Captain Johnson's page

Since we have several martial characters, I'm curious to see how effective Threatening Illusion + Effortless Trickery is, especially since Arcanists can pump the DCs up quite high. Should make for some interesting RP opportunities since illusions are so flexible.

I've yet to deck him out with mundane gear, and I'm probably missing some important utility things from his spell book. I'll sort that out tomorrow.

Hi all, I'm thinking of making an Arcanist. I'm probably going to go for battlefield control, but I'm not sure yet how exactly I want to build him.

HP: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 4, 2) = 16

Too bad I was enjoying the RP banter.

I wish I hadn't been scared by the post rate for your skull and shackles game now tbh! Actually finishing an AP is a bit of a unicorn for me...

Based on what Jik is saying it sounds like I really lucked out with the first pbp I joined. We had a few players drop and some join but its been going for a year and we're not far off 4000 gameplay posts.

@JD I hope you do find time for this. Please let us know :)

Me too...have we lost our DM already?

I hope not. Sadly that's quite a common occurrence in my (limited) experience.

Hi all, are we waiting for something? :)

Johnson shrugs slightly, and starts off in a matter of fact tone saying, "I spent several years in an honorable mercenary company called Clarts. We where on contract for several of the cities far to the west. Peace keeping mostly, patrolling the trade roads, keeping the citizenry safe. Several border skirmishes that first year but nothing major. Second year was worse, the border skirmishes got out of hand and soon there was full scale war. The city we where contracted to that year had placed userous taxes to fund it all and predictably there was an uprising. They wanted us to put it down, bloodily. Our commander balked, that's not what Clarts is about, so we up and left, of course then it all went to hell."

By now he's reliving painful memories and continues in a choked voice, "We had to retreat across hundred of leagues of hostile territory and were ambushed many times. At three pines, the fighting got particularly ugly. The enemy had a summoner, the day went badly."

Almost in a whisper he stammers, "Somehow I'm still alive..."

He breaks eye contact and walks away briefly, surrounded by painful memories.

Again Johnson finds something to study rather than stare at the develish man.

Set people on fire?! Why am I not surprised... Never was comfortable around mages, even ones that are not self confessed pyromaniacs, still mages aren't always comfortable with me. No one is. Not when there's been an episode.

Johnson keeps his own council over that exchange and wonders exactly how much trouble this group is going to be...

It'll be better once we're on the road, it was always like this with a new squad. Once everyone has figured out their place in it all, things will settle down. Besides shared danger has a funny way of even the most difficult recruits together. Danger, theres something to think on. The old Dwarven lady is expecting trouble judging by those she hired. An expedition delving into ruins so old even the dwarves scarce remember is no small undertaking!

Opposed profession:Soldier check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Hook, line and sinker.

Nodding, Johnson says, "So he did. Well sorry to dissapoint you but this is a civilian venture. Of course there's less likely to be pleanty of work for willing hands, you know carrying heavy equipment to the site, mining, digging lattrine ditches, painstakingly sifting through archeological digs, camp chores and the like."

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Johnson is surprised by the presence of the enthusiastic young lady and upon hearing her wild story he replies mildly, "Lass I've got a good memory for faces, and I don't believe we've met."

Its clear he doesn't believe her, but he isn't overly bothered. Having being a recruiting sergeant for a while, he's familar with teenagers itching to get away from home...

"Lass if our employer is expecting you then of course you can come along, but I should caution that there's likely to be rather more work than excitement... You'll be expected to help with camp chores too like everyone else."

Johnson heads out again and comes back shortly and says to Jik and Thallan, "My thanks. I've been able to get a few minor alchemical things and something truly important I'd forgotten, coffee!"

He looks around to see if everyone is there and tells our Hostess, "Well I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Best get a move on before I end up buying more than I can carry!"

Johnson has all manner of stuff now, checkout the spreadsheet link above.

Mounted barbarians are great, but AM BARBARIAN style rage-lance-pounce doesn't actually work. The damage is still good even so.

