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I am interested, I have a question about tone. Would you object to a character like Ash from Army of Darkness? Or are you looking for a more serious game devoid of all comic relief? I will draw something up either way probably as the whole thing seems interesting. For the rolls: =15 =14 =14 =13 =16 =16 Going Offensive Soldier
I would like to play Murders mark from that list personally (I like who done its). Another option would be to do something like We Be Goblins and have people play the pregens so that you don't even have to worry about approving characters. That one also has a sequel, and both give everyone a chance to RP some goblins. I have been doing PbP for about a week (yeah I am new too), only way I have seen a battle map was in a google doc excel sheet. Personally I like that because I can access it from work or wherever, and I don't have to make a new account to another website.
My PCs also wanted to impress the officers so they could move up in the ranks on the ship. I made the battle mage an a&&+!&#, and they never usually interact with them because they are not allowed on the deck where the officers are. Kroop and Grok have been influenced, and they give out some helpful advice, but the PCs are starting to get curious about the habits of the officers so they can try and get them thrown off the ship or killed. Luckily they are on day 13 or 14, so soon enough they will not need to worry about it any more. I think I might skip the next couple days so that they can move onto part 2. I feel like the ship gameplay is starting to get stale.
Had my second session and now the PCs sufficiently hate Plugg and Scourge. All it took was them starting to butter up one of the hostile pirates and messing up their day jobs. Now they have tried to weave a story of the black spot and they want to make it appear like Scourge has it so that a slot opens up for a new officer. Sandara asked them who they think would get put in that officer position. They immediately thought about it and decided it might not be the best of ideas. I also made them face the Kraken (not a full combat, just some tentacles). When the Captain made 3 attacks in 1 round, they got the idea not to mess with him. So they have not mentioned mutiny yet, but I think I will be able to push them to that conclusion.
Throwing My hat in the ring as a Cleric of Liberation and Repose. Aconyte has an overwhelming familiarity with death. He lives his life trying to save who he can and ferrying the rest into the afterlife. He is a tall Aasimar with halo and wings. He does not worship any particular deity, but instead holds up the tenants of Good and Law.
I don't have a character built at this time, but through reading the post I would "Mechanically" interested in playing any of the Following: Wizard/fighter/AA/EK
I can't build them all, but I would build one of them upon being selected or requested. Always wanted to play a High level game.
I want to play. I have the PHB and DMG for Ravenloft from 3.5. I have been wanting to play some good Horror for a long time. Never heard of e6, but I will try and read stuff to get an idea for what it is. From reading the link it looks like it is just a way to keep people at level 6, I'm down. As for character, I suppose I would wait for the actual recruitment thread, although I am leaning towards Bard.
I love all of these suggestions. There are a lot of days that get skipped over for action in the AP. I will probably move some of the events around so the PCs have gone through boarding training and have their weapons at least before being attacked by the giant crab-opus. Or possibly a werewolf the officers intended on press-ganging until the full moon brought it out. That way they know that they are severely outclassed without handicap and Harrigan is the quintessential beast on the ship as he slays the creature in one or two hits. I Almost killed Fipps Chumlett because he was caught with 4 rum rations in his footlocker. Next time he gets out of line I think I might just finish the job. Perhaps before that Scourge and Plugg will have a conversation with him trying to "get to the bottom" of why he had those rations. Then the PCs will see that they begin to favor Fipps. After a couple more days of Fipps getting treated unfairly, Scourge and Plugg will throw him overboard for no good reason and just keep on sailing, and they will make sure the PCs see it. I also like the keeping one whipping for later, this will allow me to keep fear over the head of my PCs. One just fell asleep on the day of the storm, Pretty sure he can't take 6 lashes of the Cat. Going to dole out enough till he drops, then hold food until he takes the remaining save 1. Then the captain can dole it out at his will.
