Please introduce yourself and the character you are going to play briefly. Other than that, feel free to chat about whatever else you want in here.

Hi all!

Introducing myself, I'll be playing Zhira, who is a traveling fighter from a wealthy merchant background who saw her parents killed by "bandits" when they attacked the caravan she was traveling with, and decided to become a mercenary caravan guard in a mix of searching revenge and ensuring such criminals and their ilk didn't bring similar suffering to others.

The fact that she found out she gets a thrill out of battle is just a bonus.

Zhira is a character that I conceived as very focused on traditional values of Qadiran/Keleshite culture and with a bit of nationalist tendencies that can be somewhat off-putting, but she's also quite friendly when approached on her own terms, as she learned how to form rough friendship in the army, which she served for a bit.

As the GM encouraged us to consider the possibilities of our characters having met in the past, I specifically gave Zhira a backstory where she has spent the last few years of her life traveling the whole of Qadira alongside whichever caravan she'd signed up at the time, so if any of you is interested in having crafted a connection with her during her journeys, just say so and I'll happily try to work with you on it.

Looking forward to playing with you all! ^_^

Hi All!

 I'm Edmond, based in London, and I'm starting to feel like I'm shifting into an "old-school" gamer. I've been on rpol some 15 years now, we may well have met on an other campaign.

 I'll be playing Qvan Ibn Hamid, a retired magician who is definitely too old for this, but wants to feel the thrill of adventuring once more. But mostly some of his apprentices fell prey to the Feast of Dust and he won't stand for that.

 Common background is a great idea, Qvan runs an academy for your wizard so you may have met him in this capacity while travelling around the Meraz Desert. If your character is a bit older, you may have encountered him some 40 years ago at the pinnacle of his career as an adventuring transmuter.

Hello everyone, I'll be playing Vahid al-Mavari. I was briefly torn between playing the Warpriest or a paladin, but seeing the lack of divine casters, I think Warpriest might be the way to go. After all, we may be playing a high level game, but experience dictates that somebody is going to need a Raise Dead.

Vahid is a Warpriest of Sarenrae, and has been one ever since his obligatory military service ended with the attack of a rather large Gnoll pack raiding the town of Qadlas Mavari. He nearly died that day but the priests of the Dawnflower saved him, so he decided to take up the mantle to do the same.

Vahid is, personality wise, more of a  "enjoy in moderation" type mixed with "everybody gets a second chance, nobody gets a third". I've been reading everything I can about Qadiran culture to ensure I can play him appropriately, so I may make some final tweaks and updates to this before the commencement of play.

As Zhira said, I wrote Vahid as having mostly traveled the length of Qadira for the last ten years, so anybody interested in having met him in that time, I would be more than happy with working something out with you.

Since we were asked in the character creation to pick a color, I'd like to take this moment to call dibs onred. Any objections?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Mon 22 June 2020.

 I don't like when people speak red, always makes them sound angry. Nah go ahead.
 I call Blue, unless that's reserved.

 The party is heavily human. Was no one interested in playing an other race?
 GM if you don't mind, I might look into switching to have a bit more diversity.
 (I know you're not keen on extravagant races though, I would stick to the basics)

Oh, right! I'd forgotten about the color choice; if nobody wants it, I'll take Seagreen, which is my general favorite whenever I have to pick one.

Zhira is also a follower of Sarenrae, and generally she's very much a traditionalist; ethnically, she is Althameri, which is the primary population group in the empire, meaning the general Kelish attitude of "we're just better" is very strong in her, but also that she's very devout, since the religion in Qadira is so important. Hopefully we'll mesh well!

She also had a longer military service than most, starting earlier and finishing late; she did it in Omash, in case anybody could find that useful for backstory coordination.

Qvan, I'm not surprised that we're predominantly human, since the GM's request was for traditional races. Plus it sort of makes sense fluff-wise, since in Qadira it's extremely rare for any race other than Humans and Elves to get citizenship, which I expect would make mixed adventuring groups rarer... although on the other hand, that would make for an interesting roleplay challenge for sure. :)

Hey all! Rictor is an Aragorn wannabe, lost prince of a fallen country and all that, who has made his way back to Qadria after his defeat of the black dragon Esaolathus. Level 17 is getting up into "you are already kickass, world hopping adventurers" territory so his backstory is dramaaaaatic.

He was the Swordprince of Alkir, a mountainous country sandwiched between Taldor and Galt, so he's about one country away from Qadria demographically. I'm seeing a lot of Ibn's and Als in the cast list so it will be cool to add in an outsider perspective on Qadrian culture as well.

Esaolathus, uncommonly cunning and wily for a black dragon, infiltrated and began to co-opt the court of Alkir when Rictor was a boy. Rictor began to suspect something sinister beneath the dragon's human guise but before he could act Esaolathus had Rictor exiled. He began a wandering journey seeking the means to break the black dragon's hold on his homeland and free his family from the beast's clutches.

This is mostly the nebulous 'wandering around doing adventury stuff to get up to level 17' portion of his backstory, and when he would have likely encountered everyone else's characters. He certainly would have sought the expertise of the world famous Qvan Ibn Hamid for a way to pierce his nemesis' magical disguise, or sought wisdom in meditation with Vahid al-Mavari to steel himself for the battle ahead. Perhaps Zhira al-Darea remembers a taciturn ranger from far to the north, traveling with her caravan and seeking a mystical oasis with the power to bless his arrows with the strength to penetrate dragon hide.

He climbed to the top of Mhar Massif in search of star iron to forge a blade capable of slaying Esaolathus. He sought and reassembled the seven shattered fragments of the Mirror of Xin to give him some clue to his enemy's weakness. He forged alliances with knights and priests and seekers on their own journeys. And at last, when his skill and power and the tools in his arsenal were sufficient to the task, he returned to his homeland.

But his return was not triumphant. The seven spires of Alkir were crumbled and fallen. Only the tallest, now the Black Tower of Esaolathus, remained. The people were gone, enslaved or sold or driven off by disease and hunger and Esaolathus' troops of madmen and zealots. Of the royal family only the princess, Rictor's sister, remained--trapped at the top of the tower, thrall to the black dragon. He climbed that lofty spire, fought through Esaolathus' traps and nightmare denizens, and in a mighty battle smote his enemy to ruin at the peak. But the dragon reached out with its dying breath to curse his vanquisher one last time. The tower crumbled, and while Rictor miraculously survived the fall his beloved sister was crushed under the rubble.

Now, prince only of a land of dust and ashes, he turns his journey to the warm lands of the south.

Dramaaaaaatic.

I figure his closest tie to the group and the current adventure is probably Vahid. He remembers his teachings and, lost and grief stricken, is seeking his council once again. He's traveling to Qadria for a little grief counselling when whatever is the inciting incident of the module crops up and he steps up to his ally's aid.

Mechanically he's a stealthy scout/ranger type. His favored enemy is obviously Dragon, so hopefully there's one or two of those somewhere in the module, but luckily his bow works on things that aren't dragons too. A bit. Utility wise his biggest bring-to-the-table is Survival. With +52 when tracking he's getting up into "+20 DC to do something impossible, like swimming up a waterfall or bargaining with a deity" territory, so if one of our objectives is anything like "find a dude" we should be covered. Otherwise you can mentally slot him into the "Big dumb melee guy" pigeonhole.

Color wise I like green for rangers, but that may be a little close to seagreen. Eh, brown is sort of earthey too. I'll reserve that one.

Sure thing, you guys are free to change things around still.

Hello all, I'll be playing Mirabella Highhill. A former Chelaxian slave, Mirabella was rescued by The Bellflower Network and has spent much of her life traveling Golarion thwarting the diabolic schemes of Chelaxian slavers. Lately, she has been more of an administrator but has heard of some unsettling rumors that Qadira might be funneling haflings into Chelaxian hands. Thus she finds herself traveling to the desert kingdom to see what truth lies in these rumors.

Mechanically, she is a skill monkey extraordinary and a utility/healing spellcaster (Questioner Archetype/replaces alchemy w/Bard spell casting). I'm open to a shared backstory if anyone is interested and I choose PURPLE as my color...:-)

Greetings all.

I am playing Aryk, a psionic warrior/War Mind of the Conclave of the Eye.  Think of him sort of like a Jedi knight, with less arrogance and not fully beholden to a lawful path.

In game sense, MC was raised from an early age by the Conclave, to be a warrior of mind, will and body.  Upon completion of his training, he was sent out into the world basically as a knight-errant, to protect the weak, become stronger, gather knowledge, and find forgotten relics.

Since then, he has been operating more-or-less independently for a decade (since age 17), in periodic contact with his masters and occasionally doing their bidding as needed, but mostly finding his own way.  He has worked with the military before, although he is not technically a member of any army, and may very well have done some anti-slavery work.


In combat he is an excellent swordsman, but is equally capable with a bow, hammer, spear or other weapon.  He prefers sword & shield for combat, striving for balance in his style, and is equally adept at sneaking when need be.

I would prefer Dark Green, if it's not too similar to other greens...

Ok, that's a bunch of impressive backstories: a dragonslayer, a secret agent and a jedy are some very interesting concepts! I'm very curious to see how those play in game.

Also, we seem to have a ton of frontliners, isn't it? I hope we won't step on each other's toes too much - I'm primarily a melee focused skirmisher, as it seemed to fit best with the kind of battle maniacs that Zhira is designed to be. I'm very curious to see how we'll interact with each other in combat!

And as for out of combat... I'm curious to see how this'll work out; it seems like there's several foreigners in the team, and a few less-than-lawful types. That might create some IC attrition, but hopefully that'll be fun as well. :)

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 11):

Yes & no, as to fighting style.

He can do frontline, but the character build can do a decent job of sneaking (and has a feat that gives him a weaker version of sneak-attack), ranged support or skirmisher.  he is basically a utilitarian fighter who can self-buff & heal himself a bit.

I see. At least this make me happier that I ended up dropping my initial idea of going switch-hitter, since it seems like you two have that side of things handled. :)

Well, I see everyone has been very busy while I was gone, I love it. We do seem relatively melee heavy, with myself, Zhira, Rictor, and Aryk. I think it'll be fine, at least with four of us it means everyone gets a flanking buddy.

I do like the tie in with Rictor, having met him a few years ago and tried to help him find peace. I imagine Vahid would have tried to help Rictor understand that revenge wouldn't make him happy, and promised to be waiting when he realized it was true.

I imagine Vahid might briefly have met Zhira or Aryk during his travels and offered to help them. Perhaps he helped Aryk flush out a ring of slavers and cutthroats out in the desert, or come across a caravan Zhira was guarding and offered healing to the people in it.

I can do ranged work.  My ranged BAB is actually higher than my melee (DEX keeps his AC up), but most of his powers are better served with melee.

As for tie-ins...

He would've certainly offered a sword to Rictor rather than attempt to turn him from vengeance.  Righteous retribution is a worthy path.

He most certainly could've worked, at some point, with Vahid, especially if he's every hunter undead.

With Zhira, he could've tagged along with her while she was in the military.  he is not technically part of any army, but has a certain obligation to aid those working to for a good cause.

For Mirabella, he could've worked with her on anti-slaving operations, or maybe have even been involved at some level with her liberation?  Although that may be a bit too much?

For Qvan, while I am not an arcane-user, I may, perhaps, have asked the sage about advice, sought his council on quests, or perhaps asked for access to his library (I assume a teaching wizard has a glorious library) in search of some long forgotten relic or artifact.

What do people think?

That's a cool dynamic too. Rictor has Shoulder Devil Aryk telling him that righteous revenge is a wellspring of determination and power to funnel toward his goal, while Shoulder Angel Vahid is telling him that losing himself in revenge won't bring him peace.

I'm glad we have the option of taking the 25 point buy...:-(

If Rictor is an Aragorn, Qvan will be his Gandalf. He could also be described as a Dumbledore type. Well into his seventies from what you can see on his face, but with a surprisingly youthful eye and still agile legs.

In fact 10/15 years ago when most others were starting their adventuring life, he was already the same as he is now, he has just been stagnating for a good quarter of a century or more.

He is devoted to passing on knowledge to the next generation. Unless some of you actually use arcane magic, it’s unlikely you would have been his apprentice early on, but you could well have made an appearance at the Academy as guest teachers of some sort.

I like the idea that Rictor came to seek knowledge about dragons. Indeed it will be one of his area of expertise.

In terms of combat, his specialty is shapeshifting, so he can fill in whatever gap we have in any situation. Ranged, tank, skirmish, aerial support, ... we’ll see what the situation calls for. If no obvious gap needs to be filled, he will fall back on the staples: buffing and battlefield control. Maybe a few blasts here and there if someone sticks their neck out.

Qvan is getting into this because some of his students fell to the curse, maybe we can have a combined intro story with some other characters.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Mon 22 June 2020.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 16):

Less a devil & more like ‘hey, this dude/dragon is evil, someone should stab him in the face before he does more evil stuff’.

Also, Qvan, I assume that with enough delving, you have had tomes that could reveal potential locations for lost knowledge or artifacts for someone to pursue?

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 16):

Essentially yes, but to clarify, Vahid wouldn't have said "Don't kill the dragon", he would have said something along the lines of "Kill the dragon because it's the right thing, not because you want revenge". Fine difference, but an important distinction.

