Djivan's page

If you're still recruiting, I could submit a bard for you within 24h :-)

Hey guys. Where to start...

My sincere apologies for the sudden death. A group as cool as ours didn't deserve such an end. You put a lot of time in your character stories, and it's a shame they didn't get any further into this adventure. I'm very sorry for this and I feel really bad about it.

What happened? I told from the start I had a demanding job... It went a little gung-ho. First I let go of my hobbies (my RL campaign had a sudden death as well), even spending time with friends became rare. Then I started to realise it wasn't worth all that and I quit the job about a month ago. Far better for my health and general well-being. I've done some travelling and spent some time with friends.

I have no idea what to do with this campaign (or who would be around), I just had to apologise. Let me know who if you is out there and we'll see it from there.

Sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

Back, let's kickstart this :-)

I'm sick, concentrating for RP is hard atm. Back in a few days, thanks for your patience.

The silver sword above the door is indeed to show that the door is the escape route. Ok for me if you are on either side of the gate Shannon, you can make the roll as well if you like.

@Maxis: Map is the official map from the AP + photoshop for minor edits like moving characters/NPC's ;-)

That's allright, thanks for the info.

Had some busy days as well, my collegue has been absent for 2 weeks so I did double shifts untill now. And I wouldn't miss time with my family during these days ;-) Planning to post a little more again so we get back at the initial planned 3-4 posts/week, if needed with godmodding Ozer the next 3 weeks.

Concerning battle (we should get a part of that in the near future, I'll repeat what I said earlier:

-When in combat, I'll roll initiative for everyone. Don't wait your turn (combat would take weeks that way), just post what you would be doing that round, if needed with various options. I'll do the same for the bad guys.

I'll evaluate after our first encounter if this works and if we can improve that.

Sorry, not gonna tell for free, even for the most stupid magic item like a potion of CLW. Roll it if you want to find out the exact properties or find out by using it ;-)

Identifying Potions: In addition to the standard methods of identification, PCs can sample from each container they find to attempt to determine the nature of the liquid inside with a Perception check. The DC of this check is equal to 15 + the spell level of the potion (although this DC might be higher for rare or unusual potions).

As for Maxis:

In addition, an alchemist can use Craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using detect magic. He must hold the potion for 1 round to make such a check.

Happy 2013 everyone ;-)

@Ozer: Yes, the inn is empty apart from Janiven, the teenage boy that came in and the five of you. So either Ozer is very distracted in his beer, either he must have noticed by the sounds (the knocking on the door, Janiven getting up from her chair and running to the door, a door opening and closing again) or by the sudden movements of the people (visually).

Ozers name: Thanks, good to know you're ok with it. To keep things simple:

let's ignore it and pretend it wasn't called aloud, so Ozer can continue his RP. Stick to it until Ozer reveals his name to the rest of you.

-> Valid for Ronwn's error. Since it was immediately said to be a mistake, we stick with this.

I'm not too stressed about the name, just trying to keep him kind of cantankerous at the start. If someone knows his name in character feel free to use it. Ronwn might and of course so would our host.

-> Valid for every future post.

No, it's bad karma, had the same thing happen again. Couldn't login for two hours now.

Ah, at last a chance to post :-)

First of all: Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you had a wonderful time with your friends and/or family. As for me, I certainly did. The times I came to check upon this forum tough, the site was down. Did anyone else encounter this or did I just have bad luck/karma?

We're going to have some action, introduction lasted long enough ;-)

Concerning the (minor) RP fail with Ozer's name: let's ignore it and pretend it wasn't called aloud, so Ozer can continue his RP. Stick to it until Ozer reveals his name to the rest of you.

My week went a little awkward, but don't worry, I'm back at full force tomorrow ;-)

It is what I hoped for, so no complaining from my side ;-)

I suggest you start introducing your characters to each other first, to make shadowhunting after dark more realisticly afterwards ;-)

Ah dammit. More realistic for the region (Italy/Spain) and the time of the year (October) is 7PM.

No worries, we'll RP it out ;-)

Around 8PM. Aiming at a Southern European sphere, if that is of any help for temperature or time of sunrise/sunset.

Stop writing that much, you all make me feel like an amateur!

Just joking. Really enjoying it. I admit tough I underestimated writing RP in English. Will get better when I'm used to it.