Thanks Fitz, I especially like your advice about sabotaging the PCs work. I had not thought about doing this, and it would definitely help with giving them some one sided beatings that they will want to inflict later. I plan to definitely punch up the hate from Plugg and Scourge next session. So far the PCs were whipped once for being late and that is it. I am curious how others dealt with the PCs dropping after getting lashed. Seems to me a couple good hits will drop a character to unconscious pretty quickly. So far I have mitigated this by stopping the beatings until the next day. When you rack up 12 lashes with the cat, you have quite a few days of lashing to look forward to. I could possibly supplement this by saying if you pass out, you don't get food. This could cause some good hatred for Scourge who might seem to be really putting his back into it when whipping people. Then I could use the starvation rules and the players would try to smuggle food for their comrade, which would be like getting caught with extra rum rations. Heh, I am liking this idea.
I might be playing the NPCs to easy, but I feel like my players would rather make Plugg and Scourge like them rather then piss them off. I am not sure how to make the PCs hate them so that they want to mutiny. So far they are only 8 days into the adventure so I might be jumping the gun a bit. I know how to get one of the PCs to hate them, but the others I am a bit worried about. What are some things you did that got your players really saying: "Man I hate ___"?
Ran my first Session on Friday, my group (who likes combat more than RP I feel) absolutely loved the interactions aboard the ship. Here are some things I ran into. Book 1 Part 1:
Pre-generate day jobs for each of the other crew members, my PCs asked almost everyday who they were working with. Figure out which NPCs will be gambling on the boat. One of my PCs became a bookie. Figure out the ship policy on weapons, I told my players that they should feel like they are in prison with respect to weapons. Once they go through boarding training they would be allowed to open carry weapons, as long as they pass. Figure out the DCs for Diplomacy, Stealth (for rum and sneaking), And figure out what is locked where. Remember what rooms have in them if searched (galley and Bilges have many items the players can find when they search) My players had a rivalry going from day one, it provided an outlet to point their frustrations. Lucky for me, Aretta Bansion just happened to be working with the PCs almost every day. During the storm, she mysteriously vanished. Know what the penalties are for doing certain things (my players liked to hold onto their rum and try and sell it later. This is worth 3 lashes of the Cat I believe). Maybe bump up the power of Owlbear. He fought against our party monk and was dropped in one round. If I run it again I would make him a Barbarian. Use the NPCs as an outlet for the rumors on the ship. Things like finding out that Grok is Superstitious, or that some people like certain things. Running some diplomacy checks for the PCs ship actions helped them figure out some of the more arcane nuances of the crew. Print out Summaries of the ship actions w/o the DCs listed. This would have been extremely helpful, but I ran out of time to do it. Maybe provide a list of the NPCs with their short descriptions, that would provide the players with their descriptions rather than having to keep asking. My players were very paranoid that they would fall victim to a "soap party." I might actually use that one night after the hostile people can no longer be influenced. Remember to roll for fatigue if your crew does any work at night. One of my PCs hated being a swab so he tried showing off to get bumped up to rigger. For the most part my PCs have been trying to impress the officers.
Afraid that is all the insight I can muster for now. My Group got to Day 8 in a 6 hour session. Now that they have been introduced to the crew and know the routines, I am sure the remaining days will be streamlined. and pass by rather quickly. Sounds like we will be running around the same time frame, I look forward to seeing what comes up in your game as opposed to mine.
Before I took over GMing my current group, 11 round combats was the average. The old GM liked throwing APL +6 encounters at us as like candy. Most encounters were more like APL +8 or 9. I sort of got tired of it and offered to take over as GM. Now that I have taken over, after GMing 1 session, 2 rounds seems normal. 4 Rounds for more creatures or a lot of misses. 6 if the party is getting destroyed. I hope to keep combat short and move the story along more than have the players fighting.
