* The Dragon's Demand *

Game Master Plastic Dragon

Welcome, each and every one of you!
Say hello, introduce yourselves OUT of character, and just get settled in.

While I'll be posting some prepatory stuff from now through the weekend, the game won't go into full swing until after next week's expected multi-day shut down. (Unless it doesn't happen again, and then we'll play it by ear.)

Hello one and all!

Oh, and I will make a specific request of you while you're tweaking your characters for the game and whatnot.

If all of you could, using YOUR character info, obviously, come up with a character summary-line something LIKE the following (using one of my characters as example):

NG Male Elf / Conjuration Wizard 1 | HP 8/8 | AC 13 (17) / T 10 / FF 13 | Fort +1 / Ref +3 / Will +3 | CMB +0 / CMD 12 | Initiative +7 | Sorcerer/Wizard Spell List | Diplomacy +5 | Perception +3

And, on your Alias's profile, post that line in the classes/levels box, that'd be awesome. It's really rather helpful to have that info immediately on hand when running a game.

Hi all!

Hello hello!

In case it matters, I live in western Canada, so my posts might come in a bit later in the day if you are in the east.

Looking forward to adventuring with you all!

Hello hello!

In case it matters, I live in western Canada, so my posts might come in a bit later in the day if you are in the east.

Looking forward to adventuring with you all!

That's the wonder of PbP, right? Even in different time zones we can make it work. I'll try to keep that in mind with my posting, Thennor.

Btw, I'm in Michigan, EST.

Hello all! Happy to meet you! I am also EST. GM said to introduce ourselves out of character but everyone is still posting under the alias so I'm doing the same. I think the thing was done right? I copied someone else's.

I'll definitely need help to make sure my build isn't horrible, and knowing what items I should be shopping for -- I also need to know what would be a good favored enemy, favored terrain and relevant traits (maybe this campaign has special ones?). Just so I know what to buy for Herolab, will be an investment going in but I think it's a worthwhile one.

Also, someone suggested Deadeye Bowman as a trait but Erastil is LG and I'm feeling this ranger probably fits more in the chaotic line, maybe one could make an argument for NG. Am I allowed to worship Erastil anyway?

Deadeye Bowman
Source Inner Sea Gods pg. 219
Category Religion
Requirement(s) Erastil
When you are using a longbow, if only a single creature is providing soft cover to your target, your target does not receive the +4 bonus to AC.

While Erastil is LG, you don't need to be within one alignment step to worship him. So you should be good to go on that. The reason why this trait is so good is...

Gazul is facing Enemy X. You are standing behind Gazul. Because you are shooting past the dwarf, you would have a -4 penalty to hit. With this trait, you aim a wee bit higher, and don't take the penalty. That's huge. Especially before you get precise shot. If you don't have either one? That is -8 to hit!

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As for what to shop for? With Str14, what you need ASAP is a composite longbow with a +2 strength modifier. That's 300 gold right there, as it will give you +2 damage. For 600 gold you can (and should) make it masterwork.

Now, with 2 traits? Deadeye Bowman is a religion trait. You could take Rich Parents to make your starting gold 900. That would get you the bow you need off the bat, though longterm is falls behind as 900 gold is only worth it at lvl 1. I'd personally advise just buying the bow when you get the gold. But I have seen people take this because they don't like being stuck at 1d8 damage for all of lvl 1.

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A second trait that I would often advise for longbow builds...

Weapon Training
Source Inner Sea Races pg. 196
Category Race
Requirement(s) Human—Ulfen
As soon as you were old enough to hold it, you were trained to defend yourself with traditional Ulfen weapons. You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls with the following weapons: bastard sword, battleaxe, greataxe, greatsword, handaxe, light hammer, longbow, longsword, shortbow, short sword, throwing axe, and warhammer.

+1 damage is amazing. It's 1/2 of weapon specialization! However, it is Ulfen only. Which is a shame for most characters.

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For feats...I would suggest:

Lvl 1: Weapon focus is fine
Lvl 2 Ranger Combat Talent: Precise Shot (so you don't take a -4 penalty for shooting into combat)
Lvl 3 or 5: Deadly Aim (-1 hit, +2 damage, increases by -1 and +2 every 4 BaB)
Lvl 5 or 5: Rapid Shot (-2 hit, fires an extra shot)
Lvl 6: Many Shot (first arrow shot hits twice!)
Lvl 7: Whatever

By lvl 6 this would get you every archery feat you need. Usually I'd recommend Improved Precise Shot...but Deadeye more or less covers that. Point Blank Master is nice to have (can shoot when in melee) but a 5ft step is usually all you need for that anyways.

