[OOC]Player Chat

So begins the ramblings and prayers of the players.

Thanx. Ninja sounds so good.

Question: if your Ninja/Monk... do you actually get the plus wisdom bonus twice?

No, they do not stack. That is very clear in the rules for the ninja class.

Do you know how a note works?

But you did see the note for you, correct?

Yes I did see the note for me.

Howdy good folks, thanks for the add - is this where we get our shurikens sharpened?

Would this be acceptable?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Simple Variant: Comes from the Unearthed Arcana SRD

A ranger might forgo training in weapon combat in exchange for the ability to take animal form and move swiftly through the woodlands.

Gain
Wild shape (as druid; Small or Medium animals only), fast movement (as barbarian).

Lose
Combat style, improved combat style, combat style mastery.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello there everyone. Excited to be a god awful sneaky bastard with all of you.

howdy Joms - likewise. My shurikens are your shurikens.

On another note, wanted to thank the GM for guiding me through the character creation process with great patience! Been playing since the 90s , but believe it or not, never touched D&D all these years.

Ok I've made a parkour build ninja(fighter dungeon crasher). Not exactly sneaky but the outdoor man doesn't really need to sneak so much as remain undetected.

What kinda builds are we all making?

slowly making my way through the creation of a female performer/assassin, focused on ranged attacks and poisons.

I'm fine with that alternate power substitution. Oddly, I wasn't being notified of these posts. Sorry about the delay in responding.

How about this for a race for my ninja? Drow are level 2 offset, but the lesser version is level 0 offset.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lesser Versions

As an alternative to the use of negative level adjustments to offset racial level adjustments at the lowest character levels, this variant offers different versions of powerful races that aren't as powerful. A "lesser drow," for example, doesn't have all the traits and abilities of the drow described elsewhere in this chapter, but she can be played as a 1st-level character right alongside characters of other, more standard races. Since such characters never have to worry about level adjustments, they are sometimes more enjoyable to play than a character with a negative level adjustment, even if they lack some exciting features of the race.

If you use these lesser racial versions in your campaign, you should use them across the board -- for NPCs as well as player characters. Thus, a party that includes a lesser drow should never encounter drow from the Monster Manual in your game. Instead, all the drow in your campaign should be lesser drow. Of course, nobody calls them "lesser drow," since all drow have the same racial characteristics in the game.

Lesser Drow: Lesser drow have the following racial traits.

Racial Abilities: These traits are in addition to the standard elf abilities in the Player's Handbook, except where noted.

+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution: The lesser drow have ruthlessly selected for agility at the expense of hardiness over countless generations. These adjustments replace the ability adjustments given for elves in the Player's Handbook.

Darkvision: Lesser drow can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and lesser drow can function just fine with no light at all. This ability replaces the low-light vision noted for elves in the Player's Handbook.

Weapon Proficiency: Lesser drow are automatically proficient with the hand crossbow, rapier, and short sword. These proficiencies replace those of standard elves.

+2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like effects.

Spell-Like Abilities: A lesser drow with a Charisma score of at least 10 has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day -- dancing lights, daze, touch of fatigue. Caster level equals the lesser drow's class levels.

Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds lesser drow for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.

Favored Class: Wizard (male) or cleric (female). This trait replaces the favored class entry for elves in the Player's Handbook.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The spell-like abilities seem to make it better than other races. I generally hesitate to allow for drow. Is there a reason you would like to play one?

Just thought a drow Ninja would be neat. Lesser Ninja still has the light problem.

In character generation, I have three goals. One is that players should be able to play what they want to play. Two is that the choice will not make my job as a DM more difficult than it would need to be. Three is that the choice will not interfere with the enjoyment game by other players. In that light, here's how I see a drow ninja may impact the game.

One, it is good that you think a drow ninja would be "neat".

Two, a drow's primary disadvantages are their sensitivity to light (as you pointed out) and social stigma. In a ninja game, I would imagine that the light sensitivity issue is going to be less of an issue than normal; ninjas are, after all, operatives in the shadow in often a quite literal sense. As for social stigma, being a race has the label of being evil will interfere with the ability to assume certain roles, such as disguising the group as one that's harmless. This would detract from options for the player group, but I suppose if your drow was a master of disguise, then this could be mitigated. Being a drow, therefore, is a negative mark.

Three, I can't really speak to it, as I don't know how others feel, although a drow's social status may impact how the group may operate. I guess I will let this be a tie breaker and ask the other players to weigh in to see if they care.

I think I'm done with my character.

