Welcome to all selected! I am really looking forward to this game - a mixture of classic style adventures modernized for Golarion with one of my favorite baddies: Giants. Any questions, let me know.
Hurray! Let's get our giant bashing on! And hey, I get to play with one of my favorite fellow players. Hi Trevor! :D
What time of year is it in-game? I bought cold weather gear for Sivi just in case it's cold up on the Plateau, should she be wearing it?
Thanks for the selection, GM! Hello all, I hope you can see deep deep into Pierre's heart for he is a good soul despite all his boasting. :)
Thank you for choosing Hanna for this adventure!! I look forward to playing!
Oh nice, Pierre has ranks in Perform (Dance). Congratulations, he too can benefit from Sivi’s Minuet of the Midnight Ivy when we get into difficult terrain and/or have to make Climb checks. Which I figure we will at some point, a lot of giants like to live in the mountains.
Yeah, Sivi, was logical with his grace and noble family, that he would dabble in the arts and dancing made most sense. I auto-make your DC with my +15 skill. Your Masterpiece will come in handy.
Sivi, the weather is early autumn. It gets chilly at night so your cold weather gear will get some use at night.
Hanna, please format your profile to match Sivi and Pierre, so I have your relevant stats clearly visible without clicking on your profile.
Ok...I think I have added everything you might need...let me know if anything is needed.
Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to pounding the giants down to size.
Hey everyone, and thanks for selecting me! And nice to see you again too, Linnea! Moving from demons to giants are we? :)
Seems like we have a pretty ballsy team here, with three martial melee characters ready to lay the smackdown on the much bigger guys. Can't say we lack for style, that's for sure!
On that matter, Aradesh is intended as a healer and Swiss army knife for casting of sorts. She can take virtually any combination of shaman and cleric spells up to level 5/4 respectively, and up to three arcane spells up to level 3 can be added to her list as well to go along with her hexes. My currently prepared sample list took mirror image, haste and slow and has some staple clerical ones prepared to the side, with a focus on casting slow, which she can do spontaneously.
If there's any spell people want or suggest, please let me know! Happy to see we have one bard I could share arcane casting duties with so that perhaps haste isn't needed? I was looking for a good way to target reflex on giants but couldn't find something better than Create Pit. Anyone have a good idea on that front?
Sivi has haste, so you don’t need to take it. Try Spiked Pit for targeting Reflex, it’s Create Pit but deeper and with piercing damage. That’s one of the spells I plan to emulate with Shadow Conjuration.
In other news, there’s a whole lot of nothing on the Storval Plateau in terms of settlements, and it’s a big place. So anyone who doesn’t have a mount and a tent, I suggest you get them. Sivi would share, but her tent is gnome-sized. ;) Aradesh, if you don’t want to deal with a real horse you can always use the Mount spell.
As a warpriest, Hanna's spells are a combination of personal and group enchantments. If anyone is interrested in something specific, let me know as well
Haste and Darkvision (if we go into some dark cave), if possible, would be my preferences.
@Sivi Spiked pit sounds like a good spell, indeed! All right, I'll leave the Haste casting to you then. Plus, if for some reason any of her bonus spells still need to be changed, Aradesh can re-select them each day.
I... ah, hadn't thought of the reality of travel to the plateau and what I should take :) Aradesh is really low on gold currently, but I can probably make some free for a mount, yes.
Looking back, I can easily not take the amulet of many fists +1 as it doesn't really do much. I should probably instead get a handy haversack with some tanglefoot bags as alchemical components for Slow casting and use the remaining gold for a mount and some consumables. Also saves weight, which is a plus for a low str character. Thanks for the tip!
Edit:
@Pierre: I'll take a couple of Blessings of Fervor with me to still kind of have a haste effect in case something happens to Sivi or she is otherwise indisposed.
For darkvision, I looked around for cleric or shaman answers but there do not seem to be any other than light-spells. Without using light effects as alternatives, as a single-ally wizard-only spell I don't think that Darkvision is currently worth one of the only three arcane spells Aradesh has. It could however be bought through a goggles of night for 12 k or a greater hat of disguise and changing into a race that has it.
Gameplay thread is up (linked in Tab above)! You can dot and rp your entrance into town to the inn. Up to you if you know each other or have heard of one another.
All right, nice first posts, everyone!
