Griola smiles widely and claps his hands together, Splended! You and your party will need to travel to Jalmeray. The pilgrim is a priest named Xeriban. I don't know where she was going, but she's overdue.
Griola pulls out a pair of documents, he slides one across the table. There's a boat leaving from dock 12 at high tide. This will get you and your companions a cabin to Jalmeray.
He slides the other envelope across. And this letter of introduction will get you a meeting with Kharswan's seneschel. I hear he's peculiar to elven wine.
Griola stands, once you've located Xeriban, or determined what happened to her, you'll need to find your way to Almas. Go to the Academy of Scribes. The letter of introduction will get you a meeting with the local head of the order, Dakkar de Enrev Seluj. Ask for a travel visa as your reward.
Assuming there are no questions, Griola concludes with the following statement.
Griola walks to the doorway and motions to Lian, good luck and fortune with you. And may your gods be with you on your journey. Oh, and you have about four hours to high tide.
In these times everyone has needs, and priorities. Some, like those displaced refugee's in the streets, may only be thinking of today. Others may only be thinking of this year. Some, well, those rare ones are thinking of their children's children.
Griola takes another sip from his glass, it's called bourbon. Not something we have here. Which is a travesty. It's made from a secret recipe by Ken Tuky. Apparently a family secret. I haven't been able to figure it out.
Griola sighs and sets his glass on the table as he gives Lian an appraising look. What is your priority?
As such, we are relying on the players to decide what direction they want to go in. We'll continue to provide information IC through NPC's and CNN, but we're letting the players do the driving.
Our railroad has been delayed due to a shortage of ballast.
Mugmuff moves his hand towards the middle array of six cards. As his hand clears the tables edge the other two piles flash into ash and an unfelt breeze swirls the ashes into the air where they seem to hover over the table.
The harrower closes her eyes and mumbles quietly to herself for a moment. Her hand reaches forward and flips the first card over.
The Survivor, inverted thuds to the table with a rumble.
him? or another? She opens her eyes and stares at Mugmuff, the fabric of your life has a great loss woven into it. Whether the past or the future, I can not see. You are frayed, either from its aftermath or its coming.
Staring into Mugmuff's eyes her fingers lift and flop over the next card that shows a vacant throne. With her eyes locked on Mugmuff's the harrower declares, this represents the lesson you were given. Did you heed it?
As her hand moves to the next card, it flips itself, landing crossed next to the Empty Throne. This time her vision shifts to stare at the Idiot. You will be driven by your desires. Do not let them rule you.
As she stops speaking the fourth card rises on the corners and crawls across the table to flop down below the Empty Throne both crossed and inverted. It rolls over onto its back to an image of an owl, one wing spread wide, the other curled in. Its eyes seem to track your every move. A blood tear rolls down the harrower's cheek as she sees the card. You are fated to live by destruction, or to die for life unseen.
The harrower pauses staring at the last two cards. Teh air grows heavy with pressure as her hand, now trembling, reaches for the fifth card when the dust that had been circling the table spirals down into a small tornado and flips the card over displaying the Cyclone. With bloody tears now falling to the table, the harrower managers to whisper, it can not be stopped. We are doomed.
No longer looking like a woman in her 30's the prime of her life, the harrower seems to have aged a generation as her age-spotted hand shakes with tremors as she reaches for the last card. She lifts the card to her face to as if to see it with dim eyes. She sighs and seems to sink into herself as she whispers Your destiny is done. Fate has no hold on you. Her lifeless fingers release the card. The Juggler is seen as the card swirls towards the table.
Just as one edge of the card touches the table, all of the cards blacken, curl, and are whisked up by the tornado that grows to reach the ceiling, but is felt only by Mugmuff. Teh tornado blows apart and the room returns to normal.
except for the corpse of an old woman curled into the chair in front of Mugmuff.
I was curious about previously existing gods, especially ones that vanished (such as Amaznen), fell into obscurity due to worshippers being destroyed (Peacock Spirit) or straight died (Aroden, Curchanus, Acavna).
We're sorry, but dead gods are dead. We are not looking to having characters that are reborn or reincarnations of gods.
Vrog Skyreaver wrote:
DM Fnord, I see you posted pretty much right after I added my build to my above post. Quick question: Have you guys decided how the defensive powers work (like walk between the rain)? I purchased a mithral shirt, but I will swap it out once I know how my defense will be handled. Thanks!
