Rise of the Runelords [Sandpoint's Finest]

Game Master Evriani

I've run a handful of gestalt games in the past and I'm not necessarily opposed to doing so again, although verisimilitude is big for me and I do kind of hate the idea of just having everyone gain a bunch of new abilities with no reasonable in-game explanation... The idea with giving you all some casting ability was that it would be sort of a gestalt-lite approach that did have an in-game explanation. We could also, potentially, add the ability to attract a familiar and/or animal companion to that and that would help offset the action economy gap and maybe even some of the skill issues (with something like a sage familiar, for example).

But, it sounds like the first choice is still to try recruiting another player? If that's not true, or if it doesn't pan out, we can talk more about what the power-up option(s) might look like. In the meantime, how long do we want to wait to hear back from Nico's lead before we try someone else?

I still haven't heard back. Maybe another day?

I personally think bringing on an extra person is still probably the best option. But I'm open to any possibility.

Nico will probably be multi-classing sometime within the next few levels anyway, most probably into Inquisitor. Gameplay-wise I've already started setting her up in becoming more religious with little hints here in there in the things she says. As the size and scope of the threat grows, so will her reliance on faith.

I have heard back from the person I messaged about the game. They've messaged you THoD.

Uh… I haven’t gotten any PMs… did they maybe send a message to Fern instead?

Oh, could be. I'll make an inquiry.

Sent it to the wrong GM, heya. Sorry about that

Welcome aboard FreeRadical.

Hi FreeRadical! Have you had a chance to look around some? Any character ideas yet?

Welcome, FreeRadical. The first post in the recruitment thread has most of the details for character creation, so make sure to check that out. You can build at 4th level though. The theme of the campaign has been that the party is part of the Sandpoint city watch, so my thought for bringing you in is that you’d be a new arrival sent from Magnimar to help out with everything that’s been happening in and around Sandpoint. Being from the big city you’d have a bit more flexibility on race/class but I’d prefer not to stray too far from the original parameters, just out of fairness to the original PCs. Any core race would probably be fine, but no aasimar or tieflings (and note the change to humans in the recruitment post). In terms of classes, ideally it’d be nice if you had at least your first level in a martial class, but if you wanted to do something less physical that’s still clearly law-enforcement related (like an investigator or maybe a cleric or inquisitor of Abadar or something) I doubt there would be any objections.

Please let us know what you’re thinking, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

how do

Cleric would be fine I could do that. Give me a bit and I can work on something watching the big game here in the states. What sort of God should they venerate. I'm assuming heals and buffs?

We could use heals, knowledge, arcane spells, and divine spells. With consideration of law enforcement, Abadar possibly. Or something to that effect.

Yeah, as Diego mentioned, there should be a law enforcement connection/theme. Specifically, there should be a reason that you’re not only a member of Magnimar’s city watch but are being sent to Sandpoint to help. That doesn’t all have to be mechanical, obviously, but there should be some kind of connection. If you want to play a cleric, a god concerned with civilizations, law and order, and/or safety (like Abadar, or maybe the Empyreal Lord Arqeros) could explain why you would be driven to be a part of the watch, but then you’d probably need to either dip into a martial class if you’re a regular guard or come up with an idea for a different position you’d be filling, and a reason they’d send someone in that position out. For example, if you were just a healer or chaplain why would they send you to Sandpoint? You’d have to have some kind of niche… like maybe a really good sense motive and a good DC on zone of truth, and then they might send you up to Sandpoint to make sure everyone’s telling the truth about what happened. Does that make sense?

You might be able to pull of Pharasma seeing we’ve had issues with the dead being stolen. A Pharasma priest/investigator/inquisitor contracted by the city to investigate the stolen corpses. Any character related to the legal system, seeing we are about to hold court over three individuals who are likely facing death. Anything strongly related to old Thassilon seeing we have reported multiple findings of such things, which would raise a red flag for sure. So maybe an intelligence/knowledge-based character could be worked in as a consultant to the city’s watch in that capacity.

Also, we've had a bard in the party before, and they check off quite a few of our deficiency boxes as well.

So Bard, Cleric, Inquisitor, that sort of thing huh. Let me take a look into things and see what I can come up with. I was thinking taking 1 Lvl of Investigator and then the rest cleric, but Inquisitor might work as well.

Also, how are you all doing HP?

You should definitely make a character you’re excited to play, first and foremost.

That said, if you’re looking for feedback, the party could use some healing ability for sure and is also currently lacking knowledges and trapfinding (and buffing, though that’s been less of an issue). An investigator with the infusions discovery could cover all of that, and be an easy fit with the theme. A bard could cover most or all of that as well, but would potentially be a little less natural of a thematic fit. As I said above, a cleric would take a little more finessing fluff-wise, but it’s definitely doable and could cover several of the party’s weaknesses (though, if you’re going to dip another class, you might maybe be better off with slayer or ranger than investigator, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish). But, again, all this should be secondary to finding a character idea that you’ll be excited to play.

@everyone- does anyone remember whether or not I said we’d use fractional bonuses for multiclassing? I think it’s a much better way to handle it but it does require a little bit more math so if I never stated that it was part of the game we can discuss whether or not people are onboard with it.

edit: oh, and HP is max at first level and half rounded up after that (I think that’s in the recruitment post, isn’t it?)

I just checked the original recruitment post to see if it did address hp, and I discovered that it does, but even more significantly it actually mentions using fractional bonus progression for multiclassing too. So I guess half of my last post was pointless, lol.

