Markus 'Doc' Strumpky

[Arklytte]

On 6/1/2022 at 6:18 PM, Paxon said:

Okay, we can set it to 3 and have it be a prohibition against harming sentient (or maybe sapient or conscious is a better word. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole seeking a good clear definition 🙂. But I think we both understand what we mean by sentient) living things. We're going to have to define it, which I'll go ahead and do as a creature with an intelligence score of 5 or more. So that will include animal intelligences, but also encompass some set of what would fall under other monster types like magical beast, aberration, etc. as things you are allowed to harm. It will indeed eliminate a decent amount of creatures from those you may harm. If it isn't otherwise obvious to you, the int score of a creature is something you can request as one of your pieces of information from a successful knowledge check. For more rare creatures, I may require succeeding by a certain amount in order to determine it. And of course, as I approved for another player, there is Detect Surface Thoughts.  

 

I'm going to say no on the Oath of Humility question. While sitting in the commander spot is at least a temporary position of leadership, it is different than having subordinates or titles. More of a team lead type thing than controlling people. The whole team still has an equal say in things overall. Some characters will rarely or never occupy certain spots anyway due to their character set up.

 

As to Oath of Offerings, a few reasons (besides that's what CJ used in the game I took it from 😉) : For one, there are no magic items, and in a more traditional game magic items make up a decent chunk of your advancement. With the free oath points given out, and with the potential advancement of magic items much less of a factor, the oath isn't worth as much. Further, the restrictions on the oath are changed. It no longer specifies you may only possess half your expected WBL at all times, simply that you must give away half of your earnings. That means you can still accumulate a bunch of value in items if you save up, and end up with significantly more than half of your WBL. It's actually a much looser restriction in that sense. As to the point about needing to send it to a specific recipient, you're helping me realize I need to make a clarification on the Oath — it's in my head but taking a second look at what I wrote on the guidelines, it definitely isn't there. I intend for you to be able to simply donate/give away half your wealth, but it doesn't need to be to a specific cause. So you can give it away to any needy community or wastelander you happen across on your journeys. That should make it easier to pull off, I want the burden to be not having as much material wealth, but not needing to figure out safe ways to wire-transfer barter goods 🙂 

(Gonna go make that clarification of the rules now)

 

 

I was thinking of taking Detect Surface Thoughts, since I was going to invest heavily into Scout, so that works.  3 point/'Sentient' version it is.  🙂

 

No worries on Humility.  I can still take the base version, because it still very much fits Doc's personality. His youth was pretty awful...he saw firsthand the whole 'power corrupts' thing in visceral action. He never wants to find himself in that position, of having to be responsible for a group of people's lives and livelihoods.  All he wants to do is heal people and make sure they're as safe as can be, and to help as many people as possible.

 

Thanks for the clarification on OoOfferings.  That makes a lot of sense now. And it's good to know that I dont have to try and figure out where to find Post-Apoc Wells Fargo to transport his loot to some specific village in the Wastes.  😄

[Arklytte]

Also, and please dont smack me, but I took a somewhat deeper dive into my character, and I've decided that I would like to take the Harmacist archetype in addition to the Doctor, at the cost of his 5th level Material imposition.  I had initially been thinking that I wouldn't have enough talents to get any Poisons, but then I took a look at a couple Drawbacks, and then you revamped the bonus talents, and I did some poking around, and realized that I could, indeed, fit in a couple Toxin talents.  Couple that with the Harmacists class abilities, and it's definitely worth it.  I wont be doing massive damage (most of the Scholar's big damage dealing potential is from their Material Impositions), but I'll be GREAT at debuffing and crowd control.

 

Anyway, if this is still ok with you, I'd definitely like to do it.

