Eric the Wicked DM's page

IDK about you others but I could have theoretically completely wiped out the party with Natalia. Nobody had acrobatics so she was just bounding around nimbly on the rafters plunking arrows and had greased the ladder up to them.

In pretty typical PC style, once they realized they couldn't get to her and she could just keep shooting fish in a barrel, they got diplomatic but changing a hostile sorcerer is no bueno (he did get a 22 on his roll tho).

I had her identify herself as the queen of her dominion and the goblins that were with her were her "champions" so, if they could defeat her champions, they could have an audience with the queen.

They did (because, let's face it... goblins) in style as one repositioned a goblin off the rafters (he was half way up the ladder but blocked by the goblin who was dogslicering his face off) to the ground floor because he passed the check by enough to do that and you can't reposition into a dangerous square (like over a pit, etc.) so he could not have him off the rafters and let him drop. Who knew small creatures were easy to move.... :D. However, the reposition was right into the midst of some frustrated PC's who took it out on that poor goblin. RIP

The second did a kamakazie dive off the rafters on to another guy and smashed is face landing (very poor acrobatics to negate the 10' fall). He did hit with the attack though with thanks to the +1 for higher ground so he had a very triumphant 6 seconds before he was prone next to some longshanks with murder in their eyes.

They had successfully earned an audience with the queen by defeating her champions. She almost casually strolled across the rafters to her "throne" and used major image to mock an image of what a proper throne should be (she didn't need to use it on the party... THAT'S for sure) which got the party's interest going. I let them spy the shard on a chain around her neck and, a few knowledge checks later, knew that it was some kind of time influencing metal (which got the meta of the players going in ENTIRELY the wrong direction).

They convinced her to speak with Queen Heidmarch on a matter of import interest to both their nations and their diplomacy check was still on point and, combined with a reduced DC (since she was interested in expanding her power base and speaking with another queen), Queen Vankaskerin consented to have them escort her.

At the meeting with "Queen" Heidmarch, Sheila passes a secret message via Bluff which the PC's successfully interpret via Sense Motive. The message is, "when I give the signal, get her!" Signal given, the PC's pounce and subdue her Natalia. They relieve her of the shard and place it on the table. A few cinematic embellishments later (akin to placing the one ring on the pillar in LotR with a vision of time given to the one who took it off her so I could download some harmless back story), they have the shard.

I totally passed on the Tower Girl Ambush after the goblins because they REALLY had to slog through that house. The constant acrobatics, falling, and poo flinging really drained them and the PCs were pretty wiped of resources and HP after slogging through the goblins to "Queen" Vankaskerin.

One in the party did get filth fever (took a shot in the mouth from some flung poo... i.e. a critical for TWO WHOLE POINTS OF DAMAGE but a failed fort save). The feebe investigator was pretty scared when, over the course of two days he lost 5 DEX and 5 CON... the cleric was helping and, on that second save, they grudgingly spent the 50 GP to buy an antiplague (only lasts an hour but I gave it to them for that save) and he sweat out the fever. Disease in a non combat, all skill investigator at second level suuuuuuucks.

Now, while the party is waiting for that PC to convalesce (depending on what he does, it'll either take 5 days, 3 days, or two days depending on rest and LTC checks from the cleric), I'll download some Magnimar to them and give them some environmental hints about ways to approach the Crow (maybe have a morning fog on the first day of convalescence to give them the idea that there might be a way to approach aside from straight up rowing out there and getting ganked). I'll do this because they have a general lack of stealth and the Tower Girls are definitely going to see them coming.

I think I'll either have Terisha try to tail the PC's during that time and take out Natalia (maybe after a random Magnamarian encounter then BANG) or have her retreat to the Crow and supplement the forces there.

Next session today... TBC...

Personally, I would avoid telling the players "this is what you'll be fighting" unless they actively engage to extract that type of info. Players who make it to that level should have a healthy respect for Divination, Commune, and Contact Other Plane anyhow.

