thereal thom's page

Aubrey, for me you're the gold standard of DMing. Thanks to you and all the players for making this a rich game. I will miss it.

I can't believe the boards just ate my post -- again.

I've enjoyed playing with all of you so much. Great characters, good times.

Aubrey, I can't say I'm not disappointed, because I will miss these games, but I have no cause for complaint. You've made the games great with inventiveness, immersion, and improvisation. They've been a great gift of your time and effort.

I'll join Troy in sympathy. I found myself in much the same position a few years ago and had to terminate the games I was running.

Finally I'll join PR in saying thanks to you, Aubrey, and all the players.

I hope to see all of you around the boards.

Just to let you know, my Druid is a very good melee combatant.

Perfect! My fighter will probably suck eggs. =-)

With 2 front-liners we'd probably be able to open all kinds of sneak attack possibilities for Stefan. We could try to blitz everything.

It also opens the possibility of playing a cleric. Decent martial and we'd have 3 full casters.

Hmmm. Gwen was shaping up as a fighter in my mind, but one of her sisters ....

What sounds like more fun, druid, rogue, sorcerer, fighter or
.......druid, rogue, sorcerer, cleric?

The question is not rhetorical.

Chris, for once responsibility trumps enthusiasm. I'm going to bow out, because I'm not doing justice to the PbP commitments I already have.

I wish you the best with this game. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play with you in the future.

Chris,

Trig's not quite complete. But he'll give you an idea of where I'd be going with him. I'll try to finish him up tonight.

My posting schedule is erratic, and travel for work may take me out of the loop for 2-3 days on occasion.

Despite the shortcomings in my application, I can't miss a chance to play with you.

Thanks for your consideration.

Thanks for the input, Set. I hadn't even been thinking about craft wondrous til hogarth suggested it. I guess part of my question is are there enough cool things you can make at third level.

Another feat I've been considering is Selective Channel. So far this party gets sandpapered a lot and it would be handy to be able to throw healing at multiple party members in a turn.

Improved initiative is a good idea too. I do like going first.

Summons. I probably don't do enough with them. Vaclav is a pretty straight-forward shoot'em dead kind of guy.

Ahhh. Wellard, I thought your numbers were totals of our wealth, not the delta between our wealth and what we should have. Does that include Romon's pile of money? i added the hat and ring to his sheet but haven't added any of the new cash yet because I was waiting on final disposition of the various items.

You would pawn my Ring of Awesomeness (TM)!!!"

OK.

Regarding spells, just saying I wouldn't want Lecian to be unprepared should he learn fireball in a level or too and realize that he's got no components. The adventure might turn into the great bat guano and sulphur search.

Sorry, guys, 12-16 hour work days and a 4 hour roundtrip commute for a few days there.

This whole deal with the gnome just kind of got out of hand. Brief explanation spoilered:

I really dig the Eratil longbow thing. I'm currently playing 2 in PbP. I'll post with Vaclav Rennet and Shimei aliases below.

Short versions -- Vaclav was brought up to worship Erastil rebelled, wandered, joined a merc company, had a near-death experience that turned him back to Deadeye. Still has a weakness for strong drink.

Shimei (Legacy of Fire, cleric/ranger)-- orphaned young, lives to avenge his town by killing gnolls. Doesn't even know Erastil's real name. Calls him the Bow-father.

smurf test 1

whoops I'm playing in 6

...
Ewald Salador ..Taldoran Noble Ranger in Robins Taldor Game which is an almost purely social interaction game so far..not a combat roll made yet..Val plays my reluctant betrothed there and we are having a lot of fun with it

...

Note to self. Find this tread and lurk there.

Khaladon, per Wellard's reply, I an running a Crimson Throne. It's unfortunate title stems from my total ineptitude with things like starting new threads.

I try to go role-play and description heavy, but time constraints often get in the way. I think we went 6 pages in the prologue before there was any real combat.

In addition to being a patriot, Heather is developing a very fine "angry young woman " voice too. I'm looking forward to seeing how she handles events down the road.

OK the total loot so far is.

Taken from Yargin at Lamms Place
Wand of Acid Splash (26 charges)
3 vials of acid
2 tanglefootbags
1 thunderstone
Garnet amulet worth 100gp

Taken from Lamm himself
Masterwork Dagger
Masterwork Hand crossbow

Then there was Lamms treasure which we handed over to the Watch( and haven't heard anything about yet.(see below however re the Queens Reward)

The treasures include a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade worth 25 gp, a 2-pound gold ingot worth 100 gp bearing the Cheliax coat of arms, a miniature gold crown worth 350 gp, a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes worth 200 gp,a silver ring worth 150 gp bearing the inscription “For Emmah—the light in my nights,” a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succubi worth 450 gp, a masterwork shuriken, an adamantine arrowhead, an abalone-shell holy symbol of Shelyn worth 300 gp, a tiny glass tube containing a dose of oil of keen edge,an obsidian wand of magic missile (23 charges), a crystalline vial (itself worth 50 gp) containing a dose of silversheen

