probably going to be too busy to post after work tonight, so happy gaming until tomorrow guys (try to keep Reta from burning the city down) ;)
before i forget, yes on the caravan expenditures.
on a side note, watched Streets of Fire for the first time ever last night. during the movie my husband helpfully told me... i saw that when it came out in the theater!
before i forget, yes on the caravan expenditures.
on a side note, watched Streets of Fire for the first time ever last night. during the movie my husband helpfully told me... i saw that when it came out in the theater!
I recently made the missus watch that one as well. I had to prepare her, since you shouldn't go in without some... warning, I guess.
And on a side note, remember the band at Torchy's, the biker hangout? We saw them live in July. Dave Alvin (that's the singer), still owns the scariest grimace in rock.
In favor of spending the money from the Caravan fund on astrolabe, map-maker's kit, and dogsled.
Myri agrees.
In favor of spending the money from the Caravan fund on astrolabe, map-maker's kit, and dogsled.
Myri agrees.
Kalimac is also in favor.
Incidentally, I now have Module 3 -- The Hungry Storm. That's how I knew that reaching Tian Xia from Karlsgard will take an absolute minimum of four months, and according to the module "... the PCs’ journey could even take over a year if they take breaks to craft ..., explore, or simply rest during the journey — and that is just fine!"
Looking forward to it.
(And it looks like you will have the option of taking a side trip to Golarion’s North Pole if you want to.)
(And it looks like you will have the option of taking a side trip to Golarion’s North Pole if you want to.)
That.
Is.Excellent.
Why does a wall of "Female Characters Only" spoiler tags scare me?
Why does a wall of "Female Characters Only" spoiler tags scare me?
Because you're a sensible man.
So, current plan is to have you hit Karlsgard when I get up in the morning (~8 hours from now or so) and reset flextime at that point.
Unless there is a sudden flood of potential questions for Spivey whilst I sleep -- which is, of course, possible -- I will assume that everyone spent a night "thinking about it", and simply have you resume the discussion of what to ask Desna on the first morning in Karlsgard. If I judge that she already has enough questions, I'll just take care of that before you arrive.
Anyone who has a special request to continue any particular flexed conversation or scene, please contact me here.
So tempted to pepper Desna with questions like:
"Does this armor make me look fat?"
"asphinctersayswhat?"
"How you doing?"
"Would you like a glass of fine champagne?"
"Do you know what's in my pocket?"
"How about now?"
So tempted to pepper Desna with questions like:
"Does this armor make me look fat?"
"asphinctersayswhat?"
"How you doing?"
"Would you like a glass of fine champagne?"
"Do you know what's in my pocket?"
"How about now?"
We will gag Alaric and truss him up like a wild boar...whether Mel likes it or not. ;p
We will gag Alaric and truss him up like a wild boar...whether Mel likes it or not. ;pSo tempted to pepper Desna with questions like:
"Does this armor make me look fat?"
"asphinctersayswhat?"
"How you doing?"
"Would you like a glass of fine champagne?"
"Do you know what's in my pocket?"
"How about now?"
I can think of a much better way to shut him up, thank you very much.
Myri is shutting up now.
Wolf question here. At 4th level I bumped up Attatoq's Int to 3. I think at that level he is capable of comprehending human speech. Should I give him a language? Or, to rephrase, can I? If so, I was thinking of giving him Halfling.
Technically he can take any skill now, since his Int is high enough. It's kind of silly to give him Linguistics just to give him more than one language, but that's the nature of the rules, I guess. I'll do that to get him Taldane as well as Halfling.
On a related note, can you think of any way for Kalimac to acquire Wolf as a language?
But for which reason is Myri shutting up? Being trussed up, or the other one?
Flextime has now reset, although special permission may still be granted to continue certain scenes if you have not yet asked.
Attatoq ceases to be an animal at Int 3. He becomes a magical beast and leader of wolves. Magical Beasts cannot be animal companions (with the bizarre exception of the Gryphon and the feat that rangers can take to make a Gryphon their animal companion in Korvosa), so he becomes lost as an animal companion. I tried the same thing with the loop-hole on my human druid for Jojo the Gorilla with the alternate racial feature that gives all companions/followers/etc +1 to a stat of my choice. It's the best way to sidestep the animal restrictions on skills, feats, and tricks. An animal companion with an Int of 3 no longer has ANY tricks, they're just smart enough to figure it out on their own!
But, apparently, someone dug up a James Jacobs post to the contrary. Your mileage may vary, and Kyra is of course the Game Master, but that's a loophole only left open by mistake.
I was gonna teach him sign-language too... and give him a kitten. X(
Claims
Gold lion's head arm-ring (35 gp)
Money
Kelda successfully sells the ship for 1,500 gp. Together with the money from the goods found on the Ulfen raiders after the attack, that means that each character (and the Caravan fund) receive:
353.8 gp
Attatoq ceases to be an animal at Int 3. He becomes a magical beast and leader of wolves. Magical Beasts cannot be animal companions (with the bizarre exception of the Gryphon and the feat that rangers can take to make a Gryphon their animal companion in Korvosa), so he becomes lost as an animal companion.
