Warpriests count class levels as fighter levels for their bonus feats, so they can get weapon specialization on top of divine casting. It’s not a terrible way to go, if you’re willing to give up the BAB.
Slayer is a solid class and can be a good continuation for gunslingers (and bolt aces), and have plenty of skill points if you want to persue non-casting healing and/or UMD, although you might need to spend a feat on additional traits to make those class skills.
If you’re looking for more switch hitting, brawler might be worth considering? With unarmed strikes you don’t need to drop your crossbow to get into melee and they get some regular bonus feats plus martial flexibility to adjust to situations as they arise. You wouldn’t lose any skill points either.
Another option that occurs to me that hasn’t been mentioned is a kineticist. If you invest in a conductive crossbow you can apply you kinetic blast to your first shot each round which would obviously increase your damage and depending on your element you could potentially pick up some abilities that would normally be covered by spells (like flight, or some crowd control options).
edit: oh, and if you really want casting, I think we could pretty reasonably let you use arcane archer with a crossbow instead of bow. I know you were concerned about not having the stats for arcane casting but an Empyreal wildblooded sorcerer uses Wis as their casting stat.
I continue to recover. Sorry its taking so long but I can only sit at the computer for so long, and I'm currently easing back in to work, so that's eating up a lot of my computer time (plus GM posts take a lot longer than a simple player post, especially when you have to wrap up the previous book). You are not forgotten though- hopefully I'll be able to get us going again before too much longer. Has everyone had a chance to get their gear straightened out?
Alright, sounds good. Sorry I didn't think of it earlier, you all could have sorted your gear while Karga was finalizing hers. As it is, please feel free to continue RPing while you reset your gear to the 6k per WBL. Since my surgery is on Friday and I know I won't be able to post over the weekend, I'll post the beginning of your downtime tomorrow and then Monday or Tuesday I'll post the official beginning of book 2 (depending on how strong the meds are).
Wow, +1 hero point to Diego for his heroic bookkeeping!
Nico, are you saying you want to sell it off and use the money along with everything else you found, or that you'd still prefer to handwave it all and just have everyone buy up to the 6k? Per Diego, that decision is entirely yours to make now.
Also, we're at kind of an awkward spot for restarting, just wrapping up the loose ends from book 1, and then there's supposed to be some downtime before book 2. That would be terrible for trying to generate some momentum though. So, if we're going to handle loot the old fashioned way, we'll cover that and then I'll do a post that jumps a couple weeks into the future. If we handwave the loot, my next post will probably be where we jump. In either case, think about if there's anything you want to try to accomplish with a couple weeks of downtime, or if you'll just be patrolling and going about your daily lives. And, if there is something you want to do feel free to let me know right away so we can figure out the best way to handle it with everyone else waiting on it.
I was offering the second- each player could improve their gear and/or increase their coin to the point where their total wealth was 6,000 gold. If you think you’ll come out ahead by keeping what you want and selling everything else, we can do that but Lief will get a full share and Bjorn at least a half share (we’re not going to use losing players/GMs as a method for getting rich). The math isn’t hard, it’s the bookkeeping I was hoping to avoid; I wasn’t the GM for any of the stuff that you have treasure from, so I don’t have notes on what things are- which means I’ll have to hunt through the AP to find everything and figure out what it’s worth, and probably the thread too to see what you found at what you missed. And to double check the size of things (I know some of the weapons are small sized for the goblins; I thought maybe the crossbow was one of them).
If that’s the preference, I’ll do it. It might take a while, though, and if I do all the math and it puts you at less than 6k each you’ll be stuck with whatever it worked out to. So, I need a consensus from the 3 original players.
If you decide to do the math, you're going to have to payout Lief, and give at least a partial share to Bjorn, so I doubt you'd come out too far ahead?
You have not heard anything at all about a "Skinsaw Cult" in Magnimar.
