Bej Vanskian's page

Desnus, sometimes

At the last council meetings, Bej has kept silent. He nods and answers when his opinion is asked, but feels his duty as Warden like a stifling burden. He wishes to produce, and make. He came to this land to set up a nice, growing place as Erastil commands, not to be a watchful eye on a mass of unruly colonists too eager to get drunk.

When the meeting ends, he raises a hand and looks directly up to Wilhelm. “Ehm. M’lord. My friends. I have something to say.” his self-assuredness is hidden behind a veil of contriteness.
“I... don’t know how good of a job I’m doing as a Warden. Honestly, I do reckon the role is an important one, but it’s just not for me.” he puts on the table his magic arrows and looks at the original members – Wilhelm, Rowan, Anastacia, all of them “You folks where trusting enough to allow me to reap the fruit of that charter, and that I appreciate. My men in the country are just about to finish building the farm I’ve always dreamed of – I’m riding over there tomorrow to help them finish the job.” he points somewhere in the map, just south of Oleg’s, near a small creek.
“It’s a nice place. We got plenty pigs and chickens, and fields of wheat, and a damn beautiful apple orchard. The cider is going to be a God’s treat.” Bej’s stern face seems to relax as he talks about his new place. “That fella Lorbeck is going to work for me, and the Jonovic family is moving in too, and a few other folks. It is a fine bunch I got there.”
“M’lord, I hereby resign as the Warden of Domierov.” he bows to Wilhelm, then moves to shake his hand “My friends, should you ever need me, even just for a nice pint of cider, you know where to find me. Godspeed you all, I’m sure you’ll make Domierov as prosperous as Erastil’s fields.”

_______________
Ok, as most of you would’ve guessed from my lack of posts, I can no longer follow the huge amount of posting and plots and sub-threads of this game. It was incredibly fun while it lasted, but I just don’t have the time and I don’t want to half-ass it with one-line posts.

If the GMs agree, I’d like to leave Bej’s fortune for Domierov – namely, I’d like for Bej’s farm to be the farm terrain improvement of one nearby hex.

Thanks so much to all of you for the fun we had!

I'm here, but I'm having a few issues finding time to post.
I'm going to ask the new GMs if I can just drop my downtime investments altogether, won't have time to keep up with that.

I hope I'll be able to calculate my wealth soon, but I'm in no hurry to gain anything even if it turns out I'm below.
I like low wealth campaigns anyway, less clutter on my sheet. Also, there's friggin' 10 or 12 of us.

Prisons are worthless. They should be used as temporary accomodations for people waiting to be tried, and for little else.

Maiming sucks, as you can still stab someone with one hand, but you can't work a field. Awful idea.

I don't know about exile. Ok, you banish someone: now you have a 50% chance he will settle down somewhere else, either with a few problems (thus learning little from his mistake), or with many (thus struggling to be productive and slipping towards crime again); and a 50% chance he'll become a bandit and try to stay in his country. Not a fan of exile.

Death penalty, in a world with detect lies and other divinations, isn't that bad for irreddemable crimes. Aggravated and unjustified murder, and all that.

I think most crimes should have a penalty in terms of forced labor, hard or unpleasant (somebody got to sweep that dung!), perhaps coupled with lashes. Lashes are very painful and quite humiliating, but they heal fast and don't incapacitate in the long run.

I'm figuring a "ten and you keep one" law. Ten lashes, nine get healed by a cleric after one night, but one you keep.

I'm very glad that the reason you will no longer post is something positive, for a change. Good luck and thank you for all the fun so far!

Not much you missed, Dareon. Basically we are discussing IC what happened OOC in the Kingdom Building phase. Sanita and Roan got appointed Spymaster and Councilor, and Holbrecth is present to our council meeting. There’s been a bit of fuss about how much freedom will Sanita have as a Spymaster.
I made up a minor incident among NPCs to explain the bad Stability check and increase in Unrest, and we’ve basically been riffing on that.
Right now we are coming to a point where we are ready to jot down a few laws.

Pretty much. I mean, I set out for Sanita to be a very gray person. But I also joined the game deep in the (unbeknownst to me at the time) onset of diabetes. Severe mood swings, irritability, etc. Didn't realize what was going on until my eyesight went out on me.