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If you are going favored enemy orcs, then you might want to swap weapon focus (push it back to lvl 7) and take exotic weapon proficiency instead. So you can use a orc hornbow instead. Only 80ft range, but it does 2d6 instead of 1d8 damage. That's a great damage increase before you can get a composite bow and deadly aim. And it is flavorful if your character has specialized in hunting orcs.

If you aren't an orc killing specialist? Then I'd advise against the hornbow as thematically it would make less sense.

Thank you! This makes sense. Definitely taking Bowman as a trait then (Erastil really works since Nabor has a theme of hunting and ultimately of providing for his family)! Orc as a favored enemy is just a placeholder, I would swap it to whatever makes sense for the adventure -- I don't think we're fighting a lot of orcs!

As far as the other traits go -- Honestly, Rich Parents doesn't work at all for who he is and it definitely feels like a poor choice in the longrun. I'll just hold to my s%@@ty bow until I can get 600 to get a masterwork composite one

Weapon training sounds good, I can definitely change his story so he's Ulfen instead of Taldan.

Greetings all. Hmmm, out of character introductions? Well, going off what was written earlier I am MST timezone and a resident of the great state of Iowa.

Beyond that? I have been enjoying play by post pathfinder for over a decade now, and tabletop games for years before that in person. I have a love of roleplay, a number of hobbies, and I like to cook and bake on a professional level.

Oh yeah! To tell you about myself, I have been playing TTRPGs for a very short amount of time comparatively, about 8 years now with what I think is a very common origin story nowadays -- started with 5e, got sick of it and moved to Pathfinder. I enjoy second edition a lot, but I have always wanted to play 1e as well, no reason I can't enjoy both!. Not much experience with PbP besides enjoying it for Society games. I like in North Carolina, and I enjoy miniature painting, besides the rather generic statement that I like video games. Love retro media, though, from video games to old shows, only been lacking a CRT (which I've been looking into getting).

Besides that, I work as an accountant in my own firm, which is great because it means I have a lot of free time in the months of May-December. But I work crazy hours every day during Jan-Apr.

Thank you! This makes sense. Definitely taking Bowman as a trait then (Erastil really works since Nabor has a theme of hunting and ultimately of providing for his family)! Orc as a favored enemy is just a placeholder, I would swap it to whatever makes sense for the adventure -- I don't think we're fighting a lot of orcs!

As far as the other traits go -- Honestly, Rich Parents doesn't work at all for who he is and it definitely feels like a poor choice in the longrun. I'll just hold to my s%+!ty bow until I can get 600 to get a masterwork composite one

Weapon training sounds good, I can definitely change his story so he's Ulfen instead of Taldan.

Always a pleasure! But for favored enemy...in general you can't go wrong with:

Favored Enemy Humans: One of the most common enemies faced
Favored Enemy Undead: Almost always some them around somewhere
Favored Enemy Dragons: Just fits for this adventure. Though probably best choice for the second favored enemy.

If I was playing a ranger? I'd personally go Human and then Dragon. Can't go wrong with that.

Hi everyone! Resident rogue here!

About myself: I'm the proud father of a 2 year old girl. My Peruvian wife and the Brazilian me currently live in Germany. I am relatively new to PbP, but have been posting very regularly. Weekends are typically a bit harder for me as it's family time.

My first RPG was D&D 3.0 in 2001 (wow!) set in Faerun, and my first character was also a Rogue, so I'm going back to my origins. After 3.0, I played a bit of 3.5, then Pathfinder 1. Then life got complicated and I stopped playing. I DM'd some 5e before meeting my wife, then I had little time because Covid came and then we moved to Europe. Now PbP offers me the medieval fantasy fix I need in my life.

I also like to cook and bake, but it's as amateur as it gets.

@GM: Please let me know if you want more information in my HUD.

I'm in the Pacific time zone, but I tend to keep weird hours in general so I don't think it's a prediction of when I'm online. I've been gaming for most of my adult life, and I am proud of a ton of work that I did for a game called Ars Magica, which was itself an inspiration for a lot of the mechanics that became D&D Third Edition.

(Amazing advice column)

Okay wow -- as I'm also playing a Ranger with a longbow, I'll look at that in some more detail over the next few days. I have a pretty good idea of Thennor, but I will probably make some minor adjustments based on this!

Also, hi! I mentioned "western Canada" and then got distracted by work.

I'm originally from the east coast, but I've lived in a lot of parts of Canada. I've been in Alberta for about 15 years now, working for an online university. I work from home, which is both a blessing and a curse (though mostly a blessing, tbh).

