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Thanks Fabes. I didn't mean to sound terse, I was just typing quickly and then had to log off. I'd be interested in hearing about some of your adventures.
Okay, here's my question. Seems like drawing is a move action, unless the character has a BAB +1. Then the rules say that "you can combine one of these..."
EDIT--> Nevermind. I just re-read the rules and answered my own question.
Yes, this all makes sense of the differences I've found. Both ways work and you've adapted the adventure well to the medium, just as our rl DM has put in little touches e.g. having charmed a goblin dog, we later found a goblin leader nursing a dog bite and standing over a dead goblin dog.
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I've done big tinkering in the present section, however. As written, this area is a big dungeon crawl. That just won't work in PbP format.
I'm not sure that dungeon crawls work all that well in any format. They can quickly get boring and bogged-down even 'round the table (meatspace as Fabes so eloquently put it).
Story time: One home-made dungeon that I played a decade-and-a-half ago was pretty much one hallway that was about 80 feet long. You entered by stairs on one end and the other end had a smallish room that contained a stone coffin and a powerful undead monster of some sort. That was it--one hallway. By then our DM was a skill enough story-teller that by the time the party of three character traversed the 80 feet to get to the room, we we're contemplating turning around and leaving. It was all mood and tension. Great fun.
All that is to say, I like consolidating encounters, and I like what you're doing with the adventure. I've just now picked up PF#1 just to see how different it has been up to this point (I've avoided the stuff we haven't gotten to). To be honest, I like that some stuff has been dropped. Some of the as-written adventure seems a little hokey or gratuitous (a la Monster in the Closet).
I'm glad you've changed the catacombs, we got pretty tired of them so I'm glad you've consolidated some of the encounters.
When I ran Burnt Offerings I did the Goblin in the closet and it wasn't a very interesting encounter. It seemed to leave my PCs with the feeling of 'Okay, that was weird. What'd it mean in the story?'
And we killed Tsuto so they didn't get to interrogate him.
Actually the group I was running RotRL fell apart and I ended up going through the first two chapters as a player in RL but am now back to DMing it. I know, the whole thing's pretty weird. Anyway, yes the DM did use one of my improved Tsutos (the Hexblade I think) but I recall a couple of nasty crits (our group gets an annoying number of crits) finishing him pretty quickly.
We caught Tsuto napping in his bedroom. He barged past my ranger/wizard (successful overrun) but we chased him and caught up (the rogue nailing him and the druid patching him up). Our pitiful Intimidation rolls have led to him a) spitting in my face b) ranting about being willing to die and how his love will rescue him.
He's now in jail, the dratted git.
I just wanna pipe up and say thanks to the Dm for all the work he's put in too,
I was skimming the module before we got started, but other than the 'monster in the closet' I really don't remember much. (I'm at the age now where if I want to learn something new, I first have to forget something else!)
Seriously, dungeon-delving has never been my favorite part of the D&D experience,
1) because our usual Dm was/is a diabolical genius with traps and monster tactics,
2) because we had such a diabolical DM, we were the ultimate cliche' dungeon delvers, (check floor with 10' pole, Check for traps every 5', if the DM told you it was clear, you failed, try again, yadayada)
If we did even HALF of the 'usual' routine, well,... just imagine how long it could have taken to get past the one door we have found so far! :) In other words, thank you for the 'Reader's Digest' version! (Taste great, less filling?) ;P
The town 'feels' right to me as well, I mean, I have lived in this new town in RL for 7 months now, and I still don't know much more than where we work, the mall, the kids schools, a few restaurants, and my comic shop (of course). I know there's a lot more out there, and when I need something, I'll find it! :)
I just think it's flowing together nicely. I went back and perused a few old posts, and they read really well. Everybody has gone to a lot of trouble to try to make a distinctive character 'voice', our DM has managed to make the few NPC's that we are determined to interact with very memorable (Does Vesh look forward to, or fear, the next encounter with Shayliss,... and her father?!?) And (other than a few blatant attempts at over-acting by a certain annoying mage), I think that these posts read as well as many a novel I have read!
Keep up the good work everybody!
Ehlissa has certainly evolved from bright-eyed, gushing posh girl to determined, serious but still hot-headed posh girl. She'll get her more jovial side back hopefully, but it seems as though most people have got 'darker' as time has gone on what with all the evil we've had to face. Malcolm is the most grounded, I think; he's the quiet, unassuming realist of the group (a role he used to share with Corran).
