Secondsight's page

No need to rush on my account! I'll be ready whenever we get to the right spot.

Yep, saw it and just responded. Let me know what I need to tweak. Look forward to jumping into the game!

I have a few questions into the GM to help narrow down my choice, currently considering a few possibilities. Shouldn't take me long to finalize the character afterward.

Hi All, I'm a RL friend of Slenk's and could be up for joining the campaign. I didn't see character creation rules anywhere, but maybe I missed them. Also, with a Witch, Cleric and Anti-Paladin, what skill set are we looking for a new PC to cover down on? Rogue stuff, arcane caster?

I haven't read up much on the game to date (and have never played Hell's Vengeance), but will if selected/game keeps going.

About to start running this AP. Is it ever made clear why Lowls didn't just murder the PC's while in fugue state rather than handing them over to Briarstone?

Also, many of the rooms (including the basement room the party wakes up in) never seem to mention what light sources, if any, are present. Wondering how other folks handled this.

Very interesting! At one point I was semi-obsessed with all the background plot mysteries going on. Maybe a few more questions?

*What was the Biggest surprises/twists for you as a GM in the game, things players did or routes stories went you hadn't thought likely to occur?

*What was the whole story behind trying to blow up Tiny Town? Did the Rebellion really plan that if they saw themselves as the “good guys”?

*Was there a Thieves’ Guild HQ we never found?

*Who was Dether? Seems like there was more to him than met the eye.

*Did Diguri know it was Soliel at the Iron Gullet? Was the “tip” she provided about Banmor being at the in just to ambush the party?

*Did Rocosmia see through Roland’s disguise?

*Who was behind the Gumlat/Fran demon problem? Was that part of some other group’s plot?

Wow, just saw this as I was about to type up a post about getting back to the Tower. Totally agree with RinValek (Ian's player, had to actually look that up!) on all points. As one of the "originals" along with Tenro, it's been quite the journey with tons of folks having come and gone. Serelina's player is a friend in RL, though he had to drop out he'll be interested to hear how the game wrapped up.

Big kudos to you, GM Ascension. This has been the richest and best sandbox I ever got to play in. Thanks for the hard work and the deep, immersive world. It's too bad the other factions didn't sustain like ours did. Just goes to show the Mageocracry is the best!

RinValek: Definitely welcome the letter to Tomlin as part of the wrap up. And much appreciation for how you took the most basic of class/race combos (ok, half-elf later, but still) and turned it into one of the better personality and backstory PC's I've seen. I'd join another game with you anytime.

@GM: Would you indulge a few behind-the-scenes questions? There were tons of loose ends we never had a chance to run down and I'd love to know what the answers were:

What did the little book Diguri have say?

Who/What was Lt Banmor, where was he?

Who were the two other rebellion folks we killed, what was their plan?

Who was the 6-armed snake-thing who's body we found?

What happened to Radgar after Maklo was killed?

Who killed the librarian and played the harp?

Who were Sela and Ky?

Where/who were the other Exiles back from the Abyss?

I might think of others...….

Testing testing ( this is Nate)

Got it, thanks all. Almost 7 years on these forums and I never knew!

In case you were wondering how to get a smurf avatar...........

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2usds?Why-is-my-Avatar-now-a-Smurf#1

Hi,

I'm in a PbP on these forums, and as of today or maybe yesterday when I post my avatar is now a Smurf.

http://paizo.com/campaigns/AscensionMageocracy/gameplay&page=77#3843

My PC is Sister Soliel Levant. In the thread you'll see what the avatar should look like and then at then end the smurf avatar I now have. I never changed the avatar since creation, and in all other places it just shows as the original avatar.

While this is a bit funny, I would eventually like to post with my actual avatar.

Thanks!

EDIT: Well, lol, looks like my main avatar is a smurf too!

Haven't looked, but I'm wondering if there isn't a FAQ or Senior Paizo wonk weigh-in on the Ready-Action-Before-Initiative issue.

Looking at the text Tacticslion cited, I feel like the rules do mean for readied actions to only be used after initiative is rolled. There are several references to how readying an action causes one's initiative placement to change. Implicit in that IMO is that you have to be in initiative to ready an action.

