I am looking for someone who wants to DM an Adventure Path (either Curse of the Crimson Throne or Legacy Of Fire) for 2 players. I really enjoy the Pazio AP's (currently in a RotRL) and want to see how they play, but so far 3 CotCT games have gone nowhere (not getting beyond the Old Fishery, the game is CURSED...seriously) and I haven't been able to find a LoF game. I can get 1 friend to come along for the ride. I am tired of having games fail because players stop posting. We would be open to 3.5 or PF. How you want to adjust for only 2 players is also open; multiple characters, gestalt, higher level or NPC's.
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I've had the same problem with games slowly trailing down as posts die off and would be up for doing a game. It could be fun having a smaller amount of players since it would let us have a much more rapid fire style of posting.
I've run a in person group through CotCT so I am quite comfortable with it. I have all the books for LoF, but I haven't read through them yet as my in person group had someone who wanted to run AP4 due to a love of drow. I would be glad to run that one as well, especially since reading through it would make the material all new to me.
Is there one of the two paths that you and your friend would prefer? Any idea what classes you would want to play? I wouldn't want to make you guys play multiple characters, since that tends to result in the characters being less formed since you have to divide your attention between them. Depending on the AP, I may well have a NPC who can fill in any gaps that are necessary, or if I think its possible I might just try and tone down areas so that it is doable with just two people. Most likely I would divide between those two.
Let me know what you are thinking and we could probably work something out.
HAM-R-SLG-1 (Tarlane) Your team is on the move...heading to R&D
Alpha Complex Computer, I think you posted in the wrong thread, or maybe I just don't get the joke.
Tarlane, thanks for the prompt reply, CotCT would probably be preferred. I tend to like playing clerics while my friend has no strong preferences. We would be fine with running PF, unless you want to use 3.5 and it sounds like you would be going the NPC route for the reduced party size. I will post more tomorrow.
I keep having trouble with "site unavailable", will the rush end soon?
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B,
I think the post above was meant for me in regards to another thread.
Continuing on with our ideas for the game, CotCT would be great and I would much rather run things in the new PF rules if you both have them available.
A cleric sounds great, so if you and your friend could come up with your basic ideas for your characters we can start to lay things out.
If you and your friend do not already have the players guide for CotCT it is available here. (The Free PDF of it is not immediately obvious, but has a link about halfway down the description)
That gives a pretty good introduction to the city, as well as offering a method for linking characters together. A very minor crimelord in the city has dipped his fingers into a great deal of pies and both of you will have a grudge against him somehow, wrapping that into your background will come with some benefits.
I'll wait til I hear back from you before I go rambling up a bunch more information. Once I have an idea of what you both are looking to play I will probably ask for some basic details about your characters(what would you want to be a cleric of, have you always lived in the city, ect) and I'll try and feed you some more information about the city and maybe some factions that your characters would wish to interact with.
Look forward to playing with you guys.
We have started this before(up to the old fishery), so we are familiar with the background and have the players guide, thanks. How about a father/son team. My cleric is a halfelf who never knew his father and when his mother died he got sold to GL. Escaping, he found refuge with a cleric. Later, he goes back for vengeance. The other pc is (unknown to them both) his elven father (a ranger) who had lost track of time (a year, a decade...or 2...all the same to an elf) and is searching for his lover and their son. He has found his lover dead and tracked his son to being sold to GL and is now looking for answers. However, my character goes by a different name since he took his clerical vows.
As players we both believe in the value of guard dogs at low levels (best 25gp you can spend at 1st level). I am looking at a summoner build (starting about level 3), which would go well with a small party. I am thinking about a divine version of the "ACADAMAE GRADUATE" feat and being able to carve my own "Varisian idols", both from the CotCT players guide. As to which God and what domains, I will have to look at what they did to them. Originally he was air/animal of Gozreh, but I am not sure I like what they did with the animal domain. I think I liked the beta version better. My other favorite pair is luck/travel of Desna. Any thoughts on my ideas?
Have you ever looked at Gestalt? It's a good way to give smaller parties more versatility, without a huge increase in power. Gestalt only gets crazy when you allow multiclassing. If you keep it to 2+Prc classes, it is simple enough.
