The Balrog's page

Welcome! Feel free to make adjustments to characters now that you see who else is in the game and what you think the party might need.
I know that this recruitment was a bit quirky with its grognard style, but I hope it will be an enjoyable game. I appreciate you giving it a chance and submitting characters.

You have been summoned to Ravengro to attend the funeral of Professor Petros Lorrimor. Each of you know the Professor, and to a degree his daughter Kendra. It was she who sent you the invitations, whether you were in town already or some distance away.

Kendra is an attractive woman of 25 years. Her eyes are red and puffy from mourning.
"I am glad you are here. Nobody else has traveled here to pay their respects to my father, nobody from Lepidstadt. Nobody from the University. And with things the way they are in town these days, there are very few locals from Ravengro who came out. Even though we have lived here for fifteen years.

We shall have more time to talk after the burial. For now, may I ask which among you are willing to serve as pallbearers?"

Looking for brave adventurers to explore the dark corners of Ustalav...

I have been active in the PbP community for a while now; I have previously taken over and run most of a mini-AP (Red Hand of Doom), and I am currently acting as a fill-in GM for another AP (Ruins of Azlant). This will be my first time starting an AP, and I mean to run it to the end, aiming for a relatively quick pace.

GM trade: I have two games that are in need of GMs. One is the aforementioned Ruins of Azlant, where I am a player-GM and wish to go back to just being a player. We are near the end of Book 2, and I am looking to hand it off soon. The other is Skull & Shackles, where we are in Book 4 and just lost our GM. I am hoping to offer two spots in this campaign to GMs who can take over one table or the other. I know there are more willing players than GMs, so if I am going to ask the forums for two GMs, I had better step up to be one myself. Here I go. If you would be willing to GM, say so in your submission. Obviously it would be best if you had some established history of PbP GM'ing, but I would not be averse to taking a leap of faith.

A word on optimization and restraint: Carrion Crown is an older AP, and heavy optimization is likely not necessary based on what I have seen. I wish to run it as written, with no adjustments to increase the difficulty. I'll probably select characters that I think are strong enough to succeed, but not so strong as to remove all challenge from the game. If you later find your PC getting so strong that the challenge has diminished, I'd expect you to dial it back for the sake of keeping the campaign fun. Like, maybe don't take that powerful feat next level. Maybe even retrain out something.

Character Creation
Attributes: 20 point buy, no points for dumping stats. You can certainly have lower attributes if you think it makes your character more interesting, but it offers no mechanical advantage.
Race: Human.
Classes: Alchemist, Arcanist, Barbarian (either version), Bard, Bloodrager, Brawler, Cavalier, Cleric, Fighter, Inquisitor, Investigator, Magus, Medium, Occultist (no Trappings of the Warrior), Paladin, Psychic, Ranger, Rogue (either version), Skald, Sorcerer, Spiritualist (non-Phantom archetypes only), Swashbuckler, Warpriest, Witch, Wizard, Adept.
Special note about casters: I'm not making selections with the assumption that the party needs a 9th-level caster. I am in an all-fighter Ironfang Invasion game that is going quite well. So we'll see what the submissions are.
Alignments: Good or "neutral with good tendencies" as they said in AD&D.
Hit Points: Max at first level, then half your HD+1 for each level afterwards.
Wealth: Average starting gold for your class.
Skills: Background Skills are in use.
Traits: One campaign trait, no drawbacks, no Additional Traits. However, as it is a necessary rules patch, all casters gain the effect of Magical Knack for all casting classes they may have.
Optional Rules: Variant Multiclassing is allowed, but abilities do not stack beyond what a single-classed PC would get.
Variant Magic Item Economy: Automatic Bonus Progression at level +1, but no magic item shops and no crafting (use PFS rules to substitute automatic crafting feats; bonded items can be enchanted, as in PFS). There will be some magic items found, and maybe some that are tailored to things PCs want or need, but they are not fungible - use them or leave them.
Other rules: In general I follow most of the PFS rulings (e.g. no Pageant of the Peacock, no Tears to Wine), but not all (Armor Specialization is just fine). Ask about anything prohibited in PFS. I'm pretty liberal on Take 10, moderately conservative on Aid Another for skills, and very conservative on Masterwork Tools.
Posting expectations: Hopefully 1/day on weekdays.
Party size and selection: I will probably select 5-6 PCs, by February 20.