Personally, if your response to their divinations is quality enough and engaging enough, they will seek to do that more often so they can get relevant information as well as the color you provide to them. It's a fantastic way to download backstory into the game as well as give them some mechanical aid if it's relevant to their query

That said, if you want to foreshadow the tumultuous things, you can foreshadow a few things...
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The diviner sees Magnimar as it is now only to have the vision fade from it's current state to a crystal and metal city (with the same coastline so they know it's magnamar). Include a rebuilt Irespan stretching off to who knows where (we know where but it's vague enough to be glossed over but relevant enough that players will say "oh yeah, that was in the divination").

NOTE: This shows Xin's ambition but does not give away too much. Clever players might suss out that they need to head out that way but that's going to be painfully obvious when they rebuild the sihedron.
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Have the divining player standing in Dockway facing out to sea watching as a wave builds and builds until it towers over them. They see and feel it crash into them. They feel the sensation of gasping for air as they are swept away and in the chaos of that wave's wake, they see a woman's face screaming angrily at them and the sound of a wolf howling...

NOTE: This is a nebulous disaster but, again, kind of reinforces the direction the threat will come from. That puts the seed of a question in the player's mind which is, "how can I stop a city smashing catastrophe?" that they might not have thought about. The diviner might be alarmed and try to evacuate at which point the mayor dismisses the authentic vision as some kind of adventurer's PTSD (or other dismissal). You also foreshadow the Scylla but not in so direct a way as to make the players go "ok, gotta go get lawful and cold iron weapons now"... if they are well prepared as a party, they will have those options or, at a minimum, pay the costs associated with divining that kind of details. I know it seems picky but for "free visions" I like to leave things open to interpretation. Your players might look at the module cover art and know what the vision relates too anyhow but it's flavorful and thematic as a vision but also contains relevant detail that isn't scenario breaking.
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The diviner stands in a spotlight at the center of a dark, metallic room where a booming voice demands to know what the seven virtues of rule are (This is Xin's voice of course but players will not know that until they encounter it later). Attentive players will know the virtues and recite them back. However, they might not know it and it'll give them a tidbit to chew on. Eventually, the diviner will research/recall them and recite them back when asked (maybe over a period of a few days' worth of dreams). When he finally answers correctly, the vision changes. The player feels a nausea descend up on him and his sight wavers and distorts. A chorus of voices booms "WRONG!" Then, in succession, each runelord's face is illuminated (and described by you) and, instead, the seven sins the virtues were twisted into are recited. As the final of the seven sins is uttered aloud, a face in the shadows back lit by a brilliantly glowing sihedron rune roars, "ENOUGH," and the room is washed with fire.

NOTE: This downloads that the virtues of rule were corrupted. It brings the runelords (the iconic bad guys) into the frame again and the way that the vision plays out, PCs might interpret it as Xin in opposition to the runelord's visions (which is true) but it also puts that Xin has his own plans for those who would think they are in power (i.e. destruction). It can also be taken as a sign that the sihedron has the power to defeat the runelords (which is why the PCs underwent this in the first place) and is a reason why they should assemble it. If you don't give them this, they might just think "maybe we shouldn't put it back together" and then there goes your climactic encounter. They should want to assemble it.
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There are a ton of other things but basically use these dreams to download that juicy flavor text that PC's don't usually get instead of offering up the answers to "what are we going to be fighting" or other specific details.

You want to reward the players for being engaged and preparing themselves for this challenge. If they have made it this far, the probably are anyhow so don't just give it to them. :)

So we're playing RotRL back when it first came out. The PC's are planning the assault of Fort Rannick.

Well, the PCs are deciding how to assault the fortress and decide to raise the water level magically to fill the courtyard with water. They then decided to summon sharks in the courtyard. The water serves to impede the movement of the brutish ogres who are holding the fortress.

What they did not count on were the Lamia. Not only the one written into the fortress but, in the prior module, Xanesha had done her damage and (as written) fled - or as my PCs like to say "Paizo Off" because, of course, every villain should stupidly fight to the death every time.

The two Lamia wreak havoc on the party though, they manage to survive with the aid of the controlled dead some of the Grauls who Mammy had raised but the party wizard usurped control of.

