RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to [PF] Kingmaker 2.1

08:37, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

[INFO] Important Info & House Rules.

Posted by Dungeon MasterFor group public
Dungeon Master
GM, 31 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:00
  • msg #1

[INFO] Important Info & House Rules

Keep these in mind and you'll do fine:


  1. When in doubt ask.
    If you're stuck in-game or out-of-game, not sure how to react or feel like there is anything preventing you from posting, either drop a line in any OOC chat or send me a PM. If you don't get an answer within 24 hours, poke me in the GM poke thread. While I may not update every day, I do keep an eye out for PMs and questions.


  2. It's your character.
    I spend my day trying to figure out plot lines and run encounters. I do not memorize character sheets. If there is important information pertaining to your character (like how you have dark vision so you don't get the dark penalties I posted) it is your responsibility to bring that up, not mine to remember it. You are the advocate for your character, it is your job to give them every advantage they can have. If you have questions, see Rule #1.


  3. If you have to leave, drop me a line.
    If you're going to be absent for longer then a week, or your RL schedule means you're going to be busier then normal, or school is starting and RL has to be adjusted...whatever the case, drop me a PM before you disappear for longer then a week. If you haven't posted in a week I will view you as an AFK player. I will then begin to NPC your character if they are vital to the plot, finding a replacement player, or working them out of the story. If you disappear for two weeks without prior warning, don't be surprised to find that you no longer have a character. This doesn't mean I can't work you back in, but it would ALL be resolved much better with a bit of forewarning. Even if you don't KNOW but just THINK you might have difficulty posting, see Rule #1: When in doubt, send a PM.

    If you have not logged in for a couple of weeks I may mark you as (AFK) after your name. If you have (AFK) on your name I am NPCing your character through encounters and you are at risk of either being replaced by another player OR being killed off for dramatic purposes. To remove (AFK) all you have to do is come back and post.


  4. If you take too long, I will advance the story.
    PbP can be slow enough without spending weeks/months trying to create a plan. I've seen this happen game after game after game where when the party has to make a decision nothing gets done and the game grinds to a halt while people just mill around without anything to do. When you are ready for the scene to advance you can notify that clearly by writing in an OOC line at the bottom:

    OOC: READY!

    This will signify to both me and the rest of the group that you're ready to move on. When the majority is ready (or I get bored :P) the game will advance. I will post a default plan and if the plan hasn't changed before then, then that is what you're going to be doing. If you don't like it you'd better speak up and get a new plan in the works before I get bored and hit the fast forward button.

Dungeon Master
GM, 32 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:00
  • msg #2

CONTENT

Please note that this game is set to "Mature" and not to "Adult". While I expect absolutely terrible language and there to be some brutal violence I do not plan on this game going into "porn" territory of any kind (goreporn, tortureporn, porn porn :D).

I'm of the mentality that while the story won't shy away from "adult" concepts like hookers or senseless violence that it doesn't need to be explained in every filthy detail and personally I find the imagination of a "fade-to-black" much more immersive then anything people would actually type.

Therefore if we encounter a situation that would cross the line I/we will either take a step back and either fade-to-black or just describe things in a high level OOC way before getting back to the action.

So don't worry, you'll get plenty of hookers, get to perform a scene out of Reservoir Dogs, even have a romance or two if so inclined but for the extreme stuff that would require an Adults Only access you'll have to use your imagination to fill in the the blanks :P
Dungeon Master
GM, 33 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:01
  • msg #3

MAGIC ITEMS

My favorite part about Baldur's Gate was how most of the magic items felt unique, and had special tales to go along with them. In addition I find that treating magical items like any other piece of equipment really takes the fun and...well...magic out of the item so I tend to impose a few house rules when it comes to magical items:

  • For towns I will be generating magic items lists and using the rules as written around purchasing limits in cities.

    quote:
    There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week. A settlement’s purchase limit is the most money a shop in the settlement can spend to purchase any single item from the PCs. If the PCs wish to sell an item worth more than a settlement’s purchase limit, they’ll either need to settle for a lower price, travel to A larger city, or (with the GM‘s permission) search for a specific buyer in the city with deeper pockets.