So, yeah, Anastacia's player has every right to play Anastacia as distrusting, even hating, Sanita. I don't hold it against the player one bit. It's all IC RP at this point. Hopefully everyone is finding Sanita a much more pleasant person now. Or at least, she's a more realistic and not intentionally irritating person. Now that my blood sugar isn't over 400 all the time anymore.

I am sorry about the diabetes, hope you can keep it in check.

Sanita is super-argumentative and never once backs down from her opinion. I just don't have time to have Bej discuss everything with her.
Bej wasn't on board with Roan being into the council after just one week but as a player I see that it makes for a smoother game, so I let it slide. Wilhelm's player decided that Wilhelm trusts him, that much is enough for me.

That is something that Sanita never does. It is admirable the effort you put into the character, but in the end, what I ask myself before posting is "does this make for a better game?". Debating over Sanita's freedom as a Spymaster is just role-playing to establish Sanita's persona: it doesn't really affect the game that much, since yeah, you report only to Wilhelm, and then Wilhelm has a council with all of us.

This debate we have is fun now, but it has potential to last for a long time, since Sanita won't back down and yourself admit that Anastacia has every reason not to back down either. Is it worth it keeping it up? It reaches a point where it's not just fun role-playing, it's a chore. That's how I see it at least.

Sanita has a very distinct and coherent personality, which is much better than some characters I found on this boards who were just a race and class. Unfortunately that personality leads to a lot of arguments since it clashes with most of the others’. You post a lot, take every debate to its conclusion, and never once compromise. This, I find it halts the game a bit. Right now, Bej is absolutely NOT on board with Sanita’s request, but I don’t think that debating over it makes for a better game, so I’ll have Bej bite his tongue.

Bej cringes a bit whenever Sanita says “trust me on this” or variation thereof. Did we go insane, to give that tiny madwoman the power to do as she pleases without having to report to anyone?
Still, he feels they have more pressing issues Hopefully she won’t start poisoning anyone who is in her way “Aye, I’m most certainly sure I don’t want to know what you do at night, lassie.” he scowls at her, half-jokingly, half not.

“Also, I’d like everyone to stop worrying sick about m’lord being assassinated. We all started off as adventurers. We went looking for things that might kill us. As a job. A knife in the night or a drop of frog’s bile into your pastry ain’t more dangerous than that beast” he points at Tuskgutter’s head on the wall “or worgs, or bandits, or this Green Lady. We’re all well suited to survive stuff that wants to kill us, m’lord even more so than most of us. What we are not prepared for is people getting into anarchy and murdering each other for a piece of bread because we failed to build a proper barony. We didn’t build anything, so far, that might fall into chaos should Baron Wilhelm meet his end, by battle or assassins. A kingdom’s health is more important than its leader’s, and anarchy is coming faster than any arrows towards m’lord heart.” he nods at Wilhelm “With all due respect, m’lord. Of course.”

“Food tasters, lassie, really?” Bej raises an eyebrow at Sanita.
He thanked her and Fharn’s for their purchases back home, and he welcomed them, if not warmly at least respectfully, back at Oleg’s. He’s currently listening to Wilhelm filling them in. He spent his monthly amount of sociability talking to Terrion and his men, and doesn’t feel like telling again all of their stories.
“Admirable thought, really, but it won’t be necessary. We got six, perhaps seven sets of eyes who can detect poison with a simple trick, we just need to remember to memorize it on rotation. No need to bring a poor sod to take a bite out of every meal of the Baron.”

When the Council of Domierov is finally together, Bej speaks up again.
“I… am sorry to report that there’s already been a few brawls among colonists. Apparently my duty as Warden is beginning to be tasking. That fella, Kormac, the potter? He smashed one of his vases onto some damn kid’s head… apparently the young lad stole a clay statuette as a present to some girl, and he said that since there ain’t no official laws yet, he didn’t do anything wrong. So Kormac smashed his head and said he didn’t do anything wrong either. Now the kid’s in the hands of the herbalists, boy’s father wants to kill the potter, and rumors of “no laws” are spreading. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Introducing IC the bad Stability check and minor increase in Unrest.

Ok, here we go

Stability check, DC 21: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20

aaaand that's just great. Sorry guys, starting on a good note!

Not really liking all this talk while Schrodinger's Drelev is going on in the other thread... However Roan picked up Bej's sins last night at the campfire with Drelev's men. Pride, as in: his way is the only way, and a bit of wrath (not big with the forgive and forget). He does consider himself a very righteous man.

Ok, so.

