For future reference, if you wish to influence the NPCs, I will need diplomacy checks. Their attitudes affect many of their decisions and interactions with you. Once you are friendly with them, though, you no longer need to do any checks - I will reveal when this happens.
Dantes, you don't have to retcon a Diplomacy check for Gelik.
This campaign is a survival campaign as well as a mystery campaign. The mystery aspect hasn't been introduced just yet, but hopefully it'll intrigue you.
There are several rules that you need to be aware of, however. I won't reveal everything - I want you to be creative - but I will reveal basics on the meta-level.
First of all, food and water are necessities. Water can easily be obtained through both Lilly and Jask with Create Water, so thirst shouldn't be an issue. Food, however, is a different matter. I won't reveal too much about alternate means, but you will likely have to forage and hunt for food. This is done through survival checks.
Successfully doing this requires 4 hours of hunting and/or foraging, at the end of this period you make a Survival check. If you beat a DC 10, you successfully gather enough food and water for yourself for one day. Every 2 points by which you exceed this check provides food and water for an additional character.
There are environmental hazards on the Smuggler's Shiv. You are at a significant risk of contracting diseases on the isle - so every night at sundown, I will make fortitude saves for you. Failure does not mean that you immediately get a disease - I have to roll a percentile die to accompany it. I won't reveal more than this.
The other environmental hazard is heat. Currently, it is the height of summer on Smuggler's Shiv. Between 12:00 and 3:00 PM, unless it is raining, if you aren't in shade or shelter or perform any strenuous activity, you need to make a Fortitude save (I might do this for you) or suffer consequences. If you enter combat during these hours, you must make a fort save, regardless of shelter or shade.
There are also 5 Camp roles. These roles are primarily meant to be filled by the NPCs - but you can also partake in them for increased effect. There is no actual limit to how many can perform a role - but it does require that you spend the entire day performing the role. There are also some requirements for PCs to perform the roles.
Defenders set traps, shore up a shelter's walls, and see to the safety of the campsite. The first time a wandering monster (yes, there are wandering monsters) or hostile creature assaults the camp, they suffer 2d6 damage - each additional defender increase this damage by 2d6. PC requirements: None.
Entertainers affect Morale. I won't reveal the mechanics, but it only affects the NPCs. PC requirements: 16 Charisma or 1 rank in Perform (Any) skill.
Guards reduce the chance of wandering monsters attacking the camp. PC requirements: None.
Hunters provide food and water. One hunter can provide food for 8 medium creatures per day. PC requirements: 1 rank in Survival skill OR 1 rank in Knowledge (Nature).
Medics decreases the odds of catching diseases, and increaes the number of hit points healed naturally during a night's rest. PC requirements: 1 rank in Heal skill OR ability to cast healing spells.
Also - if you ever need to get a hold of me, for whatever reason, here is my email (I don't think I posted it earlier):
likegreyskies at gmail dot com
I'm not certain in which thread to post this, but I think I should post this here?
Kystra is feeling very out of place. Having lived a very secluded life back at her elven town, she is now realizing that she has few useful skills to contribute in the current situation.
Kystra does have an adventurous spirit though, so she will be eager to join anyone who is patrolling or exploring the area. During her down times she will find a nice secluded spot around camp and read from the Captain's journal.
So long as you do play out your actions in-character. It's a good idea to explain your character's behaviour here if you want to elaborate upon them, though - but I ask that you declare, for instance, in-character that you "Sit down and read through the captain's journal."
I'm just looking through the IC thread and I can't seem to find a list of "survivors". If there is one, could you please link it for me. I don't believe Illeana is on shore with us, is she?
Ah, my bad.
Aerys, Gelik, Ishirou, Jask and Sasha are the ones with you. Ieana is not.
So in this OOC thread we can do a couple of useful things now.
1 - allocate each of the NPCs to useful roles in the camp. We already have Jask as a healer, and Gelik as entertainer, for example.
2 - work out who has the best diplomacy and should ask the NPCs to do stuff.
3 - work out which of us should play a 'camp' role rather than wandering around the place :)
I think we've secured Sasha as a defender and Aerys as a guard as well. It would probably be in the collective's best interest if Kythas wasn't the one to approach Ishirou about campside duties.
Kythas will grab one each of the potions of CLW and Lesser Resto if there are no objections. We should probably figure out how to divvy up the gold before Ishirou sneaks off in the night with it.
Kythas can also hunt at dusk and into the first 4 hours of nightfall before he guards. I figure he can rest from 1am to 5am and we should probably consider scouting starting at about the same time he is done meditating.
