I'm looking for a part time job in San Francisco, or maybe Daly City or South San Francisco or around Jack London Square in Oakland, and I have no idea what in the Sam Hill I'm doing. I was trained on this stuff at Job Corps, but then I got my job at De Anza ludicrously easily, and that was a couple years ago. So I'm probably not doing it right. Also can't work food service because of a medical thing, which restricts options. I'd prefer clerical work (I did complete the Office Administration program at Job Corps, so it seems natural), but I've mostly applied to sales because there doesn't seem to be much clerical work available.
Anyway, I put in some applications this weekend. I applied to 4 Bevmo locations, 3 Cost Plus locations, 1 Pier 1 location, 3 Costco locations, and 1 MUJI location. My Dad says to call them in a few days since I applied online. I have a feeling I should probably do something other than apply online, but not sure what it is. There is a part time job fair at my university on Thursday, and I don't have class Thursdays, so I will naturally be there all day, but maybe you guys know other things I could be doing?
I'm not preparing enough prior to an RP. I go in thinking I can wing it successfully, but because I didn't prepare I end up not really knowing what's going on myself until I post it. The problem with that is that the improvisation lacks passion because I came up with it at the last second in response to the players wanting to start playing. Improvisation also takes time, slowing the RP. A combo of dispassionate improvisation and slow posting kills the RP, if it starts at all.
I don't have an exact number for you. I have over 4500 posts spread out among 58 different aliases, and I tend to use aliases for PBPs. Picking the recruiting threads out of all of that is a big task, which pretty much proves your point.
I'm pretty sure it's been at least ten, with no successful games, and my face to face record is about as good. Shit. It's pretty much my favorite thing, and I suck at it.
You need to go through your list of threads, and count all of the pbp's that you have started and then walked away from after people made characters, and waited around for a week or three to realize that.....no actual pbp was forthcoming.
THEN, every week or so when you go through the motions of recruiting for a new pbp,
you need to let people know just exactly what this number is in your recruiting thread. That way, they can be more educated about just what they can expect. The people that are pretty much regulars here will have it figured out, but new kids might not, and it's really kind of a big buzzkill to go through all that work and expectation, in all probability for nothing.
Once or twice is understandable.
I think you know full well that it has been far more than once or twice.
I realize this. I have a LOT of trouble actually building adventures. I can come up with an idea just fine, and I do so, but when I gets time to work with it I tend to freeze up. That's not going to get better without effort, though, and I need to keep trying to run games.
Pathfinder feats, domains, inquisitions, and spells are allowed on a one on one basis. Pathfinder archetypes are allowed depending on what they are, but I will have to tweak them to make them fit BOEM.
For Witches and Alchemists, use the Witch and Alchemist spell/formula lists. If a spell exists in both 3.5 and Pathfinder, use the 3.5 version. If it only exists in Pathfinder, use the PF version, and if it's a Witch spell I'll assign it a 1-20 level for you.
It'd be 5th level, with the rules in Monte Cook's Book of Experimental Might taking precedence over other 3.5 rules.
The following books would be allowed:
3.5 Core Rulebooks
Monte Cook's Book of Experimental Might (1 and 2)
The following books would be allowed by GM approval of individual things:
Arms and Equipment Guide
Heroes of Battle
Seafarer's Handbook
Seas of Blood
Sorcery and Steam (No firearms)
Dragonmech
Ariel Adventure Guide
Book of Exalted Deeds
Book of Vile Darkness
Libris Mortis
Draconimicon
Libris Mortis
Unearthed Arcana
Pathfinder Core Rulebook
Advanced Player's Guide
Ultimate Magic
Ultimate Combat
The following house rules would be in effect:
Spoiler:
All races use Pathfinder human race features. (This house rule will change eventually, but it will be a long time.). A list of available races will be provided along with setting details when those are typed up.
The Alchemist, Inquisitor, Sorcerer, and Witch classes from Pathfinder are allowed. Witches and Sorcerers cast spells as Wizards and are considered alternate versions of the Wizard. Witches use spellbooks to store spells, not familiars (though they still summon familiars).
Divine spellcasters posses spellbooks as a Wizard.
All characters possess the Vital Strike feat from Pathfinder for free if they have the requisite BAB.
Two Weapon Fighting and Vital Strike scale with level. This means you gain the improved version for free as soon as you meet the prerequisites.
Polearms with the trip feature or ability to grapple may be used to, with a trip or grapple attempt at a -2 penalty, pull rider from her mount, causing her to fall prone in a space next to her mount.
Scimitars, Quarterstaffs, Bo Staffs, and Longswords are finessable weapons.
