DM Fang Dragon's: War for the Crown

Game Master FangDragon

I'll keep what I've got then and hope to get lucky when we battle the next mage.

On tweak: instead of Identify for my FCB I'll take Enlarge Person.

Triphylla Achlys wrote:

I'll keep what I've got then and hope to get lucky when we battle the next mage.

On tweak: instead of Identify for my FCB I'll take Enlarge Person.

nvm, no fcb with a dip, duh!

Alright, I got Valeria leveled up and found several mistakes on the character sheet that have been rectified.

HP was low, I think I was doing half plus con mod not half +1+con mod so I was short several hitpoints. Assuming my math is now correct I am at 40 hp.

I had also somehow taken dodge twice, the second one was changed to spell focus necromancy to try and make those inflict spells stick better. I also took spring attack for my fifth level feat.

For some reason my intimidate check in my stat line was 9 when it should have been fixed, that has been corrected, and I added a rank into Acro, Diplo, Know local, planes, relig, Per, artistry and took a rank in perform dance.

Also now have obscuring mist and inflict mod for spells.

Oh, and does anyone recall where that -2 str/dex came from and if it was damage or drain? I can't recall at this point and am not sure if it should still be in effect.

I think we can assume the -2 str/dex has worn off, that was for having a nightmare.

K, pulled it. Also, I was off on HP, it should be 38 not 40 and has been corrected.

Cyrene likewise has been levelled and had a number of corrections. I'm right in the middle of the 'trade out lots of stuff' area, so I don't have the whip vigilante talent and won't get it until level 8 (if I still want it by then).

I also took Spring Attack so when I get Hellcat Stealth I will be the ultimate unexpected killer!

Otherwise lots of skill points, slightly better AC etc etc.

@DM Fang Dragon how are we doing loot?

Since we're 5 my plan re loot was to increase all gold by 25% and add a few extra items along the way. This does mean somebody needs to keep track of the loot.

If nobody wants to track loot then we'll need to discuss plan B.

@All I'll move us to the Bentony Estate tomorrow unless somebody wants to do something else first.

We have this loot sheet. I am not specially interested on doing the work, it is an ungrateful time sink, but I haven't notice we getting any new equipment, unless you want to count the manticore carcass.

Well, Triphylla and Cyrene did some exploring by their own, but I keep myself away from the spoilers, so if you find any treasure you want to share with the party, please note it there. Otherwise I consider if they found something and have not state it publicly, it is theirs.

Level 5

HP +8
Feat Arcane Strike
Bonus feat Riving Strike
Spells ablative barrier
page-bound epiphany
Skills
Acrobatics
Bluff
K. planes
K. religion
Spellcraft
Use Magic Device
Background skills
K. geography
Perform Oratory

Well, Triphylla and Cyrene did some exploring by their own, but I keep myself away from the spoilers, so if you find any treasure you want to share with the party, please note it there. Otherwise I consider if they found something and have not state it publicly, it is theirs.

Triphylla noticed some loot in the pantry but did not take anything. It's still there. The only thing she's taken is a manticore fang.

Cyrene probably could have nabbed a nice monogrammed towel or two, but nothing of actual value. :)

Presumably now we're going questing more gold will flow.

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Cyrene is also ready to leave - in case its not clear already.
She'll have to find a new persona for Stachys now Julia is gone.

I wanted to point out from this level on, each time Lope strikes with Arcane Strike a creature, he will impose a -2 penalty to saves vs magic. I debated myself for a time on what feats to take, but I finally considered this Riving Strike will help Valeria and Diana to land their spells successfully, boosting the party odds more than other stuff.

Just noticed I never consolidated our sells in Oppara. After adding to the selling some of the items that remained unclaimed, the exact share is +2,260.5 gp to everyone but Diana.

As a reference, I said it would be 1680 gp at the least, but it was more in the end.

Basically everyone should have received 2600 + 2260.5 so far (total 4860.5 gp), plus any item directly claimed from the found list. I know some people already spent part of the money, but others have not.

I suggest Triphylla or Valeria to take the hat of disguise, for they are the ones who have taken less items from the stash so far.

I'll work on loot choices later, though short of the hat of disguise nothing on the list is really of any use to me.

The hat is yours if you want it.

I think the way we were doing loot is we took the total value of items found and divided that value, and then if you wanted an item you paid for it out of your cut, is that right? Or is it we take something if we want it and settle up later?

There, claimed.

I think the way we were doing loot is we took the total value of items found and divided that value, and then if you wanted an item you paid for it out of your cut, is that right? Or is it we take something if we want it and settle up later?

Yeah - so Cyrene gave up 2k of her share in order to get the belt of Dex.

This came up some time before, my main issue, that remains unresolved, is what to do with items that are worth just too much for the current party wealth, and even worst, what about items that just do not have a set value, like the Envoy Ring or Dignity's Barb?

I don't know if there's a good solution. I'm guessing we're all veteran gamers; it should not be controversial to let someone have something that makes sense for their character, even if it breaks the bank.

We end up with something like 6 relics I think, so there should be enough for all of us to have one.

