Illydth's page

As one of the lucky people who got to play in both of the GenCon playtest Scenarios ("Shards of the Glass Planet" and "It Came from the Vast") I wanted to post a general feel feedback of SF2e's gameplay. This is not intended to be a rules-deep or class-depth post, but more a general "how it felt" post for both scenarios playing at level 1 and 5.

For my experience, I ended up playing an operative for "Shards" and Mystic for "Vast"...and in my opinion two of the most outstanding classes I've played in an RPG for the last 30 years.

Let me start with my overall feeling of playing SF2e in both scenarios. I ended up telling several friends that the classes in SF2e (at least the ones I played and most of what I watched being played around me) felt like some of the funnest classes I've gotten my hands on in a LONG long time. I'm sad I didn't also get to play the classes in reverse (Mystic at 1, Operative at 5) but I guess there's plenty of time for that.

First, action economy for all classes felt spot on. One of the problems I have with PF2e (and I'm going to get a lot of hate over this statement) is that most of the classes ***FEEL TO ME*** like some parts of their kits are intentionally built to waste actions...a very good example to me is Melee Magus which is constantly action starved. Yes, I get spellstrike is giving you weapon + spell damage and 2 actions is appropriate for a spellcast in the system, but Move, Spellstrike and Recharge feels intentionally punishing on a class that pretty much NEEDS all 4 of those actions every round just to keep up...and with only a single attack roll for spellstrike to be either Save or Suck, and a recharge need either way? This is feels like the epitome of intentional hamstringing through a combat system. (I'm not looking for community coaching on how to better play Melee Magus BTW, this is just to offset class design between a notoriously action starved PF2e class and the SF2e classes I witnessed...)

The classes I witnessed in SF2e did not have that problem. Aim or Run and Aim didn't make the operative player choose between bad action economy choices. Moving Reload ensured the same on the other end. Even in a turn where I needed to reload I was still Move and Aim for precision damage, taking a shot with full MAP and full Damage, and then moving again and reloading for better tactical positioning on the battlefield, including getting into range of a fleeing creature to setup a Ranged Reaction AOO when they tried to run again which was both Nuts and one of the funnest things I've done on a "physical damage" character in a LONG time. Playing Crown of the Kobold King last night made me pine for my operative class.

In almost all cases I didn't notice anyone at either table having action economy problems which I thought was outstanding.

Lets talk about Mystic for a second.

I've been DMing and (at least trying) to play that other Sword and Sorcery game for over 35 years now. At no point in my career of playing TTRPGs have I ever ACTIVELY SOUGHT OUT playing a healer. They're boring and are constantly being forced to give up their own gameplay for everyone else's enjoyment at the table. Playing the "support class" that makes everyone else's actions shine and yours be basically pre-defined turn by turn makes for entirely unappetizing gameplay. I've held so many "how to make Clerics better" conversations over the years I've been doing this that most of the time when the subject comes up my friends just roll their eyes and say "oh God, this again?"

And then SF2e creates a healing class that just flat out gives out hitpoints of health in a turn and still mostly allows the Mystic to play like another blaster caster class with backup support abilities - including an awesome little mini-game of when to go hard on regenerating hitpoints into the healing pool. An axe wielding void channeling warlock type spellcaster with a pool of hitpoint they can generate and dish out on a single action with reaction heals is...just satisfying to play and turns an exceptionally boring cleric into a contributive class that I WANT to pick to play at my table.

Major Kudos to whoever came up with the idea for Mystic, because you've saved all of my friends hours long conversations about how to fix Clerics from here out. Now they'll just have to listen to how every cleric isn't a Mystic.

The only class I saw struggling was the "envoy" class. At one point our table GM during "It Came from the Vast" looked at the Envoy player who wanted to use that ability and made a comment like "Roll well, I'd like to see this work at least once this weekend." They were still impactful in the overall scheme, it just felt like a few of their class abilities were lackluster compared to some of the others.

The soldier, also, didn't get to use their AOE all that often / at all. I couldn't really tell if that was a tactics problem or if that was just not enough ability to make it work / encounter design problem...take that for what it's worth.

Also, It Came from the Vast was a bit of a disappointing adventure given that EVERYTHING in it was susceptible to fire and with a solarian in the group a single good crit from that character pretty much ended combat across the board, whether a trash fight all the way up to the end boss.

Overall an exceptionally fun experience all the way from start to finish. A little tweaking could result in some of the funnest and most influential character classes in modern RPGs today.

This might be OT for this forum, if so I apologise deeply. Feel free to move this where it belongs.