I started playing RPGs in the late 80s, mostly D&D (1st and 2nd eds), then left the hobby because of school and family, etc. I picked it up again about 10 years ago with D&D 5e and PF1, but other than some PbPs, I haven't been doing much lately, so I'm excited to get into it. PF1 can be a bit overwhelming, imo, so I appreciate that we are sticking close to Core, and I also very much appreciate any advice.

Speaking of: Someone in the Recruitment thread mentioned that "Elephant in the Room Feat rules gives everyone Weapon Finesse and Power Attack for free." I didn't see this in the EitR booklet, so I wonder if someone could confirm or deny this for me.

Thanks for reminding me about elephant in the room! It actually changes my advice significantly.

It removes point blank shot as a feat entirely. Meaning, I highly recommend any archer to start with the lvl 1 feat precise shot. It also gives Deadly Aim for free.

Lvl 1: Precise Shot (no -4 shooting into combat!)
Lvl 2: Rapid Shot (-2 hit for a second shot)
Lvl 3: Weapon focus (+1 hit)
Lvl 5: Whatever
Lvl 6: Manyshot

Id recommend everyone take a look at what elephant in the room gives you

Speaking of: Someone in the Recruitment thread mentioned that "Elephant in the Room Feat rules gives everyone Weapon Finesse and Power Attack for free." I didn't see this in the EitR booklet, so I wonder if someone could confirm or deny this for me.

EitR gives these feats for free, yes, but for power attack you need BAB +1.

Oh we got two Rangers! Is it a problem if we both have the same build as a ranged Ranger? Should I swap to doing melee?

Thanks for reminding me about elephant in the room! It actually changes my advice significantly.

It removes point blank shot as a feat entirely. Meaning, I highly recommend any archer to start with the lvl 1 feat precise shot. It also gives Deadly Aim for free.

Lvl 1: Precise Shot (no -4 shooting into combat!)
Lvl 2: Rapid Shot (-2 hit for a second shot)
Lvl 3: Weapon focus (+1 hit)
Lvl 5: Whatever
Lvl 6: Manyshot

Id recommend everyone take a look at what elephant in the room gives you

Ah excellent -- Precise Shot is what I'd picked.

Oh we got two Rangers! Is it a problem if we both have the same build as a ranged Ranger? Should I swap to doing melee?

Others might have a better sense of what makes a better balance, but superficially, it looks like three "warrior class" characters: 2 melee + 1 ranged, or the reverse -- it's probably fine either way?

Always a pleasure! But for favored enemy...in general you can't go wrong with:

Favored Enemy Humans: One of the most common enemies faced
Favored Enemy Undead: Almost always some them around somewhere
Favored Enemy Dragons: Just fits for this adventure. Though probably best choice for the second favored enemy.

If I was playing a ranger? I'd personally go Human and then Dragon. Can't go wrong with that.

Awww, you beat me to answering this. And just so you know, especially with this group having two Rangers, I would definitely add Goblins to that list.

Personally I think two archers is just fine. It’s common enough to see archers. Two of them just means a barrage of arrows to fight under. Plus the GM chose two rangers built as archers.

But if there is a fear of overlap…a throwing build could work? It functions as a switch hitter.

It would make 3 warriors. 1 melee, 1 ranged, and 1 who can move between the two.

Oh we got two Rangers! Is it a problem if we both have the same build as a ranged Ranger? Should I swap to doing melee?

Nope. Play him how you want to play him. I'll adjust if need be.

Thennor wrote:

Speaking of: Someone in the Recruitment thread mentioned that "Elephant in the Room Feat rules gives everyone Weapon Finesse and Power Attack for free." I didn't see this in the EitR booklet, so I wonder if someone could confirm or deny this for me.

EitR gives these feats for free, yes, but for power attack you need BAB +1.

Yes. You have to still meet prequisites to be able to USE the feats, even if you could have access to it.

I'm in the Pacific time zone, but I tend to keep weird hours in general so I don't think it's a prediction of when I'm online. I've been gaming for most of my adult life, and I am proud of a ton of work that I did for a game called Ars Magica, which was itself an inspiration for a lot of the mechanics that became D&D Third Edition.

Ars Magica?? If you contributed to that, you should be proud. I only got to play it a handful of times, but it was so cool.

Gazul, you are a wealth of knowledge. If you ever to decide to run a game on the boards, Grumbaki, let me know. I want in. :D

Hi all, thanks for choosing me PD.

I'll read through the discussion and have a more detailed introduction for Ara up soon. :)

I'm down here in little New Zealand so my posting times will be odd for some of you.

DBH here. I'm a longtime role player. I started in the late 80's with D&D 2E and have tried out a lot of systems over the years.

