Search Posts
I had more stuff to do this week than expected, so I will not have the full rules set done by this weekend like I had planned. When the campaign starts I am going to shoot for not letting more than three days go by without posting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend if you're able to.
I will also make a copy of the relevant story, characters and NPC posts (up to pre-Swallowtail Festival) in a spoiler on the campaign info tab as well, so they are all collected in one spot.
I am still working on the campaign rules set, which also include how the mythic rules work in the initial camapaign as well as the future campaigns (Shattered Star and Return of the Runelords). Yes, all the PCs for the Rise campaign are both human (of different ethnicities) as well as being the aasimar, the tiefling or one each of the four tweaked 'pass for human' elemental races. The full character creation rules will also be collected on the campaign info tab as well, so you do not need to scan through the posts on this tab or the recruitment tab of GM Mokmurian's campaign. I have extended an invitation to Ntisi to keep her spot in the campaign so Ntisi can rejoin at some point. In-campaign after the Swallowtail Festival, she accompanies her parents while they investigate rumours of Thassilonian sites throughout Varisia, until she is able to rejoin the campaign as an active player. As for some things I post that might appear to not have an impact on the campaign, such as the typical student ethnicity breakdown of the three classes at the school - that serves multiple purpses: it gives me to a better picture of the overall ethnicity percentages of Sandpoint (the lone locale that is significant to half the books in the AP), the relationship dynamic for characters that grew up in Sandpoint together; the relationship dynamic they have with a critical NPC that is introduced in the first book of the AP, as well helping to get an idea of the potential childhood friendships Tara's daughter, Julia, might develop during the first two campaigns, before she becomes a full-fledged PC herself. Things that make it easier for me to get a more detailed mental imagery of Sandpoint's residents means it is easier for me to give my players a more immersive rp campaign. That extra detail I give has already made one of my players want to shape their relationship dynamic with one of the significant NPCs of the campaign as well as giving more 'shaping' of one of my other player's character's campaign background. Both the compiled rules set and select Sandpoint NPC stories are things that will be done before the campaign 'begins' on the day of the Swallowtail Festival. Tara: Does having Tara arrive in town during the first month of spring sound good to you, with her doing odd jobs for the spring and most of the summer, and 'met' Andrezi a month before the Swallowtail Festival and accepted the job offer - so she has about 4 1/2 months of working odd jobs and one month of full-time work at Maver Kesk's jewerly shop?
Best of luck to you and your partner, Corrik.
Hi, everyone. I am still in the process of deciding the campaign full rules set. I will not be posting each one in the recruiting tab as I complete them. I will let you know when the campaign rules set is completed so that you can view it in its entirety on the campaign info tab. Here is the modified version of hit points that sort of mimics the wounds and vigor and wound thresholds variant rules, but is a more simplified homebrewed rule that does not require needing to track two (or more) sets of 'life points', as the absolute value of your negative hit points total is how many wound points you have lost. The full write-up for this homebrewed rule: Hit Points (modified) Spoiler: Hit Points above 0 hit points work the same as they do in the default rules. The number of wound points you have lost is the absolute value of your negative hit points total. Below 0 hit points you have a number of wound points (aka negative hit points) equal to twice your Constitution score. You have a wound threshold at the half-way point (the typical 'death' total of negative hit points in the default system). For example, a PC with a 13 Consitution would have 26 wound points with a wound threshold of 13. While you have less than 1 hit point and you are below your wound threshold you are fatigued and staggered. Aside from gaining these two conditions while below your wound threshold, you function normally (you are treated as if you had 1 hit point for effects that look at your current hit points to determine effects). While you have less than 1 hit point and you are at or above your wound threshold (and have at least 1 wound point you have not lost) you are disabled, exhuasted and staggered. You die when you have lost all your wound points. Any action that results in you being be at or above your wound threshold (or remaining at or above your wound threshold) requires you to make a Constitution check with a DC equal to how many wound points you have lost. Succeeding at the Constitution check allows the character to remain conscious. A conscious character with the Diehard feat can choose to automatically succeeed at the Constitution check to remain concscious instead of rolling. Wound points are treated like hit points for all other purposes. For example, when a PC (with a 10 Constitution score) that has 5 current hit points (and maximum hit points of 12) takes 8 damage from an attack they would be at -3 hit points, which is 3 wound points (which is below their wound threshold) and would become fatigued and staggered. If that PC then received healing magic that restored 10 hit points, the PC would regain the 3 lost wound points and gain 7 hit points back, and would no longer be fatigued or staggered. If that same PC then took 20 points of damage, it would reduce their hit points to -13 hit points (aka 13 wound points), which is above their wound threshold of 10, the PC would need to make a DC 13 Constitution check - succeeding means they remain conscious and are disabled, exhausted and staggered for being above their wound threshold, and failing the Constitution check means they fall unconscious and are dying. As the number of wound points you have taken is the absolute value of your negative hit points, you do not need to track two separate set of 'life points' and simply compare your negative hit point total to your constitution score (like you do in the the default rules) to see if you are below your wound threshold (fatigued and staggered), at or above your wound threshold (disabled, exhausted and staggered and roll to see if you remain conscious) or dead. In essence what this home-brewed rule does is give the PCs a bit of additional staying power and does so with dramatic effect. Hit point damage represents 'flesh wounds' while wound point damage represents 'mortal wounds'.
Thank you, rdknight. Best of luck to you as well.