Gozran 4th to Gozran 8th (5 days method)
Taking 10, +12 Knowledge (engineering), +10 teams bonus = 32
32/2=16

I gain
1 Influence (15 gp)
7 Goods (70 gp)
7 Labor (70 gp)

By Gozran 8th, Bej spent 565 gp and has a Capital of 1 IP, 7 GP, 13 LP. I will adjust the sheet as soon as the thing with Drelev is over and we get into just downtime.

Next week I'll start building an Animal Pen (cost: 1 IP, 6 GP, 5 LP). It takes 16 days. This Animal Pen will be part of a Farm, who will become the Farm Terrain Improvement of a nearby Hex. Is this ok?

Also, while the Animal Pen is being built, do my teams keep generating Capital, or are they supposed to work on the building?

3)Add them together. Your team may in practice make more money than this but some of the actual money they make will be used as operating expenses and salary. Only 1 d20 roll or taking 10 allowed per character per downtime period, all the bonues are added to the d20 roll. As an example lets assume that you have your 2 teams of Laborers (adding 2 to GP and/or Labor) and you yourself have K/Local +9 that you are wanting to create labor with.
DAILY METHOD
You decide if you want to create money or capital (Labor) for the day. If you choose Labor and take 10 then you achieve 10+9(K/Local)+4(Teams) giving you a 23, enabling you to purchase 2 Labor for a total of 20gp.
If you choose gold you generate the same total since your laborers can add to gold and make 23/10 = 2gp and 3 sp for the day.
WEEKLY METHOD (5 day week)
Just make 1 roll for the week without deciding if you want to create Captial or money. Divide by 2 (For the 23 this gives 11.5). You can allocate this between captital and money as you see fit.
So you could
Gain 11 gp and 5 sp
Purchase 1 Labor (for 10gp) and gain 10.5 gp (Net gain 1 Labor and 5sp)
Purchase 2 Labor (for 20gp) and gain 9.5 gp (Net gain 2 Labor at a cost of 10.5gp)
Purchase 3 Labor (for 30gp) and gain 8.5 gp (Net gain 3 Labor for a cost of 21.5gp)
ETC.

Sooo… this is what happens in Bej’s downtime, regardless of how it ends up with our good Lord Drelev.

Pharast 29 – Wilhelm’s group returns, things are talked out, no downtime
Pharast 30 – skilled work: taking 10 on Knowledge (engineering) for a total of 22 to gain 2 Influence Points (cost: 30 gp). This represents Bej showing to the colonists his plans for fortifications and general land improvements.
Pharast 31 – skilled work: taking 10 on Knowledge (engineering) for a total of 22 to gain 2 IP (cost: 30 gp)
Gozran 1 – hire the following teams: 3 teams of Laborers, 1 team of Craftspeople (total cost: 3GP, 5IP, 10LP. I spend my 4 earned IP, then purchase the rest (3x20+30+10x20=290 gp)). Laborers are immediately hired, while I have to wait 2 days for Craftspeople. Laborers start working to generate Labor. I have Knowledge (local) +9, +6 for the 3 Laborers teams. Taking 10 for a total of 25 to gain 2LP (cost 20 gp)
Gozran 2 – skilled work: taking 10 on knowledge (local) for a total of 25 to gain 2LP (cost 20 gp)
Gozran 3 – craftspeople arrive. Now my teams have a net +10 to Labor (+4 Craftspeople, +2x3 Laborers). My teams earn Labor, taking 10 for a total of 20 to gain 2 LP (cost 20 gp)

Now stuff gets tricky. I want my teams to earn Labor while I learn Influence or Goods. Is this possible? I mean, you made an example with Labor and gps, but I don’t care about earning gps at this point. Can I earn different types of capital in the same day? How?

As of Gozran 3rd, Bej and his hired teams spent 410 gp and have a Capital of 6 LP.

Bej smirks at a toast made with coffee - this ain’t Issen, for sure “May they always!” he replies.

“Say, if I’m overstepping my boundaries just say so, but where do y’all folks come from? Didn’t catch any stray bandits, did you?” he asks casually as the coffee gets passed around by the troops “We dealt with our good share of troubles down here – bandits first and foremost. I think we got them all, but you never know… hell, same thing with wargs, no less: we hit them hard, drove them home… a bit too far I reckon, several of them fled into the forest. Wouldn’t want the good folks around Restov suffering ‘cause of them.”