So, for any of you thinking about multiclassing, please check those rules from the unchained book. I think it pretty much just affects your BAB and saves (although if you get into prestige classes it can affect your caster level too), and it’s a little bit of a double edged sword. It stops you from stacking up save bonuses (because you only get the initial +2 to a good save once even if it’s a good save for more than one of your classes, like a fighter/alchemist), but it also stops you from tanking your BAB if you dip levels in classes below full progression (because you add the fractions from each 1st level instead of just getting +0 from multiple different classes).

If you have questions about that please feel free to ask, and if it makes anyone rethink any proposed multiclassing feel to switch it.

Sorry, I hadn't caught that. I've never done fractional multiclassing. I'll check it out.

It sounds more complicated than it is, I think. Basically, for anything where you’re two classes are the same you just use your combined level to determine the value (so a cleric 2/druid 2 would have the BAB and saves of a 4th level cleric or druid); you only need to do math for things that don’t match (so an alchemist 2/magus 2 would have the BAB and Fort save of a 4th level alchemist or magus but would have to do some math for Ref and Will).

And when in doubt I can just do the math for you and tell you what your bonus would be, lol.

edit: maybe I should have used a more applicable example… an investigator 1/cleric 3 would have the BAB and Will of a 4th level cleric (since both classes have the same values for those) and would have to do some math for Fort and Ref (which would both work out to +3)

Hmm, so maybe a Rogue that started life a criminal but after being caught, was brought into the church of Pharasma maybe?

That’s an interesting character concept, you’ll just have to make sure your background includes why (and how) a rogue/cleric of Pharasma made the transition from criminal to working for the city watch, and why they would send you to help with an investigation in Sandpoint. Pharasma doesn’t really have any clear connection with the watch at all, unless maybe you were something like a coroner (which, I’m not sure why they’d send to Sandpoint right now- the causes of death with mostly all pretty clear).

I like the concept. I think its innovative. With bodies gone missing, depending on how prudent that is, they could be sending you to ensure Sandpoint's dead isn't being disturbed.

It was only one body that went missing, and I think Tsuto’s journal explained why they took it and for what (iirc), so that seems like kind of a stretch for why they’d send him to Sandpoint, but I suppose we can work with it if nothing better comes along.

Edit: I don’t mean that to disparage the character concept, which is fine if FR wants to play a like a coroner type or whatever, I just meant that sending a coroner to Sandpoint because one body disappeared seems a little thin. Ideally, if there’s maybe a better reason I’d like explore that possibility if we can.

Maybe there's enough weird stuff that has turned up to support an expert in ritual sacrifice or occult summoning nastiness?

I’m sure we’ll figure out something. The biggest mystery right now, really, probably is the glowing pool down in the ruins below Sandpoint, (where the shrine of Lamashtu is too) so an expert on evil gods and dark rituals could be a pretty good fit.

I could totes roll more as an Inquistor only, skip the Rogue class and go for a pure build. Someone specialized in dealing in body theft and desecration working for the law. Keep some of those details about being a former Street rat.

With the redemption type of background that was given, you could consider Sarenrae. With the amount of serious court cases getting ready to roll out, an inquisitor could have been sent to investigate if redemption might be an option. Although the idea of redemption, for the three have in custody, makes me cringe.

O that sounds good too, I'm working on background now and working to see with what I can do. A lot of fun choices.

I decided on an Inquisitor and am working on it now. I am working the backstory as she was more the roguish type, but not enough to gain a level.

I decided on an Inquisitor and am working on it now. I am working the backstory as she was more the roguish type, but not enough to gain a level.

Do you intend to take Disable Device as a class skill?

I could just take one level of that.

I could just take one level of that.

If it's not intended for your build, for the long hall, I'll continue with the Ranger and work it in to my build. I just thought, because you said something about a rogue like background, that you might have intended to go that route. Inquisitor thief = possibly not.

Any new questions or updates?

I'm good on my end. Just waiting for everything to get squared away. If you want, we could work on selling/appraising the loot while we wait.

I updated the inventory sheet with Nualia's stuff. Did we open the box yet, I don't recall.

No, but when I buy the tools, I could make an attempt.

There’s a couple of people in town who could safely open it for you (you actually have they key for it but someone noticed it was trapped). I just haven’t moved us along yet because I believe the new PC will be one of the people at the current meeting with Ironbriar so I want to get them figured out and be able to introduce them in this interaction.

Copy, no rush.

I took a glance at the loot sheet, and I believe a lot of the items are identified with only a few exceptions. This is what I have so far. We will need to decide if the items carried by Bjorn are returned or if he took them with him.

Finished by the end of this week. My PAT paper is almost finished for a conference coming up.

Sounds great! What is PAT?

Oxford Physics?

Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, I am the treasurer for my school. The Mid Atlantic Conference is on the 25th in Chester, MD.

I am working on the math. One level of Rogue and then the rest Inquisitor. I'll the backstory tonight

Well, then I think you mean your ΦΑΘ paper? Or, at least, your PhATh paper?

Sorry, just had to tease a little. I’ll look forward to checking out what you have once it’s up. Would you prefer questions/feedback here or by PM?

All good

This is the character, should be done rather soon. Still haven't transferred stuff over.

Average wealth for lvl 4 correct?

Added my backstory for the character, just need to figure out what equipment to have.

I'm not sure if I did my Hp correctly, but I am pretty much done after I get spells on.

Karga- most of this looks good. It looks like you still need to pick a domain (or inquisition from ultimate magic, if you want), and I’ll double check your math when I have a chance. Also, you have your age listed as 45 which I think is pretty old for a half-orc, and would leave a lot of life to account for in your background; you might want to consider changing that. I’ve read your background a couple times now and think it’ll work but I have some questions, which I’ll have to post later because I’m at work and out of time.

Out of curiosity, is everyone else still with us?

Sounds good, I'll make her younger.