Sorry for the long delay in posting - end of the semester craziness - I'll try to get caught up tomorrow.
My apologies since I know I've already been a little absent from the game recently but I'm heading out of town in the morning for a two week trip. Likely will have very limited time to post at all until the end of the month so please go ahead and bot me as needed.
They didn't between the last chapter and this one (when you leveled), because you all had extra at the end so I left them as is. But once this chapter ends, I'll probably reset them.
Honestly, Hero Point tracking and giving and management is one of the annoying things in pfs2.
Because if I don't give them out, I feel like I failed to provide you with guaranteed resources. But then I also have to give them out fairly or people feel slighted and... they probably feel slighted regardless of how fair I can be.
And then players often forget about them so I have to keep nudging them to remember, so more work there. And if I don't, I feel bad when I start winning and a smart usage of them would have turned the battle...
Anyway, it's a decent mechanic, but causes me stress so I don't love it. :P
@Jacques, no worries. Botting will commence as necessary!
It's one of those mechanics where I feel like, in-person, they're easier to remember because you can have little tokens or something, but in PbP... nnnnnot so much. Everything is text, so other text doesn't stand out!
True, and also I think a big factor on people forgetting them is that everybody wants to make sure they keep one in the chamber to escape death, and that alone makes people extremely conservative with their use, so they end up kind of forgetting about them a lot of the time. I try to keep myself at 0 hero points partly so I don't forget to spend them, and partly for a more challenging game. I want death to be a real possibility otherwise the stakes never rise above a certain point. That's fine for some folks, but I prefer more challenge. The higher the stakes, the greater the intensity of high-risk situations. It's just more fun to me.
I've already implemented an altered Hero Point system in the game I'm running for my fiancée. Hero points can no longer save you from death. In return, instead of having to take the reroll, you can reroll and take whichever is higher. In addition, you can force me, the GM, to reroll and take the lower of the two.
We've only had a couple sessions so HP's haven't really come into play yet. I'll let you know how it goes.
Worth noting that I played a game where everyone was forced to use their Hero Points to avoid death and we still ended the game with only one of the original PCs alive (and one of the PCs died twice).
There is a boon from one of the factions that makes the 'saving a Point to avoid death' much stronger. It brings you back to 1 HP instead of just stabilizing you at 0. Of course by the time you get to that rep, you usually have enough ACP for a rez so...
I do like your new way of trying to do things Akimi. I also tend to burn the crap outta my Hero Points. Mainly to avoid Crit Failures on skill checks (or just when the group needs a success) since those are so damn often tied into scenario successes which = rewards and so on.
And I expect TPKs turn into TPKs regardless of Hero Point usage most of the time. Someone still has to survive to bring everyone back, lol.
So sorry to have fallen so far behind in this game. I returned from my trip and have been slowly catching up on all the things but obviously let this one slip. Sorry and catching up now.
Yup!
I think I've mostly got Jacques leveled up to 4. Not too many choices to make, and not too many exciting options for those choices. For his class feat he's taking Antagonize, which seems to fit with his overall personality.
I'm having trouble finding any skill feat that would be much interest. GM, if I take Steady Balance, could I sometimes attempt Balance checks to gain panache? Or does anyone else have any other suggestions for skill feats that would be good for Jacques?
Yeah, I’d allow that a time or two in a combat, assuming there was a thing to balance on.
I’ll try to remember that option in scene description so you would know if balancing on something is viable.
Catfall is never a bad choice. It starts out as reducing a fall distance by 10 feet when calculating damage, and gets significantly better as your Acrobatics proficiency increases. I tend to take it as a filler for pretty much any character trained in Acrobatics that I don't see an appetizing option for otherwise, even if I have no plans to increase that character's Acrobatics beyond Expert. After all, 10 feet = 5 damage, so right out the gate it can mean the difference between landing alive and conscious or landing unconscious and dying.
If you're an Expert in Acrobatics (which I'm guessing you are) the fall is reduced by 25 feet (aka 12.5 damage); if you're a Master, the fall is reduced by 50 feet (aka 25 damage); if you're Legendary in Acrobatics, you always land on your feet and take no damage, regardless of the distance of the fall! So by 13th level, you can do Superhero Landings from any height!
Granted, I dunno how many ledges there will be between now and the end of the module, but if there's even one with a significant drop, that feat could save your life.
That's my two coppers anyway!
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They are terrible on the knees though.
Yes, catfall was on my list of possible options as well. I tend to prefer feats that give me something new to do, or some new option when I'm making choices. I'm noticing that my wish for this is even stronger in 2e than it was in 1e because my main complaint about 2e so far is that the round by round play can become kind of repetitive for many builds. That's also why I chose Antagonize for Jacques' level 4 swash feat over, say, Charmed Life, which looks to be very strong mechanically but feels less interesting from a gameplay perspective.
