GM Knightmare's Therapy Sessions [Strange Aeons]

Game Master TheChelaxian

Understandable, I'll experiment a little early on and see what we like as a group.

What I find easiest is that GM calls for a block of PCs to act then those PCs post and the action resolves in post order.

I've found that resolving in initiative order but the post don't happen in that order it makes more work for everyone to keep up with what's happening in what order and will lead to unnecessary confusion.

Within a block each PC could delay until after another PC so within a block it's possible for PCs to act in any order anyway. It's a convenience to assume they do that so things happen in post order so we don't have to put more thought into it then necessary.

If you have time to post but don't want to act until another PC acts then you declare a delay until they act to show that you're engaged with the action.

Yeah, that's something I've found as being more and more relevant at higher levels. Just resolving in post order makes it significantly easier to cooperate with other players.

Well, you know what's the best advice in this situation. "Save the last bullet for yourself."

And you only have one, Iosif.

Think about it.

GM, another suggestion I might have for future combats - roll everyone's initiative yourself. Unless we have some sort of boost conditional on our input heading in, I guess. Just helps keep things moving.

Yeah, especially if it's not a surprise round.

For games I run I just keep a document with all the initiatives with Paizo's markup so I can copy/paste it into posts.

I've probably played this intro 10 times now (lots of attrition in PbP), so far this is right up there near the top of my experiences with it. Well done GM Nightmare

While this is my first time through this AP, I'm very impressed as well.

Thanks for the votes of confidence and the advice, guys. I'll take these under advisement and try and implement them so we don't get bogged down unnecessarily. Its too easy to lose momentum on PBP campaigns so any advice to keep it going is welcome.

I agree that this start is marvelous. I haven't played through this AP yet either, but here's to hoping this AP will actually be finished eventually. Ten times, huh? Hope this one sticks.

I've had Alvar remember their name (and Iosif's) largely for ease of reference, but if that's not something they should know, please ignore that.

If allowed I might have Iosif remember his last name. It's intended to be very alias-y. Literally based on the scientific classification of ants.

This would mostly be for ease of reference, if allowed.

That's fine. I'm more of a "Yes, and-" kind of GM. I'll roll with what works best for y'all.

Probably for the best otherwise we will have to come up with nicknames. :)

"I'm Horns, you're Knives, you're Chatty, you're Scarf, and you're Scar. Easy!"

I like it, but I don't have my scarf ):

I also don't have spell components, so I take it spells are out?

Haha an Oozemorph shifter would have been hilarious here, I'm realizing. Locked in a cell? Wrong.

Yeah Iosif is proper panicking as well. No unholy symbol, no musket... Oh gods, I'm just realizing. He'll ping as evil in a level.

There are spells without Material Components, and hexes don't need them if I remember from my time playing a pact witch.

I like it, but I don't have my scarf ):

I also don't have spell components, so I take it spells are out?

Iosif is right. For example, I only have two spells and one cantrip prepared that require material components. My issue is that I have only a 25% chance of casting a 1st level spell at the moment, and a 30% of casting a cantrip, as my arcane focus item isn't on me.

... of course, I do have my SLA, but given that only two of us have darkvision and I'm pretty sure we're in dim light, that's... probably not a good idea to use at the moment.

What should I use to reach for the keys?

Well, you don't have Sleight of Hand, so I'll ask for a d20+Dex bonus.

Also, as you all awake, you each gain 400xp, nearly forgot, lol.

Haha an Oozemorph shifter would have been hilarious here, I'm realizing. Locked in a cell? Wrong.

There are spells without Material Components, and hexes don't need them if I remember from my time playing a pact witch.

That ooze would be amazing.

And yes, some spells don't, but I had specific ones in mind to prep and I don't want to metagame.

Fortunately, touch of fatigue's components are...

drumroll

A drop of sweat. Simple enough.

Oh, GM, should we track xp? Or are we doing milestones?

Oh, GM, should we track xp? Or are we doing milestones?

I'll put it to a vote. Milestone or XP track?