I will attempt my best to give you all enough enemies to play around with to keep everyone busy, without interfering with each other too much! :D


Glad to hear you find the option helpful, the dice roller can be a cruel mistress indeed.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 15):

The Bellflower Network is always looking for help...:-). As for helping my liberation that would not only be contrary to my background, but you would have still been a child when it happened...:-p

Mirabella is an adequate melee fighter, a decent healer/utility spellcaster, and quite the little skill monkey. She would make an excellent face if needed and can stealth with the best of them.

 How old is Mirabella? She and Qvan may have been acquainted some 40+ years ago.
 Good to know there is a face, as Qvan is quite the old grumpy gruff type.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 23):

She's "only" 49. While quickly approaching middle-age, she still considers herself spry and young. The occasional gray hair has begun to crop up within her fiery locks, but she vehemently denies it. Perhaps you came through Ostenso about forty years ago and stopped at The Six-Eyed Mute and were served by a young, freckled slip with red hair and green eyes.

I don't know if I should agree on how the dice weren't nice; while I did take the rolls, they were just 1 stat point above what I'd have otherwise gotten from the point buy, and there was only 1 even stat, which is annoying... and of all my HP rolls, only 4 were above the median. That's really depressing for a Fighter.

On the matter of revenge, Zhira would have had different opinions to offer at different points in her life - in her younger years, she would have been all for it being a worthy pursuit and something to be motivated by, but in more recent years she'd have become more jaded. The reasons for that are... well, something I'd find more fun if it was discovered through playing, honestly. :)

Also, since everybody's talking about it, I think it's probably important to point out that, according to the setting books, slavery is legal in Qadira; thus, if somebody attacked a caravan transporting slaves and Zhira was guarding it, she would kill the supposed liberators with extreme prejudice, the same she would any other criminal. She'd also be quick to point out (if prompted into such a discussion, that is), that per Qadiran law (according to the books) physically hurting a slave is a crime for anybody who is not a noble, and she'd surely decry Chelaxian's practices as barbaric while seeing nothing wrong with the fact of ownership itself. She might be somewhat blind to her culture's shortcomings, is what I'm saying.

I didn't want to discuss this too much because it's tied to some details in Zhira's backstory that she'd not easily disclose to anybody, I'm just making sure you all don't go on to decide the party members all met as part of some slave-freeing effort because, well, that just wouldn't work with Zhira. I hope we can find a way to work with that? I thought it'd be a fun trait to play with when I proposed the character to give her this kind of "the law above all" mindset, and didn't expect to have a Bellflower Society member be part of the team. Would that create a problem in coordinating backstories among the group?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:48, Tue 23 June 2020.

 I like a bit of morality conflict in a group, if we can all discuss and resolve things IC and it doesn't create bad blood OOC.

 I prefer that to everybody reading in-game situation through the lens of 21st century social progress.

 Qvan was going to be Lawful Neutral and very much with Zhira on this, but for various reason I switched to Neutral Good. This to me means he might side with the liberators in some circumstances, or with the slavers in others, depending on what the greater good calls for.

 @ Mirabella, I like that!
 Qvan would have been a 30 something wizard with a penchant for exuberant polymorphy at the time.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 25):

No worries. I enjoy inter-party conflict that doesn't get physical (I loathe PvP). Also, Mirabella' MO is more sneaking in and freeing the slaves, not frontal assault...:-D. Besides, this is just a scouting mission in her eyes. The Bellflowers will only be called in if necessary. Though in truth, I'm sure the actual module's issues will put such endeavors on the back-burner...:-)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:32, Tue 23 June 2020.

I expect as much myself, but it seemed a big enough point of contention to be worth bringing up beforehand. Glad to hear it's not going to be too big of a problem. And I do enjoy some intra-party tension myself, so it's all good. :)

Revenge, absolution, slavery, clashing ideologies, this game is going to be a literary masterpiece.

I've got my crunchy sheet up and running so I'm ready for an IC start whenever.

You have all of my envy for that - I'm fully certain that the sheet I submitted is a complete mess that'll need at least two rounds of revisions before it's put together properly. I suppose it comes with playing high level characters, but that doesn't make it any less tiring.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 30):

I’m in the same boat.  So much stuff on here that I have no clue about...  XD

I'm just about finished with my sheet, all that remains for me is to figure out what to spend that last 60k of wbl on.

Uh, that's a lot of money to have left over; I couldn't get even close to everything I wanted and had a lot less remaining. I mean, I did splurge on my armor, but still, how comes you have so much remaining?

Magicized weapons.
Bags of Holding/Efficient Quivers/Scabbard of Many Blades.
Rings.

I'm still working on getting something for all my slots.  I have 35k or so left.  Many get another slick weapon...

I have the same problem. I don't usually play casters, but without that juicy +9000 weapon to sink my money into I have no idea what to spend on. I usually go with fifty Pearls of Power just because I can't ever think of anything else.

I know, bag of holding and feather tokens. A zillion feather tokens. Just summon trees and boats to solve every problem.

My character is mostly done (Hero Lab is awesome), though I'm going to give it the once/twice over tonight before I move it over to Rpol. As for money, I've got about 900 gp left...:-)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Tue 23 June 2020.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 33):

Well, it's mostly my being able to afford not going all in on magic weapon/armor investment thanks to sacred weapon/armor. I still took magic gear for that, but not as much as I would have on a pure martial character. Combine with only sparingly using the rules for combining two items( add 150% the cost of the cheaper item to the cost of the more expensive) and I still have a good chunk of cash left. I also need to set aside a fair amount for diamond dust, raise dead and the subsequent restoration to get rid of the negative levels ain't cheap.

Does anyone have access to True Resurrection? Raise Dead might not be enough in this campaign.

If you have any cash left, amulet of natural armor is always a good idea.
Or the staple belts and headband of enhancement... always good to go one better.

...aren't those the first thing everybody buys? Am I doing it backwards?

As for resurrection, we're playing a one-shot adventure; I would hope that if we play it safe and work together, keeping everybody alive to the end won't be impossible. Right?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 37):

You might want to ask the GM about combining items. I broached the subject and they were hesitant. They offered to put it to a vote with all the players, but I backed down since I don't really need any combined items...:-)

I might have some scrolls of Breath of Life. Hopefully I can get to you in a round...:-p

As for equipment, I always go after stat boosting, rings, and odds and ends. I usually leave weapons/armor to the last. Then again, I hardly ever play a pure martial character, so I might be doing it backwards too...:-)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Tue 23 June 2020.

I just made sure I have medium fortification on both armor & shield...  ;)

And 9k for a weapon?  I believe Aryk’s primary is around 35k...  XD

Rookie numbers!

I would probably vote against combining items if it was put up - there's really enough stuff out there that one should be able to find what they're looking for with a bit of search - but then, that might just be me.

As for martials and weapons, it really depends.

As a fighter, I can empower my weapons to a ridicolous degree (on the tune of over a dozen points of extra attack bonus between Weapon Training and adding weapon properties on it before I start even counting the actual magic on the weapon), but since my Archetypes traded out the armor options for some pretty amazing mobility, I decided to really put a lot of money into having the best armor I could... and still fell short of what I wanted - I would have put another 40 to 50k more into it, but then I would have nothing left for anything else - but good enough to serve the purpose I needed. Had I traded away some of my offensive bonuses, then getting a good weapon would have been my priority for sure - I think it's a matter of reliability; what you need is enough that others can trust you'll be capable of doing your part for the team, whatever that is.

By the way, when I say I didn't invest much on my primary weapon, I mean it was still around 40k, which is generally the watermark for "good enough" at these levels. My armor costed four times as much.

Casters have it easier in the sense they can make up with spells for many things, but even so, it's not hard to make a caster that can't do their part in keeping the team alive, and that's just as bad as a martial who can't hit their target. So... it depends. ;D

Fair enough.

Psionic Warrior is sort of like a fighter who can self-buff.  On the surface he’s weaker, but if he has the time to pop a couple powers on, he can be BRUTAL.

I have, so far, selected his powers to provide a mix between offense, defense & some speed.  Right now I believe his speed is 40 or so while focused.

Seeing as how the GM is hesitant about combined items, I too would vote against it. Anything to make the GM's life easier. Running a 17th level game I'm sure is headache enough...:-)

Mirabella is actually quite fast for a hafling. She can keep up with you big folk (30' move). She can, however, cast Fly at will, so a 60' Fly speed w/good maneuverability is nothing to shake a gnome at...:-D

Surely at this level we should all be very mobile.
If not, I recommend investing in wings of fly, a magic carpet, or anything like that.

So a question for the group...

For handling undead, I’d given him a Warhammer of disruption.  Think I should add holy to that too?

In reply to Aryk (msg # 46):

Holy is never a bad(heh) option if you can afford it, in my experience.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 47):
 Agreed. The campaign is quite demon heavy from reading the blurb.
 Shame you can’t switch on the go like a magus/inquisitor/paladin.

As I am a skirmisher, I like to think I have some mobility, but I guess the game will tell.

And Aryk, I agree with Vahid; if you can only afford one of the two Holy is the superior option over Disruption, as it's both more versatile and generally more effective than Disruption. I would also wager that, with us having a warpriest, having a whole weapon dedicated only to undead might be a bit much - but on the other hand, you know your powers and skills best, and what it is you need the most.

However, as I've been getting into fighter mindset, I'm all about diversifying rather than overspecializing (that's the Paladin's alley), so I might not be the best person to listen to on this matter. :)

Well, I had taken ‘Aligned Attack’ as good (allows my attacks to count as good for DR bypass while I have my focus), so sounds like I picked the right alignment...

Rictor's backup weapon is ghost touch and his main weapon is holy. His other backup weapon is dispelling so hopefully Qvan will be able to keep that badboy recharged. At some point around seventh level or so I feel like dispel magic becomes the best spell in the game. It just NOPEs so many shenanigans.

Mobility wise he's a footslogger. He casts longstride in the mornings, but other than that he doesn't really have any natural mobility. But thanks to the fantastic feat tax rule I was able to pick up Mounted Combat, so he's rocking a sweet, sweet griffon mount. For overland travel and outdoor fights he'll probably be doing mounted bow stuff from the air, although obviously that's less useful in town or in a dungeon.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:03, Tue 23 June 2020.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 51):

I'd be careful with that griffon. I've noticed that unless you are a class that makes your mount/animal companion super buff, mounts/animals end up KIA like every other combat encounter...especially at our level. Griffon's aren't cheap either...:-D

Hopefully as a ranger his griffin will be a beast :)

And yes, I’ll gladly keep your dispelling weapon charged!

I’m wondering if I should bother with Summons, seeing as the battlefield might get crowded as it is.

Lol.  I'm now wondering if I'm the youngest character at 27...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:14, Tue 23 June 2020.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 54):

Vahid is 25, so I've got you beat on that front.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 54):

Apparently not! But, I am the shortest...:-P

Well, if nothing else everybody being above 20 and two people over 40 is unusual for an adventuring team - but then, I suppose it's one of those things that just come with higher levels. :)

I also agree that it's nice to have a few feat taxes abolished; even for me as a fighter, having the one extra free slot that comes from not being forced to take Power Attack was great.

And combining dodge & mobility.

I like that if I polymorph into a Dire Bear, I can Power Attack without having to take it as a feat myself. Also if I Summon a pack of Dire Bears.

By the way, I’m looking at my spell selection now, any buffs that you guys would really like to see me throw around?

Also, am I the only one with access to ninth level spells?

Going from the class distribution, it sure seems so:

Fighter - No Spells
Ranger - 4th level
Investigator - 6th level
Warpriest - 6th level

And Aryk's said his Psy Warrior class is a martial, so I'd be surprised if it had 6th level casting. So, unless shenanigans are afoot, I would bet that nobody else can cast anything in the upper three spell levels.

 Who speaks what languages, and will it be relevant in game? Is there a Lingua Franca we can call common?
 Are we using the Golarion regional languages?

 I'm probably going to load up on ancient/magic languages, I'll leave the "social" aspect of languages to a casting of Tongues or Comprehend.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Wed 24 June 2020.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 61):

Mirabella speaks thirty languages so she has most bases covered...:-)

Edit: My character is also finished and waiting approval...:+)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:38, Wed 24 June 2020.

I can only second this. Despite the potentially problematic issues in the nation where the adventure will take place, please keep in mind that we are here to play a game and have fun. Overly political and ethical discussions are important and needed, just not here. Everyone is free to follow-through on those thoughts and views in private threads or somewhere else here on rpol.


I would expect so, especially with a large group of seven characters and all the resources a level 17 PC gives you. On that note, don't expect to see your normal variety of monsters. I will need (and want) to change things around, especially stats like HPs will need to be increased for monsters on your level if they want to have any chance of staying alive for more than 1 round.


Thanks for mentioning this! In my older games I included a prohibition on combining items to keep the power level in check. I decided to not do this right from the start here, but I'm still hesitant when the subject is raised. If everyone keeps a healthy (balance-wise) restraint on this option (and not tries to get their combat stats as high as possible), I'm fine with it.