I've also been fairly underwhelmed by Acrobatics in 2e as well (you can be legendary at Acrobatics with a high dex but still be terrible at, say, jumping around the battlefield if you aren't good at Athletics or have dumped Str) so the prospect of finding something else to use it with is promising (I think in all the 2e scenarios I've played so far, a Balance check has maybe come up once or twice). So since the GM is open to the idea I'll go ahead and take Steady Balance and start looking for outlandish places to prance around and get some panache (and will probably sometimes fall and wish I had Catfall!).
I mean, I understand the complaint, but really 1e was no different. Every build I had did roughly the same thing every round, barring full casters who would cast whatever spell was pertinent that round (or, just as often, hide in the back with a crossbow because they were out of useful spells for the day). I had a wild build for a Runelords game that I ended up bowing out of about halfway through book 3. Constructed pugilist brawler 2/Rogue3/urban barbarian 1/duelist 1. He had the spiked limb modification so he could do piercing with his unarmed strikes to use Precise Strike from duelist. It was a weird AF build but for all the kookiness it still just boiled down to:
1. Move into flank
2. Stab-punch flurry for Sneak Attack.
3. Rinse and repeat.
No build I ever had, however versatile or interesting it looked on paper, ended up being more than stand-in-place-and-full-attack at high levels. Honestly, characters felt more versatile at low levels when there was no point in standing in place because you didn't have iterative attacks yet (barring brawlers and monks, of course).
I'd say 2e kind of has the opposite problem. You start with fewer abilities so most of your rounds end up being Stride/Stride/Strike or Stride/Strike/Strike or what have you but ends up being a lot more versatile at higher levels when you find more things to do.
As for Acrobatics feeling weak vs. Athletics, that was a balance issue. Strength only has one skill, and doesn't affect anything else besides melee Strikes (sometimes) and damage. Dexterity, however, already affects 3 skills, one save, ranged/finesse Strikes, and AC. Giving Dexterity even one combat maneuver by default would have further overpowered the ability score. Giving all the combat maneuvers to Strength at least gives the Athletics skill much more utility beyond just jumping and swimming (both of which, I would argue, rely far more heavily on limb strength than finesse).
Now, is it particularly realistic to have, say, Disarm be Str-based by default? Probably not. But it's just one of those things where you have to decide whether balance or realism is more important, and in this case the devs went with balance. (They usually do; the amount of complaints on the forums about the unrealistic overland travel times is pretty wild.)
In home games, you could certainly move Disarm over to Acrobatics and see how it plays out. It might not come up often enough to truly be a balance issue in practice, particularly since you only completely disarm the opponent on a crit. I've thought about trying it out myself. The only reason I haven't is because I'm currently running only one 2e game with me and my fiancee, and it already has a plethora of house rules going so I don't want to bend the game out of shape any further. I'd be curious to see how it plays out for someone else, though!
Eyyy! HP and AC buddies!
Very sorry for the long posting delay. I've been distracted by one thing or another. Finally managed to finish my leveling up process and have uploaded the updated info into my profile so I should be good to go. One question: were we supposed to spend gold while leveling up? If so, I missed that. And no worries if we aren't at that point yet.
Also, Akimi, all very excellent points you made re the Acrobatics vs Athletics issue I posted about earlier. Thanks for your thoughts.
You can spend any gold you acquire from enemies or selling stuff (and so far have done a lot of that), otherwise there isn’t gold granted while leveling.
Glad to have you back! We will work into some sort of plot eventually. I need to find the right way to do it though.
Sounds good!
Also, Akimi, all very excellent points you made re the Acrobatics vs Athletics issue I posted about earlier. Thanks for your thoughts.
You're very welcome! I'm kind of trying to enter the TTRPG design space as a profession, so I think a lot about this stuff. That's not to say my opinion holds any more weight than anyone else's, just the reason why I'm so passionate about it. :)
I decided to answer Top's question in this thread instead.
I would like to give Dev a little more time. We seem to be on the last leg of the module, but it's probably going to be a relatively large part, based on the other two, and I don't want them to miss out if they're going through stuff or just crazy busy. It does leave us in an odd position if Dev can't return to finish this, however, since it seems weird to ask a stranger to fill in for only a third of an adventure, you know?
Maybe one of the other peeps from the KE server might be willing to pop in for a bit to fill the fourth party slot to the end? Hopefully we hear from Dev soon and that's not necessary.
It has, however, been quite some time. I understand wanting to get things moving again. How about three more days? We've already waited a while so a week feels a bit long, but 24 hours also feels kind of rushed, all things considered. Three days feels like a good compromise. I'm going to DM Dev tonight re: Skull & Shackles. Hopefully everything is okay and they just got busy with life!