I know I am showing my BECMI roots (e.g. no magic shops), so this game will not be for everyone. I do think these changes will be suitable for a horror campaign, but most of all I'm hoping to be up-front about my ideas so there are no surprises later on.

Recruiting for a PFS1 CORE run of #1-40, Hall of Drunken Heroes! We will be going high tier in hopes of getting some CORE PCs ready for Seeker arcs.

If interested, please check in here with:
Player/Forum Name:
Character Name:
Class and Level:
PFS# (and dash):
Faction:
Day job Roll (if any):

Discussion thread.

Gameplay will begin on March 6.

This game is first come first served. It will begin on March 6, 2023.
This is a 7-11 scenario. I am running it for the CORE PF1 campaign and hoping to go high tier to get more CORE PCs in tier for Eyes of the Ten.

Outpost GM signup begins February 7. General signup begins February 10.

Please sign in here with the following:
Player/Forum Name:
Character Name:
Class and Level:
PFS# (and dash):
Faction:
Day job Roll (if any):

Gameplay thread. Game will begin September 11, 2022.

Discussion thread.

This game is first come first served. It will begin on September 11, 2022.
This is a 5-9 scenario. I am running it for the CORE PF1 campaign.

Please sign in here with the following:
Player/Forum Name:
Character Name:
Class and Level:
PFS# (and dash):
Faction:
Day job Roll (if any):

Discussion thread. We will begin on September 6, 2021.

Gameplay thread. We will begin on September 6, 2021.

This is a Gameday X scenario, and signups will be on the Gameday X Sign-up Sheet beginning on August 16 (or earlier for Gameday GMs).

Please provide PFS character details here after recruitment opens and you have signed up on the Outpost IV Signup Sheet.

This game is first-come first-served.

Player Name
Character Name
PFS ID and Character #
Faction
Day Job (if any)

Already entered:
Player Name: AndrewW
Character Name: Chandu
PFS ID and Character # 44523-24
Faction Exchange
Day Job (if any) Perform Oratory: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (6) + 27 = 33

New thread, to properly match campaign name and thread names.

We open at the dawn of the age of Pathfinder...

We open at the dawn of the age of Pathfinder...

Please provide PFS character details here after recruitment opens and you have signed up on the Outpost IV Signup Sheet.

This game is first-come first-served.

Player Name
Character Name
PFS ID and Character #
Faction
Day Job (if any)

Signups will be through the Outpost IV Signup Sheet once it is live.

I know asking for a new GM is always a longshot. We have a solid and very loyal group of players partway through Book 1 of Runelords... after 2 years.

Our GM never posted particularly frequently, but we stuck with it because, I think, we all were very interested in getting to experience this classic AP.

The GM posted about once a week, then once every two weeks, and now not at all for months.

In the first year, we have had some turnover, but the current group of players has stuck with it for the past year (despite the diminishing frequency) and all have expressed an interest in continuing with a new GM and hopefully more like the 1/day posting frequency that seems to be the default.

We are all 2nd level and in the dungeon under the Glassworks.

Trig Fanabarellalisa, Gnome Shaman
Morgrym Stonestepper, Dwarf Warpriest of Torag
Lazur Anil, Human Investigator
Calin Moonbreeze, Half-Elf Fighter
Wayland Egorius, Human Diviner

Discussion is here.

Anybody interested in taking this on?

Opening the Gameplay thread.

Opening the Discussion thread.

This game is first come first served.

I have a fair amount of experience with PFS, but mostly as a player. This is my second game as a GM. A few things:

1) Please post within 24 hours of your turn coming up, and sooner if possible.
2) If you have to be away, please let me know and include some botting instructions in your profile. Or designate another player to bot you if you wish.
3) I roll most things openly. Feel free to check attack rolls if I miscalculated, or saves (I might roll saves for you all to move things along more quickly if needed - to this point, let me know if you have reactive abilities that apply to saves). If something is in a "GM Eyes" spoiler then please don't check it.
4) Please do let me know if I make significant errors either in the rules or in game management. However, if you have raised a question and I have made a decision on it, that decision is final. As per PFS rules, I will not make rulings that are clearly and explicitly contradicted by the books, but there is a good deal of grey area where I will use my best judgment.
5) We're all here to have fun!

