I think you forgot some people DM.
Well that loss is disheartening... but hopefully we can get things moving again now that the duels over.
Yes... That would be nice.
GM, if possible, might we have your next post just help all the scenes wrap up, and summarize the events until the oath-taking? Assuming the others are on board, at least. Then we can IC have our characters make the oaths, before fast-forwarding to dinner, spending a bit of time there, and the to the mayhem!
(More or less a recap of what we discussed earlier, just restated to remind everyone)
I'm game for getting on to the next stage of the evening as well.
I agree! I'm sorry, William, I was sooo wishing that you gave him a kick somewhere down his belly...
Eh, what are yeah gana do when the dice are against yeah.
Sorry for the loss William, the dice gods were against you this time. But at least it makes for some dramatic developments!
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Yes - wrap-ups and the oath-takings inbound tonight.
Nice!
GM, your comments in the recruitment section always worry me so much... Like what's going to happen to our groups? This is kind of worrying to me! ;)
Still, I suppose we won't be in suspense for too much longer.
GM, your comments in the recruitment section always worry me so much... Like what's going to happen to our groups? This is kind of worrying to me! ;)
Still, I suppose we won't be in suspense for too much longer.
Same! I'm gonna be really sad if my colleagues die, as will, I suspect, Deneb, who's making lovely progress with Jem!
I think (really, really hope) our cohorts are safe. Maybe our followers, too. It's just the not knowing what he means that has me on edge...
... my work here is done. ;D
Seriously, this is one of the reasons why I did not want people to develop the OTHER L5-7 people in your groups; names and classes at most. Your followers are not (currently) in danger; your secondary PCs (aka 'cohorts') ARE in the line of danger, but that's intended on being half the point when the time comes ...
Hey GM is it cohorts swearing the oath as well or no?
Only the main PCs are taking oath (and being made Elector Counts).
Also, just for clarification:
Alysandra will then strike the heel of the spear against the stone plate, and call each leader up in turn; there does not seem to be any particular order.
This does not mean you volunteer to go up; you are each specifically and individually called up, by name. The 'does not seem to be any particular order' was simply meant to allow you to post as you are able, instead of waiting for me to call you up. So ICly it's *bang bang bang* "Kawalier Darivan Orlovsky, rise and approach." And Darivan gives oath. As he gets up off his knees and heads back, *bang bang bang* "Master Aramil Wellys, rise and approach." Etc.
Also FYI, the only people in the chairs on the dueling table are the main PCs and the other titular leaders, like Zámoždom Duchovný; you return to your seat there after taking oath. (So alas, William neither starts out seated by Winnie, nor can return to her side afterwards.)
Third FYI, and kind of to potentially head it off at the pass, you don't need to try to remember the wording of your oath; Alysandra will be prompting each of you.
Those who want to can make two PER checks.
PER #1, DC 13: Neither the Black Company nor the International Businessmen are represented among those assembled to swear their oath.
PER #2, DC 18: Alysandra has a cheat sheet - a subtle one, but still, a cheat sheet - tucked into her sleeve with the names of each person on the dais, as well as which version of the oath they are to be coached through. ;)
Darivan would hand Ardafax back in without any complaints, with a final telepathic command to Keep an eye out, will you? Something is starting to feel... off.
Care to explain your reasoning behind this, sir, besides OOC knowledge that mayhem is due to ensue in ... 130 minutes or so? I know exactly when things begin to go down, and it ain't yet, so try not to metagame, please. ;)
I had forgotten about the honor thing, would you mind if I did what I did with the samurai class and westernize their code as well? otherwise I will take the Chivalric code as I don't think Oni or seppuku are going to be very prevalent.
Switch Fey in for Oni, and some version of 'honorable death against overwhelming foes' in for seppuku. (Note that the honor bump you get from the latter vanishes if you're returned to life.) Let me know if anything else needs conversion, I can make suggestions.
Lol, this is awkward, but can TWO allocate a guide--that I can then write in--for Theodric before I add my post to the list? Otherwise, it's gonna be a heck of a show for everyone as the blind guy cautiously feels his way to the right spot and back.
Well, he did notice the vanishing half-elf. Also, he feels like there's just too many conflicts going on to be normal (in his opinion).