Of course, your table may vary and I do agree with Claxon that there is a certain verisimilitude to allowing pre-initiative readied actions. That said, my personal experience with allowing pre-initiative readied actions has been very much like LoudKids: lopsided combats with a heavy (and in my mind unintended) advantage to the PC's...and that was only with readied standard actions. My table doesn't allow readied actions out of initiative as a result.

Thanks all for the input! Good food for thought.

A few folks brought up readied actions. However, my read of the rules is that you can't ready an action until initiative has been rolled and your turn comes up.

Regardless, it seems like most everyone agrees that the party should not get a full round of attacks to start things off, but that at least one PC should get an attack in before the Demi-Lich would do anything.

I honestly have no idea what that means, Tacticslion.

Any other thoughts?

The party finds a demi-lich and via Knowledge check recognizes its Torpor characteristic. The melee'ers surround it and proceed to attack it. How would you handle initiative?

The Torpor description states (paraphrasing) that the creature only attacks if it is attacked or if its treasure is disturbed. The party has deliberately avoided bothering the demi-lich's stuff.

I could see four possibilities, but maybe there are others:

1) The PC's get a full round of attacks, as the creature would not react until it had been assaulted. Then initiative is rolled.

2) The PC's get the initiative, but the demi lich goes in the same round right after them.

3) The PC's get a surprise action, but initiative is otherwise rolled normally.

4) Initiative is rolled normally with no surprise.

Given a demi-lich's powers, a lot may ride on this decision. I didn't see any prior posts on this issue or official stances on it. Anyone GM'd a module with a demi lich have an opinion on this?

I'm in Fredericksburg and am looking for a good tabletop gaming group. Anybody happen to have an open seat at their gaming table?

My games-of-choice are pretty much the same as the OP, and I have noticed the same trend too. My suspicion is that Multiplayer games sell better/more, and have more opportunities to increase sales based on word-of-mouth (getting friends to play with). Like Pan, I don't see this going away. My hope is the CDProjectRed (The Witcher crew) and Bethesda (Fallout, Elder Scrolls Series) stay strong with the kind of single player games I love.

The other possibility is to look at crowd-sourcing sites like Fig and Kickstarter. Though not everything works out, games like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity have come out of these efforts and have been well-received. They play more like Neverwinter Nights than DA: Origins in terms of graphics, but have the kind of story-focus/plot+combat emphasis that the OP mentioned.

I can't speak to the Strange Aeon's AP in specific, but the Pathfinder Devs had said that 4 PC's with 15 PB's is how the encounters were planned for all AP's.

I've played or GM'd a number of other Pathfinder AP's and have found a rather significant difference in 15 vs 20 PB, especially in the hands of experienced players/PC-crafters. My group goes with 15 PB as we found 20 PB ended up making the challenges too un-challenging for our liking.

@mbauers: OK then, I'll look to put together one character idea. Likely a Halfling rogue with a focus on traps, skills and stealth. Is there a cut off date for submissions?

Dotting for interest

@mbauers: would you consider several rough character concepts, rather than one fully fleshed out? I'm more interested in playing in this AP than I am in playing one specific PC. Figured this might be possible given the need sync up everyone's backstories before beginning.

I also like the emphasis on longevity; think most folks who start an AP hope to one day finish the whole thing (me too!). Sadly most don't. Would recommend looking at candidate's posting history to see whose shown evidence of sticking with games for the long haul.

Add one more voice to the those wishing for an in-depth sourcebook for a city. I actually don't care as much which one, but tying it into a city-based AP (either already published or new) makes a lot of sense. Ptolus is a good model in my mind.

While I understand those saying that the material Paizo has already released allows for one's imagination to fill in the rest, for me at least this would still be a lot of work. I love playing the game but have very little prep time available. Detailed sourcebooks can really cut this down.

Question: is there any clear reason why the PC's would explore the desolation if they know where Tsar is? I'm thinking especially of the areas of the desolation not directly between the starting camp and Tsar. I know you could always tell them "well, if you go to Tsar first you'll be underpowered", but I'm hoping there is some reason baked into the plot such that they explore the desolation.

She's a ranger who operates in the wilds surrounding Sandpoint. Look on page 7 of the IC thread (about 1/4 way down from the top of page) where the PC's first meet and interact with her.