Some of the stuff I am working on is so that I have a consistent 'refer-to' GM section, so that the consistency in-game stays that way - consistent, as well as 'sculpting' certain significant NPCs (such as Tsuto), as opposed to "That doesn't match up with what you established before, GM." Regarding the variant rules - I am not a GM that fills in for another GM and uses their set of rules. One of the golden rules of rpgs is that if the GM is not having fun it is difficult for the players to have fun. This is the main reason for the set of variant rules I am compiling. Same as with the in-game consistency stuff referred to above, the same principle covers that I have established up-front how I am handling different aspects of the game, as opposed to potentially slowing down the game mid-campaign while I decide how I am going to adjudicate something that happens in-game, whereas the chosen set of variant/home-brewed rules already might cover such a situation arising in-game, so that the flow of the game is not slowed down. One of my personal pet peeves as a GM is regarding a certain type of player: those who like to make use of new player options from a new rule book but think that the GM should not be allowed to make use of any of the new rules options that are from the same book. The answer to your question of "How does this improve the game?" is by increasing the enjoyment the GM has running the campaign, it usually results in a direct increase of the enjoyment the players have playing in the GM's campaign. A campaign being run by a GM that is not enjoying running the game is a campaign that is not going to last long. As this campaign (and the two subsequent campaigns) are a huge amount of invested time to complete, I am creating a set of rules that I (and my players) will enjoy across the full range of character levels. As for 'stuff that doesn't need to be messed with' - my previous post was an elaboration of coming up with something for an idea one of my players had about their character. The same as I have done for other players for their characters as well, that they liked. During the time I am taking to compile the rules set is also added time the players have to 'sculpt' their characters more pre-campaign start, including GM-player collaboration regarding their characters. Marha: With the bit of work I did typing up in my previous post, did it make you better able to envision some of Marha's childhood growing up in Sandpoint? Do you like how I worked in an in-game explanation for the where/when/why of Marha developing feelings for Andrezi?
How your and Cash's friendship developed. Spoiler:
You were in 10 & 11 year olds class when Cash was in the the 8 & 9 year olds class; Cash was in the 10 & 11 years old class during the first two years you were in the 12, 13 & 14 years old class, and you were both in the 12, 13 & 14 years old class during your last school year. During lunch hour Cash would tag along with his older siblings and their group of friends to Junker's Edge to lounge (with Cash sitting with Kali as she enjoyed the breeze coming from the sea as Cash watched the goblins below, with Drezi practicing 'yarns' to them, while the other four were coupled up a little further away (so each group could see each other but not hear the conversations of the other group) - so you might have befriended Cash while you were in the 10 & 11 years old class and Cash was in the 8 & 9 years old class, and tagged along with him to Junker's Edge - and you had a built-in reason to be there as well - to enjoy Gozreh's winds like Kali does at Junker's Edge) and that is where and when you started to develop your crush on Drezi. Mia and Vel would tell Drezi various students in class who were interested in him, but he never showed reciprocal interest, though Mia and Vel would arrange 'triple dates' they would not tell Drezi ahead of time about - such triple dates consisted of Kaz, Mia, Vel, Ragnar, Drezi and a boy or girl from school in which they would watch one of the afternoon plays at the Sandpoint Theatre on Starday afternoons. The five friends would show up in front of the theatre with the 'surprise date' Mia and Vel had selected for Drezi for that Starday. Kaz and Ragnar were in the 12, 13 & 14 years old class for both years you were in the 8 and 9 years old class. Drezi, Kali, Mia and Vel were in the class above you for your first year of the 8 & 9 years old class, then were in the 12, 13 & 14 years old class during your second year in the 8 & 9 years old class and both years you were in the 10 & 11 years old class. Tsuto (a Tian half-elf) is one year younger than Kaz and Ragnar and 1 year older than Drezi, Kali, Mia and Vel. Tsuto was a bully who bullied Drezi and the other younger boys when he was in the same class as the younger boys and Kaz and Ragnar were in the class above them. Tsuto got detention a lot because of his bullying ways. The presence of Kaz and Ragnar in class with him during Kaz & Ragnar's final year was enough to prevent Tsuto from attempting to bully Drezi and the other 12 year olds in the class that year, but returned to his bullying ways during his next and final school year. The average number of Varisians, Taldans, etc. for each age of students at Turandarok Academy. Spoiler: The orphanage, nursery and daycare are on the upper floor, the school is on the ground floor with the basement the headmaster's private living quarters. 8 & 9 year old children are in one classroom, the 10 & 11 year old children are in another classroom of the same size and the 12, 13 & 14 year old children are in the larger classroom. The average number of students per age (not class) are as follows: 8 Varisians, 4 Taldans (includes Chelaxians), 2 Shoanti, 1 human of a different ethnicity (Garundi, Kellid, Kelishite, Mwangi, Tian, Ulfen, Vudrani) with 1 halfling per class and 1 half-breed (half-elf or half-orc) in one of the three classes.
I have updated the God-Chosen template, which is detailed in the rules tab.
I am not familiar with that series. After checking IMDb, I see there are only 26 episodes of 24 minute duration. I have added it to my potential future watch list.