[Arklytte]

Heya Pax, got more questions!  😄

 

1. I was planning to take the Improvisational Healer feat, which allows me to make Heal checks that would normally require a Healing Kit without one.  Given the nature of the campaign, I thought it might be a good idea to be able to heal without having to lug around the kit (or worry about it going empty).  🙂 Plus, it gives a bonus if you do have one, so that's handy.  The Physician archetype does let you refill your Kit once per day, but if there's a lot of healing to do...basically, it gives him more options when he's doing his Doc thang.  Anyway, the point of this is, the feat also lets you apply a bonus to the healing from the Cure line of potions equal to your Heal ranks.  Now, obviously, Cure potions aren't going to be in the game, so would you allow me to apply that bonus to his Alchemical healing items (like Salve?)
2. There's a trait, Battlefield Surgeon, it lets you do the Treat Deadly Wounds aspect of the Heal skill a second time per day per target (normally, you can only do it once per day).  In the Journey game that we played with CJ, he allowed Z to take it as a Feat for her Doctor character, and allowed her to use it once per Level per person instead.  Would you allow me to do the same?  Since magical healing is off the table, and most of the nonmagical forms have fairly stringent daily limits, this would be a good way to give us access to a bit more daily healing without being crazy OP.
3. Alchemist has an ability called Swift Alchemy, which lets you poison a weapon as a Move action.  Scholar has a knack called Poisoncraft (which the Harmacist automatically takes as their first Knack) that also allows you to apply Poison to a weapon as a Move action. At 6th level, it bumps that up to a Swift Action.  Since I have both, would I be able to apply Poisons as a Free Action instead?  If it matters, I also have the Fast Draw talent, so he can draw weapons as a Free Action as well.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Arklytte (see edit history)

[Paxon]

16 hours ago, Arklytte said:

Also, and please dont smack me, but I took a somewhat deeper dive into my character, and I've decided that I would like to take the Harmacist archetype in addition to the Doctor, at the cost of his 5th level Material imposition.  I had initially been thinking that I wouldn't have enough talents to get any Poisons, but then I took a look at a couple Drawbacks, and then you revamped the bonus talents, and I did some poking around, and realized that I could, indeed, fit in a couple Toxin talents.  Couple that with the Harmacists class abilities, and it's definitely worth it.  I wont be doing massive damage (most of the Scholar's big damage dealing potential is from their Material Impositions), but I'll be GREAT at debuffing and crowd control.

Ha. Yeah that's fine. Approved.

13 hours ago, Arklytte said:

I was planning to take the Improvisational Healer feat, which allows me to make Heal checks that would normally require a Healing Kit without one.  Given the nature of the campaign, I thought it might be a good idea to be able to heal without having to lug around the kit (or worry about it going empty).  🙂 Plus, it gives a bonus if you do have one, so that's handy.  The Physician archetype does let you refill your Kit once per day, but if there's a lot of healing to do...basically, it gives him more options when he's doing his Doc thang.  Anyway, the point of this is, the feat also lets you apply a bonus to the healing from the Cure line of potions equal to your Heal ranks.  Now, obviously, Cure potions aren't going to be in the game, so would you allow me to apply that bonus to his Alchemical healing items (like Salve?)

Well, it's not exactly a bonus, more of a setting the level equal to your ranks. Usually functioning to give a small boost to one of those potions if you have higher ranks in heal than it was crafted at. Salve functions off of your craft alchemy ranks + practitioner modifier. I think the most similar effect here would be allowing this feat to substitute your ranks in heal for your practitioner modifier (if it would be higher) for the amount of healing a salve provides. 

 

13 hours ago, Arklytte said:

There's a trait, Battlefield Surgeon, it lets you do the Treat Deadly Wounds aspect of the Heal skill a second time per day per target (normally, you can only do it once per day).  In the Journey game that we played with CJ, he allowed Z to take it as a Feat for her Doctor character, and allowed her to use it once per Level per person instead.  Would you allow me to do the same?  Since magical healing is off the table, and most of the nonmagical forms have fairly stringent daily limits, this would be a good way to give us access to a bit more daily healing without being crazy OP.

Yes, that sounds like an acceptable allowance.

13 hours ago, Arklytte said:

Alchemist has an ability called Swift Alchemy, which lets you poison a weapon as a Move action.  Scholar has a knack called Poisoncraft (which the Harmacist automatically takes as their first Knack) that also allows you to apply Poison to a weapon as a Move action. At 6th level, it bumps that up to a Swift Action.  Since I have both, would I be able to apply Poisons as a Free Action instead?  If it matters, I also have the Fast Draw talent, so he can draw weapons as a Free Action as well.