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Alright, trying to respond to your post so we can get building the characters. I have a few questions and thoughts for each of the characters that will let me build up the story a bit better so that it fits more fully to them and I may be able to include some better draws for them.
I have run a game with gestalt characters in it before and I wasn't overly impressed with it, but if you two have a strong preference for doing that sort of build then I am not adverse to it. I think my biggest issue with it is that it seems to put more focus on optimized characters. With two standard characters, average combats will be toned down some and for the big fights they likely will be bringing backup, it allows them to build themselves with fluff in mind taking skills and even some feats and powers that may not be the most effective but bring flavor to the characters.
With gestalt builds you normally expect things to be nearly on par with the normal adventures difficulty, but two gestalt characters aren't as capable as 4 normal adventurers, so to survive that way they are forced to be much more optimized.
I realize that either way there is going to be quite a bit of conversion on my end to accommodate a small group, so I can go either way. If you prefer gestalt, we can build that way.
Now, I'm going to split my questions for the two characters into spoilers so this post isn't too obscenely long.
Cleric
As for the gods you are considering, Desna plays a small role in the main storyline and Gozreh doesn't play one at all. Obviously if you make a character who is devoted to one of those gods I will flesh out their church(Gozreh would likely only have a small shrine outside of the city and perhaps a token one along the docks) and will probably put in some side things related to them, but where it comes to main plot points for the overarching story Abadar is the best bet.
With that said, have you considered where your character hails from originally? Is he native to Korvosa, from a different country or just elsewhere in Varisia? Something to give consideration to, is that the Shoanti play a small role in the beginning of the adventure but a much larger role in the later books. If you aren't fully satisfied with any of the gods, all the Shoanti tribes of the plains practice ancestor worship except for one, who worships Desna. Your summoning could be tied to that and it would give a good link.
Ranger
How did you 'lose' this time? Was it truly lost to you, due to something like drug or alcohol use? Were you searching for something or questing and were just too focused to realize how long it had been? Have you grown hardened by living among humans and were simply unconcerned by the passing of time?
A couple things to consider with the above- Many elves take up a life quest, I can't remember the name of it off my head but it is talked of in the campaign setting. Essentially many elves believe that there is something that will occur in their lives which will determine how they are reincarnated in their next life. If they see something they take as a sign of it, they can follow it at all costs. Perhaps you were gone chasing this 'quest'?
Or as I mentioned about you growing hardened by living among humans, there is another elven phenomenon where elves who have spent too long among humans become what other elves call 'forlorn'. Basically as they see those around them age and die before their eyes they become much less attached, that could also explain your absence, though something may have brought you out of it and sparked your return.
Next question, Do you see your character maintaining ties to elves? More at home with humans?
As a ranger, what sort of areas do you prefer? Forests, the plains, caves or cities?
Finally(for now), how does your character fight? Longbows? Long/short sword? Rapier and dagger?
Sorry if I'm a bit slow on the draw today, I'm running a fever and have been curled up in bed all day, which is why I haven't gotten a post up til now. Normally I'm on most daytime hours PST.
Sorry for the delay, but your post made me reconsider. Anyway, I hope you are feeling better. After much consideration we would like to do gestalt, we tend to make optimized characters anyway(though not Super optimized) and use teamwork/tactics (something that isn't typical of most pbp games).
I talked with my friend;
Ranger: (Ranger(though he is looking at fighter)/rogue- 2 weapon fighting)
He was a border guard in the Mierani Forest when a Varisian family camped nearby. A girl wandered into the forest and they fell in love. There is more to the story, but I'll let my friend tell it. When her family left, he said he would follow her. He had limited experience with humans (other than killing them)and just didn't realize how quickly they aged. So to him to was just a few years. Nothing like drug use or life quest or anything.
Me
Cleric/Wiz(conjuration)
While born elsewhere, the character was raised by his mother in Korvosa as a Varisian. He remembers his mother, who died when he was young. Sold into slavery (Gadren) he eventually ran away and met a cleric/wizard/Mystic Theurge of Desna who took him on as an acolyte/apprentice. They traveled for a few years, but recently he has been having disturbing dreams and is convinced that Desna wants him to return to Korvosa (the only home he ever knew)and deal with that evil man.
