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Post by WxMAN on Jul 30, 2016 23:33:31 GMT -6
FYI, @ the GM, I meant to formalize where Andrei's headspace is in the wake of the revelations & discoveries, but I've had a monstrous bad headache all day ... and my Saturday game is going to start shortly. I will put thoughts to (digital) paper soon (tomorrow probably) so as to hopefully provide you additional story hooks. No worries, we have two weeks until next game so take as much time as you need. Good luck on your game!
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 5, 2016 9:05:43 GMT -6
Curious question: how intact is that elven fortress/keep/castle? Can it be salvaged? Wondering if we can claim it and repair it. Might be a good place to base western defenses (in whatever form they come) out of.
I will be reviewing army units this weekend and hopefully drafting up a plan in that regard. In any event, they're going to be fricking expensive...
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Post by Gigermann on Aug 5, 2016 9:27:22 GMT -6
Could refer the new guys that were going to build a defense to the West to this place, if they haven't gotten started yet?
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 5, 2016 9:48:28 GMT -6
Could refer the new guys that were going to build a defense to the West to this place, if they haven't gotten started yet? Was totally thinking that, actually...
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 7, 2016 20:06:17 GMT -6
Curious question: how intact is that elven fortress/keep/castle? Can it be salvaged? Wondering if we can claim it and repair it. Might be a good place to base western defenses (in whatever form they come) out of. Yes, though the extensive wear and damage (some of which from Tess' "Cleric Mode") means it'll take half the BP in order to restore it to working order.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 18, 2016 15:43:16 GMT -6
XP and Session Log up. Sorry for it being delayed. It is going to be a rough next month or two.
Also, is there any consensus if y'all still wanna use crit decks? It is up to you guys one way or the other - whatever you decide is fine with me.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 18, 2016 16:21:36 GMT -6
Also, is there any consensus if y'all still wanna use crit decks? It is up to you guys one way or the other - whatever you decide is fine with me. I will allow the group consensus to decide. I like them but am not wedded to their use.
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Post by Magman on Aug 18, 2016 17:38:48 GMT -6
I vote keep it for now.
And now who runs Walker for me? 1,2 LabRat 3,4 Rigil 5,6 Gigermann. 8HDO418L1-6
WxMAN Sorry to say again, but the server for minecraft is down.
1-6
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Post by Magman on Aug 18, 2016 17:39:14 GMT -6
Sorry LabRat
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 18, 2016 17:46:49 GMT -6
Something to keep in mind with the cards is that the player doesn't have to use them. I think it may be on the rules for the crit fumbles, but I recall reading where you can draw the card but hold it ... then use it to negate a crit fumble. If we did that, though, I think we'll need to have the player declare whether they're using the card before they draw it 'cause otherwise, it seems kind of cheaty if, FREX, I draw a crappy, useless card (say, "regular damage and target is bored for 1 round"), then decide to hold it and get the double-damage of a normal non-card crit.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 18, 2016 18:34:18 GMT -6
WxMAN Sorry to say again, but the server for minecraft is down. Yeah, I think we had a power flash this afternoon, it is back up. Enjoy the concert!
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Post by Magman on Aug 18, 2016 19:37:25 GMT -6
Thanks and will do If you don't use the card and you hold it do you still get crit damage? or is that lost because you are holding the card to avoid a crit fumble. Regardless I vote to continue using the cards.
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Post by Gigermann on Aug 18, 2016 20:46:09 GMT -6
I'm rather less enthusiastic about the cards anymore. There are a few options: - Drop them; or maybe keep them for "color" but leave the effects off
- Use them, but start weeding out the extreme/bad/ridiculous ones as we encounter them
- Individual opt-out; of course, if we get to choose, I don't think anyone would ever opt to suffer a crit-fail card, so that doesn't quite balance—unless there's some kind of incentive to keep it
Of course, if I'm the only one, I can suck it up.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 19, 2016 8:31:04 GMT -6
I'm fine with an individual opt out - though that means if you opt-in for the crits, you cannot opt out of the crit fails. I'd also have to look and see an appropriate "punishment" for crit failing that is about average with what you'd face if you had a crit fail card - that way you always have the average punishment, but not the extremes.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 19, 2016 8:54:20 GMT -6
As far as I can tell, if we use RAW (Rules As Written), there are no crit fumbles. From Pathfinder Combat, all I see is "A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit (see the attack action)." The critical fumbles are generally just house rules or added options, not RAW.