I was a little bit leery here because the alchemy sphere says its poison talents don't interact with traditional alchemy poisons. However Harmacist seems pretty geared toward the two interacting, and the scholar knack also specifically mentions non-sphere poisons, so I think combining the two works. Let's see how it plays.

[Arklytte]

4 hours ago, Paxon said:

Ha. Yeah that's fine. Approved.

Sweet!  🙂

4 hours ago, Paxon said:

Well, it's not exactly a bonus, more of a setting the level equal to your ranks. Usually functioning to give a small boost to one of those potions if you have higher ranks in heal than it was crafted at. Salve functions off of your craft alchemy ranks + practitioner modifier. I think the most similar effect here would be allowing this feat to substitute your ranks in heal for your practitioner modifier (if it would be higher) for the amount of healing a salve provides.

That works. Right now they're equal (+6 INT and 6 ranks in Heal), but as we go up, he'll be raising his Heal skill every level, so it's still definitely worth it.

4 hours ago, Paxon said:

Yes, that sounds like an acceptable allowance.

Awesome.  🙂  That still gives it a reasonable limit, but also helps ensure that the crew (probably) wont die after just one or two fights in a day.  But it's still somewhat 'realistic', since each of his various Healing methods (Heal skill, Salves, Medical Training) all have daily limits, so it's not infinite healing as it would be with magic.

4 hours ago, Paxon said:

I was a little bit leery here because the alchemy sphere says its poison talents don't interact with traditional alchemy poisons. However Harmacist seems pretty geared toward the two interacting, and the scholar knack also specifically mentions non-sphere poisons, so I think combining the two works. Let's see how it plays.

Thanks!!  If that wasn't going to work, I was just going to ask if I could swap out the Knack.  🙂  And if having Free Action poison application turns out to be OTT, I'll be happy to nerf it (and, if you're feeling generous, I can still swap out the Knack 😉). I'm hoping it wont (be OP), but since I've never used Alchemy, I have no idea whether it would be or not.   Heh...if nothing else, this is a great learning opportunity for me. 😄

 

*************

 

Doc is nearing done, btw.  His fluff is, for all intents and purposes, done, though if you think anything needs expanding on, or you'd like to see some detail or other beefed up, I'll be happy to.  Since I'm not sure exactly when/where the campaign will start, I tried to not tie his current whereabouts down too solidly.  That can be handled with a quick addendum once you pick the players, if needs be.

 

Mechanically, he's about 75%-ish done.  I have his skills, oaths/boons, class stuff, and most of his talents (I still have to pare down my wish list a fair bit...going through the Alchemy list, I was like a kid in a candy store..."Ooohh...I want one of those, and one of those, and TWO of those", so I ended up just listing out everything that looked good, and now I'm trimming away the stuff that doesn't fit/make sense.  Other than that, I still have the usual shopping to do, since I always leave it for last (I really, really hate shopping), but that's something that can easily wait til the characters are chosen.

 

Dont know if that's enough for you to consider him 'submission' ready...you're call.  I'm going to putter around with him this weekend and try to at least get the rest of his talents chosen and whatnot, maybe spend some gold on weapons and important gear if I feel so inclined. 🙂

[Arklytte]

Other than some possible (read: likely, knowing me 😄 ) last minute fiddling, and a tiny bit more shopping, Doc is good to go. 

 

Adding a Submitted tag.

[Paxon]

Sounds good!

[Arklytte]

I'll go over Docs details tonight and start working on my balance thread post.  He should be fully good to go, but I'll make sure all the T's and I's are dotted and crossed...or whatever.  😄

[Paxon]

Sounds good. I'm not forgetting those beanbag rounds, but I know you have a placeholder accounted for, so it should be minimal further tweaking once we have effect nailed down.

[Arklytte]

@PaxonWould you allow me to trade one of Doc's Alchemist Discoveries for a Scholars Knack?  You can use a Discovery for a feat, and Extra Knack is a feat (though technically I can't take that til next level).

