I'll actually make an introduction post at a later point when we have all our players. For now, those of you who are here can feel free to interact with each other.
You each arrive at the top secret facilities you will be commanding. Opening up your terminals, you begin connecting with the commanders of other cells, as well as reviewing your available assets.
Mostly copy/pasting from my post over on recruitment
If you'll each choose a country to be the location of your base (real-world wealth does not matter, so there won't be any disadvantage to choosing a small country).
Please also choose two things that you want your cell to start off with. Go ahead and choose anything you want (within reason), and I'll adjust to make it balanced. These can be things like starting with more soldiers, or better trained soldiers, or more advanced interceptors, or more money. As long as it's a general idea, I should be able to work with it to find something appropriate.
All that being said, I've also started filling out the campaign info tab with basic mechanical information so you can get a slight feel for how things work. It isn't mentioned there, but dice rolls will be using a simple d10 system.
Two days ago a number of large flying objects entered the region just beyond our upper atmosphere. Within hours, these UFO's were making bombing runs on major cities and industrial centers.
The United Nations held an emergency council and activated Extraterrestrial Combat Unit--an international paramilitary organization created with the intent of fighting any non-human incursion of the planet Earth.
As Commanders of individual XCOM cells, it will be your job to work together to fight this alien menace. You are our last hope.
Good luck, Commanders.
A few months ago I tried running a kingdom building game. Between accepting too many players and suddenly going through a divorce, I unfortunately had to drop it.
All of my IRL stuff is (hopefully) resolved, and I'm itching to get back into something--so here we are.
If this takes off, each player would be leading a single cell of XCOM (think something similar to running a single base in the original 1995 game, with other players running the other bases).
This would mostly be a management game--making sure you have the right soldiers for the right jobs, the right equipment for them; scientists to try to reverse-engineer alien tech; upgrading your base; trying to find a permanent solution to the alien threat--and trying to find a way to pay for it all.
There will also be a fair bit of roleplaying. XCOM is theoreticaly an international organization, working as a coherent whole. But as cell leader you ultimately answer to the people who give you money--primarily the government of the country your particular base resides in. And as we all know, world governments don't always put aside their differences for the common good.
This will not be a combat game. While you will be able to give your soldiers general orders in the field, you will not control them like puppets.
With all that out of the way, I'm looking to gauge interest. Let me know if you'd like to be part of this, and I am more than welcome to any suggestions about things you would like to see implemented.
Potential players will be recruited directly from this thread, so make sure you post if you want in.
Happy gaming.
EDIT: This would be a a little fast-and-loose on rules, since I don't know of any good systems that could easily be converted to something like this. More specifically, there will be rules, but they will mostly be behind the scenes--that will add a little bit of the uncertainty that exists in real warfare, and will also allow me to tweak things if needed.
Your actual character will be statless, and will merely be a guide for roleplaying.
As you arrive at the Dammi palace and provide the writ you were given to the guard, you are ushered into a council chamber and told to wait. His Majesty will be with you shortly says the guard before closing the door again. The decor in the room is quite simple--a window and a small tapestry on opposing walls. A wooden table surrounded by chairs takes up most of the floor space; in the center of the table are a few minor refreshments set on a large silver plate.
The wait is actually just over an hour. You take the opportunity to introduce yourself to the other seven people in the room. You will be working together, after all.
Please give a short description of your character as well as whatever they would say when introducing. If any of you already know each other, this would be the time to make it apparent. Also remember that speech is bolded, thoughts are italicized, and out of character is blue text.
I know most of this information would normally go in the recruitment thread, but I'm putting it here instead. Let's get started.
Character Creation:
As mentioned in the recruitment thread, full character stats will not be necessary. Feel free to create a complete stat block if you so desire, but the only things you will need are character descriptions (age, race, gender, other things that will assist roleplaying), attributes, skills, and anything else you think might make a difference. If something you haven't stat'ed becomes necessary, we'll fill it in as we go.
Restrictions for Character Creation:
You don't necessarily know each other, but you are welcome to intertwine your backstories if both players agree to it.
Generally, anything not on the PRD here is unavailable. I may allow case-by-case exceptions to this, and with the minor role your stats will have it probably won't matter, but I would rather not have any surprises.
No guns or other advanced tech from the Technology Guide.
Nothing from the Advanced Race Guide.
As mentioned before, this will use the Golarion pantheon, but none of the Golarion history (different planet)
3rd level.
Attributes will be rolled 4d6, dropping the lowest, rerolling anything less than 7 (see spoiler for example). I'm not worried about anyone cheating, but please roll your stats in this thread so there is no question. If anyone gets especially poor rolls I may allow them to reroll everything.
