GM Bret’s PBP Gameday XIII PFS1 CORE #5-03 The Hellknight’s Feast (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

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.

I like it if everyone can post at least once a day. 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.

Character Profiles

Please have a profile header displaying a brief overview of your character's current status. At the least it should include current/maximum hit points, AC (including flat footed and touch), saving throws, and any pools of expendable resources such as panache, grit, arcane pool, rounds of rage, rounds of bardic performance or other things that get expended as you use powers.

In the character profile, please include a complete stat block. You may put it under a spoiler if you wish, but if you do so please put it under a single spoiler. I do not want it split across multiple spoilers.

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.

If you want examples, the PbP GM Kit has the pregenerated characters done in BB Code. Use those as a general guideline.

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 botting instructions in your profile and a general tactics in case someone else needs to bot your character. 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 a person botting 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 abilities that interrupt play such as Swashbuckler Parry and Repost, Dual Cursed Oracle’s Misfortune Revelation, the Bard Spell Saving Finale or anything else that would interfere with resolving a check, I ask that you have something at the start of your Botting instructions about when you want this used. The reason is that it can really slow down a PbP if every action is serialized.

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.

Initiative in PbP

I will roll all Initiative checks for PCs and NPCs, sort them, and organize them into blocks. 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.

Attack with Pointy Stick: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

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 everyone to post in exact 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.

Chronicle information

I use RPGChronicles as a GM tool to create the game chronicles. There is no need for a player to create an account.

Other character information:

I would like to know if you have a wayfinder, holy symbol, banner or other identifying iconography visible.

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!

I was a bit worried of the tier, but after reading the rules it seems that it will be high with 4-player adjustment if I come or not, so signed up.

Player Melda
Character Miriel Magol
PFS # 97350-12
Faction Liberty's Edge
Advancement Standard

Miriel is a paladin of Shelyn, and isn't wise enough to hide it. She's intelligent enough to do so if someone reminds her that it might be a good idea to put away her symbols.

@Melda,

If you create a post using your character avatar in Gameplay and then delete the post, that will cause this game to show up in your campaigns. This is what I was referring to when I said Dot and delete.

@Everyone,
I have put the RPG Chronicle link in the campaign information. It is the “Sign in here” link that is at the top of this page. Please sign in once you have selected your character.

Thanks!

Greetings everyone!
As my main and lovely Atum not really Core anymore - I will bring pretty low effective but funny Bedlam. He is lvl 6 (possibly but unlikely 7) and need to be updated.

Player Shtorm
Character Bedlam
PFS# 157437-12
Player Souverine Court

Standard progression.

Bedlam has a riding dog if it matters.
Regardong symbols - he is a follower of Kelinahat and had a holy symbol though usually not easyly visible as well as Wayfinder.

Player: B Viggers
Character: Khellek the historian
PFS: 100387-16
Faction: Dark Archive
Advancement: SLOW

Khellek has a wayfinder he is quite proud of. He typically keeps it obviously displayed, unless a mission demands subtlety... in which case he might not be the best grumpy old man to bring along!

Thank you to those who have already checked in. I have sent messages to those who signed up but haven’t checked in yet.

Please check your profiles and headers to make sure that they are up to date. This is a Core game.

I plan to start the game on September 8th. If you want to post a character introduction before that, the group will be meeting in a meeting room at the Grand Lodge. The scenario text starts with you entering said meeting room, so introductions should probably be done outside the meeting room.

Assuming everyone checks in, the APL will be (7+9+8+8+5+6)/6 ~= 7.2 which rounds to 7.

As that is between the two sub-tiers and we have a party of six, it will be high tier with the 4 player adjustment. Should anyone change characters or drop, that could affect the APL.

Numair does have a Wayfinder, but does not typically keep it on display.

He *does* however have a very obvious Sage Gem embedded in his forehead.

He *does* however have a very obvious Sage Gem embedded in his forehead.

I didn’t get that involved in Scarab Sages plot line.

I know it is a big accomplishment getting one, but could you tell me or provide a link telling me about the Sage Gem? What are the mechanical effects?

Thanks!

Nothing too drastic.

It is pretty obvious, though!

I checked and actually Bedlam is level 7 just recieved. So we'd deffinitelly go high subtier. Sorry for this delay.

I hope it's okay that I won't fill up character sheet at the forum and just make a statblock iwht attaching proper character sheet. I am striggling with this old-school forum systems ...