I like it ;-)

Thanks for updating the languages, I'm ok with that. Looking forward to see everyone in the gameplay thread :-)

Started the campaign with an introduction story: http://paizo.com/campaigns/WiscraniTales/gameplay

To make it easier for everyone, I propose the following:
-Make a habit of checking discussions prior to posting in gameplay.
-Limit OOC to the most essential.
-Use spoilers for Dice Rolls + situations only your character would be aware of.
-When in combat, I'll roll initiative for everyone. Don't wait your turn (combat would take weeks that way), just post what you would be doing that round, if needed with various options. I'll do the same for the bad guys.

@Maxis: Apart from the languages you're ready to go ;-) I'll be starting the campaign anyway, but I would appreciate if you would give it some toughts within the next couple of days.
You have several options. Either you stick with Edwin teaching you the basics of Elven, Dwarven and Gnome, either you take some of the human regional languages (which I would find more logical for Edwin to teach you). Furthermore, Azlanti would be an option of a language Edwin would know, since it would be considered the language of his former patron deity Aroden. Feel free to come up with another reason of how Maxis would have learned a language, I'm just giving examples of possible justifications ;-)

@MythrilDragon: That is exactly the reason, glad you like it.

@Shannon: thanks, with that clear, Shannon is ready to go :)

@Maxis:
-I'd like to know why Maxis knows these languages, how he was able to learn them.
-I'll provide something at the start of the adventure.
-ok thanks.
-My bad. Don't remember why I asked either, probably confused with something else. Sorry.

@Maxis:
-Could you motivate your language choices, especially Goblin?
-Could you send me in a PM if you have any preferences about the Pathfinder liaison? If no preferences, you can say so here and I'll give you the information you need to know. You can use that knowledge during the adventure.
-Could you tell me what favoured class bonus you are using?
-Could you add some spoilers in your profile? I find that easier to read :-)

@Ronwn:
-What favoured class bonus are you using?
-Could you tell me a little about your familiar? Just basics I could use in an introduction.
-Could you add some spoilers in your profile? I find that easier to read :-)

@Shannon:
-Could you tell me where to find more info about the "Blue book (Westcrown)?
-What favourite class bonus are you using?

@Mazon:
Thanks :-) We got some time to fix a RP solution for that, I think I can pull of something in the future to make it fitting. But, Mazon is ready to go.

@Ozer: No worries, I'm not planning on changing the rules to posting every day now. I'm still OK with 3-4 posts a week.

@Mazon:
-Which favoured class bonus did you take?
-I'm not familiar with your weapons, where can I read about them?
-Vudrani and Tien might be difficult to learn in Westcrown, so I don't know if I'm ok with that. If you want to continue to flavour Mazon to a rather Eastern style tough, I'll think of how we could insert that in a credible way in the campaign.
-Could you add some spoilers in your profile? I find that easier to read :-)

@Maxis and Ronwn: I'll check as soon as I'm able to.

@Ozer: 100% sure, you're ready to go ;-)

Any other character that needs checking/feedback/info, or are you all ready to go for friday?

I read the background again and I'm glad you decided to stay close with your original story. On a first look, stats look good, but I'll check this again later to be 100% sure.

Could you use some spoilers in your profile so it becomes easier to read? Thanks a lot :-)

Looks really nice according to me. Add some paragraphs so it's easier to read, and in your profile you might want to add some spoilers with the same goal.

There are 4 other good writers here, so I'm curious for their opinion as well ;-)

1) I'm ok if you pick Paladin as your favoured class, but it might take several levels to get there.

2) How to flesh out: I think the Bellflower Network and their HQ in Westcrown, the Bell of the Sea, fit excellent in your backstory. More information: [url]http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Bellflower_Network[/url].
Factions: You definitely heard rumours of these factions being present in Westcrown. The Church of Asmodeus has an obvious presence, as do the Hellknights. The Aspis Consortium is a little less obvious but well known to both traders and slaves. Last but not least, anyone having ties with slavery (promoting or opposing it) has heard of the Bellflower Network.

3) Lawful and chaotic are opposites and you'll have to pass trough neutral by acting rather lawful on several occasions. The process will then repeat when going from neutral to lawful. So going from chaotic to lawful good might be a very long shot, especially since CoT is a difficult campaign for lawful characters. So I advise, especially if you take Paladin as your favourite class, to take Neutral Good.

4) You don't have to and it is not required for the start of the campaign either, but I appreciate any effort to do so. Best way is to check each other's story, check if there is a hook you can tie your character to.

