As I mentioned in the campaign thread I'm running Rise again, with some modifications. This will be the incredibly spoilered lite thread, focusing on the playtest.
Tonight's session was mostly getting people familiar with the game and the campaign and their characters. The actual gaming consisted of some very bulletin point RPing and a random encounter...and a whole lot of ironing out kinks.
The party (all 4th level) consisted of
Qualin - a human Medium built with the intent of being on the front lines.
Ridley - a halfling Bard (archaeologist) built with the intent of skirmishing and flanking on the front lines.
Flumpstein - a dwarven Cleric who seems to be built to focus on casting/healing.
Vletter - a human Hunter (feral hunter) who seems to be built to be something of a jack of all trades/archer.
Erynrae - an aassimar (emberkin) Sorcerer who is built to be a blaster.
Monk - a human monk who is built to be a fairly basic monk.
The campaign has a couple house rules but nothing that mattered this session beyond every class has two extra skill points per level. Point buy was 25, and hit points are maxed.
The in town RPing saw mostly action from the Sorcerer and Hunter, with a little from the Medium. Nothing particularly noteworthy other than the Medium rolled a twenty for a Diplomacy check to get a discount on some horses the group ended up not buying.
The combat encounter was with a patrol of goblins in a forested setting. Three first level goblin Rogues and a third level goblin Ranger (freebooter) riding a goblin dog. The goblins were all making half hearted attempts at being stealthy, so I ruled they were essentially taking 1. The goblin dog was actually trying, so was taking 10. Goblin stealth being what it is this lead to some fairly high perception checks required.
The PCs were making no attempts at being stealthy, so the goblins noticed them from a ways off. Luckily the Hunter and Monk both rolled high enough to at least have an idea something was up ahead. The two groups became "aware" of eachother at roughly 150 feet apart.
There was some talking among the PCs, as people who hadn't rolled crazy were let in on things...and some maneuvering by the goblins...and more Perception checks. The Medium had the lowest Perception, and he and the Cleric were the last to actually spot any of the enemy.
Things started with the Hunter firing and missing, startling a goblin out of stealth...the Monk doing likewise...then the Medium following suit. Others moved up, and the goblins charged in.
There was a lot of swingy rolls, a lot of mistaken rules, and a lot of laughs. Ultimately the heroes managed to bring down all the goblins, including the Freebooter who tried to escape after his grunts were killed.
In regards to the playtest...the class is very different than the norm, and I think it's a little rough to wrap a new player's head around. He and I didn't have as much time as we planned to go over things before hand, so a lot of mistakes were made...but ultimately I get the impression the player enjoyed the class and is willing to set down and do the work to learn it. I think things will go a lot smoother after a few details are worked out...namely when class abilities are activated. I think one of the biggest stumbling blocks in this particular instance was the realizing all of the spirits aren't active. The guy seemed pretty overwhelmed by all the abilities, but things got a lot better once it was made clear you pick one spirit that morning and run with it.
The spirit in question became the Cricket...even though we kept calling in the Cyclone. Trancing to use the Treasure At The End was a large part of the damage done to the goblin Freebooter, as the circumstances ended up with a perfect 60 foot charge. I wasn't sure if the bonus ten feet from Quickness was supposed to be applied before or after we doubled his speed for the charge, but the one time it looked like it was going to batter it didn't...and a +5 to hit and +6 to damage was well appreciated.
I didn't get the impression the Medium player ever felt like he didn't have much to do this combat. He probably wasn't always sure what he could do...as he mentioned thinking about casting a spell every once in a while, but always resorted to bashing goblin skulls with his morning star.
Hoping to play again this coming sunday and have more than a single combat worth of experience to go through.
Some length into the second book of my group's Wrath game we hit a bit of a snafu, and our GM needs some time off to finagle real life stuff. Real life stuff is dumb...On the upside, he's still good to play and the rest of the group is still wanting to kick in doors and kill people, er monsters...
So I'm going to be revisiting Rise of the Runelords. If by chance any of my players find themselves here, be aware there are going to be all the spoilers...so if that matters to you, stop reading. I'm not one to care, though if I see an abundance of coincidentally perfect tactics, almost as if you knew just what spells were prepared, feats were chose, and potions were bought...there might be a conversation...involving a hammer...and a rubber chicken. And I don't lube the chicken.
I digress...
So I'm picking up where my previous Rise game ended. A party of adventurers saved Sandpoint from a goblin raid, and discovered someone, likely not a goblin, has been organizing the little green psychopaths.
The previous group of adventurers went off into the wilds after finding tracks in the Sandpoint bone yard...and promptly disappeared. The events of that particular quest, those that happened in the actual game, are not going to be what really happened...and all those characters are currently MIA (the restart will begin a few days after the first party left, maybe not quite a full week).
The new party has been hired by the fine folks of Sandpoint to likewise go off into the big scary wilds...and hopefully figure out A) What is going on with the goblins, and B) What happened to the previous adventuring types.
That all being the case, I had the new batch of players (oddly the GM of our Wrath game was a player in my original Rise game, though he's using a different character this go around) make 4th level characters, and I'll be buffing up things at Thistletop.
Speaking of Thistletop...
Spoiler:
Having looked over the mountains and mountains of incredible data on this AP, and having ran the first book a couple times now...I've decided to make some changes here.
My next post will probably be stat blocks for all the following NPCs, but for now I'm just going to briefly cover NPC modifications.
Nualia is a 6th level Bloodrager with two tiers of the Champion mythic path. I wanted to include the mythic rules in this AP, and figure ganking Nualia would be a good ascension point. The idea being she isn't just some random angry chica who found comfort in the arms of Lamashtu...but has been selected to be a potential avatar of the goddess.
Lyrie is a Mesmerist...as I want to get in on the playtest, and I like the idea presented on another thread of Lyrie and Nualia being a couple...so I made Lyrie into more of a tag along significant other than a true useful member of the black hat group. Sure, she has the skills to be a worthwhile member and act as a scholar...but why do that when you can wrap the boss lady around your little finger? Orik, Bruthazmus, and Tsuto absolutely hate Lyrie...as all the progress that's not being made cuz Ms. Geekgirl is too busy causing drama to hit the books...yeah, guess who Nualia blames?
Orik is still a Fighter and still uses a big sword and big shield.
Bruthazmus is a Slayer based around archery, and is still the mac daddy goblin playa...With adjusted tactics to take advantage of the situation.
Tsuto is a ninja and, again stealing from the brilliant minds of my fellow forumites, more than a little obsessed with his sister...in that deep south sorta way.
There are a bunch of goblins with class levels scattered throughout. Not necessarily named NPCs, but just a bigger variety over the existing goblin commandos and warchanters. I'm particularly fond of my remake of the commandos which use the freebooter archetype. I might have to put up a whole post just dedicated to goblins actually...
So far our new batch of heroes consists of ...an aassimar sorcerer, I forget the bloodline. This is the Wrath GM's character, and was actually made for my Night Below/Kingmaker/Second Darkness mash up...An elvin hunter and dwarf cleric, two characters played by one dude. I'm pretty sure the elvin hunter is locked in, not so sure about the dwarf cleric though. I know he wanted some type of healer...A human Medium I made to playtest that one of my fellow players from the Wrath game took a liking to...A halfling Archaeologist I made and have used in a number of games that the daughter of the guy playing the Medium took a shining to...A Monk that is basically a name swap and level adjustment of the Monk the wife of the guy playing my Medium played in Wrath. Least that was the plan last I heard...And finally an elvin Slayer (bounty hunter) I made for a friend that wasn't in the Wrath game who asked me to work him up something rangerlike. This character is going to have some connections with the gunslinger who worked as a bounty hunter that was involved with my previous Rise game.