Instead of a one rank limit in each skill per level, I'm houseruling a three rank limit per level. This will allow you to specialize a little bit more into skills that will end up actually being useful.
Each player will start with the +2 headband or belt of their choice as a gift from the king. If you want to stat out the rest of your equipment, you can have 2,000 GP. But generally I'm going to assume that you have access to any item costing less than 100 GP.
If any of you decide to have a family, be aware that I will control them at any times they become relevant to the story, but you are in charge of giving them names and basic backstories and I will stay true to those as much as possible.
This continent you are on has been completely isolated from the rest of the world. As such, any sentient creatures here will speak different languages than you would otherwise expect. Keep that in mind before assigning all of your skill points to Linguistics.
We will be using the optional rules for the Leadership Role Skills.
Spoiler:
4d6, drop lowest die, reroll anything less than 7.
And now assigned as I choose.
If any of those final numbers (after dropping the lowest value die) had been less than seven, I would have rerolled all four of those dice.
Am I forgetting anything?
A Couple Notes About Running An Evil Kingdom:
As far as the kinds of rulers you want to be, I don't much care. If you want to be evil tyrants that's completely fine. Just make sure you all agree (or are willing and able to make it a roleplaying point without splitting the kingdom or killing each other). The one thing I ask in regards to this is that you don't go into detail with anything gruesome. I don't care if your armies rape and massacre the revolting city (and I don't even care if you join in), but if that's how you decide to play, I don't want to hear more than a brief sentence mentioning it; let's be tasteful in our cruelty.
I will be using google drive for maps. I'm still working out a few kinks (like how to represent individual armies on the world map), but I think this will work best for what I need it to do.
Finally, there is one more question I need everyone to vote on before we start.
We can start with a slightly developed colony, where you go to replace the previous rulers who didn't do their job. This would mean having a few tiles explored and a few buildings set up.
We can start completely fresh, with you arriving on the same boat as the other first settlers.
I'll take whichever option has the most votes from you guys.
You will also need to decide as a group what the alignment of your kingdom will be, as well as which leadership roles you will each take.
It's been more than four years since I've been at all involved in a PBP game (or on these forums at all), but recently the game I was running IRL fell apart due to scheduling issues, and I've been itching for something.
Anyway, the premise for this PBP would be as such: shortly into your adventuring career (~3rd level) some event forced you to permanently retire. Due to a debilitating injury, an oath, starting a family, or just realizing you didn't enjoy it you have stopped being a murder-hobo and begun seeking work elsewhere.
As fortune has it, a new continent has recently been discovered and the king is looking to found a new colony. He hopes to recruit you and a few other recently retired folks to run this colony for him.
Although you would be beholden to the larger kingdom, you would have almost complete autonomy (save for paying some taxes, of course) to do as you wished. It's an exciting and potentially lucrative prospect.
Tentative Gameplay Information
This game would almost exclusively be using the kingdom building and mass combat rules from Ultimate Campaign. Each player would still have a character, but that character would primarily be used for the stat bonuses they give to the various leader roles.
You would be starting with a single small settlement on a completely unexplored continent, with minimal communication with the rest of the world.
This would be a relatively low-powered world. Chances are no one on the planet is higher than level 8 or 9 (the only possible exceptions being the extremely rare lich or ancient dragon). Each of you would be about level 3 (subject to change).
I'm still looking for a good way to post maps of the kingdom and of individual settlements. Suggestions would be appreciated.
I'm looking for somewhere between 3 and 6 players. Possibly a few more. Depending on interest levels and if I think I can swing it, I might start a second group elsewhere on the continent.
This would be much more of a roleplaying, resource-management game than a hack and slash, for what should be obvious reasons. Similarly, this would be more of a sandbox game than a story-driven one.
So, do you think this could be fun? Any suggestions or potential obstacles you'd like to point out?
I distinctly remember there being a nice little list of all the rule questions that had had an FAQ response, and now I can't find it anywhere. Where'd it go?
After several long weeks of renovating and redecorating, you have all managed to make The Spirit Gallery functional again. Even though most of you have only come together recently, the hard work has bonded you closely together. Maybe even enough for you to be friends.
Regardless--Today is the big day. The grand re-opening. New employees rush about in excitement; Those who worked for Cedany's father and have been rehired go about with a smile, taking in the newly painted walls and carefully cleaned carpets.
The customers stream in, several heading to the game room, others watching in fascination as Drad Belel--your four-armed half-orc bartender--mixes their drinks. Old friends sit together and remember other days. A young halfling couple stare giddily at each other while sharing a sweetroll. Dwarves bravely test out your strongest alcohol. The entire atmosphere is charged with happiness and excitement, and you are at the center of it all.