And, Sylvia shared that she had a suspicion about the people by Princess Sarra. Something about the situation seemed off to her.
Plus, he's always slightly suspicious. It keeps him alive.
So, between those, I figured it was enough for Darivan to remind Ardafax to keep an eye out. He'd sooner be paranoid than dead.
EDIT: Huh. Just read the latest Gameplay post. I had suspicions about the Sarenite even before then, but that would have set them off like wildfire.
I think this seems good to me. Any suggested changes?
Become a Lord or High ranking public official (I.E. High priest, Top general)
+80
Defeat a Lord or High ranking public official in combat
+20
Die fighting alone against overwhelming odds
+10
Adopt a strict code of honor
+8
Die fighting against overwhelming odds with allies
+4
Challenge and defeat in single combat someone who has publicly dishonored you
+3
Party defeats a challenging Fey (CR higher than APL)
+3
Destroy a shrine that's dedicated to an opposing power
+2
Protect a shrine from marauders
+2
Roll 30 or higher on a Craft check to create a work of art or masterwork item1
+2
Roll 30 or higher on a Perform check1
+2
Perform an action against your alignment because of a sworn oath2
+1
Trick a fey in a battle of wits
+1
Excessively brag of your accomplishments3
—1
Be convicted of a petty crime
—2
Be drunk in public
—2
Slay an honorable opponent who has surrendered
Hm. All right, that works for me, Darivan.
Theodric - the king's son, Tobias Jared, will head out to assist you in approaching. (And he'll consider it a bloody honor. ;) )
William - there are a couple of line-item notations I'll likely make (such as the honor increase for 'Challenge and defeat in single combat someone who has publicly dishonored you' - typically this sort of thing requires your opponent to be tougher than you are), but that generally looks good. Note that the conversion of the seppuku thing has to be more than just a 'brave last stand'; it requires the 'redeem your personal honor after being dishonored' overtones as well, whether that dishonor is because you performed an action against your alignment and/or personal honor because of a sworn oath, e.g. sacrificing it for your Lord, or because you fell into dishonored yourself, and can now only redeem it by such an act of self-sacrifice.
Sorry if it felt metagamey. I'm just trying to roleplay two characters with Int scores way higher than mine, and far more perceptive than I am as well. It's sort of like me 'deducing' that Darvan is a paladin. I took the knowledge I had of his class, and figured out how little signs might hint to the perceptive what was happening.
It's sort of like with Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Doyle wasn't as smart as Holmes, so he had to use his external knowledge to fill in how the great detective made his brilliant deductions.
William - there are a couple of line-item notations I'll likely make (such as the honor increase for 'Challenge and defeat in single combat someone who has publicly dishonored you' - typically this sort of thing requires your opponent to be tougher than you are), but that generally looks good. Note that the conversion of the seppuku thing has to be more than just a 'brave last stand'; it requires the 'redeem your personal honor after being dishonored' overtones as well, whether that dishonor is because you performed an action against your alignment and/or personal honor because of a sworn oath, e.g. sacrificing it for your Lord, or because you fell into dishonored yourself, and can now only redeem it by such an act of self-sacrifice.
Ok how about this
Die fighting alone against overwhelming odds after a great personal dishonor (lost if risen from the dead)
+10
and replace
Die fighting against overwhelming odds with allies
+4
with
Die protection an ally or loved one from death
+4
looks like we just need Acaciano and Dargaryen if I'm not mistaken?
We also have a player (Ash..) currently working on submitting a character (Samantha). I think they're hoping to jump in before the oaths are over.
Theodric - the king's son, Tobias Jared, will head out to assist you in approaching. (And he'll consider it a bloody honor. ;) )
Aww, Theodric has a fan!
I'm here! Moving this weekend so I'm computer-lite and hesitant to post this from my phone. Definitely within the weekend though, if that's ok
Such duties are in line with those of a page, which is what Toby is at this point.
True, but he still could have left it to a guard to handle; until the oath is made, Theodric is just some random dude in a mask, after all. Having an unprompted personal assist from the new Prince himself probably means something in this society, where every little nuance of interaction is picked over and examined for its meaning and potential.
