Happy Halloween! I have some people over for the night, so my next post probably won't be until tomorrow.
Oh, also, I meant to ask, like for a session 0. Does anyone have any subjects that are triggering or that they are sensitive to? I will do my best to make this campaign welcoming to all my players. Luckily, this campaign is not heavy on any particularly gory or sexual situations. I can't recall any instance in any of the books that I would consider problematic. But I figured I'd mention this in case I need to keep my eye out for anything that might come up.
Not much, but I will say that the original vision of how Xallis met/created Navia had some David Cronenberg energy, taking liberties with the fact that she's a nonspecific outsider with potential Aberration undertones.
It wouldn't really come up unless the between-level evolution point reassignment happened on screen or the party was exceptionally curious, and it wasn't going to involve darker tones despite the anatomical craftsmanship.
Scorn by way of Snow White. When Harry Met Sally as told by H R Giger, perhaps.
Tychus, even though ranged weapons are not allowed at the gala. Don't worry, your character won't be crippled by not having his crossbow there.
On the other hand, if you wanted to try to sneak your weapon in, your Young Reformer trait ability could probably be used for something like that. You still wouldn't be able to walk around the party with it, but it could be in the building.
From the Young Reformer Trait:
Once per day, you can call upon your coconspirators to have “made arrangements” on your behalf, allowing you to attempt a Knowledge (local) check in place of a single Bluff, Disable Device, Intimidate, or Sleight of Hand check. The DC of this Knowledge (local) check is equal to the DC of the skill check it replaces. Whatever arrangements you make—for doors left unlocked, guards strong-armed out of your way, stolen keys left for you to find—must be reasonable to have anticipated and achieved beforehand.
Trevor, that was an impressive post.
If you are having your character work a few hours at the Noble's Wineskin before going to Thread Rare, he'll arrive at the Thread Rare after the others have left. However, if the group is then headed to tavern to discuss things, maybe you could cross paths there.
That sounds like a plan.
Tychus, even though ranged weapons are not allowed at the gala. Don't worry, your character won't be crippled by not having his crossbow there.
On the other hand, if you wanted to try to sneak your weapon in, your Young Reformer trait ability could probably be used for something like that. You still wouldn't be able to walk around the party with it, but it could be in the building.
From the Young Reformer Trait:
Once per day, you can call upon your coconspirators to have “made arrangements” on your behalf, allowing you to attempt a Knowledge (local) check in place of a single Bluff, Disable Device, Intimidate, or Sleight of Hand check. The DC of this Knowledge (local) check is equal to the DC of the skill check it replaces. Whatever arrangements you make—for doors left unlocked, guards strong-armed out of your way, stolen keys left for you to find—must be reasonable to have anticipated and achieved beforehand.
Understood.
They are offering King Cyricus themed food and drinks that pack a punch.
Correction: That should have been Grand Prince or Emperor.
This individual walks toward the seated noble and her bald companion, his symbol of Cayden Cailean occasionally thumps his chest as he walks.
Oh yes, if you were going with the friends with Henrika backstory, you recognize her too. And Henrika can spot Trevor too, whoever wants to call out first.
Today is my player's 50th Birthday! Make some noise!!
Happy Birthday!
You guys still with me?
Yep, writing a post now! Been a busy week, sorry about that.
Real REAL s&+!ty day. Plumbing explosions. Not fun. Will post in the morning.
Plumbing explosion does sound s!!@ty.
No worries if your busy. Just checking in.
How's the direction and pacing going so far? I just got worried that maybe you were at a loss for direction.
Gathering information before the Grand Exaltation Day is part of the adventure but nothing is scripted until your next meeting with Martella, so I'm filling in the rest myself.
I was on the fence about ending the previous day because it seemed like some of you were still talking, but then the posting stopped, so I thought maybe you had enough. I want to give you time to interact, but still want to keep these first few days before the main event moving quickly.
I think it’s fine, a bit of interaction between the party before things start happening is good!
I'm still here! Sorry for the posting delay.
How's the direction and pacing going so far? I just got worried that maybe you were at a loss for direction....
I was on the fence about ending the previous day because it seemed like some of you were still talking, but then the posting stopped, so I thought maybe you had enough. I want to give you time to interact, but still want to keep these first few days before the main event moving quickly.
I'd say that the current pacing is pretty good! Enough time to breathe free so long as we're at least kinda moving the plot forward, with the occasional dfade to black and a skip to the next day to keep the ball rolling.
Today is my player's 50th Birthday! Make some noise!!
Oh hey, happy late birthday!
