Did you want progressions in the same area as level 1 stats, or separate section?

A heads-up: between family and work, my time and concentration for RPoL are both pretty well shot, so expect a bit of a slow ride:P

Spells: I will create an additional thread for everything that relates to your daily stuff as well as your consumables. That does have the unfortunate side effect of having to constantly update that thread when, for instance, you shoot arrows, at least for the first few levels (until you get an efficient quiver and we stop counting them unless they are magic), but tracking potions and wand charges and whatnot is always going to be a pain regardless of how you do it.

Progression: Each player has a different character sheet format; as long as the information is in there it's fine :) I just want to be able to find it when preparing the next event.

Random rant: every time I re-read the ABP rules and try to figure out how to factor special abilities into a proper bonus progression, I want to bang my head against tha wall.

This gem in particular makes me want to throttle the author: "In this system, adding bonus-equivalent special abilities to items costs significantly less because you are paying only for the special ability, not for a base enhancement bonus (see the table below)."

Then he makes an example where a 20k sword would instead cost 18k. And if that were all, well, a <10% discount is *not* what I would call "significant", but that would still be sort of OK.

However, that is not all. Not by a long shot. See, you have to pay for the special ability out of your own enhancement bonus, even though you already paid for it out of your WLB.

Which effectively means that, to get a +3 sword with a +2 special, you pay the full price of a +3 (from your ABP), *plus the price of another +3* (from your WBL), minus the price of a +1. Effectively, you pay 190% the base price of the weaponn.

That is... Not significantly less. In fact, that would be the polar opposite of significantly less.

Which is why I did not actually go for this system and instead used it as a guideline for what you can get.

(In case you're interested, the minimum price you could pay for a special weapon would be based of something like a +1 keen, which you could then carry all the way to +4 keen using your own bonus... But even then you would still pay the full price of a 5 (from your ABP), plus the price of a +2 (from your WBL), minus the price of a -1. Which is still a 12% price increase, so "significantly less" my shiny metal axe.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:02, Sat 26 Nov 2016.

To be fair, when our city raised property taxes from 3.4% to 4.1% there was an uproar, but when the water bills went up 28% must people just shrugged. Yes the end dollar values were different, but clearly the later percentage hike of utilities was 'more significant' than the other.

Probably not the kind of analogy that helps this situation. ;)

Once upon a time, in a country that shall remain unnamed, a certain prominent politician built his presidential (*) campaign on the promise of lowering taxes. Upon being elected, he set out to do just that.

Now, as you probably know, from a budgetary standpoint, every law or decree that requires a financial backing (such as, say, funding hospitals and schools, or building new infrastructure) is required to provide said backing in some form. You can't just say "we are hiring more teachers", you have to explain where that money is coming from in your budget.

Similarly, when you are proposing a reduction of your income, you have to explan how you plan to compensate for that reduction.

So, he proposed his tax reform, which was promptly approved - by the same parliament and senate that had been elected with him, and had therefore campaigned with him on the same platform.

The key point of the reform were the tax cuts, which were exactly as he had promised. The required financial backing? It was procured by raising taxes, of course. And yes, they were, by and large, the same taxes that were being cut on another page of the same reform.

If you don't quite understand how that is possible, well, during that same term, the Minister of Economy was able to make the same money appear in the budget of two (possible three) fiscal years.

Oy vey...


(*) Technically, I suppose the correct term would be "prime ministerial" or some such, but that's a bit of a mouthful.

The game starts in the little hamlet of Carp on the Wall, which each of your characters will be visiting on the same day, each for their own reason.

Carp on the Wall, which some old stories refer to as Ship Stay, is a bit of an oddity: strange stories have bgun circulating recently, about the unusual prosperity the village has reached in recent years, but the amount of factual information in these stories amounts to "a friend of a friend of a friend of my cousin's girlfriend sayd that they heard".

Whatever your character's interests, chances are you heard some story that convinced you to visit it.

The world is Golar-ish, so if yo look at a map of Golarion Carp on the Wallwould be located around the chitterwood area, on the Cheliax side of the river... However, an earthquake caused the flow of the riverbed to change a few centuries ago, so the proper border is kind of contested.

"Kind of" because... Nobody really cares about Carp on the Wall.

Yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Sat 26 Nov 2016.

If we are starting the game within the town, that will push me to memorize 'non-combat' spells at the beginning of the adventure. If we are just doing a narrative and moving immediately to a wilderness or dungeon setting after some minor research/diplomacy/conversation, then I'll start with the battle setup. :)

You are assumed to be arriving to the village on this particular day; you'll presumably be travelling by road, but bandits are a thing, and so are monsters, so you probably want at least a mild combat setup, since you will be traveling through the wilderness.

Leaving an open slot is an option, but at first level you migt want to pack as much firepower as possible.