The queen gave each of us (excluding Istas) 750 GP each for returning her brooch(which was 550 GP a head more than we should have had going by the path as written so it more than makes up for not getting the value of Lamms treasure)

The Warrens garnered us a scroll of command undead, a scroll of Identify, a wand of ghoul touch(42 charges) a ring of protection +1 and a Robe of Bones (which I cant seen the Pharassmen letting us keep)

I suggest that Inigo gets the wand of Ghoul Touch and that the Ring goes to Keliwyn

We have had 120GP each for our services to the watch.

I'll be at PaizoCon UK over next weekend so I doubt I'll be posting much between Friday and Monday

Wellard, thanks for stepping up to the plate on treasure. (Although I was half joking). I did give you guys extra cash from the queen and for the early second level jump. Partly to make up for the lost treasure. ("WHo has it!?" "Top men.")

Hope you have fun at the con. If you can find French Wolf say HI! for me.

Did Jeorik score most of Yargin's alchemical treasure?

And Keliwyn still has that potion of cure light wounds from the Maggie Bright. (I don't think he drank it yet)

Kalie and Ali are too funny. But it's not just laughs, there's some real truth under it all.

And Romon would be happy to go shopping with them. He's probably feeling the need for a change of clothes.

Sleepy, thanks for stepping up, man. Incredible map, locations are as I pictured it. You were right about the foes -- manticore, 6 lions, 1 dire lion, though the dire lion started at 70 hp in the scenario as written. Lions will cut and if they reach 7 hp left. The dire lion flees when he gets down to 23 hp. Flee free to disregard that or not, since the game is now in your capable hands.

Guys, apologies again. I thought I could do this, and then work went beserk.

left my notes at home. Soo ... Sleepy just barely slips the grapple. Elmora is still grappled.

You rain down death and destruction on the poor kitties. Or in Strangler's case subdual damage.

I'll assume Tialla sidles toward Strangler so that she can pick up flanking if Strangler attacks her lion.

Sleepy beats up on his dire lion and notices it has previous slashing wounds.

I'll let you know the results of your attacks and your opponents reply when I get home tonight.

Wow...regular lions have a BAB of +3, and these lions have a BAB of +7! This is a souped-up dire lion, too (+12 BAB instead of +6). No wonder they're so good at grappling.

No. I was brain-dead while I was posting last night. That's why I wanted you guys to check. I missed their BAB and so just grabbed their claw attack bonuses. I thought the bonuses were a bit high. I'll adjudicate the game thread now with the lower numbers in mind.

I only listed the attacks that hit. Elmora and Sleepy both took a bite.

Ahhh. Do you all agree I interpreted the grapple rule correctly? Shouldn't the grappled PC get some sort of opposing roll?

Nice catch on the "bite needed for lion to grapple" Hogarth. Though I've seen some film of lions trying to bring down buffaloes. They hang on with their claws and repeatedly bite the poor beast while it carries them. Based on that I'd probably house rule that claw hits should let a grapple start too. But we're not house ruling the playtest. Rake is a bonus attack from the pounce, it can't start a grapple.

Second round actions can be changed depending on outcome of the grappling discussion.

Bed time.

Begin Round 2

Subject to double check by the party, Sleepy and Elmora are grappled. (p. 400)

Initiative: Most of you have moved down waiting for opponents to come to you.

Tialla
Elmora

Manticore

Strangler
Grumbley
Blackie

Lions

Sleepy

Dire Lion

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

Actions posted so far. You may change these actions depending on if I've handled the grappples correctly.

Tialla. Free action, drop sling; free action (Quick Draw), draw shortswords; full attack on the lion.

Full attack (1d20+13=27, damage 1d4+3=5; 1d20+8=9, damage 1d4+3=4; 1d20+13=15, damage 1d4+2=3; 1d20+8=12, damage 1d4+2=6)
Looks like 8 damage total. You will have your flanker soon. Strangler was behind you in the marching order.

Blackie attacks the lion attacking Grumbly.

Full Attack: 1d20+14=21, 1d6+6+1d6=11, 1d20+9=25, 1d6+7+1d6=14

Sleepy will fight back ... obviously, and spend another ki point for an additional FoB attack.

Flurry of Blows 1: 1d20+8=28 2d6+2=11
Flurry of Blows 2: 1d20+8=14 2d6+2=12
Flurry of Blows 3: 1d20+3=6 2d6+2=5
Flurry of Blows 4: 1d20+8=18 2d6+2=8

Lions charge from sides.

