GM Scallywag's page

Hello, I would like to please cancel my AP Subscription. Thank you very much!

I subscribed to grab some books to try out Starfinder; I may wind up resubbing down the road once I try 'em out. Please keep my Pathfinder AP subscription active. Thanks for all you do!

Hiya! I recently subbed to the Starfinder APs, but my order for Starfinder Adventure Path #7: The Reach of Empire is still listed as Pending (the next AP in the subscription, Starfinder Adventure Path #8: Escape from the Prison Moon, has just been listed as Completed).

I subbed during the tragic Websitefall, so just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in the explosion. Thanks!

I'll post up tomorrow with the aftermath of the Owlbear fight.

Hiya, folks, and welcome to Skull and Shackles v. 2.0!

Before we start, I would like to hear a bit of feedback about the previous campaign. One of the advantages of having a new GM is that you can say what you didn't like about the previous game without worrying about hurting my feelings. So, I have a few simple questions: Is there anything you'd like to see included in the new PbP? What went well...or not so well? This is to help me figure out where to take the game from here on out, and to give me a chance to try to cater to everyone's gaming style.

I, for one, noticed that a lot of physical descriptions were lacking. To remedy this, I will try to make sure that I give a brief description of NPCs you meet, and if there is art of that character, I will post it up on a OneDrive account.

Open!

The cheering of the crowd surges through the air, raising into a deafening crescendo as it becomes apparent that the ultimate match of the qualifying tournament has reached its final conclusion. A small human dressed in resplendent ruby-colored robes approaches, flanked on either side by two large, armored bodyguards. The short man raises a hand towards the audience for silence, which they reluctantly give. He calls your name in a light, high-pitched voice, and hands you a scroll case with an elaborately detailed picture of a ruby-colored phoenix on the outside. Inside the case is a small scroll, its writing in a gold tinted ink. It reads:

Congratulations! Your fighting prowess has been proven. The Emissary, on behalf of the Grand Bank of Abadar, invites you to partake in the thirty-first Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Each member of the victor’s team shall receive their choice of a single item from the Vault of Hao Jin, the famed Ruby Phoenix. So it is judged.

Signed, Sifu Xho Nuo

As you finish reading the scroll, the short eunuch’s eyebrow ticks upwards as he awaits your reply.

At present, each of you are in a separate major arena in different cities. The qualifying matches have been held all at the same time, and you have just finished the last match of the qualifying tournament. You will be united shortly, but for now, feel free to take the opportunity to bask in your victory and address the man that is currently demanding your attention. If you wish to make a small statement as to how you won the final round (ie, "It was an easy victory; the stupid fool never expected me to set him on fire," or "I was about to lose, but had a last minute victory thanks to that my opponent tripping over her own spear") feel free to do so!

Once everyone has posted once, I will move it forward.

A small human dressed in resplendent ruby-colored robes approaches, flanked on either side by two large, armored bodyguards. His eyes flit between a piece of paper that he holds and your face, as if verifying who you are. He calls your name in a light, high-pitched voice, and hands you a scroll case with an elaborately detailed picture of a ruby-colored phoenix on the outside. Inside the case is a small scroll, its writing in a gold tinted ink. It reads:

Congratulations! Your fighting prowess has been proven. The Emissary, on behalf of the Grand Bank of Abadar, invites you to partake in the thirty-first Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Each member of the victor’s team shall receive their choice of a single item from the Vault of Hao Jin, the famed Ruby Phoenix. So it is judged.

Signed, Sifu Xho Nuo

As you finish reading the scroll, the short eunuch’s eyebrow ticks upwards as he awaits your reply.

---------------------------------------------------

I am currently recruiting four players for a non-PFS PbP of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament module. This module takes place over the course of a five day tournament held on Xielan Island in the harbor of Goka. Each day features a single match, a single test of skill, and a single exhibition match…and possibly a few surprises. Participants are not allowed to leave the island once the tournament has begun. The each of victor’s team’s members is allowed to choose a single item from Hao Jin’s Vault, which contains artifacts both major and minor, as well as numerous other objects and items of value or power. Further flavor details on Hao Jin and the tournament will be placed in the next post. Below are some outlines for prospective players and characters.

This module features performance combat, so you may want to look into that prior to making your character!

Player and Character Rules and Requirements

1) You Do Not Talk About the Ruby Phoenix Tournament Wait, no, that’s…no.
2) The usual Paizo rule: Don’t be a jerk!
3) Be able to post at least once per day, if not more.
4) Starting level is 11. 20-point buy, 2 traits (no campaign traits or drawbacks), 82,000gp to buy equipment; this money is going towards purchasing the gear outright, not crafting. All Paizo material for classes, spells, archetypes, etc. is allowed, save for Synthesist Summoners, Gunslingers, the Leadership feat, and ACG classes.*
5) Remember when making your character that you started at level 1! By which I mean your level one feat could not have been something that required BAB +8.
6) Race selection is restricted to the core races, tengu, aasimars, tieflings, dhampirs, and skinwalkers.
7) Make a character that can fit into the setting. If you make a rogue that specializes in poison, that would be looked upon unfavorably in a tournament setting. You'll probably want to take Tien as a language.
8) NE and CE alignments are offlimits. LE is fine if you have a reason that you won't PK your teammates; for example, if you want to play a Red Mantis Assassin, that is fine. If you want to play an Anti-Paladin of Rovagug, not so much.
9) Once you have a good idea for your character, please fill out the following “form”:
How to make an Application:

* I feel I should also mention that while I am allowing all material and a fair amount of starting gold, I will be much less likely to pick you if you enter a cheesed-out character. RBT is a fun little module, but it isn’t intended to be very deadly. You won’t need a min-maxed character to beat the module. Also note that this is largely a martial tournament; as such, the final party may not be a standard Tank-DPS-Divine-Arcane set up.

