Finalizing RB's VTRPG

[redbaron]

Confirming the players and any outstanding information I require from you.

Time: Fill out this doodle.

The standard time will be 10PM AEST on 26th July (Saturday)
But if everyone else agrees on another preference, I'm happy to move it around.

Players:
Absurdity (Dom - Monk)
Cognisant (Takashi - Sorcerer)
Hadoblado (Greg - Wizard)
Cheese (TBA - TBA)
Jennywocky (TBA - TBA)

Character sheets:
Okay so I'm not going to force it, but it would be very handy if everyone could use this site.

It allows people to share character sheets between accounts, meaning one single place where I can access all character sheets easily. This is mainly a quality of life issue since we're not physically together. It just means that for the purposes of applying temporary buffs and debuffs we can use the character sheets. So if we pick up one session where another left off, people can see straight away, "okay I've still got this buff to my attack rolls" or whatever else. Again, quality of life issue and it's up to you - but it will make things run smoother.

Format:
Will be using the roll20 website. Everyone apart from cheese has used it so far, but I suggest people use the built-in macro function. It's very easy to use and set up, and saves a lot of time. I'm unsure of the total limit, but I currently have 19 macros set up which I can use at the click of a button or with a shortcut command.

Nothing else I can think of for the moment.

http://intpforum.com/www.dndsheets.net

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm likely running the TWF fighter based on current party composition.

 

[Cognisant]

You don't need to be a fighter, before entering a dungeon I'm planning on buying a couple of rounds of drinks for whatever fighters I can find and using diplomacy on them, I should be able to get them up to helpful or at least charm the biggest meanest one into getting the others on side, then I bluff something about treasure and away we go.

I've got four castings of Charm Person at my disposal if nothing goes my way I'll use all of them and if all the fighters pass the DC18 will save for my spells then I give up, it's just not my day.

Of course they'll want their fair share of the loot, but if there's five of us and say three of them and at least two of us have the daze cantrip Absurdity and Cheese should make short work of the remainder.

I'm chaotic neutral btw, just so we're clear on that.

 

[Jennywocky]

I'll play what I want to play, thanks.
I'm not sitting here telling you what you can, should, or might want to play.

(And if you use that shit on Cacia, she'll rough you up pretty bad, so you'd better hope you Charm her on the first cast because you won't get another.)


---

I'd also like to say, stop preplanning stuff.
Let the story unfold organically.
In the gaming stuff so far, I always feel like you've got it all figured out in your head "how it's supposed to go" and then get frustrated when reality goes in a different direction and doesn't match your vision.

Sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[Cognisant]

I'm not sitting here telling you what you can, should, or might want to play.

ABSOLUTELY NOT WHAT I MEANT!

(And if you use that shit on Cacia, she'll rough you up pretty bad, so you'd better hope you Charm her on the first cast because you won't get another.)

Attacking other PCs (including using spells to manipulate them) is a sure way to annoy the group as a whole and thus bring down the wrath of the DM, now if I was an intelligent item being difficult to play with would be the point of the exercise, but as a sorcerer with only four hit points...

I'll be good

I'd also like to say, stop preplanning stuff.
Let the story unfold organically.
In the gaming stuff so far, I always feel like you've got it all figured out in your head "how it's supposed to go" and then get frustrated when reality goes in a different direction and doesn't match your vision.

Sit back and enjoy the ride.

I'm playing a trickster, a schemer, a rouge that gets by on wits and charm rather than skill and stealth, I get a lot of contextual bonuses so coming up with, acting out and adapting elaborate plans is just daily life for my character.

Of course I don't expect my all plans to work or all my schemes to come to fruition but that just means I get to adapt and come up with more plans & schemes as I go, for me that is enjoying the ride.

 

[Jennywocky]

Attacking other PCs (including using spells to manipulate them) is a sure way to annoy the group as a whole and thus bring down the wrath of the DM, now if I was an intelligent item being difficult to play with would be the point of the exercise, but as a sorcerer with only four hit points...