A Spear (not a Longspear or Shortspear) may be used as a double weapon if desired, with the blunt end treated as a Quarterstaff.
You can shield bash with a buckler. It is treated as a light shield with a -1 damage penalty.
Fighters add the following skills to their list of class skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Fly, Heal, Knowledge (Any), Linguistics, Perception, Perform, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Stealth, Use Magic Device
The atonement spell does not exist. Things that would require it are handled via RP.
A crossbow can be sized for a strength bonus. It gains this bonus to damage, just like a composite bow, and sizing it for a strength bonus costs the same as sizing a composite bow for a strength bonus. Using a crossbow sized for a strength bonus you do not possess does not give you a penalty to attack rolls. However, it does make it difficult to reload, as you must put a lot more effort into it. Add a full round action to the reload time for each point of strength bonus the crossbow is sized for that you do not possess. If the crossbow has no strength bonus and you have a strength penalty, reload time is not increased. You may not purchase a crossbow with a strength bonus more than 2 points higher than your modifier.
Divine spellcasters may be polytheistic.
Each paladin has a personalized code of conduct put together by the GM and player during character creation. The Core Rulebook code of conduct does not apply, this personalized code does. If it is violated, the paladin begins to fall from grace. Paladins may be any good alignment. An NG or CG Paladin will have some class features exchanged.
A paladin's fall from grace takes a long time, with the character losing paladin abilities for antipaladin abilities one by one as she descends further and further into unacceptable actions, until finally there is nothing left of her paladin abilities whatsoever. The GM decides when a paladin begins to fall, and the GM will not have a paladin begin falling without warning her about her actions so that she may avoid falling, unless she does something extremely evil, like genocide. Redemption works the opposite way, with antipaladin abilities being traded out for paladin abilities one by one as the paladin steadily ascends towards the path of good.
There is no level or stat loss when being raised from the dead. However, it does cause mental stress. Roll a will save (DC 10 + character level + days dead). If you fail, you gain an insanity (3.5 Unearthed Arcana insanity, not Gamemastery Guide insanity). Insanities are not determined randomly. Instead, the GM talks with the player to see which insanity the player is most comfortable roleplaying, and gives the character that insanity. Characters who are raised from the dead have no memory of what happened to them after they died. The fate of the dead is unknown to mortals.
All medium armor uses the stats for either hide or breastplate, and all heavy armor uses full plate stats. Armors can still be made out of unusual materials (such as adamantine or mithril). The reason for this house rule is that there is no reason to wear medium armor that isn't a breastplate (unless you are a druid or first level character) or heavy armor that isn't full plate once you have the gold for it, and I dislike that, so I prefer for medium and heavy armor to have the same stats, with the differences being aesthetic. That way, you can wear chainmail instead of a breastplate or heavy lamellar instead of full plate without being less effective for it.
Ability scores are 25 point buy (Pathfinder point buy values).
No communing with deities. Aside from the occasional cryptic sign or message, the deities don't talk to mortals very much.
Divine spellcasters can't lose their powers for becoming corrupt. Divine law forbids this. One's divine power can, however, be warped by one's emotions, meaning that, say, a Paladin could become an Anti-Paladin.
Ammunition, food, and water is not tracked unless scarcity is important to the adventure. Spell components are only tracked if they have a specific cost or scarcity is important to the adventure. If the GM decides to track resources, she will inform the players ahead of time so that they may prepare for this.
All characters are literate regardless of class except for those with the true primitive archetype.
All spells with the healing subtype belong to the necromancy school.
There is no such thing as positive and negative energy. Undead are animated by necromantic energy.
Undead are healed by healing energies and harmed by harming energies. Turn and rebuke undead still work as normal.
No evil PCs, please. I won't say no to neutral, but I would prefer an all good party very much.
I can have setting details up late tonight or tomorrow afternoon. This would explain basic history, basic culture of the region, religions, and race roles. I plan for a campaign set in a fantasy analogue of Louisiana. A dialect of "French" (heavily influenced by "Spanish", "African", and Native tongues) is the common tongue. I am taking this approach to voodoo, which is a common religion. Evil necromantic, curse heavy cults exist within voodoo, but they are a minority. The setting is magitech like Eberron, but reliant on steam engines fuelled by alchemical compounds for power. There are no firearms.
The story hook is that the PCs are members of a small (as in, consists of just the PCs) militant order (a militant order is like a mercenary organization, but works for a cause and only charges enough money for services to cover expenses) contracted to investigate strange deaths at the waterfront district of the city of Roelins (think medieval magitech New Orleans, and you won't be too far off) that are suspected to involve dark magic.