I'll have a separate post detailing the PCs too, though that'll be down the road a little more as I'm still waiting on specs for a few. So...next post will detail Nualia and crew...then we'll have a goblin extravaganza...and after that details on our new heroes.
First session is scheduled for this coming sunday, so hopefully I'll have an after action report at some point early that week.
I've been aware of the game for a little while, as I was a huge fan of Arcana Evolved, so tried to keep up with Cook through the years. At first it didn't really appeal to me, as I'm not a big fan of rules-lite stuff...After hearing a little more about the setting though, and getting more and more burned out with Pathfinder, I decided to give it a shot.
For a while now I've been planning on running Gates of Firestorm Peak (old second ed adventure by Bruce Cordell) in Pathfinder...and I think I'm going to instead use it as inspiration for Numenera. I've skimmed through the rules a bit, and some of the GMing chapters, so haven't actually dug into the setting at all...but I'm assuming I can make it work.
The plan so far is to have a sprawling technoruin inside a mountain. The Outer Gate of the ruin is per Firestorm Peak, and opens for twenty eight days every twenty seven years. The ruin itself will be essentially an ancient mine. Also as per Firestorm Peak a race of somethings burrowed up from underground and occupied the ruins. In the original adventure they're duergar...I've no clue what they'll be in Numenera, and would love suggestions. Anyway, they came in a few hundred years ago and started tinkering. Going with the original idea of them being dwarves, I'm hoping to keep them mechanically/technologically oriented, and through the centuries they managed to get a little bit of the mine equipment up and running, though a lot of it they still don't understand.
All of the above I'm going to assume will work within the boundaries of Numenera. There's a little back and forth in my head about setting, if I want to completely write up my own or stick with what exists in the book. Most of it will depend on how well the above will fit.
This next bit I'm a little concerned about though, regarding it fitting in the setting or not. It's my understanding that magic in Numenera is tech. It's also my understanding that in a billion years the various societies that have come and went came up with some pretty crazy things. So where would the Inner Gate from Firestorm Peak come in?
The Inner Gate, as per the original adventure, is a large magical device that opens portals from the plane it's on to other planes. The crux of the original adventure is that long long ago some moron opened a gate to the Far Realm, and hilarity ensued. I'm going to keep looking through the book, but how does off world travel/interstellar gates and the like work out in Numenera?
Either way...the core of the technoruin is of a distinctly different make. I haven't nailed down the aesthetics in my head just yet, but I know I want it to be different than the mine area to begin with, and then show signs of corruption on top of that. Where the mine is going to be inspired by the foundry/prison in Alien 3...I'd like something more sleek, but just as dark, and maybe more sinister for the core. Suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.
So what I'd like to talk about here, in a nut shell, is how would you go about running a horror game in Numenera?
Playing a character who will eventually go into Arcane Trickster and came across this spell...wondering if I'm missing something.
From my understanding if the original shot qualifies for sneak attack and kills the target, next turn I could cast Arrow Eruption and each of the arrows that come out would apply sneak attack damage to their targets. Am I missing anything?
Going to be running Night Below for some friends and I'd like to start a discussion on the conversion process. I'll be placing the campaign within Golarion, though I'm undecided as to just where yet.
I've already started a Rise of the Runelord game, and was considering placing NB in Varisia so there could be a little bit of back and forth. Not so much characters from one campaign running into those of the other, but some of the large scale events of each being heard about in the other.
The idea of adding in the Mythic rules appeals to me, though I've truly no idea where a good place for the to attain mythicness would be.
Any thoughts on either would be grand, or any suggestions on converting it over in general for that matter.
This thread is the campaign journal and thought palace of my Rise of the Runelord home game. If you've come this far and haven't realized there's going to be spoilers, there's every chance you don't know how to read English.
First of all, our merry band...
Thormier - male half orc barbarian. So far fairly standard, fights with a big axe, though the first two sessions haven't seen him hitting or rolling very high for damage. Just noticed on our second session he hadn't calculated his damage right for using his axe two handed, so once he stops rolling like crap I assume things are going to start falling down much quicker. My guess is the player is the most experienced gamer out of the bunch, though he is completely new to PF where two of the other guys know the system better. Has been acting as somewhat of the leader of the group, which I wholly support.
Sindiel - male fetchling slayer. Very sneaky ranged focus killer. The only evil member of the group. One of the guys completely new to RPGs, though has plaid countless hours of video game RPGs. The player is a good kid, but I kinda wonder if there will be issues in the future. Just the new player and evil thing. We'll see.
Ansem - male human magus. Asked me to build his character based off a specific mini he bought, and after talking with him for a bit I settled on a strength based magus. The player is another who has no experience with table top RPGs, and lots of video game experience, though near as I can tell he does pretty well for himself in the local Clix community (I don't play so I'm only guessing, but I'm at the shop a lot when they're playing and he's often kicking the hell out of most people by my reckoning)...so I think once he gets used to the system he'll be one of the more tactically inclined.
Kyras - male half elf cleric of Sarenrae. Seems to have taken the fire goddess thing a little far, and gone into budding pyromaniac mode. Out of character makes a lot of Bevis sounding FIRE! FIRE! hur hur FIRE! comments, but in character he's been very professional and thoughtful. The player was involved in a semi recent Pathfinder game, though from the sound of it all it's done is cause harm. Started at pretty high levels, every other character was a half dragon vampire centauric pixie or some other nonsense, and a couple of his rule questions have caused be to suspect the GM of that particular game had never actually read the core rulebook, or the player just isn't remembering things very well. Either way, he's a good guy and is always one of the first to offer to look up the specifics of a feat or spell or whatever.
Garrik - male human sorcerer (arcane bloodline). Very quiet player, and subsequently very quiet character. Biggest observation I have so far is he's pretty conservative with spells, casting only oth level as far as I can remember. I've known the player for a few years now through our local warhammer group, and played Pathfinder with him before a handful of times. He's a really sharp kid, just very shy...though I think as things progress he'll open up a bit more.
Oraia - female elf alchemist. An elf raised by dwarves, who taught her how to brew. The player is an old friend of mine from highschool, new to Pathfinder but familiar with 3.0/3.5, if a little rusty. Unfortunately he's only down for chrismass break, so he'll be here for a few sessions, and then sporadically at best (seems like he makes it down every chrismas, but generally only for chrismass...).
Next few I don't have names for...
Female gnome witch - seems to be going for almost a psuedo necromancer theme. Plague patron and healing hex, fox familiar. Fiance of the barbarian's player. The player is new to Pathfinder, but well motivated. She's downloaded a couple apps on her phone and uses her tablet to look up spells and whatnot in game...though the first session there was a lot more general web surfing than looking up game material from what I saw...Right now she's struggling to find a way to contribute, and has mostly just been summoning an eagle, moving around randomly, and plinking away with a crossbow during combat. I'm going to get with her and go over spell selection and try to give her some ideas though, so hopefully our third session she'll feel a bit better about her character.