The first encounter Tara has with Cashmeric will be different than the first encounters with Cash the other characters had (darn, his cousin, Andrezi, the trickster, not just staying at home with his family when Cash gives over control of his body so he can spend the evening with his parents)... Spoiler: While Andrezi (in control of Cash's body) was having dinner with his parents, his father told Andrezi there was a new Abadarian living in town doing odd jobs. Andrezi suggested to his father that the new Abadarian in town might make an ideal security guard for the store to cut down on theft (he did not infer WHO was doing the theft), to which his mother 'pish-poshed' the idea, "We have security covered already, Andrezi. No need to hire someone new." Andrezi talked to his father privately afterward (while they were in the work area crafting some jewelry items) and told his father that he has been doing his own inventory stock of the past several weeks to see if any items are unaccounted for, and like clockwork it seems, every week at least three small jewelry items (rings and earrings) are no longer part of the inventory and there are no records of sale for the items. "That can't be right, your mother's got two boys watching the customers to make sure no one shoplifts." "You know my inventory tracking skills are impeccable, father." "Yes, they are, death has not dulled your mind at all, my boy." "So you can appreciate the benefit of having an Abadarian ensuring no one shoplifts from us, right, Dad?" "I am curious, son. I know you prefer to give vague answers that prevent people from knowing the true answer, except for when it comes to your faith in Abadar. Why is that?" Andrezi remains quiet for a half a minute while still maintaining eye contact with his father before replying, "Why would someone want others to know their true intentions when they do not know if others would use that knowledge that might negatively affect them?" Maver Kesk shakes his head, flakes of precious metal flying from his typical unkempt hair, "Would it kill you to give your father a straight answer just once, Drezi?" "How do you kill something that is already dead?" "You know what I meant, my boy." "Did I?" "Are you even capable of giving a clear answer anymore?" "Maybe," Andrezi smiles crookedly, which Casmeric has never made that particual facial expresson in his life, "So, is it okay if I find the new Abadarian in town to assess them and if they seem like a good fit, do I have your blessing to offer them a job as security for the store, Dad?" "I already told you that you did, did I not?" Andrezi, knowing his father's absent-mindness has been becoming worse (except for when he is focused on his craft) and not wanting to cause his father any worry that his short-term memory has been diminishing for the past few years, replies, "I think you might have, Dad. I will head out and find her now. I take it you can handle telling mother the lads services will no longer be needed." "You do not know if she will even accept the job offer." "Dad, she's an Abadarian. She has been doing odd jobs, which is honest work and pleases our god. But honest work and ensuring that honest wealth is not stolen, and no one is cheated, both merchants by customers and customers by merchants are Abadarians preferred work. Besides, who can say no to my charming words? That is not even taking into account she will be seeing Cash's calming soulful eyes when I talk to her. She's going to say yes just as sure as mother is going to have a fit when you tell her that she has to fire the boys." "Maybe you should wait until next week, and find the woman before Cashmeric gives you control of his body, son." "Cash would appreciate that, I am sure," Andrezi tells his father, "I will be back soon with her answer," as he gently removes some of the silver shavings from his father's hair and heads out to find the new Abadarian in town.
As I would be okay with the thematic of air and water element kineticist because it ties in with Father Tobyn telling you that it was Gozreh's blessing that saved you from the fire that took your parents away from you, (and that made you choose Gozreh as your deity - or rather that Gozreh chose you), so those would be the two elements you would gain access to. So if you are okay with that, it sounds likes kineticist breaks the tie for the following reasons: Spoiler:
That you have never found a GM willing to let you play one. That the kineticist would not require you to rely on materials to be able to use their class features, and would not take up one of your gear encumbrance slots like alchemist would. Using the alchemist extracts would trigger attacks of opportunity like drinking potions do, so the kineticist would give you some abilities that are more reliable (do not trigger AoO). Using the alchemist's bombs also trigger AoO. The kineticist gives you at-will abilities as opposed to the daily limited uses for the alchemist. As for the initial element you would gain: Spoiler:
As the fire resistance you gain from having ifrit blood protected you from the fire and the water defense does not grant fire resistance, looking at the two defenses between air and water, air makes more sense for both thematics and the crunch - (you would gain the elemental defense at 4th character level) whereas the water defense gives you a bonus to your amor or shield bonus, the air defense gives you 20% protection from ranged (non-massive) physical attacks, which increases to 25% at 14th character level. By accepting 1 point of burn, you can increase the miss chance by 5% until the next time your burn is removed. You can continue to accept points of burn to increase the miss chance further, up to a maximum of 75%. Whenever you accept burn while using an air wild talent, the energy surging through you causes your enveloping winds to also affect non-physical ranged attacks such as ray attacks for 1 round. You can dismiss or restore this effect as an immediate action. --> The above protection for spellcasters from ranged attacks is very useful. - The following lists work with you taking air as your initial element (at 2nd character level) and water as the element you gain at 14th character level. You could take water as the initial and gain air at 14th character level instead. Infusions with asterisks you would only need to take once, but have blasts that they would also affect other blasts once you have both elements at 14th character level. They do not include ones that have kinetic blade or kinetic fist as a prerequisite (working with you not being a melee combatant). I might have missed prerequisites that you would not have (so if any such options appear on the lists below then they would not be an option) - I was mostly looking for which element qualified and that kinetic blade/kinetic fist was not a prerequisite when I compiled the following lists. Air would give you your choice of Air Blast (bludgeoning damage) or Electric Blast when you gain the secondary class. At 14th level, when you gain Expanded Element (water) you would gain basic hyrdrokinessis, your choice of cold blast or water blast (bludgeoning damage) as well as all the following composite blasts: blizzard blast, charged water blast, ice blast and thunderstorm blast. - The air infusion wild talents you could take at character levels 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th and 18th are: Spoiler:
2nd: Energize Weapon* (electric), Extended Range* (universal), Gusting* (air), Pushing* (air), Thundering* (air) 6th: Elemental Trap* (universal), Extreme Range* (universal), Flurry of Blasts* (universal), Focused Blast* (universal), Magnetic* (electric), Mobile* (universal), Penetrating* (electric), Snake* (universal), Spindle* (universal), Synaptic* (electric), Torrent* (air, electric) 10th: Chain (electric), Cyclone* (air), Grappling* (universal), Wall* (universal) The water infusion wild talents and composite infusion wild talents you could take at character levels 14th and 18th instead of an air infusion wild talent are as follows (some have ultily wild talent prerequisites you must have to select them), as well as air infusion wild talents that require 14th or 18th level: 14th:chilling (blizzard, cold, ice), cloud (blizzard, thunderstorm), cyclone* (blizzard, thunderstorm), energize weapon* (cold), entangling (blizzard, cold, ice), Gusting* (blizzard, thunderstorm), Impale (ice), Magnetic* (charged water, thunderstorm), Penetrating* (cold), Pushing* (blizzard, charged water, water), Quenching (charged water, water), Shepherd of Souls (universal), Slick (blizarrd, charged water, cold, ice, water), Spray (charged water, water), Synaptic* (charged water, thunderstorm), Thundering* (thunderstorm), Torrent* (blizzard, charged water, thunderstorm, water) 18th: Maelstrom (charged water, water) - The air utility wild talents you could take at character levels 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th are as follows: Spoiler: 4th level: Aerial Adaptation, Air Cushion, Air Shroud, Air's Leap, Air's Reach, Elemental Whispers, Kinetic Awe, Living Capacitor, Magnetism, Skilled Kineticist, Greater Skilled Kineticist, Venom Speaker, Voice of the Wind, Greater Voice of the Wind 8th level: Aerial Evasion, Body of Air, Celerity, Elemental Grip, Greater Elemental Whispers, Engulfing Winds, Kinetic Restoration, Windsight, Wings of Air 12th level: Greater Air Shroud, Kinetic Form, Ride the Blast, Spark of Life, Suffocate*, Wind Manipulator, Greater Windsight The water utility wild talents you could take instead of an air wild talent at character levels 16th and 20th level are as follows, as well as air utility talents that require 16th or 20th character level: 16th level: Cold Adaptation, Cold Snap, Cyrokinetic Stasis, Elemental Exile, Elemental Transmission (water), Expanded Defense, Healing Burst, Heat Adaptation, Ice Sculptor, Ice Walker, Kinetic Cover, Kinetic Healer, Kinetic Revivification, Pillar, Reverse Shift, Shimmering Mirage, Sky Walk, Slick, Veil of Mists, Water Alteration, Water Manipulator, Waterdancer, Greater Waterdancer, Watersense, Greater Watersense, Weather Master 20th level: Greater Magnetism, Hurricane Queen, Tidal Wave
Like on mine going perhaps rogue for the benefits, or maybe even alchemist for the boost on int. Throwing electricity (mini 'storms' of Gozreh) and cold (the coldness of the deep oceans) bombs. Tanglefoot bombs (the snagging tree roots of untamed wilderness), etc. A kineticist starting with either aerokinesis (air) or hydrokinesis (water) and gaining the one not chosen at 1st level (2nd character level) at 7th level (14th character level) to emulate the elemental powers of her deity, Gozreh. should you want to lean into being more of a 'living embodiment' of Gozreh.
That is correct. The four levels of mythic levels would be the even-numbered levels not already covered in the God-Chosen template: Levels 6, 10, 14 and 18. Aside from your mythic source and mythic path being GM-chosen, your mythic path abilities would probably not be GM-chosen and be yours to choose from ones you qualify for. - That is after I read through them all to make sure there are not any I would put on a ban list (it has been years since I played/ran mythic characters so do not recall off-hand if there are possible path abilities I would restrict from selecting. I might restrict you to only choosing path abilities from Mythic Adventures (which I have the dead-tree for), so the first list of restricted myth path abilities (if any) will be for only checking the ones in Mythic Adventures. I would work with reading through the additional ones on AoN to see 1) which ones I add to the valid mythic path choices or 2) which ones are restricted. Same applies to mythic feats, that I will also go through the lists to see if any are ones I would restrict from selecting.
That works nicely, and since Andrezi and each of the other spirits are only channeled one day/week (with which one is channeled twice/week fluctuating) it could take a few weeks (at least) before he notices a new Abadarian is living in town (since he would be limited to only seeing/hearing what Cash does (including the 'rumour mill' that is far-faster the smaller the town is) and upon hearing about a new Abadaran doing some jobs would have Cash seek out the new arrival to assess, with Drezi's desires regarding wanting to protect his father's honest-earned wealth safe already detailed more above). I would suggest keeping in mind what the other characters primary classes are when selecting your secondary class. It sounds like Chiyo migjht decide on changing her primary class (not sure about Tara), but based on the character concepts I am thinking it is safe to say that Jenni, Marha and Ntisi are keeping their primary classes as is (silver balladeer bard, runesage wizard and molten-cursed life mystery ("Magaambyan Medic") oracle.
Tara, Cash's cousin, Andrezi (while in control of Cash's body during his weekly evening to spend with his parents) could have persuaded Drezi's father, Maver Kesk, the local jewelsmith, to hire you as a guard for his store. Andrezi was the one that used to make sure the doors and vaults were locked before he left town a decade ago when he was 16. Since then his father, Maver, has a habit to forget to lock the doors and vaults, something his wife, Pennae berates him for publicly, and has taken it upon herself to have a few of the boys that work for Jubrayl Vhiski to work as guards for her husband's shop. Cash and Drezi would have conveyed to Tara that Andrezi suspects the boys his mother hire steal some of the contents of the store for Jubrayl - and that Andrezi would prefer a fellow Abadarian keeping his father's honest-earned wealth safe instead of the Sczarni lads his mother hires. Does the above sound good to you for work Tara has found? You could still have been doing some odd jobs when you first came to town, before 'meeting' Andrezi.