I don't know how far into buying and selling you all want to get... I don't really want to hunt through the AP to figure out the value of everything, so if you're all on board my preference would be to handwave the whole thing and you can all buy new gear (or add coin to your totals) to bring you up to average wealth by level for 4th level (6,000g)- is that alright with everyone?
Sorry for falling silent for a few days there- work this week was insane trying to get everything set up for the couple weeks I'll be out after my surgery. It's all done now and I should have a ton of time for posting next week, until the surgery on Friday. I probably won't post at all next weekend but I'm hoping that by Monday I'll be able to post one-handed, lol. I will be high (on the prescribed pain medication) but hopefully you won't be able to tell (or if you can hopefully it'll be funny and not disruptive).
You've never worked directly with Justice Ironbriar before (as normal guards rarely deal directly with judges), but you know that he is a highly respected judge in Magnimar, and the first elf elected to the city's Justice Council. Having never worked closely with him before it is possible that this could perhaps be an imposter, but it seems very unlikely that everyone involved with sending you up here could have been involved in some massive conspiracy to send a fake judge.
The stern elven justice looks down his sharp nose at the remaining guards and answers, "We shall see. After I've reviewed all the evidence, and spoken with the prisoner, I'll render judgment."
Turning his gaze towards the sheriff, he continues, "and, your pleas have not gone completely unheeded." He gestures for the tall, green-skinned woman behind him to step forward and announces, "This is Karga Blackhook, a member of Magnimar's citywatch. She has volunteered to assist your watch until the situation here is more stable."
"Now, I'll retire to your office to begin my examination." The elf, and the other watchman with him, turn without another word and head towards the Garrison.
Hemlock gives the group a quick, appreciative nod and instructs, "I've got to stay with them. Go do whatever you need to do but show Blackhook here around while you do." With that he trots off as well, leaving Diego, Alistair, and Nico to introduce themselves to the newcomer (and vice versa).
Diego had a post, just a couple up from here, where he laid out loose threads to handle; it'd probably be worth taking a look at as we get moving again.
Apologies- I haven't gotten the background stuff to Karga yet. This was supposed to be a slow week and instead someone scheduled me for a district meeting next week (meaning a bunch of extra paperwork this week). I should be able to get it done tomorrow.
I’m super busy at work this week. I’ll send background info Monday or Tuesday, and do another character audit. Hopefully we can get moving again by midweek.
Just checking in to see where we're at with fixing purchases and whatnot?
Also, I just realized that I never sent you (Karga) the little blurb about what led to you being sent to Sandpoint. I should have that done tonight or tomorrow and then, hopefully, we can be underway soon!
Without actually looking up prices for stuff like the rope and basic travel stuff, it looks like you’re right around 7,200 gold. At 1,000 gold, the cloak wouldn’t be enough to get rid of on its own, but the ring (which is worth 2,000) would.
All the religious stuff Diego posted will, hopefully, help you think through your character’s attitude and outlook, but remember that the core concept here should be a member of the city guard who happens to be an inquisitor, not an inquisitor who happens to work for the watch. It’s good to know how your faith influences your work, but you were sent to Sandpoint by the watch, not by the church. To that end, I’ll send you some information (probably tomorrow) about your commanding officer and what lead to being sent to Sandpoint.
That looks much better, thank you. I think, maybe, there's just two things left...
First, mechanically- it looks like you spent around 7,000-7,500 gold; the wealth by level chart puts 4th level at 6,000 gold so you'll need to adjust your purchases (and make any changes to your stats that those adjustments cause).
Second, in terms of story- I don't see any skills or anything that really stand out as a reason for you to be sent to Sandpoint to help out, did you have a reason in mind for that? If not, we could come up with some kind of reason why your boss might be upset at you and have it be that he sent you there to get you out of his hair?
@Karga- you’ll also need to select 2 traits. None of the campaign traits will apply to you (I don’t think), unless you want to pick one of the generic campaign traits from the advanced players guide. Also, if you are trying to look everything up manually in books, you should do a google search for “archives of nethys”- it’ll likely save you a ton of time (although, it is in English, so if that’s not your primary language it might not be as efficient as using books that are in your native language).