  • Gold can be spent on building up contacts and acquiring recipes for powerful magical items. For example you might want a +3 Flail of Frost but in order to do that you have to find three +1 flail heads that have been scattered through the wilderness. You can use your gold to give quests to other adventurers to go out and find your recipes or needed ingredients and then assemble.

  • Magical items are created more then crafted. It may be possible that ordinary or lesser magical items in your possession may become magical or more powerful based upon your deeds and encounters, and perhaps even your misfortunes. Get hit with a critical lightning bolt while holding a mundane sword? Don't be surprised if it suddenly picks up a bit of that magical energy and now does +1 electrical damage. The more powerful then encounter or event, the more powerful the end item. Divine intervention can also create and imbue magical properties into items.

  • Do not plan on being able to pick and choose your equipment on a level by level basis, you will need to learn to use the items you get in the most effective manner possible. I reward good role playing, not memorization of indexes and mathematical computations.

  • More powerful magical items will have cooler effects and have lengthy histories. I would greatly enjoy if you want to flex your creativity a bit and come up with some heroic origins for magical items you acquire. Like in Baldur's Gate many of them will have unique appearances and histories to make them feel more magical.

  • Item Creation feats are worthwhile if you want to be able to create your own custom magic items however it will not be so simple and straightforward of "Spend X gold and Y days and get item Z".


Again I'm not trying to punish anyone but I am trying to restore a bit of a mistake that has happened in the past. In normal rules if you get a magic item that isn't on your optimal build as soon as you can you sell it off and convert gold into stat bumps. I would rather if you acquire a powerful magical item to try and wrap your character around the item instead of the other way around. In addition the normal rules make Item Creation feats not worthwhile to acquire.
Dungeon Master
GM, 34 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:01
  • msg #4

MAGIC ITEM CREATIONS

IF we go down the route of using crafted magical items (not consumables like wands or potions but things like arms & armor, rings, staves, rods, and wonderous items) then I would like to use the Dynamic Magic Item Creation rules listed in Pathfinder Unchained.

The summary is this:

You (and potentially a buddy) are faced with a series of skill challenges based off of DC 15 - 30 and sometimes additionally modified by item's CL.

For example, the very first task is always to Prepare the Vessel:


quote:
You must create or prepare an item to handle the magic youintend to instill within it.

TASKS
Forge a New Vessel: Craft (item’s type) DC 15 + item’s caster level
Mystical Preparations:  Spellcraft DC 15 + item’s caster level
RESULTS
Critical Success (both are passed)
You have a superlative and efficient vessel. Set the base cost at 75% of the market price, and set the item’s creation time to 1 day per 2,000 gp of the item’s market price.

Success (pass one and fail the other by less then 5)
You have a satisfactory vessel. Set the base cost at 85% of the market price, and set the item’s creation time to 1 day per 1,000 gp of the item’s market price.

Failure (pass one and fail the other by more then 5)
You have a flawed vessel. Set the base cost at 100% of the market price, set the item’s creation time to 1 day per 500 gp of the item’s market price, and add one flaw.

Critical Failure (both tasks failed)
The vessel is destroyed.


So right away it becomes more interesting. A single person cannot do both tasks so you will need a "partner" and you can use different ones for different parts of it. You can use an NPC smith to craft the item, the rogue to use UMD to basically bluff your way past the activation words and the Bard to shoo away a distracting visitor who keeps bothering you at inopportune times.

Perks can be generated by succesfully completing the challenges and range from having lighterweight items to providing additional minor bonuses to a random skill or glow when a specific type of enemy is around. These perks will be partially random, partially based on the item and partially based on the owner. For example, if a ranger is involved and he HATES orcs then the item might glow when orcs are around.

