Welcome!
I always do my best to run a friendly game. I want people to have fun and everyone to be able to laugh when something crazy happens.
This is part of a special so it will be critical that we run a fast game.
I really want everyone to be able to post at least once a day, preferably more. If you are going to be away from the game for a short period (such as attending a convention, on a short vacation, or needing to do some business travel), I would ask that you please post that here so everyone involved knows. Please also include a ‘bot me’ spoiler so that it is easier for others to bot you. (See more about this below.)
Below I give some examples for how I like things. I don’t mind variations on what I give, but please do try to include the same sort of information. I request it because it helps me keep the game flowing.
Chronicle information
In order to be able to generate a PFS chronicle, I ask that each character please provide me the following information:
Player name:
Character name:
OPF #:
Character #:
Faction:
Pathfinder training:
Downtime activity with rolls (Usually Earn Income):
If you will be using an Advanced Boon or a Promotional Boon, please let me know which ones. You are limited to one of each.
If you have a boon you will be using that modifies your downtime activity, please note it with the downtime activity.
All other boons can be handled as they come up. If you have a boon that you expect to come into play, I would appreciate being told about it ahead of time.
At the appropriate time, I will ask that you post any items you may receive from Pathfinder Training. That will happen after the game starts.
Character Profiles
Please have a profile header displaying a brief overview of your character's current status. It should include your AC, Saving Throws, Perception, Exploration mode activity, conditions and expendable daily resources.
In the character profile, please include a complete stat block. You may put it under a spoiler if you wish, but if you do please put it under a single spoiler. I prefer not to have to open multiple spoilers when trying to find something.
If you have your character sheet on a different site, please have a link to it in your character’s headers. This allows me to pull it up from any post by the character, rather than having to go to the profile and from there to the external sheet.
You can look in the PbP GM Kit for pregenerated characters done in BB Code and use those as examples.
Botting
Botting is when someone else makes a roll or otherwise does something on behalf of your character. Bot is short for robot.
Please include instructions in your profile and some general tactics in case someone else needs to bot your character. I highly recommend this include the dice expressions used for common actions. It is alright if you put this in a separate spoiler from the stat block, but once again please don't split it over multiple spoilers.
If there are resources you don’t mind being used up by botting, please say so. If there are resources you never want someone using, it is alright to say that as well.
If it makes you more comfortable, you could specify who you want to run your character when you can’t post.
If your character has any reactions, I ask that you have something in your Botting instructions about when you want this used. It is alright if you make it a separate section under a different spoiler provided you make it clear what it is. If it requires a roll, please have the dice expression there as well. The reason is that it can really slow down a PbP if you need to serialize actions between multiple people.
In my experience, creating a bot structure can help with your own posts as well. Assuming you put complete dice expressions in the botting directions, it makes it easy to cut and paste.
Criticals
In PF2 the determination of when something is a critical is based on exceeding the target difficulty by ten. Any strike that exceeds the enemy Armor Class ( AC) by ten is a critical hit.
Normally you will not instantly know the enemy AC. If you have something special that happens on a critical (such as a weapon with the Deadly trait), I would prefer that you also provide the critical effect as well. Generally this would be done as additional damage.
Mister Oakleaf shoots at the groo.
Range 60’, Propulsive, Deadly
Axel Miner swings at the groo.
Agile, Fatal d10
Initiative in PbP
I will roll all Initiative checks for PCs and NPCs, sort them, and organize them into blocks. I will use your exploration activity to determine which skill to use in Initiative. I will bold the names of characters that should act. I will take the NPC actions in order and reserve the right to delay an NPC in order to make them act with a group of other NPCs.
When it is your turn to act, please post. Do not wait for someone else to post just because they had a higher Initiative. If you know what you want to do but want to wait for someone else’s action to go off first, just say that.
Here is an example of how you could post before another player but have it go off after another player:
Sir Cumference waits for the elven archer Mister Oakleaf to get done firing his arrow before charging the Wily Snark.