Male halfling cavalier - Player seems to have the best grasp of the system, and earned his spot at the table by helping one of the other guys who was already accepted make his character. I barely know the guy, but so far he seems like a pretty decent lad. I'm a little concerned about him overshadowing people later on. Not that he's a powergamer, but that everyone else is so new. Hasn't been an issue yet, and from what I've seen he's more than happy to help everyone else with mechanical selections, so I'm probably just being paranoid.
Aasimar paladin - Picked an archetype but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called. Something to do with being more connected with celestials, out of UC. Another completely new guy to the game, and completely new to me as well. In theory he plays 40k, but I've yet to get a game in with him or see him play... Either way, seems like a good kid so far.
Lastly I've one more friend who's going to have a sit down with me sunday to make a character. Old friend from back in the day. We talk gaming just about every time we hang out, though we haven't actually gamed that much together. Couple Shadowrun sessions, and maybe some World of Darkness. One particularly bad Starwars d20 session that I'm just going to completely forget about...Honestly no clue what he'll likely make. Ultimately he's a good guy and I'm glad to have him, but in the past he's been "that guy" that has the three hour long talk about that one character that was so cool and did all these really cool things, and that reminds me of this other character my friend played...But I'm going to stay positive, and worse comes to worse I think he and I can have a little convo in private if it turns into an issue and sort it out...
So, a full ten bloody cats to herd, and me being horribly rusty. Luckily things have transpired to make this less of an issue than it might at first seem...
Our first session saw eight players present. Everyone but Oraia and the guy with no character. That was...frankly...a nightmare. I had neglected to prepare a great deal that I had planned to, and it showed. People came in piecemeal, some with characters and some without...and there was much sitting about with thumbs in dark places for a few of the shorter attention span folk.
Ultimately we had fun, and I (re)learned a whole lot.
The second session saw the introduction of Oraia, and the absence of the paladin and cavalier. Other than Sindiel basically setting out the entire session due to not having much to contribute to the RP section, and the later combat dragging out for the remainder of our time, things went relatively well. The last half hour or so was a semi in character/semi out of character discussion on "what to do next" that resulted in the party splitting up, with the plan being to run one group on one day and the other on another.
Little off the wall, I know, but I'm thinking of running Carrion Crown through Shadowrun. Not using the SR rules, but to actually run it in the SR universe. I'll write more up and post it at some point in the near future, but was wondering if anyone else has thoughts on the idea?
Was just checking out my latest order and saw the Purple Worm was on backorder. Is there any rough guess on when that item might come in? Obviously gaming stuff isn't life or death, but the purple worm mini was more of a frivolous purchase than anything I was seriously looking for, so if it's going to hold things up for too long I'd like to cancel that part of the order, if possible.
Recently started playing around with the new features Paizo implimented for PbP, and though I love the new system, I've hit some snags. The most recent campaign I started (Age of Worms) is listed in my previous campaigns, and I'm not sure how to get it out into the active list. Overall it's not a huge issue, but when I go into my campaigns to see if there are any new posts (my god, thank you for doing things that way) I have to go into one more link to check out all of them.
When I started the campaign I hit submit before I was ready, and thought it would be a simple matter of deleting the post. This may be the reason it got listed as a previous campaign.
Also, I make a new alias for each campaign, so I can put info in the alias' profile. When I look at the aliases, and click their campaigns, they're not set up right, both saying the aliases are part of my Carrion Crown game. Is there a way to fix this?
Both problems are pretty small and minor inconviences. Mostly just curious if there is a way to get things squared.
Character Creation Rules and Advice
Pathfinder SRD (no 3rd party material)
All Paizo published Pathfinder book, so long as you source anything outside of the core rule book. GM can/may/will use other sources, so if you run across a psionic beholder, don’t cry foul.
First level, 25 point buy, max HP at first level, 150 gold, two traits from the APG (keep in mind some have been FAQed).
I’m not partial to ninja or samurai, though I would be greatly appreciative of a well thought out character background that changed my opinion. Guns are fine, and expect to encounter some (they are exceedingly rare, but they are out there). The “Asian” weapons in Ultimate Combat strike me as odd, in that an Asian staff is an exotic weapon that does neat stuff, where a western staff is a simple weapon. So if you want to use any of those weapons, talk to me about it before you get to set and we’ll see what we can come up with. If you’re hoping to use it because it’s the most mechanically sound choice, you might want to have an alternate idea.
Evil alignments are fine, though keep in mind there are consequences to actions, and stupidity/ignorance isn’t an excuse. I’m ok with a little bit of party conflict, but people who are out and out disruptive will be talked to once, and then booted if need be.
Scheduling
I’m going to school full time, looking for a job, have a family, and playing in other PbP games…so chances are this will run a little slower than most games. I’d like to see two to three posts during the weekdays. More would be great, less is acceptable.
For recruitment purposes, I’ll be accepting applications for two weeks. So concepts need to be sent in by Friday the 21st. After that, we’ll discuss/finish up characters for one week, and the game thread will open on the 28th.
Player’s Guide
Below is what I’ve written up to let people know about the area you’ll be starting in, and give you some point of reference to build a character. Feel free to ask questions, give advice, and generally discuss this as much as you’d like.
Spoiler:
Darkmoon Vale Primer
Where You Find Yourself
[spoiler]A rough frontier community owned body and soul by the Lumber Consortium, Falcon’s Hollow rests just off the southern edge of Darkmoon Forest in the nation of Andoran. It is a blunt sawdust-choked stop on a winding trade route to Ptolus, city of adventurers. Home to fewer than 2,000 humans and a smattering of other races, most of the townsfolk care only for the paltry coins paid for their backbreaking labor, and what debase comforts they can spend them on in the towns many vice dens. A few however, understand that what’s bad for one is bad for all, and so the Hollow thrives on a tenacious mix of greed, debauchery, and stubborn self-reliance.
Falcon’s Hollow is, to be quite honest, one of the worst towns you are ever likely to find yourselves in. Only the dangerously naive and utterly mad willingly call this den of sin and suffering home, everyone else is fighting tooth and nail to get clear. Unfortunately for many of them, the Hollow are not easily left. Of all the communities in Darkmoon Vale, the Hollows is viewed as a necessary evil, as though it is a crude eyesore, it is ran by one of the most well connected and dangerous invidivuals in the Vale, Thuldrin Kreeg.
The largest industry in the Vale is logging, though copper and a smattering of silver mines have been active in the area longer than most of the surrounding communities, and some of its richest inhabitants are the mine managers. Several ancient cairns dot the hills north of Darkmoon Vale. Ancient burial mounds from a civilization lost to the ages. These were once full of coins, jewels, and strange artifacts, some believe predate even Thasilon, and attracted hordes of adventurers to the area. Years ago these cairns were plumbed of their last goods, and though the occasional desperate adventurer passes into Falcon’s Hollow, with a tattered map, making wild claims of one last unlooted cairn, few find anything of value. Most end up trapped in the Hollows, quickly joining ranks with the rest of the broken down addicts.
The every-day residents of the Hollow are a sturdy breed of people. Frontier living, along with little to look forward to beyond the escape offered by cheap whiskey and cheaper companionship, gives people a dark outlook on life. Though not everyone is so thoroughly in the ruts, even those with something to look forward to beside black-lung and gambling debts have adopted something of a gallows sense of humor.
The Vein
A main strip of muddy road known as the Vein cuts through Falcon’s Hollow like a festering gash, lined on both sides with various gambling dens, whore houses, whiskey dives, and opium lounges; all the excitement a worker could want on payday. Many of the establishments open and close so fast few patrons bother remembering the names, though there are a handful that have managed to thrive in the boom and bust economy.
