Rappan Athuk: The Dungeon of Graves (Inactive)

Game Master Alice Margatroid

Don't go down the well! A megadungeon crawl filled with many beasties that are just dying to kill all the PCs. ( Obsidian Portal Page )


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Liberty's Edge

G'day all, hope you're as excited as I am to get started! This is the OOC chat space; feel free to use it however your heart desires. :)

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Important Stuff

Rappan Athuk: The Dungeon of Graves Obsidian Portal Campaign

- I'll be keeping track of things on this page for ease of access because the Paizo forums don't do as good a job at doing so.

- You don't necessarily need to make an account on Obsidian Portal, but you might find it handy to have your own character page or update the wiki it with things you want to keep track of. If you'd like to join the campaign, please post here or PM me your OP username or email.

- It's currently pretty bare bones. Expect more updates over the next couple of days and beyond!

House Rules

- There isn't much here yet. Most of the actual house rules are for classes nobody in the campaign is playing (yet). :P I will add more to this page as things come up.

- This page also details some posting guidelines, so I'd appreciate it if you looked things over.

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Characters / Opening Scene

- If you haven't finished your character sheet, please do so now! When you've completed it, please tell me so I can check it over for errors. (Although I notice a lot of you used Hero Lab... it might not be necessary in that case.)

- I would really like if you could create some connections between your fellow adventurers. I will begin the game assuming that you are all already an adventuring group with the mission to enter Rappan Athuk and have recently arrived at Zelkor's Ferry, a small hamlet near the mausoleum.

- How you met is up to you. You may have met in another city and traveled to Zelkor's Ferry together. You may have known each other in the past. You may have simply gotten drunk together last night in Bristleback's Inn and decided it then. Or perhaps a mix. Some might know each other, some might have agreed to join up through convenience, etcetera.

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I think that's it for now... please feel free to ask me if you have any questions! I'll get the opening post up as soon as everyone is here and ready to go.


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

Awesome! Thank you for selecting me for the group!

Molasbar's back story has him coming from Absalom, but any port city would do. I will look at some of the other backgrounds to see if anything comes to mind. I am certainly open to suggestions too.


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

Thanks Alice! Corporal Ninivic Black reporting for duty. I need to wrap up equipment and I'll work with the rest of you on background. Corporal Black has been sent to Rappan Athuk on a quest, but the specific item doesn't matter a lot and since I don't have a ton of background beyond what Alice has provided, I haven't invented a specific maguffin. He would have sought the rest of you out upon hearing you were headed into Rappan Athuk.

Liberty's Edge

Everyone will start the game knowing three rumours about Rappan Athuk - and I've already picked out one that implies "mysterious and powerful macguffin" for the Corporal that should do for his mission.

Since it's relevant to your backstory, I'll give the first to you now. Everyone else will get theirs soon enough, don't worry!

Corporal Ninivic Black:
A potent artifact called the Seal of Power was carried into the dungeon long ago by the mage-priest Donov. He hoped to use it to seal away the evil, restless spirits of the dungeon. Your commander thinks that it might help in the fight against the demons of the Worldwound, assuming it exists.

EDIT: Also, since the aasimar paladin comes directly from the Crusades as well on a mission to go to Rappan Athuk, perhaps you two travelled together.


HP: 13/13 || AC 19 (touch 11, flat 18) || F/R/W +4/+1/+3 || Init +1, Perc +1 || Buffs: none || Debuffs: none

I was about to suggest the same. Anyone that has come from the Crusades is liable to know each other and possibly may share the same mission. Varnos is approachable enough so he'll be on the lookout for adventurers who can complement their team.

Anyway, thanks for picking Varnos! I'm looking forward to adventure! My character sheet is up to date at the moment. I work in the oil and gas and I'm on rotation so until I get a laptop, I'll be kind of stuck updating it by hand on Paizo and then doing a mass update when I get back onshore.


HP: 17/28 || AC 17 (touch 14, flat 13) || F/R/W +3/+7/+1 Init +8, Perception +11

Hi all, I believe Bryce's character sheet is "ready for inspection".