Bej keeps sharing “war stories”, trying to gather information on what Terrion’s men faced in the Stolen Lands.

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19 Booyah! Bej the diplomancer!

Yeah, I was not really onboard with the idea of killing everyone. I mean, "accidentally" killing Drelev might be fine if we do it very far from Oleg's, but I'm still not sure it's the smartest move, let alone the moral issues.

What I think we need to do is make him look bad. Perhaps shaming him a bit - the upcoming quest against the boggards might be a good place for that.

If get extremely lucky, his shame turns to anger, he demands satisfaction from Wilhelm in single combat and our good lord can call down the wrath of Iomedae on the evil bastard.

Let him hang from his own rope - we just build the gallows all around.

I'm fine with the wands.

So, guys, let's have a Councilor decided for when the meeting with Drelev ends, ok? So we can start Kingmaking as intended.

Roan is acting very paranoid, not really Councilor-like, but he is getting very involved in our politics and that's a plus, role-playing wise. Jhod, on the other hand, has been pretty much forgotten.

Unfortunately most of us have yet to meet Holbrecht - but both our newcomers make for good Councilors stat-wise.

SHould we go with Roan for the moment then? Any objections? Do we want to make the Roan-Sanita switch, or any other switch?

Bej replies with a smile under his thick beard “Hi there! Nah, just thought I could do a favor to fellow soldiers. I’ve spent my good deal of cold evenings mounting guard while a lord or the other talked his tongue off with his peers.” he gestures towards the trading post where the discussion is happening.
“We were lucky enough to solve more than one problem for the good folks that built this place, and they repay us with this nectar.” he taps the kettle with a finger “Well, I can see you don’t want your men to drop their guard. I can appreciate that. I’ll leave the coffee here for you, yes? Don’t know if it’s enough for everyone… anyway, name’s Bej. Bej Vanskian.”

Who, little ol' me, with a whoppin' -1 in Bluff and Diplomacy? I'm just giving out coffee to cold soldiers and makin' conversation. I'm considerate that way.

Yep. That’s noblemen, trying to arm-wrestle each other with high orders and bureaucracy. Bah… Bej gets to Svetlana, where he asks for a couple of large kettles filled with strong, hot coffee. He then gets out of the trading post, ignoring Wilhelm and Hannis Drelev and their respective entourages, and he heads straight for Terrion and the soldiers. The sun is now gone behind the hills, and the spring winds are getting chilly.

taking 10 on Perception for a total of 16 to notice Issen natives

Bej talks first to obvious Issen natives, but failing that addresses the men nearest to him “Nice, cold spring, just as we like them up north. Heh… Nobles talk and the folks get the chills. Here, drink some of the hot stuff.” he pours coffee for himself and for any soldier who accepts it, and for Terrion too, if the man wants it. He avoids disturbing the men ready for the charge if Terrion doesn't allow it.
“Reckon your lord would be joining forces with "Baron Orlovsky" over there?” he asks sipping the coffee.

Yeah, just 10 days too late to meet that lovely nobleman. Or perhaps they meet his grave. Who knows? Schrodinger's nobleman!

Great. I'll see if there's something that pops out to me.

***

Also, I'm getting into Downtime rules, and... I just don't get them. I have the following questions:

1) Once you hire a Team, do you need to pay them monthly? If so, how much? I'm not talking about a Manager, just the Teams (and Rooms, I don't know, perhaps those too).
2) Do we need to provide a stat block for the generic Team member? It seems that every Team uses the "earnings" modifier for his check, so a team of Craftspeople will always have +4 on his check, regardlessly of the skill modifiers the individual members have.
3) Rules say that if we have multiple Rooms or Teams earning the same type of capital, we can add together the modifiers for a single roll. But that's highly counterproductive. 2 teams of Laborers, each with +2 on its Labor check, by taking 10 separately get 12 and 12, earning 1+1=2 Labor. By adding together their modifier and taking 10 once, they get a 14, which is only 1 Labor. Why would I add them together? Am I missing something?

So, Kertuffle, how are your views about Crafting non-standard items? I am about to start enchanting my Arcane Bond Amulet, but amulet enchantments are quite lackluster - a very boring amulet of natural armor might be the best bet here.

Am I restricted to the amulet listed in the wondrous items section, or can I create something custom-made for you to approve?