Later, upon arriving home, Xallis would like to tap into his family's resources though his Senatorial Hopeful trait. Going to politely request a 1st level scroll of infernal healing, valued at 25g.
days til arrival: 1d4 ⇒ 4
If you wanted to use that trait, I'll allow you to have requested it at the beginning of the week, so you could receive it on the 4th day. You can add it to your character sheet.
I added two more pages to the Player Folder.
Treasure - An excel sheet that you can track the rewards and loot that you get. You can edit this document and can indicate who has which items and can check off items that you want to sell.
Magic Items - This will show the unique magic items for the campaign. Currently it just has the Senate Aide Badge. As new items are found, they will get added.
Oh, by the way. You all were given the Senate Rules earlier. Let me know if there are any items that you are not bringing to the gala. You don't have to change your character sheet. I'll just make note.
Icabhod has his peace bonded rapier and club. Leather a
Armor as well
I suspect a backpack would be tacky
Bit of a silly question, but I wanna clarify. At our current standing, what noble titles would be proper to use for ourselves? Lord/Lady from just our noble birth? Or is it at the Mister level until we achieve something notable?
Always get that mixed up between settings and I don't wanna pretend it's my Vampire game all over again, haha.
If you wanted to use that trait, I'll allow you to have requested it at the beginning of the week, so you could receive it on the 4th day. You can add it to your character sheet.
Thank you! I'll add it.
Oh, by the way. You all were given the Senate Rules earlier. Let me know if there are any items that you are not bringing to the gala. You don't have to change your character sheet. I'll just make note.
Xallis will leave the backpack, crossbow, and ammo at home. He'll have a peacebound dagger and his new scroll tucked away for decoration and/or emergencies.
Social Rounds: After certain events, you will be given a number of social rounds that follow it. During these social rounds (considered to be roughly 15 minutes each), you can attempt various skill checks to influence NPCs or to generally carouse a specific area of the senate. You can attempt only one major action each round, including influencing an area, influencing a specific NPC, or attempting mission-related skill checks, but you can travel freely around the senate between rounds to investigate or influence new areas or characters.
Influencing an Area: You can attempt an appropriate skill check with a set DC for one of the areas of the senate, hobnobbing and impressing the general crowd in that area. Each area has two thresholds, which represent levels of influence over that area. Every point by which your result on one of these skill checks exceeds the DC is added to a pool of points specific to that area. When the number of points earned by the party as a whole exceeds the threshold of an area, then the GM will provide you with the information and story award associated with that area’s threshold value.
Influencing an NPC: You can attempt various skill checks to influence the NPCs listed in the Dramatis Personae section.
Each social round, you can move to any location on the map and select a single NPC in that area as your target to influence. You then attempt either a discovery check or an influence check.
A discovery check allows you to learn either one of the skills you can use to influence the target or a weakness that grants you (and any other characters with whom you share this information) a +4 bonus on future influence checks. The exact skill and DC required for a discovery check varies; learning an influence skill normally requires a successful Sense Motive or Knowledge (nobility) check with the DC listed in parentheses in the Influence entry of the target NPC’s social stat block. Learning a target’s weakness requires a successful skill check using the skills and DCs listed in parentheses in the target’s Weakness entry.
An influence check is an attempt to win the target’s favor. You must attempt a skill check using one of the skills listed in the target’s Influence entry, though discovering what these skills are requires a successful discovery check. A successful skill check against the listed DC counts as one success, indicating growing affection or respect for you. Each target lists the total number of successes needed to gain their favor. You earn one additional success if your influence check exceeds the listed DC by 5 or more.
A failed discovery or influence check can be attempted again in subsequent rounds with no penalty unless otherwise noted.
I've added two more links:
Senate of Taldor: This has two things. The first is a map of the area. It shows where all the NPCs you can interact with are. And also I'll add your character tokens so you can indict where you currently are. Second, it has information on each area and your influence on it (as described above).
Dramatis Personae: This has information on each NPC that you can influence. It will be updated as you discover or influence the NPC (as described above).
Bit of a silly question, but I wanna clarify. At our current standing, what noble titles would be proper to use for ourselves? Lord/Lady from just our noble birth? Or is it at the Mister level until we achieve something notable?
Taldor employs myriad noble titles; the crown awards them as political favors, and many titles have long since become essentially useless, collected purely for prestige among the aristocracy. Many nobles hold multiple titles, further complicating matters. A noble can be the baron of one stretch of land and the marquess of the abutting wilderness, all while holding the titles of primarch and viceroy for unrelated deeds. To ignore any accumulated title in formal introductions is grossly insulting, but in day-to-day affairs most nobles fall back on their most prestigious titles for expediency.