I like Obsidian portal (although I do not utilize it often), and I would appreciate if you could add me there. My username for OP is Fokker.

As for shared backgrounds - my character is searching for an elven wizard Lanliss, who was part of the crusades. It is believed that he disappeared some time ago inside Rappan Athuk. Bryce will not readily provide an answer as to why he searches for him. If some of you were part of crusades, you may choose to have known the mentioned wizard.

Looking forward to jumping in the dreaded well ;-)


HP: 17/28 || AC 17 (touch 14, flat 13) || F/R/W +3/+7/+1 Init +8, Perception +11

I have some time, so I am reviewing your rules, and of course I have some (not so needed) questions. Regarding initiative, you wrote:

I will roll initiative to save time. Combat will then proceed in blocks. For the first round, players who come before the enemy block will post in any order, and I will resolve their actions as well as the enemy’s actions. Afterwards, players will post in a single block in any order.
For example:

Player : Initiative
Fighter : 20
Rogue : 16
Goblins : 14
Cleric : 12
Wizard : 8

Fighter and Rogue will post in any order, and I will resolve their actions and the goblins. Then all players can post in any order.

My question is the following - for example, I play Rogue, so Fighter and me posted our actions. You acted as goblins, and then for whatever reason we wait for cleric for a day - is it OK for me to post again after goblins, even though Cleric did not post yet, or do I wait? It seems a bit unfair for me to get 2 actions (in a way), and Cleric still none, but OTOH it helps speed up encounters. What is your recommendation? (assuming you understood my example/question above :-))

Liberty's Edge

Bryce: My intention is for you to post even if the lower initiative characters haven't moved yet, yes.

The way I'm thinking is that the cleric and the wizard's actions will be resolved before the fighter and rogue's actions even if they post after the fighter and rogue, so nobody ultimately gets more actions than anyone else. This is where if-then statements come in handy, I suppose.

The 2nd GM Post in a combat would look something like this.

*Resolve cleric's action (round 1)
*Resolve wizard's action (round 1)
*Resolve fighter's action (round 2)
*Resolve rogue's action (round 2)
*Enemy move (round 2)

One alternative is just to allow everyone's actions to be resolved as they are posted, which, yeah, would potentially allow the fighter to move twice before the cleric moves once, but it's also slightly less confusing with no concerns of, say, trying to move without knowing where the wizard is casting fireball...


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

This is the exact opposite of my high school experience - I got picked for a group I wanted to be in! :)

I'm excited about the group. Is it bad I already have some ideas for my _next_ character?

I had a couple questions both for Alice and for other group members.

@Alice - do you mind if we talk as players regarding the strategies our characters would have in battle? I imagine that this game will run much like a face-to-face game (as much as we can) in which case this kind of talk was pretty common in my games. For example, "Now would be a good time to cast Enlarge person...." I don't want to metagame and some people consider that to be.

@Others:

1. Just wanted to see if people wanted to or would be comfortable talking about play/battle styles. Since we will be an adventuring group presumably we have done some fighting together (or very shortly will be). To me, it makes sense our characters would have talked about these kinds of things but it is just a lot quicker to discuss it as players rather than characters.

2. Regarding how Olofire (who refers to himself and doesn't mind being called Olo) got the Zelkor's Ferry, I'm pretty open. He would be drawn towards Molasbar as he is a fellow caster and half-breed. Perhaps they met up somewhere along the road? (Btw, I really like how our characters are neutral arcane casters but with a completely different feel). Another idea is that Olo would find Ninivic very curious and interesting, maybe even an oddity of sorts (though not in a bad way). I don't see an overt connection to Bryce or Varnos but am open to idea of how we all met. Olo would have a long way to travel from his homeland (purposely left vague) to Zelkor's Ferry so we could have met along the way, guarded a caravan together, got ambushed together, etc.

3. How did you guys add all the fun stats that come up under your character name when you post (HP, AC, saves, etc)? (EDIT - figured it out)


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

If you are comfortable as a GM managing initiative like that, I have no problem with it. As a player, I may post contingent actions if I am going ahead of someone else. For example, I might say “Molasbar fires a force missile at the wolf, hoping to take the mount out from under its rider. If Bryce or Olo take out the wolf before Molasbar’s action, the force bolt will instead go at the hobgoblin.”

