Pirate Vaults (Inactive)

Game Master Pirate Rob

Yarr, discussion goes here.

Yarr,

so you're in no way bound to your character notes as provided in the recruitment here's my super brief notes on your basic outlined mechanics and that seems like a great start for a party.

Junelee Fire Sorc
Doug Hahn Melee Marshal
Doug Henderson Changling Witch
Farol Orc Druid
Silbeg Orc Fighter

---

Some of this is covered in the Player's Guide but I wanted to talk about about some campaign expectation etc.

Abomination Vaults has two really awesome things going for. A great sprawling dungeon with not only interesting monsters but interesting scenes that help craft great encounters.

It also has a really nice town with interesting NPCs and side plots and all sorts of goodies that are well worth exploring.

We'll be spending a fair amount of time on both of these places and not much elsewhere.

For starting I'm happy with whatever combination of knowing or not knowing each other as desired by the group. Folks can be Otari natives or total outsiders. Characters should have an interest in collaboratively exploring the Abomination Vaults and have a connection to Wrin Sivinxi.

She is a tiefling curio vendor and stargazer in Otari. Some bits used to describe her and her shop:

Eccentric occult items dealer, artisan, and collector of stories and rumors. possesses curious foresight about strange events.

Happy to help folks work on connections ideas if you're stuck etc.

The backgrounds available in the player's guide are nice ubt not required and can provide some minor unlisted benefits in town as well.

My hope is to get started by late Tuesday (possibly earlier if we all get our stuff together).

We'll be using Milestone leveling, which more or less means you'll level up when thematically appropriate for the adventure.

Question, comments, concerns? Feel free to coordinate characters mechanically etc. Also at the point we hit level 2 I'm happy for full rebuilds for anything you're unhappy with etc.

Thanks Rob, I'm looking forward to it!

Yes, thank you!

Sounds like we have an amazing crew here. I am looking forward to it.

As I stated before, I am planning on filling a role others have left, though the orc fighter idea still works.

I will see what I come up with!

Ok, what did just happen? How am I amongst the selected team? After seeing that I had to read again what I wrote and check if there was no some second Farol that signed Orc Druid for this :D

I don't think I've played with any of you, and I would be happy to change that (hopefully leaving some good impression).

I am super excited to be here. There is one but, from what I see you are all from the NA, I am from Europe which means that my posting time is different. I tend to check the board a few times a day but I know that at least some of it fall into your nighttime.

Even that I would love to be here if you think it might be a problem I will act like a grown-up: 'lie on the floor and start yelling' and if that would not help, I would bow out to make room for someone else.

I propose to give ourselves a week and see if my posting time is an issue. @GM Rob if you prefer to pick someone time-zone compatible just let me know and I am gone.

Hi. Thank you for the invite. Looking forward to our game.

Timezone not an issue, I tend to keep weird hours anyway.

What a pleasant surprise!

Farol: I enjoy gaming with and meeting people from new places; a time zone difference can also cut down on crossposts where the group would otherwise post around the same time. I wouldn’t stress it at all!

I can build a character by Tuesday. Like Silbeg I am happy to fill in any roles we feel are missing. My only party composition note is that we probably want to consider healing (medicine/spells), especially if we know this is a dungeon crawl. I'll try to integrate some of that into my PC.

Alight… I think I have a rough outline of my character's mechanical progression. Posting here to get he ball rolling on any other ideas people have.

______________________
CHARACTER OUTLINE

Ancestry: Fetchling (optional flaw dex -4, +2 cha)
Class: Champion
Cause: Redeemer (open to Liberator if that seems more useful)
Background: Bibliophile (str & cha)
Ability Scores: 18 Str, 10 Dex, 12 Con (eek), 10 Int, 10 Wis, 16 Cha
Deity: Ashava (access to bladed scarf; part of the Cosmic Caravan)
Skill specialties: Diplomacy & Athletics (to trip)
Out of Combat Utility: Lay on Hands, Diplomacy

Level 1: Weight of Guilt, Shrouded Magic (shield)
Level 2: Marshal Dedication (stance, diplo to E)
Level 3: Blade Ally, Toughness, Athletics to E
Level 4: Inspiring Stance
Level 5: Lightless Litheness (better escapes if grabbed)
Level 6: Rallying Charge
Level 7: Fleet, Diplo to M
Level 8: Back to Back
Level 9: Shadow Sight (greater darkvision 1 min), Athleics to M
Level 10: Radiant Blade Spirit

Fetchling is probably not an optimal ancestry, but I feel drawn to the thematic connection between the fetchling's affinity for darkness and the Cosmic Caravan's for night.

General shtick will be to buff any melee partners with marshal stance and lend the party support. Main worry I really have here is the low con to start.