I (and many other PbP GMs) do grouped Initiative in order to keep the adventure moving. In PbP people will have different posting schedules and often live in different time zones. Waiting for posts in initiative order could make a single round of combat take days to resolve.
Within the rules, it is as if everyone within the same Initiative block delayed until they could post.
Rules Questions
If there are rules questions, please post them in the discussion thread rather than interrupting the gameplay thread with rules debates.
In closing
Come join me for a fun game!
GM Bret I just signed up with my lvl 8 fighter. I just want to confirm that I'm eligible to play before posting anything. I played this at Gen Con with my level 4 cleric but my understanding is that I can still play once more at the higher tier. Is this correct?
Oops, if you saw it please ignore my original response! Reading comprehension failure!
I believe it can be played once at level 1-4 and once at level 5-8.
Since you have only previously played it at GenCon with a 4th level character, you should be good to go!
I am verifying this and will get back to you by tomorrow!
You are fine, Halgur!
This scenario has two versions: one designed for levels 1–4 and one for levels 5–8. When assigning and adjusting tables, remember that PCs can play at a table only if their level falls within the range for that version. Each of these versions counts as a separate scenario. Players and GMs may earn credit for each of these two versions once.
Roger! I'll do an intro post later this evening.
I have added a slide deck where you can put your avatars and establish a marching order.
Looks like all four of you are here. If you have GM Glyphs, please be sure to note it along with who receives the extra hero point.
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Glad to hear it!
I'm looking forward to this game,
The Advanced Boon I have is "Convention Hero" and lets me begin the adventure with an additional Hero Point (when playing a game at a convention).
I'll also be using the Promotional Vestments for my Promotional boon.
Player name: Blazej
Character name: Natesh Dawnseeker
OPF #: 2104
Character #: 2001
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Pathfinder training: Spells
Downtime activity with rolls (Usually Earn Income): Will be rolling against level 7 Task using Storied Talent
Player name:Halgur
Character name:Astrid Gertasdottir
OPF #:35206
Character #:2002
Faction:Horizon Hunters
Pathfinder training:Swords
Downtime activity with rolls (Usually Earn Income): Success-12 gold
Convention Hero-Advanced boon - You can slot this special boon only while playing a game at a convention. If you do, You begin the adventure with one additional Hero Point.
Promotional Boon-I have a number of paizo tee shirts.
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Player name: GHembree
Character name: Gib Gnome in Black
OPF #: 11016
Character #: 2002
Faction: Envoy
Pathfinder training: General
Downtime activity with rolls (Usually Earn Income): 7 days retraining, 1 day vs DC 20 crit fail earn nothing and are fired immediately! (I guess they don't like gallows humor in Galt.)
Promotional Boon - I also have a number of paizo tee shirts.
Thanks for mentioning Convention Hero, those that have it.
ACP = 3 * 4 (7th level) + 6 (8th level) = 18 ACP.
No adjustments.
We should get started with an Overseer announcement in the next few hours.
Oops!
Welcome Lizzo!
Sorry, I just looked at the Characters page. Since you had neither posted nor Dot & Deleted there I missed them.
No harm done, it is now 22 ACP so there will be adjustments for some but not all the encounters. The additional fighter should more than make up for it!
Lizzo if you are having trouble coming up with an introduction post, please just post something in Gameplay with that avatar (dot) and then delete the post (& Delete) so that this game shows up in your campaigns page and your character shows up on the characters page.
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Alright, two adjustments. I'm moving my Glyph hero point over to Lizzo from Astrid (so we all start with two hero points).
Also I forgot to mention I wanted to use the slow track rewards for myself.
Here is the updated reporting notes.
Player name: Blazej
Character name: Natesh Dawnseeker
OPF #: 2104
Character #: 2001
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Pathfinder training: Spells
Downtime activity with rolls (Usually Earn Income): Task Level 7, Master: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20
Notes: Slow Track
I also have Attacks of Opportunity. If I do put myself in a position where I expect to take them, I'll preemptively roll them in a spoiler.
@Astrid/Halgur,
Could you please explain what is happening with the NPC Holmgeir in terms of game mechanics? I assume he is some sort of ally or something. I would just like to know what is happening there.