LOL, it's funny that you'd take the time and effort to try to make an issue of comparing a comment about an entire class of PEOPLE to a bland description of a branch of magic. Especially since, whether you like it or not, voodoo is IN FACT strongly associated with necromantic types of magic.
Strongly associated in the media, sure.. in the same way that Satanism is associated with heavy metal and human sacrifice in the media... not unlike Dungeons and Dragons was. That misconceptions are popular doesn't actually make them true: reality is not a democracy.
Not infrequently, when people do aberrant and unpleasant things, and choose to link it to religion, people mistakenly associate those things with the religion. While there are certainly Islamic terrorists, the terrorism doesn't descend directly from the religion so much as taints it because some people try to hide behind the Islam part to justify their own behaviors. Day-to-day islam is nowhere near as interesting to our media-drunk culture, so we focus our attention on the weirdos despite them being in the minority.
Voodoo itself involves offerings to and communication with spirits, some of which may or may not (often debated, depending on the spirit) be those of former people. Catholicism offers up prayers to saints but nobody really considers it a necromantic religion. Shinto had far, far deeper levels of ancestor worship but nobody thinks it's about necromancy.
I don't take issue to using media stereotypes... I just take issue to someone who uses media stereotypes while claiming to be opposed to stereotyping! And hey, "like it or not" the southern USA, and bayou in particular, are widely associated with inbred hillbillies... I'm not sure that makes it any less offensive to people who do take offense at that sort of thing.
Webster's Dictionary wrote:
Definition of DOG
1: canid; especially: a highly variable domestic mammal (Canis familiaris) closely related to the gray wolf b: a male dog;
...
Voodoo, as a whole, isn't particularly necromantic or evil compared to any other religion, despite the perception. However, the evil voodoo cult using necromancy and curses has an attractive flavor. The thing is, religions aren't completely unified institutions. Differing beliefs and practices do exist. Plus, this is fantasy, where things don't have to be 100% realistic. It is possible to treat voodoo in a realistic manner (that is, relatively positively, and a religion a hero could be proud of adhering to), yet also suppose the existence of such necromancy and curse heavy cults within the religion. After all, other D&D pantheons have such evil cults, so voodoo could be the same.
I think this is a nice compromise. It takes the subject of voodoo seriously and paints it in the positive light it deserves, but also keeps the flavorful evil cult versions of voodoo. Essentially, it paints it as a religion with good, bad, and neutral sects, each of which does things a bit differently. The same applies to hillbillies (inbred or not). Do they exist in this setting? Yes. Are they the only people living in the region? No. In fact, they are the minority. Are hillbillies (inbred or not) necessarily bad people? No. They can be good or bad people, just like any other cultural group.
I'm not ignoring the stereotypes for this setting, but I'm not treating them as being 100% accurate, either. It is possible to balance stereotypical expectations, historical and cultural accuracy, and my own ideas, and I plan to do this.
Does anyone have the original Scarred Lands monster stats lying around? I assume they are Open Game Content, and I can convert them over to PF myself. I want to see the fluff for the Karnival Krew.
Well since enslaving local populations and committing genocide is pretty much a worldwide phenomenon perpetrated throughout history by and on all races more or less arbitrarily, I suppose that's an issue no matter what you want to set as your background....
True enough, but the unique cultural mix in Louisiana comes from the natives living there, the invasion of two other countries from another continent and the importation of slaves from a third. The last is going to be the most tricky if all the races exist everywhere, since there's no particular reason to import slaves from elsewhere (short of the fact that natives of the reason tended to know better escape routes).
African slavery still happened. Ethnicity (as in, are you European, African, Native, or whatever) still matters. Race (as in, are you an elf, dwarf, or whatever) also matters, but in different ways. Different races don't form their own segregated nations (other than dwarves), they live in multiracial nations. Erefore, since they all live together, ethnicity is seen as a much more important cultural divide than race is. Erefore, foreigners are more likely to be enslaved than other races. African slavery happened for much the same reason it happened IRL.
All of the core races are native to pretty much the whole world, so there would be both native dwarves and non-native dwarves. Same with any other core race.
I'm looking for somewhere to put dwarves. In this world, dwarves are master architects, living in cities that pose engineering challenges. Depending on subspecies, they may live underground in caverns or caves, in cities suspended from hundreds of treetops, in cities carved out of mountainsides, or on giant city ships. They may live in another architecturally difficult city if I come up with any more ideas.
Why not have the Dwarves in or near your Louisiana build dikes? Then again, they could live in the northern area which is much drier and more hilly. Then again, there could be Dwarves living in the cities but not native to the region. Or they could make a Louisiana Venice...