While some titles held specific meaning in the distant past, only a handful still do today. These titles may again change in the coming centuries, but for now the titles below are more than simply honorifics, in roughly descending order of prestige.
Grand Prince: Rules Taldor.
Prince/Princess: A child of the grand prince.
Grand Duke: Rules a prefecture and answers directly to the grand prince; because this is one of the few titles strictly defined by the land it is tied to, Taldor is limited to 62 grand dukes: 12 who wield real power (sometimes referred to as grand high dukes) and 50 lesser grand dukes (unofficially referred to as nominal grand dukes).
Governor: Appointed by the crown to rule a province; most are also nominal grand dukes.
Duke: Typically rules a duchy within a prefecture; dukes who serve a grand duke directly without governing lands are called attending dukes.
Senator: Votes in the senate; must have a noble rank.
Marquess: Guards a large wilderness estate or border region, such as those in the wild prefectures of Verduran or the World’s Edge Mountains; generally looked down upon as uncouth, backwater nobility, but often command impressive military resources to defend against invaders or monsters.
Count/Earl: Rules a county (large tract of land and people within a duchy); counts and earls argue frequently over who holds dominion over the other.
Landgrave: Administrates a nonwilderness tract of land that lacks a settlement (such as canals, isolated farms, ranching lands, trade roads, etc.); theoretically the equal of a marquess, but in reality far less prestigious, as landgraves lack the military power a marquess wields.
Baron: Rules a barony (large swath of land with up to a dozen communities) or sometimes a single major city, or else an unlanded advisor to the crown.
Baronet: Assists a baron in administering the baron’s lands; baronets are rarely landed themselves.
Viscount: Administrates a swath of land within a county, traditionally including two towns and the lands between them.
Tribune: Oversees a community, functioning as its mayor and judge; technically an elected position, but almost always a title granted in exchange for political favors; usually answer to barons.
Lord: Holds and rules specific lands; usually a knight; normally answers to a baron rather than a viscount.
Knight: The lowest noble rank in Taldor, though many overlapping ranks and titles exist within “knight,” including elector, esquire, and patrician; newly awarded nobles almost always begin at this rank (especially those who achieve the rank through military service); likewise, the children of noble families who’ve yet to prove themselves often begin as knights.
Oh, by the way. You all were given the Senate Rules earlier. Let me know if there are any items that you are not bringing to the gala. You don't have to change your character sheet. I'll just make note.
Tychus will only have his studded leather armor (if possible, and under his gala clothes), his holy symbol and a peacebound dagger (if possible).
His crossbow will be hidden somewhere with a quiver of bolts. I also have a grappling bolt and some rope, but that might be pushing it.
Tychus will only have his studded leather armor (if possible, and under his gala clothes), his holy symbol and a peacebound dagger (if possible).
His crossbow will be hidden somewhere with a quiver of bolts. I also have a grappling bolt and some rope, but that might be pushing it.
Yes, you can wear your armor and dagger.
You can have a servant smuggle in the crossbow and bolts.The grappling bolt and rope will have to stay home. (I doubt you'll need it here anyway.)
Is anyone taking any of the items that Martella gave the party?
Or do you want to designate someone to carry them?
I’ll provide here some additional information on the skill checks required for your Missions. In play-by-post games, for certain player driven tasks, I don’t mind giving the DCs that you need to hit because I feel that you can better tailor your posts if you know whether you succeeded or not.
Tychus Marcaius – Aide
Each time you attempt to deliver a letter, you will need to navigate the crowded senate floor to deliver the message quickly. This requires a successful DC 12 Escape Artist or Combat Maneuver check.
Icabhod Tilneros – Discovery
Divining each noble’s motivations requires a successful DC 15 Sense Motive or Perception check AFTER at least one party member has put the noble at ease with one or more successful Influence checks.
Trevor Kastner – Fraud
You can identify an opponent with a successful DC 15 Sense Motive check.
After identifying an opponent, you will have two additional tasks: 1) spread rumors about that opponent and 2) manufacture or coopt damning evidence to support your rumors.
Spreading rumors will require a successful DC 14 Bluff check.
Manufacturing evidence will require a successful DC 12 Linguistics check.
Xallis Livara – Politicking
Influencing Baron Nicolaus Okerra is done with the rules for influencing an NPC given in the post above.
Browbeating him requires 2 successful DC 17 Intimidate checks.