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Ehlissa has certainly evolved from bright-eyed, gushing posh girl to determined, serious but still hot-headed posh girl. She'll get her more jovial side back hopefully, but it seems as though most people have got 'darker' as time has gone on what with all the evil we've had to face. Malcolm is the most grounded, I think; he's the quiet, unassuming realist of the group (a role he used to share with Corran).
I like the trajectory that Ehlissa has taken. You’re lucky she’s Chelish, or Vesh would be hounding her as he had done with Naelah!
Vesh has been loads of fun to play. I originally envisioned him being much more outwardly dour to start with, but it just didn’t play (plus, it’s harder to start out with a sour-puss when a party is first trying to get together: “Whose that guy pouting in the corner?” / “Oh, that’s just our rogue being moody. He’s got this anti-hero thing going…”). I went with insecure instead.
Since then, I’ve tried to play him like some dichotomous Romeo: bright and somewhat charming, but not especially observant or worldly; fiercely loyal, impetuous, prone to falling in love; more emotional than intellectual, but also a quick learner; severely insecure but also brash and genuinely brave. He’s just a mix of a young man with too much testosterone and no paternal guidance (except for Father Zantus—a nice NPC development, there).
As he advances in ability and starts to grasp his own power, his personality might grow in another direction—he might start getting cocky. I think this is especially possible once he has access to spells at fourth level. Cocky can be a hard line to walk (just like dour can be) in that what’s fun for the character can be annoying to the party—I certainly don’t want to go in that direction. But how cool would it be for Vesh to get a little full of himself and to have Salome enlarge her role as his big sister and put him in his place? Or, perhaps Ehlissa (who’s obviously harboring a secret crush on Vesh—there’s no use denying it, girl) is taken aback by his cockiness and their friendship is threatened. Or, the undercurrent of tension between Slidell and Vesh, latent since Naelah’s departure, rises to the surface once again. Now, that’s good TV.
There was only Corran for Ehlissa... sigh. The others are just good friends, but you never know. She's applauded Vesh's courage once or twice, maybe she just doesn't know yet that she has a thing for our frowny rogue.
Oh that's ok.
So was I.
:D
Should we petition the DM to recruit more players?
"The action and storytelling are great, but there's just not enough interplayer romance (and/or drama)!" ;)
I could start flirting with the DM and see what happens...
LOL,
Yeah, as I have perusing our original posts, I realized that I have changed Sli's tone a LOT from what I started out. And I haven't meant too.
It's just sort of happened from all of the RL B$ that I've been dealing with, and more than I realized had spilled over. (Sorry!)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I started Sli he was (Mostly) over-the-top, happy go lucky, too smart for his own good, not always realizing when he should keep his mouth shut. Seems to me that I've slipped a bit more towards darker, moodier, crazier, (not that i wasn't trying to add some depth, but I think I've gone farther than I intended.)
Ah well, after this 'tense' section, maybe he can relax and I can get back into the swing of the 'old' Sli. (Now where did I put those Dr. Who DVD's???)
;P
You all are a hoot to read, from Malcolm's dry one-liners. (Which somehow manage to say more than all of Sli's verbosity!), to Vesh's inner musings. Keep up the good work all! As a performer, I can tell you that I do my best work when working with others who give me something to keep up with!
Rags - that still works. Sli's following the Seventh Doctor's character development. :)
That means Ehlissa is Ace then...
Malcolm is the most grounded, I think; he's the quiet, unassuming realist of the group (a role he used to share with Corran).
This may very well be the first time someone has called one of my characters well grounded.;)
Just a heads up, until at least June I won't be able to post before 5PM or so on most weekdays.
I could start flirting with the DM and see what happens...
Start flirting? Man, I would've played that angle a looong time ago were I you.
Dreamer: "What do you mean my five missed?" *Plays footsie under the gaming table.*
DM: "Did I say missed? I meant hit! I meant hit!"
I agree!
And it's an even better thing that what's said and done in real life, stays in real life. Trust me on this. :)
Rags - that still works. Sli's following the Seventh Doctor's character development. :)
That means Ehlissa is Ace then...
Ace? I thought we were going Brigadier Stuart!
Oh, wait, Wasn't 'Ace' the cheeky blond girl who carried the baseball bat in her backpack?Yeah, I liked her, and Ehlissa is definitely the 'basball bat' type! ;)
I can work with this,... ;P
They do tend to stick around; I always get the feeling that Ehlissa and Malcolm should be taking them down faster than they actually do. I think taking away the DR would help.