All that said, please sign in here with the following:
Player/Forum Name:
Character Name:
Class and Level:
PFS# (and dash):
Faction:
Day job Roll (if any):

Welcome!
I have been a PFS player for several years, and a PbP GM for several years, but this is my first game as a PFS GM.

Expectations:
1) Please post within 24 hours of your turn coming up, and sooner if possible. A module is longer than an ordinary scenario, but I think we can get through this during Outpost. I will try to keep things moving.
2) If you have to be away, please let me know and include some botting instructions in your profile. Or designate another player to bot you if you wish.
3) I roll most things openly. Feel free to check attack rolls if I miscalculated, or saves (I might roll saves for you all to move things along more quickly if needed - to this point, let me know if you have reactive abilities that apply to saves). If something is in a "GM Eyes" spoiler then please don't check it.
4) I know the rules fairly well (and low-level Core has a lot less to keep track of), and can post reliably to keep a game moving, but please do let me know if I make significant errors either in the rules or in game management. However, if you have raised a question and I have made a decision on it, that decision is final. As per PFS rules, I will not make rulings that are clearly and explicitly contradicted by the books, but there is a good deal of grey area where I will use my best judgment.
5) Related to the above, one area with a lot of table variation is Take 10. I am a fan of it. Feel free to use it when not threatened or distracted (pretty much when not in combat) unless a skill says otherwise. MW tools are another area subject to some amount of GM discretion in my understanding, where I am not quite so permissive. I'm sure other things will come up - when I make a ruling you disagree with, please understand that I am not being adversarial, but doing what I think is in the best interest of providing a fun game for everybody.

So please sign in here with the following:
Player/Forum Name:
Character Name:
Class and Level:
PFS# (and dash):
Faction:
Day job Roll (if any):

Dot in here and enter info in Discussion - will begin on 3/30.

Looking for a new GM!

Perhaps reading too deeply in this AP will leave you rocking on the floor, muttering incoherent blasphemies and shrieking with terror at your insignificance in the universe. It would explain the disappearance of several previous GMs. But if you wish to brave that risk, there is a party of intrepid souls that can give you a solid and engaging game.

The party is currently level 3, and is exploring the asylum. If you can take over, I can summarize which rooms we have explored and which things we have encountered so far.

Dervak was originally in another Strange Aeons game that folded, then started over with this one and survived the original GM vanishing into the fog, and then a second GM vanishing into the fog. He is hoping to one day make it through Book 1, and then who knows?

The PCs are:
Dervak, half-orc Aberrant bloodrager (hasn't raged yet, but is dreading when he has to)
Mara bint al-Katheeri, half-orc Speaker for the Past shaman
Theophilus Carter, human Cartomancer witch (also from the prior campaign)
Julius Anderson, half-elf Inspired Blade swashbuckler, who vanished into the fog but has since come back... or has he?

Here is the campaign.

A few months ago the GM started a couple of all-fighter tables for Ironfang Invasion. We had a great thing going.

He recently warned us his frequency was about to diminish, but it has in fact stopped entirely for the past three weeks. I sent a PM but didn't hear back.

PbP games need momentum. I'm hoping for daily posting. Anybody willing to pick this up?

We have 4 players looking to continue and I would suggest a new GM bring on another 1 or 2; there are some tricks for fighters to fill in at other roles (like Item Mastery or VMC) but we do have some gaps in our capabilities.

We are level 2 and in the woods. He kept good records so you can see our supplies and so on.

I don't know about the other table, how many of their players want to continue; if there are too many to merge they may also want a new GM. But if only 2 want to continue they could join us.

