DM Voomer's Age of Ashes

Game Master Voomer

If people want to do that, sure. I just find it safer to have that buddy with you on watch.

We could also get it down to 9 1-hour shifts if the two familiars are standing watch alone for two of those shifts. But that sounds like an absolutely terrible idea.

Dario Zuz wrote:

What do you all think? Sounds good for a watch order?

We could get it down to 10 hours if we have 5 shifts of 2 hours each - but that would involve three shifts of someone being alone on watch.

Also, Fern: what is your thought on familiars being in watch rotation? I usually don't allow it (that whole minions needing to be commanded thing), but thought I would get your take on it.

Either here, or on Discord, I would LOVE to continue/create a thread on intelligent companions/minions. Like really love. Because I have to believe, especially with Improved Familiar calling Celestials and other intelligent beings, they could probably take a watch.

and even though I hate puppets, Sulee is like the team's pinochio
she's real damnit

I am glad you guys enjoy my DMing, you're all my guinea pigs in all this pbp stuff =)

I tend to do my posting at work where Discord is blocked or on the phone when I should be asleep, so you guys are welcome to make one but I'll pretty much just live on here. Got our school's IT guys to unblock Paizo and Roll20 since I run the D&D club, so those work.

I am honestly fine with familiars helping to keep watch. If a monster was creeping up on you all and Sulee just watched it kill people, because the mechanics say she can't warn us without a command or whatever? Well that would make her the bbeg and I don't want to rewrite the story that drastically ;) Plus it gives Sulee and Guba more chances to RP which makes for fun story times.

Either here, or on Discord, I would LOVE to continue/create a thread on intelligent companions/minions.

Been there, done that, PTSD triggered lol.

On a less joking note, I think that the minion and familiar rules in PF2 are a bit of an overreaction to the rules abuse that was possible in PF1 with hirelings and familiars there - but I have only heard horror stories about it.

Cevendyll wrote:

Either here, or on Discord, I would LOVE to continue/create a thread on intelligent companions/minions.

Been there, done that, PTSD triggered lol.

On a less joking note, I think that the minion and familiar rules in PF2 are a bit of an overreaction to the rules abuse that was possible in PF1 with hirelings and familiars there - but I have only heard horror stories about it.

So clearly, the conversation has already happened, and I now have a reading assignment from K10 ... who thankfully opened one of the threads and their ruling was sufficient for me ;)

Yeah, 1E can kinda be a jungle in a lot of ways, and I will admit that I can be kind of derisive about things like "feat taxes" and "dips" where I think sometimes maybe design intent should supercede everyone's inner need to be Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

I'm good with Yasami's bells serving as a focus for alarm, because it's clever =) Though casting it from the scroll will destroy the scroll.

Yeah, that is normal for scrolls. I can learn the spell from other places though. Lisi and Cevendyll can both simply teach it to me for starters. During downtime though.

The other option is to have Sulee absorb the scroll and learn the spell that way. But that also destroys the scroll.

Now, doors. Joran loves them! Will it lead to his early demise? Almost certainly, eventually! But he is staying 100% in character while also doing his damnedest to keep the plot moving. If folks want him to slow down I think an intervention will need to be staged in game, so far people have done the Willy Wonka half hearted "no, wait, stop..." And, oaf that he is, he has ignored it and moved on.

Lol! The "intervention" plan is a good one. I like it. :)

I am fully for something inevitably bad happening to the big, lovable lug and Dario will gently scold him. Dwarves are exceptional at the disappointed, gentle scolding.

HA! Fair enough. Wait... is Dario a dwarf? :)

To be clear and say out loud what is obvious to me at least - I am absolutely loving this campaign. I like all of the characters and the players playing them. And I am very impressed with Fern's ability as GM. I would 100% continue playing with all of you - the only reason I would leave the group is if everyone voted me off the island. So keep being awesome.

I'll never vote you off, bud. I like Caiten. :)

So I did a bit of looking at our Perceptions and figured we should pair up the best eyes with the worst. We don't know about Hornet, since she was our worst perception, so I am making the suggestion with the idea it is just the seven of us. We'd have three watches, with 4 hour shifts for each watch. 1st Watch would be Yasami and Dario, 2nd Watch would be Oren and Joran, and 3rd Watch would be Team Magic. Our rest time would be 12 hours total but it makes it that the chance of someone being taken during the watch and no one noticing is quite low. The pairings also allow for the magic users to be fully rested and prepared for their watch, I think.

What do you all think? Sounds good for a watch order?