Later Captain Johnson returns with a new backpack full of various odds and ends that might be useful.

I loaded him up with a variety of typical adventuring gear. If anyone has some spare cash, getting some alchemical things like smoke sticks, tanglefoot bags and alchemist's fire may come in handy.

Johnson ponders and says, "If we're going to spend an extended period underground, leaving mules outside would be crule. They may starve or get taken by wolves or other predators. Unless somebody here is good with animals we won't get them to go underground willingly. Since the caves are just a days hike I think we should try and do without."

With that he heads out saying, "I'll pick up some mundane supplies, I'll be back in an hour."

I'll get some mundane adventuring gear for Cpt Johnson this evening.

I'm tempted to get some mules but I notice nobody has handle animal. Is anyone able to pick that up? Probably needs just 1 point. I guess I can if needed.

JD do you want us to load up some mining equipment? Picks, shovels, that kind of thing?

Johnson nods and says, "I'm on it, and yes we'll need to know all those things. It would also help to know how far away the caves are, if only a day or so's travel things will be much easier."

He looks to our Hostess, hoping for some more details.

A curious fellow that, what was his name again? Yamato, yes that was it.

Johnson studies the old man for a moment and adds, "A good distraction has always been a sound military tactic."

He pauses momentarily and continues saying, "Of course we're not here to fight a war. This is purely a civilian expedition, albeit in an untamed location. I assume the excavations will take some weeks or even longer so we'll need a semipermanent camp to protect us from the elements. I know how to set that up but I'll need help, maybe some labourers to dig lattrine ditches and build a rain shelter and so on. We'll need to purchase mules to carry all the supplies and equipment. You'd be surprised how much dried food and grain is needed for an expedition..."

Edit: fixed

Upon hearing its an illusion, Johnson takes a sudden interest in the figure and peers at it distrustfully. I can't see anything special about it. If that's an illusion, its a good one. Mighty concerning that, who knows what could be hidden as something innocuous.

Disbelieve Illusion with +4 bonus: 1d20 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 4 = 13

Frowning, Johnson asks, "Is there more magic like that in the caves? Are we to distrust what we see and where we step?"

How about making them all share something in common. Just enough to make poor old Johnson wonder if he isn't going insane...

"Normally its best to scare bandits off. Doesn't always go down that way, sometimes they're desperate or just born mean. Sometimes they outnumber you three to one and take everything you have. Sometimes they'll gut a man and laugh as he dies slowly just because they can. Sometimes you gotta fight back."

Johnson shudders as if surpressing a painful memory.

Johnson seems almost itching to interject but like a candle being blown out he deflates and goes back to staring at the ceiling, I, I shouldn't get involved in that conversation. It'll only lead to somewhere dark and if I join in it'll get darker still. It won't lead anywhere good, oh no, it'll end up somewhere, somewhere, where I had an episode...

Johnson finds himself nodding and says, "I know nothing about archeology, but I'm no stranger to digging ditches, I suppose excavation will be much the same as long as you show me what to do. As for bandits, I'm used to dealing with them. I'm also used to setting up camp for a long stay."

JD do you want us to track food & water and ammunition etc? If we do I'll need to buy some supplies :)

Cpt Johnson has never seen a Kitsune. I er think he's in for quite a surprise - might get at least one daily obedience that way.

Ha I've not seen that movie in years. I think Cpt Johnson will get used to Tieflings, probably. Although he's distrustful of magic at best, which could be entertaining up to a point :) Quite what he'll make of our Kitsune trickster is anyone's guess.

Mustn't look, it would be rude. Did he have a unibrow? Don't look, say nothing. Honestly though, that fella looks like he actually is from hell and he's drinking tea with us. I should ask him what hes doing here. No no no, look at the ceiling and complement the hostess on her stone carving when somebody notices.

Ha I just noticed I had constitution drain on this character, fixed now.

Among the others sat around the table is a tall thirty something armored man. He has the looks of a soldier with his dark close cropped hair and faded uniform. While his kit is well maintained and scrupulously clean, he's clearly seen better days, with a once fine tunic and cloak that have been well patched.