Not that divine casters have much in the way of fire, unless they take an elemental domain :P

So, aside from that forward-list of magic items you want from us, and the 8-slot thing for our character items, [or are they the same thing?], I am ready to go, right DM?

Aside from the advancement stuff yes. Note that the lack of advancement stuff means you won't serendipitously find your advancement stuff and may have to wait a while before it becomes available :)

Knowing your planned feats and class features would be good as well.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:50, Wed 30 Nov 2016.

So, are we good as far as my planned advancement is concerned? Tried to layer in anything I could think of.

Right. I put those in a private message to you last week but haven't transferred them over to the sheet yet. I'll do that before Saturday night. Tabletop gaming tonight and time with family tomorrow night.

So, to review...

- Leonia is pretty much done.

- Aran should be OK for the next 5 levels, and still mostly OK for the following 6: I assume we'll know more when we get there.

- Dakash needs a little work in terms of figuring out his wishlist, but we could start with him as-is in a pinch.

- Norroar is missing more than a few bits and pieces, starting with his starting gear, including weapons and armor. After that there is some math to be done (attack bonus and damage, AC, save throws), and of course the advancement.

- Gron... Has base stats and a description.

So, if we start now, Norroar cannot enter combat, and Gron cannot do most things (he cannot roll much of anything without a skill set or a defined class).
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Wed 30 Nov 2016.

I got skillsd up, working on equipment.  Been hecktick.  Sorry.

Two posts up in the "for the players" thread, one of them being hooks for your characters' reasons to be in that particular place at that particular time.

It's completely appropriate for Aran to just be FROM the area.

From Cheliash in general, absolutely; bear in mind, Carp on the Wall is tiny and out of the way, most people will never go anywhere near the place, unless they have reason to, for instance, cross the border without being noticed, or are looking for something in particular in that area.

If Aran were, for instance, considering leaving Cheliash (and why would he ever want to do that? :P), he might decide to explore his options, and stop by Carp on the Wall for the night as he does so. Maybe talk to the people there, get a better idea of what to expect, possibly prepare for the trip for a couple of days...
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:13, Thu 01 Dec 2016.

So, to recap:

- Aran is from the region and probably heard some stories about Carp on the Wall. People might be able to cross the border there, maybe move to a place where non-humans aren't automatically considered as potential slaves.

- Leonia will probably come from the other side of the border, having heard stories from a scholar about a lost spell, said to be especially useful for wizards caught in close combat, allegedly having been "found again" by somebody who might or might not now live in Carp on the Wall.

- Dakash heard stories about legends, and legends about stories, tied to the place Carp on the Wall was built upon. Trying to find out why that place would be special in the first place only served to make things even more vague, so he decided to check it out himself.

Aran, if you could please start on your introductory post... Check out the IC thread for an idea; it should essentially be your character arriving near the village, with a brief description so that we start getting to know him.

Now, Leonia and Dakash could have met by chance; for instance, one of them might have been asking an innkeeper about Carp on the Wall when the other overheard. So, if you would like to arrive in Carp on the Wall at the same time, please get a private thread going to work out a joint introduction.


* You will all arrive on the same day. This isn't coincidence, it's destiny ;) *

Dakash, that's a powerful Class ability (empower healing). What archetype or domain is responsible?

It's the Lv 1 Blessing for the Healing 'domain', straight from the PF page of the Warpriest. Again, though, it's only 3 + 1/2 lv times a day, and it is a shared ability with the one from Magic, which is the thrown weapon attack blessing.

Yes, though, very nice to have that in the back pocket. :)

Minor edit to Dakash's post, I think it's slightly clearer if the uses of the Blessing ability are moved into their own header, since they are shared.

Also, you are level 1, so it's 3/day not 4/day.

Actually, doesn't entry say 3+ lvl/2 (minimum +1)? Most abilities in this game have that 'minimum +1'.

Slight change of subject [as I'll take either the 3 or 4 but thought we round up in favor of the PC]...what are the official "magic item slots"?

The list I found is kind of weird: Belt, Body, Chest, Eyes, Feet, Hand, Head, Neck, Shoulders, Wrist. It does not include weapons, has two spaces for the torso, and I am a bit confused. I thought there were only 8, but again this is my first PF game so I've only read and watched others play.

Also, what if it comes to pass that two of us have listed/requested the same item? When we find it in a hoard or as a reward, I'm sure the DM has worked out how we'll distribute these things, but it seems that it would make for a realistic awkwardness at first. ;)

Dakash, you distribute items as you see fit, with a bit of roleplay and some realistic evaluation of your characters' needs and abilities. The rules for equipment you foud are the ones we are using, you also get two slots for your weapos and the other slots described in the rules,

Leonia, AFAIR most abilities actually have "level/{number} + {modifier} (minimum 1)", not +1, because an attribute modifier might otherwise make your total 0, or even negative. This entry is not based on an attribute modifier, so it does not have a minimum.

Ah. Apologies for the assumption.