Very Cool! I'm still in the midst of travel so I may need a little bit more before the character is complete. I'm going with a Dwarven Rogue, with the Scout Archtype. By way of background, it might make sense that he was briefly a Shalelu protégé before joining the group. Abilities-wise, he'll be good at Disable Device, Perception, Acrobatics and a bit less so at some Str and Int based skills. Face skills not so much. He'll be an OK second/third string melee combatant though.

OK, rogue it is then. While I wait on the DM's blessing, I'll be putting some thoughts together on specifics.

Hi all, I'm Ulrich's friend. Daniel is also the DM for the Kingmaker PbP I'm in (hi Daniel, it's Svetlana). I'm up for joining this campaign as well if the DM feels there is still room. The one caveat is that I'll be traveling over the next few days, so it might be a bit before I could get a character together. No hard feelings if that doesn't work.

If joining is OK, looks like the party could use a rogue. I'm not wedded to any specific class idea so it something else would work better let me know!

Box Set!

If you haven't closed admission by tonight, I'd like to put in a human Barbarian for this. Will post stats and short background then.

@sheadunne: I'm in Annapolis as well and was recently looking for games, but think I'm set at this point. I think you'll find that Baltimore or DC are your best chances for gaming tables, especially if you aren't up for PFS at stores. It's a little further drive, but I'm not aware of any other options in the "greater" Annapolis area.

@Kent: Looks pretty randon to me. Lot of 17's, but who's gonna complain about that!

@bbangerter: Tenro has the jist of it, but Tomlin also took Master Alchemist (from APG) as a Feat which greatly increases the speed (though not the cost) of poison crafting. Like all crafting, it can get a bit complicated so if you prefer to not have to deal with that I can just drop the whole alchemy/poison-making angle of the character. Just let me know.

@bbangerter: I sent you a PM yesterday, just wanted to make sure got it. Also, I planned Tomlin as a poison crafter. I'm assuming that the rules for this would be just like magic item crafting: you have to buy them at full price now but can craft later. If I'm wrong on this let me know. Also, can I assume that all poisons listed in the allowed rulebooks are available for purchase and creation? Tomlin has about 400gp's left over.

@Vladimir: You can drop Vesaana off the list. I replaced her with Svetlana

I really thought about a wizard, but have one in tabletop group I'm in. Thought about Necromancer in particular, but we already have an Undead Lord in the mix.

@Daniel Stewart: after looking at it, I came to conclusion that re-skinning Vesanna wouldn't work so well here. So you can drop her off the list.

INSTEAD, I'm going to work up a good ol' fashioned human cleric (looks like we don't have one of those yet), but will throw in a couple of shots of Tabasco by making her a whip-wielding priestess of Calistria! She'll be able to cover down on healing, face skills and a little bit of combat support. I'll work up a backstory and crunch in the next couple days.

Question about this though: would you allow alternate domains from PF books past core? If not no biggie but I'd figure I'd ask.

@Alex Martin: I think you'll find on these boards that anyone with an idea for a game and the wherewithal to see it through will have more interest and strong character submissions than they can shake a stick at. I'll join the throng and say I'd be interested in the campaign your describing!

@Daniel Stewart I'd say go for it! DM's are clearly sorely lacking here, and I'm sure that folks would be more than patient and understanding with anyone willing to take on the challenge. You could likely have your pick of 31 possible PC's as well!

Very interesting concept! I'm thinking of creating a LE Gnome Ninja, who serves as part of a covert-actions team for the Coran leadership. I'm thinking of something of a semi-fanatical group, selected and trained early on by the mageocracy to uphold their rule of law and quietly "deal with" the more complicated problems.

Assuming this sounds acceptable, I'll work up the concept over the next few days and have something for you by the end of the week. I can also tweak this concept, if not good for the game you had in mind.

I might be up for this. 42y.o. long-time D&D/PF player living in Annapolis area. What are the current PC needs (e.g. rogue-type, healer, etc.)?

I'll send e-mail to address too.

This might work for me, I'm in the Annapolis area. 42y.o. long-time RPG'er, knows PFRPG fairly well. There was a number of folks replying to an earlier thread who lived in the MD area, maybe this will also serve as bump to draw some of them in.

