Always sad to see a campaign end, but you need to do what's best for you. (This is a hobby after all & if you aren't having fun, then why continue?) Thanks very much to all for the opportunity this campaign offered!
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Congrats! Have an awesome celebration!
I see that James points out that among the many reasons why Paizo starts the AP's at first level is the reasoning that they can assume certain things about what the character has done before. This makes sense to me. As a story-writer/publisher, the folks at Paizo have no idea what sort of party a given DM's players will put together, but knowing that they'll start at 1st level, they can pretty much set things up to be interesting & challenging as well as serving to tell the story. It seems to me that if players & their GM don't like starting an AP at 1st level, then there's nothing to stop them other than an unwillingness to adapt the adventure to better fit their preferences. As a DM, you are in a much better position to know what kinds of character your players will make, what they will tend to do & what sorts of things they like. So it's up to you (Mr. DM/GM) to make the changes to customize your group's experience. In all my years of gaming, I've never seen a GM who's been happy with an adventure as published & who hasn't done something to make it more to their liking. Why then should Paizo need to stick their neck out to suit someone's personal preference when most people will be adapting it in some way anyway? As I said before, each GM is in a better position to know what their players will like & enjoy. The AP's give you the elements of a story to take your players through & can be thought of to provide sample encounters that help tell & move the story along. The AP's also have provided new specialized, customized mechanics that have been tailored to the story they are attempting to tell. Some GM's will look at these as useful tools for stories they have been wanting to tell but didn't quite have the right infrastructure to support it. All in all, the AP's provide quite an awesome amount of campaign support and should be appreciated for that extra oomph they provide instead of as merely a linked series of adventures. That's my opinion anyway.
Putting this here so as to not break immersion. Assuming Heimoth's maxHP total is correct (48HP), he should be getting back at least 12HP/surge spent for healing because that's the general rule for healing with surges. (Healing surge = 1/4 maxHP - round down) I looked up Lay on Hands & basically what it does is let Heimoth spend one of his surges to heal a target. The target regains as many HP as it would if it had spent a surge. i.e. if Heimoth heals himself, he'd spend a surge & get 12HP back, if Heimoth had healed Hasren, he'd spend a surge & Hasren would regain 9HP. I'm mentioning this because I'm pretty sure we don't want our Defender shorting himself HP he deserves/needs! :D
Posting here so as to not break immersion. Since the map is blocked at work, I won't be able to post until I can see it which will be something on the order of 4 hours from now. I figured I should let you all know, so you know not to expect anything sooner. Sorry about this.
Updated Hasren to 3rd level.
Cunning Ferocity
Wagyu, are you having any issues posting? You have become fairly infrequent of late. Apologies for that. The only actual posting issue I have is that it looks like work is now blocking Google docs, so I no longer have access to the maps while at work. The rest has been my fault. The past few weeks work had been unusually busy & I should have said something & compensated by checking from home more often & regularly. I've also never been good about checking on the weekend/holidays which I'll try to improve on. And as for being more mindful, this work week looks like it may become a busy one, so it will be a good time for me to train myself to be more disciplined about checking from home. Again, apologies for failing to keep up & failing to be mindful of everyone else's time.
It appears I'm arriving a bit late, but better late than never! WOW! Nice looking previews & the plan seems pretty well thought out to me. Obviously you can't please everybody, but with the plan you've come up with, it seems like folks should be able to tap into the plan somehow to get the figures they need/want. I expect I'll probably end up getting a case in order to guarantee being able to get that awesome black dragon, but like others, really would like to see the set list before making that decision. Since WizKids prefers to wait to release the set list, I guess I'll be waiting & seeing as well. Though... I'm pretty sure the set list would have to be pretty awful to turn me away from buying a case. Looking forward to seeing more info about this product line! Keep up the good work!
Hit points resetting every night - this is a big one for me - I like to grind players down so they feel they are running on empty sometimes, but I also write scenarios that only have one or two combats a day. With the HP resetting each night (and often each encounter with short rests) if I want PCs to face the possibility of death I need to get them there in one fight - but that is a difficult line to balance on, its too easy to go over it with a Critical and find yourself with a death or two, so I tend to err on the side of caution and feel some encounters aren't challenging enough. I'd like to point out that strictly speaking, this isn't true. Players get full hit points and an Action Point after taking an Extended Rest. So, if it suits your purpose, you as a DM can determine that the situation does not allow for them to take an extended rest & they will need to continue to get by with what's left of their daily allotment of healing surges, with whatever daily powers they may still have, and with their encounter & at-will powers. And there, you can also decide when it's appropriate for them to get a short rest in & when you award milestones. Yes, guidlines are provided, but you as a DM can decide that for your story-telling purposes to what degree you stick to those guidelines. I point this out because the GM in a game I play in used this point to good effect and it made for an interesting play session. (Not that we felt that way during the play session, it's only upon reflection that I can say this now.) It also made an interesting counter-point to a similar situation we had in our 3.5 campaign. In the 4E scenario, everyone felt the strain to more or less the same degree, whereas in the 3E version, the "spellcasting classes" felt unduly punished.
