You can now make your rolls for Day Two of the trial.
Charisma check to find the kind of work you want
Flat d20 roll for your "labor" check
And we can now have characters make Intelligence/Knowledge checks to determine who knows what details (I really hope Bea's Int bonus turns her into a wellspring of lore -- she is a bookbinder, after all!), and Diplomacy (Gather Information) checks to see how the rumor mill works among the traveling band of youths.
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@helaman --
If you would, whether here in Discussion or your next Blizzard post, maybe give me a little more exposition about what he wants to do with this "babysitting detail". We both know that he seems unlikely to make it all the way through the trial, but I'd like to know what you've thought up that makes him want to drink so often, and so heavily.
If he's fated to perish before he remembers level one, I still want him to be memorable!!
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But that's true for every character here, as far as I'm concerned. I think that horrible fates of characters we all know will add layers to the story. It doesn't have to be a matter of a resonant, heartfelt character arc, but real people make rich stories!
@everyone --
I know it's Easter weekend, and life is busy, but I really hope that we hear from Phntm and Sarah for Day Two!
Absolutely. No rush.
There's no need for a "get better or die" check for our three incapacitated ones. Yet. I'll keep you posted on it.
Just to let y'all know:
Last night was my first night back to work in a month and a half. I was out for a work-related injury, but now the doctor has released me for full duty. I slept quite a bit today, and also had a funeral visitation to attend for a friend's father. I'll be back at it tomorrow, and we'll get our next steps in our game!
Read you soon!
Okay! Today I will be posting more things!
This process has been wild for me. I was so adjusted to life during the daytime that these three nights of work have really hit me hard. I apologize for the delay; I am adjusting, little by little, so I'll be able to get back on track with the post rate by next week, I expect.
Any and all posts since the last "The Gladden Vale" entry in Gameplay will count toward the results of the second day of the journey to Last Rest.
I literally fell asleep with the post in front of me, and now I don't have time to finish it.
Tomorrow, then.
Okay, that's two days in a row that Adric has rolled a nat 18 for his "labor" check . . . . How weird!
I'll let things ride until Sunday, at which point I'll post the results of all Trial Day Two rolls (plus any other material you all tease out with your roleplaying and the like), and then we'll move on to the third day.
And to reiterate part of what I entered on the Campaign Info tab: I'm going to try to keep to a steady schedule of a two-day break between advancing the plotline. If you are unable to make a gameplay post in that 48-hour window, I'm going to press forward and do the best I can with what we have. This is my plan of attack simply because I don't want us to be bogged down for any reason, and, hand-in-hand with that, I'm going to take my responsibility to keep things moving quite seriously.
Read y'all soon!
Understood. Sorry to see you go. Should you find the time in the future, check back in with us.
I'll take the liberty of making generic rolls for Alice, Bea, and Celia through the course of the Trial, and will likely convert any and all of your surviving characters (if any) into NPCs for the story.
Three. Helaman, Phntm, Syrus.
Do we want to try to recruit another player now, amd wait? Or just leave the recruitment open for anyone interested as we play through the Trial?
Well, I was doing that simply for the purpose of having characters in circulation for the eventual handoff for someone to GM for a while. Just part of the initial rotation plan/idea.
But if we can get one or two other players to join in, I'll be more than happy for my four to take the narrative back-burner. I am all too aware of the dangers of the DMPC phenomenon; if we keep my characters in the main story, I'll happily defer to the two of you on most points of significance.
My laptop is not communicating with my wifi very well, but I'm getting the results of Trial Day Two tabulated. Post should be up within two hours at most.
Also, I wonder if making a new recruitment thread would help -- put more clarity and specificity in the thread name . . . . Might help generate more buzz.
Twelve hours is kinda like two hours, right??
I'm trying to keep things escalating, little by little. If either of you have any reactions you'd like to post in response to the after-dinner get-together, go right ahead. If you'd prefer to just move on to the third day of the trial, let me know here in Discussion.
It looks like we'll be finished with the "road trip" portion of the Trial by this weekend, and can get started on the nitty-gritty of the long hike through the mountains!
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let me know! I'm obviously enjoying what we have going on so far, and I certainly hope you are, too!
Equipment rewards:
Limit your picks to items that are pretty generic, if you will. Definitely anything in the CRB equipment list is fair game. I don't want to belabor proceedings with a host of restrictions; use your best judgment about things that your everyday commoner might have to spare. And rations are certainly something that can be "laid by" out of tradition, so it's tough to go wrong with those.