I had a moment when they were discussing this plan where I paused and thought, "Maybe I should nip this." But they were so excited so I just let it play out and tried to enforce the rules as best I could.

Stupid PCs... good times.

I thought it would be constructive to have a thread that focuses on what makes an item excel. Ideas and input on strong titles, good grammar, strong content, etc.

What makes a superstar? The sum of all of the positive qualities listed above (including several that were not named) personified by the entrant and condensed into awesome submissions.

What if the new archetype required new talents/powers/whatever to work?

Wouldn't that be a prestige class then?

Like an "X needs 5 ranks of Y to qualify for Z power" and such. Maybe I misread so please feel free to correct me.

IMO, archetype creation is much more about equivalent exchange of abilities than qualification for abilities.

Archetypes are choices made at Level 1 of a class so they should work without needing to qualify for them. Now, I will qualify one thing - this post is my opinion and I am not a judge. Hopefully, I will be your competition, so take my opinion only for what it is... my opinion.

Well here is my oracle, thusfar I've been working on one of my own campaigns so I didn't have time to put anything on his page except the basics so I'll fill that in ASAP oh and my character is CN so you won't have worry about him being evil.

So far I took the Resist Life revelation so I won't need to be healed as I can take care of that with my inflict spells, So I was planning on taking Command and doom as my two first level spells but I can easily work cure light wounds in there.

If I'm correct we have a

Elf paladin
Goblin alchemist
Hob-goblin duelist/light fighter
ranger
Human Oracle
Tifling magus

anyone I'm forgetting?

The Rogue? ;) That seems to be quite a few people though so I can sit out as needed.

******* spoiler omitted **

GAAH! Totally failed my save against that one... good show.

I think I vomited a little, lol

(auto-reject #19)

I guess I should say, get them rolling. I aint scared!

/YodaVoiceOn

"You will be... you... will... be."

/YodaVoiceOff

Seriously, gamers just seem to know... even if I've never gamed with them before, anything in my game that's made of green stone is to be feared. Horribly, horribly feared. :)

I learned the "green stone" axiom when somebody poked a sickstone elemental in the Shackeled City campaign I was in. Damn... it's been THAT long since I've been a player? Wow...

And with that said, DUDE I can't wait for you guys to see my Archetype!!!

Yeah, I like mine quite a bit too. Here's hoping we get to see eachother's nifty ideas in the next round! :)

Starting work on her soon, we'll see i guess.

If i rememeber correctly, it is max starting wealth ? (say yes, say yes please)

What's that for a rogue? So Gandal, you're definately going paladin?

I still don't know what to do :(

I've always said fighter or bard, and the bard is already done. I need to write a background, but don't know which campaign are we using, so can't make up my mind on what traits i can take.

I can do either a fighter or rogue... rogue and bard would leave us light so either you or I can get our tank on. I am down for either Gandal. I was thinking a Rogue Poisner would be sexy with an Alchemist in our midst. :)

Eric called DM after you nightflier. (Long time no see btw, looking forward to this game.)

Yep, I am good to go when you want to swap out nightflier. I am torn on the type of skill monkey I want to be. I am thinking Rogue or Monk... any thoughts from the crowd?

Darn it. I didn't read the thread for a few days while I was getting a character ready and it looks like we have three people interested in fighters. I statted out a Dex-based two-weapon fighter (rapier/starknife).

Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

Go ahead and play a fighter. I can easily swap out. I'll do a Rogue. IMO, we'll need a bit of skill injected into the group and I have not played a rogue in quite a while... should be fun.

That way, we have a party of 2 fighters, 1 arcane, 1 divine, and 1 Rogue...

Let's get character avatars in the thread shall we?

I was actually thinking Phallanx fighter from the APG. Lucern hammer wielding, dwarven waraxe backup, (eventually) tower shield toting, heavy armor ground pounder. I like the teamwork feats. My concern there would be a lack of subtlety if we dedicate two members of the group to that style. Of course, a rogue/bard could offset the skill issue. A sorc/wiz could offset the arcane issue. Then there's the issue of what to do from an divine standpoint.

