RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16. RPG Superstar 6 Season Star Voter, 7 Season Star Voter, 9 Season Star Voter. Organized Play Member. 475 posts (591 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 3 aliases.
The premise is to get hi-spec equipment ahead of the level curve to give you more survivability / death-dealing.
- (Optional) Start off with a race which has a bonus to smithing (Nord; Orc; Redguard)
- Choose the Imperial guy (Hadvar) in Helgen
- Finish the starter dungeon at Helgen (note that you can train Sneak on the sleeping bear. Sneak around until it wakes up. Back off quickly and it will go back to sleep again)
- Go to Riverwood (via the "Warrior" Guardian Stone; collect blue mountain flowers) and talk to the smith (Alvor). Clear out the smithy of ingots to train smithing.
- Take Steel Smithing and Dwarvern Smithing as perks as a priority. Others in combat skills.
- (Optional) Clear out Embershard Mine near Riverwood for iron ingots and a Smithing skill book
- Travel to Whiterun Stables and catch a cart directly to Markarth
- If you have less than 30 Smithing (and the Dwarvern perk), go to the mine site just outside the city (Left Hand Mine) and get the Kolskeggr Mine quest to clear out the Forsworn.
- On the way to Kolskeggr, collect hanging moss (makes good potions with blue mountain flowers)
- Kill Forsworn by preferred method
- Mine all the gold
- Make gold rings until Smithing is 30+
- Get the quest to kill the spider from the Wizard (Calcelmo) in Understone Keep
- Kill spider and collect dwemer metal pieces
- Talk to Calcelmo and get the key to the museum
- Steal dwemer metal pieces from museum while sneaking around
- You should end up with around 400 dwarvern metal ingots from all that
- Make dwarvern bows like a maniac (you will need iron ingots)
- Spend your money on: iron ingots to make more dwarvern bows; magic items to improve your smithing; a blessed or banishing weapon (which, when you are training enchanting gives the best return on petty soul gems); petty, lesser and common soul gems; a soul trap weapon (for filling the aforementioned soul gems); orichalcum ingots; ebony ingots
- You should end up with smithing around 60 or at this point. Make yourself some kick-ass orc armour and soul-trapping weapons.
- Scour through Nchuand-Zel under Markarth, killing all the falmer with soul-trapping stuff to fill the soul gems; collect tonnes of dwemer metal again.
- Make blessed weapons with the crappy falmer weapons and your low-rent soul gems to train enchanting (change to the wizard shrine and nap to boost xp first)
- Make more dwarvern bows to boost smithing to 80-90
- Train alchemy with blue mountain flowers and hanging moss
- Use ebony ingots to make a kick-ass set of ebony armour upgraded with high enchantment and alchemy bonuses
- (Optional) Travel to College of Winterhold to buy daedric hearts from Enthir and make daedric stuff instead of ebony stuff
- (Optional) Improve haggling skills so you make profit on the buying ingots / crafting / selling cycle
- (Optional) Travel to Riften – outside town is a shrine which has a necklace of zenithar to improve your haggling
- (Optional) Do the Clavicus Vile quest via Falkreath to get the Mask of Clavicus Vile to improve your haggling
- (Optional) To train Conjuring to get better summons, cast Soul Trap repeatedly on a corpse. Cons: Try to explain to you wife why you are interfering with a semi-naked digital corpse for an hour straight.
Ok, we only seem to have had four active players recently. How's everyone going? Still enjoying the game? It would be good to get a sound off to know where everyone's at (Ash, I know you might not be able to reply for a bit).
Let me know if for whatever reason you don't want to continue, or are going to be busy for a bit, or would like to see anything changed.
I'm in Canberra over the next couple of days for work, so posting may be a little slow from me. I'll just put down a couple of rounds worth of rolls to keep us going.
Mothman, I am away tomorrow and Saturday attending a funeral. If you guys begin, I am happy for Dementrius to run Haelynn on my behalf (if you both don't mind...)