 

I wanted to take Trick Arrows with it.  There are a decided lack of good Rogue talents, and one of the ones I took is kinda lame, but it was the only one that either wasn't magical, or totally inappropriate for Doc.

 

Anyone, would that be cool?

 

Also, I wanted to know if, to satisfy Docs Oath of Offering, could he trade Alchemical Items and/or professional services as a way to offset the cost?  I was thinking that it might be easier (not to mention more plausible IC) to have him do that, rather than just handing a bag of cash to everyone with a problem he runs across.

 

My thought was as follows:  Whenever he donates his services, I keep a running talk of the GP cost (either the cost of the items or the value of an appropriate Profession check).  Then, when we find loot, I can subtract the value of the accumulated services from the loot, and just keep that amount.

 

It would look something like this:  The crew comes on a village.  There's been a minor outbreak of plague, so Doc makes/uses a dozen doses of Panacae and two days worth of work.   I'm going to arbitrarily say that amounts to 300 GP, since I don't have time to do the math. 🙂

 

Later, we kill some raiders and Docs share is 1000GP.  He automatically keep half, the subtracts the 300 from earlier, so he gets to keep 800 and the other 200 gets stashed and later given away to an orphanage they come across. 

 

Would that work?  I'll be happy to keep track of the math and whatnot.  I can set up a one of my reserved posts here to keep a running total.  🙂

[Paxon]

5 minutes ago, Arklytte said:

Would you allow me to trade one of Doc's Alchemist Discoveries for a Scholars Knack?  You can use a Discovery for a feat, and Extra Knack is a feat (though technically I can't take that til next level).

 

I wanted to take Trick Arrows with it.  There are a decided lack of good Rogue talents, and one of the ones I took is kinda lame, but it was the only one that either wasn't magical, or totally inappropriate for Doc.

 

Anyone, would that be cool?

Yeah, they are quite similar theme classes. Go ahead.

 

6 minutes ago, Arklytte said:

Also, I wanted to know if, to satisfy Docs Oath of Offering, could he trade Alchemical Items and/or professional services as a way to offset the cost?  I was thinking that it might be easier (not to mention more plausible IC) to have him do that, rather than just handing a bag of cash to everyone with a problem he runs across.

 

My thought was as follows:  Whenever he donates his services, I keep a running talk of the GP cost (either the cost of the items or the value of an appropriate Profession check).  Then, when we find loot, I can subtract the value of the accumulated services from the loot, and just keep that amount.

 

It would look something like this:  The crew comes on a village.  There's been a minor outbreak of plague, so Doc makes/uses a dozen doses of Panacae and two days worth of work.   I'm going to arbitrarily say that amounts to 300 GP, since I don't have time to do the math. 🙂

 

Later, we kill some raiders and Docs share is 1000GP.  He automatically keep half, the subtracts the 300 from earlier, so he gets to keep 800 and the other 200 gets stashed and later given away to an orphanage they come across. 

 

Would that work?  I'll be happy to keep track of the math and whatnot.  I can set up a one of my reserved posts here to keep a running total.  🙂

I'm pretty sure this is fine. Economy is mostly a barter system, and I pretty much expected a lot of your "donation" to be in the form of services/alchemy/etc... As long as it is equivalent value, and it still reflects in you having half as much overall material gain, that is fine.

 

We're probably going to need to take a close look at what you are getting out of it the first time this happens. I know you have some crazy high craft scores so I expect you'll be able to manufacture at an insanely high rate, so if you are far outpacing income values with your donation values of items given away, we'll likely need to make some adjustments. 

[Arklytte]

7 hours ago, Paxon said:

Yeah, they are quite similar theme classes. Go ahead.

Cool beans!  🙂 Thanks

 

7 hours ago, Paxon said:

I'm pretty sure this is fine. Economy is mostly a barter system, and I pretty much expected a lot of your "donation" to be in the form of services/alchemy/etc... As long as it is equivalent value, and it still reflects in you having half as much overall material gain, that is fine.

 

We're probably going to need to take a close look at what you are getting out of it the first time this happens. I know you have some crazy high craft scores so I expect you'll be able to manufacture at an insanely high rate, so if you are far outpacing income values with your donation values of items given away, we'll likely need to make some adjustments. 

