Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Mothman wrote:
Work trip. Gear I needed to do my job (hardware replacements) kept getting held up in customs, so I spent a lot of time sitting around hotels, or wandering around looking for places where the staff spoke english so I could get a meal away from the hotel restaurants. Got shunted off to a couple of offices that weren't on my schedule because their gear had arrived while mine hadn't, so I took care of those while I waited. By the time I was done it had been just shy of 4 weeks... and two days before I was due to leave the air pollution from the cities took it's toll on me and I ended up with a severe upper respiratory tract infection that kept me quarantined to my hotel room in Guangzhou on large doses of painkillers and antibiotics for around another 2 weeks. Was a nice room at least, and they had plenty of movie channels and stuff available. When I finally got home it took months to actually shake the illness, infection kept moving back and forth between respiratory tract and lower in the chest.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Having been stuck (literally stuck) in China for about six weeks a few years back... trying to remember what my access was like... Paizo access was fine. Social media and blog sites are blocked. Personal vpn sites are blocked. Email works fine, though for the most part I ran everything through my work VPN just to be safe
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Most of its just general crap happening all at once. The expensive thing was my bike deciding to start having mechanical and electrical faults. The fixes turned out relatively cheap for now, the $10,000 thing was what it looked like I'd need to borrow to get new wheels when it looked like it was almost certainly a writeoff. Still going to have to do it at some point in the next year, but hopefully I'll be in a better position to do that at the time.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Hey guys. Sorry I've been offline so much, been an... interesting... couple of weeks. Kind of an "everything that can go wrong will" sort of interesting. Like, potentially needing to put myself $10,000 further in debt levels of interesting. Still. Only way is onwards and upwards, so on with the game!
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Disappointing haul this year for RPG books. The variety is getting narrower every year. Managed to pick up a couple of books for The Esoterrorists and one for CthulhuTech, and the second hand store had a couple of Conspiracy X books and Elminster's Guide to the Forgotten Realms, but that was it. Everything else was just the usual D&D, Pathfinder and other mainstays.
Coup. They're never too young to learn to bluff and scheme in order to claw their way to the top of a pile of the bloody corpses of their enemies. For added fun, throw the Reformation expansion in, and teach them the joys of using their authority to interfere with their opponents (via use of the Inquisitor character) and demonstrate the essential truth of alliances, that all are temporary and will eventually fail or fall to infighting. In all seriousness though, it's a great game. Might be a bit tricky for the 5 year old, but I've played with a mix of adults and kids as young as 8, and they've all loved it. It's fast, easy to learn, and teaches you to read people as well as helping develop your own poker face. We've played with up to 10 players, which is when the allegiance system in the expansion gets really fun. You can usually get through a round in 15 minutes at most, depending on how many people are playing and how aggressively people call bluffs. Other good ones... I like Entropy, it's a pretty simple one, based around trying rebuild a shattered dimension. Each player shares 4 abilities and has one unique one. The trick that each ability has a priority, and if any other player plays an ability that shares your priority, they cancel each other out, so you need to try and guess what they're going to play (and as each round goes on, also figure out what people have already played so you can avoid clashing).