Grand lodge is a good option to start - I will fo with introduction shortly!

Numair,

Thanks, that is what I wanted to know.

Bedlam,

If you have an online sheet, I am fine with a link to the online sheet. If not, just give me a basic stat block so I have an idea what your character can do. Botting it is nice if you give complete dice expressions for normal attacks/abilities you will use. Putting them in a spoiler in your profile allows you to cut & paste the dice expressions when posting.

qstor
2072-27
Liberty's edge

Sylvester reporting in. He does not have a Wayfinder or other identifying object. He will also be accompanied by his riding dog Shaggy.

qstor

2072-27

Whoa!!! PFS # 2072... really? When did you start to play PF?

Please place your tokens on Slide 2 which includes a space for marching order.

Grog, if you could please fill in the information for RPGChronicles, that would be most appreciated. No need to make an account, the app is mostly a GM tool. It helps me create the chronicles at the end of the session

Do we know how many "rounds" of interaction we will get in total? 2 each, or two to start with and then progress onward?

If only two each, then I'm not sure about the value of "discovery" but Khellek is excellent at ferreting out information (lowest knowledge is sandly local at only +23).

His sharp tongue is less good at persuading people (diplomacy +13). We might want to be a bit tactical about who does what here. Especially if we only have two influence rounds in total.

There will be more rounds of interaction. You would expect to have time during the dinner / feast and may have more after that.

You don’t know how many total opportunities you will have.

As far as I can tell, Grog is the only one who has not yet posted an 'interaction' for this section.

Grog? You good?

Grog half orc wrote:

qstor

2072-27

Whoa!!! PFS # 2072... really? When did you start to play PF?

2008? When it was 3.5 at the first GenCon it was offered :)

sorry was helping my dad who has dementia.

My heart goes out to you. Although Dementia is a very broad classification, it is really rough dealing with a parent suffering from it. I had do deal with my mom who had it and episodes of paranoia.

Take care!

Proposed seating plan discussion:

I think Khellek should be next to Naran to do a discovery, if successful (which it likely is) he also has diplomacy (+13) and a lot of other possibly useful skills to try and influence him.

Miriel and Bedlam both have +10 diplomacy, but Numair at +22 is the master here. The only real question is whether it is best to have him sit next to both of the uninfluenced, or concentrate on one (likely Naran)

Kerkis already has one influence on him, so in the interests of giving the most people a chance to interact, I'm going to propose Miriel and Bedlam flank him, while Khellek and Numair take on the senator.

Grog and Sylvester run interferance.

Proposed seating plan:
Grog
Lady Vaelia (uninfluencable)
Sylvester
Lady Darchana - Friendly
Lord Rothos - Friendly
Miriel (working on Kerkis)
Scion Lord Kerkis - 1 already
Bedlam (working on Kerkis)
Lord Rothos (friendly)
Numair - working on
Senator Naran
Khellek - discovery on Naran
Dremdhet Salhar - Friendly

I am good with this plan. Sylvester can sit this one out. :)

Of course I forgot to precast heroism.
At a convenient moment he'll use extended heroism on himself, Bedlam and Miriel. At this stage, I guess it will be after the dinner. Hopefully we get some other opportunities to interact with folk.

Okay, that helps a lot. Thank you for clarifying. I usually play and write from phone so its ba bit challenging.

A also found some chronicles which can be handy and partially filled up faction journal from Season 8 as well

Bedlam will sit between lords Kerkis and Rothos

Please remember that using Detect Evil is an active use of the class ability and it is evident to anyone seeing you do it that you are doing something.

The smoking room was mentioned as a place to explore. I will remind the party that Coulson and Morilla are in the Dining and Smoking Room with the various guests. You were asked to search the rest of the grounds. You can still search the room, but it will be in front of some of the guests.

Either here or as an OOC comment in gameplay, please give a clear list of the areas. Discussing what order you want to search is great. Please do not have me search a wall of text to figure out where you are going.

Thanks.

kitchen sounds ok for the first area.

In case Morilla or Maldris in a smoking room maybe now it is not good time to go there

The way things are going, the scripting in the scenario is probably not going to flow naturally with the actions of the party in what I anticipate will be the scene after the next.

This mostly impacts Bedlam and Grog as it is their faction leaders that would want them involved in an interaction between those leaders and two guests.