Awesome. This makes things so much easier.  I'll just keep a running total of his charitable works, and when we get loot, it can be divvied up appropriately.  And if there's cash in the 'to be donated' fund, and he hasn't had time/opportunity to donate it, he can make more materials to use on injured/sick people, and I'll keep track of that as well, and it'll be strictly for that use, not for the party's.

 

And yeah, Doc can make alchemical stuff SO FAST! 🙂  Between his Swift kit, and Rapid Alchemy, he can crank out multiple alchemical items an hour.  He can even make stable formulae/toxins in an hour IIRC.

 

One thing I was thinking, to keep it fair, would be that I would only count Doc's cost when calculating how much it was worth as charitable giving. Like, if an item would normally cost 100GP, and Doc makes it with his Profitable lab, he can sell it for 200GP. But IMO that would be unfair, since it only cost him 50GP to make.  So I'd only count 50GP for that item.  That should help keep things from getting out of hand.  And, like you said, if it still seems like he's making too far ahead on the deal, we'll re-figure things.  🙂

[Arklytte]

Doc will create the following Alchemical Items during the group's crafting time.

 

For the Greenwooders: Doc will spend 2 hours making Stable Panacea Formulae and another 4 hours making Stable Salve Formulae.  He can create 4 Stable Formulae per hour, so the net result is 8 Panacae and 16 Salve. 

• The Panacea (DC 40) will cure the following conditions: Blinded, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, frightened, nauseated, paralyzed, poisoned, shaken, sickened, staggered, stunned.
• The Salve will heal 3d6+52HP, and any HP over the maximum become Temp HP that last for 6 hours.

 

This will cost Doc 360 GP and the Greenwooders 360 GP (Cost per Dose is 60GP; 1/2 for crafting is 30GP; split between Doc and Greenwooders 50/50. Actual resale value (if it becomes an issue) is 120GP, due to Profitable quality of Alchemical Lab)

 

tl;dr: 8 Panacea; 16 Salve for Greenwooders; 'cost' to Greenwooders 360GP

 

For Doc/The Crew:  Doc will use one of the remaining two hours to create 8 each of Acid Flask, Liquid Ice, Sneezing Powder, Tanglefoot Bag (All are the Improved Alchemy versions, created at DC 55).  Effects are as follows:

• Acid Flasks: Struck Target takes 4d6 Acid 15' radius
  • +15' Half damage
  • +15' Radius 1 pt
  • Any target that takes 2HP dmg or more takes 1/2 next round
• Liquid Ice: Struck Target takes 3d6 Cold 15' radius
  • +15' Half damage
  • +15' Radius 1 pt
  • Can freeze 12 5' cubes of liquid solid
  • Can freeze AOE  80' diameter (This AOE can support Huge creatures)
• Sneezing Powder: Struck Target or Adjacent FORT 23 or Staggered 1 round
  • On fail, save for 1d4+1 rounds of stay Staggered
  • 20' Radius: FORT 18 or suffer all above effects
• Tanglefoot Bag: Struck target-2 att/-4 DEX; REF 19 to stuck to floor

  • STR Chk or 20HP Slashing dmg to remove

  • Half speed for 3d4 rounds

  • 10' Radius - REF 19 or suffer all above effects

Doc will use his last hour of crafting time to make 4 Delayed Fireballs. Creation DC 55. Effects as follows:

• Can be lit/thrown into any square w/in 60' that is unoccupied and can support an object, no attack roll needed
• 1d3 rounds after being thrown, the delayed fireball detonates, dealing 5d6 bludgeoning and 5d6 fire damage in a 20 feet burst. A DC 16 Reflex save halves this damage.

This costs Doc an additional 360 GP

 

tl;dr: Doc creates 8 each of Acid Flask, Liquid Ice, Sneezing Powder, Tanglefoot Bag (All Improved Variety); and 4 Delayed Fireballs

 

Doc does not need to roll for creating any of these Formulae. He can (and is) Taking 10 on all 'rolls', and with his various bonuses that allows him to hit DC 55 (56 technically).