One of the most popular dens of indulgence is an establishment known to the locals merely as the Emporium. A veritable smorgasbord of vice is available here, from the hazy opium den and smoke filled gambling parlor upstairs, catering to the Hollow’s high class, to the cheap and graphically vulgar thrills of Freak’s Ally, where for a few copper you can see all manner of oddities of nature, and for a much higher price you can become as intimate as you like with them.
Opiates of the Masses
No one religion holds sway over the bedraggled masses here, though several cults, sects, and mad prophets have found a haven from persecution in the frontier community. Local churches dedicated to otherwise upstanding religions often consist of more fringe elements than those found in other locals. Temples dedicated to particularly vile or destructive deities are just kept hidden and spoken of only in whispers, just like in more civilized cities.
The graveyard of Falcon’s Hollow is tended by a small sisterhood of Pharasmites, protecting the resting places of the dead from desecration by the living.
A cult of fanatical flagellants in the poorest neighborhood claims to worship Milani, offering a twisted sense of hope to those desperate enough to accept their blood soaked charity.
Iomedae is the patron deity of the near-by garrison, home to the soldiers who have sworn to protect this area of the realm; though most folk in the Hollow would rather they stick to business elsewhere.
A mysterious group, known as the bronze-wood lodge exists to protect Darkmoon Vale from the predations of the Lumber consortium and Falcon’s Hollow’s mine managers.
Not far to the south is a monastery dedicated to physical perfection, controlled by a collection of Irori worshipers.
I'm looking for six players, though one slot is already filled by a friend of mine who will likely be showing up here soon enough. I've no idea yet what he wants to play though.
Lastly, I'll be putting location descriptions up here and in this alias profile, as well as other information useful to people from Falcon's Hollow, so as you work on your characters, check back and see if there's anything new...and ask questions/give advice/make suggestions. Please.
First off, this is not a recruitment thread, so don't get confused.
At some point, I'm likely to be running Deadlands (the original system, with cards and chips) as a PBP here on the boards, and I'm wondering how best to incorporate the non-dice elements of the game. How would I represent drawing cards and chips on the boards?
Only thing I can really think of is drawing from a deck/pot and just telling people what they get. Being that the vast majority of the players in this game are people I know in real life (just moved away) this shouldn't be an issue of trust...I just think it'd be a lot cooler if they had the experience of drawing their own stuff somehow.
Ideas? Anyone seen a program online that would possibly represent these mechanics?
I did a little searching and couldn't find anything...but was curious of Paizo has the ability (and willingness) to sell contact juggling stuff. I ask, because I've found some strange stuff on the site before, toys, board games, odd-ball stuff, so thought it might at least be possible.
If need be I can try and dig up links to other online stores that sell what I'm talking about (acrylic balls mostly).
Carrion Crown: Chapter One: The Haunting of Harrowstone
Scene One: The Last Will and Testament of Petros Lorrimor
You have each received a letter from the daughter of an old acquaintance, informing you of her father's untimely death. She has requested that you come to her father's home in Ravengro, a small town in western Ustalav, as you have each been mentioned in the Professor's will.
Some of you have traveled far across Golarion to be here, others have made only a short trip. Some have had harrowing adventures along the way; others were treated to a peaceful journey. You are all in Ravengro now.
Background:
Numerous small towns dot the fog-shrouded landscape of Ustalav. At first glance, these towns might all seem kindred spirits – cozy collections of quaint buildings surrounded by farmland, their skylines decorated by the steeples of Pharasmin churches or the steep rooflines of colorful taverns. Yet in Ustalav, appearances are often deceiving, and many of the nation’s towns and villages harbor sinister secrets.
Some small towns grow up around a university, their shops and other offerings catering to a scholastic clientele. Others boast famous festivals or specialized industries that draw skilled artisans and craftsmen. But in the sad case of Ravengro, the town’s claim to fame is a prison. And not just any prison, for Ravengro supported one of Ustalav’s most notorious jails – Harrowstone. Twice a year, a prison convoy rounded up the worst of the worst from smaller, less secure jails across the principality and transferred them to Harrowstone, often to await death by hanging, but always to live out the rest of their lives as prisoners. Half a century has passed sense criminals were held within the prison’s walls however, not sense a great fire took Harrowstone, killing prisoner and guard alike. Few outside Ravengro know much of what happened those fifty years ago, as it seems the one bit of gossip the locals don’t wish to discuss is their ruined prison.
While Harrowstone has remained a constant reminder of darker times, the town of Ravengro has recovered remarkably. Today, the town is a quite healthy farming community blessed with fertile fields and orchards. The town’s chief products are wheat, barley, and corn. Because the town is close to the shore of Lake Lias, Ravengrians can supplement their food stores with fish, but fishing is not sustainable as a commercial enterprise.
Despite their success, Ravengro’s citizens are the town’s greatest hindrances to expansion. Insular, they take some time to warm to strangers and often damage new opportunities for trade with their standoffish attitudes. Yet as hesitant as the townsfolk are to talk to strangers, they are all to eager to talk about them. Rumormongering and gossip are traditional pastimes among the townsfolk, especially when it comes to strangers.
Location:
You have arrived at Ravengro late in the evening, during what some of you would call a downpour, but the locals merely refer to as a pleasant drizzle. Traveling down the road into town you see a number of homes, some modest and dour, though there are a pair of larger affairs, likely the homes to town officials, before coming accross a thick wooden post just off the side of the road, with several papers tacked to it. Looming behind the post is what you will soon discover to be the most extravagant building in Ravengro. A massive stone church dedicated to Pharasma.
Continuing on to the town proper you find the Lorrimor estate, a modest but well cept home with a small garden outside and a smoking stone chimney on it's roof.
Creatures:
The few people of Ravengro who are braving the “drizzle” appear to be simple farmers and craftsmen, much the same as you would find anywhere else in this region of Ustalav, though perhaps they possess a more piercing stare than most others of Canterwall, or a darker expression as they eye you intruding upon their town. Surely there is more whispering as you pass than you are accustomed to.
first to arrive:
Knocking on the varnished wooden door, you are quickly answered by an attractive human woman in her early to mid twenties.
"Hello, please come in out from the rain. Greetings, I am Kendra, Petros' daughter. You must be (she knows your first name), my father has spoken of you often. Please, come in and warm yourself by the hearth. The weather is tame for this time of year, though unpleasent nontheless. You're the first to arive, though I've prepared coffee and something of an evening meal. There in the kitchen, all is lain out. I appologize, but I must return to the library. My father kept far to well of a record of his travels, and it is daunting going through it all. I will be down shortly, after everyone has arived, to greet you all at once." With that, unless you ingage her in conversation she makes her way to the library and leaves you to your coffee, cured meats, and rhye rolls.
the rest:
Knocking on the varnished wooden door, you are quickly answered by an attractive human woman in her early to mid twenties.
"Hello, please come in out from the rain. Greetings, I am Kendra, Petros' daughter. You must be (she knows your first name), my father has spoken of you often. Please, come in and warm yourself with the others by the hearth. The weather is tame for this time of year, though unpleasent nontheless. I've prepared coffee and something of an evening meal for you all. There in the kitchen, all is lain out. I appologize, but I must return to the library. My father kept far to well of a record of his travels, and it is daunting going through it all. I will be down shortly, after everyone has arived, to greet you all at once." With that, unless you ingage her in conversation she makes her way to the library and leaves you to your coffee, cured meats, and rhye rolls.