Upon closer inspection, it seems Karga is less ready to go than I thought...
The armor and bracers definitely don't stack.
Your hit points look right if you took rogue as your favored class (and hit points for your favored class bonus), but it would make more sense to take inquisitor (which would put you up to 30hp if you still took your favored class bonus there).
I still don't see a domain at all?
And, I just realized you don't have any feats listed either. Did you (hopefully) pick those and just forget to include them in your profile?
It looks like you have the right number of normal skill points, but you get 2 background skill points per level (8 total) and it looks like you spent more than that. Also, masterwork/magical half-plate armor has a -6 armor check penalty; so: your climb and swim should be +2, your disable device should be +1, and your stealth and sleight of hand should be -1.
And, while we're on the armor, neither rogues nor inquisitors get heavy armor proficiency normally, so you'll have to spend one of your feats on that (or take the -6 armor check penalty to all your attack rolls). Or, switch to light or medium armor.
This is a much smaller thing, but your base saves are slightly off too. It looks like your base Fort should be 3 5/6 (still rounded down to 3); your base reflex should be 3 1/2 (rounded down to 3); and your base will should be 3 5/6 (also still rounded down to 3).
That's all I have time for right now, but I'll look everything over again after you've had time to address all this.
Karga- most of this looks good. It looks like you still need to pick a domain (or inquisition from ultimate magic, if you want), and I’ll double check your math when I have a chance. Also, you have your age listed as 45 which I think is pretty old for a half-orc, and would leave a lot of life to account for in your background; you might want to consider changing that. I’ve read your background a couple times now and think it’ll work but I have some questions, which I’ll have to post later because I’m at work and out of time.
There’s a couple of people in town who could safely open it for you (you actually have they key for it but someone noticed it was trapped). I just haven’t moved us along yet because I believe the new PC will be one of the people at the current meeting with Ironbriar so I want to get them figured out and be able to introduce them in this interaction.
I’m sure we’ll figure out something. The biggest mystery right now, really, probably is the glowing pool down in the ruins below Sandpoint, (where the shrine of Lamashtu is too) so an expert on evil gods and dark rituals could be a pretty good fit.
It was only one body that went missing, and I think Tsuto’s journal explained why they took it and for what (iirc), so that seems like kind of a stretch for why they’d send him to Sandpoint, but I suppose we can work with it if nothing better comes along.
Edit: I don’t mean that to disparage the character concept, which is fine if FR wants to play a like a coroner type or whatever, I just meant that sending a coroner to Sandpoint because one body disappeared seems a little thin. Ideally, if there’s maybe a better reason I’d like explore that possibility if we can.
That’s an interesting character concept, you’ll just have to make sure your background includes why (and how) a rogue/cleric of Pharasma made the transition from criminal to working for the city watch, and why they would send you to help with an investigation in Sandpoint. Pharasma doesn’t really have any clear connection with the watch at all, unless maybe you were something like a coroner (which, I’m not sure why they’d send to Sandpoint right now- the causes of death with mostly all pretty clear).
It sounds more complicated than it is, I think. Basically, for anything where you’re two classes are the same you just use your combined level to determine the value (so a cleric 2/druid 2 would have the BAB and saves of a 4th level cleric or druid); you only need to do math for things that don’t match (so an alchemist 2/magus 2 would have the BAB and Fort save of a 4th level alchemist or magus but would have to do some math for Ref and Will).
And when in doubt I can just do the math for you and tell you what your bonus would be, lol.
edit: maybe I should have used a more applicable example… an investigator 1/cleric 3 would have the BAB and Will of a 4th level cleric (since both classes have the same values for those) and would have to do some math for Fort and Ref (which would both work out to +3)
I just checked the original recruitment post to see if it did address hp, and I discovered that it does, but even more significantly it actually mentions using fractional bonus progression for multiclassing too. So I guess half of my last post was pointless, lol.