I'll be good

Yeah, I'll clarify, that wasn't "me" threatening "your character," I'm just telling you how I plan to play Cacia. She's wiser and smarter than the average fighter and pretty direct.

I'm playing a trickster, a schemer, a rouge that gets by on wits and charm rather than skill and stealth, I get a lot of contextual bonuses so coming up with, acting out and adapting elaborate plans is just daily life for my character.

Yeah, you might be able to outwit/fool her for a bit, and that's even likely; it's just once she gets your number, she might pick an opportune moment to grab you by the throat and let you know how she feels about it, lol.

So as long as you direct that against a mutual party antagonist, she won't have problems.

 

[Cognisant]

Yeah, you might be able to outwit/fool her for a bit, and that's even likely; it's just once she gets your number, she might pick an opportune moment to grab you by the throat and let you know how she feels about it, lol.

An open minded & competent fighter is a priceless treasure and will be treated as such.

 

[Jennywocky]

An open minded & competent fighter is a priceless treasure and will be treated as such.

Then we'll get along fine.

 

[Jennywocky]

 

[redbaron]

Cog there's actually rules regarding henchman in Pathfinder. It requires level 7 as a minimum first, then it requires various leadership checks which is a separate mechanic.

It's something I'm not allowing for the campaign because typically it's for smaller parties - this is not a small party.

Regarding 3rd Party or non Core Rulebook stuff:
If you want any ability, item or basically anything that comes from outside the core rulebook or is considered 3rd party, it will have to be okayed by me first. Thing is, a great deal of 3rd party content is designed for usage in premade campaigns and/or scenarios. As such a lot of it is often ill-suited either story or mechanics wise to a game not being run with that specific scenario in mind.

 

[Cognisant]

Cog there's actually rules regarding henchman in Pathfinder. It requires level 7 as a minimum first, then it requires various leadership checks which is a separate mechanic.

Henchmen are hired, paid, and loyal, I'm going to be using my Diplomacy/Bluff skills to either trick people into entering dungeons under the pretence of there being great wealth or legendary items in there or convince them that it's their duty to help us clear a dungeon out, in either case it could backfire in all manner of ways, and Charm Person only lasts an hour/level, once the spell is over so is their loyalty and I'll have some explaining to do.

Edit: Hence why Cacia is a priceless treasure.

 

[redbaron]

All I can say is, "good luck".

 

[Cognisant]

Well Charm Person doesn't work on monsters and if I just wanted someone to let me into a restricted area or report what they've seen that day hypnotism would do the trick and the effect is permanent as far as the request is reasonable and still applicable.

So if I can't charm people into being my bodyguards for an hour what's it good for?

Of course once the hour is up and they come to their senses they'll be angry, hence why I won't charm more than two or three at a time and when the end of the duration is coming up I'll tell them to go home or separate them, disguise myself as one and tell the others that the guy I'm disguised as is me actually me in disguise.

 

[Puffy]

I think Cacia & Takashi should go get a room & practice their charming there tbh.

K leaving the thread now.

Spoiler

p.s. I know all the DM's fetishes, so PM if you get in a tight spot.

 

[Jennywocky]

I think Cacia & Takashi should go get a room & practice their charming there tbh.

Cacia comes down covered in blood.

"Holy shit, where's Takashi?"

Cacia: "Does anyone have a towel?"

j/k

 

[Jennywocky]

Well Charm Person doesn't work on monsters and if I just wanted someone to let me into a restricted area or report what they've seen that day hypnotism would do the trick and the effect is permanent as far as the request is reasonable and still applicable.

So if I can't charm people into being my bodyguards for an hour what's it good for?

Charming people to be more disposed towards you.
It's a first level spell.

CHARM PERSON
School enchantment (charm) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 1, sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one humanoid creature
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes

This charm makes a humanoid creature regard you as its trusted friend and ally (treat the target's attitude as friendly). If the creature is currently being threatened or attacked by you or your allies, however, it receives a +5 bonus on its saving throw.