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Honestly, I never really play anything there. I'm not big on competitive wargaming, mostly because the only one I'm good enough at to actually stand a chance at is Relic Knights, and as far as I can tell there's not enough interest in the game here in Australia to get actual tournaments going (I've struggled to get more than 4 other people interested enough in it to buy in, though at least that means I do have people to play against), I gave up competitive Magic: The Gathering years ago, and I'm not big into convention RPG games. Mostly I go out to raid the cheap RPG books (I pick up a lot of the World of Darkness stuff that isn't available as print on demand yet there) and buy some cheap card and board games.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Alright, I'm back in it. Catchup post made. I didn't notice, but did anyone take Walthus' cloak? In non-game news, it's CanCon this weekend. Is anyone coming to Canberra for it and wanting to meet up out there to check out the vendors and maybe play some games? I'm thinking I might roll out on the Saturday morning, there's usually some good deals on out of print RPG books. Otherwise, if you're not around for it, is there anything you want me to keep an eye out for to see if it's cheap enough to justify buying it and posting it to you? I'm off to bed for now, body is still in recovery mode so I'm sleeping about 12 hours a night at the moment. Thankfully it's a public holiday tomorrow.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Hey guys. Between work and a few personal things going on at the moment my posting may get a bit spotty for the next week or two. I'll try to check in once a day but can't guarantee anything. Mothman if I'm not responding fast enough feel free to text me or just make a decision for what you think Xargin would do. Texts I should be able to respond to pretty quickly between meetings/tasks.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Won't be available the rest of the night. My brother's playing a gig, so I'm having dinner at the pub to catch that, then going to the 20th Anniversary screening of Children of the Revolution, after which there's a Q&A with Richard Roxburgh, who I plan on asking to sign my copy of Van Helsing, because a) I'm a bastard and b) the movie was objectively pretty trashy, but he was glorious as Dracula. The largest ham in a veritable sea of large hams.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
If anyone's interested, the podcast I did yesterday has been posted as well: Professor Jimbles Dice Bag - Party Cohesion discussion It got a bit rambly at times, and we had a guy who hadn't been on before that talked over the top of people a few times, so I'm not sure if it'll be particularly clear at some points. Also, the previous episode I was on (I'm only on it rarely), wherein we discuss characters we've always wanted to play and never got to. Includes discussion of the character I created for a Vampire: The Requiem game that creeped the GM out so badly the game was cancelled (it was actually due to a combination of my character and another one, who is also discussed on the show). Professor Jimbles Dice Bag - White Whale Characters Personally I think the character episode was a better one, just because we all had more time to prepare. Fair warning, there's a fair bit of swearing in most epsodes.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
I'm going to be offline for most of the day, visiting some family and helping a friend with an episode of his podcast. This episode is apparently about party cohesion and its importance for certain types of games. I suggested heartbreaker RPGs since they're a surprisingly interesting topic, but that'll have to wait. On another topic, I've whittled Xargin's gear down to almost light burden levels... anyone with high strength and a bit of spare carry limit want to carry his waterskin and mess kit? :P First magic item on the list to obtain later... muleback cords...
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
I'm equipped and ready, but I'd forgotten how restrictive gear weight limits are in this game. I only have half of the standard gear for a bard, leather armour, a bow and a rapier, but I'm 25lbs into a medium load already, so I get hit with -3 armour check penalties. Anyone else had issues with weight limits?
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Sorry guys, I got held up at work and had to go straight to the movies. Not sure if I'll be able to get on tonight afterwards, I have some stuff that has to be done tonight. For now just assume that I'm following along, and that I've detoured to buy the gear I need before we leave town. I'll fix it all up soon as I have time at home.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Ash Walker wrote:
Reel Time. It's a movie show on 2XX, a Canberra community station.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
I'll have to take a proper look at Xargin's gear tomorrow. Most likely what I'll be buying is just the Bard's kit minus a few things I don't need (torches etc). I'll be at work from 7 AM tomorrow, should be home early afternoon and will check in, then I'm at the movies. Thursday I probably can't check in until after my radio show, should be home by 8 PM.
Hey customer service peeps! Been a long time since I've really had a subscription running, so I'm not sure if there's been any changes. I've just noticed that the next RPG line book is the Villain Codex, which I don't really have much need for (I rarely run games anymore, I only really resubscribed for Strange Aeons and Horror Adventures, and maybe a new Bestiary). Is there a way to skip a single product on a subscription now, or do I still need to cancel the sub and restart later if I want the product after it? If it's necessary for me to cancel to not get the villain codex, please cancel my PFRPG subscription. Thanks in advance.