This campaign will not be a blended campaign - I have something in mind for the sequential Rise, Star and Return campaigns I run (after getting some inspiration (from one of my favorite PF1E rules books) for the speciific (related though different) spins I will be using for each of three campaigns. Should you all prefer to play in all three, the bits I can tell you for now: Rise: part of the God-Chosen template would add 4 levels of mythic (GM-chosen mythic paths - which works out nicely that one suits each of your characters. The source of your characters' mythic power will be (Granted mythic source) from your deities, and are in effect while you are benefiting from Deific Obedience. The mythic paths each of your characters would receive are: Archmage (Marha), Champion (Chiyo), Guardian (Tara), Hierophant (Ntisi), Marshal (Jenni) and the remaining mythic path (Trickster) being suitable for the the character I will be recruiting for the final member of the group: an Erastil-worshipping (Garundi, Keleshite, Kellid, Ulfen or Vudrani) undine unchained rogue. Shattered Star campaign (played after we wrap up Rise) would be a different set of characters, with less restricton (no thematic of the PCs all being worshippers of one of a set of six deities or needing to be human (of different ethnicities) for PC choices. Unlike the Rise and Return campaigns, the characters would not be gaining mythic power at the same time, as the shards will be what is granting mythic power (via being mythic artifacts that imbue the carrier with some of their mythic power), with two PCs each gaining a shard in the first book, with a single shard being found in the following 3 AP books, with the final 2 shards being found in the fifth book - so ideally a group of players (you :) that are okay with some characters having mythic power for a considerable longer amount of campaign time due to how the mythic power is attained. With the number of mythic levels the Star Shards grant being the number of shards the party has found (and are in close proximity to each other) - for a total of 7 mythic levels being attained in this campaign. Return of the Runelords: The PCs being children that your Rise PCs became pregnant with at the end of the Rise campaign (divinely conceived children by your respective deities as a reward for saving Varisia from the threat of the first runelord that awakened) in which the children of your Rise PCs are godling mythic characters. With the full ten mythic levels being attained in this campaign. Tara: if you want, at end of the Rise campaign, it could be revealed that Julia's father was Abadar in disguise the night you conceived her. From Inner Sea Gods: "Abadar is a patient, calculating, and far-seeing deity who wishes to bring civilzation to the frontiers, order to the wilds, and wealth to all who support the rule of law." I have also been thinking of potential ways to speed up combats.
Tara (and other players with PFS credit interest) Running/playing in the RotRL campaign, then a Shattered Star campaign, and then a Return of the Runelords campaign works out (without any PFS chronicle sheets being missed) (and all chronicle sheets using PFS normal XP advancement) would wind up with giving you campaign-mode credit to make a Level 19 PFS PC. With option of applying the PFS slow XP advancement for the final book of the Return of the Runelords AP so the the legal PFS PC would be a Level 18 1/2 PC, which is eligible to run through the highest sanctioned level adventure module, The Witchwar Legacy (tier 16-18), which does not allow campaign mode. The above works with only applying chronicle sheets from the above three APs to the PFS character, and not applying other chronicle sheets to the character.
Work with her and Julia having been in Sandpoint for a few months working towards that goal - and she has succeeded at finding a job, but pay has either not been enough to accrue enough to do more than provide shelter and food for her and and her daughter - though the Turandok Orphanage/School would be willing to take care of her while you work. You also might have lost the extra money after her and Julia's basic needs via being persuaded by Jubrayl Vhiski to invest in business with him and unnamed silent partners with plans to create a trading post once enough of a building construction collected wealth pool had been accrued, a trading post with the plan you would be the one ('face') in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the trading post (read -> conned you into thinking his intentions were on the up and up - which could have been revealed he conned you before the campaign starts...or at some point after the campaign begins) 'campaign begins' being used to refer to the day of the Swallowtail Festival.
I can give you chronicle sheets for the AP if you are eligble to receive them (though I would have to find out how to do that via online - if filling one out, taking picture of it and giving it to you via the discord channel or email is not a PFS legal option to assign them online that way). The way I am running the order of the blended RotRL/SS campaign makes all 12 chronicle sheets viable at normal PFS XP rate, and then playing Return of the Runelords to fill in the remaining level gaps - with having full-leveled PFS characters up to level 18 before running the last book of Return of the Runelords - so playing through that one in campaign mode as well would result in legal Level 19 PFS characters (working with the character only receives chronicle sheets from the blended RotRL/SS and Return-otRL) or play through the sanctioned content of the final book --> scratch that, Return only has campaign mode looks like, and not option for both PFS sanctioned content and campaign mode like most PF1E APs have the option of. But using slow XP advancement for the final book of Return would make the PFS characters Level 18 1/2 - so could play the highest tier (non-campaign mode) sanctioned adventure module - The Witchwar Legacy (which has a PFS tier of 16-18) Is that something you might have an interest in having - a pristine high-level PFS PC, that will be a legal character to play through The Witchwar Legacy? I know a blended Rise/SS would take longer - Sandpoint being the main locale which there is considerable more roleplay between the characters and NPCs, between the crunch of the encounters, "some flavor text to describe the gist of the journeys" from major combat locations of a given book to the next. The above would obviously take longer than just running RotRL, and only some, if any, of you might be interested in gaining such a high-level PFS character. I am not sure off-hand if running Rise first, then SS would cause one (or more) of the chonicle sheets to not become one that could apply to the same PFS character (I would check using apply slow advancement to select books if needed to see if that would work out with all 12 books being legal. As Return otRL's chronicle sheets cover all tier ranges, those will always be able to fill in the level gaps that were not filled by one of the books from Rise and SS. You can also take from the above, my desire to FINISH the campaign - I want to earn the GM credit Level 19 PFS character I can keep in its 'protective covering' - which I know can be done running a blended Rise/Star campaign, then a Return of the Runelords campaign. I am still working on 2 (or 3?) half-sleep days (due to working on a lot of stuff for this campaign :) so no where near full wakefulness at the moment, but have been thinking on how to make a modified Wounds and Hit Points (which you would not need to track two separate pools at the same time) modified variant homebrewed rule regarding it. When I am fully-rested I will type up the rule in organized fashion - unorganized gist of how it would work - and only the PCs and select NPCS would have wound points - which do not get affected until you have run out of hit points - Basics would be you have your normal hit points, and at 0 hit points, you would have a number of wound points equal to twice your constitution score (or flat 20, not sure yet if Constitution would affect total hit points, total wound points or both) - and a wound threshold at the midway point - and while you have run out of hit points (representing your stamina, non-vital flesh wounds, etc.) you would be staggered while above your wounded threshold, and each hit would make you lose a wound point (or a number of wound points equal to the critical multiplier of a weapon that the wielder scored a critical hit on you).
