This will be the unifying Discussion page for the Mythic Kingmaker adventures; I expect there to be many, many threads.
Starting out, you legacy people can make sure you're going to start together; William Nightmoon has decided to swap out characters, so I'm going to run him through application again (though it's likely things will be weighted in his favor).
Come up with a new name for yourselves, a few things for y'all to have done, that sort of thing. I'm working on the RP page you can get started on / in now.
I expect everyone to have finalized any tweaks they may have wanted by the 18th. Aolis, I am leaning somewhat towards allowing Spheres of Power, but I may take a vote on it; I suspect greatly that it's the sort of option everyone needs to be on-board with and using, so I'm still somewhat iffy. All I ask for now is that you make sure you have both versions of your character handy for whichever way the decision goes.
Everyone else will get to join in on 25 December, so y'all have almost a month to RP 'a day in the life of' kind of thing.
Dotting. Thanks for the heads up DM, I was wondering which one to have on my sheet. To everyone else I am dumping Sacha as a cohort and will be building a new one. Aolis will remain, version not finalized. ;)
Dotting as well. I haven't played with Spheres of Power, although I did a little reading on it yesterday. How does it compare with the standard magic system, in particular will it make those using the standard magic system feel either underpowered or even useless?
How does it compare with the standard magic system, in particular will it make those using the standard magic system feel either underpowered or even useless?
Spheres of Power is considered generally weaker than the standard magic system. It however allows for thematic character concepts otherwise impossible to accomplish at low levels (such as a space/time wizard who is able to teleport aswell as freeze time at level 1, or shapeshifter who can turn into a dragon at level 1, etc etc). While these concepts may sound 'overpowered' they are actually very well balanced. However, because Spheres of Power encourages characters built around themes, it is difficult if not impossible to be a 'batman wizard' or 'god-wizard' caster who has solutions to 'all the problems'. Instead, you will be able to do One or Two things REALLY WELL or alot of things poorly (depending on how much you invest in each sphere).
Spheres of Power ...
Unless you're in the game, please don't post to a discussion thread. I created an entire thread dedicated to answering questions about Spheres of Power, to which I would direct my player; you have your opportunity to discuss SoP there (which, I see, you have been doing plenty of). Walking in on someone's game is all kinds of 'don't do'.
Okay. I'd heard that the stuff from Path of War can make primary martials like Rangers and Paladins feel somewhat underpowered, and I wasn't sure about Spheres of Power.
In that case, if we're voting, I'll say I'm cool with using it. I just don't want someone playing a Wizard to feel like they might as well not do anything because the Spheres of Power guy is better at everything they can do. That isn't fun for everyone.
So, since we're all one group, shall we discuss our new name, as well as what deeds we've accomplished as a group?
Hullo all, sorry I'm a little late to the party - busy day.
I am terrible with names - I rly am. I can be all inspired about a cool concept, or backstory, or whatever, but ask me to name something and I get nothing :/
Regarding accomplishments, there could be many "combat" achievements, or "social achievements" that would warrant an invite. Combat wise, we would be roughly APL 7-8 or lower if looking at earlier accomplishments (granted we all have cohorts so there is that). Probably looking at some bandit tribes and/or magical beasts. Maybe a lower aged dragon but its a little unrealistic to expect a ton of them in the area.
I was leaning more towards various bandit groups. I know that in Chalm's writeup on the campaign info page, it mentions that he has spent time fighting Numerian tribesmen along the border, so that's another possibility - while also giving us a pre-existing connection to the aspiring King. Maybe we could tie both in?
We first met fighting bandits (say, levels 1-4), and then once we ran out of those, we moved to the border to fight Numerians.
If anyone has dragon hide armor, we could work dragon slaying into the story to explain where they got the hide for their armor.
Clearly I vote yes on SoP.
Concerning our ties and adventure. As far as Aolis goes he has ties to a noble house of Brevoy, so any local of Brevoy can at least have a chance of running into him. Also he is a bit of a world traveler type and old, by human standards, so really his range of contact is pretty big. He may know someones parents or grand parents. :)
Any areas you guys find interesting? Besides Numeria being brought up.
I would rather you not have pre-existent ties to Chalm, except on a possible 'were given an assignment / job / bounty opportunity by the military, did it well, and met the Commander as part of the reward for a job well-done.' Or socially, though Chalm was only lukewarm on 'social' back in the day, and he's been positively absent since the death of his wife. (Part of what makes this so exciting for Sarra - this is, effectively, her coming-out party.)