I have looked up the rules on this, and I can see where this idea comes from, but as far as I am able to determine I do not think it is the case.
The basic rule for the "animal" type indeed states that they cannot have an intelligence higher than 2. However, animal companions appear to be specifically noted as a special exception to this rule, e.g.:
"An animal companion's abilities are determined by the [character's] level and its animal racial traits. Table: Animal Companion Base Statistics determines many of the base statistics of the animal companion. They remain creatures of the animal type ..."
In other words, it is specifically stated that animal companions remain creatures of the "animal" type even if their statistics change so that they would not normally be considered animals.
There are also several specific rules regarding skills and feats for animal companions with intelligence of 3 or higher, and if that were only referring to Paladin mounts or special exceptions I'm pretty sure that would have been stated.
Looking up the rules for Handle Animal and Wild Empathy, both should still work on Attatoq. I also don't see any rule that states that the rules for tricks no longer apply to him, although as his intelligence grows I would of course allow him to do more and more activities beyond the scope of his learned tricks.
(Thanks for weighing in, Purplefixer! I actually learned quite a bit from trying to determine that ... I'd been wondering if Wild Empathy would still work on him, for example ...)
(Another piece of evidence:
At 5th level, a paladin can get a mount with an intelligence of at least 6 that functions as an animal companion.
At 11th level, this mount changes type from animal to magical beast.
That doesn't really make any sense if the mount had already been a magical beast for 6 levels due to intelligence score.
So all the indications I'm seeing are that they stay animals even if their intelligence goes up, as a special exception to the normal animal rules.)
Continuing, that means the question of whether Attatoq automatically gets a language is more in question than I had thought. I'm faced with the following rules:
"... no creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher can be an animal ..."
"An animal companion's abilities are determined by the [character's] level ... They remain creatures of the animal type ..."
"An animal [has] ... no innate capacity for language ..."
"Any creature capable of understanding speech has a score of at least 3 ..."
So ... he couldn't normally be an animal, but there's a special exception. OK. But animals don't have innate capacity for language. But creatures with intelligence of 3 or higher do. But it's capability ...
So I think I will rule as follows --
Attatoq, as an animal, has no innate capacity for language. He does not automatically get one.
However, as a creature with an intelligence of 3 or higher, he is capable of learning one.
If you put a point into linguistics or give him an appropriate feat such as Cosmopolitan, he will gain understanding of language and capacity to write at Int level 3, and possibly the ability to communicate brief words crudely.
Sound reasonable? Sorry to pull back on the "he gets language automatically" thing, but I hadn't read everything thoroughly.
If you put a point into linguistics or give him an appropriate feat such as Cosmopolitan, he will gain understanding of language and capacity to write at Int level 3, and possibly the ability to communicate brief words crudely.
Kalimac, I do hope you were planning on giving Attatoq the Cosmopolitan feat. How you going to keep him down on the farm once he's been to Tian Xia?
Regarding level transitions and gifts/insults --
The amount of time you have in Karlsgard before you hit 5th level depends on a lot on what you find out when and where you choose to go in which order. It could be a while yet, or it could happen reasonably quickly. If you plan on gifting or insulting any NPC's still at fourth level, using your first day or two in the Big City would probably be wise, just in case.
Looking ahead, however, compared to previous levels, there may be VERY little time for gifts and insults at both fifth and sixth level. Things could move quite rapidly, so when you hit fifth and/or sixth, take the opportunity as soon as you can if you want to do it. You might even want to plan in advance for these, if you like giving bought or made gifts, because there is a chance, depending on how things go, of your ending up at: "The opportunity to give a fifth (or sixth) level gift is ... right now. And that's it."
Looking VERY far ahead, once you start your journey into the arctic at 7th level, the situation will be quite different -- you should literally have months between levels to come up with something, but there may be little opportunity for shopping on the polar ice.
(More specifically on the last, there will still be plenty of shopping opportunities at the beginning of 7th level, when you -- presumably -- start your trip from Karlsgard, and can make purchases before you leave, and then also pass through settled if remote lands for a few weeks ... but not so much at 8th and 9th, when on the map of Nowhere you will find yourself somewhere near the middle.)
Sound reasonable? Sorry to pull back on the "he gets language automatically" thing, but I hadn't read everything thoroughly.
This all sounds reasonable. He gets a feat and a skill point at 5th level, so I'll decide which way to go at that point.
Incidentally --
Yes, I now know it's actually Kalsgard. And I've been calling it Karlsgard the whole time. At this point, I will accept either.
Incidentally --
Yes, I now know it's actually Kalsgard. And I've been calling it Karlsgard the whole time. At this point, I will accept either.
I just figured that "Karlsgard" was the Bostonian pronunciation.