So, for any of you thinking about multiclassing, please check those rules from the unchained book. I think it pretty much just affects your BAB and saves (although if you get into prestige classes it can affect your caster level too), and it’s a little bit of a double edged sword. It stops you from stacking up save bonuses (because you only get the initial +2 to a good save once even if it’s a good save for more than one of your classes, like a fighter/alchemist), but it also stops you from tanking your BAB if you dip levels in classes below full progression (because you add the fractions from each 1st level instead of just getting +0 from multiple different classes).
If you have questions about that please feel free to ask, and if it makes anyone rethink any proposed multiclassing feel to switch it.
You should definitely make a character you’re excited to play, first and foremost.
That said, if you’re looking for feedback, the party could use some healing ability for sure and is also currently lacking knowledges and trapfinding (and buffing, though that’s been less of an issue). An investigator with the infusions discovery could cover all of that, and be an easy fit with the theme. A bard could cover most or all of that as well, but would potentially be a little less natural of a thematic fit. As I said above, a cleric would take a little more finessing fluff-wise, but it’s definitely doable and could cover several of the party’s weaknesses (though, if you’re going to dip another class, you might maybe be better off with slayer or ranger than investigator, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish). But, again, all this should be secondary to finding a character idea that you’ll be excited to play.
@everyone- does anyone remember whether or not I said we’d use fractional bonuses for multiclassing? I think it’s a much better way to handle it but it does require a little bit more math so if I never stated that it was part of the game we can discuss whether or not people are onboard with it.
edit: oh, and HP is max at first level and half rounded up after that (I think that’s in the recruitment post, isn’t it?)
Yeah, as Diego mentioned, there should be a law enforcement connection/theme. Specifically, there should be a reason that you’re not only a member of Magnimar’s city watch but are being sent to Sandpoint to help. That doesn’t all have to be mechanical, obviously, but there should be some kind of connection. If you want to play a cleric, a god concerned with civilizations, law and order, and/or safety (like Abadar, or maybe the Empyreal Lord Arqeros) could explain why you would be driven to be a part of the watch, but then you’d probably need to either dip into a martial class if you’re a regular guard or come up with an idea for a different position you’d be filling, and a reason they’d send someone in that position out. For example, if you were just a healer or chaplain why would they send you to Sandpoint? You’d have to have some kind of niche… like maybe a really good sense motive and a good DC on zone of truth, and then they might send you up to Sandpoint to make sure everyone’s telling the truth about what happened. Does that make sense?
Welcome, FreeRadical. The first post in the recruitment thread has most of the details for character creation, so make sure to check that out. You can build at 4th level though. The theme of the campaign has been that the party is part of the Sandpoint city watch, so my thought for bringing you in is that you’d be a new arrival sent from Magnimar to help out with everything that’s been happening in and around Sandpoint. Being from the big city you’d have a bit more flexibility on race/class but I’d prefer not to stray too far from the original parameters, just out of fairness to the original PCs. Any core race would probably be fine, but no aasimar or tieflings (and note the change to humans in the recruitment post). In terms of classes, ideally it’d be nice if you had at least your first level in a martial class, but if you wanted to do something less physical that’s still clearly law-enforcement related (like an investigator or maybe a cleric or inquisitor of Abadar or something) I doubt there would be any objections.
Please let us know what you’re thinking, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!
I've run a handful of gestalt games in the past and I'm not necessarily opposed to doing so again, although verisimilitude is big for me and I do kind of hate the idea of just having everyone gain a bunch of new abilities with no reasonable in-game explanation... The idea with giving you all some casting ability was that it would be sort of a gestalt-lite approach that did have an in-game explanation. We could also, potentially, add the ability to attract a familiar and/or animal companion to that and that would help offset the action economy gap and maybe even some of the skill issues (with something like a sage familiar, for example).
But, it sounds like the first choice is still to try recruiting another player? If that's not true, or if it doesn't pan out, we can talk more about what the power-up option(s) might look like. In the meantime, how long do we want to wait to hear back from Nico's lead before we try someone else?