Honestly, I can do whatever. My top three are as follows:

Fighter (Phallanx Fighter)
Sorcerer (Illusion focused)
Cleric (Not sure of deity at present)

Honestly, I am up for whatever so if you want to play a fighter Smerg and you Gandal, that's cool. I can go a different direction.

Smerg, I am thinking a melee. Probably a fighter. Does that aler things?

I can help you out should we land somewhere that is other than the prime material plane Gandal.

Anyone have any preferences of character type?

I'm back. Had a spot of RL troubles, but I'm back now.

Welcome back, so far we have interest from the following to participate in the first adventure:

1. Smerg
2. Tanner Nielsen
3. Gandal
4. Eric the Wicked DM

How many are you looking to have to start?

OK, that's two...

1. Smerg
2. Tanner Nielsen

Allright, why don't we get a roll call then... first five to respond after Smerg's post on 11/15/2010 at 11:12 PM will be given parameters to make characters and we can get going... the rest can apply for NPC roles

1. ) Smerg
2. ) ?
3. ) ?
4. ) ?
5. ) ?

So are we anywhere with this? It seems the originator has had some difficulty responding so I am willing to get the ball rolling if you would like. Just let me know. Don't want to "idea-jack" somebody's thread...

I would suggest Planescape or Golarion as default setting, and then hopping to other settings to visit and slay some monsters. Perhaps we can create a set of different characters based on the adventure or level of play. I suggest shorter games, something along the lines of PFS scenarios.

100% agree here. A simple "kill X" or "obtain Y" engagement would be a good way to get things rolling. If it evolves into something that the players want to be more persistent, we can ask for it. If something is really beloved, it can spin off into it's own PBP if need be but, for the purposes of this assemblage, I think K.I.S.S. is in order.

Sorry, yeah, I posted under P'Aye (a PBP alias) but I am happy to run the second installment after Nightflier. Nightflier looks to be ready for the first one so I will let him run with it.

Regarding setting, honestly, we can do whatever setting we want. The main thing that would help is some kind of agreed upon "mcguffin" so that we can have a reason to switch settings, players, roles, and style yet keep a certian kind of continuity.

We could do Golarion and, for those who want a change of pace, an alternate version of Golarion.

Want to "steampunk" up a setting? Go for it... imagine a Golarion where the Numerian automations in the Silver Mountian start to propigate themselves and their technology spreads or where the secret to firearms (damn, can't remember the nation that has that) grows so that fusilliers and blunderbusses are common. That could easily lead to a more "steampunk" type of setting. Or a Gm could go all "Keep on the Borderlands" for a more "modern" style as well. It would be similar geography but with twists.

Want to introduce a deity? Have one ascend in an alternate reality that the party goes to.

Want a low magic (a la Iron Player)? Kill off a few gods in the alternate reality so divine magic is rarer or bump off Nethys to alter the mechanics of magic.

The trick is, the more you change the setting, the more work it is for you as the GM. The onus is on the GM to explain the setting so the players can interact with the environment and not bog the game down with overlong back and forth as they try to grasp the world or altered mechanics. Really, how much work you want to do is really up to whomever runs it.

That said, since we are going with Nightflier I will let him set the first one and we can go from there. As we have a lot of interest Nightflier, who do you want to participate in the first one as players and who will be your NPC's?

I would also request that the selection be qualified to peoeple willing to post. Nothing against casual posters but nothing bogs down a PBP game more than people who are essentiallly ghosts and only post every once in a while.

If it is set in Sigil, then perhaps we should raise the starting character level? That would allow some monstrous characters to reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the setting. Or perhaps an adapted version of the Savage Species rules from 3.5 could be used. There is a racial class that I have wanted to try for a long time. ;)

Though the Savage Species rules are b-b-b-b-broken (as a GM who has adjucated over ghaele and Rakshasa characters [In the same campaign no less], trust me).

The GM running it could have us be varying levels based on the situation we "leap" into so, if one run we are low, the next we could be 20th. Would provide some variety IMO.

