Ngai M'katu's page

Ngai nods at Yantri's words. "I agree, good thinking on the rope bit." Looking around at the group, Ngai turns to Sheridan, "I guess one of us is first and one of us would be last. What do you think would be best? I worry a little about a person being on their own on the other side of wherever this goes, but the two of us would probably fare the best."

Uncoiling the rope out of her pack, she continues, "What do you reckon? You want to go first or last?

"And whichever of us goes, maybe one of the spell casters can place a light spell on the rope so that vision will be clear the whole way down?"

Ngai thinks back to the rooms from which they came...

"Was there anything we can use as a pole to prop against the far wall as we inch along? Maybe we can break apart some of those fiendish torture devices?" She mimes scooting along the ledge, using a pole as a cane against the far wall to keep them up against the ledge wall, hopefully avoiding a fall.

That question is probably for you, GM :)

"Thank you Brother Stone, I appreciate the blessings of your God. I was worried that if I petitioned for healing it might precipitate an argument - I am glad to see that is not the case."

Ngai reaches down to re-light her torch, grips her sword in her other hand, then smiles at Sheridan to show that she is ready.

Sorry, was in New Orleans for my anniversary. Also, I'm actually at 2hp, from the wound given by the chair.

Ngai will slowly draw herself together, leaning on against the wall for a moment. "I'm sorry, my wounds are quite severe. Please wait a minute before proceeding."

She'll draw deep breaths, focusing her anger, and channel the spirit of the green for about a minute, then rest for another minute while the group is doing their investigations.

Rage for my 7 remaining rounds for the day, healing 7 hps. Then waiting out the fatigue.

Ngai jumps up with a yell. "Yowch! Ow ow ow ow ow...." She hobbles in a small circle, furiously rubbing her bum.

Turning to the bird and reaching for her sword, Kane's words stop her. She subsides with a burning glare at the bird... but her hand is still on her sword.

Replying to Yantri, she says, "That hurt a lot, damn it. Not feeling so great, but I'll muddle through I guess. I want to kill that damn bird though."

Ngai smiles back, "I'm ok, a little twitchy but it'll pass. Can't seem to get the taste of metal out of my mouth though." The bloodrager smacks her lips a few times, as if tasting something acrid.

Move up to the door

"Thank you Stone, I should be good for now. Not what I expected to happen, but it looks like the device did SOMEthing." Ngai leans against the wall resting for a moment while Sheridan and Yantri examine the device, then reaches down to re-light her torch.

She follows after Sheridan in his scouting of the hallway.

Ngai jumps at the shock, dropping her torch. With a bellow of RAGE, she draws her greatsword and slices into the creature, with the help of Sheridan's distraction. "BEGONE, FOUL SPARK!!!"

Power Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (3, 4) + 12 = 19

Ngai looks back at Yantri's words and nods in acknowledgement. "On it, my friend. Excuse me, Sheridan"

With a smile, she scoots past the Ifrit and reaches out to pull the lever.

 The most glaring one is that it's currently not doing a good job of reducing the number of magic item use-per-day pools at higher levels.

That's troubling.... seems to indicate an even more limiting system is being contemplated to replace it. My players are going to lose their minds.... they already hate resonance as it is.

I love it when he talks all otherwordly like that. Ngai smiles fondly at Sheridan before going back to keeping an eye on the hallway outside.

Ngai looks around, then strides purposefully over to the door. Torch held high, she pushes it open.

"Wait, the plan is to leave a potential enemy at our back? It seems obvious that the bizarre little man left the cell through the secret door... hardly the actions of a prisoner desperate for escape."

Brave.... but too trusting. Next thing you know, we'll stumble across a wild-eyed ogre, and Kane will try to give him a hug.

Since she's not aware of the secret door, Ngai will continue to stand guard outside the cell.

Ngai moves toward the door purposefully, only to have Kane shoot past him right up to the door. Momentarily nonplussed, she takes up a guard position behind him in the hallway.

This is the bravest arcanist I've ever seen!

The picture on this guy's token doesn't inspire me with confidence that he'll be friendly. ;)

Ngai stands guard next to Sheridan

Apparently its a minority opinion, but I disagree strongly. Prepared casting is a cornerstone of Pathfinder.