Gameplay Rules

1) Combat will be adjudicated using either a shared GoogleDoc, or occasionally simply by using the power of imagination (some of the expedition matches are 1v1 set-ups, and I likely will not use a grid for those).
2) If you do not post during combat within 18 hours of the start of your turn, your may be delayed.
3) If you do not post for 48 hours without notice, you may be removed from the group and replaced.

I plan to leave recruitment open for a week or two, depending on interest and number of applicants. I'll post when I have a sure deadline.

I'm planning to start up a RBT group, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on two aspects of the module. I will be running it as a non-PFS module, so some of the aspects that are already inside the module become less useful. Namely, why the players are there if not sent by the Society to recover the tapestry. While I could default back to the original Society storyline, I would like to use this opportunity to come up with something more engrossing to non-Society characters. My questions are below, suggestions will be greatly appreciated:

1. How did the players enter the tournament? What heroic deeds did they accomplish to make it there? Were they hired to enter the tournament, or they enter of their own accord?

2. What happens if the players get to the end of the module, and cannot decide on which item to take with them?

One of the most common problems that I seem to see on the forums here and on Reddit is this one: Your GM or one of the players is not enjoyable to play with. They metagame, whine and complain, abuse the rules, or are otherwise simply unpleasant to play with. But, there's a catch; you're good friends outside the game. While in a normal setting you might simply walk away from the group or ask the offending party to leave, that may not be an option here.

I had one session wherein a player - and friend - drank somewhere around a dozen bottles of alcoholic apple cider, and spent most of the session getting cheese poof powder all over...well, everything, really. I had to hand wash my dice after that session, and throw out my character sheet. The player in question ended the session face-down on the carpet - he had somehow ended up under his chair - attempting to make his dice rolls in that position. We decided it was for the best to cut that session short. We later had to have a small intervention on the subject of his drinking at the table; he's since cut back significantly on his alcohol.

What are your "Bad Friend RPG" stories? How did you resolve them, or are they still ongoing?

I originally made this account with the username Perish Song for the main account for online anonymity, but have since primarily used an alias with my actual name for the RPG Superstar contest.

Is it at all possible to have make my Alias into the main account so that it has that dashing blue color and displays forum titles?

During public voting rounds, contestants are prohibited from any public discussion that could be considered as adding to, expanding upon, or clarifying the content of their current submissions. This applies to (but is not limited to) interviews, personal blogs, and messageboard posts on paizo.com or elsewhere, including the paizo.com discussion thread for the entry itself. Any such discussion may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo Publishing.

Does this mean that we cannot talk about other items during the voting rounds? For example, let's say I really like the cloak of tree puns and make a comment on it being one of my favorite items I've seen so far. Is this okay, or should I wait until the voting finishes to so much as mention items in the contest?

Thanks, and good luck to all contestants!

I haven't been able to find an answer to this question, so I figured I would ask: What is the significance of the username colors on the message boards? Most people have blue names, a few have red, and I've also seen someone with a green name.

Is it simply based on number of posts, or what?

I'm having a little trouble finding an answer on this one, so I figured I'd ask here.

I'm running an Adventure Path (Rise of the Runelords) and am currently in a section with lots of ghouls. And that means paralysis. In a recent situation, one of the PCs was paralyzed, and a fortunate attack of opportunity prevented a coup de grace. After the fight, however, the players were wondering if the coup attempt could have been prevented by moving the paralyzed PC.

My question is this:
If a PC is helpless or willing, can an ally drag him/her away from danger? If so (I assume that dragging in this manner is possible), does that affect the dragging PC's movement speed? Does the ally being dragged away provoke attacks of opportunity? How exactly would such an action occur (use the drag combat maneuver or use carrying capacity rules)?

Thanks in advance!

I've read the other topics on the subject, but I still think I'm a bit confused on Tentacle Discovery that Alchemists can obtain. The most confusing bit is adding another limb that CAN attack, but that, "does not give the alchemist any extra attacks or actions per round."

So, how does that work with natural attacks and the Feral Mutagen? Do you use it in place of a claw attack? If, for example, you have an Alchemist with +10 to hit, do you make a +10 Bite/+10 Claw/+5 Tentacle by using the tentacle attack in place of a claw? Do you need to replace one already existing attack with the tentacle attack?

Do natural attacks just work differently for alchemist PCs than for monsters? Because by RAW, I don't understand why the alchemist couldn't make a bite, two claws, AND a tentacle attack aside from the "does not give the alchemist any extra attacks or actions per round" bit.