I would say that if we do PFRPG (which I am a big fan of) then we go with core. That's not to say that you can't play a Kenu or Bugbear character... those are accounted for in the bestiary.

"...so I will no longer participate in this experiment."

I can't do OMGNATURAL armor so I am takingmy toys and going home. Sheesh. Why not try it with that revision and see how it works versus storming off? If it produces a more balanced fight, perhaps the interpretation is correct.

Anyhow, for the record, I would agree with the assesment that the evoloution bonus max is correctly interpreted here:

"My reading would be that using the greater aspect ability (assuming he sacrifices from the eidelons evolutions to do so as written) he should be able to use 4 evolutions at 20th level to get the +8 and put them where he wants, but only 4 total evolutions can be dedicated to natural armor."

You are diverting from the eidelon's evoloution pool which clearly has the limitations based on the Summoner's level as noted in the same thread. The summoner does not have his own evoloution pool. This iswhy he needs to siphon off the eidelon's using Greater Aspect. It even notes that the Eidelon's evoloution points are diverted in the language of the ability so I think that resolves the concern without the need for FAQ or errata.

Let it be known that I love the summoner class and am interested in farily applying the features of this new class in my next tabletop game. That's why I endure the "X class versus Y class" threads... to learn and judge for myself. IMO, there are lots of classes that don't stack up 1 v 1... this is why most games are played in a party of characters. Saying a class is broken because it can't solo another class one on one is, in and of itself, breaking the game IMO.

Perhaps we can have Sygil as our base and then planehop to other locations?

I am a fan of The City of Doors for sure. That would also b an easy setup and though it would make us a little more bound to our selected roles and characters. For what it's worth, I have never played a rogue in my tabletop games so being able to stretch myself by another role that I don't normally do and having the freedom (should I be really bad at it) to do something different the next session would certianly be of interest to me.

I too am interested.

An interesting contrivance would be that we are a collection of anima... spirits that have yet to be made flesh. That way, you can kind of "Quantum Leap" it and have us wake up in these new bodies and go.

Differing mental quality could do with the host body's ability to sustain a certian metnal accuity. That way, a person who "manifests" as a wizard one session could easily be a fighter in the next. Everyone would have the ability to play something different if they wanted to. If you wanted a twist, you could provide the bodies that we "leap" into so that we test our player skills in roles that are not nessasarily in our respective wheel houses. :)

This would also allow for a variety of settings as we "leap" from place to place. It could also provide for a variety of objectives that we need to accompilsh either individually or together to "leap" on to the next encounter and encourage some RP.

Kind of a "Quantum Leap" meets Michael Moorecock's "Eternal Champion" if you will...

Thoughts?

I would think that one match at a time would be appropriate. Two gets a bit too busy and I don't think we have enough participants yet to warrant two threads.

I might also suggest that we take out repeating. That is everyone gets to go. As my character is first up, I won't fight again until the rest of the 10 particpants go... that's problematic in that the last two will know who they are facing but I am a fan of letting everyone have their turn. That also has the side effect of not having one character get too "uber" while everyone else twiddles their thumbs.

I might also suggest a "if you don't post in 24 hours, you lose your turn" philosophy. That way, if players don't move along, the fight moves along without them. We can gage the 24 hour time span from the time of the opponent's post. That way, timezones are less relevant and everyone has the same 24 hours to get it done.

Thoughts?

Get rid of "max HP per level". It will only favor spellcasters, and will make PvP far less interesting. Spellcasters are sub-optimal at dealing damage. It's one of the few things they absolutely suck at. With very specific exceptions (like maximized disintegrate perhaps), casting damaging spells is generally a waste of spell slots.

By giving everyone Max Hp, you're just diminishing the value of Hp damage, since you're adding around 60 HP to a 20th level wizard for free. Sure, the barbarian has a crapload more, but it doesn't mean diddly except against another warrior.

You're just adding more rounds that a warrior has to whack his enemies until they are dead. The game wasn't intended this way. That's why we have "average hit points".

Ehh... max at every level extends the combat and makes one shot kills less likely (maybe on a lucky crit). I think that a series of combats that have a chance to go past the first round would be a good thing.