Alright gentlemen, this is the area for out of character discussion in all it's form. Here I will post some houserules I'm going to implement, as well as put some observations about the game as things progress.
Anyway, as you guys get set up, sound off here and let me know where your at...also, feel free to talk here and intertwine character backgrounds.
House Rule
In the interest of getting people enough skills to make deep characters, I'm trying out something a little new. First off, all classes that have 2 skill points per level now have 4. Second, intelligence penalties don't apply to the number of skill points you get per level (if you have a skill based off int, it will still suffer the penalty when you add up what the total modifier is).
Just testing the waters of who would be interested in playing in a PbP campaign of either of these. I'd like to know not only that you want to play, but how familiar you are with either system (as well as the setting of AE).
As for the campaign itself, AE would likely be a series of adventures of my own design (actually a complete rip off of a campaign my friend ran us through in second edition D&D) that would go from low levels (would be starting at third or so) and go for a while (possibly into the twenties).
If I ran IH, it would likely be a conversion of Red Hand of Doom.
Feel free to ask whatever questions...though keep in mind this isn't the recruitment thread, and would likely not start for a while (more than a month, less than a year from now).
Being that I don't get much of a chance to play these days, and will soon be moving to a larger campus where I will (strangly enough) have more money and possibly more time, I like to spend a few minutes here and there converting up older APs/adventures to PathfinderRPG, and generally changing things around and making them my own, in the hopes that I might...at some point...maybe...get to run a complete AP...
I'll put the campaign specific stuff in spoilers, just in case, but there shouldn't need to be much of that. Where I need the most help is finding holes in my NPCs that I over looked, and some advice on how to handle those holes (not always fill them in, just...handle them).
What I'm working on right now is an NPC from the Skinsaw Murders, the second installment of Rise of the Runelord...but don't worry, mechanically my guy is very different than the one presented in the book, so if you're playing in that campaign, don't look at the spoiler, and just comment on the build.
RotRl spoilers:
This is Justice Ironbriar. The concept of the character is the same. He is still a monster wearing the mask of a civilized being...and he is still under the sway of Xanesha. He is however quite a bit more powerful, and will be given a different area to be encountered in. His office will be a foreshadowing exercise rather than a fight. The party finds his collection of faces, and some notes to implicate some people and give back story...but they wont encounter Ironbriar himself until they go to his home.
So, the basis of the character is a murderer and cultist, who has wormed his way into an influencial position in society. The exact position isn't as important as the fact that no matter what changes are mmade to him, he needs to be "socialy presentable."
what I like so far:
One of the things I like about this character is his age. Elves are normally a race seen as eternally youthful, and beautiful. With this guy I want to make an almost obscene gesture with him being a twisted and ugly old man. Think Emperor Palpatine...durring the day he's an aged but dignified, upstanding member of society...but when the sun goes down the black robes come on and he looks like someone who's more than willing to cut throats and do naughty-naughty things with small children.
I also like the fact that what age has taken away, class abilities and feats have not only replaced, but made more powerful. His physical stats are abismal...but with his Magus Arcana he can (for a limited time) still act as a melee terror. This coupled with the fact that he's very much in the genius level intelligence department (translating to he does not fight on anything less than his terms) is going to (hopefully) make for a nightmare encounter for the party
Now that I've bragged a bit, and talked him up...here are his game stats...
BBEG:
elf magus8/rogue1
Atributes
Str 5
Dex 14
Con 5
Int 22(24)
Wis 14
Cha 14
Defense
HP 21
AC 12
touch 12, flat-footed 10
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +8
Feats
Combat Expertise, Dervish Dance (this is usable with any finessable weapon), Piranha Strike, Skill Focus (use magic device), Weapon Finesse
Gear
headband of vast intellect +2,
Spells
0th Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation, Spark; 1st Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Shield, shocking grasp; 2nd Blur, Cat’s Grace, Mirror Image, Pyrotechnics, Scorching Ray, Web; 3rd Cloak of Winds, Displacement, Fly, Vampiric Touch;
What I don't like about him are his saves. I need a way to make this guy not fold like a cheap suit to spell casting. Not looking to make him invincible, just to make him a little less of a glass cannon. There are two feats and three thousand eight hundred gold (I believe) left to spend. The only other piece of gear I know I'll get for him is a warrazor, as it fits with the concept, and with our houserules works with all his exsisting feats.
Deeds
Pistol-Whip
I like this and I don't. Spending one point of grit to be hit someone with your pistol? The bonuses (extra +2, plus enhancement) is neat, but I'm not sure. Personally, I think this should be toned down and just be something gunslingers can always do, or made just a little better. As is I don't think I would opt to use it very often.
Covering Shot
Not sure that I like the mechanics of this (though I like the idea behind the ability). I don't have a better suggestion though...
Targeting
Yeah, this is getting dropped right off the bat in my group. I hope to god this is removed from the final version...as I can see the fit that will be thrown by everyone wanting to know why a gunslinger can call shots but archers, crosbowmen, and everyone else can't. Also, why do you take damage from getting shot in the leg but not the arm?
Utility Shot
I'm completely lost as to why three deeds were listed as one. Not to mention one of the three shouldn't exist (in my opinion). We have rules for attacking objects. Why should shooting them work any different when your a gunslinger than anyone else?
Scoot Object...is strange. Shooting a diminutive object within your first range increment is AC 10, though even if you miss you hit the object...so really you can't miss at all. I'm seeing a sure fire way to win money in a tavern "I'll bet you that coin purse I can shoot the apple on her head...blind folded, shooting over my shoulder, while drunk, and being tickled..."
Stop Bleeding...I like a lot. I'm not sure how often it'll come up in game though. As a DM, sure I can set things up so the gunslinger can do his neat obscure (and very flavorfull) trick, though as a player I'm looking at this and thinking I'll never get to use it. Also, am I wrong in assuming you cannot make the shot meaningful before cauterizing? Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, but that's what it implies to me.
Gunsmithing:
This is a good answer to the "can I kill the gunslinger now and divide up his stuff?" problem. It suffers a little in that all gunslingers begin with a poor quality gun...which may or may not clash with some character background/concepts, but it's only a little. One slight issue I have is why another gunslinger (especially of higher level) couldn't make use of another's firearm? Also, is there ever a way to remove this condition?
Grit:
Personally I don't care for the name of this ability. Similarities with the recent remade movie are a large part of it. I am one of those people who refuses to get caught up in the naming of things though, so this is a very very small issue.
I like the redo on how you earn back grit. Making "daring acts" an optional rule is a good idea I think...though I'm old school enough that I just inherently think of everything as optional if the DM wants it that way. Removing the limit to one person killed earning you grit may cause problems, as someone brought up before, with people upset "the gunslinger keeps stealing my kills!" but honestly, this isn't halo...if people are truly bothered by this I think you have other problems.
Deeds:
Deadeye looks like one hell of a drain on your grit...I like the idea of it costing more the further away you are...I'm just not sure a character would use this that often.
Gunslinger's Dodge seems like this should scale with level...as that +2 sounds good at low level but maybe not so hot at higher. Also...what constitutes a ranged attack? Can I hop out of the area of a spell like lightning bolt with this? I love the concept, I'm just not sure the mechanics work as well as they should.
Quick Clear is still a solid ability.