Heh. It amuses me that you think Toby's assistance is unprompted.
For all that I-- and Theodric--know, it is. It's not as though either of us can see the King nodding in Theodric's direction while giving Tobias a nudge, right?
That's a fair viewpoint. Though consider other full-bore state events like this - with a minimum of a day to set up, a week or more for general planning, and probably a couple days since they made the decision regarding you specifically, it's very likely been not only planned, it's been rehearsed. ;) But hey, that doesn't mean that Toby isn't a fan; he is.
Hello!
I'm Lessah and one of the fresh bodies new players joining in late.
It will hopefully be a pleasure gaming with you all and I'm looking forward to making my first post either tonight or tomorrow as soon as I have found my bearings and made an alias and so.
Cheers! //Lessah
Eyyyyy. Good to have some more bodies out here.
'Ello! Welcome to the game!
Hi all. I'm ash and also joining late. Super excited to be a part of this.
I'm working on my fealty post but it will probably come in tonight after I get off work since lunch is almost over.
Welcome Lessah and Ash!
All the three of you need to do is a clean copypasta/edit on the oath, and post that; afterwards there'll be time to get all into-character and suchlike. (Unless you really, really, really think that your character would very much overblow the whole oath thing ...)
Darivan was watching the duel; Sylvia was backing him up with detect magic, and Gwaihir was doing likewise most of the time. However, that wouldn't stop them from noticing someone appeared/vanished, and they may have been able to hear the door open. Beyond that, they don't know that nobody came or left, they're just guessing, but are using the wrong terminology.
Basically, the rolls were more or less to see if Sylvia had also noticed a missing half-elf, and an extra half-orc, or if Darivan needed to share that information with them. The intelligence checks were to try and remember who the half-elf and half-orc were, whom I (incorrectly, it would seem) thought were Alysandara and Coalhouse.
For Ardafax, he/it would be mostly focused on the duel, but would also occasionally glance around the room, just to find out what was happening. My end goal with that is to have battlefield awareness, so that Darivan has a general idea of what we already know because of the battle map. (i.e. there's people behind me, a warrior is running to my left, a dragon just flew overhead, and someone is casting spells ahead of me) It wouldn't do anything mechanically, just give me a sense of what's going on.
All told, sorry. Clearly, I'm still getting used to your GM style.
I went overboard because the mood hit me. The original plan was just a description + copy paste.
Also I now know far more about the ways in which one addresses, approaches, and leaves the presence of various monarchs of the Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties in Spain than is ever likely to be meaningful outside of the most important of games.
Sam/Theo I presumed that we'd share a mutual respect since we share an alignment and dislike of bandits, but feel free to say in here if that doesn't suit. Meanwhile, may I copy theo's mundane gear list for caravan?
GM is a wagon an acceptable thing for the Flame? Also, how do I account for 'This is organization wealth' donated from character/cohort (ie is there a limit on what each can contribute)? Sorry if this is somewhere really obvious and I'm missing it.
Sam/Theo I presumed that we'd share a mutual respect since we share an alignment and dislike of bandits, but feel free to say in here if that doesn't suit.
Meanwhile, may I copy theo's mundane gear list for caravan?
Lol, copy away if you find my obsessive/compulsive equippage useful to you. You'll find costs for each item--total price, in gp where possible--under the rough build heading if you haven't already looked there.
As for an existng acquaintance, I've no problem with that either.
Hurray.
Selene is meticulous, she's a diviner, she's a gunsmith, and she's a merchant. So that's 4 reasons she hates being unprepared right there and I'm sure there's more. If I could justify naming a follower shax and updating this for pathfinder I probably would, but time being what it is I'm trying to hurry up and get everything checked and double checked as quickly as possible, so having a blueprint for caravan of goods to start from is great.
An now we have both a post and an alias! Yey!
Nice touch on the long lived gnome swearing to the princess. I thought about adding something about "heirs and successors by law" there but couldn't come up with a phrasing I liked. It works nicely for Nimue though.
Well, you're swearing fealty to the King and the People; the latter is a general 'to the country' sort of thing, but swearing fealty to his heirs, etc. can lead to the nastiest sort of civil war and the like.