Going to give you guys a chance to interact and roleplay a bit.
Welcome. Although it isn't necessary yet, I am going to need stat blocks soon-ish. Here is a review of character creation rules:
-5th level
-8,000 gp wealth (the rest has gone into your shared business)
-20 point buy
-Any of the core races plus aasimar, catfolk, ifrits, oreads, sylphs, and undines (other by request; I took them off the list because people tend to react unfavorably towards them, but if you have a good idea...)
-Any class except gunslinger and synthesist summoner (this one for the same reason as the removed races. This includes classes in the ACG.
-Any alignment (under the condition that you have reasons to not betray the group ((aka. no pvp)))
-2 traits
-Max hit points for first level, average after. Instead of taking average, you can choose to roll for every level or some levels (and suck up a bad roll if you get one). All hit point rolling will be done in this thread
-Everyone will have two hero points that they will have to spend immediately (as the max at any given time is three). We can discuss the possible uses for these; you can also use a hero point to reroll one hit point roll, taking the better result.
-Third party material by request
-Anything else by request
Once you are finished with your crunch, let me know and I'll check it. You can still change things until the game starts, but you will need to let me know what is being changed so I can check it again.
Other Stuff
The inn you guys own is fairly large (I haven't decided exactly how large yet). Things you will need to decide among yourselves include
-A name for your establishment
-Which district of Absalom you're going to be based in
-Other business ventures (gambling hall, drug den, etc.) besides being an inn and tavern
-Your hiring process for employees (This will probably largely be handwaved if you don't want to roleplay it out, but I want there to be enough options that you still have to consider it)
-Whether or not you are going to go into debt (or use some of your personal funds) to get extra features for your inn
-All the other things that are suddenly blanking my mind but that you or I or someone else will bring up as they become relevant
Things you will need to decide with me:
-The extra possible features that you might spend more money on
-How much of the hiring process you want to play out and how much you want to handwave.
-The other stuff I am also forgetting. I must be tired.
Anyway, I'm probably going to go to bed soon. I'll post more tomorrow.
This is mostly for the people in this thread, but others are welcome to add input.
The basic concept is mentioned in the other thread and the title, so I won't go over it again. Right now I am asking what potential players want, specifically
-starting level
-availability of hero points and prestige points
-amount of combat encounters compared to social encounters
-general starting funds (ie. group already owns tavern; group already has tavern leased to them, etc.)
-involvement with crime syndicate
-and anything else you would specifically like to see or not see :)
I should be clear: I have NOT yet decided to run this game. I am still figuring out whether or not I can make it work well, but I am heavily leaning towards doing it. :)
So my campaign is wrapping up this weekend, and I was hoping you guys could catch any dumb mistakes I made that would make the fight too short or too long.
The party consists of six and a half players (we let my eight-year-old brother join for the last few sessions) of 17th level. Two fighters, magus, cleric, barbarian, rogue, god wizard. Their money is about 12000 above WBL, each has an extra feat, built with 25-ish point buy.
Each also has an artifact weapon to help fight the forces of evil. Effectively +11 weapons with unique specials, some of which are activated and some are passive (wizard casts spontaneously, cleric can use immediate action to cast resurrection at the cost of two negative levels, rogue gets double haste effect for two levels, etc.)
Before I get to the stat block, I want to point out a couple of things--there are a few things I decided to ignore (the str damage from unholy aura, death throes), and some things that I fudged based on the PCs (the frightful gaze DC). This is basically a colossal-sized balor lord with extra HD and some other stuff tacked on. I didn't bother writing down equipment, but that's all already factored in.
Here it is, knowing the forums, I can thank you all in advance for the suggestions and such. :)
* These are the bits I am least sure on.
CE Colossal outsider, Fighter 4
Init +14; Senses Blindsight, true seeing; Perception +50
Aura flaming body, frightful gaze (DC 30, shaken)
AC 40, touch 16, flat-footed 30 (+3 armor, +4 deflection, +10 Dex, +21 natural, –8 size)
hp 847* (34d10+650) Fast healing 50*
Fort 40, Ref +22, Will +29
Defensive Abilities Heavy fortification, Unstoppable Immune electricity, fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 31*
Speed 40 ft., fly 90 ft. (good)
Melee +5 unholy longsword +51/+37/+32/+27 (4d10+2d6+50), +5 flaming whip +42/+37/+32 (2d6+50 plus 1d6 fire and entangle), 2 wings +35 (2d8+23), tail +35 (4d8+23)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. (60 ft. with whip)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th)
Constant—freedom of movement, true seeing
At will—dominate monster (DC 30), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), power word stun, telekinesis (DC 26)
3/day—Quickened greater command (DC 26), Quickened greater dispel magic, Quickened telekinesis (DC 26), Greater spell immunity, Stormbolts (DC 29)
1/day—fire storm (DC 29)
Str 56, Dex 31, Con 50, Int 30, Wis 30, Cha 33
Base Atk +34; CMB +56; CMD 80
Feats Combat Reflexes, Double slice, Furious focus, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (various), Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (all), Weapon spec (all)
Entangle (Ex)
If a balor strikes a foe with its whip, the balor can immediately attempt a grapple check without provoking an attack of opportunity. If the balor wins the check, it draws the foe into an adjacent square. The foe gains the grappled condition, but the balor does not.
