Alright, here's our official OOC thread, where we can plan our festivities, host devious collaborations, and engage in all types of general tomfoolery. If you have not yet done so, please make sure you have a coherent copy of your character and all of their stats and abilities in your profile.
I'll put up the IC thread in a couple days after I finish my busy days at work (Thursdays and Fridays). In the mean time, discuss anything you like. How long have you been in Sandpoint? Have you met any of the locals? Have you met any of the other PCs yet?
Finally, one other thing I'd like to point out is that I tried to select a group of PCs that promised a blend of solid characterization, good party balance, and interesting PC interaction. The one thing that seems to be sorely lacking, however, is a dedicated trapfinder. Not manditory of course, but there are traps in this AP, and while I might be persuaded to remove a few for an imperceptive party, they will certainly not be removed entirely, so if anyone would like to re-allocate a few skill points to cross class Disable Device or something, now would be a good time.
Just making my dot :)
Also, while I can shift the skill points if we need to I'm not sure if you want Ragnar, the man who throws axes to be in the front line :P
Thanks for giving me this opportunity! I'll finish Lila's character stats tonight after work.
Thanks for accepting me, Lorebane! I'm really excited. I've never played a pbp before. Please, feel free to be blunt with me about your expectations and such because "common knowledge" might be lost on me since I've never done this. I know the game plenty well, I've just never played this way.
A mistake already... That post was supposed to be from Haken, not Wildebob.
Anyway, Sandpoint is Haken's home town, if a druid can be said to have one. He occasionally visits for supplies, friendly visits, and to pay his respects to the church of Desna there. He's very friendly and optimistic with the townsfolk, but is very sensitive about any references to slavery, even jokes. He also avoids trappers and fur-traders, though he is very friendly with hunters and rangers who show the proper respect for their prey. He would know any local outfitters and suppliers well, as well as any rangers and hunters. He would also be familiar with the priests of Desna. Rumble doesn't usually accompany him into town, for obvious reasons, but waits, hidden, during Haken's visits.
Haken has a really high Perception since it's a halfling racial bonus and a class skill, so he could probably find traps. He couldn't really do anything about them though except avoid them.
Thanks for having me. I should have the final polish put on the character by some time tonight.
Perhaps we could ask our bard to to devote a couple of ranks to Disable Device. That should help for at least the first book of the AP.
Thanks for having me. I should have the final polish put on the character by some time tonight.
Perhaps we could ask our bard to to devote a couple of ranks to Disable Device. That should help for at least the first book of the AP.
The luck of the goddess favors you all. I decided to sell my furs and a few odds & ends in my inventory to obtain a set of thieves' tools. The weather in Sandpoint has proven mild so far so I find that I have little need for them anyhow.
Alright, that sounds fine. As strict as I try to appear, I don't usually bring encumbrance into play unless you're carrying massive amounts of gear or have an unusually low strength score (below 8).
A mistake already... That post was supposed to be from Haken, not Wildebob.
Technically, since it's an OOC thread, you're fine! :)
Ragnar would be happy to help cart his friends gear once he has met you guys but he isn't the strength monster some barbarians are thanks to this mad idea I had to throw axes at things :P
Yeah, but thrown weapons are the one type of ranged weapon that's able to take advantage of a high strength score! Though I suppose that your rage fixes that right quick.
Looking over everyone's backgrounds, I see that:
Haken and Vors could potentially know each other, being from the same geographical area.
Ragnar and Lila could have been part of the same caravan from Magnimar.
Ragnar, P'Aye, and Lila could have at least seen each other around during the last few days. Provided they're staying at the same inn.
Again, not to draw too much attention to being a PBP-newb...but I've never done this before so I'd love any advice, suggestions, and/or constructive criticism to help me be a better player for our group. I'm excited to work with you all. Your characters look great!
It occurs to me that a small, offensively-deficient halfling living in the forest would obtain his food with traps. Perhaps, Lorebane, you would accept Craft(traps) as an alternative to Disable Device. In that way I could be more useful to the party and Miss T'Aime wouldn't need to mess with her original concpet. Just a thought. I could take it as a cross-class skill, but with no class bonuses or the +3, I'd always be behind the CR for our party level.
Another thought...it would play into my distaste for trappers to say that Haken looks for traps to disable so animals do not become ensnared and butchered for their pelts only. Then I could take Skill Focus(disable device) as my feat instead of Skill Focus(survival). That would cover it not being a cross-class skill. What do you think, P'Aye? Would you rather have Stealth back?
I like that angle for Haken, it provides a good character-based reasoning for a particular skill subset not normally found in that class. Very inventive.
As for PBPs, this will only be the third one I've played in. I ran one once, but it fizzled out. I wouldn't consider myself an expert in the format by any means.
One thing about the opening adventure, as far as Vors is concerned: He has a 12 year old sister and is her guardian. He'd probably be bringing Evelina with him to Sandpoint.