Do keep in mind that elves in Golarion are not similar to the elves in Forgotten Realms or in 3.5th edition in regards of rest and sleep. They still need to rest as much as other races;they don't trance. While Elves of Golarion may suggest otherwise, I will quote James Jacobs on the subject:
Elves of Golarion was also written and released under the 3.5 OGL, not Pathfinder.Elves in the Pathfinder RPG do sleep, and those in Golarion do as well.
Hi guys - bit of a 'holding post' from Avarthiel today. My apologies. It's been a busy day at work and then 2 hours of swim training tonight and another early start tomorrow...
Avarthiel will start to contribute properly again asap :)
Just to be minimally useful, here are our party's Diplomacy scores...
Kystra +4
Avarthiel +1
Lilly +1
Kythas +0
Dantes -1
So we need to IC convince Kystra to be the party face, and talk to the NPCs for us. Also, yay for an entire party with no ranks in Bluff / Diplomacy / Intimidate :)
Oh goodness, I failed hard during the selection process. How did I miss something like that?
I wouldn't call that a failure at all. We do have Kystra that can be our diplomat, and we are all playing characters that we are interested in. :) Perhaps you may be willing to consider bonuses (or penalties) for the specific role playing interactions with NPCs up to this point?
I took the trance bit directly from Elves of Golarion.
But I'm ok with it either way. I probably should just stick with the Core Rulebook from now on, I own way too much old Pathfinder stuff.
We can just scratch off the 4-hour bits in the IC thread, the rest of his post still makes sense without it. He'll hunt when given 4 hours of downtime and can still see fairly well under the moonlight.
Also, yay for an entire party with no ranks in Bluff / Diplomacy / Intimidate :)
It certainly adds a level of realism to being stranded in a hostile environment! Nobody trusting each other, power struggles to decide who's the boss, conflicts of interest, deciding who to eat first, etc...
I could imagine how easy it would be to gain some familiarity with those 3 skills as you level in such an environment too. Probably just as easy as Survival or Knowledge: Nature given that you would need to be able to successfully interact with the others if you wanted to live... long.
Not your mistake at all Patcher. We should have caught it in the OOC thread and tweaked our characters... I wonder what other gaps we have left?
This particular need is easily fixed by level 2 with the right skill choices.
Kythas, I like having plenty of posts to read and react to. I am sorry that I can't keep up, but don't want you to not post the cool stuff you think of because I am slow.
Although Kystra is fairly quiet and reserved, she was raised by a town councilor. She has been involved well in political life and knows the benefits of diplomacy... she just has never been in situations where she needed use of it. This indeed could be a good character development career path that Kystra could build on. (I'll add a rank for level 2)
Kythas, I like having plenty of posts to read and react to. I am sorry that I can't keep up, but don't want you to not post the cool stuff you think of because I am slow.
My last 2 IC posts were completely irrelevant. The first got no response from Kystra and the second was all fluff I got wrong. LOL.
Am trying to get the stuff we gathered so far passed out so we know who'll be carrying what incase we get attacked by something that actually hurts us too, also not to much avail (2 posts her in the OOC).
I figure I have to be talking too much for the general speed of this PbP and am getting the "Ugh! another long post from Kythas... Scroll down."
I'll still post cool stuff, just gonna drop it down a bit. *wink*
Well, we'll find our rhythm over the next few thousand posts. Plenty of time for things to even out :)
Kystra, I think that's a great idea. Possibly even Bluff as well, depending on other skill needs and Oracle class skills etc.
So our human resources are (assuming all us PCs want to go exploring, which I like for meta-game reasons):
Aerys - nothing yet, any suggestions? Maybe guard?
Gelik - agreed to be entertainer
Ishirou - nothing yet, any suggestions? Maybe defender?
Jask - agreed to be medic
Sasha - volunteered to be hunter or guard. Maybe hunter?
Defenders set traps, shore up a shelter's walls, and see to the safety of the campsite. The first time a wandering monster (yes, there are wandering monsters) or hostile creature assaults the camp, they suffer 2d6 damage - each additional defender increase this damage by 2d6. PC requirements: None.Entertainers affect Morale. I won't reveal the mechanics, but it only affects the NPCs. PC requirements: 16 Charisma or 1 rank in Perform (Any) skill.
Guards reduce the chance of wandering monsters attacking the camp. PC requirements: None.