I like that there's variety - do you want the wizard and have more to choose from but must choose ahead of time? Or the Sorceror, less to choose from but can choose on the fly. The 'best of both worlds' Arcanist stuff bugs the heck out of me.

Can we just say we pull the same routine, moving down the line opening jail cells as we go? Same rough marching order?

Finishing up Chapter 2 and starting Chapter 3 on Sunday.

Chapter 2:
Half-Orc Barbarian
Half-Elf Cleric
Dwarven Druid
Human Rogue

Chapter 3:
Human Cleric
Dwarven Cleric
Human Paladin
Human Fighter/Cleric multi-class

Searched for how to handle damaging objects, checked:

'Damaging objects'

'Object, damaging'

'Material Strength' - found 'materials' which gave me hardness values, but not how to use the PF2 mechanic

'Destroying objects'

...all with no luck.

Finally found what I wanted under 'Dents', but without knowing that was the new PF2 mechanic, I wouldn't have known to check for it.

Perhaps could work if the body of the text under 'Materials' included a reference page number for the part of the book that deals with how to adjudicate damaging objects.

I don't know if this is already considered, but you may want to add a "Date Played" field on the survey. That way it can be compared to the dates on which errata is released.

For example, we'll be finishing up Part 2 this Sunday, before Monday's errata is released - so we'll be playing with the old dying rules, etc.

"Except us, Yantri... and I hope we stay that way." Ngai hated this - a decaying dungeon, filled with the smell of death. None of the vibrancy, the life of the jungle. This was a place where life was not welcome - where life itself was the enemy.

She cautiously moves around the corner, ready for anything.

"Except us, Yantri... and I hope we stay that way." Ngai hated this - a decaying dungeon, filled with the smell of death. None of the vibrancy, the life of the jungle. This was a place where life was not welcome - where life itself was the enemy.

She cautiously moves around the corner, ready for anything.

Which play?

Ngai wrinkles her nose at the stench. My god, what are we walking into? That is not the smell of freshly dead Kobold.

Stepping back to allow Sheridan's sharp eyes to go first, she follows closely behind torch in one hand, sword in the other. Speaking softly, so as not to be overheard, she says, "Be careful, Torchy... this village of the damned annoying doesn't deserve your life."

Once we get through the doorway proper, Ngai will step up next to Sheridan so they can go down two abreast

This has absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in the gameplay, but I just took a browse through the background generator and... I may have accidentally made Kane REALLY high up on the nobility chain!

To quote:

Quote:

Duke: You are the child of a duke or duchess, the most powerful noble in the realm apart from the royal family. Your parents attend directly to the monarch and have the highest place at court. Your lands, titles, and estates are significant, and many lords and knights serve under your parents' command.

So, uh... when I said he was the son of a Duke, I didn't know he was a mere couple steps from the crown of Taldor itself! It also makes his disinterest in his parent's court all the more telling... unless the GM would like me to lower his rank, I'm totally gonna keep that and play off it!

This is like that rich kid who hangs out with his middle class friends not realizing what a big deal with family's name actually is.

You're like Sinatra, and we're the rest of the Rat pack :)

Davick, to be honest, I don't think anybody is attacking you or your beliefs. They are just saying they disagree with your interpretation of the relevant passages, as you've laid it out. Perhaps restating a different way would help clear the matter up?

Are you essentially saying that maybe a passage saying the non-theists have just as happy an afterlife as theists would help?

With the last cell finally checked and locked, Ngai calls softly out to her companions to close ranks. Once everyone is ready, she will volunteer to open the door.

"Roger, I've got your back."

Ngai had never been called a conundrum before, wasn't QUITE sure what it meant, but decided to take it as a compliment and smiled in response.

She'll back up Sheridan as he checked out the remainder of the cells.

No worries - just saw an opportunity to use my favorite OOTS joke.