Yeah, I can run Haelynn for the next couple of days. Mothy, do I make a new alias ("Yumiko's ugly sister") or just post as Yumiko/Haelynn?
Hey, I didn't say he won't reciprocate. Just said he's likely to strike up a friendship from the start. Play your cards right and you could be the queen of Minkai :P we could rule this world, aasimar and tiefling side by side!
I don't exactly know what foolin' around with a curse-witch is like, but I assume they would get on like a house on fire (ie. people ending up in hospital, uncontrolled fires and a fair amount of toxic smoke.)
As for background, my original idea for Haelynn was her father accompanied the "heir" to Varisia and fell in love with a local woman. He died in battle, and she died in childbirth. Considering the nature of their children, the birth was probably very abnormal and might still be the talk of local legend.
The sisters have grown up under the partial guardianship of Koya (Friend of the Family trait) and by their own skills and talents. I was thinking Haelynn and Yumiko have looked out for each other and supported each other to survive, and probably have a reputation for being quite mischievous in their youth.
Since they were born in Sandpoint, the two have only ever known the town and are long-term locals. Haelynn probably has a strong connection to Ameiko and Xargin as she worships Shelyn and enjoys performing (especially dancing and singing). If Marc is the dashing knight in town, she might also spend time trying to see him sparring or riding about town.
I am seeing a scene where, moments after the sisters are born, the two of them are laid head-to-toe swaddled in blankets while the town's midwife and clerics desperately attempt to save their mother. As the camera pans up and over them, we see the two babies forming a yin-yang symbol with their sleeping infant forms.
I can see Yumiko having a hate/lust/envy thing going on with most of the high Charisma male characters (I like him, he's handsome, but unobtainable because I'm this cursed thing. What a jerk. I'll be mean to him so that he pays attention to me. *Turns to jelly if shown any interest*).
Yumiko and Haelynn both have the 'friend of the family' trait as well. I'm thinking that the sisters have both studied with Niska and Koya at some point. (Or Haelynn has, and Yumiko listened at the window).
So, Yumiko's got friends – well not friends exactly. (She doesn't really have them). But she has people who will help her – well not help. Tolerate maybe? Yeah, Koya's on that very short list.
I'm seeing the sisters as being DeVito/Schwarzengger type twins where the mix of spiritual essences (oni and kami) have gone screwy somewhere despite their shared parentage. Despite that they are a tight-knit pair who look out for one another.
Just going through high level character ideas at the moment. I'll probably go with something ranged / spellcastery, as I've scratched my close combat itch in our Carrion Crown campaign.
Does the phrase"Gun Witch" fill you with dread? I haven't worked out how to do it yet, but it's gonna involve some non-Core shenanigans (probably some sort of gunslinger/magus, multiclass/archetype abomination).
Also is the a way to filter and edit text with a cell ? something like HD with just the number of dies and not how many hit points ? hope that made some kind of sense.
If you are trying to parse out components of a cell value, you can try the LEFT(), MID() or RIGHT() functions, or a combination. e.g.
Cell A1 has text string "3d8+4" in it.
=LEFT(A1, 1) = "3" (as a text value)
=VALUE(LEFT(A1,1) = 3 (as a number value)
=MID(A1, 2, 2) = "d8"
=VALUE(RIGHT(A1,1)) = "4"
Then you could create an array of your dice types (d4, d6, d8 etc.) vs. their average values (2.5, 3.5, 4.5 etc.) which will look like this:
d4 2.5
d6 3.5
d8 4.5
...and use the VLOOKUP function to help calculate the averages. Something like:
If the number of die or the static modifier are greater than 10 then you will have to adjust the formulas though (or write embedded if/then statements).
1. Brief summary of tack used ("I'll argue that he'll make a lot of money if we get into the king's treaury").
(equivalent to "I move into flanking" for attacks)
2. GM applies relevant modifiers (the target needs money to pay for his child's medicine - have a +2 to the roll; the target is surprisingly honest - have a -2 to the roll).