Sleepy and the big boy. Sleepy takes 19 hp on a claw and a bite, and a rake. The lion will try to drag you down. (Grapple)

Elmora, manticore launches a bunch of spikes at you. All miss. Your lion delivers 15 hp on a claw and a bite and a rake. Lion will Grapple.

Strangler, takes 19 on two claws and 2 rakes. The lions want to grapple.

Tialla and Grumble Grog both avoid damage, but are engaged.

I need to get to work. It was busy yesterday. Will be again. I'll post tonight. If someone wants to start on the grapples, cool.

Initiative:
Tialla 27
Strangler 21
Elmora 19
Grumbley 15
Blackie 14 rolled for you and the percept rolls too
Sleepy 12

Evil beasts 11-9

.

ROund 1:

All landbound Lions AC 15

FLying Lion AC 16.

Tialla 1 lion goes for you. Your readied attack hits.

Strangler 2 lions go for you. We'll resolve it in a separate post.

Elmora 1 lion chagres you. You deliver 14 hp to the flyer.

Grumbley 2 lions. You severely wound one lion as it attacks.

Blackie, temporarily without melee opponent. You can reach and help Grumbley. One wounded lion dies.

Sleepy, the big lion charges you. You score 3 hits as the lion charges you.

Lions attack on you upcoming in new post.

Surprise round:

Tialla ambushing.

Grumbley ready strike

Strangler wildshapes to octopus. Begs the question how long can you hold that form in the air before you have trouble breathing?

Blacky: buffs.

Big lion at rear closes to 60'.

Flying lion closes to 100'

Strangler, the lions are pretty big. The big one behind the party is dire size. The flying lion is would probably qualify if it weren't a lammasu, or manticore.

You guys have the top of round 1 initiative.

Post away. Sleepy has posted round 1 action ready FoB. What's an FoB?

"Incoming," Tialla mutters to herself as the soaring shape moves in.

Quick Draw the sling, ready an action to attack the flying shape when it gets within 30 feet, if doing so will allow her a sneak attack. Otherwise she wants to dive into the bushes for Stealth purposes.

Tialla, it will be able to see you as it soars in, I don't think sneak attack would be appropriate. I'll assume you're hiding and moving left away from the lions on the right.

Grumbley, no lions close to striking distance with you in the surprise round. You are ready and may keep that (and the rolls) as your next round action or not.

Really. I'm paying attention. I tried to get encounter stats up on my alias, and had to do it 3 times. Arrgh, Fumble thumbs.

Anyway, given your comments, I'll take the marching order as :
From North to south:
Tialla
Strangler
Elmora
Grumbley (Intoxicating background by the way)
Blackie
Sleepy

You guys really need another dwarf.

Initiative:
Tialla 27
Strangler 21
Elmora 19
Grumbley 15
Blackie 14 rolled for you and the percept rolls too
Sleepy 12

Evil beasts 11-9

Too funny, I just noticed your intiative order is the same as marching order.

The following can act in the surprise round:

Tialla
Strangler
Grumbley
Blackie

Surprise rounders fire away. I'll try to work up something like a map. You've got the flying lion, the bigtrailing lion, and several side lions for targets. Range to flying and trailing lion as given above. Side lions 30'.

I'll try to work up a map. Mine tend to be primitive. Any suggestions in this line appreciated.

From ahead of the group comes a great roar. In the back of the group Sleepy sees a large leonine form slink unto the path about 100' behind him. A handful of other large catlike forms slink in the shadows and shade to the right. The druid spots movement at the top of the ravine on the left about 120' ahead just before a huge winged catlike creature catapults itself over the edge and soars toward you.

Initiative please.

Dahn, not trying to give you a hard time in the game thread. Just trying out Jon Anthoni hard-bitten mercenery. He sticks to his contracts, so he has to be choosy about what he takes.

I need a rogue or rogue/multiclass for the Rise of the Runelords as Dax has pulled out. Sorry to Straitjacket you but it's the only slot the party really needs to fill.

Straight jacket is ok. Rogue is good, though picking skills always takes me forever. So many good choices. I'll probably try to mix a little arcane caster in, maybe shoot for arcane trickster in the unforeseeably distant future.

I'll get on it tonight.

Thom if your still interested you're in

Sure. Which game and what do you need? Also, if you want to run Heather or another 'caster in my CoCT game that would be good.

thereal thom wrote:

Hopefully someone can help me out here. I haven't found the table with feats and ability score boosts by generic level in the beta rules, (pdf has its drawbacks) OR has that all gone by the wayside and the class level chart tells all?

It's Table 4-1.

Conveniently hidden in the Barbarian write-up. Thanks!!

Too much like a Bush clone. Although he seems able to speak coherently . . . I'll give him that.

Obviously not a clone then.

Hopefully someone can help me out here. I haven't found the table with feats and ability score boosts by generic level in the beta rules, (pdf has its drawbacks) OR has that all gone by the wayside and the class level chart tells all?