Hunters provide food and water. One hunter can provide food for 8 medium creatures per day. PC requirements: 1 rank in Survival skill OR 1 rank in Knowledge (Nature).
Medics decreases the odds of catching diseases, and increaes the number of hit points healed naturally during a night's rest. PC requirements: 1 rank in Heal skill OR ability to cast healing spells.
Lets try to get a role sorted for everyone before we go to sleep for the night.
The NPCs can only perform two roles (for some reason). Also, they won't take on any roles if they are unfriendly - so you might want to increase their disposition somehow. I won't reveal their dispositions, however. They are characters as well. It would make them (more) artificial (in my humble opinion.)
Aerys can serve as a Guard or Entertainer.
Gelik can serve as an Entertainer or Medic.
Ishirou can serve as a Defender or Guard.
Jask can serve as a Hunter or Medic.
Sasha can serve as a Defender or Hunter.
I was wondering if the separation of dialogue between the NPCs is too unclear. Should I put more emphasis on separating the NPCs in my posts and be clearer with who's speaking and which NPC is in focus, or?
Kythas: Whoops, oh I see the post now that you were referencing to. Sorry, I completely missed that.
I was wondering if the separation of dialogue between the NPCs is too unclear. Should I put more emphasis on separating the NPCs in my posts and be clearer with who's speaking and which NPC is in focus, or?
I find your posts pretty clear to read, especially when we were separated and you sectioned off what was for each subgroup. If I miss a comment here and there, I do apologize. Sometimes when I am checking and posting at work, I have only brief breaks to read and reply and I may not be as thorough as I should be, or as I am in the evenings when I can log in at home.
No problem!
I'm just going to whittle back the post lengths and frequency so I'm not posting 2 and 3 in a brick. I often miss things when I see someone posting several lengthy posts in a row myself. So its not that I'm disappointed, just trying to find a good balance of posting! :D
I'll prolly try to talk to Ishirou in a bit. I have an angle. LOL.
I think Dantes developed decent bonds with Gelik and Jask on the voyage, but I don't want to push his good will with them. The other three, Dantes will likely leave anyone else alone due to his social awkwardness; he chooses his words well, but his delivery is inevitably gruff and stilted. Even the other PCs who were crew members he's going to be a bit slow getting to know, though exploring with them will certainly help in that regard.
I think Dantes developed decent bonds with Gelik and Jask on the voyage, but I don't want to push his good will with them. The other three, Dantes will likely leave anyone else alone due to his social awkwardness; he chooses his words well, but his delivery is inevitably gruff and stilted. Even the other PCs who were crew members he's going to be a bit slow getting to know, though exploring with them will certainly help in that regard.
Kythas has the same problem, but as opposed to being short and gruff, he speaks using needlessly long sentances and a slew of 2 copper words, which to some sounds eloquent, but others find grating or condescending. Especially when it appears as though he is talking at someone as opposed to with them. Or worse, talking down to them through a sense of verbal superiority.
I'd definately support an RP bonus to dice rolls for well-thought out approaches or good form. Nothing too much, maybe a +1 to +3 bonus. At least until they're friendly. Just so Kystra doesn't have to do all the NPC interactions on her own!
Lastly Kythas will likely ignore Sasha until she approaches him, as he loathes her. As for Aerys, he figures that, at the moment, he had best leave her be as more alcohol may only fuel her violence.
Patcher - I am happy with your posts as they stand.
Avarthiel antgonised Gelik on the voyage, but Dantes has done good work there already. (I actually read the IC stuff of Dantes asking Gelik to keep morale up, before I read the OOC thread explaining that there were different roles for the NPCs. I thought markofbane was being extraordinarily creative :)
So,
Aerys - as guard (not yet asked)
Gelik - as entertainer (agreed - Dantes asked)
Ishirou - as defender (agreed Kythas asked)
Jask - as medic (agreed - Kythas asked)
Sasha - as hunter (TBC - Lilly asked)
Nearly there!
Whether or not Markofbane knew of the mechanics of the camp, I don't know - but I thought it was good interaction.
Actually, I didn't know the mechanics of the camp; I don't have nor have I read any of the AP beyond the player's guide. It was just based on some RL search and rescue training I had, and I figured since Dantes had the survival skill it would be okay to bring it in and use it. It seemed natural to approach Gelik for it since Dantes had bonded a little with him on the voyage. It sure sounds like the AP writer did his homework on survival too!
Moving on to the next day sounds great!
Kythas has already skirted disaster twice!