Well, I don't have to have cave or mountain dwarves. Tree dwarves would work fine.
I'm looking for somewhere to put dwarves. In this world, dwarves are master architects, living in cities that pose engineering challenges. Depending on subspecies, they may live underground in caverns or caves, in cities suspended from hundreds of treetops, in cities carved out of mountainsides, or on giant city ships. They may live in another architecturally difficult city if I come up with any more ideas.
I don't have money to buy a new book like Skull & Bones. I do have Nyambe on my Birthday list, but that's not until April. When I get Nyambe, I'll search it for interesting stuff that would fit.
If you're looking for the in-bred hillbilly feel, ** spoiler omitted **
A true Louisiana flavor would not be "in-bred hillbilly". To continue with the unnecessarily derogatory, condescending stereotype approach, it would be "in-bred cajun" or "in-bred creole".
Of course it's not necessary at all to be cartoonish, condescending and borderline racist in building your Louisiana themed campaign. That's purely a personal choice.
(Hillbillies are generally considered to be from other areas in the south, particularly hilly areas like Arkansas, Oklahoma, even Virginia and Georgia... Louisiana has its own unique and rich cultural history that is quite distinct from the "Deliverance" model.)
I do not plan to be cartoonish, condescending, or racist in my worldbuilding at all. There will be no in-bred hillbillies in the Louisiana analogue. They don't really fit the area. There may be some in other parts of the continent, but any in-bred hillbillies I do include will be a small portion of the local population that is in no way representative of the local culture as a whole. There are some regions where I would like to have such people, but I do feel that making everybody in a region such an individual is just plain racist and insensitive.
Also, thanks for the tips on the local climate, wildlife, and terrain. I'm mainly looking for monsters that fit right now, but these details are still useful and appreciated.
I'm still hammering away at my campaign setting. You may have seen a couple of the threads around here about it. Aside from switching the tech level from guns nowhere to guns everywhere and back more often than is healthy, things are stable and progressing nicely. Luckily, lots of magitech means that whether or not guns are around isn't particularly important, so I can shelve that for now. It's about time to start writing out a region now that I have a good idea of basic history and race relations. I'm using a North America analogue instead of the more usual European and Asian analogues. After some consideration as to what region to flesh out (I only need one right now), I have decided on an analogue of Louisiana, complete with the blend of French, Spanish, African, and Native American influence that means the real life thing what it is. I like Louisiana because it's exotic, flashy, and interesting, and a fantasy analogue could potentially be even more so. It's different, and I like the idea of starting out with something different for the first region to play in. At the same time, we've all heard of Louisiana. It isn't so different that players can't think of any character concepts or envision what the analogue would be like. This is also very good. I want the players to be able to envision the region.
Now that I know what I want to make an analogue of it, I need to decide what monsters to populate it with. I don't want to just go around picking out things that match the local terrain, I want to pick things that feel like they would belong in Louisiana. I'm thinking of looking through the following books for appropriate monsters:
Pathfinder Bestiaries 1, 2, and 3
Dreamscarred Press Psionics Unleashed
3.5 Monster Manual 1
3.5 Libris Mortis
3.5 Draconimicon
3.5 Book of Exalted Deeds
3.5 Book of Vile Darkness
Legends and Lairs Necromantic Lore
Legends and Lairs Seafarer's Handbook
Seas of Blood
As I said, I don't want to just use the terrain recommendations to pick monsters. I want to pick things that feel appropriate to Lousiana's flavor, not things that just happen to be tagged as being things that live in the terrain. From the books listed above, what do you guys think would fit?
...the BBEG uses Gentle Repose to avoid looking like she's undead...
A classic dodge first attributed, I believe, to Szass Tam. But that also lets out my suggestion of a Worm that Walks: they're nearly as hard to disguise as skeletal undead. Darn.
I don't know who that is. The idea was suggested to me on Giant in the Playground when discussing a vanilla lich.
If you have the Bestiary 2, you'd probably get a lot of mileage out of the Juju Zombie template. Don't let the slightly silly name throw you off - it's a decent template and very nice for spellcasters.
For that matter, there's another superb evil-spellcaster template in the same volume - the Worm that Walks. Even more brutal in some ways, particularly if the PCs mistake it for undead at first...
I like the Juju Zombie, but I'm using it for lower level threats in the campaign, not the BBEG. Juju Zombies don't suck, but the way a lich is created and why is necessary to the BBEG.