I think I could be persuaded to allow you to use Craft (Traps) to disarm traps, albeit at a slightly higher DC, though you wouldn't be able to use it against locks or other mechanisms. I see that there's been some traffic here! I'll take a closer look at it when I get home, but I've got class in 5 minutes, so I've got to jet for now.
Haken, another thing to keep in mind about the trap DCs is that this was originally intended for 3.5 characters, where rogues didn't get bonuses from trapfinding. Being 3 points behind in Disable Device shouldn't hurt you that much.
Another thing to keep in mind is that we're first level. It's in our job description to come across things we've never dealt with before. If we come up on a situation that no one knows how to deal with, we either find a way to avoid it or muddle through it as best we can and hope for the best. Afterwards, someone can say "That was tough, I think I'll study up on it." No one should feel obligated to change their starting concept just to fill a void in skills. Just learn the skill when you gain your next level. That's why they're called "Experience" points.
Yup, also that.
I slept on the Disable Device thing and I still think it's a good way for me to go. I'll update my character info to reflect that change.
That would cover it not being a cross-class skill. What do you think, P'Aye? Would you rather have Stealth back?
Well, in a party that has armored, non stealthy types, choices typically are to be separate from the party. That means there's a high likleyhood of a dead bard. I am OK with taking disable device and, even with only three ranks (since I am not especially dexy) I can still aid another and provide assistance when it comes to disarming traps. I am OK with keeping Disable Device.
A side question fro Lorebane. Should we multiclass, what is your position on selecting an arctype with the first level of a second class.
Haken, I usually find that it helps me understand posts by using the [ b ] tag on things that you say. Often, you will have things that you need to ask Lorebane on the side... [ spoiler ] tags are good for that. The main thing I find about PbP is continuity of a scene. Regular posters won't have a problem with it as we can keep up on the action.
At the introductory levels, I am going to be much more subtle in combat since I am mainly ranged (whip and Bow). Charm is good before combat but, in a party of Conans (who start with "Enough Talk" and throw a dagger), that becomes less useful.
I am up in the air about the Street Performer arctype. There was a rogue in my last PbP for this character so the ability to make the rogue invisible with performance was much more useful. I am open to other arctypes or suggestions with that and can easily fold most of them into my story.
Looking forward to the game!
P'aye, multiclass to your hearts content (remember, that as a half-elf you have two favored classes, so it's even more beneficial for you). I'm fine with you taking other archtypes for those classes too. My house rule is simply "one archtype per class."
And I welcome a character (or party) that uses a bit of charm. It gives me a chance for some villainous dialogue, and turns your enemies into more than just stat blocks.
I do so love villains who are more than just stat blocks. :) I get my fill of mindless hack-n-slash with my face-to-face group. I joined this game because I'm starved for some RP.
I traded the City Born trait for Dangerously Curious and made corrections to some combat stats.
Alright, just giving everyone a heads-up that the IC thread will be going up some time this evening. Going to try and have it up before dinner.
Hike on over to our IC Thread and make a post! I apologize if the presentation is a bit sloppy, but my brain has been a little sluggish since I arrived in China, and my writing abilities seem to have deteriorated in a truly awful way. I'm I'll get back into the swing of things soon, though!
In any case, you've got a chance to mingle a bit, if you want it. The Swallowtail Festival begins in an hour, so if you want to do something specific in the interim, just mention it and we can play it out, if not, just come up with some bombastic way to say your character is idling around for an hour.
One thing I left out of the profile: Lila has a small butterfly tattoo on her back, between her shoulder blades and the base of her neck. She got it just before she became an apprentice and it has grown a little larger as she has grown up. I left it out of the profile because it's usually covered up by her clothes. I thought I should mention it before we really get started.
One thing I left out of the profile: Lila has a small butterfly tattoo on her back, between her shoulder blades and the base of her neck. She got it just before she became an apprentice and it has grown a little larger as she has grown up. I left it out of the profile because it's usually covered up by her clothes. I thought I should mention it before we really get started.
Nice touch. A friend of mine would make a fine cleric of Desna. She has several butterflies tattooed all down her right arm.
P'aye, Ragnar? Are you two still in?
Alright guys, sorry it's taken so long to get underway. Normally I wouldn't jump the gun so fast, but we're JUST starting out, and I want to get things underway, so if we haven't heard anything from Ragnar and P'aye by tomorrow morning, I'll start shopping around for two new dudes, and we ought to be running again by Monday.
This is the weekend here in the States. I've seen where many games relax the one-post-a-day rule on weekends so people can get real life stuff done. I'd give them another day, as they may be unable to post right now.
But then again, one of the reasons for this thread is to announce our Away-From-Keyboard status. Ultimately, you'll have to decide how you want to proceed.