I wanted to drop a note that my posting this first week might be slightly less frequent as I have a one week vacation of sorts starting tomorrow, until the 13th of august. I will have some internet access and expect I'll still be able to post, it just might not be daily. And since this PBP is just barely starting I'll prioritize it over my other ones until I get back. I hope this is not too big of an issue?
I appreciate the advance notice, Aradesh. That is fine, we are just starting and this part is rping.
No worries, Aradesh, about the DV. I bought 2 ioun torch stones for a reason. Cheap and effective.
Sorry for the late post, it's been a busy day.
I wondered about that as well....like you said messages must be very different between the two groups!! Sorry to be so confrontational at the start, but Hanna's family originally came from Koldukar. The stories of the orc's destruction of the sky citadel were drilled into her head from near birth. One of the reasons her family became clerics. Also, I made a mistake on the town...I thought it was a different orc settlement..my bad, but I will try and run with it.
If this is too much for the game, I am sorry and we can always simply omit Hanna's outburst and play it straight from there...I don't want anyone feeling ganged up on or upset...just trying to add a little "spice' to the game...like Gimli and Legolas when they first met...:-)
It's fine! I took it as a good writing prompt, so kudos from me. :)
Though given what was said and with the event fresh in memory, i believe her reaction to it would have been quite strong.
I'm fine with a Legolas Gimly approach for the campaign. Interestingly, Aradesh's human name is 'Hannah' and virtually identical to the Hanna's.
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I am quite enjoying sitting back and watching the rping and different personalities. Quite a hoot! Keep it up.
@Jack Daniels: I did a little bit of bookkeeping for Aradesh and her starting equipment/skills; as suggested above, I forewent her amulet of many fists to have enough money to buy a horse for the trip if needed. Also bought a few basic defensive scrolls and a handy haversack along with a wand of heightened awareness from the rest of the gold.
On the skill front, I forgot that preferred spell requires 5 ranks in spellcraft so I dropped some ranks from sense motive into it. Finally, I changed one of her background skills from handle animal to craft alchemy. It seems to fit her backstory better, and she can actually craft potions for the party this way through the Cauldron Hex during downtime.
If any of this goes against your planning or you want me to revert it, please let me know!
Pierre gathers around the map when instructed. His eyes widen at the gnome's knowledge. "Impressive, Sivi." He smiles at the bard... too bad she's a gnome. Shaking off those lascivious thoughts, "My mount Francois and I will be ready to ride in the morning. Well I'm famished, my dear Ameiko, where can I order some grub?"
Sivi uses Gnome against Lascivious Thoughts! It's super effective!
But for real, I imagine that while she's very attractive by gnome standards, gnomes are kind of Uncanny Valley to other races due to the whole fey thing.
I confess I don't know enough about gnome finer culture, though that seems an interesting point. Fey nature aside, given the whole compulsion to stay amused/not bored to fight off the bleaching, I image it's pretty hard to even capture a gnome's romantic attention for long? I'm sort of curious how their society and family structures function as I'd expect them to be very flighty partners. Or am I wrong?
Jack Daniels, I am considering going dropping the divine tracker archetype and going vanilla ranger with your permission. That would give me back wild empathy and hunter's bond and remove favored weapon and blessings. I didn't want to fool around with an animal companion originally but I cam across the grizzly bear as an AC and there is something appealing to me about a dwarf riding a bear around. If you don't allow the grizzly bear I would go with the standard wolf. I have money to equip either with riding gear and maybe some armor. It is your call though as we have already started and divine tracker is what I submitted during recruitment.
@Jack Daniels: Does Sivi know the answer to Dolgrym's question with Knowledge (Geography) +13 and taking 10 with Lore Master? Seems to me that traveling by boat would be faster even with the currents. And in a setting with firearms, wouldn't they have steam powered paddlewheel boats? Cartridge-loading guns and steamboats came into use IRL around the same time.
I am history nerd, hear me roar tell you all kinds of things you never wanted to know!
@Aradesh: Ah, a chance to share setting info! I just so happen to have a PDF of Gnomes of Golarion. You are correct, gnomes rarely marry and tend to have many relationships over the course of their lives. They don't have many children for this reason, but there are enough gnomes who see parenthood as a new adventure to keep the population going. And parenting a gnome child probably is an adventure, given how flighty and reckless adult gnomes can be!
Alternatively, if Aradesh can cast alter winds and have its anchor point be on a sailing ship (and Ultimate Combat does list a couple types of sail-powered ship that can travel on rivers), she can ensure that we always have a following wind. Apparently alter winds is the subject of much rules debate as to whether the anchor point can move with the ship or not. It's kind of a pointless spell if it can't move with a vehicle.