That will depend upon Rictor. If he wants to have his mount actively contribute to the combat (make attacks itself, etc.) then it will be a fair target to attacks of the enemies as well. If he just wants it to serve as a literal mount (to ride and fly around with, carrying him from A to B) then I don't see any necessity to endanger its fragile life :)


Another good point. If you could avoid them, I'd be rather happy. As you mentioned, the battlefield will be quite cluttered with seven PCs and maybe as many enemies at the same time.


We are indeed using reginoal languages!

I feel pretty much the same way about mounts and animal companions. I don't like running multiple characters in combat so I'm happy to ride around and then give them 'forgotten NPC syndrome' the rest of the time. I'll swap out mounted combat, Rictor ain't much of a cavalier anyway.

Did I miss something?  Is ‘Common’ not the base language?

It is, but in Golarion there are a bunch of regional languages such as Tien, Varisian, and Vudrani. I believe Qadira's regional language is Kelish...:-)

If it helps anybody, my personal choices for human languages (aside from Kelish which, as Mirabella said, is the Qadiran's language, as well as one of the primary trade tongues) are Taldane (which is spoken in the big northern neighbor, I believe also in Cheliax as they were a Taldoran colony at one point, and is what the IWG says should be "common" in any region that doesn't have a language of its own), and Osiriani (which is spoken on the western coast that neighbors Quadira on the other side).

South and East is the Kelesh Empire, so no worry in that sense. Just my take on it, but I think it's about as reasonable as anything; Varisia is on the other side of the Inner Sea from Qadira, for example, so it'd be weird to have people speaking that particular tongue around, I would guess. Still, opinions are only opinions in the end. :)

 Qvan will have Varisian and Varisian Sign Language, because of background reasons.
 We might not meet many who speak it, but it may be useful as a secret language between us.

 To the Golarion experts, do elves, orc, etc. also have regional languages, or do they use racial languages?

There is no longer a separate Taldane language. It literally is the common tongue. That will free up one language slot for you.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 68):

So I have six extra languages; how many should I burn on regional & how many on racial?

The races do not have regional languages.

Including like celestial & necril?

 Pick what you think makes sense to your background; it's unlikely to make a difference in game mechanics I reckon.
 With six I would pick 2 outsider languages, 2 racial, 2 regional.

 Does anybody have suggestions for Wizard/Druid buffs that would be useful to you?
 I'm doing my spell selection and will go for the staples, but if you have requests now is the time.
 Or buy a scroll and I'll learn it for you :D

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 73):

I’m thinking Necril (he has a thing about undead apparently) & Alghollthu, modern & Ancient Osiriani, Draconic & Iobarian?

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 73):

Things that increase attack bonus or AC are always good, and perhaps something like faerie fire or glitter bomb that can highlight invisible enemies?

I can cast glitter dust. I can also make all of us look completely different. I have all the cure spells. I can remove curses and turn people back to flesh. Most of my spells, however, target the mind. Probably my best spell will allow me to give one character the ability to roll two d20s and select the best one, until they roll a natural 20 that is... :-)

I also have two scrolls of heal, two scrolls of breath of life, and 1 scroll of miracle... Though I'm going to reserve the latter for when it really hits the fan...:-)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Wed 24 June 2020.

I really like Mind Blank, enough so I almost took the closest feat equivalent I could find before I realized I was compromising my build just to get it. Still, letting go of it was hard, so if it can be had, I'm all for it.

Other than that... mostly what Aryk said in that having more attack and more defenses is good; I'll also get a lot more mileage out of Enlarge Person than most people would. Also mobility. It is my honest opinion that no martial can ever have enough mobility, and a skirmisher most of all. Although I did cover at least enhancement and competence bonuses on my own, so it't not like it's a big priority, just something I like to have as much of at hand as possible.

I can cast fly at will, and at everyone else too...:-P
Haste is also in my repertoire.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Wed 24 June 2020.

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 79):

I can too, and as a free action! ...for twenty rounds a day. Magic items and their silly limits. ;P

I won't say no to more flight; twenty rounds is just two minutes, so really very little.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:17, Wed 24 June 2020.

Mine only lasts 8 minutes, but that's better than nothing...:-)

 Enlarge is a bit pedestrian at this level, but I will have it just in case.

 If anyone is interested, I can buff them with this:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/polymorph/

 If you're not relying too much on equipment to be good in melee, taking the form of a dragon or elemental may have some benefits.

I see everyone has been very busy indeed. I'll do my level best to toss in my two cents wherever it's relevant.


I don't know the wizard spell list exceptionally well, so I'll leave that to your discretion. Vahid is mostly good on buffs though, with the ability to expend fervor to swiftcast on himself, and boots of speed for free action haste for ten rounds.


Well that's just incredibly impressive. Vahid knows Common, Kelish, and Celestial, and Kelish only because he got his ethnic language for free. Do you have the face skills to go with those languages?


I see. I found an item to give myself at will flight as well, but maybe now I should drop it for something else?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 83):

My diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate are nothing to shake a gnome at...;-)

I forgot to mention earlier; Aryk does have two sixth level powers, but his powers really only effect him.

That said, ‘Body Adjust’ is a self-heal that can be augmented...

In reply to Aryk (msg # 85):

Got to love those Dreamscarred Press psionic powers...:-)

While on the subject of languages, what are your opinions on rpol's language feature? I know some prefer to use it as it grants a bit more immersion for the game, others hate the idea of not being able to read everything said.

I love the language option, but my vote probably shouldn't count all things considered...:-P

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 86):

Lol.  ‘Body Adjust’ isn’t even the best one.  I think ‘Sidestep’ is...  XD

I am a fighter; equipment is what I live by, and being pedestrian isn't an insult to me. In fact, Zhira enjoys showing magical types that their powers are not as out of reach for a normal person as one would think. :)

On the other hand, Enlarge Person would make me able to bull rush colossal sized enemies, double my effectiveness with combat maneuvers, and add a solid helping of strength to my stats; if you have access to a better spell for those tasks (I wouldn't consider it impossible, I don't know the entirety of the Wizard's spell list by heart), by all means take it, but I would think that being able to get good work out of low level spells should be a good thing for a Wizard? I will probably buy a couple potions of it on my own anyway, but having it cast by a lv 17th caster is a very different thing - a much better one, in fact. ^_^


I'd suggest to keep it; you never know when everybody else will be unable to cast and you'll need to be the one who must give himself flight to save the team. In terms of mobility options, flight is tactically superior to even teleport in most situation (the big exception being travel), and it's best to have it and not need it, than not have it and need it.

Although I suppose if you went for a costly option, you could consider looking for a cheaper one. I wouldn't know, since it depends on your abilities.

Speaking of abilities, buffs, and divine casters: is there a way for somebody to get Death Ward? I just realized that it's a spell that is not on any of our classes lists... and that's one of those spells that is also really better to have and not need than to lack. It's a buff somebody should probably look into.



I personally quite like the language groups and use them in the games I run; that said, I wouldn't be overly bothered if they weren't used, so long as it was made clear in the text what Zhira could understand and what she couldn't.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:15, Wed 24 June 2020.

 I don't like language groups personally. I prefer people just saying what language they are speaking, the players can still enjoy the RP/banter etc, but the characters know they are left out of the conversation.

 Not bothered either way though.

 Enlarge Person is a good spell, maybe I'll make it extended so we can make the most of it. Giant Form would be better at our level, but I can only cast that on myself sadly.

 I can get deathward, Necromancy is not my forte but I'll make do.

I have no strong feelings either way, to be honest.


Yeah, that's a good point. It was pretty expensive, but the headband of aerial agility also gives me more wisdom, so it is kinda worth it.

Eh, there's no need to go overboard; I have bonuses to fighting things bigger than me, so getting too big is counterproductive, as is getting big against opponents who don't require it. It's only for the very biggest ones that I need a little bit of a push; Giant Form I is obviously better than Enlarge Person, but with Giant Form II, outside of the regeneration, I'd probably end up losing more than I'd gain. I mentioned it more as a "just in case" provision than something I'd need every fight.

I expect that, once you've seen Zhira fight, you'll get a good sense of when she's in a fight where she might need more size vs one where she should stay Medium. Besides, if I ever need the help, I won't be afraid to ask for it; no need to worry over it. :)

That's a very cool item, if also quite pricey; if I had about 150'000 extra gp, I would have probably gone for it as well, but as it was, I had other priorities, and a much cheaper way to get what flight I needed. But I can see it as worth it for a Warpriest, since I believe Wisdom is your casting stat; there's certainly worse things to be spending money on.

Alright, that is already enough of an incentive for me to not use them then. If everyone is happy about this option being used, great, but if only one player is reluctant and might be having less fun in the game than otherwise possible, we will leave the private groups out for now.

Thanks for the feedback!
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:12, Thu 25 June 2020.

Resident killjoy at your service.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 95):

Sad Hafling noises

I'm sure we'll make do. :)

Have we made any progress in terms of coordinating backstories? It seemed like some effort was made, but I'm not sure if anybody has agreed on anything yet?

Here's where I can see connections:

 - some years ago, Rictor came to the Academae (Qvan's institution for gifted apprentices who want to combine magic studies with physical perfection). Qvan has a small reputation for having extensive knowledge in general, but he has a spaciality in dragons Black and Blue. Qvan actually joined him for a short few weeks in his quest to reclaim his throne, but unfortunately  had to leave before the final combat against the Wyrm, because of a school emergency.

 - Mirabella was but a child helping out in her folks' tavern when a much younger Qvan passed by, accompanied by a druid and monk, they were adventuring through the area and freed some slaves from the clutches of evil dragon cultists.

 - Zhira has escorted a number of caravans in her younger years which stopped by the town of [default town], nearby the Academae. She may have visited out of curiosity or necessity.

 - Aryk, I don't know for now, he may have met Qvan on some Conclave of the Eye business?

 - Vahid, may have been around at the same time as Rictor met him?

 Did we do a quick check of what skills are covered?

 I invested heavily on Knowledge(all), with a speciality in the big 4 (Arcana, Nature, Planes, Religion)
 I'm no Face but have some Diplomacy.
 Very little in skulduggery, apart from Stealth.
 Quite a few Lores, and a bit of Linguistics (not maxed)
 Also Craft(Sculpture), because everyone should have a hobby. And a trade to fall back on, in case this magic business doesn't pan out.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 98):

Small edit: Unfortunately, Mirabella does not know who her family is, though she still searches for clues. Mirabella was at her owner's tavern when Qvan and his friends visited. She was a slave before being liberated from her captivity by The Bellflower Network. Thus her disdain of slavery, especially of the little folk, and her involvement with previously mentioned organization...:-)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:49, Thu 25 June 2020.

Alright, let's see if we can work on that... just to make sure I have my points straight, Qvan is a Qadiran national, but the students at his academy could be of any nationality? Including, say, Taldan, despite the general animosity between the two countries? And if the answer to both of those is "yes", would he be the type who talks about his students (or maybe colleagues) a lot, or one to keep

You see, Zhira was trying to track down a very specific Taldan magician (one who she knew had connection with anti-slavery organizations in some fashion, in case Mirabella wants to jump in on this one) for most of her earlier career, and part of the reason she's a caravan guard is so she could have a good excuse to travel all over Qadira to carry on with this investigation, so if there was any chance at all that she could find the information by speaking with Qvan, she would certainly have took the chance when it presented itself.

Given that her search went on for a long time, it'd be fine if any talk she had with Qvan gave her no new information, but on the other hand, if she did learn something useful from talking with him, that'd give her a good reason to visit him periodically.

Then, since from what I gathered, Rictor went to visit Qvan after his victory, just at a time while Qvan was getting troublesome report regarding our adventure's plot hook, and Qvan basically invited Rictor along in his quest to learn what happened, we could then say that Zhira happened to be passing by for one of her visits and he called in a favor to have her join his mission in exchange for whatever information he'd given her in the past, and that's why she's there.

It'd also be a very typical adventure opening: old wizard gathering some meatshields for a personal undertaking from Qvan point of view, and a traditional "traveling badass helping an old acquaintance to repay a past favor" for Rictor and Zhira.

It seems to me like that might work, although of course, we all need to agree to it; also, not sure how the rest of the group would fit into that setup. Still, it might be a good point to start from?

My skillset is pretty limited, as can be expected of a fighter with 11 INT; I've a few ranks in most of my class skills (Handle Animal, Ride, Survival, Climb & Swim, etc), the essentials (Perception and Linguistics) and my skirmisher ones (Acrobatics, Stealth and Fly). Not much utility there, but then again, that's the deal when playing a fighter, isn't it? :)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:54, Thu 25 June 2020.

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 100):
 Gotcha. Somehow I thought the innkeepers were Mirabella's parents. But that makes more sense!
 Works well with the idea that Qvan was freeing some slaves at the time – though he and his friends were not in the business of freeing any slave they encountered, sadly for her.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 102):

I too could have studied at your Academy. In fact, Mirabella would have probably been quite the prodigy. She would have never stayed long, however, as she always had business elsewhere. But a year here and a year there adds up...:-)

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 101):
 That all works fine with me! Qvan would be more of a facilitator than the chairman of the expedition though.

 And yes, that is the sad lot of fighters. I can't believe PF didn't fix that actually, Fighters should be loaded with physical skills (Ride, Climb, Acrobatics) and experts at crafting and maintaining their arsenal.