Couple helpful things.
First, remember that you, your cohorts, and possibly/probably at least your most significant followers are going to be together. And when I say 'you', I mean all five of you legacy characters. So that's 5 PCs, 5 cohorts, and 5-25 followers; you could probably fill whatever place you wanted to establish yourself in, and possibly pack the place to the rafters. (This would, note, not necessarily be a bad idea.)
Second, remember that 'this is your group', and that you've all been together, PCs and cohorts, for at least a year. PCs can easily have been together for 4-5 years or more.
Third, the bit at the top of the IC page is a link to a map - A Map of Rostov, in point of fact. ;) We can absolutely fill the rest of the damn thing out if you like.
Gamestuff:
If you're going out into the city for any amount of time, you (meaning leader or cohort) or your follower(s) can make one Perception OR one Diplomacy check every ... (*rolls*) 3 hours in order to gather information, listen in on gossip, that sort of thing. With an extra 2,000 people in and around town, the place is jumping.
Other Gamestuff:
Had a thought - allowing the applicants, once they've got their characters basically set, to 'post in' as being in the city, but only the ones who are selected come the 25th would be allowed to continue to post. Thoughts?
With respect (and you're the GM), doesn't that ruling on rolling on "gamestuff" advantage the hell out of people with a ton of followers to end up rolling (for instance, take Amavin) like 25 checks to gather information? Not only is that a metric ton of rolls - its a lot of information one member out of five might be getting.
I'm happy about allowing applicants that are 'set" as posting in - its a great way to see how people post, roleplay, how active they might be over a period of time, interactions and so on. it does have one flaw - it can clutter a discussion thread and people that might only be able to post once a day feel left behind in any conversation. I don't particularly mind either way, but I know some GMs have tried doing a "roleplay recruitment", and in some cases it resulted in some ill feeling with players that might be active, but timezones didn't work or joined recruitment later or ended up being ignored or left behind.
Feel me to *smack* me though GM if I have the wrong end of the stick :)
Characters with larger or higher-level contingents kind of automatically run a higher / better chance of finding out more information, yes; it's what you get for throwing attribute points at CHA, feats into leadership, and basically going after the 'social mavin' than a combat mavin. While everyone receives Leadership, not everyone is going to go after that 'slot', as it were, because for a lot of people Leadership is going to simply be an add-on bonus to the character design they have in their head (or will evolve into).
The character types you have - ordinary people, warriors, craftsmen, commoners, etc. - do, however, dictate the kind of information you get, since the person asking is likely to ask in areas (and of people) with which they are familiar or comfortable. A craftsman might ask a smith or a merchant; a servant might ask another servant; a warrior will talk to guards and mercenaries, that sort of thing. Because of that, a lot of the information will be duplicated, just from different points of view; then there's the issue of sifting the truth from the falsehoods, because even though one of them convinced the half-drunk old woman in the tavern to confide in them, it doesn't mean the half-drunk old woman's information was correct. And collecting any real information besides basic knowledge and rumor (especially active collection, as with Diplomacy) is relatively conspicuous unless you also manage to be subtle about it, work it into casual conversation, be delicate about steering the conversation - I'd say an opposed Bluff / Sense Motive check. And the more people you have out there, the greater the chance that someone you don't want / wouldn't like noticing you asking around is going to notice you (or your people) asking around.
I think I may houserule that if you ask a significant number of your followers to do something (i.e. in order to maximize your chances of getting some/most/all of the information or whatever), they cannot Take 10, and you roll for every 3-5 of them that you send out. (Heck, the 'every 3-5' thing might work anyhow.)
Re: the 'posting in' ... Hm. I can see where you're coming from; it could easily cause some issues with late arrivals ... ooo, I know. Once I close down applications on the 18th, I'm going to allow everyone who's completed an application to begin posting here. That way there'll be no 'late arrivals' (deadline passed), and yet I/we can get a sense of their RP style. AND I'll be able to do a quick slot of everyone into groups before letting them go.
Hey GM, since one of my followers is a phantom thief with vigilante social talents, is it reasonable to assume that she had been in the city for a week for the purposes of "renown" or is that unrealistic?
It's reasonable for you to have been in the area at least a week. According to the Renown talent, though, Noelia can only have such fame among a few hundred people - 200 or less. Yes, this can be in a limited neighborhood in the city of Restov, but you need to define what sort of (non-noble) neighborhood or group of people she's circulating amongst.