In the rl game I'm playing, they are more like glass cannons, but I think that may be lucky dice on the part of my Elf ranger/wizard and his longbow :D
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4. Add an ability that triggers when the creature is near death that represents a final outpouring of wrath and hate for all living. I had originally thought that making this a deathstrike ability would be too generic, but I like this combo of deathstrike and whirlwind attack. Hateful Frenzy: When this creature is reduced below 0 hit points, it makes an immediate claw attack against each creature it threatens (including allies). For each target that is damaged by this attack, this creature heals 3 hit points. If at the end of Hateful Frenzy, this creature has more than 0 hit points, it is still alive. Otherwise, it dies.
This option adds alot of unpredictability to killing a wrathspawn. It also sets up the possibility that two adjacent wrathspawn will thrash each other into oblivion when one is killed.
I like the Wrathspawn that you've cooked up and don't really mind that they stick around longer than intended ... it fits for our game in that much of the dungeon crawling has been consolidated anyway. If we had to fight through five rooms of these things, then they'd grow tedious. But one or two encounters, and they're just tough enough.
Regarding the hateful frenzy ability noted above, this has interesting tactical implications once the party figures out that the killing stroke sets off a bomb. It'll be akin to melee hot-potato as fighters that have the ability to strike-and-move will have an advantage over those who don't. Also, ranged weapons and spells will increase in value. I like it--increasing the tactical considerations makes combat more fun in my book. It's like the game within the game.
They last longer than I expected, but that's okay. Removing their Fast Healing would probably make its so that they're still a threat, but they don't last as long.
I like the ability replicating Whirlwind Attack better than Berserker strength; it would add more interesting tactical elements, which I enjoy.
I think these versions of the wrathspawn are very effective! (Of course, I think that anything that can dish out more than my class HD in dmg/rnd is effective!)
Regarding switching from multiple attacks to fewer, more powerful.
(Read this over a day ago, going from memory here)
While running multiple attacks is a pain, I think that having 3 attacks (Bite/claw/claw) that each do 1d6 dmg, is preferable from a player standpoint, than one attack that does 3d6.
I'm no mathematician, but personally, I like the odds of the critter being able to miss with one or 2 of the attacks, and doing less damage. If it hits with its one attack, you are far more likely to end up with a full damage scenario.
OK, I think these are pretty bad-@$$. they would for sure seem easier if we had a barbarian type, but while they are tough, they are not 'Oh Deity, I'm gonna die!', toss in your dice and go home tough.
I would have to look at the original stats to see what you changed to congratulate you on your hard work!
Obviously, these are made for a group of adventurers to go against. And they work for that. And I think that if we ran into an even number of them, especially if we have already used several spells/daily items, they would be very deadly. I SURE don't wanna meet one as a mage alone in a dark room! Not with both Dmg reduction, fast healing AND spell resistance! :)
Just my 2cents! :)
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Also, I still need to review some of the Pathfinder Alpha stuff, but I would be willing to incorporate their changes to combat actions (grapple, bull rush, etc.) I believe that would not require any character updates.
I would also be willing to eventually playtest their feats and skills schemes. I say eventually b/c I think that they will change quite a bit over the next few weeks (feats already have btwn. the 1.0 and 1.1 release).
The release notes on Alpha 1.1 are pretty interesting. Some changes seem to directly relate to messageboard feedback, some don't (not that I've read all the boards or anything). There was one board that described what has to be the easiest way of awarding xp that I've ever seen. It'll be interesting to see if they adopt that. I'm not going to take the time to track it down, but it is the one that advances characters every 1000 xp points and gives a set amount of xp depending on whether a given encounter was "easy" or "hard" or somewhere in between. Interesting.
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I hear some folks arguing that they will choose 3.5 over 4e (or vice versa) because of cost considerations. I wonder if a good portion of the market will actually buy both.
I just pre-ordered the 4e books, and will probably pre-order the Pathfinder RPG at some point as well. I think that I know how most of you will answer this, but what are you guys going to do (hope you don't mind my asking)?
Pre-ordered 4e, may continue with 3.5 for PbPs (e.g. Treasure Hunt), will give the release of Pathfinder a look.
I hear some folks arguing that they will choose 3.5 over 4e (or vice versa) because of cost considerations. I wonder if a good portion of the market will actually buy both.
I just pre-ordered the 4e books, and will probably pre-order the Pathfinder RPG at some point as well. I think that I know how most of you will answer this, but what are you guys going to do (hope you don't mind my asking)?
I'm planning to stick with the 3.5/PFRPG system. I'll take a look at the 4e rules and if I really like them I'll buy them cheaper than list price through eBay or Amazon.
I'm planning to stick with the 3.5/PFRPG system. I'll take a look at the 4e rules and if I really like them I'll buy them cheaper than list price through eBay or Amazon.