3. Roll to determine result
4. Player/GM role-plays result.
I've been planning a post-Earthfall Kingmaker-style campaign for my group, and put together some rules which overlay classes / equipment / spell access / kingdom building rules with a technology tree (cribbed from Civilization).
Basically, pick the technologies you want active and that sets the classes, equipment and spell levels available. The stuff relevant to you starts at about page 12. Tech tree is on the final page.
Good setup for the last day, with all four results still possible. England losing 4-50 in the first 10 overs would set the match up nicely for a tense finish.
My "go to" mid-campaign break for the DM and players is to bust out the 3.5 Stronghold Builder's Guidebook and let the PCs build their own individual bases of operations.
...and then you join up with the other players and try to wreck them with a band of NPC adventurers when the characters are out. Total cathartic death stomping.
Rules Guidelines:
Spoiler:
Attacking the Strongholds
Once the Strongholds are completed, each player will take turns to defend their stronghold as GM against the other players.
The idea is to have several fast, one-shot adventures to showcase the style of the strongholds built.
Challenge Rating
The defending player chooses the challenge rating of the dungeon. This will be the level of the other players' characters that will be raiding his stronghold.
Characters
After the stronghold is given a challenge rating, the other players will develop a party of characters based thematically on one of the defending player’s enemies / loose ends. The type of party will be kept secret until the game is ready to be played.
These characters will have PC wealth per level and 10% of this will be in cash.
*DM creates a list of potential enemies (in order of appearance)*
Treasure
A challenge rating appropriate the defending player will put up treasure, going by the total treasure by encounter tables. Portable equipment for minions counts as half towards the required treasure.
Stronghold Effectiveness
Do not worry if the strongholds are too effective. Unfurl every last devious method to defend your treasure. You don't have to be fair. But make it realistic – hidden pit traps and contact poison are just as likely to kill off (relatively) innocent minions as they are intruders.
Creature Features
Cost for keep minions / creatures are as follows, assume 1 year of costs before the raid takes place.
Staff
Typical staff types can be found in the DMG (Table 4-1, pg 105) or the Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook (Table 2-11 pg 42).
The hiring prices for these should be taken from the SHBG.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries employed are hired on the following scale:
CR Cost / Month
1/3 (e.g. Goblin warriors) 6 gp
1/2 9 gp
1 (e.g. War 2 or Wiz 1) 18 gp
2 36 gp
3 72 gp
4 144 gp
5 288 gp
CR 9 x 2^(CR) gp
Monsters
Animal intelligence monsters can be purchased to defend the lairs. The following costs include training (your choice of tricks)
CR Purchase Cost Upkeep Cost / Month
1/3 25 gp (e.g. Small dog) 1.5 gp
½ 100 gp (e.g. War pony) 1.5 gp
1 150 gp (e.g. Riding Dog) 1.5 gp
2 400 gp (e.g. Warhorse) 1.5 gp
3 800 gp 3 gp
4 1600 gp 6 gp
5 3200 gp 12 gp
CR 100 x 2^(CR) 3 x 2^(CR-2)
Monster Manual List price overrides this guide
Flight x 5 x 2
Intelligent (>6) monsters use the Mercenaries list.
Equipment
All equipment purchases are the responsibility of the defender's PC.
Super Battleship Yamoto and Iron Sky were screened back-to-back on SBS last night. They are both cheesy and terrible in exactly the way I find entertaining.
I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Maybe for every 4-6 points over average give the kids a +1 to this particular score? Averaged between both spouses...
Or you take a very simplistic model of the Mendelian inheritance. So you would have kids which would resemble mother or father.
I'm probably just going to let the +2 bonus from being human be representitive of whatever genetics mumbo-jumbo the PCs want to get.
And with Bangladesh's victory over Scotland, with overs and wickets to spare, the England women's team's male counterparts move one step closer to sliding out of their contest in an inglorious fashion...
Not all is lost for England though.
It won't rain in Adelaide, and England should beat Bangladesh to take out 4th spot in the pool. They'll line up against India in the first QF, who they've just beaten a couple of times in the recent Tri-series on the same grounds.