I probably should have noted this earlier, which is that much of this second point relates to game balance. I would like to be able to use generic monsters straight from the book and not have to customize things to create challenges for players (or even a specific player). There's a place for such customization, but to me, it's not helpful when one ends up feeling compelled to do for EVERY encounter.

I'm forgetting that this is 3.5e and not 5e. In 5e they have removed really most of the social stigma, but in 3.5e Drow are evil in all cuts. So yeah I can see that the social stigma really is too much and I will look for a different race to pick. Thank for the wake up.

I have selected a Male Half-Orc Ranger 3/Ninja 2 character.

This is Si. I'm coming closer to completing the character.

I'm moving along on the character. GM you see it as it is applied. How are you doing HP?
Looking at my wild shaping, are we near an ocean where Si would know about ocean creatures?

Sure. This is being based on Japanese culture...the culture of an island nation.

Did you post HP generations someplace and I missed it?
Please take note of the special mundane equipment on character.

Hopefully I'm building this character right! Right now I have a Scout 4 / Ninja 1, specializing in mid-range combat with a shortbow. I'm going to go ahead and roll HP here, although if we're using average values or I'm supposed to roll it somewhere else I'd be happy to reroll it

SphericalSphere1: Ninja level gets your CON bonus too.. :)

Ah, my CON bonus is 0; the 3d8 + 8 is because I took 1st level as Scout so I got max roll of its d8, then 3 more levels for 3d8, then finally a level of ninja for another 1d6... if that's right? I wanted to take Scout first to make use of the (8 + INT) x 4 starting skill ranks as opposed to the (6 + INT) x 4 of Ninja :)

I get it. The 8 is max at first level.. LOL.. I'm slow. And me thinks your right on the Scout first.

Edit: LOL. You just reminded me about Skill Synergy. Thanx

Good point! That's always been a pet-peeve of mine that something which can affect your character for the rest of its natural life is down to one die roll. It's the same reason I prefer ability score point buys. I've written it up and added it to the Dice Rolls and House Rules section, and I've included below for each of reference.

This is my wild shape list of 26 creatures. Is there anything you want to remove from it?

BABOON, BADGER, BLACK BEAR, BOAR, CHEETAH, CROCODILE, DOG, RIDING DOG, DONKEY, EAGLE, HYENA, LEOPARD, MONITOR LIZARD, MONKEY, OCTOPUS, OWL, PONY, WAR PONY, PORPOISE, SHARK, CONSTRICTOR SNAKE, VIPER SNAKE, SQUID, WOLF, WOLVERINE

I updated the HP as according to have you have wanted. I have 41 HP (I put max HP on my second class for first level)

Are these Feats fine?

Level 1 Feat: Toughness
I gain +3 hit points.

Level 3 Feat: Scent
I can expend one daily use of wild shape to gain the scent ability for 1 hour per Hit Die. While this benefit is in effect, I can detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. In addition, I can track creatures by scent. I retain this benefit regardless of what form I'm in.

Are these mundane items okay?

Thistledown Black Outfit: +2 circumstance bonus to Hide; Price 151 gp; Weight 2 lb

Oversize Silvered Masterwork Battleaxe (Lumberjack one): -1 to hit (-2 oversize +1 Masterwork) 2d6-1; Price 500 gp; Weight 12 lb (Note: Must use two hands.)

Druids don't get their wildshape ability until 5th class level, and neither would a ranger with the wildshape alternate class feature. You do realize that, right?

Simple Variant: Comes from the Unearthed Arcana SRD: A ranger might forgo training in weapon combat in exchange for the ability to take animal form and move swiftly through the woodlands.

Gain: Wild shape (as druid; Medium animals only), fast movement (as barbarian).
Lose: Combat style, improved combat style, combat style mastery.

I gained Wild Shape at level 2. This is what you okayed earlier. "I'm fine with that alternate power substitution."
_____________________________________________________________________________________

I updated the HP as according to have you have wanted. I have 41 HP (I put max HP on my second class for first level)

Are these Feats fine?

Level 1 Feat: Toughness
I gain +3 hit points.

Level 3 Feat: Scent
I can expend one daily use of wild shape to gain the scent ability for 1 hour per Hit Die. While this benefit is in effect, I can detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. In addition, I can track creatures by scent. I retain this benefit regardless of what form I'm in.

Are these mundane items okay?

Thistledown Black Outfit: +2 circumstance bonus to Hide; Price 151 gp; Weight 2 lb

Oversize Silvered Masterwork Battleaxe (Lumberjack one): -1 to hit (-2 oversize +1 Masterwork) 2d6-1; Price 500 gp; Weight 12 lb (Note: Must use two hands.)