Many of the words and gifts will be specifically adjusted as they are selected by players. This doesn't mean we want a bunch of requests just to see what the conversion looks like. We're working to make sure they are balanced to each other, don't overly break the game, but remain powerful.
For Walk Between the Rain Is adjusted to read as "You have an armor bonus of +9, You cannot be hit by anything not driven by a purpose unless you allow it; falling objects will never strike you unless some will to harm you set them in motion. Traps meant to hit an intruder have a chance to hit you. Armor and shields don't benefit you." A mithral shirt isn't providing any benefit to you. Random falling objects will not hit you, but traps may still apply as they are passive, but still designed to hit someone.
Nikolaus de'Shade wrote:
Also - as part of buffing my race to 20 RP I wanted to take Soul Seer. (Have deathwatch permanently) - it's limited to Outsiders only, but I'm playing a reincarnated goddess of death/endings in a human body - so its immensely fluffy and appropriate to the character, but not mechanically permitted. Will the GM's allow this for fluff's sake or not? :)
Use of ARG is problematic as it is. Racial modifications must be legal according to ARG. This includes a constant deathwatch. It is within the realm of possibility to have deathwatch as a spell-like ability within the ARG rules.
Devon Prissault wrote:
While you're working on questions, maybe you could think about this one, too?
** spoiler omitted ** <Down graded Drow Noble>
Since any use of ARG is assumed to be an entire group of people, and knowing how hostile drow are to each other. How and why would other drow clans allow such a crippled clan to continue to exist if their nobles were only half as capable? We need more information about why you would rather have half a drow noble over a better than typical drow.
Sedelion Deighstalach wrote:
1) How are we doing HP for comapanions (currently she will have 5d8)?
2) For the 4th (and subsequent) level stat boost, it says to raise by +1... given PCs are getting +2 for level 4, will animal companions get a similar extra stat point, or are we sticking to the normal progression plan?
We are still looking at the specifics on this. At this point we are likely to provide some boost. It will not be as extensive as the PC's get.
------------
Ash.. We do need more than one sentence to describe your branch of half-elves. And no VMC.
Escape route would be a really good choice, I also have an ability to teleport past the front line, so with that we could really work groups of enemies.
I'm tempted to let you play with "li'l Pete". One of the best villians I ever came up with.
He's a mouse.
Well not just any mouse.
He used to be a wizard's familiar.
Now he takes over humans to be his familiar.
Used him on a group of players. They kept killing the 'wizard' couldn't figure out why the evil organization wasn't collapsing. Took them a while to realize that each new wizard boss had the same freaking mouse familiar.
A mouse with epic intelligence and loads of silent spells (no one really notices a mouse jumping around anyway)
Thought the group was going to blow a gasket when they finally started figuring out why all the evil safe houses were in cheesery's.
I also have nearly all the books in hardcover, and most of them in pdf.
I like the themed powers angle. Would you be expecting us to design our powers around one of the alien races and have a background tie-in to that race's influence on our DNA?
I have been tasked with providing the background rules from the predecessor of this game. If you have questions regarding any of these, please speak up! We're all here to have fun!
General Conduct:
Read this first!
If you want to play in this game, you need to be an experienced player. While this seems harsh to newer players, the following reasons show why we have taken this stance.
Having a character at this level requires:
Significantly more dedication than your average game. This is not an Adventure Path starting at level 1.
Attention to detail (both in character creation and in gameplay). More in next point.
Keeping up to date on ALL gameplay posts. Sometimes it is hard to catch everything, but when players repeatedly and consistently miss details they they should have caught? It bogs down the game while we suddenly have to check because you didn’t bother to make sure you knew the spell you were casting.
A solid understanding of the rules with a willingness to learn more about them and often as questions come up. And believe us when we say that those questions will come up.
General Conduct
Anyone who wishes to make a character needs to keep calm during this process. It will be long and drawn out. If you find yourself getting upset, just take a break. This is a forum which facilitates being able to think things through a lot more than a tabletop game. It is advantageous to work on this when in a refreshed state so as to have the mindset needed to understand everything that is being done.