Isolation was why progress was so slow.. Individual civilizations would make discoveries and then die without passing them on, so it was a long slow process with lots of repetition. When we got to the point where knowledge was readily shared, with the invention of print, things really started taking off.
QFT.
Spoiler:
When the Orcs and Dwarves arrive out of the Darklands, they're going to wish they still had their slow progress and isolation.
Just to give you an idea of how the rate of change is now as opposed to the past.
Something like about 80-90 percent of known science was discovered within yours or your parent's lifetime. Pretty much the same for technology as well.
My perspective is that humanity would presumably pick things up a bit faster during a re-building phase where there are isolated people with the information passed down through generations, plus ruins and documents available, rather than discovering it all for the first time.
Technology in the pre-Industrial age, advanced over millennia between significant changes. Unless you're playing a game that spans many generations, it's not going to happen fast enough to make a difference. Especially with magic taking over so many of it's usual functions.
The idea is that it will span many generations, in that it takes ages to get anything done in the beginning (until you learn how to make maps or construct masonry, or have a decent government system). Also, it does not map completely true to our pre-Industrial age, as there are still relics of lost technology available to jump start the advancement process.
But your point about the rate of progress is well taken - and I'll need to keep an eye on the rate to keep a balance between too slow progress (which is boring) and too fast progress (which is immersion-breaking)
Note that the technology tree includes magical advancement as well (starting out with only 0-level spells) which give the Kingdom the option of being completely magic-focussed, balanced, or completely magic ignorant if the PCs want.
If the PCs focus just on magic - good! They've chosen to have fun re-creating the Thassalonian empire and its wacky mage-antics.
If they focus on martial stuff - good! They've chosen to have fun building a low-magic medieval-style kingdom where you kill dragons by riding at them with a lance.
New idea: XP track (slow, medium, fast) is linked to technologies as well. Not sure whether to link to "Chivalry" and "Leadership", or add extra technologies (Sagas + Feudalism = "Heroic Epic"; Theology + Leadership = "Divine Champion").
This allows 2nd and 3rd generation PCs to gain levels faster and accelerate the rate of gameplay in later epochs.
I was thinking for family lines, make a child's score in any attribute = 1/3 mother's score + 1/3 father score + 1d6. Then I thought about how using wishes and points from leveling this could create distortion where a 24 INT mage marries a 21 INT husband and has a child with an INT of 16-21, who can get to level 20 and use 5 wishes to have an INT of 26-31 and marries a INT 24 woman to have a child with an INT of 19-24 ... . The more I thought of this and the probability of players using this the more I realized that instead of being a problem it would probably be a fun feature. There would be one family with incredible STR which were breed to be warriors, another family breed to be wizards and so forth. Throw a limit on inbreeding (no marriage 2nd cousin or closer) and the families would scour the kingdom for the most intelligent/strongest/beautiful mates for their children and cast wishes on them to have even better grandchildren. maybe you don't want to this, but I think it would be fun to have carefully breed overspecialized dynasties with 32 STR warriors.
"Dad, why did you invite the Frost Giants to the royal ball again?"
*Coughs uncomfortably* "No reason. Isn't Helga looking lovely this evening...?"
The alternative is that the kids are 3d6 in order, just like everyone else, and you end up with flawed monarchs who are ripe for usurpation by charismatic heroes. (Insert internal strife fun here)
Concerning just the tech, I hate to suggest such a major revision but, it seems that the tech web format used in Beyond Earth would be a better model for the way the techs are clustered, not as large as the one in beyond Earth but a similar pattern.
maybe I'm missed it, but how much of the map is known before the kingdom is founded? It would be really frustrating to found the kingdom in one hex and discover 10 years later that the next hex over would have been a better choice for the type of kingdom the party wanted to create.
I was going with a Civ II-like tech tree mainly because of the nostalgia value with my cohort of players. It will be an easier sell if it's something that's familiar to them.
I had planned on only one hex being available immediately (the one I think is the best!), but I'll warn them to have a scout around first before they settle permanently.