Wow @Doug Hahn, That is detailed.

I started with the first draft on level 1. What I ended up with is an Orc wearing warmask and with no attribute over 14. He is a Wild Druid

Skill-wise he covers Nature, Religion, Survival (can swap it for Medicine, which I should).
He is fairly tanky due to having 14 Con, and decent armor (but wooden shield so... it might not last).

I can go with him to have only heal spells as with low WIS (14) the offensive spells would not be effective.

It's always so interesting to see everyone's creative process.

I'm thinking of a witch who got what they wished for. A male changeling who never heard The Call (because he's a man?), who always wished he was special. I'm looking at the Ruin Delver background. Maybe he spends his free time poking around the ruins and dreaming of adventure. Then this familiar appears and speaks to him of some mysterious Patron and offers power. And then the Gaunlight goes off, which couldn't be all a coincidence, or could it? Could this finally be The Call, or something else?

It seems to me that the unique opportunity for the witch is in the Patron. Otherwise why not play a wizard? So, it might be interesting if his patron had some connection to the Abomination Vaults. But I don't know what that would mean exactly, and it may never be, or even have to be, revealed within the scope of this AP.

Perhaps the Curse or Fate Patron themes, maybe even Rune. Rob, if you have a suggestion, let me know.

I tend to think of my character in terms of who they are first, and then find mechanics that fit around that. I'm also curious about the archetypes in the AP, so I want to be open for those.

I also think my character will be an Otari local. Probably grew up in an orphanage or in an adopted home with lots of siblings. So, if anything sparks a connection with anyone's character, let me know!

Witnessing the two Dougs diverge… a truly rare spectacle!

Would it be possible to open up a gameplay thread to dot in on, so this game up on our campaigns tab?

Made a gameplay thread.

I will admit to only having read book one of the AP so far but a relevant pantheon is the COSMIC CARAVAN mentioned in the Player's Guide and by other Doug. A variety of Patron themes could be appropriate for them.

If you want a mysterious patron that's related to the Vaults that you'll learn about slowly over the course of the campaign... Night or Curse is probably easiest for me, but I can likely make any of them work.

No pressure Rob! Curse was my #1 choice so that works out.

Archetype from the AP. Don't think it's any more spoilerly than the player's guide. There's a bit of story work needed to access it, but is almost certain to happen and would be reasonable to plan for as part of character progression if desired.

Ok, let me described the Scarred One a bit. As I started with the story and tried to derive everything else from there.

I put the backstory into the spoiler just to not scare you with a huge wall of text. It is a bit raw but gives me a starting point. Feel free to read it.

So re-reviewing the Player Guide I would give him Starwatcher background, which ties nicely into how he bumped into Wrin and why he would care for Otari.

Ok and some technicalities and tying them back to the story
Ancestry: Orc (Hold-Scarred) Tematically seems to be matching the history and personality of him
Background: Starwatcher - that gives him Occultism (which with 10 INT is super low) and Dubious Knowledge which means that we should learn some things even on failures.
Orc Feat: Warmask (religion) this gives him religion as a skill and again Dubious Knowledge. Given that I have that already can I swap it for another skill feat? If so I would go with Risky Surgery seems to be matching this PC (I would imagine that medicine in a tribe beloved in scars and warfare could have brave look at the Medicine). I don't plan to cut everyone all the time, but with time this can bring a bit of flavor and benefit ;)
If GM or players find Risky Surgery to risky/off/etc. Then a matching feat would be Root Magic, it is not powerful, nor even good, but it does create some RP moments.

Connection with others
With regards to Doug Henderson's orphan, there are few ideas that come to my mind:
- As a Ruin Delver they might have stumbled upon Scarred One in the forests and aid him in some way/ask for help/shared a camp with/
- As a teenager, he could have been throwing stuff at the limping old orc: onions/stones/names which would catch the attention of the Scarred One as a young one that is strong and carries similar boldness as he had.
- As a teenager, he could have to stand up to protect limping old orc: from other kids throwing onions/stones/names which would catch the attention of the Scarred One as a young one that holds completely opposite values to the one that he had.
- As a changeling, he might have trouble being accepted or simply have that perception of himself. As such he could be naturally gravitating towards the druid, living on the side and being an outsider.

I changed a bit the sheet, and I think I need only to buy equipment: healer tools, weapons, armor, and some tools (rope, 10 pieces of chalk ;) etc.)

The lovely Adventurer's Pack does a good job with the mundane needs. I'm not overly picky regarding tracking every sack, piece of cloth and fork.

Any character progress Junelee/Silbeg?