Speaking of which, I suppose I should mention now that I have a regular game on Sunday, so I'll rarely be posting then and, if I do, it will be in the late evenings. (For reference purposes, it is 10:16 am as I'm typing this.) Saturdays are usually reserved for chores, errands, and an on-again, off-again second game. So again, evening posts, if at all.
Yeah, I suppose you're right. We'll wait till after the weekend, then.
Alright guys, sorry it's taken so long to get underway. Normally I wouldn't jump the gun so fast, but we're JUST starting out, and I want to get things underway, so if we haven't heard anything from Ragnar and P'aye by tomorrow morning, I'll start shopping around for two new dudes, and we ought to be running again by Monday.
I'm here. Have no worries. Was away from the terminal for a race this weekend but I'm back.
Ah, awesome. I think that Jormugandr has gone AWOL, though, because the PbP that he's running also hasn't updated in over a week now. Assuming the wireless is working at the office today, I'll put up a thread shopping for a fifth guy during my lunch.
Dotting. Looks like I'll be joining you all. Looking forward to the game, as my only two attempts to play in a PBP have fizzled out in the first handful of pages.
I should have Calla put together by the end of the day.
OK, Calla should be done now, Lorebane. (I may still try to change her second trait if I can find another one that works. I like the first one but couldn't really find a second one that I thought worked well for her character.)
Combatwise, I'm envisioning more of a front-liner, as I think the party has a fair amount of ranged, but her BAB is still 0, so couldn't pick some of the more standard melee combat feats. She'll probably be a bit of a switch hitter.
Let me know if you have any questions, concerns.
Alright, sounds good. I see that we've all got a post up there now, so if no one is doing anything specific over the next hour (like roleplaying with merchants or other PCs), I'll move the festival along.
Also, Calla, I know this is probably me being a bit nitpicky, but I always took issue with some of the gods getting favored weapons that just kind sucked (clerics of Pharasma gets a dagger, priests of Gorrum gets a greatsword), so I've been working on a house rule in which each deity actually has two favored weapons, and any divine class that grants FW proficiency may choose one of these. As an inquisitor of Callistria, you can choose between a whip and a short sword (which I think is a much better representation of a wasp's sting).
Well, it's good that you mentioned it, because for some reason I had it in my head that she was proficient with all martial weapons, which is what I pretty took. Obviously I'll have to rework that.
I may also take, if you're amenable, the heirloom weapon feat (from Adventurer's Armory): This heirloom weapon is of masterwork quality (but you pay only the standard cost at character creation). You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls with this specific weapon and are considered proficient with that specific weapon (but not other weapons of that type) even if you do not have the required proficiencies.
Heirloom weapon will be fine.
And one last consideration for a trait? Apothecary. Not sure how you feel about poisons, or if they're intrinsically evil.
Poisons are a little sinister, and maybe a smidgen evil, but in my campaigns they're hardly going to result in an alignment change. James (or maybe it was a different designer) even made an official comment recently that a paladin can tolerate the use of poison (but can't use it themselves).
Bottom line, how you use it is going to be much more important. Rubbing some poison on your sword and smacking a goblin or brigand is no big deal, but sprinkling some poison on a nobleman's food might be another story.
OK, Calla should be updated with weapons she can actually use and the correct traits (heirloom weapon).
S'okay, Vors isn't your daddy's paladin. He isn't lacking in nobility of spirit; he's just a bit rough around the edges from the farming life. If there were any Cayden Cailean followers that over-indulged before a day of adventuring, lets say, then Vors would probably skip a lecture and go straight to the sobering up (along the lines of what Fezzik does to Inigo in The Princess Bride.)
Just replying to the OOC content in your last post in the other board ... No worries about it being your first session. I'm also running my first PBP (which I actually started before I got into a game as a player) so just passing on the advice I got. It definitely takes a little time to figure out all the differences between tabletop and PBP, since in the former I very rarely make rolls for my group.
I know my players are very good about giving me advice and feedback in my OOC thread, and hopefully we'll do the same here. I've been very impressed with how friendly the Paizo PBP community is in general.
I am heading out of town for a couple days, so I may be a bit slow to respond in the game thread.
On another note, I included some of Lila's thinking process inside a spoiler. I thought I'd throw these out occasionally to give the GM and other players an idea of what's going on in Lila's head. Please keep in mind that these are things that she is thinking and may be quite different from what she says. She does not say these things out loud. If anyone finds this annoying, I'll stop.
I am heading out of town for a couple days, so I may be a bit slow to respond in the game thread.
On another note, I included some of Lila's thinking process inside a spoiler. I thought I'd throw these out occasionally to give the GM and other players an idea of what's going on in Lila's head. Please keep in mind that these are things that she is thinking and may be quite different from what she says. She does not say these things out loud. If anyone finds this annoying, I'll stop.
No problem here. Interesting idea.
Lorebane, I was wondering if you want Rumble and Haken to act on the same initiative or separate. (They do have the same modifier.) That might be a silly question, but I've never played a druid before. I'm figuring out animal companions as we go.