Also, nice roll on influencing Aerys Kystra. First double digit roll for the task yet!
If no one has any opposition to Dantes plan to explore, then he's content to let it go to the next day. He'll make sure he takes his watch as discussed.
Since most of the NPCs have been open to the idea of camp-centric chores, it looks like the exploration group will be the PCs. That should work well.
In that case I am, once again, impressed :)
I apologise for my lack of replies this evening - and I apologise once more for not advancing tonight. I just came home from a night of board games, and I am horrendously tired. I also have a stinging headache. I will advance tomorrow.
Tomorrow it is!
G'night!
Well, that went better than planned... Oh wait! No it didn't!
Hopefully we'll find her before more of those giant lobster things do or she'll return when she realizes there isn't a 24-hour bar on the island...
..or IS there?
I look away for half a day and it's fireworks all over the place!
I just realized Kythas has a +2 to his Bluff skill vs. Humans. Is Bluff an option in place of Diplomacy?
I know its bad form and all to pull his racial enemy bonus, but those Diplomacy rolls are kiilers, maybe a little honeyed tongue trickery is in order?
A bit zombified this am when I posted the "spying on Aerys and Kystra" bit and wanted to say that Kythas wished for his bow to shoot potential ambushers that dared to attack the girls and NOT to shoot the girls themselves!!!
That is all! :P
Yeah, I see ho it could be read that way. Kythas going rogue and plugging a PC and NPC would be... well let's just say I'm glad it didn't happen.
I apologise for my lack of posting as of late. I am overburdened with real life currently, and as a consequence I am having difficulties advancing the plot at my own accord. While I try to find time to react to your posts and actions, I ask that you drive the plot forward with character interactions. I won't have proper free time until next Saturday or Sunday, as university is starting on Monday.
I apologise for the inconvenience.
No worries. I'm thinking of starting up a Kingslayer PbP now that I've finished the first 2 books of the AP with my party irl. The downtime will give me the window to prepare some maps and alternate encounters. As well as get recruitment started.
Hope to see you back fulltime asap!!!
But in the meantime I'll try to keep Kythas from annoying the others too much!
On second thought, where's the fun it that?!?! ;)
No problem Patcher. Sounds like a busy and exciting time for you. We had a saying in another online forum, "Real Life takes precedence."
We'll keep going, and pick up the pace when you're ready.
Kythas, please keep me in mind if you do GM kingmaker. I have a halfling Druid ready and waiting... :)
Kythas, please keep me in mind if you do GM kingmaker. I have a halfling Druid ready and waiting... :)
Will certainly do Avarthiel!
That would be Evan wouldn't it?
I wouldn't mind Kingmaker myself, personally - though I'm not sure I have time to commit...
There are certain characters I wish to play, though, and I may apply. Chirurgeon Alchemist, necromancer (in Cleric or Oracle format), ect.
I'm currently playing in a Kingmaker game here on the boards that is about ready to wrap up the first book. Otherwise I would be quite interested!
Patcher, we'll see you back when it is convenient for you. We'll try to have some interesting reading for you to catch up on when the time comes! :)
I looked over the player's guide traits. Lilly, your trait doesn't say your bonus operates in the Mwangi Expanse: it's a +1 bonus to all Knowledge (Nature) checks regarding the jungle. Smuggler's Shiv has tropical nature and is, for all intents and purposes, a jungle.
I have an actual map of the Inner Sea (courtesy of the ISWG). Smuggler's Shiv is part of Desperation Bay. Sargava and the Mwangi Expanse have different borders, according to the map - and Desperation Bay is not within the borders of either. I'm not sure how to interpret this...
There's also a question of whether or not Sargava is part of the Mwangi Expanse on account of geographical similarities. Might be my AP books are more specific about this, but because of the stress I don't have time or energy to actually read about this thoroughly.
I bring this up because I realise the traits offer different bonuses depending on where you are. I think we can say you're both in jungle and the Mwangi Expanse for all intents and purposes.
Am checking in to remind you that I am still here. Because of the stress, I have a request.
Could you tell me what you currently wish to do? I'm having difficulties determining what you wish to do in-character, a biproduct of my stress and depression. What I mean is, could you state clearly that you ... wish to, for instance, "look for the predator" or "look for the predator den" or "explore westwards"?
I am also considering, for when I have recovered, to go with a "Two in agreement is consensus" rule - if two players agree on the course of direction then I advance with that as consensus, so we don't come to a half. If you could offer your thoughts about this...
I'm sorry for my situation. It'll be a long week.