The spell does not enable you to control the charmed person as if it were an automaton, but it perceives your words and actions in the most favorable way. You can try to give the subject orders, but you must win an opposed Charisma check to convince it to do anything it wouldn't ordinarily do. (Retries are not allowed.) An affected creature never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful orders, but it might be convinced that something very dangerous is worth doing. Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the charmed person breaks the spell. You must speak the person's language to communicate your commands, or else be good at pantomiming.

There's some nastier stuff, the more advanced you become, but I know I see it coming from the priests more. A great way to eff up a group is to Command one of the party members (usually the one with the crappy Will save) to attack his buddies.

 

[Cognisant]

I was thinking more along the lines of literal meat shields.

I'll have to do a charisma check to get them to follow me into a dungeon, maybe another to get them to walk ahead of me (isn't that what fighters normally do?) and when enemies start rushing at us well I figure their natural proclivity to hit stuff will manifest itself, seriously if they're just going to stand there with their swords sheathed while a goblin runs past granting them a rightful attack of opportunity then tell me now so I can switch to another spell that isn't entirely useless.

 

[Cognisant]

Cacia comes down covered in blood.

"Holy shit, where's Takashi?"

Cacia: "Does anyone have a towel?"

Takashi comes down covered in even more blood and licking his fingers.

"My kind of kinky" (vampiric bloodline)

 

[redbaron]

I say good luck because Charm Person doesn't let you order people around without making checks. They are still sentient beings, they just see you as a close friend. Every single time you try to command someone, you still require a check. The spell doesn't turn people into witless dullards.

The scenarios are going to be run as per the rulebook of Pathfinder. For numerous reasons, it's actually quite difficult to maintain prolonged control over anyone with Charm Person if you're trying to get them to do more than just rudimentary tasks. Even things like character alignment come into play dependent on what is going on.

So if I can't charm people into being my bodyguards for an hour what's it good for?

I'm not telling you anything that isn't available to read in the rulebook. My point is you're putting a lot of faith in random dice rolls. Even with skills and traits, you'll still fail if you roll low or someone simply makes a high counter-roll.

By the way, your max skill points is determined by your level. At level 1 you can put a maximum of 1 rank into a skill.

 

[redbaron]

I'm not going to bother discussing this shit further.

 

[Jennywocky]

Based on the conversation so far, I've decided we should just pay a bunch of hirelings to go down in the dungeon, kill all the monsters, collect all the shit, and deliver it to us while we sit at the bar and drink beer.

I mean, if we pool all our money, we should be able to pay for the first expedition, and we'll just give them a cut.

Meanwhile, we just sit there and level up while our asses get fatter and fatter.

 

[Cognisant]

Yeah I changed it, Hypnotism is less ambiguous.
Sorry for any inconvenience I only needed clarification to make an informed decision, thank you.

By the way, your max skill points is determined by your level. At level 1 you can put a maximum of 1 rank into a skill.

Aww damn, alright back to it then.

Meanwhile, we just sit there and level up while our asses get fatter and fatter.

NPCs good for anything more than their weight in meat?
You've got to be joking

I wanted a human shield that actually presented a barrier of some sort not just scenery for enemies to run past, that was all.

 

[Jennywocky]

By the way, your max skill points is determined by your level. At level 1 you can put a maximum of 1 rank into a skill.

Aww damn, alright back to it then.

haha! you're getting a huge crash course on the rules, at least.

As a side note ,this is why specific skill bonuses (based on race) that you can apply to Favored Class are a big deal -- you can get extra plusses to skills beyond your level.

NPCs good for anything more than their weight in meat?
You've got to be joking

Hey, if you find a big NPC, that's a lot of stew in the pot!

I wanted a human shield that actually presented a barrier of some sort not just scenery for enemies to run past, that was all.