I have a PBP campaign that's been going on for just over 2 years now, somewhere around 2500 posts. I'm starting Act II of the campaign and was wondering if there was a way to leave the "Act I" thread still attached to the campaign but to attach a new PBP thread as the new "Act II" thread?

I'd hate to create a second campaign to get a new PBP thread in but is this the only way to do such a thing?

Advice on how to accomplish something like this in general? Or is there really no way to do it?

I apologize for the cross forum post here, but I wanted as many GMs as possible to see this.

Be aware that I just edited one of my posts with a significant number of dice rolls in it to add a new dice roll and when I submitted the edit ALL of the dice rolls in the post changed.

In other words your players can:

1) use the [ dice ] tag to submit an attack and damage roll.
2) Submit the post and see what the attack/damage roll looks like.
3) If they don't like it edit the post (at minimum) to add a useless perception or other skill check.
4) look at their NEW roll to see if they like it or not.
5) Repeat steps 2 - 4 until they get the roll they're looking for.

I haven't tested this to see if this only happens with new rolls added or if this happens any time the post changes...and it may very well get fixed quickly or be just my imagination (though I tested it two times).

Still, something for GMs to take note of.

Current Behavior: When you modify (particularly add a dice roll) to an edited post it changes the dice rolls for all other dice within that post.

Expected Behavior: All dice rolls from the post are kept and the new dice roll is added.

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I could be wrong on this...however...

There seems to be a new issue with dice rolls on the Play by Post forum / Paizo Forums.

Previously, when you edited a post any dice rolls within that post would be kept after the edit was completed. If I rolled a set of dice, submitted the post, then edited the post and modified something about it (even changing the +/- addition to a roll) the base roll was kept and only the changes were applied. If I added a new die roll to the post all of the old dice rolls were kept.

In other words, once rolled a die roll could not change no matter the edit or modification made to a post.

I JUST finished posting a set of initiative rolls (8 of them), within my campaign. I realized I'd missed a set of initiatives (for the NPC friendlies traveling with the party) and went back to edit the initiative post...low and behold, after submitting the edit, the dice rolls for all the previous initiatives changed.

Wondering about this, I went back and edited the post AGAIN to add another initiative. Again, all of the previous 9 Initiatives changed with the submission.

This creates a situation where players can 'game' the dice system by editing and submitting posts over and over again till they get their dice rolls how they want them.

I don't BELIEVE this used to be the case. I suspect this is a bug/problem based upon the code surrounding the new "quick post" system.

Any advice/fixes would be MOST welcome.

--Illydth

So the question is simple: Can a rogue get sneak attack damage by throwing something like alchemists fire in a situation where they would normally get sneak attack damage with, say, a crossbow?

I've got to say I've been playing D&D since Red Box Base set in the 80s and this is the first time I've gotten a question this baffling.

We've got a situation in my campaign at the moment where we have a set of zombies trapped in a web spell (with the Grappled effect). The party rogue asks "If I throw Alchemists fire at one of the Grappled enemies do I get sneak attack damage?"

According to the manual there are only 2 conditions for when to apply sneak attack damage:

1) When the target is denied his dex bonus to AC (obviously in the case of being Grappled).
2) When the rogue has a clear line of sight on a vital area of the target. (i.e. The target is not concealed).

Logically I have problems with a thrown potion providing sneak attack damage, but I can't argue that both restrictions do apply in this situation.

I won't get into the argument of "how do you find a 'vital area' on a nonliving creature that doesn't eat, breath or have internal organs". :)

So, GMs, how would you rule and why?

--Illydth

Not trying to turn this into a "pathfinders wrestling rules" book or anything, but the text in the players handbook on Grapple/Pin leaves me a bit to be desired as far as ruling help.

Scenario: Captured Party, stripped of weapons and armor, are now attempting to break out. First obstacle: their Ogre Jailor. Being as he's armed and they're not, they resort to immobilization.

Party warrior announces a Grapple/Pin Maneuver on the Unaware Jailor in a Surprise Round. Roll is made and his CMB+Roll beats the Ogre's CMD...Grapple Attack successful.

Questions:

1) Is the "Pin" Part of that maneuver "automatic"? Does the PC simply get to apply the "pinned" condition simply because his grapple was successful or is there another CM Roll required? If another maneuver, can this be applied on the same round or is this on a different round? If another roll required, does the penalty for Grappled apply?

2) Assuming a completely bare, very large room, the only thing the ogre would be "pinned" to would be the floor...does "pinned" automatically assume the "prone" condition as well? Is this on a "case by case" basis? Is that chosen by the Player or the DM or is it "scenario" based?

