Might and magic, Lords of the Contested Lands

Game Master Chyrone

that was more along the lines of saying "hey, don't spend all your gold on shiny shiny weapons and armor, remember to prepare for X"

Rather than actual questions of how :3

No but it's a good thing to remember that swarms can be more than inconvenient at 1st level; they can be deadly.

As to your earlier post I also value mobility over protection but at 1st level you probably want the better AC.

I'll move forward assuming we sold the +1 chain shirt, and split the gold up from it and the masterwork items (and gold) into 340 splits each.

Also, his destroyed armor is a full plate :3

Purchases-
Sell studded leather (+12.5g)
Breastplate (-200g)
Acid Flask x2 (-20g)
Alchemist fire x1 (-20g)
Akali Flask x2 (-30g)
Cold Iron Morning Star (-16g) (if available, if not, a normal Morning Star)
Smoked Goggles (-10g)
2 cold Iron Javelins (-4g) (if available)
cold-Iron Armored Gauntlet (-4g) (regular if cold-iron not available)

which, with gold I had from the start, should leave me with 61g, 4s.
minus whatever the best meal of the tavern is, doubled.

340 gold + 15 gold from selling shortbow = 355 gold

She has craft bow as a skill. Can she use it to make her own bow? If so...

Craft Bow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

If not then she will just buy one. If the answer is yes though, I'll get a post up on her making it.

I'll be fully honest here, I understand how crappy it can be to play a character with +0/+1 damage per hit. My gunslinger in Iron gods had +1 from PBS until level 5. and Honestly, it wasn't -that- big of an issue.

That said, +1 damage isn't a big deal, +2 is, slightly a bigger deal.

As it stands, if they rolled a 1 on the damage die, thats as you said, a 100 or 200 % increase. However, that is an error since the actual effect is not the same. It certainly will make a difference, but the largest bits of damage for a decent while for any of us are coming from the damage die (you excluded, you two-handed power gamer you)

So basically, you'd suggest against buying composite bows until you can also afford masterwork or such? That's fair! I think mathematically the examples hold up though. A 1d6 shortbow vs an 1d8+2 composite bow is almost a 100% damage increase per shot on average (3.5 vs 6.5), and the reason I'd suggested chipping in for a MW one now for Brunhild is that she's arguably our main and most reliable damage dealer. I mean, she has a ranged weapon + one extra attack each turn + Ki attacks and I don't think that bow would be replaced any time soon (if ever? It can be enchanted later). Though I admit Daniel never rolling below a 15 along with max damage on his longsword on every hit does muddle the water a bit :P For an 1d3 sling vs even a flat 1d8 bow, that's also over double damage per shot even without the +1 str.

Well, let's see what everyone decides to buy. Spreading the money is fair and it's everyone's own choice of course. And if the blacksmith doesn't have it, the point is moot anyway.

My shopping list:
-Banded mail + sell old armor = 220 g.
-Greatsword 50 gp (non-reach backup weapon with slashing damage)
-If a coldiron Lucerne Hammer is available, she sells her old one and buys this = 22.5 gp.
-Spiked gauntlet 5 gp.
-Javelin x 5 = 2.5 gp.
=305 gp > 35 gp left (57.5 if CI Lucerne Hammer isn't available).

Rest depends on the blacksmith's inventory. I'll definitely buy at least 2 flasks that can damage swarms but I'd also like at least 1 coldiron weapon if any at all are in stock. Smoked goggles are a good idea, but can we get those here?

It's an even better idea if you're buying a Strength bow to wait until you can afford MW *and* the Strength rating. That way the bow is ready to be enchanted when the time comes.

Not to give the evil, horrible, incredibly mean GM ;) any other ideas but I'd also highly recommend buying Holy Water and/or Holy Weapon Balm; incorporeal undead are another nasty opponent for low-level PCs to handle.
And if you're buying cold iron, I'd also snag an alchemical silver weapon.

Not a bad idea on both accounts! The priest can probably provide both anti undead items? Though As for alchemical silver/silver weapons... as it was stated that this is a very small town and the blacksmith's inventory is limited, im not sure that would be available to us. Ssme with coldiron as its a special material.

@ Brunhild, the facilities for the bow crafting lie with the weapon shop.
He's not letting a potential customer use it instead of buying from him, sorry. :)

I had a bow crafting workshop once, still have the end product in my house, along with arrows. Crafting it took the majority of the day.

@ Estelle & Daniel, cold iron weapons are available on the continent.

Goggles,
There's an oddities shop. Something the people have no use for will be on the low end of chances.

1-20 he has one: 1d100 ⇒ 40

Adapting a house rule from elsewhere.
The oddities shop has 3 wands in stock, of CLW with 5 charges, at 75 gp each.