And as the troupe of younglings moves toward Last Rest, it is a given that food and water are readily available, and aren't required to be tracked. But once we hit the mountains proper, that will change.
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Concerning weaponry:
Clubs and quarterstaves can be scrounged with a Wisdom or Intelligence check, but I'm going to say that they won't be as effective as fashioned weaponry -- their damage die would be reduced from 1d6 to 1d4. After a character has had time to either do some work on their scavanged weapon, or after a straight upgrade from an arms dealer, the weapons will get their customary features.
Daenara, being a mountain-dweller, will have a "climbing hook" that would function similarly to a light pick, but at 1d3 damage and a x3 crit. It also serves to hammer pitons into rock; she'll have 3 pitons and a bit of rope, say, 25' in length.
Purity has a hand-crafted shortbow of her own making, but it will also take a damage die reduction to 1d4, and an x2 crit -- representative of the fact that this is her first working prototype, and she isn't far from having it refined to full functionality.
One of the most common weapons available is also quite cheap: the sling, per RAW. Why it is so cheap on its own I'll never fully understand, but a sling and some bullets are an easy score on the sliding scale of reward. That might be worth bearing in mind.
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Proficiencies:
Frankly, trying to juggle proficiencies and whether an item is an improvised weapon or not strikes me as an unnecessary and burdensome hurdle. I know that the specifics of the PF1 rules allow for some really wild, powerful improvised weapon builds, but I really don't want to dig so far into the rules that it becomes a grind.
Anyone can improvise a weapon. A broken table leg can thump skulls just like a handcrafted masterwork billy club. Feats and crafting quality will, of course, apply bonuses as is customary. But if you're stuck on a mountainside and the only available weapon is a rock as big as two fists, you'd better grab that rock. Less about the rules, and more about the story.
If you want to "go deep" on the improvised weaponry, just say so, and I'll hone in on the rules there. Beyond that, I think we'd be well-served to take a more relaxed approach to proficiencies.
I absolutely want to hear from both of you on this.
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On all three of these points, and as is usual, Blizzard represents a significant exception to most of our proceedings.
He's a drunkard who retired from being a hunter and somehow got a posting with the Gladden Company of the King's Rangers (organization, not the class, necessarily). I'm essentially running his stats as being the direct consequence of how long and how deep he's been in his cups -- he is impaired by dint of prolonged alcohol poisoning. So much so that he's effectively forgotten a fair bit of his fieldcraft, and hasn't practiced with his bow or sword in so long that he's nigh embarrassingly clumsy with both.
He's gotten a dose of "$#!7 detail" for his poor performance and vague dereliction of duty, but somehow, some way, he hasn't quite gone far enough off the rails that he can be legitimately drummed out of the Rangers, yet. But this babysitting mission is weird for him -- he knows he's supposed to let the kids handle the challenges before them, and not take an active role in any way . . . . He's got a brand-new (though subpar) kit, but the odds of needing to use it seem remote -- especially the shortsword (normal stats!) and shortbow (this one's not so well-made, it seems; just like Purity's, mechanically).
To my way of thinking, Blizzard is doing this job only so far as it keeps his stipend rolling in; he spent too much between the Ferrytowns and the Wash this time around, but he knows for a fact that his next disbursement hinges on making the trip to the Greywicker Vast and back to Three Waters . . . .
Character #1
Character #2
Character #3
Character #4
Welp, Botched the first set up using the wrong die.
Character #1
Character #2
RACE and SEX, because I forgot to roll for this with the stats
Character #1 Female Human
Character #2 Female Human
Character #3 Male Elf
Character #4 Female Elf
Something Unusual: 1 ► Aasimar, 2 ► Tiefling, 3 ► Oread, 4 ► Sylph, 5 ► Ifrit, 6 ► Undine, 7 ► Changeling, 8 ► Drow
Clarise Hearth
Female Human Acolyte
HP: 0
STR: 9
DEX: 10
CON: 7
INT: 14
WIS: 14
CHA: 13
Heather Felders
Female Human Maid
HP: 1
STR: 11
DEX: 14
CON: 11
INT: 14
WIS: 6
CHA: 15
Lord Daveed Rothreau
Male Elf Scion
HP: 1
STR: 4
DEX: 10
CON: 5
INT: 9
WIS: 4
CHA: 6
Sheila Potbelly
Female Elf Cook
HP: 2
STR: 9
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 7
CHA: 11
I've got ideas for each of these, but I need to look over the setting again before I finalize them. Some of these just write themselves. :D
Two things:
One -- It appears we have one more interested player! I'm in favor of bringing one more person in. I'll defer to Phntm and helaman on this point, though: four players + GM, or five and a GM?