As far as backgrounds go, it sounds like we may be best off going up outside of the Worldwound. I was thinking about having Molasbar go there first to gather more information on Zelkor before moving on to the ruins. From there he would possibly meet up with Ninivic and Varnos traveling east for mutual protection (well, for Molasbar’s protection mostly). If you’d like, Olo and Molasbar can even know each other from as far back as Absalom where he was apprenticed to an elf, and as such always was keenly aware of being different. He would have been open to having someone to commiserate with. With Bryce coming from Westcrown and looking for a participant in the crusades, it would make sense that he would be there as well as a common point of starting. I didn’t see where Reginald’s background was posted anywhere, so I wasn’t able to look for common threads there.

During travel, others would be aware that Molasbar was seeking Zelkor’s legacy, to find out what happened to him. He wouldn’t go into specifics beyond that, but it wouldn’t take long for others to figure out where his final destination would be; the reputed site of Zelkor’s last stand.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

I like the idea of Olo and Molasbar knowing each other from Absalom. Given we both have some pretty hefty knowledge skills perhaps it was long nights in the city libraries and our mutual half- heritage that gave us some kinship.

If you read my background, Olo is inspired to travel at the suggestion of his patron (who may be a creature from the Far Realms) so he doesn't really speak about why he is there. Is they are friends, Olo could see Molasbar leaving as the perfect opportunity to tag along. Given Molasbar's own arcane training and understanding of Olo (somewhat) he probably knows he is a witch and it more than just keeping him company.

Let me know what you think of the above (which is of course open to change).


HP: 17/28 || AC 17 (touch 14, flat 13) || F/R/W +3/+7/+1 Init +8, Perception +11
Olofire Stargazer wrote:

@Others:

1. Just wanted to see if people wanted to or would be comfortable talking about play/battle styles. Since we will be an adventuring group presumably we have done some fighting together (or very shortly will be). To me, it makes sense our characters would have talked about these kinds of things but it is just a lot quicker to discuss it as players rather than characters.

2. Regarding how Olofire (who refers to himself and doesn't mind being called Olo) got the Zelkor's Ferry, I'm pretty open. He would be drawn towards Molasbar as he is a fellow caster and half-breed. Perhaps they met up somewhere along the road? (Btw, I really like how our characters are neutral arcane casters but with a completely different feel). Another idea is that Olo would find Ninivic very curious and interesting, maybe even an oddity of sorts (though not in a bad way). I don't see an overt connection to Bryce or Varnos but am open to idea of how we all met. Olo would have a long way to travel from his homeland (purposely left vague) to Zelkor's Ferry so we could have met along the way, guarded a caravan together, got ambushed together, etc.

3. How did you guys add all the fun stats that come up under your character name when you post (HP, AC, saves, etc)? (EDIT - figured it out)

1. If GM is fine with that, I would like to discuss our potential tactics here in advance.

2. No idea for now, will read your backgrounds guys (if that is OK with all?) and maybe come up with sime suggestion.

3. I simply copy&paste-d what was requested by GM in the line Race or Class/Levels under my Profile. Hope that helps


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

I have no objection to anyone reading my character’s sheet; it is in my profile and includes his backstory. The only thing Molasbar wouldn't reveal in character is that he is searching for an arcane means of immortality; his interest in Zelkor and his legacy would be revealed early on to everyone.

So unless we need to adjust it to help bring Bryce and/or Reginald into the group, I think we are good having Olo and Molasbar coming up from Absalom (unless Bryce wants us to be coming from Westcrown) and joining the soldiers near the Worldwound before traveling together east. Then along the way discovering our common goal to delve Rappan Athuk (for our various own reasons).

If we are traveling the weeks from the crusade to Zelkor's Ferry, we certainly would have had time to talk about abilities and working together, sharing treasure, etc. well in advance.