Quirks are non-mechanical quirks that make items more interesting and with particularly bad luck you might get a flawed items. Flaws are not curses per se but do have minor drawbacks to their use, although you generally have to be very unlucky to get a flawed or cursed item.
Dungeon Master
GM, 35 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:02
  • msg #5

COMBAT POSTS

So I'd like you to use the following format for combat posts:

Underneath your descriptive post I would like you to clearly spell out each action you are taking and what you're doing with it. If you take a Move and a Standard action it should go like:

Move Action: blah
Standard Action: blah


If you squeeze in a swift or immediate or free action again please clearly state you are taking X kind of action and you are doing Y with it. You do not have to call out talking as a free action, however but a common tactic might be to switch from a bow to a sword, for example so it would look like:

Free Action: Drop bow
Move Action: Draw sword
Standard Action: Attack Bad Guy #1


Finally if you do make an attack please append the AC that you hit and the amount of damage (as well as the damage type if it's doing something unusual like fire or cold etc.) Then append your dice rolls below it. For example:

Move Action: Pass
Standard Action: Scorching Ray at Bad Guy #3 hitting touch AC 15 for 5 pts of fire damage.


All in all it should look something like this:


quote:
Gnomey the gnome lets out a fearsome roar and moves next to this guy and stabs that guy.

Move Action: Move 20 feet from Q5 to Q9
Standard Action: Attack that guy with dagger, hitting AC 17 for 2 points of damage.

09:21, Today: Gnomey rolled 17 using 1d20+3. stab that guy
09:21, Today: Gnomey rolled 2 using 1d3. dagger damage

Dungeon Master
GM, 36 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:03
  • msg #6

PATHFINDER UNCHAINED

I will be using and encouraging the use of Unchained classes (Monk/Barbarian/Rogue/Summoner).

All of those changes are available online and mostly are just a rebalancing of the existing classes. Barbarians get more straight forward abilities and better rage powers, Rogues can inflict status effects with their sneak attacks and get skill unlocks, Monks get completely revamped, and Summoners get a bit of direction so you don't end up with a blob with 10 tentacles coming out of it.

In addition Stamina Pools will be given to Fighter as a free bonus feat. Other characters are free to take Combat Stamina
Dungeon Master
GM, 37 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Sun 22 Mar 2020
at 21:03
  • msg #7

HIT POINTS BY LEVEL

For a PC there are two ways to do hit points:

One is to take the average (round DOWN). So 3 for a d6, 4 for a d8, 5 for a d10, 6 for d12

The other is to straight up roll. No "rerolls for 1s" etc, you get what you get.


HOWEVER every odd level past the first you gain a bonus hit point.

So for a d6 it would go like this:
Level 2: +3hp
Level 3: +4hp
Level 4: +3hp
Level 5: +4hp.

This bonus HP happens whether you roll or take the average as a way to keep both systems fair. The only exception is that if you roll max HP then you don't get the bonus HP...be happy with having rolled a max HP for your level :P




For animal companions, cohorts, NPCs etc then the only option is to rolls. They do not get the bonus PC hp every other level. this does mean that animal companions/purchased mounts etc. might be weaker or stronger than normal and that is to be expected.
Dungeon Master
GM, 312 posts
Teller of Tales
Lord of Lies
Wed 2 Dec 2020
at 15:06
  • msg #8

CREATIVITY IN COMBAT POSTS

I want to encourage people to be creative in their combat posts. Feel free to narrate different scenes with the NPCs you're fighting to help flex those creative muscles.

One thing to consider is that an attack roll does not always mean you took a swing and a miss doesn't always mean you didn't hit.

For example any of the following could represent a "failed attack"

quote:
Gnomey the example gnome gripped his dagger, waiting for the right time to attack but his opponent's defense was flawless. Every time Gnomey shifted his stance the bandit brought his sword to defend or angled himself denying gnomey a strike. He cursed and continued the dance, hoping to find a gap in the bandit's posture.


quote:
Gnomey lunged with an attack but the bandit brought his sword up and deflected it. Gnomey pressed inward, trying to twist the blade around and stab the bandit in the chest but the bandit's boot kicked out hitting Gnomey square in the chest and driving him back.


Huge epic combat posts aren't a requirement. I understand that between referencing character sheets and maps and rolling dice it can really suck your time away but if you find yourself feeling like combat is dragging on or you're tired of writing "I swing and I miss" over and over again consider the above as a way to help make combat a bit spicier not just for you but for your fellow players as well.
Sign In