Two -- That's an interesting methodology for determining race and gender, Adam! I didn't preapprove it, but I'm content to let it ride, with a caveat: those elven characters you've produced may well be part of Vale society at large, but in this world, at this time, the various races are quite insular. Dwarves and elves aren't quite allies with humans, though trade does go on. Elves and humans would experience a great deal of culture shock when interacting -- especially if these beings are just now attaining the age of majority (as indicated in the chargen guidelines). Throw some more of your ideas about these two elves, please!
Hot sauce! Thanks one and all.
A
B
C
D
Alright A,C, and D have names and backgrounds but that B guy is tough. Lol
Sorry for the delay. Today was a little rough for me and I'm drained. I'll have something up by the weekend.
There's no terrible rush for you to post -- we're kinda in a "hurry up and wait" mode. The prospect of really rounding out our roster is good enough that I'm going to pause Gameplay till we can get you three new recruits integrated.
In the meantime, let's keep some discussion going! . . . . Nit that I know the first thing to actually talk about . . . .
B just isn't going to make it. I can't come up with a concept for the poor fellow, he doesn't have one stat over 12
Yeah, Winny is unconscious and might wake up (she is A)and B has a 3 strength lol
In terms of frequency (from the perspective of human cultures -- the predominant species), elves and dwarves are shockingly rare in the Vale. Half-blooded individuals are even less common than that. And planetouched mortal bloodlines like aasimar and tieflings? -- those are right out.
We can put some elbow grease on the elves and half-elves to "make 'em fit", but the aasimar is a no-go.
I know that's a hard line to take, but that was set forth from the beginning -- nonhuman characters were going to be a tough sell.
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In keeping with that, I can only say that I don't find humans boring at all.
Furthermore, what's more gritty in a fantasy world than having to face its wonders and terrors as a "mere" human? No special visual perception. No eldritch powers via bloodline. And a lifespan that simply reinforces the notion that life is short, dangerous, and cheap. All humanity has to cast into the face of the challenges of such a world?? -- intellect, faith, and will.
To be forthright about it: ever since 3.x gave humans a bonus feat at 1st level, I've rarely wanted to play any other race. You could say I'm a bit of a "TTRPG-human-supremacist", in a way.
And gritty, grimdark-esque gameplay calls for enjoying the "weaknesses" of humankind (mechanically), and overcoming them.
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I'll address the question about points of origin in another post later on. Got some adulting to do.
Yes, the checks to successfully use magical abilities/powers will effectively be level-informed ability checks incorporating the appropriate ability modifier.
Now, the full mechanics of spellcasting/magic haven't been hammered out, yet, and while it may be a bit early to tell if any potential casters will survive, I do want us all to have a clear idea of how magic will work.
We could go so far as to hash out critical success/fumble charts, but then we'd probably wind up having to break those down by specific spells, descriptors, schools, etc., and that would really bog things down, which we should avoid. But those are the best-/worst-case scenarios, and we really need to focus on the how-to at present.
For simplicity's sake, we could go this route: a caster gains their appropriate number of spell slots each day, and may spend a spell slot to gain "advantage" on the check to cast a spell of the appropriate level; otherwise, casting that spell will call for a single roll, "take it as it falls". Thus, a 1st-level cleric attempting to cast cure light wounds could roll 1d20 + 1 (caster level) + Wisdom modifier against the spell DC [more on this in a minute], or spend one spell slot to make the roll twice and take the higher result. This would maintain some of the familiar parts of resource management built into PF1, and still allow for a longer adventuring day (though with higher risks implied).
Another method would be to grant casters a pool of "spell points" in the mode of the Spheres of Power system: one spell point per caster level + casting ability modifier. Whenever a spell is cast, a spell point may be spent on a 1:1 rate to gain advantage for the casting check. In this system, a 5th-level wizard (Int 16) attempting to cast fireball would have 8 spell points per day, and could spend a spell point to cast a fireball or a magic missile. (NOTE: in SoP, sorcerers are given one additional spell point per caster level to denote their relative mastery over a much more limited pool of available spells.)