I am GMing this party...(25 Pt buy, all Pathfinder and 3.5 Sourcebooks allowed with GM approval) Monk (Evil):Has taken a Vow of poverty (exalted re-flavored as Vile) and instead of exalted feats allowed access to style feats. Sorcerer (Aquatic): A Ladies man, got into a fight and almost died fighting a Hobgoblin in session 0 when he refused to stop "poking the bear". Ranger (Archer): Weak willed, but strong in heart, Hates water Elementals. Only good aligned player I have. Rogue (Pirate): Through the background generator it turns out he is a Child of the Hurricane King himself and Old lover to Duvaria Thune. Session 0 was a month ago, I ran them through Hangman's Noose in order to give me my fix of horror and undead before starting down the pirate journey. I was suprised that no one wanted to be anything other than a core race/class. None of my players are interested in being captain either; kinda curious to see what happens.
Allow me to channel my inner Barbarian: GM need player. GM need know rules. GM need have story. GM need keep player interest. GM need time prepare for above. GM need settle rule dispute. GM need have fun. (I also suggest being a player first, it takes less of an investment.) Player need find group. Player need know rules. Player need have fun.
My level 14 Barbarian had (I think) 14 AC while raging. He wore Mithril Breastplate, and was an invulnerable rager (DR 7/-). He also had 230+ HP, and 35 STR while raging (Full ORC)... Vital strike would have been good AGAINST him, since he was a Come and Get Me Barbarian. Otherwise, each attack against him could cost the enemy 1d12+38 HP from his greataxe (x3 if he crit). The usefulness of Vital strike depends on what you can do with your move action. For those times you will not be able to Full attack, you could just standard attack for one big slice o' damage. If you can pounce, then those situations would come up less. My advice is to keep going Barbarian, and do what they do best: SMASH. Also, nothing RAW says a barbarian cannot be a great tactician. The Barbarian just knows how to wield his anger, and destroy his foes with great force.
I have never used the ability, so I might not be able to speak to it's actual usefulness. But being able to shoot around corners/through walls and into a room filled with baddies to set off a fireball/other AOE spells seems pretty good. I guess those situations might not come up that much though. Still sounds like something cool when combined with other AA abilities. If anything else it has some unique flavor. What kind of AOE spells would be awesome if you could shoot them at a target through walls? EDIT: Detonate would be good...
I apologize if you felt like my combat suggestions were designed to specifically counter the player while not being able to challenge the rest of the group. I would also like to apologize if you felt like the suggested encounters seemed out of place in the wilderness. I felt they would provide a challenge for the whole group even if they couldn't spot the player. If he is up in a tree, fire elementals could burn down the forest with ease. You are the GM, not the kingmaker AP; design your encounters so they are a challenge for all your players if that is your major concern. If you feel like the player needs to feel close to death, do it with things that ignore stealth until the monsters perception starts to catch up. Traps are great, assuming he is the lead scout. Spell effects cast on an area which don't target Reflex (permanent color spray cast in a doorway to a hidden tomb or something), no hiding from those. But these are just more suggestions to counter the guys stealth. If you want to blindly follow the AP encounters, which are aimed at a non-optimized 15 point-buy party of 4, he will continue to be "unchallenged". But as others and I have said, he is not Overpowered. In combat he is little more than a nuisance in comparison to other well-built characters. If you feel otherwise, wait 3 more levels.
This is a tough one. With Agile Maneuvers you could drop STR as much as you want and use DEX for your CMB. That problem is solved. Kinda hard for me to recommend a feat progression for you, but there is a line that you can do as a trip master that lets you get like 2 AOOs when you successfully trip something. I can't remember what it is. I would recommend a Dip in Monk MoMs so you can pick up Crane Style easy and activate as a swift action. Then you would be getting WIS, DEX, and INT to AC when you go duelist with no armor. Pretty neat. So a rough outline would be: Monk1 - (Crane Style), Agile Maneuvers
This would give you Acrobatics and perform as class skills, so they would be better. Dex, WIS, Int to AC. Dex to hit, DMG, and CMB. Duelist will give you Combat Reflexes about the same time you would be getting AOOs when you Tripped Stuff (Viscous Stomp?).