I'm sorry about the confusion, but that is not what I meant. Nor is that what is meant in the Unearthed Arcana rules. The fighting style lasts for many levels above just the bonus feats in the early levels. The substitution means that you get fast movement in level 1 and then wildshape at level 5.

are you folks using an online character editor? (and should we, if it is easier to track stats than on the simple Gamersplane one?)

I don't know of any, but I imagine there would be such online tools, like for GURPS (gurpscalculator), Savage WOrlds (savaged.us) etc.

My character is a lumberjack starting out. May I take this as my first level feat as it is rather right for me.

Edit: On my third level feat when I was a range switching over to Ninja.. i was think Dodge or Unarmed Stike.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Forester
( Player's Guide to Faerûn, p. 39)

[Regional]

You are one with Faer?n's mighty forests. Few can match your woodcraft or your skill on your chosen battlefi eld.

Prerequisite: Elf (the Chondalwood, the Forest of Lethyr, the High Forest, or Sildëyuir),gnome (the Great Dale),half-elf (Aglarond or the High Forest),halfl ing (the Chondalwood),human (the Dalelands or the Great Dale),or volodni (the Forest of Lethyr),

Benefit :You gain a +1 bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot checks. When you are in forest terrain, this bonus increases to +3.

Special: You may select this feat only as a 1st-level character. You may have only one regional feat.

I'm going to decline on allowing materials outside of the listed sources.

I have picked Improved Initiative and Dodge for my two feats. Just need more background. Have little over 1000gp to spend for some mundane gear and excess can be saved?

Feel free to save it for later if you wish.

OK. At this point, we have 4 players, which is enough to get started really. My request for 8 was admittedly ambitious and reflected my newness to this forum in part. So, what I need to know at this point is the status of characters, etc. on everyone's part. Not every has to be set in stone, but it should be complete. I will allow for modifications after the first "adventure" (so to speak), as this format in terms of the PbP format and the nature of the campaign could throw folks off as to what they should be doing. Also, we have folks new to the system, and they should get some leeway for that reason too.

Please drop a note here, and we should be able to get started soon...provided folks are ready.

My character, Nozomi Kawakami, should be done (at least mechanically, I plan to play the backstory and stuff kinda by ear and only flesh it out after I've had a chance to role play a bit). They're a recent recruit to the clan, being largely trained in scouting.

I'm new, so I may have totally messed something up. I've been making tiny little changes as I learn more rules for the past few days now (like I didn't know everybody starts with a feat!), so hopefully it's all mechanically accurate.

I've never GM'd here before, so I don't know the details, but I know that now that I've "submitted" my character to the game you have to "accept" it, EleventhDwarf. My guess is you do that on the game page, but that's a guess.

With the GM guidance, as a D&D newbie, I got my character prepped to the point of equipment selection, included. Not sure if it needs other details or if it's ready to play/correct.

working hard get my gear done

Ok. I’ll take a close look at each character and see what if anything is missing or needs further adjustment.

Fixed my skill points errors. I found an error in my HP as well and corrected it.

Haven't heard from you GM in a few. Are you doing encumbrance?

Here's a status update. I'm still awaiting some responses and changes from certain folks. I'm not naming names here, but you know who you are. Once we're settled and are certain that we have at least 4 active players, we will move forward.

@GM you got my personal message, right?

I guess no encumbrance.. :)

We're almost there. For those who haven't done so, please prepare the following:

(1) physical description of your character,
(2) quick facts that your teammates should know about his/her abilities/peeves, and
(3) any background you'll like me to make use of and sprinkle in as the game moves forward.

We'll address it, if folks get ridiculous about it.

Would you like to make another sub where we can post what we look like and available info so it doesn't get lost in here.

Edit: Started an area.

Thanks Gene.

Just waiting to see Jomsviking's character. Said it was done two weeks ago. That was fast.

Did you pass the test?

...and Merry X'mas to all!

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and an excellent day to those who don’t! :D

test passed :D

merry Christmas, folks!

Keep alive signal check.

Jomsviking, if you could make a post abt your character in the "character descriptions & known info" forum I think we'd be pretty much ready to start, once EleventhDwarf is :)

Done

I think he's going to be an epic battle rapper.

Please check in the IC thread here. Here we go....

I just saw this. I'm not sure how I missed it...oh well. It's described in the Character Creation portion of this thread.

Now that you know your mission and have a general plan, feel free to adjust your equipment within the ninja clan provided allowance.