Also in my header and in the campaign header I've linked to the slides we'll be using. Once folks are done with their character if they could fill in slide #1 to help me deal with secret checks and the like I'd appreciate it. Make sure to put things like dubious knowledge in the notes to lower my odds of forgetting it. (Also, I love that feat)

Feel free to peek at the maps on pages 2 & 3. Note that the Otari map on page 3 is slightly different from the Player's Guide (Mostly in that Gauntlight Keep is to the northwest instead of the northeast) See Slide 4 for a lovely picture of the keep.

When we get started we'll be at Gauntlight keep for the first scene. We'll have more detailed slides for the town when you get back there.

Also, added a calendar link to the headers as well. We'll be starting on the 13th of Gozran 4721. I'm certain we'll almost immediately become desynced from the Golarion calendar.

Also Junelee has decided not to join us. I haven't decided if I want to pick up a new 5th or not but I'll let folks know by the end of the day.

Ruling Notes

Above is a link to some rulings of mine for bits of rules that I think are legitimately unclear. Battle Medicine hands used to be #1 on that list, but I'm glad that's been resolved.

How magical shorthand works I really have no good sense and am happy to accept any one of the many reasonable ways to play it if it comes up especially when not also interacting with the PFS downtime rules (like in my notes).

Happy to work to different answers if any of this is particularly problematic or for any other issues we encounter along the way.

I am still working on the idea... and I think it still works for us even at 4. I'll play some tonight.

I mentioned an Orc that plays "the big dumb fighter" but is really an intelligent martial artist. I think, for that, I am going to go with a swashbuckler, likely the Fencer style for Deception (which fits into his game of pretending to be what he is not).

Not 100% sure where I am going with him, but ELDRITCH ANATOMIST caught my eye. Looks like he'll be pretty MAD, but will also be getting Thievery so that we have those skills covered.

No real plan for his future, and I really need to read the guide to have a good feeling for where he fits in, yet, with a real background, but I tend to be the type to discover that as I play the character. :D

Note that while I kind of like the ideas I've been playing with, totally not sure that I want to do it with an Orc... but we'll see :D

That sounds great Silbeg.

Assuming I didn't misunderstand things we've tentatively got:

Changeling Occult Witch
Orc Wild Druid
Fetchling Redeemer Champion (Marshal)
Orc Swashbuckler

I'm going to stick with just the four of you for now.

Yan Tovis, checking in! (Doug Hahn's character.)

I went Duskwalker instead of Fetchling; the Duskwalker can function as a ghost-hunter with ancestry feats (based on the AP's archetype, I suspect this will come in handy… but we'll see). Further, Duskwalkers can jam with Ashava and Cosmic Caravan friends.

Rob — do you think we will have access to the Dusty Rose Prism Aeon stone at or around level 3? I would like to be able to cast a shield cantrip as an option sometimes. Due to defensive concerns, I will be using shield/flail till I can at least get full plate, hopefully at 2.

The slide is filled in. Let me know if you need anything else in the slashline!

I like the backstory, Farol! I'll have to think of any connections. Yan is part of the Otari Bookclub, for sure.

I forgot to mention: I have 1.13 GP left over and would be happy to contribute that sum to a set of healers tools. Scarred one has a set already but like I said, happy to chip in if it helps.

I am also happy to carry things if needed with 18 str.

Skill wise I am very good in stealth and thievery (plus acrobatics of course), and should eventually be decent at medicine. Also have survival (favored terrain), occultism, society, and deception (that one my be my weakness, as it is my style).

So, I think my skills are pretty rounded. Interesting set of lores (orc, fleshwarp — I hope the latter is actually helpful, I think)

Should be pretty decent of a group. Looks like our Druid will not have an AC?

There are some cool mechanics with the town and having access to shopping for things like that. Level appropriate Aeon Stones are likely available unless things go horribly wrong.

While there's a nice variety of challenges and monsters there seem to be enough incorporeal creatures and haunts and the like to make the archetype feel worthwhile.

Yeah I will definitely take the Ghost hunting feats at 5 and 9 then. Spirit Strikes looks really good alongside Ghost Hunter (which I will have to take at 5 because I want Darkvision).

I also noted wisp follower in the character backgrounds; this is another Ashava connection if there are will-o-wisps in the AP: they’re her enemies! Too bad the background gives the wrong abilities.

No issues with Risky Surgery.

Sounds like all the characters have at least spent some time in Otari.

Given the size (population 1240) and all of you knowing Wrin it's very likely you've all at least met before. I am also very understanding of the need to play for a level or so to get a character's personality and background down in many cases so don't worry about having everything flavorwise finalized. (Or mechanically as I'm happy to have full rebuilds at the level 2 mark)

I'm going to open chapter 1 in Gameplay so you have a more distinct setting to talk and discuss. We'll hold off pressing further in until we've got characters and the exploration/recall knowledge slide set. (Which I'm hoping will happen by Tuesday night (pdt))

I like the backstory, Farol! I'll have to think of any connections.