Let me start off by saying I am in agreement with most of the others here stating that The character who is no doubt well built, is not overpowered. Currently at level 3 a stealth of 20+ is amazing. Something the best peasant thieves could probably never hope to achieve. And he seems to be using it to great effect, which is awesome. But as others have said, this type of character will eventually plateau in power, and nickel/dimming will become a non-issue. Currently the character is doing 1d4+2d6+1+str (Assuming within 30 feet AND composite STR Shortbow for Small Character). Average of 11.5 DPR with +1 STR Bonus, which is nothing to sneeze at at that level. But a 2hd fighter or barbarian would be doing more than that. A barbarian while raging would do 2d6+12 or 19 DPR with a great-sword and probably has a better chance to hit as well. So damage wise, the rogue is not obsurd... He is just accomplished. Stealth wise, I am assuming 20 Dex: 3 (points) + 3 (Class Skill) + 5 (DEX) + 3(skill focus) + 1 (Size) + 5(cloak) = 20 Not sure what his feats are. But he only has 2 at that level, so it would have to be Skill focus + Point Blank Shot? Does he have Precise Shot? If not, he takes a -4 for firing into melee. Later on he could take Stealthy for another +2. So we see that he is optimized as much as a rogue can be, but he is still not the pinnacle of either damage or stealth. So he is not overpowered in either regards. Lets turn to your tactics: Tactics:
Are your creatures when not engaged in melee hiding behind cover? Cover != Concealment
Are you giving him sneak attack damage beyond 30 feet? Dem not be the rules Are you throwing creatures immune to sneak attack at him? Elementals are a great choice at that level. A band of 4 small earth elementals or 2 medium earth elementals. Try finding creatures with DR/not what the rogue is using. If you can negate the damage from the initial attack, you negate the sneak and the rogue is forced to attack a different target. Are you using spells which provide cover? Fog cloud, and the like are great obstacles against archers. Are you building NPCs with a high perception? Lets say a Half-Elf Druid 2/Monk 1 with 20 WIS, 3 (class) + 3 (points) + 5(WIS) + 3 (skill focus) + 2(alertness) +2(Keen Senses) + 5 (Eyes of the Eagle) = 23 Perception. Take Deflect Missiles as your Bonus feat for Monk. Summoning Spells and an animal companion. This guy would be a challenge. Are you using creatures that have uncanny dodge? Maybe they find a band of lvl2 barbarians (party size +1d4 for a challenge), that would be a fun encounter... TLDR;
Plus no BBEG should just stand there and take the hits, especially not on his own turf. If the Evil Necromancer at the end of the Adventure Tunnel killed the rest of the party and just stood there against the sniping rogue... That would just be silly.
I had an idea. Bottleneck: Bladebound Kensai Magus with Swordmaster's Blindfold wielding a Katana (better at level 13 for int to dmg, or 14 for pin down) Highlights - Enlarge Person + Lunge, Dervish dance(with katana instead of scimitar) or agile weapon, stand still, combat exp-> improved reposition-> Quick reposition + greater reposition, combat reflexes So this guy would stand still and have blindsense when anyone came within range(15' with lunge). When this happened he would shred them to pieces with attacks of opportunity (he would get both dex and int as bonus Attacks of opportunity and Dex/Int to damage). He would not need to draw his sword until someone came within range and provoked an AOO. Add in the ability to cast spells into the blade in preparation and BAM, first time someone tries to move past they will get lit up. And given that this guy has a 15' Kill radius, just put a bottleneck in the throne room approx 30' wide. Also he can reposition if someone is about to leave his threat area as part of his attack, and each 5 ft of movement provokes an AOO, which you have a lot of. Combine that with the Bumper and you have a pretty unpassable combo. Just make sure to put fickle winds on him so archers can't shred him to pieces, and maybe spell reflection.