One thing I have added to my to-do list for campaign prep during the next month is to copy and paste a considerable part of the Sandpoint write-up for the GM (edited) so you all gain much better envisioning of several residents of Sandpoint, and the businesses, so you can weave some of them into your backstories. I will also write-up a more detailed typical week of Cashmeric's routine - as he has a typical weekly schedule of which of the six spirits he is channeling, aside from working the afternnon shift at The Hagfish for 3 afternoon shifts, he goes to the Sandpoint Cathedral and spends some time at one of the (magical) shrines of the six deities (the shrine that day being the deity of the channel he is currently channeling). Moondays is one of his days off, and he still lounges at Junker's Edge watching the goblins below. He is channeling Kali that day (who reveres Gozreh, so she is getting the view of the sea as well). Part of the weekly routine write-up for him will include which spirit he typically channels on a certain weekday and the typical daily routine of that day. As for the deities each of the spirits worships, that would make sense you have 'met' the spirit that worships the same deity your character does. Kalizama 'Kali' Vargnarssdottir - Gozreh (Marha) Ragnar Vargnarssen - Erastil (empty character slot) Khismia 'Mia' Bashir (as most Sandpoint residents do not know she and Cash's brother were married - and she was pregnant when they died in the Sandpoint Fire - something NOONE knows except Cash and the six spirits - not wanting to add more sorrow to Cash's mother or Mia's family) - Sarenrae (Ntisi) Andrezi 'Drezi' Kesk - Abadar (Tara) Veldana 'Vel' Magravi - Shelyn (Jenni) Kazallin 'Kaz' Magraiv - Desna (Chiyo)
Both Cash and the spirit are in there. When Cash voluntarily allows the spirit to take over it is like Cash is no longer conscious. It has not happened yet, as Cash has not had need to, if Cash uses some of the abilities the spirit grants him a certain number of times, then spirit's mind and Cash's are kind of intermingled, causing some hindrances for Cash (who is still in control of his body). Ntisi can tell when Kalizami is in control, since the Mwangi language coming from Cash is that of someone who has it as their native tongue, and Cash speaks the Mwangi language with a Varisian accent. - I have to head out soon and will be probably be catching up on sleep tomorrow so might not be as active on here until Friday.
After looking over the deific obedience prestige classes I have come up with a different approach, the God-Chosen template. God-Chosen Template (no level adjustment for it in my campaign) Spoiler: character level 2: Favored Weapon: You gain proficiency in your deity's favored weapon, if you were not already proficient with it. Secondary Class: You choose a secondary class, which cannot be the class you chose at 1st level. This class choice is locked in. You gain the weapon, armor and shield proficiencies of your secondary class. You gain all class skills of your secondary class as class skills. You gain the class features of your secondary class as if you had a number of class levels in it equal to half your character level, rounded down. You do not get the crunch (Hit Dice, Base Attack Bonus, Base Saving Bonuses, Skill Ranks) of your secondary class. Symbolic Weapon: You choose one of your weapons, which does not need to be your deity's favored weapon, and you etch or paint your deity's symbol onto it. The weapon functions as a holy symbol for you. You can only have a single symbolic weapon. Should it be destroyed, you can spend a day of downtime to etch/paint your deity's symbol on a weapon for that weapon to become your symbolic weapon. Your symbolic weapon has a +1 sacred bonus on attack and damage rolls. Call Symbolic Weapon: As a swift action, you can call your symbolic weapon to have it appear in your empty hand(s), as long as you are somewhere in Varisia. Symbolic Item: You chose one of your hand-held items (that is not a weapon), and you etch or paint your deity's symbol on it. The item functions as a holy symbol for you. Should it be destroyed, you can spend a day of downtime to etch/paint your deity's symbol on another eligible item. You gain a +1 sacred bonus on saving throws when you are holding your symbolic item or have it on you. Call Symbolic Item: As a swift action, you can call your symbolic item to have it appear in your empty hand(s), as long as you are somewhere in Varisia. character level 4: Deific Obedience: When you perform the daily obedience for your deity, you gain the benefits as if you had the Deific Obedience feat, and the benefits last for a number of days equal to 1/4 your character level (rounded down). Doing something that is anathema to your deity causes you to lose the benefits of Deific Obedience, and you cannot benefit from Deific Obedience again for a week. character level 8: Bane of Giants: Your symbolic weapon gains the giantbane weapon special ability. God-Protected: While you are holding your symbolic item or have it on you, you gain the light fortification armor special ability. character level 12: Divine Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 1st-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience. character level 16: Divine Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 2nd-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience. character level 20: Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 3rd-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience.