All right, thanks. Then with no goggles and no ci weapons available here on the island, i have 57.5 gp left.
Buying a wand of cure light sounds like a good idea. Shall we each contribute like 18.75 gold for one?

On the off chance there's ghosts on the ship' holy waters or magic weapon scrolls/oils might not be a bad ide either.

The priest can provide those items.

Jairus, i noticed you've yet to select where to put your specialization skill points in.

They are explained in the guide.

Daniel knows how to roll when it counts heh. (usually)

so no smoked goggles, I'm actually sad about that. Its one of my personal favorite mundane items. (though, I'm biased because I don't like gaze attacks from past experience) But I do doubt we will run into anything with a gaze attack anytime soon. He would still ask if the shop keep could try to get a pair, offering 50% increased pay (15g) if he could it quickly.

That said, I get back an extra-
24g I believe, so I'll go ahead and buy an oil of magic weapon.

Which takes be down to 47g.

Spending the rest of the money:

-Acid flask x 1 (10g), scroll of magic weapon (25 g), put in 20 g for a wand of cure light with 5 charges, 2 x wooden holy symbol of Shaymara (2g). Leaves 5 silver.

Astella buys a longbow, some silver-tipped arrows, and some thieves' tools. She saves the rest for a larger purchase.

Thanks for botting me and my apologies. I must have hit the x by accident as I didn’t see updates

Hey everyone, posting in all my PBP's that I'm going on a 1 week vacation starting tomorrow. I should be back on the evening of the 13th (of august). I'll have some internet access but will probably not be able to post daily. Please bot me if required. Best of fun/luck to everyone and hope to see you all when I get back!

Have fun.

I'll be traveling next week as well. Will be able to post on my phone, but won't be able to move on maps.

General question, completely unrelated to the game, asking for advice, rather.

What do you guys do when at an impasse about long term planning for characters?
I have just started a game of WotR as a bard of Desna.
There are 2 10 level PrC i like for it.

Evangelist, Sphere Singer, and an approved 5 level, named Spherewalker

Advices on the board suggest one gets more use out of Sphere Singer, but a combo of Evangelist and Spherewalker is pretty sweet as well.

If the concept is of any help, a Cha bonus tiefling, with aspiration of becoming a well known singer. (Symphonic metal, anyone?)
For reference, voiced by Liv Kristine from her early band days.

I tend to plan these things long prior. But here? I’d go Evangelist. The sphere singer is cool, but the songs replace your 10 levels of current songs. It’s better for oracles and the like. Evangelist will let you continue progressing as a bard.

But I will say that sphere singer is really cool! Someday I might use it. A song-bound cursed oracle of Desna would fit well.

Brunhild is much better at long-term planning than I am, so I would go with her advice in general.

My only input is... if you love the idea sometimes that is going to be more fun to play than whatever perfectly-optimized character.

Sometimes it is about the story and the joy of trying something out... so you have to balance that against whatever frustration you might feel at not being as powerful as you would like to be.

Completely agree with what Astella said.

To jump back into this discussion, I think that I'd add one more thing here. On the two PrCs, each have a very specific capstone. And while you may not ever reach lvl 20, I think it's worth asking yourself what would be the better end story for your PC.

Spiritual Form (Su)

Upon reaching 10th level, the evangelist gains the ability to assume a spiritual form. Assuming this form is a standard action, and the evangelist can remain in spiritual form for a number of minutes per day equal to her character level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be used in 1-minute increments. Returning to her normal form is a free action.

The evangelist’s spiritual form grants her telepathy to a range of 100 feet, as well as two variable abilities.

Upon reaching 10th level, the evangelist must choose the form of these two abilities, and once she has selected them they can’t be changed. First, she chooses one ability score to which she gains a +4 bonus when in spiritual form. Second, she chooses one physical transformation from the following to gain when she transforms: wings (fly speed of 40 feet with good maneuverability), gills (ability to breathe water and a swim speed of 30 feet), or a single natural attack (a claw, bite, gore, slam, or tail sting that deals damage as appropriate for the evangelist’s size) as well as a temporary appendage capable of making such an attack if necessary.

Tapestry Traveler (Ex, Sp): At 10th level, the sphere singer transcends mortality like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, her essence infused with stardust and unearthly energies. Her type changes to fey, and she grows large butterfly wings, gaining a fly speed of 50 feet (good). In addition, she becomes immune to cold and gains the no breath universal monster ability.

I think, that between the two, if your goal is to be a legendary singer then Spiritual Form is a better capstone. You can go on stage for up to 20 minutes with +4 Charisma. With a friendly GM, you could chose a physical transformation from a grig for extra bard points. That feels more legendary bard to me than always being a fey creature.