Putting my thinking cap on, could I try and start out in an area where say, caterers for high society events are? I'm thinking of hanging out with the people that are "invisible" at the party or nobility, but would pick up on gossip, that maybe serve drinks, or have engagement with nobles (like party/dinner planners?) without actually being high society. If that's reaching, then I'd instead be looking at working on a neighbourhood or people that might say, look at providing high end clothing, or hairstyling, and so on. Am I being too unrealistic though?
Quick note - rollback warning.
You five are starting the RP a few days earlier - call it ... three. Don't have time to do a quick calendar glance, so specific date/day can wait until later. But whatever 3 days earlier is, that's when you'll start. I'll jump things to 'two hours before' when I close the recruitment.
Such 'caterers' would be called 'servants'; independed 'catering services' don't exist in the medieval world. The household arranges for and runs the gathering, with additional day-labor hirelings. Regarding hairstyling, that's what your lady's maid or valet is for. Expensive clothing, on the other hand, is definitely a craftsman's job. So presumably Noelia is looking to hang out with the master craftsmen - clothiers, silversmiths, and the like?
Yeah, although more dressmakers (or people designing / crafting feminine clothing) than anywhere else. So makeup, clothing, jewelry, etc. I'm only targeting the craftsman that would cater toward the female population though, not only is it slightly less suspicious (since Noelia can always bluff that she's looking for outfits for herself (or someone else) for an upcoming party), but (and I don't think im stereotyping too much here), unless drink is flowing, other women are much more inclined to gossip casually.
Anyway, the only reason why I'm pinpointing that renown thing, is because Noelia just happens to have the Gossip Collector social trait which transforms Gather Information into 1d2 hours, or inside renown area: 1d4x10 mins. If I beat the DC by 20 (extremely, extremely unlikely), then I instantly know it.
Yes though, is the answer to that last question, ie the people she's hanging around with at the moment. I'm pretty sure your average Calistrian Temple is the 'best" way to get secrets + rumors, but I haven't seen anything that indicates that there is one around, and nobles are out, so IMO, Craftsman are 3rd best option.
Hmmm. I think I need to see that build; from what I tossed together in a second, Renown is one of the vigilante social traits, and Gossip Collector is a second - and since she's only at 2nd level, she can only have one of the two.
And again for everyone, if you use Hero Lab, please give/send me your character file - provide me with a link to its location in Google Drive, perhaps. It'll make things much faster for me. ;)
Oh true, Herolab might have failed me :(
EDIT
Yeah checked Nethy's, its illegal without retraining for Extra Rogue Talent, will fix.
I'll also do an operational check through the rest just in case I missed anything else on anyone else.
Wrym, do you have an outcome with some of the Gather Information rolls? I can move Ishana along regardless unless there is anything further waiting on her, and look at moving Amavin into conversing with some of the other Legacies (since she's still in the house/bar/tavern). I understand if you are waiting for my legacies to post though since iirc its just 2 so far.
Sorry - meant to post a reply here, then post the other reply there. Posted, in any case. Y'all can talk to each other!! I mean, you're part of the same group!! And come up with a name!!
Yes, sir, GM, sir!
How do people feel about calling ourselves The White Blade?
We would have come together as a group probably around level 2-3, and spent our time fighting bandits and driving them out of Brevoy. After finishing that up, we could have gone to do battle along the Numerian border, as we faced Barbarian incursion. Regardless, our overall mission has been to protect the common people from those threats which they cannot protect themselves. We want to adventure into the Stolen Lands with this new kingdom to continue that mission, as banditry is rampant there and we do not want the citizenry to live in fear and tyranny.
I loathe the idea of making a four word gameplay spoilered post basically saying - Ishana returns to her lodging - so chucking it here in case GM still needs to know Ishana's movements
You can always lump a cohort/follower movement into a leader post, so long as they're acting in the same thread.
Good point. I think I just have Axhammer nightmares after that one time I posted under a different characters alias and it almost went PvP :p
Always permit the GM to bring his shotgun to bear first. (And the GM's shotgun, in this case, IS loaded for bear. I believe I have warned everyone sufficiently, no?)
And I think 'the White Blade' would be good. Posting a comment about level and how long you'll have had the Leadership feat over in the recruitment thread, just as an FYI, so you can do some more planning.
BTW - put the link to Aramil's spreadsheet in the header. Made a few adjustments, just so's y'all get a sense of numbers. ;)
Age
Amavin is 20 and 5 months, I'm ok with this I think
Cool, so Ishana does turn/has turned 22 this month.
Day in Calistril that she turns 22
Lol GM, its her birthday today!