The campaign

The Knights of Ozem summoned Arazni to lead them in the Shining Crusade against the Whispering Tyrant, which she did for five years before being killed. Iomedae was the leader of the Knights of Ozem at the time of Arazni's death, and possibly at the time of her summoning (I am not certain of the timing of Iomedae's leadership of the Knights).
So did Iomedae herself decide to summon Arazni? It would be an interesting twist, and certainly feed Arazni's resentment of Iomedae, if the mortal who called her to her doom is the one who took her place and ultimately surpassed her. For her part, Iomedae would likely feel a great deal of guilt and grief for this role that is not generally discussed by the faithful... yet one could imagine her quietly championing a Tortured Crusader paladin, who likewise reflects on their own failings as motivation to do better.

Bit of a rant here...
The other day, we had a death in a low-level Core game. We could have raised the character if I had coughed up all of my cash. I didn’t offer. I felt bad about it, but I felt that PC would just die again. So I suggested that the player make a new one that was not quite so fragile; it was a 10-Con bard that died. The player seems to feels that neither HP nor AC do any good unless you optimize for them; a “modest investment” is worthless. He bought an 18 in his casting stat and didn’t have much left over. Well, I thought, if he didn’t care enough to invest any of his resources into his survival, why should I?
At this point two other players chimed in that 10 Con is just fine; they typically play casters and believe you are doing it wrong if you don’t buy an 18 in your casting stat. Con is for fighters. The thought here is "I'll ignore Con, stay off the front lines, and the attackers will target somebody else."
I don’t understand this, unless “as tough as the average shopkeeper” is part of your character concept. In every edition I’ve played, Con has always been even more important if you have a low HD and (in 3E onwards) a bad Fort save. A wizard gets 4 HP/level in PFS, so +2 Con is +50% more HP; it is only +33% for a fighter. The marginal gain from buying a 16 to buying an 18 is that 5% of the time your spells will succeed where they would have failed. The cost, 7 points, buys you a 14 and a 12. Put those in Con and Dex, and that can quite likely keep you alive for one attack from a CR+3 BBEG. If your spell fails on that 5% chance, other PCs can contribute to the encounter and defeat the opponent; if you die, there is typically not much they can do for you.
My Core rogue has a 16 Con (dwarf) not because I want him to ever take damage, but because I know that he will take damage, maybe even the BBEG’s opening salvo; I can’t plan on the GM being nice and targeting the barbarian or fighter (if there is one; this time I was the sole tank by default, and the bard was killed because there was no "front line" in that combat). I want him to be a skillmonkey. Con doesn’t help skills, or attack rolls, or nearly any offensive abilities. It doesn’t let him shine; it just lets him not die.
I didn’t dedicate resources to my PCs’ defensive capabilities so that you don’t have to. You can’t plan on him being targeted in lieu of you. First of all, expecting my rogue to take attacks for you seems far more selfish than expecting him to provide healing for you (the latter only costs gold, the former could get him killed). Second of all, he can’t make enemies target him, and smart ones will target a glass cannon. (Or, area of effect damage is also a thing.) You have to be able to survive at least one attack from a CR+3 BBEG. Sometimes in PFS you’ll be alongside an Archon Style Sacred Shield Lucky Halfling, and that’s great. But your survival is your responsibility; you don’t know who will show up each week.
Yes, at higher levels you can be flying, blinking, stoneskinned, with False Life and Resist Energy. Takes a while to get there.
Am I being unreasonable to suggest 12+ Con for low-HD classes? The thing I may be missing is enemy tactics in PFS. I have GM’d a lot in the past, but not PFS. Normally, I would expect enemies to focus fire on glass cannons, especially casters. That’s what PCs do. Are enemy tactics written as “split attacks,” “engage the most heavily-armored PCs in melee,” or “attack whoever hit you last”?
If not, then given that PFS GMs often seem to display at least some aversion to killing PCs, sacrificing defense for offense seems (to me) to be unfairly exploiting that kindness. I realize that I could be mistaken; it’s an opinion I bring from games where the expectation was that GMs would not kill PCs (and thus some other players ignored defense).
It’s ultimately any player’s choice to play the character they want, and I understand that. But I doubt if I should volunteer for the “tank by default” role if this is what I am enabling. I'm happy to have my characters defend those who have made at least a modest effort at survival, but otherwise it seems unreasonable.