Sorry if I've been slowing things down. I've been a bit behind with the game recently and then also had a mishap with bringing the wrong charger on a trip and my laptop running out of juice. Catching up now. In any case, I'm still here and want to continue but also no worries to delay if Dev needs more time.
Yeah, I'm in favor of giving Dev's player however much time they need; it's more about the fun of playing with y'all than the fun of discovering what's going on in the story as far as I'm concerned.
(I did give them a nudge on Discord, though)
I'll be offline until the 18th. Please bot me as needed and sorry for any inconvenience.
Sorry for the long delay everyone - I've been in a whirlwind (of the good kind) but I'm on a plane home right now and will be dropping kiddo off at her mom's later today and will get to catching up on everything.
Cool! I am just finishing up my three day work weekend and it has been a busy one. Hopefully in the next 24-48 this shiz will kick off into action!
Sorry everybody - I think I've been a little burned out recently - have had difficulty keeping up with my games - but feeling refreshed now and catching up on our thread right now.
Believe me, I feel you. I have a bad habit of jumping into games when I definitely do not have the spoons for it, so don't feel bad. I'm also way behind on my games, not only because I've been a bit overwhelmed with work and life crap, but also my son is here from England for three weeks and I've been on the road to and from the Twin Cities to pick him up! It's been five years since he's been here. He was just a wee lad, and now he's frickin' EIGHTEEN. :O
Hey, no worries at all, I go through the occasional burnout cycle myself!
Sorry for the posting delay - took my kid to the beach for a few days and forgot to post here before logging off.
Just a quick note to mention that I'll be offline from August 3-11. Please bot me as needed.
I’ll most likely forget. Then halfway through that gap notice your post, then feel dumb, then bot as requested. :P
Hi everyone, just a quick update to apologize for the posting delay. Finally done with all my travels and got my course syllabi done and classes started so I should be returning to a normal posting schedule next week (I'm at an in person convention - Dragoncon for any of you who might be here - this weekend). Sorry again for the delays!
Thanks for the update!
So sorry for the long delay everyone - real life got the better of me - but I'm back now and will do my best to post regularly.
It’s cool, I’ll definitely wait for people in this group. I usually post when someone has been away a bit in case they forgot, or have something else going on and can’t post.
And I really hate to bot you all, too much good stuff everyone can do.
Thanks. And sorry for anyone who was getting frustrated. I fell behind in all my games but am catching up now.
No problem, life happens. This is a pretty chill group when it comes to that, I think.
Very sorry for the long absence everyone - perfect storm in the real world - it has passed and the weather is back to normal and I'm resuming my gameplay.
I know no one is stressing, but I’ll work some chronicles up today or tomorrow.
Anyone planning on taking the reins of this group? Totally cool if not, just asking.
I know no one is stressing, but I’ll work some chronicles up today or tomorrow.
Anyone planning on taking the reins of this group? Totally cool if not, just asking.
Oh yeah, I need to know what level PC will this be given too, it determines the gold amount.
If you don’t know, I will just apply it to the PC used in the pirate treasure mission.
Was there a maximum or minimum level for the PC it gets applied to? I can't remember for the life of me. I have a vague recollection of "max level 2" but I don't know if that's actually accurate.
The character I put down was one I was planning on making once the ysoki became available for 0 AcP but I had second thoughts and am now planning on saving her for a campaign (some day far in the future probably, knowing my life).
Almost positive it is 1-5, but maybe the newest batch of pf2 society rules allows it to be any level.
I don’t know, I don’t keep up with that crap as it changes every month. Let me know if giving it to someone over five. Or if giving it to someone with partial level XP, cause I gotta adjust gold for each XP range then. It isn’t hard, just something that needs done.
Looked up the chronicle and it can be applied to ANY LEVEL of a society PC. Just let me know what your current XP is and the character # and I should be able to do the rest.
Earn Income Checks please! Roll based upon the character this is applied too, not the character you have been playing. Just roll your PC's highest Lore or Craft or Perform skill. You will need to roll it three times though, you get 24 days of downtime for this adventure and you have to roll once every 8 days of downtime. Or so I was last told...*
Levels 1-2
DC 14
Failure: 8 cp/day
Success: 4 sp/day
Crit: 4sp/day
If you have a different level PC to apply this towards I can go find the DCs and Rewards for their level.
*PFS2 society and game rules have changed a lot lately.
Dangit, I'm so sorry! I'm making this difficult. I decided to apply it to my highest level PC because I rarely get to play PFS so I've never done higher than entry-level (1-4) scenarios and I want to try and get her to 5 so I can finally check those out. This will be a big help toward that (she's level 3 right now, 28 XP to be precise).
No worries about looking up the DC's, I checked it out and for level 3, the DC is 15. It's 16cp for a failure, 16sp for success, 24sp for crit success.
(The link is here if you want to check the math.)