Gunslinger's Initiative confuses me. So instead of drawing the firearm as a free action with quickdraw, you draw it as part of the initiative check...which gains you what?
Pistol Whip is neat, but I think very fringe-situational. It costs grit, so the idea of the boarding pirate running out guns blazing and then cracking skulls with the butt of the gun isn't going to work through this ability...you're just not going to have the points to continually do it. I would just use Caught Off Guard, and maybe use this every so often when I had a magic gun. If I'm understanding it right, you can't get multiple attacks with this? So by the time you have a gun worth doing this with...you can't take advantage of being that high of level. I don't know...again, I love the concept, but am not impressed with the mechanics.
Utility Shot is where I have the most problems...
Blast Lock is a complete waste of word count in my opinion. This is something as a player I'm looking at thinking: when am I ever going to use this? Once or twice in a campaign? As a DM I'm thinking: I need to go through and recalculate how difficult everything I've "locked up" is to get at now so I don't get caught with my pants down...
Scoot Object is better than it was (damage object normally saved this) but is still screwy. You have no chance to just miss with this ability...you either move the object, or damage it...that just doesn't seem right to me. Otherwise I think it's a neat ability, though very very situational.
Stop Bleeding is just fun. As someone who has had field cauterization done on me, and done it on others...I get a kick out of the imagery this creates...but for one, VERY VERY SITUATIONAL...and two, what about a gunslinger makes them the only one able to do this?
Dead Shot makes up for it's lacking name with a really neat ability. This is something I think crossbow fans have been wanting to see for a while...But more to the point, it all makes sense to me except the critical part. Say I'm a 7th level gunslinger, specialized with my chosen firearm (who's critical is 20 x4), and not possessing any other applicable bonuses. I roll my two attacks, and one crits, and the other just hits. For damage do I roll 1d12+2 for the hit, plus 1d12+2x4 for the crit? Then what happens if both crit? 1d12+2x4 plus 1d12+2x4?
Startling Shot is horrible. It's not going to break the game horrible, but it's going to get houseruled in my game horrible. So the first level gunslinger misses the twentieth level lich and the lich is automatically flat-footed? I don't think so. I'm not cool with giving a character the ability to just declare someone flat footed at range...no resistance...no chance for failure...just bam, you're getting snuck attack by everyone.
Targeting...makes me sad. I have a hard enough time explaining to some of my fellow older players that Pathfinder doesn't support called shots, and that no I don't implements house rules that involve called shots. But hey, now Pathfinder does support called shots...just so long as you're playing a specific class...no thanks. I would honestly consider banning this class from use in any game I run just to preempt the arguments I'm sure this ability is going to cause.
Bleeding Wound feels a little random, but I've no true complaints about it.
Expert Loading...lets you keep a firearm from blowing up....again, I try not to get too hung up on names. This might be a little late in the game, but I'm cool with it.
Lightning Reload is mechanically sound, but I'm not fond of someone speedloading these types of firearms...but yadda yadda, fantasy world, dragons fly, people fart lightning, it's cool. I do have to ask why Deft Shootist exists? You pick the feet up at lower levels, and at 11th it becomes completely redundant? hmm...I don't think this would get my vote in the Superstar competition...
Evasive...at 15th? huh...
Menacing Shot...30'? huh...(I really like this, I'm just puzzled on the short range). Also, I understand why this is based on charisma...as intimidate is based on charisma...but look at it from this point of view. 1st-14th charisma doesn't matter one bit...and now that you get to 15th a class ability is based around it? Can we please just base grit on charisma? Please?
Slinger's Luck seems solid. Again, feels a little late in the game, but you can't have everything at first right?
Death's Shot...I like this a lot, a whole lot actually. I would rather this be a 15th level ability, as it's a really cool ability and 19th is just so very close to curtain call...I would be careful of statements like "true death" though...as I really want this to keep people from being resurrected now...
Stunning Shot...19th? Again, I'm not fond of the auto no dex (at least this time you have to hit first), but really...19th?
YAY BONUS FEATS!
YAY DEX TO DAMAGE!
I'm not impressed with true grit in either name or performance...but capstones are the least of my concern. I'll let those more interested in high level play dissect it.
I'm interested in adding a new weapon to my campaigns, the cane. Lately I've been looking into the use of a cane in martial arts quite a bit, and I think many of the techniques could be incorporated to Pathfinder.
The basics I would imagine should be comparable to a club, though I was thinking of adding the trip and disarm characteristics (which gives +2 to the manuvers right?). Obviously this would be better than a standard club, but would it be worth spending an exotic weapon feat on it?
To give it a little umph...I want to do something with grapling while using the cane, especially as you can twist the unholy hell out of someone using one. Any ideas on the grapling aspect, or thoughts on the idea in general?
As time goes by, and friends move further apart, I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that if I want to continue playing RPGs, things are going to need to drastically change. Being that leaving the wife, abandoning the daughter, and dropping out of school isn't an option I'm willing to entertain...I've been looking into online answers.
I'm looking at the d20pro website as I type this, and will post questions as they come to me...if anyone familiar with the program could chime in, that would be greatly appreciated.
Features...
Play Faster:
How supportive of non-d20 systems are the die roller programs? As in, could you set up a Shadowrun game, and have the program tell you how many successes you got on a number of d6...or would you have to tell the program to roll however many d6, and then manually count them?
With regards to movement, how restrictive does the program measure? Mostly what I'm wanting to know, if I have some housrule where this character (for whatever reason) can move 55 rather than 30, do we need to apply something to the character's file, or could you move him however far on the grid on his turn as you like?
Do the area affect templates relate to specific spells, or are they just empty templates? As in, do I tell the program this area template is for a fire ball spell, so it adds the damage to everyone under the template...or would I tell the program everyone under the template suffers x number of d6 fire damage, and it is applied...or do I just use the template to figure out who is affected, roll the dice, and apply the damage manually?
Play Better:
Still not sure how I feel about HeroLab, but that's a subject for another day. So how does one go about importing info into d20 without using HeroLab? If you don't have HeroLab does it lessen what d20 pro will keep track of?
I've seen mention of Libraries here and there on the site. Is this something d20 stores, or is it info stored on my computer/flashdrives/whatever. What I'm concerned about here, is not having access to my Library for whatever reason (no wifi, servers are down).
With the campaing recording thing...how much is recorded? Every die roll like on Neverwinter Knights? Every keystroke?
Also, what (as far as conditions/hitpoints/whatnot) is revealed to PCs? Are you able to hide monster hitpoint totals from the party? What about conditions/spell effects? How about hit point totals of fellow party members? Could we run a game where you don't know how close your partners are to death?
Play Anywhere:
In the basic system, how do the players interact with eachother (assuming your playing online, in different towns/states)? Is everything typed, does it have some speaker/webcam support?
If/when the Judge is typing out the adventure to the party, how does one go about giving them the long descriptive text? How hard is it to improve encounters with no pregame preparation? I'm imagining fairly difficult, having to type out everything...
Also, with the mapping software...how user friendly is it? I've had programs before, that worked great...but were based on AutoCad, and felt like you needed a programing degree to get anything done on them.
Anything else, I guess I'll just ask later. Thanks ahead of time.
First off I'd like to categorically state what the title strongly implies. I'm looking to do this legally, I'm not trying to hack Paizo PDFs.