Liberty's Edge

"Contingency plans" in combat posts are a definite must in PbP. You either have to destroy the initiative system completely or simply try to work around what other people may or may not do. :)

I have no problem with some rudimentary tactics and so forth discussion here, not at all. Just use your discretion--no mind reading in combat and so forth.

Also, Bryce, I sent you an invite on OP. Anyone else who wants one should ask, too!

---

And while I was waiting for everyone to come on over, I got frustrated at the monochrome maps in the source material and, uh, went a little crazy making my own map of the area. I think it turned out pretty well! I'll be sticking this on OP shortly.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

Molasbar - good plan, I like it. Also, I wanted to ask you what your thoughts were on scribing scrolls for others in the group. I think it makes sense to give a discount but still make a profit.

So I mentioned briefly in the the main thread that my plan was for Olo to be a debuffer.

I see his combat actions going this route:
Round 1 - Misfortune
Round 2 - Cackle and then other actions as need (CLW, Daze)

I do have CLW on my spell list and since it looks like we are light on healing I can prepare 2 each day. I currently have Enlarge Person prepared and my thought was to cast that on our tank (which looks to be Varnos). Given that Molasbar is an evoker I will likely never be preparing direct damage spells.

Also - what are people's thoughts on a wand of CLW? I think it is our cheapest healing option and best means of increasing survivability in the short run.

Alice - great map! Is "The Mouth of Doom" the well?


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

Wow, that is a gorgeous map Alice!

Wand of CLW is probably a good idea, but at 750 gp, it will be a little while before we can pull it off.

I can promise you Corporal Black isn't going to be too excited by the prospect of Enlarge Person :) (but, he'll be happy to hide next to Varnos when he's big)

Please feel free to read my sheet. No secrets there at all. I'm good with all of the suggestions for group background so far too.


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

I don't have any problems scribing scrolls for others in the party as long as they cover the cost of it.

Molasbar will probably have his greataxe out during combat to help flank when he can. He probably will use his force missiles mostly and save spells for special circumstances (i.e. burning hands for swarms, etc.).

Liberty's Edge

Thanks for the map compliments! "The Mouth of Doom" you'll find more about as you begin the campaign, but essentially it's a dungeon that is connected to the main floors of Rappan Athuk--and by virtue of distance from the source, is a far less dangerous entrance than the main mausoleum.

I think at this stage we're still missing our Fighter! I'll send Reginald a message, and if he doesn't respond in another day or two, I'll drag in an alternative player.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

Cool, looks like everything is falling into place. Bwahahahah! Oh, wait. I'm only supposed to cackle in character.

How do you guys feel about party funds/group magical items? For example the wand of CLW which would help everyone or a bag of holding?


HP: 17/28 || AC 17 (touch 14, flat 13) || F/R/W +3/+7/+1 Init +8, Perception +11

That would be most excellent suggestion Olo, if I were not such a miser. Joking aside, I spent all of my starting money on equipment, and even now I have only the most basic stuff - thanks Paizo for "class kits", otherwise I would never be able to obtain what I need. Here's a simple breakdown of my equipment/price:

Masterwork Studded leather 175 gp 20 lbs.
Dagger 2 gp 1 lbs.
Shortsword 10 gp 4 lbs.
Crossbow, light 35 gp 4 lbs.
Bolts, x-bow (60) 3 gp 3 lbs.
Dungeoneering kit 15 gp 25 lbs.

Grand total: 240 gp ; 57 lbs.

Only possibility is for me to take normal armor instead of MW version. In that case I would have 150gp to pool.

As for (basic) tactics - with so much invested in Perception/Find traps, and with the house rule for trapfinding (great rule btw), it would only makes sense for me to to go and scout ahead of the party. But the moment the !$%*^@!#% hits the fan, I run back hoping for (preferably a fleet footed) opponent to hit with my x-bow. Bryce does not even have weapon finesse, so he can not hit the broad side of a barn with a sword/dagger :-(

And finally - really great looking map, o our gracious female GM :-)

Random thought - are female GM's kinder or more prone to random TPK's, than male GM's? :-D


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

I'd say, just make a proposal here in the OOC thread and we can decide if it makes sense for us all to chip in (or for some of us to do so). I think the wand of CLW is a very clear example and I would think 125 gp each would make sense.