If that weren't the case, can I apply an enchantment usually reserved for rings on my amulet for the usual +50% increase in price (for example crafting an amulet of protection +1 instead of a ring of protection +1 for 1500 gp rather than 1000 gp)?

Bej leaves his hideout astride Fortune, pushing the horse at a fast trot. He gets to Oleg’s scrutinizing the newcomer’s soldiers, trying to evaluate their skill. He leaves Fortune outside the trading post and slowly walks in, listening to the conversation between nobles but not showing any interest in participating. For all intents and purposes, he wants to look like one of the settlers.

Bej, I didn't total it up to complain, or debate.

I totaled it up because Kertuffle said he was going to have to total us all up to figure out what the new characters got for starting gold. I was trying to be helpful.

yes, and I wasn't in any way implying anything about you.

Personally I'm staying out of the WBL debate - the GM may equip us as he sees fit, I don't have problem with being severely under-budget. Also, there TWELVE of us ofr a 5-players adventure. I exepct to be under-equipped.

***

Here are some sketches of Fharn's and Wilhelm's banners made with Heromachine, together with a few banners I made for the setting of my homebrew adventure.
Mine are more detailed because I worked from what was available in the program to build a concept, rather than recreating a concept with what the program's database allowed.

I know most of you don't even care, but it's just for fun.

Hidden by the trees, Bej stands by with Vors and Rowan, waiting for a - hopefully green - signal.

Gozran 4th

Bej is tending to Fortune when the kid comes in warning the trading post. Now that’s something that doesn’t sound good at all! thinks Bej.

The following happens only if there’s a thicket near the trading post close enough that one can still hear people at the trading post shouting at someone outside. Please let me know if this is not the case.

As quickly as he can, he goes for Vors and Rowan “Say, folks, none of us is too good with diplomacy, and if these folks plan on besieging us I’d like to have someone on the outside. Actually, I’d like to be the one on the outside. Care to join me?”
That said, he jumps on his horse and leaves the trading post, stopping in the nearest patch of trees thick enough to provide cover. There he waits for the cavaliers to show their colors. As soon as they are within longbow distance, he casts a few enhancement spells on himself and observes carefully.

Namely gravity bow and shield.
Also taking 10 on Perception for a total of 16.

I'll be updating the Kingdom Spreadhseet to make it AWESOME in the next hour or so.

I'll be putting Sanita as Spymaster, and leave (for now) Councilor vacant.

=*=*=*=EDIT=*=*=*=

Ok, I didn't want to touch Kertuffle's sheet, so I made a second tab. I may have missed something since I never played Kingdom Building rules. Once we start going I plan on adding settlement tabs and terrain improvement tabs to keep track of which HEX has what.

Also, Wilhelm, guys, we NEED to come up with our own banner. I know it will be hard, since we probably all like different colors, different animals, different heradly symbols... but it would be so cool to have one...

GM Kertuffle, the Kingdom Spreadsheet still shows Masamura and Felix in the picture, it does not have the Kingdom Alignment, Bej's boost to Loyalty is now +3 instead of +2 (for the ranks in Knowledge [eng]), there might be other stuff to update.

You might want to make that document editable, if you don't wish to edit it yourself.

Month 1 turn:
Upkeep phase

• Step 1) Determine stability. Stability check by Bej (Warden).
  
• Step 2) Pay consumption of 0 (no hexes or anything).
  
• Step 3) Fill vacant magic item slots (none).
  
• Step 4) Modify unrest. (If there is unrest, Vors can attempt to reduce it now.)

That's a lot of pressure on my dice-rolling skills. Geez.

Edict Phase

• Step 1) Assign leadership (already done).
  
• Step 2) Claim and Abandon Hexes (We automatically claim B6 - Oleg's for free.)
  
• Step 3) Build terrain improvements (I think we want a road and a farm in our first hex in addition to our capital. Agree? That takes us to 53 bp)
  
• Step 4) Create and Improve Settlements (Found our first city for free, then build a house (2 BP) and tavern (free). Turn Oleg's into a free stable? Down to 51 BP.)
  
• Step 5) Create army units. (Nothing here.)
  
• Step 6)Issue Edicts (I'd vote for 1 Holiday per Year, No Taxation and Token Promotion)

Step 1) I'd say to go with Jhod or Svetlana as Councilor for now. As soon as our new players get themselves part of the group, they can step up. Otherwise we're really throwing role-play out of the window.

I'm ok with everything else.

I didn't realize you can only claim 1 hex at the time until you reach size 10. That's awful.