@Mirabella:
 Yes that works! It's not quite Hogwarts anyways, I don't think they would have a strict 7-years curriculum.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 104):

I agree. No class should have less than 4+Int Mod skill ranks/level.
#FightersAreSmart2!

Well....we could always talk about implementing this as a houserule? :)

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 105):
  Agreed! Wizards are fine because they go for high intelligence anyways, but monks/fighters/sorcerers are unduly taxed like this.

 The background skill system helps though. Really like it.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 107):

Yeah, background skills are great; I certainly couldn't have afforded to put points in Handle Animal and Linguistics otherwise. :)

I won't say no to extra skill if they're given to me; I would likely invest most of them in Spellcraft (so I can actually tell if the spells being cast are worth expending my reactive defenses on, or better left to be handled by normal saves) and Sense Motive, but adding a few extra points in Swim, Climb and Heal would be nice, just so they're a bit more rounded.

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the background skill system. It really allows you to reflect your character's depth mechanically in a cool way. Without background skills most people wouldn't drop a couple of points in perform or profession or what have you to reflect their backstories.

Background wise I think that Rictor's strongest ties are to Qvan, Aryk, and especially Vahid.

Qvan is, after all, the Gandalf to Rick's Aragorn, the wisest and most learned man that he's encountered in all of his travels. Rictor is feeling pretty down in the dumps after his latest adventure, what with the ruined kingdom and dead sister and all that, and he's wandering without much thought to what he should do. You know who would know what to do? Qvan always knows what to do. Better go see him. Qvan fills the role of Rictor's call to adventure for Feast of Dust, and Rick sees him as a mentor.

Aryk is a wandering jedi knight and Rictor is a man on a righteous mission, so it makes sense that they would have adventured together in the past. Perhaps extensively. Aryk mentions self perfection and hunting for hidden relics, so Rictor probably came to him initially to join him on expedition looking for The MacGuffin of Dragonslaying and they journeyed together for a time in common cause. This is also a good point for them to have bumped into Mirabella or Zhira, but because Rictor's relationship with Aryk forms an important emotional counterpoint to his internal story arc his relationship with him is probably more solid. He's a companion and an adventurer who Rictor likes and respects.

His most important tie, at least for his current character development and arc, is with Vahid. Rictor lived his life as a man on a mission. A mission to free his people and liberate his sister, but also a mission of all consuming personal revenge. He hates that black dragon, and that hatred has been a poison root spreading through the core of Rictor's being. He isn't the emotionally aware type to think about this sort of thing consciously, but deep in his mind he must have hoped desperately that completing his mission would not only free his family, but release him from the hatred drowning him.

And then he wins. He strikes out and kills Esaolathus. And after the rush of victory and bitterness of defeat, he comes to the terrifying realization that the pit of hatred festering in his gut doesn't just disappear instantly. Even without an object those feelings have become ingrained in him. A part of his psyche. He fears that he will be consumed with directionless hatred, anger, and rage.

Then he remembers Vahid. They journeyed together in the past, and Rictor valued him the same way that he valued Qvan or Aryk, as a reliable companion with access to powerful magics. But now he seeks out his council for an entirely different reason. Not as a warrior of divine power, but as a wise priest and adherent of Sarenrae. That quest to master his inner self is the core of Rictor's character development, and his relationship with Vahid mirrors that internal struggle.

Skill wise Rick has a bit of Know: Dungeoneering and Know: Nature. Only natural for a ranger. I have the Prince trait, which gives me +1 to Diplomacy. So yeah, my diplomacy is +1. Party face, comin' through. His main utility skills are stealth, perception, and in particular survival. So he can follow tracks and probably not step on Mirabella's toes if they're scouting together. In his backstory he's a penniless vagabond after his exile before those beau coup adventuring bucks start rolling in, so I have a point each in Profession: Sailor, Guide, Carpenter, Dyer, Blacksmith, Herder, Soldier, Tanner, Clerk and Cook.

Well, a +1 is nothing to diss; my Diplomacy is -5... even though my Charisma is 10. So, you know, it could be worse.

Incidentally, I'm sure that, after how I described Zhira's personality in previous post, people are very surprised to know she's bad at Diplomacy. ;)

And if Rictor can act a connection point Vahid and Aryk, maybe it'd be good to hear what they would like to suggest? Weaving a working background requires everybody cooperation after all.

By the way, Rictor, I'm curious: did you buy yourself a dragonslaying magical item to fit your backstory, or was it tragically lost in the confrontation with the dragon, and thus you don't have it anymore?

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 110):

My Diplomacy is a fair bit better with a +26. I also get to roll 2d8 and pick the higher to add to the total as well...;-)

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 111):

Investigators are very good at their chosen skills, I'm well aware, so that's not too surprising. :)

Say, Mirabella, what would you think about possible backstory connections and why your character is participating in the adventure? I think it's something we all should work together, and while I'm mostly getting why the others are around, I'm not yet fully sure how your character got involved, and I'd be curious to know.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 112):

Easy. I'm visiting my old friend the professor. Since he thinks it's a good idea to get involved, so does she. Chaotic Good is exceptionally easy to justify participation, especially when a friend is involved.

I was "Han Solo'ed" into it...:-P
This message was last updated by the player at 16:06, Thu 25 June 2020.

Yeah, I picked up a Dragonfoe Amulet. Which probably wasn't the best buy, Rictor doesn't really have many offensive spells that would need to overcome SR and he already has Evasion from being a ranger, but it just fits his backstory so well.

I also grabbed a handful of +1 Dragon Bane Arrows.

It's not a huge anti-dragon thing, but I did pick up Staggering Critical instead of Blinding Critical. Blinding crit is probably a better feat all told, but Rictor is specialized in fighting dragons so he picked up staggering crit instead. The idea is that you wade in and if you can land a lucky crit you won't be eating claw, claw, bite, wing, wing, tail every round.

As for his backstory with Zhira, I see Rictor as kind of being caught between her and Mirabella. Mira is anti-slavery in a way that's very core to her character, and while Zhira may not have strong feelings about slavery specifically, I'm getting the impression that she's very pro-law, which in Qadria includes slavery. So there's potential there to stir up some juicy drama as long as we don't forget Rule 1 of Inter Party Conflict: It's only fun if everyone is onboard with writing conflict as a way to increase dramatic tension and set up good character beats. Otherwise it's just a drag on the game and people's feelings will get hurt.

It seems like some of the best potential for sharp, character driven writing and dramatic action will be between Zhira and Mira, and Rictor's role in that will mostly come down to how he relates to the two of you. He supports Mirabella in that general 'neutral good characters oppose slavery' type way, although I don't want to invade her narrative niche as a doughty anti-slavery crusader. And he respects Zhira's position as an enforcer and upholder of the law, in addition to perhaps being a bit intimidated by her.

Some I think, but nothing truly conclusive.



I don't think so, but for the most part my skills are what you'd expect. K. Religion and Planes because they fit the character and who ever heard of a divine caster without K. Religion(Excepting possibly druids), Perception and sense motive because duh, diplomacy and Heal because Sarenrae. I've got Handle Animal as a background skill and am debating between picking up performance for a second to have a hobby, or K. Nobility because in Qadira it's all about who you know if you want to get anything done.

None of my skills are especially amazing in terms of bonuses except Heal. With a +40 before I pop a Tears to Wine and a specialized healer's satchel, I can fix everything short of actual death with my check.


You'll never catch me arguing against having more skill points. I don't see that it would effect game balance in a major way at our current levels.

@Rictor msg #109
There is nothing written in there that I do not love. Maybe we could use that connection as Rictor's impetus for participating in this adventure. Vahid has been sent by the church because word of this unnatural plague has reached its ears, and he readily volunteered to go and have a look at what's going on. We could say that after returning to Qadira and finding Vahid back in the Mavari temple, Vahid invited Rictor along to help, in the hopes that good works would allow him to begin to heal his damaged psyche.

I'm not sure what connections I might have to the others, beyond maybe once or twice helping escort a caravan that Zhira was guarding through a particularly dangerous area or two. He doesn't have any spellcraft or K. Arcana, so it's entirely feasible he's brought some dangerous artifacts to Qvan to please identify them in the past, it wouldn't do to not know what you're running around with after all.

Qvan, yeah, Aryk could absolutely have worked with you or used you as a resource for research on mcguffins.

For Rictor, absolutely.  He would’ve worked with him on adventures and righting wrongs.  Perhaps attempted to advise him being a bit more dispassionate, or even attempted to teach some meditation for centering, but I’m sure that was not super-effective.

And Aryk does have a ‘Greater Slaying Arrow - Dragons’, although I may change the target type...

Skill-wise, more often less standard.
Knowledge psionics & religion (religion is lower), spellcraft as well.  Acro & Stealth, autohypnosis, perception of course.  A couple points in swim, climb & Knowledge history.  A decent rating in Profession - Soldiering.  Acrobatics, Autohypnosis, Perception & Stealth are all 20 or better.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 117):

The only skills I don't have covered are Ride, Handle Animal, and Fly. Except for Appraise (teens), they are all in the twenties or thirties, except for disable device and perception which are in the forties. I also have Profession Cook at +20 and Perform Stringed at +25. Not to mention that most skills I get to add Inspiration for free. I also can take 10 on Knowledge checks regardless of the situation and take 20 if I spend a point of inspiration.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 115):

Don't worry, I'm not going to create big part conflict or anything like that; I fully agree that this kind of inimical interactions among party members need to be contained and kept to what every player involved finds fun.

And those sounds like some interesting anti dragon choices; I wonder if we'll get to see them in action in this game or not.

Also, it seems like Aryk and Rictor both have bows; since Zhira is really more of a melee type, it's nice to know somebody has ranged combat covered. :)

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 116):

So that makes you the second person, after Qvan, who has an actual personal reason to be involved in the quest, right? Zhira is very much a obedient Sarenrae's follower, I have a Trait for it and everything, so it wouldn't be out of place for her to respond to a call for protection from a known and trusted priest of the Sun Goddess either, which could be another avenue that would justify my presence. Vahid, do you have anything more about yourself that you could share, which could help with making the narrative tighter? Things like knowing where he lives, or perhaps any particularly important event he might have been involved into?

The way I'm reading it, we have Vahid and Qvan that would have been part of the adventure in any case, Zhira and Rictor because they'd been recruited or decided to join, while Aryk and Mirabella mostly by random chance, which isn't bad, but having a tighter reason for everyone to be there would make for a better story, wouldn't it?

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 119):

Most heroes are created by chance.

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 120):

That's fair; I just have a personal preference for tightly interwoven narratives, it's all. :)

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 121):

That's the lawful side of you showing.

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 122):

Maybe so! :D

As long as it doesn't hurt anyone, there shouldn't be any problem if I try to help fit everything together, is there? As I said, I'm just doing it because it's fun for me, but if it's not fun for you, I'll stop and let things be as they currently stand.

If it helps, in addition to helping old friends, it could very well be that Aryk was told to join this quest by his masters.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 123):

Not at all! In fact, I'll sit down tonight when I get home from work I try to cobble together a better reason for Mirabella to be involved. I too enjoy a more interwoven narrative. I just enjoy messing with the lawfuls...;-P

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 119):

Well, Vahid lives in Qadlas Mavari, located near the Norther Zho mountains. As for specific event, I have a couple of things from backstory that you might like. If you're talking about canon setting things, I'm afraid that while I have mechanics down, I'm still learning the lore myself. As for tying characters more closely together, Vahid's story really began to kick off near the end of his compulsory military service with the repulsion of and his near death at the hands of a massive horde of Lamashtan Gnolls, perhaps Zhira was there as well if her service started early and ended late like you said? Old army buddies perhaps?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 126):

That might actually work quite well; Zhira entered the military at 12 and left it at 20, and she served at Omash, which is also in the Northern Zho Mountains area of the kingdom.

While I believe the whole northern border there is covered in military forts, Omash is the command center for the Satrapian Guard, so it'd make sense that if a relief force was sent to Qadlas Mavari, it'd come from there. Depending on how far along in time it was, Zhira might even have been an officer in said relief force (not in command of the whole group, she only made it to Lieutenant before leaving, which is the Qadiran rank for a ten-men-team leader, and only in the last two years of her service did she hold such a post), although obviously not the overall commander, and if it was too far back, then she'd have still only been too young and just a private, if a promising one.

How old is Vahid, anyway? Depending on that, and when the attack took place, this could definitely be something we'd be able to build upon, I think.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Thu 25 June 2020.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 127):

Well, after doing my math, I realized I goofed a bit on my numbers. Vahid is twenty-seven, the attack in question happened ten years ago, near to the end of his service.

Editing because I did not mean to hit post yet, whoops. This is the timeline I worked out, but I'm open to change to let it mesh better.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Thu 25 June 2020.

Well, ten years ago would've been just as Aryk left the Conclave & started out on his own(ish) way.  He could have been there, and it would've been on of his first actions.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 128):

That works really well then, since Zhira left the Satrapian Guard eight years ago, and as I said, she was an officer for the last two years of her service (from 18 to 20), so she might have been freshly instated into her post, or maybe even promoted during the attack for exceptional performance; that last one might make for the better story, as it would mean Zhira left a strong impression when she showed up as a member of the rescue force.