Now, onto the point. I recently purchased the map pack PDF for CotCT and I wanted to modify the maps a little. I've read in previous threads where people were able to take text off of the PDFs, leaving just a player friendly version of the map. I remember something about the different versions of Adobe Acrobat Pro complicating this, and I'm guessing this is my problem. The version of AAPro I have access to is 9. Is there no way to use 9 to do what I'm looking to do?
What I'm getting at, is there somewhere that is regularly updated, saying "hey guys, for whatever reason 102% of the last submission batch had midlevel tomatos as the villian, and half of them took place in and around Sandpoint. So vary up the villians and locations. Been kinda interested in seeing what people come up with for adventures set in Darkmoon Wood."
I've looked around and not seen anything, so I'm guessing not. Still, had to ask.
...I'm wondering if there is a way to make sure we actually sent our item in. I know in theory you get a thingy that tells you "thanks for submitting.." and all that, but when I was sending it in my phone was ringing, my kid was crying, and I hit send and set the computer down, only to come back hours later after my girlfriend had used it and exited out of the browser.
I was writing up some NPCs for my AoW campaign, and noticed something with the magus. I have a sixth level magus, with pool strike. Using Spellstrike and Spell Combat, he can cast shocking grasp and make an attack at -2, while spending an arcane pool point, to do weapon damage plus 8d6 electric damage. Am I running this right, or did I miss something? I don't think it's game breaking, as it uses up some resources, and chances are an NPC is only going to get it off once or twice. It just struck me as pretty intense and I wanted some other eyes on it before I zap the hell out of one of my PCs.
So, after more than a few years of very back burner preperation, I got a group together and began running Age of Worms. So far we've done character creation and did about an hour and a half of introduction/combat. A few of the players are basically new to Pathfinder, one played a few sessions in my Rise of the Runelord campaign, another played in said campaign, but owns Pathfinder books, and then there's me.
What we ended up with...
human monk (lotus)
This guy went over character creation a little, and then went off to get something to eat...so I'm not 100% on what's going on with his PC. Pretty sure he's a human, but I know he's doing the lotus monk, as apparently this has been something he's been wanting to do for years and could never find an outlet.
halfling rogue
This is the player from my last campaign who is the most familiar with the rules. His character is a nearly compulsive gambler who wound up heavily indept to the emporium. When I get the full stats posted up I'll explain a little more.
dwarven fighter
Another guy from my last campaign, though he isn't very familiar with Pathfinder beyond that. Other than him being an axe and shield warrior, I know he formerly worked in the mines, but offended someone and ended up working as a woodcutter instead. Again, when I have their full stats posted I'll likely have their full backgrounds as well.
half elf inquisitor
It figures that my oldest friend would be the only person to choose an APG class while he was only visiting. I'm very excited to see how the inquisitor works out, though I imagine the player will only be here for one or two more sessions...
dwarven sorcerer (deep earth)
I'm not sure how new this guy is to PRGing in general, but I know he has the least experience with Pathfinder and d20 in the group. I like the class race combination, and look forward to seeing how things go with him. So far I know little about his background, as he was the last person to show up, so got the least attention from me.
As you probably got from the thread title, this campaign is the Age of Worms, with the Falcon's Hollow series and some Ptolus stuff thrown in. So...if anyone is playing in any of that, consider this your one and only spoiler warning...Oh, and if one of my players accidentally wound up here...this is where you stop reading.
The primary plot line of the campaign is going to be the Age of Worms path, with Diamondlake becoming Falcon's Hollow. The Ptolus aspect will come in when the part travels to the city later on in Age of Worms.
Things began with the above characters, all having their own reasons to dislike the Hollow, and desperate to find a way out, ariving at an abandoned mine office several hours walk from town. A mutual contact had contacted each of them, letting them in on "the score of the decade", claiming to have a map to one of the ancient burial cairns north of Falcon's Hollow that was missed durring the town's previous boom.
Unfortunately all the group found at the mine office was a hungry choaker (who they are currently in combat with). Hopefully after handeling the beast and looking around a bit more, they decide to return to town and track down Blixt (the man with the map).
Unfortunately for poor Blixt, he is one of several Hollow residents to come down with a nasty bug called blacksour. Before anyone goes off plundering the Whispering Cairn, their going to have to find a way to cure Falcon's Hollow of blacksour...
So over the past couple of years I've been throwing around ideas for converting over the Age of Worms adventure path, along with the Falcon's Hollow modules, and adding in some bits and pieces from Ptolus. This saturday the campaign begins...
Here is what I have so far on the Age of Worms NPCs, converted over to Pathfinder rules.
Just picked up Gods and Magic the other day, and got a ton of ideas after looking at some of the Golarian religions I hadn't known about before. Got me thinking, I remember an article on Desna in the Rise of the Runlord AP, and thought there was one on Lamashtu also in there. What other gods were discussed in the various APs? I have all of RotR, all but the last issue of Crimson throne, and one issue of Second Darkness and one of Legacy of Fire.
Is there anywhere out there that lists what gods were discussed in what issues?
I have a subscription for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and should be receiving the GM Screen and Game Master's Guide sometime this month. I was wondering if it would be possible to delay that order until the Player's Guide was ready, and ship it all together?
I got an email the 28th saying there was a problem placing this order. The 31st I sent an email back to Paizo. Not sure if I sent it to the wrong area, or it got lost in the shufle...or I'm just being too impatient...but I was wondering if there was any progress? Did reentering my information work or no?
I'm putting this in the round two discussion because most of it will focus on the summoner class, though there is going to be notes and comments on the others as things progress.
Advanced Player’s Guide Playtest
The first session.
Me and my group started Rise of the Rune Lord (yes, there might be some spoilers here and there) a few months back. We play every other week (in theory, though not always in practice), and are obviously using the Pathfinder system. As soon as I saw the playtest blog I knew I had to use these new classes, so I sent out an email to everyone, telling them they were welcome to remake their character or make new characters as long as they were the new classes. I only had one taker, our elvin ranger turned into a Halfling bone oracle…which ended up being a Halfling oracle/summoner. Our party fighter nearly became a cavalier, though the player decided to stick it out with the core class.
*spoiler for burnt offerings*
Not wanting to let my players have all the fun, I decided to switch a few classes out in the adventure itself. Nualia lost her cleric levels in exchange for summoner levels, and Erylium is going to be changing to a witch once I get the time to convert her over.
So far the summoner/oracle is the bright shining star in just about every encounter. His eidolon’s skills are ridiculously high, he’s pretty darn tough, and he’s no slouch in the damage dealing department. It’s early, and I’m going to reserve my ultimate judgment for a few more sessions, but so far my opinion is the summoner is outright broken. That whole issue where fighters used to suck compared to spell casters that Pathfinder fixed? Well, it just got unfixed.
Most combat encounters so far have seen the wizard casting spells which he needs to look up and figure out how they work, which takes time; the eidolon rushing in and bashing things in hand to hand; the summoner casting spells and/or summoning more monsters; and the fighter making his one attack…and generally misses.
I’m not very familiar with high level play, so until this campaign gets there I don’t have much of an opinion, but I can say that at low level play the summoner is unbalanced. Hit dice for the eidolon seem too high, which leads to skills which are too high, as well as too many hit points. When a druid picks an animal companion, he has a set list to choose from, with all aspects of the creature already set. When a summoner creates his eidolon he can optimize it to do what he needs…exactly what he needs. This is nice in that if you know the party is lacking something the summoner can fill the slot…but I think there is too much opportunity to create one character that handles multiple party roles. So far it feels like we have a party of regular adventurers, and a gestalt adventurer just joined in.