My 2 cents. Do less studying & do more playing. Reading through the power descriptions, they can seem dull & limiting. And on their own, they probably are. However, I've found 4th Edition is less about what one player does and more about how that player/character works with his friends/party-members. That is one place where one can find the opportunity for creative use of powers. Figuring out how your powers interact with those of your party-members to best effect in the particular situation you find yourselves in. Having said that, there are still plenty of opportunites for a player/character to shine. These come from knowing your character, the character's capabilites, the way the game plays, and keeping your eyes open for opportunities. In the main 4E game that I play in, we have a Warforged Bard that when the game started up was much mocked for being sub-optimal. No more mocking now that we've seen that in the hands of that player, the character is a fight-swinging beast. That player has through clever play, saved the party on numerous occasions where things looked really grim. I'll note that he wasn't always this way, and was initially, somewhat deserving of the ribbing he got. However, through play he learned how to build his character to suit both his preferred style of play & how to best work with the characters we "forced" him to work with. (I think it's worth pointing out, our GM was pretty lenient about letting us rebuild/modify our characters as we progressed & figured out powers & the rule system. Not necessarily so that we could min-max, but so that people could replace powers they were finding useless, frustrating, or just plain ineffective.) One other thing to keep in mind is that while you might feel limited by the number of powers your character acquires through his class, don't forget that the magic items one picks up can also add to your arsenal of tricks/cool things to do. I hope this ramble helps even though it doesn't directly address your stated concerns.
I liked the proposed look for the new minis so much I had to pre-order! Here's hoping they're a successful seller & we can look forward to more PPM iconics. I do have to say I think that Valeros's armor could do with a nice ink wash. It's something I could & probably would do if the minis are produced exactly as represented.
Sorry, I guess I didn't explain what I meant very well. I was wondering what square on the map we're currently in & had we been exploring it? It looks like we have been based on your in-game comment. Are we currently exploring D24? Oh & I looked up the exploration rules you posted & it appears I was getting exploration time mixed up with travel time. The travel time's the same, it just whether you take a chance on getting lost or not. Ok. Now that I've got that straightened out in my head I think Hasren can chip in on the conversation!
So I've lost track of where we are on the map. And going back, it's not clear to me that we've been exploring it. Have we? How much more time do we need to spend to finish mapping it out? The reason I ask is that I've been noticing our foraging hasn't been keeping up with consumption & traveling through unexplored country takes longer than through explored territory. If we're going to go Kobold hunting, I'd rather not do so on short rations. I know Hasren has a similar opinion, but I think he'd keep track better than I the player have been.
Better now! Yay! Of course, now that the weekend is upon us, I'll probably neglect to check the thread. I'll do my best to make sure I check no later than Monday morning (Pacific time) though.
Hey guys, caught some sort of bug, so I won't be around much.
I think as a weapon user you can eke out a slight edge to hit with good weapon choice & feat support. Your total bonus to hit will be higher, though your target (AC) will tend to be higher too. Also, as far as ability to take punishment, remember quite a bit of healing depends on surges. Your 13 surges to Marc's 7 means you can soak up quite a bit more damage during a day than he can. The way Aubrey's dice have been going, you're probably going to be glad you do have that extra healing capacity...
Figured this might be a less immersion-breaking place to let everyone know I've updated Hasren to 2nd level. Also, in updating, I noticed I'd totally forgotten about the Virtue of Valor. As of 2nd level, it's now new & improved thanks to my 2nd level feat. The first person I notice bloodying or taking to 0HP a foe gains a +2 bonus to their next damage roll before the end of their next turn in addition to 4 temp HPs!
Dotting to follow your process & soon to be coming adventures.
I thought it might be something like this. Enjoy your time off & get well! See you when we see you.
Yikes! Sorry to hear about your injury. Rest & get well soon! (But take as much time as you need, your health & well-being are more important!) We'll still be here when you get back!