Do you think that might work? From what you said, he was saved by priests of Sarenrae, so how did you envision that to have gone down?

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 130):

What I had written was a defense established as a preemptive measure that got attacked at night, with the defenders and civilians being slowly forced back street by street until all that really remained for a defensible position was the temple, where the soldiers and priests inside managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived and the gnolls decided to bugger off, having destroyed most of the place. Perhaps Zhira was a part of those reinforcements, and her actions on that day is what earned her the promotion?
As for being saved, Vahid was one of the many bleeding out on the steps of the temple when he was healed by one of the priests, which culminated in him wanting to be able to help others in the same way, which brought him back to the temple.

Well, if works very well for me, at least.

And maybe, since Aryk said it would be about the time his character was around... maybe his character was at the Sarenrae temple for some reason, and helped the priests with the defense of it until the reinforcement showed up? I think that would work, while giving Aryk and Zhira a reason to have met with Vahid as well as each other, but each one having played a different role in the event, so their experience, and the lessons they learned from it, would be different.

For Zhira it was a crowning achievement, for Vahid a moment of revelation that signaled the end of his old life and the start of a new one, and for Aryk a sudden and desperate first mission that ended up resolving itself in a success at the end, which I suppose would make Aryk more likely to have learned a "things always get better in the end" lesson from it... would that work for everyone? Seems like it might make for a nice narrative beat, but I wouldn't want to presume about other people's characters.

Aryk, Vahid, what do you think?

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 132):

I think that sounds pretty on the money, yeah.

Probably not his take-away, but yes, that could work.

I do like the idea that one of his first real battles was a long, slow backpedal defensive fight, falling back street by street to a last stand in a chapel.  Alamo-style.

His take-aways would be a bit more analytical; the tactics of dragon-dogs, mechanics of a fighting retreat, the way that arcane & divine magiks fit into a combined arms battle plan.  Things of that nature.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 134):

I see, so he's more of an analytical type than an emotional one? That seems like it's going to be interesting.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 135):

Yes, the Conclave teaches that physical prowess must be matched with mental prowess.  Aryk was trained with knowledges not only of his powers, but of history and religion.  The belief is that with the power they have been granted, they have an obligation to use in the manner which will make the most of it.  Not just to fight, but to fight intelligently; use tactics and strategy to do everything possible to skew a battle in one's favor.

Some of the ideology is drawn from the jedis, with less pretentiousness, as I am intrigued by some of their beliefs and the fact that psionics, as an internal ability only possessed by a select few, which must be honed and focus is similar the The Force (we will not discuss midichlorins).

The more I think about it, I really don't see how Mirabella and Zhira would have interacted before the upcoming scenario. We move in two totally different worlds. This would probably hold true to Vahid as well. Now it is possible I've heard of both of you and your valiant defense against the gnollish horde. As for Aryk, I could have easily met you through your association with Professor Hamid (what Mirabella calls him...:-P). Perhaps she even convinced him to help free some hafling slaves sometime in the past. As for Rictor, she's probably knowledgeable enough to know about the legend of Alkir's last prince and his quest to redeem his homeland. Perhaps she let him use some of The Bellflower Network's resources (mainly intel) to help him in his quest to find one of the shards of the Mirror of Xin which was located in a Chelaxian noble's household. Plus, she's a sucker for dramatic stories, so she would have jumped at the chance to help the tragic prince...:-p

Her current reason for being in Qadira was to gather information and see if the rumors are true that the Qadiran's are beginning to sell haflings to Chelaxian slavers. While here, she dropped by her old friend and mentor (almost a father-figure) Professor Hamid. While there, I suppose she could learn about whatever jump-starts the adventure (I have no idea what Feast of Ashes is about. I have purposefully not read anything more that this game's blurb about it)...:-)

Sure.  He has often returned to Master Hamid's library to research this or that mcguffin, or trace the last known location of mcguffin.

If Mirabell had asked him for assistance, especially in the ending of enslavement, he would have agreed.  A penchant for redheads having nothing to do with it...

In reply to Aryk (msg # 138):



Absolutely nothing...;-)

In reply to Mirabella Highhill (msg # 137):

That makes sense, and honestly, not only is there no reason for Mirabella and Zhira to know each other, it'd probably work better for the game if they met during this mission and learned about each other's priorities during it - that way, if personality conflict arise, the present crisis will work to keep them from blowing up too much.

We just need to have a reasonable reason for both of them to have joined the mission, preferably from different angles, which seems like it should be doable, so I think that's a fine starting point to have.

 Good progress on our join backstory!

 I think it's good that we all have some ties, without being an existing party where we all know everything about each other.

I also have to say I'm really impressed about the willingness and enthusiasm from most of the players to work on shared character backgrounds and relationships, especially considering that this is for now only a one-shot adventure. Nice going, guys! :)

 Well, one-shot in PBW means a couple of years of gaming at least.

 With my first game ever on rpol, we're now 15 years in and I only took my Cleric from level 4 to 10... GM is not generous with Xp admittedly.

Uff, that's harsh and impressive at the same time.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 143):

You must have legendary patience and fortitude. I think the longest I've ever played a pbp game is three years. And to tell you the truth, I probably would have put my head through a wall with that slow of a level advancement, even in a pbp game...:-)

 I used to play "An Inconvenience Rightly Considered", probably the best campaign I ever tried on rpol –present company excluded!

 I played that for about 4 years, brought two characters from ~5 to ~11. That was an excellent balance of RP, dice rolling, XP awards, political plots, intertwined plot hooks between different story arcs...

 Unfortunately the GM retired from rpol, but I keep hoping she'll come back!

Any GM that can keep a game going for that long is worth cherishing; the only games I've been in that didn't collapse in short order are those I'm running myself. Still, one of those will make its ninth birthday in November (which will probably be the end of the game itself, as my players are facing their last encounter), and I only lost three of the seven players I started with, which makes me confident that, with the right people, a properly lasting game can be found. Hopefully this will be one of those! ^_^

 Dear GM, when did you want to get started?

 I'm pretty much done with my character sheet, but knowing myself I will keep tweaking things endlessly if I don't have a deadline to look towards!

As others have said, a "one shot" can last quite a long time in pbp, and either way, I've always felt that if you want to do something you should do it right or not at all.

I'm sure we can make this last.  ;)

And I understand it's a one-shot, but if it goes well, perhaps we can find something else for the party to do...

I'm currently fine-tuning my character.  Just realized I forgot 17 skill points from being a human...  XD

My sheet is done and ready, unless we actually do implement that 4+int minimum skill points thing that was brought up yesterday.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:13, Fri 26 June 2020.

Hear, hear!


That is very impressive as well, congratulations!


Yeah, that is my hope too. I'm definitely not blameless when it comes to games not making it longer than I wished, but too often it's players dropping out one after the other until you have a complete new party, before the process starts again. At some point you start to ask yourself what is the reason you play through a long campaign if none stays around long enough to share it with you. That's why I'll try a single, simple module first (in both of my new games) and see how that goes.


Amen to that :)


I don't have a specific date in mind and am not in any real hurry. But this is a good prompt to maybe have everyone give me a quick update about your progress. If you are ready to get started or how much longer you think it might take before you are done. My hope is early next week.


That's the general plan, exactly.

My progress:

Done:
I have all the important stuff done.  Saves, AC, weapons/armor, skills, saves, etc.

Need to do:
-'Mundane' equipment
-Combat maneuvers (?)
-Weight of carried gear

And possibly add 14 skill points if we raise the minimum per level...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Fri 26 June 2020.

As a word of warning, since you mentioned combat maneuvers, I am specialized in Bull Rushing, and I'm pretty sure nobody here is going to be able to match me in that particular field (GM can confirm or deny this, as they've seen my sheet). So, if you decide to go into a maneuver, choosing a different one would make sure you're not overshadowed. We all should have unique things to our characters, and that takes some coordination! :)

I'm mostly done with my sheet; if we do get extra skill point, I know where to put them, and I should have finished spending my gold (what little is left - turns out I miscounted and it's not 19'000 I'm left with, bur rather 1'900...) by this evening; if anybody has suggestions on what I should take, let me know! I also finally managed to finish my character description. And I think we mostly have a general idea of the team's background and how it came together, right?

So, as far as I'm concerned, we can start whenever the GM is ready! ^_^

Yeah, let's do that! Will make an official post accordingly.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 154):

I cannot recommend enough a robe of infinite twine for all the rope you could ever need and the Traveler's any tool for any simple tool you could ever need, and masterwork to boot. Small quality of life items like that are, in my opinion, invaluable.


Sweet, love me some more skills.

Do we have an ETA on when we plan to start the game? If we're just waiting on everyone's sheets is there a deadline to complete them?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 156):

Thanks for the suggestions! :)

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 157):

I think the GM said next week, right?

Not a strict deadline, more of a estimate date. Let's all aim for Wednesday?

Awesome!

Wednesday is good for me.
Couple of equipment tweaks and I should be done.
Also consolidating the different background points we talked about.

Any backstory consolidation which is required, I'm open to participate in! :)

And I'm good to start playing as soon as we're all ready, so Wednesday is fine for me.

I too am ready to start whenever...:-)

Thanks for the feedback, Wednesday it is then!

So I wasn’t lucky with stats or HD, but Qvan is the tallest human you’ve ever seen...

4’10” +2d10”

Qvan Ibn Hamid rolled 20 using 2d10.  Height

That only makes you 45" taller than Mirabella...:-P

Well, if that wizard career-thingy doesn't work out, there is always a bright future in the Golarion Basketball Association to be had! Even at age 73 :D

Well, now that I have finished writing my description for Zhira, I have her at 181 cm, which in fantasy measurements I believe is 5 ft 11; whereas I gather Qvan's height is 198 cm / 6 ft 6, right? So... he's taller, yeah, but not that much. Also, I bet a lot of our team will be more fit, what with Wizard's usual lack in physical strength and all. :)

In any case, a tall, thin, old man would seem to be a perfect fit for the role of all-knowing wizard, wouldn't it? So, it's fitting if nothing else.

I'm also not surprised our only halfling is the shortest member of the team... but I suppose that comes in handy in her line of work, wouldn't it? Since it makes it easier to be underestimate and fly under the radar... perhaps literally. ;D

 Haha, I just realised that 4'10" +20" is not 6'10"

 Bloody imperial system, I actually love that you call it "fantasy measurement"!

Well, all I can say is that it was sort of instinctual.

A game I'm running has a group of player that is fully from Great Britain (that was weird when I realized it - it was completely accidental for all five players to come from the same nation), and I am from southern Europe, and thus the measurement systems both I and all of my players there use in day-to-day life is the metric system. Despite this, inside the game's narrative, I use feet and miles and gallons to describe things, because to me they just have that "ancient" feeling.

On the other hand, when I'm doing math, I'm using metrical because it's just ten times simpler to use, being decimal and all, and I would always use it if I was running a sci-fi game, because the way I perceive it as more precise and scientific would make it the natural pick for such in my head.

So... it innately feels like a "fantasy" set of measurements for me; I associate it with fantasy novels and 3.5/pathfinder measurements, so I sometimes forget it's still in use in some places, which leads to posts like my last. I didn't mean to offend anybody with the comment; it's just how I think about it in my head, and thus it came out that way.

Mirabella would definitely be the team's point guard...:-D

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 170):
 I'm with you on this, I always use feet and gallons when talking in fantasy settings.
 I'm french but live in the UK, and having both systems still in use here is sometimes confusing...
 Whereabouts in Southern Europe are you from?

 So Qvan is "only" 6'6" or 1.98m, makes more sense. That actually makes him just a tiny bit taller than Saruman. But unlike him, I will always keep a Feather Fall memorised.

Always use feet and miles as well, but that is more habit as those are the terms that all the books (D&D/PF) use and from a DM perspective I tend to favor terms that most players would recognize and understand, even if I don't use them in day-to-day life. Though I admit to have no real idea of how much a gallon really is, never came up that often in my games.

And seems I need to get Qvan once of those fancy Palantirs, eh? To make the comparison to Saruman even more fitting, insidious corruption included for free :)

A gallon is just shy of four liters.

Archaic measurements always lend that fantasy feel. Leagues, spans, stones, paces, glasses, you name it. A butt is a big ol' barrel of wine, so a buttload is an actual unit of measurement.

It's just depressing that the imperial system, which is my native system of measurement, is one of those archaic systems. 12 inches to a foot? 5280ft to a mile? Why? It's pants-on-head stupid.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Mon 29 June 2020.

Since we're speaking of different measurement systems, I wonder if in Qadira they would use the imperial standard, or instead have their own - after all, the way the Kelish empire is presented in the setting book, I would expect they to have their own system that they believe is better than any other. Maybe in Golarion they invented the imperial system and spread it to the other nations? That would mean Zhira would defend it as innately superior, I suppose... :)


Thus confirming the huge Intelligence of wizards is no myth; very appropriate.

Archaic measures sound cool though, and very fitting to fantasy settings.
When measuring people, Brits still use feet/inches for height and stones for weight.
And hands to measure horses.

Yeah.

I'm American.  I will admit that while I have more familiarity with the 'standard' measurement system (i.e. a mental idea of how much a quart or mile is), I do find the metric system to be significantly easier to use.