Little sad for her though :(
No-one talked to her all day. Hmm, maybe I'll have her start drinking in the tavern while she waits for Amavin to eventually return.
So..that's 227/12 = 18.9 years
Makes me 158, with a birthday coming up in about a month and a half.
Seing as I picked 150 for a starting age initially, I wasn't too far off (for an elf).
So, 52/12 = 4.3
Makes her 54 and 1/3 years old.
Aramil has been alive almost three times as long as Porablum.
Actually, the IC date is 4 days before - so the 30th (out of 31) of Abadius. Two days to prepare for her birthday!! ;)
Y'all think this works for 'developed character age' methodology? I kind of do ...
I'm happy with my ages rolled, but it could have easily gone the other way I think. I can sympathise with someone that rolled a high age when they had the impression or visualisation of a character younger than what they rolled. I believe the calculation is fine, workable, and a good way to roll ages, I can understand though if someone feels screwed over because of a dice role thats going to affect the character for the foreseeable.
Good catch though with the IC date - slipped my mind that we predate the OP.
I still think Ishana is going to be staying at the inn / lodging place for the rest of the night though, and maybe follow up on a few different leads tomorrow when Amavin gets back.
I'll need to find an appropriate way for Ishana to celebrate her birthday though. I don't think there's a text or book on how Calistrian's celebrate birthdays though.
I had chosen 73 for Porablum's age initially, but I wasn't really too concerned about how old she was as long as she was still on the younger side.
Aramil I almost perfectly pinpointed. I though it made sense for him to have been adventuring at least 10 years prior to the start of the campaign, especially as he's an elf.
I only just now realized that all the PCs' names start with A' - Amavin, Aramil, Aolis, Azrael. The White Blade is ... the A-Team!!
That means ...
Azrael is B.A. Baracus (Mr. T)
Amavin is Templeton "Face" Peck (Dirk Benedict)
Aolis is John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard)
Aramil is "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz)
lol I love it.
I'm conscious of the fact that Ishana is taking a back seat at the moment, but I'll find a way to bring her back in. Probably wont be tonight (in game), but tomorrow I'll send her out to make enquiries on a few people that might have similar interests.
I like my casting choice. :D
I know I have been silent for a while. Been on a business trip that has hit my wallet harder then anything else, granted my patience is a close second. But I digress, I'm back and will be finishing the build soon. Then I'll be able to jump in with you folks.
Okay, GM, I think I have Aramil and Porablum ready for review after a rewrite of Aramil's backstory. I've fleshed out more of his time and included his meeting up with the rest of the group.
I took some liberties as to the order, starting by age. I have him teaming up with Aolis and possibly his cohort first, then Azrael and Hareth, and then Amavin and Ishana last. I can switch it around if anyone would prefer.
sorry for my absence... crazy weekend... will catch up in gameplay thread now if I can... I love the A-team! too funny!
10 Starting Honor it is. Will await being told what my Fame score is.
do cohorts get honor too?
Where does the 1d10 and 1d6 come from? Did I miss something?
Also what about orders? We choose our own, group choice, or is a custom order being considered?
Aolis - the numbers for Honor came from this post.
- Murdock, aka D'Artagnan
- Mr. T, aka Athos
- Hannibal, aka Aramis
- Face, aka Porthos
If you want to operate off group Fame, we'll take the average. ;)
Regarding Honor - yes, cohorts may take an honor code. You do not need to take one, though, just as a reminder. Aolis, I'm not sure what you mean by 'order'.
Are there different types of honor for mages? Flavor text indicates yes, but I don't see anything in particular in the link
I don't think there's anything that's been written by Paizo that's specifically tailored to mages; there are certain honor awards that lean towards crafters (craft/destroy a powerful/dangerous magic item), but of the others, nothing in specific. If you want to propose, or get together with others to build and propose, a list of events for a 'mage's code', though, I'd be willing to adjudicate/tweak it.
Hmm, well the political code seems like a good, general fit for Amavin, although Ishana might want a tweaked / adjusted one. Looking though at the targets or goals of such a political code, is it actually viable for Amavin to work towards? She wouldn't be a political shaker at the moment, and I don't know if she would ever be in a position to move that - despite it being a goal I could probably see her working towards.
"From little acorns do great oaks grow." And like Corsario, the PCs are intended to be the 'movers and the shakers' of the new government.
Also I heard you were taking Leadership requests GM. If someone's getting a dragon for a cohort, do you think I could get a Glaistig for mine :P