I vote for milestone... oof is all I have to say to that roll. Oozemorph is supposedly absolutely horrible, but for shenanigans like this it'd be funny to just literally slide through the cells, no issues, bypassing the whole conundrum.

FYI my home internet is down. Also milestone leveling please.

I definitely prefer to do milestone for my own games, but I'm open to doing whatever the other folks prefer.

3 for milestone, that's majority. Milestone it is.

Well, we already reached a majority but I'll just say milestones have my non-necessary vote too!

Yay for milestones! My preferred method.

As for spells, I would have these prepared for the day:
Cantrips - Detect Magic, Stabilise, Touch of Fatigue / + Message at will from racial stuff
Level 1 - 1 x Cure Light Wounds, 1 x Shadow Trap, 1 x Unseen Servant

Material components are required for
Touch of Fatigue - M (a drop of sweat)
Unseen Servant - M (a piece of string and a bit of wood)

Iosif... admittedly doesn't have much he can do right now. He can try throwing a ranged improvised weapon if one is around him.

Also... do we only have one healer right now? Iosif can devote every spell he has to healing next level if needed. That'd only get us two CLWs though.

Alright, I spoiled a Ranged Attack Roll just in case there's a piece of the wall or somrthing Iosif can throw.

Yeah, looks like Nyarai is our only healer. I could theoretically grab infernal healing to supplement it, but... that's not as useful as actual healing spells are. Anyone have UMD?

There are improvised weapons on the tray that would deal a dagger's worth of damage.

I'll be able to use cure light wounds once I recover my formula book but that won't help y'all. Depending on how things shake out I can take the infusion discovery to hand out extracts.

I plan on investing in UMD when my Int increases

With a +4 to AC that claw doesn't hit Iosif (15 AC without armor).

Does the sudden transformation cause potential sanity damage? (I haven't had the chance to play with it much, so I'll be occasionally asking about it.)

Also, I assume only Ethyl and Elyssa are up, but is that correct?

Oh, Ethyl, you don't need UMD on an alchemist to use Cure Wands if I remember correctly? Only for scrolls.

Does the sudden transformation cause potential sanity damage? (I haven't had the chance to play with it much, so I'll be occasionally asking about it.)

Also, I assume only Ethyl and Elyssa are up, but is that correct?

Yes, I adjusted my post. Make a Will save on your turn to avoid taking Sanity damage at the transformation.

Yes, technically, Ethyl and Elyssa are up first, then everyone else.

Oh, Ethyl, you don't need UMD on an alchemist to use Cure Wands if I remember correctly? Only for scrolls.

Yep that's right. Also at 3rd level you will be treated to my tender surgeries. :)

So I'm not necessarily worried about healing, it's going to be like cobbling together a full healer between all of us.

Post in a bit.

Yeah, it's just first level I'm worried about. I don't think Iosif will have much use for spells so he can devote most, if not all, of his spells at later levers to cures since he can't do thar spontaneously.

First level will be a bit rough though, admittedly.

If you need me to also take hedge witch archetype for healing spells, I can do that. If the GM allows.

Technically, it doesn't remove class features until level 4, so I suppose I could add it?

It will probably delay craft wondrous items if I am doing that as well.

If you wanted to do that, I'd allow it.

I'll run the feat math.

Yeah, I can make it work. If I put Craft Wondrous Items to 3, You all will be missing out on the save or suck hexes for a while. I'll live with that for a while.

And it's still just 1 healer. A backup plan would be good.

Is Ethyl planning on using poison?
Chiurgeon stacks with Vivisectionist and would make all cures auto-infusion, even at level 1.

She'll probably use them if we find some but not make her own. Chiurgeon's vibes don't match the character I want in any case.

Ah, yeah, haven't had much of our characters to determine Vibes yet. Sadly this isn't 2e's nonmagical healing, which is quite robust.

Man, this is a hard start for wizards who use bonded items. Thankfully, our GM allowed us to have spells prepared at all. xD

Reminds me of Tyrant's Grasp, if I'm not going to lie.

Opps new posts weren't showing on my campaign page. Hopefully I'll get some time in a few hours.