I think I calculated Kazuyo's Hit Ponts right, do they add up to 12? Her hit die is a d6 as a Ninja/Bard

It's a lot higher than that. Let's say you started as bard at level 1. So, you'll have a total of 26, which is 6 (level 1 bard), 3 (level 2 bard), 3x4 for each level of ninja plus 5 more from you CON bonus.

If there is no equipment adjustment, it seems like I should pull up the description of the first tea house on the road into Minamoto from your current location. Is anyone doing anything else?

Oh boy, did I get it wrong. Thanks

Could Kazuyo try prepare some of the two poisons she carries ingredients for, in small doses? To be stored in small Netsuke containers, in case she needs to use them.

I forget now, but did you pay 25 times the price of ingredients or not. If you do not, it'll be consumed from your inventory hereafter. In any case, you can list it among your assets. We'll roll your craft skill check only when you try to use it. That will reflect you not knowing whether or not you have a real poison on your hands or not:)

Gotcha. Yes, I paid 25x to have auto-restocking poisons -- which meant that she could only afford ingredients for two types of poison.

I couldn't really afford any of that. But Ozunu is a very different kind of Ninja. More James Bond than Jason Bourne.

Happy New Year!

Just a note for all of you, I assume that, by default, players start at a safe distance that would not "trigger" any reaction...for the most part. There may be more information obtained by interacting with or possibly approaching what is described. Post any actions that you deem appropriate to find out more.

Happy new year folks!

If possible, Kazuyo will have asked around (outside town) about the town market, so to present herself in town on market day.

You could try, but you would miss the timing of the mission. You have intelligence about when the convoys are moving, and your efforts need to fit in that timing.

OK, makes sense

I'll wait a little bit to see if Kazuyo and Ozunu have any responses.

RL has been busy. I'll post later today; hoping to bring folks together for next steps, although....

Sorry about the delay, I had mulled over the possibility of allowing the earlier arrivals to do more, but in the final analysis, that seems contrary to the point of this game. So I opted to pull all of you together.

Ozunu is speaking in code and refers to the gold if that didn't translate.

@GM, is this a good moment inside the tea-house, to halt the game to wait for the two new characters to join? Or how do you want to proceed?

I would encourage you to keep moving. We can always retcon things afterwards. Delays in posting lead to game death; that's the one fate we should try to avoid.

gotcha, thanks

Would it be possible to scale any of the buildings in the Prefecture and also get a good view of the incoming roads?

Well, I suppose you could. But bear in mind that buildings are no taller than two stories with the exception of the castle itself.

I want to point out a few things for players at this point, as there may be some confusion. The inspiration for our setting is medieval Japan. Architecture, customs and geography all reflect that. It is a hilly, forested country dotted with farmland and small villages and towns. Most people are poor, and great deference is given to samurai, which can be thought of as nobles or knights.

As for the mission, the gold is being transported NOT by wagons or carts, which are exceedingly rare in medieval Japan. Roads capable of supporting carts and wagons are few, and most of those are part of the royal road, the use of which is heavily taxed. Instead, most important people or goods are transported by sedans carried by people. Every day goods may be carried in wheel barrels or more commonly on the backs of peasants and merchants. Horses as anything other than mounts for cavalry is exceedingly uncommon.

Also, as a point of reference, ninja rarely wear black, in spite of my picture. Rather they favor darker shades green, blue and brown that better blend in the background. They only appear black in that they stalk in the shadows, where there is little light.

Any other high points near the town with a good view of the road? Cliffs? Trees? Natural or unnatural doesn't really matter. Cover and concealment are better in that case than sneaking and making no noise.

Plus a Buddhist Monk really won't stick out if he's meditating outside in the elements.

I have a couple more things for the group.

First, please try to make use of the game system when possible. It is the intent of this game. I know some players/groups allow for deviations from the ruleset in the name of roleplaying, but I tend to take a different philosophy. If your character is supposed to be good at/know about something, then it should be reflected in the character's stats. In same games, the GM allow players to wax eloquently and accept those results regardless of whether or not the character actually has the CHARISMA or Diplomacy skill to support that. I do not. Instead, I view it as the PC thinking that they waxed eloquently when in fact they make have bumbled their words or be limited by their own stuttering speech or the like...based on the dice roll. After all, we don't roleplay out the spellcasting or the fighting to determine success, and I like to treat the rest of the system in the same way. This is likewise true for PC knowledge. If you want to know something, you'll need to make a knowledge roll. For example, Kazuyo posted "I assume Kazuyo will know the Shibata symbols, kimono patterns, banners, etc. and can recognize them if spotted". She'll need to make a knowledge: nobility roll. Bear in mind that knowledge is a trained only skill, meaning that only someone with skill ranks can attempt the check. Otherwise, you will only get very general information and not the specific detail that one may be looking for. Fortunately, for Kazuyo, she does have bardic knowledge class ability, which can substitute for similar cultural, geographical, etc. information.