Alice - I just created an Obsidian Portal account, so if you want to add me, the user name is michaelane.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

Excellent, sounds like we are all on the same page (or at least nobody is posting "I plan to kill your character while he sleeps and steal his money.") I figured we probably don't have enough money to invest in something right now, but this keeps me from blowing all my money on scrolls, extra potions or alchemical items.

Bryce - I suggest you keep the armor. It makes you better at doing all the things you do and staying alive.

Any suggestions for marching order (since this will inevitably come up)?
Olo is soft and squishy but needs to be within 30 feet to use hexes. Looks like Bryce will take point?


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

Alice, has everyone checked in with you? Unless I've missed it, I don't see where Reginald's player has acknowledged joining the game.

Perhaps after our first delve or two we can pool for a wand of CLW. Molasbar would certainly see the wisdom in that. And other situations may arise where we pool cash as well. For example, we may want to (later on) buy potions of cure disease, neutralize poison, etc., or pay to get a scroll to add Water Breathing to the arcanists' repritoires to get past particular obstacles, etc.

Regarding tactics, Molasbar will try to stay behind the front line and contribute with force missiles. He will use his greataxe as a last resort, or to provide flanking for others, or to cdg critters that color spray may knock out. He'll try to always keep a burning hands or two ready for swarms and a feather fall for vertical challenges.

Edit: Sorry, just realized some of the tactics stuff I'd already mentioned before. Just excited to get started, I guess!

Liberty's Edge

Quote:
Random thought - are female GM's kinder or more prone to random TPK's, than male GM's? :-D

I did manage to TPK my Roll20 group in their first session. And almost again in their 3rd session. :p This was mostly due to them rolling TERRIBLY and me confirming a couple of critical hits.

So... maybe the latter. :P

Quote:
Alice, has everyone checked in with you? Unless I've missed it, I don't see where Reginald's player has acknowledged joining the game.

Yeah, I sent him a message yesterday, if he doesn't check in soon I'll tap in another one of the applicants instead.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

Sorry! What a day yesterday. I'm a medical student and yesterday was my first exam of the semester. Normally I don't have as much going on outside of normal study, but it was crunch time, as you can imagine. I did well, and now the stress is over.

In other words:

HELLO. I'm here. :)

I'll take a moment to catch up on this discussion thread and then weigh in with any pertinent information. Thanks for choosing me!

Liberty's Edge

Excellent! Hope your exam(s) go well. :)

p.s., damn Reginald has a lot of HP at 1st level.

With everyone here and more or less knowing how they're together, I'll get the gameplay thread up later this evening.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

Alright, I've read through the discussion thread and the house rules on OP. I'll make an account there in a few minutes and PM the name to you, Alice.

With regards to Reginald's backstory, it's pretty light. It was posted in the recruitment thread, and I forgot to transfer it to his sheet. I will remedy that. I left it somewhat vague because I don't know a whole lot about this adventure, and I wanted to allow some wiggle room for the very discussion we're having here: How everyone meets.

In a nutshell: Reg is a vagabond. He wanders from place to place looking for "work" and moves on to the next place once he's worn out his welcome (usually pretty quickly). He lacks subtlety, is incredibly brash, and the only reason he's been successful is the fact that he's actually got the brawn to back up his boasts. He has very few moral reservations, and he's pretty self-serving. I don't want to say he doesn't care about anything, but he's got few ties to anything or anyone, so his emotional investments tend to be reserved for the short-term.

He came into possession of a map (which is the self-hook I made up for his backstory). The map was "borrowed" from an adventuring party that he ran across in his travels. It's crude and doesn't really offer much in the way of information about the location it leads to, but the conversation he overheard before he "acquired" it leads him to believe that it's worth going out of his way to investigate. Of course, he's only heard a few rumors about Rappan Athuk, and he's far too brave (or stupid?) to heed the warnings of twig-armed commoners and nose picking simpletons.

He has made absolutely NO effort to hide his intention of traveling to the site, and would probably have spewed out the whole story (along with the map for everyone to see) at every tavern on his way north. It's highly likely that one of the members of the party finds him in the middle of a loud-mouthed (and slightly drunken) rant about it.