And then there was the fact that when I was in the Army, they'd mix it up.  I'd march 3 miles carrying a mortar with a max range of 5608 meters...

While we're on the argument, I'm curious: is there any particular reason the United States didn't adopt the metric system when it was made the international standard? I mean, US scientists needs to learn it anyways, so it seems like a pretty weird decision.

Also, since you say that you've experience with the army, if you feel like in play Zhira doesn't feel like an ex-soldier, tell me, so I can play her better! Half the fun of RPGs is learning how to best get in character, and having an expert at hand to help is rare enough I'd be glad for any suggestions. :)

We did, at one point I believe, attempt to transition to the metric.  That is, the government said 'by this date we're gonna all use metric is America'.  And then that date came & went, and here we still are...

A lot of it is that it's just hard to convince people to switch from a thing they've known their whole life, especially something as integral to daily life as units of measurement.  Karens would flip the script if they had to go from getting two pounds of ground beef to getting 0.9 kilograms...  XD

I also suspect that there is a bit of 'not wanting to do the same thing as Europe' mixed in there.

And sure, I can help with your character if you want.

Thanks! Both for the promised help and for answering my question; I tend to find little things like this interesting.

Speaking of assistance, I need to look back through the Pathfinder deities.  I know most of the D&D ones, but when I've looked into PF ones in the past they just seemed kind of blah.

Well, which type of deity are you looking for? There's a lot, and I find they have enough flavor, but I find that's mostly a question of taste.

The big deity of Qadira is Sarenrae, which I believe is the one Vahid worships, and Zahira also considers her deity; it's the setting's Sun goddess, chaotic good, big believer in redemption and saving people, but also harsh punishment delivered to the irredeemable. While not really a warrior goddess, she's supposedly the one who led the gods into imprisoning Rovagug the destroyer of worlds, and consider martial training a valid form of meditation. It also one of the oldest divinities in the setting, and called the Dawnflower.

https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sarenrae
https://aonprd.com/DeityDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Sarenrae

If that's not to your taste, then as I said, it really depends on what you're looking for, doesn't it? Why is it important that Aryk worship a deity of some sort, and which sort of deity would work best for the purpose?

If Mirabella was the proselytizing sort, she would recommend Desna.
https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Desna

In reply to Aryk (msg # 182):

Well, like Zhira said, Sarenrae is by far the most popular deity in Qadira, although others are venerated, namely Irori, Nethys, and Pharasma for the big names. Of course, there are other, less popular gods Aryk could worship, you would know best which creed he would subscribe to. What were you looking for in terms of temperament?

I was actually looking hard at Irori, except that she doesn’t work for a NG character.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 186):

Why wouldn't he? I know, LN, but the one step rule only really applies to people who actually get their power from the deity in question, I think.

Hmm...

I was also looking at Cihua Couatl.  Kind of a toss up between the two.  I do think Irori fits a bit better though.  If push comes to shove, I'll just claim it's a splinter-sect to explain the alignment...  XD

Irori is pretty much the jedi diety. Self-perfection and mastery, knowledge, strength, meditation, he's got a pretty good portfolio.

But really I figure in a setting like Pathfinder everyone has to be at least a little polytheistic. Like, probably people who live in big cities worship Abadar first, but also give votives to Shelyn if they're artists or Torag if they're craftsmen. People probably pray to Desna on journeys and Sarenrae when they get sick.

Mechanically speaking even clerics don't have to pick a diety, you can just be a generic good guy fueled by positive energy if you want.

So really it's probably less about picking a deity and more about picking which deities your guy favors.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 189):

Well, buried in my RTJ/character concept is the fact that The Conclave of the Eye also follows the first psion, Relicka.  She's not technically a deity, more like someone very wise & enlightened who basically 'meditated' her way into ascending to the planes (similar to Irori).  She's not technically a deity, and her council is sought for knowledge or advise, and she is technically venerated rather than worshiped.

Guess everyone is as ready as can be (and even if not quite yet, the first one or two days will be dedicated to pure roleplay, anyway, no need for a 100% complete sheet), so here we go!

Cool! I'm psyched to get started.

Alright, had some fitting questions asked of me that I want to repost and address here for everyone to see (should you have the same questions, for example):



1. Valid, I should have pointed that out earlier. As can be read in the 'Game Info', there seems to be a deadly curse or plague going on in the desert and you are there to investigate. No one has hired you to do this, as at least Qvan should have enough personal curiosity and interest to go after this on his own (alongside his companions, of course).

2. Well, only really what I have described in the second post (the abandoned caravans, starving wildlife, unusually aggressive infestations of desert parasites)

3. Not that much else can be learned on the way (already assumed everyone would like to know the basics about your destination and included that in the opening), but now that you have arrived (well, really after the first scene that we will play out in a day or two) and can talk to the locals, a Diplomacy check can be made to see what else you can learn.

I thought we established that Vahid had some religion-related reason to be there? And Aryk might be investigating the issue for his mysterious sect? While Zhira, Mirabella and Rictor should be there accompanying one of the other three? And I would guess they met on the way and, since the various member of the group mostly knew each other, they decided they might as well travel together?

That seemed to be the impression I'd gotten of how the group got together; I'm not sure if that lines up with GM expectations or not?

I asked the question. I knew that I had decided to accompany Qvan there because he asked, but I was curious if there were any  other reasons besides personal ones. Such as local nobility or merchants who had contacted Qvan or any of the others to investigate as well.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 194):

On that note, I have a question for you. I'm typing up my post right now, would you be comfortable saying that Vahid and Zhira met on the road and arrived together?

I would be even more comfortable if Vahid said that he'd brought Zhira along himself, maybe due to meeting her by chance at one of his stop-points and asking for her assistance, since otherwise, much like Mirabella, I would have no reason to be there on my own. :)

And Mirabella, thanks for asking the question! It's a good one, and having confirmation of it does helps, at least where I am concerned.

Rictor's reason is "Got a letter from Qvan".

Does Qvan have a home in Dimayen? I'm assuming that's where we're all meeting, or we could meet at the Fabled and Forgotten or the Shrine of Overflowing Joys.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 198):

I don't know about a home, but I was writing up Vahid rolling into town, introducing himself at the Shrine as is only proper, then going out into the town to do some good works after asking Zhira if she could please ask around about accommodations, and spotting Rictor as he arrived, if that's good for you both.

Is Aryk arriving solo then?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 199):

That works very well for me, yes. :)

Vahid, that sounds good.

Aryk, you could arrive with Rictor if you want. I got the first post up so I had Rick coming in solo, but you could say something like "Aryk was waiting until Rick made a quick scout of the town before going in together" or something like that. Or solo is cool too.

Oh, I thought the game master's opening post said our group arrived. I assumed that we were already together and we took the trek through the desert together.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Tue 30 June 2020.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 202):

Rictor, I just have the one question before I post. How long would you say it's been since Rictor and Vahid have seen each other? Long enough to not immediately recognize each other on sight, would you say?

Same question.

I assume he probably hasn't seen Vahid since the temple battle, perhaps same with Zhira as well?  So about a decade?

Rictor?

Chances are he's seen Qvan & Mirabella more recently, perhaps particularly Qvan; within the last few years.

I’m going to post now. I had in mind that Qvan’s school is not in Dimayen, but two days march away.
If you’re unsure how or why you’re getting there, the old “my friend the wizard sent for me” always works.
The quiet tavern would be our rendezvous.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 205):

Yeah, a decade sounds about right.
I'm gonna post now, but feel free to correct me, I'll edit appropriately.

Editing because I forgot to mention, I haven't been able to find anything I liked in Rpol's gallery and the keyword search simply would not work for me, so I found this image for Vahid.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/att...deea47afd62b7498.png
This message was last edited by the player at 21:48, Tue 30 June 2020.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 207):

Well, yeah, if you're looking something with that precise mix of high quality and intensity, finding a perfect match would be hard; that's a very high-quality illustration. I like it a lot. And if you can't find a perfect match, you can always ask send it in the portrait recommendations, right? That's how portraits get in the gallery in the first place.

That said, while a perfect match is obviously hard to find, if you just settle for a reasonable approximation shouldn't be too hard; my Zhira avatar doesn't have the "eye of horus" makeup that the character has, but it conveys the feeling I was going for reasonably enough. For something matching your picture, I think male modern rugged 808 or 477 might be a passable fit? They're close enough to convey the general idea, I'd think - but then again, it's not me who has to be satisfied with it. Just trying to offer a hand, that's all. :)

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 208):

Oh, you're perfectly fine, I can just never seem to get the keyword search to work for me. I'll give those keywords a shot though, thank you.

Working on a reply now.

Aryk and Vahid, looks like I missed your posts but yeah, that time frame sounds pretty good to me. Ten years ago Rick was in revenge mode and not really ready to receive either Aryk's advice or Vahid's teachings, but still remembers their time adventuring together and how each of them impressed him.

Cool.

And I like that the only one not summoned by Qvan is the first to find him.  ;)

That definitely sounds good. I have to admit that I was more focused on the preparations for the adventure and answering mechanical questions here, than on what you guys decided on exactly. But what you have mentioned lines up nicely with the start of the module.


As mentioned, completely valid. I should have posted a quick summary of your motivations alongside the other information, my bad.


That was my intended arrival as well. Especially as there is an important scene happening before you get into the village proper...

 If that is important, can we just relocate the rendezvous at a tea house in the caravanserai outside of town, or in the next village over?

I would appreciate this. Maybe the next village over would be the best solution and we make a quick time skip afterwards to get to this scene. Thanks!

Also, bad news. Mirabella has informed me that they have withdrawn from the game. So it begins...

In reply to Aenarion (msg # 215):

That's sad to hear. Any particular reason, or just life?

None given unfortunately.

Overall great start from everyone so far, very impressive and detailed first posts!

In reply to Aenarion (msg # 215):
 Sad, but I suppose you always expected you might lose 1-2 players in the early days.
 Hopefully it's nothing bad on their side. We'll be a all-human group then!

 Mechanics-wise, do we still have skills/healing covered as a group? I imagine at this level, no one is ever a one-trick-poney really, but if we're missing trap detection for example it would be good to know (and I'll load up on divination!)

Rick has cure light on his spell list so I picked up a couple wands of CLW, but that's about it. I feel like a Wand of Celestial Healing is more efficient, but it ain't on my spell list and I don't really have any UMD.

Aenarion, how do you feel about Leadership? I hate it myself. Too complicated, too many things to juggle, looking up a zillion different stat blocks and juggling a bunch of squishy underlings, eugh. But if we really need to I can swap one of my feats for leadership and pick up a pocket healer.

Not a big fan, either, except for granting high-level characters some mechanical benefits in the setting should they wish to become actual leaders of certain groups (may it be military, faith, or something else). But in my games, and that is especially true for pbp games, I prefer to keep most followers and cohorts out of actual combat. You are free to have those help out before or after a battle, or do other work for you in the background, but there should be no additional combatants to clutter up an encounter even more.

---

Also, while I was reading up on Qadira I saw that groups can have a patron as well, it's not required that only individuals make these necessary arrangements. Seeing as some of your party members are closely tied to the nation and may have worked together in your current lineup before, would it make sense to have someone for the group as a whole?

 I don't think leadership should be necessary. I have a few healing spells, a wand of CLW and I could pick up a wand of celestial healing as well.
 If we find ourselves too bloodied after the first encounter, I can swap a few things around.

 Already having a patron makes sense. With Qvan's backstory, I don't think he would have been able to start running a school without this sort of support anyway.
 I don't know much about Qadira (as a player).
  Zhira could you recommend someone? You seem to have read a lot about the local folks.

I have a power that can heal myself, but that’s it.  Aryk is pretty good at stealth, although right now the biggest skill-hole I see is that I don’t think anyone has disable devices?

I've got the poor man's rogue: a 10ft pole and a big ass sledgehammer.

Oh, whoops. I'm happy with saying we meet up in the net town over if that preserves the continuity of things.


Well that's a shame, I was looking forward to seeing what she had going on.


Vahid does have healing abilities and a ludicrously high Heal skill. Healing other people in combat cuts down on his action economy somewhat, but he can do it, and his healing blessing lets him empower healing for a use of fervor or apply fast healing at increased cost to quicken.

Outside of combat though, I've got healing and restoration capacity, and on the mundane side of things, if given an hour to treat deadly wounds, Vahid is guaranteed to heal any of the party of 33 points of damage. With eight hours to provide long term care, Vahid can heal the entire party of of 68 points of hp/ability damage. With a full day, those numbers double or can include ability drain. I dislike bragging, but I think healing is mostly covered.


That makes a good deal of sense to me. Off the top of my head, I think it would make sense for Vahid to have a patron in the church, but an external patron to better mesh with the party would be good too.


Hey, any port in a storm.

 Well, healing seems to be covered. And I agree, there are better things to do in combat than to heal each other (apart from emergencies!)

 Does anyone have disable device as a class skill?

We could say that Vahid has a personal patron in the church and there is a different, external one for the party. I'm sure that Zhira has a suggestions or two about that :)

I'm not sure I do, to be honest - that is, the possibilities are a bit too vast and, at the same time, not vast enough, to have a working thing.