Wounds and Vigor are in, as it makes combat more dramatic for when critical hits are scored, as well as better represents a character's life force (wounds) whereas the vigor is a good representaton of how tiring and exhausting a combat can be. It will also speed up a number of combats as well, as scoring a critical hit on certain creatures/NPCs will make them want to flee, surrender, call a truce, etc. As for tracking encumbrance: A simplified encumbrance tracking system: Add the encumbrance for your armor, weapons and shield to determine your encumbrance bracket your arms and armor put you in. You use the worse encumbrance bracket you gain from your arms, weapons and shield OR the encumbrance bracket you are in from your gear threshold. Determine your gear threshold by dividing your light encumbrance threshold by 5 (round down). The gear threshold is for your other gear. Do not worry about tracking items that weigh less than 5 lbs. (unless you have a bunch of the same/similar item) Your gear threshold is how many items you can have in your backpack/on your person that weigh 5 lb and stay in the light encumbrance bracket. Having more than your gear threshold puts you into the medium encumbrance bracket. Having more than twice your gear threshold hold puts you in the heavily encumbered bracket. You cannot have more than three times your gear threshold bracket. Items that weigh 10 lbs count as 2 items, items that weigh 15 lbs count as 3 items, etc. If you have multiples of the same item (or multiple items of the same type, such as musical instruments) use the total encumbrance of those items to determine if they collectively count as an item for your gear threshold. For example, Jenni's fiddle (3 lbs) is not counted towards her gear threshold, but if she has two musical instruments they would count as 1 item for her gear threshold since together they have a weight of 6 lbs. 10 items that have a "-" encumbrance count as 1 lb, so having a bundle/stack of 50 such items would count as 1 item for your gear threshold. 5 days of trail rations count as 1 item for your gear threshold, 10 days of them would count as 2 items.
We will be using the wounds and vigor variant rule for the campaign.
Yes, it is alright to take goodberry for that trait.
Chiyo --> I recommend the Azatariel swashbuckler archetype CG alignment (which you are are, and is also Desna's alignment) The azatariels fighting style is inspired by azatas of Elysium (the major outer realm plane Desna maintains a small floating castle on) 3 of the 4 deeds that azatariel swashbucklers replace are baseline swashbuckler deeds that normally are useless against creatures/characters that are immune to sneak attacks (and 2 of those 3 do not apply to creatures immune to critical hits). The other deed that azatariel swashbucklers replace is a baseline swashbuckler deed that allows the swashbuckler to make a Intimidate (Demoralize) as a swift action instead of a standard action (only if she has at least one panache point and hits the target with a panache-gaining weapon). Of the 3 non-deed class features the azatareil archetype replaces: They replace the baseline Charmed Life class feature (which is a daily limited use which allows her to use her immediate action to add her charisma bonus to a saving throw - which she must declare BEFORE making the saving throw) and the ability the azatiel gains in exchange is a constant passive (as long as she has at least 1 panache point) that gives her a bonus equal to her charisma bonus against mind-affecting effects. Azatariel swashbucklers replace the baseline Nimble class feature (which grants a scaling dodge bonus starting with +1 at 3rd level and increase by +1 every 4 levels, but loses the bonus whenever she does not benefit from her Dex bonus [at 11th level baseline swashbucklers evasive deed - which the azatariel archetype does NOT replace, which gives the swashbuckler uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge and evasion while she has at least 1 panache point) - and the ability the azatariel gains instead grants her a scaling +10 feet enhancement bonus to her base speed (when not wearing medium or heavy armor and not carrying a medium or heavy load) that scales at the same rate nimble does, so at the high end that would be a +50 foot enhancement bonus to her speed at level 19 (for a speed of 80 feet not taking into account things like the fleet feat. The remaining baseline class feature that azatariels replace are the swashbuckler bonus combat feats (which are gained at swashbuckler levels 4 and every 4 levels after) which the azatariel replace with gaining mercies from the paladin's mercy class feature (using her swashbuckler class level as her paladin level to determine which ones are valid choices) and gains them at the same rate as the bonus combat feats would be, and can use her mercies a number of times per day equal to her charisma modifier plus half her swashbuckler level. As for the 4 deeds the azatariels gains...talk about FLAIR! This deed is not a flair one (and is the one that replaces the baseline deed that lets a swashbuckler make a intimidate (demoralize) as a swift action instead of a standard action (if she has panache and hits with a panache weapon)
This deed replaces a deed that gains no benefit against foes that are immune to sneak attacks and critical hits. The replacement deed below lets the azatariel to add her charisma bonus to both attack and damage rolls she makes with her opportune parry and riposte abilities and the flair (she can parries - instead of riposting against that enemy she can redirect the enemy's attack to hit another enemy within reach of the enemy who made the attack. Whimsical Riposte (Ex): At 3rd level, the azatariel adds her Charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls made with light or one-handed piercing weapons as part of her opportune parry and riposte deed (including when riposting). In addition, whenever the azatariel successfully parries an opponent’s attack, instead of riposting she can redirect that attack to another target as an immediate action. The new target must be within the attacker’s reach, and the attacker uses the original attack roll to determine the attack’s success. Here are the other two deeds the azatariel gains (which adds some more flair!) Lillend’s Misdirection (Ex): At 7th level, when a foe flanking the azatariel misses her with a melee attack, the azatariel can spend 2 panache points as an immediate action to attempt a reposition combat maneuver check against the attacking foe. If she succeeds at the combat maneuver check, she and the attacking foe switch positions, and the melee attack roll that missed the azatariel instead targets the flanking opponent that did not make the attack, using the same attack roll result (including the bonus gained from flanking). Ghaele’s Assault (Ex): At 11th level, the azatariel can spend 2 panache points when charging. If she does, the AC penalty for charging changes to –4 and she can make a full attack at the end of her charge. So overall, the azatariel adds more guaranteed beneficial passive abilities that replace abilities that are not as reliable as the baseline swashbuckler deeds they replace (due to being denied your dex bonus before 11th level and enemies that are immune to sneak attacks/critical hits negating, require successful strike to demoralize (which takes up swift action slot instead of standard action slot).