That's my plan too, (for now at least, we'll see, I may LIKE 4E, who knows?)
The good news is that the BETA version of PFRPG will be available as a free download. And it should be pretty close to what ends up in print.
Paizo SLOW, keeps crashing me off. Working long hours this week(s). will update when able.
Slow and busy here, too. (That's my oxymoronic life!)
I just got home from an 11-hour work day, requiring my other half to take off from work early and bring work home to do after kids go to bed. *sigh* (I can't bring my work home. That would cause problems.)
Sounds like Arctaris is busy, too (does this mean you got your internship?).
So, to those fortunate souls who have time to check and post this week, I hope you will be patient and bear with the rest of us until things start moving faster again.
Sounds like Arctaris is busy, too (does this mean you got your internship?).
No, just busy with school. I'm still waiting to hear back from them and working on getting a few more resumes out. It sounded like one firm would have a position open but not until the summer. Thanks for asking though.
I would consider allowing Malcolm to use the following armor:
Brown Coat
Cost: 10 gp
Armor/Shield Bonus: +1
Maximum Dex Bonus: +6
Arcane Spell Failure 0%
30-Foot Speed: 30 ft.
20-Foot Speed: 20 ft.
Weight 2 lbs.
Special: +2 bonus on Intimidate checks and a +1 bonus to unarmed attacks.
Special: You involuntarily use words like “’verse,” “shiny,” and “gorram.”(This was part of WotC's April Fools errata for the new PHB.)
Mal needs one of those:)
Wow.
Whatever PAizo did to their server/sytems, it worked! The site is smokin' now!
Safe trip, we'll 'see' you when you get back!
The site is faster now but posts are disappearing. Very frustrating.
Kind of getting a 4E vibe from turn undead there. Me likee.
Regarding Turn Undead (as it is about to become extremely relevant); let's adopt the Pathfinder RPG method with the following changes:
Turn undead does 1d6 damage + 1d6/2 levels beyond first to all undead within 30 feet. In addition, undead are pushed one square per d6 damage taken. Undead are allowed a Will save DC 10 + 1/2 character level + Cha bonus to take half damage and avoid the push.
Therefore, Salome's turn undead (which functions at Character Level 4 w/ +2 bonus to the save does the following:
Area: 30 foot (6 square) radius
Damage: 2d6
Push: 2 squares
Will Save DC 16
Am I remembering correctly that it heals us the same amount as it damages the undead?
Am I remembering correctly that it heals us the same amount as it damages the undead?Regarding Turn Undead (as it is about to become extremely relevant); let's adopt the Pathfinder RPG method with the following changes:
Turn undead does 1d6 damage + 1d6/2 levels beyond first to all undead within 30 feet. In addition, undead are pushed one square per d6 damage taken. Undead are allowed a Will save DC 10 + 1/2 character level + Cha bonus to take half damage and avoid the push.
Therefore, Salome's turn undead (which functions at Character Level 4 w/ +2 bonus to the save does the following:
Area: 30 foot (6 square) radius
Damage: 2d6
Push: 2 squares
Will Save DC 16
I only skimmed it, but I think that it said the EVIL clerics can choose to focus negative energy, HEALING undead instead of harming them.
I really need to go and actually read that section now,... ;P
Have a look at the Kerrigan's Keep discussion thread for our thoughts on cleric turn/heal.
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Please forgive the long post. Nobody reads my blog, so you've become my internet community pretty much in total. Some very recent thoughts on 4e...
I am going through a very interesting process of changing my opinion on 4e. Like many on these boards, I initially felt skeptical about the new edition. I was more excited about Paizo's projects, mostly because I was excited to be a part of this PbP and also becuase I respect Paizo's customer interaction and service. I still am positive on the company and Pathfinder as a setting--that hasn't changed. Love Golarion.
Paizo's Pathfinder RPG announcement was initially very exciting, and I think some of the things that they are doing with the 3.5 rules (at least so far) are interesting. However, as I've looked a little more closely at the races and classes, I have to admit that I've cooled a somewhat in my excitement for reasons that weren't obvious to me until just this week.
As I posted above, I pre-ordered the 4e rules a few days ago on a whim. Because I'm wasn't shelling out full price, and because gift certificates will defray the cost of the books, it felt pretty easy to purchase the 4e rules set without feeling like I was putting my all of my RPG eggs into one basket--for a few bucks, who cares if 4e sucks? At worst, they'll make interesting bathroom reading as I continue to play 3.5e.