Basically, assuming I have a proper understanding of Qadiran society (the GM can correct me if I'm wrong), the idea is that you can't just go to a stranger and start speaking to them without some sort of framework; the more important the stranger, the harder it is to approach them. For example, a market stall in the street is open access, as it is like the higher person socially - the merchant - is offering themselves up to be talked to by those of a lesser social standing. In a shop, however, the person that the customers talk to is whomever is selling, so if there is a shop owner, a stranger can't simply enter the shop and go talk with them - they need to ask the employee, to be "introduced" to the merchant. The higher you go in society, the more you need a person to introduce you to another person, and so on.

Socially, referring to only our group, Qvan is the most important individual by comfortably large margin, enough so that, in my understanding, he should be able to handle any introduction by himself, to a point. I can probably explain by going over how Qadira is very socially stratified.

First there is the basic structure of slaves > foreigners > citizens > nobles; this determines what rights a person has in front of the law. Rictor would certainly be classified as a foreigner; I'm not sure what Aryk would be. So, if you're a foreigner, you need to have a citizen introduce you to other citizens to start with, which is an extra step on the social ladder.

Then there is the internal classification; so a normal student, soldier, lay priest, street merchant or street performer is the lowest rung, and it is not considered impolite for a foreigner to introduce themselves to them. That's the rank 1; normally, you can't simply approach a rank 2 person, you need a rank 1 to introduce you to them, so the lay priest could introduce you to the rank 2 cleric they answer to, or an employee (rank 1) could introduce you to the innkeeper (rank 2). Most people are rank 2, going by the list; it's basically the level of a respected individual in their chosen profession. Note that Nobles start from rank 4, and the maximum rank is 10, which is the Satrap, basically Qadira's ruler.

Obviously, somebody who is of an higher social rank can introduce themselves to a lesser rank directly, since that's the opposite of being impolite, it's somebody of higher social rank honoring you with their attention. And of course, having connections help; if, say, a foreign prince or a traveling mercenary introduced themselves to a lowly rank 1 student with some important information, said student might well introduce them to the head of their school directly, who could be a rank 5 (for proved sages) or 6 (for the deans of state-sponsored universities and other publicly recognized places of learning), jumping several steps along the ladder.

Which is why I say that Qvan could probably be our team patron and arrange introduction by himself: rank 5 is at the level of "famous and well known individual" and "celebrity", and the academic ranks pretty much go 1 student, 2 researcher, 3 teacher, 5 sage (there's no rank 4 in academic jobs). Since we know from Qvan's backstory that people seek him out, we can determine that he's very well known, and thus he could likely handle any introduction simply by saying "I'm the famous Qvan Ibn Hamid", and most people would go "Oh, very honored, how can I be of help".

That said, the thing is that the GM is probably looking to the "patron" rules, which really are meant for a group of adventurers who are all foreigners, and so need somebody to sponsor them into society to access anywhere. I think that, if we want to use that for the game, the best way would be to have a rank 7 individual (that's a regional religious leader, a tribe matriarch, a governor, or a general - people with actual regional-level political power) be the one who is in charge of running things in Dimayen - so that they'd still be above Qvan in the social hierarchy, and thus we would require to prove ourselves and, if we managed to make a mess of things, they would be very able to close doors and otherwise make things difficult for us.

That's the gist of the patron system, really - to interact with most people, you need to have some sort of "in" with them, which generally means having an high-rank person to provide said "in", and also means players need to take care not to upset the person in question, as they could easily create very difficult roadblocks to manage.

Or at least, that's my reading of things - as I said, the GM is the one that can tell us how things will be run here. :)

On the matter of skills and abilities, I have pretty impressive Acrobatics, and max ranks in Stealth and Perception; I suppose, if the group think it's necessary and the GM is amenable, I could exchange a couple of my class-granted talents for something more geared toward sneaking around, although I don't know that I could be of much use otherwise. I do have a +20 in the Heal skill, but given my 10 Charisma, I didn't bother with UMD, meaning I can't really help much in that sense.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Wed 01 July 2020.

I have UMD at a very decent level, certainly enough to manage a wand of CLW.
I only mentioned Disable Device because it’s something rather difficult to replicate with something else.
Unlike stealth (invisibility), diplomacy (charm) or acrobatics (fly).

Anyways, back to the patrol thing, I would say Qvan is the party’s patron, but maybe had a falling out with the authorities of Dimayen, and thus will need to prove that he and the foreigners/citizens accompanying him are worthy of their time indeed.

I certainly don’t want a point of backstory to become a way to derail the campaign and bypass the obstacles.

I suppose I’m waiting for Vahid to arrive at the inn/tea house/tavern/caravanserai, and Qvan will tell them all about how his students have died from the Feast of Dust.

Thank you, that's a very cool breakdown of the system. It adds a lot of flavor and character to the region, and also goes a long way towards hinting at cultural attitudes. Sort of like how cultures where ones family is very important put the family name before the given name, or languages with formal and informal modes of speaking.

You can tell that Qadria is a country that's very bound by tradition and the strictures of social niceties and protocol, a country where ones place in the social order is very important.

I assumed that Qvan would be Rictor's patron and sponsor as a foreigner, although now that I think of it the actual writ would likely have to come from a government official, probably at the border. I'm okay with him being the party sponsor if he's in a social position to do so, but if the structure of the game calls for an NPC to be our sponsor then I would be fine with that too. Rictor reports to Qvan, Qvan reports to Grand High Muck-A-Muck NPC.

Yeah, I found the setting books a very cool reading, as can be surmised, and designed Zhira specifically with a eye to what a person grown in such a culture would probably be like, with some tweaks here and there. :)

The names are also very structured; for example, every Qadiran's name has "al-X" as a surname, with "X" being that person's mother. Full names generally also include the clan/tribe/larger family, possibly a famous ancestor (especially for nobles), sometimes a mark of prestige if the family has any they can boast of, and one's birthplace; they can be very long, but people don't introduce themselves with a full name outside of very formal situations.

It makes for a deeply interesting culture overall, and I'm curious to see how it'll be portrayed in the game! ^_^

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 232):

An interesting thing about this is that it specifies deeply religious individuals will often shed their native names in favor of the temple they serve. For example, Vahid was born as Vahid al-Salimeh Qureshi al-Delenah, meaning "Vahid, son of Salimeh, of the Qureshi family, from the city of Delenah". However, as a sign of devotion and shedding his past in service to Sarenrae, his name is now Vahid al-Mavari, meaning "Vahid, son of the Mavari temple".

As I recall, wouldn't 'al-Delanah' actually mean 'from the Delanah city/town/area'?  Like Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti meaning 'Barzan Ibrahim of Tikrit'?  Or is that too RL?

Yes, the "from hometown" name that usually is the very last one also normally goes by "Al-".

I'm totally fine with Qvan being the patron for the party, a great idea really that makes sense when you regard the fame of level 17 characters!


Well, don't expect too much! I will mainly follow the module and try to keep as close to the setting lore provided as I can, but I have never run a game in such a culture, nor have I much RL experience. Just to set the expectations :)

Let me know once everyone is satisfied with the introduction and ready to move on to the first scene. Really enjoying the meeting and conversation so far, happy everyone is putting that much effort and time into this 'simple' one shot :)

I would say that, if we're here to play, we should put our all in it, right? :)

Also, as a fighter, should I be ashamed at the fact that my resting, non-boosted AC (especially touch) is the same or less than our team's wizard? I suppose the numbers from the rest of the group will determine how much behind everybody else I am there...

Well, that AC of Qvan is with Barkskin as well as with a Dex of 20 and an armor and shield bonus. He invested quite a bit to get that high. So no need whatsoever in my opinion to be ashamed. And should you feel you are still lacking after seeing the values of everyone else, you are still free to make any adjustments to your gear.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:53, Fri 03 July 2020.

Yes, I'm ready to move on to the investigation whenever.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 238):

You want to talk about shame, the party wizard has 10 more hp and everyone has more ac than I do. At least I can heal and buff myself.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 241):

I'm sure once you pull the buffs out, you'll outstrip us all - that's the point of divine casters. :)

A bit surprised you didn't have something with daily duration up though - at our level, anything that last 1h/level is something you might as well consider permanent.


Don't worry, I was just joking, I'm fine the way I am. :)

The ideal AC at level 17 is 47, which I could have gotten with a better Amulet of Natural Armor and a +5 Heavy Shield (or a +3 Tower Shield, I suppose). Those were decisions where I considered my priorities and decided that five less points of AC were a price worth paying; I'm not going to change my mind. And heavy armor classes always have low touch AC, since that's mostly a function of the DEX bonus, which heave armor limits.

So... as I said; what I have is fine, I just felt like it was worth a little joke.

Could be worse Vahid.  Your flat-footed AC is my TOTAL AC...  XD

At least until I start burning power points...

I mean, I'm now feeling silly from the opposite angle, since I seem to have the higher AC in the group and yet was complaining about it, however jokingly - which, of course, our GM knew when making the comment. :)

Honestly, it's not that important - about half a party's strength comes from cooperation, and the greatest weakness every single superboss in every single D&D game ever has was always "it's four (five!) against one". I'm pretty certain we'll do just fine, so long as we play well! ^_^

Exactly.

Plus I can buff most of my combat stats, and self-heal as an instantaneous action, so I'm not super concerned...  ;)

As somebody said, you don't get to level 17th without having a few little tricks; I'm sure we all have some. I know I do. :)

I buffed AC/saves/hp because wizards are notoriously squishy, and I wanted to prove that wrong :D
I suppose melee combat is where you’re all going to shine, my job will be to make sure you get there, and to keep you from getting surrounded.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 247):

I should help with that, since my build has some control to it - but I think that'll become clear once we have our first fight; it's probably better to just see how that develop before we start making plans, since it'll be much better at letting us see what we each can do in actual play than explanations would.

That said, I'm more than open to leave the control to you if that's your niche - I just wanted to reassure you that you don't need to take the entire burden of it unless you want to. :)

I sacrificed heavier armor for more movement speed, although I'm considering changing that since I have sixty feet of flying at will, and opted to go for the school of thought that a downed opponent is a harmless opponent. Vahid is capable of putting out some truly silly, if short lived damage, seeing as the best buffs the Warpriest gets that I found are rounds/minutes of duration rather than hours. Combine that with a wide crit threshold and Vahid can kill or nonlethally subdue most enemies without much of a problem.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 249):

If you have lower defense in exchange for greater offense and mobility, then I would suggest on keeping that as it is; D&D is a game of tradeoffs, and if you have to lower your defenses a bit to get the right kind of offense, then it's worth it. In combat, it's your offenses that decides what you can and cannot do, after all; the best defenses in the world would make for a pretty boring game if you have to stand there and do nothing because you have no offenses to make use of your invulnerability with.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 250):

Well, it's not really a question of offensive output, but mobility and action economy. Going for some heavy armor would drop my land speed to twenty feet, but with at will flight, that's not really a major drawback. The major downside is that the flight takes a standard action to use, which means if I don't have it going when combat starts it's a turn of set up before the pain can be brought from me.
On the upside, I can afford this if I trade in my lighter armor and the boot version, so it might be worth it for the extra ac and free item slot.
https://www.aonprd.com/MagicAr...20Plate%20of%20Speed

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 251):

If you have lighter armor than heavy, you probably have a Dex modifier higher than +3, in which case going for heavy armor would make your defenses worse. Really, I think you should stay as you are; your numbers aren't bad, and neither are mine. I was just making a joke, if I had any idea it would push people to reconsider their builds, I'd not have said anything.

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 251):

Another idea might be 'Boots of Striding & Springing'.  5500 GP gets you an addition 10 ft of movement speed and +5 to acrobatics, if that's your shtick.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 252):

Oh, it's nothing you said, I just tend to do this from time to time. Hindsight and whatnot, yeah? I'm probably just gonna keep it as is for my own bookkeeping's sake.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 248):
 I certainly don’t want a monopoly on battlefield control, and your focus on bull rush sounds like a fun approach to it.
 Qvan will ne me of an all rounder I suppose. At this level he has enough spell slots to be very versatile, so it can be a bit of blast, buff, even get into melee from time to time of the situation calls for it.

 Vahid, if you wanted to change anything, I would say go full cleric and cast Extended Greater Angelic Aspect. Or Frightful Form.
 But that’s because I’m a sucker for full spellcasting classes.

Vahid, we need to see how to implement your 'Divine Interference' feat. In pbp games reaction-type abilities are notoriously difficult to use, with the whole time delay. It would be unfortunate for me to having to go back and change my posts time and again because you negated attack rolls of the enemies.

In reply to Aenarion (msg # 256):

In games I run, I use reaction abilities (such as, say, attacks of opportunity) by having the player roll them in advance in the post with their other actions for their turn, and then they only gets used if the situation that'd activate them arise. Not saying it's the best way to go about it or anything, but it has worked fine for me so far.

Sure, for AoOs this makes complete sense, as usually everyone will want to take these and make an attack. But for Vahid's feat it may depend on which enemy has hit which ally with what kind of an attack. So I'm not sure if we can prepare for all of those possibilities in a simple way beforehand.

Thanks for the suggestions, though!