The easy way to fix it would be to have the faction leaders take them aside and tell them after the fact what happened. That at least gives those two some insight into what happens without restricting what I anticipate the group wanting to do.

I could force the full interaction, but I fear that it would take a bit of railroading where characters would have to hold off on acting when I suspect they would want to do so.

I would like to know the group’s preferences, slightly force the group to hold off on acting or have the interactions told in the past tense.

I'm happy for you to adapt on the fly.

I would not like to slow down the group fun.

And Bedlams faction prefer to act incognito sometimes anyway :))

I just checked and apparently Bedlams AC is only 23, because I had not enough gold to buy Ring of Protection which was planned to purchase. Though I suppose to be a tankiest party member with Darkvision, Evasion etc... So just follow :)

So things are kind of left hanging right now. According to the map, only Miriel and Bedlam have gone into the cellar since the bodies were discovered and no one has gotten close enough to examine the bodies in detail.

What is the group doing?

Khellek followed Bedlam down as he was talking, then suggested we return upstairs. Which is where his icon is now. Is something jumped Bedlam as we went down, Khellek would have been there (and horribly surprised), otherwise his old creaky bones will be back upstairs, suggesting the group finds the two servants who may have had their face eaten off.

I moved my token to the cellar.

Waiting for Grog to post.

I will be at an in person convention this weekend so it is likely I will not have as much time to respond from Wednesday evening to Sunday evening. I should be able to get at least one post in per day, but may not be able to do more than that.

Would someone like to bot Sylvester?

It is ok I will take an action myself. :)

Bard is a Lore Master starting from level 5 and can take 10 in any situation.

Regarding lick attack and Fort save - being 5 star GM I am almost sure what is it, but Bedlam - not %)

These attacks are nasty. :)

It has been quite a while since I dug very deeply into PFS1 rules.

Can you take a 5’ step as part of the readied action? I can’t remember.

If the answer is yes, a rules reference would be greatly appreciated.

Bolded for emphasis:

Readying an Action: You can ready a standard action, a move action, a swift action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.

You can take a 5-foot step as part of your readied action, but only if you don’t otherwise move any distance during the round.

Thanks!

That is exactly what I was looking for.

My apologies for the slowness of the updates recently. I broke my glasses which makes it difficult to read. I have a work around that should function for the near future.

Bret

Sorry for a delay. Bedlam will post in several hours...

So how possible is this to Detect Evil from shadows? Actually his diety suggests Bedlam to do exactly like this...

I don’t think it is covered but I would allow it. It would work best with a distraction and I would ask the person doing the Detect Evil do roll a stealth check. It is really hard for someone to object to something they were not able to detect.

My general impression is starting up the ability is more noticeable than maintaining it, but the whole ‘magical sparkles when casting’ thing is not well defined in the rules.

So how possible is this to Detect Evil from shadows? Actually his diety suggests Bedlam to do exactly like this...

I'm sure a bunch of the guests are evil!!

I am not aware people generally knows the most part of paladins Detect Evil description:

A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.

But if particular person is really evasive and covering by crowd I suppose it is still difficult. Up to GM I suppose. So far I like how scenario goes.

I am aware of at least 2 scenarios where just an idea of detection evil with a short try may ruin half of the plot and completely cancel further mission

I had forgotten that detail that is unique to the Paladin’s ability to detect evil. I will review what was done and amend the information if appropriate.

I am going to be busy most of the day so it is likely I will not have time to do an update during the day. I will try to post tonight.

Sylvester is Invisible

I don't know if these demons have any targeted spells or SLA but most do. If they cannot see an opponent then they cannot target an opponent. :)

The rules for Stealth and Invisibilty are strange.

You would benefit from total concealment (50% miss chance). Anyone can randomly try to attack any square on the suspicion that there is an invisible creature there. There is a poor chance of it working since either a miss from concealment or a miss because of AC gives the same results — nothing seems to be there.

I do not consider it unreasonable for an opponent to target the area someone was last seen.

If you are going to stay immobile, that means you did not move since casting the spell. Staying immobile would be a lot more effective flat against the wall or someplace else people aren’t likely to move through.

I allow people to either avoid an opponent moving through their space (no roll, but no longer immobile) or deny the opponent the ability to freely move through them in which case it provokes and interrupts their movement.

Those with Spellcraft have a chance to determine what exactly you did. Someone can ‘disappear’ from multiple different causes.