It's a matter of fluff. What makes a lich a lich fits what I have in mind for the BBEG. Skeletal Champion doesn't, especially since the BBEG uses Gentle Repose to avoid looking like she's undead. However, I don't want to run a higher level campaign, so a vanilla lich would be too much for the party to handle.
It's designed for encounters of a minimum CR of 12, ideally higher. I want something fit for encounters of a CR between 7 and 10, with a caster level requirement of either 5 or 6 to become one. What power reductions would the template need to do this, and how much should the phylactery cost? I think the DR needs to be dropped to 10 and the touch attack to 1d6 damage, but beyond that I just don't know.
Drop arcane armor feats, just use mage armor. Take Toughness. Eldritch heritage would also be interesting for her, orc is great for melee combat, but IDK if it'd be acceptable for a cat person. Maybe "reincarnated" more than heritage?
It may be acceptable. Catfolk in my campaign setting look like those in Bestiary 3, but are a proud warrior race that was enslaved to elves as warriors until about 130 years ago, so something martial like an orc could make sense as a bloodline.
Here primary motivation is to kill elves. Elves in this world usually live around 120 years, so most who were responsible for the catfolk slavery are dead and the elves have pretty much distanced themselves from their evil past (much like Germany has from the Nazis) and now live in as much harmony with other races (including catfolk) as they can manage. The BBEG, an escaped catfolk slave who is over two hundred years old, does not accept this. She feels that the elven race needs to be punished, not allowed to apologize and never do it again. She revels in torturing and killing elves, even though the majority of those she kills are completely innocent of wrongdoing (as I said, most of the bad ones died from old age awhile ago). She just can't accept that the days of elven tyranny are long over.
That's actually why I gave her a level of Ranger instead of one of Fighter. Ranger gives her favored enemy (elf), which fits her perfectly, and track isn't something to turn her nose at. It also fits well with Witch theme-wise.
It was pointed out to me at Giantitp that if she went Witch 6/EK 6 instead of Witch 5/EK 7, she'd get the same BAB and spells per day, better saves, and another hex. I think I may just do that level change.
I use the magic BAB option from Unearthed Arcana. Her's is 12, which means that, while she determines spells per day and such as if she were an 11th level Witch (5 from Witch, 6 from Eldritch Knight), her caster level is 12, which effects anything dependent on caster level and not class level.
If she's using a Scythe, then power attack and cleave would be good, or some feats focused on criticals?
Also, combat casting and that one dispelling feat whose name I can never remember.
Everybody has power attack under the house rules, but cleave sounds nice. So does improved critical. There is also critical focus, but I don't know if that's worth it. Is it?
I can take Fighter only feats as if I were a 7th level Fighter. Are any of those any good for a two handed gish?
Here is her build. I used a house rule in making her: other races may use the Human racial features in place of their own. I gave her a familiar instead of the poppet Gravewalkers normally have, because I really wanted to give her the Stitched Flesh Familiar feat from 3.5 Libris Mortis. This feat gives you a familiar that is made from stitched together dead animal parts. It's kind of like a tiny animal flesh golem.
What I need help with is finishing selecting feats and picking out the spells stored in her familiar. I intend her as a gish, so she should have feats that improve her combat ability (Power Attack, Combat Expertise, and Vital Strike are considered core combat options and not feats under the rules I use, so I don't need to take them). Her spells should be necromancy or increase her melee combat skill, but she also needs a couple disguise spells to hide her lichdom.
Spoiler:
Aurelie
Female Catfolk Lich
Ranger 1/Witch (Gravewalker) 5/Eldritch Knight 7
104 HP
AC 22, Touch 10, FF 22
Darkvision 60 ft
Speed 20 Feet
Fort +11
Ref +5
Will +8
CMB +14
CMD 24
BAB +10
Str 20
Dex 10
Int 25
Wis 14
Cha 16
Feats
Track
Craft Wondrous Item
Stitched Flesh Familiar
Arcane Armor Training
Arcane Armor Mastery
4 More General Feats
2 More Combat Feats
Headband of Intelligence +4
Belt of Strength +2
Phylactery (Not on person)
+2 Chain Shirt
Armored Kilt
+2 Scythe
Masterwork Composite Longbow +5 Strength Bonus
Masterwork Handaxe
Masterwork Dagger
Familiar
Stitched Flesh Cat
Hexes
Disguise
Other Features
Cantrips
Favored Enemy (Elf) +2
Diverse Training
Rejuvination
Undead Immunities
Channel Resistance +4
DR 15 (Bludgeoning, Magic)
Immune cold and electricity
Lich Touch Attack
Fear Aura
Paralyzing Touch
+8 to Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth
Aura of Desecration
Bonethrall