Pretty much that's not going to happen unless you pay dearly for it, although as you get more powerful like I said there are spells that will briefly allow you to do that. But NPCs? You need to give them strong motivation to put their lives on the line for you.

 

[Cognisant]

You need to give them strong motivation to put their lives on the line for you.

Loved ones, surgical tools, rope.
But then I'd be "evil"

Appraise +3
Bluff +3
Intimidate +3
Knowledge (Arcana) +3
Spellcraft +3

I assume the bonus does not stack with the rank itself.

 

[Jennywocky]

Loved ones, surgical tools, rope.
But then I'd be "evil"

Appraise +3
Bluff +3
Intimidate +3
Knowledge (Arcana) +3
Spellcraft +3

I assume the bonus does not stack with the rank itself.

If you have class skills, you get a +3 in them. Some you can't use if you have no skill points invested. So if you add 1 rank (1 skill point) to a class skill at level 1, you automatically have a +4 in it. Also, if you have an attribute that provides a bonus (+ or -), this gets applied.

So if Acrobatics is a class skill for me and I put 1 skill point in it at first level and I have a Dex of 18, that means I would have 1 (rank) + 3 (class skill) + 4 (DEX bonus) = Acrobatics +8, at first level. If I have crappy Charisma of 8 and have Diplomacy as a class skill and put in a rank, it would be 1(rank) + 3 (Class skill) -1 (Cha penalty), I'd only have a Diplomacy of +3.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The thing is that you can only have a rank x at level x in a particular skill, but you can have a higher bonus to the skill from other sources.

 

[redbaron]

What Jenny said is correct regarding skills.

The charm person skill is actually insanely useful, you just need to be a lot more subtle with how you're trying to apply it.

 

[Jennywocky]

... like getting great deals on item sales.

Or convincing a town official to allow something you want / open political doors.

And more!

 

[redbaron]

Okay so I need the following from people in the next 10 hours.

Jenny - Avatar
Cognisant - Character sheet and avatar
Cheese - Character sheet and avatar

A short prologue will get to everyone regarding the campaign setting soon. Just to note, if you don't give me an avatar you'll just be getting any generic portrait I can find.

 

[Cognisant]

Cognisant - Character sheet and avatar

Other thread.

 

[Jennywocky]

Okay so I need the following from people in the next 10 hours.

Jenny - Avatar
Cognisant - Character sheet and avatar
Cheese - Character sheet and avatar

A short prologue will get to everyone regarding the campaign setting soon. Just to note, if you don't give me an avatar you'll just be getting any generic portrait I can find.

I e-mailed you the token face shot.

 

[Cognisant]

Loot for this session in my possession.

1x Gold Ring
1x Padded shirt
18x Arrows
1x light bow

 

[Absurdity]

I overslept

 

[redbaron]

It's okay, Dom use the severed leg of a goblin to bludgeon an Orc to death anyway. Plus he bricked a fleeing goblin in the head and one-hit K.O'd him.

 

[Absurdity]

It's okay, Dom use the severed leg of a goblin to bludgeon an Orc to death anyway. Plus he bricked a fleeing goblin in the head and one-hit K.O'd him.

:')

 

[Jennywocky]

Cheese/Edam had the most amazing kill shot of the day, with a thrown crit on a morningstar that obliterated the target.

Jenny/Cacia had the most finessed kill shot when she critted the half-ogre with her main hand, killing it by lopping off its head, and then stabbing the head on its way down with a crit on her off hand.

Cog/Foxface had the most solo strategy where he snuck around and stole treasure while the rest of the party was fighting elsewhere, then pretended to be an orc and specifically sent reinforcements after us so that he could rob their chest in that room as well.

hado/Greg had the most out-of-the-box combat strategy as a largely overweight wizard charging orcs and and stabbing them with his dagger with his -2 STR bonus.


... oh yeah, and then there was .. the DOGE.

 

[redbaron]

Just so everyone is aware, the total XP gain for the dungeon so far is 645 each after being divided amongst the PC's. So you're all 335 away from level 2.