But in the past four days, I've spent about 15 hours in a car driving back-and-forth between Eugene and Pendleton Oregon (I'm about to log 5 more getting back home shortly). In that time I've started to listen to the D&D podcast that Noonan and Mearls do on the Wizards site and iTunes. Specifically, I've listened to the post 4e announcement podcasts. While their voices are hard to listen to for long periods of time (gives me new respect for professional broadcasters), and the engineering at times sucks, and the content is sometimes pretty thin-to-nonexistent (especially the early 4e podcasts), there is enough that they do talk about that I started to get excited and am little anxious to get a look at the new rules.
I think JSL's assessment of the contrasting playtest models of each company (though a little harsh on the Pathfinder/"mob" side) will reveal themselves to be spot-on. From the interviews on the podcast, I couldn't help but admire the development philosophies and methods that Wizards is using to put 4e together. I don't know if that'll really translate into a better game, but they're thinking about game play in a way that I think is exciting.
Anywho, I already know that I will support Paizo as much as I can. I think they're a great company and I like their stuff. However, I now think that all the effort that'll go into PathfinderRPG will be effort misspent. They might actually miss the opportunity to do something that they're better than Wizards at, namely, to make better 4e D&D fluff than Wizards. Don't like the bastardized 4e core pantheon? Use the Pathfinder 4e pantheon. Tired of Forgotten Realms, especially in 4e? Use Golarion 4e stuff. So Paizo didn't get a copy of the rules in time to make their 3rd or 4th AP 4e? They probably should have waited and converted with the 5th--as it stands PathfinderRPG won't be ready for a year after 4e comes out anyway.
Lastly, after some thought, I think the whole "3.5 allows us to tell the stories we want to tell" argument just doesn't hold water. They could've put the missing D&D tropes back into 4e and reinvented creative backstories for the new tropes in 4e to make them blend with Golarion.
In all, I'm pretty excited to see how this all shakes down. I'm off the pessimism I felt towards Wizards, though. I'm looking forward to checking-out both games, really.
At this point, I prefer keeping Healing and Turn Undead separate.
As an aside, there are already Divine feats - Sacred Healing (two versions) in the Complete Divine and the PHB II and Sacred Purification in the PHB II - which allow clerics to use Turn Undead to heal their allies.
Because Salome's ultimate goal in life is in line with the healing track, I would consider picking up one of those as a feat later on. However, when I first read the suggestion about Turn Undead acting as a simultaneous healing spell, my initial reaction was, "Dang! With all the Turn Undead I can do, why have I been stressing out about using and memorizing healing spells?!?"
I feel that I have already made a concession to the necessity of healing by allowing cure spells used outside of combat to be maximized. This basically results in twice as much healing when the party uses its resources wisely and thusly has the double benefit of encouraging smart play and good roleplaying.
It goes back to the glass of water and dramatic tension. I know that there have been at least a couple of points in the game now when I have been affected, both personally and as a character, by the scarcity of healing resources. Plus, I hate to lose, and not having a healing spell when I need it is a "loss" for me.
What I think is best about 4e's healing is that it is decentralized. Each character has the potential to heal himself....
I like both that the cleric still has a role to play with respect to healing; but at the same time is free to do other things without compromising that role. I know Dreamer was a little frustrated in the glassworks when, after healing Naelah, Veren, and a party member or two, she had little to do for the rest of the fight other than swing and miss on a few goblins.
Yeah, I was getting a little frustrated. My first exposure to RPGs was my brothers playing Wizardry on our 1984-edition Mac-in-the-box. It seems like the roles were thus:
Fighter = muscleMage = artillery
Thief = trap guy
Priest = healer/bank
And that's it. This is probably due to lack of experience, etc., but it seems to me that there still isn't a lot for a cleric to do beyond healing (PHB spell lists, in particular, are pretty lame). And if anybody can heal, then what is there for a cleric to do? "OK, Bard, you sing, I'll pray, and let's see if that makes our guys win!" Maybe we could watch the battle from our armchairs in the livingroom...
It will be interesting to see how the classes continue to evolve in future editions. And maybe, with the way our game is evolving with house rules and such, I might have a chance to make the role of this character some thing special. Who knows?
For the record, I have no problem being the combat medic; I knew what I was doing when I signed up for it, and I made that a large part of my character's raison d'etre. On the other hand, I like the prospect of finally fighting some undead, because that means that this ability I've been sitting on for the past 4 months can finally shine. And that's pretty cool.
The party cleric can heal others and help them heal themselves faster/better. However, there is a limit, namely the daily healing surges, which represents the point at which the character just can't go on without rest.
Good point. I've been pushing that limit in real life this week. Better stop here.