I’ve found immediate actions to be very difficult to manage.
They way I’ve done it that I thought works well is that PC can only take them if they have a readied action for it.
Readying an action in this fashion is a free action.
It’s obviously less good than what the immediate action is meant to be, but it makes things smoother.
You could offset this limitation by granting more uses/day.
With Divine interference it would not be game-breaking.

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 259):

With my immediate actions it certainly would be, however.

We will manage somehow, just need to be aware that combat might get more complicated thanks to those immediate actions. Nothing we can't handle, though.

Alright, here we go. Let's see how this first small encounter goes. For now I used the general guidelines for the enemy statline, but I'm sure that I need to make several changes to provide an appropriate challenge to this party :)

Just to be clear, how is Initiative working? Are we supposed to go in the order listed, ie with Qvan acting first, then me next, and so on down the list? Just trying to make sure about the proper order here.

Also, is the commander grappling the guy he has bitten, or not? Just wanting to make sure, since I don't know if bull rushing somebody will push them away from a grappled opponent or not.

And for the rest of the group, I have enough movement to get on top of the enemy on round 1 without expending any resources, so if you want to spend the first round getting closer and buffing yourself, I can act as a distraction while you do.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 263):

gm:

Please refer to the initiative order listed down below. As you can see, we will be using group initiative, so once the players turn is up, everyone who is in the currently active group can post in any order they wish.

 I think we're all free to go, without referring to individual initiative.

Hm... I guess that's a fair reading, it's just that the "refer to the order below" and the fact that we have different initiative numbers (you have a 21, I have 12) left me uncertain.

I’m going to post now anyways, but don’t wait on me.
FYI my action will be “sit back and see how the younguns deal with this one!”

In reply to Qvan Ibn Hamid (msg # 266):

Don't worry, I'm actually waiting for the GM to answer me a private question about an ability I'm planning to use. :)

In reply to Aenarion (msg # 258):

Right, I had meant to PM you about that but forgot, terribly sorry. I think it's a simple enough to handle, between the fact it only works once per enemy per day and my range is merely thirty feet. Between those two limitations, Vahid would only use it when he saw an enemy within range about to land a particularly devastating blow(critical hit), and burn the lowest level slot available. After all, at levels like this, I don't expect a -1 to -6 to matter too terribly much, what matters is losing the crit threat.

I like the block initiative style, but before I take my turn, can somebody help me find the rules for diagonal movement? I don't use them enough to remember off the top of my head and the pfsrd has a weird layout.

For every two diagonal squares you move through, you consume three squares (15 ft) of movement; if you move diagonally for an odd number of squares (1, 3, 5, etc), then the first square counts as 5 ft, and the second as 10 ft. Which means moving diagonally three squares is 20 ft, and moving diagonally four squares is 30 ft.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:34, Fri 03 July 2020.

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 269):

Right, much appreciated, thank you.

Right, so if I go for my flight and boots of speed, I have just enough movement to get to our new friend and buff myself a little. I'm pretty sure the fly spell works with haste's movement bonus, but correct me if I'm wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:44, Fri 03 July 2020.

Qvan is correct. You individual initiative values will be used to determine in which group you fall, but other than that have no bearings on the order.


No, he is not. After biting the unfortunate soldier, he let go, turned around and is ready to charge.


No worries. And those restrictions definitely make this feat less of an overall concern. Thanks for pointing them out and on what triggers you will usually activate it.

Also it might be helpful to point out that the PCs will always have a green circle around their avatar, enemies red, and other NPCs as well as summons get blue. Just to have some easily available identification available on the battlemap.

Sorry GM, forgot to add my updated lineup. I've edited it appropriately.

 I'll update my stat block.
 Love your maps btw, what do you use for them?

 Just to note, Qvan intended to be just 5ft left of where shown.
(to be in place for a series of juicy aoo, if anyone should try anything funny)

All good, thanks for the update!


Hah, that is not my creation (I wish). I'm subscribed to several different patreons offering regular battlemaps, of which the current map is one. To show the rest (grid, tokens, coordinates, etc.) I use MapTools.


Will correct that.

Just as an info for everyone, I'm usually out of town on most weekends from Friday evening to Sunday evening and only have a couple of minute to spend on rpol during this time, if at all. This means that more time-consuming game updates (like combat posts) might be delayed until the following Monday. I'll try my best to make at least one update over the next two days, but can't promise anything.

GM,

I assume 38 is enough to hit & 36 is enough to confirm a crit?

Uh... I am in H16 already? How is that gonna work?

EDIT: Or... not? Ugh, I'm confused about the general positioning.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:47, Fri 03 July 2020.

OK, sorry for the double post, I just didn't want to risk this not getting seen.

In the original post, I wrote G18 multiple times, but what I actually should have written was H18; I also used G17 in place of H17, when referring to the enemy's current position.

Considering everything, I'd be willing to retire my post/change my actions to let Aryk use his own - I think it'd work better that way, and the confusion was obviously my fault for not double-checking what I was writing.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:52, Fri 03 July 2020.

I thought you were in G18; that’s what I get for scanning.

Fixed.  Unfortunately that means I’m not getting into combat this turn.  You have higher initiative, so you’re action would’ve been done first.  No worries.  That said, H16 is the only contact square he can reach; if you could use a different square it would be awesome.  No worries either way.

As I said, I'm willing to simply change what I did with my turn and let you keep yours as it was; my attack roll was worse than yours anyway, and I can actually do something useful even if I don't get to attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:58, Fri 03 July 2020.

 Ha! Looks like we were all way too keen to get started :D

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 281):

Okay, I’ll stick the original back up.

Thanks.  :)

No problem; besides, there's a substantial chance that Rictor will simply arrow the guy to death anyway. :)

At least movement for an archer is really simple. I don't.

I also forgot the +1 to attack for Haste, so the to-hits should properly be 41 and 30, my rolls got kind of clustered low and clustered high by coincidence.

Aenarion, any chance you would consider putting enemy ACs publicly? It takes away some of the tactical tension of combat, but it goes a long way towards smoothing out the math and encouraging powerful writing. I feel like "I shoot him in the knee!" is better, more compelling writing than "I try to shoot him in the knee!"

 So by the time Zhira gets in melee, Khazat Karelem looks more like a porcupine than a man. Maybe we need to reign in our firepower just a notch...

Yeah, I figured that since Zhira went before me and put 40+ subdual damage on the poor guy I could do some regular attacks. The damage of any individual arrow isn't more than 40 plus his CON score, so hopefully if I just stop shooting after that brings him down (if he DOES go down) he won't be dead, just unconscious and full of holes.

In reply to Rictor Wyrmbane (msg # 287):

Yeah, but I've changed my actions because otherwise Aryk's turn would be wasted, so he's not getting the non-lethal anymore; I'm not sure if you would be willing to stomach getting a -4 on your first attack to make it non-lethal, Rictor?

I got authorization from the GM to switch from non-lethal to lethal with my Bull Rush (I mean, the bull rush didn't inflict damage there, but it could have), so I don't expect they'd give you trouble for doing the same yourself and having your first hit be non-lethal.

Anyway, I have updated my post with a different action; it should pretty much seal the battle even if I didn't inflict any arm on the enemy, so if they have more HP than what Rictor + Aryk inflicted and is still up, taking them down non-lethally next turn should be perfectly doable.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:32, Fri 03 July 2020.

 If the local guard captain has more than 270hp, we may have bigger problems than we thought :D

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Plus that first attack is the multishot attack, so it's two arrows worth of no-lethal damage.

So let it be written, so let it be done. Rictor's first attack is non-lethal and hits only on a 36.

My damage rolls weren’t great, and that was only kind of low to mid-level power use from him.  I built him to really stack damage.

I mean, maybe he's just daemon empowered to be a proper threat to the five of us? Or he could have DR of some sort. It's not impossible.

Rictor has Clustered Shots, so hopefully that will help with DR.

 I feel like we're going to need a good recap post from the GM to untangle what actually happened in these first few seconds!

Of course, both are more than enough.


Sure thing, fixed that now!


Yeah, I think so, too. Not sure I'll manage that tonight, though.

Well, decided I have the time after all!

And don't you go around, underestimating random village mercenary captains who are under the influence of some otherworldly curse, you hear me? :D

Hey GM, before I roll all this stuff, is this guy evil? I'm just asking so I know if there;s a point to me rolling my holy damage if I hit.

Yes, my weapons are always aligned ‘good’ for DR bypass as well.

Well, that was just atrocious.
Edit: Forgot to add my flanking bonus, so at least one attack goes through 33 ac.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:41, Fri 03 July 2020.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 298):

I'm just sorry that the -6 wasn't enough to protect you from more attacks, Aryk. Also, everybody remembers that if you can cause the man to provoke attacks of opportunity, I can take advantage.

I’m using a psionic power to negate the first melee attack.

But yeah.  Ouch.

Also, Aryk has 4 AoO, if that happens.

He is not evil. At least not for a while longer :)


See, and here I forgot to include the penalty in the dice roller. I mentally calculated with it (all three attacks hit AC 23 even with a -6) and rolled damage accordingly, but missed putting in the correct end bonus. Sorry!

Good to know he doesn't count as evil.
Still, that was hilariously bad for my first set of rolls. Let's hope it's not going to be a trend, yeah?

In reply to Vahid al-Mavari (msg # 303):

I'm sure it won't be.

Just to make sure I don't make any mistakes, can you tell me which squares precisely you're in, Vahid? I gather that Aryk moved from H16 to J15 somehow (10 ft step? Or was it supposed to be I15?), but I need to be sure of your position as well.

Also, I hope nobody is going to be too mad if they get some non-lethal damage as collateral from my attack, right? Because I have a fear that might just happen...

In reply to Zhira al-Darea (msg # 304):

I moved to H18 to flank with Aryk.
I don't mind eating a bit of nonlethal, I can probably handle it. Probably.

Yeah, I meant I15.

The map is hard to use sometimes on my phone...  XD

Tangent:

A friend of mine is going to be running a face-to-face game of 5e I’m excited about.  It’s going to be Tomb of annihilation, but with bizarre characters.  I’m a gnome barbarian (OC the ancient warrior sect ‘Chee-Wa-Wa’), a half-giant rogue, kenku sorcerer who can’t speak common & only repeats spells she’s heard others use, and a druid who is actually three kobolds in a trenchcoat (they found the rules online).

Whoops! I messed up my math on my last round and hit an attack that actually should have missed. The dice roller was past that roll, so I re-rolled that attack and detracted the damage instead.

Hopefully that's okay, if not let me know and I'll do-over the whole thing.

In reply to Aryk (msg # 307):
 That sounds amazing and hilarious!
 I wish I had more opportunities for tabletop games...

 GM, I was going to post, but must need some answers to make a decision.

 How is the guy who was bitten?
 Do my knowledge checks reveal anything in the heart of the moment?
 Does my arcane sight reveal anything?
   (Know arcana 48, know local 30, perception 40)

I’m hesitant between disarming the Captain (should have started with this!), healing Aryk (how bad are you ?), or taking care of the bitten (which one is it ?)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:32, Sat 04 July 2020.

Sounds like fun, hope you have a good time :)


Not needed, but thanks for the offer.


Seeing how quickly your party intervened, Salazeh (the one who was bitten) is still pretty healthy. The neck wound bleeds profusely, but it's nothing life threatening.


Not that much, to be honest. You see that Salazeh seems to be the rank of a lieutenant based on her military stripes, and that all five of the mercenaries apparently belong to the 'Long Whisker Company'. It's a well-known group of mercenaries operating out of the Meraz Desert that has a good reputation.


Not really. Khazat has several moderately powerful magic items on his person, including weapon and armor, but that is pretty much it.

Oh, I didn't realize she was the one who had been bitten. Well... hopefully the non-lethal damage from having her captain smashed into herself didn't put her into too bad a mood? :P
This message was last edited by the player at 13:18, Sat 04 July 2020.

Nah, she is a tough one, being a lieutenant and all. Some little nibbling and having someone thrown on top of her will not put her life in danger :D


But this was quick, nicely done everyone (despite the bad rolls).

I'm assuming she's not going to say no to an offer of healing?
Edit: the Lieutenant we didn't bring with us, I mean.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sat 04 July 2020.

 Does anybody have decent restraints? Adamantine manacles or the like?
 Otherwise Qvan can whip up something.

 Also I thought we should find a name for our little Fellowship – any ideas?

I have no preference, and so long as it's something suitably Qadiran, I don't think Zhira would either.

As for manacles, I don't happen to have any; it didn't seem like the sort of thing Zhira would carry around. I do have rope, however; that might suffice.

 Fellowship of the Brass Scarab – how does this sound?
 Scarab as a symbol of live, Brass in reference to Good desert-dwelling dragons.

 Re Manacles, I was going to shape a bloc of marble into hands-and-ankles manacles, the kind you can't open until I cast Stone Shape again.

That sounds good to me. :)

Back to posting, hope everyone had a good weekend :)

In reply to Aenarion (msg # 318):
 Pubs reopened on Saturday, it was pandemonium.

I am perfectly fine; nothing big happened here. It rarely does. :)

Yeah, read about that in the news. Crazy times...

I realised I can cast Extended Greater Magic Weapon cheaply, and it lasts 36h.
Any taker for your secondary weapons or ammunitions? They'd be +4.