Loot so far (Magical items denoted with *):

3gp, 4sp.
Ring of Feather Fall*
Battle-axe (Aberration Bane)*
2x shortbows (small)
37x Arrow
Padded Armor
2x Light wooden shield
Gold ring
Half-Plate
Greataxe
Spear (small)

 

[Jennywocky]

Are we doing easy leveling?
I think it's 2000xp on normal leveling to reach level 2. (amirite?)

 

[redbaron]

I looked at the wrong progression table. Sorry, it really should be 2,000!

Actually I'll just make a summary thread to track all this stuff.

 

[Cognisant]

Cog/Foxface had the most solo strategy where he snuck around and stole treasure while the rest of the party was fighting elsewhere, then pretended to be an orc and specifically sent reinforcements after us so that he could rob their chest in that room as well.

I was scouting, with 4hp and 9AC what do you expect of me?
When I sent the reinforcements you were all behind this lovely little choke-point, which was immediately abandoned and then proceeded to charge past the caltrops Gregory laid.

Do I really need to follow you lot around and play field marshal?

 

[Jennywocky]

I was scouting, with 4hp and 9AC what do you expect of me?
When I sent the reinforcements you were all behind this lovely little choke-point, which was immediately abandoned and then proceeded to charge past the caltrops Gregory laid.

Do I really need to follow you lot around and play field marshal?

I can never tell whether you're joking or being serious, here or in game.

Since you're playing in character, I don't much care overall, and I was being sardonic here and figure things are gonna even out; the characters will work it out with you for good or ill.

But if you want to discuss game play: Sure, okay, I think it was poor play strategy when the party could have used your help but instead you had vanished without warning in essence to steal treasure and do your own thing at the group's expense.

You weakened the group and you put yourself in a precarious place -- one bad roll of the dice, and you would have been slaughtered by a room full of orcs while we were occupied elsewhere. You're a level 1 sorc with 4HP; you don't have room to make a mistake, even as simple a one as missing a Perception roll and having a Goblin shoot you from range for 6 points of damage or something ridiculous. You also opened a chest and were lucky enough for it not to be trapped; I happened to open a different one and also didn't see a trap, but I took 6 damage... which I was able to survive because i had more HP than you.

You also redirected another whole encounter specifically at the group simply so that you could empty another treasure chest, but in-game you wouldn't have known whether we were prepared for that encounter.

Separating from the party AND getting yourself killed AND specifically sending monsters to attack the group when they might not be prepared all seem to be bad play strategy to me.

It looks like those items did get reported as part of the "party find," which might or might not be correct, as it seemed like you had pocketed them. From my perspective, if you are donating all that loot to the party fund, then you'd probably have a higher chance of survival staying with the group; if you're not donating it, then I understand why you went off alone but you're probably just gonna get yourself killed, which weakens the party as well.

I mean, really, the game is a balance of roleplaying and survival. It's not really clear what your intentions are at the moment, but survival doesn't seem as high up there.

 

[Hadoblado]

The party needs to think a little more, but that's okay.

I think what Cog did was fine (Hado does), but it's understandable if the other characters are salty. It's worth mentioning that if it is felt that Cog isn't doing as much for the party as the party is for him, the party may feel less inclined to try their best to keep him safe if ever he roles poorly.

 

[The Gopher]

[BIMG]http://hotmeme.net/media/i/6/1/fUA-that-s-a-bold-strategy-cotton-let-s-see-if-it-pays-off-for-em.jpg[/BIMG]

But from the sidelines, I was listening in while doing other stuff (no I'm not creepy) and it seemed risky but not malicious. Perhaps idealistic.

 

[redbaron]

It doesn't really bother me what happens, but Takashi was indeed lucky to survive. 9AC, 4HP, -1 initiative, 0 Wisdom/perception bonus. He's liable (and likely) to die to pretty much anything.