Ngai moves to the room indicated an looks inside.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

New Identified Problem #12: Janky Lockpicking Rules: The rules for picking complex locks are tedious. Oh so very tedious. They involve the rogue's player making roll after roll after roll just to unlock a complex door, until they critically fail and snap their lockpick, or until the door finally budges. In this game, the Dexterity 16 cleric removed their breastplate to try to unlock a door with a DC 20, three-success lock. After 26, yes, 26 consecutive rolls, they had snapped a total of four lockpicks, and the door remained locked. Everyone else was twiddling their thumbs and simply watching this embarrassment unfold. What is this, a Bethesda game? This needs to go.

My players didn't even bother after trying a little. They just hacked every door to pieces.

I think I failed a Spot check

Seeing Yantri move over to her side of the hallway, Ngai smiles at her and swaps places, moving over to Sheridan's current side and past to further scout.

Quick Identification reduces time depending on you skill level. 10min, 5min, 1min, 3 rounds.

Well that's MUCH better. Thanks!

Ngai hears Sheridan's call and moves back to the corner to pop her head around and say, "Over here - just keeping an eye out while you guys investigate that side."

Ngai follows Sheridan back and watches him curiously. Realizing he's looking for secret doors, she uses her comparatively meager powers of observation as well.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Unfortunately, as usual, she gets distracted by Sheridan's calves. Finding nothing, she returns back to her ready position at the intersection.

Forgot to add one more BAD:

4) Requiring an hour to identify magic items. Theoretically it increases the mystery of any found magic, but realistically requiring this even for potions seems bizarre. For example, without going into details, certain Chapters of Doomsday Dawn are time sensitive. That being the case, why even bother including magic items as treasure? They won't usable anyway.

At the very least, provide some way to circumvent that time limit. Reintroduce the Identify spell perhaps, but instead of providing a bonus, have it reduce the time required?

Example:

Level 1 - 20 minutes
Heightened(+1): Reduce the time required by 5 minutes, to a minimum of 1 minute.

Ngai peers at Stone, looks around for a second, then shrugs and lights up another torch. She then nods at Sheridan and moves down the corridor to the position on the map, ready to drop her torch and grasp her sword with her off hand if necessary.

As she passes the cells, she will pull each open with her foot to check quickly inside.

I dunno if I agree considering how those bugs popped up, but we can give it a go.

Ran Chapter 1 of Doomsday Dawn on Sunday, wanted to provide some brief feedback from the players and I, on matters not covered by the surveys.

The Party:
Human Bard
Goblin Alchemist
Human Ranger
Dwarven Wizard

The GOOD:
1) The spellcasters were VERY pleased with the new magic system - particularly the fact that cantrips are decent now. Initially they expressed misgivings about the spells per day count going down from PF1, but after playing for a while they changed their tune.

2) The action economy - universally loved. Simplifies matters while still providing a structure. One said that they used to get frustrated when a cool idea wouldn't pan out because of PF1's action economy, but with PF2's she felt the freedom to do "cool stuff".

3) Exploration mode - they liked that it was codified somewhat, and could lead to more appropriate initiative rolls. One expressed a bit of hesitation because Dexterity wasn't the be-all-end-all of initiative any more, but they ended up seeing the logic of it.

The CONFLICTED:
1) The skill system. There was a feeling that nobody is significantly better than anybody else under the new system - that a legendary rogue would only be marginally better at Stealth than a dwarven cleric of the same level, stat mods aside. Once said that it feels like there's no room for specialists in the new system, no way to truly feel like you're extraordinary at something. They understood the importance of flattening the numbers to make high level play less ridiculous, but that this is not the best way. Another player suggested that instead of proficiency levels providing a flat bonus, perhaps they act as multipliers. For example:
Untrained - Stat mod only
Trained - 1/3 level + Stat
Expert - 1/2 level + Stat
Master - 2/3 level + Stat
Legendary - level + Stat

2) Resonance - They understood the logic behind this one as well, but expressed concerns on how it would play out. They agreed to reserve judgement until we got to play the higher level Chapters, when the players might actually have some magic items on which to use Resonance. In particular, the Alchemist expressed concerns. She saw herself at higher level, unable to use any magic items because unlike everyone else, she had to use all her Resonance on a class feature. Perhaps split off Advanced/Quick Alchemy into its own pool and use power points, and reserve Resonance for magic items only?