5) Start with average gold for your class please :-)

Hi everyone, I’m very motivated to get this started :-) We won’t start immediately, you will have a few days to make some changes to the characters and make sure we’re all perfectly happy about them. I will let go of the personal quest I spoke about in the introduction post of the recruitment. Your background stories have provided me with several ideas to flavor this campaign, so they’re not necessary. If possible, we will start this Friday, but it is possible I’ll delay this if I feel some stories/characters need further perfection.

Let’s take things slow at the start, I hope to establish a good understanding between us this way, one that will avoid sudden walkaways. I have some further guidelines here, check if you’re ok with them please. Also, if you didn’t do before reading this post, check your inbox. I hope to develop a good understanding between players and DM as this is key to any successful campaign. If anything you can contact me by that mail, or by the tools I provided you with in that PM.

Character guidelines:
• Advancement: No need to keep track of experience, I’ll let you know when to level.
  
• I’m not afraid of tailoring the AP to suit my needs. For you, this means you don’t have to consider with every choice “in what direction is the DM trying to point us”. If we start with the AP and end up with sandbox adventuring in Cheliax, I’m fine with that. Just make it worth the effort I put in by writing some excellent story yourself.
  
• Favoured Class Bonus: don’t forget to pick one, and mention in your profile which choice you make.
  
• Languages: Make sure you can motivate any language you speak. I’m not fond of picking dead languages, but if you give it a restriction I’d accept it. (I’ll cite Shannons example, it’s one I like: he knows Azlanti since the language is used for some operas. But if he would speak it, it would be that very opera language -> "Help me, I'm drowning!" would be "Alas! Bring help unto me, for I am assailed by the sea!")
  
• Religion: This is an important part for me, because imho a fantasy religion is one of the parts where you can make immersion epic. I’m skeptic to a character without a patron god and you’ll need an excellent motivation (especially one that proves me that it’s not sheer laziness or lack of understanding of RL religion) for me to accept it. Remember I said I’m not fond of psi-powers? Well here is the main reason ;-)
  Gods are real in this fantasy world, the effects of the death of Aroden should have proven that. Your patron God will – in normal circumstances – decide the final destination of your very soul. Your character ought to know that. So do a little research about your patron god, make sure your character knows what his patron god wants, when his/her holidays are, what kind of celebration it includes and involve the worship of that God in your RP. Use his/her name in a battle cry, call upon your god, do a prayer from time to time, make a small sacrifice, … Just giving examples. Of course, it’s still Cheliax so actions shouldn’t be too public, but I hope I made myself clear. If you need help with further information, I’ll be happy to provide it.

Campaign guidelines:
• In the submissions, I saw various interpretations of the role of the army, Hellknights and Dottari in Cheliax society, so I’ll give you my vision on that. This is something your character would know, especially if he or she is a born Chelaxian. There are three separate military structures in Cheliax. First, there is the Cheliax military. It exists out of a combination of enslaved and enlisted soldiers, led by officers mostly coming from the nobility and it’s one of the largest armies and navies in the known world. As an institution lead by nobles, they fall under direct command of House Thrune. Second, there are the various Hellknight Orders. They are, like the Asmodean Church, quite independent but do support House Thrune in a sort of alliance. The Queen does them favors, they do favors for the Queen. However, they are not the local police and they are not necessary evil. They serve their own goals: make sure there is respect for the law, if necessary by fear. The local police in Westcrown are the Dottari, they own allegiance to the mayor. They are more corrupt as the military and the Hellknights (city militia never is an example of excellent discipline) but their main task is to root out crime.
  
• Factions in Westcrown: There are various factions you might come across at some point in Westcrown. I’ll keep track of how they think of you (using the Factions Guide to help me), you might have positive or negative encounters with them, depending on your choices. If you are interested in any faction (including other factions I’m not mentioning now), either as a story hook or a possible future prestige class or whatever else, now is the time to say.
  a. The Pathfinder Society
  b. The Hellknights
  c. The Bellflower Network
  d. The Aspis Consortium
  e. The Asmodean Church
  
• The creatures during the night: this is a known curse in Westcrown, since 4676. Current year is 4710, so the curse is going for 34 years. This means it’s widely known, an entire generation of Wiscrani has never known otherwise.

I’d be happy to assist if you need my input on your story, lore, character setup, … So if you have any questions, shoot. If not, do provide me with a character ready to play and tell me when you think he or she is ready to go so I can approve ;-)

Since you will be reading this first anyway:

• Mazon Blacksun: This story breathes “orc”, from the very first phrase to the last. Logical and credible choices, motivated by determination and cultural background.
  
• Maxis Molderbin: Excellent introduction. Credible story as well as an underdeveloped Halfling, going to extreme measures to overcome his weaknesses.
  