I'd say just treat them (the relics at least) as a bonus - as long as they're used and the party benefits, does it matter hugely exactly how they are used?

I'm traveling for the next week, I expect to have internet so I should be able to post but I'm away from my desktop pc which complicates map updates.

Enjoy your trip DM Fang Dragon! :D

The AP assumes you'll do various things to restore and invigorate Stachys and the surrounding area, this costs time and gold. You'll need to find gold, fortunately the AP allows for that - but I realise this is in tension with upgrading your gear. Where you strike the balance is something you'll need to decide.

Since PbP games are played out over years it's easy to loose track of open quests / hints. Would you like me to add a quest log to the campaign info tab?

That would be very helpful.

For those that have played this before, is this a point where it may be beneficial to split the party? Triphylla has no relationship with Onara Piscum and I can't imagine would be much use on that errand, but I assume her skill is helpful elsewhere.

At the end of Lope's profile, I try to keep a list of posts I think contain relevant information for the plot.

But a curated list of current goals would be certainly appreciated if it is not too much effort. Just let's try to keep it short for the goodness of everyone :)

A think I do on some campaigns when I have time, is to present a map with the faces of relevant NPCs or locations, it helps to remember what is where.

On the case of sandbox adventures, something that has worked good for me in the past is to have a map and add some labels as new quests/locations are uncovered, using a different color for locations that have been visited and another color for the ones that are new (not yet visited or with pending quests).

Otherwise players, we tend to forget just after a few days :)

I've added the current active quests. Don't worry there's other NPCs with a giant ! over their heads.

Hey, I'm on holiday right now so posting may be slow. Please bot Cyrene as needed. :)

Enjoy your break!

If you're looking for a hint of what to do next, perhaps check out the pump house although realistically you can do anything.

I've found a couple of good images for Book 2: The palace of birdsong and Map of Meratt county.

I've put both of these in the campaign info tab.

First order of business should be the Marketplace since it makes everything else 10% cheaper.

Also, that 300gp is most of Triphylla's personal savings. I don't know when the cash-flow spigot is opened in the AP but I hope it's soon. Do we need to pool funds to get the marketplace built? Could we agree to do that?

The basic market is 2000 gp, that means we need to spend 20,000 gp to start recovering money. The maximum expenditure is 40,000 gp, which tells me it is possible we never recover the market investment.

That said, screw numbers, roleplaying triumphs I say! And Lope already pushed the people of Merrat to fight for a public market, so I agree we do it.

We can just add the 2000 gp to the party expenses, along with the 500 gp to recover the estate. That way once we split money again, it is already accounted.

Thanks for the images DM Fang, I love those ones :)

I am good with that plan for a marketplace.

The Market gets us a 10% discount on everything else. I would agree with you if the alternative is to never build the Market. But for 1800 more (10% discount!) we get the "prosperous settlement achievement," whatever that means (it sounds important and useful).

The optimal ratio of loyalty points to cost, factoring the Market discount, is to start with both Pump House improvements and the Mill, Farms, and Civic improvements level 1. Then the Farms and Civic Improvements level 2 and then the Pump House. If we do all of those things we can then build a Statue (to ourselves).

The Bridge, Temple, and Festivals have additional benefits which may be valuable. I missed where the money is coming from - "Party expenses" - are we accruing debt?

I assume that we're taking the costs for things we want off the top when we get party loot. So if we had 4000 loot we'd make it 2000 and split that between players, rather than splitting 4000 and then asking for people to chip back in to pay for upgrades.

Yep, I think what Cyrene says is the easiest way that requires less sync work. Unless we want to squeeze every gold we have to buy aplenty improvements, I think we can keep it fair.

Re relics, they have new abilities unlocked with a triumph. I'm not entirely clear what constitutes a triumph, it might be that completing book one counts and Dignities's Barb has unlocked an ability.

If Cyrene or someone else is not interested, Lope could wield Koriana of Zimar's blade until he finds his bladebound.

Cyrene it can transform into a whip... Maybe that'll help tip the balance.

What exactly xonstitutes a triumph is in the article in Scion, songbird, saboteur. IIRC rescuing Martella was a triumph so Dignities Barb and the Envoy Ring should have gained an ability.

As for the blade, I lost my Whip ability because I missed a bit of my archetype but still happy to have a +2 weapon to stab people with. The ability to make it into different one-handed weapons would absolutely be in her wheelhouse too! Anyone want a +1 dagger for a good price?

I'm a big personal fan of the next Relic but it'll be much better on Valeria than on me.

OK then:

Roughly speaking it's two triumphs a book, so most of the items in books 1, 2 and 3 are axed out by the end of book 4 or early book 5. The relics in book 4 are underwhelming compared to the others so no real loss there. (Who plays this AP in full plate for example!?!?)

Made sense that Triphylla would need to be swimming in 4 feet of water. She'll lob things at it from the walkway.

Please bot me, I can't look at the maps from my phone so there's no way I can post usefully.

Not sure why you can't see them :( I can see them on my phone even in incognito so you don't need a Google account.

Is anyone else having problems with the maps?