I like it. Sounds good. Oren and Joran! We just DARE somebody to show up then! ;)

Oren and Joran's watch: A herd of elephants comes plowing through and they trample the party. Oren and Joran, who have must have fallen asleep due to a DIABOLICAL sleep spell! continue snoring like chainsaws as if nothing happened, drool running down the side of their mouths. Man what a diabolical spell that must have been! *(Note to readers from author: There was NO diabolical sleep spell). *(Note to author from Oren and Joran: Yes there was, shutup. And are asterisk is bigger too which obviously means we're right. Shutup). ;P

After I get through 19 posts, I'll will get a response up concerning doors.

Per rest: I apologize. To all of you. *I*(meaning me the player) got wrapped up in the world of the Paizo adventure due to how they love to slap a sense of urgency on the pc's to rescue/find/capture/kill. Not all the time, mind you, but sometimes it feels that way. So I wound up playing Joran according to *me* instead of Joran. I'm thinking we need to hurry and keep moving or we're going to fail. That's pathetic and totally my bad. Just a dumb mental error on my part.

While Joran WILL feel torn about stopping and not continuing to go after the baddie, not going to take that from him, the health of the team would trump that and I should've responded according to him and not me. Plain and simple.

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Paizo: "You must rescue the damsel before she is killed. She's been taken to this dungeon."

Party arrives at dungeon: "Okay, let's rescue us a damsel! Heck yeah!"

17 levels of dungeon and 3 weeks later...

Party member #1: "Does this dungeon ever STINKING END! Do you suppose she's still alive?" #1 ask aloud, staring off in thought.

Party member #2,3 and 4: All shake their head silently and mouth the words: So dead simultaneously to each other so #1 doesn't see or hear them.

Party member #1: Quickly turn his head to the others, "Did y'all say something?"

Party member #2 speaking for the others: "No, no, not a thing. We all think she's still alive, of course! What are you crazy? Yeah no worries there at all, pal. It's all good."

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Anyway, of course the above scene is all in jest but *I* need to remember that the mechanics of the game are critical - especially for casters - regardless of how "urgent" anything supposedly is and it's not mandatory - or even realistic - to get it done in a couple of hours game time. Again, simply dumb. :P

I just wanted to get that off my chest. Thanks. :)

Dario sees Joran moving toward the north door hurries to intervene, urging the big guy to pause just for a moment. Dario eyes the door frame...

[dice=Dario perception] 1d20+6

... and notes strange markings asking the bottom of the door. Peering more closely, they appear to be a series of parallel gouges. Claw marks? Dario puts an ear to the door for a moment and can hear something alive on the other side shifting about and squeaking in a keenly rodent-like manner.

No traps... Unless you count really big rats.

I love it. Nice save there for "The Oaf". :)

While Joran WILL feel torn about stopping and not continuing to go after the baddie, not going to take that from him, the health of the team would trump that and I should've responded according to him and not me. Plain and simple.

Yeah, that sounds like a great character portrayal moment. Highlighting the C in CG - Ready, Fire, Aim.

Oren has something of a difficult time keeping track while Cevendyll is speaking. He gives Yasami a side-eye that says Do you get what the hell he's going on about?

Lol!

Hey Fern, how much time would it take me to use my artisan's tools and the crafting skill to cobble together some barricades for the doors out of the bookshelves and tables?

Crafting things is normally done as downtime, so it takes a number of days (at least 4 days). But that is for good quality stuff. This is probably mostly for flavor.

As a teacher who has to have school shooter drills every year and barricade the classroom with the furniture at hand, I can tell you with some authority it can be done securely within about a minute or less with some clever engineering choices ;P Which sounds right up Caiten's alley! So you can do so quickly and easily. =)

Toilet Room
Dung Room
Chamber Pot Chamber

This group is EDGEY!!!
Maybe while they're discussing sense of urgency they should talk about going to the bathroom ...

(although I guess one of the girls already squatted right?)

Eh. I'm sure a little puppy puddle is the least bothering smell in the room.

Who knows how long has it been since this room saw a little draft of wind to clear up the air.

I'm curious what level of school you teach, Fern. I'm guessing middle school or high school. But I have practically nothing to base that guess on.

High school science -- astronomy specifically, with a couple sections of physical science or bio when their numbers get too high =)

Nice. So in your classes it actually is rocket science.

You betcha =D

So resting -- far as I can tell you guys are going with Dario's plan: "1st Watch would be Yasami and Dario, 2nd Watch would be Oren and Joran, and 3rd Watch would be Team Magic."

I don't want to rush RP, nor do I want it to drag for anyone, so RP to your hearts' content about settling down for sleep and let us know when you're snoozing.

I figure we handle watches a little bit like combat initiative blocks -- start your watch with perception checks. I'll sum up how your watch goes, you can RP with your watch buddy to your heart's content. Once I narrate the watch, though, the next watch can roll -- first watch can RP as long as they like, anachronistically, to keep other folks from getting bored. You know, assuming rats aren't breaking in and eating peoples' faces.