Well, you're swearing fealty to the King and the People; the latter is a general 'to the country' sort of thing, but swearing fealty to his heirs, etc. can lead to the nastiest sort of civil war and the like.
Of course, but civil wars are only a concern to the possible rebel scum. To the loyalists who support the rightful dynasty...etc
@swearing to heirs: Well, in general, you may be right, but he DID just create her princess and, more importantly, heir.
If the king is confident enough in his daughter to pronounce her his heir at this event, then it seems reasonably acceptable to consider her as just that...his rightful heir.
Since nothing can be said about HER heirs/descendents, Nimue did not swear fealthy to the lineage...only those present - No civil war involved. Plus, her interpretation was to swear to the idea as much as to the man. Which is why she omitted the release clause. She can only truly work for ideals that she makes her own, only be driven to create something she believes in.
Even if she was released, those aligned ideals would remain her own and she would seek to further them. Of course, if the King or princess eventually decide that she would serve them better by not governing a place(that is, release her), she would accept that and further the utopian ideas somewhere else, that is, the release clause is an "extra" anyway, and it's more of a fanciful way of reinforcing her oath to have left it out.
Who still needs to take the oath?
I think that is everyone including the three new guys.
@GM: I request clarification on the Feat "Conceal Spell"
Specifically, it seems to allow an automatic check of Perception/SenseMotive/Spellcraft vs 15+disguise/bluff+Cha, then an independent second check if there are somatic components of perception/spellcraft vs 15+sleightofhand+Dex.
First: Bard is the only caster class that by default get both Sleight of Hand AND disguise or bluff as a class skill. While it may be intended for these charlatans, thats a serious impairment for all other casters.(if they even count, see next paragraph)
Second: Both sections specifically call out "number of ranks" in the relevant skills, adding the governing attribute. That means e.g. Deceitful(prerequisite for the Feat) would not even add it's bonus, as it's a untyped bonus to the skill checks but does not actually add ranks to them.
On the other hand, the opposed check gets to use ranks, attribute, class(!), trait, racial, feat, competence, circumstance, luck, insight or unnamed boni, too(and any I forgot).
Third: The DC starts at 15+ something, BUT the other person gets a bonus equal to the level of the spell being concealed. That means the better spells become, the harder it becomes to conceal them...not only that, it does not ever become easier to conceal simpler spells. No matter if you are Level 1 or Level 20, the enemy gets the same +1 bonus if you mean to hide a First-Level Spell. In other words: It does not scale well.
Fourth: If Spells with Somatic components are to be hidden, thats two governing attributes for the opposed checks, while both perception and spellcraft are single-attribute-governed. Especially with the Mythic Attribute increases, that becomes a serious roadblock as one check will invariably fall behind.
Overall, it seems like a very bad deal.
Assuming somatic components, the other person seems to automatically get 2 opposed checks using his better skill, against 2 different skills of the player.
Said player is penalized for trying to keep up and cast higher-level spells, and will have a harder time even getting decent results on the skill checks even if willing to invest in both skills.
Improved Conceal Spell would help with the spell level, but still does nothing to address the fact that a.: it's only a reasonable choice if you are a charisma-based caster(obviously int-based ones are not smart enough to hide their casting), b.: only if you do not intend to use spells with somatic components(or accept he gets to roll twice) and, as written, still get only a very limited check result since the relevant skills are used "raw"(as per ranks+attribute).
I feel it is a flavorful choice, but too unreliable in the niche applications, and scaling badly even if you spend another Feat on the Tax to not be penalized for spell levels.
If I am misinterpreting something, could you clarify where I err?
And if not, would you consider giving the Feat an overhaul or mythic version(similar to what you did with the Mythic Leadership?)
To further explain: I intend to focus on Illusions and the Shadow-Spells, as befits a Gnome. So obfuscating my casting so not everybody and their grandmother can roll a spellcraft and KNOW that it's an illusion would be preferable.(Fabulour Figments does help on that front, but I would prefer a mundane approach to the problem, plus, if they don't know casting took place, thats always better...they may not know something is an illusion, but would still connect the dots and assume my magic was responsible(e.g. summoning something))