Bristleback's Inn seems as appropriate a location as any for that.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

@Alice - I scored the highest in the class, so I'm pretty happy about that! And yeah, I wanted Reggie to be pretty tough, so I'm hoping he survives at least 2 minutes in there. :D

His sheet should be pretty accurate. I didn't use HeroLab, but he's just a human fighter so it's not like he was particularly complex. xD

I did forget to give him a profession/craft/etc rank. I'll do that shortly!

Edit: There aren't too many useful knowledge skills that we don't already have covered. Crafting takes time and tools, so I don't know if that's going to be too useful in a dungeon crawl campaign. Perform with 9 Charisma? I'll do it. Perform (sing). He enjoys breaking out in drinking songs and battle hymns. Unfortunately, he's a little tone deaf and a very poor lyricist. Enjoy!


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

Congratulations on the score! That's great. Welcome to the team. :)

Liberty's Edge

Alright, got the gameplay thread up! My first post is a little rambly and long, don't expect me to always post like that... :)

You're pretty much welcome to do what you like from here on out. There's not really any railroad for you to jump on (although there will no doubt be side quests and so forth as time goes by).

By the way, I also made the Zelkor's Ferry map. It was soooo much harder than I expected. Making the buildings look nice was a pain in the butt, lol. It was a pretty fun exercise though! And it looks much nicer than the black and white maps in the book.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

Reginald - glad to have you with us. Always nice to have more people with high AC and a lot of hit points.... :) See you on the other side!


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

The map looks great! And this weekend I'll see about setting up with Obsidian. I'll post in character a little later when I get a break at work.

Liberty's Edge

By the way, I've been thinking about the healing problem... specifically, the fact that I don't want to condemn Olofire to the healbot role, but neither do I want cure light wounds/infernal healing (or similar) wands to be de rigueur. I was considering perhaps using Wounds and Vigor or this Strain-Injury Variant.

Both are pretty similar on the whole. The key difference is the time it takes for things to heal. Vigor restores completely after a night's rest, and wounds at 1 point/day. Strain is completely gone after a brief (5 minute) rest and refit, but injury can only be healed through the use of the Heal skill, spells, etc.

Anyone have any experience with these rules? What do you think about using something like this, anyway? I just want to make it so you don't feel obliged to have a CLW happy stick around all the time, especially at low levels. Personally I'm a big fan of the Strain-Injury variant, although I haven't had an opportunity to try it in play.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

I have nooo idea how any of those alternate injury systems work, but I'm pretty open to trying new things. I actually didn't realize we had no healer until just now!


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

I'm always open to trying new variants. Always interesting to see how new options play out.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

I don't have experience with either of these alternate systems so no idea how they would play out in the game or with our given group of characters. It seems, however, that this is a way of addressing character fragility (especially at low levels) and extending the "adventuring day." (This is one of the few things I think 4E improved upon, but then it went to far and made it _too_ difficult to actually die).

There are whole threads on wands of CLW and addressing this exact issue (and not requiring a healing character role). I don't know what the best solution to this is. Do we use the rules "as is" and see how far we get (or how many times we die)?

On an unrelated note - do we need to set up an Obsidian Portal account? I would prefer to have one source to check out everything related to the game (these forums) but if it significantly improves the experience I will do it.

Liberty's Edge

I'm still undecided on the rules in question. I just know that I always feel kind of sad about the constant wands of cure light wounds (or healing belts, or wands of lesser vigour/infernal healing, or whatever) because I love to see characters use much more interesting items. I dunno. It's just a thought.

As for OP, you don't have to make one, but I will be putting information up on there. Paizo's forums and campaigns are rather limited, for example, there's no way for me to put in images, or even keep things in an organised place. The only page you have available to customise is the Campaign Info page, and considering it's text-only with a very bare minimum of formatting (bold, italics, links, and 'ooc' blue only), it's not really of any use to me for more comprehensive details.