The BAD:
1) Lore skill - Much confusion on this one. It was unclear how specific lore had to get - the module mentioned "Gnoll Lore", which given how limited skill advances feel seems a ridiculous choice to make. Or should it be analogous to the old Knowledge skills like History and Geography? Given the examples given, those categories seemed too broad. In the end, nobody took any Lore skills except those granted by backgrounds.

The feeling was that this skill needed more structure - perhaps even a specialization system. A listing of categories, like:

History
Grography
Planes
Nobility
etc

Then give people an extra initial proficiency rank if they want to specialize further, starting at Expert - for example, Chelaxian History, Mwangi Expanse Geography, Ethereal Plane, etc.

2) The Dying rules - these are a confusing mess. Nobody could understand how one could be at full HPs from magical healing, and still have the Dying Status. The intent was clear - a desire to stop people from being able to pop back up after being taken to 0hp with no repercussions. But nobody liked the implementation, and nobody understood that intent. Since its magic, why would there need to be realistic repercussions? The thought was that it was "the power of God", so why punish outside of consuming party resources as usual. One suggestion was to reduce the dying threshold to Dying 3, and that any increase to HP that brings them above 0 remove all Dying status.

3) The players found the format of the character sheet jarring - the feeling was that there weren't enough free text fields, nor enough lines for equipment. And that needed numbers were hard to find - though they admitted that would get better as they got used to it.
Additionally the format of the rule book was a bit difficult. For example:
-a) Wizards - one of their main class features involved specializing in a particular school of magic, but the spell list had no way to determine school short of looking up each spell individually
-b) The color coding of rarities - but reading the forums, that's a known issue
-c) The feeling was that conditions should be in an appendix in the back of the book for ease of use - there are so many, and most are new, so they would need to be referenced often.
-d) It was understood that this was intended to be its own animal, but nobody could see why at least a few pages weren't devoted to major changes from 1st edition.

@Stone I Understand, and appreciate the explanation.

Just wondering though - are we sure its wise to split the party? I mean, we're pretty buff 1st level characters, but we are still 1st level. But I'll go along with whatever the group thinks is best.

Not to mention you and Kane have the only light sources at the moment, so I'd be scouting blind. My first purchase when we get some money is going to be an ioun torch :)

Ngai moves up, past Sheridan and to her right - waiting there at the corner until a light source comes through.

Ngai draws her weapon, and steps up next to Sheridan waiting for the door to open. Looking back and watching, once everyone gets into position she'll turn to Sheridan and give him the nod with a smile.

Ngai snaps out of her fugue after a few seconds, looking up to catch Sheridan's eyes on her. She smiles at the Ifrit, and gives him a quick wink. Well, that went better than I hoped. I was worried they would cast me away once they saw me channeling The Green.

Not wanting to distract Sheridan, she just lets her hand rest on his shoulder for a second as she passes. She then continues to near the doorway, standing guard should the sounds of earlier combat draw notice.

I mean, it's a lot easier to act as though your character does not know something, when the player in fact does not know what that thing.

So that's my standard for secret rolls- if it's something the character should not know, barring a certain result, (stealth and perception are like this) they don't need to see the dice.

Sure this hurts the players in the sense that they are super-beings who win all the time, but it helps the players be characters.

Absolutely agree, and for me this isn't a PF2 thing, I've been doing it for years. A big one for me is detecting traps. It should always be, "you find a trap" or "you detect no traps", without the player knowing what they rolled.

Besides, I don't get how this is removing agency. Its a random dice roll - what does it matter who rolls the dice? The PCs actions are not in any way controlled or directed. Unless somebody is cheating, how is player agency removed?

Ngai looks downward for a second before replying, "Without going into my life story, a tragedy befell my village when I was young. Since, I've found myself able to channel their rage against the dying of The Green - what your people would call an avatar of Gozreh, perhaps? I constantly struggle to control it, to varying degrees of success." She ruefully looks down at the dying bug.

"In any case, to business." Ngai will move to the position indicated on the map and begin searching the rubble for further evidence of goblins.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Looks like the main page has changed to state surveys will be available tomorrow.

Yeah, 5 hours for the first part for us as well, once we got character creation out of the way. Though that was skipping two of the encounters - the players were very mission oriented.