Sean Nittner's page

Got some suggestions from other GMs and I'm going to try this. After the fog clear Barnabas will see Plugg's cutlass on the deck and quickly realize that is him the sharks are tearing apart below.

He'll toss the tidewater cutlass into the water and say who ever hands it back to him will be first mate.

Challenges involved:

Acrobatics test to leap into the right hex (DC 10 + 2/person who has already landed on that hex this round).

Perception check to see the sword underwater DC 15 + 2 / 10’ away it is.

Swim text (DC 15 due to the two boats wake, fail by 5 means knocking into the hull and taking 1d6 damage) - After the first 15’ though, the water calms and the DC is 10.

Sword falls at a rate of 10'/round until it comes to rest 60’ down on a coral reef. At that point it kicks up a spore cloud around it and the perception check to find it increases to 20 for three rounds until the spores settle.

Attack roll to grab it. AC 12 (-2 to attacks because of being underwater). Once it’s settled on the coral reef a move action is enough to grab it (no attack roll needed).

Swim test to ascend is the same but the sword give a -3 penalty unless the swimmer has a place to put it (holding it in your teeth ticks off another round of air than a usual action).

Dangers:

Sharks (x3). Init +5, AC 14, Bite +5 (1d8+4), Swim Seed 60’. Perception +8, Swim +11. HP: 22 (Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2. CMB +7, CMD 18). Will randomly attack people.

Fellow Crew (x4): Init +2, AC: 12, Attack +3 (damage by weapon +1), Swim +7, Climb +7, Perception +1, Stealth +3. HP: 11 (Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will -1, CMB +3, CMD 15). Half will go for the sword, half will attack others.

Cog: Init +1, AC: 14, Attack +4 (Damage by weapon +3), (+2 attack/damage vs. humans), Sneak attack +1d6. Swim +7, Climb +7, HP 19 (Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will -1 CMB +4, CMD 15). Goes directly for the sword.

Scourge. Init: +7, AC: 15 Whip +6 (1d3+2 non lethal) or Punching dagger +6 (1d4+2 plus black adder venom). Sneak attack +1d6. Stealth +8, Swim +2, Perception +1 (Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +1, CMB: +15, CMD: 18). Waiting up top to choke out the person who holds the prize

Seems like it might be too challenging, but I'm also betting our aquatic druid will summon a dolphin to go fetch it or that our sea witch will have a trick or three up her sleeve. And if an NPC get it, that's not the end of the world either.

Last session, during the literal "fog of war" while taking on the Man's Promise, a few of the characters sought out Mr. Plugg and murdered the hell out of him.

They should have lost the fight, but a failed save vs. the witch's ear piercing scream, and rolling 4 or lower four times in a row meant the last of Plugg. They finished it off by casting Undine's Curse on him (another failed saving throw) so he'd stop breathing once unconscious, and then made a masterful stealth check to toss him over the ledge into the shark infested waters before the fog cleared.

It wasn't what I was expecting but good on them! Plugg was terrible and he very much had it coming to him.

That said, there is a lot more Plugg is supposed to do in the adventure, so I'm looking at replacing him and I'd like to make it a contest the PCs can either get involved in themselves directly (oh how much fun it would be to try and corrupt one of them) or have them jockey for another member of the crew to win it. If one of the PCs get the role, I'd still send Kipper or someone else along with Scourge to back him up, so I'm not to worried about them getting the position if they really want it.

Any suggestions on challenges/contests that would make for a good first mate? With an additional prize the Plugg's tidewater cutlass would be awarded to the winner?

Nice! I forgot about two others:

Power Attack -> Cornugon Smash

I kinda wanna play this guy if/when I decide to try a rogue again

He'll be a lot of fun to play. Consider taking Strong Impression to add Str to intimidate. Also the Thug or Bandit archetype.

The X-Card is a great tool for signalling content that you're not comfortable with in game.

It removes some of the pressure from the player who may not feel comfortable speaking up and it doesn't assign blame to the GM or player causing the discomfort. It just signals, this isn't something I want in the game, lets skip it, cut it out, end the scene or otherwise stop talking about it.

What caster level does the wand of lead blades has so that you can assume to have it going in most combats?

1st. Since I drop it into an Ioun Stone, it's just a standard action to activate. I use it during a surprise round or just before we suspect fight is going to break out. Very rarely do our fights last more than 10 rounds. After the fight, I pull out the wand to recharge the stone so it's ready for the next one.

My experience with a "Brute" based rogue from level 1-9 has been fantastic. She is consistently the heavy hitter in the group.

2 Level dip into Barbarian for Rage, Fast Movement, Medium Armor Prof, Uncanny Dodge (given up by the Rogue Archetype), Martial Weapon Proficiency, and a Rage Power (Auspicious mark has be useful for those near misses and if fits in with the story).

Rogue with the Thug and Scout Archetype for the rest (and will till 20). I've got a wand of Lead Blades and an cracked Vibrant Purple Prism to hold it in, so I'm not rolling UMD at the start of a fight.

It could be that the rest of the party isn't insanely optimized but after buffs swinging in the low 40s with normal hits (3 with Blessing of Fervor) or in the 60s with Vital Strike and getting to move, does quite well in our game (Kingmaker).

Outside of combat UMD has has made my character the utility caster for any scroll or wand our Druid or Witch can't cast. Her social skills are nothing remarkable, but she has the points to put into them, which most of the others don't. As part of Kingmaker, she's the general, and I had points to spare to max out Profession (Soldier) to lead the armies as well.

I worked really hard to optimize her but it's always fit in character (she's a thug with a heart of gold) and I'm never at a loss for ways to contribute in the game.

We've been playing all "Daughters of Aldori". We're the last generation of Aldori nobles trying to save our house.

It just kind of happened that we named our kingdom Aldoria.

Our capitol was also made on the Stag Lord's keep, which we called (perhaps quite unoriginally) The Tusk.

Sean

Hmm, from reading Ultimate Campaign, it seems that the Magic Item rules have changed such that you can no longer sell magic items for Build Points.

From page 207 under the "Sell Expensive Items for BP" heading:

You cannot use this step to sell magic items held or created by buildings in your settlements; those items are the property of the owners of those businesses.

On page 213 in the Magic Items in Settlements section it discuss what can be done with the magic items provided by buildings:

1. Purchase them yourself (with your own gold)
2. Make an economy check to sell them to outsides (but still not generate BP, the money goes to the shop owner)
3. Spend BP to purchase it.

None of those generate BP for the Kingdom (and #3 costs it BP).

Do I have this correct, or is there still some way to turn Magic Items into BP?

Based off the Hydraulic Maneuver (Undine) feat, I'd agree it can only bull rush and not create the trip effect.

Benefit: You may use hydraulic push to attempt a bull rush, disarm, dirty trick (blind or dazzle), or trip combat maneuver. Each time you use hydraulic push, you must decide which of the allowed combat maneuvers you want to perform. You may use this feat with your hydraulic push racial spell-like ability, your class-granted use of hydraulic push, or any hydraulic push spells you cast, but not with magic items or other external sources that use that spell.

Normal: Hydraulic push can only be used to make a bull rush combat maneuver.

Surprise Follow-Through seems like a fantastic feat for a brute rogue.

Although it's clumped with the Orc/Half-Orc racial feats, it's the only one that doesn't actually require you to be a member of either of those races to take.

So, what are people's thoughts? Killer feat for a brute rogue to guarantee a sneak attack (especially when he's the one being flanked) or two expensive (two feat dive) to be worth it?

Sean