Second, please do try to make the appropriate rolls within your post as you describe your action. That is, please try to not wait for me...the GM...to call for the rolls. This is a PbP game and it's slow enough as is. You may want to actually post once with the attempt and the roll, if you don't know whether or not it would be successful. If you do know whether or not it would be successful, I would suggest making a second post to reflect that result...to the extent you would know what it would be...as well This would help the game to keep moving. For example, Si just posted that he's going to "will mill about the general tavern/inn attempting to hear any chatter about recruitment for carriers for the gold/decoys". That's clearly a gather information check from the rules. He should roll accordingly.

I'll respond to this in the IC thread, which seems more appropriate given the actions undertaken by the group.

edited Kazuyo's post to include the bardic knowledge roll. Not being familiar with the system it is sometimes hard for me to apply applicable rules/skills. For example here I was not sure what to add to the roll, as it is not a skill but a bardic proficiency, so I rolled raw d10s

Please try to meet me half way on the rolls. You should consult the rules at the d20 SRD website. Here's the link to the bard class. It's bard class levels plus intelligence as bonuses to the roll in this case.

Prediction: Rolls 28 for spot...

sees he's on the wrong intersection.

As an additional reminder, please use the dice roller on this site by typing 2d10+[modifier].

That's hilarious!

There have been tables where I've been the scout and missed every single encounter while the rest of the party blundered into them.

I suggest that folks look back at the older messages that describe the parameters of the mission...for your own sakes.

Waiting for the convoy seems the mission parameter in question.

I appreciate the effort to describe things in more detail on your part Jomsviking, as being able to find cover/concealment is a necessary requirement for hiding. That said, I want to provide my logic about the assumptions made in the post, before resolving the action. Generally speaking, I do not allow for taking 20 to be done well there's any danger/cost related to a roll. That is certainly the case for climbing, as one could fall to one's death, or at least be injured, in the effort. That's true for probably everything, but I guess there can always be exceptions. This isn't one of them. Also, it is illogical for VERY EXPENSIVE castle defenses to be thwarted by allowing just anyone to "take 20" in their roll. That means that any soldier from any invading army could do just that, defeating the whole point of such defenses. Similarly, castle designers would not design and build defenses that allow would be climbers to try to hide their efforts easily. I recognize that there is a desire for one's character to be heroic, even epically heroic. I want to see that too. But part of the heroics is that the game world is challenging.

Also, I want to warn folks that I may soon take off the "kid gloves" if you will for this game. It seems that there should be efforts made by players to choose to be cautious in terms of both using their abilities/skills and just tactically as well. This is NOT a game world where you can be warned about the ancient red wyrm and then push your luck to win. That generally results in a TPK scenario in my book. So, please consider yourself warned.

I was just under the impression that night time darkness was total concealment since everyone was human, but then I realized that is not at all true in 3.5e. However, if the walls are more than 60ft tall, almost all darkvision is defeated, so it stands to reason the base of the wall is still the safest place to be visually with that given parameter.

Puny human mind.

I won't be making that mistake again.

I don't think Ozunu has ever realized that all the other creatures he's met in his life weren't also human.

"What do you mean humans don't have tails! I do!" or something to that effect.

Why would night be equal to complete darkness? I have described multiple times that there is a moon out.

Also, is Ozuno really blind? Or is Zatochi blind?

Ozunu has murky eyed flaw. And much like Zatoichi can still see, somewhat. Instead of having a sword to his eyes.

I imagine he trained somewhere like Thailand in a martial art not dissimilar from Muay Thai. The fire damage to his eyes was part of a Wai Khru death match. Severely burned they still see light and color, there's just a substantial blind spot at the top of his vision.

Hey everyone, I was supposed to be retconned into the first mission, but with things at work I've been swamped. So Kuma will be waiting for the group for the next mission.

I too have been swamped at work. This is the first time I've logged onto the site in a while. I'm taking on two interns who are sucking up around 10 hours a week with no added productivity. So, I need to figure out things a bit before I can move forward. Sorry about the delay.

Winks... Need a Third intern! I'm available. Smiles.. Just trying to helpful...

New month and I'm out of here.

Good gaming y'all I'm following suit.