I was friendly in that I let Takashi roll his disguise check before stepping out in front of the enemies - because I didn't want to have him killed in the first 20 minutes of the session, but in future I won't be doing that. Characters don't know beforehand how good their disguise is - they put it on and then they put it to use.

What will happen in future is that he walks out in front of them and once spotted by a hostile creature he rolls his disguise check against their perception check. If he fails it, there's going to be an initiative roll (with his -1 penalty) for a surprise round of combat. Chances are he's dead before he even gets to respond.

Not to mention that even basic traps generally have DC 20 to spot, require a DC 20 reflex save and do about 3-18 damage. Takashi has only a 5% chance of even spotting them, 95% chance of being hit and a roughly 93% chance he'll die if he's hit by one. Even the absolute weakest traps will kill Takashi 75% of the time.

 

[Jennywocky]

I think what Cog did was fine (Hado does), but it's understandable if the other characters are salty. It's worth mentioning that if it is felt that Cog isn't doing as much for the party as the party is for him, the party may feel less inclined to try their best to keep him safe if ever he roles poorly.

That's a good summary and at day's end is likely how things will play out with Cacia. It'll come down more to, "Dammit, where did Takashi go THIS time?" and her choosing to focus more on the people who stay in the group. She doesn't see the point in getting herself or the group killed by everyone rushing off to help someone who constantly wanders off and gets himself into trouble. If he feels capable of disappearing on his own, let him since he thinks he can take care of himself; she's practical and will focus on the task in front of her and the members who stay around.

She's decently intelligent and wise and sees being the tail end of the dog as something that will get her and others killed. Maybe that even ties into her backstory and the large scar on her face.

It doesn't really bother me what happens, but Takashi was indeed lucky to survive. 9AC, 4HP, -1 initiative, 0 Wisdom/perception bonus. He's liable (and likely) to die to pretty much anything.

I was friendly in that I let Takashi roll his disguise check before stepping out in front of the enemies - because I didn't want to have him killed in the first 20 minutes of the session, but in future I won't be doing that. Characters don't know beforehand how good their disguise is - they put it on and then they put it to use.

What will happen in future is that he walks out in front of them and once spotted by a hostile creature he rolls his disguise check against their perception check. If he fails it, there's going to be an initiative roll (with his -1 penalty) for a surprise round of combat. Chances are he's dead before he even gets to respond.

Not to mention that even basic traps generally have DC 20 to spot, require a DC 20 reflex save and do about 3-18 damage. Takashi has only a 5% chance of even spotting them, 95% chance of being hit and a roughly 93% chance he'll die if he's hit by one. Even the absolute weakest traps will kill Takashi 75% of the time.

Maybe it's a matter of game mechanics not supporting character concept at level 1. I figure Cog has everything worked out in what the character should be capable of but a limited awareness of all the game mechanics at this point. I mean, we're level 1 right now. It sucks, but we don't have the skills and powers that fit the character we hope to develop in our head. Takashi at level 5 would probably be able to deal with those same orcs all on his own even if everything goes to hell; Takashi at level 1 is pretty much toast.

I have found GM's to be pretty generous with roll process mostly to keep play moving and not let characters be killed willy-nilly (it sucks especially when you spend a week developing the build and concept, and fifteen minutes into the game you are dead). There are many sorts of rolls that either are contested after you are committed regardless (like the Disguise check above -- realistically, you never know whether it worked until AFTER someone reacts to you) or that determine what you can actually perceive and again you never know what you haven't perceived.

So the rogue never knows whether the trap doesn't exist or they just happened to overlook it, until they open the chest. Or whether there is nothing there or you just didn't happen to hear it coming for you. A lot of these rolls would technically be done blind (the GM makes them), since now if we flub the roll, we're inclined to not do what we would have done otherwise and it's only when the roll is in that uncertain area that we wonder if we made the check or not and take some risk. But it would slow down gameplay maybe to do that or remove some of the player investment if many rolls are being done behind the scenes.

