This is where we can have general discussions, questions answered, etc.
After reading the PDF (linked from the Gameplay Thread), let's discuss how you want to approach your character here.
Read over the pdf. If it's not too much trouble, I think I'd like to make my own character that follows the same flavor as the one listed in the pdf. In which case, how closely should I follow the one given? Should I make someone as close to that character as possible? Or would it be more of "Here's some character creation guidelines. Use them but keep the same build focus as the given character" ?
Unless you have a strong preference on what level I should try, I'm leaning towards just doing level 3.
I am good with that. I'll just say that, based on my review of the module and my admittedly limited experience, it looks like the the thieving and gambling aspects are pervasive. Other than that, anything you want to do is great.
Level 3 sounds like a good balance.
Ok, in that case, what are the character creation guidelines? How should I do stats, starting gold, etc?
Geez! Ask me all the hard questions!! Don't you know I am just learning :p ;) (I jest. This is a great question). How does this look to you?
- Race, gender, class (if you are truly feeling crazy to not pick a rogue, I guess that's up to you) - whatever you want
- Attributes - -20 point buy(as explained on page 16 of the core rule book) with no stat above 18 or below 10 before racial adjustment. (for level 1 stats)
- Looks like the Pre-Gen has 3 Feats, so let's stick with that
- Skills - that's where you will try and mirror the pre-gen - but ultimately your choice :)
- Possession and starting gold are easy - follow the pre-gen character for that. If you want to substitute something, let me know and we will discuss.
I also am going to send you to this Reddit Link where I posed the question and got some good answers.
Sounds good. I'll make a character sometime after work today. Just two more questions:
- I take it no traits then? (I think traits are purely a Pathfinder construct)
- How should I handle HP? Roll? Average? Max?
Also, for future reference, you don't need to specify number of feats; that's decided based on class, race, and level. For Pathfinder, people generally want to know
- Race/Class restrictions / what source material is ok
- How to create stats
- Starting gold / limits on purchasing items for games of higher level (latter probably isn't an issue here since I'll likely keep most of the default gear)
- Method for getting HP if starting at level higher than 1
- Traits/Drawbacks
- Alignment restrictions (For example, evil alignments are often banned. Not an issue here since I'm not going to be making an evil character)
- How much backstory you want for applications
See! I am learning a lot from you, and thanks!
I feel like it should be ok to use any of the main source materials that are located here. Specifically, it looks as though two traits are like a bonus feat. So you can go ahead and take 2 of them to replace one of your 3 feats if you want. Does that sound fair? Remember that you can use "Unchained" Rules if you want.
I think take whatever number of HP the pre-generated character has, unless you feel like you want to be more random. Then I would suggest taking MAX for level 1, and doing proper rolls for level 2 and 3. You can put your rolls in here for clarity if that suits you.
I feel like it should be ok to use any of the main source materials that are located here. Specifically, it looks as thoughtwo traits are like a bonus feat. So you can go ahead and take 2 of them to replace one of your 3 feats if you want. Does that sound fair? Remember that you can use "Unchained" Rules if you want.
Which is the equivalent of saying no traits since there's already a feat that does that. Which is fine, I was just checking. Also yeah, I'm probably going to go unchained rogue.
I think take whatever number of HP the pre-generated character has, unless you feel like you want to be more random. Then I would suggest taking MAX for level 1, and doing proper rolls for level 2 and 3. You can put your rolls in here for clarity if that suits you.
I'll roll here for HP then. One thing to note is that it looks like 3.5 rogues have d6 HD while Pathfinder rogues have d8.
Also, if you haven't seen it already, I would suggest checking out this guy's profile. He has some tips about DMing a PBP. Obviously you don't have to copy him, but it should give you some ideas as you figure out how you want to run things.
Thanks for the link. Hopefully I haven't done enough harm to scare you away (although I did warn you :) )
Wow - that guide is fantastic. I should have read it before we started, but we're muddling through, for now -- mostly due to your patience.
Thanks.