• Ozer Taskker: I love it when I can picture a character after a few phrases with both qualities and shortcomings. Ozer did just that.
  
• Ronwn Dedhaen: In fantasy worlds, it’s hard not to be a hero from the very start, to imagine your character as a normal person. I especially value Ronwn’s story because of that.
  
• Shannon Rhys: There’s just so much flavor to Shannon. Original as a castrate, credible story with rich details to back it up.

I picked these characters for this campaign. As I said before, I wasn’t aiming at party balance, I purely based my choice on the story. It was a hard choice. I could have made two parties and enjoyed playing with both, but I lack the time to do that. However, your stories won’t be lost. I would like to use several of them to make a (short) appearance in the campaign as minor NPC's. If you would not appreciate that, do let me know.

So far the recruiting part of this campaign. To the selected players: check your inbox, I'll be sending PM's after this post. To everyone else, I’d like to thank you again for the stories, it has been so nice reading them. I ignored earlier questions about the feedback to give everyone the same chances for applying, if you still want me to answer them you just have to remind me of your question. Feel free to subscribe to this campaign so you’ll know as first if and when a spot becomes available (you never know) and perhaps, to see a hint to your story during the adventure.

I did interpret as fair, no worries ;-)

Pretty much made up my mind, announcing characters in a few hours.

Closing subscriptions now. Thanks again everyone for being so enthousiastic and for creating these fantastic characters. It's a great motivation to be able to work with these characters and I already regret I'll have to make a choice.

I have no idea how long it will take me, but maximum 3 days.

@Grand Moff Vixen: Thanks a lot! No further feedback tough. I'd feel terrible if someone would be pressed by my comments to keep working to improve his or her story, or the contrary, be happy about positive feedback and believe him/her already selected, when I'm not sure he or she is able to play! I'm trying hard to give everyone the same chances here, I hope you understand :-)

@Shannon: 100% agreed on the stellar submissions. I'll have a "Hell" of a job making a selection, but at the same time it's very motivating. I'm looking very much forward to the start of this campaign.

@Ronwn: Thanks for flagging that :-)

Here's some feedback for Dingo.

For those who are in doubt: New characters are still welcome untill Sunday. I just won't be able to provide feedback for them, I'd rather start concentrating on the hard choice of picking a party.

@Dingo: Don't worry, you're definitely not too late. Didn't plan on this feedback either, decided to do it 'cause it's a nice way of thanking everyone for the stories. I'll take a good look at your story as well, thanks for submitting.

I don't see Raphael on the list, though that might be because I haven't posted anything but a background yet.

He's in, but I made a minor mistakes with the codes. He should have appeared now :-)

@ Marlyben Silkensong : Thanks for the feedback!

Right. If I got them all, there are 20 stories so far. In case I forgot someone: I'm very sorry, please give me a reminder and I'll make it up.

The amount and quality of the stories here is awesome :-) I made some time to read all the stories thoroughly and I'll be able to provide everyone with 2-3 phrases of feedback in the upcoming hours. I also got questions for almost every character submitted, mostly about their stories, sometimes about their conversion to the character (if the character sheet was already made), languages or lore.

I greatly value your opinion, so there's no need to agree with my feedback and/or questions. Feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Lastminute submissions will be considered as the first, but I won't be able to offer those the same feedback. So stories still welcome untill sunday.

(posting feedback within a few hours)

Glad to see the enthousiasm and the new character stories :-) Not enough time today but I'll do my best for tomorrow.

@Aebliss: Zavran di Chenlain is right there.
@Zavran: Thanks ;-)

@Marko: Thanks for your story :-) I still owe you my opinion on paladins in CoT tough:
-This adventure is indeed difficult for a paladin, tough not impossible. My advise for one on how to succeed in CoT is to think outside the box. Typical paladins who boast around justice and righteousness etc. will selfdestruct and endanger their party. But unusual circumstances makes unusual paladins. Key element is the love for law, honour and tradition which a Paladin shares with the Chelaxian people. I like to think a Paladin can work with Lawful Evil as good/bad as with Chaotic Good. But it's a big RP challenge.

@Khelreddin: Thanks for the story :-) I prefer the players choosing their class and specialities, they better know what they like to play. So if Magus suits you, please go ahead and put minor details about his education in your RP. About the traits: they look fine to me, but take the racial ability in combo with the Fiendish Heritage feat to balance your character.