Also, even at 20th level, a wizard's HP will last about as long as you can say "Charging, Greater Vital Strike" or "Full Attack" if the fighter has means of countering things like invisibility, displacement, and the other standard defensive spells (and I don't include AC buffs in this category because you WILL get hit even as a 20th level caster if you solely rely on AC for defense)...

Keep in mind that the barbarian's "crapload more HP" comes into play with things like "Power Word Kill" for example. Also spellcasters are definately not sub optimal at dealing damage. You could...

...get peppered to death by auto hitting magic missiles from a flying, Greater Invisibility using wizard.

...get touch attack scorching ray'd to death by a displaced, mirror imaged wizard.

... and so on.

Granted, those wizards have to use precious rounds to get to that point and, in those same rounds, a melee could turn said wizard into a pincushion but that't the point... checks and balances.

I would have interest and am not thinking I would roll up a mage but have to make this argument... Do we limit melee by saying "No two handed weapons" because they can be devastating? Basically, it seems as proposed, that this would be a melee slugfest with the occasional sorc/blasty type thrown in... that's fine if that's what you're going for but it's not all classes (with every class feature they can bring to bear) pitted against each other as initially posted.

Beyond that, consider the summoner. If no precasting is available, it will take him a minute to produce an eidolon that is an integral class feature which means dead summoner as he tries to pop the eidolon. Summoners then turn into "Summon Monster" spammers and other classes can do that and attack with impunity (I am looking at you sorcerer in particular).

I get where the pitfalls are. The answer seems much simpler than restricting classes... force the action. There are a variety of ways to do this but the easiest is to stipulate the following:

1. It's a fight to the death. Simply charming/dominating somebody does not end the match.
2. Characters must act to harm their opponent within 1d4 rounds (because the crowd gets bored) or archers that ring the arena will open fire (A series of boos from the crowd before the firing commences lets players know when their time is about up).

That way, a wizard could mind control something but they have to do something with it (i.e. Charm Fighter... "Hey friend, that's a fantastic axe... can I borrow it for a moment? I'll give it riiight back." [runs off] or "Hey friend, let me cast a few spells in preparation for blindsiding you in a few rounds... thanks."). Not to mention, that charms are an inherently nerfed selection anyhow because you are casting them on a person you are engaged in combat with (presuming you start with "Fight" and an initiative roll to instigate combat, the target of the charm nets a fat +5 to the will save to resist as you know your opponent is trying to kill you from the word “Fight.”). This also makes it easier on you because you don't have to police a character... it's anything goes.

Another consideration is to blind draw opponents within their CR (say, 1 level difference max so you can have those underdog matches, etc.)... a caster that focuses strictly on enchantments while neglecting other areas could draw another high will save caster or a monk for that matter who can more easily resist charm type spells. Then what's the enchantment monkey going to do then? Sure, a fighter that dumps his will save may be screwed if he draws the dominate bot but my counter to that is to make that fighter knowing that you could draw a dominate mage (maybe that fighter would be less inclined to take power attack right away and take iron will instead). This way, players are forced to consider their selections carefully... what attributes they take (do I sacrifice points I could put in WIS to get that 20 STR?), what weapons they select (do I go bow or do I get that two handed weapon?), what feats are selected (power attack vs. iron will), etc.

Now I already hear the argument that wizards are particularly "save or die" at higher levels (as are clerics for that matter) but, honestly, is a fighter less deadly with his nearly academic base attack bonus at those same levels? This is especially pronounced if the caster who is the target of the fighter's ire is unbuffed. How easy would it be for a melee to hold an action with a bow in hand to pepper the unbuffed caster with arrows(damage and potential loss of action to boot)? The caster could go first and "unleash the beast" in hopes that they can take the other guy out... but what if it fails? Would they have been better served by casting mirror image instead?

I whole heartedly agree with the no precasting of spells... well, maybe having precast spells be "equipment" that can be purchased (Spell Level X Caster Level X 100 GP perhaps).

Thoughts I hope you'll consider as I like the intent of this PbP.