I realize other churches have a bigger role in Korvosa, but none appeal to me.
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Alright, that works for me for now. I'm about to be starting my in person weekly game, so I don't have much of a chance to put up a long post and question more to delve deeper into your histories. Is the ranger still planning to be linked to your character as his father however?
If you wish to start building your characters now you can, go ahead and use the 25 point buy since its just the two of you and you'll have to be dealing with MAD being gestalt.
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I consider your backgrounds further and as you start to get the crunch parts of your characters up. One important one I do have though is 'why would your characters protect Korvosa?'. It sounds like the Cleric believes that Desna sent him here to deal with Gadren and its easy to use that to hint that he was just the first step on the path she had laid out for him. But I am unsure why the ranger would do so. Early on it could be for money easily enough, but at some point there will need to be a stronger motivator then that, whether it is basic goodness and wishing to protect people, or seeking revenge on those who have caused him trouble in the earlier stages, or even looking to take over the villain's position. I can make this work for a large variety of characters, I just need to know what motivates your characters.
My motivations;
To start it is religious and revenge. Gadren needs to be stopped and Desna has told me I need to do this (the fact that he WANTS to KILL Gadren is just icing). This character starts by walking the thin line between wanting vengeance (leading to the dark side) and righteous anger (because Gadren is a truly vile man who hurts children and needs to die because the justice system is unable to provide justice for his victims). But Korvosa is the only home he ever knew and he hates to see it's people oppressed. He is a freedom loving, good cleric, so after his revenge/justice is complete, he could get caught up in helping the people and such.
How do you feel about non-PF PRC? The Prc list is fairly thin at the moment, especially for spellcasters. The Thaumaturgist and Contemplative were the 2 I was thinking about that would fit the concept the best.
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Ok, so the backgrounds sound good. I probably will have a few more questions, but I'll want to see how your characters are shaping up first.
As for the PrC's I don't mind them as long as I approve them. I have actually played a contemplative before and it is a smooth enough class. The thaumaturgist actually seemed really underpowered even in comparison to 3x classes. I don't have any issues if you want to take the class, though you might get more mileage out of just going straight base class.
Obviously I'll adjust up the HD and such for these classes to match with their BaB in pathfinder style.
If this is what you are looking for its too bad that the advanced players handbook won't be out for another year. Sounds like the 'summoner' class they have hinted at is exactly what you are looking for.
For the ranger build, are you thinking about prestiging too, or just going off those 4 classes? It can certainly get overly complicated fast in those ways. I don't have any real problem with you splitting those ways, its just easy to lose track of abilities when they come from so many sources.
Ok, we will post a couple of characters soon.
B guy here
Yeah, I was going to do finish the character fri or sat, but Pazio was down all day and then I got busy.
Do I need to take the Acadamae Graduate feat at 1st level or can I wait until 3rd? Also, did you say anything about starting gold?
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No worries, I just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost you guys.
The pre-reqs on it mention wizard level 1st, but I don't think that you have to take it at first level(normally they say only available at first level in those cases). As long as you have at least one level of wizard I think you can take that at any level.
Here you go, still polishing it up, but mostly ready to run.
I do believe the characters are ready. And thats a better picture. I do wish the avatar pictures where better organized.
No problem.
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I'm writing up my first post now, and I just have a couple more questions before I put it up that will give me a better starting point.
Have your characters already reconnected? I know that the father had returned to meet up with his son, and that desna called for the son to return to deal with Gaedren. When we start, do you feel your characters would already have met again and perhaps events take up as you are getting to know each other once again, do you see your characters meeting up for the first time just as two seperate characters would normally have done and then finding out your connection, or do you think that some time has already passed since you two met again?
We meet for the first time at the fortune tellers. He is looking for his son, but says "I am looking for my son" and doesn't name him or state his age. I am using a different name (Fortune) and assume he is talking about a current child, so the connection is not obvious. At some point in confronting GL, Dad will have to say "What happened to my son Gar", at which point we (Fortune and/or GL) will make the connection.