We lose one to kobold-dom, another one pops up. Is there a dwarven forge somewhere in the mountains where they just make Orlowskys? grins Bej as he packs his chessboard after yet another win.

“Pleasure to meet you, Roan. Name’s Bej Vanskian, in service of Lord Wilhelm here. I’m from up north, near the lake.” Bej is not one for pleasantries, and after this short introduction he sits back and enjoys his ale, casually listening to what Wilhelm and the newcomer have to discuss.

Pharast 28th, Downtime: Bej will scribe 1 scroll of Silent Image, 1 of Bull's strength, 1 of Invisibility; spending 162,5 gp.

Magic and downtime: One thing I'm not in love with as far as downtime goes is the possibility of effectively doubling our money using the Magic creation rules. As we divided loot last time, it will shortchange people who took items (since we based their shares on sell value and not value for crafting goods). For example, Lanya took the bangles (worth 11000 gp with sell value 5500gp) and effectively no gold. If we compare that to my share (fully gold totalling 3900 gp), I could have devoted all of that to being turned into Magic (3900/50 = 78 Magic = 7800 gp worth of Magic). Turning that into items, I could end up with 15600 gp worth of gear. It would have taken me (on my own taking 10 on Diplomacy) a total of 39 days to do the conversion.

Well... yes and no. It's true that gp have more value, but it is also true that they require downtime to be profited of, and also, our Crafters offer services to the whole party, not just themselves. As long as we don't abuse the system (and since we are roughly at half the wealth-by-level system, that's not going to be problem for a while) I think we are fine.

***

I'm kind of getting lost in the downtime rules, I'm starting to forget about the kingdom building. I saw Wilhelm and Fharn talking about it, but... do we want to wait until level 7 to actually start claiming hexes and all that? Or are we waiting to explore some more regardless of the level?

I think we should establish a goal (whether party level, number of hexes explored and cleared, wealth, etc...) after which we take a long dowtime to properly start up the kingdom.
I think we can start it right now, but seems most of you don't agree. What is your proposal?

Pharast 27th
As soon as the group returns to Oleg’s, Bej sees Fortune to the stable. “You’re doing good, boy.” he pats the horse and gives him a carrot. The horse had seen his share of combat and performed quite well, even for a trained steed as he was.

That night, feasting upon Svetlana’s cuisine, Bej approaches Dareon “Say, Dareon.” he has decided to drop the m’lord for his companions. They weren’t in Brevoy anymore. That title was to be reserved to Wilhelm, and perhaps Lanya. “I was wondering if you would be up for a chat during a friendly match, to keep our wits sharp.” he shows Dareon the laid-out chessboard.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to take advantage of your spellbook once again. There’s some fine incantations in there, and they could be useful. In particular, a very good repairing spell.” he talks as he keeps playing.

If Dareon agrees, I'll learn Make whole (Spellcraft DC 18): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21
In the two days until Wilhelm arrives, Bej will write a few scrolls, and perhaps borrow Dareon's spellbook a few other times. I'll decide when we know/decide how much downtime we plan on taking.

***

Pharast 29th

Bej approaches Wilhelm as he is finished speaking with Dareon “M’lord. Nice to see you folks back. I hope you’re quite well rested, ‘cause we have something to discuss… fancy a little game while we talk?” he points to the chessboard. “When you have the time, no rush.”

When they finally sit down to talk, Bej begins “Adventuring is fine and good to clean up the land, but in the end… adventuring is just start-up money. We need to start building infrastructure if we want folks to come in.” he opens with the queen’s pawn “I plan on establishing a fine farming community in the most fertile of plains we can find. Some place for good folks to work the earth and prosper in Erastil’s name.”

“Of course, if you plan on appointing me Warden as you anticipated, we’d need watchtowers and jails. That should be among my duties as well.”

“And then, with Dareon and Fharn and the crazy little lass we plan on building a magical academy. Now, I don’t want to spread myself too thin, and I think many of us here have plans as well. But we should start thinking like a body of rulers rather than individuals and decide what to prioritize. D’you think we should have a meeting about this?” he moves a rook “Check.”

As for downtime, the reason I was suggesting that we take some downtime for everyone is that it's not really fair to our crafters to ask them to spend a long time crafting neat things for everyone while the rest of us go have adventures. It's also something that I think we should be able to fast forward through, generally speaking.