@Kastarr Eunson: Looking forward to see him or her :-)

@TarkXT: A shame, but I'm happy you considered this beforehand. Thanks for the interest and good luck with your RPG Superstar participation :-)

I'm a little busy during mid-week, but I'll make sure to check and read your stories soon, Marko and Khelreddin ;-)

Thank you for your characters!

Thanks for the updates, Kisrana and Diego Sullarotti :-)

@Gilthanis: Awww, pity. But good luck and have fun in your other RP's!

@Grand Moff Vixen: Ah, excellent, thanks for explaining :-)

@Hagar Silun: I understand why you couldn't change ;-) Thanks for the story! No questions after a first read, I'll get back to you should I have any later on.

@Alastor Mironeth: Thank you very much for the character :-)

@Erodel Alazario: Thanks for insterting him here, this way I won't forget.

@Deylinarr: Great, nice update :-)

@Bimbur Longstrike: Looking forward to see the CoT story!

@Grand Moff Vixen: Thank you, one question that comes to mind after a first read of your story tough. If I'm not mistaken, a Kitsune is able to change to the form of one specific human of the same sex. The way you represented her in your story is that she can change to any human form, both male and female. Could you explain me how it would be possible or else, change your story on that point?

@Kisrana: Could you clarify the part with Holminster a bit? I don't understand too well, I don't see him anywhere else in the story either.

@tomtesserae: Thank you for the character :-) No worries so far about changing. When I made the party selection, those players can make the effort of finetuning their story, possibly intertwine it with each other.

@Tosher Fargavo: Looking forward to see more!

No, minor is fine, I just tought I'd mention Wiscrani instead of non-Westcrown or even non-Cheliax nobles ;-)

@Garabott: Interesting concept, looking forward to see more :-)

@Diego Sullarotti: Thanks for the update. Don't forget to put it in your profile, otherwise I might miss it later on.

@Deylinarr: Thank you for your character :-)

@Big OM: Minimum a few phrases so I can understand how the NPC is related to you and what his or her role in Westcrown is. I don't have any preferance, but chances are high I will use that NPC in the campaign.

@Magnauk Hailstraum: Thanks for the character and congratulations on your writing!

@Amaranthine Witch: I'm ok with the feat but I prefer you would pick a Wiscrani noble in that case. As for the Agile magic weapon, I'm not sure I understand 100%. If you are talking about the enchantment and if you want to know if it will be available during the campaign, then yes. If anything else, please explain.

@Zavran di Chenlain: Thanks for the character and congratulations for the story: refreshing to see an adventurer with a family :-)

@Odea: Thanks for the character and nice writing :-)

It seems the choice will be tough, I already saw several great stories. In other circumstances I might be tempted to try two parties, but this would be too much to start with, especially with working hours that could get ugly. Anyway, congratulations to the characters so far, I enjoy reading your stories.

@Andrea1: Thanks!

@Deylinarr: Lore Warden is fine, depending on the story ;-)

@Magnauk Hailstraum: Thanks to make that clear, looking forward to see more.

@Gilthanis: As a famous celebrity would say... "D'oh!" Can't believe I missed that in the first place, thanks for pointing that out. Anyway, to asnwer your question: I will not allow it, because my interpretation from the Rich Parents Trait is that your starting gold is 900gp, not that it raises with 900gp.

@Ronwn DeDhaen: Welcome :-) I had a first read trough the story and I much appreciate it. I'll have another read during the upcoming days and should I have any questions, I'll get back to you about it.

@rashly5: Thanks for your character! Yes for regional languages, I follow the Inner Sea World Guide, which states that the language of Cheliax is Common (Taldane). For other regional languages, check Pathfinder Wikia

@Devastation Bob: They sure do ;-) Can you give me a draft of the story of your character (background, description, history, ...) in a week?

@Diego & @Ozer Taskker (Mythril Dragon): Thank you for your character! I'll have a thorough reading during the upcoming days and I'll ask, if I have any questions.

@tomtesserae and @TarkXT: Looking forward to it :-)

@all: Happy to see your interest :-)

@TarXT: Thanks for the example, exactly that.

@Andrea1: Thank you for the tips. I didn't know Maptool yet, seems like a great addition to a digital campaign. Is it "newbie-friendly" or will I need to take some time to get used to it?

@Kastarr Eunson: I'm happy with a concept for the character sheet (no need to calculate attack, defense, skill ranks, ... in advance), but the description of your character, his background and his reason to be in Westcrown (his story) are vital points for me. This is what I'll be basing my choice on when selecting the party to play with.