Being that this is high-level play, it is expected that the players post 2-3 times a week on average. As for quality, there needs to be more than "I move here and attack", or “I cast a spell and do (action)” when the spell hasn’t been fully read and comprehended.
In a game like this, there needs to be a lot of thought in many of the posts you will make. All players need to link URLs for the said class/racial ability (or what have you) in their posts to ensure the info is easily found and understood. Not doing this means it unnecessarily drags down a game in an already slow gaming medium.
That being said, this is just a game. No need to treat it like it is serious business! We have seen enough of people acting like real life shouldn't barge in on just about any point of the game. It stands to reason that everyone has seen enough of that to last a lifetime. Real life can and does come up, more often for some players than for others. Bottom line: don’t treat gaming like it is more important than the people who play. That attitude is not welcome here.
Character Gen Background:
Background: Extensive. What did your character do in its life that got it to where it is now? How does your character know the existing characters? What role does your character take in Golarion currently? Note: we do not need the smallest details of your daily activities. The important events that make up who they are is what we seek here.
Character sheets should include breakdowns to easily allow verification of math. This includes crafted gear, stats, saves, skills, etc. Narrow interpretations of vague rules will likely not be accepted. Google docs is the preferred method of keeping your character sheet.
Please note that your character sheet will be reviewed by the other players, and GMs. You will be asked to explain unusual capabilities. Failure to do so will likely result in not being accepted.
This game is about more than just having the highest possible attack or damage. Characters that are narrowly focused will likely not be considered. You must be willing to accept critiquing of your build and suggestions to merge your character with the existing characters.
This game uses cooperative rule enforcement from players and the GM's. The characters are too complicated and detailed to leave all of this to a GM.
Anyone who wishes to make a character needs to keep calm during this process. It will be long and drawn out. If you find yourself getting upset, just take a break. This is a forum which facilitates being able to think things through a lot more than a tabletop game. It is advantageous to work on this when in a refreshed state so as to have the mindset needed to understand everything that is being done.
Being that this is high-level play, it is expected that the players post 2-3 times a week on average. As for quality, there needs to be more than "I move here and attack". In a game like this, there needs to be a lot of thought in many of the posts. Players need to link URLs in their posts to ensure the info is easily found and understood. Not doing this means it unnecessarily drags down an already slow gaming medium.
That being said, this is just a game. No need to treat it like it is serious business! I have seen enough of people acting like real life shouldn't barge in on just about any level. I imagine that everyone has seen enough of that to last a lifetime. It is not welcome here.
well, let's see... He's good, he's also pretty close to godlike as far as the rank and file are concerned. He'd have to have a lot of his classes, feats, and abilities sunk into methods of keeping his reputation from preceding him, his aura from blasting any priests that glanced his way, etc.
So with a background that explains how he somehow managed to make no lasting impressions with anyone while saving entire communities from hordes of evil monsters, I guess it might be possible to not have a trail of followers.
But, I'm having a hard time seeing that. Since the feat is free, I can make it GM controlled and give him an army of fanatical, uncontrolled, followers willing to do what they think he wants them to do...
Withe the expectation that this game will have a lot of data (cohort's followers, organizations, etc), trying to squeeze all of that into an alias will be... interesting.
Using an alias for your character is preferred. Is it an accessibility issue for an out of forum character sheet?
Got your PM, and will be looking it over. Thanks!
I think what I dislike the most about using an alias for the character sheet is that so often I have to type it up in a word doc anyway, lest paizo time out and I loose everything.
And then, when I'm typing it in a word doc, I have to include all the bbc coding for a copy/paste to an alias. That coding then becomes a nuisance to reading and editing in the word doc. Especially if you start adding hyperlinks to your document, the words I'd like to use just can't be typed. :)
Whereas, I can, in my copious free time, build a template document that already has a lot of hyperlinks in it, and use it for many characters.
For instance, Validk has just about everything you could think of on the character sheet linked: skills, spells, class abilities, racial abilities, special abilities, equipment, magical properties, etc.
I have no problem with using the enchanting of a holy avenger as a quest.
That's a lot of posts scattered over several different threads to sort through for other examples. Many of the AP's have end levels of 15-17. What do you think would happen after an AP?
I can be patient. I'd rather that we took the time to develop a character that would fit into the world and work with the other players well then to be accepting rushed jobs. The basic crunch for a character of this magnitude is pretty extensive of itself. Before people got too much into the crunch, I'd rather work with them on what they are thinking a game like this would be, and how they fit.