No worries. There are definitely worse things to have than a DM who is simply inexperienced. :-)
Here's a first pass at my character. I still need to add links/descriptions to it and need to fill out some details, but the skills are all there.
I might also switch her to a half-elf.
Excellent. I will have a look at her a little later today. Work is too busy for me today to spend the time; but maybe later this afternoon I will get a chance.
We'll get started on the first part of the adventure thread as well, as soon as I can.
I am EST, by the way. My general times for posting are as I get time throughout the day, and later in the evenings.
No rush. I'm in PST and probably won't have a chance to look at anything you say until after 6pm over here any way. I generally have a chance to post in the mornings-ish (9:30-10:30am) and then in the evenings. Occasionally I have time throughout the day, but it's not consistent.
I just finished my initial review ... looks all in order. For my own learning, I am putting all characters into PC-GEN - it shows me when I am missing something (or in this case, if you are missing something :) )
I'll do that a little later. Then we'll move over to the Gameplay thread and start things rolling!
Thanks for your patience with me
I generally make most of my characters in Hero Lab, so that normally tells me if I'm missing something. Though if there are unusual house rules, that doesn't always work.
I wanted to have a quick chat about "Check" rolls. I have been reading up a bit, and I guess there are two schools of thought. Some think that the players should always roll them, others think the GM.
Given this is a "rogue focused" game, checking for secrets, traps, etc. is something that is core to your class, so I don't want to do the rolling for you, but I also don't want you to miss potential secrets because you forget.
Do you have a preference?
Hmm, it's a little hard to say since I would imagine it will depend somewhat on the situation.
If it's something I would have to roll anyway, like, "Someone cast fireball at you, make a reflex save," I'm fine with you rolling it since it'll just speed things up (and the game isn't mythic, so it's not like I have to make decisions about if I want to use a resource to affect the roll).
If it's something hidden, like a trap door, I think I'd at least like to be given the opportunity to find it myself, either by me rolling a perception check or saying that I specifically look at something. In the latter case, I'm fine with you rolling perception and telling me the result based on that since rolling perception every time I say I look at something would get tedious. If I just completely miss it or, say, it's an opposed check, well, I'm not really sure. Use your best judgement, I guess? *shrugs*
OK. We'll feel our way around this. By the way, let me know if the way I am handling the map is working or if you think there is a better way.
Thanks.
I have been thinking about the Perception checks in this adventure, and more importantly, the number of things that will be seen or missed based on a simple dice roll. I have been doing some reading on the subject, and some people like to "take 20" and assume they search as long as they need to find the special stuff. I am not a fan of that, as much as I am not a fan of missing something cool because of a bad Perception roll. I'd like to do the following.
Instead of just the standard 2 minutes per square (which is 20 rounds x 6 seconds per round = 120 seconds - or 2 minutes per square), I want to have 2 levels.
Option one would be a good search, and would take one minute per square. So, as an example, your room would take 8 minutes to do a good search (8 squares x 1 minute). Your Perception roll for a good search will get a +5 extra bonus (above all the rest of your Perception Bonuses).
The second option would be a very good search. This one would take 16 minutes for your room (8 squares x 2 minutes per square). The Perception Roll for this search will get +10 extra bonus (so you will most likely find everything this way).
The trade off for this is time, and because you are on the clock in the adventure, I like how it offsets the benefit (you only get four days, you have to be in the Hall for the Tourney twice per day, and I am going to make you sleep as well!). In addition, the longer you stay somewhere, the better chance there will be that you will have a random encounter - and if you are somewhere you ought not to be, that is another trade off.
You can always roll a standard "take in your surroundings" perception check, and you will get whatever you get, but this takes no discernible time :)
So when you enter a room, a new area, etc., just let me know which one you want, and I will take care of the rolling for you (you will be able to see the rolls). I'll then change the narrative on the fly to account for your roll.
Let me know if you have any vehement objections to this approach.