3) Does the Grapple/Pin break happen automatically or is it considered an Action? i.e. Does the Ogre automatically get a chance to break the grapple once it's applied or does the roll against the CMD Constitute the "chance" for the ogre to have not become grappled and break is a completely different action? On a surprise round should I allow an attempt to "break" or if this is considered an "action" should it be disallowed till next round, even though no real "action" is required?

4) Putting this all together if the Grapple is successful and if pin is applied automatically, and the ogre is pinned to the floor, then the Ogre currently has 2 conditions currently set by a single PC Action: Pinned and Prone, and the Ogre is still without weapon (it's not been drawn yet but is attached to his belt). So at this point the ogre has 3 actions to perform to get ready for the next round: Break the Grapple/Pin, Stand up and Draw his weapon...

According to rules:

* Escape a Grapple is a Standard Action (I assume this is the same for pinned).
* Stand Up from Prone is a Move Action
* Draw a Weapon is considered a "Move" action but can be combined with a move action in this case.

Given the surprise round does this make the NPC ogre a round behind? Even assuming a failed grapple/pin attempt the next round, the ogre still needs to break grapple (standard action) and stand (move action) and potentially draw (combined with move action) wasting his entire next turn and allowing the PC's to perform it all over again? Does this setup an unwinnable condition where the Ogre is perpetually "out of the fight" simply trying to recover (and if so is this what is intended by the rules?). By what I'm reading it looks like once grappled / pinned you would have to break and recover on one round (avoiding being hit by a grapple/pin attempt that round) and then avoid AGAIN being hit by a SECOND grapple/pin before being able to attack...in other words you'd have to be able to dodge 2 attempts to recover from each success. (Though I guess the second grapple/pin in the cycle would be punctuated by an attack of opportunity by my now armed Ogre).

What part of the above would any of you rule allowed during the surprise round (if any) and what part must wait till the next round of combat?

Assuming you are ruling this at the end of the round (assuming the Grapple break roll is successful) what would be your "final status" for the surprise round? (What conditions apply to each of the two combatants and what actions is each capable of in round 1?)

The scenario is certainly bad for the PCs (the weapon the ogre carries is damaging enough that it's possible to one shot some of the weaker PCs). On one hand, I don't want to make the encounter too easy, but on the other hand I suspect the PC's don't need bad ruling in this case: It will likely be challenging enough.

--Illydth

This is the official Rise of a Regent Campaign Play by Post Thread.

This is the official discussion thread for the Rise of a Regent Campaign.

We'll use this thread for offline discussion (player/GM questions, rules discussions, etc.) as well as for all of our startup information (player character creation, links to general information for the campaign, etc.)

I'll start with some basic information:

* This is NOT an official Pathfinder Society Campaign (that probably didn't need to be mentioned), though I will be using the pathfinder rule set.

* The setting for the campaign is an old D&D world called Norwold, I will have maps and information up soon. Keep in mind this is not in the pathfinder universe and thus the pathfinder factions and such are not in play. This is also NOT in any 'official' D&D world either (Mystara, Forgotten Realms, Birthright, etc.) so don't expect to be meeting Drizzt Do'Urden on the road...and don't try to apply a particular political agenda to any lands you might recognize.

* I AM using the pathfinder Deity selection in case it matters to any of you.

* Characters should be generated at level 1 (exceptions notified) and should use standard basic rules for starting gold and other character selections.

* We will be using the point buy system from the pathfinder rules for stat creation, 20 points base.

* Starting character ages will be pre-prepared for each player character. It is important that your characters start at the ages I give you because of the timeline of the campaign.

* I would appreciate it if everyone could use the pathfinder character spreadsheet found at: Pathfinder Character Spreadsheets (the sCoreGen-b40 spreadsheet, and for you casters needing to manage your spells you can use the adVance-b24 spreadsheet). This should make it much easier for me to track your character as well as to verify proper character creation. I will need a copy of the spreadsheet periodically to keep "up to date" with changes. If this is a problem for anyone (technical ability, inability to access a spreadsheet application, etc.) please let me know and we can work something out.

* Please do create a pathfinder society character (if you can) to match your player character (basic information only, you don't need to get into huge detail). I'm just looking to be able to have you posting as your character names, it'll make the campaign easier to follow. If this is impossible for technical reasons please let me know.

* I will be sending the character histories I have written to you via e-mail, for all of you I am happy to discuss changes, additions and modifications to the history as written. PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR HISTORIES OPENLY. I am ok if you wish to use the spoiler tag or if you wish to do things over e-mail, either is fine.