One thing I have noticed. Players that are drooling to make an uber damage dealing horror from nightmare and go rampaging from one boss to another will not like this game.
Consider this sequence:
GM: You are approaching the town of Redhill. Before you stand the main gates. At the entrance you can see several guards checking everyone that wishes to enter the town. It has been a long trek, but the fence that sold the idol resides here. Now to just find him.
Player: I roll knowledge, local. I have a +15, and rolled a total of 32.
GM: How are you finding out that information? You haven't entered the town yet.
Player: Well, I walked in and rolled.
GM: The guards ask you to stop and are collecting tolls for any magical equipment you may have.
Player: They aren't searching me. I roll diplomacy, I have a +25, ooh, my total is 41! They're my friends and let me in!
Then there is this sequence:
GM: You are approaching the town of Redhill. Before you stand the main gates. At the entrance you can see several guards checking everyone that wishes to enter the town. It has been a long trek, but the fence that sold the idol resides here. Now to just find him.
Player: I'll approach some of those waiting to get in and ask what's up. Oh, my diplomacy roll is a 22.
GM: The guards are collecting tolls on magical gear.
Player: Well, I don't want them knowing I have this sword. I'll wait and see what they are doing. My perception roll is 27.
Do you see the difference between these? One demands action based on the roll of the dice. The other describes desired actions and provides a roll of the dice.
In one of the first encounters of the game (on another thread, another GM) one of the players made a character that took down a spawn of rovagug. We're talking Tarrasque's little brother. He did this nearly single handed, and in only a couple of rounds. In pbp, this took a few days. When the player realized that it was likely going to be a while before the next battle as the other players discussed how to keep said spawn from waking up after being defeated, the player bailed on the game as it was not enough action for his character that was not built for anything but combat.
Keep in mind that the players have to build a high level epic character once. The GM has to create BBG's for each combat encounter. That's a huge workload. There isn't a handy book of epic mythic monsters to just pull random encounters from either. Therefore, ensuring that the players that join are the type that will be just as happy in the world-building, empire saving type of game that lets me, as the GM, develop an epic encounter as a climax to a story rather than this week's random encounter, is key.
This means the story of the character is going to mean as much, or more, than the crunch of the character.
I gave a joke post about researching a grease spell that used banana's.
But...
Then I started thinking about a jokester. A chaotic character who's spells had a slight bend to them.
Not the stab your friends in the back kind of chaotic. Nor the "kill the village to save it" kind either.
The "he cast a spell and the floor was covered in banana peels" kind.
Every spell, or nearly every one, has some sort of twist to it.
Keep in mind that the backstory already has an assumption that no two wizards write their spells the same, hence the spellcraft check needed to copy a spell from a spellbook.
I'm thinking something like:
Instead of burning hands, it's a flaming gas attack. The somatic component being turning around, bending over, and holding a match between his legs.
Casting fly and little wings sprout from ankles, or flower petals spray from one's backside.
To cast phasewall one must draw a door on the wall.
Casting mount isn't necessarily a horse. Might also be a rainbow colored zebra, an alpaca, a donkey, or a dog on a tricylce.
I'll leave it to your imagination how create water works.
F Peri-blooded Half-Celestial Aasimar Wizard 8 / Arcane Savant 7
Well, that was almost kinda a let down... I expected a bit more whining as we defeated him. I mean it's been ages since anyone got this close. Not even a "NOOOOOoooooooo"
Nagato regains the surface, her final act to strike once more at whatever had been under the sand. The other's draw closer to her and consider what they have witnessed even as Jacob casts haste over them.
Below the sands roil and churn as a massive object moves off towards the southeast. The surface disturbance quickly abates as the object? A creature? The USO's passing is soon unnoticeable.
The party floats or flies in gentle circles dozens of feet in the air. Beneath them the burning sands of a waterless desert spread out to the horizon in each direction. The suns over head burn down on the sands creating visible waves as the air near the surface heats and rises, pushing past cooler air that settles down to be heated in its turn.
All pear into the distance as a sinuous line of sand from another USO approaches from the northwest. This is different though, even at a half mile it is easy to tell that the displace sand indicates a much larger object.