Holmgeir is a hireling that I bought with fame ages ago. Survival, sailing lore and another lore that I cannot recall at the moment.
Figured it was something like that.
I assume it was the Hireling boon then, although that only gives a single skill and a single lore. Please check your records.
The bonus should just be level +2 for +10, but fortunately it doesn’t matter in this case. Either value is still a normal success.
Also note that there have been some changes to how it works. It looks those have been incorporated into the text given above, but may be different than when you originally purchased the boon.
Astrid also has expert hireling and professional hireling. Expert makes it a +4 +level check and professional gives the extra lore and skill feat. Holmgeir has the survival feat that feeds more people. I'll look up his extra lore this evening. It's written on a chronicle somewhere.
To be honest I rarely ever use the hireling. I just did it this time because I thought it would be funny.
Alright, that does explain the difference. Thanks.
Just need Lizzo and Gibs to tell me if they want to try anything on the two activities they haven’t made a check for.
If I haven’t heard from them by tonight (my time) I will post the rewards you had earned for those activities and they can still post in hopes of creating a critical success on the ones they haven’t done yet.
I’ve added two new slides to track the rewards and Pathfinder Society consumables.
I’ve defaulted everyone to two lesser healing potions for their Pathfinder Society consumables since in my experience that is by far the most common choice. Feel free to change it to whatever your character requests by removing the tokens and writing in the chosen consumable.
Please fill in with your chosen items for the rewards from Supplies and Magical Investigations.
If people want, I can repeat the summary of the rewards here so it is easier for you to review them.
As they are used, I’m thinking we can just mark them with a line through them.
Now to go double-check I haven’t missed anything. If someone sees what they think might be an error, feel free to direct message me or post here in discussion.
If anyone has issues or just wants a little help, feel free to ask!
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Thanks for the slide to help keep things organized. The good Doctor approves. :)
Players -- I agree it's a good idea to have some Restoration scrolls, just in case. Looks like 3 of us have them, and if no one else is trained, at least 2 of us have Trick Magic Item to use them. Also, since 2 have already chosen the Antidote, I'll choose Antiplague, so we have one of those just in case.
@Natesh and Gib,
Please fill in slide 4 the Magical Investigations and Supplies rewards your character chose. Update the school consumables as well if you didn’t get 2 lesser healing potions.
@Everyone
We should be done with the Mustering and start the first part of the adventure about 8-9 hours from this posting. Everything is done in UTC so transitions tend to happen with the start of a new day in that time zone, plus some time for the overseer to be able to fit it in their posting schedule and update all the tables.
I had forgotten, but if you could list your exploration activities in your headers that would be useful.
Some of you already have done so, others just listed an Initiative value when there are multiple activities that could be. Thanks to those who noted they win on a tie.
I’m putting together my dice expressions for initiative and various secret rolls.
Alright, looks like the overseers post is going to be just after I have something scheduled for tonight. It may be a few hours after the overseer’s announcement before I can get to our table.
Don’t panic, I will get an update in today.
I had forgotten, but if you could list your exploration activities in your headers that would be useful.
Some of you already have done so, others just listed an Initiative value when there are multiple activities that could be. Thanks to those who noted they win on a tie.
I’m putting together my dice expressions for initiative and various secret rolls.
I'll fix Astrid's header this evening after work. If you need it before then, her default exploration activity is defend.
As I add maps, do people have a preference for where I put them? I don’t really care, but thought I would ask.
If you have a preference, say so. For right now, I added the map just after the slide for hero points — slide 2. I can keep adding them there, at the end of the deck, or someplace else depending on what works best for the group.
I would prefer to keep the hero point slide at slide 1.
On a slightly different note, I think that I have the initiative set up correctly. Please look inside the following spoiler and let me know if you notice anything wrong with your character’s initiative expression. I’ve got the text in a separate document and will cut & paste it into posts when appropriate.
Wins ties
Was really expecting Dr. Lazarus to say something before throwing Grabthar’s Hammer. Still a nice Galaxy Quest reference.