From the original description I was under the impression that the summoner was comparable to the druid. I have to say this isn’t the case. I would have appreciated a much weaker eidolon and more interesting summoner. Like I said though, we’ve only been through one session so far, and this may just be a knee jerk reaction.
There's a group of us in the Rock Springs/Greenriver area that get together with something close to regularity. As it stands two of us are familiar with Earth Dawn, though no one owns the books yet (the other guy said he had one on order, though I don't know which book). I'm familiar with Fading Suns, though my copy of the book is OOOOLLLLLDDDD. There's a fair number of people who would be willing to try either game, and as soon as I can get the books I would be willing to run either.
I know it's a shot in the dark, but if there's anyone on the boards from this area, please get in touch with me. We can always use more gamers.
Regular get togethers so far consist of a Pathfinder campaign (Rise of the Runelords) that I'm running, and a bi weekly Warhammer 40k gathering. Most people in the group are familiar with 3rd ed D&D, some know 4th. A few of us are familiar with various editions of Shadowrun and the Starwars RPG (West End and d20). Some of the guys have been playing Dark Heresy for a little while, though I haven't gotten in on that just yet, and I know there's a local GURPS group. Some of the wargamers have Warhammer Fantasy armies, and one of the guys has a fair number of Battletech stuff, though I don't know what edition.
Right now there are by far more players than DMs...though anyone who games is welcome. I know me personally would love to have someone who's willing to run Earth Dawn, Fading Suns, and/or Pathfinder. As right now I seem to be the only one willing to GM them (hopefully the guy who has the book on order will GM once he gets his stuff).
So after years of careful poking and prodding of my local warhammer group, sever fresh young pieces of gaming fruit have fallen into my oh so patient clutches...Three guys who have all had some degree of experience with D&D and plenty of experience RPGing in general have been discovered, and propperly tempted with hints and wifs of Pathfinder. This plus an old gaming friend of mine from back in the day when third edition came out (though we'd both been playing longer, neither of us knew the other gamed until then...up till that point we were just drinking buddies) gives me the propper numbers to begin things.
Our local necron player, Kevin, is playing an elvin cleric of Cayden Cailean, he's going to be a rear of the party type with his elvin bow proficiency and buffing/healing spells. One of our local guard players, Trever, is playing a human fighter who is the upfront-man, with a greatsword, power attack, and cleave. A multi army owner who seems to favor chaos named Kolten is playing a tengu monk that will also be upfront and in the thick of things, taking advantage of the tengu's ability to use swords (specifically the elvin curved blade) until his unarmed damage get's higher. Lastly we have my buddy vic, who mostly plays orcs these days, but has chaos and guard, and is running a dwarven wizard with a terribly low armor class, and will likely be at the back of the party with kevin, pelting villians and monsters with a light crossbow and ranged spells.
So we have all the basis covered near as I can tell. No propper rogue, but if what I've seen so far is ture, anyone can search for traps as long as they're not magical...so that will leave spell casting to locating the mystical devices of doom. Two front line warriors should be able to handel most melee challenges, though I do look forward to surrounding the party with the Thistletop goblins, and later doing likewise with the Hook Mt ogres. One cleric for buffing and a couple healing burts will hopefully keep the party patched up well enough, and I'll be suggesting the crafting of wands of cure to supliment. A stout little arcane caster should be able to handel the artillery requirements, though I'm concerned that he's going to rely too much on his "dwarven toughness" to see him through having such a low (11) AC.
This coming saturday we'll be starting Burnt Offerings, so I need to get up and atit as far as getting the players up to date on the setting info. Last night we made characters, and I spoke a little of the setting and coming adventure, but not enough to truely get them propperly educated.
Some of us have reservations on some of the changes brough on by Pathfinder. The dwarven wizard doesn't feel you have enough control when it comes to skills. A couple of the feats got not quite frustrated looks when the specifics were discovered (namely cleave and power attack). Over all though people seem to like what they've seen of it. One particular odity was the thought of throwing a slashing only dagger, and how you would describe the injury. Wasn't so much a complaint, as a WTF!?
Still need to go over Burnt Offerings and update the monsters to PFRPG, though I've got the goblins from the bestiary preview. I'll probably work on sin spawn next, though I need to write up the classed goblins before I forget...and gobling dogs... I was thinking of changing Nualia to a sorcerer instead of a cleric, but likely won't. I know for sure I'm going to change Ironbriar from Skinsaw Murders quite a bit, making him an elderly half elf and changing him to a noble from Green Ronin.
A couple of years ago a good friend of mine passed away. He was one of the few people I knew personally that had been gaming longer than I had, and had subsiquently collected quite a number of gaming supliments/miniatures/sourse books/dice/whathaveyou. His family decided that everything should be sorted and given out to all of his gaming friends, an event that was very very akward, but ultimately ended well (as well as such things can go). Being one of the only people to play RPGs that showed up (most of the group were direhard warhammer fans) I wound up with the lions share of his D&D stuff.
Much of it was boxed up and thrown into storage, as I had no one to game with (other than warhammer) and not enough free time to shoehorn the group into learning to play...Things have hence changed somewhat, and I'm going through all my old D&D crap. While searching through the books from my fallen companion I came across the old Firestorm Peak adventure. Cracked me up quite a bit, as most of the supliments I'd gotten from him were things I'd seen when I was younger, and weren't interested. Here we had a module that I myself had bought, and still had.
Lately I've been looking into the Ptolus setting (spefically placing it into the Pathfinder campaign) and trying to find insperation for the chaos god (can't remember how to spell their true name, and no where near my books at the moment). Going over firestorm for nastalgias sake, I read about the conections to far realm, and a little lightbulb went off in my head.
My first issue with converting it over (it will be into the Pathfinder rule set, with very very little housrules) are the monsters. I'll try to get a list up of the monsters out of the adventure that I don't recall seeing 3.? stats on, and hopefully people here can point me to sources I missed.
After that it's going to be deciding on a level range. The final boss fight at the end of the book has a large number of goons to go along with a tenth level wizard and sixth level wizard...Where the first couple encounters are dealing with 3hd deep dwarves. This is going to take a lot of "figuring".
Just wanted to get the ball rolling, and post up the very basics of my idea. I'll try to get more posted here tonight, but likely it'll be tomarow before I can get to a computer again.
I originally wanted to send this as an email, but couldn't find your address. Guess that's for good reason huh?
Basically, I'm a student going to college, and have an english essay to write, where I pick a person and interview them. If possible I'd like to interview you about your involvement in the Pathfinder RPG. The interview would consist of about twenty questions relating to the subject, with a few possible follow up questions. I understand "buisy as hell" probably doesn't quite do justice to your schedual right now, so I fully expect you to say no, but had to at least ask. Either way, thanks for your time, and keep up the good work on your project. Really looking forward to giving you lots of hard earned money over the next year or so.
So if someone wanted to purchase shares in Paizo, where would they look? I'm really new to the whole stockmarket thing, and having a heck of a time finding out any information on it.
Is there any chance that Paizo would be able to hook up with Troll Forged Miniatures? They have a sculpter working on some stuff that would be amazing for Warhammer 40k, and they should be in production about the same time I'll have money to renue my Pathfinder subscription.
Not sure what the likelyhood of this is, but it would be super cool if it was possible.