 

[Cognisant]

I had fun and if Takashi dies well that's just how the game goes, it wouldn't surprise me.

What does surprise me is how suspicious the orcs/goblins were of him, I thought any indication that their base was under attack would be far more important than whoever some random bloody goblin is, they're not wise creatures after all, they're hardly going to be expecting a magical disguise.

And Cacia seems to be on Takashi's case for no reason at all, if she wants him to stick with the group for his own safety that's a simple thing to say but she seems to have an extra special problem with him like she's itching to start a fight over something and Takashi's only defence in such a situation is to end it before it begins.

 

[Jennywocky]

And Cacia seems to be on Takashi's case for no reason at all, if she wants him to stick with the group for his own safety that's a simple thing to say but she seems to have an extra special problem with him like she's itching to start a fight over something and Takashi's only defence in such a situation is to end it before it begins.

All she was on his case about was him wandering off without explanation when fighting commenced... well, that and her seeing empty treasure chests after all the fighting ended, so she assumes he was just swiping treasure on the sly, while the cleric got pretty badly hurt.

I was kind of surprised you were blunt with your response, rather than trying to sweet-talk her using your buku-high CHA abilities. The latter is what I was expecting.

 

[Cognisant]

You don't sweet talk somone when they've got an attitude problem, in that situation if Takashi was going to roll anything it would have been an intimidate check.

 

[Jennywocky]

You don't sweet talk somone when they've got an attitude problem, in that situation if Takashi was going to roll anything it would have been an intimidate check.

Uh, okay. Feel free.

 

[redbaron]

What does surprise me is how suspicious the orcs/goblins were of him, I thought any indication that their base was under attack would be far more important than whoever some random bloody goblin is, they're not wise creatures after all, they're hardy going to be expecting a magical disguise.

They didn't expect it, it's just standard for a disguise to roll against a perception check. I was nice enough to not roll perception for every individual creature you passed too - that was 6 creatures who could have spotted you. Plus there should be a separate sense motive roll for each creature you're trying to bluff (since you had to mime for lack of being able to speak Orcish).

Yes they are dim creatures. The mechanics of the game however don't change. They still get perception checks and sense motive checks against disguises/bluffs. Their glibness is reflected in their rolls - but anyone can get lucky. A natural roll of 20 is always a success.

Also one round is 6 seconds. Considering you stumbled around a corner in a bloodstained piece of armor and couldn't even speak orcish, I'd say they were hardly suspicious at all - even for goblins.

Plus there's the issue of the dancing light. I was kind in allowing it to reveal areas on its own but in future if a character has no shared line of sight, the map won't get revealed.

In that regard, I kind of empowered Takashi to go off solo because of the way I did that, since it gave Cog a bunch of meta knowledge that Takashi wouldn't have had - he really had no idea there were 6 goblins and a treasure chest there, but somehow miraculously put on a disguise, cast a buff and put on a charade.

So the rogue never knows whether the trap doesn't exist or they just happened to overlook it, until they open the chest. Or whether there is nothing there or you just didn't happen to hear it coming for you. A lot of these rolls would technically be done blind (the GM makes them), since now if we flub the roll, we're inclined to not do what we would have done otherwise and it's only when the roll is in that uncertain area that we wonder if we made the check or not and take some risk. But it would slow down gameplay maybe to do that or remove some of the player investment if many rolls are being done behind the scenes.

I'm trying to avoid secret rolls because I think it can cause distrust if you suddenly get a few horrible ones in a row, or one character makes an unlikely slew of really good ones.

There's a few ways I could have stopped the meta-knowledge, but like you said - I didn't really want to kill people in session 1. Next session will have less charity

 

[Jennywocky]

Just to let you all know: My home Internet is currently down. I'm hoping my landlord can restore power to the basement today, allowing the Internet boxes to work again, but I don't know what the issue is so.... we'll see. There are two days yet until game time, but if I can't get it restored, I'm out for this week.