A few things were unclear to me:
- How is the technology tree shaped? A graphic would be nice.
- I didn't understand how the PCs could get higher-level starting characters and more starting equipment. Or at least the rules were hazy to me.
- What is the time-frame? Should the campaign be stretched over 200 years? Is aging of PCs a thing?
And an idea:
- Dynasties and families. Incorporating rules about having kids and inheriting traits or such things. Even material goods like heirloom weapons and spellbooks. That is something you almost never see.
Overall, a great concept and I really love the idea. But then, I was always a sucker for Civ-Games.
Thanks for having a look Jeremias.
- The technology tree is the very last page (pg 26. Hiding behind the walls-of-text technology descriptions).
- Page 4 under Characters --> Experience, 1 BP can be traded for 1,000 XP. As you create a batch of characters you can also provide them equipment as a bulk lot, or withdraw BP as per normal rules (inciting Unrest) to kit out characters
- The timeframe is planned to be pretty long, with generations and family dynasties coming into play.
That's an interesting point about families and inheriting traits. Maybe modifiers to ability scores based on that of the parents. Something like the "racial" bonus is (father's ability mod + mother's ability mod)/2.
I would guess fitting out your heirs would come out of your own purse, or by withdrawing BP from those filthy peasants (maybe making the "Rich Parents" trait mandatory if this is greater than starting gold).
I’m potentially running a post-Earthfall/Age of Darkness game where the PCs build up an empire from the ruins of civilization using the Kingdom building rules in Ultimate Campaign. As part of this, I’m trying to overlay a technology tree (similar to the Civilization PC games) over the empire’s development to give the feel of dragging humanity back from the brink of extinction (“The Aboleth bombed us back to the stone age!”).
What does everyone think? I'm looking for feedback, particularly around any loopholes, campaign-killing exploits or generally un-fun parts which I have overlooked.
When you're searching Google or DeviantArt it can be helpful to add "concept art" to the search, as this tends to return higher quality results from professional artists.
David Posener
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9 aka Dementrius
Axle of Sky and Storm
Axle of Sky and Storm Aura moderate transmutation; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 50,305 gp; Weight 9 lbs.
Description
The haft of this double-ended +2 mighty cleaving elysian bronze longspear is a churning tornado which writhes in the wielder’s hands. A pillar of cyclonic winds besets a creature hit by the axle of sky and storm for 1 round. The wind’s speed is 2 mph per point of damage dealt.
On command, the wielder of the axle of sky and storm may cast it forth horizontally, unleashing a 50-foot radius vortex. The cyclone assembles 300 pounds of unattended non-magical items and terrain into a medium chariot (Ultimate Combat) with hardness and hit points based on the predominant material. A pair of Large bull-silhouetted whirlwinds (10 ft. high, 1d6+2 damage, DC 14, 50’ speed) draws the chariot. The whirlwinds are magical effects controlled by the driver, and grant a +4 circumstance bonus to driving checks.
The broad-headed spear forms the vehicle’s axle and the blades function as scythes projecting from the wheels. Using the scythes, the driver can attack a creature adjacent to the chariot’s path of movement. Resolve the attack using the driver’s attack and damage modifiers as if attacking with the axle of sky and storm. Drivers with the Cleave or Great Cleave feats can cleave additional creatures. The targets need not be adjacent to one another.
The bearer can unbind the chariot as a standard action, whereupon the constituent items are scattered, undamaged, across a 50-foot radius area. Treat the debris field as difficult terrain. The chariot unbinds if it is wrecked or destroyed, and cannot be called again for 1 week.
Construction Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, control winds, divine power, fabricate; Cost 25,305 gp
David Posener
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9 aka Dementrius
Jacob W. Michaels wrote:
I was not surprised the Axle didn't make it past the cull, but I really liked it. I thought it needed a little rewriting, but the core idea really appealed to me as something I considered doing. Kudos to that designer.
Yeah, that one's mine. It may have had one or two (or seven) too many powers piled up in it.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