There are 2 guides in the guide to the guides post stickied in the advice forums. That will go over the numbers and such. My question is, what would you like this inquisitor to do? Is it going to be a battle hardened bloodthirsty Inquisitor of Gorum wielding a greatsword? Is this going to be a seek the truth using any means necessary including torture and poison Inquisitor? Will you be a champion for good, trying to root out all evil that oppose your deity? What drives this character to support this crew of adventurers? As for the group you are playing with, Looks like the Alignment is more slant towards Evil. Is that correct? If so, take that into consideration when you are creating your character. A good inquisitor probably doesn't have the same goals as an evil one. Why would an evil inquisitor try to assist others more than themselves? How would your good Inquisitor get along with the party Assassin? If you are going for a full buff type, I would suggest Bard over Inquisitor. But if you are set on Inquisitor, what ability stands out the most to you that is pushing you in that direction?
Kolokotroni's and Atarlost's suggestion would be better for a smaller party. As it is, combat at level 1 will probably take quite a while to complete 1 turn. I like the Idea of both the Zen Archer and the Sorcerer. Why not do both? Make them an Arcane Archer. Not sure how optimized it would be, but you would get to do both archery and spell casting. Arrows that explode into fireballs? Sign me up. Instead of Zen Archer you might consider Ranger. That would give you the benefit of archery, bonuses to Survival so you could act as a guide, and full BAB. If no one takes a trapfinding class, you could do that too with the Trapper/Urban Archetype. Combine that all together: Trapper Ranger + Sorcerer(pick your bloodline) -> Arcane Archer. Your arrows are all enchanted. You can attach either traps OR Spells to your arrows. You can find and disable traps. Favored Enemies, Favored Terrains, Tracking, Bond (probably better w/companions). Seems like a cool idea to me.
I just started GMing myself, first session was a couple days ago. I ran into the same problem as you and When I did my research 4 APs stood out to me (in no particular order): Rise of the Runelords - Most people have said this is an excellent adventure. From what I understand it is also the easiest for a new GM to get into. It might also be the cheapest if that matters. Carrion Crown - I am a huge fan of Horror and the Undead. I have heard mixed reviews about this one, but I was personally interested and thinking of trying to push Ravenloft rules into the setting. My players were not interested in this one because... Skulls and Shackles - Pirating on the high seas, sums this one up nicely. I have only heard good things about this adventure. My players wanted to be pirates, so this is what they chose. This is not the standard Hero AP, and personally I am more interested to see what a group of evil pirates will do. Kingmaker - Heard great things about this one. It is a really open sandbox, make sure that you have players that want to be rulers of their own kingdom if you choose this one. As far as the advice for starting with modules goes, I think it is not a bad idea. What I did was I got a level 1 Module (Hangman's Noose) and ran my players through it to get them acquainted with each other. I wanted them to have something to bond over before starting the adventure path. This one just happened to match what I wanted to see in game; Horror, Mystery, and Undead. It was a good way to ease myself into the GM chair as I got to see how my players reacted to several different aspects of the game: Roleplay, Riddles, Combat. I also got to see what I needed to work on to smooth out game play to keep the flow of the game constant: Initiative and combat, Notes on rooms(What monsters are in them, what treasure, other interesting stuff), Faster map drawing, Getting more into NPCs heads, preparing closer to game time(I forgot most of my prepared information and did not have a chance to review it). For you, I would recommend one the above AP's if you want a continuous story. Otherwise, modules could be a good place to start, just have the hints be dropped in the previous module to keep players wanting to continue on. Ask your players what they want to run, what they are in the mood for. Just summarize the AP for them and see what they are interested in. Personally, I enjoyed running my character through Hangman's Noose. I also intend to run them through Carrion Hill when they reach around 6th level. Gonna have a heck of a time finding a way to get them there, but reading through the AP I have come up with a couple ideas. My best advice is to read through the APs (possibly start with those I've listed) and see which one sounds the most interesting to you and present them to your players for voting. This way you get to run one you will be interested in, and your players will get to choose their path. |