I run a number of games here and some of you are currently playing in them. :)

As I said in the recruitment thread I prefer to let the story develop my character mostly. Though I have had ideas for a character spring fully grown from my mind in the past. But generally I like to let them grow organically.

I did have one character in a Tabletop game where I'd made her and had the basic character but when I looked for some art to use as her look I found a picture and blam! Backstory and personality just hit me.

I wanted to make Aria more healing based than most Druids, though looking at the party it seems that survival and Knowledge nature are well covered.

Maybe I should change Aria to a Herb witch while we're still in discussion? Not a powerhouse but good at healing and adding a little more arcane casting to the party.

Thank you guys! If you think it's fine, then I'll go for it! I really did envision this guy as an archer from the getgo so I will stick with that :)

In that case Donnel, how about we split off those favored enemies to make sure we cover more? We got suggested humans, undead, dragons and goblins. So since we can get 2 before the end of this campaign, let's each get 2 of these! What fits more your concept?

Thank you guys! If you think it's fine, then I'll go for it! I really did envision this guy as an archer from the getgo so I will stick with that :)

In that case Donnel, how about we split off those favored enemies to make sure we cover more? We got suggested humans, undead, dragons and goblins. So since we can get 2 before the end of this campaign, let's each get 2 of these! What fits more your concept?

Good plan!

So, dragons would definitely be on his list, though I take the point that it might not make sense to take that at 1st level. So... maybe humans or goblins for Thennor, as they would be most likely to have been raiding his childhood village? That would leave you with undead and goblin/human -- would that work for you?

Yep! This works for me for sure. I guess I'll take goblin and undead then (maybe in that order? Or is undead first better?) and you take human and dragon

Gazul, you are a wealth of knowledge. If you ever to decide to run a game on the boards, Grumbaki, let me know. I want in. :D

Truly, thank you. If I ever have the courage to do so, you’ll have a spot.

I'm hardly a veteran of running campaigns. I only have one ongoing at the moment, but I always like talking shop as well.

I only started PBP in 2016. I was clueless at first, in fact I didn't even know about the dice roller. :)

Shortly after that I was accepted for a game, the party was ready to go and then the GM vanished on us. So I naively volunteered to take over as GM.

That game ran from 2016 to 2021 when it was completed. I'm very happy to have completed an AP, with several of the original players as well. Though lord was I rough at the start!

I'm very grateful for the many kind people who freely offered their advice to me.

I'm currently running 4 games and playing in 4, this game will make 5.

I only started PBP in 2016. I was clueless at first, in fact I didn't even know about the dice roller. :)

Shortly after that I was accepted for a game, the party was ready to go and then the GM vanished on us. So I naively volunteered to take over as GM.

That game ran from 2016 to 2021 when it was completed. I'm very happy to have completed an AP, with several of the original players as well. Though lord was I rough at the start!

I'm very grateful for the many kind people who freely offered their advice to me.

I'm currently running 4 games and playing in 4, this game will make 5.

I commend your bravery. That's CRAZY to me!

Thanks to my bad health (mainly age issues) I'm home most of the day, so I do have a lot of free time to spend online.

I will admit I was running 6 games at one point. My enthusiasm got me carried away far, far too much!

First chance I could I dropped the number down to 4, and when some of them end, if they do, I will be running 2 games max!

Oh wow, yeah that's brave to just jump in like that!
I've run a couple of D&D games in PbP, but I've yet to try my hand at PF.

I've been trying to convince my siblings to join me in a PbP game of 2nd edition D&D for a while now, but they are very busy with demanding jobs and young kids, so I've been contemplating throwing it up on the Paizo boards... We'll see -- my own work is looking to be busy again come January.

Looks like we're back! That took a hot minute!

That it did, but it’s good to be back

Woohooo!

I was getting very antsy not being able to post. There is a recruitment I was mostly done preparing for, though I think it's previous deadline has passed. Hopefully it will be exteneded.

That worked out very well for me -- I was away on vacation last week :D

It's good to be back.

I do wonder. Will the dragon that will demand things of us be made of plastic?

Remains to be seen. Maybe it's a metaphor? Since the demands of a dragon are often for vast sums of treasure or the rare virgin I imagine a very heavy demand could also be a "dragon's demand". In the same way a vast horde of wealth could be called a "dragon's horde".

What if it's a translation error from Draconic and it's really dragon's canoe?

Aria refuses to confirm or deny her virginial status for any overgrown lizard!

What about for a unicorn? :P

Speaking of dragons I hope our DM is still with us.

What about for a unicorn? :P

Speaking of dragons I hope our DM is still with us.

I hope he is alright

Well uh...at least I hope you all have a good thanksgiving!