NCIBB treatment forthcoming! I think I'll wait until I get home before inflicting that on ya! :p Ok... trying to save myself some embarrassment, I plugged in your info to Character Builder and the only thing that picked up is that it says you should have 32 gp instead of 31. CB lists Ki Focus as costing 0 gp under Adventuring Gear. My guess is that's where the difference comes from. So... need another 30 arrows? :P
Color me embarrassed! On the drive home, I finally twigged to what Davi was saying and that fits the evidence much more than my ramblings! Yeah, it appears Terra's Con & Dex are switched. I guess you plugged your stats in 4E order into the 3.5/Pathfinder character template. (The difference being Dex & Con locations!) Fix that & everything else makes sense! (Except that as Heimoth points out, you'll be getting +1 Sylvan Hide armor, so I guess you'll need to add that & adjust accordingly.) Apologies for my uninformed blathering!
NCIBB treatment forthcoming! I think I'll wait until I get home before inflicting that on ya! :p
That's what I get for being lazy! Primal Predator +1 bonus to speed when in non-Heavy armor! And thanks on the info on Auspicious birth! Don't have that info handy at work. (which I should be leaving instead of staying at in order to post here!) Still... don't want her running out of healing surges! Ok... ok... so let's see... that makes me a nosey, chatty, lazy, ignorant busy-body yeah?
It looks like you need to adjust your NADS I KNEW that would get someone's attention! :D
@ Aubrey Hope you don't mind that I peeked. It looks like you need to adjust your NADS (Non-AC Defenses). Fort is better of Str & Con bonus & so should be Fort 13Ref is better of Dex & Int bonus +1 for Druids, so should be Ref 11 Will defense looks ok, the better of Wis & Cha bonuses +1. Will 16 I also noticed your speed is 8. I'm not all-knowing so there might be a bonus you get from somewhere, or since elves normally have a speed of 7, it might also be a typo, so I thought I'd point that out. Hope I'm not being too much of a nosey busy-body. Oh... oh yes. Welcome! Edits: More stuff, hit points seem high. I would expect them to be 28 @ 1st level with a 16 Con, but maybe Auspicious birth grants more? ALso you seem to have shorted yourself on surges per day Druids get 7+Con mod, so it should be 10 healing surges per day. Hmmm... looking above, I guess I'm the nosey, chatty, busy-body! :D
I'm not sure, but I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves. My memory's not the greatest, so maybe I'm forgetting something, or maybe it was there & I just missed it from the beginning, but as far as I can recall, thus far, our charter grants us the right to explore this region on behalf of the Kingdom of Brevoy & charges us with putting down banditry as we encounter it. I don't think there's anything about giving us the right to set up a kingdom down here (yet!) I think we might be acting on player knowledge about what the adventure path is about and that's making things more complicated than they should be at this point of the adventure. Given this, our "system" of justice, should be limited to what we can manage. Currently, we can charge someone with the crime of unrepentent banditry & put them to death, or we can beat & release. We don't have the manpower to do anything else. If we hire Garess to protect the Trading post, we MIGHT be able to get him to look after a bandit who chooses the rehabilitation option, but he's only got 3 men with him & I think that puts a limit on how many "former" bandits we can give that option without putting the community at risk. I think for now, we should try to keep it simple & manageable, beat & release for special cases, death for the others to show banditry will not be tolerated.
And this is why I shouldn't post when I'm tired. The Mud-man map row height was 25 not 45. Everything else should be correct. Also, now that I see what you mean Aubrey, I see just how badly that the jpegs uploaded to Photobucket wouldn't have worked. I didn't know about the display size limit. I like what you've done with the Google docs spreadsheet!
Thought I'd see what people could see on this map. Height 45, Width 4 Border fonts & "Campsite" text are Arial 10pt, NPC's are Arial 6pt, PC's are arial 8pt. What is actually legible for folks? Map Experiment - Chasing down the Mud-Man I can read just about all of it, though the cross-outs on the dead guys do obscure the text. My screen resolution is set to 1920x1080 Obviously, with the larger cells I can use larger fonts for legibility, but I thought I'd see what the effect was if I just enlarged the cell size.
Sample of map with larger cells (Height 25, Width 4, font 12pt Arial)
Paint also gives other options for file type, so maybe a larger bmp file might retain the desired clarity. Map template with larger cells jpeg format (432kb) Same template saved as a bitmap. (10Mb & it's blank! yowza!) These new ones don't get to the original size. Photobucket limitation? I can try replicating the encounter map & add text of various sizes to further test legibility.