Henrika Karthis – Sabotage
Recognizing the correct bottle requires a successful DC 11 Appraise check or DC 15 Knowledge (nobility) check.
Afterwards, injecting the bottle requires a successful DC 14 Disable Device check.
Liraela the Inkweaver – Spy
To spy on Maxillar Pythareus, you need 3 successful DC 14 Perception or Sense Motive checks. But before you can attempt to spy, you need to approach close enough while remaining unnoticed with a successful DC 15 Disguise or Stealth check.
I'm assuming for the sake of balance that I'm only allowed one influence roll per round between the summoner and eidolon, yes?
Yes, Navia cannot influence.
Trevor has his rapier peacebound, and keeps his lucky ioun torch on him for luck! The cleric will also openly wear his holy symbol, and keep his silver tankard on his hip.
I'm currently limited to mobile and have very spotty reception atm. I'll try to have my post submitted by tonight once I get home.
Typos on smartphones can be hilarious!
If Trevor told me about the letters and documents he needs, I could make an attempt to steal them for him before we head to the speech. I would have obviously given the party a small rundown on my skills, so he'd know I could try to get them for him. Gonna throw a Sleight of Hand check in for the papers and daggers, if Trevor says it's okay.
It is a social round action to steal an item. Everyone used their action to interact with a room for the one round that you've had so far.
Once you are given more social rounds, you can use your action for the round to steal One item. If you want to steal two items, you need to spend actions over two social rounds. If you want the bonus on Sleight of Hand, Trevor would also have to spend his action for the round to distract the curator.
Those were good rolls, but unfortunately you can't steal the items just yet. You'll have to decide if its worth spending the actions to steal instead of influencing a guest for those rounds. But there are six of you instead of four, so you'll have a few more actions to spend than the adventure was designed for, so maybe it is worth spending a few to get those items.
Ah, okay! I understand now, got you. I've never done the social rounds stuff, so forgive my ignorance.
I'll wait for whatever current shenanigans are going on before I make my decision on whether or not it's worth it. And obviously ask my party if they think I should or not. I guess it'll depend on if we get all of our missions done or not.
Also to clarify further. There are Social Rounds and there are Events.
You are currently in an Event (Eutropia's Speech). During events you are not limited in the number of actions you can take. So for example, in this current event, you can make your Perception check. You can interact with the servant. And whatever else you want to do within the courtyard.
But you cannot take the social actions during events, such as influencing a room, influencing a noble, or working on your mission.
*Since stealing an item was an unused mission, I will keep the action as a mission action.
When you get additional social rounds, I will let you know. Typically in between events. And we will resolve one round at a time, since the results may affect future rounds.
Icabhod is thinking that our 'help' is sus and so is trying to track them down and shove them over a railing Hitman style.;)
Not if she shoves you over first =)
My racial trait "Heart of the Streets" allows me to maneuver through crowds without them counting as difficult terrain.
I didn't realize that you had that ability. That makes your mission a lot easier. I don't want to negative the check entirely, but I'll give Tychus a +2 bonus on his mission checks because of this trait.
I didn't realize that you had that ability. That makes your mission a lot easier. I don't want to negative the check entirely, but I'll give Tychus a +2 bonus on his mission checks because of this trait.
Sounds good :)
You'll need to spend a social action to interact with her once the opportunity arises.
Copy that. Just give me a heads up when I should post that.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you have plans tomorrow, enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving to you guys! We celebrate Thanksgiving in October here, so not much going on, on my end.
Also to clarify, Henrika and Icahbod only have the -2 penalty on Influence checks. Discovery checks and Mission skill checks have no penalty.
Can Lir use her rolls from earlier on the journal? She'd want to get her mission done before swinging back for the fancy dagger, but would take the opportunity to get the journal for Trevor first.
Yes, I'll let you keep your roll. 18 is a success. I'll post a full description in the gameplay thread later.
Should I attempt to influence check now? And would I need to discover which check is required?
If you want to influence Princess Eutropia, this round, you should attempt a DC 17 Knowledge (nobility) or Sense Motive check to Discover.
If you succeed, you'll learn one of the skills you can Influence the princess in the next social round.
Srry about missing Thursday. Busy times around work and the holidays tied me up. I'll put together a post around the late side of this evening.
Don't worry. Thursday was Thanksgiving. I didn't expect much posting.
Icabhod's future may indeed lie in comedy. Particularly the kind where he is the butt of jokes
Wyssilka was serious about offering face painting if you want to take her up on it. =)
Do I have any letters to deliver as part of my mission? Or do I wait for her to contact me first?