The player's guide is just a free document to help players make characters suitable for the AP (it provides campaign traits etc). There's no GM's guide because all that stuff (gazetteers for important locations, stats on important NPCs and items etc) are in the AP itself. To run it, all a GM should need is the AP itself, and the core rulebook (unless they've updated the AP to use rules that were introduced after that, but even then they'll either be listed in the AP itself or available from the Pathfinder Reference Document, found on the left hand navigation bar of this website). Bestiaries would be a nice to have, but if it's a Paizo creature that is in one of the Bestiaries, you'll be able to find it in the PRD as well, and if it's not there, the full stats will be in the AP.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Okay, I've tweaked and locked Xargin in. Only changes were that I added a trait (resilient, from time spent travelling on his own and fending for himself) and a drawback (Burned), and I've dropped two points of Wisdom and taken an extra point in Dexterity (fits with his background of being somewhat unstable). Final Xargin build:
Xargin Kaijitsu
Male azata-blooded aasimar (musetouched) bard 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 84) CN Medium outsider (native) Deity: Chucaro, Maiden of Haze and Whimsy Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +3 Dex) hp 9 (1d8+1) Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +2; -1 vs. fire effects, -1 when adjacent to open flames or on fire Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee rapier +3 (1d6/18-20) Ranged shortbow +3 (1d6/×3) Special Attacks bardic performance 7 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate [DC 13], inspire courage +1) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +4) . . 1/day—glitterdust (DC 15) Bard Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +4) . . 1st (2/day)—cure light wounds, silent image (DC 14) . . 0 (at will)—ghost sound (DC 13), mending, prestidigitation, summon instrument -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 16 Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 13 Feats Weapon Finesse Traits friend in every town, resilient, younger sibling Skills Acrobatics +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Appraise +2 (+1 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Bluff +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Climb +0 (-1 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Diplomacy +6 (+5 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Disguise +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Escape Artist +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Fly +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Heal -1 (-2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Intimidate +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (arcana) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (engineering) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (geography) +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (history) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (local) +4 (+3 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (nature) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (nobility) +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (planes) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Knowledge (religion) +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Linguistics +6 (+5 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perception +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (act) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (comedy) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (dance) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (keyboard instruments) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (oratory) +9 (+8 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (percussion instruments) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (sing) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (string instruments) +9 (+8 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Perform (wind instruments) +5 (+4 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Ride +3 (+2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Sense Motive -1 (-2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Spellcraft +6 (+5 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Stealth +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Survival -1 (-2 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Swim +0 (-1 when adjacent to open flames or on fire), Use Magic Device +7 (+6 when adjacent to open flames or on fire); Racial Modifiers +2 Diplomacy, +2 Perform (act), +2 Perform (comedy), +2 Perform (dance), +2 Perform (keyboard instruments), +2 Perform (oratory), +2 Perform (percussion instruments), +2 Perform (sing), +2 Perform (string instruments), +2 Perform (wind instruments) Languages Celestial, Common, Elven, Sylvan, Tien SQ bardic knowledge +1, burned Other Gear leather armor, arrows (40), rapier, shortbow, backpack, belt pouch, 40 gp, 18 sp, 1 cp -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Bardic Knowledge +1 (Ex) Add +1 to all knowledge skill checks. Bardic Performance (standard action, 7 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects. Burned -1 to save vs. fire, -1 attacks, saves, skill checks if you are adjacent to or on fire. Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only). Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks. Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks. Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks. Sibling (Ameiko) (Ex) +1 vs foes threatening sibling. I'm going to wolf down some dinner while I craft a response to the intro stuff, then I'll get that posted and get onto my backstory.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
I'll finish off my tweaks when I get home tonight, do a quick backstory writeup and will be good to go. Saturday I'll be unable to post for most of the day, since I'll be traveling to, attending, then returning from the wedding. Sunday's wedding is relatively close to my place and not until early afternoon so I'll check in on the thread in the morning.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Dementrius wrote:
Sounds like a pretty standard date for me.
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Yumiko Kita wrote:
Hey, I didn't say he won't reciprocate. Just said he's likely to strike up a friendship from the start. Play your cards right and you could be the queen of Minkai :P we could rule this world, aasimar and tiefling side by side!
Male Half-couch Amateur Writer 8
Dementrius wrote:
Quick post before I go to dinner. Given Xargin's background (which I'll try to finish and post if I'm sober enough when I get home tonight, but it's free booze, so...), he's likely to strike up a friendship with the more awkward and strange people around him, since he knows how hard it can be to be that person. So he's likely to actually be friendly towards Yumiko.
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