Tara: Technically they (and Chelaxians) do not get an extra language like humans of other ethnicities get by RAW. Thank you for the question, as it reminded me of a house rule I use: Characters receive one bonus regional language (that should make sense to their backstory) For Tara, I am granting you a GM-fiat additional language so you start with the same amount of base starting languages as the other characters. Tara: the initial bonus language could be one of the other human ethnicities you tended to get in the nonlethal conflicts with in Oppara - I would suggest the Ulfen tongue, Skald - and you might have even been in a bar fight in Oppara that a member of the Ulfen Guard was in - you can decide if this occured and if the the Ulfen Guard member was fighting against you or beside you (regardless of which side he was on, the Ulfen Guard member was one of the last brawlers standing - with Tara being the other last brawler standing). Tara: Varisian makes sense for the bonus regional language you gain as your family sent you to Sandpoint. Chiyo: Skald makes the most sense for your bonus regional language, as you grew up in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Marha: Varisian makes sense for your bonus regional language, as she grew up in Sandpoint. Ntisi: Varisian also makes sense for your bonus regional language, as Sandpoint is the place your parents finally settled down to put down roots. Jenni: Amurran (Catfolk tongue) easily works, as your cousin Cole could have taught you how to speak the language (which includes a variety of purring, hissing and growling sounds) if you like.
I suggest staying with the swashbuckler. I will take a look at the swashbuckler archetypes and let you know if any of them strike me as a potential good (and of course, fun) fit for Chiyo. As for the lacking dip in roguish ways, Cashmerez can channel his cousin Andrezi 'Drezi' Kesk, to handle that role: when he channels Andrezi part of what he Cashmerez has is max ranks in Appraise, Bluff and Disable Device. Also starting at second level, Cash and anyone who was part of the seance for Cash to channel Drezi gains a +1 bonus to Stealth and treats it as a class skill while Drezi is being channeled by his cousin. When I open recruitment back up, I will be also including that a trap-disabling character as our final group member would be good fit.
Here is what I am looking at for the rest of this year: To have my full rules set (including variant ruless, my home-brewed modified variant rules, and my own home-brewed rules) completed within the next month. Open up recruitment afterwards, for the month of December) Start the full campaign properly in January. As for the existing players during the next two months, blending and weaving characters together before, with morning of the Sandpoint Festival roleplay before the new year (and ideally the afternoon as well). Possibly starting in-game in the morning of the Sandpoint Festival sometime in the latter half of November, and be in early afternoon in-game sometime in December, with late afternoon in-game occuring in January.
The first book of Shattered Star would occur after completing the first two books of RotRL - I will not get into the details here (the players of my non-PBP campaign are not aware of the order other than 2 books of Rise than a book of Star). I read through enough of the books in both APs to combine them in an order that makes sense (with each book of both APs still in their respective order). So we when we are in book 2 of Rise, before you finally head out of Sandpoint and the surrounding hinterlands we will have a better idea of what the pace of our campaign is, then be able to use that to take the vote whether to blend Shattered Star in or not. So for now, consider your vote being for whether or not you might be interested (sans the pace on which we complete the first one and half books of Rise).
Melda - sounds good. I was a little anxious players on the board might have thought I only wanted female characters/players - it just so happened the three initial characters I exteneded an invitation to were characters I both enjoyed reading the concept of and were also of viable characters for the my twist on the AP (for this PBP campaign, not the non-BPB RotRL campaign I run) happened to be female characters. The non-PBP campaign I am running is a blended Rise of the Runelords/Shattered Star campaign. Each of you let me know if you would like this campaign to be blended into a Shattered Star campaign as well.
Use this tab for questions and discussion, and leave the discussion tab for me to post rules and such. Marha - check out the expanded runesage archetype I created in the discussion tab. The rest of you: feel free to check it out as well - it will give you a taste of how I like to add some extra 'cool' flavor (and crunch) to things. I will be tweaking the evangelist, exalted and sentinel prestige classes so some of their class features work better as the 'non-gestalt gestalt' classes they will be for you. Thank you to Chiyo for bringing that to my attention today (I will have the changes to the prestige classes worked out before your chararcters gain them). Melda - is that the first name of your character or you have yet to come up with your character's name yet? Melda - is your character male or female? I might have missed it (working on half a night's sleep). I already started to imagine Julia playing with the other children during the festival, but do not know to picture her in Sandpoint with her mother or father. Jenni - You are welcome. I am working with the next month of finishing my full rules set of variant, modified variant and home-brewed rules, with the following month as recruitment for our final group member and get the campaign properly started in the start of the new year. During the time for recruiting the final group member, I will be working with each of you to work on story weaves (and inter-connected story weaves) for your backgrounds as well as recent events your characters might have been involved in. Ntisi - Since I first read your character backstory I thought of how Cashmeric and her would have first met - brief bit for now - a bit of confusion when someone asked him to deliver an item to Simbala (which is the name of the mother (and step-mother) of two of his friends that died in the Sandpoint Fire three years before Ntisi and her parents moved to town. Cashmeric channels his friend, Kalizama 'Kali' Vargnarsdottir, who is half-Bonuwat Mwangi and speaks to you in Polyglot (the common tongue of the Mwangi expanse) and you have become accustomed to him talking to you sometimes as himself and sometimes as relaying questions that Kali wants him to ask you. He speaks to you in Polyglot, whether or not he is currently channeling Kalizama. About a month after you met the 'two of them' Cash tells you that Kali would like to know if you would like to have dinner with her and her family that evening or the following Moonday evening. Did you accept the invatation from the dead Mwangi girl to have dinner with her and her parents? You know her parents are alive residents of Sandpoint and have met her mother, Simbala, who is a local fishmonger who has a stall at the Sandpoint Market. You also have noticed that on Moondays and Toildays, Simbala (Kali's mother, not yours), seems to have more joy in her step than the other days she works at the market - which you later learned from Cash are the evenings he allows the spirits of her daughter (Kali) to take control of his body to spend dinner and the evening with her parents, and he channels Kali's older half-brother, Ragnar, on Toildays and allows him to take over his body in the evening to have dinner and spend time with his parents. |