Xaaon, glad to know you've got a power-combat character out there. Please take a look when I get my first draft posted and let me know what you think.

We also sometimes say happy turkey day. It has a nice ring to it :)

Do you have turkey on Thanksgiving too? Or are you just making fun of us 'mericans.

FW: no worries.

thereal thom: Welcome aboard, yet another familiar name and (ghostly) face, as I've been lurking about. You're allowed to hog, thom, because I want you for this game, so there. Talk to you on Tuesday when you get back.

Hi, guys,

Tim, "Baron" sounds good. I'll get cracking on the fighter, probably have a draft for you tomorrow night. Since this is a play test, are you looking mostly at rules or do you see this as a role-play too? If it's primarily a rules test I'd like to use one build for a few encounters, then rework him for another few just to look at a 2-hander v. 2 weapon v. sword and board. If you're thinking primarily role-play I'll go 2-handed; I haven't played a power figther in years.

Wellard, definitely still interested in playing in one of your games. Which game, and what do you need? Also, with mittean's absence, I had decided to run my CoCT without a 'caster, but if you want it you're in. You can take over Heather, aside from decent stats and backstory, she had posted maybe 6 times. So she's pretty much a blank slate. Your option, run her Or create a new character ?

Jason Buhlman, very nice job here.

I second Jason Nelson with respect to Holy Champion. Paladin's DR should be versus evil.

Tim, if you've an opening I'd like to play. I'm willing to play any class. (Leaning to fighter. Looks like the beta changes are pretty nice to me. Don't inderstand why so many people are so down on it. )

Pretty consistent poster. Given to occasional absences of 1-3 days maybe twice per month, but will notify you up front. Going away this weekend in fact. I'll be back Tuesday.

I am playing in several other PbP, so if you're oversubscribed just cut me. I don't want to hog all the PbP fun.

Wellard, looks like you've a good bit of interest. If you haven't filled up, I'll fill any gaps in the parties. I'm happy to play any class. You can get some idea of my posting schedule from the Rotting War campaign.

Unfortunately, I leaving this weekend, back Tuesday.

I am playing in several other PbP, so if you're oversubscribed just cut me. So if I miss the boat, that's fine too.

Guys, I'll be out of touch for the weekend starting Friday afternoon. See you Tuesday. NPC Effan as required.

Guys, I'll be out of touch for the weekend starting Friday afternoon. See you Tuesday. NPC Thale as required.

Guys, I'll be out of touch for the weekend starting Friday afternoon. See you Tuesday. NPC Ghari as required.

Guys, I'll be out of touch for the weekend starting Friday afternoon. See you Tuesday.

Snuffles. A dog name?

Spot?

You're a poopy failbutt.

Heathansson, you dog!!!

You can't hide behind that thin veneer of logic. It's a paltry disguise! Eat logic death!

~Is my butt really that big? ~

I'm thereal thom.

No way man. Your hair is no where near cool enough!

I'm the authority.

No! Spanky the L is

Thanks, Billzabub.

I am back from vacation. We had a blast at Disney World. I believe we took over 1200 pictures over the 7 days we were there. Sometime this week I will get most of those posted on Facebook. The best parts of the whole week were:

1. Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba
2. Aerosmith, Rock n Roll Rollercoaster
3. The two firework displays we watched
- Illuminations
- Wishes
4. Expedition Everest
5. Typhoon Lagoon waterpark
6. The rest of the park.

Please give me a few days to get back into my daily routine. I had over 160 personal email and over 2000 work related messages to go through. Not to mention the 1000+ messages in my RSS feeds.

Whew!

Sounds like you had a great vacation.

Take your time. I've almost got Darthen to the point of no return. MWahahaha! Seriuosly no worries. Wicht and Radavel have been sorting out the aftermath of the first combat. Still no sign of Lamm. After your first IC post, I'll hand Darthen back to you along with some extra info in a spoiler.

French Wolf is taking a week off in his game so that one will be slow too.

And to add to this point....

I like the points that CoL is bringing up and I think they would help out the game-making process but he is shouting over a lot of other worthwhile input to make his point and that input is being lost. ....

I wouldn't worry about that input being lost Fakey. I think Jason can filter the shouting and skim the good ideas.

More at issue for me are the people who might leave because they no longer feel welcome.

Guys, everytime your characters open their mouths I am filled with admiration. Great voices.

I thought you guys ended his life. If not you could be dragging him along but it's gonna slow you down considerably, probably add a day or two of travel time.....

I don't think we ever actually decided to kill him.

Will it rain everyday? Would he make a good outboard? I wanna get home.

I will miss Utak and Yrar. What a character. What a good guy.

I think my preference would be not to seek a replacement. I trust French Wolf to be able to design encounters where a tank isn't always needed. My preference is not strong however. I will go contentedly with the group's decision.