I came to the same conclusion about the Google docs spreadsheet. I had thought it might be better to do the map that way both so I could upload while at work (at least until work blocks that access) and becuase people might then be able to interact with the document & be better able to figure out/keep track of squares better. However, I just found it didn't have what I wanted when making a map. As for the map-making in Excel, all I'm doing is making the map in Excel, selecting the relevent section of the spreadsheet, copying & pasting it into Paint & then saving as a jpeg file. I haven't seen if it's possible to scale the map up. Edit: I had been using the default row height(12.75) & a column width of 2, but I just tried row height 25 & column width 4 with nice results. Should allow a larger font size for legibility. (This last go around bad guys font size was 6, heroes 8.
I think what you'll need to do is adjust your thinking. Sure your powers do damage, but since everyone else's does too, so what? The important thing to remember is your character's focus. Yeah you have combat powers, but have you optimized your character to be good at it? Or have you selected your stats & feats to focus on the non-combat aspects of your character? You'll note when you look at the Bard's powers, they all have extra things they do beyond the damage. So, pick the powers based on those aspects and totally ignore how much damage they do. Heck, pick the powers based on the flavor text that seems to fit the personality & predilections of your character. Also, don't overlook Multi-class Versatility. It lets you take multiple multi-class feats, so you can pick up additional skills & powers, so see what might be of interest for your character there. I guess ultimately, what I'm saying is there's a big difference between having combat powers & being good in combat. Play up that difference in any way you can.
As the party debate, a gaggle of villagers troop in. Some carry implements such as axes and scythes, and a couple bear ropes. Their faces look resolute and angry. Heh. Looks like someone decided the pot needed stirring and a few spices added...
Ha! Aleph's so helpful! (It's disturbing how knowledgeable he is on this matter...)
The questioning seems to be going well. Shall we try the same approach with the other bandit as a way to confirm this info? Try the same tactic with Happ? Or use some other method? Maybe let Heimoth or Aleph lead off with intimidate on Happ instead?
Sorry I went offline & wasn't around for the follow-up of the questioning. I see Aleph filled in nicely. He may not have rolled too well on his intimidate skill, but it appears his up in the grill rapid-fire questions worked pretty well. I'll pretend my prep work helped! :P
"Welcome back to the world of the living." Hasren says to the bandit after tending to his wounds. Heal check to revive/trigger Second Wind if any "I for one, admire your bravery..." "and thought you might be worth saving." he says glancing back at the scary men, and then gives the bandit an almost apologetic look. "But you're going to have to do something to convince my companions that you're worth saving. I have a few ideas, but you'd do yourself the most good if you came up with something yourself. Any ideas?" he says with a hopeful look. Diplomacy - to deliver the offer
Enjoy your time off!
It may vary depending on defenses that the bad guys of the moment attack, but I'd guess Heimoth in most cases. He has the best AC, lots of hit points, and can self-heal even beyond Second Wind. Plus he tends to want to do that anyway... ;)
Yah! He hasn't even used his Second Wind yet! :P
yah, i guess i don't have the patience for those types of actions... Give me my actions now, my food microwaved, and my tv shows DVR'd! That's why you're a striker yeah? :P
Grasping Tide - PH Heroes Series 1:
Grasping Tide (Druid) A vortex of water appears amidst your foes, drawing them into its grasp. At-Will
Secondary Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex
Fire Hawk - Primal Power:
Fire Hawk A hawk of flame swoops on your foe, burning it. The hawk hovers for a moment, ready to swoop in for another attack should that foe’s defenses falter. At-Will
Fire Hawk Attack
Swarming Locusts - Primal Power: Swarming Locusts Insects launch from you to vex your enemies. At-Will
I don't know that i ever understood that Druid At-Will, either. I always just skipped it for something else, then again, i've only really played a druid who focused on BeastForm combat. From the compendium: Hit: The target can't gain combat advantage until the end of your next turn. In addition, on its next turn the target takes psychic damage equal to 5 + your Wisdom modifier when it makes any attack that doesn't include your ally nearest to it as a target.My reading of it is that the target(s) hit by this spell take damage if they do not attack the ally of yours that is closest to them. For myself, that would seem to suggest you would most like to use this when the closest ally has good defenses against the attacks the target(s) can muster. Also, I can see how you would use it if you would like to keep melee enemies close to a particular ally rather than bypassing him to get at other (squishier) targets. So I guess it's a soft control? The targets have the choice of what to do, but there's a damage penalty if they don't attack the ally of yours that is closest to them.
i'm a big fan of rolling two attack rolls! :) Who isn't? Well... unless it's a pugwampi kind of two attack roll...
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