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Post by Gigermann on Aug 19, 2016 8:55:21 GMT -6
I think they "officially" dropped crit fails—which I don't really care for. I think the standard is "dropped weapon" unless something more appropriate comes to mind at the time.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 19, 2016 8:56:58 GMT -6
Interesting: both cards (critical hits, critical fumbles) have been turned into an app of sorts: Critical Generator
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 19, 2016 9:08:59 GMT -6
Now, if you want to get really old school, check this out. Comes from a 1980 issue of Dragon. This also has a fairly interesting chart, although it uses a d30 ... how do you do that apart from getting a d30 die?
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 19, 2016 9:39:15 GMT -6
If you don't use the card and you hold it do you still get crit damage? or is that lost because you are holding the card to avoid a crit fumble. It appears to be one of the Optional Rules for use of the cards and nope, looks like the actual crit is negated if I read it correctly. Specifically, these rules are: - If the attacker has Weapon Focus for the chosen weapon, he may draw two cards from the deck and choose one of the results (from his attack type) to apply. A character with Greater Weapon Focus draws three cards.
- If you are using the Critical Hit Deck, anytime a player scores a critical hit, he can instead roll normal damage and hold on to one card. He can exchange this card at any time to negate a critical fumble.
- Player characters cannot fumble more than once in any combat. All additional attack rolls that result in a natural 1 on the die are treated as misses.
- If the attacker is not proficient with the weapon used in the attack, he threatens a fumble on a natural 1 or 2 on the roll.
- The spell fumble (Bard2, Sor/Wiz2, any miss is an automatic fumble threat) dramatically increases the chance for a fumble to occur. Optionally, this spell could be the only way a fumble could occur. The effects of this spell are also a suitable choice for bestow curse.
The cards also have a New Weapon Ability calls Sure Grip Weapon which states you only officially fumble if you also roll a natural 1 on the confirm check; it is a +1 bonus.
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Post by LabRat on Aug 19, 2016 13:09:42 GMT -6
....uh, I don't know if you should be the one being sorry. You might want to roll up a new character for next week Regarding the crit cards, I don't really have a preference either way. I like to use the cards for variation, but it is sometimes really lame when you get a card that doesn't really give you an "advantage". Maybe on those 'useless' cards if there is no advantage other than normal damage, maybe it should just default to double damage after it is drawn? Just a thought. I do like the idea of keeping your crit card if you want to use it to negate a crit fumble. If you put a gun to my head and told me to chose, I would probably be a 53/47 in favor of keeping the cards. If people don't want them, though, no big deal.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 20, 2016 9:02:58 GMT -6
Card decision (as I recall) is to keep them but for the GM to reserve the right to discard a draw if it is ridiculous or inappropriate. FREX, draw a crit card that states "regular damage and destroy/damage your opponent's shield" but your foe does not have a shield - GM can declare that's dumb so redraw.
GM also agreed to allow us to being putting Build Points into stuff incrementally (ala Ultimate Rulership.) Andrei very much presses for a castle (+2 to all three kingdom stats) in the Landing which is 27 BPs right now (since it is halved.) Can we have spent some of our existing treasure on that already? We have 16 BPs, 2 of which could have been available for us in initial construction stuff in December ...
So, with regards to the allowing of the Mivon forces to march through the Shieldlands to join with the Aldori resistance in the north, Andrei is of two minds here. First, we have been charged with establishing a realm to serve as a buffer zone from other neighboring nations - this is probably more due to Pitax, I believe, than Mivon, but the point still stands. If a great host marches into southern Brevoy from the Shieldlands, the Brevic king-regent will assuredly perceive this as an act of war and react accordingly, thus turning a cold war hot long before anyone is ready for that. At the same time, as Giger pointed out, we really don't have the military capability to stop Mivon from marching if they decide to do so anyway. When the war actually starts (presuming it does), there are going to be a lot of smallfolk (commoners) fleeing to escape the chaos, so I expect the Shieldlands will end up absorbing a lot of refugees.