Generally speaking, if I refer to anything on OP I'll link to the page in question (like how I linked to the map of Zelkor's Ferry) so you shouldn't need to keep a close eye on the updates there or anything. Having an account there just allows you to edit pages and have a character page, which you might find useful, or you might not. It's up to you. I just need SOMEWHERE to keep logs and extended information.


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

I don't have any experience with those alternative rules either, but I'd be willing to experiment.

My experience with the CLW wand is that it never consumes actions during combat. Typically, it is a single post following combat where the user rolls enough times to get everyone up and running again. And it needn't pull too much away from our expenses. Once our paladin starts getting lay on hands that will certainly help. And since we have a more combat oriented group, higher armor classes may help keep us from taking as much damage as we might otherwise. So basically, the wand replaces the cleric's channel energy ability.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

Honestly, I like playing support roles and I would have totally played a healer if I knew what the group comp was going to be. Sadly, that wasn't really something anyone could predict. xD

With regards to wand/belt/whatever spam.. I think it's cheesy, cheap, and kind of lame. That's just my opinion, though.

We could always just give the alternate rules a shot and if we absolutely hate them, we can go back to normal. No big deal.

P.S. - If Reginald dies, I'm making a cleric. Lol.


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

@Alice- makes sense. I didn't realize all the limitation so the boards here. So far your links work great and it works for me.

I agree with Molasbar - the way I've seen it work has always been the after combat, how many charges are we using, etc. Healing belts are also a good option.

Reginald - I can see the cheesy/cheap argument from both points. On the other hand, couldn't you argue that making a cleric or having one in the party to keep us alive is just as cheesy? ;) Also, it's funny because I was considering making a druid as my next character just to fill that role (although I also have an awesome concept for a dwarven monk/ninja).


HP 8/8 || AC: 13 (touch 12, flat 11) || F/R/W +2/+2/+4 Init +1, Perception +5

Also, I found this thread about Healing Belts, Wands of CLW and Wands of Lesser Vigor (which it looks like is the one we should buy). Seems like the ultimate argument is they all help out at low levels, nothing breaks the game and later on they don't make a difference.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126924


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

Isn't it great how this adventure has us all seriously considering what our backup characters are? :)

I'm looking at an elven wizard, a dwarven monk/cleric or a halfling bard. With just a few PC deaths, we can go from a drought of healers to a flood!

Another option to make it accessible and less troublesome is halve the cost but make it take a full round action to use (making sure it will be out of combat only). Perhaps to make it less cheesy, it could be a gift to our young paladin from a benefactor to ensure our success.


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

I GM a lot of Pathfinder Society games so I'm used to the wand of CLW. Those make it a 2PP purchase so pretty much everyone grabs one after your first adventure and you become responsible for your own healing (by handing it off to someone that can use it). No doubt it is a bit of an odd behavior when you think about it, but it also prevents people from having to play healbots and it pretty much always comes into play after the fight is over.

That said, this isn't organized play and one of the things I like about PbP is the ability to immerse even more deeply in character. In that environment, the wands are definitely lame since they feel like such a mechanical thing. I don't like forcing anyone to be a healer either though interestingly, it seems a couple of you are quite open to that. I play an oracle of life in a Carrion Crown game that was specifically interested in adding a healer so it was interesting to take on the character design challenge of making an interesting character for that role.

Bottom line, I'm definitely flexible on this. Alternate rules. Wand. Or creating a character to fill the role once one of us inevitably dies. All ok by me. But I do like experimentation, hence why it might be interesting to try a new rule.

Liberty's Edge

I know mechanically speaking there isn't anything wrong with having <insert healing option of choice>, and I also know that it's never an in-combat healing thing after a level or two. I've played enough games of Pathfinder/3.5e to know that very well.

It's just that it irks me flavour-wise. "Ok, we spend 5 minutes trading the happy stick around before moving on to the next room" is mechanically not a problematic thing but is really immersion-breaking in PbP, as Ninivic said. Plus, rather than pooling your cash to buy your first wand or whatever, you could instead spend your money on more flavourful, interesting items.

I'm really strongly considering using the he "strain and injury" houserules I linked to now.

