Quentin's 3-17 Dreams of a Dustbound Isle (Inactive)

Game Master Quentin Coldwater

Spots reserved for Anjo Aroh, Atae, Michael Hallet, EbonFist, Farol, and Emmanuel Holysmith.

Please post an introduction in the Gameplay tab. I'll start once I have six introductions.
Also please fill in macro sheets up at the top and the slide sheet so I have your pictures and marching order.

Standard PbP procedure applies: I expect a post per weekday, less in the weekends. I'll bot you if you haven't responded after 24-ish hours.
My tempo tends to be rather fast, so please tell me to slow down if I'm rushing you guys.
I expect posts to slow down around the holiday season. Also, I'll be starting a (my first real actual) job early January, so I might slow down around then.

My current PCs in tier are:

Wizard 8
Fighter 7
Barbarian 6

And if we are willing to wait a few days for the last encounter to end:

Investigator 5

I might wait to see what others plan to bring.

I'm filled out and ready to rock.

Manny has the >Opportunist< feat and can make Attacks of Opportunity. He will usually use his whip with 10 foot reach to trip things up.

Ok for my list of players, I have:
- Magus lvl 5
- Wizard lvl 5
- Investigator lvl 5 ;)

I have filled out the forms and checked in.

Zabu just upgraded his Athletics skill to Expert so expect a lot of Grappling and Tripping.

If folks are looking for opinions about characters to bring:

Michael, it might be interesting to see 2 sixth level Barbarians on the field just to see the different builds but the Fighter or Wizard would be better.

Farol, I've never seen a Magus played, so I'd be interested in that.

The problem with the wizard is that it would force the table to high subtier.

I put my fighter on the sheet for now. If it ends up pushing the tier up I can reconsider.

We have so far:
- Level 7 Barbarian
- Level 6 Bard
- Farol's level 5

That's already 9 CP, with three more people needing to check in. If Michael plays his Wizard and Squash at level 7, that's 19 CP total, which is gonna be high tier. Especially if we get a sixth player (Anjo has already played, so we're getting someone else). So it's gonna be high tier unless Squash and Michael change to a lower level.

Horp, Squash IS Michael. Level 7 means 13 CP total, leaving the other three people only room to choose a level 5 if we want to play low tier.

Here I am, a 5th levle cloisted cleric of Calistria with a level in captivator

So that leaves 1 more that could be up to level 6 without pushing up the subtier.

Has Atae adventured with any of you before? I think that one of my characters, Avonatha, played with Zabu before.

I did GM a few games with Atae (The Devil Wrought Conspiracy 2-parter) but never played with ya.

Atae was bad in those games abd bow she sees a comeky half elf :)

I'm pretty sure Zabu has adventured with Atae, too.

Because I just hit this level I can use some advice from those who've played a 7th level Barbarian. Does this -

Weapon Specialization
Level 7
Your rage helps you hit harder. You deal an additional 2 damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you have expert proficiency. This damage increases to 3 if you’re a master, and 4 if you’re legendary. You gain your instinct’s specialization ability.

mean that I ALWAYS do 2 additional damage with my expert weapons or that I do 2 additional damage with my expert weapons while raging?

You always deal the extra damage.

Every class gets their specialisation that gives them extra damage. The Barbarian's is just worded a bit unfortunately that it mentions a class feature, but it's a passive bonus.

And because I'm starting to lose count, a summary of people:

We have so far:
- Level 7 Barbarian, 4 CP
- Level 6 Bard, 3 CP
- Farol's level 5, 2 CP
- Level 5 Cleric, 2 CP
- Level 7 Fighter (can switch), 4 CP

That's 15 in total. The last person can bring a level 5 to remain in low tier (that seems to be what we want to do, right?), unless Michael changes down. Or we simply cap it at 5 people and start now.
I unfortunately already invited a sixth person over, but I can make a quick post saying we've capped the player count if that's necessary (too late to delete the invite).

Thanks for the clarification!

I always vote for more people so I my vote is to bring in the 6th person.

Agreed. The more the merrier.

The cap on low tier is 18 CP, so the 6th can be level 5 or 6.

If Iceman is our 6th, it looks like both his available PCs are 7th, so I'll either have to switch to a lower level PC or we play up.

More people= more fun.

Playing up is certainly an option with this frontline, but I'm not sure how the casters feel about that. I'll leave it to you. I don't have a horse in this race, I'm just stating what we have now.

I think Emmanuel was in a scenario with Avonatha.

By the way, a rules thingy I'd like to clarify beforehand. Rules as written, you only get your actions (including reaction) when it's your turn. So at the start of initiative, you can't perform reactions until it's been your turn. Many people debate this interpretation (including myself), but I'd like to stick to RAW until I get a definitive answer.