That...and Evangelist gives you Gift of Tongues. That alone lets you sing to any crowd regardless of language barriers. I'd think that would be something very much worth grabbing.

I agree with Brunhild here, I'd also go evangelist.

That said, if it'd been a follower of Sarenrae instead, I think Dawnflower Anchorite would have been interesting competition. It also has a form of aligned class, and it allows you to make your own spotlights through solar invocation. Also grants flaming weapons if desired, such as to your microphone. You know, to really amp up the master exploder from Tenacious D factor, among others :)

I needed some extra balance in the scales, thanks. I'd been unable to make a decision, after i saw the Spheresinger.

Evangelist was the initial idea.

Might have to see if the GM allows alignment switch, NG to CG, maybe implement Desna's divine fighting style, for attack & DMG = charisma.
Even enchant focused bards need to be able to hit something once in a while.

I had already searched for an appropriate spiritual form.

Regular form

Spiritual form (skin and eyes start reflecting where she gets her blessings from.)

Sparkly!
I know squadoosh about Bards so I held my tongue (fingers?).

Returning from vacation and will be catching up. Sorry for falling behind!

FYI, I am going to be on vacation from this Friday through next week. Feel free to bot me, or have my character get sick and unable to get out of bed, or whatever. :)

Something of interest, regarding underwater combat.

Ranged attacks underwater take penalties for every 5ft the projectile must travel to the target.
Much easier to, say, ready an action for close proximity. Specifying at what distance one might shoot, of course. ;)

Yeah, that's why I tried the spell instead, because I thought it was easier to try for a 15 than to take all those -2 penalties. And my melee weapon is bludgeoning, so would be taking -2 for attack and half damage.

Glad the whole campaign isn't underwater. The only way to solve the ranged attack penalties is the cyclonic quality, which is a +2 enhancement... I mean, considering our financial situation right now, that's a pipe dream. :)

Brunhild gets an aoo against the fish moving past her, btw.

For purpose of not spending money unneeded, you guys may want a second look at the items list.

The hat asked for, is a wealthy hat. Akin to an Armani suit among suits.
(Almost) Any hat can be decorated to look fancy, but getting a high quality piece..... is the stuff of nobles and rich folk.

And not all the island has been explored yet. ;)

Thanks for letting us know before we invested too much time into the hat we have, not realizing it wouldn't qualify. :)

Hm... where else can we look, though? We don't seem to have any active leads other than that group of adventurers that disappeared, presumably killed by a dragon. Unless I missed something along the way.

Dragon seems like a good lead, and big reward if we find out what happened to missing adventurers. :)

For purpose of wealth, could everyone fill in more details on their tabs of the loot spreadsheet please.

Let me know what items on the list are for sale, if any.

Are you saying that you want our equipment lists on the loot sheet rather than in our profiles, or just list what we took from the loot there, or ... something else that I am not thinking of?

Does astella share information on the letter with us, as in does she open it with us present? It seems like completing the seal might reveal the contents. Maybe if we saw the flag of his ship for reference or such, or maybe the full seal is somewhere along our items.

She'll show you... the seal is just an unfinished circle. Doesn't match anything, and the paper is blank.

And that is possible, but nothing on detect magic, which would be unusual with something like that.

Are you saying that you want our equipment lists on the loot sheet rather than in our profiles, or just list what we took from the loot there, or ... something else that I am not thinking of?

The important, more expensive pieces, like weapon/armor/magic items, so i can keep a rough estimate for wealth for the party.

Just FYI, I have this open on my computer in a tab to remind me to move all my inventory stuff over... just haven't gotten around to it yet, sorry. I am going to Vegas for a couple of days at the beginning of this coming week, so it might not be till like Wednesday that I can get to it, but I am planning on it. :)

Good luck and have fun. :)

No rush.

The wizard player had been asked to fill an emergency spot in another game, so we'll be finishing Emerald Isle with 4.

I recall 2 being fine with that number.
Should you, in the future, feel you'd really want a 5th, just say so.

I'm hoping Daniel will check in, before he's railroaded behind the girls.

:)

Sorry for the delay. I moved my equipment list over to the loot sheet, and I moved the shipwreck stuff to the loot list before I left, so you guys can put your name by anything you claimed from there.

I'm sorry. Forgot to say. I'm on vacation from yesterday to Sunday. My labtop is broken so I wont have much access time to make posts. I'll see if I can make a post or two from my phone. But feel free to bot.

:)

Daniel, are you still among the living?

Well, that was... interesting? Ooc curiosity got the better of me, it seems.

So it seems. :)

You surprised me.

Also, where'd you hide the real Estelle?

Psst! I'm testing whether or not making a new profile removes her rng curse! Don't let the dice know!

Also, if it does, my IC explanation will totally be that this ritual of sorts fixed her in some inexplicable way :)