Sorry to be a wet blanket but according to the Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide: Control Winds: The area of winds created by this spell does not move with a ship.
Control Winds is a higher level spell and if it won't do it Alter Winds shouldn't either. Also Alter Winds does not give you control of the direction of the wind only the intensity.
Of course this is all up to the DM not me.
Control Winds is actually useful in combat though, so it makes sense to nerf it a little by making the effect immobile. Alter Winds really isn't useful in combat unless you're facing a flying insect swarm or something, so it makes sense to have it be more useful as a utility spell by making it usable to propel a sailing ship.
I don't think Paizo has ever issued a clear ruling, so it's up to our GM.
@Jack Daniels: I did a little bit of bookkeeping for Aradesh and her starting equipment/skills; as suggested above, I forewent her amulet of many fists to have enough money to buy a horse for the trip if needed. Also bought a few basic defensive scrolls and a handy haversack along with a wand of heightened awareness from the rest of the gold.
On the skill front, I forgot that preferred spell requires 5 ranks in spellcraft so I dropped some ranks from sense motive into it. Finally, I changed one of her background skills from handle animal to craft alchemy. It seems to fit her backstory better, and she can actually craft potions for the party this way through the Cauldron Hex during downtime.
If any of this goes against your planning or you want me to revert it, please let me know!
That is fine.
Jack Daniels, I am considering going dropping the divine tracker archetype and going vanilla ranger with your permission. That would give me back wild empathy and hunter's bond and remove favored weapon and blessings. I didn't want to fool around with an animal companion originally but I cam across the grizzly bear as an AC and there is something appealing to me about a dwarf riding a bear around. If you don't allow the grizzly bear I would go with the standard wolf. I have money to equip either with riding gear and maybe some armor. It is your call though as we have already started and divine tracker is what I submitted during recruitment.
Dolgrym, I am not a fan of druid or ranger animal companions, as I feel they are as powerful as another PC. Had I taken only 4 players, it would have been ok, but since I took 5...You can amend your archetype as long as you keep survival but I will have to say no to an animal companion. Thanks for understanding.
@Jack Daniels: Does Sivi know the answer to Dolgrym's question with Knowledge (Geography) +13 and taking 10 with Lore Master? Seems to me that traveling by boat would be faster even with the currents. And in a setting with firearms, wouldn't they have steam powered paddlewheel boats? Cartridge-loading guns and steamboats came into use IRL around the same time.
I am history nerd, hear me
roartell you all kinds of things you never wanted to know!@Aradesh: Ah, a chance to share setting info! I just so happen to have a PDF of Gnomes of Golarion. You are correct, gnomes rarely marry and tend to have many relationships over the course of their lives. They don't have many children for this reason, but there are enough gnomes who see parenthood as a new adventure to keep the population going. And parenting a gnome child probably is an adventure, given how flighty and reckless adult gnomes can be!
Sivi, see my post in the thread. Also, if you look at Magnimar's river, the path is not straight - it looks like a soundwave. And you would be going east in excess of 120+ miles.
Control Winds is actually useful in combat though, so it makes sense to nerf it a little by making the effect immobile. Alter Winds really isn't useful in combat unless you're facing a flying insect swarm or something, so it makes sense to have it be more useful as a utility spell by making it usable to propel a sailing ship.
I don't think Paizo has ever issued a clear ruling, so it's up to our GM.
I am of the opinion that Alter winds will not help with sailing. James Jacobs basically said the purpose of the spell was for players to use it to clear out bad air, use it to take care of persistent fog/mist effects, use it to set up some sort of creepy effect to scare rubes with, or whatever. And reducing windspeed can, at times, be pretty handy.
@Sivi, ah, there's a gnome specific supplement? Well, that'll be an interesting read! (Heads off to the store)
On the marine travel front, there's this shaman/druid level 2 spell called Aquatic Cavalry which summons a school of large water horses with a 60 ft swim speed (120 ft double). Could we use packs of them to speed pull the boat forward? :)
Dolgrym, I am not a fan of druid or ranger animal companions, as I feel they are as powerful as another PC. Had I taken only 4 players, it would have been ok, but since I took 5...You can amend your archetype as long as you keep survival but I will have to say no to an animal companion. Thanks for understanding.