Is that okay with everyone? If not, I'm fine with making reactions always available (including for the enemies), but I'd like to clear this up before confusion arises.

Interesting, how badly does that impact champions?

I'm fine with that ruling. I shouldn't be able to react until I get a chance to move.

Maybe should've linked the rules I was referring to. Here it is.

The way I read it, the default is that you don't, but the GM might allow you to. I think in a vast majority of cases, you're expecting trouble, so that would mean you always have it available. But since this rule seems to imply the default is no reaction, I'm having trouble deciding.

Maybe I'll start a thread on this on the forums, but these are the cases in which I expect you could have a reaction:
- You're talking to a group of people and it isn't going well (either you're baiting them, or their disposition is clearly negative). Here you see the opposing party and you know it's gonna end in a fight.
- You're walking through a dungeon/building/whatever and you're in front of a door. You know that most likely whatever is behind this door doesn't have good intentions. You don't see the enemy, but you're pretty sure it's gonna lead to a fight anyway.

Maybe:
- You're in a hostile environment that's pretty closed off (thick woods, dungeon, and so on). You know enemies can appear at any moment, you just don't know when. Again, combat-readiness seems implied here, even though there isn't an immediate enemy in sight.

Definitely not:
- You're completely unaware: you're not even thinking of combat: you're asleep, busy doing something else, or are ambushed.

The combination of "definitely yes" and the "maybe"-category seem to span like 90% (at least) of most combat encounters, so that seems to conflict with what I interpret as the default rule.

Any input?

I am too!

Once your first turn begins, you gain your actions and reaction.

Seems pretty clear cut.

I guess it depends on when you think people switch from "Is there a fight going to break out?" to "It's fightin' time!" but by RAW, it's when your first turn begins.

This was one of the struggles for Rogues or anyone relying on ambush tactics. "Oh, they knew they were being stalked all this time, sorry."

It doesn't really affect me since I have no reactions, but I would say that you can't use a reaction until you've had your first combat turn.

Even if you're expecting trouble your initiative count determines when you can really act (or react) to it. Otherwise, in all of the expecting trouble situations it would only be logical for the players to all strike first since they know it's coming.

This is my barbarian.

I have 2 glyphs.

Oh right, glyphs. I also have 2. I'll give them to the level 5 PCs.

I have 1, so one more and everyone gets one.

I also have a campaign coin.

Hey-yo!
Thanks for having me.

Bringing my level 6 summoner, so we're good on the low tier, I think.
The better pic is on the slides. Or here

No glyphs and such.

Okay, seems like we're only missing Farol's character and we can start this adventure. :)

I'm glad for this delay, so we could have this bit of RP. It's good to get into the mood. :)

Ok, I will bring my Magus, lvl 5 since Zabu requested it.

Hey all! (I played with all of you, and most of the characters). The only PC I haven't seen is Toanthel.

I will bring Aerin Airendil whom I need to level up to lvl 5, but I might not be able to do it today.

For some reason I cannot add my info to the slides.

Ok, I will bring my Magus, lvl 5 since Zabu requested it.

Hey all! (I played with all of you, and most of the characters). The only PC I haven't seen is Toanthel.

I will bring Aerin Airendil whom I need to level up to lvl 5, but I might not be able to do it today.

Toanthel isn't joining us this time. We had the room for the CP of Squash.

Toanthel isn't joining us this time. We had the room for the CP of Squash.

Got it! Missed that change, and I know Squash, so 5 PCs known! Yay. Aerin updated to lvl 5!

Is the eidelon like a bear or a groundhog?

Really big wolf, but clearly not a natural creature at all.

For some reason I cannot add my info to the slides.

Hmm, curious. No one else seems to have trouble accessing it. Could you try again, maybe in a different browser?

Iceman, does Raindrop have access to infernal? The choker of elocution doesn't give access to uncommon/rare languages. I had made this mistake myself once, so I wanted to make sure you were aware as it wasn't obvious.

Why would *I* need access? I'm not making it.
That's the point of the item, isn't it?

You have to have access to an uncommon or rare resource by some means if the description of the item said choose a common or uncommon language (like the multilingual feat does) then it is fair game.

It's the same thing with a shifting rune. You can't use it to change your weapon into something you don't have access to.

Someone needs to smack the writers/designers/whomever with a stick that reads, "Things do what they say. They do not do what they do not say."

The feat says it limits the options. The item does not.
*shrug*

I think it's a bit of an issue with things referring to other things.
The Languages section says you can choose languages you have access to (usually Common only, might vary on your campaign. PFS restricts you to only the list of Common ones, plus that one language that is unlockable).
The Choker gives access to a language, stealthily referring to the line above, but not saying so explicitly.

Well, VOs have told me that it does not unlock uncommon language options. If common options unlock uncommon ones, it is explicit in the item itself.