* I will be adding to your characters based upon the histories I have written for you. It is likely (don't do so yet) that one of the things I will be adding to all of your character's possessions is a mount. For some of you there may be other things.

* Some general rules I tend to use for my campaigns:

Food, Drink, Lodging, and Equipment
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As one of the PC's is a ranger (who *should* be taking some kind of survival skill (hint)) I am going to be very "loose" with things like food and water. The land area you all are playing in is a northern/temperate forested mountainous region. I suspect that game and water are plentiful, at least in most places. If, during the course of the campaign, it becomes important to be tracking your food/water resources you will be notified well ahead of time so you all can make plans. Until that time feel free to note a week's worth of Trail Rations on your character sheets (please buy this if you have the available starting coin) and some kind of container for carrying drink (waterskin, etc.) and we'll call this good for the majority of the campaign.

From the Lodging standpoint, things are a little different. Hardships befall PCs on the road and proper lodging can and may come as an issue when traveling through the wilderness. While, again, a woodsman can greatly assist you with finding shelter, such that much of the time this may not be an issue, there is still a difference between sleeping on the ground in the middle of winter and having some kind of shelter when none can be found in the surrounding lands. I leave it to your discretion as to what you feel you do and don't need to bring with you.

For the rest of the equipment, if it's not listed, you don't have it. Please do not "assume" you are carrying a torch with you when you wander into someplace that's dark. If and when you do acquire a mount keeping track of what is on the mount and what is on your person will be important.

Weight and Gold
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As you will all see when you get a chance to read the history of the lands you are in, I have implemented something slightly different when it comes to carrying cash with you.

First, weight is an issue and I do intend to keep weight as an issue in the campaign. Make sure you understand that what you carry with you does in fact have weight and that moving from say light to medium encumbrance does in fact come with penalties.

Money, as well, has weight to it along with value. Carrying 10 gold coins in your pocket does add weight to you, gold is a heavy substance. That said how are PC's expected to carry hundreds of coins on them and still be able to adventure?

In this campaign the larger land of Norwold has implemented a rather sophisticated (for D&D Campaigns) banking system. The end result of this banking system is the ability to translate coinage into "gold notes" that represent coinage. This can be done in any major city as well as many minor cities. Outlaying areas still trade in raw coins, most areas trade in either, and some major areas will trade only in gold notes. PCs should be ready to track the 4 major coin types (PP, GP, SP, and CP) as well as their stock of "gold notes". Gold notes carry the benefit of no encumbrance while their coinage equivalents do.

I believe the standard weight translation for coins is 1 pound of encumbrance per 10 coins, but I'm open to other interpretations as well.
For now, for each 10 coins you posses please add 1 encumbrance to your character. Feel free to, after purchasing items and equipment, split your coins to the best possible weight advantage for you. If you run into encumbrance issues between equipment and coinage, please let me know and we'll talk about whether or not your character might have had the ability to translate their starting coinage into gold notes.

I find this kind of system properly allows players the realities of adventuring. Finding a dragon's horde with fifty thousand gold coins in it may sound exciting but how, exactly, do you intend to get fifty thousand gold across the miles of land to a city? Yet, how do PCs intend to become rich when their 10 strength allows them only to carry cloths, a bow, and 2 gold coins?

About Spoilers (This isn't a spoiler in and of itself, please read it).
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I wanted to make a quick section for this because, while this is true for all campaigns you've played in, for this one it is especially problematic.

Much of this campaign, particularly the later parts of this campaign, are "information" based. Knowledge of the wrong information at the wrong time could, literally, ruin the enjoyment of the campaign for any and all of you, or even make it worthless to continue playing.

It may be tempting at times to click the spoiler button on a post just to get ahead of the game. I implore you guys NOT to do this. At best you'll likely ruin a surprise I have setup for later in the game, at worst you'll make the entire campaign obsolete.

I also would ask you all to play your characters. While it makes sense from a player perspective to share as much information as you possibly can as soon as you can (even to the point of shaking hands with someone you just met and telling them your entire life history just to ensure it's out there), it really doesn't make sense for a character to do so, at least until a bond of trust has been established between you and the party.

Lastly, please keep IC (In Character), OOC (Out of Character) and GM information provided to you separate from each other. If you do happen to get ahold of a piece of information you shouldn't have (or your player knows more than your character does, a likely scenario in this campaign), please keep in mind what information your character should have and act upon THAT information.