Just a note.
There is a lot of table variation on Recall Knowledge checks.
I run it that if you have multiple of the same creatures, you can do a Recall Knowledge against a different instance without taking the -2 for successive checks. It doesn’t make sense, but it does allow certain class abilities to be a little more functional.
With Dr. Lazarus giving a bonus on a crit success, this is likely to make a difference at some point during the adventure.
On the other hand, the bonus from his successful Recall Knowledge only applies to the one creature he did it to.
If you want the success, you have to fight the elementals.
I’m telling you this because it is a special with limited time and speed matters. Spending a day talking to them is nice, but it does not advance the story of the special.
Are you sure you want to do that?
Once you've given up pursuit of a subject, you can't Pursue that Lead again until after the next time you make your daily preparations.
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Are you sure you want to do that? Once you've given up pursuit of a subject, you can't Pursue that Lead again until after the next time you make your daily preparations.
Right. Understood. My thinking was: I don't even know if Heraxia is real, or if it's an enemy. On the other hand, it's certain we're about to fight this particular creature. Investigators are a lot more effective when they're attacking the subjects of their leads, so it's really hard to pass this one up.
However ... since you asked the question, I'm inclined to take the hint. :)
With only a few exceptions, you can use the Feng Shui RPG rules as a guideline for scenarios.
If they are named, they are significant. Unnamed characters are monks.
@Lizzo,
I believe we have different understandings of the stealth rules and that is causing some problems.
Without the skill feat Swift Sneak, you can only move half speed while trying to Stealth.
Stealth has a number of requirements if you are to be hidden. The big one causing you problems is you need cover or concealment in order to remain hidden. You need that at the end of each Sneak.
That means if you are going from cover to cover, you need to be able to get there in half your move. That is why combat began is you moved from cover with a half move and then were seen. I had moved your avatar to where you could get to from cover with a half move.
First round of combat you would still have your surprise attack because although you aren’t hidden, you were using Avoid Notice for initiative and acted before either elemental. You can’t hide because you don’t have cover.
Please look at the map.
I will allow you to redo your turn.
If you want to hide, first you are going to have to get to a position where you can get cover, then take cover, then hide. The other option is just let loose with the bow while you still have surprise attack.
The pillar gives Standard Cover. If you use the Take Cover action, you would then get Greater Cover.
I am willing to discuss the rules with you, but for this combat we will go forward with them as I listed above. If this weren’t a timed event where we (as a table) want to complete as many encounters as possible, I would have likely stalled the encounter until we had a chance to quickly discuss the rules.
My reasoning for needing to have cover with each Stride action has to do with how basic actions and activities are handled. Sneak is an activity that takes one action and allows you to move a distance. At the end of each Sneak you need cover or concealment.
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Darn...was hoping Lazarus' 35 was enough to crit. Bummer. Shoulda had him wait for Astrid's flank! :) Oh well. But these guys are def gonna be tough.
As for the sneak, etc, sounds like we're meant to fight these things for the multi-table success, so prob best for us to have gotten into it sooner than later. So...thanks for getting it started, Lizzo.
My mistake, thanks for pointing it out.
Adjusted since it was caught quickly and doesn’t require any RetCon.
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The pillar gives Standard Cover. If you use the Take Cover action, you would then get Greater Cover.
My only follow up question on your ruling is with respect to the hide action. Where Lizzo is standing now, I believe he should be able to hide because the pillar is giving standard cover, and in that spot the taking cover action isn't needed first. I just wanted to make sure that is/is not right. Thanks!
Correct, you do not need to Take Cover in order to Hide.
I mentioned Take Cover in case you wanted better AC.
You are currently Observed by both and Grabbed by Q1.
With a successful Stealth check to Hide you would become Hidden from Q2 both.
Since Q1 has you grabbed, you would need to Escape before you could become Hidden to that opponent.
Edit: I read Discussion and try to handle any questions before reading gameplay. Having now done both, I felt it appropriate to leave some of the original text but struck out.