Bumping his head on the low ceiling for the third time since arriving, he leans forward and asks, "Ma'am you've spun a number of interesting tales about a discovery. I must admit a certain curiosity, but I can only assume you've hired me for security. Is there anything I should know?"

I ended up choosing some potions instead. Still I think getting the party a wand of CLW would be a good idea.

Up to you :) I'm more than happy to spend the money on some more potions if it's not needed.

Details of the Obedience.

Brawler seems interesting, are you planning on leveling as that mostly?

Hey GM, I've been accepted to another game just now. I don't want to over commit myself so I'm going to withdraw. I wish you all good luck in your adventures.

@Thallan thanks for playing a cleric :) I've got a wand of CLW for you, assuming our GM approves.

Looking forward to it :)

Hmm, looks like Yuki is the only one of us able to use a wand of CLW, could get interesting... :)

I'll make sure Cpt Johnson has one.

GM is this the sort of character you're after? I made a few changes to Cpt Johnson to bring him inline with the character creation rules.

Will the lack of lowlight vision / dark vision be a major handicap? Magic can solve this in time, but the last table top game I played turned into an underdark campaign where playing a human was annoying :)

Crunch to follow.

I'm already playing a bard in an active campaign and a paladin in a semiactive campaign so something else would be best :)

I'm interested in playing CC. Seeing that paladin and (dirge) bard are spoken for I'm tempted by a Human Barbarian probably going down the witchunter + superstion route (I've actually wanted to play a damage dealer for a while, having mostly played support characters of late).

While I know how to build super optimised characters I don't want to play one of those :) I'd much rather play a barb that didn't dump int and cha, and I doubt I'll go in for rage cycling (From an RP perspective rage cycling seems pretty outlandish to me).

I built this barbarian for a game that never really got off the ground, I quite like his background. Crunch is not yet adapted for this game, but I'm more than happy to do so if the background is interesting.

Alternatively I'm interested in playing a Hexcrafter Magus, because I've never played one of those before and they sound fun.

I went ahead and leveled Captain Johnson, and removed the campaign specific bit from his background.

Speaking of characters from dead campaigns, I'd like to have another try with the troubled Captain Johnson (retired).

He's currently level 2, but if you find the concept interesting I'll bring him up to level 3 and tailor the background to fit into your campaign.

1d12 ⇒ 5

Its been nearly two weeks now since our GM last posted. He's also AWOL in another game I'm playing in where we're used to him vanishing for a few days, but not this long. Judging by his posting history this isn't the first time where "life threw a curve ball", so I guess this probably over. Shame since the concept seemed pretty cool!

"Kirzon has got himself presentable again, so yes lets get a move on. But careful like, no telling what else is down here..."

"You took a dip in that filthy water, can anyone apply a pultice to draw out any feaver that might result?"

Might be worth a heal check here, to prevent more stat damage...

Not sure we'd know what it is in game, but ooc: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/filth-fever

Saving throw: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Acrobatics to vault past Shelai: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
On the nose!

Seeing Shelai in trouble, Johnson takes a calculated risk and with a short run he vaults clean over the sewer. He lands awkwardly and several stones go skittering away from his feet. He manages to convert the fall into a forward roll and he powers himself up and at the creature! Up close it's stench is nearly indescribable and Johnson has a hard struggle to keep his dinner down.

To rage or not to rage, I think I'll need the better fort saves here!
"What kind of cheapskate town allows such FILTH beneath their feet?!", rages Johnson.

Suddenly his blood's up and he can barely smell the jelly anymore, all he sees is an enemy to destroy! With a snarl he unleashes a powerful two-handed swipe at the disgusting creature!

Power Attack, Rage: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Damage if that hits: 1d12 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Move action: Vault over the sewer to flank
Free action: Rage [3/9 rounds]
Standard action: Power Attack
That's probably my good dice rolls for the week right there!

Johnson wrinkles his nose with disgust, "Smells like something died here, be on your guard!"

Perception assist: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11