We are truly a group of silver-tongued foreign devils, aren't we?
Nope. Myri just hangs out and looks pretty. Well...kinda, sorta. Maybe bats an eyelash or two....ads a pretty smile, little bit of hip action...okay, I'll stop now.
Pshaw... Mel may look like a foreigner, but in that inn... she sounded and acted like a proper Tien woman :P
And once again... Magic is so cheating.
"Did I just see you cheating?"
"Winning"
--Huntress and Batman
See, I was wondering if I should wait for everyone to roll before I described that scene, but I needed to sleep, and I wanted to get you settled before I did that, and it was already a foregone conclusion, so I thought, "Well, it's pretty unlikely that Kalimac is going to roll a natural 20 or something."
Am I correct in assuming that picking up a new skill is akin to picking up a new language, a la "I woke up this morning and by the gods I could Craft Weapons!"?
Am I correct in assuming that picking up a new skill is akin to picking up a new language, a la "I woke up this morning and by the gods I could Craft Weapons!"?
I do have plans on the skill I pick up having some justification, an old skill he was apprenticing on before deciding to commit to cavalier-hood. But I'm just checking on how solid I need to have that justification.
Am I correct in assuming that picking up a new skill is akin to picking up a new language, a la "I woke up this morning and by the gods I could Craft Weapons!"?
Yup. You puts a rank in the skill, you gots the skill. Any further detailing you wish to give to it is a (very much welcome) roleplaying choice, whether that choice be "I spend the whole level after I put my first rank in the skill slowly learning or improving" or "MY IMMORTAL DEITY SOCOTHBENOTH, DEMON LORD OF PERVERSION AND TABOO, HAS IN HIS DEMENTED MIGHT CHOSEN TO GRANT UNTO ME THE LIMITLESS POWER OF KNOWLEDGE (ENGINEERING)!"
Random caravan update:
after buying the suggested gear and adding the loot from the raiders
we have 594.4 gp available and 12 units of space available. Do we want to pick up some more food or repair supplies? (esp since our repair supplies are being used up as we gallivant in Kalsgard)
Random caravan update:
after buying the suggested gear and adding the loot from the raiderswe have 594.4 gp available and 12 units of space available. Do we want to pick up some more food or repair supplies? (esp since our repair supplies are being used up as we gallivant in Kalsgard)
(I will quickly note that by the time you are actually preparing to leave the city, there will likely be more money in the fund. So there may very well be the possibility of another wagon, more storage space, more options, etc., when you get around to setting out for the North.)
(I will quickly note that by the time you are actually preparing to leave the city, there will likely be more money in the fund. So there may very well be the possibility of another wagon, more storage space, more options, etc., when you get around to setting out for the North.)Random caravan update:
after buying the suggested gear and adding the loot from the raiderswe have 594.4 gp available and 12 units of space available. Do we want to pick up some more food or repair supplies? (esp since our repair supplies are being used up as we gallivant in Kalsgard)
In general, I think priorities should be (a) fill the space (with food or repair supplies -- or even possibly trade goods ), (b) get another wagon and fill it, (c) harden, (d) speed. But I can be convinced otherwise.
Random caravan update:
after buying the suggested gear and adding the loot from the raiders we have 594.4 gp available and 12 units of space available. Do we want to pick up some more food or repair supplies? (esp since our repair supplies are being used up as we gallivant in Kalsgard)
(I will quickly note that by the time you are actually preparing to leave the city, there will likely be more money in the fund. So there may very well be the possibility of another wagon, more storage space, more options, etc., when you get around to setting out for the North.)
In general, I think priorities should be (a) fill the space (with food or repair supplies -- or even possibly trade goods ), (b) get another wagon and fill it, (c) harden, (d) speed. But I can be convinced otherwise.
I think Rhost's priorities are good. But we may want to wait till we're closer to departure before finalizing. With more cash and more data we may change these priorities.
I will consent to the beehive on the condition that we hire Nicolas Cage to tend it. And buy him a bear suit.
Offense 5 would be most easily obtained with having one more guard.
and ry's post that I was responding to disappeared....
I had a different post about the Caravan here, but I decided to delete and rewrite it, because I'd started giving too-specific advice about things which can be done a number of different ways, really, and didn't want to be Heavy-Handed-GM. So I'll cut it to this:
1) Speed isn't really that important, at least not yet. I wouldn't use a lot of resources on it.
2) Yes, both food and repair materials will probably be important on the Long Arctic Trip.
I think I was suggesting Enhanced Caravan (the one that raises out primary stats) as the level 5 and maybe level 7 feats?
Do we want to look at increasing damage or defense at level 6?
Incidentally, Buttersnips can serve as a Guard or a Scout.
I think I was suggesting Enhanced Caravan (the one that raises out primary stats) as the level 5 and maybe level 7 feats?
Do we want to look at increasing damage or defense at level 6?
We should look at those ... but I am enamored of "Scavengers" before we head into the Vast Arctic Wasteland.