I am glad that you liked it. With regards to connections ideas. Scarred one a few years back started to create his Warmask (it is invested item giving him Religion as a skill). For that, he could have to use a library to actually read at least some things about religions, especially Cosmic Caravan. Given that the druid can't read well, Yan might have been asked by Wrin to aid him. That would make them spend few hours together and get familiar with each other.

Looks like our Druid will not have an AC?

I don't think I follow :) The druid has 18 AC (20 with shield raised).

@Gm - Yeah I know about Adventure's Pack, that is why every single being in Golarion carries 10 pieces of chalk, I've never seen it being used ;)

Given that there are 4 of us I am less sure of Wild Druid. I will stick to it and contemplate changing to Storm before we hit lvl 2. But I do want to keep him beefy to actually use short distance spells (like burning hands etc.).

What is the ruling on battle medicine and hands used? (I saw all sorts of rulings on that topic).

Regarding rulings - I am fine with any decision on any topic assuming that it is consistently followed.

By "AC" he meant "animal companion." It’s a confusing abbreviation!

The ruling on battle medicine is on the FaQ / errata page under the first cure rule book errata — basically, you only need one free hand to perform it with worn healer's tools, you don't need both hands (and you can’t use it with no hands, which was a ruling I have seen, too).

Thanks, @Yan.

Do we feel like we are in need of an Animal Companion? Do we need an extra body in the team? Or is it simply so good, or so common amongst Druid.

The ruling about battle medicine makes sense. In terms of spells, I went with 1 burning hand and 1 heal (I can swap it to two heals for that matter).

I am left with 5 gp which I can throw into a common budget to buy something cool.

Nah, I don’t think we need a companion. Play what moves you!

Nah, I don’t think we need a companion. Play what moves you!

Agreed! Finally got an intro post up. Looking forward to this!

Looking good, I think once we get Silbeg's header and slide set up we're ready to go.

Also just for clarification for those knowledge skills in the slides if you don't want me rolling them for recall knowledge leave them blank.

I will get those set up. Was running Age of Ashes tonight. Should grab my laptop for that.

So, it is too bad that you cannot get a glamered rune for weapons. I would totally make my rapier look like a huge club. Would be worth it for the fun.

There, that is better.

I will get those set up. Was running Age of Ashes tonight. Should grab my laptop for that.

So, it is too bad that you cannot get a glamered rune for weapons. I would totally make my rapier look like a huge club. Would be worth it for the fun.

How about Sword cane - just cane being a big club ;)

I'm amused by the image as well lets do it, no good reason we can't make your rapier look like a giant log.

I am getting more and more interested in learning what Oorgatch’s personality is like. Plus, I expect I will be doing a lot of posts where he doesn’t actually speak, or only says one word. Feels like what he’d do, even when surrounded by people he trusts.

He is a character who portrays himself as another character, almost to the point that he has lost himself within his own roleplay.

Should really be interesting to explore.

My little yellow Mite might make it at this rate.

Noooo!

Going to award Yan a hero point for that amazing description of the Mite kingdom.

Also, even though was never mentioned explicitly, going to assume you've figured out they are Mites going forward.

Also, this is not the direction I expected things to go.

Also, even though was never mentioned explicitly, going to assume you've figured out they are Mites going forward.

Also, this is not the direction I expected things to go.

Great! I mean, I hope that's fun for you too. I don't necessarily like pushing the game and trying to break it, but it can be fun when the story takes unexpected turns.

Yeah, I second that.

However I was hoping to get some fights on level 1 to get a feel for the character, but I think there will be plenty of those right?

Yeah, I second that.

Thirded.

However I was hoping to get some fights on level 1 to get a feel for the character, but I think there will be plenty of those right?

I hear ya. Yan the Redeemer Champion strives to take the diplomacy route, but Doug the Player enjoys fighty stuff too!

I'll have Yan hang back a bit next time.

There's a whole section on what the mites know if you manage to befriend them instead of killing them, with some specific notes on what they know and don't know about. It was mostly unlucky rolls but I was very surprised the mite escape plan actually worked which lead you this way instead of straight in. Of course you could also search the outside of the keep and enter via a variety of different paths as well.

I've been super impressed at the writing in this AP in regards to different approaches etc and there's still plenty of combat available up here even if we don't fight the several 1-4 mites + differing vermin encounters.

If you get really bored you can always climb down the mudhole into the Green Dragon's lair, I'm sure nothing bad could happen with that plan. (Although investigating back in town where the boat came from first might be worthwhile)

I'm jotting some notes here too.

I'm jotting some notes here too.

Oh, this is great, thanks for doing this Doug.