No problem at all, I will keep as is. The ACs generally lag behind in higher levels as their HD and BAB don't keep up. I was primarily after a neat mount. Any chance I could have one as a mount for the right amount of coin?
A combat-trained grizzly bear to serve as a mount would cost 1110 gp, but there may be issues loading one onto a boat, entering a small town, etc. Sandpoint will accept it because they are desperate right now for heroes, but other towns might not be so forgiving.
A combat-trained grizzly bear to serve as a mount would cost 1110 gp, but there may be issues loading one onto a boat, entering a small town, etc. Sandpoint will accept it because they are desperate right now for heroes, but other towns might not be so forgiving.
Ok, thank you. I'll go with a horse then and some gear and supplies. I'll get it purchased shortly.
Wow, that's some pretty sweet damage on a hammer throw there, Hanna!
So... we're at the end of round 3 now, and waiting on the giants to save vs slow/misfortune and act, with Pierre having already posted his attacks for the next round (4)? Just for clarity.
Hanna, I was curious about your damage as well. You listed the hammer damage as: 2d10 + 1d6 + 1d8 + 7. The 2d10 is regular damage with Vital Strike (standard action); +1d8 is dwarfbond property vs. giants; +7 is from strength, magical enhancement, and buffs. What is the +6 from? Cannot be from a blessing as that is also a standard action to activate. Please advise.
Ok I have a regular of 1d10+7
add vital strike for another 1d10
then giant class for 1d8
holy strike for 1d6...ok I forgot it was an action to activate this...that is where I had the extra damage from...so remove it and I will try to remember to do that while I am running towards the giants (unless I can retcon and say I had done so...;-) )
That is a sweet hammer throw, Thor, I mean Hanna! Players, know Pierre is an exaggeration of his Order, think Gaston at 10th level from B&B! It is fun though when you talk so much smack and can back it up!
Hey, Dolgrym. Think you can carry a gnome en route to the dragon? I bet it'll take a few rounds to get there, which Sivi can spend performing her Vindictive Aria and calling the thunder if she doesn't have to move herself! Not only will it hopefully be effective, the mental image of a gnome riding piggyback on a dwarf while singing opera is absolutely hilarious.
Aradesh can probably airlift you with her magical hair if you want to, Sivi :) It's a bit odd, but the Prehensile Hair hex counts as a limb with a current strengthscore of 22 which explicitely says that the witch/shaman can use it to carry heavy stuff without her head or neck suffering from the act. So... that has to mean the force of carrying magically doesn't transfer past the hair itself and that I can probably carry people in my hair through the air at normal speed?
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Aradesh can probably airlift you with her magical hair if you want to, Sivi :) It's a bit odd, but the Prehensile Hair hex counts as a limb with a current strengthscore of 22 which explicitely says it the witch/shaman can use it to carry heavy stuff without the head or neck suffering from the act. So... I guess that means I can carry people in my hair through the air at normal speed...?
Oh, I didn't know Prehensile Hair could do that. Nice! Yeah, that will allow you to carry her faster than Dolgrym could. And Sivi would love nothing more than to fly. :D
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Oh, I didn't know Prehensile Hair could do that. Nice! Yeah, that will allow you to carry her faster than Dolgrym could. And Sivi would love nothing more than to fly. :D
You gave up on Dolgrym quick enough! See if I help you out of a tight spot! :) I saw it more of the gnome riding on Dolgrym shoulders as he runs through town. You might even be taller than a human then. :)
You gave up on Dolgrym quick enough! See if I help you out of a tight spot! :) I saw it more of the gnome riding on Dolgrym shoulders as he runs through town. You might even be taller than a human then. :)
Sorry dude, you lose out to the adrenaline rush of flying! Common sense and self preservation are not gnomish qualities.
Orcish (h)airlines, taking off! :) Puns aside, with sivi being a rapid fire archer, it does feel like a midieval fighter jet with two pilots about to engage a dragon, which is pretty high on the awesome imho :D
Btw, @Hanna, you have a +2 sacred bonus to hit and damage vs giants and a +2 competence to thr same from sivi. Is that calxulated in? Might jelp landing those huicy hits :)
Have I already taken my Round 4 action? I’m a bit confused.
Have I already taken my Round 4 action? I’m a bit confused.
I think so, looking at Sivi's posting history and counting the turns.
I'll posts Aradesh' actions for round 5 and start doing the turn count along with them as Jack suggested. Should make it easier to keep track since it seems this might be a long combat with long distances travelled across Sandpoint.