Congrats to all that made it!

Wow...almost 40 fully-developed (and good!) submissions for 6 slots.

@Tassadan: Any chance you'd wanna run say like 5 more iterations of this? No? Bummer......

@Secondsight: I like it! Crunch would be appreciated, as I am scrutinous of items. Because many of the ninja’s proficiencies are dependent upon Tian weapons, I’d be fine with you calling them something else. Any greater expansion of her backstory can only aid you, so I’d encourage you to do so.

Glad to hear it! I'll get you crunch over the weekend and look at expanding the backstory. Sounds good RE: the Tian-flavored weapons, the oriental flare of the ninja class is definitely not what I'm aiming at with this character. Rather, I plan to play Vesaana more like a rogue where the Ki and erstwhile "magical" powers reflect her hag ancestry coming to the surface.

Great submissions overall, you're going to have some tough choices!

Vesaana P'Salek

Female Changling Ninja

Str 13, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12

The off-spring of a Green Hag mother and accomplished rogue father, the latter of which was seduced through the Hag's magical means. Although custom dictates the Hag deposit the child on the doorstep of unwitting foster parents, by chance the child was left at her father's cabin. A recluse and retired adventurer, the rogue nevertheless took pity on the wailing infant and raised her to adolescence, training her in his craft along the way. However, as the child crested into her late teens she began to manifest unusual magic powers (OOC: Magical Talent Trait, will also explain Ninja Ki powers later on) secondary to her maternal heritage. Her father, noting the child's unmatched emerald and violet eyes and pale skin, realized her heritage from his daliance many years earlier. This coincided with a appearance of mystical voice urging Vesaana to leave her father and discover her path, perhaps even her mother. Upon discovering her mother had left the area years before, Vesaana decided to strike out on her own.

Initially her travels went array, including a brief stint having fallen in with Brigands and similiar ner-do-well's (OOC: Brigand Trait from Kingmaker, I can expand this part too), and is seeking a way to move on to greener pastures. Maybe an expedition to a rugged new wilderness?

Tall (5'10) and thin with pale skin and raven black hair, Vesaana is stunningly beautiful. She is young, however (18 years old) and is prone to immaturity and impulsivity at times (CG alignment). A follower of Cayden Cailean, she thrives on experiencing the world and enjoys throwing back an ale or three at tavern as much as anyone. Behind all of this though lies an astute mind and quick learner who tends to remain positive even in the face of stark adversity.

OOC: Sorry for the text wall, just wanted to give an idea of the background I envisioned. Can tweak as needed to fit the campaign. Possibly finding her mom could be a good roleplay but definitely not a requirement. As for me, I've played in several PbP's before on another site (dndonlinegames.com, can provide reference links if desired).

I have a heroforge file for the character if desired. Not sure if you want more "crunch", if not this is my official submission. Hope you pick me!

I might be up for this, will look into character options. I assume you mean the deadline is Monday January 7th, as the 9th is a Wednesday. Regardless, great campaign ideas!

I mostly pledge to get Emerald Spire. I'm not a fan of MMORG's, but would wish the project well so those who do enjoy them can with PFO. Paizo offered me what I needed to pledge (like with Thornkeep for the Demo). So I'm in for the $105 hardback book+PDF deal, am am considering changing the pledge to get the raft of PDF's. We'll see.....

@Abyssian: Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep that in mind!

If others in the area are running regular PF (or DCC or S&W, my other gaming loves) in the area I'd be interested too.

Darn, that's a looong drive from my location in Annapolis to Woodbridge. Would almost consider it though. I see other MD types in this thread though, anyone still looking for folks in the local area for a weekend campaign?

I might be up for this too. Long time player and DM. I'm in Annapolis though, where in the greater DC area are we talking about?

Ah, good catch. The 17th Lv ability does make it clearer. Much appreciated!

The entry for Aura of Resolve (8th Lv Paladin ability in CRB) says it is makes the paladin immune to "charm spells and spell-like effects" and gives a +4 save bonus to those with 10 ft against "charm effects".

My question is: would "charm spells" and "charm effects" include Enchantment (compulsion) spells like Suggestion and Dominate or would it only be effective against spells and that specifically are Enchantment (charm)?