If anyone else has some ideas on whether we should use some other means, I am all ears!
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One thing that I do want to make known: I intend to "curate" the spells that casters can learn or develop. For instance, cloud of seasickness (if I recall correctly) is a 1st-level spell available to some divine casters. Since the Gladden Vale is very distant from coastlines and watery bodies significantly impacted by the tides, this spell won't be as readily available as is typical in Golarion. Does it exist? Certainly. Where will you find it? In regions nearer the coast. But! once you've been exposed to a spell, you can gain access to it.
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Additionally: do any of you foresee a problem with the fact that prepared casters can "cheat" by only preparing one instance of a given spell each day and spend their spell slots as desired, but spontaneous casters only get their normal limited options? Or should we simply say that the prepared casters only get to roll with advantage based upon the number of times they prepare a given spell?
Going back to cloud of seasickness: if you have four spell slots per day, and you prepare four different spells, is there a problem with spending all four of those spell slots to gain advantage on four attempts to cast cloud? Or should you only gain advantage on casting that spell based upon the number of times you've prepared it?
(Obviously, those classes that can spontaneously convert spell slots will get advantage on the rolls when a shield of faith is less desirable than a cure light "in the now".)
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And, finally, to the matter of spellcasting DCs:
Hoo, boy, is this one going to be tough.
We could just allow the GM to set the DC on the fly at an as-needed basis. Obviously, I'd be fine with that one, but I can see how that might feel way too arbitrary.
Conversely, just making a concretely-defined mechanism on the front end of things may boost player confidence (and also serve to establish a metagame of "how do I boost this roll even more favorably?"), but could limit the freedom of the GM to ease or toughen the DCs depending upon the situation.
Or we could split the difference between the two, and say that the baseline DC is x in most situations, but sometimes the GM will adjust that due to circumstances.
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Okay -- time for this night-sider to sleep. More tomorrow, including discussion about metamagic!
Alright, we have unconscious Winny the healer, Clem the Younger musician/entertainer, Fitz Wolf the logger, and Durr the locksmith
I hate to do this, but I have been considering how much free time I have and came to the realization my dance card is full. I hope you’ll forgive me for bowing out before I even start.
Thank you for letting me in any case. I really do appreciate it.
I was quiet yesterday because a friend has named me her power of attorney, and I got to meet her parents for the first time yesterday. We had that wonderfully awkward discussion of: "this is what I want done if and when . . . ." It was mostly a good visit, though -- bit of a road trip for me, got to see some old acquaintances and meet some new people. And it's almost time for me to finish off the leftovers from the Mexican restaurant!
Adam -- sorry to see you go so quickly. Look us up later if more of your time shakes loose.
I will get around to sifting through your casting recommendations, rorek, a bit later today, and I'll get that metamagic primer lumped in with that breakdown, too.
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Also: As far as characters' points of origin are concerned, just use the table I drummed up for the humans and half-elves; for any elven characters . . . .
In the politics of the region (not just the Vale, but "continentally"), the predominantly human lands (as well as some sovereign dwarven and lizardfolk territory) have scattered enclaves of elves dispersed throughout. Though the two races aren't allies in the mode of US/UK relations, they typically observe mutual nonaggression pacts, conduct trade, and even have embassies between the two cultures.
If you are determined to have an elven character at this stage in the game, choose one:
-- 1) children of an ambassador's entourage to the Gladden
-- 2) children from the only elven enclave in Gladden territory
Choosing to be part of the extended household of an ambassador essentially means that you've spent a great deal of time in and among human settlements, but often shielded from exposure to humanity except on strictly supervised occasions within the last ten years or so.
If you choose to be a member of "Random Elf Enclave X", you've had even less exposure to human culture, but you've chosen to make a career of commerce with the 'lesser' race(s), and so the Trial helps establish your business chops with Valers at large.
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I want to be perfectly clear: there are in-game reasons for this segregation of the races. It's all part of the plan, for me. But I'm not going to give out even the slightest hint of those reasons unless it comes out in the story.
All human for me
I have been having some health issues the last couple of days. My sleep has been erratic, my innards are misbehaving, and I've been slowly working on a Discussion post for most of the last 20 hours. I will get that posted, as well as move us forward to the next day of the Trial as soon as possible. Gotta get things back on track!