Thanks
That's fine. Right now Kat just wants to get a quick overview of most/all of the place a la "take in your surroundings" perception check. She'll probably check out her room more thoroughly before she goes to bed, but right now it doesn't really matter what's in her room/who might be able to get in because she hasn't left anything of value there. Similarly, once she has a good idea of the overall layout of the area, she'll have a better idea of where she wants to focus her searching.
Sorry for slow responses today -- work has been crazy and I brought it home as well.
That's fine; I'm not in a rush. There's also a saying on PBPs: Real life comes first.
I feel like you approach things much the same way I would - I like to find the "lay of the land" before starting anything serious. Identify all my options, etc.
How are you enjoying wandering about?
Is there anything I can do to improve your experience?
Well, the way I see it is if you're dropped in a random house and told to play hide and seek, are you going to spend your first 30 minutes carefully searching the first room you're in or are you going to check the obvious hiding spots in all the rooms first?
Wandering about is fine, if a bit slow. We could probably speed it up by assuming that if I enter a new area, I check all doors to see if they're locked before proceeding (if they're trapped, well, I get a perception check for the trap due to my rogue talent anyway. But tbh, based on Kara's statement, Kat's assuming that they're not going to trap any place that isn't behind a locked door. Otherwise it would be weird/inhospitable to tell her she could wander the grounds).
Just checking, but were we waiting on me for something? It's fine if you're just busy; I just want to make sure we don't get stuck in an infinite cycle of each of waiting on the other to do something (Kat was just following everybody on to the first round of the tournament, if it was unclear).
I was waiting on you, yes! I wasn't sure if you were going to go bring the backpack back, or something.
I am glad you reached out!
I just re-read your post, and I see now what you meant, as opposed to what I read.
Can you please make sure to update your character sheet with the HP damage and the CON damage from the poison dart?
Thanks.
Done. Although tbh, I generally don't both updating my character sheet itself with that kind of information, and instead normally keep things that fluctuate a lot in the character status line (that ooc text right next to "Unchained Rogue 3"). It's faster to find and edit.
Ahh ok thanks. That makes sense :)
Just a heads up, I am pretty busy and out of town for a lot of the weekend starting today. I'll post when I can, but it will be sporadic.
I am really enjoying this. Are you? Is there anything else that I can do to improve the experience?
Ok, thanks for the heads up (it's pretty normal for posting to be sporadic on the weekend anyway).
And yeah, I'm having fun. Still a little on the fence about what I think of 1 on 1 games, but that's unrelated to you; I think you're doing a good job. No particular suggestions for improvement. :-)
The game play thread has jumped to page 3.
Just a heads up - I am in a hockey tournament this weekend and so will be away from computers for much of it. Hopefully we can get a few rounds in tomorrow while I am at work ;) :)
How do you like crazy Medifir? Am I portraying that well enough?
Ok, thanks for letting me know. Unfortunately yesterday I was busy with work and then a going-away thing for a co-worker.
Yup, Medifir definitely has some screws loose. Kat is still wondering how he got together enough money to enter the tournament. But then, maybe the craziness is all an act...
Just a heads up, I'm going to be at a reunion from Friday until Sunday afternoon, so my posting might be sparse.
Ha. I was about to give you a heads up as well. I start a vacation tomorrow (today actually). Since I'll be at home and then traveling over the weekend, I don't know how much I will post either. I have a feeling it will be way less than normal.
Bringing my daughter away for school, so we'll be kidless at home - a major change!
I am back now. Need a day or so to catch up, but I'll get to it as soon as I can. Thanks for your patience while I was away!
Just a heads up that I'm going to be out of town from tomorrow through Tuesday or Wednesday. I will probably have internet access, but I may be distracted by spending time with people, so I don't know how much I'll be online.
No problem at all. Thanks for the heads up!
Ok, I'm back. Also, I believe it's your action (Kat is trying to eavesdrop on the orcs). :-)
Sorry I have been so AFK on this. I am really busy with work and life, and I don't see that changing for about a month. Are you ok waiting that long? Or would you like to archive? I'm sorry - it's just unforeseen circumstances :(
I'm fine with waiting. I will most likely still be around a month from now. :-)