Those that have hair feel it standing up as if the very air is becoming charged with energy.
F Peri-blooded Half-Celestial Aasimar Wizard 8 / Arcane Savant 7
Manisha pulls her staff from her haversack, and tightly gripping it, she'll move forward, trying to stay to the shadows or cover. She'll try to get to a point where she can cast haste and get as many of the party as possible.
Always rushing off, never waiting for magical enhancements, typical hotheaded skirmishers. sigh.
As the four heroes converse among themselves, you get an impression that yuou are gleaming only a very small part of the conversations going on in the room. As if you are not the only group conversing with the convocation.
Any magical detection:
Does not operate beyond the platform you are standing on, as if coming into contact with an antimagic field.
+++++
Nagato hears a voice speaking to him, looking up he sees The Old Man wink. Your quest of enlightenment had been long and fruitful, "Eternal" though it is not. Your recent actions have drawn attention. Facing down a Spawn without preparation was most interesting. Should you choose to walk this path, you will find your quest transcending many boundaries. What you know will be tested, crushed, and rebuilt.
The Old Man serenely slides a hand into his robe. Pulling his closed fist out, he gently opens it to reveal a small roundish stone. The stone disappears from his fist and Nagato feels a slight shift of weight in his left pocket. Contemplate the Shifu when you return. It will guide you to Sanctuary of Stones. To return you must find Borobudur.
+++++
A five winged, regally adorned lady sets a cup in mid air, as it floats she reaches behind and plucks two large feathers from her wings, one white, one black. From a pocket she draws forth a small bundle of barley and wheat stalks heavily laden with seeds. Pulling a strip of leather from a pouch she quickly ties the items together, forming a paired headband.
With a flap of her wings, she glides down to the floor and approaches the platform. Kneeling, to bring her to eye level with the heroes, she reaches her arm through an invisible screen that shimmers around her hand and presents the headband to Jacob. Your actions were reckless. Your planning was brief. Had you failed, Golarion may have been devastated, as was Eridanus. She grins at Jacob, you prevailed. And for a good greater than your own. May this small token be of benefit when your foot knows not where next to rest. We know not where your quests will take you, nor what path you should take. Those with prescience are finding the future too fragmented to see. This was not the time for his awakening. Go, with the blessing of the Accidental.
+++++
Typically adorned in elegant yet functional armor, a ghaele azata floats down to the floor as Thias returns to her seat. Sivanah may not enter these halls. She understands the imbalance and threat that greets us all. As such, Shelyn has agreed that I may act as her emissary. When all seems hopeless and hatred abounds, then this symbol will point the way. She hands over a small, intricately carved metallic disk of three spirals, twisted and entwined.
Walk into a crowded market place, cast waves of ecstasy.
Open a very exclusive, high end club in Cheliax or Absalom. Charge a high premium on the food and drink. Hire lots of pretty/handsome waitstaff. Cast waves of ecstasy as the high point of the evening.
You can put roman orgies to shame.
Or you could take yet another combat spell, meh.
RE: Lord's Banner. Since the boon is selected when the spell is cast. I would suggest that you would be safe with identifying the boon on the banner when it is created. If you want to change the boon every time you pull the banner out, I'm not sure that would make sense for something that is not a command word activation. Making it command word would possibly change the base cost.
I also thought it had been determined that pre-start all gear had to be crafted by yourself. No cohorts, followers, or other players.
If I have to reduce my combat ability to buy the feats so you can have cheaper gear, it sounds like a win for you-lose for me.
If you want to have crafted gear, take at least 5 ranks in an appropriate craft or profession skill, take the feat Master Craftsman, and then you can take Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item.
Init. +10; AC 33, T 20, FF 27; F+13, R+16, W+18 HP 31/107; Spell Effects: Detect Scrying, Endure Elements, Fly, Nondetection, Mindblank, Magic Aura, Planar Adaption, Arcane Sight, Blur, Haste
I am sorry, I am not a divine caster, and I have no food myself. I can provide you with water. Hopefully, my companions will be able to bring something back. Reaching into her haversack, she pulls out a bottle, and finding a bin she un-stoppers it, allowing a gusher of water to pour forth, first rinsing out the bin, then filling it with cool, clean water.
The flesh of those creatures may corrupt you just by eating it, please don't be patient, you have survived this far.