As stated during the game, Andrei has a +7 in Sense Motive, so presuming he can get a good feel about Lady Hana's motives and personality (and thus, an idea about her alignment which GM stated was Chaotic Good, even though the characters don't realize that), he is likely going to press for more information, most of it military in nature. She was holding something back even though she seemed mostly truthful, so he would like to know what that was. We have a general number of troops - 3000 - but how are they going to be deployed? Are they all marching together? Are they deploying in small groups? What is their planned objective once they pass through the Shieldlands? It is entirely possible that, should Andrei find Lady Hana mostly trustworthy, he might go so far as to explain his above-mentioned hesitation in just rubber stamping this by quoting various Aldori teachings (I can totally see one of those being "Prepare for war ... but do not seek it out. If it is necessary, it will come to you in the proper time.") - Andrei's principal concern is for the people who will be caught in the middle of this mess (he is Neutral Good, after all) so he needs some sort of guarantee that this is not a precursor for a subjugation attempt by the south, and that the marching force is actually intending on aiding the Rostlander forces and not just fighting for the thrill of fighting. Honestly, if he could arrange a diplomatic solution to this, he would, but it seems too far gone for that to be possible.
What this definitely confirms for him, though, is the absolute essential need for troops. Come January kingdom check, providing we can actually afford it, he is going urge officially raising the first military force. Yes, it'll cost us 4 BPs/month, but with a war clearly on the horizon, we can no longer afford to keep putting it off. And yes, I'm aware that 100 men is going to do much against hosts of 3000 or more, but it is a start. On the bright side, if I did my maths right, maintaining that force of 3000 is going to cost Mivon 28 BPs ... a month!
Ideally, what Andrei would like to do is put Lady Hana (of Mivon) and Lady Jamandi into contact, so the two forces can better coordinate any potential movements.
Also, mostly unrelated to the wild political stuffs, I think Andrei is going to end up getting along with Lady Hana fairly well (presuming she reciprocates) simply because he's been starved for friendship with someone close to his age who is steeped in Aldori culture like he is. The former general was more of a mentor type, but Andrei will at least perceive Lady Hana as a peer (what with her evidently being only a little better than he is and the equivalent of nobility.) This is not a precursor to a romantic interlude or attempt at courting her ... although it is probably a good thing his mother isn't in the Landing at the moment because if she was, there might be cookies involved...
Finally, Andrei is going to consult the proper personnel to see about relocating his family from Restov to the Landing to ensure their safety in the coming war. And perhaps his step-father might end up a tolerable general?
Man. I rambled on a lot...
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 21, 2016 20:33:55 GMT -6
XP and Session Summary up... hopefully it was a good session even without fighting - I'm never sure how enjoyable things are if something doesn't get murder-lated.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 21, 2016 20:52:58 GMT -6
As stated during the game, Andrei has a +7 in Sense Motive, so presuming he can get a good feel about Lady Hana's motives and personality (and thus, an idea about her alignment which GM stated was Chaotic Good, even though the characters don't realize that), he is likely going to press for more information, most of it military in nature. Personality wise, Andrei will find her confident (not cocky), and very focused - kind, but not weak. She was holding something back even though she seemed mostly truthful, so he would like to know what that was. Given you are spending some time together, you'll be able to gather that a lot of the desire to reinforce Rostland comes not from altruism, but instead of a sense of finally proving themselves to the Aldori's whom have always looked down their noses at the Mivonians. They seek to return to their original homelands, and through being a major player in a coming war, to get some positions of power when it all shakes out. We have a general number of troops - 3000 - but how are they going to be deployed? Are they all marching together? Are they deploying in small groups? What is their planned objective once they pass through the Shieldlands? She plans on meeting, covertly, with Jamandi assuming she is granted permission from the Shieldlands to better coordinate how to best attack Brevoy. Current thought is to secure Restov and then push up towards New Stetven. Also, mostly unrelated to the wild political stuffs, I think Andrei is going to end up getting along with Lady Hana fairly well (presuming she reciprocates) simply because he's been starved for friendship with someone close to his age who is steeped in Aldori culture like he is. She would reciprocate - though rather hesitantly as Andrei is not what she normally sees from Aldori's. They tend to be more arrogant (in her view), due to the rift between the Mivonians and Aldoris. Finally, Andrei is going to consult the proper personnel to see about relocating his family from Restov to the Landing to ensure their safety in the coming war. And perhaps his step-father might end up a tolerable general? You may be able to get them out through official means if Ihvon's gambit of turning himself over to the King-Regent works - but if it does not, they'd have to be smuggled out.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 22, 2016 8:58:23 GMT -6
XP and Session Summary up... hopefully it was a good session even without fighting - I'm never sure how enjoyable things are if something doesn't get murder-lated. Quite often, I enjoy the combat-lite scenarios more than those with boatloads of monsters to kill. Less chance of potentially killing myself with bad rolls.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 22, 2016 16:02:50 GMT -6
Updated session summary. Forgot the Ubagugia/Tatzlford trip. Also updated the timeline.