This is a good point. We piled up commissions on Fharn and other crafters, if we expect them to do some work we should provide them with time.

***

I really need Keetuffle to elaborate on this:

last but not least, GM Kertuffle: restoring the Stag Lord's fort is something to be done with Kingdom Building rules spending BP, or with Downtime rules spending Labor and hiring Teams? As a future Warden, Bej would very much like to hire craftsmen and laborers and march south to restore the thing, but if we plan on spending BP on it, I'd like to know.

If through downtime rules I, Bej, build a Jail (spending 40 Goods, 5 Influence, 33 Labor), then we as a group end up having a Jail in our kingdom without having to spend the 14 BP, right? Or at least spending less than that.

mmm... can we make a custom Team (such as just 2 or 1 craftsperson, or 3 3rd-level experts rather than 4th-level)?

Do managers count against the slot limit? If so, can we appoint one person in a hired Team as our Manager?

Good luck Masa!

***

I don't know if I have a saying in the matter, but I kind of like our current team size - 10 people makes for 2 good and balanced parties. That being said, Kingmaker lends itself very well to new characters coming in.

***

I can be serviced by two-three days of downtime then adventuring as well as by two to six weeks of downtime.
I would just like to discuss this in advance OOC because downtime requires a few calculations and I'd like to start planning.

Also, Anastacia, you don't need Craft or Profession. Let's say you plan on building a Temple or a Shrine - you'd need capital (Goods, Influence, Magic, Labor). Gaining this type of capital can be done with skills other than Craft of Profession.

***

last but not least, GM Kertuffle: restoring the Stag Lord's fort is something to be done with Kingdom Building rules spending BP, or with Downtime rules spending Labor and hiring Teams? As a future Warden, Bej would very much like to hire craftsmen and laborers and march south to restore the thing, but if we plan on spending BP on it, I'd like to know.

So, I would like to hire Craftspeople, they are described as 4th level experts. Assuming minion stats, how many slots would they fill?

I would also like to recruit 2 teams of 5 Laborers each. 1-st level commoners with minion stats, so 1/3 x 10 = 3 slots.

If I don't have enough Leadership, I'll think of something else.

Also, I'll hire them only if we have at least a week of downtime before going back to adventuring.

At this point, we have a decent chunk of Northern Greenbelt mapped and explored. Sanita and Fharn are currentyl at the 4th of Gozzran I think, so they'll take at least another week until they come back at Oleg's. (Anastacia's group came back Pharast 27th, Wilhelm's probably will Pharast 29th).

When Wilhelm's group comes back in two days, I don't think we should go exploring some more while waiting for the two of them, but rather start some downtime.

We should decide right now though, because downtime works better if you can take a whole week of it rather than just two days.

I knew I'd seen it somewhere!
Stop having amazing side-adventures with river pirates and bring back those books, you damn youngsters!

I say we camp a bit distant from the freshly dug grave that our resident Pharsmin will make :)

Also, Bej will want to start copying some spells from Dareon. In the Wizard's class description and in the Spellcraft skill section I found conflicting times to do that (the former says one hour, the latter 1 hour per spell level).

Anyway, Bej will start by learning Fly, Slow, Haste. I don't know if having Dareon present makes the Spellcraft checks automatic. If this isn't the case, here's the rolls. Those are three transmutations so he gets +2 to the Spellcraft check.

Fly, DC 18: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
Slow, DC 18: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Haste, DC 18: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

If it takes 1 hour each, he'll do it in one night; if it takes 3 hours each, one every night. It costs 90 gp for each spell.

EDIT: don't know why, I thought he had slow. Guess Bej will start by learning Fly and Haste.

“Potions are a good bunch, useful to keep around for the occasional problem” sentences Bej “But these…” he weighs the horseshoes “These are a mighty fine item. We can use these to further the legend of m’lord Orloswky, now that he’s gone and got himself a shiny new angelic steed.”

“I’m afraid running after those overgrown wolves will end up in a huge waste of time. They got a head start, and might know the forest better. They got both brains and instinct to guide them, the basterds. Let’s just hope they stay scared.”

"Tough furry basterd, ain't you?" says Bej as even the masterful strike by Masamura fails tu cut down the worg. That said, he rapidly cocks two arrows and sends them into the beast's hide.