Flaming Body (Su)
A balor's body is covered in dancing flames. Anyone striking a balor with a natural weapon or unarmed strike takes 1d6 points of fire damage. A creature that grapples a balor or is grappled by one takes 6d6 points of fire damage each round the grapple persists.
So for my homebrew campaign that's closing up one of the recurring villians is a lich. The problem is that the last time the players fought him they finished the fight within a few rounds. Looking over my notes afterward I realized that I had given him almost no buffs, and his d6 hit die just couldn't deal with four melee beating on him.
So my question is this: what spells would any high level wizard who's been around for a long time have permanency'd on himself (including spells that aren't viable RAW, but would be good choices), and what magic items would he be wearing?
You transfer some of your currently prepared spells, and the ability to cast them, to another creature.
So here's the question: Oracles don't prepare spells--So do I still need to designate which of my spells I transfer? Or can the recipient cast any of the spells I know of the appropriate level?
Title says it all--I'm rather interested in the idea of joining a play-by-post game, but I've run into a couple of obstacles and I was hoping for help jumping over them.
1) I've spent the last half hour looking for a game that's open to another player and haven't found anything. Am I just looking in the wrong place?
2) I have zero knowledge of how pbp is supposed to work (Literally nothing. Assume I have a wisdom of 7. For some reason I have difficulty making connections and assumptions that other people find commonplace).
Excellent. Now that you've read my title and the vast majority of you are ready to prove me wrong, here's what I need help with.
I honestly can't see why monks are always pounded on as being so bad. In the group I play with (PFS)I'm easily the second best character we have (Granted, there is only one other seventh level; but the other people I'm comparing to are level five or six. It isn't that much a difference). Assuming the rest of you are not wrong abut monks there are two possible explanations:
1) The other characters have all been built poorly.
2) I have a skewed perception on what is actually 'good.'
Either way, if someone could spend the time to point out all the things I've done wrong with my character and some of the things I could improve on in the future, it would be quite appreciated.
Half-orc monk 7
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +22
AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 Wis, +3 monk)
hp 54
Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +9
Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune disease
Speed 50 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +8 (2d6+3) or unarmed strike flurry of blows +8/+8/+3 (2d6+3)
Special Attacks flurry of blows, stunning fist (8/day, DC 17, fatigued)
Str 16, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 7
Base Atk +5; CMB +10 (+12 to trip); CMD 26
Feats Catch-Off Guard, Throw Anything, Dodge, Improved unarmed Strike, Skill Focus (Perception), Improved initiative, Improved Trip, Stunning Fist, Combat Reflexes
Skills Acrobatics +12 (+27 jump), Climb +8, Escape Artist +6, Knowledge (History) +3, Knowledge (Religion) +3, Perception +22, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +6, Survival +10, Swim +6
Languages Common, Orc, Celestial
SQ (normal monk stuff), ki pool (8 points ((Vow of Truth)))
Combat Gear Eyes of the Eagle, Monk's Robe, Headband of Wisdom (+2), (various potions, oils, and flasks)
Sorry if that's overly dense, I tried to keep it as close to the stat blocks in the Bestiary as possible.
And again, thanks for any help! :)
So I've got my Black Blade with its +1 enhancement bonus. Let's say I want to make it a keen (Also a +1 bonus) black blade, does it cost me 2000 or 8000?
And then, after spending however much gold, it does become a +2 keen black blade, yes?
Explosive Rebirth (Su) When killed, a star archon explodes in a blinding flash of energy that deals 50 points of damage (half fire, half holy damage) to anything within 100 feet (Reflex DC 29 half). The save DC is Constitution-based. The slain archon reincarnates 1d4 rounds later as an advanced shield archon.
(Emphasis added)
My question is very simple: what the heck is that line doing in the ability description? If it's a reflex save then it will be dex-based, right? Or does it use your base reflex save but instead of dex it uses your con modifier?
I've seen this sort of thing all over the place in the Bestiaries and elsewhere, and I must say that it's quite convoluting...
