stuff, Jin is at 6,100.

Maybe we can get something out of criminals storage, plenty of boxes in there: https://paizo.com/campaigns/v5748p75ivlsh/gameplay&page=14#662. And Jin was planning to move everything not bolted down and sell it.

Hmm... we also have a spaceship that we have salvage rights to. DM, if we really are off that far on wealth-by-level, is that something we can arrange to sell to that research station where it is parked? (From Part 1?) ... Or does that come back into the story at some point?

Right now it doesn't seem to be doing us much good... and much as I would love for us to set off on some Firefly-like adventures in it, that doesn't seem likely in the actual playing-the-AP world. :)

Experience Points (Instalment # 14)

@Everyone: Final XP posted above, should get to Chronicles tomorrow.

@Xylian: Glad you're staying! I really enjoy the character's dry wit.

@Jin: The AP doesn't give me a value for the 30 bulk of foodstuffs, but I'm happy to treat it as having the same value as regular dry rations. Wealth may be a bit lower than WBL because we've had a couple characters come in the game and depart (taking their possessions with them), for a while loot was split five ways instead of four, and selling equipment for 10% is less efficient than adapting it. But there'll be plenty of opportunities in Chapter Three to get back on track.

@Zharis: That's a good question. Okay, I reviewed where we left things regarding the status of the ship. Given the damage it's taken, it's not going to be repairable (at least without months and a major cash investment). But the Far Portal engineering teams will salvage as much of it as they can, which will translate into extra Build Points you can apply to a vessel (which will definitely come in handy during Chapter Three). Just remind me when the time comes.

Well, being still at level 4 the average wealth isn't too far off the mark.

I guess we are getting 3,301.62 credits unless someone wants to keep some of the found stuff.

@Hani & Jin: Okay, the Chronicles can be found here. If anything needs fixed up, just let me know.

Thanks!

Some big changes for Jin's gear:

Sold:
Capture pole

Bought:
Static Storm Doshko (with called fusion transfer)
Basic Vibrogarrote
Personal upgrade Mk 1 (Strength)
2 standard batteries

Replenished:
3 serums of healing mk 1
1 revitilate mk 1

Is there time between the end of this book and the start of the next to repair the sports car?

@Xylian: Yep, there is. (it takes the equivalent of three days' work, and if you Take 10 on the Engineering checks, you'll succeed in getting if fixed up).

Here are the stats:

Xylian, Hani, and the gang with the new CAR.

How about the vials of stuff that we haven't identified? Can Cabizo help with that before he goes maybe?

Yep, please list anything that’s not identified and I’ll assume he tries until he succeeds.

*Red spell ampoule (unidentified?)
*Yellow Serum (Mysticism check to ID)
Vial (mysticism to ID)
Yellow Vial
Cloudy Vial

(sorry, I just pulled off the loot sheet and I don't have a lot more context on where from the adventure they came from... it isn't sorted that way)

Red spell ampoule: mirror image
Yellow Serum: mk 1 serum of healing
Vial: mk 1 serum of healing
Yellow Vial: mk 2 serum of healing
Cloudy Vial: spell ampoule of invisibility

Not sure what direction I want to go as far as re-equipping.

I could easily blow all of my credits (around 4000) on a new suit of level 5 heavy armor. I have my eye on an EJ Hardsuit, Advanced. It's 3,500. It natively

But I also need a personal upgrade and a new melee weapon.

Also considering taking a level of soldier. I had envisioned Hani using power armor, but I don't see the need, and I'm not sure a big suit of power armor fits his understated personality, so that level 5 of mechanic seems less important. I think much can be gained by dipping into soldier. I need to see what else I'll be missing as far as mechanic abilities if I slow that progression down.

There's a free Cargo Lifter power armor in a ship somewhere, though Hani would need to wait for level 5 to get that free powered armor proficiency from the experimental armor prototype mechanic.

It would be a massive boost to his melee prowess - though we would probably have to carry it around on our new car when he's out of combat, which would be quite amusing.

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If abandoning the mechanical path, with his stats, a dip in Biohacker would bring more to the table.

Or perhaps the nanocyte, since it uses CON, but I haven't read through the finished version of the class yet, so I'm not sure how much utility you get from a single level

I don't see Hani as abandoning mechanic. I think I would probably return to mechanic at 6th level.

I think soldier is a kewl idea for a couple of reasons:

First, I think story-wise there is a path where Hani has been forced to become a soldier many times. He came on this expedition as a scientist. Almost immediately he was fighting for his life in the museum. A level of soldier would reflect these experiences.

There are also some pragmatic reasons why soldier works very well in the case. First, his BAB and saves will get an immediate goose. He also gains a bunch of weapon proficiencies, notably advanced melee weapons. Blitz is going to get him where needs to be faster with a better initiative (often in a position to flank with Jin).

I will need to use my 5th level feat to take weapon specialization (advanced melee weapons).

One other thing to remember is that I can snap my fingers and add +4 to my strength. This includes his 5th level boosts and a personal upgrade (he'll need to scrape together 1,400 credits for that, but hopefully they'll come more quickly).

I do worry that dipping a level of soldier might be too gamey and possibly high on the cheese factor. It's a downright good combination if you ask me. I'm interested in the GM's perspective on this.

I'm fine sticking with mechanic. There are certainly advantages, as Hani will be headed for even more mechanic tricks sooner (no new one until level 6, but I'll get there sooner if I stick with mechanic).

(If you are talking about the armor from the loot list, that armor is on the ship that I mentioned, so we'll have to sell everything on it.)

@Hani: (I'll weigh only because I was asked). I think it's really laudable that you've put some thought into the role-playing and story appropriateness of the choices you're making for Hani. I try to do the same thing with my characters. I think given his experiences so far, taking a level in Soldier would be perfectly justified.

@Hani: (I'll weigh only because I was asked). I think it's really laudable that you've put some thought into the role-playing and story appropriateness of the choices you're making for Hani. I try to do the same thing with my characters. I think given his experiences so far, taking a level in Soldier would be perfectly justified.

I agree with this. I plan out a build but I try to let aspects of the story influence the build if something compelling comes up.

I was planning on taking Xylian down the Powered Armor rout, that's why I set his strength at 13. Powered Armor doesn't seem like it's particularly useful in Starfinder but it exists so I might as well use it lol. Xylian won't have the requisite 5 BAB until level 7, but that gives him time to save up the credits for a decent set.

I think for now I am going to splurge on the suit of expensive level 5 armor. The EJ Hardsuit has 3 upgrade slots, and I get an extra one, so I can add lots of gadgets (I already have two to install on it).

I'll be planning to take a level of soldier next time I level. Still a little time to finalize that decision, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's a good idea.

Hi everyone, thanks for your patience. I've now created the thread for Chapter 3 here. I've posted a recruitment thread for one new player, and once that player joins up, we'll get started with the beginning of the chapter proper. In the meantime, there's a brief transition post in the new Gameplay thread, and you can feel free to either wait or do some light role-playing.

Once everyone has posted either in the Discussion or Gameplay thread of Chapter Three, I'll archive the Chapter Two campaign thread.

One other thing I just found looking through my character sheet thinking about what to upgrade... I guess I never put it on the loot log because we were in a battle at the time? Not sure. Anyway, the "magic glove" from the destroyed armor in the upstairs of the EOS club... did we ever figure out what that is? Is that something that Cabizo could retroactively tell us as well, or did we identify it and I just didn't update my sheet, or--?

Happy to assume you get the glove identified during this downtime:

Thank you. :)

@ Hani & Xylian: Can I get you to check into the new thread for Chapter 3? Afterwards, I'll turn this one to Inactive.