Iāll discuss with the other mods. I donāt know about a private thread (or for doable that is). However, we may be able to make a clear first post about what the thread is for and use basic forum rules to protect it.
Again, I shall consult the other mods.
On a well-moderated and well-behaved forum like this, I donāt think there will be too much problem with disruptions from the peanut gallery.
When I get home tonight and have my Pathfinder books available, maybe Iāll post some character creation basics so people can get started.
I might be interested in joining in. Iāve only ever played Pathfinder with one group, and I do have an idea for a character that might be interesting, or might be an absolute disaster. Iāve done something similar with my regular group, but not in a dungeon crawl.
A pacifist character. Iāve always been told that you canāt play a pacifist in D&D, and even less so in Pathfinder. Iāve done it in more of a investigation-centered game, and it worked okay. That character wasnāt a total pacifist, though. Just one who almost always preferred talking to violence.
Let me know if you think Iām barking up the wrong tree.
Only quality riffs will be accepted by the peanut gallery !
So we have a decent little party so far, and I can see more people joining in once we establish a good thread.
I donāt want to pressure anyone, but observers can eventually join the party in an interesting way, if they want to.
Those kinds of characters can be really interesting, especially if there is a foil located within the party, whose aggression towards the pacifist would be subdued by the rest of the party.
I have no problem with a pacifist cleric, priest, druid, or even paladin; they could all fit the bill.
Illusionist would work well with that, too.
I was thinking bard or oracle. Clerics donāt get enough skill ranks for my concept.
I can absolutely see the case for a useful pacifist character in a dungeon crawl. I can even think of a couple of Pathfinder builds that might work pretty well in that situation. So, present your case for the character, and we will see if it fits. I have some ideas already on how we might get started, and while investigation and diplomacy based characters may not work, there are other ways to play a pacifist.
If the character is suboptimal in a dungeon crawl setting, I can always be the comic relief.
Bard and Cleric were the first two classes that sprang to mind for me. I can even see a very tanky, defense oriented fighter working as well.
There are so many classes in Pathfinder !
What world will this be set in? Just wondering what gods would be available for clerics, etc.
My kid finished the mutant dire rat with a crit! She beat it, fair and square. Treating this as a tutorial has helped a lot. Pointing out helpful things that the players just donāt know yet is alsoā¦ Helpful.
I hadnāt really thought that far ahead, and I tend to roll my own campaign settings, but I think we can say this is set somewhere in the Inner Sea for purposes of selecting deities.
After a brief mod consult, we are confident in this community and we agree a thread for the game should be safe in the open. Because we have an excellent, awesome community. Bonus is that we can have spectators enjoy our shenanigans.
We should put together a āheaderā post, explaining that the thread is for the purposes of paying a game together and laying out some rules. Rule #1, of course, is that all forum rules apply first. Thread/game rules could include how the game works (very hight level), the source materials, how to apply to join, and how to gracefully exit. We may also want rules about PMs between players and metagaming. If we want there could always be additional threads for discussion of gameplay/game rules/mechanics and such. After all, anybody can pop off a new thread. Those rules alone should be plenty to keep the thread well managed.
Once we decide on those rules, our DM/GM should create the thread so they are able to post as many times in a row as desired, should that ever be needed.
For those not familiar with the Pathfinder system, you can find all the rules here for free:
https://pathfinder.d20srd.org/
The first thing to do is decide what class and race you want your character to be. The core classes are: barbarian, bard, cleric (or priest), druid (nature priest), fighter, monk (a martial arts type character, not a Christian type monk), paladin (holy warrior), ranger, rogue, sorcerer (spellcaster who gets spells from innate ability), wizard (spellcaster who gets spells from study).
The races are: human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling (i.e. hobbit), gnome, and half-orc.
You can read about the classes here:
https://pathfinder.d20srd.org/coreRulebook/classes.html
And the races here:
https://pathfinder.d20srd.org/coreRulebook/races.html
Stuff like your characterās gender, appearance, personality, and background are up to you.
A balanced adventuring party should have at least one fighter (or barbarian, paladin or ranger), one wizard or sorcerer, one cleric, and one rogue. Rangers and druids are less useful in a dungeon crawl adventureā¦ theyāre more appropriate for the great outdoors.
Anyone who wants to play should throw out which class and race they are most interested in, then we can move on to what particular abilities that character will start with, and generating ability scores.
If weāre sticking to the Core Rulebook, then I donāt think that my bard idea will work. I still prefer to play a support character, but more likely a cleric in that case.
You might want to run any ideas you have by the DM before abandoning them.
Iām looking to play a rogue, ranger, or bardā¦race doesnāt matter too much, I do like gnomes and elves, though.
How many points are we looking at for attributes?
Some things we will want to consider when laying out ground rules for participation will be number of players, expectations of response times, and how to present direct quotes and actions from the characters as opposed to out-of-character (OOC) comments and questions.
As far as number of players is concerned, I have had up to 10 players in an ongoing tabletop campaign as GM, but that was really stretching things. I am much more comfortable with fewer than 8 players, and of course 6 is generally considered the sweet spot for a party. Dungeon crawls can work very well with even smaller parties, especially with an optimal party mix like suggested above by @AndrewCrossett. So, I would like to suggest we cap players at 8, in the unlikely case that we get that many interested.
I am pretty flexible on response times, but would like to see what people are thinking. Things we should be thinking of are how long should we wait before moving on during an encounter or decision point, as well as the extreme of when to remove a character from the party for failing to respond. Of course, allowances should always be made for players who will be offline for an extended period.
I would also like to note that I am not opposed to character classes from outside of the Core Rulebooks, and may even consider other races if a compelling case can be made. I like creative concepts, so long as they are not disruptive to other players in the party.
I suggested High Fantasy (20 points) and have not seen any complaints, so letās go with that.