Sounds reasonable. The rest of today for RP of night and watch shifts. Morning preparations RP tomorrow morning. Decisions on which direction to go next tomorrow afternoon. We kick down the next door tomorrow evening. Adjust as necessary.

High school science -- astronomy specifically, with a couple sections of physical science or bio when their numbers get too high =)

Nice! I'm working as an intern in a middle school.

Yeah, that sounds like a good schedule to me.

If a roleplay seems to go on for awhile, I tend to use the ooc format to do a spacer. Example being...

~~~DURING THE FIRST WATCH~~~

Stuff happened. I shot it. It was good times.

~~~THE NEXT MORNING~~~

Everyone is awake. Oh goodness. I didn't shoot it enough.

my apologies team, irl I think I caught Lisi-syndrome
cannot even remember the last time I slept for 15 hours
sorry :(

so we're making a stew?
is that what happened?
or we're actually calling it dog food?

did we all use the dung room before we went to sleep?

I will drop a full fledged continuation on that interaction tomorrow.

Fern, a roll from me, if you don't want the perception to be a secret check.

Perception 1st watch: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

23:00 here, meaning time for shuteye. Don't let me keep you for now.

23:00 here, meaning time for shuteye. Don't let me keep you for now.

That's somewhere in Europe, yes?

She's a badass from Central Europe ;)

@Caiten: Really, Caiten? ANOTHER natural 20? I can't get out of single digits and you're spitting out natural 20's? You're dead to me. ;D

I know, right. That's like the third one (counting the Fort save Fern rolled for me).

Man it is ABSOLUTELY awesome, dude. Hey, somebody's gotta take up the slack for ol' Joran. Otherwise, we'd ALL be in big trouble. :P

No worries.

I found it really funny that I nat20'd the roll that was for something mostly for flavor and lols.

Sorry, been trying to do a bunch of things the last few days! Like 30 different medical appointments and errands and things (not all for me).

I was worried I'd come back to 50 posts. Only 14! :D

Yay, Lisi is back.

Lisi, just curious about where Guba gets the purification ability from. I'm only seeing this and it's level 4. No big, just wondering, haven't had a druid in my group before =D

Huh, looks like Pathbuilder has an error...I think I need to have Leshy Familiar Secrets as a prerequisite. Damn!

Yeah, Pathbuilder is really bad about familiar abilities. One of the main criticisms I have about it. As another example, it doesn't deduct the ability cost of getting specialized familiars - so it still lists Sulee as having three slots available.

D'oh, sorry >.< I was just looking for how it worked.

Those abilities are pretty situational and small, too. Ah well, not a big thang

Yeah, Pathbuilder is really bad about familiar abilities. One of the main criticisms I have about it. As another example, it doesn't deduct the ability cost of getting specialized familiars - so it still lists Sulee as having three slots available.

His addition of "pets" was not all that long ago.

I gave Sulee an aura ring for the Tremorsense area.

The important details on Imprecise Senses and Hidden condition.

Imprecise Senses: You can usually sense a creature automatically with an imprecise sense, but it has the hidden condition instead of the observed condition. It might be undetected by you if it’s using Stealth or is in an environment that distorts the sense, such as a noisy room in the case of hearing. In those cases, you have to use the Seek basic action to detect the creature.

Hidden: While you're hidden from a creature, that creature knows the space you're in but can't tell precisely where you are.

It's been rather quiet today. No judgement, we all have lives outside of gaming. I'm mostly just checking in and saying that I am still here even though it isn't my turn currently.

Hoping everyone is having a good and productive Friday.

Honestly, this is pretty normal for a Friday on the boards. It's typically rather silent for the most part. Weekends pretty much the same.

And we're out of combat so there really is no "turn" per se. You can roll however you want to, bud.

I had to work today, and not from home--the audacity of it all! How dare they!

Not complaining, just confused. Didn't Yasami open the door a while ago?

Did she? My bad. I totally missed that.

Ultimately it doesn't really matter as long as someone opens it. Totally all good.

That's my bad, I totally read her post wrong and just caught her listening at it, didn't notice the last few words where she opened it with everyone else after her still talking about checking it out. You are correct. Sorry, Yasami! You can, uh, take that damage instead of Joran if you want to >.>

HA! I guess it does matter who opens the door. Proved wrong again. :P

(So weird. I posted this WELL after I posted the previous post. And yet, the boards threw THIS post BEFORE my previous post. So I deleted this one and rewrote it because I don't like that kind of weirdness).

Chronomancy.

Yeah, I get things like that a lot when trying to have a conversation between Caiten and Sulee.

So who takes the damage? It's all good to me either way.

As far as Joran's concerned, he'd have no problem taking it instead of Yasami.

I'm just not sure which way to roll with it.

Let me know.

I'll eat it. No worries.

Edit: I mean tank the damage. Not eat the bat. Then again...