If Nico's lead doesn't pan out, how do we want to proceed? We could try to recruit someone else (if anyone else knows someone who might be interested), or we could talk about the creative option?
I don't want to push the latter but I'm bringing it up again now because it might affect Alistair's decision to take bard levels. In a nutshell, I'd grant you all some innate casting abilities as a side effect of the strange ancient magicks you've been exposed to (and possibly some other goodies down the line if it seemed like you were still behind the curve after that). Thoughts?
Thanks everyone. We seem to be through the worst of it, so hopefully things will be back to normal in the next couple days.
@Nico- if you have a potential new player in mind, please feel free to ask if they're interested and even invite them to jump in the discussion thread here to introduce themself. Ideally, I'd like for a new player to have some background in law enforcement (to stick with the game's theme, and also to be fair to all you original players and the limitations you had at character creation) but now that having been sent up from Magnimar is a legit entry option there could be a little bit more flexibility in available classes (and, obviously, now that you're higher level multiclassing would be more of an option too).
@Everyone- speaking of being higher level, why don't you go ahead and level yourselves up to 4th! Please post your changes here (and don't forget the stat bonus). I need to figure out what this elf's deal is (and refamiliarize myself with the end of this book/beginning of book 2 in general) and then we'll get moving again in a couple days.
@Bjorn- I don't know if you're still reading this but if you are, I hope you find that balance (I've been there). I'm not sure if I can control the campaign tab anymore/again or not, but if I can I'll mark you inactive in a couple days to clear the game from your campaign tab.
Sorry for the delay. After being violently ill the last few days, I’m finally starting to feel better but now one of my kids is having the same stomach issues I had, and the other one has Covid.
I was planning on switching Lief over to an NPC (either moving him back to night shift or, possibly, having him partner up with Brodert on an in depth study of the ruins), but that would mean we’re down to 3 players… I guess I could have him tag along as an NPC/GMPC, or we could try to recruit someone else? Or, I could do something creative to bump your power level a bit? Thoughts?
We've got: 1 clear yes; 1 vote that could mean "yes, I'm good proceeding in that manner" or "no, I'm good with pulling the plug"; and, 2 abstentions.
I guess we just let it die then? If I'm misreading things let me know and I'll see if I can get us moving some again, or if someone wants to try running a GM recruitment please feel free; otherwise, thanks for letting me tag along through the rest of book 1 and happy gaming.
I’ve been trying follow updates on the thread, and I’m excited to see you guys found someone! @Fern- it is a good group, and I am around if you have any questions I can help with, I just got busy (and exhausted) at work and couldn’t keep up with running this anymore, sadly. I’m not sure if there’s a way for me to pass the thread along, other than you asking customer service or do it, but if there is (or if customer service needs/wants anything from me) just let me know.
If it helps at all, I've mostly stuck pretty close to the AP so far, except that there's been a lot more interaction with Sheriff Hemlock. And I am willing to coordinate with a new GM and fill them in things so far, if you can find one.
Hey all, I'm really sorry for the (repeated, extended) silence. RL has been challenging the last couple weeks and I have been forced to accept what many of you have probably come to suspect: I don't have the time/energy to run this game. I feel terrible about it--your characters are great and I've enjoyed our story thus far--but I really need to streamline my gaming load (quite a bit).
If you guys want to try to recruit a new GM, please feel free; I'll leave the game active so you can all discuss it here, and then do whatever I can to help the transition. Either way, thanks for the great game and I'm sorry I couldn't keep it going.
Shayliss seems torn about how to respond to your offer. "That's a really sweet offer, ma'am," she answers earnestly, "but... uh... I'm not sure I can really take you up that. You seem really thoughtful, and I'm sure you'd be a good friend, but, well, I already have friends and I'm not sure how they'd feel about me hanging out with the watch instead of them. You know how it is with moving between different social circles..."
"Thank you though."