I promise that regardless of how complicated I make the story there will always be an opportunity for the players to "catch up" at event ending points to ensure you're all on the same page with a story. When a specific spoiler becomes irrelevant to a story I will announce it's availability to everyone to read. I promise I won't leave anyone in the dark wondering what's going on, so there's no reason for you to try to 'stay ahead' by reading what you shouldn't. :)

Thanks for bearing with me on this humongous post. I apologize but there may be alot of reading to do, particularly at the beginning of the campaign, to get the background information you need.

Lastly, I should note: Prior to the official start of the campaign there is a short back story I am running one of the PC's through. We will be posting to the PBP thread I will open up in entirely spoiler text. This text is not for public consumption among the rest of the players (you'll get to read it eventually). There may be a bit of a lag between now and the "first turn" of the real campaign so please keep with it.

For now, go ahead and download the spreadsheet, create your characters, read the histories I will send you and feel free to add/enhance what you get ahold of. Please use spoiler text for any history based information (things other players wouldn't know) and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Let me know of any problems either by posting back here or at douglasw at wagnerweb dot org.

This is an interest check thread for a new Play by Post campaign I am calling "Rise of a Regent".

Who am I? I am an old D&D Player/DM with a story to tell. I’ve been Playing and DMing D&D and AD&D Campaigns for over 20 years now, having started with the basic boxed D&D set (anyone remember the red books? :) ) and having kept up ALMOST all the way to 3.5 (Sadly, the 3.0 rule set is about where I stopped).

What am I running? A self developed campaign I call “Rise of the Regent”, set in an older D&D land that I’ve “enhanced” a bit. Don’t start searching the net folks, it’s not out there. I’m adapting and tuning it for the Piazo “Pathfinder” rule set (beta rules) and looking to run it as a Play by Post here on the boards.

When am I running it? This is a good question. “ASAP” is the easiest answer, though not quite exactly true. I still have plenty of the campaign to plan out and I do not have unlimited time to do so. I suspect that my start date for a first turn is sometime in the next few weeks and it would progress from there. I do expect this to be a fairly long running campaign, more than just a few encounters or a handful of turns.

What am I looking for? I’m looking for players willing to play a certain set of characters who’s histories I have developed to fit into the campaign story line. That doesn’t mean pre-rolled characters however, just a fleshed out character history and a fairly specific class selection.

The ideal player will be an “enthusiastic” role player, willing to delve into the character he or she creates and have some fun. Keep in mind I’m a GM interested in telling a story, you hard core roll (notice the “L” instead of the “E” on the end of the word) players, looking for a good hack and slash to get your blood flowing probably won't find what you need in this play by post. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to have some good combat involved, but don’t expect a deep dungeon delve. On the flip side, I do like to keep my campaigns a little on the “light” side of immersive, so if you are a hard core “role” player type who likes to COMPLETELY immerse him or herself in the character and out of character comments or a little light banter bothers you during a game session, again this might not be the campaign for you. The ideal player doesn’t necessarily have years of Role Playing experience but should be beyond “what does 2d6 mean?”, completely experienced or somewhat inexperienced players are welcome. At the end of the day, a player willing to keep up with the campaign (I don’t set huge time limits on my campaigns) and willing to work at making the story work for you and for the others in the group is what I’m looking for.

What can you expect?

* An english language based campaign.
* About 10 levels of play (maybe more or less as the story progresses).
* Several Months (at least) of campaigning.
* A fun and serious campaign with an attempt at a pretty epic, and hopefully even sometimes convoluted, storyline; and a GM dedicated to finishing the campaign to the end.

I'd be happy to have 5 of you out there filling the following slots:

Rogue or Monk (Preference Female Character but I can work with it either way)
Wizard
Bard
Ranger
Sorcerer (Negotiable on this last class, I'm pretty open here with a storyline that will fit pretty much any class but preference to a caster).

The party will be joined by a PC Warrior and an NPC Cleric.

The races are at the player’s discretion (Human/Elf will work best, but I'm willing to accept any of the normal PC races). Alignments will need to be at worst Neutral in disposition (the “good, neutral, evil” part) and should remain *above* the Chaotic Neutral persuasion (Pure Neutral or better). Note that regardless of alignment, players need to be willing to work within the bounds of the party and their specific pre-written character histories. Dissension and hidden agendas in this campaign will not make for a good story, and evil alignments of any type will not work.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to post back to the thread with the slot you'd like to fill and any supporting information you would like to provide. If you have questions I would be happy to answer them by e-mail at douglasw at wagnerweb dot org. I'd like to leave some time for questions by e-mail so I won't necessarily be selecting the 'first 5 posts' to come back to the thread.

Thanks all for taking the time to read this and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.