____________________
No penalty even with Masa in the way because of Precise Shot

bow attack with Rapid shot & Arcane Strike: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 7 - 2 = 81d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
bow attack with Rapid shot & Arcane Strike: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 - 2 = 171d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Ok so now I have a question. If I do the same trick I tried on Dareon with Masa (run up to him and make him invisible) then in his next round:
1) he can stand up with no AoO (invisible creature does not provoke)
2) he can make a sneak attack (since he is invisible until he attacks and thus for the first attack the worg is denied Dex bonus).
Am I right? I looked at a couple of FAQs and it does seems to be so. Hope I don't need to change my action again.

Bej doesn’t quite liked being ordered around by Dareon, but Masamura does seem to be needing help I’ve been wanting to try this on that young fellow for a while… “Giddy up, Fortune!” Bej spurs his horse up to the young ninja, lunges over and touches him. Masamura immediately disappears.

I was under the impression we still hadn't leveled up during this fight. I will change my action though.

Seeing that Dareon isn't in as much trouble as he initially thought, Bej draws two more arrows hoping to end the already scorched worg.

Bow attack with Rapid shot: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 221d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Bow attack with Rapid shot: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 161d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

“Damn beasts. Wolves are bad enough, now we got talking wolves!” momentarily without any worg around him, Bej spurs Fortune to Dareon’s aid. Careful top stay away from the beast’s maw, he hangs onto his horse, lowers his arm and taps Dareon on the shoulder. The young wizard immediately disappears.
In an attempt to distract the beast further from his comrade on the ground, he shouts at the worg “You’re no better than a lowly coyote!”
_________________

move action to ride up to Dareon.
Standard action to cast invisibility on him. The map has hexes instead of squares, but it seems dareon is more than 5 feet away from the worg, so even scent shouldn’t be able to pinpoint him.
EDIT: dammit, Dareon ninjaed me. Are we going by group initiative or do I go before him?

Yes, there are a ton of good evocations. But I need a transumtation spell or my specialty daily slot goes wasted. I need to copy something from your spellbook ASAP.

No Leadership for Bej. Chores will be solved by Managers I hire through the downtime rules.

Not much happens to Bej at this new level. A few more skill points, and level 3 spells. Learned slow and force punch. About time I had something who hampers enemies rather than boosting allies.

EDIT: Slow is in one of the purchased spellbooks apparently. I'll think a bit more about it then. All good transmutation level 3 spells seems to be already on the mage's guild.

I'll be away on vacation until Monday. Feel free to DMPC Bej as you wish.

“I’ll drink to that.” says Bej when Bokken mentions the beauty of a life out of a city. “There’s much to love in living in these lands, there will be even more once the bandits and monsters will know this is no place for them.”
The wizard is enjoying the simple yet genuine meal, and finds in Bokken a kindred spirit. “I’m glad you’re living nearby. This little kingdom m’lord Orlosky is putting together needs good folks like you. If you have anything else on your brother’s thereabouts, we’ll see that he is jailed.” and hanged, but mentioning that at lunch would be bad taste.

“Fine with me.” Bej nods towards Wilhelm “One good night of sleep within safe walls, a quick bath and a hearty breakfast… I’ll be ready the first hour past dawn.” Bej grabs the arrows the old hunter offered as a reward “These look like fine craftsmanship to me. Magical, even. We’ll make good use of’em, my good man. Thank you for this. Put that head somewhere nice, where people can see it and tell tales about it. A good story makes ale and wine taste better.” he splits the arrows, ten he keeps, ten he gives to the other group.

“I look forward to resume our exploration.” he says to his group. “Feels good to bring some order into these lands.”

Pharast 18

“Interesting stories, m’lady?” yells Bej when the others greet them “I’d say we can talk about this around a campfire or two, ah?” says the wizard as he lifts a blanket from Fortune’s back, revealing the nature of his cumbersome cargo.
It is the head of a gigantic boar, easily the size of a grown man’s torso, with tusks like pikeheads.
“Anastacia used her Pharasmin magic to keep the rot at bay, but I’m afraid this beast smelled in life almost worse than it would in death. Still, a nice trophy to hang over Oleg’s counter, ain’t it?”

“I’m guessing it’s getting crowded in here with all these folks. I’m happy leave rooms to others, I’ll set up my bedroll under the canopy. I’m afraid the stink of this beast rubbed off on me during the travel, wouldn’t want anyone else to suffer it.”

well, Sanita & Fharn are at least two weeks away, perhaps more. We could do a fair bit of exploring while we wait for them.