I'll try to get things moving for everyone else tomorrow.
"There's a good chance it's too late for that now," Hosk advises as you prepare to depart, "most of the merchants and visitors have left the city already."
As you walk back to the barracks, you reflect on your fellow watch members and their financial states. The job pays halfway decent and you can't think of anyone who would need money bad enough to take a bribe from goblins, nor anyone greedy enough to do it for anything less than enough gold to have disappeared forever already (which none of them have done). Blackmail might be a possibility if the goblins had captured someone's family or something, but nobody at the Garrison has been acting guilty or nervous.
Nico:
Shayliss' expression and body language soften at your words. "Thanks, ma'am," she answers earnestly, "but you don't need to worry about me, I know how to handle his type."
Just a friendly reminder, since its been a while IRL- the ladder that you found was inside the city wall, it seemed like it was definitely used to get out of the city from the cemetery, but there wasn't any clear evidence that it was ever used to get in (you didn't see anything to prove that it wasn't either, but the theory that some of them used it to get in, dragged it over the wall, then used it to escape and left it there was pure speculation).
Alistair:
Hosk considers your words for a moment then shrugs. "I wish I knew. If they snuck in from the beach, maybe the rafts made a few trips to get them all there? Someone would have noticed a huge group of greensh!ts carrying a ladder across the open field towards the city wall. The only other things I can think of are too alarming to want to say out loud... they could have found someway to bribe or blackmail one of the watch to let them in--which seems pretty farfetched--or, someone could have smuggled them in a wagon... with all the merchants and entertainers coming in for the festival it wouldn't have been hard to throw a tarp over a cart full of the little b@stards and ride right into town."
Shayliss looks a little bit annoyed at the interruption but answers, "of course, ma'am," as she nods to her friends to continue on without her. As the others walk away, she turns to you and silently waits for you to speak.
Alistair:
Hosk pauses pouring oats into a feedbag and looks up you as you enter. He listens to your question then sets the bag of oats down. Wiping his hands on his pants he answers, "I'm fine, Watchman Fox, thanks for asking. I already shared my thoughts with the sheriff, but since you're here asking I'll tell you this, for that many goblins to work together there must be some kind of powerful figure driving them--a mighty warlord who could cow the other chieftains, or a malicious enchanter who could charm them, something like that."
Nico has little trouble finding Shayliss strolling down Market Street talking and laughing with a couple other young women. From the way she diverts her eyes from the approaching watchwoman, she doesn't seem particularly eager to speak with Nico.
Ameiko gives a friendly nod to the two members of the watch as they head back into the dining room.
I've been purposefully vague about times because I don't like (and am bad at) the bookkeeping needed to really use specific ones (plus there's no clocks in Sandpoint, iirc). Technically, you're still on 12 hour shifts, so you're starting patrol well before dawn and finishing early afternoon. I've been calling your meals dinners because they are for you, but they've all been early afternoon. It's around 3-4pm(ish) right now. (That's also why you have to do errands after work instead of before- nothing's open yet when you start).
"Thank you," Ameiko repeats with her somewhat unconvincing smile returning as the two leave. A few minutes later, Bethana swings by the table with a tray of little cakes for dessert. The appreciative look she gives Alistair and Nico hints that this final course may be a gift from her rather than part of the meal Lord Floxglove provided.
Feel free to RP around the table, but you can also start posting activities for the afternoon if anyone has anything they'd like to do before work tomorrow.
Half of Ameiko's mouth curls into an amused smile. "No, we couldn't have people learning how to cook at home," she quips back, "that'd put me outta business for sure."
She sets down her ladle in the wash basin and her half-smile fades as she earnestly continues, "thank you for your concern, but I really will be alright. Honestly, him heading to Magnimar for a while might be good for the town, as long as he doesn't shut down the Glassworks when he goes- more than a few people would lose their livelihood if he did that. But you have more important things to worry about, I'm sure, and there won't be any formal complaints lodged over this little outburst."