The rules function kind of similarly to 4e's healing surges. After every combat, given a brief break, you heal up to more or less full HP. The only things that don't heal without medical or magical attention are injuries, i.e. hit point damage sustained from a failed saving throw, critical hit, or from damage that sends you under 0 hp. So if you have 10 hp and take 3 hp worth of injuries, you'll only heal back up to 7 hp from there on until you get treatment. Your hit points function identically to normal, i.e. whenever you take damage, injuries or strain, you lose hp. You just have to additionally note injuries separately.

Healing magic thus becomes more a good thing to have rather than an essential thing to have. A wand of cure light wounds is still awesome but it's not mandatory. The Heal skill becomes exponentially useful because you can heal injuries with the 'treat deadly wounds' option.

If you read just the first page of this document, it sums up what you need to know as a player. It's very short!


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

It seems simple and has the same basic effect (everyone heals to "full") but without the "pass the stick" mini-game. I'm down for it.

4E Semi-Related Tangent:
It does seem similar to the intent of 4E's damage system, except that 4E uses a limited number of self-heals and doesn't distinguish between injury types or the source of the damage. I've played a lot of 4E and I like the system (to an extent) in that it eliminates a lot of downtime. It sucks that it's so combat-heavy and that battles can take an hour or more in real-time (don't get me started on condition tracking). It's virtually impossible to have a PbP 4E game. I've tried, and it was super SLOW! Combat encounters took weeks to resolve! Immediate actions/interrupts f~@+ed up posting order and flow so much.


Stats:
AC 19/16/14 HP 22/22 F+3 R+7 W+4 Init +9 Per +11

You're right. That's really short. I'm in. Let's give it a go.

Liberty's Edge

I've played in a 4e PbP game. It was pretty damn fun, but I can imagine later level combat (we only got up to level...3? 4?) taking aaaages. We had a very dedicated posting schedule and things like immediate actions would be simply retroactively calculated or put into one's combat post (i.e., "if the kobold attacks the wizard I will use this power").

I like 4e a lot, personally, but I've never GMed it, and my perusal of the GM rules didn't warm me to it. It seems a lot more fun to play than run.

ANYWAY, I've posted - I am going fast through the travel in order to facilitate play, but if you'd like to investigate something on the road (e.g., the statue) feel free to 'rewind' a little. Always feel free to do this, actually.

Normally I'd roll Perception checks for you and continue on with the 'event' but I've got to leave shortly and don't have time to write more/make a map if necessary/etc. So feel free to investigate the statue or roleplay your journey so far and I'll continue on when I get home tomorrow.


HP: 17/17, AC: 21, T: 11, FF: 20, Fort: +6, Ref: +1, Will: +0, CMB: +4, CMD: 15, Init: +1, Perception: +0

I actually like 4E a lot, and used to have a long-running MapTool/Skype online group. We got to about level 19 before the DM decided to focus more on his game development career and stuff. We were playing through War of The Burning Sky. I really didn't care for the campaign or its plot at all, but the group made it fun and I always looked forward to playing with them.

I've DMed a few low level games, and the only thing that sucks about running it is tracking conditions: Who had this condition on which turn and when does it wear off? Half the time, the players will just remind you, so it's not -that- bad, but at least a couple times a session there would be a: "Uhh.. who put this condition here, again? Wait. What is this? Oh that should have been gone 2 rounds ago. Whoops." Haha.

I don't like running skill challenges, but that's because I think they don't do a very good job of presenting them as an organic gameplay mechanic in the books and modules. I've seen DMs run them very well, though.


Male Elf Wizard 2 | HP:22/22 | F:+3 R+4 W+4 | CMD 14 | AC:14 T:14 FF:10 | Init+4 | Perc +10 |

The strain rules seem pretty straight forward. I'm totally game to give it a try.


HP: 13/13 || AC 19 (touch 11, flat 18) || F/R/W +4/+1/+3 || Init +1, Perc +1 || Buffs: none || Debuffs: none

I'm happy enough for us to give it a shot. It should also make the game feel more epic as we soldier on through various legions of bad dudes!

Actually, on the epic tangent is there anything in the Mythic rules we could adopt for that?

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