Pathfinder - The Godsmouth Heresy - Mon 5th May

[Stephen Mawson]

I'll do my best to help with that.

I'm assuming that we're looking at a points buy for stats? What number of points? 15, 20, or more than that?

[chris]

20pt buy. Level one. Average gold plus 50gp.

[Stephen Mawson]

I'm thinking either Summoner, or Alchemist.

[Damon]

Hi Chris,

I'll put the Deadzone on hold on the 5th & carry on with this if I may (sorry Swede!!)

D

[Stephen Mawson]

Right I'll be playing a Fetchling Summoner called Yithak.

More details to follow.

[chris]

Fine by me!

We'll need a quick and easy way to weave you in. Mainly a reason why Valanthe, the cleric of Pharasma who has hired this group would seek you out and add you to this secretive and sensitive mission.

After the players' report back, (which we'll role play for fun) Valanthe will likely be a bit exasperated but also secretly impressed by the fact the party are still alive. She won't want to openly ask for more volunteers to join them unless there's a good reason as she'll be scared that word of the problem will spread. Some suggestions are (but feel free to come up with another):

1) your character is a trusted friend of hers who is capable and just back from a trip or suddenly now available. She wants a steady hand to guide / keep an eye on the group. Valanthe is neutral aligned if that helps decide. She is quick witted, slightly sarcastic and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Once you have her friendship though it is meaningful and long lasting.

2) your character has good knowledge about the ancient Thassalonian empire (trained in knowledge history or at a pinch knowledge local or speaks/reads ancient Thassalonian)

3) you have previously been hired by the church of Pharasma to hunt down a rogue cleric who was cast out a year ago. You haven't yet found him. (More on this development at the beginning of the session.... ) (no plot exposition to see here... Move along now...)

4) you have recently and successfully helped the church out with another matter of your choice.

Any of these appeal?

[Damon]

Steven - please make sure your character has a good intelligence score, you'll need to be able to match the wit and repartee demonstrated so ably by the rest of the group so far!!

D

[Legionnaire]

Apr 23, 2014 12:41:33 GMT Damon said:

Hi Chris,

I'll put the Deadzone on hold on the 5th & carry on with this if I may (sorry Swede!!)

D

No worries mate, there'll be another time and you will have some more time to finish your rebels .

[Stephen Mawson]

I think I'll take the first option. The others make less sense for how I'm picturing the character.

Do you want me to come up with some background as to how/why Yithak is friends with Valanthe.

[chris]

Apr 24, 2014 15:32:48 GMT Stephen Mawson said:

Do you want me to come up with some background as to how/why Yithak is friends with Valanthe.

Awesome. No need for further exposition for my purposes but feel free to add detail and background if you would enjoy doing so.

[chris]

Quick note to say final part of this tonight. As it is bank holiday (yay!) I should be there on time so let's try to start as close to 7pm as we can!

See you later!

[Damon]

See you there!!

[chris]

Many thanks all for taking part and many thanks also to Steven for valiantly volunteering to use the smaller tables so we could lay our big paper mat out on a flat surface to play (without losing dice or putting the pen straight through the paper!)

Running this game has also (as hoped) helped me clarify all sorts of rules in my own head. The one that came up tonight is about the 5ft step and whether one can use a non movement action that uses the move action slot and then take a 5ft step and then a standard action in one turn.

Looking at it, my interpretation is yes. The rules for 5ft steps (which are listed as a misc action rather than a move action) on p189 of the core rulebook say:


"Take 5-Foot Step
You can move 5 feet in any round when you don’t perform any other kind of movement. Taking this 5-foot step never provokes an attack of opportunity. You can’t take more than one 5-foot step in a round, and you can’t take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance.
You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round."

So it depends on how you interpret "other kind of movement" and "move any distance". I think this allows a 5ft step where the move action you use doesn't involve moving anywhere eg draw a weapon, sheathe a weapon, pick up an item, open a door etc

There are all sorts of conversations on the paizo boards that back this view eg paizo.com/threads/rzs2oye0?Move-action-vs-movement-a-5foot-step-question

Interestingly the 3.5 PHB is much more helpful on this point. It uses exactly the same wording and also adds examples on p.144:

"For example, you could draw a weapon (a move action), take a 5-foot step, and then attack (a standard action), or you could cast fireball (a standard action), take a 5-foot step through an open door then close the door (a move action). "

I'm therefore planning to run 5ft steps this way in games I run in future. Happy to go with the dm's view of course though in other games!

Many thanks all

[steven]

well that's nice of you to say. However, you have as much right to the tables as i or anyone else. I do understand the committee is hard at work looking at some new tables so that should help us all!