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Post by LabRat on Aug 24, 2016 13:40:11 GMT -6
I'm typing this on my phone with gloves on so excuse any typos, but I have some time to kill while my stuff is running.
Just wanted to throw in my two cents regarding using The Shield lands as a Mivon highway. It is hard to get a grasp of what is going on from Tess' perspective. This isn't necessarily a matter that resides in her wheel house. The fate of her sister also complicates things, so mentally, she is a bit distracted. There are a few things though that I know she will do/think about:
1. Pretty soon upon meeting Hana, she is going to cast detect alignment so get a feel for her.
2. Whenever she is in town and doing her civic duties, she is going to get the people's perspective. Regarding Mivon and their Aldori. Maybe she will ask yhe blacksmith since she is from the south. She is,well aware that they were branded cowards long ago, but what type of people are they now. Do they have honor? Are they still craven? Are they loyal?
3. To allow them to use the Shield lands is a big risk for us. We could be the catalyst for a now active battle field. Tess will question what do we gain from allowing Mivon to send troops through. Long term allies? Anything in the short term? Could they offer coin or people for us to afford or have a small army for protection? What is the return of investment? Which prompts the next question.
4. How willing are we to get involved? If we forget an alliance or accept gifts or payment, then that's it...we are no longer passive, but taking an active role in the upcoming conflict. Giger is right, we can't stop them, but we can actively support them. Is that something we really want to do?
5. Tess and Andrei are like minded in the concern of what this will do for the people. Whatever we decide, we must have them in the for front of our minds, and their best interest at heart.
6. In terms of Tess' personally she would absolutely support the purpose and idealism of Mivon's march. The idea of having the freedom to prove oneself in order to 'stick it to the man' is something she can certainly get behind. However, the ramifications of that is something to think about. It is a difficult decision.
I think right now Hana needs to explain herself a bit more in terms of her plan and logistics. And we as a group need to decide if we are ready to officially align ourselves with the Aldori.
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Post by Gigermann on Aug 24, 2016 13:54:20 GMT -6
Something else to consider here is the fact that their asking of permission is basically a courtesy, and/or an acknowledgement of the Shieldlands' sovereignty (such as it is). There's no reason they had to stop and ask.
I said this a few times last week, but I'll say it here for the record: I (player) think we should (politely) say "no" and see what they do about it, as that will tell us how future relations will likely go.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Aug 24, 2016 14:25:25 GMT -6
If I recall correctly, permission to pass through to southern Brevoy was a condition of opening relations with them. I am inclined to sort of say no, but at the same time, say yes (thus, being a true nation!) Sort of "We cannot allow you to pass through our sovereign territory. If, however, you skirted it, well then, there's not a lot we can do about that, is there? Why no, those hexes between us and Varnhold aren't our sovereign land..."
Despite being a rogue, Andrei is mostly an honest dude and would likely explain to Lady Hana the concerns he has about officially involving the Shieldlands in this conflict. Now, if her force is planning on inserting into Brevoy in small numbers, that's one thing. But if it is en masse? That's (to coin an irritating 2016 word) "problematic."
ETA: Regarding "aligning ourselves with the Aldori" ... Andrei is Aldori, so I suspect that, whether we want to or not (as players), we're already aligned with them.
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Post by Gigermann on Aug 24, 2016 14:50:31 GMT -6
I think I would characterize the problem I have with the potential fallout from having "allowed" them to pass through our lands is "what exactly were they expecting us to do there?" If Brevoy makes an excuse of our involvement, then it's nothing more than an excuse, and would have happened anyway.
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Post by WxMAN on Aug 24, 2016 18:48:47 GMT -6
1. Pretty soon upon meeting Hana, she is going to cast detect alignment so get a feel for her. You will detect her alignment as CG. Do they have honor? Are they still craven? Are they loyal? As the Shieldlands are made up of Rostlanders primarily, there will be some elitism that they are above the Mivon cowards. You will know that Mivon is a meritocracy - which means that you can get someone who is evil just as easy as good, and might a lot of time makes right - though there is a code of honor they follow that determines how to challenge a leader (you must work your way up through their "defenders" and if you defeat them in combat, you can fight the leader - if you kill them / make them yield, you are now the leader.
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